Greatest Wrestler Ever

It's all happening here on discord: https://discord.gg/2tqvKBK2WA The first one will be on Saturday (17th) at 1 eastern, for a couple of hours. Watching some Jaguar Yokota. Join us if you want, either voice, chat, or just listening on while on mute.

We've created a GWE media subforum to help support the project. If you don't see the forum now, you will when you've achieved a minimum posting threshold at Pro Wrestling Only. An explanation will be coming.

Here is the google doc that anyone can edit. It's a list of all the nominees where anyone can drop match recommendations and view them. Feel free to go there to find matches to watch, or drop some links/recs for others to discover. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rgl1utpEKF0EBGkV6HgfphF3ODzgceeV7ustiy7GkaM/edit If you haven't signed up for the mailing list, you can here. https://forms.gle/QB7JhkVKZdYC1kPYA Sign up for the discord for watch parties, here: https://discord.gg/2tqvKBK2WA

Here is the list from the last poll in 2016 in alphabetical order. Top 25: Arn Anderson Barry Windham Bret Hart Daniel Bryan Eddie Guerrero Genichiro Tenryu Jerry Lawler Jumbo Tsuruta Jushin Liger Kenta Kobashi Mitsuharu Misawa Negro Casas Nick Bockwinkel Randy Savage Rey Mysterio Ric Flair Ricky Steamboat Shinya Hashimoto Stan Hansen Steve Austin Tatsumi Fujinami Terry Funk Toshiaki Kawada Vader William Regal Remaining of the Top 100: AJ Styles Aja Kong Akira Hokuto Akira Taue Andre The Giant Atlantis Atsushi Onita Bill Dundee Billy Robinson Blue Panther Bob Backlu…

Here is the list from the last poll in 2006 in alphabetical order. Top 25: Aja Kong Akira Hokuto Bret Hart Chris Benoit Dynamite Kid Eddie Guerrero El Hijo del Santo Genichiro Tenryu Harley Race Jaguar Yokoda Jumbo Tsuruta Jushin "Thunder" Liger Kenta Kobashi Mitsuharu Misawa Nobuhiko Takada Rey Mysterio Jr. Ric Flair Ricky Steamboat Shinya Hashimoto Stan Hansen Steve Austin Terry Funk The Destroyer Toshiaki Kawada Vader Remaining of the Top 100: Adrian Adonis Akira Taue Akira Maeda Antonio Inoki Arn Anderson Atlantis Barry Windham Billy Robinson Blue Panther Bob Backlund Bobby Eaton Brian Pillman Bull Nakano Chigusa Nagay…

Well, if you're ranking any, which ones you got? I've spent the last few years ranking the Mexican candidates, and this is how my list shook out: #1 candidates: 1) Hijo del Santo Greatest strength: Perhaps the best wrestler ever at having great matches. Greatest weakness: Not exactly a figure of great fun or spontaneity. Peak: I'd have Santo as a best in the world candidate for 1995, 1998, 2000, and 2001. I know that he has advocates for his '96 and '97 as well. He might have had years in the UWA when he ranked among the world's top workers as well, but we have very little footage from this era, and UWA Santo was more formulaic than the later version. Prime l…

Short and sweet: How much weight are you giving to professional wrestlers who wrestle a style out of touch with their era? There are plenty of examples, but I'll use two specific ones: 1. FTR Very clearly, Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler wrestle a throwback style, and owe an incredible debt to the 1980s JCP-era tag team wrestling. Although they are good wrestlers in their own right and have added various things to the formula, they essentially would not have an act without that foundation. It is buoyed by the fact that no one wrestles like this anymore. Does this hurt or harm their case? Would they have been as successful in a different era, and do you hold th…

The thread which has been made to get ideas for 2026 has turned into a catch all thread. Therefore, I created a catch all thread.

As a society, semantics are all we've got. If we don't agree on the meanings of words, we can't communicate properly, and it's global Anarchy in the Arena. Say "Hello" to Eugene Schnitzel. Eugene has been the star of Baltic Extreme Thug-Life Pro-Wrestling Yeah! for over twenty-five years. He once technically sold-out Legia Warsaw's home ground (only three hundred tickets were on sale, and it was held in the car-park, but it counts!) Eugene can work as face or heel. He's very good in both singles and tags. He impressed as a fiery Young Elk, and as the grumpy old vodka tragic with delirium tremens. Although he specialises in First Scrotum-Blood Matches and the li…

It seems a few of these candidates have been nominated, with names like Jim Londos and Megumi Fuji. Pro wrestlers who are clearly extremely talented, but cannot accurately be compared to wrestlers who have a lengthy career on tape either due to lack of footage or simply only wrestling a handful of times. Who are some guys who you consider to be great based on a small sample of performances? Obviously, the French and European footage has been ripe with these types: - Tony Oliver. Greatest two match wrestler ever? Just an incredible heel. - Le Big Chief. Menacing crowbar wrestler who I would like to see wrestle Hashimoto - Jaques Couderc. Another …

What are your takes on ranking wrestlers that have great runs but, I have large portions of their career where they are middling or bad? Does it effect your rankings. For context I'm not counting wrestlers that became bad or middling because of body being worn down, age, or something like that. Like I feel like with someone like if most wrestlers were to have Samoa Joe's 2001-2008 with some of Samoa Joe's years after that run they would feel like a slam dunk case but, I'm not sure how to rank him because of how middling the rest is (besides some sparks of his career) I feel.

