Grimmas

Stuck at work on a super busy day with head office visits. Reveal will be in the evening.

Demolition and Trish spotlights are my requests.

Yeah... oops. He was in mine.

Weird, since two if three made the majority if their cases in Japan.

Dorada and Virus made the top 100, that's the best one could expect. Maybe Espectrito or Sagrada Jr...

I wish I nominated Little Tokyo.

Tomorrow you will know what voters think, but with only those two choices, who is the greatest?

3 - Stan Hansen 2006 Ranking: 10 Points: 13813 #1 Votes: 11 #2 Votes: 21 #3 Votes: 10 Top 10 Votes: 59 # of Ballots: 143 Average Vote: 11.06 High Vote: 1 (Bill Thompson, Coffey, InYourCase, Childs, Devon Hales, overbooked, Stiva, KB8, Phil Rippa, ???, & MoS) Low Vote: 83 Discussion Thread "At the very top, when almost all things are equal, ultimately, you have to give in to your subjective urges and indulgences and trust them. And, simple fact of the matter is that no one gets my blood running and my veins pumping the way Hansen does. Every little thing he does mesmerises me." MoS "He was a great worker for a long time and he gave great performances in several different promotions. Especially his work in Japan was of high quality." stunning_grover "Sheer terror, wherever he went. Bruiser Brody's myth is Stan Hansen's reality, and without all the sundry bullshit that followed Frank Goodish around. Hansen's largesse, literally and figuratively, is matched only by his stellar matches." Jon Burr "One of the most physical wrestlers ever, especially at that level." Dave Musgrave "To ignore his longevity and consistency would be a huge mistake, even if I haven't seen a ton of his catalogue." Steven White "Possibly the most fearsome brawler in wrestling history whose work is often so compelling that it's hard to not get immersed in almost every performance, usually because his incomparable physicality. It's not just that his matches are hard hitting, they are also wrestled at a quick pace, utilize the entire ringside area, and create an incredibly chaotic atmosphere. Yes, he's surprisingly good at working from underneath in the rare matched where he is called to do so, and he has a few feuds that are more sporting (vs Inoki, Baba, and Misawa) but it's that spectacular brawling and character work that lands him in this spot." A Stock Recommended Matches: Stan Hansen vs Andre the Giant (NJPW, 9/23/1981) Stan Hansen vs Terry Funk (AJPW, 8/23/1985) Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 7/29/1993)

Liger and Bryan were on every ballot for the longest while. Liger dropped off. Then Bryan. Then the other three overtook him.

Flair, Funk, or Hansen?

Question, should I reveal name number 3 today and let you debate the final two or should I reveal no more names today and let you debate all three till tomorrow?

He can change it in 2026.

4 - Mitsuharu Misawa 2006 Ranking: 7 Points: 13216 #1 Votes: 11 #2 Votes: 12 #3 Votes: 8 Top 10 Votes: 63 # of Ballots: 137 Average Vote: 10.23 High Vote: 1 (Tim Cooke, ???, ???, Ismael Retana, ???, Chad Campbell, Dustin Hales, Rob AnimalGlue, The Thread Killer, stunning_grover, & Andrew79) Low Vote: 86 Discussion Thread "I think he has become a bit underrated, actually, with people focusing on the in-your-face charisma of Kobashi and the hard-hitting of Kawada. His stoic, multi-layered selling and character work was brilliant." MoS "He was the top guy in All Japan during the period it produced the most amount of great matches." stunning_grover "Literally gave his life for his style and business. Amazing performer, with a laconic character that aged quite well. Also had one of the more tumultuous and interesting journeys in puroresu history." Jon Burr "His greatness is undeniable, but after more than a few lackluster performances it becomes clear his greatest wrestler ever candidacy comes up shorter than expected. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way and as such suffers a fall from the top 20. That doesn't mean he wasn't amazing though." Dylan Harris "The best ace ever. Convincing an audience that you are the "best wrestler" while also maintaining the illusion that your opponent is a real threat is no easy task and Misawa at his peak does it better than anybody. His long career also features compelling post-peak performances built around his crumbling body using his trademark nuanced selling. " A Stock "Misawa is one of the lower Four Pillars because he just seemed to fade into the background when it came to some of his matches, even if they were singles. When he was on, he was second to few but there were other times when he just seemed to display an uncaring personality. " mprice "I love Misawa as he was the perfect complement to my number three, Kenta Kobashi. I could of honestly flipped the two and be happy but this is how I feel analyzing the details at this point." Danny Kuchler "Misawa had the best offensive arsenal including wrestling's most devastating finisher, the Tiger Driver '91." Moonsault Marvin "The greatest ace of all time. His August 1992 to July 1994 title reign was not only booked fantastically but also featured a boatload of great matches, both in singles and tags and six man tags." Tim Cooke Recommended Matches: Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW, 6/8/1990) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 6/3/1994) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 1/20/1997)

