Cageside Seats Pro-Wrestling Championship: Greatest Wrestler of All Time Tournament, The Completed Bracket

The journey began on June 4 and now it's finally over. The Cageside Seats Pro-Wrestling Championship: Greatest Wrestler of All Time Tournament has crowned a cSs Champion and his name is none other than... Stone Cold Steve Austin.

As with all tournaments, the bracket was heavily debated all throughout the process. Generally, the rankings weren't called into dispute too often and, in fact, I believe a few compliments were given out. Really, it was a monumentally difficult job, coming up with proper seedings and then determining match-ups.

That's why you folks are helping with the next tournament.

A few interesting storylines played out throughout the tourney. It was widely predicted Hulk Hogan would be voted out as early as the second round, thanks to his ruthless political playing, but he made it all the way to the Final Five before losing to Macho Man Randy Savage. The Rock, meanwhile, known for being a team player and a selfless performer who would do the job for damn near anyone, struggled. He blew out Jeff Jarrett in the first round, sure, but his margin of victory narrowed with each passing round. Both Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho came extremely close to defeating him and his match against Undertaker ended in a tie.

That match actually resulted in the best night of the entire tournament. We did an impromptu podcast to follow the action live and never could have dreamed it would go the way it did.

What never seemed to be in doubt were the two finalists.

Both Stone Cold Steve Austin, a one seed, and Macho Man Randy Savage, a three seed, had no trouble making it to a showdown in the final match-up. I'll let you decide who had it tougher:

Austin: Daniel Bryan (414-159), Brock Lesnar (139-8), Bruno Sammartino (100-20), Shawn Michaels (126-95), The Rock and Undertaker (127-81-64)

Savage: Jake Roberts (362-99), Mick Foley (120-43), Dusty Rhodes (143-12), Ric Flair (113-82), Hulk Hogan (168-72)

Interestingly enough, both Austin and Savage had 906 total votes each heading into their match in the Finals. Stone Cold picked up 159 more to just 105 for Macho Man and that was that.

Other interesting notes:

-- Austin scored the biggest blowout of the tournament, taking 95-percent of the vote in his match up against Brock Lesnar.
-- Lesnar was also the guy who scored the fewest votes in a single match-up with just 8.
-- Jeff Jarrett scored the least amount of votes for the entire tournament with just 68.
-- Sting was the only two seed who failed to make it to the Elite Eight. In fact, he didn't even make the Sweet Sixteen.
-- Ric Flair was the first one seed to exit the tournament, falling in the Elite Eight.
-- Undertaker vs. Rock was the closest match-up of the tournament, ending in a 111-111 tie.
-- This tournament was awesome.

Until next time, Cagesiders.

We love you!

The Final Bracket (click to enlarge):