DeathValleyDriver's BEST MATCHES OF THE 1980s WWF RESULTS:
Analysis was performed by Chris Harrington of Indeedwrestling.com.
Feel free to contact with questions, comments or for further data discussion.In total, 119 ballots were received. Voters were asked to rank matches from 1 to 100. Match #1 would receive 100 points; match #2 would receive 99 points, etc. Bonus points were also being given to matches in the top 30. For each ballot, the bonus points awarded were as follows: #1 (+7 pts), #2 (+5 pts), #3 (+4 pts), #4 through #7 (+3 pts), #8-#20 (+2 pts), #21-#30 (+1 pts).
| RANK | MATCH | DATE & PLACE | POINTS |
| 1 | Sgt Slaughter vs Iron Sheik | (6/16/84 MSG) | 11,944 |
| 2 | Ricky Steamboat vs Randy Savage | (3/29/87 Pontiac MI Wrestlemania 3) | 11,575 |
| 3 | Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch vs Brisco Brothers | (12/28/84 MSG) | 11,137 |
| 4 | Bret Hart vs Randy Savage | (11/11/87 Seattle WA aired SNME 11/28/87) | 10,100 |
| 5 | Bret Hart vs Mr Perfect | (10/2/89 Wheeling WV) | 9,974 |
| 6 | Bob Backlund vs Adrian Adonis | (1/18/82 MSG) | 9,971 |
| 7 | Greg Valentine vs Ron Garvin | (9/30/89 MSG) | 9,622 |
| 8 | Glamour Girls vs Jumping Bomb Angels | (11/24/87 MSG) | 9,449 |
| 9 | Ricky Steamboat vs Jake Roberts | (8/9/86 Boston MA) | 9,399 |
| 10 | Sgt Slaughter vs Iron Sheik | (5/21/84 MSG) | 9,395 |
| 11 | Ultimate Warrior vs Rick Rude | (8/28/89 East Rutherford NJ Summerslam) | 9,394 |
| 12 | Brainbusters vs Hart Foundation | (8/28/89 East Rutherford NJ Summerslam) | 9,334 |
| 13 | Barry Windham vs Dick Murdoch | (2/16/85 Philadelphia PA) | 9,215 |
| 14 | Dynamite Kid vs Bret Hart | (9/14/85 Landover MD) | 9,044 |
| 15 | British Bulldogs vs Hart Foundation | (9/23/85 MSG) | 9,009 |
| 16 | Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat | (7/27/86 Toronto Ontario) | 8,986 |
| 17 | Bret Hart vs Ted DiBiase | (3/8/89 Odessa TX aired Prime Time 3/20/89) | 8,978 |
| 18 | Ricky Steamboat vs Bret Hart | (3/8/86 Boston MA) | 8,705 |
| 19 | Ricky Steamboat vs Bob Orton Jr | (7/20/85 Landover MD) | 8,561 |
| 20 | Hulk Hogan vs Big Bossman | (3/18/89 MSG) | 8,505 |
| 21 | Randy Savage vs Ted DiBiase | (7/22/88 MSG) | 8,164 |
| 22 | Bob Backlund vs Adrian Adonis | (3/28/82 Landover MD) | 8,129 |
| 23 | Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch vs Bob Backlund/Brian Blair | (7/7/84 Philadelphia PA) | 8,046 |
| 24 | Randy Savage vs Tito Santana | (4/22/86 MSG) | 8,019 |
| 25 | Randy Savage/Adrian Adonis vs Tito Santana/Bruno Sammartino | (7/12/86 MSG) | 7,913 |
| 26 | Pat Patterson vs Sgt Slaughter | (5/4/81 MSG) | 7,874 |
| 27 | Bob Backlund vs Adrian Adonis | (3/20/82 Philadelphia PA) | 7,842 |
| 28 | Greg Valentine vs Ricky Steamboat | (6/21/85 MSG) | 7,725 |
| 29 | Strike Force vs Islanders | (10/3/87 Boston MA) | 7,707 |
| 30 | Rick Rude vs Roddy Piper | (12/28/89 MSG) | 7,605 |
| 31 | Randy Savage vs Jake Roberts | (11/15/86 Los Angeles CA aired 11/29/86 SNME) | 7,512 |
| 32 | Rockers vs Brainbusters | (10/31/89 Topeka KS aired 11/25/89 SNME) | 7,497 |
| 33 | Bob Backlund vs Sgt Slaughter | (1/10/81 Philadelphia PA) | 7,440 |
| 34 | Fabulous Rougeau Bros vs Rockers | (10/10/89 London England) | 7,419 |
| 35 | Bob Backlund vs Sgt Slaughter | (3/21/81 Philadelphia PA) | 7,364 |
| 36 | Rougeau Bros vs Hart Foundation | (9/22/86 MSG) | 7,202 |
| 37 | Blue Angel vs Barry Horowitz | (8/13/88 Los Angeles CA) | 7,051 |
| 38 | Bob Backlund vs Buddy Rose | (11/25/82 Philadelphia PA) | 7,041 |
| 39 | Mr Perfect vs Ronnie Garvin | (12/12/89 Nashville TN) | 6,919 |
| 40 | Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch vs Sgt Slaughter/Terry Daniels | (7/23/84 MSG) | 6,915 |
| 41 | Tito Santana vs Ron Bass | (8/22/87 MSG) | 6,846 |
| 42 | Dream Team vs British Bulldogs | (4/7/86 Rosemont IL Wrestlemania 2) | 6,834 |
| 43 | Sgt Slaughter vs Iron Sheik | (5/19/84 Landover MD) | 6,777 |
| 44 | British Bulldogs vs Hart Foundation | (11/1/86 Boston MA) | 6,748 |
| 45 | Dream Team vs Ricky Steamboat/Tito Santana | (4/21/85 Toronto) | 6,724 |
| 46 | Mr Perfect vs Ron Garvin | (3/18/89 Boston MA) | 6,693 |
| 47 | Rockers vs Rougeau Bros | (10/13/89 Paris France) | 6,625 |
