Who do you think is the Greatest Wrestler of All Time?
Back in the mid 2000’s I did this on the now defunct BTR boards. I asked the posters who they thought was the greatest of all time. It ended up leading to some cool discussions, and when it was done posters asked me to do more categories which also went well, so I’m hoping it can have the same effect here. It would be nice to discuss something positive for once in the world of wrestling lol.
I’m not going to do a poll because I don’t want to limit the answers. Please just write your vote in and I will manually tabulate them in the end. I will compile the results in 1 month (lets say Halloween).
Feel free to discuss your reasons, debate a specific wrestler etc. Its just meant to be fun.
If anyone is wondering, back in '04 the winner was Ric Flair.
One rule, you can only vote one time for one wrestler. No split votes. Feel free to explain your reasons, or just write a name.
Honorable mention, growing up as a little kid Hulk Hogan was my favourite by a mile, I was 100% a “hulkamaniac”, however now as a man in my 30’s, I just can’t vote for him and have zero desire to watch 95% of his matches back.
For me it comes down to Bret or Shawn, and while its a very tough decision, I ultimately have to go with Shawn Michaels. Nobody in wrestling history has made me “feel” as much during matches as Shawn. From the iron match with Bret, to the two WM matches with Taker, to the WM matches with Jericho and than Angle, to the triple threat match with Benoit/HHH, he just had a way to get me to fully engage. He even made Survivor Series matches must see.
You can argue he wasn’t the most athletic ever or the biggest “star” ever, but for me, it comes down to bringing me in as a viewer and having me emotionally invest during a match, and nobody did that for me as well as Shawn (though Bret was a close close 2nd). Going back to my Hogan comment, I could watch almost all of Shawns matches back, they all still hold up today and then some IMO.
Overall, but ultimately it boils down to what is most important to you. Who do you feel is the best ever, the criteria of what determines that is up to you. I’m sure some people will base it on in-ring, some will base it on character, some will base it on a combination. What that combination is, is entirely subjective.
Favourite of all time was Eddie Guerrero, could do promos, be a heel or babyface, had great charisma and was great in the ring. Kurt Angle is right up there as well. People will say Jericho was similar but I never really got him especially in his early hair metal, attitude era phase where I thought he was just annoying. Wasn’t that great in the ring either in my opinion.
From an objective point of view, wrestling is about actually making people give a shit about what’s going on, and it’s between Hogan and Austin when it comes to that. Didn’t watch much of Hogan’s prime so for that I have to say Stone Cold.
Such a difficult question because “pro-wrestler” means so many things. And my frame of reference is mostly North America.
Best in-ring workers: Flair, Shawn, Bret, Angle, AJ, Daniel Bryan, Omega and more
Best promos: Flair, Piper, Austin, Rock, McMahon, Heyman, Cena, Punk and more
Biggest draws: Flair, Hogan, Austin, Rock, Goldberg, Cena, Lesnar and more
Longevity: Flair, Undertaker, Jericho, Mysterio and more
My personal favorites: Austin, Jericho, HHH, Daniel Bryan, Gargano and many others.
I can see why Flair was voted as “greatest of all time” last time as he is near the top of every category. He is the quintessential embodiment of the good and bad of pro-wrestling for 4 decades. So he has my vote this time too.
Almost always sits in my top 3 matches of the night.
Promo: Mick Foley
His promos never followed the template of “I’m better than you and here’s why.” He was always able to draw my attention and invest me more into a match.
GWOAT: Jericho
Longevity is one thing, but to do it this long and still be at the top is amazing.
Draws people to watch the show
Never lets his character get stale and its always a hit
His in ring in the 90’s mid 00’s he had some of the best matches on every card. As he got older he adapted his style and still put on top 3 matches each night.
Promo work. He literally didn’t say a single word and it drew people back the following week. Now on the mic, trading bars or hyping a match, he’s always gotten the job done and drawn people into his programs.
Jokes aside. It’s Eddie Guerrero for me. He was a capitating story teller who can make the audience cheer or boo you. His in-ring work was crisp and smooth and always made it a priority to make his opponent look great in the ring with his tremendous selling.
I would have said Bret “The Hitman” Hart over Eddie, but the one thing Bret didn’t have that Eddie did was range. Eddie could do comedy in one segment and make you laugh, then would become a viscous killer in the next and it would never feel awkward. Bret couldn’t do that and I think that’s why some people think Bret wasn’t a good promo guy.