Your Favorite Wrestlers Ever: Vince Morales

Now that my own favorites list is out of the way, I posed the question to some of my colleagues in the fan/writer community. Who are your favorite five wrestlers?

Today's entry comes to us from Vince Morales, writer of the Milwaukee Brewers' blog Miller Park Drunk. You may remember Vince on here from an excellent guest blog he submitted after the Money in the Bank PPV, one he was in attendance for. It's funny, aside from the Phillies, the most followers on Twitter/TWB superfans I have from a single fanbase belong to the Brewers. I must be in a weird pocket on the Internet, or maybe I'm just huge in Wisconsin. Anyway, here's his list:

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Two best friends, two top spots on Vince's list
Photo Credit: Pro Rasslin.com

When people say that wrestling is cyclical they usually mean that it goes in cycles of “good” and “bad”, but what they actually mean to say is that it goes in cycles of “popular” and “unpopular”. Wrestling is always good and it is always bad. It always has been and it always will be. To me wrestling is very cyclical in that my favorite wrestlers, the people that keep me tuned in, always change.

When I first discovered wrestling my favorite wrestler was Razor Ramon. He had the best finisher and he exuded coolness. As I grew older his ring work would decline and as I would learn from the internet he was a drug person. As my favorite wrestler he failed me, both in and out of character, and I soon began to wonder why I ever thought he was the best. The same thing happened with the 1-2-3 Kid.

Another early favorite of mine was Hunter Hearst Helmsley. (Seriously.) When he was the Connecticut Blue Blood you could definitely tell that he had “it” and it was fun to watch him grow. When he joined D-X I loved every minute of it. People forget now that it’s been done to death, but when he first came out with HBK because they were “really” friends it meant something. When he ascended to leader and brought in another one of his “real” friends, my old favorite X-Pac, it was great. Now? I cringe when I see him. The young guy trying to get over turned into a legend with extremely low self esteem and I wanted nothing to do with him. Again, a favorite of mine failed me in and out of the ring.

(Quick Triple H tangent: How does he not have more moves? The Undertaker can finish you with a chokeslam, Hells Gate, Last Ride or Tombstone. John Cena has the Attitude Adjustment and the STFU. CM Punk has the Anaconda Vise and the GTS. Even Randy “chinlock” Orton has the punt, RKO and second rope DDT. Triple H has the Pedigree. That’s it. With his ego how did he never say “You know what? I’m going to get the claw over as my new finisher” and just roll with it. I’m convinced this is why his match with Undertaker sucked.)

It never fails me that I find a wrestler to call my favorite and he fails me. Scott Hall let drugs and alcohol run his life. Triple H became the coolest, toughest and smartest. Chris Benoit murdered his family. I realized Raven wasn’t that good. John Cena won too much. Kurt Angle took himself too seriously. Samoa Joe went to TNA. On and on it went and my favorites quickly became people I didn’t want to see. Wrestlers are cyclical.

So when TH asked me who my favorite wrestlers are I didn’t know how to answer it because my favorite wrestlers today probably won’t be my favorite wrestlers tomorrow and one day I’ll probably regret ever calling these guys my favorite. With that being said, here’s my list.

5b. Stone Cold Steve Austin - Steve Austin is the greatest example of the cyclical nature of this list. In his heyday there is no way he’d be left off this list. He was the best wrestler, the best character and the best promo. I loved his heel turn and I loved it even more when the Invasion was over and he just came out as a babyface like nothing ever happened. Then he seemed to stop caring. There was that thing where he hit his wife. I don’t like to comment on things like that so I won’t, but it does make a person seem a lot less heroic. There was also that thing when he refused to job to Brock Lesnar and just went home. He eventually came back, but he was just stale. Drink beer, stun someone, rinse and repeat. Maybe it was the writing, maybe it was a lack of motivation, but Stone Cold just wasn’t Stone Cold anymore and I could live without him. Then Tough Enough happened. During that show I remembered the Stone Cold I loved and why he was one of the best talents I’d ever seen. Stone Cold ripping on reality show punks should win awards. The show seemed to give him his mojo back and made a potential program CM Punk sound like the greatest thing ever.

5a. Randy Savage - I never, ever got sick of the Macho Man and I never will.

