As promised, the next instalment of the wonderful list. Make sure you check out numbers 25-21 and 20-16 as well. Here we go with 15-11:
15. Edge
Jimmy: Edge managed to have one of the most impressive careers of any performer to have spent their entire career in the WWF/E. It is weird to think of him being ahead of Triple H, but it makes sense when you think about it. He has the defining moments from the tag team feuds with the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz, then managed to rebuild himself from plucky babyface on the cusp of the big time to main event heel as a singles star. Of course, a large part of that was boning Matt Hardy’s girlfriend, but he went with the heat that came out of that and became their strongest heel for a solid five year run. Unlike Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle and Triple H he was the perfect foil for John Cena, since people bought into the villainy of the Rated R Superstar schtick and doled out the heel heat that had been going to babyface Cena. When people look back on his career, he will likely be looked at as the guy who was the most watchable from 2005-2010.
Joe: Much like Tripe H, it seems like Edge almost makes it by default. He doesn’t have the long standing legacy of guys like Terry Funk or Harley Race, but when you look at the success he had in his career it makes sense that he would be here this high. Edge won 31 championships in his career, including a record 12 World Tag Team titles and currently he has the most World Heavyweight title reigns at 7. He is also the only man to win King of the Ring, the Royal Rumble, and Money in the Bank. He took part in the classic TLC matches, and after seeming destined to be nothing more than a bland mid-carder he received a monster push. This was after sleeping with Matt Hardy’s real-life girlfriend Lita and the WWE making it into a storyline. We suddenly saw Edge had a ton of personality, could be relied on as a world champion 11 times, and he went on a run that solidified his spot as one of the WWE’s greatest stars. I’ve been a fan of Edge since I was like 7 and as an Albany boy, I’ve always liked the fact Edge got his name from our old rock radio station and won his first WWE title here. Sadly he also announced his retirement due to spinal stenosis here. Luckily I started watching again in time to see his final match last year.
14. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper
Joe: The Rowdy One is probably the second greatest wrestler to never win the WWF/E Championship. Piper is of course best known for his role as the super heel in the mid-80s when he feuded with Hulk Hogan. This was part of the whole Rock & Wrestling thing with Cyndi Lauper that ended up bringing wrestling into the mainstream, led to the MTV special The War to Settle the Score and culminated in a little event called WrestleMania. Piper was the first wrestler to have his own interview segment, Piper’s Pit, which would be ripped off for decades. He worked a classic with Bret Hart at WrestleMania VIII, and his wild charisma has allowed him to make occasional appearances on WWE programming to this day.
Jimmy: The Rowdy One makes it this high nearly solely because of his heel run of 1984-1985. He played a vital role in the WWF’s ability to create Wrestlemania and the Rock ‘N’ Wrestling era. Piper’s Pit was the template for every single pro wrestling interview segment show that came after it and it was host to a plethora of standout moments from the 80s, whether it was smashing a coconut on Jimmy Snuka’s dome to setting up the Hogan-Andre feud. He was the most obnoxious heel on the roster and when you see clips of the build to the first Wrestlemania, it is obvious in retrospect that the main event that nite should have been Hogan-Piper. It’s a shame it never happened in WWF, but took place far later in WCW when they were both way past their primes. He had a decent face run in the late 80s and early 90s culminating in him winning the Intercontinental Title, but he probably could have been their top draw as a heel champ chased by Hogan during the mid 80s since he was that over.
13. Sting
Joe: The greatest and most famous wrestler to never appear in the WWE, Sting is the heart and soul of the old WCW and that legacy has been used to try to gain some notoriety for Total Nonstop Action the last few years. Sting had the look and the charisma, and the rub from Ric Flair, to become a top guy and underwent maybe the greatest career transformation of anybody on this list other than Hogan to stay relevant. Sting ditched the short, blonde hair and bright, vibrant face paint and outfits for long, dark hair, black clothes, and face paint reminiscent of The Crow. He gave up talking for an entire year and would appear with a baseball bat, standing in the rafters. It should have culminated in him absolutely destroying Hulk Hogan and the NWO but WCW bungled it as they did with everything. Now in TNA Sting is billed as “The Icon” and seems to be their big star since he’s the only guy in the main event scene who isn’t a leftover from the WWE.
