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Kenoh always looks like he's about 6 seconds away from going all Falling Down on people.
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Jan 29, 2022 23:44
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 21:18 |
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I post about Kenoh with joy in my heart. Joy that he has never felt a single time in his life
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Jan 29, 2022 23:47
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Kenoh rules, especially his animé hair. I watched the match he had with Nakajima in 2019 or 2020 and it was was so good.
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Jan 29, 2022 23:47
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 Deonna Purrazzo - 2020 Position: 34 | 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 The Virtuosa's title reign in Impact Wrestling was of a high enough quality that it started drawing attention to a promotion that was usually largely either forgotten (unfairly, its supporters will insist) or only paid attention to for where it intersected with AEW. Coming into 2021 as Champion, Purrazzo held the title for 10 months of the year, during which time she ended the career of Jazz, won the AAA Reina de Reinas title from Faby Apache at AAA's Triplemania show, and defended her Impact title again and again and again to great acclaim. The Impact reign finally came to an end against Mickie James in October, but Purrazzo had clearly established herself as one of the top women wrestlers in the world, and with bigger things to come in 2022 that may see her continue to climb in the ranks and favor of posters in this subforum... some of whom might even watch Impact again! Lee Moriarty - 2020 Position: 42 | 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 A rising star in the Independents, Moriarty finally found a "home" late in 2021 when he was signed to AEW officially. The thing is, even if he hadn't been, it was still "easy" to see Moriarty because he was EVERYWHERE! In 2021 he had over 90 matches for a staggering number of different independent promotions, which works out to roughly 1.7 matches a week. But don't just read that, nod and move on. Because that's matches in Ridgefield, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Houston, Hancewill, Tarentum, Tampa, Ybor City, Orono, Columbus, Pittsburgh, St Paul, Cleveland, Worcester, Yarmouth, Fort Worth, Jeffersonville, St Louis, Chicago, San Francisco, Itasca, Los Angeles, Wiliamstown, Norwalk, Baldwin, Miami, Orlando, Indianaopolis, Bellingham, Everett, Duluth & Elmont... and that's not counting when he left the country and wrestled in Mexico! Sure being on the road has always been a big part of being an Independent Wrestler, but in 2021, during COVID, to be criss-crossing the country (and beyond) like that twice a week AND appearing on television... I don't know how he did it. But he did, and it paid off as the buzz around his name and his displays on AEW Dark and Elevation finally lead to him being signed... and now hopefully he doesn't have to travel AS much to make a living as a wrestler.... plus we all get to see him wrestle, it's a win-win for everybody!
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Jan 29, 2022 23:47
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Deonna Purrazzo, significantly better than Roman Reigns.
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Jan 29, 2022 23:48
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That list of places in Moriarty's entry reminds me of the Simpsons movie joke about the four states that border Springfield, because I have no idea if those places are close to each other or on opposite sides of the country
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Jan 29, 2022 23:51
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Kenoh: The Best of the Super Junior?! That tournament is for kids! Naito: Yeah, and Hiromu beat their butts!
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Jan 29, 2022 23:51
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Kosmo Gallion posted:Kenoh: The Best of the Super Junior?! That tournament is for kids!  Kosmo Gallion posted:Kenoh rules, especially his animé hair. I watched the match he had with Nakajima in 2019 or 2020 and it was was so good. He also had a fantastic one in 2021! And will probably have many more in the years to come!
