GWE 2026 Reaction Thread

[Microstatistics]

@Control21 I had Tamura at #5 vs. Han at #36. Tamura beat him on points per vote at least too (68.6 versus 64.9). My theory is that if you are lower/moderate on shoot-style, you'll favor Han for reasons outlined. If you are a stylistic purist, you'll prefer Tamura for the depth.

Cena over Fujinami is a travesty. Cena over a lot of wrestlers is actually but at least he beat them (Fujiwara, Satanico etc.) in 2016 too. Fujinami was #20 in 2016. I don't understand the fall, especially with the (desirable) rise of Inoki.

I'll take solace in the fact that Shawn and Omega are still kicking. Really hope Santo, Hokuto, and AJ Styles are astronomically high.

[Boss Rock]

Top 40 and I still have 37 wrestlers on the board.

[Tetsujin]

Cena, Omega and (yeah it's time now) Mox still alive while all these absolutely stellar wrestlers just dropped today feels so bad. Fujinami's fall specially hurts, if anyone told me he's the best babyface ever, the best technical wrestler ever, and the most consistent wrestler ever, I wouldn't bat an eye. One of the most versatile japanese wrestlers ever, as well. I knew he was going to fall (Jumbo and Liger, get ready) but didn't expect him to drop this soon. A shame.

[Control21]

9 minutes ago, Microstatistics said:

@Control21 I had Tamura at #5 vs. Han at #37. Tamura beat him on points per vote at least too (68.6 versus 64.9). My theory is that if you are lower/moderate on shoot-style, you'll favor Han for reasons outlined. If you are a stylistic purist, you'll prefer Tamura for the depth.

Cena over Fujinami is a travesty. Cena over a lot of wrestlers is actually but at least he beat them (Fujiwara, Satanico etc.) in 2016 too. Fujinami was #20 in 2016. I don't understand the fall, especially with the (desirable) rise of Inoki.

I'll take solace in the fact that Shawn and Omega are still kicking. Really hope Santo, Hokuto, and AJ Styles are astronomically high.

I suppose so. I consider myself a shoot-style purist, and I still prefer Volk Han personally. Both are awesome, though. Tamura was incredible in his unique ways. Theoretically, the difference between #2 and #5 isn't that big, but y'know. 

[Makai Club #1]

16 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

His name is Volk Han, he’s a Russian mat wizard, and he does magic tricks. And his theme music is epic. 

"Sounds cool. How do I watch him?"

You'll at least get a positive response.

[Matt D]

I'd argue, again, that classic NJPW guys are just hard to watch. And Inoki is much easier to just drop a gif with relative to Fujinami. It does make me wonder if we'll see Bret do a little worse relative to, let's say Shawn, this year.

[MidasGloves]

Han's entire career is also incredibly digestible. You can watch his full rivalries with Tamura, Kohsaka, Nagai, and Vrij on top of a few scattered matches and his final worked match against Fujiwara in an afternoon.

[MasterJonBurr]

“Reject cynicism, embrace Dradition” is more insidious than anything even Parv ever said in this hive of scum and villainy. 

[Microstatistics]

1 hour ago, MasterJonBurr said:

“Reject cynicism, embrace Dradition” is more insidious than anything even Parv ever said in this hive of scum and villainy. 

What makes you say that? 

 

I got 33 left, 26 from my Top 40.

 

 

[Jetlag]

Toyota climbing 40 places compared to 2016. I'm not a fan of this. Feels like boomer-ish opinions got stronger, with this and other oddities like RVD climbing. Her thread hasn't had any activity in 5 years with people being mostly lukewarm. The most Toyota discourse i've seen on X is that supercut of her botches getting some traction.

[Tetsujin]

44 minutes ago, Jetlag said:

Toyota climbing 40 places compared to 2016. I'm not a fan of this. Feels like boomer-ish opinions got stronger, with this and other oddities like RVD climbing. Her thread hasn't had any activity in 5 years with people being mostly lukewarm. The most Toyota discourse i've seen on X is that supercut of her botches getting some traction.

Joshi in general is receiving a big push, and of all the big joshi names Toyota is the more alligned with the predominant workrate style today (the Ospreays, the Omegas, the Bucks, etc).

Also, she's fucking awesome.

[MasterJonBurr]

9 hours ago, Microstatistics said:

What makes you say that? 

 

I got 33 left, 26 from my Top 40.

 

 

I find the argument it implies against Fujinami offensive and nonexistent, and the dragon/tradition portmanteau, itself, is truly horrific. And yet, as with most things said on a message board, this intends no harm and is said in jest. 

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

57 minutes ago, Jetlag said:

Her thread hasn't had any activity in 5 years with people being mostly lukewarm.

lmao most threads on this forum haven't had activity since Barack Obama was president. Eddie Guerrero's thread last had a post in 2021. Should he also not be top 100?

[Jetlag]

20 minutes ago, Mantaur Rodeo Clown said:

lmao most threads on this forum haven't had activity since Barack Obama was president. Eddie Guerrero's thread last had a post in 2021. Should he also not be top 100?

I did not say she should not be in the Top 100 because of that. She should not be in the Top 100 because she's a terrible, repetitive, boring wrestler, and even the joshi superfans often don't find her that great. The last 10 years didn't really do anything to elevate her case, unlike others such as Meiko Satomura.