Jimmy: Not a lot to say about Sting, as I’ve never been a huge fan of his but respect the fact he has been a relevant force in pro wrestling for nearly 30 years. When he was a bland face in the 80s with a unique look, Flair made him (like so many others before and after) look like a worldbeater. In the 90s, he took on the Crow persona (courtesy of Scott Hall) that made him interesting again. He ran with it and if WCW hadn’t been more political than the Beltway, he would have dominated Hogan in 1997 during the height of his feud with the nWo and been the massive face champion that the storyline called for. What is remarkable about Sting is that he is probably the biggest star in pro wrestling to never go to WWF/E. At this point, it isn’t really worth bringing him in unless its for a marquee Wrestlemania match, but there was a period before he went to TNA that a WWE run would have been a big deal. As for the TNA run, I guess the dude tries but that show is a trainwreck.
12. Kurt Angle
Jimmy: Speaking of trainwrecks, Kurt Angle is alternately one of the greatest wrestlers and biggest tragedies in the business. As a worker, Angle is in the top handful all-time. On the mic, he can more than hold his own. His biggest weakness has always been himself - be it from debilitating neck injuries or the copious amounts of drugs and alcohol he consumed to continue to work through these injuries. At some point around 2005/2006, it became clear that his personal issues surpassed his abilities to work matches safely and to me, his run in TNA hasn’t existed. That being said, Angle has taken part in two of the best matches I have ever seen - the 2003 Royal Rumble with Chris Benoit that, along with Chris Jericho’s performance in the Rumble match, saved the show from the abyss and his Wrestlemania 21 match with Shawn Michaels that I think is the best match in both men’s careers. Angle had the ability to vacillate between the goofy comedic face/heel or the intense competitor that was out to destroy and could do this believably every time. That ain’t easy, I can count on maybe one hand the amount of people who could do that and I don’t think any of them could work a match as well as he could in his peak. The only reasons he isn’t ranked higher would be that he was never the number one guy in the company and his Col. Kurtz-like descent is horrifying. That and I ranked Mr. Perfect much higher than my brother ranked Kurt Angle.
Joe: The other guy TNA is very proud of having, 1996 Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle could have easily been top 10 if tremendous substance abuse problems hadn’t forced him out of the WWE and into a promotion that nobody pays much attention to. His in-ring skill is nearly unrivaled, and his match with Chris Benoit at the 2003 Royal Rumble is one of the greatest of all time. His match with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 21 can be my pick for the greatest match ever depending on my mood. In 2005 and early 2006 when he was supposed to be a huge heel against John Cena, crowds went wild cheering for him both because of being tired of Cena and the fact Angle was working the best matches and played the insane character so well. But there’s always a darkness that goes with such success. Winning a gold medal with a broken neck has caused problems his whole career, including almost dying against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XIX. This led to insane pill addictions and steroid abuse. He jacked up his teeth and rather than take time to fix his mouth he started wearing a mouth guard all the time. He also broke some ribs and was pulling muscles off the bone and trying to work through it since he was so juiced up. Despite this, he put together an incredible career and is the only man other than Edge to hold every active major championship in the WWE.
11. Mr Perfect
Jimmy: I would state unequivocally that Mr. Perfect is the greatest wrestler to never be the World Champion. Dude could do it all - work a high level match, talk better than everyone and just flat out be cooler than everybody. I distinctly remember his vignettes where he performed a slew of sports and did them all perfectly, the towel toss and the gum spit. Mr. Perfect was the first, and possibly only, heel I ever cheered for when I was a little kid. He got Bret Hart over as a singles star and unlike pretty much every wrestler ever, did it willingly. He also got jobbed out of a main event run during the Hogan era and would have been a great foil for the Hulkster. When Ric Flair came to the WWF, Perfect served as his manager and excelled at that as well, then when he stopped for a while due to injuries was an amazing color commentator for RAW. Dude was just a natural when it came to the business and despite never reaching the top status, I ranked him 7th in my list and Joe had him at 14.
Joe: Curt Hennig is the greatest wrestler never to be WWF Champion. The fact that they never put the WWF title on him is one of the biggest crimes in the history of the wrestling business. Since Hulk Hogan had the stranglehold on the top spot, his feud with Hennig in the late 80s was handled terribly and what could have been an epic storyline culminating in a match at WrestleMania VI where Hogan wins back the title has just become a sad “what if?”. The clip of Perfect destroying Hogan’s championship with a hammer on Saturday Night’s Main Event as The Genius celebrates should have been a turning point in WWF history that would lead to Perfect being the ultimate heel champion. That feud could have been so much more. There were few guys better in the ring, on the mic, or even on commentary than Mr. Perfect.
So we’ve reached the end of yet another part. Come back tomorrow for our journey into the first half of the top ten.
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