GWE 2026 Reaction Thread

[ohtani's jacket]

Hansen and Buddy Rose as well. 

[El Dragon]

5 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

It's a shame we can't bet on this. 

Which US territory guys are left? Lawler, Flair, Tully, Arn, Valentine, Steamboat, Hennig, Windham, Backlund, Bruno, Dusty, Piper. 

Am I missing anyone? 

 

Abby, Thesz, Gordy, Williams all kicking around as well, though the last two might be more from japan.

[ohtani's jacket]

Harley Race and The Destroyer too.

Hard to guess who will drop next.  

[Tetsujin]

On 5/17/2026 at 12:16 AM, Matt D said:

200 is the new 100.

It indeed is. I'm loving how diverse and powerful this part of the list is getting, and almost everybody feels undenniable. There's just too much awesome pro wrestling across time and space.

[NotJayTabb]

Goldberg deserves those #1 votes for having my favourite Fiend match

[El McKell]

45 minutes ago, Mantaur Rodeo Clown said:

To say that a company that has only existed for 7 or so years (and those years being the LAST 7 years, including a pandemic) but somehow managed to have over 12.5 per cent of the greatest 200 wrestlers to have ever lived on planet earth wrestle for them is a mathematical oddity, to say the least. 
 

 

I just wanna take issue with this part of the comment. This is not a mathematical oddity. It's to be expected due to the availability of footage. Just to demonstrate how normal 16 AEW wrestlers in the top 200 is, let's look at the top 200 in 2016 and look at a period of time equal to how long AEW has been around: September 1989 - April 1996 (chosen because it lines up with 30 years since AEW's existence & because I think it's close to the most represented period in 2016).  And look at WWF and WCW wrestlers who appear (without counting silly cases like Jeff Hardy, Tenryu or Barry Winhdam as WWF wrestlers, or Owen Hart, Undertaker & Antonio Inoki as WCW, just cos they did work at least a couple of matches there).

WWF has 40 wrestlers, 20% of the total & WCW has 42 wrestlers, 21% of the total. These will both drop for 2026, but I bet they'll still be ahead of AEW's total. 

You can think the present day should get less representation than the past because it's still happening and harder to examine. But I think you should acknowledge that the present day IS getting less representation than periods of the past with comparable footage availability and it's level of representation is not a 'mathematical oddity'

[NotJayTabb]

The other thing with AEW is that "good matches" has long been part of their identity, with wrestlers getting decent TV time each week to spread their wings. If you've been watching Adam Page have matches you've enjoyed for 7 years, then have to go to Youtube to pick out the best Buddy Rose matches from an era where a lot of his TV matches would be angles or short bouts to put him over, then Adam Page starts with a big headstart. It's maybe not ideal (and Page isn't someone I voted for) but it's understandable.

[ZubazKid]

9 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Harley Race and The Destroyer too.

Hard to guess who will drop next.  

Random guesses now but I’ll say Abby, Race, Backlund, Gordy, Williams, Hennig & Destroyer fall. I think Dusty & Bruno have enough name recognition to get on & the rest are safe. 
 

Or it’s the exact opposite & I have no idea how this plays out.😁

[Matt D]

I feel like people have pushed Backlund pretty hard, but it's tough to say.

[Tetsujin]

Incredible showcase by Sareee. These next ten years should be the forge of her legend, she has all the potential in the world and is already one of the very best wrestling today. Not even 30 years old.

[HowtobeaMark]

8 minutes ago, ZubazKid said:

Random guesses now but I’ll say Abby, Race, Backlund, Gordy, Williams, Hennig & Destroyer fall. I think Dusty & Bruno have enough name recognition to get on & the rest are safe. 
 

Or it’s the exact opposite & I have no idea how this plays out.😁

I feel as though Valentine is not safe

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

10 minutes ago, El McKell said:

I just wanna take issue with this part of the comment. This is not a mathematical oddity. It's to be expected due to the availability of footage. Just to demonstrate how normal 16 AEW wrestlers in the top 200 is, let's look at the top 200 in 2016 and look at a period of time equal to how long AEW has been around: September 1989 - April 1996 (chosen because it lines up with 30 years since AEW's existence & because I think it's close to the most represented period in 2016).  And look at WWF and WCW wrestlers who appear (without counting silly cases like Jeff Hardy, Tenryu or Barry Winhdam as WWF wrestlers, or Owen Hart, Undertaker & Antonio Inoki as WCW, just cos they did work at least a couple of matches there).

WWF has 40 wrestlers, 20% of the total & WCW has 42 wrestlers, 21% of the total. These will both drop for 2026, but I bet they'll still be ahead of AEW's total. 

You can think the present day should get less representation than the past because it's still happening and harder to examine. But I think you should acknowledge that the present day IS getting less representation than periods of the past with comparable footage availability and it's level of representation is not a 'mathematical oddity'

I'm not sure why you have cherry picked a period from 1989 - 1996, which makes absolutely no sense and flies in the face of the argument of recency bias. It's like literally the opposite thing to what I'm arguing. 

A comparison would be to analyze how many of the 2016 Top 200 were actively wrestling in one company at the time of the poll. 

For WWE, I count 11 in the top 200, and that's even account for the fact that there was a much smaller pool to choose from. For NJPW I think it's something like 5. To say AEW isn't an outlier just isn't true. We don't know the final list yet, but it is very likely AEW will beat those figures handily. 

