GWE 2026 Reaction Thread

[KB8]

I'm down to 52. 38 of my top 50 are left and 21 of my top 25. Only Yoshida is gone from my top 10 so far. 

I'm pretty similar to Boricua in that there are still gaps I want to fill, but they're mostly gaps around wrestlers who've fallen already, like the WoS and French Catch guys, and on the right day maybe some modern joshi or Japanese indies. 2010s New Japan will be well represented in the top 100 and I'm okay with that not being a gap I'll try to fill because for the most part it's a gap by design. I've tried to fill it already and it didn't take. But you're not going to love EVERYONE in a top 100 so...shut up and eat your cereal and stop complaining, I guess. 

[josephweirdness]

Honestly pretty okay with the final 100, made peace in advance for some of the names I knew would make it that I disagree with the most but all the most potentially upsetting picks have already dropped. 73 remain from my submitted ballot so that's a significant amount of overlap which might explain my general positive outlook here.

[ZubazKid]

2 hours ago, Childs said:

I don't get Roderick Strong cracking it. Good worker for a long time, but so much less special than dozens of men and women who have already fallen. 

I just love Roddy as a kind of “Everyman”, consistent hard-working good mid-card hand. I think of him like a spiritual successor to Arn Anderson (and was getting irrationally nervous both were going to fall in the last drop.) He’s the kind of guy built to put a TV title on him and just let him have good to great matches with everyone on the roster.

He had a period around 2015 where everything he touched was gold and he was amongst the best in the world, but his case is made more for really consistent good and sometimes great work for 20+ years. And I think the fact that this crop of indie workers had basically their whole careers on tape & easily accessible is an advantage we aren’t talking about as much. A lot of people on here are great about unearthing treasures, but there are tons of older candidates we still wish had more footage.

We’ll see what the data shows when Roddy drops, probably sooner rather than later. But I suspect he’ll be on a lot of ballots but without a ton of high votes, which rings true for consistency & longevity over peak.

[Control21]

Just as a fun exercise, here's how I would rank the top 100 if I had to combine it with my original ballot:

 

[Boss Rock]

23 minutes ago, Control21 said:

Just as a fun exercise, here's how I would rank the top 100 if I had to combine it with my original ballot:

 

Cool!

[gungan]

>50% of voters started watching in the 2000s and 2010s, so it's fair to conclude that the majority of voters are youngish millennials and zoomers (who were probably plugged into Japanese and US indie wrestling). As such, several of the names in the top 100 aren't that confusing.

KENTA tends to be very popular among millennials who were teens during the 2000s. A lot of us came up watching him because of file sharing and early streaming platforms, and stoic undersized guy who kicks people really hard had a strong appeal for weeb teens (plus he had the ROH crossover appeal). I've also seen a fair bit of love for him on social media among zoomers.

Roddy is thought of highly among those who came up in the 2000s and 2010s. Wrestled during ROH's golden age, was a big part of PWG during some of its hottest periods, good match machine in NXT and AEW, etc.

Steenerico was a big tag team and feud for those who came up in the 2000s and 2010s. I wouldn't say that Owens has added a great deal to his case since 2016, but his placement in the top 100 is likely a reflection of the influx of voters who didn't participate in the last project and rate his indies stuff very highly. It probably also helps that, even though his WWE run has been inconsistent, the high end stuff tends to be held in high regard.

[HeadCheese]

3 hours ago, Childs said:

I don't get Roderick Strong cracking it. Good worker for a long time, but so much less special than dozens of men and women who have already fallen. 

For context I ranked Roderick Strong at 47. 

I think Roderick Strong falls under the many of pockets of fans voted for him raising him (like Pac).

I think part of what makes something special is him being good for a long time andI think alot of other wrestlers who have that kind of longevity outside of the 2000s there is an extrapolation.. With Roderick Strong we can him major places that relatively accessible for 22 years (debuts in ROH in 2004, debuts in IWA Mid South bedore that, and has pretty accessible matches since 2001 with IPW Hardcore).

I haven't watched enough to know if he is good to best wrestler in the world level all of those years but, he has been consistently good and been having great matches against a variety of opponents since I started watching him 2011 (watching select stuff before than) in a variety of environments.

[cad]

I certainly didn't expect to come home from work today and find out that Atlantis was gone. I don't know why I was surprised, but I was. In his prime, there was nothing he couldn't do. Great technician, underrated brawler, fantastic off the ropes and the best flyer in the world in the late '80s. Yet somehow he leaves a lot of people unimpressed. Even a lot of Mexican fans think he was just a guy that his promotion pushed for a long time. But anyway, that was the first time in this thing that I've gone, "Wow, him?"

