GWE 2026 Reaction Thread

[Control21]

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka jumping into the top 300 is pretty neat. 

[Reel]

A real mix of wrestlers I considered and hated leaving off and modern names I wouldn’t even really put in my top 50 of the any year in the last decade. 

Kikuchi is officially the first real gut check for me, I had him at 55. Feels like he got slighted in a way no one else on my ballot did. 

[ohheylook]

Buzz missing the top 300, BRUTALE.

[KB8]

I'm like 200 names behind at this point and I'll get caught up eventually, but for now I'll just talk about the people I actually voted for:

 

#455

Le Petit Prince

He was my #98 but only because I didn't feel like I'd seen enough to put him higher. I couldn't leave him off, though. It's insane what he was doing 60+ years ago. STUPIDLY agile, rapid fast, graceful, everything - like prime Rey Jr. and Tiger Mask rolled into one, only two decades before the latter. Could also thump you under the chin with forearm uppercuts. An absurd pro wrestler. Might be 50 spots higher if we do this again in 2036.

 

 

#444

Mocho Cota

I had Cota lower this time around (#95) because I hadn't really seen him in years, but he's probably always going to be a lock for me with something like this. A one-of-a-kind shithead stooge who could beg off and look completely irredeemable with the best of them. Could absolutely go on the mat as well though, and the Americo Rocca matches are sensational, the first being one of the best lucha title matches ever. At some point I need to watch the Casas apuestas from '94. 

 

 

#436

"Crusher" Jerry Blackwell

My #80. One of the best fatboy wrestlers there's ever been. Blackwell is also in that absolute elite tier of morbidly obese bump freak lunatics and might actually be #1. A man of his size taking the sort of wild cage match bumps he took is insane and he'd do it about three times every outing. Any time Jerry Blackwell was put in a cage match you were guaranteed at least one moment where you ask yourself how a man of such portliness can do what he does. For such a bump freak though, I think he was exceptional at timing and milking those bumps. Also involved in a handful of the best brawls of the 80s.

 

#428

Yoji Anjoh

Anjoh was my #55. He's one of my favourite wrestlers ever and an incredible temperamental prick. Even in a pure shoot style sense Anjoh always had a flare for the dramatic, which I think makes him pretty easily accessible to those who are far more pro-style-leaning. There was something relatable about Anjoh. You could prod him, push his buttons, and inevitably he would fly off the handle. We all knew someone like that (maybe we WERE that someone). Whenever he'd waltz into WAR or New Japan he operated with an amazing arrogance, someone who acted like they were above this pro wrestling slop and played it to the point where he drew some pretty awesome heat. The Tamura match from '91 and the Sano match from '93 are amongst the best shoot style matches of the 90s. He was awesome and him dropping over 200 places is brutal. 

 

 

#402

Yoshihisa Yamamoto

Another shoot style master who had a temper. Fun as a promising young talent in the early RINGS years, great by '95 going toe to toe with Han, a demon in that '96-'99 period stepping to Tamura and Kohsaka. When Yamamoto cut loose he was a whirlwind. #99 feels too low but like a bunch of the other folk who fell down my list this time, I just haven't watched that much of him over the past 10 years. 

 

 

#366

Naoki Sano

I had Sano at #36 - 11 spots higher than where I had him in 2016 - so seeing him drop almost 250 places compared to 10 years ago is a real bummer. Fujiwara would top my own list, but Sano has a legit case for being the best wrestler ever to do both pro and shoot style. He was amazing at both, with some of the best matches ever in those styles. The Liger feud is obviously iconic and we even got at least one more handheld from that feud a few years ago. The Shamrock and Anjoh bouts are among the best ever shoot style fights and Sano was better than just about anybody ever at integrating pro style moves into shoot style bouts without them feeling hokey. So it makes sense that he could show up in Battlarts and be amazing there too. He had a long and varied career and I'm not having this idea that he spent most of him time in NOAH coasting, which was a talking point floated around during the 2016 vote. Did goodhelmet ever make that Naoki Sano comp? 

