GWE 2026 Reaction Thread

[El Dragon]

3 minutes ago, Microstatistics said:

#100

Chris Hero

#95

"Last of a Dying Breed" Eddie Kingston

Gotta bite my tongue here. Let's just say Regal and Jericho orchestrated their career bouts with them, respectively, so that's something. 

Okay, gotta say, while Kingston/Jericho is great, claiming that A: It’s Kingstons best match in his career (It is really good, but probably outside his top 10) and B: claim Jericho “orchestrated it” in the middle of one of Jerichos worst runs of his career, and after Kingston was off great matches with Punk and Danielson,   just rings really really hollow to me.

[Boss Rock]

Trying to predict the next round of drops based on recent trends: Angle, Jaguar, Piper, Ishikawa, Strong, KENTA, Dusty, Owens, Baba, and Inoki. Granted I've been wrong about several of these.

[EnviousStupid]

Never would've guessed Nakamura rose and Claudio went further down. I assume people still really admire the former's last few years of his New Japan run.

[KB8]

9 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

I think you'd enjoy WoS and French Catch. If you like lucha then it's an easy transition. The list only scratched the surface of what each style has to offer. 

 

I already do! The French Catch stuff I took to pretty much immediately and I've gone through a solid enough chunk of it, but not really enough of one person specifically - other than Le Petit Prince, I guess - to feel like I knew where to vote for them. I love the French stuff. 

WoS is sort of the same but I've probably seen less than the French Catch stuff, which is kind of silly considering I probably watched my first WoS match 20+ years ago on The Wrestling Channel while the French Catch footage only really hit our demented corner of fandom like six years ago. Some of the top WoS I've seen is incredible. Like the French Catch stuff though, I haven't seen enough of anyone in particular to really feel comfortable ranking them. I'd say that's a 2036 task but then in 2016 I said it was a 2026 task and I shit the bed on that as well, didn't I.

I'm like 400 spots behind at this point but I'm still determined to talk about everyone who ranked. 

 

Spoiler

#425

Azumi Hyuga

I've seen bits of Hyuga and thought it was okay. I liked the Carlos Amano match from '99 that got a fair amount of praise at one point or another. That was about six years ago and I've maybe watched five Hyuga matches since then and I'm not sure I remember anything about any of them. 

 

 

#424

MEN'S Teoh

Elliott's boy. Teioh is fun and has a pretty damn long and varied career. Obviously ruled in MPro but has some singles stuff in the 00s that is very different and also really good. I don't know if the match with Shinobu against Madoka and Mashimo from 2008 will hold up but I liked it quite a lot at the time. 

 

 

#423

Big Boss Man

Boss Man has a pretty nice career's worth of good output. I think my favourite run of his is the WCW one where he and Vader just clobber the dogpiss out of each other and the Spring Stampede match is like top 20 in WCW history. 

 

 

#422

Ken Patera

Peak Patera is tremendous. A brilliant stooge who could squash you like a bug with brute strength, super athletic, great seller, really just a quality wrestler. The Backlund Texas Death Match was a top 10 match in WWF history about 15 years ago and it wouldn't be that high now, but it's still pretty great. Really fun tag wrestler in the AWA as well. I never really considered him and in all honesty I don't think I'd have voted for him even if I had, but I feel like him not at least being on the list of about 50 names I had to cut in the week prior to the deadline is an oversight. I feel ashamed, quite frankly. 

 

 

#421

"Doink" Matt Borne

The Doink run was fantastic. Just stretching guys all over the place and grinding a forearm across their face while making kids cry. And he had a run of really strong stuff for like 12 years before that, even if footage might be sort of sporadic. 

 

 

#420

Yokozuna

Super fun bumper, great weeble-wobble seller and a legdrop that looked like a truck being dropped on someone's head. 

 

 

#419

Fugo Fugo Yumeji

I'm actually interested in watching a bunch of this fella. It's something I will tackle one day. 

 

 

#418

Mad Dog Connelly

I still haven't seen any Connelly but I've had a handful of his matches on the to-watch list for a while. 

