The Greatest Worker of All Time

DEFTLEFTHAND

For me it has to be Shawn Michaels. I've been re watching his matches on the Network recently and the guy was just unbelievable in the ring. He could drag a decent out of anybody (average workers like Taker etc), and he did it on a consistent basis for years.

I know he never drew like the people who came after him in the Attitude Era but in my eyes he was the absolute master of the ring. He would have been Hall of Fame material in 98, even if hadn't come back for another run.

Bounty Hunter

For some reason when I see the thread title here Arn Anderson pops into my head.

Omackeral

Since I start watching it's Benoit, Michaels and Angle in my top 3. Angle and Benoit could work a junior style when needed but were also legit looking killers (poor choice of words there!) in the ring without hurting their opponents. Shawn was the consummate showman in my opinion and was so much more exciting than Bret. Daniel Bryan and Eddie Guerrero,when he was motivated, were super workers too.

gerrybbadd

Shawn and Bret. To have these 2 guys come along more or less at the same time, was something special

I think, in time to come, Sami Zayn will be known as one of the best workers ever as well. While on the indies, he was known as the guy that had the best match of the night, every night.

the groutch

as much as people hate his gimmick, or the fact that he goes over too often, John Cena.

thebostoncrab

For just wrestling skills, it's between Misawa, Benoit, Daniel Bryan, Dynamite Kid and Angle.

For personality and charisma, it's Rock, Hogan, Austin and Hayes.

For the complete package, it's HBK, Flair and Angle. So I guess with that in mind, I'd go with Kurt Angle.

Stereomaniac

Bret Hart. He was able to make anyone he worked with look good. He had a great ability to make things look good, both in his execution (pardon the pun) and his selling of manoeuvres. He was not as flashy in his repertoire as the likes of Shawn Michaels or Dynamite Kid, but his style was a lot more realistic and as a result made wrestling look like a lot more legitimate sport. Everything that he did in the ring I believed in him every step.

Mr.Nice Guy

I haven't watched any of his matches since the tragedy but I don't recall ever seeing Benoit have a bad match.

I remember one match from one of the lesser shows like Heat where Benoit took on Tyson Tomko. I never thought much of Tomko as a perormer but Benoit made this guy look like a million dollars, and it was a damn good match. He had the skills to do make anybody look good.

Brindor

Krispen Wah

Stereomaniac

Chris Benoit is undoubtedly one of the greatest ever. It's such a shame it won't be recognised.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I haven't watched any of his matches since the tragedy but I don't recall ever seeing Benoit have a bad match.

I remember one match from one of the lesser shows like Heat where Benoit took on Tyson Tomko. I never thought much of Tomko as a perormer but Benoit made this guy look like a million dollars, and it was a damn good match. He had the skills to do make anybody look good.

I've been making my way through WCW PPVs from 96 and 97 and Benoit's match is nearly always the stand out match on the card.

For eg himself and Dean Malenko put on a 30 minute clinic at Hogwild 96. It's a match I'd recommend.

Itssoeasy

Stereomaniac wrote: »

Chris Benoit is undoubtedly one of the greatest ever. It's such a shame it won't be recognised.

A shame ? Chris sealed his own faith with what he did to his son and wife. I mean I can't watch the wm XX main event because of mr Benoit. So while he might have been a talented wrestler he clearly was an utter **** of a human being.

ShagNastii

"The greatest worker of all time?".

I remember watching a Dustin Runnels shoot interview and at the end he was asked how would he like to be remembered? He quite simplely put it that he would like to be remembered as one of the greatest workers that ever was. He was being deadly serious.

I'd certainly echo all suggestions people have made but there are a few wrestlers (I'd nearly argue like Dustin) that are in for a shout but will go a million miles under the radar. The Rhodes brothers would be greatly underrated in terms of "workers" IMHO.

gimmick

Itssoeasy wrote: »

A shame ? Chris sealed his own faith with what he did to his son and wife. I mean I can't watch the wm XX main event because of mr Benoit. So while he might have been a talented wrestler he clearly was an utter **** of a human being.

He was seriously mentally ill. This was shown later in Nowinskis tests.

That said I cannot watch any of his matches anymore knowing what he did and knowing how much I loved him ptior to that.

Regarding the question of the thread - Chis Jericho deserves a mention. He has jerked many a curtain and lit up plenty main events. Very over face or heel and stood the test of time.

Best ever? No. But one of? Absolutely.

Stereomaniac

Itssoeasy wrote: »

A shame ? Chris sealed his own faith with what he did to his son and wife. I mean I can't watch the wm XX main event because of mr Benoit. So while he might have been a talented wrestler he clearly was an utter **** of a human being.

