Professional wrestlers are soap opera characters, and just like the characters in the most scandalously addictive daytime soap operas of yesteryear, they are expendable. Sure, some are better at connecting with audiences than others, but writing teams are adept at elevating new talent and burying old on an as-needed basis. For an established franchise like WWE (or All My Children for O.G. soap opera fans), no character is more important than the show itself. Take Roman Reigns for example. Reigns has had a massively successful career in WWE. He is one of the most popular and accomplished characters in the history of the business. Let’s engage in a thought experiment where Reigns doesn’t pursue a career in professional wrestling. How would that have impacted the success of the industry? Well, probably not much at all, and that’s no slight on Reigns. WWE was a multi-billion-dollar business before he joined the company, and it will continue to be after his career ends. Much more important than a talented character like Reigns are factors outside of the ring like entering emerging markets, acquiring and cultivating talent (NXT etc.), and savvy promotional relationships. Reigns certainly deserves credit for playing his role effectively, but had he been a professional football player instead, the WWE creative team would’ve used a different character to tell an equally engaging story. Reigns–for all of his success–is just a cog in a machine, waiting to find out what is next in his character’s story.

For 99% of wrestlers who have stepped into a ring, success looks like it does for Roman Reigns. However, there are a select few whose contributions literally impact survivability. It’s quite possible that professional wrestling would still be a regional sideshow had Hulk Hogan’s popularity in the 80s not given Vince McMahon cover to consolidate talent under one umbrella and then package it to the masses via cable and pay-per-view (PPV). No character had more influence on professional wrestling’s appeal–or its flagship business–than Hogan. Although Hogan is largely responsible for professional wrestling’s grip on pop culture, there is another character whose impact reached outside the physical parameters of the wrestling ring, and that is none other than “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Austin was not destined to change the industry. He wasn’t anointed as the “chosen one” by a company president or ordained by birthright through family lineage. In fact, before Austin exclaimed his now legendary “Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass” salvo to Jake “The Snake” Roberts at the WWF King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1996, he was just another veteran name on a wrestling roster struggling to gain traction with fans. Providing the backdrop for Austin’s eventual transcendent impact on WWE was the fact that the company was in dire straits financially in the mid-90s. Hulk Hogan was not only long gone, but he was leading WCW–WWF’s emerging rival–to unprecedented success. With WWF (now WWE) no longer having a creative stranglehold on wrestling audiences, and years of legal disputes digging into its bottom line, the viability of WWF as a business was in serious doubt. In a development that seemed impossible to fathom just two years earlier, WCW rocketed past the WWF in popularity as evidenced by WCW Monday Nitro’s 83-week winning streak over WWE’s Monday Night Raw beginning in June of 1996. Success is often described as the intersection where opportunity meets preparation. With WWE barreling toward financial ruin, the opportunity to deeply impact the industry was at an all-time high. The only question was whether or not anyone on the WWF roster was prepared to meet the challenge. The answer, of course, was a “hell, yeah!”

After gaining traction from his King of the Ring promo in 1996, Austin cultivated his organic badass persona throughout 1997 and then elevated it to full-fledged superstardom in 1998. His impact on financials and ratings was so swift and deep that it spawned a whole new era: the Attitude Era. Austin headlined his first WrestleMania in 1998, garnering 730,000 PPV buys. Remarkably, it represented a threefold jump in buy rate from the previous year at WrestleMania 13. That number would jump to 800,000 in 1999, and after missing WrestleMania 2000 with an injury, Austin’s return in the main event slot at WrestleMania X-7 (2001) generated a monstrous 1,040,000 buys. Austin’s popularity boom in 1998 surged Monday Night Raw ahead of Monday Nitro in the ratings. After 83 consecutive head-to-head losses on Monday night, Raw finally edged past Nitro to break the streak in April of 1998. Behind Austin, Raw regained its hold on Monday nights and, starting on November 2, 1998, it defeated Nitro for 119 consecutive weeks until WCW was forced to sell to Vince McMahon on March 26, 2001.

