2026 Ideas

[El-P]

4 hours ago, NotJayTabb said:

I already know that I'm getting into GWE mode when I was watching some ECW on the exercise bike the other day, and I started mulling over Kid Kash and if he's a potential 95-100 guy.

Have you seen his TNA stuff ? I can't really recommend anything specific, but he showed up in late 2011 (along with Aries) and from the few weeks of TV I've seen, he was really really good as a grumpy bitter veteran. Best version of Kid Kash I've seen.

[El Dragon]

6 hours ago, elliott said:

Which wrestlers that weren't nominated in 2016 are you most looking forward to nominating and promoting as a candidate?

Steven might beat me to this, but there a lot of Shimmer era workers that didn’t get nominated last time that probably should have been, and some of them deserve deeper thought. Lacey, Daizee Haze, Sara Del Ray, and Madison Eagles are kind of lost great wrestlers from that era we just very infrequently saw get a chance to stand out, but when they did they were frequently very good.

 

I didn’t mention Mercedes Martinez because Steven is gonna be loud on that one.

[El-P]

6 hours ago, elliott said:

Which wrestlers that weren't nominated in 2016 are you most looking forward to nominating and promoting as a candidate?

Nick & Matt Jackson. Well, I don't exactly "look forward" to it because they get so much unwarranted hate around this place, but there you go. The real question for me will be to  determine who is the better one of the two. 

And once I get to it, the French Catch guys and the women that were either forgotten last time or just weren't around for long enough.

[El Dragon]

Continuing that train of thought, it’s super early but that’s kind of the fun of these prediction: Pick 5 wrestlers who made the Top 100 last time that won’t this time, and 5 who didn’t but will this time.

Making it in:

Chris Hero

Meiko Satomura

Jaguar Yokota

Minoru Suzuki

Roman Reigns 

(there are some New Japan guys I could add but that’d be boring to list)

 

Missing Out:

Shinsuke Nakamura

Dusty Rhodes

Sami Zayn

Kerry Von Erich

Rick Rude

 

[NotJayTabb]

1 hour ago, El-P said:

Have you seen his TNA stuff ? I can't really recommend anything specific, but he showed up in late 2011 (along with Aries) and from the few weeks of TV I've seen, he was really really good as a grumpy bitter veteran. Best version of Kid Kash I've seen.

Yeah, short haired angry prick Kid Kash was great in TNA. I don't think I'll be picking him, but I did realise that he's a guy who was solid/good for 10+ years.

[NotJayTabb]

6 hours ago, elliott said:

Which wrestlers that weren't nominated in 2016 are you most looking forward to nominating and promoting as a candidate?

Pete Dunne. I considered nominating him last time just because he was half of the best match I'd ever seen live, but I couldn't really justify it. I don't think he's such a bad shout 10 years later.

[El Dragon]

5 minutes ago, NotJayTabb said:

Pete Dunne. I considered nominating him last time just because he was half of the best match I'd ever seen live, but I couldn't really justify it. I don't think he's such a bad shout 10 years later.

Amusingly Dunne was a guy I thought was on a trajectory to a real player in 2026 until he got NXTified. I haven’t seen a guys career arc get utterly dismantled in terms of “them losing what makes them actually really good to instead put on mindless sprints that lose there appeal fast” as fast as Dunne outside of Gargano.

[Grimmas]

MERCEDES MARTINEZ! 

She's top 50, maybe top 25, maybe even higher. From early in her career she's really good, and when I started watching her in 2016 she was the best in the world up until joining the WWE (She's really good still, but lacking opportunities). 

I have to fill in the gaps and there is more due to pregnancy and injuries and the way women were treated with lack of chances, but hot damn is she great. She took Tessa Blanchard to have an amazing 80 minute match. She has great matches with great workers and with green workers. She can brawl, be a technician, and some fun bomb throwing sprints. 

I'll create a full case when the 08-16 gap is filled.

[El-P]

If Tessa had not vanished from the radar, she would have been a given for me. I miss watching her work for sure.

[elliott]

Takako Inoue needs to be revisited. I need to look at post 2003-present for her, but from like 93-2003 she is supremely underrated

[MoS]

As far as which workers drop off, I agree that a lot of 80s JCP/US in general workers will suffer the most. Between the 2006 and 2016 GWE, all the DVDVR 80s sets had come out, a lot of people had both discovered and rediscovered the greatness of 80s territories, there had been a lot of podcasts focusing on them. I don't feel as if they will have the same hype this time around. 

One of the people I want to re-explore is Kurt Angle. Last time around, the biggest criticism was his lack of selling - and lack of any desire to ever sell - and just having long bombfests with constant reversals and finisher kickouts. However, that is clearly the trend wrestling has taken in the last 10 years, so maybe his 00s run won't look so bad in light of that. 

[MoS]

Given how good Kingston has been and how great Brodie was in his brief AEW run, I also want to explore some classic CHIKARA 

[El-P]

Kurt Angle is a brillant worker. Watching TNA totally changed my perspective on the guy (a few years ago I was pretty much hatin' on the guy for annoying ankle hold reversals and flat german suplexes, that's on me). The lack-of-selling criticism (which is just baffling when you actually watch his stuff) just shows lack of understatement from what he's doing, not lack of anything on his part. Then again, maybe people just watched his WWE stuff, which I had not seen in years (from Angle's own admittance, his best stuff was in TNA). He's one of the guys who made me change my perspective on things, like Ishii.

Funny thing, for all the shit Angle got for years on the board, he actually gained 12 spots between 2006 and 2016 (I did not vote for him at all), so maybe people had actually watched the TNA stuff.

