Board 8 > B8's Greatest Wrestlers Ever Ranking Top 10

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Steiner
08/27/20 5:18:08 PM
#101:


i want you to know that what happens is some days i just don't touch this at all but i will post on saturday no matter what

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TAFKAHurricane
08/28/20 11:58:59 PM
#102:


Frustrated isnt the goddamned word for it! You screwed me! Everybody screwed me!

Sorry just read through the topic and was pleasantly surprised that Bret Hart is in the running to win the whole thing. His feud with Stone Cold might be my favorite of all time.

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Maniac64
08/31/20 11:55:38 AM
#103:


Maybe today

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Steiner
08/31/20 1:19:02 PM
#104:


everything is done and ready for maniac to post whenever thanks for your patience everyone

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Maniac64
08/31/20 4:33:35 PM
#105:


#2: Bret Hart
Total Score:325
# of lists: 19
1st place votes: 1, malyg

Writeup: Jakyl
There are many different ways to interpret the art of professional wrestling, and many different exemplars of each style. For many, Bret Hart stands as the master of North American in-ring storytelling.

Trained by his father Stu along with his brothers to extend the family hold on the Calgary territory, Bret would outgrow the Stampede fiefdom in ways they could never have imagined. While younger brother Owen found success in Japan evolving a high-flying style, Bret was a perfect fit in the American scene with his unique blend of technique, believability, and, yes, execution.

If professional wrestling is meant to be an exhibition of incredible athletic ability and gymnastic dynamism, you dont want Bret Hart. However, if your concept of the art involves the ability to tell an expressive tale of why one competitor wins and the other loses, The Hitman has got you covered. In almost any match, you will never have to work hard to suspend your disbelief that the men in the ring are trying to win, and that the things that happen in the match affect them.

Thats my favorite style of professional wrestling, as it is to many others who grew up seeing Bret as the babyface we connected to. In the last few years there has been a bit of a movement towards giving Bret a bigger place at the historical table, as the dramatic excesses of his contemporaries such as Shawn Michaels begin to wear thin with repeated exposure. I welcome this reconsideration of Harts output.

In the end, Bret did not turn out to be the best there is (thats Misawa) or the best there ever will be (thats Okada), but the best there was? Maybe.

Heres his best WCW match, just because most of them are lazy and dont live up to this writeup. We got one though.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xz8d1l; Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit (October 4, 1999)

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3pys4l; The Hart Foundation vs. Demoltion (August 27, 1990)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6ksmh / https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6kt17; Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect (August 26, 1991)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6ha2xe; Bret Hart vs. The British Bulldog (August 29, 1992)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7q7jzf; Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (November 25, 1992)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x26dpe5; Bret Hart vs. Doink the Clown/Jerry Lawler (August 30, 1993)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6ppytt; Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (March 20, 1994)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3ajmz8; Bret Hart, Brian Pillman, Jim Neidhart, Owen Hart & The British Bulldog vs. Goldust, Ken Shamrock, Road Warrior Animal, Road Warrior Hawk & Steve Austin (July 6, 1997)

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Maniac64
08/31/20 4:36:18 PM
#106:


Which means the Greatest Wrestler Ever according to Board 8 is...

#1: Chris Jericho
Total Score:328
# of lists: 19
1st place votes: 4, Maniac, ZeroSignal, Sultan, illuminatusbubu

Writeup: Steiner
By what measure did we determine the greatest of all time? Thats the question Ive posed again and again in this series. We get to consider it one final time here, for the wrestler we collectively determined was the Greatest Wrestler Ever. I think it will come as somewhat of a surprise to many, with most predicting some combination of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels to top the list, that our number 1 is Chris Jericho I know I was surprised when the results came in. But the more I thought about it, the more I understood it. Because I think more than anybody else, by whatever measure you consider the greatest to be determined Chris Jericho is in the conversation.

One indication of that is that Jericho made 19 of our 24 lists a number matched only by Bret Hart. He appeals to pretty much all sorts of wrestling fans whether youre a pure workrate nerd, or youre purely into wacky comedy, if you like larger than life characters or if you want long term dramatic storylines Jericho has excelled at each of these in his career, and plenty more in between.

And besides the variety of work, look at the places he did it in 1995 ECW, 1996 WCW, 2000 WWF, 2016 NJPW, 2019 AEW. Hes constantly put himself in the hottest promotion in the world, in the coolest place to be. Its not always by his design but it surely helps his legacy that so much of his greatest work is remembered so fondly for being involved in these hot runs.

