Post by LWPD on Apr 5, 2013 19:42:31 GMT -5
Journalist/wrestling fan Ethan Renner recently penned a story on the 29 biggest 'stars' in WrestleMania history. To his credit, the author put together a reasonable set of standards and took the time to plug through a lot of data. The results are definitely open to argument (The Miz score casts a red flag on the criteria), this is still an interesting read by someone who made a legit effort.
Courtesy of ethanwrites.com
The 29 Biggest Stars In WrestleMania History
By Ethan Renner
How does one go about ranking the 29 biggest stars in the history of WrestleMania, exactly?
I asked myself that question after I hatched the brilliant plan to work up a unique piece, rather than doing a standard preview for what already is certain to be the biggest-money pro wrestling event in the history of Earth.
For now, I'll leave it to others to rank the best matches in the history of the event, or even rank the best shows.
What I wanted to do was come up with a system to quantify who the most accomplished WrestleMania performer of all time is.
Would it be Mr. WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels? You could certainly build the argument. Some might say that the Heartbreak Kid had the best match on the show every year from 2003 through his retirement match in 2010. He also wrestled in world title matches on the show in 1995, 1996 and 1998.
How about Hulk Hogan? The Hulkster appeared on the first nine editions of the show, then returned to improbably have great matches again a decade later, while in his late 40's. Not to mention that Hogan slamming Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III remains perhaps the most iconic moment in modern wrestling history.
What if we developed a point system to determine the biggest star in the history of the show? What if we assigned 5 points for appearing in the main event? That might work. Then again, in recent years, "main event" could be defined in a number of ways. If your match closed the show, was it the main event? Not always.
Hogan vs. The Rock in 2002 didn't go on last, but it was certainly the most-anticipated match on that show. Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle went on last in 2003, but Hogan vs. Vince McMahon was the most heavily-pushed match on the card that year. Same thing in 2009, when Michaels vs. The Undertaker was the most-anticipated match, but Triple H vs. Randy Orton went on last.
How about WrestleMania IV, when a world title tournament was announced for the show? Fans didn't know what the main event of that show was until three hours into it.
I decided to determine the main event by which match was pushed most heavily in the television build to the show. Here's what I came up with, as far as main events:
WrestleMania I: Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff
WrestleMania II: Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy
WrestleMania III: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
WrestleMania IV: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
WrestleMania V: Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage
WrestleMania VI: Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior
WrestleMania VII: Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter
WrestleMania VIII: Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice
WrestleMania IX: Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna
WrestleMania X: Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna, Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna
WrestleMania XI: Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
WrestleMania XII: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels
WrestleMania XIII: The Undertaker vs. Sid Justice
WrestleMania XIV: Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin
WrestleMania XV: Steve Austin vs. The Rock
WrestleMania XVI: The Rock vs. Triple H vs. Mick Foley vs. The Big Show
WrestleMania XVII: Steve Austin vs. The Rock
WrestleMania XVIII: The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan
WrestleMania XIX: Hulk Hogan vs. Vince McMahon
WrestleMania XX: Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit
WrestleMania XXI: Triple H vs. Batista
WrestleMania XXII: Triple H vs. John Cena
WrestleMania XXIII: Donald Trump (represented by Bobby Lashley) vs. Vince McMahon (represented by Umaga)
WrestleMania XXIV: Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair
WrestleMania XXV: Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
WrestleMania XXVI: Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
WrestleMania XXVII: John Cena vs. The Miz
WrestleMania XXVIII: John Cena vs. The Rock
Conveniently, using this formula, I came up with 29 performers that have headlined WrestleMania, which will have its 29th edition on Sunday.
I gave each performer five points per main event appearance. Still, I was left with a number of ties. Since the winner of the match should come out of it a bigger star, at least in theory, I gave four points for a win. I also gave three points for a championship win, two points for a chamionship retention, and, just to try to eliminate some ties, one point for losing a championship.
My all-time WrestleMania power rankings look like this:
29-22. 5 Points: Bam Bam Bigelow, Mick Foley, The Big Show, Lex Luger, Ric Flair, King Kong Bundy, Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff
All of these men had significant careers, some were even hall of famers, but weren't winners in WrestleMania main events. Orndorff and Piper are important because of their role in the first WrestleMania, which may have been a make-or-break show for Vince McMahon as he expanded his father's WWF from a regional promotion to a global one.
