1. Hulk Hogan. In addition to his accomplishments you listed, Hogan made the WWF World Title so important that it equaled the NWA World Title in prestige (even with Flair as the Champ), and "everybody" wanted to challenge Hogan for the WWF Title.
The Champ makes the title important, so kayfabe-wise Hogan matched Lou Thesz in making the WWF Title so important that everybody wanted a shot at it. Thesz did that for the NWA Title in the 40's and 50's. 2.
The Undertaker. In his 21-year career with the WWE Taker probably has the best won-loss record of every WWWF/WWF/WWE wrestler in history with the possible exception of Bruno Sammartino. His 19 consecutive wins at Wrestlemania will never be matched.
He's won 7 World Titles and 7 Tag Team Titles in the WWE. Even today, at 47 years of age (next month), he's still the most feared wrestler in the business. 3.
John Cena. In his 10 year WWE career, Cena is a 12-time World Champ, 4-time Tag Team Champ, and 3-time US Champ. After The Undertaker, Cena is the most difficult to beat, not because he cheats, or is a spectacularly-skilled wrestler, but because he's TOUGH and can take anything his opponents dish out and not quit.
4. Stone Cold Steve Austin. While he didn't always play strictly by the rules, Austin won his matches because of his skills (wrestling and brawling) and his toughness.
He didn't make excuses if he got outfoxed or screwed over, he just re-doubled his efforts and won the later match. He won 6 World Titles, 4 Tag Team Titles, and 2 IC Titles. And he won The Royal Rumble THREE times.
5. Ricky Steamboat. Absolutely baffling that he only won one championship in the WWF/E (IC Title).
He was just in the WWF at the wrong time. With the babyface superhero Hogan as WWF Champ, Steamboat never got a shot at that title. When he was in the NWA (before and after his time in the WWF) Steamboat won lots of championships (including the NWA World Title, 5 US Titles, and 8 World Tag Team Titles), proving his skills.
That single IC Title reign is bizarre. Had it been anybody but Hogan as WWF Champ, Steamboat would have been in the title picture pretty much all the time. Steamboat is one of the most technically-sound wrestlers in history.
6. The Rock. His juvenile jokes are irritating and his catchphrases get tiresome, but he's good in the ring at what he does.
Very quick and athletic for such a large man, and very difficult to beat. 9 World Titles, 2 IC Titles, and 5 Tag Team Titles is quite a career for only being active in the WWE about 7 years. 7.
Chris Benoit. The greatest in-ring performer I've ever seen, and one of the most technically-sound wrestlers in history. Benoit won championships all over the world, including 12 in the WWE.
Unfortunately, his high-risk high-flying in-ring style often led to mistakes (the old "crash and burn" thing) which caused him to lose more matches than he should have. 8. Batista.
In his 8 years with the WWE Batista won 10 championships, including one of his 4 WHC reigns being the longest in that title's history (he didn't lose it, he had to forfeit the title due to injury). His monstrous size and ridiculous strength made him one of the most dominating wrestlers in WWE history. 9.
Kane. The best pure brawler in WWF/E history. Though he won 17 titles in the WWE his lack of lengthy title reigns (of any kind) does not tell the whole story.
Pure brawlers generally don't hold championships very long in any promotion. Kane is a 7 foot tall monster, as sadistic and mean as any of them. While he has mostly been a heel, Kane really doesn't "cheat".
He plays cruel mind games and just beats his opponents up. One of the hardest to beat in the business. 10.
Roddy Piper. Before Stone Cold came along, Piper was the "toughest SOB in the business". Like Kane, Piper didn't hold a lot of championships (or for very long) or really "cheat" very much.
Piper was a self-proclaimed "fighter", not wrestler. Piper was as tough as they come, taking it as well as he could dish it out. Very hard to beat.
I didn't add guys like Edge, Orton, Triple H, and HBK because that would be, as you said, giving credit to cheaters. BQ: Speaking strictly in kayfabe: the giants didn't get hardly any World Title shots because the normal-sized Champs didn't want to face them in the ring. The only Champ who did regularly "take on all comers" regardless of size was Hogan, but he was nearly a giant himself.
The heel Champs always ducked the giants as much as they could, and the face Champs didn't exactly invite the giants to challenge them. Call it fear.
If kayfabe was real, this would be my top 10: 1) Hulk Hogan: Won many titles, lots of fans and he got over a hell of a lot by the fans, not to mention he was a good draw. 2) Ultimate Warrior: Not alot of titles for Warrior, but he would put on some matches here and there that could be good to watch. 3) Shawn Michaels: The showstopper, basically the main eventer of all the big PPV's and not even needing to prove it with his world titles.
4) Bret Hart (Before his heel days): Same with Hogan's reasoning. 5) British Bulldog: The midcard master, the man who could put over many midcarders even in his later days and still having a shot at the IC Title. 6) Chris Jericho: Again, same with HBK.. except he won other world titles and accomplished alot of other things in such a short period of time.
7) Andre the Giant: The only man to go undefeated for a long time period in pro wrestling, nobody can top that accomplishment and his career in-general. 8) Undertaker: Same with Andre, only his streak is at Wrestlemania and he backs it up with a couple world titles and some midcard titles. 9) The Rock: The main eventer that almost nobody could beat, except for a few people.
He had many world titles, midcard titles, and tag titles.. including his trilogy with Stone Cold that will go down as one of the best feuds in Pro Wrestling. 10) Eddie Guerrero: Basically the midcard guy who never got alot of big accomplishments, only midcard ones that will be remembered because of the legacy Eddie had. That would be my list if kayfabe was truly real.
BQ: It's pretty simple. The giants would be holding on the title for years if kayfabe was real, they would pretty much be dominating the main event scene and it would be boring after awhile, then people tune out, and they would want to see something else for a change. Giants holding the title is good, but not good for a long period of time.. it's only good to make them a dominant force and seeing if anyone will take them seriously.
Kayfabe wise, it wouldn't be smart to do since your whole roster isn't supposed to compete with giants, the roster is mostly evened out with the odd giant here and there. Plus, they would only be there to be the big guy and not really doing anything, so like I said it would be a bit of a pain to see because they would only destroy their opponents in less than 2 minutes, wouldn't be the best of choices.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.