My Top 8 Best Wrestlers

At the suggestion of "Mr Perfect" Curt Hennig, Michaels adopted the nickname "The Heartbreak Kid."^[6] Along with his new name came a new gimmick as a vain, cocky villain.^[20] He was put together with mirror-carrying manager, Sensational Sherri, who, according to the storyline, had become infatuated with him.^[18] Sherri even sang the first version of his new theme music, "Sexy Boy."^[1] During that period, Michaels normally wrestled during the first half of live events, and his departure was announced with the words, "Shawn Michaels has left the building" (alluding to the phrase "Elvis has left the building").^[21

Michaels failed to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship from Bret Hart in July 1992, even losing against him at a live event in the WWF's first-ever ladder match.^[22] He, however, won the title from The British Bulldog on the October 27, 1992 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, which aired on November 14.^[23] Shortly thereafter, he was in a pay-per-view main event for the first time, in which he lost to Hart, for the WWF Championship at the 1992 Survivor Series.^[24] Michaels and Hart were moved to the main event after The Ultimate Warrior was unable to compete in the tag team match that involved Randy Savage against the team of Ric Flair and Razor Ramon.^[25] During this time, Michaels and Sherri split and he engaged himself in a feud with former tag team partner Marty Jannetty.^[6] Michaels lost the Intercontinental Championship to Jannetty on Monday Night Raw on May 17, 1993.^[23] He then regained it on June 6 with the help of his debuting "bodyguard" (and off-air friend) Diesel.^[1][23]

In September 1993, Michaels had quit the company, after it was announced that he had failed to defend his title enough times during a set period; in reality, he had been suspended for testing positive for steroids – a charge that Michaels denies to this day.^[26] After turning down World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s advances, Michaels returned to the WWF and made several appearances in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) during a WWF/USWA cross-promotion. He returned to WWF television in November at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, substituting for Jerry Lawler, who was dealing with legal issues, in a match pitting himself and three of Lawler's "Knights" against the Hart brothers, Bret, Bruce, Keith, and Owen.^[27]

He soon entered a staged rivalry with Razor Ramon, who had won the vacated Intercontinental Championship, during Michaels' absence.^[28] Since Michaels had never been defeated in the ring for the title, he claimed to be the rightful champion and even carried around his old title belt.^[28] This feud culminated in a ladder match between the two at WrestleMania X.^[28] Michaels lost the match, which featured both his and Ramon's belts suspended above a ladder in the ring.^[27][28] This match was voted by fans as "PWI Match of the Year" by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.^[6] It also received a 5-star rating from Wrestling Observer Newsletter member Dave Meltzer, one of four WWE matches to do so. Over the next few months, Michaels battled various injuries and launched the Heartbreak Hotel television talk show segment, mainly shown on WWF Superstars.^[29]

On August 28, 1994, Michaels and Diesel captured the Tag Team Championship from The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu).^[30] The next day, at SummerSlam, Diesel lost the Intercontinental Championship to Ramon when Michaels accidentally superkicked Diesel.^[27] This triggered a split between Michaels and Diesel, a storyline that was drawn out until Survivor Series that November.^[31] Michaels went on to win the Royal Rumble in 1995,^[32] which set up a championship grudge match at WrestleMania XI against Diesel (who had gone on to win the WWF Championship from Bob Backlund).^[32] As part of the storyline, Michaels recruited Sycho Sid as his bodyguard for the build-up, lost the match,^[33] and was attacked by Sid the following night.^[34] After this, Michaels took time off,^[34] because Vince McMahon wanted Michaels to become a fan favorite.^[35]

Cena made his television debut answering an open challenge by Kurt Angle on June 27, 2002.^[27] Inspired by a speech given by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to the rising stars of the company, exhorting them to show "ruthless aggression" to earn a place among the legends, Cena took advantage of the opportunity and almost beat Angle kicking out of his finishing move, the Angle Slam and enduring the ankle lock submission hold.^[28] Cena ultimately lost to a hard amateur wrestling-style pin.^[28] Following the near-win, Cena became a fan favorite and started feuding with Chris Jericho.^[27] In October, Cena and Billy Kidman took part in a tag team tournament to crown the first WWE Tag Team Champions of the SmackDown! brand, losing in the first round.^[29] The next week, Cena turned on and attacked Kidman, blaming him for their loss, becoming a villain.^[27]

