GWE Non-Thread Worthy Comments

[ohtani's jacket]

I don't remember a lot of the details either. The nominating/pimping process was a lot shorter. I think most of the arguments centered around workrate vs drawing power, but I might be getting my boards mixed up. 

[Ricky Jackson]

But, but, the territories were the greatest shit ever...

Yeah, looking back, we were a bunch of obnoxious dorks weren't we, with our millions of podcasts and using our real names 🙄

[Stephen-]

19 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Yeah, but you're incumbent on individual voters to take the time and effort to nominate candidates that they think are noteworthy (for whatever reason). Since you're relying on people's individual knowledge or preferences, you get oversights where someone like Megumi Fuji gets nominated but Hiromi Yagi doesn't. The nomination threads serve a great purpose in stimulating  conversation and introducing voters to new workers, but the pool of participants in the nominating process was much smaller than the voting group. Yes, it was 10 years, but it was a slow 10 years for this message board. In retrospect, this place probably wasn't the best to host the poll, which is no doubt why it spread out to Discord and Twitter, but I get the nod to the past. The people in charge were very inclusive and wanted as many people to participate as possible, which is great and lead to a large turnout, but I don't think you can blame the large pool for voting for candidates that didn't receive a nomination.

Personally, I would have given points to every wrestler that was voted for given that it doesn't make a difference to the end results, but the best answer is probably "You had 10 years."  I don't wanna make it sound lie a major complaint. I don't think I nominated anyone, and I only participated at the 11th hour because I'm suddenly interested in wrestling again after six months of not watching anything. At least it was better than last time. I don't think the board ever recovered from the last GWE. 

 

I would be fine with counting wrestlers that were not nominated. I am the Guerrero Maya Jr voter. He was not nominated. I also concede that it’s my fault he wasn’t. The nomination process is ideally largely for others rather than the nominator, I think. I know how great Guerrero Maya Jr is. You know how great [insert worker] is. But others may not.

[BigBadMick]

11 hours ago, oldcasper said:

I was on a long break from wrestling in the 10s so I am only going off what I read here.

Is it fair to say that 2016 was characterised by a quest for a 'truth' and an assumed degree of rigour and depth which in something as personal and subjective as wrestling led to heated discussions?

 

(By rigour and depth I mean strong confidence in every rank rather than attempts to score 'objectively' using arbritary scoring systems like BIGLAV)

2026 feels more like, 'an exploration of richness in discovery' and perhaps an awareness / reflection that 'this is where we are now'.

Things did get rather intense here by the start of 2016, but my abiding memory is the vast amounts of knowledge/considered opinions that were part of the process. You can read through the threads - the parts that don't descend into rants still hold great value.

[Matt D]

2016 was wonderful and terrible. We were better off for going through it. Parv was going to go off the deep end anyway due to other social trends. This was just a tiny part of it. Likewise, while it was a shame that it burnt out the board, other trends were going to push things that way anyway, most likely. DVDVR, which didn't go through it, is still active but only as a skeleton of what it once was. 

Jerome, you can, of course, bitch and moan as you are want to do and more power to you for doing it, but the project meant a lot to a lot of people and it's had an almost mythic impact in the years since. 

Some of us are out there in the trenches talking to the kids (and the kids are alright). I saw two or three people say publicly in the last day or two, "I can't believe I got to vote in GWE." A lot of them have been waiting for years to participate in this and people put a lot of thought and care into their ballots this time around. You should see some of the blogposts and stylized graphics people have made.  

And a lot of that is because of all the work and effort that went into 2016 and people arguing so much and being so passionate about it. There's a reason why this thing has grown and not shrunk even though we barely survived the thing last time around. 

It's a pretty shitty world out there these days and a lot of young people have found something that they can use to express themselves and find common ground and interact with. It's a good thing. 2016 was a good thing ultimately. 

[BigBadMick]

4 hours ago, Ricky Jackson said:

But, but, the territories were the greatest shit ever...

