Grimmas Posted May 13, 2015 Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 Following the cowboys thread, let's look at the folks who came around after the territories and WCW/ECW died. I may be forgetting some, but here is the list from nominees I put together: AJ Styles Akira Tozawa The Amazing Red Austin Aries Batista Brock Lesnar Bully Ray Cesaro Chris Hero Chris Masters Christopher Daniels CM Punk Daniel Bryan Hiroshi Tanahashi James Storm Jay Briscoe John Cena Katzuhori Shibata Kazuchika Okada KENTA Kevin Steen Kota Ibushi Kurt Angle Kyle Matthews Kyle O'Reilly Lo Ki Mark Briscoe Mascarita Dorada/El Torito Matt Sydal Michael Elgin Necro Butcher Prince Devitt Randy Orton Ricochet Sami Callihan Sami Zayn Samoa Joe Seth Rollins Sheamus Shinsuke Nakamura Timothy Thatcher Tomohiro Ishii This is the section that will be the hardest to vote on, since a lot of them are still active. Guys who are easily getting votes for me are CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, John Cena & Brock Lesnar. Guys who may sneak on are AJ Styles, Cesaro, Mascarita Dorada, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe & Nakamura. The rest will need some heavy lobbying from people to convince me. As for ranking them: 1) Bryan 2) Punk 3) Cena 4) Lesnar 5) Dorada 6) Nakamura 7) Styles 8) Cesaro 9) Zayn 10) Joe There is still a year to change this though. Overall, this seems like an interesting area. I know some people will rely heavily upon it and others will ignore it. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillThompson Posted May 13, 2015 Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 Went ahead and added Super Dragon since he fits in this category, Definite Chris Hero Daniel Bryan John Cena Kurt Angle Mascarita Dorada Samoa Joe Super Dragon Necro Butcher Just on the Cusp AJ Styles Sheamus Timothy Thatcher Brock Lesnar Cesaro Jay Briscoe Sami Zayn Shunsuke Nakamura Tomohiro Ishii Need to See More Amazing Red Austin Aries Low Ki Bully Ray There simply isn't enough footage Chris Masters No Chance Batista Christopher Daniels CM Punk Hiroshi Tanhashi Kazuchika Okada Kenta Kota Ibushi Michael Elgin Matt Sydal Mark Briscoe Prince Devitt Randy Orton Ricochet Sami Callihan Seth Rollins Haven't Seen Hardly Anything Akira Tozawa Katsuyori Shibata James Storm Kevin Steen Kyle Matthews Kyle O' Reilly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InYourCase Posted May 13, 2015 Report Share Posted May 13, 2015 My hypothetical list would probably have more 2000's guys than just about anyone. Stealing Bill's format for this, also. Definite: Akira Tozawa Austin Aries Cesaro Chris Hero CM Punk Daniel Bryan Hiroshi Tanahashi Kazuchika Okada KENTA Kota Ibushi Kurt Angle Matt Sydal Sami Zayn Samoa Joe Tomohiro Ishii Just on the Cusp: AJ Styles Christopher Daniels Jay Briscoe Kevin Steen Low Ki Mark Briscoe (both Briscoes and Steen probably have a better shot of making my hypothetical GTTE list) Prince Devitt Ricochet Sami Callihan Sheamus Shinsuke Nakamura Need to See More: Amazing Red Kyle O'Reilly Mascarita Dorada Necro Butcher Super Dragon No Chance Batista Bully Ray Chris Masters James Storm (yuck!) Randy Orton Seth Rollins Timothy Thatcher (sorry Bill) Hardly Seen Anything: Kyle Matthews Not Listed (Should be considered): Daisuke Sekimoto Jamie Noble Masaaki Mochizuki (probably the best Dragon Gate guy for non-DG fans to look at) Shingo Takagi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted May 14, 2015 Report Share Posted May 14, 2015 One thing that has me leaning towards putting AJ on there is that in the two years or so he's had since leaving TNA full-time, he's really been one of the best wrestlers in the world. A lot of the guys that are being considered here that are non-WWE guys don't have that track record, and even the Japanese contingency really doesn't hold up that well in the end. Some of that may be recency bias, but he's looking more and more like a lock the more I see him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
concrete1992 Posted May 14, 2015 Report Share Posted May 14, 2015 Not gonna break it down like people above quite did but a few of the cats I would STRONGLY CONSIDER/FRONT RUNNERS OUT OF THE GROUP: Chris Hero Samoa Joe AJ Styles Cesaro Sheamus Bryan Danielson Sami Zayn WANT TO VOTE FOR BY NEED TO FIND MORE EVIDENCE (watch more) TO FEEL ALRIGHT ABOUT IT: Amazing Red Tomohiro Ishii Mascarita Dorada Necro Butcher Sami Callihan(Probably the least likely of the bunch to be honest though probably the one I wish I could vote for most) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted May 14, 2015 Report Share Posted May 14, 2015 I'll try and rank these guys in some way later tonight, but I do want to note that I think there are several guys from this period without threads who really should have them. Here I am thinking Paul London, Brian Kendrick and Nigel mainly. I'm not saying I would vote for one or any of them (I'd probably vote for none of them), but I think they merit consideration, and if you are a hardcore indie fan I would imagine one or all three of those guys would have a decent shot of making your top 100 of all time. I imagine the deep, dark, corners of this board have at least three match reviews of all three guys, but I can't prove it, and don't want to skirt that rule so I may try and c/p some reviews from elsewhere later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laney Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 Definite Daniel Bryan Cesaro Sami Zayn Shinsuke Nakamura Hiroshi Tanhashi Might Find Their Way on My List Kurt Angle Low Ki Akira Tozawa Super Dragon CM Punk KENTA Chris Hero Kevin Steen John Cena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 The only two people on this list I am absolutely positive I will rate are Cena and Bryan and I will have both reasonably high. I am pretty close to saying Styles is an absolute yes too, but I want to see how he closes out this year. The rest of this list is filled with people I could see strong arguments for and strong arguments against. A lot of these guys are people I WANT to vote for, but there is only so much room for people like that on a ballot and they are competing with hundreds of people from earlier eras where we have the full perspective and scope of their careers to look at. I will say if any of the other people make my list it's like to be someone like Sheamus, Cesaro, Red or The Briscoes, and none of those guys is going to be higher than bottom twenty (and honestly even that may be pushing it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjaminkicks Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 I think Styles, Punk, Bryan, Cena, KENTA, and Zayn are all pretty much locks for me at this point. Tozawa, Aries, Lesnar, Batista, Cesaro, Hero, Steen, Ibushi, Joe, Sekimoto, and all the modern New Japan guys are others who have a chance of making it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 Locks: Styles, Cena, Bryan, Lesnar, Tanahashi, Nakamura. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parties Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 Cena and Bryan seem like the only locks. Cesaro and Lesnar are possibilities. I get Styles being on lists. Sheamus is my dark horse who almost certainly wouldn't make my top 100, but is closer than I'd have originally thought and is peaking at the right time to be considered. I need a few more years of Thatcher to choose him. When you really start listing guys, 100's a smaller number than you'd think. The number of amazing guys worldwide from the 80s alone could easily fill a sound top 100. Nothing against anyone listed or anyone picking them, as they're all worth discussing as options, but most of these guys wouldn't make a top 300 for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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