NotJayTabb

NXT almost feels like it's been rebooted for the 3rd time, big old turnover of talent in the past few weeks with a lot of big names leaving for the main roster and a bunch of debuts coming up from Evolve and elsewhere, which I guess is the nature of developmental. There's still things there I'm interested in though: Tavion Heights finally looks to be getting a renewed push and the current Myles Borne title run feels like a good next step for 2 guys who've been bubbling under for a while. Will Kroos debuting was a big surprise, he doesn't look like a typical WWE signing, but he can move for a big lad. Lizzy Rain is a good worker and will hopefully add some meat to the bones of her admittedly one-dimensional gimmick, and Kali Armstrong from Evolve feels like a future star. It might take a month or so to click, but there's stuff to be excited about for sure.

Always liked Van Hammer as a kid, was too young to think the gimmick was lame and I really liked his slingshot suplex finisher. RIP

Haven't submitted it yet (job for the weekend), but I've finally settled on 1. Bret Hart 2. Rey Mysterio Jr. 3. Jushin Liger 4. El Hijo del Santo 5. Stan Hansen 6. Daniel Bryan 7. Terry Funk 8. Mitsuharu Misawa 9. Negro Casas 10. Bull Nakano 11. Ricky Steamboat 12. Tatsumi Fujinami 13. Akira Hokuto 14. AJ Styles 15. Jim Breaks 16. Tito Santana 17. Bobby Eaton 18. Greg Valentine 19. Toshiaki Kawada 20. Nick Bockwinkel 21. Roddy Piper 22. Steve Grey 23. Eddie Guerrero 24. Barry Windham 25. William Regal 26. Shinya Hashimoto 27. Tully Blanchard 28. Arn Anderson 29. Steve Austin 30. Fit Finlay 31. Vader 32. Hulk Hogan 33. Sgt. Slaughter 34. Jeff Jarrett 35. Genichiro Tenryu 36. Bruno Sammartino 37. Dustin Rhodes 38. WALTER/Gunther 39. Fritz Von Erich 40. Dick Togo 41. Larry Zbyszko 42. Kevin Von Erich 43. Sheamus 44. Randy Orton 45. Andre the Giant 46. Davey Boy Smith 47. Jaguar Yokota 48. Roman Reigns 49. Meiko Satomura 50. Owen Hart 51. Ernie Ladd 52. CM Punk 53.Randy Savage 54. Ric Flair 55. Aja Kong 56. Jerry Lawler 57. Sean Waltman 58. Rick Martel 59. LA Park 60. Mark Henry 61. John Cena 62. Sami Zayn 63. Lex Luger 64. Io Shirai 65. Dusty Rhodes 66. Brock Lesnar 67. Virus 68. John Tenta 69. Too Cold Scorpio 70. Giant Baba 71. Ricky Morton 72. Michael Hayes 73. Dump Matsumoto 74. Curt Hennig 75. Chris Hero 76. Jerry Blackwell 77. Jim Duggan 78. Shinobu Kandori 79. Alex Shelley 80. Butch Reed 81. Christian 82. Super Delphin 83. Ron Garvin 84. Rick Rude 85. Timothy Thatcher 86. Pat Roach 87. The Barbarian 88. Eddie Kingston 89. Austin Idol 90. Mike Quackenbush 91. Devil Masami 92. Necro Butcher 93. Jumbo Tsuruta 94. Hallowicked 95. Terry Rudge 96. Adrian Street 97. Tom Zenk 98. Terry Taylor 99. Koji Kanemoto 100. "Iron" Mike Sharpe

Of all the nominated wrestlers beginning with "H", Hulk Hogan and Hallowicked are making my list, with Harley Race and Hayabusa on the shortlist.

I was the 2016 Ernie Ladd high voter, and he's making the cut for me again. Apart from the Big Cat, El Hijo Del Santo is a lock for my top 10. Eddie Guerrero and Eddie Kingston are likely to place well, and El Dandy and El Samurai are in contention.

Fritz and Finlay are the only ones I've currently got in contention

Likely to make the cut: Daniel Bryan Dick Togo Dustin Rhodes Davey Boy Smith Dump Matsumoto Dusty Rhodes Devil Masami

IF anyone was using BIGLAV to work out their ballot, Sid is one of those guys who would max out the intangibles rating. There's been hundreds of big muscly lads who aren't great workers over the years, but Sid has this aura that makes me still excited to see him, despite how many bad Sid matches there are. Watching Sid in 1999/2000 WCW having terrible matches with Hulk Hogan should have killed off his appeal, but he kinda transcends match quality. He's not making my list by any stretch, but there's wrestlers who'll make the top 100 I'd rather watch Sid than.

