Daily DDT Staff Picks for Top 5 WWE Wrestlers of All Time
By Bassam Kaado
Joe Anthony Myrick’s Top 5
- Kurt Angle
- Shawn Michaels
- Eddie Guerrero
- Bret Hart
- Roddy Piper
Deciding between my #1 and my #2 was the hardest decision I’ve had to make in a while. Both have legitimate stakes and claims to being the best WWE wrestler of all time. Both can be seen as a complete package, both are equally tremendous in the ring and as characters, etc. Hell, Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 21 is my favorite match of all time.
With that said, Angle’s match with Undertaker at No Way Out 2006 is a close second and that helped make my decision a little bit easier. While HBK arguably has the better overall career in WWE, Angle has a better, bigger pedigree and body of work when it solely comes to his in-ring work.
The Olympic background obviously helps, but while Michaels’ natural charisma naturally translated to the ring, Angle seamlessly transitioned his amateur background in a way that made sense in professional wrestling and made for some consistently incredible matches.
Eddie Guerrero was another guy who’s charisma seamlessly led itself to consistently entertaining match-ups. His level of charm was unparalleled. No matter how often he lied, cheated and stole, it was hard not to get the crowd behind him. It was impossible not to get invested into his matches. He had the whole WWE Universe eating out of the palm of him hands. That amount of crowd support is what led to his first and only WWE Championship win.
Meanwhile, Bret Hart wasn’t the most charismatic wrestler out there, but he could out wrestle my Top 3 on any given day of the week. Never seen him in a match that was anything less than great. He had a five star classic against Tom Magee, for crying out loud! A legit argument can be made for him being the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be. He certainly backed that moniker up whenever he stepped inside of a ring.
In the case for Roddy Piper, whether he worked as a devil-may-care brawler or a skilled in-ring technician, Piper was sublime at everything he did. He was born to be a star and was so good in the ring that he was able to produce a number of stars.
The late legend once told Hulk Hogan, “Do you think they would’ve loved you so much if they hadn’t hated me so much?” The late Hall of Famer got a nation to hate him enough that it allowed them to fall in love with his greatest rival when he was still a rising star: Hulk Hogan.
Years later, he produced a contest at WrestleMania with Bret Hart that was so fantastic that it helped the crowd accept The Hitman as a singles star when he transitioned from tag team work. Piper was a work of art on the mic and in the ring.