KB8

I had Morton at number 35 in 2016, but right now he'd probably be top 30 (maybe dead on 30). Look, it's Ricky Morton, there is pretty much nothing more that needs to be said about him and if there was then elliot covered most of it in the post directly above this one. He's an amazing tag wrestler who happened to also be an amazing singles wrestler when given the chance and he has amazing matches in both settings. I think what's also important to stress with Morton is that he was way fucking great before the RnRs run. He was very much Ricky Morton in Memphis and Houston. He has STUPID longevity with an incredible peak. He was Ricky Morton and I'd think we're all pretty well familiar with him at this stage of the game. RICKY MORTON YOU SHOULD WATCH: w/Eddie Gilbert v Masa Fuchi & Atsushi Onita (Memphis, 9/4/81) v Nick Bockwinkel (Houston, 7/2/82) w/Tiger Conway Jr. v The Grapplers (Houston, 11/26/82) w/Robert Gibson & Hacksaw Duggan v Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd (Houston, 6/8/84) w/Robert Gibson v Dirty White Boys (Mid-South, 5/11/85) w/Robert Gibson v Ivan Koloff & Krusher Kruschev (JCP WorldWide, 7/9/85) v Ric Flair (JCP, 7/5/86) w/Robert Gibson v Rick Rude & Manny Fernandez (JCP World Championship Wrestling, 12/6/86) w/Robert Gibson v The Midnight Express (WCW WrestleWar, 2/25/90) w/Robert Gibson v Heavenly Bodies (Smokey Mountain Wrestling, 9/7/92)

I was so hoping it was Buddy Landel. So far, not in any order that they're necessarily likely to finish, I'm messing with: Casas Satanico Fujiwara Hashimoto Ishikawa Tamura Tenryu Funk Hansen Lawler

The more I watch of 1994 Cota the more he looks like an all-time level rudo shithead: http://whiskeyandwrestling.blogspot.com/2021/05/sangre-chicana-of-day-2.html I watched that for the Sangre Chicana, but Cota and Casas stole the show. Cota's ring post bump in the tercera is one of the most ridiculous ring post bumps you'll see. A wonderful performance.

I can only co-sign this. I watched it a few days ago now, but what a performance. I've actually watched another few Casas matches from that year since then, including the title match with Ultimo last night, and 1993 might be PEAK peak Casas.

Virus was my number 36 in 2016, but I think by 2021 he makes it into the top 30. Part of that is because he's had some stuff since the last poll that has been great, but also because I plan on going back to watch some of the period between 1997, where he had one of the best title matches ever and one of the best trios match ever, and 2011, where he burst back onto the scene with the Guerrero Maya Jr. match and made us all sit up and take notice. He might be my favourite mat worker in lucha history and we have footage of him working ridiculously fast, state-of-the-art ground exchanges with guys like Cicloncito Ramirez as well as slowed down maestro exchanges with Black Terry and Negro Navarro, and pretty much anything else in between. Obviously he has a laundry list of awesome title matches, often against guys who have never had as good a match against anybody else in their lives, but he's also a consistently awesome trios worker and someone over the last 10 years that I'll watch in any setting. I don't knock him for not having a grizzly brawl with blood-drinking and guys hitting reckless topes into the sixth row. He's never been in a position to do that so it's hard to ding someone for it. If he DID have a bunch of matches like that (and I guess there's time for it yet; he's still only a sprightly 52 years of age) then maybe he'd be a top 15 candidate rather than a top 30 candidate...but it is what it is (I'm also not trying to create a strawman here, because I don't think people are actively criticising him or knocking him down the list specifically because he has no wild hair matches). That said, the Fly Star match from 2019 is excellent and in the middle of it we get as close a look at bloody apuesta match Virus as we've probably ever gotten, and I can only surmise based on that portion of that one match that Virus would have been an amazing old school apuestas worker. So top 30 minimum, maybe top 20. Bailiff, take him away. VIRUS YOU SHOULD WATCH: v Cicloncito Ramirez (CMLL, 1/7/97) w/El Fierito & Pierrothito v Cicloncito Ramirez, Mascarita Magica & Bracito de Oro (CMLL, 10/3/97) v Ricky Marvin (CMLL, 12/12/00) v Guerrero Maya Jr. (CMLL, 6/7/11) v Blue Panther (CMLL, 5/12/13) v Guerrero Maya Jr. (CMLL, 10/6/13) w/Hechicero & Cachorro v Negro Casas, Barbaro Cavernario & Dragon Lee (CMLL, 5/23/14) v Dragon Lee (CMLL, 4/5/15) v Metalico (CMLL, 5/31/19) v Fly Star (Lucha Memes, 6/29/19)

