Wrestler of the Decade/Half Decade

[elliott]

Figured we could do an old question and then add a fun twist. 

Who is your wrestler of the decade (pick a decade 60s, 80s, 2010s, whatever)?

Who is your wrestler of the half decade? (For example if you pick the 90s. who is the best wrestler from 90-94 and who is the best wrestler from 95-99).

I thought this might be interesting. There have been a million wrestler of the 80s/90s etc threads over the years. I thought it might be cool to look at like 80-84 or 2005-2009 or whatever. 5 years isn't an insignificant amount of time to be the best wrestler in the world. 

And then if you wanna get crazy...what are some of the best 5 year runs ever and what are some of the best 10 year runs ever (ignoring distinctions like decade for example Hansen from 84-93 

[Rah]

Wrestler of the Decade 2006-2009 = Black Terry (?) 

Wrestler of the Decade 2010-2015 = Cesaro

Wrestler of the Decade 2010s = Black Terry or Virus

I can unequivocally say Terry or Virus for 2010s but I can't tell you who would be best of 2000s. It's quite close. I'm leaning Rey but you've got:

 

America: Rey

Japan: Akiyama/Satomura

Lucha: Santo/Parka 

 

One of those seems about right.

[El-P]

The only period I'm really comfortable giving an answer I'm satisfied with right now is basically the last 5 or so years, since I've been catching up with the current scene (and styles) since about late 2014.

So : from 2016-2021, it's Kenny Omega and it's not even close.

Okada had that awesome title reign in 2016 but he also had some gaps of not doing much. Omega during that time also had three matches which at the time they happened, I thought they were the best matches I've ever seen (G1 against Naito in 96 I believe, so at a time I did not get Omega yet, third match against Okada and tag match with Page vs Young Bucks in AEW), which gives him a serious contendership for #1 spot.

2011-2015 : Either Tanahashi or Okada. Pick your poison. Most probably Tanahashi. (if you go for 2014-2016, it's Okada though)

The rest is too much scattered and/or going from memories (that I may eventually revisit, like some Japanese stuff, or won't like 90's US that I've watched way too much already. Plus there's that lucha libre thingy...). But let's say this :

Thus far the 00's would be AJ Styles. Danielson I guess is the other one (I'd need to dive into ROH, which I really have never done properly). Kobashi had that awesome title reign though, but not sustained for a 5 years period. Ditto Eddie in term of not sustaining.

95-99 : I'll go on a limb and say Kiyoshi Tamura. His RING stuff was next level compared to any shoot-style ever and by that point AJPW had already peaked and gone into head-droping excess I believe to have any of them at that spot (although that would need a serious re-dive). I guess Rey would have a shot though.

90-94 : Either Hokuto, Bull, Aja or Misawa, I guess. 

The 80's are all about either Flair or Fujinami. Or Hansen ? (then again, Chiggy and Windham may have some to say about this for a 5 year period).

Before that point, honestly, it's too vague at this point. Terry Funk in the 70's probably though.

[KB8]

Without thinking TOO hard about this:

 

70s - Funk? Inoki? I haven't watched enough 70s in long enough, or maybe even in general, to go by half decade right now. I guess some of the European workers would probably have a shot here, but I haven't seen enough of that to even take a stab at who they might be. 

 

80-84 - Lawler or Fujinami might be my pick. 

85-89 - Fujiwara, probably. Satanico has a great case as well. In fairness, lots of wrestlers do because this was a pretty absurd stretch of wrestling. Probably a taste or style preference thing for who you go with here. 

 

90-94 - I might actually go Hansen here. He's obviously past his physical peak - if not in 1990 then certainly by 1994 - but ageing and vulnerable Hansen is my favourite Hansen and I think he's pretty much phenomenal the entire first half of the decade. Tenryu would be another consideration. If you're still all in on 90s All Japan then one of those guys would be an easy candidate. Hokuto, maybe? I can't really pinpoint who I'd pick from any of the lucha candidates. Partly that's a footage thing, where for example there are gaps in Casas footage prior to him being full time in CMLL. Someone like Dandy would've been my pick if that five year stretch was as good as his best single year (1990), but he drops off a bit after 1992. Not sure who it would be from America. I'm not the biggest Bret Hart guy but he probably has as good a case as anyone, at least in terms of consistency (and I can buy him being legit great in 1994). Dustin, maybe? 

95-99 - Yeah, I'm with Jerome and would go Tamura. But shoot style is my favourite kind of wrestling so that might be a YMMV thing. I guess if you're still super high on All Japan right until the end of the decade then one of the Pillars would be a shout. Casas would be pretty high on my list here. So would Ikeda and Ishikawa if you're a Battlarts guy (I'm a Battlarts guy). US wrestling was sort of a strange beast in the late 90s and I'm not sure I'd go to bat for anyone there. If Eddie was at 1997 level for that whole stretch then it might've been him, but then if a frog had wings it wouldn't bump its arse when it hops so that's a moot point. 

 

00-04 - I took part in a best matches of the 00s poll about ten years ago and based on memory I might go Kawada here. Well, I might've gone Kawada THEN. I have no idea who I'd go now. But possibly Kawada. 

05-09 - I'm not a huge Danielson guy but it's probably Danielson. Or maybe Rey.

 

2010s are not my bag so I honestly couldn't say one way or the other. From what I have seen I'd maybe go Danielson again. I don't like New Japan so those guys are out, but if that's your thing then one of them are almost certainly the pick here. 

[ohtani's jacket]

For the 50s, I would go with Thesz. 60s is probably someone from Europe. The first half of the 70s was either Jack Brisco or Johnny Valentine. 

[El McKell]

Just gonna throw out my gut feelings on these

pre-1980: The Destroyer. Makes everything he does entertaining, easily the best at talking during a match ever whether it's at the ref or his opponent.

1980-84: Terry Funk. This is the weakest half-decade in terms of quantity of good wrestling on tape, so maybe Terry has it easy here, but Lawler & Flair are contenders for this spot.

1985-89: Ric Flair. Putting on an unbelievable  number of other people's best matches during this period

1990-94: Akira Hokuto. After this 5 year period she didn't wrestle that much, but during it she was so transcendently great

1995-99. Kenta Kobashi. My number 1 last time around, just slightly ahead of Misawa & Kawada during this period

2000-04. Kenta Kobashi. Kobashi's real peak, that NOAH championship run is the greatest title reign in the history of wrestling

2005-09. Shawn Michaels. I'm sure this my most controversial pick, but during this period he had all time classics with Cena, Undertaker, Angle & the wresltemania 20 main event. & I like melodramatic bullshit like the Flair retirement match

2010-2014. Hiroshi Tanahashi. He is literally just Shawn Michaels but working the modern NJPW style (which is just a development of 90s AJPW & 00s NOAH). Everything I like in wrestling stylistically, having one of the greatest series of matches ever with Okada

2015-2019. Probably Okada, I dunno