Tetsujin

Incredible showcase by Sareee. These next ten years should be the forge of her legend, she has all the potential in the world and is already one of the very best wrestling today. Not even 30 years old.

It indeed is. I'm loving how diverse and powerful this part of the list is getting, and almost everybody feels undenniable. There's just too much awesome pro wrestling across time and space.

Gordy. Oh, and Bruno is still alive (so is Thesz but I know that's getting it too far away from what you're refering to).

Just came here to say this. Beautiful. Very respectable places for Black Terry and Carlos Colón, I didn't expect them so high but was happy when I saw them. Finlay and specially Martel are the first ones dropping off the top 100 that made me a little sad. Martel was indeed one of the very best babyfaces of the 80s, and one of the biggest victims of WWE absorbing the starts from the territories. I guess Finlay has become a distant case for a lot of new voters, huh. Guessing were Regal is going to fall.

I believe the issue with this in this year's edition is that wrestlers have become mure durable and gained more longevity. Before, a wrestler in their thirties was in the middle of their peak and only time would tell when they would be compared to other all timers. A wrestler in their forties was already too old to keep adding to their case. Now, a wrestler in their mid thirties has almost ten years of going at a good level, and wrestlers at their forties are still among the best at the moment.

I thought Otsuka already dropped! What an unbelievably underrated wrestler, by me as well. Him and Mariko Yoshida (omg she's still alive, isn't she?) are my top two priorities when the project finishes. I've only watched a handful of matches of his, but every single one of his performances mesmerized me. Glad he retained a huge spot this time, with x4 the amount of voters.

Daisuke Sekimoto man, speaking of underrated (let's add Okabayashi as well). Kings of consistency and meaty fights. MJF doing this good this early in his career is fascinating, but honestly, he's done a lot of very interesting stuff since AEW started. He's getting better and better each year, too, to the point that I believe we haven't seen his peak yet (although he wouldn't be the first wrestler with that potential and then never peaking higher for the rest of their career, coughcoughOkadaOrtonforexamplecoughcough). He also has a great mind for wrestling and you can tell by his interviews. He's also a huge internet nerd and he's probably reading our posts as we write them (hey Max, hope you get bald on sunday). I expected Kansai to drop closer to the actual top 100, actually. Don't know what to think about it.

This post is specifically with US wrestling in mind. At the end of the day, most people canonized as all timers are wrestlers that were pretty good week to week on tv. Eddie Guerrero, Benoit, Rey, Angle, Savage, Bret, Jericho, Austin, Regal, Valentine, and a long etc, they're guys that were in our tvs being the best part of the show more often than not. Their case was *mostly* built like that. Most of those don't even have as much "five stars matches", whatever that is, as you might think. But, in retrospect, when you watch what they accomplished in their day, their CV speaks for itself for sheer volume alone. I feel this is the same that's happening at the moment with guys like Darby, Ospreay, GUNTHER or Místico, to name a few. It's the same. Being able to identify that process happening in front of your eyes, and not some time after, might be recency bias, but I also think it's kinda fair. Not in a "Reigns had a +1000 days reign so he's the best" kind of way, obviously, but it's no mystery why the great wrestlers of today receive the same praise and high votes as the great wrestlers of yesterday from some people.

Yeah, almost no one is safe now. Jeez. To be honest, #42 was kinda insane for DiBiase back in the day, this time he feels more were he belongs, but man. No country for old men. At this point, if Lawler appeared now I wouldn't be as surprised.

Villano III, DWJ and Último Guerrero being in the top 200 is so cool too me, definitely three of the luchadores I wanna spend the next ten years watching more of. Huge result for Chihiro as a first timer, I know her case will be undenniable by 2036. She just has it. With only 75 to go before the actual list, still some active names to appear that I didn't expect. Hangman and MJF are still to come, for example. And I can't wait to see where Sareee lands. Also, I expected Goldberg to show by now. Did Ultimate Warrior appear already?

Anda just like that, my whole prediction went to shit. Kerry Von Erich just dropped. I'm kinda shocked about this one, honestly. I know he was one of the very last from last time, but I've always read good discourse around him until very recently.

