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 Third Edition Now On Sale (Updated All-Time Rankings, New Entries, Plus the "Wine Cellar" Section); Click to Order Follow @TheDocLOP About a year ago, a frequent collaborator on “The Doc Says” podcast – David Fenichel - suggested to me a column series that would begin to turn our historical attention toward that which came after the vaunted Attitude Era. With an eye on something fresh, he suggested that we identify the most accomplished wrestlers of the “post-Attitude Era” - from present day back to the night after WrestleMania X-8 as we have defined it. So, welcome to a labor of pro wrestling love roughly one year in the making. We ranked our top 100 wrestlers based on a point system that involved headlining matches for WrestleMania, Summerslam, Survivor Series, The Royal Rumble, and all other PPVs, combined with a points formula based on titles won and length of reigns. While it was more difficult to ascertain the status of certain members of the WWE – namely tag teams, divas and legends w/ short tenures during this era, we believe that this is as unbiased of a countdown as you are going to find. Chad and I did a tremendous amount of work putting this together for you, so we hope that you enjoy the ride. 10. Chris Jericho 9. Brock Lesnar 8. CM Punk 7. Shawn Michaels 6. Batista 5. The Undertaker 4. Edge 3. Triple H 2. Randy Orton 1. John Cena 10. Chris Jericho Dave: Our top ten starts with one of my all time favorite wrestlers in Chris Jericho. During this era, he headlined WrestleManias against the likes of Shawn Michaels, Edge and CM Punk. He was a multi time world, tag team, and intercontinental champion. He might be the single best mic worker of this era. He has an incredible knack for getting the crowd to boo him when they are supposed to boo him, and cheer him when they are supposed to cheer him. He’s also one of the best workers of this generation. His match against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 19 is one of the best matches of all time. His ladder match against HBK years later might have been just as good. When I think of every wrestler of any kind of importance in this era, I can name a great match and/or great feud that they had with Chris Jericho. It’s incredible to think that WCW didn’t see the talent that they had staring them in the face. The first night that Raw was Jericho was magic, and the WWE was never…..EEEEEVVVVER…..the same……AGAIN. Doc: As we just recently saw during WrestleMania Season this year, Chris Jericho has a knack for lifting up whatever part of the card he's on. If he has been in the mid-card, he has excelled by adding a rare kind of personality to the proceedings; he did that long before he ever reached the main-event. Some of my favorite Y2J matches have been ones that saw him drop down the figurative ladder a few rungs to mix it up for the Intercontinental Championship with Rey Mysterio or wage war against his “former friend” Christian. If he has been in the Tag Team division, he has elevated it well beyond where it has generally resided in the WWE hierarchy during the post-Attitude Era (see his duo with Christian, Jeri-Show, or the more recent brief run with AJ Styles that led to one of the best pure tag team matches of the decade). In the main-event, he has built a reputation as one of the greatest of all-time, with a laundry list of engaging feuds against all and sundry. It may be awhile before we see another Y2J, if we ever do. 9. Brock Lesnar I once questioned the overall value of Brock Lesnar to the modern WWE brand, but I don't think at this point there's any question that he's one of the biggest stars of all-time and one of the most important commodities to the overall brand-building success for WWE that allowed Titan Inc. to unleash the innovative WWE Network. Also, the relationships with ESPN that he built while fighting for UFC helped WWE firmly establish itself as a commodity that the mothership of sports coverage wanted to pay attention to in a significant way. In regards to our list, Lesnar has been a headliner from the moment he showed up on Day 1 of the post-Attitude Era as we define it. He was in the main-event of Summerslam and WrestleMania and won the Royal Rumble match all within his first year on the roster. He has developed an incredibly unique style in the ring over the last few years that is utterly fascinating at times. He has truly become one of the greatest not just of the post-Attitude Era, but of all-time. Brock Lesnar might be the best athlete to ever step foot in a wrestling ring. He’s the perfect mix of strength, speed and power. I could go on a tangent about how the WWE needs to be prowling the college wrestling ranks for more athletes like Brock Lesnar and less for indie darlings, but that’s a conversation for another day. Brock Lesnar’s post-Attitude Era career trajectory has been awfully similar to The Rock’s. He had an incredible run to open the era, left to pursue other interests for a long period of time, came back a much bigger mainstream star, and has had another equally monstrous run upon his return. No one dominated so quickly into their career the way Lesnar did. His two year run from shortly after WrestleMania 18 through WrestleMania 20 was unbelievable. He won the King of the Ring and captured the WWE title less than 6 months