Jimmy Redman

His physical charisma is amazing. I suppose it kind of has to be when you're in a full bodysuit and mask, but the amount of expressiveness he can get across is insane. You can't see an inch of his face, and yet so often you can almost see his expression. You can't see an inch of his body, but you can gauge exactly what he's feeling from the extent of his swagger and his movements. That he can show more emotion than almost every unmasked wrestler ever is just something else.

So, this is me eating my hat. Tastes...like fabric. After posting the other day I watched the Shamrock matches and they were fucking revelatory like you wouldn't believe. So I've been gorging on some Owen ever since, and it seems that finally I'm watching the right stuff. Or more likely, I'm watching enough of it at once to get a better picture of what I'm looking at. He's a guy that I look at on spec and think "flashy small babyface worker" and never really got it and that always threw me, until I took a good, hard look at him and started to see what he's really about. So now Owen is shooting up in my estimation. More than anything I love his commitment to being a heel. One of my favourite little things he does is how often he gets a 2-count and jumps up with his hands in the air like he's won. Just a little thing that makes you think "You didn't even get close dude, sit down and shut up!" Another thing about being a heel is the moves he chooses to use in a match. Or more accurately, the moves he chooses NOT to use. Like I said I was always thrown by Owen because I know he has all of these flashy moves and offense and never seems to really use it, but I see now that it's a deliberate decision to work to the role he's playing. He might start off with that kip up arm wringer counter thing, but as they get into the match he doesn't really show off. He punches and stomps, he cheats and rakes eyes, he's an asshole. He uses the enziguri as a death blow, not as a high spot. Whatever he does is in service to the match, to his character and to the babyface. I appreciate that, especially when you think about things like Rollins working as a flat-out babyface vs Cena at Summerslam. (Although to be fair it is a different time, and Owen is exactly the kind of working heel who would get cheered incessantly today because he's so good.) He's endlessly useful because he can adapt to any kind of situation they throw him in. He feuds with Bret and they mirror each other and work the way they were trained. He feuds with Shamrock and turns up his legit grappling ability and toughness. He works with Davey Boy and turns up the European moves and hold trading. He works with Austin and he's throwing punches and hitting piledrivers. He works with Shawn and turns up the vaguely lucha-inspired 'run the ropes, flip off the top' kind of stuff that he does. He works with Mankind and turns up the brawling and starts biting fingers and throwing chairs and stuff. He works with Kid and he can finally be the bigger guy and dominate someone, as well as show off his flying. He's so well rounded, and so intelligent when it comes to what to do and when, that they can put him with anyone or in any position and he'll know what to do to make it work best. And that's just in WWF as a heel, he can also work tags, work face, work in Japan, UK, Europe, Calgary. I'm not even done, I still want to watch more and more of him. Can't believe I've turned around so much. I never thought someone that I wasn't even considering as late as last week would be going as high up on my ballot as he will be. I may even have him above Bret.

It's funny that he wants so bad to be a heel, and then spends his time as a heel doing crotch chops, making jokes, burying people on the mic, never showing ass, and doing all of those things that make him look like a badass and get him cheered.

Interesting to me that people don't seem to be including Cena in this category.