Jericho fell too. I was a little surprised by that, but I also know that he's one of PWO's posterchildren for being overrated, and that for the broader voterbase he's been uncool for over ten years and a drag on his promotion for a long while. Hard to believe there was a period when he was one of the hippest guys in all of wrestling. My favorite Jericho story is the time that he called "Somebody" by Bryan Adams a stupid song and El Dandy told him to get the fuck out of the car, like Iron Sheik talking to Moolah. Anyway, Jericho was my first favorite WCW guy and he made my list somewhere in the seventies or eighties. How much of that was the memories talking I'd rather not try to figure out.

[Boss Rock]

Hero at 100. I figured if he made the cut it would be on the lower end. I know a lot of folks are critical of his earlier work and tendency to go long (and no, I have no desire to check out the 90 minute match with Punk). But he's another one who's been really good for a really long time. And his 2017 is one of the best years of any wrestler in recent memory. His return to NXT didn't exactly set the world on fire but he had some solid matches. Has mostly been inactive since working with AEW but his match with Senka during Mania weekend was a hoot and proof that he still has it.

Was my 31.

[Control21]

Has anyone actually watched that three-hour Chris Hero match?

[donsem43]

5 hours ago, El-P said:

Considering how much we were a joshi friendly board back at SC, the fact 20 years later there isn't one more, despite US wrestling having made such huge progress in the same time span (mostly in the last 15 years, although Gail vs Kong happened in 2007), isn't exactly that great a result in that front I'd say. It is what it is.

Back in the early 00's you had people going through all of the AJW and JWP (post split) commercial tapes. The first run of AJW Classics on Samurai TV. GAEA and Arsion were still fresh in people's minds. All of that talk fizzled out after 2006. I didn't help the current joshi scene at that time was deader than an already dead scene in Japan. Things didn't start to really pick up until Meltzer started talking about Stardom, specifically the 12/23/15 Io Shirai/Meiko Satomura match. Then newer fans started watching 90's AJW and some Japanese fans started uploading tonnes of 80's AJW up on YouTube.

With current joshi, barely any Stardom wrestlers were nominated. Maybe Kamitani and Starlight Kid do well but AZM finished down at 385 and she's fairly well regarded outside of joshi circles. On the Horsewomen, only Mercedes is the only one who hasn't had drop in favour since the start of the decade. People's view on her might have dropped to if she stayed in WWE.

[HowtobeaMark]

I have 62 from my Ballot making the Top 100

My top 20 remain alive. 

2 of my top 30 have fallen

The number extends to 8 of my Top 50

My numbers 90, 92, 95 and 99 remain however

[Jetlag]

Thoughts on guys that received votes but weren't nominated - Part 2

 

Spoiler

Buck Robley

I have vaguely heard of Buck Robley here and there, as a territory guy who sounds like the cheeky type. A youtube search reveals there doesn't seem to be much footage of him. In one match he's against a young long haired version of One Man Gang and wow suddenly I find myself very interested in One Man Gang again.

Buddy Matthews

Who? Oh, he's a modern WWE guy. Either modern WWE is festering trash or some kind of hidden in plain sight goldmine with how many guys they have. His Wikipedia tells me he has a background in bungee jumping. I really hope he went as 'Bungee' Buddy Matthews at some point.

Butch Miller

Who? Oh, he's one of the Bushwhackers. I had no idea they even had names. Them not making the list feels like a bit of an oversight. I know they've had some highly praised matches in the 80s that I've never seen and probably should watch sometimes. I know I liked them in Portland the handful of times I saw them. Feels a bit weird that the Bushwhackers don't get near enough love as the likes of Jim Duggan for guys with awesome matches in the 80s that were repackaged as goofballs later.

BxB Hulk

I haven't seen a BxB Hulk match in forever. Oh, he's still around? That's crazy. From memory he's not a bad wrestler. Spotty yeah, but he was fun to watch, so certainly better than modern day Dragon Gate which is astonishingly boring everytime I check it out. 

Callum

Callum? CALLUM? CALLUM?! I don't know this Callum. Even Cagematch doesn't know this Callum. Who are we to say though that this Callum should not be on the list? If we can spell his name, an argument can be made.

