10 Excellent Reasons Why Bret "Hitman" Hart Is The Greatest Wrestler Of All-Time
2. Because His Peers All Have A Major Flaw(s)
If Bret isn't the GOAT then who is?
By analysing the usual suspects (Hogan, Flair, Michaels, Austin, Rock), it becomes clear they all have a major flaw, or flaws, that Bret does not share.
Starting with The Hulkster (although his unprecedented first Hulkamania run undoubtedly put pro-wrestling on the map), Hogan lacked that solid workrate. The majority of Hogan's matches were the antithesis of a wrestling classic and often told the same formulaic story.
Speaking of telling the same story, by his own admission, Ric Flair had an, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality when it came to his matches that were often too similar. This was never more apparent than during his first WWF run in which Flair lasted less than a year on top before being phased down to the mid-card. For those that claim things might've been different had Flair come earlier, it's a case of could've, would've, should've vs. Bret's, "been there, done that" for over half a decade.
As for the rest, both Shawn and Austin lacked professionalism. Both men's behaviour and unexpected departures costing the company and themselves millions. The Rock lacked longevity and his often mediocre workrate was often more comical than believable. Surely, Rock would've remained on or near the top had he not chosen to depart for Hollywood, but he did and it limited his run, hurting his qualifications as being the GOAT.