Fun with The 2016 TWB 100: What If I Used WDKW 100 Weighted Scoring?

Gresham would've made the cut with weighted scoring Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

Today's hypothetical exercise doesn't fiddle with the number of wrestlers on each ballot, but the amount of points they get. Specifically, what if the people in the top ten had their votes weighted more heavily? Tuesday, I posted a TWB 100 variation that only counted people's top ten votes for the reason that the top ten feels like a good postmarker for excellence. Expanding on that idea, would integrating that idea into the full ballot be prudent? Luckily, another project already worked that idea into its own inner mechanics.

The WDKW 100 has also been in the process of rolling out in the last few weeks. Like the TWB 100, it's a crowd-sourced list of the best wrestlers in the ring. Unlike the TWB 100, it counts the whole world, has a mandatory ballot size of 100 wrestlers, and it has a weighted vote structure at the top. Specifically, a first place vote is worth 125 points instead of 100, and the incremental decrease going down in the top ten isn't just one point lost per lower slot. The breakdown is actually as follows:

• 1st Place - 125 points
• 2nd Place - 115 points
• 3rd Place - 110 points
• 4th Place - 105 points
• 5th Place - 102 points
• 6th Place - 99 points
• 7th Place - 96 points
• 8th Place - 94 points
• 9th Place - 92 points
• 10th Place - 90 points*

From 11th through 100th place, the point values line up with the TWB 100's. That setup got me wondering. How would the TWB 100 look if it weighted the top ten votes the same way while counting every other vote as it was beforehand? One outcome that seemed natural to me and was proven was that AJ Styles' lead would pretty much jump. The following is the list with WDKW 100 weighting, and of course, the same tiebreakers are in place here as have been throughout.

1. AJ Styles 7102 points (No change from standard TWB 100 points ranking)
2. Kevin Owens 5641 points (No change)
3. Sami Zayn 5518 points (No change)
4. Sasha Banks 5227 points (No change)
5. Asuka 5069 points (No change)
6. Scott Dawson 4984 points (+2)
7. Cesaro 4895 points (No change)
8. Johnny Gargano 4885 points (-2)
9. Shinsuke Nakamura 4734 points (No change)
10. Dash Wilder 4548 points (No change)
11. John Cena 4213 points (No change)
12. Becky Lynch 4138 points (No change)
13. Tommaso Ciampa 4027 points (No change)
14. Samoa Joe 3971 points (+2)
15. Charlotte Flair 3963 points (-1)
16. Roman Reigns 3908 points (-1)
17. Zack Sabre, Jr. 3802 points (No change)
18. Bayley 3692 points (No change)
19. Cedric Alexander 3655 points (No change)
20. Chris Hero 3638 points (+2)
21. The Miz 3573 points (-1)
22. Kota Ibushi 3502 points (-1)
23. Ricochet/Prince Puma 3335 points (No change)
24. Matt Riddle 3184 points (+3)
25. Chad Gable 3142 points (-1)
26. Drew Gulak 3104 points (No change)
27. Jason Jordan 3061 points (-2)
28. Finn Bálor 2984 points (No change)
29. Rusev 2697 points (No change)
30. Dean Ambrose 2680 points (No change)
31. Jeff Cobb/Matanza Cueto 2616 points (No change)
32. Pentagon Jr./Dark 2414 points (No change)
33. Heidi Lovelace 2305 points (No change)
34. Seth Rollins 2252 points (No change)
35. Chris Jericho 2212 points (No change)
36. Big E 2169 points (No change)
37. Sheamus 2122 points (No change)
38. Alexa Bliss 2102 points (+1)
39. Rich Swann 2098 points (-1)
40. Fenix 2080 points (No change)
41. Jack Gallagher 2007 points (No change)
42. Matt Jackson 2003 points (No change)
43. Kimber Lee 1989 points (No change)
44. Baron Corbin 1926 points (No change)
45. Trevor Lee 1917 points (+3)
46. Nick Jackson 1863 points (-1)
47. Bobby Roode 1836 points (No change)
48. Gran Metalik 1836 points (-2)
49. Luke Harper 1830 points (+1)
50. Will Ospreay 1824 points (-1)
51. TJ Perkins/TJP 1722 points (No change)
52. Bray Wyatt 1716 points (No change)
53. Tye Dillinger 1677 points (No change)
54. Fred Yehi 1675 points (+2)
55. Brian Kendrick 1675 points (-1)
56. Braun Strowman 1625 points (-1)
57. Broken Matt Hardy 1564 points (No change)
58. Dalton Castle 1483 points (No change)
59. Kofi Kingston 1475 points (No change)
60. Kyle O'Reilly 1460 points (No change)
61. Neville 1454 points (No change)
62. Chuck Taylor/DUSTIN/etc. 1411 points (+1)
63. Ember Moon 1411 points (-1)
64. Hallowicked 1391 points (No change)
65. Adam Cole 1266 points (+1)
66. Akira Tozawa 1247 points (-1)
67. Lio Rush 1242 points (+1)
68. Dolph Ziggler 1241 points (-1)
69. "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams 1205 points (+1)
70. Randy Orton 1205 points (-1)
71. Roderick Strong 1173 points (No change)
72. Keith Lee 1140 points (No change)
73. Bobby Lashley 1126 points (No change)
74. Marty Scurll 1118 points (+1)
75. Johnny Mundo 1106 points (-1)
76. Drew Galloway 1050 points (No change)
77. Sami Callihan/Jeremiah Crane 1039 points (+2)
78. Brian Cage 1025 points (-1)
79. Mil Muertes 1018 points (-1)
80. Mustafa Ali 982 points (No change)
81. Fire Ant 951 points (+2)
82. Austin Aries 945 points (-1)
83. Nikki Bella 935 points (-1)
84. Heath Slater 914 points (No change)
85. Timothy Thatcher 904 points (No change)
86. Dasher Hatfield 895 points (No change)
87. Xavier Woods 890 points (No change)
88. Tyler Bate 889 points (No change)
89. Tommy End 885 points (No change)
90. Andrade "Cien" Almas 852 points (No change)
91. Brock Lesnar 834 points (No change)
92. Trent Seven 833 points (+2)
93. Kalisto 832 points (-1)
94. Jeff Hardy/Brother Nero 827 points (-1)
95. Donovan Dijak 810 points (No change)
96. Andrew Everett 803 points (No change)
97. Jay Lethal 799 points (No change)
98. Killshot/Shane Strickland 783 points (No change)
99. Nia Jax 778 points (No change)
100. Jonathan Gresham 765 points (+2)

I don't know whether to be surprised or not, but the list changed fairly little. Few spots changed at all, and if they did, it was at most two in either direction. Only two wrestlers made moves more than two spots, and they were Matt Riddle and Trevor Lee, who both jumped up three spots from their slots in the standard list. Additionally, the list is 99 percent intact from standard form, except the bump in first place vote points put Jonathan Gresham on the list and bumped Candice LeRae off, meaning all first place votes excepting Tetsuya Naito are accounted for on this version. Of all the differing methods to present the raw data, this is the one that appeals to me the most, just because I like the idea of really rewarding excellence over uniformity (and that includes including only 100 wrestler ballots, which I could do, but right now don't have the time to).

Tomorrow, I will complete the TWB 100 shenanigans by posting my ballot, as has been tradition over the years. I hope all voters out there will do the same on their own sites (or here, if enough of you deviants and miscreants want to, I can do a ballot release special next week).

* - The 10th place vote marker at 90 points actually puts it BELOW the point value on the standard TWB 100, where it's worth 91 points. So basically, the TWB 100 and WDKW 100 point values converge at 9th place, not 11th.