Originally Posted by FMKK:
“Flair would not be number two at all. Austin had less time on top but he was a bigger draw than Flair. So were some of the stars of the 1930s I'm sure, Jim Londos and the like.”
I've not really looked at the list to see how it ranks talent, but assuming we're talking about the biggest draws. Pre-war superstars (Londos, Lewis, Gotch etc) can't easily or at all be compared to those who were on top when television gave wrestling a boom period in the 1950's. Then as wrestling became even more regional based in the 1960's there would have been wrestlers who were huge in one area, but not that big in another. A good example of that would be Big Daddy vs. Giant Haystacks in the UK, which peaked in 1981. Those British guys were household names for the time, but not very well known in other countries. That's not due to talent but rather a combination of freak appeal, the novelty of pro wrestling on television and more people getting a colour television.
There's too much of a difference between then and WWE going national and then international. Hogan became a household name all other the world, but Flair was a major asset for the NWA, Mid Atlantic and TBS. It could be argued he's underrated in that regard because the WWE onslaught was so strong in the mid 80's. The NWA/WCW and AWA went international, but due to Vince getting their first and forging strong links, rivals and 'wrasslers' were seen as imitators by some and simply less exciting to others.
Guys like The Undertaker, Bret Hart, Sting, Shawn Michaels, The Rock and Steve Austin were the first to really benefit from the new world of an international platform on satellite and cable television. Those guys would have eyes on them in every big arena, in every state and in nearly every country. The latter also benefited, or arguably negatively, from the internet as well. Though they also had to deal with kayfabe pretty much dying and wrestling becoming episodic TV centric. In the case of The Rock, that was the perfect platform. However, it would have been interesting to see how big of a draw he could have been should he have lasted longer. He also exited in a gimmicky world of car crash television aimed at young adult males rather than classic pro wrestling.