IWF's top 50 Wrestling Superstars of All Time

[pumpt73]

Ok all, on the heels of the WWE Releases It's Top 50 Superstars of All Time thread, and the pretty solid debate that came out of it, our member Veritas has suggested we come up with our own list. To do this, he has already said he will put in the time and do the number crunching and tally up your votes. All he asks is to PM your top 50 Wrestlers, any promotion, any era, any country. I'll say give it 2 weeks to get your lists comprised and PM'd. At the end, Veritas has volunteered to tally up all lists, and compile our votes to determine IWF's Top 50 Wrestling Superstars of All Time.

Get your lists written down and PM'd, and let the discussion BEGIN!!!!

 

[Veritas]

A few notes to consider here guys -

1) Both MALE and FEMALE performers are open for nomination here.

2) This list is not limited to US or even WWE performers. Nominees can come from ANY country and can have performed for ANY promotion.

3) Although any wrestler, regardless of the amount of time spent in the business, is eligible, the list is limited strictly to the performer's accomplishments and in-ring abilities. Success or failure in other areas of the business, such as booking, announcing, or performing on-screen in any other non-wrestling capacity should hold no weight in your voting.

4) Your list should be kept strictly to 50 wrestlers - no ties should be awarded in any position. Any list that comes in with more than 50 names will be trimmed to the limit and the first 50 will be the ones used.

5) Wrestlers will be awarded points based on their positions on each list with #50 receiving 1 point and #1 receiving 50 points.

And finally, when the final list is tallied and revealed I'll have 1 more "game" planned for the Top 16 names.

I hope you'll all take the time to send me a list and remember, although you have 2 weeks, let's get them turned in ASAP. Thanks, guys and gals.

 

[Veritas]

So the first lists are in and I've already encountered something I hadn't planned on - tag teams. From my own personal standpoint, when making my own list the most important criteria I'll consider is workrate because, in my opinion, it's the most important component of a great wrestler. But I also don't want generate responses based on what I consider the 50 greatest wrestlers - I want your opinion of who they are and I understand that, for some people, name value and draw can be considered as important to them as workrate is to me.

For that reason I'll allow the ranking of tag teams PROVIDED the team you're ranking was actually pushed more as a tag team than as a pair of singles wrestlers. If you want to include The Road Warriors on your list in one spot I'll accept that because that is an instance of the sum being greater than the parts. If you want to include Chris Jericho & The Big Show in one spot I won't accept that because they were a pair of recognized singles stars placed in a tag team program. Use your common sense when deciding which teams, if any are to appear on your list, should and shouldn't make the cut. If there is a problem I'll contact you as soon as I see your list so you can make the proper edits.

Keep them coming, please.

 

[He who knows more than Nation]

We've done something strikingly similar last year. I think we did a top 100, but it was only like 5 or 10 of us allowed to make lists as some just didn't care or we didn't want Adam-types fudging the decency of the list. Are we doing this of all time? Of our knowledge? Or just of recent times? If this gets going, I'll get in, if it's just going to be a few people, I'll contribute my old list. I hope this gets off the ground, but this kind of stuff never does, hopefully you new guys can light the fire and we get many discussions like this that make wrestling forums fun.

 

[Veritas]

Your list should be all-time. So far I have 4 lists - let's go people. The bigger the turnout, the more diverse and interesting the results will be. Like I said, I'll do something else with the top 16 names but not if you guys don't pitch in as well. Honestly, how long does it take to think out a Top 50 list. I mean, you all know wrestling, right? Put your opinions in text!

 

[Veritas]

OK, I guess this is something I should stress - please double and even triple check your lists once they're completed. I've had to send a few back already for double rankings.

Participation guys, let's go. You want discussions - give us a reason to discuss.

 

[straight_edge76]

IS anyone open to participate? Sorry if it's already been answered but I just skimmed the thread quickly. Would my age (20) impact the validity of my list? I for the most part have a pretty good knowlegde of WWF/E and WCW and some NWA, plus TNA from 2003-present but that's about it, am I still open to PM a list?

 

[Veritas]

Yes, The List is open to one and all, no matter age, duration of fandom, or anything else. I won't discriminate, I'd just like to see some more participation. I have 4 lists so far and the polls are open until Dec. 2.

C'mon guys, don't make me go all wrestling on you and request that you SMACKDOWN YOUR VOTES!

 

[pumpt73]

Absolutely not!!! Everyone is open to participate. Your choices are your choices as each choice will get tallied at the end of it all and the final list compiled from there.

 

[straight_edge76]

Ok then, sweet... I'll likely start working on my list but wont have it finished until the Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

 

[pumpt73]

You're fine Straight Edge. We have until December 3rd to get our lists in.

 

[He who knows more than Nation]

I know we were supposed to pm them, but I'm lazy, my browser loads slow and maybe it will spill over into some conversation to keep us tided over till this gets going. And I could totally rearrange #s 25-50.

