Honorable Mentions w/ Highest Average Vote (#60 and Under)

[Parties]

Wanted to point out some folks who despite their rankings had really high averages, as it's interesting to me when workers have such ardent fanbases. I picked the average rank of #60 or better as the cutoff, as you have tons more who are in the #60-65 zone, and because #60 kinda feels like a point where you’re really going to bat for someone. It also helps put certain workers into perspective for me: Chris Hero becomes kind of undeniable when he makes 1/3rd of the ballots at an average of #56.

 

I’ve bolded the ones that seem most worthy of conversation, but all are worth discussing. The ones in bold strike me as significant either because of their high vote, the notably high value of their average vote, a considerable drop from their 2006 ranking (Jaguar, Ozaki, Nagayo), how well they did on a small of ballots, or who they are nowadays in relation to their legacy and status among the average wrestling fan (someone like Big Show for instance).

You see a few recurring groups emerge: Golden Age workers, Dragon Gate, Joshi. What do you think? Were any of these folks robbed? Are any of them apparitions of extremely vocal minorities? Are you surprised by any of these rankings overall? How many ballots is “enough” for a contingent to seem credible in your view?

354) Super Delphin (124 pts, 2 ballots, 39.00 avg, high: 11 - anonymous, 2006: honorable mention)
353) Jimmy Jacobs (126 pts, 3 ballots, 59.00 avg, high: 38 - Dan Rice, 2006: unranked)
345) Ray Gonzalez (137 pts, 2 ballots, 32.50 avg, high: 14 - Dean Rasmussen, 2006: unranked)
335) Bestia Salvaje (149 pts, 3 ballots, 51.30 avg, high: 30 - Dean Rasmussen, 2006: unranked)
321) Susumu Yokosuka (168 pts, 3 ballots, 45.00 avg, high: 31 - InYourCase, 2006: unranked)
302) Steve Keirn (202 pts, 4 ballots, 50.50 avg, high: 25 - Scarlet-Left, 2006: unranked)
287) Azumi Hyuga (231 pts, 4 ballots, 43.25 avg, high: 10 - The Great Puma, 2006: honorable mention)
281) Kazushi Sakuraba (238 pts, 5 ballots, 53.40 avg, high: 41 - Venegas, 2006: honorable mention)
264) Gorgeous George (282 pts, 6 ballots, 55.00 avg, high: 5 - Lee Casebolt, 2006: 139)
258) Kevin Von Erich (298 pts, 7 ballots, 58.43 avg, high: 24 - NotJayTabb, 2006: unranked)
255) Shingo Takagi (303 pts, 6 ballots, 50.50 avg, high: 14 - Alan Counihan, 2006: unranked)
205) Pat O'Connor (597 points, 14 ballots, 58.36 avg, high: 28 - simen oem; 2006: honorable mention)
204) Daisuke Sekimoto (597 points, 12 ballots, 51.25 avg, high: 10 - Alan Counihan; 2006: unranked)
203) Big Show (612 points, 21 ballots, 51.25 avg, high: 38 - topropepodcast, 2006: honorable mention)
197) Ray Stevens (625 points, 12 ballots, 48.92 avg, high: 12 - Ricky Whittenburg; 2006: 122)
194) Masaaki Mochizuki (665 points, 16 ballots, 59.95 avg, high: 4 - Alan Counihan, 2006: honorable mention)
187) Mariko Yoshida (754 points, 17 ballots, 56.65 avg, high: 19 - El-P; 2006: 59)
163) Terry Rudge (923 points, 22 ballots, 59.05 avg, high: 23 - Venegas, 2006: unranked)
151) Black Terry (1065 points, 25 ballots, 58.40 avg, high: 21 - Dan Rice & Dr Ackermann, 2006: honorable mention)
145) Lou Thesz (1119 points, 21 ballots, 48.76 avg, high: 3 - Moonsault Marvin, 2006: 82)
142) Buddy Rogers (1123 points, 25 ballots, 56.16 avg, high: 7 - Lee Casebolt, 2006: 120)
139) Bruno Sammartino (1155 points, 28 ballots, 59.75 avg, high: 12 - Kelly Nelson, 2006: 150)
138) Marty Jones (1168 points, 27 ballots, 57.74 avg, high: 13 - Frankensteiner, 2006: honorable mention)
135) Devil Masami (1193 points, 29 ballots, 59.90 avg, high: 8 - anonymous, 2006: 35)
133) Mayumi Ozaki (1365 points, 32 ballots, 58.34 avg, high: 9 - The Great Puma, 2006: 31)
130) Meiko Satomura (1457 points, 33 ballots, 57.27 avg, high: 3 - anonymous, 2006: honorable mention)
127) Alexander Otsuka (1508 points, 34 ballots, 56.65 avg, high: 18 - anonymous, 2006: honorable mention)
126) Naoki Sano (1521 points, 36 ballots, 58.75 avg, high: 23 - The Great Puma, 2006: 97)
124) Dean Malenko (1554 points, 36 ballots, 57.83 avg, high: 13 - anonymous, 2006: 90)
123) Yoshihiro Takayama (1600 points, 38 ballots, 58.89 avg, high: 21 - Tanner Teat, 2006: honorable mention)
121) Pat Patterson (1663 points, 39 ballots, 58.51 avg, high: 5 - Scarlet-Left, 2006: honorable mention)
120) Triple H (1668 points, 38 ballots, 57.11 avg, high: 12 - refused to reveal identity, 2006: 109)
119) Kenta (1729 points, 40 ballots, 57.83 avg, high: 7 - The Great Puma, 2006: 148)
114) Jaguar Yokota (1843 points, 34 ballots, 46.91 avg, high: 6 - anonymous, 2006: 23)
112) Dory Funk Jr. (1930 points, 44 ballots, 57.14 avg, high: 14 - John Steffy, 2006: 69)
110) Chigusa Nagayo (2008 points, 37 ballots, 46.84 avg, high: 6 - donsem43, 2006: 39)
108) Steve Grey (2017 points, 42 ballots, 53.02 avg, high: 7 - Frankensteiner, 2006: 135)
104) Chris Hero (2148 points, 52 ballots, 56.69 avg, high: 18 - Mrzfn, 2006: honorable mention)

