My lists...

[Guest Stuart]

I took some time to do several lists for each active (and televised, unlike SPWF and Capture) promotion covered at my SSS site. The lists are basically a top to bottom ranking of wrestlers within each promotion. I did these after much tape-watching (especially with NJPW). I thought carefully and ranked these wrestlers objectively from the footage I've seen. I didn't overexert myself and unrealistically try to rank 5102301 wrestlers, just ones within each promotion. Feel free to leave your comments.

 

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NEW JAPAN

 

Below is a list of New Japan wrestlers, who I have ranked according to their ability. I've taken into account their workrate, ability to piece a match together, consistency, and ability to draw a crowd into the match. I watch every New Japan weekly show and numerous BS-Asahi, SXW, ISM and other broadcasts, so this list comes after extensive viewing. Only wrestlers who have worked more than two tours in the last six months are ranked. Wrestlers who appear to be done with the company (such as GOKU-DO & Gran Naniwa) are not listed, nor are those who left in January (Muto, Kojima, Ka Shin & Ohara). I've also done separate heavyweight and junior lists (AKIRA is listed in both, as he splits time between the two divisions).

 

Excluded due to lengthy injuries or absences: Riki Choshu, Shiro Koshinaka, Takashi Iizuka, Junji Hirata, Shinya Makabe, Black Cat & Dr. Wagner Jr.

 

Heavyweights & Juniors:

 

1. Jushin Thunder Liger

2. Yuji Nagata

3. Minoru Tanaka

4. Black Tiger 3 (Silver King)

5. Hiroyoshi Tenzan

6. Koji Kanemoto

7. El Samurai

8. Osamu Nishimura

9. AKIRA

10. Gedo

11. Kensuke Sasaki

12. Jado

13. Masahiro Chono

14. Masahito Kakihara

15. Wataru Inoue

16. Manabu Nakanishi

17. Hiroshi Tanahashi

18. Tatsumi Fujinami

19. Katsuyori Shibata

20. Dan Devine

21. Kenzo Suzuki

22. Hiro Saito

23. Yutaka Yoshie

24. Masayuki Naruse

25. Super J

26. Tadao Yasuda

27. Katsushi Takemura

28. Tatsutoshi Goto

29. Blue Wolf

30. Rick Steiner

31. Giant Silva

32. Scott Norton

33. Giant Singh

 

Heavyweights:

 

1. Yuji Nagata

2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan

3. Osamu Nishimura

4. AKIRA

5. Kensuke Sasaki

6. Masahiro Chono

7. Manabu Nakanishi

8. Hiroshi Tanahashi

9. Tatsumi Fujinami

10. Dan Devine

11. Kenzo Suzuki

12. Hiro Saito

13. Yutaka Yoshie

14. Super J

15. Tadao Yasuda

16. Tatsutoshi Goto

17. Blue Wolf

18. Rick Steiner

19. Giant Silva

20. Scott Norton

21. Giant Singh

 

Juniors:

 

1. Jushin Thunder Liger

2. Minoru Tanaka

3. Black Tiger 3

4. Koji Kanemoto

5. El Samurai

6. AKIRA

7. Gedo

8. Jado

9. Masahito Kakihara

10. Wataru Inoue

11. Katsuyori Shibata

12. Masayuki Naruse

13. Katsushi Takemura

 

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ALL JAPAN

 

Below is a list of All Japan wrestlers, who I have ranked according to their ability. I've taken into account their workrate, ability to piece a match together, consistency, and ability to draw a crowd into the match. I watch every All Japan GAORA TV broadcast and PPV, so this list comes after extensive viewing.

 

1. Toshiaki Kawada

2. Satoshi Kojima

3. Genichiro Tenryu

4. Tomoaki Honma

5. Taiyo Kea

6. Hiroshi Hase

7. Kaz Hayashi

8. Keiji Muto

9. Ryuji Hijikata

10. Shigeo Okumura

11. Hideki Hosaka

12. Johnny Smith

13. Masanobu Fuchi

14. Mitsuya Nagai

15. Gran Naniwa

16. Nobutaka Araya

17. Jim Steele

18. George Hines

19. Mike Barton

20. Kendo Ka Shin

21. Jimmy Yang

22. Kazushi Miyamoto

23. Nobukazu Hirai

24. Steve Williams

25. Yoji Anjo

26. Mike Rotundo

27. Arashi

28. The Cedman

29. Abdullah The Butcher

 

