The Piledriver Report 01.20.11: The Top 50 Superstars of All-Time

Who’s the greatest of all-time? It’s a question that gets asked all of the time in many different in the field of sports and entertainment. What’s the greatest movie ever made? Who’s the greatest baseball player that ever lived? Recently, the NFL Network presented a ten part series called “The Top 100: NFL’s Greatest Players.” Last week, the NFL released this series on DVD. A month earlier, the WWE put out a DVD of their own called “Top 50 Superstars of All-Time.”

When the WWE announced that they were coming out with this video, I was excited to see how the rankings would be presented. This past weekend, I finally got my hands on a copy of the DVD. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. Before I go on, if you do not want to know the rankings, I would advise you to stop reading. Otherwise, continue on with the reading.

THE 50 GREATEST SUPERSTARS OF ALL-TIME

I was stunned at some of the rankings. On the DVD package, it is noted that the list was compiled by the superstars of the WWE. I’m thinking that these superstars took one too many chair shots to the head. Hulk Hogan, the man who did more to propel the World Wrestling Federration into a national power then any other performer, was ranked number 23. Even Todd Grisham was stunned on the DVD, and said not to blame him, he is “only the messanger.” Ric Flair was tied for number 17 with Dusty Rhodes. Are you kidding? How is John Cena, Rey Mysterio, and Georgeous George ranked ahead of the most famous wrestler in the world, and arguably the greatest worker in the history of the business, in Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair?

When I looked at the complete rankings, I realized something. The rankings made absolutely no sense. From what I have heard about the compiling of the rankings, the WWE just asked for the people inside the company to provide a Top 50 list, with no parameters on what would qualify someone to be on this list. Was the WWE looking for the Top 50 workers of all-time? If so, Ric Flair would not be ranked so low, and mid-carders like Georgeous George would not be anywhere neear this list. If the WWE was looking for the Greatest WWE Superstars of All-Time, then Hulk Hogan and Bruno Sammartino would not be #23 and #24 respectively. Plus, Harley Race would not be ranked at #6, as he had a lack luster WWF career.

It really wasn’t clear what the WWE was looking for. I think that was the big problem with the rankings. The lack of clarity probably caused everyone who filled out their lists to use their own parameters. Some probably were listing the best workers, some were listing the best “performers” (not becessarily workers). Seeing that six of the top ten were either current performers, or wrestlers from the Attitude Era, I believe that a good portion of the ballots were probably filled out by people who have no clue regarding the history of the business. Of the four that didn’t work during that time, one is a road agent/trainer (Steamboat), one is among of the most famous wrestlers of all-time (Andre the Giant), who was Vince Senior’s favorite performer, the other two are legends who maintain ties with the WWE today (Piper and Race).

Despite this list being “handpicked by the WWE Superstars,” one has to wonder if the rankings on the list has Vince McMahon’s hand prints on them. Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair are both with TNA wrestling. Could their low rankings be due to the fact that they work for the competition? One could argue that Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle, and Mick Foley are on the list. While Angle should be listed higher, Jeff Hardy and Mick Foley were ranked pretty fairly, despite being on the TNA roster.

The WWE’s list included:
#50 – Killer Kowalski #49 – Batista #48 – “Ravishing” Rick Rude #47 – Bob Backlund
#46 – Dory Funk Jr. #45 – Jeff Hardy #44 – Nick Bockwinkel #43 – Kane
#42 – Sgt. Slaughter #41 – Jack Brisco #40 – Big Show #39 – Jake Roberts
#38 – “Superstar” Billy Graham #37 – Junkyard Dog #36 – Gorilla Monsoon
#35 – Buddy Rogers #34 – Kurt Angle #33 – Mick Foley #32 – Jimmy Snuka
#31 – The Iron Sheik #30 – Pat Patterson #29 – Randy Orton #28 – Freddie Blassie
#27 – The Fabulous Moolah #26 – “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase
#25 – Chris Jericho #24 – Bruno Sammartino #23 – Hulk Hogan #22 – Terry Funk
#21 – Lou Thesz #20 – Jerry “The King” Lawler #19 – Edge #18 – N/A
#17 – Dusty Rhodes/Ric Flair (Tie) #16 – John Cena #15 – “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig
#14 – “Macho Man” Randy Savage #13 – Gorgeous George #12 – Triple H
#11 – Eddie Guerrero #10 – “Rowdy” Roddy Piper #9 – Rey Mysterio
#8 – Andre The Giant #7 – Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat #6 – Harley Race
#5 – The Rock #4 – Bret “The Hitman” Hart #3 – Stone Cold Steve Austin
#2 – The Undertaker #1 – Shawn Michaels

THE WWE’S GREATEST SUPERSTARS OF ALL-TIME

If the WWE wanted to do the list the right way, they should have done the rankings one of two ways. Either rank the wrestlers according to the Top 50 WWWF/WWEF/WWE Superstars of All-Time, or have the list as the Greatest Top 50 Wrestlers of All-Time, taking into account the wrestlers work rate, promos, charisma, meaning to the industry, and whether they could draw money.

