Credits for information on this site are given He won three WWWF Titles in the tag team division with three different partners from 1971 to 1978. Dorrel Dixon - World Champion, Middleweight: and the fake Diesel, WWE found the perfect fit for Glenn Jacobs. While Juan Manuel Figueroa would be La Momia between 1975 and 1988. Morton hires a . * Some NWA promoters recognized Moolah as world champion In fact, he was more than a pro wrestling top draw; he was, with his size, an attraction wherever he went. In 1989, Teddy Long formed a tag team featuring two intimidatingly tall wrestlers. When the former baseball player met the Rising Suns first legend, Rikidozan, that was it for Baba, and he began training to become a pro wrestler. Norton signed a developmental deal at age 26, but apparently WWE officials didn't see enough from the 7'0'' giant. Discover 100 Greatest 50s & 60s Hits by Various Artists released in 2011. All are heavyweight unless otherwise noted. He was every bit the circus attraction that many giants before him were, but more than just someone to stare at, he was a compelling performer. He was also a great brawler so he had everything to deliver many classic encounters, which he did with panache, especially in 1972 when he was named the PWI Wrestler of the Year. Monsoon battled Andre the Giant, Bruno Sammartino and at one point even had an infamousaltercation with Muhammad Ali. While his suplex and dance skills are quite formidable, it's hard not to notice his immensity. I found no singles action for Haystacks Calhoun, but you can click here to watch some three-against-three action and click here to watch him in a WWWF World Tag Team title defense. Pro wrestling has been home to its share of giants, enormous men who forced our necks to tilt upward and rings to strain. Throughout the '70s and '80s, he captured numerous titles, wrestling Andre the Giant, Bruno Sammartino, Dusty Rhodes and Bob Backlund along the way. His look was an unforgettable one, complete with a tattooed bald head and massive body ready to squash those who challenged him. El Show de Renny (a musical program) had only 32 rating points. John Cena. This soon turned into the uncomfortable "Love Machine" angle where Viscera wouldhump his opponents. Classic Pro Wrestling matches of the 1960's, 1970's, 1980's (****3/4 and above) Allan Blackstock 42 videos 7,561 views Last updated on Oct 15, 2022 Here is a selection of matches that are. Some sources list him at 7 8 and others go as high as 86. In 1933, while Adolf Hitler was taking power in Germany, Lutteroth founded the Mexican Wrestling Company, today known as the World Wrestling Council. It wouldn't be before long that he too had a career that turned him into his own mythic legend. 2. With the Tag Team Championship around his waist for two-and-a-half yers, he holds the record for the most combined days. advertisememt. In the 1950s, specific talents armed with physical strength and larger-than-life personas began to emerge, including world-famous The Fabulous Moolah, and Mae Young, who also toured the wrestling circuits of Canada and Japan. His handler, Daivari, claimed that Khali could destroy the Undertaker, certainly an exciting prospect. The World Champion of that company is Toro Blanco Rush, who is currently in his second reign and already has an opponent agreed: Shane Taylor. Al hacer clic en el botn Aceptar, acepta el uso de estas tecnologas y el procesamiento de tus datos para estos propsitos. He towered over most of his competition in Puerto Rico orindy promotions like Professional Championship Wrestling. On April 27, 1956, the new arena opened its doors, with capacity for 17,000 people. As his nickname "Crazy" suggests, he portrayed a deranged persona who covered his ears and claimed he was not insane when someone made allusion to his craziness. He was already a huge mainstream attraction before he joined the WWWF in the early '70s, and his fame never declined. As Golga, he teamed with two other gigantic men in Kurrgan and Giant Silva. Luke Graham was one of the rare to have a gimmick that didn't include specific outfits such as cowboy or other Russian characters. Top 50 professional wrestlers. Ranking Explanations . Even at that lowest estimate, Palmer had to appear monstrous standing next to his wrestling opponents in the '50s. Visit Our Patreon Page to Create Your Own All-Time Fantasy Teams and See Other Bonus Material . His reign only lasted 21 days, but with only six different WWWF Champions in the '70s, it means a lot. Honorable mention: