Who is in Your Top 100 Right Now?

[Matt D]

I've not. I've seen very little Inoki in general, to be honest.

 

At some point soon I intend to create a thread just asking people what I need to watch in the limited time I have. I'm not quite there yet though.

[elliott]

Responding to Jerry, I did this in a Word Doc so I just put Jerry's comments in "quotes." Added in my rankings for context. I would already change a bunch of things to be honest. I put this together late last night and forgot about some things as I may not have been of clear mind.

 

A few months ago I broke things down regionally and made my list of #1 candidates/locks to make the lists/likely guys to make the list/guys I need to see more of and I used that as a guide to formulate my list but a lot of it was “how do I feel right this second.” For example, I originally had Kobashi ranked around 12 or 13 but he kept falling and falling. “I just can’t put Kobashi above Mysterio Jr.” “No way does Kobashi go above El Dandy.” Etc. Like I said there are already some things I’d definitely change. I feel good about my top 30ish though. I should’ve stopped there J

 

At this point for me in my wrestling watching, Lucha is my favorite. Particularly 80s/early 90s era lucha. So the guys that were good then will rank higher for me than for some because that’s what I like the most. I would say of the 10 best matches I’ve ever seen probably 5 to 6 of them are from 80s/early 90s Lucha. Anyway, moving on

 

3. Satanico

“What would you point to for him?”

 

Everything from the 80s set. The 1990 feud with El Dandy is one of the best feuds in history. Subsequent matches with Dandy are excellent. Any early 90s trios match with the other Infernales. 1993 match against Pirata Morgan. 2001 feud with Ultimo Guerrero. Etc etc etc. He’s great at brawling, mat work, selling, etc. Can work face or heel. Combines all time great level peak with longevity. We have very little of him at his athletic peak but he was clearly a great worker by the time he shows up on tape and stayed that way for a long time. He is a direct peer of guys like Hansen, Flair, Jerry Lawler, etc as far as age. When he shows up on tape in 83 he looks every bit as good as them. He was great longer than Flair and was having a feud of the year type feud after Hansen had retired. I haven’t seen as much late era Lawler as I have Satanico. The late era Lawler I have seen is really good to great and I can see liking old Lawler more than Satanico. I punished Satanico slightly because we simply have more peak era Hansen and Lawler. But I could easily go #1 for Satanico.

6. Negro Casas

“Ditto. I still really feel like I need to get into Lucha and might just beeline straight to all the highend stuff.”

 

The eternal feud vs Hijo del Santo is arguably the best in ring feud in the history of wrestling. His 1992 match against El Dandy is one of the best matches ever. He had the best Ultimo Dragon match ever (that probably sounds like a backhanded compliment but it’s a really really great match that I think happened before Dragon’s peak as a worker). Stands out in practically every 6 man. He’s another guy who can work heel, face, brawls, mat work, stooging, etc. Just a wonderful worker. I haven’t even watched a lot of post 2000 Casas which pretty much all lucha fans say is fantastic. He could easily end up at #1 when its time for the final list.

8. Toshiaki Kawada
9. Mitsuharu Misawa

“Interesting that you have these guys below Flair.”

 

I think both guys at their best were better than Flair but Flair’s peak as an all time great level worker was longer if that makes sense? At some point the All Japan style really grates on me and I’m not a big fan of Noah. I’m also weird. I will absolutely give Lawler or Satanico or Bockwinkel credit for being great as old fuckers but it still feels dumb to me to punish Flair for being a crappy worker for a long time when he was old when he still accomplished what he accomplished. I dunno. All of these guys at this point are still #1 candidates for me to be honest.

10. Sangre Chicana
11. Hijo del Santo

“As with the other Lucha guys.”

