wrestling / Columns

411’s Top 25 Wrestlers of the Last 25 Years (#25-#21)

July 11, 2011 | Posted by Larry Csonka

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the 411 wrestling section, and welcome to our latest feature, the top 25 wrestlers of the last 25 years. For some time we have been in discussion about what to do for our next big feature, and this is what was decided upon. What we did was set the time frame, 1986 through 2011. Every 411 writer had the opportunity to share their top 25, and after over 25 writers produced and shared their list, the grand list was then complied to make the top 25. Remember, everyone has different values. Some value workrate and match quality, while other look at influence in the business or how much money they drew. While people will always disagree, we at 411 felt that this was the fairest way to make the list, and we know that some people will be left out. So we begin today with the five men that just missed the cut, as well as #25 through #21.

Just missing the cut…
* Terry Funk
* CM Punk
* Jushin Thunder Liger
* Roddy Piper
* Curt Hennig

Larry Csonka: The son of a plumbers son used his charisma and “jive talking” to captivate audiences all over the world, and I for one am happy to see that he made the list. Many people do not realize that in the 1970’s, the top wrestling draws were Bruno, Andre and Dusty. While the later 80’s were towards the end of his career, Dusty Rhodes WAS the common man. He made the people believe, he talked them into the seats, he admitted to not looking like a “traditional” athlete, he admitted to not being able to run a 26K marathon at a world record pace, but the fact was that Dusty always finished the race. Dusty Rhodes made me love wrestling, made me want to be a wrestler, and he got many of us through those “hard times.” Unfortunately today’s wrestling fans only remember Dusty Rhodes as a controversial booker, the originator of the “Dusty Finish,” and the guy that pops up on WWE TV from time to time. They think of him as an overweight man that couldn’t possibly have ever been one of wrestling’s biggest draw, let along a multi-time World Champion. But he was, many times over. He isn’t the typical looking wrestler today, but what Dusty Rhodes did in wrestling is almost impossible to overtake. He was gold on the mic and could electrify any crowd in the world.

Aaron Frame: Rhodes was a loud mouthed southerner who could be related to by the common man. In more ways that one. Dusty wasn’t exactly built like a brick house. More like a pancake house. But that never stopped him from being so very dominant in the ring. His promo style was always strong and emotional. Any time I watched the man cut a promo, I believed every word he said. That’s just promo quality that’s hard to come by these days. Dusty’s ability to connect with the fans made him that much more special. And he could connect with the fans on an entirely different level than most guys in that era. I’m sure there will be a lot of people who will argue that Dusty should be higher, and I would agree. But, when I think about it, the three time NWA champion and multi-Hall of Fame inductee is perfect to be sitting at 25. While to a small degree he has stayed “relevant” in wrestling, but not as big as the other 24 guys on this list. In fact, when it comes to Dusty’s legacy, he has it sitting somewhere else. His two boys, Dustin and Cody, have done well to carry on the talent that has been passed down in the Runnels family. Goldust a long time WWE superstar who has been mostly a mid-card comedy act but is still noted by many for being a talented wrestler. Cody, on the other hand, looks like he has a bright future ahead of him. Surely, Dusty Rhodes will not be forgotten, but he’ll be rarely seen as he usually is these days.

Steve Cook The American Dream started out this time period with a bang, defeating “Nature Boy” Ric Flair for the NWA World Championship on July 26, 1986. He wouldn’t keep the belt long, but it was a great moment for the NWA fans to see their long-time hero overcome the World Champ, and gave Rhodes a measure of revenge over the man that broke his leg and caused him such hard times. Dusty went to the WWF in 1989 after getting fired by WCW for bleeding all over the place on television after he was told not to, and became famous there for his introductory vignettes where he did common man jobs & for wearing polka dots. Dusty did get over pretty well there, well enough to regularly work the main event on B house shows. He returned to WCW in 1991 and made occasional wrestling appearances for the rest of the decade. Dusty would have ranked higher on the list if not for his timing, but still gets love from the panel for his tremendous promos, undeniable charisma & boyish good looks. I think his stint in the WCW announcing booth for most of the 90s also helped his cause.

Mike Campbell: While I’ll always maintain that Jumbo Tsuruta is the greatest wrestler of all time, even though Ted Dibiase looked at me like I was a lunatic when I told him I had that opinion, Toshiaki Kawada isn’t very far behind. Whether he was defending All Japan’s honor against Kensuke Sasaki in New Japan, fighting for his own honor with former partner turned hated rival Mitsuharu Misawa, or showing young punks like Takao Omori and Jun Akiyama why he was at the top of the pecking order, when Kawada is in the ring, expect the best.

