DylanWaco

At this point I ALMOST want Joe to win this so I can make my list of 50 guys who appeared on CWF Mid-Atlantic tv in the last year who had clearly better 2016's than he did.

I don't like either guy really, but I voted for Omega because he's not on a weekly show that I often find myself watching. That was literally the deciding factor. I have to see Omega less so I voted for him

I saw Nakamura live too many times to rate him over Reigns. On the other hand I might be the higher on Nakamura v. Roode than anyone on Earth so there is that

Charlotte is overrated, but I voted for her because of the Sasha series which is both the worst and best thing the WWE did all of last year. Yes it became a feud about what they could do rather than what they should do, but they were in a position so unique I can't really fault them for that. I honestly see the Sasha/Charlotte matches as weirdly analogous to the Dynamite/Tiger Mask series but Sasha and Charlotte's matches were more likely to be good.

I'm not sure Joe was a top 250 wrestler in the world last year, so this is an amusing result to me if it holds

I really do want Sami Zayn to turn into a good, consistent, tv wrestler. That's the only way he has a shot in WWE long term. He's just not there yet.

I want Samoa Joe to be good still, and he's a good promo, but I'd basically have to be a hardline NXT cultist to buy the idea he had a year roughly 1/4 as good as Riddle's. I mean...I attended 6 or 7 NXT events last year, and saw Joe live an awful lot so maybe I am an NXT cultist. But I just don't see any evidence to support the idea he's in the same universe as Riddle. Granted I'm less in line with the Segunda Caida critique that he's an emerging Angle BUT even if he was a 2004 Angle I'd take 2004 Angle over 2016 Samoa Joe 100 out of 100 times. Joe is a guy who was actually HURT some by me seeing him live last year and I say that as someone who has been a fan of his for well over a decade. If you were hurt by me seeing you live you shouldn't get out of the first round.

Hit me on Twitter when that happens. This year I'll either sit out on March Madness or vote against all the New Japan guys

Kind of feel like Joey Janela should at least make a play in. He's managed to make himself a top guy on the indies through viral suicide spots and Bad Boy Schtick and he's had some really good matches along the way. Generally I think the field lacks the sort of outside the box pick that people get indignant over when they lose handily in the first round. My view is that these type of guys are critical to the process. Here id argue for PWX ace/SCI standout Anthony Henry, or Nova Pro ace and CWF standout Arik Royal. Both are likely to be top 30ish guys to people who followed them closely and will have strong advocates

My vote is a vote for Jason Jordan

I voted for Brock because CMLL booking sucks until this year when it's kinda been goodish at times.

Voted for Tanahashi. Better matches and better hair.

For some reason this thread made me forget that I forgot to lobby for Cheeseburger

Still annoyed about the leg selling

So I take it you are in Bill's "she is a glorified backyarder" camp Actually no. I'm an agnostic on her. But I haven't really watched her in part because anytime she comes up people say something like OH GOD SHE SUCKS. My post wasn't a troll. I literally didn't realize she had a large fanbase.

Still haven't voted. I love Rush, but I thought CMLL was pretty disappointing last year, and nothing stands out. As a character he's incredible, and I like him way more than Sydal. But Sydal had a lot more matches I liked going from memory. Someone help.

Have you seen Gargano v Red from AIW, or his matches from Evolve late last year? I really liked all of them which was shocking to me to be honest.

Welcome to March Madness Dylan, I hope this is the first of many absurd pieces of hyperbole I'll read from you this year. How is this hyperbolic? In every way possible. I'm not saying it is an invalid opinion, people like what they like. Stating that a guy who has been in the indies for a month or two having more great matches than someone who has been at the top of the card putting on critically acclaimed matches over a series of years is a hyperbolic way to say, "I prefer Sami Calihan to Kazuchika Okada." No. It's just an opinion you don't agree with. I will say that it may have been ill considered because I forgot about the AJ matches and one of those I really liked a lot. I'd also say that while I don't really get what is supposed to be great about Okada I've argued for a long time that his value to NJPW has been drastically underplayed by Meltzer and others. So I freely concede that he's a star. I'm just largely indifferent to him as a wrestler.

Wait. People like Kimber Lee?

I like the idea of KUSHIDA more than the reality of him. Feel like last year he was badly exposed as a guy who when left to his own devices will do the same old dumbass shit that makes me heavy sigh at a lot of modern wrestling. Asuka has great presence, and even though no great matches in the voting period, she comes across as a massive star.

Callihan has already had more matches I think are great or near great since coming back to the indies than Okada has had in the last three or four years.

Nothing against Hojo, but Trevor Lee in CWF Mid-Atlantic is one of my two or three favorite wrestlers on Earth. I don't give a damn about him or anything in TNA or really PWG either (though I did like some of his matches in PWG), but watching him have genius long matches with Brad Attitude, do awesome old school Southern tag work in great matches, and tear it up in the brilliant 6 pack challenge match they ran...I mean Hojo has a good elbow which is cool. She's winning and that's fine. But nah.

I like EC3 for someone operating in hell, but after seeing Ciampa live I couldn't vote against him. He has an innate charisma that really radiates in person. He's improved and become more consistent all at once too. He even had a worthwhile non-casket match with Fenix for AAW. Plus I feel like this is a proxy vote for Chip Day

It warms my heart to see Emma ahead

Muertes is the only LU guy I could see voting for pretty consistently. Having said that I haven't even looked at the bracket to see who he'll be up against next.