Bundy was one of the many monster heels fed to Hulk Hogan during his hugely successful first run as WWF Champion. Bigelow was simply there to fill a spot against Lawrence Taylor. Luger's loss at WrestleMania X was the culmination of a disappointing run as a top babyface in the wake of Hulk Hogan's departure from the company in the mid-90's.
Big Show and Foley were late adds to the WrestleMania XVI main event, and, through no fault of their own, served to water down a Triple H vs. The Rock feud that would culminate a month later at Backlash.
Flair's loss to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV makes him the standout in this group. In what was billed as a career-threatening match, Michaels worked his tail off, busting out moonsaults, crashing into tables, and reportedly cracking a rib, all in an effort to give Flair one last classic match. While it would be his last WWE match, Flair would go on to wrestle again for TNA, which somewhat tarnishes the classic he had with Shawn in Orlando that night, with the benefit of hindsight.
21-20. Six Points: Sgt. Slaughter, Randy Savage
Slaughter returned to the WWF in early 1991 to serve as a transitional champion, to get the belt from The Ultimate Warrior back to Hulk Hogan after Warrior had a disappointing run on top in 1990. He played the role of an Iraqi sympathizer at the height of the Persian Gulf War, in one of the sleazier storylines the then-WWF has ever put together.
Savage, on the other hand, main-evented WrestleMania V with Hogan, capping a year-long storyline that saw Hogan and Savage go from friends and tag team partners to bitter rivals, after Savage memorably accused Hogan of having "lust in his eyes" for Savage's valet, Miss Elizabeth.
The feud was perhaps the best storytelling that the company has ever done, and served to make the late Macho Man one of the biggest stars in the history of wrestling.
19-17. 9 Points: Lawrence Taylor, Mr. T, Donald Trump
Taylor headlined WrestleMania XI during perhaps the worst period in WWF history, both in terms of finances and creativity. Still, for a guy who had only a couple of months of training, the Pro Football Hall of Famer put on a perfectly acceptable performance.
Mr. T and Donald Trump are both incredibly significant figures in the history of WWF/E. Without Mr. T, and to a slightly lesser extent Cyndi Lauper, the first WrestleMania would have been just another card, and almost certainly a failure. With them on the show, the event drew mainstream media attention and helped to kick off the first big WWF popularity boom of the modern era.
Trump, who will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this weekend, appeared at WrestleMania XXIII, putting his hair on the line against Vince McMahon's in a Bobby Lashley vs. Umaga match. That event set the all-time pay-per-view record for WWE, drawing 1.3 million buys worldwide, a mark that almost fell last year, and could be in jeopardy again this year.
16-15. 10 Points: Vince McMahon, Andre the Giant
Both served as the villain to the top WWF/E star of their time as a performer, with Andre playing the role for Hogan and McMahon for Steve Austin. It seems fitting, then, that McMahon's main event was against Hogan.
While it was a disappointment at the box office, Hogan vs. McMahon at WrestleMania XIX was a shockingly good match between two performers that were extremely limited in what they could do physically.
Hogan vs. Andre at WrestleMania III remains perhaps the most famous match in the history of wrestling in North America.
14-13. 11 Points: Sid Justice, The Miz
Sid somehow has more WrestleMania main events than Mick Foley, Randy Savage, Ric Flair and Roddy Piper, which probably speaks more to the types of guys that Vince McMahon was interested in pushing than it does to his ability, as Sid was never much of a worker or a box office draw.
While technically the WrestleMania XXVII main event was John Cena vs. The Miz, and technically Miz won the match and retained the WWE Championship in the process, the match was a major disappointment, and Miz had almost nothing to do with the success of the show. It was The Rock's appearance on the show that sold it, and Miz's match served only to set up Cena vs. Rock a year later.
12-10. 12 Points: Chris Benoit, The Ultimate Warrior, Batista
Benoit's inclusion makes my skin crawl, but has to be noted. Everything that he accomplished in wrestling went out the window when he killed his wife and son, before killing himself in 2007. WWE and the wrestling industry survived Chris Benoit, but Nancy and Daniel Benoit did not, a fact that should never be forgotten.
On a lighter note, Warrior was a flash in the pan who made his name towards the end of the WWF's boom period of the late-1980's, a supernova that burned brightly and went out quickly.
