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I tried to pick only one person from every promotion to make it slightly more interesting to do: although I bent that rule once because I had to include two people from Marvelous. Also this will be a very long post I fear. 1. Utami Hayashishita (22, Stardom): She's been my favourite wrestler literally since the day she debuted; and honestly I'm not entirely sure why: sometimes you just see a wrestler and you think "they are the best". She was pushed immediately as the Super Rookie going to the 5 Star final in her first year (equivalent to the G1 final) and handled that push well from the start. In the last year she's finally reached the top of the pile: winning the 5 Star GP (after wrestling two matches on one night: a really good 20 minute draw against Syuri before beating Himeka in an enjoyable final); beating company ace Mayu Iwatani to win the World of Stardom championship before defending it successfully against faction leader Momo Watanabe. She's likely going to be main eventing the Budokan in two months and that's insanely cool and its great to have been along for the entire ride. 2. Mio Momono (22, Marvelous): I started to get into Marvelous when she was injured but I knew she was special going back to watch her older matches: but since she returned she has been incredibly good. The first wrestler to debut from Chigusa Nagayo's Marvelous promotion (debuting at 17 at a show in New York City which is unique for a Joshi wrestler); she very quickly became the heart of Marvelous - Takumi Iroha was the clear ace but it felt like Mio was everyones favourite wrestler: if that makes sense. She was out for the best part of two years with knee and shoulder injuries (with a three week return in late 2019 starting with this excellent match against Takumi which was one of the best matches of 2019 and I recommend you seek it out) yet when she returned it was like she'd never gone away which isn't that common. Takumi got hurt at a Marvelous show in late October and that has thrust Mio into the spot of having to carry the company until she returns: and its a position she's performing very well. 3. Suzu Suzuki (18, Ice Ribbon): Suzu's career trajectory is very similar to Utami's in a lot of ways but yet it feels totally different. She was another of those Joshi rookies who was not only very good when they debuted but you could tell the promotion knew that she was special - how many wrestlers win their debut match clean, conclusively with a German suplex? After a rookie year in 2019 where she was always featured prominently but also not strongly pushed: 2020 in Ice Ribbon was all about getting Suzu over as the next ace of the company - a spot that seems impossible for someone that's still a teenager but yet other than one incident where she lost the ICExInfinity title belt on a train between shows (they are still using an older belt) she's managed to make it work which is a credit to both her and the promotion. She beat former ace Tsukasa Fujimoto in a really good match: won the big belt from Maya Yukihi in what was my 2020 Match of the Year last August and went on to have a title reign where every match delivered to a very high level. She still stands out from your usual company ace: while in matches she's assured and confident after matches are over you see that she's still exciting and emotional about not only being in wrestling but being the top star and that makes her all the more likeable. 4. Meiko Satomura (41, Sendai Girls): I don't care that she's WWE aligned and that if NXT Japan happens she's likely to be a major part of that: I don't care that she didn't really do a whole lot last year; Meiko rules and is one of the best wrestlers of all time. I don't know what else I can say about her that hasn't been said to death a million times before: her match with Akira Hokuto from 2000 is on YouTube: I recommend watching it since it rules so much and in 2019 she was still going out and having top-tier singles matches - and it feels like only the pandemic stopped one from happening in 2020. 5. Yoshiko (27, SEAdLINNNG): I think to say that Yoshiko is controversial is to undersell it slightly: the Act Yasukawa incident from 2015 will follow her around for her whole career. However from what we know everyone appears to have forgiven each other (at least publicly); she seems to be nothing like that now and from what we know now about the Stardom backstage environment of that period I don't really feel comfortable putting all of the blame on that one on someone who was still very young and in a very, very toxic environment. As a wrestler since then she's been very good and is one of my favourite people to watch: last year I thought that she was the best bell-to-bell wrestler full stop and especially in tag matches there are very few others who have a resume that's as deep as hers in the last five years. 