after his debut at Summerslam 2002 against The Rock. He proceeded to main event PPV after PPV for the better part of 2 years – the culmination of which was winning the 2003 Royal Rumble and main-eventing WrestleMania 19 against Kurt Angle. I was in attendance for his career low at WrestleMania 20 – the debacle against Goldberg. As big of a Chris Benoit fan as I was, there wasn’t a match on that card that I was looking forward to more than Brock Lesnar v Goldberg. His current run has been equally amazing. His return match against John Cena at Extreme Rules 2012 was unlike anything we’d seen. His Summerslam match against CM Punk remains my favorite match of all time. Ending the Undertaker’s streak at WrestleMania 30 is one of if not the most shocking moment in WWE Kayfabe history. He was allowed to dominate Cena in route to another world title at Summerslam 2014 in a way no other superstar ever has. The Triple Threat match against Cena and Rollins at the Royal Rumble 2015 was the best match of the year. He main evented another WrestleMania in an unquestioned top 5 WrestleMania main event against Roman Reigns. At this stage in his career, each and every match he participates in is must-see. If not for his lengthy hiatus, he could very well have ended up as the number one entry on our list. 8. CM Punk CM Punk is the hero of the whamboo bamboo’s. His rise to superstardom following his pipe-bomb promo was the first time that the WWE truly listened to what the vocal minority internet wrestling fan community wanted. As much as I want to dump on his accomplishments, his multiple title reigns, including the incredible year plus long reign, drives him to an incredibly impressive #8 ranking on our countdown. As much as I’m annoyed with what has happened as a result with the fan-base doing long term damage to the product, I cannot understate how highly I regard CM Punk. He’s a phenomenal wrestler with mic skills on par with the likes of Ric Flair and Chris Jericho. The previously mentioned match against Brock Lesnar at Summerslam 2013 is one that I can watch over and over again without being any less amazed. His most famous run notwithstanding, CM Punk had an incredible and Hall of Fame worthy career prior to the pipe-bomb promo. He was a multiple time WWE and ECW champion, and often the highlight of whatever Pay Per View he was on. One of my all-time favorite Royal Rumble storylines was CM Punk’s promos mid-match during the Straight-Edge Society gimmick days. The guy absolutely had it all and is sorely missed. CM Punk, I agree, is sorely missed. Love him or hate him, the guy had a knack for keeping you glued to the TV just to hear what he was going to say. For several years, I watched Raw mainly just to hear what was on his mind week-to-week. Slowly but surely, my interest in standard 8-11 ET viewing diminished beginning with his January 2014 departure. Who knows if we’ll ever see another unpredictable maestro of the microphone on that level again? Punk left quite a legacy, one full of incredible in-ring performances, championships, and distinguished promos. For yours truly, it didn’t get much better than watching Punk play Batman to John Cena’s Superman; theirs was a captivating dynamic. As long as I live, I’ll never forget Money in the Bank 2011. I also have to highlight his feud with Jeff Hardy in 2009 for it was that run which allowed me to invest so heavily in Punk’s post-Pipe Bomb run from 2011-2013. Few characters have ever been as natural as heels as CM Punk. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the match with Undertaker at WrestleMania 29. I was there and that was amazing. Of course, I echo Dave’s sentiment about the Lesnar match at Summerslam 2013; one of the best matches ever. 7. Shawn Michaels Shawn Michaels may only be #7 on our list, but I’m not sure that anyone has had a more memorable post-Attitude Era. Start with the all-time classic return match against Triple H at Summerslam ’02 and work your way from there. He won the title in the first Elimination Chamber match. He followed that with an incredible match against Chris Jericho at WrestleMania. Then he was the defining act in arguably the greatest Survivor Series match of all-time. He followed that by combining with Triple H for arguably the greatest Raw match of all-time and then the greatest triple threat match of all-time. Famous for telling his peers to “follow that,” the only guy who could really follow HBK was HBK himself. For a time, HBK vs. Kurt Angle was arguably the greatest match ever (and my personal all-time favorite WrestleMania match). Then he delivered the amazing performance against a 103 year old Hulk Hogan at Summerslam. He followed that with the main-events with John Cena, which are horribly underrated historically both in terms of their quality and their impact. Then came the match with Ric Flair that was arguably the most emotional in history. He capped off his career with a popular choice for the greatest match of all-time and its highly regarded sequel. Need I say more? I’m not sure that there’s a ton that I can add to what Chad has already said about Shawn Michaels, but I’ll give it my best shot. Shawn Michaels is the best in ring performer that has ever lived. It pains me to say this as a lifelong Bret Hart fan, but it’s the stone cold truth. Shawn Michaels had a Hall of Fame career prior