Shining Wiz

He's got at least 7 years of high quality matches.....definite contender.

The truth hurts.

There was nothing engaging for me about the Team Hell No silliness. If you liked it, fine. As I said, we are miles apart here. I'm very prickly when it comes to comedy in my wrestling, and WWE style comedy almost never hits the mark for me. The Bryan/Kane stuff didn't work for me. I greatly prefer indie era ass kicker Bryan Danielson to bearded circus freak presented as eternal underdog Daniel Bryan. His performances are good enough to overcome it, but his gimmick & the way he is booked is very unappealing to me. The eternal underdog issue is a legit concern. It's what spoiled Mysterio in WWE for me. While I don't think Bryan reached that level of annoyance yet, he seemed on his way before he went out. And while I fins Bryan the most naturally charismatic guy in WWE right now so I can stand watching him in a variety of situations, it is annoying that WWE has a epically, uniquely talented wrestler on their hands and can't figure out to build around him without making him a caricature. They could have broken their mould and tried something new, instead they did the same old thing.

he stood out in Chikara during the BDK story, as much for how he got his character across by his actions in the ring as much as his wrestling. Possibly because of some occasionally subpar competition, his wrestling really stands out as being far above everyone else he's in the ring with, and you can see what he would become as Cesaro starting to come through.

I figure if he kept himself fit he may not have blown his back out and had a career past the age of 33. That, and if he was that good that out shape, I can't help but think he could have been better in better shape.

Fair. I'm prone to such things. He's ahead of him in every category save selling a beating like death. Everything else though. I'll stand by that, and say I've rectified the hyperbole.

Agreed.

A definite contender for me on pure talent, though I think his career on the indies was better than some give him credit for. He grew from decent lower carder in ROH to the best part of their tag scene by the time he was done. He was also by far the best part of Chikara during their biggest angle. Put that in the mix with probably being the best wrestler in WWE over the past two years and it's hard not to consider him.

I said Lawler would be the least athletic guy likely to make my list.....but I think I was wrong. It will be Foley. I try to ignore almost everything he did post-first retirement, but his run in WCW would almost be enough to secure a spot. He stood out as someone who understood to take what he could and make it mean something, even if that something was getting hit with inanimate objects. Had good to great matches with every one from the Bpnasty Boys to Vader to Abdullah to Orndorff to Sting. The ECW run is light on good matches, but his tag with Whipwrreck was fun in telling the story of Mikey's evolution. The Mankind run got several good matches out of Taker, and you could argue those set the stage for Taker's style over the last portion of his career. The Mindgames match with Michaels is a stand out, and add in good brawls with HHH. Definitely a contender, in spite of quickly devolving into a hideously annoying character in retirement.

Going back through the old WCCW shows make it clear Hayes was much better than I thought he was. Imagine how good he could have been had he ever bothered to lift a weight.

I missed there peak in real time, but I was just never into the Rock n Rolls that much. Not saying they were awful by any means, but I don't drool over them like others. As for comparing Morton to Eaton, with the exception of having a personality reminiscent of a wet towel, Eaton is ahead of Morton in every way imaginable.

I have never been able to enjoy a Bruno match. I find him difficult to watch.

Not that promos matter for this, but Corino is head and shoulders above Pearce as far as I'm concerned. Pearce sounds like a really earnest acting student making an audition tape, whereas Corino sounds natural.

Luger was better than the typical muscle head, particularly in them 87-91 period. But I'm not sure if being a good base who didn't bring matches crashing down makes him a top 100 of all time. I think Sting may be the worst guy I can remember Luger having a good match with, and I'm higher on Sting than most around here seem to be. Once Luger's athleticism started to decline he never seemed to develop the know how of how to adjust. Good, not top 100.

Might have had an outside shot if he started 20 years earlier and could have had an impact in territories.

Touche. I'll have to see where my opinion falls after watching some more. He died when I was 8, and well before I had access to anything other than WWF on a regular basis, but what I have seen I have enjoyed.

Another guy who the interwebs have turned around on. I think some/a lot of his aura is lost 25 to 35 years later watching on tape, but there's a reason he was as revered as he was at the time.

This versatility would be, and has been pointed as, a big positive for several other people on this list.

Great write up. I already figured DiBiase as a shoe in for my list, so you're preaching to the choir in this case, but a really nice overview of his career/skills.

Just ignore everything he did when they were booking him as a half wit southern bumpkin. That should make for a short reviewing list then.

My favourite heel from childhood. I'm hoping he holds up to closer inspection. A really solid, old school dirty southern heel who could just flat go (as far as that means anything for that style).

Fun watching the tide turn one way then the other on some guys. KENTA was the shit in the 00's as W2BTD (Joe from VOW, right?) accurately states above. Now, the general opinion seems to be that he's awful. Meanwhile, Jerry Lawler's gone from camp favourite to some's choice for #1. More on topic, even if KENTA only has one speed, it's one I like and produces killer matches.

To paraphrase someone from another thread, there have been many solid wrestlers who have wrestled, and Jimmy Jacobs is one of them. For me, ahead of only Necro Butcher of the nominees so far.

I think Rey might be the test of how I will fall with guys who I can recognize as good/great, but don't enjoy that much. I loved 140lb Rey flying around in the cruiserweight division in WCW, but around the time he lost his mask and found out about supplements, he started to lose it for me. I would assume that is around the time of his knee injuries really taking a toll on him as well. By the time he got into WWE, he was a shell of his former self in terms of athleticism, even if he did figure out how to work his style into WWE type matches. I found his booking to be pretty boring for the most part, outside of the fun friendship/feud with Batista and taking Punk's hair. The question for me ends up becoming is if a guy has a 20 year career, and I love a 2-3 year stretch and am at best ambivalent about the remaing years in spite of knowing/accepting his level of skill, where do I rank that?

I was never a fan of AJ, but his New Japan matches make me considerably more amenable to going back and checking out some of his TNA stuff.