Microstatistics

He carries himself well and has become quite the star but the fact that he wasn't even nominated till very recently is telling. His actual in-ring work isn't something to write home about.

An undeniable legend. RIP.

If this poll had been done a couple of years ago, I would have gone with Hashimoto without a second thought. I still picked him but it is fairly close. Similar aura and big-match output. Inoki had greater longevity and variety but Hashimoto has him beat with it comes to consistency and reliability.

Anton Tejero To me, the most impressive wrestler from all of the French footage. Great as the technically gifted stooging heel who could big bump AND violently rough up opponents. w/Inca Peruano vs. Gilbert Cesca/Ben Chemoil, 3/12/1965 vs. Walter Borders, 8/29/1967 vs. Jon Guil Don, 4/18/1976

Now I would actually put Styles and Kobashi ahead of Joe for 2005. No doubt a very strong individual year but his 2004 was better. Also Triple H probably completes the Top 5 for the NYR Elimination Chamber, the Batista HIAC, and the Flair blood feud.

This was really good but fell short of WK. First, the positives: I really liked the role reversal with Ospreay as the belligerent heel and Omega working from underneath. There was plenty of aggression and many of the sequences/spots (the smashing of heads into surfaces, Omega knee to the back of the head counter) were compelling. The Tiger Driver 91 was vile but well incorporated. Omega got a weak kickout but was all but done after it and the next move finished him off, which is exactly how you should employ dangerous endgame moves if you choose to incorporate them. But this was not nearly as well put together as WK. Awkward pacing and many lulls in action (perhaps because Omega was not the one driving it) and a few dull transitions, not helped by an ill-advised suplex no-selling sequence. ***1/2

1. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 2. Jumbo Tsuruta 3. Jushin Liger 4. Vader 5. El Satanico

Comebacks: Mitsuharu Misawa Charisma: Yoshiaki Fujiwara Being a face: Steve Grey Being a heel: Jim Breaks Brawling: El Satanico Athleticism: Kiyoshi Tamura On the mic: Scott Steiner Ring IQ: Eddie Guerrero Highest floor: Kiyoshi Tamura Highest ceiling: Kenta Kobashi Big matches: Kenta Kobashi Bumping: Mick Foley Best punches: El Satanico Best knees: Jun Akiyama Best kicks: Nobuhiko Takada

Lesnar obliterates Cena when it comes to top-shelf output and inputs/fundamentals. The only case Cena has is performances on random Raw matches, if you value that.

Highly probable 75-100 pick for me. She is similar to Scott Steiner of all people in that the bulk of her case was made with fairly constrained tag team wrestling. Having said that, she does have some noteworthy singles work (e.g., the Ozaki match from 2/1999 El-P mentioned) which, alongside a direct comparison of individual performances, helps her edge out her partner Etsuko Mita for consideration in a project like this.

Scott is most likely in based on the strength of the Steiner Brothers' early-to-mid 90s run. He won't be higher than the bottom quarter but still. Also, he is the only person for whom I considering breaking my "who cares about talking?" rule. His promo work in TNA is pure comedy gold.

Agreed, WALTER and Omega seem the no-brainer Top 2.

Yeah, AJW absolutely dominated 1985. Probably Chigusa Nagayo, though, frankly, all the big names (Jaguar Yokota, Devil Masami, Lioness Asuka, Dump Matsumoto, Bull Nakano) have cases. For non-AJW personnel, Jerry Lawler, Butch Reed, Greg Valentine, and Super Tiger had noteworthy years

Tetsuya Naito.

Yeah, it's probably HBK. You have the Jericho blood feud (a career highlight for both), the Ric Flair retirement match, really good matches vs. Batista etc. Otherwise, between the Nigel and Morishima feuds, Danielson. Maybe one of the BattlARTs guys also has a case.

Shinya Hashimoto, Triple H, and Jun Akiyama as the Top 3, in that order.

Yeah, Sano's range is quite remarkable when you think about it. Junior heavyweight champion, specialist shoot-stylist, heavyweight bruiser, he could do it all. As mentioned, the all-timer Liger feud coupled with matches vs. Shamrock/Suzuki/Anjoh etc. and decent post-prime stuff vs. Misawa and Top 30 doesn't seem too outlandish.

A real hiding in plain sight nominee. When your direct peers (Liger, Ohtani, Kanemoto) have all had their best match against you, there is probably something to you. Top 50 contender just based on the peaks.

To me, Sasaki has always felt like a Top 200 pick rather than a Top 100 one. His output is good without being great and inputs-wise, he is solid but unremarkable. He is in a bunch of stuff I like (the Kobashi match of course, the Hase match from 6/1992, his feud vs. Nagata 2002-2004, the Tenryu 2000 Dome match, the 2/2006 Kensuke Office Tag) but other material has left me cold (not a fan of the Kawada feud, the Fujita match from 2001 ended up being a bunch of nothing) I still have some matches to check out from the list above (the Bob Sapp match sounds unique and fun) but he might be the epitome of the wrestler who is always involved in one way or another but never stands out.

