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Who is in Your Top 100 Right Now?


Superstar Sleeze

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Guys as of now that I know would be in my top 100 pre further research would be:

 

Bret

Flair

Funk

Lawler

Eddie Guerrero

Rey Jr

Punk

Bryan

Vader

Dustin Rhodes

Foley

Jericho

Arn

Regal

Windham

Angle

Scorpio

El Dandy

Liger

Misawa

Kobashi

Kawada

Cena

Brock

Slaughter

Hansen

Savage

Dibiase

Steamboat

Hennig

Jay Briscoe

Waltman

Tully

 

Those are all guys strictly off the top of my head that I've seen decent footage of and rate highly for the most part. There are guys like Rose,Bock,Hijo Del Santo, Tenryu, Jumbo,Taue,Hashimoto, Colon, Murdoch and a few others that will probably make the list but I have to do research on. I don't want to highly rate someone strictly on rep because I have different tastes than others. If there are any other ace types that someone could suggest or even a great worker I don't have, please do so.

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  • 1 month later...

No finalized order, but here's who I'm looking at having make the list right now,

 

Top 25

 

Akira Taue

Billy Robinson

Bobby Eaton

Bull Nakano

Dustin Rhodes

El Dandy

El Hijo del Santo

Jerry Lawler

Jumbo Tsuruta

Jun Akiyama

Kurt Angle

Mitsuharu Misawa

Nick Bockwinkel

Randy Savage

Rey Mysterio Jr.

Ric Flair

El Satanico

Shinya Hashimoto

Stan Hansen

Steven Regal

Terry Funk

Toshiaki Kawada

Vader

Virus

Volk Han

 

Top 50

 

Akira Hokuto

Bill Dundee

Blue Panther

Buddy Rogers

Chris Hero

Genichiro Tenryu

Jack Brisco

Jim Breaks

Kenta Kobashi

LA Park

Mascarita Dorada

Owen Hart

Pat O' Connor

Rick Martel

Ricky Steamboat

Steve Austin

Terry Rudge

Toshiyo Yamada

Eddie Guerrero

Giant Baba

Ricky Morton

Negro Casas

Daniel Bryan

Kiyoshi Tamura

Villano III

 

Top 75

 

Aja Kong

AJ Styles

Andre the Giant

Arn Anderson

Chris Benoit

Gran Hamada

John Cena

Jushin Liger

Mark Henry

Meiko Satomura

Megumi Kudo

Mocho Cota

Too Cold Scorpio

Tito Santana

Tully Blanchard

Ultimo Dragon

Akira Maeda

Bret Hart

Manami Toyota

Mick Foley

Matt Hardy

Bestia Salvaje

Necro Butcher

Super Dragon

Jerry Blackwell

 

Top 100

 

Angel Azteca

Barry Windham

Carlos Colon

Greg Valentine

Invader 1

Kerry von Erich

Lex Luger

Rick Rude

Stan Lane

Sting

Timothy Thatcher

Atlantis

Bob Backlund

Bobby Fulton

Brock Lesnar

Chigusa Nagayo

Davey Boy Smith

Dick Murdoch

Dory Funk Jr.

Dick Togo

Emilio Charles Jr.

Jerry Estrada

Jay Briscoe

Koko Ware

Mariko Yoshida

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I took a stab at getting a preliminary list together. I easily came up with about 130 names, although putting together a Top 25 is proving to be more difficult. The locks for my top 25 are the following (listed in alphabetical order):

 

