GWE 2026 Reaction Thread

[Microstatistics]

While many of my favorites dropped earlier than I hoped, I'm fine with the Top 30. CM Punk (someone I ranked btw) is the only one who seems questionably high. Lawler and Liger survive and I'm surprised Samoa Joe and Mick Foley made it this high.

#32

Chigusa Nagayo

#31

Bull Nakano

Joshi heavyweights drop. Had them at #45 and #79, respectively, and both were likely underestimations.

[tcg91]

I have no idea how Moxley is performing these days (if you look at Meltzer's ratings, he's Ric Flair in 1989 lol), but he's always been one of those “and then the bell rang” guys for me, going back to the DGUSA days. The Shield was very cool as a concept, and let's be honest here: time told us they weren't just hiding Reigns' flaws, but also Rollins' and Ambrose's.

I’m shocked to see La Parka so high too. I’d be interested to see whether that’s because modern watchers like him for... I don’t know, branding a chair in WCW? His in-ring work is nowhere near that of so many other Mexican wrestlers.

[Boss Rock]

3 minutes ago, tcg91 said:

I’m shocked to see La Parka so high too. I’d be interested to see whether that’s because modern watchers like him for... I don’t know, branding a chair in WCW? His in-ring work is nowhere near that of so many other Mexican wrestlers.

I think folks who might not be huge lucha fans are more likely to connect with Park because of his work as a brawler.

[club]

Nice to see Chin and Chigs get more recognition this time round. Had them at 12 and 21 respectively.

[Tetsujin]

Ok, seriously, Omega needs to drop, this is getting ridiculous. Even Cena dropped now. C'mon.

Really glad for Chiggy, I have a weird case with her because the earlier years everyone loves and agrees are her absolute peak years are my least favourite (still cool though), but the older and fatter she becomes the more I enjoy her. Glad for Bull too, again, not among my favourite joshi wrestlers but I totally get the appeal. She had a crazy amount of top 25 votes, too.

Taue not finishing #26 again is the biggest failure in 2026 GWE thus far.

[ohtani's jacket]

Rare job for Inoki but at least he took a few more names with him.

I've got no bones to pick with Shawn. His resume speaks for itself. Akiyama was living off the vapors. Taue was more fun before everyone started piling on about how underrated he was. Solid finish for Bock. He's probably closer to top 25 all-time but he could have fallen a lot further on this year's edition. Who the fuck cares what John Cena got out of the Great Khali? I hate that talking point. I hate the nonsense about his 2007 as well. Dude torn his pec and did jack all after SummerSlam.

Chigusa did better than last time, but fell short of making huge waves. I thought she'd crack the top 25. Little surprised about that. Bull did better given she never had the crossover appeal of Aja. cad talked about Satancio being the anti-lucha candidate. He might as well have been talking about Aja Kong. 

[gungan]

I like Moxley a lot. I love his indie stuff, he was the best guy in the Shield, and I've liked his AEW run. I even discount his shitty WWE singles run because he was obviously being sabotaged by Vince's out of touch schizo booking. But I struggle to see him as a top 100 candidate, let alone top 40. He has the same problem as someone like Cena or Punk where their stuff works at a macro level but it breaks down far too often at a micro level (especially because of his weird execution issues).

It sucks to see Akiyama drop. I had him at 5 and find his body of work to be more impressive than the Pillars, especially because he was so consistent for so long and more proven in a variety of situations. The only argument I see for the Pillars over him is their absolute high end work is better, but even then it's not as though they blow him out of the water in that respect.

[Tetsujin]

So... Are Santito and Casas the last luchadores standing? I would be surprised if they survive tomorrow.

[Boss Rock]

1 minute ago, Tetsujin said:

So... Are Santito and Casas the last luchadores standing? I would be surprised if they survive tomorrow.

They are. I predicted both would be top 10 candidates but am feeling less sure about that now. Finishing roughly where they did last time wouldn't surprise me.

