Makai Club #1

95. Eddie Kingston More interesting than great. Although I haven’t really explored his years in CZW or CHIKARA, so I’m still sort of unfamiliar with Peak Kingston. However, in recent years I’m not that big of a fan. He has charm and a bit of an edge to him, but the Pillar Cosplay routine runs thin with me. It’s endearing to an extent, but Kingston’s physically pretty shot. But to keep this positive, I think Kingston is capable of still having really strong performances with the right opponents, such as Danielson and Moxley. And he essentially worked himself into a job in AEW when he was in his last months before he was set to retire, so all’s credit to him. 94. Claudio Castagnoli I wasn’t going to vote for him, largely because I don’t really connect with him as a wrestler and think he, like Roderick Strong, can just get by with being pushed while being strong bell to bell. However, he does has a sneakily great resume against a wide variety of opponents. He’s got some absurdly quality bouts against Kofi Kingston, which is crazy. I guess I felt that I couldn’t ignore him further, so I voted for him. And he isn’t undeserved to be fair. Voted him #74. Maybe too high. 93. Necro Butcher What can I say about the legend that is Necro Butcher? I believe I have seen him have a toaster thrown at him in a match. A unique moment in my fandom. And Necro is one of the few wrestlers to have multiple MOTYCs on one night, but usually they are in tournament format, but not Necro. On the same night as the famed Samoa Joe classic, he’d have another classic teaming with Toby Klein against the H8 Club, which is just as equally sick. Whatever you say about Necro, you can’t take that away from him. - Is this the 2000s Indie section for GWE?

98. Daisuke Ikeada Not my favourite shoot style wrestler, nor my go-to, but I always enjoy him when I watch his matches. He’s got a roughness to him that makes him stand out. And he was a solid undercard pick on the NOAH and All Japan shows. But I need to seek out more Battlarts to really get a handle on him. 97. Barry Windham It’s hard to really appreciate where Windham lands on the all time scale because his peaks were so tremendous and among the best any US wrestler has seen. However, he falls off several times, doing almost nothing substantial for months on end, sometimes years, only to show himself still to be a quality wrestler for brief glimpses. Maybe he just got bored or made the incorrect choices in his career, but I always have to hold myself back on praising him too much even though I love his mid to late 80s run. Voted for him as my #86. 96. Shinobu Kandori At one point, I had a phase of considering Kandori to be the best joshi. It’s hard to deny her aura and her uniqueness. She stands out among the pack as somehow totally different, which accentuates her skills. And her matches with Hokuto are the cannon classics of the era. I love the match against Hotta where she won the 3WA World title. But the depth perhaps isn’t there compared to her peers. Just missed the cut.

99. Tully Blanchard My 100th pick. I almost forgot about him, but after deep consideration, I had to vote for him. He is everything I think works as a wrestler. As a character, he completely and utterly commits to the gimmick and it never feels like a performance, but rather it IS Tully Blanchard. Tully is also a tremendous TV worker, capable of stepping up to bigger matches, including an all time TV match against Ron Garvin. Him as part of the Brain Busters with Arn is also tremendous stuff. Some of the most compelling tag wrestling stuff of the era - during the peak of tag team wrestling! And even in his older phases, I really like the match with Terry Funk at Slamboree 1994. It’s awesome. Super underrated show as well as match.

100. Chris Hero I think this is ultimately expected. If I was making a first draft of a top 100, I think Hero’s name would be considered. But when I broke it down wrestler by wrestler, Hero dropped considerably. Hero sort of peaked at several points, but truly in 2016 where he was THE indie wrestler of the day, which is impressive considering the talent around. But I’d really struggle to name a Hero match that I love. I’m sure if I’d get up my own spreadsheets, he’d have a few MOTYC in there though. I think 100 is a good place for him. He was a unique wrestler and worked in a way that was very interesting and exciting.

Roddy is a strong favourite for modern fans right now. And it helps he's seen as underpushed even in a world where pure in-ring work seems king right now. It gives them a story, an arc to attach themselves to. It sells better than Roderick Strong - King of the Backbreaker. But I do agree that he's much less special than some of the better wrestlers in the industry.

Out of the remaining 100, I'd say the only ones that truly stand out to me as surprising are: Kevin Owens. KO may have some good will for his recent years in WWE, working against Austin in a matc people loved (I never saw it) and he had a fab match with Zayn at WM against the Uso, who both totally collapsed as workers following that (and maybe even before it). But otherwise, I'm not really see the big change for him since 2016. Do people really LOVE the recent Cody matches? They are alright. I can't recall many great matches he's had in the period. Or any that didn't include Sami Zayn, actually.

Kudo benefits from the joshi fans liking her as well. She is just an extention of those fans.

He does work best as a contrast to the others. I also think because he's clearly limited compared to, let's say, Fujiwara, it makes him appealing as an underdog in those matches. That's how I always interpreted those matches.

I'll say this: out of all the shoot style wrestlers, Takada is the one I'm drawn the least to. I'm more likely to watch any of the big names over him.

MJF is an interesting one. Because there is a wrestler there, but he just reeks of inauthenticity to me. And I mean that in the sense, I never believe he's in a match. It's too much of a performance on his part. I can't invest when I seen the strings being pulled so obviously. The Punk series was good though. But that'll always be countered by him and Cole actively making me come out of the live experience in real time.

A few modern noms: Okabayashi - A tremendous wrestler. And the way he put in the performances he had in Big Japan is a testimant to his abilities, alongside another Big Japan wrestler. If I had to make a ranking of non-New Japan wrestlers, he'd be up there for the last decade. He was my #84 Nakajima - NOAH-isms plauge Nakajima. Matches that go on absurdly long and while I enjoyed his 2017 title run, the constant kick/kick battles can wear thin. But he was awesome a quality worker at his peak. And when he finally gained a personality, there was no in-ring worker who was as compelling as a character. Highly recommend the Hideyoshi Kamitani & Takuya Nomura vs The Aggression match from the Choshu produce show in 2018 to see what I mean. Missed the cut but I could've voted for him on another day.

Maybe its because Triple H was my favourite wrestler until I was like 13 (I had been hooked into wrestling since I was like 3 mind you) but I'll never be a big Triple H hater. But I couldn't justify voting for him with all his faults. Just too many bad matches to focus on his good ones which are plenty. But there are several victories in the recent batch, such as Seth Rollins dropping early. Thank god. Never saw someone has so soulless and dull. Seth somehow manages to turn even the crossfit, spot heavy style into a tedious excercise. And that's when his athletic ability was top notch. Now it's just okay and the rest is gettig worse.

Jay White is a modern guy that I could've voted for but with being in AEW and injury prone, I tend forget about him. Not everything he does clicks. A lot of the counter work can be contrived and clunky but when it clicks, it clicks. White is a wrestler who is reactive in a world where everyone is active. And that's always something I respect.

Dragon Kid sighting. Another Dragon Gate wrestler who has retained almost insane consistency over years since 1999. He's 50 now, if you can believe it and can still fly around with great ease. Had him 62. Could've been higher tbf

The NXT main events jumped the boat almost immediately after the Andrade/Gargano hype. It went straight to their heads and they confused epic matches with just kicking out of everything. And it's a shame to reduce it to that, but that's essentially what it was after a while. A shame because they were just on the cusp of something special and a star rating (which they claim not to care about) made them froth at the mouth for more. The only matches that might still hold up to any degree are the tag matches with the rest of Undisputed Era and Moustache Mountain. Those remain terrific.