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NOAH

 

Below is a list of NOAH wrestlers, who I have ranked according to their ability. I've taken into account their workrate, ability to piece a match together, consistency, and ability to draw a crowd into the match. I watch every NOAH weekly show and numerous of their satellite broadcasts, so this list comes after extensive viewing. Only wrestlers who have worked more than two tours in the last six months are ranked. There are a couple of American wrestlers who I haven't seen enough of yet (Matt Murphy & Superstar Steve) not listed, and I haven't listed Family Gundan (Rusher Kimura, Mitsuo Momota & Haruka Eigen).

 

Excluded due to lengthy injuries or absences: Kenta Kobashi & Satoru Asako

 

1. Naomichi Marufuji

2. Jun Akiyama

3. Mitsuharu Misawa

4. Yoshinobu Kanemaru

5. Daisuke Ikeda

6. Michael Modest

7. Takao Omori

8. Takuma Sano

9. Kentaro Shiga

10. Vader

11. Akira Taue

12. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

13. Yoshihiro Takayama

14. Scorpio

15. Donovan Morgan

16. Mohammed Yone

17. Makoto Hashi

18. KENTA

19. Takeshi Rikio

20. Takeshi Morishima

21. Akitoshi Saito

22. Bull Schmidt

23. Takashi Sugiura

24. Masao Inoue

25. Yoshinari Ogawa

26. Kotaro Suzuki

27. Bison Smith

28. Tamon Honda

29. Jun Izumida

30. Kishin Kawabata

31. Masashi Aoyagi

 

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ZERO-ONE

 

Below is a list of ZERO-ONE wrestlers, who I have ranked according to their ability. I've taken into account their workrate, ability to piece a match together, consistency, and ability to draw a crowd into the match. I watch ZERO-ONE PPVs and their other broadcasts when possible. The contracted roster and regular outsiders (besides Sakata, who I haven't seen outside of RINGS yet) have been listed.

 

1. Shinjiro Otani

2. Tatsuhito Takaiwa

3. Masato Tanaka

4. Naohiro Hoshikawa

5. Shinya Hashimoto

6. Steve Corino

7. Samoa Joe

8. Tom Howard

9. Yoshito Sasaki

10. Kohei Sato

11. Naoya Ogawa

12. Yoshiaki Fujiwara

13. Wagyuuta (Yusaku)

14. Ryoji Sai

15. Sean McCully

16. Tadahiro Fujisaki

17. Josh Dempsey

18. Gerard Gordeau

19. The Predator

 

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Big Japan

 

Below is a list of Big Japan wrestlers, who I have ranked according to their ability. I've taken into account their workrate, ability to piece a match together, consistency, and ability to draw a crowd into the match. I watch every Big Japan show on Samurai! TV, so this list comes after extensive viewing. I have listed all regulars except Yuji Kamijo, who only debuted very recently.

 

1. Ryuji Yamakawa

2. MEN's Teioh

3. Daisuke Sekimoto

4. Shadow WX

5. The Winger

6. Bad Boy Hido

7. Jun Kasai

8. Shunme Matsuzaki

9. Fantastik

10. Ryuji Ito

11. Abdullah Kobayashi

12. Naoki Numazawa

13. Daisaku Shimoda

14. Yuichi Taniguchi

15. Daikokubo Benkei

16. Mike Samples

[Guest razazteca]

wow Black Tiger that good, so he is as good as PWI hypes him to be.  So the current Black Tiger is Silver King?

[Guest Stuart]

Having ranked wrestlers from New Japan, All Japan, NOAH and ZERO-ONE, I experimented with mixing them together to form a "Big League 100" of sorts. The results are below. I've taken into account their workrate, ability to piece a match together, consistency, and ability to draw a crowd into the match. How they wrestled in the last half year is very important. Kawada may still be the best wrestler in the world, but he hasn't shown it in the last six months. However, his pure ability keeps him high on the list. Only wrestlers affiliated with NJPW, AJPW, NOAH and ZERO-ONE are listed, with the promotion they work for in brackets.

