Tetsujin

GWE 2016 was what made me get outside of my WWE-current NJPW-90s AJPW bubble, so I would be very happy if it comes back by 2026. Ringwork based on footage should be the main criteria, yes (however, if for example you have a tie between, let's say, Randy Savage and Bret Hart, and you can't find something to break that tie, I wouldn't be mad if you use promos to finally choose between them, because both are US wrestlers and specially big WWE workers; it's not the same as putting, idk, Funk above of Kobashi based on Terry's mic work). I'm also happy with the "have to participate in the process to make a list" rule, even if it means people like myself (very busy because of work and not a fluent english speaker) not being able to participate as much as I want to and therefore not being able to present a top 100. The "book club" with YouTube stuff mentioned by Eliott, Grimmas and others sounds like a wonderful idea too, as it could be something that makes the project easier to follow for not-as-involved people (I'm not a podcast guy personally, no disrespect to anyone, I participated in a kinda famous spanish wrestling podcast a few years ago, but I need some visual reinforcement of what I'm trying to pay attention to, and not just hearing people talking. But that's just me, though). I would add that the discussion phase have to start sooner, iirc 2016's started two years before, that seems like not a lot of time considering how much wrestling is there to cover and argue about. If 2021 is gonna be the year of debating and preparing everything, 2022 can be the start of the discussion process, why should we wait more? Also, with the "crowd reaction not meaning that much because already stablished big stars will always have crowd support whatever they do in the actual match", I definitely see that, but then we come to the reasoning of: "wait, maybe it's the other way around, maybe it was their ringwork what made them huge stars to begin with and that gave them fired up crowds as a garantee once they were stablished". I can think of examples of both cases (Hogan and Bryan). And I believe that if the project is called "greatest wrestler EVER", that has to imply the hability of trascending time. You can totally argue Hogan is a top 100 wrestler ever considering how is ringwork worked back then, fine, but did it aged well? Context is very important, but, in the end, the people making the list are doing it in 2021-26. I think balance between context and hability to trascend time is the key when searching the best wrestlers ever.

I consider this one of the most overrated matches of all time. Nothing close to a classic match, at least from a ringwork perspective. I've been watching it a couple of times for the last five years or so, and, while I used to think it was bad and now I kinda like it, I still consider it overrated af. Baba was totally annoying here: his strikes were soft, his selling was non-existent, he moved very slow... he was at a point where his limitations began to show, I guess. I liked how he tried to use his size to his advantage while grappling (as he always does), and using his Jumping Neckbreaker Drop as a last ditch effort to secure the win was a cool spot, but that's kinda it. Robinson, on the other hand, gave a great performance and one of the best carryjobs I can remember. The way he puts Baba's size over, how he carefully targets one of his legs, his amazing selling and bumping, the facial expressions, those vicious forearms... He does everything he can to keep the flow of the match and he fucking succeeds, because I was never bored while watching it, and considering how bad Baba's performance was, that's trully something. I also love the clean finish. In this time and place, a no contest result was the bread n' butter of bookers in an international title match, and the couple of times on the third fall they battle at ringside had this feeling of "aw shit it's going to finish now, isn't it?". I enjoyed how they played the audience with that and how it paid off with a clean, decisive, finish. Nothing I would consider for a GME project, and I don't even think it's one of the best matches of their careers and/or the 70s, but still a match that proofs how amazing and intelligent Billy Robinson was. So yeah, despite its flaws, I always kinda enjoy it.

The Fun House match is a masterpiece. Comedy gold, yet still deep and meaningful. Credit to Bray for creating all this, and so much respect for Cena because no other ace in WWE's history would have exposed his whole career like this for the sake of entertaining and putting another guy over.

Shota Umino, Takuya Nomura, Bianca Bellair, Darby Allin, Utami Hayashishita...

I love Bryan and this is a great performance by him, but I gotta give credit to Wyatt for portraying his character perfectly. Extremely dangerous, but not invincible. Hurts a lot, but even he can be hurt. Taking away the stupid four corners gimmick saved this match, and these two gave as a semi-PG dog collar fight very memorable.

I fucking cried. I've only cried with one match before and that's Misawa/Kobashi from 2003. So yeah, one of the greatest moments of my wrestling fandom life.

My favourite match this year is Juice Robinson vs Job Moxley for the US Title. It was a hell of a rebirth for Moxley's ringwork, and one of the best brawls in modern puro (specially in NJPW). Both guys were on fire at every moment.

Yeah, it's a shame the finish was so anticlimatic with Brock not giving a single fuck about the 2 on 1 handicap that almost cost him the title a couple of seconds ago, but hey. Very fun stuff.

I really liked this, it was worked in a different way from previous wargames and the crowd was really hot for everything. Kai's turn and Baszler being the cockiest person ever for it was clearly the peak of the match, but I really wanted the 4 on 2 handicap to play a bigger role in the match. It would have been awesome if an injured Nox came back and distract Team Shayna creating an opening for Candice and Rhea or whatever. Loved the ending spot too.

This was the most well paced, balanced, consistent Dynamite show yet. Everything was at least fun, Luchasaurus return was great, and the Moxley/Allin, Jericho-MJF-Cody and Bucks-PnP segments were so well done. Also, Scorpion Sky being the first one to pin Y2J in AEW felt huge, as it should be. Oh, my favourite thing was the third Page vs PAC match. This series is really making me a Hangman fan, and feeling that "building slowly but correctly a new top star" process is amazing. This rivalry rocks.