Sangre Chicana is my most “controversial” pick at this point probably. He is definitely a case of “valuing peak performances” over having mountains of footage and examining every single match from a guys career. We probably have more than 1000 more Ric Flair matches on film than Sangre Chicana matches. That said, by far the two best matches I’ve ever seen in my life are Sangre Chicana matches (vs. MS-1 from 9/23/83 and vs Perro from 2/28/86). And I think it was Chicana that took them from being “great matches” to “these are easily the 2 best matches I’ve ever seen.” He has been the star of literally every match I’ve seen him in. This is a footage issue. If we had more footage he could probably be #1. Or if we had more he could possibly fall to #50. Maybe the 20 or 25 or however many of his matches I’ve seen are just the absolute best of his career. That would be awfully lucky if they were. There are lots of guys on my list that are hard to figure out what to do with because of footage and a lot of guys that didn’t make it for whatever reason. I tried to be fair in most places. If we were ranking favorites I would have put Buzz Sawyer and Mad Dog Vachon in my top 5 and someone like Vader or Bret Hart wouldn’t make my list (ducks for cover). Sangre is definitely a favorite so I probably have him ranked too high based on available footage vs what’s available for others. But this is a “best wrestlers ever list” and at his absolute peak he’s the best I’ve ever seen. So I had to put him there.

 

With Santo Jr, I think he’s the best babyface worker and best high flyer ever. He is great on the mat and in brawls. Feud with Casas is arguably best in ring feud ever as I said above. Feud with Blue Panther is great. When Worlds Collide Tag is great. Monterrey Brawl vs La Parka is phenomenal. Matches against Espanto Jr are all great. A bunch of stuff I’m forgetting right this second. He’s another guy that matches an all time great peak and great longevity. I know a lot of people will criticize Santo for being a formula worker. And they’re right. But I don’t care. I love Santo’s formula match and signature spots. I’ve seen more Santo Jr matches than any other luchadore and I am not tired of him in the slightest.

 

12. Genichiro Tenryu
13. Tatsumi Fujinami
14. Nick Bockwinkel
15. Buddy Rose

“This back half looks strong.”

 

These are the last of my #1 contenders. Seriously. I feel really good about Hansen at #1 and actually have had him as my working #1 from the start of the project. But these top 15 are all guys that I think of as “maybe the best ever” for one reason or another.

25. Ricky Morton
26. Steve Regal

“Super high for these two.”

I was raised in the American South East so I actually feel bad I didn’t get Ricky Morton any higher…on my list. J Everyone already knows the case for Ricky Morton as an all time great worker.

 

Regal is awesome. I used to buy into the argument that Regal was a guy who was consistently very good and probably great but never really got the opportunity to showcase it and have great matches other than the Finlay match at Uncensored. Then I saw the Arn match from SuperBrawl, the Larry Z matches, the Hashimoto matches, that Chris Hero match from NXT, etc etc etc and I realized Regal had the all time great matches to go with his consistency.

 

30. Kenta Kobashi
31. Giant Baba
“Very high placement for Baba, interesting. I saw him doing well in mine but not that well. Kobashi a fair bit lower than Misawa / Kawada."

 

Like I alluded to above, Kobashi was a hard guy to rank. His feud with Hansen is an all time great feud and the 7/93 match is my favorite All Japan match ever (really!). The 1/97 match with Misawa is an all time classic. I almost forgot, his early 90s matches with Kawada are awesome and super underrated within the context of 90s All Japan. Obviously the tag matches with Misawa vs Kawada/Taue. Etc. Kobashis is great and I probably underrate him. But his performances tend to really annoy me in a way. I really hate the Misawa matches past 1/97. I thought the Dr Death matches were a chore, especially compared to Kawada/Misawa/Taue’s matches with Williams. I’m not a fan of broken down Noah era Kobashi. I really really love Kobashi probably through 1994 but at some point he starts to annoy me in a way the others don’t. I like Taue more than Kobashi but couldn’t rank him higher. I will add that the first two Japanese matches I ever saw when I started watching puro in the late 90s were Kobashi vs Hansen from 93 and the tag with Kikuchi vs the Can Ams from 1992. Both remain two of my all time favorite matches.