[Reel]

10 minutes ago, gungan said:

I like Moxley a lot. I love his indie stuff, he was the best guy in the Shield

 

Was he though? I didn’t think that at the time, and I don’t see that now.

[DMJ]

I had Bull Nakano at #14, my highest rated women's wrestler. I'm glad she made the top 50. I haven't seen enough Joshi to argue with the more knowledgeable folk here about her being better than Aja or Hokuto (or Dump), but her "It" factor is off the charts for me.

Spending the last 18 months trying to watch as much classic AJPW and 80s/90s joshi as I could - while still watching lots of AEW and territory stuff and old TNA PPVs on YouTube - I would get bored and need to switch things up every few days. Bull was someone who, if her match was next on my playlist, I was almost always excited to watch. Infinitely watchable to me, even if maybe the highs aren't as high as some of the other women who haven't dropped yet. 

 

[Tetsujin]

2 minutes ago, Reel said:

Was he though? I didn’t think that at the time, and I don’t see that now.

He was the one that carried himself as a star the most, from the very beginning. Seth and Roman were each pretty good at their respective role, but none of them screamed "future push to this guy" the way Ambrose did.

[Boss Rock]

All 30 remaining wrestlers made my ballot. 8 in my top 10, 20 in my top 25, 24 in my top 50.

[MidasGloves]

LA Park making 40th is huge but I was hoping he would sneak even higher. My highest drop so far at 5th. There is something to be said about how in his prime there was almost no other wrestler you'd want as a utility guy on your roster than La Parka: singles, tags or trios; 1 minute or 20; he could keep up on the mat, fly through the air, or beat a guy's ass with a chair. Effortless physical charisma. Has a resume of brawls a mile long that remain among the best ever with Santito, Wagner, Rush, and more. Gave the guy who took his gimmick while he was in WCW the best match of his career and went on to keep using the legally-distinct variant he came up with anyway. Burned Wagner's shirt in effigy while flipping him off before having one of the best matches of all time. Kept fighting with Rush for nearly 10 minutes after the promotion ordered the ref to call for a No Contest due to blood because he knew the crowd deserved a show. You WILL book his sons if you want him on your indie show. Many people think Onita is the coolest wrestler of all time but I think it's LA Park.

Moxley I already made a big post about yesterday but I'm very happy with 39th, though maybe bittersweet as I do think Park outclasses Mox at bloody brawls when that's Mox's bread and butter. I could be overrating his 2014-2017, I do think he had a number of very good matches in that stretch but I'd need to revisit some of them and they're certainly not his best work. Can I petition Tony Khan to book Mox vs LA Park? Garcia & Yuta can wrestle Park Jr. and Hijo del Park.

I had this hunch that Akiyama would rank above at least Taue but I guess that wasn't the case. Ironically I had Akiyama one spot below Mox on my ballot (24th & 25th). I obviously love his early work and as a big Kobashi guy Burning is always a good time. When Kawada didn't make the jump to NOAH with the other Pillars, Jun stepped up and did a great job there too. I do say all this admittedly first seeing him as an old man in DDT, where he can both play a great straightman to the nonsense on the roster and be a strong opponent for a younger wrestler in more serious matches, which is a really perfect role for him.

HBK is a case of a guy where I watch his stuff and I can tell it's good and even great, but very rarely has he ever blown me away. I can't quite put my finger on it, he's good at everything he needs to be good at. Doesn't help that he's had multiple DX runs where he's working off of HHH I suppose. I don't know if he'd make my Top 200 but I also totally understand consistent Top 50s from him. When one of Shawn's matches hits it HITS. Perhaps I need to watch more Rockers footage because I don't know if more 00s HBK will change my opinion and his 90s singles run is all charted territory by now.

