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80’s and 90’s WWF (or WCW) I guess

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Who Was the Greatest Wrestler of the 1985-1995 Era?

  • The Nature Boy Ric Flair

    Votes: 3 9.1%
  • Hulk Hogan

    Votes: 11 33.3%
  • The Ultimate Warrior

    Votes: 1 3.0%
  • Sting

    Votes: 1 3.0%
  • The Undertaker

    Votes: 2 6.1%
  • The Macho Man Randy Savage

    Votes: 7 21.2%
  • Barry Windham

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • The Hitman Bret Hart

    Votes: 4 12.1%
  • Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig

    Votes: 1 3.0%
  • The Heart Break Bottom Shawn Michaels

    Votes: 3 9.1%

  • Total voters
    33
A story as old as time, unfortunately.

The phrase "That doesn't work for me, Brother!" comes to mind more than once.
I don’t understand how Vince wouldn’t force it. Does the champion hold that much power? You can make anyone a profitable champ, and fire the current champ
 
I don’t understand how Vince wouldn’t force it. Does the champion hold that much power? You can make anyone a profitable champ, and fire the current champ
Well back in the day Hogan did have that much power and that's why he only ever put one guy over cleanly in the middle of the ring, Ultimate Warrior (of course Hogan also knew that Vince would come back to him because Warrior would self-sabotage).

The examples of Hogan not putting people over are legion, but include Andre (twin Hebners), Yokozuna (flash paper) and of course Undertaker (you got me, Brother!).

But others did not have that power.

The Montreal Screw-Job happened because Bret Hart refused to put Shawn Michaels over in Canada, however Hart was willing to do so anywhere else. The whole rigged bell was Vince's way of asserting himself saying he makes the call. But, it is noteworthy that Hart was already leaving for WCW.

There are numerous, and infamous, examples of Shawn Michaels not only refusing to put guys over, like Owen Hart, but getting away with everything under the sun because Vince absolutely needed him in the mid-to-late 90s because of the life and death struggle with WCW shallowed his depth chart was just prior to the explosion of The Rock and Stone Cold.

So it is always a dynamic of how much Vince exerts himself, and how much pull the wrestler has and the competition. It see-saws.
 
Currently debating greatest heel of all time. Who else is on the Mount Rushmore of heels along with The Sheik and Piper?
 
Andre the Giant & Macho Man are the next two who pop up in my mind without thinking twice. Both were hated so much that they were loved.
 
Currently debating greatest heel of all time. Who else is on the Mount Rushmore of heels along with The Sheik and Piper?
Ox Baker has to be on the list as he caused the Cleveland Riot.

For longevity Abdullah The Butcher has a claim - the man could store poker chips in his forehead.

Some of the wrestlers from pre WWF days like The Original Sheik and Wild Bull Curry were legitimately frightening.

Ric Flair beats them all imho.
 
Yeah, Flair gets his head on the mountain. I have Sheik and Piper locked in as well.

Fourth could go to Bobby "The Brain" Heenan but he suffered a career ending neck injury before I was born. I only knew his influence as the manager for heels who couldn't handle the mic work.

I can't accept that Andre and Macho Man were heels. They rivaled Hogan in popularity and they were "good guys" in the Saturday morning cartoon. Same with Sargeant Slaughter - yes he turned heel in the early 90s but he was also a member of G.I. Joe in the 1980s. The best of the best could pull off both sides in their careers.
 
Ox Baker has to be on the list as he caused the Cleveland Riot.

For longevity Abdullah The Butcher has a claim - the man could store poker chips in his forehead.

Some of the wrestlers from pre WWF days like The Original Sheik and Wild Bull Curry were legitimately frightening.

Ric Flair beats them all imho.

Cant believe I forgot Flair
 
Cant believe I forgot Flair
Flair would argue that the Four Horseman would be the Mt Rushmore. The 80s group with Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson was the best although the ideal fourth for that group (Curt Hennig) was with the other organization.

I remember watching Browns DL Walter Johnson on Championship Wrestling with Johnny Powers on Channel 43 - still the only wrestling show with a wrestler in the title. He teamed up with Bobo Brazil once and also wrestled a bear. That show also featured famous heels Dick The Bulldog Brower, Pampero Firpo, Killer Brooks, and the Love Brothers Reggie and Hartford. And of course legendary TV Host Jack Reynolds. Yes everyone Cleveland had a nice local wrestling show with top wrestlers. They did shows in Akron and Canton as well.

The heel managers were loathsome back then. Eddie Creatchman, Big Bad John, Crybaby Cannon, “Beautiful” Bruce Swayze - all genuinely unlikeable.

Bobby “The Brain” Heenan has to lead the heel managers list.
 
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Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase headlined a couple of PPV's and remains one of my favorite childhood heels

Mr. Perfect Curt Henning may not make many starting lineups for all time heel, but he was definitely 6th man of the year for the all time heel team

Ravishing Rick Rude, Jake the Snake, Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorf

Young pre-teen Rchfld has still not recovered from Shawn Michaels kicking Mart Jeanetty through the barbershop window, effectively ending my favorite childhood tag team. But let me tell you what... Shawn Michaels as a heel was a natural. He was like Rick Rude meets Macho Man meets Ric Flair.

Owen Hart betraying his entire bloodline and family to get out from under Brett's shadow broke my heart.
 
Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase headlined a couple of PPV's and remains one of my favorite childhood heels

Mr. Perfect Curt Henning may not make many starting lineups for all time heel, but he was definitely 6th man of the year for the all time heel team

Ravishing Rick Rude, Jake the Snake, Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorf

Young pre-teen Rchfld has still not recovered from Shawn Michaels kicking Mart Jeanetty through the barbershop window, effectively ending my favorite childhood tag team. But let me tell you what... Shawn Michaels as a heel was a natural. He was like Rick Rude meets Macho Man meets Ric Flair.

Owen Hart betraying his entire bloodline and family to get out from under Brett's shadow broke my heart.
DiBiase was the perfect heel.

The mark of a true heel is being hated even if he's just pulling the strings. Those segments did a lot to make people hate him. The endless scheming!

The Andre beating Hogan thanks to twin Hebners and selling the title to DiBiase was peak WWF. Delicious soap opera evil.

People were also very upset when he and IRS smashed in Brutus Beefcake's surgically repaired face! Talk about heat, my parents saw that and were outraged.

Perfect I think was both a great heel, and not a great heel because he was so good that even when he was a heel people loved him. He was never hated like Flair or Sheik.

But, even if it only lasted for a little over a year, I have to say Jake the Snake's run as a heel and the subsequent Macho Man feud was the best I have ever seen.

Nothing before or since will EVER match the white hot heat Jake earned after he tied Macho Man up and had Lucifer bite his arm on tv, and then slapped Ms. Elizabeth. One cannot describe the horror one felt, both young and old, at seeing that King Cobra chomp down on Randy's arm, with blood being drawn.

And add to that the promos with Jake whispering like a madman, the raw intensity and smoldering menace. Incredible work.
 

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