I had Panther at number 37 in 2016 and I'm actually okay with that, though I could just as easily see him hitting the top 30 next time. One thing I've done more of since the last poll - not for the purposes of the next GWE or anything - is watch way more random week-to-week type lucha, like your 14-minute inconsequential trios matches from a down year that nobody has written anything about. Doing that for 2000 you get to see things like Panther going absolutely crazy and brutalising Olimpico and guzzling his blood like a vampire, which isn't the sort of thing I really associated with rudo Panther before. I actually kind of agree with a couple of the points made about him not necessarily popping off the screen when he's the third guy in a trios unit, but I've seen enough Panther over a long enough period for me to be pretty content to watch him in just about any setting regardless. The Casas hair match from 2012 isn't a 1992 apuesta, so there's no blood and the brawling is different, but it might be the match of the decade and I couldn't have asked for much more out of a modern wagers match. He has great work over four decades, he's pretty undeniable. BLUE PANTHER YOU SHOULD WATCH: v Atlantis (CMLL, 8/9/91) w/Rencor Latino v Olimpico & Mr. Niebla (CMLL, 2/1/00) v El Hijo del Santo (Monterrey, 4/9/00) v Negro Casas (CMLL, 3/2/12) v Villano V (CMLL, 9/19/08)

Martel was my number 38 in 2016, which I'm happy enough with but may have been a little too high. I don't know, I've said it a bunch of times running through my list up to this point but looking over it now, there are going to be candidates that I haven't really watched anything of in five years and so that'll factor into my 2021 thinking at least a little. Martel is one of those candidates, though I don't exactly need to re-watch a Rick Martel career retrospective to remind myself why I had him where I had him. An all-time level babyface and that's obviously where his bread is buttered. The Portland run, the AWA run, the WWF runs, he was great through all of them. Matt D has made the point about his heel run as a knock, and while I don't think I'd ding him massively for it, it is the sort of thing that keeps him from going any higher. Still, the Bockwinkel series is about as good as any match-up of the 80s and I'm ridiculously high on the 9/20/84 match, which is like top 20 of the decade for me. I don't think any of his random 90s WCW stint produced anything amazing, but it was pretty cool that he showed up there and got to have a bit of a showcase run, just to prove that he could still do it. RICK MARTEL YOU SHOULD WATCH: v Buddy Rose (Portland, 4/26/80) v Nick Bockwinkel (AWA, 9/20/84) v Jumbo Tsuruta (AWA, 9/29/85) v Terry Funk (Puerto Rico, 9/20/86) w/Tito Santana v The Islanders (WWF, 9/21/87)