 

Excluded due to lengthy injuries or absences: Riki Choshu, Shiro Koshinaka, Takashi Iizuka, Junji Hirata, Shinya Makabe, Black Cat, Dr. Wagner Jr., Kenta Kobashi & Satoru Asako

 

1. Jushin Thunder Liger (NJPW)

2. Yuji Nagata (NJPW)

3. Shinjiro Otani (ZERO-ONE)

4. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (ZERO-ONE)

5. Minoru Tanaka (NJPW)

6. Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH)

7. Black Tiger 3 (Silver King) (NJPW)

8. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW)

9. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (NJPW)

10. Satoshi Kojima (AJPW)

11. Masato Tanaka (ZERO-ONE)

12. Naohiro Hoshikawa (ZERO-ONE)

13. Koji Kanemoto (NJPW)

14. Shinya Hashimoto (ZERO-ONE)

15. Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW)

16. Jun Akiyama (NOAH)

17. El Samurai (NJPW)

18. Mitsuharu Misawa (NOAH)

19. Osamu Nishimura (NJPW)

20. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (NOAH)

21. Tomoaki Honma (AJPW)

22. AKIRA (NJPW)

23. Gedo (NJPW)

24. Daisuke Ikeda (NOAH)

25. Taiyo Kea (AJPW)

26. Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW)

27. Michael Modest (NOAH)

28. Hiroshi Hase (AJPW)

29. Takao Omori (NOAH)

30. Jado (NJPW)

31. Kaz Hayashi (AJPW)

32. Takuma Sano (NOAH)

33. Keiji Muto (AJPW)

34. Masahiro Chono (NJPW)

35. Kentaro Shiga (NOAH)

36. Ryuji Hijikata (AJPW)

37. Masahito Kakihara (NJPW)

38. Wataru Inoue (NJPW)

39. Manabu Nakanishi (NJPW)

40. Shigeo Okumura (AJPW)

41. Vader (NOAH)

42. Akira Taue (NOAH)

43. Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW)

44. Steve Corino (ZERO-ONE)

45. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (NOAH)

46. Samoa Joe (ZERO-ONE)

47. Hideki Hosaka (AJPW)

48. Johnny Smith (AJPW)

49. Yoshihiro Takayama (NOAH)

50. Scorpio (NOAH)

51. Tatsumi Fujinami (NJPW)

52. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW)

53. Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW)

54. Donovan Morgan (NOAH)

55. Dan Devine (NJPW)

56. Mitsuya Nagai (AJPW)

57. Mohammed Yone (NOAH)

58. Kenzo Suzuki (NJPW)

59. Makoto Hashi (NOAH)

60. Tom Howard (ZERO-ONE)

61. KENTA (NOAH)

62. Gran Naniwa (AJPW)

63. Takeshi Rikio (NOAH)

64. Takeshi Morishima (NOAH)

65. Nobutaka Araya (AJPW)

66. Jim Steele (AJPW)

67. Akitoshi Saito (NOAH)

68. Hiro Saito (NJPW)

69. George Hines (AJPW)

70. Mike Barton (AJPW)

71. Kendo Ka Shin (AJPW)

72. Jimmy Yang (AJPW)

73. Bull Schmidt (NOAH)

74. Takashi Sugiura (NOAH)

75. Kazushi Miyamoto (AJPW)

76. Yoshito Sasaki (ZERO-ONE)

77. Kohei Sato (ZERO-ONE)

78. Nobukazu Hirai (AJPW)

79. Yutaka Yoshie (NJPW)

80. Steve Williams (AJPW)

81. Masayuki Naruse (NJPW)

82. Masao Inoue (NOAH)

83. Yoshinari Ogawa (NOAH)

84. Super J (NJPW)

85. Yoji Anjo (AJPW)

86. Kotaro Suzuki (NOAH)

87. Tadao Yasuda (NJPW)

88. Katsushi Takemura (NJPW)

89. Tatsutoshi Goto (NJPW)

90. Naoya Ogawa (UFO/ZERO-ONE)

91. Blue Wolf (NJPW)

92. Bison Smith (NOAH)

93. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (Fujiwara Group/ZERO-ONE)

94. Tamon Honda (NOAH)

95. Jun Izumida (NOAH)

96. Kishin Kawabata (NOAH)

97. Arashi (AJPW)

98. Wagyuuta (Yusaku) (ZERO-ONE)

99. Ryoji Sai (ZERO-ONE)

100. Rick Steiner (NJPW)

[Guest ultimo the great]

stu, what about toryumon? you could maybe do a lucharesu list(toryumon, mpro,osaka)