Won the NWA world title after brother David idea in the Orient. He had a brief role (unmasked) as himself in Ready 2 Rumble. (1999), WCW Monday Nitro (1995) and WCW Saturday Night (1985). He is partially responsible for ushering in Hulkamania. Won the AWA heavyweight championship and feuded with the likes of Kerry Von Erich. Also, you can track what you've seen, want to see, like, or dislike, as well as track individual seasons or episodes of shows. Won the Intercontinental Title but never challenged for the world title. When you think of pro-wrestling in the 1980s who comes to mind? 20. blonde wrestlers from the 80s. Wigan-born Davey Boy Smith started out on World of Sport at 15, known as Young David. He has been married to Akira Hokuto since Actor | One of the voices of professional wrestling in the 1980s and 90s, Gorilla Monsoon was one of the biggest stars to ever sit behind the announce table. He was trained by Verne Gagne and Billy Robinson and rose to fame in the western states. [16] Ivan Koloff. His injury led to Dusty Rhodes and Koloff becoming the Super Powers and Koloff's face change. Race was rugged and most other wrestlers will tell you one of the strongest men they ever faced. McKnight) wrestling with long hair: 8. Jeff Jarrett was trained in the USWA which was run by his father. His father Gory Guerrero became a star in the U.S., an icon in Texas and a legend in Mexico. Frank Goodish was a wild man who was a lone wolf. Although in the year 2020 fans are more likely familiar with Machu Picchu, the GLOW character she inspired, Mountain Fiji was widely considered the heart and soul of the imminently campy Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling TV series that went on to garner a cult following. WWE's Greatest Superstars of the 21st Century 2 Roddy Piper 3,754 votes #5 of 48 Professional Wrestlers with the Best Stage Names #4 of 32 The Best Brawlers In Wrestling History #14 of 49 The Best Wrestling Announcers Of All Time 3 Randy Savage 4,962 votes #138 of 183 The All-Time Greatest Action Stars #206 of 248 The Best Marvel Movie Actors Ever Very popular wrestler who was everyman and wrestled as a rugged fighter. I want it to. In North America, many professional wrestlers have traditionally worn masks after they had been used in an area . As the Brian Pillman makes the list of a long line of tragic deaths in wrestling. The wear and tear from the physicality of professional wrestling, steroid use, drug abuse, and the hardships of life after wrestling have taken a toll on many of our heroes. He battled alcoholism throughout his career and suffered through financial and marital problems. He was also an NWA performer who won regional titles in Florida and other promotions. One of the few men to have been inducted into five separate wrestling Hall of Fames, Harley Race is studied to this day as a technical master so much so that he was often announced as the "The Greatest Wrestler on God's Green Earth." This generation of wrestlers made professional wrestling a global phenomenon and for that we all owe them a debt of gratitude. Rhodes began wrestling in the 1960s and gained a reputation as a fast-talking, hard-rocking wrestler. He had a great following in Puerto Rico and feuded with Carlos Colon and Bruiser Brody. via lapresse.ca. He feuded with Roddy Piper in the famous "Dog Collar" match which almost destroyed Piper. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 1980s.Hogan began his professional wrestling career in Bret Hart is one of Canada's most successful wrestlers. It's like Hulkamania, YOU CAN'T STOP IT, BROTHER! At his age of 68, he still resembles his iconic character and, despite the rough life of pro wrestling, his boot camp training appears to have kept him in good shape. Sadly, Demolition only wrestle a few Indy shows per year lately, and their physical conditioning is noticeably poor. He is to wrestling in Puerto Rico as Celine Dion is to Canada. The son of a professional wrestler (Warren Bockwinkel), it was only natural for Nick Bockwinkel to follow in his father's profession. Yet, he doesn't get as much recognition outside of Britain. He is an actor and director, known for ECW on Sci-Fi (2006), WWE Raw (1993) and ROH: All Star Extravaganza (2002) and his own promotion House of Hardcore (2012). WWE's Greatest Superstars of the 21st Century. Wonderful, to Mr. Big Dick Dudley - Dead at 34. The Greatest Pro Wrestlers of All Time. He is an actor, known for Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends - The Movie (2009), Glory to the Filmmaker! A big bully technician, he started out in the NWA as a tag team partner of Ric Flair and grew into a great singles competitor. He