Boss Rock

Ha!

Hashimoto was my number 18 and I feel pretty good about that. He was just so intense and could bring the fire like no other. Admittedly Hashimoto is someone I did not immediately click with. The first matches I watched of him were more mat-oriented technical affairs and I wasn’t blown away. But I kept at it and when I came across him squaring off against guys like Choshu and Tenryu, I finally saw the light. I’ve never really agreed with the “less is more” mindset, but I absolutely subscribe to “getting more out of less” because that is something Hashimoto really thrived at. He could make 10 minute matches feel like epic spectacles, thanks in no small part to his impressive presence and physical charisma. He was also an all-time striker, giving Kawada a serious run for his money as wrestling’s best kicker. And he was a tremendous ring general as well. There’s a four-way iron man match for the NWA title he’s in that’s genuinely really good because he pretty much holds the whole thing together.

Oh for the love of Christ

Biggest question: does Hashimoto improve by exactly one spot again?

It was indeed a really good run.

I've been wrong about so many things so far, but: 1. I think Austin drops this round. Tanahashi makes the top 20 and possibly 15. 2. Bryan finishes at number 1 or 2 ahead of the pillars. I expect the remaining three to finish above A.J, Joe, and Punk. 3. Aja dropping today wouldn't surprise me, but I still think she has a good shot at the top 20. My initial prediction was Santito making the top 10, but I think Casas dropping means he's coming up soon. 4. I think Rey barely misses the top 10.

Lawler at 28 is still a strong finish when you consider the rest of the territory folks. I had him at 36. I think finishing at 10 last time around was a little too high, but he was genuinely great at what he did. The best puncher and one of the best at getting the most out of less. I had Okada at 22, just one spot below Omega. I think Kenny having a bit more variety in match styles to his name and (in my opinion) having a more consistent AEW run is what put him ahead. I was also not entirely convinced he would make the top 100 given how polarizing his thread had been. That being said, Okada has a legitimate claim to not only being the best big match worker of the 21st century, but one of the best overall workers. He's also been my favorite active wrestler for the last 10 years. His strengths are arguably as a dickhead, hot shot heel but he was a terrific babyface ace, particularly during his 2016-2018 run. He kinda had an uncanny ability to create drama in his matches where you thought maybe just for a split second he would lose, even though the result was never in doubt. Not only the king of the finishing stretch, but also the king of the near-fall kickout. His last year in NJPW also saw him embrace a bit of the grumpy veteran role, specifically against Kiyomiya, Narita, and Umino. I would especially recommend checking out the Kiyomiya match, one of his finest matches and a glimpse as to what he could have done with an invader run (ironic considering CyberFight just bought the company). He got good to great matches out of lesser workers like Fale, Elgin, and Makabe. And as much as I love Tenryu, he was in no shape to wrestle in his retirement match and yet he and Okada put on something genuinely compelling. I would never argue he's perfect, though. Sometimes his NJPW run saw him stick to formula a bit too much. And as good as his main event epics could be, he was usually a slow starter in those first 10 minutes. His strikes can be hit-or-miss and his mat and submission game has always been bad. And his AEW elbow drop sucks. But his execution on virtually everything else: DDT, dropkick, neckbreaker, tombstone, flowsion variation, NJPW elbow drop, is fantastic. His AEW run has been a bit of a mixed bag, specifically if you expect G1 Okada every single night. Some of it has been due to a more character-driven TV style, some of it due to treating matches as Road to events. But I think he has more good AEW matches than one might think. He had a recent string of matches on Collision with Myron Reed, Kevin Knight, Adam Priest, and teaming with Fletcher with Top Flight that are quite a bit of fun. And he's proven he can still be "New Japan Okada", most recently this past Sunday against Takeshita.

They were separated by 1 for me. I am also a bit surprised given how much more polarizing Okada's thread was. But I also think Omega has certain tendencies that will irk folks more than Okada. I have also enjoyed AEW Okada.