6. Hikaru Sato (40, Hard Hit): I don't fully know why Hikaru Sato is my favourite male wrestler: others have better matches but like something about him grabs me. Hard Hit is a really fun promotion to watch the two times a year in airs somewhere and I think that's a big factor: I also respect the fact that he's a massive weirdo - if you only watch All Japan shows you might only know him as the dude that looks like some super serious person but, well, in his MMA career he'd walk to the cage dressed as a cat girl maid and his character in YMZ is basically that he's very strange; to put it mildly. Really good technical wrestler as well: which he shows even in comedy matches which I also like as well. Plus it also adds Hard Hit to the list of promotions on the list which I think is a good thing! 7. Asuka (22, the Japanese freelance Asuka, not the WWE one: Again; another of these young Joshi wrestlers who is insanely good: Asuka could be the most athletic Joshi wrestler full stop. She's also one of the most prominent openly trans wrestlers in the world: and one thing that is really cool is that it feels like a large chunk of your independent Joshi promotions have no issue using her in prominent positions. Marvelous had a match on their December 2019 Korakuen where she teamed up with Nyla Rose against Takumi Iroha and Syuri and I think that's really cool - I might be wrong but I think that's the most prominent match where two openly trans women have teamed with each other. She's a highlight of every SEAdLINNNG show and I hope at some point her and Makoto get a tag title run; and everywhere she shows up you know you are going to get something great. I also really respect her for working that Gatoh Move match against Mei Suruga the day after Hana Kimura's death: she was very close to Hana and no one would have objected to her pulling out but when Emi checked up on her to say that she didn't need to work apparently she refused to pull out. That day was weird and very, very sad but that hour was just very nice: it felt like a big group of people coming together to find some light in a very dark day and I really appreciated her doing something she absolutely did not need to do on that day. 8. Mikoto Shindo (19, Marvelous): I wasn't quite sure whether I wanted Shindo or Takumi in this spot but Takumi got some votes already so lets add someone else to the list. Shindo is my favourite of the three second-generation Marvelous wrestlers and again I don't really know why: she just connected with me slightly more than Mei Hoshizuki or Maria. As a rookie she had this magical ability to make you buy near-falls against more more experienced wrestlers who you knew she'd never beat and that's really impressive. It feels like COVID might have interrupted her momentum slightly (Marvelous ran a lot of roster-only shows until right at the end of 2020 and when you have eight signed, active wrestlers that makes booking long-term stories very hard) but I think she's going again now. She had a really fun Regina di WAVE Title match with Sakura Hirota on New Years Day that built from all of the exchanges they had throughout the year before: including a frankly incredible exchange in a Marvelous vs WAVE 5v5 Ironman Tag match where Shindo pinned Hirota five times in a minute with her springboard sunset flip that ruled. Someone who I'm really excited to watch in the future. 9. Sakura Hirota (42, WAVE): There's this misconception that comedy wrestlers do comedy because they can't wrestle: Hirota is proof that your best comedy wrestlers are the ones that can also go and have some really good matches with more minimal elements. I'll be honest: I didn't really get her until early last year because my Hirota experiences before was her in Sendai Girls which usually is not good but outside of there she's very fun. She certainly has her patterned comedy match that often can be not very interesting if its against a not very interesting opponent but at her best she's really good. She also does a lot of unique stuff: the biggest being the match she had against Antonio Honda where she brought her kids to the ring because she couldn't find a babysitter and then demanded that the match be wrestled very quietly so they didn't scare the kids which was actually very good. The real highlight with Hirota though is that when she's in a serious big match a lot of the comedy stuff gets dropped and its serious: and in those moments you can buy into this early 40s single mother that mostly does these comedy matches being a credible wrestler. Last December she defeated Nagisa Nozaki to win her first major singles title and there was this great moment where her kids are in the ring and its a big group celebration and it rules. 10. Riho (23, AEW): I've watched a load of Riho's matches from past years over the last few months and its given me a greater appreciation for just how good she is as a wrestler: and its a massive, massive shame that she's not working Stardom anymore. She's the main reason why I tuned into AEW in those first few months: the Emi Sakura singles match felt genuinely special because of the story of those two and it being in this big massive arena: the total opposite of where the two had wrestled for most prior years. I just watched the 2010 Korakuen Hall main event title match between the two and I'd recommend seeking it out: its not an all-time classic but Riho was 12 at the time so that's hardly a reasonable explanation and I've seen a lot worse between very good wrestlers who, well, aren't 12. The best women's wrestler in AEW and someone who its always great to see show up for a show: I hope that she still does some stuff in Japan between times when AEW is her focus.