HBK
Flair
Misawa
Kobashi
Austin

Rock
Hogan
Giant Baba
Antonio Inoki
Andre

Nick Bockwienkel
Dusty Rhodes
Ricky Steamboat
Dynamite Kid
Randy Savage

Muta
Bret Hart
Undertaker
Chris Benoit
Rey Mysterio Jr

Eddie Guerrero
Roddy Piper
Jushin Liger
Stan Hansen
Bruiser Brody


Jake Roberts
Vader
Chris Jericho
Tully Blanchard
Terry Funk

Kurt Angle
Dean Malenko
Ted DiBiasie
Jerry Lawler
Arn Anderson

Michael Hayes
Tiger Mask 1
Owen Hart
Animal
Hawk



Bobby Eaton
Ricky Morton
Robert Gibson
Magnum TA
Curt Hennig


Kevin Sullivan
Scott Hall
Ultimo Dragon
Mistico
CM Punk

 

[Hometown Kid]

Just to comment on Enzo's your list is pretty good, i'd say. CM Punk and even Joe being on was a bit of a reach in my opinion and I was WAY iffy about Kevin Sullivan, I've never thought HBK was deserving of being the greatest of all time, but he was on my list and I know I think lower of him than most.

Also interesting having Kobashi and Misawa in the top 5, but no Kawada or Tsuruta? But overall we have a lot of the same names, and I think it's impossible not to let personal favorites/bias in on these lists (For example in mine, never thought much of Inoki, while Dusty and Mill Mascaras are in the top 15. >_>), and God knows mine probably looks crazy, so yeah, let me post how mine turned out.

Also, I put tag teams as one in mine, if that's not allowed then just bump them into two spaces and move everyone behind them down one. ;D

USE THE EDITED LIST IN THIS THREAD RATHER THAN THE ONE I PM'D YOU PLEASE.

 

[Hometown Kid]

1. Kenta Kobashi
2. Mitsuharu Misawa
3. Toshiaki Kawada
4. Jumbo Tsuruta
5. Ultimo Dragon
6. Ricky Steamboat
7. Giant Baba
8. Randy Savage
9. Dean Malenko
10. Mill Mascaras
11. Road Warriors
12. Rey Mysterio Jr.
13. Dusty Rhodes
14. Vader
15. Owen Hart
16. Bret Hart
17. Undertaker
18. Jushin Lyger
19. Ric Flair
20. Shawn Michaels
21. Bruiser Brody
22. Jake Roberts
23. Kurt Angle
24. Eddie Guerrero
25. Tiger Mask I
26. Chris Benoit
27. Bruno Sammartino
28. Curt Hennig
29. Stan Hansen
30. Ted DiBiase
31. Roddy Piper
32. Iron Sheik
33. Sgt. Slaughter
34. Freddie Blassie
35. Mr. Wrestling II
36. Rock N' Roll Express
37. Mr. Wrestling I
38. Magnum TA
39. The Patriot
40. Buddy Rogers
41. Rikidōzan
42. Mistico
43. The Assassin
44. Jun Akiyama
45. Arn Anderson
46. TAKA Michinoku
47. Sting
48. Jerry Lawler
49. Jose Lothario
50. Tito Santana

 

[He who knows more than Nation]

I put Joe, Punk and Dragon on the list, albeit very low, because they were the best guys of the indy Renaissance of the early part of the last decade and fired up a whole new level of smark and all of them had success in the big leagues and all have the possibility of moving up in my list as their careers progress.

Kevin Sullivan= the Undertaker 20 years before there was an Undertaker. So groundbreaking, loved his Florida stuff and was just so evil.

Inoki gets so high on the list for being the biggest Icon puro has ever known, he is the Hogan Puro equivalent, although Baba ran the better company.

Dusty should be in any knowledgeable fan's top fifteen. I understand Mil Mascaras' importance, just don't care too much for the guy and left most Lucha guys off because I like lucha the least of things I watch. I would and should have put El Hijo on there, maybe Blue Demon as well.

Taker would be higher than Bret Hart if he wasn't matched up with such awful opponents his first 6-7 years in the WWF.

And HBK is the greatest of all time to me. Excellent and versatile worker. Perfect babyface, one of the best cocky, arrogant prick heels of all time. I feel that his run in the original DX is only trumped by Hollywood Hogan from 96-97 and Vince McMahon as the greatest heel of the 90's and up there with guys like Flair, Buddy Rogers and Bock as greatest heel of all time. Plus, he's had countless great matches at all levels of his career. Tag worker? Go catch Rockers/Brain Busters, Rockers/Oriental Express, Rockers/Hart Foundation. Young up and comer? HBK/Perfect, HBK/ Jannetty. Solid mid carder? BOTH ground breaking ladder matches. He gave Jeff Jarrett the match of that bums career. As the franchise? Iron Man, gave Nash the match of his career vs. Bulldog, vs. Mankind, vs. Vader, and this was all in 6 months. Taker in HIAC, the first and still the greatest of them all. Busted ass back that retires you, but come back FOUR years later? The epic return match against HHH. The three stages of Hell against HHH. vs. Angle. vs. Jericho in 03 and five years later. gave Cena the match of his career, TWICE. retired Flair. Match of the night at every Mania from 19-26. Nobody was better in big matches than HBK in the states, nobody was ever that great at such an advanced age, not Flair, not Funk, not Bock. I can not sing HBK's praises enough.