Feb 14, 2019 11:15:21 GMT shinobimusashi said:

Feb 14, 2019 11:13:22 GMT shinobimusashi said:

25 year anniversary of the GOAT year 1994

We'll do an all encompassing 1994 countdown before the year is out. I'm thinking once the fan fic draft wraps up.

But the real reason I'm here is because UT & Shootist brought up the GOAT PW Countdown: PW's Favorite Wrestlers. I saved the results and promised to post them later. Figured I'd post it here rather than further clutter up the Greatest Match Project thread. 

*This countdown took place in December 2014-January 2015 and had 30(!) voters each voting for their 30 favorite wrestlers (or tag teams). I kept results of the Top 100 and specially selected others that I either voted for or almost voted for. I regret not saving all of the Honorable Mentions. Oh well.

PW's Favorite Wrestler Countdown Results

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
Ranking-Name-Point Total

1. Bret Hart- 515
2. Steve Austin- 489
3. Undertaker- 480
4. CM Punk- 426
5. Mick Foley- 413
6. Daniel Bryan- 406
7. The Rock- 385
8. Chris Jericho- 374
9. Shawn Michaels- 371 
10. Eddie Guerrero- 365

11. Randy Savage- 361
12. Kurt Angle- 355 
13. Ric Flair- 321 
14. Brock Lesnar- 230
15. Triple H- 220 
16. Owen  Hart- 204 
17. Mr. Perfect- 194 
18. Chris Benoit- 184
19. Edge- 176
20. Rey Mysterio- 167

21. Ultimate Warrior- 161
22. Road Warriors- 149
23. Sabu- 147
24. Scott Hall- 147
25. AJ Styles- 144
26. Terry Funk- 143 
27. Vader- 142
28. Rob Van Dam- 140 
29. Ted Dibiase- 139 
30. John Cena- 129

31. Dean Ambrose- 119
32. Samoa Joe- 116
33. Sting- 113
34. Kenta Kobashi- 106
35. Jake Roberts- 103
36. Hulk Hogan- 99
37. Rick Rude- 93
38. Ricky Steamboat- 92
39. Christopher Daniels- 90 
40. Mitsuharu Misawa- 87

41. Trish Stratus- 85
42. X-Pac- 83
43. Jushin Liger- 81
44. Toshiaki Kawada- 80
45. Roddy Piper- 79
46. Seth Rollins- 74
47. Taz- 73 
48. Edge & Christian- 72
49. KENTA- 71
50. Stan Hansen- 69

51. Shinsuke Nakamura- 69
52. Sami Zayn- 64
53. Brian Pillman- 64
54. Hardy Boyz- 63
55. Austin Aries- 62
56. Lita- 60
57. Cesaro- 59
58. Goldust- 59
59. Great Muta- 56
60. Dean Malenko- 52

61. Christian- 52
62. JBL- 52
63. AJ Lee- 52
64. Jerry Lawler- 49
65. Alberto Del Rio- 48
66. Raven- 46
67. Bam Bam Bigelow- 46
68. Umaga- 45
69. Kazuchika Okada- 44
70. Prince Devitt- 43

71. Kane- 43
72. Jumbo Tsuruta- 43
73. Shane McMahon- 42
74. Dudley Boyz- 41
75. Luke Harper- 41
76. Kevin Nash- 41
77. Nigel McGuinness- 40
78. Demolition- 39
79. Davey Boy Smith- 38
80. Jeff Hardy- 38

81. Vince McMahon- 38
82. Randy Orton- 37
83. Low Ki- 37
84. Papa Shango/Godfather- 37
85. Steve Williams- 37
86. Wade Barrett- 36
87. Dolph Ziggler- 35
88. William Regal- 34
89. New Age Outlaws- 34
90. Dynamite Kid- 34

91. Matt Hardy- 34
92. Cody Rhodes- 30
93. Miz- 30
94. Batista- 30
95. Goldberg- 29
96. Kerry Von Erich- 29
97. Sid- 29
98. Tito Santana- 29
99. Roman Reigns- 29
100. Human Tornado- 29

