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Here we are, it's the Top Twenty! The following wrestlers are the top of the popularity stakes in Punch Sport Pagoda, at least they were for 2022 in any case! Who returns from previous years? Who is new? Who has fallen and who has risen? Who managed to at least stay in place if nothing else!?! It's time to find out!TV Zombie posted:I can really appreciate how he's kept himself relevant SamuraiFoochs posted:loving owns and I absolutely refuse to be told otherwise. Come at me. Cartridgeblowers posted:The only reason to watch WWE, really. He's so good and had such a good year. SalTheBard posted:had one of, if not the BEST year of his WWE tenure. IcePhoenix posted:a special shoutout for appearing on my list despite me not watching a single minute of WWE broadcasts live last year but still being more invested in his story than anything in AEW at times. fez_machine posted:He brought the match layout of a DDT rojo to Wrestlemania for what many consider WWE's best match of the year and certainly the best comedy match in WWE history.  Sami Zayn 2021 Position: 43/63 | 2020 Position: 35/43 | 2019 Position: 51/63 | Times Voted #1: 1 What a difference a year makes. For the previous three iterations of this thread, Sami never ranked higher than the 30s, and the year he did there were only 43 spots! Yet the thing is, everybody loves Sami, always have, so why did it never get reflected in the results? Partly it may have been due to him never getting his due in WWE, and while people knew that wasn't his fault, that didn't stop them from not exactly jumping straight to Sami as their top guy in spite of the bad booking or indifference of the promotion's lunatic sex-criminal owner. So what changed? It would be nice to say that Sami benefited from the sudden removal from power of said lunatic sex criminal, but I believe(?) that his current push started before then? Because finally a confluence of events resulted in Sami's often stated ability to rub people the wrong way being the perfect addition to a desire by the makers of the latest Jackass movie to do cross-promotion with WWE. This resulted in one of WWE's few successfully nominated Match of the Year Contenders in 2022, as Sami's match against Johnny Knoxville at Wrestlemania wowed those watching, and nobody - not even Vince McMahon - could deny that Sami was the integral element that held everything together and made it work. Even then it might have been a blip on his otherwise frustrating drifting existence in WWE (Sami himself I beleive claimed that he didn't think anything would ever quite live up to this Wrestlemania experience) if not for a night where Paul Heyman wasn't available to fill in a bit on a Roman Reigns segment, and Sami was tapped to stand in for him. What was a one-off turned into a multi-month storyline that everybody who actually watches WWE assures has been phenomenal all the way through. Sami's slow acceptance by every member of the Bloodline, the tensions this created with Kevin Owens, and the possibilities inherent in how things could develop, have wowed those watching at home and the people there live in the crowd. Who knows how it will eventually end up, but across 2022 it was almost universally considered the best storyline WWE has done in years, and one of the best storylines in all of pro-wrestling currently going. It obviously worked for the posters of Punch Sport Pagoda, because this year Sami Zayn didn't just blow away his previous years' rankings.... he was the most popular WWE wrestler for all of 2022.
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Jan 29, 2023 01:09
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Jerusalem posted:I got banned from using the phone after I racked up tens of thousands of dollars in bills calling the Starksline, which considering it is a 1-800 Line was pretty impressive. 
