ThunderStruck: Top 25 Superstars: 10-6

Time for part four of my top 25 from 1990-2012! The criteria hasn’t changed but here it is in case you forgot or didn’t read my last three pieces. My ranking system is based on accomplishments, longevity, character appeal, and my overall opinion of each performer(nostalgia being a key factor for me). Below I’ve listed 25-11 before listing the main five for this column. Enjoy!

 


 

25. John Bradshaw Layfield
24. CM Punk
23. Christian
22. The Big Show
21. Jeff Hardy
20. Jeff Jarrett
19. Booker T
18. Chris Benoit
17. Macho Man
16. Ric Flair
15. Hulk Hogan
14. Rey Mysterio
13. Randy Orton
12. Mick Foley
11. John Cena

10. Stone Cold Steve Austin – Give me a hell yeah for the Texas rattlesnake! Without a shadow of a doubt, there has never been a more popular superstar during his run at the top than Stone Cold Steve Austin. After Austin passed out during the submission match against Bret Hart at WM 13, he went on to rise to the top of the company throughout 1997 and win his second Royal Rumble the following January. We know this then led to Austin winning the WWF Championship from HBK at WM 14. Michaels has been quoted for saying that he wishes he had been 100% for that match with Austin, because he knows they could have done something much bigger than what it was. Despite that, Austin and Michaels worked a good match with the Mike Tyson/DX angle and kicked off the era of Austin as WWF Champion. I loved watching Raw as a kid every single week, always wondering what Stone Cold would do next to piss off Vince McMahon. McMahon made three full years of storylines out of trying to screw over Steve Austin before finally joining forces with him to close out WrestleMania 17. Those three years of storylines are what many consider the cream of the crop of the attitude era. Those are storylines that wouldn’t have existed without the huge fan following that Steve Austin picked up. The guy said what he wanted to say and defied all authority on camera. The rebel to the evil corporate boss was a storyline that everyone fed into and it just worked so beautifully. His matches weren’t the most technically sound nor were they high flying, but the audience was always so much more interested in the storyline before the match that the match itself didn’t have to be a barn burner to excite the fans. Austin walked away from the ring after losing to the Rock at WM 19 because of spinal stenosis. Since then he’s given back to the business by hosting Tough Enough and making sporadic appearances as a guest official. Austin was deservedly inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2009. I won’t forget his induction speech and I won’t forget him riding around Houston on his four wheeler at WrestleMania 25 the next night when the inductees were honored. The sendoff was perfect for a guy that helped bring WWE back to life during a crucial time period. Because of the gimmick and because of the huge matches and because of his accomplishments during his career, Austin represents the beginning of my top ten list perfectly.

9. The Rock – The man who pinned number ten on my list in his final match! The man who walked away for seven years and is only back to promote himself and not put anybody else over(except MAYBE Cena). Enough of the criticism, let’s talk about why I love the Rock. I hated the Rock when he first came into WWE. I thought he was boring. The fans agreed and die Rocky die became a popular chant as he was forced down our throats(sound familiar to Cena, anybody?) and awarded the IC Title just three months into his run with the company. The Rock joined the Nation of Domination in the Summer of 1997 and quickly took over but waited until March of the following year to have Farooq(Ron Simmons) tossed from the group to become the official leader. He would propel himself to become one of the biggest faces in the company when the Nation disbanded only to turn heel and win the deadly games WWE Title tournament at the 1998 Survivor Series and join McMahon’s Corporate stable. My favorite matches with the Rock start with Stone Cold Steve Austin and end with him. WM 15, 17, and 19 had three epic encounters between those two that will stand as possibly the greatest trio of matches ever performed by two individuals on the big stage. A rivalries DVD between these two is a must after the HBK/Bret DVD was produced. Some of my other favorite matches with the Rock involved his lengthy feud with Mick Foley that went from the 98′ Survivor Series all the way to the night after St. Valentine’s Day Massacre In Your House in February of 1999. Their I quit match at the 1999 Royal Rumble was brutal like no other and is a match I’ll never forget. Their match on Halftime Heat during the Super Bowl is one I’ll never forget either after Foley parked a forklift load on top of the Rock to score the pinfall. Some things you just can’t forget! The Rock dropped the WWE Title to the up and coming Brock Lesnar at Summerslam in 2002 and went away to film a movie. His next big match was with Austin at WM 19 and then he would lose a singles match to Goldberg at Backlash before starting his now famous disappearing acts. I love the Rock. I’ll never take anything away from him for what he’s accomplished and brought to the business. For his ability to electrify and audience like no other and for the big time matches he produced during his seven-ish year full time run in WWE and for his ability to tell a great story in the ring with any competitor he goes against, I have Rock as my number nine top superstar.

