WWE: Top 14 Body Slammers in Pro Wrestling History

Before his departure as a public authority figure from WWE, Vince McMahon was known for loving to sign big and strong guys as talent. It often wasn't about your potential gimmicks or your charisma as a superstar. Instead, what mattered was strength.

Nothing sells one person over another than the ability to pick their opponent up and slam them viciously to the ground. The body slam took on a life of its own in the 1980s. Showing a powerful man slamming another powerful man to the ground was the closest thing that you needed to a finisher for many back then.

Nowadays, body slams are just a part of the moveset, but many finishers conducted in today's WWE are based off of body-slam basics. Body slams will always survive as a major part of the WWE product, including the present day. Here are the 14 (yes, it's an odd number, but just deal with it) greatest men to dominate his opponent with body slams.

Hulk Hogan

What better place to start than with perhaps the most well-known body slam in wrestling history?

Hulk Hogan picked up and slammed Andre the Giant to the ground at WrestleMania III, sending many fans into a frenzy. Never had such an amount of strength been shown by that of Hogan's size and strength. It is still one of the most defining moments of Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and WWE as a whole.

Even though he is more known for leg drops and weak punches, this one incredible moment has withstood the test of time as one of those moments that you knew would affect the future of WrestleMania and the WWE design plan of today.

Kurt Angle

Angle is known for his submissions and suplexes, but Kurt Angle can body slam the best of them. His Angle Slam is technically considered a variation of the body slam. From Brock Lesnar to Big Show and everyone in between, Angle squared off against some of the best that generation ever could offer him. Angle was able to slam them all, despite his size deficiency to most of the big men.

Big Show

The World's largest athlete could slam just about anyone around the ring. In his impressive and long career, Big Show has body-slammed, choke-slammed, and just about any other slam you could imagine. Earlier in his career, Big Show was able to run around the ring and be one of the more athletic big men in wrestling history. Through it all, even at his older age now, Big Show can still lift opponents into the air and slam them down to the ground.

Randy Orton

Randy Orton may seem out of place on this list, but just view most of his pay-per-view matches. Orton can whip out some pretty devastating body slams to his opponents. While he also does the Angle Slam (which pisses off Kurt Angle), Orton also does the scoop slam often as a part of his five-move finish. Orton is another man without much of the strength or size to seem like he would be on this list, but he does back it up in the ring.

Lex Luger

Lex Luger was one of the strongest men in the then-WWF in the 1990s. Luger would gain his most notable body slam on the Fourth of July, when he became the first man to slam the massive Yokozuna. Luger would use the momentum from that great moment to tour around America and raise patriotism. Luger was not one of the all-time great wrestlers, but he was one of the all-time great Americans.

Mark Henry

For his entire WWE career, Mark Henry has been seen (most of the time) as the World's strongest man. Henry actually did compete in strongman competitions, as well as try out for the Olympics. Henry really does have world records in weightlifting.

So, when you try to put a moveset together for this large man, body slams are usually where you start and end. The World's Strongest Slam falls into that category, as well as more than half of his other moves probably. It has been effective recently—the momentum Henry has now, has been the most he has had at any point in his career.

Ezekiel Jackson

This dude is just scary looking and incredibly strong. It is the reason that this list was made now. The current Intercontinental Champion doesn't do much anymore without body slamming his opponent. In fact, he repeatedly does it. When he starts, it is hard to stop. When he starts doing them, don't expect the match to last much longer. The Personification of Domination fits the bill when he breaks out his body slams.

Andre the Giant

Andre the Giant was a feared opponent for many in the 1980s. Name the opponent and Andre could slam them. He even had a match at WrestleMania against Big John Studd in a Body-slam challenge, which Andre would have been successful with had it not been for Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. If you faced Andre the Giant and didn't think you were getting body slammed, you were an idiot.

Brock Lesnar

The brute strength of Brock Lesnar has him as one of the top body slammers in history. The Next Big Thing ran through WWE in his few short years with the company, slamming anyone and everyone. Fans still speculate if Lesnar would have been an all-time great if he had stayed with WWE. The answer is probably yes.

King Kong Bundy

Few wrestlers have I ever feared more than King Kong Bundy. From his less-than-flattering attire to his haunting music, Bundy certainly looks the part. Getting slammed by this guy was about as bad of a position as you could be at that moment in your life. Then again, a body slam might not be as bad as the Atlantic City Avalanche, his finishing move of a big splash in the turnbuckle.

Then again, don't make me choose the lesser of two very painful evils.

Big John Studd

Big John Studd's career is centered around the words "body slam." Not only did he perform it, but he bragged about not being able to have it done to him. There would be countless Body-slam challenges held by Studd, rewarding superstars with huge sums of cash if they could pick up and slam the man billed at 6'10" and 364 pounds.

There would be a few men who actually did slam the big man Studd, but they would often be done while the referee was distracted or simply not acknowledged by the large man. I would much rather try to bounce a basketball for Ted DiBiase than try to body slam Big John Studd.

Kane

As The Big Red Machine or The Devil's Favorite Demon, Kane has been a menacing figure in WWE since 1997. Despite being one of the more agile big men around, Kane still relies upon a boatload of body slams. From signature moves like the pumphandle and sidewalk slams to his choke-slam finisher, Kane has been dominating opponents for many years.

The Undertaker

The Undertaker's body has been a little uncooperative for him in recent years, but The Deadman is still one of the best in the world at body slams. His moves have always grown and adapted as his age has risen and his abilities have lessened. No matter how The Undertaker was, he was always tough enough and strong enough to slam any opponent in his path, no matter how big they were.

Goldberg

Goldberg's ability has always been impressive. His movesets was always menacing. His pain always looked like it felt real (and it probably felt worse than it looked). Goldberg would deal slam after slam to victim after victim. The Jackhammer is still one of the most damaging moves in anyone's arsenal and Goldberg did it better than anyone else.

Who's next? Nobody. That's because Goldberg is the best body-slammer of all time. Let the hateful comments begin...