Ma Stump Puller

I had her low so I'm the opposite, pretty sick that so many were inclined to throw her on based on such a small sample size.

Oh no she does show up quite a bit during the early 2000's for JWP, this was just when they didn't have television slots so everything we have of that era is fancam, including a 30+ minute two out of three falls tag that reputation has it as a near-classic if memory serves.

I considered her for a bit but I hadn't watched her early JWP work (including matches that are only available on fancams). Maybe her weird 2020's comeback where she shows back up for one good match a year might swing her forward in 2036?

It doesn't take that much for nominations as well! You can just join the discord, ask someone to nominate with a mere 3 recommendations or post them yourself and that's it. You don't even need a account

I had GENTARO at #38 and I am at present contented with that choice. GENTARO is a marvelous talent that has I think two separate but interconnected sides to his career; you have his early to mid-stage career where he was a Bret/Shawn generation guy to an almost obnoxious degree (even down to doing the Michaels pose for his entrance and his old finisher LITERALLY being the Sweet Chin Music) but was nevertheless a very capable jr heavyweight who could pull off some really fun shindie matches with a whole host of different characters and had some really wacky spots in his pocket. The second half is him working a far more grounded technical wrestler who was more comfortable building to moments on the mat as opposed to high spots; this version picking more from NWA-style grindy matwork, more honed in around momentum changes and attacking limbs. In terms of style on the surface there's a big change for sure, but I think for the most part GENTARO retains in both a great sense of psychology. He really gets how to build to something, make the slower elements of the match feel more worthwhile by always adding in little counters or attempts at them, or by just selling the danger of any hold he himself ends up in. There's something to be said about the fact that he's happily having solid TV-length matches in the undercard for the last couple of years with the occasional technical epic when he probably could have been content doing a whole lot less at his age.

I had Tomohiro Ishii at #42 and I feel like that's about right. He's someone who I dug more of his early work as a upstart Choshu disciple in seedy indie promotions than later on when his style became extremely oversaturated, but if anything for me that's just more evidence of his greatness as a worker, he was not only able to popularise a specific philosophy to wrestling but he was arguably one of the best to do it, applying the same pacing to a variety of different situations without it ever feeling tired or overdone. I will grant that criticism that sometimes he's far too indulgent to people trying to do the Shibata match with him without then following the context or even any of the actual structure of said matches, but otherwise I think his immense longevity speaks for itself; to this very day he's still capable of the same quality albeit shorter and is a standout on AEW for his TV-length matches after nearly 30 straight years of wrestling.

He is truly the thinking man's wrestler

I had Kazunari Murakami at #45 and from the ballots I've seen I might even be underselling him a little bit with that ranking. Murakami stands out primarily for me as someone who had his "character" figured out from a very early stage. He starts off as a competent but green MMA guy but after 6 months he's already very good at the things he would become great at (brawling, offence, bursts of intensity etc) and that never really leaves him for the rest of his career even when age and injuries creep up on him. His work is chaotic in every sense of the word; some of his matches are incredible violent sprints that feel more akin to a deranged B-movie slasher than a wrestling match, and some of them are just flat out sloppy affairs that don't really get going any. He is for sure a crowbar in the sense that the man is not capable of having good matches with everyone. But the people he can have good matches with? He has INCREDIBLE work with them. People like Ishikawa Otani or Nagata come to mind as some of the greatest Puro brawls of the 21st century. People who can handle his kind of chaos are almost always having this epics that go maybe 8-minutes tops but are also somehow just long enough to not be overwhelming to the senses or boring. He's very good at managing to always top just at the peak of the heat rather than letting the match go on further than necessary, a skill that, needless to say, is almost a lost art these days. Not to also mention that while it's not a thing he does often his actual grappling is more than solid and he's able to keep up with the likes of Nakamura and the Battlarts crew when he's not working the gimmick of him being supremely weak to submissions. I think ultimately what appeals to people is his ability to commit to his character irregardless of the people or settings, he's always contributing something even if it doesn't always work out as well as you'd expect. There's something admirable about that that resonates with voters.