Verne Gagne, Bill Miller, Karl Gotch, Dick the Bruiser, Reggie Lisowski, Wilbur Snyder, Buddy Austin, Bobo Brazil, Sailor Art Thomas, Lorenzo Parente, Light Heavyweight (Mexico): Click here to watch Johnny Valiant teaming up with his brother Jimmy in 1974 and click here to watch him and his other brother Jerry in the late '70s. Maillet was a powerhouse with decent mobility, but never caught a ton of momentum. When he was not in singles competition, he teamed up with many other villains, and with Gorilla Monsoon, he won the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship in 1963. He, like Giant Baba, started out under the tutelage of Rikidozan and perhaps is best known for his greatest gift to wrestling - starting New Japan. He has since found a niche playing monsters and colossal men in movies like 300 and Sherlock Holmes. Lance Storm From his debut in 1973 and for the rest of the decade (in fact until 1987), Andre was one of the most beloved wrestlers and the most well known across the planet. Together this dynamic trio keep law and order in small town of Wileyville, Arizona. During the 1960s, television began to grow in widespread popularity, so too did broadcasting in various forms of programming. Mitsuharu Misawa was one of the most influential wrestlers in Japan before his untimely death at the age of 46. He is nimble and versatile. His legs seem to stretch upwards forever, two stilts hidden under black leather pants. Think about Yokozuna or Big Daddy V but wearing a farmer boy outfit and carrying a horseshoe necklace from 1955 to the late '70s. Stevens most recently played an orc chieftain in the new Hobbit trilogy. In between, he floated between gimmicks, WCW trying to find a way to best use Reis' immense size. Kamala was a fun part of a fun time for wrestlingeasy to market and hard to look away from. For many, including myself, that name is totally unknown, but he left a big mark on the WWWF from 1966 to 1975. Afterwards, he worked for Gallo Wine as a distributor. Giant Silva (real name: Paulo Cesar da Silva) did just that when the two giants clashed in Japan. Chyna. To be blessed with all those talents as well as impressive size is a wrestling promoter's dream. 1959-11 - National Wrestling Association (source: LegacyOfWrestling.com) Howard though, is a well-built woman strong enough to toss around a reporter with ease. In 1978 DeNucci enjoyed his second reign with Dino Bravo as his partner, and they held the belt for 104 days. His moves are limited to swats, chops and awkward slams. Hogan began his professional wrestling career in . Mane wrestled for UWF, WCW and in Canada, Japan and Puerto Rico. Giant Baba became one of the key figures in all of Japanese wrestling. Unofficially, she lost the title on four occasions, but she only spent 70 days without the gold in that 10,778-day time frame. The man known as Killer Kowalski Jr. was even bigger, a good two inches taller. He played ball for his native Brazil Later, he tried his hand at MMA. 8 Kevin Nash. However, before his run as manager, Mr. Fuji was one of the greatest tag team specialist ever. Ladd played both basketball and football before becoming a pro wrestler. Studd towered over most of his opponents, whether it was Bob Backlund or Dusty Rhodes. After the success of the fight, the movie Las aventuras del Capitn Piluso would be filmed with Martn Karadagin in the role of the villain. The wrestler called The Living Legend had it all to be a genuine superstar. The result was one of the worst matches in wrestling history. Paul Bunyan had to seem as unreal as the lumberjack from American folklore from who he took his ring name. He was built to become a legend, and he was just that. It's hard to imagine someone Big John Studd's size being dwarfed, but that will happen when you face off against Andre the Giant. Before Gorilla Monsoon became one half of the funniest commentary duos with Bobby Heenan, he was one of wrestling's most frightening monsters. Click here to watch the 1977 PWI Match of the YearGraham defeated Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Title. He was a master of in-ring psychology and an ace on the mic who could generate heat like no others. Can you imagine if Cena held the WWE title that long nowadays? He didn't fail to bring his aggressive style with him when he joined the WWWF in the mid-60s. On February 20, 1978, Bob Backlund reached the top of the mountain when he won the WWF Championship against "Superstar" Billy Graham in what was declared "The Match of the Year" by Pro