Eddie was #12 last time, so he probably won't climb a ton, but I would still find it a bit strange if he did.

[ohtani's jacket]

Not sure how I feel about this Parka rating. I get why he's beloved, but I'd like to think I've watched more Parka than the average guy, and I dunno... if you're looking at it from the perspective of how many good Parka matches can I find, you won't be disappointed, but if you ever sit down and watch Parka week-to-week, he's less compelling. 

[Boss Rock]

I had Park at 45 and it's pretty awesome to see him get such a huge boost. One of the best brawlers ever and as recently as 2019, still really good. He's also someone who I just really enjoyed watching every time I checked out a 5-minute WCW match of his.

[Resident Evil]

Unfortunately, I didn't get to do a list this year as I didn't realize it was happening to too late but it's certainly been an interesting list.
 

[ohheylook]

Mox about 150 spots too high and on about 40% too many ballots 

[Makai Club #1]

I think Moxley is a bit too high. I didn't rank him in my top 100, although I get those who did. But I really didn't think of him at all when it came to GWE. I thought he was terrible in WWE - absolutely dreadful. And Moxley agrees given how he completely reinvented himself. And while that's all great for him and his perception, I still find him a little too uneven and inconsistent in terms of presentation in what he wants to be and match quality. Even though Moxley still brings more gritt than most of his AEW peers, he still falls into the manufactured drama that plauges modern wrestling to me, which is unneccesary nearfalls, excessive finishers and a lot of sag in his matches. Often times, he's good. With Darby, he's excellent. And I thought him vs Fletcher at the C2 Semi Finals was excellent. But he'll often just miss the mark for me in terms of greatness - which we are judging here. Even in recent times, the matches with Kyle O'Reilly are better on paper than they are in reality. 

Moxley is a quality wrestler. I just don't see him as on this specific level. 

 

 

[Boss Rock]

I did not vote for Moxley due to how lackluster his singles run in WWE could be (booking played a part but his offense was rough). That being said, I have no problem with him making the top 100. I definitely wouldn’t have had him this high, but I sort of understand why some might. He’s consistently been one of the best in the world since 2019 with 2022 being a particularly standout year. His last world title run was definitely a bit of a speed bump, but the All In match with Page was a terrific performance and everything since then has been pretty great. I don’t really agree with the arguments that he’s a cosplay wrestler. Yes, he has his influences but he’s always felt very genuine and real to me. Every wrestler has their influences, it’s how they use them and make them their own. Personally I think Moxley is quite good at that.

[El McKell]

2 hours ago, MasterJonBurr said:

 and the dragon/tradition portmanteau, itself, is truly horrific. 

Well this is Fujinami's fault for calling his indy promotion Dradition, not the fault of the poster.

[concrete1992]

Modern voting bias leads Mox to being this high...but also I ranked him roughly this high so I'm for it.

Other contenders that had 5-6 year run of being best in the world caliber would be a shoe in for most people. Thing I'm leaning more into as of late is "not all years are created equal" so can see also being great during COVID feels like it doesn't exist.

In his DGUSA as sort of the counterculture indie wrestler to someone like Johnny Gargano as the US folks getting the bigger pushes, he sort of killed it? Not completely out on the counter-counter indie style but with more rough edges and more likely to come in the 10-15 minute range than most folks which already puts him on the right side of history. 

Has done great tag/trios stuff with the Shield, singles run is meh, but I think even the top wrestlers are allowed weak runs especially if you come back to a peak level.

[Boss Rock]

I had Jun at 8, so seeing him drop is disappointing. Along with Casas, the ultimate longevity candidate. His whole career trajectory is fascinating to watch. Has the greatest rookie year ever and thrives as the plucky wunderkind before transitioning to the would-be challenger to the throne before settling in as a grizzled veteran and elder statesman. The most recent matches I saw of him were in AEW and he still brought the goods.

I had Shawn at 52 (one spot below Bret). Easily one of if not the most polarizing candidate. He was pretty much the antithesis to Bret's more grounded realism by following Flair's example in exaggerated bumping and selling and was always much flashier. But I think his 90's work holds up incredibly well and his matches with Taker in HIAC and with Foley at Mind Games are the two greatest Fed matches ever. Was also capable of carrying lesser workers to genuinely good matches. Then there's the Rockers, which is one of my favorite tag teams. The only major blemish on his record is his comeback run which, to be fair, is a decent stretch of time. But I don't think it's completely bereft of good matches. The Taker Mania matches, while wildly overrated, are still quite good.

[Shrike02]

42 minutes ago, Boss Rock said:

But I think his 90's work holds up incredibly well and his matches with Taker in HIAC and with Foley at Mind Games are the two greatest Fed matches ever. 

I would love to see this argument discussed in more detail. I would take the field versus this claim. 

[Tetsujin]

Quite a concerning fall for Akiyama if you're a Pillar fan, isn't it? Really didn't expect this landing for him.

Shawn stayed more or less the same. Seeing him drop before Omega, who in many ways is the HBK of today, but definitely far worse, saddens me.

Inoki didn't land too far away from Fujinami (nor Fujiwara even) so no biggie here. One of the most legendary pro wrestlers ever and almost every performance i've seen from him reflects it.