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Wrestling is a style of combat sports that involves the wrestlers grappling each other via grappling techniques, such as the likes of clinch fighting, throws, locks, takedowns, and other such holds. The ultimate goal here is to throw and pin the opponent to the mat, resulting in an immediate win. Wrestling can be either competitive or a form of sports entertainment. There are different forms of wrestling such as freestyle wrestling, sambo, folkstyle, catch, submission, pehlwani, and others. In this blog, we will look at the top 10 world’s best wrestler of all time.
Believed to have originated in Britain and the United States of America, wrestling has a huge fan following around the globe. It was formerly known as catch-as-catch-can. There are various weight classes of wrestling, such as 47.6 kg (104.9 lb), 52.2 kg (115.1 lb), 56.7 kg (125.0 lb), 61.2 kg (134.9 lb), 65.3 kg (143.9 lb), 71.7 kg (156.7 lb), and greater than 71.7 kg (158 lb).
Now, throughout history, many wrestlers have taken to the wrestling mat, some have etched their name as the greatest of the sport, as well as being some of the most influential individuals. Let us take a look at some of them:
Top 10 World’s Best Wrestlers of All time
| Rank | Greatest wrestler of all time |
| 1 | Aleksandr Medved |
| 2 | Buvaisar Saitiev |
| 3 | Bruce Baumgartner |
| 4 | Kaori Icho |
| 5 | Ivan Yarygin |
| 6 | Makharbek Khadartsev |
| 7 | John Smith |
| 8 | Sushil Kumar |
| 9 | Yogeshwar Dutt |
| 10 | Abdulrashid Sadulaev |
Greatest wrestler of all time: Abdulrashid Sadulaev
A master in technical wrestling, Abdulrashid Sadulaev has dominated wrestling in a manner like no other. He has secured the majority of victories throughout his wrestling career with very few defeats. His mastery over technical aspects of wrestling is believed to be far superior to anyone else. His achievements to date include winning 2 Olympic Gold Medals, 5 Gold Medals at the World Championships, 1 Silver at the World Championships, a Gold at the 2020 Freestyle Wrestling Individual World Cup, 2 Gold Medals at the European Games, and 4 Gold Medals at the European Freestyle Wrestling Championships.
He is one of the greatest wrestler of all time.
Greatest wrestler of all time: Yogeshwar Dutt
Hailing from India, Dutt has emerged as one of the more prominent figures in the field of wrestling in the country. He is one of the few wrestlers from India to have won a medal in the Olympics. He managed to win the bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympics, in the 60 Kg weight category. For his achievements and contributions to the field of wrestling, he was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Padma Shri by the government of India.
He has also competed in numerous wrestling events such as in the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and other such championships, where he has secured the top position.
Greatest wrestler of all time: Sushil Kumar
Another fellow wrestler from India, Sushil Kumar managed to win consecutive medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics (where he won the bronze medal) and the 2012 London Olympics (silver). He has also participated in numerous competitions such as the Commonwealth Games, Asian games, etc, and has won several medals across different weight categories from 66-74 Kg.
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John Smith
A phenomenal grappler, John Smith was the American wrestler with the most gold medals in the international circuit. He had managed to win 2 Olympic gold medals, 4 world championship gold medals, and 2 Goodwill Games gold medals. A dominant individual, he amassed a record that was deemed to be surreal, having a 150-3 international record from 1986 to 1990. Furthermore, he was also the first American ever to win the Master of Technique and Wrestler of the Year awards from FILA.
Makharbek Khadartsev
Hailing from a family of wrestlers, Makharbek Khadartsev has been deemed a true terminator on the mat. He decimated his opposition with his skillful techniques. He ended up winning 2 Olympic gold medals, 1 Olympic Silver medal, 5 World Championship gold medals, 2 world championship silver medals, and 1 world championship bronze medal for the Soviet Union and his homeland, Russia.
Khadartsev’s older brother, Aslanbek was also a world-class wrestler. However, he tragically passed away in a car accident. For his dominant showing in the international arena, Khadartsev was elected to the FILA International Hall of fame in 2005.
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Ivan Yarygin
Known for his no-nonsense attitude and aggressive, and extremely strong style of wrestling, Ivan was a wrestler who could defeat his opponent in the blink of an eye. A dynamic grappler, he secured several accolades for his home country the Soviet Union. These include 2 Olympic gold medals, 1 World Championship Gold medal, and 5 World Cup gold medals.
Having died at the young age of 48 due to a car crash, he was posthumously voted into the FILA international hall of fame in 2010.
Kaori Icho
Nicknamed the Grapplezilla, Kaori icho dominated the scene in international women’s freestyle wrestling. Having remained undefeated from 2003 to 2016, she has secured the most gold medals in international competitions, which include 4 Olympic gold medals, 10 World Championship gold medals, 5 Asian championship gold medals, and 1 Bronze Asian championship medal.
Bruce Baumgartner
Bruce was widely regarded as one of the finest wrestlers to have ever come out from the United States of America. He dominated the international wrestling circuit, having secured 4 Olympic medals, which include 2 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze as well as winning 9 world championship medals – 3 gold, 3 Silver, and 3 Bronze. He entered the FILA Hall of fame in 2003.
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Buvaisar Saitiev
Having all the attributes of a perfect wrestler: speed, strength, and agility, Saitiev used all these to assert his dominance in the international circuit. Being a juggernaut of Russian wrestling, he won numerous medals, such as the 3 Olympic gold medals, 6 gold medals at the world championships, and 6 gold medals at the European championships for Russia.
He was revered across the world for his grip wrestling and counter-wrestling techniques. He was inducted into the hall of fame in 2010.
Aleksandr Medved
The wrestler who can boast of never having been defeated in any Olympic event, Medved has truly earned his spot in the number one position in the list of greatest wrestlers of all time. He won the following medals: 3 Olympic Gold medals, 9 world championship medals – 7 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze as well as 3 European championship gold medals.
Wrestling in the heavyweight and open weight category, he often used to face opponents who would outweigh him by almost 100 pounds and would still end up beating them using his brilliant skills, strength, and techniques.
Alexsandr Medved was inducted into the FILA International Hall of Fame in 2003.
Greatest Wrestlers of India
Legendary Indian wrestlers
| S.N | Legendary Indian wrestlers |
| 1 | The Great Gama |
| 2 | Dara Singh |
| 3 | Udey Chand |
| 4 | Khasaba Dadasaheb Jadhav |
Best Wrestlers in India: Men
| S.N | Best Wrestlers in India |
| 1 | Sushil Kumar |
| 2 | Yogeshwar Dutt |
| 3 | Bajrang Punia |
| 4 | Deepak Punia |
Indian female wrestlers
| S.N | Best women wrestlers in India |
| 1 | Sakshi Malik |
| 2 | Geeta Phogat |
| 3 | Babita Phogat |
| 4 | Vinesh Phogat |
