ohtani's jacket

Thank god Kudo dropped. I dunno where all these FMW fans emerged from, but they've been by far the most successful pool of voters. I wouldn't put Kudo in a top 250, but she did well in the previous polls so clearly not a viewpoint that others share.

When are we getting another drop so that we can stop talking about pencils.

Has anyone asked Sandman what he thinks of Lulu Pencil?

I have mixed feelings about this. I don't think including ineligible votes would have made much difference to the final list. On the other hand, there were a number of ineligible workers who deserved a vote I don't think the nomination process created a ton of discussion, at least not on this site. There were a large number of nominated wrestlers who received zero comments. Not sure how that makes them better than write-in votes. I don't think you can blame anyone for the lack of discussion, though. How are you supposed to sustain conversation about the GWE for ten years? It's not like critics and film directors spend ten years prepping for the next Sight and Sound poll. I think it would be better off as a five year poll, especially with the way wrestling fans cycle in and out, but if you open the poll up to as many people as possible then you're bound to end up with 100s of last minute ballots that don't take into consideration the years people spent trying to push individual wrestlers' cases. Either you make it invite only, which I assume nobody wants, or you only allow people to vote who you know have been actively involved in the discourse. Ideally, you want the discussion to be centralized the way the GME project is. I get why people left this site for Twitter and Discord, but it's hard to follow the discourse when it's spread over different platforms. You're not going to get a perfect list, and you won't please all of the people, but I think you have to plan for the volume of voters that you want to generate. If you want a big inclusive list, then yeah,, do away with nominations.

Not that uspet about Breaks. He's in good company with Lou Thesz.

Akira Maeda is a nationalist with conservative beliefs that wouldn't sit well with you.

No! Drop the elbow, Hammer! Amusing to see Chicana finish above Allin, and Maeda sandwiched between two foreigners.

Alright, I'm actively rooting for Valentine. Please Hammer don't hurt 'em.

Harley Race and The Destroyer too. Hard to guess who will drop next.

Hansen and Buddy Rose as well.

It's a shame we can't bet on this. Which US territory guys are left? Lawler, Flair, Tully, Arn, Valentine, Steamboat, Hennig, Windham, Backlund, Bruno, Dusty, Piper. Am I missing anyone?

I think Rickson promoted Takada to brown belt. Takada's still in great shape for a guy in his 60s, notwithstanding his ticker issues.

Probably not. Eventually, she was forced to adopt them in order for the boys to be recognized as Japanese citizens.

His wife is an actress and TV celebrity. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer after becoming pregnant and had to undergo a hysterectomy to treat the cancer (forcing her to lose the baby.) They used a surrogate mother in the States to give birth to twin boys, but Japan being Japan, there are also sorts of archaic laws surrounding surrogacy. She eventually lost her legal battle to be registered as the boys' legal mother, but her case generated huge debate. Takada was most recently in the news for heart issues he's been having.

I don't think you could have scripted Brisco, Junior, and Robinson falling in succession.

I'm inclined to believe the list is more random than AEW-ccentric, otherwise surely MJF and Hangman Page would have done better (I'm assuming.) Strong showing for Black Terry. Not so great for Dick Murdoch and Fit Finlay, though not terrible.

I will say, in all seriousness, that I have a lot of respect for Takada's wife, and the battle the couple went through to be recognized as the legal parents of their surrogate children.

Well, I mean obviously I like seeing him get kicked in the head by Maeda.

I was joking. Kind of.

There were people who watched ROH and the indies in '06, but you had to buy those tapes. At the time, it was the equivalent of people who bought ECW tapes during the Monday Night Wars. A lot of us were spending our money on Japanese tapes instead.

How does a wrestler like Hayabusa stay in the discussion? That's not a knock on Hayabusa, I'm just curious to know. For some reason Terry Gordy popped into my head. Either he's in the top 150 or not on the list at all?

I should add to this that there were generations of fans before us that would have voted very differently had the list been done in 1996. We were reacting to collective internet wisdom as much as the 2026 list is. We just tended to go backwards into the past instead of focusing on the now.

It actually wasn't. None of the ROH/TNA guys made the top 100. They may have done if there had been a wider voting base. It was mostly a tight knit group made up of voters from several different boards. Most of the trends reflected the tape trading that was popular at the time. I remember there was some discussion about how guys like AJ Styles and Danielson would do in the future.

F--king Nobuhiko Takada. That's about 700 places too high.

I don't remember seeing Ohtani yet.