With 4 points...35. Chris HeroHe is a mainstay of many independent wrestling promotions including Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and Jersey All Pro Wrestling as well as Pro Wrestling Noah in Japan. One of the hottest prospects in wrestling today. Hero has a great gimmick and in-ring style. He also does great promos and has lots of charisma. A diamond in the rough.[/Youngie]
34. Chris SabinChris Sabin is yet another in a long line of successful graduates from Scott D'Amore's Can-Am Wrestling school who has gone on to a successful career in pro wrestling. Sabin is one of the most exciting high flying wrestlers around. He is a very innovative wrestler who seems to come up with new moves on the spot. Throughout his career Sabin has held numerous championships and was the last WWA International Cruiserweight Champion. He is currently working for TNA and is teaming with Alex Shelley as The Motor City Machineguns. [/Youngie]
33. Karl GotchI don't really know much about Karl Gotch, but I've found some interesting things about him wrestling as Karel Istaz in Europe and being revered in Japan as "the God of Wrestling" and as a great trainer. Perhaps PK Statman can tell us more about why he rates him so highly:
Source:
www.wrestlingheritage.co.uk/wrestlersi.htmSource:
www.puroresu.com/wrestlers/gotch_karl/32. Bobby HeenanAlthough he achieved much greater fame in the WWA, AWA and WWF as a manager and later (in WWF and WCW) as a colour commentator, once upon a time Heenan did also step into the ring on occasion. He was great at selling and there were shades of Gorgeous George in his heel performance.
Neal Snow said: "Bobby Heenan. Yes, Bobby Heenan. I was raised in Indiana and saw him during his heyday. What Jimmy Hart was to Memphis, Heenan was to the WWA and AWA, 100 times over. Heenan could get ANYONE over. And he counts as a wrestler because I saw several of his matches against Dick the Bruiser, Sam Menaker, and Greg Gagne. He got Greg Gagne over in their matches. Try topping that."
Incidentally,
here is that match with Greg Gagne.
31. Eddie GuerreroEveryone knows how great this man was in the ring -- his matches against Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio Jr., Kidman, Ultimo Dragon and his nephew Chavo Guerrero Jr. lit up the WCW undercard throughout the Monday Night Wars -- but unlike a lot of his fellow crusierweights, and, indeed his fellow "Radicalz", Eddie just
dripped with charisma. He could do it all: face, heel, serious, heartfelt, cocky, wimpy, vulnerable, funny -- he was a great actor as well as being great on the mic. He had also tremendous ring presence and could work the crowd during the match. One of the last truly great performers to work for WWE (in my opinion).
30. Ricky SteamboatSteamboat was the "benchmark" for wrestling excellence for a generation. The combination of a great attitude (never give less than 100%), tremendous workrate, precise execution and sheer ability made Steamboat a complete wrestler. The matches against Savage and Steamboat are the ones that people will cite, but Steamboat could drag a great match out of
anyone. Check out
Luger/ Steamboat from Bash '89, the
Rude/ Steamboat Iron Man match from Beach Blast '92, any number of his matches with Steve Austin (in 93/4), hell he even had a
decent match with Hercules at Wrestlemania 2. Although he only won the IC title in WWF, in the NWA/ WCW he won every title going: 4-time TV champ, 8-time tag champ, 3-time US champ and, of course, 1-time World champ. One of the last true
pure faces, a man who cannot be booed.
29. Andre the GiantAndre wrestled at a time when you just didn't see men over 7-feet at over 400lbs. He was a massive draw in the 70s competing mainly in Battle Royales. If you get a chance to see the recent Legends of Wrestling Roundtable (on 24/7) about giants, you'll learn a lot about how Andre was booked. Vince Sr. was wise enough to use him sparingly as a special attraction: people would pay just to
see Andre, let alone see him in the ring. He'd also travel from territory to territory to compete in Battle Royales against the local opposition -- so in terms of drawing and moving around the country, he was about on par with the NWA champ, which at the time was a pretty major deal. The eventual heel turn and the match with Hogan at Wrestlemania 3 is the stuff of legend, as is the continuation of that feud when he sold the belt to DiBiase to set up the tournament for Wrestlemania 4. A lot of smarks talk about how slow and sluggish Andre was towards the end (when he was tagging with Haku) and, sure, he was in a lot of pain -- but I think he actually worked "as a giant" very well. A giant
should be slow and lumbering, it should take a lot to get him off his feet -- it's totally a mistake to judge Andre on his workrate. One of the very few guys who was "bigger" than wrestling itself.
28. RikidozanRikidozan was known as the "Father of Puroresu" and was one of the most influential men in wrestling history. He was credited with bringing the sport of professional wrestling to Japan. Many of his students became big stars in the sport including Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki who are two of the greatest wrestlers in the history of puroresu.[/Youngie]