1. Hansen 2. Flair 3. Kawada 4. Kobashi 5. Misawa 6. Bryan 7. Funk 8. Jumbo 9. Tenryu 10. Rey Ted #68

OK OK guys. Let me start by saying that this is one of those times when I think you're all totally cray cray. I love Kofi. I was trying to nominate him all morning and it took me ages because it took me so long to find three things I'd written on his matches that didn't look like this: (*sigh*...I really used to love wrestling.) Anyway, I'm embarrassing myself for a reason, because the effect this man has on me is a huge part of his appeal. He's a pure, white meat, happy, smiling, dancing motherfuckin' BAY. BEE. FACE. He's a good guy that you can't help but root for, can't help but want him to win, can't help but be happy when he does. Even when I don't care about him for a time, he can flip a switch and turn it back on and suddenly I'm sitting there hollering for him again. Having that intrinsic babyface quality is something special, and Kofi has it for me more than all but a few of the faces I've grown up with. Late 2010 is when I fell in love with Kofi. Specifically when he was wrestling Swagger a lot. I found something I wrote at the time that explains why: Some people like their spotfests with a million flips and rope runs and dives, or a million headdrops and apron bumps and no-selling exchanges. Me? I like my spotfests on Smackdown with a million counters and counters to counters and finisher variations and "learned psychology". That's my jam, and the Kofi/Swagger series tickled all of my tendrils. People go nuts over series like Cena/Punk or Cena/Owens for countering everything and building off previous matches. These guys were doing it before any of that, only they weren't even feuding and nobody but me was watching. Kofi is always doing it though. Whenever he works multiple matches with anyone - Swagger, Dolph, Cesaro, Barrett, etc. - he's always playing off previous matches and coming up with nifty new counters to stuff. It's such a weird thing to say about someone as ridiculous as Kofi, but he really treats matches like they're real, sporting contests, and he's always thinking "I was in this situation last week against this guy, how can I change the outcome?" And boom, he comes up with a counter. He has great finishes as well. Dylan often points out his love of guys having multiple finishers, in which case Kofi is your guy because he ended up with three legit finishers that he could beat people with: the kick, the SOS, the crossbody. And the way that he came to the crossbody was amazing. Kofi was chasing the IC Title (held by Dolph) from mid-2010 through the end of the year. While he was doing that, facing Swagger and everyone else on SD and slowly building momentum, he'd hit a big crossbody and get a HUGE nearfall off of it, getting closer and closer every time. This all lead to a final one-on-one title shot vs Dolph in Jan 2011, and after missing the kick and Dolph kicking out of the SOS, he hit the biggest crossbody yet and BAM, got the pin and the title. It simultaneously paid off a six month long title chase, and paid off the building nearfalls over a long period of time, and introduced another credible finisher for him. A few years later, Kofi was in some Shield matches while they were still undefeated, and at the end of one hit this mega crossbody at just the right moment and for a second I legit thought that Kofi Fucking Kingston was going to be the first man to beat The Shield. That's a credit to him and everyone else involved. My favourite finish of his, however, is a very specific one. In May 2010 Kofi and Christian had a match on Smackdown for the vacant IC Title, and at the end Christian gave Kofi a sunset flip, only Kofi rolled through it. They sat there staring at each other for a split second, then they both scrambled to their feet but on the way up Kofi spun around and NAILED Trouble in Paradise for the win. Me typing that out does not come close to expressing how visually impressive this was to me. It's one of my favourite finishes ever. Over two years later, Kofi has a US Title shot vs Miz on one of the first Main Event episodes, when they were treating the show like a big deal. They have a long title match, and at the very end, Kofi rolls up Miz from behind but Miz rolls through it - in a split second Kofi's lightbulb goes off and as Miz gets to his feet, he spins and NAILS Trouble in Paradise to win another title. Six months or so later, Kofi has a US Title shot vs Cesaro on Raw. At the end of the match, Kofi counters something with a sunset flip and they start trading rollups - Kofi's lightbulb goes off again and this time he decides to actively create an opening himself: he grabs Cesaro's leg and basically rolls him backwards to create the same roll-through motion, then spins and NAILS the kick to win yet another title. Needless to say, I lost ALL of my shit every