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If I'm counting correctly, it seems like the only big time AEW people left are Kenny, Hangman, Moxley, and probably Kingston, and since every other major promotion has been noted to have had their highest ranking wrestler already I have no idea how those 4 will shake out.
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Jan 25, 2021 12:01
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 06:31 |
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Eddie Kingston making the top 4 fills my heart with joy 
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Jan 25, 2021 12:02
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I'm here for the Four Pillars of AEW.
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Jan 25, 2021 12:03
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If Kingston somehow swings #1 that'll be the feel good story of the year so far, but my off the hip guess is Eddie, Hangman, Moxley, Kenny, with Moxley and Hangman being very close.
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Jan 25, 2021 12:03
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 Eddie Kingston - 2019 Position: #56 (+52 places improvement!) | Times Voted #1: 0 Eddie Kingston has a unique distinction in this thread. He was the only wrestler to be added to every single position on a Top Ten list... except for the #1 spot. That seems to be the story of his life, he's never anybody's top pick, but those that know of him tend to rate him. Thankfully in 2020, many more people FINALLY know of him. After years of working away in the Indies, of never really getting a shot in a major promotion or taking off in any mid-sized ones, of his biggest accomplishment arguably being winning the Chikara Grand Championship.... Eddie Kingston made it. Booked as part of Cody Rhodes' reign as fighting TNT Champion, Eddie grabbed the opportunity with both hands and held on for dear life, and it finally, FINALLY paid off for him. Signed to AEW, lauded for his improvisational promo skills, he was happy to enjoy a brief amount of time as a face before quickly embracing his status as a heel, which quickly changed him from a well-liked mid-carder to a top card heel. His feud with Jon Moxley over his lack of opportunities and his willingness to go to any length to finally become Champion was utterly superb, himself and his old friend having the time of their life getting to get personal and do brutal things to each other knowing that for once they were both gonna get paid for it, and paid well. Eddie always manages to find a way to turn his failures into an angry condemnation of forces conspiring against him, always with just enough sincerity to make you question if maybe he IS being unfairly treated. He's not, of course, and turning his loss due to passing out in a submission hold into an I Quit match was just one example of the way he could take a failure on his part and make it out to be some unfair transgression against him he was FINALLY putting right. That Moxley DID make him say I Quit eventually and he couldn't deny it any longer just made it all the sweeter, especially as he turned his frustration onto attempting to wreck the brotherly bond between Fenix and Pentagon, and then took great pleasure in finding just as miserable a bastard as himself to butt heads with in PAC. The days of Eddie Kingston being unappreciated and overlooked are thankfully behind him at last, as his astonishingly high jump in the rankings from 2019 to 2020 demonstrates. The best part is, now that he's not either of those things anymore, he gets to cut promos all day about how he actually is, and how miserable it makes him, and we all get to enjoy it... while he finally earns a proper living doing what he loves, being a pro-wrestler.
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Jan 25, 2021 12:05
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc9zLtDRvzk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23RXmcDK4Bs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_x3TNEN51s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcUvFf1LfaM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BKUOJGyTc0&t=220s I think I would follow this man into Hell if he asked me to Rarity fucked around with this message at 13:18 on Jan 25, 2021 |
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Jan 25, 2021 12:08
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I think most of the reason Kingston didn't make anyone's #1 isn't because of any problems with the matches he had, but because he can't produce at the rate the other 3 likely finalists can. His body is just too cooked to be a high workrate guy, but his mind is still as sharp as it's ever been. He's still a goddamn great presence, but he's not having five star classics monthly and working three companies at once. He's Tim Duncan in 2014, and they're Kawhi. They make the flashy plays, they get the trophies, but he's the heart. He's the captain. He's had surgery on his left knee, he can jump about one inch high, he will say the coldest poo poo you've ever heard, and then he will bust. your. rear end.