| 48 | Jake Roberts vs Ted DiBiase | (4/24/89 MSG) | 6,587 |
| 49 | Ten Man Tag Survivor Series 1988 | (11/24/88 Richfield OH 1988 Survivor Series) | 6,225 |
| 50 | Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees | (2/23/87 MSG) | 6,156 |
| 51 | Bret Hart vs Bad News Brown | (4/25/88 MSG) | 6,085 |
| 52 | Ricky Steamboat vs Jake Roberts | (8/28/86 Toronto Big Event) | 5,885 |
| 53 | Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage | (4/2/89 Atlantic City NJ Wrestlemania 5) | 5,880 |
| 54 | Tito Santana vs Paul Orndorff | (9/1/84 St Louis MO) | 5,816 |
| 55 | Ten Man Tag Survivor Series 1987 | (11/26/87 Richfield OH Survivor Series 1987) | 5,764 |
| 56 | Ken Patera vs Pat Patterson | (4/21/80 MSG) | 5,685 |
| 57 | Les Thornton vs Mr Wrestling II | (3/2/85 Atlanta GA) | 5,465 |
| 58 | Bob Backlund vs Ivan Koloff | (6/4/83 Philadelphia PA) | 5,361 |
| 59 | Rick Rude vs Tito Santana | (2/11/89 Boston MA) | 5,274 |
| 60 | Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage | (1/27/86 MSG) | 5,251 |
| 61 | Sgt Slaughter vs Paul Orndorff | (6/2/84 Philadelphia PA) | 5,206 |
| 62 | Hart Foundation vs Twin Towers | (5/17/89 Duluth MN) | 5,185 |
| 63 | Tito Santana vs Bob Orton Jr | (8/9/86 Boston MA) | 5,039 |
| 64 | Bob Backlund vs Sgt Slaughter | (10/20/80 MSG) | 4,920 |
| 65 | Bob Backlund vs Hulk Hogan | (4/8/80 Philadelphia PA) | 4,907 |
| 66 | Bob Backlund vs Stan Hansen | (6/6/81 MSG) | 4,829 |
| 67 | Honky Tonk Man vs Ricky Steamboat | (8/22/87 MSG) | 4,723 |
| 68 | Tito Santana vs Butch Reed | (5/12/87 Anaheim CA aired PTW 5/12/87) | 4,621 |
| 69 | Bruno Sammartino vs Larry Zbyszko | (4/21/80 MSG) | 4,600 |
| 70 | Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage | (2/17/86 MSG) | 4,467 |
| 71 | Hulk Hogan vs Iron Sheik | (5/5/84 Philadelphia PA) | 4,382 |
| 72 | Bob Orton Jr vs Mike Rotundo | (12/1/84 Philadelphia PA) | 4,374 |
| 73 | Hulk Hogan vs Paul Orndorff | (12/14/86 Hartford CT aired 1/3/87 SNME) | 4,344 |
| 74 | Hulk Hogan vs Bad News Brown | (2/16/89 Hersey PA aired 3/11/89 SNME) | 4,076 |
| 75 | Tim Horner vs Barry Horowitz | (12/30/88 MSG) | 4,022 |
| 76 | Bruno Sammartino/Paul Orndorff vs Roddy Piper/Bob Orton Jr | (10/26/85 Philadelphia PA) | 3,983 |
| 77 | Hulk Hogan vs Bob Orton Jr | (5/12/87 Anaheim CA Superstars aired 5/23/87) | 3,870 |
| 78 | Don Muraco vs Jimmy Snuka | (8/16/83 Philadelphia PA) | 3,796 |
| 79 | Iron Sheik vs Tito Santana | (1/21/84 Philadelphia PA) | 3,735 |
| 80 | Hulk Hogan vs Paul Orndorff | (7/7/84 Philadelphia PA) | 3,690 |
| 81 | Johnny Rodz/Jose Estrada vs Tony Garea/Steve Travis | (9/18/82 Philadelphia PA) | 3,503 |
| 82 | Jimmy Snuka vs Roddy Piper | (7/20/84 St Louis MO) | 3,360 |
| 83 | Bruno Sammartino vs Larry Zbyszko | (4/8/80 Philadelphia PA) | 3,346 |
| 84 | Ted DiBiase vs Jacques Rougeau | (9/16/87 Rockford IL aired Fall '87) | 3,324 |
| 85 | Ricky Steamboat/Junkyard Dog vs Don Muraco/Mr Fuji | (8/17/85 Landover MD) | 3,305 |
| 86 | Brainbusters vs Young Stallions | (11/6/88 Toronto) | 3,295 |
| 87 | Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch vs Mil Mascaras/SD Jones | (6/26/84 St Louis MO aired TNT) | 3,138 |
| 88 | Ken Patera vs Pat Patterson | (12/29/80 MSG) | 2,945 |
| 89 | Roddy Piper/Bob Orton Jr vs Jimmy Snuka/Tony Atlas | (1/12/85 Philadelphia PA) | 2,943 |
| 90 | Sgt Slaughter vs Rick McGraw | (6/20/81 Philadelphia PA) | 2,937 |
| 91 | Hulk Hogan vs Don Muraco | (5/20/85 MSG) | 2,773 |
| 92 | Randy Savage vs Bad News Brown | (1/16/89 Hamilton Ontario) | 2,700 |
| 93 | Don Muraco vs Pedro Morales | (11/23/81 MSG) | 2,601 |
| 94 | Hulk Hogan vs David Shultz | (6/17/84 Minneapolis MN) | 2,473 |
| 95 | Hulk Hogan vs Ted DiBiase | (3/12/88 Philadelphia PA) | 2,276 |
| 96 | Hulk Hogan vs Don Muraco | (6/21/85 MSG) | 2,255 |
| 97 | Johnny Rodz vs Kuniaki "Chin" Kobayashi | (11/25/82 Philadelphia PA) | 1,892 |
| 98 | Hulk Hogan vs Nikolai Volkoff | (10/3/85 East Rutherford NJ aired SNME 10/5/85) | 1,732 |
| 99 | Randy Savage vs Tito Santana | (3/16/86 MSG) | 1,523 |
| 100 | Andre Giant vs Killer Khan | (11/14/81 Philadelphia PA) | 1,114 |
What role do BONUS POINTS play?