Atlantis
Bret Hart
CM Punk
El Dandy
Genichiro Tenryu
Kiyoshi Tamura
Marty Jones
Mitsuharu Misawa
Nick Bockwinkel
Randy Savage
Rick Martel
Shinya Hashimoto
Steve Grey
Tatsumi Fujinami
Volk Han
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I only decided I was going to do this in July, and it's been a real eye-opener (in a fun way) realising how many wrestlers I've never really seen before. I mean, amongst my friends I'm THE wrestling guy - I'm the one who watches old footage, footage from Japan or Mexico, who'll happily watch local indies on my own - and yet every time I check out footage of someone for this project, I find myself having to add 3 or 4 more guys to do due dilligence on. Heck, the other night I watched a Baba/Funk vs Hansen/Blackwell match linked on Segunda Caida just for fun, and now I've added Blackwell, a guy I'd not even considered, onto my "watch" list. I've got massive blind spots still - Bockwinkel, WoS, 90's AJPW - simply because I'm daunted at discovering another 20 odd names for my "watch" list. Don't get me wrong, I'm thoroughly enjoying it (after all, it'd just watching more wrestling, which is no great chore), but just wanted to explain the major omissions and why some of these names are likely to fall off upon final submission.

 

 

Adrian Street
AJ Styles
Arn Anderson
Barry Windham
Bobby Eaton
Bret Hart
Bryan Danielson
Curt Hennig
Davey Boy Smith
DDP
Dick Togo
Dustin Rhodes
Dusty Rhodes
Eddie Guerrero
El Hijo De Santo
Ernie Ladd
Finlay
Fritz von Erich
Genichiro Tenryu
Greg Valentine
Hulk Hogan
Ikuto Hidaka
James Mason
Jeff Jarrett
Jerry Lawler
Jim Breaks
Jim Duggan
John Cena
Johnny Saint
Jumbo Tsuruta
Jushin Liger
Juventud Guerrera
Kerry Von Erich
Kevin Von Erich
LA Park
Mark Henry
Necro Butcher
Negro Casas
Owen Hart
Psychosis
Randy Orton
Randy Savage
Rey Mysterio
Ric Flair
Rick Rude
Ricky Steamboat
Roddy Piper
Scott Steiner
Sean Waltman
Sgt Slaughter
Shinya Hashimoto
Stan Hansen
Steve Austin
Super Delfin
Tajiri
Terry Funk
Terry Gordy
Tito Santana
Toshiaki Kawada
Tracy Smothers
Vader
William Regal
Zack Sabre Jr

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Here are names on my list as of right now. This is not in order yet.

 

Terry Funk

Ric Flair

Eddie Guerrero

Kenta Kobashi

Tatsumi Fujinami

Shinya Hashimoto

Rick Rude

Stan Hansen

Bryan Danielson

AJ Styles

Toshiaki Kawada

Ricky Steamboat

Keiji Muto

Mitsuharu Misawa

Jushin Liger

Rey Mysterio

Curt Hennig

Dynamite Kid

Arn Anderson

Genichiro Tenryu

El Dandy

Chris Benoit

Shawn Michaels

Masato Tanaka

Satanico

Jumbo Tsuruta

KENTA

Christopher Daniels

Nick Bockwinkel

Bull Nakano

El Hijo del Santo

Bret Hart

Chris Jericho

Koji Kanemoto

Masaaki Mochizuki

Owen Hart

Akira Taue

Randy Savage

Manami Toyota

Davey Boy Smith

Barry Windham

William Regal

Vader

Edge

Mick Foley

Negro Casas

Chigusa Nagayo

Meiko Satomura

Tully Blanchard

Kurt Angle

Jun Akiyama

Great Sasuke

Minoru Suzuki

Juvetud Guerrera

Hiroshi Hase

Chris Hero

Devil Masami

Terry Gordy

 

Still have to seek out more stuff from guys like Volk Han, Johnny Saint, Pirata Morgan, Billy Robinson and Yoshiaki Yatsu.

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Spent the past few days thinking about my tag team list. As of right now these are the twenty five teams I'd have on it,

 

Top 10

 

Briscoe Brothers

Hardy Boyz

Rock n Roll Express

Midnight Express (Condrey & Eaton)

Midnight Express (Eaton & Lane)

Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue

Rockers

Steiner Brothers

Heavenly Bodies (Pritchard & Del Ray)

Fantastics

 

Top 20

 

Los Gringos Locos

PG-13

Los Villanos

Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard

Demolition

Dudley Boyz

Hart Foundation

Nightmares

British Bulldogs

Can-Am Express

 

Top 25

 

America's Most Wanted

Doom

Enforcers

Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen

Los Guerreros

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  • 3 months later...

