club

Shocked that I was the high vote on Sano.

Definitely agree with the culture element. I'm from the North West of England where you'd find a Jim Breaks or Brian Maxine type in every pub. Watching WoS with Brits, the harder bit to grasp is the differences in logic between it and most US or Japanese wrestling. For example the way wrestlers flip and roll to "go with the hold", or generally taking a bump off the turnbuckle rather than sticking to the corner. I think this is the biggest reason it struggles to garner a stronger following.

It's a tough sell. Looks drab and the pro wrestling physics feels jarring until one gets used to it.

Sad seeing Clive Myers so low at 481. Should have voted for him.

Is the project based on 'in-ring footage' or just 'footage'? If it's the latter, I can definitely see a case.

Tamon Honda only receiving 4 votes - from 8% to <1% of ballots - feels the most sign of the times result yet.

I was the lone Sid Cooper vote. Regal's childhood favourite wrestler. Surprised to see Konnan and Sakaguchi so low. Figured they had a bigger niche.

A top-tier shithouse. Nominated him, then didn't vote for him. Glad someone else did.

I like the formal nominations. Surely the ultimate point of this is to share and discuss wrestlers. Without nominations we don't get that.

Of the pillars, Kobashi will be comfortably the top ranked.

Always dug the kickpads no shoes look. Rewatched some of Yamamoto matches vs Han and regret not seriously considering him for my list. Also that I had Volk too low.

Who did you miss?

WIth all the spooky wrestlers getting cut, I don't like EVIL's chances in WWE.

Of the modern guys, who ranks highest? Ospreay? Kenny? Okada? Roman? Would assume they'll all feature in the top 50. Where does Cody land?

Submitted my list earlier this week. Already want to change it. Roll on 2036. Genichiro Tenryu Terry Funk Jim Breaks Kiyoshi Tamura Yoshiaki Fujiwara Akira Hokuto El Hijo del Santo Jaguar Yokota Shinya Hashimoto Bret Hart Negro Casas Antonio Inoki Kenta Kobashi Hiroshi Tanahashi Nick Bockwinkel Ric Flair Tatsumi Fujinami Steve Grey Mitsuharu Misawa Bull Nakano Keiji Muto Chigusa Nagayo Jushin Thunder Liger Akira Maeda Tarzan Goto Riki Choshu The Destroyer Randy Savage Shinjiro Otani Volk Han Naoki Sano Ricky Steamboat Stan Hansen Aja Kong Mayumi Ozaki Vader Marty Jones Shinobu Kandori Arn Anderson El Satanico Osamu Nishimura Yoshihiro Takayama Sid Cooper LA Park Andre The Giant Eddie Guerrero Gilbert Leduc Steve Austin Jack Briscoe Blue Panther Nobuhiko Takada Kazuo Yamazaki Toshiaki Kawada Rey Misterio Jr Bryan Danielson Atsushi Onita Sabu Atlantis Tully Blanchard Giant Baba Rick Martel Perro Aguayo Masakatsu Funaki Jun Akiyama Devil Masami Mick Foley Jumbo Tsuruta Sangre Chicana Virus Tatsuo Nakano Jerry Lawler Kyoko Inoue Pirata Morgan Billy Robinson Dynamite Kid Meiko Satomura Brian Maxine Tommy Rich Yuji Nagata Yoji Anjo Lou Thesz Minoru Suzuki Hiroshi Hase Shinsuke Nakamura Samoa Joe El Dandy Johnny Saint Mark Rocco Dump Matsumoto Zack Sabre Jr Fit Finlay Akira Taue Jackie Sato The Great Sasuke Masahiro Chono William Regal Shawn Michaels Dick Togo Yoshinari Ogawa Yumi Ikeshita

Ended up with Kandori at #38. There's a certain no fucks given attitude she projects better than anyone. Slightly unhinged like things could go west at any moment. Her stuff's so compelling for it.

Had her at #93 for much the same reasons.

LA Park and Lou Thesz made mine. I have the suspicion Lord Alfred had a top 100 career, but footage.

Great seeing Bomber getting some love.

Great write up. Encapsulates what made him special in the context of 90s WWF.

You should totally submit a ballot! Don't feel obliged to put anyone on based on obligation/rep or anything of the sort. A list like this will never be finished.

Great post. I have Tamura at #4 currently, between Jim Breaks and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. What these all have in common is how good they are at leading opponents through these matches. Tamura will leave just enough openings for his opponent to make things flow well, without leaving so much open as to spoil the illusion of being uncooperative.

Might sneak onto my list. Such an under-appreciated guy. The King Ben match is almost proto-UWF and one of the best matches of the era. His deafness isn't overplayed but adds a neat wrinkle to his matches.

Nagata years as a top guy seem better the further away they are. At the time there was that taint of the losses to Mirko, and later Fedor, that hurt his aura. He'll slot in somewhere around #80.

Thanks for the recs. Thought the Hase and Kawada matches were both great. What a weird promotion post-NOAH All Japan was.