Nominees

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Discuss here.

Cien Caras said: "I’m surprised he hasn’t been nominated. Or maybe I’m not, yes he’s a bit shit and I can’t erase slow-motion clotheslines from WCW from my memory. However as someone who lets the YouTube algorithm determine what I watch, Konnan shows up in a lot of matches I have watched recently, most of which I watched many years ago but I can’t deny they are all awesome. I’m talking early 90s EMLL boom and the theatre of the first few years of AAA, amazing brawls against and alongside admittedly all-timers such as Perro Aguayo, Cien Caras, Mascara Ano 2000, Pirata Morgan, Faraon etc. And I will stand by the fact that the feud with Jake Roberts was awesome. When I keep…

Control21: The original “Mascara Sagrada” has been lost in the shuffle due to disputes over the rights to his name/gimmick, but he was a solid worker during the 1990s, being one of the original AAA stars who joined the promotion when Antonio Pena split from CMLL. Since leaving AAA, he has bounced around the Mexican indie scene and appeared occasionally for CMLL. Most of his well known matches occurred in the 1990s. I think Mascara Sagrada is one of the more underappreciated names in Lucha Libre. vs Black Cat (5/8/1994) vs Black Cat (5/15/1994) (clipped) w/ El Hijo del Santo & Octagon vs Fuerza Guerrera/Heavy Metal/Jerry Estrada (11/12/1993) vs…

Control21: SANADA has become a bit of a divisive wrestler in recent years. While he has become one of the established names in NJPW since his arrival several years ago and was recently the IWGP world champion, there are still a good number of people who aren’t sold on him. Still, SANADA’s output has been consistent, and he often has good-to-great matches with people who mesh with his style. He probably isn’t someone I would have nominated in 2018 or 2019, but in 2024, I think he has done enough where it is worthwhile to look at his overall body of work. w/Manabu Soya vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi (10/23/2011) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (11/5/2016) …

Control21: The “Supernova” of NOAH, Kaito Kiyomiya has made a name for himself in recent years. Seen as the next “ace” of the promotion, Kiyomiya has continued his journey to establish himself as the clear #1 in NOAH. While he hasn’t been entirely successful, his quality of work has improved with each passing year since his debut in 2015. Recently, he has also worked with NJPW more often, adding to the list of opponents and styles he has worked with. The one thing I appreciate the most about Kiyomiya is that he is a very smooth wrestler, similar to SANADA, but has the flair to spice things up when needed. Nine years into his career, I think he has done enough that ma…

Control21: Bas Rutten’s fame comes from his days in Pancrase, where he became one of the best shootfighters in the world and had memorable bouts with the likes of Masakatsu Funaki and Ken Shamrock. Beyond that, Bas Rutten had a brief run as a professional wrestler appearing for promotions like BattlArts and New Japan. Bas was a solid worker for both promotions and added legitimacy to both when they were seeking it. He was a solid worker who understood the basics of wrestling and usually had quality bouts to pad the work-shoot spectrum of his resume. vs Osamu Nishimura (10/14/2022) vs Koji Kanemoto (10/26/2002) vs Yuji Nagata (7/20/2002) vs Carl Ma…

Ma Stump Puller: It had to happen at some point! Insanely innovative with his unique blend of IIave/shoot-style, Keita Yano has pushed the envelope of what constitutes a wrestling match for about a decade+ at this point. He's had NWA-style 60 minute features, battles in garages and local gyms, fought on playmats for an audience of a couple dozen at best, wrestled every single major Japanese indie name you can probably list off using Google and then some, in doing so got the attention of even legends like Tenryu who have made him mainstays of his promotion to this very day. What really gets the guy over is not just his sheer versatility; it's his ability to …

Control21: Daisuke Nakamura has earned a reputation in MMA circles for being an incredible and flashy grappler, having great bouts with the likes of Hideo Tokoro and several others. On the wrestling side, he approaches things in a similar way, relying on his speed and athleticism to work the mat in a very smooth fashion. Nakamura got his start in U-Style, and had a great match with Frank Shamrock. He has bounced around the Japan indies scene for a while, and has recently found a home in Kyushu Pro, where he had a great match with Hitamaru Sasaki in 2021. vs Kazuki Okubo (12/7/2004) vs Frank Shamrock (11/23/2005) w/Yu Kobayashi vs Takatoshi Matsumoto &a…

