Greatest >>in-ring<< performer..

I'm not going to disagree with people who say HBK. I think it's a matter of taste picking between him and Bret. Do you appreciate athleticism and a more entertaining style or do you prefer a more realistic, shoot style technician? I also think Bret could work better matches against big guys which was huge when the champs were all monsters.

I think Angle and Benoit were the modern day equivalent to those guys. Angle was kind of a hybrid actually.
 
If I am based solely on actual in-ring performance, and I'm only using NA wrestlers from 1970s onward, it's Bret with Benoit and Michaels coming in hot. My only knock on Michaels has always his psychology but man, he's as smooth as anyone who has ever wrestled.
 
I'm not going to disagree with people who say HBK. I think it's a matter of taste picking between him and Bret. Do you appreciate athleticism and a more entertaining style or do you prefer a more realistic, shoot style technician? I also think Bret could work better matches against big guys which was huge when the champs were all monsters.

I think Angle and Benoit were the modern day equivalent to those guys. Angle was kind of a hybrid actually.

I agree between HBK and Bret it’s more a matter of preference.

I’m okay with angle being up there. I’m less okay with Benito. Don’t get me wrong, Benito is great... but he lacks the subtle story telling aspects that HBK Hart and Angle had. You hear stories of wrestlers telling chris he needs to slow down at points and I agree. HBK taunting taker as he’s about to lose. Bret hart holding Austin in the sharpshooter as he passes out. That’s the stuff I love and drAws me in. Can’t think of those moments with Benito.

I disagree that Bret put on better performances with big guys I think they are tied there as well. I think both Bret and Shawn were brilliant with bigger workers. ShAwn always got that sympathy cOmeback as a face.

It’s too bad we never go to see an angle vs hart like we did angle vs Shawn.
 
I've always maintained Bret is better than Shawn, but Shawn has the greater overall body of work.
 
I agree between HBK and Bret it’s more a matter of preference.

I’m okay with angle being up there. I’m less okay with Benito. Don’t get me wrong, Benito is great... but he lacks the subtle story telling aspects that HBK Hart and Angle had. You hear stories of wrestlers telling chris he needs to slow down at points and I agree. HBK taunting taker as he’s about to lose. Bret hart holding Austin in the sharpshooter as he passes out. That’s the stuff I love and drAws me in. Can’t think of those moments with Benito.

I disagree that Bret put on better performances with big guys I think they are tied there as well. I think both Bret and Shawn were brilliant with bigger workers. ShAwn always got that sympathy cOmeback as a face.

It’s too bad we never go to see an angle vs hart like we did angle vs Shawn.
I agree about Benoit. I don't put him quite on the same level as a Bret or Shawn.
 
Benoit had subtleties he did that made it look
more realistic and his ability to sell a body part (as opposed to a move/spot) was second to none. An example is to rewatch what I consider the best wrestling match over the past 20 years, the Angle/Benoit RR’03 match. There was a point where Benoit was on the outside and Angle came to grab him to throw him back into the ring and Benoit swiped Angle’s hands away. Little things like this, to me, made Benoit’s work all the better.

Benoit lacked the flair for the theatric/dramatic but when he stepped between the ropes, he was gold.

Again, it comes down to preference. Bret and Shawn are at the very top and I feel Benoit’s in-ring work is right there.
 
Anyone saying Benoit needs to understand he copied the Dynamite Kid’s style move for move..
 
Mid 80's Barry Windham
To this day theres still been no one that could work as beautiful as he did

I was thinking about putting him up there but because he took such lengths of time off his body of work and his big pushes never really got to where his skill was.

Windham is so underrated.

He's listed every time someone asks about underrated wrestlers. Everyone knows he's godlike I don't think he's overrated lol

Underrated is like Yuji Nagata, and Akira Taue. Two guys who were arguably better than most of their contemporaries but never got the recognition. To me, saying Barry Windham is underrated is like saying Jumbo Tsuruta is underrated. Both were A M A Z I N G and everyone knows it. They just don't listem as their #1 guy.
 
Angle, that PPV match where he got the crowd hot grinding Orton out on the mat puts him over the top for me.

The next tier guys were all awesome, but not as overall great as prime angle. Michaels deserves a lot of credit for being that good for that long. Jericho deserves similar credit without highs as high. Bret could make anybody look important in a match, which I haven't seen in anybody else since. Steamboat was pretty much always a showstopper, but he spent most of his career sliding down the card.
 
