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Arts & Entertainment

Top 10: Sting, Stone Cold, Shawn Michaels - who are the greatest wrestlers ever?

Let the heated promos about who's better begin...

We've compiled a few Top 10 lists from some wrestling fans from around The Dallas Morning News -  here's a glimpse at the panel.

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Gerry Fraley - covers the Texas Rangers for SportsDayDFW, wrestling enthusiast

News Roundups

Catch up on the day's news you need to know.

Or with:

Joey Hayden - sports producer for SportsDayDFW.com, wrestling enthusiast

John O'Rourke - sports desk editor, wrestling enthusiast

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And here are three (very different accounts) of the greatest professional wrestlers of all-time.

Gerry Fraley's list

10. The Rock - The WWE pulled out of a slump in the late 1990s with "the most electrifying man in sports entertainment." The Rock parlayed that into a successful movie career.

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Can honestly say some of my fav memories of WWE's RAW was when it we WENT OFF THE AIR and we were no longer live. Here's me and Austin entertaining the crowd for easily an additional 30min. We always made sure we had two things: Enough beer for the both of us and my disturbing passion to creativity sell his Stone Cold Stunner is ways that would make the go crazy and crack up. You can't tell in this vid, but me and Steve are literally laughing our f*cking asses off here. And the crowd was too. We all used to have this kind of fun after RAW went "dark". Myself, Austin, HHH, Foley, Angle, Jericho etc. Good times. This is a much different kind of "entertaining the audience" than we see today - not better, not worse, just different. But this kind of entertainment will always be my greatest privilege when I step into the ring. And this Sunday at #WrestleMania32 in front of 100,000 strong #WWEUniverse, it'll be my privilege again. #PeoplesChamp4L #ArtOfSelling #AndOverSelling #WhileSlightlyDrunk

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9. Stone Cold Steve Austin - The former North Texas defensive end, Austin found a breakthrough character in "Stone Cold," the hard-charging, hard-living Texan. Austin sold more merchandise than even Hogan.

8. Dusty Rhodes - One of many performers out of West Texas State, now West Texas A&M. Rhodes was the master of the promo and had huge appeal in the South and Southwest.

7. Buddy Rogers - Where did Flair learned his stylin' and profilin' ways? From the original "Nature Boy."

6. Andre the Giant - Listed at 7 feet 4 and 450 pounds, the big man was a huge attraction. His matches with Hogan in the 1980s became major events for the mainstream audience.

5. Gorgeous George - The first true heel, he brought flamboyance to the ring with his effeminate personality. Muhammad Ali said he learned from Gorgeous George. Enough said.

4. Lou Thesz - A champion over four decade and master of the power game. Thesz was a deciding factor in the battle between the NWA and the WWWF in the 1960s.

WWE Diva Charlotte (right) and her father,  Ric Flair, talk to media during a press event ...
WWE Diva Charlotte (right) and her father, Ric Flair, talk to media during a press event at Reunion Tower in Dallas. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)(The Dallas Morning News)

3. Ric Flair - The best all-around performance the business has known. Flair could work in the ring, and no one was better on the microphone.

2. Bruno Sammartino - Known as the "Living Legend," Sammartino regularly sold out New York's Madison Square Garden. He carried the business into the 1980s.

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1. Hulk Hogan - His work in the ring was ordinary, but Hogan was the charismatic figure around which the WWE was built. His mainstream popularity was unrivaled.

Joey Hayden's list

10. Chris Jericho - Broke through despite his smaller size in the Attitude Era, and reinvented his Y2J character into a smug, suit-wearing world champion, plus he has his own rock band. He's a chameleon.

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9. Edge - Some were upset he went into the Hall of Fame so quickly, but his rivalry with John Cena was one of the starting points of my wrestling fandom.

8. Bret Hart - The best there ever will be has one of WWE's most storied careers, including one of the best matches WrestleMania has ever seen - a 60-minute Iron Man match vs. Shawn Michaels.

7. Sting - The music, the paint, and the baseball bat finally got their WrestleMania moment last year. It's too bad his run with WWE has been cut down by injury.

John Cena smiles as he fields a question during a press event at Reunion Tower in Dallas....
John Cena smiles as he fields a question during a press event at Reunion Tower in Dallas. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)(The Dallas Morning News)

6. John Cena - The franchise player of the last decade. If WWE needed anything (inside the ring or out) Cena was there to deliver.

5. Triple H - The 14-time world champion is heading into his 20th WrestleMania. With his real life leadership position within the company, he could end up on WWE's Mount Rushmore when it's all said and done.

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4. Ric Flair - The 16-time world champion will be ringside at WrestleMania as his daughter Charlotte defends her own title. The two-time WWE Hall of Famer's career can be wrapped up in one word - WOO!

3. Stone Cold Steve Austin - One of the biggest stars professional wrestling has ever seen. He made being the bad guy cool, and that's the bottom line.

2. The Undertaker - His WrestleMania streak will stand alone as the measuring stick of success in the WWE. Take your pick between my No. 1 and No. 2, it's really No. 1 and No. 1A.

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1. Shawn Michaels - Arguably the best in-ring performer WWE has ever seen. From Mr. WrestleMania to Degeneration-X, the Heartbreak Kid was always my favorite.

John O'Rourke's list 

Note from O'Rourke: When I was growing up in the Bronx, my introduction to professional wrestling was on Saturday night television at my cousins' house on City Island. I was 8, and it was 1963, the fledgling days of the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Children weren't allowed at the house shows (or so our parents told us), so my knowledge of the wrestlers was gleened from a black-and-white TV screen. There was no debate about whether it was real -- it was!

Here's what I remember:

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10. Umberto Mercado - Saw him on TV each week often getting flattened by Monsoon. Don't think he ever won a match.  Today he'd be Heath Slater.

9. Dr. Jerry Graham - Another early-1960s heel and Bruno foe. Canadian wrestler Bruce Hart wrote that the much more significant wrestler "Superstar" Billy Graham took that surname in Jerry's honor.

8. Cowboy Bill Watts - Vaguely remember him as a good guy until he suffered some sort of "head injury" while rushing to Sammartino's aid. This made him snap, and he became a bad guy. He became president of World Championship Wrestling in the 1980s.

7. Killer Kowalski - A WWWF villain of the 1960s. Behind the scenes he became a trainer and has mentored modern wrestlers including Triple H.

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6. Hans "The Great" Mortier - Just 18 years after World War II, Germans were still dastardly villains. This guy wore a leather helmet and fought main events against Sammartino at Madison Square Garden.

5. Bobo Brazil - Another force for good in the WWWF, Bobo dealt out punishment with his feared "coco butt," which must have hurt Bobo as much as his opponent.

4. Gorilla Monsoon - He was billed as a 400-pound wild man from Manchuria who spoke no English. Two decades later, resplendid in a suit and tinted glasses, Monsoon was a WWF TV commentator -- speaking fluent English.

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3. Bruno Sammartino - I started watching right around the time he began his first WWWF title reign, which lasted eight years. It was satisfying years later to learn that the real-life Bruno was every bit as tough as his wrestling character.

2. Irish Don McClarity - He was Irish and a good guy, so I had to root for him.

1. Argentina Apollo - He wrestled barefoot. I guess he was sort of a prehistoric Rey Mysterio Jr.