[Pharieswheel]

He wasn't flashy, didn't make a fool of himself in front of a microphone, but bar none Bob Backland held the WWF title for 7 years in a row at one time, that's imposible for these times.
Goldberg was 164-0 before he was tased by Scott Hall, incredible when wrestling is fake, what promoter would let a streak like that happen
And finally, Bruno Samartino, the brute from Pennsylvania, he made a national sports show in the 70's called Greatest Sports Legends, the only pro wrestler to do it.

There they are, pick from those 3, there the best of all time.

[Fishhead]

Dan gable

[Fishhead]

Dan gable

FRANK GOTCH may have been the best "professional".


GABLE and GOTCH

[Fishhead]

Gotch wrestled his first professional match in Lu Verne, Iowa, on June 18, 1899, against former American Heavyweight Champion, Dan McLeod. Gotch impressed the veteran by holding his own for nearly two hours before losing. On December 18, 1899, Gotch challenged another former American Champion, "Farmer" Martin Burns, losing in 11 minutes, but impressing Burns, who offered to train Gotch. Under the guidance of Burns, Gotch won a series of matches in Iowa and later, Alaska. While in Alaska, Gotch wrestled under the name Frank Kennedy and won the title of "Champion of the Klondike". During his time in Alaska, Gotch tried his hand at boxing, but failed miserably against the heavyweight Frank Slavin[citation needed].
Gotch returned to Iowa and instantly challenged the reigning American Heavyweight Champion, Tom Jenkins. Gotch lost their first match in 1903, before defeating Jenkins in a rematch on January 27, 1904 to take the championship. After trading the title with Jenkins and Fred Beel, Gotch set his sights on the World Heavyweight Championship, then held by the undefeated Estonian Georg Hackenschmidt. The two men met on April 3, 1908. Gotch used his speed, defense and rough tactics to wear the champion down and then assume the attack. Gotch's thumbing and butting left Hackenschmidt covered in blood. Rather than risk permanent injury to his legs, Hackenschmidt quit the match, thereby relinquishing his title to Gotch. He called Gotch the greatest wrestler he ever met by far (though days later reversed his opinion of Gotch and Americans in general, calling for a rematch in Europe).
Gotch spent the next three years establishing his dominance over the sport, defeating the likes of Jenkins, Dr. Benjamin Roller, and Stanislaus Zbyszko, who was believed to have won over 900 matches before falling to Gotch on June 1, 1910. Gotch became a national sensation, appearing in plays.
Gotch would meet Hackenschmidt again on September 4, 1911 at the newly opened Comiskey Park in Chicago, which drew a crowd of nearly 30,000 spectators and a record gate of $87,000. The rematch is one of the most controversial and talked about matches in wrestling history, as Hackenschmidt injured his knee against Roller, his chief training partner. Years later, wrestler Ad Santel told Lou Thesz that he was paid $5000 by Gotch's backers to cripple Hackenschmidt in training, and make it look like an accident. Whatever the case may be, Hackenschmidt appeared in the ring on September 4, 1911, and was easy prey for Gotch, losing in straight falls.
Gotch reigned as the World Heavyweight Champion from his victory over Georg Hackenschmidt on April 3, 1908, in Chicago, Illinois, until he retired in 1913 after defeating Estonian Georg Lurich April 1, 1913, in Kansas City, Missouri[1][2]. Gotch is one of the longer reigning World Champions in the history of professional wrestling, with a reign that spanned nearly 5 years; the only other champions to have longer reigns than Gotch are Bruno Sammartino, who held the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship for a record of 7 years and 8 months, Lou Thesz, whose fifth NWA title reign lasted 7 years and 7 months and Verne Gagne who held the AWA World Heavyweight Title for 7 years and 3 months

[Jericholic]

If it has to be one of those three its Bruno.

[JMobile]

WWE Championship reigns are shit now.

[teaserpleaser]

cael sanderson imo

[Thunder Gulch]

Samartino would get my vote

[Pin2Win]

I would go with John Smith, Hands down in college and Olympics, not the nicest guy but a hell of a wrestler. Mike Langlias over Bob Backland in college for sure, they both wrestled for NDSU

[kfranz31]

those were the good ole days of wrestling..those days are far gone........guess backlund held the wwf image more in those days

[Swinging Johnson]

El Olympico, master of the flying dropkick.

[tripleblack1705]

I'm too young to have seen these guys wrestle, but you just can't argue with 7 year reigns with the strap

[jjgold]

Rick Flair