El-P

Megumi Kudo : rejected by AJW, hired and pushed for cosmetic reasons by Onita, FUCKED PEOPLE UP. (she was also in the main event of the very first joshi puroresu tape I bought in 1998) Kensuke Sasaki : first saw him in 1994 or so on Eurosport sporting a Legion of Doom (yeah, sorry, I only knew of WWF then) costume. Underrated. Overpushed at one time (people will still blame the collapse of the Japanese wrestling golden era of the 90's with him getting the IWPG title) but underrated, really. He's most famously known for being the husband of the GOAT. Mr. Perfect. My second ever favorite wrestler. He was in the first really competitive match I ever saw, which was a house-show IC title defense against Hercules. Did I mentioned the French version of WWF TV was goofy as fuck ? Christian Cage : fun fact, I realized he was better than Edge as soon as he debuted in WWF in 98. Bob Backlund : the heel turn in 1994 remains one of my all-time favorite angle. When you think him and Bret had *that kinda match* on WWF TV, Superstars mind you, it's almost like a fever dream. Loved his 70's/early 80's stuff too. Dick Togo : yeah, great wrestler and all, but responsible for House of Torture. Get fucked. Atlantis : wait, he got *above* Villano III ? Da fuck is this ? Yugi Nagata : better than any of the 90's generation heavys. And yes, that includes Hashimoto. Shingo Takagi : thanks for ruining each and every one of the awesome matches I saw you have by posing with neo-nazis loving Sanae Takaichi. Ruined Natsupoi too in the process. Pro-tip : if you're a fucking idiot, just hide it. Abby : amazing scary monster with the most lethal finisher ever. Hepatitis C ? No one is gonna no sell that shit....

The true spirit of carny business is alive and well Hilarious. Imagine paying whatever to be in that crowd. MMA is such a joke. Pro-wrestling is the only real sport.

I dunno what to think about MLW getting Saya before AEW Court Bauer getting relationships with both CMLL and now Stardom is quite the carny feat. Well, at least there's no chance the actual matches are gonna be showed on MLW's youtube before Forbidden Door...

Chelsea Green really is the female equivalent to CM Punk. As far as the rest of them, who is a surprise ? I would say no one. Especially not The Miz nor Tiffany Stratton. (waiting for SRS saying this is not a MAGA Fest at all)

Sammy Guevara sure made the most out of his Collision appearance. Ok, it's time to get him back as a regular, there's no reason not to. He's way too good to be forgotten about. He's a great in-ring worker, he's insane, he's good on promos and he's a heat magnet. The equation with Sammy is simple, he just has to be a douchy heel. I hope the fact Tay Melo seems to be back too is an indication this will be the case. TayJay is certainly the best use of them now, plus they really are the original AEW women tag team, so they fit the current landscape. Not saying they have to win the titles, although it could be a nice feel-good story at one point. Speedball next ? Yeah, we did not deserve that Darby title reign. Hey, an Allie Katch sighting.

Biglav is so 2015. It was the dumbest shit then, but come one now. Gotta live with your time. SO. I just asked this question to Gemini : Is Lulu Pencil one of the greatest wrestler or all time. I SWEAR that's all I did. I did not prep the AI with any other stuff before (I never use AI). Here's the answer (copy/paste) : If you measure greatness by championship gold, five-star technical clinics, or massive stadium buy-rates, then no, Lulu Pencil is objectively not one of the greatest of all time. However, if you measure greatness by pure storytelling, the emotional investment of a cult audience, and redefining what a babyface under-dog looks like, then to a very passionate corner of the wrestling world, she is an absolute legend. Here is a breakdown of why Lulu Pencil holds such a unique, beloved status in modern wrestling history. The Ultimate Underdog (Literally) Lulu Pencil—a freelance writer for IGN Japan in her day job—debuted for Emi Sakura's Gatoh Move/ChocoPro promotion in 2019. Standing at 5'4" and barely weighing 100 pounds, she didn't look like a wrestler, and kayfabe-wise, she wasn't good at it. Her signature forearm strikes often hurt her own arm more than her opponent. She would frequently trip over the environment or get herself stuck in her own submission holds. She wrestled in pink overalls and a cap rather than traditional gear. Because she lacked any natural physical advantages, her entire character arc was built around a singular question: Is passion enough to make you a pro wrestler? The Pencil War vs. Chris Brookes What elevated Lulu Pencil from a fun comedy act into a legendary character was her 2020–2021 rivalry with British indie star Chris Brookes. Brookes played a sadistic, towering bully who despised Lulu because he felt her weakness insulted the sport. The storytelling was incredible. He stole her favorite hat, mocked her dreams, and repeatedly destroyed her in the ring. Yet, no matter how badly she was beaten, Lulu refused to quit. This culminated in an iconic 30-Minute Iron Man Match in July 2021. While Brookes won the overall match 3 falls to 1, Lulu managed to score a single, desperate pinfall against him in the final seconds. It was her 115th career match and the very first pinfall of her career. Afterward, a bloodied Brookes handed her back her hat and finally admitted: “Yes, you are a professional wrestler.” It remains one of the most emotionally gripping story arcs in modern indie wrestling. The Paradoxical Greatness of #500 In 2021, Pro Wrestling Illustrated ranked Lulu Pencil as #500 on their annual PWI 500 list—the absolute bottom. Instead of a slight, it was celebrated. The "Pencil Army" fan base rallied so hard that PWI actually printed a special, official alternative magazine cover featuring Lulu, turning the lowest rank into a badge of honor. The Verdict Is she Ric Flair, Stone Cold Steve Austin, or Mitsuharu Misawa? No. She quietly stepped away from the ring to focus on her journalism career, never winning a single singles match or a championship title. Is she a masterclass in professional wrestling psychology? Absolutely. Lulu Pencil proved that you don't need to do 450 splashes or weigh 250 pounds to make an audience weep, cheer, and care. In the realm of experimental, character-driven storytelling, she is an all-time great. (I AM DYING LAUGHING)

