GWE 2026 Reaction Thread

[Microstatistics]

#15

Vader

My #20. I don't think you can find a better word than "durable" to describe Vader. Pit him against European aces, shoot-style artists, US babyfaces, Puro legends etc. and he would do Vader things and deliver the goods. Moreover, the minimal variability of his standing across three polls (#17, #14, and now #15) spanning twenty years really tells you how resilient his style really is.

#14

Toshiaki Kawada

He did fall out of the Top 10, which was to be expected, but not a huge shift. I put him at #41. Honestly, while he was generally in the mix for a number of the legendary bouts, the unorthodox stuff like the rivalry vs. Gary Albright is what made his case for me.

[Tetsujin]

Kawada dropping now and only having 75% of votes I guess kinda confirms that the other two Pillars will rank below Danielson, whose group of guys is having much more people behind.

Also, really funny that both Vader and Kawada beat the living shit out of Kobashi on their gifs. If the trend continues, maybe Hansen or Misawa drop next.

[Grimmas]

Really I can't believe Tanahashi did not make the top ten. Like, I didn't vote for him, but still.

[WingedEagle]

He didn't cut enough promos for this crowd. Amazing.

[Childs]

If there is a GWE 2036, will be interesting to see if the top NJPW workers of the last 15 years rise, fall or hold steady. You'll have older voters who didn't put them on ballots fall away, and there are a lot of people who came into hardcore fandom at a time when Tana, Okada and Omega were viewed as the pinnacle. But will they endure as Kawada, Misawa and Kobashi have? My guess is yes.

[MoS]

I will take the liberty of pronouncing smugly that I will have more thoughts on the wrestlers dropped that I will post over the weekend, but I must say, that pic of Kawada reminded me of good bubba @KawadaSmile. I wish he had submitted a ballot, because his blurb for Reigns as number one would have been exponentially better than that obscene crap we got from that TribalChiefFromRhodeIslandOrWhateverTheFuck person

[Tetsujin]

Surprisingly "low" amount of votes for Tanahashi, but almost everyone who voted for him had him really high (hell, I had him at #4), so yeah. Awesome showcase even if he didn't crack the top 10, not that much of an issue. The best babyface in the world since Kobashi retired, and broken down Tana had so much fire and dignity whitin him that I believe he even added to his case these last few years. A pro wrestling legend I had the pleasure to follow most of his time on top writing his own legacy right before my eyes.

Oh and there's no way Austin should be ranking above him and Kawada.

[MoS]

Also, sorry but Kawada ranking below Tanahashi is a travesty of justice 

[Childs]

1 minute ago, MoS said:

Also, sorry but Kawada ranking below Tanahashi is a travesty of justice 

For me, Tanahashi could never surpass Kawada. I didn't even like him and his weak-ass offense until I saw how well he adapted as his body failed. But I accept that for a lot of people who started watching 20 years after I did, Tana is the ultimate ace, and it's hard to argue he did not earn that, even if I will never feel it in my bones. 

[Boss Rock]

Dang, was not expecting that Kawada drop. Although I've heard it said there's been a bit of a recent reassessment of and backlash towards him. Anecdotal, but perhaps explains why he missed the top 10. I had him at number 3 and even contemplated putting him ahead of Misawa at 2. I think his post-90's work is really good and sees him finally get to try and do some of the things AJPW's booking handcuffed him from doing. And even before Baba's death, he was still the most likely out of all the pillars to try and change up his game from time to time whereas Misawa would often stick with what brought him to the dance. All-time great striker and probably the best kicker ever. Great perpetual challenger to the throne and could heel it up in the '95-'96 tag matches.

Don't really know what else to say about Kawada that hasn't been said for decades by people more learned than me.

Funnily enough, I also had Tanahashi at 13, just one spot below A.J. While I think Tana had higher peaks and perhaps even more volume, I think A.J. just did more stuff better. Offense, bumping, selling, broomstick matches, I think A.J. has him beat. But that’s not to say Tanahashi wasn’t great at those either. While his striking game was always weak, his High Fly Flow, Dragon Screw, Cloverleaf, Dragon Suplex, and Cross Body were spectacular. I’d wager he could hold his own in more mat-oriented matches as well. He was also a rather underrated seller and knew how to make his comebacks really mean something. And while he was always a valiant babyface, he was a sneaky good heel as well. He would occasionally wear the black hat against Okada in establishing him as the ace or when against an underdog like Honma. But the 2008 Champion Carnival final against Suwama as the invader hotshot perhaps stands out the most. His feud with Okada has become legendary, but he had an amazing series of matches with Naito, Ibushi, Shibata, Sabre, and Suzuki (their 2012 King of Pro Wrestling match being the one I would recommend to any non-2010’s NJPW fan). Some might think his high placement is a retirement bump and there might be a slight bit of truth to that, but I don’t think it speaks to the majority of voters. If you look at his thread as early as 2021 there was a good amount of support and goodwill building for him. He’s always been the one who appeals most to non-NJPW diehards because while he has worked the occasional high octane match, he’s not really Kenny Omega either. And while it’s clear PWO has been in the minority for this vote, Tana has just developed a really strong reputation as being one of the best in the world for a long time. As he got older and transitioned out of the ace role he did an impressive job working around his physical limitations. And while the last 3 years or so of his run were rough and I have admittedly not seen most of his 2025, he had one of the greatest retirement matches I’ve ever seen.

