You look at the calendar and notice it's Thursday. Great, you say, tonight is going to be an awesome night of Total Nonstop Action. And then reality sets in, TNA is no longer on Thursdays. Blast that Monday Night War! Well, fear not, here are some alternatives to take your mind off of the lack of professional wrestling on your Thursday night.
WrestleMania is the biggest show of the year. People around the world come to see the biggest show of them all. At the end of the show, you want people to go away not only talking about the show, but going home happy. You don't want to piss people off and make the crowd angry at the end of the show. Everyone wants a storybook ending and something they can talk about for years to come. its very own (virtual) Hall of Fame. Voting will start March 7, 2010 and will close on March 24, 2010. Best of all, Unlike the WWE Hall of Fame and many others, you will vote in the winners.
After seeing a similar list on SportsIllustrated.com, I started thinking about the most dominate pro wrestlers in wrestling history. And after some searching and prodding, I came up with the Most Dominant Pro Wrestlers By Decade, starting with the 1950s.
| Shawn Michaels: The Greatest American Wrestler of All Time? |
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| Written by Steven Ransiear |
| Monday, 08 February 2010 20:15 |
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Before I get started, this is just stating my case as to why you could consider Michaels the best of all time in America. It's something that really can't be decided, as it's all opinion. If you look back and watch Shawn when he was part of The Rockers it would have been pretty hard to say "Yup, this guy is going to be on top for the next 20 years", but it's happened. Shawn has really defied the odds and made himself important through down periods in wrestling, as well as the booms. When things were getting a bit stale with him as a singles star in the 90's he became part of a stable that shaped the biggest money making era for the WWF in history. Shawn has become a beloved part of wrestling whether he's a heel or face. The fans are attached to him as many of the WWE's current fans have grown up with him. He's very much the Hulk Hogan of the 90's as he was one of, if not, the most prominent figure in the WWF during that period. While you can argue that, in the grand scheme of things, others are bigger stars, Shawn combined star power with the ability to put on fantastic wrestling matches. Sure, Hulk Hogan was massively popular but let's face it, he's not exactly a ring technician. Even in the WWF/E you can say that men like The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Rock were bigger stars but HBK consistently put on better matches than them. Now, that's, of course, subject to the fact that perhaps Michaels was offered more talented opponents but I digress. Not to mention that he outlasted Austin and The Rock by a huge margin. 'Taker is the only man that could really give Shawn a run for his money for being the best the WWF has ever had. Taker though, as good as he is and as much as I prefer him over Michaels hasn't always put on great matches. It took a while for 'Taker to evolve past doing the same generic moves and get some personality into his matches. Believe me, you can't accuse any Shawn Michaels matches from lacking personality. Michaels also has been one hell of a talker his entire career. Now that's when he runs into a juggernaut in this conversation of the best of all time, Ric Flair. Promo for promo it's hard to say who's better. Flair is a damn good promo master but over the years he's dissolved into nothing but catchphrases on a nightly basis. Shawn, you could say, has gotten better over the years as his character moved past being a young, pretty, cocky wrestler to a man with a life full of experiences and hardship. Flair, as good as he was in the ring, never captured me the way Michaels has. It's certainly a contrasting style but I think Michaels might take it here. He might not have the universal praise that Flair does but I think at this point people might ignore Ric Flair's flaws in the ring because he's so popular and beloved by the wrestling world. Flair wasn't able to keep up in his latter years whereas Michaels has stayed at an incredibly high level. Just look at his matches with Chris Jericho in 2008 and the match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXV in 2009. Michaels was in his 40's during those matches. Name one 40 year old wrestler today in America who can do what Shawn can? Even Triple H (love him or hate him, he's a damn good wrestler) has started to break down. If you want to look at it from a business standpoint with things like ticket sales and merchandise, Shawn is up there. How many HBK t-shirts have there been through the years? Not to mention the absolute merchandise monster that is D-Generation X. Michaels was a champion during the Attitude era, which as I said before was the biggest money making period in WWF's history. Flair drew a lot in his time but that was during the territory days where you couldn't see him for free on television every week. Michaels has been in front of sold out TV crowds as well as massive Wrestlemania crowds with fans paying to see him no matter who he's facing. Flair might have an edge on ticket sales due to the longer career but Michales might beat him when you factor in PPV numbers, television ratings, and merchandise. If you would like to look at his career from a fan's eye instead of business then you have a lot to look at. Shawn is a three-time WWF Champion, a three-time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time WWF/E tag team champion, a former World Heavyweight Champion and European Champion, not to mention the first-ever WWF grand slam champion, and a two-time Royal Rumble Winner. He's also garnered serious praise by the wrestling media as he's a ten-time recipient of the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Match of the Year Award, and was ranked No. 1 in the 1996 PWI 500. He also placed #10 on PWI's list of the best wrestling during all the years they did their 500 best wrestlers of the year lists. Michaels has also received a lot of praise from The Wrestling Observer, which some fans consider the bible of pro wrestling. He's been in a legit five star match against the Undertaker. Some could argue he's been in others as well. Michaels has been in a lot of memorable matches through the years. Whether it was any of his title wins or the two Royal Rumbles. He also won to the first ever Hell in a Cell match. If you were a wrestling fan at any point in the past 20 years, you no doubt have a Shawn Michaels moment or match that sticks out in your head.
So is Michaels the best ever? Who knows, it's not up to me to decide. He might be your favorite, he might not. But you can't say that if someone ever does come up with a definitive list of the best ever, Michaels wouldn't be in the conversation for number one. To create link towards this article on your website, copy and paste the text below in your page. Preview :
Shawn Michaels: The Greatest American Wrestler of All Time? Monday, 08 February 2010 © 2010 - hittheropes.com Powered by QuoteThis © 2008 ( 4 Votes )
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 09 February 2010 08:44 |
To me the biggest joke in wrestling. To small to believe thats why is back is shot Seems to be hooked on pain pills now. Blood shot eyes do not look good on anyone including him. Never liked him and never will . One match stands out that was against the best that would be the Undertaker three BOOS BOOS BOOS for Sissy Michaels
Craig