We Assume You're All Librarians With A Fetish For Ordered Numbers.
We've got a real good part to the list here tonight, with promotions represented for the first time and some fairly big upsets in the ranking battles. We have the world's craziest mom, the world's palest luchador, and not one but TWO men who have been wrestling industry pariahs in recent years. Where will they, and the other 22 men and women stack up as we close the book on the bottom half of this year's countdown? There's only one way to find out. Unless you you just ask someone. Then that, I guess, would count as another way as well. But since you're sitting right here you might as well let me do it.
Now behold! The tally of greatness!
So okay, before we get into this, allow me to repost the FAQ from yesterday for those who may have missed it the first time around. Knowledge is power.
Q: What are you judging based on?
A: Individual in ring performance, with the emphasis on individual.
Q: How did you research for this?
A:
Tirelessly, for one thing. I made a point to watch every major show by
every significant promotion over the course of the past year and
supplement it as much as possible with other shows as well. I left no
stone unturned in trying to find talent wherever there might be some.
Q: Why 100?
A: Because 500 forces you to include people who aren't really worthy of consideration, and 276 wasn't symmetrical enough.
Q: So where are you going to rank the Undertaker/Brock Lesnar/The Rock/Triple H etc?
A:
I'm not going to. In order to make things as fair as possible across
the board, I required that in order to be eligible for this list, you
have to have wrestled at least 5 matches in the past calender year. Any
less than that and there just isn't a fair sample size to base an
educated opinion on. And Taker (1 match), Brock (2 matches), Rock (2
matches), and Triple H (3 matches) do not make the cut. Adjust your
expectations accordingly.
Q: John Cena's not on here, is he?
A: Oh yeah, he totally is.
Q: Why are you combining the men and women on one list? That's not fair to the women, is it?
A: Judging by some of the women you'll find on this list, it might not be fair to the men.
Q: This is just the first 25, when will you be releasing the rest?
A:
The will be 25 posted each day, ending before Raw on Monday Night. So
that's 100-76 tonight, 75-51 tomorrow, 50-26 on Sunday and the coup de
grace on Monday.
Q: But why did *insert my favorite wrestler* rank below *insert wrestler I don't like*?
A: Because I said so.
Q: But you can't possibly actually think...
A: Yep.
Q: But that's ridic...
A: Nope.
Q: ...
A: That's right. Never argue with science.
Alright,
that's enough with the questions already. Let's get down to the meat of
the thing. Here are numbers 75-51 on the CRL 100 list of the best
wrestlers of 2012!
75. El Generico (ROH)74. Suwama (AJPW)
73. Michael Elgin (ROH)
72. Christopher Daniels (TNA)
71. Tommaso Ciampa (ROH)
70. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (NJPW)
69. Primo (WWE)
68. Portia Perez (SHIMMER)
67. LuFisto (NC:FF)
66. Davey Richards (ROH)
65. Samoa Joe (TNA)
64. Adam Cole (ROH)
63. Richie Steamboat (FCW)
62. Santino Marella (WWE)
61. MVP (NJPW)
60. Johnny Gargano (DGUSA)
59. Cody Rhodes (WWE)
58. Saraya Knight (SHIMMER)
57. Mike Quackenbush (CHIKARA)
56. Jeff Hardy (TNA)
55. Masakatsu Funaki (Freelance)
54. Kevin Steen (ROH)
53. Akira Tozawa (DG)
52. Takeshi Morishima (NOAH)
51. Ryusuke Taguchi (NJPW)
But okay, that'll do it for us tonight. Remember to check back tomorrow for Part 3 of the CRL 100 documenting numbers 50 - 26. Until then, remember to keep reading and be good to one another.
8 comments:
While this list has been decent so far it would be that much better with a little work put into explaining what each guy or gal has done to deserve their rank. I appreciate you wanted to get the list out there quickly.
As above, some logical explaination to Primo at 69 would have been nice...
The top 50 will have explanations to them. If you have any questions about specific guys in specific spots, I'd be glad to answer them.
As for Primo, he has been tremendous this year in limited opportunities. He's smooth in the ring, a tremendous seller, and when he's been given the opportunity he has a habit of stealing the show.
Love the list! Though I do have a question about what criteria puts Santino above Daniels and Joe?
Santino isn't as good of a wrestler in general as those guys, not even close, but over the past year he's been more consistent and has really stepped his game up in big moments, while the other two have been very inconsistent. Hell, until the team with Magnus, Joe hadn't had a decent match in years.
Santino is meant to be a comedy character with flashes of legitimacy. He excels in this role fantastically. So while the role gives his performances a glass ceiling in terms of how good they can really be, that still puts him ahead of guys who haven't lived up to their abilities.
Johnny Gargano's work must be better in DGUSA. His "home promotion" stuff in PRIME Wrestling leaves no doubt that the show quite frequently emanates from
Gargano's Catering and Restaurant.
He's done great work in DGUSA, CHIKARA, and Pro Wrestling Ohio that I've seen. I didn't even know that Prime Wrestling was a thing, honestly.
I will defer to you. I am not a big fan of Gargano as I find him boring and predictable (but that's based on three local shows so not a huge sample).
PRIME Wrestling is Pro Wrestling Ohio just "rebranded".
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