I don't know anything about the context of this. No idea how long they'd been feuding, no idea why they were feuding in the first place. I guess it had been a minute since the Viboras Salvajes were a thing - I'm pretty sure Mocho Cota was in jail around this time - but from the opening here it looked like they both kept some measure of respect for one another. Even if their days of running together were over I suppose there was at least the faint remnants of kinship. Maybe that's me projecting, or maybe it's my way of rationalising a hair match starting with a handshake, but I've watched some of that 80s run recently so naturally it's fresh in the memory. I actually liked how they started with a bit of wrestling, the way they struggled over one hold that Chicana managed to keep on top of. Chicana even took a quick trip to the floor to shake hands with one of his supporters. Then it all went out the window. As soon as Fiera managed to - quite literally - wrestle away control, Chicana decided enough was enough. It was simple, but Chicana immediately going to the kidney punches looked brutal and Fiera sold it like he was about to piss blood. I thought this was an absolutely mesmerising Sangre Chicana performance. As soon as he ramped up the violence I couldn't take my eyes off him, and that's even with Fiera putting in a pretty sensational selling performance. Chicana would take his time with the beatdown, jawing with fans at ringside in between ramming Fiera into the post. I don't know if Nigel McGuinness was a lucha fan but jesus christ did La Fiera set the original bar for stupid insane unprotected ring post shots. There were at least three where he went clean into it at speed and if the ringside mic was better I assume it would've sounded like a cooked turkey hitting the pavement from a twelfth story balcony. My favourite moment of the match came at the end of the second caida, as Chicana waded into the dimly lit crowd before reappearing with a jug that he smashed over Fiera's head. It earned him a DQ, which evened up the falls, but I thought it was the perfect Sangre Chicana move. Fiera is bleeding everywhere, dead on his feet, probably has kidney trauma, so fuck it, why would Chicana be worried about giving up a fall? He's Sangre Chicana, of course he'll take that hit. Fiera's comeback in the tercera started with one of the best spin kicks he's ever thrown and I loved Chicana selling it like he'd been shot. The big Fiera tope was a fucking madness as well. He gets almost vertical coming over the top rope, which sort of hampered him hitting Chicana full in the chest as intended, but you forget that when Chicana ends up in the second row after ripping four seats out the ground in the process. Imagine being part of the arena staff the night of a Sangre Chicana apuesta match. You spend all that time securing furniture despite knowing for a fact at least some of it is going to be unusable by the end of the night. The finish was a little botched, but I thought it was great and wrapped up their seedy story nicely. Fiera had made several attempts at a backslide throughout the match, usually in response to Chicana kicking the shit out of him, but Chicana would shut him down every time with the kidney punches. They were the best kidney punches you've ever seen and they were the perfect counter to the counter. That the backslide looked ugly in the end wasn't enough for me not to love how Fiera's persistence paid off.

I'm not sure if, from 1986 on, you could've had a similar situation to what he had in 1985, where he was feuding with Nikita - as a pure babyface standing up for David Crockett, who he was in a plane crash with, after Nikita gave him the Sickle on TV - while very much not being a babyface in his ongoing beef with Magnum and Dusty. I don't even know if they could've played the America v Russia note to the same effect. After Flair and the Horsemen broke Dusty's leg there was pretty much no room for subtlety anymore.

I had Chicana at number 39 in 2016, and on the one hand that feels way too low, but on the other hand I guess I can see why I never pulled the trigger on him for the top 30. We don't have a shit ton of footage and that will forever suck. If I could wish into existence every piece of footage from any wrestler in history then my pick would be Sangre Chicana. All of that said, while the lack of footage probably paints an incomplete picture of his career, I don't for a second believe it paints an inaccurate one. He was absolutely god tier incredible and if I were ranking wrestlers based on, say, their five best performances on tape, then Chicana would probably be top 3. An unbelievable brawler and charismatic to the point of stupidity. Might've had the best timing ever on comebacks, and I don't know if even Lawler made that first big punch after being trounced for 10 minutes feel more monumental than Chicana did. An amazing seller, both as a technico and a rudo. He genuinely might've been the GOAT and 39 is too low. SANGRE CHICANA YOU SHOULD WATCH: v MS-1 (EMLL, 9/23/83) w/La Fiera & Mocho Cota v MS-1, El Satanico & Espectro Jr. (EMLL, 9/30/83) v Villano III (UWA, 12/7/84) v Perro Aguayo (EMLL, 2/28/86) v El Satanico (EMLL, 5/26/89)