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Jan 29, 2022 23:56
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 Daniel Garcia - 2020 Position: Did Not Rank | 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 The "son" of 2point0, Daniel Garcia is only 23-years-old and has been wrestling for five years now, but until this year he had never made anybody's list of favorites. He made a couple of appearances in AEW in 2020, one appearance for NXT (as "Dante Rios"), but otherwise was mostly working various indies. But then in August he teamed with 2point0, recently fired from NXT, and the trio immediately just worked. 2point0 were the trash talkers (and they could wrestle too!) but Garcia was their secret weapon, young and mostly unknown but clearly talented. He started getting to shine in singles matches against opponents higher on the card with him (one of CM Punk's earliest return matches was against Garcia), then he started getting wins as part of a trios, then he started getting wins as a singles competitor. The three of them ended the year causing trouble for Eddie Kingston, and Garcia brought a dangerous hostility into his ring presence to go along with the aggressive but more jovial Matt Lee and Jeff Parker. Still so young, Garcia is only going to get better and better as he progresses, which is kinda scary because he's already so good! Shun Skywalker - 2020 Position: 37 | 2019 Position: 57 | Times Voted #1: 1 Dragon Gate's Shun Skywalker feels like he has been around forever, but he's only 25-years-old. Maybe it's because he has SO many matches, almost 150 in 2021 alone. For much of 2021 he was the Open the Dream Gate Champion, finally losing it in August to YAMATO after 5 successful defenses. But it was the way that Skywalker ended the year that will probably stand out the most, and perhaps why he was one person's top ranked wrestler. Skywalker found himself placed in a Lucha de Apuestas tag match where the loser of the fall would be forced to unmask. Skywalker threw his teammate and Masquerade squadmate Dia under the bus, pushing him into taking the pin and losing HIS mask while Skywalker got off scott-free. He wasn't done loving with his friends though, as Skywalker would use his own mask to trick the referee into DQing his stablemate Kota Minoura in a singles match where Skywalker's own membership (and leadership) in Masquerade was on the line. There was more stable unstableness to come in 2022, but if you want to know about that, maybe catch up on Dragon Gate... you might find you like it, that you want to watch more, and next year Shun Skywalker might end up with even more points! Tetsuya Naito - 2020 Position: 20 | 2019 Position: 13 | Times Voted #1: 0 Naito sees a significant drop from the last thread. It may be as simple a matter as 2020 being the year that his long-running storyline of being denied success at Wrestle Kingdom culminated in his victory over Kazuchika Okada in the main event as a fan-favorite, adding the IWGP Heavyweight Title to the Intercontinental Championship, even if half the year was missing due to the COVID shutdown of all wrestling in Japan. In 2021 he opened the year as the double Champion and lost on Night 1 of Wrestle Kingdom, and after that spent most of the year not really achieving much of anything. Even winning the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles was a temporary success, as he and SANADA lost on their first defense, and his (somewhat baffling) effort to regain the Intercontinental Championship earlier in the year went nowhere. Things weren't helped by him suffering an injury in the first match of his G1 Tournament, knocking him out for a couple of months. He and SANADA returned to tag action for the World Tag League but lost out against EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi (seriously!) marking an ignominious ending to a decidedly lackluster year. And yet... while his ranking dropped quite a bit, he did end up with the same points as last year (24) and he's STILL in the Top 40. Tetsuya Naito is never far off suddenly being a legitimate contender for a top belt or a major storyline, and if the rumors of a NOAH/New Japan match against Kenoh come true, I expect him to rank higher again in next year's thread.
