Who is the most significant wrestler in history?

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Lou Thesz - Among his many accomplishments, he is credited with inventing a number of professional wrestling moves such as the German suplex, the Lou Thesz press, STF and the original powerbomb. Thesz started wrestling in the 1930s, and from the 1930s to the 1960s, he was one of the most dominant figures in the business. Last wrestled in 1990 thus competing in 7 succesive decades

Gorgeous George - During the First Golden Age of Professional Wrestling in the 1940s-1950s, Gorgeous George gained mainstream popularity and became one of the biggest stars of this period, gaining media attention for his outrageous character. Such showmanship was unheard of for the time and consequently, arena crowds grew in size as fans turned out to ridicule George Muhammad Ali and James Brown acknowledged that their own approach to flamboyant self-promotion was influenced by George

Bruno Sammertino - Best known for being the longest-running champion of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), holding the title across two reigns for over 11 years in total, as well as the longest single WWE Championship reign in professional wrestling history.
His wrestling style was more mat-oriented which was typical of wrestlers from his era. His brawling, power moves, and personal charisma helped him become the most popular American wrestler in the 1960s and 1970s.

Hulk Hogan - One of the greatest, most popular, most hated and charismatic wrestlers of all time, Hulk Hogan is one of the men who helped parlay the circus-like world of professional wrestling from cult following into the forefront of American entertainment

Steve Austin - Described by WWE chairman Vince McMahon as the most popular and profitable wrestler in the company's history, he gained significant mainstream popularity in the WWF during the mid-to-late 1990s as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, a disrespectful, beer-drinking antihero who routinely defied McMahon, his boss

Leone wrote:I understand what you mean there Brady, but just the crowd reactions at that point signalled a need for chance for the Hogan character, and as you correctly brought up, he did manage to get back his success with the nWo. It's good to have a good debate every once in a while on here.

Without a doubt his character was on the wane but for me that just highlights his importance even more. It's all about protect your spot & self promotion & he's the best that's ever lived at that

Y I Man wrote:That is not my opinion on who is the most significant ever Brady. That is just my opinion on the Hogan v Piper debate.

My answer to the most significant ever on the poll is 'other'......... McMahon.

Excellent answer, I toyed with putting him on the list but thought of him as a promoter rather than wrestler.

I was hoping this article might create some decent debate but unfortunately I'm not interested in trying to justify why Roddy Piper isn't the most significant wrestler in history so I'm out. Its just silly to even think he was more significant than Hulk Hogan.

Good luck Brady!

YI, McMahon wasn't a wrestler!

It is a bit of a strange answer, as he isn't a wrestler (well he has had a few matches), but I feel he has more impact on the business than anyone else on the poll.

Piper isn't the most significant but H if you think any heel could have did what he did then you'll have a hard time convincing anyone who has any remote knowledge of that time period, the fact that you say Hogan just needed 'a heel' couldn't be more inaccurate, I think you've tried to hard to get your point across that Piper shouldn't be considered for this accolade that you've intentionally under valued his worth to the product at that time

AberdeenSteve wrote:Brady, that was never meant to be a dig mate

I respect your view but I honestly believe that Piper was massively significant in wrestling history. He defined the modern day heel, can you get much more significant?

Yeah I can live with the 'modern day heel' statement but I still think Flair could of done what Piper did

Flair was never the crazy intimidating heel Piper was, he was more likely to shag Cyndi Lauper than body slam her

Mr H wrote:I was hoping this article might create some decent debate but unfortunately I'm not interested in trying to justify why Roddy Piper isn't the most significant wrestler in history so I'm out. Its just silly to even think he was more significant than Hulk Hogan.

Good luck Brady!

YI, McMahon wasn't a wrestler!

Bye Mr H, you're input was so valued.

McMahon is an excellent shout, as he was incredibly significant to the WWF for obvious reasons, as well as pushing guys like Austin and the Rock into the stratosphere.

But was the Flair v Hogan feud as successful as the Piper v Hogan one? No where near in my opinion.

Plus, as Gaffer said the character that Piper portrayed was much better suited to the story with Hogan than Flair's would have been.

