Danish Dynamite

Perfect!

Great idea for a thread :-) ... I made a prelim list of probably 150 for the singles and about 35 for the teams. All of them were nominated already when I checked, so personally I didn't miss anyone. But I'm sure someone will eventually name someone I would have considered or maybe even forgot. So far none of the suggestions here would rank for me, though I really haven't seen enough women's wrestling from anywhere. At some point I'll have the time to dive more into that. But for now, not so much.

1: Flair 2: Hansen 3: Funk 4: Kawada 5: Tenryu 6: Mysterio 7: Misawa 8: Liger 9: Jumbo 10: Lawler Ted at 50

What the hell happened in this thread? Guess I'll throw myself under the same bus as Parv, just to show that someone else is there with him... With the exception of the Ziggy vs. Exile thing (I love Ziggy, but I really, really love Exile) and maybe the lucha stuff (couldn't stand lucha a couple of years ago... am getting into it slowly), I think I agree with Parv on pretty much everything in the thread.

Cool. Will check them out :-)

Any reasons for Hogan above Akiyama? Not being judgmental just curious because Jun is just outside my Top 10 right now while Hogan would be nowhere near a list like this for me. Absolutely! One very good reason!!! ... A major fucking glitch in the matrix... Akiyama won't come close to my top 10, but he's absolutely going higher than 88. I have scrambled this list around endlessly, so my butterfingers have fucked a few rankings I see. Akiyama is higher, Panther is higher. LA Park is close to dropping off the list. Hogan is lower, Piper is lower, Undertaker might drop off the list again. ... I'm always interested in the best argument, so I'd gladly take a closer look at Akiyama, if you think he could go all the way to the edge of the top 10. I'm pretty up to date on his 90's stuff. I definetely see him as more than just a sidekick there. Really like a lot of that stuff. I'm not super well versed in his post-2000 stuff. I'll have another look at some of the links in his nominations thread, but if there's anything in particular you think makes his case, then please let me know. For me right now, I see him around 40-50. But if the case is strong, I could go a little higher. No clue what the fuck happened to place him at 88... But in general (not just with Akiyama): I'm stronger on anything pre-2000 than anything post. So any guidance there is more than welcome. I'm not sure the last 5 years are going to have too much of an influence. Stuff needs to stand the test of time a little more. But like others my age range, I guess I can't pretend that 2000 was only 5 years ago anymore :-) The near Top 10 thing was referring more to my list so that is probably too much of a leap but I would recommend more to see if he can make 25-50. Like you said, his 1990's stuff is awesome but he is arguably the best Japanese wrestler since 2000: great in big matches, against lower ranked opponents, in tags. A ton of variety and many high quality matches. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/32874-jimmy-redmans-boot-camp/ includes some recommendations for him. Edit: The 2000+ thing reinforced by Childs. Thanks again, guys. Have seen 10 Akiyama matches the past day. He's climbing steadily.

Great. Thanks, guys. Recommendations from the board is what I'm looking for now. There's still time until the deadline to properly check out a few grey areas. And I'm pretty confident on 90's Akiyama, but his post-2000 stuff is now at the top of my "to watch" list. Am checking out your suggestion of the 2004 Kobashi match, which I definetely haven't seen before. Holy shit. He's grown a lot as a worker. This is something I need to see more of. Awesome. And thanks again for the heads up. Stuff like this makes the whole GOAT project worthwhile to me!

Any reasons for Hogan above Akiyama? Not being judgmental just curious because Jun is just outside my Top 10 right now while Hogan would be nowhere near a list like this for me. Absolutely! One very good reason!!! ... A major fucking glitch in the matrix... Akiyama won't come close to my top 10, but he's absolutely going higher than 88. I have scrambled this list around endlessly, so my butterfingers have fucked a few rankings I see. Akiyama is higher, Panther is higher. LA Park is close to dropping off the list. Hogan is lower, Piper is lower, Undertaker might drop off the list again. ... I'm always interested in the best argument, so I'd gladly take a closer look at Akiyama, if you think he could go all the way to the edge of the top 10. I'm pretty up to date on his 90's stuff. I definetely see him as more than just a sidekick there. Really like a lot of that stuff. I'm not super well versed in his post-2000 stuff. I'll have another look at some of the links in his nominations thread, but if there's anything in particular you think makes his case, then please let me know. For me right now, I see him around 40-50. But if the case is strong, I could go a little higher. No clue what the fuck happened to place him at 88... But in general (not just with Akiyama): I'm stronger on anything pre-2000 than anything post. So any guidance there is more than welcome. I'm not sure the last 5 years are going to have too much of an influence. Stuff needs to stand the test of time a little more. But like others my age range, I guess I can't pretend that 2000 was only 5 years ago anymore :-)

Oh, hell yeah :-D Thanks for the link!!!!