Giant Baba vs Destroyer from 69 is probably one of the 15 best matches I’ve ever seen. Destroyer (sidenote, I just realized Destroyer didn’t make my top 100 and if I did a list right now, he’s in the top half) puts the match over the top but Baba is really great in it. The Billy Robinson match is terrific. I think the feud with Hansen is one of the best feuds ever. I keep wanting to say that Baba is the smartest worker ever but that feels weird when I’ve mentioned The Destroyer 3 times already in this paragraph. But Baba is a really really intelligent worker who adapted so well when you consider his physical limitations. To me, Antonio Inoki had an uncanny ability to make every match he was in boring. Even if the match was great at some point Inoki did something that made the match boring as fuck. Whereas every Giant Baba match ever has some example of Baba doing something fun. Even if the match was terrible at some point Baba did something fun. I understand if people don’t like 80s Baba. He was awkward and slow sure. He’s definitely a favorite of mine now even if he wasn’t when I first started watching puro. But once I saw the Destroyer match, other stuff from the 70s, I totally “got” Baba and he has “worked” for me ever since. And again, the Hansen feud is one of my all time favorites.

 

I figured the 2 things that would get pointed out about my list would be Chicana so high and Kobashi/Baba back to back. I had Baba ranked ahead at one point actually but then flipped them. Kobashi is maybe the dumbest wrestler ever while Baba is maybe the smartest. J

 

32. Daniel Bryan
33. Vader
34. Dustin Rhodes

“Super high for Dustin here.”

 

I can understand saying that. But I think he’s had a ton of great matches with a huge variety of workers. Great singles and tag matches. Has been a really good to great worker for 25 years unless he was hurt or battling personal problems. I wouldn’t blink an eye if someone had Dustin in their top 20.

 

I’d also note Daniel Bryan is where he is based exclusively on his career up until 2003, the Morishima matches, and his WWE run. I have a huge blindspot on post 2003 indy wrestling (but watched a fuck load of 2000-03 indy wrestling at the time). Bryan will almost certainly shoot up my list when I get around to watching him from 2004 till the beginning of the WWE run. I’ve seen practically everything he did in the WWE. I think the Cena match from SummerSlam is possibly the best WWE match ever. He was a tremendous worker in short tv matches, tag matches, and obviously had tremendous matches when given the opportunity on big shows. Made Kane an interesting week to week character for practically an entire year. Had a MOTYC with HHH in 25+minute non gimmicked match. Had a MOTYC with Bray Wyatt who I legit hate. Sheamus 2/3 falls match from a few years back on PPV is a really great match. The Punk vs Bryan main event lead to some great matches. Mark Henry matches. Fuck, Bryan was awesome. If I made my list again right now he’d be higher already.

 

Vader everyone knows and loves. I think he’s great but I’m really sick of watching him at this point. I feel like I could close my eyes and watch every Vader match ever.

38. Jack Brisco
“Nice to see him making people lists.”

Always loved Brisco. He could definitely be higher on my list on a different day.

 

41. Bobby Eaton
42. Randy Savage
43. Ricky Steamboat
44. Arn Anderson
“Interesting run here. None of them look out of place.”

 

All of these guys could easily be higher on my list. I fucked up by not ranking Eaton closer to Morton though. That was one of the first things I noticed other than…

45. Jushin Liger
46. Kerry von Erich
“Super high for Kerry. I need to see more high-end Liger.”

 

These two! God! Immediately after I posted this, I thought Liger looks weird with a 15 or something next to his name. Liger vs Sano is the best junior feud ever. Great matches vs Sasuke, Pillman, Togo, Samurai, etc etc etc. I’m going to totally rip someone off with this talking point (I think Loss said this, I’ll be safe and give Loss credit here because he has a knack for summing things up really well) but people think of Liger as a great high flyer, but he would be an all time great worker if he never left his feet. This is so true. Flying Liger is great but so is mat work, bomb throwing Liger. He could have worked anywhere in the world in any style and been great. I would also say I LOVE the Liger vs Noah matches in the early 00s. Which reminds me, Kikuchi absolutely should I have my list. I think I considered him at some position and possibly thought “I don’t want to look up how to spell his first name right now, I’ll come back to him later.”

