1. Sting
Sting is probably the most synonymous name with masked wrestling in America, after battling hard for the WCW during his time there, Sting quickly became a legend, known for his scorpion death lock, similar to the sharp shooter, and had legendary rivals with other great wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and even lead the WCW against the NWO. He is also the most crowned masked wrestler in American history, having held a world championship belt 14 times, 8 times in the WCW, 4 times in TNA and twice in the NWA. Sting has also won a total of 21 total championships, is a WCW Triple Crown Winner. What makes Sting unique is his brand loyalty, having never performed in the WWE, despite many offers to do so, especially when many wrestlers from the WCW were jumping across to the WWE after it had bought out the WCW. Sting however stayed with the failing program until it's demise and has since joined up with WWE's newest rival in TNA. Since joining TNA, he has had high profile feuds with Jeff Jarrett and Abyss, and is currently in a feud against the Aces and Eights. Sting was also the first masked wrestler to have received the number 1 ranking in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's annual top 500 chart, which he achieved in 1992 as well as ranked within the top 10 on 5 other occasions. Sting was also the first person inducted into the TNA hall of fame in 2012, he has since been joined by Kurt Angle in the hall of fame, but remains one of the few highly regarded masked wrestlers in America today.