Yeah, looking back, we were a bunch of obnoxious dorks weren't we, with our millions of podcasts and using our real names 🙄

Don't be so hard on yourself Ricky/Kelly 😉

The Top 100 podcasts were great. I've listened back to a few of them since then. 

[El-P]

17 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Jerome, you can, of course, bitch and moan as you are want to do and more power to you for doing it, but the project meant a lot to a lot of people and it's had an almost mythic impact in the years since. 

Bitch and moan ? About what 2016 was ? 😂 I just stated the facts. Of course it's not necessary a nice thing to hear, but it is what it is. It was a toxic waste by the end, and a total reactionary moment in pro-wrestling criticism from this niche of a niche.

[Boss Rock]

14 minutes ago, Matt D said:

I saw two or three people say publicly in the last day or two, "I can't believe I got to vote in GWE." A lot of them have been waiting for years to participate in this and people put a lot of thought and care into their ballots this time around.

Count me as one of those folks. The 2016 results getting posted to Cageside Seats is what brought me here and what got me to do deeper dives of wrestling.

[El-P]

24 minutes ago, Matt D said:

2006 was a good thing ultimately. 

There. Corrected for you.

Also, I'm saying nothing about this edition. At all. So relax. 

[Matt D]

13 minutes ago, El-P said:

Bitch and moan ? About what 2016 was ? 😂 I just stated the facts. Of course it's not necessary a nice thing to hear, but it is what it is. It was a toxic waste by the end, and a total reactionary moment in pro-wrestling criticism from this niche of a niche.

Felt good to stretch the old muscles and tell you off. You have responded back. We shall now shake and move on. 

[El-P]

For sure. I'm curious to see what the mostly new generation of voters cooked this time around.

[Grimmas]

1 hour ago, Matt D said:

2016 was wonderful and terrible. We were better off for going through it. Parv was going to go off the deep end anyway due to other social trends. This was just a tiny part of it. Likewise, while it was a shame that it burnt out the board, other trends were going to push things that way anyway, most likely. DVDVR, which didn't go through it, is still active but only as a skeleton of what it once was. 

Jerome, you can, of course, bitch and moan as you are want to do and more power to you for doing it, but the project meant a lot to a lot of people and it's had an almost mythic impact in the years since. 

Some of us are out there in the trenches talking to the kids (and the kids are alright). I saw two or three people say publicly in the last day or two, "I can't believe I got to vote in GWE." A lot of them have been waiting for years to participate in this and people put a lot of thought and care into their ballots this time around. You should see some of the blogposts and stylized graphics people have made.  

And a lot of that is because of all the work and effort that went into 2016 and people arguing so much and being so passionate about it. There's a reason why this thing has grown and not shrunk even though we barely survived the thing last time around. 

It's a pretty shitty world out there these days and a lot of young people have found something that they can use to express themselves and find common ground and interact with. It's a good thing. 2016 was a good thing ultimately. 

Beautiful post.

[NotJayTabb]

I'm just pleased that this time I didnt get told off for voting for the Barbarian but not Ted DiBiase...

[El McKell]

Ted DiBiase is definitely better than Barabarian, but ultimately it's an opinion about wrestlers so it's not worth getting emotional over.

[ohtani's jacket]

4 hours ago, Matt D said:

2016 was wonderful and terrible. We were better off for going through it. Parv was going to go off the deep end anyway due to other social trends. This was just a tiny part of it. Likewise, while it was a shame that it burnt out the board, other trends were going to push things that way anyway, most likely. DVDVR, which didn't go through it, is still active but only as a skeleton of what it once was. 

Jerome, you can, of course, bitch and moan as you are want to do and more power to you for doing it, but the project meant a lot to a lot of people and it's had an almost mythic impact in the years since. 

Some of us are out there in the trenches talking to the kids (and the kids are alright). I saw two or three people say publicly in the last day or two, "I can't believe I got to vote in GWE." A lot of them have been waiting for years to participate in this and people put a lot of thought and care into their ballots this time around. You should see some of the blogposts and stylized graphics people have made.  