Candice LeRae

I remember her for doing the intergender stuff in PWG, "BALLSPLEX!" and everything. It really was the sense of humor at the times with PWG and everything Looking back, those interactions with Joey Ryan have probably aged poorly. I thought she must have fallen of the radar, but actually she got signed to WWE and was doing 2-5 minute matches there as recently as last year, as one does. 

Carmella 

Another name who came up in modern WWE during a time period where I stopped paying attention. 

Cavernario Galindo

As far as I know we don't have any actual matches of Cavernario Galindo on tape. I'd be stoked to see some though because I love me a caveman.

Cerebro Negro

The sidekick to Black Terry and Dr. Cerebro. He was always good though I can't recall any particular matches where he really stood out, except maybe a tag involving some heated interactions with Trauma II or something like that.

Chaparita Asari

She was kinda cool albeit spotty. Became pretty good in the early 2000s when she discovered the magic of the flash submission. God have mercy on you if she went for her skytwister press on you though because that shit always landed in a hurtful fashion.

Cheerleader Melissa

Used to be considered the top female wrestler on the indy scene, now completely fallen off the radar even in an era where interest in womens wrestling has surged. Feels a bit weird, I mean she was even in Stardom for a bit. I think the Shimmer etc stuff is hit and miss with how it holds up but Melissa and her crew deserve credit for paving the way. 

Chelsea Green

I am completely lost.

Chie Koishikawa

Who? Ah, an Emi Sakura trainee. You know they can be neat wrestlers but then you look up what their fans are saying about them and it will be something like "She is the cutest and I will marry her".

Chris Kanyon

Greatest 5 minute TV match/GIF wrestler ever. I am not sure he was ever allowed to have longer matches but I sure do get a kick out of looking up random Chris Kanyon matches. 

Chyna

Chyna was iconic for sure. Did you know she teamed with Great Kabuki at one point? The NJPW run was shockingly fun. But when I think of her the first thing that comes to mind is all that terribly tragic stuff and how badly mistreated she was.

Corey Maclin

Who? Cagematch doesn't know, but Wikipedia knows: "On July 10, 2004, Maclin teamed with Kamala in a no contest against Jerry Lawler and Jimmy Hart at Memphis Wrestling Throwback Night. This would be Maclin's only televised match."

D-Von Dudley

The Dudleys have gone to become extremely hated online mostly due to Buh Buh Rays idiocy. I think they weren't bad. Fun big bumping tubby guys. With D-Von, I've been watching his 2002 Velocity matches most recently (because that's what I do) and there is something interesting to watching just what the hell Reverend D-Von Dudley is gonna do in a 7 minute TV match opposite a rookie John Cena an such.

D’Lo Brown

He had great looking offense. I remember when he was in NOAH/AJPW for a minute and would hit shining wizards and running powerbombs on KENTA. Surreal. I'd totally be interested in someones Top 20 DLo Brown matches. One of the most interesting parts of the online fandom is hearing people on sites like PWO or WKO talk about good US TV midcard workers like Dlo Brown and Val Vanis, like Dr. Victator. Miss hearing takes from people like that because it sure is interesting to me.

Daffney 

I don't think I've seen a single Daffney match. Another terrible tragic ending.

Dakota Kai

I've heard the name but I don't ever recall watching her. Apparently, she now goes by 'Charlie'. She's another Kiwi.

Dalton Castle

Had the immensely funny feud with Stan Hansens nephew in RoH.

Damian

The IWS guy? He was kinda cool and when I was wee lad checking out random US indy tapes he kind of enlightened me to the fact punches and kicks can be cool. But, the real ones will know, he has contributed immensely to pro wrestling, but outside the ring.

Damian Desbois

Who? I swear they're just making up random names at this point. Oh, it's the same Damian.

Damian Priest

Another modern WWE guy. I probably come across as extremely ignorant knowing nothing about the modern WWE roster, but in my defense, everytime I watch it it's complete ass.

Dan Severn 

I love me a Dan Severn match. You know they are often somewhat awkward and rough, like he hasn't been trained properly or just because he did not care to wrestle like a normal wrestler, but they have struggle. They have soul. He was pretty reliable in the UWFi  but the real magic happens when he's doing quasi-shootstyle with Tajiri on a random US indy card in the mid 90s. I am forever mad his singles match with Shinya Hashmoto devolved into sports entertainment shenanigans involving a fat manager bribing a heel ref.

Danhausen

I have never seen a Danhausen match. Doesn't seem like someone I would enjoy from how people talk about him. I've seen the clip where he curses William Regal though, and that was pretty funny.

