The least insulting wrestler ranking i've probably ever seen

[Warner2BruceTD]

2012 Power Slam 50

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi
2. Austin Aries
3. CM Punk
4. Kazuchika Okada
5. Prince Devitt
6. Daniel Bryan
7. CIMA
8. Tetsuya Naito
9. Kevin Steen
10. AJ Styles
11. Shingo Takagi
12. Low Ki
13. Akira Tozawa
14. Kurt Angle
15. Davey Richards
16. Christopher Daniels
17. Shinsuke Nakamura
18. Jun Akiyama
19. Bobby Roode
20. Hirooki Goto
21. El Generico
22. Dolph Ziggler
23. Sheamus
24. PAC
25. Kenny Omega
26. Yamato
27. Randy Orton
28. Samoa Joe
29. Ryusuke Taguchi
30. Kota Ibushi
31. Suwama
32. Jeff Hardy
33. Naomichi Marufuji
34. Karl Anderson
35. Masaaki Mochizuki
36. Ricochet
37. Alberto Del Rio
38. Kazarian
39. Michael Elgin
40. Matt Jackson
41. Eddie Edwards
42. KENTA
43. Nick Jackson
44. Minoru Suzuki
45. James Storm
46. Rockstar Spud
47. Noam Dar
48. Bully Ray
49. El Ligero
50. Kofi Kingston
-----------------------

Sure, I can quibble with some guy being over another, or moving guys a few places higher or lower, but for the most part there is nothing incredibly stupid or egregious to this list. The only two names that popped out at me as being out of place were Alberto Del Rio & Kofi Kingston, neither of which probably belong, but neither are ranked high and it's not like either guy is terrible or anything.

This is a shockingly well done and fairly accurate ranking of workers.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

OK, now i'll quibble.

El Generico had a significantly better year than a few people ahead of him and would be in my personal Top 5. I would swap him with Devitt, who had a down year by his standards. This magazine is based in either Ireland or England I believe, so there's that.

You know what I think of Orton, but I can see why he's listed and I won't complain. Sometimes a guy just sin't your cup of tea. I wouldn't complain about Triple H being on a list like this in 2002, either.

Jeff Hardy? Meh. But again, I get it.

Bryan & Angle are getting by on rep a bit (for example, Generico is on another level as these two in my view for this year), but again, hardly offensive.

How about Adam Cole & Daisuke Sekimoto instead of Del Rio & Kingston?

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

1994: Shawn Michaels
1995: Mitsuharu Misawa
1996: Shawn Michaels (2)
1997: Bret Hart
1998: Stone Cold Steve Austin
1999: Chris Benoit
2000: Triple H
2001: Stone Cold Steve Austin (2)
2002: Kurt Angle
2003: Kenta Kobashi
2004: Chris Benoit
2005: AJ Styles
2006: Edge
2007: Kurt Angle (2)
2008: Shawn Michaels (3)
2009: Rey Mysterio
2010: Kurt Angle (3)
2011: Hiroshi Tanahashi
2012: Hiroshi Tanahashi (2)

 

[Bigpapa42]

Where is Big Show? Kane? Jesus fuck, no Undertaker? Fuck this list.

That's actually the kind of list I would expect from a smarky, smart fan with diverse viewing. Nice to see.

Rockstar Spud and Noam Dar are both Brits but I have seen fuck of all of either.

 

[EmpireWF]

21. El Generico
22. Dolph Ziggler
23. Sheamus

All could be higher. (I'd drop Angle, Styles & Richards)

 

[FedEx227]

21 and 22 with Generico and Ziggler were the most galling to me but as far as an overall list, probably the least amount of complaints from my end.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

OK, now i'll quibble.

El Generico had a significantly better year than a few people ahead of him and would be in my personal Top 5. I would swap him with Devitt, who had a down year by his standards. This magazine is based in either Ireland or England I believe, so there's that.

You know what I think of Orton, but I can see why he's listed and I won't complain. Sometimes a guy just sin't your cup of tea. I wouldn't complain about Triple H being on a list like this in 2002, either.

Jeff Hardy? Meh. But again, I get it.

Bryan & Angle are getting by on rep a bit (for example, Generico is on another level as these two in my view for this year), but again, hardly offensive.

How about Adam Cole & Daisuke Sekimoto instead of Del Rio & Kingston?

Generico's year was fantastic, but, I can see why he's rated low...he was rather obscure, bouncing around tier four and five promotions.

Orton, is another guy who didn't really have a strong year. I understand his inclusion many other years, but this was a year where he wasn't featured significantly at all. Jeff Hardy was rather irrelevant until September/October.

I agree with Angle getting by on rep...he's booked like shit in TNA...but, Bryan had by far his best run in the WWE...he's still great in the ring (tons of good to even great matches in the WWE this year) and he's never shown more charisma and personality...he's now captivating the largest audience in the world with simple catchphrases and still putting on world class work. He's not a wrestling machine like he was at the Indy scene, but its the WWE, you don't have to be and even if so, you aren't given the platform to do so.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

My gripe with Bryan, since this is a workrate based list, is that he spent half the year in a comedy tag team that didn't have a single match worth a fuck.

I have nothing bad to say about the fantastic job he is doing with everything he's being handed.

But again, my gripe is minor. If you want to put Daniel Bryan on a top ten workers list, am I really going to argue? He's one of the best of all time.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Also, good call by Empire on Richards. Could probably drop 10-15 spots based on the fact that he disappeared for like 6 months and pretty much bombed in New Japan.

Take away the Elgin match, and what kind of year did he really have?

 

[FedEx227]

And I'd knock him off because he was a grade A asshole.

 

[Derrville]

Much better than PWIs if you ask me.