Beast

That type of thing excites me. That there is a fan who felt so sure that Gotch was a top 20 level talent that he had to put him up there. To a lesser extent with Thesz, O'Connor, and other guys from that era and before. Even if this isn't going to stand as a "definitive" list due to the vast range of preparation people brought to it, I still think it means a lot for future discussion. I've said this before, but I'll be looking to the list to guide future viewing choices.

This isn't just in response to you, but... They mean a whole hell of a lot. All of us are PWOers. All of us are likely in the top 1% of fans who are in the "know", meaning watch a variety of footage and dive into non-current stuff. I don't buy into the hivemind arguement at all, but you can't say there's not a "hivemind" and then complain that people have different opinions than the podcast host family. I like Bigelow. I like Malenko. Not as much as I used to, but they still made the second half of my list. That doesn't make my opinion less valid than someone who's discovered they "actually" are overrated. It's perfectly fine to complain about a favorite falling too early, but the random people complaining about lack of voter quality is totally bull.

I also had him at 100.

Malenko would have been in my top 10, maybe top 5 back in 2006. The "Iceman" no kidding around technical stuff doesn't do as much for me now, but he still just made my top 50.

For this month, the saddest part of my day is when rankings stop being posted.

I had Steiner like 13 or 14 and thought for sure I'd be top vote.

I have a feeling I'm on such a different wavelength than most of you that my explanation won't mean much, but... When I made my list I had a hard time separating who I "liked to watch" and who I "thought was the best". It's not like baseball where there are pure stats to go off when saying this guy hit more homers than this guy but did so during a period where the pitching was worse and etc... So even if I look at someone like Flair (who I ranked just below Boss) and know that he's regarded as one of the best and brings a lot to the table, if I'd rather watch a Bossman match, than Bossman is "better".I can't step outside myself and go "Well Flair is liked more by people that have watched a lot more than me so he is a greater wrestler". Again, it's one of the reasons I didn't feel comfortable ranking Japanese guys despite watching hundreds of matches from those promotions. I wouldn't know where to rank Kobashi or Misawa without being completely influenced by what others think of them. And watching that stuff is like eating my vegetables. I do it because I know the classics are good to have watched, but I don't typically like them as much as appreciate them. He was super effective as both a face and a heel. Even though he was already Big Bubba in WCW when I started watching (mid-90s), I knew he had been Big Bossman in WWF and was SHOCKED to eventually find out he started out as a heel before that early 90s run. And that turn angle with Dibiase is a high point of character development for that era. Up there with the Savage/Hogan/Liz turn. His bumping was fantastic, not just as a big man, but as a wrestler. And for a guy with his physique, he was astounding in getting the most he could out of his character, a master of facial and body expressions. Id rather watch his reactions during his matches than most wrestlers actions. I'd rather watch him in anything, be it a 2 minute squash or 25 minute slog than every other wrestler except the 9 above him on my list. All the guys I've been the high vote on so far (Ouillet, Cabana, Jacques, Steiner, Steen, and Bossman) are all guys I'd drop almost anything to watch a highly pimped match of. I'm actually very sympathetic to that rationale. Thanks for stepping up and explaining. Cool. Thanks for the positive reaction. I think I can dial down the preemptive defensiveness a bit now.

I have a feeling I'm on such a different wavelength than most of you that my explanation won't mean much, but... When I made my list I had a hard time separating who I "liked to watch" and who I "thought was the best". It's not like baseball where there are pure stats to go off when saying this guy hit more homers than this guy but did so during a period where the pitching was worse and etc... So even if I look at someone like Flair (who I ranked just below Boss) and know that he's regarded as one of the best and brings a lot to the table, if I'd rather watch a Bossman match, than Bossman is "better".I can't step outside myself and go "Well Flair is liked more by people that have watched a lot more than me so he is a greater wrestler". Again, it's one of the reasons I didn't feel comfortable ranking Japanese guys despite watching hundreds of matches from those promotions. I wouldn't know where to rank Kobashi or Misawa without being completely influenced by what others think of them. And watching that stuff is like eating my vegetables. I do it because I know the classics are good to have watched, but I don't typically like them as much as appreciate them. He was super effective as both a face and a heel. Even though he was already Big Bubba in WCW when I started watching (mid-90s), I knew he had been Big Bossman in WWF and was SHOCKED to eventually find out he started out as a heel before that early ‘90s run. And that turn angle with Dibiase is a high point of character development for that era. Up there with the Savage/Hogan/Liz turn. His bumping was fantastic, not just as a big man, but as a wrestler. And for a guy with his physique, he was astounding in getting the most he could out of his character, a master of facial and body expressions. I’d rather watch his reactions during his matches than most wrestlers’ actions. I'd rather watch him in anything, be it a 2 minute squash or 25 minute slog than every other wrestler except the 9 above him on my list. All the guys I've been the high vote on so far (Ouillet, Cabana, Jacques, Steiner, Steen, and Bossman) are all guys I'd drop almost anything to watch a highly pimped match of.

Stevens' ranking is indicative of why this can never be THE list. 197 is way too low for the guy who every peer says was amazing. But most of us couldn't vote for him due to the lack of prime footage. It's a real shame.

