Not Yet

[Tetsujin]

From AEW, I'd say Moxley has somewhat strong chances to make it next year; as for the "not yet" part, I believe Ospreay, Darby, Hangman and MJF are already on their way to be strongly considered by 2036, and Takeshita, Fletcher and Daniel García have all the potential in the world to join them.

[Scarletlikesounds]

On 4/27/2021 at 8:46 PM, corwo said:

Sareee/Sarray is someone I could see making lists pending a good WWE run.

He was so wrong and yet righter than he ever could've imagined

[Scarletlikesounds]

On 11/24/2025 at 11:13 AM, Tetsujin said:

From AEW, I'd say Moxley has somewhat strong chances to make it next year; as for the "not yet" part, I believe Ospreay, Darby, Hangman and MJF are already on their way to be strongly considered by 2036, and Takeshita, Fletcher and Daniel García have all the potential in the world to join them.

Ospreay, MJF, & Takeshita will never be on my list, I just don't like their styles. Fletcher has a chance to turn things around but he's super hit or miss as it is. Garcia is a guy where It seems like everyone has wanted him to be the next big thing for years and I just don't see it yet. Ill watch some more of him soon. Hangman is definitely a 2036 guy for me, Mox & Darby are already guys who barely rank outside my top 100. Castignoli & OC might've made it if I watched more. Wonder if Kevin Knights push will result in a future candidate? He's been really good lately and it's clear he's the company's next/current project.

[Scarletlikesounds]

On 4/27/2021 at 9:07 PM, Kadaveri said:

Zack Sabre Junior is a borderline case at the moment but I think he's making it. His big advantage is he works such a different style to everyone else that he'll basically always be pushed to some extent and his matches will always stand out. I don't like how finisher-centric almost all modern wrestling is so he's near-automatically bumped up for me by working in this environment without really any established finisher, or at the very least he's gotten over like 6 or 7 moves that can all believably end a match depending on context. It makes his matches so much more engaging than the usual NJPW style where you know no matter how many insane moves these guys are gonna pull out the match which always still end with a guy hitting their regular finish for the 1 2 3. He's also the only guy right now who manages to rein in Will Ospreay.

Fred Yehi has been one the consistently good and 'different' wrestlers of the last 5 years for me. If he can keep that up and deliver a real classic at some point (he has nothing at 4.5 Stars or above atm) then I'm gonna be considering him.

Kairi Hojo/Sane may be retired. She's super-talented and her favourite wrestler is Kenta Kobashi, which fits so much as she's so charismatic and incredibly likeable, but at the moment she just doesn't have enough quality stuff to make a Top 100. She didn't really get great until 2015. IF however, and I may be getting carried away here, she's just waiting for her WWE contract to expire so she can wrestle in Japan then that's exciting, because you know she's gonna get booked in main events with all the best talent there for as long as she wants to. I predict if she comes back she's gonna make a good Top 100 case by 2026.

Takumi Iroha. She isn't nominated and cannot possible make a Top 100 list at the moment... but she's so good. She had a match with Mayu Iwatani in Stardom last year on a day's notice because Mayu's opponent got sick and it was pretty widely regarded (including by me) as the best Stardom match of 2020. A lot of newer Western fans literally didn't even know who she was until seeing that match and were blown away. In just wrestling ability I think she's better than anyone in Stardom. She has the best looking strikes in Joshi, sick powerbombs that makes crowds audibly gasp, she can work the mat really well and she's one of the few Joshi workers who'll make an effort to sell a damaged limb for more than 30 seconds (she's not a great seller really but better than most around her). But the output isn't there because she's only the Ace of the 8th biggest Joshi promotion with a roster of teenagers. Let's see how the next five years play out, the GAEA revival may mean bigger opportunities are coming for her.

Iroha & ZSJ are another top 200 but not 100 for me currently, but they're doing some of the best work in the world this year, I feel a little bad about their exclusions. Yehi & Kairi Sane are totally people who if they had a better last 5 years would be serious candidates. Yehi especially for me personally is such a bummer with how he turned out.

[Scarletlikesounds]

For 2036 I'm curious about all of the DPW guys. Kozone, Tankman, Manny Lo & Andrew Everett will all be looking to make their cases on the indies and in MLW. Jake Something & Adam Priest in AEW, and Lucky Ali, Jay Malachi & maybe even Jackson Drake in WWE. 

[Microstatistics]

Hope Miu Watanabe is one who is examined more closely by the next round.

[donsem43]

I guess somebody should nominate Saya Kamitani...

[josephweirdness]

On 5/6/2026 at 11:30 PM, Scarletlikesounds said:

For 2036 I'm curious about all of the DPW guys. Kozone, Tankman, Manny Lo & Andrew Everett will all be looking to make their cases on the indies and in MLW. Jake Something & Adam Priest in AEW, and Lucky Ali, Jay Malachi & maybe even Jackson Drake in WWE. 

Something big would have to change for the DPW alums to make significant strides in a GWE sense. The independent scene just doesn't feel structured to support that kind of growth in any consistent way right now.

[Tetsujin]

2 hours ago, donsem43 said:

I guess somebody should nominate Saya Kamitani...

Nah it's fine like that.

[HowtobeaMark]

Senka Akatsuki

Seri Yamaoka

Oskar

Yuto-Ice

Bron Breakker

Oba Femi

Yuya Uemura

Safire Reed

Shota Umino

Kendal Grey

OZAWA

Yoshiki Inamura

Are all ones not yet nominated who I hope are justified nominations by 2036

[Scarletlikesounds]

7 hours ago, josephweirdness said:

Something big would have to change for the DPW alums to make significant strides in a GWE sense. The independent scene just doesn't feel structured to support that kind of growth in any consistent way right now.

I would be interested to see you elaborate on this. I get the indies aren't exactly thriving right now but surely one could still get better and put on enough good stuff over the next 10 years to justify a ranking?

[Scarletlikesounds]

5 hours ago, HowtobeaMark said:

Senka Akatsuki

Seri Yamaoka

Oskar

Yuto-Ice

Bron Breakker

Oba Femi

Yuya Uemura

Safire Reed

Shota Umino

Kendal Grey

OZAWA

Yoshiki Inamura

Are all ones not yet nominated who I hope are justified nominations by 2036

I have faith in Senka and Oba for this by then. That said, its interesting to imagine Senka in the future because it feels like her gimmick is so thorough and solid right now I have to wonder how she'll expand upon it when she reaches "not a rookie" stage.

[Scarletlikesounds]

11 hours ago, Microstatistics said:

Hope Miu Watanabe is one who is examined more closely by the next round.

I still made sure to vote her in early this year!

[josephweirdness]

15 hours ago, Scarletlikesounds said:

I would be interested to see you elaborate on this. I get the indies aren't exactly thriving right now but surely one could still get better and put on enough good stuff over the next 10 years to justify a ranking?

It's certainly possible! But as of right now at the last, the infrastructure of the indies feels the least equipped to facilitate that than it has in years. DPW was perhaps on its way to really becoming that super indie central hub where a lot of people could build their names the way that ROH or PWG was in the past, but now there is no real one place. All the best talent are scattered to the winds and the pool of high quality opponents to help potential candidates get on their way feels smaller as well. A majority of the time, the workers that do show the most promise will be snatched up anyway and it's anyone's guess whether that leads them to a life on undercards or working their way through to big time TV stardom.