When it comes to the art of selling, Kawada wrote the book on the subject in the 1990’s. Simply put, Kawada at his best is breathtaking. If Kawada had his knee worked over, and his opponent would whip him into the ropes, Kawada would take about a half-step and then crumble to the mat. During a 12/3/93 tag match where Kawada has taken considerable punishment to his knee, he wasn’t even able to maintain the bridge of a German suplex. During the mid 1990’s Kawada found himself out of Giant Baba’s good graces, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him from doing what he did best, and he continued wrestling to the best of his ability. Even when the match quality in All Japan started its decline due to the change in style, Kawada wasn’t one to just play along, resulting in one of the last great All Japan Budokan main events in 1998 with Kenta Kobashi. Another notable match with Kobashi took place the year before during the 1997 Champions Carnival, which was one of a very few attempts to make submission holds meaningful in All Japan.

A man of great loyalty to Baba and All Japan, Kawada was one of only a select few to stay in All Japan when Misawa and most of the wrestlers left to form Pro Wrestling NOAH. While NOAH was getting off the ground, Kawada was putting on quality matches with former mentor Genichiro Tenryu as well as wrestling New Japan wrestlers such as Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Kensuke Sasaki, and others. Kawada formally left All Japan in 2005, but continued to wrestle there as well as occasional trips to New Japan, Pro Wrestling NOAH, Zero-One, and wherever else his travels take him

Ryan Byers: Everybody knows that the 1990’s in All Japan Pro Wrestling belonged to four men: Mitsuharu Misawa, Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi, and our number twenty-four entrant on this list, Toshiaki Kawakda. All four men were excellent performers and all four men drew a fair amount of money for AJPW, but the one thing that Kawada had that set him apart from the other four was that, more than the others, he was a scary mofo. Misawa, Kobashi, and Akiyama came off like great professional athletes, but Kawada had this aura about him, which leads you to believe that he would grab you out of your ringside seat, drag you out to the alley, and beat you within an inch of your life just because it would entertain him. He took that persona, combined with his strong working ability, and established a legacy which saw him become a five-time AJPW Triple Crown Champion in addition to being one of the top players in the promotion, even when he was not holding the championship, from roughly 1988 through 2005. Even when he wrapped up his time in All Japan and moved on to be a freelancer, he continued to put on some great matches and displayed his versatility as a performer when he dabbled in “sports entertainment” by joining the roster of HUSTLE and adopting a lounge singer gimmick. Now THIS is a man who excels at every aspect of the wrestling business.

Ryan Byers: I’ve always thought that Rey Misterio, Jr. doesn’t get nearly enough credit for what he’s done for the professional wrestling industry over the course of his twenty-two year career. When the Master of the 619 was first training to be a wrestler under the tutelage of his uncle, the original Rey Misterio, nobody had high hopes for him. In fact, popular legend has it that, due to his short stature, originally bookers wanted to place him in the “minis” matches that are popular in lucha libre, which would never have allowed him to reach the heights of stardom that he did. However, Misterio was spared that fate, and, competing with the full sized wrestlers, he showed a penchant for putting together matches that was virtually unmatched. Rey took American style psychology and integrated it into lucha libre matches for one of the first times in the history of lucha, creating off the charts drama and giving Mexican fans something that they had never seen before. After becoming a major star in lucha, he was given the opportunity to move on to the United States, where he almost immediately became the crown jewel of WCW’s cruiserweight division, which broke down some serious walls in terms of preconceptions about how large wrestlers needed in order to be major stars. After having helped to revolutionize Mexican wrestling and after having helped to revolutionize mainstream American wrestling, Rey Misterio, Jr. more than deserves a spot on this list . . . and, quite frankly, he might deserve to be a little bit higher.

Tony Acero: Widely known as one of the front runners who brought the lucha libre style to America, Rey Mysterio continues to light up the ring with his speed and agility as well as his high flying moves from turnbuckle to turnbuckle. Some say he has lost his step a bit with nagging knee injuries, but even so he repeatedly has good to great matches with nearly anyone he steps in the ring with. His three years in Mexico starting at the age of 18 got him noticed by Heyman who brought him into ECW for about a year before heading to WCW. In each federation, he made a name for himself that created a buzz still sizzling today. After a year on the independent circuit in 01-02, WWE took notice and began airing promos showing just a mask. His stint in WWE, which is still going strong today, has been full of amazing matches, particularly when he was one of the Smackdown Six during 2004. Tagging with Edge and being in numerous matches with the likes of Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Chavo Guerrero and Kurt Angle can outshine any number of current matches. Regardless of the crappy storylines or horrible World Title runs, Mysterio always seems to give it his all in the ring and that makes him more than deserving to be on this list.

