JBL Ranks Hulk Hogan as the Greatest World Champion, Puts John Cena Ahead of Bruno Sammartino

On the latest episode of Something to Wrestle, JBL played the Stay Silent Game on the greatest world champion in wrestling history. Conrad Thompson started with Lou Thesz and read off a list of names, and JBL was supposed to stay quiet unless he heard someone he ranked higher. He spoke up for Bruno Sammartino, then John Cena, then Hulk Hogan. You can check out his comments below:

On Bruno Sammartino:

“I don’t think anybody could do what Bruno did. Jerry Lawler in Memphis sold out the arena for 52 straight weeks, the same arena. Bruno sold out the Garden 186, 187 times, whatever it was. I don’t think anybody in the world could have done that. I think Bruno was the foundation of so much of wrestling.”

On Ranking Cena ahead of Sammartino:

“Because of what he had to do. He had the hardest role in the history of world champions. He had to go from a Rated-R era and maybe past that, where you could flip off your boss and drink beer. Where you could drop the F-bomb on TV, which guys did, and say GD. You could do anything you wanted. He had to go from that to a PG-rated era and still carry the company. I think Cena had the hardest role in the history of wrestling, and he did it. So yes, I think that puts him slightly ahead of the great Bruno Sammartino.”

On Why Hogan Is #1:

“Without him, you don’t have WrestleMania. Well you have WrestleMania, but you don’t have the success you had. And you had him slam the Giant. Who else could have done that? There were guys that could have done it, but nobody like Hogan. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated twice. He was a big star from the Rocky movie. When people look back at the ’80s, all people talked about in wrestling was Hulk Hogan. He was one of the most famous guys in the world. So yes, Hogan.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Something to Wrestle with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.