MikeCampbell Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 This is something that I've been wondering about lately. Who exactly is the best wrestler in the world? The easy answer seems to be Danielson, but is that really the case, or is it just people buying into his hype? A couple of years ago, I'd have said KENTA. But then the best match of his that I'd ever seen, vs. SUWA from 9/18/05, wound up being all SUWA. So I'm stumped, who is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.L.L. Posted November 7, 2008 Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 It's hard to say for sure when the guy has only had about five matches to make tape this year, but it's probably Yuki Ishikawa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rzombie1988 Posted November 8, 2008 Report Share Posted November 8, 2008 I gurantee I will be the minority in this(and I'm sure I will get flak), but my pick may be Munenori Sawa. Almost every match of his I've seen this year has been good and he has great charisma and fire. Masato Tanaka would be a really good(and more likely) pick for this too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted November 8, 2008 Report Share Posted November 8, 2008 I know it's not very imaginative to say so, but I think Danielson actually is the answer. When I think back over the last three years, no one has come close to producing as many matches that are really impressive and/or really enjoyable. Guys like Cena and Orton have tossed off some great runs of matches, and among the indy guys, Nigel is certainly in Danielson's league. But I always look forward to a Danielson match and rarely go away disappointed. I don't think that's hype. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DietSoda Posted November 17, 2008 Report Share Posted November 17, 2008 Matt Hardy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditch Posted November 17, 2008 Report Share Posted November 17, 2008 Danielson has been in a league of his own over the last 36 months. Over the last 6 I'm not so sure, but then I haven't seen his biggest matches over the span (vs Nigel, vs Kanemaru, vs KENTA). Danielson vs Black from early in the year is much more unique than Nigel vs Black, which is now starting to blend in with other Nigel matches. Danielson vs Nigel from February was super-smart. I'll take Danielson vs Stevens over any of the Stevens vs Strong series that ROH keeps hyping. I'm not as keen on Battlarts as some, so I'm not on the Ishikawa-is-#1 bandwagon, but he's at least well up there in Japan because nobody is consistently good (besides Kobashi, who was hardly perfect before he went out). There's a contingent of love for guys like Tanahashi and Shingo, but I'm not feeling that at all. Sawa tries but the shining wizard thing irks me, it's so out of place and it's his big impact move. I don't keep up with WWE anymore so maybe it really is Matt Hardy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest onlxn Posted November 17, 2008 Report Share Posted November 17, 2008 It must be said that ROH Danielson is much better than Danielson elsewhere on the indies. In PWG, for instance, he often wrestles fairly by-the-numbers matches. They're not bad, and he's not exactly mailing them in, but they don't feature the thought that goes into crafting his ROH stuff. On Night Two of BOLA earlier in the month, he had a pretty non-descript match with Hero, and a very good match with TJ Perkins that was, frankly, carried by TJ. He's by no means the best performer in the company... that title belongs to Generico, and people like TJ, Necro and Hero are more consistent than Danielson too. Not saying he's not the best guy out there right now (I haven't watched much this year besides PWG and WWE, so I can't comment) -- just saying he's not always as good as he is in ROH. Probably not the best wrestler, but a guy who deserves some love: Evan Bourne. He played his role to absolute perfection -- no other guy I've seen has been as pitch-perfect in their slot as him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted November 17, 2008 Report Share Posted November 17, 2008 You're obviously more of an expert on PWG than I, but my impression is that Danielson has never had as clear a role in the company as the others you mentioned. He more just drops in for a few big matches a year, and those matches tend to draw quite a lot of praise. Can't comment on BOLA yet, but I thought his Necro/Generico doubleshot last year was pretty great, and the Ki title change was good. A lot of PWG fans seemed to love the CIMA matches as well, though CIMA isn't my cup of tea. I guess I'm just saying that he does the indy superstar drop-in role as well as anyone could. But I'd be interested to hear more of your thoughts, as I enjoy PWG but don't catch all or even most of the shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest culotron Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 Definately Blue Panther. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 I haven't followed wrestling closely enough in '08 to say for sure, but when I have watched, Chris Jericho has been really good. That said, if he's the best in the world, the bar has lowered. That's not meant as an insult to Jericho, as he was always very good, but never quite in that upper echelon. But these days, he seems to be better than everyone in WWE, at least from what I have watched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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