Batista was never quite the star that he could have been, but had a long run near the top of the card in WWE. Underrated both as an in-ring performer and a drawing card, he may not be top of mind when you think of the biggest stars in the history of WWE's biggest show. Still, he main-evented WrestleMania XXI, and also had great matches with The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXIII, and Cena at WrestleMania XXVI.
9. 13 Points: Yokozuna
Yokozuna is another performer that gets lost in the shuffle when you think of the biggest stars in history.
Yes, his run on top came in the mid-1990's, at a time when wrestling's popularity was low, but he was champion from June 1993 to March 1994, an unusually long run on top for a heel at that time in the WWF.
8. 21 Points: John Cena
Cena is legitimately one of the biggest stars in the history of the wrestling business, much to the chagrin of a large portion of the WWE fanbase, who insist on booing him.
To those that have "Cena-nough", and chant "Cena sucks" at him, I would ask them to imagine the wrestling industry without him over the last decade. Wrestling would have survived, yes, as it always does. But would WrestleMania be as big as it is today without him? Would it be a stadium show every year, with another guy at the top of the card? Would The Rock have returned to help boost the popularity of the business over the last several months had another guy been on top? My guess is no.
7. 24 Points: Bret Hart
As important as Cena is to the WWE today, there might not have been a WWE for Cena to work in without Bret Hart.
While not the box office draw of his predecessor, Hulk Hogan, or the man who succeeded him as the top star in the company, Steve Austin, Bret was the backbone of the then-WWF in the lean years. His in-ring style blended elements of realism and athleticism, and helped transform the promotion from one with muscle-bound behemoths at the top of the card, to one that emphasized workrate.
6. 28 Points: Triple H
Triple H lost to the Ultimate Warrior in less than a minute in his WrestleMania debut in 1996. Just four years later, he became the first heel to leave the biggest show of the year with the WWF Championship.
Now, more than a decade later, he is poised to take over the company from his now-father-in-law, Vince McMahon, while still appearing on the biggest pay-per-views of the year as a special attraction.
5. 30 Points: The Undertaker
Baseball had its Iron Man in Cal Ripken, Jr., and the WWE has The Undertaker.
20-0. That's Undertaker's win-loss record at WrestleMania. Now in the twilight of his career, he still manages to work his magic on WWE's biggest stage every year, and in recent years, "The Streak" has become one of the chief selling points of the show.
Yes, every year, everyone knows going into WrestleMania that there is no way that The Undertaker will lose. Yet, somehow, when his opponent lands a big move and the referee goes to count for a near-fall, the audience gasps. If only for a second, they think that they're going to see history made. Then, he kicks out at two, and the live crowd and the global television audience erupts in applause.
They had you, for a second there.
That's the magic of this performance artform we call pro wrestling.
4. 36 Points: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
Austin remains, perhaps, the biggest star in the history of the WWE, yet he only comes in fourth on this list.
Austin's career was derailed and cut short by neck problems, stemming from a botched piledriver in a match with the late Owen Hart in 1997. If not for that move, who knows the sort of hell that Austin could have raised in the WWE, and for how long. Most wrestlers stay in the ring well into their 40's. Austin retired at 38.
As it stands, it has been a decade since Austin's last match, which took place at WrestleMania XIX. In recent years, he has teased the possibility of coming back for one last WrestleMania match with CM Punk, but if I were a betting man, I would say that we've seen the last of Austin in the ring.
3. 39 Points: The Rock
When The Rock teamed with Mick Foley in a losing effort against Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Batista at WrestleMania XX in 2004, many thought that we had seen the last of "The Great One" in a WWE ring. His film career had taken off, after all, so why would he want to risk his physical well-being and the danger of alienating the move ticket-buying public by coming back to what is considered a lowbrow form of entertainment?
On February 14, 2011, after a years-long absence, The Rock returned to a WWE ring, but told people that he had no plans to wrestle, rather, he would just use his unmatched ability on the microphone to lend some star power to the industry that helped make him a global movie star.
Fast forward to April 1, 2012, and you would see that The Rock was main-eventing WrestleMania XXVIII with John Cena.
Fast forward to January 27, 2013, and you would see that The Rock was WWE Champion for the first time since 2002.
I'm not sure that I'll ever understand why The Rock came back. Yes, as he says, he undoubtedly loves wrestling, and he came back because he loves the industry and loves his fans.
But on a business that was built on conning the fans, who promoters often refer to as "marks", should I believe that?
