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Who is in Your Top 100 Right Now?


Superstar Sleeze

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My rough list so far (not in order, just who came into my head first):

 

 

1. Bret Hart

2. Kenta Kobashi

3. Toshiaki Kawada

4. Ric Flair

5. Javier Cruz

6. CM Punk

7. Brock Lesnar

8. The Great Sasuke

9. El Hijo Del Santo

10. Shawn Michaels

11. Dynamite Kid

12. Randy Savage

13. Rey Mysterio Jr.

14. Jeff Jarrett

15. El Dandy

16. Jumbo Tsuruta

17. Terry Funk

18. The Destroyer

19. Billy Robinson

20. Steve Austin

21. Dustin Rhodes

22. Chris Benoit

23. Juventud Guerrera

24. Jushin Liger

25. Stan Hansen

26. Pirata Morgan

27. Giant Baba

28. Hulk Hogan

29. Chris Hero

30. Akira Maeda

31. Dick Murdoch

32. Ricky Steamboat

33. Steven/William Regal

34. Rob Van Dam

35. Kurt Angle

36. Blue Panther

37. Negro Casas

38. Curt Hennig

39. Nick Bockwinkel

40. Bob Backlund

41. The Undertaker

42. Manami Toyota

43. Eddie Guerrero

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This will raise a few eyebrows. Bear in mind I've still got some puro, indies and all lucha to get through by 2016.

 

Abdullah The Butcher
Akira Hokuto
Akira Taue

Andre the Giant

Antonio Inoki
Arn Anderson
Barry Windham
Bill Dundee

Bill Eadie

Billy Rosbinson

Brian Pillman
Bob Backlund
Bobby Eaton
Bret Hart
Brock Lesnar
Buddy Rose
Bull Nakano
Carlos Colon
Chigusa Nagayo
CM Punk
Daniel Bryan
Dean Allmark
Dean Ambrose
Devil Masami
Dump Matsumoto
Dustin Rhodes
Dusty Rhodes

Eddie Kingston

Fit Finlay

Giant Baba
Grado

Great Muta
Great Sasuke

Greg Gagne
Greg Valentine

Harley Race
Hulk Hogan
Jaguar Yokota

Jake Roberts
Jerry Blackwell
Jerry Lawler
Jim Breaks
John Cena
Johnny Saint
Jumbo Tsuruta

Jushin Liger
Kenta Kobashi
Kevin Sullivan
Lex Luger
Madison Eagles
Mark Henry
Marty Jones
Mick Foley
Mick McManus
Micky Whiplash

Minoru Suzuki
Mitsuharu Misawa

Myumi Ozaki
Nick Bockwinkle

Ole Anderson
Owen Hart
Portia Perez
Randy Savage
Red Lightning
Rey Mysterio
Ric Flair
Ricky Morton
Ricky Steamboat
Riki Chosu

Robbie Dynamite
Sara Del Rey
Shawn Michaels
Sheamus
Sid Cooper
Stan Hansen
Stan Lane
Steve Austin
Steve Williams
Super Delphin
Taka Michinoku
Tatsumi Fujinami

Ted Dibiase
Terry Funk
Tommy Rich
Toshiaki Kawada
Tracy Smothers
Tully Blanchard
Ultimate Warrior
Vader

Vordell Walker
William Regal
Yumi Ikeshita

 

There was a thread called "do you separate greatest from personal favourite". I find it difficult to be fully objective with these things. Putting together a list of 'greatest wrestlers ever' is twice as hard and half as fun to me, although I greatly appreciate those that do it that way.

 

'Favourites' themselves are a hard thing to measure. I guess my list will reflect those that I have the most desire to watch right now. Them 90s All Japan matches were awesome and exciting and Misawa, Taue and Kobashi have a place towards the bottom of my list (Kawada will be higher). But when I go to youtube I'm going to want to watch Abdullah stabbing someone's ear off. Kevin Sullivan doing some batshit 'word association' game on SMW Tv is more entertaining than Tito Santana's entire career.

 

I'm willing to back all my choices btw. Part of me wanted to include Jackie Pallo - the funniest wrestler I've ever seen - but ranking someone off the back of one recorded match is perhaps a step too far.

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Got a long, long way to go before I come close to finishing this, and as was mentioned by others: Changing your mind on the inclusions and ranking is both part of the fun and the point of this.

