Who Will You Be the High Vote On?

[andrew79]

 

As the greatest tag team in the history of professional wrestling?

 

Yes.

 

I'm favouring dedicated tag team wrestlers over two primarily singles wrestlers working together otherwise the two ballots would be too close. So that means I don't want "better" teams such as Kadawa/Taue, Jumbo/Taue, Misawa/Akiyama, Misawa/Kobashi, Toyota/Yamada, etc. in the top slots.

 

And in terms of dedicated tag teams, the Bucks have already had a better run than most and in a wider variety of styles. They've excelled at everything from comedy to hardcore in PWG. They fit perfectly into ROH. They had good matches in the more corporate environment of TNA. They worked well in NJPW. And their run in Chikara's King Of Trios (with AJ Styles) showed they were on a different level to the other teams.

 

I like their work, I like their shtick, and I like how easily they can go from funny to vicious and back again.

 

They're something different, they seem to wrestle how they want to wrestle and where they want to wrestle, and it appears they doing well for themselves on their own terms, so I'll take them over the likes of the Midnight Express.

[JRGoldman]

Looks like I might be racking up the Negro Casas high vote!

 

I think Casas will end up being number one on more than one ballot. He's tremendously accessible and has had great matches for almost thirty straight years now.

 

Right now Hokuto is just outside my top ten. Does anyone have her in that same general vicinity?

 

I also have Onita top 20 right now. He keeps climbing the more I see from him.

[andrew79]

Right now Hokuto is just outside my top ten. Does anyone have her in that same general vicinity?

She'll probably be top 20 for me. And closer to 20 than 10 as she doesn't have the longevity.

[Badlittlekitten]

She's my number two.

[JazeUSA]

I'll probably have Eric Embry, Chris Adams & Rick Martel higher than most

[thebrainfollower]

I'll be the only one with Trish Stratus on my list.

Bret Hart is in my top 20. Might rank as high as 12. Think that's the high vote for him?

[JerryvonKramer]

Looks like I'm going to be the high vote on legendary NWA champion Harley Race.

[Grimmas]

I'll be the only one with Trish Stratus on my list.

Bret Hart is in my top 20. Might rank as high as 12. Think that's the high vote for him?

Bret will probably be my number 10 at the lowest.

[NotJayTabb]

 

I'll be the only one with Trish Stratus on my list.

Bret Hart is in my top 20. Might rank as high as 12. Think that's the high vote for him?

 

Bret will probably be my number 10 at the lowest.

I've currently got Bret at no 1, so I think I'm going to be the high vote on him

[Jimmy Redman]

I'll be the only one with Trish Stratus on my list.

Bret Hart is in my top 20. Might rank as high as 12. Think that's the high vote for him?

Dude I was the sole Trish Status voter before it was cool!

[thebrainfollower]

Hahahahah. If by cool you mean cool then awesome for you!

 

That's TWO votes.

 

 

Bret at #1? I'd love to hear the case for that.

[JerryvonKramer]

I'd like to know of the criteria that gets you Bret as #1.

 

And what 2-20 looks like on a list like that.

[WingedEagle]

Probably followed by Edge & Christian, Jericho, Piper, Trish, Owen, Lance Storm, Dino Bravo, Bobby Roode, Mad Dog Vachon (who, all kidding aside, I am LOVING following a binge watch yesterday), Ron Garvin and Dino Bravo again.

[thebrainfollower]

You forgot Lance Storm and Rick Martel. Or has anyone even nominated Lance?

[Matt D]

I could be the high vote on Christian but he's not going to be super high or anything.

[Cap]

Based on where I have them right now (with lots more to watch and rewatch before I feel comfortable with my own ballot)... I could be the high vote on Bryan Danielson, Eddie Guerrero, William Regal, Shinsuke Nakamura, Koji Kanemoto, Tracy Smothers, Gran Hamada, Jay Briscoe, and/or Arn Anderson.

 

EDIT: I could also be the high vote on Mick Foley.

[thebrainfollower]

Arn has a decent shot at making my top 10. Then I keep thinking Arn better than Bret? and have a hard time deciding that.

[Cap]

Yeah, I presently have Arn 21 and I am not sure he could get higher than 18-20 for me. He might even move down, so I likely WON'T be the high vote on him.

 

Bret is one of the tricky ones for me. A few years ago I would have counted him among my favorites. I got more serious about watching a wider breadth of wrestling about a year ago and in turn started picking apart what I personally liked and didn't like a bit more he has worked his way down my list a bit. However, when I start comparing him one to one with people about 10-15 slots in either direction I really struggle, especially if they are people like Arn who have such a different career path and type.

 

Bret is probably the person I have seen the most of who could honestly still move 20 or more slots on my list.

[NotJayTabb]

I'd like to know of the criteria that gets you Bret as #1.

 

And what 2-20 looks like on a list like that.

Top 5 (in rough order)

Bret Hart

Stan Hansen

Rey Mysterio Jr

El Hijo Del Santo

Jushin Liger

 

6-10 Contenders

William Regal

Terry Funk

Toshiaki Kawada

Randy Savage

Ric Flair

Bryan Danielson

Negro Casas

 

I've not got access right now to my spreadsheet with my current rough rankings, but I think you could add Fujiami, Windham, Steamboat, Eddie and Arn to get my top 20. There are still some gaps I want to try and fill before the submittal date - I'm just about to start on Bockwinkel and put in a proper shift to get to grips with a good number of the more feted Japanese guys. I've seen enough of the likes of Hashimoto and Fujiwara to currently have them in my top 100 list, but not enough to justify a higher ranking yet. I'm trying to put together as honest a list as possible, so I've got a shortlist of guys who I want to get a better feeling for, guys who I get the impression are "my kind" of wrestler but I've not seen enough of. If any of them make the step up to the top 20, even the top 10, is to be seen, but I want to make sure my list is one I'm sure of.

