Reactions to the List: 25-11

[DR Ackermann]

I had Fujinami as the second highest Japanese guy on my ballot at 5 just ahead of Fujiwara at 8.

[pol]

I know the argument is that there's a middle ground, but personally I'll take a heretical, iconoclastic list over a conservative one almost no matter how ridiculous it is. I'm the anti-Parv I guess.

[stunning_grover]

I don't see how people can have a problem with this Top 100. I mean, you all have your own Top 100, right? I know my Top 100 is the best. So what if 150 people vote the Beatles as the greatest rock band ever and didn't even include Demilich in their Top 100... I can just ignore that and listen to Nespithe again.

 

I would probably rank Demilich somewhere in my top 150, maybe even in my top 100. The Beatles would possibly be somewhere in my top 500. Nespithe is a fun album. I would rank it possibly in my top 100 metal albums of the 1990s and maybe even in my top 10 metal albums of 1993. I'm not sure if I would rank it as the top technical death metal album of 1993 though, because Gorguts released the Erosion of Sanity that year. But, anyway... I agree with your point about everyone having their own top 100.

 

 

25. Barry Windham

I have him at #34.

 

24. Steve Austin

I have him at #68. He would be higher if this was a favourite wrestlers list.

 

23. Shinya Hashimoto

I have him at #46. The greatest New Japan heavyweight, but I'm more of an All Japan guy when it comes to the heavyweights.

 

22. Negro Casas

I have him at #5. Greatest Mexican wrestler ever.

 

21. William Regal

He's somewhere in my top 150.

 

20. Tatsumi Fujinami

I have him at #44. One of the best wrestlers in the world during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Some of the other years of his career are interesting too.

 

 

Four days to go...

 

83 wrestlers who are in my top 100 have appeared in the final results so far...

17 wrestlers of my top 100 haven't appeared in the final results yet... (that means 2 of the 19 wrestlers still to come are not on my list)

My list [overall ranking in brackets]

...

...

...

...

#5 Negro Casas [#22]

...

...

#8 Masa Fuchi [#111] (high vote: #8)

#9 Sangre Chicana [#95] (high vote: #9)

#10 Bull Nakano [#61]

#11 Dick Murdoch [#53]

#12 Dick Togo [#71] (high vote: #12)

#13 Satanico [#37]

#14 Chigusa Nagayo [#110]

#15 Fuerza Guerrera [#155] (high vote: #15)

#16 Giant Baba [#63]

...

#18 Manami Toyota [#89]

...

#20 Akira Taue [#26]

...

...

#23 Buddy Rose [#36]

#24 Dynamite Kid [#78]

#25 Harley Race [#45]

#26 Rick Martel [#43]

#27 L.A. Park [#96]

#28 Mr. Gannosuke [#277] (high vote: #28)

...

#30 Akira Hokuto [#52]

#31 Mayumi Ozaki [#133]

#32 Greg Valentine [#54]

#33 El Dandy [#35]

#34 Barry Windham [#25]

...

#36 Jaguar Yokota [#114]

#37 Aja Kong [#49]

#38 Yoshiaki Fujiwara [#40]

#39 Owen Hart [#58]

...

#41 La Fiera [#164]

#42 El Hijo del Santo [#29]

#43 Ted DiBiase [#42]

#44 Tatsumi Fujinami [#20]

#45 Bobby Eaton [#28]

#46 Shinya Hashimoto [#23]

#47 Jun Akiyama [#27]

#48 El Samurai [#212] (high vote: #48)

#49 Kyoko Inoue [#217]

#50 Curt Hennig [#55]

#51 Sgt. Slaughter [#64]

#52 Ricky Morton [#33]

#53 Tsuyoshi Kikuchi [#148]

#54 Atlantis [#74]

#55 Great Sasuke [#116]

#56 Chris Benoit [#34]

#57 Yumi Ikeshita [#384]

...

#59 Brian Pillman [#72]

#60 TAKA Michinoku [#180]

...

