Top 3 professional wrestling all-time stars? I’m not a big fan of Chris Jericho, but there is no doubt that he is one of this generation’s most convincing and contentious characters. A perfect mix of wrestling talent and mic work, Jericho is consistently entertaining. He is credited as being the first Undisputed WWF Champion, having unified the World Championship and the WWF Championship by defeating The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin on the same night in 2001. Surely, he is one of the greatest wrestlers in history.
Kia Stevens, also known as Awesome Kong, is not only a veteran wrestler but an actor too. Fans may recognize her from Netflix’s GLOW, a wrestling dramedy about the 1980’s promotion, the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. On the show, Stevens played Tammé Dawson, a Black woman who is forced to reckon with her cliched gimmick, the Welfare Queen. In the show’s third season, Tammé struggles with back pain, turning to drugs and alcohol to keep her career from falling apart. Stevens has praised the show for its realistic portrayal of both the emotional and physical perils of professional wrestling. Awesome Kong made a big splash when she debuted on AEW, but she has since had limited appearances due to her GLOW filming schedule and her own real-life injuries. Although she hasn’t retired quite yet, she plays an important role backstage as a coach and producer for the women’s division.
When the Islamic rulers of Persia began hiring Turkic mercenaries about 800 ce, the soldiers brought with them a style of loose wrestling called koresh, in which grips may be taken on the long, tight leather pants worn by the wrestlers and the bout ends with a touch fall of the loser briefly on his back. Gradually the Turks took over the entire Muslim dominion, and their wrestling style spread. Later Mongolian invasions in the 13th century introduced Mongolian wrestling, which received royal patronage, and wrestling became the national sport of modern Iran.
Do you remember the days when critics of John Cena called him the ‘golden shovel’? The Franchise Player, for the majority of his run as the face of WWE, received criticism for ‘burying’ young talent. To be fair, WWE did promote Cena as its resident Superman. However, things have changed in recent years. John Cena isn’t the top guy who runs WWE anymore. He is a veteran adamant about giving back to the business. Consequently, he hasn’t won a match in a long time. John Cena’s last WWE win came on January 7, 2019, where he teamed up with Finn Balor and Seth Rollins to defeat Dean Ambrose, Bobby Lashley, and Drew McIntryre. On the other hand, Cena’s last singles win came against Baron Corbin at WWE’s MSG Show on Dec 26th, 2018. The Champ’s last WrestleMania win came at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. Though Cena’s evident desire to put over stars is commendable, it’s still strange for fans to not see him win in a long time. Read even more information on WWE News.
Often regarded as one of the best professional wrestlers of all time, the 2000s represented the rebirth of HBK following a highly-publicised battle with addiction. Michaels overcame a career-threatening back injury to emerge from his first retirement for a feud with real-life best friend Triple H back in 2002. The HeartBreak Kid went on to enjoy memorable rivalries with Chris Jericho and John Cena while he also reformed D-Generation X. Yet perhaps his most notable contribution of the decade remains his successive WrestleMania match of the year clashes against The Undertaker that led to his second retirement from the ring.