Omg, was anybody hurt?

Starcade 97 on TLF has been up for a week and has 16.8k views. In stark contrast to the previous week's getting 7k views and only one other has 10k views. Controversy creates views. It's a good episode.

100-51

100) Daisuke Ikeda (2251 points, 45 ballots, 50.98 avg, high: 11 - Microstatistics, 2006: 245)
99) Virus (2255 points, 44 ballots, 49.75 avg, high: 10 - Matt D, 2006: 364)
98) Kerry Von Erich (2274 points, 69 ballots, 68.04 avg, high: 21 - Chris Powell, 2006: 233)
97) The Destroyer (2276 points, 45 ballots, 50.42 avg, high: 20 - Yo-Yo's Roomie & Tim Cooke, 2006: 25)
96) L.A. Park (2358 points, 72 ballots, 68.36 avg, high: 4 - Dean Rasmussen, 2006: 125)
95) Sangre Chicana (2400 points, 46 ballots, 48.84 avg, high: 9 - stunning_grover, 2006: 194)
94) Shinsuke Nakamura (2424 points, 64 ballots, 63.13 avg, high: 14 - BackToBionic, 2006: unranked)
93) Bob Backlund (2495 points, 57 ballots, 57.40 avg, high: 5 - Scott Bernard, 2006: 76)
92) Dusty Rhodes (2503 points, 62 ballots, 60.66 avg, high: 7 - Kelly Nelson, 2006: 110)
91) Too Cold Scorpio (2521 points, 74 ballots, 67.27 avg, high: 1 - Mando>Eddie, 2006: 145)
90) Ron Garvin (2541 points, 73 ballots, 66.19 avg, high: 28: El Boricua, 2006: 237)
89) Atsushi Onita (2551 points, 65 ballots, 61.78 avg, high: 7 - anonymous, 2006: 129)
88) Sami Zayn (2600 points, 66 ballots, 61.62 avg, high: 8 - Mrzfn, 2006: unranked)
87) Cesaro (2603 points, 69 ballots, 63.28 avg, high: 14 - Mrzfn, 2006: unranked)
86) Hiroshi Tanahashi (2637 points, 51 ballots, 49.53 avg, high: 5 - ****tyLittleBoots & Lauren McKell, 2006: 370)
85) Manami Toyota (2684 points, 52 ballots, 50.10 avg, high: 1 - The Great Puma, 2006: 29)
84) The Undertaker (2776 points, 59 ballots, 53.95 avg, high: 14 - Trent Williams, 2006: 132)
83) Roddy Piper (2786 points, 67 ballots, 59.84 avg, high: 3 - John Steffy, 2006: 153)
82) Steve Williams (2807 points, 79 ballots, 65.47 avg, high: 17 - The Great Puma, 2006: 52)
81) Yoshihiro Tajiri (2813 points, 80 ballots, 65.84 avg, high: 15 - El Dragon, 2006: 294)
80) Tito Santana (2945 points, 74 ballots, 61.20 avg, high: 14 - Coffey, 2006: 208)
79) Terry Gordy (2945 points, 66 ballots, 56.14 avg, high: 8 - Lisa Lewis, 2006: 47)
78) Dynamite Kid (3037 points, 64 ballots, 54.19 avg, high: 2 - ChuckScumm, 2006: 14)
77) Rick Rude (3072 points, 83 ballots, 64.00 avg, high: 8 - Andrew Lacelle, 2006: 85)
76) Hiroshi Hase (3109 points, 73 ballots, 58.41 avg, high: 10 - anarchistxx, 2006: 33)
75) Hulk Hogan (3155 points, 78 ballots, 60.65 avg, high: 6 - Chris Powell, 2006: 86)
74) Atlantis (3197 points, 68 ballots, 54.04 avg, high: 6 - Frankensteiner, 2006: 94)
73) Chris Jericho (3220 points, 71 ballots, 55.65 avg, high: 16 - BlackToBionic, 2006: 84)
72) Brian Pillman (3275 points, 86 ballots, 63.06 avg, high: 3 - Mando>Eddie, 2006: 88)
71) Dick Togo (3280 points, 66 ballots, 51.30 avg, high: 12 - stunning_grover, 2006: 98)
70) Yuki Ishikawa (3287 points, 54 ballots, 40.22 avg, high: 6 - A Stock, 2006: 174)
69) Blue Panther (3397 points, 65 ballots, 48.77 avg, high: 7 - anonymous, 2006: 32)
68) Kurt Angle (3398 points, 64 ballots, 48.36 avg, high: 3 - Derek C & BackToBionic, 2006: 80)
67) Jack Brisco (3431 points, 65 ballots, 48.28 avg, high: 6 - John Steffy, 2006: 48)
66) Keiji Mutoh (3535 points, 74 ballots, 53.31 avg, high: 5 - Chris Powell, 2006: 53)
65) Shinjiro Ohtani (3616 points, 80 ballots, 55.80 avg, high: 21 - GOTNW & anonymous, 2006: 27)
64) Sgt. Slaughter (3768 points, 87 ballots, 57.69 avg, high: 14 - Kelly Nelson, 2006: 99)
63) Giant Baba (3768 points, 80 ballots, 54.10 avg, high: 2 - jackwebb, 2006: 30)
62) Kiyoshi Tamura (3880 points, 55 ballots, 31.11 avg, high: 2 - anonymous, 2006: 63)
61) Bull Nakano (3902 points, 72 ballots, 46.81 avg, high: 9 - Bill Thompson, 2006: 43)
60) Volk Han (3913 points, 68 ballots, 44.60 avg, high: 1 - Frankensteiner & anonymous, 2006: 42)
59) Samoa Joe (4098 points, 103 ballots, 61.21 avg, high: 18 - Woof & mprice, 2006: 116)
58) Owen Hart (4103 points, 94 ballots, 57.35 avg, high: 10 - Mando>Eddie & Scarlet-Left, 2006: 37)
57) Bill Dundee (4215 points, 87 ballots, 52.55 avg, high: 11 - Parties, 2006: 136)
56) Jim Breaks (4338 points, 67 ballots, 36.28 avg, high: 7 - Matt D, 2006: 115)
55) Curt Hennig (4624 points, 100 ballots, 55.05 avg, high: 1 - Lisa Lewis, 2006: 45)
54) Greg Valentine (4691 points, 99 ballots, 53.62 avg, high: 13 - Dean Rasmussen, 2006: 170)
53) Dick Murdoch (4799 points, 92 ballots, 49.03 avg, high: 3 - Dean Rasmussen, 2006: 51)
52) Akira Hokuto (4850 points, 76 ballots, 37.45 avg, high: 3 - Badlittlekitten, 2006: 15)
51) Andre The Giant (4971 points, 105 ballots, 53.81 avg, high: 5 - Mando>Eddie, 2006: 164)

