Take up thy wrestling boots and walk - Greatest wrestlers of the modern era: The final countdown
Submitted by Pt2 on Monday, December 31, 2007 at 7:18 AM EST





Originally posted on Christmas Eve. For some reason, it seems to have disappeared from the main page. Since people have requested the finale (who obviously missed it before it vanished) I am reposting the climax. This is exactly as it appeared in the original, no edits. Enjoy!

Welcome to a special Christmas eve edition of the column that is crafting a casket for you by golly, Take up thy wrestling boots and walk. I’m the man that is currently so cold he feels like he comes from the land of ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow, Pt2, back once again to conclude the little four part mini series to decide - who really has the win loss record to back up their claims.

Before we get onto the final countdown however, there are a few honourable mentions - people who can perhaps feel aggrieved at not making it into the column. With that in mind, I’d like to give them their due now, and perhaps offer an explanation as to their exclusion.

Shane McMahon: Shane O Mac has several wins to his name, more than many of the people who make this list. However, his status as a McMahon family member as opposed to full time wrestler, along with the fact that his victories often come against non wrestlers, mean we choose to exclude him from consideration.

Virgil: Virgil can consider himself quite unlucky. He has a flawless record. However, his inability to return to the larger shows as a singles star with anyone other than Ted DiBiase as his opponent means we must rule him out. Where it not for his personal relationship with DiBiase, we must assume that he would never have gotten to the top shows at all.

Norman Smiley: The most unlucky of the three, Smiley also has a flawless record. Prince Iaukea and Meng both fell to Smiley at Starrcade events. The quality of Smiley’s opponents (Meng was ageing by this point), plus the fact that he only managed to wrestle on the undercard of some of the weaker Starrcade’s of all time, led to the executive decision to rank him behind Terry Taylor and Greg Valentine, both of whom appeared against much bigger stars on much bigger cards. Controversial? Perhaps, but you have to stand by your decisions.

With that, let’s get onto what you have all been waiting for. The final countdown begins....

#25 Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger 2-0-0: Liger has only two appearances at the biggest shows going, but what an impact he made at them. Undefeated, he fought and beat two future World Champions: Chris Benoit at Starrcade 1995, and Rey Mysterio a year later. Would probably be even higher had he returned to the United States to wrestle more often. The top ranked cruiserweight, and the top ranked Japanese wrestler.

#24 Randy Orton 2-3-0: Orton has been defeated three times when appearing in front of the entire world. He lost to the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 21, and has also been defeated by then WWE Champion John Cena at Summerslam 2007. He also lost a Summerslam match to Hulk Hogan. However, a huge win over the Undertaker at Summerslam, and a win for the World title against Chris Benoit at the 2004 Summerslam help to cancel out the deficit. Not many people have a win over the Undertaker, and there is no shame in losing to Hogan or Cena. Orton, with his career definitely in front of him, will be looking to rise in these rankings.

#23 Tatanka 3-0-0: Tatanka had one of the longest undefeated streaks I can remember in WWE history. In fact, you could say it was too long, because once it ended people seemed to pay much less attention to the Native American, and that is a shame, because he picked up some big wins in that time and could have been given a much bigger role in the main event cards of the WWE. In his time he picked up wins against Lex Luger, Shawn Michaels and Rick Martel, all of whom appear in this top 100. With that kind of record, it’s criminal Tatanka never got a WWF title shot at a major WWE PPV.

#22 Jerry Lawler 3-0-0: Lawler was most definitely past his best by the time he arrived in the WWE as a commentator, but somehow he always manages to bring the old magic back for the bigger shows, and picks up victories by hook or by crook. He aggravated Bret Hart to the point of disqualification, and picked up wins against Jake Roberts and Tazz. It is easy to forget when he is sitting at the commentary table just how good Lawler actually is in the ring, and I’m sure that he will be delighted with a 22nd place finish.

#21 Diamond Dallas Page 4-1-0: DDP started badly, losing to Eddie Guerrero in his first attempt at the big stage, but following that recovered and put together a four match win streak at the top shows, including a win over the massive Big Show. Three time WCW Champions Page is one of the biggest stars of WCW history, and this 4-1 record (slightly puffed up with a win over David Flair) shows why.

#20 Kevin Nash 4-2-0: Nash ended the win streak of Bill Goldberg at Starrcade, so there can be little doubt about his ability and willingness to perform at the big events. With that said, he’s also suffered defeats at the hands of Scott Hall and the Undertaker, so he can’t finish any higher. He does get into the top twenty with other wins over Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XI, Mabel at Summerslam 1995, and Sid.

