Reactions to the Honorable Mention List, Part 2

[The Russian Daydream]

This ranking of Batista has me thinking HHH made the top 100. I did fear that 152 voters would translate into an over-representation of 00s WWE.I quite like Batista by the way, but I see that placement as being kind of emblematic. I am expecting a Top 100 placement for Hunter now.

I feel I should come clean and admit to having HHH on my ballot. I don't think he's the greatest ever, nor do I even particularly enjoy him must of the time, but I do think if I am to objective, he should be represented here.

He represents a form of wrestling I'm not very high on, but he has been very successful and influential within that arena for nearly two decades. Matches such as his Wrestlemania encounters with The Undertaker for example may not be my cup of tea but were accepted as great by a great many WWE fans. In that sense he was playing to please his audience in the same way Misawa and Kobashi were playing to please their audience in All Japan. Just because we are not he audience he is playing to please does not necessarily mean he's not good (or rather hasn't been good, because he's been truly rotten of late) at what he does. In that sense I felt it would not be right for me to write him off entirely, so his ranking on my list was grudging but what I felt was fair.

[GOTNW]

Snuka. Our first murderer of the night.

Wait, what's the name of that lucha guy OJ hates that threw a hooker of the balcony that had a great chain match vs. La Fiera? Wasn't he listed already?

 

 

 

edit: it's jerry estrada

[JerryvonKramer]

 

This ranking of Batista has me thinking HHH made the top 100. I did fear that 152 voters would translate into an over-representation of 00s WWE.I quite like Batista by the way, but I see that placement as being kind of emblematic. I am expecting a Top 100 placement for Hunter now.

I feel I should come clean and admit to having HHH on my ballot. I don't think he's the greatest ever, nor do I even particularly enjoy him must of the time, but I do think if I am to objective, he should be represented here.

He represents a form of wrestling I'm not very high on, but he has been very successful and influential within that arena for nearly two decades. Matches such as his Wrestlemania encounters with The Undertaker for example may not be my cup of tea but were accepted as great by a great many WWE fans. In that sense he was playing to please his audience in the same way Misawa and Kobashi were playing to please their audience in All Japan. Just because we are not he audience he is playing to please does not necessarily mean he's not good (or rather hasn't been good, because he's been truly rotten of late) at what he does. In that sense I felt it would not be right for me to write him off entirely, so his ranking on my list was grudging but what I felt was fair.

 

If you're interested, his BIGLAV rating was #115, so he wasn't that far from actually making my ballot.

[Timbo Slice]

Hell, even Sasha looks shocked she finished that high.

[van_Fair]

 

Snuka. Our first murderer of the night.

Wait, what's the name of that lucha guy OJ hates that threw a hooker of the balcony that had a great chain match vs. La Fiera? Wasn't he listed already?

 

 

There is a hooker that had a great chain match with La Fiera?

[anarchistxx]

Kind of dug that I had Kojima & Sydal side by side as top voter in a tie. They are poles apart.

 

I will always go to bat for Matt Sydal, he could have been the Rey Mysterio of this generation, in terms of a wonderful seller with spectacular offence who could appeal equally to the male and female elements in the crowd. He was consistently over despite having the smiley pretty boy face look and character that male audiences tend to turn on. Such a crisp, tight worker.

 

Satoshi Kojima I ranked mainly on consistency. Don't think he ever blew me away as a worker (although the 2005 match with Keiji Muto is one of my favorites), but he has had so many solid matches over his career it is hard to leave him off.

[Woof]

 

This ranking of Batista has me thinking HHH made the top 100. I did fear that 152 voters would translate into an over-representation of 00s WWE.I quite like Batista by the way, but I see that placement as being kind of emblematic. I am expecting a Top 100 placement for Hunter now.

I feel I should come clean and admit to having HHH on my ballot. I don't think he's the greatest ever, nor do I even particularly enjoy him must of the time, but I do think if I am to objective, he should be represented here.

He represents a form of wrestling I'm not very high on, but he has been very successful and influential within that arena for nearly two decades. Matches such as his Wrestlemania encounters with The Undertaker for example may not be my cup of tea but were accepted as great by a great many WWE fans. In that sense he was playing to please his audience in the same way Misawa and Kobashi were playing to please their audience in All Japan. Just because we are not he audience he is playing to please does not necessarily mean he's not good (or rather hasn't been good, because he's been truly rotten of late) at what he does. In that sense I felt it would not be right for me to write him off entirely, so his ranking on my list was grudging but what I felt was fair.

