Reactions to the Honorable Mention List Part One

[Grimmas]

With the last post I am taking a break and going to work. Super busy day with a head office visit tomorrow, so may not have time to post much today.

[Cap]

aww, kinda glad to see Bob Sapp's mug somewhere on this. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for him since I enjoyed my 3AM mean at a Bob Sapp Pancake house in Korea.

 

 

Also, I might be making that Cornette picture my new profile picture for EVERYTHING.

[El-P]

Jim Cornette #63. Those wacky Anonymous.

[Eegah]

That Cornette picture is the cat's pajamas.

[El Boricua]

Six of my ballot picks have been listed and of those I have been the lone voter for four of them (Pierroth Jr., Invader 3, Super Medico and Shane Sewell) and one of two for the others (Chicky Starr and Fidel Sierra). There is someone on my ballot that I'm curious to see if he received any other ballot mentions, should find out in the next grouping probably.

[JerryvonKramer]

Paul Jones has looked really good in the 70s Mid Atlantic film footage. It's been hard for me to view him as a wrestler and not a manager, which has probably made me underrate him. I also love Kakihara, and thought he did a good job making his style work in a post-shoot style landscape.

Jones looks excellent in some of that stuff and also vs. Brisco.

 

The Mid-Atlantic guys could all go.

[Matt D]

I can't speak for everyone else but I know something I want to explore much more over the next 1-2 years is PR wrestling.

[WingedEagle]

Akitoshi Saito seems like someone who'd have done a whole lot better if we ranked 150 or 200. Easily lost in the shuffle despite almost always putting forth a credible performance and playing a role in a lot of good matches.

 

I hope the ballot with Cornette was submitted by Cornette. And ranked him ahead of the Young Bucks and every Indy work with a springboard 630.

[El-P]

I can't speak for everyone else but I know something I want to explore much more over the next 1-2 years is PR wrestling.

 

 

Ditto. Don't know if I'll find the motivation though.

[GOTNW]

Saito is probably hurt by the fact the folks who watched NOAH while it was good either watched too much other wrestling to include him, didn't participate or stopped watching wrestling by now. He also looked really good in the 90s stuff of his I've watched.

[NotJayTabb]

Am I alone in kinda having mixed feelings during the roll-out: part of me is looking forward to seeing where the guys I voted for have placed (so far, 2 of my 100), and the other part is happy not to see them, as it means they've placed higher up the list?

 

Jerry Saggs still hasn't placed yet! Someone was really high on him. That's the kind of thing I love in this project.

[goodhelmet]

I really should have found a place for Jackie Fargo somewhere

 

Yeah really disappointing.

[Death From Above]

I'm fucking dying at the caption on Cornette's pic.

[Grimmas]

Just realized I had someone listed under two different names, so everybody moves up 1. That took way too long to edit. Hopefully that doesn't happen again.

[KB8]

The Cornette and Kobayashi pictures are probably the top 2 so far. Was that Okabayashi wearing a John Cena sweatband as well?

 

Sapp getting a #66 vote might be the wackiest thing so far.

 

I never knew Javier Cruz finished so high in the '06 vote. Man, he took drop this time around. I had him on my list at one point, but he felt more like a 100-175 level guy and eventually bit the bullet. Although I do still love that Estrada hair match from '89 that I think is OJ's least favourite match in history.

[Parties]

This round’s Smarkschoice ’06 rankings, where applicable:
294) Super Crazy – 26 Points (PWO ’16: #469)
410) Masahito Kakihara – 7 Points (PWO ’16: #463)
435) Akitoshi Saito – 2 Points (PWO ’16: #467)

 

Even though their rankings are lower on our list, Kakihara and Saito seem to be the first workers to make both lists and have their stature rise (if only a little bit) with voters over the last ten years. Each is only a small boost (getting on say two ballots rather than one, or ranking higher on someone's list), but it's there. Super Crazy continues the trend of late 90s/early 2000s luchadors taking a noticeable dive.

 

Starting to see even more of the previously Unranked guys fall. It'll be interesting to see how many (if any) of Smarkschoice's 443 don't make PWO's 567 at all.

Paul Jones and Bob Sapp feel like instances where they were Unranked in '06 due to stigma, and perhaps in Sapp's case a lack of clarity on PRIDE as a work.

No one voting for Jackie Fargo back then was probably due to voter age and lack of footage/awareness.

 

Yujiro Yamamoto is a guy who I absolutely love, but I felt that his run was too short to give him a vote. If he had even 2 or 3 more solid years on his resume, he could make my list - but there are awesome BattlARTS guys with much longer runs who didn't make the cut and would have before he did.

[Jetlag]

3 people voting for FvB is cool. I had him at 97 and that's the highest I could justify it personally, but it's cool regardless. I wonder how many guys would've gotten a significant boost if someone had done a big post + matchlist for them too.

[jaedmc]

This round’s Smarkschoice ’06 rankings, where applicable:

294) Super Crazy – 26 Points (PWO ’16: #469)

410) Masahito Kakihara – 7 Points (PWO ’16: #463)

435) Akitoshi Saito – 2 Points (PWO ’16: #467)

 

Even though their rankings are lower on our list, Kakihara and Saito seem to be the first workers to make both lists and have their stature rise (if only a little bit) with voters over the last ten years. Each is only a small boost (getting on say two ballots rather than one, or ranking higher on someone's list), but it's there. Super Crazy continues the trend of late 90s/early 2000s luchadors taking a noticeable dive.