I really like the Undertaker series, WM and the HIAC specially. His WrestleMania XXIV performance is pretty good, I love his countergame on Taker. Edge is also the last guy to ever bring something great out of Rollins, so there's that

We're getting closer to the top 200 (that is, last 100 cuts before making it), so I wanted to have a little fun (huge post incoming). I went to the 2016 results, selected how many guys I believe will fall from the top 100 (with a bonus of a "maybe" group) and tried to think about the names with more chances to take their slots. TOP 100 IN 2016, BUT NOT IN 2026: Brian Pillman (confirmed), Ron Garvin (confirmed), Virus, Sangre Chicana, Shinsuke Nakamura, Too Cold Scorpio, TAJIRI, Tito Santana, Dynamite Kid, Hiroshi Hase, Jack Brisco (11) With the tendencies I'm appreciating in this year's results, I don't see any of them with enough support to retain a spot. Nakamura is a weird one because his case basically ended in 2016, and ten years of nothingness in the fed shouldn't be unnoticed. TOP 100 IN 2016, MAYBE OUT IN 2026: Ikeda, Gordy, Rude, Slaugther, Owen Hart, Dundee, Finlay, DiBiase (8) I'm more skeptical about these guys, because I've seen them in some lists online and I know they have a strong support from their fans, but on the other hand none of them are the defining soldier of a style/time period/company to make them a lock for many people (like, for example, Jim Breaks can be for WOS or Ishikawa for BattlARTS). 11 WRESTLERS I SEE TAKING THE FREE SLOTS: Inoki, Okada, Omega, Ospreay, Moxley, Masami, Dump, Nagayo, Ozaki, Satomura, Jay Briscoe Inoki out of the top 100 last time feels a big mistake in retrospective, and I'm sure it's getting corrected. Okada, Omega and Ospreay are the defining workers of the current generation of fans, which seems to be heavily present in this edition of GWE. Mox has gained a lot, and I mean A LOT, of support since leaving WWE, and he's an almost unanimous WOTD at this moment, so between the recency bias and the reevaluation of his career before AEW, I think his place is secured. Joshi might be one of the most benefited from this edition's GWE, and Devil, Dump, Chiggy and Ozaki seem to be the new ones with more support now. Meiko's retirement last year I'm sure helped people appreciate the grandness of her case, and she's another joshi so I don't have trouble imagining her getting in. The Briscoes have only reinforced their case and I believe, for the huge amount of younger (and not so young) voters, they're an almost unanimous choice for best tag team of the XXI century; from both brothers, Jay has always had more consensus as the best wrestler, and his death might help elevate his figure as well. 8 WRESTLERS WHO MAYBE GET A CHANCE IF THE "MAYBE" GROUP FROM 2016 FALLS: Rock, Takayama, Sting, Kandori, Ishii, GUNTHER, Mark Briscoe, Roderick Strong You always have to take Rocky and Sting into account, as two of the biggest names in recent wrestling history that still resonate with a lot of fans. Sting specially, with his succesful AEW run and his legendary retirement match two years ago, might have gained unexpected support. But neither of them are generally considered elite tier level workers inside the ring, so I didn't put them on the previous group. Kandori is another joshi I can see getting much veter results this time, although her case being in part limited to the Hokuto rivalry for most people might hurt her. What I said about the Briscoes definitely applies to Mark, who is still one of the best in the world today as a singles guy; I'm sure he'll be a lock for 2036, when everything is (probably) said and done for him. Roddy is the same, one of the indy boom guys who remained heavily consistent throughout more than two decades and is still going strong (pun kinda intended), definitely someone a lot of people had in mind for their lists. GUNTHER has the recency bias of being currently the best worker in WWE in recent years, along with a godly indie run in the late-10s before that. 10s New Japan I believe it's gonna be one of the biggest winners this time, and Ishii's crazy consistency and top tier match catalogue for fans of the style/promotion is a force to take into consideration; he's not as popular as Okada or Omega but I believe he's next in line, for sure. Which only leaves me Takayama, who I believe got plenty of support in recent years, sadly due to his huge accident. The guy was an unbelievable pro wrestler in his peak and I believe more people discovered that from 2017 onwards.