50-1

50) Billy Robinson (5066 points, 91 ballots, 45.37 avg, high: 6 - Rob AnimalGlue, 2006: 36)
49) Aja Kong (4085 points, 83 ballots, 39.89 avg, high: 3 - anarchistxx, 2006: 18)
48) Fit Finlay (5216 points, 101 ballots, 49.30 avg, high: 6 - El Dragon, 2006: 55)
47) Brock Lesnar (5265 points, 110 ballots, 53.32 avg, high: 2 - Scott Bernard, 2006: 143)
46) CM Punk (5334 points, 105 ballots, 50.22 avg, high: 7 - jpchicago23, 2006: 425)
45) Harley Race (5374 points, 93 ballots, 43.78 avg, high: 1 - Manatee, 2006: 12)
44) Tully Blanchard (5610 points, 109 ballots, 49.64 avg, high: 3 - Scarlet-Left, 2006: 57)
43) Rick Martel (5636 points, 104 ballots, 46.82 avg, high: 8 - anonymous, 2006: 96)
42) Ted DiBiase (5637 points, 110 ballots, 49.77 avg, high: 7 - anonymous, 2006: 40)
41) Riki Choshu (5647 points, 97 ballots, 42.79 avg, high: 8 - GOTNW, 2006: 100)
40) Yoshiaki Fujiawara (5647 points, 81 ballots, 32.64 avg, high: 1 - A Stock, 2006: 119)
39) AJ Styles (5759 points, 109 ballots, 48.20 avg, high: 6 - Hasan Mulla, 2006: 301)
38) Mick Foley (6003 points, 121 ballots, 51.44 avg, high: 5 - Beast, 2006: 70)
37) El Satanico (6041 points, 83 ballots, 29.73 avg, high: 2 - Elliot, A Stock & Micostatistics, 2006: 89)
36) Buddy Rose (6142 points, 92 ballots, 34.66 avg, high: 2 - Devon Hales, 2006: 239)
35) El Dandy (6368 points, 96 ballots, 34.70 avg, high: 7 - Tim Evans, 2006: 67)
34) Chris Benoit (6396 points, 93 ballots, 32.88 avg, high: 2 - anarchistxx & Mrzfn, 2006: 3)
33) Ricky Morton (6613 points, 116 ballots, 43.99 avg, high: 13 - anonymous, 2006: 75)
32) Dustin Rhodes (6861 points, 124 ballots, 45.69 avg, high: 7 - jackwebb, 2006: 137)
31) Shawn Michaels (7187 points, 111 ballots, 38.11 avg, high: 1 - Jimmy Redman & ElHijodeGorgeousGeorge)