I had Dustin at number 40 in 2016. That might've been a few spots too high, but he's not someone I've really thought about for a while now so maybe I've just forgotten how awesome he was. I love the WCW run. In my head I've always associated Halloween Havoc '91 and the match with Austin as the point where it kicked fully into gear for him and he was pretty much excellent for the next three and a half years before he left. In 1992 he already felt fully formed as a babyface and one of the best tag wrestlers in forever, and in 1994 with the Stud Stable feud I think you could make a decent case that he was the best wrestler in America. The Goldust run never produced a whole bunch of great matches - certainly his volume of Good Wrestling Matches dried up after leaving WCW - but the character work was always crazy fun. Feels like every time I watched him in the 2010s he was pretty great, usually in tags as once again maybe the best tag wrestler in the world (and I still haven't seen the Rhodes Brothers/Shield match from Battleground 2013). His end-days WCW run was mired in a whole bunch of hokey Russo shoot horse shit but the Funk feud was, I shit you not, the greatest thing in the history of our great sport. The Uncensored match is amazing and Funk wearing frozen chickens on his hands as boxing gloves is one of the defining moments of the era but then I suppose I'll save that for when I get to the Funk thread. I may be a low voter on the Cody match in AEW, but I still thought it was really good and definitely something that bolsters his case. Plus every candidate needs a proper old man/woman performance to really round out their candidacy! Prolly. DUSTIN RHODES YOU SHOULD WATCH: w/Ricky Steamboat v Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko (WCW Clash of the Champions XVII, 11/19/91) w/Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff v Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko & Bobby Eaton (WCW Saturday Night, 5/23/92) v Bunkhouse Buck (WCW Spring Stampede, 4/17/94) v Vader (WCW Clash of the Champions XXIX, 11/16/94) v Cody Rhodes (AEW Double of Nothing, 5/25/19)

Is the Virus match online? I never did get around to watching it. I actually should've put the Hashimoto match from '94 on the rec list, probably ahead of the second juniors tag. I should watch it again at some point as well.

Vader was my number 41 in 2016 and I'd guess he'll be about there again next time. He was my highest ranked superheavyweight and I wouldn't imagine that'll change either. I suppose his peak was relatively short, but it was a hell of a peak and he was good for lot longer than those 3-4 years anyway. Obviously one of the greatest bulldozers ever, and while some are down on the bumping, even if he maybe did go overboard at times I'm very rarely bothered by it. VADER YOU SHOULD WATCH: v Shinya Hashimoto (New Japan, 4/24/89) v Keiji Mutoh (New Japan, 8/10/91) v Sting (WCW Starrcade, 12/28/92) v Sting (WCW Superbrawl, 2/21/93) v Kiyoshi Tamura (UWFi, 6/10/94)

I had Liger at number 42 in 2016, which is probably too low, but I think he suffered from a couple things going into the last vote. One was that I hadn't really watched any Liger in years. The other was that I was sort of bored of him, probably because he was the very first wrestler from Japan I started properly watching back when I began seeking out footage. I'd deep dived Liger before I even knew who Kiyoshi Tamura or Yoshiaki Fujiwara were. I'd declared Liger the best ever before I knew the English for El Hijo del Santo. It's not exactly fair to Liger, but it is what it is. It's sort of difficult to get excited about revisiting stuff you loved in the past but then soured on. That said, I've watched more Liger again over the last couple years than I had in a while (despite saying in this thread before the last deadline that I want to revisit a bunch of Liger) and he was pretty fucking good, guys. I also think that the things I was annoyed by in 90s junior heavyweight wrestling at large don't really bother me as much anymore, so if I went back to that stuff he probably comes out moving up the list. I don't see him dropping out the top half either way; it's probably more a question of whether he lands at 42 or 32...or maybe 22. Ah who the hell knows. JUSHIN LIGER YOU SHOULD WATCH: v Naoki Sano (New Japan, 8/10/89) v Great Sasuke (New Japan, 4/16/94) v Koji Kanemoto (New Japan, 2/16/97) w/Wataro Inoue v Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (NOAH, 2/17/02) w/Minoru Tanaka v Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (New Japan, 8/29/02)

I had Togo at 43 in 2016 and I'm happy enough with that. I don't think I've seen any Togo since the last deadline though, so there's bound to be stuff since then (and stuff from before that I missed) to watch. Obviously an amazing portly flier and almost certainly the best lucharesu-type (or whatever you want to call it) wrestler ever, but the first retirement run showed him in a completely different light and he was every bit as good. Tags, multi-mans, singles, he has stone cold classics in all of them. DICK TOGO YOU SHOULD WATCH: w/Great Sasuke & Shiryu v Super Delfin, Gran Naniwa & Jinsei Shinzaki (M-Pro, 2/4/94) v Jushin Liger (New Japan, 6/17/96) w/Taka Michinoku, Mens Teioh, Shoichi Funaki & Shiryu v Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada, Super Delfin, Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushiji (M-Pro, 12/16/96) w/Taka Michinoku, Mens Teoh, Masayoshi Motegi & Shoichi Funaki v Great Sasuke, Super Delphin, Gran Naniwa, Gran Hamada & Masato Yakushiji (M-Pro, 3/16/97) v Antonio Honda (DDT, 1/30/11)

