The Greatest Champion of All Time

[Spiritchaser 107]

:xyx

 

Draven Cage has just made an excellent point about he thinks Hogan is the greatest "champion" of all time, and he cemented that status with his battle against The Rock.

 

My question is "Who is the Greatest Champion" not wrestler.

 

For me it should be obvious by now...........Taker. :worship

 

For me he just had Champion written all over him and I think Vince saw that too.

 

Flair would be second and Hogan third and there is a three way tie for fourth with me anyway H3/Rock/Austin because each of them gave their all for the fans, yes even H3, remember the Streetfight with Cactus and the hole he had in his calf, mmmmmm nasty. Fifth and finally wouold be mick Foley himself, because no man gave more of "himself" than Mick.

 

Spiritchaser

Champion (The Wonder Horse) :D

[Paul 584]

Hmmm, Hogan at the top deffo! Stone Cold second as he outshone his opponants (even The Rock), Flair third and Rock at forth.

[Guest Simon]

For me the Greatest Champions of all time (Whether we're talking WWE or not) will always be Rock, Austin, Flair and Hogan. Reasonably boring choices I know but its honestly how I see it.

 

If you were to put a gun to my head and say my favourite of all time I'd have to say Austin... Just my personal opinion.

[Guest xzonewrestling]

I think in relevance to the question id have to say HHH, especially with the recent angles, no matter what you say about backstage influence and politics, in front of that curtain HHH is unbeatable, hes stayed at the top longer than anyone in the past X years, and you have to look back to the Hogans and Flairs to see people more decorated and pushed more by their respective companies.

 

But what swings the game for me is the fact that hes doin what hogan an flair did, but hes doin it in 2004, wrestlings changed alot, fans want title changes, new stars, twists in plots, we have a lot shorter attention spans and alot less starry eyes than we did 15 years ago

 

just my 2 cents

[DC 536]

I would have to go with Hogan. IMO no-one, in his prime, could touch Hogan for building a crowd and making them mark out. Austin and Rock tie for second place with me. With HBK/Benoit/Bret Hart coming in third. Bret and Benoit for giving the title credibilty that it sometimes lacked. Bret in particular has had a rough ride by some people regarding his reigns, ok No.4 was used more to advance the story between him and Austin. Just think if they hadn't done that it would have been Taker and Bret instead of one of his best, heated matches against Austin. HBK, I think was a credible champ. HHH weas good in the begining, but has lost it recently. Bradshaw, IMO, is one of the best heel champions in a long time. Not since Flair in his prime has so many wanted one man to lose a title, and been frustrated when he sneaked out with another win. That is the mark of a good champ, his programmes with Eddie, Booker and Taker have led him to the Four-way at Armageddon, which has been built up over almost 6 months.

 

Just my opinion folks.

 

p.s. Am I the only one who preffered it when Austin was chasing the belt?

[Evil Gringo 279]

Simple... Hogan and Flair at joint first for me due to what they brought to wrestling and followed by The Rock, SCSA and HHH for helping keeping it going from 1998-2001.

 

In Japan then I'd go for Hashimoto for NJPW, Misawa for AJPW and now Kobashi.

[Guest Annoyus]

Gotta go with the crowd here: the greatest champion has to be Hogan. He presided over wrestlings 'golden age' in terms of popularity, and even today he's still probably got the most household-name value out of anyone to ever hold a title belt in America.

[Guest The Beltster]

Hulk Hogan is the greatest World Champion of all time.

 

Firstly, he was HUGELY over. He was the biggest star of all time and a huge huge draw. He did what a champion is supposed to do, he carried the entire promotion on his back alone and made it the most sucessful promotion in the entire World.

 

Flair, Austin, Rock, Taker, HHH, Bret Hart etc didnt do that, none of them did. Flair never carried the NWA to great heights, Austin, Rock, Taker and HHH all had an awesome supporting cast (basically each other) to carry the load, none of them did it alone, and when Taker, HHH and Bret Hart have had to be the lone star, the company cant draw money and is in a down period.

 

Hogan was the greatest champion ever, without a doubt. Even when his stock started falling in the WWF, he went to WCW and that company expeirenced a boom, and then another huge boom when he was brought into the nWo.

 

Hogan = The Greatest Champ EVER.

 

As for Taker, he never really drew as champion, and I dont really think a gimmick wrestler needs a title or should have it. Thats just my opinion though. I always prefer Taker away from the title, just doing his own thing. He doesnt need the belt.

Edited November 29, 2004 by The Beltster

[wyndorf 389]

I think the Hulkster was a great champ in the Eighties, but I'm not convinced he would have been as good holding the WWF attitude era title. Maybe it's a case of who was the greatest world champ of there time. Stone Cold and the Rock were red hot in the late nineties and early 20's. At this moment in time I think HHH is a very good champion. To say HHH is not as good of a champ than Hogan would be unfair, just as unfair is comparing Hulks most recent WWE title run to his eighties hey-day.

[Guest MARTIN316V1]

Without a doubt - Stone Cold Steve Austin.

 

With Rock, Taker and Triple H next in the list.

 

Also someone earlier saying Taker is a gimmick wrestler and doesnt need the belt, well all wrestlers are gimmick wrestlers - Austin, Rock, Hogan, Bull Buchanan are all gimmick wrestlers. It's there gimmicks that get them over. How exiting would Austin vs Rock be with no gimmicks, it would be 2 guys who no one cared about wrestling each other.

