Reactions to the Honorable Mention List Part One

[Johnny Sorrow]

Grimmas totally showing his biases by picking a FUCKING AWESOME Kamala pic instead of a stupid one. Good man.

[Grimmas]

Grimmas totally showing his biases by picking a FUCKING AWESOME Kamala pic instead of a stupid one. Good man.

There is no stupid pictures of Kamala!

[El-P]

Is "Should have fit "SNAPSHOT OF OUR WRESTLING VIEWING AS IT IS IN 2016" on there. " as a response somehow funny?

 

Yes. Pretty damn funny to me.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

I'm surprised Warrior got on 10 ballots. I thought we were a more discerning bunch.

[Grimmas]

I'm surprised Warrior got on 10 ballots. I thought we were a more discerning bunch.

The problem with great match theory.

[Jimmy Redman]

Johnny I'm hilarious. How dare you.

Kamala, Survival Tobita and Davey Richards is the wackiest trios team that we'll never see. Somehow for this board it seems those positions should be reversed though.

I'm more surprised that Heenan got on as many as 14 ballots. But I guess how many of those were in the 95-100 spot?

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

Heenan is beloved. And talented.

 

I voted for Brazo de Oro and Alan Sarjeant down the bottom somewhere. I originally said I couldn't vote for Sarjeant as not enough footage was available, but I made a liar out of myself. At the end of the day, i felt like what was out there made a fairly convincing case that he is at that level, and I find it hard to believe that these performances somehow painted an inaccurate picture.

[GOTNW]

I imagine Super Delfin at #11 would cause similar reactions to Kendrick's high vote if more people knew who he was.

 

A single #1 vote getting someone to 354 seems fitting. I think we'll see at least two wrestlers who'll get #1 votes not make the top 100.

[El-P]

New Jack #25.

[Laney]

I still don't have anybody that has been listed yet. I have a feeling that the first guy from my list to show up is from Dragon Gate.

[Cross Face Chicken Wing]

Someone voted Kamala in their top 50. I don't know this person in real life but I now consider him/her a friend and wish I would have displayed his/her courage and fortitude and also put Kamala in my top 50 instead of at 99.

[ohtani's jacket]

When push comes to shove is Bobby Heenan truly a wrestler? Alan Sargeant did extremely well for only 4 votes.

[Johnny Sorrow]

 

 

Grimmas totally showing his biases by picking a FUCKING AWESOME Kamala pic instead of a stupid one. Good man.

There is no stupid pictures of Kamala!

Preach on.

[Mando]

One of my first shows as a kid was at a middle school and they brought Kamala in (and Lord Zoltan, but that's another story). He got eliminated from a battle royal by them leaving a trail of popcorn leading to the back like a Warner Bros. cartoon. That memory, his commitment to character, and presence got him onto my ballot.

[NotJayTabb]

Good to see 5 ballots for Doug Williams, esp as he was quite a late nomination. Be interesting to know how many of his voters were British - he's a guy I really appreciate in a live environment and he basically works everywhere in the UK. Hes as reliable working the imports in a dream match as he is working with a young guy and making him look good.

 

High from on Fritz Von Erich, suspect he's not the last of his family I'll be high vote on

[Eegah]

My first person listed finally in Rip Rogers, though not the high vote. I love that Bobby Heenan made so many lists, that picture of Mike Awesome is...awesome.

[PeteF3]

When push comes to shove is Bobby Heenan truly a wrestler? Alan Sargeant did extremely well for only 4 votes.

 

Heenan literally worked a full-time house show schedule in the AWA, wrestling on almost every show he appeared on in addition to managing at least one other match.

[Parties]

Smarkschoice comparisons this round:

142) Rikidozan – 251 Points (PWO: #347)
184) Rip Rogers – 147 Points (PWO: #355)
242) Super Delfin – 71 Points (PWO: #354)
332) Mike Awesome – 40 Points (PWO: #349)

I was one of the four Alan Serjeant workers, and had him at #65. I’d hope he’s someone who haven’t seen him check out, as he’s really if nothing else one of the most original/singular performers I’ve ever seen in wrestling.

