I am working on a fiction novel about professional wrestling and I figured I should drop my favorite professional wrestlers of all time. Er, since 1984 anyway. That’s the year when I actually started watching pro wrestling. One Saturday morning when I was 6 years old, I got bored with the morning cartoon lineup and flipped the channel over to WWF Superstars. I had seen it before, but it never held my attention. On the TV, some shaggy giant named Hillbilly Jim danced a little jig and then squashed some tiny jobber like bug. All while wearing overalls. I loved it. At that moment, I became a wrestling fan for life.

Some refer to the 80s as the “Golden Age of Wrestling.” Having lived it and compared to the current product, I must concur. It was a glorious time for wrestling. Also, I am nearing the age where I hate everything new.

I have seen all the wrestlers on this list live, at some point. It’s not exactly scientific, but this list roughly reflects how much I geeked when I saw each wrestler in-person.

#10 – Chris Jericho

During the height of the Monday Night Wars in the late 90s, the only reason I’d flip the channel over to Nitro was not the NWO or Goldberg, it was Chris Jericho. Somehow, the WCW mishandled this superstar and let him turn up on WWF RAW. His debut, with a full Y2J countdown hype train, was a huge coup for the WWF.

Jericho has the skills to put on a main event-worthy match with damn near anyone, but his true gift was on the mic. His promos, equal parts rock concert and medieval festival, always stole the show. My favorite Jericho promo was his classic “Man of 1,004 Holds” skit where he read off his list of 1,004 wrestling holds from tractor-feed printer paper. My recent favorite was the “List of Jericho” angle that he ran with in 2017. Jericho is still wrestling to this day in AEW—dad bod and all.

#9 – John Cena

The legendary “Let’s Go Cena!” – “Cena Sucks!” chant echoed throughout WWE events for years. I was a staunch “Cena Sucks” fan whenever I attended live WWE events. Not that I thought he actually sucked. Rather, my duty, as a middle-aged man, was to join my dudes and shout about Cena’s sucktitude with full rage and aggression. It was more of a Gen-X, reactionary response to the women and kids in the crowd squealing their high-pitched, “Let’s Go Cena” chant.

Here’s the deal: John Cena is legitimately one of my favorite in-ring performers. He was undoubtedly the Hulk Hogan for Millennials, or whatever that generation calls themselves. Similar to Hogan’s heyday, the WWE wasted many excellent heels by feeding them to Cena to squash. This drew the ire of longtime wrestling fans. However, unlike Hogan, Cena also had exceptional in-ring skills and always delivered a fun, exciting match. His matches were always a spectacle worthy of the price of admission. I also rank his mic skills among the best of all time. As in, Ric Flair level. Fight me.

#8 – New Day

This one is kind of a cheat: New Day is a stable of three wrestlers. But I cannot leave the greatest tag team of all time off my list.

New Day changed the game and allowed geekdom to be cool in wrestling. No, I never bought their unicorn horns, but I admit to admiring them from afar. WWE originally saddled New Day with a horrific gospel/church gimmick. Fans completely hated this gimmick from the start and booed New Day into oblivion with nuclear-hot hatred. For many wrestlers, this would have been the end of their career in the WWE. However, instead of going back to the drawing board, New Day took The Rock’s pathway to success and leaned into the crowd’s hatred. Their antics quickly won us over, turning “New-Day-Sucks” chants to “New-Day-Rocks” chants.

Their ring entrances, matches, and promos are always the highlight of any WWE event, bringing audience participation to another level. In other times, New Day might have just been the sideshow comedy act. However, all New Day has done since their formation is win championships. They have held the tag team titles 11 times, which includes the longest tag team championship reign at 483 days. Big E held the Intercontinental Title. Both Big E and Kofi Kingston have had runs as World Champions.

Every member of New Day is an excellent performer in the ring and on the mic. If I had to pick a favorite, I’d go with Xavier Woods just because he sat in front of us at a cosplay panel at DragonCon a few years ago. Plus, that trombone was hilarious. When will Xavier Woods get his World Championship?!

#7 – “Macho Man” Randy Savage

As a little kid, I absolutely hated the “Macho Man” Randy Savage. His criminal mistreatment of the lovely Miss Elizabeth could not go unpunished. When he nailed Ricky Steamboat with a ring bell, I don’t know if I had ever been more pissed in my life, up to that point. I wanted to see “Macho Man” lose just as much as I wanted to see Hulk Hogan win. In the following years, I learned to appreciate “Macho Man” as a performer and became a huge fan. His Cream Will Rise to the Top promo is my favorite promo of all time. It’s simple, intense, and set the stage for his eventual World Title run.