I Before E fucked around with this message at 12:25 on Jan 25, 2021 |
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Jan 25, 2021 12:21
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 Kenny Omega - 2019 Position: #7 (+4 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 5 A funny thing happened in 2020, the same year a frequent complaint from some people online (not really in Punchsport Pagoda) was that Kenny Omega and the other EVPs of AEW were too focused on putting others over and it was diluting the quality of the roster... Kenny Omega still managed to have 15 MOTYCs. The Best Bout Machine lived up to his name, which makes it all the more remarkable that it was the latter part of 2020 when things got REALLY good for Kenny. For most of 2020, it was about being a tag team, as the partnership between himself and Hangman Adam Page struck gold and they enjoyed a long and spectacular run as the AEW Tag Team Champions after defeating SCU in January. Included in that run was one of the best tag team matches of the modern era, between themselves and The Young Bucks at AEW Revolution, a match that won Punchsport Pagoda's vote for Best Match of the Year. But while Kenny was exceling in the tag division, he wasn't letting his qualities as a singles competitor go to waste either. He won an Iron Man match with PAC in February, defended his AAA Mega Title against Sammy Guevara in March, and after losing the titles to FTR at All Out he focused on his singles career with an intensity that was frightening, with matches against Pentagon Jr and Hangman Adam Page that were out of this world good. They were the only thing that were good though. Because there was a stain on everything Kenny did in 2020, tension between his tag partner Adam Page and the other members of The Elite in The Young Bucks; Hangman's own feelings of inadequacy that Kenny did little to assuage; and after these cost them the tag titles Kenny became less and less concerned with hiding his own feelings of superiority over other wrestlers. More and more, the attitude and demeanor of "The Cleaner" from his days leading The Bullet Club in New Japan were coming to the fore. While it was never proven, it was strongly implied he helped sow deeper seeds of doubt and mistrust between Hangman and The Bucks, and when he finally won the title shot he most wanted all along he knew just how to turn that to his advantage as well. In 2019, he'd lost an unsanctioned match against Jon Moxley at Full Gear, and he used that match as leverage to trick Jon Moxley - far too used to dealing with scumbags and making the fatal assumption that Kenny was on the up-and-up - into a Gentleman's Agreement that they have a completely fair, one-on-one match with no weapons or other shortcuts: to let the best man win. Moxley agreed, and after an incredible match Omega proceeded to do what he'd planned all along, using Impact Wrestling Executive Don Callis at ringside to help him cheat and steal the win. Escaping to Impact Wrestling to give his promo response to this action, Omega simultaneously helped build an invasion angle between the two companies, all while lording it up as he could now justifiably claim to be what he'd always said he was: The Best in the World. It's a rare wrestler who can, in the same year, be the best at tag matches, the best at singles matches, the most inspiring face, the most despicable heel, AND the bridge between two different promotions at the same time. Kenny Omega managed all those things, and so it's no surprise to see him ranked so high. Not quite Punchsport Pagoda's favorite activer wrestler though... at least not yet 
Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 14:22 on Jan 25, 2021 |
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Jan 25, 2021 12:25
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Ok if it's not Kenny I'm saying it now, Hangman has it.
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Jan 25, 2021 12:26
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There's no way it isn't mox....I think
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Jan 25, 2021 12:35
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#3 wrestler in PSP but #1 in NORTH CAROLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINA drat, I really thought Mox/Kenny were gonna be 1 and 2
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Jan 25, 2021 12:42
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 Jon Moxley - 2019 Position: #6 (+4 places improvement) | Times Voted #1: 13 If you thought you knew how this was going to end... there's a good chance you didn't. It seemed the most likely result, after all he'd dominated the monthly Championship threads all year and easily won Champ of the Year at the end of 2020. Most everybody agreed he'd had an incredible year in AEW, that he was a fantastic champion and really helped carry the company through an incredibly difficult year. All those things are true, but though he was never once in danger of being dislodged from his #2 spot, after the third list was posted he lost the #1 spot and never gained it back. Even in spite of being voted the #1 pick of 13 different people, the most of any wrestler in the thread. Still, #2 is nothing to sneeze at, especially given he was in 6th place last year. It's no surprise he rose up the ranks either, given just how good his ENTIRE year was. He started in Japan, with US Title defenses against Lance Archer and Juice Robinson respectively. It was at the latter that the phenomenal confrontation with Minoru Suzuki occured, which itself lead to an incredible match at The New Beginning in Osaka. It was fully expected Moxley would be back later in the year to defend his US Title more, something that COVID ended up putting paid to, though thankfully both New Japan and Moxley are happy to wait as long as necessary before finally getting to the KENTA factory that has been promised all these months. He had more than enough to keep him busy as well, as he ended the title reign of the 1st AEW Champion Chris Jericho at Revolution to become the 2nd AEW Champion, a title he would hold until December, and one which unlike the IWGP US Championship he would regularly defend throughout the year. COVID did put a damper on a lot of things, but in spite of that Moxley managed successful title defenses against the likes of Jake Hager, Mr. Brodie Lee, Brian Cage, Darby Allin, MJF, Eddie Kingston, The Butcher and Lance archer before finally being cheated out of his title by Kenny Omega. The matches were of varying quality, though most successfully achieved MOTYC status (Mr. Brodie Lee, Darby Allin, MJF, Lance Archer and one of the Eddie Kingston ones). What was fun about them though was that Moxley always managed to find a way to bring something different to them, some twist or different take on the match-up that gave it an an extra energy. While the Eddie Kingston matches were the most personal and most people's favorites, I'd say the exquisitely ironic finish to his "No Paradigm Shifts Allowed" match with MJF was my pick of the bunch. Between his matches and both within and after feuds, Moxley would also deliver some out-of-this-world good promos, usually on the subject of wanting to kick somebody's rear end. That worked great, because inevitably somebody would come out to get their asses kicked, and he'd happily oblige. He was a workhorse of a champion, reveling in creative freedom and work satisfaction he'd struggled to find in WWE, enjoying unprecedented professional and personal success as his wife Renee got pregnant, a little fact he casually dropped into the middle of a promo because that's the kind of guy he is! Seeing the difference between going-through-the-motions Dean Ambrose and fired-up-and-excited-to-be-here Jon Moxley still feels like looking at two entirely different people, and I'm sure he's as glad as any of us that we get the latter nowadays. He's Jon Moxley, Punchsport Pagoda's Champion of 2020 and almost their favorite active wrestler as well. Almost.