[MoS]

It would also be great if people who know lucha can help newbies to get on the path to watch lucha in context. One of the biggest disappointments of 2016 was how badly lucha wrestlers did. I think Casas was the only luchador in the top 25

[El-P]

As far as who I think gets in and who gets out,

IN (without going for the obvious NJ names nor names that had been nominated before and which were pretty much spot on) :

_Kenny Omega

_Sasha Banks

_Devil Masami

_Ultimo Guerrero

_Chigusa Nagayo

OUT (same thing, going for different names)

_2 Cold Scorpio

_Yoshihiro Tajiri

_Bob Backlund

_Daisuke Ikeda

_Atsushi Onita

(as far as lucha libre goes, it's been never easier to watch stuff, it's all over Youtube)

[ohtani's jacket]

Ikeda falling out of the top 100 would be a disgrace. 

[Boss Rock]

9 hours ago, El-P said:

Nick & Matt Jackson. Well, I don't exactly "look forward" to it because they get so much unwarranted hate around this place, but there you go. The real question for me will be to  determine who is the better one of the two. 

The Bucks have a serious shot at making my ballot, but I'd like to do a deeper dive of their PWG stuff. And I THINK I would go Matt over Nick, but by like one spot haha.

[Ricky Jackson]

Maybe my sole contribution to 2026 will be making sure Bob doesn't fall out of the top 100. I'll re-release Titans of...wait, never mind 

[Shrike02]

5 minutes ago, Ricky Jackson said:

Maybe my sole contribution to 2026 will be making sure Bob doesn't fall out of the top 100. I'll re-release Titans of...wait, never mind 

I'll vote for Bob!

[El Boricua]

If it's of any use, I'll be around if anyone wants to look at Puerto Rico candidates.

[elliott]

I've got Invader 1, Carlos Colon & Chicky Starr as people I'm sure I'll vote for. Who else from PR should I look at? Is there enough Invader III? Abdullah will make my list and PR definitely plays a big part of that. 

[Reel]

28 minutes ago, El Boricua said:

If it's of any use, I'll be around if anyone wants to look at Puerto Rico candidates.

I want to watch more Ray Gonzalez and just more 90s and 2000s PR guys in general. 

[Boss Rock]

Colon is currently a top 20 candidate for me.

[El Boricua]

4 hours ago, elliott said:

I've got Invader 1, Carlos Colon & Chicky Starr as people I'm sure I'll vote for. Who else from PR should I look at? Is there enough Invader III? Abdullah will make my list and PR definitely plays a big part of that. 

I've looked at my ballot from 2016 and already there are things I know I'd change or ask myself why I voted for/left off so and so or why are they so high/low, so who knows where I'll be 5 years from now. 

Going by what I did in 2016, I had Carlos Colon and Invader 1 back to back in my rankings and both in my top 20. Not sure where they'll land or if they'll be in the same rank order this time (I wavered back and forth a lot between who to rank ahead there). 

Abdullah also made my list and that's definitely influenced by all of the Puerto Rico work I've seen from him throughout all of my years as a fan. I'd agree that any look at Abdullah must include his Puerto Rico work to get a fuller picture.

It's an absolute shame that we don't really have much of the early to mid 80's footage,that would definitely help someone like Invader 3 since we're missing his work here as Johnny Rivera in the junior division as well as his stuff from 84 and 85 (also more footage that would help flesh out more his 86 and 87). I'd have to see what has turned up footage wise for him these last years, but there's also his work in WWWF as Johnny Rivera and some Japan tours. Someone that also falls into this category is Super Medico 1/Jose Estrada, where we're missing a lot of his 80s work as Super Medico footage wise. 

Chicky Starr is actually someone that may be helped a bit by the footage that has popped up, since it does include more of a sampling of his 90s and 00's work. 

The big name I'd say likely benefits from the footage that has popped up is Ray Gonzalez, last time it was hard to point people to matches for him but there's been a bit more that's turned up from his 90s and 00's work that may help give a fuller picture of his career. 

One guy whose Puerto Rico work probably makes up a notable part of an evaluation of him is Ron Starr, someone who is criminally underrated and unknown even by more knowledgeable fans.

The increase of 00s footage helps people such as Ricky Banderas/El Mesias/Mil Muertes and TNT/Savio Vega, maybe helps flesh out Miguel Perez Jr a bit. Two of my favorites from that 00's period are Shane the Glamour Boy and Slash Venom (Flash Flanagan) so more IWA footage at least helps me point people towards some more of their stuff.

There are wrestlers who had notable stints in Puerto Rico where their cases are mainly made elsewhere, but their Puerto Rico stuff may add some more flavor to their deep dives such as Terry Funk, Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody, Eric Embry, Los Pastores, Dutch Mantell, Eddie Gilbert and Dick Murdoch (if you want to see how he was in the early 90s).

I'll try to look through what's available and see if i can put together a sampler list of these candidates. I should probably also  try to restart that historical tidbits/context thread in the 80s set forum. While Puerto Rico managed to get an 80s set, it was basically the last gasp (along with Portland) so there wasn't as wide of a focus and evaluation of it like the other sets got. Plus, with the stuff that's turned up, I can add a bit more than what was on the sets and also correct some things I had wrong in the information. I

 

 

 

[elliott]

I'm really glad you mentioned Ron Starr. WHen I watched the 80s Puerto Rico set I was really impressed with him. He's someone that could have used the Goodhelmet set treatment because he worked in a variety of more under the radar places and was always really good as I recall. Love him in Puerto Rico. Really good in Portland. There's some NJPW stuff. He was definitely someone I would have considered in 2016 had the PR set come out in time.