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Jan 29, 2022 23:57
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 Cash Wheeler - 2020 Position: Did Not Rank | 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 It's difficult to talk about Cash Wheeler without talking about Dax Harwood, and their points reflect this as they're roughly around the same rank, because people wanted to vote for FTR and so they had to pick one wrestler to get slightly more points than the other, and Cash happened to get the short(er) end of the stick. Wheeler is a tag team wrestler through and through, every single match he had in 2021 was either a tag or part of a multi-man, and he has had great success in doing this. Whether it is just he and Dax wrestling at the absolute pinnacle of tag team wrestling, or (ironically) wrestling as part of The Pinnacle, Cash never looks like a guy doing his own thing who happens to be surrounded by others. He knows when to tag in but also when to tag out, when to block his opponents from helping their partner and when to make sure he doesn't get stopped helping his. He knows when to distract a ref, blindside an opponent, cheat or unbalance the odds in his favor. He's not flashy, neither he nor Dax are, probably the most unconventional thing about him is his haircut.... but he wrestles that style at the highest level possible, and it has made for some of the most incredible matches this year. Blood and Guts, Stadium Stampede, but also the nonsense of dressing up as "Las Super Ranas" and shockingly winning the AAA Tag Titles from The Lucha Brothers, before heading to TripleMania and successfully defending those belts in a ladder match under their own name. Cash couldn't do it without Dax, but Dax couldn't do it without Cash either. They're FTR, one of the best tag teams in the world, and the only thing that separates them is a required ranking order. Riho - 2020 Position: 29 | 2019 Position: 55 | Times Voted #1: 0 Riho had a fairly quiet 2021, having only 7 matches in the first 8 months of the year, before making her single only appearance outside of AEW when she wrestled at Wrestle Princess II for TJPW in October. There was some talk that she hadn't really done much else in Japan because AEW didn't want her taking losses, but whether that was true or not I have no idea. Whatever the reason, Riho returned with a force in October to AEW, pumping out plenty of matches on AEW Dark and Rampage including getting another victory over Dr. Britt Baker DMD, though in a non-title match. This was to build to a title match in early 2022, with the story being that Baker had never managed to defeat Riho in one-on-one competition. Regardless of how that turned out, Riho's return to televised action perhaps reminded a lot of viewers of something they'd forgotten: Riho is a really, really, really, really good wrestler! In spite of her tiny size, she has a way of making people believe as she zooms about, does her terrifying double-stomp, and throws every single atom of her body into every forearm and kick. She never fails to get the crowd going, biting on every near-fall and false-finish. If she keeps up her pace of regular appearances like we had in the last couple of months of 2021, maybe that will stay fresh in people's minds for next year, and she will improve on this ranking... and maybe even surpass the 29th place she got in 2020.
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Jan 30, 2022 00:05
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Jerusalem posted:
I would argue both their matches last year were fantastic, although I concede the result for the second one was very obvious going in
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Jan 30, 2022 00:05
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I think FTR really stepped up a level this year (and they were already very good!). It's like they've fully found their voice Riho is as good as any woman in AEW, I really hope she actually sticks around for more than a few weeks at once
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Jan 30, 2022 00:10
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Rarity posted:Andrade and Sammy in the minor league spots is a loving disgrace Andrade just missed out on my list, and I find Sammy intensely dull outside of the ring. His matches are fine, but his entrance theme puts me to sleep, and I really don't care for that Love Actually bullshit he does with the signs while his boring a.f. theme song drones on.
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Jan 30, 2022 00:12
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 Hiroshi Tanahashi - 2020 Position: 26 | 2019 Position: 14 | Times Voted #1: 1 Ahem. Go ACE! He's old, he's washed up, he's lost a step, it's time to join the New Japan Dads and enjoy a retirement of opening card multi-man tags and the odd singles feud. That's what people have been saying for years, and yet the thing is... Tanahashi just keeps on being the Ace! Perhaps it stands in starker contrast for those who watch NOAH and see older wrestlers like Mutoh dominate or destroy younger wrestlers, but Tanahashi is a breath of fresh air in how willing he is to look vulnerable and hurt. It always works out for him too, because people fear that he's finally reached his limit and simply can't do it anymore... and then he goes ahead and blows everybody away with another incredible match that - if the Japanese crowds were allowed to do more than clap and stomp - would surely have fans sobbing with joy and reaching out like it was a religious experience just to come close to the Ace of the Universe, Hiroshi Tanahashi! Just this year alone Tanahashi won the NEVER Openweight Title in an incredible match with Shingo Takagi, lost it to Jay White but then - after a loss to IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi - won the IWGP United States Title from Lance Archer, defended it about Kota Ibushi, and managed 8 points in the G1. When he lost the US Title to KENTA, it was to set up another incredible (and horrifying) match at Wrestle Kingdom, but that's for next year's thread when people once again go,"Wow, I was certain he was past it, but it turns out Tanahashi really is still the Ace!"
