Which luchadores are you ranking (2026 edition)?

[cad]

Well, if you're ranking any, which ones you got? I've spent the last few years ranking the Mexican candidates, and this is how my list shook out:

#1 candidates:
1) Hijo del Santo
Greatest strength: Perhaps the best wrestler ever at having great matches.
Greatest weakness: Not exactly a figure of great fun or spontaneity.
Peak: I'd have Santo as a best in the world candidate for 1995, 1998, 2000, and 2001. I know that he has advocates for his '96 and '97 as well. He might have had years in the UWA when he ranked among the world's top workers as well, but we have very little footage from this era, and UWA Santo was more formulaic than the later version. Prime lasted over ten years.
Best matches: Compiling a brief list of Santo's best matches is a daunting task. I'd say the most famous/revered ones are vs. Espanto Jr. (1986), vs. Negro Casas (1987), vs. Brazo de Oro (1991), vs. Dandy and Casas (1996), vs. Casas (1997), and vs. Parka (2001). I'll throw in his 1988 match with Espanto as a personal favorite.

2) Negro Casas
Strength: One of the most creative and charismatic wrestlers ever.
Weakness: He was incredible in his thirties and had a good old man run in his fifties. I'm not sure his forties do a whole lot for his case.
Peak: One of the best workers in the world in 1992-93. Weekly Casas footage doesn't begin until the UWA got TV in late '91, by which point Casas had already entered his peak, so it's not clear how many years before 1992 he'd already been wrestling at that level. In 1996 he was a #1 candidate as well, although he didn't have the big 1v1 matches that he did in '92/'93.
Best matches: vs. Santo (1987), vs. Santo (1991), vs. Dandy (1992), vs. Ultimo Dragon (1993), vs. Fiera (1993), vs. Santo (1997), vs. Blue Panther (2012)

3) Fuerza Guerrera
Strength: A totally singular approach to villainy that was like 50% comedy, and it somehow worked.
Weakness: Doesn't have the resume of the workers around him on this list, in part because he was 5-15 years older than they were and likely had more of his best stuff in the '80s. But he also had a personality that didn't necessarily lend itself well to epic matches, especially against other top workers.
Peak: In 1990 he's one of the five best workers in Mexico. In 1991 he's my pick for #1 in the country and a contender for best in the world. He was still great for several years after, but as more of a great entertainer than a worker's worker. 1990-91 had the strongest overlap between his pure wrestling ability and his showmanship.
Best matches: vs. Pantera (1990), vs. Octagon (1991), vs. Misterioso (1991), the definitive AAA 3v3 (March 17 1995)
(I'm trying to limit the "best matches" to 1v1s, for reasons of space in this post and simplicity of assigning credit, and because I know that's what most people are looking for anyway. I'm also trying to combine my personal preferences with those of the rest of the universe for that section. I don't know if it's working.)

4) El Dandy
Strength: A master of two essential matches in the lucha style, the title match and the 3v3 leadup to a bigger match. The latter is especially valuable, as whenever there's a Dandy 1v1 available, it means that there are likely one or two preceding matches worth watching as well.
Weakness: Prime is inconsistent in quality, and his WCW years are largely a waste. Several of his best brawls involve rudo ref spots, which for a lot of people is an automatic fail.
Peak: One of the best wrestlers in the world in 1989 and 1990. There used to be a mythos around around his 1990 that I'm not sure still exists. Was one of the best in the world in 1996 as well, albeit at a slightly lesser level. Prime starts with the Pirata Morgan match at the latest and ends with the three-way at the end of '96.
Best matches: vs. Pirata Morgan (1988), vs. Angel Azteca (June 1990), vs. Satanico (December 1990), vs. Negro Casas (1992), vs. Santo and Casas (1996)

5) Virus
Strength: One of the best technical wrestlers who's ever lived.
Weakness: He can brawl, but I wouldn't call him a great brawler, and his resume also lacks heated 3v3s.
Peak: I think that Virus was at his best 2011-2015, when he was working as an old school rudo champion in a modern CMLL, but his best year (grading the performances rather than the worker) was 1997. He's up there with Eddy Guerrero and Stone Cold for the best in the Western Hemisphere that year. A rare case of peak and prime not aligning.
Best matches: Damiancito el Guerrero vs. Cicloncito Ramirez (1997), vs. Guerrero Maya Jr. (2011), vs. Guerrero Maya Jr. (2013), vs. Fuego (2014), vs. Metalico (2019)
(I've dropped Virus a couple of spots since the last time I worked on this list. I have a lot of respect for how hard he had to work and how good he had to be to escape the minis division and get bigtime matches on the main roster, and when I went through his career that really hit home with me. A couple years later, I'm a little more focused on how cruiserweighty his minis work is, and his lack of emotional 3v3s does bother me a little.)

6) Atlantis
Strength: The best 3v3 worker of all time, and it's not like he's lacking for great 1v1 matches.
Weakness: Had a reputation as more of a follower in the ring than a leader. Regardless of how true that is, you're not going to come away from Atlantis matches thinking that he's a genius. And I know that a lot of people grade wrestlers on how smart they are.
Peak: Top ten worker in Mexico from 1989-1992 (and looks just as good in the scant footage of 1988 Atlantis). In 1991-92 he's probably top five. In 1988-89 he was one of the best flyers in the world.
Best matches: vs. Faraon (1985), vs. Blue Panther (1991), vs. Emilio Charles (1992), vs. Blue Panther (1997), vs. Villano III (2000)
(I would rate Atlantis vs. Satanico from 1984 above most of these matches, but I'm not sure if it's a great Atlantis performance even if it is a great match. He was just twenty-one.)