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Jan 19, 2021 04:17
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IceAgeComing posted:10. Riho (23, AEW): I've watched a load of Riho's matches from past years over the last few months and its given me a greater appreciation for just how good she is as a wrestler: and its a massive, massive shame that she's not working Stardom anymore. She's the main reason why I tuned into AEW in those first few months: the Emi Sakura singles match felt genuinely special because of the story of those two and it being in this big massive arena: the total opposite of where the two had wrestled for most prior years. I just watched the 2010 Korakuen Hall main event title match between the two and I'd recommend seeking it out: its not an all-time classic but Riho was 12 at the time so that's hardly a reasonable explanation and I've seen a lot worse between very good wrestlers who, well, aren't 12. The best women's wrestler in AEW and someone who its always great to see show up for a show: I hope that she still does some stuff in Japan between times when AEW is her focus. I only watched about 15 Stardom shows before the end of last year, mainly the tag tournament (which may explain why I feel this way), but I was really disappointed with how Stardom used her. She was the female MVP of AEW in 2019.
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Jan 19, 2021 23:51
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Punch McLightning posted:I only watched about 15 Stardom shows before the end of last year, mainly the tag tournament (which may explain why I feel this way), but I was really disappointed with how Stardom used her. She was the female MVP of AEW in 2019. Word is AEW refused to let her be pinned so they couldn't do much with her or put her into any major programs.
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Jan 19, 2021 23:53
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Punch McLightning posted:I only watched about 15 Stardom shows before the end of last year, mainly the tag tournament (which may explain why I feel this way), but I was really disappointed with how Stardom used her. She was the female MVP of AEW in 2019. What is annoying is that it felt like they were actually building up something at the end of her run: you had the story with Utami trying to recruit her to Queens Quest with Tall Saya not being very happy with the idea of this: could have lead to something interesting plus I think that Riho in that spot would have been very interesting. The "AEW not letting her lose" thing is something that I joked about throughout last year (she worked for 18 months in Stardom; never lost a fall) and the fact that they apparently were very protective is both annoying as someone who likes her in Stardom but probably a good sign for her future in AEW.
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Jan 20, 2021 23:29
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There are two days left to get in your submissions, so please do!
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Jan 21, 2021 02:42
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One last plea for any further submissions to come in, there is a day left to get in if you haven't yet.
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Jan 21, 2021 23:19
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1 jon moxley 2 hangman page 3 keith lee 4 asuka 5 orange cassidy 6 rey fenix 7 eddie kingston 8 rhea ripley 9 timothy thatcher 10 sasha banks
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Jan 22, 2021 01:10
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Jan 22, 2021 14:46
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There's roughly 4.5 hours left to get in any last minute submissions, please do!
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Jan 23, 2021 01:18
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Thanks to all who put in lists, entries are closed now and I'll try to have results up by the end of the weekend, all going well.
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Jan 23, 2021 07:47
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Jan 23, 2021 07:50
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looking forward to taichi making the top 10
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Jan 23, 2021 11:59
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Artelier posted:looking forward to taichi making the top 10 
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Jan 23, 2021 12:04
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It's time to see who Punchsport Pagoda's consensus favorite wrestlers for the year 2020 were. This year we had 186 individual wrestlers picked by 65 goons, a drop from 2019's thread where we had 202 wrestlers picked by 114 goons. As a result of the drop in both amount of wrestlers (small) and number of goons picking (fairly large), this year there were a number of ties in points totals. As a result, there are 43 ranked positions this year compared to 2019's 63. Yuki Ueno - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank WALTER - 2019 Position: #30 (-13 places drop) Tay Conti - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Super Sasadango Machine - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Stark Adder - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Risa Sera - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Marko Stunt - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Leyla Hirsch - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Leva Bates - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Kzy - 2019 Position: #55 (+12 places improvement) Karl Anderson - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank The Hoodfoot - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Goldberg - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Frankie Kazarian - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Dustin Rhodes - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank AZM - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Our bottom position this year is Rank 43, and it is largely filled with new entries. 2019's thread was specifically placed to finish just before the debut of AEW Dynamite, and as such it is no big surprise to see a number of AEW wrestlers (young and old) making their appearance for the first time. In addition to AEW come wrestlers from DDT, FCF, Ice Ribbon, Independent wrestling, Impact, NXT UK and STARDOM. The sole WWE pick in this category was part-timer Bill Goldberg. None of these wrestlers were anybody's TOP wrestler, but they all did enough in the year to warrant at least a single vote in somebody's top 10.
