InYourCase

My Top 10: Shingo Takagi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki: Dragon Gate 11/1 Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi: New Japan 1/4 Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi: New Japan 1/4 Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Shuji Ishikawa: Big Japan 3/31 Michael Elgin vs. Tomohiro Ishii: New Japan 8/15 Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: 8/16 Bayley vs. Sasha Banks: NXT 8/22 Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma: 2/14 Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato: Big Japan 5/28 Akira Tozawa vs. Shingo Takagi: Dragon Gate 5/8

LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD (WRESTLER OF THE YEAR) 1. AJ Styles 2. Jay Lethal 3. Kazuchika Okada MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER 1. Chris Hero 2. Daisuke Sekimoto 3. Akira Tozawa FEUD OF THE YEAR 1. Jay Lethal vs. Jay Briscoe 2. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley 3. Drew Galloway vs. Roderick Strong TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR 1. Twin Towers (Sato & Ishikawa) 2. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi 3. YAMATO & Naruki Doi MOST IMPROVED 1. Moose 2 Bayley 3. El Desperado BEST ON INTERVIEWS 1. Nick Gage 2. Jay Briscoe 3. Kevin Owens MOST CHARISMATIC 1. Akira Tozawa 2. Shinsuke Nakamura 3. Kazuchika Okada BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER 1. Zack Sabre Jr. 2. Chris Hero 3. TJ Perkins BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD (BEST BRAWLER) 1. Drew Galloway 2. Minoru Suzuki 3. Kongo Kong BEST FLYING WRESTLER 1. Flamita 2. Matt Sydal 3. Mike Bailey MOST OVERRATED 1. Kurt Angle 2. Seth Rollins 3. Kane MOST UNDERRATED 1. Luke Harper 2. Tama Tonga 3. Katsuhiko Nakajima PROMOTION OF THE YEAR 1. Dragon Gate 2. Big Japan Pro Wrestling 3. New Japan Pro Wrestling BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW 1. NJPW on AXS 2. Ring of Honor 3. Lucha Underground PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR 1. Shingo Takagi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki 11/1 Osaka 2. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi 1/4 Tokyo 3. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 1/4 Tokyo ROOKIE OF THE YEAR 1. Jay White 2. David Finlay Jr. 3. Kazusada Higuchi BEST NON-WRESTLER 1. Papa Briscoe 2. Truth Martini 3. Dario Cueto BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER 1. Mauro Ranallo 2. Josh Barnett 3. Abstain WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER 1. JBL 2. Matt Striker 3. Jerry Lawler BEST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW 1. Dragon Gate Gate of Destiny 11/1 Osaka 2. New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 9 1/4 Tokyo 3. ROH Winter Warriors Tour 2/21 Atlanta ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WORST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW 1. WWE Night of Champions 9/20 Houston BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER 1. Akira Tozawa’s Package German Suplex WORST TELEVISION SHOW 1. TNA IMPACT WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR 1. Jay Briscoe vs. Hanson vs. Michael Elgin vs. Tommaso Ciampa ROH 3/1 Las Vegas WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR 1. PCB vs. BAD vs. Team Bella WORST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR 1. TNA BEST BOOKER 1. Genki Horiguchi PROMOTER OF THE YEAR 1. Triple H BEST GIMMICK 1. Yosuke Santa Maria WORST GIMMICK 1. The Dollhouse Best Pro Wrestling Book 1. Yes! Yes! Yes! The Story of Daniel Bryan BEST PRO WRESTLING DVD 1. Best Friends with Teddy Hart

I have Fujinami comfortably ahead of Jumbo on my ballot. I like Jumbo starting with the Choshu tags. His work before that doesn't do a whole lot for me. That peak is short, also. '85 (?) through '91, essentially. I love that era of Jumbo, but Fujinami has great matches spanning from '79 through '93 with solid performances lasting until 1996. And even, for instance, comparing the work the two did against Choshu, I like Fujinami's output much better than Jumbo's. In those tags, I like Choshu/Yatsu/Tenryu better than whatever Jumbo was doing. The 1983 series with Fuji/Choshu is outstanding. One of the first things I went through for this project and still one my favorite discoveries. I'm weird in the way I watch things. Not a huge fan of going through things chronologically for specific wrestlers. I have some late 90's Fujinami work to go through and then the earlier stuff I can find from him on Ditch's site and then I'll be good. As of now, he's on the bubble with Hashimoto and KENTA for my #10

Hm, well, alright. I mean we are on such separate pages here. This crowd is so electric. I can understand hating a crowd for being dead and sitting on their hands, but why on Earth would a crowd that's making noise bother you? They were so into the match and so, so into Joe. The prior month was the X Division triple threat match with these two and Daniels and so everyone was ready for this match and I think it blows the triple threat out of the water. You're suffering from a lack of context with Joe. He was so, by far, the hottest act in the company at this point. He was undefeated (technically) and was putting guys down left and right. It was a big deal when Styles jumped him out of the gate because that was the first time that anyone had really taken it to Joe like that. Joe's dominance was being sold so hard by Tenay & West because it was months of dominance at this point. He was a monster that couldn't be stopped. The "fosbury flop" complaint doesn't really make any sense to me. It was one of his signature moves at the time. Why does it not make sense in the context of this match? Once again, we couldn't be further apart with the presentation and the announce team. Don West is the man in this match. Tenay was on point. Like the crowd, I'd rather have them overexcited (which is a bizarre thing to complain about) than unfocused and quiet. "Styles needed to do a better job of getting over pain beyond just bumping big" is where you completely lose me. He took Joe's offense better than anyone else has. I thought he was an incredible babyface here. I can't imagine what exactly you were looking for here. ***** match. It is the correct date. It's from Day 1 of the 2014 G1 Climax. And lol at the rest of your post.

