GWE 2026 Reaction Thread

[Reel]

35 minutes ago, HowtobeaMark said:

I like Nick Gage because in a world where a guy could be making a pizza mid match or pin a guy where asleep he brings much needed believability. 

There may be no bigger demerit for modern wrestling than needing a guy to run a dollar store pizza cutter on someone’s forehead to add verisimilitude 

[El-P]

I started shitting on Triple H in 2000 when people were starting to praise him for his dull-ass style match. Which of course were more solid, in many ways, than the Attitude Era clusterfucks of the two previous years. But jeeez. The name and shame was funny as hell. Fuck Paul Levesque.

Commando Bolshoi. Imagine your first time seeing her was the Bolshoi Kid stuff. And then you have to wipe that off your mind, especially later in her career when she actually was a terrific worker, including doing funky matwork.

Mima Shimoda. Oh Mima. Bloodletting Bitch Queen. Not as good as Etsuko at first, then better. Had to tag alongside Toyota, imagine that for an education. Again, tag team wrestlers not getting their right dues. LCO was an all time great. I just saw Mima, 50 something, take a bump not too long ago at Fantastica Mania, like she usually does when she and her legendary lucha legend of a husband Okumura go back to Japan once a year. We Still Want Mima.

Jeff Jarrett. Didn't budge. Hilarious. His AEW stuff is easily some of the most entertaining shit he ever did. Better at podcast than many. The last Outlaw indeed. When you think about his career and how he went from places to places, navigating during the hottest eras and the lowest of lows, it's absolutely fascinating. The Stroke is one of the worst looking finisher ever. Whoever manages to make it look good always wins a point from me. He gave TNA to the world. What have you done with your life ? I was a fan since the very first vignette in 1993. From there it has been a very, very, very bumpy road, but everything will be fine in the end.

Pillman. The father of Lexis King. Talk about another absolutely fascinating career. "I respect you bookerman" traumatised more people than the Montreal screwjob. The first wrestling death that really hit me like a ton of bricks.

[Robert S]

3 hours ago, HowtobeaMark said:

Cody Rhodes still to place however

Randy Orton too, right?

[HowtobeaMark]

52 minutes ago, Reel said:

There may be no bigger demerit for modern wrestling than needing a guy to run a dollar store pizza cutter on someone’s forehead to add verisimilitude 

Oh I am not defending his wrestling by any stretch of the imagination 

[Reel]

It wasn’t a comment on you, just the state of wrestling, and seemingly the wrestling a lot of people enjoy.

[El-P]

Superstar Billy Graham. Great at yapping and steroid injections. A certain idea of pro-wrestling that is mercifully dead and forgotten. Well, unless, ya know... Nah, nevermind.

Orange Cassidy. Genius concept. Translated incredibly into a national promotion because the guy is a great pro-wrestler who actually understands pro-wrestling better than all the old boomers who got strokes watching his matches. I still remember that PAC match years ago and the moment you can almost see the illumination on PAC's face. Like, the guy realized he was having a great match with a great dance partner. Orange Cassidy is pure joy.

Christopher Daniels. If he had one main event stint in a major promotion over the last 30 years, he would be talked about exactly like his counterparts AJ & Joe. Those three redefined what pro-wrestling could be in the 2000's. Hell, he even never had a lull in his career like Joe when he was (very understandably) completely phoning it in TNA during the worst of Russo days then looked thrashed in NXT (before the infamous raincoat at Mania, you know the picture) and never wasted 10 years in WWE like Styles either. His last match was a great bloodbath against Hangman Page. He was already ahead of his time when I saw him the first time I believe in a WWF C-show in 1998 or so. Incredibly versatile, could be funny as fuck or super vicious. A true understated legend and all-time great.

Lex Luger. I will never not love the "I don't give a flying fuck anymore" Luger from 2000 alongside Elizabeth. And the hypocrite Luger tagging with Sting in early 96. And the Narcissist (yeah, I don't care). And the WCW vs nWo era Luger (the 1997 version, of course). I think overall I did enjoy Lex Luger quite a bunch.

[Grimmas]

Luger dropping is probably my saddest!

[ohtani's jacket]

Superstar's 1977 is a hell of a year. 

Gagne did okay all things considered. Could have been a hell of a lot worse. Decent number of votes. 

[Boss Rock]

When it comes to Daniels, Triple X vs. America's Most Wanted at Turning Point 2004 was one of my first favorite matches.

[Tetsujin]

57 ballots for OC is insane, I love it. Awesome wrestler. I need to check his CHIKARA ant stuff or whatever it was.

[Microstatistics]

#232

"Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels

#231

Verne Gagne

These two were in my 105-101. I might be totally imagining it but they seem to have similar careers with clustered peaks early on but acquired longevity across regions/promotions.

