Boss Rock

I've been sharing these results with friends of mine in a Slack and one of them literally said the same thing about Kobashi.

Was not expecting that at all. Thought Misawa was a pretty safe top 5.

He was my 51. I'll have more thoughts when he drops.

Voted for all 10, 6 were in my top 10.

I was starting to think Tenryu would drop today due to Jumbo's placing. And Austin was great no doubt, but his placement feels particularly high. A respectable top 10 though. It's funny, when this started not a lot of people thought Flair would make it this far.

I had Aja at 15, so not too far off from where she landed. From barely clearing the top 50 to almost breaking the top 10, it's awesome to see. And that's because Aja is awesome. Despite being only 5'5", she has the presence and energy of a force of nature. One of the greatest powerhouses of all time and has some of the highest peaks of any wrestler. The Yumiko Hotta match might be the most violent I've ever seen.

And yet Hansen did the same thing.

Eddie finishes in the exact same spot as 2016, impressive. He was my 32. Just unbelievably versatile. Could do the fast-paced junior style, be a fiery everyman hero, or an absolutely despicable heel. Incredibly smooth offense and execution and could seamlessly work comedy into a match and have it totally make sense. The Halloween Havoc match with Rey is probably still his best, but the Judgment Day bloodbath with JBL is absolutely up there.

These two actually had a match against each other.

Dang, was not expecting that Kawada drop. Although I've heard it said there's been a bit of a recent reassessment of and backlash towards him. Anecdotal, but perhaps explains why he missed the top 10. I had him at number 3 and even contemplated putting him ahead of Misawa at 2. I think his post-90's work is really good and sees him finally get to try and do some of the things AJPW's booking handcuffed him from doing. And even before Baba's death, he was still the most likely out of all the pillars to try and change up his game from time to time whereas Misawa would often stick with what brought him to the dance. All-time great striker and probably the best kicker ever. Great perpetual challenger to the throne and could heel it up in the '95-'96 tag matches. Don't really know what else to say about Kawada that hasn't been said for decades by people more learned than me. Funnily enough, I also had Tanahashi at 13, just one spot below A.J. While I think Tana had higher peaks and perhaps even more volume, I think A.J. just did more stuff better. Offense, bumping, selling, broomstick matches, I think A.J. has him beat. But that’s not to say Tanahashi wasn’t great at those either. While his striking game was always weak, his High Fly Flow, Dragon Screw, Cloverleaf, Dragon Suplex, and Cross Body were spectacular. I’d wager he could hold his own in more mat-oriented matches as well. He was also a rather underrated seller and knew how to make his comebacks really mean something. And while he was always a valiant babyface, he was a sneaky good heel as well. He would occasionally wear the black hat against Okada in establishing him as the ace or when against an underdog like Honma. But the 2008 Champion Carnival final against Suwama as the invader hotshot perhaps stands out the most. His feud with Okada has become legendary, but he had an amazing series of matches with Naito, Ibushi, Shibata, Sabre, and Suzuki (their 2012 King of Pro Wrestling match being the one I would recommend to any non-2010’s NJPW fan). Some might think his high placement is a retirement bump and there might be a slight bit of truth to that, but I don’t think it speaks to the majority of voters. If you look at his thread as early as 2021 there was a good amount of support and goodwill building for him. He’s always been the one who appeals most to non-NJPW diehards because while he has worked the occasional high octane match, he’s not really Kenny Omega either. And while it’s clear PWO has been in the minority for this vote, Tana has just developed a really strong reputation as being one of the best in the world for a long time. As he got older and transitioned out of the ace role he did an impressive job working around his physical limitations. And while the last 3 years or so of his run were rough and I have admittedly not seen most of his 2025, he had one of the greatest retirement matches I’ve ever seen. At the end of the day, Tanahashi was just an exceptional pro wrestler. Go Ace!

Had Vader at 25. Like Rey, sort of the ultimate consensus wrestler. Best traditional big man wrestler by far (I have Hansen ahead but he was more of a brawler that a power move guy).

This is awesome!

Starting to reckon with Tenryu dropping this round as well, which would pretty much put him where he was in 2016.

Remaining 15 made my ballot, 7 in my top 10, another 6 in my top 35, and 2 just outside the top 50.

