Reactions to the Honorable Mention List:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

 

We are in the top 100. Let's have some fun.

An Al Pacino-level "Hoo-Wah" and proverbial pair of flimsy pink plastic shades from the Hitman himself to Grimmas for making this all happen.

 

Ikeda cracking 100 is a huge and unexpected achievement. I kind of love that he ended up being the #100 guy, in that for so much of his career he's been truly amazing, but still an acquired taste who's often viewed as being a peripheral NOAH guy or the duke of a tiny kingdom. Props to the DVDVR editors and WKO crew for really being his champions over the years.

 

If Ishikawa makes it past #95 I'll be quite surprised, but still a great showing for both of them.

81 left for the top 100. Lost 4 from my Top 50 though.

This has been so exciting to count down that when I saw the Top 100 thread posted just now I had a little *gasp* moment. I mean I almost didn't want to click on the thread because it's like...I don't want to spoil it, I want to savour the moment, and I'm also kind of scared to clink on it in case I see one of my guys fall down.

 

And then #100 turned out to be someone I don't care about and I exhaled.

 

But still, exciting times.

Its the final countdown! Exciting stuff, its going to be like a Christmas celebration elongated.

On the one hand, Virus was high on my list, massively high, and it was almost entirely a week-to-week footage over the span of the last five years thing. At one point towards the end I desperately asked people to try to make a case against him in his thread and no one said anything.

 

On the other hand, I basically, all by myself, got him (and therefore another luchador) into the top one-hundred, so screw you all.

List seems to be mainly shoot-stylists and midgets so far.

Confession time: I didn't care for Ikeda at all. Just seemed like a guy kicking people as hard as he could, which doesn't do much for me. I'm sure I'm missing the nuance to his work, and I'm sure someone will tell me about it. Of all the Battlarts I watched (which I'm not gonna pretend was a huge amount, if I had to guess I'd ballpark 30 matches), he was the guy that pissed me off the most (I prefer Ishikawa, though didn't vote for him either- Otsuka was my guy, probably because he works a more accessible style for a newcomer) with the way that he would always lean on stiffness as a way to escalate the match.

So glad Virus made it. He easily made my list. What a freaking talent, it's a shame he doesn't get more singles matches.

Quick suggestion: Maybe link to the relevant nominee thread for everyone in the top 100 to make it easy for people to find out more about them.

List seems to be mainly shoot-stylists and midgets so far.

 

Ikeda is not a shootstylist.

Quick suggestion: Maybe link to the relevant nominee thread for everyone in the top 100 to make it easy for people to find out more about them.

good idea

 

List seems to be mainly shoot-stylists and midgets so far.

Ikeda is not a shootstylist.

 

I thought BattleArts was all shoot style. Sorry if mistaken.

Quick suggestion: Maybe link to the relevant nominee thread for everyone in the top 100 to make it easy for people to find out more about them.

 

Not at all a bad idea. Was just going to add that I appreciate more comments and some match recs on Virus, as he's someone I'm just not familiar with. Presumably that won't be the case for a lot of what's to come but its a great resource.

Even though there are many more talented workers below him in the list, Kerry still doesn't look "wrong" at 98.

KVE, not better than Christian OR Virus!

The 90s have been good to me thus far, I don't give a shit about any of these guys.

 

Probably just jinxed it though.

I had Virus and Kerry on my ballot, although I had Virus in the mid 40s and Kerry towards my bottom quarter. Amazing achievement for Virus to have made the top 100, even at the very low end.

 

In time, he'll get to add to his case if he gets to feud with Dragon Lee II in the future. Dragon Lee II will be someone to keep your eye on for this list in ten years time.

Ikeda making 45 ballots is amazing. Really glad he made the final list. I wonder where Ishikawa will place since pretty much everyone rates him higher than Ikeda and gaps in their ranking are often huge.

So if he isn't a shootstyle guy, what style is he? I might check him out.

Kerry is my first to fall in the top 100, though he was only the 3rd highest Von Erich on my list

So if he isn't a shootstyle guy, what style is he? I might check him out.

Battlarts and Futen are very much hybrid shoot style promotions. Shoot style is their base but they incorporate pro style moves in more realistic ways. Ikeda specifically is known for being probably the stiffest worker ever.

PWO GWE Project - The Matches

 

YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoeBY9gVL9d13ytshbXVg_EnCzjHVPUOt

My 2026 case for Ikeda:

 

 

 

 

God-I forgot one of Jetlag's accounts was still alive. Everyone watch this now and feel shitty for not ranking El Dandy in your top 15 like I did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXeWJ3Semqs

I had Virus at #44, so not far off from his 49.7 average. Best mini of all time (if he can still be called one), and being so good on tape for 20 years doesn't hurt either.

 

To the people who don't get why Ikeda and Virus are on here: they made 30% of the ballots and both averaged at #50 among those voters. That's a pretty strong endorsement, albeit a different type than someone like Waltman making nearly 50% of the ballots with an avg. rank of #71. I expect you'll see a similar look for someone like Angle or Dynamite Kid, where the people who love them really love them.