BillThompson

Has an outside chance at making the bottom of my list. He's a worker I've always enjoyed, but I'm not sure if there's enough consistent greatness for him to end up slotted on the list.

Will be placing very high on my list. During my Network PPV rewatch project I've been very impressed with his 1992-1996 WCW run, to the point where in 1994 he may very well have been the best wrestler in the world. His Goldust run is borderline for me, at least until his most recent comeback, when he went back to being one of the best wrestlers in the world.

I'll admit, Misawa is a guy I haven't seen enough from. I see the greatness in what I have seen, but I haven't seen anywhere near enough for me to place him all that high.

Have been a consistently great and relevant tag team for close to sixteen years now. They were a part of the trio of tag teams that helped revitalize and make tag team wrestling seem important again in late 90s-early 00s WWF. I think they have a high number of great matches under their belt, and I'd place both guys pretty high as individual workers. Both men were terrific bumpers, Jeff is an all time great hot tag, Matt did the face-in-peril role really well, and both men had the physical tools to deliver compelling matches every time out. Definitely making my list, it's just a matter of how high I have them.

I think the quality of wrestling was better a couple of decades ago. It may be a simple case of quantity over quality, both in terms of the amount we see on tape now and the amount of wrestlers now versus a couple of decades ago. There's plenty of great modern wrestling, I would never say otherwise. However, I think there were more great wrestlers and more great wrestling a couple of decades ago because they were more people who were great at the art of wrestling and less people who were athletic and nothing more. Two isolated spots kind of illustrate my point, both require some degree of athleticism but in the end both spots illustrate why psychology always trumps athleticism for me. Edge and Christian had a spot where Christian would execute a Drop Toehold on Edge so that Edge landed headfirst into the stomach/groin of an opponent. It's a simple spot, that requires some athleticism but in general relies on the smartness of the application of the move and how it works towards a logical conclusion of inflicting damage without causing yourself much harm in the process. The Young Bucks have the Meltzer Driver, where one of them holds the opponent for a Tombstone Piledriver and the other Buck comes off the top rope with a 450 Splash to turn it into a Spike Tombstone Piledriver. It's a very athletic move, and it certainly popped the crowd, but it's also incredibly stupid, useless athleticism, and an example of everything I don't want in my professional wrestling. Now, I don't have any issue with people who love the Meltzer Driver, or the Bucks for that matter, but it's simply not the type of wrestling I care for. It's athleticism in lieu of psychology, common sense, selling, true earned emotion, etc. I'll take the E & C Drop Toehold spot every time because it appeals to the sort of smart, logically based, psychologically sound wrestling I enjoy. None of this means that there isn't great modern pro wrestling, but there has been a movement towards athleticism first in the past ten years or so, and the matches/wrestlers that rely heavily on athleticism don't appeal to me as quality pro wrestling, and don't hold a candle to quality pro wrestling from a couple of decades ago (or even the quality modern pro wrestling that is taking place where there isn't a heavy focus on athleticism).

Jeff Cobb is an indie wrestler who's very strong. One of the few wrestlers who can pick up a guy for a move bring them down like they are going to hit the mat then stop completely and reverse the move in one fluid motion.

Curt Hennig deserves a mention, his Fisherman Suplex of Giant, and then later Big Show, was mighty impressive strength wise.

Hardy Boyz (First two are links to reviews from my blog, but if that's not copacetic I can copy and paste as I've written the same reviews in other places on this board). 1) vs. Edge & Christian (No Mercy '99) 2) vs. Briscoe Brothers (OMEGA) 3) vs. Dudley Boys (Royal Rumble '00) Just watched this earlier today, and what a match. It's a garbage spotfest for sure, but coming off the heels of so much bad garbage wrestling in 1998-99, this feels fresh and innovative. It's paced like a sprint, and worked like two teams who truly do want to kill one another. It falls shy of MOTY status because there are a few moments that are overly contrived, like the Buh Buh Nestea plunge. Still, this is a great match to showcase the ability of Matt to sell, Jeff to be the fiery babyface, and the Hardys ability to make the crowd care about what happens to them during a match.