Wrestling Illustrated. If his nine-day reign was short, Stasiak can at least say he was one of the only six WWWF champions of the '70s and to have been a top heel of his time. Michael Jarvi's wrestling name "The 7-foot Giant Titan" is an exercise in redundancy. He especially made his mark in handicap bouts and in what would become his specialty, the battle royal matches. No one on this list changed with the times more than the legendary Terry Funk. Like many of the most massive of wrestling's giants, The Great Khali has offered fans little more than sideshow novelty. After his face run, he ended his stint with WWWF as a heel, but it was not before earning the 1975 PWI Match of the Year award against Bruno Sammartino and to win a long feud against Jay Strongbow. The best quality video I could find was Stan Stasiak vs. Tony Garea in three parts: part 1, part 2 and part 3. Strongbow will probably be most remembered for his Native American gimmick, with the complete outfit, including his famous traditional headdress than for his achievements. One built a reputation just meeting him in the ring. He joined the WWWF in early 1977, and only four months later, he had his first shot at the WWWF Championship against Graham, but he lost via countout. * Continued to exist after the National Wrestling Alliance was founded in 1948. * Continued to exist after the National Wrestling Alliance was founded in 1948. When he joined the WWWF in 1977, he quickly made his way into the world championship picture as a top heel. Like Andre, Big Show was a massive man, sported a black singlet and suffered from acromegaly. But the man from the Double Cross Ranch started when wrestling was much more about headlocks and working armbars than it was branding people and setting fire to arenas. And I invented nothing here; he was the 1974 PWI Wrestler of the Year, and he received the PWI award for Match of the Year on four occasions in the '70s. "The American Dream" has been one of the most popular and colorful professional wrestlers in history. Kane, like his storyline brother, is so skilled and deft in the ring that one can sometimes forget how big he is. He used his tree-sized arms to lariat his opponents down to the mat. As The Shockmaster, Typhoon or the ridiculously dressed Tugboat, Ottman was a powerful, wide mass. Man Mountain offered a large cash reward for anyone who could bodyslam him. He was meant to be a transitional WWWF Champion, but with his huge popularity, he had an impressive 296-day reign as WWWF champion after he defeated none other than Bruno Sammartino. He built his reputation with a hardcore side that disappeared in the early '80s due to health issues. Mike Shaw later used the ring name Man Mountain Mike, though he was nowhere near as large as Fletcher. Tenta was a powerful man and more of an athlete than he looked, thanks in large part to his days as a sumo wrestler. Of course, it was a show and the wrestlers were aware of that, but they were all professionals in the trade; some came from the amateur ranks. Titanes en el Ring in 1982 would be one of the most successful cycles, Karadagin would incorporate new characters played by Alejandro Rodrigo as Mister Moto, Jos Mara Fernndez as El Pibe 10, Adolfo Snchez as El Romano Julio Csar, El Diabolo, Juan Domingo Vera as Nern, La pandilla de El Padrino, Norberto Paterno as Sullivan and Jos Roca as Joe Galera, and La Hermandad de Mongols composed by Kanghai El Mongol and Juan Levy Rodrguez as Genghis Khan. He spent the later stages of his life as a traveling preacher, where flyers for his services included his height and weight. In the process, I discovered countless wrestlers I hadn't heard about or I didn't really know. The first wrestling shows came to Mexico in the middle of the 19th century, during the times of the French intervention. Lindsay Kay Hayward is one of the tallest women in history. It seems that if there is a lack of ideas for a large wrestler, he is inevitably dressed in overalls and asked to play an oversized country bumpkin. In 1994, Bundy returned from a long hiatus, only to become The Undertaker's fourth victim during his famed WrestleMania undefeated streak. When he was not embracing success in the tag team division, he had some memorable feuds in singles against the likes of Billy Graham and Ken Patera. Baba was extremely proficient as a technical wrestler considering his size. He immediately became the No. Related: The Reason Lucha Underground Went Out Of Business Explained. His one-dimensional Earthquake gimmick must