to his back injury in 1998. It’s unbelievable to me that he could come back 4 ½ years later and have a better second half to his career than the first. On top of all of the amazing accomplishments that Chad has already detailed, Shawn also had matches that were much better than they had any business being against the likes of The Spirit Squad, The Legacy, The McMahons, and Chris Masters. HBK truly had one of the most remarkable careers of all time. 6. Batista Although the least talented wrestler of the elite group of this era, you have to give Batista credit where it is due. He’s had an unbelievable career filled with headlining matches. He is in the elite group of wrestlers that has main evented WrestleMania twice. His two WrestleMania main events were 9 years apart. That is an incredibly impressive accomplishment. It is arguable that he should have main-evented a third WrestleMania against the Undertaker at WrestleMania 23. That match absolutely tore the house down and was without a doubt the match everyone had paid to see. On top of that, he also participated in another WrestleMania headlining match against John Cena. This too was a much better match than people give it credit for. Batista enjoyed fantastic and long lasting feuds with both The Undertaker and Edge. There was a two year time period where it felt like he main evented every PPV against one of the two. All in all, Batista is perhaps the best example of what it REALLY takes to be a WWE superstar, as opposed to what the Whamboo Bamboos think it takes. The WWE would be wise to continue to go the Batista route with Roman Reigns. Time has shown that the common-folk wrestling fan wants to see the superhero type as “the guy”, and Batista played that role to perfection. Personally speaking, I would love to see Batista return again for a big-time drawing WrestleMania match against Brock Lesnar. Let’s make it happen Vince. Man, I would love to see a match between Batista and Brock Lesnar. Absolutely make that happen! That’s actually what I wanted to see in 2014 when he was in the main-event. Anyhow, Dave painted the perfect picture with his words about the Animal and I’m personally quite happy to see his statistical ranking back up what I feel is a very well-earned place on the historical ladder of the post-Attitude Era. What I’d like to highlight, to add further proof that he belongs in this spot, is the passion that he displayed for the business and the hard work that he put into becoming not just the wrestler with the best push, but the wrestler with the skills to back up his push. As a character, Batista caught fire in late 2004, early 2005 and the main-event feud with Triple at Mania 21 was one of the best of last decade (maybe ever). The Hell in a Cell that mentor and protégé wrestled at Vengeance ’05 is one of the best in that gimmick’s illustrious history. By 2007, Batista had put it all together and rounded into a big match player. If I had more time, I’d continue to glowingly reflect on his career. 5. The Undertaker I’d like to make something very clear: before 2006, I really didn’t care much for the Undertaker. I mentioned this in my book, The WrestleMania Era, but I would read these incredibly flattering interviews from his peers and seriously question what the heck Taker had ever done that was so amazing aside from a very few performances. I respected his longevity and his commitment to his gimmick back then, but I was not what you’d call a “Creature of the Night.” Then came “The Streak Within ‘The Streak’” that I’ve wrote about so much during my LOP column-writing tenure; that changed my entire perception of Taker’s overall career. Unofficially beginning with the match that should’ve headlined Mania 22 against Kurt Angle (at No Way Out ’06) and continuing on through his run of classic battles on the grandest stage with Batista, Edge, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and CM Punk, the Deadman put together a truly incomparable body of work at WWE’s equivalent of the NBA Finals, Super Bowl, etc. I’m forever grateful for those memories, in particular, and unquestionably now consider Taker not just the 5th greatest of this generation, but one of the Top 5 of all generations combined. Chad talks about “The Streak Within the Streak” being the sole reason that he holds the Undertaker in such high regard. For me, it’s not about the quality of matches that he’s had inside of the ring on the big stage. Everyone knows that he’s the most decorated WrestleMania performer of all time. For me, The Undertaker’s biggest accomplishment is making people still believe in Kayfabe twenty years after it was no longer cool to do so. Think about this for a second. The current fan wants to find a reason to crap all over everything that doesn’t fit their ideal perception of what a wrestler should be. A dead person with mythical powers? Not a problem. He shoots lightning bolts from the top of the arena and pops out of caskets? We’re good with that. More so than any other wrestler in the history of the business, The Undertaker makes normally cynical wrestling fans suspend disbelief. This is a truly remarkable achievement. 