Matt D

I'm more than happy just changing the damn name for 2016. I don't care about the name at all. I do care about who people around here think are the best wrestlers, bell to bell, ever. The name is just getting in the way of that. I think there's massive amount of variation about what people think when it comes to bell to bell, hugely different criteria, hugely different likes and preferences and methods. There's so much to churn through with just that to make this a very valuable and very interesting process. It certainly has been with a massive majority of us going off of that understanding of what we were doing.

GREATEST WRESTLER EVER* *You know, in ring.

To me Octagon is one of those wrestlers who fall into the "Tool" category.

I like to have as much context as possible in situations like this. To me, the issue isn't that I haven't seen more Kellett but that I haven't seen more British comedy in general, because I'm not entirely sure how brilliant he was and how brilliant the style itself was. That said, on some level I see a vote for him as a vote for the style in general. That he has a number of matches where he's not different, but where the specific things he does ARE stands out to me after seeing, for instance, dozens of comedy midget matches where they do much the same things. Even if the 5-6 matches I've seen is the sum of what he does, and I feel fairly certain it's not, that'd be impressive to me on some level. Am I voting for him? I don't know, but he may be the best I've ever seen at a specific thing. He's the world's funniest Crusher basically.

This is also a case where we're stronger than the sum of our parts. If there's a match that's not online that people feel strongly about, that they see in their searching, whether it's Negro Casas vs Mocho Cota or what, people have tended to upload it. We have specialists who delve deep into a wrestler or promotion, the stuff online and sometimes the stuff not online, and they bring that back to the center. For instance, I just realized that Damiancito el Guerrero vs Cicloncito Ramirez is no longer online. I'm probably going to go to the people who I know feel very strongly about that match and likely have it and see what they can do about it so that others can see it. If I had it myself, I'd do the same.

I haven't watched wrestling on an actual TV set since 2009 maybe? That said, I did buy some DVDs in this process to fill some gaps (Not a ton of early 00s lucha online for instance), but not many. Let me put it this way, though. You could give me another five years and I still wouldn't make it through all the free footage online that I think would be relevant for a project like this, so I don't think it matters too much. I think the bigger issue is that people are going towards great matches instead of holistic 360 approaches of different wrestlers in different situations, but that's more of a criteria/priority thing.

I'd like to get Cortez on too but I just don't know if I have sufficient understanding of him.

That Lord Alfred vs Steve Veidor match is such a blast. It makes me wish we had dozens and dozens of Hayes matches from the mid 70s. He was so great in heeling it up and getting in brazen cheapshot after cheapshot and keeping the pressure on and ducking out of the ring in the best Memphis fashion anytime Veidor showed any sign of life. Veidor had some good futile fire in the front half, but his broad selling in the back half and then the eventual comeback has me wanting to see more. It's different from almost any other UK performance I've seen from this era, so one-sided but without any real specific sense of control save for "Cheating." I really liked the finish because it gave Veidor a comeback, but made it seem that Hayes was just going to cheapshot his way out of it before those last moments. People should see this if they haven't already.

Sheamus will likely make mine too btw.

I've seen a lot of 93 WCW Scorpio. I love the tags vs Austin/Pillman. I've not seen much of his ECW.

I need Scorpio matches to watch. Go.

Brave soul.

I just don't know if I'll be able to get Backlund on. I don't have time to watch enough footage to feel secure about his placement. the good thing is that he faced a lot of guys I'll be ranking anyway, so I could kill two birds with one stone. And I have seen some matches but not for a while.

This was the only Nord in AJPW from 94 I could find online. (at least I think that's what it is). Some awesome Hansen moments in the match. Nord looked ok. Like the world's best possible Brody. He gave a lot less than in WWF but probably more appropriately. His offense looked good. I wish there was more time of him vs Taue in there.

One issue I'm coming across is the weighing of footage. There are wrestlers I'm leaving off due to footage. Then there are wrestlers I feel fairly confident about due to the footage we have, confident enough to put them in the 30-40 range, perhaps, but if we had more footage, they could easily be in the 20-30 range, or maybe even the 15-20 range. I'm not entirely comfortable with that. I'm also not comfortable leaving them off because I have a strong sense of them with just what they have. So the compromise is that they get knocked down the list instead of left off completely, which isn't accurate, but it still somehow feels more accurate than not having them on. Does that make sense?

By the end of the JR/Tony team, they were generally having separate conversations and the few times Tony would try to throw something to Ross, he'd get ignored. I napped it out for a whole show once. Ventura wasn't the issue. The Superbrawl show was good because Ventura took him by surprise and MADE Ross engage with him. I think Ross was more prepared for him later.

I like the alternate past where the WWF listened to Dave Meltzer and added Shamrock to the group.

I like how Kris is trying to be professional at the start when the last episode ended with the youtube description readings.

My list is pretty much doomed at this stage. I have 75 locks, 39 Maybes, 28 wrestlers that I really think could or should make it but I just don't think I have time to place them as of now, and then 10 or so WoS guys that I want to find a way to place but don't know if I'll make it in time. And that's without a single Japanese wrestler (save for Mr. Saito with Tajiri on the should but can't make list) or any females. For the sake of transparency, here's my list of wrestlers that I think should make my list but that I don't have time to watch the necessary footage of. I'll likely get a few of them but just that: The only WoS wrestlers I feel confident placing right now are Breaks and Boscik. That leaves me with the 10: Once I get past my top 25, I have this weird gap where I feel like the next person should be 30.

The top WWE guys: Owens, Cena, Lesnar, Rollins, Cesaro, Balor, Neville all had pretty workrate-y years. This was the year of John Cena, Indy Superstar.

Frankly, I find it charming that super-workrate lists still exist in 2016.

Which is perfectly fine. Have your babyface champ defend the belt against a plurality of challengers, with each match getting some build. Show vulnerability, have the odds stacked sometimes, but Win. Win. Win. It's not rocket science. That should be NXT's motto: "Wrestling isn't rocket science after all!"

My only real piece of advice is that you keep in mind your expectations for yourself, first and foremost, and don't weigh yourself too heavily against them. There's no right or wrong way to enjoy something. Maybe you feel that one way is purer or more direct than another, that it taps into the energy and meaning of something more, that there's more heart than head involved, and that's ok, but it's perfectly fine to go the other way as well. If you're enjoying a hobby, then you're doing it right. If that means getting drunk and screaming at heels, fine. If that means staying sober and putting a bag over your head and turning your back on what you feel to be an overpushed babyface, then you're being an ass, but that's probably fine too. If that means taking notes and writing essays later, that's fine too. So long as you aren't impeding anyone else's enjoyment in the moment, then the most important thing is that you enjoy yourself On a personal note, I do think you underestimate how your child growing into a toddler and beyond will affect your life in this regard, both in becoming something that eclipses any obsessiveness you put into wrestling and potentially your own Dylan (the younger) as someone who share in the wonder of it all with. The former has affected me far more than the latter, mind you. Final thought is this, you've seen a lot, very broadly, and your best of lists attest to that. I have places I can explore that are brand new to me, whether it be Continental or joshi or UK or when I took a year and watched a ton of Portland or what I've done with lucha. I'm not sure you have that many avenues left, but I'm sure you have a few, and maybe it makes sense for you to dive into one of those.

How do I watch Rush vs Matthews?

On the other hand, putting Ken Shamrock in DX could help this situation too.