Don't know if this is quite the right thread to ask, but hell, calling it an encyclopedia, you've sort of opened the floor to it :-) Long time ago I heard a show you, JvK, was part of. The fantasy draft of 90's US wrestlers. I remember enjoying that show a lot, and wanted to hear it again. But I can't seem to find the feed anymore. Do you have a link to it, or a way to point me in the right direction, if it's still out there? I might have just overlooked it when searching for it... And you should consider doing more of those. It generated really fun discussions :-) On topic however: Great job with this. Great resource, great overview. Thanks!

If I had to vote today, these might be the final 25 teams... Could still change here and there. I'm open for comments on glaring omissions... They are not quite in order, but they're not totally random either. The Funks Kawada & Taue Arn & Tully The Midnight Express (both versions) The Rn'R Express The Hart Foundation Misawa & Kobashi The Rockers Freebirds (the original lineup) Jumbo & Tenryu The British Bulldogs Dustin & Barry Kroffat & Furnas Lawler & Dundee Arn & Eaton Kerry & Kevin Von Erich Footloose DiBiase & Williams The Road Warriors (yes! you won't get me to remove them!... I'm thinking bottom 5 though...) Rose & Somers Choshu & Yatsu Rude & Manny The Hollywood Blonds The Jumping Bomb Angels

To do: - Post preliminary top 100 on the board. (done) - Wait for reactions to prelim list and see if anyone has really good arguments for checking out some names, in order to improve their case. - Check out if everyone on prelim list is actually nominated... If not, nominate them... - Accept that people will certainly raise eyebrows at aspects of my list. (done... in Denmark we have a saying: "It takes more than that to make my piss boil"... Meaning: I think I'll survive people laughing or mocking my choices. ... But I'd sure love to hear people's thoughts). - Wish everyone good luck on completing their lists. Can't wait to see where everyone else ends up with this project. (done, see below) So, good luck to you all :-)

Ok... These are ranked... But the list and rankings change daily... Some can still make considerable leaps... I haven't completely double checked that everyone on the list is actually nominated yet... And I know for certain I've forgotten personal favorites, so new names will join (and maybe even quite high). So there's still a lot of pondering, thinking and rethinking to go. But it's getting closer every day. I may have glaring omissions in Japan, but the two main areas I feel the least confident about so far is lucha (I'm trying, but it's just not my favorite style... I do have a number of luchas on my list, though. But maybe some should be way higher) and joshi (female wrestlers in general. I only have two on the list. Bull and Aja. I'm open for checking out more). I'd love to hear thoughts from the forum. I don't mind comments on who people think I've overrated (Savage, Bret, Steamboat and many others I'm sure), but I can't really use that for anything. I can absolutely use comments on who I've ranked too low in peoples eyes, and a couple of mathces that make the case (even if I've seen the matches before, I'll check out the best arguments for a wrestler... I'm always for sale for the best argument). No reason to make the case for Volk Han though. Tried to stay awake through 7 or 8 of his matches. No luck yet :-) ... Maybe I could be swayed to add Carlos Colon. Am going through his feud with Hansen and I'm liking Colon for the first time ever. So maybe, if there's anything else in particular I should watch or rewatch of his ... I could also be swayed on post-2000 talent, if someone makes a strong enough case for someone. I don't feel confident about a lot of those guys yet. I don't have Chris Benoit. If he was a contender for my top 50 his out of ring actions maybe wouldn't keep him off my list. But at best I'd have him around 80-90, so it was really easy for me to just not go down that road at all. Bobby Heenan is my nr. 100... I think he would also be my nr. 150 on a top 150... I just really like having him there. Anyways, here goes: 1 Ric Flair 2 Randy Savage 3 Stan Hansen 4 Terry Funk 5 Jumbo Tsuruta 6 Bret Hart 7 Mitsuhara Misawa 8 Toshiaki Kawada 9 Ricky Steamboat 10 Jushin Liger 11 Rey Mysterio Jr. 12 Jerry Lawler 13 Nick Bockwinkel 14 Eddie Guerrero 15 John Cena 16 Kenta Kobashi 17 Daniel Bryan 18 Negro Casas 19 Bobby Eaton 20 Steve Austin 21 El Hijo Del Santo 22 Steven Regal 23 Buddy Rose 24 Big Van Vader 25 Genichiro Tenryu 26 Sgt. Slaughter 27 Curt Hennig 28 Tatsumi Fujinami 29 Arn Anderson 30 Ted DiBiase 31 Akira Taue 32 CM Punk 33 Rick Martel 34 Brock Lesnar 35 Brian Pillman 36 Andre the Giant 37 Jack Briscoe 38 Greg Valentine 39 Billy Robinson 40 Barry Windham 41 The Destroyer 42 Dustin Rhodes 43 Rick Rude 44 Tully Blanchard 45 El Dandy 46 Owen Hart 47 Satanico 48 Fit Finlay 49 Riki Choshu 50 Harley Race 51 Bill Dundee 52 2 Cold Scorpio 53 Kevin Owens 54 Jim Breaks 55 Cesaro 56 Hiroshi Hase 57 Dean Malenko 58 El Generico 59 Shinya Hashimoto 60 Lex Luger 61 Bob Orton Jr. 62 Yoshiaki Fujiwara 63 The Dynamite Kid 64 Bull Nakano 65 Ron Garvin 66 Kensuke Sasaki 67 AJ Styles 68 Giant Baba 69 Butch Reed 70 Villano III 71 Kerry Von Erich 72 Yoshiaki Yatsu 73 Aja Kong 74 Roddy Piper 75 Adrian Adonis 76 Ricky Morton 77 Sangre Chicana 78 Jerry Blackwell 79 Pat Patterson 80 Hulk Hogan 81 Pirata Morgan 82 El Samurai 83 Samoa Joe 84 Dory Funk Jr. 85 Perro Aguayo 86 Tito Santana 87 MS-1 88 Jun Akiyama 89 Jake Roberts 90 Shawn Michaels 91 Davey Boy Smith 92 Michael Hayes 93 Bruno Sammartino 94 Atlantis 95 Bob Backlund 96 The Undertaker 97 Blue Panther 98 Keiji Muto 99 LA Park 100 Bobby Heenan

