Danish Dynamite

Lots of back and forth here from everybody. Interesting. Lots of different aspects. Morally: His crime was horrible. No excuses in any way. I have no idea if I would whitewash The Beatles from music history if it had been one of them. You couldn't deny their influence, but it might take all joy out of listening to them for me. Medically: I'm pretty convinced Benoit at the time of the murders was not the same guy as he was earlier. Blame wrestling, himself, doctors, lifestyle, genetic deterioration of his brain or some other factor. Most likely he was damaged in a way that could have caused others to act the same, horrible way. The business: Sure, wrestling has been filled with a shitload of shady characters (no one in this thread has even outed the KKK supporters, and it says something that they're not even at the top of the dung heap). And it's valid and would be an extremely interesting read if someone made a serious piece on all that. But the Benoit murders should still be viewed separately for what they are and not hidden behind other aspects of a dodgy business. Whether or not someone leaves off others for moral reasons could be an entire extra thread. Wrestling: I was not watching regularly in 2007, but a friend of mine called me when the story broke. But to me it wasn't "current superstar CB", but "that guy I remember everybody digging, but me not being that in to". Other than it being absolutely horrible, the debate for this is actually the first time it's ever really had a direct influence on me. Ranking: I'll concede that if it hadn't happened and the voters from 2006 had made a good case for him, I could have gone back, seen a lot of his work and would possibly have ranked him. I was never into him before, and I doubt he would have placed higher than 80 for me. And that made it easy for me to just not consider him. I would have been in a much bigger dilemma if I had considered him for the top 25. Put to the test, I think I would have left him off.

Regrets: Not many. I'm sure my list will look a little different soon, but as of now, I'm really ok with all of it. Even the vanity picks that I have no solid argument for making. The only thing I might regret is that I spent time watching shoot instead of joshi. I could have guessed that I'd not get into shoot even though I gave it a reasonably big shot, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna really dig joshi when I get to it. I have two joshi workers on my list, and I'm not sure they would get much higher than their solid rankings now, because I've seen a good bit of them. But I just haven't seen enough of the others to really form an oppinion. Sad that: Looking at the 21 I've "lost" I hadn't really expected too many of them to make it all the way, so I'm ok with it. A little surprised that I as not that strong a supporter of lucha had more lucha than the final list (I lost MS-1, Pirata and Aguayo), but I still feel most areas are fairly represented (except joshi, where I'm also a guilty party). Pleased about: Looking at the 79 I have left, I'm so pleased to be part of a community where someone must share at least some of my values when it comes to wrestling :-) Happy that people haven't forgotten Tully. That Andre made it. That Piper made it (I will forever redirect people to KrisZ and his arguments for Piper on his GWE Part 1 reveal podcast with Dylan if someone questions the Rowdy ones inclusion!). That I managed to get around to Jim Breaks in time for this. That I took the time to see even more Akiyama and Buddy Rose. And I've really started to get a clearer picture of who of the posters on the board I tend to agree with, who I disagree with but still completely value the oppionions of and the way they present them, and who I probably won't ever get to understand. Looking forward to: Watching more of the wrestlers that made it to the top 100 that I didn't vote for. That'll be a top priority for me. Also really looking forward to the rest of the reveal and the probably very heated debate that will go along with it.

Voted for four of them. Could have voted for six from memories. I hear ya. I voted for seven of them :-)

About tag workers suffering in the gwe vote: I really, really tried to separate the two. Never looked at them at the same time etc. But it's the old "what if?" train of thought if I have to think whether or not an Arn or Eaton etc would have done better for me as purely singles wrestlers. I actually don't think they would. And Yatsu primarily got on for me for tags. Rogers and Lane are the ones where I start doubting if I actually succeeded in not neglecting guys that mainly did tag work...

Agree with the doctor! The future looks bright :-) The best of the past will live on!

Yup. And I'd even include a lot of 80-84 Andre. ... From a storytelling perspective he also maximized his potential and physique in the last years of his career. All hail the 8th wonder :-)

Ditto to them all :-) ... Didn't vote for Virus or Ikeda, but am still strangely pleased they're still there.