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Jan 25, 2021 12:44
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HE DID IT HE FUCKIN DID IT
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Jan 25, 2021 12:47
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Big Yeehaw
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Jan 25, 2021 12:51
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well ok then
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Jan 25, 2021 12:59
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 Hangman Adam Page - 2019 Position: #63 (+62 places improvement!!!!) | Times Voted #1: 10 It's almost too perfect. 2020's top wrestler also saw the biggest improvement from his 2019 ranking, leaping all the way from the very bottom of the list right to the very top. That's a perfect encapsulation of Hangman Adam Page's surprising lift from a guy nobody could quite believe was getting the first shot at the brand new AEW Championship to the guy everybody believes with all of their heart will be the man to unseat Kenny Omega and bring the belt back to the side of the good guys. He's a great wrestler, a superb one in fact, and along with Kenny Omega he had some of the best tag matches of the modern era. He also has great singles matches too, from his days as a rising face to watch in New Japan who became a guy given his shot too soon in AEW, he has shown as incredible and marked improvement in terms of in-ring ability and confidence. But it is that last word that really sums up a lot of what has made Hangman Adam Page so appealing: confidence. Or rather the lack of it. "Anxious Millennial Cowboy" was one of the chyrons used so humorously on episodes of AEW Dynamite, but it was accurate: Hangman suffers from immense anxiety and a deep-seated belief that he is not only a gently caress-up and a loser, but that he doesn't deserve sympathy or friendship. He sabotages relationships so that they won't end naturally when people discover the "truth" about him. His drinking, at first played for laughs, quickly became one of a number of signs that Hangman desperately needed help... and that he wasn't getting it from his friends, who simply didn't understand the mindset or who didn't see how somebody so obviously talented (not to mention young and extremely handsome!) could possibly be wracked by self-doubt. The words subtlety and wrestling don't often go hand-in-hand, and I'm sure there are many more nuanced portrayals out there. But the way AEW (and of course Hangman himself) have played with the crippling misery of depression and an unshakeable belief in his own lack of self worth is really something else. It's rarely in-your-face, most often Hangman hides it behind a self-effacing joke whose reception he takes as confirmation that it's actually true. He sometimes does things that are clearly and 100% wrong, but he does them because he has a problem, and he needs help. For awhile there, AEW even played a little with the bleaker undertones of the Dark Order targeting him because of his vulnerability, though their shift to goofy faces means they actually ended up being "converted" by Page instead into a group who haven't quite realized that the "cult" has basically turned into a group of supportive friends who just like hanging out together... and of course Hangman in 2021 would break their hearts too by running from that support for fear that he'd only "ruin" that like he "ruined" The Elite. The reason this all works is because, outside of the novelty of seeing a storyline like this playing out in wrestling of all things, is the knowledge that in AEW things are often basic and the better for it. Because there's an end-goal in mind, an obvious (hopefully) climax, in which Hangman realizes he is worthy and he does have merit, and it culminates in him finally beating his toxic former tag partner and FINALLY earning the title, redeeming the failure to win that sent him into a downward spiral in the first place. In short, there is hope, and the belief that Hangman Adam Page is going to come through this triumphant, and that we the fans will be there to watch it happen and revel in his triumph too. Because while he might not believe in himself, the days when fans looked at him as a potential champion and said,"Really?" are long gone. He is Hangman Adam Page, in 2019 he was the bottom of the list, but in 2020 he is Punchsport Pagoda's favorite active wrestler. Big Yeehaw. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 14:28 on Jan 25, 2021 |
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Jan 25, 2021 13:01
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Okay next year I'm writing this all up beforehand and then spacing it out over 2-3 hours, I had no idea it would take this long. Appreciate those of you who were along for the ride, and in a couple of days or three I'll do a stats dump of sorts. Any ideas for improvements of how to run this next time would be appreciated, I'd like it to be a yearly thing if possible, and it's just a shame we couldn't get the numbers we got for last year's thread to put in entries for this year. Also he might not have been my top pick, but Big Yeehaw for Hangman Adam Page, he's a fantastic wrestler and I'm glad to say I was one of those who didn't buy him as a main eventer when AEW started, and am completely onboard now.