In short, not a lot. If we didn't give any bonus points out, we could simply average the ranks on all the ballots and rank them in ascending order of average rank. If you compare a list of matches ranked by average rank to a list of matches ranked by total points (including bonus points), turns out they are extremely similar. There are 37 matches which would change ranks but the most extreme change was moving three places. The average change was only about 1.35 places. If there was less than 100 total points between two positions, there was a 45% chance that they would switch on a list by average rank.
On the chart below, the dots in blue represent matches whose rank would not change. The dots in red are the matches were the rank would be altered. As you can see, the chart still retains a very linear relationship either way it was graphed.
WHAT ABOUT A SIMPLER BALLOT?
At the bottom of this analysis is some quartile distribution charts. Their purpose is to demonstrate that a given match basically falls into a significant range of rankings among the ballots collected in our survey. Let's take for instance, “Hart Foundation vs Killer Bees (2/23/87 MSG)”, which was ranked #50 based on Points. About 25% of the voters ranked it below 35 while about 25% of the voters ranked it above 65. Therefore, assigning this match a middle position of fifty still results in more than half of the voters disagreeing with this ranking. They’ll complain it’s at least 15 spots too high or too low. The average rank for this match was 49.71 and the standard deviation was 18.50. Recall that in a normal distribution, about 95.5% of the range of votes should be enclosed within two standard deviations of the mean in each direction – 12.7 to 86.7 in our example. There are three observations that fall outside this range (two low and one high) which represents about 2.5% of our voters.
This analysis helps us determine the general range of rankings for each match that most people would agree upon. However, a range of “somewhere between 13 and 86” isn’t really useful. All that really implies is that 97% of the voters agreeing this match was a, “pretty good match, an average match or a pretty bad match” when compared to the rest of the choices. Instead, I suggest that the matches were there was really a consensus opinion were those are the beginning and ends of the list. Those are the ones we should put more emphasis into examination since those were the ones that people really made bold statements about.
And so this conclusion provoked the thought: is there a simpler ballot (instead of requiring a complete ranking between one and hundred) that could have narrowed candidate list into pool into the same pool for best and worst matches?
CONSIDER: The TOP50 Test
Consider what would have occurred if we had just instructed the voters as such:
“Divide this group of one hundred matches into two categories: GOOD and NOT-SO-GOOD. Put fifty on each list.”Here the voter doesn’t have the option of assigning bonus points to matches. All those on the GOOD list are just grouped together. I ran a sample test using our dataset which just looked at whether a match was ranked in the top 50 or not. Essentially, those matches compromised that person’s list of GOOD matches.
When we collect the ballots, we simply calculate the percentage of ballots that vote a particular match on the GOOD list.
Interestingly, the top 20 matches with the highest “Top 50 Percentages” are the same top 20 matches that received the most points and the lowest average ranks. Similarly, the top 4 matches are also the same in all three categories! Now, this method isn’t going to give us a perfect ranking (for instance, “Bret Hart vs Ted DiBiase - 3/8/89 Odessa TX aired Prime Time 3/20/89” which was ranked #17 by points and #15 by pure rankings received the fifth most votes on the hypothetical GOOD list with 95%). Thus, this criterion would be excellent for narrowing our scope so we can concentrate on certain ranges of matches like the top quarter and bottom ten.
CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?So, what matches do people generally agree and disagree on the most?
Let’s look at the TOP 10 matches (as ranked by total number of points) 01. Sgt Slaughter vs Iron Sheik (6/16/84 MSG) 11,944 points
02. Ricky Steamboat vs Randy Savage (3/29/87 Pontiac MI Wrestlemania 3) 11,575 points
03. Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch vs Brisco Brothers (12/28/84 MSG) 11,137 points
04. Bret Hart vs Randy Savage (Seattle WA 11/11/87 aired SNME 11/28/87) 10,100 points
05. Bret Hart vs Mr Perfect (10/2/89 Wheeling WV) 9,974 points
06. Bob Backlund vs Adrian Adonis (1/18/82 MSG) 9,971 points
07. Greg Valentine vs Ron Garvin (9/30/89 MSG) 9,622 points
08. Glamour Girls vs Jumping Bomb Angels (11/24/87 MSG) 9,449 points
09. Ricky Steamboat vs Jake Roberts (8/9/86 Boston MA) 9,399 points
10. Sgt Slaughter vs Iron Sheik (5/21/84 MSG) 9,395 points
Immediately, it’s obvious that the top three matches were really running far and away from everyone else.
