NotJayTabb

The thing I find odd is that the final two career matches of one of, if not THE biggest stars in American wrestling history took place on TNA house shows in the UK, one of which I was at. It was a 6 man tag, but Hogan did way more than you'd have expected. Tremendous professional wrestler, sadly deplorable human being. I still enjoy 80s Hogan matches as almost the ultimate wrestling comfort food. But then I still think the Smiths are the greatest band ever to exist, and Morrissey is a daft old racist too.

He's not making my list, but Johnny Mundo mooning the crowd whilst doing a backflip at a show I went to is someone using their incredible athleticism in a hilariously heelish way.

Every now and then I remember that Kip Sabian won the first ever AEW singles match, then realise he's not wrestled since February.

"Iron" Mike Sharpe is my #100, he's my ideal of what a jobber should be. Always willing to let the face outsmart him, always doing things to make him memorable so that beating him means something, just a guy who makes old episodes of Prime Time less of a slog to get through.

Really enjoyed the 3 Earthquake dark matches they've put up on the Vault. One really fun squash of Sam Houston that's perfectly worked, a squash of Paul Roma that's interesting because Quake is managed by Slick, introduced as Earthquake Evans and wrestles in a plaid shirt and trousers which makes him look far less intimidating, and finally a 2001 match where he's notably trimmer and takes a hiptoss and a suplex bump among other things.

I thought Dickinson was one of the better indy workers of the pre-Covid era, big guy who worked like a killer and had some great looking offence. He also had real live show charisma, crowds seemed to love him whenever I saw him live. There's probably a world where he's not gotten himself cancelled where he goes to AEW and is a big deal there. Unfortunately for his case, his own actions have lead to him having a pretty brief career, and I don't think there's enough there for him to make the list.

I only spoke to Tony for 5 minutes, but he was very friendly, was very proud of his career. I would absolutely not mess with him - he put me in a friendly headlock for a photo and I remember thinking "He could easily crush my head if he wanted", still a very strong man.

I remember watching this show when it first appeared online and really enjoying it. Along with the names mentioned above, JD Bryant is now better known as James Drake from the Grizzled Young Veterans. When I met Banger Walsh at FWA Uprising in Cov, where Paul Burchill had his farewell match after signing with WWE, he told me that Darren had also been signed and would be heading over as well. I've never seen any inkling that this was true, and Tony was pretty drunk at the time, but I've always wondered why he said that.

Been a wild 18 months for Jey Uso since his nomination. I don't think anyone would have foreseen him get so over, win the Royal Rumble and win the World title at Mania. Sadly, I don't think the increase in profile has done anything to help his chances of making many top 100's. He now feels like less of a contender than he did as just a tag guy. The Mania match with Jimmy was a major strike against him, and though he's had some fun stuff with Gunther and Bron, there's been nothing that suggests he's going to make my list.

I actually think Maclin is someone they'd take a look at - he's pretty much a homegrown Performance Centre wrestler, he was unlucky to get caught up in the Forgotten Sons fiasco to get released, and his former tag partner Wesley Blake is a trainer at NXT, so I can see him getting back into the fold.

When 205 Live started, who would have predicted Akira Tosawa and Noam Dar as being the last two men standing?

Cobb could well be Gable's lucha-trainer, given his LU background. As much as I'd like to see him against American Made, he would also fit very comfortably in the group.

I'd seen a Swipe Right match on IWTV, knowing they were WWE ID prospects, and immediately thought "Oh, they'll be just fine". Decent look, the one match I saw was solid, and they had a good, heat-getting gimmick. Enjoyed the first EVOLVE show, agree with C.S. that Kali Armstrong is the obvious star of the first match. I was also really pleasantly surprised how good Rosenberg was on commentary, just did a neat tidy job.

Fyre is a considerably better worker than Dawn, and I think WWE knows it too. Fyre was a bit of an indy darling in the UK, she's the one who was given the longest NXT UK women's title reign, and when she was brought over to work a Wargames match for NXT, it was treated like a big deal. Being half of a spooky tag team who never did anything spooky was a poor fit for her, I'm guessing they've got different plans for her going forward (they'll probably release her now I've said all this).

I've got a soft spot for Gabe, he's a product of the House of Pain promotion from my adopted hometown of Nottingham, so I've seen his career from it's starting point. He's come a long way from the slightly out of shape teenager cutting promos about his own weight and threatening to hit his opponents with a plate from the carvery. He's had quite a long career for someone so young, and he's beaten a clutch of mental health obstacles along the way, so I'm rooting for him to have a great career. Probably too soon for a list like this, but you never know by 2036.

You can add Cora Jade and Thea Hail to the AEW Dark alum crew as well. Cora even put over Brandi in her time there.

I know no-one watches Level Up, but there's one of those rare C-show gems this week in the Kendall Grey/Tyra Mae Steele match. They play up both women's amateur credentials before the match, but as Steele is an Olympic gold medallist, she controls most of the matwork. Really fun competitive grappling, Grey gets the chance to show a few nice reversals, and Steel looks a real prospect considering her career matches are still in the single figures. Real fun 5 minute match.

Given your comments on Ospreay's selling, you might enjoy some of the recent Ilja Dragunov matches, specifically the recent Bron Breakker match on Raw. He's great at putting across the cumulative impact of the match in his selling.

Makabe/Thatcher is my working MOTY so far, and he's a guy I've never been disappointed by when I watch his matches. Whether there's enough meat on the bone to justify a top 100 spot is tricky, but he's very much on my "IWTV Search Bar" list of guys I'll be dipping into shows to watch more of for this project.

Even Gunther, though he won the belt in the Vince era, still feels like a HHH guy. He definitely wasn't breaking Honky Tonk's record under Vince.

The good news for Cody is that 3 lengthy title reigns finished this weekend, and I can't imagine Zayn and Priest holding their belts for the next year, so a year long reign for Cody wouldn't feel too repetitive.

Just a tremendous show from top to bottom. I pegged Slim J/Priest as a low-level MOTYC when it happened, and then it ended up only being the third best match on the show. The last two matches were among the best one-two punch finales I've seen on an indy show, and both in a completely different style. You absolutely did Dean proud.

Sorry, I was referring to when the incident apparently happened, which Ronda says was 2022.

I've been disappointed enough by wrestlers I like in the past to assume this is probably true, in which case Gulak must be some kind of moron. Just 2 years on from Speaking Out, as one of the lowest of the lower card guys, and you try this with probably the biggest name star in the women's division*, in front of people, and someone who could probably kick the shit out of you? Thick as mince. * For clarity, I'm absolutely not suggesting it would be ok if the power dynamic was reversed, but at least it I could comprehend how it happened.

Slim J's post-release tweets are especially disheartening, particularly when he says he was hoping having a contract would enable him to be able to look after his family better, but instead he was working a second job to pay the bills. It also suggests he was working for a pittance, so it's not even like this will help the AEW bottom line that much.