time. To me this finish is something beyond a much cuter kind of "everyone leaps into an RKO" repeated finish. For one, he didn't do it once, realise it was cool and then run it into the ground. He used it when appropriate, when it matters. Furthermore, it's not cute or contrived in any way, it came out of a perfectly natural wrestling move that anyone can and does do, and the repeats didn't involve guys doing anything they weren't already doing (in comparison to someone going to the top out of character so they can jump into an RKO). It was Kofi treating his matches like a real contest, finding a natural counter, remembering it when the same situation came up again, and then finally being able to manipulate his way into it for his benefit. My point in going on and on about something small is to demonstrate the level of thought and creativity Kofi puts into his matches, which are not the first attributes people associate with Kofi, and I find that decidedly unfair because he puts more thought into his matches than most. People always rag on his lightness and sloppiness and bad offense, but I don't give a shit about that stuff. He's a smiley, bouncey, goofy as fuck babyface, of course he's going to have goofy as fuck offense. It fits him and it gets over, so I don't care how goofy or light it is. Same way I don't care about Cena's shitty punches. He has another key talent that the people of this board don't give a shit about, and that's being a human highlight reel in all kinds of multi-man clusterfucks. Kofi is of enormous value for any Royal Rumble, battle royal, three or four way, Money in the Bank, a ladder match, tag team scramble...anything designed for someone to show off their ridiculous high spots, Kofi is there and coming up with wackier and more interesting spots than anyone else ever. I love him doing handstands or jumping on people's backs to save himself in the Rumble, I love him coming up with insane things to do with a ladder, I love him finding ways to hit tandem dives with anyone he meets, I love it all. He's a great bumper. He can take a beating from a big guy and make it look like death. Barrett always looks good beating the crap out of him, Brock got to toss him around, Big Show uses him as a lawn dart. Kofi has really good matches with Ryback for the same reason. Kofi flies around Ryback like Rey flies around Mark Henry - getting his shots in and managing to escape every time he looks like getting caught, only to finally get caught for real and splattered into the ground. He can also eat anyone's offense ridiculously well and make them look like a million bucks. I remember in the Shield run Ambrose was using a headlock driver as his finish, and it always looked kind of lame, but then in one of those matches with Kofi, he hit it on Kofi and Kofi SPIKED himself on his head RVD-style and for the first time I thought "Shit, that looked hurty, I buy that as a finish." He's so great with Cesaro because Cesaro just throws all of his shit at Kofi and Kofi takes it all like a fucking champ. He makes everyone's moves look killer. He also has underrated babyface fire. The most obvious example is the Orton feud from late 2009, which while it lasted was a big thing and made Kofi look like the next big thing. Kofi was awesome in that, going after Orton like a madman and looking so pissed off and fiery. It's such a departure from his usual Smilin' Kofi self so it stands out so much more as well. I've enjoyed every time Angry Kofi has reared his head since. And God this is all just as a babyface. I was never sure what Kofi would be like as a heel but he's transitioned really well. He's great in New Day as annoying as fuck Kofi, and they tend to have pretty good matches. He's a really good tag team worker across the board actually, and has done good work with many partners as a face: Punk, Bourne, Truth. They were three really good runs and his teams usually had pretty good matches. He himself is great at all aspects of being a babyface tag team worker - knowing how to get a shine and for how long, selling a beating, standing on the apron, a spicy hot tag, and building an escalating finishing stretch. I'm running out of things to say now, but I think Kofi gets a bad rap here. He's been pretty good for years now, has a lot of great matches to his name, and he's actually a much more creative and nuanced worker than he's ever given credit for. Yesterday when voting was closed I suddenly thought to myself "Damn, should have nominated Kofi." So I'm glad I could squeeze him in here. I think he's much better than some other people who've been nominated (Shane McFuckingMahon for God sakes) and I wanted a chance to go to bat for him. The more I've been talking about him and the more I'm thinking about him, I can totally envision myself throwing him on my ballot. I just love the guy so damn much. But we'll see.

