Jetlag

Talking about workers in the first year of their career, I am struggling to think of many wrestlers that were as good as Senka Akatsuki straight out of the gate. Within a year she's had several unique, engaging and great matches and looked close to up there even against the likes of Chihiro Hashimoto despite her still limited moveset. Single handedly made the pinfall into a finisher in 2025, her match against Aja made a modern wrestling crowd flip out for an attempted pinfall in 2025 which is no easy feet. Caveats: - she got a monster push right out of the gate and getting to work with many highly experienced top workers throughout the year. - she still looks pretty green in some matches although not much considering how little experience she actually has. Clearly better: - Volk Han and other shootstyle freak outliers that were producing greatness right away. No shame in being worse than Volk Han though. - Carl Greco. Producing shootstyle clinics from the go. - Ali Najima & Yuta Oya. Great matches on a weekly basis in the first year of their career, in Oyas case even before he made his official debut. Comparable: - Jun Akiyama. The default choice when it comes to discussions of 'greatest rookies'. In his first year though? I think he had that Kawada match right? - Ikuto Hidaka. Did a lot of pretty high end stuff already in his first year as a wrestler. - Mika Akino. Seems like the obvious comparison considering she had a pretty great big title match against Yoshida just about 6 months into her career, although that may be a Yoshida creation. Also had that all timer bloodbath against LCO a little over a year into wrestling. - Ayako Hamada. Similiar case as Akino. The 98 ZION final against Yoshida was like her 7th match ever which is downright insane. Again, maybe all on Yoshida though but let's not discredit Ayako, she was incredibly fun from the go. - Yujiro Yamamoto: Great from the go pretty much. The Otsuka match is his 10th match ever and smokes most wrestlers entire resume. - Yuki Ishikawa. Pretty much all the BattlARTS guys were good-great as soon as they stepped on the mat, though I am not sure Yuki Ishikawa has had a really great match before the Duane Kosloski match which came a bit over a year into his career. - Meiko Satomura & the GAEA girls. I know they let Satomura have a singles against Toshiyo Yamada in her first year that was pretty insane, the others may be spotty. I recall the likes of Chihiro Nakano and Maiko Matsumoto doing some great stuff like 6 months into their careers though. - Jushin Liger. I am not sure how much of his rookie year is on tape but he had that match with Shunji Kosugi that was pretty damn great. The Fujiwara match was also just a bit over a year in his wrestling career. - Hiroshi Itakura. Based on the 2 matches of his... he was pretty great.

The first bracket where almost nobody really seems like quite a lock in though sure there are some fun candidates. Strong chance at making a Top 100: 1. Inca Peruano - lack of footage may be a bit of a problem for him but then, he's clearly one of the greatest bumping heels of all time and also quite the expert technician and brawler. Some consideration for making a Top 100: 1. Ian Rotten 2. Ikuto Hidaka 3. Itsuki Yamazaki Little to no consideration: 4. Isamu Teranishi 5. Ilja Dragnuov 6. Iron Sheik Not seen enough/no ranking Invader I Invader III Io Shirai/IYO SKY "Iron" Mike Sharpe Ivan Koloff Ivan Putski

Rank the following wrestlers starting with the letter 'I'. Which ones are likely to make your Top 100? Ian Rotten Ikuto Hidaka Ilja Dragnuov Inca Peruano Invader I Invader III Io Shirai/IYO SKY "Iron" Mike Sharpe Iron Sheik Isamu Teranishi Itsuki Yamazaki Ivan Koloff Ivan Putski

