Zapp Brannigan

Is it Karelin? Obviously he's the most dominant, but he dominated at historically the weakest weight. If not Karelin, though, then who?

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LoSt

Karelin is arguably one of the greatest ATHLETES of all times, I dont think he has any competition on top of the Greco Podium.

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Dart Shark; Keen wrestling enthusiast/analyst or sinister journalistic nazi?

gutfirst

karelin is a lock. let's change the topic to the best guy still active now.
my pick is kvirkilia. he's been a force since 2002 and he scores often and spectacularly.

quick_single

I know I always take some heat for this but there is no way Karelin is the best Greco wrestler. Maybe most successful, and maybe most dominant (both of which will give him the title of "greatest"), but certainly not the best.

The guy used to arm drag guys and then pin them with a bar arm off the arm drag. C'mon. That only happens in High School and Women's. There is no way a middle weight wrestler could do that or let a guy do that to him. It just doesn't happen at any weight other than HVY. Middleweights don't roll over on their backs because they fear getting lifted. It just doesn't happen.

The best I've seen were Islam Duguchiev and Mnatsakan Iskandarian. And they competed at the most competitive weights.

arm-spin

Was is simply Karelin's freakish strength that made him so dominant?

Gripsnhips

strength is part of wrestling too. Kevin Darkus (my coach for a number of years) once said that being strong allows you to make more mistakes. Karelin was a beast and is the best Greco Roman wrestler of all time.

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quick_single

We'll agree to disagree here. There were freakishly strong middleweights too, but none of them won 12 World titles. Technique-wise Karelin is nowhere near the top and even Russian Greco wrestlers will tell you this. They sure told me.

It is no coincidence that the wrestlers who have won 12 straight Greco World titles, go 15 years without ever losing in the United States, and have 3 Olympic/10 total Freestyle World titles are all Super Heavyweights.

Greco-ZAG

How can anyone argue against Karelin. He is simply the most successful and dominate greco wrestler of all time-which makes him the best.

Yazdani

I personally have always been of the same thought as quicksingle when it comes to Karelin. No way a middleweight stays that competitive for that long with no loses. I think a heavyweight (especially in Greco) can get away with losing a step better than a middle weightespecially when they're feared as much as Karelin was. Wrestlers didn't think about beating him as much as they thought about not getting pinned or tech'ed. How many times did you see Karelin pushed? But as far as who is the most SUCCESSFUL I would say Karelin. Many of you might not agree with this but I would put Nazarian towards the top of the list. He was usually consistant in placing and turning it up when it counted.

Big

Sourian......until last week.