Ed.

Stock Up: CM Punk - How could his stock not rise? He's returned after 7 years away, in his 40s, to have a great run where he's not only a top star in a hot promotion, but one of the best workers on the show too. Jon Moxley - I have a GWE rule that if someone wins my WOTY, they're on my list, and so far in 2022, the year of the bloodbaths, Moxley is my WOTY. The guy has been tremendous since returning from rehab. Hangman Page - He had no shot for me of making my list six months ago, but since then he's just been on an absolute tear of big performances in big matches during what could be the defining run of his career. 4 more years of this and he'll be on my list for sure. Bianca Belair - My favourite act in WWE, really enjoyed her feud with Becky capped off my a great match at Wrestlemania. Ilja Dragunov - Been meaning to nominate him for a while, but I've been a fan of him since the wXw days and I think he's having one of the better title runs of anyone in 2022. Alex Shelley - LOVE LOVE LOVE the Alex Shelley veteran run on the indies and Impact. Miro - Still a far way off being on my list, but I enjoyed 2021 Miro more than at any point of his career. AJW Roster - I've been digging through some early 90s joshi for the first time ever in recent months so the likes of Kong, Bull, Hokuto, Toyota and Yamada have gone from not being on my list to likely all being on my list. Stock Down: Roman Reigns - I like Roman and I enjoyed the first year of the Tribal Chief run, but I don't think I've enjoyed a match of his since the Summerslam match with Cena. I cannot ignore that he's had yet another terrible, derivative series of matches with Lesnar including another stinker of a main event at Wrestlemania. I don't feel like what's coming down the pike in 2022 will turn me around on him soon. Gunther - Not dipping by a huge amount, but I was someone that would have been pushing Walter for top 20 and I just don't think he'll be adding to that case as much now he's lost his aura a bit and working on the main roster where he's not gonna be a top guy on his brand anymore. Sasha Banks - Even before the story of last week broke, I feel like Sasha had had a quiet six months for WWE and a tag team run with Naomi wasn't going to add much to her case. Now she's in the doghouse who knows how long it'll be before we get to see big opportunities for her again in wrestling. Almost every modern male Japanese wrestler - What can I say, clap crowd era Japan is the last thing I want to watch these days so they're all naturally moving down the list

I've double checked and I can't see her so.. Bianca Belair One of my favourite wrestlers in the world today. You can tell as early as the Kairi Sane match in the Mae Young Classic that Bianca was gonna be a star, and that was only her third televised match ever. I thought she was a really good heel in NXT, but she's blown me away with her babyface run on the main roster. She's been in the best two womens matches in Wrestlemania history so she ticks the box for big matches, but her case is strengthened by a load of good TV performances in the past 4 years and with the title back on her again I think she's got a great chance to add to her case in the coming years. I think the beauty of her work is how many believable roles she can play; works well as either babyface or heel, incredibly athletic, good actor by WWE's standards when it comes to adding drama and emotion to her matches, she's freakishly strong to overpower any opponent she comes up against, but hardly the biggest girl on the roster so she can be overpowered and take a beating. Best use of hair in wrestling history must be worth a bonus point too! Vs Kairi Sane (14/7/17) Vs Sasha Banks (10/4/21) Vs Becky Lynch (2/4/22)

I don’t disagree with the sentiment at all that they’ve sacrificed a lot to get heel Roman on top, but Cody Rhodes did come out of Saturday feeling like one of the biggest babyfaces in the company. His promo tonight is probably the big hook to the post mania raw. I believe he’s even done interview since the re-debut stating his aim is to win the WWE Championship, something that eluded his dad, so I think they’re definitely setting up for him to be a main event player in the coming months. Drew did win his match, but it was all very midcard. I don’t believe he’s faced Roman for the title in Roman’s long reign, so that’s another possibility but I’d be stretching it to say Drew has momentum.

God damn Becky/Bianca was great. The Raw tag titles is the match I’m really looking forward to tonight, RKbro will be one of the most over things on the show and the other two teams should be pumped for their biggest show ever. It would be nice for Roman and Brock to prove that WM31 wasn’t a fluke. I’ve disliked every match they’ve had since then.

Apparently Ibushi was supposed to be the winner of the tournament before his injury, so given that would have been Zack’s round 2 opponent I wouldn’t hold your breath that this is some big push for Zack. He’s just gonna fall to Okada in April then be back down to where he was before the cup started. Looks to me Naito will challenge Okada for the title after Zack loses after he beat Okada in the cup.

Bret Hart tribute spots incoming.

Cody writing his new dream opponent list right now - Madcap Moss, Veer, Corey Graves, Tony D'Angelo, Boogs. The possibilities are endless.