Was bored and went through the Nominees Index to build a Top 100 Outline as of today. I broke everything down regionally like so:

Japan Locks (To make my List)

Japan Maybe

Lucha Locks

Lucha Maybe

US Locks

US Maybe

 

I broke it down further from there like so:

#1 Candidates

Top 10 Candidates

Top 20 Candidates

Top 30 Candidates

Top 50 Candidates

Top 75 Candidates

Top 100 Candidates

Special Favorites Who Probably Don't Deserve to Make it but Probably Will

Leftover Maybes (I either need to see more/revisit footage of or guys who could grab a low spot based on the day.)

 

I haven't made my list yet (I'll do it next) and I haven't done any more math than you've already seen :)

 

This is all based on the "Eye Test." Does wrestler x strike me as a top 10, 20, 30 etc level guy. This is really just to get a ballpark idea of around where I'd rank guys right now.

 

#1 Candidates

Stan Hansen

Jumbo Tsuruta

Genichiro Tenryu

Ric Flair

Terry Funk

Jerry Lawler

El Satanico

Negro Casas

Nick Bockwinkel

 

Top 10 Candidates

Mitsuharu Misawa

Toshiaki Kawada

Jushin Liger

Tatsumi Fujinami

Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Hijo del Santo

Buddy Rose

 

Top 20 Candidates

Rey Mysterio Jr

Shinya Hashimoto

El Dandy

Sangre Chicana

Pirata Morgan

Bill Dundee

Ricky Morton

Daniel Bryan

Ricky Steamboat

 

Top 30 Candidates

Kenta Kobashi

Riki Choshu

Aja Kong

Chigusa Nagayo

The Destroyer

Akira Hokuto

Bull Nakano

Jaguar Yokota

Atlantis

Blue Panther

Jack Brisco

Vader

Kiyoshi Tamura

Volk Han

 

Top 50 Candidates

Akira Taue

Randy Savage

Akira Maeda

Villano III

MS-1

Arn Anderson

Barry Windham

Billy Robinson

Dick Murdoch

Dustin Rhodes

Eddie Guerrero

Kerry von Erich

John Cena

Jerry Blackwell

William Regal

Giant Baba

Jun Akiyama

Ted Dibiase

 

Top 75 Candidates

Tsyoshi Kikuchi

Alexander Otsuka

Yuki Ishikawa

Naoki Sano

2 Cold Scorpio

Gran Hamada

Yoshiaki Yatsu

Manami Toyota

Fuerza Guerrera

Perro Aguayo

Andre the Giant

Bobby Heenan

Bret Hart

Dustin Rhodes

Eddie Gilbert

Wahoo McDaniel

Curt Hennig

Devil Masami

Rick Martel

Greg Valentine

LA Park

Michael Hayes

Mick Foley

Tully Blanchard

Terry Gordy

Ron Garvin

Roddy Piper

Butch Reed

Chris Adams

Masa Saito

Tito Santana

 

Top 100 Candidates

Ringo Mendoza

Dan Kroffat

Hulk Hogan

Sean Waltman

Tajiri

Daisuke Ikeda

Shinjiro Ohtani

Hiroshi Hase

Dynamite Kansai

Atsushi Onita

Masa Fuchi

Yoji Anjoh

 

Special Favorites Consideration

Mad Dog Vachon

Tommy Rich

Buzz Sawyer

Matt Borne/Doink the Clown

The Rock

Dusty Rhodes

 