FIRST PLACE: Slaughter/Sheik (6/14/84 MSG)
#1: 63 votes, 53% of ballots
#2: 23 votes, 19% of ballots
#3: 4 votes, 3% of ballots
TOP FIVE: 103 votes, 87% of ballots
TOP TEN: 109 votes, 92% of ballots
SECOND PLACE: Steamboat/Savage (3/29/87 WM3)
#1: 17 votes, 14% of ballots
#2: 29 votes, 24% of ballots
#3: 19 votes, 16% of ballots
TOP FIVE: 78 votes, 66% of ballots
TOP TEN: 100 votes, 84% of ballots
THIRD PLACE: Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch vs Brisco Brothers (12/28/84 MSG)
#1: 16 votes, 13% of ballots
#2: 12 votes, 10% of ballots
#3: 25 votes, 21% of ballots
TOP FIVE: 63% of ballots
TOP TEN: 73% of ballots
No other match was even nominated for the top 10 by more than 50% of the voters!
(4th : 33%, 5th : 42%, 6th : 42%, 7th: 37%, 8th: 25%, 9th: 30%, 10th: 28%)Let’s look at the BOTTOM TEN matches as determined by points. 100. Andre Giant vs Killer Khan (11/14/81 Philadelphia PA) 1,114
099. Randy Savage vs Tito Santana (3/16/86 MSG) 1,523
098. Hulk Hogan vs Nikolai Volkoff (10/3/85 East Rutherford NJ aired SNME 10/5/85) 1,732
097. Johnny Rodz vs Kuniaki "Chin" Kobayashi (11/25/82 Philadelphia PA) 1,892
096. Hulk Hogan vs Don Muraco (6/21/85 MSG) 2,255
095. Hulk Hogan vs Ted DiBiase (3/12/88 Philadelphia PA) 2,276
094. Hulk Hogan vs David Shultz (6/17/84 Minneapolis MN) 2,473
093. Don Muraco vs Pedro Morales (11/23/81 MSG) 2,601
092. Randy Savage vs Bad News Brown (1/16/89 Hamilton Ontario) 2,700
091. Hulk Hogan vs Don Muraco (5/20/85 MSG) 2,773
#99 and #100 both had over 70% of the voters placing them in the bottom ten matches. #94, #97, #98 all had more than 50% of the voters listing them in the bottom ten matches.
Now, which matches did people rank most similarly? Here are the matches with lowest standard deviations:
002.
Ricky Steamboat vs Randy Savage (3/29/87 Pontiac MI Wrestlemania 3) 10.43
100.
Andre Giant vs Killer Khan (11/14/81 Philadelphia PA) 10.63
001.
Sgt Slaughter vs Iron Sheik (6/16/84 MSG) 12.85
098.
Hulk Hogan vs Nikolai Volkoff (10/3/85 East Rutherford NJ aired SNME 10/5/85) 14.18
096.
Hulk Hogan vs Don Muraco (6/21/85 MSG) 14.30
017.
Bret Hart vs Ted DiBiase (3/8/89 Odessa TX aired Prime Time 3/20/89) 14.63
004.
Bret Hart vs Randy Savage (Seattle WA 11/11/87 aired SNME 11/28/87) 14.91
097.
Johnny Rodz vs Kuniaki "Chin" Kobayashi (11/25/82 Philadelphia PA) 15.03
076.
Bruno Sammartino/Paul Orndorff vs Roddy Piper/Bob Orton Jr (10/26/85 Philadelphia PA) 15.54
005.
Bret Hart vs Mr Perfect (10/2/89 Wheeling WV) 15.57
We’ve already established that #1 and #2 had very strong consensus following that they were very good matches in the upper echelon. Interesting, there was also a strong consensus on the stinkers. “Andre the Giant vs Killer Khan” received 25 votes for the worst match (21% of the voters) and 73% of the votes putting it in the bottom ten.
Those were the matches that had rankings that were most concentrated in a certain range (though note, you’d have still have quite a range covered within the two standard deviation rule!), we should also consider the matches with the largest standard deviations. They were:
65.
Bob Backlund vs Hulk Hogan (4/8/80 Philadelphia PA) 29.76
55.
Survivor Series 1987 11/26/87 Richfield OH29.04
53.
Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage (4/2/89 Atlantic City NJ Wrestlemania 5) 28.64
41.
Tito Santana vs Ron Bass (8/22/87 MSG) 28.61
40.
Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch vs Sgt Slaughter/Terry Daniels (7/23/84 MSG) 27.54
54.
Tito Santana vs Paul Orndorff (9/1/84 St Louis MO) 27.30
27.
Bob Backlund vs Adrian Adonis (3/20/82 Philadelphia PA) 26.70
26.
Pat Patterson vs Sgt Slaughter (5/4/81 MSG) 26.48
57.
Les Thornton vs Mr Wrestling II (3/2/85 Atlanta GA) 26.35
49.
11/24/88 Richfield OH 1988 Survivor Series 24.24
Perhaps it would be intriguing in the future to have several people write reviews of these matches to discuss what different aspects people seemed to love and hate about them!
Most interestingly,
both Survivor Series Match fall into this grey area that could be dubbed “most debated”. 61% of voters ranked the 1988 Survivor Series Match as better than the 1987 Survivor Series. Interesting, voters seemed to strongly prefer the one match over the other! On average, a voter would rank the other Survivor Series match about
twenty places lower than whichever was their favorite.
