for your mockery, here's how i would list out a top 10, taking as many factors into consideration as i could; career, skill, popularity, impact, legend, legacy, influence, feuds, etc.
10) bret hart
he had a shorter career, which is why i ranked him lower. but he has big name recognition. amazing technical skill, perhaps best of the top ten. he's involved in one of the most famous wrestling-fan events of all time; the "screw job" and relating dramatic defection to wcw. his legacy remains today, some ten years out of the business; "you screwed bret" is still passionately chanted and debated.
9) the rock
truly the people's champ, working fan appeal into a career. working the mic and telling a story in the ring to get the crowd into whatever he was doing. great atheletic ability, great energy. liked amongst his colleagues. able to succesfully branch out into other venues and industries like none before.
8) andre
carried over from the pre-modern era (as billed by this list) to the "wrestlemania" era. enormous impact for enormous size. legendary name, long running career. life found interest outside of the business into movies and documentaries.
7) macho man
amazing character recognition for all facets, from persona to voice to sayings to style and in-ring performance. long run over two federations, building stables of abilities. full package of wrestling skill and performance skill. famous feuds and battles.
6) shawn michaels
essentially has two careers, both impressive on their own. amazing in ring skill, puts on a great show, can carry matches single-handedly. helped keep the wwf running in the business lull and helped bring it back during the climb up to the top. continues to contribute and perform at a high level.
5) triple
storied career of title reigns and feuds. great legacy of staying on top while putting others over (often forgotten). impossible to ignore his involvement in current and certainly future of the business overall from a creative / ownership standpoint.
4) taker
incredible, long career. iconic character and theme. instant recognition, consistant pop. dedicated run in a single federation. continues to operate at a top level, generally unheard of for someone of his age or size.
3) stone cold
helped revive the industry and establish a rejected career. carried a defeated promotion on his back towards the top of the pile. definitive character to define an era. very good in ring skill, at least early on, to carry matches.
2) flair
insurmountable industry career, from character to ring skills to mic skills to feuds to length-of-career to working with others and putting them over. has the respect of his peers, and has carried multiple federations on his back. continues to put his all into matches decades after starting to put his all into matches. he is wrestling.
1) hogan
by adding the characteristic of sheer impact, he simply has to be top choice. flair has the wrestling appeal, and will likely dominate the internet/smart vote, but to the business as a whole, hogan has no competition. flair keeps things going in the ring and those in that world, but hogan brought eyes to flair and the business as a whole. title runs, building wrestlemania and hulkamania and the wwf overall, the key to the nwo and building the wcw overall, even all of his behind-the-scenes dictatorness all give him unparalleled clout, for better or worse. his mic skills, charisma, story-telling, and two iconic characters are amazing, and would certainly guarantee him mention in a top ten, but its his overall legacy and legend that lock him in as the top spot.
I couldn't be bothered to read Boner Ramp-happersons Hogan shit talk.
My take isn't as skewed as one might think, Flair for me, has gone a long way to destroy the legend he was by overstaying his welcome!
Having said that, I believe he is far more deserving of the number 1 spot then Robs boy.
Scott Keith wrote something very fitting regarding nostalgia in wrestling, fans have nostalgia for what these guys once were, they do not want to see their legends now - 50+ years of age and stinking up the ring.
Lets break down Hogans career a little, he returned to the WWF in 83 and won the title at the beginning of 84, holding it for just over 4 years by the time of his losing it, fans were already getting tired of him - the same formulaic matches, complete lack of wrestling ability and things were different now, fans didn't want to see really long title reigns.
Putting the belt on Savage was a breath of fresh air, but there was still a stale stink hanging about, yep, Hogan.
Hogan regained the title to a mixed reaction from the Wrestlemania 5 crowd in 1989, true, there was more positivity than negativity but that changed within weeks as the fans realised the WWF had taken steps backwards instead of forwards by putting the title back on the orange bastard. It was like watching the WWF from 2 years back, which we were already bored with.
In hindsight, this was classic McMahon - don't give the fans what they want, give them what Vince wants. Unfortunately Vince was stuck, having never took the time to create new stars, Warrior was popular but not popular enough and had even less ability than the Huckster.
Basically Vince didn't want his cash cow to die, so he kept foisting it upon us and because he didn't want to risk losing money, he believed he couldn't have a heel champ - the kids would be crying.
I'll disregard the rest of Hogans run in the WWF because it was stale and did nothing but lose the company money and if that wasn't enough, Hogan didn't want to help make new stars!
Terence of Bollea spent some time in limbo before going to WCW where he fucked things up right from the start, turning WCW of 1994 into WWF of 1989.
Ok, Rob, calm down! Bash at the beach 96 saw Hogan turn heel and start doing business again - BIG BUSINESS! First time in over 8 years!
But that soon went tits up!
For me, this is a very important part of why Hogan shouldn't be number 1! Whilst he helped make the WWF and wrestling in general mainstream - he was also an integral part of destroying a company - WCW!
I'll also disregard Hogans return to the WWE - nothing eventful happened, apart from him WRONGLY, stealing the Rocks Thunder at Wrestlemania! What a team player!
So, Hogans carrer in a nutshell - 5 good years in the WWF, 2 good ones in WCW. To anyone trying to defend his WCW run, it came at the expense of too many stars.
Hogan should not be numero uno in my opinion because:
He could never wrestle and never bothered trying - his matches were all the same.
He never put people over until well into his twilight years.
He was an important factor in the destruction of WCW.
He talks out of his arse, more than any other wrestler.
And why I think Flair should be number 1:
Flair could wrestle.
Flair could wrestle an hour.
Flair traveled the world.
Flairs matches were different, whereas Hogan would have the same match with someone who was 7 foot tall and someone who was 5, someone who was 500 pounds and someone who was 125!
Longevity, Flair could still set the ring on fire well into his mid 40s!
Flair was the wrestler of the 80s(down Rob- Hogan was the personalty.)
Flair was still the man in the 90s(early to mid), still going strong in WCW, then went to save the WWF for a while, then returned to WCW without missing a beat!
