So this thread asks for the greatest of all time, and 90% of you can't think to consider anyone who stopped operating before 1995. Aside from a couple of you randomly splashing Andre the Giant into your lists, you have all completely failed to acknowledge that wrestling existed before you were born, and the implications that such nobodies as Owen Hart, Brock Lesnar and RVD are greater than Thesz, Wagnar and Sammartino is as depressing as it is laughable.
Allow Gelgarin Entertainment Incorporated to present the first list that isn't steeped in ignorance.
10) John Cena
My one and only concession to the 'Wrestling stated in 2005' clowns, I'm going mostly on future potential. Right Now John Cena has done fuck all to set himself aside for the legions of big names in wrestling, but it's quite apparent that the WWE plans to build the company around him, so I suspect he will have earned his spot in a few years time.
9) Verne Gagne
Gagne was probably the greatest scientific wrestler ever to live, with the possible, and highly debatable, exception of Lou Thesz. He combined in one body the greatest technical attributes, and best perspective on the business, of any of his generation. Gagne excelled at everything he did, be it wrestling, promoting or the golden bullet... training.
Here is a list of people that we definitely wouldn't have without Verne Gagne:
Ric Flair
Ricky Steamboat
Curt Hennig
Bob Backlund
Iron Sheik
The Undertaker
Gagne trained approximately 100 names during his career and not only brought forth some of the greatest talent of the next generation, but also saved the style that we as internet fans still worship to this day.
When this was going on the revelation that you could take any mildly charismatic power lifter, teach him the fundamentals and then rely on him to draw was beginning to take over professional wrestling. Scientific wrestlers were beginning to die out, and Gagne went on his "one man crusade" to keep the style alive.
Look at the names he trained, then look at all the guys in the industry who got into the industry based on what those names accomplished (have you noticed that there's a massive void when in comes to wrestlers who got into the business because of Hogan?) and then look at the inspirations of the talent today. Almost every scientific ring general for the past three generations has roots trailing back to Verne Gagne, and as such he makes it on to my list.
8) Rikidozan
The father of Puroresu, his battles with Lou Thesz should be credited with popularising the sport of professional wrestling in the land of the rising sun. When Japanese wrestling was in it's infancy Dozan was one of it's top stars, and after he defeated Lou Thesz in a sixty minute 2/3 falls match which was viewed by almost 70% of the TV owning audience at the time, wrestling was handed a legacy in Japan that has never faded away.
Unfortunately Dozan was murdered not long after, but his legacy was carried on by disciples Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba, both of who when on the shape Puroresu in later years.
7) Steve Austin
Attitude era. Austin cemented a legacy and actually mattered. People who aren't me have already soliloquised on his career, and I couldn't give a fuck, so we'll leave it at that.
6) El Santo
My one concession to Lucha Libre, I am far away from being an authority on Mexican wrestling, but Santo was to Mexico what Rikidozan was to Japan, or Hogan was to America. In fact, when it comes to fanatical support, Santo had the other tow beaten bang to rights. If you want to know more then I'd recommend reading something by Tastycles, because my Mexican knowledge starts and ends with Mil Mascaras.
5) George Wagner
Ever heard of heels? Year, George Wagner pretty much invented that. For over five decade professional wrestling has drawn crowds based on the premise of good against evil, and elitist snob Gorgeous George popularised the whole concept. He was the first man to use entrance music, he was the first man to really dedicate time to working the crowd, he became famous for underhand heel mannerisms that we still see in wrestling today.
On an unrelated note, he was also an extremely talented scientific wrestler his abilities strong enough to get publicly recognised by Lou Thesz on multiple occasions. In his early days he also once nearly scored a point aginst the great man by making Thesz burst into laughter in the middle of the ring.
4) Bruno Sammartino
Take Hulk Hogan, teach him to mat wrestle and send him back a few decades and you get Bruno. After Buddy Rogers displayed himself to the a complete fuckwit, Bruno was left essentially carrying the WWWF, which became the WWF, which became the WWE. If Bruno hadn't worked out it is very possible that Vince Sr would have been muscled out by Jim Crockett Promotions during the WWWF's infant years, and we'd all be watching something totally different today.
During the 1970's Bruno drew better than anyone else in the world, and even today a great deal of professional wrestling's success was built on that legacy.
3) Antonio Inoki
Probably the most influential man in the history of Japanese wrestling, Inoki literally shaped the industry (both backstage and in the ring) for decades. If Rikidozan fathered puroresu, then Inoki was responsible for its upbringing, and you only have to look at the mainstream product in Japan today to witness the strength of his influence.
In other interesting news, Inoki had a couple of matches with Thesz, one of which I am given to understand he lost in under a minute after a greco-roman backdrop. Later on the pair would face off again in what I still consider to be a fantastic contest, in spite of the fact that Thesz was getting on for sixty years old.
2) Hulk Hogan
Blah, blah blah. If Hogan isn't near the top of your list then you're an idiot. He was more popular than any other character professional wrestling has ever seen. Even the internet media acknowledged him as the the greatest draw in the history of the spot. That being said, I could still care less to talk about him, so I'll once again gloss over the man.
1) Lou Thesz
Well who didn't see this coming?
Without Lou Thesz there is no professional wrestling. At all.
Before Thesz wrestling was nothing more than a handful of local promotions of varying degrees of legitimacy. It was popular in a few areas, but its proliferation into American society was nothing like deep enough for it to become a national phenomena. It needed Thesz the greatest hooker who ever lived, to spend over a decade bringing the territories together before wrestling could go national.
Thesz was wrestling's true pioneer. He crossed the great plains and tamed the bad lands to become wrestling's first undisputed national champion. We always talk about how amazingly over guys like Hogan and Austin got, but I say that getting over nationally is easy when you're showing up on television every week. Thesz got himself over across the entire country based on nothing but hard work and word of mouth. In fact, he got himself over far beyond the confines of the USA. Thesz helped popularise wrestling in Japan by putting over local favourite Rikidozan during a time when the Japanese desperately needed a hero. He also played a part in bringing the sport to Mexico and even Europe (although I appreciate that it didn't get quite as over down this way).
People look at success of the WWF promoting on a national scale, but without Lou Thesz acting as the NWA's linchpin, professional wrestling would have been left as a ragtag of local promotions.
That's without me bothering to go in to the ways in which Thesz helped shape the industry backstage, or the in ring pioneer he was, although I will mention that both Austin and Cena use moves than he is credited with inventing (Thesz press and STF), despite never using either of them.
In terms of importance, ability, influence and dedication to professional wrestling, Lou Thesz is the greatest that there has ever been. He never left the industry, spending his final years helping with the Wrestling Museum, the Cauliflower Ally Club, and keeping in touch with fans of old.
To translate all this into a language that the posters who have preceded me might understand;
Lou Thesz FTW!
