I’m going to be starting a new weekly Top 10 column that will feature a Top 10 that involves pro wrestling. This is just another column I will be doing weekly and does not mean this is the only column I will be doing.  For my first try, I decided to do something big and special. I decided to do the Top 10 Pro Wrestlers of All-Time.

This is something that almost everyone has an opinion on and is a very controversial topic. You need to realize, this isn’t everyone on WZRRadio.com’s opinion. This is strictly my opinion.

I based different factors into choosing the list. First off, I’m not going back before the 80’s and choosing rarely unknown wrestlers that today’s audience would not relate to. I am only choosing wrestlers from the top American promotions such as WWE/WWF, WCW, NWA, and TNA. I’m not counting top Mexican or Asian wrestlers that wrestle in another country that none of the majority of the United States wrestling fans relates to.

I am combining factors of wrestling ability, mic/promo ability, crowd reaction, helped change wrestling in a positive way, and was the top guys in wrestling during their respective time. Here it is, please feel free to bash me or praise me on the bottom. I would love to hear your comments, so please comment. Let’s get to the list.

10. The Ultimate Warrior 

-WWF/WWE: 1986-1991, 1992, 1996; WCW: 1998-1999

-WWF/WWE Champion, WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champion (2)

This may be one of the most controversial wrestlers on the list but I believe he is worthy of the 10 spot. The Warrior broke onto the scene in the WWF back in the mid-late 80’s. He was an instant hit with the fans. He was an intriguing guy. He had a unique entrance. He would run to the ring at blazing speed and would shake the ropes upon entering the squared circle. He was someone that was a definite fan favorite. Along with his entrance, he had a unique appearance to match. He had long wild flowing hair with a muscular body. The most recognizable thing about Warrior was his colorful attire and trademark face paint. He may have gotten the biggest pop in wrestling history every time his well known music hit. He could really get the crowd behind him more than possibly any superstar I have ever seen. He was a special guy that doesn’t come around very often. He could have been much higher on this list if not for his selfishness behind the scenes and was more committed to the business. He was not the most physically gifted wrestler inside the ring and usually needed the help of a great in ring competitor to help him throughout matches. He could never have a great match by himself; he needed someone to carry him. His return to WCW also tarnished his legacy a bit with a pair of horrible matches while engaged in a horrible angle with Hulk Hogan. He also would deliver some terrible promos where he would just ramble on and on. Just the reaction he received from the crowd was enough to put him on this list.

9. Triple H (Hunter Hearst Helmsley)

-WCW: 1994-1995; WWF/WWE: 1995-Present

-WWF/WWE Champion (7), World Champion (5), WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champion (5), WWF/WWE European Champion (2), WWF/WWE Tag Team Champion, 1997 King of the Ring

Triple H is one of the most popular stars in WWE history. Right now, he is currently the WWE Champion. Triple H has been at the lowest of the WWE ranking as a low card jobber with a gimmick as a snotty Connecticut blueblood. He even jobbed to the Ultimate Warrior in his return at a Wrestlemania. He was embarrassed on the biggest stage in the business, jobbing to the Ultimate Warrior in a minute. It had to be tough for him to be friends with stars like Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall. They were all the three biggest stars in the industry at the time and Hunter was a nothing more than a low card performer. Finally he was on his way to stardom until the infamous “Madison Square Garden Incident” where Hunter broke character along with Shawn Michaels to have a goodbye to the departing Hall and Nash to WCW. Hunter was scheduled to win the 1996 King of the Ring and be a title contender but after the incident, he was still stuck jobbing to the stars. Although he missed out, his moment came winning the Intercontinental title. He was given a women bodyguard name Chyna and started a faction with Shawn Michaels, D-Generation X. It would be the turning point in his career. After Shawn Michaels left, Triple H was the new leader of DX and was a top star in the WWE. The championships starting coming soon after. It has really been a true rags to riches story from him being the lowest of jobbers to eventually becoming a World Champion and one of the top stars in the business. He would be hire on the list except, much of his success is mostly due to the fact he was dating the boss’s, Vince McMahon’s, daughter, Stephanie McMahon. The thing that has made him so successful is that he has been able to portray a heel or face at an extremely high level.

