Top 5 Greatest Superstars

Here's who I think it is.

1. Hulk Hogan

2. Stone Cold Steve Austin

3. The Rock

4. Ric Flair

5. Shawn Michaels


Bit dubious I know.

We've been here before a thousand times with this...

The best indicator I think we've had on this was Hero's week long survey rating wrestlers in different categories on the old 606.

Woul have Ricky 'the dragon' Stamboat in there.
Others that get a mention

Bret Hart.
The Undertaker.
Mr Perfect

Maybe not top 5 but great wrestlers.


Couldnt stand watching Hogan wrestle.

Apart from the kick to the face and leg drop(which was a good finishing move), he didnt impress me.

I hated when he was being beaten up then would do that stupid look and then just come back and wn.

The Warrier was the same.

Here's what the final results were when I ran the polls on 606:

The Greatest Ever....results.

Welcome to the results to discover exactly who you the 606 wrestling community regard as the Greatest Wrestler to ever grace the WWF/E (since Wrestlemania began).

Before revealing the results I want to thank each and everyone that has participated. Without your input then obviously there wouldn’t have been any results.
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve seen a wide range of categories that I regarded as the most important things a wrestler has to have to be thought of as the Greatest, from ability to draw, to making his opponent look good, to OMG moments.
The points have now been totted up but first I wanted to do a quick recap of each round:

Greatest OMG moment:


1st Mick Foley
2nd Hulk Hogan
3rd Undertaker
4th HBK
5th Stone Cold
6th Jeff Hardy
7th Edge
8th Brock Lesnar
9th The Rock
10th Ultimate Warrior

Foley won this by quite some margin (61 points).

Greatest moveset:

1st Kurt Angle
2nd Bret Hart
3rd Chris Jericho
4th Undertaker
5th HBK
6th Chris Benoit
7th Mr Perfect
8th Dynamite Kid
9th The Rock
10th Ricky Steamboat


Again the leader was by quite some margin (73 points)

Greatest Heel

1st Roddy Piper
2nd HHH
3rd Million Dollar Man
4th Chris Jericho
5th Jake Roberts
6th Ric Flair
7th JBL
8th Rick Rude
9th HBK
10th Randy Orton

Much closer round this time with Piper pipping Triple H near the end.

Greatest Face

1st Hulk Hogan
2nd Stone Cold
3rd The Rock
4th John Cena
5th Ultimate Warrior
6th HBK
7th Bret Hart
8th Randy Savage
9th Undertaker
10th Mick Foley

Hogan won by some distance, one of the few categories where a guy from this generation made much of an impact (Cena).

Greatest Draw

1st Hulk Hogan
2nd Stone Cold
3rd The Rock
4th Ultimate Warrior
5th John Cena
6th Undertaker
7th HBK
8th Bret Hart
9th Randy Savage
10th Andre the Giant

Hogan wins again, Attitude era fans were very split between it's two main stars.


Greatest Wrestler to make opponent look good

1st Bret Hart
2nd HBK
3rd Kurt Angle
4th Randy Savage
5th Chris Jericho
6th Ricky Steamboat
7th Ric Flair
8th Mr Perfect
9th Undertaker
10th Chris Benoit

Very few points split the top three and the lead changed hands multiple times.

Greatest Talker

1st The Rock
2nd Stone Cold
3rd Chris Jericho
4th Roddy Piper
5th Hulk Hogan
6th Jake Roberts
7th Randy Savage
8th Ultimate Warrior
9th Ric Flair
10th John Cena

Very divided opinions, one camp thinking the Rock was the greatest by far, others felt it just belittled the opponent.

Greatest Image

1st Undertaker
2nd Ultimate Warrior
3rd Randy Savage
4th Stone Cold
5th Kane
6th Bret Hart
7th Hulk Hogan
8th Million Dollar Man
9th Razor Ramon
10th Rick Rude

One of the longest gimmicks in the industry took the top spot from WARRIYAH by 16 points.

Greatest Charisma

1st The Rock
2nd Ric Flair
3rd Hulk Hogan
4th Randy Savage
5th Stone Cold
6th Roddy Piper
7th Chris Jericho
8th Ultimate Warrior
9th HBK
10th John Cena

The Rock wins another round and closes in on the two front runners but is it too late?
Going into the last round 1 point seperates the top two.

Greatest overall

1st Stone Cold
2nd HBK
3rd Bret Hart
4th Hulk Hogan
5th Kurt Angle
6th The Rock
7th Randy Savage
8th Undertaker
9th Chris Jericho
10th Ultimate Warrior

How did these results affect the final leaderboard?

Drumroll...

And the winner of 606's Greatest Ever Wrestler is...


...

Stone Cold Steve Austin!

The results are as follows:

Stone Cold 56
Hulk Hogan 54
The Rock 45
HBK 44
Bret Hart 39
Undertaker 37
Chris Jericho 35
Randy Savage 35
Ultimate Warrior 30
Kurt Angle 24
Roddy Piper 22
Ric Flair 20
John Cena 15
Jake Roberts 11
Million Dollar Man 11
Mick Foley 11
HHH 9
Mr Perfect 7
Chris Benoit 6
Kane 6
Ricky Steamboat 6
Jeff Hardy 5
JBL 4
Rick Rude 4
Edge 4
Dynamite Kid 3
Brock Lesnar 3
Razor Ramon 2
Randy Orton 1
Andre the Giant 1

Hogan was 1 point ahead going into the final round but a showing of 4th in the final category meant that the Rattlesnake finished top.