Might have overlooked someone, but I believe I have 21 down, 79 left. Highest drop for me was Bob Orton Jr. at #59. Had a good day with 0 drops between 110-101 (even though I did feel for Colon not making it. I would have been very ok with him in the Final 100). Am just looking forward to every day of reveals. It's finally time for the top 100 we've been working towards for two years. It won't be definitive, I know. A snapshot of this group of people at this time. But it's a damn strong top 100, more well balanced than any other I know of and certainly better than the 2006 list to me :-)

Not sure. I've read snippets here and there of some of you talking him up. Just not my cup of tea I guess. Who knows maybe I can be swayed by the time 2026 comes around 😀.Just to give you the cliffs: Some of us felt that the idea that Andre was great in his peak is a little over-statet because almost all his best performances come away from New York. He consistently dogs it at MSG or in Philly. And yet has ****+ matches in Houston and Japan, and sprited performances elsewhere (one in Detroit springs to mind). I still ranked Andre because he was unique, played his role to perfection, and because when he was on, he was really on, but it's not a ranking that is blind to some of Andre's flaws. I don't believe people who claim to really value consistency -- for example -- should be ranking him. Agree. I'm probably higher on him than you (I am in the ranking, and probably just in general). But if consistency and the flaws you mention were non-factors he'd be close to the very top for me.

100% agree

Perfect! Thanks :-)

Everyone here has watched a Rock match, and most people here haven't seen many Maeda matches. That is probably the real reason. One guy was on TV and having big matches at the peak of wrestling's popularity. The other guy is a shoot style worker that you'd have to scour the internet to watch. It makes perfect sense to me. Although the counterpoint here is that because The Rock is so prominent, most people have seen all of his worst work from watching him week in week out, which can count against him. Whereas people who have seen Maeda are more likely to have focused mainly on the pimped stuff and not seen him at his worst. I'd say it's much more likely the opposite is true. Those who considered Maeda are the most obsessive of the insanely obsessive wrestling nerds, so it's much more likely they dove deep into a lot of styles and revisited stuff specifically for this project. Rock voters probably forgot half of his disappointing stuff and I seriously doubt an average Rock considered as many styles and workers as an average Maeda voter. Grimas could provide statistics for this so we can see who's right. For me I watched one Rock match the past year and it lasted six seconds. I watched maybe 15-20 Maeda matches. Didn't vote for either guy, but based on the footage I saw, The Rock was way closer to getting my vote.

Everyone here has watched a Rock match, and most people here haven't seen many Maeda matches. That is probably the real reason. One guy was on TV and having big matches at the peak of wrestling's popularity. The other guy is a shoot style worker that you'd have to scour the internet to watch. It makes perfect sense to me. And this is why the WKO 100 is superior, as we just ban people who don't recognize shootstyle is badass. Haha :-) you have a good sense of humor. Especially since you know full well the excact opposite is the truth ;-)

0 down for me today... I am a little stunned... But a lot of my #101-120 guys, so I guess I like their placement...

Agreed. I didn't have him in my 100, but you gotta love The Rock! ... And it is probably fitting that he's not quite on this list...

That feud alone bumped Hansen up one spot for me and Colon about 127 spots :-)

Ha!!!! Right on!!!

So... a glorified midcarder who hasn't done anything in the last 2-3 years is one of the 100 greatest wrestlers ever to you? And better than some of the names you didn't rank? Fair enough :-)

Depends on wether we are talking about reality or WWE narrative. I am still holding out hope that it is Shawn and he just misses the list. I will be genuinely surprised if Shawn is not a Top 50 guy. If anything, I think he's got a shot at the Top 25. Shawn in the top 25 by the end will create a bigger shitstorm than anything with this list...

Depends on wether we are talking about reality or WWE narrative. I am still holding out hope that it is Shawn and he just misses the list. Don't think it's going to be Shawn :-)

They faced each other numerous times in Georgia in '78. I've never seen it either. One day maybe some unseen footage emerges... The dream time would probably have been, what, 81? 82? Later?

Even more frustrating :-D

Ok... So of the guys people are guessing could be the big star grimmas is mentioning for #101, unless it's Hogan I will have lost 0 guys from 110-101... EDIT: Hogan, Rock, Dusty, Undertaker... These are the four Steven brought into play for the "big star" at #101 himself... So unless it's Hogan...

Damn... Flair vs. Hansen has just joined the ranks of Savage vs. Funk as the "match that could have happened but never did that I would most have liked to see"...

He came so close to going on my list. And that's possibly 90% your doing. The Hansen-Colon feud had been hyped by others, but that alone wouldn't get him all the way for me. A long way, but not all the way. But you've been part of pointing me towards a bunch of other stuff of his that actually connects with me. I'd found him very one dimensional and boring earlier. My eyes are maybe not fully open yet, but they're getting there. So don't worry about him missing the top 100. You took part in raising him way above where he would otherwise have been. And the full effect has not been seen yet. His stock will continue to rise over the next couple of years as the rest of us get around to seeing more from Puerto Rico. Good job and keep it up!