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Jan 30, 2022 00:13
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Tanahashi is the platonic ideal of the White Meat Babyface and I love him.
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Jan 30, 2022 00:18
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Now it's time to see which wrestler is more popular than Tanahashi..... I wonder who it could be.....?
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Jan 30, 2022 00:20
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 Christian Cage - 2020 Position: Did Not Rank | 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 Christian didn't rank the last two years because he's retired and his career is over and he can never wrestle again or his head will fall off. Except it turns out after close to 7 years of not being allowed to wrestle due to medical advice, when Christian left WWE all medical advice suddenly revealed he was... fine? There was still concern of course, after he was signed to AEW people were worried that at best he'd be too old and rusty to "out work everybody" and at worst he would risk another concussion and do himself serious damage. Instead, Christian once again showed why he was more than simply Edge's "little brother". He has wrestled regularly since March without showing the slightest sign of any ill effect, and it's remarkable how little ring rust he appears to have suffered. More important than his in-ring work though is his experience. He has taken on an on-screen (and apparently off-screen?) mentor role for Jungle Boy, with implied storyline beats that could be as simple as wanting to help the next generation, to wanting to exploit them, to seeking a strange kind of long-term "revenge" of sorts for Jungle Boy eliminating him from the Casino Battle Royale. Oh yeah... also Christian handed Kenny Omega the first loss of his Belt Collector run! Defeating Omega to win the Impact title, Christian returned briefly to his old stomping grounds where he eventually lost the belt to Josh Alexander, before returning back to AEW. Christian thought his career was over in 2014... it turns out there was plenty of life left in him after all. LuluPencil - 2020 Position: 24 | 2019 Position: 57 | Times Voted #1: 1 Pretty good number! It's a lower ranking but more points this year for LuluPencil, who also outperformed Hiroshi Tanahashi! Technically speaking only wrestling for Gatoh Move ChocoPro this year but also had a fairly prominent role in AEW as part of Emi Sakura's entourage (that would eventually grow to include Mei Suruga), where she made a life-long fan of Eddie Kingston and burst into tears when CM Punk was nice to her backstage when she tried to interview him. She also ranked 500th in the PWI Rankings, leading to the magazine producing a mock digital cover to celebrate the accomplishment. Along with the videos posted on Twitter of Lulu and Emi's sometimes bizarre but always wholesome adventures learning to cook American food, it was a great year for more people to become aware of Lulu. But... she also did wrestle! Yes she was, of course, mostly on the losing side, but she had some real accomplishments as well, including a 30 minute Iron Man match against Chris Brookes. She was also in a 3-on-2 handicap match in which she and Emi were the team of 2 which is... well that's just mean! Basically, with Lulu you get a fun time, a wrestler who tries REALLY hard, and lots of laughs. One person voted for her as their favorite active wrestler of all, and more power to them, she's a great choice!
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Jan 30, 2022 00:21
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Tana is the best wrestler of the 21st century, were it not for him New Japan would have died long before mass western eyes got on the product, or they'd be in the All Japan position of an indie far removed from their glory days just trudging along
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Jan 30, 2022 00:21
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I too believed the Ace was a broken old man with twigs for legs but then he fought Shingo Takagi for the NEVER title and he went through all the pain and the beatings and he dug down deep and he summoned Love and Energy and he won because he is the Ace and he will never let me down 
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Jan 30, 2022 00:23
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Really happy that Christian got to come back and have the kind of run that proved he was always better than Vince thought he was 
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Jan 30, 2022 00:24
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Christian Cage, 26 spots higher than Edge. gently caress YEAH!
