Chairshot Top 5: Sweatiest Wrestlers of All Time

From Brock Lesnar to Shane McMahon, these five wrestlers produced enough sweat inside the ring to create their own weather systems.

Professional wrestling is hot, physical and exhausting, but these five wrestlers appeared capable of creating their own weather systems inside the ring.

Sweating is an unavoidable part of professional wrestling. The combination of arena lighting, heavy gear, physical exertion and adrenaline would leave almost anyone searching for a towel after a few minutes.

Some wrestlers take it to another level.

These are the performers who could walk through the curtain looking completely dry and resemble someone pushed them into a swimming pool by the end of the opening lockup. Their hair becomes soaked, their gear changes color and anyone attempting a headlock immediately regrets the decision.

This is not a ranking of conditioning or athletic ability. Several wrestlers on this list were exceptional athletes capable of working demanding matches. It is simply recognition of the unmistakable evidence provided by decades of high-definition wrestling television.

#5: The Ultimate Warrior

Most wrestlers conserved their energy while walking to the ring. The Ultimate Warrior treated his entrance like the opening leg of a triathlon.

Warrior sprinted down the aisle, slid beneath the bottom rope, raced around the ring and violently shook the ropes. WWE has described his entrance as a full-speed charge that created immediate chaos inside the arena.

That routine excited the crowd, but it also meant Warrior could begin perspiring before his opponent had removed a robe or championship belt. He often started matches breathing heavily, with his face paint already beginning its slow migration toward the rest of his body.

The heavy tassels, wristbands and layers of paint probably did not improve the situation. Once the match began, every clothesline and gorilla press added another level of shine to a physique already reflecting the arena lights.

Warrior’s matches were often short, but his sweat production operated on an accelerated schedule. He could fit a 30-minute level of perspiration into an eight-minute match because he had already completed a cardio workout during his entrance.

#4: Big Show

At more than seven feet tall and billed at roughly 500 pounds during portions of his career, Big Show brought considerably more surface area into the ring than the average wrestler.

That created considerably more sweat.

Big Show did not need to work a lengthy main event before the moisture became visible. A few trips across the ring could leave his singlet darkened and his head glistening beneath the lights. Longer matches turned him into a human Slip ’N Slide for anyone attempting to apply a front facelock.

His size made the visual even more dramatic. Sweat did not merely collect on Big Show; it appeared to travel downward in streams. When he raised one enormous arm for the chokeslam, there was a legitimate possibility that his opponent might escape without intentionally countering.

The remarkable part was that Big Show remained a surprisingly mobile performer for much of his career. He took bumps, climbed the ropes and worked matches at a pace few athletes his size could have maintained.

All that movement generated predictable consequences. Wrestling Big Show required strength, courage and a willingness to leave the ring significantly wetter than when the match began.

#3: Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe has spent much of his career walking to the ring with a towel around his neck. That towel was not merely an accessory.

Joe’s physical style demanded constant movement. He threw rapid combinations, delivered explosive powerslams and launched himself through the ropes with the kind of speed rarely associated with a heavyweight. He could spend one moment stalking an opponent and the next diving into the crowd.

That intensity produced visible results. Joe frequently appeared drenched before reaching the closing stretch, with sweat flying from his head whenever he absorbed a strike or snapped into a power move.

The situation became particularly noticeable during his WWE rivalry with Brock Lesnar. Putting Joe and Lesnar in the same ring did not merely create a violent heavyweight fight; it created enough collective perspiration to affect the local humidity.

Joe’s towel also became part of his intimidating presentation. He looked like a fighter entering the final moments before competition, but it served the additional practical purpose of delaying the inevitable for a few more seconds.

Once the towel came off and the bell rang, the countdown began. Samoa Joe was about to beat someone up, and everyone within the first several rows was entering the splash zone.

#2: Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar is one of the most physically gifted heavyweight athletes in wrestling history. He is also one of the few wrestlers who can appear freshly showered without having gone anywhere near the locker room.