8. Bret “The Hitman” Hart

-WWF/WWE: 1986-1997; WCW: 1997-2000

-2006 WWE Hall of Famer, WWF/WWE Champion (5), WCW World Champion (2), WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champion (2), WCW United States Champion (4), WWF/WWE Tag Team Champion (2), WCW Tag Team Champion, 1991 & 1993 King of the Ring

Bret Hart was a great wrestler inside the squared circle with a ton of charisma that helped take him over the top. He had arguably some of the greatest wrestling matches of all-time as a singles competitor and was apart of one of the greatest tag teams of all-time. He started out in the WWE in the 80’s as part of a very successful tag team with Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart known as the Hart Foundation. They were a very popular tag team and got over with the fans whether they were heels or faces. His first big moment came when he defeated “Rowdy” Roddy Piper for the Intercontinental title at Wrestlemania VIII. He would then go on to have an outstanding Intercontinental title match against “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith. Although he lost the championship, it was a classic match and was the turning point in his career because it propelled him into WWF World Heavyweight Championship contention. He won his first ever championship against “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. He would then go on and exchange the title at various Wrestlemanias with Yokozuna. Bret Hart would be champion throughout most of his run in WWE. He helped introduce his brother into the picture, the late Owen Hart, and had some classic matches with him. Later in Hart’s WWE career, he would go on and turn heel. He became the leader of a new Hart Foundation which evolved into a stable rather than his previous tag team. Under Bret’s leadership, the Hart Foundation became one of the most hated stables in WWE history. They got some of the loudest negative reactions in history. Bret’s most pressing reason for being on the list is that he took the whole wrestling industry into a post-Hulkamania era. That was an amazing feat considering how over Hulk has always been with the fans. He isn’t higher on the list for his ridiculous WCW stint where he took more money to jump ship and the whole “Montreal Screw Job” incident. 

7. Sting

-UWF: 1985-1987; NWA: 1987-1991; WCW: 1991-2001; WWA 2002-2003; TNA: 2003-Present

-WCW World Champion (6), NWA World Champion (2), WWA World Champion, TNA World Champion, WCW United States Champion (2), NWA Television Champion, UWF Tag Team Champion, WCW Tag Team Champion (3), TNA Tag Team Champion

Sting has never been the top star in the business at anytime but he has been a consistent star throughout his career. Sting was a star in NWA and in the early WCW days. He had some amazing matches with “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair during his heated rivalry with him and the Four Horsemen. They would battle and exchange the World Championship on numerous occasions in many different matches. Sting had a long stay in WCW and was the main star that helped make WCW. Sting was the face WCW long before the N.W.O. came to power. He helped establish WCW and put them on the map. He would be higher on the list if not for falling off towards the end of WCW and his current TNA run. He has always been a great in-ring competitor. Sting had a ton of charisma and was always a fan favorite. Sting helped establish WCW as a top promotion in the 90’s and was the face of the company and that is why he comes in at number seven on the list.

6. Andre the Giant

-WWE/WWF 1973-1990

-1993 WWF/WWE Hall of Famer, WWF/WWE Champion, WWF/WWE Tag Team Champion

Andre the Giant is one of the most popular and well known professional wrestlers of all-time. The thing that was so intriguing about him was his size. Billed at a whopping 7 foot 4 inches tall and weighing in, somewhere between 470 and 540 lbs. Nicknamed the “Eighth Wonder of the World”, Andre was a massive man who definitely was a “giant”. Andre was a wrestler since he was a teenager. He was a very popular wrestler who wrestled all over the globe in different countries. He was a very popular and was a fan favorite for most of his career. He had some tremendous feuds throughout his career around the world with wrestlers: Abdullah the Butcher, Kamala, The Sheik, Hulk Hogan, Stan Hansen, Ernie Ladd, King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd, and perhaps his most bitter rival, “The Mongolian Terror” Killer Kahn. Andre had a 15 year winning streak in the WWF/WWE since arriving. One of the most famous moments in his career was the $15,000 Bodyslam Challenge against Big John Studd at the very first WrestleMania, where he slammed Studd and got a huge pop. A few years later, he got involved in the biggest feud in WWE history when he turned heel on Piper’s Pit and challenged Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship. That match at WrestleMania III was probably had the biggest hype and most intrigue surrounding it than any match in WWE history. 92,000 people jam packed the arena to see the match. Hogan went on to bodyslam Andre and win the match but Andre’s legacy didn’t tarnish any. Andre passed away in 1993. He was one of the most popular and well known people in the world. He helped rise wrestling to a level of popularity it hadn’t seen before. Andre wasn’t the greatest in ring competitor or didn’t have the great mic skills. Another problem was his injuries and illness put a hurting on his in ring ability and couldn’t compete at a high main event level anymore and had to work with as a tag team to be successful so he could have longer matches. Andre is known by many as one of the greatest attractions in pro wrestling history.

Part 2 will be coming soon so check back. Please comment on the bottom and let me know your thoughts. If you have any comments or questions about anything, feel free to email me at cdunfee1289@yahoo.com.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 6:51 pm and is filed under Editorial Columns, Wrestling News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.