Childs

I've truly dived into the stuff and appreciate them both, and I had Taue two spots higher. I could see it the other way. Obviously, lots of people had them close. So it just seems like an odd one on which to take an absolutist stance.

That's an odd statement. They're very different wrestlers, and it seems entirely reasonable for someone to prefer one guy's aesthetic over the other. Taue was part of arguably the greatest tag team of all time. He was in a top five All Japan singles match of the '90s and a key part of the greatest tag matches in the history of that or any other promotion. He was still awesome as late as 2006. I can see an argument for Akiyama on duration of quality and ability to hop roles, but to suggest there's no argument for Taue is just bizarre.

Savage too, even though he was way cooler than Bret.

Here is the thing. If I start factoring in those other things (promos, presence as a character, angles, drawing power, et) I don't see how they really help Bret's case either. Not part of Bret's case, but we are seeing that emotional attachment and voting for favorites is responsible for boosting a lot of guys who don't stack up to those who check all the boxes. But not enough to affect the top 10 I believe Like Savage? I kid, I kid.

I've had this thought as well... But a lot of the workers who are niche candidates in the U.S. are mainstream in their own contexts. So that's where this line of reasoning frays a bit.

I see Eaton dropped as I was posting and his average vote was indeed nowhere near as impressive as Santito's.

Well, I can't either, and I'm sure his average vote will be lower than Santito's. But I really love Bobby Eaton. He was almost the perfect offensive wrestler, maybe the greatest tag wrestler of all time and a top-shelf in-ring heel. His skills were elite and his body of work fell behind only the best of the best. I'm pleased to see him climb so high and to me, he's an example of a "mainstream" choice that actually isn't that mainstream.

I voted for all the remaining guys (Foley was the last I didn't have) as I imagine a lot of us did. On the other hand, the last 10 reveals have finally taken a big bite out of my top 25.

The case for Dandy over him (and I had Satanico higher) is that Dandy was a more beautiful, multi-dimensional wrestler at his peak. I'm not surprised Dandy finished higher. He's been pimped as an elite talent since before the last poll. Man I love Dandy, and I think people not getting him is utterly bizarre, but the number of people who haven't gotten him vis a vis Satanico feels really large. I would have thought for sure Dandy wouldn't make the top 75 based on early trends. Finishing ahead of Satanico is a shocker Was it a lot of people not getting Dandy or just Parv being really loud about not getting Dandy?

The case for Dandy over him (and I had Satanico higher) is that Dandy was a more beautiful, multi-dimensional wrestler at his peak. I'm not surprised Dandy finished higher. He's been pimped as an elite talent since before the last poll.

I think your podcast partner will dig him as well, once he gets there.

Well, he did jump 79 spots so all the pimping certainly had an impact. But I know that even for some of the hardcore footage watchers here, Fujiwara doesn't connect at the highest level. I had him 11 and hoped he'd get into the top 25-30, but I'm not surprised, given the fates of his shoot peers. I was looking at his match results from the '70s last night and thinking how shitty it is that we have essentially none of that on tape. He and Fujinami worked each other constantly as kids.

I'm surprised Benoit is still around, given how many people didn't consider him. Have to imagine he'll be in the next group to fall. Foley is the only remaining guy I didn't rank.

Care to elaborate? The consensus of those who have watched him in AWA, Portland, All Japan, etc. is that he was a tremendous performer for most of the '80s.

Damn, I wanted Choshu to hold on a little longer. On the other hand, he improved greatly from 2006, and I'm thrilled none of the luchadores dropped today.

Martel got a huge and well-deserved bump from 10 years ago. That's a testament to footage exploration.

Yes, it would be feasible to watch everything that's out there. OJ has pretty well done that in fact.

No, I ranked the Kerry match No. 1 on the DVDVR set.

Tough to argue you're anti-AJPW there. I'm just of the mindset that that crew is responsible for the best wrestling ever and ranked them accordingly, even if irrationally so. One thing I love about these podcasts is hearing the case for wrestlers I haven't seen enough of as it gives me some references for things to eventually watch. But you know its a good show when it makes me want to go back and watch the names I *am* familiar with and comfortably didn't rank, and that is the case here. Agree with this. Every time I listen to a chunk of the show, it leaves me excited to go watch some wrestling. Can't do better than that. The AJPW thing really didn't strike me as a big deal, because Dylan said most of the same stuff I'd say (did say) about those guys. He just ranked most of them lower. And I love pretty much everyone he ranked higher, so it's really just a matter of shuffling the same 20 or so wrestlers.

I'd take Brock over Kerry, Zayn, Angle and Jericho without a second's hesitation.

What do you recommend we do about it? Force them to watch shoot style and joshi Clockwork Orange style until they realize the error of their ways. We do need to get some re-education camps going here.

Right, we really have no evidence that voting has swung against All Japan or the elite New Japan guys. Again, the real theme seems to be anti-niche.

Sure, I voted Vader higher because his offense looked better, he bumped better, he had more great matches (though Aja had many) and his style transferred effectively to so many different settings. People have long said Aja was a better Vader, but I still think Vader is a better Vader, despite the fact I have great respect for her and she was my highest ranking female. If you find her work more aesthetically pleasing, I can't really argue with you. But I don't.

Kobashi isn't on that list.

The story isn't women being underrepresented so much as top performers from all the niche categories being underrepresented. Only the top, top luchadores seem to have escaped that fate, and I won't be shocked if we see all of them fall before the top 25. Maybe Casas or Santito are mainstream enough to survive past that point, but I'm not sure.