Yoshihiro Tajiri. I’m afraid his best days are behind him if he’s going to have to dumb down his style for the WWF, but we’ll see.
Any wrestler that quit because he couldn’t stand it. ::running out the door::
Foley is God.
Matt Hardy is hot and I’m a total floosy for anyone who gives goo aerial. =)
Angle is my favorite heel. You just can’t beat that milk drinking, american hero attitude.
X-Pac is still awesome, even if his gimmick -never- changes.
I like Big Shows entrance music.
And I’d say Molly Holly or Lita are my favorite girls.
Alternatively…
I -hate- Steve Austin. Alot.
I -always- miss these two, even though I love them dearly.
Steve Blackman and Al Snow.
…that no one has mentioned MY favorite:
Randy “Macho Man” Savage!
surely Hulk Hogan deserves a mention
NO!!!
Not “I won’t job for anyone” Hogan!
Wow, holden, you read my mind. Ricky the Dragon Steamboat was in the best match I ever saw, against Macho Man Savage, for the WWF Intercontinental belt . . . back in Wrestlemania III. What a great match that was. I, too, lost interest afterwards. I was waiting at a store last night, and my kids were watching whatever wrestling show was on. Every other word was bleeped out, and I hustled them away from the TV pretty quickly. I wish they would go back to wrestling, and forget the other crap.
I also used to love Chief Jay Strongbow, and Ivan Putski. Now I know I’m dating myself.
Back in the day, I used to love Rowdy Roddy Piper. He was awesome. There was also a wrestler in the Smoky Mountain Wrestling Conference called Lord Humungous, and he fit the name. He haunted my 7th grade dreams.
Modern day, I’m a huge Jericho mark. No one can take bumps like Spike Dudley. And, even though some may not like how big he’s gotten, I think The Rock is one of the best workers out there.
My brother, of course.
He’s Griz in the AWO.
How is it possible that the thread has gone this long without anyone mentioning Rick Flair? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Kids today.
Anyway, as far as current wrestlers go Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Matt and Jeff Hardy. It would also be cool if the WWF would actually let TAKA Michinoku show off what he can do a little more, I’ve seen a little of his Japanese work and he’s just awesome.
As far as guilty pleasure wrestlers, I think that the APA are comedic gold, especially Faarooq. Jeff Jarrett is extremely under-rated and, along with Lance Storm was one of the only really good reasons left to watch WCW before it . . . went on hiatus or whatever they’re saying now.
I don’t care what anyone says, the greatest wrestler of all time was the Hulkster! Hulkamania ran wild through everybody, and he even was the first wrestler EVER TO beat Andre the Giant.
I was pissed when he joined those faggots in the NWO, but eventually Hulk came back to the fans. Oh by the way, Hulk was a million times the wrestler Rick Fleir was.
I also remember feeling the power of the Ultimate Warrior, but it really pissed me off when his heart exploded and they replaced him with a fake, just like they did with Superstar Graham when he died.
Now my favorite is the Undertaker, he’s from Hell, because Stone Cold, was my hero but is not more- he’s a bad guy. Chris Jericho and Benoit are okay I guess but I never could root for little guys.
Oh by the way, hello to all my buddies at the WCMB!
Wow. Now that’s being a fan!
HHH-he is an awesome heel and although he was in nearly every segment for a while, the match where he tore his quad and continued the match was a great comeback to all his critics.
Ric Flair-before there was HHH, there was the Nature Boy. HHH is really patterning his career after this legend. Which is probably why HHH is “that damn good.”
Kurt Angle-A seriously gifted athlete, he’s also got the entertainment part down for today’s “sports entertainment”
Chris Jericho-my biggest mark out moment was when he beat HHH for the world title and held it for a whole 17 minutes. Not the world’s greatest worker, he oozes charisma and is great on the mic.
Yosihiro Tajiri-my favorite ECW’er from the TNN days.
On behalf of all smarks around the world … “Huh?”