Shortly after the Kidman attack, on a Halloween themed episode of SmackDown, Cena dressed as Vanilla Ice performing a freestyle rap.^[27] The next week, Cena received a new character: a rapper who cut promos while rhyming.^[27] As the gimmick grew, Cena began adopting a variant of the 1980s WWF logo — dropping the "F" — as his "signature symbol", along with the slogan "Word Life".^[30] Moreover, he was joined by an enforcer, Bull Buchanan, who was rechristened B-2 (also written B² and pronounced "B-Squared").^[27] Buchanan was later replaced by Red Dogg,^[27] until he was sent to the Raw brand in February.

For the first half of 2003, Cena sought the WWE Championship and chased the reigning champion, Brock Lesnar, performing weekly "freestyles" challenging him to matches.^[31][32][33] During the feud, Cena unveiled a new finishing maneuver: the FU, a Fireman's carry powerslam, named to mock Lesnar's F-5.^[34] Cena won a number one contenders tournament against Lesnar at Backlash. However, Cena was defeated by Lesnar.^[27][35] At the end of the year, Cena became a fan favorite again when he joined Kurt Angle as a member of his team at Survivor Series.^[36][37]

In early 2004, Cena participated in the Royal Rumble match at the 2004 Royal Rumble,^[38] making it to the final six before being eliminated by Big Show.^[39] The Royal Rumble elimination led to a feud with Big Show,^[40][41] which Cena won the United States Championship from Big Show at WrestleMania XX.^[42] During his reign, Cena came into contention with SmackDown General Manager Kurt Angle over issues arising with René Duprée and Torrie Wilson.^[43] The reign ended almost four months later, when he was stripped of the belt on July 8 by Angle after he (kayfabe, accidentally) knocked him over, thus attacking an official.^[44] Cena won the championship back defeating Booker T in a best of five series that culminated at No Mercy,^[45] only to lose it to the debuting Carlito Caribbean Cool the next week.^[46] After the loss to Carlito, the duo began a feud, which Cena was kayfabe stabbed in the kidney while at a Boston-area nightclub by Carlito's bodyguard, Jesús.^[47][48] This worked injury was used to keep Cena out of action for a month, while Cena was filming The Marine.^[25] Immediately on his return in November, Cena won the United States Championship back from Carlito debuting a "custom made" spinner-style championship belt.^[49][50]

Cena took part in the 2005 Royal Rumble match, making it to the final two. Cena and Raw brand wrestler Batista went over the top rope at the same time, ostensibly ending the match. Vince McMahon, however, appeared on stage and re-started the match in sudden death rules, with Batista eventually eliminating Cena.^[51] The next month, Cena defeated Kurt Angle to earn a spot in the SmackDown brand's WrestleMania 21 main event match,^[52] beginning a feud with WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and his Cabinet in the process. In the early stages of the feud, Cena lost his US belt to Cabinet member Orlando Jordan,^[53] who proceeded to "blow up" the spinner championship with JBL and returning a more traditional style belt.^[54] Cena defeated JBL at WrestleMania winning the WWE Championship, giving Cena his first world championship.^[55] Cena then had a spinner WWE Championship belt made,^[56] while JBL took the original belt and claimed to still be WWE Champion,^[56] until Cena reclaimed the original belt in an "I Quit" match at Judgment Day.^[57]

