Take up thy wrestling boots and walk - Greatest Wrestlers of the Modern Era countdown part 2
Submitted by Pt2 on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at 12:22 PM EST





Welcome once again to the column whose Christmas wish is for people to stop shouting ‘what?’ whenever a wrestler pauses, Take up thy wrestling boots and walk. I’m the Grinch who stole Christian Cage, Pt2, back once again to continue the countdown of the greatest 100 wrestlers of the modern era! Last time we got down to number 76, and this time I’ll be taking you through to numbers 75-51. There’s some big names in there that you just won’t expect to see this low, and some guys that you’ll never have dreamed making it in. Why don’t we just dive straight back in and you can see for yourself?

#75 Matt Bourne 1-2-0: Bourne will probably be most familiar to you all as the original Doink the Clown, but his career stretches back before that. He has lost two contests at the top level, but against such notable opposition as Bret Hart and Rick Steamboat. His solitary victory comes against Crush at Wrestlemania IX, but it is enough to pull him into the top 75.

#74 Barry Darsow 1-1-0: As we saw in the first part of the column, Barry Darsow (formerly Smash of Demolition) suffered a defeat to the lower ranked Crush, while wrestling as the Repo Man. However, years earlier, he had beaten number #76 on this list, Sam Houston, while wrestling in the NWA as Krusher Kruschev, and that record of 1-1 pushes the workhorse of the Demolition unit into position #74.

#73 Paul Jones 1-1-0: Jones is the only manager to make it into the list. He couldn’t have a more balanced record, either. He has a win over Jimmy Valiant... and he has a defeat at the hands of Jimmy Valiant. Still, it’s enough for him to boogie woogie his way into 73rd place. Not bad, for a man who retired as an active wrestler in 1980.

#72 Jacques Rougeau 1-1-0: The less popular, more controversial (and probably more gifted) of the Rougeau brothers, Jacques Rougeau spent most of his career as a tag wrestler, either as a member of the Quebecers, or teaming with his brother Raymond. He did get a chance as a singles wrestler under the gimmick of ‘The Mountie’, and suffered a loss to the Big Boss Man. This was offset with a win against Tito Santana.

#71 ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham 1-1-0: It could be said that Billy Graham’s best days were behind him when the rankings for this column begin, at the first Starrcade in 1983. The former World Champion though, is hardly hindered by a defeat at the hands of Wahoo McDaniel and manages a win over the Barbarian (ranked 80th) to get a respectable rating here.

#70 Chavo Guerrero1-1-0: I think even Chavo himself would admit that he’s spent virtually all his career in the shadow of his legendary uncle. The opportunities for this highly talented athlete have been tragically limited. With that said, he couldn’t have a more balanced record, scoring both a victory and a defeat against Rey Mysterio jnr.

#69 Christian Cage 1-1-0: The CLB makes it in at #69. He has the same record as many other people, but both his victory and his defeat come against former World Champions. He lost to multiple WCW Champion Diamond Dallas Page, but defeated the first undisputed Champion Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania to even up his record. His moving up the list will be dependent on TNA reaching a level where they have a show that we include in this rating.

#68 Harley Race 1-1-0: Much like Billy Graham and others, Race’s career is no doubt past his best by the arrival of the modern era. The only blemish on his record is defeat by Ric Flair, however, and win against the Junkyard Dog at Wrestlemania III moves one of the greatest NWA Champions of all time into #68.

#67 The Great Khali 1-1-0: Khali doesn’t fly around the ring, chain wrestle, or stomp a mudhole and walk it dry. But who cares when you are that big and what he does gets results? He’s only been in the company about five minutes and already his record puts him ahead of such greats as Vader, Harley Race and Barry Windham. It’s winning that counts, and Khali beat Kane to get such a high rating, suffering only a single loss to Batista.

#66 Andre the Giant 1-2-1: Andre had only a few big matches left in him at the start of this era of wrestling, and in fairness he didn’t really disappoint. He won one, lost one, and drew one, with Hulk Hogan in Hogan’s prime - and his record of 1-1-1 is only altered by defeat to Jake Roberts. That’s enough for him to bypass most of the field below him, despite two losses to only one victory.

#65 Alex Wright 1-1-0: I told you there would be surprises in this one. Alex Wright finishes above Andre the Giant. And how does he manage such a feat, when he has a loss to NJPW’s Koji Kanemoto on his record? Well, unless you have an encyclopedic knowledge of WCW past, you won’t know that at a Starrcade in the past, Alex Wright scored a big victory over the man who would go on to be 10 time world champion HHH. If he’d kept up that kind of form, Wright would certainly be ranked a lot higher than 65th.

#64 Nikita Koloff 1-0-1: Nikita Koloff is the first person we come across in this list who is undefeated. He isn’t ranked any higher though, since his win comes against Terry Taylor, the last man to make it onto the rankings. A draw with Ric Flair makes it look a little more respectable, and his undefeated status pushes him up this high.