Specially Selected Others

Steve Corino- 28
Tully Blanchard- 26
Booker T- 23
Jacques Rougeau- 23
John Morrison- 21
Bubba Ray Dudley- 20
Arn Anderson- 19
Bray Wyatt- 19
Jeff Jarrett- 18
Sandman- 15
Paul Orndorff- 13
Larry Zbyszko- 11
Bobby Eaton- 9
Yokozuna- 5
Honkytonk Man- 5
Teddy Hart- 4
Pierre- 3
Stan Lane- 1

*Wouldn't mind redoing this one at some point either. Maybe scrap tag teams and have each voter submit a Top 50 ballot.... 

May 15, 2019 0:43:35 GMT Baker said:

Feb 14, 2019 11:15:21 GMT shinobimusashi said:

25 year anniversary of the GOAT year 1994

We'll do an all encompassing 1994 countdown before the year is out. I'm thinking once the fan fic draft wraps up.

But the real reason I'm here is because UT & Shootist brought up the GOAT PW Countdown: PW's Favorite Wrestlers. I saved the results and promised to post them later. Figured I'd post it here rather than further clutter up the Greatest Match Project thread. 

*This countdown took place in December 2014-January 2015 and had 30(!) voters each voting for their 30 favorite wrestlers (or tag teams). I kept results of the Top 100 and specially selected others that I either voted for or almost voted for. I regret not saving all of the Honorable Mentions. Oh well.

PW's Favorite Wrestler Countdown Results

Ranking-Name-Point Total

1. Bret Hart- 515
2. Steve Austin- 489
3. Undertaker- 480
4. CM Punk- 426
5. Mick Foley- 413
6. Daniel Bryan- 406
7. The Rock- 385
8. Chris Jericho- 374
9. Shawn Michaels- 371 
10. Eddie Guerrero- 365

11. Randy Savage- 361
12. Kurt Angle- 355 
13. Ric Flair- 321 
14. Brock Lesnar- 230
15. Triple H- 220 
16. Owen  Hart- 204 
17. Mr. Perfect- 194 
18. Chris Benoit- 184
19. Edge- 176
20. Rey Mysterio- 167

21. Ultimate Warrior- 161
22. Road Warriors- 149
23. Sabu- 147
24. Scott Hall- 147
25. AJ Styles- 144
26. Terry Funk- 143 
27. Vader- 142
28. Rob Van Dam- 140 
29. Ted Dibiase- 139 
30. John Cena- 129

31. Dean Ambrose- 119
32. Samoa Joe- 116
33. Sting- 113
34. Kenta Kobashi- 106
35. Jake Roberts- 103
36. Hulk Hogan- 99
37. Rick Rude- 93
38. Ricky Steamboat- 92
39. Christopher Daniels- 90 
40. Mitsuharu Misawa- 87

41. Trish Stratus- 85
42. X-Pac- 83
43. Jushin Liger- 81
44. Toshiaki Kawada- 80
45. Roddy Piper- 79
46. Seth Rollins- 74
47. Taz- 73 
48. Edge & Christian- 72
49. KENTA- 71
50. Stan Hansen- 69

51. Shinsuke Nakamura- 69
52. Sami Zayn- 64
53. Brian Pillman- 64
54. Hardy Boyz- 63
55. Austin Aries- 62
56. Lita- 60
57. Cesaro- 59
58. Goldust- 59
59. Great Muta- 56
60. Dean Malenko- 52

61. Christian- 52
62. JBL- 52
63. AJ Lee- 52
64. Jerry Lawler- 49
65. Alberto Del Rio- 48
66. Raven- 46
67. Bam Bam Bigelow- 46
68. Umaga- 45
69. Kazuchika Okada- 44
70. Prince Devitt- 43