#62 Shinobu Kandori [#146]

#63 Shinjiro Ohtani [#65]

#64 Steve Williams [#82]

#65 Dynamite Kansai [#125]

#66 Dan Kroffat [#254]

#67 Tully Blanchard [#44]

#68 Steve Austin [#24]

#69 Perro Aguayo [#140]

#70 Tito Santana [#80]

#71 Bison Kimura [#420]

#72 Devil Masami [#135]

#73 Cuty Suzuki [#385]

#74 Kerry Von Erich [#98]

#75 Dennis Condrey [#199]

#76 Pirata Morgan [#117]

#77 Super Astro [#283]

#78 Leo Burke [#296]

#79 Jinsei Shinzaki [#400]

#80 Hulk Hogan [#75]

...

#82 Masato Tanaka [#175]

#83 Javier Cruz [#502] (high vote/only vote: #83)

#84 Mick Foley [#38]

#85 Psicosis [#183]

...

#87 Shawn Michaels [#31]

#88 Marty Jannetty [#272]

#89 Espectrito [#370]

#90 Masa Saito [#160]

#91 Sabu [#149]

#92 Scott Steiner [#162]

#93 Jacques Rougeau [#339]

#94 Andre the Giant [#51]

#95 Atsushi Onita [#89]

#96 Carlos Colon [#103]

#97 Roddy Piper [#83]

#98 Stan Lane [#260]

#99 Big Boss Man [#171]

#100 Ron Starr [#403]

[dawho5]

Seems like we're trying to lighten the mood a bit.

 

I thought Bret was great in 97. The way he portrayed his heel character was really innovative for pro wrestling (would be even now.) I agree that it's not enough for top 20, but I am clearly in the minority. I can accept that and disagree with the majority vote.

[Loss]

So we're clear, I rated Bret in my top 20 because he had the run he had in a company where having it was pretty damned hard, and because the greatest performances in his catalog rival those of anyone in the world at the same time.

[pol]

Never realised before how many death metal bands jumped the shark in '93. Covenant, Heartwork, Elements, Individual Thought Patterns... yikes.

[Dylan Waco]

Bret is better than Takada and Stevie Ray at least

[cubbymark]

Bret is better than Takada and Stevie Ray at least

 

And he's better than Lance Storm.

[elliott]

 

Bret is better than Takada and Stevie Ray at least

 

And he's better than Lance Storm.

 

 

Only because he worked 3/4th legit.

[GOTNW]

I kind of like Bret Hart in terms of broken down wrestlers saying dumb shit. The "Triple H is a 4/10 wrestler" line would obviously be #1 but then there's also stuff like him claiming Melina is the best women's wrestler with his thought process being something like this:

 

On women's wrestling: "It's never been better. I mean who ever got a boner watching The Fabulous Moolah"

 

Whereas someone like Mick Foley just creeps me the fuck out. IDK I can't really vote for a guy taking all these stupid bumps when he's doing pathetic company shilling rants and is working the creepiest white male feminist gimmick ever. I mean I'd totally do it if I truly cared about his work but. Nah.

 

edit: should note triple h being a 4/10 wrestler wouldn't classify under the dumb shit said by bret hart, seem about right really, might be slightly overrating him

[Dylan Waco]

The great satan Bret Hart is still alive. The worst mistake I've ever made was including him when Bob Holly was nominated

[Microstatistics]

I kind of like Bret Hart in terms of broken down wrestlers saying dumb shit. The "Triple H is a 4/10 wrestler" line would obviously be #1 but then there's also stuff like him claiming Melina is the best women's wrestler with his thought process being something like this:

 

On women's wrestling: "It's never been better. I mean who ever got a boner watching The Fabulous Moolah"

 

Whereas someone like Mick Foley just creeps me the fuck out. IDK I can't really vote for a guy taking all these stupid bumps when he's doing pathetic company shilling rants and is working the creepiest white male feminist gimmick ever. I mean I'd totally do it if I truly cared about his work but. Nah.

 

edit: should note triple h being a 4/10 wrestler wouldn't classify under the dumb shit said by bret hart, seem about right really, might be slightly overrating him

That 4/10 thing was referring to one of his matches, not him as a wrestler per say.