Someone rated Scorpio the #1 worker of all time.

That's about right.

Mando's list itself is almost like a work of performance art.

Cena was #30 by the way.

Ron Garvin between Tanahashi and Nakamura. Seems legit.

Ron Garvin is ****ing incredible. You need to see more if you haven't.

Not sure if you're serious. I'm only familiar with his title run vs Flair that was universally panned and his later WWF run.

The whole list is weird. Kerry Von Erich has a terrible reputation as a worker. Rhodes is known as not great worker who had incredible charisma. And they are both in the same decile as Nakamura. Those two are well-behind Hogan. Benoit at 34 seems really low unless you take into account the whole double murder thing.

When you say you are familiar with his title run, does that mean you've just watched Starrcade 87 or have you watched the title win in the cage and the 85 Flair studio bout also?

Those matches are stiff, incredible brawls that show Flair at his most fired up.

Garvin has great matches with Tully also. And some good stuff working ICW / Memphis with Savage and Lanny Poffo.

The 89 Greg Valentine feud has some great stuff too, especially on the MSG house shows.

This community are people who really think that the Scott Keiths of this world are outmoded, and who watch footage and draw conclusions based on that footage. The view of Garvin as being bad because he bombed as world champ is just based on some pretty lazy reviewing from the late 90s and early 00s.

We go on what we see, not on rep.

Kerry has lots of really good matches and was easily the best worker out of the von Erichs. Match vs. Jumbo is a classic. He has good stuff vs. Flair and others also.

You need to be able to challenge your preconceptions and also to keep an open mind and actually watch footage.

Also, Tanahashi and Nakamura making the list, was to some extent because the voting was opened up. Those guys got a good bump.

I had Garvin on my list, neither of those two.

Kerry didn't quite make the cut for me, but clearly did for a lot of others.

I was going to question El Dandy at #35 all-time, but that would just open me up to "who are you to doubt El Dandy?"

It looks like quite a few people left Benoit off their list; 124 people put Dustin Rhodes, 116 for Ricky Morton on and only 93 for Benoit.

The two footed version of Kerry Von Erich had a great reputation as a worker. He only had a bad rep after he lost the foot at age 26. He had five singles matches that placed in the Observer match of the year rankings over a three year span even though half the time he was working tag and six man matches rather than singles.

Also, Dustin's always been regarded as a great worker. I know you're (LKJ) not a fan of his Goldust beginning but in WCW from 91-95 he was an elite worker.

62) Kiyoshi Tamura (3880 points, 55 ballots, 31.11 avg, high: 2 - anonymous, 2006: 63)

60) Volk Han (3913 points, 68 ballots, 44.60 avg, high: 1 - Frankensteiner & anonymous, 2006: 42)

Anonymous is a big fan of RINGS! Shoot-style is a largely forgotten part of 90s wrestling, so it's nice to see them represented here.

I'm underexposed to his early WCW stuff, but it's easy enough to believe this. The overwhelming majority of my complaint about early Goldust is the staggering amount of stalling he would do to sell the character. When he mixed it up his work didn't look bad at all.