With Stone Cold Steve Austin driving record television ratings, PPV buys, and merchandise sales, Vince McMahon’s WWE went from the brink of bankruptcy to dispatching and acquiring its only remaining rival, clearing the way for it to become the global entertainment juggernaut it is today. WWE’s revenue in 1997 was just $81.9 million–far below the peak of Hulkamania–and by 2001 it had skyrocketed to $ 438.1 million. Austin had impacted business fivefold in just four years. Revenue would dip following his retirement in 2003, but with no competition in sight, the runway was cleared for the final act of the plan that McMahon hatched two decades earlier behind the star power of Hulk Hogan. 

Many wrestlers get over with the crowd and secure memorable legacies while doing so. Defining “greatness” in this regard is quite subjective. Take a comparison between talents like Ravishing Rick Rude and Mr. Perfect, for example. There is a lot to consider. How did they make the audience feel? How were they on the mic? Who had better entrance music, ring attire, and finishers? These are the normal questions to consider when putting together a list of the GOAT wrestlers. With Austin (and Hogan), the conversation takes place on a whole different level. Austin didn’t just make audiences feel something, he did it so profoundly and did it at such an important time that it rescued a company that is valued north of $8 billion (as of 2025) from the brink of irrelevance. Whereas Hogan created wrestling as we know it today, Austin saved wrestling as we know it today. 

The Michael Jordan/LeBron James GOAT debate will rage until the end of time, and it’s unlikely there will ever be a consensus. Regardless of what side you stand on, can you imagine if they were able to face off against each other in their primes for 20 years? That would be bananas! Except, that very same hypothetical has actually been happening in soccer as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been exchanging blows for two decades in a race for the GOAT throne. It has been the greatest head-to-head GOAT battle in modern history, and it’s not over! Both are still dominating domestic leagues, and are primed for their final acts on the grandest stage at the 2026 World Cup in North America. 

Whether you prefer Messi’s surgical free kicks or Ronaldo’s aerial superiority, there is something for everyone in this heavyweight battle. Determining the winner of this GOAT standoff is an exercise in nuance, because with all due respect to Pele, there is nobody even close in the history of soccer who can match these two juggernauts when it comes to the combination of peak production, strength of competition, health, and longevity. As a bonus, Messi and Ronaldo are polar opposites when it comes to how they dominate games. Messi is a diminutive open field magician who keeps the ball on his foot like a yo-yo as he weaves past defenders. He is a master at creating space and then using it to both lace precision shots on goal and find open teammates for scoring opportunities. His free kick accuracy is legendary, stressing goalies from post to post and corner to corner. Ronaldo, for his part, is a statuesque figure who uses his size and uncanny vertical athleticism to control the box. He has tormented goaltenders on corners and crosses for two decades. He is also a relentless assassin who unleashes howitzers on net from anywhere and everywhere in the offensive zone.  

Soccer is often described as an artform in a way that football or baseball is not. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are compared and contrasted based on their statistics, not the mechanics of their respective throwing motions. Soccer, though, seems to leave room for an artistry score when deciding the value of a particular player. In that regard, Messi and Ronaldo are as different in style and equal in talent as Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh. If this is art, then there is no wrong answer–there are just two majestically gifted virtuosos to admire. However, in the spirit of athletic competition, the GOAT conversation requires a winner or, at the very least, a statistically worthier option. With the clock ticking on their time left on the pitch, it’s Messi who has the edge in the most spectacular GOAT battle in history.

