Daily DDT Staff Picks for Top 5 WWE Wrestlers of All Time

Chris Jeter’s Top 5

1. Shawn Michaels
2. Bret Hart
3. Kurt Angle
4. Randy Savage
5. Daniel Bryan

Shawn Michaels – When it comes to classic matches, few have the resume that Shawn Michaels has. Once he broke away from The Rockers via his infamous heel turn on Marty Jannetty, Michaels soon became one of the company’s premier workers and never looked back.

As the 1994 steroid trial put WWE’s emphasis on promoting hulked out human action figures under greater scrutiny, Vince McMahon built his promotion around smaller wrestlers who worked a more energetic, athletic, and technically proficient style that long-time fans hadn’t experienced on a grand scale.

If you only focus on the first half of Michaels’ career, he’s one of the industry’s all-time great wrestlers, though his less-than-exemplary behavior behind the scenes often mires this part of his story. His classics such as the first ever Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker, his Iron Man match with Bret Hart at WrestleMania XII and his ladder matches with Razor Ramon at WrestleMania X and SummerSlam 1995 were more than enough to cement his legacy if his retirement in 1998 was really the end.

Then, he came back in 2002 and put together one of the best career renaissances in wrestling history. Starting with his phenomenal “Unsanctioned Match” against Triple H at SummerSlam 2002, Michaels spent the next eight years compiling more in-ring gems than most wrestlers have in their entire careers. Among them: his clashes with Chris Jericho in 2003 and 2008, his clinic with Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 21, and his final two WrestleMania matches against Undertaker. And that’s without mentioning his other gems (e.g.: his match with Shelton Benjamin on a 2005 RAW, his match with Hart at Survivor Series…1992 or the one against Triple H in his hometown in 2003).

An expert storyteller, Michaels brought out the best in everyone, especially after 2002. Heck, he even got a half-decent match out of Vince at WrestleMania 22. It seemed like every time HBK was called on to craft a classic, he did. That’s why they call him “The Showstopper”.

Bret Hart – Let’s be clear on one thing: Vince McMahon did not want to push Bret Hart as his top guy. It took Lex Luger flopping in spectacular fashion – aided by baffling booking – for McMahon to eventually relent and go with “The Hitman” as the company flagbearer and the move proved to be the right decision.

Much like his contemporary, Shawn Michaels, Hart started his WWE run in a tag team before working his way up the singles ranks with standout matches against the likes of Mr. Perfect, The British Bulldog, and Roddy Piper.

While he didn’t possess elite athleticism like some of this colleagues, Hart made up for that with his technical prowess and genius-level ability to map out matches. Almost everything he did during a match, even the most minute detail, served to forward the larger story he and whoever he was working with.

We all know about his classics with Owen Hart at WrestleMania X and SummerSlam 1994 as well as the famous submission match against “Stone Cold” Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13, but like all great workers, Hart’s skills were often used to carry some of the company’s less-skilled workers to palatable matches, whether that meant making Tom Magee look like a breakout star or wringing as much out of Issac Yankem as humanly possible.

Hart wasn’t the main event protagonist McMahon wanted, but during a time where business was down, he was the one he needed to keep his company afloat. And Hart was more than willing to live up to his “the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be” catchphrase time and time again.

Kurt Angle – In wrestling history, let alone WWE history, there are few wrestlers who acclimated quicker to the business than Kurt Angle. Within weeks following his 1999 debut, Angle had already mastered his smarmy, holier-than-thou schtick, becoming a heat magnet in just about every arena he performed in.

Astonishingly, his wrestling exceeded his character work. This aspect was probably a bit easier for Angle to pick up, as his NCAA Championship and Olympic gold medal-winning skills translated well to pro wrestling. His chain wrestling was on point, he always made his opponents look good via his bumping and selling, and his transitions from move to move were as smooth as they came.

If that wasn’t enough to sway you, then maybe these matches will: his 2005 battles with Shawn Michaels, his fast-paced tussle with Rey Mysterio at SummerSlam 2002, his forgotten gem against The Undertaker at No Way Out 2005, his 2001 series with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, his Iron Man match with Brock Lesnar in 2003 or, his WrestleMania bouts against Lesnar at XIX and Eddie Guerrero at XX.

If those matches don’t do it for you, then perhaps Angle isn’t your cup of tea. And that’s fine; wrestling is subjective and open to different forms of interpretation based on individual tastes. But the chances are pretty good that at least one of those matches will speak to Angle’s bell-to-bell greatness.

Randy Savage – As much as “Macho Man” Randy Savage’s wild, outlandish promo style and charisma made him a star, it was his workrate that really helped him stick out amongst the plodding giants that occupied Vince McMahon’s roster in the 1980s.

Cutting his teeth in Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and his father’s International Championship Wrestling (ICW), Savage joined the then-WWF in 1985 to much fanfare. It didn’t take him long to prove how good he was between the ropes.

When fans were more used to a more, uh, methodical wrestling style, Savage’s athleticism and technique was a breath of fresh. Sure, the midcard has its fair share of skilled workers – someone had to bump around for those big guys – but unlike many of them, Savage stood out as a star who could pull good matches out of just about anyone. Well, anyone not names George “The Animal” Steele.

Since the 80s WWE roster wasn’t packed with the level of workers we were accustomed to in 1999, let alone 2019, Savage didn’t have the same volume of classic encounters that would befit his sterling reputation.

But the ones he did have – like his Intercontinental Championship match against Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania III, his “Retirement Match” against The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VII, or his classic with Ric Flair at WrestleMania VIII – showed what he could do with an opponent who could match him move-for-move.

The standards of the time were different, but when Savage got a chance to deliver in a big match, he often did.

Daniel Bryan – When he signed with WWE in 2009, Daniel Bryan was considered by many to be the best pro wrestler on the planet. A full decade later, the former WWE Champion has remained near the top of that list.

Yes, he had to endure some horrific booking throughout his run – such as WWE having him lose all his matches on the original NXT show while Michael Cole called him a nerd every week and telling the viewing audience that he was a “B+ Player” and unworthy of being the top guy. But despite that, the fans stayed behind Bryan due to his affability and his surgical aptitude once the bell rang.

It was Bryan’s elite wrestling skill that made him such a valuable member of the roster, as WWE felt confident enough in his abilities to plug him into any situation, be it a series of matches against the likes of AJ Styles or CM Punk that made indy wrestling fans froth at the mouth or simply bumping around to make Heavy Machinery look like a credible team.

Whenever Bryan decides to hang up the kickpads for good, he may go down as the best wrestler of this generation. While he forged much of that legacy in Ring of Honor, his WWE CV has been just as strong.