 

 

Yeah, 100% this. I ranked HHH, probably too high, because I like some of his stuff even while I hate some of his stuff. I get *why* most folks around here hate him, even if sometimes I think it makes them blind to when he's good. But I tended to view some of the high end WWE guys through the prism of what they meant to WWE and that style, regardless of how I personally felt about them. Impact on the business and historical place in it were things I considered as part of my formula. Looking back at my ballot though I find that I was wildly inconsistent in how I did it. Ah well. I'll wear my scarlet letter when the time comes, I guess.

[joeg]

5 down- Barr (58), Kroffat (76), Sheik (91), Mascaras (92), Yamamoto (94). I think I can come up with a good argument for 4 out of the 5 being in the top 100. For Mil Mascaras my only defense would be "I dunno, I liked his watching him during the best of the 70s project a few years back"

[Grimmas]

Hell, even Sasha looks shocked she finished that high.

Exactly what I was going for.

[ohtani's jacket]

I don't think there's any shame in voting for Mascaras.

 

There are two Johnny Saint/McManus matches. They're both good.

[soup23]

Pretty rough roll out of wrestlers today that I don't care for much at all.

[KB8]

I actually toyed with the idea of putting Sasha as my #100. Had I gotten around to watching another of her big NXT title defences I might have, but as it was I didn't really feel like I could justify it. Cracking the overall top 250 after a run of only a couple years (more or less) is pretty good going, anyway.

[jpchicago23]

Welp another two bite the dust for me as Embry and Raven fall off. Raven was more personal and Embry just screams southern wrestling to me which I love

[theonlyrice]

I thought I'd be the high vote on Tamon Honda at 55 so here's to you, Dan Rice!

Thanks!

 

 

I'm mostly a lurker here but decided to submit a list after following all the nominations, really glad I did. So far I'm the high vote on Munenori Sawa, Jimmy Jacobs, and Tamon Honda. I honestly didn't remember putting Honda that high but I don't regret it at all.

[Laney]

I'm kind of dumbfounded by somebody putting Karl Gotch in their top 20. They had to just be voting on legacy. I've loved the Karl Gotch matches I've seen, but how many are there, 2 or 3? I just don't think there is enough footage out there to fairly rank him.

[JerryvonKramer]

I'm kind of dumbfounded by somebody putting Karl Gotch in their top 20. They had to just be voting on legacy. I've loved the Karl Gotch matches I've seen, but how many are there, 2 or 3? I just don't think there is enough footage out there to fairly rank him.

 

This person also left Ric Flair off his ballot entirely. It is what it is.

[Eegah]

I figured Jerry Lynn may make more ballots than that, he was always a good hand who had good matches with loads of guys.

[Cap]

Jerry Lynn looks like he is about to be an extra in Trailer Park Boys in that photo.

[jaedmc]

I think it's weird to rank people on your own list when you don't actually like their work, but because you want to acknowledge that they did well for other people. The concept of approaching objectivity when ranking wrestlers turns me off like discussion about who was a draw in regards to a WON Hall of Fame ballot. Brian Kendrick getting a #9 vote because someone loves the fuck out of some Kendrick is way more exciting and joyful to me, than someone ranking Triple H because he did well in da biz despite not really floating their boat.

 

That being said, my line of thought leads to weird shit like this:

 

I fucking hated Jerry Lynn because I thought it was lame everyone was calling him the New F'n Show when The Whole F'n Show was more than enough F'n Show, and of course I thought Rob Van Dam was like the best dude in the world at the time. I won't even go back and watch his shit because I'm like "Not as good as Van Dam." and I'm not even a big Van Dam mark any more. This is somewhat similar to why I didn't vote for Super Crazy because of Tajiri allegiances in a fake wrestling feud. I picked a side, man. I can't go back.

[Eegah]

Dick Slater and Abby. Awesome back to back.

[Matt D]

Don't blame me, OJ. I had Solar on my list.

[GOTNW]

 

I'm kind of dumbfounded by somebody putting Karl Gotch in their top 20. They had to just be voting on legacy. I've loved the Karl Gotch matches I've seen, but how many are there, 2 or 3? I just don't think there is enough footage out there to fairly rank him.

 

This person also left Ric Flair off his ballot entirely. It is what it is.

 

I had Gotch #100 though the #20 ballot doesn't have Flair either.

[Eegah]

That Solar picture is fucking aces.

[Jmare007]

Roddy made it to the top 250, glad I contributed.

[MikeF]

 

 

Is MikeF who voted for Ole at 32 PeteF's brother?

My brother is a gay hipster artiste who lives in New York, isn't named Mike, and would sooner slit his own throat than watch anything sports- or wrestling-related. This is not to say that he's NOT, I'm just saying it's unlikely, is all.

Don't worry, this isn't your brother, lol.