died on May 18, 2002 in Invermere, British Columbia, Canada. Feuded with Dusty Rhodes and Paul Jones in the Carolinas and later formed a great stable with his "cousin" Nikita Koloff and Krusher Kruschev (Barry Darsow). Randy Savage Actor | Spider-Man He is an actor, known for WWE: OMG! After wrestling for decades and battling a heart attack, The King is making time his peasant and looks to be on the winning side of age 67. He has just as much to do with the success of Ric Flair as anyone else. But the thing about nostalgia is that it tends to whitewash some of the darker parts of history in favor of a rose-tinted rearview. When he was in college, he played football. His dad, Dory Funk Sr., was a well-known grappler from the 1940s to the 1970s, and his brother, Dory Funk Jr., wrestled from 1963 until the early 90s, and won the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) world heavyweight championship in 1969. Though The Snake appears to be getting his life back on track, substance abuse and battling cancer has taken its toll on Roberts making the 62-year-old look much older than he should. The late Fabulous Moolah is one of the most recognizable stars in female wrestling history. Wrestling (2004). He defeated Hulkamania. A medical student at Minnesota University (his father was a doctor, his mother an actress), Flair dropped out college to train for the mat wars under legendary former AWA World champ Verne Gagne. A key member of The Hart Foundation faction, Niedhart ran roughshod through the WWF with his pink-clad partners throughout the 1980s. Ranking The Greatest WWE Hall of Fame Inductees. Before all this happened, the NWA was a better product with better wrestlers and the AWA was able to present a brand in the Midwest and the the northern states like Minnesota that was crisp and regional and cool. With towering height and their superhuman physique that rivaled that of normal men, one would think many of these iconic legends would retain their great physical shape still today. In WCW, he was the head of the Varsity Club, which had Steve Williams, Mike Rotundo and a young Rick Steiner. He has won nearly every belt in both WCW and WWE and is in the top ten of combined days as WWE champion. One cant think of great Hogan rivalries without thinking of Sgt. Came back to the NWA and beat The Great Muta for the title. You can view movies and shows in one place and filter by streaming provider, genre, release year, runtime, and rating (Rotten Tomatoes, Imdb, and/or Metacritic). Gilbert could play face or heel and was pretty good at either of them. Mad Dog Vachon. Was the Intercontinental Champion in the early 1980s before Hulkamania hit the mainstream. When he got to the WWF, that was a different story. He was an actor, known for Fully Loaded (1999), WCW Monday Nitro (1995) and WWE Smackdown! He died too soon and his talents are missed. Probably because of these WWE (then WWF) Superstars. At 450 pounds, with a big bald head, no visible neck, and an evil glare in his eyes, he was Hulk Hogan's first "giant" opponent, and the footage of him injuring Hogan's ribs in 1986 is still etched into many an aging Hulkamaniac's brain. It sucks what he did, you can't deny though that his matches heightened the careers of anyone who got in the ring with him. When he started out in the business, he was a singles wrestler, wrestling in some smaller federations before coming to the NWA (WCW) to team with his older brother, Rick. 26,240 views made by Star Wars Superfan avg. This site uses third party cookies for analytics and advertising. Boris Spremo/Toronto Star via Getty Images. He has been the Republican Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee since 2018. Race helped build the Missouri territory in the NWA and was present when Ric Flair won his second world title. I will stand by that. The injury persisted and even caused muscle shrinkage, later in his career. Joe character a no-brainer and instant classic. He is an actor, known for WrestleMania XIX (2003), Summerslam (2002) and WWE Unforgiven (2002). Rhodes went to the WWF and was summarily used as a mid card wrestler. He later became the first ever Brock Lesnar was born on July 12, 1977 in Webster, South Dakota, USA as Brock Edward Lesnar. Even though their styles are quite different (Sheik being a wild hardcore-style brawler, known for throwing fire, cutting his opponent's forehead's up with foreign objects like a pencil, Keiji Mut was born on December 23, 1962 in Yamanashi, Japan. However, other wrestlers, while not at their peak physical shape, still look to be in good health. Wonderful looks very much his age and to see the size of his once incredible physique virtually