NotJayTabb

Got to be Vader, surely?

Man, last time I posted in the reaction thread, I was so smug about none of my top 10 dropping, then in two days I lose Santo, Regal, Savage, Casas and Fujinami. Top 4 still intact for now though. I also want to agree with Jimmy Redman's post. I'm a relative newcomer to the board, only being active since July, but I've gained so much from this process. Since I started watching footage for this project last February (it took a long time for my account to be activated, but I started watching from the day I registered), I've discovered guys I'd never seen before. Guys like La Fiera, Yoshinari Ogawa and Steve Veidor were barely on my radar 12 months, and they all comfortably made my list. Heck, I was the Steve Veidor high voter. In the process, I've also been reconsidering guys I've loved for ages and weighing up their cases. I remembered how much I loved M-Pro guys like Togo, Delfin and Sasuke (who all made my list), I wrote a long blog post looking at matches the Barbarian had in Japan and even if I know I'm going to probably have to defend my #1 pick in a few days (spoiler - it's Bret), I learnt so much from the GWE, and most importantly, enjoyed it every step of the way (If I have one regret, it's not sneaking a vote in for Rampage Brown at 99. I probably do like him more than Alex Shelley in hindsight. Plus, I'd have a badass avatar)

Buddy Rogers? I think that's a good shout, especially in terms of influence.

Trying to think of a decent analogy for Cagney. We're missing a chunk of footage, but what we do have (The Public Enemy, The Roaring Twenties, Angels With Dirty Faces, White Heat) marks him out as a GOAT candidate. You've also got influence to consider and performing different roles (a man as comfortable hoofing through a song-and-dance number as hatching a villainous plan)

I think my high vote team of Sheamus, Ernie Ladd, Fritz & Kevin von Erich and Jeff Jarrett would be a fun heel squadron. Especially with my #1 pick to come and Veidor, Zenk and Mason on the subs bench

My first thought was Barry Windham. He's a guy I see ranking highly, but not being anyone's #1

The opener to Spring Stampede 99 with Juvi is generally considered his career peak, I believe. Blitzkrieg kept up with Juvi pretty well

In no way, shape or form trying to compare it with Benoit, but what was the situation when Verne Gagne had Alzheimer's and was involved with the death of a fellow care home resident?

Grimmas, sorry to be a pedantic arse, but you've got that Gordy got 0 top ten votes, but also that the highest vote was an 8

Pretty sure it was Luger, think he's talked positively about the experience on Twitter. I also liked Riggs, seem to remember he had a really good match with Kanyon on Thunder shortly after the Flock broke up, while he was still wearing an eyepatch. Also though he was quite good with his "I get better looking every single day" gimmick. Definitely better than Bagwell

Sami is the first guy to be in the exact position in my list as he is on the countdown

I've been watching 1994 Raws, and found the exact same thing with Michaels: as a heel, he's really uninspired at controlling matches. Even his jobber squashes are really lacklustre, even compared to the likes of Adam Bomb and heel Crush. Great thread BTW, looking forward to reading more

I didn't even know it was a guilty pleasure until I started going online, but Tom Zenk. As someone who got into wrestling through watching WCW Worldwide on ITV in the early 90's, Tom Zenk pretty quickly became my favourite wrestler. He was the quintessential babyface wrestler, adorned in bright colours, high-flying, virtuous and always trying his best, often in vain as the Z-Man would eat a lot of 3-counts. Zenk is the face of my childhood Saturday afternoon, and here's the thing: I still think he's great. Watching back old WCW, he's still loads of fun to watch in the ring. He's that perfect size where he can be the power worker of the Lightheavyweight division or the undersized underdog against Dangerous Alliance members in the midcard. If I wasn't online, I'd be shocked to learn how derided he is, and I maintain that he's a terrific wrestler.

Kerry is my first to fall in the top 100, though he was only the 3rd highest Von Erich on my list

I think for a lot of people this is one of the key reason's they find watching Benoit hard. The last Benoit match I properly sat down and watched was vs Regal at No Mercy 06. There's a point where Benoit bloodies Regal's forehead with a series of straight headbutts where the knowledge of what happens less than 12 months later makes it too unpleasant to watch.

