The 50 Greatest Professional Wrestlers of All Time: The Definitive Shoot

I will put it this way ... Writer has got excellent writing skills & his knowledge of pro-wrestling history is amazing. For this I am giving this book 3 stars. However, that being said writer's beliefs & preferences are firmly entrenched in nostalgia although there are few entries from Attitude era. This list is made from mainly being a draw stand point followed by other complimentary factors like Wrestling skills, mic skills etc. Thing is wrestling is ridden with politics & a lot of wrestlers can draw if given proper chance. Some got the chance or created the chance but others had to fight for it.Putting John Cena in Top 50 but excluding likes of Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, Edge & even Batista (who has similar level of skills as wrestler/entertainer as John Cena) is blasphemy. John Cena has given numerous really bad main events. He is a push not a draw. He is pushed down people's throats & he has pushed away a lot of hard core, loyal for life fans away. Andre the Giant is not even in league of Big Show. Andre the Giant was product of his time & really is no better than Great Khali of today. This is based on numerous Andre the Giant matches that I have seen. Same can be said about a lot of other stars on this list who were more of product of their times, got ahead by playing politics, overrated, just being lucky or just being at the right place at the right time.Quite a bit of superstars shouldn't have made the list while some others who didn't should have. & I felt some of the rankings were not correct either. Lou Thesz & Ric Flair are ironically the ones that I agree on as they were not only great in ring technicians but a draw, had mic skills, charisma. But mostly all others lacked one thing or another & being a draw is something that I firmly believe can happen to anyone if marketing engine & promoter gets behind you. See John Cena as an example. Also missing from list are Japanese wrestlers mainly because list is mostly weighted upon as an ability to draw especially in America.For anyone thinking that this book puts actual wrestling skills as main consideration for writing this book followed by other complementary skills including mic skills, being a draw, awesome character will be disappointed. It can be argued that this list is not really much better than WWE's list.To be fair to author, I think he did it because being a draw is something which can be measured tangibly & bit more objectively (although points raised by me stands) whereas actual wrestling skill is something which is more subjective & has intangible factor attached to it. However, I can see many people agreeing with this book but not me. Sorry!!

If you are a fan of professional wrestling then this book is a must read. Now, it would have been so easy for Matysik to have just listed wrestlers of the "WWE years", but he goes all the way back to the early 1900s. Some of the younger readers won't recognize names like Gene Kiniski and Edouard Carpentire. And even some of the older readers won't recognize names like Jim Landos and Joe Stecher, but these are the men that made wrestling what it is today. When I read Matysik's list of the 50 greatest professional wrestlers of all time, there were some names that I didn't see--names of wrestlers of which I was a big fan. But Matysik gives a list of criteria which he believes needs to be considered when choosing members of his list. Things such as in ring ability, microphone skill, charisma, longevity. And once I started considering some of my favorites,using his criteria; you know what? Matysik was right. Some were entertaining while doing their gimmicks, but when they wrestled, well, the matches tended to be stinkers. And others that were great in the ring, just didn't stay in around very long due to injuries, (or even death!). Matysik is brutally honest explaining why he choose certain men and, more importantly, why he didn't choose others. If they had a drug problem, couldn't draw a crowd, or wouldn't play the political game with the promoters, Matysik holds nothing back. And when you read why he picked his 50, it is hard to argue against his choices. This is a well thought out analyses of the history of professional wrestling. You will enjoy it!

Matysik has done it again, crafting a riveting read on our fair sport of professional wrestling. For how many books can you say that the introduction is as interesting as the actual meat of the book? Well, you can count this one. The first 100+ pages of the book detailing Matysik's method for assembling the Top 100 is worth the price alone, but then, lo...he delivers a definitive Top 50 of All-Time! Each chapter is perfectly suited to begin and finish on the can. Over the course of 50 visits, not only is the reader re-familiarized with the perennial greats, but he / she is also educated with inside knowledge of the business and eras / wrestlers that might have pre-dated him / her.What a great book! Fascinating and fun to read. While I might argue with some of the rankings, my squabbles are few. My only real disagreement is with the inclusion of Randy Orton at #50. I wonder if there might have been a little bit of hometown cooking influencing his inclusion. Give me Mick Foley or even Sting over Orton, but that's half the fun of the book - critiquing his list against yours.For wrestling fans young and old, this is highly recommended. Keep the books coming, Mr. Matysik!

Larry Matysik apprenticed under Sam Muchnick for 20 years. He met or heard about all the greats of pro wrestling. While all lists are subjective, it's much more realistic than the WWE lists.

I did not agree with all of Matysik's list but he knew this would be the case. For example, he left out Antonino Rocca and gave a weak argument for his absence. Rocca could rock Madison Square Garden on a regular basis --- I know because I was there. To me Buddy Rogers was the greatest of all time. It was electric when he wrestled --- I know because I was there.However, everyone will have an opinion about this or that wrestler but what sets this book apart is Matysik's analysis of what he thinks creates a great wrestler. Wrestling has been my "guilty" pleasure since I was eight years old and although my current watching is scattershot (sadly I am not a big fan of today's styles) it is a sport that I wish I had the equipment to participate in.Great job, Larry.Frank Scoblete author of "I am a Card Counter: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Blackjack"

I bought this recently and it's the sort of book i love to read. It's author, Larry Matysik has worked for some of the biggest and best wrestling promoters ever, in guys like Vince McMahon and Sam Muchnick. He also promoted the St Louis territory himself.He has worked with some of the greatest wrestlers of all time too, and Muchnik saw up close all the best from Lou Thesz to Ric Flair, so Matysik obviously has had the connections and experience to form more than a respectable opinion.I like how Matysik has really put his heart and soul into this book and debated with himself, going over his order of greatness time and time again, before finally coming up with a top 50.No doubt not everyone is going to agree with the order, but i think he has blended a nice mix of the old and new.All the greatest are here; Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Bruiser Brody, Steve Austin, Killer Kowalski, Hulk Hogan, Lou Thesz, Bret Hart, Frank Gotch, Randy Savage, Kurt Angle, Buddy Rogers, The Undertaker, etc, etc, etc.Nice to see underrated guys (in some quarters) like Ted DiBiase and Stan Hansen make the cut too.In the first few chapters he explains how and why he came to rank the best of the best in the order that he did, and also why some just failed to make the cut.The book is really easy to read and is also a great piece of reference material, with each wrestler receiving a write up/profile between five and nine pages long, depending on how high their ranking.Highly recommended.10/10

Got My Order And very Happy With IT