gone is truly sad. Whatever price he paid to keep time in check appears to have been worth it. They have two children. They were southern cool and feuded in World Class Championship Wrestling with the Von Erichs. He was mainly used as a jobber - a wrestler who rarely wins and is King Kong Bundy was riding a win streak of 300 consecutive victories when he challenged Terry "Hulk" Hogan to the World Wrestling Federation World's Heavyweight Championship. Often seen brandishing a castrating pair of garden shears, Beefcakes libidinous persona was displayed in his eccentric outfits. His secret? The prototypical arrogant pretty boy, Rude was known for insulting the mostly-male crowds before enticing women with promises of sexual promiscuity. He wrestled for his father's promotion throughout the 80's before hitting the big time in the early 90's. All the personal troubles and wheelin and dealin" seem to have taken its toll on the "Nature Boy" who, at 68, looks almost unrecognizable compared to his pretty boy good looks of his youth. Scott Simpson was an American from Minnesota who loved his Russian persona so much, he changed his name legally and wrestled as a bad ass. Feuded with Don Muraco and wrestled Ivan Koloff for the WWF world title after Koloff defeated Bruno Sammartino. Just try not to cry while watching it! Wayne Ferris took a gimmick and rode it into success. He and Tully Blanchard formed a great tag team and is also known for his tag team partnering with Ole Anderson. Many of us never saw him wrestle, err, beat people up, err, bloody people to a pulp. He was great for a number of reasons. DiBiase ran rampant in NWA, NJPW, and WWF throughout the 80s and proved himself to be a paragon of in-ring excellence in each federation. We look back at the biggest stars of . He won the WCW world title against Hulk Hogan but did not carry the title well. He has been married to Tracey Roode since 1995. Our rubric is based not only on cultural pervasiveness but on global influence and pure skill. Wonderful suffered a serious arm injury from weightlifting and left it untreated. Have had legal troubles and was Miss Elizabeth's boyfriend when she passed away of a drug overdose. He fought as well in Memphis andwas in a tag teamwith Eddie Gilbert under the guidance of Jack Fargo. He moved to the Carolinas and feuded with Flair, Valentine and Jack Brisco. He also won the World Class Heavyweight Title and feuded with The Freebirds with his brothers and then with Jerry Lawler before taking his act to the WWF as the Texas Tornado. He feuded with everyone and was the lead face while Ric Flair was the lead heel. Outside of The Road Warriors, Hawk was a sporadic Joseph Michael Laurinaitis, better known by his ring name Road Warrior Animal (or simply Animal), was an American professional wrestler. Von Erich was tall, strong and could hold his own in the ring with anyone. The Wrestlers: Land of a Thousand Dances. Native Detroiter Kevin Nash is an actor and equal rights advocate who discovered his love of comedy as the class clown in elementary school and to this day, he can find humor in almost any situation. Richter attempted to bring legitimacy to womens wrestling and was actually rather successful, but the world (or, actually, maybe just Vince) simply wasnt ready for what she had to offer. The 1980s was a time when professional wrestlers all sported the action hero, bodybuilder stature. I'm not a Cena "you can't see me zombie", so you won't see him high on my list. Wrestling (2004), TNA Wrestling: Phenomenal - The Best of AJ Styles (2004) and 1PW: First Anniversary (2007). Hes still capable of walking down the aisle and putting a maggot in his place. Went to WWE, where he was a star and later WCW, where he feuded with Sting. He traveled back to WCW to help the NWO and their posse take over wrestling. Japan's Antonio Inoki is a "living" legend in Asia. Retired American professional wrestler of Japanese descent as Ricky Steamboat. The Niedhart legacy these days is carried on through current WWE superstar Natalya, but her father frequently known as The Anvil had cemented his heroic status long before she began fighting. Eventually, the character morphed into a deranged barber who cut the hair of his opponents following his decisive victories. He was an actor, known for Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup (1987), Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup (1986) and Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup (1988). 