2026 Nomination Thread

[Carlosa]

A-Kid

He is my pick for best in the world. He's very good at selling, submissions, strikes, and all the subtleness in a match where someone can appreciate. My 2021 MOTY is the Devlin/A-Kid Iron Man Match which was phenomenal. He's had matches with WALTER, Tyler Bate, Devlin, Dragunov which were all incredible. 

[mmcoor]

King Kong Bundy 

Bundy was a great big man. He was athletic for his size and was a decent seller. He was great at being a monster heel and had a genuinely scary Presence. 

Jerry Lawler vs King Kong Bundy (Jimmy Hart's $10,000 Challenge, 7-16-84) CWA Wrestling 

 

Kevin Von Erich Vs King Kong Bundy 

 

Vs Hulk Hogan WM 2 

 

 

[Grimmas]

On 2/16/2022 at 5:10 PM, Carlosa said:

A-Kid

He is my pick for best in the world. He's very good at selling, submissions, strikes, and all the subtleness in a match where someone can appreciate. My 2021 MOTY is the Devlin/A-Kid Iron Man Match which was phenomenal. He's had matches with WALTER, Tyler Bate, Devlin, Dragunov which were all incredible. 

two more match recs please.

[Reel]

not my nom, but the dates on two of those matches mentioned above

vs Walter 1/14/21

vs Ilja Dragunov 4/30/20

[Carlosa]

21 hours ago, Grimmas said:

two more match recs please.

vs Sabre Jr WWW 2018

vs Trent Seven 11/26/2020 NXT UK

[Grimmas]

UDATED

[CurtainJerker]

Kagetsu

She was Stardom's number one heel. Highly charismatic with great fan interactions. She did most of the heavy lifting to help carry the company with Io. She was the-on-the job trainer. Great body of work with rematches, tags, and feuds. Definitely a great and amazing worker who is danger of being lost to history. Won Stardom's official 2018 Best Match + 2017 Best Tag awards. Ranked #26 in Cagematch's Top Female Workers of All Time, under Aja Kong. She holds up compared to her contemporaries and today's batch of joshi. Sacrificed her body and career with high risk moves during her peak (2017-COVID).

Mayu Iwatani vs. Kagetsu (12/24/2019)

Io Shirai vs. Kagetsu

Kagetsu vs. Jungle Kyona (1/14/2019)

Kagetsu vs Mayu Iwatani (12/24/19)

Kagetsu vs Hana Kimura (10/23/18)

Kagetsu vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto (4/12/2017)

Kagetsu vs Mei Suruga (2/09/2020)

Kagetsu vs Stardom (Gauntlet Final) 

Kagetsu vs Meiko Satomura (Kagetsu's retirement match 2/24/20)

[Clayton Jones]

LuFisto

A trailblazer in an era when intergender wrestling wasn't the norm, she made non-believers buy her against the toughest bastards going. At the same time she anchored women's divisions and worked around the world in a variety of roles that she usually thrived in. As an elder stateswoman she continues to deliver great performances and give back to the younger generation. Still doing some of her best work and finally getting some of her much deserved flowers.

VS Necro Butcher - Stranglehold Wrestling KOTDM Finals 10/29/2006

VS Ayako Hamada - NCW Femmes Fatale Championship 3/12/2011

VS Jordynne Grace - Beyond Wrestling 5/29/2016

[Ed.]

I've double checked and I can't see her so..

Bianca Belair

One of my favourite wrestlers in the world today.  You can tell as early as the Kairi Sane match in the Mae Young Classic that Bianca was gonna be a star, and that was only her third televised match ever.  I thought she was a really good heel in NXT, but she's blown me away with her babyface run on the main roster.   She's been in the best two womens matches in Wrestlemania history so she ticks the box for big matches, but her case is strengthened by a load of good TV performances in the past 4 years and with the title back on her again I think she's got a great chance to add to her case in the coming years.   I think the beauty of her work is how many believable roles she can play; works well as either babyface or heel, incredibly athletic, good actor by WWE's standards when it comes to adding drama and emotion to her matches, she's freakishly strong to overpower any opponent she comes up against, but hardly the biggest girl on the roster so she can be overpowered and take a beating.  Best use of hair in wrestling history must be worth a bonus point too!   