I took a quick look and put all the Jon Cortez matches that are online at the moment together, with the help of itvwrestling.co.uk. I've put his best matches in bold, though everything here is worth a look. If you like technical wrestling at all this is definitely must watch stuff. Once again, sending prayers that someday any unseen footage that ITV may still have will be unveiled because Cortez had more sick looking matches in the 60s and 70s that are not available right now. Jon Cortez vs Zoltan Boscik, WoS 4/10/1971 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAOjZgtsS_A w Al Miquet vs Ian Gilmour & Jeff Kaye, 2/9/1972 Jon Cortez vs Steve Grey, 12/13/1973 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5h-2V28AG0 vs Jim Breaks, 5/26/1976 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ebTSPqB3Do vs Tommy Lorne, 1/9/1980 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUanXxyUGEw vs Pete Lapaque, 1/28/1980 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5URBsVyoY4 vs Jeff Kaye, 3/5/1980 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGbpnefExw4 vs Keith Haward, 11/5/1980 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxbQFnR_63A vs Jim Breaks, 2/2/1981 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVqzgFX7608 vs Bobby Barnes, 3/31/1981 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HL1ABat4n4 vs Steve Grey, 7/27/1981 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4sIi3bSyLA vs Keith Haward, 1/24/1984 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u8vBTOj__U vs Jackie Robinson, 11/25/1986 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vXSf7WpArA vs Keith Haward, 1/13/1987 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO5FWQiwXk0

Harley Saito clears! Strong consideration for a Top 100 1. Harley Saito 2. Hiroshi Watanabe Some consideration for a Top 100 3. Hiroshi Hase 4. Homicide 5. Hiromitsu Kanehara 6. HARASHIMA 7. Herodes 8. Hiroyuki Ito 9. Hans Schmidt Little to no consideration for a Top 100 10. Harley Race 11. Hideki Suzuki 12. Hulk Hogan 13. Hitamaru Sasaki 14. Hisakatsu Oya 15. Horst Hoffmann 16. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 17. Hayabusa 18. Hiroshi Tanahashi 19. Hiromu Takahashi 20. Hector Guerrero 21. Hirooki Goto 22. Hido 23. Hector Garza 24. Honky Tonk Man 25. Haruka Eigen

Try and rank the following wrestlers starting with the letter 'H'. Which ones are you considering for your all time Top 100? Hans Schmidt HARASHIMA Harley Race Harley Saito Haruka Eigen Hayabusa Hector Garza Hector Guerrero Herodes Hideki Suzuki Hido Hirooki Goto Hiromitsu Kanehara Hiromu Takahashi Hiroshi Hase Hiroshi Tanahashi Hiroshi Watanabe Hiroyuki Ito Hiroyoshi Tenzan Hisakatsu Oya Hitamaru Sasaki Hombre Bala Homicide Honky Tonk Man Horst Hoffmann Hulk Hogan Huracan Castillo Jr. Hyper Misao

Strong consideration for a Top 100: 1. Genichiro Tenryu 2. Great Sasuke 3. Greg Valentine 4. GENTARO 5. Gilbert Leduc Some consideration for a Top 100: 6. Gran Hamada 7. Great Kabuki 8. Gino Hernandez 9. Guy Mercier 10. Gilbert Cesca 11. Gran Naniwa Little to no consideration for a Top 100: 12. Grom Zaza 13. Gran Apache 14. Great Zako 15. Goldberg 16. Giant Baba 17. Gypsy Joe 18. Gorgeous George 19. Gary Albright 20. Gedo 21. Greg Gagne 22. Go Shiozaki 23. Genki Horiguchi 24. Gail Kim Another shorter bracket, with Tenryu standing pretty much head and shoulders above everyone else.

Rank the following wrestlers starting with the letter 'G'. Which ones do you consider for your all-time Top 100? Gabe Kidd Gail Kim Gary Albright Gary Young Gedo Genichiro Tenryu Genki Horiguchi GENTARO George South George Wells Giant Baba Gilbert Cesca Gilbert Leduc Gino Hernandez Giulia Go Shiozaki Goldberg Gorgeous George Gran Apache Gran Hamada Gran Naniwa Great Kabuki Great Sasuke Great Zako Greg Gagne Greg Valentine Grom Zaza Gus Sonnenberg Guy Mercier Gypsy Joe

