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20. AJ Styles
Score: 130
# of Lists: 10
Highest Vote: .ZeroSignal, 5th

Writeup: NBIceman

AJ Styles is quite simply one of the best in-ring performers in the history of professional wrestling. This is a guy who was good when he had his first match, great when he got his first real shine in the business as part of TNA's first match ever, and exceptional by the time his main event pushes started. He's compensated for wrestling an extremely physically taxing style for his entire career (that, especially in his younger days, saw him taking some of the sickest bumps I've ever seen outside of hardcore wrestling or deathmatches) by progressively making small tweaks to his style that allowed him to adjust to all of the many roles he's played without ever losing that distinct Phenomenal One feel. Fast-paced, high-flying, high-impact matches have been his bread and butter for two decades throughout it all, held together by the backbone of the Pele kick, the Stylin' DDT, one of the best and smoothest dropkicks in history, and the iconic Styles Clash. He's played the underdog youngster, the egotistical heel, the veteran ass-kicker, and the cocky prick you still can't help but appreciate, and it's all worked. Unless your name is Curt Hawkins, if you've wrestled AJ Styles, you've almost definitely had a great match with him. This man made MATT MORGAN look great, and if that doesn't solidify him as a miracle worker, nothing will.

He's finally slowed down considerably in the last few years, but after the career he's had, who could blame him? He accomplished literally everything a wrestler could ever hope for. A final run full of things like bad comedy and being literally murdered in a match doesn't change the fact that for 15 years, give or take, he was always one of the 20 best wrestlers in the world.

That on its own would be more than enough to merit his high placement on this list, but his importance to the places he's worked shouldn't be overlooked. Styles was the lifeblood of the early TNA X-Division (and therefore arguably the promotion as a whole given that division's importance to the product), and he continued to be one of its most prominent assets for his entire run with the company. He held every title, had several of their most memorable matches, and made everyone around him better, even during times where he was put into situations where it was almost impossible to succeed. No matter how relevant or irrelevant TNA was at any given time, Styles was one of their major draws. I actually credit him for being the primary reason I even started to seek out wrestling outside of WWE in the first place, because TNA was my entry point into that world.

But he also played a huge part in establishing Ring of Honor as an early darling of the hardcore fan, his most notable contribution coming in a match with Paul London that I still consider one of my all-time favorite bouts, and then he pumped a bit of new life into the place upon his return a decade later. The real prize of his more recent work, though, is obviously his New Japan run, where he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his first match and overcame some initial fan rejection to become one of its most featured and best-drawing stars for a couple of years. And oh yeah, he had some incredible matches there, too.

Not many wrestlers, if any at all, can claim to be as good AND successful for as long and in as many different places as AJ Styles has been. Honestly, considering the kind of variety he's produced in his long career, I'd be hard pressed to think of many guys that I'd rather watch the lifetime compilation of. He's proven time and again just how accurate his famous epithet is, and it may be a long time before we see anyone quite like him again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U28pyOAMXcI; AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels (September 11, 2005)

19. "Macho Man" Randy Savage
Score: 131
# of Lists: 10
Highest Vote: .Whiskey Nick, 3rd

Writeup: Eddv
Randy Savage is pretty unique among people who are this high on the list. Sure Savage would have a long, even relatively successful, run in WCW post 'retirement' and sure prior to coming to the WWF he was one of the best workers in the world. But no one cares about any of that. Not really. There is only one thing people care about with Savage and its his character arc as the Macho Man.

The story is of course famous, Savage debuts in the WWF and is being made out to be the new hot main event level heel, so naturally every heel manager lined up trying to acquire his services and he went instead with the babyface Miss Elizabeth and set in motion a slow burn character arc regarding their relationship, which provided the framework that produced every hot angle, every great promo, every....everything that Savage produced.

Wrestlemania 3? The whole George Steele/Elizabeth thing played out to cost Savage the title. Savages run with the Mega Powers as a babyface World Champion? Defined by the weird love triangle between he and Hogan with Liz, turning heel via his treatment of the pure chaste Liz. Even his eventual babyface turn came as the result of his embrace of Liz and somehow Savage dragged The Ultimate Warrior to a very very good match in the process.

And without Liz, post Liz? He was a shell of himself. Without her he was merely a good wrestler - and there were much better than him. And sure he had a great promo ability - perhaps the best coke fueled promo of the coke-fueled promo era. But as time passed even that became less true as the working style got faster and the promo style got less insane.

Ironically it's this period that is most well remembered, the Slim Jim commercials, the cheesy pin attempt on Yoko during a Royal Rumble, feuding with Repo Man over the possession of his hat, the movie cameos? All of that came during his down period. He drew more money as a broken down old shell of himself than most wrestlers do in their entire careers.

It's arguably the most successful angle of all time - certainly the most successful valet angle. He feuded with all the greats along the way, giving most of them their best matches or up there. Steamboat. Flair. Jake Roberts. Hogan. Warrior. He provided them all with very high drama and high emotion bouts that tugged on the heartstrings and advanced his relationship with Liz and through that dynamic he was basically able to print money and fan respect. And that's why Savage is here.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1wevii; Randy Savage vs. Jerry Lawler (December 12, 1983)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjxw0a; Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat (March 29, 1987)

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Maniac64