#19 Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts 5-4-1: Jake has been back to the dance ten times, and won five of them, so you can’t really ask too much more of him; especially when you notice that in his win column you can find such notables as Andre the Giant and Rick Martel. The win over Andre is cancelled out, however, by defeats at the hands of Jerry Lawler, DiBiase and The Honky Tonk Man. It would seem that Jake had the star power to constantly return to the top levels of the sport, but not the concentration to consistently put away people that he was capable of beating. Jake’s win over Andre will always guarantee him a place near the top when it is supported by four others, but if it weren’t for some of those silly defeats perhaps he would have broken the top 10?

#18 Big Boss Man 5-3-0: A loss to Al Snow is the worst thing on the Boss Man’s record, and that came near the twilight of his career. He’s also suffered defeats to Rick Rude and The Undertaker. But on the flipside of that, he has won five contests, and three of them come against people who have managed to make this list. The other two aren’t exactly the worst names in wrestling either, with Ron Garvin and Koko B. Ware also falling to Ray Traylor. The biggest victory of his career is probably the win over Mr. Perfect. I’m sure many people will be surprised to see the Boss Man finish so highly, but he was quite the force in the late eighties/early nineties wrestling scene, and even wrestled for the world championship.

#17 ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper 4-2-1: What is there that can be said about Piper that hasn’t already been said? How can someone with a pinfall win over Hulk Hogan also have suffered a defeat at the hands of Mr. T? That temper of Piper’s has gotten himself into trouble over the years, and if he could have kept his cool I don’t see why he couldn’t have won all seven of his top tier matches. A win over Hogan when he was more mature and calmer proves exactly what the man is capable of when he puts his mind to it. Piper didn’t suffer a defeat via pinfall in the WWF until 1992, showing the man’s undoubted talent.

#16 HHH 8-8-0: HHH has been back to the top cards time and time and time again, and that is because his talent is obvious for all to see. However, there are some things on his record that are impossible to look past, such as his two minute capitulation to the Ultimate Warrior and the defeat at the hands of Alex Wright. Some of his victories aren’t against stellar opposition either, with Eugene being a glaring example. With that said, he’s fought the best, and come up with a record of 8-8, which is more than good enough to bring him in at 16th. With Wrestlemania just around the corner, I am sure Hunter will be looking to move to 9-8.

#15 Shawn Michaels 8-7-1: Michaels record reads a lot like HHH’s. He has got some very big wins on there, such as the win against the massive Vader or HHH, but it is also still very hard to look past defeat to Tatanka, the draw with Martel, or the fact that one of his eight wins comes against Vince McMahon. With all that said, I don’t think that anyone would argue against Michaels deserving a place in the top 15 at least, with wins against Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Vader and HHH all to his name.

#14 Batista 4-1-0: Some people may be surprised to see Batista finish above Shawn Michaels, but you really shouldn’t be - especially when you consider that Batista has only ever lost at this level to The Undertaker. A decisive win over HHH and an otherwise unblemished record mean Batista is something of a dominant force in wrestling right now, and we don’t see that changing. Expect him to move up in the rankings, as opposed to the other way.

#13 Ric Flair 9-6-1: Thirteen might be unlucky for some, but it certainly isn’t for wrestling legend Ric Flair. Flair is better than most of the people in wrestling, and at one point the only person in WCW who could get anywhere near him was Sting, but he is probably a victim of carrying on too long. It is impossible to overlook his Starrcade defeat to Eric Bischoff. That will blight his record and ultimately mean he can’t finish any higher than this. If he had called it quits in 1995 - well, who knows, he may have finished in the top 10. Two defeats to Sting and a draw with Nikita Koloff in his prime do make it unlikely that he would ever have occupied the number one spot. He may be a star, but his record just doesn’t back up his claims to be number one.

#12 Scott Hall 5-2-0: Scott Hall is the highest placed person never to hold a World Championship. When you look at his record, you have to ask why he didn’t get more opportunities, especially when you consider the amount of world champions and future world champions he defeated. He managed to win against Kevin Nash, Bob Backlund, Shawn Michaels and Jeff Jarrett. Michaels managed to beat him back, and Steve Austin beat him at Wrestlemania X8. We have the answer to one of the most asked questions in pro wrestling; who is the best wrestler not to win a world championship. Usually names like Mr. Perfect, Rick Rude and others all crop up, but based on nothing more than their in ring performances and results, the answer is clear - Scott Hall is the greatest pro wrestler never to wear a world title.