 

I'd also like to see more of the timid anonymous come out of the woodwork, esp. for something like Delfin at #11. Rikidozan is an interesting choice who I never considered: I still wouldn’t vote for him, but I didn’t realize how much footage he now has on Youtube. His rank still dropped considerably between ’06 and ’16. Big drop for Rip Rogers too - not sure what that’s about. Was Rogers considered more of a hip journeyman talent in ’06?

I’ll say that we’re far enough into this that we have the first two guys who I’d argue are ranked too high (but only in comparison to those who’ve come earlier on the list): Warrior and Heenan. I’m not surprised to see either overrated. With Warrior, the cult of late 80s/early 90s WWF lives on, and we’ll see it rear its ugly head again many times throughout this list.

 

With Heenan (who I consider both the best manager and best color commentator of all time), people got overexcited by realizing he’d been a good worker and bump freak when it was called for in AWA. I like the Alfred Hayes match and he's good in the Greg Gagne '80 singles in a wacky shtick sort of way, but from what I've seen (which to be fair is just a few matches), Heenan is not as accomplished or talented a worker as many who’ve already shown up. How many matches does he have online, or on tape period? He’s a “cute/clever” choice for #90-100, but 14 ballots feels like fandom and groupthink around an idea too smart for its own good winning out. (Not that a fandom vote is an entirely bad thing necessarily, just one I don’t buy in this particular instance.) I'm not saying he's a "wrong" pick to have on a ballot, but one where you see the recency of people realizing he was also a worker come into effect. Many of those who've voted for Heenan talked about him being one of their favorite wrestling personalities (which I agree with wholeheartedly) and how they wanted to find a place for him for that reason, but that to me is different than how I view his work in the ring.

[Ricky Jackson]

Plus Heenan trained and started his career as a wrestler, and wrestled extensively in all the other areas he worked, including a fair amount in WWF

 

Steven, surely you can find a better pic of Heenan. Preferably one from the 70s with a classic crimson mask

[Grimmas]

No blood policy?

 

On Heenan about 10 of those were #100 votes.

[MikeF]

 

 

Steven, surely you can find a better pic of Heenan. Preferably one from the 70s with a classic crimson mask

Or in a weasel suit.

[cubbymark]

 

 

Steven, surely you can find a better pic of Heenan. Preferably one from the 70s with a classic crimson mask

Or in a weasel suit.

 

 

 

May I suggest this weasel suit pic for Heenan?

 

[Parties]

Amusing "2006 in context" Smarkschoice ranking comparison:

 

141) Kintaro Kanemura – 255 Points

142) Rikidozan - 251 Points

143) Brock Lesnar - 246 Points

 

I also feel like Jimmy Jacobs and Kamala being back to back is exactly right and one of the great achievements of this list so far.

[Mando]

Love New Jack. Someone was getting rid of a warehouse (3509 Warsaw Ave.) in in my hometown of Cincinnati and gave New Jack the keys. Thus birthed the most short-lived wrestling company in history: 2 Xtreme F*cking Wrestling. The only thing announced ahead of the date was Jack vs. Mad Man Pondo in a “Someone is Gonna Die Match”. I arrived at the building feeling like I’d walked into the video game Pit-Fighter. Maybe the most surreal show I’ve been to/have seen. The DVD titled “Da Birf” is floating around out there. Think I pawned mine at Half-Priced Books to buy textbooks.

 

[victory]

I'm surprised Warrior got on 10 ballots. I thought we were a more discerning bunch.

I had him at 100. I left that slot open on purpose just to get him on my ballot due to being a favorite as a teenager. It's the only pick out of the 100 I didn't take seriously. I'm actually surprised he got 10 votes.

 

On another note. That Fuller pick was disturbing as hell. You need to have a spoiler tag on those kind 😀. I had to scroll through it super fast as not not to have my wife and kids wonder what I was looking at😄.