Cena was drafted to the Raw brand on the June 6, 2005, becoming the first wrestler selected by General Manager Eric Bischoff in the annual draft lottery.^[58] Cena immediately entered a feud with Bischoff, after refusing to participate in the "war" against the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) roster at One Night Stand.^[59] With Bischoff vowing to make Cena's stint on Raw difficult, he hand picked Jericho to take Cena's championship from him.^[60] During their feud, even though Cena was portrayed as the fan favorite and Jericho as the villain, a vocal section of live crowds, nonetheless, were booing Cena during their matches.^[61] More crowds followed suit during Cena's next feud with Kurt Angle,^[62] who took over as Bischoff's hand-picked number-one contender after Cena defeated Jericho in a You're Fired match on the August 22 Raw.^[63] As the feud continued and the dissenters grew more vocal, sometimes seeming to outnumber fans by wide margins,^[64] the announce team was forced to acknowledge the booing on television and began calling Cena a "controversial champion", claiming some people disliking him on account of his "in-ring style" and his chosen fashion.^[65] Despite the mixed and negative reactions, Cena held on to his championship through his feud with Angle, losing to him by disqualification^[66] — which titles do not change hands in WWE — at Unforgiven and pinning him at Survivor Series.^[67] The feud with Angle also saw Cena add a secondary, submission based, finishing maneuver – the STFU (a Stepover Toehold Sleeper, though named for a Stepover Toehold Facelock) – when he was put into a Triple Threat Submissions Only match on the November 28 Raw.^[68]

Cena lost the WWE Championship at New Year's Revolution, but not in the Elimination Chamber match that he had been advertised to participate in beforehand. Instead, immediately after winning the Elimination Chamber, he was forced into a match against Edge, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract — a "guaranteed title match at the WWE Champion of the owners choosing". After two quick spears pinned Cena, winning the championship.^[69] Three weeks later, Cena won the championship back at the Royal Rumble.^[69] After winning the championship, Cena began feuding with Triple H, which the crowd began booing Cena and cheering the intended Triple H.^[70][71] The negative reaction intensified when facing Rob Van Dam at One Night Stand. Taking place in front of a crowd of mostly "old school" ECW fans at the Hammerstein Ballroom, Cena was met with raucous jeering and chants of "Fuck you, Cena", "You can't wrestle", and "Same old shit". When he began performing different moves into the match, the fans began chanting "You still suck". Cena lost the WWE Championship at One Night Stand, with Van Dam pinning Cena after interference from Edge.^[72]

Les débuts et le titre de champion de la WWF (1990-1991)

Il propose le personnage de The Undertaker à la WCW qui repousse sa suggestion^{[réf. nécessaire]}, et le propose donc ensuite à la WWF qui accepte. Il débute lors des Survivor Series 1990 comme partenaire mystère de l'équipe de Ted Dibiase. Il défait Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka lors de Wrestlemania 7^[5]. Il défait lors d'un match ^{[Lequel ?]} l'Ultimate Warrior et Randy Savage. Puis il commence une longue rivalité avec Hulk Hogan.

Un an après son arrivée à la WWF, il gagne contre Hulk Hogan au Survivor Series 1991 le titre de champion WWF, qu'il perdra six jours plus tard contre Hogan lors du Tuesday in Texas. Avec cette victoire de Hogan, la longue invincibilité ( à peu près 1 an) du Phenom prend fin.

Les premières rivalités (1992-1995)

En 1992, il sauve Randy Savage d'une attaque de Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Lors de Wrestlemania VIII^[6], il remporte le combat face à Jake Roberts. En 1992, il bat Kamala lors du SummerSlam 1992 par disqualification. Il a sa revanche en remportant au Survivor Series 1992 un match qu'il a lui-même inventé, le Casket match (1^er de l'histoire), en enfermant Kamala dans le cercueil. En janvier 1993, il entame une rivalité avec Giant Gonzales. Les deux Hommes s'affrontent à WrestleMania IX, match qui se solde par une victoire de l'Undertaker par disqualification^[7]. Lors du SummerSlam 1993, il obtient la victoire contre le Giant Gonzales.

Au Royal Rumble 1994, il perd face à Yokozuna dans un casket match pour le championnat de la WWE et disparait pendant de longs mois. Au Summerslam 1994, lors de son retour, il gagne contre un Undertaker imposteur (incarné par Brian Lee) et ayant Ted Dibiase comme manager. Au Survivor Series 1994, dans un casket match contre Yokozuna, il obtient sa vengeance en l'enfermant dans le cercueil.

