Maybe none of those who currently read my blog are fans of professional wrestling. But I've been thinking a long time about making a 'Top 10 List'. I thought of Top 10 movies of 2008, but I haven't even watched many movies like Ghajini and really couldn't comment on that.
So, here it is. My list of the Top 10 Greatest Wrestlers of all times. What is the basis of this list? The single most important factor was influence on the game. I'll enumerate my other criteria for the list:
(1) Longevity
(2) Wrestling Skills
(3) Audience Response
#1: Shawn Michaels
If WWE is your temple, Shawn Michaels is definitely your God. He worked his way up the WWE ladder since debuting in the late 1980s and his DX ushered in the WWE's Attitude Era. His mat skills are unbelievable and his mike skills legendary.
You can just wonder at his influence. Triple H and Chyna are just some of the people he got to the WWE. He also participated in the first Ladder Match and won the first elimination chamber and the first Hell in a Cell. If you love to hate Vince McMahon, thank HBK for that. He has been involved in by far the most intense rivalry sports entertainment has even seen with Bret Hart. If he calls himself the "show stopper" its not for nothing. He's the only wrestler to have posed for Playgirl. Long after he's gone and till the day WWE continues, Shawn Michaels will continue to be on top of my list.
#2: Hulk Hogan
I've always thought of Hulk Hogan as overrated. His wretling skills would be among the worst in this list. But he scores on longevity and audience connect. He's the only symbol of professional wrestling in the US. He's the American Hero. And he's a sort of legend. As a ch
ild, I didn't know who exactly Hulk Hogan was, but I knew he was some kind of super-hero.
He's a 12-time champion. His championship reign was the second-longest in WWE history. He slammed Andre the Giant in what will be the best match of the 1980s. After he left WWE (then WWF), Hulk Hogan has been a less of a star. I wasn't really impressed with the NWO thing. But you got to hand it over to him to be equally successful in WWE and WCW. I guess he's just a bigger brand than what either ever was. So, for being the most famous wrestler and the most dominant WWE champion, Hulkamania is on this list too.
#3: The Undertaker
Undoubtedly the greatest gimmick of all time, the cultural influence of the Undertaker would rank next only to Hulk Hogan. Even before I got hooked to pro wrestling, the Undertaker was one of the only three wrestlers I knew, apart from Hogan and Michaels.
The guy's storyline has been developed really well by the WWE creative team. Almost all of WWE's speciality matches - hell in a cell, inferno, casket and the unforgettable buried alive - trace their roots to the Undertaker. He's been such a star attraction that he's never wrestled in the midcard (he has never even held a mid-level championship).
Mark Callaway's contribution to the Undertaker's character is no less. He's had the persona to carry off the larger-than-life wrestler and still make it believable. Even in wrestling skills, the Undertaker scores heavily with as many as four main finishers at last count. If there was ever a perfect wrestler, it is the Undertaker. (p.s. my blog's name, Funeral Parlor, was the Undertaker's chat show early on in WWE)
#4: 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin
He's the man who almost single-handedly saved WWE in the late 1990s. With Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart gone and Triple H and the Rock still to come to the top-card, Steve Austin ate lustfully into the 'big boss' Vince McMahon to carve an indellible legacy for wrestling fans to forever remember.
He might not be known as much for his mat skills, but they were undoubtedly the best among the WWE wrestlers of the late 1990s. What I remember best about him was his legendary rivalry with the Undertaker. WWE kind of lost the script post-2000. But for all hell that Steve Austin raised with the Rock, Bret Hart, Undertaker and Kane, he's right up here in the list.
#5: Bret 'The Hitman' Hart
He's arguably the most gifted wrestler of all times. He headlined WWE at a time when the company was going through turmoil and he left the company in times of turmoil. Had Goldberg not kicked him into retirement, we would all have been hoping for an encore from the 'best there was, the best there is and the best there will ever be'.
For me, his career's biggest highlight will be that such was his start power and so solid was his reputation that WCW made Goldberg lost thrice to him, out of the six matches that Goldberg ever lost in WCW. I haven't ever since the guy wrestler, but his records, his conduct and his legacy are so imprinted on any pro wrestling fan's mind that its hard to forget the contribution fo the Hitman.
#6: Mick Foley/Mankind/Cactus Jack/Dude Love
He's the hardcore legend and easily the most lovable wretler of all times. He's torn an ear while caught in the ropes, got teeth knocked out, fallen over 16 feet from over the cell. If you are talking about "shocking", here is your man.