4. Edge Some people may be surprised by Edge’s place at #4 on this list, but his resume leaves no doubt as to his worthiness. Edge had an incredible headlining career during this era. He main evented WrestleMania 24 against The Undertaker, headlined several other WrestleManias against the likes of Mick Foley, Chris Jericho and Alberto Del Rio, and won a Royal Rumble. While his headlining statistics are comparable to Batista, Michaels and The Undertaker, it was his title count that distinguished him. Edge combined to win The WWE and World Heavyweight championship 11 times during this era, won 6 tag team championships with four different partners and was a multiple time IC Champion. I was fortunate enough to be in attendance on the night Edge cashed in Money in the Bank on John Cena. While that New Year’s Revolution PPV ranks as one of the worst of all time in my eyes, the roof came off the building when Edge became champion. It was at that moment that I knew that Edge was going to be a superstar from that day forward until the day he announced his retirement. What a remarkable career. I’ve made it no secret over the years that Edge is one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. I was watching him wrestle Kurt Angle in one of the first few weeks after the brand split and that along with each subsequent match with our Olympic Hero made it abundantly clear in 2002 that Edge was a ready and able singles competitor. I became invested in his journey accordingly and I spent the next few years watching him battle injury, backstage perception, and soap opera drama to emerge as a legitimate top star who had about as good of a 6 year main-event run as anyone ever has. Dave highlighted Edge’s vast list of accomplishments; somehow he rarely seems to be recognized as someone with his resume should be. I referred to him in my book as wrestling’s equivalent of the St. Louis Cardinals – he was never the Yankees, but his comparable achievements deserve far more credit for their impact on WWE than is often given. I’ll remember him as a big match player who excelled in clutch situations as well as any of his peers and as one of wrestling’s greatest personifications that dreams come true. 3. Triple H Multiple championship reigns in the nine month range of length; three straight WrestleMania main-events (and two others to boot); seven World Championship matches at WrestleMania; the #1 guy in the industry from 2002 to 2006. Triple H has had one of the finest careers in wrestling’s entire history, much less the specified period for this countdown. The Game dominated the 2000s and has continued to have a huge impact ever since. The above data only scratches the surface of what he has contributed to WWE. The devil is in the details and though many of our readers might still consider him to secretly have horns and a pointed tail stemming from all the political rumors of yesteryear, the fact that Triple H was responsible for outright building or confirming the careers of the three wrestlers in our Top 6 whose debuts occurred after the post-Attitude Era began says so much about him; and, of course, there were many others who owe a lot of their success to him too, be it on-camera or – as is increasingly becoming the case – behind the scenes. He’s going to go down in history as one of WWE’s most important figures and I’d argue that most of the reasons why have come after the Attitude Era. The top three on our list were very far ahead of everyone else. This starts with Triple H. Triple H draws a lot of ire from the fans as a result of the perception that he has been handed preferable storylines and roles as a result of his marriage to the boss’s daughter and subsequent rise to power. As a result, it has allowed him to re-write history and call himself the “greatest wrestler of all time”. While I will disagree with that, a strong argument can be made that Triple H is the best heel of all time. While he has never been the person to draw money as the number one babyface, he has done big business as the bad guy that needed to be knocked off of the mountain. He is an enormous reason why our #1 and #2 entrants on this list are where they are. Triple H’s WrestleMania resume is amongst the best of all time. It is a testament to his greatness and accomplishments that he makes #3 on our list despite being a part time or less performer over the past five years. 2. Randy Orton I’ve never really been a Randy Orton guy but his resume speaks for itself. Randy Orton has been a headlining act for his entire career and this entire era. He’s main evented two WrestleManias and headlined countless others. He’s a multiple time world champion and that has allowed him to headline a slew of other PPVs as well. While Orton’s WrestleMania headlining statistics are comparable to Triple H’s, he blew him away with headlining stats for the remaining PPVs. Orton was especially strong at Summerslam, headlining the show against the likes of Chris Benoit, John Cena, and Hulk Hogan. He is arguably the greatest Survivor Series performer ever. He won a Royal Rumble and finished in the top four repeatedly. I spoke about his feud and subsequent matches against Christian during the summer of 2011 at length. I believe these to be some of the finest matches of all time. All in all, while Orton is far from my favorite wrestler on this list, he is absolutely worthy of the #2 slot. Randy Orton really is his generation’s Triple H. He has an impeccable resume on-par statistically with the greatest of not just the post-Attitude Era but of the entire