Top 100 (Predictions, regrets, how many fallen soldiers do you have?, etc..)

[bradhindsight]

I have 79 wrestlers of the top 100 remaining. Not terribly surprised as it's a pretty populist ballot.

[jaedmc]

I've got 62 left. So that's cool. Bob Backlund and Tajiri got in so I feel like I've won.

 

However, over the course of this countdown I've realized 10 people on my list I wish I hadn't voted for. And there are about 15 people I didn't vote for that I should have instead.

[Parties]

38 fallen soldiers on my list: 413) Jackie Sato, 371) Kengo Kimura (highest voter), 364) Brazo de Oro, 357) Alan Sergeant, 343) Cassandro, 325) Kantaro Hoshino, 319) Espanto Jr., 312) Mascarita Sagrada, 257) Eric Embry, 233) El Solar, 232) Masakatsu Funaki (highest voter), 208) Osamu Nishimura, 202) Steve Keirn, 190) Gran Hamada, 189) Mocho Cota, 186) Kazuo Yamazaki, 179) Negro Navarro, 172) Yoshiaki Yatsu, 167) Dutch Mantell, 166) Michael Hayes, 164) La Fiera, 163) Terry Rudge, 160) Masa Saito, 155) Fuerza Guerrera, 151) Black Terry, 149) Sabu, 143) Villano III, 138) Marty Jones, 136) Butch Reed, 132) Antonio Inoki, 127) Alexander Otsuka, 126) Naoki Sano, 117) Pirata Morgan, 114) Jaguar Yokota, 111) Masa Fuchi, 110) Chigusa Nagayo, 108) Steve Grey, 105) Akira Maeda

 

Of those, I can't say I have any regrets. I ranked them all where I think they should be. In terms of where these workers landed on the ballot, I'm not shocked by any of the rankings. I guess Jackie Sato should have been higher given the number of Joshi workers on the ballot? Kantaro Hoshino's fans are pretty passionate, and if you were a fan of the New Japan set, I feel like he warrants a vote. Gran Hamada should have done better, but I get that people don't feel like he has the matches on tape to get there. I can't really gripe about anyone who made the top 125 (or 126 in order to count Sano). One guy who I do genuinely think should have done better is Dutch Mantell. I thought he was amazing on the Memphis set, he kicks ass in Puerto Rico, and he has solid if unmemorable work elsewhere. Not sure if the Zeb stuff hurt him or if he's an afterthought even for Memphis fans, but I love that dude and #167 really is pretty good in its own right.

 

There's no one I really regret not voting on. I completely forgot about Kikuchi when making my ballot, but I wouldn't have him over my 100 even though he is awesome and really close. Otherwise the only guys who I really feel bad couldn't make it on were second-or-third tier shoot style workers (in particular Yoji Anjoh, but also Nakano, Usuda, Greco, Ono, Yamamoto). Piper and Tajiri were both on my list before falling off. Backlund is a guy who I think is really fascinating and honestly probably does deserve to be top 100, but I didn't rank him as I've just seen too many weird matches of his fall apart, even is his best stuff is truly incredible.

 

Overall having 62 of mine make the top 100 is awesome, and I'm pretty stoked to see the list. Of that remaining 38, there are some very solid choices of people who I didn't pick (Hogan, Austin, Cena, Slaughter, Samoa Joe) and probably ten or so that I don't agree with at all (Zayn, Angle, Michaels, Punk).

 

The three people I'm most happy to see make the top 100 are Yuki Ishikawa, Daisuke Ikeda, and Dick Togo. That all three of those guys made it on completely validates this list. That Ishikawa and Ikeda both made it is particularly surprising as I did not have high hopes for Ikeda. Like, the idea that Ikeda made this list and Jaguar Yokota didn't is pretty weird.

 

One guy who's barely come up in conversation who I'm really curious to see the placement on is Harley Race. He was #12 on the Smarkschoice poll, and I think as high as #2 or #3 on a less formal poll among DVDVR editors sometime in the early 2000s. He's felt like a huge non-entity in the discussion threads for a guy who 10 years ago was still strongly revered.

[Witlon]

Fallen Soliders (23, on recount.)

49. Pat Patterson (121), 53. Larry Zbyzsko(109), 55. Masa Fuchi (111), 56. Wahoo McDaniel (115), 58. Steve Gray (108), 59. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (148), 61. Dory Funk Jr. (112), 63. Johnny Saint (122), 68. Carlos Colon (103), 70. Jaguar Yokota (114), 73. Jerry Blackwell (118), 78. Yoshiaki Yatsu (172), 80. Sean Waltman (106), 81. Jose Lothario (276), 86. Naoki Sano (126), 87. Masa Saito (160), 89. Marty Jannetty (272), 91. Bob Orton Jr. (157), 93. Christian (102), 94. Butch Reed (136), 97. Lex Luger (144), 99. Adrian Adonis (165), 100. Matt Borne (263)

 

Regrets

I probably went too high on Patterson and Larry Z, based on greatest hits stuff. I feel like it was an overcorrection more than anything because they're two guys that I really enjoy watching.