Big Show is the first guy I thought of. He really makes his mean something...he incapacitates his opponent in the corner, shushes the crowd, moves any garment of clothing that could soften the blow, then clobbers them with a hand that's nearly as big as his opponents entire chest. Like getting hit with a snow shovel

Here's the No Mercy match with Kennedy you mentioned. Short version: Logical match let down by Kennedy not being a very interesting wrestler The Undertaker vs Mr Kennedy Slightly hard to find the Undertaker as intimidating as usual as his fake tan starts running down his head at the start of the match. Taker starts working over the arm of Kennedy early, with him hoisting Kennedy up in the air by the arm being particularly impressive. Kennedy manages to block Old School by armdragging Taker off the top. Kennedy's selling of the arm is remarkably consistent, though he does try punching Taker with the bad arm which leads to Taker Flatlining him. In the midst of all the arm-offence, Kennedy manage's to take a turnbuckle pad off. When he does get on offence, Kennedy is nicely vicious, but makes the mistake of trying to get his breath back, giving Taker time to regain control. You get the impression Kennedy is putting in some real effort here, knowing what an opportunity this match is. Certainly, he seems a lot less half-arsed as he has done in recent years. Problem is that when Kennedy is on offense, it's a bit dull. His offence here is mainly based around kicks and hammering Taker in the corner. It's done with intent, but doesn't exactly enthrall the audience or myself. Piledriver from Kennedy (daftly called a Tombstone by Michael Cole) gets 2, and Kennedy reacts by pounding Taker in the face in frustration. It's like he's really selling the story of the match well (cocky upstart desperate to beat legend), but his offence isn't good enough to match up. In the middle of his hottest spell of offence, he puts on a resthold and the match cools down again. Taker hits a chokeslam, but Kennedy is able to reverse the Last Ride and ram Taker's head into that exposed turnbuckle. I'd forgotten all about that, which made for a nice little surprise. Swanton Bomb gets two for Kennedy. Kennedy tries to nail Taker with the US title, but Taker blocks it and uses it on Kennedy instead, giving Kennedy the DQ win. All that for such a shitty finish. Really out of nowhere considering Taker had just done the zombie situp and looked ready to win. Story of the match was better than the work within.

I didn't rank Benoit. For me, I wanted to revisit and rewatch everyone I voted to ensure a fair ballot, and I simply don't want to revisit Benoit's matches. I've watched a few since 2007, and every time I've found it impossible to watch them without instantly thinking about the murders. Both the GWE and wrestling in general are supposed to be fun, something I enjoy watching. Watching Benoit's matches take away that sense of enjoyment for me, so he didn't make my ballot. Also, just wanted to defend Big Daddy after he was listed with other wrestlers who'd accidentally killed someone. King Kong Kirk had a pre-existing heart condition that killed him, not Daddy. In fact, the inquest fully absolved Crabtree of any responsibility, so Big Daddy didn't kill anybody.

Grey and Larry take a hit from my list. Saw Grey live vs Mal Sanders in a WoS showcase match back in 2005, and I really wish that it could've been 2016 me watching it rather than 2005 me, who enjoyed the match but didn't have the "Oh fuck, I'm seeing Steve Grey live" factor that I would do now

It's even worse for the WoS guys now that Jones falls. We're looking at Breaks and probably only Breaks. i imagine Grey goes in the next 20. I can see Saint making the 100 too

I assumed Karl's post was directed to Jackwebb

My ballot took a big hit in the last 24 hours, with Davey Boy, Fiera, Henry, Necro, Ogawa, Sasaki and Psychosis all falling. 71 of my lads left, though the all-important top 23 is still standing

La Fiera is a guy I'd never heard of before starting GWE and who I really discovered during the process. Shame to see him so low, but just happy I now know who he is and get to enjoy his matches.

I think Dixie has proven to be as much of a hinderance to TNA as a help. Though her money has kept them afloat, she also is the reason that TNA couldn't be sold on (I believe that the rumour was she had to be included as part of the package of taking TNA on), and she's been involved in several business decisions that have cost TNA dearly (the e-mails to the Spike executives that cost them their slot on the channel) or made them look really bad (firing "job for life" Jesse Sorenson, who broke his neck in a TNA match). I will say that Dixie is far less of a detriment as a TV character though. Not only is she less grating, but she's seemingly far less afraid to look a fool.

I don't know why, but Rampage Brown vs Pentagon Jr has been on my mind as a dream match for a while now. In WWE: Enzo & Cass vs Brock Lesnar & Mark Henry - would be the most enjoyable 2 minute squash I could imagine