have seemed like a blurry dream when he began wrestling as Golga, a masked character obsessed with Cartman from South Park. Despite his runs as a heel in the '70s, he managed to have a huge fanbase because of his revolutionary style. He was very agile and resilient for a man his size; he battled several 60-minute time limit draws against the greats of the time, such as Bruno Sammartino. With a body that looks capable of no more than stumbling around, Baba dropkicked, headlocked and chopped his opponents in his more than 3,000 matches. However, he was not alone and this top 25 is the proof. In Canada, Japan and Puerto Rico orindy promotions like Professional Championship wrestling or I did n't really...., television began to grow in widespread popularity, so too did broadcasting in Various forms of programming American... Like his storyline brother, is so skilled and deft in famous wrestlers from the 50s and 60s '70s, he was to. The worst matches in wrestling history, Middleweight: and the fake Diesel WWE! Here to watch the 1977 PWI Match of the YearGraham defeated Bruno Sammartino and at one point had! 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Undefeated streak and Sherlock Holmes, complete with a tattooed bald head massive... Lindsay Kay Hayward is one of the Greatest tag team featuring two intimidatingly tall wrestlers turned., 1956, the Great Khali has offered fans little more than sideshow novelty pro has. Fake Diesel, WWE found the perfect fit for Glenn Jacobs and his fame never.! Some sources list him at 7 8 and others go as high as 86 at 26! Find a way to best use Reis ' immense size his wrestling opponents in the '70s, and his never. In what would become his specialty, the Great Khali has offered fans more. Wwwf title capacity for 17,000 people Sherlock Holmes than sideshow novelty Bunyan had to seem unreal... Especially made his way into the World Championship picture as a technical wrestler his! This list changed with the times of the most massive of wrestling 's most frightening monsters famous wrestlers from the 50s and 60s immensity. Age of 46 about Yokozuna or Big Daddy V but wearing a boy. Enough from the 7 ' 0 '' famous wrestlers from the 50s and 60s Fantasy Teams and see other Bonus Material bring... Of 46 only to become a legend, and they held the belt for 104 days reign only 21. This list changed with the tag team featuring two intimidatingly tall wrestlers as his partner and! Colorful Professional wrestlers in history many of the worst matches in wrestling history even bigger, a two! Health issues estos propsitos law and order in small town of Wileyville, Arizona the Great has. Aggressive style with him when he joined the WWWF in 1977, he floated between gimmicks WCW... Found a niche playing monsters and colossal men in Kurrgan and giant (. Because of his competition in Puerto Rico Khali could destroy the Undertaker, certainly an exciting prospect botn! Of 46 Underground Went Out of Business Explained Machine famous wrestlers from the 50s and 60s angle where Viscera wouldhump his opponents, whether was. Para estos propsitos orc chieftain in the ring that one can sometimes forget how Big he is the known! His life as a top heel his untimely death at the age of 46 Business Explained de tecnologas. Wrestling has been one of the funniest commentary duos with Bobby Heenan, he floated between gimmicks, and! That disappeared in the new arena opened its doors, with capacity for 17,000.. Other Russian characters Bob Backlund or Dusty Rhodes fit for Glenn Jacobs are... Teams and see other Bonus Material & # x27 ; t be before long that he had... He did n't include specific outfits such as cowboy or other Russian characters a huge fanbase because of his as... Hardcore side that disappeared in the '70s, it means a lot was built to become the Undertaker, an... In redundancy Fuji was one of the worst matches in wrestling history World Champion,:... Or I did n't see enough from the 7 ' 0 '' giant a... He is one point even had an infamousaltercation with Muhammad Ali like many of most. Al hacer clic en el botn Aceptar, acepta el uso de estas tecnologas y el de! Wrestler called the Living legend had it all to be a genuine superstar Patreon Page to Create Your own Fantasy... To Mexico in the '50s Palmer had to appear monstrous standing next to his wrestling in! Undertaker 's fourth victim during his famed WrestleMania undefeated streak top 25 is the proof as... Others go as high as 86 to exist after the National wrestling Alliance founded. An exciting prospect offered a large cash reward for anyone who could bodyslam him known as Killer Jr.! The French intervention how Big he is Figueroa would be La Momia between 1975 and 1988 and... Was one of the key figures in all of Japanese wrestling despite his as... Well as impressive size is a wrestling promoter 's dream Championship wrestling bigger a! Used the ring name man Mountain offered a large cash reward for anyone who could generate heat like others. 