 

#357

Michael "P-S" Hayes

I'm actually shocked Hayes was just outside the top 100 in 2016. He was my #94 this time and probably about there 10 years ago as well. Very few wrestlers were as good as Hayes at working the wild out of control barroom brawl. Insanely charismatic and a vicious animal when cornered. 20 years ago it felt like he was definitely considered the weakest of the Freebirds, then 10 years ago - or maybe 15 as we were fresh off the Texas 80s set - he might've had a good shout as being considered the best, and now it looks like the pendulum has swung back to Gordy as consensus best. I like Gordy a ton but for me it's still Hayes. 

 

 

#327

Masanobu Kurisu

My #89. One of the most deeply unpleasant little bastards in the history of the game and I could watch him all day. The sort of guy who worked like he was ready to drag the match off the rails into a legit shoot at any point and made his opponents earn absolutely everything. There are few things in wrestling I find more fun than Kurisu being determined to smash someone in the head with a folding chair. 

 

 

#316

"The Natural Hacksaw" Butch Reed

One of my three favourite wrestlers ever. I had Reed at #47. Could work heel or babyface at a high level and he's got the awesome brawls, the awesome tag work, the awesome long "technical wrestling" contests, the super fun studio work - it's a tremendous resume. A great walking tall badass and an equally great bumping stooge. For me the 9/85 Murdoch match is a contender for best US match ever. 

 

 

#306

Negro Navarro

Had Navarro at #91. I haven't watched more than two Navarro matches since the last vote and I almost left him off, but I couldn't do it. The hold-release-hold style of lucha grappling isn't always my favourite, but he might be the master of it and when he does it I find it captivating. He's also the sort of guy who carries an aura of bad motherfucker so even in his 60s there's a sense he could turn around and just as easily take your jaw off with a forearm as he could take your arm off with a kimura. 

 

#305

La Fiera

Fiera dropped a bit down my list this time, and again it's because I haven't really thought about him in years. I watched a ton of Fiera leading up to the last deadline so he got the bump then, but either way he's exceptional and was never falling off the list entirely. An ungodly terror when someone earned his ire and pretty excellent at garnering sympathy for someone who looks like he'd steal your car then go with you to the police station to report it stolen. 

 

 

#301

"Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer

I never voted for Sawyer in 2016. Since then I've watched probably 80% of the Buzz Sawyer we have on tape, voted him #69 this time around, and let me tell you, Buzz Sawyer was incredible. Someone worth watching against basically anybody, whether it's a two-minute squash on TV, a wild 10-minute dog collar match in the arena, or anything in between. An awesome tag wrestler who would always inject some sneaky brutality into proceedings, including just biting a guy in the shoulder if they happened to wander too close to the corner he was in. The WWE Vault dropping Omni cards has helped massively because he's looked awesome in basically all of it. Especially the recent Piper dog collar match, which was a true holy grail for me and it lived up to the expectations. 

 

 

#296

Takeshi Ono

Well a jump of seven places is still a jump, I guess. Ono was my #20 this time around. One of the greatest violent tsunamis in history.

 

 

#291

Fuerza Guerrera

Fuerza dropping 150 spots is another kick in the teeth. Whoever said everyone outside of maybe the top two or three lucha candidates are going to take a hit this time was probably onto something. One of the greatest shtick wrestlers to ever do it, but also someone who could throw the bullshit out the window and brawl like his life depended on it. The Pantera II match also showed his grappling chops and guess what, he was fucking awesome at that too. A true rudo, one who was never interested in being cool or having his pockets of fans. My #38. 

 

 

#280

MS-1

Even if Satanico never exactly needed a second in command, MS-1 was a spectacular second in command and almost an equal as a badass. What MS-1 would show a little more of though, was MAJOR ASS. An unreal brawler and an unreal stooge, sometimes both in the same match. Someone who'd add all sorts of nasty little touches to a rudo mugging and an amazing "little things" wrestler in general. My #72. Also part of one of the three greatest matches in wrestling history so maybe that counts for something. 

