alright we gotta hash this out...who are the MOST FAMOUS wrestlers of the past 30 years

[Kunty McPhuck]

Lesnar has to be 10th

Hoegan and Rock are 1 and 2.

3-9 Anyone from Austin, Flair , Savage, Andre, Piper, Ventura

Do you include Vince? If so then he is got to be Top 5. ***** ****** More infamous.

 

[Heelish]

Edit: Added Mrs. Lesnar at 24, totally forgot about her.

Sable is definitely underrated for contributing to the AE with Austin, Rock, Foley, NAO, etc.

 

[R=G]

The Rock is the biggest mainstream name that ever came from pro wrestling
Hogan, Andre, Macho, Austin..names like that follow.

 

[R=G]

I don't think I know any non wrestling fans who could name a single wrestler who got famous after like 2000.

People like to figure Cena is mainstream famous because he does the talk show circuits but if you think Bruce Cac from wyoming sticks around for the second interview after the monologues and the a-list star interview, well...

Cena popped up for a SNL or Mad TV cameo and he got no reaction whatsoever..a complete no name. A bytch from Dawson's Creek would of gotten a reaction at least

 

[Capo Dei Capi]

British Bulldog (This is probably more being in the UK)


I feel like you can make an argument for most WWF Wrestlers from like 85-92 and then 96-01

Bulldogs fame won't be as noticeable to americans but i can't think of anyone in the uk that doesn't remember the british bulldog whether they watched wrestling or not

 

[Grifter]

Jimmy Del Ray

 

[Da King]

1. Austin

that's obvious, ratings, merch, sold out arenas don't lie. Anyone who thinks otherwise I can't respect

 

[Cladyclad]

Rock
Hogan
Steve Austin
Cena
Macho Man
Warrior
Bret Hart
Undertaker
Flair
Andre the Giant
HHH
Benoit (obvious reasons)

I may be missing some. these are guys people just know

DB only been popping for 6 years. Out of that six years he was at the top for 4. Factor in his injuries it's like 3 years worth of spotlight. Social media makes him seem bigger than he really is. Cena would break the net if he retired right now. Hell if announce he marrying Nicki or having a kid. Those Would triple the reactions of DB retirement

 

[Golayitdown]

Dope thread as usual @Ed MOTHERfukkING G

1. Hogan - Living on his past peak right now. Rock's about to eclipse him very soon.
2. Rock
3. Flair
4. Vince McMahon
5. Austin
6. Savage
7. Taker
8. Brock Lesnar
9. Andre the Giant
10. Warrior
11. Ventura
12. Piper
13. Bret
14. Sting
15. Michaels
16. Cena
17. Bryan
18. .......

I looked back and found that I'm missing a whole bunch of people, but I know 1-6 are in stone.

Here are my tiers:

1-6 Undeniable Tier: If you never watched wrestling a second in your life, you 9/10 who these guys are. They are still present in the mainstream decades after their peak OR (in Austin's case) their peak was so major that everyone still knows who they are even when they stepped into the background. You can argue the ranking, but never the impact. Each one go these guys could have a page written to justify them being #1.

7-15 Wrestling Mainstream Tier: If you ever watched wrestling, you 9/10 know who these guys are. They're the guys who were part of the biggest eras in history and/or made a significant impact out of the ring. They are legends in every sense of the word, but they're not as popular as the undeniable group before them. (for example: Brock Lesnar is literally the most anti-mainstream guy in history, but his decision to stay in the WWE instead of going to UFC was major news on all of the sports outlets.)

16+. Current stars & mild crossover stars from past eras: You'd probably have to follow the product to some extent to know these guys. They're either still building their resumes, got hot after wrestling cooled off in the mainstream or did not quite cross over enough to be in the other tiers. You can argue their worth, but you'd never waste time putting them 2 spots up or 4 spots down since the talent pool here is so saturated.

Like @prophecypro said, it gets really hard after the undeniable tier though

I keep looking and can easily add more to the

 

[El Poyo Loco]

Hulkkk Hogan

Flair

Rock

Austin

Savage (Slim Jim commercials and Spider Man cameo put him here)

Cena (If something bad where to happen to him right now it would be leading the nightly news just like Savage's death did)

 

[richaveli83]

1. Hulk Hogan
2. The Rock
3. Stone Cold Steve Austin
4. Macho Man Randy Savage
5. John Cena
6. Vince McMahon. Yes he's not a wrestler but if you mention wrestling it's automatically associated with the WWE and Vince McMahon.
7.Brock Lesnar. Mainly because of UFC
8. Ric Flair
9. Roddy Piper
10. Jesse Ventura. From the films in the 80's and being governor.
11. Andre the Giant. Mainly people over 40.
12. Chris Benoit. Because of the murder.
13. Bret Hart. Primarily in Canada and the UK.
14. Owen Hart. Primarily because of the way he died.
15. Mick Foley
16. Daniel Bryan

 

[CM_Burns]

There's a huge gap between Hogan/Rock and everyone else. If you didn't watch WWF at all in the late 90s you may not remember who Stone Cold is, and kids nowadays probably don't know him.

 

[JerseyBoy23]

Hogan
Austin
Rock
Flair
Savage
Piper
Savage
Cena
Maybe Bryan

Who am I missing?

 

[TNC]

breh, goldberg is an absolutely nobody outside of wrestling. He is less famous than the jake roberts / kevin nash / mr pefect tier....honestly i think big show is more famous than he is.

Bruh, Goldberg got gigs as an MMA announcer, shows about Cars on the speed network and numerous hosting spots purely off the strength of his wrestling career. He isn't top 5 or anything but he's definitely known, I'd wager more people know Goldberg than HHH.

 

[Spyro]

Over in the UK, on this game show called Pointless, more people knew who Big Daddy and Kenzo Nagasaki were over Rock/Andre/Hogan