L'année 1995 a impliqué l'Undertaker dans des rivalités avec des membres de la Million Dollar Corporation de Ted Dibiase. Il a vaincu Irwin R. Shyster au Royal Rumble 1995 et King Kong Bundy lors de Wrestlemania XI^[8]. Par la suite, Kama Mustafa vola l'urne de Paul Bearer et la changea en chaine. Ceux-ci se sont affrontés à quelques reprises et l'Undertaker remporta un casket match contre Kama au Summerslam 1995. Par la suite, il eut une rivalité avec Mabel, qui s'était emparé de la chaine. Mabel et Yokozuna blessèrent l'Undertaker au visage et celui-ci porta ensuite un masque semblable à celui du fantôme de l'opéra. En décembre 1995, il remporte un match du cercueil contre King Mabel. Suite à ce combat, la WWE le nomme aspirant numéro 1 au championnat de la fédération. Kevin Nash, ancien champion, intervient en la faveur de Bret Hart lors du combat pour le titre au Royal Rumble 1996. La guerre entre l'Undertaker et Kevin Nash se termine, avec la victoire du Deadman à Wrestlemania XII^[9].

En 1996, Mankind l'attaque lors d'un match au SummerSlam 1996 et Paul Bearer, son manager, le trahit en devenant l'allié de Mankind. Plus tard, l'Undertaker gagne contre Mankind dans le premier Buried Alive match. Au Survivor Series 1996, il gagne contre Mankind. Au Wrestlemania 13, il bat Sycho Sid et devient champion de la WWF pour la deuxième fois^[10].

Au King of the Ring 1998, il gagne lors d'un Hell in a Cell contre Mankind. En 1998, il défait Mankind mais Paul Bearer lui oppose un nouveau catcheur : Kane, supposément petit frère de The Undertaker. Ils formeront aussi l'équipe des Brothers of Destruction). À la fin de l'année 1998, il passe du côté des heel et fonde un clan nommé Ministry of Darkness avec Edge, Christian, Gangrel, Viscera. Après WrestleMania XV, où il remporte une victoire face au Big Boss Man dans un Hell in a Cell, The Corporation et The Ministry of Darkness se réunissent pour formé The Corporate Ministry^[11]. En septembre 1999, Undertaker se blesse et quitte la WWF pour un arrêt de plusieurs mois.

Paul Michael Levesque^[2] (born July 27, 1969)^[2] is an American professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name Triple H, an abbreviation of his former ring name, Hunter Hearst Helmsley. He is currently signed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and wrestles on its Raw brand.^[6]

Before joining WWE, Levesque began his wrestling career with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1993, wrestling under the ring name Terra Ryzing and later as Jean-Paul Lévesque.^[2] Levesque joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1995 with the on-screen persona of wealthy sophisticate Hunter Hearst Helmsley.^[1] He later changed his name to Triple H and adopted an alternative image in the stable D-Generation X (DX). After the dissolution of DX, Triple H was pushed as a main event wrestler, winning several singles championships.^[3] As part of a storyline, Triple H married Stephanie McMahon, who later became his real-life spouse. In 2003, Triple H formed another stable known as Evolution,^[3] and in 2006 and 2009, briefly reformed DX with Shawn Michaels.^[7]

Overall, Levesque is a thirteen-time World Champion having won the WWE Championship eight times, and the World Heavyweight Championship five times (Triple H is also recognized as the first World Heavyweight Champion under WWE's lineage).^[8][9] In addition, Levesque won the 1997 King of the Ring, the 2002 Royal Rumble, and was the second Grand Slam Championship winner.^[3]

Outside wrestling, Levesque has made numerous guest appearances in film and on television             

In early 1994, Levesque signed a one year contract with World Championship Wrestling (WCW).^[4][12] In his first televised match, He wrestled as a villain and defeated Brian Armstrong.^[1] He continued using the name Terra Ryzing until mid-1994, when he was renamed Jean-Paul Lévesque.^[1][13] This gimmick referred to his surname's French origins and he was asked to speak with a French accent, as he could not speak French.^[14] During this time, he began using his finishing maneveur, the Pedigree.

