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Current top 10 contenders


Shining Wiz

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Thought this might be fun and a bit more focused than the "Who's in your 100".

 

I went through the list of nominees and did a preliminary sorting for the first time tonight, setting out top ten contenders, top 25, 26-50, and 50-100 roughly. I ended up with 52 in the top ten, top 25 and 26-50 groups, with another 36 in the 50-100 range. Gives me a decent base of general impressions to start building a list out of.

 

So, here are my first glance top ten contenders:

 

Toshiaki Kawada

Stan Hansen

Sami Zayn

Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat

Nick Bockwinkel

Mitsuharu Misawa

Kenta Kobashi

'The Great Muta' Keiji Mutoh

Jumbo Tsuruta

Hiroshi Tanahashi

Genichiro Tenryu

Daniel Bryan

Chris Benoit

Cesaro

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Hansen, Funk, Flair, Lawler, Jumbo, Misawa, Kawada, Tenryu, Fujiwara, Bockwinkel, Savage, Lyger, Rey off the top of my head. I'd say my Top 5 being some combination of Hansen, Funk, Flair, Lawler and Jumbo is pretty set in stone.

My list with maybe Bret sneaking into the top 10 and Negro Casas, Satanico, El HIjo del Santo as potentials.

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Flair, Hansen, Jumbo, Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Tenryu, Bryan, Michaels, Liger and Cena is the first batch of names that came to mind. Probably leaving a few off, and there are others I'll want to think about like Funk, Bull, Tanashahi, Hart, Austin, Hashimoto, Hase, Taue, Akiyama, Casas and others who I imagine will be in the mix. And then I'll sit down and look over all the threads and probably find a couple obvious ones I missed and revise things then. But always fun to think about this at different times and in different contexts.

 

EDIT: Annnnnnnd Fujianami is our first definite oversight. He's in the ballpark.

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  • 1 month later...

My Top 10 will come outta these 40. At least I'm pretty sure they will. Still have a ton of WOS to watch. Plus revisit other stuff. I don't know if there are guys I shouldn't included do to lack of footage. But man Johnny Valentine was a PRO WRESTLER.

 

Johnny Valentine, Ray Stevens, Ric Flair, Nick Bockwinkel, Billy Robinson, Jack Brisco, Terry Funk, Harley Race, Buddy Rose, Dick Murdoch, Stan Hansen, Jerry Lawler, Pat Patterson. Ricky Steamboat, Wahoo McDaniel, Ernie Ladd, Ronnie Garvin, Barry Windham, Jumbo Tsuruta, Genichiro Tenryu, Randy Savage, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Bill Dundee, Steve Austin, Greg Valentine, Ted Dibiase, Ivan Koloff, Don Jardine, Bill Eadie, Jerry Blackwell, Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, Butch Reed, Sgt Slaughter, William Regal, Dave Finlay, Van Vader, Terry Gordy, Buzz Sawyer.

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  • 4 months later...

Since these names are not the same I had a month ago, I'm sure they'll change again, but these are contenders for me:

Flair, Hansen, Savage, Jumbo, Funk.

Bret, Misawa, Bockwinkel have grown on me lately.

Tully, Hammer, Hennig, Slaughter, DiBiase, Lawler are people I wouldn't have thought would come close, but they're getting there...

And definetely: The mighty Vader!

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Due several more additions once I've viewed more lucha, classic New Japan etc. I'll be the low voter on the 90s all Japan guys. Don't really care for them apart from Kawada.

 

 

Ric Flair

Stan Hansen

Terry Funk

Jumbo Tsuruta

Akira Hokuto

Buddy Rose

Tatsumi Fujinami

Jerry Lawler

Vader

Jim Breaks

Chigusa Nagayo

Toshiaki Kawada

Barry Windham

Jaguar Yokota

Arn Anderson

Ricky Morton

Daniel Bryan

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Due several more additions once I've viewed more lucha, classic New Japan etc. I'll be the low voter on the 90s all Japan guys. Don't really care for them apart from Kawada.

 

 

Ric Flair

Stan Hansen

Terry Funk

Jumbo Tsuruta

Akira Hokuto

Buddy Rose

Tatsumi Fujinami

Jerry Lawler

Vader

Jim Breaks

Chigusa Nagayo

Toshiaki Kawada

Barry Windham

Jaguar Yokota

Arn Anderson

You and I will probably be low on the AJPW guys and high on arn anderson.

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If my list was due right now my top ten would be

 

1. Stan Hansen

2. Terry Funk

3. Jumbo Tsuruta

4. Ric Flair

5. Jerry Lawler

6. Rey Mysterio Jr.

7. Jushin Liger

8. Toshiaki Kawada

9. Negro Casas

10. Randy Savage

 

With these guys right there:

 

El Hijo del Santo

Jushin Liger

Mitsuharu Misawa

Steven Regal

 

These are guys I still need to see more of:

Genichiro Tenryu

Bull Nakano

Buddy Rose

Aja Kong

El Dandy

Fujiwara

Satanico

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Dylan talked me into participating. Blame him for any of my absurdity from here on out.

 

Top 10 Contenders:

-Genichiro Tenryu

-Kenta Kobashi

-Stan Hansen

-Toshiaki Kawada

-Bryan Danielson

-Mitsuharu Misawa

-Jumbo Tsuruta

-Ric Flair

-Masaaki Mochizuki

-KENTA

-Rey Mysterio Jr.

-Chris Benoit

-Volk Han

-Shinya Hashimoto

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Ric Flair, I want to write a piece on his offensive strategy. It is super underrated.

Stan Hansen, have not watched anything in far too long, need to refresh

Jumbo Tsuruta - Master of the bodyslam, so much to watch. Bomb throwing master

Genichiro Tenryu - If you don't get him, watch 2000s. I get it and love it

Mitsuharu Misawa - The Man

Toshiaki Kawada - Like Hansen, been too long since I watched him in his prime. Great comeback in 2000, but rest of decade too inconsistent

Kenta Kobashi - I love his story, strong number one candidate for me.

Akira Taue - NODOWA~! Best apron worker ever. He gets it.

Jushin Liger - God King of the Juniors

Rey Misterio Jr. - Probably the strongest candidate from the 2000s, but his 90s was revolutionary.

Nick Bockwinkel - He is committed to the struggle

Jerry Lawler - Watching a lot of his stuff for first time and by the time this is finished, he will be a contender

Shinya Hashimoto & Riki Choshu - So much to watch, but these rockstars need to be represented

Greg The Hammer Valentine - Probably the best WWF worker of the 80s and just made every WWF match feel unique

Tito Santana - Great blood feud worker

Ricky Martel - Probably not enough on the home stretch, but I love his AWA run.

Ricky Steamboat - I have my misgivings about Steamboat, but some recent matches have him surging back up the lists.
Ricky Morton, Bobby Eaton, Shawn Michaels - Tag Teams Back Again (Whoomp There It Is!)
Vader - He just makes sense, but where the dollas at?

Bob Backlund - Probably will benefit from the fact that I am cherry picking the good shit. Sorry guys, life is too short.

Arn Anderson - Rare talent of being able to have a match unto himself.

Randy Savage - Total commitment to the character. Ronnie Garvin cage match rejuvenated my interest in him.

Brock Lesnar - He is a tough one. What a spectacle! Some of the highest Wrestling IQ I have ever seen.

AJ Styles - I honestly think he is the best of 2000s workers and that predates the 2014 surge. I really want to see how he compares against Danielson.

Besides Flair, Tenryu, Misawa, Kobashi and Kawada, this shit is wide fucking open for me. I am excited to watch a shit ton of great wrestling.

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