Board 8 > Scarlet Ranks 150 User-Nominated Wrestlers Part II

(+) Yeah! (+)

NBIceman posted...

Eddv posted...

This is about right.

Daniel Bryan to me reallt has always been a quintessential 'hes good but...' guy. His popularity a function of his perceived scarcity.

You're entitled to your opinion and all but this part is just factually wrong.

This is literally how babyfaces were classically booked.

Its not even a dig at the guy.

I've personally NEVER liked him but he has been booked, by accident or on purpose, pretty well as a babyface.
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Oh, if we're talking just WWE then sure, I guess you can make that argument.
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scarletspeed7 posted...

obstreperous

I didn't know this word. You must come from a highly educated university!
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Yeah I never watched RoH much when Bryan was a big deal there. WWE he definitely has always come off as a guy that gets a lot of hype for not much. And you can say "well he's so popular because so much of his audience has seen his RoH stuff" and to that I say "yeah right." There's definitely something I'm missing even beyond the RoH stuff.

He's fine I guess but yeah 41 is a lot higher than I'd put him, so you're not gonna get any outrage here.
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Yeah looking at whats left on the list I can see why he is deeming it controversial.

There are a lot of high workrate low charisma duders out there and bryan was one of the few remaining 'mainstream' talents.
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Well he also has a weird crowd here. We're probably two of the most down on Daniel Bryan on the board all things considered. I think for a lot of people Bryan being 41st on any list would probably be controversial especially considering it's not a best of all time as much as best of on a list of nominations.
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Bryan's top 4 all time for me. He's good on the mic and great in the ring and has good stories and just seems like a nice dude IRL.

have seen very little of his non-WWE stuff
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aw yeah top 40 Steiner
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also speaking of awesome technical wrestlers, how did no one nominate ZSJ?
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#39 - Finn Balor Nominated by: Voltch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBFO0iHuuCw" data-time="

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcwGxMX5i8Q" data-time="

When Eddie Brock's Venom symbiote soon returned to be bonded again, allowing Venom to escape prison, the symbiote unknowingly left its offspring in the cell; due to its alien mindset, the symbiote felt no emotional attachment to its offspring, regarding it as insignificant, and thus never communicated its existence to Brock via their telepathic link. The new symbiote then bonded with Brocks cellmate Cletus Kasady, transforming him into Carnage. The bond between the Carnage symbiote and Kasady was stronger than the bond between Brock and the Venom symbiote. As a result, Carnage is far more violent, powerful, and deadly than Venom. He escaped prison and began a series of murders, and at the scene of each crime, wrote "Carnage" on the walls with his own blood. He was found by Spider-Man, though the hero proved to be no match for Carnage's powers. In desperation, Spider-Man made a truce with Venom to fight Carnage. The Carnage symbiote was defeated and apparently destroyed with sonic weaponry, but unbeknownst to them the symbiotes deeper equilibrium with its host helped to save it. After entering Kasadys body through a small cut, it bonded to his blood (which caused its red coloration).

On a serious note, I'm a fan of the smiling Finn Balor. I don't have a ton to say except that I love leather jackets and I love his moveset. Also I'm not a huge fan of "Fuck Fuck Me Finn" signs.
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Still don't like the belt headgear thing he uses for his demon entrances in WWE but in general Finn is awesome.
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I really can't think of anything to say about Finn weirdly. He's a great wrestler, a unique promo, and I just really like him in general. There's just nothing to say that I think is worth anyone's time, however.
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Finn Balor is another guy I don't really "get" to an even greater degree and I actually have seen a decent amount of his stuff as Devitt.

He has a bit of the vanilla midget syndrome, but really it boils down to slingblade probably souring me on him a lot more than it should, as well as WWE's presentation of him. Watch his Summerslam 2017 match with Bray Wyatt and take a shot for every time the announcers say "Demon King." You will not survive.
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Yeah Finn is definitely so far the highest ranked over where I would put him (though given some people still on the list he wont have that title for long).

