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I like Moxley a lot. I love his indie stuff, he was the best guy in the Shield, and I've liked his AEW run. I even discount his shitty WWE singles run because he was obviously being sabotaged by Vince's out of touch schizo booking. But I struggle to see him as a top 100 candidate, let alone top 40. He has the same problem as someone like Cena or Punk where their stuff works at a macro level but it breaks down far too often at a micro level (especially because of his weird execution issues). It sucks to see Akiyama drop. I had him at 5 and find his body of work to be more impressive than the Pillars, especially because he was so consistent for so long and more proven in a variety of situations. The only argument I see for the Pillars over him is their absolute high end work is better, but even then it's not as though they blow him out of the water in that respect.

Regal: my number 8. Best TV worker ever and super consistent except for that period when he was fucked up on drugs. Impressive versatility in that he could be thrown into just about any situation and make it work. And I've never vibed with the criticism that he lacks high end work. afaic his body of work has a fair bit of depth in that respect (Moxley FCW matches, various Finlay matches, vs Hero, vs Claudio, vs Arn, Zbyszko series, Christian series). Mercedes: my number 71. She was always the best of the Horsewomen and second place was never close. Awesome big match worker, awesome bumper, awesome charisma. KENTA: didn't make my list, but in terms of post-2016 output I remember really liking his 2019 G1 run, especially that ZSJ match (brutal war). Ishikawa: my number 2. There's very little distance between his floor and ceiling, which is super impressive given that his ceiling involves some of the absolute best matches in wrestling history. Also, I found it super impressive that he looked like the best wrestler in the world when he was doing those wXw matches so deep into his career. I mean, I hold Thatcher's work from that period in very high regard, but Ishikawa was still the better performer in their two matches. Asuka: my number 52. I love her run in Japan and her WWE run has been fantastic. Her WWE stuff doesn't hit the same heights as her best Japan stuff (particularly the Satomura series), but it's more impressive from a legacy perspective. The WWE house style could've neutered her, but instead she worked around those limitations and excelled. Out of this world charisma, too. Total aura farmer.

I like Owens a fair bit, but I never considered him for the list. He's one of those guys who can be compelling when he's in there with wrestlers he has good chemistry with (e.g. Super Dragon, Generico, Briscoes), but too much of the time he's just kinda whatever. It sucks to see Dustin topple so far down the list, especially because he's meaningfully added to his legacy since 2016. I've rewatched a solid amount of Benoit during the past decade and his stuff rarely lands for me anymore. He was a great opponent for Regal and Finlay and that Lesnar match is amazing, but far too often his stuff comes off as soullessly mechanical.

Yeah, I don't really get the criticism that Roddy is a charisma vacuum or that he's lacking in a strong peak. He's a great jock heel who gives off a date rapist vibe and he had a strong peak in the mid-late 2010s where he was consistently one of the best wrestlers in the world. Great EVOLVE run, great PWG title run, great NXT run. He was so good during that period that he was getting great matches out of guys like Lethal and Dunne. The main criticism I'd make of him is that he's had several periods during his career where he was kinda shit, especially during the clone wars era of ROH.

Ikeda: my number 3. His Battlarts and Futen stuff is the peak of wrestling afaic, so that offsets his other stuff being so inconsistent. The Ishikawa series is undeniable, his stuff with Otsuka is fantastic, the Ono Futen match is the wrestling equivalent of a Pig Destroyer song, and the Futen headbutt match is the best match of all time. Vicious striker, compelling seller who's capable of showing surprising amounts of vulnerability, whirlwind of violence, fan of Berserk. He's just the best. Kingston: my number 11. He had a fantastic run on the indies where he consistently pumped out quality for 15ish years, and he's followed that with an excellent run in AEW where he's been a fantastic upper midcard guy who's had some super impressive peaks. I'd even go as far as to argue that he's been the in-ring MVP of the promotion. He's the best guy in the first Anarchy in the Arena, he has loads of underrated performances (e.g. carry job vs Pillman Jr, his selling in that first title match vs Moxley, his title defence against Trent), and that Rampage Danielson match is the best match in the history of the promotion afaic. All-time great seller and bumper, impressive longevity and consistency, and lots of impressive high end work. Necro: my number 25. His top 10-15 matches are super impressive, especially the freak fights vs indie workrate guys. However, he also has lots of impressive stuff outside of that top 10-15 range that adds a fair bit of depth to his body of work (e.g. 2003 ToD matches against Corp Robinson and Ian Rotten, 2004 Green Phantom match, 2005 Cage of Death performance, that no rope barbed wire tag match against Brain Damage and Deranged). All-time great bumper, puncher, and big match worker.

