Madison Square Brunettes is sold out: the best five US pro-wrestlers by decade
Submitted by cramoukji on Mon, 03/28/2005 - 11:37
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- 50's:
- Gorgeous George (one of the very first wrestlers to play a completely fictitious character, was therefore a huge TV star)
- Lou Thesz (one of the most celebrated technical wrestlers, many times NWA champion, career spanned five decades as he had his last match in 1993)
- Antonino Rocca (the innovator of the dropkick and many other aerial moves, plus being one of the first ethnic superstars)
- The Sheik (incredibly violent rulebreaker popularized the use of foreign objects and had drawing power all over the world)
- Bobo Brazil (the very first massively popular african-american athlete in any sports)
- 60's:
- Buddy Rogers (first WWWF (now WWE) champion and then a former NWA champion as well, created the character later imitated by Ric Flair, Buddy Landell and others)
- Bruno Sammartino (the biggest star of the 60's, the biggest italian-american star of his time and the longest-reigning WWWF champion in history)
- Killer Kowalski (one of the most sadistic rulebreakers ever, famous for ripping off the ear of opponent Yukon Eric during a match, now famous for his training Triple H, Chyna and others)
- Edouard Carpentier (the biggest french-canadian wrestler in history, sold out Madison Square Garden many times as a good guy)
- Dory Funk, jr. (has probably trained more current stars than any other veteran, highly respected for his many NWA titles, including World Champion)
- 70's:
- André The Giant (the eighth wonder of the world was the biggest (in all meanings of the term) attraction of the decade and remained in the spotlight until his death in 1993)
- Superstar Billy Graham (the creator of the musclebound californian character later imitated by Jesse Ventura and ripped-off by Hulk Hogan)
- Harley Race (highly disliked rulebreaker was able of brawling, wrestling technically and also took to the air once in a while, a former 8-time NWA champion)
- Pedro Morales (the biggest puerto-rican superstar in history, the first wrestler to hold all of the WWF's titles of the time: world champ, intercontinental champ and tag-team champ)
- Nick Bockwinckle (multiple-time AWA champion and basically the heart and soul of that federation which was the 3rd organization in importance in the US until it folded in 1991)
- 80's:
- Ric Flair (still going strong on WWE TV, this legend gathered more accolades, titles and awards than any other wrestler in history)
- Jimmy Snuka (this fidji native was a precursor of the modern aerial style and was the first to execute many high-flying moves in the US)
- Roddy Piper (the man you love to hate not only was the biggest villain of the "rock 'n' wrestling" era but was also one of the first to successfully branch out to other fields of entertainment)
- Jake Roberts (underrated and usually overlooked, Jake popularized the use of animals and had a very sharp mind about the art of wrestling as a whole)
- The Dynamite Kid (this british native found success on at least three continents and his intense and explosive style, a mix of brawling and aerial tactics was a major influence on many current stars)
- 90's:
- Hollywood Hogan (it can be argued whether Hogan had a better decade in the 80's but his move from WWF to WCW and his role in the NWO changed the wrestling landscape in the 90's)
- Bret Hart (critics remain divided about this former WWF world champion but history will not forget the integrity and technical prowess he brought to the ring)
- Shawn Michaels (highly controversial figure who is a master of the game inside the ring as well as outside and had many title reigns in WWE)
- Steve Austin (really blossomed late in the decade but has left an impact that is still having consequences now)
- Mick Foley (everyone loves a success story and they don't come any better and uplifting than Cactus Jack's/Mankind's/Dude Love's)
- 00's:
- Kurt Angle (incredibly turned a gold-medal career in sports-oriented olympic wrestling into a gold-reaping career in entertainment-oriented pro-wrestling)
- Chris Benoit (respected by everyone, this canadian had international success for two decades now and truly deserved his reigns as WCW and WWE champion)
- Eddie Guerrero (this mexican-american has a style and a career path comparable to Chris Benoit, but he also fought life-threatening "personal demons" for years -how his premature death in november 2005 shook the wrestling community is a testament to his value both inside and outside the ring)
- Rey Misterio, jr. (this mexican daredevil might just be the best high-flyer ever)
- Triple H (whether you like him or not doesn't matter, mister H is here to stay and is slowly building a legacy that will secure his place in wrestling history)
Author Comments:
This is necessarily fodder for discussion and controversy as it is impossible to marrow down any decade to just five wrestlers, even if only taking into account wrestlers who made most of their career inside the United States. This list is open to valid arguments and will be changed accordingly. I expect the most recent decades to elicit the most passionate debates, that is if anyone on Listology cares about pro-wrestling.