71. Kane- 43
72. Jumbo Tsuruta- 43
73. Shane McMahon- 42
74. Dudley Boyz- 41
75. Luke Harper- 41
76. Kevin Nash- 41
77. Nigel McGuinness- 40
78. Demolition- 39
79. Davey Boy Smith- 38
80. Jeff Hardy- 38

81. Vince McMahon- 38
82. Randy Orton- 37
83. Low Ki- 37
84. Papa Shango/Godfather- 37
85. Steve Williams- 37
86. Wade Barrett- 36
87. Dolph Ziggler- 35
88. William Regal- 34
89. New Age Outlaws- 34
90. Dynamite Kid- 34

91. Matt Hardy- 34
92. Cody Rhodes- 30
93. Miz- 30
94. Batista- 30
95. Goldberg- 29
96. Kerry Von Erich- 29
97. Sid- 29
98. Tito Santana- 29
99. Roman Reigns- 29
100. Human Tornado- 29

Specially Selected Others

Steve Corino- 28
Tully Blanchard- 26
Booker T- 23
Jacques Rougeau- 23
John Morrison- 21
Bubba Ray Dudley- 20
Arn Anderson- 19
Bray Wyatt- 19
Jeff Jarrett- 18
Sandman- 15
Paul Orndorff- 13
Larry Zbyszko- 11
Bobby Eaton- 9
Yokozuna- 5
Honkytonk Man- 5
Teddy Hart- 4
Pierre- 3
Stan Lane- 1

*Wouldn't mind redoing this one at some point either. Maybe scrap tag teams and have each voter submit a Top 50 ballot.... 

Nice, unfortunately my own personal list got lost after I needed my hard drive wiped due to some pesky malware a few months back.

Benoit at 18, oof, I wouldn't mind redoing either a favorites or greatest list. I would still like tag teams included if we are doing favorites however, I had LOD at either 2 or 3 on my list and always regretted not having the Steiners in my top 30.

We gotta redo that. Gotta get Tornado outta last place. Though I doubt milopo is around to assist.

I'd be interested to see who falls and how far. Benoit I don't think changes much because it's not like that list was before he murdered his entire family - that ranking took all that into consideration.

I'm willing to bet Punk drops. Maybe not a lot but at least 5-10 spots.

How about Dolph Ziggler, Wade Barrett and Alberto Del Rio, yikes.

Cody Rhodes I'm sure would move up a ridiculous amount.

May 15, 2019 1:59:07 GMT Shootist said:

May 15, 2019 0:43:35 GMT Baker said:

Nice, unfortunately my own personal list got lost after I needed my hard drive wiped due to some pesky malware a few months back.

Benoit at 18, oof, I wouldn't mind redoing either a favorites or greatest list. I would still like tag teams included if we are doing favorites however, I had LOD at either 2 or 3 on my list and always regretted not having the Steiners in my top 30.

Benoit that high was a head scratcher for me too. To get that high you either had to be on a lot of ballots or have a few people rank you really high. Who were all these huge PW Benoit fanboys in 2014-2015? 

Ugh! Tag teams kill everything. My theory was by expanding the ballot from 30 to 50 people would be more willing to separate their precious tag teams. The thing is very few tag teams were tag teams for their entire careers. Back when we did this I was going to vote for the Midnight Express before voting solely for Bobby Eaton since I also liked his Stan Lane-free runs with the Dangerous Alliance & Blue Bloods. Even Lane had the Fabulous Ones & Heavenly Bodies runs without Beautiful Bobby. Too very different careers in all honesty. Plus we've already done two favorite tag team countdowns. Enough with the tag teams already! Hawk & Animal each had runs without the other. So did Demolition. And the Dudleys. And Hardys. And the list goes on and on. Hell, the only major tag team I can think of that didn't have the individual members do their own thing at some point are the Young Bucks. 

Savage outside the Top 10 surprised me a little given that practically everyone on PW likes him to some extent. I mean it's a strong Top 10 field but I just assumed Macho would be in it. 

Sabu at #23 is definitely a PW quirk. I remember him being the guy I was rooting hardest for in this countdown.

