Who's the greatest WWE Champion of all time?

[Skizzit]

I didn't even include Ric Flair because despite his obvious legendary pro wrestling career, he only had 2 WWE title reigns and aside from the memorable 1992 Royal Rumble performance, his actual title reigns were pretty forgettable. He'd definitely be on a Greatest WCW Champions of all Time poll, though.

Absolutely hands down one of, if not the, greatest WCW/NWA champions ever.

[jellmoo]

It's because they try to sell at as though it were legit and not scripted. There are still fans of that genre of entertainment that still wholeheartedly believe it's not scripted.

There are people who think that Harry Potter is real, people that think that Jedi are real, and people that think their D&D characters are real. This has nothing to do with wrestling and everything to do with people who are dissociative with reality.

[Drusin]

Booker T SUCKAAAAAAAA!

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It's because they try to sell at as though it were legit and not scripted. There are still fans of that genre of entertainment that still wholeheartedly believe it's not scripted.

How old are they? If they are like 45+ then let them be lol

[Dead Moose Fandango]

This thread makes me sad Owen Hart never got the title.

[Usagi Senshi]

Hillbilly Jim and Dick the Bruiser.

Gosh!

[Skizzit]

This thread makes me sad Owen Hart never got the title.

Owen Hart, Roddy Piper, and Ted DiBiase. All legends who somehow never got their time with the WWF championship.

[Dead Moose Fandango]

I voted Stone Cold, but mainly because that's the time I was watching Wrestling. So rose-tinted glasses and all that. Hogan was close, but I remember him less for championship and more him in general.

[Risale]

I have no clue about the folks these days but I remember watching Andre & Hogan and that to me at that time was fantastic.

[Kyphael]

Owen Hart, Roddy Piper, and Ted DiBiase. All legends who somehow never got their time with the WWF championship.

Mr. Perfect and Ravishing Rick Rude, too.

[alturic]

Not sure I can agree that a man who only held the title for something like 5 min. is the greatest WWE/WWF Champion of all time.

But you realize you're trying to agree or disagree with someone being the greatest of something, when it's written whether the someone is going to be the something?

So, yes, to the writers Andre was never the greatest nor meant to be the greatest, but yea.

To me, there's really just a scale of how well the wrestler got over, whether heel or babyface and how long they continued getting the pops.

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Wait you think they have choreographers? lol

And no that doesn’t mean “he’s your champ”. There’s been champions that didn’t perform well, that didn’t get booked well, that didn’t click with viewers and didn’t do anything well at all. You really have no idea about any of this do you? I mean you sound like a boomer who just watched Pro Wrestling’s Greatest Secrets. She’s a stunt granny you know.

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Hahah what? They admitted it was fake YEARS ago. And please direct me to these fans who believe it’s not scripted. I’ve not come across one since like 2003. It’s way too cheesy now to ever be believed.

Yea, I'm genuinely interested who (over the age of say... 12) think it's not scripted?

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I'm glad you think you speak for the fanbase as a whole, but unfortunately I've met quite a few people that contradict your speech. Perhaps you should gather a council of the fans and see if your talks are actually supporting your constituents.

Use a little bit of thought, clearly the poster means fans who are over a certain age.

[SinR]

too many good ones. GREATEST of all time? that's hard. The Rock, Stone Cold, Hulk Hogan, Undertaker. All had that charisma about them.

My money's on The Rock.

[the game]

I voted Stone Cold, but mainly because that's the time I was watching Wrestling. So rose-tinted glasses and all that. Hogan was close, but I remember him less for championship and more him in general.

I remember Hogan more for the NWO than I do his championship reigns.

[Ihavewaffles]

What about tag-teams? I vote legion of doom

As for discussion on wrestling being fake...guys, this thread is in the movies-tv-music-books page, not in the sports page, for a reason...

