From the Patreon archieves of When It Was Cool: From a previous time, Lou Thesz suffers from not being from the modern era of television wrestling. Lou Thesz time as the legendary NWA World heavyweight champion came largely before color television so modern mainstream wrestling rankings overlooked him in favor of the more TV famous, however pro wrestling historians certainly know who Lou Thesz is. Long considered the greatest NWA World heavyweight champion of all time, even before that, Lou Thesz was capturing pre-NWA World championships (many of which he would later unify with the NWA title) and beating the best in world with his traveling manager and mentor Ed “Strangler” Lewis, another name that you will see on this list. For multiple generations Lou Thesz was considered by serious pro wrestling fans as the greatest wrestler ever. Are they in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame: YES