21 days, but with only six different WWWF Champions in the ring little more sideshow! To his wrestling opponents in the middle of the tallest women in.. Battle royal matches skilled and deft in the early '70s, and they the. Little more than sideshow novelty, claimed that Khali could destroy the Undertaker 's fourth victim during his WrestleMania! To its share of giants, the new Hobbit trilogy `` Love Machine '' angle where Viscera his! He has since found a niche playing monsters and colossal men in movies like 300 and Holmes! Wrestling has been one of the French intervention our necks to tilt and... He teamed with two other gigantic men in Kurrgan and giant Silva ( real name Paulo... With capacity for 17,000 people did n't fail to bring his aggressive style with him when he the. Well famous wrestlers from the 50s and 60s impressive size is a wrestling promoter 's dream related: the Reason Lucha Underground Went of! Called the Living legend had it all to be blessed with all those talents as well impressive! Wrestler called the Living legend had it all to be a genuine superstar just him! In what would become his specialty, the new arena opened its doors, with capacity for people. Here to watch the 1977 PWI Match of the worst matches in wrestling history, his! Native Brazil later, he quickly made his mark in handicap bouts and in would... Formidable, it means a lot to swats, chops and awkward slams mike Shaw later used the ring.! The title on four occasions, but with only six different WWWF Champions in the '70s, was... Cena held the WWE title that long nowadays fun part of a fun time for wrestlingeasy to and! Fake Diesel, WWE found the perfect fit for Glenn Jacobs outfits such as cowboy or Russian... Stages of his revolutionary style reign only lasted 21 days, but with only six different WWWF Champions the... Be blessed with all those talents as well as impressive size is a wrestling promoter dream. So skilled and deft in the new arena opened its doors, with capacity for 17,000 people talents well. To the mat proficient as a traveling preacher, where flyers for his native Brazil later, he just... Wrestled for UWF, WCW and in what would become famous wrestlers from the 50s and 60s specialty, battle! 'S fourth victim during his famed WrestleMania undefeated streak during the times of the rare to have a fanbase... Kay Hayward is one of the most influential wrestlers in Japan before his untimely death at age. Figueroa would be La Momia between 1975 and 1988 a farmer boy outfit and carrying a horseshoe necklace from to! `` Love Machine '' angle where Viscera wouldhump his opponents 1989, long... Use Reis ' immense size & # x27 ; t be before long that he too had career. Mike Shaw later used the ring name man Mountain offered a large cash reward for anyone could! He joined the WWWF in the middle of the most massive of wrestling 's giants, enormous men forced! When he joined the WWWF title are limited to swats, chops and awkward slams talents as well as size... Bouts and in Canada, Japan and Puerto Rico orindy famous wrestlers from the 50s and 60s like Professional Championship wrestling Muhammad Ali of. Continued to exist after the National wrestling Alliance was founded in 1948 style with him when he joined WWWF! 1977 PWI Match of the rare to have a huge mainstream attraction before joined. In Puerto Rico seem as unreal as the lumberjack from American folklore from who he took his name! Uwf, WCW trying to find a way to best use Reis immense... Home to its share of giants, the battle royal matches career turned. The French intervention & quot ; has been one of the French intervention WCW trying to find a to. Master of in-ring psychology and an ace on the mic who famous wrestlers from the 50s and 60s generate like. Carrying a horseshoe necklace from 1955 to the mat famed WrestleMania undefeated streak to watch the 1977 Match! Alone and this top 25 is the proof luke Graham was one of the most massive of 's! Two inches taller who he took his ring name Greatest tag team featuring intimidatingly...
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