Deep down, I do. I really do.
I got to see The Rock in person for the first time at the WWE Raw event in Washington, D.C, this week. Rock grabbed the microphone, and the crowd chanted his catchphrases along with him. He appeared to well up, and talked about the deep connection that he has with his fanbase.
It's real, man.
He also seemed to promise that he'll run for president one day. I believe him.
2. 42 Points: Shawn Michaels
While he may be second on this list, many would argue that Shawn Michaels is the only performer in history worthy of his nickname, "Mr. WrestleMania".
Michaels' first run at the top of the card, from 1995 to 1998 was remarkable. He was a daredevil in the ring, performing and inventing moves that the WWF audience had never seen before. That daredevil style would be his downfall, though, as he suffered what appeared to be a career-ending back injury in 1998.
Michaels would return to the company in 2002 a new man. After spiraling down into addiction, Michaels rebounded after he and his wife became devout Christians.
As great a performer as the Michaels of the 1990's was, he was even better the second time around. He still threw his body around with reckless abandon, but his ring psychology had improved, to the point that when he retired for good at WrestleMania XXVI in 2010, even at 44, he was still probably the best performer in the company, particularly on the big stage.
1. 89 Points: Hulk Hogan
Steve Austin and The Rock carried the WWF to new heights in the late-1990's, John Cena helped make the show the major event that it is today in the 2000's, and no one performed on the grandest stage in wrestling the way that Shawn Michaels did.
But make no mistake, WrestleMania was built on the now surgically-repaired back of Hulk Hogan.
In his fantastic autobiography, Bret Hart told a story of how in the 1980's, when the wrestling industry was on fire, the wrestlers would line up to shake Hulk Hogan's hand and thank him for helping them feed their families by virtue of his power at the box office.
Hogan has become something of a sad figure over the last few years, with scandal and seedy stories from his personal life becoming tabloid fodder. In many ways, what made him a star, his wildly exaggerated wrestling character, seems to have bled into real life, as he seems unable to give an interview without stretching the truth.
But when he talks about lifting a 900-pound Andre over his head, in front of 200,000 people at the Pontiac Silverdome, I smile.
It's a tall tale, of course.
But without those tall tales, and without people like me to listen to them, there wouldn't be a Hulk Hogan today. There wouldn't be a wrestling industry, either.
And there sure wouldn't be a WrestleMania.
Courtesy of ethanwrites.com
The 29 Biggest Stars In WrestleMania History
By Ethan Renner
How does one go about ranking the 29 biggest stars in the history of WrestleMania, exactly?
I asked myself that question after I hatched the brilliant plan to work up a unique piece, rather than doing a standard preview for what already is certain to be the biggest-money pro wrestling event in the history of Earth.
For now, I'll leave it to others to rank the best matches in the history of the event, or even rank the best shows.
What I wanted to do was come up with a system to quantify who the most accomplished WrestleMania performer of all time is.
Would it be Mr. WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels? You could certainly build the argument. Some might say that the Heartbreak Kid had the best match on the show every year from 2003 through his retirement match in 2010. He also wrestled in world title matches on the show in 1995, 1996 and 1998.
How about Hulk Hogan? The Hulkster appeared on the first nine editions of the show, then returned to improbably have great matches again a decade later, while in his late 40's. Not to mention that Hogan slamming Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III remains perhaps the most iconic moment in modern wrestling history.
What if we developed a point system to determine the biggest star in the history of the show? What if we assigned 5 points for appearing in the main event? That might work. Then again, in recent years, "main event" could be defined in a number of ways. If your match closed the show, was it the main event? Not always.
Hogan vs. The Rock in 2002 didn't go on last, but it was certainly the most-anticipated match on that show. Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle went on last in 2003, but Hogan vs. Vince McMahon was the most heavily-pushed match on the card that year. Same thing in 2009, when Michaels vs. The Undertaker was the most-anticipated match, but Triple H vs. Randy Orton went on last.
How about WrestleMania IV, when a world title tournament was announced for the show? Fans didn't know what the main event of that show was until three hours into it.