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Jan 30, 2022 00:28
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Lulu Pencil had a great year showcasing that she really does have the instincts* and oddball charisma of a good pro-wrestler. Her current absence from the public eye has only made my hype for her return stronger. also lol she buried some all time greats this year. *she could find the active camera for her signature spot in AEW and Mei consistently couldn't fez_machine fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Jan 30, 2022 |
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Jan 30, 2022 00:29
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Rarity posted:Really happy that Christian got to come back and have the kind of run that proved he was always better than Vince thought he was christian drilling kenny with the killswitch on the chair was A Moment
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Jan 30, 2022 00:30
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The difference between how Christian's return elevated him while Edge's appears to have downgraded people's appreciation of him really is quite something.Rarity posted:I too believed the Ace was a broken old man with twigs for legs but then he fought Shingo Takagi for the NEVER title and he went through all the pain and the beatings and he dug down deep and he summoned Love and Energy and he won because he is the Ace and he will never let me down 
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Jan 30, 2022 00:31
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 Katsuyori Shibata - 2020 Position: Did Not Rank | 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 1 HE'S ALIVE! HE'S BACK! Shibata's last actual match was in 2017, and the concussion he suffered was so bad it was feared he wasn't just done as a wrestler but wouldn't be able to do almost anything physical at all. Slowly the worst fears abated, he would walk and move and see again and slowly got back into shape... but he was still done as a wrestler. Even the (incredible) moment when he raced to the ring and started beating the poo poo out of KENTA pre-COVID was just a way to build KENTA as a hated heel when he and his Bullet Club buddies turned the tables on him. It seemed like Shibata was relegated to being a (wildly successful) coach and trainer running the New Japan LA Dojo. And then... at the final of the G1 Climax in 2021, Zack Sabre Jr. came to the ring, then Shibata's music played, and the astonished crowd learned that they were about to witness a special 5 minute grappling rules match. No strikes, simply grapples, and two of the best to do it... did it! They went to a Time Limit Draw, of course, but the important thing was that Shibata was wrestling again. Would he return to the ring for a proper match? Indeed he did, but not until 2022. That doesn't matter though, the miracle of Shibata's shocking return was easily enough to get him into the Top 40 ACTIVE pro-wrestlers for 2021. Hell yeah! Tay Conti - 2020 Position: 43 | 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 She's not Shibata, but she has a vicious streak and likes strikes just like he does! After her time was done in NXT and she came to AEW, the improvement she showed truly demonstrated the relative uselessness of the drills-focused training in the Performance Center. But few could have predicted just how quickly Tay would improve, quickly going from "Anna's nice friend who doesn't realize her pal is in a cult" to an asskicker who seems to get stronger the more vicious things get. While some thought her title match against Dr. Britt Baker DMD was sloppy, it had an unhinged feel to it that allowed somewhat for a suspension of disbelief that Baker wasn't going to win. While she failed to win the gold, Tay built on that vicious streak as she and Anna went to absolute loving war with Penelope Ford and The Bunny to close out 2021, just absolutely beating the poo poo out of each other in an incredible Street Fight at the New Year's Smash show at the tail end of December. The next time Tay gets a title shot, maybe less people will think it is a forgone conclusion that she is losing. Even if she does, it's almost guaranteed to be a war in the process, and in that case we're all the winners.
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Jan 30, 2022 00:33
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Jan 30, 2022 00:34
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Katsuyori "Wait, This Was Judged On Their 2021?" Shibata tearing up the charts.