If they searched for the Top 50 WWWF/WWF/WWE Superstars of All-Time, gone from the list would be Dory Funk Jr., who only had a cup of coffee in the WWF, Nick Bockwinkel, Jack Brisco (another wrestler who had a short reign in the company), Buddy Rogers (despite being the first WWWF World Champion, he was with the company for very long), Lou Thesz, Gorgeous George, Dusty Rhodes (the polka dots were far from his best work), and Harley Race (who was well past his prime by the time he went to the WWF). That’s eight of the Top 50 that would be removed from the list.

#50 Jerry Lawler, #49 Goldust, #48 JYD, #47 Batista, #46 Killer Kowalski, #45 Randy Orton, #44 Jeff Hardy, #43 Terry Funk, #42 Ricky Steamboat, #41 Ultimate Warrior, #40 Big Show, #39 Kane, #38 Diesel, #37 Rey Mysterio, #36 John Studd, #35 John Cena, #34 Jake Roberts, #33 Don Muraco, #32 Edge, #31 Greg Valentine, #30 The Iron Sheik, #29 Ric Flair, #28 Mick Foley , #27 Paul Orndorff, #26 “Ravishing” Rick Rude, #25 Kurt Angle #24 Gorilla Monsoon, #23 Pat Patterson, #22 Tito Santana, # 21 “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, #20 “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, #19 “Superstar” Billy Graham, #18 Antonio Rocca, #17 Sgt. Slaughter, # 16 Chris Jericho, #15 Jimmy Snuka, #14 “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, #13 Eddie Guerrero, #12 “Macho Man” Randy Savage, #11 Triple H, #10 The Rock, #9 The Undertaker, #8 Pedro Morales, #7 Bob Backlund, #6 Andre The Giant, #5 Bret “The Hitman” Hart, #4 Shawn Michaels, #3 Bruno Sammartino, #2 Steve Austin, #1 Hulk Hogan

I can hear the critics now. Hulk Hogan is the greatest WWWF/WWF/WWE Superstar of All-Time? Sure, from a work rate stand point, Hulk Hogan isn’t close to the top 50. However, from a promo ability, charisma, his meaning meaning to the industry (especially the WWF), and his ability to draw money, Hulk Hogan is the king. One could argue that Steve Austin is greater due to him having a significant edge in the work rate department. While Austin does match Hogan equally in every other character, I went with Hogan at the number one spot, because the Hulkster paved the way for guys like Austin to have the opportunity to become national and international mega-stars.

THE REAL GREATEST 50 WRESTLERS OF ALL-TIME

Looking at the greatest Superstars, regardless of wrestling promotion, I went with the following Top 50:

#50 The Crusher, #49 Vader, #48 Rick Rude, #47 The Iron Sheik, #46 Chris Jericho, #45 Sting, #44 Jake Roberts #43 Triple H, #42 Verne Gagne, #41 The Sheik, #40 Pat Patterson, #39 Curt Hennig, #38 Ted DiBiase, #37 Gene Kiniski, #36 Jimmy Snuka, #35 Sgt. Slaughter, #34 Stan Hansen, #33 Mick Foley, #32 Bob Backlund, #31 Killer Kowalski, #30 Superstar Billy Graham, #29 Gorilla Monsoon, #28 Kurt Angle, #27 Dynamite Kid, #26 The Undertaker, #25 Freddie Blassie, #24 Roddy Piper, #23 Buddy Rogers, #22 Nick Bockwinkel, #21 Bruiser Brody, #20 Jimmy Snuka, #19 Wahoo McDaniel, #18 Eddie Guerrero, #17 Jerry Lawler, #16 Dory Funk Jr., #15 Dusty Rhodes, #14 Randy Savage, #13 Bruno Sammartino, #12 Jack Brisco, #11 Terry Funk, #10 Ricky Steamboat, #9 The Rock, #8 Bret “The Hitman” Hart, #7 Steve Austin, #6 Harley Race, #5 Andre The Giant, #4 Hulk Hogan, #3 Lou Thesz, #2 Shawn Michaels, #1 Ric Flair

I tried to limit the list to only North American wrestlers, as those are the performers that I know the most about. The battle between number one and two was the toughest for me. Both Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair were neck and neck in the battle. The reason I chose the “Nature Boy” over the “Heartbreak Kid” had to do with how they drew during their most successful title reigns. Shawn’s first title reign was considered a disappointment in regards to his drawing power. Whereas, the NWA kept going to Ric Flair as their champion, so they were happy with how he drew.

I’m sure there will be a lot of hate, and a lot of debate. Go to the Comments Section, and let the games begin.