That sounds fair enough.

Kofi Kingston (oh yes) Kofi & Bourne vs Colons - TLC 2011 Yay a tag title match after all! Opening was good, good spot work, culminating in Kofi’s awesome monkey flip reversal. Loved the sh*t out of that. Bourne getting tossed outside was cool. But even cooler was the Colons’ thing where they do stereo rope jumps when they tag out. That is great, they need to keep that. I like Epico’s Three Amigos suplexes. Liked Bourne rolling out of the Gory Special and hitting the knees to get the hot tag. I also like how Kofi had to run around all over the place to finally knock the guy on the outside out – these guys really made him work for his comeback, if that makes sense. And the fun babyface finish with Bourne’s Leap and Kofi’s ricochet Trouble in Paradise. I’m glad AB didnt just lose the belts here, there’s life in them yet. Good stuff. Kofi & Truth vs Hunico & Camacho - SD 4.5.12 Two Medium Sized Black Guys vs Mexican America. You gotta love it dawg. Seriously, this was a super cool tag team sprint. Kofi and Hunico brought the MOVEZ. Camacho threw a good Lariat on the floor. I love how they keep him away from doing any offense, but have him tag in to eat the entire hot tag, like thats easier than throwing stomps. Truth tossing Kofi into the ‘rana here was awesome though, and again, super fun tag sprint. Kofi & Truth vs Dolph & Swagger - Over the Limit 2012 Two Medium Sized Black Guys vs DolphSwag turned out to be a HELL of a tag match. I really enjoyed it a hell of a lot, commentary notwithstanding. Anytime Kofi and Swags lock up is a win in my book, I’ll never forget 2010. Loved how much time they got and how the match developed, Truth making the first hot tag before being taken over again, and the heels looked good on offense. I LOVED the moment where Dolph got surprisingly rolled up and he jumped up and immdiately went around by way of the babyface corner, to prevent any attempt at a tag. Really great detail. Loved the entire hot tag sequence as well – the big ass Tornado DDT to lead into it, Dolph hopping the ropes and Kofi springboarding and immediately hitting him all the way across the ring. LOVED the way he did the crossbody, and really I loved the entire stretch and the finish. Really great tag team match.

Probably not, which is why he wasn't nominated until now. I'm glad he's come up though, from what little I've seen he looks awesome and right up my alley. There's a tag match with Robinson vs Bock/Stevens on the WWE Tag DVD that is awesome, possibly my favourite 70s match. There's also a short singles match on Youtube vs...Verne I think? And he looks great in that too. Makes you despair that there's not more out there.

In light of Garvin's imminent doom, I suggest that you watch Garvin/Valentine '89 pronto.

I'm someone who has no problem watching Benoit matches, or voting for him, not that I blame anyone who isn't. Still, I was always high on Benoit and will go high on him here. He was spectacularly good for a very long time. In the 00s he was the best seller in the company, and I don't think that's something that gets discussed enough, now that the pendulum has turned and he's seen as more of a workrate, German spamming spotty guy. His selling is the thread that ties basically any big match he has together. Has off the charts intensity and increases the physicality of basically any match just by being in it. Has one of the longest laundry lists of good matches of anyone, just a smorgasbord and including basically everyone he got within 5 miles of. Major highlights for me include: vs Eddie on Nitro October 95 vs Sullivan, Der Is A Laydee In Da Men's Bathroom match vs Jericho Ladder match at the Rumble 2001 vs Austin during that week in May 2001, Raw and SD His entire SD Six run, particularly the big tag matches, and his match vs Rey, even though the Angle matches are ultimately frustrating. vs Brock, SD December 2003 vs Shawn, Raw Feb and May 2004 - some of the best TV matches ever Mania XX, still a great three-way His performance in the first MITB at WM21 vs Finlay, SD and JD 2006 The Best of Seven rehash in late 2005/early 2006 vs Booker and Orton vs MVP, WM23, Backlash, JD 2007 - those matches MADE MVP and are awesome He'll be in my Top 20.

