Hes truly one of the most versatile performers ever. Stone Cold was involved in the best feud in WWE history, and more than anyone else, probably had the highest peak in WWE history, but injuries unfortunately caused his career to be cut short. Because of that, we had to dock him a few points. There was a lot of optimism in the early years, but WWE has not lived up to those expectations. The Heartbreak Kid was one of the finest performers from his time in the WWF for three decades. And any time he delivered a stunner to Vince McMahon and proceeded to scream right in his semi-conscious face, it was even better. The most popular wrestler of the '80s, Hogan is a 12-time world champion (six with the WWE), and the first wrestler to win consecutive Royal Rumbles. In the eyes of many, Rey Mysterio should probably be higher up on this list. The Rock was a great wrestler, but he was an even better actor. Beyond that, though, it was a boring entrance song, full of generic anthem rock electric guitar, drum beats and a repetitive, monotone recording of him saying, "The Rock says." WWE having both Austin and Rock was the only time two stars of that magnitude were leading the same era. Big E will hopefully be right back there when he recovers from his broken neck. Shot himself higher up the list with his fantastic Hall of Pain gimmick and run as World Heavyweight Champion in 2011. Some wrestlers routinely engaged in 15-minute matches for decades. The king of the one-liners consistently delivered the best insults and promo material of "The Attitude Era.". The new batch of NXT UK episodes have ended, yielding a fantastic match-up between Toni Storm and Rhea Ripley. NR. You know you're in the presence of a wrestling fan if a glass shatters and he or she quickly scans the room in search of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Updated On March 23rd, 2022, By Andrew Kelly: Much like many of the top names within the professional wrestling industry, WWE itself has had the ability to reinvent itself and develop with the changing times. Without any further ado, here are the 30 best WWE wrestlers of all-time. Less so for his work in WWE, and more for the things he did beforehand in ROH and IMPACT Wrestling. The Undertaker was a seven-time WWE champion and a six-time WWE tag team champion with four different partners. The king of the underworld was also the king of Wrestlemania, putting together a Joe DiMaggio-esque streak of 21 consecutive victories on the sport's biggest stage. 21. Hogan was right up there with Macho Man Randy Savage on the list of '80s wrestlers who would have been been given a wide berth if they were walking around the street talking the way they did in promos. No women made it into the top 10, though the Ninth Wonder of the World was worth considering. Who knows what would have happened if he didnt get that shoulder injury in 2016? Big Show was able to play the role of a heel or babyface to perfection, which is no easy feat. Yes, 10 is supposed to be the max score for each category, but how could we not give at least a little bonus to Shawn Michaels? during monologues for the past two decades. Cody Rhodes impact is clear for all to see, aiding in the formation of AEW before coming back to WWE. The American Dream didn't have great entrance music, his "Flip, Flop and Fly" finisher was sub-par compared to the rest of the candidates for the top 10 and he only spent a couple of years as a full-time wrestler with WWE. The two former Mae Young Classic . 2021 WWE STARS. But he always seemed to need a cheap shot or some sort of interference to win his best matches. . Also, the Liontamer/Walls of Jericho was one of the more underwhelming finishing moves. Matt Hardy was always a solid hand (and still is), and was part of some of the most industry-changing matches in WWE history alongside his brother Jeff in the early 2000s. Thats without even looking at the wrestlers on the current WWE roster, with the likes of Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns and even John Cena, if you still count him, being right up there. However, it is hard to compare the Golden Age to other eras since there were so few important matches and events per year. Not only did it require a greater feat of strength, but it also immediately transitioned into his patented cross-armed pin. And the fact that he could juxtapose Mankind's mania with Dude Love's chill persona only added to his intrigue. Though an unforgettable presence, his time atop the WWEhe only won two belts in his entire careerwas too brief to warrant a spot in the top 10. Thats our All-Time WWE Champion Rankings. Whether he was a face or a heel, it was hard not to be impressed by his 434-day reign as WWE champion, the longest in the WWE's modern era. For better or worse, Piper's Pit is what turned wrestling into the dramatic theater that it is today. One of the best pure in-ring wrestlers of his generation, its such a shame that injuries robbed Daniel Bryan of such a historic title reign while at the height of his popularity in 2014. WWE Universal Champions | 2016-2020. Even if bagpipe music makes you cringe, there was only one man it could possibly be when you heard it. A fantastic part of WWEs roster for so many years, and rightly earned himself a run with the WWE Championship in 2019. Perhaps injuries and his own personal demons prevented him from becoming one of the undeniable all time GOATs. A fantastic promo, a fantastic wrestler, and more important than both of those, a fantastic guy. Ricks look, as well as his ability in the ring, probably should have preppled him right to the very top of WWE. The tombstone was the much superior move, though. Drew McIntyre finally started to realise his potential during his second stint in WWE, which started in 2017. 