ohtani's jacket

If somebody thinks Magnum TA is better than Kobashi they should just go for it. Argue the shit out of that motherfucker and never look back. This is what happens in the down periods between reveals.

Anybody got some Norton they can recommend? Just saw a Hashimoto match that was solid.

I like a lot of Hogan's 80s work, but he's not top 100. It's like that Flair promo after Wrestle War: "Terry, you're not in the top 100." On the other hand, if he goes crazily high I can picture having a lot of fun with it.

I don't think anyone's ever got upset over Scott Norton, though it may have happened at some point, somewhere. I actually want to go watch a Scott Norton match now.

In case of Yoshida, she basically left Zenjo where she was doing the traditional go-go-go house style and when she debuted in ARSION she already had created her own style in which she trained the girls like Fukawa into. Didn't took her long at all. That was almost ten years into her career. Chigusa did it in half that time. Plus the metamorphosis occurred during the height of her popularity, which is even more remarkable. it's a dumb analogy but it's like a pop star going all experimental at the peak of their stardom.

I don't see how this differs from other list roll-outs. You'd get the same reactions to a Rolling Stone list, the AFI, Pitchfork, ESPN, you name it. Probably worse. I mean this is pretty tame compared to the arguments over the DVDVR 500 back in the day. Having said that, while people were thrilled by the ballot turnout, a blind man could have seen this coming.

Jaguar was my number one last time, but I'm pretty much indifferent to where she fell this time. Like the JWP girls she almost got over the hump. I can see the case for Chigusa finishing ahead of her. After Jaguar retired, Chigusa took up the mantle of best woman in the business and was a great worker during that period. I think a lot of people think of the Crush Girls, and the schoolgirls, and the crying, and the stuff with Dump, but the impressive thing about Chigusa was how she morphed from a hyperactive young Joshi worker into a serious shoot-style inspired wrestler in the span of a few short years. Workers like Mariko Yoshida and Meiko Satomura would make the same transition years later but it took them much longer. In Chigusa's case, the spectre of early retirement was forever hanging over her. A rule that to this very day is like Logan's Run. Chigusa's Run was pretty great. I adore her matches with Leilani Kai, enjoyed watching her butt heads with Yukari Omori, instill life lessons in Akira Hokuto and duel with Itsuki Yamazaki. Even he matches with Asuka, which feature some of the most ridiculous selling in Joshi Puroresu history, are undeniably great to me. All Japan came really close to booking a Kandori/Chigusa match in 1989 and that's a match I would have loved to have seen. She packed a lot into a short run and her star shone brightly. I like some of her comeback stuff, but she jobbed left, right and centre until she set up GAEA and ruled the roost there. After a while, beating Chigusa lost its meaning but nobody wants to book a freelancer as stronger than their talent. I saw her live in 2004 and she left a huge impression on me even at that point of her career. All Joshi workers basically make the same appeals to the crowd, but few have the charisma of Chigusa even in her 40s. She was special.

You don't think Hogan, Onita or Foley belong? I don't mind Foley that much but he's about as boring a top 100 pick as imaginabls. Onita I think is grossly overrated and Hogan should have dropped a long time ago. Mind you, I probably wouldn't have voted for two thirds of the top 100 so take it all with a grain of salt.

That's Reslo not World of Sport.

If there were a God it would be Undertaker, Angle, Jericho, Michaels, Muto, Hogan, Rock, Onita and Foley.

Every time someone says they didn't have time I keep thinking: "you had two years."

The only WoS workers who will rank ahead of him are Grey and Breaks so I wouldn't say the pendulum has swung that far. Face vs. face was a staple of WoS and occurred far more regularly than in any other type of wrestling. Walton had that line he'd always use for the face vs. face contests: "a pure wrestling contest for the grapple fans." De facto heel stuff generally happened in the halls, though occasionally it made its way on to TV such as in the Roberts vs. Bridges feud. Most of the time if the face acted like a de facto heel in a face vs. face match it was the first sign of a heel turn. Was Saint better at working face vs. face bouts than other WoS guys? The problem for me is Grey. There isn't a single thing that Saint does well that Grey doesn't do better, and that includes face vs. face matches. I get why people like Saint -- I like a lot of Saint stuff myself -- but Johnny Saint matches are always about Johnny Saint. They're always about his escape holds and the tricks he does in the ring. They're about dressing and undressing holds, the flash of his smile and Walton gushing all over him. If you look at match listings and all the Grey matches we have on tape. and you go through all the names, I guarantee you that for each name that is one of the best matches that worker had on tape. Maybe that's because Grey didn't have as much personality as Saint, but if you line up all the Saint face vs. face bouts on tape and switch Saint for Grey there are very few matches that wouldn't be improved. I've seen some pretty great Saint vs. face matches vs. Grey. Faulkner, Kaye & Gilmour and Brookside, but against Joyce, Martinelli, Jowett, Hassouni, McGrath, and so on, the standard is far below Grey. Maybe it's because he didn't have a huge personality and wasn't overbearing, but he still managed to be Steve Grey from Peckham. I think he was just one of a kind. Maybe Ricky Steamboat to Saint's Flair?

