highflyflow

Very happy to see this, because Piper really was incredible. A mortal lock for my list, one of the very best ever at conveying uncontrollable fury and a serious edge in both his babyface and heel work.

One of the best wrestlers of the 2000s, full stop. Breaks out in a big way in 2002 and doesn't really let his foot off the gas, and is still really good all the way up to the mid-2010s. Hell, I still find him decently entertaining in the 2020s. Incredible big match worker, so great at milking the most excitement and drama out of a moment to get the crowd roaring. Can throw bombs with the best guys around (Akiyama, Kobashi, Sasaki, Takayama) as well as land some cracking strikes. Great as both homegrown hero defending his territory as well as an invading asskicker. Fun but unmemorable as a Young Lion. I'm leaning towards voting for him overall.

Don't really get the criticism early in this thread that Ki wasn't good at carrying lesser workers; just off his first ROH run I think he was clearly better than the likes of Christopher Daniels and especially Xavier (who he had notable matches with in multiple indies around that time), and had their best matches in the company. I also think of this run in 2004, facing the likes of Mark Briscoe and Jay Lethal, two very good wrestlers at the time but not exactly worldbeaters, and creating fireworks while still keeping the hierarchy of him being a level above them intact.

Locks: Cena Akiyama Jaguar Jumbo Akiyama Lawler Jay Briscoe Liger Jim Breaks Jeff Hardy (vanity 100) Strongly considering: Jack Brisco Jackie Sato

I watched a good chunk of 60s/70s Inoki footage last month and he's someone I'm strongly considering for the back half of my list, easily one of the best workers of the era from what I've seen. Great matworker and a constantly compelling presence, plus the late career peaks in the 80s and one of my favorite Vader matches ever with the 96 Tokyo Dome bout. It's gonna be hard to weigh him at his best with how bored I could be of him watching 1980 footage on the whole.

As far as I know it’s still in effect. I can’t see myself voting for anyone whose thread hasn’t been updated already, but if you would you should write something for them just in case.

My thing is, and I do get this reaction, but I don’t even agree with this, really. I don’t really see Ospreay as on another level than high flyers like Rey, Sydal, Amazing Red, Ricochet, Liger, etc. I get the idea of engaging with something on its own terms, but it’s hard for me to give Ospreay a pass given the number of guys that wow me just as much from him from an athletic standpoint while rarely betraying the things I value most in watching wrestling.

Locks: Hiroshi Hase Hiroshi Tanahashi Strongly Considering: HARASHIMA

This review illustrates two of the biggest problems I have with WALTER as a candidate: both the repetition of the chopping the ring post match structure he relied on, and his inconsistency in actually selling the hand after the fact. I would say he's more likely than not to make my list, but these flaws are really grating for a guy that brings a lot I like to the table otherwise.

outlawjamboree on Twitter said: David Taylor was a welcome addition to WCW in 95 when I was stuck with only Worldwide for my WCW fix. Plus his comeback in the fed was fun

outlawjamboree on Twitter said: No Class Bobby Bass was the main heel manager/wrestler in Atlantic Grand Prix when I started watching and he was endlessly entertaining.

Watching some Togo lately. Someone in 2016 said that "Dick Togo is Pro Wrestling", and I really find that to be true. In fact, he might be the greatest Swiss Army wrestling has ever seen; he can do anything. Togo can work sprints, can brawl, can work a scientific match, can do long, can work tags, can work title matches, can do lucharesu, can do big puro matches, can do maestro matches in Mexico, can punch with the best of them, can take it to the air, can base, can be an imposing bully or a sympathetic underdog...he can do anything, seriously. And what's more, he can do it anywhere! The more I write about him the more I feel compelled to rank him even higher than where I have him pencilled in at, just a generational talent and one of the coolest wrestlers ever on top of it.

Locks: Genichiro Tenryu Greg Valentine Strongly Considering: Giant Baba Gran Hamada

I fucking love Christian, for all the reasons mentioned in this thread. I do highly value input, and he's still in consideration for me, but I'm afraid he might be a late cut for me in the end because the output is just too sparse. I don't just mean in terms of number of great matches, too; he was retired for basically 7 years before returning for good in AEW in 2021, and even then he's yet to wrestle more than 20 matches in a calendar year for the company. Trust me, I LOVE the AEW run and what he's brought in those matches, but it's a little too sparse as a case-maker for me to consider him a lock for my list. I like most every version of Christian, and I need to watch more of his TNA run before making a decision on him to be fair, but it feels like his best runs are this AEW run and his 2009-14 WWE work in which he was individually very good and even great, but the matches don't resonate to that level. Compare him to a Punk, for instance, who also retired the same year and returned to wrestling in AEW the same year, and even if you wanted to debate who was better in WWE Punk's indie run stands out so much more in my mind than what Christian was doing at the same time.

I watched 1000 matches exactly from 2025 (god knows why). Jon Moxley was far and away my wrestler of the year

Strongly considering Fit Finlay and Fuerza Guerrera.

Locks: Eddie Guerrero El Dandy El Satanico El Hijo del Santo Strongly Considering: Eddie Kingston Emilio Charles Jr.

Locks: Daisuke Ikeda Devil Masami Dustin Rhodes Dick Togo Strongly Considering: Dynamite Kansai Darby Allin Dump Matsumoto Dick Murdoch

Locks: CM Punk Claudio Castagnoli Chigusa Nagayo Chris Benoit Strongly Considering: Carl Greco Christian Chris Hero Carlos Colon

Locks: Bret Hart Barry Windham Blue Panther Bobby Eaton Billy Robinson Bryan Danielson Buddy Rose Bull Nakano Brock Lesnar Strongly Considering: Bob Backlund Bruno Sammartino Bill Dundee

Locks: Aja Kong AJ Styles Akira Hokuto Akira Taue Arn Anderson Strongly Considering: Andre the Giant Atlantis Antonio Inoki Abdullah the Butcher Alexander Otsuka Arisa Nakajima Austin Idol Akira Maeda Angel Azteca

I haven't watched an extensive amount of early 90s Savage, but I can't say I agree with the notion that 1987 was the cutoff for Savage as a great worker. You can call them flashes, but I just don't see how a guy integral to matches as great as the Warrior and WWF Flair ones is anything less than great. I'm deep into 1990 viewing now, which is a weak year for Savage given so much of it is tied to a past-his-prime Dusty, but even in a down year like that he still has the SNME Hogan match and the Tenryu match in Japan that are impressive.

Really, really would like to include him on my list. One of my absolute favorite guys to watch, immensely watchable in practically everything I've seen him in. His highlights, mentioned throughout this thread, really are tremendous and he feels like such a singular wrestler in them despite working a "throwback" style. If he misses my list he'll be one of my last cuts.

A lock for my list, but it's a little surprising to me how little discussion there is on Bockwinkel since the threads were opened back up.

Damn near a lock for me, model picture of consistency for what, 15 years now? I’m sure there’s good stuff past that too. All time great tag worker, great heel, great TV worker, he just checks a lot of boxes for me.