CheapPop1999

Austin is a top 30 contender. His WCW stuff doesn't really do it for me, he gets lost in the shuffle in that fantastic early 90s roster and in the ring, he's a bit boring and generic for me. His raw peak from like 1997-2001 is pretty unreal and he's one of the few guys ever in America who brought a Tyson-esque intensity and unpredictability to wrestling TV. His matches with Bret are phenomenal, the WrestleMania 14 clash with Shawn is fantastic, the X-Seven match with The Rock, the Savio strap match, the Two-Man Power Trip tag, it's all amazing. He got a legitimately good match out of Vince McMahon in 99. His later career heel stuff doesn't rustle my jimmies too much, but I see the appeal. Either way, even with me not liking the early or late career, Austin is just flat out undeniable for a list like this.

Owen is a great character and a very entertaining TV worker. He also was able to shine in major feuds, like with his brother Bret in 1994. His Japan stuff is very meh to me and didn't age the greatest when I am supposed to wowed by his athleticism and he shows it off by jumping onto the top rope. He's consistently in hot environments against hot workers for his best stuff and that detracts from his own ability for me. I will admit his Shamrock series was a wildly creative set of carryjobs from Owen, but I think he lacks the blowaway super eye-popping performances I hope to see from someone that makes my list. He's among the last to be cut though.

Foley was the god of versatility for me and that puts him in the 30-50 range. He's a great monster against Sting and HBK, he's a great vengeful face against Triple H, Orton and Vader, and he's a great pure garbage worker against Funk and in a really fun match with WING Kanemura from IWA. I like his style and love the maniac bumps from a guy his size. Truly a very smart worker and too much of an icon to leave off a list like this, in my opinion.

LA Park is the man that got me into lucha and for that, I am forever indebted. He's on my list, mainly due to how much fun it is every single time he's on screen. He's great in multimans, always stealing the show with his signature goofy spots. He was great in WCW in the undercard sprint multimans and has an INCREDIBLY FUN match teaming with Silver King against Damien and Ciclope from a 1999 Nitro where they empty out all the weapons. He's a great stooging heel and he's a great gutsy babyface in his brawls, which are among the best ever in the history of the sport. He's magnetic in a really great way. The 12/5/2010 Mesias brawl got the full five stars from me, along with the 2017 Baracal Rush match. I'll pimp the Fenix match from the Crash as another great brawl from that time that doesn't get brought up a ton and a really great six-man from Tijuana with Parka, Halloween and Rey Mysterio Sr. against Rey Jr. Damien and Vampiro from 2001 for another really fun one. His exact placement is gonna be more based on gut when I get ready to compile. I think he has a firm ceiling around the 45-50 mark though.

HARASHIMA is amazing. With more exposure and "big" matches, I think he'd be an easy top 15 for me based on how much I love him. He's the best Japanese ace figure I have ever watched, in that he constantly makes the entire roster better in his interactions with them. Pair him with someone who often capsizes on themselves when given too much leash, like a Kota Ibushi or Takeshita or Tanahashi or Mike Bailey, and he makes a masterpiece with them. Pair him with someone who already knows how to work fast and in his style like a Dick Togo or Shigehiro Irie and you've got a stone-cold classic. His matches all make sense as logical and athletic contests, he combines junior pacing with heavyweight psychology and was the champion of a sub-20 minute physically narrative main event style. He rules. For me, he's a 20-30 ranked guy, similar to Taue.

CIMA is cool, but I think he lacks the consistent big match success of his fellow puro ace figures to be compared to them. The parallel I drew originally was Tanahashi, because they cover a similar time frame, but compared to Tanahashi, CIMA's resume just isn't there. I like some of the early 2000s stuff; there's a great ROH tag the day before the famous one, I think it's Blood Generation vs a Generation Next team of Aries, Roddy and Jack Evans, there's a great singles against YOSSINO from 04 linked above, and I like some of his later career stuff, like the sprint against Darby Allin on an early AEW Dark or the singles against Takeshita in DDT. For him to have a big match in PWG in 2007 against Bryan Danielson and to be unable to be carried even to something great is very telling. Misses my list and doesn't even really come that close.

Terry is one guy that I desperately wish we had more full footage of. If he was as accessible as the All Japan 90s guys are, he could have a shot for my list, but as of now, he's a guy with a lot of really awesome brawls on film but not enough for him to crack my top 100 ever. The Ricky Marvin match from 2021 is my favorite of his, just a fight with enough speed to keep me engaged. The Wotan match from 2016 rules ass too, though.

BIFF RULES! He makes my list, probably past 80 and might even be further down than that, but he has to be on there. There is not a modern indie guy better at producing the style of wrestling that I love to watch; stiff, angry, fast-paced, and technically sound. Biff is the human embodiment of that. His BEYOND ace run is magnificent, the series with Eddie Edwards is legitimately great long-term storytelling from an indie promotion without weekly TV. The touring matches with Thatcher, Gulak, and Mike Bailey all deliver consistently. His NXT work produced some great enhancement fights and a personal favorite tag of mine, Lorcan/Burch vs Undisputed Era from Takeover: Chicago II. His return to the indies with the Jon Moxley match and the Slade match from BEYOND are also giving him a good shot to make my WOTY list for 2022. A great career and my type of guy.

Windham is another personal favorite of mine and he's got one of the best cohesive narratives for a career from his original win over Harley Race to his Crockett Cup challenge against Flair. That run alone gives him a spot on my list but he's got a lot of fun stuff from 88-93 as well, like the Bam Bam Bigelow match at Starrcade, the Scorpio defense, and the ever-revolving door of tags and six-mans from 1992 WCW. In an alternate universe, he's probably the one taking down Hollywood Hogan at Starrcade 1997 instead of Sting, based on his connection to the crowd in the late 80s. A real five-tool player for wrestling; great offense, great selling, great storytelling, great matches, and great character work. The cliff he goes off after 1993 is really sad but it will probably give him placement somewhere around 60-70 for me. Also: This is quite literally the greatest comparison that sounds like nonsense I have ever seen on this website. Bravo sir.

Taue rules. He's a nasty heel early in his career and as he becomes the new Baba as NOAH gets off the ground, I love him even more. Consistently the best tag worker of all Four Pillars, the '95 Carnival final is the best Misawa match ever, and by the mid-2000s, he is always a hoot, either against Kobashi for the title or Nagata or my personal favorite, the match with Marufuji in 2006, where he gets a legitimately great match out of recently converted heavyweight Marufuji. He's a personal favorite for me, but I think he lacks the standouts on the resume to be anything more than the 20-30 range, which is where I will have him.