4. Bret Hart - In 1997, I had an email newsletter called The Pedigree. It was the dumbest thing ever. I was 15 and I didn’t even know who Dave Meltzer was, but somehow I sent out a twice weekly pro-wrestling “newsletter”. I also had a hotline. When the whole Montreal thing was going down I refused to believe it. I left an angry message on my hotline how there was “no way” Bret Hart would ever leave the WWF and Dave Meltzer doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. (Which, in retrospect, is true most of the time.) I loved Bret Hart and I couldn’t imagine a WWF without him. When it all went down and what happened ended up happening it was the end of my innocence as a fan and the end of my newsletter. I knew that things were pre-determined before, but Montreal showed me just how real and fake the whole thing is.

My feelings on the situation always change (From How could Vince do that? to How could Bret be such a mark for himself? and back), but I always loved Bret Hart. He’s apart of a ton of my favorite matches and he’s the one guy I’ve ever really wanted one more match from.

Montreal question that’s always bothered me: If Bret refused to lose in Montreal because of his legacy (or whatever) then why did he allow them to turn him 200 times in WCW? He said in Wrestling With Shadows that he couldn’t be a heel in Canada, but then he was never that character again. Had he given up? Was WCW only about the money for him? Never made sense to me how he was so worried about his portrayal towards the end of his WWF run and then completely stopped caring about it in WCW.

3. Chris Jericho - I loved Chris Jericho from the moment I saw him as a crappy babyface that turned his back to the crowd in WCW. He was a nerd, but he was one of my favorites based strictly on his ring work. He was also one of the first guys I traded tapes for. As the mic skills came my fandom grew and grew. He was a channel changer in WCW and when he went to WWF that was game over for the Nitro set for me. His handling in WWE dropped him off my radar for awhile like so many wrestlers before him, but he came back strong and his second run in WWE solidified his spot as one of the all-time greats.

He also wrote two excellent books that solidified Chris Jericho as both a guy who gets it and a guy who I would love to hang out with.

2. CM Punk - I don’t know how he ended up here. I was never a CM Punk guy. I liked Samoa Joe. He was the bad ass. He was the one with the Kobashi match. He was the one the people warned in chant about their imminent death. CM Punk was good, but he was never my guy. When he went to WWE I was like “Yeah, cool,” but he was never a guy that I used as a reason the WWE was messed up. He got a good push and he was on TV enough that I appreciated him, but that was it.

Then Straight Edge Society happened and he said “Bring me Jared from Subway.” Then the feud with Randy Orton (the best built match at Wrestlemania imo) happened where he actually made Randy Orton seem somewhat interesting. Then Money in the Bank happened and I don’t know how he could be anywhere else. Money in the Bank was the first PPV I attended live since Over the Edge in 1998, it was my first live WWE show in five years and it was the greatest show I’ve ever been to. Since that show my interest in wrestling has waned quite a bit. Not because I don’t like it anymore, but because in some strange way I feel like I’ve reached the apex of my enjoyment of wrestling at that event and I’m not sure I can ever get that back.

1. Colt Cabana - I just started actively following Colt Cabana about four months ago so his placing on this list might seem a bit suspect to you, but Colt Cabana absolutely belongs here. Colt Cabana is professional wrestling. I’ve watched wrestling for a very long time and I can’t remember a single wrestler who put a smile on my face every single time he stepped into the ring. Jericho and others can make you laugh with their promos, but nobody’s in-ring work is responsible for more smiles and laughs than Colt Cabana.

Cabana’s outside projects help too. The Art of Wrestling is pretty much the greatest thing ever, Wrestling Road Diaries is a great documentary and Creative Has Nothing For You is always good for a laugh. If the Colt Cabana stamp of approval is on something than you can pretty much guarantee quality.

None of this is why he’s here though. Colt Cabana is here because he’s an inspiration. Not to get too inside baseball, but I’ve had a pretty crappy year. Like real crappy. Fired from my job, breaking up with my girlfriend, moving back home for a couple months, it’s been the year of not-Vince. I got depressed and dwelled on that for awhile, but Colt Cabana was always positive and on the Art of Wrestling he talked about that positivity and it really spoke to me. On one episode he spoke about an old story that inspired him about Lanny Poffo where Lanny said there were two buses, the happy bus and the sad bus, and that he was on the happy bus. That story spoke to Colt and Colt telling that story spoke to me. Life is too short. Get off the sad bus and get on the happy bus. It’s much more fun over here.

Your Favorite Wrestlers Ever: Bill Dempsey

Now that my own favorites list is out of the way, I posed the question to some of my colleagues in the fan/writer community. Who are your favorite five wrestlers?