Did Chihiro drop already? I missed her somehow

57 ballots for OC is insane, I love it. Awesome wrestler. I need to check his CHIKARA ant stuff or whatever it was.

I embrace the HHH hate and the persecution of us, his voters. Good job, HHHorde! I was sure Pillman wouldn't make the list this time, but I definitely didn't expect him to drop this early (I would have bet for Too Cold or Garvin first). He has a special connection with his fans, but, in the end, he doesn't have enough of a case compared to many others. It's like Owen, basically, but worse. I don't get voting for Dax and not for Cash, or voting them very separately. For me, it is clear FTR is one of those teams were they both bring the same amount of greatness to the table, and it's not like Dax's singles stuff is huge to give him a clear advantage. That said, both are awesome and I'm sure I'll vote for them by 2036, they still have a lot in the tank. A shame WWE wasted them for five straight years. I feel Rollins finishing this low is good news. I like him, but he's nothing special considering the style of wrestling he works. Voting for him feels, to me at least, like you might not be familiar with much better wrestlers working said style over the years. So I guess I'm glad those people aren't a majority.

Bianca Belair finishing over Rhea Ripley is pretty neat. She is the better wrestler after all. Jay White is a treasure, but he hasn't reach his full potential yet and I believe he never will, considering he's not one of TK's biggest names and his recent injuries. But he's one of those wrestler who should be helping redefine what a great wrestling match can look like on US tv and PPV. If I were the AEW booker I would have him as my top heel alongside Mox to help put García over as the next big thing. I votes for KOR, and that's two on my list out. His NXT run cemented what was already a pretty strong résumé for one of the very best wrestlers of the 10s, but his AEW run is adding even more, when you could consider him already done at some point. Larry Z dropping this early saddens me. One of the guys I'm watching more of at the moment, in order to feel myself comfortable with putting him on my list next time, and what an awesome heel. The Bruno rivalry is fucking amazing.

OMG Kikuchi dropped already? That's sad. I asume most of the 100s will be WWE guys, and those "almost-in-the-list" (*) kind of wrestlers are getting pushed down a lot of spots. (*)Edit: wow, and right now Wahoo, Yamazaki and Fuerza fell as well. Yeap.

Rhea is interesting because she's pretty good and if she leaves WWE and goes to Japan she would hit an awesome peak, I'm sure, but she's still so young and has only been adding to her case since 2023 more or less (and it's not like WWE lets you have the biggest output to begin with), so her getting some votes, and a top 10 one even, feels crazy to me.

Taichi is the first one dropping from my list, accurately as he was my #100. Such an unbelievably versatile and very effective wrestler, working the crowd like few others in current New Japan. His timing on his signature spots is excellent, not only mechanically (excellent striker, specially with kicks) but also narratively, a master of creating drama and make you buy every momentum shifting attempt. He works as a chickenshit heel as well as an underdog babyface, as a tag workers as well as a big match guy. Can succeed anywhere in the card. Long live the Holy Emperor.

This is honestly one of the only insane votes that I can really understand. The guy has the longevity and consistency to keep his act great and fresh, and if you value comedy wrestling in the same way you value the rest of wrestling (and frankly, why shouldn't you?), he has to be one of the best comedy wrestlers ever and that has to mean something on a project like this. And, as the best comedy guys, he can also back it up with great serious stuff when needed.

Dick the Bruiser, man. I recently watched his match with Verne in 1955 for the first time and completely fell in love with his performance. Gotta watch more stuff of his.

Yukari Ohmori is the first one that really surprised me getting this low. I didn't expect her to make it to the actual list but definitely closer than what she got. 13 ballots seems good enough, until you remember there's more than 400 this time. Ha.

My boy Taichi still alive and well hell yeah

The length of matches being something that push new fans back when it comes to the Pillars is funny to me, considering most of the modern classics that have been canonized in the last decade and a half are the same length and worked mostly on the same style.