Left Over Maybes/Want to Watch More/Could Make it Another Day

Great Sasuke

Kodo Fuyuki

Dump Matsumoto

Killer Khan

Masato Tanaka

Kengo Kimura

Kantaro Hoshino

Mayumi Ozaki

Pat O'Connor

Nobuhiko Takada

Taka Michinoku

Dick Togo

Kazuo Yamazaki

Keiji Mutoh

Emilio Charles Jr

La Fiera

El Faraon

Mocho Cota

Psicosis

Juventud Guerrera

Cien Caras

Brian Pillman

Harley Race

Bob Backlund

Tommy Rogers

Dutch Mantell

Adrian Adonis

Brock Lesnar

Stan Lane

Tracy Smothers

Steve Austin

Steve Keirn

Rick Rude

Dennis Condrey

Jim Duggan

Sgt Slaughter

Owen Hart

Dynamite Kid

Verne Gagne

Shawn Michaels

Larry Z

Lex Luger

Ken Patera

Magnum TA

Dutch Mantell

Eric Embry

Koko B Ware

Carlos Colon

Phil Hickerson

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edit

 

I posted a top 100 that I made but then I realized motherfucking Bobby Eaton wasn't on it and that is a horrendous oversight. I was in the process of making 1996 WON HOF Comments for each wrestler to give an example of the shit I'm thinking about while ranking guys. But then I saw there was no Eaton and therefore an invalid list. I will repost the thing with comments and Bobby Eaton soon.

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I think it would be fair if each person explained how you chose your votes for sure. I honestly think that's as interesting to me as who you vote for.

 

Quoting this from the "What are we Voting on Thread" because I'm in the process of doing this. I made a preliminary top 100 and I've started adding brief "WON HOF 1996" style comments for each candidate. I won't have time to finish the whole thing for a couple of days but I've knocked out brief comments for my top 25 and figured I'd post it since brainfollower is wanting to see explanations on lists.

1. Terry Funk – Most versatile wrestler ever. Checks all the boxes in terms of great matches, legendary feuds and rivalries, variety, longevity, etc etc Defines pro wrestling for me in a way no one else could

 

2. Satanico – Will hopefully be covering him in depth with Grimmas soon

 

3. Negro Casas – Weird to put a guy at #3 and still feel like I’m underrating him. He’s never fully connected with me like Funk, Satanico (and a few other top tier guys) but he is too good to deny. Does any and everything you could possibly ask of a luchadore.

 

4. Stan Hansen – I’ve said enough about Hansen

 

5. Genichiro Tenryu – It took him a little longer than you’d like to get going but when he put it altogether, he really put it together. Has the great matches, longevity, variety of opponents, etc but also had that special quality that made his matches feel hugely important. Probably has more "hidden gem" Main Event matches than anyone. No one ever talks about stuff like vs Hash 2/94 or vs Choshu from 2/85 (or or or) but then you watch it and its like "Fuck is Tenryu goddamn amazing or what!"

 

6. Jerry Lawler – The best US wrestler ever. Another “ticks all the boxes” guy in terms of peak, matches, opponents etc. Maybe the best ever at getting a quality match out of a crap opponent.

 

7. Ric Flair – Everyone know’s Flair’s case but I just wanted to add that I do not hold his post prime against him.

 

8. Nick Bockwinkel - Feels like I’m underrating him at #8. Again everyone knows his case. Flair gets the nod because while Bock was probably a more versatile/less formulaic wrestler, I think Flair just swamps him in terms of really high end great matches. With more footage, I have no doubt Nick would catch up but this is a case where great matches wins out.

 

9. Jumbo Tsuruta – Jumbo’s a weird guy in that I like him as a young up and comer and I like him as a grumpy veteran, but I’m not really in love with him during what would be the “prime” of his career. There is enough stuff in that “I don’t really love him era” that I dig and he was clearly a good worker but I couldn’t possibly have him out of the top 10.

 

10. Yoshiaki Fujiwara - The best shoot style wrestler ever. Had a unique charisma and style. All time classic feuds against Maeda/Takada/Sayama/Yamazaki. Unquestionably had the best match of Inoki’s career. Very probably had the best match of Riki Choshu’s career. Was terrific in tags. Just a guy who got pro-wrestling. Can I put all these guys at a tie for #1?

 

11. Tatsumi Fujinami – Almost feels like the Japanese version of Nick Bockwinkel or Buddy Rose in that he could have a good match (and often very good-great) against anybody in any style. I actually want to revisit his 90s work even though EVERYONE has been disappointed by it.