IMO, Hogan was a joke. I admit he was very popular, but his style was extremely eighties, and as far as in-ring performance, he was way sub-par. Compare that to Ric Flair, who is arguably the greatest heel in the history of the business. And one HELL of an excellent in-ring technicician. I so hope he stays with the new WCW. He’s ancient, so he probably shouldn’t wrestle (one vice he shares with the Hulkster), but he could play some kind of managerial role or commissioner-type thing.
::applauds RicoLaser::
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
I can’t believe I forgot to mention Triple H. Great mic work,intense style,awesome finisher and the fact he finished a match with a torn quad…
He’s the man.
Anyone else notice that since Rhyno debuted,Edge no longer uses the Spear?
Well, he DID say that he’s a fan of Kane…
Anyway, I’ll admit that two of my biggest guily pleasures are PreMimeSting and PreSpeaking Goldburg. When Goldie would walk out, squash whatever jobber was in the ring that day, then walk back out again, I loved it. No ten minute rants, no silly angles, he’d just CRUSH 'em.
Of course, now he comes off like the biggest jackass in the biz. They never should have let him speak. Same with Kane, IMO.
I stopped watching wrestling altogether after the late 80’s, and when I started watching again, it was right during WCW’s heyday. I’ve only been watching WWf for the last couple of years, and catching up on the older matches through WWF.com’s website. That said, I have to agree that Mick Foley is God.
Other favorites (Old School):
Jake “The Snake” Roberts
Rick Flair
Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
Brett Hart
Roddy Piper (Loved him in They Live!)
Other favorites (Current)
The Rock (Not so much for his ringwork as for his mike work)
Chris Jerrico (For ringwork AND mikework)
Chris Benoit (I love this guy! He can make ANYONE look good!)
Kurt Angle
Rikishi
Triple H
Eddie Gurrero (sp?)
The Hardy Boyz
Steve Austin (Although I’m not buying his heel persona)
George “The Animal” Steele
This guy was 10 years ahead of his time … he had an act/gimmick/style while everyone else was just running around body slamming each other.
Mick Foley, Chris Jericho, The Hardyz, and Kane are my favorites.
Bret “The Hitman” Hart - Lean, mean, highly talented, incredibly gutsy old-school grappler who could take anyone, anywhere. (He nearly became the first man to beat Yokozuna, but of course Mr. Fuji had to steal the win.) Every time he entered the ring, he was focused and ready to rumble. They just don’t make 'em like that anymore.
The Ultimate Warrior (pre-Desert Storm) - Only a handful of moves. Not a whole lot of ring sense. Not all that smart. And with his nonstop assaults and almost inhuman competitive fire, it didn’t matter a lick. He looked like he could rip a tank apart. I feared this wrestler. Sadly, it kinda went downhill when he became a “patriot” during the Gulf crisis, and then came all the philosophical “spirit of the warrior” garbage and the silly feuds…feh. He did just fine as an uncontrollable force of destruction; why’d the WWF have to change that?
Randy “Macho Man” Savage - For having the balls to defy longtime friend Hulk Hogan because it was the right thing to do, Immortal status be damned. For not being quite as immortal as the Hulkster, yet still finding ways to win matches and championship. And for the interviews…he practically invented the stupid wrestling catchphrase. Ooh, yeaahh!!
Rowdy Roddy Piper - Always completely unpredictable, often shocking, and never boring. He always put on a great show no matter where he was. Didn’t see him wrestle much, but did he even need to?
“Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase - The Anna Kournikova of wrestling. Despite having decent skills and more money than Vince McMahon, he could never win the big one. It was almost comical seeing him in these matches…he’d dominate for a while, then he’d inevitably have the tables turned on him, upon which he’d either beg for mercy or scramble just to get away. He even made his own championship belt after failing to win any of the legit ones, and might have actually gone around to defending it a couple times. He was irreplacable, I tell ya.
“Nature Boy” Ric Flair - He’d do anything…anything at all to gain an edge. Often leading to really convoluted schemes, like the weird Savage/Warrior feud. One of my favorite moments was when he won the Royal Rumble after drawing #3, meaning that he had to face all but one of the 29 other entrants at some point. Very doubtful that an even slightly more ethically-minded wrestler could have done it.
Haven’t watched this sport at all in a while…there’s just too much going on. Plus we all know it’s…you know.