I have often thought his promos were dull, his face painting gimmick to be the wrong sort of stupid(especially in WWE, god fuck yourself Michael Cole), and in WWE especially he is the Roman Reigns of sling blades so get fucked mate
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am I like the only guy who actually likes the sling blade
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No!
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Sling Blade is worse than Superman Punch I said it
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A good Sling Blade (like Tanahashi's) is awesome. A bad one is REALLY bad.
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A bad one is Billy Bob Thornton's.
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I like the Superman Punch too >_>

admittedly less so now that it's seeing regular use (by Roman, no less), but I used to give Hero Attack to a loooot of my CAWs
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#38 - KUSHIDA Nominated by: Girugamesh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh5NVTP-B0Y" data-time="

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8dv3U_vg4c" data-time="

KUSHIDA is the greatest villain in all of wrestling. Traveling from the distant future, KUSHIDA is well-aware of the multitude of devastating tragedies in wrestling history, and yet he uses his chronological prowess to wrestle as a midcard guy. It boggles my mind that someone could be gifted such a boon and use it for such pointless purposes. KUSHIDA could have prevented the deaths of the Benoits. He could have stopped the closure of WCW. He could have put a kibosh to the Old Day segment. Imagine that world! And yet here is KUSHIDA, a man who has the potential ability to save us from ourselves. Save_Us.KUSHIDA!

Is it any wonder that such a fantastic villain has been ranked so highly on my list? He's essentially the darkest timeline version of Booster Gold. KUSHIDA is a selfish, narcissistic prick. His belief that futuristic wrestling techniques would endear him to the legions of New Japan fans really blew up in his face. Look at Takahashi, who fought KUSHIDA time and time again, repelled by skills that hadn't even been invented yet. However, Takahashi demonstrated perseverance in the face of utterly overwhelming odds; he learned from each match, developing a style of wrestling light years ahead of where he should be thanks to the time-mangled machinations of our evil Rip Hunter-alike, KUSHIDA. And eventually, after months of failure, Takahashi was able to defeat the man with the impossible-to-beat technique. Suddenly, KUSHIDA's style had proliferated in a time period that wasn't even supposed to know these crazy high-flying, body-destroying tactics.

That Takahashi, a man from the present, could defeat KUSHIDA, an overlord from the future, says a lot about the adapative ability of the human species. Our quick wit and evolving mindfulness proves that through almost any adversity, we can triumph. And the wicked amongst our race throughout history, those who would attempt to take advantage of the less fortunate or the less advanced... they will eventually fall to those with willpower and perseverance.

Fuck you, KUSHIDA. You monster.
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I don't know if the write-up is scarlet being silly or KUSHIDA's actual gimmick. I could believe either one.
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It's just one interpretation of a deeper gimmick with different ways in which you can read it.
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So what you're saying is that njpw is a Mike quackenbush joint
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#37 - Mister Perfect Nominated by: Lopen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iK7vRYeY3U" data-time="

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=todtDjC6BcM" data-time="

One of the greatest compliments you can say of any performer is that their work is timeless. This is especially the case in a trade as evolving, and at times fickle, as pro wrestling. Curt Hennig, at his best, was timeless a great worker in an era of great workers.

Hennig understood the makings of a heel. He knew his job was to make whoever he was paired with look great, and he knew sometimes that meant making himself look silly. He knew when to sell, when to back off, when to cower Hennig just got it. Seeing Mr. Perfects name on the card was a guarantee of quality.

While Perfect could bump like a boss and carry inferior opponents to matches few felt they were capable of, it was only when he wrestled guys like Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart that you truly saw the best of him. That was the type of level he was at and it was a level only a select few could match. While injury issues cost him ring time, he transitioned seamlessly between roles of wrestler, manager and commentator his performance in each case; always perfect. During his entire stint with WWE, he could do no wrong.

And you know what? "Rap is Crap" was also pretty freaking amusing.
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I just have to say Mr. Perfect has to be just the worst fucking gimmick because you can NEVER fuck up and that has to be really stressful.
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Eddv posted...

Mr. Perfect has to be just the worst fucking gimmick because you can NEVER fuck up and that has to be really stressful.

He's a heel
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Yeah, there's like 5 guys in the world who ever have wrestled well enough to be able to pull off the gimmick, and even they all make mistakes once and a while!
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Lopen posted...

Eddv posted...

Mr. Perfect has to be just the worst fucking gimmick because you can NEVER fuck up and that has to be really stressful.

He's a heel

The Perfect gimmick was that he was still virtually perfect in the ring from a technical standpoint, however.
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Remember when they tried to give it to Shawn Stasiak?
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That being said I will say that I appreciate that Mr Perfect was generally treated as credible. Like, he wasn't actually perfect as no man can be, but he wasn't treated as a bumbling fool either. He was closer to actually perfect than not in the ring.