Surprisingly, I also had Hokuto at 16. While she had the big moves and spots like many of her contemporaries, there was just a grittiness and edge to her that really set her apart. It’s tough to put your finger on it, but you know it when you see it. Obviously she has one of the highest peaks of any wrestler ever (1993) but even though her career was relatively short, I never agreed with the assessment that she was simply a peak wrestler (Grimmas also did a fantastic job arguing Hokuto’s case). She’s really good to great almost immediately and up until the end of her career. Foley was my 35. As far as brawlers go, I have Hansen and Funk ahead of him. But he was still excellent at what he did. I'm sure he regrets a lot of the stuff he put himself through but none of it ever felt like bumping for the sake of bumping. It was always in service of making the match feel as wild and unpredictable as possible. And while some might think wrestling in hardcore/no DQ settings might be considered "easy mode", I've seen enough Triple H plunder matches to know that's not the case. Foley was just so good at crafting matches, which makes it no surprise Orton never had as great a match as he had with Foley, and arguably neither did Edge.

One of my favorites and yes, proof you can have a violent match with even limited plunder.

Foley also gave some folks their career best matches. Nothing Orton has done since matches what he did with Mick at Backlash 2004. Could probably say the same about Edge at Mania 22.

I recall someone once saying that Vader is the wrestler everyone agrees is great but no one would call the GOAT. I knew Tanahashi would make the top 20, but I'm really interested in seeing how much farther he can push.

Thanks!

I forget where Grimmas posted the schedule but I recall that everything wraps up in June, so are there only 5 drops today? Or just the 3 already posted?

The 2014 matches are certainly not to a level you'd expect, but I think the Dominion and King of Pro Wrestling matches in 2015 are great.

I had Joe at 57. It’s funny, his career kinda mirrors Dustin’s. High early peak, a long stretch of rough years, then a late-career renaissance. Though I think it’s worth pointing out that his WWE run wasn’t completely bereft good matches as he had good chemistry with Brock. But it’s been his AEW run that’s proven he can still be a killer. And hey, that early peak (2005 especially) is an all-timer. A.J was my number 12. One of the most complete pro wrestlers you’ll see. Can do the fast-paced workrate heavy matches but can also give you something slower and more grounded. Can be both an exceptional babyface and a real prick of a heel. Not only one of the greatest offensive wrestlers ever, but one of the greatest bumpers and sellers as well. No matter who he was up against, he would almost always make them look good. Jinder Mahal, Bully Ray, Shane McMahon, and Abyss? Got really good to great matches out of all of them. Had a claim in both the mid 2000’s and the mid to late 2010’s as best in the world. Booking occasionally hampered him, but he made the most of everything he was given (ironic that WWE, “land of the giants” and reliant on part-timers treated him far better than TNA ever did). I recall Batista once referred to him as a “car crash wrestler” and that always seemed like a gigantic misreading of A.J. I had Jumbo at 14. Admittedly I'm not a huge fan of his early career work. But 1986-1992 is one of the greatest runs of any wrestler I've seen. Grumpy Jumbo had an almost unmatched level of fire and intensity in everything he did. Legitimately looked like he was beating the shit out of his opponents. He was also the perfect foil to the rising four pillars and undoubtedly made Misawa in those first few matches.

I had Santo at 27. Even for someone who's not a particularly big lucha fan, he's just so good. One of the best and smoothest high-fliers, but he was a heck of a brawler too. Versatile as both heel and face. The Casas matches are rightly held in high regard but his 2001 match with Park is my favorite. Savage was my 55. I don't think he was a particularly strong volume wrestler and stalling is always a trope that will irk me. But I was really struck by his ability to be both a violent, psychotic heel and valiant face (there's a pair of matches he has with Shawn in the 90's that are really good and highlight how strong of a seller he was). Fun offense and great execution as well. Not to mention physical charisma that made him seem big despite being a deceptively average-sized wrestler.

All 20 remaining were on my ballot, and 14 in my top 20. Lowest is Joe at 57. Surprised both he and even Mick made it this high, but both are great. Not mad about this top 20 at all. Maybe at a few eventual placements though, ha.

Hear hear!