In no particular order Upper tier matches are bolded Cosmo Soldier vs Michio Kageyama, Sportiva 1/1 Ai Hozan vs Senka Akatsuki, Marvelous 1/4 Blue Panther vs Hechicero, CMLL 1/10 Senka Akatsuki vs Ai Houzan, Marvelous 1/12 Yusaku Ito vs Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 1/22 Meiko Satomura vs Sareee, Sareee-ISM 1/23/2025 Act & Mari vs Haruka Ishikawa & Kyoka Iwai, AWG 1/24 Mari vs Haruka Ishikawa, AWG 2/5 Kenichiro Arai & CHANGO & PSYCHO vs. GENTARO & Akira Jo & Taro Yamada, Mutoha 2/16 Yasushi Sato vs Shoji Ohno, Mutoha 2/16 Takahiro Tababa vs GAJO, Big Bear Produce 2/22 Yuta Oya & Ali Najima vs Konaka & Shinya Ishida, Sportiva 2/26 Mariah May vs Toni Storm, AEW 3/9 Haruka Ishikawa & Ayano Irie vs Erisa Nagai & Rico Fukunaga, AWG 3/9 Sakura Mizushima vs Mari, AWG 3/16 Meiko Satomura vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Sendai Girls 3/21 Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha vs Nanae Takahashi & Seri Yamaoka, Marigold 3/30 Satsuki Nagao vs Shuji Ishikawa, KT 4/8 Kosuke Sato vs Masashi Takeda, KT 4/8 Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura vs Hikaru Sato & Manabu Hara, KT 4/8 Meiko Satomura vs Takumi Iroha, Marvelous 4/10 ZEAL & Koji Sudo vs Sanada Ten Braves & Hiroshi Ando, Kishu Bundara 4/13 Meiko Satomura & Sareee vs Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu, Fortune Dream 4/16 Sho Mizuno vs Yu Shimizu, Kobe Meriken 4/18 Yasushi Sato vs Super Taira, JWA Tokai 4/20/2025 Elimination Gauntlet: Ai Houzan, Maria, Riko Kawahata, Sora Ayame & Takumi Iroha vs. Chika Goto, Kizuna Tanaka, Miku Aono, Natsumi Showzuki & Rea Seto, Marigold 4/25 Shiori Asahi & Makoto Oishi vs CHANGO & Ayumi Honda, 2AW 4/27 Tonikaku Yaritai Akiyama & Nakata Bide vs Masanobu Koppu No Fuchi & SUMA, AZW 4/? Munetatsu Nakamura vs Hagane Shinnou, Choco Pro 5/5 Shinya Aoki vs Kazusada Higuchi, 5/6 Ali Najima vs Kanu(?) Watanabe, Sportiva 5/7 Paul Ishida vs taku, XGF 5/10 Mentai Kid vs GENKAI, Kyushu Pro 5/11 Senka Akatsuki vs DASH Chisako, Tenryu Project 5/21 Seri Yamaoka vs Takumi Iroha Marigold 5/24 Cibernetico, ACTION 5/24 Chihiro Hashimoto & Mika Iwata vs Saori Anou & Natsupoi, Stardom 5/31 Sui Cup Kenchiro vs Great Mara, CWP 6/1 White Moriyama vs Ari Najima, HEAT-UP 6/1 Sareee vs Ranna Yagami, Stardom 6/8 Masanori Watanabe vs Kazuhiro Tamura, Sportiva 6/11 Sareee vs Syuri, STARDOM 6/21 Yasushi Sato & Taro Yamada vs Akira Jo & Hideya Iso, Yoshino Aid 6/22 Shinya Ishida & Yu Shimizu vs Ari Najima & Masanori Watanabe, Sportiva 7/2 Ari Najima vs Masanori Watanabe, Sportiva 7/9 Marino Saihara & Sakura Mizushima vs Anri & Yukina Uehara, AWG 7/11 Act & Maru vs Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki, AWG 7/11 Leon & AKARI vs Moeka Haruhi & Rydeen Hagane, Pure-J 7/13 Saya Kamitani & Natsuki Tora vs Sareee & Takumi Iroha, Sareeeism 7/14 Mari & Act vs Anri & Erisa Nagai (AWG 7/18) Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase, Sendai Girls 7/19 Zandokan Jr. vs Judas El Traidor, Lucha Memes 7/19 Keita Yano vs brother YASSHI, Tenryu Project 7/20 Virus vs Xelhua, RoH 7/26 ACT vs MARU, AWG 7/26 Sareee vs Konami, STARDOM 7/27 Ultimate Spider Jr. vs Yasutaka Ooosera, Osaka Pro 7/27 Ali Najima vs Yuta Oya, Sportiva 7/30 Mari & Ayano Irie vs Anri & Erisa Nagai, AWG 8/2 Masato Tanaka vs Hayabusa, Zero1 8/3 Ali Najima vs Masanori Kanu Watanabe, Sportiva 8/6 Konaka vs Chon Shiryu, Sportiva 8/13 Act & Mari vs Marino Saihara & Rico Fukunaga, AWG 8/13 Ali Najima & Yuta Oya vs Michio Kageyama & Shinya Ishida, Sportiva 8/13 Makoto vs Hiroyo Matsumoto, Seadlinnng 8/22 Chon Shiryu & Shin Suzuki vs Makoto & Sayaka, Choco Pro 8/27 Hideaki Sumi vs Tatsunori Oya, Kobe Meriken 8/29 Yuta Oya vs Super Taira, Sportiva 9/3 Mari & ACT & MARU vs Marino Saihara & Sakura Mizushima & Naru, AWG 9/7 Ali Najima & Super Taira vs Yuta Oya & Ryutaro Ohno, Sportiva 9/17/2025 Chihiro Hashimoto vs Mika Iwata, Sendai 9/23 Kenichiro Arai vs Ayumu Honda, Tenryu Project 9/23 Ali Najima vs Konaka, Sportiva 9/24 Virus & Xelhua vs Charles Lucero & Erick Ortiz, Sugehit Produce 9/27 Avisman vs Eragon, Vikmask 10/4 Merman Masakazu vs Aesop, Health Pro 10/5 Dekai Ichimotsu vs Vasaru Ikeuchi, Health Pro 10/5 Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha & Mio Momono vs Seri Yamaoka & Mayu Iwatani & Utami Hayashishita, NOAH 10/6 Drew Gulak vs Timothy Thatcher, Beyond 10/12 GENTARO vs Shuichiro Katsumura, Ganbare Pro/FREEDOMS 10/16 Keita Yano vs Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 10/17 Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara vs Rico Fukunaga & Sakura Mizushima, AWG 10/19 Takumi Iroha vs Senka Akatsuki, Marvelous 10/19 Ali Najima vs Kosuke Sato, KT 10/23 Tanomusaku Toba & Kengo Mashimo vs Yuko Miyamoto & brother YASSHI, KT 10/23 Keita Yano vs Manabu Hara, KT 10/23 Keita Yano vs Koji Iwamoto, Tenryu Project 10/25 El Hijo del Santo & Santo Jr. & Ciclon Ramirez Jr vs. El Hijo de Fishman & El Hijo de LA Park & Texano Jr., TxT/Lucha Libre World Berlin 11/2 Sareee vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Sendai Girls 11/16 Yasu Urano vs Akito, 11/16 Minoru Kido vs taku, XGF 11/23 MARU & Ayano Irie vs Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara, AWG 11/24 Ryo Kawamura vs Hikaru Sato, Hard Hit 11/29 Yu Shimizu & Yuta Oya vs Ali Najima & Hajime Enshu, Sportiva 11/19 Kotaro Nasu & FUMA vs Kotaro Suzuki & Tetsuya Izuchi, GLEAT 12/6 MARU vs Chii Aoba, AWG 12/15 Marino Saihara vs Rico Fukunaga, AWG 12/20 BADMAX Fujinaga vs Great Kuririn, Kobe MERIKEN 12/25 Senka Akatsuki vs Seri Yamaoka, Marvelous 12/28 MARU vs Rico Fukunaga, AWG 12/29