I agree with the last point made above. Steamboat was Steamboat. Goofy OTT selling and karate chops and shit might not be for everyone, but it sure as hell works for me. He's a great working babyface, theatrical as well as physical. He's not really physical in a rough sense, but more like an athlete. Great singles stuff with Flair, Savage, Rude, Bret off the top of my head, and great tag stuff with Final Conflict, vs Dream Team, vs Dangerous Alliance. Doesn't hurt that the Flair matches are some of the best matches of all time. What are some more recs from the early 90s WCW period? Specifically singles. I've seen lots of tag matches, and the Rude and Austin matches.

KING! I don't really have anything substantial to add to his case, it's obvious at this point. King is the man. Laundry list of great stuff in Memphis: Dundee, Dutch, Bock, Terry Funk, Idol, Gilbert, Bam Bam, Bundy, Blackwell, Snowman, etc. I don't think I've seen a single match of his from WWF. In the 90s I mean. Is there anything interesting in that run? A Bret match? How long was he really active? Did he have any matches in ECW? Even as an Old Man he's awesome, still being the fucking Man against Miz or whoever else in recent years. He even dropped the strap to a fucking heart attack. Awesome punches, insane charisma, incredible comeback, great selling. He's just super, one of the best babyfaces ever. Should be in my Top 10 somewhere.

Vader will be at worst my third highest big man. Not sure whether he comes out above Henry or not. Henry is my dude, but Vader has the length and the kind of versatility that he doesn't. Versatility is an odd choice of word since he's basically just Vader wherever he goes, but I think it is a credit to him that he is so universal that he can turn up anywhere - WCW, WWF, AWA, NJPW, AJPW, UWFI, etc. - and get over and have good matches just by Being Vader. He's one of those wrestling skeleton keys - opens any lock. I think it was shoot-style Vader that really sold me on him more than anything else. Having a big fat American in a mask come in and throw powerbombs and shit in a shoot-style environment sounds so wacky and counter-productive on the surface, but he does exactly that and it's fucking awesome. Vader is great in UWFI because he's able to portray both being a legitimately dangerous mountain of a man, AND being a shooting novice who is totally out of his element. He has no real defense for grappling or leg kicks or anything else MMAish, but he could also swipe your whole head off your shoulders if you aren't careful. I love the dynamic. That's the key to Vader everywhere really, like Brock he's big and powerful enough, and has enough of a badass aura that he can take the nutty bumps he does, get knocked down as often as he does, and sell as much as he does without losing any of his credibility. And his agility goes both ways too - he will bump all over the place, but he can also come off the top with a dive in a way that dudes his size just can't, which turns it back into something that makes him dangerous. The Sting series in amazing and some of my favourite ever 90s matches. I really love his UWFI run - vs Takada, Tamura, Yamazaki, etc. Hansen matches. Flair match. Final Four. Lots of great stuff, and I haven't really seen anything from NJ.

The Drifter is better now than the first few times he showed up, he's just missing a certain...something. I don't know what it is but once he finds it, he'll be gold, because he's already so naturally unlikeable. Balor vs Neville couldn't be any more of a robot match, but they did get me down the stretch once they started busting out wacky stuff like the rebound German-deadlift German, or Neville flying halfway across the ring and landing on the turnbuckle at the finish. The key for a soulless match like this is to have exciting spots, and they accomplished that.

Oh no question. I always liked him from the moment he showed up (He's soooo pretty...what?) and I enjoyed what he did. The Shawn match is really good, and I agree he was good in that Chamber. There's also a good Matt Hardy match on SD 2007, just before he left. And the Masterlock Challenge stuff was fun times, and something they should really try to do again these days, just to make someone stand out from the pack. I still don't think that diminishes how much of an achievement it was for him to reinvent himself and improve the way that he did.

Not like personally. Like as a wrestler. Rate as a wrestler, if that's better.

In Parv's defense, he has a very specific set of boxes that someone can tick to earn points in the Variety of Roles category. It's not an overall number out of 10, it's how many of those boxes a guy can tick. He doesn't give anyone points for working as a midcarder or a grizzled vet. I get being frustrated with the number at the end, but he came to the number the same way he came to everyone else's. Only certain "variety" traits get points.

