The Top 10 Wrestlers of All Time!!!

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

Here they are folks, the top ten. Thanks to all who pimped out their boys and gals and voted. To those who are about to cry foul, let me explain how the system went. A point system was used to tally the votes. A wrestler who gets a vote as #1 of all time gets 10 points. A wrestler who gets voted as #2 of all time gets 9 points and so on. I'm aware that it's not the fairest way to go and I apologize to those whose guys didn't make it, but with 46 guys a shitload of counting, I found this was the only way to do it. So, here she goes.......

 

 

#10- "The Rocket" Owen Hart.

Number of #1 Votes- 1

Total Number of Points- 32

 

"Owen Hart - Simply the best high flyer/techincal wrestler all in one. He totally rocked as the Blue Blazer and as the King of Harts. Most underrated wrester ever, as well. He was so good that when he was a heel, people cheered him cause he was that cool (Mania 10, Mania 11, Summerslam 96)"- HartFan86

 

#9- Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

Number of #1 Votes- 0

Total Number of Points- 33

 

"People have forgotten the greatness that is Ricky Steamboat. This man had THREE...COUNT EM! THREE MOTD candidates in the 80s, and then came back and had two ***** matches in 91 and 94. Absolutely amazing. The vertebrae that cracked was one of the saddest things that I've ever seen. He's one of my personal faves."- EL DANDY ~!

 

#8- Kurt Angle

Number of #1 Votes- 1

Total Number of Points- 34

 

"The best combination of charisma and ability today. Angle can make you laugh your ass off and then minutes later can take you along for one of the most exciting matches you’ve seen in years. What Ric Flair was in the 80s, Angle is quickly becoming today. A heel you love to hate yet can outwrestle just about everyone else on the roster, can elevate everyone, can do wonders on the microphone, and win/lose/draw can send you home happy. What a main eventer is supposed to be."- cawthon777

 

#7- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

Number of #1 Votes- 0

Total Number of Points- 37

 

"The heel that got himself over...with the feud with McMahon he was the envy of every working stiff in America, beating up the boss...not since Hogan has someone got people to watch wrestling, as simple as that."

- Youth N Asia

 

#6- Toshiaki Kawada

Number of #1 Votes- 2

Total Number of Points- 55

 

"Great strikes, selling, body-part psychology, storytelling, pacing, powermoves, etc. No matter the match, he always gave it absolutely EVERYTHING. Could convey emotion incredibly well in the match with his facial expressions. Always a joy to watch"- Special K

 

#5- TIE between Jushin "Thuder" Lyger and "Dynamite Kid" Tom Billington

Number of #1 Votes- Lyger, 1. Billington, 2.

Total Number of Votes- 57

 

"My favorite junior wrestler ever. He created an amazing division with himself as the focus, yet he created countless other stars with his performances. His feud with Sano is classic, and his performance against El Samurai at the BOTSJ '92 finals is still my favorite juniors match ever. Always willing to give his opponents room to look shine and remain "the man" at the same time."- RickyChosyu

 

"One half of one of the greatest tag teams of all time. One half of one of the greatest fueds of all time. Former non blood member of the Hart Clan(ex wife was sister to Bret's ex wife). Embodies Stampede wrestling along with the Harts. One of the greatest LHW wrestlers of all time. He is a freaking god in the ring. Stiff but not stiff enough to hurt badly. He just was too far ahead of his time...too bad drugs and steriods took his body away. He would have been more if it weren't for injuries."

- Midnight Express83

 

#4- Mithsuharu Misawa

Number of #1 Votes- 1

Total Number of Points- 75

 

"As the man, Misawa managed to take in ring storytelling to another level. While he failed artistically to get out of Jumbo's shadow towards the later part of his career, he did play a key role in nearly every single ***** match in All Japan history."- Coffin Surfer

 

#3- Bret "Hitman" Hart

Number of #1 Votes- 0

Total Number of Points- 84

 

" I'd feel like I was betraying my childhood if I omitted the Hitman from this list. I was never a huge Hulkamanic as a kid, though I dug Hogan enough to like him. I always liked the smoothies, guys like Hart, Flair, Hennig and others. Hart has carried great guys to great matches and shitty guys to great matches in his career. His "broomstick formula" is something that could be a knock against him but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. His match with Austin at WrestleMania 13 is the best WWF match of all time, IMO. Hart is also one of those guys who is able to transcend boundaries and become not just a wrestler, but a Canadian cultural icon. As any Canadian crowd will remind you at the mention of his name or the clip of him in the Desire videos, we never forget."- Lord of The Curry