 

Kerry is another guy who I wouldn’t blink if someone had him in the 30s or so. I love Von Erichs vs Freebirds and he was in great tags and singles against all of those guys. I love the footless drugged up feud against Lawler. Flair feud produced some of the best matches of the 80s. Jumbo match is one of the best ever. Had great singles and tags against Dynamic Duo. Etc etc. Kerry is super underrated as a worker. But again, I’m not holding the shitty WWF years against him.

49. Yoshiaki Yatsu
“Yay. I love Yatsu too, but this is pretty high.”

 

Yeah I’d probably rank him lower if I did this again. But I’ve been plowing through the 80s sets recently and Yatsu absolutely stands out as one of the best tag workers of the 80s.

51. Billy Robinson
“Seems low relative to Brisco and Baba. Interesting. Robinson is the 70s guy I'm looking forward to exploring the most”
.

This is a footage issue for me. I love the Baba match from 76, Jumbo matches, the Verne match, etc. I need to see more. If I had seen as much Billy as Baba and Brisco, he would probably rank higher.

 

54. Rick Martel
“High rating.”

 

Terrific babyface worker in the AWA and in Portland. Great matches with Buddy Rose. Could go either way. I regret not ranking him and Hennig closer together as they are similar. I would rank Hennig ahead of him if I did this again today.

58. Barry Windham
59. Ted Dibiase
60. Tully Blanchard
61. Michael Hayes
“Interesting run of guys here. Barry over both Ted and Tully interesting, but I can see all this is ballpark. With the exception of the Lucha and Memphis guys, our lists would look quite similar so far.”

When I started I was like “I’m gonna put Michaels Hayes at 30 becaue Michael Hayes is awesome.” Then I just couldn’t.

 

I like all of these guys a whole lot. And again are all people who could absolutely shoot up my list on a different day. There are like 8 “Best of Barry Windham” vhs tapes at my parents house that have been gathering dust for 15 years. I’ve always liked him and feel a little bad about ranking him so low. Your whole case about Dibiase being a bookers dream works ten fold for Barry as a worker (I’m not arguing that Barry was a better promo). You could put Windham anywhere on the card in any position. Great as a young up and coming babyface. Great as an ass kicking babyface. Great as an ass kicking heel. Great as a big bumping showing ass heel which was especially impressive considering his size. If anything I ranked Barry way to low. I know you’ll say Dibiase could do all those things too and was better. But I don’t think he was. Even if I agree that he could do all of those things too J

 

62. Tajiri
“Is this the Tajiri from the Monday Night Wars?!”

 

Yes! ECW Tajiri was awesome. I recently watched the Nishimura match everyone pimped in his thread and a Finlay match from SMASH that I dug. Tajiri is pretty fresh in my mind as a guy Ive been thinking about for this project. I love the Corino match from Hardcore Heaven. Had a real aura that I think a lot of other juniors at the time lacked.

65. Masa Fuchi
66. Bret Hart
67. Chris Adams
68. Steve Austin
“In isolation this run looks strange to me. Fuchi better than Bret, Chris Adams right there with them. With Austin right there behind them. This would be my biggest disagreement so far.”

 

Bret Hart was my favorite wrestler as a kid. I like him and think he’s great but there are soooo many better wrestlers out there. I love the matches with Austin and oddly enough the Piper match. I do treasure 1997 and think it’s a really great run from an all around perspective. But year, I’m comfortable with 65 guys being better than Bret Hart. Including Masa Fuchi.

 

I love the Jumbo and Co vs Misawa and Co feud and Fuchi was absolutely a highlight in some of the best matches ever. Terrific worker.

71. Andre the Giant
72. Curt Hennig
73. Ron Garvin
74. Bobby The Brain Heenan
75. Mick Foley
76. Fit Finlay
77. Sgt Slaughter
78. Terry Gordy
79. Jerry Blackwell
80. Steve Williams
81. Dusty Rhodes
82. Hulk Hogan
83. Brian Pillman
“This run is starting to look more mish-mash, but I can see you trying to get in guys you like. I think a lot of people will do this in their 70-100 range.”

