GWE 2026 Reaction Thread

[Grimmas]

1 minute ago, Boss Rock said:

Holy crap. I do recall Grimmas saying the top 4 had been pretty much locked from the get-go.

To clarify, top 3 was. 

Austin was fourth for a LONG time, but Flair jumped him in the last 2 weeks.

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

I do not think Danielson or Funk are THAT much better than Kobashi or Flair. But not really a surprise. The top two have the advantage of being American white men who were fixtures on mainstream TV with plenty of tape while having relatively unproblematic personal lives. And they were also both extremely talented. Perfect for the voter base. Would like to see some more BIPOC and gender-diverse representation one day in the top ten, but probably a conversation for 2036/2046 and onwards.

[Stephen-]

32 minutes ago, Mantaur Rodeo Clown said:

I do not think Danielson or Funk are THAT much better than Kobashi or Flair. But not really a surprise. The top two have the advantage of being American white men who were fixtures on mainstream TV with plenty of tape while having relatively unproblematic personal lives. And they were also both extremely talented. Perfect for the voter base. Would like to see some more BIPOC and gender-diverse representation one day in the top ten, but probably a conversation for 2036/2046 and onwards.

Like whom?

I don't think there was some bias or even blind spot towards men's Japanese wrestlers from the voter base. Kobashi was on some 87% of ballots. Tenryu a much lower 76% if I recall correctly but those ballots mostly had him very high.

Lucha will always be a blind spot without more circulation, and I think they could have done better, but only Santito and Casas ever had a shot of being contenders for the top 10. Maybe in a better year, Satanico does better. It's not just blind spots but a lack of footage in some cases too.

Joshi did better than I anticipated, but ultimately women will always be undervalued by some audiences and thus, I agree with you there.

Also, I agree with your first sentence. Largely because Flair is the best of the four. And the only of the four to place in my top 10. 

[Stephen-]

I have no horse in the Terry Funk v Bryan Danielson race. I would prefer if Funk won, just because I think it's more fun that way, but I don't mind either result. Neither are my guys so there is no investment from me. The landslide victory is interesting, though. I thought Tenryu or Kobashi had a shot of upsetting the apple cart. Boy, was I wrong. Congrats to whomever wins. 

 

[Reel]

26 minutes ago, Stephen- said:

Lucha will always be a blind spot without more circulation,

It’s pretty much all there on YouTube, people just have to watch it, it’s not that it isn’t availabl. I do think as OJ has mentioned it doesn’t really have a discourse, but it’s not a matter of being hard to find.