I decided to determine the main event by which match was pushed most heavily in the television build to the show. Here's what I came up with, as far as main events:
WrestleMania I: Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff
WrestleMania II: Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy
WrestleMania III: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
WrestleMania IV: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
WrestleMania V: Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage
WrestleMania VI: Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior
WrestleMania VII: Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter
WrestleMania VIII: Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice
WrestleMania IX: Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna
WrestleMania X: Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna, Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna
WrestleMania XI: Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
WrestleMania XII: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels
WrestleMania XIII: The Undertaker vs. Sid Justice
WrestleMania XIV: Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin
WrestleMania XV: Steve Austin vs. The Rock
WrestleMania XVI: The Rock vs. Triple H vs. Mick Foley vs. The Big Show
WrestleMania XVII: Steve Austin vs. The Rock
WrestleMania XVIII: The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan
WrestleMania XIX: Hulk Hogan vs. Vince McMahon
WrestleMania XX: Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit
WrestleMania XXI: Triple H vs. Batista
WrestleMania XXII: Triple H vs. John Cena
WrestleMania XXIII: Donald Trump (represented by Bobby Lashley) vs. Vince McMahon (represented by Umaga)
WrestleMania XXIV: Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair
WrestleMania XXV: Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
WrestleMania XXVI: Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
WrestleMania XXVII: John Cena vs. The Miz
WrestleMania XXVIII: John Cena vs. The Rock
Conveniently, using this formula, I came up with 29 performers that have headlined WrestleMania, which will have its 29th edition on Sunday.
I gave each performer five points per main event appearance. Still, I was left with a number of ties. Since the winner of the match should come out of it a bigger star, at least in theory, I gave four points for a win. I also gave three points for a championship win, two points for a chamionship retention, and, just to try to eliminate some ties, one point for losing a championship.
My all-time WrestleMania power rankings look like this:
29-22. 5 Points: Bam Bam Bigelow, Mick Foley, The Big Show, Lex Luger, Ric Flair, King Kong Bundy, Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff
All of these men had significant careers, some were even hall of famers, but weren't winners in WrestleMania main events. Orndorff and Piper are important because of their role in the first WrestleMania, which may have been a make-or-break show for Vince McMahon as he expanded his father's WWF from a regional promotion to a global one.
Bundy was one of the many monster heels fed to Hulk Hogan during his hugely successful first run as WWF Champion. Bigelow was simply there to fill a spot against Lawrence Taylor. Luger's loss at WrestleMania X was the culmination of a disappointing run as a top babyface in the wake of Hulk Hogan's departure from the company in the mid-90's.
Big Show and Foley were late adds to the WrestleMania XVI main event, and, through no fault of their own, served to water down a Triple H vs. The Rock feud that would culminate a month later at Backlash.
Flair's loss to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV makes him the standout in this group. In what was billed as a career-threatening match, Michaels worked his tail off, busting out moonsaults, crashing into tables, and reportedly cracking a rib, all in an effort to give Flair one last classic match. While it would be his last WWE match, Flair would go on to wrestle again for TNA, which somewhat tarnishes the classic he had with Shawn in Orlando that night, with the benefit of hindsight.
21-20. Six Points: Sgt. Slaughter, Randy Savage
Slaughter returned to the WWF in early 1991 to serve as a transitional champion, to get the belt from The Ultimate Warrior back to Hulk Hogan after Warrior had a disappointing run on top in 1990. He played the role of an Iraqi sympathizer at the height of the Persian Gulf War, in one of the sleazier storylines the then-WWF has ever put together.
Savage, on the other hand, main-evented WrestleMania V with Hogan, capping a year-long storyline that saw Hogan and Savage go from friends and tag team partners to bitter rivals, after Savage memorably accused Hogan of having "lust in his eyes" for Savage's valet, Miss Elizabeth.
The feud was perhaps the best storytelling that the company has ever done, and served to make the late Macho Man one of the biggest stars in the history of wrestling.
19-17. 9 Points: Lawrence Taylor, Mr. T, Donald Trump
Taylor headlined WrestleMania XI during perhaps the worst period in WWF history, both in terms of finances and creativity. Still, for a guy who had only a couple of months of training, the Pro Football Hall of Famer put on a perfectly acceptable performance.
Mr. T and Donald Trump are both incredibly significant figures in the history of WWF/E. Without Mr. T, and to a slightly lesser extent Cyndi Lauper, the first WrestleMania would have been just another card, and almost certainly a failure. With them on the show, the event drew mainstream media attention and helped to kick off the first big WWF popularity boom of the modern era.