#1 Mari Great discovery and feels like the strongest #1 contender I can imagine. Badass wrestler with stiff and creative offense, but also has lots of variety. Some great work in singles, tag matches, both as an overdog heel but can also stooge and make throwaway undercard matches fun, often against half-baked wrestlers. Not the only talented wrestler in AWG (MARU, Saihara, Fukunaga and others have also delivered lots of good stuff) but definitely the best. #2 Meiko Satomura As good as always and had a great series of big matches leading up to her retirement. #3 Ali Najima Rookie of the year, was pretty much having good-great matches weekly in Sportiva and he definitely wasn't just carried in those matches, also did some really good stuff against other less experienced wrestlers like Yuta Oya, Masanori Watanabe etc. Pretty no nonsense style with the focus on kicks, building up to a bodyslam, and some cool submissions. #4 Yasushi Sato Only 3 matches on tape but he rules every time. Still a great grappler and really intelligent. #5 Blue Panther 65 years old, insane aura, can still have great matches, the big matches against Hechicero and Ultimo delivered beyond what should be humanely possible and he's also been great in the Maestro trios that the DVDVR guys booked. Other mentions: Super Taira, Yu Shimizu, Masanori Watanabe, Paul Ishida, Mad Dog Connelly, Rico Fukunaga, Marino Saihara, CHANGO, GENTARO, Kenichiro Arai, Keita Yano, MARU, Avisman, Manabu Hara, Xelhua...