Yes, I'm still taking submissions. So yeah, if you want to send in a list, feel free. If you don't have my e-mail, well, now you do. tom DOT holzerman AT gmail DOT com. Just sub the DOTs out for .s and the AT out for a @ and you'll be fine. Anyway, this unordered list comes to us from one Bill Dempsey, one of my oldest running buddies on the 'Net. We started out together in e-feds, and when I tell you he was one of the two best handlers I've ever come across, he's one of the two best handlers I've ever come across. Bill now works for HBO, and he's met some pretty cool celebs, but he still gives lil' ol' me and TWB the time of day. Here are his five favorite wrestlers ever. Enjoy!

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Two of the best, two of Bill's faves
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Steve Austin - When thinking about the Austin era I got a little hung up on who my favorite guy was from those years. Strong cases can be made for The Rock, Angle, Jericho, Benoit (I know) and several others. But the fact is that when I consider it I still think of it as “The Austin Era” and that says it all. Not that it’s easy to leave Rocky off the list, as I look back on his contributions with a lot of joy, but Austin was always more fun for me, because he was an ass kicker who could force some comedy from time to time whereas Rock excelled with humor, but I didn’t always buy his ass kicking. Chalk it up to personal preference. Then there is the physical aspect of Austin, where, beyond his frankly limited moveset (post knee surgeries) he was one of the best bumpers I have ever seen. The guy bounced around like a rubber ball and always made things look like they hurt, which is a really under-rated skill, I think. The great thing about anyone on this list is that by the time they are in the discussion you can look back at the early parts of their career and appreciate them more than you did at the time. Not that Stunning Steve was ever not fun to watch but knowing what he would become, I find it really cool to go back to the Dangerous Alliance Era and watch him knowing what he was growing into. He was a guy that excelled at two vastly different characters and also bridged the gap between those two characters with a masterful run as half of one of the greatest tag teams in history. Once he got to WWE the record speaks for itself. Yes, in the later years he became sort of a caricature and things got repetitive, but I appreciated that he tried to go heel and wish we had seen where that was going minus the Trips injury and the Invasion angle. And the fact remains that starting with the Bret Hart feud right up through WrestleMania 17 I don’t know that I’ve ever had more fun watching a single guy, and that is despite Russo booking a ton of that stretch.

Bret Hart - If I were putting these in order I might have Bret Hart listed as my favorite wrestler of all time. He’s just so good at everything. He certainly doesn’t have the promo skill of Flair, but minus that, I think he is everything we all think of when we talk about Flair, just better at most of it. Like Flair, his matches definitely have a similar feel and flow about them, but I find them much easier to go back and watch again, despite the fact that Flair’s super high end stuff is probably better than Bret’s if I’m being honest. But seriously, name a bad Bret Hart match. Even if you can come up with one or two (and the McMahon thing from a couple years back doesn’t count) you’ve gotta admit it’s not easy to do and the fact that he was such a consistent guy with so many different opponents is unreal. He bumped great, his offense was always crisp and tight, and his psych almost always made sense – the perfect triple threat. Again I find myself heaping a lot of the same praise on Bret that is usually reserved for Flair, but where Bret gets the edge in my eye is that he stopped before becoming a total joke (notwithstanding that it wasn’t really his choice). We have the benefit of not having to have had to watch Bret decline the way we did with Flair. In fact, if not for the move to WCW, who horribly mismanaged his career (he’s still got good matches there, but the whole period feels like a bore, minus that one match with Benoit and maybe some Goldberg stuff), I think Bret might be in the discussion as a unanimous Best Ever guy.

Vader - I’m very comfortable listing Vader as the best big man I have ever seen if we’re talking straight peak. Other guys have lasted longer (Taker comes to mind & we can argue other names depending on how we want to define the term “big man”) and it’s impossible to ignore Vader’s almost immediate fall from grace when he showed up in WWE, but at his best, he was clearly in the conversation for best in the world, big man or not. Obviously the matches with Sting are legendary, the Starrcade match with Flair is nearly perfect and the Cactus Jack stuff was way ahead of its time. Beyond that he was able to pull off remaining a scary no nonsense badass in a particularly goofy time in WCW in the days before and just after Hogan’s arrival and right up until Hogan killed him dead. Even after his WWF debut he had a few standout matches (vs. Bradshaw at Breakdown, Michaels at SummerSlam, & the Fatal Four Way come to mind) but he was clearly done by then and just got fatter and less motivated. But for 5 or 6 years before then he was absolutely must-watch and his matches tended to make everyone else’s look that much worse in comparison, which is a pretty good gauge of talent in my book.