Bigelow's not a bugbear of mine or anything. I just thought he finished super high.

Is Muto still lurking about? How about Maeda?

I'm marveling at the fact that Steve Grey is still out there.

Aww, Kansai couldn't quite make it. At least the JWP girls went kicking and screaming out of the top 100.

Mwahahaha, eat it Takada! Have some sauce to go with it. That was a great run of wrestlers. I wonder if Thesz rolled over his grave being stuck between a woman and Luger. But how did Bam Bam Bigelow get in the mix? Brody and Sabu make sense, but Bigelow going that high?

I think Inoki was handsome. I don't see a problem his chin. There was a time when a Captain America square jaw was masculine. Inoki vs. Backlund draws may be for the enlightened, or perhaps I saw the only good one, but I'd take Inoki over so many people's heroes.

You might wanna quote the sign off in your post. The rest of us aren't that bright.

Y'all are way off the mark on Inoki. Backlund/Inoki draws are tough to sit through? Can people upload more of them cos I really wanna see them. I get that his style was boring at times, but the wrestler himself was anything but boring. Shooting on the nephew of the Great Gama in Pakistan with only your ring aids to cover your back is ballsy. All of his fake MMA matches were ballsy regardless of how much cash he shilled out to the participants. I haven't watched the Ali fight yet. but what other wrestler aimed that high that they tried to take on Muhammad Ali? He makes Takada and Anjoh look like pissants for the challenges they laid down. Inoki's not just legendary in Japan because he was tall, handsome and good at BS'ing. Not that long ago I thought that Akira Maeda was more badass than any political figure from his era could be, and maybe he still is, but Inoki is nowhere near as fake as I once thought.

Inoki vs. Kintaro Oki was such a cool bout. Inoki potatoed him to start with and they worked this really awesome cagey defensive bout until Oki started unloading with headbutts. Kintaro Oki, where have you been all my life? Inoki bled hardway but fought back with that legendary punch of his. Perfect minimalist wrestling. If you're a fan of Fujiwara or Nishimura or Ishikawa vs. Ikeda then I don't see how you wouldn't see this as a spiritual forerunner to that type of wrestling. I need to see more Oki or die wondering.

Rayo isn't seriously left to come is he?

Rudge and Fiera did really well.

I have a feeling I'm on such a different wavelength than most of you that my explanation won't mean much, but... When I made my list I had a hard time separating who I "liked to watch" and who I "thought was the best". It's not like baseball where there are pure stats to go off when saying this guy hit more homers than this guy but did so during a period where the pitching was worse and etc... So even if I look at someone like Flair (who I ranked just below Boss) and know that he's regarded as one of the best and brings a lot to the table, if I'd rather watch a Bossman match, than Bossman is "better".I can't step outside myself and go "Well Flair is liked more by people that have watched a lot more than me so he is a greater wrestler". Again, it's one of the reasons I didn't feel comfortable ranking Japanese guys despite watching hundreds of matches from those promotions. I wouldn't know where to rank Kobashi or Misawa without being completely influenced by what others think of them. And watching that stuff is like eating my vegetables. I do it because I know the classics are good to have watched, but I don't typically like them as much as appreciate them. He was super effective as both a face and a heel. Even though he was already Big Bubba in WCW when I started watching (mid-90s), I knew he had been Big Bossman in WWF and was SHOCKED to eventually find out he started out as a heel before that early ‘90s run. And that turn angle with Dibiase is a high point of character development for that era. Up there with the Savage/Hogan/Liz turn. His bumping was fantastic, not just as a big man, but as a wrestler. And for a guy with his physique, he was astounding in getting the most he could out of his character, a master of facial and body expressions. I’d rather watch his reactions during his matches than most wrestlers’ actions. I'd rather watch him in anything, be it a 2 minute squash or 25 minute slog than every other wrestler except the 9 above him on my list. All the guys I've been the high vote on so far (Ouillet, Cabana, Jacques, Steiner, Steen, and Bossman) are all guys I'd drop almost anything to watch a highly pimped match of.

Nothing on Cota? He didn't go that high in the end. It's impressive that he made that many ballots. He probably made more ballots than matches seen. .