AJ would almost certainly rise into the Top 20. I too think Punk would drop a few spots.

Dean Ambrose way up at #31 (above Seth Rollins!) was another surprise. I imagine he drops outside the Top 50 next time. 

Hogan at #36 was yet another shocker. I figured he'd be Top 25 for sure given when this took place. On any given forum you can still count on there being a few massive Hogan fans. 

Okada and Omega are locks for the Top 50. Probably more like Top 30. Other NJPW guys like Naito & Tanahashi would definitely make the Top 100 if we did it again. Probably a few NJPW midcarders too. 

Cody would rise and I was surprised by the lack of Kevin Owens on the list. How did Zayn make it but not Owens? That's just weird.

A few modern WWE women would also surely make a future Top 100.

Barrett & Del Rio were huge 'of the moment' picks. It would be like Mr. Kennedy & MVP cracking the Top 100 if we did this in 2007. I'm sure they fall off. Probably Ziggler too.

I didn't post my own list but my Top 22 wouldn't change much. It's looked more or less the same for at least a decade. Even the rest of my list wouldn't have major movement. I'm to set in my ways. 

Anyway, I'd be up for redoing this later in the year. I also want to do shinobimusashi 's proposed 1994 Countdown the way we did for 98 & 99 a few months back.

I actually had Owens on my list in the 25-30 spot. He would most definitely be replaced by the likes of The Steiners or as the theme goes, the overlooked Barry Windham. Around that time me and a bunch of my friends were waxing nostalgic on Randy Savage so I'm sure he would drop on my list as well.

Tag Teams would clutter things I just want to do a best representation of my tastes. You should have stuck to your guns and put the MX on your first list Baker .

Interesting how the last few posts in this thread related to the last time we did a Favorite Wrestler Countdown....

Because that's exactly what I'm here for!

Some of you have been following along with my personal 200 Favorite Wrestlers list. My plan was always to put that on hold once I got to 50 and re-run PW's Favorite Wrestler Countdown. It's been over 5 years now. That means it is ripe for a return.

So who's in?

I know we won't get 30 voters this time, but I'm hoping we can at least get to 10. Anyone who is interested, please post here. If enough people express interest, I will branch this off into its own separate discussion thread. Tag your PW friends who avoid the grumpy old man History of Wrestling subforum if you so desire.

My plan right now is for ballots to include 50 wrestlers. If you can't come up with 50 wrestlers you like, that's fine too. I will accept ballots of 1-10-20-25-38-Whatever. One caveat is NO TAG TEAMS. 50 spots is more than enough to fit all your favorite wrestlers in. Vote for Hawk at #3 & Animal at #4 if you so desire. Unless there is serious backlash, I plan on being very open with what constitutes a wrestler. Anybody who ever competed in one match, be they a celebrity, manager, whatever, is eligible.

It still won't feel right having to use a spot for the likes of say a Dennis Condrey or a Jim Neidhart on my list if we are going that route. Ignoring the classic tag teams on a favorites list also doesn't seem right and would make my list feel rather incomplete. I can see grey areas though with the likes of Rated RKO, Two Man Power Trip etc., that would be a major headache. Whichever way you go I'm in.

N

It's probably easier to just leave Tag Teams off the list. I will certainly get you a list and will spend too long agonising on it.

Mar 10, 2020 13:12:07 GMT jTjohncenaGOAT said:

Down since day oneish

Is this male only? Or can we put women on the list?

I'm putting women on mine unless told otherwise. I have to think that at least one or two women can crack most of our top 50 lists.

I'll be getting a list in ASAP. Stoked for this.

Mar 10, 2020 13:12:07 GMT jTjohncenaGOAT said:

Down since day oneish

Is this male only? Or can we put women on the list?

Women are included.

My list will have several tag team specialists. With 50 spots available I don’t think it is that hard to find room for members of your favorite tag team(s).

I see there is interest so I will start a separate thread for this tonight.