 

This run is definitely more mish-mash. Hennig should go up. Finlay should go up. This is kind of the “I can’t imagine a top 100 based on stuff I’ve seen without these guys” run. With the next group being the “I need to watch more stuff but I would lean towards them making a final list based on what I have seen of them.”

84. Tommy Rogers
“Interesting that you ranked Rogers. I think he might just miss out for me.”

The Fantastics are an all time great team and the singles matches I’ve seen with Rogers have been very good. I love tag team wrestling, especially 80s southern tag team wrestling and so it feels weird to leave some of those guys off. So Rogers made it. Shit, I thought about Steve Keirn and was going to bring up how much I loved the Fujinami singles match. But he ended up not making it.

87. Mocho Cota

“Interested in how much Cota is out there beyond what is on the 80s set. Is there really enough?”

 

There probably isn’t enough. But I might sneak him in the lower region because he’s so awesome.

“Cool list though man!”

 

Thanks! This project is fun and I hope all the people who are on the fence about turning in lists when the time comes decide to just do it. J

[ohtani's jacket]

You need to throw in a few British/Euro workers, elliot. It's one step removed from lucha, and I despair for its representation.

[GOTNW]

 

Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi are going to be big problems for me. (I still kind of want to put Taue in front of all of them, but I've seen less than twenty matches).

You should watch more of Misawa and Kawada in different environments (i.e. NOT 40 minute epics) so you can realise how ridiculous that claim is. Same for Kobashi although he isn't as good as the aforementioned two.

[elliott]

You need to throw in a few British/Euro workers, elliot. It's one step removed from lucha, and I despair for its representation.

 

I know I know. Its a huge blind spot for me even though I absolutely love the little bit I've seen. I remember seeing the M-Pro These Days Card and then immediately emailing Jeff Lynch and saying "I don't have your European Listings, can you just pick your 10 favorite Johnny Saint matches and put them on a comp for me?" This was over a decade ago but I remember it having some Breaks, Grey, Finlay, Rocco, Clive Myers, and some other guys and I loved it. I have every intention of jumping into the Euro/WOS stuff for this project. I have some discs already but just haven't made them a priority yet. I was poking through your Euro workers thread just the other day actually so I feel like I'll dive into that soonish.

[Matt D]

 

 

Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi are going to be big problems for me. (I still kind of want to put Taue in front of all of them, but I've seen less than twenty matches).

You should watch more of Misawa and Kawada in different environments (i.e. NOT 40 minute epics) so you can realise how ridiculous that claim is. Same for Kobashi although he isn't as good as the aforementioned two.

Suggest me some matches. I've liked the early 90s six mans I've seen so I would want something else for variety.

[ohtani's jacket]

It took me a long time to appreciate Misawa, and then one day the penny dropped and now I consider him one of the few geniuses in the business. I actually think he's comparable to a Jordan or Sampras from the same era. Kawada seems to have suffered a slight drop in rep over the years. There was a time when he was the guy you were supposed to like -- almost the Japanese version of Benoit -- and I don't really get that vibe now. The Taue stuff always amuses me because if you praised Taue too much back in the day you had the watchdogs on your case.

[elliott]

For Hansen, I need to see a few of those early 90s matches, and I also need to see some of his big late 70s work.

 

Have you seen the Destroyer match from 75? Short but really fun match.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyPo27BOEhM

[Matt D]

It took me a long time to appreciate Misawa, and then one day the penny dropped and now I consider him one of the few geniuses in the business. I actually think he's comparable to a Jordan or Sampras from the same era. Kawada seems to have suffered a slight drop in rep over the years. There was a time when he was the guy you were supposed to like -- almost the Japanese version of Benoit -- and I don't really get that vibe now. The Taue stuff always amuses me because if you praised Taue too much back in the day you had the watchdogs on your case.

There are call back spots and continuity in and between matches with the Misawa I've seen that hugely impresses me.

 

That said I came out of all of those legendary tags with no context on an honest first watch a year or two ago liking Taue way more. You can see that dawning on me and surprising me in my thoughts as the matches go on as it's documented in DVDVR. So I'm not just trying to be contrary.