 

#2- "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair

Number of #1 Votes- 4

Total Number of Points- 105

 

"Incredibly giving in the ring and it’s good to see he’s willing to elevate the stars of today before completely hanging up the boots. The perfect combination of flamboyancy, psychology, and selling as far as the U.S. goes. I’m sure there are about a million Japanese wrestlers that could out do him on some level (or so I hear), but when you take into consideration the ‘entertainment’ style of American wrestling – there was no one more consistent over the span of 30 years than Flair. Between 1981 and 1993, there were at least a few MOTY candidates per year that involved Flair. The fact that he can continue to have a prominent role in the biggest wrestling company today is a testament not only to what he’s given in the past but to what he’s willing to give now. The perfect heel flag bearer of the 1980s. If a star came from the NWA / WCW, his claim to fame involved Flair for at least one if not many reasons. What would Crockett Promotions or WCW (and the WWF/E indirectly) have been without Flair? And then there were the Horsemen too…"- cawthon777

 

#1- Chris Benoit

Number of #1 Votes- 1

Total Number of Points- 107

 

"A "machine" that used smarts as well as superior ability to out-wrestler his opponents harshly and convincingly. Came into his own by out-performing his idol and doing so everywhere he went. By becoming so adaptive, he knew how to respond to almost any kind of wrestler and get the most out of them, laying the groundwork instantly and letting his opponent fill in the gaps that he needed. The best example of this was the J-Cup finals Vs. Sasuke, where Benoit got the most out of GS than anyone ever has or will. Awesome selling, great athletisism, and a subtle arrogance that went with his beatings that cannot be denied."

- RickyChosyu

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Hmm.. This is an odd list.

 

10)Owen

9)Steamboat

8)Angle

7)Austin

6)Kawada

5)Lyger/Billington

4)Misawa

3)Bret

2)Flair

1)Benoit

 

Aside from Austin, Misawa, Bret and Lyger - the list seems to be of 'secondary' workers. As in, the ones in the shadows of others whom had greater success. The 'enhancement' talent - the ones who would rarely be considered on a 'casual' fans' list. Owen had Bret, Steamboat had Flair, Angle isn't really est. to the max, Kawada had misawa, Flair had Hogan, and Benoit has everyone, Billington had Tiger mask.

 

It is definitely a 'workers' list.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

I semi-agree Rudo, I find a certain sick sweetness in seeing Flair NOT win a "Best Of" list, though there are some glaring omissions.

 

- No Eddy G

- No Jumbo

- No Kobashi

 

IMO, Owen got a sympathy vote. I'm fully aware that he's a great wrestler, but Eddy smokes him.

 

If anybody wants to know the total votes of a certain wrestler, just ask, I've got the totals all saved.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

It's also come to my attention that #5 should be divided into two votes, but I'll just apologize now to people who don't like it and say that it was a judgement call and that if I ranked one as #6 and one as #5, I'd kind of be neglecting the points system.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

It's also odd because I would equate Lyger with Benoit in terms of workers and workrate (and Lyger has the edge on benoit as he is more innovative and influencial and successful) yet they are spaced out.

 

It's also funny how Flair and Bret are 2/3 and Steamboat and Owen are 9/10.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

Yeah, it all fits together quite oddly. This forum has some calculated voters on it's hands.....

[Guest I Fear Hogans Air Guitair]

IMO, Owen got a sympathy vote. I'm fully aware that he's a great wrestler, but Eddy smokes him.

Eddy Smokes Everyone Beniot wins i thought Flair was going to be the man.

[Guest bob_barron]

I didn't get quoted at all! :-(

[Guest RickyChosyu]

There are quite a few other glaring omissions that exist simply because of the limited viewing of the masses (myself included). Lucha, Joshi, and shoot style are non-existant on this list, not to mention plenty of other Japanese workers who most on here wouldn't have seen. There's an endless list of wrestlers more deserving than Angle, for instance, including several wrestlers you'd think people on this board would have seen, like Windham, for instance. Ah well.

[Guest bob_barron]

I agree- how did Angle make the list??