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Jan 29, 2023 01:12
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My lawyer said it wasn't a legally binding contract because he specifically said maybe we could get married one day 
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Jan 29, 2023 01:14
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About to watch my first live WWE pape in like a decade because of this man
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Jan 29, 2023 01:14
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graph posted:he will be my first action figure purchase ever Nea posted:Tony doesn't use him enough he could absolutely be at the top of the card forever. Lid posted:If you hear they're going to be on a show it is going to be a loving show. apophenium posted:I love the Big Motherfucker.  Keith Lee 2021 Position: Did Not Rank | 2020 Position: 33/43 | 2019 Position: 57/63 | Times Voted #1: 0 It's a common refrain often heard, but seriously.... how does ANY promotion not just let Keith Lee go, but FIRE HIM!?! In November of 2021, Keith Lee was fired by WWE following the less than stellar reception of his new "Bearcat" gimmick (gee, what a surprise!) and 3 months and 5 days later he showed up on Dynamite and has been a fixture for the promotion ever since. He had a hell of a year too, kicking things off in memorable fashion with his super-biel of a screaming Isiah Kassidy and following it up over the next couple of months with a series of singles victories. But it was in April that he first teamed up with Swerve Strickland, another baffling firing from WWE only a couple of weeks after Lee himself. The two immediately gelled in the ring and by May they were going by Swerve in our Glory. They liked each other, they worked well together, and I personally had high hopes they would be one of those teams that despite whatever differences they might have would always just naturally get on and trust each other... boy was a wrong about that, and wrong that going with a breakup angle wouldn't turn out to be golden. During a battle royale for a shot at the vacant AEW Title, Swerve knocked Keith out of the match. Keith wasn't happy, but he chalked it up to a one-in-a-million chance at the title temporarily blinding his friend and they continued to work together. That would become the (wonderful) story of their partnership. Swerve doing increasingly slimier things, Keith trying to think the best of him until finally demanding an explanation or he'd beat his rear end. Luckily, Swerve understood that nothing papers over crashes like success, and at Night 1 of Fyter Fest Swerve in our Glory became Tag Team Champions and it seemed like everything was going to be okay. And for a couple of months it was, both were pleased with their success, neither were clashing because they both had what they wanted... and then they discovered that everybody loves The Acclaimed. After defeating the team at All Out, both Lee and Swerve seemed irritated at Media Scrum questions asking if The Acclaimed winning wouldn't have been "better". For Keith, of course, that was something to be irritated by and then move on. For Swerve it was different, and after they lost the titles to The Acclaimed in a rematch he immediately wanted to turn to cheating in their third match. Enough was FINALLY enough for Keith and he walked out on Swerve, preferring to keep his integrity rather than lower himself to cheating. The thing is...Keith Lee's a nice guy! When confronted by the equally gigantic Shane Taylor, he gritted his teeth and accepted Swerve's offer to reform their team to meet Taylor's challenge at Final Battle, where Swerve exacted his revenge by walking out on Keith in the match... and Keith went ahead and won anyway, because as Swerve's associate, real life media mogul Rick Ross so adroitly pointed out... he's a big motherfucker! The ball was in Keith's court, he'd survived the attempted betrayal, kept his integrity, and could walk around with his head held high... until Swerve used Rick Ross again to help him get the jump on Keith with his new associates. All that in 10 months in AEW, following a miserable 18 months on the main roster of WWE (and to be fair, a good 2-3 years in NXT!) and yet there are still people who claim Keith has been misused or "failed" in AEW. He's gotten to show off his enormous power, rubbed shoulders with Rick Ross, held tag title gold, been part of an extensive and well-received storyline, developed his own character and established a strong rivalry... and it obviously worked in Punch Sport Pagoda, with Keith Lee ranking better than he ever has before. But I guess that pales in comparison to "CALL HIM BEARCAT, PAL!" or something!
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Jan 29, 2023 01:15
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Indubitably
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Jan 29, 2023 01:17
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BodyMassageMachine posted:always amazing to watch in-ring Bonk posted:if he ever dips below a podium finish in my lists, it's probably because he wasn't wrestling. Carver posted:Makes extremely tough wrestling athletics look easy and entertaining Rarity posted:arguably the best wrestler on an incredibly stacked roster. tigerdriver82 posted:Bastard muscle goblin who has never smiled (or so the legend goes) El Generico posted:This is my favourite goblin.  PAC 2021 Position: 12/63 | 2020 Position: 15/43 | 2019 Position: 17/63 | Times Voted #1: 0 He's still in the Top 20, but this is actually the lowest PAC has even been ranked in these threads! His consistency is remarkable though, in the Top 20 every single year. And why not? He's loving great! The lowest ranked of Triangulo de la Muerte, it's telling that it took one of the greatest high fliers in history and one of the coolest men in the world to beat him in his own stable. Feuding with The House of Black at the start of the year, PAC and his companions seemed to be trapped in somewhat of a rut. They were still delivering at the highest level of course, but the Lucha Bros has been tag champions, and PAC had been fighting to get his goblin hands on gold ever since coming to AEW. They would all be rewarded though, particular PAC at long last, as he became the inaugural AEW All Atlantic Champion after defeating Miro, Malakai Black and Clark Connors (who was great, but was supposed to be Tomohiro Ishii) in a Fourway at Forbidden Door. Scrabbling back to under the bridge he calls home in Newcastle, he caressed his gold before taking it to show off and defend at RevPro and OTT events, stalked all the while by Kip Sabian doing his bizarre head in a box gimmick (to showcase how well that worked out for him, Then The Elite returned. They wanted their titles back, and at Full Gear Triangulo de la Muerte defended the titles against the initial holders... and won! The match itself was magnificent, but the win was tainted, because PAC had found something beyond gold to be enamored with. A tiny little hammer! Stealing the timekeeper's hammer, PAC figured out you could use this little thing to hit people and they'd stop moving! What a delight! He was eager to make use of this handy invention, and luckily Penta was also more than happy to do so. Fénix was the problem, he had something called.... maw-ralz? But as the victory was tainted, they were ordered to continue to defend the titles against The Elite in a Best of 7 series... that ended up being arguably the best Best of 7 series of all time! PAC was in hog heaven (you could tell by the angry sneer on his face), making continued use of the tiny hammer, planting extras, convincing or forcing Fénix to use them too until the matches themselves became No-DQ street fights and Falls Count Anywhere matches. It all culminated in a Escalera de la Muerte match in January of 2023, but 2022 ended with PAC doing better than he's ever done before, both in AEW, with gold titles, and with his ranking in these threads. Oh, also, almost forgot to mention, he's... you know, legitimately one of the best wrestlers in the world! Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Jan 29, 2023 |
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Jan 29, 2023 01:19
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Jerusalem posted:(to showcase how well that worked out for him, not a single list included Kip this year!) He got 2 points! You put him on a graphic!