Kenny was my 21. I honestly did not expect him to finish this high, but clearly he had more than enough high-end voters. I think he's also garnered more support than say, Ospreay due to his legitimate strengths. Terrific offensive wrestler with pristine execution and a genuinely great bumper. When it comes to high-octane big match settings, you're not going to find many better. Even before his NJPW heavyweight push in 2016 which is what brought him the most attention and exposure, he was really good as the junior ace (though the comedy was a bit too much at times). His run in DDT and brief stint in AJPW also produced a ton of great matches (the Hadoken was stupid, though). Certainly not perfect as his limb selling is spotty and his facials are often too hammy. Not to mention the aforementioned comedy earlier in his career. But even as his body is basically held by duct tape and glue, he's still more than capable of delivering the goods.

Honestly thought Casas had a shot at the top 10. Was my 19. Like Jun, the ultimate longevity candidate. I haven't watched him in a few years, but the guy was having fast-paced workrate matches with guys half his age as recently as the late 2010's. Carried Sam Adonis to a legitimately really good hair match. And the feud with Santito speaks for itself.

He's polarizing sure but there's usually an equally loud fanbase cheering for him. Not to mention the last few years of his career the crowd was almost entirely behind him and the "Cena sucks" largely just became a crowd tradition similar to the "You suck" chants for Kurt. There were certainly times the crowd was 100% against him (RVD in Hammerstein, Punk in Chicago), but that was usually not the case. To be fair, the rapper gimmick is initially how he got over with the fans in the first place. I only had Cena at 81 so I don't really consider myself a major fan. His execution was sloppy and he had a lot of bad matches. But the idea that he never had a connection with the crowd and that they only booed him is not true.

You can argue a lot of things about Cena but I don't agree at all that he lacked a connection with the crowd.

Oh I think he's been doing just fine where's he been at now.

All 30 remaining wrestlers made my ballot. 8 in my top 10, 20 in my top 25, 24 in my top 50.

They are. I predicted both would be top 10 candidates but am feeling less sure about that now. Finishing roughly where they did last time wouldn't surprise me.

I think folks who might not be huge lucha fans are more likely to connect with Park because of his work as a brawler.

I voted Chigusa at 48 and Bull at 24. I feel pretty good about those and am thrilled they both finished so high. I really admire how Chigusa went from a plucky and (almost) unsinkable face in the 80's battling Dump to a bulked-up badass in the 90's. The '94 Ozaki match in particular is an all-time favorite. As for Bull, she seamlessly assumed the force of nature role previously held by Dump. Could work a faster-paced style to match someone like Inoue or could just beat the shit out of her opponents like Aja. Speaking of the Aja feud, so many fantastic and violent singles and tag matches. I recall Elliot once saying that Aja was still pretty green at this time and if true, that's an even bigger feather in Bull's cap. Shame she retired so soon. Also, anyone who uses nunchaku in a match is objectively extremely cool.

I don't want to disparage the folks who voted for Cena this time around because at the end of the day this is all subjective and he did genuinely do a lot of things well. But I recall I think Dylan Hales once arguing Cena was better than all four pillars and I remember being completely gobsmacked by that.

I had Cena at 81 and honestly, I still don't know if that's too high or not. As I mentioned yesterday, he's the one wrestler in a constant state of being both overrated and underrated. The "You can't wrestle" chants were always way too dismissive (though Cena is still pretty rough in 2005), but a lot of the reappraisals of him as an all-time great felt too generous and came off as an overcorrection. There's a lot of crap on his resume, and even if a good deal of it came down to booking and not always having the best company to work with, it's hard to overlook a lot of it. While I've not seen every single Orton match, the rivalry has largely done nothing for me. His matches with Batista and Edge were fun but never outstanding. I even find the Punk feud to be a bit overblown, as great as the matches were. And while his 2015 U.S. title run was a fun novelty, it was too reliant on finisher kickouts. I'll give his final year a pass. But his 2007 was a genuinely remarkable year, not just for his classic with Umaga but for getting good to genuinely great matches out of a super green Lashley and the Great Khali of all people. He has all-timers with Bryan in 2013 and Brock in 2012. He has the occasional Raw gem like against Rey in 2011. His series with A.J. was excellent even if that also fell victim to too many finisher kickouts. While his offense and execution have always been sloppy, his babyface heart and fire are difficult to ignore. And for all the (sometimes warranted) critiques of "Super Cena", he is a genuinely strong seller for most of his matches. At the end of the day, he was a flawed worker who had undeniable moments of greatness.