I had Morgan at 44 in 2016, one spot higher than our good friend elliot. A couple things I think Pirata Morgan easily goes into the all-time elite tier for are a) bumping like a complete maniac, and b) bleeding like a truly demented bastard. Combining both of those things went a decent way to making him an amazing brawler who was involved in a few amazing brawls. The Infernales were also one of the best trios in lucha history, so he has that small thing going for him. It's been over a decade since I watched the Brazo de Oro title match, but I though that was pretty great, so he has at least one title match feather in his cap. I'd agree that he doesn't really have the longevity of your absolute top level lucha candidates, and there's more than a small sample of old man Pirata Morgan not being particularly good, but his peak is absolutely exceptional and the '93 hair match with Satanico is something I can't wait to watch (one day, whenever that'll be). PIRATA MORGAN YOU SHOULD WATCH: w/El Satanico & MS-1 v El Egipcio, La Fiera & El Faraon (EMLL, 3/29/85) v El Dandy (EMLL, 9/23/88) v Brazo de Oro (EMLL, 11/18/89) v El Faraon (CMLL, 11/18/90) v Masakre (CMLL, 2/28/92)

I had Austin at 45 in 2016 and I'm pretty much fine with that. I'm not sure he got properly GOOD good until ~mid-1992 (when he cut his hair short), but he still had plenty of decent stuff before that point, which is nothing else demonstrates an ability to be led and at least hold up his end of things. Once he put it together he was mostly really good and he has a nice resume of WCW work to go with it. He hit his stride in '96 and from then on out I thought he was pretty great as a guy working in the exact way I'd have expected his character to work. I won't bother getting into the semantics of brawling or whatever style you thought he actually worked, but there was a frenetic energy to everything he did as Stone Cole that I absolutely love. Was he as strong a brawler (sorry) as Hansen or Funk? Probably not, especially if the Hansen and Funk sort of brawling is what you're looking for (and why wouldn't you, I guess). But even when WWF brawling was at its most basic or Attitudey I thought he was worth watching more often than not. He had an organic craziness about him, something that I bought completely in a way that made me forget I was watching a performance. It's especially evident in tag matches because he would usually do something amazing out of nowhere just because he's Stone Cold and it made perfect sense for a person like that to do it. One of my favourite moments ever in an Austin match is during the team Austin against team DX match from No Way Out 1998, where Billy Gunn tries to come in to interfere and Austin chucks a trash can off his head from the opposite apron. Your mileage will vary on those Attitude Era smoke and mirrors matches but I don't know if there was anybody who got more out of them than Austin (maybe McMahon?), and of course the match with Dude Love is the shining example of it. The 2001 run still holds up as well, I think. He was an unbelievable psychopath for stretches of that and things like the Angle match from Summerslam and the Benoit match from Smackdown! are incredible, with incredible Austin performances. I don't think there's anything left for me to learn about Austin, but I've never been bored by him and I doubt I ever will be. STEVE AUSTIN YOU SHOULD WATCH: w/Brian Pillman v Marcus Bagwell & 2 Cold Scorpio (WCW WorldWide, 5/8/93) v Bret Hart (WWF Wrestlemania 13, 3/23/97) v Dude Love (WWF Over the Edge, 5/31/98) v Chris Benoit (WWF Smackdown!, 5/31/01) v Kurt Angle (WWF Summerslam, 8/19/01)

I absolutely love the Spring Stampede match. Like, top 20 match in WCW history love. And I could watch those two smash each other to bits for days. But even I wouldn't be going to bat for Bossman being a better Vader opponent than Sting. Bossman was really good, though. I wonder if anyone's done a comparison with DiBiase.

