The Amateur Hour begins it’s rundown of the top 25 wrestlers of all time. Today, Steven O’Connor gives us his personal list of wrestlers in the 25-21 positions.
25. The Ultimate Warrior
I knew I would have to do some serious explaining here as in my top 25, I have listed the man with the least amount of wrestling ability. Despite being hated by most of his colleagues and many wrestling fans, The Ultimate Warrior is still considered by many as one of the highlights of the 90s, in an era when people were getting a little tired of Hulkamania. With the WWF in need of a little shake-up, along came this colourful and erratic individual who brought an intense energy to the crowds with his intense energy and charisma. I will always remember the Ultimate Warrior as the man who managed to take the spotlight away from Hulkamania, the spotlight that Hogan would never fully regain until his NWO days. The downside to the Warrior is of course the aforementioned limited wrestling ability. People will always remember his classic matches with Rick Rude and Randy savage as the highlights of his career and I don’t think Warrior gets any credit for those matches. Rude and Savage didn’t wrestle in those matches alone. Even now fans are crying out for Warrior to be inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame, an honour which I think is very well deserved.
24. Scott Hall
The Bad Guy. As a 90s kid, the WWF was the place to be. Colourful character and fast paced intense wrestling action. One of my favourites from this era was Razor Ramon. With his ‘bad guy’ gimmick, Razor had the attitude, plenty of charisma and the wrestling ability. The career of Scott Hall saw many great and captivating feuds against opponents such as Ted Dibiase, I.R.S, 123 Kid, Jeff Jarrett, Shawn Michaels, Diesel and Bret Hart. It’s hard for me to pick any one match as a highlight but if I was forced to choose, I would probably say any one of his matches with Jarrett. Scott Hall would also be part of wrestling history as his move to WCW alongside Kevin Nash began the famous Monday Night War he helped create the NWO. Scott’s personal problems have now unfortunately over-shadowed his amazing in-ring career, making a spot in the Hall of Fame very unlikely for the time being.
23. Sting
I’ve never understood the fascination with Sting, however his illustrious career is definitely worthy of recognition. Growing up, I was a WWF fan although I did catch WCW on occasion. I always saw Sting as an Ultimate Warrior rip-off, with the face paint, the similar entrance music but with a clear advantage in wrestling ability. Many of his legendary matches with the likes of Ric Flair and Vader will go down in history. I don’t know what it is, but I just don’t rate the guy that highly. I think the ‘Crow’ gimmick was ridiculous right from the start and his Heath Ledger Joker rip-off is just awful. I know that Vince McMahon is still dreaming of the day when Sting will join WWE, even if only briefly, so that he can get his Wrestlemania moment, his Hall of Fame spot and a nice dvd set. If I was in charge I would tell Sting to take a hike as he has had plenty of opportunities to come to WWE and shouldn’t just show up at the last minute to claim his rewards. I doubt he will ever show up in WWE though.
22. Ricky Steamboat
It’s a shame to have him so far down the list but my main memories of Steamboat was the Dragon gimmick form 1991, which as a kid I loved! I now know that Steamboat didn’t love it as much. My only other memory of Steamboat was the incredible match with Savage at Wrestlemania 3 and I didn’t know about his career in the NWA and his legendary matches with Ric Flair and Rick Rude and so many others. Over the years though I have seen a lot of his great career and he definitely deserves to be mentioned amongst the greats. The man could sell anything, better than anyone? I’m not sure about that, but this great Hall of Famer but he sold me on the fact that he should be in the top 25 of all time.
