El Dragon

Sami and Kevin have done this shit so much that every single one of them know how to take the others spots literally perfectly.

You just know Owens and Zayn have said they would wrestle each other at Wrestlemania for over a decade, so them going fucking nuts makes sense.

Like leading with everything with the Powerbomb and Apron Bomb tease.

Legit cool finishing idea. Natalya is made to look like an idiot, which works for me.

Why has this match gone so long, and why does Tamina as a 10 year vet still not know how to do her own finisher.

She's really really not good. Shayna is trying really hard to salvage this by just stiffing the fuck out of Nattie though, and I appreciate it.

Not very often I see a match with Tamina where I don't think Tamina is the worst wrestler involved.

I legit thing it wasn't. It wasn't good but it didn't actively piss me off like that match did.

Poor Alexa Bliss getting stuck in this.

Dammit, I can't give Bray a hard time for doing the "Yeah Yeah Yeah" thing.

Gutsy of them to open with a comedy segment.

The big blows tend to have been Joshi, Lucha (More on the basis the highest of the highs felt like they finished significantly too low, Negro Casas in particular), and World of Sport (Only Breaks made it). I think the availability of Joshi in comparison to WoS makes that make sense to me.

Yeah, it was a talking point for a while. Only Kong, Toyota, Hokuto, and Bull made it last time, with Chigusa (110), Jaguar (114), Dynamite (125), Meiko (130), Ozaki (133), Devil (135), and Kandori (146) getting somewhat close. I imagine at least half of those make the top 100 this time if the push is strong enough.

Having your leg worked over extensively for 15 minutes and then running around hitting dropkicks the moment you go on offense is certainly less realistic then having difficulty running after having your knee bent to pieces, and I don't know how to take the idea that we should just ignore it because "she's expressing her own style". She can express her own style, and I can absolutely deny her idea of greatness is actually great. She's had some solid performances in my watching. She's also had 30 minute matches that I would have finished bottom 3 if it were in a "Set" like the DVDVR ones, and that were basically unwatchable by the end. It's possible the more footage I watch I'll get more impressed by, but at the moment, she wouldn't be in my top 250, let alone top 100. Would be a nice surprised if she can win me over though.

I should clarify meaning more around this board. A common thing I'd hear is her only elite years are in 93-94, when I think it's more she found a different level then almost any wrestler you will ever see in those years but was already a best in the world candidate before that. You basically covered and explained what I do think happened overall: The Dangerous Queen run was so good that in hindsight her earlier work gets underplayed which I think hurts the narrative around her career. One you watch year by year it becomes so much more clear what she actually is.

I can’t say anything on new footage, but I can say Martel was my personal favorite of the AWA set on watching. Incredibly good babyface performer who I’ve thought every performance he gave no matter the opponent ranged from really good to great. The 80 stuff in Portland did nothing to convince me otherwise either, Rose/Martel is a classic rivalry, and I wish we got more extended matches of them against each other. I need to layout my rankings a bit more, but overall it’s been a blast every time he’s popped up on footage, to the point he just might sneak into my top 10 range.

What I’m gathering from this thread is that if someone, like me, per say, doesn’t care for Strong Style “Let’s trade strikes in the ring for 60 seconds just prove who is tougher” Ishii at all, there probably is no salavaging him at all, yes? It’s a style of match in modern wrestling I usually can’t stand much, and while I think Ishii is pretty good at it by comparison to the rest, I was hoping there was some of him working a different style role to dig my teeth into.

Personally I don’t think anything Taker did really hurt him or help him, just because I’m not gonna view a guy doing one offs as a big plus or minus. If he was around on weekly TV stinking up the joint (The Ric Flair in the mid 2000’s game) it would stick with me more. Taker is going to be an interesting debate again. I voted for him in 2016 and while I have some regrets on that ballot, Taker appearing on it isn’t one of them overall. Yeah, a lot of his stuff pre 98 or so is awful but I think that’s a Fiend Wyatt thing where there was no making those good, and he had enough good appearances in e 2000-10 era I think he’s viable. Not sure he cracks my list again but I’m considering him.

I have clear bias on this subject, as stated in the pod, but the original Epic Encounter with Paul London is almost my ideal wrestling match. No real storyline just a basic rivalry and an incredibly well worked 2/3 falls match were everything feels earned the entire match. Nobody else would probably put it at that the level I do, but I'd register it as a signature match.

Lesnar is interesting because I generally agree with Matt D's criticisms of his style while also always finding myself engaged in his big matches when he's fully into them. I also think the 2020 Rumble performance was generally about as good and fun of a Rumble showcase ever. It was such a fun divergence of the usual Rumble tropes and I think it hit it completely out of the park. Brock I think will be in a similar position he was last time for me. I can't see him NOT making my list, because he does bring something truely unique and I credit him for that. But the frustrations with him are justified, and I'm not sure I can go top 50 for him.

I've always described Becky as an interesting case because her biggest strength as a worker when she was one of the hottest young female acts coming up was stuff she very rarely gets to use in WWE: She was an amazing at mat exchanges early in her career, some real fun stuff with Daizee Haze in Shimmer, and watching her (before the age of 20) work the mat was a joy, and I love me some good mat work exchanges and chess match stuff. The only real chance we've ever gotten to see that in WWE was really the Sasha match, which would be in my top 5/10 of the 2010's. It's incredibly impressive she managed to become what she did while also generally having to completely readjust her style, as well having to take over half a decade outside of the ring. I love her, but if she is going to make my list, it would take a strong next 5 years to get her there. All 4 of the Horsewomen are in that same situation, where they'd be in my top 200 right now, and could land in the top 100 if things break right.

Can we get all of Hunter and Shawns students to take the advice of taking 10 minutes off there matches too please?

I think it's that, having a plus 20 minute match with old ass Hunter that's legit great, and his ability to get a huge moment and awesome match out of Kofi, who was solid in that match but nowhere close to Bryan, remains his most impressive WWE performances.

I remember his team with Rowan had some fun stuff, though I can't pinpoint the exact matches either.

In 2016 I put Eddie Kingston 98th. I put him that low due to being embarrassed and wanting to make a ballot that fit with consensus then with my actual opinion. That won’t happen again. I’ll go into greater detail when I’m not on clock. But I will lead with Kingston is right up there with Savage, Rhodes, and Guerrero specifically in the element that character work in promos HAS to be included with these guys because they are all in a package. He has a over 15 years of being able to talk me into the building and then paying it off and making me felt like it was worth my virtual ticket. He makes me give a fuck about winners and losers because I either won’t to see him get his moment or his deserved beating. Id be stunned if he’s not in my top 50.