Greg DeMarco: Be it in Mexico, WCW or the WWE, Rey Mysterio always stood out over any other cruiserweight on the roster. Even today, when he’s much more limited, his charisma and ability to tell a story within the framework of a match rises above any other luchador that’s gotten major play in the US. And that’s become his trademark, not his highflying style that so many others have taken to new levels.

When Rey Mysterio entered WCW, I saw the same excitement in smart fans that I saw in casual fans. Just his look and his highlight reel showed you that he would be both exciting and engaging. While his battles with Eddie Guerrero were legendary, he also had amazing matches with Dean Malenko and rarely had a bad match.

In the WWE, Rey was a standout cruiserweight, as anyone would easily expect. But his work as part of The Smackdown Six elevated him to main event status, and eventually netted him a world title. Many may feel that his push was due to Eddie Guerrero’s passing, but the pop when Rey eliminated Randy Orton to win the Royal Rumble and send himself to WrestleMania 22 was enormous. Even when he had Orton in perfect position to pick up the win, it was still too hard to believe that it would happen. Rey would go on to become a two time world champion, and one of the most marketable names in all of the WWE.

Marc Elusive: Well this is going to elicit some controversy. I would like to start off by saying I separate Benoit the man from Benoit the wrestler and this will be strictly about the wrestler. Benoit was one of the most intense in-ring combatants in the history of the industry. He has had great matches all around the world and is possibly the reason as to why he can adapt to any style and feel at home wrestling in it.

His matches, especially in ECW, WCW and eventually the climax in WWE when he won the world title at WrestleMania XX, were spectacular. He modeled his in-ring style after some of the greats like Bret Hart and especially the Dynamite Kid. After reviewing some old WWF tapes from the 1980’s, and rewatching some Dynamite’s tag matches, Benoit took a lot of his in-ring persona from him; he just added a new dimension of intensity.

I feel the wrestler Chris Benoit deserves to be on this list, regardless the atrocities of 2007. If you disagree, that is your opinion, but I hope you are disagreeing because you did not like his in-ring style or quibble about his microphone skills, because this list is about the top 25 wrestlers of all time; not top 25 “generally awesome wrestling people to get a beer with”.

Tony Acero: A man who was adored by fans while alive and disdained by people everywhere once dead. Whether people can or cannot separate the deed he did from the talent in the ring, there is no denying that in that squared circle, he was one of the best. It’s hard to believe that it’s been four years since the tragic weekend and quite possibly the darkest time period in wrestling, but before that weekend Chris Benoit was putting on a clinic in every match he had. Of the many people who could work a match with a broomstick, I’m sure a Benoit vs. Moppy would still pull out at least three stars. He had a tenacity that was unparalled and made this writer believe that every move he hit hurt. His matches both against and tagging with Kurt Angle are spectacles that cannot be denied and his win at Wrestlemania XX was one of the most emotional moments ever.

Benoit started in Stampede Wrestling in the late 80’s before plying his trade in New Japan for nearly ten years, even donning a mask and calling himself The Pegasus Kid. Throughout the 90’s he traded from WCW to ECW and back to WCW again before coming as part of a foursome in The Radicalz along with Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko where he stayed until he died. Feuds with Edge, Triple H, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle are all matches I still remember wholly. Matches with Saturn, Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr in WCW are matches that I still check out when I feel the need to see good wrestling.

Again, whether there is an inability to divide his in ring work from his outside tragedy or not, one cannot deny the talent that this man possessed.

Aaron Frame: Christopher Michael Benoit. The man who killed his wife and child before offing himself. The man that most people will pin as an evil piece of shit murderer. A callous man with no dignity or honor. An asshole who is burning in hell for his atrocities. And there is the small minority who say that he was an unfortunate case of brain damage due to the job and the many concussions he had on top of whatever else made him go insane. Made him in to something, someone, he wasn’t. Whatever the case may be, I’m not here to talk about Christopher Michael Benoit. I’m here to talk about Chris Benoit. The multi-time world champion. The man who held a total of 32 championships in his career from the US to Japan. One of two men in the WWE to win the Royal Rumble after coming in at #1. I’m talking about the man that was so dedicated to his work in the ring that he became a technical power house. And because he dedicated some much time and effort in to Chris Benoit being the aggressive technician he was, he comes in at #22. Do not hate Chris Benoit because of what Christopher Michael Benoit did. Make the distinction and recognize what real, raw wrestling talent looked like so someone can emulate it and learn from it and bring us better wrestling.

