elliott

I ranked Atlantis 46th in 2016 and I feel good about that. Its a little lower than I anticipate having him this time around. I view him as a top 20-40 guy. All time babyface performer. Everyone knows about the top tier matches and how far apart they are. I always liked him in random trios matches as an over babyface who can come in and nail his spots. He's not Hijo del Santo (well no one is) but I feel like whenever I saw his name on a trios, I could at worst count on him to come on and nail his highspots. Maybe that isn't the case but its something I'll keep an eye on this time around because like I said we all know the top tier stuff.

I ranked The Destroyer 47th in 2016 and I fucking blew that one. Destroyer is someone I think of as a top 5 contender but when it comes time to make a list I sort of expect him more in that 7-15 range. But I think about him on that level. Literal genius who understood pro wrestling as well as anybody.

I ranked Jack Brisco 48th in 2016 and I feel great about that. Its Jack Brisco . He's highly regarded. No one is going to question seeing him on a list. I can say "Oh I only ranked him 48th because of lack of footage." But I honestly have no opinion of this ranking because I haven't watched a Jack Brisco match in 5 years or even thought about him. Someone I want to refamiliarize myself with because I know I watched a decent amount in the last project and liked it well enough to rank him this high. Would welcome recommendations for brawls especially. If I want to find technical Brisco that will be easy enough.

I ranked MS-1 49th in 2016 and I fucking blew it with that one. MS-1 is a top 25 candidate for me and I hope I can find space for him there. At his peak he is a perfect pro-wrestler. Lack of footage and longevity hurts him but there's no way I've seen 48 wrestlers better than MS-1.

I ranked Jun Akiyama 50th in 2016 and I feel fine with that. I don't have anything else to say about Jun Akiyama at this point.

I asked about a good Billy Robinson brawl over in Billy's thread and Matt was quick to come in with an Billy Robinson vs Abdullah match. Its funny because when I made that request for a Billy brawl, I almost included a the thought "He must've had an interesting match with Abdullah at some point." Abdullah has become, perhaps not a "Hub" for me, but one of the best "control groups" out there. In the last few months I've watched Abby against Kintaro Oki, the Destroyer, Giant Baba and Terry Funk. I will watch this Robinson match today. They're all pretty similar but also just a little different based on what the opponent can do. Its interesting to see the various approaches people take with Abdullah because you basically know what you're getting from Abby and he's such a singular character.

I shouldve just looked for a Robinson vs Abby match to begin with.

I ranked Rick Martel 51st in 2016 and I don't really know what I feel about that. I think I got a little carried away, but I also think he probably belongs on a top 100 list. Don't get me wrong, he's an amazing pro-wrestler, but Id be surprised if he got that high on my list against. Martel was an awesome babyface wrestler. Incredible seller. But the sort of matches and role he excels at: babyface 80s technical title match, just doesn't appeal to me as much and that's going to limit how high he can get for me without something extra to push him over the top. A better heel run at some point or some violent brawls would really help his candidacy for me. I see him in that 80-140 range where I could vote for him or not. That said, I absolutely see the appeal and understand if people would want to rank him really high. He was excellent at what he did. Just other people did stuff I value more.

I ranked Billy Robinson 52nd in 2016 and I feel great about that. His best matches are amazing. He's always interesting to watch regardless of opponent. Really he's one of those guys where the weirder he opponent the more excited I am to watch the match. I'd always like to see more. A specific request if anyone's got one one off the top of their head, is there a great Robinson brawl?

I voted Dustin Rhodes 53rd in 2016 and I feel just fine about that. Just checks all the boxes. Good right away. Great shortly thereafter. Has a dip in quality, but at the same time developed one of the most enduring gimmicks of his generation. Dips again because of personal problems but then comes back with a vengeance and becomes a top level wrestler again. Had all the tools in the world. All of the advantages and disadvantages that come with being Dusty Rhodes' kid. But no matter who's kid he was he was a great wrestler.

I ranked Greg Valentine 54th in 2016 and I feel pretty good about that. Honestly Greg might belong like 20 spots higher. At his best he was really great. He might have the best feud in WWF history (vs Tito) and JCP history (vs Piper). Managed to make a team with Brutus Beefcake not only work but be actively good. Great offensive wrestler. Everything Greg did looked great. But he was also an awesome seller. He's someone I thought was really dull as a kid but as an adult he's a damn near perfect wrestler.

I have definitely reached the "I fucking blew it section" of my 2016 list because I ranked Andre 55th in 2016 and I fucking blew it. I love @Dav'oh's post above. I understand the criticisms you can throw out. The endless series with John Studd and other disappointing WWF matches. You might think he's an embarrassment in his later career. Whatever. I just don't care about those things. Andre was always a marvel but now we can point to a ton of examples of Andre backing it up with work. You want a world class brawl? YOu want a classic title match? You want comedy? You want a multi-man? You want face work or heel work? You want impressive young lion work? You want someone who looks world class in their physical prime? You want a valuable post prime? You want high end all time great matches? You want the greatest natural character in wrestling history? Andre has it all. He's closer to #1 than he is to #50.

I rated Otsuka 56th in 2016 and I fucking blew it with that one. He's a top 20 contender for me. I've never seen an Otsuka match I haven't enjoyed. He's as likely to cave in your skull with a headbutt as do a giant swing. One second you might see some crazy shoot style mat work and the next he's doing a tope con hilo. Has the input, the output, is as unique as anyone of his generation. The Matsunaga match is otherworldly. I have been a huge fan of BattlArts since I first saw it and Otsuka has been my favorite since day 1. Probably my favorite wrestler of the last 25 years.