Lulu Pencil triggering a meltdown wasn't on my bingo card. Still kinda beautiful. In a way. Now I wanna find that Dark episode where Eddie Kingston is guest announcing and is loving Lulu Pencil (as Emi Sakura's valet mind you).

The high point of the Destroyer pimping happened during the 2006 edition, mostly thanks to JDW. Hence the super high result at the time. We loved the Destroyer on SC.

Harley Race. I remember the days of people began hating on Harley because he was doing "too much moves". Fun times (nah, not really, it was embarrassing for the people involved, really). Harley's matches with Baba in the seventies, my god.

Well, I can't say I'm surprised. I mean, at this point, I expect *nothing* from anyone anymore on the puroresu scene. Who isn't a conservative in Japanese wrestling would be more the question (apart from ZSJ of course). Lioness Asuka dropped. Well, I've seen way too much of her egoistical bullshit in the late 90's/early 00's to really care one way or another. She was always the Robert Gibson of the Crush Gals anyway. Kinda.

Damn, spoiler alert ! Fourth, uh ? Hum... So probably Flair (yawn) and some of the old canonical favorites (you know the ones). Fourth seems *low* for Danielson. Now, the % will be interesting too.

Ok, so neither Young Bucks made the top 100, and barely 1/4 of the people voted for them. Therefore I disqualify 3/4 of the voters. 😎 Well, I won't repeat what I already said about the Bucks. The GOATs. Tiger Mask. Yeah, we get it people, he wasn't the first to do lucha libre inspired shit in Japan. But he's still easily one of the most influential worker ever. Also, he kinda rules in UWF, doing stupid-ass pro-style in the middle of the early shoot-style stuff. Lou Thesz. Back then pro-wrestling was realistic. *checks Lou doing silly stooging and bumping* Yeah, no, actually, forget that.

Ok. I bet the guy who get the highest % is gonna be Danielson.

I was referring to the Japan working wrestlers, but yes, of course, Shirai and Asuka also.

Yes, I know. But you know what I mean. To me it's super interesting that, even putting Rikidozan apart, the two most influential wrestlers in Japan in the 80's (the other one being Riki Choshu) are coming from Korean families. And I wonder if that ever played a part, even unconsciously, in what they brought to Japanese wrestling. Both pushed the style further, pushed the intensity, both were seen as rebels and anti-system heroes. If I believe Choshu's Wiki, he was prevented from representing Japan at the 72 Olympics because he was seen as Korean, and when it happened it actually competed for South Korea. I wonder if a certain experience of racism pushed both of them to shake the Japanese pro-wrestling system and aesthetics, going toward heated Japanese vs Japanese stars, moving away from the US gaijin stars, Choshu pushing the pace like crazy, Maeda changing the dynamics with doing the clean job as a huge star to build the new generation, something neither Inoki nor Baba were willing to do. Maybe it's just a coincidence. Still, it's a topic I'd love to hear more about from the concerned people, but sadly, unless a totally shoot documentary about that topic comes up, we'll never know.