Vs Kairi Sane (14/7/17)

Vs Sasha Banks (10/4/21)

Vs Becky Lynch  (2/4/22)

[conker8]

Killer Karl Kox

One of the great brawlers of the 1960's and 1970's. We can see a lot of Kox in Dick Murdoch (they even share the same finisher) as he was his mentor. Hurt by lack of footage.

vs The Destroyer (7/25/75)

vs Dick Murdoch (12/9/76)

vs Giant Baba (3/3/81)

[El-P]

Chris Sabin

An overlooked figure from the 00's indies to today's landscape. He's been half of the Motor-City Machinegun, which has to be considered one of the best and most influential tag team of the last 20 years (without MCMG, there's probably no Young Bucks as they are). Shelley is often thought about as the better worker (which is probably true), but Sabin has been a terrific worker for probably 15 years, still kicking strong to this day at age 40. A fixture in the early X-division, he really figured it out when he started the tag team with Shelley and they have many, many great matches against a variety of teams. In single he became a much more complete worker in the mid 00's, great flying and acrobatic X-div style guy of course, with great clean execution of complex moves and sequences, but also a great sympathetic babyface able to garner sympathy and work terrific and flashy comebacks thanks to his technical expertise. Way underrated compared to some of his peers.

2005.01.16 Chris Sabin vs AJ Styles vs Petey Williams (Ultimate X -TNA)

2005.07.17 Chris Sabin vs Samoa Joe (TNA)

2007.04.28 MCMG vs the Briscoes (ROH)

2009.01.11 Chris Sabin vs Alex Shelley (TNA)

2010.10.10 MCMG vs Young Bucks (Gen Me) (TNA)

2013.08.15 Chris Sabin vs Bully Ray (cage match) (TNA)

2021.08.17 Chris Sabin vs Josh Alexander (IMPACT)

2022.03.20 Chris Sabin vs Jay White (IMPACT)

 

[Grimmas]

UDATED!

[Jetlag]

Shinichi Nakano

Easily overlooked Japanese undercarder who went from being a great tenacious underdog in AJPW and SWS to doing a heroic job carrying his own scummy WYF promotion, which is a story I'm really invested in. He also has some awesome feud under his belt participating in WYF vs. Shin FMW and WYF vs. WAR. Great outmatched hero type of guy, who also looks really good doing hard nosed technical wrestling and being a psycho potatoeing lower ranked guys. He''s grown to be one of my favourite Japanese heavyweights of the 90s, having a few Black Terry-like performances working his ass off on tiny shows, and he has  a number of great matches from 1988-1997, possibly earlier than that depending on if I can find any of his New Japan matches. Footage is a bit of an issue but right now I'd say for someone who didn't make tape much he has a really strong body of work.

w Shunji Takano vs. Ricky Fuyuki & Toshiaki Kawada, AJPW 7/19/1988

vs. Genichiro Tenryu, WAR 1/23/1996

w Masayoshi Motegi vs. Tarzan Goto & Ryo Miyake, WYF 7/16/1997

 

[EnviousStupid]

Jay Lethal.

While never the flashiest or most standout, Lethal has proven himself one of the most well-rounded and capable wrestlers in the last two decades. Showed promise as early as 2003, became a fixture of TNA's X-Division, before returning to ROH and shifting to a more fundamental approach in his style, where the bulk of his best work lies. Has played babyface, heel, underdog, ace, serious and comedic roles all to great effect, along with consistently delivering on plenty of great matches and performances over his career. That consistency led to him having one of the best midcard title reigns I've ever seen, that transitioned to one of the best world title reigns of the 2010s. 

vs. Samoa Joe (7/5/2005)

vs. Kurt Angle (9/9/2007)

vs. ACH (9/8/2014)

vs. Roderick Strong (21/8/2015)

vs. Jonathan Gresham (8/9/2018)

[Ma Stump Puller]