 

But some who are close to sure things on my list would be (and not in any particular order right now):

Randy Savage

Stan Hansen

Jumbo Tsuruta

Terry Funk

Ric Flair

Bret Hart

Jerry Lawler

Jack Brisco

Harley Race

Sgt. Slaughter

Kerry Von Erich

Ted DiBiase

Nick Bockwinkel

Tully Blanchard

Ricky Steamboat

Big Van Vader

Andre the Giant

Mitsuhara Misawa

Steve Austin

Tatsumi Fujinami

Arn Anderson

The Undertaker

Curt Hennig

Greg Valentine

Rick Rude

Kurt Angle

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My biggest problem areas are a lack of Lucha & having a tough time equating current guys to past guys. Also a lot of stuff before 1981.

 

Stan Hansen

Terry Funk

Ric Flair

Mitsuharu Misawa

Toshiaki Kawada

Kenta Kobashi

"Dr. Death" Steve Williams

Big Van Vader

Bret Hart

Rick Rude

Ted DiBiase

Randy Savage

Jerry Lawler

Ricky Steamboat

Tito Santana

Eddie Guerrero

Ricky Morton

Rey Mysterio, Jr.

Dusty Rhodes

Dustin Rhodes

Harley Race

Nick Bockwinkel

Bobby Eaton

Barry Windham

Curt Hennig

Arn Anderson

Jushin "Thunder" Liger

The Undertaker

Shawn Michaels

Daniel Bryan

Steve Austin

Rick Martel

Greg Valentine

Cactus Jack

 

and I'll have zero issue putting Stan Hansen at #1. Also, for whatever it's worth, when talking about this on Twitter, I'll use #ProWrestlingOnly & #Top100

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  • 3 months later...

I discovered this forum pretty recently, but I really like this project and am going to attempt to contribute a list. That only gives me a year to do lots of research, but hell, I watch a ton of wrestling already, so might as well have some purpose to it.

 

I've looked over the list of wrestlers nominated, and here are the ones who, at this point, I can definitely see making my top 100:

 

AJ Styles

Akira Taue

Andre the Giant

Arn Anderson

Austin Aries

Bam Bam Bigelow

Barry Windham

Bob Backlund

Bret Hart

Brian Pillman

Brock Lesnar

Bruno Sammartino

Cesaro

Chris Benoit

Chris Jericho

Christian

Christopher Daniels

CM Punk

Curt Henning

Daisuke Sekimoto

Daniel Bryan

Dustin Rhodes

Dusty Rhodes

Eddie Guerrero

Edge

Greg Valentine

Genichiro Tenryu

Giant Baba

Hiroshi Hase

Hiroshi Tanahashi

John Cena

Jumbo Tsuruta

Jun Akiyama

Jushin Thunder Liger

Katsuyori Shibata

Kazuchika Okada

Keiji Mutoh

KENTA

Kenta Kobashi

Kevin Steen

Kota Ibushi

Larry Zbyszko

Masa Chono

Masato Tanaka

Mick Foley

Mitsuharu Misawa

Owen Hart

Paul Orndorff

Prince Devitt

Randy Orton

Randy Savage

Rey Mysterio Jr.

Ric Flair

Rick Rude

Ricky Steamboat

The Rock

Sami Zayn

Samoa Joe

Shawn Michaels

Shinjiro Ohtani

Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinya Hashimoto

Stan Hansen

Steve Austin

Steve Williams

Steven Regal

Sting

Takashi Sugiura

Tatsumi Fujinami

Terry Funk

Tomohiro Ishii

Toshiaki Kawada

Triple H

Tully Blanchard

The Undertaker

Vader

Yoshinari Ogawa

Yuji Nagata

 

As of right now, I don't think I've watched nearly as much stuff as most people on this board (I'd argue I've watched more than the average 20 year old smark, but I don't think that's really saying much), but I hope to remedy that while I watch more footage for this project.

 

So far there's a bunch of really noticeable gaps in my knowledge if you take a glance at that list. No lucha, no joshi, and a definite skew towards more modern wrestlers. Hopefully I'll be able to discover some new wrestlers to fill out the rest of the list.

 

And I still have no idea how I'm going to even begin to definitively rank all these guys. If you asked me right now "who's the greatest wrestler ever?", I'd probably give you like 20 different names.

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Lots of lucha workers. Casas, Virus, Santo, Panther, Satanico, El Dandy are all guys who you should seek out (there are others, but those are the first six to jump to mind).

 

Would suggest Casas v. Panther hair v. hair from a couple of years ago as it gives you a glimpse at both guys quickly. Virus v. Guerrero Maya Jr. in either of their title matches is a good starting point. Feel like OJ should be the one to recommend a Satanico match though I have an absolute favorite.

