The 2026 GWE Honourable Mentions Reveal Thread

[Grimmas]

#118

Megumi Kudo

 

 

2016 Ranking: 195

2006 Ranking: 126

 

Points: 6137

Points per Vote: 47.9

Votes: 128, 26.61% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 1-5-20

High Vote: 3

High Voter: Cody Milkman

 

[Grimmas]

#117

Kensuke Sasaki
"lowest ranked Hokuto"

 

 

2016 Ranking: 174

2006 Ranking: 105

 

Points: 6158

Points per Vote: 44.3

Votes: 139, 28.90% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 0-4-20

High Vote: 4

High Voter: Vince

[Grimmas]

#116

"Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig

 

 

2016 Ranking: 55

2006 Ranking: 45

 

Points: 6181

Points per Vote: 42.0

Votes: 147, 30.56% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 1-3-14

High Vote: 2

High Voter: Logan

[Grimmas]

#115

Christian Cage

 

 

2016 Ranking: 102

2006 Ranking: -

 

Points: 6209

Points per Vote: 34.7

Votes: 179, 37.21% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 1-1-16

High Vote: 1

High Voter: Steven DeYoung 

[Grimmas]

#114

Bob Backlund

 

 

2016 Ranking: 93

2006 Ranking: 76

 

Points: 6414

Points per Vote: 43.6

Votes: 147, 30.56% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 1-3-16

High Vote: 3

High Voter: Connor

[Grimmas]

#113

Dick TOGO

 

 

2016 Ranking: 71

2006 Ranking: 98

 

Points: 6468

Points per Vote: 48.3

Votes: 134, 27.86% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 0-8-21

High Vote: 6

High Voters: Jorge Romo, Anto, jom, FMUSA GoF, Sinj Throwaway 

[Grimmas]

#112

Atlantis

 

 

2016 Ranking: 74

2006 Ranking: 94

 

Points: 6483

Points per Vote: 43.5

Votes: 149, 30.98% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 1-6-17

High Vote: 3

High Voter: Cromat

[Grimmas]

#111

Yuji Nagata

 

 

2016 Ranking: 173

2006 Ranking: 186

 

Points: 6602

Points per Vote: 42.9

Votes: 154, 32.02% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 1-2-11

High Vote: 3

High Voter: Craig Spencer

[Grimmas]

#110

Mark Briscoe

 

 

2016 Ranking: 306

2006 Ranking: -

 

Points: 6888

Points per Vote: 37.0

Votes: 186, 38.67% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 0-1-10

High Vote: 7

High Voter: Henry/HeadCheese

[Grimmas]

#109

Shinjiro Otani

 

 

2016 Ranking: 65

2006 Ranking: 27

 

Points: 7045

Points per Vote: 48.6

Votes: 145, 30.15% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 0-4-22

High Vote: 8

High Voters: Craig Spencer, Bobby C, Rana

[Grimmas]

 #108

Shingo Takagi

 

 

2016 Ranking: 255

2006 Ranking: -

 

Points: 7055

Points per Vote: 53.9

Votes: 131, 27.23% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 1-7-28

High Vote: 1

High Voter: Alan4L

 

"21 years of greatness. A portfolio of work that surpasses anyone before him or alongside him. Some of the greatest matches I've ever seen, many of which I've had the privilege of experiencing live. Boundless charisma. The perfect combination of great wrestling brain and the heart of a wrestler, which sees him still continuing to produce greatness as recently as his IWGP title challenge this week. Throws a real crisp jab." Alan4L 

[Grimmas]

#107

Abdullah The Butcher

 

 

2016 Ranking: 234

2006 Ranking: 227

 

Points: 7065

Points per Vote: 49.1

Votes: 144, 29.94% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 0-11-26

High Vote: 4

High Voter: Fluegel

[Grimmas]

#106

Mayu Iwatani

 

 

2016 Ranking: -

2006 Ranking: -

 

Points: 7209

Points per Vote: 61.1

Votes: 118, 24.53% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 4-13-38

High Vote: 1

High Voters: Evan, Iok Kujan, wntrmoha

 

"She has an unmatchable level of both talent and charisma. She can pull you into a match unlike any other, her passion for wrestling comes across every time you watch her, you believe in everything she does. So good at selling she got a nickname for it "Zombie Mayu", you can see the effects of the match, and she translates that into her offense so well. Speaking of her offense, it's so beautiful to look at. She executes it all so perfectly, and it's such a fun move-set. One of the best at playing the babyface, but don't look past her ability to play the bully either, she's fantastic at that too. To speak on the charisma, I don't think there's a more lovable personality in wrestling history, Mayu is so goofy and clumsy, so authentic. Wrestling is about making you making you feel something, and nobody has ever been able to do that like Mayu has." Evan

 

 

"While I started watching wrestling in 1999-00 as a kid with WCW primarily and secondarily WWF (I went to Spring Stampede '00 and saw the Slamboree 2000 on PPV) I did go on a hiatus in the early 00s and again after the Lashley/Umaga Wrestlemania until I saw the Shinsuke Nakamura/Kota Ibushi match in the mid 2010s. I then eased myself back into watching wrestling with NXT PPVs, New Japan and DDT until 2021 during COVID I got a Stardom World subscription. The first show I saw was right after the Giulia/Tam Nakano hair vs. hair title match, and Mayu Iwatani made the biggest impression on me and is a big part of changing my tastes and consumption of professional wrestling.

