I get both sides... Eddie WAS overrated in some ways, he was not as great a main eventer as is painted, but he was the "guy we needed and deserved" which was, for someone in his position the best he could ever hope for... we needed new blood in the title picture and he provided that, and that he was a credible in ring talent with an uplifiting redemption story made it all the sweeter...and more bitter when he passed.
The truth of Eddie is that for 90% of his career he was a journeyman with that one little bit of talent that elevated him above others in the same boat. It was only once he settled into his latter WCW reign and mainly WWE that the true talents really came out into the open. Even his WWE career was tainted with his demons, he got fired for DUI... but once it all "clicked" for him, it seemed to click for the fans too and that last 10% of his career almost eclipses the rest of it in total. For those last 2 years of his life Eddie was the best... not in the company but in the business... and not cos he had a "look" or great moves or even a gimmick... it was cos he'd found himself was enough the whole time... Lie, Cheat & Steal helped him but the swagger/wiggle, the joy when he'd win a big match, that he'd beaten his demons were him all the way... when have we truly seen a wrestler just be themselves and get over, and succeed... last was Bryan in the last year... not many between Eddie and him...
BUT it's wrong to eulogize him as one of the best ever... he was great, but not the greatest for much of his life... he had a brief window where no one could touch him other than his best friend, and that probably has more to do with it... he and Benoit spurred each other on at the time... it's easy to see why losing Eddie basically killed Benoit and his family...
It's natural we all look at him in rose tinted glasses cos he died young and on the roster... he probably was slightly under-appreciated in his time but so is everyone... Eddie fits somewhere in the top 50 workers of all time, probably top 25 depending on your era and your own personal criteria... he had a lasting impact in being the guy to finally put the nail in the "cruisers can't main event" coffin and had a lasting impact, albeit in death as showing the business what it didn't want to happen again... changes got made... hell perhaps the most poignant achievement Eddie made was after his death, his wife not only took a job for his deal money (which she would have got anyway) but earned her own deal and possible HOF spot one day... if Eddie meant anything to the business it was ANYONE can... Vicki kinda validated that.
On a straight ballot... Rude is ahead, Hennig is ahead, Davey Boy is ahead, Gino Hernandez, Art Barr... Eddie got the shot some of these guys didn't and made the most of it, that is admirable... but that doesn't mean he was better... just right place, right time, right couple (Benoit being the other)... it's not harsh... it's true...
You mention how for those last couple of years, Eddie was the best in the business, and why you feel that way.
The thing is, people that do rate him as highly as they do are looking at those last two years when they do so, and not as much the time before. Is that right? Who's to say? Every single 'great' has had that period of time where they were putting it all together. Hulk Hogan didn't have millions of screaming Hulkamaniacs when he debuted. It took him several years, working in multiple territories and countries, before he put it all together.
Eddie took longer than many to get there. Part of that was his own fault... his demons as you put it. Part of that was the political nature of the business that took him a long time to get beyond.
But he did get 'there', which so very few people ever do. And people do look back and wonder how much further he would have gone since he was already 'there' when he passed.
I'm not sure what you're referring to as a 'straight ballot'. But if it means who did better?
- Davey Boy was definitely not ahead of Eddie. At his absolute peak, he was a step below the main event, unless the show happened to be in the UK, which was the only place the WWE ever used him at the top of the card. Plus his work itself? I was a fan of the British Bulldog, but saying that, he worked best with the Stampede guys he'd been working with his entire life, and his work with people outside of that group was never quite as good.
- Gino? If he'd lived, he very well could have been. But he didn't, and he passed well before he ever got a chance to realize even a fraction of his potential.
- Art Barr? Same deal as Gino Hernandez. Ironically a guy that Eddie learned A LOT from (both good and bad), but also a guy who never got the chance to realize how great he could be before he passed.
- I'm not sure if I can quite put Rude at Eddie's level, but that one's close. Rude getting his career ending back injury right when he'd put it all together like Eddie did makes one wonder how much further he could have taken it as well. For a time, Rude was the best in the business like Eddie was, but I feel that Eddie got a longer run at the top than Rude did, while Rude got more opportunity everywhere he worked to put it all together than Eddie did in all the places he worked.
- Hennig? I'll give you that one. Before his back injury, Hennig was putting up the best work in the world. He wasn't booked at the top like Eddie was, but that's just a byproduct of the time he worked in. Hennig was pretty much a generational type talent.