I wish we got more of Randy Savage in the WWE. Vince McMahon hit the brakes on Savage in the early 90s and made him a commentator, which made no sense. Savage still had some gas left in the tank. He should have had at least one more good run at the top in the early 2000s, like Hogan. But, sadly, he never got that opportunity. He’s also, by far, my favorite wrestler to impersonate.

#6 – Shawn Michaels

The title of greatest in-ring performer of all time is a coinflip between Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels. In an era famed for its massive, muscle-bound, roided-out, cartoony wrestlers, Shawn Michaels proved that charisma and in-ring mastery still mattered most in pro wrestling.

Michaels’s heel turn was legendary. During an interview on the Barber Shop, nobody expected him to suddenly superkick his tag partner, Marty Jannetty and throw him through a glass window. I remember thinking, “The Rockers sucked! Why would they ever become singles wrestlers?!” Well, Shawn Michaels went on to win the WWE World Title four times. In every match, he sold the audience on a believable David vs. Goliath story. In an era where size was everything, Michales held his own against giants like Kevin Nash and Undertaker and we totally bought in.

Shawn Michaels and his buddies, The Kliq, changed professional wrestling forever when they broke kayfabe with their Madison Square Garden “The Curtain Call.” That group then split up between the WCW and WWF and formed both the NWO and D-Generation X.

#5 – Sting

Did you know that Sting is still wrestling? Yeah, I couldn’t believe it when he turned up on AEW, either.

When I first started watching wrestling in the 80s, I was a firm WWF fan boy. In fact, I almost never watched NWA/WCW until Sting came along. My uncle piqued my interest when he told me about Sting and his 45 minute match with Ric Flair at Clash of the Champions. So, one Saturday morning I finally turned on NWA, and caught Sting wrestling. I was instantly hooked and have been a huge fan ever since.

When I made paper wrestling toys as a kid, my champion character looked EXACTLY like Sting. That same paper wrestler character also inspired a major character in my novel.

Back in the pre-internet days, I am pretty certain that Sting and I exchanged emails on the old dial-up service, Prodigy. One boring summer day, I searched Prodigy’s directory for wrestlers by their real names and sent out emails to the ones that I found. Prodigy allowed like 30 emails per month. This was how I used mine. If the Steve Borden I found wasn’t actually Sting, then whoever I was emailing did a great job catfishing 12-year-old me. I had a chance to ask Sting about this at DragonCon a few years ago. However, I decided I would rather not know. I prefer to simply believe that The Stinger made time in his life to chit-chat with a young fan on Prodigy.

#4 – The Rock

The Rock is likely the most famous wrestler of all time, given his highly successful Hollywood run. I remember the WWE starting him off as a goody-goody, babyface. He came out to the ring with a huge smile and these ridiculous streamers. Attitude era fans instantly hated him. Then, the WWF put him into the Nation of Domination as a heel. Rocky Maivia leaned into our hatred and pretended we were cheering him, calling himself the “People’s Champion” and flashed us the “People’s Eyebrow.” I loved it. I have a vivid memory of being one of maybe ten fans to stand up and cheer for him at a live event. After that, the Rock grew into the megastar who anchored the Attitude Era.

#3 – Hulk Hogan

I grew up a Hulkamaniac. I had all the Hulk Hogan toys, shirts, and bandanas. My Rottweiler donned a red and yellow “Hulk Rules” bandana when I took him to dog obedience classes. I said my prayers and ate my vitamins. I watched the cartoons, read the comics, stood in line for hours to get his autograph, and I even saw his horrible movie, No Holds Barred, in the theater. When Hogan appeared on Arsenio Hall and claimed he didn’t do steroids, I believed! Nope, that’s a lie. We all knew he was juicing, even back then.

During Wrestlemania 6, I was the only one in my house who pulled for Hogan against Ultimate Warrior. I was always Team Hogan, no matter what. As an adult, one of the few times I completely marked for a wrestling match was Hogan vs The Rock at Wrestlemania 18. I cheered for Hogan to win like I was watching the Gators play Florida State. Hulk Hogan was supposed to be the bad guy in that match, but the crowd didn’t give a fuck and let the universe know about it.