So brutal was his career and so violent his matches that he retired in 2000. He's made Extreme wrestling enormously popular in the sport. He is almost a terrible athlete, but that is not what he was meant to be, anyway. His matches with Vader were so violent that they were never booked in a match again. Today's wrestling owes almost everything to Mick Foley.
You can't think of today's wrestling without hardcore. And when you think of hardcore, you can't miss Mick Foley. And that is why he makes it here in the list.
#7: Ric Flair
Professional wrestling is going global and that is the reason why Ric Flair is not on top of the list. True, he's a superb athlete and perhaps the best heel of all times, but his influence has been limited to America. He's not the most easily recognisable superstars abroad.
But he's a 16-time champion, a Royal Rumble winner and won his first Intercontinental Championship almost 20 years after his prime. You have to respect the man for wrestling at the age that he did. You also got to put him in your all-time best list for inspiring a generation of would-be wrestlers.
In stature, he's next only to the Hulkster. And in influence, maybe next to none. He'll forever be the greatest wretler that the US ever saw. Wrestling will forever be synonymous with Ric Flair in America. Woooo....
#8: John Cena
You can love him, you can hate him (I don't like him either), but you just cannot ignore him. Most of you would say that I've contradicted my own criterion of 'longevity' to rank John Cena, but had it not been for longevity, he might have been higher than at No.8.
He's achieved so much in such a short time. He's the longest reigning WWE Champion since Diesel in the mid-1990s. He's been the biggest star of WWE for almost three years now. Its so hard to see John Cena without the WWE championship around his waist.
He's also enormously talented. He's powerful. He's a mix between Hogan and Michaels and that's why I'm sure that by the time he retires, Cena would be in my Top 3. The question is - who'll be out?
#9: Chyna
I expect almosteveryone to disagree on this name on my list. But you have to be reasonable.What she's achieved is no mean thing. She is the first and only woman to participate in the Royal Rumble (and eliminated, hold your breath, Mark Henry and Chris Jericho), the first to be the number one contender for the WWE championship and the first to win the Intercontinental Championship (that too, twice!!).
There were legends in women wrestling before her. But she's the one who competed on an equal footing with the boys. She went one-on-one with Chris Jericho, Eddie Gurrero and Jeff Jarett. Before her, men had to be paid to lose to women. But after her, women like Beth Phoenix and the Awesome Kong have defeated men without much of a fuss over it.
And the best part is that its not even fake. X-Pac had to run to the police because Chyna beat him up so bad in real life. Had her career not been cut short by WWE, Chyna would easily have been in the Top 5 in my list. Nevertheless, for giving an all new dimension to Women Professional Wrestling, the "ninth wonder of the world" is number nine on my list.
#10: The Big Show
The Big Show probably should not be in this list. For most of you, Andre the Giant should be the only 'Giant' who should be in any Top-10 list. But I have no doubt that if reservation exists for 'Giants', the Big Show should occupy it.
He's more skilled than Andre. When was the last time a wrestler had only a punch as a finisher? The guy learnt boxing while he was away for a year. He's a much better athlete than Yokozuna and Rikishi (he lost 50 pounds while Yoko and Kishi were fired for not losing weight). He's far better at the audience than Khali or Giant Gonzales. And the most important fact is that he's the only guy ever to hold the WWE, WCW and ECW titles (the ECW, though, was as a WWE brand). He probably won't leave much of an influence when he retires, but he's given world wrestling some very memorable moments and is the most decorated giant of all times. For this, and for his ability to excite the crowd, the Big Show rounds off my list of the Top 10 of the Modern Era.
More Awards:
(1) Best Announcer: John Bradshaw Layfield
He made up for his lack of skills in the ring while behind the mike.
(2) Best General Manager: Vickie Guerrero
She's made Smackdown better than RAW.
(3) Best Stable: NWO
The NWO had all start and all storylines.
Notable Omissions:
(1) The Rock: I would definitely have put The Rock on this list had I had just one more place. But maybe The Rock, by choosing Hollywood over Wrestling put brakes on a wonderful career.
(2) Edge: He's won over 40 championships, but the WWE has made him seem a very weak champion. They could have done better. Maybe if he turns face sometime soon, he'll be in the list.
(3) Kane: He's my personal favourite, but WWE has almost ruined his career. At his peak, he eliminated 11 men from the Royal Rumble. If Undertaker is No.3 on my list, he owes a lot of it to Kane.
(4) Kurt Angle: He's a far better wrestler than several people on my list and his rivalry with Lesnar is the stuff of legends. But he wasn't just in the top 10.