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Jan 25, 2021 13:04
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Man, here I thought that Hangmin would just barely edge out Mox, but that's not even close.
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Jan 25, 2021 13:05
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Cerebral Bore posted:I'm here for the Four Pillars of AEW. Steady on. I'm looking forward to when the forum "never any good"s AEW so I can feel mildly less alienated
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Jan 25, 2021 13:07
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I LOVE YOU ADAM PLEASE DON'T BE SAD
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Jan 25, 2021 13:07
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forkboy84 posted:Steady on. You could also start watching the good promotion that makes the good shows instead.
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Jan 25, 2021 13:10
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hold on. still writing up my entry
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Jan 25, 2021 13:12
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congrats to hangman “Adam” page
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Jan 25, 2021 13:13
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A final ease of use ranking:code:
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Jan 25, 2021 13:15
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Huge props for all the effort that went into compiling this. I was updating the thread regularly Mox was my pick for 2020 but I'm not mad at the result. Hangman's been great but I think his 2021 is going to make his 2020 look tame by comparison
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Jan 25, 2021 13:16
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Jerusalem posted:Okay next year I'm writing this all up beforehand and then spacing it out over 2-3 hours, I had no idea it would take this long. Appreciate those of you who were along for the ride, and in a couple of days or three I'll do a stats dump of sorts. Any ideas for improvements of how to run this next time would be appreciated, I'd like it to be a yearly thing if possible, and it's just a shame we couldn't get the numbers we got for last year's thread to put in entries for this year. As an experienced countdowner doing all the work in advance is the most important thing. For the TV/Game of the Year threads it would normally take 1-2 full days of work over the New Year break for me to get everything together. If you can't devote a full day to it then still take the time to do the work spread out over a bunch of evenings. There's nothing wrong with making people wait for the results. Also doing it in a less pressured environment gives you the space to be more inventive with the format (including entrance themes would have been awesome, for example). Also, schedule the countdown in advance and do it at a time that suits US and EU timezones so that people are around and amped up for each reveal
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Jan 25, 2021 13:16
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Cerebral Bore posted:You could also start watching the good promotion that makes the good shows instead. I already watch NOAH? Nah, kidding aside, where I'm at right now American TV wrestling with loads of talking is just not what I want. If the shows were shorter I might go for it, but the simple fact is that I just bounce off it. I'll sit through a 3 hour DDT show & find it impossible to make it through a 2 hour episode of Dynamite. I just find myself with the same problem as WWE a lot: I look at the roster & go "god, wish they were anywhere else". If AEW came into existence 3 or 4 years earlier I'd probably be mad into it, but at some point I became the guy I laughed at, who desperately waits for someone to upload the SamuraiTV broadcast of a loving 2AW show or is buying iPPVs from joshi promotions I'd never heard of 2 years ago.