I had Hero at 27. His case is mostly a longevity one as he had a good 15ish year period where he consistently pumped out quality and he had some very impressive high end stuff during that period (e.g. Kingston feud, focal part of the ROH vs CZW feud, Regal NXT match, Thatcher Mercury Rising match, Low Ki BOLA match, Kings of Wrestling vs Briscoes feud). Very versatile wrestlers as well, you could plug him into most situations and he would do something interesting with it.

>50% of voters started watching in the 2000s and 2010s, so it's fair to conclude that the majority of voters are youngish millennials and zoomers (who were probably plugged into Japanese and US indie wrestling). As such, several of the names in the top 100 aren't that confusing. KENTA tends to be very popular among millennials who were teens during the 2000s. A lot of us came up watching him because of file sharing and early streaming platforms, and stoic undersized guy who kicks people really hard had a strong appeal for weeb teens (plus he had the ROH crossover appeal). I've also seen a fair bit of love for him on social media among zoomers. Roddy is thought of highly among those who came up in the 2000s and 2010s. Wrestled during ROH's golden age, was a big part of PWG during some of its hottest periods, good match machine in NXT and AEW, etc. Steenerico was a big tag team and feud for those who came up in the 2000s and 2010s. I wouldn't say that Owens has added a great deal to his case since 2016, but his placement in the top 100 is likely a reflection of the influx of voters who didn't participate in the last project and rate his indies stuff very highly. It probably also helps that, even though his WWE run has been inconsistent, the high end stuff tends to be held in high regard.

Black Terry is another one who ranked much higher than I thought he would (nice to see he got a top three vote). I wonder how much those Ricky Marvin and Mr Condor matches helped to boost his case. Goldberg revisionism is one of the best things to happen in wrestling nerd circles in the past half decade or so. He was the best and WCW should've ran him vs. Flynn as a world title program. And amen to that snowboiii quote; Goldberg wrecking shit in the 2003 Elimination Chamber is peak wrestling.

You're never getting the spirit of the 2016 list back unless you gatekeep the voting process to a niche community. The early part of this list was always going to take a haphazard shape given that the voter base was fairly diverse, it was spread across different forms of social media, and there's just so much footage out there now. I've raised my eyebrow at a few of the high votes, but I'd much prefer a voting process where people feel free to go with what speaks to them instead of having a slavish devotion to canon. And if we're being perfectly honest, the 2016 list suffered from the latter problem at least to some degree. I'm surprised Otsuka made it as far as he did. I thought I'd end up being the high voter on him (I had him at 30), so it's nice to see he almost cracked someone's top 10. Machine on the mat, awesome suplexes, super violent, fantastic seller, and the best big swing ever (and second place isn't even close). I love him to bits. That 2008 Battlarts elimination match is a best match of all time contender afaic and he arguably had the best performance in it.

This could just be a reflection of the algorithms I'm caught in, but RVD gaining spots isn't that much of a surprise. Fans who came up in the 2000s tend to like him a fair bit and younger fans seem to really like ECW when they go back and watch it.

