Five By Five: KB’s Five Favorte Wrestlers
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Honorable Mention: Edge. Before he became the ridiculous character that he was in the Rated R days, Edge was AWESOME, tearing Smackdown apart in 2002 and being on the verge of the world title until a neck injury put him on the shelf for over a year. I was a huge Edgehead back in the day as the look and the music got me totally into his stuff. There’s a fourway on Smackdown with him facing Angle, Guerrero and Benoit which is as good a TV match as you’ll see in a long time.
Honorable Mention: Rey Mysterio. Back in the mid to late 90s, Mysterio was like nothing else I had ever seen before. When you go from the big brawling guys of the 80s to Bret and Owen on the mat earlier in the decade to Mysterio jumping all over the place and doing flips that no one in America had ever seen before, how in the world can you not be impressed? Some guys would probably wind up doing it better, but Mysterio was doing it first and did it best back in the 90s.
Honorable Mention: Tito Santana. Santana is a guy where the more I see of him the more I like him. The guy was incredibly talented and had some very solid charisma, as he could get a crowd going no matter what he was doing. Santana is the original Kofi Kingston, as he won various other titles and got a once in a blue moon world title shot. He never was a threat to win the title, but it was next to impossible to have a bad match with him. That’s very valuable and it allows for a lot of help on a card.
5. Kane. Kane is a guy who constantly goes from being dull to entertaining at the drop of a hat. His debut back in 1997 is still one of the most awesome moments I can remember, as you had heard about Kane for months and months until he FINALLY debuted in the first Hell in a Cell match. It was clear from that moment that Undertaker was in for a fight and that’s what he got. Think about it like this: Steve Austin was the hottest thing in the world for well over a year but Kane took the title from him two months after he won it. That says a lot about him, even if it was for just one day. Throw in the HILARIOUS anger management stuff and Kane is one of the most entertaining guys I’ve ever seen.
4. Randy Savage. Again, the more I watch this guy the more I appreciate him. Savage is so smooth in the ring it’s unreal, as he can go from high flying to mat wrestling to brawling and back again like it’s no problem at all. On top of that, Savage was NUTS and had some of the most over the top and insane promos you’ll ever hear. Wait why am I bothering to explain this? If you don’t know who Randy Savage is, why are you reading this? The man is awesome and in a few years he’ll probably be higher on this list.
3. Hulk Hogan. Dude, it’s Hulk Hogan. He got me into wrestling as a kid and he kept me in it for years. It’s a simple idea: he’s a hero and he fought off the bad guys. It’s amazing how simple of a concept that is yet so many people over the years have tried to/insisted on overthinking it. While Hogan has done a lot of bad things over the years, without him there wouldn’t be a modern wrestling for him to do bad things in. That pretty easily makes up for all of it and there’s not much of an argument against it.
2. Sting. As much as I liked Hogan, there’s something about Sting that I like that much more. Sting is one of those guys that is indeed timeless and has done it all in wrestling. Yes I said did it all, because he doesn’t need to go to WWE. He’s one of the biggest stars of all time (get over yourself WON HOF. To suggest that Sting isn’t a main event star is ridiculous) and had one of the most intriguing stories in the history of wrestling, which just happened to draw a fortune. I love the guy and he’s always awesome.
1. Mick Foley. Foley on the other hand is awesome on a completely different level. One of my favorite movies is Rocky, which clearly had a lot of influence on the Mick Foley character. The night he won his first world title is still perfect and makes me smile every time I see it. On top of that though, Foley really is a brilliant character. Many people see him as three different interchangeable characters, but in reality it’s one who has multiple personalities that manifest themselves at the appropriate time. That’s a really interesting and deep idea which has never been done other than this that I can think of. On top of THAT, a few years ago I got to meet Foley at a book signing and he couldn’t have been a nicer guy, which made him all the more awesome. Go read his books as they’re certainly worth it, even Countdown to Lockdown.
