SoloJones Posted June 2 Posted June 2 (edited) As of yesterday, the results of the 2026 Greatest Wrestler Ever poll over on another message board, Pro Wrestling Only, were revealed. This poll gets done every ten years with this being the third edition, and whilst I have never gotten round to voting as it always seems like such a herculean task to do it justice, 100s of people have participated and it's a really interesting read. There's a whole forum dedicated to the nominations, people's individual top 100s and other nuances, but I'll just post the main list here and everything else you can find if you so wish. Would be interesting to see people's thoughts here, anyone you completely disagree with, someone who's got highly ranked that you've never heard of and now want to check out? Greatest Wrestler Ever list Spoiler One of the maddest things to me is that 15% of people not having Bret Hart anywhere on their list, and there's a few more people like that. From this sample at least, there doesn't seem to be any universally beloved wrestler, with even Rey Mysterio only getting 90% of votes. Edited June 2 by SoloJones Quote
SoloJones Posted June 2 Author Posted June 2 1 minute ago, DavidB6937 said: What is Pro Wrestling Only? Another message board, link to it is in the post. Quote
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted June 2 Awards Moderator Posted June 2 To save scrolling on the link, the top 50 are: Spoiler 1. Terry Funk 2. Bryan Danielson 3. Kenta Kobashi 4. Ric Flair 5. Steve Austin 6. Genichiro Tenryu 7. Stan Hansen 8. Rey Mysterio 9. Bret Hart 10. Mitsuharu Misawa 11. Aja Kong 12. Eddie Guerrero 13. Hiroshi Tanahashi 14. Toshiaki Kawada 15. Vader 16. Akira Hokuto 17. AJ Styles 18. Mick Foley 19. Jumbo Tsuruta 20. Samoa Joe 21. Randy Savage 22. El Hijo Del Santo 23. CM Punk 24. Ricky Steamboat 25. Jushin Liger 26. Shinya Hashimoto 27. Kazuchika Okada 28. Jerry Lawler 29. Kenny Omega 30. Negro Casas 31. Bull Nakano 32. Chigusa Nagayo 33. Nick Bockwinkel 34. John Cena 35. Akira Taue 36. Antonio Inoki 37. Shawn Michaels 38. Jun Akiyama 39. Jon Moxley 40. LA Park 41. Manami Toyota 42. Tatsumi Fujinami 43. Roddy Piper 44. Andre the Giant 45. Meiko Satomura 46. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 47. Blue Panther 48. Sting 49. Volk Han 50. Atsushi Onita Quote
Dai Posted June 2 Posted June 2 Akira Taue, who I love, but let's be honest only had a few years in the 90s as being great, being the 35th best wrestler of all time, and even just above HBK, is pure lunacy. The top 20 is the list it just always will be. In the same way The Sopranos and Breaking Bad always get listed for the best shows of all time. Nothing original or thought provoking at all. Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted June 2 Paid Members Posted June 2 Hard to argue with number 1. Goes downhill from there. Quote
MVP RULZ Posted June 2 Posted June 2 What's the criteria for this? No Hogan in the Top 50!! Makes the list invalid straight away in my eyes It all just seems so random If its just pure workrate than fine obviously Hogan doesn't make a top 50, but then Stone Cold is 5th! and John Cena is above Shawn Michaels. Quote
The King of Old School Posted June 2 Posted June 2 The bet "Wrestler" is probably someone like Bret Hart, Kurt Angle etc. The best "Pro Wrestler" is Hulk Hogan, not sure how that can even be questioned. Quote
SoloJones Posted June 2 Author Posted June 2 11 minutes ago, MVP RULZ said: What's the criteria for this? No Hogan in the Top 50!! Makes the list invalid straight away in my eyes It all just seems so random If its just pure workrate than fine obviously Hogan doesn't make a top 50, but then Stone Cold is 5th! and John Cena is above Shawn Michaels. The criteria is supposed to be primarily in-ring work, but obviously there's no way of enforcing that. The interesting bit (I think, at least) about this list vs almost any other is that if you have the time to go through it, there are pages and pages of people explaining why they rate someone, or don't rate someone else. I don't necessarily agree with all the rankings - as you mentioned Steve Austin feels incredibly high for "workrate" alone, but its cool getting to see the thought process behind it all. It works less well when it's just a top 50 copied and pasted without context IMO, because then its just the same as any other list. I'm a bit of a stats nerd though so that helps. Quote
westlondonmist Posted June 2 Posted June 2 I'm not a Hogan fan, but him being so low on the list I find quite strange. He sold PPVs, he drew at live shows, he got the live crowd pumping and was involved in more than one rise in the popularity in wrestling. I understand what people's view of a good wrestler is can vary heavily, and I'm not a fan as the American Jingosim didn't hook me, but anybody who thinks he couldn't work when you see the reactions he got is mental. I thought it might be down to him being a cunt, but he's higher than the past two versions. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted June 2 Paid Members Posted June 2 (edited) 59 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: Where did John Zandig place? Had a look through the whole list. No John Zandig. No Trent Acid. No Ric Blade. No Fat Ruckus. No Wifebeater. No Z-Barr. The level of anti-early 2000s CZW bias is truly appalling. Edited June 2 by LaGoosh Quote
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted June 2 Awards Moderator Posted June 2 18 minutes ago, westlondonmist said: I thought it might be down to him being a cunt, but he's higher than the past two versions. Benoit’s in the top 100 so being a cunt clearly isn’t a barrier to entry on this one. Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted June 2 Paid Members Posted June 2 Road Warrior Hawk just ahead of Milano Collection AT is spot on, I’d say. AT had the invisible dog and delightful llave submission holds, but he just didn’t have the level of contempt for jobbers required to break into the top 382. Muhammad Ali narrowly losing out to Joey Ryan just makes me sad we never got that singles match. Thoughts and prayers to the 500 wrestlers who finished below Dolph Ziggler. Quote
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