 

 

#417

Drew McIntyre

I think Drew is a really good wrestler. Like me he is a Scottish man called Andy, but he chose to go the psychotic route and shorten it to Drew rather than Andy (I try not to hold it against him). I actually saw him live back in January there when WWE did a house show in Glasgow. He'd just won the belt and after his match he got the crowd doing a full rendition of Flower of Scotland. The Punk HIAC match is probably the last WWE match I watched that I properly enjoyed but he was putting on really good stuff back in like 2010 with Matt Hardy and Christian. Yeah, I like Drew. 

 

 

#416

Dos Caras

I like watching Dos Caras work the mat. 

 

 

#415

Taichi

I've probably seen a Taichi match. 

 

 

#414

Daniel Makabe

I've probably seen a Daniel Makabe match. 

 

 

#413

Trish Stratus

Trish was someone who you could see clearly worked like an absolute motherfucker to improve and become known as a wrestler and not just a sex object and I have 1000% respect for her doing it to the extent she did. If you were to make a list of the best WWE women's matches to take place prior to Stephanie McMahon saving women's wrestling in the United States, you could probably argue a case for Trish being on that list a couple times through her matches with Lita and Mickie James. A bit of a mad bumper who doesn't really get talked up as one. They also let her walk out the door in '06 with her head held high rather than make her bark like a dog or some nonsense. I'm not sure how it happened but it's cool that it did. 

 

 

#412

Tommaso Ciampa

I'm mostly okay with Ciampa, even if the stuff with Gargano bordered on the worst shit imaginable. Other than that I can deal with him fine. I need to see the Darby match from a few weeks ago. 

 

 

#411

Takumi Iroha

I think I know who this is, but I couldn't say it with my chest. 

 

 

#410

Villano IV

Not my favourite of the Villanos, but obviously awesome and DOES have my favourite match of any Villano - the tag with Santo against Hije del Solitario and Angel Blanco Jr. 

 

 

#409

Susumu Yokosuka

Man this guy has been around forever. And he's still going! Dragon Gate was one of the first Japanese promotions I tried to follow in real time 20-something years ago and he'd already had a few years under his belt then. I liked some of those six-man tags and he'd always take a wild bump off a Dragon Kid rana, usually landing full on his head. If you're a fan of the style he predominantly worked he's got a pretty hefty longevity case. 

 

 

#408

Jim Londos

I've seen one full Londos match but it was certainly awesome. Looks like someone who most likely ruled and it would be great if we had the footage. I'm guessing the #2 vote is not wholly a footage-based one. 

 

 

#407

Shane McMahon

I think they should've leaned all the way into Shane McMahon being a terrible wrestler. Because he was a terrible wrestler, but there were times where that terribleness actively led to some fun stuff. Accidentally, maybe, but still. He was also a full nutjob as a bumper, even if it was probably driven by a need to impress his psychotic father. Probably could've been a gold medalist in wrestling based on King of the Ring 2001. 

 

 

#406

Yoshihito Sasaki

Sasaki had some pretty fun stuff back in the early 2010s against guys like Kanemoto. Sort of a rudimentary meathead but maybe he'd come off as more if I watched more footage. Alas. It is too late for that. 

 

 

#405

Gilbert Leduc

I thought the Bourreau de Bethune match was awesome and largely down to Leduc trying unsuccessfully to find ways around working a giant lumbering headsman. I haven't seen much of his top stuff and that one match probably isn't where his case is built, but I can't imagine think it hurts it either. 

 

 

#404

Juventud Guerrera

I love Juventud. Fun basically everywhere and has some of the most entertaining stooging dipshit performance of the 90s trying to suck up to Eddie Guerrero. Also I saw Juventud at a house show in 2006 and he was clearly trashed out of his mind and almost ran someone over with a lawnmower. The Blitzkrieg match is sensational and it's basically all Juvi leading and basing and shutting him down. Like in 2016, I wanted to vote for him but couldn't quite find a spot. 

 

#403

Danny Havoc

A guy I've known about forever yet I don't think I've seen a single match of his. 

