Top Ten Draws In U.S. Wrestling

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

Yeah, Andre should be in the Top 10. My bad, that's a big omission. Superstar Billy Graham, I dunno...he was a transitional champ who was more over as a result of Bruno and Bob Backlund from what I understand. There no doubt Graham played a huge role in future characters like Savage and Hogan, but I think those guys were pushed more and given a bigger spotlight with which to work.

 

I honestly don't know enough about the Von Erichs' history in Texas, hence why I didn't include them.

[RonL21 0]

I'm doing since the 1970s, US only (for the record, if we're doing the world, El Santo tops all these people):

 

1. Austin: EVERYONE knew about him in the late 1990s, and his unique heelish face character brought in many crossover fans after years of wrestling being considered lame.

 

2. Hogan: The first glamorous wrestling superstar and the catalyst of the 1980s boom. Maintained his status as a draw even as a heel, and can draw decent PPV buys today just with his name.

 

3. The Rock: Managed to keep the crossover fanbase during Austin's absence and proved that crossover appeal when he went to Hollywood.

 

4. Dusty Rhodes: Drew huge numbers in the South and for Georgia Championship Wrestling/the NWA in its cable infancy. His American Dream character was an every-man sorta gimmick, a kind of precursor to Steve Austin.

 

5. Jerry Lawler: Can't believe he's on no one else's list. The dude drew 12K every week in the same city, he was that over. His angles could incite riots, and his feud with Andy Kaufman was the first big crossover angle.

 

6. Ric Flair: See: Rhodes, Dusty

 

7. Bruno Sammartino: Filled Madison Square Garden on the regular. He was the Northeast's version of a Dusty or Ric Flair.

 

8. Vern Gagne: The Midwest's Dusty/Bruno/Flair. From all accounts, his feud with Nick Bockwinkle was hot enough to fill big stadiums in Chicago and Minneapolis.

 

9. John Cena: Don't like the guy and I think he's turned off a decent number of male fans, but he's made up for it by attracting new children viewers and women.

10 (Tie): Triple H and Sting: HHH was the number 1 draw for a good two-three years, and drew similar numbers to Cena. It's pretty incredible when you think about his drawing ability as a heel, because unlike Flair he never really had a Dusty-like face foil during his run at the top -- save for Batista the last few months. Sting meanwhile was the only guy making WCW interest in the early 1990s and he had that John Cena kiddy-appeal.

 

Honorable Mention: Rey Misterio: If you live in a high Latino population like I do, you can't underestimate what his presence does.

Vince McMahon: He's managed to kill his own heat through overexposure over the years, but without him there's no Austin hype in the late '90s.

I don't have a problem w/ Cena....But there is no Way he's the number 9 draw over the past 30 years

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Yeah, Andre should be in the Top 10. My bad, that's a big omission. Superstar Billy Graham, I dunno...he was a transitional champ who was more over as a result of Bruno and Bob Backlund from what I understand. There no doubt Graham played a huge role in future characters like Savage and Hogan, but I think those guys were pushed more and given a bigger spotlight with which to work.

 

I honestly don't know enough about the Von Erichs' history in Texas, hence why I didn't include them.

 

Superstar Graham wasn't a transitional champion. He was the most over guy in the company and I think sold out 100% of the Garden shows he headlined. His return run in the mid-80s drew like gangbusters as well even though he was a shell of his former self. He would've have gotten a bigger run but the WWF just didn't do heel champs in those days.

 

World Class was the hottest territory in the US for a good 2-3 years behind the Von Erich-Freebirds feud. Kerry drew like 40,000+ to Texas Stadium for his title match with Flair. Friday night shows at the Sportatorium sold out every week and the Von Erichs were like rock stars, literally, in and around Texas.

 

JYD was the biggest babyface in the world when he was headlining for Mid-South. They used to do shows at the Superdome with him on top. Michael Hayes got death threats while working with JYD after the blinding angle.

 

I don't think any of us have access to enough information to make a top draws since 1970 list.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

Interesting, interesting. I really like reading about some of the old school stuff. I got into wrestling watching the NWA on TBS around '88 or so, I'd like to be able to see some more of the stuff before that. I find those kayfabe days really fascinating.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I think one way is to say, if you asked non-wrestling fans about a wrestler, how many would recognize the name?

 

My top ten U.S. attractions, all time. I won't bother to rank them.

 

Hulk Hogan

Andre the Giant

Steve Austin

The Rock

Buddy Rogers

Gorgeous George

Jim Londos

Bruno Sammartino

Dusty Rhodes

Ric Flair

 

The first eight were the top draws of their respective decades. Londos drew HUGE crowds on multiple occasions during his run, in the midst of the Depression no less. Buddy Rogers drew 38,000 to Comiskey Park for his NWA Title win.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I think one way is to say, if you asked non-wrestling fans about a wrestler, how many would recognize the name?

