ohtani's jacket

Andy Haden went to congratulate a Welshman and tripped.

I thought Rob was British. There were a contingent of Brits involved somehow or another. I remember they all made the trip to Japan for the 2004 NOAH Tokyo Dome Show. I can't remember ever coming across someone who championed Rocco as Black Tiger, though such people may exist. They were high on stuff like Rocco vs. Keiichi Yamada, and the WoS stuff that was filtering through The Wrestling Channel. I like British people. Just not their sports teams. Rocco is fine when he wrestles the way I want him to. Actually, Rocco at his best is a brilliant worker. He just preferred to work a style I didn't care for. It earned him notoriety, though. But not enough to stop his descent on the GWE list.

I'm pretty selective about the Mark Rocco I like, but even as a non-fan I find his slide a bit troubling. If a guy like Rocco can't do well, it doesn't bode well for other Euro workers. That said, his 2006 rating was overinflated by Smarkschoice being started by Brits, IRC. A lot of the Brit-adjacent forums at the time were championing Rocco as a British workrate god.

I'm specifically talking about the 300s. Maybe it's the pictures messing with me.

I would imagine the pathway is great matches/workers you like. To be honest, the overwhelming majority of TV wrestling is random filler. At least WoS is in English.

Well, essentially it was filmed house shows. You get some progression at times, such as the Breaks vs. Young David trilogy that led into the Breaks vs. Dennison feud. Sometimes you see repeat matches that lead to either a title match or some sort of gimmick bout, but it's only the backbone of what fans would traditionally associate with television booking, and we're often missing pieces of the puzzle. The randomness didn't see to bother you with French catch. I should add that Daddy is a different story, but aside from Daddy vs. Haystacks and Quinn, I was never interested in following his stuff. I think it's more useful to break WoS into eras -- 60s, 70s and 80s, each with its unique set of circumstances, weight classes -- lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight, comedy/gimmick wrestlers vs. serious grapplers (there are a ton of comedy guys in WoS), and heels vs. faces (very clearly defined and recognizable for viewers.) The stylistic quirks and rules you can figure out as you go along. Walton does most of the heavy lifting there. We never got an 80s set, not that the influence of such a set would be felt these days, but I think it's the reason why you don't see any votes for Skull Murphy, Keith Haward, Marvelous Mike Bennett, etc.

What a random list of wrestlers. I don't know who half these people are.

That's a cool picture of Johnny Valentine.

This was another workrate driven match. It was hard fought, but it felt like just another match. ROH fans may disagree since it was a highly anticipated return match, but as an outsider it didn't feel as though either man did anything outstanding. There were some cool moments, but there were too many reversals and a bunch of no-selling down the stretch. The types of things that other wrestlers would be taken to task for.

Gilbert Leduc did ok, I guess. Relatively speaking. Ha ha, Jim Londos at #2, and it wasn't me. It's nice to see Villano IV do well. A worker I have a lot of time for. Respect to the Ken Patera voters as well. Thought Bossman might go higher. It's weird how there are so many wrestlers you'd think nobody gives a shit about anymore still getting votes in 2026. Where's a good place to start with Mad Dog Connelly? Mr. Pogo went up. Which pocket of the internet is responsible for that?

The Blackwell result tells you the majority of the folks who voted in 2016 have moved on.

It's quintessentially British, so if you didn't grow up exposed to that culture then yeah, it can be a tough sell. I grew up in New Zealand, so we were exposed to a steady diet of British television shows. There wasn't a single element of WoS that was a culture shock to me, even if some of the finer regional nuances may have been lost on me. Perhaps I'm a pessimist, but I doubt it will ever have the reach that other styles do. It's never going to have the appeal that Japanese culture holds for young people online. It will remain a niche genre like lucha, shoot style and French Catch. Maybe that's why those are my three favorite styles.

I'm having flashbacks. Maybe he didn't deserve to be on the list after all. Actually, his brother was probably the better Shamrock.

Yeah, he deserves a spot for his pre-Pancrase work. I don't think his WWF work hurts his case, either. Has anyone revisited his boring, long ass fights with Funaki in PWFG? Those were nearly the death of me twenty years ago.

I don't understand that Blue Demon ranking at all. Is it because of the movies? Did people mean to vote for Blue Demon Jr instead? Why did Blue Demon make the list but El Santo didn't? Bestia and Cortez lasted longer than I expected. Hell, it's Shocker. Good for you, buddy. Le Petit Prince? It's a start I guess.

I'll make it a point to revisit them.

At this point, top 500 feels likes a victory. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who voted for Cien Caras. I don't know how many of those votes were based on his in-ring work, but he was a smart worker who was hugely charismatic.

Well, I'm learning something between this and the pencil girl.

I'm guessing it's John Morrison. I've never watched a John Morrison match in my life.

12 people must really like that Megumi Fujii vs. Yoshida match. Killer Kowalski was higher than I would have thought. Don Leo Jonathan was a nice surprise too. Not a guy you hear a lot of people talk about. How did Octagon get that high? Is Johnny Blackcraft Caballero Downunder Elite Consejo Impact Morrison Mundo Nitro Onyx TV an actual ring-name? Oki gets some love. El Hijo del Fishman was nominated but Fishman wasn't? Dutch Mantell, ouch. The days of the 80s sets are well and truly behind us. Robert Gibson I kind of get. I don't think you can expect modern kids to like the Rock 'n' Roll Express. El Samurai -- brutal.

I'm changing my tune on the Rudge placement. I re-read the comment I made about him 10 years ago in his nomination thread, and I realized there's not that much Rudge footage left in the archives. While it would be interesting to see Rudge matches from the 60s, I'm not that big of a fan of his early 70s work and don't fully appreciate him until he shaves the head, grows his moustache and becomes a bonafide asskicker. If I could get any footage out of the archives, it would probably be his 70s matches against Pete Roberts. Rudge was one of those workers who wrestled in the higher paying overseas territories and would return to the UK every now and again for dates. Not a high volume guy. Would have been nice if he'd finished higher, but it doesn't hurt as much as it did a few hours ago.

Cien Caras & MS-1 vs. Satanico & Mascara Ano 2000 (Relevos Increibles, AAA 8/6/93) I see where they're going with this -- a Casas vs. MS-1 hair vs. hair match. I'm onboard with that. I wonder if Satanico vs. MA2K was ever in the cards. This started off with a bunch of stalling, then Satanico and MS-1 worked a clean exchange full of castigos. It was awesome to see the two square off like that. They'd been on opposite sides before during MS-1's 1988 and Satanico's 1990 tecnico turns, but I doubt those encounters involved much technical work. It was short-lived, however, as the Dinamitas refused to fight each other, and this basically turned into Infernales vs Dinamitas. Caras continued his awesome work with MS-1, and MS-1 bled like a champ. A neat piece of business.

Not gonna lie. Terry Rudge hurts a bit.

I'm just gonna think of her as a Six Seven Numacchi.

I still don't understand who Lulu Pencil is after reading all of that.