8. Edge – My favorite match ever with Edge was on Monday Night Raw in 2006. Rob Van Dam was both the ECW Champion and WWE Champion and he defended the WWE Title against both Edge and John Cena in a triple threat match. Edge used the title to hit Cena and score the pinfall. This was a shining moment for Edge as a heel. I like this title win better than his first because he cashed in his MITB on a half dead John Cena to win the WWE Title. I’m also not a big fan of his Survivor Series victory over Kozlov and Triple H where he was introduced mid match as a replacement for Jeff Hardy. My other favorite match with Edge was his hardcore battle with Mick Foley at WM 22. That match was magic. As far as singles matches before his big title runs, I like his IC Title match with Lance Storm at Summerslam 2001 as a forgotten gem. My final favorite match of Edge’s was against Shawn Michaels at the 2005 Royal Rumble, where he defeated him. Edge came in with the quiet creepy persona that worked for the Brood storyline, but his comical act with Christian as tag team champions is what really lifted him off the ground towards stardom. His rivalries with Cena, Orton, Batista, and Kane were all enjoyable for me and produced some really great pay per view main events. My favorite rivalry for Edge resulted in an amazing Hell in a Cell match at Summerslam and a great main event for WM 24 with The Undertaker. Edge was representing the company well as a multiple time World Champion when he wrestled his final pay per view match against Alberto Del Rio. This was a huge victory for him and an impressive match(best match I’ve seen Del Rio be a part of). I was pretty upset when Edge announced his retirement. It was premature and he was well on his way to becoming one of the greatest in ring performers of all time. I still believe that he belongs in that category, despite the early exit. For his entertainment value and solid chemistry with almost anybody he rivaled, the Rated R Superstar earns the number eight spot on this list.

7. Triple H – Hunter Hearst Helmsley. The Game. The Cerebral Assassin. Triple H morphed from the blue blood snob gimmick to the kickass snob with a bodyguard(Mr. Hughes and then Chyna) to a fun loving Degenerate with HBK. Then he took over DX and held the Intercontinental Title for a second time after defeating the Rock in a great ladder match at the 1998 Summerslam. After that, he changed his gimmick when he joined McMahon’s corporation and became a heel that wore trunks instead of tights. He then won the WWF Title from Mick Foley the night after Summerslam. I remember being really angry about this and wondering why WWE would push Triple H when they had Austin, Rock, and Foley on the roster to carry the title. It seemed premature to me. Then Hunter won the six pack challenge at No Mercy and won the title back after losing it to Big Show at the Survivor Series on the New Year’s edition of Monday Night Raw. He married Stephanie in storyline in late 1999 and put himself in power. At the 2000 Royal Rumble, he wrestled a brutal match with Mick Foley that he came out victorious in, and then went on to defeat Foley in the most barbaric Hell in a Cell match I’ve ever seen at the following month’s pay per view. This is where I gained all my respect for Triple H as being a great heel champion. The WM ending was a little botched with McMahon helping him win the match, but overall he carried the title well as a heel that year. Hunter carried the company on his shoulders from mid 2002(with a supporting cast of Angle, Lesnar, Benoit, and Michaels) all the way until 2005 when Batista defeated him for the title(and subsequently when Cena won his first WWE Title the same night). He reformed DX with Shawn Michaels and found his humorous side once again in 2006. They went and did it again in 2009. No matter what the gimmick , heel or face, Triple H has executed it beyond perfectly. He can be the ultimate villain or the face that everybody loves. It doesn’t make a difference. Despite Randy Orton having competed in major rivalries already, Triple H helped make Randy Orton a bigger star when he defeated him at WrestleMania 25, and the same goes for Sheamus with WM 26. Last year he wrestled an incredible match with The Undertaker and you know this year’s match will live up to the hype as well inside Hell in a Cell. Triple H still cuts some of the most intense promos in the business despite his lack of a full time schedule. For all that he’s done in the ring and for all the entertainment he’s provided as a member of DX, all while racking up record numbers of main events headlined and winning championship after championship, I can easily say Triple H is most deserving of this number seven spot.