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Jan 30, 2022 00:37
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 Asuka - 2020 Position: 17 | 2019 Position: 23 | Times Voted #1: 1 For the longest time, Asuka was stuck on almost no points, a far cry from her status as the top ranked WWE wrestler in last year's thread. More points eventually came, and she rose up the ranks a little, but is a long way from the 17th place she managed last year, and with less points than the 36 she got last year too. To be fair, she hasn't actually had a match since July of 2021, her last appearance being in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. During the first half of the year she was actively competing, she managed to win (and lose) the Women's Tag Team Titles with rival Charlotte Flair, and lost the women's title she'd held since 2020 to Rhea Ripley at Wrestlemania. All of this is to say that Asuka had an unusually quiet, not particularly noteworthy year. So what is remarkable, and perhaps explained by the simple fact that Asuka is unbelievably loving cool in spite of a lovely year, is that for the second year in a row, Asuka is the top ranked WWE Wrestler of the Year! Dax Harwood - 2020 Position: Did Not Rank | 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 As mentioned above with Cash Wheeler, Dax Harwood had the benefit of usually getting the slightly higher ranking from those wanting to include FTR on their list of favorite active wrestlers. Why Dax? Is it because he's the more distinguishable of the two? That people consider him the "leader" of the duo? It's not alphabetical, if somebody only listed "FTR" then I'd have put Cash above Dax. But for whatever reason, Dax ended up (slightly) higher in the rankings, one half of one of the greatest tag teams in the world today. The matches the two of them had were incredible, and there are still so many more they could have in the future, with the promise of eventually returning for another showdown with the Young Bucks always there as an option. Dax and Cash made absolutely the right choice to come to AEW, and it's paid off remarkably for both of them. Just, for the purposes of this thread, it worked out slightly better for Dax!
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Jan 30, 2022 00:38
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More wrestlers who only wrestled one match for 5 minutes please
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Jan 30, 2022 00:39
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Dax takes the lead on promos and also had a couple of single match bangers with Jungle Boy and PAC which is probably why he comes out ahead Also: Jerusalem posted:Asuka is the top ranked WWE Wrestler of the Year! Lol
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Jan 30, 2022 00:41
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Jerusalem posted:Asuka is the top ranked WWE Wrestler of the Year! thats pretty wild considering she hasnt wrestled in 6 months
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Jan 30, 2022 00:42
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 Cody Rhodes - 2020 Position: 20 | 2019 Position: 15 | Times Voted #1: 0 ♪ Adrenaline, in my soul.... something something.... Cody Rhodes! ♪ It's the Codyverse and we're all just living in it. Cody Rhodes has taken his character and pro-wrestling to strange new places in 2021 and it's been a delight to watch unfold. The utter sincerity that he brings to well-meaning but often tone-deaf speeches is only matched by the utter sincerity he expresses when deliberately trying to wind people up. Cody seems to know EXACTLY what he's doing all the time, even when it's utterly baffling and doesn't make any goddamn sense at all. In 2021 we got to see Cody woken in the middle of the night by an old man burning Cody's suits on his lawn; he cut a promo about race relations in America so he could... fight an Englishman?; he got mist blown into his face by a kickboxing Satanist; he got lambasted for not murdering a fictional carjacker; his students slapped the poo poo out of him for his own good; he had an Alabama Street Fight with a rich Mexican while commentators taught us valuable lessons about local inventions; Rosario Dawson jumped on a guy's back; he lost a fight with Shaquille O'Neal who then teleported out of an ambulance never to be seen again; he won the TNT title back; he informed the wrestling audience that using the Pedigree as a finishing move is a sign of ultimate evil. Cody Rhodes is pure pro-wrestling and it rules, it really, really rules.