It’s a damn shame I had to list Hulk Hogan this low. He would have easily been my #1 if he hadn’t thrown South Tampa under the bus. In 2015, Hogan was caught on tape dropping the N-word. It was national news. Instead of being a man and taking responsibility for his actions, he blamed his South Tampa neighborhood and upbringing. Is it really that difficult to say, “I’m sorry and I’ll improve myself?”

My dad was in Hulk Hogan’s same classes from elementary school through high school. Hell, he grew up a block away from Hogan. My dad is also 100% NOT a racist. I doubt he even thinks the N-word, much less utters it at any time, ever. It’s weird how all that rampant South Tampa racism didn’t rub off on my dad. Not to mention my wife, myself, and many of my family and friends are all SOG (South of Gandy), South Tampa natives. All of us, somehow, are also not racists. Hogan, your racism is nobody’s fault but your own.

That Hogan is this high on my list is a testament to how much I loved him until that point. I was tempted to drop him entirely, but I did stand and cheer for him at the Raw Reunion show at Amalie Arena in 2019. So, there’s that.

#2 – Ric Flair

I love dropping a Ric Flair “Woooo” at any event. It’s the call of the wild that no wrestling fan can resist. Go ahead, try it at a football game. We’ll all identify ourselves. We can’t help it.

Ric Flair is the greatest heel of all time. I grew up absolutely HATING this man, but that was his job and nobody did it better. Every Saturday morning this wild-eyed, red-faced maniac shouted about his own greatness and bragged about his Rolex watches, fancy cars, dress shoes, and women.

I lived for the day when my current favorite smiling, baby-kissing, good guy—Sting, Kerry Von Erich, Ricky Steamboat, or whoever—finally put that bastard, Ric Flair, in his place. I was always certain that the forces of good would finally overcome Flair. Then, inevitably, the Dirtiest Player in the Game would somehow weasel out a victory just when I thought it was all over. It was maddening to my 10-year-old psyche. But, as I grew older, I couldn’t help but admire Ric Flair’s greatness. He was simply a master storyteller in the ring.

Outside of the ring, Flair is an amazing storyteller as well. My wife and I went to a few of his panels at DragonCon and the man absolutely owned the room. Outside of maybe Patrick Stewart, I have never seen a more charming personality at DragonCon. I would have paid an absurd amount of money for our front row seats at his panel. Listening to him tell stories from a few feet away was an honor, and it’s one of my favorite memories. If you ever have the opportunity to see Ric Flair live, just go!

#1 – “Stone Cold” Steve Austin

The best ever. Professional wrestling’s GOAT. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s popularity with wrestling fans hit a level that might never be achieved again. The beer swilling, bird flippin Texan defined the Attitude Era. I have never heard a wrestling audience pop like they did for Stone Cold in the late 90’s. Not even close. When that glass shattered and Stone Cold bulled through the curtain, talking shit, it was like a bomb exploding the arena. The ovation was deafening. You knew shit was about to get real! Every fan stood on their seats to catch a glimpse of the Texas Rattlesnake. Even in 2019, at the Raw Reunion show, Stone Cold’s pop completely overwhelmed Hogan’s. And that was in Tampa, Hulk Hogan’s hometown.

Stone Cold brought me back to pro wrestling in the late 90’s. I was an unabashed WWF mark during the Monday Night Wars. Steve Austin was the sole reason I almost never flipped the channel to WCW Nitro–even with Hogan and the NWO raising all kinds of hell. Austin’s antics during that run were instant classics. Wrestling fans recognized that greatness and cherished every moment. The bed pan beatdown, the Austin 3:16 speech, the cement truck, the beer truck entrance, the menacing stare down with Mike Tyson, and the list goes on. Even more than Austin’s legendary skits and entrances, his matches always tore the house down. My favorite match of all time is Austin’s submission match against Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 13.

At the time, Stone Cold’s character was unique. He was a gray area guy at a time when there was a clear division between good guys and bad guys. Austin was a heel, the bad guy. Everything he did was textbook heel, but the fans still loved him. The WWF had no choice but to embrace its audience and promote Austin like the good guy. We lived to see how he would make his boss, Mr. McMahon, look like an asshole each Monday night. Stone Cold was absolute, Must See TV. During the Before-Times, when we still attended live wrestling events, I almost always rocked my Austin 3:16 shirt. My only complaint is that his “What” chant ruined wrestling promos for about a decade. I admit to participating, but I’m a hypocrite like that.

