I should have voted for Fujita Jr. I really dig him. He's one I regret quite a bit.

Props to Steven! This reveal of the results (including the pictures) is almost even more fun than catching up on hours of wrestling and putting the list together!

He's fourth on my list which isn't bad at all. He and Funk switched back and forth multiple times but when I really think of the pinnacle of wrestling it's Flair. I hope he wins even though he's not my 1

I was considering Flair for my top spot and a top 5ish placement. Then JVK did that podcast series and it knocked him down to 9

491 - Kuniaki Kobayashi

 

 

2006 Ranking: honourable mentnion

Points: 23

# of Ballots: 2

Average Vote: 89.50

High Vote: 80

Low Vote: 99

 

Red Pants!

 

One of my favourite guys. If there is anyone I regret not ranking it's him. I wonder who the two voters were.

Spike Dudley with 5 votes, but none higher then 90, sounds about right.

There is no way you can top that Abdullah Kobayashi picture. Hahahahaha!

Tim, recommend some Hans Schmidt.

Milano Collection A.T. Was my 100, I'll cop to that even as an anonymous.

 

Kind of an oddball choice in a way I guess, but when I looked over my nearly final ballot and got to thinking about it, he's a guy I'd really like to see (or did enjoy seeing) wrestle pretty much all the other small guys on my ballot. I believe he is the only full time Toryumon/Dragon's Gate rep on my list at the end of the day.

 

One of the greatest ring entrances ever too, for whatever little that's worth.

I wouldn't say I fucked Flair, Parv. Btw you dropping a video from my favorite movie of all time is almost worth it. 4 is a very good spot. There will be people that put him outside the top 30 that you will have to make plenty of gifs for.

No gifs, please. We are better than that. We use words.

Well at least Joey Ryan didn't get a #1 vote.

Intergender wrestling and penis spots. Joey Ryan is the antithesis of a good, worthwhile wrestler. Maybe my least favorite wrestler.

Loss beat me to it. Automatic DQ:

 

I'm just disappointed I couldn't find a better picture. My quest is to top the Abdullah Kobayashi pic.

He has no respect for the craft. He's actually fairly talented, but his deliberate choice to shit on wrestling regularly is enough to keep him far away from this list.

I'm just disappointed I couldn't find a better picture. My quest is to top the Abdullah Kobayashi pic.

Why didn't you use this one?

 

I possibly might have ranked Schmidt but I decided not to rank any golden age workers. Schmidt is by far my fave from that era.

There is something incredibly poetic about Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Joey Ryan being back to back.

 

The "calling out other voters" is like 90% of the fun. Ok maybe 60% but only because Grimmas has really stepped his game up with the pictures. I have to say I'm quite disappointed no one's called out Takaiwa voters because he is reckless and unsafe and paralyzed another wrestler.

 

I'm just disappointed I couldn't find a better picture. My quest is to top the Abdullah Kobayashi pic.

Why didn't you use this one?

 

 

didn't come up in my search. Oh well, each new wrestler is a new chance to find a great pic.

I'm just disappointed I couldn't find a better picture. My quest is to top the Abdullah Kobayashi pic.

 

I wish you luck in your future endeavors.

I wasn't aware of the Takaiwa thing GOTNW mentioned. But Joey Ryan is the first pick that I think is almost offensive.

Yea especially since that original incident led to this lesser known but far WORSE occurrence:

 

 

And a quick search finds this to back up GOTNW's claim:

 

 

3. ZERO-ONE International Jr. Heavyweight Title: Tatsuhito Takaiwa beat Naohiro Hoshikawa in 10:16 by referee stoppage to retain his title. Takaiwa powerbombed Hoshikawa off the top rope during the match and he landed on his head, then after that Takaiwa gave him a lariat and Hoshikawa landed on his back with his arms & legs spread out. Hoshikawa then quit breathing and fell into a coma causing the referee to stop the match at the urge of the doctor. Hoshikawa was rushed to the hospital where he went underwent an crainotomy (A craniotomy is the surgical removal of a section of bone (bone flap) from the skull for the purpose of operating on the underlying tissues, usually the brain. The bone flap is replaced at the end of the procedure. If the bone flap is not replaced, the procedure is called a craniectomy. A craniotomy is used for many different procedures within the head, for trauma, tumor, infection, aneurysm, etc) and the doctors said that he may end up paralyzed and forced to retire. ZERO-ONE officials along with Otani & Takaiwa stayed at the hospital for a few hours after the show.

Intergender wrestling and penis spots. Joey Ryan is the antithesis of a good, worthwhile wrestler. Maybe my least favorite wrestler.

Agree completely. I was annoyed that he ranked ahead of anyone. In November, Phil and I watched him tease unwanted groping as, you guessed it, a babyface spot. Bleh.

It's amazing that someone like Joey Ryan hasn't understood how wrestling is so much more fun when everyone involved pretends that it's deathly serious.