The thing that I liked so much about Bret, was that I was emotionally invested in the outcome of his matches. With the vast majority of wrestlers, I want to see them put on a good match, entertain me. With Bret, I want him to win. Look at that great finishing sequence with Dibiase @ Survivor Series 90, he had me hooked.

Not to turn this thread into Bret love. I absolutely loved the way Bret sold exhaustion. He was good at selling moves, but great at selling fatigue during a match. Definitely one of the better guys in doing that. I also loved Benoit in that regards.

Really great post Jay. And I enjoyed the reasoning for Bret. Reading it though, I found myself thinking that you might say a lot of the same things about Misawa and I noticed he's not there while Kawada is. Any reason for that? The point about referencing past matches is something that is definitely there for him. As well as logical selling, etc.

Thanks man. Misawa is very much on my list of people I need to spend more time on. I've seen 10 of his matches in the last couple of months, and there's definitely something there that I like, but it's not quite clicked yet. It's that difference between trying something and knowing it's not going to be for you, and trying something and wanting to try more, even if you've not fallen in love with it yet. I had the same thing where I bought 4-5 Sonic Youth albums before it finally clicked and they became one of my favourite bands. I've bought a comp of Misawa's early career which will hopefully give me an insight into where he's come from, and will give me something to refer back to as I explore his career in more detail.

 

Would love to see a more in depth Bret/Corro comparison...

In many respects, I see Bret as the Ken Barlow of wrestling. Though Vince would love to be able to book a feud quite as long-lasting, multi-layered and ratings grabbing as the 25yrs of Barlow/Baldwin. Also, don't get me started on my comparison of Flair's farewell match at Wrestlemania with Hilda Ogden departing with a singalong of "Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye" setting a national TV record :-)

Right now Virus is still in my top ten.

Looking over my obvious work-in-progress list, I'm not sure if a single name in my Top 30 will I be the high vote on.

 

Some of the names on the bottom half of my list though, maybe? It depends on how people rate those people or if they include them at all.

 

Potential high votes:

 

• The Big Bossman

• Jacques Rougeau (I imagine he won't make most lists)

• One Man Gang

• Scott Norton

• Yokozuna

• Haku/Meng

Scott Norton would be in my top 5 guys to play as on WCW/NWO Revenge for N64. Maybe even #2 behind Mortis.

 

What is his best singles match in real life because now I kinda want to watch a Scott Norton match?

 

 

Potential high votes:

 

Jacques Rougeau (I imagine he won't make most lists)

One Man Gang

Scott Norton

 

Don't recall ever seeing threads for these three, and there's probably not many people looking to vote for them, so you may have to nominate them yourself.

Thanks for the heads-up. I could have sworn they were all nominated already as I only wrote down names that had been nominated from the Index thread. Or so I thought. Must have been an oversight somewhere on my end. I know I've talked about them already though, and the Jacques thread is there.

Scott Norton would be in my top 5 guys to play as on WCW/NWO Revenge for N64. Maybe even #2 behind Mortis.

 

What is his best singles match in real life because now I kinda want to watch a Scott Norton match?

 

His match with Hashimoto from 2/19/95 was quite good.

How high do folks envision ranking Dusty Rhodes? Certainly part of some great multi-man affairs (War Games, tags) to go with some really high end singles affairs, with Flair, Backlund and the Horsemen. Classics may be few and far between, but I'm finding most of his matches I check out lately consistently good and entertaining. Really feels like a top half of the ballot guy, maybe even top 40.

Top 50 for me

 

 

Hogan is 18 for me. I bet nobody comes within 20 places of that lol.

Side question -- who will be your highest female worker and how high? I imagine it'll be Bull for me and can't imagine lower than top third, but haven't yet wrapped my head around how to rank them.

 

Chigusa, Jaguar Yokota, Kong, Hokuto and Toyota will all most likely make my top quarter. Manami Toyota is a funny one, because outside of this board she's largely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time, but seemingly far less favoured round these parts, so I can see myself being one of the high voters on her, however I also think based on some of the responses I've been reading in these threads that joshi workers will fare better than I had first expected on a lot of ballots, which is cool.

Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Flair, Danielson. Those are the only names I'd put above Taue without having to think about it. While I don't expect him to come in at #6, its looking like 12-15 may be the absolute floor.

Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Flair, Danielson. Those are the only names I'd put above Taue without having to think about it. While I don't expect him to come in at #6, its looking like 12-15 may be the absolute floor.

Any particular reason that Jumbo isn't an automatic like the others?

 

Just seems weird to me that he seems no longer to be thought about in that top tier.

None whatsoever. He's clearly below the AJ Big 3 for me. But will also likely end up ahead of Taue. The thought was more reflective of my thinking on him than others. Haven't gone back to much Jumbo in a while, which is something I plan on doing. Possible he'll slip out of my top 10 but he's right in that mix. He's just likely out of the top 5.

Looking at his GWE thread, as well as the kind of feelings he's stirring up in people now, I may be the high vote on Chris Jericho, which I wasn't expecting because I don't really feel like a big "fan" of his. But this board compared to the world at large and etc.

Even though he will be in many Top 20 and some Top 10s, pretty sure I will be the high vote for Jushin Liger at #2 or #3. He is still very well regarded, but I don't see anyone having him near #1 (could be wrong though) and his stock has dropped a good amount in part due to the backlash against the New Japan Juniors style.

I will say this, I'll be putting Liger higher on my ballot than I ever thought possible like two months ago. I've completely turned around on him.

I'll be just below Microstatistics, in that I've got Liger pencilled in for #4-#5, depending on how I end up judging between him and EHD Santo

I have Volk Han at #4, and Bryan Danielson at #2. I suspect I'm the highest voter for both. Kawada has a very good chance at finishing #1 once I watch more of him.

Card subject to change, but Danielson is currently my #4. Really wanted to get him at #1 but I can't justify it right now.

I bet someone has him higher than No. 4 and I think he has a good shot to be top 10 overall.

That would make me very happy.

Buddy Rogers. Currently at 12. Highest of anybody from that era by far.

Any particular matches that stand out as a primer? I've seen a good bit of Rogers, and Rogers/O'Connor is a very rare blend of an iconic moment meshed together with a classic match, but 12 is very high. He's a fantastic performer, and certainly deserving of praise, but I'd love to know what matches that is based on so I can watch them and love him more, too.

 

Out of curiosity, have you given Hans Schmidt the same time of day? With the Florida footage that made its way onto Youtube, he feels like a true forgotten about elite worker.