Thankfully Tony course-corrected on those last two.

Taue finally has a different placement, but unfortunately it's lower. I'm not entirely surprised but I was also hopefully optimistic considering I saw a few ballots with him as the highest pillar (though in hindsight, this was a rather small sample). I had Taue at 7. While I also had him as the lowest ranked pillar, the narrative that there was a huge gap between him and the rest was always nonsense, though its prevalence may be a bit overstated. He was an essential part in every classic tag and trios match and his rivalry with Kawada was the fuel in a lot of the early 90's ones. I think his singles resume is just a smidgen thinner than the other pillars, but it's still incredible at the end of the day. A terrific big man even when he wasn't really all that big.

I acknowledge that at the end of the day this is all subjective and I understand why folks might have something like Bret-Austin ahead of them. But these two have always been my favorite WWE matches because of how violent and physical they are without the need for excessive plunder or contrived spots. The first HIAC match is almost like a horror movie if the slasher was the hero and the teenager was the obnoxious villain. Shawn does a terrific job as the sniveling, cowardly heel who can only sporadically get the upper-hand on his much larger opponent and bumps and sells like crazy. The Mind Games match is also somewhat akin to a horror movie, only this time Shawn is the face impressively fighting for his life against a much larger opponent who is significantly more deranged and unhinged. Both matches have some pretty brutal and gruesome spots but everything feels like a natural development and escalation.

I had Jun at 8, so seeing him drop is disappointing. Along with Casas, the ultimate longevity candidate. His whole career trajectory is fascinating to watch. Has the greatest rookie year ever and thrives as the plucky wunderkind before transitioning to the would-be challenger to the throne before settling in as a grizzled veteran and elder statesman. The most recent matches I saw of him were in AEW and he still brought the goods. I had Shawn at 52 (one spot below Bret). Easily one of if not the most polarizing candidate. He was pretty much the antithesis to Bret's more grounded realism by following Flair's example in exaggerated bumping and selling and was always much flashier. But I think his 90's work holds up incredibly well and his matches with Taker in HIAC and with Foley at Mind Games are the two greatest Fed matches ever. Was also capable of carrying lesser workers to genuinely good matches. Then there's the Rockers, which is one of my favorite tag teams. The only major blemish on his record is his comeback run which, to be fair, is a decent stretch of time. But I don't think it's completely bereft of good matches. The Taker Mania matches, while wildly overrated, are still quite good.

I did not vote for Moxley due to how lackluster his singles run in WWE could be (booking played a part but his offense was rough). That being said, I have no problem with him making the top 100. I definitely wouldn’t have had him this high, but I sort of understand why some might. He’s consistently been one of the best in the world since 2019 with 2022 being a particularly standout year. His last world title run was definitely a bit of a speed bump, but the All In match with Page was a terrific performance and everything since then has been pretty great. I don’t really agree with the arguments that he’s a cosplay wrestler. Yes, he has his influences but he’s always felt very genuine and real to me. Every wrestler has their influences, it’s how they use them and make them their own. Personally I think Moxley is quite good at that.

I had Park at 45 and it's pretty awesome to see him get such a huge boost. One of the best brawlers ever and as recently as 2019, still really good. He's also someone who I just really enjoyed watching every time I checked out a 5-minute WCW match of his.