Greatest Match Ever Project

[Microstatistics]

30-21 is up 

 

22 hours ago, Pterois said:

The difference between the number of participants in this project and the number of gwe participants is striking. I don't understand the reason. Do you think it's because writing a wrestler's list is funnier than writing a list of matches or do you think the reason is different ?

Different forum, stricter nomination process, different ranking criteria etc. etc.

 

[Cap]

23 hours ago, Pterois said:

The difference between the number of participants in this project and the number of gwe participants is striking. I don't understand the reason. Do you think it's because writing a wrestler's list is funnier than writing a list of matches or do you think the reason is different ?

I there are a few major reasons.

1) Looking at wrestling on the match level doesn't appeal to a lot of people and didn't even at the beginning of the project (which is why many people here didn't really go over there).

2) It can be a wearing project. Differentiating and parsing out the distinction between two great matches can be exhausting and I think some people lost interest as we went (as discussed above).

3) A lot of the folks (myself included) wound up taking massive chunks of time away from the project for various reasons. This made it hard to keep everything organized and to get a lot of momentum on the project.

4) Lots of people got busy around mania and forgot. There were quite a few people who have said they meant to or wanted to submit and didn't because they got busy or it slipped their mind or whatever.

 

Regardless, I hope we can increase participation in the future. I like this as an ongoing thing, though I will likely take breaks here and there.

[NintendoLogic]

I suspect that the rancor the GWE project inspired soured a lot of people on ranking projects in general. Hopefully, seeing how civil this round has been will inspire more people to join in the future.

[Microstatistics]

20-11 is up. 

[joeg]

@Petrois 

I didn't submit a ballot because I wait until the last minute to do almost everything and I just didn't get around to it. I planned on doing it and I enjoyed participating in the process but I just missed the deadline.  

[Boss Rock]

The top 10 has been posted. Thank you again to everyone who participated and I can't wait for next year's list. Hopefully we can get even more ballots next time around.

[Cap]

Yes, many thanks to all who participated and all who helped with the logistics. This was a ton of fun. Looking forward to keeping it going.

 

Wrestling is awesome.

[Microstatistics]

Fun and super informative project. Great final list as well. Thank you to Cap, Boss Rock and Elliott for administrative work and to others for participating. 

[Superstar Sleeze]

Cap, Boss Rock, Elliot and Micro thank you all so much, you all rule!

[King of Debt]

Man, you guys really need to get into deathmatch feds. It's not even as if there isn't a bloodlust in this place given the performance of Kandori/Hokuto and Chicana/MS-1 so it's crazy how out of 487 matches submitted there's absolutely no BJW, FREEDOMS, CZW or GCW in there (and even the general hardcore promotions didn't do so great outside of FMW). That probably sounds crazy from the outside and I can't exactly complain given I didn't send a ballot but I legit got tears of emotion in my eyes watching Takeda v Kodaka 6/20 the first time so I'll make that argument all day. The best parts of deathmatch wrestling are downright transcendental in their interpolation of violence as a creative and emotive force.

Can't knock the hustle for getting this project together in the first place, though. Hopefully it grows throughout the years.

[Cap]

I can't argue with that at all. I would say deathmatch wrestling is probably the last broad (genre level) blindspot I have in my watching and its completely on me. I don't dislike deathmatches really, but they don't resonate with me. At the same time, I have never really made a concentrated effort to dig in and see what is out there that I may like. I would love some people to get it in and advocate for some good deathmatch wrestling to help people like me navigate those waters.

[Matt D]

Congrats on finishing this round. It's an interesting list. One thing that was striking with GWE was the difference between 2007 and 2017. Did you guys feel that here too or not? The top ten might not bear it out but I'm not sure that's true for the rest of the list.