[Monch Wrestling]

Aja Kong, Bayley, Becky Lynch, IYO SKY, Kairi Sane, Mayu Iwatani, Mercedes Moné, Toni Storm, Sareee and Syuri are the only actives women left? Unless I'm missing someone?

[Tetsujin]

3 minutes ago, Monch Wrestling said:

Aja Kong, Bayley, Becky Lynch, IYO SKY, Kairi Sane, Mayu Iwatani, Mercedes Moné, Toni Storm, Sareee and Syuri are the only actives women left? unless I'm missing someone?

Did Chihiro drop already? I missed her somehow

[Grimmas]

3 minutes ago, Tetsujin said:

Did Chihiro drop already? I missed her somehow

Big Hash still alive.

[HowtobeaMark]

10 minutes ago, Monch Wrestling said:

Aja Kong, Bayley, Becky Lynch, IYO SKY, Kairi Sane, Mayu Iwatani, Mercedes Moné, Toni Storm, Sareee and Syuri are the only actives women left? Unless I'm missing someone?

Mayumi Ozaki

[Monch Wrestling]

Aja Kong, Bayley, Becky Lynch, Chihiro Hashimoto, IYO SKY, Mayu Iwatani, Mayumi Ozaki, Mercedes Moné, Toni Storm, Sareee and Syuri left then.

Kairi just dropped.

Is anyone under 30 years old left? MJF, Toni and Sareee are 30.

[Matt D]

8 minutes ago, Monch Wrestling said:

Is anyone under 30 years old left? MJF, Toni and Sareee are 30.

Will Ospreay.

[Grimmas]

KAIRI/Tam, two of the greatest babyfaces ever dropping outside the top 200 makes me a sad Steven.

[Monch Wrestling]

5 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Will Ospreay.

He's 33.

[Microstatistics]

1 hour ago, Grimmas said:

KAIRI/Tam, two of the greatest babyfaces ever dropping outside the top 200 makes me a sad Steven.

#223

Tam Nakano

Tam getting a #1 vote is something at least. With these placements, Giulia languishing in the 440s is worse.

 

#220

Ron Garvin

Another former Top 100 drops off. Another old school territory/US guy.

[donsem43]

Ron Garvin is the closest I've come to a top vote. I had him at 39.

2 hours ago, Monch Wrestling said:

Aja Kong, Bayley, Becky Lynch, Chihiro Hashimoto, IYO SKY, Mayu Iwatani, Mayumi Ozaki, Mercedes Moné, Toni Storm, Sareee and Syuri left then.

Asuka, Arisa Nakajima, Meiko Satomura, Dynamite Kansai, Manami Toyota, Akira Hokuto, Shinobu Kandori, Bull Nakano, Dump Matsumoto, Chigusa Nagayo, Lioness Asuka, Jaguar Yokota and Devil Masami.

That's two dozen women left. More than 10% of those left to be named. Not bad, about what I would've guess before this started.

Shocked Saya Kamitani didn't get a last minute nomination. She could have at least been in this range fueled by recency bias. 

Considering how many people pump up her tires, Mio Momono ranking is fairly surprising.

[Tetsujin]

We're getting closer to the top 200 (that is, last 100 cuts before making it), so I wanted to have a little fun (huge post incoming). I went to the 2016 results, selected how many guys I believe will fall from the top 100 (with a bonus of a "maybe" group) and tried to think about the names with more chances to take their slots.

TOP 100 IN 2016, BUT NOT IN 2026: Brian Pillman (confirmed), Ron Garvin (confirmed), Virus, Sangre Chicana, Shinsuke Nakamura, Too Cold Scorpio, TAJIRI, Tito Santana, Dynamite Kid, Hiroshi Hase, Jack Brisco (11)

With the tendencies I'm appreciating in this year's results, I don't see any of them with enough support to retain a spot. Nakamura is a weird one because his case basically ended in 2016, and ten years of nothingness in the fed shouldn't be unnoticed.

TOP 100 IN 2016, MAYBE OUT IN 2026: Ikeda, Gordy, Rude, Slaugther, Owen Hart, Dundee, Finlay, DiBiase (8)

I'm more skeptical about these guys, because I've seen them in some lists online and I know they have a strong support from their fans, but on the other hand none of them are the defining soldier of a style/time period/company to make them a lock for many people (like, for example, Jim Breaks can be for WOS or Ishikawa for BattlARTS).

