The Mount Rushmore of Men’s Wrestling

Joe Soriano’s Mount Rushmore

Ric Flair

How can you have a “Mount Rushmore” without Ric Flair? “The Nature Boy” is the most prolific heel in professional wrestling, and in between the ropes, he epitomized what it means to play the “bad guy” role. In a way, the heel is the paramount expression of unselfishness in wrestling, because a heel’s main goal is to get the baby face cheered.

For as popular as Flair was and as many titles as he won, what always stands out to me (beyond the antics and the promos, that is) is the fact that he got baby faces OVER. You wanted to see him get his ass handed to him, and very few wrestlers could “work” like Flair. He made every match and every move felt like it meant something. Go watch his match with Ricky Steamboat, WrestleMania retirement match with Shawn Michaels, and entire feud with Dusty Rhodes as examples of his brilliance.

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin

Back when he was “Stunning” Steve Austin in WCW, you were hard-pressed to find many more fluid workers than the man who would later become the “Texas Rattlesnake”. But when Austin was at his best, he only had a limited move set. But his move-set fit his no-nonsense, “Stone Cold” character perfectly, and he set the bar when it came to resonating with a crowd in an era where bad guys were cool.

Austin was originally supposed to be a heel, but he clicked with a fan base that was as pissed off with their bosses and with society as Austin was with Vince McMahon. You can argue that Austin saved the WWE in their war with the WCW, or you can argue that he was just the leading figure. But no matter which side of the coin you stand on, you have to admit that Austin’s command of the crowd and of in-ring psychology – nothing tops his WrestleMania double-turn match with Bret Hart – makes him one of the greatest ever.

Mitsuharu Misawa

These “Mount Rushmore” pieces are generally dominated by American wrestlers, specifically those who made the WWE a lot of cash. But no list or conglomeration of great names would be complete without Mitsuharu Misawa, a man who literally gave his life to the business of professional wrestling.

Misawa has the most five-star matches, as given by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer News, in the history of the sport. And say what you want about Meltzer’s star ratings, but anyone capable of putting together that many sublime performances deserves your respect. Misawa was a certified bad-ass.

An eight-time world champion in Japan, Misawa could wrestle any style, and his move-set was filled with hard strikes, maneuvers requiring a high degree of athleticism, and moves requiring a great deal of strength. I can’t emphasize his well-roundedness as a competitor enough, and you can easily make the argument that he is the greatest in-ring competitor of all-time (OK, besides Dolph Ziggler). Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi remains the greatest rivalry in history to this day, and that’s saying something given the magnitude of rivalries that the first two people on my Mount Rushmore had.

Undertaker

While AJ Styles is perhaps the greatest example of pure in-ring prowess we have in modern wrestling in America, the Undertaker is the most important archetype for character work. Gimmicks and stories make professional wrestling special, and nobody has been a greater attraction than the Undertaker.

One of the few wrestlers to permeate into mainstream culture despite a lack of appearances on talk shows or movies, the Undertaker’s elegance is in his simplicity. Though he’s changed his character a few times while in the “Ministry” and as the “American Badass”, the Undertaker is mostly known and respected for the iteration of his character that has breathed its geist into professional wrestling for decades.

Taker has been a part of several of the most memorable matches in history, and he’s always done right by the business, whether it’s putting over Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33 or convincing Shawn Michaels to push Stone Cold in Austin’s crowning moment.

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There’s a reason why the Undertaker is so respected inside and outside the locker room, and it would be a disservice to leave him off of a “Mount Rushmore” for the sake of honoring people who have already earned enough plaudits from the mainstream press. This Mount Rushmore is about those who have given the most unique offerings to the wrestling business, and, in that respect, the Undertaker might even be the most important of them all.