Hogan over piper for me by a mile for the reasons I stated earlier about the mainstream knowing who Hogan was/is.

How many people outside of wrestling know who piper is? From that generation it goes:

Hogan
Flair
The Ultimate Warrior

As far as the non wrestling fan would be aware of.

the-gaffer wrote:Flair was never the crazy intimidating heel Piper was, he was more likely to shag Cyndi Lauper than body slam her

I was taking about playing the same role....

Here's a name maybe not for the right reasons but Chris Benoit, where would he rank?

at the time gregers Piper would have been more well known than Warrior because of the WWE link up with MTV.

Not sure tbh tooze, a random guy overheard me talking about wrestling on the bus earlier and piped up about Hogan and Warrior!

Gregers wrote:Hogan over piper for me by a mile for the reasons I stated earlier about the mainstream knowing who Hogan was/is.

How many people outside of wrestling know who piper is? From that generation it goes:

Hogan
Flair
The Ultimate Warrior

As far as the non wrestling fan would be aware of.

I think that's extremely inaccurate, Roddy Piper was a major factor in Wrestling going main stream, he slammed Cyndi Lauper, he had a massive fued with Mr T, one that got plenty of TV time in America and done a lot of Film/TV work in the late 80s

Any non Wrestling fan from that era would be aware of Hulk Hogan and due to his i credible size and name, Andre the Giant, after that going on everything that Piper did outside of Wrestling it's more likely people would be more aware of him than Flair or Warrior

the-gaffer wrote:Piper isn't the most significant but H if you think any heel could have did what he did then you'll have a hard time convincing anyone who has any remote knowledge of that time period, the fact that you say Hogan just needed 'a heel' couldn't be more inaccurate, I think you've tried to hard to get your point across that Piper shouldn't be considered for this accolade that you've intentionally under valued his worth to the product at that time

You don't understand what I was saying gaffer. Yes Piper was a good heel but if he wasn't around then Hogan would have been given someone else, he would have still gone over them, and he would have still turned into a huge star. So I don't think I was inaccurate, but thanks. You can't credit Piper for 'making' Hogan. Vince, Hogan and the WWF created Hulkamania and made Hulk Hogan the most significant wrestler of all time, not Roddy Piper. He just happened to be a very good heel at the time and whilst he contributed to Hogan being this American hero for going over the villainous bad guy, that fued didn't ultimately have any major bearing on how big a star Hogan would go on to become.

Leone wrote:

Mr H wrote:I was hoping this article might create some decent debate but unfortunately I'm not interested in trying to justify why Roddy Piper isn't the most significant wrestler in history so I'm out. Its just silly to even think he was more significant than Hulk Hogan.

Good luck Brady!

YI, McMahon wasn't a wrestler!

Bye Mr H, you're input was so valued.

McMahon is an excellent shout, as he was incredibly significant to the WWF for obvious reasons, as well as pushing guys like Austin and the Rock into the stratosphere.

I've never even noticed you on here before so your input must be very interesting.

It definitely is dude, you should read through it sometime

Hogan by a mile. If it was the most important person it would be McMahon by a mile imo.

Roddy Piper did play a hugely significant role in Pro Wrestling going main stream in 1985, that's not something that just anyone could have done, Mr Wonderful and Bob Orton would stunk the place out if they where in that position so with that I think you where extremely inaccurate.

I know one guy I believe could have took Piper's role and done it just as well or possibly better but it's a select list, to completely under value his role doesn't do your pro Hogan arguement any justice at all

Hogan didn't need to go over anyone by the time he began his feud with Piper, Hogan was a massive star in the AWA, a major draw in America and Japan and had already been in a high profile movie in Rocky III, his high profile popularity was the reason Vince McMahon built the WWF around him in the first place, Hogan wasn't McMahon manufactured

Hogan by a mile. If it was the most important person it would be McMahon by a mile imo.