I had Kazuyuki Fujita at #47 and I suspect will be one of the few brave souls who will have him on their top 100. Fujita as I've described in greater detail earlier in this thread is very much a caveman who feels out of time after the peak of Inoki-Ism passes yet nevertheless still endures within the wrestling scene as this weird anomaly. He still can't take a backdrop or suplex bump properly but he has had some of the most fascinating matches of the last decade or so purely because his presence forces his opponent to tackle him in unique ways. You got a 20 minute Hideki Suzuki grappling epic in 2022 or him squashing aces like they're nothing in main event affairs. What was fascinating watching him was that Fujita always GAVE the impression that he was this stubborn worker but in actuality on recollection I noticed he was a lot more versatile than I gave him credit for, especially in recent years. His ability to fill roles in and get people over is very underestimated, especially when he's with someone who he actually wants to bump around for. His earlier stuff is also I think at times unfairly maligned as well, he is a solid sprint worker and carries a unique danger-factor about him where every move feels like a legit worldending disaster. For what he's good at he's very good at, and his negatives aren't nearly bad enough to be a detriment to his enjoyability.

The Pancrase work/shoot stuff (we know there was AT LEAST a couple of matches that were worked to a point or were legit shoots with a determined winner) is certainly interesting to investigate, I just figured it was too all over the place for now for anyone to really reliably use it to judge the rest of his career.

I had Masakatsu Funaki at #48 on my ballot. My main positives about Funaki and why he's so low on the top 100 is that watching him in shoot-style feels like he's a decade beyond his peers; from a technical standpoint he feels like a completely different beast, stringing together strikes, slams and submissions in little distinctive ways to feel wholly unique from the pack while also experimenting with radical time lengths from 40-minute affairs to less than 10, working between legendarily brutal sprints or long-form grappling affairs. Make no mistake, very few at that point and time were making such a concerted effort to coordinate what they were doing in these sort of matches bar organising who went over. it really felt like he was the impending Next Big Thing, but that moment never really reckons. In UWF he's surpassed popularity-wise by Maeda and in PWFG he is a very big star in a small pond that never gets to actually face off against the other potential star in Minoru Suzuki so they kinda awkwardly orbit each other until they and others leave to greener pastures to Pancrase. With that said though, his quality of work both there and as a rookie in NJPW is astonishingly good at the high-end. What really makes his placement for me is his comeback work in AJPW; after the first 6 months where he figures out what he wants to do he really hones in on this brutal hard-hitting persona that can realistically win off any single strike or hold which makes him wholly unique in that company; Pro-Wres Love era is defined by gimmicks, stories, WWE-isms Muto borrows, so having someone who needs none of that is again a concerted attempt to stand out from the crowd. Who could envision having a Triple Crown match only 4 minutes long AND also have it be brilliant? Turns out it's Funaki. I think all in all the word to define his ring work as a whole is "pioneering" especially in his efforts to work with guys like Minoru Suzuki or Suwama where in one it's a huge 80's style blood feud and the other is a more classical Kings Road/90s NJPW hybrid. One could struggle to put those pieces together (hell Tanahashi infamously stunk the room out trying to do that with Murakami) but with Funaki it never felt like he was out of place or drowning. There's a certain level of genius required to make that work and I think he had it in spades. My only real drawback is that as his career continued it was clear he became a lot more content with just showing up; he could still have good to great matches (KAI in 2015, Fujinami in 2016, HARASHIMA tag in 2017, Aoki the same year, Abe tag in 2021, Fujita in 2022) but for the most part he was just there unfortunately. With that said I think most of that was boring at worst and never got truly unwatchable so it isn't a huge knock. All in all though I think #48 is a good enough slot.