Another list begging for photo linkage. :-)
Well, I don't think seeing pictures of these guys will tell you much about them, their accomplishments and their contributions to "the art" if you have never had any interest in pro-wrestling. But adding short comments as to why I selected them in my list would be much more useful, so I'll do that.
hi mate, lets talk wrestling!
André The Giant
- what a legend. it was a shame that towards the end of his life, he couldn't be used more than maybe he would of wanted andthe fans would of wanted him to be. he would walk around on crutches towards the end and be a manager. he was such a good one at displaying fear in the ring.
Ric Flair
- got to say i've never liked Ric. he said some things about foley in real life that were just going to far, i find him very arrogant. but he does sell well.
did you ever see beyond the mat? its an amazing wrestling film.
my favourites here though are: Mick Foley and Kurt Angle it really amazes me how well Kurt took to wrestling but more to the point, how he took to the MIC and to the character building. i think that he is one of the best success storys within wrestling. and this is a guy who used to hate "Pro Wrestling" did you hear the story of when he went to an ecw houseshow and say Raven on that cross thing? that really made him angry yet now he is one of the best ever. and again he has the skills in the ring but he has the character skill which in my view is unmatched. That brings me to the legend Mick Foley. what a guy! he's probably the best fan favourite / anti hero wrestling has ever had. my favourite of his characters is cactus jack but i really enjoyed when he was GM with regal, that was a laugh. his best match in my view was Vs Triple H at RR2000 or Shawn at Mind games
whats your views on Mick and Kurt? did you watch ECW, i'm guessing you did
great list, i'll be comming back here to chat more wrestlin'!
I didn't have many opportunities here in Belgium to see ECW, I only saw a couple of PPVs from 98 and 99 but I must say the product was impressive and I can't wait to watch the recently released "Rise and fall" DVD, I've had it for a month now but I have to catch up on 2003 WWE PPVs first... switching to DVD gave me lots of opportunity to catch up on the wrestling I didn't see in 2001-2002-2003. Yes, Flair's comments about Foley were uncalled for but they were much less agressive than Flair's comments about Bret Hart. After all, Foley did build his career on high-risk and health-threatening bumps and if he had been a stupid/illiterate/uneducated man he certainly never would have become such a big star with a lasting impact (an impact very much due to his great and compelling books). My favorite Foley match would be the Streetfight at Royal Rumble 2000 but the tag match from WCW in the 90's (Cactus Jack&Maxx Payne vs. Nasty Boys) that you can find on the Foley retrospective DVD is great stuff and probably second in my opinion. Mind Games was a bit too much of Michaels and Foley doing their stuff very well and to the max but not enough in coordination to reach a strong, crisp, storytelling match.
Which brings me to Angle... If Kurt can shake off the neck injuries and remain in the sport for a while, possibly five to ten more years, he will definitely join the top tier of legendary figures of pro-wrestling. Now, my opinion of the ECW incident you refer to (the Raven crucifixion) is that Angle, being a guy with strong christian values, was more offended by the depictment of crucifixion rather than pro-wrestling in general (ECW never ever was "pro-wrestling in general" anyway). And so far I can't pick a favourite Kurt match because he also has what I would call the "anti-Hogan factor" meaning unlike the comeback-big boot-bodyslam-legdrop of doom routine of the Hulkster that you knew you would always get in any match, Angle's matches really are different regarding what opponent he faces and I believe it's really time to get one more long-drawn Angle-Undertaker feud before the Dead Man retires for good (which couldn't be long now).
Well, those were my thoughts for today.
Who's your very absolutely favorite wrestler of all time by the way ?
