The Top 64 Wrestlers Of All Time
(This concludes a multi-part look at the history of the Counterfactual, a Counterfactual almanac if you will. Not for nothing, but a new edition to wwe.com is called “What if…” and the first installment is “What if Hogan didn’t slam Andre…” I’m just sayin’. I’d anticipate the next posts, which will be the build for Summer Slam ’06 to be in June, and then the big event itself will be in August. This list is an objective look at how, based on the title histories given here, for all four companies, pre-Counterfactual through WM XXII, one would rank the greatest wrestlers in North American history. I’m just doing this numerically, assigning a weight to all of the belts which were attained herein, giving additional points for longevity of title reigns. It’s basically a bullshit exercise, of course, just an excuse to listmake, silliness piled onto silliness, but here it is. This is not, please note, my evaluation of the real world careers or abilities of the workers – I’m assuming that wrestling is a sport and evaluating their careers based on titles. Why 64? Given the point breakdown, neither 50 or 100 made good sense. Actually, the number that makes the most sense turned out to be a top 56. But 56 doesn’t lend itself to brackets. And maybe someone wants to run a tournament. So, I picked 64. Feel free to S curve it. Trade with your friends! In a year, I’ll update, as active wrestlers obviously will move up the list based on performance every year.)
64. Hulk Hogan (WWF Heavyweight Champion, NWA Tag Champion)
63. Lance Storm (WWF Tag Champion, NWA US Champion, ECW TV Champion)
62. Shelton Benjamin (3 Time WWF Unified Tag Champion)
61. George Hackenschmidt (NWA Heavyweight Champion)
60. Ravishing Rick Rude (WWF IC Champion, WWF Tag Champion, NWA Tag Champion)
59. Frank Gotch (NWA Heavyweight Champion)
58. Dory Funk, Jr. (NWA Heavyweight Champion)
57. Flyin’ Brian Pillman (NWA Heavyweight Champion, NWA US Champion, NWA Tag Champion)
56. Wahoo McDaniel (3 Time NWA US Champion, NWA Tag Champion)
55. Dusty Rhodes (2 Time NWA Heavyweight Champion)
54. Iron Sheik (WWF Heavyweight Champion, WWF Tag Champion)
53. Stanislaus Zbysko (2 Time NWA Heavyweight Champion)
52. Bronco Nagurski (2 Time NWA Heavyweight Champion)
51. AJ Styles (2 Time TNA Heavyweight Champion)
50. Rick Steiner (3 Time NWA Tag Champion, WWF Tag Champion)
49. Everett Marshall (2 Time NWA Heavyweight Champion)
48. The Magnificent Don Muraco (2 Time WWF IC Champion)
47. Greg The Hammer Valentine (2 Time NWA US Champion, WWF IC Champion)
46. The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels (TNA Heavyweight Champion, 2 Time TNA X Division Champion)
45. The Shooter Dean Malenko (NWA Heavyweight Champion, 2 Time NWA US Champion)
44. Chief Jay Strongbow (4 Time WWF Tag Champion)
43. Road Warriors (2 Time WWF Tag Champions, 2 Time NWA Tag Champions)
42. Tito Santana (2 Time WWF Tag Champion, WWF IC Champion)
41. Tully Blanchard (2 Time WWF Tag Champion, NWA US Champion)
40. Scott Steiner (4 Time NWA Tag Champion, WWF Tag Champion)
39. The British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith (WWF Heavyweight Champion, 2 Time WWF Tag Champion)
38. Jack Brisco (2 Time NWA Heavyweight Champion, 2 Time NWA Tag Champion)
37. Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig (WWF Heavyweight Champion, WWF IC Champion)
36. Taz (ECW Heavyweight Champion, WWF Worldwide Champion, WWF Tag Champion)
35. Nature Boy Buddy Rogers (WWF Heavyweight Champion, NWA Heavyweight Champion)
34. Mr. Fuji (5 Time WWF Tag Champion)
33. Tony Garea (5 Time WWF Tag Champion)
32. Giant Baba (3 Time NWA Heavyweight Champion)
31. Scott Hall (2 Time WWF IC Champion, 2 Time NWA Tag Champion, WWF Tag Champion)
30. Dynamite Kid (2 Time WWF Heavyweight Champion)
29. Strangler Lewis (3 Time NWA Heavyweight Champion)
28. Sting (2 Time NWA Heavyweight Champion, NWA US Champion, NWA Tag Champion)
27. Arn Anderson (3 Time NWA US Champion, 2 Time WWF Tag Champion, NWA Tag Champion)
26. Vader (2 Time NWA Heavyweight Champion, WWF IC Champion)
25. Tajiri (ECW Heavyweight Champion, 2 Time WWF Worldwide Champion, ECW Tag Champion)
24. Bill Longston (3 Time NWA Heavyweight Champion)
23. Joe Stecher (3 Time NWA Heavyweight Champion)
22. Terry Funk (2 Time NWA Heavyweight Champion, ECW Heavyweight Champion, WWF Tag Champion,
21. The Franchise Shane Douglas (2 Time NWA Heavyweight Champion, 2 Time ECW Heavyweight Champion)
20. Rowdy Roddy Piper (2 Time WWF IC Champion, 2 Time NWA US Champion, WWF Tag Team Champion
19. Macho Man Randy Savage (WWF Champion, 2 Time WWF IC Champion NWA Tag Champion)
18. Kurt Angle (2 Time Undisputed Heavyweight Champion, WWF Unified Tag Champion)
17. Bob Backlund (2 Time WWF Champion, 2 Time WWF Tag Champion)
16. Lizard King Chris Jericho (NWA World Champion, 3 Time WWF IC Champion, WWF Unified Tag Champion)
15. Pedro Morales (WWF Champion, 2 Time IC Champion, WWF Tag Champion)
14. Bruno Sammartino (2 Time WWF Champion, WWF Tag Champion)
13. Stone Cold Steve Austin (WWF Champion, 2 Time WWF IC Champion, NWA US Champion, WWF Tag Champion, NWA Tag Champion)
12. Cactus Jack (2 Time WWF Champion, WWF IC Champion, WWF Tag Champion, NWA Tag Champion)
11. Rob Van Dam (2 Time ECW World Champion, 2 Time WWF Worldwide Champion, WWF Tag Champion, ECW TV Champion)
Coming up next…the top 10 wrestlers of all time…
4 comments
Gotta admit- I love the fact that Hogan was ranked #64, considering it was his loss that started this whole thread.
The big shock I saw was Kurt Angle rated #18. I expected him to be in your top 5, top 10 at worst. I suppose he only had three title reigns in your world, though.
I didn't fudge the numbers at all for Hogan to be 64 either, it just worked out that way (actually, he would have been tied with Jannetty and the Samoans).
My points weighting was heavier for more title runs as opposed to longer runs. Long runs got weight, but probably not the weight one would ascribe in a more serious minded list. This way opened it up a little, I thought.
'Course, Angle's not done yet. TNA counts too.
It seems to me this list needs updating - when you have time :)
Yeah. I've thought about it; it's the kind of thing I enjoy, going through my history, going through everyone's history, assigning some type of point system - maybe summer of 2013. That would be a good goal.
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