Makai Club #1

Glad Fujiwara ranked pretty high this time as well, particularly with the influx of newer voters such as myself. Absolutely deserved. Great wrestler. So charismatic in the ring too. Really the complete worker in that sense. Has the technique, ability to tell a compelling story even with his style and could potray any sense of emotion you'd want.

This is getting quite long now: 79-67

I dunno about that. AEW fans appreciate a lot of things, but a submission heavy style is still a stretch too far for those fans to invest in.

I've never been so happy for someone's success as Gunther's. Even with the weight loss, WWE could've botched him completely but clearly everyone in that company loves him and his work and pushed him too the moon and he produced the goods in the ring to reward it.

80. Jay Briscoe I’m not a big ROH guy, so I probably haven’t seen as much as I should have, particularly his 00s matches. But any Briscoe (or Briscoes) matches I‘ve seen, I really like. Probably not the personal connect needed to make a top 100, but he’s someone on the list of a full devoted project 79. Jaguar Yokota Jaguar is someone I forget how much I like until I see her. Such a trailblazer and an outstanding wrestler for her era. Imagine her 10 years later with the 90s era of Joshi? Damn 78. Bobby Eaton A favourite of mine. Unassuming until the bell rings and then watch the magic happen. Had him #89 77. Brock Lesnar Brock Lesnar might have spent the last 10 years phoning his way through matches. But for every match he spends suplexing people like they are jobbers, is a match where he goes for it and shines. Him and Balor was a wonderful match and showed a glimpse of what Brock can do. And then I watch his early run and fall in love. If I ranked WWE matches, he’d be in the majority of the top 20. Had him #18 76. Yoshihiro Takayama Any big fan of Takayama, I ask you to watch the UWFI run. You’ll gain a further appreciation for Takayama. Had him #59 75. Will Ospreay While I’ve cared for very little of his work since he made the jump to AEW, I think he’s still a pretty good wrestler. I voted for him. Would’ve been higher, but he sells like he’s in an anime and I will never soften on that dislike of that style. Had him at #80

I'll say this, it's not a boring list. It has a healthy number of surprises as well as scares. And it showcases that not everything is so uniformed to that one point of view. Just because the leading journalist say one thing, it doesn't mean it reflects on the wider audience. And whether or not you agree on the specific examples, it's no doubt healthy in combating echo chambers and unproductive discussions.

84. Dustin Rhodes Like Barry Windham, he’s a case of high peak with a lot of underwhelming work. But I find his work in WCW up-to his firing in 1995 endlessly watchable and full of tremendous performances. And even as Goldust, if you can get past all the gay panic stuff, I think he’s got some really good work in there. I didn’t vote for him, but I’ll always be a champion of his. 83. Minoru Suzuki I thought he had come and gone already, but I’m grateful he has not. For me, it was really tough to Minoru Suzuki with him being in his old man phase, where he travels, does a lazy strike exchange and leaves. But then I remember a time where Suzuki was one of the most entertaining, charismatic and unique performers in New Japan where everyone wrestled a similar style. Long are the days when Suzuki would break down an opponent limb by limb, but I’ll remember the matches against Saburaba, AJ Styles, Okada and Tanahashi. Voted him at #64. 82. Sabu Should’ve voted for him, but I couldn’t find a place for him. Sabu is a special breed of wrestler, who I always find myself mesmerized by when I watch him. You’d think that 30 years later that the appeal might wear off, and yet… Even with all the over exposure of table spots and dives to the floor, nobody can do it as dangerously as Sabu. 81. Kevin Owens The funniest part about Owens was everyone panicking about him being not only this high, but potentially higher. No, he is not a top 100 wrestler. But he does have quality work (mostly built around Sami Zayn) and is a great character worker on his day.

87. Ricky Morton I’m glad he hasn’t been forgotten. His record is quite pristine despite being a big tag team guy and not really venturing outside of that. I’m glad he has the Flair and Bockwinkel matches just to showcase. Not many tag wrestlers make the transition. It’s hard to really capture what Morton is great at. Great seller, great timing on offence and all those things. But he’s like lighting in a bottle. Him and Gibson really. Magic. 86. Tetsuya Naito Other than a strong two year period where Naito hit on all cylinders, not surprisingly when he faced Tanahashi in their extended feud in 2017, Naito has always been hit or miss. Great one match, rudderless in the next. And fortunately for him, he has enough quality matches to be called a great wrestler. And while I’m not a big Naito fan, which might have something to do with my non-vote, I think history will look kindly upon him as things become the canon classics for later generations. But I think the consistency puts him behind the other top wrestlers of his era of New Japan. Just lacks the details, the quality offence and the intensity. But not star power and charisma, certainly not. I am not surprised that he made it. I’m surprised he wasn’t higher actually. 85. Chris Benoit An awkward one, for obvious reasons. I don’t think anyone wants to hear how great he was, but I think his work speaks for itself. I said that I wasn’t going to consider personal and real life thoughts in regards to rankings and that remains for everyone. Voted for him #14. Yeah…

I don't want to say everyone because Naito was pretty much the most popular guy with fans, but Naito praise as a worker could be hit or miss depending on the fan, more so than Okada or Tanahashi.

90. El Dandy Incredible luchador. A complete eye opener when you actually watch him in his element and you can see what he can do. He’s got a talent for great drama, great offence and just making matches work, particularly apuestas. His performance in the three way with Santito and Casas is splendid. Voted for him at #55. 89. Roderick Strong Not my favourite, but he is always gonna be one of the most solid additions to a card that he’s on. I can name only a few classics he’s had, but if you want someone to have a really good match on the undercard, he’s your guy. Plus he and Kyle O’Reilly carried NXT for years as a team. Didn’t vote for him. And he’s a little too high, but I can’t hate it too much. 88. Bruno Sammartino I’m not really on the bandwagon of Bruno is great. He was decent enough and full of charisma and star power. He’s incredibly watchable when he’s got heated feuds and either a big bumper against him or a monster like Hansen. But I do think it’s impressive for someone of his era making it to the top 100 in a clear modern heavy list.

92. Mayumi Ozaki Not many words on Ozaki, other than she's a cool wrestler. Loads of personality, a great contrast to the more straighter characters of her era. And she’s a key part in some of the best tag team matches of all time. 91. Shinsuke Nakamura Nakamura getting a higher spot in spite of his last decade is more evidence of the newer fans, who watched 2010s New Japan, that took part in this project, including myself. Nakamura’s best work is truly the early 2010s, rather than his more famous period that fans might be familiar with. He is much less charismatic, but more serious, focused and ultimately dangerous. Although it’s hard not to be enamoured with Nakamura in the 2014-16 run. Nakamura has benefited and been hurt from his early pushes - being exposed that early meant that his roughness is on display but he was always full of potential and quality which shone through on occasion until it clicked, and boy did it click. Voted for him #56

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