Who is the best worker?Obviously, utilizing a simple ranked list isn’t going to settle the debate about whether it’s possible to even determine the best wrestler (or worker) in a group. We can’t review all the facets, constraints and truly incorporate complexity of what goes into such preparation, analysis and execution in a wrestling match. (Or even agree as a group on exact criteria to judge upon!) Instead, we simply have a broad snapshot of a hundred matches held in an arbitrary time span covering ten years, all whom worked at that time for a certain company. We’re not judging upon a wrestler’s entire body of promos, live gate receipts, feud politics and a million other factors. However, we can take a stab at the dark just because it’s fun.
There were One Hundred Matches. 23 were Tag Matches, 2 were Survivor Series Matches and 75 were Singles Matches. Here is a list of how many matches each wrestler was involved in:
(S = Singles; T = Tag; SS = Survivor Series)
15 MATCHES: Hulk Hogan (15S)
14 MATCHES: Bret Hart (6S, 6T, 2SS)
12 MATCHES: Randy Savage (11S,1T); Tito Santana (8S,3T)
11 MATCHES: Bob Backlund (10S, 1T)
10 MATCHES: Ricky Steamboat (8S, 2T); Sgt Slaughter (9S, 1T)
8 MATCHES: Adrian Adonis (3S, 5T); Jim Neidhart (6T, 2SS)
6 MATCHES: Dynamite Kid (1S, 3T, 2SS); Jacques Rougeau (1S, 3T, 2SS); Bob Orton Jr (4S, 2T)
5 MATCHES: Greg Valentine (2S, 2T, 1SS); Dick Murdoch (1S, 4T); British Bulldog (3T; 2SS); Ray Rougeau (3T, 2SS); Iron Sheik (5S); Ted DiBiase (5S); Paul Orndorff (4S, 1T); Don Muraco (4S; 1T)
4 MATCHES: Jake Roberts (4S); Marty Jannetty (3T, 1SS); Shawn Michaels 3T, 1SS); Arn Anderson (3T, 1SS); Tully Blanchard (3T, 1SS); Roddy Piper (2S, 2T); Bruno Sammartino (2S, 2T)
3 MATCHES: Mr Perfect (3S); Ronnie Garvin (3S); Rick Rude (3S); Brian Blair (2T, 1SS); Pat Patterson (3S); Bad News Brown (3S); Jim Powers (1T, 2SS); Paul Roma (2S, 1T); Jimmy Snuka (2S, 1T); Nikolai Volkoff (1S, 2SS)
2 MATCHES: Big Bossman (1S, 1T); Haku (1T, 1SS); Rick Martel (1T, 1SS); Tama (1T, 1SS); Brutus Beefcake (2T); Jim Brunzell (1T, 1SS); Ax (2SS); Boris Zhukov (2SS); Barry Horowitz (2S); Ken Patera (2S); Jose Estrada (1T, 1SS); Larry Zbyszko (2S); Johnny Rodz (1S, 1T)
1 MATCH: Jack Brisco (1T); Jerry Brisco (1T); Ultimate Warrior (1S); Itsuki Yamazaki (1T); Judy Martin (1T); Leilani Kai (1T); Noriyoi Tateno (1T); Barry Windham (1S); Owen Hart (1S); Terry Daniels (1T); Ron Bass (1S); Dino Bravo (1SS); Barbarian (1SS); Jose Louis Riviera (1SS); Warlord (1SS); Les Thornton (S); Mr Wrestling II (1S); Ivan Koloff (1S); Akeem (1T); Stan Hansen (1S); Honky Tonk Man (1S); Butch Reed (1S); Mike Rotundo (1S); Tim Horner (1S); Steve Travis (1T); Tony Garea (1T); Junkyard Dog (1T); Mr Fuji (1T); Mil Mascaras (1T); SD Jones (1T); Tony Atlas (1T); Rick McGraw (1S); Pedro Morales (1S); David Shultz (1S); Kuniaki “Chin” Kobayashi (1S); Andre the Giant (1S); Killer Khan (1S)
So, Hulk Hogan had the most matches nominated? Furthermore, they were all Singles matches suggesting he (or at least his direct feud) was the draw in that match. Does that mean he had the best matches? He certainly drew huge crowds and earned a lot of money in 1980s WWF. However, as a quick review of the rankings of his matches on the list, we can see that these voters didn't care much his work. Is he a victim of just being overlisted? Let's investigate!
(those with three or more singles matches)
| Wrestler | Singles Matches | Average Singles Match Rank |
| Bret Hart | 6 | 18.2 |
| Adrian Adonis | 3 | 18.3 |
| Ricky Steamboat | 8 | 26.4 |
| Mr Perfect | 3 | 30 |
| Ron Garvin | 3 | 30.7 |
| Rick Rude | 3 | 33.3 |
| Jake Roberts | 4 | 35 |
| Sgt Slaughter | 9 | 40.3 |
| Iron Sheik | 5 | 40.8 |
| Bob Backlund | 10 | 41.4 |
| Randy Savage | 11 | 42.9 |
| Ted DiBiase | 5 | 53 |
| Pat Patterson | 3 | 56.7 |
| Bob Orton Jr | 4 | 57.8 |
| Tito Santana | 8 | 60.9 |
| Paul Orndorff | 4 | 67 |
| Bad News Brown | 3 | 72.3 |
| Hulk Hogan | 15 | 74.5 |
| Don Muraco | 4 | 89.5 |
Bret Hart and Adrian Adonis are fighting each other for the top spot. Ricky Steamboat follows those two in singles wrestling with the trio of R-three-match men (Ronnie, Rude and Roberts) clustered right behind Curt “Mr Perfect” Hennig. (Meanwhile, Don Muraco struggles to keep all of his matches out of the bottom ten!)