 

12. Hijo del Santo – The best babyface and high flyer ever. Longevity, classic feuds, tons of different opponents, great mat worker and brawler.

 

13. Buddy Rose – Supremely underrated. At his peak he was great at literally every aspect of pro wrestling. Watching him in Portland was watching an absolute master. Had maybe the most impressive peak I’ve ever seen.

 

14. Toshiaki Kawada

15. Mitsuharu Misawa – I see these two as wedded forever. I think Kawada was better earlier than Misawa and maybe never looked back no matter how great Misawa got. I tend to prefer Kawada’s matches against Hansen, Taue, and Williams more than Misawa’s.

 

16. Jushin Liger – The best Junior ever. He would have excelled in any time working any style. If had had chosen to leave NJPW in 1988 and join UWF and then RINGS, we would still be talking about him as a top 20 wrestler. Incredible body language and I agree with the point that I read on here by somebody that he was so expressive that you could tell he had great facial expressions even as a masked wrestler.

 

17. Shinya Hashimoto – I really wanted to find a way to get Hash into my top 10 but just couldn’t do it. This feels super low and the more I’ve been thinking about it lately, I’m not sure I think Kawada/Misawa are actually better than Hash. Was having truly great singles matches before Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi. Has a really impressive list of great matches/opponents that runs much deeper than you might think. Has that Choshu/Tenryu quality that makes small matches feel more important and big matches feel like the most important matches ever.

 

18. El Dandy – Another “Do everything” type wrestler but he’s never connected with me like he has with other lucha fans. I can’t even put my finger on what it is exactly but I don’t love him like I feel I should. But he has the matches, variety of opponents, variety of work, and a 2-4 year peak that rivals anyone that I just can’t deny.

 

19. Sangre Chicana – I feel a little bit bad about underrating Dandy but I feel no shame in overrating Chicana. He was the driving force in were the two best matches I’ve ever seen. Incredibly great brawler/puncher/bleeder (Lucha brawling is my favorite style of wrestling easily). Great in the few title matches I’ve seen him in. Maybe the best over the top wobbly selling ever. My favorite wrestler. I overrated the shit out of him but I don’t care.

 

20. Ricky Morton – Really defines 80s US Tag team Wrestling for me. Is the best US babyface wrestler ever. Probably the best tag wrestler ever. Definitely the best face in peril wrestler ever. Had great singles matches when he had the opportunity. Was great probably as early as 1980 and was still really good as late as 1995ish. Really underrated and dynamic offensive worker but no one really thinks about that when they think of Morton. Anyway. Yeah. Ricky Morton.

 

21. Rey Mysterio Jr – Really he’s right there with Morton as the best US underdog babyface ever and right there with Santo Jr as best flyer. Should probably be higher since he was able to excel in territories I generally don’t like (Late 90s/00 WCW and WWE) while everyone above him worked in the styles and promotions that I generally love.

 

22. Blue Panther – Might be the best Trios match worker because no matter what if he’s in the match you know you’re going to get 4-5ish minutes of great mat work at the absolute worst. All time great feud with Santo Jr. Probably Atlantis’ career best opponent. The El Mariachi match. Etc etc.

 

23. Bill Dundee – If he was 8 inches taller he could have been the biggest star in wrestling. Everyone knows the Eternal Lawler feud and it is arguably the best in ring/out of ring promo stuff feud in wrestling history. So most people probably think of him as a great brawler and he absolutely was, but he was also a terrific mat worker and a really great tag worker.

 

24. Ricky Steamboat – I feel like if I made a top 100 and Ricky Steamboat wasn’t in the top 25 I would have fucked the whole thing up. All time great babyface, tag worker, singles worker, has the great high profile matches and hidden gems and variety of opponents and classic feuds.