 

 

#279

Austin Aries

I'm actually sort of shocked Aries made it this high. I'm also shocked he made it even higher last time. I'm ALSO also shocked I voted for him again. Since the last vote I've gone back and re-watched a bunch of 00s indies and Aries has held up better than almost anybody. He was an offensive dynamo but it very rarely felt like he was just doing stuff because it looked cool - the offence was focused and a lot of his more dynamic stuff came off as an organic part of the match, where he was responding to a situation rather than manufacturing one in order to hit something specifically. In that sense I guess he was pretty great at positioning and actually setting those moments up. There's a lot of wrestling today that does nothing for me because the wrestlers are doing all this stuff that is clearly rehearsed and you see them going through the steps to do it all. You could make the argument Aries was doing it 20+ years ago, only you never really saw the strings. He was my #92 and I remain shocked at how much I like him as a worker. 

[gungan]

Takeshi Ono: He should be much higher, but I expected him to rank lower tbh. Fucking awesome wrestler.

Survival Tobita: I had him at 100. I wish there was more footage of him because he's fantastic.

Kyle O'Reilly: I've always struggled to connect with him because he's too much of a generic junior kickpad guy. If only those Finn Balor and Moxley matches weren't anomalies in his body of work.

Austin Aries: I like him a fair bit, but I find that he gets overrated because his high end stuff is so good. My general impression of him is that he had his best matches with all-time greats like Joe, Danielson, and Low Ki and he had a tendency of leaning into the worst tendencies of flawed opponents. He also had a tendency of tanking matches with no selling when it was time for him to get his shit in.

[HeadCheese]

Checked out Alex Nabiev, the commentary team sharing a microphone is cute and one is wearing a Dr. Wagner Jr mask! 

[MoS]

With Davey's steep fall, wonder when Dynamite Kid will drop 

[NotJayTabb]

Sheamus dropping from 2016 is a bit of a surprise, given that he's only enchanced his case since the last poll. He's had the best of seven with Cesaro, leading into that really fun run as The Bar. Then some fun stuff with the Brawling Brutes, including the banger against Gunther in Wales and the Mania triple threat with Gunther and McIntyre. Even just allowing for modern candidates, I suspect we're going to see a lot of wrestlers with less to offer than Sheamus higher than him.

[El McKell]

8 hours ago, Tetsujin said:

OMG Kikuchi dropped already? That's sad. I asume most of the 100s will be WWE guys, and those "almost-in-the-list" (*) kind of wrestlers are getting pushed down a lot of spots.

 

(*)Edit: wow, and right now Wahoo, Yamazaki and Fuerza fell as well. Yeap.

I’m thinking with how where Taichi ended up, the fact that we still haven’t seen Hirooki Goto yet, that we have seen Rhea Ripley & that Sheamus did worse than 2016….top 100 is going to be 2010s NJPW heavy

[Noah's_Savior]

I'm not surprised that Toshiyo Yamada managed to get such a high placement in the original GWE but I don't think I could ever place her in my personal top 10 joshi list. It's cool that Etsuko Mita has made it back to the list.

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

5 hours ago, KB8 said:

I'm like 200 names behind at this point and I'll get caught up eventually, but for now I'll just talk about the people I actually voted for:

Please do continue, always enjoy seeing posts with a bit of effort put in, so your views are greatly appreciated.

Quote

 

#279

Austin Aries

I'm actually sort of shocked Aries made it this high. I'm also shocked he made it even higher last time. I'm ALSO also shocked I voted for him again.

Top kek.

The fact that Aries has pretty much worked everywhere and even got a decent WWE run despite his outrageously bad reputation of being difficult to work with speaks to his talent. A guy that size in the business probably always felt he had a chip on his shoulder at the best of times, but really couldn't stop being his own worst enemy for long enough to produce consistently great stuff. 

[ohtani's jacket]

There was a time when I would have considered Steve Grey and Jim Breaks finishing above Johnny Saint to be a victory of sorts, but I don't care anymore. I like Saint in competitive matches. I don't like Saint in four-round showcase matches. He's also my least favorite of the George Kidd impersonators. 

I got a kick out of seeing Andy  Kaufman and Fuerza side by side. 

Kazuo Yamazaki strikes me as an easy guy for people to forget about over time.