9/10. WWE SmackDown episode of November 04, 2022, had an average viewership of 2.138 million viewers in Overall rating over two hours of the show. and he was never great on the mic. Already a wrestling star before joining the WWE, Jericho became a top-of-the-card performer once he joined the company in 1999. Here's all of them ranked worst to best. Michaels was also an incredible tag-team competitor, winning those belts six times with four different partners. *The PG Era is widely thought to be downfall of WWE, but during that time, ratings were still incredibly high, the company had a lot of mainstream attention, and the roster was full of legitimate stars and future legends. Bobby moved up from 36 to 31. Whilst emotion and storytelling may not be a priority, the bell-to-bell wrestling is great, which the roster housing some of the best performers on the planet. The 18-49 demographic rating is 0.45. He was named world champion so many times that people literally lost count. Joey is a writer with a decade of experience writing about sports, entertainment, and pop culture. The shortest era for WWE came from 2014 to 2016 in the form of the Reality Era. Its no wonder WWE made such a strong play to keep him around when his deal came up last year. Every time you think his career may be winding down, Chris Jericho creates another gimmick that gets over with the fans and earns him a top spot. Without question, Bray Wyatt deserved more. But I couldn't go any higher than a 8.5 here, because those blasted horns are going to be stuck in my head for at least the next three hours. The entire arena was on its feet within milliseconds of his "If ya smell" blasting over the speakers. Without Hogan, wrestling arguably isnt as big as it is now. Ric Flair was an incredible wrestler. Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage were at the end of their WWE runs when McMahon put his eggs in the basket of new stars like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Razor Ramon and Yokozuna. Despite harping on his finishing move earlier, giving the Hulkster anything less than a 10 in this category would be sacrilege. After all, no one can sit straight up out of a casket and roll his eyes into the back of his head like The Deadman can. Jeff Hardy becoming a main eventer and CM Punks Summer of Punk were two of the highlights of this time. Unfortunately, it didnt quite pan out that way.]. Worse yet, the song droned on for too long while he climbed two turnbuckles, raised a fist and an eyebrow and sniffed the air. 98. Before his death, Rhodes helped develop some of WWEs talent through NXT. Whether he was feuding with Razor Ramon, Bret Hart, Kurt Angle, John Cena or The Undertaker, the impending pay-per-view event was guaranteed to be a classic. Hes probably one of the best in-ring wrestlers ever, if not the best. Go to Peacock Watch every Premium Live Event and enjoy some of your favorite WWE content on Shahid. Sheamus proved with his work in 2020 and 2021, with regular bangers on TV each week, that he still remains an incredible vital part of WWEs roster. 5. How in the world did this wild egomaniac of a character end up with "Pomp & Circumstance" as his nightly introduction to the audience? A great wrestler, but his biggest accomplishment is saving the lives of several troubles wrestlers through his DDP Yoga scheme. I thought about adding a value-added to the title category but left it off as thats purely subjective. Lance Cartelli The best of the bunch was arguably "Wreck," which was the one that he used when he was plain ol' Foley late in his career. Few entrances in WWE's history have packed an opening punch quite like The Rock's did. Guys like Sting, Goldberg and Diamond Dallas Page might be worth considering as all-time greats of professional wrestling, but they each spent most of their careers in WCW. (Just trust us. However, the overall quality, aside from the immense popularity of the biggest stars, did lack quite a lot. If Roman defeats Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 38 he will pass The Rock and move into 9th place all time. Unfortunately, not every popular name was capitalised on, and bad booking crept its way in between the cracks, making it not entirely perfect. Has a legitimate claim to be the best wrestler in the world right now. Rhodes didnt look like your typical wrestler, but that didnt slow him down from being one of the best all-around wrestlers in WWE history. One of the best tag team wrestlers of his generation, and a handy singles one when given the opportunity. Terry Eugene Bollea, better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler and television personality. Bell-to-bell, there are few WWE Superstars better than Shawn Michaels. He continued handing out stunners like they were candy bars on Halloween, but he was more of a brawler and a showman than an actual wrestler beyond 1997. Arn knew his role and played it well. The World's Most Entertaining Car Website. In the eyes of many, Roddy Piper is the best wrestler to have never won the WWE Champion. Not many wrestlers could pull off a classical piece by Richard Strauss, but "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair was stylin' and profilin' to the tune of "Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. But if someone tried to introduce that as a finisher today, they'd get laughed out of the business. He achieved a lot with WWE. The movement led to names like John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar debuting and eventually hitting their goal as top stars.RELATED: 10 Bad WWE Ruthless Aggression Era Moments People Forgot About. But he was like the Grant Hill of wrestling, constantly battling injuries that kept him from truly fulfilling his potentialthough he did win more than his fair share of belts over the years. That isn't to say he wasn't a great wrestler, but it just devalued him a little bit. Best WWE Matches of All Time. We're cutting him some slack because it worked for the '80s and became an iconic move by means of repetition. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Theres no denying that fans wont be forgetting Goldust anytime soon. Reigns and Paul put on arguably the greatest WWE match involving a celebrity when they met in Saudi Arabia By Shakiel Mahjouri Nov 5, 2022 at 4:28 pm ET WWE Logan Paul is a bonafide WWE. WWE SmackDown Ratings: Latest & All-Time Viewerships & Ratings. Guys like Sting, Goldberg and Diamond Dallas Page might be worth considering as all-time greats of professional wrestling, but they each spent most of their careers in WCW. Michaels literally used his heel to turn heel and back again several times during his decades-long run with WWE. Updated 4/21/22: Roman Reigns passes The Rock to move up from 10th to 9th of all time with his win over Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania. 97. Most impressive, though, is the longevity: He could carry the main card of a pay-per-view event for a quarter of a century. The Hitman is a 5-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion, and hes a member of the 2006 WWE Hall of Fame class. He was a main eventer for WCW, NWA and WWE, and hes one of the only guys who can say that. Whether he was giving his opponents the Olympic Slam or locking in his devastating ankle lock, the six-time world champ made the WWE better. Not only was HBK witty with his own dialogue, but he was one of the best ever when it came to reacting to what others were saying. The old days of just having shows in New York were long gone due to Vince wanting to expand beyond his fathers goals.RELATED: 10 Wrestlers You Completely Forgot Competed In WWE During The Ruthless Aggression EraWWE would see seven different eras from the early 80s to the current day. Just listen to his Hard Times promo, and youll understand why hes so high up on this list. Slaughter in the late 90s.) There's also the STF (Stepover Toehold Facelock), which is what you would get if you crossed Kurt Angle's Ankle Lock with Chris Benoit's Crippler Crossface. Lex Luger wasnt a great wrestler, but he certainly wasnt as horrendous as people make him out to be. I was disappointed that Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mick Foley were so low on the list. Sure, the Rock is more popular. And if the sequence began out of seemingly nowhere, leading to Jim Ross or Michael Cole screaming "Rock Bottom!" Not many people come close. Writes about wrestling for a living, so is automatically the coolest dude you know. After a year or so of completely un-enthused content, the focus on new names and a change in storytelling brought about a wave of renewed interest and popularity. Very few people are smoother in the ring. When you speak to many wrestlers, they say that Randy Orton does the basics better than anyone, and is one of the best ever. during his entrances for more than 16 years, so it's hard to imagine wrestling without him. WWE Roster - 2022. . While not the best wrestler, theres no denying that Goldberg has a place in WCW in the late 1990s, and fans loved it. In that regard, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper's entrance was a success. The irony is that Piper wasn't actually from Scotland. In the past, fans would be seen jumping up and down in the crowd, roaring at the top of their lungs, but now, much of the audience sits unmoved in their seats, having to watch several minutes of recap footage about something they saw just ten minutes prior, before viewing a match which has been seen three out of the past five weeks. The reign of The Authority on top may have felt like a pain at the time, but looking back, it brought about some hugely enjoyable moments, and the rise of names such as Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan. He really should have done, if were being honest. three or four times in a row, even better. Due to doing little work in America, its hard to rank Muta any higher, but he did some tremendous work in Japan during his career. WWE did struggle to build new characters quickly, but they thrived by setting up a brighter future with this movement. Oftentimes, he would use both to finish off an opponent, but either one could do the trick by itself. He's the only member of our top 10 who used aerial acrobatics to end matches. Taking that all into account, you wont find too many people who laugh at the claim that Hogan is the greatest WWE Superstar of all time, for his impact alone. Gail Kim Actress | WWF SmackDown! When he joined the WWE in 1990, the Undertaker's gimmick was as the uncharismatic seven-foot tall Deadman. Throughout the years, WWE has had some of the very best step through its doors, ranging from Bret Hart, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels to The Undertaker, The Rock and Hulk Hogan. (Although, if you wanted to argue that Austin's actual finishing move was climbing to the second rope and pouring a few cold ones down his throat, that's fair.) Always a very solid hand in the ring, Seans size, and also perhaps his attitude, probably got in the way of him doing more in both WWE and WCW. Inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, Hogan will always be one of the faces of professional wrestling. Due to the sheer volume of talent, ranking the 100 best wrestlers of all time is always going to be a tricky task, but thats exactly what the team at Midrange have done. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 1980s. Things have gotten sloppier than any other era with the lackluster storylines and inconsistent booking.
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