Nobody has been advancing the argument that Lou Thesz was going to turn this into a shoot fight. I mean, he could have done, and would utterly destroy Steve Austin in a few minutes, but nobody is arguing that as the reason why he goes over. /QUOTE]
I think you're rather delusional here. For starters you're making a very convoluted suggestion that has no factual base to make said suggestion. Second, Thesz was a professional wrestler, and while he was a hooker, that doesn't speak to any credibility in a shoot that amounts to a real fight against Steve Austin.
Seventy two people have voted Thesz as the greater wrestler because, amongst other things, he was the greater professional wrestler.
Based on what? That he wrestled a more technical style all through his career? Steve Austin wrestled a technical style at one point too, your point? Styles don't make people better, they just appeal to people differently, kind of how Thesz style apparently appeals to you more than most others.
Not true. Austin changed the business and brought it into an entirely new era based solely around him. He became the biggest star arguably in history, and he carried the company for years. You can argue that there were other stars like Triple H and The Rock, but he was the top face of the company all through the Attitude Era, and everyone knew that.
Highly unlikely. I actually addressed this already. Thesz won a ton of titles throughout his career, but he lost them just as frequently. Look at the length of his reigns with all the different titles he held. Rarely did those reigns last all that long which completely destroys your big dominance argument. He had one long run as champion where he tried to unify all titles with the NWA belt and didn't succeed but with a few minor territorial titles. Stone Cold on the other hand was so dominant that the majority of the time if people wanted to beat them they had to use absurd amounts of interference and seldom did he lose one on one, that's a fact Jack, and you can look all that up too.
better draw in relation to his time period
Not so. Austin was THEE biggest draw in wrestling by measures of both ticket sales and merchandise all the way until after he was officially gone from the WWE in 2002. He almost single handedly lifted the WWE out of the red and into the lead of the Monday Night Wars, generated the highest WrestleMania buy rates up to that point and for years to come, and most importantly he did it all with ONE company, not globetrotting for the NWA and wrestling in as many promotions as possible. It should also be noted that Lou Thesz wasn't a mega-star everywhere he went, the different territories all had their different preferences, and he wasn't the only one. Buddy Rogers was every bit as popular as he was and there were plenty others at his time who shared as much fanfare and respect in the industry as he did. Besides, once Bruno Sammartino came around, HE was the biggest draw in wrestling above everybody else.
he achieved more and left a greater legacy
He achieved more because he collected scrap belts from every territory he went to, that's the simple truth. Now you could argue that he got all those belts because he was so damn great and all that, and true, he was a big star at the time, but quantity doesn't equal quality. It think it's very arguable to that he left a "Greater" legacy either when you look at the impact Stone Cold had on the business in comparison. Just about anyone you ask will know who Stone Cold Steve Austin is, and when asked who Lou Thesz is most will not know, what a legacy huh? So great it's largely forgotten unless an on their knees fanboy like yourself comes and gives a proverbial public display of ******io for one of the relics of yesteryear, romanticizing about how great and unstoppable they were in a ridiculous display of puffery the likes of which is rarely seen these days. Congratulations on that.
He was also a few hundred times better suited for the match type in question given his superior conditioning, experience in multi fall matches and lack of crippled limbs.
That's just like, your opinion man(ala the dude, who abides). Considering all the advances in everything surrounding strength and conditioning, as well as the advances in professional wrestling itself that's a rather bold claim to make. Now I know you're going to go on about how Lou Thesz regularly wrestled 60 minute plus matches, but at what kind of pace? You think he could maintain the pace of a Stone Cold Steve Austin for 60 minutes? Not a chance, but Stone Cold can. You think he'd be able to go in an iron man match at the pace Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart can go? Not likely at all.
BTW, back in those days it was commonplace for title matches to be 2 of 3 falls, but again, that was a completely different style and brand of wrestling. Now I have to uphold my own precedent here that a different style isn't necessarily a better one, but in this case the style wrestled by the more modern wrestlers in far superior and much more demanding than those of wrestlers past from the era's of guys like Lou Thesz, that's why they were able to wrestle into their 60's and 70's, because they style they wrestled wasn't nearly as taxing. Disagree all you want, the facts say otherwise.
So sure, Thesz has more experience in that type of match, but the stylistic clash puts him out of his element against someone like Steve Austin. He might be able to figure it out, but will he do it before he's stunned out of his boots? Not likely, considering the thunder Steve Austin will bring out of the gate and for the majority of the match which would safely secure the victory for him as he was able to get pinfall after pinfall, from stunner after stunner before the half way point is even reached.