I had Command Bolshoi #49 on my ballot and I feel pretty good with that placement. As I said above I think Bolshoi will be one of the major culture-shocks coming from the 2016 list since her work has become a lot more recognised (partly with the help of myself and others, partly because of footage accessibility pushed by Bolshoi herself). Even early on when she was more of a pure high-flyer act she definitely had a way of working that seemed totally dynamic compared to the scene at the time with her influences varying from IIave, lucharesu and a bit of like 80's-era NJPW, it's pretty fascinating. I'd argue though that her best work was in the 2000's/2010's where she finally gets it and becomes this super cool grappling master who can hang with the best in the field, an almost Bret-like figure who elevates whoever she'd be in the ring with while also nailing everything she herself is trying to do or communicate to the crowd. In terms of pure grappling I'd say very few surpassed her in the field, maybe Yoshida/Fuiji but that's a stretch. Watching her (unaired) JWP shows as well right now and she's always a highlight, either working silly undercard comedy, a vet/rookie tag trying to get other people over or the occasional big-time main event, there's never a feeling that she's not in her element or struggling to make it work. Generally I'm a huge fan of swiss-army types and Bolshoi is I think one of the more refined examples of that, only hampered by lack of footage/exposure. Thank god that seems to be changing though.

I had Dynamite Kansai at #50 on my ballot, and I'm mostly fine with that. She has a legendary peak in the 90's that makes her one of the hottest acts in the whole industry; a rep that is totally earned by her ability to bulldoze through people with some of the sharpest kicks around while also always being able to tie it back with some solid selling and ability to let a match heat up and cool off as opposed to trying to go full go-go-go all the time. Her work afterwards as you can see from the thread is rather polarising but from what I've seen from GAEA and OZ she's half and half in singles (depending on if she's with someone capable of carrying the pace or not) and pretty good in tags. She remains I would say still just as capable of building a match even if her illness means she can't really match what came prior physically. Ultimately it came down to her post-prime work being strong enough alongside her peak for me to consider her at the very end of top 50.

Kenny will rank highest I think, that or Okada. Ospreay is a little younger and doesn't quite have the same groundswell of support those two have. Roman and Ospreay I don't think will make top 50 from the ballots I've seen, but considering we have almost 300 at this point anything is possible. Cody will most likely not rank.

I had Shuji Kondo at #55 on my ballot. My general understanding was that I'd pick people who I thought were sick, and Kondo is the pinnacle of SICK wrestling. He's this little meathouse of a brute who can do seemingly everything and look great doing it. As Jom states above he has a well-tracked career of balancing being a bully to Jr's while also being able to work an underdog David-lite act against even bigger fish like Takayama or Kojima and not seem out of place doing either. He fits in very well with the style set at the time but I think he takes it to the limit with just his sheer physicality, some matches he's throwing himself around at ridiculous speeds that simply seem impossible. He truly makes it seem like he's one of the few guys justified in no-selling a huge bomb or spot because he's just that crazy-looking normally that staying still seems unnatural. Huge peak in the late 2000's to early 2010's while also having I'd say a very strong post-peak career, partly down to DG's structure letting him preserve himself so he basically stays at a great level of quality for pretty much almost 2 decades? Even today at nearly 50 he's still capable of having good enough matches with people half his age which is commendable.

I had Yoji Anjo #59 on my ballot. For me it was a balance of the fact that he was a legitmately very good shoot-style guy, not the greatest striker or grappler but knew how to hang with anyone's level of talent regardless of their spot on the roster and when he figured out how to be a professional asshole on top of that? Greatness. His case is mostly defined by his 90s peak as UWF-I's greater focus on character drama and showmanship was ideal circumstances and he is one of the few talents to tangibly benefit from the inter-promotional work they did with just how well his shithouse antics fit against excellent bases like Chono or Hase. He also has I think a very solid match with Tamura as well around the time which made me wish they'd have met up later in RINGS. His work afterwards isn't as impressive (mostly down to him getting out of shape/PRIDE commitments) but he does have some enjoyable work in AJPW in the early 2000's, his singles matches with Kawada and Kojima especially come to mind.