Who is the greatest wrestler of the year?

One of the shortest letter brackets, so the competition is not that crazy here, but Van Buyten/Blassie/Fritz von Erich is one heck of a trio of wrestling gods with limited footage though. A lot of these are neck and neck. And then you have your oddball inclusions like Fidel Sierra, Flash Flanagan, Franz Schuhmann.... Strong consideration for a Top 100: 1. Felino 2. Franz van Buyten 3. Fit Finlay 4. Fuerza Guerrera Some consideration for a Top 100: 5. Freddie Blassie 6. Fritz Von Erich 7. Fujita Jr. Hayato 8. Fugo Fugo Yumeji 9. Freelance 10. Franz Schumann Little to no consideration: 11. Fred Yehi 12. Fidel Sierra 13. Frank Shamrock 14. Fuminori Abe 15. Flash Flanagan 16. Frankie Kazarian

Rank the following wrestlers starting with the letter 'F'. Which ones do you consider for your all-time Top 100? Felino Fidel Sierra Fit Finlay Flash Flanagan Frank Shamrock Frankie Kazarian Franz Schumann Franz van Buyten Fred Yehi Freddie Blassie Freelance Fritz Von Erich Fugo Fugo Yumeji Fuminori Abe Fuerza Guerrera Fujita Jr. Hayato

Damn, I was just watching him and Randy Rose the other night not even knowing he had died. Clearly they were both really great wrestlers

An oddly short but lucha-centric bracket due to most wrestlers starting with 'El' being listed here. Obviously the Top 3 guys here could as well be the definite Top 3 of all time, so... Strong consideration for an all-time top 100: 1. El Hijo del Santo 2. El Dandy 3. El Satanico Some consideration for an all-time top 100: 4. Eddie Guerrero 5. El Samurai 6. Etsuka Mita 7. Emilio Charles Jr. 8. El Faraon 9. Eric Embry 10. Espanto Jr. 11. El Texano 12. El Hijo de Fishman Little to no consideration for an all-time top 100: 13. Eddie Kingston 14. Espectrito 15. El Brazo 16. El Mesias 17. Emi Sakura 18. Eddie Gilbert 19. El Signo 20. El Canek 21. Edge 22. Eddie Edwards Haven't seen enoug/no ranking: El Bracero Ernie Ladd