(Gustimania) Top 5 Favorite (and perhaps Greatest) Wrestlers of All Time (part 1)

22.5.2009 5.59 p.m

Here I am again. After several days of not writing, finally I have the conscious, idea and will to write about something. Guess that several days of preoccupying myself with other things other than writing, somehow makes me want to write again. It is not about the amount of entries that I have in this blog that matters, but the quality of it. That is one of the reasons why I put up this blog, to train and to enhance my writing skills. Anywhoo, this entry will focus on my favorite wrestlers of all time.

For any given wrestling fans (such as myself), that individual will develop a liking for any wrestler. Whether he wrestler is a high-flyer, a powerhouse, or even a technician, he or she will have a favorite wrestler. It also depends on when they watch pro wrestling. One may like the lights of Hogan, Macho Man or Ric Flair because the individual followed wrestling during the 80’s. Maybe present superstars such as John Cena, Batista or Randy Orton are the ones that present fans love.
For me personally, I like all types of wrestlers, but I am more of the Attitude Era fan. So, without further adieu…

5) Stone Cold Steve Austin

Stone Cold, perhaps one of the greatest wrestlers that ever graced the WWE ring. The recently inducted hall of famer single handedly saved WWE (then known as WWF) from losing out to WCW back in the late 90’s (Monday Night War period). He was one of the faces during the Attitude Era. With a rebel character and defying authorities, he was one of the first ‘face’ wrestlers that had attitude of a ‘heel’ wrestler. A trend that changed the landscape of wrestling world, in terms of characterization.

In the ring, he was a pure brawler. I like his style in the ring because it fits his character perfectly. Feuds with Mr. Mcmahon was one of the best feuds ever in the history of pro wrestling. However, in tems of in ring performance, I adore his performance during the period between his introduction at King of The Ring back in 1996 or 1997 up until he broke his neck at Summerslam, thanks to Tombstone Piledriver by the late Owen Hart. That was a period where he wrestled with all types of wrestlers, yet his brawling style fitted very well in those matches. Case and point, Wrestlemania 13 during his submission match with the legendary Bret Hart.

He was also one of those wrestlers that are gifted with mic skills. The infamous 3:16 quote during his coronation as King of The Ring is still one of the best promo, at least in my eyes. He can also be very funny indeed. He showed that side during the days of WWF versus the Alliance (coalition of WCW and ECW wrestlers) back in 2001. His career was cut short a bit due to injury, but he is still one of the most kick ass wrestlers ever.

4) Jeff Hardy

Of all types of wrestlers out there, I have a fondness with the high flyers, the lucha libres, X divisions’, whatever they call it these days. I rate this guy very highly. A daredevil, Jeff Hardy always come up with something so unpredictable and amazing, that I just can’t stop supporting this guy. The ‘Unique Enigma’ is certainly on his way to become a legend.

He was one half of the awesome tag team, the Hardy Boyz, alongside his brother Matt, they are on ethe first tag teams to employ death defying moves that was not common before in the WWE. Who would ever forget their epic feud with Edge and Christian and also the Dudley Boyz from 1999 up to 2001. That was the golden era of tag team division. They produced amazing displays everytime all of them stepped into the ring. The best ones were of course the TLC matches. Two memorable moments that I still remember; 1) Edge spearing Jeff Hardy who was dangling in mid air and 2) Jeff doing the Swanton Bomb from the top of a 20 feet ladder hitting Spike Dudley and Rhyno. All of that moments happened during the TLC match at Wrestlemania 17 (still the greatest PPV in this century).

Jeff Hardy came close so many times as a major champion before. One of his closest moments was the Ladder match against the Undertaker for the WWE Undisputed Championship back in 2002. That was the match that showed his potential as a main eventer. His wish finally came true last year, when he won the WWE title at Armaggedon. I am still amazed that WWE did not recognized him as a Grand Slam winner (achieved when a wrestler won every title in the WWE), alongside Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle. All in all, he is still one of the best in this business.

Damn, felt a bit exhausted after all of this writing. Part 2 coming up shortly.

Tidbits:

-I don’t know about you, but I think WWE Extreme Rules is one of the worst names ever for a PPV since the In Your House days.

-Just watched the debut of Davey Hart Smith yesterday in ECW. Very impressive and I predict a lot of good things happening for him and the rest of Hart Trilogy.

-Please stop this Santina Marella angle. At first, it does look funny but after some times, it started to be very nauseating to watch.

-In terms of storyline, Smackdown is a way much better show to watch than Raw. Even ECW is better. And this comes from a guy who watches full length Raw every single week.

-Watching ROH on Youtube, I was amazed at the talent on display, perhaps in years to come and with better exposure, they can overtake TNA as THE rival to WWE. Now I am a huge fan of Bryan Danielson.