Levesque had a brief storyline feud with Alex Wright that ended at Starrcade 1994^[1] with Wright pinning him.^[15] Between late 1994 and early 1995, Levesque briefly teamed with Lord Steven Regal, whose snobby British persona was a good match with his similar persona.^[13] The team was short-lived, however, as Lévesque left for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in January 1995 after WCW turned down his request to be pushed as a singles competitor.^[2][13][14]

David Michael Bautista, Jr.^[5] (born January 18, 1969),^[3] better known by his ring name, Batista, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment on its SmackDown brand. In professional wrestling, Batista is a six-time world heavyweight champion, having won the World Heavyweight Championship four times and the WWE Championship two times. In addition to these championships, Batista has also won the World Tag Team Championship three times (twice with Ric Flair and once with John Cena) and the WWE Tag Team Championship once (with Rey Mysterio). Batista was also the winner of the 2005 Royal Rumble match.^[1]

After trying out at the WCW Power Plant, Batista signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 2000 and was sent to its developmental federation, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he won the OVW Heavyweight Championship.

He began his WWE career on the May 9, 2002 episode of SmackDown! as Deacon Bautista, a villainous enforcer for Reverend D-Von.^[16] He made his WWE in-ring debut in a tag team match teaming with D-Von against Faarooq and Randy Orton, pinning Orton. Over several weeks, Orton tried to beat D-Von and Bautista with different partners, but ultimately lost each time.^[17] Bautista suffered his first loss in a match against Rikishi after D-Von accidentally punched him, allowing Rikishi to take advantage and pin Bautista. Bautista and D-Von argued over the forthcoming weeks, with Bautista eventually turning on D-Von.^[18] After splitting with D-Von, he signed with Raw and was renamed to Dave Batista (or simply Batista). He aligned himself with Ric Flair^[19] and feuded with Kane, whom he defeated at Armageddon

In January 2003, Batista joined Triple H, Ric Flair and Randy Orton to form the villainous stable Evolution.^[21] Batista, however, was sidelined for much of 2003 after he tore his right triceps muscle at a Raw live event in a tag team match against the Dudley Boyz. While training after the injury, Batista re-tore his triceps, extending his stay on the sidelines.^[22] Batista made his return on the October 20 episode of Raw, interfering in a match between Bill Goldberg and Shawn Michaels and "shattering" Goldberg's ankle with a chair. After the interference, Evolution came out, and Triple H rewarded Batista with $100,000.^[23] On the November 10 edition of Raw, Goldberg defeated Batista by disqualification when Triple H interfered.^[24]

Randal Keith "Randy" Orton^[7][8] (born on April 1, 1980)^[3] is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestling on its Raw brand. Orton is a third-generation professional wrestler; his grandfather Bob Orton, Sr., father "Cowboy" Bob Orton, as well as his uncle Barry O, all competed in the professional wrestling industry.^[2][9]

Before being promoted to the main WWE roster, Orton trained in and wrestled for Mid-Missouri Wrestling Association-Southern Illinois Conference Wrestling for a month. He was then sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where Orton held the OVW Hardcore Championship on two separate occasions.^[10]

After signing with WWE, Orton became a member of the stable Evolution, which quickly led to his acquisition of the WWE Intercontinental Championship, his first title with the company.^[11] Orton also acquired the moniker "The Legend Killer" during a storyline where he began disrespecting Hall of Famers and physically attacking veterans of the industry outside of appropriate restrictions.^[1] In 2004, Orton became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion, when he won the title at the age of twenty-four.^[12] With this win, Orton departed from Evolution and a feud with his former stablemates began. In 2006, Orton joined forces with Edge in a tag team known as Rated-RKO. Together, Orton and Edge held the World Tag Team Championship.^[13] After the team disbanded, Orton, during mid-2007, won the WWE Championship twice in one night.^[14] He is also the winner of the 2009