GWE 2026 Reaction Thread

[concrete1992]

I think the one that is currently rankling me is Kevin Steen making it this high. I don't think he's a top 100 US indie wrestler since 2000. Especially compared to someone like Claudio or even Roddy. People who were more consistent, had arguably higher peaks, and even one of them had a celebrated WWE run.

I guess it sort of goes to the aura convo maybe? The aura being swears a lot and is nice to people in Twitter DMs. 

[Matt D]

1 minute ago, SirSam said:

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.

Given the way things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised if Omega, Okada, and Tanahashi all make the top 10. I don’t necessarily think they will but I wouldn’t be surprised.

[Tetsujin]

8 minutes ago, concrete1992 said:

I think the one that is currently rankling me is Kevin Steen making it this high. I don't think he's a top 100 US indie wrestler since 2000. Especially compared to someone like Claudio or even Roddy. People who were more consistent, had arguably higher peaks, and even one of them had a celebrated WWE run.

I guess it sort of goes to the aura convo maybe? The aura being swears a lot and is nice to people in Twitter DMs. 

Same. His WWE run has been very hit or miss, mostly because of booking, but even before WWE he wasn't one of the very best indie guys. Definitely charismatic and a main event guy, but Claudio is obviously better, Roddy is obviously better, and I buy Hero more too. I assume it's because he's all but officially retired.

[NotJayTabb]

I think being a main event wrestler subconsciously can give a wrestler an advantage over his peers. Owens has had PPV title matches and a (night one) Wrestlemania main event which can make him feel a bit "bigger".

[Makai Club #1]

90. El Dandy
Incredible luchador. A complete eye opener when you actually watch him in his element and you can see what he can do. He’s got a talent for great drama, great offence and just making matches work, particularly apuestas. His performance in the three way with Santito and Casas is splendid. Voted for him at #55.

89. Roderick Strong
Not my favourite, but he is always gonna be one of the most solid additions to a card that he’s on. I can name only a few classics he’s had, but if you want someone to have a really good match on the undercard, he’s your guy. Plus he and Kyle O’Reilly carried NXT for years as a team. Didn’t vote for him. And he’s a little too high, but I can’t hate it too much.

88. Bruno Sammartino
I’m not really on the bandwagon of Bruno is great. He was decent enough and full of charisma and star power. He’s incredibly watchable when he’s got heated feuds and either a big bumper against him or a monster like Hansen. But I do think it’s impressive for someone of his era making it to the top 100 in a clear modern heavy list. 
 

[MasterJonBurr]

Roddy Strong the first entry on the top 100 that is just absurd to me. He’s like a Tom Zenk-level guy to me of his era. 
 

And I’d like to nominate Matt D’s “Who’s On First?” Routine with Dusty and Dustin as the second most adorable post on this whole thread, right behind Mantaur’s vintage meltdown. 

[Microstatistics]

#90

El Dandy

His decline here mirrors my own list, from Top 10 in 2016 to #75. Still a great, versatile wrestler. The Santo 1996 feud and the famous Azteca bout are career highlights but stuff vs. Pirata Morgan, Javier Illanes, and Negro Navarro are worth checking out as well.

#89

Roderick Strong

Briefly considered him. Reliable, utility player for 20 years or so, can't argue with the placement.

#88

"The Living Legend" Bruno Sammartino

Had him around this spot too until he finished at #100 for me prior to submission. His run really does age well.

[cad]

I'm not sure if anyone taught me more about Mexican wrestling than Dandy. He shaped my ideas about title matches, heated 3v3s and eventually even those purely technical 3v3s, although that last one did take a while. The man was fantastic not just at working different types of match but at putting his own stamp on them. Discussion of him died down so much since his top fifty finish last time, when a lot of people had just started watching old CMLL and his 1990 run in particular, that he didn't seem to have a shot at even making the top one hundred. That awesome Monterrey brawl with Santo was probably one of the best vintage lucha matches to surface in the past ten years. It didn't seem to affect his standing any.

3 hours ago, Makai Club #1 said:

He’s got a talent for great drama, great offence and just making matches work, particularly apuestas.

It's funny. Dandy didn't really play much of a role in forming my image of an apuestas match, and if you gave me the choice between two never before seen Dandy matches, one with his hair on the line and the other with a belt on the line, I'd take the title match every day of the week. I say that, but the man certainly doesn't lack for apuestas classics, and maybe those are what got him here this time.

[MoS]

I also don't get the high ranking for Roddy. He is a perfectly good wrestler, he has a snap and aggression in his moves that I like, he has had a long career, but he has never stood out to me as anything more than very good. There are so many great, brilliant wrestlers. I don't think he is in the top 100 of the GWE; perhaps #250 would have been more suited for him in my opinion. 

[Stephen-]

He's also, I'd imagine, never been anything worse than very good to you. Across almost a quarter century, and adding to it today. To me, he has been great. I didn't vote for him but he was in my ten outside the 100. I think reducing him to just "very good" is a little underselling his heights, while simultaneously not highlighting that it's a consistent floor of very good. The next bad Roderick Strong match will be the first. That includes environments that aren't always great for wrestling at all, or sometimes not great for good wrestling. And he excelled. 