Terry Funk was amazing in his prime and it's unfortunate that most people posting here, including me, haven't had the opportunity to see a lot of Terry Funk's wrestling from the 70s and early 80s. I've seen enough of it along with what was my favorite feud ever Funk vs. Flair in 1989 and my favorite match ever - The I Quit Match between Terry Funk and Ric Flair from The Clash Of Champions in November of 1989 to say he's the best pro wrestler I've ever seen. Terry wrestled hardcore before people even called it hardcore and he could also do technical wrestling which he learned from his father - Dory Funk Sr. Terry's brother Dory Funk Jr. was even better at the technical wrestling aspect than Terry was and Dory Jr's matches with Jack Brisco are considered by many to be the best example ever of great, realistic looking, entertaining pro wrestling. Terry was almost that good at that style and he could also wrestle hardcore with the best of them including Mick Foley. I've never seen any wrestler so good at both technical wrestling and hardcore wrestling.
 
Terry Funk was amazing in his prime and it's unfortunate that most people posting here, including me, haven't had the opportunity to see a lot of Terry Funk's wrestling from the 70s and early 80s. I've seen enough of it along with what was my favorite feud ever Funk vs. Flair in 1989 and my favorite match ever - The I Quit Match between Terry Funk and Ric Flair from The Clash Of Champions in November of 1989 to say he's the best pro wrestler I've ever seen. Terry wrestled hardcore before people even called it hardcore and he could also do technical wrestling which he learned from his father - Dory Funk Sr. Terry's brother Dory Funk Jr. was even better at the technical wrestling aspect than Terry was and Dory Jr's matches with Jack Brisco are considered by many to be the best example ever of great, realistic looking, entertaining pro wrestling. Terry was almost that good at that style and he could also wrestle hardcore with the best of them including Mick Foley. I've never seen any wrestler so good at both technical wrestling and hardcore wrestling.
I, being older than dirt, have actually seen both Dory and Terry Funk live, in the 70's.

When it comes to guys like them, and even someone like Harley Race, it is so damn hard to rate how good they really were because of how much wrestling has changed. Even from the 70's to the mid 80's the shift is drastic. Guys like Greg Gagne were considered "high fliers" because they threw dropkicks and cross bodies.
 
I, being older than dirt, have actually seen both Dory and Terry Funk live, in the 70's.

When it comes to guys like them, and even someone like Harley Race, it is so damn hard to rate how good they really were because of how much wrestling has changed. Even from the 70's to the mid 80's the shift is drastic. Guys like Greg Gagne were considered "high fliers" because they threw dropkicks and cross bodies.

That's cool that you got to see Dory and Terry live in the 70s! Did you live in the Amarillo area? Would you say Terry was more of a technical wrestler or a brawler when you saw him in the 70s? Did you see him live when he was The NWA World Heavyweight Champion?
 
That's cool that you got to see Dory and Terry live in the 70s! Did you live in the Amarillo area? Would you say Terry was more of a technical wrestler or a brawler when you saw him in the 70s? Did you see him live when he was The NWA World Heavyweight Champion?
Colorado. I remember Verne brought them in to the AWA for a one off or something (this may have been 80-81, or very late 70's). Think it was against the Blackjacks.

Don't really remember much about the match.
 
Colorado. I remember Verne brought them in to the AWA for a one off or something (this may have been 80-81, or very late 70's). Think it was against the Blackjacks.

Don't really remember much about the match.

I see. That sounds like it could have been a hell of a brawl. Blackjack Mulligan ended up going to Florida Championship Wrestling and he and Dusty were a tag team there. Kevin Sullivan was doing is devil worship gimmick and Kevin Sullivan's crew of guys like Mark Lewin and Jake Roberts were feuding with Dusty and Blackjack Mulligan. I saw some of that on videotape.
 
First name that came to mind was Shawn Michaels. The other person that comes to mind right away is Kazuchika Okada. I think since he took over Tanahashi's role as the "ace" of NJPW he hasn't had a bad match and has shown he can have great matches with anyone. Bret Hart is up there as well but I think HBK's later years put him ahead of Hart in the overall scheme of things.
 
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Misawa - From Tiger Mask II to the greatest Champion in AJPW history

Misawa, absolutely.

Also will throw in Kawada, Satoru Sayama, and Muta for my fanboy pick.
 
Misawa, absolutely.

Also will throw in Kawada, Satoru Sayama, and Muta for my fanboy pick.

Muta can definitely be considered one of the GOATs because he did everything with panache. A true innovator. Tiger Mask is another good pick, people always credit Liger but without Sayama there is no Liger tbh. Fuck Kawada doe :> I just don't him :> My least favorite of the 4 pillars but it seems like everyone except me likes him... Maybe I'm wrong? I'm okay with that!
 

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