Honorable Mentions

Titus O’Neal

Of course, a fellow Gator will make this list. Titus O’Neal, known as Thaddeus Bullard when he played football at UF, is an icon in the Tampa Bay area. I loved him in the ring, even his infamous gaffe at the Royal Rumble. But, I freely admit to Gator bias. Titus is better known for his inspirational work as the WWE’s Global Ambassador. The man is just goodness personified with his charitable accomplishments—especially in my hometown. Several years ago, before my daily jog, I happened by him interviewing with a local TV station in front of Amalie Arena. I walked by and gave him a Gator Chomp. Titus stopped his interview, flashed me a huge smile, returned the Gator Chomp, and went right back to answering questions on TV. A small moment that I’ll never forget. Go Gators!

Alexa Bliss

For years, my wife and I attended NXT’s monthly event at Tampa’s University Community Center. We loved watching the new talent learn their craft and, sometimes, move on to the main roster to become huge superstars. In 2014, when I first saw Alexa Bliss at the NXT event, I hated her. HATED her. The next few months, Alexa Bliss kept appearing with her stupid fairy gimmick, tossing her glitter, and blowing her kisses. I’d just roll my eyes at my wife. It was the stupidest ring entrance ever. Her ring work was not much better. How had she not been fired yet?! Then, she made a heel turn, copped an attitude, and added some much needed spice to her character. Shockingly, she was incredible on the mic and her newfound nastiness totally elevated her in-ring work. It turns out, Alexa Bliss was a straight-up phenom as a heel.

Alexa Bliss is one of the greatest turnarounds that I have ever seen for a character and her wrestling career hasn’t stopped skyrocketing since. I have never been more wrong about a wrestler; I love that we got to watch her career kickoff in that little gym in North Tampa. While I’m not thrilled about her current, bizarre Sister Abigail gimmick, the Five Feet of Fury is absolutely my favorite female wrestler of all time.

Undertaker

The Undertaker was a late entry to my list, but the man is an absolute icon. You rarely get goosebumps like you do when you hear his trademark gong and Rest In Peace theme music. His entrance is undeniably the best of all time and only got more elaborate as his career progressed over 30 years. Many people claim he has the greatest gimmick of all time and it’s hard for me to disagree. My one complaint about Taker that keeps him from breaking my top ten: a lot of his matches were total duds. Maybe it’s just hard to top that amazing ring entrance, but his matches were typically only as good as his opponents. Undertaker, himself, was not good enough to carry a match. Still, you’d have to be dead not to geek over his ring entrance.

Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat

In the 80s, Ricky Steamboat was 1B to Hulk Hogan’s 1A on my favorite wrestlers list. Then, he left the WWF for a while and won some titles in the NWA. My heart broke when Steamboat returned, dressed up as an actual fire-breathing dragon. I KNEW the WWF would never give him a serious push in that ridiculous outfit. I was right. Still, his Wrestlemania III run for the Intercontinental Title is one of my favorite angles ever. Not to mention, his Wrestlemania match against Randy Savage is widely regarded as the greatest wrestling match of all time.

Charlotte Flair

I remember sitting in the front row at NXT events when Charlotte Flair was up-and-coming and being in awe of her chiseled physique and elite athletic ability. It was a blast to watch her learn the ropes and improve her craft each month at the small NXT events in Tampa.

Later, her NXT PPV matches against Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Becky Lynch were instant classics that proved women could put on matches on the same level, or even better, than the guys. That group took their talents to WWE’s main roster and completely flipped the script on women’s wrestling. They transformed it from a sideshow/bathroom break into a legit division that frequently outperformed the men. I am a huge fan of every member of that original NXT group; I always watch their matches with pride that I got to see them grow into superstars. But, The Queen will always be my favorite of the group.

AJ Styles

AJ Styles has the best walking music of all time. He’s also one of the best stars of the current generation. I knew of him before he made his first appearance at Royal Rumble 2016, but I did not watch TNA wrestling, so I had never seen him work. AJ Style’s music and his presence left a huge impression. I was instantly hooked. His incredible in-ring work only cemented my fandom. Styles is one of the only reasons I even consider watching the current WWE product.

I could easily add another thirty wrestlers to my honorable mentions: Rowdy Roddy Piper, Dusty Rhodes, Bret Hart, Dean Ambrose/Jon Moxley, Andre the Giant, Road Warriors, Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Edge, Demolition, Bobby Heenan, CM Punk, Sasha Banks, Scott Hall, X-Pac, Triple H, and on and on and on. Some of the names that I left off this list offend even me and I made the damn thing, but these are my rankings and I’m sticking to them.

Who are your favorite professional wrestlers of all time?