Inoki lapping Baba by this margin is not something I expected at all. Inoki's certainly a worthy inclusion in the Top 100 but 36th is well beyond what I would've thought. I suppose there is an energy unique to Inoki on offense that Baba despite his distinct stature couldn't replicate, and while many from the generation during or just after Inoki's prime might surpass him in certain skills, there is still something to his matches with those wrestlers that makes them feel special. I feel like I enjoy Inoki more as a promoter than as a wrestler sometimes; he was truly willing to try crazy shit and follow through with his vision for pro wrestling's future even if a portion of it fell flat and/or didn't do good business. The Island Death Match, bringing in the Russians and MMA fighters, whatever the hell he was on when he put IGF cards together.

Taue rules. It's been said many times with many reasons given and he's still the first Pillar to fall. You can't possibly call him underrated at this point, but maybe undervalued is the better term? He was my #50.

Like I said with Fujiwara, Bock is a wrestler I've watched a handful of times before voting but didn't feel comfortable enough voting for on such a small sample size just because I've HEARD how good the rest is. Of course, now I see even a pity 99th as a thank you for some great multi-man tags and telling the APW promoter to put Danielson over in 2001 would've placed him above Cena. Should've found the time.

A lot of wrestlers are praised by saying they "could" do anything that's asked of them. Cena's a rarer breed where it's that he "would" do anything asked of him. From the moment he saved his career with that Vanilla Ice costume Cena has done exactly what WWE wanted him to do, and I've found he does a remarkable job within the boundaries of what he's told even when it's some of the worst TV you've ever seen. Cena did a great job at making big matches feel big without feeling "epic" unless that was the explicit goal (see the KO trilogy and his 2nd & final Styles singles), his big cartoonish head and arms played amazingly to the crowd and camera when he had to express something in a match, one of the best bladers of all time before WWE went PG, and for a guy basically pushed as a solo act for 20 years was always an enjoyable tag guy when his TV tags got the time to breath. I put him 40th, maybe that's too high but he's also half of my favorite match of all time so I had to give it to him.

To be blunt, Chigusa seems like the kind of talent that would've made my ballot on the back of the longevity case given she's still going today much like Kong is, but I've only ever seen her big prime run in AJW. Incredible stuff that had me consider her, but I was also considering Dump for a lot of that same era and so when Dump fell off so did Chig (since all respect to Chigusa, her matches with Dump aren't QUITE Dump vs Ohmori).

Bull was my 10th-place, though I am a bit floored she received no 1st place votes. Bull is just awesome in every context I've ever seen her in, great at the small things and great at delivering big memorable moments like the Steel Cage Leg Drops. Great in singles, can tag with or against just about anybody, one of the standouts among all the joshi talent when WWF & WCW experimented with bringing them over. I'm actually struggling to give a write-up for her that isn't just "she's cool as fuck and so are her matches".

Excited for tomorrow's drops at this point there aren't too many real upsets unless something wildly unexpected happens like Tanahashi missing the Top 20 (which I doubt, I do think he'll get in the 8-12 range).

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

I've been pretty harsh on this project I suppose, but I just have to express how much I appreciate it and what it's done for the wider wrestling community in terms of being inclusive and supportive.

For instance, I just read a blurb that said John Cena was the number one greatest wrestler of all time because of his "great strikes". It's just nice to see we're also letting blind pro wrestling fans vote. 

We're talking about a guy who misses his punches by about a foot on average, and when he manages to make it look good, it's only because he's literally punching his opponent because he doesn't know how to work. Literally, technically awful in the ring. Someone else said he had "sound fundamentals". The "sound" here being him screaming the entire layout of the match across the ring so Row ZZ can hear it.

"The best big match wrestler in American history"? No wrestler has been booked into more big matches, and done less with so much opportunity. He was in 180 or so PPV matches. If you gave a healthy Steve Austin or Randy Savage those numbers, we wouldn't even be having this poll. 