Been "away" for a while. Tried to spend some of my downtime watching as many matches with guys and territories/periods I didn't have a really strong knowledge of. This thread seems to be the best one to make a comeback in... JvK, you've taken some flag here and there for your system, but here's my two cents: This is easily the best way of approaching this entire GOAT project for me, and you've put a tremendous amount of thought and attention into it. I actually think this system is a major part of me getting new energy to complete the lists. Awesome job. I will be drawing inspiration from your concept here and work with a probably considerably simpler system and more gut feeling, but I would have loved to have the time to use BIGLAV for my entire ranking! You get all possible thumbs up from me for this! I might actually use BIGLAV when it comes to those guys I can't quite place in comparrison to each other. And I really enjoy reading your ratings of the candidates. I know you might end up "cheating" and rank someone higher or lower than this system would place them, but will you be posting a top 100 that is only based on the BIGLAV? That would be fun to see :-)

Great series of shows. Thanks. They got me way more excited for this year's SummerSlam.

Yes!!!!!! A King Diamond mention!!!! I already loved the podcast, but that put my Danish heart over the moon!!!!

Haha :-) ... Might be Danish, but I'm not that crazy :-) ... Arn & Tully I'll have pretty high for sure!

Agree! I had no way of seeing Memphis in the 80's and 90's, so only knew it through the magazines. And it totally intrigued me. And while a lot of the other magazine-hyped terrotories that I've gotten to see the last decade or so, have underwhelmed ever so slightly (not dissapointed really, just not always quite lived up to the hype), Memphis has been the opposite. It's even more awesome than it was build up to be :-)

Hogan wins AWA title and doesn't go to New York. What's the new main event at WrestleMania I?

Dylan: For my part, some of it is definetely down to what type of wrestling, what style and partially what era. Most of what I've seen of MNM and Londrick has been fine. But none of it really excited me. But I will definetely give them a second look, if there's anything in particular you'd recommend?

Really like Luger & Windham. I am sure I have 25 teams higher, but I wouldn't find it too crazy if someone nominated and voted for them.

Johnny... I... Johnny... Damn :-) ... I'm doing a workshop on monologues with some actors soon. Was seriously considering handing them your Henry the Youtube :-) :-) :-)

Totally agree. Actually really like their Steiners matches. Guilty pleasure and underrated, with some sneakily good stuff here and there. Would like to have them in my top 25, but I have a feeling I'll end up with more than 25 teams ahead of them... Honourably gulity special mention maybe :-)

So true! ... And while I often really like the mentor and mentee dynamic in a team, it often felt just like you said with Misawa: The Ace and his little buddy... Obviously not with Kawada though. Top 5 team for sure (but so is 6 or 7 other teams to me, so...)

In that case, no shot! They have a shot with me, just because their heel gimmick was perfect and generated so much heat. I can't imagine how hated they would had been if they faced the Rock 'n' Roll Express in Tennessee. Ha! Yes! The All-American Boys vs. The Rock n' Roll Express in Tennessee!!! That could have made their case among the 25 :-) ... The Garvin stuff in Montreal is cool. But other than that, I actually preferred their heel run (of what I've seen, there might be great unseen stuff from Montreal). The Bushwackers matches was for the kids, so don't even know how to take that into account when considering The Rougeaus and The Sheepherders. Other than that, I generally enjoy their stupid little flags and their underrated matches. As others have said, it is a drawback that they are too uneven... It seems kindda random wether or not a Rougeuas match is really, really fun or very, very boring... Don't think they'll quite make it, but I'll be playing out that feud against the Rock n' Rolls in my mind for some time :-)