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Jan 25, 2021 02:10
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 Will Ospreay - 2019 Position: #9 (-33 places drop!) Timothy Thatcher - 2019 Position: #59 (+17 places improvement) Takumi Iroha - 2019 Position: #51 (+9 places improvement) Taiji Ishimori - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Tadasuke - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Sareee - 2019 Position: #56 (+14 places improvement) Saki Kashima - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Peter Avalon - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Otis - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Matthew Justice - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Lee Moriarty - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Konosuke Takeshita - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Emi Sakura - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Chie Koishikawa - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Cara Noir - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Alex Shelley - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Another slew of newcomers, with representatives from AEW of course, but also Diana, DDT, Gatoh Move, Impact, New Japan, NOAH, STARDOM, WWE and the Independents. The big story of this category though is Will Ospreay's enormous plunge down the rankings. A Top 10 finish in 2019 with 222 points, he barely made the list at all this year with only a single person voting for him.
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Jan 25, 2021 02:22
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Yeah! Go Otis
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Jan 25, 2021 02:33
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 Yukio Sakaguchi - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Yoshinari Ogawa - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Viktor Tykki - 2019 Position: #61 (+20 places improvement) Tony Deppen - 2019 Position: #61 (+20 places improvement) Rohit Raju - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Rhea Ripley - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Mikoto Shindo - 2019 Position: #55 (+14 places improvement) Mike Bailey - 2019 Position: #48 (+7 places improvement) Lance Archer - 2019 Position: #56 (+15 places improvement) Hikari Noa - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Hideki Suzuki - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Finn Balor - 2019 Position: #57 (+16 places improvement) Dax Harwood - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Charlotte Flair - 2019 Position: #62 (+21 places improvement) Baliyan Akki - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Representatives from AEW, DDT, FCF, Gatoh Move, Impact, Marvelous, NOAH, NXT, Tokyo Joshi Pro and the Independents. Dax Harwood makes his first appearance, in 2019 he was Scott Dawson but his time in The Revival failed to put him into any Top 10 lists, obviously moving to AEW worked out well for him in the very least that it made people on some Internet Forum somewhere happy, which is really the most important thing. Technically speaking, Finn Balor's move from the main roster back to NXT seemed to work out okay for him too.
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Jan 25, 2021 02:33
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 Toshiyuki Sakuda - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Kenoh - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Kaori Yoneyama - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Josh Alexander - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Jordan Oliver - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Don Fujii - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Black Taurus - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Becky Lynch - 2019 Position: #37 (-3 places drop) This big story of #40 is that it is almost entirely new entrants from 2019, and includes our first AAA representative. The only returning member of the list is Becky "The Man" Lynch, who went from #37 in 2019 to #40 in this year. A bit of a slip, true, but considering how reduced her presence was in 2020 and how everything from that early part of the year feels like a million years ago, it's actually pretty remarkable she ranked at all. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Jan 25, 2021 |
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Jan 25, 2021 02:40
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 Susumu Yokosuka - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Starlight Kid - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Kento Miyahara - 2019 Position: #42 (+3 places improvement) Hikaru Sato - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Dragon Kid - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Daisuke Sekimoto - 2019 Position: #40 (+1 place improvement) Chris Sabin - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Chris Jericho - 2019 Position: #4 (-35 places decline!) Brian Cage - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Brandon Cutler - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Atticus Cogar - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Aron Stevens - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Another batch of newcomers make the list, with representatives from AEW, All Japan, Big Japan, Dragon Gate, IMPACT, NWA, STARDOM and the Independents. But the BIG story, gigantic really, is the enormous drop in the rankings of Chris Jericho, surpassing even the drop of Will Ospreay. Ranked Punchsport Pagoda's 4th Favorite Active Wrestler in 2019, he only barely escapes being in the 40s in 2020. Jericho didn't exactly cover himself in glory in 2020 with some of the incredibly stupid things he said or did, and it seems it was more than enough to take away from the fact he's still involved in a lot of fun and entertaining stuff in AEW.