I have seen Beyond the Mat many times and I am drawn close to tears everytime the documentary focuses back on Jake Roberts. Yes, Jake The Snake was my childhood wrestling hero and he's become such a disgrace these days it makes me very sad.
great comments. i agree that its great that dvds allow you to catch up on ppvs. i remember i bought a set of themed ECW dvds, they were random matches tied together by a ppv. like one match from a ppv in 93 then another from same ppv but in another year. i only have 2 wwe dvds though. WWE Wrestlemania 20 (which actually i thought was a poor ppv) and wrestlemania 18. my favourite wrestlemania was WM17. though i have rented many many through the past. i taped all ppvs from dec00 - Jan05 off tv, so i've got a shoe box or two of tapes!! as the ppvs last year i thought Backlash and summerslam were outstanding! JBL vs Taker was a nice suprise, better than i thought it would be. As for favourite wrestler it would have to be Mick foley. fo a few reasons:
1. what he did in the ring
2. His general personality
3. Because even when in character he comes oof as very real, a nice person
but some of my other favourites include Sabu, Doink The clown (lol - he was good!) Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle. i'm not a big fan of HHH mainly due to the fact that he seems to be the only one on raw! its alll about him and that is really annoying! he seems to the champion all the time, let someone else have a go for a chance!
I understand how annoying it can seem but that's the whole point of Triple H being so dominant, it makes other title reigns seem really exciting, it's basically a blueprint of what Ric Flair did in the NWA in the 80's... When Dusty Rhodes, Kerry Von Erich, Ronnie Garvin, Rick Steamboat and Sting all first won the title from Flair it was big news and a big deal because Flair had made it seem like he would never relinquish the belt, at least not without putting up a good fight for it... and Triple H is doing the same thing, the recent reigns of Randy Orton, Batista and especially Chris Benoit have been terrific because they had to beat Triple H for the belt.
I understand your feelings about Mick Foley, he comes across as a very decent human being and he more than likely probably is but let's all be honest for a second, what he did in the ring he was the only one doing it in the US at the time (in major federations at least) but was that "wrestling"? No, not quite I'm afraid... I enjoy Mick's matches but if he had followed a different path he would still be wrestling today and maybe he wouldn't be such a cult figure but he would have at least five more years of a career under his belt. Your favoritizing Sabu probably stems from the same reasons you like Foley and well, Sabu is much worse off these days than Mick will ever be... what I am trying to say is that I believe there is a limit to what pro-wrestling entertainment should be... Benoit delivering a vicious headbutt from the top rope is perfectly ok, Foley rolling around in thumbtacks after falling fifteen feet from the top of Hell in a Cell is much more debatable. I have similar feelings about the pure entertainment side of things... Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie or Chuck and Billy evoking homosexual relationships is fine, Triple H screwing a corpse is a bit too much, even for me (and remember I am no stranger to horrifying and disgusting content and images. The problem is that whether fans have become more aware of kay-fabe or whatever, the premise of pro-wrestling remains to blur the line between reality and fiction, whereas movies are 100% fiction. So writers and performers in pro-wrestling need a little extra caution dealing with some subjects (especially in the always-PC USA), suggesting witchcraft and human sacrifice (as in the 99 Ministry storyline) can be entertaining for everyone but staging a mock crucifixion (as in the ECW incident you mentioned earlier that infuriated Kurt Angle) is bound to offend christian and believers. And beyond any creed and religion, there always is a limit between good taste and bad taste. I am all in favor of that limit being the furthest away possible but it gets crossed once in a while, and when writers and performers cross that limit on purpose, then I consider that there is a problem.
Anyway, Sabu shortened his life of many years with his repeated smashing of tables and other daredevil insane tricks, I'm not convinced it was worth it at all.
Sometimes I long for the days of my childhood when I watched wrestling and never worried about anything but what was shown in character and in storylines. I grew up with WWF programming as you know and in my small part of Europe we didn't have access to any other american wrestling except WWF so I had this incredible idea that the best wrestlers in the world all were in WWF and that there was only about thirty wrestlers worth caring about... oh, and before you ask, no I never cared about Hogan...
I'm surprised you don't include RVD in your faves.
Totally agrree about the entertainment side of things being pushed too far. i agree that the Benoit / Ortan / hhh period was good. but i do hope that now Batista has the belt, they will try and phase HHH out of the picture title wise.
As for your question about RVD. yeah i do like him. when he was ECW, great. When he first came to WWE witin that whole ECW / WCW invasion stage, great. But since he was drafted to smackdown, they just don't know how to use him. they pair him with random people in tag matches where he can't reach his full ability. if they use him better then sure but they don't, its a shame.