Danny Davis

What are the great Danny Davis matches? I want to ask this question for every single person nominated or not. I've only seen him a handful of times and I mostly remember him for rocking some insane getup looking like a comic book villain in W*ING of all places.

Danny Hodge

Two things about Danny Hodge: 1) every single article about him talks at length about what an insane badass he was 2) I don't think we have any full matches of him besides a few clips. I think Jim Ross talked about having a 1 hour draw between him and Hiro Matsuda. Jim, you really gotta go find that tape.

 

[El-P]

3 hours ago, donsem43 said:

Back in the early 00's you had people going through all of the AJW and JWP (post split) commercial tapes. The first run of AJW Classics on Samurai TV. GAEA and Arsion were still fresh in people's minds. All of that talk fizzled out after 2006. I didn't help the current joshi scene at that time was deader than an already dead scene in Japan.

Oh yeah, I know, I was one of those people, I lived it. I "coined" the phrase "zombi promotion" about the like of Jd', NEO and such in early 00'. I don't remember how long SC lasted after GWE, but yeah, it was probably the last time joshi was on anyone's mind on the forum scene in a meaningful way for a while.

3 hours ago, donsem43 said:

With current joshi, barely any Stardom wrestlers were nominated. Maybe Kamitani and Starlight Kid do well but AZM finished down at 385 and she's fairly well regarded outside of joshi circles. On the Horsewomen, only Mercedes is the only one who hasn't had drop in favour since the start of the decade. People's view on her might have dropped to if she stayed in WWE.

Saya & SLK didn't do anything since they weren't nominated. Which says a lot. Mercedes would probably have dropped staying in WWE yes, since there's no way she would have had the matches she had since. She would not even had the opportunities, for them she passed the torch to Belair and that was it, it's not like she ever was their favorite.

[ohtani's jacket]

Someone sell me on Chris Hero being better than the territories guys. 

[Tetsujin]

I don't wanna sound like I'm demanding stuff, because I can imagine the hard work Grimmas is putting into this, but it was weird seeing no match recs or some words for Hero now that we're on the top 100.

Speaking of Hero, what a guy. Not everything he did hit, specially before becoming fat, but what did hit, it did like a truck. He has a mind and instincts I really appreciate, and as BossRock said, youn can appreciate he still has them when you're watching what he accomplished in the Senka match.

[El McKell]

Voters were asked to give a little blurb for their number one. So if you don't have a number one vote you don't have any little blurb. It'd be a bit much to ask people to write something for their whole ballot. 

[Tetsujin]

Yeah that's fair. And you still have a link to their nomination threads so you can see what the case is. It's no biggie.

[Makai Club #1]

100. Chris Hero

I think this is ultimately expected. If I was making a first draft of a top 100, I think Hero’s name would be considered. But when I broke it down wrestler by wrestler, Hero dropped considerably. Hero sort of peaked at several points, but truly in 2016 where he was THE indie wrestler of the day, which is impressive considering the talent around. But I’d really struggle to name a Hero match that I love. I’m sure if I’d get up my own spreadsheets, he’d have a few MOTYC in there though. I think 100 is a good place for him. He was a unique wrestler and worked in a way that was very interesting and exciting. 
 

[gungan]

I had Hero at 27. His case is mostly a longevity one as he had a good 15ish year period where he consistently pumped out quality and he had some very impressive high end stuff during that period (e.g. Kingston feud, focal part of the ROH vs CZW feud, Regal NXT match, Thatcher Mercury Rising match, Low Ki BOLA match, Kings of Wrestling vs Briscoes feud). Very versatile wrestlers as well, you could plug him into most situations and he would do something interesting with it.

[Makai Club #1]

99. Tully Blanchard
My 100th pick. I almost forgot about him, but after deep consideration, I had to vote for him. He is everything I think works as a wrestler. As a character, he completely and utterly commits to the gimmick and it never feels like a performance, but rather it IS Tully Blanchard. Tully is also a tremendous TV worker, capable of stepping up to bigger matches, including an all time TV match against Ron Garvin. Him as part of the Brain Busters with Arn is also tremendous stuff. Some of the most compelling tag wrestling stuff of the era - during the peak of tag team wrestling! And even in his older phases, I really like the match with Terry Funk at Slamboree 1994. It’s awesome. Super underrated show as well as match. 
 

[ohtani's jacket]

Whoever Kraters is, you're a fucking legend.