[elliott]

11 hours ago, King of Debt said:

Man, you guys really need to get into deathmatch feds. It's not even as if there isn't a bloodlust in this place given the performance of Kandori/Hokuto and Chicana/MS-1 so it's crazy how out of 487 matches submitted there's absolutely no BJW, FREEDOMS, CZW or GCW in there (and even the general hardcore promotions didn't do so great outside of FMW). That probably sounds crazy from the outside and I can't exactly complain given I didn't send a ballot but I legit got tears of emotion in my eyes watching Takeda v Kodaka 6/20 the first time so I'll make that argument all day. The best parts of deathmatch wrestling are downright transcendental in their interpolation of violence as a creative and emotive force.

Can't knock the hustle for getting this project together in the first place, though. Hopefully it grows throughout the years.

We're going to make it an annual project, so please recommend stuff! I am willing to give anything a shot! 

[TravJ1979]

Top 100 Stats

# by Promotion

# by Wrestler

[Kadaveri]

John Cena had more matches on it than Manami Toyota. Don't think many people would have predicted that.

[elliott]

Fujiwara had as many matches as ric flair. Kandori had as many matches as Steve Austin and Eddie guerrero combined. 

That's neat

[Shrike02]

Jumbo only had seven matches? That's ... interesting.

[Microstatistics]

16 hours ago, Matt D said:

Congrats on finishing this round. It's an interesting list. One thing that was striking with GWE was the difference between 2007 and 2017. Did you guys feel that here too or not? The top ten might not bear it out but I'm not sure that's true for the rest of the list.

I agree. 4 Tamura matches made the Top 30, there were 2 Fujiwara shoot-style bouts in the Top 50, lucha did reasonably well, the non usual suspects territory stuff did really well , there was a bunch of pre-80s stuff. There has definitely been a shift and will continue to be. 

[Cap]

Yeah, the project can't help but improve with more imput, but I can't imagine shoot or joshi (esp Kandori) doing too much better as we expand and I love both (esp Kandori). I could be wrong.

 

I am a little surprised Toyota didn't have more matches, but I am not surprised big match John had more.  I had the same amount of Toyota and Cena matches on my list and I know I am low on at least 2-3 relatively beloved Cena matches.

[NintendoLogic]

The biggest letdown to me was no Vader matches in the top 100.

[Cap]

I can get behind that. I wound up with two on my list, but admittedly both were pretty low. One of them is likely going to move up the list a bit for next time, but the other might fall off.

 

Something from Vader/Sting or Vader/Takada really should make it though.

[ohtani's jacket]

I'm impressed that you guys stuck with this and finished it. I am going to pore over the lists and check out anything that sticks out. 

[elliott]

Looking forward to your thoughts, OJ!

[ohtani's jacket]

There is a lot of stuff that I haven't seen (mostly post-2000). I'm not going to squabble or pick hairs about the matches that were chosen. The people who participated are great contributors to these sites and always give well thought out, well-reasoned arguments about the matches they enjoy. I do think there are some areas that continue to be under-represented, however.

Firstly, Europe, whether it's French catch, Germany and Austria, or old-school WoS, people need to devote a bit more time to exploring it. 80s Joshi is another era that had no representation despite Joshi doing better than expected on the overall list. I think Europe and Joshi are hurt by the fact that there weren't DVDVR 80s sets. Historical 30s-50s stuff needs more championing as well but I can understand people not watching that sort of thing. It took me a long time to get around to it. 

Those would be my main three areas although you could argue that deathmatch wrestling and lucharesu need revisiting too. 

I love the way wrestling opinions continue to morph and change and people move from one extreme to the other. Can't wait to see how your list changes from here on out. 

[Cap]

I agree on Europe completely. I did a not quite deep dive, but a very medium dive into the classic British style early in the project. I took a lot of recommendations for high end stuff and did a little exploring to get a feel for the psychology, tropes, etc. I really enjoy it. I wound up with 3 Joint Promotions matches on my list and probably 2 more on the bubble, but there is still a lot to explore for me. I can imagine getting really into that at some point down the road.  I only have one French catch match because its the only one I have seen. I actually have like 5-6 others DLed and one of my goals for the next submission is to dig into what we have on that, get a better feel for the style, and see what else is out there.