Mar 10, 2020 19:54:41 GMT jTjohncenaGOAT said:

I only got one spot left in my 50. Hoping to remember some crazy fandom I used to have but has slipped by me over the years.

I hope you have Heidenreich and Snitsky

Mar 10, 2020 21:23:42 GMT PB said:

Mar 10, 2020 19:54:41 GMT jTjohncenaGOAT said:

I only got one spot left in my 50. Hoping to remember some crazy fandom I used to have but has slipped by me over the years.

I hope you have Heidenreich and Snitsky

And Shark Boy, Hurricane, Jamie Noble, and Steven Richards!

A little over 5 years ago PW got together to determine our collective favorite wrestler(s). A whopping 30 people voted. Here was the Top 100....

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
Ranking-Name-Point Total

1. Bret Hart- 515
2. Steve Austin- 489
3. Undertaker- 480
4. CM Punk- 426
5. Mick Foley- 413
6. Daniel Bryan- 406
7. The Rock- 385
8. Chris Jericho- 374
9. Shawn Michaels- 371
10. Eddie Guerrero- 365

11. Randy Savage- 361
12. Kurt Angle- 355
13. Ric Flair- 321
14. Brock Lesnar- 230
15. Triple H- 220
16. Owen Hart- 204
17. Mr. Perfect- 194
18. Chris Benoit- 184
19. Edge- 176
20. Rey Mysterio- 167

21. Ultimate Warrior- 161
22. Road Warriors- 149
23. Sabu- 147
24. Scott Hall- 147
25. AJ Styles- 144
26. Terry Funk- 143
27. Vader- 142
28. Rob Van Dam- 140
29. Ted Dibiase- 139
30. John Cena- 129

31. Dean Ambrose- 119
32. Samoa Joe- 116
33. Sting- 113
34. Kenta Kobashi- 106
35. Jake Roberts- 103
36. Hulk Hogan- 99
37. Rick Rude- 93
38. Ricky Steamboat- 92
39. Christopher Daniels- 90
40. Mitsuharu Misawa- 87

41. Trish Stratus- 85
42. X-Pac- 83
43. Jushin Liger- 81
44. Toshiaki Kawada- 80
45. Roddy Piper- 79
46. Seth Rollins- 74
47. Taz- 73
48. Edge & Christian- 72
49. KENTA- 71
50. Stan Hansen- 69

51. Shinsuke Nakamura- 69
52. Sami Zayn- 64
53. Brian Pillman- 64
54. Hardy Boyz- 63
55. Austin Aries- 62
56. Lita- 60
57. Cesaro- 59
58. Goldust- 59
59. Great Muta- 56
60. Dean Malenko- 52

61. Christian- 52
62. JBL- 52
63. AJ Lee- 52
64. Jerry Lawler- 49
65. Alberto Del Rio- 48
66. Raven- 46
67. Bam Bam Bigelow- 46
68. Umaga- 45
69. Kazuchika Okada- 44
70. Prince Devitt- 43

71. Kane- 43
72. Jumbo Tsuruta- 43
73. Shane McMahon- 42
74. Dudley Boyz- 41
75. Luke Harper- 41
76. Kevin Nash- 41
77. Nigel McGuinness- 40
78. Demolition- 39
79. Davey Boy Smith- 38
80. Jeff Hardy- 38

81. Vince McMahon- 38
82. Randy Orton- 37
83. Low Ki- 37
84. Papa Shango/Godfather- 37
85. Steve Williams- 37
86. Wade Barrett- 36
87. Dolph Ziggler- 35
88. William Regal- 34
89. New Age Outlaws- 34
90. Dynamite Kid- 34

91. Matt Hardy- 34
92. Cody Rhodes- 30
93. Miz- 30
94. Batista- 30
95. Goldberg- 29
96. Kerry Von Erich- 29
97. Sid- 29
98. Tito Santana- 29
99. Roman Reigns- 29
100. Human Tornado- 29

The time is ripe to redo this. Opinions change. New wrestlers come along. Perhaps some old favorites lose their appeal. We may have even gained a new poster or two (but surely no more than that lol) since the last time we did this. 

