Wrestler of the Decade Countdown: #25-#21

Here's the first installment of the Top 25 Wrestlers of the Decade list. The guys bringing up the rear. Not impactful enough to place in the high spots, but still memorable enough to gain notice over the hundreds and thousands of men who stepped into the ring in the United States or Canada in this decade. Without further ado:

25. Ric Flair


Talk about a wrestling legend. Ric Flair's placement on this list is more than just nostalgia for a man who could be considered the greatest ever to lace up the boots. Even as a part-timer, his mark on the WWE and wrestling in general was an indelible one. He was a key figure in Evolution as both a manager and in the ring when he was called upon it. A big part as to why he made this list is his WrestleMania resumé, which includes a fantastic "final" match with Shawn Michaels. This may be more sentimental than anything, but I don't think anyone will begrudge the Legend the 25th spot on a top 25.

#24 through #2124. Rob Van Dam


Talk about wasted potential, no pun intended. RVD could have been Jeff Hardy before Jeff Hardy was Jeff Hardy, but he ran into some political machinations when he arrived in the WWE, both from Triple H and from Chris Jericho. Still, he got over to the point where he was both the inaugural WWE-ECW Champion and the WWE Champion. Even his accomplishments in the dying days of the original ECW can't be denied. However, here's a guy who was content to sit back and smoke pot rather than work for the last half of the decade. Fine for him if that's his choice, but his rap sheet needed a lot of help to get higher than this point anyway.

23. Sting


It's funny how long Sting has stuck around the business without even having a cup of coffee in the WWE. Despite not getting that exposure, he's made a nice run for himself in TNA and has been one of their go-to stars. Even now, he's in the process of passing the torch to AJ Styles, which is more than any of the other holdouts from the WCW/WWE days of glory can say. He may have been broken down for the end of his run, but I think he deserves a spot on this list.

22. The Big Show


In another era, Paul Wight might have been one of the biggest stars in the industry. Show's biggest strike against him, even moreso than his tendency to be unmotivated, is that wrestling has become a shorter man's game, a more athletic man's game. Despite wrestling crowd's malaise towards big men, Show has been a stalwart this decade. He's main evented two WrestleManias. Yeah, both matches were mutli-men matches where he really wasn't the main focus, but he was there. He's also been more than a good soldier for the company, taking the hit against Akebono and Floyd Mayweather on the big stage. He's done everything asked of him, and really, the laziness that plagued him in 1999 seems to have disappeared. When he's not hurt, he's an asset. It's a shame that someone of his talent couldn't get more though.

21. Samoa Joe


Joe was always going to be in a tough spot. He could never live up to the billign he had in the indies on the next level because the only two options were going to the WWE and having to play a "traditional Samoan gimmick" (read, El Hijo del Umaga) or go to TNA and be saddled with horrible booking with a far dimmer spotlight than what Titan Sports shone. Still, he made it good for himself in this decade with his ROH run and with his initial TNA run, where he, AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels made the X-Division the place to be, at least critically. It's a shame that they turned him into Kurt Angle's bitch, threw the title on him haphazardly and then painted a dong on his face, but then again, I also never really saw what was so special about him anyway. Still, he deserves mention.

Tune in tomorrow for 20 through 16, which will no doubt include the most controversial two choices for two different reasons.