Dylan Waco

Reigns has probably been the best guy in the WWE this year. I think Rusev and Harper have arguments, but neither guy has the big match performances of Reigns. I'm glad to see I'm not the only person who really liked that slugfest with Harper.

I find it fascinating that no one nominated him. Nigel was a guy who at one point was regarded as an excellent worker by many, and very good at minimum by nearly everyone. There were lots of people who thought he was the successor to Danielson, with many viewing him as better than Danielson as early as 07. His peak may have been short, but he was regarded as a tremendous talent in his prime. I wonder why he's never discussed anymore

Kind of in the same boat as Cerebro, though I think he has an aura that the Dr. doesn't have. Some people hate on the Trauma's for their stiffness, but I love it and think they are basically better working versions of Pentagon Jr. T2 is someone who is both a great brawler and really good on the mat, so he is a bit of a personal favorite of mine. Booking, lack of footage and bad luck have hurt his output a ton in the last few years which is a shame. Still when my brother and I talked about the lucha candidates for this project last week, Devon mentioned his name and I couldn't dismiss him outright.

He was absolutely awesome in IWRG during that companies peak period, when we were getting multiple full length classics a week. That said he has not really impressed much sense, and I've seen little of what he did before (handful of matches here and there). Is he really a better candidate for something like than Freelance or Chico Che?

My thoughts are close to stomper's though I do wonder if we don't underrate his WWE run some because he was never given a big time push. In real time I liked him as a cruiserweight, and I was probably higher on the Londrick team than most. As a t.v. worker I thought he was a strong performer in the WWE and I am a guy who puts a lot of stock in that sort of consistency.

There were a handful of Cavernario matches a year popping up for a few years prior to 2014. As a result of those matches he was a cult favorite of guys like myself and Schneider. I thought he was one of a handful of guys you could argue was best in the world last year, and given his age I felt what he did was more impressive than what anyone else did. I think Virus and Dragon Lee have had better years than him this year, but he might be number three in Mexico for 2015, and with the coming BOSJ run I could see him cracking my top ten in the World for 2015 by the end of the year. All that said his age, and being on the front end of what I hope will be a great long term run hurts him. I have no problem with him being nominated, but even if he had five more MOTYC between now and next years vote I doubt I'd vote for him just because the perspective I liked to have isn't there.

We aren't discussing drawing power in this thread. We are discussing in ring work. If you are arguing that it is impossible to separate the two I don't agree, but that is fine as long as you are consistent in applying it.

I am not Grimmas, but he and I talked this over at length before this thing was kickstarted. My view on voters is the more the merrier, with the slight caveat that I don't like the idea of people ignoring the journey in favor of the destination. By that I mean I don't like the idea of people scribbling down 100 names off the cuff, without having at least tried to watch some new things, engage with threads/discussion here, and seek out some big matches of the big names. There is no requirement that someone try and watch every Giant Baba or Harley Race match that exists, but it would be nice for people to try and watch at least one. That said if someone can't do it because they don't have the time, or they already know they hate those guys, in no way should that be seen as a dis-qualifier. As long as voters understand that the process is a key part of what makes the GWE project worthwhile, "lack of knowledge" doesn't bother me at all. All of us lack some knowledge, and are excited to get new perspectives an see new things. So participate, nominate, discuss, vote, et.!

I'll try and rank these guys in some way later tonight, but I do want to note that I think there are several guys from this period without threads who really should have them. Here I am thinking Paul London, Brian Kendrick and Nigel mainly. I'm not saying I would vote for one or any of them (I'd probably vote for none of them), but I think they merit consideration, and if you are a hardcore indie fan I would imagine one or all three of those guys would have a decent shot of making your top 100 of all time. I imagine the deep, dark, corners of this board have at least three match reviews of all three guys, but I can't prove it, and don't want to skirt that rule so I may try and c/p some reviews from elsewhere later.

Has definitely grown on me a ton in WWE, which makes me want to go back and re-explore some of his indie work. I enjoyed a lot of what he did on that scene but also thought he was wildly overrated by some, and never saw him as an all time elite indie guy like many did and still do. At this point I'd be more inclined to vote for someone like Cesaro or AJ (who is pretty much a lock for me at this point) than him, but a part of me thinks that reflects more on my own habits as a fan (and in the case of AJ how they have evolved), than on the actual work of the parties involved.

Best matches? What are the high points/good runs I should seek out. I have seen a lot of his work over the years, but he never stuck out as a guy that was better than pretty good. That said I have been dead wrong before, and don't want to leave stones unturned. Give me some recommendations.

Going through soup and Loss' top 100 matches from each of the 90's, he appeared way too many times not to at least have a thread. The issue here is that most if not all those matches were multi-man tags. The question with him is going to be twofold - 1. how could are his performances in the tags and 2. are there enough singles matches where he stands out to give him serious consideration for a top 100. Unlike with Teoh, Funaki was around for a while in the U.S. as a jobber, but that may mean he has lots of fun C-Show matches worth watching. Or not.

Going through soup and Loss' top 100 matches from each of the 90's, he appeared way too many times not to at least have a thread. The issue here is that most if not all those matches were multi-man tags. The question with him is going to be twofold - 1. how could are his performances in the tags and 2. are there enough singles matches where he stands out to give him serious consideration for a top 100.

He probably doesn't have a case, but he's one of those guys who I think had top 100 talent. As a NJPW junior he would pop up here or there with performances that I absolutely loved, or at the very least came across as really exciting. As a veteran I've really enjoyed him too. Loved him as one of the heel pricks in a recent BOSJ and really enjoyed him as one of the old vet warriors in the Tajiri feds in recent years. At bare minimum he's the kind of guy I want to go back and watch, and this project gives me an excuse to do it.