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Jan 25, 2021 13:17
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forkboy84 posted:I already watch NOAH? It's funny because I feel the opposite way. I wish they'd shave a minute to a minute and a half off the weekly Young Bucks match to fit in one of those amazing pre-tape promos they only ever upload to social media. I'm not sure what the ratio is on WWE, but AEW for me has a poo poo-ton of wrestling for a 2-hour show already
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Jan 25, 2021 13:48
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To be fair when your promotion has Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, Britt Baker, Taz, Ricky Starks, Chuck and Trent, MJF and PAC I want you to let them talk a whole bunch
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Jan 25, 2021 13:58
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Rarity posted:As an experienced countdowner doing all the work in advance is the most important thing. For the TV/Game of the Year threads it would normally take 1-2 full days of work over the New Year break for me to get everything together. If you can't devote a full day to it then still take the time to do the work spread out over a bunch of evenings. There's nothing wrong with making people wait for the results. Also doing it in a less pressured environment gives you the space to be more inventive with the format (including entrance themes would have been awesome, for example). Also, schedule the countdown in advance and do it at a time that suits US and EU timezones so that people are around and amped up for each reveal Yeah, I did all the graphics the day before and then figured,"Well that's the hard part out of the way, I can write up each entry tomorrow lickety-split!" forgetting that last year I only did the Top 20 and everything else above that just got a single banner  Good advice, thanks 
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Jan 25, 2021 14:02
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Jerusalem posted:last year I only did the Top 20 and everything else above that just got a single banner Yeah cutting out the dead weight is definitely a good idea. No one cares about some dude who only got 1 point (sorry WALTER)
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Jan 25, 2021 14:09
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Rarity posted:Also, schedule the countdown in advance and do it at a time that suits US and EU timezones so that people are around and amped up for each reveal Hard disagree, keep catering to the 5 Australians in the audience
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Jan 25, 2021 14:12
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My number one favourite wrestler is top 3 most popular NJPW wrestler here now, I love to see it. This board now shares the same taste in wrestlers from The Elite that Harold Meij had.
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Jan 25, 2021 14:19
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I had the top 10 come in regularly right after work finished, so this schedule is great for the South East Asia! Though for real, doing the writeups in advance and scheduling them will probably be much better. Also, I personally don't think there's any real obligation to get the entire writeup done within the week of votes ending.
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Jan 25, 2021 14:19
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That was pretty a awesome countdown Jerusalem! Thanks for organizing it and doing all that work. Did not expect Hangman to run away with it the way he did, but it makes sense. His anxiety and twisted sense of self worth, and his propensity to self sabotage, are the most relatable characteristics of any professional wrestler I’ve ever watched. Plus he’s a great wrestler and extremely handsome.
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Jan 25, 2021 14:27
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Five of my top ten received no other votes and the whole top ten had an average placement of 32.1  SG Bamboo posted:My favourite wrestlers should be more popular, dammit
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Jan 25, 2021 14:27
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This was a lot of effort, thank you Jerusalem from the writing and compiling of all the numbers to figure out who placed where.
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Jan 25, 2021 14:47
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I absolutely expected Mox to take #1 in a walk, but Hangman taking it all is a nice surprise.TV Zombie posted:This was a lot of effort, thank you Jerusalem from the writing and compiling of all the numbers to figure out who placed where. SG Bamboo posted:Five of my top ten received no other votes 
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Jan 25, 2021 16:20
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Thanks for this, I was joking around with the early part of the list, but yeah this is a ton of work, and I didn't realize that you weren't just staggering the results until the top 25 lmao.
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Jan 25, 2021 17:15
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 06:31 |
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Now that the brainworms have lost their hold on PSP and more people are watching Japan/Mexico/The Indies than ever, I get the feeling there's going to be a lot less "Always Bad" reactions to people like Hangman's first couple months in AEW. I'll admit that I'd never watched a whole lot of Page before AEW and it wasn't until the "Cowboy poo poo" promo I got to see live that I started to turn around on the guy and once he found his groove he really shot up both in ring and in front of the camera as being the best wrestler of 2020. Kinda funny, when AEW was first starting I wanted to buy a Bullet Club shirt from Hot Topic before their show here and all they had was Hangman's shirt and I remember thinking "The logo is really cool but I don't give a poo poo about Hangman" and it couldn't have been more than 6 months later before he was my favorite male wrestler and he only got better from there. When the pandemic's over and more wrestlers are coming over from Japan I can't wait for people's reactions to more Joshi girls like Maki Itoh (For real, and not "My Favorite Wrestler I've Never Seen a Match From"), Mei Suruga, and Mizuki and being shown and not told why they're so great. I've got a huge Joshi blindspot myself since I've worked more in 2020 than I ever have in my life but now I'm ready to catch up on the last year of wrestling I missed too My favorite part of J-Ru's write-ups are just seeing some of the odd pairings photoshopped together during ties. Yuka Sakazaki & Rey Fenix hitting #11 as two of the best wrestlers of the year together was great because they're right on the cusp of being The Best but I feel like people are still sleeping on them and seeing Charles Taylor and Mei Saruga made me realize how similar the two really are, in that they're such bubbly, funny wrestlers who are absolutely outstanding in the ring The juxtaposition of two spooky guys and Riho cracks me up too, as does MJF pointing his thumb at Stahhks
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Jan 25, 2021 17:16
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