Posted June 21, 201213 yr comment_5507517 Inspired by the WCW Discussion. Put together a quick and dirty ranking of the wrestlers who held the WWE Championship. Based solely on their overall body of work, not the reign itself. I haven't parsed this list closely so I'm certain there are a few rankings that wouldn't pass scrutiny. 1. Hogan 1a.Flair (Not going through and renumbering this entire list) 2. Guerrero 3. Savage 4. Hart 5. Austin 6. Michaels 7. Mysterio 8. Rogers 9. Andre 10. Sammartino 11. Slaughter 12. Foley 13. Backlund 14. Rock 15. Punk 16. Cena 17. Koloff 18. Undertaker 19. Inoki 20. Yokozuna 21. Hardy 22. Jericho 23. Angle 24. Morales 25. Edge 26. Big Show 27. Lesnar 28. Batista 29. Sheamus 30. Triple H 31. Iron Sheik 32. Van Dam 33. Orton 34. JBL 35. Kane 36. Del Rio 37. Graham 38. Warrior 39. Miz 40. Sid 41. Diesel 42. Stasiak 43. McMahon
June 21, 201213 yr comment_5507519 Not really sure what your ranking. In terms of overall value / importance over the period they held the belt (i.e. 1/84 - 12/91 for Hogan), I would rate them as: 1. Hogan 2. Bruno 3. Austin 4. Rock 5. Backlund Then there's everyone else who was a positive (like Savage), then everyone else who was passable (say Eddy), then everyone else who didn't really matter (say Iron Sheik), then everyone else who was a negative (say Warrior who bombed). Beats the shit out of me where Trip would fit in since he covers a few of those. John
June 21, 201213 yr comment_5507522 Yeah, I'm assuming this is a subjective list? Regardless, you've got to be a pretty big Guerrero mark to put him #2 on a WWE Champions list.
June 21, 201213 yr comment_5507535 Based solely on their overall body of work, not the reign itself. I think everybody missed this. I'm not 100% sure myself what the exact criteria this is based on, though.
June 21, 201213 yr comment_5507545 Any particular reason for omitting Flair? Flair's reigns weren't particularly good or drew well?
June 21, 201213 yr comment_5507546 I mean... if it means their entire careers, then yeah... Flair being off the list (let alone not high on the list) doesn't make sense. Rogers being at #8 behind the guys who are #2 through #7 is kind of hard to figure out. Again, I'm not sure what the list means. Any list that has Eddy above Austin that isn't based 100% on work is odd. John
June 21, 201213 yr comment_5507548 Any particular reason for omitting Flair? Flair's reigns weren't particularly good or drew well? Then one looks at Superstar's placement and that can't be it. Or Andre's 2-minute reign that didn't draw. Al: you've got us all confused. John
June 22, 201213 yr comment_5507554 I mean... if it means their entire careers, then yeah... Flair being off the list (let alone not high on the list) doesn't make sense. Rogers being at #8 behind the guys who are #2 through #7 is kind of hard to figure out. Again, I'm not sure what the list means. Any list that has Eddy above Austin that isn't based 100% on work is odd. John Yeah, I did some research on Buddy Rogers' reign last year for a debate. I don't remember all of the details but I'm not sure if he ever even defended the belt before the Sammartino match due to his heart condition.
June 22, 201213 yr Author comment_5507565 Bingo. I just forgot to put Flair on the list. And it is a subjective ranking. Just overall in-ring ranking of anyone who ever held the belt. So when you compare Sammartino and Andre say, it doesn't matter that one held the belt for ten years and one for two minutes. It's simply a matter of who was better, Sammartino or Andre.
June 22, 201213 yr comment_5507607 Best wrestlers to ever be champ versus best championship reigns. In that case, if this is all about things like in ring ability, natural talent and general "who is the best" stuff... 1. Shawn Michaels 2. Ric Flair 3. Bruno Sammartino 4. Bob Backlund 5. Kurt Angle 6. Brock Lesnar 7. CM Punk 8. Eddie Guerrero 9. Chris Jericho 10. Rey Mysterio 11. Edge 12. Randy Orton 13. Rob Van Dam 14. Randy Savage 15. Steve Austin 16. The Undertaker 17. The Rock 18. Triple H 19. Bret Hart 20. Mick Foley
June 22, 201213 yr comment_5507608 You think Triple H is better than Hogan? You think Angle is better than Savage? You think RVD is better than Austin? EDIT: Don't take this the wrong way, but the more I look at that list, the more I think you're trolling or something. You really think Orton is a better worker than Savage? Why is Edge at 11 or even on the list at all? There are lots of things I can't get my head around there.