Brock Lesnar - I went back and watched the Iron Man match with Angle last night, which is my first exposure to Lesnar in years. He totally holds up. Definitely the most natural and gifted wrestler I can think of. Just completely fluid and instinctual and a guy that just looked like he knew what he was doing at all times, not only throwing guys around like a gorilla, but actually wresting smart matches. Even the infamous botch at WrestleMania was something he went for 100%, just believing he would nail it. I can’t imagine how good he would have been if he actually liked wrestling and stuck to it. He couldn’t really talk, but he didn’t need to, and who knows if he would have developed that skill or not. Either way, I think we’d be talking about him as a GOAT as far as in-ring is concerned, and as mentioned above, depending on your definition probably calling him the best big man ever. Sadly, his run was way too short, but even with just those few years we have incredible matches to look back on with Hardy, Undertaker, Rocky, Angle, Big Show, Benoit (yeah, I know) & Guerrero. Just thinking about this now as I write it a Lesnar/Vader match with both guys at their prime would have been fucking ridiculous (and arguably we never even saw Lesnar in his prime). Not to mention how incredible a Lesnar/Mike Knox match would have been (I think Knox may seriously be my favorite guy from the past 5 years, although there are clearly guys more talented).

Randy Savage - Like everyone else, I remembered how much I loved Randy Savage when he died. My only real beef with him is I don’t think he had a single match worth watching once he left the WWF (and didn’t have many after his “retirement” match with Warrior, although the Flair match at WM8 is the clear exception). That said, even as he got older and less mobile and his matches all started blending together, he remained an exciting guy to watch just because he was so insane. The intrigue surrounding whether he would join the NWO was incredible right up until they had him join and become totally irrelevant. Still, he’s clearly the best that the WWF had in the WrestleMania era leading up to his departure and his resume in those 10 years is incredible. If he only had the two years between WrestleManias 3 & 5 he would be in the discussion as the best guy in the 80’s (with the year long Hogan feud being possibly the most perfectly booked main event program ever), but there is so much more to it than that, and as I get older I really enjoy his shitty weasely scumbag pre-WM3 heel act from a lot of the MSG and Boston Garden shows with him being the best wrestler on the card, moving at about 100 coke induced miles an hour at all times, blowing everyone’s minds collectively and cheating like hell without needing to. The guy was totally electric and it was so obvious that he had to be moved up the card. Just an all around great, with the only real complaint being a slightly repetitive offense, which he made worth watching by being completely crazy at all times.

Your Favorite Wrestlers Ever: Chris McDonald

Now that my own favorites list is out of the way, I posed the question to some of my colleagues in the fan/writer community. Who are your favorite five wrestlers?

We're restarting the Fave Five train this week with TWB superfan Chris McDonald. He's a humble 'rasslin' fan who loves playing his ukulele and working at the Granada Theater. Here are his favorite wrestlers ever, unordered, because FUCK YOU HE WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL HIM.

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The Perfect and the Best
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Bret Hart - Biggest mark-out moment: Steel plate under the hockey jersey. Probably his last truly great moment.

Ah yes The Hitman. The best there is, was, and ever will be. I hated Steve Austin. I hated Shawn Michaels. I really hated Goldberg. You couldn't find a bigger Bret mark than me. I wore his lame ass shades. My buddies, brothers, & I all would put each other in the Sharpshooter. His heel turn is the greatest of all-time. Better than Hogan joining the nWo. It felt real. Anyone who felt under-appreciated or mistreated understood where the Hitman was coming from. In his mind he did the right thing and believed in what was right. And yet he felt that nobody really gave a shit. They favored a showboater like HBK or moral-less dick like Austin. I think one of my favorite Attitude era moments was when he apologized to Owen and just like that the New Hart Foundation was born. I'm glad he's back in WWE and hope he's found some happiness in life.

Chris Jericho - Biggest mark-out moment: Y2J debut. Lived up to the hype.

One of the best cowardly heels of any era. His heel run in WCW had many, many LOL promos & great matches. 1004 holds, Conspiracy Victim, Ralphus; those are some of the best moments in WCW history. It's too bad Goldberg refused a PPV match with Jericho, but looking back it was probably the best thing to ever happen for Lionheart. I have mixed feelings about his WWE run. I feel that he was never really taken seriously as a main eventer until his most recent heel-turn. While DX continued the same goofy shit from the late 90s, Jericho refined his character and as a result he was never stale. I can't wait for his next return.

CM Punk - Biggest mark-out moment: Three strikes promo on Jeff Hardy. To me that was the moment the real CM Punk arrived.