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Jan 29, 2023 01:22
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Rarity posted:He got 2 points! You put him on a graphic! Well how about that, I legitimately completely forgot! Also there were 217 wrestlers this year, I'm allowed to forget one and Kip's a good choice!
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Jan 29, 2023 01:23
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Great stuff to catch up on as i'm waking up, thanks J-Ru. Pretty sure i've only got two people left from my list unless i've somehow missed them, one the God of wrestling and the other a strong lady who likes idols
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Jan 29, 2023 01:23
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Penguin Patrol posted:will always give 110% SG Bamboo posted:If you're not doing the hands I don't want to know you Rarity posted:I’m doing the hand signals right now and you can’t stop me Senerio posted:L O V E Love Pro Wres Numero6 posted:Stronk, L-O-V-E. this kid is nuts posted:She loving took 2022, put it in a Canadian backbreaker, transitioned into a giant swing and threw it out of the ring, crushing a few seedy-looking balding Japanese men in the audience. Slim Jim Pickens posted:All this year I have seen her picking up larger and larger wrestlers and throwing them across the ring. Recently she learned a special way of swinging that would make its victim nauseous. I foresee many victories in her future Pinwiz11 posted:I can't wait to see her swing some other fools.  Miu Watanabe 2021 Position: 52/63 | 2020 Position: Did Not Rank | 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 1 ♪ L O V E  ♪Only 23-years-old and already on the cusp of greatness, Miu is one of those wrestlers who you can just clearly see is going to be something. She has the presence, the in-ring talent, the ability and apparently the drive to succeed at the highest level, and the only question is whether it'll be sooner or later... and whether it will hopefully be in TJPW or somebody else tries to snap her up. A member of the Up Up Girls who apparently joined up because she saw this as the route to becoming an idol (she LOVES idols!) only to turn out to be a really great pro-wrestler, Miu's stock has slowly been rising in TJPW, with a victory in the Futari No Princess Max Heart Tournament teaming with Rika Tatsumi that took them to a (losing) challenge against the Magical Sugar Rabbits at Grand Princess a month later. But as she continued to wrestle in various tags and singles matches over the course of the year, more and more she stood out and raised in status, matching up to and looking comfortable and right with the promotion's top stars. Her Big Swing move was part of that, her surprising strength allowing her to spin opponents about : not just some of the tiny wrestlers who are part of the roster but some of the larger opponents who came in from outside as well. Still, she was still lower on the totem pole, and her efforts to gain a shot at the Princess of Princess Championship never bore fruit: she lost a #1 contendership fourway at the Cyberfight Festival, and lost to former champion Yuka Sakazaki in the final of the Tokyo Princess Cup. But that's why midcard belts exist! After beating Suzume at the Autumn Tour show to get a #1 contendership, she defeated Alex Windsor at Wrestle Princess to win her first ever singles title. Now the #2 wrestler in the promotion in terms of the belts, Miu seems on the poise of elevating to an even higher level. The fans want it, the people in the TJPW thread want it (well, they better!), and presumably Miu herself wants it. It's always a joy to catch a rising star young, to see them build up in confidence and ability and naturally lift up and rise through the card to culminate in their first title win. Miu is that for a lot of the people who posted in this thread, something I can say with confidence. Because in 2022 it wasn't Miyu Yamashita or Yuka Sakazaki or Maki Itoh or Shoko Nakajima.... Miu Watanabe is the highest ranked member of the TJPW Roster. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Jan 29, 2023 |
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Jan 29, 2023 01:24
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SG Bamboo posted:a strong lady who likes idols Well would you look at that!