 

Perhaps this would be better served in the pinned thread where we recommend five matches for individual workers.

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Lots of lucha workers. Casas, Virus, Santo, Panther, Satanico, El Dandy are all guys who you should seek out (there are others, but those are the first six to jump to mind).

 

Thanks, I'll definitely keep those in mind. I've heard great things about all of them, but I've never really sought out their matches before now.

 

Lucha has always been my biggest blind spot. Something about the style has never really resonated with me, but I hope to change that with this project.

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To just name names for the most part, no order to this other than how they came to mind. It's nowhere near 100 either.

 

Terry Funk

Stan Hansen

Ric Flair

Ricky Steamboat

Genichiro Tenryu

Mitsuharu Misawa

Jun Akiyama

Akira Taue

Toshiaki Kawada

Steve Austin

Bret Hart

Jerry Lawler

Bill Dundee

Rey Mysterio, Jr.

CM Punk

Daniel BRyan

Jushin Liger

Yoshinari Ogawa

Shinjiro Otani

Arn Anderson

William Regal

Shinya Hashimoto

Samoa Joe

Mick Foley

Randy Savage

Barry Windham

Dustin Rhodes

Nick Bockwinkel

Bobby Eaton

Kenta Kobashi

Minoru Suzuki

Eddie Guerrero

Cesaro

Chris Hero

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  • 2 months later...

If I had to turn in my ballot right this second, this is what I came up with. I still have lots of gaps I'm trying to fill and this would be totally different if I did it again tomorrow. I feel ok about the top 20. My bottom 15 are really guys I'm pretty sure will make my final final list but I want to see more to have a better feel on where to rank them.

  1. Stan Hansen
  2. Jerry Lawler
  3. Satanico
  4. Jumbo Tsuruta
  5. Ric Flair
  6. Negro Casas
  7. Terry Funk
  8. Toshiaki Kawada
  9. Mitsuharu Misawa
  10. Sangre Chicana
  11. Hijo del Santo
  12. Genichiro Tenryu
  13. Tatsumi Fujinami
  14. Nick Bockwinkel
  15. Buddy Rose
  16. Rey Mysterio Jr
  17. Shinya Hashimoto
  18. Akira Hokuto
  19. Bill Dundee
  20. El Dandy
  21. Pirata Morgan
  22. Riki Choshu
  23. Eddie Guerrero
  24. Chigusa Nagayo
  25. Ricky Morton
  26. Steve Regal
  27. Blue Panther
  28. Volk Han
  29. Atlantis
  30. Kenta Kobashi
  31. Giant Baba
  32. Daniel Bryan
  33. Vader
  34. Dustin Rhodes
  35. Akira Taue
  36. Perro Aguayo
  37. Jaguar Yokota
  38. Jack Brisco
  39. Bull Nakano
  40. Dick Murdoch
  41. Bobby Eaton
  42. Randy Savage
  43. Ricky Steamboat
  44. Arn Anderson
  45. Jushin Liger
  46. Kerry von Erich
  47. Villano III
  48. MS-1
  49. Yoshiaki Yatsu
  50. Gran Hamada
  51. Billy Robinson
  52. Akira Maeda
  53. Naoki Sano
  54. Rick Martel
  55. Jun Akiyama
  56. John Cena
  57. Kiyoshi Tamura
  58. Barry Windham
  59. Ted Dibiase
  60. Tully Blanchard
  61. Michael Hayes
  62. Fuerza Guerrera
  63. Tajiri
  64. Devil Masami
  65. Masa Fuchi
  66. Bret Hart
  67. Chris Adams
  68. Steve Austin
  69. LA Park
  70. Dynamite Kansai
  71. Andre the Giant
  72. Curt Hennig
  73. Ron Garvin
  74. Bobby The Brain Heenan
  75. Mick Foley
  76. Fit Finlay
  77. Sgt Slaughter
  78. Terry Gordy
  79. Jerry Blackwell
  80. Steve Williams
  81. Dusty Rhodes
  82. Hulk Hogan
  83. Brian Pillman
  84. Tommy Rogers
  85. La Fiera
  86. Tommy Rich
  87. Mocho Cota
  88. Dutch Mantell
  89. Yoji Anjo
  90. 2 Cold Scorpio
  91. Emilio Charles Jr
  92. Espanto Jr
  93. Shinobu Kandori
  94. Roddy Piper
  95. Buzz Sawyer
  96. Kantaro Hoshino
  97. Carlos Colon
  98. Dump Matsumoto
  99. Mad Dog Vachon
  100. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
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Interesting list.

