Loss

I'm sure he's a nice guy and I don't even think he's a bad worker. I just think he makes deliberate choices that are annoying, and he wrestles in a way that it seems like he's making fun of it. We're all going to bag on each other's votes in this thread, but it's all in good spirits.

Matt Riddle vs Tracy Williams blew my mind. I LOVED how it was structured with Tracy being pretty dominant but Riddle doing little teases to show he was still very much in the fight. I kept thinking they were going to jump to the finish after Riddle was getting beat up the whole time and then they'd keep going, which I appreciated. This got better the longer it went, which is a tribute to the great wrestling, but moreso Matt Riddle's intangible charisma. Great, great match. ****

Yehi-Gulak was ... wow. Short match that left me wanting a lot more, but this was pretty flawless. Yehi's grappling is amazing, but his selling is even better. He may be my new favorite wrestler. I want to go ****, but that's the appreciation for the new stuff talking. I'd go ***1/2 on the match.

Cross-posted from Shoe's MOTYC thread: I did like Hero-Sabre, but I didn't get into it as much as others seem to have. It didn't feel competitive enough to me to truly be a MOTYC. At least I thought that until I realized that Hero was actually very giving, but he didn't really treat Sabre like someone at his level, just because he spent so much time jaw jacking with fans while working the match. I think in a way that was the whole point -- that Hero was overconfident and Sabre was an underdog -- but I usually like more parity in a MOTYC. I don't know. Evolve is brand new to me, so I might see it differently after watching more stuff. As of now, I'd go about ***3/4. Going through the whole card now and will post other thoughts as I go.

I did like Hero-Sabre, but I didn't get into it as much as others seem to have. It didn't feel competitive enough to me to truly be a MOTYC. At least I thought that until I realized that Hero was actually very giving, but he didn't really treat Sabre like someone at his level, just because he spent so much time jaw jacking with fans while working the match. I think in a way that was the whole point -- that Hero was overconfident and Sabre was an underdog -- but I usually like more parity in a MOTYC. I don't know. Evolve is brand new to me, so I might see it differently after watching more stuff. As of now, I'd go about ***3/4.

I think I wouldn't have a problem with it if domestic violence wasn't an actual thing. In a perfect society, it would be fine.

It's amazing that someone like Joey Ryan hasn't understood how wrestling is so much more fun when everyone involved pretends that it's deathly serious.

I wasn't aware of the Takaiwa thing GOTNW mentioned. But Joey Ryan is the first pick that I think is almost offensive.

He has no respect for the craft. He's actually fairly talented, but his deliberate choice to shit on wrestling regularly is enough to keep him far away from this list.

Intergender wrestling and penis spots. Joey Ryan is the antithesis of a good, worthwhile wrestler. Maybe my least favorite wrestler.

No gifs, please. We are better than that. We use words.

Oya fell off my ballot at the last minute. I considered Kanemura. It's probably not his best match, but I'll always associate him with that Kevin Sullivan bloodletting from SMW TV first and foremost.

I always forget he was Shiryu too.

I thought about that some more after posting and realized yeah, it's probably not entirely, so I agree with you. The Sanders and Trump campaigns have shown how much people distrust institutions now as well, which I'm sure also plays a role.

I'm mad at me for not ranking Wolfie D.

I love Takaiwa in the late 90s, then I have heard so little about him after that. That's a fate that seemed common with early 2000s guys. It's hard to get a real handle for so many of them because tons of opinions just aren't out there.

I feel like Pimpinela Escarlata is this great secret no one has told me yet. I need to see stuff.

Also, I really regret not placing a job guy at #100 on my list, although my pick probably would have been Lee Scott, who wasn't nominated.

Cool to see that you voted for Yumi Fukawa, El-P. Had I seen anything outside of her great match against Mariko Yoshida in ARSION, I might have done the same. It did feel like that match was more than just a great match -- it represented a turning point in the company in a way because the fans were so hot for it, and I don't think they really had been hot for that style quite yet before that match happened.

Here's what I mean by complexity. You can argue that Roman Reigns having MOTYCs with fan darlings like AJ Styles and going over in a way that seems earned is a great way to rehab him and build his legacy as champion. You can also argue that it will only foster more resentment because the hand-picked guy is going over the guys perceived as being held down anyway. Those flip side scenarios definitely happen from time to time in all eras of wrestling, but now, pretty much every booking idea presents a similar dilemma. Because yeah, you could avoid resentment of him maybe by keeping him away from guys like Styles and Sami Zayn and putting him over Strowman, Big Show and Kane, but we know the flip side of that argument too.

If I told you that you had a perfect ballot, would you hold it against me?

Over the past decade and a half, we've seen a steady escalation of self-inflicted complexity in booking that has only made their job so much harder. They've found a way to be successful in spite of it and more power to them, but it's not very fun to watch.

At the very very least, if Jericho was going to win, he should have cheated like hell, yes. Not that a ref bump where Jericho is pinned after a Styles Clash with no one to count only for Jericho to do a bunch of illegal stuff to come back would have been great, but it would have been way better.

In 2016, a push is a burial and a burial is a push. It makes my head hurt. It's also entirely a problem of their own making, not a sign of the times or anything like that.

Never in wrestling history have The Moment and The Journey been so at odds.