Trump, who will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this weekend, appeared at WrestleMania XXIII, putting his hair on the line against Vince McMahon's in a Bobby Lashley vs. Umaga match. That event set the all-time pay-per-view record for WWE, drawing 1.3 million buys worldwide, a mark that almost fell last year, and could be in jeopardy again this year.
16-15. 10 Points: Vince McMahon, Andre the Giant
Both served as the villain to the top WWF/E star of their time as a performer, with Andre playing the role for Hogan and McMahon for Steve Austin. It seems fitting, then, that McMahon's main event was against Hogan.
While it was a disappointment at the box office, Hogan vs. McMahon at WrestleMania XIX was a shockingly good match between two performers that were extremely limited in what they could do physically.
Hogan vs. Andre at WrestleMania III remains perhaps the most famous match in the history of wrestling in North America.
14-13. 11 Points: Sid Justice, The Miz
Sid somehow has more WrestleMania main events than Mick Foley, Randy Savage, Ric Flair and Roddy Piper, which probably speaks more to the types of guys that Vince McMahon was interested in pushing than it does to his ability, as Sid was never much of a worker or a box office draw.
While technically the WrestleMania XXVII main event was John Cena vs. The Miz, and technically Miz won the match and retained the WWE Championship in the process, the match was a major disappointment, and Miz had almost nothing to do with the success of the show. It was The Rock's appearance on the show that sold it, and Miz's match served only to set up Cena vs. Rock a year later.
12-10. 12 Points: Chris Benoit, The Ultimate Warrior, Batista
Benoit's inclusion makes my skin crawl, but has to be noted. Everything that he accomplished in wrestling went out the window when he killed his wife and son, before killing himself in 2007. WWE and the wrestling industry survived Chris Benoit, but Nancy and Daniel Benoit did not, a fact that should never be forgotten.
On a lighter note, Warrior was a flash in the pan who made his name towards the end of the WWF's boom period of the late-1980's, a supernova that burned brightly and went out quickly.
Batista was never quite the star that he could have been, but had a long run near the top of the card in WWE. Underrated both as an in-ring performer and a drawing card, he may not be top of mind when you think of the biggest stars in the history of WWE's biggest show. Still, he main-evented WrestleMania XXI, and also had great matches with The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXIII, and Cena at WrestleMania XXVI.
9. 13 Points: Yokozuna
Yokozuna is another performer that gets lost in the shuffle when you think of the biggest stars in history.
Yes, his run on top came in the mid-1990's, at a time when wrestling's popularity was low, but he was champion from June 1993 to March 1994, an unusually long run on top for a heel at that time in the WWF.
8. 21 Points: John Cena
Cena is legitimately one of the biggest stars in the history of the wrestling business, much to the chagrin of a large portion of the WWE fanbase, who insist on booing him.
To those that have "Cena-nough", and chant "Cena sucks" at him, I would ask them to imagine the wrestling industry without him over the last decade. Wrestling would have survived, yes, as it always does. But would WrestleMania be as big as it is today without him? Would it be a stadium show every year, with another guy at the top of the card? Would The Rock have returned to help boost the popularity of the business over the last several months had another guy been on top? My guess is no.
7. 24 Points: Bret Hart
As important as Cena is to the WWE today, there might not have been a WWE for Cena to work in without Bret Hart.
While not the box office draw of his predecessor, Hulk Hogan, or the man who succeeded him as the top star in the company, Steve Austin, Bret was the backbone of the then-WWF in the lean years. His in-ring style blended elements of realism and athleticism, and helped transform the promotion from one with muscle-bound behemoths at the top of the card, to one that emphasized workrate.
6. 28 Points: Triple H
Triple H lost to the Ultimate Warrior in less than a minute in his WrestleMania debut in 1996. Just four years later, he became the first heel to leave the biggest show of the year with the WWF Championship.
Now, more than a decade later, he is poised to take over the company from his now-father-in-law, Vince McMahon, while still appearing on the biggest pay-per-views of the year as a special attraction.
5. 30 Points: The Undertaker
Baseball had its Iron Man in Cal Ripken, Jr., and the WWE has The Undertaker.
20-0. That's Undertaker's win-loss record at WrestleMania. Now in the twilight of his career, he still manages to work his magic on WWE's biggest stage every year, and in recent years, "The Streak" has become one of the chief selling points of the show.
