my personal top 25 greatest wrestlers of all time

[superj]

1. Mitsuharu Misawa
2. Jumbo Tsurata
3. Kenta Kobashi
4. Jushin Liger
5. Chris Benoit
6. Mariko Yoshida
7. Toshiaki Kawada
8. Dynamite Kid
9. Masahiro Chono
10. Great Sasuke
11. Tiger Mask I
12. Dean Makenko
13. Ricky Steamboat
14. Ultimo Dragon
15. Aja Kong
16. Jun Akiyama
17. Shinjiro Ohtani
18. Eddie Guerrero
19. Akira Hokutu
20. Jun Akiyama
21. Owen Hart
22. Hayabusa
23. El Hijo Del Santo
24. Akira Taue
25. Koji Kanemoto

[pigman]

1.Jushin Liger
2.The Great Muta
3.Hayabusa
4.Tiger Mask
5.Chris Benoit
6.Chris Jericho
7.Jun Akiyama
8.Ultimo Dragon
9.Kenta Kobashi
10.Keiji Mutoh
11.The Great Sasuke
12.Black Tiger
13.Hulk Hogan
14.Bret Hart
15.Owen Hart
16.Masahiro Chono
17.L.A. Park (I Just Like Him For Some Reason)
18.Koji Kanemoto
19.El Oriental
20.Rey Misterio Jr.
21.Tiger Mask IV
22.Eddie Guerrero
23.El Samurai
24.I Don't Know
25.I Dont Know ( Sorry got to go i have to eat right now cuz i'm on lunch break for work)

[naterob2003]

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
1. Misawa
2. Ric Flair
3. Mutoh
4. Liger
5. Tenryu
6. Kawada
7. Kobashi
8. Tsuruta
9. Bret Hart
10. Chono
11. Hashimoto
12. Benoit
13. Kensuke Sasaki
14. Vader
15. Ultimo Dragon
16. Yuji Nagata
17. Jun Akiyama
18. Chris Jericho
19. Lance Storm
20. Eddy Guerrero
21. Tatsumi Fujinami
22. Antonio Inoki
23. The Great Sasuke
24. Ricky Steamboat
25. Tiger Mask

[Daishikaze]

In no particular order:

Akira Hokuto
Bull Nakano
Aja Kong
Devil Masami
Jaguar Yokota
Plum Mariko
Mariko Yoshida
Dynamite Kansai
Mayumi Ozaki
Manami Toyota
Kaoru Itoh
Lioness Asuka (in her prime)
Chigusa Nagayo (same as above)
Mimi Hagiwara
Shinobu Kandori
Kyoko Inoue
Suzuka Minami
Megumi Kudo
Candy Okutsu
Hiromi Yagi
Mika Akino
Cuty Suzuki
Hikari Fukuoka
Yumi Fukawa
Momoe Nakanishi

This could change alittle once I see more 80s stuff

[Emerald Frosion]

16. Jun Akiyama
20. Jun Akiyama

Sorry, I just noticed you have Jun Akiyama ranked twice.

My top-10 list - I'm not going to try and rank them in order of skill. Just in the order that I mark out for them.

1. Jushin Liger
2. Kenta Kobashi
3. Mitsuharu Misawa
4. Jumbo Tsuruta
5. Chris Benoit
6. Toshiaki Kawada
7. Great Sasuke
8. Keiji Mutoh
9. El Samurai
10. Stan Hansen

[Yoshimitsu]

Bret Hart is one of the most realistic wrestlers there have ever been. Everything he does is believable. Unlike some wrestlers who really do patronize the crowd with their fake "dazed" selling.

Benoit is however, perhaps that little bit sharper.

[darktowerchilde]

So, Yoshimitsu, what's your top 25?

[Uraken]

Let's add mine.

No particular order.

1-)Kenta Kobashi - He is so into it when he wrestles, Fighting spirit at it's finest.
2-)Mitsuharu Misawa - Loved the early 90's aggressive Misawa.
3-)Toshiaki Kawada - Incredible selling, beleivable wrestler.
4-)Genichiro Tenryu - Mr. Puroresu. Done it all. Good old Grumpy Tenryu!
5-)Jumbo Tsuruta - Legend. Deserves all the respect.
6-)Keiji Mutoh/Great Muta - The way he moves in the ring... Everything.. He loves Pro-wrestling.
7-)Chris Benoit - Just great.
8-)Giant Baba (Yes, Baba, of course.) The man behind the early Ajpw. Thank you Mr.Baba.
9-)Steve Williams - One of my few liked american wrestlers, Was very good in Ajpw, adapted well to japanese wrestling.
10-)Stan Hansen - The other only american I like.
11-)Bret Hart - Always cheering for him when I watched old shcool Wwf.
12-)Aja Kong - Have to put a woman wrestler here. She is my favorite of them.
13-)Jun Akiyama - No particular reasons, he just got me into.
14-)Akira Taue - Like him for some reason. Dynamic T is a solid wrestler ... When he wants to.
15-) Hiroyoshi Tenzan - Love his charisma and heelish fighting style.
16-)Vader - Another Gaijin I cannot hate.
17-)Tiger Mask - Love his innovative Jr style.
18-)Tamon Honda - Love the rolling olympic hell series and his amateur style.
19-)Yoshihiro Takayama - This guy really grew on me after watching him.