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Jan 29, 2023 01:25
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 Miu is too powerful
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Jan 29, 2023 01:25
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There's no Rika to ruin the theme song this time 
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Jan 29, 2023 01:28
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SG Bamboo posted:retaken his place in my pantheon of the greatest wrestlers of the 21st century. Burn Down Canberra posted:best big match wrestler I've ever seen. Absolutely near his best in 2022. Jerusalem posted:He's really loving good! Shaman Tank Spec posted:I can't remember the last time someone just grabbed my attention like he did. He's got that star quality and the skills to back it up. El Gallinero Gros posted:what WWE wanted Randy Orton to be. edogawa rando posted:I just think they're really neat.  Kazuchika Okada 2021 Position: 7/63 | 2020 Position: 27/43 | 2019 Position: 1/63 | Times Voted #1: 2 Surprisingly, Okada drops down into the Top 20 after his return to the Top 10 last year. Surprisingly because to my mind Okada's 2022 was stronger than his 2021, with the reduced restrictions on crowd noise continuing and allowing him to regain some more of his mojo and confidence, and his massive wins at Wrestle Kingdom, appearances in AEW, and his phenomenal G1 helping remind the world just how incredible he is. Perhaps his shock loss at Dominion to Switchblade Jay White and the lack of a G1 "defense" as we'd seen in recent years caused an absence that made people not think of him immediately when making their lists? Or maybe they're just not that into him! I can't see how though, he's incredible! And I really can't stress enough how loving INCREDIBLE those Wrestle Kingdom wins and his G1 Final against Will Ospreay were. First Shingo, then Ospreay, back to back nights of wrestling at just the highest level imaginable... and beyond ! His victories over ZSJ and later Naito seemed to be setting him up for a year long title reign culminating again at the G1, until Switchblade Jay White again proved the thorn in Okada's side that he just couldn't ever quite seem to shake loose. He had incredible matches in the G1, but nothing could touch the final against Will Ospreay, and while the latter third of the year was mostly spinning his wheels, he did at least get to avenge a loss to JONAH before he returned to being Bronson Reed in WWE. But maybe that's part of the issue too (as much as a Top 20 finish IS an issue): maybe people are just so used to Okada being incredible that it's become par for the course? A good problem to have if so, for me personally he continues to blow me away and is perhaps the best big match wrestler in the world today... or at least in 2022. For Punch Sport Pagoda though, he was "only" 16th.
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Jan 29, 2023 01:28
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SG Bamboo posted:There's no Rika to ruin the theme song this time Somewhere in Japan she's just fuming about this, kicking over trashcans and flinging papers in the air. Outrageous!
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Jan 29, 2023 01:30
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A Real Horse posted:does things that are impossible. A Fancy Hat posted:At least once a match he does something that seems physically impossible. El Generico posted:Best high flyer in the business. CombineThresher posted:might be the best overall wrestler in AEW right now, and definitely the most exciting. El Gallinero Gros posted:He's so loving graceful. It is stunning how rarely he botches.  Fénix 2021 Position: 5/63 | 2020 Position: 11/43 | 2019 Position: 34/63 | Times Voted #1: 1 Another surprising drop, from 5th to 15th in spite of his incredible late run as part of the Trios Champions having that amazing Best of 7 series with The Elite. Fénix's high flying remains amazing of course, as well as his astonishing ability to move through, across, over, under and on top of the ropes seemingly at will to do whatever it is he wants to do. Few can keep up with him (one of them is on his trios team, PAC, another is one of his most regular rivals, Nick Jackson) and how he manages to keep from seriously injuring himself is beyond me... and beyond him too it seems, since he has actually suffered bad injuries in the past only to come back seemingly fully healed with remarkable speed.... the Fénix name was well-chosen, it seems. Losing the AEW tag titles early in 2022, he gained his own gold back when he won both the AAA World Cruiserweight Title AND the AAA Latin America Title at TripleMania XXX in Tijuana, before adding the AEW Trios Titles to that later in the year. While he wasn't able to beat El Hijo del Vikingo for the AAA Mega Title, he ended 2022 without losing any of those titles, though he was conflicted over PAC's insistence that they use the tiny little hammer to cheat in the Best of 7 series... but of course once the matches became No DQ and Falls Count Anywhere all bets were off, because Pro-Wrestling has its own weird and screwy kind of morality to it! Fénix's own final position was remarkably stable during the window for submitting Top Ten lists, shifting between 12th and 16th place in the rankings. It was everything going on around him that was kind of madly changing, and that seems almost appropriate. Fénix as a wrestler seemingly controls, defies or outright ignores both gravity as well as balance to do whatever it is he wants his body to do regardless of what should be possible. In the rankings, he was calm while everything around was whipping around all over the place, and though it was a lower ranking than the last couple of years, it's still a very impressive finish in a loaded field... but wait till you see who beat him!
