Your Favorite Wrestlers Ever: Bryan Douglass

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 Bryan Douglass. He used to be a blogger/editor at a fairly well-known site, but now, he's the content manager for a new social media project called Wayin. He's also a pretty big old-school wrestling fan. Here is his top five as well as some honorable mentions.

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Snuka and Piper, pre-coconut crunch
Photo Credit: WWE.com

When I was a child, growing in the midst of corn and the heathen Methodists on the plains of farmland Illinois, my mother would drag us to church, forcing my sister and I not only into the one-hour service about fictional characters not named Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, but also pushing us into an additional hour of bible studies.

I hated it. I hated God, I hated the Bible, and I hated every schedule-making Christian on the planet... and for two hours every Sunday morning, I hated my mother.

Back then, Sunday mornings were THE time for wrestling. There was no wrestling during the week, much less in prime time. Cable didn't exist. For me, there was a set of rabbit ears, one hour starting at 8am on channel 11 out of St. Louis, and the weekly knock-down-drag-out with mom. I didn't want God. I wanted Piper's Pit.

When I was nine, my father finally intervened. One fateful Sunday morning my dad interrupted my mother's yelling about my lack of progress away from channel 11 by stating truth.

"I am sick of this shit. All he cares about is wrestling and he's willing to go to hell to have it. And I'm tired of pretending I care because I don't believe in either one. Let the boy watch wrestling."

He won. That day, college and my Star Wars figures are the three greatest things my father ever did for me... and after I go and as I burn in hell, I'll thank him for it.

So... as a preface, it should be clear I am a proud, card-carrying member of the old school. I don't have nearly as much love for the WWE as I do for the WWF, and while I continue to enjoy the entertainment provided by the ring today, my allegiance is firmly rooted in world of wrestling that was.

That's clearly reflected here. Nothing against The Rock, Cena, Triple H or CM... they're great, but they will never register as favorites with me.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

- Andre the Giant
An icon involved in some of the most memorable matches ever.

- The Undertaker
If you rooted for the bad guy (as I often did), he was a god.

- KoKo B. Ware
In terms of entertainment, one of the most underrated bangers of all time.

- Randy "Macho Man" Savage
Made me laugh EVERY TIME Mean Gene put the microphone to his mouth. Truly a gifted entertainer.

- Junkyard Dog
Personal bias... I don't want it get into it, but this is where he belongs in my mind.

5. Hulk Hogan - I didn't ruin my shirts ripping them off as an homage to Hogan. That said, anyone discussing this era of wrestling without giving Hogan his due isn't worthy of your ear... because he was the king. He did it all. Even if you weren't a fan, there were times you couldn't help but get caught up in the madness. He worked with the biggest stars on the planet. He was Hot Lips. He made cage matches obsolete, so tacks and chairs and ring bells had to come into the picture.

He was Hulkamania, he was running wild, he is an icon... and he was Public Enemy #1 for my #1, so I have to have him on the short list.

4. Razor Ramon - And you think you know machismo?

I loved this guy. He was such a dick, but he was cool about it... his comfort in being a dick might only be matched by one of the guys below and Jay Cutler. In truth, his prowess in the ring wasn't exactly on par with guys you want to put on this list. It might be fair to say most of the guys on my list fail to rank if you talk about technique and artistic execution of physical presentation, but for me, the entertainment is in the character and the ability to play that character to the point of reaction from the audience. I want to TRULY hate you... and I don't see how you avoid mentioning the Razor when you mention the best at doing that.

And at his very worst, Ramon was the only one who ever made the Intercontinental Championship relevant. Otherwise, it was amateur hour.

3. Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka - If I'm going to make a pick, as I mentioned before, based on the joy of physical acts of aggression, I want Snuka.

He is to wrestling as Michael Jordan is to the dunk. Not to basketball... please, Snuka was beyond awesome, but there are some places you simply do not go... but to the dunk, to the art of the dunk... THAT is what Snuka did to wrestling.

There were guys before him that went to the top of the ropes, and there were certainly plenty throwing their bodies to the wind. There just weren't any guys that were as pretty doing it. Snuka took a flying slam and made it into a spectacle, something you couldn't believe possible from a man that large. The Splash... it's commonplace now for anyone who takes to the top rope, but Snuka is the benchmark.

Besides, I have to get at least one of the Captain's guys on the list.

2. Hacksaw Jim Duggan - If the truth were told, I would admit to ranking Hacksaw so high because (a) it was SO much fun to be him when we wrestled in the backyard, and (b) I continue to imitate him to this day (yes, there aren't many who get it... more often than not, those in attendance report me to management and suggest drug testing, but I don't care because it's really f*@%in' fun).

He's about as lovable as a wrestler could be for most, but to me, he was an entertaining reminder of how simple wrestling can and should be. Give me a 2x4, let's get the crowd pumped up, and let's beat some ass. His role was simple as well, the perpetually ignorant ape taking on the cocky, elitist prick.

What's not to like about that... unless, of course, you want to cheer for the elitist prick, which brings me to #1.

