Hailing from the South, the NWA was a smaller, but tougher alternative to the WWF in the 1980s. If you remember the 80s, and were a wrestling fan, you were probably glued to the television every Saturday night, watching the Superstation, enjoying NWA World Championship Wrestling. It was a ritual. It was great. Long live those days. Here are the 10 best (non tag team) NWA wrestlers from the 1980s.
10) Tommy ‘Wildfire’ Rich. More than just a pretty boy with Flair-esque blonde locks, Tommy Rich was a fan favorite right from the start. He is also an example of a wrestler who peeked too soon. The world will never know what could have been.
9) Magnum T.A. He never won the World Championship but he was the US Heavyweight Champion for quite some time. He might have been marketed to be a Magnum P.I. ripoff, but he could hold his own in the ring. His feuds with Nikita Koloff were infamous.
8) Nikita Koloff. Russia gave us so many hated wrestlers back in the 80s. Blame it on the Cold War and the fear of World War III but it sure made for great story-lines. When it comes to pure talent and brute force Nikita Koloff may very well have been the best Russia had to offer (unless Ivan Drago counts).
7) Sting. Easily one of the 10 best wrestlers of all-time but he was just a young lad when the 80s were winding down. It was clear to all that greatness was found in the man in paint. Sting became the Madonna of the wrestling world by constantly re-inventing himself. His current Joker manifestation is just the latest from the greatest. Long live he who deals the Stinger Splash.
5) Lex Luger. Lex was a great bad guy and a great good guy. Not too many wrestlers could pull off that feat. When he joined The Four Horsemen it added a new dimension to the most feared NWA tag team ever. Lex was more than a Horseman, though. He was an instant success that demanded respect from all who faced him.
4) Kevin Sullivan. He may have been the scary, most psychotic wrestler of the decade. Was it all an act or was it real? Probably a little from column A and a little from column B. Either way, he was a true original and a wrestler who was a throwback to a meaner time. He would fit in quite nicely in today’s modern wrestling.
3) Harley Race. Had it not been for Ric Flair, Harley Race would have been the MVP of the decade; at east on the heel side of the coin. He was total carnage. He was the kind of wrestler who you knew was genuine. If you were ever to be in a street fight or bar brawl, in the 80s, he would be the wrestler you would most want watching your back.
2) Dusty Rhodes. He was the Ric Flair doppleganger. He was the good guy to Flair’s heel bad guy. He was one of the rare wrestlers who was as good working the crowd on the mic as he was inside the ring. Throughout the history of the sport those who were the most outspoken, with their voice, are always the biggest names in the business (Flair, Hogan, The Rock, Austin, Dusty… they all gave the best interviews) The American Dream Dusty Rhodes was the perfect wrestler who arrived at the perfect time. He was as much the 80s as ALF or Webster.
1) Ric Flair. The Nature Boy. To be the man you gotta beat the man. Wooooooooooo! What else needs to be said? The debate between who was better – Flair or Hogan, is the toughest wrestling debate that will ever had. There is no right or wrong answer. The man was a 145-time (give or take a few) Heavyweight Champion in the 80s and his legacy, and winning ways, continued well into the late 23rd century. Nobody will ever be the man because Ric Flair was, is, and always will be, the man.