I had Necro at #62 on my ballot. I generally am not a fan of the hyperviolence trend around the time where Necro was on the up and up but I made an exception for him because he gave a lot more than just blood and props, namely through his ability to fit any role or any opponent's needs despite his limited physical ability. He could really make anyone look like the greatest killer on Earth or drag them to something resembling it, or could work a mean bloody heel who could brawl and get the crowd to root for them. It's really crazy how some years it felt like Necro was the most must-watch out of the indies if not just for volume but for raw quality as well, there were some occasions where it seemed like he was pushing the boundaries of how much a deathmatch guy could do outside of the deathmatch stipulation and I'd argue that reputation and record hasn't been surpassed to this day. The other thing is that he's STILL wrestling! I checked out some of his 2025 matches and one of them was a 8 minute no-ring match inside a cramped bar, one was a Last Man Standing match where he carried a guy to a fantastic blood-brawl, and the other was taking a relatively green fella to a huge glass/barbed wire main event where he invoked Tenryu by punting him in the head with boots on and punched him for like 8 minutes straight and still had the ability to make them look like an equal. He's still very good at what he does and is namely why he's on the top 100.

I had Alexander Otsuka at #66. Otsuka's main appeal for me was that he was a legitimate athletic freak, someone who could grapple you one minute and do springboard moonsaults the next without exactly worrying about how those two worlds would converge. He could've probably been a solid MMA fighter but he instead decided to throw himself around on a mat for a living. Generally what I also enjoy is that he's very much committed to the shtick of being a full on-grappler, he sucks with strikes (even to the point of making them seem as such) nor does he really want to use them. Sometimes that works out, sometimes he gets outgrappled by someone even better or kicked into unconsciousness, either way he only really has one way of doing things. The main reason why I don't have him higher is generally down to his longevity. His PRIDE commitments meant that he was essentially DOA for a good couple of years and only able to do a couple of dates a year, which is unfortunate since by the time he comes back wear and tear has taken a considerable toil on him physically and he is nowhere near the man he was in the 90's or early 2000's, to the point where some years he's just doing has-been tags for the majority of the year. He does get some good matches on occasion but generally watching his stuff if he wasn't over a Battlarts logo or with Ishikawa exactly was just so forgettable unfortunately. That said you still have I would say a great number of years where he is entertaining as anything to watch, certainly nothing like him these days either.

I had Mr. Gannosuke at #69 (!!!) on my ballot. I think generally looking back Gannosuke was a revelation for me, I love throwbacks and Gannosuke spends a solid chunk of his career doing a very good job of working as a sleazy grappler that is very much pulling from those 80's wrestlers in style and substance. It helps that he can actually go with some of the more athletic types at their pace as opposed to dragging things down, and he's a nifty brawler to boot. One of the best heels of the 90's to boot, there was no way I could do a top 100 without him being there.

I had Shuji Ishikawa #75 on my ballot. There's something to be said about how grand someone's career is when you can legitmately find like 3 moments in time that could be determined as their "prime" career-wise. Ishikawa had his BJW run where he did great stiff-affairs with their crew (arguably the MOST proficient when it came to pushing boundaries) alongside being a deathmatch pro, then he had his AJPW stint where he holds the tag titles with Suwama for what feels like forever and now we have his indie run where he's having pretty great work in every promotion you can think of and even some you can't. He's not terribly versatile; you're getting violence with his hands or with weapons; but it's about just how impressive he's been able to use those limitations to his advantage irregardless of the opponent or setting. He has had a hell of a career and is still adding to it week by week.