1. Rowdy Roddy Piper - When it comes to picking my favorite wrestler of all time, there is no delay in response and there never has been. I have always been enamored with the villain and drawn to the guy you love to hate. During my formative years, I was presented with two of the best the world has ever known and I continue to endorse their greatness today - Darth Vader and Rowdy Roddy Piper.

Nothing thrilled me more than seeing Roddy emerge from the tunnel as "Green Hills" pumped through the sound system and Piper marched out to the set of the Pit. Every single episode was monumental occasion for me, and for me, the return of the Pit has formed an exciting reconnection to the WWE today... despite Bill Simmons' transparent attempts to ruin it.

But beyond the Pit, I simply loved watching Roddy wrestle. He was every bit as strong and technically capable as the greats of the game, and he managed to translate character and emotion as well as wrestler on the roster. He was as exciting and dedicated in loss as he was during the Pit, during locker-room interview, and during victory (which never came as often as it should). Tack on the unappreciated career in movies and I'm sold.

And if you still aren't sold, I'd remind Piper was - without question - the most diabolical nemesis Hulk Hogan ever battled, serving as wrestling's most hated man during wrestling's most glorious place in time... at least in my mind.

That's why I rank Roddy as the greatest that ever lived, and that's my take on the historical elite of professional wrestling.

The Best Moves Ever: The Razor's Edge

Scott Hall/Razor Ramon may have fucked up a lot of things in his career, but his finishing maneuver wasn't one of them. A lot of people have done variations on the crucifix powerbomb, and a lot of them are good, but I think I like Hall's version the best. Here it is, the Razor's Edge, or the Outsider's Edge, if you will.

Happy Anniversary, New World Order

A moment that will live in infamy
Screen Grab Credit: Mike Bridenstine

Fifteen years ago today, arguably the most important angle in wrestling history took place at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, FL. WCW's Bash at the Beach pay-per-view event saw the official formation of the New World Order, the "invading" faction of Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan, at the expense of Lex Luger, Sting and (who else) Randy Savage. Eric Gargiulo has a comprehensive recap of the actual event and the months leading up to it at the Camel Clutch Blog. For a guy who bungled a lot of other stuff in the following years and even decades, Eric Bischoff really got it right here. Just reading that article reinforces that, as even now, I got goosebumps just reading the transcript of Hogan's promo after the turn.

Of course, Bischoff couldn't follow up on this moment in the long term, which is why WCW no longer exists as an independent entity today. Since I write about those transgressions a lot, I'm going to pass now and instead focus on the influence of this singular moment in time. Within the wrestling industry, you could argue that this was perhaps the most influential moment ever. There were so many elements at play here that have been attempted to be aped by any wrestling company. You have the top draw in wrestling history to that point turning against the fans. It was a ballsy move, even if Hogan's welcome in WCW was wearing thin by that time.

It was also the moment where WCW truly went national. Like Gargiulo wrote in his recap, until 1994, WCW was really only national in name only, as it was still more or less a "Southern" promotion. When they went out and got Hogan, Savage, Bobby Heenan, Gene Okerlund and recouped Ric Flair and Luger, the company really put the full court press on trying to expand its reach. It wasn't until BatB '96 when they had their huge moment. It was at a perfect time too, as the WWF was at a crossroads. Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart had taken them as far as they could, and while the wheels were turning on Steve Austin, who had just won King of the Ring, it'd be a few months before his run would get started in earnest.

I think the most influential part of this event though was Hogan's promo at the end. It really was one of the first legit teases of breaking the fourth wall that I can remember happening at that level. Obviously, ECW had guys potshotting WWF and WCW, but they were still in the underground. The newly minted invaders had a national stage. Hogan was liberally referring to the company "up North" and talking about money and other things that guys didn't talk about back then on pay-per-view or nationally-broadcast cable TV.

The event even has had mainstream implications. Any time there's a betrayal or anything that the media likes to purport as betrayal, someone, somewhere is comparing it to Hogan's turn. The most recent example was last year, when LeBron James made the hideously misinformed decision to announce his intentions of signing with the Heat on ESPN. No sooner did he say "I'm taking my talents to South Beach" then did the comparisons to Hogan dropping the leg on Savage begin. They were a propos too, but only if you consider the fans of Cleveland to be WCW and not the Cavs organization. However, that's a whole other blog for a whole other blogger to tackle.

However, I think the lasting implication, at least for today and for future anniversaries, is that damn, it's been 15 years already? Fuck, I feel old. Seriously, while it does feel like it has taken place a long time ago (unlike 2000-01 WWF, which I feel is still fresh in my mind for whatever reason), it still is staggering to think that babies born on today's date in 1996 are in the middle of high school. And to see Hogan staggering around the Impact Zone, a shell of his former self, only hammers that point home harder. (And that's not even putting into context how the other players are faring from that night...)

Still, even for as much as the wrestling industry has changed in 15 years, it's still cool to look back on the dates that mattered. July 7, 1996 may have been the date that mattered most, regardless of how badly Bischoff and his cronies paid it off (or in a sense never paid it off).