 

 

#402

Yoshihisa Yamamoto

Talked about Yamamoto already. My #99 and an awesome wrestler. 

 

 

#401

Tomoaki Honma

I first saw Honma on a Schneider Comp way back in the day as a deathmatch guy. I think he set himself on fire, or whoever he was wrestling did. Then about 10 years ago he showed up in New Japan and him and Shibata tried to punt each other into the stands. 

 

[Makai Club #1]

92. Mayumi Ozaki
Not many words on Ozaki, other than she's a cool wrestler. Loads of personality, a great contrast to the more straighter characters of her era. And she’s a key part in some of the best tag team matches of all time. 

91. Shinsuke Nakamura
Nakamura getting a higher spot in spite of his last decade is more evidence of the newer fans, who watched 2010s New Japan,  that took part in this project, including myself. Nakamura’s best work is truly the early 2010s, rather than his more famous period that fans might be familiar with. He is much less charismatic, but more serious, focused and ultimately dangerous. Although it’s hard not to be enamoured with Nakamura in the 2014-16 run. Nakamura has benefited and been hurt from his early pushes - being exposed that early meant that his roughness is on display but he was always full of potential and quality which shone through on occasion until it clicked, and boy did it click. Voted for him #56
 

[Shrike02]

13 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Whoever Kraters is, you're a fucking legend. 

I wouldn't laugh his argument out of court ... I hadn't really considered Tully a #1 candidate although I ranked him pretty high. He absolutely was a phenomenal heel. 

[gungan]

Ikeda: my number 3. His Battlarts and Futen stuff is the peak of wrestling afaic, so that offsets his other stuff being so inconsistent. The Ishikawa series is undeniable, his stuff with Otsuka is fantastic, the Ono Futen match is the wrestling equivalent of a Pig Destroyer song, and the Futen headbutt match is the best match of all time. Vicious striker, compelling seller who's capable of showing surprising amounts of vulnerability, whirlwind of violence, fan of Berserk. He's just the best.

Kingston: my number 11. He had a fantastic run on the indies where he consistently pumped out quality for 15ish years, and he's followed that with an excellent run in AEW where he's been a fantastic upper midcard guy who's had some super impressive peaks. I'd even go as far as to argue that he's been the in-ring MVP of the promotion. He's the best guy in the first Anarchy in the Arena, he has loads of underrated performances (e.g. carry job vs Pillman Jr, his selling in that first title match vs Moxley, his title defence against Trent), and that Rampage Danielson match is the best match in the history of the promotion afaic. All-time great seller and bumper, impressive longevity and consistency, and lots of impressive high end work.

Necro: my number 25. His top 10-15 matches are super impressive, especially the freak fights vs indie workrate guys. However, he also has lots of impressive stuff outside of that top 10-15 range that adds a fair bit of depth to his body of work (e.g. 2003 ToD matches against Corp Robinson and Ian Rotten, 2004 Green Phantom match, 2005 Cage of Death performance, that no rope barbed wire tag match against Brain Damage and Deranged). All-time great bumper, puncher, and big match worker.

[KB8]

 

Spoiler

#400

Mike Quackenbush

I've seen very little of the Chikara guys. I'm sure Quackenbush has stuff outside of that promotion, but for someone who'd been around forever I can barely remember watching any of it. 

 

#399

VENY

I don't know who VENY is and the picture used in the reveal thread seems to be a dead link so that doesn't help. Perhaps this person is not real at all and we've all been duped. 

 

 

#398

Takuya Nomura

I've seen probably two Takuya Nomura matches. I thought he was kicking about New Japan now but that's evidently someone else. 

 

 

#397

Mr. Pogo

I enjoy Mr. Pogo substantially more than a good amount of the people ranked above him, but perhaps that is a me problem and not a you problem. 

 

 

#396

Shoko Nakajima

Not a chance I've ever heard of this person. 

 

 

#395

Matt Hardy

Probably one of the better TV match workers in WWE history. Maybe US history if you feel like arguing it. I never properly considered him but he was really damn good for a while there. 

