Boss Rock

I haven't watched NXT full-time since the Ciampa feud, but I'm also largely in the camp of thinking Gargano was fantastic for 2 years and then fell into really bad habits. But I am interested in checking out his more recent Takeover matches to see how they hold up.

I love Shingo from his 2018 Champion Carnival run onwards, but am also a bit in the dark on his best Dragon Gate/ROH stuff apart from the 2015 Mochizuki match. I've seen bits and pieces but feel like his jump to New Japan is when he reached a new level.

I think he's been in MLW. Very curious to see how he's doing.

Bobby's someone I want to see a case made for. He finished 28 in 2016 which is incredibly high, and yet I've never gotten got that impression watching him. By no means was he a bad wrestler, on the contrary. He seemed like the perfect utility player whether it be a 5-10 TV match or as a tag wrestler. He also had really good execution. And yet the only Eaton match I've ever really loved is the tag against the Southern Boys. He's been solid if unspectacular in a lot of singles matches I've seen him in and while the Midnight-Rn'R series has plenty of good matches, I've never walked away thinking it was the greatest tag feud ever. I get the Cesaro comparisons, but I honestly like Cesaro a lot more.

The 9/19/2015 match with Suzuki is probably the best I've seen of him. And as long as the 12/6/2020 match with Go was, it was still really great.

He may very well be the greatest tag worker ever. Kings of Wrestling, Real Americans, Brass Ring Club, and the Bar. All really good tag teams with four very different partners. And while he may not have a ton MOTYC's or classics on his resume, his consistency as a utility player and TV match worker is almost unmatched. Seems like a pretty easy lock even if I'm not sure I'd put him in the top 50. But that could change depending on how his indie run holds up and if he can continue to deliver.

Thankee.

What are his best matches that aren't against MS-1, Perro, or Satanico? His punching and selling alone will most likely be enough and I understand there's a lack of footage, but would really like to see more.

Need to do a deeper dive but his most highly acclaimed stuff (Satanioc feud, three-way with Casas and Santito) is fantastic. Great grappler and brawler.

That's where I was coming from too. He has matches from the mid to late 2000's that I like but his output from at least the 2015 Suzuki match-onwwards is what I've enjoyed the most.

Ricky is going to be an interesting case. At his best, he's one of the best babyface I've ever seen. But he has only like 10-12 matches I really like and the rest is just sort of there. Like Matt said his AJPW run doesn't have much of anything. I can't fathom him missing my ballot but apart from Flair matches that pop up he doesn't seem to have much in the way of hidden gems.

I'll see if I can put together a top 10 of his recent work. I dip in and out of NOAH frequently, but I think he's been very good the past few years (2018 especially). He almost strikes me as a late bloomer. Like he had potential and good matches earlier in his career, but it took him a little while to put it all together.

Jun Akiyama is still wrestling and he's still very good. Top 10 candidate easy.

vs. Meiko Satomura 12/23/2015 vs. Mayu Iwatani 12/22/2016 vs. Shayna Baszler 12/23/2017 w/ Tam Nakano vs. Kagetsu and Natsu Sumire 4/1/2018 vs. Meiko Satomura 4/19/2018 vs. Momo Watanabe 5/23/2018 2015-2018 are probably her biggest years but she's been doing pretty well in NXT, though I've admittedly not seen a ton of it.

I really don't recall if Shelton-Shawn was this awesome match or not, but that springboard into Sweet Chin Music was beautiful.

I think probably 2005 or 2006 is when Bryan was first getting serious #1 in the world consideration. FWIW, he won Most Outstanding in the Observer Newsletter Awards 2006-2010.

I'm in mostly the same boat. She has her flaws and annoyances but I can't picture a ballot without her on it somewhere.

The king of longevity along with Liger. I haven't seen a match of his since 2018, but that year started off with him having an awesome aspuestas match with the usually bad Sam Adonis and a fun workratey sprint with Aramis. Lucha isn't my favorite style but Casas is definitely my favorite and his greatness for at least 3 decades says a lot. Easy top 20 candidate who could easily make my top 10.

I remember when I first joined the board I would comb through the 2016 list and see where each wrestler landed in 2006. It certainly seems like joshi took the biggest hit in between votes.

I actually watched that one just a few weeks ago and yeah, that's a really good Naito performance.

The 42nd Anniversary Show match against Okada is probably my pick for best pre-LIJ Naito, at least based on what I've seen. A really good babyface performance.

Although the 80's U.S. territory style has never been my favorite, Lawler definitely stands out. Chris Hero started a podcast recently and said rather than "less is more", the phrase should be "get more out of less". And Lawler was terrific at that. The $10,000 challenge against King Kong Bundy stands out in particular. It's such a simple match structure and yet it's super fun and captivating.

Another NJPW wrestler who has a strong chance to make my top 50. I think the 2019 Bad Luck Fale G1 match is the only bad Ibushi match I've ever seen and that's because Fale has sucked more than usual in recent years. He's arguably been a top 10 wrestler since his return to NJPW in 2017 and you could make the case he was before as well. He's always been a really good tournament wrestler whether it be BOSJ, G1, or the Cruiserweight Classic. The Cruiserweight Classic in particular stands out as he faced a wider variety of wrestlers and had the best run of the tournament. An underrated aspect of Ibushi's game is how his style has evolved over the years. He still does high-flying and a lot of the same moves, but since moving up to heavyweight he's done a great job adding strikes and power moves to his game. He can be a terrific underdog face as well as a believable tough guy. It got to a point where he believably beat Suzuki at his own game in last year's G1. The only criticisms I can really think of are, like his former tag partner Kenny, a tendency to ignore leg selling and occasionally being too go-go-go. I'd like to see more of his early stuff in DDT, but most of what I've seen has been really good.

His WWE run wasn't great, but I have a lot of love for his match with Brock. He also had some pretty good matches with Roman and I honestly didn't hate the feud with A.J. But yeah, the bulk of his case rests on his early 2000's run. And that's probably still enough to round out the bottom tier of the ballot.

I once saw someone say this has replaced the annual "Is Tanahashi seriously injured?" cliche.