Luger compared to HHH will be interesting.

I haven't read every post here, but for me it comes down to "Would I rather watch this guy wrestle as compared to someone else?" and a lot of that has to do with great matches, but also to do with mannerisms, style, charisma and angles. Arn Anderson ranked relatively high on my list specifically because of the way he stooges around and makes everything look super impactful. Both Steiners are high on my list because I love watching them toss guys around and the aura they give off while doing so. Colt Cabana made the top half of my list because when I watch his matches, I'm impressed by the little intricacies he focuses on to get the crowd involved and I'm mesmerized by that as someone with a performance background. I didn't rank Warrior, Graham or Hogan, but I can totally see why they connected with others while designing their lists. I wish I could watch ten Lizmark matches and think "This guy is obviously a man among men", but my fandom doesn't work that way. And I'd rather watch 5 Steiner squash matches than a 30 minute long Kobashi 5 star match. I love this list so far. I love that it combines over 100 different tastes and types of fan. I love that there's someone who ranks Quackenbush in their top 10 and another who ranks Spanky up there. If anything, it's the list that going to get me to break more out of my comfort zone afterwards, not preparing for the list.

This is the type of response that I find infuriating. Where's the rule that says there are certain workers everyone should have and if they dont, they are lesser fans or something? I didn't rank any non NA wrestlers because even though ive seen a fair share of non US work, it still pales to my exposure of guys like Steiner. And I really dig his style. Hard hitting, throws, clotheslines, all of it. I'd rather watch a Steiner match than almost anything else. So yeah, he's a top 100, for me personally. Guys need to lighten up and stop bashing other people's likes and dislikes. Get over the fact that some of us are the equivalent of "Shawshank Redemption" or "Star Wars" is the best film of all time wrestling fans.

Him vs Rey at Summerslam 2009 blew me away at the time. I didn't realize Dolph had anything like that in him and then he proceeded to regularly pull out great matches over the next 4-5 years. He's insufferable now, but that's a combo of stop/start booking and moving from being a Mr. Perfect cosplayer to a Shawn Michaels one.

What were his 70s highs? Laying an egg against Harley? I'll give him this: he could sell better than he's given credit for. And was demonstrably a better wrestler than Jesse Ventura. I didn't vote for Graham, but his WWWF stuff in 76-78 from MSG and Philly is mostly good, never bad, and often really memorable. Vs. Bruno, Dusty, Putski, Mascaras (two otherwise crappy wrestlers), Backlund, are almost as good as it gets in NYC during this time. I probably should've found a spot for Superstar Love the clash of the titans here.

Since I'm the high vote on both, I'll go full-blown Quebecer with an Amazing French Canadiens avatar.

Heenan literally worked a full-time house show schedule in the AWA, wrestling on almost every show he appeared on in addition to managing at least one other match. He had almost 100 matches every year in WWF from 1984 to 90. I think 88 or 89 has time out for neck injury. Do you mean combined from '84 to '90? Because I'm not seeing anything close to 100 matches a year for Heenan on Cagematch or WrestlingData. Maxes out around 25-30 each year with some far less.

tag teams in may? This

Also, if someone thinks Kendrick is #9, so what? If they can explain or defend it, all the power to them.

He's amazing at what he does. Influenced by his podcast for sure, but I'd rather watch him excel at his gaga style than many other "great" wrestlers.

Prichard is one I could see making my list of I'd seen more of his singles matches. Kinda stinks he only made 2 ballots.

At first I was shocked to be the only voter for Carl Ouellet, but that evolved to me being shocked I had him on at all. Love me some Quebecers and Jean-Pierre Lafitte.

He's so Diesel.

OK thanks. That's gonna be confusing trying to watch everything in order.

It was incredible how my friends (all super casual) and I went from being super excited to turning it off before the main event. Every single match had the more popular wrestler(s) lose in a deflating fashion Ryder winning was kind of cool, but set the tone when Zayn didn't win. Jericho over AJ was a headscratcher, but oh well... New Day losing had me noticing a trend. Dean losing wasn't surprising, but it was another flat ending with the popular guy losing. Neither Sasha or Becky winning got us real frustrated By the time Taker's match started, I "knew" he'd win since if Shane winning would be the "good" ending, it wasn't gonna happen. I thought maybe Shaq or Henry (who is about to retire) winning the royal would be nice, but nope just unadvertised or mentioned random big NXT guy. After the Rock I turned it off. I hated the Taker match. There were probably less than 30 moves (even counting duplicates) in 30 minutes. Stunt falls do nothing for me if the match is a total slog.

During the '80s, when did Worldwide air in regard to World Championship Wrestling? I'd assume Saturday morning? I'm asking because I watched the WCW episode from 11/2/85 on the network and it has Crockett announcing that Tully/Magnum will be an I Quit Cage match despite Tully never agreeing to that in the contract. Tully goes berserk and beats up on Denny Brown in a squash. The 11/2/85 WorldWide then has Tully and Baby Doll giving a promo reacting to that announcement. So I'd think WorldWide would have aired late Saturday night instead. Someone clear this up for me please.