Loss covered it in general, but to be more specific to Bryan, I feel like his career proves he's more than just someone who delivers when put with the right opponent. The guy spent a decade in WWE where he had to face a variety of talent level and they only trusted him in big spots when it suited them. A great Wrestlemania match against Kofi Kingston isn't a given, because we're not talking about Kofi Kingston as a top 100 guy who was having tremendous singles matches with other opponents. A great match with Triple H isn't a given, because we're not talking about Triple H as a top 100 guy. A great match with Bray Wyatt isn't a given, because we certainly aren't talking about Bray as a top 100 guy. I go back and forth on whether Bryan or Christian was Orton's best rival in WWE, but needless to say I don't see Orton finishing in the top 100 either. The Miz? forget about it. No doubt the AEW run is providing us a chance to see what Bryan's 30s would have been like if he was promoted by WWE as 'the best wrestler in the world', so it's given us more frequent great matches, but his case for GWE is much deeper than he had great matches with other great wrestlers. He isn't someone who sparkles for a few nights in the G1 and then does nothing for the rest of the year.

Might sound crazy, but I'd go Randy Orton. 2011 was one of the best TV years for WWE, and Orton was center of nearly everything great on Smackdown. The Punk feud, the Christian feud, the Henry feud. He even has a good match with Kane.

Kenny Omega for me, great tag team with Hangman that not only gave us the great Bucks match, but fun TV matches every week, as well as standout singles matches with PAC and Hangman. For sure though a weak year.

I'd go with AJ Styles, thought that was about as great of a first year in WWE as you can have.

At the moment it’s a no for me, but a watch this space because he’s essentially weeks into his big main event run as champion so if it all works out for him and we get 4 more years on top with great matches and a character arc that fans buy into big time then it’ll be hard to leave him off a top 100 list. I agree with the praise from El-P that his last two years in AEW has delivered some of the companies best matches, and I’ll just add that I thought the 2020 Omega/Page Full Gear match was an excellent opener to the show.

Bryan was the best wrestler in WWE, took 4 months off, then returned as the best wrestler in AEW. He'd get my vote. I was really enjoying Roman for the first half of the year but then the act started to wain, WWE ran out of interesting babyfaces and I was really disappointed in the Brock match. I've found Japan to largely be unwatchable in 2021, but Syuri has been fantastic whenever I've checked out her matches.

Naito announced he’s back for tag league so he’s tagging with SANADA again.

Best of luck to Mox and his family. It’s a positive sign he’s noticed a problem and seeked help for it.

Bryan's only a couple of months into his AEW run but already my hopes are paying off. It's so cool to see Bryan booked as 'the best wrestler in the world' and not Daniel Bryan: The underdog. I'm loving how he's establishing different finishers in each match, and down the line that's going to pay off big in longer, more important matches. I thought the Kingston match this past Friday was fantastic.

I'm excited for post WWE Bryan in general, but just looking at it from a GWE perspective it's great news. 4 more years in WWE would have added nothing significant to his resume, he already staked his claim to being the best WWE wrestler of the 2010s. A run in a hot promotion, with a roster full of fresh matches, booked by a booker that 'gets' Bryan from Day 1 sounds exciting and should pad an already strong resume. What excites me most is the possibility of Bryan working in Japan or with Japanese talent through AEW partnerships.

Orton Vs Christian over the limit 2011 would be my pick for a great, high end Orton match that’s not 85% down to his opponent. Orton and Jeff Hardy’s HIAC match is one of my favourite Orton performances in recent years.

There are more Orton matches than Ultimo matches that I enjoy so I'll go with Orton. I have no idea if Orton could make my top 100, but I am higher on him than most people and might one day try to make the case for him.

Not only that, but now Vickie is ‘wrestling’ next week teaming with Nyla. Really wish TK would move Vickie on rather than double down and use her more. Enjoyed the hell out of Omega Vs Jungle Boy and was relived not to have another Omega match with an interference finish.

As great as it is that AEW have picked up one of the legit greatest wrestlers in the world right now, they’ve sucked a bit of the air out of the room partnering him up with Vickie Guerrero. Flat debut, but hyped for the matches down the line.

Hell of a sprint between Woods and Riddle. Glad I cherry picked the show for that one. Virk was just out of his depth, but really that's on the company for putting him in such a big spot from the get go. If only they had that Samoa Joe guy on the payroll still to fill his spot.

He's tremendous in 2000, and has some really great highlights sporadically after that (2001 tag against Jericho and Benoit, HBK @ Summerslam 02, Bryan at mania 30), but more often than not he was pretty bad and a complete drag on the company. No chance whatsoever.

As it stands today - Bryan, Flair, Kobashi, Jumbo, Kawada, Misawa, Styles, Liger, Mysterio and WALTER, in no particular order other than Bryan leading the race for #1. This will be fun to look back on in 5 years time.

Relegation and heading into the summer break actually means Tony would be busier in the next couple of months than he's been since January's transfer market closed. Loved Miro Vs Darby, really good opponents for each other. Probably my favourite match Miro has ever had.