WrestleMania Era and he seems destined to keep plugging away, extending his longevity and improving upon on already incredible overall track record. Someday, fans are going to look back at a list of his achievements and assume that Orton was a Top 5 all-time star and, though he isn’t, the mere fact that someone will say that about him does speak volumes about what he has accomplished these past 13 years. Do you remember the hype video played prior to his match with Seth Rollins at WrestleMania last year? That was a great recap of Orton’s career – there’s nothing he hasn’t done; crossing off “a Match of the Year candidate in the main-event of WrestleMania” two years ago made everything else he does from here on icing on the cake. He has every accolade to his name, has had numerous classic matches, and has reinvented himself a handful of times. It is moments like this one right now, sitting here reflecting about the Viper’s body of work that I am reminded why Randy Orton is one of my favorite wrestlers ever. 1. John Cena If I am evaluating the greatest wrestler of a specific time period, what I most want to see is a body of work that includes all-time great matches, the main-events of all the major PPVs, an elite number of championships won, a well-rounded character, and the responsibility of having to carry a company as its central figure. John Cena’s greatest match list includes a plethora of phenomenal performances; against Jericho, Edge, Triple H, Orton, CM Punk, The Rock, Daniel Bryan, and Kevin Owens to name a few, Cena has consistently performed equal to or greater than his peers. He has more reigns as World Champion than any wrestler not named Ric Flair and, let’s face it, the WrestleMania Era is a WWE-dominated world, so one could easily argue that Cena’s 15 titles in a financially-undervalued era in WWE lore are as or more impressive as Flair’s 16 titles, a lot which were won when NWA was getting its rear-end kicked. That might be controversial to say, but the fact is you could say it to me with a straight face and I wouldn’t laugh at you. One of his reigns I consider to be among the greatest ever (Sept. ’06 to Oct. ’07). Cena has been perhaps the best ambassador WWE has ever had. His run at the top has coincided with the elevation of WrestleMania to heights Vince McMahon once only dreamed of. His engaging real life personality has struck the right chords on numerous occasions and has helped WWE vastly expand its modern reach in the ever-changing mainstream media. He guided WWE into the social media era, quickly becoming one of the world’s most followed stars. Ten straight years as the face of the most influential pro wrestling brand and one of the world’s most underratedly influential entertainment conglomerates period has Cena knocking on Hogan, Austin, and Rock’s door. Only the Hulkster’s run at the top was longer, but Cena might eclipse that before all is said and done, just as he may eclipse Flair’s title record. He changed the game in many ways with his wrestling character. Perhaps it hasn’t featured the versatile shift in personic dynamics (i.e. the heel turn) that so many of us have hoped we’d see, but few wrestlers in history have turned up the dial when selling a PPV quite like Cena. He is without question the greatest of his generation and the greatest of the post-Attitude Era. The only question left for him to answer is: “Can he become the greatest ever?” His game is like a swollen (Doc bleeped for PG) – you can’t beat it. Ladies and gentleman, I give you John Cena. Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 13 years, it was a foregone conclusion that John Cena was going to grab the top spot on our countdown. His run has been unprecedented. He has dominated this era. He was the top scorer for every single criteria that we used to rate the wrestlers – Wrestlemania Headlining Matches, Summerslam Headlining Matches, Royal Rumble Headlining Matches, Survivor Series Headlining Matches, Other PPV Headlining Matches and Titles. I have had the pleasure of watching wrestling for 30 years. Simply put, John Cena is the best that has ever done the deal. Only Hulk Hogan has had a better career, but Hogan didn’t have to do it in the current environment. The internet whamboo-bamboo hate for Cena is beyond ridiculous. Now that Roman Reigns is around and a new target for ridiculous internet degradation, I can only hope that people start to appreciate Cena for exactly what he is – the best. On behalf of Dave Fenichel, I just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone who read and commented on this column series over the past two months. It, as always, has been our pleasure and I in particular thoroughly enjoyed the depth of the discussions that stemmed from this countdown. I think it was the appropriate time to tackle a project like this, roughly fifteen years out from the beginning of the post-Attitude Era, as it seemed like a lot of you were as engaged in the material and the questions of the day as you had been for any recent series like this. Stay tuned for more, as Dave has already pitched a new idea and I am working on a few other co-authored projects with some of LOP’s finest as well. THANK YOU AGAIN, ladies and gentlemen. QUESTION OF THE DAY: Who is your favorite star of the post-Attitude Era and why?
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