One of my favorite things to do as a kid was spend time watching the WWF, and then reenacting those matches later with all the wrestling figurines that I owned. I had a fair amount of them anyway: Hulk Hogan, Superfly Jimmy, The Bushwhackers, and Macho Man Randy Savage among others. I have no idea what happened to those wonderful toys, as it would be fun to introduce them to my children as I imagine they may enjoy professional wrestling some day soon. Of course we all like to say that things were “much better back in my day”, but I will scream at the top of my lungs that wrestling during the late 80’s all the way up until the early 2000’s was head above shoulders over the rest. I thought about doing a best 9, but I think most lists would probably look the same. So once again, I will go with the favorites instead.
Note: My apologies. I checked out great wrestlers from other eras, I really did. Nobody could crack the most impressionable years of my life.
Note2: Also an apology to the 22 guys who weren’t able to crack the top 9. Those guys were special. Would love to do a Nate’s 31, but that isn’t fair to the top of the list. I would like to give a shout out to Ultimate Warrior, Savage and Slaughter though for really taken my interest of wrestling to the next level, and being great competitors for the nine that did make the list.
#9 – Jake “The Snake” Roberts. The first heel I ever loved. He was kind of a bad ass and he always had that snake (Damien) around his neck. I couldn’t even tell you what he did with the snake when he actually had to do battle with someone. Gave it to Virgil, maybe... all jokes aside the inventor of the DDT definitely deserves a place inside my top 9. As a child, I used to think his opponents’ necks were snapped after succumbing to his finishing move. Even in my wisdom of older age do I believe that it’s still as worthy as the innocence of my youth would have believed.
#8 – Kurt Angle. Anyone that’s willing to knock the snuff out of “Double J” Jeff Jarrett is always going to get consideration for a Nate’s 9 list. But its Kurt Angle’s supreme wrestling skills that convinced me he belongs in the 9. The dude was a gold medalist wrestler at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. I was first introduced to his dexterity then, but never did I consider him an actor with an interest in male soap opera entertainment. However, Angle won multiple WWF(E) championship belts, played both the hero and the heel with vigor and even got the great Paul Heyman to manage him for a little while.
#7 – Road Warriors/Legion of Doom. I know, it’s probably not fair to put a tag team partnership in a list of favorite wrestlers, but I would feel bad for separating them, and even though I liked Animal just a little bit more (due to the north metro connection), I still think they need to be placed in her together. As a kid, I always looked forward to the Doomsday Device, when one of them would lift their opponent onto their shoulders, tag the other partner, and they would come flying in off the top rope toppling the opponent to the ground. More so than their finishing moves, I just really enjoyed this particular tag team over a generation that was full of them. The Nasty Boys, The Demolition, The Bushwackers, The Natural Disasters, The Beverly Brothers, Money Inc, etc. It was a great time for tag team wrestling, but for me, Hawk and Animal take the cake more than any other group.
#6 – Hogan. I preferred Hollywood to Hulk, and I know that I’m in the minority, but I think that Terry was born to play a villain. One of my favorite moments in wrestling history is when “Hulk” switched over to become “Hollywood”, and with that, the creating of the nWo (New World Order). Prior to Hogan joining, it was strictly a duo with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash as the face of the organization. They were called The Outsiders when they started out, but it wasn’t until Hogan joined them against Randy Savage, Sting and Lex Luger (future nWo members all) that Hollywood and the nWo came to be. It’s still one of my favorite moments in wrestling, and I think some of Hogan’s best work.
#5 – Triple H. Hunter Hearst Helmsley. They are many reasons why Triple H makes it so high on my list. First, I didn’t like him when he got his start in the WWF. I thought that he was just tight with a number of high profile wrestlers and that’s how he got his start in the ring, when there were other wrestlers that had put more work in. I also didn’t like how the WWF came out with Degeneration-X during the same time that the WCW decided to come out with the new World order. I thought it was a cop out, because Vince McMahon wasn’t willing to pay his stars top dollar, but he was willing to steal Ted Turner’s inspirations. Perhaps I was wrong, perhaps not. Beyond that doubt though, it’s clear to see that he wasn’t just a one match wonder or a seasonal fad on the wrestling circuit. The guy is beast and therefore deserves a high spot for changing my perceptions of wrestling. Second, his finishing move is the Pedigree. Youtube it. Third, he married Stephanie McMahon. There’s good value there. And finally, he is probably the cog that makes the WWE run so efficiently. I don’t watch it much anymore, but when I do, I can still see that Triple H has the pulse of the WWE in his hand. Quite the influence.
#3 – Curt Hennig (Mr. Perfect). While living in Red Fox Cove may not be considered a place that a “perfect” person would live, it was fun to have Mr. Hennig as my neighbor for the few years that his family was nearby. He had that LONG white Cadillac that you could see from a mile away. Beyond that, he was one of the better technical wrestlers I’ve ever watched and had an assortment of moves. He flew around the ring and had great athleticism for someone of his size. The guy was like the Intercontinental King while I grew up watching wrestling and I also benefited from having him in the nWo for a short period of time at the end of the 1990’s. A shame we lost him too soon, but gave me some of my early favorite wrestling memories.
#2 – Ric Flair (Whoo!) How can you not love the Nature Boy? As a hero, he was about as fun and arrogant as they come. As a heel... the guy reached legendary status. In any case, the stats pretty much say it all. He was hard to beat. 18 time world heavyweight champion. Winner of what may have been the greatest Royal Rumble in history (1992 – the only wrestling DVD I ever bought) when he got drawn in 3rd out of 30, and went the distance. He has been a part of numerous “Four Horsemen” groups and other legendary factions including my favorite one which I will get to in a minute. He created one of the bigger beefs in WWE history when he decided to take on Vince McMahon, and split the WWE up into shows where I think Flair had Raw and Vince had SmackDown. Or the other way around, maybe. Regardless, the Knife-edge chop was classic, and his four-legged lock took down many of the greats including, Hogan, Savage, Warrior and DiBiase among others.
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