Control21: Ikemoto is primarily a MMA competitor, but he has done his fair share of wrestling matches as well, most notably in U-Style and GLEAT. He has also worked AJPW, NOAH, and Hard Hit. His output has been very consistent and his grappling skills make him stand out just about every time he steps into the ring. One of the more unheralded deep Puro wrestlers that might benefit from a closer look if people enjoy more technically proficient wrestling. vs Crafter M (3/13/2004) vs Ryuki Ueyama (10/9/2004) w/Ryuki Ueyama vs Kiyoshi Tamura & Takaku Fuke (12/7/2004) w/Takanori Ito vs Minoru Tanaka & Yu Iizuka (6/11/2022) vs Tetsuya Izuchi…

Control21: Hitamaru Sasaki, aka Kyosuke Sasaki, was a U-FILE dojo trainee, who studied under the tutelage of Kiyoshi Tamura and debuted in Tamura’s promotion, U-STYLE. Since then, Sasaki has traveled the Japanese indie scene and has built himself a solid resume over the years. Not strictly a shoot-style guy as he has worked regular matches as well. Similar to some of the other former shoot-style guys, he’s a great technician and can have a good-to-great match occasionally. vs Takehiro Murahama (4/6/2003) vs Dokonjonosuke Mishima (6/29/2003) vs Hiroyuki Ito (10/6/2003) vs Kiyoshi Tamura (3/13/2004) vs Kensuke Sasaki (8/18/2004) vs White M…

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donsem43 said: "I was going to nominate her for the last list but there were a few YouTube channels that had quite a few matches of her were all deleted and that nuked my motivation. There's a bit more of her out there now but not a lot so hopefully more stuff pops up over the next few years, especially early '00 NEO. Early in her career, she felt like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole while in AJW as she was a more methodical, mat-based wrestler than the typical worker in that company. Things picked up for her in the rebooted NEO, where she was someone who was influenced by the AJ Classics that were airing at the time as she took the 70's NWA style that …

fxnj: Obviously not a serious candidate, but I think he should be nominated so he can be considered for a 100/99 shoutout spot. He drew heavy inspiration from pro wrestling in crafting his boxing persona, and he then fed that boxing fame back into helping create some of the biggest moments in wrestling history. The most famous one is the Inoki match, which played a huge role in creating Inoki's aura through the rest of his career, and Inoki would reference his strategy in that fight numerous times in later matches. He was also one of the top name celebs in Wrestlemania 1 and was involved in one of the most memorable moments in the main event as the guest enforcer. He…

Control21: This is admittedly a very unorthodox nomination. Frank Shamrock only has one traditional pro-wrestling match under his belt against Daisuke Nakamura in U-Style. Albeit, I think that was a very good match. In order to push his nomination to meet the threshold, I will throw in a few of his matches in Pancrase and RINGS that were shoots, but I think they are close enough to pro-wrestling to where considering them wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Frank Shamrock had two really great matches against Kiyoshi Tamura and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in RINGS that were technically brilliant and took place under a pro-wrestling setting with nominally pro-wrestling rules…

Jetlag: Taro Yamada has had an odd career. He works all kinds of undercard gigs on the Japanese indies, mostly short tags in promotions like 666 where he barely gets to do anything. Then Mutoha comes around and puts him into 20-30 minute long technical wrestling epics and he turns into an absolute monster wrestler. He along with Hiroshi Watanabe and Yasushi Sato really owes it to that promotion. Oh and he had a bunch of awesome matches with Keita Yano too. But yeah. When Taro Yamada is allowed to do stuff he absolutely is one of the best wrestlers of the 2010s-2020s. Great matworker, and beyond that has a really vicious side. His matches with Konaka, Keita Yano, Yasu…

