highflyflow

His title match vs. Higuchi might be my MOTY, I think it’s that good. Hell, as far as this topic goes, Higuchi should be getting good buzz given how great he’s been especially in the 2020s, but I’m not optimistic about that. There’s always 2036, I guess

I’ll have Panther in my top 50. He’s been one of the best wrestlers in the world, in the best promotion in the world, for at least two years now, in his 60s. In a similar vein, does Akiyama climb into the teens this time around? He’s demonstrably added to his case in the last ten years

In 2016, wrestlers like Shinsuke Nakamura, Hiroshi Tanahashi, CM Punk, and Bryan Danielson all made it on the top 100 list based predominantly on their work in the ten years since the Smarkschoice poll. Who do you think will be the biggest benefactor of footage from the last 10 years in the 2026 list? Mostly asking for wrestlers that weren't on the list last time, but you think have a good chance at being on next year.

I think the Tamura point is interesting, because while there isn't really a traditional heel/face divide in shoot-style, I do think there are angles by which you can see him as the protagonist and antagonist of matches (for instance, for the case of the latter, I think of his 97-99 matches with Kohsaka and Yamamoto). Anyway, as far as wrestlers that I love both as a face and heel (or tecnico and rudo, for the luchadors): Danielson, Funk, Flair, Kawada, Austin, Panther, Styles, Tanahashi, Satanico, Piper, Bret, Otani, Punk, Windham, Savage, Zbyszko, Akiyama, Moxley, Christian, Hokuto. I'm sure there are plenty I'm forgetting, and I know someone like Buddy Rose is missing simply because I haven't seen his babyface work yet.

GOAT Contenders (all wrestlers I think I could realistically see voting at #1; doesn't necessarily mean they will be my 1-10): Aja Kong Bryan Danielon El Hijo del Santo Genichiro Tenryu Kenta Kobashi Mitsuharu Misawa Ric Flair Shinya Hashimoto Terry Funk Yoshiaki Fujiwara Wrestlers who could potentially crack my top 10: AJ Styles Akira Hokuto Buddy Rose Chigusa Nagayo Devil Masami El Satanico Hiroshi Tanahashi Jaguar Yokota Jumbo Tsuruta Jun Akiyama Jushin Liger Kiyoshi Tamura Negro Casas Nick Bockwinkel Rey Mysterio Jr. Stan Hansen Tatsumi Fujinami Toshiaki Kawada Vader Yuki Ishikawa

Is that really such a wild take? It got a #1 vote in the GME poll this year, and landed in the top 200 overall.

Honestly did not expect this thread to be so negative post-2016. It's interesting, because on other corners of the internet, I've seen Punk talked up as a legitimate #1 contender or at bare minimum top 10, and that just hasn't seemed to translate to this thread. I wonder if those people will end up submitting a ballot next year, and how that'll affect his ranking on the overall list. Anyway, Punk will make my list, somewhere between 40-75, for all the reasons (both positive and negative) listed here. Where do people stand on CM Punk, post-AEW and in the midst of his second WWE stint? Has his comeback work helped or hurt his case to you? I love a lot of his AEW run, especially the Last Dance 2023 stuff up to and including the final Joe match, but I'm mostly ambivalent to the current WWE work.

Save Fujiwara, Tamura will be my highest ranked shoot-stylist. Unbelievable combination of athleticism and skill, and brings a certain character that's so easy for me to connect with in these shoot style matches, whether it be the cocky underdog in Takada's UWFi, the prodigy in the first year in RINGS, or the established ace against underdogs like Yamamoto in those peak 97-99 years. Unreal how good he looks early in his career, too; I think the 1992 Yoji Anjo match is a legitimate classic, and I wouldn't be mad if someone said that wasn't even his best work in UWFi. Top 20 contender

In an ideal world, Aja is at least top 15 on the overall list next year. I don't expect to see it, but I do expect her to be even higher than she was in 2016, and I suppose that's a victory in its own right.

Funnily, I think 2003 might be my answer. Same opponents as 2002 and about the same level of quality of matches but stretched out over a full year, plus the Brock match in December.

What's the best individual year of Rey's career?

Surprisingly lack of discussion for YAMATO considering he's hyped as a low-key WOTY candidate for the Dragon Gate fanbase. Where does everyone stand on YAMATO today? Where does he rank as far as best Toryumon/DG guys ever? How does he compare to contemporaries from other companies like Shiozaki, Tanahashi, Sekimoto, HARASHIMA, Okada, Naito, Ibushi, etc?