Not the Rumble one, the one at MSG in 1989. Found the date: September 30 1989. You should definitely watch it.

Valentine is a shoo in. One of the most impressive guys as I slowly discovered the 80s. I am super high on the Piper Dog Collar match, like Top 5 match of the 80s high. There's also the amazing Garvin match from 1989. Plus really good matches with Backlund, Tito, Flair, and tag matches vs the Bulldogs and that crazy Steamboat/Santana match. He's so very manly, stiff as hell and really knows how to rumble.

Owen is a weird one for me. He's another guy that I want to like more than I actually do. The idea of him - a smaller, more high flying Hart who can actually act, emote and entertain - I am all for that shit, but when I watch him I don't end up liking him as much as I should. Am I watching the right stuff? What is the essential Owen stuff? I love the Bret matches. I really love the 1-2-3 Kid sprint at KOTR. I honestly can't remember anything else of his that has stuck with me.

I'll be voting for Regal, but I am lower on him than most here. I was never much of a fan until the last couple years, I always found him kind of boring. It was actually his FCW/NXT Regal vs Indy Star matches vs Ambrose, Ohno and Cesaro that sold me on him. He is utterly, utterly tremendous in all of those. Apart from that, there are some Benoit matches from 2006, particularly the impromptu No Mercy match. His team with Dave Taylor was fun while it lasted, particularly when they were either beating the shit out of Londrick, or trying to navigate their way through a ladder match. He was good in 2009 on ECW as the top heel, but again I found the Christian matches to be good, but nowhere near as good as other people seem to think they are. I've looked into his earlier work and enjoyed some of it. Namely matches with Larry Z, Arn, Hash. I like him now. Just...not that much. He'll definitely place, but in the bottom quarter somewhere probably.

How high are people going on Santo? That isn't a challenge this time, I'm just curious. He MAY end up my highest ranked luchador. A transcendent babyface with an aura few can match. Add to that his beautiful high flying and timeless spots. Add to that his ability to project violence at the same time and not come off as light. Add to that his longevity and willingness to hurl his body around for decades on end, when he could well coast on his name. Add to that the matches with Casas, Dandy, Espanto, Panther, Gringos Locos, Psicosis...quick, recommend me some more Santito! Anyways, he rules.

I feel like Balor might be the world's best wrestling robot. It's so weird because the guy is so endlessly likeable...when he's nowhere near a wrestling ring. He's endlessly charismatic...when he's making his entrance. And then the bell rings and POOF - all his humanity is stripped away and we're left with the robot underneath. I just don't understand how it happens. And this isn't just NXT, this is going back years. He's always kind of been mechanically going through the motions of being a pro wrestler in the ring, depending on his role. Years back he was Babyface Spotty Junior Robot, going through all of his impossibly pretty moves and flips. Then he turned heel and he became American-Style Heel In Puro Robot, going through his checklist of heel cheating spots - flip people off, interference, low blow, interference, grab a chair, interference, interference, interference... And now as Balor he's Small WWE Babyface Robot, selling a lot and hitting all of his signature spots in various ways. It's neat and tidy and ticks all of the right boxes theoretically, but it's ultimately hollow...because he's a robot underneath. Like I said it's so weird, because I WANT to like him, and he has tremendous physical talent and a lot of good matches, but most of the time his matches just leave me strangely...cold.

I said Masters is a guy I'm still considering, and I am, but more out of hope than expectation. He seems like an outside chance at a "symbolic #100" spot, if I even go that route. But God damn, do I have a soft spot for the guy. More than anything else I think it's due to the astonishing extent of his transformation. Being the anti-workrate, bodybuilder poster boy, disappearing, and then coming back as a workrate machine...it was really crazy how much of a 180 he took. I am a big fan of wrestling achievements, and boy is he a big one.