 

 

#394

Solar

Just missed out on my list this time, though I almost put him back on at the last minute. I hadn't watched one Solar match since the 2016 vote, where I had him around my bottom 10. Then a few days before the deadline I watched him in a couple maestros tags and he was the best guy in both, and those matches had guys like Negro Casas, Blue Panther and Hechicero. Maybe I was too HASTY in bumping him off. I could still watch him and Navarro rip it up for hours, or at least minutes, even if their particular brand of grappling isn't the most compelling to me now.

 

 

#393

Jacques Rougeau

The Rougeaus were awesome and one of the more fun WWF tag teams of the 80s. 

 

#392

"The Magnificient One" Don Muraco

I sometimes wonder if the "Muraco could be a lazy sack" talking point isn't overblown. Maybe it is to an extent. "Lazy sack" might be overstating it at the very least. There's some good Muraco out there, maybe even great Muraco. The Backlund series is good, though I used to think it was excellent. Bad Muraco is very bad. By '88 he was pretty turgid, though there's one Valentine match from Toronto that is shockingly good for 1988 Don Muraco. I should watch that Snuka match Grimmas loves. 

 

 

#391

Demus 3:16

Another guy I dropped off late and then almost reconsidered. The Hijo de Fishman match from last year is a grimy dust-laden junkyard classic and Demus has sort of ruled it as a wandering lunatic clobbering people with car doors and getting pencils jabbed into his head for like 10 years now. Lots of really fun minis stuff before that as well. 

 

 

#390

Arisa Hoshiki

Mate c'mon.

 

 

#389

"Diesel" Kevin Nash

The no holds barred match with Michaels is one of my favourite matches ever and Diesel ruled in it. One of the Bret matches is really good (Rumble), one I don't like much (Survivor Series) and the third is decent enough (King of the Ring), but I thought Nash was good in all of them. 

 

 

#388

Miu Watanabe

Never seen her. 

 

#387

Shelton Benjamin

The AEW bias at its finest! Let us rage, one and all! I thought Shelton was pretty fun as a hyper-athletic guy in the WWF but never quite put it all together and then kind of sucked for a while. The AEW run has been pretty enjoyable from what I've seen and it certainly helps that he works as the much bigger guy. 

 

 

#386

Johnny Valentine

Interesting that he got fairly close to the top 100 in 2006, never got a single vote in 2016, and now ends up back on the ballot but 200+ spots lower than 20 years ago despite some new (and awesome) footage. That Bull Curry match is spectacular and a bunch of Johnny Valentine footage appearing would be a treasure trove of the highest order. The sort of guy I could see me putting top 50 with enough tape to warrant it. 

 

#385

AZM

There are a lot of modern joshi candidates I have never seen nor heard of in my life. 

 

#384

"Little" Guido Maritato

One of the best wrestlers in ECW history and even if some people will read that as a backhanded compliment it's not intended as one. Wild bumper, really fun stooge. Him and Tajiri are sort of a match made in heaven. 

 

#383

Road Warrior Hawk

I guess I could be convinced he's like 200 spots better than his tag team partner. 

 

 

#382

Tanomusaku Toba

I don't recognise this person at all. 

 

#381

Chris Candido

I haven't really thought about Candido in forever. He's got some fun stuff for sure, though I think I've barely seen any of the SMW run. 

 

 

#380

JBL

The Eddie series is some very good pro wrestling. Could be an unreal heat-seeker and his performance against Rey at Judgment Day 2006 is some peak scumbag bastardry. 

 

 

#379

GENTARO

I know who GENTARO is, but I'd be lying if I said for sure that I've seen him wrestle. 

 

 

#378

"The Big Cat" Ernie Ladd

Some peak Ladd would be amazing to see. Old broken down Ladd is great fun and that legdrop is killer. 

 

 

#377

Suwama

I watched a SUWAMA v Akiyama match from 10ish years ago a couple months back. It didn't really do a ton for me but I think that's because I picked the wrong one (it was not the 2011 match that I now realise is the one people were telling me to watch). Before that I don't think I'd watched a SUWAMA match since I was about 18. That was not yesterday, let me tell you. 

 

 

#376

Milano Collection A.T.