 

Should've been a little higher on Gray. Why I didn't put him in my Top 50 is still puzzling to me.

 

Taking out a guy that I had ranked because I felt I hadn't seen enough footage. I should've just stuck with him, because an 89 vote is better than no vote, but I just couldn't negotiate it in my head.

 

Predictions

Highly doubt I'm the high vote on anybody, except my #1, and I'm almost certainly not alone on him. Nobody just sticks out as someone that I'm going to be highest on, after seeing the way some people have ranked.

 

Shocks

Rick Rude making the Top 100 is kind of an under the radar shock. I mean, I ranked him in the 90s based on his 1992 run, but I didn't really think he'd make it this far.

[KB8]

 

The three people I'm most happy to see make the top 100 are Yuki Ishikawa, Daisuke Ikeda, and Dick Togo. That all three of those guys made it on completely validates this list. That Ishikawa and Ikeda both made it is particularly surprising as I did not have high hopes for Ikeda. Like, the idea that Ikeda made this list and Jaguar Yokota didn't is pretty weird.

Ishikawa not making it ten years ago is kind of stunning to me, but yeah, as disappointing as it is that Sano dropped out, Ishikawa and Ikeda making it in makes up for it a little (though of course I'll be greedy and say all three should've been there). Ikeda (who I might be the high voter on) and Virus are probably the two guys I'm most happy about finishing top 100 considering I had them pegged to just miss out and drop somewhere in the 150-101 range. Togo getting in this time is fitting as well. That veteran run was really fantastic and no doubt gave him the bump he needed to get him over the hump.

[TravJ1979]

I have 72 left going into the Top 100. My highest ranked drop so far was Jaguar Yokota at #19, the first and only out of my top 25. Her not making the 100 is very disappointing. Especially since Mick Foley made it.

[InYourCase]

Genki Horiguchi (100)

Ryo Saito (84)

Milano Collection A.T. (96)

Spike Dudley (99)

Makoto Hashi (98)

Dragon Kid (77)

Little Gudio (90)

Masato Yoshino (45)

YAMATO (80)

Susumu Yokosuka (31)

Mark Briscoe (58)

Akira Tozawa (69)

Matt Sydal (86)

Satoshi Kojima (75)

Bill Goldberg (93)

Naomichi Marufuji (66)

Shingo Takagi (21)

Roderick Strong (88)

Yoji Anjoh (64)

Tomohiro Ishii (44)

Kota Ibushi (72)

Daisuke Sekimoto (34)

CIMA (37)

Jay Briscoe (46)

Masaaki Mochizuki (10)

Yoshinari Ogawa (70)

Edge (91)

TAKA Michinoku (79)

Jeff Hardy (61)

Kevin Owens (94)

Austin Aries (39)

Masato Tanaka (40)

Kensuke Sasaki (48)

Yuji Nagata (56)

Yoshiaki Yatsu (73)

Sabu (92)

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (85)

Kazuchika Okada (82)

Koji Kanemoto (49)

Minoru Suzuki (47)

Alexander Otsuka (97)

KENTA (13)

Masa Fuchi (67)

Low Ki (68)

Sean Waltman (59)

Akira Maeda (71)

Chris Hero (33)

Carlos Colon (52)

Nearly half of my list is gone as we hit the Top 100. 48, to be exact. Crazy looking at some of the names that have been left off. I just don't see how KENTA, Hero, Waltman, or Colon could be left off but whatever.

[Eegah]

My rankings that have fallen.

 

100. Sabu

99. CIMA

98. Brad Armstrong

97. Magnum TA

96. Tommy Rich

95. Dennis Condrey

93. Dusty Rhodes

92. The Great Sasuke

91. KENTA

90. Kevin Steen

89. Manny Fernandez

88. Rip Rogers

85. Super Dragon

84. Too Cold Scorpio

83. Villano III

81. Chris Hero

80. Scott Steiner

79. Masa Fuchi

76. MS-1

75. Larry Zbyszko

74. La Fiera

72. Masahiro Chono

70. Butch Reed

69. Dutch Mantell

68. Dick Slater

64. Bruno Sammartino

60. Dory Funk Jr.

58. Jerry Blackwell

56. Ken Patera

55. LA Park

54. Pat Patterson

53. Wahoo Mcdaniel

52. Tracy Smothers

48. The Destroyer

47. Sean Waltman

45. Sangre Chicana

44. Iron Sheik

43. Kerry Von Erich