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Jan 25, 2021 02:49
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Chris Jericho on the same level as 
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Jan 25, 2021 02:51
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frankenfreak posted:Chris Jericho on the same level as 
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Jan 25, 2021 03:06
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 Takashi Sugiura - 2019 Position: #58 (+20 places improvement) Stu Grayson - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Neil Diamond Cutter - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Momo Watanabe - 2019 Position: #55 (+17 places improvement) Matt Sydal - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Kyle O'Reilly - 2019 Position: #55 (+17 places improvement) Jungle Boy - 2019 Position: #48 (+10 places improvement) Jordynne Grace - 2019 Position: #61 (+23 places improvement) BxB Hulk - 2019 Position: #56 (+18 places improvement) A mixture of new places and returning wrestlers from 2019 come in at 38, with representatives from AEW, Dragon Gate, IMPACT, NOAH, NXT, STARDOM and the Independents. Perhaps the most notable entry is AEW's Stu Grayson, a founding member of the Dark Order stable which had a decidedly mixed reaction in 2019 but was utterly beloved by the end of 2020.
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Jan 25, 2021 03:06
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 Sonya Deville - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Shun Skywalker - 2019 Position: #57 (+20 places improvement) Shotzi Blackheart - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Rickey Shane Page - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Rich Swann - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Meiko Satomura - 2019 Position: #48 (+11 places improvement) Masashi Takeda - 2019 Position: #36 (-1 place drop) Konami - 2019 Position: #61 (+24 places improvement) Jungle Kyona - 2019 Position: #44 (+7 places improvement) El Hijo del Vikingo - 2019 Position: #63 (+26 places improvement) Darby Allin - 2019 Position: #32 (-5 places drop) Ben-K - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Another mix of newcomers and returning wrestlers from 2019, with representatives from AAA, AEW, Big Japan, Dragon Gate, IMPACT, NXT, Sendai Girls, STARDOM, WWE, and the Independents. Perhaps themost interesting part of this list is the positioning of Darby Allin. He ranked at #32 in 2019, and the conventional wisdom at the time was that he was on his way to being a big star and was sure to rank far higher in 2020. That certainly did NOT come to pass, and it will be interesting to see if his renewed push at the start of 2021 is going to see him rise up in next year's poll.
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Jan 25, 2021 03:18
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 Yuki Kamifuku - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Willie Mack - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Suzu Suzuki - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank SeXXXy Eddy - 2019 Position: #54 (+18 places improvement) Sammy Guevara - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Sakura Hirota - 2019 Position: #62 (+26 places improvement) Ryo Mizunami - 2019 Position: #55 (+19 places improvement) DOUKI - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank A mixture of newcomers and returns, with representatives from AEW, Ice Ribbon, IMPACT, Pro-Wrestling Wave, SEAdLINNNG, TJPW and The Independents. Perhaps the two that most standout are DOUKI and Sammy Guevara. The latter because he's clearly been earmarked as a future star from the beginning, and the former because he was just kind of a guy making up the numbers who suddenly blossomed during the COVID-19 era of wrestling shows. Suzu Suzuki did not rank last year, possibly because she wasn't born yet because Jesus Christ she's young.
