Predictions

[Reel]

I think there's a certain reverence for it in most circles, but at the same time, I think a lot of people just haven't watched it, and don't really want to. I mean, I saw a ballot with Moxley over Stan Hansen today. 

[Matt D]

42 minutes ago, Garbage said:

I'd hate to single out the guy but I also think Dave Meltzer planting his feet in the ground that matches have only gotten better over time doesn't help a lot of it. Maybe a lot of these younger fans would like Misawa vs. Kawada or Duggan vs. DiBiase, but they also might go into assuming it can't be better than Tanahashi vs. Okada or Omega vs. Hangman Page. Maybe I'm overestimating how far this has spread, though. 

Give me ten years.

[NotJayTabb]

I think a lot of AJPW 90s stuff can be daunting just on the length of the matches. If you aren't too au fait with Misawa or Kobashi, and you look up one of their matches on YouTube, a 49 minute running time feels a lot. In contrast, I found a lot of territory stuff easy to get into because of how much everything zips by.

[josephweirdness]

I don't really expect the Pillars to fall too steeply. I'd put my money on seeing all four still represented on the final list. While I agree that there's been a pushback on the King's Road canon, I feel like this still comes from a more niche subset of the voters that are maybe just in the same general circles we frequent which is why we see the narrative more often. Just speaking anecdotally, of course, but I think the fact that the most remembered and requested aspect of my own work is still continued coverage of 90s King's Road means that there's still very high interest in the time period and that'll likely come through in the final list. 

[Garbage]

I do think the pillars will be fine, and I think the 'push back' on a lot of it is pushing back against the idea that it's the definitive and unquestioned peak of what a time period can be in terms of matches. Which, as big a fan of that era as I still am (if I made a top 100 matches, I'd bet 90s All Japan would still be the most well-represented decade for a company), I think is healthy as long it doesn't feel unnecessarily contrarian (though, how can that be proven person-to-person anyway). I think someone like Hashimoto should have always been seen as equal to any of them.

I do think the length of the matches is daunting for people too like NotJayTabb said above, not to mention for newer viewers there can be pressure to think "well these four 35 minute matches need to be watched before the BEST one, is what I heard."

8 hours ago, Matt D said:

Give me ten years.

I name one of my children Matthew D if you get Gen Alpha to think Andre is better than Will Ospreay let's gooooo (or whatever gen alpha are saying as a hype phrase in 2036)

[brockobama]

Forgot to mention this the other day but Matsunaga will skyrocket up the list. I'd guess he ends up in the 100-200 range but wouldn't be shocked to see him land in the double digits. 

 

13 hours ago, NotJayTabb said:

If you aren't too au fait with Misawa or Kobashi, and you look up one of their matches on YouTube, a 49 minute running time feels a lot.

Speaking from personal experience with a lot of fellow first-time voters, I think this is a very common feeling. 

[El Dragon]

My predictions

 

-People are talking about out the territory guys, but the ones who are really screwed are the early to mid 90’s junior style guys. Too Cold might have a shot but Pillman, Owen, and Waltman feel absolutely boned

-Joshi’s rise is huge for it, but doesn’t go to any of the other previously undersold styles. Lucha ends up with less representatives then 2016, shoot only gets 2-3 depending on Ishikawa, and World of Sport only gets Breaks and Saint in the top 200, neither cracking the top 100.

-The 00’s Indy guys outside of the clear big 4 (Danielson, Joe, Punk, Styles) struggle more than expected. Just a gut feeling the New Japan push edges a lot of them out

[Tetsujin]

The length of matches being something that push new fans back when it comes to the Pillars is funny to me, considering most of the modern classics that have been canonized in the last decade and a half are the same length and worked mostly on the same style.

[Makai Club #1]

The Pillars will still get great credit based on the voting states which show a lot of the voters began watching in the 90s and 2000s, where there legend were in full effect. 

My predictions are:

Danielson #1

Omega in the top 10

Old favourites like Ted Dibiase and Barry Windham will drop off. 

[Scarletlikesounds]

14 hours ago, El Dragon said:

My predictions

 

-People are talking about out the territory guys, but the ones who are really screwed are the early to mid 90’s junior style guys. Too Cold might have a shot but Pillman, Owen, and Waltman feel absolutely boned

-Joshi’s rise is huge for it, but doesn’t go to any of the other previously undersold styles. Lucha ends up with less representatives then 2016, shoot only gets 2-3 depending on Ishikawa, and World of Sport only gets Breaks and Saint in the top 200, neither cracking the top 100.

-The 00’s Indy guys outside of the clear big 4 (Danielson, Joe, Punk, Styles) struggle more than expected. Just a gut feeling the New Japan push edges a lot of them out

Too Cold, Pillman, Owen & Waltman are for sure not cracking 100 and probably not 200 for a couple. Wouldn't be surprised to see Jericho get hurt by his aew run too. 
 

Lucha definitely gets less rep than 2016, we were pretty spoiled for lucha rep back then. I agree with shoot getting basically just Han, Tamura & Ishikawa. From what I've seen Breaks will absolutely crack top 100 but a good bit lower than last time and nobody else will come close from WoS. 

I imagine Claudio makes it or is a hard cut. Roddy places in the 100-200 section or just out of it. Briscoes both make top 200 but dunno if they make the list proper, Jay probably will at least. Low-Ki doesn't. If this poll had been a year ago Sami Zayn would've made the overall list but sentiment has turned against him hard in late 2025/2026 for some reason.

[Scarletlikesounds]

The Pillars all still make it and in high positions except for Taue who's in jeapordy but prob still makes it.

[club]

Of the pillars, Kobashi will be comfortably the top ranked.

[Boss Rock]

Lucha may not get a ton of new additions, but Casas and Santito will finish higher than in 2016, possibly top 10.

[TheBean]

Interesting to hear people talking about what a few of us were hinting at before voting took place regarding age/generational stuff and how that will effect the results. The shorter match time stuff is neat to hear for instance. Back in the day when buying tapes or DVDs, you'd want that big match to be super long since you were spending your money basically for that one match (unless a comp). Now since we're watching most online, we don't really want these 40 + minute epics. I know I feel that way when finding new stuff to watch.

I'm super interested to see where some 80's wrestlers end up. Windham was in the top 25 and I'd like to see where he lands. As a Scorpio fan, I was surprised he was as high as he was in 2016 😄

I'd like to see the lucha and UK fans, make their own lists of top 25 wrestlers since it seems consensus they're going to be underrepresented.