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Jan 29, 2023 01:32
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Jerusalem posted:But maybe that's part of the issue too (as much as a Top 20 finish IS an issue): maybe people are just so used to Okada being incredible that it's become par for the course? Have to think that's what caused the rebound in 2021. It caused a worldwide pandemic for an otherwise perfect wrestler to show a gap in his game and he was just another guy in 2020, before the following year gave glimpses to remind fans that Little Kazu is in fact real fuckin good. Now it's just in the back of our collective minds that he's a safe choice for the company that'll put on a fantastic match when Nooj need it e: also think that's my list done, seerves me right for following less popular promotions (or at least non-AEW ones)
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Jan 29, 2023 01:35
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Fenix spent too much time wrestling in trios matches. When there's 6 people in a ring no individual performance is going to stand out enough
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Jan 29, 2023 01:35
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graph posted:the coolest motherfucker in the world BodyMassageMachine posted:continues to be the coolest dude on the planet. Cool Post Beg posted:my fave A Fancy Hat posted:I think he's the most charismatic wrestler today Quantum of Phallus posted:whatever he's called this week A Real Horse posted:He gets the slightly higher ranking than his brother because honestly, I'm a little worried the spooky skeleton man would come for me if I didn't put him higher  Penta El Zero Miedo 2021 Position: 8/63 | 2020 Position: 29/43 | 2019 Position: 10/63 | Times Voted #1: 2 Who else could it have been! Right up to the penultimate day of submissions, Penta was trailing his brother, sometimes dropping out of the Top 20 entirely. With 1 day to go, he was one. single. point. behind Fénix, and then the final lists came in and he ended up 4 points ahead, sitting in 14th place, a rank he never exceeded for the entire length of the submission window. But it was enough to beat his brother. Just. Does that matter? No, but it's a fun bit of trivia! So is this: Penta is the highest ranked member of Triangulo de la Muerte, despite he and PAC frequently switching places while Fénix was maintaining his steady pace. It's another appropriate representation of the three of them as a Trios, even if completely random and accidental. Penta and PAC are the chaotic ones, while Fénix is the most reasonable in spite of his defiance of physics. But while PAC is powered by anger and hate, Penta is powered by his complete lack of fear and the immense satisfaction he gains from being unbelievably cool. The insane skeleton man had a blast in 2022, just like he as a blast every single year. Sure, he lost the AEW Tag Titles in January, and lost the House of Glory tag titles he and Fénix held for.... ONE THOUSAND AND SEVEN DAYS!?! to the Briscoes in March, and didn't win the vacant Crash Heavyweight title in March, and didn't make it though to the finals of the AEW All Atlantic Title tournament, and got beaten by Jon Moxley in his shot at the AEW World Title in October... but while he would have been more than happy to win those belts, one suspects that he's just as happy regardless even without them. PAC would fume, Fénix would be driven... but Penta? The insane skeleton man just needs opponents to fight, people to CERO MIEDO at (whether opponents, fans, or small children on the street) and get to indulge in violence for its own sake and he's like a pig in poo poo. He was an enthusiastic participant in the Best of 7 series to try and retain the Trios Titles they won, and had zero issue with using PAC's tiny little hammer... but had it never come up? He'd have been fine with just fighting with his hands and feet like Fénix regardless. I'd say we should all be more like Penta, but that's a terrible idea. There's only one Penta (though he can easily be convinced otherwise) and we're living in a great period of history where we get to watch him do his thing. His mad, completely incomprehensible but thoroughly entertaining thing.
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Jan 29, 2023 01:36
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Jan 29, 2023 01:36
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Impressive that all of Death Triangle landed within a 5 place spread
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Jan 29, 2023 01:38
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It was really fascinating watching them all sitting in roughly the same area, though as noted Penta was all over the place and dropped out of the Top 20 entirely at one point. Having them end up in 14th, 15th and 18th place was really quite remarkable.