The Rules

-Send me a ballot of up to 50 wrestlers. If you cannot think of 50 wrestlers you like, you may submit a ballot of 1-10-20-25-38-Whatever.
-All ballots are to be numbered in order from favorite to least favorite. Example....
1. Disco Inferno
2. Baron Corbin
3. Lacey Evans
4. Shayna Baszler 
5. John Laurinaitis
Etc.

-Anybody who ever had a professional wrestling match is eligible. This includes men and women. Main eventers and jobbers. Current stars and old school heroes. Wrestlers from any place or time. Celebrities, referees, managers, etc. This is a favorites list. There are no wrong answers here. I like my countdowns to be as open ended as possible.
HOWEVER....
-There are a few gray areas I'll cover if/when the time comes. And....
-Do you, the voting public, think there should be a cutoff? Like a wrestler must have 3 matches to be eligible? 5 matches? I'll leave that up to you folks.
-DO NOT VOTE FOR TAG TEAMS. Though you may vote for members of tag teams as individuals. Example...

#3 The Dicks=NOT ACCEPTABLE
#3 Chad Dick, #4 James Dick= Acceptable

EDIT: Before it gets brought up, you do not have to have members of a tag team back to back. That would be stupid. It's perfectly acceptable to have #11 Trevor Murdoch, #48 Lance Cade. 

-You may not repeat a wrestler. This means 🤯 cannot vote for Brock Lesnar 50 times. Nor can a voter have Hardcore Holly, Bob "Spark Plugg" Holly, and Bodacious Bob on the same ballot. 

Tentative Deadline: Tuesday, April 7th @ 11:59 EST

-That's almost a month from now and falls two days after Wrestlemania, which is historically the busiest time of the year for wrestling forums. 

*Use this thread for discussion and any questions you may have. Above all, have fun! 

Oh sweet, finally something I've got a head-start on. I recently submitted a Top 30 on one of my old stomping grounds with a couple of caveats that I felt made it more genuine.

- No Chris Benoit. If he wasn't a murderer, he would have been #1 pick. I'm not going to apply some arbitrary penalty where I knock him down 10 or 40 places. Just know he was my favourite wrestler, I have no problems watching his stuff back, but I can never call him my favourite wrestler anymore. Tune into Vice on March 24th for a timely reminder as to why.

- Anything that happened before I was a fan (July of 1999) is off the table. I had to have experience during that place and time for it to count, curated retroactive looks be damned.

Matt Hardy #1? Oh there’s a possibility.

Mar 11, 2020 5:58:42 GMT Big Pete said:

- No Chris Benoit. If he wasn't a murderer, he would have been #1 pick. I'm not going to apply some arbitrary penalty where I knock him down 10 or 40 places. Just know he was my favourite wrestler, I have no problems watching his stuff back, but I can never call him my favourite wrestler anymore. Tune into Vice on March 24th for a timely reminder as to why.

- Anything that happened before I was a fan (July of 1999) is off the table. I had to have experience during that place and time for it to count, curated retroactive looks be damned.

Had no idea Benoit would be have been your #1. I'd have guessed Goldberg or Rey, with RVD & Michaels also likely in the Top 10.

I hear ya on not rating guys before you watched. For example, I had Eddie Gilbert, Bill Dundee & Michael Hayes in the Top 50 the last time I did this. This time they all dropped out. BUT pre-1987 wrestling definitely gave a few other guys I already rated highly a nice little boost. 

Mar 11, 2020 16:18:53 GMT KING KID said:

Matt Hardy #1? Oh there’s a possibility.

Sabu was the guy I rooted for the last time we did this. This time it's going to be Matt Hardy. I can feel it. 

Anyway, I just officially submitted my own ballot.....to myself, becoming the first participant in this countdown. The PW Top 50 will never look better than it does right now. WOOOO! 