Fuerza was my number 46 in 2016 and I don't think there's any way he doesn't land top half again in 2026. If this was a question of favourites, Fuerza would be in my top 5. Even in matches where he has a minimal role, or even matches that are otherwise not good, there'll pretty much always be a Fuerza moment that I get a kick out of. Just one of the absolute greatest shtick workers of all time and someone who will never, ever have any qualms about looking like a complete moron at least once during a match. It's been a long time since I've watched a Fuerza title match, but I think he's a bit underrated as a mat worker at this point, maybe in part because his name first and foremost makes you think of the shtick or the legendary performances against Octagon. Consistently fun (at worst) in trios matches, and easily one of the best performers in 90s AAA (where a lot of great wrestlers could be disappointing relative to their stuff elsewhere). I watched enough 2000s Fuerza a while back to know that I still think he's entertaining after his peak, but I guess OJ's point about him not necessarily having the crazy longevity is worth considering. Even still he'll do well on my ballot. Fuerza forever. FUERZA GUERRERA YOU SHOULD WATCH: w/Lobo Rubio v El Hijo del Santo & Atlantis (EMLL, 11/25/83) v Pantera II (CMLL, 5/13/90) v Octagon (CMLL, 11/1/91) w/Blue Panther & Psicosis v Rey Misterio Jr., Octagon & El Hijo del Santo (AAA, 3/16/95) w/Psicosis, Jerry Estrada & Pentagon v El Hijo del Santo, Octagon, Rey Misterio Jr. & La Parka (AAA, 7/8/95)

I had Sano at 47 in 2016 and that still feels too low. Sano was unbelievable and I think there's a really strong argument that he was the second best wrestler ever at working shoot style and pro style. Not even hybrid styles, I mean full pro style and full shoot style. Although with that said, one of my very favourite things about Sano is his ability to believably integrate pro style moves or submissions into his shoot style bouts. The Shamrock fight from PWFG is jaw-droppingly great and the moment where he hits a dragon suplex is mad wild and mad awesome. The Liger feud is iconic and basically all of it holds up, from the rapid workrate sprints to the climax built around Sano trying to take Liger's whole entire soul. I feel like there are decent parts of the NOAH run that I haven't seen yet either. The guy was truly amazing. NAOKI SANO YOU SHOULD WATCH: v Jushin Liger (New Japan, 8/10/89) v Jushin Liger (New Japan, 1/31/90) v Wayne Shamrock (PWFG, 5/19/91) v Yoji Anjoh (UWFi, 5/13/93) v Mitsuharu Misawa (NOAH, 4/28/07)

I had Regal at number 48 in 2016, right next to Finlay which I guess maybe felt fitting for whatever reason. When I rejigged my ballot a couple years ago I had him down the list a bit, but I've watched some later career Regal since then and he's back to being a top half guy. I'm probably a bit of a low voter on him, but it's Regal, he fucked ruled and there's no way I couldn't have him somewhere. Over the years I maybe lost sight of how much good-to-great stuff he has. I don't know if the pre-WCW run is something that'll really bolster his case, but '93-'96 is a brilliant run. I'll say that there were matches where I thought he maybe took a wee bit too much of the match, but it's a small quibble and it's not like he wasn't great working from above anyway. He has a sort of extended down period after that - albeit with some badass stuff sprinkled in, like the Austin strap match in 2001, any of the Benoit matches, at least one tag match when he was pairing with Eugene - but then in 2006 he finds his footing again and pretty much rules it consistently for as long as he made tape. Like Finlay, Regal is another amazing input candidate, where I can watch pretty much any match he's in, against pretty much any opponent, whether it's thirty seconds or thirty minutes, and find something to enjoy about the performance. WILLIAM REGAL YOU SHOULD WATCH: v Larry Zbyszko (WCW Saturday Night, 5/28/94) v Shinya Hashimoto (New Japan, 4/16/95) v Fit Finlay (WCW Uncensored, 3/24/96) v Chris Benoit (WWE No Mercy, 10/8/06) v Antonio Cesaro (NXT, 12/25/13)