Mr H wrote:

the-gaffer wrote:Piper isn't the most significant but H if you think any heel could have did what he did then you'll have a hard time convincing anyone who has any remote knowledge of that time period, the fact that you say Hogan just needed 'a heel' couldn't be more inaccurate, I think you've tried to hard to get your point across that Piper shouldn't be considered for this accolade that you've intentionally under valued his worth to the product at that time

You don't understand what I was saying gaffer. Yes Piper was a good heel but if he wasn't around then Hogan would have been given someone else, he would have still gone over them, and he would have still turned into a huge star. So I don't think I was inaccurate, but thanks. You can't credit Piper for 'making' Hogan. Vince, Hogan and the WWF created Hulkamania and made Hulk Hogan the most significant wrestler of all time, not Roddy Piper. He just happened to be a very good heel at the time and whilst he contributed to Hogan being this American hero for going over the villainous bad guy, that fued didn't ultimately have any major bearing on how big a star Hogan would go on to become.

Very well put Mr H. Summed up perfectly

the-gaffer wrote:Roddy Piper did play a hugely significant role in Pro Wrestling going main stream in 1985, that's not something that just anyone could have done, Mr Wonderful and Bob Orton would stunk the place out if they where in that position so with that I think you where extremely inaccurate.

I know one guy I believe could have took Piper's role and done it just as well or possibly better but it's a select list, to completely under value his role doesn't do your pro Hogan arguement any justice at all

Hogan didn't need to go over anyone by the time he began his feud with Piper, Hogan was a massive star in the AWA, a major draw in America and Japan and had already been in a high profile movie in Rocky III, his high profile popularity was the reason Vince McMahon built the WWF around him in the first place, Hogan wasn't McMahon manufactured

No one is denying that Piper wasn't a good heel gaffer, I've said he was a good heel, I was simply stating that its absurb to suggest he's the most significant wrestler in history. I know you're a big Piper fan but if Roddy Piper didn't exist, I'm fairly sure Hulk Hogan will still have achieved everything he did in the business.

It's obvious Piper didn't have any major bearing on Hogan though, that wasn't my point, Hogan didn't even pin Piper during that era so he never had any major career defining wins over him, that's reason enough to realise Hogan didn't need Piper to be a major name, everything was already in place, Piper's importance was elsewhere, that was my point

I thought the question was most significant, not most famous. In the same way that Mick Foley was probably more significant than far better and far more famous wrestlers in the 90s because he se the tone for a style that dominated wrestling during one of its biggest boom periods.

As for the Hogan debate, it's laughable to suggest that Michaels, Undertaker and Triple H are in any way bigger stars than Hogan. The Beatles were around for less than a decade; The Wurzels have been going for forty years. Which is the most important band of the two? Not that Michaels, Undertaker and Triple H are at the same level as The Wurzels, but there are two important points which have been overlooked:

1) Those three wrestlers can barely be described as truly mainstream. Vaguely known outside of wrestling, maybe, but not part of the public conscious the way Hogan was and is. During the 80s boom especially, Hogan was news. Everyone knew what Hogan was up to. Michaels, Triple H and Undertaker may have been around for 15-20 years, but for most of that time (if not all of it), they haven't been news.

2) None of those three wrestlers have really influenced wrestling's history greatly. All are arguably better performers, and Michaels especially was a phenomenal wrestler (perhaps the best ever), but their legacies at this point in time are mostly about great matches or great promos or title reigns or other individual glories. Even the decision to push Michaels to the top despite his size and bodytype didn't really leave a lasting legacy; muscular wrestlers will still get Vince McMahon's attention and patience much easier than more athletic comtemporaries. It takes a truly amazing performer to make it in WWE without being over six foot with huge muscles. Triple H may yet leave the largest footprint on the industry of all, but as yet he hasn't had anything like the impact of Hogan.

Maybe a better comparison would be a football one. Most people have a fair idea of the mainstays in the England team even if they aren't interested in football, but - scandals aside - those players are light years from Gazza in the 90s or Beckham a few years later, and to a lesser extent Rooney today, in terms of exposure and in terms of the public knowing what they were up to on a daily basis and the way they shaped the country's relationship with the sport.

I still say George gets the nod, of the five above, because he was wrestling's first true national icon and he set the tone for the showmanship that has been at the forefront of wrestling for the ensuing sixty years, but Hogan certainly would be the most significant wrestler to come along since, in my opinion.