(those with two or more tag matches, excludes SS matches)| Wrestler | Tag Matches | Avg Tag Match Rank |
| Tito Santana | 3 | 33.0 |
| Dynamite Kid | 3 | 33.7 |
| British Bulldog | 3 | 33.7 |
| Adrian Adonis | 5 | 35.6 |
| Bret Hart | 6 | 36.5 |
| Jim Neidhart | 6 | 36.5 |
| Brian Blair | 2 | 36.5 |
| Marty Jannetty | 3 | 37.7 |
| Shawn Michaels | 3 | 37.7 |
| Dick Murdoch | 4 | 38.3 |
| Jacques Rougeau | 3 | 39.0 |
| Ray Rougeau | 3 | 39.0 |
| Arn Anderson | 3 | 43.3 |
| Tully Blanchard | 3 | 43.3 |
| Greg Valentine | 2 | 43.5 |
| Brutus Beefcake | 2 | 43.5 |
| Bruno Sammartino | 2 | 50.5 |
| Ricky Steamboat | 2 | 65.0 |
| Bob Orton Jr | 2 | 82.5 |
| Roddy Piper | 2 | 82.5 |
Tito Santana makes a surprisingly strong showing here followed by the British Bulldogs (Dynamite & Davey Boy Smith). Adrian Adonis again shows up ranked by the Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart) followed by B Brian Blair and the Rockers (Marty Jannety & Shawn Michaels).
There are two approaches to how we could calculate a score for each wrestler. The first way would be to average the ranks of all the matches that a wrestler is involved in (“average rank”). The second way would be we could weight the matches depending on the number of people in it (“adjusted weight”). (In reality, they are the same method: one is giving equal weighting to all the matches and the other uses a specialized weight based on the number of opponents.) In this analysis, I used a weighting system that said each person in a match shared equal responsibility for the outcome of the ranking. So a singles match was 50% the work of each wrestler while a survivor series match only meant credit for 5% should go to each wrestler. So, a singles match would be weighted twice as much as a tag match and a Survivor Series match (involving twenty people) is therefore weighted very lightly.
Consider the example of Jacques Rougeau. He had six matches on the list: One singles, three Tag and both Survivor Series. The final rank (by points) of his matches were: TAG (34, 36, 47), Survivor Series (49, 55) and Singles (84). So his average weight was 50.7 (304/6). However, his adjusted weight is [(34*.25 + 36*.25 + 47*.25) + (49*.05 + 55*.05) + (84*.50)] / (3*.25 + 2*.05 + .5) = 76.45 / 1.35 = 56.6. In his case, his poor showing the singles match really brought his average higher because it was weighted much heavier than all the other matches. Similarly, a wrestler like Nikolai Volkoff is punished severely (adjusted rank drops 23 places versus the average rank) for having a terrible SNME singles match; his average isn’t as buoyed by the two Survivor Series matches that were ranked in the middle of the pack.
BEST WORKERs – ADJUSTED RANK!
Average Rank = Equally Weighted between all matches; Adjusted Rank = Singles matches weighted heavier than Tag Matches weighted heavier than Survivor Series matches.
SEVERAL (five or more matches)
| Wrestler | MATCHES | AVG RANK | ADJ RANK |
| Bret Hart | 30.9 | 14 | 25.0 |
| Adrian Adonis | 28.8 | 8 | 25.7 |
| Greg Valentine | 34.0 | 5 | 26.7 |
| Dynamite Kid | 36.7 | 6 | 27.9 |
| Dick Murdoch | 33.0 | 5 | 29.7 |
| Ricky Steamboat | 34.0 | 10 | 30.7 |
| British Bulldog | 41.2 | 5 | 36.1 |
| Jim Neidhart | 40.4 | 8 | 37.5 |
| Bob Backlund | 39.5 | 11 | 40.3 |
| Sgt Slaughter | 40.4 | 10 | 40.5 |
| Ray Rougeau | 44.2 | 5 | 40.5 |
| Iron Sheik | 41.4 | 5 | 41.4 |
| Randy Savage | 41.5 | 12 | 42.2 |
| Ted DiBiase | 53.2 | 5 | 53.2 |
| Tito Santana | 52.8 | 12 | 56.3 |
| Jacques Rougeau | 50.7 | 6 | 56.6 |
| Bob Orton Jr | 65.8 | 6 | 62.6 |
| Paul Orndorff | 68.8 | 5 | 68.0 |
| Hulk Hogan | 74.5 | 15 | 74.5 |
| Don Muraco | 88.2 | 5 | 88.7 |
With very strong showings in the Singles and Tag categories, no surprise that Bret Hart and Adrian Adonis lead the pack. However, Greg Valentine's strong showing in third place is a bit of a shocker. In retrospect, he had two singles matches in the top 30 along with three Tag & Survivor Series matches that were all in the mid-40s. Dynamite Kid finishes fourth with two top twenty matches (a singles with Bret and WM2 tag) and the rest of his tag matches clustered between 45 and 55. Meanwhile, Dick Murdoch rounds out the top five with his three matches in the top 25 but a terrible Mascaras/SD Jones tag match that finished very poorly. Ricky Steamboat is narrowly edged out by Murdoch though Steamboat did have twice as many matches on the list.