Jim Ross would be proud.

Would be interesting to see how much of an impact CM Punk would have on these polls now.

I don't think a top 5 is fair and hence am going to post my top 10

1) The Undertaker
- Due to the length of his career and the quality of his matches
2) Hogan
- Created what wrestling is today
3) Austin
- Created a whole era by himself
4) HBK
- Probably the greatest entertainer in the history of the business
5) John Cena
- Yes Mr Cena gets into the top 5. Is he the best wrestler? No. Is he a sensational entertainer? Yes. Defined the last 10 years.
6) HHH
- Mr Hunter comes in at 6. Has done a lot for the industry. Although some argue he slept his way to the top, you can't argue the lasting effect his legacy has had.
7) Ric Flair
- How can he not be in the top 10? Most World Championship reigns.
8) The Rock
- A huge star and I'm a huge huge fan of his. But I couldn't find room for him in the top 7! His legacy just isn't as big as the others in this list
9) Kurt Angle
- Probably the greatest pure wrestler of the last 10 years. Had he not left WWE how much bigger a star would he have become?
10) Mick Foley
- Could he wrestle? Not particularly well but as Superstars go his legacy is amazing. Everyone has a favourite Foley moment. Mine? The Spear from Edge through the Flaming Table

Honourable mentions

Brock Lesnar
Eddie Guerrero
Sting
Kane
Rey Mysterio
Goldberg
The nWo


Current Stars who could make this list in the future

CM Punk
The Miz
Wade Barrett
Sheamus
Randy Orton

Punks only had a good few months though. In a years time lets see where he is before we proclaim him amongst the greats. I'm not big on Bret Hart being the greatest ever since he was on top in a forgotten era, and will only be remembered for the screw job.

Personally my greatest is between Stone Cold and Andre The Giant, who is criminally forgotten to Hogan and is just as responsible for the golden era of the 80s.

Reason I mentioned as to what impact Punk would have on the polls is that like any poll they are often skewered by what people are seeing here and now.
Check any top 100 album polls and there's always a bias towards albums of the last few years and then when redone those albums have slipped down. I imagine if these greatest wrestlers polls were redone that Punk would be in there.

Cena out Punk in

TheBrahmaBull wrote:Cena out Punk in

Cena has been the focal point of this generation for the past 5 (if not more) years.

Gregers wrote:I don't think a top 5 is fair and hence am going to post my top 10

1) The Undertaker
- Due to the length of his career and the quality of his matches
2) Hogan
- Created what wrestling is today
3) Austin
- Created a whole era by himself
4) HBK
- Probably the greatest entertainer in the history of the business
5) John Cena
- Yes Mr Cena gets into the top 5. Is he the best wrestler? No. Is he a sensational entertainer? Yes. Defined the last 10 years.
6) HHH
- Mr Hunter comes in at 6. Has done a lot for the industry. Although some argue he slept his way to the top, you can't argue the lasting effect his legacy has had.
7) Ric Flair
- How can he not be in the top 10? Most World Championship reigns.
8) The Rock
- A huge star and I'm a huge huge fan of his. But I couldn't find room for him in the top 7! His legacy just isn't as big as the others in this list
9) Kurt Angle
- Probably the greatest pure wrestler of the last 10 years. Had he not left WWE how much bigger a star would he have become?
10) Mick Foley
- Could he wrestle? Not particularly well but as Superstars go his legacy is amazing. Everyone has a favourite Foley moment. Mine? The Spear from Edge through the Flaming Table

Honourable mentions

Brock Lesnar
Eddie Guerrero
Sting
Kane
Rey Mysterio
Goldberg
The nWo


Current Stars who could make this list in the future

CM Punk
The Miz
Wade Barrett
Sheamus
Randy Orton

Gregers, when you say Rock didn't leave a legacy, do you mean he left fewer memories etched on minds? Or that he had less effect on Wrestling today? I'd say that the massive pop he got in February was indicative of his legacy. Even Smackdown! is named after his catchphrase.

And as for memories, him v Hogan in the stare down, finally beating Austin at WMXIX, even his return?

Not hostile, just asking what you meant in your list

I agree his legacy was large so let me explain via comparing him to the others on my list.

Undertaker vs Rock - Taker is, imo, the biggest Superstar in history. Turned a ridiculous gimmick to one that has worked for 20 years. Takers lasting legacy is way larger than Rockys

Hogan vs Rock - Hogan created what wrestling is today, pust him ahead of the Rock in my opinion

Austin vs Rock - The two biggest stars of the Attitude era, Austin was the focal point tho so edges it for me over Rocky

HBK vs Rock - HBK was successful in two different eras that were 10 years apart.

