Does ESC choice affect motor power?

Have you ever wondered if certain ESCs might get more power out of the brushless-motor/prop combo than others on your RC plane or multirotor?
I did... so I figured I'd do a little informal experiment to see the difference between 3 ESCs that I had laying around on my bench.
An interesting outcome which could be valuable to those attempting to squeeze the last ounce of thrust out of their power-setup.