Considering Messi and Ronaldo dominate soccer in very, very different ways, it’s quite likely that the winner would theoretically be dependent, in large part, on the makeup of the rest of the team. That caveat aside, the statistics show that Messi has an advantage in just about every comparison. He has a decisive lead in Ballon d’Or trophies (8-5) and domestic league championships (12-7). He won the World Cup and nearly won a second. Messi even has the best high-end seasons, owning single-season Big 5 domestic league superiority over Ronaldo in both goals (50) and goal contributions (66). Messi also holds the advantage over Ronaldo in career goals per match and goal contributions per match. Additionally, Ronaldo has scored a disproportionate number of his goals (119) on penalty kicks (PKs), which require far less skill than goals scored in play. Messi already has an advantage in goals and goal rate without considering the fact that he only took and scored roughly half as many PKs as Ronaldo. This makes Messi’s statistical advantage even more pronounced.    

If there was a draft of all the soccer players in the history of the sport, the team with the second pick would not lose any sleep over who the team with the first pick selected. Messi and Ronaldo are fully capable of leading a team to championship glory. It’s more likely than not that Messi and Ronaldo are equally talented and equally important to winning. Choosing one simply means diminishing the other, which is an unfortunate byproduct of creating a list like this. At the risk of diminishing Ronaldo, it’s Messi who gets the crown.

 

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is unique among major sports in the sense that it is so new to the competitive landscape. Major League Baseball (MLB) was founded in 1876. The National Hockey League (NHL) started in 1917, and the National Football League (NFL) came aboard in 1920. Even the National Basketball Association (NBA) can say that its lineage predates 1950. Founded in 1993, and not reaching its stride as a lucrative business until nearly a decade later, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)–MMA’s premier organization–is still firmly in its juvenile stage. The recency of not just the UFC, but the sport of MMA puts anybody with GOAT status in peril strictly from a statistical probability perspective. Pick a sport, and it is almost certainly true that the GOAT 30 years after that sport became a professionally organized endeavor is most certainly not the GOAT today. Considering Jon Jones’s near-flawless record, it’s doubtful that he’s shaking in his bare feet, but he might not want to get too comfortable with his status as the universally accepted GOAT. After three decades of growing pains, the UFC is more talented than ever and, as a result, the GOAT race is seemingly on the cusp of becoming very interesting with candidates emerging in several weight classes. In the intermediate, however, it’s Jon Jones who sits comfortably on the throne, waiting for his first legitimate contender. Why is Jones so far-and-away the greatest mixed-martial artist more than a quarter-of-a-century into the sport, and what makes him vulnerable to the next generation of octagon assassins? Let’s check it out… 

Jon Jones is a bad man. He’s so bad, in fact, that his only loss as an MMA professional stems from pounding his opponent (Matt Hamill) too savagely, resulting in a disqualification. Otherwise, he has been perfect. His 28-1 record is buoyed by victories over a record nine former UFC champions. His 12 title defenses in the UFC are the most all-time and come in MMA’s two most dangerous divisions–light heavyweight and heavyweight. His 16 wins in title bouts are, far and away, the most in UFC history. During his decade reign of terror over the light heavyweight division, Jones fought a literal Hall-of-Fame list of challengers, including Ryan Bader, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Glover Teixeira, and Daniel Cormier (x2). Jones’s two wins over Cormier are particularly notable, since it might be Cormier who is considered the GOAT if not for Jones. Cormier only lost twice in his career in the light heavyweight division, and both were to Jones. Jones battered the light heavyweight division so badly that he ran out of viable threats and motivation, prompting a move to heavyweight. Jones’s move to heavyweight wasn’t a toe-dip into the pool, either; it was a high-dive into the deep end against a #1 contender–Ciryl Gane–and arguably the greatest heavyweight in MMA history–Stipe Miocic. Jones was dominant in finishing both Gane and Miocic, adding even more scalps to what is often regarded as the most difficult schedule any fighter has faced in MMA history. 