 

I do admit it's also a footage issue with what I've seen though.

[ohtani's jacket]

 

You need to throw in a few British/Euro workers, elliot. It's one step removed from lucha, and I despair for its representation.

 

I know I know. Its a huge blind spot for me even though I absolutely love the little bit I've seen. I remember seeing the M-Pro These Days Card and then immediately emailing Jeff Lynch and saying "I don't have your European Listings, can you just pick your 10 favorite Johnny Saint matches and put them on a comp for me?" This was over a decade ago but I remember it having some Breaks, Grey, Finlay, Rocco, Clive Myers, and some other guys and I loved it. I have every intention of jumping into the Euro/WOS stuff for this project. I have some discs already but just haven't made them a priority yet. I was poking through your Euro workers thread just the other day actually so I feel like I'll dive into that soonish.

Breaks, Grey and Jones are the gateways. I'm in a weird place with the stuff in that I wish I could discover it all over again while a lot of people haven't started.

[Matt D]

I absolutely loved the Breaks I saw. I need to make time for this somehow.

[GOTNW]

 

 

 

Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi are going to be big problems for me. (I still kind of want to put Taue in front of all of them, but I've seen less than twenty matches).

You should watch more of Misawa and Kawada in different environments (i.e. NOT 40 minute epics) so you can realise how ridiculous that claim is. Same for Kobashi although he isn't as good as the aforementioned two.

Suggest me some matches. I've liked the early 90s six mans I've seen so I would want something else for variety.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpd3_fvN_ZI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssra6Svglp0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ6vcKzoG80

[elliott]

Breaks, Grey and Jones are the gateways. I'm in a weird place with the stuff in that I wish I could discover it all over again while a lot of people haven't started.

 

 

I totally get that. In a way I'm holding off on Europe and Puerto Rico even though I know I'll love it. I didn't watch Breaking Bad until after it had ended even though I had heard for years that it was great and I knew I would love it. I had other stuff going on, I knew I would get to it one day and love it so I just put it off and put it off. Then I binge watched it all in a week. The little bit of Europe and PR stuff I've seen I've dug. I took a really long break from watching wrestling regularly and I wanted to revisit a lot of territories, lucha, and puro and try to fill some gaps and further explore guys with so much footage available so easilly now before diving into new styles.

 

Shoot style guys I overlooked years ago like Fujiwara, Funaki, Suzuki, etc and post 2003 Lucha are the major blindspots I think I will reasonably fill before the deadline at this rate.

[JerryvonKramer]

Elliott has kind of inspired me to go on a binge. I have the day off with no distraction. I think I'm going to spend the next 12 hours watching wrestling. Expect a lot of reviews today.

[Matt D]

Watch 1980 Portland

[Grimmas]

If I was forced to do a list today, these would be my 100. I need to watch a bunch of other guys, obviously. Also, this might not be 100 listed as I roughly counted.

AJ Styles

Aja Kong

Akira Hokuto

Akira Taue

Andre the Giant

Arn Anderson

Atlantis

Atsushi Onita

Barry Windham

Big Boss Man

Bill Dundee

Billy Robinson

Blue Panther

Bob Backlund

'Beautiful' Bobby Eaton

'Super Porky' Brazo de Plata

Bret 'Hitman' Hart

Brock Lesnar

'Playboy' Buddy Rose

Bull Nakano

Bully Ray

Cesaro

Christian

CM Punk

'Mr. Perfect' Curt Hennig

El Dandy

Daniel Bryan

Davey Boy Smith

Dick Murdoch

Dump Matsumoto

'Goldust' Dustin Rhodes

Eddie Guerrero

Fit Finlay

Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine

Genichiro Tenryu

El Hijo del Santo

Jerry Blackwell

Jerry 'The King' Lawler

John Cena

Jumbo Tsuruta

Jun Akiyama

Jushin 'Thunder' Liger

Juventud Guerrera

Kenta Kobashi

Killer Khan

Kyoko Inoue

LA Park

Larry Zbyszko

Lex Luger

Little Guido

Lo Ki

Mark Henry

Masa Fuchi

Mascarita Dorada/El Torito

Matt Hardy

Mick Foley

Mitsuharu Misawa

Negro Casas

Negro Navarro

Nick Bockwinkel

Perro Aguayo

Psicosis

'Macho Man' Randy Savage

Rey Mysterio Jr.