#63 Jimmy Valiant 2-1-0: Jimmy Valiant is the lowest ranked person with more wins than defeats in this column. That is purely because one of his wins and his loss come against a manager, a man retired from active competition. Losing to a manager puts a hit on anyone’s record, and it’s all the more noticeable when the only other win you have is against the Great Kabuki. The boogie woogie man has to settle for 63.

#62 Mr. Perfect 2-7-0: Curt Hennig may have been perfect, but his record certainly isn’t. It all started so well, with wins over Owen Hart and Terry Taylor, but then consecutive defeats at the hands of Kerry Von Erich, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Brutus Beefcake, the Boss Man, Lex Luger and DDP push the perfect one down into a surprisingly low 63rd. People often talk about Hennig as one of the greatest wrestlers never to win the world title - it would appear his inability to get the job done at the highest level could have been the reason why.

#61 Chris Jericho 2-7-0: For Jericho, see my comments on Perfect. Seven defeats with only two wins coming against William Regal and Rhyno. A disappointing record for the first undisputed champion then, and if you are a betting man, I wouldn’t put your money on him beating Orton at a big show for the big belt any time soon.


#60 Hercules Hernandez 2-4-1: Herc was a mainstay of the big shows in the late eighties, before he formed the team power and glory with Paul Roma. He also managed some big wins, against Haku and a controversial result against Greg Valentine - in a match that seemed to be awarded to him by ring announcer Ronnie Garvin. Defeats against the Warrior, Steamboat, Jake Roberts and the Earthquake all ensure that Herc stays in the bottom half.

#59 Vampiro 2-0-0: Vampiro is also undefeated at the biggest stage of them all. One of those wins comes against Ed Ferrara, and so is virtually useless. The other win comes against Dr. Death Steve Williams. That, and no blemishes on the record, is good enough to move him above Hercules and into top 60.

#58 Dino Bravo 2-3-0: The Canadian Strongman must be one of the most forgotten men in professional wrestling, but it would appear that he was a strong performer on the larger shows, giving almost as good as he got. Defeats at the hands of Kerry Von Erich, Jim Duggan and Don Muraco are countered by victories over Muraco and Ronnie Garvin.

#57 Dustin Rhodes 2-4-1: Dustin Rhodes has a worse record than Dino Bravo or Vampiro, but gets superb extra credit for the candidates he has taken on. His four defeats come against 3 world champions in HHH, Jarrett and Steve Austin, and a legend in Roddy Piper and one of his victories comes against light heavyweight legend Brian Pillman.

#56 Yokozuna 2-3-0: The heaviest WWE Champion of all time, Yokozuna wrestled all the big stars of the WWE in the mid nineties. It is no surprise then, that his record is so mixed. Only big names like Luger, Hogan and Hart record victories over him though, which are countered by likewise wins against Hart and Luger. His defeat by Hogan also came minutes after he had beaten Bret Hart to become WWE Champion, so he could hardly be considered at the top of his form.

#55 Brutus Beefcake 2-1-2: Beefcake has spent most of his career in the shadows of Hulk Hogan, but is only the red and yellow himself that has actually beaten Beefcake at this level of competition. Two wins and two draws make up the rest of his record, against such luminaries as DiBiase, Mr. Perfect and the Honky Tonk Man, and we think anyone would be more than satisfied with such a record.

#54 Ken Shamrock 2-2-0: The world’s most dangerous man averages out nicely. A defeat the hands of The Rock does him no harm at all, and he’s hardly concerned by a defeat at the hands of the British Bulldog either. Balancing that, there are his victories against Owen Hart and Steve Blackman, so the former Intercontinental Champion and UFC Champion gets a satisfactory 54th.

#53 Marc Mero 2-1-0: Former Intercontinental Champion Marc Mero makes it in ahead of Shamrock, mostly for his time in WCW wrestling under the name Johnny B. Badd, where he picked up big wins over Masa Saito and Arn Anderson. A loss against Dustin Rhodes pulls him down a little, but can’t stop the impact of a win over a great horseman legend like Anderson.

#52 Ron Bass 2-1-0: Outlaw Ron Bass features surprisingly highly thanks to wins against Dick Slater and Black Bart. He’d feature even more highly were it not for a loss against J.J. Dillon, a blight that probably affected his chances for evermore.

#51 John Bradshaw Layfield 2-2-0: JBL may be a wrestling god in his own mind, but he’s not good enough to get into the top half of this column on his wrestling record alone - although his two wins and two defeats do all come against some impressive names, including a victory over The Undertaker.

That concludes part 2 of the 100 greatest wrestlers of the modern era! Join me next time as I start counting down the top 50 - now that’s gonna be fun.


If you’d like to contact me, you can do so at takeupthywrestlingboots@gmail.com

Until next time,

Take care,

Pt2








***DIRECT LINK*** MUST SEE! Very Rare Photos of KAREN ANGLE Over the Years!

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