Most physically impressive wrestlers of all time

[dontcallme]

So my wrestling fan friends I need you to help me with an argument I had with my flat mate.

We were talking about wrestling and who the most impressive physical wrestlers have been over the years.

I argued that Lesnar is the most impressive. The way he did numerous suplexes on The Big Show and a picture perfect F5 added with the speed and ability he could wrestle put him at number 1 for me.

Goldberg was also very impressive with the intensity and the Jackjammer he did on Big Show as well.

But my mate is adamant that the British Bulldog was stronger. I just can't believe he puts him on anywhere near an equal footing. I know he was very strong but not to their level.

Am I missing something or is my flatmate completely blinded by patriotism?

[El Canuck]

If you're talking just physical feats of strength then Mark Henry would have to top them all as he was quite literally the strongest man in the world at one point.

If you're talking about the talent to be able to combine great size and strength with ring psychology and uncanny speed and agility then I would have to say that the Anoi'a family has that market cornered above all. The Wild Samoans, Rikishi (both solo and as a member of the Headshrinkers), Yokozuna (early on in his WWF run) have all been very gifted wrestlers who possessed exactly what I'm referring to.

Another that springs to mind in that vein is Bam Bam Bigelow, who is still regarded as one of the best "Big men" to get in the ring. Then there's Vader who was very physically impressive in the ring.

Davey Boy was a fantastic wrestler in his day (he came from the Hart Dungeon after all) and had a very impressive physique and was very over in the early 90's. I never really thought of him as a "Big man" wrestler though, especially when considering that his size was almost all attributed to his muscle mass. He wasn't an overly tall man and was quite thin (almost exactly the same size as Bret Hart, actually) in his early days in Stampede and abroad.

Brock however, is a big man. This is a guy who physically dwarfs all but the guys teetering on the seven foot mark and can even throw those guys around like ragdolls with his amazing strength.

Goldberg. Well, I hear he's a really nice man and he certainly had an impact on the wrestling world and he had squash matches down to a science, but when push came to shove, he certainly felt like he was just average, you know? The example you gave of giving the Giant a jackhammer, yes, that looked really neat, but with a standing/vertical suplex it's as much on the guy taking the suplex as it is the guy giving the suplex to make it look good. Big Show kept his legs straight and aloft for Goldberg, he pushed himself up and held it long enough and yes, it's impressive for Goldberg to have the strength to bear all of Show's weight like that, but Big Show deserves just as much credit for it as Goldberg does. For instance, if he had done that to say, the Great Khali, it may not have looked as impressive, because my money says Khali probably wouldn't be able to balance like Show did.

Other guys that I think fit the description I talked about above would be Samoa Joe, Mike Awesome, The Undertaker, Kane, Dusty Rhodes, One Man Gang, Big Bossman, Haku, Kongo Kong/Osyris (worker on the North American indy scene. Seriously, check this guy out, he can go with the best of them) Big Show, Jim Neidhart, Jerry Blackwell and Bradshaw. I could probably think of more.

[Jama7301]

How strong was Sid or Batista, as it relates to this discussion?

[GooberBM]

How are we having a conversation of physically impressive wrestlers and not talking about Andre the Giant? #RealTalk

But of the options you gave, Goldberg was more physically impressive than young Lesnar to me. Brock was hyper athletic but he looked like such a cornfed baby-faced white boy that there was always something about his look that screamed "trying to be a monster" instead of being one.

Grown up, wife and family Brock Lesnar? Now that is one imposing fucker!

[stigsyv1]

For me it's cesaro he has to be pound for pound the strongest guy I have ever seen. He makes lifting guys like Henry and Big Show seem effortless.

[Maher]

Even that I'm not a fan but John Cena can really lift.He is a freak>

[meta]

Cena is not a big guy, but damn is he mutant strong.

[Red_And_Yellow]

Brock is far and away the most physically impressive wrestler ever imo. Possibly even the best athlete ever.

[GooberBM]

I implore everybody: Andre the Freaking Giant! Google him in Japan. Please, for your own good

[Red_And_Yellow]

I have seen plenty of mobile Andre, that is crazy, still don't think it would put him as most physically impressive wrestler ever.

[Big slim]

Brock, both cornfed white boy and grown up, is the most physically impressive wrestler I've ever seen. Dude was tossing around Mark Henry, Rikishi, and Big Show when he was still a baby, and he made it look easy as hell. If dude stayed a wrestler instead of bowing out in 04, this conversation would be shorter. He is a monster.

Cena is a strong fucker as well. Guy has mutant like strength, just watch when he had Edge and Show on his shoulders at WM 25.

Cesaro is a freak as well, being his size and being able to lift and toss around the likes of Brodus Clay, Big Show, Khali, and Big E is damn near awe inspiring.

Can't leave out those Samoans, the lot of those boys are big as hell but can move a rumble with the best of them. Just watch any Umaga vs Jeff Hardy match to get a prime example of it.

As for brute strength, that is Mark Henry's domain. Like Nucks said, dude was the official World's Strongest Man and I read something somewhere a while ago that said might be one of the strongest humans to ever live.

Now physically impressive looking, I would say Goldberg, Lex Luger (although how much of his body was amped up thanks to the the juice, we will never know), and I can't forget Chris Masters.

[El Canuck]

As for brute strength, that is Mark Henry's domain. Like Nucks said, dude was the official World's Strongest Man and I read something somewhere a while ago that said might be one of the strongest humans to ever live.

Thor "The Mountain" Bjornsson would like to have a word with you about that.



If that behemoth got trained HE would be the one throwing Lesnar around. The man has broken weightlifting records set a millennium ago in Iceland that people had thought to only be myths. He's freakin' 27 and he's winning strongman competitions with ease. When you see him swinging that sword in Game of Thrones, it's no special effects. That's a real (albeit blunt) broadsword and he's swinging it with one hand like it's made of nerf. Brock Lesnar is the Freak of Nature, Mark Henry WAS the World's Strongest Man, but Thor Bjornsson is The Mountain Who Breaks Records.

[Red_And_Yellow]

If Thor trains to be a pro wrestler, then he would be the strongest man to probably ever wrestle and may knock Brock Lesnar off the most physically impressive wrestler of all time pedestal.

[GooberBM]

Nucks <3's The Mountain though, so your argument is invalid

[El Canuck]

Nucks just thinks he's a behemoth who, if trained properly, could be an absolute beast in the ring. I'm also clearly biased towards him due to his appearing on Game of Thrones.

[GooberBM]

You're not saying you <3 The Mountain, but I don't hear you saying you don't either

[Legend_Killer]

Being a big guy like that doesn't mean he'd be any good, no matter how good the training he gets is. He needs to have some sort of speed and agility or else he would just be another Khali.

[El Canuck]

Well duh. It's no secret how much I harp on big, tall guys pushed to the moon with not a trace of talent just because they're big, tall guys. I see something more in Thor Bjornsson. Watch his strongman competition work, that guy knows how to carry his weight far better than a guy his height and size has any right to.

[Red_And_Yellow]

He's 6'9'' and with his strength it's not hard to make him matter.

[Legend_Killer]

He's 6'9'' and with his strength it's not hard to make him matter.

Oh sure, they will act like he matters but Canuck said he would be a beast in the ring and I don't think that is a given (or even likely)

I can't see how he would be much different to Khali, to be honest. Doesn't exactly ooze charisma or personality.