FSM Top 100 2006-2013

[Warner2BruceTD]

This is the U.K. mag that Alan4L writes for. Their taste falls in line with most of the guys who post around here, so here is the list:

Interested to see what the debated points will be for our list!

Criteria was bell to bell performance and that can be anything from athletic ability to charisma to selling to quantity of great matches. The issue is still available at bookstores in Europe and online at http://www.fightingspiritmagazine.co.uk ... /subscribe - so if you want to read write-ups on all 100 wrestlers (plus an awesome Big Van Vader article by Dave Ditch, then check that out!)

1. Daniel Bryan
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi
3. John Cena
4. Sami Zayn
5. CM Punk
6. Shawn Michaels
7. Rey Mysterio
8. Chris Jericho
9. KENTA
10. Prince Devitt
11. Shingo Takagi
12. The Undertaker
13. AJ Styles
14. Austin Aries
15. Nigel McGuinness
16. Daisuke Sekimoto
17. Kota Ibushi
18. CIMA
19. The Young Buck$
20. Yuji Nagata
21. Sin Cara
22. Seth Rollins
23. Antonio Cesaro
24. The Briscoes
25. L.A Park
26. Akira Tozawa
27. Triple-H
28. Chris Hero
29. Kurt Angle
30. Edge
31. Masaaki Mochizuki
32. Jeff Hardy
33. Davey Richards
34. Adrian Neville
35. Randy Orton
36. Kevin Steen
37. Shinsuke Nakamura
38. Kazuchika Okada
39. Naomichi Marufuji
40. Masato Yoshino
41. Minoru Tanaka
42. Negro Casas
43. Minoru Suzuki
44. Hirooki Goto
45. YAMATO
46. Bobby Roode
47. Dick Togo
48. Alex Shelley
49. Eddie Edwards
50. Katsuhiko Nakajima
51. Volador Jr.
52. Ricochet
53. Zack Sabre Jr.
54. Averno
55. Takeshi Morishima
56. Naruki Doi
57. Tetsuya Naito
58. Kenny Omega
59. Dr. Wagner Jr.
60. Roderick Strong
61. Takashi Sugiura
62. La Sombra
63. Masato Tanaka
64. Christopher Daniels
65. Samoa Joe
66. El Torito
67. Dolph Ziggler
68. Go Shiozaki
69. Jun Akiyama
70. Sheamus
71. Shuji Kondo
72. Jimmy Susumu
73. Jimmy Jacobs
74. Chris Sabin
75. Evan Bourne
76. Fit Finlay
77. Christian
78. Adam Cole
79. Michael Elgin
80. Mascara Dorada
81. Johnny Gargano
82. Kyle O’Reilly
83. Kotaro Suzuki
84. Taiji Ishimori
85. Ayako Hamada
86. Dragon Kid
87. Tensai
88. Low Ki
89. Sara Del Rey
90. Dean Ambrose
91. Batista
92. Fujita “Jr.” Hayato
93. Kaz Hayashi
94. Koji Kanemoto
95. James Storm
96. Colt Cabana
97. El Ligero
98. Yuji Okabayashi
99. Tomohiro Ishii
100. Togi Makabe

I don't have a ton of issues with this.

I'd have KENTA #2, and Zayn #3. I'm not a Cena hater by any means, and he would make my list for sure, but #3 is way too high.

No way Tensai makes my list, i've always thought he was overrated and was glad to see him leave New Japan because I couldn't stand Bad Intentions dominating the tag scene. Karl Anderson has flourished without him.

Yuji Nagata way too high. I wouldn't even rank him at all.

Sin Cara way too high, another guy I always thought was overrated and ended up exposed in WWE.

Okada probably too high, only has two great years. '06-'11 he's a complete non entity. '12-'13 is great enough to get on, but probably should be much lower. Somebody like Jun Akiyama for example was consistently very good the entire period and is in the 60's. So it's peak vs consistency.

Batista? James Storm. Eh. I guess. I can pick 100 guys I liked better than both, but they are both ranked pretty low and I get why they are there, so fine.

Sara Del Rey I always thought was overrated and a botch machine.

Christian criminally low. How is Ziggler ahead of Christian for those seven years?

If this included 2004-2005, Samoa Joe would be Top 20 easy. Maybe still should be. He's been so bad lately, he's fallen off the map. He was really, really good.

LOL Orton #35. Maybe the worst ranking.

Overall solid. Mostly nit picking.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I love Danielson as a worker. But, what distinguishes him from Tanahashi and Punk (for example) is those two, while, perhaps not as consistent as Bryan strictly in-ring...Bryan doesn't have the extreme high end those two guys have.

I'd go Tanahashi, Punk, Danielson in that order at the top.

Cena is going to be the most discussed.

I don't think another WWE Super Drawz #TopGuy has ever been better in the ring during their #TopGuy run then Cena. But at the same time, Cena has so many stinkers to go with it, he is going to generate a debate on a ranking like that. With that said...Cena v. Punk, v. Danielson, v. Rock, v. Umaga, etc...it is tough to argue that his high end is anything short of "great"...he has done Hour-Long Iron Man Matches, an array of gimmick matches, straight 1v1 matches with strong matches at all levels...but damnit, ol boy has a ton of stinkers, too.

Davey Richards @ 33 is very low, to me. As is Steen @ 36. Two of the Top 3 Indy workers over the past what...4-5 years? I'd probably put them ahead of Hero, Pac, Hardy, Nagata, Mistico, LA Park, Rollins, HHH, Edge...

Gail Kim is a better in-ring chick wrestler to me then SDR :kanye:

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Does HBK belong this high based on the time period? I'm blanking a bit on some of those years.

Austin Aries would be in my top ten. Can't tell you how many ROH shows I went to where I came in looking forward to something else, and he ended up having the best match. He was every bit as good as any of those guys during that era.

Danielson's 2006 makes him #1 for me. KENTA's 2009 makes him #2. Both were consistently awesome the entire period. Tanahashi is the best since '11 and was pretty good from '06-'10 but not as good as those two for the whole period. Punk is up there for sure. I think his best stuff is from WWE by far. Zayn is my #3 because he probably had top level matches in more places than anybody - ROH, DDT, WWE, PWG, DGUSA, EVOLVE, Chikara...how the fuck did TNA drop the ball when he worked dark matches for them?

 

[s@ppisgod]

I like that Shelley and Rollins got some love. I'm a big fan of their work. I can't see Generico over Punk, especially if time on top counts for anything which it HAS to to have Batista on the list....

 

[EmpireWF]

Does HBK belong this high based on the time period? I'm blanking a bit on some of those years.

Top 10 is fair.

The Cena matches from 2007, the Undertaker series, his classic feud with Jericho, the end of Flair's run.

Mysterio top 10 is a big head scratcher tho.