Finlay was my number 49 in 2016, and while he wouldn't be quite as high on my list of straight up favourites as Eric's, Finlay at his most Finlayish is pretty close to my perfect idea of a pro wrestler. I actually don't love his WCW run as much as I feel like I should and I've found the European stuff to be more fun or good than great, but from his WWE comeback in 2006 and everything after that I love pretty much everything to death. Granted, that peak is short - and he was older than most people when they'd have their in-ring peak as a wrestler - but I thought he was the best wrestler in the world in 2006 and I didn't think he took much of a step down in the following few years, even if his opportunities to showcase it dwindled. I can see people thinking he doesn't have a deep enough resume, but to me he's a perfect "input over output" candidate. Put him in the ring against anybody from 2006 onwards and I want to watch it. Could be Matt Hardy, Rey Mysterio or Christ Benoit. Could be Gunner Scott, the Great Khali or Kenny Dykstra. Could be William Regal or Kane or Mr. Kennedy. Then there's the indie excursion where he gets to match up with all sorts of random folk from Sami Callihan to Tajiri to Murat Bosporus. 49 might be too high given my favourite stretch of his career is relatively short, but I'm struggling to think of any Finlay matches from that run that I'd say are actively bad and even the two-minute ones are fun because of him. So maybe it's not high enough. FIT FINLAY YOU SHOULD WATCH: v Steven Regal (WCW Uncensored, 3/24/96) v Chris Benoit (WWE Judgment Day, 5/21/06) v Rey Mysterio (WWE Smackdown!, 3/24/06) v Matt Hardy (WWE Smackdown!, 6/19/07) v Sami Callihan (EVOLVE, 7/26/11)

Well shit, I also had Akiyama at number 50 in 2016! I have similarly little to say about him right now, but part of that is because I want to make a concerted effort to watch more Akiyama for the next deadline before I figure out where I'm at on him (I mean, broadly, where I'm at right now is that he was great, or I wouldn't have had him at #50). I watched a bit of his 2010 stuff before 2016 and liked it, but I feel like I should go a bit deeper, and to be honest he's one of the only guys who've been prominent in Japan for the last 10 years that I feel that way about. I wouldn't need to watch another match of Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, Taue, Kikuchi, Fuchi, Jumbo...basically any of the 90s All Japan crew to know where I stand on them. But Akiyama sort of has a whole entire OTHER career that I'm not nearly as familiar with, and enough people whose opinions I value have been banging the drum for him for long enough that I probably shouldn't ignore it. So yeah, I don't know where he'll land in 2026, but even if I'm lukewarm on stuff from the last 10 years he still feels like solid top half candidate. JUN AKIYAMA YOU SHOULD WATCH: w/Mitsuharu Misawa v Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (All Japan, 12/6/96) w/Kenta Kobashi v Vader & Stan Hansen (All Japan, 12/5/98) v Mitsuharu Misawa (All Japan, 2/27/00) v Katsuyori Shibata (Wrestle-One, 8/4/05) w/Genichiro Tenryu v Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue (NOAH, 9/18/05)

I don't think they're better than the RnRs, Fantastics or the Fabs. I certainly don't think it would nuts if someone did, though.

Pretty much the perfect midcard trios. This had a little bit of everything -- comedy, matwork, some tetchiness, some brawling, and an amazing fatboy tope. The primera almost felt like something from World of Sport. It got about twelve minutes and every match-up worked. Emilio and Ringo Mendoza decided to skip the bullshit and had a great little exchange, but before long the rudos started to pick on Popitekus. He and Herodes must've had been coming in because Herodes was not for going at him one on one. Some of the comedy was great and Herodes continues to be one of my favourites. He's always a blast in these matches, always willing to be as much of a dipshit as possible, but all you need to do is look at a guy like that to know he can turn loose when he absolutely needs to. He challenged Kung Fu to try and apply a full nelson, but he and everyone else knew fine well Kung Fu wouldn't be able to. Both attempts ended with Herodes elbowing him in the mouth. On the third attempt, behind Herodes' back, Kung Fu switched out with Popitekus and Herodes' reaction when he realised it wasn't Kung Fu who had a hold of him was perfect. Popitekus had one amazing bit with Espectro as well, with Espectro fully on his bullshit and challenging the big man to knock him off his feet. Espectro standing with his biceps flexed as Popitekus literally bounced him clean out the ring was sublime. Herodes hitting a tope at the end was completely awesome and I don't think the commentators or spectators figured he'd actually do it. This was a total blast.