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Your top 10 wrestlers of the modern era?


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Based purely on their in-ring performances and abilities, who would be your top 10 wrestlers of the modern era, from 1980 right up to the present day?.Mine are:1 Kenta Kobashi2 Mitsuharu Misawa3 Ric Flair4 Bret Hart5 Manami Toyota6 Jushin Liger7 Shawn Michaels8 Toshiaki Kawada9 Kurt Angle10 Eddie Guerrero.I look forward to seeing your choices.

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Shawn Michaels - the best ever as far as I'm concerned. Even more kudos to him that he comes back after so long out and puts in performances like he did against Jericho at Wrestlemania which is far superior to anything else in the WWE this year.Bret Hart - I never used to like Bret that much, I was a big HBK fan and they spent a lot of the time on different sides so I got it into my mind that I couldn't like both! It's only recently that I've started to like Bret more from watching past matches.Keiji Muto - captivated me as the Great Muta 14 years ago, and then when I started watching him in Japan I saw him as Keiji Muto too, his 2001 was one of the best years I've ever seen a wrestler have.Yuji Nagata - probably the best wrestler to effectively use lots of kicking and striking that I have ever seen. One of the greatest 'carriers' in the world today.Hulk Hogan - I don't care if he doesn't fit the description of a great in ring wrestler, I like what he did in the ring and thoroughly enjoyed his matches, that's reason enough for me for him to be included.Eddie Guerrero - while HBK was out of the game there was Eddie G, now they are both in the WWE at the same time and I am thoroughly spoiled. Like HBK, a fantastic all rounder.The Rock - always moaned at for having few moves but when you use them as well as Rocky does you don't need 000's of them. Had far more great matches than he'll probably ever be given crdit for.Steve Austin - like Muto, and maybe even more effectively, changed his style and remained as superb as before, maybe even better. Disturbingly underrated as a 'mat wrestler' when you read people talk about him.Ric Flair - one of the very best ever and like most others in the list, so very good at making his opponent look good.Bobby Eaton - probably not an expected inclusion but a worthy one all the same. One of the many unsung heros of the 80s and 90s who tirelessly gave his all and had fantastic matches with a multitude of partners in tag matches and had some fun as a singles wrestler when given the chance.

Edited by Lower Occipital Proturbance
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Let's try and make a discussion. LOP, based purely from an in-ring point of view how are Shawn Michaels, Keiji Mutoh, Yuji Nagata, Hogan or Rocky anywhere near the top ten. Seriously. I mean if we are picking 10 favourite wrestlers from 80-03 then fine.Anyway, my picks:HokutoMisawaTsurutaKawadaHansenTenryuFlairBenoitLiger

Edited by BionicRedneck
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In no particular order:Chris HeroKurt AngleBret HartOwen HartChris BenoitEddie GuerreroDean MalenkoChristopher DanielsKenta KobashiTaz

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Let's try and make a discussion. LOP, based purely from an in-ring point of view how are Shawn Michaels, Keiji Mutoh, Yuji Nagata, Hogan or Rocky anywhere near the top ten. Seriously.

Because what they do in the ring, they are, IMO, the very best at it!Let's take the obvious bone of contention - Hulk Hogan. Now to me, the way he plays for the crowd, uses facial expressions, and basically draws me into the match is as important as any other aspect of in ring wrestling.As good as Benoit is, he has never connected with me like Hogan does. I have never cared or become emotive in a match of Benoit's like I sued to with Hogan and did again at Wrestlemania 18. Now to me that puts Hogan above Benoit.At this point people may come back and say, but as a purely in ring worker Benoit is better and I will disagree. Wrestling to me is all about being drawn into a match, caring about what happens and at the end of a match knowing you've been thoroughly entertained. Now if Hogan does that in a different way, using less tools of physical contact than Benoit then so be it, but he still does it within the confines of the ring then he rates as a good in ring wrestler.So he no sells sometimes and is plodding - no denying that, but he still manages, with the work he does in the ring with his opponent and via crowd interaction etc, to give me a better experience than a Benoit match and that is why I rate him as one of the very best.These 10 wrestlers are some of my favourites and I don't think best and favourite are mutually exclusive. The way they work matches appeals to me therefore I rate them as better wrestlers like yourself who don't get the same out of their matches that I do. If Benoit's matches connected with me more and gave me more entertainment than Hogan's matches then I would rate Benoit above Hogan. Fact is that they don't and until they do I will rate Hogan above Benoit as a wrestler.I don't expect a flurry of agreement from anyone with what I have written but I'm simply stating what I feel based on the way I watch wrestling and how assess what I have seen.
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That's a very interesting point of view on Hogan. I could definitely see your point when it came to his matches with the likes of Rock, Warrior and Savage, but how would you rate him in matches that are widely thought to be terrible, like vs Slaughter, Piper (Cage), Yokozuna or Sid ?

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The first point that probably needs adressing is that 'widely thought to be terrible' and what I think are usually two very different things ;) Moving on, I don't tend to take a theoretical average of a wrestler's whole career but rather if a wrestler has enough good matches on a consiatant basis then that qualifies him in my mind to be a good wrestler.Taking Hulk Hogan as an example - when you take into consideration my bizarre ability to like what may be classed as bad matches then on the whole I have pretty much enjoyed the whole of Hogan's career ranging from good to absolutely awesome and mindnumbling mark-worthy. This enables me to still rate him as one of the all time greats, irresepctive of bad matches he may have had.As long as a wrestler has enough good matches and not just a couple of good matches then I tend to compare their best work rather than all their work. That's why although Hogan's bottom 20% of matches may not be as good as Benoit's bottom 20% of matches, but because I apply far more weighting on the other end of scale, Hogan comes out on top by a long way.

Edited by Lower Occipital Proturbance
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I love threads like this, you always get some bizarre picks like Euroboy and Taz.....Whatever floats your boat I guess. Anyways, my 10 in somewhat rough order: Jumbo TsurutaToshiaki Kawada Ric Flair Mitsuharu MisawaJushin Liger Chris Benoit Kenta Kobashi El Hijo Del Santo Aja Kong Bret Hart

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1)HBK2)Kurt Angle3)Bret Hart4)SABU5)Owen Hart6)Chris Benoit7)Eddie Guerrero6)RVD7)aj sTYLES8)Doug williams9)Kenta Kobashi10)Christopher DanielsIf anyone slags of HBK dont even bother. Just because he was a bastard backstage doesnt mean he is a bad wrestler. :angry:

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If anyone slags of HBK dont even bother.

Good idea. It's not like it would lead to any sensible discussion.

Just because he was a bastard backstage doesnt mean he is a bad wrestler

Yeah. That's why people who dislike some of Shawn's work critisize him. It's got nothing to do with the massive holes in his work. Ooops.
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