 

She's not the greatest wrestler ever because she made me a joshi fan, she made me a joshi fan by showing me wrestling at such a high level that I never knew women were capable of besides what I'd heard of All Japan Women in the 90s. Whether it was a house show filler many-person tag match where she'd be in the ring for 2 minutes tops or defending the red belt against her best in the world peers like Shuri, Tam Nakano or Giulia, she always gave maximum effort. She leveraged her long, lanky thin frame into a style and moveset that accentuated speed, high flying and precise blows. Her mix of sharp strikes from her heavy elbows to her absolutely perfected superkick that only she does in the way she does, often used as a desperation counter and accompanied with her collapsing, to the truly suicidal dives she does through the ropes often not being caught enough, to her gorgeous moonsault and amazing blind leap poisonrana, she's a wrestler that had a deep and diverse back of exciting moves that also played into the drama of the matches she was in. When Kota Ibushi would do it in New Japan it did become a sort of joke, but the Mayu Iwatani "zombie" mode that usually only keep deep in matches with her most challenging opponents like Takumi Iroha, showed her side of the wrestler as a professional with personal pride and lines of disrespect that can't be crossed. This juxtaposed with the (real life) persona she has of a dope klutz helped give her flexibility to excel in the serious MOTY ordeals people hunger to watch but also do her part in comedy matches.

 

All of this "offensive" skill wouldn't amount to much, though, if she wasn't also masterful in ring psychology and especially selling. Her gumby frame has led to famous gifs and clips of her landing on her neck or being folded over like a napkin while in boston crabs, and while this has obvious value in the big time matches when it comes time to make Utami Hayashishita look like a powerhouse or to convey the absolute exhaustion she's suffering after a long bout with Takumi Iroha, it comes to bear for helping rookies out too. Last year at Stardom Path of Thunder she had a match with fresh rookie Yuria Hime who (still) isn't particularly impressive with any parts of professional wrestling. Mayu Iwatani took to the match like a sadistic vet picking and abusing the rookie but when it was time for Yuria Hime to make her comeback Mayu Iwatani gave her everything. She was flying backwards from deep dropicks, wincing from elbows, gasping and straining when put into submissions, she did everything in her power to make the audience believe Yuria Hime was making headway against the master. Compare also her match this year against Takumi Iroha for the GHC title, where Iroha ragdolled and dominated Mayu Iwatani for the great majority of the match and all you saw from her was complete exhaustion and a wrestler on the brink of defeat. It even played to the final moments of the match, when she slipped on the ropes while attempting to set up her poisonrana from the top rope, and opted for double moonsaults instead.

 

With that little bit of background I gave comes the implied experience of seeing Okada, Omega, Naito, Tanahashi, Ibushi, etc. but to me none of them hold a candle to Mayu Iwatani. None of them through purely the strength of their skill have molded or shaped my entire worldview of professional wrestling. I'm importing hundreds of dollars worth of joshi wrestling DVDs from the 00s, an era that's a complete blackhole to me, entirely because I want to have a deeper appreciation and understanding of the wrestling Mayu Iwatani showed me. I proselytize joshi wrestling to lapsed fans and people who've never had an interest in professional wrestling as the way to shake preconceived notions of not only what wrestling can be like but what women's wrestling can be. That happened because Mayu Iwatani's wrestling is transformational."  Iok Kujan

 

 

"Most relatable and the one who will make you feel the most. Best seller and bumper of all time." wntrmoha

[Grimmas]

#105

Chris Jericho

 

 

2016 Ranking: 73

2006 Ranking: 84

 

Points: 7227

Points per Vote: 47.2

Votes: 153, 31.81% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 4-5-23

High Vote: 2

High Voter: Dhruv Chouhan

 

[Grimmas]

#104

"Playboy" Buddy Rose

 

 

2016 Ranking: 36

2006 Ranking: 239

 

Points: 7232

Points per Vote: 56.9

Votes: 127, 26.40% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 3-11-33

High Vote: 1

High Voters: Jenna Funk, TheLawdawg99

 

 

"Nobody has felt more like a centerpiece of the world than Buddy Rose does." Jenna Funk

[Grimmas]

#103

Mariko Yoshida

 

 

2016 Ranking: 187

2006 Ranking: 59

 

Points: 7342

Points per Vote: 54.8

Votes: 134, 27.86% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 1-11-32

High Vote: 3

High Voter: Gary

 

[Grimmas]

#102

Low Ki

 

 

2016 Ranking: 107

2006 Ranking: 250

 

Points: 7392

Points per Vote: 38.5

Votes: 192, 39.92% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 2-4-13

High Vote: 1

High Voters: Basterd, Wrestle Scrap 4 Lyfe 

 

[Grimmas]

#101

Zack Sabre Jr.

 

 

2016 Ranking: 327

2006 Ranking: -

 

Points: 7442

Points per Vote: 43.8

Votes: 170, 35.34% of Ballots

Top 3-10-25 Votes: 0-3-24

High Vote: 8

High Voter: Ed Mills