 

My top ten U.S. attractions, all time. I won't bother to rank them.

 

Hulk Hogan

Andre the Giant

Steve Austin

The Rock

Buddy Rogers

Gorgeous George

Jim Londos

Bruno Sammartino

Dusty Rhodes

Ric Flair

 

The first eight were the top draws of their respective decades. Londos drew HUGE crowds on multiple occasions during his run, in the midst of the Depression no less. Buddy Rogers drew 38,000 to Comiskey Park for his NWA Title win.

 

That's a decent list for the most part, but I question the inclusion of Dusty Rhodes. He drew really well for an extended period of time, but it was mostly as the foil to Ric Flair. If you are including him in this discussion, you'd have to include Vince McMahon and HHH as well, because I doubt Austin or Rock would have drawn all that money without their top rivals.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

That's a decent list for the most part, but I question the inclusion of Dusty Rhodes. He drew really well for an extended period of time, but it was mostly as the foil to Ric Flair. If you are including him in this discussion, you'd have to include Vince McMahon and HHH as well, because I doubt Austin or Rock would have drawn all that money without their top rivals.

 

Most wrestling fans remember Dusty from his NWA run with Flair in the mid-80s. The Dusty that feuded with Superstar Graham in the '70s was one of the most popular wrestlers in history, second at the time only to Andre the Giant.

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

Ah, Gorgeous George! My grandpa told me many stories of going to see Gorgeous George live back in the day.

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

Subsequently Steve Austin was considered the savior of the WWF and the ultimate draw of the Attitude era. How come ratings, attendance and PPV buys went up after he left and Rock/HHH started headlining? Once again, no one want to question Austin as a draw but what do the numbers say?

 

Besides WrestleMania and SummerSlam, I believe Backlash, Unforgiven and No Mercy drew the biggest buyrates in 2000. All three revolved around Austin in some way. Backlash was his one night return, Unforgiven was his big return and No Mercy was his first big match back. To add to this, and also to correct a previous poster who claimed Rock was involved in the highest rated wrestling segment ever, Dave Meltzer actually stated that Austin-Undertaker the night after KOTR '99 was the highest rated segment ever on Raw.

 

Rey is by far the biggest draw on SmackDown. Some of you just shouldn't bother replying...

[Hoff 0]

Dude, sources? I know a lot of people make claims like this, but if you're gonna say people shouldn't bother replying, you might want to back that up with something other than "Meltzer said." We've seen people just make up shit and attribute it to Da Meltz before.

 

I am curious as to what the ratings and buyrates were like with Rey as champ on SD. I know they have a high Latino demographic, but I had heard he wasn't all that successful. And of course, that could be due to a myriad of things, but it still speaks in theory to his drawing power.

[mysterious_w 0]

I always thought they screwed up Rey's run by making him look too weak. I mean, he was always going to be an underdog champ, but back to back losses against Khali and Henry was just horrible booking.

[Hoff 0]

I'm with you 100% on that. They seemingly tried to make Rey both champion and underdog. That's not a good combination, and it didn't work.

[JHawk 0]

If the losses to Khali and Henry would have led to something like title matches where Rey somehow found a way to win, that would have been one thing. But there was no follow-up.

[Guest robrabies]

The "This is your Life" segment focusing on the Rock drew the highest of any segment ever on Raw.

 

From Wiki:

 

The team was also involved in a segment which occurred on RAW called "This Is Your Life", in which Mankind brought out people from The Rock's past, such as his high school girlfriend and gym teacher. The segment is to this day the single highest rated segment in terms of viewership in RAW history.

[Hoff 0]

I could edit that Wiki entry to say that the Katie Vick segment is the highest rated in Raw's history. Wiki can be edited by anyone; for that reason, it's not necessarily reliable. I had always heard that "This is Your Life" was the highest-rated segment as well; I'm just saying not to put too much stock in Wikipedia.

 

Also, it's good to actually link to the article. Otherwise we have no way of knowing you didn't just make that up.

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

The "This is your Life" segment focusing on the Rock drew the highest of any segment ever on Raw.

 

From Wiki:

 

The team was also involved in a segment which occurred on RAW called "This Is Your Life", in which Mankind brought out people from The Rock's past, such as his high school girlfriend and gym teacher. The segment is to this day the single highest rated segment in terms of viewership in RAW history.

