10. Ernie Ladd
It's not often that a nearly seven-foot tall championship-winning American football player with legit civil rights movement respect decides he wants to be a bad-guy pro wrestler. However, when you're "The Big Cat" Ernie Ladd, that's exactly what you do. Wrestling Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales and Bob Backlund at Madison Square Garden during the WWWF days is nothing to sneeze at. Commanding respect both in and out of the ring due to his size, skill and presentation, Ladd brought significant credibility with him to the ring and used said legitimacy made bigger superstars of all he faced.
Marcus K. Dowling
Contributor
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
See more from
Marcus