I can't believe this didn't had a topic. An amazing shoot style with big moves hybrid match, with super stiff action and great selling. Ikeda being a dick and Otsuka making him pay for his excess of confidence was a great story. Loved the transitions here: Otsuka being able to block one of Ikeda's very dangerous kicks and giving him a dragonscrew, the desperate russian leg sweep, the lariat countered into a Fujiwara armbar... Everything was put together in a very smart way.

BUSHI with an awesome performance, outsmarting Ospreay almost everytime. Will did pretty well as well (try to say that as quick as posible), using his incredible athleticism to overcome his foe when it was needed, and not just spamming flips. The bad, bad Osaka crowd actually were huge for the MX nearfall (and so was I, VERY good false finish). I'm so glad BUSHI proved why he deserves to be one of the top stars of the Jr division, I hope so. The post match with Hiromu's comeback might be the greatest return of the year and one of the greatest moments of modern NJPW. Hiromu is a complete superstar at this point.

Just watched the first two shows. This is awesome.

To me, this was the worst of the three Dynamite shows yet. I only cared about the last tag match, which was worked wonderfully, and the last minutes of the main event because Darby is such a great underdog. But AEW has two big problems they have to work on: 1) Too much matches for a weekly tv show. They need more promos, segments and characters exhibitions in general, otherwise the fans will eventualy be burned out in the middle of the show. Last week they made a really good show, and the highlight was the Inner Circle promo. Do more stuff like that, or have Schiavone interview more people after matches, whatever. 2) The womens division. Idk if this is unpopular opinion or what, but Riho is so, so bad. Like, first Eva Marie run levels of bad. People are with her now because they're excited about everything AEW, the new big thing, has to offer, but if she doesn't learn how to wrestle is a matter of time fans turn on her. Also, Baker, Priestley, Rose... They have potential but they're not ready yet. Imo AEW needs for their womens division somebody they can rely on while building new stars slowly (like Jericho os doing with Page and Darby). But seriously though, go watch Omega/Page vs Mox/PAC. Great tv match with great action, character moments, stories moving forward, and Hangman starting to look like the star they are building.

Yeah pretty happy with an Archer title run. Although I dunno what are they gonna do with Mox and Juice, because clearly they have that one match left at WK, but it being a non-title bout? Not sure about it. Maybe a triple threat with Archer? Also, #NaitoTwoBelts seems closer than ever. Okada just said he will defend the world title both nights, and both Ibushi and White want to be double champions. Naito just needs to beat Taichi at PS and then challenging White at WK. Oh, and Liger will have two retirement matches. That's something.

Moxley didn't make it to Japan because of the Typhoon, so he vacated the US title and Juice is gonna fight Archer for it today. That sucks.

Man this stupid company sucks so much. Kofi was world champion a week ago and now he doesn't even care about it. Draft picks in the fucking same order they posted before. No world title for the Fiend when he's over. Charlotte with another meaningless title run. The new videogame sucks. NXT has become an Ode to HHH and Meltzer. The Saudi stuff. SHORTY Gable. Destroying the UK indie scene. Nothing new, but that doesn't change how bullshit it all is. There could be good stuff, but nothing that makes me feel like I should be a "WWE fan". I HATE their product.

If I were AEW I would hire Meiko Satomura no matter what.

They did the exact same thing with Reigns after the 2015 Rumble, it's hilarious. They just don't know what to do with babyfaces.

So great. One of the best HIAC matches of modern WWE, with a very intelligent use of the cage and a lot of fire and heat from both horsewomen. Some spots were not as fluid as they could, but the brutality was there anyways. Both worker's facial expressions were great, from Banks' sadism to Lynch's "I'm fucking out" eyes. ****1/4 and the WWE main roster MOTY thus far.

This match was great, Nomura's urgency added a lot to it and Kento seemed a little bit desperated at times, so the suspense for a possible title change was growing as the match progressed. I personally think Nomura should've won this time because AJPW really needs more stars and not to rely on Kento only.

Yeah, Omega's facial and body language in general is awful. But I liked the match, specially thanks to PAC's strategy of countering every classic Omega spot. Not anything great, and surely not the best thing these two could do together (I hope), but a very fun match almost every time and a great victory for PAC. ***1/4 seems about right.

Wow, didn't expect Ibushi winning. First time someone in the same block as the world champ wins the G1 in I don't remember how many years. I guess Okada/Ibushi will main event one night at the Tokyo Dome, and Naito/White (or maybe Naito/Moxley?) will main event the other one.

An excelent sequel to their MOTYC at Ryogoku. This time, Juice had enough of Mox's bullshit and, while more on fire than ever due to his obssesion to beat him, he didn't play the Mox game like last time. Moxley was even more aggresive to him, kinda cruel. I don't like how the finish came out, and Mox could have sold better right after the match, but overall a great fight with such an awesome crowd. They both looked lige megastars here, and this rivalry is becoming my favourite one of the year.

Everyone's talking about Ishii and Archer (and they should), but right now Jon Moxley is the G1 mvp to me. He brings the best out of his opponents, even the Cobb carryjob was pretty good and underrated. The Taichi squash was as good as it could be with less than 10 minutes, this fight against Shingo was great, and we all know how good the Ishii match is.