Greatest Athletes in Wrestling?
 

Who do you think the best true athletes were/are in terms of strength, speed, agility, and stamina?

They don't need to be well rounded, mind you, just great in one of those areas.

For me I've been impressed most by Brock Lesnar and Rey Mysterio respectively. Very different ends of the spectrum, obviously, but just insanely gifted and disciplined.

Well, Kurt Angle is the most solid of options I can see.

Oh yeah, great pick.

Cesaro is pound-for-pound the strongest athlete in the WWE!

Lesnar and Angle are the standouts. They have real accomplishments to back it up to.

I think AJ Styles is an incredible athlete too, amazing poise and balance, makes everything look easy.

An out of left field one, because he wasn't a smooth wrestler and was a bit clunky, but Marc Mero was a golden gloves boxer that could do 450 splashes. Pretty impressive

Kurt Angle and Cesaro currently. Mr. Perfect was a solid all around athlete in terms of guys from the past.

Danny Hodge way back in the day. Shelton Benjamin is up there

Anyone who was a high level wrestler would be a more intense athlete than any other sport, in my opinion.

So you can add Dolph Ziggler to the list.

Also Mark Henry, in his own was, in his sport of powerlifting he was one of the best ever so even though it's a very specific activity, he should probably be included as well.

Wasn't Verne Gagne in the NFL? Was he good?

Baron Corbin seems to have done well in several sports. NFL, boxing, and grappling I think.

Randy Savage. Played baseball, was a great rassler, didn't kill Miss Elizabeth.

Cesaro for sure, seems like the kind of guy that excelled that every sport he ever took part in.

Lol at edges story about hodges fingers to his ribs

Lesnar and Angle are the only two options in my mind but a shout out to Benjamin, Lashley and Benoit. All are machines.

And early 90s scott steiner

Earthquake, Yokozuna and Big Show all did sumo rasslin so they've gotta be up at the top of the list.

I think out of current guys, I would give a shout out to New Day. All three seem extremely athletic and agile in their own way.

Seth Rollins too seems super fit and athletic.

Strangely, struggling to think of any of the women who seem like supreme natural athletes. Noone really sticks out as being supremely gifted athletically. More a case of working very hard at what they do in the ring.

Charolette

Nia Jax ain't like most girls

Big Show could have been a candidate at one point

Shawn Michaels or Triple H

Bayley because she successfully defended the Raw women's title at WrestleMania.

Bobby Eaton. Still.

Billy Gunn, obviously.

ALL OF THESE ARE GOOD SUGGESTIONS.

can you explain what would possibly put HHH on this list?

Angle, Mark Henry, and Brock. All were the best at one point in time with their respected sport.

Kurt Fucking Angle did it with a broken fucking neck though so he wins.

Earthquake yeah, hes the only legit sumo of the three.

Triple H has no business in this discussion.

Juan recommended the big show and no one says a word. Triple H though and now we have critics

lol I chalk it off to not even considering it as correct in the first place

I also enjoy tpww's number juan poster, and enjoy dealing James Steelel the brunt of my Dastardly Wrath.

Yeah. I remember him legit setting a new world record on SD! a few years back, and holy fuck was he on 🔥 with the Hall of Pain.

One of my favorite moments from the early HoP days:

Also, how has Rock not been mentioned?!

More importantly, how has The Modern Day Maharaja and YOUR WWE Champion, Jinder Mahal, not been mentioned?!

BECAUSE HE HAD A BREAST REDUCTION.

(gasp) BLASPHEMY!

BOOBSPHEMY!!!!

(gasp) Mean person! (throws dinner roll @Swiss' face, runs out of thread sobbing)

Outside of the obvious ones that have already been mentioned, feel Ricochet and Will Ospreay should get a shoutout for doing things that seem literally impossible.

Kurt Angle is probably the best athlete in wrestling history though.

HEY MAN, THANKS FOR STOPPING IN. I WILL HAVE TO CHECK OUT BOTH OF THOSE WRESTLERS.

Going out on a limb there

john morrison is a hell of an athlete. his rumble spots tend to showcase that stuff.

JOMO IS AN ACROBAT.