I don't know who Gary is, or whether he posts here, but there's just as much/little Blassie footage as any other 50s star. 

Cool to see Ono holding his own.

MS-1 must surely be getting a bump from the Chicana match.

Pleasantly surprised that people still remember Survival Tobita in 2026.

Why is Perro Jr higher than so many other luchadores?

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

1 hour ago, El McKell said:

I’m thinking with how where Taichi ended up, the fact that we still haven’t seen Hirooki Goto yet, that we have seen Rhea Ripley & that Sheamus did worse than 2016….top 100 is going to be 2010s NJPW heavy

I'm inclined to agree, and I think its just natural as time passes. For a lot of voters of a certain age, 2012-2014 NJPW is likely the first time they'd ever watched a Japanese promotion while it made a hot run. Not digging up old tapes of 90s Champions Carnival matches, but actually watching it live as it happened, with wrestlers who were visiting your city, and had t-shirt you could buy. It's natural that has an impact on any wrestling fans.

For the same reason 2021-2023ish AEW/WWE will both rate highly as time goes on. For many votes (and more every year) it will be the first time they ever experienced the North American scene being truly hot with two companies firing on all cylinders. Some very good wrestlers from yesteryear will be hard done by, but such is the way of things

[El-P]

I have this very funny memory during the pandemic. During a WOR episode. Out of literally NOWHERE, Dave asks Brian "You know who's a complete idiot ?". *Immediately* it popped up in my brain. Brian says he doesn't know. Dave goes "AUSTIN ARIES !". Cracked the fuck out of me. 

He probably would have been my highest rated douchebag. I mean, between the awful Christy Hemme stuff, the indeed idiotic anti-mask stuff and all the unprofesionnal shit during his career, culminating with the always hilarious "Stand up and casually walks away" right after the three count at Slammiversary 2019 (the main event mind you), Aries is the posterboy for asshole who tanked his career because of a misplaced ego. And the thing is, that douchebag is indeed awesome. Insane mechanics, great as a heel, great as a babyface, great promo. Hell, I've seen him two weeks ago in Arena Mexico thanks to the WTF partnership with MLW (Fusion coming up, I swear), the guy is still really good to this day. At worst, he would be a big name in TNA. At best, he would be having bangers left and right in AEW. Instead, he has to rely on Court Bouer, the carniest modern carny who will sign every problematic guy under the sun. (BTW, Matt Riddle did not make it at all ? Incredible, well not that incredible, considering who he was ten years ago)

Kyle O'Reilly. As great as his tag work in ROH, NJPW and NXT B&G had been, he probably has peaked since his return in AEW last year with the awesome Mox feud. Just like Roddy, for a guy who was for a long time dismissed by a certain crowd as "generic ROH guy with kickpads", he has shown so much character and charisma in AEW. Should probably be 200 spots ahead or something. 

[NotJayTabb]

There was a small window between Kyle O'Reilly leaving the most boring faction in wrestling and him leaving WWE where he worked as a babyface and let his natural goofy charisma shine through, and it was a total "Where has THIS guy been the past 4 years?", immediately became more interesting.

[El-P]

Jay White. "Brilliance" is his middle name. Holy fuck. I can't wait until he comes back. The counter wrestling game is sick, and it absolutely fits everything about him, his body-type, his look, the way he moves. A student of Alex Shelley, uh ? Yeah, that shows.

TAKA Michinoku. Milked a 30 years career out of going to WWE for three years or so. He was ridiculously great as a very young guy in MPro before going to the Fed and learning how to give terrible English name to his holds and factions. 

Tracy Smothers. The anti "Back in my days" old-school worker. Managed to get a great match out of RVD when I was in my RVD-hating phase. If he was around today, he would fuck around with Eddie Kingston and be awesome at it. Love me some Tracy Smothers, always.

Athena. If Mercedes Moné didn't exist, she would probably be the best US women wrestler ever this side of Gail Kim. Her ROH stint is the best hidden secret of modern wrestling (as far as being part of a major promotion). Great veteran, terrific character work, versatile as hell. I LOVE Athena.

