4. Kenta Kobashi
Kenta Kobashi may have never had exposure in the pop culture of WWE, but ask any wrestling fan of the global scene and they will tell you he should be number 1 in the list of greatest retired wrestlers. Kobashi worked a hard hitting and powerful style, and put his body through pain staking bouts with fellow Japanese Legend Mitsuharu Misawa in several famous bouts. It was a ring style that left Kobashi with neck and spinal surgeries, and he even endured cancer which he overcame to return to the ring. Kobashi retired earlier this year aged 46. His greatest year was arguably 2003, as the face of Pro Wrestling Noah he dominated in a Two year title reign that had some of the best wrestling matches of all time in it. Fans who are unaware of Kobashi need to trawl the internet for videos of these bouts. The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer has awarded Kobashi 23 Five star match awards, which says it all about this man, by contrast Shawn Michaels has only ever had 2 Observer Five star matches.