Of course, the vast majority of that is in the WWF/E, from 1999 2018, and during his 19 year run there two things were always true he was one of the most entertaining and over acts on the roster, and he was constantly reinventing himself and staying fresh. From debuting as the Ayatollah of Rock and Rollah Y2J, becoming the egomaniac King of the World, the likeable Highlight Reel host, serious Suit Jericho, light up jacket era Jericho, The List era with Kevin Owens and even continuing after that run as a flabby brawling gaijin in New Japan and finally a new take on his Rockstar persona as the early star of AEW theres similar threads through all of these, but theres always something developing with the Chris Jericho character, which is one reason fans have been so engaged with him for 20 years+

Something else that gives him widespread appeal is a rather unique trait he has in wrestling the ability to consistently do comedy which is funny. Dating back to WCW, Jericho has consistently been one of the funniest performers in wrestling and rarely in a way that diminishes him as a main event act. The fact that he did get to share the microphone with the likes of The Rock, Mick Foley and Steve Austin but then also, Kevin Owens, Bob Barker and MJF is a blessing that I know Im thankful for across my wrestling fandom.

What about if you want to talk about Jericho as a draw? Well, in most of his career he wasnt really put in positions to draw his short title runs in WWE were never about him, with the spotlight mostly being on Triple H, with Rock and Austin around the card early in his run and then essentially being slotted as an upper midcard guy for most of the rest of his initial run. And shortly after this wed see the era of WWE shifting to having the brand as the draw and all measurements of who is a draw became meaningless. But the data we do have is from when Jericho left WWE and made his first appearance in New Japan Pro Wrestling in 20 years, to wrestle Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12. That was New Japans biggest success in the West, and undoubtedly the success of that match made Kenny Omega a bigger name in the West too Which brings us to Jerichos latest, most relevant argument as a draw AEW. If it werent for Jericho, Im not convinced AEW even have the TV deal they have now. Jerichos name value, being tied to AEW from the very first announcement, has been huge for them, and I think is really the biggest feather in his cap as a draw.

So Ive talked about Jericho as a character, how he stays fresh, keeps himself relevant. How he entertains on the microphone, how hes put butts in the seats and eyes on the TV But what about the wrestling?
Except I dont think any of you are asking that. Unlike every writeup Ive done up to this point, I dont think any of you need me to convince you that Chris Jericho is a great wrestler. Of course Im still going to put together a list of matches for you at the end But I wont come close to covering everything. Despite his 19 years in WWE, Jericho has worked everywhere that matters at some point or other spending his early career in Mexico, Japan and the US independents, working the cruiserweights in WCW and the heavyweights in WWF, working in WWE as they assembled the most talented roster of all time in the early 2000s, working with every top guy in NJPW in the late 2010s the diversity of opponents and styles hes worked means Im bound to miss something out.

But as Chris Jericho has been my favourite wrestler at numerous points of the past 20 years, theres more than just the matches I want to bring attention to. Jericho has been responsible for plenty of my, and Im sure most of the rest of the voters too, favourite times being a fan of professional wrestling, and Im going to list a few of the most notable ones in my mind:
Man of 1004 Holds
Goldberg feud
WWF debut interrupting The Rock
Beating HHH for the WWF Title on RAW (briefly)
Winning WCW Title from The Rock (this feud was a personal highlight for me)
Beating Rock and Austin in the same night for the Undisputed Title
SAVE_US.222
The entire 2008 Shawn Michaels feud probably the WWE feud of the decade/century.
The whole JeriShow run
The Festival of Friendship

Along with the absolute vault of great matches Im about to post, and with all that Ive said I worry that Im still barely scratching the surface of Chris Jerichos career. But thats OK I dont have to convince any of you. Chris Jericho is your Greatest Wrestler Ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMHm9tnQOQQ; Thrillseekers (Chris Jericho & Lance Storm) vs. The Heavenly Bodies, August 5th 1994
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x128vk; Chris Jericho vs. Juventuud Guerrera (Title vs. Mask), February 22 1998
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xz4yg4; Chris Jericho vs. Triple H (Last Man Standing), July 23 2000
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xz78qt; Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit (Ladder Match), January 21 2001
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x224cwo; Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit vs. Edge & Christian vs. The Dudleyz vs. The Hardy Boyz (TLC Match), May 24 2001
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6cuvas; Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels, March 30 2003
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x53eevz; Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit vs. Christian vs. Edge vs. Kane vs. Shelton Benjamin (Money in the Bank 1), April 3 2005
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5uloti; Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels (Ladder Match), October 5 2008
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xylbv5; Chris Jericho vs. Ricky Steamboat (April 26, 2009)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnKwgWVoYhc; Chris Jericho vs. Daniel Bryan (February 23, 2010)
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1SA411t7Jn; Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega (January 4, 2018)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6lh2oh; Chris Jericho vs. Tetsuya Naito (June 9, 2018)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7nxw5b; Chris Jericho vs. Cody (November 9, 2019)

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Maniac64
08/31/20 4:37:50 PM
#107:


Obviously I'm happy with that, but also quite surprised. I did not think Jericho had a shot at winning over Shawn and Bret.