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Jan 25, 2021 03:27
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 Yunamon - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank YAMATO - 2019 Position: #59 (+24 places improvement) Sonny Kiss - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Sasha Banks - 2019 Position: #57 (+22 places improvement) Sami Zayn - 2019 Position: #51 (+16 places improvement) Rina Yamashita - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Mio Momono - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Kevin Owens - 2019 Position: #39 (+4 places improvement) Keisuke Okuda - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Jeff Cobb - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Chris Brookes - 2019 Position: #47 (+12 places improvement) Chris Bey - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Chase Parker - 2019 Position: #56 (+21 places improvement) Angelico - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank Angel Ortiz - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank. This group represents the last of the wrestlers who couldn't possibly be ranked anybody's #1 favorite wrestler. In the rankings that follow, it's possible that wrestlers got up over 10 points without ever being named anybody's top pick, but up to this point NONE of the wrestlers were ever given that honor. There are some surprising names so low down, including Jeff Cobb, Sasha Banks and of course Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. It is quite sweet to see them both end up ranked in the same place though 
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Jan 25, 2021 03:35
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Jerusalem posted:It is quite sweet to see them both end up ranked in the same place though 
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Jan 25, 2021 03:37
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Imagine seeing a list with Kamiyu and calling Sammy Guevara the standout.  e: Also, lmao @ "Surprisingly far down Sasha Banks (+22 places), Sami Zayn (+16 places), and Kevin Owens (+4 places)" Senerio fucked around with this message at 03:53 on Jan 25, 2021 |
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Jan 25, 2021 03:45
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 Yoshiko - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 YOSHI-HASHI - 2019 Position: #57 (+23 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 0 Saya Iida - 2019 Position: #62 (+28 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 1 Shoko Najakima - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 1 Saki Akai - 2019 Position: #62 (+28 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 0 Matt Martel - 2019 Position: #55 (+21 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 1 Kaito Ishida - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 1 Eita - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 1 Deonna Purrazzo - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 1 Danhausen - 2019 Position: #57 (+23 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 0 Chris Dickinson - 2019 Position: #52 (+18 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: Alex Colon - 2019 Position: #53 (+19 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 1 Abadon - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 This is where we start seeing the power of the number 1 vote, as several wrestlers who were only voted for ONCE in the entire thread still managed a respectable ranking and power past many other wrestlers who recieved more individual votes and are "bigger" names. Promotions represented are AEW, Dragon Gate, IMPACT, New Japan, NOAH, ROH, SEAdLINNNG, STARDOM, TJPW, and the Independents. Danhausen represents not only the first appearance of ROH on this poll, but the ONLY appearance of ROH on this poll, compared to 12 ROH wrestlers being selected in 2019. New Japan's YOSHI-HASHI was down low in the ranks in 2019, but he got back up, B A R S B A Y 
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Jan 25, 2021 03:52
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Senerio posted:Imagine seeing a list with Kamiyu and calling Sammy Guevara the standout. More of you cowards should have voted DOUKI. Our favourite lovely gremlin deserves all the love
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Jan 25, 2021 03:55
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Saki Akai is good
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Jan 25, 2021 03:55
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Senerio posted:Saki Akai is good
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Jan 25, 2021 03:58
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 Kris Statlander - 2019 Position: #52 (+19 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 0 Keith Lee - 2019 Position: #57 (+24 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 0 Adam Cole - 2019 Position: #33 (no change) | Times Voted #1: 0 Finally the numbers are starting to thin out in each ranking. NXT's Adam Cole managed to stay exactly in place from his 2019 ranking, which sums up his position in the company as well as he remains an NXT mainstay with no apparent desire or push to be moved up to the main roster anytime soon. In 2020 he managed a face turn along with his stable The Undisputed Era, and enjoyed a quasi-celebrity feud against Pat McAfee and The Kings of NXT. Keith Lee meanwhile has more mixed success, as his NXT run ended on somewhat of a low note as he vacated his NXT North American Championship, promptly lost the NXT Championship (which was vacated the next show due to Karrion Kross' injury) and moved to the main roster where despite sticking around the main event he has been trapped in 50/50 booking and made to wear a shirt because Vince McMahon is a senile, out-of-touch old lunatic. AEW's Kris Statlander also had a tough year. After losing in her effort to win the Women's Title from Nyla Rose, she suffered an ACL injury in June and was largely absent from the promotion until late in 2020 when she made her return. Back to vibing well with Orange Cassidy, she has also made failed efforts to abduct members of the roster, because I forgot to mention she's an alien.
