NCAAbbs

The Original Four Horseman and Rickey Steamboat..These wreslters put on a great matches..Stemboat would have been huge today,but back then the WWF wanted steroid freak shows to draw the crowds..

Jerry "the king" Lawler.


TIGERBAKER

So many to choose from: Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, the Undertaker, Ted DiBiase, Honky Tonk Man, Eddie Guerrero, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Fred "Tugboat" Ottman, Shelton Benjamin, RVD, Carlito, Goldust, Gangrel, Big Boss Man, Mr. Perfect, Roddy Piper, Brittish Bullog, Rick "The Model" Martel, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Rock, Sabu.........the list goes on I can't choose just one.

That is easy for me

JYD - The Junk Yard Dog

Anybody who grew up in Memphis will say Jerry Lawler, and I'm no different..lol

Another guy who I'm partial towards, because I've watched his career practically from his very first match, is Jeff Jarrett.

One other guy who I can't leave off a list of favorite wrestlers is Cactus Jack, and I'm talking about the Cactus who probably gave some of the angriest promos I had ever seen before he got to the WWF in 96.

Ric "Whooooooooooooooooooo" Flair

Sting

Sting as well

The Universal Heartthrob...Austin Idol

The man they call STING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Flair was great for a long time...but he never adapted or improved.

Jericho was great, and brought himself up from mid-card/cruiserweight to a main event guy.

I loved the Road Warriors.

I loved both Kerry and Kevin von Erich.

Brock Lesnar is still a perfect speciman of a human being...I loved his early rivalry w/ the UT.

But, if I had to choose one wrestler...the guy who was a complete professional...the guy who was irrepressible on the mic....the guy who was athletic and improved his skills and moveset...the guy you just couldn't hold back w/ a rivalry w/ Vader...















The Rock.

The Rock is my boy too. A close second is HBK.

The Legion of Doom

The Road Warriors

Preface: The goal of professional wresting is to entertain me. With that in mind, the best ever is...

Ric "By GOD.... WHOOOOOOOO" Flair.

To the guy who said Flair never adapted or improved:
lmfao lmfao

The guy can, to this DAY, go out on stage and deliver a 5 (*****) snowflake promo and a 3 (***) snowflake wrestling match.

* He has adapted into a great ambassador for the business

* He'll be known and adored as the person single-handedly responsible for getting something out of Carlito -- that'll go down as his greatest achievement

* He can, in his late 50s, technically outwrestle 3/4s of the WWE locker room.

* He can, in his late 50s, captivate an audience. 3/4s of the WWE locker room can't do that.

* His 70s and 80s video montage outclasses 4/5s of the current WWE lockerroom

But he hasn't adapted or improved... lmfao lmfao

-------------------
Other wrestlers of note:
1) Shawn Michael -- the best going today, and would probably be the only person I'd put above Flair and Hogan

2) Kurt Angle -- every bit as crazy as old school Flair.

3) Hulk Hogan -- he's be higher if he didn't look like a stuff ironing board every time he returned to a wrestling ring these days

4) Christian (Cage) -- currently the best promo guy going and can wrestle a decent match.

5) Road Warriors -- Best. Tag. Team. Ever.

For those calling up the Rock: Had he returned to being a heel AND remained in wrestling, he would appear in my list.

The Rock couldn't be a heel; he'd be about as much as a heel as Steve Austin was. Even though Steve Austin did some heinous things as a "heel", he still got cheered like he was a face.

And I'll bet you that match is filled with WHOOO-chops, and the skit where he reels around the ring then falls on his face.

Flair's routine hasn't changed in 20+ years, except for the flip on the turnbuckle where he'd then run outside the ring and deliver a clothesline. That was a great addition 12-13 years ago.

* He can, in his late 50s, technically outwrestle 3/4s of the WWE locker room.

Flair is now slow and unconvincing, using the SAME move set he did 10, 20 and 30 years ago...except he blades even more now but rarely hits the figure four anymore.
Actually, everytime he does something a little different, he keeps it so long so it gets stale. That's why he's NOT the greatest.
And his technical abilities have declined too. Angle and Benjamin are far better, even Lesnar could do more. The Harts could do as much or more. So could Rick Steiner.
Besides, we're talking about NOW, not 20 years ago.

Most guys in the lockerroom have zero technical ability, they're just big. That's hardly a compliment.

Flair used to be the epitome of arrogance, but now he "unravels" way too quickly in interviews, and has a psychotic rant that is uncomfortable, not entertaining.

Once again, he takes things too far, and they get old. I turn him off, even though I used to love him. Same thing w/ the 4 Horsemen. They'd deliver the same "swerve" finished w/ a beat down, so that it wasn't surprising, it was just tiresome. I turned them off eventually too. That's NOT entertainment.

And of course he can do that better than 3/4 of the locker room. No one said he wasn't great, just not the greatest.

Flair has always been a top ambassador for the business. He didn't evolve.

Which is exactly why you had to go back to his 70s and 80s work. Thanks for proving my point w/ your best effort.

Angle has done a great job.

Funny, you could say the same thing about Flair.

Agreed. They had a huge impact on the business (think of Sting and Warrior's face paint, Ax&Smash, etc). They are a pair who caused the industry to evolve.

Some folks push the Pit Bulls, and while I think Perry Saturn was great, I'm not sure about that team. I'd put Harlem Heat as #2.

We'll agree to disagree about Flair. I think, taking his entire body of work into account, he's the best ever.

Road Warriors, we agree on.

Perry Saturn was one half of the Eliminators, not the Pit Bulls.

As for Flair, I can see both sides of the argument.

I'm not sure if I'd consider him to be one of the greatest TECHNICAL wrestlers, but in his heyday, NOBODY told a story inside the ring like the Nature Boy. And when it comes down to it, that's really all this business is about. Maybe it was because the audience was much more gullible twenty years ago, but Flair was capable of holding the crowd in the palm of his hand and making them want to murder him.

He was great no doubt. But, he told the same story every time. That's what grates on me. Flair, the Horesemen and Rhodes, abused the NWA for so long, they really crippled it.

Even after Flair went to WWF and back to WCW, he did the same thing. Same tired matches.
Even worse, he was always being catered to. I remember when Marcus Alexander Bagwell held the N American Title (or TV Title?)...Flair had to have a title, so they took it from Bagwell. No feud, no plotline. Bagwell was just making a name outside of his tag-team, and that really was the downturn of his career. He never had traction after that ('Buff' Bagwell got some heat, but it never amounted to much.)

I think that's part of it. Flair was better than most others at that time. Rhodes and Race were just fat... and the WWF was pushing brawn and bulk for their main events. Guys like Steamboat, Kevin von Erich, Savage or even Hart, weren't given much attention.

Who was in the Pit Bulls? I never saw ECW back in that era.

That is the only reason that I miss the lesser belts (European Title, TV title, etcc.). I always thought that those were great ways to bring the younger guys on and get them some heat. Now the young guys come in go for one of the bigger titles or try to develop rivalries with guys who way outclass them. That keeps me from being able to get behind and support a lot of the younger guys coming in.

They were simply known as Pit Bull #1 and Pit Bull #2.

Gary Wolfe, aka Pit Bull #1, is on the right in this picture.

Anthony Durante was #2.

Durante was found dead on September 24, 2003 from an overdose of Fentanyl.