Highest Pure Babyface on the List?

[Grimmas]

In the Steamboat vs Bret thread I mentioned that I would have Martel above Steamboat. I think Martel is the best wrestling babyface in history. Thus he is above Steamboat, who is strictly a babyface candidate.

 

Thinking about it, I have Rey Mysterio above both Martel and Steamboat, but I think there is other factors to Rey besides being a strictly babyface. I somehow look at guys in Japan/Mexico differently than in the US, as terms of roles.

 

For me, probably

 

Top 10: Rey Jr.

Top 20: Martel

Top 25: Steamboat

Top 40: Tito Santana

Top 40: Ricky Morton

 

So, how are you ranking your babyface workers?

[Loss]

Jeff Hardy is probably the highest babyface, but he won't be on my list.

 

Joking aside, probably Steamboat, with Rey, Morton and maybe Kikuchi not too far behind.

[JerryvonKramer]

Does Kobashi count?

[Loss]

Technically, I'd say yes, but I also think he transcends the role in a way the others may not. We think of Morton as a great babyface. We think of Kobashi as a great performer. Not to say Morton isn't a great performer or Kobashi isn't a great babyface, but I just don't think that's what we think of first. It's a colloquial thing.

[Grimmas]

Does Kobashi count?

Good question.

 

Kobashi is top 20 as well, probably above Martel.

 

I think Kobashi is like Rey, though. Where you don't think of him as just a babyface.

[Grimmas]

Jeff Hardy is probably the highest babyface, but he won't be on my list.

 

I don't want to undersell the greatness of this joke.

[KB8]

Tentatively: Rey is somewhere around my top 15, Steamboat is somewhere around my top 25, and Martel and Morton are somewhere between 30 and 40. Tito is bottom quarter right now, but I'm going to re-watch a handful of matches from the Valentine series for the purposes of seeing where Greg lands, so I don't doubt Tito will get a boost from that.

[Grimmas]

Tentatively: Rey is somewhere around my top 15, Steamboat is somewhere around my top 25, and Martel and Morton are somewhere between 30 and 40. Tito is bottom quarter right now, but I'm going to re-watch a handful of matches from the Valentine series for the purposes of seeing where Greg lands, so I don't doubt Tito will get a boost from that.

He will.

[JRGoldman]

I know he had a heel run for a bit, but I think Santito will be very high on my ballot for his work as a face.

[Badlittlekitten]

If I was to make a list it would go a bit like this;

 

Chigusa > Rey > Cena >Santito > Bret.

 

Steamboat just a notch below. Martel/Tito don't get a look in.

[donsem43]

Chigusa is going to be top 10 maybe even top 5. Rey will be about the same. Do need to watch more face Martel though.

[elliott]

El Hijo del Santo is #4 overall for me. Rey Jr is somewhere between 10&20. Steamboat and Morton are top 30. Atlantis is probably top 50. Tito will be in the 50-70 range probably.

[TheU_2001]

Steamboat for sure. Flair and Shawn were both heels for big parts of their careers. Rey will be up there though, and Misawa/Kobashi too if they count in this category.

[Jimmy Redman]

Interesting to me that people don't seem to be including Cena in this category.

[Matt D]

I don't think a lot of people have him in their top 15.

[Grimmas]

Interesting to me that people don't seem to be including Cena in this category.

Good point. Cena is close to Steamboat/Tito on my list. Will have to hammer this out before the deadline.

[fxnj]

Technically, I'd say yes, but I also think he transcends the role in a way the others may not. We think of Morton as a great babyface. We think of Kobashi as a great performer. Not to say Morton isn't a great performer or Kobashi isn't a great babyface, but I just don't think that's what we think of first. It's a colloquial thing.

I could see that argument if you're thinking about Kobashi as the late 90's/2000's main event ace, but Kobashi from 1990 up to the 1996 TC win is by far the best I've seen in the role of a fired up babyface selling his ass off. The coolest thing about Kobashi, though, is that on paper he's not a guy who'd fit that role well at all. Most of the guys listed here had a smaller build, yet Kobashi was a 6 foot tall guy with a big powerlifter build and even teamed with a small guy in Kikuchi, but he still pulled the role off because he was just so good at it.