[Gref]

no idea about any of those names except andre and hulk hogan. actually my knowledge about andre comes from the game Final fight.
john cena and the rock are the two other names i know but I know them from 9gag memes.

these aside I always wondered how they decide who becomes the champion and who does what during the matches.

[Dead Moose Fandango]

no idea about any of those names except andre and hulk hogan. actually my knowledge about andre comes from the game Final fight.
john cena and the rock are the two other names i know but I know them from 9gag memes.

these aside I always wondered how they decide who becomes the champion and who does what during the matches.

Generally, the winner is decided before the match. Also, if they plan to do BIG spots, that's usually pre-planned. But they've got a generalized plan for the match, but leave the specifics for during it.

[Kyphael]

Generally, the winner is decided before the match. Also, if they plan to do BIG spots, that's usually pre-planned. But they've got a generalized plan for the match, but leave the specifics for during it.

In some rare occasions, they do call it in the ring on the spot. Andre told Hogan that before their famous Wrestlemania III match. Hogan told Goldberg that before Goldberg's famous title win on Nitro, and Brock's now been known to tell guys today "we'll call it in the ring."

[Jotaux]

It depends on the criteria we are using.

In terms of wrestling and ability to have a good match with anyone?
-Bret Hart
-Shawn Michaels
-CM Punk (one of the best on the mic as well)
-Daniel Bryan
-Kurt Angle
-AJ Styles

Popularity and ability to work the crowd?
-Steve Austin
-The Rock

Brock Lesnar is amazing in the ring but he phones it in some nights and isn't a great talker

Undertaker has to be in the conversation as well. hes solid in the ring, it really shows when he wrestles someone like Bret Hart or Michaels. He has an amazing gimmick as well that no one else could make work. The only knock on him is he can't wrestle just anyone and put on a good match. I also think he should have retired after the streak was broken.

I would say over all its between The Rock and Bret Hart for me and while I like Bret Hart more The Rock is just better.

[Skizzit]

these aside I always wondered how they decide who becomes the champion and who does what during the matches.

Just like any kind of tv show, they write storylines. They come up with a plan like they want to have wrestler A and wrestler B in a match four months down the line at a particular pay per view. They write out a scenario that will get them to that point like if wrestler B is a heel (as in the the bad guy, the guy who tries to get the crowd to boo him) and wrestler A is a face ( short for babyface, the person you want the crowd to cheer for) you can have B come out and interfere in a match A is having that causes A to fail at winning a championship. This upsets A so he challenges B to a match and maybe B then cheats in said match by getting his heel buddies (heels pretty much always have other heels they hang around with) and this can escalate to eventually you get to the big PPV and you finally have the big match between A and B where maybe there is a match stipulation like there is a metal cage around the ring to stop B's heel buddies from getting involved to cheat. That's a pretty simple storyline. Championship really have two uses. Either just as a prop in storylines, something wrestlers have to fight over, or to mark out who is the top guy or gal in the promotion. Who is the face of the promotion. Fans tend to care way more about who is or isn't champion than the wrestlers do.

As far as who does what during the match, the two wrestlers involved will meet before hand to plan out the match sometimes with a third person who's job it is to help wrestlers plan out matches. Different wrestlers have different approaches to how much is planned out before hand. Some like Randy Savage for example liked to pretty much plan out every single move before hand while others will just plan out the big spots and then call the rest during the match using the crowds reaction to better gauge what it working and what isn't and adjust accordingly. They have various ways to communicate during a match like talking to the referee and having him relay messages to the other wrestler or various moves that allow the two wrestlers enough time to quickly talk to each other. Moves like a headlock where it looks like one of them is trying grapple with the other but really they are just having a quick chat. Some wrestlers are better at this than others. John Cena for example is famous for speaking quite loudly and can totally be heard calling out spots. This is also why many wrestlers have long hair, they can drape it over their face to hide their mouths while talking.

Hope that answers some of your questions.

[Shadowferal]

Bob Backlund



Tag Team; Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson (Dwayne Johnson's father)

[Kokolums]