Look, I know that John Cena was probably the biggest male figure in your life after Dad went out for that pack of cigarettes. I know him cutting shitty, robotic promos and loudly standing up for Vince McMahon probably helped drown out the sounds of when Gary would come over and do loud sex to your Mom. But he's simply not the 33rd best wrestler of all time. He's barely the 233rd best wrestler of all time. 

[Control21]

12 minutes ago, Mantaur Rodeo Clown said:

I've been pretty harsh on this project I suppose, but I just have to express how much I appreciate it and what it's done for the wider wrestling community in terms of being inclusive and supportive.

For instance, I just read a blurb that said John Cena was the number one greatest wrestler of all time because of his "great strikes". It's just nice to see we're also letting blind pro wrestling fans vote. 

We're talking about a guy who misses his punches by about a foot on average, and when he manages to make it look good, it's only because he's literally punching his opponent because he doesn't know how to work. Literally, technically awful in the ring. Someone else said he had "sound fundamentals". The "sound" here being him screaming the entire layout of the match across the ring so Row ZZ can hear it.

"The best big match wrestler in American history"? No wrestler has been booked into more big matches, and done less with so much opportunity. He was in 180 or so PPV matches. If you gave a healthy Steve Austin or Randy Savage those numbers, we wouldn't even be having this poll. 

Look, I know that John Cena was probably the biggest male figure in your life after Dad went out for that pack of cigarettes. I know him cutting shitty, robotic promos and loudly standing up for Vince McMahon probably helped drown out the sounds of when Gary would come over and do loud sex to your Mom. But he's simply not the 33rd best wrestler of all time. He's barely the 233rd best wrestler of all time. 

This is the greatest shoot promo since Heyman at One Night Stand.

[WingedEagle]

15 minutes ago, Mantaur Rodeo Clown said:

I've been pretty harsh on this project I suppose, but I just have to express how much I appreciate it and what it's done for the wider wrestling community in terms of being inclusive and supportive.

For instance, I just read a blurb that said John Cena was the number one greatest wrestler of all time because of his "great strikes". It's just nice to see we're also letting blind pro wrestling fans vote. 

We're talking about a guy who misses his punches by about a foot on average, and when he manages to make it look good, it's only because he's literally punching his opponent because he doesn't know how to work. Literally, technically awful in the ring. Someone else said he had "sound fundamentals". The "sound" here being him screaming the entire layout of the match across the ring so Row ZZ can hear it.

"The best big match wrestler in American history"? No wrestler has been booked into more big matches, and done less with so much opportunity. He was in 180 or so PPV matches. If you gave a healthy Steve Austin or Randy Savage those numbers, we wouldn't even be having this poll. 

Look, I know that John Cena was probably the biggest male figure in your life after Dad went out for that pack of cigarettes. I know him cutting shitty, robotic promos and loudly standing up for Vince McMahon probably helped drown out the sounds of when Gary would come over and do loud sex to your Mom. But he's simply not the 33rd best wrestler of all time. He's barely the 233rd best wrestler of all time. 

I don't know whether to run for safety or scream for an encore. We have a winner.

[WingedEagle]

Also, who's Gary?

[Makai Club #1]

20 minutes ago, Mantaur Rodeo Clown said:

I've been pretty harsh on this project I suppose, but I just have to express how much I appreciate it and what it's done for the wider wrestling community in terms of being inclusive and supportive.

For instance, I just read a blurb that said John Cena was the number one greatest wrestler of all time because of his "great strikes". It's just nice to see we're also letting blind pro wrestling fans vote. 

We're talking about a guy who misses his punches by about a foot on average, and when he manages to make it look good, it's only because he's literally punching his opponent because he doesn't know how to work. Literally, technically awful in the ring. Someone else said he had "sound fundamentals". The "sound" here being him screaming the entire layout of the match across the ring so Row ZZ can hear it.