Kenoh 

Kenoh is the ultimate utility talent. You want him to get over semi-good guys in tags? He can do that. You want him to do goofball comedy with a 50+ Kendo Kashin and make it work? Yeah, it's not hard. He can do stiff battles, longform bouts, hard-hitting affairs, heel cut-offs, UWF-style bouts, building underdog talent up for big comebacks, you name it. Hardcore bollocks with Great Muta? He'll knock it out of the park WHILE not making himself look bad when ultimately jobbing a loss. You want him cutting angry pissy promos that get yourself noticed out of everyone else during inter-promotional bouts, he's perfected that as well, even goofy DDT comedy stuff. He's literally fantastic in any field, and it's a bit of a shame that he hasn't had a proper main event run yet. That's half because of the above: Kenoh can literally pull any role off either at the bottom or top of the card, having fantastic matches with a sensational range of workers. You can look at his workrate stuff on one side, his stiff shit in the middle, and everything else on the other. His range dominates everyone else on the roster by a good mile. It also helps he's been having top notch matches for the last 6 years or so, to the point that simply throwing out 4 or 5 of them is a bit of a injustice to the guy. I'm typically not a fan of the "hit really hard over and over" style of wrestling but Kenoh's record proves he has a LOT more than just that to rely on. 

Vs. Taiji Ishimori (NOAH 31.01.2016)

Vs. Masato Tanaka (11.11.2017)

Vs. Eddie Edwards (22.12.2017)

Vs. Kaito Kiyomiya (I could really put any of their matches on here but their early 2019 match is a lot of fun)

Vs. Masakatsu Funaki (12.02.2021)

Vs. Masaaki Mochizuki (26.09.2021)

Vs. Go Shiozaki (11.02.2022)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Phil Schneider]

Jon Moxley

Considering some guys who have nomination threads, pretty crazy he isn't at least nominated. Wasn't a particularly big fan of his in the WWE, but he does have those Shield matches which were the best stuff in the world when they were happening. Is clearly in his prime now, and has been on a hellacious run. since returning from rehab, both in AEW and on the Indies, where he is seemingly having blood soaked classics weekly. 

vs. Regal 10/13/11

Shield vs. Wyatt Family 2/23/14

Shield vs. Wyatt Family 3/3/14

vs. Danielson 3/6/22

vs. Busick 3/31/22

vs. Lawlor 4/3/22

Anarchy in the Arena 5/29

[Kadaveri]

16 minutes ago, Phil Schneider said:

Jon Moxley

Considering some guys who have nomination threads, pretty crazy he isn't at least nominated.

He's nominated as Dean Ambrose.

[Phil Schneider]

Ok I am a dummy

[Control21]

Masayuki Naruse

While never a major star or a main event player, Naruse was a very skilled wrestler who was very capable of working a solid pro-style or shoot-style match. Naruse came out of Maeda's RINGS dojo and became a key undercard player during the promotion's history, eventually finding his way to become a secondary star and fan favorite. Naruse would win RINGS' Light heavyweight title, although he didn't defend it very often, if at all. Naruse would later find himself as a common participant in Inoki-ism era NJPW during the early 2000s. Someone who could work very hard to put on a good, entertaining, and hard-hitting match. 

Recommended matches - 

vs Volk Han 10/25/96

vs Dieusel Berto 9/10/93

vs Wataru Sakata 12/23/97

vs Kiyoshi Tamura 8/28/98

vs Volk Han 5/22/99

w/El Samurai vs Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru 9/23/2002

 

Mitsuya Nagai

A well-traveled shoot-style veteran that has been going strong since the 1990s.  Nagai was a product of Maeda's RINGS dojo and became one of the key native mid-carders for RINGS up until he left the promotion in 1997 due to a disagreement with his mentor (Maeda, of course). Nagai was very raw at first, but quickly became a solid pro-wrestler and had some great matches with the likes of Volk Han, Yamamoto, and his dojo partner, Masayuki Naruse. Nagai would later try his hand at kickboxing and would later participate in BattlArts, NJPW, AJPW, NOAH, and GLEAT. He was also a key figure in the early years of post-NOAH split AJPW as an undercard worker. Not the flashiest name, but someone with a lot of longevity. 

Recommended matches -

vs Volk Han 4/24/93

vs Volk Han 12/24/94

vs Nikolai Zouev 12/19/95

vs Yamamoto 3/18/95

vs Naruse 12/16/94

vs Kawada 3/3/2001

vs Kojima 3/24/2002

w/Kakihara vs Shinya Makabe & Yuji Nagata 6/8/2001

w/Dajiro Matsui vs Minoru Tanaka & Masakatsu Funaki 12/30/2021

 

Dick Vrij

A kickboxer built like a bodybuilder, and one from Holland. This would becomome a common theme in Kakutogi in the decade following Dick Vrij's debut in UWF in 1989. Perhaps one of the first true monster heels in shoot-style. Dick Vrij had the look of a crazed man who couldn't work a lick, but was actually very good in the ring and only improved in time in terms of being able to construct a solid shoot-style match. He was a key part of Akira Maeda's RINGS promotion in its early years and provided Maeda with a credible main event rival to help build cards around. Dick Vrij's involvement with Chris Dolman and his dojo would eventually see guys like the Overeem brothers and Gilbert Yvel make their way over to Japan. Perhaps not a heavy contender for most top 100 lists, but certainly name that merits some consideration.