#11 Randy Savage 9-5-0: Savage is in at number 11, and I bet he blames Hogan for not finishing higher. In fairness though, he only lost once to Hogan, but twice to the Ultimate Warrior, at Wrestlemania VII and Summerslam 1992, so were it not for these two defeats Savage would undoubtedly be in the top 10. It is probably important to note, however, that of all Savage’s 9 wins, none of them come against people who finish above him in this listing. The most impressive is his Wrestlemania VIII win against Ric Flair, who comes in two places below him. Savage beat who he should, but never really turned it on to come away with a big upset.

#10 Kurt Angle 8-2-0: Angle has only lost twice, and has defeated people who finish ahead of him, so he can perhaps consider himself unlucky. Unfortunately for him, defeats at the hands of Lesnar and Guerrero, both ranked significantly lower, move him down the list and mean a finish of tenth is as much as Angle can achieve, despite a huge win over Steve Austin. There aren’t too many people who could be legitimately disappointed with a tenth place finish, but perhaps Angle is one of them.

#9 The Rock 6-4-0: The Rock’s WWE career is basically a story of three men - Himself, Steve Austin, and HHH, and unfortunately he actually comes out the worst of the top encounters with both of them. His singles match with HHH at Summerslam 1998 remains the only top tier singles match between the two, and HHH won it. Rock and Austin met three times at Wrestlemania, and Austin won 2 of them. Where it not for those three matches, perhaps with his Wrestlemania X8 win over Hulk Hogan he might even crack the top three. As it is though, Rock must settle for 9th place, and the salary of a film star. I think he might be satisfied.

#8 Stone Cold Steve Austin 8-3-0: Some people may be surprised that Austin is actually this low, but lets not forget that at this level, we are dealing with nothing but genuine stars. Austin’s record is massively impressive, beating the Rock twice, Shawn Michaels, and even managing a victory over the Undertaker at Summerslam 1998, but defeat at the hands of Bret Hart, Kurt Angle and The Rock stop him from moving up to challenge for the top spot.

#7 Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart 10-5-0: Bret is the definition of the big time player, defeating several top names at the biggest stage of them all. He beat Steve Austin at Wrestlemania XIII, when the Rattlesnake was undoubtedly in his prime as a wrestler. He defeated the Undertaker for the WWE title at Summerslam 1997, despite giving up almost a hundred pounds in weight and a foot in height. He overcame similar size differences to beat Glen Jacobs and Bill Goldberg, and pulled off perhaps the biggest WWE title upset when he defeated Yokozuna at Wrestlemania X. Were it not for another upset that he suffered on the some card, at the hands of his brother, or the overtime defeat to Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XII, or his getting caught with a victory roll in Wembley stadium, perhaps Bret could have finished even higher. The question is, will Bret Hart be happiest with seventh best there is, seventh best there was, and seventh best there ever will be?

#6 John Cena 7-1-0: John Cena barely misses out on the top five due to his defeat at the 2006 Summerslam at the hands of Edge. With that one exception, Cena has beaten everything that has been put in front of him, including the Big Show, JBL, HHH and Shawn Michaels. You can’t say he’s ducked any challenges, and he has beaten most people he has faced. He may only have had a short career so far, but his record earns this 6th place finish.

#5 Hulk Hogan 11-4-1: We are now into the top five, and we kick it off with who would have been many people’s choice for number one. Hogan hasn’t lost many matches in his 16 trips to the grandest stage, but the Rock, Ultimate Warrior, Roddy Piper and Sting have all put Hogan to the canvas in his career. He’s still been good enough to defeat Andre the Giant, Randy Savage, Yokozuna and Shawn Michaels. It shows the esteem Hogan is held in, that virtually everyone who finishes above him has beaten him at some point in their career, with one notable exception.

#4 Ultimate Warrior 8-1-0: Warrior has made nine appearances at Wrestlemania and Summerslam over the years, the last coming against HHH at Wrestlemania XII. Warrior won, and it is unsurprising, since only Rick Rude has marked his otherwise clean sheet. In that time, he has beaten Hogan, Rude twice and Savage twice, as well as HHH and the Honky Tonk Man. Unlike Flair, Warrior didn’t make the mistake of hanging on too long in wrestling, and as a result his career is unblemished by post-prime defeats.

#3 Sting 8-1-0: The other half of the Blade Runners tag team finishes directly above his former partner in third place. Sting suffered an early defeat to Lex Luger; after that, he never looked back, racking up eight consecutive victories over the likes of Flair (twice), Hogan, Great Muta and Vader, all ending with him revenging himself on Luger at Starrcade 1999 with a DQ win. Simply put, the greatest WCW wrestler ever.

