Who is the greatest wrestler of all time?

[KevFalcön07]

...and why?

[The Sam]

Ric Flair.
Could have a match with a broom and make it look like the broom is kicking his butt 60 minutes a night.

[chazraps]

Gorgeous George is probably the most influential.

[wolf211]

I guess I would go with Flair or Misawa, just due to the ungodly number of great matches both men had.

[dragonfire1988]

Hulk Hogan.

Any other answer is wrong.

[lionheart21]

Mitsuharu Misawa

[Sir Woodrow]

Shawn Stasiak, what a workhorse

[TGM]

Shawn Michaels.

[Mochi Lone Wolf]

Mar 22, 2012 7:48:54 GMT -5 dragonfire1988 said:

Hulk Hogan.

Any other answer is wrong.

Welp, there you have it. Who cares about a good explanation you may have. This guy says we are all wrong. Nothing to discuss here. Ric Flair is my answer. Classic matches, classic promos, great character, drew money.

[dav]

Have to go with Hogan for being the wrestler at the forefront of a revolution in the entire business. Had good matches, drew a lot of money and made wrestling ingrained into pop culture. Other wrestlers set the mould but Hogan took it to a level that had never seen at that point.

[Crappler El 0 M]

I think it's too difficult to ask modern wrestling fans to judge the greatest "of all time" when we had no real way of experiencing wrestling before the television era. Also, it's also difficult to judge wrestlers who primarily perform in countries or regions they are not exposed to.

To me, the short list for the greatest of the last forty years or so are Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Steve Austin, and The Rock. This list obviously has a bias toward North American performers from the 1980s to today.

[dragonfire1988]

Shawn Michaels doesn't belong on that list. He was never a draw.

[Crappler El 0 M]

Mar 22, 2012 9:38:16 GMT -5 dragonfire1988 said:

Shawn Michaels doesn't belong on that list. He was never a draw.

I wasn't trying to list the top draws of all time. Shawn is thought of as one of the greatest of all time for his in-ring performances, his longevity as a top star, his incredible matches (particularly at WrestleMania), and his charisma.

[Mochi Lone Wolf]

Why does who drew the most have to be the only qualification for who the best is? That's like sayin Sly Stallone is a better actor than Anthony Hopkins simply because he drew more money.

[wolf211]

If we're taking drawing power into account along with in-ring ability, Austin would be the best choice in my opinion.

[dragonfire1988]

Michaels isn't that good in the ring. I never believed him as ME'r vs guys like Foley, Taker, Hart. Basically while he was a good midcarder, thats really all he deserved during his initial run.

His second run was slightly better, but he still wasn't deserving of his booking. HBK is an overhyped WWE product.

[Branimal]

Mar 22, 2012 8:57:52 GMT -5 TGM said:

Shawn Michaels.

In my mind, whoever follows is a distant second.

[Chardee MacDennis]

There is no answer but Flair. Flair was the best for over 15 years. He is the most talented in ring performer of all time and the most talented promo of all time. He is one the most talented men at his job then anyone in any profession.

[Kick Your Face]

Jumbo Tsuruta. He had a different match with everyone. He was extremely versatile and over with the crowd. When you look at gaijins, there are many instances where you can say that so and so had their best match with Jumbo during the era of All Japan when it was gaijin heavy.

And that wasn't even his prime. His prime was 1988 to 1991, which were during his latter years, and he was just busting out amazing performance after amazing performance.

[nWoElite]

Hogan for mainstream purposes. Any wrestler who can make me hate and want to see his sex tape at the same time HAS to rank at the top.