 

The fact that this version has 3 times as many voters makes Saito gaining one vote less impressive, but Super Crazy's slip even more dramatic.

[TravJ1979]

Starting to see even more of the previously Unranked guys fall. It'll be interesting to see how many (if any) of Smarkschoice's 443 don't make PWO's 567 at all.

 

with the two corrections, the total stands at 565, barring any other corrections.

 

The list so far:

 

Gilbert Cesca (tie)

Cicioncito Ramirez (tie)

Jim Cornette

Franz van Buyten

Masahito Kakihara

Paul Jones

Fidel Sierra

Bob Sapp

Akitoshi Saito

Yujiro Yamamoto

Super Crazy

Dr. Cerebro

Shane Sewell

Shigeo Miyato (tie)

Tom Zenk (tie)

Jackie Fargo

Yuji Obayashi

Makoto Hashi

The Amazing Red

Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Joey Ryan

Trauma II

Hans Schmidt

Abdullah Kobayashi

Spike Dudley

Chris Michaels

Silver King

Fujita Jr. Hayata

Milano Collection AT

Trauma I

Biff Busick

Kuniaki Kobayashi

Ryo Saito

Wing Kanemura (tie)

Carl Oulett (tie)

Col. DeBeers (tie)

Zoltan Boscik (tie)

Pequeno Pierroth (tie)

Hisakatsu Oya (tie)

Dave Taylor

Kaz Hayashi

Takao Omori (tie)

Super Medico (tie)

Mad Dog Vachon

Javier Cruz (tie)

Wolfie D (tie)

El Felino (tie)

SUWAMA (tie)

Jerry Stubbs (tie)

Tatsuhito Takaiwa (tie)

Chris Masters (tie)

Hombre Bala (tie)

Pimpinella Escarlata (tie)

Doug Furnas (tie)

Mike Jackson

Kyle Matthews

Marc Mero (tie)

Bobby Fish (tie)

Hector Garza (tie)

James Mason

Tama

Buff Bagwell (tie)

Rufus R. Johnes (tie)

Yumi Fukawa

Ace Rockwell

Invader III

Freelance (tie)

Phil Hickerson (tie)

Mr. Fuji

Gran Apache (tie)

Shaun Tempers (tie)

Bobby Fulton (tie)

El Faraon

Mikey Whipwreck

Isamu Teranishi (tie)

Pierroth Jr. (tie)

Les Kellett

Shane McMahon (tie)

Barbaro Cavernario (tie)

Scott Lost (tie)

Munenori Sawa

Natsuki Taiyo (tie)

Chris Hamrick (tie)

Greg Gagne (tie)

Spiros Arion (tie)

Lanny Poffo (tie)

Tommy End (tie)

El Bracero (tie)

Johnny Ace (tie)

Vordell Walker (tie)

Dan Maff (tie)

Ricky Fuyuki (tie)

Rusev (tie)

Mr. Pogo (tie)

Chicky Starr

Jimmy Havoc (tie)

Dean Allmark (tie)

Vince McMahon

Genki Horiguchi (tie)

Konan Big (tie)

Tor Kamata (tie)

Chase Stevens (tie)

Demus 3:16 (tie)

Tank (tie)

Will Ospreay (tie)

Marty Scurll (tie)

Kofi Kingston (tie)

[stunning_grover]

I never knew Javier Cruz finished so high in the '06 vote. Man, he took drop this time around. I had him on my list at one point, but he felt more like a 100-175 level guy and eventually bit the bullet. Although I do still love that Estrada hair match from '89 that I think is OJ's least favourite match in history.

 

Five people voted for Javier Cruz in 2006. I voted him at #21 in 2006. This year, I was the only voter and I voted him at #83. I think it's the lack of (new) footage and the fact that people have discovered a lot of other workers. I'm sure he would have ended up in several people's top 150.

[Tim Cooke]

 

I never knew Javier Cruz finished so high in the '06 vote. Man, he took drop this time around. I had him on my list at one point, but he felt more like a 100-175 level guy and eventually bit the bullet. Although I do still love that Estrada hair match from '89 that I think is OJ's least favourite match in history.

 

Five people voted for Javier Cruz in 2006. I voted him at #21 in 2006. This year, I was the only voter and I voted him at #83. I think it's the lack of (new) footage and the fact that people have discovered a lot of other workers. I'm sure he would have ended up in several people's top 150.

Cruz was 140ish for me this time around

[Phil Schneider]

Surprised someone voted for Gilbert Cesca, I was considering it obviously (I nominated him) but he didn't make my final cut, hopefully French catch continues to disseminate, so guys are better represented next time

[goodhelmet]

Hopefully you don't insult Jackie Fargo next time and leave him off your list.

[Dylan Waco]

A lot of guys who would have made my top 200 have already fallen off. That's always an interesting dynamic, as I think many of these people fall into the camp of "just off the top hundred" for a large number of voters, but if the ballot had been extended (I can hear the shrieks of terror now) they would have placed higher.

[The Man in Blak]

I don't know that I would have taken advantage of it, but it would have been interesting, in retrospect, to have offered an option to submit a ballot of 150 entries.

 

I guess you could see it as an inverse of one of the questions from the original Smarkschoice poll, where there was an option (as I understand it) to only submit 50 entries on your ballot. Ten years later, so much more footage is available and the problem has evolved from "not enough great wrestlers" to "how can I fit all of these people onto one freakin' ballot."

 

There will always be cutoff casualties, though, no matter where the threshold is set.