 

25. Daniel Bryan – Talk about a guy who excelled in territories I generally don’t like. Bryan was probably the best or 2nd best wrestler in the world from sometime in 2001-May 2014. Say what you will about worldwide quality (and I probably would) but that is an insane run. Has great variety both in his work and opponents. In the top handful of best underdog babyfaces ever. One of the best hot tags ever. Had the best WWE match Ive ever seen (vs Cena) and a legit great non-gimmicked match against HHH which is as impressive as any criteria you could come up with.

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22. Blue Panther – Might be the best Trios match worker because no matter what if he’s in the match you know you’re going to get 4-5ish minutes of great mat work at the absolute worst. All time great feud with Santo Jr. Probably Atlantis’ career best opponent. The El Mariachi match. Etc etc.

 

This is one I kind of disagree on. Maybe it's blasphemous to say, but Blue Panther usually disappoints me. The stuff against Atlantis is one of the all-time great in-ring rivalries and better than the rivalry with Santo, which I haven't seen deliver much outside of a few AAA exchanges and those two matches in Monterrey (wasn't a fan of the Essex, UK stuff.) I steadfast believe he had stuff as good as the Atlantis stuff, but not on tape. One of the most frustrating things about him is you *don't* get 4-5 minutes of great matwork in the average Panther trios. I wouldn't call him the best trio match worker for the simple fact that he wasn't that flash a rudo, but also because he doesn't bring the matwork on a regular basis. He can even be (dare I say it) sloppy on the mat at times. I'd take Fuerza, Emilio Charles Jr or Satanico over Panther any day when it comes to watching a random trios and that's just for starters. I also think he's weak at singles matches. I'm not even talking about his old man Panther stuff, which I think is overrated, but his weak stuff against Love Machine and Octagon. Pena may shoulder some of the blame there, but Fuerza excelled in the same environment and people don't put him in the same lofty sphere as Panther. I always feel kind of dirty typing this stuff, but is Panther really better than say Solar?

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This is the first draft of my top 100 in alphabetical order (by first name):

AJ Styles
Aja Kong
Akira Hokuto
Akira Maeda
Akira Taue
Alexander Otsuka
Andre The Giant
Arn Anderson
Barry Windham
Big Van Vader
Billy Robinson
Bret Hart
Bryan Danielson
Bull Nakano
Chigusa Nagayo
Chris Benoit
Chris Hero

Chris Jericho
CIMA
Curt Hennig
Daisuke Ikeda
Daisuke Sekimoto
Devil Masami
Dick Togo
Dragon Kid
Dynamite Kansai
Dynamite Kid
Eddie Guerrero
El Dandy
El Generico
El Hijo del Santo
El Samurai
El Satanico
Genichiro Tenryu
Giant Baba
Gran Hamada
Harley Race
Hiroshi Hase
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Jaguar Yokota
Jerry Blackwell
Jerry Lawler
Jumbo Tsuruta
Jun Akiyama
Jushin Liger
Kazuo Yamazaki
Kent Kobashi
KENTA
Kerry Von Erich
Kiyoshi Tamura
Koji Kanemoto
Kota Ibushi
Kuniaki Kobayashi
Manami Toyota
Masa Fuchi
Masaaki Mochizuki
Masato Tanaka
Mayumi Ozaki
Meiko Satomura
Men’s Teioh
Mick Foley
Minoru Suzuki
Mitsuharu Misawa
Mr. Gannosuke
Naoki Sano
Naomichi Marufuji
Negro Casas
Nick Bockwinkel
Nobuhiko Takada
Rey Mysterio Jr.
Ric Flair
Rick Martel
Ricky Steamboat
Riki Choshu
Sabu
Sean Waltman
Shawn Michaels
Shingo Takagi
Shinjiro Ohtani
Shinsuke Nakamura
Shinya Hashimoto
Stan Hansen
Steve Williams
Susumu Yokosuka
Tatsumi Fujinami
Ted Dibiase
Terry Funk
The Destroyer
The Great Sasuke
The Undertaker
Tiger Mask
Tomoaki Honma
Toshiaki Kawada
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Volk Han
Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Yoshiaki Yatsu
Yoshihiro Tajiri
Yoshihiro Takayama
Yuki Ishikawa

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22. Blue Panther – Might be the best Trios match worker because no matter what if he’s in the match you know you’re going to get 4-5ish minutes of great mat work at the absolute worst. All time great feud with Santo Jr. Probably Atlantis’ career best opponent. The El Mariachi match. Etc etc.

