CDIH

From the creatively titled "The Top 100 Pro Wrestlers Of All Time" by John Molinario. I got the book today and skimmed through it a bit, and so far, I'm pretty unimpressed. Good amount of information for about the top 15, then some decent-if-short bio's for 16-50, and the rest get only a few paragraphs each and you could probably find more extensive biographies through a Google search. But I guess if you're interested in wrestling history and don't already know much on the subject, it's a good starting point. Anyway...

The criteria:

(i) Professional Success
(ii) Importance to History
(iii) How good they were in the ring
(iv) Drawing Power
(v) Mainstream Status

The list:

1. Ric Flair
2. Lou Thesz
3. Rikidozan
4. Antonio Inoki
5. Hulk Hogan
6. Andre the Giant
7. El Santo
8. Giant Baba
9. Steve Austin
10. Buddy Rogers
11. Frank Gotch
12. Jim Londos
13. Ed Strangler Lewis
14. Stan Hansen
15. Bruno Sammartino
16. The Rock
17. Gorgeous George
18. Bruiser Brody
19. Riki Choshu
20. Mitsuharu Misawa
21. Verne Gagne
22. Jumbo Tsuruta
23. Terry Funk
24. Mil Mascaras
25. Bret Hart
26. Dory Funk Jr.
27. Tiger Mask Sayama
28. Blue Demon
29. Perro Aguayo
30. Nick Bockwinkle
31. Dusty Rhodes
32. Johnny Valentine
33. Freddie Blassie
34. Vader
35. George Hackenschmidt
36. Jushin Liger
37. Toshiaki Kawada
38. Keiji Mutoh
39. Jack Brisco
40. Harley Race
41. El Hijo Del Santo
42. Tatsumi Fujinami
43. Danny Hodge
44. Akira Maeda
45. Chigusa Nagayo
46. Ricky Steamboat
47. Shawn Michaels
48. Shinya Hashimoto
49. Ray Stevens
50. Randy Savage
51. Gene Kiniski
52. Nobuhiko Takada
53. Mick Foley
54. Genichiro Tenyru
55. The Crusher
56. Dick the Bruiser
57. Canek
58. Antonino Rocca
59. The Sheik
60. Don Le Jonathan
61. Dynamite Kid
62. Undertaker
63. El Solitario
64. Superstar Billy Graham
65. Jerry Lawler
66. Roddy Piper
67. Ultimo Dragon
68. Billy Robinson
69. Jaguar Yakota
70. Lioness Asuka
71. Bobo Brazil
72. Karl Gotch
73. Bert Assirati
74. Gori Guerrero
75. Bill Longson
76. Killer Kowalski
77. Mildred Burke
78. Abdullah the Butcher
79. The Destroyer
80. Atsushi Onita
81. Ted Dibiase
82. Earl McCready
83. Pat O'Connor
84. Fritz Von Ehrich
85. Wahoo McDaniel
86. Whipper Billy Watson
87. Leroy McGuirk
88. Mad Dog Vachon
89. Yvon Robert
90. Bronko Nagurski
91. Dos Caras
92. Eduoard Carpentier
93. Rayo De Jalisco Sr.
94. Stanislaus Zbyszko
95. Sting
96. Pat Patterson
97. Masahiro Chono
98. Dara Singh
99. Jesse Ventura
100. Eddie Graham

The NEXT 10:
Jun Akiyama
Kurt Angle
Chris Benoit
Triple H
Chris Jericho
Kenta Kobashi
Satoshi Kojima
Yuji Nagata
Kazushi Sakuraba
Manami Toyota



Edited By Sir O on 1040349375

wtf angle didnt even make the top 100? bullshit.

Quote:34. Vader

Quote:53. Mick Foley

Riiiiiight.

Quote:47. Shawn Michaels

that's crap

Just the fact that they rated vader in the top 100 at all shows how much bullshit this list is.

WHERE ARE ALL THE NIGGERS !!!!!?!?!?!?!?!

Dino Bravo didn't make the list? THIS IS SUCH BS!


And where is Earthquake on the list??

No Akeem the African Dream. This list sucks.

Quote:Just the fact that they rated vader in the top 100 at all shows how much bullshit this list is.

Are you high? Vader is one of the most athletic big-men and wrestled in some of the most amazing matches I've ever seen...Unfortunatly most of them were in Japan and not in the US, but he still deserves to be on that list.

not ahead of angle or benoit though.

No, but he should still be on the list

angle doesn't fit with the criteria listed up top...longevity...whats he been at it, 3 years or so? vader has been in the game at least 4 times that...

I have plenty of problems with the list too (Flair #1? Even though I'm a huge fan...I dunno...).

On Vader: he's definitely one of the top 100 of all time IMO. Easily the best big man I've ever seen in the ring, a main eventer in Japan, Europe, and in the US, actually the only promotion he's ever been in where he hasn't been one of the top guys was the WWF. Whether or not he's better than Foley...well, that's the problem with any top X of Y list, it depends on the criteria and your own personal slants. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, and both will be remembered as legends 20, 30 years from now. I'd probably rank Vader higher than Foley myself, even though I'm more of a fan of Foley's, Vader's simply a better worker and more successful worldwide.

On Angle: I think at this point, saying that he's one of the top 110 professional wrestlers of all time after he's only been working for a few years is a huge compliment. If something tragic were to happen today and his career ended, he'd probably be remembered as the Olympian who did really good work for a really crappy promotion, but not as one of the best ever. He's still not as good as quite a few people who aren't even on the list. The fact that Akira Hokuto and Aja Kong aren't even mentioned in the book the real travesty. That, and Benoit is easily top 50 and Destroyer is too low and...I'll stop there. At least they have Hart above Shawn.

I agree Vader is one of the best and is well deserving of being on the list, all of these people are but once again the listing is bullshit. Then again it is one mans opinion and these lists are always fun for a debate.

Flair as #1 I also think not, top 3 definetly but not #1.

Hate him or not Hogan shoulda been #1.

(i) Professional Success - hogans wins this easily
(ii) Importance to History - could be debated he is the most important ever
(iii) How good they were in the ring - this is where he lacks since he sucked
(iv) Drawing Power - who could draw better?
(v) Mainstream Status - hogan owns this.

Hogan over Flair by the curriculum anyday of the week.

Andre shoulda been in the top 3 as well.

... I think Shawn could have been a bit higher....

a lot of people coulda been higher or lower but besides the technical ability Hogan owns the other categories.

Killer Kowalski and Dusty Rhodes shoulda been higher. Greg Valentine and Paul Orndorff both shoulda been on the list.

The rocks fame and crossover ability while immense is still short lived, he shouldn't have been ranked so high. History may view him much differently than we do now.

Flair and Hogan is difficult... Flair had the skills, but Hogan had the draw..... I agree on The Rock...

That number one spot is so difficult, while Hogan is the best of all time from a mainstream point of view, Flair could be considered the best from a wrestling point of view. The rock is far too high on that list, he should be on it, no question, but not that high. I probablly would have put Ricky Steamboat higher too.