[Reel]

Nobody watched the Roddy stuff in Evolve then? Reading a lot about him in terms of his stuff in the major tv promotions, good hand, solid worked, charisma vacuum. But his run at the top of Evolve, or even his run as PWG champ is exceptional stuff. Check out the match with ZSJ from Evolve 25, I think or any of the stuff with Drew, he can be much more when he isn’t playing 3rd or 4th banana to his lesser friends. 

[Tetsujin]

Calling Roderick Strong (or Claudio) a charisma vacuum in 2026 sounds crazy to me. Like, those guys never stop putting their stuff over in their matches, they always do something that pops the crowd and keeps them engaged. Sure, they're not top tier charismatic wrestlers ever by any means, they don't trascend pro wrestling nor they are main stars of a card, but when they wrestle they make people pay attention and be excited for their time between the ropes.

[El Dragon]

16 minutes ago, Reel said:

Nobody watched the Roddy stuff in Evolve then? Reading a lot about him in terms of his stuff in the major tv promotions, good hand, solid worked, charisma vacuum. But his run at the top of Evolve, or even his run as PWG champ is exceptional stuff. Check out the match with ZSJ from Evolve 25, I think or any of the stuff with Drew, he can be much more when he isn’t playing 3rd or 4th banana to his lesser friends. 

On top of this, I think his RoH run gets pretty massively slept on because he’s just surrounded by so many other great wrestlers, and he was great there, even if he wasn’t a Joe/Danielson level guy. His 05 is amazing, first as Aries policeman, getting his hands on Aries next challenger early to soften him up for him, to a breakout summer with the awesome Gibson match, and then the awesome Danielson matches. He’s also got 3 pretty legitimately great tag team runs with Evans, Aries, and O’Reilly on his belt too. 
 

Just a damn easy case to make for him if you know the resume. The matches/performances are clearly there, and among all the aura talk, this is still a list supposed to be about being great in ring.

[ohtani's jacket]

People keep on making the case for Strong that he was a good worker. He's right there next to a great worker in Dandy. So either it's a case of Who are you to doubt, Roddy Strong? or he's not top 100.

Not sure how Morton survived being culled. People watching Rock 'n' Roll Express matches in 2025 vs. territories guys dropping like flies doesn't compute.

I thought Naito would finish higher. I guess he needs to go to AEW. 

[ohtani's jacket]

I'm not sure if Dustin's output matches the respect and admiration people have for him, but I wouldn't call him underserving. 

All I'll say about Benoit is that a lot of people voted for him. I guess they had their reasons. 

 

[Makai Club #1]

20 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

I thought Naito would finish higher. I guess he needs to go to AEW. 

I don't want to say everyone because Naito was pretty much the most popular guy with fans, but Naito praise as a worker could be hit or miss depending on the fan, more so than Okada or Tanahashi. 

[gungan]

Yeah, I don't really get the criticism that Roddy is a charisma vacuum or that he's lacking in a strong peak. He's a great jock heel who gives off a date rapist vibe and he had a strong peak in the mid-late 2010s where he was consistently one of the best wrestlers in the world. Great EVOLVE run, great PWG title run, great NXT run. He was so good during that period that he was getting great matches out of guys like Lethal and Dunne. The main criticism I'd make of him is that he's had several periods during his career where he was kinda shit, especially during the clone wars era of ROH.

[Boss Rock]

Had Naito at 43. I agree with Makai Club that his output could be a bit inconsistent as injuries and vision issues crept up on him. But at his best he was right there with the very tip top of 2010's NJPW guys, 2016 and 2017 being particularly spectacular and arguable BITW runs. And even after that, he was still capable of great matches until at least 2022 or so. Could play both the dickhead heel or cool, roguish face. Could push the pace while other folks were a bit slower during the start of the 30 minute main event. And while his pre-LIJ face run is remembered as being a failed experiment, he was still really good. I really appreciate how much he was able to differentiate his Ingobernable run while still keeping a good amount of his repertoire.

[Tetsujin]

Can't complain about Naito when last time he was #390, but damn, I really hate how for most people Okada and Omega are better and more popular. That's something I'll never forget Meltzer for. It's also New Japan's fault for not making him the ace of the promotion when they had to.

I'm REALLY shocked Morton ranked below Eaton.

"Shocking" ranking for Benoit too (not really, I know), guess WWE-based voters don't have as much of a weight as I thought, even when it comes to their more canonized guys. If Michaels/Angle/Cena dropped tomorrow I wouldn't be as surprised as I would've been last week.

 

[Stephen-]

31 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Who are you to doubt, Roddy Strong

Gonna go with this one. (I voted Dandy somewhere in my 50 and Strong didn't make my ballot. I am a huge fan of Strong making the 100 though.)

 

31 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Not sure how Morton survived being culled

The comments about "aura" voters, or voters putting names that "should be on the list" I'd imagine. People know Morton as THEE tag team guy, in THEE tag team of all time. Whatever reason, I am happy. He deserves it.

[ohtani's jacket]

I thought you needed to be cool to have aura. 

[Stephen-]

Ricky Morton is very cool in my household. Probably. I don't know if anyone besides me in this house knows him, but I do, and I love him.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

Did Low Ki fall out of the top 100 or did I miss him somehow?

[Matt D]

I like ZSJ fine, but Low Ki is a much funnier 101.

[El Dragon]

Just now, ohtani's jacket said:

Did Low Ki fall out of the top 100 or did I miss him somehow?

He finished 101, after correction