Cena vs Rock - Cena is the undisputed top star of the PG era and probably in the top five for the ruthless aggression era. Just edges out the Rock for me

HHH vs Rock - This one was very close for me. Hunter just edges it due to being active for longer giving a chance to etch for memories.

Flair vs Rock - Flair again just edged out the Rock due to the longetivity of his career (I have ignored everything Flair has done post Wrestlemania vs HBK)

Rock is 8th which is hardly a disgrace. Depending on his match at next years Wrestlemania he could move up above Flair, and possibly Hunter.

Hope that explains my reasoning? And I should probably add that I've always been a Rock over Austin person so yeah.

Another who could have made the top 10, and I am being serious here, is Vince McMahon

Definitely with you on Vinnie Mac, even with some of his hit and miss Mania moments, eg the Bret Hart match. I actually really enjoyed his feud with Hogan early 2000s and obviously all the Austin stuff. If you could include Shane and Stephanie you could make a case for them being HHH/Cena level on your list.

Your reasoning makes sense too, can't argue with it simply because Rocky still only really had one era. Be interesting to see how he fares at Survivor Series and afterwards. I suppose leaving a legacy is different to crowd reactions, which is where I think Rocky would be a good deal higher in the list.

Yeah crowd reactions Rocky would be higher.

The McMahon family (Vince/Shane/Stephanie/Linda) could very well go between Cena and HHH. If you add HHH as a McMahon then verging on Hogan levels!

I remember thinking actually on the list above that it was strange Mr McMahon wasn't on the list of greatest heels that was voted on old 606. Definitely deserves to be on the top ten ahead of Orton in my opinion, and JBL arguably.

It was an oversight tbh. When I put together the original list of 100 stars that had graced WWF since Wrestlemania 1 I forgot Vince (and Shane...and worst of all I blanked HBK!).
In defence though I did put forward the list to everyone else and no-one else picked up on it!

I think the Corporation 'No Chance' theme is also right up there among my favourites.

My list was not based on favourite in-ring performers. It was based on 'superstar'.

Although is in-ring wasn't great,hogan has to be no.1

I personally would put taker 6/7

Thanks for the recap Hero, brilliant work did you ever send it in to any websites like Pro Wrestling Torch?

HBK is my number 1 simply because he genuinely had everything, a great talker, really hated heel, loved face, brilliant in the ring, he could make anybody look good, he had charisma and left a lot of memorable moments (7 matches of the year awards I think?) whilst having his prime taken away from him due to a broken back and drug/personal problems and then I would have Taker at 2, Hogan 3rd, SCSA 4th and Flair 5th

Id quite like to see another one of these done! I know alot of work but maybe someone has time on there hands:

I think if people have there set greatest, it would never change.

I have always had the same top 5. CM Punk will tell over time. I just hope that the current storylines and push doesn't end prematurely.

My top 5 are:

1. HBK - By far had the complete package. Great mic skills and brilliant in-ring ability. Has the longevity to go with it.

2. Ric Flair - Certainly helped take wrestling to another level to which Hogan was able to take it higher. Brilliant on the mic and the best heel ever.

3. Hulk Hogan - Helped put wrestling in the mainstream where it is today. Great draw and amazing on the mic.

4. Stone Cold Steve Austin - Defined an era. Great in ring abilities. Great Character.

5. Bret Hart - Best in wrestler there has been. Had great move-set. Fantastic all round game.

Im just wondering what people are counting as longetivity..I understand the essence of it being how long there careers went for and how long they were at the top. However surely if people are using it as a yardstick to compare/define there greatness rating then the negative side of it should be taken into consideration?....

For me, guys like Flair & Hogan are now at a point where they are actually harming any legacy they created. This isnt to say what they accomplished for the business in the past has been lost on me...but more that they are putting a tarnish on themselves. In my eyes it is important to know when to get out of the industry and stay out..(hence I dont hold grudges against Dwayne for leaving when he did). ..

Intrigued to hear other peoples thoughts....

Brady12 wrote:Thanks for the recap Hero, brilliant work did you ever send it in to any websites like Pro Wrestling Torch?

I sent it onto a couple but never heard anything back, miserable sods.

Hero wrote:

Brady12 wrote:Thanks for the recap Hero, brilliant work did you ever send it in to any websites like Pro Wrestling Torch?

I sent it onto a couple but never heard anything back, miserable sods.

Shame really suspect they get inundated but quality work Hero nonetheless

Hero

I remember this starting back on the old 606 but for some reason or other I forgot all about it and have only just seen the final results.

Great work collating all the responses, my only quibble with this would be the inclusion of the final category "greatest overall" as I feel the other categories tell who the greatest overall is and the final category comes down to a popularity contest.

Without the final category and based on all the other attributes, was hulk Hogan the winner?

Yes he was 1 point ahead of Austin going into the final round.

Surely popularity has to come into it, popularity/connect with the fans is one of the biggests things a Pro Wrestler needs

Scott Steiner has to be in there for his promos

1 Undertaker
2 Stone Cold
3 The Rock
4 HBK
5 HHH

Personal top five of all time:

1. HBK
2. Stone Cold Steve Austin
3. Hulk Hogan
4. The Undertaker
5. The Rock.