June 22, 201213 yr comment_5507615 He's not trolling, he just has some opinions that don't match with the group consensus. As to Al's original list: if we're talking about just their overall skills and not specifically their championship reign, I wouldn't put Vince anywhere near the bottom. Match-for-match, he's an incredibly entertaining wrestler. His charisma, facial expressions, and pacing and psychology are all usually top-notch.
June 22, 201213 yr comment_5507616 I'm not having a go, just that the thinking behind that list is so alien to me that I had to assume in the first instance he was joking. I'd go something like this for ability: 1. Flair 2. Savage 3. Michaels 4. Hart 5. Slaughter And something like this for reign(s): 1. Hogan 2. Sammartino 3. Austin 4. Rock 5. Backlund
June 22, 201213 yr Author comment_5507629 He's not trolling, he just has some opinions that don't match with the group consensus. As to Al's original list: if we're talking about just their overall skills and not specifically their championship reign, I wouldn't put Vince anywhere near the bottom. Match-for-match, he's an incredibly entertaining wrestler. His charisma, facial expressions, and pacing and psychology are all usually top-notch. Vince definitely has his chops as a performer. But he couldn't work that style in the ring more than a couple times a year. He couldn't work a regular match. And the standard of this list is very high. It's not until the late 30s that you get guys with very little to offer as performers.
June 22, 201213 yr comment_5507646 I am only going to do a Top 20 (based on work that I have seen), so a lot of the older guys will get an unfair shake as I was born in 1981, started watching around 1986 & certainly didn't go out of my way to watch the likes of Sammartino, Inoki, etc. Bret Hart Ric Flair Shawn Michaels Eddie Guerrero Randy Savage Bob Backlund Rey Mysterio Jr. Steve Austin Triple H The Undertaker The Rock Kurt Angle Chris Jericho Jeff Hardy Brock Lesnar Mick Foley John Cena Batista C.M. Punk Edge
June 22, 201213 yr comment_5507664 My top ten if we were basing on career in ring work and looking at both version of the WWE/F World titles (i.e. including Raw and SD brands) 1. Ric Flair 2. Rey Mysterio 3. Eddie Guerrero 4. Randy Savage 5. Bret Hart 6. Daniel Bryan 7. Steve Austin 8. Sgt. Slaughter 9. Bob Backlund 10. John Cena Could see a case for Foley or Michaels being above Cena and maybe they should be. Really I could be convinced to shuffle around the top ten a good deal. Only two spots I'm certain of are one and two.
June 22, 201213 yr comment_5507665 You think Triple H is better than Hogan? You think Angle is better than Savage? You think RVD is better than Austin? EDIT: Don't take this the wrong way, but the more I look at that list, the more I think you're trolling or something. You really think Orton is a better worker than Savage? Why is Edge at 11 or even on the list at all? There are lots of things I can't get my head around there. I've not taken things like charisma and showmanship into account, I did specify that it was purely based on in ring talent and ability.
June 22, 201213 yr comment_5507669 I'm not talking about charisma and showmanship either. Savage is a legit top 5 or 10 worker ever ever ever based on in-ring ability. I can't think of any metric aside from maybe jumping off ladders or having a big chin where Edge is better than him.
June 22, 201213 yr comment_5507672 Why not? Based on guys I've seen in their prime: 1. Hart 2. Savage 3. Austin 4. Rock 5. Michaels 6. Backlund 7. Slaughter 8. Punk 9. Foley 10. Mysterio 11. Hogan 12. Guerrero 13. Lesnar 14. Flair 15. Cena
June 22, 201213 yr comment_5507678 There's an interesting conversation within this topic somewhere but I think it's more toward the middle-to-bottom of the lists than at the top of the lists. Rob Van Dam over Randy Savage & Bret Hart is blowing my mind.
June 23, 201213 yr comment_5507715 I've only got a top ten in me tonight: 1. Hart 2. Savage 3. Flair 4. Backlund 5. Michaels 6. Cena 7. Hogan 8. Austin 9. Sammartino 10. Slaughter
June 23, 201213 yr comment_5507722 My top ten if we were basing on career in ring work and looking at both version of the WWE/F World titles (i.e. including Raw and SD brands) 1. Ric Flair 2. Rey Mysterio 3. Eddie Guerrero 4. Randy Savage 5. Bret Hart 6. Daniel Bryan 7. Steve Austin 8. Sgt. Slaughter 9. Bob Backlund 10. John Cena Could see a case for Foley or Michaels being above Cena and maybe they should be. Really I could be convinced to shuffle around the top ten a good deal. Only two spots I'm certain of are one and two. I think any ranking of WWE champions based solely on in-ring work that doesn't have Bret in the top three is suspect. Also, I'd like to hear the case for placing Rey above Eddy. Not only was Eddy great at all the things Rey is great at, he could effectively work both face and heel and was great at a wider variety of styles.
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