I voted LA Park 57th in 2016 and I fucking blew that one. I know people will say Park hasn't gotten the week to week treatment that many top tier candidates have. People should go back and look at his AAA work yada yada yada. And they'd be right. Try and get as full a picture of as many people as you can. That said, Park is a top 25 candidate for me. His best stuff are some of the best matches ever. Extremely versatile. Can be a violent insane brawler or can work hilarious comedy spots. Great command of the crowd. Really good when he was younger and got better and better with age. Much of the modern wrestling scene has passed me by, but whenever I hear about a new big La Park match I try and watch it and more often than not come away thinking it blows away any of the other recent modern wrestling I may have watched. Basically LA Park is the fucking man and merits serious consideration not just to be on the list but to be top 50 at worst.

I ranked Yuki Ishikawa 58th in 2016 and I completely fucking blew it with that one. Ishikawa should be closer to the top 20. He's been since the early 90s and was never not awesome. The rivalry with Ikeda is the closest thing to Lawler vs Dundee since Lawler vs Dundee. Its not just Ikeda though. He's got classics with Carl Greco, Otsuka, Murakami. He's got the peak, the consistency the longevity. He's not my #1 but if I saw someone rank Ishikawa the best wrestler ever I'd just say "Yeah that fucking rocks."

I voted for Ron Garvin 59th in 2016 and I feel great about that. Maybe a little high but then I think about the Tully match. And the Flair matches my god. I watched a 3/86 Cage match between Garvin & Flair I'd never even heard of and its so absurdly great I couldn't even believe it. Just exudes toughness. Garvin is fucking awesome.

I ranked JOhn Cena 60th in 2016 and I feel fine with that. I don't have anything else to add about John Cena.

I ranked Foley 61st and I feel good about that. He's out of that 80-140 range of might make it or not and is closer to that 40-60 range where he's pretty comfortably safe. In the last 5 years, I've watched a decent amount of 90s Foley and I gotta say he went from being someone I was no longer interested in to being reminded of why I thought he was so awesome in the first place. I LOVE the best Foley stuff whether its the Dude Love match, the brawls with the Nasty Boys, the preposterous garbage stuff against Terry FUnk. The 10/94 match against Sabu is one of my favorite US matches of the decade. Man I fucking love the Sting matches too and I almost forgot about those. I could go on and on. He has probably the shitiest offense of anyone that will definitely make my list and I think his in match screetching is one of the most obnoxious things any great wrestler regularly did. But, he was a brilliant performer and I will always have a place for him.

I ranked Jerry Blackwell 62nd in 2016 and I feel good about that one. Its probably a little high, but Blackwell is my kinda dude. He's way more versatile than you'd guess just by looking at him. And I don't just mean he's in some good tag matches and singles matches. I mean he can work an old style 2/3 falls title match against Butch Reed. He can work a wild brawl with Mad Dog. He can come off like a vicious killer and he can do comedy spots as well. Incredible athlete for his size. Huge bumper and bleeder. Yeah Jerry Blackwell in the mid 60s feels good. Might even be too low now that i think about it. Longevity hurts him but he packs a hell of a lot into that run.

I ranked Yatsu 63rd in 2016 and that's another one I feel ok about. Its probably a touch closer to 50 than he should be, but I've always been a fan and he definitely stands out in a loaded generation. He's probably closer to that 80-140 range I keep referencing where he might make it and he might not. At his best he is one of the best offensive wrestlers of his generation but he will also just let you beat his brains in relentlessly. I'd like to take a look at his early 90s work because the old reputation about him falling off in the late 80s was oversold.

I voted Kikuchi 64th in 2016 and I feel pretty good about that. As far as underdog babyfaces and great sellers not named Ricky Morton go, Kikuchi is near the top. I like him in the NJ vs NOAH feud, but his run as a top 100 type performer feels a little brief to get him into the top 50 or into lock status but I like him as a candidate in that 80-140 range.

I voted La Fiera 65th in 2016 and I kinda feel like I nailed that one. I love his best stuff and want to watch more. I suspect he doesn't have the consistency to push into the top 50 but his peak stuff is so good I want to do a deeper dive.

I would actually agree with that. Barry rules.

I voted Villano III 66th in 2016 and fucking blew it with that one. Villano III is an awesome pro-wrestler. I feel like if we had more footage from the 80s we'd be looking at him as a top 25 contender and someone who could do it all in the ring. He's someone I'd like to really look at this time around instead of a cursory view I took last time.

Barry is more input than output as a candidate I would say. Other than the Flair matches the only MOTYC singles matches I can think of are the match against Dick Murdoch 7/11/87 and the match against Terry Funk from 9/86. There's other stuff I like really like but isn't on that level. The Pillman feud is awesome with some really terrific matches. The Scorpio match isn't a MOTYC but is an awesome match. The SuperBrawl 92 tag and Starrcade 92 tag. But Barry's strength is the input and versatility. He's an excellent performer either as a heel or a babyface. Singles or tags. He can do those long title matches with Flair or he can have an awesome 7 minute double juice brawl with Pillman. YOu can point to execution and smoothness if thats your thing. He's a great bumper and seller for a guy his size. I think he's just a little bit better at basically everything than Gordy was so I'd feel better about ranking Windham higher. I think they're closer to each other than the 2016 voting would suggest (Windham 25, Gordy 79th)