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Jan 29, 2023 01:40
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Shaman Tank Spec posted:Can't honestly remember any bad matches CombineThresher posted:one of AEW's best and most generous workers. edogawa rando posted:I just think they're really neat. Infidel Castro posted:My #1 tigerdriver82 posted:Badass pressedbunny posted:so consistently cool; I went out of my way to watch every appearance Numero6 posted:Tony Khan is a bad booker.  Hikaru Shida 2021 Position: 32/63 | 2020 Position: 17/43 | 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 2 Miyu Yamashita is one of the coolest, most badass women on the planet... and so is Hikaru Shida, and the fact we got to see them face off (as part of opposing tag teams) at TJPW's Yes! Wonderland show was just one of the many gifts 2022 brought us. They also included a WAR between her and Serena Deeb that ended with Shida's defeat, which allowed her to spend a bit more time in Japan between sporadic appearances until she was appearing regularly again in August. Criminally underused in AEW (in that she's not used ALL the time and has every title and wrestles every week!), Shida had better success outside of the promotion this year as in addition to her appearances in TJPW she also wrestled for WAVE, where she defeated the prodigy Suzu Suzuki to become the Regina Di WAVE Champion, as well as winning the International Ribbon Tag Titles with Ibuki Hoshi for Ice Ribbon. She brought the Regina Di WAVE title with her back to America, defending it on AEW in both Dark Elevation and Rampage against Emi Sakura and The Bunny respectively, as well as defending it in Japan against Yuki Miyazaki. But for all her success in Japan and her attempts to incorporate it in with her AEW work in America, 2022 for Shida will probably be best remembered for a loss she suffered right at the end of the year... one that made her even more of a star than she already was. Having lost in a title match against Toni Storm in October, Shida got another title shot against the woman who defeated Storm. On the 21st of December, Hikaru Shida faced Jamie Hayter for the title on AEW Dynamite. It was the main event of the show, and it thoroughly deserved that spot. For 18 minutes the two women beat the absolutely poo poo out of each other, and it was sensational. Their in-ring chemistry was phenomenal, the crowd was electric, and the false finishes and the way the crowd bit on each one was simply a joy to watch. Shida lost, as mentioned, and it seems silly to say this was one of the highlights of her AEW career considering she held the actual AEW title for over a year... but holy poo poo I cannot express how loving good that match was! As she rolls into 2023 and appears to be at the center of a high profile angle involving multiple top women wrestlers in the division, it's exciting times to be a Shida fan. Her 2022 was a mixed bag, but the highs were astonishingly high, and this has been reflected in her best ever ranking for one of these threads.
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Jan 29, 2023 01:40
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Shida take back your power
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Jan 29, 2023 01:42
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this kid is nuts posted:The guy has gone from someone I was sort of so-so on to someone I consider one of the top wrestling talents in the world. Skjorte posted:One of my favorites to watch the past half decade or so. Rarity posted:He was for my money the absolute best in the world in 2022. He just did not miss for me this year. Every single big match he had delivered. Penguin Patrol posted:The most perfect wrestler of the year Veryslightlymad posted:He's earned his bloody shot, drat you.  Zack Sabre Jr. 2021 Position: 29/63 | 2020 Position: 12/43 | 2019 Position: 12/63 | Times Voted #1: 4 Hey, looks who's back in 12th place where he belongs! By pure chance (or reflecting the overall consistency of his excellence), for 3 of the 4 years these threads have been running, Zack Sabre Jr. has ended up in 12th place. He returns here in 2022, after a brief trip up to the 20s to see what it was like there, helped by a strong year that saw him win the New Japan Cup, get a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (where he was, unfortunately, rather soundly beaten by Okada), make a respectable 8 points in G1 (the same as C Block winner Tetsuya Naito, who went to the Semi-Finals on the strength of beating ZSJ to equal his points total) and made it all the way to the final of the NJPW World Television Title Tournament, which would be resolved in 2023 (He won!  ).But this 2022 also marked the changing of the times. As previously mentioned, Suzuki-Gun disbanded on the 23rd of December, and ZSJ and Taichi's long-standing tag team partnership as Dangerous Tekkers ended as well. Zack, never at a loss for words, made his feelings clear: he would miss Taichi, he would miss Suzuki-Gun, but he was going to take the opportunity to make that next step up that he needed. Nobody doubts his ability in the ring, nobody can have any doubts about his ability to talk (in two languages!), nobody can possibly misconstrue his feelings about the British Conservative Party as anything but hatred... but as his sound defeat by Okada after winning the New Japan Cup demonstrated, he also isn't quite on the level of the TOP stars in New Japan, and he needs to change that. Perhaps nothing sums up things better than the fact ZSJ came to America to wrestle Bryan Danielson in a highly touted and long-thought-impossible dream match... only for Danielson to be unable to compete and the opponent to be changed to Claudio Castagnoli instead. That was still a very good match, and ZSJ's angry complaints about how it wasn't fair that he prepared for one wrestler only to get another fell well within his usual fun comedic tantrums... but that was ZSJ's 2022 in a nutshell: he expected something, he thought he was on the cusp of something, and then he didn't get it. As 2023 sees him making big changes and they seem designed to elevate him to that next level, perhaps 2023 will be the year that he finally moves out of that 12th place ranking... and into the Top 10 where he surely belongs.
