Shooters the toughest men in professional wrestling pdf

Uploaded by station Internet Archive's 25th Anniversary Logo. Search icon An illustration of a magnifying glass. User icon An illustration of a person's head and chest. Sign up Log in. Web icon An illustration of a computer application window Wayback Machine Texts icon An illustration of an open book. Books Video icon An illustration of two cells of a film strip. Only Kimura was able to beat him at his own game.

Weaknesses: Kimura didn't perform as well in full no-holds-barred matches, indicating he may have been vulnerable to striking technique. He was also beaten up by pro wrestler Rikidozan, although that bout may have been an elaborate work, again showing he could be beaten by a poweful striker.

Thesz was once NWA World Champion for 1, consecutive days, traveling around the world to do battle with the best regional champions and top challengers. By the s, when Thesz ruled the roost, wrestling was no longer anything that even resembled sport, so Thesz's legitimate credentials are entirely unproven.

We do know this: The conglomerate of promoters who made up the National Wrestling Alliance trusted that Thesz, if push came to shove, could fend off anyone who challenged him in the ring. Wrestling wasn't quite as wild and wooly as it had been in the s, but that ability still meant something and says plenty about Thesz's standing as a tough guy.

He could make a tough amateur cry uncle using holds and techniques that, if applied right and without mercy, could and would break bones. Weaknesses: Thesz started in the wrestling business young. He was traveling regularly throughout his career and never had the chance to truly master the art of wrestling.

Insiders, speaking off the record, indicate he was competent on the mat but not a true artist. Angle's wrestling credentials speak for themselves. Although he turned it into a gimmick, worshiping his own success for comedic effect, an Olympic gold medal was, indeed, a very impressive feat. Of course, Angle's legend is built almost as much on how he earned his Olympic medal as his mere possession.

Angle courageously some might say foolishly competed despite a seriously injured neck. They don't come much tougher than Kurt Angle. Strengths: Unparalleled skill on the wrestling mat. That's pretty impressive. Weaknesses: Angle doesn't have an intricate knowledge of submission technique. Although Angle was a physical mess at the time, battling countless injuries, he didn't seem to recognize the hold and may have been at risk against other submission aces on this list. His bouts with Volk Han and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka set a new standard of excellence and he walked closer to the line between real and fake than any man before or since.

With his good looks, perhaps amplified by his trademark skin-tight banana hammock red Speedos, Tamura was a favorite of female fans. He was perfect as a supporting player, the man who came on just before the main event.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Tamura did well when shoot style wrestling died and he was forced to try his hand at legitimate fighting. While Tamura was never one of the top 10 fighters in the world, he was a solid competitor who never once embarrassed the sport. Weaknesses: Tamura simply wasn't one of the best of his era. Against the toughest men in the world, like Wanderlei Silva, he came up short. He also struggled with the oversized giant Bob Sapp, making success against some of the others on this list unlikely.

No one can be as tough as LeBell was rumored to be. Many of the rumors were likely started by the colorful LeBell himself; he's all bluster and a great storyteller. But there is plenty of substance to go along with that sizzle. Strengths: Amateur judo credentials establish his legitimacy, and he was also schooled in catch wrestling and boxing.

Weaknesses: Struggled with Savage, a much smaller boxer. That doesn't bode well for matchups with bigger and highly skilled grapplers. Billy Robinson was the British wrestling champion in , but as he'll tell you, he was still just wet behind the ears when he was mopping up many of Europe's best to finish out the s. But he never forgot his catch wrestling roots and wasn't afraid to stretch a wrestler or three to show the boys in the back what he was all about.

Strengths: Solid amateur background combined with top-of-the-line catch as catch can submission holds. Robinson learned from England's best and then passed on his knowledge to future stars like Kazushi Sakuraba. Weaknesses: Rumored to have lost a street fight to The Rock's grandfather Peter Maivia, leading to speculation that his mat mastery only went so far. While he undoubtedly had a mastery of the submission arts, Robinson came up during a time he wasn't able to test himself in true competition.

As a technician, Funaki was as good a grappler as anyone in the world during his prime. Others in the promotion during his glory days insist Funaki only lost matches when it made business sense to do so. He was good enough to decide on his own what the outcome of a bout would be—then make it so.

Strengths: Funaki was a master of catch wrestling submissions. Combined with solid standup, Funaki was one of early MMA's most accomplished and dangerous fighters. Weaknesses: Funaki wasn't an accomplished amateur and would have to spend much of his time against the top wrestlers of any era in a defensive posture. The "Strangler" was one of wrestling's biggest stars, ruling the sport in the s and s as a box office attraction and favorite of sports reporters nationwide.

Although Lewis wasn't the only superstar of his era, he received the best press, and his story has been told and retold so many times, some of it has become myth. Lewis was, without question, the truest of wrestling legends—a one-of-a-kind force that shaped the industry for decades. Lewis helped usher in a faster-paced and more theatrical style of wrestling.

But when push came to shove, he was a highly skilled legitimate grappler, capable of holding his own against the top shooters of his era. Strengths: A fireplug of a man, Lewis was a remarkable defensive wrestler. He was able to compete for hours and avoid pinfall and submissions from even the best opponent. Weaknesses: Lewis was a great wrestler, but most contemporaries and historians agree that others were his match in a straight contest. By the end of his career, he was also nearly blind, putting him at a severe disadvantage when things got physical.

Like Danny Hodge, Jenkins was a tough wrestler and also a competent boxer. For Jenkins, that was a particularly risky proposition.

He only had one eye, so a boxing mishap could have been disastrous. His physical limitations led Tom to stick with wrestling. There, Jenkins relied on brute strength and a willingness to do whatever it took to win—even if that meant he was violating more than one rule.

Strengths: Jenkins had an iron grip from his years working in a factory and used it to brutalize and control opponents. He wasn't afraid to bend rules to the breaking point and beyond, often utilizing dirty tactics like eye gouges or even punches and kicks to win a match.

Weaknesses: Jenkins was not known for his scientific technique. A more skilled grappler could get the better of him. Like Billy Robinson, Gotch, despite an appearance in the Olympic Games, had only just begun his wrestling education.

The amateur game was like high school—his true matriculation, his finishing school, was at Billy Riley's Snake Pit in Wigan, England. It was there Gotch learned the ins and outs of catch as catch can wrestling.

Wrestling Perspective filled in the details of Gotch's early career after his death in :. Race's identity was concealed in the NBC special Exposed! Pro Wrestling's Greatest Secrets. Newspapers in New York reported on Pro Wrestling's Greatest Secrets 0.

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