 

Why I've got Bret as my current number one links in to the above. I know I'm likely to be the only person with him top, heck I know most people don't have him in their top 20, but throughout this process I've had him as a top 10 guy and as I've tried to figure out placings, I've not felt comfortable ranking anyone above him (Hansen is REAL close though, it'll probably go down to the wire between those two). I rate Bret highly in areas I care about: I think he's a great sympathetic seller, I love the way that Bret having an injury isn't just something that'll last a match or two, he'll still show the effects of it down the line. I think he's a great offensive wrestler, everything he does looks crisp and impactful. He threw great punches, always looked like he was putting in a real snap to his backbreakers and I always felt he threw the best dropkicks in wrestling. They may not have been as high or as graceful as other guys, but when he runs towards Yokozuna and leap at him feet first, it really looked like Bret was hurling his legs at him with all his might.

 

I love his finishes and especially the way he'll reference things back to his previous matches. So he'll beat Bam Bam in a big match at KotR 93 with a victory roll, so he'll try the same move to beat Owen at WMX and this time it'll lead to his defeat. The victory roll isn't one of Bret's established finishers, but it's a move he's had success with before so he tries it again. Or the way the finish of SurSer96 calls back to WM8 when he uses the same move he did to beat Piper. Again, reversing a sleeper into a pin isn't a regular move he pulls out, but he's aware enough to know he's in trouble and to know that he's had success before with this counter. I love things that are aware of their own history and refer back to it - it's the same reason I love Coronation Street (terrible analogy I know, but it fits here) - and that's something Bret is so great at. For me, I'd rather watch a Bret match than anyone else (except maybe Hansen) and that's why I feel comfortable having him so high.

[thebrainfollower]

I love that stuff about Bret too. I am sure that's where Trish got it from because putting her under the microscope there are tons of examples of spots and finishes evolving through feuds and sometimes multiple feuds.

 

The more I think about it the more i cannot rank Arn ahead of Bret. So I'm thinking my top 20 is also more fluid than I realized.

 

One thing I like about your list NJT is that i get a clear picture of what you like from each style of wrestling.

[JerryvonKramer]

Really great post Jay. And I enjoyed the reasoning for Bret. Reading it though, I found myself thinking that you might say a lot of the same things about Misawa and I noticed he's not there while Kawada is. Any reason for that? The point about referencing past matches is something that is definitely there for him. As well as logical selling, etc.

 

I do like your efforts to keep your list "honest" too, something I've also been striving towards. As I've watched more and more wrestling for GWE, I think I've developed a much more attuned feel for what I look for in guys. I knew instantly that Hase is someone that appealed to me. I also knew instantly that Hashimoto is going to be someone I'll struggle with more and who won't trouble my top 10. And we've all read and heard each other's stuff enough now where I reckon you could kinda predict the guys who will be higher on Hash and lower on, say, Kobashi. It's fun.

 

Looking at my own Bret rating, I think I've been a bit stingy on peak. He was likely a top 30 worker earlier than 91.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

One of my favourite things about Bret is how he had a different moveset for when he was competing against bigger guys. He would bust out more flying/aerial offence like the flying bulldog, flying clothesline and running dropkick. Bret is definitely in and around my top 10.

 

Would love to see a more in depth Bret/Corro comparison...

[Cap]

I was just going to comment on Bret's ability to work credibly with big men. He is one I am going to have to go back and revisit close to the deadline, see how I feel about a handful of his matches once I have watched a bunch of new (to me) stuff.

 

I just looked at my list and I could also definitely be top vote on Super Dragon. I am not sure where he will land for me, but I imagine he will have a spot on my list.

[Grimmas]

People are doing a good job of swaying me to move Bret up my list.

All that was said above is things that make him great, but one of my favourite aspects is his attempt to make things make sense in the context of wrestling.

 

The two biggest examples to me are Bret in 1995 doing a table spot and taking an Asai Moonsault.

 

A normal person taking an Asai Moonsault has to stand around and look like an idiot waiting to get hit by a move. When Bret is facing Hakushi at IYH he brawls with Hakushi's manager and turns around at the last second to take the move. Just a little little thing that gives everything a more wrestling sense of realism.

 

As for the tables, that was getting big in ECW in 1995. However most people have to set it up and it looks kind of phoney. Bret is facing Diesel at Survivor Series and the way he takes a table spot is to get knocked off the apron to go through the table. Made that spot more memorable than 99% of table spots before and since.

 

This aspects really build up his case in my book. He's a very smart wrestler.

[Frankensteiner]

As for the tables, that was getting big in ECW in 1995. However most people have to set it up and it looks kind of phoney. Bret is facing Diesel at Survivor Series and the way he takes a table spot is to get knocked off the apron to go through the table. Made that spot more memorable than 99% of table spots before and since.

 

The other cool thing I liked about that spot is that it was a riff on the semi-regular spot he had where he got launched into the barricade. Only now there's a table there instead as a landing spot.