In 1999 when the WWF first aired vignettes hyping his debut, Kurt Angle was promoted as the “most celebrated real athelete in WWF history”. While that statement is pretty damn funny for a number of different reasons, there was no denying how REAL Kurt Angle truly was. Before stepping into the world of “entertainment”, Kurt was a legitimate Olympic Gold Medalist, which is about as big as it gets in the world of athletes. Kurt was offered a deal in 1996 by the WWF (and by ECW), but Kurt laughed it off until he came to his senses in 1998 after watching an episode of WWF Raw is War.

In retrospect, Kurt’s story in wrestling is that, alongside guys like Bill Goldberg, Vader, and Brock Lesnar, he was one of the fastest rising stars in the history of the business. After debuting at the 1999 Survivor Series (not many stars debut on PPV), he became the first man to capture every single singles title in the company (technically Diesel did it first, but that was 2 belts to 4). This culminated with Kurt SHOCKINGLY defeating The Rock at No Mercy 2000 to become the WWF Champion. Kurt would go on to win a plethora of titles as well as the 2000 King of the Ring.

Kurt was really a jack of all trades. He was a legit “shooter” and everybody knew it and he could be one of the scariest dudes ever. But he also had tons of charisma and could do comedy as well. But the thing Kurt was best at, that earned the respect of both his piers and the fans, was his workrate. Kurt quickly learned how to have not only good matches, not only great ones, but EPIC matches. The list of great matches Kurt had just in his first year were stunning, but he really didn’t hit his stride until 2001, when he had damn-near classic contests with Triple H, The Rock, Stone Cold, and Chris Benoit, many of these were just on regular episodes of Raw. Kurt remained a solid main eventer in the WWF/WWE and capped his seemingly short, but effective Hall of Fame career with classic Wrestlemania encounters with Brock Lesnar, Eddie Guerrero, and Shawn Michaels. In 2006, after a somewhat bizarre and controversial series of stir-ups between Kurt and the WWE management, Kurt left the company to travel to TNA. His first month there, he faced off with the incredibly hot Samoa Joe and gave TNA their biggest PPV buyrate in company history. Kurt has remained in TNA since then and gone on to win numerous titles and feud with nearly everybody on the roster.
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Chris Jericho has succeeded through many an adversity to try and be the best at what he does. From opening match cruiserweight to Main Event Undisputed Champion, Jericho has risen up past the glass ceiling.

What he was best at, was reinventing himself. From the cheesy and cocky cruiserweight in WCW, he first became a stock babyface in the WWE/F, then a cowardly heel, to being the overly serious “Best At What He Does” star.

Jericho made a name for himself in WCW, with a character that was a smart aleck/whiny rock star. Not only a decent wrestler, his mic work was great, being able to change the mood of the crowd at the flip of a switch, or getting another wrestler over. See Dean “Man of 1000 Holds” Malenko.

With all of his talent in the WCW, Jericho could never break through the glass ceiling. He had crowds chanting his name, had a multitude of signs, and had a LONG winning streak against Goldberg (*cough*). But thanks to the Millionaire’s Club (Hogan, Nash, etc), he could never break into the main event scene.

When given the chance to jump ship to the WWF, Jericho made one of the greatest debuts of all time in August 1999 against The Rock. With “Break the Walls Down” playing and the crowd on their feet, Jericho had finally made it to the big time, and eventually made it through the glass ceiling in the WWF. He would go on to become the first Undisputed Champion in WWF history, winning the WWF and WCW titles (then known as the World Championship) by defeating both The Rock and Steve Austin in the same night.

Jericho went on to have great feuds with many of the top stars in WWF/E, eventually becoming a 6-time World Champion. A man who criticizes his own matches closely, and even keeps a tally of every match he’s ever had (see his book – Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps), Jericho continues to try and improve himself with each match.

Defining Match of the WrestleMania Era: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XIX
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Eddy Guerrero is the greatest “all-rounder” in the history of pro wrestling. Considered in the 90s to be one of the premier in-ring workers in the world, due to his seamless fusion of lucha libre, puroresu, and old school US psychology, Eddy took his game a step further during his WWE career when the character and personality side of things became as big an asset for him as his imperial technical ability. He could be a beloved babyface, a hero to a community or he could flip a switch and be the lowest of lowlife heels. What’s more is that he could play either role with the charisma of a thousand men. While injuries and non-stop pain were a fixture in his life in 2005, he was still one of the most entertaining performers in all aspects of the game when he was tragically taken from us in November of that year. With all his knowledge, and with the type of great guy he was (always willing to help others) – losing Eddy was a massive blow to the future of wrestling.