#2 Edge 6-0-0: This will probably be the most controversial ranking in the whole column. We take the view, though, that Edge has been back to the top level 6 times as a singles star, and is yet to be defeated by anyone, and on that list are former world champions Mick Foley, John Cena and Eddie Guerrero. You can only beat what is put in front of you, and Edge has done that time after time. He doesn’t quite have the record to push him up into first place, but with his career very much in the ascendancy, my recommendation is to watch this space. There is no reason at all that Edge couldn’t one day be number one.

Speaking of which, the moment you have all been waiting for has arrived.

#1 The Undertaker 20-5-1: The Undertaker’s record is simply staggering. The only person with half as many victories at this level is Hulk Hogan. Undertaker’s staggering Wrestlemania win sequence is so impressive that despite his defeats at Summerslam (to Austin, Hart, Mick Foley, JBL and Randy Orton) he still takes the number one spot in fairly comfortable fashion. His nearest rival, Edge, would either need to win five high profile matches without defeat, or actually beat Undertaker himself, in order to overtake him. His Tombstone piledriver is deadly, and he is seemingly impervious to pain. Just to conclude, here is the victors top tier won-loss record in full.

W vs. Jimmy Snuka, Wrestlemania VII
W vs. Jake Roberts, Wrestlemania VIII
W vs. Kamala, Summerslam 1992
W vs. Giant Gonzales, Wrestlemania IX
W vs. Giant Gonzales, Summerslam 1993
W vs. Brian Lee, Summerslam 1994
W vs. King Kong Bundy, Wrestlemania XI
W vs. Kama Mustafa, Summerslam 1995
W vs. Kevin Nash, Wrestlemania XII
L vs. Mick Foley, Summerslam 1996
W vs. Sid Vicious, Wrestlemania XIII (WWF Title)
L vs. Bret Hart, Summerslam 1997 (WWF Title)
W vs. Glen Jacobs, Wrestlemania XIV
L vs. Steve Austin, Summerslam 1998
W vs. Big Boss Man, Wrestlemania XV
D vs. Glen Jacobs, Summerslam 2000
W vs. HHH, Wrestlemania XVII
W vs. Ric Flair, Wrestlemania XVIII
W vs. Test, Summerslam 2002
W vs. A-Train, Summerslam 2003
W vs. Glen Jacobs, Wrestlemania XX
L vs. JBL, Summerslam 2004
W vs. Randy Orton, Wrestlemania XXI
L vs. Randy Orton, Summerslam 2005
W vs. Mark Henry, Wrestlemania XXII
W vs. Batista, Wrestlemania XXIII (WWE World Title)

As you can see, no one managed to beat Undertaker until Mick Foley did it at the tenth attempt. In his time, he has defeated seven world champions. I give you the most dominant wrestler of the modern era, The Undertaker.

<./kayfabe>

Hope you enjoyed the listings. My sincere apologies to Norman Smiley and Virgil for forgetting all about them, and for the terrible kayfabe excuse! Unfortunately, the amount of notes I had to take to make this column (and apparently, even at four parts and approximately 10000 words, it isn’t long enough or well researched enough for some people!) meant the two of them got lost in the shuffle somewhere - the excuse I offered was merely to try and close holes in the story, something that the WWE should try and do more often. As for Shane O Mac, he was legitimately excluded because he has never been a full time wrestler. I also can’t help feeling I should make an apology to any female wrestlers who would have made it onto the list were it not for my obvious favouritism towards the male divisions of wrestling.

There have been some surprised along the way - I’d be willing to bet no one expected HHH to have lost as many as he had won, for example, or that Edge would be undefeated. The Alex Wright thing came as a shock to me, as I’m sure it did for many of you. We can’t really judge wrestlers by their kayfabe records, but remember, if an announcer is trying to sell Cena or Batisa as one of the greatest wrestlers ever, don’t get irritated - they are merely sticking to the facts of their own story. In storyline terms, they are both a match for anyone.

If this was an opinion piece, the Undertaker certainly wouldn’t be my number one - and Jericho wouldn’t be as low as 62 - but this is not an opinion piece, and the story clearly shows that The Undertaker has been the most dominant star at the top tier of pro wrestling for the past seventeen years. Here’s to him seeing out the two decades of destruction.

With that, I believe this four parter is finished. I think it might be one of the strangest greatest wrestler lists you will have ever come across. I hope it has amused along the way, since that was primarily my only real goal to begin with. There is nothing else to say except merry Christmas and a happy new year. I will see you all again in January.

Until then

take care

Pt2








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