"The best big match wrestler in American history"? No wrestler has been booked into more big matches, and done less with so much opportunity. He was in 180 or so PPV matches. If you gave a healthy Steve Austin or Randy Savage those numbers, we wouldn't even be having this poll. 

Look, I know that John Cena was probably the biggest male figure in your life after Dad went out for that pack of cigarettes. I know him cutting shitty, robotic promos and loudly standing up for Vince McMahon probably helped drown out the sounds of when Gary would come over and do loud sex to your Mom. But he's simply not the 33rd best wrestler of all time. He's barely the 233rd best wrestler of all time. 

Most of this is extremely accurrate lol and yet I think Cena was pretty awesome anyway.

Except the hypotheticals. It's all if buts and maybes. To quote Gino D'Acampo: If my Grandmother had wheels, she would've been a bike. You can't blame Cena for getting the chances. 

[Stephen-]

11 hours ago, ohheylook said:

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

How do you determine if a wrestler is on too many ballots? Every ballot is its own individual list. Moxley didn't have a large amount of high voters. He had significant volume, which is reasonable on a list of one hundred names.

[Stephen-]

8 hours ago, Boss Rock said:

Thankfully Tony course-corrected on those last two.

Jack Perry is great! He's been a bright spot since returning last year. Give him another chance.

[KB8]

31 minutes ago, Mantaur Rodeo Clown said:

I've been pretty harsh on this project I suppose, but I just have to express how much I appreciate it and what it's done for the wider wrestling community in terms of being inclusive and supportive.

For instance, I just read a blurb that said John Cena was the number one greatest wrestler of all time because of his "great strikes". It's just nice to see we're also letting blind pro wrestling fans vote. 

We're talking about a guy who misses his punches by about a foot on average, and when he manages to make it look good, it's only because he's literally punching his opponent because he doesn't know how to work. Literally, technically awful in the ring. Someone else said he had "sound fundamentals". The "sound" here being him screaming the entire layout of the match across the ring so Row ZZ can hear it.

"The best big match wrestler in American history"? No wrestler has been booked into more big matches, and done less with so much opportunity. He was in 180 or so PPV matches. If you gave a healthy Steve Austin or Randy Savage those numbers, we wouldn't even be having this poll. 

Look, I know that John Cena was probably the biggest male figure in your life after Dad went out for that pack of cigarettes. I know him cutting shitty, robotic promos and loudly standing up for Vince McMahon probably helped drown out the sounds of when Gary would come over and do loud sex to your Mom. But he's simply not the 33rd best wrestler of all time. He's barely the 233rd best wrestler of all time. 

 

I had a good idea where this was going after the first paragraph and I wasn't disappointed. 

I like Cena well enough and think he's had some excellent matches with some excellent performances, but I also never voted for him. There's a lot of dross in amongst the really good stuff. 

[Boss Rock]

2 minutes ago, Stephen- said:

Jack Perry is great! He's been a bright spot since returning last year. Give him another chance.

Oh I think he's been doing just fine where's he been at now.

[pto]

1 hour ago, MidasGloves said:

LA Park [...] Effortless physical charisma.

I don't think this can be bolded and underlined enough. You can see it in the three-minute WCW Saturday Night matches, but you can really, really see it in all the stuff he's done since. Here's hoping he climbs higher in a decade.

[Reel]

2 hours ago, Stephen- said:

How do you determine if a wrestler is on too many ballots? Every ballot is its own individual list. Moxley didn't have a large amount of high voters. He had significant volume, which is reasonable on a list of one hundred names.

Not my post, but I can say it because I've watched a lot of wrestling, and based on that wrestling, I ranked the 100 greatest wrestlers. I formed an opinion on a lot of wrestlers. This idea that 'well, I could see why you would vote for that person' only goes so far. I really can't see why you'd vote for a lot of wrestlers; there are only 100 slots. When 65% of people vote for a person I wouldn't put in my top 500, I don't think it's anything other than perfectly normal to say that person got too many votes.