Greatest Wrestler Ever

Which wrestlers are the best ones to look at that will give you the biggest look into many candidates? For example, if you were to watch a bunch of Kobashi, you'd get your AJPW folks in, then some NOAH candidates. He's not a bad person to pick as a hub to explore with, but who are really the best? If you were to pick one person to watch that would give you a glimpse into so many other great candidates, who would that be?

There seems to be a bunch of wrestlers that people think are really great, but are really lacking full matches on tape. From reading through threads it seems like a lot of people are having to extrapolate on how to rank them into GWE based on limitations of footage. That got me thinking. What if we separate out any candidate that has less than ten/fifteen/twenty or whatever full matches on tape out of GWE 100 list and add a Historical List voting too. Last time we had a separate tag vote, we could do a separate historical vote instead? Maybe people put out a top 25 list for those people with footage issues? Just a thought, but I think it's a neat and fun idea. …

Figured we could do an old question and then add a fun twist. Who is your wrestler of the decade (pick a decade 60s, 80s, 2010s, whatever)? Who is your wrestler of the half decade? (For example if you pick the 90s. who is the best wrestler from 90-94 and who is the best wrestler from 95-99). I thought this might be interesting. There have been a million wrestler of the 80s/90s etc threads over the years. I thought it might be cool to look at like 80-84 or 2005-2009 or whatever. 5 years isn't an insignificant amount of time to be the best wrestler in the world. And then if you wanna get crazy...what are some of the best 5 year runs ever and what are s…

Who are some people who had really great runs as babyfaces AND as heels. Is it important to you that your top tier candidates are great at both roles?

We had one of these in 2016 and I figured it would be nice to have as a reference point for 2026. So what does your current top 10 look like? Who's in and who's knocking on the door? Is there anyone who looks like a candidate for your top 10 but you're hoping to see more of during the project? What do you need to see out of a top 10 candidate?

This Sunday (October 24) at 3 PM Eastern, we will be watching the second half of AJW All-Star Dream Slam (post the legends ceremony, so all the good matches) but with the added bonus of the promos being subtitled!!! THANKS KAD!! You don't want to miss it. You can join here: https://cytu.be/r/GWE_WP That is also the home of all the other Watch Parties, here is the schedule for the rest of October: 10-21 @ 8:30 EST: Help me with my greatest match ever list, watching some great matches. 10-23 @ 12 EST: Greg "The Hammer" Valentine Watch Party 10-24 @ 3 EST: DREAM SLAM (mentioned above) 10-30 @ 12 EST: Bret Hart in the 1980s Watch P…

In the 2016 project, a lot of rhetoric surrounding Lucha was how difficult it was to get into. This time there's been very little discussion at all. Who are your top lucha candidates? Are they contenders for #1, the top 10? Who are you considering for the overall top 100? Has anyone burst on the scene since the last project that you're considering? Lets get some Lucha Love going.

You might not have enough thoughts for a match thread, a nominee thread, or a microscope, but you watched something and you want to say something! Also what are you excited about watching?

When I posted about the Panther vs. Santo bloodbath in the Panther thread, I was thinking about footage that we know exists but don't have. What else is out there, but not out there.

I thought this might be a handy comparison chart for the top 25. Key: Blue: Top 25 in 2006 and dropped out of it in 2016. Gold: New entry into top 25 in 2016. Yellow: Top 25 in both 2006 and 2016 but went UP in 2016. Orange: Top 25 in both 2006 and 2016 but went DOWN in 2016. One interesting question is if any of the blue names have a shot at re-entering in 2026. Or do any of the orange fallers have a shot at rising back up? I feel like Jumbo may have a shot at re-entering top 10 with the amount of AJPW footage that seems to be cropping back up. Another interesting question is who is the most vulnerabl…

When putting together are lists we seem to always be toying with how we think about wrestlers. Are there ways we can better compare them to help eliminate some of the wildly separate elements of the wrestlers. While I'm going to lay out what I am using as a tool, would love for anyone else to throw in their silly metrics that they might be putting in place. Now this, isn't a formula and is just sort of a thought exercise that I use when I'm talking about wrestlers or even just mulling about it in my head. Random Match Theory is essentially how likely I am to enjoy a wrestler's match if we took their career, shuffled up all their matches, and you got dealt the 5-10 ma…