11 WRESTLERS I SEE TAKING THE FREE SLOTS: Inoki, Okada, Omega, Ospreay, Moxley, Masami, Dump, Nagayo, Ozaki, Satomura, Jay Briscoe

Inoki out of the top 100 last time feels a big mistake in retrospective, and I'm sure it's getting corrected. Okada, Omega and Ospreay are the defining workers of the current generation of fans, which seems to be heavily present in this edition of GWE. Mox has gained a lot, and I mean A LOT, of support since leaving WWE, and he's an almost unanimous WOTD at this moment, so between the recency bias and the reevaluation of his career before AEW, I think his place is secured. Joshi might be one of the most benefited from this edition's GWE, and Devil, Dump, Chiggy and Ozaki seem to be the new ones with more support now. Meiko's retirement last year I'm sure helped people appreciate the grandness of her case, and she's another joshi so I don't have trouble imagining her getting in. The Briscoes have only reinforced their case and I believe, for the huge amount of younger (and not so young) voters, they're an almost unanimous choice for best tag team of the XXI century; from both brothers, Jay has always had more consensus as the best wrestler, and his death might help elevate his figure as well.

8 WRESTLERS WHO MAYBE GET A CHANCE IF THE "MAYBE" GROUP FROM 2016 FALLS: Rock, Takayama, Sting, Kandori, Ishii, GUNTHER, Mark Briscoe, Roderick Strong

You always have to take Rocky and Sting into account, as two of the biggest names in recent wrestling history that still resonate with a lot of fans. Sting specially, with his succesful AEW run and his legendary retirement match two years ago, might have gained unexpected support. But neither of them are generally considered elite tier level workers inside the ring, so I didn't put them on the previous group. Kandori is another joshi I can see getting much veter results this time, although her case being in part limited to the Hokuto rivalry for most people might hurt her. What I said about the Briscoes definitely applies to Mark, who is still one of the best in the world today as a singles guy; I'm sure he'll be a lock for 2036, when everything is (probably) said and done for him. Roddy is the same, one of the indy boom guys who remained heavily consistent throughout more than two decades and is still going strong (pun kinda intended), definitely someone a lot of people had in mind for their lists. GUNTHER has the recency bias of being currently the best worker in WWE in recent years, along with a godly indie run in the late-10s before that. 10s New Japan I believe it's gonna be one of the biggest winners this time, and Ishii's crazy consistency and top tier match catalogue for fans of the style/promotion is a force to take into consideration; he's not as popular as Okada or Omega but I believe he's next in line, for sure. Which only leaves me Takayama, who I believe got plenty of support in recent years, sadly due to his huge accident. The guy was an unbelievable pro wrestler in his peak and I believe more people discovered that from 2017 onwards.

[Matt D]

3 hours ago, Monch Wrestling said:

He's 33.

Pretty sure Will Ospreay is 12.

[club]

37 minutes ago, Tetsujin said:

We're getting closer to the top 200 (that is, last 100 cuts before making it), so I wanted to have a little fun (huge post incoming). I went to the 2016 results, selected how many guys I believe will fall from the top 100 (with a bonus of a "maybe" group) and tried to think about the names with more chances to take their slots.

TOP 100 IN 2016, BUT NOT IN 2026: Brian Pillman (confirmed), Ron Garvin (confirmed), Virus, Sangre Chicana, Shinsuke Nakamura, Too Cold Scorpio, TAJIRI, Tito Santana, Dynamite Kid, Hiroshi Hase, Jack Brisco (11)

With the tendencies I'm appreciating in this year's results, I don't see any of them with enough support to retain a spot. Nakamura is a weird one because his case basically ended in 2016, and ten years of nothingness in the fed shouldn't be unnoticed.

TOP 100 IN 2016, MAYBE OUT IN 2026: Ikeda, Gordy, Rude, Slaugther, Owen Hart, Dundee, Finlay, DiBiase (8)

I'm more skeptical about these guys, because I've seen them in some lists online and I know they have a strong support from their fans, but on the other hand none of them are the defining soldier of a style/time period/company to make them a lock for many people (like, for example, Jim Breaks can be for WOS or Ishikawa for BattlARTS).

Based on when the voters started watching wrestling, 2010s New Japan would mean a lot to a lot of voters, so I reckon Shinsuke stays. Wouldn't be surprised to see Greg Valentine, Jim Breaks and Buddy Rose out the top 100.

[Makai Club #1]

A few modern noms:

Okabayashi - A tremendous wrestler. And the way he put in the performances he had in Big Japan is a testimant to his abilities, alongside another Big Japan wrestler. If I had to make a ranking of non-New Japan wrestlers, he'd be up there for the last decade. He was my #84

Nakajima - NOAH-isms plauge Nakajima. Matches that go on absurdly long and while I enjoyed his 2017 title run, the constant kick/kick battles can wear thin. But he was awesome a quality worker at his peak. And when he finally gained a personality, there was no in-ring worker who was as compelling as a character. Highly recommend the Hideyoshi Kamitani & Takuya Nomura vs The Aggression match from the Choshu produce show in 2018 to see what I mean. Missed the cut but I could've voted for him on another day.