Mr Perfect in 2018 WWE would constantly be screwing up while the announcers constantly buried him as "hurr hurr he's not perfect at all look he needs to cheat to win etc etc"

But the theory isn't wrong. Because it's a heel gimmick, him showing flashes of imperfection is completely fine to give the faces some ammunition that maybe he isn't quite all he claims-- I doubt it was really a high stress gimmick in any case.
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Yeah living up to it is really what separates the gimmick from the standard Miz/Jericho delusions of grandeur gimmick.
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I think that, in that era, there was more of a premium placed on gimmicks that had an air of legitimacy than now. I think a company like NJPW would try to make a gimmick like that look realistic these days, and there are signs that Triple H likes having a ton of credible-looking guys in NXT, but WWE itself doesn't understand what makes gimmicks like that tick anymore.
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Yeah the point on commentary is solid.

Graves would put over the gimmick but in such an over the top and comedic way so as to suggest Graves is being disingenuous while Cole and Coach would just bury the guy.

What made it work is that Ventura would put it over and Monsoon would grudgingly acknowledge his skill while deriding his tactics
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#36 - Pentagon Nominated by: Charon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDR6tOXzt6Q" data-time="

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23mzelbjg28" data-time="

Pentagon Jr. the Dark El 0M is easily my favorite guy on the indie scene right now. His look his striking and memorable; his moveset helps create his character as well as dazzle an audience, and his character work is fucking perfection. Everything comes together in union to create an incredible packaged presentation. Is it any wonder that Pentagon is working as a main eventer in Impact, Lucha Underground, PWG and everywhere else on the circuit?

I think one of the most amazing facts about Pentagon is this: This year, he, La Parka, and Fenix are all working the biggest shows of the year in both CMLL and AAA. That would be like working both Wrestlemania and Starrcade during the Monday Night Wars. It's unheard of. Pentagon is such a hot property right now, such a beloved worker amongst other workers, that two bitter rival companies both are willing to forego exclusive rights to a worker. Everyone wants Pentagon, and it's for good reason. He unites the brutality and the darkness that a lot of fans love with a more athletic temperament than a Taker. And that makes him intensely, intensely watchable.
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I'm still on season 1 of lucha underground but boy is he making me a fan fast
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I'm through most of season 2.

I think my favorites of wrestlers I've first seen from Lucha Underground would be:

1. Jack Evans
2. Drago
3. Pentagon

He's very good. Really these would be three of my top 4 on the roster too but I do like me some Johnny Mundo-- who knows how much of that is from WWE though.
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swap Evans out for Puma, add Chavo to the bit about Mundo, and you have more or less my opinion
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Wow no love for the baddest bitch in the building?
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Tom Bombadil posted...

swap Evans out for Puma, add Chavo to the bit about Mundo, and you have more or less my opinion

Chavo's amigo is actually the individual getting over in the Chavo act.
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My top 5 in Alphabetical Order:

Cage
Fenix
Ivelisse
Miiiiiiil Muertaes
Pentagon Jr

HM: Cortes Castro

Special shout out to Melissa for being an amazing ring announcer.
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Cage and Ivelisse would probably be 4 and 5 if that makes you feel better.

That's not say I don't appreciate Puma or Fenix or even Chavo but there are a lot of good dudes on the show
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I do not understand this Cage love but I haven't seen that much of him yet I guess
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I think Evans just...sucks

Not the biggest Puma fan either. Hes good but he's not one of my favorites.

There is so much talent though - Drago and Aerostar rock and Son of Havoc is like....holy shit. I have seen Matt Cross in like a dozen promotions and he sucked in all of them until he landed in LU. I think a lot of it is the more choreographed nature hides his lack of psychology and that he just has excellent chemistry with Ivelisse.
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Yeah Mil Muertes is the guy I think is garbage from the show. That whole act just doesn't work for me. I blame Katrina I think. And yeah Fenix and Puma are both guys I respect as good but they're not my favorites. Son of Havoc is good though.
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Oh I am just in love with their act, it's like the Undertaker only Mil is a great worker and the mexican death cult shit is better than the druids.
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Mil is a better worker than The Undertaker huh well if you say so
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Only Mil is currently a great worker if you want to get semantic.
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Tom Bombadil posted...

I do not understand this Cage love but I haven't seen that much of him yet I guess

Don't watch LU but I'm surprised as well. Always seemed to me that if you've seen one Cage match, you've seen them all. Maybe all the editing they do in LU makes him more interesting.
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I think he also benefits to some extent for being a really good hoss ahead of this big glit of really good hosses that have popped up lately
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