Yeah. I think we've had this discussion on here many times over the years. He committed a horrific act which can never be taken back. But what can't be taken away is that he was one of the greatest workers of all time, as we're discussing in this thread. That will not be commemorated by the WWE. Just saying!

DEFTLEFTHAND

Jericho is right up there for sure, and still doing it at 45 years of age.

One of the great promo men also. Full of charisma and so funny at times.

Stereomaniac

Is there anyone from the WWWF era that could be mentioned in the conversation, do ye think? Probably beyond most of our area of expertise but I feel there has to be someone worthy.

gimmick

Obviously. All time etc. Piper could easily be included. As could Steamboat. As could Dusty etc etc etc. But most are long before all our time.

Ageyev

Stereomaniac wrote: »

Is there anyone from the WWWF era that could be mentioned in the conversation, do ye think? Probably beyond most of our area of expertise but I feel there has to be someone worthy.

You'd be talking very early 80s and before. I can't think of anyone that would rate in terms of workrate - WWWF's style was pretty slow and boring. Look at some of the videos on the Network, of which there are few, from the mind to late 70s and early 80s.

If the Funks wrestled for Vince Sr. then you'd have to say them. Likewise with the Briscos but I'm not sure any of them appeared. Pat Patterson and RaynStevens were supposedly excellent - Ric Flair used to say Ray Stevens was the greatest wrestler he ever saw but he mostly worked in California afaik.

Bruno Sammartino is worth a mention obvs.

d22ontour

A worker for me is someone who could put anyone over, the Rock could put a referee over if the situation took it.

A Rogue Hobo

Shawn Michaels. He was revolutionising what the main event scene was like in the mid 90's, arguably one of the main people who pushed the envelope in terms of content encouraging Vince to create the attitude era and was widely considered one of the best in the world at the time. And that's not even mentioning his natural charisma. Then after a 5 year hiatus comes back and becomes even better than he was before. Will never see any one that is a more "complete" wrestler than he was ever again in my mind.

LeeJM

Judging by the people put forward Im guessing ye are just looking at the best in North America and not including Kobashi, Misawa etc from Japan. Greatest workers in North American history for me are Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, Randy Savage, John Cena and Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan. Not necessarily in that order but they are defo my top 5.

chopperbyrne

LeeJM wrote: »

Judging by the people put forward Im guessing ye are just looking at the best in North America and not including Kobashi, Misawa etc from Japan. Greatest workers in North American history for me are Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, Randy Savage, John Cena and Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan. Not necessarily in that order but they are defo my top 5.

Obviously entitled to your opinion, but to leave out Bret and Shawn in a discussion of greatest (NA) workers is mental.

Eddie deserves a mention, as does Lesnar.

Hogan too. He was better than everyone else in the world at doing the right thing at the right time to keep a crowd hot.

Andersonisgod

Depends on what you mean by worker. In terms of pure ring work rate and match quality Hogan doesn't deserve a mention given that even when he was on top in WWF and WCW his matches were rarely the best on the card. However he was the big draw for practically all of that time.

Because the thread title says worker and not wrestler I'm going to stick to bell to bell output. I'm not sure if this is North America only because, if not then I'm pretty sceptical of some glaring omissions.

In North American terms I'd have, in no particular order: Lou Thesz, Dory Funk Jr, Terry Funk, Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Randy Savage, Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody, Dynamite Kid, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, Bryan Danielson, AJ Styles.

If you opened up the parameters a bit the list would look quite different, especially if you were to include different regions (Japan, UK and Mexico), tag teams and criteria outside of ring work.

ShagNastii

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Jericho is right up there for sure, and still doing it at 45 years of age.

One of the great promo men also. Full of charisma and so funny at times.

I'd agree. As was commented on an episode of OSW when he did the 1004 holds list shtick. He is a guy that just "gets" pro wrestling one million percent. Can go in the ring with the best of them.

LeeJM

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Obviously entitled to your opinion, but to leave out Bret and Shawn in a discussion of greatest (NA) workers is mental.

Eddie deserves a mention, as does Lesnar.

Hogan too. He was better than everyone else in the world at doing the right thing at the right time to keep a crowd hot.

I didnt leave them out just that they wouldnt be in my top 5 all time workers. Shawn would be top 10 and Bret somewhere in top 20. Eddie most certainly would be in my top 10 as would Rey Mysterio.

Stereomaniac

Ageyev wrote: »

You'd be talking very early 80s and before. I can't think of anyone that would rate in terms of workrate - WWWF's style was pretty slow and boring. Look at some of the videos on the Network, of which there are few, from the mind to late 70s and early 80s.

If the Funks wrestled for Vince Sr. then you'd have to say them. Likewise with the Briscos but I'm not sure any of them appeared. Pat Patterson and RaynStevens were supposedly excellent - Ric Flair used to say Ray Stevens was the greatest wrestler he ever saw but he mostly worked in California afaik.