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

Angle made it onto nine peoples top ten lists, but the kicker was the person who voted him as their #1 guy. Whoever that person is, it pretty much spelled doom for other wrestlers hoping to make it.

 

Ricky- Akira Hokuto finished #13, right behind Eddy G and Jumbo, respectively. Just thought you might feel a little better knowing that.

[Guest WrestlingDeacon]

I wasn't quoted either, but most of my guys didn't make it anyway. I wouldn't mind seeing the whole list, if you still have it all saved and tabulated Curry.

 

I'm surprised that Kurt Angle making it at number one on one list would have affected his ranking so much. I did have him on my list (I think around 6) and feel that he is the future of wrestling and if we did this voting just two years from now no one would be bitching about Angle ranking where he did.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

Well Deacon, keep in mind that a #1 vote means 10 points, which was the difference maker between Angle coming in with 24 votes and 34 votes.

 

The whole list? Done.

 

Toshiaki Kawada- Final Count is 55 points. Made the list of 11 people.

 

Akira Hokuto- Final count is 27 points. Made the list of 3 people.

 

Mithsuharu Misawa- Final count is 75 points. Made the list of 11 people.

 

Jumbo Tsuruta- Final count is 27 points. Made the list of 4 people.

 

Aja Kong- Final count is 19 points. Made the list of 3 people.

 

Volk Han- Final Count is 5 points. Made the list of one person.

 

Chris Benoit- Final Count is 107 points. Made the list of 17 people.

 

Nobuhiko Takada- Final Count is 3 points. Made the list of 1 person.

 

Midnight Express- Final Count is 2 points. Made the list one 1 person.

 

Tommy Rodgers- Final Count is 1 point. Made the list of 1 person.

 

Ric Flair- Final Count is 105 points. Made the list of 16 people.

 

Jushin "Thunder" Lyger- Final Count is 57 points. Made the list of 9 people.

 

Bret Hart- Final Count is 84. Made the list of 15 people.

 

Eddy Guerrero- Final Count is 29. Made the list of 7 people.

 

Shinjiro Ohtani- Final Count is 14 points. Made the list of 4 people.

 

Steve Austin- Final Count is 37 points. Made the list of 9 people.

 

Owen Hart- Final Count is 32 points. Made the list of 5 people.

 

Sting- Final Count is 12 points. Made the list of 2 people.

 

Hulk Hogan- Final Count is 13 points. Made the list of 3 people.

 

Dynamite Kid- Final Count is 57 points. Made the list of 8 people.

 

Ricky Steamboat- Final Count is 33 points. Made the list of 7 people.

 

Shawn Michaels- Final Count is 14 points. Made the list of 3 people.

 

Kurt Angle- Final Count is 34 points. Made the list of 9 people.

 

Arn Anderson- Final Count is 8 points. Made the list of 3 people.

 

Randy Savage- Final Count is 11 points. Made the list of 3 people.

 

Tiger Mask Sayama- Final Count is 15 points. Made the list of 3 people.

 

Great Sasuke- Final Count is 3 points. Made the list of 2 people.

 

Dean Malenko- Final Count is 5 points. Made the list of 2 people.

 

Chris Jericho- Final Count is 1 point. Made the list of one person.

 

Kenta Kobashi- Final Count is 26 points. Made the list of 5 people.

 

Stan Hansen- Final Count is 6 points. Made the list of one person.

 

Mick Foley- Final Count is 10 points. Made the list of 3 people.

 

Vader- Final Count is 1 point. Made the list of one person.

 

Terry Funk- Final Count is 18 points. Made the list of two people.

 

Rey Mysterio Jr.- Final count is 2 points. Made the list of one person.

 

Mikey Whipwreck- Final count is 1 point. Made the list of one person.

 

Jaguar Yokota- Final count is 2 points. Made the list of one person.

 

Barry Windham- Final Count is 2 points. Made the list of one person.

 

Lou Thesz- Final Count is 4 points. Made the list of 2 people.

 

Bruiser Brody- Final Count is 1 point. Made the list of 1 person.

 

Harley Race- Final Count is 3 points. Made the list of 1 person.

 

Bobby Eaton- Final Count is 1 point. Made the list of 1 person.

 

Jake Roberts- Final Count is 3 points. Made the list of 1 person.