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Jan 29, 2023 01:45
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Zack nooooooooooooooo 
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Jan 29, 2023 01:46
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Zack and his son leading a bunch of Aussie dickheads is going to lead to a prime 2023
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Jan 29, 2023 01:50
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SG Bamboo posted:Zack and his son leading a bunch of Aussie dickheads is going to lead to a prime 2023 It's gonna be a big year for The Frontman 
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Jan 29, 2023 01:50
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apophenium posted:a great heel, is so smooth in the ring, and is genuinely menacing. A Fancy Hat posted:A great wrestler who really understands every aspect of his character. El Generico posted:has made himself unique and essential. TV Zombie posted:Hate him or Love him, he was smooth in the ring.  Swerve Strickland 2021 Position: Did Not Rank | 2020 Position: Did Not Rank | 2019 Position: Did Not Rank | Times Voted #1: 0 Oh this piece of poo poo. He's so great! The major storyline direction of his 2022 was laid out in Keith Lee's entry, so let's take this opportunity to talk about how great Swerve is. Spoiler: Pretty loving great! He's also somebody who is ALWAYS thinking ahead, always on the move, figuring things out and seeing how he can take advantage or elevate himself to the next level. Both obviously on the more general and broad character level, but seemingly also in his real life: this is not a man who rests on his laurels or waits for opportunity to come to him. As soon as he could after being fired from NXT, Swerve was already thinking about how to rebrand himself and get his name out there, to rebuild his status as a major talent worth having. Adopting the name SW3RVE and then SW3RVE The Realest in addition to Shane Strickland, he tore it up in Progress, Defy and OTT. He worked New Japan Strong and MLW and Warrior Wrestling. And before long, he was snapped up by AEW who knew a good thing when they saw it... and probably also knew that WWE might do what they often do and decide they wanted the toy they'd thrown away back when they saw somebody else playing with it. Not everything he does is a hit, but everything he does is done with the mindset of trying to find something that does work. Swerve never seems to be satisfied with just doing well, or getting by. He wants to excel, and he finds ways to do that. From a character standpoint (not the real guy, obviously!), the cynical view is that Swerve always intended to use Keith Lee to benefit himself, though a "nicer" reading would be that he was fully onboard and committed to their friendship until the very moment it wasn't benefiting him any longer. His new stable, Mogul Affiliates, seems a strange mix with him as the frontman and just using Parker Boudreaux and Granden Goetzman (Baseball Mutant, as he's commonly called in the AEW threads) as simple muscle, but who knows how it will all turn out. If it doesn't work, I'm sure Swerve the character will be quick to abandon them or repurpose them to his own benefit, while the real life Stephon Strickland will be moving to find something else that helps him develop and push forward as a wrestling star. You can't doubt his commitment to success, just look how far he's come in the last decade through Combat Zone Wrestling, Lucha Underground, MLW and even through NXT and (briefly) the WWE main roster. Just think where he could be a year from now.
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Jan 29, 2023 01:51
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Glad more people are figuring out what they should have already known about Shida if it wasn't for the coward Tony Khan keeping her off TV so much. Top 10 next year!
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Jan 29, 2023 01:53
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Jerusalem posted:Oh this piece of poo poo. Accusations!
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Jan 29, 2023 01:54
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Jerusalem posted:
It's both a strength and a weakness that this doesn't really happen in AEW. It's undisputedly exciting when someone does way better in a spot they weren't supposed to have.
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Jan 29, 2023 01:54
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Well despite my best efforts to time it all out, the Top 10 remains to go as we bump up on 8pm and the start of the Rumble. I believe the Men's Rumble is opening the show, so I'm gonna take a pause to watch that (or at least confirm it's opening the show) and then jump back into the thread to finish off the Top 10. I think next year I'll avoid the Rumble as the day to get the results posted. It seemed reasonable to take advantage of the show as one of the bigger PPV events to hopefully get more interest in this thread as well, but that doesn't seem to have worked out. I'll follow up with posters in the thread next year to work out the best time (and way) to deliver the results at a more suitable time for everybody. Anyway, Top 10 coming once the Men's Rumble ends (or sooner if the Rumble ends up not opening the show!). Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Jan 29, 2023 |
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Jan 29, 2023 01:55
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fez_machine posted:It's both a strength and a weakness that this doesn't really happen in AEW. Pivoting to take advantage of unexpected crowd reactions? It happens plenty, just look at the Acclaimed's title win
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Jan 29, 2023 01:57
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The problem with AEW is that it's just a series of dry athletic contests with no memorable characters or moments
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Jan 29, 2023 01:58
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Rarity posted:Pivoting to take advantage of unexpected crowd reactions? It happens plenty, just look at the Acclaimed's title win I still feel like that was the plan for at least a month or so even before the PPV match. Accalimed were on a steady progression up and up ever since they refined their act. I'm talking abut a guy or team being a last minute replacement or someone coming out of nowhere and killing it.