5 - Daniel Bryan 2006 Ranking: honourable mention (117) Points: 12302 #1 Votes: 9 #2 Votes: 6 #3 Votes: 4 Top 10 Votes: 34 # of Ballots: 142 Average Vote: 17.63 High Vote: 1 (Danny Kuchler, @jamesie_2015, ???, ShittyLittleBoots, James Derbyshire, Venegas, Dan Rice, Quentin Skinner, & Mrzfn) Low Vote: 81 Discussion Thread "I am someone who does not like the huge indys boom of the mid-2000s. Something as vaunted and rarified as the Joe-Punk matches leave me underwhelmed. However, Daniel Bryan is the exception to the rule, not only because he managed to keep his matches from becoming too nudge nudge wink wink, but also because of the clever ways he would subvert few tropes without it becoming a masturbatory celebration. " MoS "Best wrestler of his generation. Was good very young in to his career. His peak performances are some of the best matches I've ever seen. One of the top 3 major title reigns of all time from 2005/2006 in Ring Of Honor. Made the most out of every single person he worked with. Very versatile. He could work any role (smug heel, delusional heel, stoic babyface, fiery, underdog babyface, comedy) and any style of match (mat based, stiff strikes, high spots, epics with tons of near falls, tag matches, gimmick matches). Ability to carry a "lesser" opponents to something special. Longer list of great matches with multiple people than I could come up for with anyone else. Made the most out of what he could in every company he worked in no matter what his placement on the card was and had this unique ability to get over with his underrated level of charisma and crowd connection. He's a guy that on paper when you look at him he shouldn't be as good as he is, but he checks off every single box in what you could want in a professional wrestler." Quentin Skinner "The best wrestler in the world for damned near a decade and one of the smartest and most studious wrestlers ever. Five counts, small packages, silly chants? Could get over damned near anything he wanted to, when between the ropes. " Jon Burr "Daniel Bryan is probably my favorite wrestler of all time and certainly was consistently the best I saw live. I was there for the classic with Tyler Black in 1998 which really showcases how creative he was." Dave Musgrave "He's a recent candidate, but I feel he truly is a great wrestler. He had great matches over a long stretch against a variety of opponents, he added new elements and was consistently creative. He got over everywhere he went, largely on the merits of his work, not on his name." "Bryan personifies everything a wrestler should be, from the attitude to the in ring work. I feel as if placed in any era, Bryan would be one of the best no matter what. " Danny Kuchler "This is primarily based on his WWE run only as I didn't get around to watching a ton of indy wrestling. I tend to not like a lot of modern wrestling so he could either shoot up my list or fall down based on how I feel about the 04-on indy run when I watch it in bulk for 2026." Elliott "Kept me involved in wrestling when my interest was fading in 2005/2006. I followed and was invested in his entire career. A truly great worker. " TheU_2001 Recommended Matches: Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness (ROH, 8/12/2006) Bryan Danielson vs Takeshi Morishima (ROH, 8/25/2007) Daniel Bryan vs John Cena (WWE SummerSlam, 8/18/2013)

I went back and rewatched a lot of his indie run and it more then holds up. The guy has been a top ten wrestler in the world his whole career.

It shouldn't be, he's had a long and awesome career.

6 - Jushin "Thunder" Liger 2006 Ranking: 4 Points: 12291 #1 Votes: 1 #2 Votes: 3 #3 Votes: 3 Top 10 Votes: 46 # of Ballots: 145 Average Vote: 18.03 High Vote: 1 (BuryWindham/VicVenomBytes) Low Vote: 84 Discussion Thread "My favourite junior ever. Loss keeps saying that he did not really work a juniors style, and that might be why. " MoS "He was the top star and best worker of the New Japan junior heavyweight division for many years. Later in his career, he continued to have great matches. He even had great performances outside of Japan." stunning_grover "Probably as responsible as anyone for the tape trading boom and a legend in almost every respect. Innovative and versatile, with incredible character work, despite being fully shrouded. Part lion, part tiger, all wrestler!" Jon Burr "Liger won't be my number one, but I could see him anywhere from number two to any other spot in the top ten. His rep is that of a great high flyer, and while Liger was a great flyer, that has nothing to do with why he was great. Liger was so demonstrative. I always thought it was cool when you felt like you could see a smirk or anger just by looking at his face even though the expression never changed at all because of the mask. He was also a fantastic ace. Guys like Otani and Kanemoto just weren't the same against anyone else for the most part, not to mention El Samurai and Norio Honaga. The only thing keeping him out of the top spot for me is that he wrestled within a pretty narrow experience - juniors matches against a core group of guys. We saw so many sides to him just within that division, and he does have occasional highlights outside of it like the WCW matches with Pillman or the Budokan Hall main event with Hashimoto. But he's not quite as "tested", for lack of a better word, as the other top tier guys. It's hard to think of any real flaws outside of that." Loss Recommended Matches: Jushin Liger vs Naoki Sano (NJPW, 1/31/1990) Jushin Liger vs Great Sasuke (NJPW, 4/16/1994) Jushin Liger & Wataru Inoue vs Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (NOAH, 2/17/2002)