[DR Ackermann]

So we're clear, I rated Bret in my top 20 because he had the run he had in a company where having it was pretty damned hard, and because the greatest performances in his catalog rival those of anyone in the world at the same time.

 

Do not agree agree with anything after the last comma

[goc]

The great satan Bret Hart is still alive. The worst mistake I've ever made was including him when Bob Holly was nominated

Kamala needed more votes.

[Beast]

I had Arn Anderson at 18 and after watching his early weekly Four Horsemen work on the network, I am confident he belongs around that ranking.

 

Dude had it all. The most consistent roleplayer of all time. Could do serious or comedic as well as anyone. Just watched his antics stealing the TV title from Dusty and I'm bowled over by how charismatic and fascinating he is.

 

And his work in the ring is just so damn on point. Everything he does makes sense and seems like an amplified version of how a match might play out in the cartoon world of pro wrestling.

 

Very happy to see him in the top 20.

[El-P]

I had Arn Anderson at #13. Yes, above Ric Flair (yes, Ric Flair didn't make my top 10). Going through WCW TV, Arn was so consistently good for so long, and as a few great matches contrary to the popular belief. And a good TV Arn match meant so much more to me than an excellent (read pimped as "great" but not so much) Ric Flair formula main event at one point, that it became obvious than Arn was a much more interesting worker to me than Flair, and simply one of the best I've seen overall. It's a shame he had to retire in 97 when he did. He still had good years in front of him.

[DR Ackermann]

Arn Anderson is great but man...he should be behind most of the guys between him and number 40. Had him ranked at 44. Windham 15, Regal 12, Satanico 9, Dandy 11, Rose 16, Rhodes 26, Santo 30, Cena 29, Morton 33, Taue 35, Akiyama 43, Foley 78.

[Matt D]

Bock still lives.

[JKWebb]

I had Arn Anderson at 18 and after watching his early weekly Four Horsemen work on the network, I am confident he belongs around that ranking.

 

Dude had it all. The most consistent roleplayer of all time. Could do serious or comedic as well as anyone. Just watched his antics stealing the TV title from Dusty and I'm bowled over by how charismatic and fascinating he is.

 

And his work in the ring is just so damn on point. Everything he does makes sense and seems like an amplified version of how a match might play out in the cartoon world of pro wrestling.

 

Very happy to see him in the top 20.

I agree... I had him at 34... But I think it's awesome he's made it this far

[Iron Anderson]

I really regret not getting my ballot in. I'm also surprised I'm not the only one who is so anti Bret Hart. I use to take a lot of shit a decade ago at the old KM and even Classics for not sheeping Hart.

 

Seeing Arn Anderson come in at #19 is a bit of a surprise to me. I've always thought AA was in the upper echelon of pro wrestling. It's amazing that so many feel that way and have pushed him to #19. I had him at #16 had I got my ballot in. I've always felt you could drop AA anywhere at anytime and he would excel. Can't say that about just anybody.

[soup23]

4 #1 votes for Savage did surprise me.

[Eegah]

Thrilled Arn made it as high as he did. I was waiting for him to drop. My favorite guy ever and he did the same here as he did during each and every match of his career. Made the best of it.

[WingedEagle]

Mentioned it earlier, but Arn easily ranked highest on my list of anyone who did not have a laundry list of classic MOTYCs, coming in at #16. Beast mentioned it, but who else could flip the switch between assassin-like intensity and comedic stooging that seamlessly from moment to moment, much less match to match? Some will say Terry Funk, I'll say no one. Whether a squash or a brawl, he brought interest and intensity to everything he touched. THE ENFORCAH!

[Microstatistics]

Huge jump in points from Arn to Savage

[elliott]

I can already see the posts complaining about Savage being too high. I ranked him 41 myself, but fuck it, I love Randy Savage and he will always have a place in my top 5 "favorites."

 

I still like the list and I've been pleasantly surprised way way way more than disappointed with any of these rankings.