Beginning his career in Mexico, Eddy did well as the babyface son of Gory Guerrero, but his career there took off when he turned rudo and formed Los Gringos Locos with the late Art Barr. An early highlight of his career was the sensational AAA “When Worlds Collide” PPV where he and Barr got their heads shaved in front of a rabid crowd that they had built into a frenzy. Donning the Black Tiger mask in New Japan, Eddy took on the likes of Jushin Liger, Chris Benoit and Shinjiro Ohtani in classic bouts. It was in 1995 when Eddy was finally given his shot in one of “the big two” and did well for himself during a run in WCW but injuries and mis-management prevented him from reaching his potential. Glimpses of his amazing charisma were seen during his first run as “Latino Heat” in WWE before a stint battling addiction put him on the sidelines. He rebuilt himself from rock bottom, both as a wrestler and as a man. After touring the indies and Japan, he was picked up once by WWE and his career went to new heights. Getting over as an icon to Latin fans, he was rewarded with a historic title win over Brock Lesnar in 2004. It was a match and a moment that no wrestling fan will ever forget and it was the undoubted high point of an amazing career.

Defining Match Of The WrestleMania Era: Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio at Halloween Havoc 1997

While the Lesnar match may be the most special of Eddy’s career, he had another match which may be the ultimate showcase of his talents – the classic Halloween Havoc 1997 encounter with his career rival Rey Mysterio. A textbook rudo performance by Eddy and perhaps the best match of WCW’s peak era.

It’s great timing for this list that just one week ago, The Rock returned to face John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania 28. It was Rock’s first WrestleMania since being in a handicapped tag match with Mick Foley against Evolution. The match was good, not great, but it did rekindle the memories of possibly Rock’s most famous match ever; the one in which he and Hulk Hogan wrestled in front of a huge crowd in Toronto at WrestleMania X8. That match was built as a battle of the ages. It was the 80s versus the 2000s. It was old school versus new school, an eventual passing of the torch.

In hindsight, the torch may have been passed to the wrong person. It was Rock’s seminal moment as a wrestling superstar. He’s had better matches for sure. In 1998, he and Triple H had a Ladder Match at SummerSlam that helped catapult him into superstardom. He would win wrestling’s highest honor at Survivor Series of that year. In 1999, he main evented his first WrestleMania against Stone Cold Steve Austin. In 2000, he was in the main event again at WrestleMania 2000. At WrestleMania X-7 just one year later, he and Stone Cold Steve Austin had one of the greatest money drawing matches in recent memory. While all of those matches helped The Rock achieve great status in the wrestling world, it wasn’t until his match with Hogan in Toronto that he was actually the biggest star in the business. In each of his matches with Austin, it was Austin who was the bigger star. But this time, it was Rock’s show.

Even though the torch was passed, Rock wouldn’t be around all that much until he simply wasn’t there at all anymore. He would be in and out because of his burgeoning movie career, wrestling Austin again at WrestleMania XIX and finally winning and then at the match I described above with Foley against Evolution. It took him eight years to get back into the ring against Cena and he’ll be gone again filming more movies.
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One of the greatest compliments you can say of any performer is that their work is timeless. This is especially the case in a trade as evolving, and at times fickle, as pro wrestling. Curt Hennig, at his best, was timeless – a great worker in an era of great workers.

Hennig understood the makings of a heel. He knew his job was to make whoever he was paired with look great, and he knew sometimes that meant making himself look silly. He knew when to sell, when to back off, when to cower – Hennig just got it. Seeing Mr. Perfect’s name on the card was a guarantee of quality.

While Perfect could bump like a boss and carry inferior opponents to matches few felt they were capable of, it was only when he wrestled guys like Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart that you truly saw the best of him. That was the type of level he was at and it was a level only a select few could match. While injury issues cost him ring time, he transitioned seamlessly between roles of wrestler, manager and commentator – his performance in each case; always perfect. During his entire stint with WWE, he could do no wrong.
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