7 - Rey Mysterio Jr. 2006 Ranking: 22 Points: 11910 #1 Votes: 3 #2 Votes: 0 #3 Votes: 6 Top 10 Votes: 34 # of Ballots: 146 Average Vote: 20.92 High Vote: 1 (El Dragon, Zero, & donsem43) Low Vote: 95 Discussion Thread "His consistency is on another level entirely. Perhaps has the most 3 star matches in history. " MoS "He managed to be a successful wrestler in AAA, WCW and WWE. He was a strong in-ring performer over a time span of more than 20 years." stunning_grover "The sheer number of good matches in Rey's career is staggering. Like Daniel Bryan, can get over anywhere through workrate alone. Seemingly defied physics early in his career, and defied the odds later, as his storytelling chops took him to unexpected heights. " Jon Burr "My favorite junior wrestler and probably the best of all time. In a Steamboat-free world I would probably call him the best babyface ever. " Dave Musgrave "How many years from 1996 to 2016 can you argue that Rey Mysterio Jr. was the best wrestler in the world, or at least top 5? The greatest babyface wrestler of all time, from wrestling Eddie back in the late 90's to the Low-Ki and LU stuff now. He could have many more years of being just a top flight guy too. " El Dragon "The greatest high flyer ever, and the greatest TV match worker ever. He combines crazy ass, spectacular moves with incredible selling and timing. He's timeless and can work with anyone. Probably has more good matches on tape than any other wrestler." Jimmy Redman " Probably the best t.v. match worker I've ever seen in the sense that if you ask him to have a three minute match with Jamie Noble it's going to be good and if you ask him to go fifteen with Shelton Benjamin it's going to be good and if you ask him to go nine minutes with Edge it's going to be good. Was good in that role during the Nitro era, good in that role as a junior in WWE, good in that role as the vet in WWE. I doubt anyone in history has more good televised matches than Rey, and he did it against a huge variety of opponents. Possible knock on him would be that he wasn't a good heel, but he never should have been a heel and is an all time great face. The other big knock I could see is that he lacks true classics, but I don't think that's true at all. In fact I think things like the Punk and Jericho series are classic series, they just aren't thought of that way because the WWE is terrible at making special things seem special. One of my all time favorite highspot guys AND one of my all time favorite sellers. He will rate well on my ballot" Dylan Waco Recommended Matches: Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Psicosis (WAR, 12/13/1995) Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Ultimo Dragon (WCW World War III, 11/24/1996) Rey Mysterio vs Kurt Angle (WWE SummerSlam, 8/25/2002)

8 - Kenta Kobashi 2006 Ranking: 5 Points: 11898 #1 Votes: 6 #2 Votes: 8 #3 Votes: 6 Top 10 Votes: 49 # of Ballots: 135 Average Vote: 16.62 High Vote: 1 (???, ???, Alan Counihan, Lauren McKell, Marty Sleeze, & WingedEagle) Low Vote: 88 Discussion Thread "I am not as high on him as I am on Misawa and Kawada, but I do feel that the criticism he gets for no-selling and having poor psychology is a bit unfair. " MoS "A superdeformed Ricky Steamboat, with an arsenal that seemingly never ends. It's his fire that sets him apart from his former mentor and, thusly, just about every other wrestler ever." Jon Burr "Rated the highest of the 4 Pillars for me based nearly entirely on his high end stuff. in fact likely my #1 on purely high end. The wheels came off at the end but nowhere near enough to knock him out of the top 5." Dylan Harris "I have been watching Japanese wrestling for about 3 years now and Kobashi stands out as one of the most interesting guys to watch because it's not just about chops and kicks but how he makes them into a watchable match." mprice "Kenta Kobashi is the ultimate strong style competitor. He hits hard, suplexes you on top of your head and is fun to watch. Every time I watch a Kenta Kobashi match I'm intrigued." Danny Kuchler "I love him up through 1993. Even at certain points in 1993 I hate him. After 1993 I hate him and find his style impossible to watch. But its Kenta Kobashi I don't feel Iike I can put him any lower. " Elliott "We're not going to find a more talented pro wrestler on this list than Kenta Kobashi. Great facial expressions and selling, and probably better heavyweight offense and execution than anyone ever. I could see myself putting Kobashi as high as number two, so I'm not down on him at all. If he's hurt by anything, it's that his matches sometimes felt too much like The Kobashi Show, where he was showing off how great he was as much as or more than giving a performance for the sake of the match. It's a hard thing to really describe in a way that makes sense, but I expect that people who have watched a lot of Kobashi will get that. There's nothing understated about the guy, but the constant theatrical approach can sometimes be a lot to bear. As much as people love the 6/9/95 tag, I do too, but Kobashi's performance was so over the top there that the match lost something for me. For that reason, it's never been a match I've been as gaga over as most people." Loss Recommended Matches: Kenta Kobashi vs Stan Hansen (AJPW, 7/29/1993) Kenta Kobashi vs Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 1/20/1997) Kenta Kobashi vs Tamon Honda (NOAH, 4/13/2003)

