Who is The Best of Yesterday, Today, and Tommorow?!

[stavros241000]

This is a pretty straight-forward thread. Respond who you think are the biggest and brightest stars of yesterday today and tomorrow! Please try to include:

Pre 80s WWF/AWA
Bruno Sammartino, longest reign ever as WWF champion/Harley Race, greatest champion ever imo at the time
80s WWF/AWA
Hulk Hogan, arguably most popular/influential superstars ever, arguably GOAT not much debate/Ric Flair, most world champion reigns ever, arguably the GOAT
90s WWF/WCW
Shawn Michaels, exciting entertaining held every major mens championship arguably started the attitude era with him and dx vs scsa(runner up)/Sting, greatest WCW wrester ever imo, still s popular today
00s-present WWE/TNA
John Cena, im not his biggest fan but the fact of the matter is he held the WWE championship for more than a year, makes by far the most money for WWE/AJ Styles, TNA's home grown talent, been there since the beginning amazing in the ring, just a terrific wrestler imo
The Future
Antonio Cesaro, IDK I just have a feeling



THE GOAT IS...
SHAWN MICHAELS

 

[The Hillside]

Pre 80s WWF/AWA:

Should be a close one between Lou Thesz and Harley Race. But I will go with Lou Thesz, who is termed by some as the founder of professional wrestling in American and has some interesting matches in his career.

80s WWF/AWA:

Should not be hard, Hulk Hogan is the easy pick here. He spread the wrestling all over America and the world with his popular Patriotic gimmick and his energy rush etc. He headlined many Wrestlemanias and made the PPV very popular as well. He was probably the definition of staying strong and fit back then and influenced most of the population with growing media back at that time.

90s WWF/WCW:

This is the hardest one. Several names come to mind, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Sting and Ric Flair. I will go with Steve Austin here, he was the definition of modern, new generation gimmick, style and attitude. Teens and youth never bought into decency and morality but rather the badass spoiled brat persona and Austin fit right into that. A feud with the company's boss, WWE's rise and win over WCW, some brilliant brawls, some popular feuds and huge drawing power makes him the best of 90's, even though he was there for just the last part of decade, but it was worth everything for WWE.

00s-present WWE/TNA:

There are some popular names in this one, HHH, Taker, Lesnar, Angle, Cena, Styles, Orton, Edge, Jericho, HBK, Eddie and Benoit. But John Cena is the easy winner here, it's not that the wrestler is highly talented or something, he doesn't excel at anything, but becoming the face of WWE and the most popular superstar in the recent years and kids and teens hero with such little talent is a huge achievement. His gimmick sells on something other superstars never had, hard-work, loyalty and dedication.

The Future:

Let's do a name guess, Punk, Bryan, Roode, Aries, Sheamus, Storm, The Miz, Sandow or Cody Rhodes? Austin Aries can get the rank of being the best ever if he becomes the face of TNA or joins WWE as a main eventer. Punk and Bryan are very close and one of them may become the face of WWE once Cena becomes a part-timer. The Miz and Sheamus are always in the game. But my pick at the moment is easily CM Punk, once other megastars become part-timers (some of them already are) Punk will be the first choice to lead the company. Anyways, if you want me to pick someone who is not already established I will go with Sandow (has HHH's backing, does well on mic and inside the ring, has the size and experience).


Let me summarise this:

Pre 80's: Lou Thesz
80's to 90's: Hulk Hogan
90's to 00's: Steve Austin
00's-present: John Cena
Future: CM Punk (established) Damien Sandow (non-established)

 

[stavros241000]

Thanks, I somehow forgot about Lou Thesz and I always wondered why people thought Sandow would be great, but I think he'll be good. I don't think they'll have someone who is heel and is christian become champ because I think other christians will be offended that the top of wwe is a hated christian. I wont be offended but A LOT OF PEOPLE will. Who do you think is the GOAT btw?

 

[theBec2101]

Pre 80's: Lou Thesz
80's to 90's: Hulk Hogan
90's to 00's: HBK/Steve Austin
00's-present: HBK/John Cena
Future: Swagger, They need to give him a better chance

HBK has wrestled in the 80's, 90's and 00's and he was a great in all eras so you gotta go with HBK for longevity and the way he was able to stay on top and compete with the other guy without missing a step and also in the eras the day of the muscle and bodybuild types and just out perfrom everyone by a mile.

 

[asiatic7]

This is just my own humble opinion, but I think Bruno dominated the 70's, Hogan dominated the 80's. In the 90's I would say Bret hart because he carried the bulk of that decade. Bret and Shawn's run kinda intertwined from the mid to late 90's but I think Bret elevated Shawn's game and prepped him for the main event picture, so that's why I'm going with Bret. As much as I hate to admit it, The 00's belonged to Hunter. He solidified his legacy during the first decade of the new millenium beating the best the business had to offer and also preparing John Cena and Randy Orton for their runs at the top. Even though for the last 10 years, Cena has been the "guy", I would still pick Hunter and I think CM Punk will be a dominant force this decade...