Current favorite wrestler. I think my favorite thing about CM Punk is his passion for wrestling. During this storyline about him leaving WWE all I could wonder was "What the hell is he going to do with himself? The man lives for wrestling." Two weeks later he's back and as a fan I couldn't be happier. Whether its Cena, Orton, or Jeff Hardy, Punk is able to get a good match out of just about anybody. This current feud with John Cena has produced some of the best RAWs of the last five years. Everything that Punk does looks and feels real (sans GTS). His promos feel real. His kicks look real. I don't know if he'll bring back the casual fan, but to me he is the best thing in the WWE today.

Mr. Perfect - Biggest mark-out moment: DQing Lex Luger in Wrestlemania X. I hated Lex Luger and was beyond happy when Perfect fucked him over.

Mr. Perfect was probably the first wrestler that I was really drawn to. The first match I remember watching him was his SummerSlam match against Bret Hart. Even though I also loved Bret, that match made me a Mr. Perfect fan. In his ridiculous vignettes, Perfect did everything with ease. He could do it all and he could do it "perfectly". But in the ring, the man worked his ass off. And you could see it with his torn ring attire, sweat dripping from his head, and of course his wild-assed hair. I always hoped for a Bret/Perfect or HBK/Perfect main event title feud but it was not to be. The Perfect-Plex ruled and I always cringe whenever Cena attempts it.

Sabu - Biggest mark-out moment: Probably his match against John Cena cause I still can't believe that really happened.

Sabu fuckin rules. When I first came across ECW, Sabu instantly became my favorite wrestler. He looked crazy. Scars all over his body. Baggy pants. Fists taped up. And then when he started to wrestle, holy shit. He wouldn't just hit his opponent with a chair; he would angrily throw the chair at him. Or jump off it. Or do a leg drop on top of it. He was just nuts. Nuts, but still entertaining. I always rooted for Sabu in his feuds with Taz & RVD. Wouldn't mind seeing one more RVD & Sabu tag match in TNA or whatever.

Your Favorite Wrestlers Ever: Jarret Aubry

Now that my own favorites list is out of the way, I posed the question to some of my colleagues in the fan/writer community. Who are your favorite five wrestlers?

Next up is a guy that I've been acquainted with for the last 12 years. He's a good egg, which is Canadian for "a decent fellow". Jarret Aubry is his name, and he's the webmaster at A1-Wrestling, a fine message board, community and collection of Internet degenerates like myself. He also is one of the voices of the A1 Podcast, which is a great listen. Here are his favorite wrestlers.

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1a vs. 1b
Photo Credit: WWE.com

5. AJ Styles - What's not to like about AJ Styles? A staple and cornerstone of TNA (now Impact) Wrestling in its infancy, Styles helped put the X-Division on the map with his speed, agility, and high-flying ability. One might argue that he isn't great on the mic, but he's shown on several occasions that when he delivers an intense and focused promo, you want to listen, and has been constantly improving on the mic over the years. I still mark out every time I see a Pele kick, and some of the high flying and more acrobatic moves he pulls off are so fun to watch, yet the guy can absolutely go on the mat as well; his series of matches with Christopher Daniels are stuffed with magic. While he's on the small side, Styles is the complete package in the ring and a guy I'd have no problem putting in the upper tier of any fed I'd be running.

4. Bret Hart - The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. A catch phrase that ended up not being too far from the truth. I always enjoyed watching Bret in the ring. His moniker of the "Excellence of Execution" was dead on; Hart moved around the ring and delivered his offense like a wrestling assassin. Measured, deliberate, and deadly, every move was calculated to deliver maximum impact and to set up, or get into position to set up the Sharpshooter. I really liked the way Hart sold as a face; he'd get beaten into within an inch of his life, and he'd really look like it. He really made you believe he was totally getting his ass kicked, and made you even feel for the guy. His ability in the ring is unquestioned, and has one of the best finishers of all time (even if he ripped it off of Sting).

3. "Macho Man" Randy Savage - Like I noted about Bret Hart above, I enjoyed Savage as a good guy. He was the best to me as the underdog fighting the greater odds or the bigger opponent, the guy that would do anything he had to in order to overcome those odds or get by the much bigger opponent. One of the first of his era to specialize coming off the top rope, Savage moved like a cat; the dude was just SO quick, so graceful in the ring. I always loved how he took a strike to the head (whether it was as simple as a punch to face, elbow to the head, or as nasty as a chair), he sold it like he'd been shot. Like Hart, he could make it look like he was getting beaten into within inches of a months-long hospital visit, and he really drew you into that and made you believe it. He brought us the awesome, graceful, yet devastating top rope elbow, and good guy or bad, his promos were *always* entertaining. One half of my favorite wrestling angle of all time, the Savage/Elizabeth/Hogan triangle. Definitely a one-of-a-kind.