30) John Cena (7502 points, 126 ballots, 41.70 avg, high: 3 – James Derbyshire, 2006: unranked)
29) El Hijo del Santo (7579 points, 95 ballots, 22.52 avg, high: 1 – Jetlag, 2006: 20)
28) Bobby Eaton (7630 points, 128 ballots, 41.39 avg, high: 13 – Matt D & anonymous, 2006: 49)
27) Jun Akiyama (7686 points, 114 ballots, 33.97 avg, high: 3 – Tanner Teat & Alan Counihan, 2006: 50)
26) Akira Taue (7850 points, 121 ballots, 36.16 avg, high: 6 – Ismael Retena, 2006: 26)
25) Barry Windham (7987 points, 130 ballots, 39.56 avg, high: 10 – John Steffy, 2006: 28)
24) Steve Austin (9001 points, 139 ballots, 37.02 avg, high: 1 – DMJ, 2006: 16)
23) Shinya Hashimoto (9107 points, 119 ballots, 25.45 avg, high: 1 – GOTNW, 2006: 24)
22) Negro Casas (9251 points, 108 ballots, 19.03 avg, high: 1 – JR Goldman, tim, cubbtmark & Sam DiMascio, 2006: 38)
21) William Regal (9422 points, 138 ballots, 33.01 avg, high: 2 – Phil Rippa, 2006: 54)
20) Tatsumi Fujinami (9429 points, 124 ballots, 25.94 avg, high: 2 – Kris Zellner, 2006: 58)
19) Arn Anderson (9443 points, 144 ballots, 35.49 avg, high: 5 – Lisa Lewis, 2006: 34)
18) Randy Savage (10548 points, 138 ballots, 26.46 avg, high: 1 – Goodear, Chris Powell, Scott Bernard & Kelly Nelson)
17) Bret Hart (10757 points, 138 ballots, 26.14 avg, high: 1 – Andrew Lacelle, NoyJayTabb, Scalret-Left, Beast, BAMbtb, Hasan Mulla, jpchicago23, The Chief & anonymous; 2006: 9)
16) Nick Bockwinkel (10799 points, 132 ballots, 21.41 avg, high: 1 – Matt D & Lee Casebolt)
15) Ricky Steamboat (11050 points, 144 ballots, 24.64 avg, high: 2 – Derel C, 2006: 13)
14) Vader (11140 points, 148 ballots, 26.24 avg, high: 2 – anonymous, 2006: 17)
13) Genichiro Tenryu (11318 points, 131 ballots, 17.51 avg, high: 1 – Tanner Teat, Dean Rasmussen, djhaigh, Microstatistics & anonymous)
12) Eddie Guerrero (11369 points, 146 ballots, 24.16 avg, high: 1 – Gus_Mcrae, 2006: 6)
11) Jumbo Tsuruta (11538 points, 135 ballots, 19.29 avg, high: 1 – El-P, Brass Ring Club, Yo-Yo's Roomie, Dave Musgrave, Dylan Harris, 2006: 1)
10) Jerry Lawler (11603 points, 136 ballots, 18.76 avg, high: 1 – goc, Tim Livingston, Phil Schneider, benj, Polish_Hammer, goodhelmet, 2006: 41)
9) Toshiaki Kawada (11784 points, 129 ballots, 13.19 avg, high: 1 – ChuckScumm, anarchistxx, AstroBoy, AndyLFC & anonymous; 2006: 2)
8) Kenta Kobashi (11898 points, 135 ballots, 16.62 avg, high: 1 – Alan Counihan, Lauren McKell, Marty Sleaze, Winged Eagle, anonymous & anonymous; 2006: 5)
7) Rey Mysterio Jr. (11910 points, 146 ballots, 20.92 avg, high: 1 – El Dragon, Zero & donsem43, 2006: 22)
6) Jushin Liger (12291 points, 145 ballots, 18.03 avg, high: 1 – BuryWindham/VicVenomBytes, 2006: 4)
5) Daniel Bryan (12302 points, 142 ballots, 17.63 avg, high: 1 – Danny Kichler, @jamesie_2015, ****tyLittleBoots, James Derbyshire, Venegas, Dan Rice, Quentin Skinner, Mrzfn & anonymous, 2006: 117)
4) Mitsuharu Misawa (13216 points, 137 ballots, 10.23 avg, high: 1 – Tim Cooke, Ismael Retana, Chad Campbell, Dustin Hales, Rob AnimalGlue, The Thread Killer, stunning_grover, Andrew79 & anonymous X3, 2006: 7)
3) Stan Hansen (13813 points, 143 ballots, 11.06 avg, high: 1 – Bill Thompson, Coffey, InYourCase, Childs, Devon Hales, overbooked, Stiva, KB8, Phil Rippa, MoS & anonymous, 2006: 10)
2) Terry Funk (14452 points, 148 ballots, 11.36 avg, high: 1 - Joe G, TravJ1979, Elliott, Laney, Grimmas, The Russian Daydream, PeteF3, Josh Ritter, Trent Williams, Kris Zellner, topropepodcast, ShipCanal, Jimbo Tsuruta, simen oem, John Steffy, Dr Ackermann, Jon Burr, Parties, victory, benjaminkicks, JAEDMC, The Man in Blak, El Boricua, & Dylan Waco, anonymous; 2006: 11)
1) Ric Flair (15261 points, 148 ballots, 7.95 avg, high: 1 - TheU_2001, Loss, Derek C, Moonsault Marvin, Tim Evans, Jerryvonkramer, BackToBionic, Paul Cooke, Woof, supremebve, anchor, mprice, Justin Webb, Cross Face Chicken Wing, Timothy Buechner, Steven White, Paul Völsch, Danish Dynamite, Shoe, Conker8, Fishbaugh, Ricky Whittenburg, Brad, Floyd, JazeUSA, MikeF , Badlittlekitten, & peachchaos, and anonymous 2; 2006: 8)