Super Dragon: I had him at 43. All-time great offensive wrestler, surprisingly good at showing vulnerability, surprisingly deep body of work given his lack of longevity, and an insanely great garbage brawler (he lapped everyone in that ROH 100th show match tbh). Plus he made me enjoy tag matches that had Davey Richards in them. If that isn't evidence of greatness, then I don't know what is. HARASHIMA: I had him at 54. Hypnotically good matworker and super reliable in big title matches. Maybe my favourite post-Misawa ace. Homicide: I kinda thought about ranking him, but I couldn't get over how often he'd tank matches with frictionless transitions, questionable selling, and unnecessary head drops. Awesome brawler, though. Orton: I like him and have really enjoyed him at times (love the Christian series, he's a great Rey opponent, that 2007 Cena match is excellent), but someone who has that much footage on tape shouldn't have such a lousy hit-miss ratio. Matsunaga: he's awesome. I love his FMW stuff and the matches against Ishikawa and Otsuka in Battlarts. In retrospect, I should've ranked him. Reigns: I liked him in the Shield and his initial singles run. Even though I find both of those runs to be a bit overhyped by Reigns lovers, I probably would've voted for him if he maintained that level of quality throughout his career. However, I'd rather stick skewers in my eyes than watch any of his Tribal Chief stuff.

Gage: awesome methcore worker. Those H8 Club vs Necro/Klein matches from 2005 are top tier demented arena brawls. Thatcher: it hurts seeing him so low. There was a good 10 year period when he was consistently one of the best workers in the world. He was a great throwback without succumbing to empty nostalgia bait. Rollins: standard CrossFit cultist who has stamina for days but his form and execution are all over the place. I can't think of many wrestlers I'd rather not watch. HHH: egomaniac who tanked loads of matches with his intrepid heel bullshit (e.g. the 2000 Royal Rumble match). Plus he ruined the 2003 Elimination Chamber match. Fuck him. Orange Cassidy: I kinda considered him, which I would've never guessed before he signed with AEW. His CHIKARA stuff run was merely fun and I actively hated his Cassidy stuff on the indies (too self-conscious, too hyper ironic). The best underdog face in the world if Darby doesn't exist? Evans: I love him. The tag team with Roddy was great, he's one of the best guys in that schizo Cage of Death match, and that Boston crab Danielson put him in was sick. He would've been a great Fuchi opponent. Tam Nakano: I need to see more of her. My general impression of her is that she's basically a wrestling version of one of those vtubers like Korone or Suzuhara Lulu who have a kawaii exterior but are actual psychos who will fuck your shit up (complimentary). Cody: below his brother and father. As it should be. Edge: below Christian. As it should be.

Belair: never understood her appeal tbh. She's like the vast majority of performance centre projects in that her work has a soulless rote feel to it. Mercedes worked a miracle at 37 afaic. Dax: it feels weird that there's a fair bit of distance between his and Cash's rankings. I know that Dax has the better singles output, but I've consistently found myself more impressed by Cash as a tag worker. Anyway, I love them both and they barely missed making my list. Keita Yano: I remember hating his Battlarts stuff, but I've slowly come around on him. Barely missed my list, nice to see he made a solid chunk of lists. Batista: I remember loving him (especially his 2010 heel run and his inexplicable ability to get good matches out of HHH), but I need to revisit his work to see how it holds up. Sandman: I had him at 97. He was a magnetic performer who got pro-wrestling at a primal level. He was an awesome bumper and seller, had underrated offence (I love his elbow drop), was great at pulling at WTF moments because he was a stealthily good athlete, and his WCW run was fantastic. Austin vs. Sandman in 1998 is my dream feud.

Takeshi Ono: He should be much higher, but I expected him to rank lower tbh. Fucking awesome wrestler. Survival Tobita: I had him at 100. I wish there was more footage of him because he's fantastic. Kyle O'Reilly: I've always struggled to connect with him because he's too much of a generic junior kickpad guy. If only those Finn Balor and Moxley matches weren't anomalies in his body of work. Austin Aries: I like him a fair bit, but I find that he gets overrated because his high end stuff is so good. My general impression of him is that he had his best matches with all-time greats like Joe, Danielson, and Low Ki and he had a tendency of leaning into the worst tendencies of flawed opponents. He also had a tendency of tanking matches with no selling when it was time for him to get his shit in.

Jack Gallagher ruled. He was an excellent TV worker and one of the highlights of 205 Live when it was a top tier C show. He would've easily made my list if he didn't go into forced retirement because he did the UK indie wrestler thing of getting outed as a gross pervert.