Top 10 Greatest Wrestlers of All Time

There has to come a time where a site that talks about wrestling has to make a good argument to who’s the greatest wrestler of all time. There just wouldn’t be wrestling without the wrestlers, but who really deserves all the praise? Every wrestling fan has their own personal favorite wrestling that they mark out to, so thetoplister has to make a credible pick in deciding who really is the best grappler/performer in professional wrestling. Here on thetoplister, we do really care about giving so many people recommendations, but it has to be the best recommendation, not the most popular one. Otherwise, having Hulk Hogan, The Rock, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, and Shawn Michaels would have been too predictable to the point where we’re being dishonest. When you’ve been wrestling as long as we have (watching so many different promotions and all) you should know that there are better out there. So what really is the criteria to be an all-time great wrestler? Here are your criteria.

If a wrestler has three or more of these qualities, then they deserve to be on the list. Notice that we didn’t include number of victories here? Otherwise, Goldberg & Dr. Death Steve Williams would have made it on the list, but in wrestling, it’s not how many wins you make, it’s how many times can you get yourself back up in every defeat without losing relevance. It takes years to hone your skills, have the right booking to keep you relevant in your career, and the challenge of getting the fans’ approval in order to reach that level of credibility. This is a tough business to stay in but these ten wrestlers (and a few honorable mentions) managed to prove to us that they are deserving of such praise.

Top 10 Greatest Finishers

A wrestling finisher is the only theatrical moment where the audience has seen it over and over again but never get tired of it. It’s almost like the atomic breath from Godzilla where it is a signature move that’s so iconic to the character that variations of the same attack against different opponents is a must-see every time. As for wrestling, finishers are supposed to the victory move; the must-see moment of the whole match.  With bigger-than-life characters flourishing the industry, move-sets are supposed to create the character (and perhaps its limitation to the performer) and that finisher is just icing on the cake. Many of these finishers are so well attached to the wrestler that if any other performer steals the move it is by default a reference to the one most famous for it. If it still makes people get up off of their seats and get excited that the move has been hit, the whole concept of a finisher is doing right.  But I think finishers over the years have diminished their significance mainly because there’s always a kick-off of a pinfall right after it that create too many false finishes.  In order for a finisher to be high on this list is if getting hit with the move has 0% chances to kick-out of it.  Secondly, that finisher has to be practical and looks like you are for certain going to get KO’ed if the move hits you (so no Scotty 2 Hotty’s Worm here). It also doesn’t make any sense why would a wrestler just lie down when an opponent is clearly taking so much time setting it up (People’s Elbow). Things like Shawn Michaels “tuning up the band,” Goldberg waiting for his opponent getting up, or anyone flying straight on their backs just to have a flying maneuver to be pulled off is off the list. Third, the move should ONLY hurt the wrestlers that is getting hit, not the other way around (cough…cough…RKO). It just doesn’t make any sense to me why would you even make a finisher where you too can get hurt at it as well.  I honestly can’t suspend my disbelief with stupid wrestlers allowing their opponents to give it to them in a white open shot. And lastly, what really matters is [who] it is that pulls off the finisher. You can’t expect me to believe that a 6’ft wrestler like the Hurricane’s chokeslam is anywhere as effective as The Big Show’s chokeslam, now does it.  In wrestling, size does matter and it’s also the wrestler’s capabilities of doing that move has an equal measure as well.