 

Yeah, that's the popular opinion, it's wrong. I read a Meltzer post on the wrestling classics board where he said it was actually Austin vs Taker the night after KOTR '99.

 

EDIT: link to Meltzer's post... http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbc...ic;f=3;t=000344

 

"Dave Meltzer

Member

Member # 2122

 

posted 01-07-2003 04:12 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rock-Foley this is your life did an 8.4. Austin vs. Undertaker did a 9.5. "

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

I am curious as to what the ratings and buyrates were like with Rey as champ on SD. I know they have a high Latino demographic, but I had heard he wasn't all that successful. And of course, that could be due to a myriad of things, but it still speaks in theory to his drawing power.

 

The buyrates went up, Judgment Day and a couple other PPV's did higher numbers than expected, and Rey's segments have almost always been the highest rated on SD since Eddie died. Just because he was poorly booked, doesn't mean he wasn't drawing.

[Guest robrabies]

I could edit that Wiki entry to say that the Katie Vick segment is the highest rated in Raw's history. Wiki can be edited by anyone; for that reason, it's not necessarily reliable. I had always heard that "This is Your Life" was the highest-rated segment as well; I'm just saying not to put too much stock in Wikipedia.

 

Also, it's good to actually link to the article. Otherwise we have no way of knowing you didn't just make that up.

 

You could edit it, and then you'd be tagged as a vandal, and they'd revert it back to the original state. They have page histories on Wiki that work pretty well. Yes, it is unreliable at times, but it is also correct more often than the Encyclopedia Brittanica, as confirmed by an in-depth study, and unlike many other webpages, the bullshit gets fixed quickly.

 

That's a cop out.

[Guest robrabies]

"Dave Meltzer" is full of shit:

 

Removed due to formatting...

 

Check out the graph @ The Wiki Page for the MNW.

Sources:

 

References

 

* Wrestling Information Archive

* Steve's World of Wrestling

* ProWrestling.com

 

He most likely mistook a 5.9 for a 9.5

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

References

 

* Wrestling Information Archive

* Steve's World of Wrestling

* ProWrestling.com

 

He most likely mistook a 5.9 for a 9.5

 

hahahaha

[Guest robrabies]

References

 

* Wrestling Information Archive

* Steve's World of Wrestling

* ProWrestling.com

 

He most likely mistook a 5.9 for a 9.5

 

hahahaha

 

IMBD: Bash this if you'd like:

 

# The highest rating to date that "Raw" has ever featured a 25-minute-long "This Is Your Life" segment with Mankind and The Rock. The segment received an 8.4 rating.

 

The only possible explanation that "Meltzer" could have was that it occurred during an overrun. I don't know if that's the case or not, but overruns are tricky things to tabulate, as you often have people tuning in for the next show as well. The Rock segment was indisputable, genuine RAW viewership.

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

References

 

* Wrestling Information Archive

* Steve's World of Wrestling

* ProWrestling.com

 

He most likely mistook a 5.9 for a 9.5

 

hahahaha

 

IMBD: Bash this if you'd like:

 

# The highest rating to date that "Raw" has ever featured a 25-minute-long "This Is Your Life" segment with Mankind and The Rock. The segment received an 8.4 rating.

 

The only possible explanation that "Meltzer" could have was that it occurred during an overrun. I don't know if that's the case or not, but overruns are tricky things to tabulate, as you often have people tuning in for the next show as well. The Rock segment was indisputable, genuine RAW viewership.

 

Even your buddies at wikipedia don't take IMDB seriously as a source of information. About wrestling anyway.

[Guest robrabies]

References

 

* Wrestling Information Archive

* Steve's World of Wrestling

* ProWrestling.com

 

He most likely mistook a 5.9 for a 9.5

 

hahahaha

 

IMBD: Bash this if you'd like:

 

# The highest rating to date that "Raw" has ever featured a 25-minute-long "This Is Your Life" segment with Mankind and The Rock. The segment received an 8.4 rating.

 

The only possible explanation that "Meltzer" could have was that it occurred during an overrun. I don't know if that's the case or not, but overruns are tricky things to tabulate, as you often have people tuning in for the next show as well. The Rock segment was indisputable, genuine RAW viewership.

 

Even your buddies at wikipedia don't take IMDB seriously as a source of information. About wrestling anyway.

 

Even if they didn't, it's just another source that reiterates the same thing that was said on the wiki page and countless other sources of information...unless of course you intentionally vandalized it to make your nonexistent point.

 

I've had enough of arguing with idiots for one day. Continue on believing "Dave Meltzer" because you want to. I'll let someone else bash you over the head with something logical and see if it sinks in.