Chad Nevett: 11 world championships, 14 tag titles, five Intercontinental Championships, one United States Championship, a King of the Ring, a Royal Rumble, and two Money in the Bank briefcases. That’s a list of what Edge accomplished in a little under 13 years in the WWE despite various periods of injury. You don’t get that many titles and accomplishments without having something special. First, it was his partnership with Christian where they helped develop and define the TLC match, made us laugh with their goofy antics, and just wrestled some damn good matches. Then, he became one of the most hated heels of the 2000s through his cheap, cheating ways as the ‘Ultimate Opportunist.’ He took every shortcut to get a win and, then, bragged about it to such an extent that you hated him more. In there, he also had a lot of great matches and feuds like his on-and-off feud with John Cena, the hardcore match with Mick Foley at WrestleMania, and his 2008 feud with the Undertaker. He was a guy so good at being hated that it took multiple attempts to work as a face and, even then, he never really lost that edge (sorry, but pun intended). His career was cut short by injury, but look over that list again and ask yourself: what else was left? He did it all.

Tony Acero: Adam Copeland is a bit of an anomaly. He’s always been good but is seemingly one of the last to be named in terms of a list of the greatest. Even on our list, he’s in the bottom five. I’m not saying he deserves a higher spot, quite the opposite, But that that’s the thing about Edge, you never know where to put him. He’s got the tools in the ring, the crowd loves him, he’s good on the microphone and has won numerous titles, all important aspects of being in the Top 25. Edge started as one half of a tag team with Christian and had some of the best tag team matches of WWE’s history. He is one-sixth of the people who helped reinvigorate the tag team division and help create the TLC match. He then helped make Smackdown one of the best WRESTLING shows out there in the early 2000’s. Edge is a former King of the Ring, Money in the Bank Winner and Royal Rumble winner. His tag teaming with Rey Mysterio helped to make the Smackdown Six a tandem that I won’t soon forget. With a complete reinvention of character by using the real life romance problems of Matt Hardy and Lita, Edge then became on of the most hated heels in the company. His Rated R Superstar shtick helped give him new life and in the ring, he was still as exciting. Some can say he lost his step a bit after so many injuries, but he still possessed the talent necessary to continue to bring the goods in the ring. At the tail end of his career, he helped build new superstars such as Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler.

Edge has been a WWE staple for years and continually reinvented himself so that he was never stale. A face when he left, he flourished as a heel and had some of the most memorable matches to date. He and Christian tore up the tag team division for years only to later be a successful singles wrestler, something very difficult to do. Edge’s career may have ended shorter than he wanted it to, but he has left a lasting impact strong enough to be placed in the Top 25.

Greg DeMarco: Edge was drafted to RAW in the 2004 WWE Draft, making a surprise return and spearing Eric Bischoff out of his leather shoes to the delight of the Joe Louis Arena crowd. It was at that moment that I commented that Edge’s window was closing—and fast. It would be nearly twenty months later that Edge finally won the WWE Championship, the first of his eleven world titles. Many know the story of a 16-year old Adam Copeland sitting ringside for WrestleMania VI in the then-named Skydome in Toronto (today’s Rogers Centre). He’d make his pro wrestling debut two years later, and six years after that he made his first WWF appearance as the loner Edge. He’d go on to win 31 championships during his WWF/E career, including the aforementioned eleven world titles. Every non-Divas championship you see on WWE television today was at one point held by Edge, a feat that only Kurt Angle can also claim. Edge is also the only wrestler in history to win the King of the Ring (2001), Money in the Bank Ladder Match (2005 & 2007) and the Royal Rumble (2010).

Edge made his early name teaming with Christian in ladder matches, revolving around feuds with The Hardys and/or The Dudleys. He’d go on to more success than the other five participants in those feuds—combined. His true worth can be defined through his retirement. Injury forced him into retiring as a world champion—a rare achievement in itself. But his retirement also sent the WWE into a panic that caused the now annual draft to be pushed up nearly two years and forced several key storyline changes. Had Edge ended his career on his own terms, there’s no telling now high he’d finish on this, or any other all-time list.