In my Top 25. Arguably the best opponent for Edge, Mysterio Jr, Michaels, and Jeff Jarrett. Amazing stuff with Joe, AJ, Daniels, and Nigel in TNA. His No Way Out 2006 match with The Undertaker is actually one of my personal favorite WWE matches. Something very different from the normal WWE main event. I don't understand how people aren't in love with this guy.

I'm happy with the progress I've made on my ballot thus far. Eliminating all of Joshi from the equation, as unfair as that might be, is going to help me a lot. There are a few guys that I'm afraid I'm going to neglect (Foley, Funk, and Bockwinkel being the main three), but as of now I have 67 wrestlers that I feel comfortable enough placing or I at least have a very solid idea of where I want to place them, about 20 guys that will finish on my ballot but I have no idea where they'll finish, and then about 25 more guys that could make the tail end of my ballot. Strengths: -80's/90's/2000's/2010's Puro (sans shoot-style) -90's/2000's/2010's major North American promotions -Indies Weaknesses: -Lucha -Territories (all of them, sadly - this is going to be what kills me) -Shoot-style stuff (focusing on Tamura, Han, and BatBat at this point) Completely neglecting/avoiding -Joshi

Jesus Christ, no way on God's green is that opener 4-star. Maybe 2. MAYBE. Super spotty. Super sloppy. Full of a ton of bullshit stalling, contrived spots, people standing around waiting for the next person to get their shit in, all the "comedy" shit with the suck it chants & crotch-chops & shit. That match was horrible. Pretty much everything that I hate about professional wrestling was on display in that match. Everyone needs to watch the last three matches on this card though. Awesome, super fun stuff. fwiw the opener featured 8 of my favorite wrestlers on the planet and it's EXACTLY what I wanted from the match. I wanted a spotty mess - that's what those teams are good at. Not saying that's all that they are capable of, as Matt Sydal has proven to be one of the best and most versatile wrestlers on the planet, but in this instance, the match is exactly what it should've been. I loved it, but I also love spots and moves and fun.

Yeah, there's literally nothing else they can do. It felt like the final chapter.

Decided last night that Sabu needs to be represented on my list somewhere. I agree with what Lanza and Dylan said. He does his thing so well and that needs to be appreciated. He'll be near the bottom, but he'll be on there.

reDRagon vs. Young Bucks vs. Team Dragon Gate vs. RPG Vice: **** Briscoes & Yano vs. Fale, Tama Tonga, & Yujiro: **3/4 Michael Elgin vs. Jay Lethal: **3/4 Kenny Omega vs. KUSHIDA: ***1/2 Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma: ***3/4 Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito: ***1/4 Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katusyori Shibata: ****1/2 Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles: ****3/4 Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi: ***** Okada and Tanahashi did it again. I knew people would complain, but those people are out of their minds. That match was art. Absolutely incredible. Nakamura vs. Styles really wasn't that far behind. Match 2 was a little too slow for what it needed to be and Lethal was painfully un-over in the Dome. #BigMike, however, got the crowd behind him. Super great show. Arguably as good as last year's. Loved it.

The back half of my list is the part that makes me anxious about this project. I know I'll be able to defend 1-50, but it's the last half that I'm going to be super indecessive about. There are going to be a few guys that will get victimized and stuck in the lower half simply because I'm not going to be able to watch as much of them as I'd like to by the time ballots are due. 95-100 will be fun picks. Genki Horiguchi is my #100 and no one can tell me otherwise.

Katsuhiko Nakajima and Milano Collection A.T. are two modern-ish candidates. Nakajima was hanging with Kobashi and Sasaki at age 17, a year after his debut, and Milano was legitimately very good when he debuted with the T2P class. Better than YOSSINO or Ryo Saito.

It doesn't bother me. It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

If this was Top 150, I could find room for Necro. Such a unique talent that worked a style that I don't love and he completely made it work. I LOVE that Low Ki match, even more than the Joe match or the Super Dragon match. Part of that has to do with my love of Low Ki and my "ehh" feelings towards Super Dragon, but whatever, Necro is awesome. Won't make my list, but he was certainly considered for a moment or two.