It should also be pointed out that Jericho had the most first place votes of anyone with 4. Nobody else had more than 2.

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TheRock1525
08/31/20 4:41:06 PM
#108:


Rock and Jericho were always by 1 and 2, although now it feels more like 1a and 1b.

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Steiner
08/31/20 5:03:59 PM
#109:


2. Bret Hart
malyg - 1 (25 points)
Whiskey_Nick - 2 (24 points)
paulg - 2 (24 points)
Eddv - 3 (23 points)
ZeroSignal - 3 (23 points)
Tennis - 3 (23 points)
Semi - 3 (23 points)
Mega Mana - 4 (22 points)
Jakyl - 6 (20 points)
scarlet - 7 (19 points)
icon - 7 (19 points)
sephsblade - 7 (19 points)
Extha - 13 (13 points)
Steiner - 13 (13 points)
Sultan - 13 (13 points)
MarkS2 - 17 (9 points)
junk_funk - 21 (5 points)
voltch - 21 (5 points)
CPU - 23 (3 points)

1. Chris Jericho
ZeroSignal - 1 (25 points)
illuminatusbubu - 1 (25 points)
Sultan - 1 (25 points)
Maniac - 1 (25 points)
junk_funk - 2 (24 points)
Extha - 3 (23 points)
Mega Mana - 3 (23 points)
paulg - 5 (21 points)
malyg - 6 (20 points)
Rock - 6 (20 points)
Eddv - 7 (19 points)
WarThaNemesis - 10 (16 points)
Iceman - 10 (16 points)
Steiner - 16 (10 points)
scarlet - 17 (9 points)
CPU - 17 (9 points)
MarkS2 - 18 (8 points)
Jakyl - 19 (7 points)
Tennis - 23 (3 points)

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Eddv
08/31/20 5:15:50 PM
#110:


Wpw huge upset

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BlAcK TuRtLe
09/01/20 1:52:02 PM
#111:


Ricky Steamboat had a WWF run in 2009?!

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Props to azuarc, the current Guru of the Decade.
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v_charon
09/01/20 2:04:41 PM
#112:


Break out a little bit of the bubbly~
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Steiner
09/01/20 2:58:56 PM
#113:


BlAcK TuRtLe posted...
Ricky Steamboat had a WWF run in 2009?!


He was the best worker in the company for a month, it ruled
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XIII_rocks
09/01/20 3:13:57 PM
#114:


fucking awesome
nice work b8

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ZeroSignal620
09/01/20 4:06:12 PM
#115:


Steiner posted...
He was the best worker in the company for a month, it ruled

Not a single lie told here.

One of my other favorite things with Jericho was his feud with Malenko. His 1004 holds promo and constant hazing of Malenko had fans begging for the Iceman to murder him, and when "Ciclope" won a battle royal and unmasked himself at Slamboree, the fans erupted when it was Dean. Jericho said it was one of the loudest pops of his career that he'd been involved with.

Excellent writeups, and I say that for everyone who contributed. Well done.

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Steiner
09/01/20 4:09:52 PM
#116:


Yeah I wanna say a huge thanks again to everyone who helped with writeups and to maniac for letting me hijack this relatively simple project and drag it out for months!
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Maniac64
09/01/20 4:48:05 PM
#117:


@IhatethisCPU you will be glad to know your vote did not give Bret the #1 spot.

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CaptainOfCrush
09/01/20 7:14:02 PM
#118:


It was a lot of fun following this topic. Thanks to everyone who did the same, and especially those who wrote the write-ups and tabulated results.

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Seanchan
09/01/20 7:28:06 PM
#119:


Yes, thank you for giving me lots of matches to watch, despite the fact that I don't really care very much about wrestling anymore.

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Fastbreak
09/01/20 7:34:53 PM
#120:


Jericho at number 1 is surprising, but cool

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KommunistKoala
09/01/20 8:01:46 PM
#121:


good topic

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CaptainOfCrush
09/01/20 8:10:21 PM
#122:


I gotta bring myself to watch some Okada, but man, I'm so disinterested in today's wrestling that it might be tough despite his rave reviews.

I wish I could articulate WHY I'm so much more interested in hearing the over the hill, 65-year-old wrestlers of yesterday bitch about each other in podcasts than I am in actually watching the wrestling of today.

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VeryInsane
09/01/20 8:13:52 PM
#123:


I think if I voted Bret would have won, but it would be like a point or two.

Good list I really need to watch pillar stuff don't I

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CaptainOfCrush
09/01/20 8:15:04 PM
#124:


VeryInsane posted...
Good list I really need to watch pillar stuff don't I
The few matches I've watched are amazing.

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