1b. The Rock - Really, what has to be said about The Rock? The Rock has entertained and electrified like no other before him. His raw charisma, combined with that ability to draw in, use, and feed off the crowd is the stuff of legends. Rock has delivered more entertaining, hilarious, jaw-dropping, raucous, awesome promos than anyone else in the business, and as he would say, "without a shadow of a doubt", his in-ring work got better and better each and every time he stepped into the ring. His sharpshooter may have sucked, but near the end of his run, he was constantly adding more moves to his arsenal, constantly getting crisper, constantly improving, to the point that I believe if he'd hung around for another couple years in his prime, he would be one of the top candidates for greatest of all time. Yup, I said it.

1a. Hulk Hogan - Like The Rock, what do you say about Hulk Hogan that hasn't already been said? Put whatever backstage politics you believe aside, as a kid, Hogan was the first real star that I latched on to. To me as a kid, Hulk Hogan was a super hero come to life. He was this massive, muscular guy that wanted me to be the best I could be, that believed in me. He took on the biggest enemies, righted the biggest wrongs, and fought for the biggest causes. He was a super hero, but at the same time just a man, and that was endearing at that age. In-ring ability aside (as displayed in North America), Hogan is on a level with such a select few with the ability to work a crowd, and as such was always a great entertainer. Hogan was involved in most of the biggest moments in wrestling since his arrival; the first Wrestlemania, slamming Andre the Giant, really taking wrestling mainstream, the love triangle with Elizabeth and Randy Savage, which to me, was the greatest angle of all time. I really believed that stuff when I was kid. The training, the prayers, and the vitamins, and take 15 years of that and turn it all on its head when Hogan became Hollywood Hulk Hogan, turning heel and forming the nWo... it was shocking. So, for that era, those changing times, all those special moments, that nostalgia when it comes to pro wrestling, Hogan will always have a place in my wrestling heart.

Your Favorite Wrestlers Ever: K. Sawyer Paul

Now that my own favorites list is out of the way, I posed the question to some of my colleagues in the fan/writer community. Who are your favorite five wrestlers?

Next up in the favorites queue is my Fair to Flair colleague K. Sawyer Paul, who curates International Object on Tumblr. He has a very different way of looking at wrestling than most of us, so while his list may include a lot of the same guys others would, his reasonings for them are different.

And I like different.

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Holzerman asked me to give him my top 5 wrestlers, but failed to mention criteria. Top 5 best wrestlers? Best talkers? Best money makers? Best choke slammers? The field was wide open. I went instead with my top 5 wrestlers as great examples of wrestlers as people, as influencers of wrestlers and people, as examples to us all how to make it in the workplace of wrestling.

1. Bret Hart - Bret never took a sick day, never took time off, and never asked for a vacation from the day he signed in WWE to Wrestlemania 12. After that, his record gets spottier, but some of his best work was still to come. Let that be a lesson to you: work your ass off, then be a diva. Bret is still my childhood hero, and I’m proud to say those values he extolled to his fan base still hold up to this day. Also, wear a steel chest plate and you will win the day, every time.

Number 1 and number 2 on a recent RAW
Photo Credit: WWE.com

2. CM Punk - Great wrestlers stick very, very close to their principles, and whether you love them or hate them depend largely on what you think of those principles. CM Punk believes in his friends, his straight edge ethos, saying what’s on his mind, rarely smiling in pictures and taking delight in the moral failings of others. Because Punk has wrestled almost entirely in the age of social media, we can actually trace his steps from 2003 to today, through several different wrestling companies, and confirm these things. Be true to yourself despite popular opinion, career opportunities, and making the people around you happy. Be true to yourself despite yourself. Things will work out in the end.

3. The Miz - The Miz’s rise to the top of WWE is one of the great hard-working stories of our time. Though he’s a villain, he simply loves wrestling so much you can’t really help but root for the guy. God knows, there was a long time where the only person who believed he would make it was himself. The lesson the Miz gives us? If you want something, never, ever give up. You’ll one day get to pin John Cena at Wrestlemania.

4. Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan/"Bridey" - Sense of humour does a lot to endear me to a person. For instance, I honestly had no interest in the career of Brian Danielson until I saw his sense of humour. WWE gets a lot of things wrong. God knows, they’ve ruined as many careers as they’ve made. But I honestly believe that letting Bridey’s sense of humour shine has been the turning point of his career. He was a great professional wrestler. He was always going to go down in history as one of the best technicians in the art. But he’s becoming a fuller character.