Bruno Sammartino is worth a mention obvs.

Bruno Sammartino is always on the table when discussing the greatest of all time but not here I think because we're talking about actual in-ring skills for this.

happyoutscan

Randy Savage.

jaykhunter

Greatest worker IMO, for pure wrestling I'd say Kurt Angle, but the best all-rounder (working the crowd, getting emotion etc) is Shawn Michaels. Kurt is so smooth, fast, crisp and precise, it's a work of art; but he doesn't work the crowd nearly enough, he's generally focused on his opponent. Shawn is incredible as the babyface in peril and the comeback' eliciting deep emotion. Hero!

ERG89

Hbk, Angle, Benoit, Bret Hart & Guerrero for my top 5. Haven't watched enough Japanese stuff to discuss the Misawa's or Kobashi's

Clegg

I don't know about the all time best because I'm not old enough to remember anything pre 2000.But since I've been watching wrestling the the most consistently excellent in ring performer I've watched is Hiroshi Tanahashi.

His body of work is simply incredible. His series against Okada since 2012 is up there with any of the all time great feuds from an in ring perspective. The bigger the occasion the better the match. He absolutely made Okada's main event career.

He gets derided for being the Japanese Cena because he almost always goes over, but his in ring mannerisms are a million miles off from the super baby face. He's an arrogant sod in the ring and pulls off all the cheap tricks against up and coming baby faces trying to take his spot. There aren't many faces as popular as Tanahashi who can still get the crowd to turn on him simply by heeling it up effectively. He's what Roman Reigns is trying to turn himself into except he's so much better in the ring.

CSF

It's a Shawn Michaels v Kurt Angle one for me here. I'm gonna go for the former but it's close. I think if I was someone that had followed Daniel Bryan during his indie career then he'd probably be right up there on my list also because most of what he did in his years in the WWE was gold.

Andersonisgod

Clegg wrote: »

I don't know about the all time best because I'm not old enough to remember anything pre 2000.But since I've been watching wrestling the the most consistently excellent in ring performer I've watched is Hiroshi Tanahashi.

His body of work is simply incredible. His series against Okada since 2012 is up there with any of the all time great feuds from an in ring perspective. The bigger the occasion the better the match. He absolutely made Okada's main event career.

He gets derided for being the Japanese Cena because he almost always goes over, but his in ring mannerisms are a million miles off from the super baby face. He's an arrogant sod in the ring and pulls off all the cheap tricks against up and coming baby faces trying to take his spot. There aren't many faces as popular as Tanahashi who can still get the crowd to turn on him simply by heeling it up effectively. He's what Roman Reigns is trying to turn himself into except he's so much better in the ring.

Ye working very much on the assumption that this is based on North America otherwise the answer is either Mitsuharu Misawa or Kenta Kobashi with some room for discussion on Toshiaki Kawada, Tatsumi Fujinami, The Great Muta, Tiger Mask, Shinya Hashimoto, Jushin Liger, Hayabusa and Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Agent Coulson

Big Daddy.

Itssoeasy

I didn't see his name but ted DiBiase I always thought was a great worker. His stuff wasn't flashy but his stuff looked slick and well done. It looked real.

thebostoncrab

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Obviously entitled to your opinion, but to leave out Bret and Shawn in a discussion of greatest (NA) workers is mental.

Eddie deserves a mention, as does Lesnar.

Hogan too. He was better than everyone else in the world at doing the right thing at the right time to keep a crowd hot.

I'll gladly leave Bret out every single time. While he was great, my issue with his stuff was it was almost too clean. It came off like the transitions and holds were rehearsed and not something applied "in the moment", which always took me out of Brets matches. Owen on the other hand had that extra bit needed to make his matches more enjoyable.

sky88

thebostoncrab wrote: »

I'll gladly leave Bret out every single time. While he was great, my issue with his stuff was it was almost too clean. It came off like the transitions and holds were rehearsed and not something applied "in the moment", which always took me out of Brets matches. Owen on the other hand had that extra bit needed to make his matches more enjoyable.

I always felt that owen was the better wrestler and all round performer then bret but owen didnt have the same drive to succeed as bret. He just wanted to have money to support his family with wrestling, which has been said on a lot of his tributes.

For me the greatest worker is hbk.

Eddie if he had of stayed alive i think would have been up there with shawn. he was getter better at that stage of his career then he ever had. Shame we never got shawn vs eddie like i think was planned for wrestlemania 22

Mick Murdock

If I had to watch a wrestling spectacle with no backstory whatsoever HBK would probably be top of the list when it comes to in ring but imo there is so much more to being a great pro wrestler than that. Same goes for Benoit (regularly watch him on the network without concern) but I find the guys who get you on the edge of your seat (usually the main eventers) far better "workers".