I know it's non-USA, but I always had a soft spot for CMLL's Homenaje a dos Leyendas 2000 - Juicio Final. An all time classic in Atlantis versus Villano III, a great cibernetico match, and fun matches throughout the rest of the card. I'm not sure what I'd vote for from WWE's library, but I'm sure a lot will vote for NWA Great American Bash '89, and it deserves all those votes. One that I think is often overlooked is One Night Only from 1997, which had only a couple of mediocre matches, a good tag match, three MOTYC in Love/HHH, Taker/Hart, and Vader/Owen, as well as an HBK/Bulldog match that I think is okay but a lot of others love.

You're right, I am discounting his early career tag work, which I happen to like a lot. Honestly, had he remained a tag wrestler his entire career he may have been a top 100 guy. But, while the tag work he did put in really does elevate him, it still doesn't make him top 100 in a world where he did become a singles worker.

Not for me man, because I don't think the skill is there. In gimmick matches and when in the ring with better workers he was great, otherwise not so much.

You need to start somewhere though, and this is a perfectly fine starting point. They tweeted about it, they had something up on their website about it, and then they went and did it. If they keep doing it, and keep advertising that they are doing it, then the Network will gain more and more exclusive importance.

Dynamite is influential for sure, and he was capable of occasional greatness. But, on the whole I find him to be not up to snuff. His Tiger Mask series doesn't hold up at all, and I find that in a lot of the Bulldog matches I watch it's Davey Boy who does the lion's share of the work while all Kid does is hit big spots.

I just watched his versus Hogan from the first SNME. Orton's good in that match, but he's not great, in fact it's Hogan who is great and drives the match and by the end is pretty much carrying Orton to what would have been a great match with about five more minutes and a better ending. Not sure what this says about Orton on the whole, but thought it was interesting nonetheless.

Perhaps he will have a shot in a year and a half, because I really do like him a lot. Right now though, nope, I simply haven't seen enough great work from him yet.

I'm going to be all over the place, but I feel like the 80s sets will be a must. Completing my Network PPV rewatch project is a must as well, and then just taking in stuff through YouTube/DailyMotion.

I appreciate your stance, but I just don't see it. Sure, wrestlers are more athletic now, but I think wrestling today is at about the same quality level as it was in the 80s, maybe even a bit less. Athleticism really doesn't mean much at all when it comes to pro wrestling, because all the athleticism in the world can't make up for someone not understanding where to place their spots, how to sell, how to bump, how to build heat, etc. I see a decided lack of those elements in most of the highly athletic wrestlers today, although I'm not one who's going to go so far as to say wrestling today is terrible or anything like that. At the end of the day though I don't think any wrestling, wrestlers, or matches from today are blowing away wrestling form ten or twenty+ years ago.

This is something they should have been doing all along. Having an update on the Network like that makes the Network feel essential, like it contains elements you can't get anywhere else. Brilliant move by WWE, and hopefully they keep it up.

How about we use weak, instead of bitch, could do without the negative female connotations.

I watched the Benoit Rumble match earlier this year, and still loved the hell out of it.

Yeah, I'm cheap so I just use free Wordpress, and it's very easy.

Won't make my list. In a lot of ways he's the 2000s version of 1990s Shawn Michaels. Not in terms of style, but in how WWE decided Edge was a big deal and has maintained his status as a big deal no matter what. In the ring I've always found him rather bland, and that it's almost always the other people in the ring that are producing greatness from Edge, not the other way around.

I can separate the matches from the events of June 2007. I think he deserves serious consideration as a top 20 wrestler for me. This, his wrestling still remains, despite what he did. It's similar to Roman Polanski or Victor Salva, they are scum for sure, but I can view their art separate from their actions and still appreciate the art.

Probably top 20 for me. I get that he's not well liked around these parts, and his style isn't usually a style that appeals to me. That being said, I really love the way Angle works matches, how he hits his spots, the pace he sets, etc. His run from 2000-2009 makes him a lock for this list, but the fact that he's still been relatively good in his twilight years is what keeps him up near the top of my list.

I think it's excessive to say KENTA is being immediately dismissed based on the comments of one or two people. If this poll is going to work it needs to have people advocating for all sorts of guys and then actually showing up to vote. Heck, I'm going to be advocating for Kurt Angle as a top 20 guy, along with guys like Matt Hardy, Bobby Eaton, El Satanico, etc. further down the list. We're far more of an eclectic bunch than we get credit for around these parts.