What’s the lesson learned from Bridey? Show your heart, your humour, and your love at all corners, especially when burying people.

5. Kevin Nash - Surely I’ve gone crazy. Nash has a reputation as a lazy worker, a backstabbing politician, and a turncoat professional. Why is he on this list? The wink. Professional wrestling is a deep, difficult, and nearly-impenetrable form (just listen to an argument about art vs sport if you want to get a headache), but I honestly believe Nash understands the business and the practice better than almost anyone. Nash has winked at the camera more than anyone, because he wants the audience to get it like he gets it. He doesn’t want you to suspend your belief: he wants to realize what you’re watching is a farce. There’s beauty in farce, of course. Wrestling is nothing if not a beautiful depiction of ugly people. Nash wants us to get to that level, to realize that underneath the pomp and circumstance, we’re all manner of scum and villainy — and that’s okay.

My Favorite Wrestlers Ever: #10 through #6

Last multiple entry until we get into the top 5!

Photo Credit: WWE.com

10. Dusty Rhodes

My fandom for De Amewican Dweem has come later in life. When I watched as a child, during his heyday, he was at the height of his WWF run, wearing polka dots and being irrelevant. But his commentary in WCW was just sublime. Then as I'd go back and discover him, his warm, homespun promos about the working man and hard times, I grew to mark for him even more.

Plus, the guy is an icon for all us who are overweight. He was fat as hell, and yet he was still, arguably, the most popular wrestler in the world at one point. There was also the Bionic Elbow, which is one of the most iconic strikes ever.

Photo Credit: SI.com

9. "Macho Man" Randy Savage

Oooooh yeah, dig it, the Macho Man Randy Savage was an icon in my childhood. If Hogan was #1, Savage was #1a. I've said it several times, but while Hogan was the guy who got me into wrestling, Savage, with his tearful reunion with Miss Elizabeth, was the thing that kept me a wrestling fan for the rest of my life. Everything about him was just entrancing, mainly because he was so easy to imitate.

He also kept his legacy intact for the most part by staying away. When the sirens kept calling guys like Hogan, Flair, Funk and the rest back to the well, Savage kept quiet and kept at home. That's why his death resonated so much. There was so much of his mystique left around him. He never shed it in front of us like so many others are doing right now, and that's what made his passing extra sad.

Photo Credit: WWE.com

8. Eddie Guerrero

Eddie G was one of the most fun-loving and emotive wrestlers in history. Every time he came out, it just felt like a good time was on the horizon. Every smile on his face, every pop to his feet... it was great. He had a lot of demons, and they were all out in the open, which made it all the more powerful when he would overcome them and succeed. His title reign, beating Brock Lesnar and then holding the WWE Championship through WrestleMania that year, was probably one of the most special in my memory.

Well, we always thought his problems were behind him. Then, he died, so suddenly. It magnified all those good feelings, encasing them for eternity. That being said, I'm pretty sure Eddie would still be here even if he were alive. Such a special performer.

Photo Credit: WWE.com

7. Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan

Michael Cole called him a nerd when he first debuted on NXT. In his character's mind, Cole thought he was doing Daniel Bryan a disservice. But then, a funny thing happened. It got him over. Why? Because Bryan, like a lot of wrestling fans, was a big nerd. It resonated with us, with me especially. BECAUSE I'M A NERD GET IT? HYUCK HYUCK.

It doesn't hurt that he may be the most gifted pure wrestler in history. That comes as not so much a shock to you, given how much I enjoy the in-ring part of the equation. I've seen so many matches of his, and you know how many parts I was disappointed in? Zero. And the best part is that it's just getting started. He'll be in a title match at WrestleMania this year, and I don't even need to know his opponent to know it'll be a damn good match worthy of its billing on the card.

Photo Credit: WWE.com

6. Bret "The Hitman" Hart

When Hogan jumped to WCW, I stayed with the WWF. Why? Because of the Hitman. He just exuded cool. He was so workmanlike in the ring, a general, and outside, he seemed so slick, the greasy hair, the sunglasses... hell, he wore pink. The man wore pink at a time when only women wore the color. You had to be a real man to be able to wear that color, and he was a real man.