Awesome list, thanks for posting.

I find it rather strange that Bockwinkel is ranked so much higher than Ray Stevens when everyone who was around at the time, including Bockwinkel, will tell you Stevens was better. I suppose it is a result of the material that is out there though; Bockwinkel was still almost as good at 50 as he was at 35, while Stevens wasn't.

I don't get Cena at 30 at all. Not even a little. I figured he'd be around the same range as a Triple H -- can have fantastic matches when paired with a really good worker, but can't carry anyone. You'd certainly never convince me that he's better than Shawn Michaels in any sense.

I don't see how Cena could be 30 when the Rock in the 100s. You can define 'worker' in a way that makes Cena an amazing worker if you focus on showmanship and crowd interest and carrying yourself as a star as opposed to technicality, but that definition would also make The Rock an amazing worker; better than Cena in fact.

I surmise it's due to Rock being popular and Cena being unpopular. Entire exercise - from the start of xpac ranking and subsequent "watched a lot of wrestling, your argument is invalid" defense of it - has focused on being contrarian.

Don't get me wrong, most lists end up doing that (whats the point without HOT TAKES) and I can't hate on some podcasters taking the skip bayless approach to increase listeners (especially considering it worked). I just wouldn't try to take it seriously and compare similarities between Cena/Rock despite their difference in rankings.

I will hate on the Skip Bayless approach forever. Mainly because I'm a journalist and hate how much "entertainment" has taken charge of media.

That has nothing to do with the list being discussed, as I have no real idea if "trolling/being contrarian" was a part of it — and I lean toward believing it was not. I may not agree with the list and/or the criteria specific people used in their rankings, but that's a different story.

I'd probably hate on it a lot more if it involved my work rather than me getting to just roll my eyes and then moving on with my day. So I definitely understand. It's kind of interesting looking at how things evolved in sports media/journalism. It seems like every show is now a debate show where people rarely agree about anything. I wish I could remember where to find a piece I read a handful of years ago that went into the reasoning behind doing things that way. The gist involved if you have someone expressing a viewpoint for each side, no matter which side the viewer agrees with the have incentive to sit around to nod along. And it's only really continued going that way. Even talk show radio has shifted further from "two people shooting the **** on current events in sports" to people always disagreeing.

The funny think is, as much as I dislike Bayless now, I remember when he used to be a lowly column writer for the Merc, and I used to really like his articles. Then somebody realized what a douchebag he was and he turned that into his brand, and urrrrrggg it's so ****ing bad.

The accusations of bad faith are misplaced.

I already miss the Flair podcast.