Recommended matches -

vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara 11/29/89

vs Akira Maeda 5/11/91

vs Akira Maeda 8/1/91

vs Volk Han 8/21/92

vs Volk Han 7/13/93

vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto 7/18/95

vs Masayuki Naruse 11/22/96

[ohtani's jacket]

How does Shocker not have a thread?

I think he's clear the lucha WOTY for 2002 and 2003, which makes him a contender for the best wrestler in the world during those years. 2002 might be close with Ultimo Guerrero, but 2003 is Shocker so far. I'm not sure how far his run extends beyond 2003, but he was a pretty decent worker as a masked flyer and has some bright spots in his post prime work. 

Match recs:

Shocker vs. Tarzan Boy, 5/21/2000
Shocker vs. Ultimo Guerrero, 12/13/2002
Shocker vs. Ultimo Gurerrero, 2/7/2003 & 2/14/2003
Shocker vs. Vampiro (hair vs. hair), 4/4/2003

[Grimmas]

UDPATED!

[Ma Stump Puller]

Wellington Wilkins Jr.

The self-described "Mr Squeeze" for his many showcases of just completely running over rookies and making them tap out endlessly, Wilkins starts off on the surface as a unimportant and immensely disliked American jobber and UWF undercard guy before getting thrown into very early Michinoku Pro and bizarrely blowing it out of the park most of the time. He's like Finlay, only if he did lucha sequences alongside stiff strikes and old-school catch.

Also like Finlay he's harmed by mostly not being a top billing guy, but the man has some pretty great showings otherwise alongside a consistent stream of entertaining work with green talent and Great Sasuke trainees: on top of arguably pioneering the future Western/DDT hardcore divisions with his infamous feud with Yone Genjin, where the pair would go everywhere and anywhere in the arena and beyond to do all kinds of nonsense with whatever they could find. Massively underrated worker. 

Vs. Minoru Suzuki (UWF 16.01.1990)

Vs. Naoki Sano (SWS 07.12.1990)

Vs. Fujiwara (PWFG 16.05.1991)

Vs. Lightning Kid (PWA 16.06.1991)

Vs. Kazuhiko Matsuzaki (Oriental Pro 14.09.1992)

Vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa: 1993 series (Michinoku Pro 24.07/24.08/21.10.1993)

Vs. Yone Genjin (Michinoku Pro 29.04.1994)

Vs. Masato Yakushiji (Michinoku Pro 30.10.1994)

W/Naohiro Hoshiawa Vs. Masato Yakushiji & Yoshito Sugamoto (Michinoku Pro 14.01.1997)

 

 

[MichaelZ]

Emi Sakura

Emi Sakura is effective at creating a connection with the crowd and getting across the story of the match in any environment. She is capable of having lengthy matches with a big-fight feel, such as her epic vs Yoneyama. But she makes the most out of whatever time she is given and gives you a little something to sink your teeth into regardless of placement on the card. 

vs Kaori Yoneyama (JWP, 9/19/2010)

w Kaori Yoneyama vs Arisa Nakajima and Command Bolshoi (JWP, 8/19/2012)

vs Shazza McKenzie (SPW, 12/18/2018)

vs Hikaru Shida (AEW, 8/24/2022)

[GraveyardMurmurs]

Veny/ASUKA.

One of the best Japanese wrestlers of the last 5 years, in my opinion. Has done great work with a crazy variety of opponents. From Kohei Sato & Yuji Hino to Arisa Nakajima & Mei Suruga. They can play cocky heel or valiant underdog. They have an impressive move set, and is a consistent and precise wrestler.

vs. Akito 07/15/2019

vs. Syuri 05/23/2022

vs. Kagetsu 05/23/2021

[Grimmas]

UPDATED!