[Childs]

I'm glad you posted this, because it's something I was just looking at. Very interesting to see Triple H on this list as it puts to rest the notion that a lot of people held their noses and stuck him at the bottom. The people who voted for Hunter seem genuinely to like him, which is as it should be.

 

I'm still a little surprised Hero didn't make more ballots--highly visible U.S. worker over a long period of time now. But I guess he also turns a lot of people off.

[spookysaku]

I've been doing something like this on an excel sheet (GWE sorted by average vote, with 3 ballots or more) because I have a serious problem with procrastination but ALSO with the hope that it would point out some of the more esoteric picks that I've never watched or given a fair go. You certainly notice a joshi, lucha, shoot-style and DG trend. Currently Azumi Hyuga is #1, followed by Susumu Yokosuka and Chigusa Nagayo. It's a fun list, and I think this is how I will use the GWE as a reference.

 

The others whose high averages stand out are those I would suggest are not even on the radar amongst a lot of regular contributors here: Triple H, Okada, KENTA, Sekimoto etc. Luger and Kikuchi appeared on more ballots, and are more talked about here, but I'm betting their low average is made up of a higher proportion of regular contributors taking the thing more seriously, posting in nomination threads, and generally trying to fit in a ton of names, drawing from a wider pool of contenders. The fact Okada is on 32 ballots but generated next to no discussion or debate about his qualities suggests he is nudging shoulders with a different set of guys than Kikuchi on most ballots.

 

Also, I'm certain the averages for Big Show and Gran Hamada on the original list are mistakes.