 

This is one I kind of disagree on. Maybe it's blasphemous to say, but Blue Panther usually disappoints me. The stuff against Atlantis is one of the all-time great in-ring rivalries and better than the rivalry with Santo, which I haven't seen deliver much outside of a few AAA exchanges and those two matches in Monterrey (wasn't a fan of the Essex, UK stuff.) I steadfast believe he had stuff as good as the Atlantis stuff, but not on tape. One of the most frustrating things about him is you *don't* get 4-5 minutes of great matwork in the average Panther trios. I wouldn't call him the best trio match worker for the simple fact that he wasn't that flash a rudo, but also because he doesn't bring the matwork on a regular basis. He can even be (dare I say it) sloppy on the mat at times. I'd take Fuerza, Emilio Charles Jr or Satanico over Panther any day when it comes to watching a random trios and that's just for starters. I also think he's weak at singles matches. I'm not even talking about his old man Panther stuff, which I think is overrated, but his weak stuff against Love Machine and Octagon. Pena may shoulder some of the blame there, but Fuerza excelled in the same environment and people don't put him in the same lofty sphere as Panther. I always feel kind of dirty typing this stuff, but is Panther really better than say Solar?

 

 

I knew you that Panther pick was going to jump out at you. The Solar comp is actually interesting. I haven't seen nearly enough Solar but I absolutely love what I have seen. He's someone I will dive very heavily into at some point. Panther probably gets a bump for being my first favorite Luchadore when I first got into the style and while I haven't seen a shit ton of post 2003 Lucha, I have seen a good bit of older Panther. He's my knee jerk reaction for best lucha mat worker but I'll concede it may not actually be the case. I'll also admit that of the top 25 guys I listed so far, Panther is easily the guy I've watched/rewatched the least of since the start of the project and the matches of his I have rewatched are things like vs Atlantis, vs Santo Jr, vs Villano V, and vs El Mariachi. So probably the tippy top end stuff. I'll rewatch some more run of the mill stuff.

 

OJ's reply was pretty much the reason I wanted to post a list with comments made. :)

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Arn Anderson is in my top 10 right now. Am I out of my mind?

 

I love Arn but is this going too far?

 

Ric Flair

Jumbo Tsurta

Randy Savage

Nick Bockwinkel

Jerry Lawler

Terry Funk

Misawa

El Hijo Del Santo

Bret Hart

Arn Anderson

 

 

My list is biased to what I like though. Only about 30 Lucha and Japanese wrestlers total. El Satanico and Negro Casas for instance are the only 2 luchadores in the top 20 not counting people who wrestled in the US

 

Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard

The Midnight Express – Eaton and Condrey

The Rock and Roll Express

The Rockers

The Midnight Express – Eaton and Lane

Dory and Terry Funk

Misawa and Kobashi

Bockwinkel and Stevens

The Andersons

Furnas and Kroffat

The Hart Foundation

The Dream Team

The Fantastics

The High Flyers

The Freebirds

The Hardy Boys

Kawade and Taue

The Fabs

The Road Warriors

Demolition

Strike Force

The Steiner Brothers

The Bulldogs

The Faces of Fear

The Islanders

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  • 2 weeks later...

I need to think long and hard about this. [DDP] could sneak on. I am not ruling him out yet.

 

 

I think I would put AJ [styles] in my Top 750.

 

 

Andre [the Giant] is in consideration but isn't a lock.

 

 

Top two talker of all time. Top 200 wrestler. I'll split the difference and say [Dusty Rhodes] would be my 101.

 

 

Man, Sarge [slaughter] is a hard one. Clearly a great wrestler with several awesome performances but I don't know. A guy I can see going on easily or falling off.

 

 

The Rockers were awesome. [shawn Michaels] heel 1997 run was pretty awesome. Everything else I can take or leave. He might make my Top 100.