Like I said, I think he could have been in the conversation at one point in his career, not currently obviously. Dude was doing moonsaults and drop kicks like a cruiserweight

There's a lot of good gymnasts and fine athletes, but peak Angle shits on the rest of the field.

Yeah, completely missed Big Show getting a mention, what a load of bollocks.

Funnily enough, while he was a bloody terrible athlete in wrestling, Steve McMichael should get a mention for being a Super Bowl winner and part of the legendary 85 Bears unit. Guys have an impressive college football career and JR would be all over them, but McMichael was a legitimately huge success in an athletic endeavour. As opposed to Corbin who somehow got a mention as an NFL player when he never took to the field for a game once, even in preseason.

You're a load of bullocks

Wight was a freak of nature in college basketball. He's really in his own class altogether.

He's outright said he couldn't make the pros because he wasn't good enough. He was the reserve center at WSU behind Claudius Johnson, not the starter, he wasn't that special on the court. He was the man in high school, sure, but in college he wasn't a star.

Put it this way - Brian Pillman has more business in this conversation for his college career alone than Big Show does for his.

Liam isnt biased or anything *ignores hollywood blonde avatar*

Lol but if anyone argues show as being a better athlete than pillman, i will laugh.

I've always wanted to see WWE rent out an athletic facility for a few days and film some of the guys/girls performing some of the Olympic events. Smaller and more agile guys could try their hand at hurdles, high jump, etc. after some pointers from some pro's, and the bigger guys can rock some weightlifting events....

That's just coincidence ¬_¬ If you want proof, I even brought up fuckin' Mongo before I played the Pillman card.

Angle, no question.

Honorable mentions for RVD and Marc Mero, though.

I've gotta see these Big Show moonsaults and cruiserweight-esque dropkicks.

He's talked about it on some podcast, which I understand doesn't make it true, but my point is that Show, at one pint in his career, was a good athlete for a 400+ lb giant, not that he's better than anyone that's been mentioned here.

THE DROP KICKS ARE STILL THERE, BUT THE INTERNET IS WIPED CLEAN OF HIS MOONSAULTS. I ACTUALLY HAVE SEEN THE MATCHES WHERE HE DID IT, BUT CAN'T FIND ANYTHING NOW.

Show never did a moolnsailt. Urban legend. Now his dropkicks/missle drop kicks we pretty solid. Not like...Bob Holly good or anything but good all the same.

He throws a fine dropkick. Not sure if I'd put him in a "greatest athlete" conversation based on them.

I'm definitely calling bullshit on these moonsaults though. If The Big Show ever did a moonsault it would be all over the internet. lol

I SEEN IT IN MY MIND'S EYE.

Shelton for athletics

Ric Flair and CM Punk for cardio.

IF GIANT EVER DID A MOONSAULT AS HE SAID IT PROBABLY HAPPENED BETWEEN 1995-1996 IN NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING.

WEEEEEEEEELLLLLLL IT'S THE DRUNK SHOW!

Punk has good pacing not cardio. He cant go wide open for 25 let alone an hour

"wide open" define that term. I mean I kind of know what you mean but I'd like it explained.

There's a few ways.

Obviously the sprints like Dragon Gate would put out. Even if you were doing 8 mans it would still be demanding.

Then you have guys like Angle, Michales or anyone in the east and its a much more active match. Double downs to get some wind back but otherwise you're moving from bell to bell.

Punks style though was build up to the spot and the lul them back down. Good style, but not demanding. As far and IWC darlings go he's probably the laziest. Even his classic broadways with Joe were long stretches of working the headlock. Which made for a great story but would be unfair to say he was a workhouse/cardio machine. He rests ALOT.

BEST CARDIO IN THE BUSINESS BELONGED TO MISSY HYATT

Iron Mike Sharpe for cardio and I'm being serious.

Bob Backlund was unbelievably strong and in ridiculous shape. Still is.

Big show moonsault the latest mandala effect

I no longer remember what I meant by this.

I do remember my all-caps gimmick though. That was great.

she took a lot of dick.

POOR NEW JACK'S PENIS!

Bret Hart
Vader
Ric Flair
Ken Shamrock