Reactions to the Honorable Mention List Part One

[Cap]

 

 

 

Or maybe this part of the list is just all over the place.

This.

 

Absolutely all over the place. To put it in perspective, we had a total of 151 singles ballots. So far, I think the person revealed that has been on the most ballots has been on 12. That's not even 10% of the total ballots cast, so this is still very much in the small sample size section of the honorary mentions. Once we hit the range where the revealed wrestlers consistently are on 30-40 ballots we start heading into the more solid base size section of the rankings. But for now, I wouldn't take the ranking order of those revealed as nothing more than a quirk of small sample size.

 

Oh for sure, this is the vast majority of what we are seeing. There is no doubt of that. We will probably hit a few layers of consistency before it is all told and that will likely be seen in how the order within groupings plays out.

 

But, if you consider not being on a ballot as a sort of vote in and of itself, this swath of wrestlers can be grouped together as in some way meaningful. I remain somewhat interested in how Lucha plays out on this list. It is just the most interesting style to watch for on this list to me. From listening to podcasts and reading message boards its seemed to be one of the genres (among many) a lot of people were really trying to get into and watch so they could have a more well rounded and informed list. That could play out in a variety of ways or it could be imperceptible. Not actually saying that is what we are seeing here really.

[Grimmas]

Good analysis. Pure luchadors on the top 100 range from 6 to 12.

[Scarlet-Left]

Heading into the top 300 I've had 13 of the wrestlers on my list already appear. I think only Dean and Mando may have more wrestlers that have dropped at this point in the countdown. Oddly enough, outside of the wrestlers where I've been the lone vote for them, i have not been the high vote for any of the others with more than one ballot placement (in almost all of those cases I have Dean to thank for that).

I've had eighteen drop so far, and I'm the high vote on quite a few of them.

[Jimmy Redman]

Also I popped HUGE on the JBL GIF. That is one of my like top 5 skits of all time.

[Cap]

I completely agree. I would be shocked if Dandy, Santo, Casas, and Atlantis don't land higher. Satanico PROBABLY will, but I could really see that going a lot of different directions. Personally, I think he should end up higher than in SC.

 

I really want to see where Sangre Chicana ends up. He is a personal favorite but his case is kind of an odd one to me. LA Park is another one I am just interested to see.

 

I might also be overly interested because I am kind of on a lucha kick. Lucha should do really well on this poll. The broader patterns - far beyond this question - remain interesting since we are seeing a list of 500.

[Grimmas]

Also I popped HUGE on the JBL GIF. That is one of my like top 5 skits of all time.

Completely agreed!

[goc]

I don't think any of the luchadores I've ranked have dropped yet outside of Espectrito. I'm not hand wringing over lucha being under represented yet because I still expect guys like Satanico, Santo & Negro Casas to do well, probably better than the SC poll.

[Scarlet-Left]

To finish my dissertation, or to wait for more results to come in with giddy anticipation? That is the question.

[Cap]

To finish my dissertation, or to wait for more results to come in with giddy anticipation? That is the question.

Fortunately I defended mine in Feb. Honestly, the idea that I might be able to binge enough to feel good about making my own list motivated me to finish. It has made for a fantastic couple months for me watching wrestling.

[Cap]

I don't think any of the luchadores I've ranked have dropped yet outside of Espectrito. I'm not hand wringing over lucha being under represented yet because I still expect guys like Satanico, Santo & Negro Casas to do well, probably better than the SC poll.

To be clear, I am also not hand wringing over lucha and its representation on the list.

[Cap]

Ohhhh Paul London. Paul was one of my favorite wrestlers in the early - mid 2000s. I think he is pretty underrated in the rise of the indies at the time. I mentioned it elsewhere, but I think his later PWG work is really really fun stuff. I know that is not everyone's cup of tea, but that is the kind of wrestling you can probably show a non-wrestling fan and they will sort of get sucked into and I value that in a lot of ways.

[MoS]

Okay, we have reached the stage where I am starting to think that Triple Goddamned H will place way too high for my liking.

[soup23]

Bill Thompson not being the high vote on Thatcher followed by Musgrave not being the high vote on Burke was a surprise.

[El McKell]

Someone using a PWG chant as a user name being the high voter on Timothy Thatcher seems wrong to me.

[goc]

I don't have access to my list so I can't remember all the guys I had at the bottom. Not sure if I voted for Tony Anthony & Yoko or not but I know I at least considered both of them for my bottom 20.

[Jimmy Redman]

Okay, we have reached the stage where I am starting to think that Triple Goddamned H will place way too high for my liking.

 

I take full responsibility.

[GOTNW]

The verdict on great match theory is that it's a complete failure.

[El Boricua]

The verdict on great match theory is that it's a complete failure.

 

Not necessarily a failure, but not really what I believe should be looked at for a list of this nature. Matches are outputs, wrestlers are inputs.

 

With Leo Burke and El Mesias appearing that makes 15 of the wrestlers on my ballot that have dropped.

[The Man in Blak]

We're up to 292 and I've only had one casualty on my ballot so far -- Animal Hamaguchi, who was my only GWE nominee, was my #100 -- but I wish I had more than that, even if having more entries outside of the community's Top 100 might make a ballot seem less valuable or legitimate for some folks.

 

There's an element of advocacy in a ballot, I think, and it feels like a missed opportunity to see a candidate that just barely missed your ballot show up much earlier than you expected in the community results. I don't know if a down-ballot appearance by Garza or Koshino would have made a significant difference in their placement here, but I would have (selfishly) felt better about advocating for them in spite of that, I guess.

 

EDIT: And Leo Burke too. Ugh.

 

Even with that being the case, the discussion that's emerged from some of these early placements has been great. It's already been mentioned, but I'll reiterate that the defense of Quackenbush as a #6 vote was awesome.

 

I really want to see where Sangre Chicana ends up. He is a personal favorite but his case is kind of an odd one to me. LA Park is another one I am just interested to see.

 

Outside of my #1, I think I've got a decent shot at being a high vote on 2-3 candidates and Sangre Chicana is one of them.

[JerryvonKramer]

Yoko outranking Tenta and OMG: mild upset.

[Grimmas]

Yoko outranking Tenta and OMG: mild upset.

Yeah, that one is a surprise to me. I blame myself for not pimping Tenta enough.

[JRGoldman]

I'm sort of surprised that I wasn't the high voter on anyone I nominated: Cassandro, Survival Tobita and Morishima.

[Loss]

The verdict on great match theory is that it's a complete failure.

 

Based on what, exactly?

[JerryvonKramer]

My first soldier has fallen

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

I think there's a perception that Tenta and Gang are fat guys of the slob variety, whereas Yoko has always been hailed as an 'athletic' big man. Yoko is the big man for the workrate fan. Not surprised at all he outranked them.