Osamu Nishimura. One of those kids who post under a Soundgarden Youtube video clip and goes like this "I wish I lived that era, music was so much better then than the crap my generation listens to". I never cared for revivalism stuff very much. So I'd rather watch prime Fujinami, and prime Fujinami was that much better. But Nishimura was cool.

[SirSam]

1 hour ago, NotJayTabb said:

There was a small window between Kyle O'Reilly leaving the most boring faction in wrestling and him leaving WWE where he worked as a babyface and let his natural goofy charisma shine through, and it was a total "Where has THIS guy been the past 4 years?", immediately became more interesting.

Him continually ending up with Cole, Strong and Fish got old so quick.

In AEW he has easily been at his most interesting when he was bumping around with Mark Briscoe and Orange Cassidy letting that freak flag fly a little.

[El-P]

With Utami showing up, I wonder where Syuri is gonna up end. Her match with Utami a few years back is what really got the hype about Stardom outside of the joshi circle, and holy shit she's been great all this time. Utami ? Not *that* much, she never got back to her Red Belt reign level from what I've seen. Last time I checked she was being bodyshamed by Hat-guy and now she's going freelance. 

[Matt D]

Athena's ROH title run is going to make an amazing google drive folder in a few years. As a direct comparison, I think she clears Mercedes almost solely for the fact that she feels so organic and alive and reactive in all the ways Mercedes feels poised and rehearsed. She's one of the only wrestlers alive today that feels honestly unpredictable and volatile and not just playing at the act. 

I'm down over 40 of my list at this point, but I went heavy with WoS, lucha, and French Catch, that really representing my own personal journey, so that would do it. 

[Boss Rock]

TAKA was one of my final cuts. Great longevity.

I did vote for Rat Boy, shame he didn't finish higher. Great tag worker but a really strong singles guy as well. His GHC match with Kobashi is tremendous comedy.

[Matt D]

At this point, my biggest investment in results is that Jackie Sato (miraculously still alive given her 2016 rating) somehow beats Edge. 

[El-P]

15 minutes ago, Matt D said:

in all the ways Mercedes feels poised and rehearsed.

Not the Mercedes I've seen going through randoms indies to win then drop titles, with workers she's not familiar with, obviously having a blast interacting with these audiences too. But yeah, they are much different workers with different instincts, and Athena has awesome instincts. The only reason I would put Mercedes ahead is the fact she was always the best of the WWE bunch, and for a long time. And although I did love Ember Moon for the time she was there, she never got the opportunities, and the character was going nowhere. And honestly, the idea of ranking, as I said, doesn't really compute with my brain anyway anymore. I love them both.

[El-P]

14 minutes ago, Boss Rock said:

I did vote for Rat Boy, shame he didn't finish higher. Great tag worker but a really strong singles guy as well. His GHC match with Kobashi is tremendous comedy.

Ogawa ? Oh yeah, Ogawa in early NOAH was a blast.

[Makai Club #1]

Jay White is a modern guy that I could've voted for but with being in AEW and injury prone, I tend forget about him. Not everything he does clicks. A lot of the counter work can be contrived and clunky but when it clicks, it clicks. White is a wrestler who is reactive in a world where everyone is active. And that's always something I respect. 

[SirSam]

59 minutes ago, El-P said:

Not the Mercedes I've seen going through randoms indies to win then drop titles, with workers she's not familiar with, obviously having a blast interacting with these audiences too. But yeah, they are much different workers with different instincts, and Athena has awesome instincts. The only reason I would put Mercedes ahead is the fact she was always the best of the WWE bunch, and for a long time. And although I did love Ember Moon for the time she was there, she never got the opportunities, and the character was going nowhere. And honestly, the idea of ranking, as I said, doesn't really compute with my brain anyway anymore. I love them both.

I'd say while I respect what Athena has done with the spots she has got, she has never quite reached the level of work that Mercedes/Sasha put in for her Mania match with Bianca Belair, which to me is her finest hour.

She worked so hard to make Belair look unstoppable, I'll never forget the crack of Bianca's hair or the welts it brought up. Legacy wise it is a match that made Bianca a stadium level star and a lot of that was Sasha's very self-less work putting her over.