A lot of wrestlers are scumbugs and a lot of wrestlers have done some horrible things. How is that going to affect your ability to rank a wrestler? Last time, people had issues with ranking Benoit but were pretty much okay with everyone else. After speaking out and social movements, I don't know if that he will be the only one this time? There is two ways this could really affect your rankings, in my view. 1) You don't want to watch this person, so you can't really rank them due to that. 2) You already know the wrestler well enough, so now you have a choice. I have a hard time separating the art and the human, but I don't know where this will go …

20. El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Ohtani (New Japan 1/29/96 - UWA Title) 19. Vader vs. Stan Hansen (New Japan 2/10/90 - Super Fight) 18. Hiroshi Hase vs. Great Muta (New Japan 12/14/92) 17. Keiji Mutoh/Masa Chono vs. Hiroshi Hase/Kensuke Sasaki (New Japan 11/1/90 - IWGP Tag Titles) 16. Vader vs. Antonio Inoki (New Japan 1/4/96) 15. Great Sasuke vs. Ultimo Dragon (New Japan 8/5/96 - J-Crown Finals) 14. Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Ohtani (New Japan 3/17/96 - IWGP Jr. Title) 13. Shinya Hashimoto vs. Genichiro Tenryu (New Japan 8/1/98 - G1-Climax) 12. Hiroshi Hase/Kensuke Sasaki vs. the Steiner Brothers (New Japan 3/21/91 - IWGP Tag Titles) 11. Jushin Liger vs. Owen…

I'll use myself as an example. I've been a fan since 1991. I found pwo in 2013, finally signed in the following year. Followed GWE 2016 closely but ultimately didn't vote. I'd say I 'trust' my opinions on wrestling back to about 2012 (as in, anything I watched before that I'd be uncomfortable assuming I'd feel the same way about now without a rewatch). Even at that I've watched (and rewatched) a good load since 2012. The idea of trying to squeeze my 2012-2026 viewing into a top 100 without recency bias playing a part is daunting....

Who are the people on your 2016 Top 100 you don't anticipate voting for this time around. Who are some folks you're now considering?

I alluded to asking this in another thread, but it turned into another discussion, so I am making a new thread. Update: Official rules and launching pad will be revealed on a Pro Wrestling Super Show podcast during WrestleMania week this year. Until then, things are being ironed out. There is some cool new changes and add ons for 2026 that we have cooked up, but things can always be made better. If you have any ideas hit them up here, if you haven't already privately done that to me. Outside of having great discussions, the other aspect of this project I really want to focus on is not making an all boys party. I'm looking at ways to make this more inclusive…

I think it's useful to break wrestling down into eras and then look at the top performers in each of those eras. I'll do a series of posts here and there trying to isolate different areas and point out the expectations and such, and who I think are the top candidates from those eras. In some eras, I may get really specific and drill down to a time period in a specific company and in others, I might cast a wider net. So for example, you're just like as likely to see something like "2000 WWE" as you would be "the 1970s". There will be overlap too. But this is how I generally think about wrestling as a whole and I think there might be value in applying this lens to this proj…

Welcome to the Greatest Wrestler Ever 2026 Launch Party. Steven Graham is joined by an all-star cast, as they discuss all aspects of GWE. From looking back to 2016, to our current #1s, to looking forward to 2026 we leave no stone unturned. Everything is discussed from changes in technology to how speaking out could affect voting. Stay tuned to the end where you can find out how to participate! Join the GWE Mailing List to get all the info you need, from various links (for all the ways to join the discussion) to periodic updates on GWE related articles and podcasts. forms.gle/3FmX4pbZiZcJkWJJ9 Time Stamps: 0:00 Tim Livingston 1:10 Kristen Ashly 1:36 Da…

What advice do you have for whatever crop of people may decide to do the next GWE poll in 2026? Lessons learned, things that have worked, things that haven't and so on. Write a note to the next generation.

@Alan4L@InYourCase So I have no idea exactly what's going on with this, but I saw something through the grapevine. I'm not sure where the hub is or the timeline or anything else. I assume social media since that's how you guys did GME? I do have a few helpful thoughts though. Feel free to repost parts of this elsewhere or not 1. It's absolutely imperative that you guys define your criteria. I'd suggest something extremely simple such as "This is based on in-ring work as can be proven by footage." Otherwise you get people putting down Dusty for his promos or Hogan for his drawing or someone like Danny Hodge when there's barely enough footage to know anything…