'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair

Rick Martel

'Ravishing' Rick Rude

Ricky Morton

Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat

Riki Choshu

The Rock

Ron Garvin

Sami Zayn

Samoa Joe

El Satanico

Savio Vega/TNT

Sean Waltman

Too Cold Scorpio

Sgt. Slaughter

Shawn Michaels

Shinjiro Ohtani

Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinya Hashimoto

Stan Hansen

'Stone Cold' Steve Austin

'Lord' Steven Regal

Tatsumi Fujinami

Ted DiBiase

Terry Funk

Tito Santana

Toshiaki Kawada

Tully Blanchard

The Undertaker

Vader

Villano III

Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yoshihiro Tajiri

[Matt D]

One of my major goals is to watch a lot more British wrestling between now and the end of the period. I already realized that I can just stack lucha guys on the list and everyone's lack of familiarity will just allow for a lot of shrugging and general acceptance.

[TannerT]

I have a rough list of guys I know that are going to make my list, but some of them will vary from mid list to potential Top 20 just depending on how much stuff I can watch between now and the deadline

[goodhelmet]

i have been toying with my list and it still needs some adjustment but I think these are the Top 25 for me. I am going to think long and hard about this 25 before submitting my ballot. I decided I am not going to watch like 5 or 10 matches from guys and then rank them. The people on my list are guys who have maintained staying power in my rankings for several years. When we revsit this thing in ten years, I will make sure that I have a firm grasp on a bunch of guys recommended here. However, if I were to all of a sudden add someone to my list after being excited, they would benefit from not suffering at the hand sof the "Law of Diminishing Returns". I don't think it is fair to guys I have been watching for decades and can still get excited about watching matches. I made a Dick Murdoch comp about 9 years ago. I still get excited about Murdoch matches. That type of power means something. I still love Jumbo after 15 years of tape watching. That means something. I was like everyone who criticizes Flair and got tired of watching him... but the 80s project has made me appreciate him even more and I still enjoy watching unseen Flair matches.

 

Anyway, my Tentative 25....

 

1. Jerry Lawler

2. Jumbo Tsuruta

3. Genichiro Tenryu

4. Toshiaki Kawada

5. El Hijo Del Santo

6. Negro Casas

7. Ric Flair

8. Tatsumi Fujinami

9. Mitsuharu Misawa

10. Buddy Rose

11. Dick Murdoch

12. Steven Regal

13. El Satanico

14. Stan Hansen

15. Jushin Liger

16. El Dandy

17. Daniel Bryan

18. Kenta Kobashi

19. Dustin Rhodes

20. Ricky Morton

21. Eddie Guerrero

22. Bill Dundee

23. Shinya Hashimoto

24. Riki Choshu

25. Vader

[Matt D]

Where's Bock?!

 

Morton is the most interesting name on that list to me.

[goodhelmet]

Like 26 or 27 as of now. May drop a few spots depending on how I feel about Fujiwara tomorrow but he will be Top 30. Here is the thing... I love Bock but I also saw him fall asleep in the middle of matches in All Japan. Childs can back me up on that. I am also not enamored with Bock. The AWA set rehabilitated my enjoyment of him as a wrestler when the All Japan project nearly crippled it.

[Matt D]

I also think we need to talk more about Santo vs Casas.

[goodhelmet]

I don't need to. They both have longevity. They both have incredible matches on their resume. Santo signed a personalized mask for me a few years ago. That was the tie breaker.

[Dylan Waco]

The thing that surprises me the most is no Funk in the top 25. I could see him being left out of the top 10 or even top 15, but would think a guy with that comprehensive of a "best of" (if you catch my drift) would have rated top 25.

[goodhelmet]

I think Funk should probably be there. Good catch.