 

 

I gotta admit, I have more interest in Goodhelmet's list than my own at this point. Super curious what the last ten names on his list are going to be. I know his list & mine will look nothing alike.

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I think Sarge is locked in. While I enjoy Sarge's matches, I am not in love with Sarge as a worker. If Phil Schneider calls me up and says lets watch this Sarge match, I'll watch it but I don't go out of my way looking for his matches. He just isn't one of my guys. With that siad, he kept rising on my final list. Andre is in and I have him pretty high. DDP is out. I think HBK is in. Dusty is not in even though i look forward to Dusty more than i look forward to HBK matches.

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Arn Anderson is in my top 10 right now. Am I out of my mind?

 

I love Arn but is this going too far?

 

Ric Flair

Jumbo Tsurta

Randy Savage

Nick Bockwinkel

Jerry Lawler

Terry Funk

Misawa

El Hijo Del Santo

Bret Hart

Arn Anderson

 

 

 

Not crazy at all. I would have Arn in my Top 10, as well. One of the best promos ever, best tag workers ever, best tv workers ever. I would argue why wouldn't he be in your top 10?

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is what I have right now. I attached numbers but there really isn't that much order to it. The top ten is in order. I think. I changed it like three times today already. Top twenty and thirty are more guys I intend to rank that highly than "number 26 is better than number 27". Anything beyond that is pretty much who I thought of first. Beware your favourite all time great american wrestlers probably aren't on here. Still I welcome anyone asking "why isn't x on here?" because it's possible I just legitimately forgot about someone. Like I was going through my list one day and realised Eddie Guerrero wasn't on it which was weird. So yeah. Just throwing it out there:

 

 

1.shinya hashimoto
2.mitsuharu misawa
3.negro casas
4.genichiro tenryu
5.terry funk
6.toshiaki kawada
7.yoshiaki fujiwara
8.jun akiyama
9.nobuhiko takada
10.tatsumi fujinami
11.kenta kobashi
12.riki choshu
13.yuki ishikawa
14.vader
15.el hijo del santo
16.daisuke ikeda
17.bryan danielson
18.el dandy
19.aja kong
20.shinjiro ohtani
21.koji kanemoto
22.tamura
23.aj styles
24.akira maeda
25.akira taue
26.rey mysterio jr.
27.kenta
28.stan hansen
29.atlantis
30.volk han
31.bockwinkel
32.regal
33.otsuka
34.virus
35.emilio charles jr.
36.el satanico
37.perro aguayo
38.sangre chicana
39.hiroshi hase
40.yamazaki
41.naoki sano
42.jumbo tsuruta
43.billy robinson
44.jushin liger
45.meiko satomura
46.LA Park
47.nishimura
48.yoji anjoh
49.takayama
50.kensuke sasaki
51.john cena
52.masanobu fuchi
53.tsuyoshi kikuchi
54.minoru suzuki
55.masakatsu funaki
56.hokuto
57.low ki
58.dynamite kansai
59.yumiko hotta
60.bull nakano
61.blue panther
62.lizmark
63.fuerza guerrera
64.masato tanaka
65.black terry
66.super astro
67.pirata morgan
68.la fiera
69.jerry lawler
70.finlay
71.jim breaks
72.Yoshinari Ogawa
73.tatsuo nakano
74.Kazunari Murakami
75.akitoshi saito
76.Masahito Kakihara
77.Shigeo Miyato
78.Eddie Guerrero
79.Takashi Sugiura
80.Owen Hart
81.TAKA Michinoku
82.Tajiri
83.tomohiro ishii
84.shinsuke nakamura
85.brock lesnar
86.steve williams
87.tsuyoshi kohsaka
88.satoru sayama
89.yoshihisa yamamoto
90.tatsuhito takaiwa
91.christian
92.shiro koshinaka
93.dick togo
94.tamon honda
95.super dragon
96.pat o'connor
97.giant baba
98.el generico/sami zayn
99.the destroyer
100.atsushi onita

 

 

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