Control21: Dragon Lee was something of a prodigy when he got his start in CMLL, and quickly ascended the promotion’s ranks as a thrilling wrestler who could combine athleticism and skill. The feud with Hiromu Takahashi, then Kamaitachi, put him on the map internationally and he eventually became one of the icons of NJPW’s junior heavyweight division during the 2010s. He has had an endless amount of good-to-great matches with the likes of Will Ospreay, Shingo Takagi, Taiji Ishimori, Mistico, and Titan. While his WWE run hasn’t captured the same heights of his work in the 2010s, he has still shown he is a great wrestler in the confines of WWE’s style. vs Hiromu Ta…

Control21: Salman Hashimikov arrived on the scene with his compatriot Victor Zangiev in 1989, when Antonio Inoki was able to secure their services from the Soviet Union in a bilateral partnership. While not as famous in terms of cultural impact as Victor Zangiev, Hashimikov was a solid wrestler and was briefly the IWGP Heavyweight Champion. At the time, his legitimate skills were seen as a thrilling addition to a promotion that had built itself on the “strong style” idea and where Inoki was still bringing in competitors with backgrounds in legitimate combat sports. Like Victor Zangiev, his legacy perhaps merits more consideration. w/Vladimir Berkovich vs Gary Al…

Control21: The brother of Dennis Koslowski, Duane Koslowski competed in the Olympics as well but never medaled. He worked for more promotions in Japan than Dennis did, appearing in a match for UWF Newborn at U-COSMOS against Nobuhiko Takada before jumping to PWFG where he had a handful of matches. Duane Koslowski was more of a power suplex and throws wrestler, whereas his brother Dennis was more focused on finesse. Duane became a solid wrestler over time and even earned a nomination in the Wrestling Observer for the Rookie of the Year award in 1993. vs Nobuhiko Takada (11/29/1989) vs Wayne Shamrock (7/26/1991) vs Kazuo Takahashi (8/23/1991) vs Yuk…

Control21: Dennis Koslowski was a Greco-Roman wrestler who won the bronze at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the Silver at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He didn’t have that many matches, but his work in UWFi was usually solid and had some moments of brilliance, such as his matches against Kiyoshi Tamura and Kazuo Yamazaki. He didn’t have too much trouble adjusting to UWFi’s style. Not a particularly flashy name, but he’s another name that could be considered by people who enjoy “purity” in their pro wrestling. vs Kazuo Yamazaki (2/14/1993) vs Yuko Miyato (8/13/1993) vs Masahito Kakihara (10/4/1993) vs Kiyoshi Tamura (12/5/1993)

GOTNW: [1969-05-16-JWA] Antonio Inoki vs Chris Markoff [1969-4-16 JWA] Chris Markoff & Bobo Brazil vs Giant Baba & Kintaro Oki [1973-5-15 CWF] Chris Markoff & Buddy Colt vs Paul Jones & Eddie Graham Speaking of Southeastern European greats! Chris Markoff is a man of mystery. He is supposed to have been born in Yugoslavia, from where his family had migrated to Minneapolis. Where in Yugoslavia? Both Serbia and North Macedonia are cited. Since North Macedonia used to be a part of Serbia before WWII, this would make it more likely he was from Vardar than Serbia proper. No data on his birth name is available online. My detective work…

El McKell: In the discord sever SAMS said this about him: He's a name I barely hear being mentioned, and while I'd solidly put him below the likes of Grey, Breaks, Rocco, Cortez, Jones, I'm not sure how many others I've seen that I'm certain he should be placed below. His aesthetic change almost parallels Freddie Mercury's in transitioning from the glam of the 70s to the short hair and moustache combo of the 80s, and in the context of '80 and '81 World of Sport he almost feels ahead of his time. Really good heel with the perfect deadpan face. If you enjoy this style of bending the rules and accruing as many public warnings without quite getting DQ'd, then he's your …

Microstatistics said: "One of the standouts from the 1950s-60s era, even with very limited footage. Great heel, proficient in both technical wrestling and underhanded roughhousing. The Jesse James match is a classic."

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