 

Davey Boy Smith- Final Count is 10 points. Made the list of 1 person.

 

Curt Hennig- Final Count is 1 point. Made the list of 1 person.

[Guest Ravenbomb]

I am shocked and appalled</bart simpson> that Thesz didn't even make the list. SHOCKED I tell you. Although this is taking everything into consideration, right?

[Guest HartFan86]

Benoit = 1? Whoa.

[Guest HartFan86]

Oh, btw...my list wasn't in order of who was the best. I just had it all down by each group in order. Did that effect the voting and if so, could I put it in order?

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

Well, it would appear more fair if I re-tallied the votes, but that took me 3 hours last night and it's not something i want to do again.

[Guest HartFan86]

Then don't worry about it. It was my mistake anyways. Sorry.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

No worries....

[Guest RickyChosyu]

I don't understand how anyone can say that Angle is the future of wrestling. He's good at his style, but that's the only style he's ever worked, and it's horribly flawed to begin with. Any growth he can have can only take place within the confines of that extremely flawed style. He's wrestling's equivalent to a crack baby, with the WWE being his junky of a mother.

 

If he really wanted to, he could probably overcome those faults by leaving the WWE and becoming a well-rounded wrestler, but will he ever feel the need to do this? Not when he can make good money while everyone in the WWE puts him over as the best thing that's ever happened to the promotion, even though he embodies everything that's wrong with it. Sad.

[Guest Brian]

Bret Hart made twice as many lists as Dynamite?

[Guest J*ingus]

What's with all the Angle hate? Since you love dissecting the matches so much, can you take a bad Angle match from the last two years, and say that it's his fault, and why?

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Leave it to you to mix up "not wanting him put up there with Jumbo" and "hate." I already explained why he doesn't deserve to be up there, but if you want to drag it out even further, I could make a case using matches just as easilly (come to think of it, you were probably just trying to be sarcastic, but that's beyond the point).

 

In Angle's match with Benoit this year, he followed along very well, but he still did several things that have been ingrained in him thanks to working in just the WWF/E and they hurt the match. Pointless brawling on the outside at innopportune times, some annoying stalling, and a pretty blatant disregard for selling at several points (though Benoit was guilty of that, too). When they hit a total nine german suplexes and don't take the time to sell any of them as potential match-enders, it's time to burry that move and find something new to do in their matches. Angle also couldn't be counted on to sell his arm as well as Benoit sold the ankle (though both forgot about them rather quickly). Angle comes from the school of thought that "more near falls = better match" so there were times when he should have been selling the affects of the match, but decided not to in favor of getting a near-fall.

 

Benoit knew what he had to do to have a good match, and Kurt did an admirable job of going along with it, but he still faltered enough to remind me why he isn't nearly as good as everyone thinks he is, and why he's never going to be near top-ten levle, especially if he sticks with the WWE. Considering this was his best performance of the year, it's not hard to find matches where he made worse offenses.

[Guest Tim Cooke]

His lack of focus when building to the ankle lock, which can also be partially put on the bookers for not establishing the move but also on the wrestler since he could do the little things to make it worthwhile.

 

But why discuss it. I mean, it really doesn't matter since JINGUS says that if you don't know the wrestlers, you don't know what their true intentions are.

 

Tim, who likes Kurt Angle enough but can regonize the flaws he has as well.

[Guest J*ingus]

All I "regonize" is that you better stop putting mocking words in my mouth which I never said. That being said, thanks for the specific examples.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

So I suppose I imagined all that stuff about how wrestlers don't care about telling stories with their matches?

[Guest Banky]

Since Angle and Benoit's currect work seemingly has many flaws to the untrained eye, what would everyone say about Eddie Guerrero's current work?

[Guest godthedog]

Bret Hart made twice as many lists as Dynamite?

it's all about exposure. everybody on the board has seen a fair share of bret matches, very few have seen a good amount of dynamite's work. i wouldn't feel right voting for him just on what i've heard, same with lou thesz.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Eddy's current work is good, but not anywhere near his prime of '94-97, where he was a much better heel and a better all-around wrestler.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

I agree w/ Ricky, Eddy will never be able to re-create that intangible Rudo heat he brought to the table, though I must say I'm impressed with how kick-ass he's been since his return and I'm not talking about just how he's done in the ring either.