And a lot of that is because of all the work and effort that went into 2016 and people arguing so much and being so passionate about it. There's a reason why this thing has grown and not shrunk even though we barely survived the thing last time around. 

It's a pretty shitty world out there these days and a lot of young people have found something that they can use to express themselves and find common ground and interact with. It's a good thing. 2016 was a good thing ultimately. 

Perhaps what you guys have done with the list in the 10 years since is more impactful (and positive) than the poll was at the time. The concept of only getting to do it once every 10 years, and younger fans finally getting a chance to vote, seems like a much brighter legacy than anything I remember from the '16 vote. I don't want to dismiss any of the work that went into the podcasts, though. Were you doing your podcast with Jimmy Redman at the time? Was that you? Tell me that was you. 

[ohtani's jacket]

2 hours ago, NotJayTabb said:

I'm just pleased that this time I didnt get told off for voting for the Barbarian but not Ted DiBiase...

Ted DiBiase vs. The Barbarian in a ten minute MidSouth brawl sounds like perfection. 

[ohtani's jacket]

4 hours ago, Stephen- said:

I would be fine with counting wrestlers that were not nominated. I am the Guerrero Maya Jr voter. He was not nominated. I also concede that it’s my fault he wasn’t. The nomination process is ideally largely for others rather than the nominator, I think. I know how great Guerrero Maya Jr is. You know how great [insert worker] is. But others may not.

Nominating workers so that you can vote for themselves only for them to get 1 point anyway seems like an unnecessary step. I would prefer write-in votes, but it's not gonna move the needle either way. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Just now, BigBadMick said:

It was. A great listen. 

Yes! The docile tones of Matt D. 

[Matt D]

9 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Perhaps what you guys have done with the list in the 10 years since is more impactful (and positive) than the poll was at the time. The concept of only getting to do it once every 10 years, and younger fans finally getting a chance to vote, seems like a much brighter legacy than anything I remember from the '16 vote. I don't want to dismiss any of the work that went into the podcasts, though. Were you doing your podcast with Jimmy Redman at the time? Was that you? Tell me that was you. 

That was us. I talked to her over the weekend as some people were asking whether she was going to vote. She’s both happy and perplexed to be remembered by the masses in this time of voting.

[ohtani's jacket]

18 minutes ago, Matt D said:

That was us. I talked to her over the weekend as some people were asking whether she was going to vote. She’s both happy and perplexed to be remembered by the masses in this time of voting.

I feel guilty since I left Rey off my list. 

[KB8]

The podcasts were great. I can't say we needed a five-podcast series going into depth on Ric Flair's usage of the knife edge chop, but at the same time I can't say I'd scoff at the idea of someone talking for several hours about Koko Ware's dropkick so it's whatever. 

[Shrike02]

I voted this time around and although I don't think my ballot accomplishes the stated objectives, it is a snapshot of 100 people whose work I thoroughly enjoy. I joined the board just before the 2016 voting was wrapping up. I consumed the heck out of all those GWE podcasts and as a re-entry and evolution of my fandom, they were great.

 

[Mattsdmf]

On 5/8/2026 at 8:36 PM, TheDuke said:

To be fair, maybe if more voters had taken time to understand and use the BIGLAV system of ranking wrestlers, perhaps 2016 could have gone a lot smoother... 

I was about to make that joke.  I'm relistening to the Where the Big Boys Play episodes of their Top 100 and reminds me how much nicer the discussions are without someone like Parv being involved.  I don't think Chad has taken part in this which I always liked his opinions on wrestlers.

Those 400 podcasts that were reactions to the 2016 list seem to be lost to the ether which is sad as I'd like to have listened to them again.

[Reel]

38 minutes ago, Mattsdmf said:

Those 400 podcasts that were reactions to the 2016 list seem to be lost to the ether which is sad as I'd like to have listened to them again.

I believe there’s a Google Drive floating around with most of them. 

[Mattsdmf]

3 hours ago, Reel said:

I believe there’s a Google Drive floating around with most of them. 

That's cool!  Hopefully I'll find it somehow.