I ranked Kazuo Yamazaki #79 on my ballot. His is a bit of a strange case, someone who exceled in shoot-style but never really got the role that I think he eventually deserved if not down to his lack of ego. Original UWF he came in as a green Sayama trainee and did fine, only his first Maeda/Sayama match really became anything beyond decent for the house style. When he goes to NJPW he picks up really quickly in quality though and by the founding of UWF Reborn he's more or less the wrestler he'll be for the next 15 years, a great gatekeeper with solid offence and a capacity to get something good out of anyone he's paired with. That reputation almost hurts him to an extent since he never quite has those stand-out incredible performances under these promotions as often as you'd like and he can feel a little bit safe at points, but otherwise I enjoyed his output there. Most would agree that his peak was when he was a consistent force in NJPW's G1's and I'd concur with that, his work blends in perfectly with the lads and the house style where matches are shorter and carry more weight with less work. He takes a rookie Fujita to his first I would say solid match and is a good hand as a midcard tag guy outside of his bigger singles work. I can't really say that he's got much of a peak though, his entire case is more or less founded on the fact that he was always at LEAST a competent wrestler with a strong floor that on occasion gets to prove that they should've been capable of a lot more.

I had Batista at #80 on my ballot. I think aside from the usual tired clichés ("he can't wrestle!" "overpushed!") Batista has an interesting rise in his wrestling career; he starts off objectively just rough in the ring, gets a super-push and actually starts to earn it rather than clashing and burning. Despite his advanced age his stuff from like 2005-onwards for the vast majority is really good barring Vince booking, he knows exactly when to be explosive and intense and when to build to a comeback or a huge momentum switch to get the crowd onside. You'd never think of him as a ring general but in a LOT of matches I was watching Batista was naturally just revolving around himself or dictating the pace which in many cases meant eternal bores like Kane were getting their best matches for a long while out of his efforts. Got more and more comfortable to the mic to the point that he was for the vast majority of the time a better heel than Orton and a better face than Cena, his last fulltime run especially was extremely entertaining and hell even his 2014 return where he was out of shape still had those stellar Shield tags, so why not include him?

Masanobu Fuchi was #83 on my ballot. My accusations of him being extremely dry as a worker at times aside, Fuchi is very much one of those that benefits a lot from his incredible longevity, even if the consequence of him never becoming a heavyweight means his coverage of footage from early years is lacking. He could take on any role required (and had the technical capacity to make anyone look good while doing it) and even his later years post-2000/2001 where he sinks into the undercard as an opener-style comedy act is pretty fun, he's very self-aware of his age and makes whole routines around being this old fogy who hurts his back off scoop slams or takes outside breaks when he exerts himself too much. It helps also that on occasion he gets to flex the fact that he's still in good shape with the occasional singles (Tenryu in 2004, Hayashi in 2010) and even his Yuma Anzai singles from 2024 with him at a extravagant 70 years of age. Fuchi is hurt by his occasional big matches feeling a little cold alongside the limitations of his style meaning he never got a giant feature slot at the top of the cards; with that said, he's still a incredibly sick worker for what we do have on paper, which it turns out it almost 3 decades worth of good material.

I had Jackie Sato #81 on my ballot. The democratization of public footage over the last decade has benefited Sato a lot since we've been able to see more of her actual longer-match work as opposed to a couple of TV snippets and/or forum hearsay, the conclusion I've seen is more or less that yeah, she was that good. Very strong at portraying intense battles of attrition, raw exhaustion at points, alongside being a pretty nifty grappler that knew how to really get a crowd interested in what she was doing even if it was relatively benign. Being in an era where you're surrounded by some of the best of all time like Jaguar or Masami for many would be an impossible task to stand out but Sato makes it seem almost easy. The JWP stuff as little exists is a lot of fun as well, even her legit shoot-match with Kandori is in itself a very enjoyable experience in just how fucking stubborn she is about the whole thing despite going in with a world champion Judoka contender. Definitely someone that I hope gets more eyes with the ballots as she's a very good worker and well beyond her time.

Mariko Yoshida will I think 100% be on the overall official list, I've seen too many ballots at this point with her included in a prominent position for that to be dismissed. Same with Meiko with her retirement match just a year ago still ringing true and well with voters.