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Jan 25, 2021 04:04
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YOSHI-HASHI tried his best and we all believed in him
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Jan 25, 2021 04:11
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 Mizuki - 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 Bray Wyatt - 2019 Position: #45 (+13 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 1 In an interesting contrast, Bray Wyatt managed to secure this position thanks to 3 votes: 2 put him 10th of a ranking but 1 listed him as their favorite werestler, giving him 12 points. But Mizuki was middle of the road all the way, managing 2 5th place rankings that secured her the same spot. Mizuki is a member of the rosters of both Tokyo Joshi Pro and DDT, and is 1/5th of the KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Champions. She was after singles gold in 2020 though, winning the Tokyo Princess Cup for the second year in a row and unsuccessfully challenging Yuka Sakazaki (her tag team partner!) for the Princess of Princess Championship. Meanwhile, Bray Wyatt is.... well there have been fleeting highs and astonishing lows. Built as an indestructible monster, he nonetheless suffered a quick loss to Bill Goldberg of all people, then banished John Cena forever into a meta-narrative projection of a deconstruction of Cena's career (one of those fleeting highs), hosed about with Braun Strowman a bit, got creepy with Alexa Bliss and then got burned to death by Randy Orton. It's... yeah. But SOMEBODY enjoyed it, and that's the important thing, because we can't build a consensus view of our forum's favorite active wrestlers without these outliers thrown into the mix.
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Jan 25, 2021 04:13
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Grumble grumble, the innovator of the Whirling Candy was robbed of a higher position. https://twitter.com/ddtpro_eng/status/1325166802658238467
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Jan 25, 2021 04:17
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I'm just mentally dragging the TJPW roster up about 5-10 spots to account for the poor taste of the posters.
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Jan 25, 2021 04:19
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Having to share a spot with WMOTYC machine Bray
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Jan 25, 2021 04:23
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frankenfreak posted:Having to share a spot with WMOTYC machine Bray Think of it in a positive way, she got 6x the votes of Will Ospreay. That's the only way I won't spend this whole list grumbling tbh.
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Jan 25, 2021 04:25
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 The Butcher - 2019 Position: #59 (+28 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 0 SANADA - 2019 Position: #20 (-11 places drop) | Times Voted #1: 1 Nick Gage - 2019 Position: #18 (-13 places drop) | Times Voted #1: 0 Colt Cabana - 2019 Position: #58 (+27 places improvement)| Times Voted #1: 0 The great thing about pro-wrestling is that there's something for everybody: whether you want a monocled muscle-for-hire who moonlights as a guitarist; a former felon who has turned his life around to be simultaneously wholesome AND a brutal bloody deathmatch wrestler; an incredibly handsome man; or a good Jewish boy who just wants to be friends... well, wrestling has it! Of the 4, only SANADA was voted anybody's #1 pick (though The Butcher managed a respectable #2 spot), with the others making it up to this point thanks to more votes in lower rankings. Of all of them, Nick Gage probably had the quietest 2020 due to the lack of Independent Shows thanks to COVID-19 (meaning we also missed the joy of seeing him in Effy's Bi-Curious Battle Royal). Colt Cabana was involved in the Dark Order storyline in AEW, as the friendly new recruit to the cult being shielded by their leader from their darker dealings. The Butcher got wrapped up in the excellent Jon Moxley/Eddie Kingston storyline, which also got him a title shot against Jon Moxley for himself and now sees him feuding against PAC and The Lucha Bros. SANADA was very busy in 2020 despite the long hiatus between shows due to COVID-19, making it to the Semi-Finals of the New Japan Cup and the final of the G1 tournament, as well as (eventually) feuding with long-time partner EVIL after the latter betrayed their leader Tetsuya Naito, and went into 2021 aiming for the IWGP Championship himself. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 04:31 on Jan 25, 2021 |
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Jan 25, 2021 04:28
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| # ? May 15, 2024 18:29 |
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Senerio posted:Think of it in a positive way, she got 6x the votes of Will Ospreay. 
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Jan 25, 2021 04:29
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