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Tag Archives: Terry Funk
Ranking WrestleMania – Part 1
Top Five – Joey Ryan’s Testicular Strength Goes Viral
Mick Foley’s WWE Hall Of Fame Inductor Is…
Via WWE.com
Greatest Wrestlers Of The WrestleMania Era Final List
Our project started many months ago, and for the last two and a half months, we’ve been counting down who we believe are the greatest wrestlers of the WrestleMania era. We talked about how we ranked them in the introduction.
I want to thank Duan, Alan, Big D, Jason, and Cadillac Don for all of their help in putting together the list and writing the short bios. It was a tremendously fun project and I’m happy with the way it turned out.
Here is the final ranking along with a link to every write-up:
1. Steve Austin (Alan)
2. Bret Hart (Duan)
3. Shawn Michaels (Duan)
4. Ric Flair (GG)
5. Randy Savage (Don)
6. Kurt Angle (Big D)
7. Chris Jericho (Don)
8. Eddy Guerrero (Alan)
9. The Rock (GG)
10. Curt Hennig (Duan)
11. Terry Funk (Alan)
12. Chris Benoit (Don)
13. The Undertaker (Duan)
14. Mick Foley (GG)
15. Rey Mysterio (Alan)
16. Hulk Hogan
17. Ricky Steamboat (GG)
18. Bryan Danielson (Jason)
19. Jake Roberts (Big D)
20. Ted DiBiase (Big D)
21. Owen Hart (Jason)
22. Big Van Vader (Alan)
23. Rowdy Roddy Piper (Big D)
24. Triple H (Don)
25. Rick Rude (Big D)
Greatest Wrestlers Of The WrestleMania Era: #4 – “Nature Boy” Ric Flair
The other biggest star of the 1980s, Hulk Hogan, didn’t fare all that well in our list. I wrote about why Hogan may have fallen down the list, and my theory was that the last 10 years of his career have left a bitter taste in the mouths of wrestling fans. It’s not like Ric Flair has had a glorious last ten years, but the man is teflon. Not even this eye-brow raising story on Grantland hurt his standing.
To most huge 80s wrestling fans who started watching in the 80s, Flair is the greatest wrestler of all-time. He’s the kiss-stealing, wheeling-dealing, limousine-riding, jet-flying son-of-a-gun. He’s the man who changed for me what I always knew wrestling to be. I became a pretty big wrestling fan in the mid-80s, stemming from the time just before the first WrestleMania. I was a Hogan guy through and through. I believe that one of the main reasons I became such a big WWF fan is that their TV was so easy for me to find. They had a nationally syndicated TV show on Saturday morning right at the tail-end of the Saturday morning cartoon run (when that was a major deal). Finding the NWA was a bit harder, but as a budding wrestling fan, I eventually did find them.
I would see bits and pieces of the NWA and one of my best friends at the time would tell me about the Road Warriors, who were his favorite tag team. When I saw the Road Warriors, it was like looking at two super heroes in the ring. But if I trace back the first time I ever saw Ric Flair, it would’ve been on a syndicated Joe Pedicino/Gordon Solie show called “Pro Wrestling This Week”. They were discussing “The Nature Boy” against the “American Dream”. I didn’t know of Flair and Dusty Rhodes quite yet, but when they started talking about who is who, I just figured that the dream would’ve been Flair, since he was wearing his trademarked sequined robe and flanked by blonds. And when Rhodes came out shirtless and fat with a splotch on his belly, I just figured he was of nature. I was very confused when it turned out to be the reverse.
But soon-thereafter, I was hooked on Flair. Now, I would never claim to be a big Flair fan in the mid-to-late 80s, because I was such a Hogan guy and I had to be loyal to Hogan. And plus, Flair was a heel. I was too young to root for the heels at the time. But you couldn’t not keep your eyes on him, especially since one of the main stories the Apter mags would present was about who was better between Hogan and Flair. I would say Hogan was better, but silently believe that Flair was the better guy.
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