Love the 02 Hero match, have seen practically nothing else. Any recommendations? I know the Kingston cage match gets a lot of hype, and I'm planning on getting to it.

Don't know if I'd vote for Kanemaru but I really really enjoy his early 2000s NOAH stuff, I'm up to 2002 and imo he's easily the best junior in the promotion by that point sans Ogawa. Would like to hear a case for him as someone that's mostly unfamiliar with his post-NOAH work.

Got all the way up to #229 in 2016. Where do people stand on Gino Hernandez currently?

Anyone considering Sandman this time around? I'm not nearly familiar enough with ECW to make a case for him, but I do enjoy Sandman and think he's probably better than he was given credit for in this thread.

The wonderful thing about the project this time around is that a wrestler like Yuki Ishikawa, someone who most would agree is great and deserving of consideration for a top 100 list (he was #70 in 2016), is now getting legitimate consideration as a potential dark horse #1 candidate. I wasn't a part of the process last time around, but judging from all the threads I'd imagine that if someone were to float the idea of Ishikawa as a #1 contender, it would be met with a level of derision by a few vocal contributors, and would inevitably invite comparisons to a certain wrestler, and I think it's a good sign that that's not the case anymore. One of the wrestlers I'm most interested to see where they end up next year, especially given how he's added to his case in the near-decade since the last poll (the 2020 Ikeda match especially).

Really, any promotion? Even mudshow Indies? Again I ask, who cares? Why would the latter outweigh the former in this situation?

Surprising lack of recent discussion for Murdoch here given that he was talked up as a potential top 30 candidate in this thread in the early stages, and got all the way up to 53 in 2016, between Greg Valentine and Akira Hokuto. Where do people stand on Dick Murdoch going into 2026?

With all due respect, who could possibly care about this? I don't care that a wrestler didn't get courted by one of the worst, most laughably moronic promotions in wrestling, that's actively emphasizing recruiting athletes to their awful PC system in favor of indie darlings. Is it a testament to those that did break through the glass ceiling in the biggest wrestling promotion in the world? Sure, and it's completely fine to value that when looking at their case, but if not then I really don't see it as a big deal, given their remarkably narrow view on what makes a good and successful wrestler in the first place.

"you're not a good enough worker if you don't main event in WWE" is a hell of an opinion to hold while participating in a project like this.

A mostly negative thread here. I can see why, on first impression, Jeff Hardy doesn't seem like what you would traditionally define as a "great" wrestler, let alone one of the 100 greatest of all time, as a representative of the hardcore WWF/E tag matches of 25 years ago; however, as his defenders have pointed out earlier in this thread, there's more to him that meets the eye. I very much agree with the notion that Jeff was one of the best babyfaces in the WWE, probably in all of North America at minimum, between 2006-2008, and he did this while working fairly standard singles and tag matches with his brother. I stand by pretty much all of the matches Jimmy Redman recommended for this period, and I think the Triple H series is especially a feather in his cap considering the dearth of quality in Hunter's other singles work during this time period. I do think, though, as Redman also stated, that the hardcore period of his career, 1999-2003 to be specific, gets misconstrued; he's not as good of a seller then as he is later in his career, but he's not exactly lacking in this department either. Despite the matches he partook in often being considered car crashes, the dangerous feeling those matches provide still holds up decades later because of Jeff's commitment to take the nuttiest bumps possible and then his commitment to selling the weight of that work. Am I going to vote for Jeff? If I did, he'd probably be my vanity #100 for sentimental reasons, being my first favorite wrestler and someone whose work I still enjoy. But I think he's worthy of discussion, too, and probably a little underrated in this bubble of wrestling discussion.

At the very least, I'm considering (not in order): El Hijo del Santo Negro Casas El Dandy El Satanico Blue Panther Sangre Chicana Atlantis Villano III LA Park Mocho Cota Virus Hechicero Rush Pirata Morgan Black Terry Fuerza Guerrera Perro Aguayo Jerry Estrada Emilio Charles Jr Gran Hamada La Fiera Mistico MS-1 A lot of these candidates are here because of the 1980s DVDVR lucha set, which I've finished recently.

Mox has a very strong chance of making my list, especially after the incredible performance he had at All In last Saturday, it's just a matter of combing through his pre-WWE Indies work and touching up on his WWE work to see what range I could place him in. I do fall in the camp of thinking he's been one of, if not the best wrestler of the 2020s so far, and for all the things I could nitpick at him for, I can only see him solidifying that case over the next 5 years into the 2030s.

Absolutely watch the Ueno and HARASHIMA matches from last year