I guess that's it. Can't add more really. There are probably more , but I always forget someone. I guess it will be complete sometime , as I keep editing this as others keep poping in my head. Hehe.

[Yoshimitsu]

So, Yoshimitsu, what's your top 25?

I could never tell my top 25 without having to revise all my tapes and records etc et

So I'll have a bash at the top ten.

Objectively

1 Lou Thesz
2 Rikidozan
3 Antonio Inoki
4 Ric Flair
5 Andre The Giant
6 Hulk Hogan
7 Giant Baba
8 Gorgeous George
9 Ed Lewis
10 Bret Hart

Subjectively

1 Bret Hart
2 Steve Austin
3 Toshiaki Kawada
4 Kurt Angle
5 Chris Benoit
6 Mitsuharu Misawa
7 Keiji Muto
8 Kenta Kobashi
10 Yoshihiro Tajiri

[Simon]

I can only really just about manage a top 3, and it still took me 20 minutes to think of them.

1. Kenta Kobashi
2. Ric Flair
3. Chris Benoit

[OrangeCrush51]

Since the initial Top 25 only included puroresu wrestlers, I'll focus on my top 25 puroresu wrestlers of all time... Likewise, since I'm ignorant of joshi, I won't include the female stars.

1. Rikidozan
2. Lou Thesz
3. Jumbo Tsuruta
4. Giant Baba
5. Karl Gotch
6. Andre the Giant
7. Antonio Inoki
8. Stan Hansen
9. Riki Choshu
10. Mil Mascaras
11. Mitsuharu Misawa
12. Keiji Mutoh
13. Kenta Kobashi
14. Toshiaki Kawada
15. Shinya Hashimoto
16. Genichiro Tenryu
17. Tatsumi Fujinami
18. Atsushi Onita
19. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
20. Bruiser Brody
21. Tiger Mask
22. Jushin Liger
23. Abdullah the Butcher
24. Steve Williams
25. Akira Maeda

Honorable Mentions: Terry Funk, Masahiro Chono

[Rabid Wolverine]

YAY! List-O-Rama... So here I go...

In no order.

1. Chris Benoit
2. Eddie Guerrero
3. Harley Race
4. Terry Funk
5. Jushin Thunder Liger
6. Nobuhiko Takada
7. Rey Mysterio Jr.
8. Akira Hokuto
9. Vader
10. Bret Hart
11. Owen Hart
12. Dynamite Kid
13. Steve Austin
14. Tiger Mask (Sayama)
15. Akira Maeda
16. Stan Hansen
17. Jumbo Tsuruta
18. Tatsumi Fujinami
19. Toshiaki Kawada
20. Kenta Kobashi
21. Ric Flair
22. Mitsuharu Misawa
23. Mayumi Ozaki
24. Mariko Yoshida
25. Genichiro Tenryu

[Yoshimitsu]

As far as Jumbo is concerned, I think he's a good candidate for the best AJPW has ever had (IMO, while he was still healthy and in top form, he was a lot better than Misawa, Kawada or Kobashi ever became)

i guess the reason I put Kobashi at the top of my list is just because I am a HUGE mark for the guy and he has been in so many of my favorite matches But Jumbo rules it - maybe best japanese wrestler of all time...and I'm a big, big mark for him too... (my favorite match of all time is Jumbo/Misawa 6/8/90)

As for Onita and why i put him where I did? Everybody thinks he's all cool and stuff, and likes how he's so crazy for doing deathmatches all the time - but the truth is, the guy is a heck of a worker, and although his moveset is rather repetitive at times, he knows exactly how and when to do his moves, make his comebacks, get electrocuted, etc etc...he's *exceptional* at making his matches really dramatic - nobody that i have ever seen has even come close to him in that respect...when it comes to deathmatches that is.

As for the Chris Benoit comments, he would get my vote as the 'most versatile' wrestler out there...he's not the best in any one category, but is there anyone who can excel in so many different styles (technical mat wrestling, high flying, power wrestling, brawling, submission) as him? I can't really think of any,except maybe Eddie Guererro...who also excels at the lucha style...

Bret Hart is possibly a better brawler than Benoit, and maybe his equal in most of the other categories, but Bret a) can't fly NEARLY as well as Benoit and b) had to carry much more limited opponents during the peak of his career than Benoit did....if Bret had instead wrestled in AJPW or even NJPW during his peak, i shudder to think of how good he might have become...

Jason

I agree with pretty much everything you say about Benoit and Hart.

[Pheonix_Chi25]

A lot has been said about if Liger deserves the top spot or why is joshi wrestlers in there. In a testament to Joshi puro, you have some of the cornerstones that made joshi popular, my only argument to my man's list was this: Why you player hatin' Akira Hokuto? LOL, I know she is Kensukes wife and she is still very cute after all these years, but Akira was, and maybe i'm wrong, a good draw back in her day, I think she could still go now.

Jushin Liger, will be heralded as one of, if not THE, greatest jr heavyweight to ever lace up a pair of boots and a mask. He has innovated some of the high flying moves that have been copied to this day, and sorry to Super Nova, but Liger has been the most ripped off wrestler to date. 10-20 years from now you will have a whole new slew of Juniors who will look to Jushin Liger and others as inspiration.