The debate has been going strong for years now about RVD... I am afraid the guy is simply not very good on the microphone and he has a history of hurting his opponents by missing moves... and once more no matter if you like him or not but Triple H will always be in the title picture, at the risk of repeating myself, he is building himself a career comparable to Ric Flair's and there is no way, especially with his intimate connections to the McMahon family, that Hunter will be away from the belt for more than three or four months at a time at the very most.
With Hogan inducted in the Hall of Fame and therefore back on speaking terms with McMahon, do you think he will come back to competition and have that one last bye-bye big feud in WWE ? I can't see what old score could be settled but hey, "anything can happen in WWE".
Whats your views on Carlito? i quite enjoy his matches, i think he has a strong character that could be one of the great heels in time. He reminds me of a mix between Cena and Christian. Speaking of Christian, it's about time he got a push in the wrestling world. he's one of the best they have, and his ability to paly heel is second to none (well maybe Kurt & Trips) I think we have a great wave of new people now, people like Chris Masters, Carlito, Jordan, Eugene and Ken Kennedy that with time could rise to high status, Cena did. I just saw Masters Vs shawn at unforgiven and it was uotstanding i think this whole masterlock thing he has going is brilliant for him. your thoughts?
Well, as stated earlier, I only have access to Sunday Night Heat here on belgian TV and I don't have anymore because it's on a cable channel and we don't have cable in our new apartment... so for all these reasons, I'd be hard pressed to pass judgment on Carlito because I have never seen him wrestle yet... All I can say right now is that I hope WWE Creative doesn't play the racial card too much with him... As for Masters, I have only seen a few of his Masterlock challenges and apart from bringing up memories of Hercules Hernandez circa 1986 they didn't do much for me... But I'm glad all these newcomers can inject freshness and new interest in the product... I personally have been so turned off by the work rate from WWE lately that I started following local independent wrestling and I can only urge everyone to do so... especially in britain where you have lots of opportunities with FWA, NWA-UK and lots of other upcoming feds and mostly extremely talented guys of international level and stature like Anarchist Doug Williams, Wonderkid Jonny Storm, Phoenix Jody Fleisch who came back from retirement and others... But please, do not hesitate to feed me your thoughts on the WWE product... They're always more than welcome and who knows your enthusiasm could bring me back to McMahonland...
Yeah, independent is looking good these days. I caught ROH, thats meant to be a very well respected group. Actually, i watched a show on the Wrestling Channel (Channel shows entirely independent). They had this show in what looked like a town hall or youth centre in front of no more than 100, but...Mick Foley was there!! really. I guess maybe he wanted to do wrestling but didn't want it to affect his career as an Author, so he kept it low key. It was god though because it showed him backstage, they had built a proper hook for him, storyline and everything. Also been Watch Irishwhip Wrestling. Never seen FWA Or NWA-UK but i'll be sure to check them out now, along with some of the wrestlers you mentioned. The great thing about independent is they take more risks, they don't get caught pu in pathetic storylines, which WWE do on a VERY regular basis. vince Actually told Cruiserweights to "tone Down" their style! first he got rid of hardcore belt now he's trying to take all the fun!
Yes, ROH is cutting edge... You british people are so lucky having the Wrestling channel... if I had access to it, there's no doubt the rest of my social life would immediately suffer LOL... Mick was at the International Showdown supercard held in march in Coventry... you can easily purchase that DVD from the website of the wrestling channel... try here
what was your reaction to eddie Guerro's Death? i'm guessing you've heard. Wrestling has lost a legend. It's a real shame
It's a real tragedy because Eddie had fought so much (and eventually won) against lethal addictions in the past and add to that his near-fatal car crash years back, and the least way I'd have expected Eddie to pass away is like this, his heart failing him in his sleep, as he was about to celebrate four years of clean living (he had obviously quit drugs but also didn't consume any alcohol anymore) with his family... So yes, on the personal level of things, it's a very painful and unfair death... on the professional side, the passing of Eddie Guerrero is one of the hugest losses because he was still surfing on the top of the wave he'd reached at No Mercy 2004 and without a doubt he still had lots of great matches in him...