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Jan 30, 2022 00:47
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Cody Rhodes
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Jan 30, 2022 00:49
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It's meant to be my bedtime but there's still 2/3rds of the countdown to go 
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Jan 30, 2022 00:49
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Eagerly awaiting where the last two people on my list will end up
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Jan 30, 2022 00:52
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Rarity posted:It's meant to be my bedtime but there's still 2/3rds of the countdown to go I'm gonna start speeding it up because I really intended to have this all done in the next hour or so, which I think is when the Royal Rumble starts? (I'm not counting the pre-show)
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Jan 30, 2022 00:52
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 Jamie Hayter - 2020 Position: Did Not Rank | 2019 Position: 58 | Times Voted #1: 1 A little under 2 years since being defeated by Dr. Britt Baker DMD and returning to Japan shortly after, Jamie Hayter returned to AEW and... became Baker's muscle! Having won her own title earlier in the year, Hayter vacated the RevPro Undisputed British Women's Championship in June and was back in AEW in August, and she's been right there by Baker's side ever since. But towards the end of the year, it seemed like the tension was starting to rise between Baker and Hayter, who seemed to rankle under her boss' authoritarian ways in a way that perpetual doormat Rebel didn't. Hayter's own efforts for success seemed to keep being stymied, as she lost in the TBS Title Quarter Final to Thunder Rosa and then in a singles match against Riho, all while Thunder Rosa appeared to be egging on Hayter to stop eating Baker's crap and put her in her place. For a wrestler to return after such a lengthy absence and not only fit right in but to get an interesting, somewhat subtle storyline AND for fans to buy into it so quickly, well it's a rare thing. Whatever it is that Jamie Hayter has, it's working.
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Jan 30, 2022 00:53
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Hayters vaycate
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Jan 30, 2022 00:54
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 Hikaru Shida - 2020 Position: 17 | 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 1 In spite of her many successes and frequent screen time, a common complaint regarding Shida is that she doesn't get showcased enough. But that's understandable, who the hell wouldn't want MORE Shida? She rules! She entered 2021 as champion, managing 3 defenses against Abadon, Ryo Mizunami and Tay Conti while also running the Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament which had brackets happening in the United States and Japan. Finally she lost the title to Dr. Britt Baker DMD, and then spent the next couple of months mostly appearing on Dark or Dark Elevation. But even that wasn't without reason, as Shida was building up her win record to lead into her next major storyline, and boy was it a doozy! Becoming the first women wrestler in AEW to be on the cusp of winning 50 matches, Shida was paired up with Serena Deeb in what many expected would be her 50th win. Instead, Deeb won... and then things REALLY kicked off. Deeb and Shida went to war over Deeb's actions in the match, while Deeb herself justified them as necessary payment for Shida assuming victory was guaranteed. The two had three matches but got involved in other matches too, but while Deeb won the first it was Shida who won the second to get her 50th win at last, and she ended the year triumphant over Deeb in their rubber match to seemingly settle the feud once and for all. Spoilers for 2022: it did NOT settle the feud once and for all! Shida had a hell of a year in 2021, and though her ranking was lower than 2020's, she was only one point down from last year's total. Taichi - 2020 Position: 9 | 2019 Position: 19 | Times Voted #1: 0 After a Top 20 finish in 2019 and a Top 10 finish in 2020, it is a little disappointing that Taichi only managed 32nd place in 2021, and less than half the points he did last year. In terms of his accomplishments this year, he mostly did his best alongside his tag partner Zack Sabre Jr. as part of Dangerous Tekkers, but even there it was a mixed bag. Losing their IWGP Tag Titles at Wrestle Kingdom to start the year, their rematch went half an hour and ended by DQ (  ) only to then win the titles back in June, only to lose it on their first defense against Naito & SANADA.... and then promptly win it back on THEIR first defense a little later that month. This time they managed to defend the belts on their first defense in a Triple Threat tag match, then went into the World Tag League but weren't quite able to win the whole thing after their defeat on Night 11 to Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI. They did end the year as Tag Champs, at least, so they at least didn't go backwards. Taichi's singles unfortunately couldn't say the same, he lost in the first round of the New Japan Cup, beat Tama Tonga in a ladder match, beat Naito and SANADA both in a couple of singles matches but only managed 6 points in the G1 Climax, his biggest win probably being against Hiroshi Tanahashi on Night 18. Basically, 2021 was a year that was just kind of "there" for Taichi, which happens sometimes, but after how much he improved and stepped up over the prior couple of years, it's no surprise that a largely indifferent year resulted in a much lower ranking.
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Jan 30, 2022 00:57
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 21:18 |
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Hayters better appreciayte.
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Jan 30, 2022 00:59
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