Lesnar’s sweating does not gradually build throughout a match. It arrives almost immediately. After a few suplexes and a trip around the ring, his face turns red, his hair becomes soaked and sweat begins flying from his body with every movement.

The effect became more noticeable after Lesnar returned to WWE in 2012. His matches were designed to resemble fights rather than traditional wrestling contests, with Lesnar throwing opponents across the ring while absorbing stiff strikes in return.

That approach required short bursts of enormous physical effort. Lesnar’s matches might not always last 30 minutes, but repeatedly lifting heavy opponents for German suplexes is more than enough to activate every available sweat gland.

His match against John Cena at Extreme Rules 2012 provided an early example of the phenomenon. By the closing minutes, Lesnar looked as though he had competed underwater while Cena attempted to survive an unusually violent comeback match.

Lesnar’s perspiration arguably added to his aura. The red face, heavy breathing and sweat pouring from his head made him look like an enraged animal operating at maximum capacity.

It also made every German suplex more dramatic. When Lesnar snapped backward, the audience received a visible spray confirming just how much energy The Beast was putting into the throw.

Honorable Mention: Goldberg

Goldberg could work up a serious sweat before his opponent even saw him.

His entrance began with security escorting him from the locker room, followed by a walk through clouds of sparks and smoke. Goldberg would then snort, shout, shadowbox and occasionally headbutt a door or locker before stepping into the arena.

By the time the bell rang, Goldberg often looked as though he had already wrestled the opening match. His bald head and shoulders gave the sweat nowhere to hide, allowing the arena lights to capture every drop.

Goldberg’s matches were built around explosive movement, including the spear, power kicks and the Jackhammer. Even a short match demanded maximum effort because his character never operated at anything less than full intensity.

He misses the main list because many of his matches ended before the situation could reach its full potential. Another five minutes might have made Goldberg impossible to tackle safely.

#1: Shane McMahon

Shane McMahon did not need to wrestle a match to become completely soaked. Sometimes a lengthy promo was enough.

Shane could enter the arena wearing a perfectly dry dress shirt, perform his trademark shuffle and begin perspiring before reaching the ring. Within minutes, the shirt would change color, his hair would stick to his forehead and sweat would drip from the end of his nose.

Once a match started, the situation escalated at a speed unmatched in wrestling history. Shane’s frantic punching, constant bouncing and high-risk offense appeared to activate every sweat gland simultaneously.

His willingness to perform dangerous stunts contributed to the problem. Shane rarely worked a relaxed, methodical style. He threw himself across announce tables, climbed enormous structures and attempted coast-to-coast dropkicks while dressed like someone attending a business-casual meeting.

Street clothes made everything more visible. Traditional wrestling gear is designed to handle physical activity, but Shane frequently competed in shirts, jerseys and long pants that displayed every growing patch of moisture.

His 2016 return reinforced his reputation. WWE documented the extensive training Shane undertook before facing The Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell at WrestleMania 32, but no amount of conditioning could stop the inevitable downpour.

Shane could be standing at ringside as a referee, participating in a segment or waiting for someone else to perform a stunt. The result was usually the same. A camera would eventually find him looking as though he had just completed a match in a sauna.

Other wrestlers sweated heavily while competing. Shane McMahon could sweat through an entire shirt while explaining why the match was going to happen.

Professional wrestling demands far more physical exertion than it sometimes receives credit for. Wrestlers perform beneath powerful lights while wearing boots, pads, tape and gear that offers almost no ventilation.

Heavy sweating is therefore neither unusual nor embarrassing. It is often evidence of how much effort a performer is putting into making a match look convincing.

The wrestlers on this list simply made that effort unusually visible. Warrior exhausted himself during his entrance, Big Show and Samoa Joe moved like athletes half their size, and Brock Lesnar attacked every match with frightening intensity.

Shane McMahon still stands above them all. Plenty of wrestlers could soak through their gear during a pay-per-view main event, but Shane possessed the rare ability to do it while announcing one.

Research includes information from: WWE.com, CBS Sports, Cagematch.net, and SlamWrestling.net.