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| Two of what the top ten would look like if only ten wrestlers were submitted per ballot Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein |
Anyway, the voting for the TWB 100 may seem wonky because it is by design. I value and always have valued inclusion over uniformity, which is why ballots could have anywhere between 25 and 100 wrestlers on them. But what if the TWB 100 had uniformity? Well, with the ballots, I have two different avenues: clip all ballots down to a fixed length or only count ballots with a full slate of votes. Clipping the ballots is easy and the most inclusive option, and actually, this year, I decided to try it two ways. The first way, which I will present today, will be only to count the top ten in everyone's ballot.
Why only the top ten? Well, the top ten wrestlers are generally regarded as the creme de la creme of the field. Sure, one can submit a top 25 ballot, but once that person gets to like 15 or 16, maybe the interest starts petering out. When considering only ten, then the probability of getting a top 100 that truly represents what the voting populace considered to be excellent during the year goes up. Wrestlers who shuffled up the list based on getting a multitude of 20th, 30th, 50th place votes on name recognition fritter away for the wrestlers that REALLY took the hearts of voters. So without further ado, from the Coke Freestyle machine, the TWB 100 if all ballots only had ten wrestlers apiece. As always, tiebreakers are higher high vote first, then most ballots. This ballot, however, had quite a few ties as you'll see below:
1. AJ Styles 519 points (no change from standard TWB 100 placement)
2. Sami Zayn 215 points (+1)
3. Kevin Owens 212 points (-1)
4. Chris Hero 184 points (+18)
5. Scott Dawson 165 points (+3)
6. Asuka 155 points (-1)
7. Shinsuke Nakamura 136 points (+2)
8. Matt Riddle 116 points (+19)
9. Cesaro 115 points (-2)
10. Samoa Joe 111 points (+6)
11. Sasha Banks 104 points (-7)
12. Dash Wilder 99 points (-2)
13. John Cena 88 points (-2)
14. Johnny Gargano 85 points (-8)
15. Trevor Lee 68 points (+33)
16. Ricochet/Prince Puma 62 points (+7)
17. Zack Sabre, Jr. 55 points (no change)
18. Charlotte Flair 55 points (-4)
19. Kimber Lee 47 points (+24)
20. Finn Bálor 44 points (+8)
21. Fred Yehi 42 points (+35)
22. Heidi Lovelace 41 points (+11)
23. Drew Gulak 40 points (+3)
24. Becky Lynch 39 points (-12)
25. The Miz 36 points (-5)
26. Kota Ibushi 30 points (-5)
27. Broken Matt Hardy 29 points (+30)
28. Chris Jericho 29 points (+7)
29. Fenix 28 points (+11)
30. Roman Reigns 28 points (-15)
31. Marty Scurll 26 points (+44)
32. Cedric Alexander 25 points (-13)
33. Tommaso Ciampa 24 points (-20)
34. Pentagon Jr./Dark 24 points (-2)
35. Bayley 24 points (-17)
36. Alexa Bliss 21 points (+3)
37. Hallowicked 18 points (+27)
38. Fire Ant 18 points (+45)
39. Lio Rush 18 points (+30)
40. Dean Ambrose 17 points (-10)
41. Rey Mysterio, Jr. 17 points (+63)
42. Adam Cole 16 points (+24)
43. Bray Wyatt 16 points (+9)
44. Jonathan Gresham 15 points (+58)
45. Chuck Taylor/DUSTIN/etc. 15 points (+18)
46. Matt Jackson 15 points (-4)
47. Sami Callihan/Jeremiah Crane 14 points (+32)
48. Joey Janela 13 points (+82)
49. "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams 13 points (+21)
50. Goldberg 12 points (+109)
51. Johnny Mundo 12 points (+23)
52. Luke Harper 11 points (-2)
53. Chad Gable 11 points (-29)
54.(t) Tyler Bate 10 points (+34)
54.(t) Tetsuya Naito 10 points (+100)
54.(t) Tommy End 10 points (+35)
57. Nick Jackson 10 points (-12)
58.(t) Jeff Cobb/Matanza Cueto 10 points (-27)
58.(t) Arik Royal 10 points (+53)
60.(t) Trent Seven 9 points (+34)
60.(t) Ophidian 9 points (+62)
60.(t) Big E 9 points (-24)
63. Dalton Castle 9 points (-5)
64. Jason Jordan 9 points (-39)
65. Kyle O'Reilly 9 points (-5)
66.(t) Baron Corbin 8 points (-22)
66.(t) Jay Briscoe 8 points (+58)
66.(t) The Gem City Infant 8 points (+204)
69. Bobby Lashley 8 points (+4)
70. Will Ospreay 8 points (-21)
71. Soldier Ant 7 points (+132)
72. David Starr 7 points (+69)
73.(t) Neville 6 points (-12)
73.(t) Frightmare 6 points (+48)
73.(t) Rickey Shane Page 6 points (+152)
73.(t) Toru Yano 6 points (+198)
77.(t) Bobby Roode 5 points (-30)
77.(t) Dasher Hatfield 5 points (+9)
77.(t) Mil Muertes 5 points (+1)
77.(t) TJ Perkins/TJP 5 points (-16)
77.(t) Jeff Hardy/Brother Nero 5 points (+16)
77.(t) Andrew Everett 5 points (+19)
77.(t) Kerry Awful 5 points (+116)
84.(t) Rusev 5 points (-55)
84.(t) Brian Kendrick 5 points (-30)
86. Donovan Dijak 5 points (+9)
87.(t) Braun Strowman 4 points (-32)
87.(t) ACH 4 points (+16)
87.(t) Rosemary/Courtney Rush 4 points (+86)
87.(t) Nick Iggy 4 points (+112)
91.(t) Juan Francisco de Coronado 4 points (+15)
91.(t) Barretta 4 points (+68)
93.(t) Jack Gallagher 3 points (-52)
93.(t) Anthony Henry 3 points (+33)
93.(t) Jade/Mia Yim 3 points (+47)
93.(t) Xavier Woods 3 points (-6)
93.(t) El Dragon Azteca/Rey Horus 3 points (+25)
93.(t) Davey Vega 3 points (+105)
93.(t) Icarus 3 points (+110)
100. Silver Ant 3 points (+9)
So, Styles' placement didn't change, and spoiler alert, no matter how many variations I do on this, it's not gonna change. He was the best wrestler in America according to the voters no longer how the roll gets sliced. Chris Hero and Matt Riddle invade the top ten, which is not surprising at all given how beloved they were among the people who watched them. My favorite development is Fred Yehi, my first place vote, shooting up from the mid-50s up to the top 25. I meant everything I've ever written about him, and you'll all love him even if I die trying. It's also pretty funny to see how many wrestlers shoot up in upwards of 100, even 200 slots as well only because the only vote they got was in the top ten. Finally, I'm proud to announce that this iteration of the TWB 100 has a legit infant on it. I'd just leave you all with proof that the Gem City Infant participated in a wrestling match, much at the chagrin of Chuck Taylor™, but Twitter doesn't let you download .gifs. Bullshit! Anyway, peruse the list, think about it, and compare it to the standard one. Tomorrow, I'll expand the voting to top 25 votes.