Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Fun with The 2016 TWB 100: What If Every Ballot Contained Only the Minimum?

Still don't know how you can separate these two
Photo Credit: WWE.com
Part two of going down alternate paths of the TWB 100 this year increases the uniform ballot size from ten to 25 wrestlers. After all, 25 wrestlers is the minimum number to be mandatorily compiled on every ballot. Why did I come to that number originally? It seemed like it was the best compromise between inclusion and comprehensiveness. Anyway, I'll skip the verbosity and post the list. Again, any ties were broken first by highest vote and second by number of votes received. This iteration had no ties within the top 100.

1. AJ Styles 1398 points (No change from standard TWB 100 ranking)
2. Sami Zayn 883 points (+1)
3. Kevin Owens 874 points (-1)
4. Asuka 802 points (+1)
5. Scott Dawson 700 points (+3)
6. Sasha Banks 695 points (-2)
7. Shinsuke Nakamura 670 points (+2)
8. Cesaro 645 points (-1)
9. Chris Hero 614 points (+13)
10. Johnny Gargano 590 points (-4)
11. Samoa Joe 574 points (+5)
12. Dash Wilder 559 points (-2)
13. John Cena 551 points (-2)
14. Charlotte Flair 460 points (No change)
15. Zack Sabre, Jr. 459 points (+2)
16. Ricochet/Prince Puma 422 points (+7)
17. Matt Riddle 421 points (+10)
18. Tommaso Ciampa 395 points (-5)
19. Becky Lynch 373 points (-7)
20. Roman Reigns 360 points (-5)
21. Finn Bálor 303 points (+7)
22. The Miz 297 points (-2)
23. Kota Ibushi 296 points (-2)
24. Bayley 288 points (-6)
25. Drew Gulak 277 points (+1)
26. Trevor Lee 247 points (+22)
27. Heidi Lovelace 242 points (+6)
28. Fred Yehi 240 points (+28)
29. Cedric Alexander 237 points (-10)
30. Pentagon Jr./Dark 227 points (+2)
31. Kimber Lee 211 points (+12)
32. Chad Gable 198 points (-8)
33. Matt Jackson 165 points (+9)
34. Will Ospreay 160 points (+15)
35. Jeff Cobb/Matanza Cueto 155 points (-4)
36. Chris Jericho 150 points (-1)
37. Nick Jackson 140 points (+8)
38. Fenix 134 points (+2)
39. Jason Jordan 133 points (-14)
40. Broken Matt Hardy 132 points (+17)
41. "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams 129 points (+29)
42. Marty Scurll 122 points (+33)
43. Alexa Bliss 121 points (-4)
44. Dean Ambrose 117 points (-14)
45. Luke Harper 113 points (+5)
46. Rusev 113 points (-17)
47. Seth Rollins 109 points (-13)
48. Chuck Taylor/DUSTIN/etc. 108 points (+15)
49. Hallowicked 104 points (+15)
50. Sami Callihan/Jeremiah Crane 97 points (+29)
51. Lio Rush 97 points (+17)
52. Tye Dillinger 94 points (+1)
53. Fire Ant 83 points (+30)
54. Bobby Lashley 82 points (+19)
55. Bray Wyatt 79 points (-3)
56. Jonathan Gresham 77 points (+46)
57. Bobby Roode 77 points (-10)
58. Kyle O'Reilly 76 points (+2)
59. Keith Lee 76 points (+13)
60. Johnny Mundo 75 points (+14)
61. Adam Cole 73 points (+5)
62. Baron Corbin 70 points (-18)
63. TJ Perkins/TJP 70 points (-12)
64. Dalton Castle 68 points (-6)
65. Rey Mysterio, Jr. 66 points (+39)
66. Braun Strowman 62 points (-11)
67. Gran Metalik 61 points (-21)
68. Neville 59 points (-7)
69. Jack Gallagher 57 points (-28)
70. Joey Janela 53 points (+60)
71. Drew Galloway 52 points (+5)
72. Arik Royal 50 points (+39)
73. Anthony Henry 50 points (+53)
74. David Starr 49 points (+67)
75. Juan Francisco de Coronado 49 points (+31)
76. Trent Seven 45 points (+18)
77. Tyler Bate 42 points (+11)
78. Big E 42 points (-42)
79. Goldberg 42 points (+80)
80. Rich Swann 40 points (-42)
81. Ember Moon 39 points (-19)
82. Silver Ant 39 points (+27)
83. Tetsuya Naito 38 points (+71)
84. Dasher Hatfield 38 points (+2)
85. Brian Kendrick 38 points (-31)
86. Ophidian 36 points (+36)
87. Soldier Ant 36 points (+116)
88. Donovan Dijak 36 points (+7)
89. Meiko Satomura 36 points (+39)
90. Roderick Strong 36 points (-19)
91. ACH 35 points (+12)
92. Kazuchika Okada 35 points (+68)
93. Jeff Hardy/Brother Nero 34 points (No change)
94. Barretta 34 points (+55)
95. Chip Day 33 points (+42)
96. Mil Muertes 32 points (-18)
97. Timothy Thatcher 31 points (-12)
98. Pete Dunne 30 points (+36)
99. Sheamus 30 points (-62)
100. Andrew Everett 29 points (-4)

Using only top 25 wrestlers on everyone's ballots didn't shake things up too much. For example, single vote darlings from the top-ten-only list like Toru Yano and The Gem City Infant didn't make the cut this time. However, it would appear everyone with a first place vote at least made it with the exception of Tommy End. He oddly made the ten list and the standard list, however, so he got the first place vote, a lot of back-end votes, and not a whole lot in between. The top five again has a party crasher, but instead of Chris Hero (who rose only to ninth place), it was Scott Dawson, who oddly enough accrued the most first-place votes outside of AJ Styles, who predictably was number one on this one as well. This note gives me another chance to express how odd it is that people all gravitated more towards Dawson than Dash Wilder as vanguard for The Revival. Fifth place vs. 12th, where Wilder landed here, is still a big discrepancy. Am I just out of touch that I think they're actually both kinda equal to each other in the ring?

Anyway, the other oddity I noticed was that Meiko Satomura made the list, which means either people were judging her joshi work which is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN, or she made THAT much of an impact during King of Trios weekend. To be perfectly honest, I voted for her on my ballot (down-ballot though, not in the top 25) based off Trios alone. She's that good. Anyway, examine the list, compare to the main one, and then come back tomorrow when I'll post another variation.