good thoughts. yes wwf messed up a lot of great performers with goofy gimmicks. if i had to list my top 10 wrestlers, taking into account in ring ability and mic skills i'd say 1 shawn michaels 2 ric flair 3 bret hart 4 aj styles 5 chris jericho 6 undertaker 7 samoa joe 8 ricky steamboat 9 christopher daniels 10 rvd i wish i could add harley race or dusty rhodes on there but the in ring skill is a little bit lacking even though if i listed my top 10 favorite matches ever they would both make the list
I wouldn't say he was my favorite, but in my 45 years of following the "sport", I'd have to go with Shawn Michaels as the best performer as well. Best match? Hate to be cliched, but I loved Savage-Steamboat at WM3 while I was watching it live (on TV that is), and after many viewings that has never changed. Savage was my favorite wrestler throughout that great WWF run, before the king gimmick and WCW.
All time greatest? Shawn Michaels My personal favorite wrestlers were Bob Backlund, Bret Hart, David Von Erich, Shawn Michaels, and when I was a kid in the '80s I was a Hulkamaniac.
I go back a little farther than most here: 1. Buddy Rogers - The real Nature Boy 2. The Crusher 3. Dick The Bruiser 4. Wilbur Snyder 5. Fritz Von Eric - I've been giving my younger siblings, my kids and now grandchildren The Claw (stomach version) since I saw FVE at the Milwaukee Auditorium in the '60's. The Claw has never been broken!!!! 6. Argentina Rocca
if I had to list my 10 favorite matches I'd say in no particular order -aj styles vs the fallen angel vs samoa joe unbreakable 2005 -ric flair vs harley race starrcade 1983 -shawn michaels vs kurt angle wrestlemania XIX -shawn michaels vs the undertaker wrestlemania XXVI -ric fair vs ricky steamboat clash of the champions VI -RVD vs jerry lynn hardcore heaven 1999 -Harley race vs dusty rhodes 8/21/79 -shawn michaels vs razor ramon wrestlemani x -shawn michaels vs kurt angle wrestlemania XXI -ric flair vs dusty rhodes great American bash 1986 those are the ones that spring to mind easily. I could name a ton more flair and michaels matches. greatest feuds ever -ric flair vs ricky steamboat -ric flair vs dusty Rhodes -RVD vs jerry lynn -ric flair vs lex luger -aj styles vs the fallen angel -shawn michaels vs bret hart
WWE Network did a "Table for Three" with Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels and AJ Styles. Nash and Styles, of course, know each other from TNA. Michaels and Styles started talking about the match between them that was offered to Michaels for the last WM, and you could see the wheels turning in both their heads - visualizing how they would have put together the match that never was.
Is anybody following New Japan? They are en fuego right now and putting on some amazing shows. Also, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks are killing it if you get to see them.
Yeah, it's weird to see them blowing up so huge in the last year or so, but it's also interesting to see that people have options outside of WWE now.
shame that couldn't happen. WWE wasted too much time bringing in these great young wrestlers. aj styles, samoa joe, kevin steen, tyler black, bryan danielson, booby roode, cesaro, finn balor, michael bennet, bobby fish, roderick strong and several others were brought in years after they were at their physical peak and the fans aren't seeing these guys at the height of their powers. heck several of those guys had several tryout matches for wwe and never got signed and even a few worked for wwe for a handful of years before being released from the developmental territories and came back years later
Ric Flair has been hospitalized... at first his management minimized it saying it was 'routine'... now it looks like things might be a bit dire... ‘We need prayers’: Wrestling legend Ric Flair admitted to hospital
Come on, Naitch! Kick out! A lot of my misspent youth centered around Flair and the Four Horsemen. Here's hoping he can bounce back from this!
Flair was at Pensacon in Pensacola back in the spring. The line to see him was way too long. I wish I'd seen him.
I brought my 7 year old son to a WWE live event Saturday night. He get's a kick out of Braun Strowman. It actually was pretty entertaining. He saw some of his favorites, and I saw some I didn't expect, like Goldust, Hardy Boys. It also wasn't unpleasant seeing Emma and Alexa Bliss. Not bad eye candy. Overall a fun evening out.
wwe draws things that aren't entertaining out too long now and then seem to randomly throw 2 people into matches if they have nothing to do with their characters
As for greatest of all time, I came up with a system to rate wrestlers. I like to look at 3 categories: Presence - how unique is the look and persona of the wrestler. Mic skills - how good they are at promos and in ring interviews. Ring work - how good of a show do they put on, a great finishing move, acrobatic skill, technicians. A lot of different ways to score points here. I currently hold The Macho Man Randy Savage as the greatest ever using this criteria. Presence - 8/10 (nickname, outfits, sunglasses and hat, entry music, Miss Elizabeth) Mic skills - 10/10 (Just watch the "cream of the crop" promo if you doubt it) Ring work - 9/10 (read an article sometime on how he put together the Steamboat match, the energy, athleticism, flying elbow drop for a finisher) Maybe you guys could rate a favorite or all-time great with this scale. Maybe you disagree with my rating of The Macho Man
I love the macho man but part of the reason he didn't make my top 10 was because the industry seemed to pass him by a bit. its like HHH to me. the hung on too long to things that had passed. their movesets didn't expand as wrestling changed and the matches started to depend on how great the opponent was. ric flair had a bigger moveset and seemed to change a bit more. he had a feud with mach man in the mid 90's wcw and to me flair was carrying a lot of the matches
What? You say that like it's a bad thing, but if you could get them to consistently have matches between TWO people, that'd be swell.