Here is the rest of the wrestler’s finishes. Mr Perfect, Ron Garvin, Rick Rude, Jake Roberts and the Rockers had notably strong performance combined with three or four matches apiece.
| Wrestler | AVG RANK | MATCHES | ADJ RANK |
| Jack Brisco | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Jerry Brisco | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Itsuki Yamazaki | 8 | 1 | 8 |
| Judy Martin | 8 | 1 | 8 |
| Leilani Kai | 8 | 1 | 8 |
| Noriyoi Tateno | 8 | 1 | 8 |
| Ultimate Warrior | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Barry Windham | 13 | 1 | 13 |
| Mr Perfect | 30.7 | 3 | 30.7 |
| Ron Garvin | 31 | 3 | 31 |
| Haku | 39 | 2 | 32.3 |
| Rick Martel | 39 | 2 | 32.3 |
| Tama | 39 | 2 | 32.3 |
| Rick Rude | 33 | 3 | 33 |
| Big Bossman | 40 | 2 | 33 |
| Jake Roberts | 35 | 4 | 35 |
| Blue Angel | 37 | 1 | 37 |
| Brian Blair | 40.7 | 3 | 37.6 |
| Buddy Rose | 38 | 1 | 38 |
| Marty Jannetty | 42 | 4 | 38.8 |
| Shawn Michaels | 42 | 4 | 38.8 |
| Terry Daniels | 39 | 1 | 39 |
| Ron Bass | 41 | 1 | 41 |
| Brutus Beefcake | 43 | 2 | 43 |
| Arn Anderson | 46.3 | 4 | 44.1 |
| Tully Blanchard | 46.3 | 4 | 44.1 |
| Dino Bravo | 49 | 1 | 49 |
| Jim Brunzell | 49.5 | 2 | 49.8 |
| Ax | 52 | 2 | 52 |
| Boris Zhukov | 52 | 2 | 52 |
| Smash | 52 | 2 | 52 |
| Barbarian | 55 | 1 | 55 |
| Jose Louis Riviera | 55 | 1 | 55 |
| Warlord | 55 | 1 | 55 |
| Barry Horowitz | 56 | 2 | 56 |
| Pat Patterson | 57 | 3 | 57 |
| Les Thornton | 57 | 1 | 57 |
| Mr Wrestling II | 57 | 1 | 57 |
| Ivan Koloff | 58 | 1 | 58 |
| Akeem | 61 | 1 | 61 |
| Roddy Piper | 69 | 4 | 64.7 |
| Stan Hansen | 66 | 1 | 66 |
| Honky Tonk Man | 67 | 1 | 67 |
| Butch Reed | 68 | 1 | 68 |
| Bruno Sammartino | 63.8 | 4 | 68.2 |
| Mike Rotundo | 71 | 1 | 71 |
| Bad News Brown | 72.3 | 3 | 72.3 |
| Ken Patera | 72.5 | 2 | 72.5 |
| Tim Horner | 75 | 1 | 75 |
| Jim Powers | 63.3 | 3 | 76.3 |
| Paul Roma | 63.3 | 3 | 76.3 |
| Jose Estrada Sr | 68 | 2 | 76.7 |
| Larry Zbyszko | 77 | 2 | 77 |
| Steve Travis | 81 | 1 | 81 |
| Tony Garea | 81 | 1 | 81 |
| Jimmy Snuka | 82.7 | 3 | 81.6 |
| Junkyard Dog | 84 | 1 | 84 |
| Mr Fuji | 84 | 1 | 84 |
| Mil Mascaras | 87 | 1 | 87 |
| SD Jones | 87 | 1 | 87 |
| Tony Atlas | 88 | 1 | 88 |
| Rick McGraw | 90 | 1 | 90 |
| Nikolai Volkoff | 67.3 | 3 | 90.3 |
| Johnny Rodz | 89 | 2 | 91.7 |
| Pedro Morales | 93 | 1 | 93 |
| David Shultz | 94 | 1 | 94 |
| Kuniaki "Chin" Kobayashi | 97 | 1 | 97 |
| Andre Giant | 100 | 1 | 100 |
| Killer Khan | 100 | 1 | 100 |
SOME MORE DATA FOR THOSE INTERESTED
YEAR BY YEAR
| total points | year | matches | avg points | avg rank that year | rank by avg points |
| 1980 | 26,403 | 6 | 4,401 | 64.6 | 10 |
| 1981 | 34,159 | 7 | 4,880 | 60.6 | 8 |
| 1982 | 38,378 | 6 | 6,396 | 48.4 | 4 |
| 1983 | 9,157 | 2 | 4,579 | 62.7 | 9 |
| 1984 | 90,388 | 15 | 6,026 | 51.2 | 5 |
| 1985 | 72,734 | 13 | 5,595 | 54.5 | 6 |
| 1986 | 97,827 | 15 | 6,522 | 46.7 | 3 |
| 1987 | 74,135 | 11 | 6,740 | 45.1 | 2 |
| 1988 | 37,118 | 7 | 5,303 | 56.9 | 7 |
| 1989 | 128,267 | 18 | 7,126 | 41.7 | 1 |
Later years 1989 and 1987 led the pack while earlier years 1980 and 1983 were the weakest.
We can basically break the finishes into three groups: good (1982, 1986, 1987, 1989), okay (1984, 1985, 1988), not-so-good (1980, 1981, 1983). Best years (#1-#4) all had average ranks in the mid-40s. Those with average ranks in the mid-50s performed okay finishing fifth, sixth and seventh. Those with average ranks in the 60s finished rounded out the pack.
QUARTILE DISTRIBUTIONS
In all, we're largely interested in where the majority of voters placed individual matches. There will always be voters who rate a certain match incredibly high or low as compared to the rest of the pack. So, one way to compenstate for this is to consider the quartile distributions. We rank all the votes and essentially look at the spread of a histogram (frequency of rank).
The vertical line represents the spread from the 25% to 75% marks in the ranking distribution for each match. The short horizontal line represents the median (50%) rank.