My list is gonna be pretty much Bret Hart + every ECW wrestler.

I'm still crushed I can't list Brock 50 times.

I just went all out and tried to take the Baker challenge and came-up with around 175 wrestlers on my master list, couldn't get to 200. Now the fun begins...

I have received 3 ballots counting my own. Some stats...

107 wrestlers have already received a vote.
Only 8 wrestlers have appeared on all three ballots.
2 of those eight are quite unexpected.

Mar 18, 2020 15:02:58 GMT Baker said:

I have received 3 ballots counting my own. Some stats...

107 wrestlers have already received a vote.
Only 8 wrestlers have appeared on all three ballots.
2 of those eight are quite unexpected.

Clearly Stevie Richards is one of those two.

I’m working away at my list. I should have it in this week.

I'm glad I saw this. I'd love to take part. Got my top 20 already.

Sent in my top 30 and I'm sure as the list comes out, I'll shout "I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT ABOUT HIM!" but fuck it. What's done is done!

#1 MATT HARDY!

And I forgot to add Ultimate Warrior.... back to the editing board! Baker

NEW LIST SENT~! Baker

THE NEW LIST IS THE TOP 35~!

4th ballot has been received.

We're now up to 118 wrestlers receiving a vote.

Only 6 of those wrestlers have appeared on all four ballots.

The Top 4 has remained the same since the second ballot.

Mar 12, 2020 0:26:54 GMT Baker said:

Mar 11, 2020 5:58:42 GMT Big Pete said:

- No Chris Benoit. If he wasn't a murderer, he would have been #1 pick. I'm not going to apply some arbitrary penalty where I knock him down 10 or 40 places. Just know he was my favourite wrestler, I have no problems watching his stuff back, but I can never call him my favourite wrestler anymore. Tune into Vice on March 24th for a timely reminder as to why.

- Anything that happened before I was a fan (July of 1999) is off the table. I had to have experience during that place and time for it to count, curated retroactive looks be damned.

Had no idea Benoit would be have been your #1. I'd have guessed Goldberg or Rey, with RVD & Michaels also likely in the Top 10.

I hear ya on not rating guys before you watched. For example, I had Eddie Gilbert, Bill Dundee & Michael Hayes in the Top 50 the last time I did this. This time they all dropped out. BUT pre-1987 wrestling definitely gave a few other guys I already rated highly a nice little boost. 

Mar 11, 2020 16:18:53 GMT KING KID said:

Matt Hardy #1? Oh there’s a possibility.

Sabu was the guy I rooted for the last time we did this. This time it's going to be Matt Hardy. I can feel it. 

Anyway, I just officially submitted my own ballot.....to myself, becoming the first participant in this countdown. The PW Top 50 will never look better than it does right now. WOOOO! 

Those are some pretty good guesses. I would have also accepted the Rated R Superstar, The Godfather and Dustin Rhodes as guys I'm unusually high on. I have a new #1 and it may surprise but I don't think it will necessarily shock anyone.

I should clarify something. Benoit was my #1 before his passing, nowadays I'm unsure where he falls because I haven't really thought of him in that way. I can go back and watch a Benoit match just fine, but I wouldn't feel comfortable calling myself a Chris Benoit fan. Before his passing, he was usually the one guy I'd go out of my way to watch and I was never let down. I considered what he pulled off with MVP at those recent shows to be a minor miracle and was eagerly looking forward to his match against CM Punk at Vengeance.

It was amazing how quickly those events transpired. At first I was just disappointed that the match had been cancelled and something had happened to Chris again. Then it came out he was dead and it floored me when it all came out it was the closest experience I had to 9/11 where I was just glued to every news interview and fallout. Like a lot of wrestling fans, I went through the five stages of grief, I don't think I really reached acceptance until Nancy's sister appeared on Jericho's podcast. I was stuck on bargaining for years and years, using him as just another tragedy of the ring - similar his idol the Dynamite Kid.