Not to take away from Taylor's accomplishments, but Wrestling Mt. Rushmore is pretty crowded.
We go through this exercise every year but there's no agreement on how to objectively measure our top 4. Is an Olympic medal worth more than World gold? Do we adjust metrics for post-USSR competition? Banned countries? # of weight classes? College record? Super low cut singlets?
Taylor has 1 Olympic medal (gold) + 4 World medals (3 gold 1 silver). Where does he fit in this list, which doesn't even include Gable, Cael, Rulon, Kemp, and many others frequently mentioned in discussions of our all-time greats.
Bruce Baumgartner: 4 (2G 1S 1B) + 9 (3G 3S 3B)
John Smith: 2 (2G) + 4 (4G)
Helen Maroulis: 2 (1G 1S) + 6 (3G 2S 1B)
Kyle Snyder: 2 (1G 1S) + 6 (3G 2S 1B)
Kenny Monday: 2 (1G 1S) + 2 (1G 1S)
Rulon Gardner: 2 (1G 1B) + 1 (1G)
Jordan Burroughs: 1 (1G) + 9 (6G 3B)
Adeline Gray: 1 (1S) + 8 (6G 2B) *2023 Worlds TBD
Dave Schultz: 1 (1G) + 6 (1G 3S 2B)
Kyle Dake: 1 (1B) + 5 (4G 1TBD) plus he hasn't lost to Taylor since they were kids
David Taylor: 1 (1G) + 4 (3G 1S)