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Jan 29, 2023 02:02
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Rarity posted:Zack nooooooooooooooo
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Jan 29, 2023 02:34
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Here we are, we've made it. The Top Ten. The following wrestlers are Punch Sport Pagoda's consensus favorite wrestlers of 2022, as chosen by YOU. Let there be no doubt, there was nobody more popular than these wrestlers, for better or worse... if there were, they'd be here on the list instead! Let's see who ranks at the top of the top... you've probably already largely figured out WHO is in this Top 10, just not necessarily where.
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Jan 29, 2023 03:27
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Lid posted:does things that should not be done and makes them look so god drat easy. Its unfair how good he is. 1glitch0 posted:Incredible. Carver posted:Makes extremely tough wrestling athletics look easy and entertaining Burn Down Canberra posted:he's frankly a ham in ring but he's hooked me in lately. SamuraiFoochs posted:good lord do I love watching him wrestle. this kid is nuts posted:a big stupid idiot who fucks people up NutritiousSnack posted:piece of poo poo status does not matter apophenium posted:Yeah, he's a shithead, but he's the reason I started watching pro wrestling at all. And he's only gotten better in the ring.  Will Ospreay 2021 Position: 51/63 | 2020 Position: 42/43 | 2019 Position: 9/63 | Times Voted #1: 0 While it isn't his best ranking ever (9th in 2019), this 10th place finish marks a gigantic return to "favor" for Ospreay after the last couple of years saw him ranked lowly even as people freely admitted that he was incredible in the ring. Over 2022 in particular though, more and more often the frankly insane quality of his wrestling just continued to blow people away. All the caveats remain, the acknowledgements of his idiotic past behavior and the lamenting that it's always tickling at the back of your mind even as you are enthralled by the matches he's participating in... but holy poo poo are those matches good. It helps that he either figured out or was told by somebody more sensible that his attempted heel persona wasn't working out, and made adjustments to make it somewhat more palatable. Surrounded by a fantastic squad of stablemates in Jeff Cobb, Great O-Khan and Aussie Open, Ospreay mostly concentrated on just delivering the goods in the ring and it has largely worked out well. He also had a fairly straightforward story for 2022, as his attempt to sneak in and pick on a weakened winner of the Wrestle Kingdom Night 1 winner and regain the World Heavyweight Title he'd vacated in 2021 came to nought as he was defeated by Kazuchika Okada... and then his best attempt at earning another shot at it failed again at Okada's hands when he lost to him in the G1 Climax Final. That same G1 saw him humiliated by Juice Robinson and David Finlay, and though he won the United States Heavyweight Title at Dominion it was only after he'd failed to win it in a fourway with Juice Robinson, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jon Moxley, then the title was vacated by (stripped from) Juice Robinson. He successfully defended the US Title he'd won from SANADA against Orange Cassidy, David Finlay, Naito and a returning Shota Umino, which should have made him happy... but this was the story of 2022: Ospreay's feeling that he wasn't respected, that he was facing people mocking him or taking him lightly in spite of his phenomenal talent. This culminated in the build to Wrestle Kingdom, when he was challenged to a special secondary main event for the US Title by Kenny Omega, the "Best Bout Machine" whose status as an all-time great Ospreay was trying to supplant. To make things worse, Kenny was treating the whole thing with smug amusement, insisting that he could just waltz back in and win, that he wouldn't even have to try and that he didn't care. It would all come to a head in early 2023, but we can consider that in 2023's thread. All of that of course was just his New Japan storylines, it doesn't touch on his incredible matches with Michael Oku, Jon Moxley and Nick Wayne among others. Suffice to say, Will Ospreay is such an incredible talent that despite some legitimate problems that people have with him, they still ranked him - to the surprise of everybody I am sure - in 2022 as.... the most popular wrestler in all of New Japan. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Jan 29, 2023 |
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Jan 29, 2023 03:28
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