 

Good day to you sir.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Re: The highest rated segment on Raw.

 

Undertaker's June 28, 1999 title loss to Steve Austin in Charlotte set a record that maybe be broken as the most watched segment on pro wrestling in cable history. The match drew a 9.49 rating and 17.1 share, being the only segment of a cable wrestling show to be viewed in 7 million homes and by 10,721,000 viewers.

 

Wrestling Observer Newsletter, August 23d 2004

[humanoid92 0]

I've always been under the assumption Taker vs. Austin did the highest rating ever because I remember it was a semi-big deal on the internet at the time. I could be wrong, and I don't have any links or statistics to back it up, but when Rock/Foley was first mentioned in this thread, my initial thought was, "Wait, I thought it was Taker vs. Austin."

 

Perhaps some of the confusion is stemming from the possibility that Taker vs. Austin is the highest rated actual match, whereas Rock and Foley "This is your life" is the highest rated promo or overall segment? Or perhaps Rock and Foley were the highest-rated quarter-hour and Taker vs. Austin was the highest-rated overrun? Or perhaps one of them had been the highest rated segment until the other came along and broke the record? I don't know, but these are possible reasons for the confusion. One thing is for sure though- they both got huge ratings. Taker vs. Austin definitely did way more than a 5.9, because I definitely remember it being a huge story that it did some gigantic rating.

 

Of course as far as this thread is concerned, none of it really matters anyway. I don't think TV ratings are enough to judge how many viewers any certain individual is responsible for "drawing."

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I remember a six-man, with Austin and Vince on one side and Shane and Undertaker on the other, did a 9.11.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I don't think TV ratings are enough to judge how many viewers any certain individual is responsible for "drawing."

For singular events, like the 'This Is Your Life' deal, that is correct, but when the matches and angles of a specific person are consistently getting big numbers, it's pretty hard to deny the effect they have in bringing in the viewers.

[RonL21 0]

Re: The highest rated segment on Raw.

 

Undertaker's June 28, 1999 title loss to Steve Austin in Charlotte set a record that maybe be broken as the most watched segment on pro wrestling in cable history. The match drew a 9.49 rating and 17.1 share, being the only segment of a cable wrestling show to be viewed in 7 million homes and by 10,721,000 viewers.

 

Wrestling Observer Newsletter, August 23d 2004

Ive never heard this before....But I have heard from many sources including the WWE that The This is your life segment was the highest rated segment in Raw history.....It's not the Taker/Austin isnt worth stating it as the highest rated...

[RonL21 0]

I've always been under the assumption Taker vs. Austin did the highest rating ever because I remember it was a semi-big deal on the internet at the time. I could be wrong, and I don't have any links or statistics to back it up, but when Rock/Foley was first mentioned in this thread, my initial thought was, "Wait, I thought it was Taker vs. Austin."

 

Perhaps some of the confusion is stemming from the possibility that Taker vs. Austin is the highest rated actual match, whereas Rock and Foley "This is your life" is the highest rated promo or overall segment? Or perhaps Rock and Foley were the highest-rated quarter-hour and Taker vs. Austin was the highest-rated overrun? Or perhaps one of them had been the highest rated segment until the other came along and broke the record? I don't know, but these are possible reasons for the confusion. One thing is for sure though- they both got huge ratings. Taker vs. Austin definitely did way more than a 5.9, because I definitely remember it being a huge story that it did some gigantic rating.

 

Of course as far as this thread is concerned, none of it really matters anyway. I don't think TV ratings are enough to judge how many viewers any certain individual is responsible for "drawing."

I would imagine that the reason for that high rating was the overrun...Im sure Rock/Foley was definetly the highest non-overrun segment..

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Re: The highest rated segment on Raw.

 

Undertaker's June 28, 1999 title loss to Steve Austin in Charlotte set a record that maybe be broken as the most watched segment on pro wrestling in cable history. The match drew a 9.49 rating and 17.1 share, being the only segment of a cable wrestling show to be viewed in 7 million homes and by 10,721,000 viewers.

 

Wrestling Observer Newsletter, August 23d 2004

Ive never heard this before....But I have heard from many sources including the WWE that The This is your life segment was the highest rated segment in Raw history.....It's not the Taker/Austin isnt worth stating it as the highest rated...if it was im sure more people wouldve heard about it being such

 

It's not like the Observer has never been wrong....I remember vividly the This is your LIfe segment...I dont' remember at all Taker/Austin..But that's just me..

It's not like WWE hasn't played loose with the numbers, either.

 

The "This is Your..." deal was the highest rated non-match, but the Austin/Undertaker deal was both the highest rated match and the highest rated segment.