So I was browsing r/squaredcircle and, based on the recent news and the quality of raw, now the prevailing theory is that HHH booked WM Night 1 and Vince booked (or at least interfered in) WM Night 2. I guess it's plausible and reasonable since it would explain the large discrepancy in quality (barring the IC title match), though you can still potentially implicate HHH for the main event ending based on his track record booking heel champions.

I think since Brock/Roman II. Months of Lesnar dominating and beating everyone with one F5 in anticipation of Reigns being the one to vanquish him. He kicked out of an absurd 4-5 F5s and you thought this is it but Lesnar still bizarrely retained. The scenario feels similar to the current situation because Roman eventually won at Summerslam but it just wasn't the same since they missed the boat that mattered. The Okada beating Naito at WK12 pick that was mentioned is another good one.

Also, as someone with no emotional investment in Cody, if we get Gunther vs. Reigns out of this and Imperium putting the final nail in the coffin for the Bloodline, I'd be perfectly fine with that ending.

Night 2 ended up being much weaker than Night 1 even though I anticipated the inverse. Still, not bad mainly thanks to IC title match. Lesnar vs. Omos - Omos works the back, Lesnar sells well, can't get the F5 the first time but the second attempt seals it. Predictable but simple opener. **1/4 Women's Fatal Four Tag - Probably the weakest match of the two nights though Raquel and Green did well. Ronda was barely involved until the win which was weird. *3/4 Gunther vs. Sheamus vs. McIntyre - Probably the strongest match of the two nights. This type of match has a ceiling and these guys, at the very least, reached it. Throw in Regal/Finlay-type stiffness interspresed with big time offense and some cool storytelling elements (the schism between Sheamus/Drew and Gunther exploiting it) and you have an impressive achievement. ***3/4 Asuka vs. Belair - Decent but disappointing. There were some good sequences but they didn't seem to click together and the match was disjointed. Plus, there were more screen issues at SoFi, particularly during key transitions. **3/4 Miz/Shane McMahon/Snoop Dogg - I have to say that Snoop Dogg cover-up was pretty speedy and clever. The Miz looked absolutely panicked at the injury but was selfless enough to lie down for another squash (this time against a complete non-wrestler). Edge vs. Balor - I like Edge (and even Balor to some degree) but this was what I feared it would be. Plodding and fragmented, salvaged only by some decent spots. At least it was only 20 min long and not 30. **1/2 Reigns vs. Cody - Really surprising ending, especially considering how they seemed to intentionally include so many things that suggested it was Cody's night and the end for Reigns (emphasis on his family at ringside, powering out of the guillotine, the bionic elbow tribute sequence, Owens/Sami dumping the Usos and getting in revenge spots on Roman etc. etc.) By the way, the crowd (particularly the kids) was all in on Cody and the ending was super deflating for them. I guess that unusual focus on Solo was for a reason. The match was ok and the kick-out fest was what was expected, though Cody oversold the ribs because that plot point came from nowhere and went nowhere (unless he was actually hurt of course). **1/2

Just came back from WM Night 1. It was a fun experience and a very good (half) show that exceeded my expectations since it seemed like Night 2 had all the strong match-ups. Cena vs. Theory - Passable opener, Theory's heel stuff was decent and Cena, perhaps unsurprisingly, drew some of the biggest reactions of the night. **1/4 Men's Fatal Four Tag - Solid with some memorable spots. **3/4 Rollins vs. Logan Paul - This might have been the MOTN. The screens were down for the initial portion, which distracted the crowd and drew a "Fix the Screens" chant but the work was really good. The rib and hand stuff was neat. LP is such a natural and Rollins played the veteran role effectively. ***1/2 Damage CTRL vs. Becky/Trish/Lita - Similar to the men's tag. **3/4 Rey vs. Dominik - The work wasn't exactly great and there were clear instances of awkwardness from Dom. But as a whole package, from the entrances to the post-match, this was an absolute blast with maybe the greatest crowd engagement of the night. *** Ripley vs. Charlotte - This started off slowly and I was afraid it was gonna be dull. But they quickly put it together and I think this was the right type of match to do a ton of near falls in especially since they had the crowd biting. I still think people are overrating it, maybe because of the suspense over whether they would actually pull the trigger on Rhea but this was pretty good nonetheless ***1/4 McAfee vs. Miz - Filler. Should have used it to stretch my legs. Zayn/Owens vs. Usos - Very good main event even if I found some of the selling wonky (some big spots were recovered from too quickly, while other minor ones were oversold to facilitate a few of the isolated segments). Still, the action and storytelling elements were on point. ***1/2

For heel Marty Jones, I'd recommend his tag match with Dave Finlay vs. Mile Zrno/Franz Schumann (CWA, 8/3/1990). A commanding performance that shows there were more elements to his game than the, albeit great, babyface technician routine. Overall, Jones is a Top 3-5 British worker for me and should make it.