GWE 2026 Reaction Thread

[ohtani's jacket]

Suzuki is better on paper than in the ring. Great highs, though.

Sabu and Kevin Owens are hard to care about . I've been watching Owens and Generico vs. the Briscoes the past few days, and all I can think about when I see Owens is James Corden. 

[Jetlag]

It's amazing how Suzukis popularity has surged. Around 2010, I remember many being tired of his shit and considered his overly long singles matches a nightmare. The common take was that he was talented but tended to ruin matches with his buffoonery. The audience that got interested in NJPW after the resurgence with Okada seemingly can't get enough of his whacky antics, though.

[Ma Stump Puller]

54 minutes ago, Jetlag said:

It's amazing how Suzukis popularity has surged. Around 2010, I remember many being tired of his shit and considered his overly long singles matches a nightmare. The common take was that he was talented but tended to ruin matches with his buffoonery. The audience that got interested in NJPW after the resurgence with Okada seemingly can't get enough of his whacky antics, though.

they weren't burned on his dogshit ajpw matches because they only started watching after that stint thankfully ended lol

 

[Matt D]

The blurb on Jaguar saying 77-86 is putting a lot of weight on two iffy matches we have of hers from 78 (we have nothing from 77) but the general gist is lovely of course.

Eaton this far over Morton is interesting. So close to the top 75.

Glad to see Brock gone for multiple reasons. I admit he’s good at very specific things but I’ve made my case against him over the years.

[ohtani's jacket]

Dunno about that Jay Briscoe ranking. Time will tell whether this indie guys stay in the top 100 or not. 

Jaguar has a strong case for being top 50. 

Eaton did extremely well. 

Lesnar is overrated as fuck. 

[Boss Rock]

Funnily enough, I also had Jaguar one spot ahead of Jay (72 and 73 respectively). For Jay specifically, I think there's a very strong case to be made for the Briscoes being the greatest tag team of the 21st century.

Did not vote for either Eaton or Morton. May seem blasphemous, and trust me I tried. Neither guy just really clicked with me. And when it comes to 80's tag teams, I always found the Rockers and Fabulous One more compelling. I will give Ricky props for the Flair cage match though, it rules.

Did not vote for Brock. He's genuinely great at his best, but there are too many instances of him just eating his opponent alive because he didn't respect them.

[Reel]

Suzuki’s run at the top of NOAH, when Bushiroad was running it, was one of the more disastrous runs in recent memory. 

[El-P]

Bobby Eaton : Awful worker. This is everything that is wrong about pro-wrestling these days. His partners are goofs, but he's the main offender of the worst instincts going in pro-wrestling. Charisma vacuum, doesn't understand the slightest thing about being a heel when his matches are just spot spot spot. He's spamming big spectacular moves that looks more impressive than whatever the babyface team he faces can do, which is totally counterproductive in term of psychology. Plus he and his partners, both of them, do those ridiculous, contrived double team moves *in squash matches* instead of saving them for the actual meaningful matches, making the laters a lot less specials. Although that shit looks totally non believable anyway and totally exposes the business and gets me out of the matches every time. The Alabama Jam should be done once a year at Starrcade as a finisher, not for studio matches against two jobbers. He just doesn't let anything breathe because he's just way too interested in doing cool shit, and again AS A HEEL ! Just a disgrace when you think about the real, realistic tag workers from the past. Thankfully Ole Anderson is keeping that old school spirits alive of working a limb for 40 minutes, which is how it should be done, but even his younger partner Arn has fallen into the same trappings of doing way too much and bumping like an idiot and ruining the suspension of disbelief. I fucking hate Bobby Eaton and his dumbass manager who can talk, but is never serious enough and also over react to everything because he wants to be FUNNY. Whoever voted for this guy is a FUCKING IDIOT teenager who probably thinks that new wave shit is good music. SYNTHS ARE NOT REAL INSTRUMENTS ! And OF COURSE this guy's theme music is some disco shit because OF COURSE. Anyway. I fucking hate what pro-wrestling is becoming. The Midnight Express are killing the business.