6. Kurt Angle – Eleven world championships for the Olympic Gold Medalist. Kurt came into WWE in November of 1999 and became both the European and Intercontinental Champion in February of 2000. Angle was WWF Champion by October when he defeated the Rock at No Mercy. Angle’s rise to the top in WWE was quicker than anybody before him. Angle would go on to work rivalries with Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin and help team WWF defeat the invading WCW and ECW companies during the invasion angle at the 2001 Survivor Series. My favorite Kurt Angle match was against Chris Benoit at WrestleMania 17. Many argue that card to be the best Mania of all time, and they’ve got a great argument. Angle and Benoit put on a textbook perfect clinic for pro wrestling. The match was flawless and should be seen by any true wrestling fan. One of my favorite Kurt Angle memories was his rivalry with Edge and the hair vs hair match that resulted in Kurt becoming bald. Another one of my favorite Kurt Angle moments was during his open challenge in 2002. Kurt challenged anybody to come to the ring and a newcomer fresh from OVW came out and slapped Kurt across the face after telling him that he possessed ruthless aggression. The newcomer wrestled a solid match against Kurt but ended up losing rather quickly. Anybody that doesn’t remember the debut of John Cena can find the match on Smackdown’s ten year anniversary dvd. Kurt would have rivalries with Brock Lesnar and then Eddie Guerrero before stepping into a rivalry with the Big Show. What most impressed me about Kurt Angle more than anything else was WrestleMania 19. There were three matches on the card worked before the main event. The matches were Jericho/Michaels, Booker T/Triple H, and Austin/The Rock(not to mention Hogan/McMahon in a street fight). After all that, Kurt Angle stepped into the ring as the WWE Champion and defended his title against Brock Lesnar and lost. The fact that Kurt lost didn’t matter. Kurt and Brock put on one of the best matches I’ve ever watched in my life. Those two had ridiculously good chemistry in the ring together and could outshine anybody. That card was stacked and Kurt Angle managed to have the standout performance of the night. I’ll never forget it. Kurt was wrestling on ECW in 2006 when he asked WWE for his release due to his banged up body. Less than two months later, Kurt was announced as the newest acquisition to TNA Wrestling. I was happy for Kurt. I was happy for TNA. Kurt worked a lot of good matches in TNA with Samoa Joe and Jeff Jarrett, and quickly held all of TNA’s titles. Kurt has helped TNA become a bigger company than they were and has helped build a lot of the talent on that roster. For his accomplishments in WWE and his ability to work incredible and technically sound matches night in and night out, Kurt Angle earns the number six spot on this list.

That’s that for 10-6. Some of the best moments and matches of the attitude era came about from the names in this section. Five to two will be out sometime in the next couple of weeks and number one will have a tribute column done for him sometime before WrestleMania. I’ll be back with the Raw Column on Monday. Until next time, you’ve been Thunderstruck!

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