Who is more important for pro wrestling history? FEBRUARY 26, 2019

[francescofuoco1998]

Good morning.

This poll is about historical importance, obiouvsly not about who is a better worker.

The comparisons are:

1)Randy Savage vs Mitsuharu Misawa

2)Ultimate Warrior vs Ricky Steamboat

3)Jake Roberts vs Chris Jericho

4)Big Show vs Jeff Hardy

5)Edge vs Batista

6)Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton

  

Thank you very much

[SorceressKnight]

1)Randy Savage. Misawa was important- but ultimately if it's historic importance, "who was the more well-known person to casuals" matters most, IMO.

2)Ricky Steamboat. This is the one place I'd go against what I said in 1, however...but only because Ultimate Warrior was ultimately just a flash in the pan. The only real reason Warrior's remembered today is it happened when we were kids.

3)Chris Jericho. Jake Roberts is one of the best promos ever...but I can't ignore that "mainstream cred" Jericho had.

4)Big Show. Same token- Big Show had a little more mainstream cred.

5)Batista. See 1, and 3, and 4.

6)Daniel Bryan. Orton was always a very good star...but it seemed like, by and large, if Orton never wrestled not much of wrestling history changes.

[NikoBaltimore]

1)Randy Savage vs Mitsuharu Misawa-My gut says Savage though because I haven't seen nearly as much Misawa I felt it was best to pick the third option.

2)Ultimate Warrior vs Ricky Steamboat-Steamboat who not only had the classics with Flair but also the WM3 match with Savage that influenced too many wrestlers to count.

3)Jake Roberts vs Chris Jericho-Loved Roberts but Jericho is the Madonna of pro wrestling to this day.

4)Big Show vs Jeff Hardy-Him, Matt and the other teams for better or for worse made the TLC matches mainstream.

5)Edge vs Batista-Looking back this might be more of a draw but Batista's success in Hollywood was the deciding factor at the time.

6)Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton-Bryan along with Punk paved the way for other indy stars looking to make it there.  For that alone he gets my vote.

[Loki]

1)Randy Savage vs Mitsuharu Misawa - Savage, as he more widely known and referenced culturally.

2)Ultimate Warrior vs Ricky Steamboat - I couldn't figure this one out. Like lots of kids fell in love with wrestling on the surface because the Warrior, well, he's the Warrior. But the ones who would stick around appreciate how great Steamboat is as a worker. And that influenced future wrestlers more so.

3)Jake Roberts vs Chris Jericho - Jericho, as his longevity and the variety of his body of work are more impressive. Also, Jericho is a great representative of prowrestling to the outside world. 

4)Big Show vs Jeff Hardy - Hardy, as his tag team work is amazing and that parts of his life are a cautionary tale.

5)Edge vs Batista - In ring career, it is a wash. But Batista has had a more successful post-wrestling life. 

6)Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton - Bryan.

[Brian Fowler]

1.) Misawa. He was the ace for maybe the best in-ring company ever, and he launched what was one of the biggest promotions in the world at it's peak. Savage being more important culturally is only if we aren't considering the world but only America. I love Savage, but Misawa in a walk.

[NikoBaltimore]

6 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

1.) Misawa. He was the ace for maybe the best in-ring company ever, and he launched what was one of the biggest promotions in the world at it's peak. Savage being more important culturally is only if we aren't considering the world but only America. I love Savage, but Misawa in a walk.

I knew there was a good reason why I didn't pick Savage and this sums it up quite nicely.  Thanks.  And from the little I know of Misawa he's also one that along with others was a huge influence on the next generation(s) of wrestlers worldwide.

[OSJ]

1)Randy Savage vs Mitsuharu Misawa

I love Randy Savage, but this isn't even close; Misawa in a walk.

2)Ultimate Warrior vs Ricky Steamboat

Warrior was a blip on the radar for a short time. Steamboat defined the classic babyface for two decades.

3)Jake Roberts vs Chris Jericho

This is tough, Jake at his best was brilliant, but we thought that Y2J was going to be his peak? That was almost twenty years ago! 

4)Big Show vs Jeff Hardy

Neither are any particular importance.

5)Edge vs Batista

For wrestling? Edge, for mainstream popularity? Big Dave.

6)Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton

This isn't even close, Daniel Bryan forced a change to the finish of a Wrestlemania, when did Randy Orton do anything of similar import?

[Sublime]

1) I love Savage he is one of the quintessential pro-wrestlers but I voted for Misawa for reasons already stated, he influenced atleast one generation of wrestlers (for better or worse) and his legacy in Japan is massive. This was possibly the hardest to pick form because they are both massively influential wrestlers with huge importance to the history of wrestling in the home countries.

2) Steamboat - Warrior's legacy isn't much while Steamboat not only had a great in ring career but had influence behind the scenes for years as well. 

3) I went for Roberts he is one of the most remembered wrestlers of the 80's was an important part of that era, was great in the ring and one of the top promos of all time, the same can be said for Jericho also except change the time period (and Jericho can't touch Jake on promos) but my tipping point is that Jake has become one of the biggest influences on the changing of the culture of prowrestling by being one of the biggest cautionary tales.

4) Jeff has probably affected the industry more, helping to popularize the garbage-y spot fest match and likely influencing more wrestlers than Big Show, it's hard to influence people when one of your biggest assets is being a giant it's hard to aspire to be that.

5) Batista - Edge, like Jeff, helped popularize the big WWE spot fest match but Dave has more mainstream status and is a better wrestler than Edge in pretty much every way

6) Bryan - This is an easy one, Orton has always been a second tier guy no matter how much he got pushed, he isn't bad but he isn't great either, Bryan has been one of the most influential wrestlers this century, you can see so much of him in the crop of guys who started in the mid 00's and later