He had a lot shit heaped on him in the last fifteen years. Yet, even though he looks like hell on the exterior, he still exudes that cool. I think it's also in the way that the other wrestlers talk about him, how Colt Cabana and Evan Bourne just marked out when talking about him on the Art of Wrestling podcast. He is the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

Happy Birthday, Bret Hart

The Best There Is, the Best There Was, the Best There Ever Will Be
Photo Credit: WWE.com

The Hitman himself, Bret Hart, celebrates his 54th birthday today! Hart was one of the most important figures in the '90s. Yeah, his tenure as top guy in WWE was terrible from a domestic business standpoint, but he was one of my favorite wrestlers from that era, so SHOVE IT BUYRATE MARKS. Of course, maybe his most seminal moment really didn't involve him at all... well, it did. The Montreal Screwjob pretty much ushered in the modern era of wrestling.

Be that as it may, I couldn't care less than I do right now about how much money he made or how influential he was. I was always a big fan of Hart's, going back to his days as a tag team wrestler with Jim Neidhart. He was one of the first guys that I appreciated from a standpoint of "Hey, this guy's good at wrestling". Yeah, he had five moves of doom, but you know what? EVERYONE in WWF then had those. Plus, it's what he did with those moves, the pacing, psychology and just the cerebral nature of his matches, especially against his brother Owen or against Shawn Michaels. Plus, the guy has become iconic among wrestlers for being an elder statesman. Listening to the episode of Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast with Evan Bourne, they raved about Hart visiting them at OVW when they were coming up.

And hey, he was one of the only guys who could wear pink and make it seem manly. So here's to you, Bret Hart. Happy birthday, and may you have many more!

The Wrestling Podcast, Episode 8: Josh "PUNTE" Zerkle

Episode 8: Yankem Hotel Foxtrot

PUNTE IS GOJIRA
Photo Credit: @PUNTE

Episode 8 welcomes Josh "PUNTE" Zerkle onto the show. Josh was the man who got me started in podcasting by having me on his House of PUNTE show, and he has presence on the web at Kissing Suzy Kolber and With Leather. We talk about blogging, free speech, Ryan Dunn, football and of course, wrestling, mainly through the eyes of a casual fan. Wrestling topics include why Bret Hart, the differences between then and now and why Randy Orton is boring and terrible.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Bret Hart Goes Full Circle

Closure? If it is... good for him.
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Via Bret Hart's Facebook

Someone noted that Bret Hart started out his career as a referee on Twitter Monday, and then I saw that on his Facebook page. I thought it was a pretty neat thing. I have to wonder if it's closure on his career. IF so, then yeah, I'd say it's well done. For awhile there, I never thought that the Hitman would be able to get the chance to put this denouement on his career. The motorcycle accident and then the subsequent stroke made things really scary for awhile, and it would have turned the Hart family from a Greek tragedy into a bad horror film.

But he survived and over the years, he and Vince McMahon were able to reconcile. So now, he's able to take his bow. It feels good, and I think him coming out and just having fun in his later years now is something that is painted in stark contrast to the untimely passing of Randy Savage. This is what we wanted for the Macho Man too. Sadly, it's something we'll never get for him, something we're all trying to come to grips with.

But while we're sad for Savage, I think the perfect lesson here is that we should cherish every moment that we have with our surviving legends, especially Bret Hart since we just had a good, Legends moment with him on Monday.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

I Changed My Mind on the Finish to Last Night's Main Event

Brilliance in action
Photo Credit: WWE.com

In my instant feedback post last night, I intimated that I didn't like the finish to the main event tag match last night. There was no reason for Bret Hart to get physically involved in the match, I thought. It was bad storytelling because the faces shouldn't need those kinds of shenanigans, and Hart didn't have the history with CM Punk or R-Truth to get involved, I thought.

I thought wrong. Looking back on the match, CM Punk totally had it coming, and it was a brilliant bit of in-match storytelling that was really, really rewarding and satisfying.

If you didn't notice, Punk was artfully goading Hart all match by doing every single one of his five moves of doom (Russian leg sweep, second rope elbow, etc.) all the way up to teasing putting Rey in the Sharpshooter. He was foiled and used the attempt at the hold to gain another devious advantage, but by this time, Hart had taken enough disrespect. When it came time for Hart to levy the revenge for his disrespect, he did. It wasn't "fair", but then again, who could blame Hart, a grumpy old man who was being mocked outright, for not being able to hold back?

Now, I know what some people might say. There's no way a referee should blatantly interject himself in a match! It's not realistic! Well, nuts to that, because this was one of the situations where the beauty of pro wrestling - how it marries together the world of real sport and staged theater in a way where the latter can make something otherwise totally implausible work within the context of the former - shone through beautifully. Just another reason why I'm glad that Bret Hart was able to make peace with Vince McMahon and why CM Punk is just the man.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!