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Top Ten U.S. All Time


Dylan Waco

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Was randomly thinking this over the other night with my brother. In no particular order I settled on Terry Funk, Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, Stan Hansen, Rey Mysterio, Buddy Rose, Nick Bockwinkel, Eddie Guerrero, Ricky Morton and Barry Windham. This is not so much a list of guys who I think are the ten best in U.S. rings only (i.e. Hansen would not be so high though I don't think it would effect the others), but rather the ten U.S. guys who would probably be the highest in a GOAT list if I were to ever do another (and let's face it, I will). Non-native born guys like Dundee, Finlay and Regal feel weird to leave off, but I'm not sure I'd rate them above any of those ten anyhow. I definitely wouldn't rate Bret above any of them. I'm really high on Arn and Savage, but can't quite see them above anyone on that list though I'd listen to arguments. Steamboat and Vader feel like omissions, but the older I get the less sure I am (I'm not positive I would rate Vader over Blackwell at this point - probably, but not positive). Bobby Eaton feels like an outside contender. I'm higher on Greg Valentine than most but top ten feels like a stretch. Daniel Bryan actually seems really close and I could maybe be convinced. Am I missing any other obvious names?

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Couple questions. We're talking guys born in the US I take it by your 3 mentioned exclusions. And are we only taking into account their matches/feuds/angles in the US(sorry if this is a dumb question, I just want my list to be within guidelines). For example most of Hansen's best stuff was in Japan. Should be tough but fun.

 

EDIT: is this our favorite or some kind of mythically 'objective' GOAT list?

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Without putting in too much thought : Funk (Terry), Hansen, Flair, Windham, Morton, Guerrero (Eddie), Savage, Steamboat... hum... Vader, Mysterio or Tully or Eaton or Anderson (Arn)... Haven't seen enough Rose or Bock to really compare, ditto Race and the old masters like Brisco, Thesz and such...

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The Destroyer seems like an omission. I know Dylan is not high on him as some others and I haven't watched a ton of him but I would at least place him in the conversation and can see him comparable to guys like Windham. I can also already hear Parv formulating an argument for Dibiase. I can also see arguments made for Tito and Backlund.

 

My ten: Flair, Hansen, Lawler, Mysterio, Terry Funk, Vader, Ricky Morton, Bobby Eaton, Daniel Bryan, Savage.

 

Just missing was: Tully, Arn, and Eddie Guerrero

 

I recused myself from voting for Bock and Rose because I have not seen enough footage.

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My top ten off the top of my head would probably be Funk, Lawler, Flair, Arn, Vader, Mysterio, Eddie, Punk, Dustin, and ten would be a hard decision between malenko, rude and maybe prime angle.

 

Guys I have only seen a little of but definitely have the possibility of being in there are Murdoch, Rose, Hansen, and Gordy.

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Dustin

Dustin Rhodes?

 

Want to say any more on this? Just interested.

 

For myself, I just don't feel qualified to answer these sorts of things any more. Any list I come up with seems hopelessly JCP-WCW / WWF centric. I'd feel more comfortable doing a top 10 JCP-WCW or top 10 WWF.

 

Until I've seen Memphis and the rest of AWA and some Buddy Rose in Portland, it feels wrong to come up with a all-time US list.

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Dustin is just a personal favorite of mine and I really don't have an elaborate explanation. I guess its because he never bored me. I always felt satisfied watching a Dustin match and he had a large quantity of average to good matches. I can understand the argument of him maybe not having that great match but to me my top ten guys are guys I could watch multiple times and never get tired of. I know I'm probably in the minority on him but that's just me

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Don't ask me to think about order:

 

- Terry Funk

- Ric Flair

- Nick Bockwinkel

- Stan Hansen

- Rey Misterio, Jr.

- Jerry Lawler

- Randy Savage

- Vader

- Tully Blanchard

- Eddie Guerrero

 

Guys Bubbling Under or Whom I Could Be Swayed On, or Could Otherwise Get There in the Future: Buddy Rose, Ronnie Garvin, Ricky Morton, Bobby Eaton, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Bob Backlund, Dick Murdoch, Terry Gordy, CM Punk, Destroyer, Daniel Bryan.

 

I suspect Garvin would vault into the top 10 if we had more Knoxville or '70s footage in general--from what little we see he looks like an absolute tornado. This brings up another point in that I'm a little uncomfortable declaring "all-time" to mean "late 1970's to the present," as is the case for the lists here including mine. There's some token love to the Destroyer and that's it. Yes, footage is an issue, and this is a group that relies on what can be seen first. There aren't records and stats like there are for real sports where it's (somewhat) easier to evaluate Johnny Unitas against Drew Brees. Still, I have a hard time believing the 10 greatest (unmasked) workers of all-time all had their peaks after 1970.

 

Having said THAT I'm equally as lost as to who to actually nominate from the pre-'70s era. Actually I think Pat O'Connor would probably make a personal top 10 GOAT because he looks better than Thesz in contemporary footage, had awesome stuff from 1975, and he looked pretty spry all the way up to the Bockwinkel match in 1981 or so. But...he isn't "U.S." If Regal doesn't fit the criteria then neither can Pat. Thesz will be a hard one to evaluate because there's a temptation to backlash against the deification he receives at places like Classics. I think he's a worthy contender at least. Buddy Rogers' career came to a rather sudden halt in 1963 and primo footage is spotty--honestly, I didn't much care for the Comiskey title change last time I saw it. Verne Gagne is another guy who strikes me as being better than Thesz at the same time period and was also a high-quality worker into the early '80s even with (or because of) a greatly reduced schedule.

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Bear in mind this is just a list of guys I enjoy watching the most from the WWF and the small amount of JCP I've seen. (Watched next to nothing from the other territories. I'm working on it.) No order.

 

Flair

Windham

Tully

Funk

Hogan

Dusty

Savage

HBK

Punk

Fab Moolah

 

Jerry, Eddy, Buddy, Vader and Harley are all likely to make my list once I've seen more footage.

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Yea i never thought i'd see her name on the site period. I've never watched an actual peak moolah match. Probably never will either unless there's some footage of torturing a young upstart like i think i've heard before. Then again probably wouldnt be hot at all since Moolah looks too much like Warwick Davis to me, Leprachaun or Willow either one.

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I dont think it is fair to exclude foreign workers who have a great volume of work here in the states (I really want to put Bill Dundee here) so I am going to eliminate American workers who would be on this list for their overseas work.

 

Jerry Lawler

Ric Flair

Buddy Rose

Randy Savage

Ricky Morton

Rey Mysterio

Arn Anderson

Dick Murdoch

Bryan Danielson / Daniel Bryan

JC Ice (just to represent a Dundee here)

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