I figure we're several months into the project so we could go for a Stock Rising & Stock Falling thread. Who's rising up your list, who is falling? Any surprising top 10 contenders? Anyone you initially viewed as an all time great that you're starting to question?

In 2016 a lot of people reserved their #100 spot for personal favorites that maybe didn't necessarily deserve to make the list. I was wondering if people plan on doing that this time around and if so, Whom are you thinking about for the #100 spot? For example in 2016 I voted Mad Dog Vachon #100. I sorta thing he actually deserves to be on the list this time or a least stronger consideration than just #100 in the personal favorite spot. So I've thought a little about who I might save that last space for and have a few people in mind. Who are you all thinking about for that last spot?

I thought it would be interesting if people checked in with their criteria/process/method here at the start of the cycle. This could be what they're looking for, how they're judging/rating wrestlers, how they're planning on going about things, etc. I'm going to focus a bit more on process/method/purpose here, though criteria is absolutely tied in. It's just a little harder to pin down for reasons you'll hopefully see, and this will already be a lot to cover. Also note that I say at the start of the cycle as this is a journey for all of us and we'll be honing things as we go over the next five years. Finally, while I'd encourage people to interact with one another, be…

I have been a lurker and admirer of this group of commentators for years but only posted a few times. I’m curious about the criteria to be able to participate in this project.

It seems at least a handful of people are watching the 80s DVDVR sets as part of their viewing for this project. It's a great place to start but in the time since those sets got put together a lot of footage has come out and tastes are always changing. So, is there anything that got skipped over? Anybody who got short shrift? Any new matches that absolutely would have belonged, but hadn't been unearthed yet?

So I've been toying with the idea of putting together a Gordy List type list of questions for Greatest Wrestler Ever Candidates. Like the original Gordy List, my intent isn't to has a list of questions that you answer yes/no to and there's a magic # you've got to hit to be a candidate. I see this as a tool to collect thoughts, discuss traits and recommend matches in an easy format. I am certain I am missing questions and please feel free to suggest them or take this list use it and add to it as you see fit. 1. What kind of candidate is this wrestler (Peak vs Longevity,Peak+ Longevity, Big Match Wrestler, Week to Week Performer etc) and what range would you consid…

Which Michinoku Pro, Toryumon, Osaka Pro, Dragon Gate, etc. guys are you all considering for your list?

Five years is a long time, who are some guys who might make it with five more years of output?

Doing a wrestling podcast talking about tournaments, I felt like I should make a thread to discuss some of the thoughts that come from that in the context of Greatest Wrestler Ever. Being a great tournament doesn't necessarily take a unique skillset, but it does put wrestlers in a position where they have to carry a throughline across a variety of opponents versus a feud where they can build off one another. The format is something I value though as it creates something that is more self-contained. Ideally it gives you a glimpse of a wrestler against a few different folks and how they approach in a somewhat condensed period of time, in a specific context. Now that might b…

I know this project is about Who is the Greatest Wrestler, but I was wondering What people think is the Greatest Wrestling? Is 90s AJPW Pillars the best wrestling ever got? Modern NJPW? The best Shoot Style? Is it the French stuff?90s Joshi? Lucha brawls? 80s North American Territories? What do you think is the greatest style of wrestling and why do you think that?

Hi, I'm compiling a watchlist of WWF matches for 1985-87 and as you can imagine it gets monstrously large very quickly. I'm looking to whittle it down a bit to the better matches. With all the footage available, I was hoping for some guidance on the best matches in the following feuds Santana/Valentine Santana/Savage Savage/Steamboat Steamboat/Muraco Hart Foundation/Bees Hart Foundation/Bulldogs Valentine and Beefcake/Bulldogs Steamboat/Roberts Hogan/Savage Hogan/Orndorff Orndorff/Rude Hogan/DiBiase Thanks!

Recently a list of Ariel Helwani's top 10 British wrestlers of all time was posted on various WWE accounts: While I find quite a few placements very interesting, it got me thinking what a list would look like from more experienced wrestlers like those on sites like PWO. Other questions popped up while thinking about it further: Is WOS where the majority of Britain's greatest wrestlers lie? How would the likes of Ospreay, McIntyre, PAC, Sabre Jr., etc. fare when stacked against other generations & eras? I'd be interested if anyone here has some kind of list already in mind, or even a group of names that stand out in regards to the best from Britain.

Okay, let's see if we can get this rolling. For many of the individual candidates, posters are already providing match references that can be picked up through direct google search (and you'd be amazed how far direct searching will get you), but this thread is meant to cover more generalized flyovers of promotions or eras if you don't necessarily know where to start. As such, I definitely don't have a comprehensive knowledge of all of the resources out there, but I'll try to organize and list the little bit that I do know in the OP - replies can feel free to add suggestions and revisions and I will try to keep the OP up to date (or mods can as well - feel free to pin…

Having read KillSteve's thead over on WKO, I've realised I'm in a very similar position to him. Trying to form some semblance of a list has been a daunting process for me - I think not only because there is just so much wrestling out there but also I want it to accurately represent my true feelings which seem to be, at this point, far too fluid to cement a best of. Compartmentalizing things and looking at "categories" individually has allowed me to remove some of that stress and make easier comparisons between wrestlers as I'm judging them by the same metrics. I realise a few of these categories are slightly disingenuous and could be branched out further. Lumping Jos…