Another one of the Toryumon/T2P guys I checked out in the early days of my forays into the puroresu. It has been a long time. 

 

 

#375

Kenoh

That's a cool jacket. Never seen him otherwise. 

 

 

#374

Takako Inoue

10 years ago I'd have said I never need to see another Takako Inoue match. I've since made a liar of myself and have indeed watched another Takako Inoue match, several in fact, and I would say my stance has softened on the woman. She's not someone I'll purposely seek out very often but I find her much more enjoyable these days. I'm sometimes surprised that doesn't walk around with her ear touching the ground, given the weight of that chip on her shoulder. When Takako decides she's going to prove a point it typically means the match will have plenty of ill will and contempt and someone getting slapped as hard as possible in the face. 

 

#373

Matt Tremont

I've never seen a Matt Tremont match. 

 

 

#372

Alexander Nabiev

"Who the fuck is Alexander Nabiev?" Like many, that was my initial reaction. The first #1 vote to appear. The blurb from the person who voted him that high intrigued me so I checked out a couple of his matches. The first was some barefoot deathmatch where the ring was filled with barbed wire, broken glass and pinecones. His opponent decided to wrestle the early part of the match with shoes on - a dirty cheating rat bastard, as the commentators said (I assume). Nabiev made his comeback by setting his trousers on fire and then jumped in a paddling pool. The second match was not a deathmatch and was mostly wrestled clean, though Nabiev still worked barefoot. They started the match with an armdrag sequence so far from Ricky Steamboat that at least a dozen JerryVonKramers lost their wings. I regretted not a second of this, truth be told.  

 

 

#371

Paul London

I went back to some of the ROH run and it held up much better than I'd have expected. The Epic Encounter match pretty much rules, actually. A fun pro wrestler. 

 

[Kadaveri]

4 hours ago, KB8 said:

 

  Hide contents

#396

Shoko Nakajima

Not a chance I've ever heard of this person. 

...

#388

Miu Watanabe

Never seen her. 

 

If you're up for killing two birds with one stone, here you go: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x92c02c

 

[Monch Wrestling]

Quite the jump for Sammartino. What could explain that?

[ohtani's jacket]

Dandy feels a tad lucky to make the top 100 despite appearing on a large number of ballots. I dunno if we'll ever be as high on him as we were in '06. He could do with a footage drop. 

I've only see Strong's work from the mid-00s, so I can't really comment. I've liked what I've seen, but honestly, I didn't know he was still around.

Is Bruno one of the success stories from this year's list? Definitely sensing an upswing in his rep. 

[Matt D]

10 minutes ago, Monch Wrestling said:

Quite the jump for Sammartino. What could explain that?

1. Certain people who a chunk of the younger Twitter voting base are likely to listen to are very vocal for him (I'm thinking Lizzy for one).

2. Current younger voters value aura and Bruno has a lot of aura.

3. He's a much safer vote for some younger people on moral grounds who are voting on rep/WWF Ace than Hogan, for instance, or less grating than 2020s Corporate Cena.  

4. Very likely he sustained votes he had last time around. If you were going to vote for Bruno last time, the rise of Ospreay probably isn't going to get you not to vote for him time time around. 

[MoS]

16 minutes ago, Monch Wrestling said:

Quite the jump for Sammartino. What could explain that?

If we agree with the assertion that voters this time valued "aura" a lot, then arguably no one in American wrestling has had the kind of incredible aura he had throughout his career. 

I have personally always loved Bruno and ranked him last time as well. It's definitely not a case of new footage being unearthed, and everything he did great was already known in 2016 as well. But Bruno translates really well to TikTok clips and Twitter vids, so that might be the reason for his climb. 

 

EDIT - Matt explained better than I did.

[Tetsujin]

Dandy felt to me the less discussed of the remaining luchadores, so I expected him here. Same with Roddy, once I saw Claudio dropping early I knew he was coming sooner than later; still great showcase for him, he totally deserves the recognition, incredible consistency and a very smart and fascinating offensive wrestler.