 

Questions / comments

 

Satanico

 

What would you point to for him?

 

Negro Casas

 

Ditto. I still really feel like I need to get into Lucha and might just beeline straight to all the highend stuff.

 

 

Toshiaki Kawada

Mitsuharu Misawa

 

Interesting that you have these guys below Flair.

 

Sangre Chicana

Hijo del Santo

 

As with the other Lucha guys.

 

Genichiro Tenryu

Tatsumi Fujinami

Nick Bockwinkel

Buddy Rose

 

This back half looks strong.

 

Ricky Morton

Steve Regal

 

Super high for these two.

 

Kenta Kobashi

Giant Baba

 

Very high placement for Baba, interesting. I saw him doing well in mine but not that well. Kobashi a fair bit lower than Misawa / Kawada.

 

Daniel Bryan

Vader

Dustin Rhodes

 

Super high for Dustin here.

 

Jack Brisco

 

Nice to see him making people lists.

 

Bobby Eaton

Randy Savage

Ricky Steamboat

Arn Anderson

 

Interesting run here. None of them look out of place.

 

Jushin Liger

Kerry von Erich

 

Super high for Kerry. I need to see more high-end Liger.

 

Yoshiaki Yatsu

 

Yay. I love Yatsu too, but this is pretty high.

 

Billy Robinson

 

Seems low relative to Brisco and Baba. Interesting. Robinson is the 70s guy I'm looking forward to exploring the most

.

Rick Martel

 

High rating.

 

Barry Windham

Ted Dibiase

Tully Blanchard

Michael Hayes

 

Interesting run of guys here. Barry over both Ted and Tully interesting, but I can see all this is ballpark. With the exception of the Lucha and Memphis guys, our lists would look quite similar so far.

 

 

Tajiri

 

Is this the Tajiri from the Monday Night Wars?!

 

Masa Fuchi

Bret Hart

Chris Adams

Steve Austin

 

In isolation this run looks strange to me. Fuchi better than Bret, Chris Adams right there with them. With Austin right there behind them. This would be my biggest disagreement so far.

 

Andre the Giant

Curt Hennig

Ron Garvin

Bobby The Brain Heenan

Mick Foley

Fit Finlay

Sgt Slaughter

Terry Gordy

Jerry Blackwell

Steve Williams

Dusty Rhodes

Hulk Hogan

Brian Pillman

 

This run is starting to look more mish-mash, but I can see you trying to get in guys you like. I think a lot of people will do this in their 70-100 range.

 

Tommy Rogers

 

Interesting that you ranked Rogers. I think he might just miss out for me.

 

Mocho Cota

 

Interested in how much Cota is out there beyond what is on the 80s set. Is there really enough?

 

Cool list though man!

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Good list Elliott.

 

Just based on that, I need to see more Tenryu and Choshu, and rewatch some Sangre Chicana. I know I need to see more Jumbo, Baba and Fujinami.

 

Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi are going to be big problems for me. (I still kind of want to put Taue in front of all of them, but I've seen less than twenty matches).

 

The biggest problem with this project in general is that I have maybe 2-3 hours a week to watch wrestling, and once I get past wrestling obligations I have, that means just a couple of matches, especially if the matches are over 20 minutes and the ones with most of the wrestlers I have to look at are. So certain guys are going be hampered (or benefit) from what I can do.

 

Funk and Hansen are issues for me too. I'm not saying I'm ready to write off Hansen, but from what I've seen, no way does he make my top 10.

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For Hansen, I need to see a few of those early 90s matches, and I also need to see some of his big late 70s work. I think I saw a 92 Kawada vs Hansen match which I did like, but it wasn't a revelation. I found Kawada working as an underdog a lot more interesting than what Hansen did, but Hansen was effective in his role.

 

I definitely like uneven Hansen matches more than even ones, whether it be him playing chickenshit to Bock or dominating a younger wrestler. The Hansen and some other bull charging at each other for twenty minutes thing doesn't do much for me at all. I will admit that there's a very natural sort of storytelling to both guys working very hard, being unyielding, and any selling that's done (or advantage taken) being completely earned, but it's sort of an accidental storytelling and it's not my favorite sort of wrestling. When I do like it, it's in more holds-based matches than unrelenting stiffness based matches, if that makes sense.

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