Locks for my list: Andre the Giant Arn Anderson AJ Styles Aja Kong Akira Hokuto Alex Shelley Austin Idol Adrian Street Under Consideration/On the bubble: Amazing Red Adrian Adonis Atlantis Atsushi Onita Akira Taue Ayako Hamada

I think it's important to remember that for a lot of people, the final 95-100 slots are likely to be for pet favourites and people who might get overlooked, but in the overall grand scheme of things it'll be the cream who rise to the top. I can't imagine there's going to be a huge wave of votes that push Adam Priest into the top 100, and having guys like this in the lower parts of the overall list add a bit of fun and flavour to the project (and I'm saying this as someone who's currently got Hallowicked ranked at #99). Ten years ago, B-Boy got a #23 vote, and it was barely a blot on the overall list.

My top 10 is still fluid, but at the moment it looks like: Bret Hart Rey Mysterio Jushin Liger Terry Funk El Hijo Del Santo Stan Hansen Daniel Bryan Randy Savage Mitsuharu Misawa Negro Casas

Chad Gable The weird passing of time makes me still think of him as a newcomer, but he's been having great matches for a decade now, he's definitely someone who merits consideration. A great tag team wrestler with a number of partners (American Alpha, Alpha Academy, the parings with Shelton and Bobby Roode), someone who can play goofy heel, intense heel, underdog babyface and work a good match in all those circumstances. The Shorty G run was crap, but Gable was still putting in some good work, he's got quite the catalogue of good matches at this point Matches: American Alpha vs The Revival (NXT Takeover Dallas 2016) vs Jack Gallagher (205 Live July 2019) vs Gunther (WWE Raw 4/9/2023)

Very much a guy who was hurt by ECW closing, he kinda went under the radar from then on. I know he was still working indies because every now and then he'd pop up and still look good, but he never had a TNA run nor turned up in WWE (bar a few WWECW matches). Not saying he'd have gone on to be a top 100 candidate, but it definitely stopped his momentum. Thanks for boosting these threads @El McKell, some interesting names coming back into the mix.

Appreciate it was well past his prime, but when I was watching Prime Time from 1986, I used to dread Tony Garea matches. He wasn't even bad, he was just there, like a plate of unseasoned boiled potatoes. I used to enjoy Scott McGhee far more as a JTTS from that era. However, if someone can point me to a good Garea match from his prime, I'd gladly give it a watch, but he's not making my list.

I think Bob Holly was a good wrestler, and he was as convincing as a peppy babyface who liked racing cars as he was as a grumpy old prick, so he could play multiple roles well. I don't know that I ever looked forward to a Holly match, but I also never felt like turning off when he came out for a match, which puts him over plenty of other nominees here. I've not considered him because I know of at least 100 wrestlers I think are better.

Lashley won the WWE title with that full Nelson, so I think it's fine to beat a member of a midcard tag team with. Also, how soon we forget the Masterlock Challenge

Luna I can see in AEW - she's already been released by WWE once from her NXT UK contract, and she feels like a better fit there. Masha feels like she'd go to NXT though, she's already appeared there a few times, and has wrestled WWE talent on some of those Bloodsport shows.

People say there's no long term booking, but that's another new member of the Bloodline in a couple of decades time.

Ultimately, the Eugene Schnitzel's of this world have a limited ceiling on a list like this. Inevitably the wrestlers who finish high on the overall list will be the wrestlers everyone has heard of and were big stars. Everyone voting knows who Ric Flair or Terry Funk or Jushin Liger is, and will already have an idea of them in their mind, any match watching now is just topping up their pre-existing thoughts. With someone like a Schnitzel, only a percentage of people will bother reading their thread. Of that percentage, less still will bother looking for footage, and those that do may think "Yeah, he's ok, but not top 100 worthy". Only people who really like Eugene Schnitzel will have him on their list, and that probably gets him into the 500s - recognised, but not one of the elite. I look at it the same way I look at Hallowicked - I nominated him (because I've enjoyed his matches for over 20 years) and will have him somewhere between 95-100 (where I'm putting guys I think are great, but are also favourites). No-one else has commented in that thread, I'll almost certainly be the only Hallowicked voter and he'll be one of the lowest ranked guys on there. But he'll still be ranked and I think he deserves that.

Given that one of those 4 men hasn't won a televised match in nearly 2 years, I wonder who's taking the pin.

Given how unimpressive she was on her debut, the continual improvement of Lash Legend over the years has been fun to watch, she's developed into a genuinely fun power wrestler who can't be far from a main roster call up.

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.