The challengers to Jones’s claim as the GOAT have flaws that Jones does not. Anderson Silva dominated a division (middleweight) that was not particularly deep. Georges St. Pierre (GSP) faced a similar reality (welterweight), while also suffering arguably the biggest upset in MMA history (Matt Serra). Khabib Nurmagomedov–the only retired undefeated fighter in UFC history–was far too inactive and faced too few high-caliber fighters to pose a genuine threat. Demetrious Johnson–a fighter who often gets thrown into the GOAT conversation–faced an even weaker slate than Khabib, didn’t fight the most accomplished fighters of his era, and holds an equally shocking upset loss as St. Pierre (Adriano Moraes). Alexander Volkanovski–the longstanding king of the featherweight division–was mounting a serious challenge before failing in two attempts to become a two-division champ, and then discovering Ilia Topuria’s brilliance. 

While the challengers to Jones simply don’t exist at the moment, there are at least four factors that make Jones vulnerable as MMA’s GOAT:

1) Like Barry Bonds, Jones has allegedly failed multiple drug tests for banned substances. Much like baseball, however, performance enhancing drug use (PEDs) was rampant in MMA during Jones’s peak. The list of athletes in the UFC during Jones’s career who tested positive for PEDs is virtually a who’s who of MMA greats. This makes it highly liked that some of Jones’s opponents were potentially using PEDs as well. Still, future GOAT candidates who do not have any connections to PEDs may have an advantage in a resume comparison with Jones. (Note: I do not discount accomplishments because of PED use. However, it could be used as a mitigating factor in the event a comparison that is too-close-to-call requires a tiebreaker.)

2) While Jones has managed to remain (unofficially) undefeated, he has had several razor close fights against what could be considered inferior competition. Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson 1 was very close. Jones was probably the right choice, but many fans and media outlets scored the fight for Gustafsson. Jones vs. Thiago Santos was also incredibly close. Again, Jones was probably the right choice, but many fans and media outlets scored the fight for Santos. Jones vs. Dominick Reyes is widely regarded as the wrong choice, with the majority of the MMA community–including UFC President Dana White–viewing Reyes as the winner of the fight. The judges scored it a split decision in favor of Jones, damaging Jones’s aura of invincibility in the process. There is nothing shameful about close fights. Jones doesn’t need to make apologies for winning, including the Reyes split decision. However, this is an area in a GOAT showdown where he can be vulnerable, especially if a challenger can remain undefeated while avoiding controversial decisions. 

3) Jones began his career as a finishing merchant. He won nine of his first 13 UFC fights by finish, and it would be 10 if not for his disqualification loss for pummeling Matt Hamill too savagely. He then saw seven of his last eight victories at light heavyweight come by decision. This sort of evolution from a ferocious finisher to a more cautious approach is not uncommon among longtime champions. GSP saw nine of his first 13 UFC victories come by finish, only for his last seven victories at welterweight to come by decision. Again, Jones (and GSP) don’t have to apologize for winning fights. A win is a win. However, in a close resume standoff, a fighter who wins more emphatically more often will have a advantage. 

4) Jones deserves a lot of credit for dispatching with such a long list of legends and Hall-of-Famers. However, his activity level fell off precipitously after his 14th UFC fight. In the eight years from 2014-2022, Jones fought just eight times. His career activity level is far superior to someone like Nurmagomedov, so it’s not something that is a significant weakness. However, if a GOAT challenger emerges who consistently accumulates 2-3 fights per year over the course of 10-15 years, then that would be an area where Jones’s resume could be vulnerable. (Note: The growing trend of fighters fighting less–not more–may make this a moot point.)

This is not to say that Jones doesn’t have a stranglehold on the current MMA GOAT conversation. He has not suffered a legitimate loss in 24 UFC fights. He has faced all comers in MMA’s two most vicious divisions, and his most dominant performances have come against his most difficult opponents. It will take a flawless resume to unseat Jones from the throne. With organized MMA being so young, it’s not yet clear how often we should expect to see such a resume. A threat could come in the next 5-10 years, or never come at all. In the meantime, it’s Jones who has the crown.