At the end of the day, Tanahashi was just an exceptional pro wrestler. Go Ace!

[Boss Rock]

These two actually had a match against each other. 

 

[club]

75% for Kawada. 72% for Tanahashi!

Last time no one in the top 20 appeared on less than 80% of ballots

I assume that there's a decent sized chunk of voters who have never watched anything other than the big modern US promotions.

[ZubazKid]

I had Tanahashi at #13 so he’s just the 2nd wrestler to finish where I had them ranked.

I’ve still got 8 of my top 10 alive, but I doubt that’ll be the case by the end of the day.

[Microstatistics]

#13

Hiroshi Tanahashi

@Tetsujin Yes, he had one of the highest points per vote yet, but a relatively lower presence on overall ballots. The polarization hurt him I suppose.

Was rooting for a Top 10 finish for a modern era representative but alas. I am guilty here since he was one of my big omissions as there are other modern NJPW guys that I think are much, much better. Still, looking at his 22+ year career, I understand the appeal and the #1 votes.

At least one of Eddie, Kong, and Austin is going to make the Top 10. Not what I would have expected before the process.

[Microstatistics]

#12

Eddie Guerrero

Ah what a tease, so close to the Top 10 and ends up finishing at the same spot as 2016. My #8. I've said it before but at his absolute best, there was arguably no one in history who was better.

[Boss Rock]

Eddie finishes in the exact same spot as 2016, impressive. He was my 32. Just unbelievably versatile. Could do the fast-paced junior style, be a fiery everyman hero, or an absolutely despicable heel. Incredibly smooth offense and execution and could seamlessly work comedy into a match and have it totally make sense. The Halloween Havoc match with Rey is probably still his best, but the Judgment Day bloodbath with JBL is absolutely up there.

[Control21]

Eddie Guerrero is one of those guys who seems to have universal appeal. He's been very consistent in the rankings the past two decades. Same with Vader

[Jetlag]

I'd like to see what the Top 100 would look like if we only included ballots that included Yoshiaki Fujiwara.

[Grimmas]

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

4 minutes ago, Jetlag said:

I'd like to see what the Top 100 would look like if we only included ballots that included Yoshiaki Fujiwara.

More based, for one.

2 hours ago, Boss Rock said:

 

Funnily enough, I also had Tanahashi at 13, just one spot below A.J. While I think Tana had higher peaks and perhaps even more volume, I think A.J. just did more stuff better. Offense, bumping, selling, broomstick matches, I think A.J. has him beat. But that’s not to say Tanahashi wasn’t great at those either. While his striking game was always weak, his High Fly Flow, Dragon Screw, Cloverleaf, Dragon Suplex, and Cross Body were spectacular. I’d wager he could hold his own in more mat-oriented matches as well. He was also a rather underrated seller and knew how to make his comebacks really mean something. And while he was always a valiant babyface, he was a sneaky good heel as well. He would occasionally wear the black hat against Okada in establishing him as the ace or when against an underdog like Honma. But the 2008 Champion Carnival final against Suwama as the invader hotshot perhaps stands out the most. His feud with Okada has become legendary, but he had an amazing series of matches with Naito, Ibushi, Shibata, Sabre, and Suzuki (their 2012 King of Pro Wrestling match being the one I would recommend to any non-2010’s NJPW fan). Some might think his high placement is a retirement bump and there might be a slight bit of truth to that, but I don’t think it speaks to the majority of voters. If you look at his thread as early as 2021 there was a good amount of support and goodwill building for him. He’s always been the one who appeals most to non-NJPW diehards because while he has worked the occasional high octane match, he’s not really Kenny Omega either. And while it’s clear PWO has been in the minority for this vote, Tana has just developed a really strong reputation as being one of the best in the world for a long time. As he got older and transitioned out of the ace role he did an impressive job working around his physical limitations. And while the last 3 years or so of his run were rough and I have admittedly not seen most of his 2025, he had one of the greatest retirement matches I’ve ever seen.

At the end of the day, Tanahashi was just an exceptional pro wrestler. Go Ace!

I thought Tanahashi was a much better heel than face overall, his invader work just hits a lot harder than a lot of his more pure babyface outings and lets him flex his Shawn-influences a lot more overtly than the occasional flashy move. He's an incredible heater and it sucks that aspect of him in NJPW very rarely came up bar the occasional flash where he'd skirt the rules in a big match or tease. 

 

 

[KB8]

Cool to see Eddie staying strong. He wouldn't be my #1 for this (he was my #19), but if it was a favourites list he'd be top spot with a bullet. I'm not sure there's ever been anybody better than Eddie when he was at his very best. As high a peak as anybody, even if it wasn't sustained or prolonged the same as Fujiwara or Casas or Tenryu. The best in the world at the time he passed and there's nothing that makes me think he wouldn't have been elite for around another 10 years. 

I never voted for Tanahashi. He's someone who's spent the majority of his career working a style I don't enjoy, even if he himself brings some elements to it that I like, but part of me wishes he finished in the top 10 ahead of guys like Austin and Bret (who I did vote for).