[MoS]

The blurb for Brock is great, but I just don't get the "he is also the most legitimate fighter to ever step foot in the ring". Technically, Cain Velasquez has had wrestling matches and he beat the everliving shit out of Brock when he fought, but notwithstanding that, that legitimacy is already reflected in his presentation and booking. Don't see why being a good shoot-fighter should enhance his GWE case. 

I voted for both Jaguar and Eaton. Wish Jaguar would have ranked higher but I am glad both made it. 

[ohtani's jacket]

He wasn't the best at any of the other dimensions the dude mentioned either. 

[Control21]

Kazushi Sakuraba accomplished way more than Brock ever could on the shoot fighting end 

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

Sakuraba got the better match out of Nakamura.

[MoS]

12 minutes ago, Control21 said:

Kazushi Sakuraba accomplished way more than Brock ever could on the shoot fighting end 

Oh he did, I just brought up Cain because Brock got his ass beat by him. 

[Childs]

Lesnar was the vote I regretted most from 2016. I overreacted to his unique presence in those first few comeback years and failed to focus on the broader point, which is that he's a turd who has not been good for the art form overall. 

[Hollinger.]

16 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

I don't understand why we haven't heard more about this guy if he's such a great worker. I'm out of touch with anything that happened in the past 20 years, but you still hear the buzz around guys. 

Again, I really liked him when watching his early ROH stuff. Just didn't expect to see him in the top 100. Maybe he really is that good. I dunno. 

He's been having good/great matches on weekly american tv for 16 years now. I think if you haven't heard much about him, that's more on you. People talk up Roddy all the time online.

[tcg91]

Lesnar had a series of highly overrated matches after his 2012 return. The people that loved his countless suplexs, no-selling and exaggerated kickouts were the same that used to blast the indies for doing that!

Jay Briscoe was an incredible tag team wrestler and also a solid champion when ROH needed somebody to step up, but I am not sure about him being in the top 100.

 

[DMJ]

- Loved El-P's troll post about Eaton. Very funny. I just watched a Dustin Rhodes/Bobby Eaton match a couple days ago from Saturday Night (I think it was December 91') and it was terrific. Great Madusa performance and JR is solo on commentary and is great too. I had Eaton at #46.

- I won't make the case for Lesnar because he has a whole thread devoted to it, but I had him at #11. If you stopped caring about the WWE after 88' or 93' or 97' or 99', there's no case that will convince you that, in terms of aura and "big match feel" and then delivering great performances, Lesnar is at an elite level.  

[Robert S]

16 hours ago, DMJ said:

- Roddy didn't make my top 100, but he wasn't far off. I'll readily admit that I haven't seen a ton of his career but he did meet my personal rule of having watched/reviewed 20 matches and while he scored highly on "average match score," when I ran him through the rest of my criteria, he didn't make the cut. Would've probably been in that 105-110 range. My issue is the same as others have said, he's an incredible mechanic and he's incredibly consistent but he misses me in the "I'm So Excited For Roderick Strong vs. _____" department. To me, its really the "it" factor of me actively getting excited for a match and its just not there for him. I could easily go the other way, though, and see him making my list in 2036 as I watch more footage.

Strong has been stuck in an endless loop for me since 2005: every couple of years people on the internet write about how much he has improved or how he is the best wrestler on the planet, followed by me watching some of this current matches and thinking "he is absolutely competent, but I have to be missing something". 

[MasterJonBurr]

That El-P post was art. I feel exposed. 

[WingedEagle]

5 hours ago, El-P said:

Bobby Eaton : Awful worker. This is everything that is wrong about pro-wrestling these days. His partners are goofs, but he's the main offender of the worst instincts going in pro-wrestling. Charisma vacuum, doesn't understand the slightest thing about being a heel when his matches are just spot spot spot. He's spamming big spectacular moves that looks more impressive than whatever the babyface team he faces can do, which is totally counterproductive in term of psychology. Plus he and his partners, both of them, do those ridiculous, contrived double team moves *in squash matches* instead of saving them for the actual meaningful matches, making the laters a lot less specials. Although that shit looks totally non believable anyway and totally exposes the business and gets me out of the matches every time. The Alabama Jam should be done once a year at Starrcade as a finisher, not for studio matches against two jobbers. He just doesn't let anything breathe because he's just way too interested in doing cool shit, and again AS A HEEL ! Just a disgrace when you think about the real, realistic tag workers from the past. Thankfully Ole Anderson is keeping that old school spirits alive of working a limb for 40 minutes, which is how it should be done, but even his younger partner Arn has fallen into the same trappings of doing way too much and bumping like an idiot and ruining the suspension of disbelief. I fucking hate Bobby Eaton and his dumbass manager who can talk, but is never serious enough and also over react to everything because he wants to be FUNNY. Whoever voted for this guy is a FUCKING IDIOT teenager who probably thinks that new wave shit is good music. SYNTHS ARE NOT REAL INSTRUMENTS ! And OF COURSE this guy's theme music is some disco shit because OF COURSE. Anyway. I fucking hate what pro-wrestling is becoming. The Midnight Express are killing the business.

This is the best for so many reasons. All of them. Just the best. its the tactical drone army of posts. Bravo.

[Boss Rock]

Of course because I mention him he's going to drop today, but it's awesome that Onita is guaranteed to finish higher than last time, which is honestly kinda surprising.

[ohtani's jacket]

5 hours ago, Hollinger. said:

He's been having good/great matches on weekly american tv for 16 years now. I think if you haven't heard much about him, that's more on you. People talk up Roddy all the time online.

Probably, but to be fair, his nomination post is mostly filled with posts from a decade ago.

[Reel]

8 hours ago, Control21 said:

Kazushi Sakuraba accomplished way more than Brock ever could on the shoot fighting end 

I mean, this is not exactly the case. Does Sakuraba mean more to the sport? Yes.
 

Was there a point where Sakuraba was the best fighter in the world? Probably, I’d be interested in really looking at that argument.
 

Is being UFC Heavyweight Champion a bigger accolade than anything Sakuraba actually accomplished in a sense? Almost undoubtedly yes. 

[Control21]

10 minutes ago, Reel said:

I mean, this is not exactly the case. Does Sakuraba mean more to the sport? Yes.
 

Was there a point where Sakuraba was the best fighter in the world? Probably, I’d be interested in really looking at that argument.
 

Is being UFC Heavyweight Champion a bigger accolade than anything Sakuraba actually accomplished in a sense? Almost undoubtedly yes. 

Sakuraba was beating the Gracies when people thought it was impossible. He also beat people like Belfort. He was a Japanese megastar from about 2000 to 2003 or so. Brock's peak at the UFC was a similar length, if not shorter. 

[Makai Club #1]

84. Dustin Rhodes
Like Barry Windham, he’s a case of high peak with a lot of underwhelming work. But I find his work in WCW up-to his firing in 1995 endlessly watchable and full of tremendous performances. And even as Goldust, if you can get past all the gay panic stuff, I think he’s got some really good work in there. I didn’t vote for him, but I’ll always be a champion of his. 

83. Minoru Suzuki
I thought he had come and gone already, but I’m grateful he has not. For me, it was really tough to Minoru Suzuki with him being in his old man phase, where he travels, does a lazy strike exchange and leaves. But then I remember a time where Suzuki was one of the most entertaining, charismatic and unique performers in New Japan where everyone wrestled a similar style. Long are the days when Suzuki would break down an opponent limb by limb, but I’ll remember the matches against Saburaba, AJ Styles, Okada and Tanahashi. Voted him at #64. 

82. Sabu
Should’ve voted for him, but I couldn’t find a place for him. Sabu is a special breed of wrestler, who I always find myself mesmerized by when I watch him. You’d think that 30 years later that the appeal might wear off, and yet… Even with all the over exposure of table spots and dives to the floor, nobody can do it as dangerously as Sabu. 

81. Kevin Owens
The funniest part about Owens was everyone panicking about him being not only this high, but potentially higher. No, he is not a top 100 wrestler. But he does have quality work (mostly built around Sami Zayn) and is a great character worker on his day.