Matches ranked #1 through #10
Matches ranked #11 through #20
ALL MATCHES: (increasing in final rank by points from left to right)
Matches that change position in the AVG RANK vs TOTAL POINTS chart
Here are the only matches that would move around at all:
| MATCH NAME | POINT ORDER | AVG RANK ORDER | POINTS | AVG RANK |
| Ricky Steamboat vs Jake Roberts (8/9/86 Boston MA) | 9 | 12 | 9399 | 23.44 |
| Sgt Slaughter vs Iron Sheik (5/21/84 MSG) | 10 | 9 | 9395 | 23.03 |
| Brainbusters vs Hart Foundation (8/28/89 East Rutherford NJ Summerslam) | 12 | 10 | 9334 | 23.39 |
| | | | |
| British Bulldogs vs Hart Foundation (9/23/85 MSG) | 15 | 16 | 9009 | 26.38 |
| Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat (7/27/86 Toronto Ontario) | 16 | 17 | 8986 | 26.94 |
| Bret Hart vs Ted DiBiase (3/8/89 Odessa TX aired Prime Time 3/20/89) | 17 | 15 | 8978 | 26.28 |
| | | | |
| Randy Savage/Adrian Adonis vs Tito Santana/Bruno Sammartino (7/12/86 MSG) | 25 | 26 | 7913 | 35.33 |
| Pat Patterson vs Sgt Slaughter (5/4/81 MSG) | 26 | 25 | 7874 | 35.23 |
| | | | |
| Bob Backlund vs Adrian Adonis (3/20/82 Philadelphia PA) | 27 | 29 | 7842 | 36.63 |
| Greg Valentine vs Ricky Steamboat (6/21/85 MSG) | 28 | 27 | 7725 | 36.27 |
| Strike Force vs Islanders (10/3/87 Boston MA) | 29 | 28 | 7707 | 36.61 |
| | | | |
| Randy Savage vs Jake Roberts (11/15/86 Los Angeles CA aired 11/29/86 SNME) | 31 | 32 | 7512 | 38.38 |
| Rockers vs Brainbusters (10/31/89 Topeka KS aired 11/25/89 SNME) | 32 | 31 | 7497 | 38.24 |
| | | | |
| Mr Perfect vs Ronnie Garvin (12/12/89 Nashville TN) | 39 | 40 | 6919 | 43.56 |
| Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch vs Sgt Slaughter/Terry Daniels (7/23/84 MSG) | 40 | 39 | 6915 | 42.89 |
| | | | |
| Tito Santana vs Ron Bass (8/22/87 MSG) | 41 | 42 | 6846 | 44.10 |
| Dream Team vs British Bulldogs (4/7/86 Rosemont IL Wrestlemania 2) | 42 | 41 | 6834 | 44.02 |
| | | | |
| Sgt Slaughter vs Iron Sheik (5/19/84 Landover MD) | 43 | 44 | 6777 | 44.61 |
| British Bulldogs vs Hart Foundation (11/1/86 Boston MA) | 44 | 43 | 6748 | 44.54 |
| | | | |
| Dream Team vs Ricky Steamboat/Tito Santana (4/21/85 Toronto) | 45 | 46 | 6724 | 45.11 |
| Mr Perfect vs Ron Garvin (3/18/89 Boston MA) | 46 | 45 | 6693 | 45.00 |
| | | | |
| Rick Rude vs Tito Santana (2/11/89 Boston MA) | 59 | 60 | 5274 | 57.08 |
| Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage (1/27/86 MSG) | 60 | 59 | 5251 | 56.83 |
| | | | |
| Sgt Slaughter vs Paul Orndorff (6/2/84 Philadelphia PA) | 61 | 62 | 5206 | 58.07 |
| Hart Foundation vs Twin Towers (5/17/89 Duluth MN) | 62 | 61 | 5185 | 57.2 |
| | | | |
| Bob Backlund vs Hulk Hogan (4/8/80 Philadelphia PA) | 65 | 66 | 4907 | 60.47 |
| Bob Backlund vs Stan Hansen (6/6/81 MSG) | 66 | 65 | 4829 | 60.26 |
| | | | |
| Hulk Hogan vs Iron Sheik (5/5/84 Philadelphia PA) | 71 | 73 | 4382 | 64.62 |
| Hulk Hogan vs Paul Orndorff (12/14/86 Hartford CT aired 1/3/87 SNME) | 73 | 71 | 4344 | 64.36 |
| | | | |
| Tim Horner vs Barry Horowitz (12/30/88 MSG) | 75 | 76 | 4022 | 67.94 |
| Bruno Sammartino/Paul Orndorff vs Roddy Piper/Bob Orton Jr (10/26/85 Philadelphia PA) | 76 | 75 | 3983 | 67.55 |
| | | | |
| Jimmy Snuka vs Roddy Piper (7/20/84 St Louis MO) | 82 | 83 | 3360 | 72.88 |
| Bruno Sammartino vs Larry Zbyszko (4/8/80 Philadelphia PA) | 83 | 86 | 3346 | 73.54 |
| Ted DiBiase vs Jacques Rougeau (Rockford IL 9/16/87 aired Fall '87) | 84 | 82 | 3324 | 72.83 |
| Brainbusters vs Young Stallions (11/6/88 Toronto) | 86 | 84 | 3295 | 72.96 |
| | | | |
| Ken Patera vs Pat Patterson (12/29/80 MSG) | 88 | 90 | 2945 | 76.73 |
| Sgt Slaughter vs Rick McGraw (6/20/81 Philadelphia PA) | 90 | 88 | 2937 | 76.00 |
Special thanks to Kris Zellner, Phil Schneider, Bix and DVDVR voters.
Chris would like personally thank Alissa, Litz, Phil, Tom, TC and BK. Comments can be directed towards the email address listed above.
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