[Gramsci]

Excellent post. I'll have to think about it, but right now I have Santito, Casas, and Satánico as #1 candidates. Also, I want to explore how far I can go with Sangre Chicana with all the footage we have of him. Last week I watched his retirement match against Satánico, and it's a beautiful work of art.

El Dandy is in contention for the Top 10; if you look at his versatility, his input in all the matches we have of him, and his catalog of good-to-great matches, he's just as good as anyone else.

I also want to do a deep dive of Atlantis. I love him, but I want to explore some of the criticisms I've read about him because I just don't see them. I wouldn't say he's among the 10 or 20 best wrestlers, but he's at least in the second tier for me.

[Tetsujin]

El Hijo del Santo is a top 10 contender for me at the moment. He's my #11 right now (defending his slot against another four guys), but I can see him getting as high as #8.

Negro Casas might end up somewhere in my top 25. He's my #29 at the moment, but there's a huge battle from #16 to #29 and his stock is rising in my eyes.

LA Park is in my top 50, and I'm confident in him staying there. He's my #47 and I can see him gettin as high as #40. Tbh from #40 downwards my list is just a mess, big moves up and down could occur, but he's one of the guys I'm feeling more comfortable with.

Satánico and Dandy are in my 80s right now. I've never clicked with them as much as with the other three guys, but their catalogue is undenniable. Maybe Satánico gets in my top 75 because I still need to watch some of his most famous stuff from the 00s, but not farther than that.

Last, but maybe not least, Blue Panther and Atlantis are two guys I'm 99% sure I'll vote for them, but I need to rewatch some of their most acclaimed stuff first, it's been a long while. Panther is still adding to his case today (holy shit), which definitely helps. He's not reaching Satánico's level for me yet, but I believe it's a matter of when, not if.

Guys I need to dive deep before putting them on my top 100, but I definitely see their potential: Villano III, Mocho Cota, Virus, Hechicero. I simply need to watch more.

[highflyflow]

At the very least, I'm considering (not in order):

• El Hijo del Santo
• Negro Casas
• El Dandy
• El Satanico
• Blue Panther
• Sangre Chicana
• Atlantis
• Villano III
• LA Park
• Mocho Cota
• Virus
• Hechicero
• Rush
• Pirata Morgan
• Black Terry
• Fuerza Guerrera
• Perro Aguayo
• Jerry Estrada
• Emilio Charles Jr
• Gran Hamada
• La Fiera
• Mistico
• MS-1

A lot of these candidates are here because of the 1980s DVDVR lucha set, which I've finished recently.

[Boss Rock]

Locks so far:

Negro Casas

El Satanico

El Hijo del Santo

Atlantis

L.A. Park

 

Under consideration/need to see more of:

El Dandy

Sangre Chicana

Perro Aguayo

 

Admittedly lucha isn't my favorite style, but the best are really good.

[ohtani's jacket]

Santo has a formula. It's a good formula, though, and it works. No matter how many times I watch a Santo match, I'm still awestruck by his signature spots. I think the other thing that adds to his mystique is that like an old-school territory attraction, he never really sticks around long enough to wear out his welcome. He'd disappear from CMLL TV then show up again and immediately prop up the match quality. And when he wasn't on CMLL TV, you had to rely on whatever footage you could find of him from the smaller Mexican promotions or overseas. 

Casas was a genius performer. I think he's a better worker than Santo when it comes to performing. Santo is a better worker technically. That said, Casas wasn't in the same boat as Santo in terms of being a masked luchador and carrying the heavyweight legacy probably in the history of wrestling. Peak Casas is an experience to behold. People went over the top with the hypebole for him in the early 2010s about being the best worker in the world for every year of his career. I'm in the mid-00s right now and he pretty much only shines when he's Santo's tag partner. 

I love Fuerza, but I can't see him as a top 5 guy. He did some great stuff but it was within the Pena camp and that was never my favorite style. Great comedy, though. I also think Virus is on the outside looking in, but there are a few matches I haven't watched yet. His best trios stuff was pure workrate lucha, as far as I recall. 

Dandy isn't championed as much as he was two decades ago. I guess two amazing prime years aren't really enough of a case. He did have some decent stuff post-prime, but you have to sift through a lot of mediocre stuff to find it. All of that 1990 stuff was new to us at the time. ironically, I was never much of a source for anything, but I did help unearth the matches against Pirata Morgan and the hair match against Emilio. 

Atlantis is a great tecnico worker, and in my opinion, the best tecnico trios match worker of all-time, but I've been watching his heel run lately, and it's not good. I'm not sure how good of a worker you are if you can't play the rudo role convincingly, especially after facing so many greats over the years. 

I guess the top three are Santo, Casas and Satanico. Satanico has his weaknesses too, but I think he's better than anyone else on the list in terms of available footage.