This just seems like such a stretch. Making room for an American woman, one who I don't feel has ever come close to the small peak of someone like Sasha Banks, is just ridiculous to me. And Sasha isn't sniffing my list. But she does everything better than Trish ever did, the only differenc being that Trish worked a handful of average TV matches for years and years. I'm stunned to see her get this much consideration. I'm not going to have an American woman on my list because I consider no American woman to be in the top 100 greatest wrestler's of all-time. If you pull a sexist card with me here, you're out of your fucking mind. Like I said earlier, she isn't even in the same universe as people that are on my bubble. Someone like Great Sasuke, for example. We can put him through Parv's system. B -- Yeah, Sasuke was fundamentally much better than Trish. He was able to use a unique mix of speed, high-impact moves, and crazy bumps in his matches. Really good seller. Arguably the best M-Pro singles worker ever. I -- not on the same level as someone like Choshu, but a unique figure in Puro. Excellent charisma, especially considering the fact that he's under a mask. A great ace. G -- certainly more than Trish has. I'm partial to his 8/25/95 match with Dos Caras for a great individual performance and his effort in the 12/16/96 match, which helped make that the greatest M-Pro match ever. Trish's best stuff doesn't come close to the latter. L -- 5 years? Admittedly I'm not completely the M-Pro expert that I wish I was. I would consider 1993-1998 to be his peak years. A -- Sasuke has a SUPER short, yet fun in BattleArts. Totally different from what his usual deal was. Trish never showed that drastic of a change. Heel to face is one thing, M-Pro to shoot-style is an actual drastic change. V -- similar to the Diva's division, Sasuke was sort of trapped in a bubble. That being said, I think he was more successful at working a variety of opponents. I hate Dos Caras. I think he's just terrible. Yet, one of my favorite Sasuke matches is against Dos Caras. I'm sorry, but it's not even close. There are people like Barry Whindam that I don't like, but I can totally see why people will rank them highly, but Trish is just absurd, and this is coming from someone who will probably have 9 Dragon Gate guys on his list. I still don't get how people are considering her for this list.

http://youtu.be/hRJYH16F-1U

I cant fathom an argument for Trish as one of the 100 best wrestlers ever. People on my bubble like Sasuke, TAKA, and Steve Williams blow Trish out of the water. Not even close to being in consideration.

Didn't realize I hadn't posted in YAMATO's thread. He'll finish in my list this time around, but 10 years from now, I expect him to be a Top 30-40 guy. So much raw talent. Does everything right. Sickening amount of charisma. Good babyface, ridiculously great heel. The aforementioned CIMA and Ricochet matches are great. I'd toss in this match against Mochizuki from mid-2011 as another one to watch. http://www.openthedragongate.com/2011/05/dead-or-alive-2011-5-5-11/

I think the way Sam feels about Brodie is the same way I feel about Mark Briscoe. Great worker, even better when you watch him live more than once. I don't see Brodie making my list, but 10 years from now, that certainy isn't out of the question. I think I've seen most of his pimped indie work away from 2CW and most of his Chikky stuff, so if there's anything online that I HAVE to see, send it my way.

Mutoh had a shot of cracking my list in the begining, but I've seen him have too many terrible performances recently to consider him. At his worst, he's a terrible wrestler. At his best, he's good, but not great.

Don't think I'll be the high vote on Hero as I know at least one person has him higher than me, but he's worked his way into my Top 40 and will probably finish even better than that. I think his IWA-MS work holds up nicely, I love his first ROH and PWG runs, his stuff in EVOLVE this year has been excellent, and his recent NOAH work has been amazing to watch. He's great a little things, or making moments in matches stick out. The elbows can get repetitive, I get that. It doesn't bother me, but if you don't like that, then I can see why Hero wouldn't finish on your list. However, the guy is great. He's worked a variety of styles successfully in a variety of enviornments, which helps his case a lot for me.

I don't think you can go into a match like Mochizuki vs. Shingo without context and enjoy it. But then again, there's a match like Hero vs. Thatcher from EVOLVE 46 that I know Bill really enjoyed, but he enjoyed it mostly because of the context that surroned the match. I don't think it's any different with Dragon Gate. There are guys on their roster that I totally get why you hate --- but Mochi, YAMATO, Tozawa, and Fujii are pepole that deserve universal love.

His recent match against Shingo would be the best example, probably. My main issue with people that complain about Dragon Gate is that they aren't watching undercard six-mans in Osaka. To me, at least, they watch the big main events and more often than not, they come in without context. No one is "no-selling" a big move in the second. But more often than not, on one of their five big shows throughout the year, that will happen and it will fit with the story of the match.

A little bit of both. I don't understand the complaint about filler limbwork at all. Not everyone is Tim Thatcher, not every match has to be built around limbwork and ultimately, I don't think applying an armbar in minute one of the match and then not targeting the arm ever again is a crime. Some people think it is. It doesn't bother me. I think his selling is outstanding, but there are people that expect you to be crawling on your hands and knees after the slightest of attacks to your leg. It's a stype preference, ultimately, but I can't fathom Mochizuki being lumped in as "just another DG guy".

Chad, the two Dragon Gate guys I would really take a look at are Shingo Takagi and Masaaki Mochizuki. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k65e9UD8c7YZaEdDkxj Here's my review for VOW, if you want it. If you want more DG recs, let me know. I'd be more than happy to throw a few things your way.