9 - Toshiaki Kawada 2006 Ranking: 2 Points: 11784 #1 Votes: 5 #2 Votes: 3 #3 Votes: 8 Top 10 Votes: 50 # of Ballots: 129 Average Vote: 13.19 High Vote: 1 (ChuckScumm, anarchistxx, AstroBoy, AndyLFC , & ???) Low Vote: 78 Discussion Thread "I do not see the arguments about him dogging it in matches. Almost every match I have seen has him on song, and that is a fuckload of matches." MoS "The most thoughtful, nuanced, and intriguing worker during a most legendary period for All Japan. He put kickpads on damned near every indie worker worldwide with his influence. He may not have the sheer number of starry matches as his cohorts, but his role and work during those heady days was the most thrilling and, for me, important." Jon Burr "Out of the four pillars, he had the best pre-1990 run in my opinion. He was an awesome badass and top opponent to Misawa during the 90's but the 1988 RWTL final is one of my favorite matches of all time." Dave Musgrave "Kawada's peak performances are some of the best in history, with top notch selling in both singles and tag matches." Moonsault Marvin "I love Kawada. Such a smart worker. While the Albright match in '95 is far from his best match, I think it's the best example of Kawada's greatness because he's doing something out of the norm that other top guys in All Japan either wouldn't have thought to do or cared enough to do. He's not a guy that lets many opportunities to do interesting things slide." Loss Recommended Matches: Toshiaki Kawada vs Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 6/3/1994) Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 6/9/1995) Toshiaki Kawada vs Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW, 10/9/2000)

41 to 10 is a HUGE jump, so I wouldn't complain too much.

So many didn't vote lucha, you not voting Japan I have no issue with.

10 - Jerry "The King" Lawler 2006 Ranking: 41 Points: 11603 #1 Votes: 6 #2 Votes: 5 #3 Votes: 4 Top 10 Votes: 38 # of Ballots: 136 Average Vote: 18.76 High Vote: 1 (goc, Tim Livingston, Phil Schneider, benj, Polish_Hammer, & goodhelmet) Low Vote: 94 Discussion Thread "Best punch in wrestling history and a top 10 heel AND face in wrestling history. On top of a territory from jump street and kept it alive longer than anyone could have dreamt." Jon Burr "The King got arguably the most out of the least of anyone in the history of wrestling. My God this was the epitome of the man who "got it". So many great matches including vs. perennials such as Snowman & The Miz. If that isn't top 5 worthy man I don't know." Dylan Harris "My favorite wrestling character in an angle driven environment. Lawler has a great emotional range. He can be fun, funny, competitive, serious, hateful, violent, brave, or cowardly. He can work big and he can work small. I love him as a tough brawling babyface and I love him as the cowardly heel, hiding weapons and doing whatever he can to win." A Stock "Lawler is my #1 and it would take a hell of an argument to push someone else into that spot. I guess in the "minimalist vs. maximist" debate I would firmly put myself in the minimalist camp and Lawler really is "The King" there. He could get a good match out of just about anyone, and most of the time he did. Also one of the best, if not the best, promo guy of all time. Was involved in some all time classic feuds & angles, some of which he booked himself. So factoring in the whole package, including being the anchor of the only territory that survived the territory era, I can't see anyone beating him out for #1 if I were to really do a list." goc goodhelmet's great post Recommended Matches: Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk (Memphis, 3/23/1981) Jerry Lalwer vs Dutch Mantell (Barbed Wire, Memphis, 3/29/1982) Jerry Lawler vs The Miz (WWE, 2/20/2011)

Reactions to the Honorable Mention List: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Reactions to the List: 100-51 50-26 25-11

With everything being said Bryan, Flair, Funk, Hansen, Kawada, Kobashi, Lawer, Liger, Misawa, & Mysterio is a hell of a top ten. Buddy, Bret and Casas were the only ones I missed and really only Casas, I thought, had a chance. Can't discount that a percentage of wrestling fans just won't do lucha.