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Sports Illustrated blog ranks 101 best wrestlers of all-time, and it's hilariously bad.

13K views 97 replies 75 participants last post by  Lodi Lawless 
#1 ·
#60 ·
I'm a huge Flair mark, so i'd have put him at #1 too, but I recognize that's a highly unusual choice (Hogan,Cena,Rock,Austin, Savage are the usual suspects). This list is absolutely arbitrary - just a list of who they probably like best, with a sprinkling of historical figures thrown in. Before I looked at the list I was trying to justify Flair as #1 , and it's pretty difficult if you're at all factoring in "draw". It can't be a list of the best ring workers either or Cena and Hogan would be nowhere near the top. I wish they'd explained the selection process further.

Honestly, to make a comprehensive list, they should have made 2 lists. One of drawing power, and one of ring work and then made a final list based on the averages of the two.
 
#6 · (Edited)
meh - I've seen worse lists. It has a smattering of guys from back in the day, (Gotch, Thez, Ed Lewis, etc). But the list doesn't make any bones about it - the bulk of the list is focused on time period form the 70's to today. Frankly, that is the time frame of pro-wrestling most of today's fans know about, but most of them probably know from the 80's or 90's onward. Thus, this is the list you get..

But yeah - to rank Goldust ahead of Terry Funk..the list could use some tweaking.
 
#33 ·
The Miz being the first person I see is not a good sign.

Is he an all-timer? No, that’s why he’s up here at 101
Yeah the fact you think anybody on a top 101 is not an all timer means you have a lot of more of "looking around on youtube and the WWE Network" thing to do before making a list.


I---Ron Simmons? Batista? FUCKING LITA??

Yeah Kane doesn't belong on a top 250 no matter the criteria.

OH MY GOD HE SERIOUSLY PUT CHYNA ON THERE

When people wax poetic about the older, realer days, they’re talking about stuff like Tatsumi Fujinami beating Ric Flair, and holding the IWGP title and NWA title at the same time.
This was in 1991. Hardly the "older, realer days" like the late 70s and early 80s (where Fujinami was an active wrestler anyway, so IDK how he fucked that up).
Jake wasn’t a great wrestler, but he’s been responsible for some of the fundamental beats in wrestling. The DDT. That was him. He came up with that move.
Is this your entire reason for having him in the top 50? The DDT which he created on accident? What else did he create? Your argument seems to be "he invented stuff", then you just say the DDT.

Rikidozan and Lou Thesz in the 40s is meaningless. Felt like they were placed there just say "yes they are on the list."

34. Kenta Kobashi

Kenta is currently Hideo Itami, and clocking time in WWE’s NXT, but as KENTA he’s had some of the best matches with your favorite wrestlers. Seriously, go check out his stiff kicks on Daniel Bryan. You won’t be disappointed.

and all the great brawlers in the world, from Dean Ambrose to Stone Cold Steve Austin, owe something to Brody’s unruliness.
Brody was not unruly. He was a lame, stiff-bodied, no-selling hack. He became big and popular draw and is recognised as a great, sure. But he stopped being unruly once he got in the ring and stopped swinging his chain around.

Welcome to the dumbest entry on this list.
*could have been put anywhere*
Hansen might be more revered in Japan than he ever was in America, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s one of the greatest of all time.
Why WOULD that change it, pray-tell?
If most of your wrestling intake is WWE, and you haven’t ever dabbled in the indie stuff or Japanese stuff
Uhhhh don't tell any reader anything about Japanese wrestling if you can't get KENTA and Kobashi right.

I'm not entirely positive you writing this have even dabbled in WRESTLING.

Triple H was never truly great, but through three decades of his very good matches and very good promos, we have to give credit where credit is due.
yet you still put him at #22 .


Randy Orton at 17 bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah. Should have put Kenta "Hideo Itami" Kobashi well above him.
When people talk about the golden era of NWA, they’re talking about the 35-minute cage matches between Harley Race and Ric Flair.
Where's the evidence that Flair and Race ever had multiple cage matches that went 35 minutes? Starrcade 83 went around 25, and cagematchdotcom tells me they had some other cage matches, but they either go below 30, or don't have a time. I'm not even doubting this was possible b/c duh the schedule was insane back then, but where's the source?

12. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper

You know the basics. He was the best promo ever, and a core influence on guys like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Dean Ambrose, Chris Jericho, etc. He was a major part of one of the most important WrestleMania matches ever, and his charisma transitioned neatly into a couple cult action movies. But more than anything, I’ve never seen someone have as much fun with his or her character as Rowdy Roddy Piper. He was a brilliant heel, a brilliant man, and this business is a sadder place without his mind.
Wow, a well-written, accurate paragraph.