I'm probably going to write up something that covers all four of the indie shows I have hit with my brothers this week (actually the fourth of them is tomorrow with Steve Corino in the main event), but wanted to pop in here to mention that I saw AJ Styles and Jimmy Rave go almost 30 minutes for Pro South in Piedmont, Alabama tonight in a 90 degree warehouse. They drew the biggest attendance in the history of the promotion, with around 300 paid, and a lot of people turned away at the door. The match was great and the end saw Styles win with the top rope Styles Clash. Came away convinced AJ was the best in the World, and that Rave is still great and really underrated.

There really is no huge star out there that Jarrett could get. You could argue that Jeff Hardy or Rey Mysterio might fit, but both guys have been beaten so many times I'm not sure how much they would really help in putting someone else over (plus you could argue neither is the right type of worker anyway). If they got decent t.v. you could have someone pushed as a steamroller and then bring in some "name" vets to solidify him, but I'm not sure that would work either.

More seriously, what makes Youngblood better than someone like Doug Somers in terms of the footage we actually have? I know Steamboat and Youngblood have the rep of being one of the all time great babyface teams and maybe that is true. But I don't believe there is enough evidence on tape to show that. On the other hand there is plenty of evidence on tape to show that Rose and Somers were a tremendous, all time great level heel team. The problem there is that their run was short and they were working in a dying promotion. Still Somers was absolutely great in 86. Do we have any year worth of footage from Youngblood at the level of Somers in 86? I have seen Portland Youngblood and while I enjoy the matches with Buddy, I didn't think Jay was anything special in them, certainly not to the point where I'd rate him over 86 Doug. I guess you could argue that if you piece together what we have of Jay it might equal Doug's 86, but I've also seen old man Somers take bumps off the top of cage's to get Southern indie feuds over, and work a great heel control segment on Kyle Matthews, so it's gonna be a hard pitch to convince me Youngblood is better than Somers based on the footage that exists.

I expect these shows will be a disaster. That said, as the leading cheerleader of WWE C-Show wrestling, I am pretty excited for some of the potential matches. It will be interesting to see if they build around any individual guy, or if they just are a touring quasi-brand, with no real identity, who are just interested in putting on shows.

How many brawlers in history are better than Park? Yes he can absolutely stink it up, or ruin a match with over reliance on comedy, but when it comes to the essence of lucha brawls - wild, out of control spectacles, with blood, mask ripping, crazy dives, near fights with fans, guys taking lunatic bumps into chairs, et. - I don't know if anyone in history has been better. I watched a bunch of stuff this week, including the Santo brawl from Monterrey and that is right there with the Wagner, Mesias, phony Parka fights as an all time classic fight. What's amazing is that Park was also one of the most exciting/fun guys to watch in WCW (where he actually got over to a degree), was better than I expected in early AAA, and has matches like the Dandy, Ultimo Guerrero and Lizmark ones that are also absolutely excellent matches, without being brawls at all. His inconsistency will hurt him, but his versatility, dynamism, and peak performances have now moved him into the "lock" category for my top 100. As an aside has anyone in wrestling ever taken a tope better than Park, both in terms of leaning into the impact, and wildly flying backwards into a sea of fans/chairs?

Rocketing up my list after the last week. Watched a lot of FMW stuff and Onita really is a great wrestler. A part of it is just that he has a flare for the dramatic, but he's also excellent at little things like reacting to individual spots, or making the most out of moments that look like they were probably unplanned and potentially disastrous. He sits around in holds some, but I actually think that makes the bigger moments bigger, so while his matches can drag, I consider the slower pacing a net positive. He also has one of the most conclusive and violent looking finishers in wrestling history, which is especially necessary given the style he worked. After watching all of this stuff I am more convinced than ever that he is basically a Carlos Colon tribute act (the way they work is astoundingly similar), but I hardly consider that a knock.

Watched a bunch of stuff the other day and he holds up well. I think the Tenryu comparison is actually pretty apt, as he has that shitkicker aura/charisma that can make a middling match good, or a good match great. I love the early explosion match with Onita, though I thought Onita outworked him in it. That said he looked awesome teaming with Onita against Karate fighters, v. Foley, v. Severn, v. Tenryu, et. Really he worked against a very wide variety of guys and typically had good matches against them, which is something I consider especially impressive given the common "rep" of him as just another death match guy (albeit a good one).

I've been watching a lot of Japanese sleaze/death match feds lately and was surprised by how much I enjoyed Matsunaga. As a martial arts guy with poor technique who relies on charisma to make his matches exciting he's much better than Takada, as his poor technique takes the form of recklessness where you think anything can happen at any moment. Of course it is possible (probable even) that he was largely being carried by people like Goto and Onita, but I still enjoyed a lot of that stuff. I imagine El-P is right and that he was terrible for many years, though the next memory I have of him is the crazy/infamous stuff from 99/00ish which I really enjoy to one degree or another. Probably not enough to make a list, but I'm interested to see if I'm a complete outlier for enjoying him, or if others were into his act.

Nominating Akira Nogami Mens Teoh Sho Funaki Silver King

I can't see including him, but wanted to nominate him because if Joe Lanza votes I suspect he'd vote for him, and there are others who might consider him. I haven't watched "athletic prime" Gedo in years and have no clue whether or not he would look better or worse in the rearview. In real time I thought he was fine, and occasionally really good, but never great. Post-prime, grumpy bastard Gedo I really like. In fact if he had a whole career of that I could see him making my ballot. Super fun as a sort of Japanese version of a Southern heel, with a distinct flare, who can work almost anyone in a good/fun match.

Nominating: Gedo