Bruno on the top 100 was one of my biggest surprises, specially considering the lack of footage compared to the rest, and the fact that he's the only one of his peers making it (iirc), but I'm so happy he did. Such a phenomenon in the wrestling world.

[Matt D]

23 minutes ago, MoS said:

If we agree with the assertion that voters this time valued "aura" a lot, then arguably no one in American wrestling has had the kind of incredible aura he had throughout his career. 

I have personally always loved Bruno and ranked him last time as well. It's definitely not a case of new footage being unearthed, and everything he did great was already known in 2016 as well. But Bruno translates really well to TikTok clips and Twitter vids, so that might be the reason for his climb. 

 

EDIT - Matt explained better than I did.

The other two guys I’m looking at here are Inoki and Dusty though Inoki has a gated footage issue.

[NotJayTabb]

I voted Bruno in 2026, but didn't in 2016. I think I'd always thought of him as a limited guy who was in the right place at the right time, but when I watched back he was such a great "walking tall" babyface. Someone who knew exactly what to do to elicit the right reaction from the crowd. 

[HowtobeaMark]

Of all the guys I left off my ballot Bruno was the one I felt the worst about. Really wanted to find space for him so glad he did well. 

[Matt D]

Mild preferences at this point (meaning things I'd like to see, moderately reasonable from the way the list has gone, but I'm not going to be upset one way or another or anything. It's all copacetic from here on in):

• Eaton in the top 75
• Inoki at exactly 50
• Fujiwara and Baba in the top 50
• Ospreay outside of the top 50
• Bock in the top 35
• Omega outside of the top 10

[Boss Rock]

Roderick was my 67. Terrific utilitarian worker and someone who's had a ton of longevity. Drop him into any match or situation and you're going to get something good. Excellent offense as well.

[SirSam]

I disagree, Rody is far too high in my opinion.

He is a very good worker, strong offence, good selling, hardly ever out of place and capable of matching it beat-for-beat with any top guy but a complete charisma vacuum and not compelling at all in his own right.

To me, he is a far worse version of PAC of Claudio in terms of the space he occupies in a roster in that upper mid-card workhorse mould.

Very good but not exceptional.

[HowtobeaMark]

45 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Mild preferences at this point (meaning things I'd like to see, moderately reasonable from the way the list has gone, but I'm not going to be upset one way or another or anything. It's all copacetic from here on in):

• Eaton in the top 75
• Inoki at exactly 50
• Fujiwara and Baba in the top 50
• Ospreay outside of the top 50
• Bock in the top 35
• Omega outside of the top 10

My main investment right now is Dustin beating Dusty 

[Boss Rock]

47 minutes ago, Matt D said:

 

• Omega outside of the top 10

He'll very likely make the top 50, but I think if any 2010's NJPW wrestler makes the top 10 it'll be Tanahashi.

[Boss Rock]

8 minutes ago, SirSam said:

I disagree, Rody is far too high in my opinion.

He is a very good worker, strong offence, good selling, hardly ever out of place and capable of matching it beat-for-beat with any top guy but a complete charisma vacuum and not compelling at all in his own right.

To me, he is a far worse version of PAC of Claudio in terms of the space he occupies in a roster in that upper mid-card workhorse mould.

Very good but not exceptional.

Did not vote for Pac but interestingly enough I had Claudio higher.

[Matt D]

4 minutes ago, HowtobeaMark said:

My main investment right now is Dustin beating Dusty 

I think Dusty has been reevaluated very positively in the last ten years. He got such a bum rap from the 80s sheets and that lingered and lingered. I love Dustin. I ranked Dustin higher than Dustin. I'd be very happy with any positive result for Dusty, even if it put him over Dustin.

[SirSam]

13 minutes ago, Boss Rock said:

He'll very likely make the top 50, but I think if any 2010's NJPW wrestler makes the top 10 it'll be Tanahashi.

It would be him or Okada and Tanahashi has had a complete career while Okada is still wrestling, that in itself probably makes him more likely to be up there. Tanahashi also seems to be the more universally beloved of the two as well, both have their detractors but Okada's seem to be stronger.

I had Tanahashi at 2.