Dusty Rhodes was simply the best pure babyface in the history of pro wrestling. Yeah, his ring-work might look a little dated compared to the modern product
This is an opinion so I can't be too hard on it, but I need to point out how much I disagree. You get a guy doing exactly what 1980s Dusty was doing in 2016 and he'd probably be over as fuck. Dusty doesn't have the best reputation for ring work, but I mostly blame that on sheep mentality among some wrestling fans (aka "oh, Dave Meltzer says this guy sucks? OK, I'll agree without watching"). Dusty had great timing on all of his comebacks, a wild, erratic way of firing back, and an impeccable ability to get sympathy and support from the audience. Not a guy with a million awesome matches and by no means an all time great in the ring, but I seriously think at his best he was an excellent worker. Every single babyface wrestler in history could learn from him, no matter if they're modern.



I felt like an asshole writing this post some of the time, but every time I thought about the Kobashi thing it kind of went away. Like ok I am well past the point of really shitting on people for their actual opinion but......I seriously do not believe this is even the guy's actual opinion. Not because it's outlandish, either. Just because it seems like a pile of wrestlers that people have heard of before, placed into an almost random order. The reasoning behind most of them is strange, and you could swap wrestlers dozens of numbers apart - not change the paragraph wording - and not think twice about it. Basically the whole list is filler. Not to mention he fucked up most of the video placements.
 
#57 ·
This list is embarrassing as hell :lmao

First off:

- Calling TNA a place where careers go to die, despite names like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, etc. on the list :lol

-
64. Ultimo Dragon

Everyone loves Ultimo Dragon. From his high-flying offense to ridiculous ring gear, the guy truly defined what it meant to be a cruiserweight. Nobody in a major company would ever put the title on him,
Is that why Ultimo Dragon held 10 titles at once? :punk2 Oh, and they also didn't bother mention him being the founder of Toryumon, which has gone on to become the number 2 promotion in Japan (Dragon Gate).

- That Kenta Kobashi fuck up :lmao :lmao :lmao

I could go on, but man, it's clear the guy doing the list barely knows what he's talking about.
 
#71 ·
Yeah for what it is this list is pretty bad.

The person who wrote this really should have just stuck to North America from the mid 80s onwards. It's clear he doesn't know much about Japan (Jumping the gun on a guy like Nak whose been around forever and that Kenta comment :lmao)

Also they should have based this on either a kayfabe or non kayfabe basis. They tried to do a mixture a both and it just failed on so many levels.
 
#74 ·
Why would you make a list like this when you're clearly so ignorant about so many different styles of wrestling and the way wrestlers embody/embodied them. I admit I don't know shit about Lucha Libre, so I wouldn't make a list like this and try to pass off as knowledgeable by throwing out Blue Demon at a random number and writing some vague shit about him.

Not only that, but these lists are always so vague themselves. We're clearly not talking in-ring only, so is it drawing power too? Charisma? Mic skills? The list is already thrown into disarray no matter what number of criteria are followed.

But this features some really weird stuff. Honestly, no Kawada, no Lawler, no Tanahashi, that's all fucking stupid, but some of these are more like "what the fuck were you thinking", like where did he come up with MIKE QUACKENBUSH AT 78 :lmao It just seems so randomly thrown together, who remembers fucking Mike Quackenbush but not Kawada?!
 
#94 ·
Except Miz did spend some time in an indy, before going on Tough Enough. :p

Ultimate Pro Wrestling (2003)[edit]
Pursuing the goal of becoming a professional wrestler, Mizanin joined Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW), where he trained in the Ultimate University.[1] He made his in-ring debut in 2003 as The Miz.[1] During his time with UPW, The Miz competed in UPW's Mat War's tournament, making it to the finals before losing to Tony Stradlin.[1]
Also, they fixed that Kenta Kobashi/Hideo Itami fuck-up. So now, Hideo is 34th on the list, and Kenta Kobashi isn't even on the list at all. :lmao
 
#49 · (Edited)
90. Shinsuke Nakamura

Maybe this is another one we’re jumping the gun on, but whatever.
Jumping the gun? The guy has been wrestling for the better part of the last 15 years and is one of the very best in the world and they have him at #90 , just 9 spots above... Wild Bill Longson?



Oh boy...here's a DOOZY:

67. Dean Malenko


66. Trish Stratus

That's right folks, that confirms it - Trish Stratus is a better wrestler than Dean Malenko.


:austin3
 
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