[ohtani's jacket]

5 minutes ago, HowtobeaMark said:

I feel as though Valentine is not safe

Alright, I'm actively rooting for Valentine. Please Hammer don't hurt 'em. 

[Matt D]

11 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Alright, I'm actively rooting for Valentine. Please Hammer don't hurt 'em. 

I can barely wrap my head around voting for Valentine and not Tito/Martel. 

[Ma Stump Puller]

51 minutes ago, Makai Club #1 said:

He does work best as a contrast to the others. I also think because he's clearly limited compared to, let's say, Fujiwara, it makes him appealing as an underdog in those matches. That's how I always interpreted those matches. 

Yeah he's decent enough as a contrast foil to the actual great workers (Maeda/Funaki/Fujiwara etc etc) but when UWFI kicks off and he's giving himself like giga-pushes and never losing to anyone ever that era can certainly fuck off

[NotJayTabb]

I very closely associate Valentine with Tito (hence why in my list they were two spots apart, #18 and #16 respectively), so I can't imagine we're too far from the Hammer, sadly.

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

32 minutes ago, NotJayTabb said:

The other thing with AEW is that "good matches" has long been part of their identity, with wrestlers getting decent TV time each week to spread their wings. If you've been watching Adam Page have matches you've enjoyed for 7 years, then have to go to Youtube to pick out the best Buddy Rose matches from an era where a lot of his TV matches would be angles or short bouts to put him over, then Adam Page starts with a big headstart. It's maybe not ideal (and Page isn't someone I voted for) but it's understandable.

I can definitely see this argument, not just with AEW but all modern wrestling. The amount of non-bullshit finishes alone comparatively makes someone's match quality instantly soar.

There's a bit to it too with opportunity (Roman Reigns and John Cena have been given more opportunities to have "good" matches on PPV than most wrestlers will ever receive), but I think most voters do try to adjust for that.

[Boss Rock]

Colon is the first of my top 20 to fall (number 20 exactly). Tremendous babyface with some of the greatest fire I've ever seen. Lawler made my ballot, but to me, Colon was always a better version of Lawler.

Black Terry was one of the last additions to my ballot. A seventy-plus-year-old man having awesome brawls? Gotta make room for a guy like that (RIP).

I kinda love Goldberg finishing in the top 150. Yes, he's limited and doesn't have a laundry list of great matches. But as the number 1 voters so accurately explained, no one has ever been able to make another Bill Goldberg. You can't teach presence and in-ring charisma like that. And while there were certainly some misfires to his name (mainly due to bad booking), a Goldberg sprint is a true spectacle. And honestly, that's pretty much what wrestling is about.

Unless a bunch of them fall now, joshi is all but guaranteed to do much better than 2016. But it's pretty evident that where joshi and more modern wrestlers rise, the older guard and territory veterans fall, which I think everyone sort of saw coming.

[Tetsujin]

It suddenly came to me that Megumi Kudo is still alive. Her being in the top 150 makes me so happy.

[Marlowe676]

1 hour ago, Mantaur Rodeo Clown said:

MJF being a prime example. I'm under the impression most people are voting based on the in-ring ability of a wrestler. Which makes his placement all the more ridiculous. His booking and lack of house show appearances means he has the equivalent of maybe a couple years work under his belt compared to an 80s worker on their schedule. I'd say his match catalogue is filled with self-indulgent, awful overbooking and overreaches. The argument is, without a significant boost from recency bias and AEW fans who have never actually watched the guys he is desperately trying to emulate and steal from, he wouldn't be considered by multiple voters (!!!) as a top 3 wrestler of all time, let alone top 100. 

MJF # 1 voter here. Firstly- your opinion is valid and I know choosing a 30 year old wrestler who is still working is controversial and a choice I went back and forth on but one I stand by.

MJF has wrestled 550 matches. This is more matches than other GWE top 100 guys. Almost all of these matches are on tape so he is also much easier to watch a ton of than older wrestlers we all love. The guy wrestled 140 matches in 2018, he's got a good amount of in ring work.

I also think the character work which he excels at enhances his in ring. He promotes an overly cocky asshole covering underlying feelings of low self worth and a desire for human connection- all of that plays out in the way he fights in a way that, to me, presents a very strong package. I get your criticisms on his matches, it's a criticism of a lot of modern wrestling. I love it but art is subjective. MJF in Arena Mexico against Mistico, CM Punk Matches, vs. Wardlow on PPV, Texas Death against Hanger and yes even the iron man match, to me, slap. 

[El-P]

13 minutes ago, Tetsujin said:

It suddenly came to me that Megumi Kudo is still alive. Her being in the top 150 makes me so happy.

Holy hell yes.

[Shrike02]

1 hour ago, El Dragon said:

The Martel drop might have broken me from defending the voters completely. The singular best babyface of the 80's for my money.

I was one spot away from being the high voter on Martel, I believe. So yeah, this.

[ohheylook]

This time last year I was attempting to get one of the big 80s babyfaces as my number 1. Martel was going to be my agenda guy, but he actually fell more as I watched. He still made my list, but he didn't even make top 50 (whereas Steamer and Tito did)

[Control21]

Darby being ranked higher than Billy Robinson doesn't sit right with me, but at least he's not higher than Akira Maeda.

[ohheylook]

@Grimmasyou skipped 129