Yes, every year, everyone knows going into WrestleMania that there is no way that The Undertaker will lose. Yet, somehow, when his opponent lands a big move and the referee goes to count for a near-fall, the audience gasps. If only for a second, they think that they're going to see history made. Then, he kicks out at two, and the live crowd and the global television audience erupts in applause.
They had you, for a second there.
That's the magic of this performance artform we call pro wrestling.
4. 36 Points: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
Austin remains, perhaps, the biggest star in the history of the WWE, yet he only comes in fourth on this list.
Austin's career was derailed and cut short by neck problems, stemming from a botched piledriver in a match with the late Owen Hart in 1997. If not for that move, who knows the sort of hell that Austin could have raised in the WWE, and for how long. Most wrestlers stay in the ring well into their 40's. Austin retired at 38.
As it stands, it has been a decade since Austin's last match, which took place at WrestleMania XIX. In recent years, he has teased the possibility of coming back for one last WrestleMania match with CM Punk, but if I were a betting man, I would say that we've seen the last of Austin in the ring.
3. 39 Points: The Rock
When The Rock teamed with Mick Foley in a losing effort against Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Batista at WrestleMania XX in 2004, many thought that we had seen the last of "The Great One" in a WWE ring. His film career had taken off, after all, so why would he want to risk his physical well-being and the danger of alienating the move ticket-buying public by coming back to what is considered a lowbrow form of entertainment?
On February 14, 2011, after a years-long absence, The Rock returned to a WWE ring, but told people that he had no plans to wrestle, rather, he would just use his unmatched ability on the microphone to lend some star power to the industry that helped make him a global movie star.
Fast forward to April 1, 2012, and you would see that The Rock was main-eventing WrestleMania XXVIII with John Cena.
Fast forward to January 27, 2013, and you would see that The Rock was WWE Champion for the first time since 2002.
I'm not sure that I'll ever understand why The Rock came back. Yes, as he says, he undoubtedly loves wrestling, and he came back because he loves the industry and loves his fans.
But on a business that was built on conning the fans, who promoters often refer to as "marks", should I believe that?
Deep down, I do. I really do.
I got to see The Rock in person for the first time at the WWE Raw event in Washington, D.C, this week. Rock grabbed the microphone, and the crowd chanted his catchphrases along with him. He appeared to well up, and talked about the deep connection that he has with his fanbase.
It's real, man.
He also seemed to promise that he'll run for president one day. I believe him.
2. 42 Points: Shawn Michaels
While he may be second on this list, many would argue that Shawn Michaels is the only performer in history worthy of his nickname, "Mr. WrestleMania".
Michaels' first run at the top of the card, from 1995 to 1998 was remarkable. He was a daredevil in the ring, performing and inventing moves that the WWF audience had never seen before. That daredevil style would be his downfall, though, as he suffered what appeared to be a career-ending back injury in 1998.
Michaels would return to the company in 2002 a new man. After spiraling down into addiction, Michaels rebounded after he and his wife became devout Christians.
As great a performer as the Michaels of the 1990's was, he was even better the second time around. He still threw his body around with reckless abandon, but his ring psychology had improved, to the point that when he retired for good at WrestleMania XXVI in 2010, even at 44, he was still probably the best performer in the company, particularly on the big stage.
1. 89 Points: Hulk Hogan
Steve Austin and The Rock carried the WWF to new heights in the late-1990's, John Cena helped make the show the major event that it is today in the 2000's, and no one performed on the grandest stage in wrestling the way that Shawn Michaels did.
But make no mistake, WrestleMania was built on the now surgically-repaired back of Hulk Hogan.
In his fantastic autobiography, Bret Hart told a story of how in the 1980's, when the wrestling industry was on fire, the wrestlers would line up to shake Hulk Hogan's hand and thank him for helping them feed their families by virtue of his power at the box office.
Hogan has become something of a sad figure over the last few years, with scandal and seedy stories from his personal life becoming tabloid fodder. In many ways, what made him a star, his wildly exaggerated wrestling character, seems to have bled into real life, as he seems unable to give an interview without stretching the truth.
But when he talks about lifting a 900-pound Andre over his head, in front of 200,000 people at the Pontiac Silverdome, I smile.
It's a tall tale, of course.
But without those tall tales, and without people like me to listen to them, there wouldn't be a Hulk Hogan today. There wouldn't be a wrestling industry, either.
And there sure wouldn't be a WrestleMania.