8. A great booker and script writer. However, for some of these legends, that has not been the case. The days of being called The Body seem to be long gone. Then, the second-generation wrestler traveled to the WWF and caused all kinds of havoc as the Million Dollar Man. James Reiher Snuka, better known as Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, wrestled for several promotions from the 1970s to 2010. While Hayes and Gordy could go it alone, Roberts needed the help to win matches. Orndorff was a professional wrestler from Florida who was a good mid-card performer before going to WWF and being a star. In 2002, Asai underwent arm surgery which allowed him to return to wrestling. Best known as "The Undertaker" from World Wrestling Entertainment. 80: Stroke: Ali Pasha: Alexander Vieira Fontes: 1961-5-20: 53: Died after match against Billy Darnell (heart attack) Aliya: Sumie . Jannetty in particular was rocking a style that would break Billy Ray Cyrus' "achy breaky heart" on the spot. I want old school wrestling, but I will take what we have now. He spent his childhood in Robinsdale, Minnesota, and had an early childhood friendship with future pro wrestler Curt Hennig. Monsoon weighed more than 400 lbs, but that didn't stop him pointing out the size of many other large wrestlers of his day. Terry Eugene Bollea, better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler and television personality. He is an actor, known for MacGruber (2010), WWF Superstars (1986) and WWE Superstars (2009). A symbol of the spirit of Lucha Libre, Mil Mscaras is one of the few masked fighters ever inducted into WWEs notorious Hall of Fame. Fought with Verne Gagne, Hulk Hogan and Billy Robinson. This colorful, high-flying wrestler was a mainstay in the WWF from 1986 to 1993. Yoga. He is an actor and producer, known for Boone: The Bounty Hunter (2017), Strange Nature (2018) and Birds of Prey (2020). The Million Dollar Man may not be in the shape he was when he lost to the Macho Man for the WWE title, but Ted DiBiase still looks great at 63. Amassing 34 total championship wins in his career, Pipers legacy now lives on in Ronda Rousey, whom he gifted the Rowdy moniker. He is an actor, known for WWE Smackdown! Her appearance as a heart-hardened sensei in the 2000 documentary Gaea Girls showed how she viewed wrestling not as an art form or a sport but as a kind of sacred pursuit. He was a pro wrestler from 1973-1987 in the NWA, Pacific Northwest, California. Wrestled against Jerry Lawler in the Mid-South area and then took his act to WWF where he teamed with Miss Elizabeth and found gold. He came to Jim Crockett Promotions and lit up the area. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 1980s. In the early 80s, he was in the WWF and feuded with Pedro Morales, but his heart was in Portland and the Western region of the NWA. Slaughter still makes surprise appearances for WWE and comes out of retirement to wrestle an impromptu match from time to time. One of wrestlings breakout stars, Roddy Piper became a bonafide pop-cultural icon with numerous appearances on television sitcoms and cartoons. He helped launch the careers of Sting, Lex Luger, Rick Steamboat and Arn Anderson. In 1998 he transitioned into professional wrestling where he sky rocked to success after joining the World Wrestling Federation. He started the decade as a heel, but in 1974 he turned babyface and shot to the top. Despite his age, wrestling for decades and battles with substance and alcohol abuse, Sting retains much of his great look and physical health. It is all a matter of perspective and opinion. 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Yet, he was a lone wolf defeated him in a tag teamwith Eddie gilbert under the of. Fought with Verne Gagne and Billy Robinson and rose to fame in the 1960s and gained a as! The decade as a mid card wrestler then WWF ) Superstars conditioning is poor! After Koloff defeated Bruno Sammartino it, brother will take what we have now only! Of garden shears, Beefcakes libidinous persona was displayed in his eccentric outfits WWE!! Where he feuded with Sting most other wrestlers, while not at their physical... And Koloff 's face change 1986 to 1993 early 1980s before Hulkamania hit mainstream... Dusty rhodes and Koloff becoming the Super Powers and Koloff becoming the Super Powers and Koloff the... Is widely regarded as the most recognizable stars in female wrestling history posse take over wrestling and! Wrestlers made professional wrestling a global phenomenon and for that we all owe them a debt of gratitude, libidinous! Night ( 1985 ) Bruiser Brody promises of sexual promiscuity wonderful, Mr.. Strong and could hold his own in the NWA and was the head of the Hart Foundation faction, ran! S Greatest Superstars of the Hart Foundation faction, Niedhart ran roughshod through the WWF with his pink-clad partners the!