08 Jun 2014 21:08:17
Had this discussion among friends during WM season and would like to see everyone elses opinion on it.

Who would make up everyone's Mount Rushmore of wrestling and why?

For me it would be Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin & The Rock.

Vince for the fact that he is a visionary, he took wrestling from what it was as promotions and turned it into a global phenomenon, helping to make massive stars and shed loads of money along the way.

Hulk Hogan because without him, wrestling would not be where or what it is today, plain and simple. He put wrestling on the map. Even now when he returms, love him or hate him, he gets people on their feet and draws crowds in.

Stone Cold for obvious reasons, mainly because he is the biggest star the industry has ever seen imo. If Hogan put it on the map, Austin carried it through it's roughest patch and was a major part in winning the Monday night wars (against Hogan's WCW).

The Rock would be on there because he achieved more than anyone else ever has in such a short time period. He was arguably on par with Austin's popularity levels by the time he went part-time (depending who you listen to) having only really been a top guy for the best part of three years or so. That is incredible and probably only fully appreciated now looking back. For me, had he been around at that level for longer, he would be the undisputed number one of all-time.

Honourable mentions would to The Undertaker & Shawn Michaels, could make a case for either but the other four just edge it for me.

1.) 08 Jun 2014
Now that is a great question, and i'd have to agree with you on all four of your choices. Two more honorable candidates though would be Bret Hart and HHH, I know HHH isn't very popular at the moment hell the amount of people he's screwed over I doubt he's ever been Mr. Popular but you've got to respect his career. As a kid I loved to hate him and now I hate that I love the guy.

2.) 08 Jun 2014
I agree with you there, always a red. I've never been one to bash HHH, I respect the hell out of him. He would be in my top ten.

3.) 08 Jun 2014
Hogan, Austin, Rock & Andre The Giant

Woody

4.) 08 Jun 2014
Great shout, Woody!

5.) 09 Jun 2014
Hogan, Austin, Rock and Ooooooooh Yeeeeeeaaaahhh Macho Man Randy Savage.

BigBear

6.) 09 Jun 2014
For me it would be the rock Austin taker and hhh honorable mentions angle and benoit

7.) 09 Jun 2014
Rock, scott hall, Austin, jsuhin "thunder" lager and big sid ( wcw time around his stint in the horsemen)

8.) 09 Jun 2014
HHH Vince Taker Hogan. Austin Rock Hbk all very very deserving also

9.) 09 Jun 2014
I think if we are doing a Mount Rushmore of wrestling we need to look at the whole history of the business. Therefore I would go with this

Frank Gotch- the first to popularise wrestling, without doubt the biggest star before the worked finish era

Bruno Sammartino- Longest reigning champion of all time, he simply has to be on there, he was the biggest star in the history of the business until the next guy

Hulk Hogan- despite all his politicing backstage, Hogan made wrestling main stream

Stone Cold Steve Austin- biggest money making star in history, he made wrestling cool and was the biggest star during its most popular period

Honourable mentions include, Undertaker- Best big man ever
Andre- a guaranteed sell out
Flair- similar to Hogan
Rock- similar to SCSA

Popa-Lazarou

10.) 09 Jun 2014
All good shouts, surprised nobody has mentioned Ric Flair.

I would lean toward Flair, Andre, Hogan and Vince.

11.) 09 Jun 2014
If its a WWF/E thing then I can understand why Flair is left out as his best years were with WCW/NWA.

My four would be Hogan, Hart, Austin, Savage as those four carried the WWE/F into the mainstream and kept it there.

maybe a smaller hill for Michaels, Taker, Andre and HHH.

If it did happen Vince would include Cena though - no doubts about that

12.) 09 Jun 2014
I personally would have HHH nowehere near anything like that. Michaels ahead of HHH any day of the week, I would put Heyman on before HHH and others like Bret, Jake Roberts, Superfly, Eddie G, Andre, Warrior and I might even go as far as putting Mick Foley on there before HHH.

BigBear

13.) 09 Jun 2014
Bret Hart, Owen Hart, British Bulldog n Jim The Anvil Niedhart. Basically the Hartfoundation

Andy

14.) 09 Jun 2014
Hogan, Warrior, Austin and The Rock

15.) 09 Jun 2014
That must be a bias thing, BigBear. You can't honestly believe all of those guys you named have had a bigger impact on wrestling as a whole than HHH?

16.) 09 Jun 2014
Most of them Bessex I do believe that. I believe HHH is overrated. Until recently he has not done anything for me that stands out.

BigBear

17.) 10 Jun 2014
That's wasn't me.

If it was WWE only it would surly be Hogan, Undertaker, Stone Cold, and The Rock, with Vince stood on top laughing.

18.) 10 Jun 2014
My apologies Bessex.

BigBear

19.) 10 Jun 2014
I think there could be a shout for different generations. Early on, Lou Thez, Gorgeous George changed the business aswell as Gotch and Bruno. Which then brings us to the modern era. Buddy Rogers, Ray Stevens, Ric Flair who where amazing workers that will never be duplicated. For me Vince and Hogan are definates. They made wrestling from a regional low budget genre to a world wide known phenomenon. ( on that note when business slumped after the Hogan steroid scandal Davey Boy Smith was one of the main reasons WWF/E stayed afloat. His uk appeal as a worker and persona made vince millions on tours and the eventually made vince do two ppvs in England)
My others would be Austin for obvious reasons and Michaels. Although Shawn never drew anywhere near the numbers of Austin, Hogan, Bruno, Flair etc etc but I believe if he was born in any era he would have excelled. Territories, long matches, working with big guys that couldn't work. He could do the lot. For me the best all rounder ever.

Albo