[Guest Jung]

For me, I'm going for Ric Flair. I can see why many go with Hogan, but for me, half of his success is down to Vince McMahon, the way Hogan was booked. The overcoming the odds against the huge villain (Andre, Bundy etc), the whole 1980's mentality of super muscle bound physique, or being betrayed by the friend (Savage, Orndorff). There was some fantastic booking going on there, and Vince and co, really tapped into the culture of the times, in terms of people needing a hero they could look up to and the actual persona of that hero.

 

Of course Hogan was immensly charismatic and could have the crowd eating out the palm of his hand, but again got to give up half of that to the booking crew then, for doing such a good job in terms of angles, persona's, interviews and presentation. And also while Hogan was the figurehead, there ain't no way, he carried the promotion on his back, and I'm sure there are a zillion wrestlers who'd argue about Hogan being the be all and end all.

 

Without Andre, Savage, Orndorff, Vince, Bossman, Akeem, Dibiase, Piper etc, Hogan would have been nothing. It's great to have the ability and persona Hogan has, but for every great hero, you need a great villain, and Hogan got them. Of course not in terms of wrestling ability, but it goes with the times. America, cold war, and then Iraq. Odds needed to be overcome, and that was embodied in wrestling with Hogan.

 

Without Hogan, WWF would have never got to where it did, undoubtedly. But the same can be said that without all those opponents, tapping into the exact sentiments of the world and culture at the time, plus without Vince and the booking crew's brilliant ideas, the WWF wouldn't have gotten where it did either.

 

Thus I picked Flair because simply, he was the guy, everyone had to beat to become champ. To be the man, you've got to beat the man. Flair like Hogan could deliver a great interview, and was by far a better wrestler than Hogan. In terms of crowd control, no one can ever touch an 80's Hogan, but Flair had the heel market dominated.

 

His matches and defences against the likes of Steamboat, Kerry Von Erich, Sting, Terry Funk, Luger were all legendary, and heck he even got a 3 star match out of El Gigante!!

 

Flair elevated people to that next level, and had the crowd really wanting him to lose, and truly believeing in guys like Sting, who had previously never even been thought of as a contender. To me, that's what a champion was all about.

[Guest The Beltster]

Without a doubt - Stone Cold Steve Austin.

 

With Rock, Taker and Triple H next in the list.

 

Also someone earlier saying Taker is a gimmick wrestler and doesnt need the belt, well all wrestlers are gimmick wrestlers - Austin, Rock, Hogan, Bull Buchanan are all gimmick wrestlers. It's there gimmicks that get them over. How exiting would Austin vs Rock be with no gimmicks, it would be 2 guys who no one cared about wrestling each other.

#

 

They are all their characters, IMO, but not necesarily gimmicks. The Rock, Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, HHH, HBK, Bret etc are all characters, but they are reletively normal guys. None of them really do anything out of the ordinary and act human (Hogans Hulking Up being the biggest gimmicky thing any of them do).

 

I'd class guys like Taker, Doink, Kamala, Honky, Akeem, Bossman etc as gimmick wrestlers as they are all gimmicks. Taker is supposed to be an Undertaker, Doink is a clown, Bossman is a copper etc. Austin, Rock, Hogan are all pretty much supposed to be just normal people like Flair, HHH, Orton and them lot.

 

Thats my opinion on what makes you a gimmick wrestler rather than a character.

[Guest The Beltster]

And also while Hogan was the figurehead, there ain't no way, he carried the promotion on his back, and I'm sure there are a zillion wrestlers who'd argue about Hogan being the be all and end all.

 

Without Andre, Savage, Orndorff, Vince, Bossman, Akeem, Dibiase, Piper etc, Hogan would have been nothing.

 

I totally disagree. Hogan got over in a time where it was Studd, Bundy, Andre, JYD, Shiek, Volkoff, Piper etc. NONE of them were huge stars barring Piper and Andre, and even those two were no backup to Hogan like Rock, HHH, Taker, Kane, Hart, Vince himself etc were to Austin.

 

Hogan CARRIED the WWF to great heights it had never before seen. True, after about 1987 or so, Hogan didnt need to carry the load as they were established and there were other stars like Savage, Warrior, Hennig, Rude, Demolition etc who were starting to get over big time, but from 1984 - 1987, Hogan carried the company and if it wasnt for him, their wouldnt have been any of those other guys on such a prominent National and International stage, and there would have been no PPV's like WM and SummerSlam, cos no fan would have paid to see anybody else to that extent at that time like they did pay to see Hogan.

 

So, to say Hogan would have been nothing without all those guys you mentioned (especially when Hogan was already over MASSIVE from the AWA and none of the other people were even involved until after Hogans popularity exploded) is a falisy. Hogan would have been huge no matter who he faced, hell his feuds with the likes of Volkoff, Studd, Kamala etc all drew big ratings and good money, who else could draw feuding with Nikolai Volkoff?!

 

I do agree that awesome booking and great exposure helped Hulk Hogan hugely become what he was, but like I already said, Hogan was already becoming a massive star in the AWA, and thats why Vince poached him and promised him the WWF title etc, he KNEW that Hogan was gonna be a big star with or without Vince, he jumped on the Hogan bandwagon at just the right time and they were a perfect combination.

[Guest Mr Dragon]

a Edited December 17, 2006 by Mr Dragon

[Guest JC]

Greatest Champion??? I'll just put my top 5 :)

 

1) Hulk Hogan - For all the reasons already stated makes him a clear winner in my view.

2) Austin

3) Ric Flair

4) The Rock

5) HBK