Highest 2026 Debut

[Tetsujin]

Hilarious thread indeed.

I think Moxley leaving WWE and having that good of a run elsewhere is a big part of what condemned the case of modern WWE guys. Like, when you see how good and radically different a wrestler can truly be outside of the sports entertainment cage, how can you possibly take into consideration a purely WWE guy for this project? The ones that got to the top 100 are wrestlers who have a case before arriving there (Owens, Zayn, GUNTHER, Asuka, Shirai, Nakamura, maybe I'm forgetting someone). Guys who barely had a case before WWE or are purely WWE products, like Rollins, Reigns, Balor, Sheamus, Gable, McIntyre, three of the four horsewomen (the one making the top 100 is precisely the one who left the company), etc, didn't do as well. I believe the huge success of Mox and Mercedes Moné really expose to a lot of people that WWE was not only worse, but actually holds back what could be awesome wrestlers otherwise.

[El McKell]

Went through the thread to see how everyone chosen shook out.   Matt Riddle        Not nominated, did not appear on list of non-nominees getting votes Rush      up from #359 to #180. not a bad prediction Fred Yehi             No votes in 2016, to #644 in 2026. Not a big rise Tim Thatcher     From #297 to #242. No real improvement from 2016 Bray Wyatt          Not nominated but did get votes Roman Reigns    #416 to #172. If people in the thread weren't calling him a lock for the 100, this I'd be a strong rise Zack Sabre Jr      #327 to #101. strong pick Andrade              No votes in 2016, to #208 in 2026. Pretty good pick Big E      Not nominated but did get votes Dragon Lee         No votes in 2016, to #506 in 2026. Okada   We'll see how high he goes (probably pretty damn high), but it doesn't feel like the spirit of this to pick the #137 from 2016 Hiromu Takahashi No votes in 2016, to #201 in 2026. Another solid good pick Tomoyuki Oka   Not nominated, did not appear on list of non-nominees getting votes Dalton Castle     Not nominated but did get votes, I think even without the injuries he wouldn't have done well Gino Hernandez               Dropped from #229 to #368 Jose Lothario      Dropped from #276 to #609. Old Houston guys were not the correct way to go here Drew Galloway  No votes in 2016, to #415 in 2026. El Lindaman        Not nominated, did not appear on list of non-nominees getting votes Sami Callihan      Dropped from #304 to #569 Will Ospreay      The correct pick. The true prognosticators are Jamsie and JRGoldman. From appearing on 1 ballot were he placed #100, Ospreay has risen to the top 100 El Cachorro /Black Panther/Dark Panther              Not nominated, did not appear on list of non-nominees getting votes Matt Riddle and Cachorro are interesting choices because they were both relatively inexperienced in 2026, looked really good at the time, but surprisingly they were peaking right around the time of the 2016 ballot

[NotJayTabb]

I'll take my little victory lap for my solid ZSJ suggestion, while also thanking you for not commenting on my Mandrews prediction 

[Reel]

I would say that Moxley and Mone are pretty much exactly the same as they were in WWE, just 40 plus years of varying degrees of FED BAD have made it impossible for some people to admit that anything good could happen there. Obviously I’m in the minority on that belief given the results. 

[Boss Rock]

5 hours ago, Reel said:

I would say that Moxley and Mone are pretty much exactly the same as they were in WWE, just 40 plus years of varying degrees of FED BAD have made it impossible for some people to admit that anything good could happen there. Obviously I’m in the minority on that belief given the results. 

I think Mox is worlds better than he was in WWE. He pretty much changed his entire offense once he left which was easily the weakest part of his game. I agree with Mone though. Nothing about her feels fundamentally different and had she gotten Charlotte's push in 2016, her Fed resume is likely even deeper. Though I do believe her leaving has helped her case as well.

[Reel]

He doesn’t do the Les Kellet Lariat anymore, and he does some shitty looking MMA inspired stuff, but I don’t think he’s fundamentally all that different outside of his place in the pecking order for the promotion and his propensity to bleed.