Just a Mark: 15 Greatest Professional Wrestlers of All Time; Part 1

Wrestling is an ancient art, steeped in a rich history of larger-than-life characters. Next to running, in fact, wrestling is among the oldest sports in mankind's history. Modern day professional wrestling seems a long way from the Olympic or collegiate style of wrestling, but both share the same lineage via the catch-as-catch-can style that was popular on the carnival circuits during the late 19th century. In fact, both styles have seen some memorable characters. It is a little known fact that 16th president Abraham Lincoln was a successful wrestler, and many former amateur wrestlers have gone on to become great professionals in modern times.

However, it isn't simply technical wrestling skills that determine a great professional wrestler. A great professional wrestler must have technical skills, but they must also possess several other traits. They also have to be able to convince an audience, through their acting skills and delivery, that what is happening in the ring is legitimate. Wrestlers are also asked to deliver tightly scripted promos and interviews, in a convincing manner, in an attempt to get people to pay to see them. Which is why it helps to have a magnetic, larger-than-life personality. Personality, acting skills, and technical ability; these are the tools that most great professional wrestlers possess.

While it is often said that that wins and losses don't necessarily matter in professional wrestling, they can say a lot about how each wrestler has been seen by promoters and fans over the years. This is also true of championship reigns, star-ratings for matches, and yearly rankings in certain Professional Wrestling publications. Honestly, it's all subjective, as what makes a great professional wrestler ultimately comes down to the taste of the individual observer.

With that said, this is my list of who I believe are the 15 greatest professional wrestlers of all-time. Feel free to comment with your own list and let me know who I forgot. Special thanks to The Internet Wrestling Database and Cagematch for accolades, win/loss records, and championship histories.

The longest reigning WWWF Champion (WWE World Champion, today) of all time, with his first title reign lasting a whopping 2,803 days and his second at an impressive 1,237 days (ranking first and fourth all-time, respectively). Bruno Sammartino essentially ran the Northeastern, WWWF territory throughout the 1960's and 70's. While this would make him among the greatest, if not the absolute greatest, of all-time, I was not alive to see Bruno at his peak. For this reason, alone, I am unable to rank him among the 15 greatest. However, Bruno deserves to be mentioned alongside the rest of this list, as he is rightly considered to be one of the best.

A.J. Styles is, perhaps, the man most associated with Total Non-stop Action (TNA) Wrestling. Since 2016, however, Styles has plied his trade in WWE, alongside some of the greatest talents of the modern era. He has managed to fit right in with those greats, and has even risen above many of them on his way to becoming one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all-time. According to the Internet Wrestling Database, AJ Styles has won a moderately impressive 56.87% of his televised matches. Styles was also ranked number 1 in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated top 500 in 2010, with his lowest ranking coming in the year 2000 when Styles was ranked number 458. AJ has also amassed 7 top-10 appearances in the PWI 500. AJ was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Hall of Fame in 2017. In addition to these accolades Styles is a two time (and current) WWE World Champion, three time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, two time Impact World Champion, six time Impact X-Division Champion, two-time IWGP Champion, and has held tag team and junior heavyweight championships in various independent promotions around the world. Styles also has a 5-star rated match (as rated by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter), a triple threat match for the NWA (TNA/Impact) X-Division Championship versus Christopher Daniel and Samoa Joe.

Dusty Rhodes was a man synonymous with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), throughout the 1970's and 80's. In 1989, Rhodes debuted with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF/WWE), where he became famous for making polka dots a viable fashion statement. A return to WCW in 1991 led to Rhodes becoming more of a behind-the-scenes presence as his in-ring career wound down. Dusty was a charismatic wrestler, known for delivering passionate interviews with his trademark voice and "Dusty-isms" ("Funky like a monkey!"). He was also a three time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, three time NWA World Tag Team Champion, three-time NWA World Television Champion, and held many NWA Regional Championships during his storied career. Dusty Rhodes was inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame in 1995, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996, WWE Hall of Fame in 2007, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2010. Sadly, Dusty Rhodes passed away in June 2015, leaving behind a legacy of greatness that few will ever approach, let alone eclipse.

CM Punk is considered something of an iconoclast. A man who was fed up with the status quo, and sought to fight the political machinations of WWE as the "voice of the voiceless." Punk holds a career win percentage of 59.41%, with a record of 625-376-51, according to the Internet Wrestling Database. Punk was ranked number one in the 2012 PWI 500. He is a former five time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, WWE Intercontinental champion, WWE World Tag Team Champion, ECW Heavyweight Champion, Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Champion, two time ROH World Tag Team Champion, and has held several championships in various Independent promotions. Punk also boasts two 5-star match ratings. The first (10/16/2004) came against Samoa Joe for the ROH World Heavyweight Championship, in a match that went to a 60-minute time limit draw. The second 5-star match starring CM Punk came on 7/17/2011, in a winning effort against John Cena for the WWE Championship. This came during the infamous, WWE version of the Summer of Punk, and is a moment that lives on in WWE history, despite Punk no longer being a part of the company. CM Punk also holds the second longest WWE World Championship reign of the past twenty years, lasting 434 days. This reign has only been broken recently, by the barely-present, current WWE Universal Champion, Brock Lesnar. There is no doubting CM Punk's place among the greatest in history, as he sparked many lapsed WWE fans' return to watching professional wrestling, when he delivered his signature "pipebomb" worked-shoot promo on June 27, 2011.

Kurt Angle is not only one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all-time, he is also one of the greatest amateur wrestlers of the modern era. He is a two time NCAA Division I Wrestling Heavyweight champion, World amateur wrestling Champion, and Olympic gold medalist having won gold in freestyle wrestling at the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta, Georgia. However, Angle's greatest claim to fame has been his professional wrestling career, which has shown just how versatile he is as a performer. Mixing incredible athleticism with humor and personality, Angle made his name in WWE from 1999 to 2006. He then sent shock waves through the industry, leaving WWE and joining TNA in 2006. Angle was named the number 1 wrestler in the PWI 500 in 2001, just two years after making his official WWE debut. Angle has been honored with inductions into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (2004), National (amateur) Wrestling Hall of Fame (2012), TNA Impact Hall of Fame (2013), and WWE Hall of Fame (2017). Angle is a former six time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE European Champion, WWE Hardcore Champion, WWE Tag Team Champion, WCW United States Champion, six time TNA/Impact Wrestling Champion, Impact X-Division champion, two time Impact World Tag Team Champion, and IWGP Third Belt Champion. Angle was the first man to hold all three male championships in Impact wrestling, simultaneously. He also combined the WWE European and Intercontinental Championships and won the WWE Championship, all within his rookie year in WWE.

Hulk Hogan, what more needs to be said? During the 1980's, Hogan essentially was professional wrestling in the minds of millions of people around the world. Rarely has a professional wrestler been so transcendent. People who have never seen a match know who Hulk Hogan is, and what he does. Hogan was ranked number one in the PWI 500 for 1991, and has never fallen below number 59 (2000). The Hulkster has been inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. He is a former six time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, WWE World Tag Team Champion, six time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Champion. Hulk is also a major pop culture icon, starring in movies such as Rocky 3, Mr. Nanny, and Suburban Commando, as well as his own reality TV show: Hogan Knows Best. Recent times have not been so kind to Hogan, however his legacy as the biggest name in professional wrestling continues to live on.