I have a feeling I'm on such a different wavelength than most of you that my explanation won't mean much, but...
When I made my list I had a hard time separating who I "liked to watch" and who I "thought was the best". It's not like baseball where there are pure stats to go off when saying this guy hit more homers than this guy but did so during a period where the pitching was worse and etc...
So even if I look at someone like Flair (who I ranked just below Boss) and know that he's regarded as one of the best and brings a lot to the table, if I'd rather watch a Bossman match, than Bossman is "better".I can't step outside myself and go "Well Flair is liked more by people that have watched a lot more than me so he is a greater wrestler". Again, it's one of the reasons I didn't feel comfortable ranking Japanese guys despite watching hundreds of matches from those promotions. I wouldn't know where to rank Kobashi or Misawa without being completely influenced by what others think of them. And watching that stuff is like eating my vegetables. I do it because I know the classics are good to have watched, but I don't typically like them as much as appreciate them.
He was super effective as both a face and a heel. Even though he was already Big Bubba in WCW when I started watching (mid-90s), I knew he had been Big Bossman in WWF and was SHOCKED to eventually find out he started out as a heel before that early 90s run. And that turn angle with Dibiase is a high point of character development for that era. Up there with the Savage/Hogan/Liz turn.
His bumping was fantastic, not just as a big man, but as a wrestler. And for a guy with his physique, he was astounding in getting the most he could out of his character, a master of facial and body expressions. Id rather watch his reactions during his matches than most wrestlers actions.
I'd rather watch him in anything, be it a 2 minute squash or 25 minute slog than every other wrestler except the 9 above him on my list.
All the guys I've been the high vote on so far (Ouillet, Cabana, Jacques, Steiner, Steen, and Bossman) are all guys I'd drop almost anything to watch a highly pimped match of.
I'm actually very sympathetic to that rationale. Thanks for stepping up and explaining.