#those singing slugs are icons

[ughgoaway]

gabbriette and matty fr <3

[thederangedsolicitor]

I think we don't appreciate how funny the Abyssal Hunters being thrown into IS2 would be.

Think about it. Gladiia can definitely recite underwater Shakespeare by heart. Laurentina can change outfits at the drop of a hat, which implies some acting experience. All of them sing constantly, and treat each hunt as a dance.

They'd fit right into the murder musical, except...

Most of them are (and I say this lovingly) land racist. Scoffing at landwalkers is Gladiia's most iconic bit, but Laurentina also complains about the inadequacy of land culture in comparison to the sea. (Skadi's the exception, and they both rib her for going soft.)

And, oh, God, they would have a field day critiquing what the Troupe Master has cooked up - singers, dressed like that? The tastelessness of throwing so much animated statuary at them. And are those slugs? On stage?!

It would be an experience worth watching, is all I'm saying.

[doomedandstoned]

Ireland’s TEN TON SLUG Oozes with Filth and Fury on ‘Colossal Oppressor’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Artwork by Adam Burk/Nightjar Illustration

From the City of Tribes, comes TEN TON SLUG, a band that really does live up to its name for its massive attack and weighty sound. We featured the Galway four-piece some years back on our compilation Doomed & Stoned in Ireland and now, after teasing us with two EPs in 2016 and 2017, they are back with their debut full-length, 'Colossal Oppressor' (2024).

Ten Ton Slug's name reminds me of the iconic album cover of the Conan & Slomatics split back in 2012, which showed a warrior atop a slithering ogre. Of course, that was a snail not a slug, but if you've ever wondered what it would be like to encounter a mollusk of such proportions, look no further than the seven mighty tracks before us.

The record begins appropriately with "The Ooze," ushering us to a scene besieged by oppression and war. "They cast us to the fires, they push us towards the sea," growls frontman Rónán Ó hÁrrachtáin. "Subjugation is here!" Right off we get a feel for the kind of energy the band brings to the stage, with unrelenting rhythms from Pavol Rosa (bass) and Kelvin Doran (drums). Rónán fires off fierce, sludgey vocals, with backing vox and killer groove metal riffs from Sean Sullivan. The tone and tenor is not surprising from guys who've been in such acts as Weed Priest and Soothsayer.

"Balor" is next, and gives a play-by-play of those in the throes of a wild horde. In Celtic mythology, Balor was chief of the Fomoire, a crazed race of demons who threatened the Irish with extinction during the chaotic second battle of Mag Tuired. "Jump to deny these false gods, rip them out!" Rónán urges his people, echoing the war cries of past generations. "Banish them all from their dystopian thrones!" The sentiment of the song is certainly relatable to anyone living under the hand of hapless leadership or the whims of dictators. Riffs seem to characterize the fluttering of demonic wings and vocals are dripping with caustic ire.

"Ancient Ways" dons a racing heartbeat in explosive drumming from Kelvin Doran, then the mood becomes dark and doomy as the band warns of gathering storms. "Plant your feet, take a brace, hold your ground!" adjures Rónán, "Ancient ways prevail, gaining strength to kill." Meanwhile, Sean Sullivan delivers ominous tech-death style riffage (as you'll hear later on the single "Mindless and Blind"), then belts out a piercing classic metal solo. Pavol Rosa's basswork is almost jazzy.

Dissonance rules the day in "Brutus" and brutal it is, featuring a collaboration from none other than Karl Willetts of Bolt Thrower fame (currently heading up Memoriam). His approach is low toned and raspy, almost as if he is breathing fire. All three vocalists play off each other with intimidating effect.

Another highlight of the record for sure is "Mallacht an tSloda," a song entirely in the Irish language. Ten Ton Slug explain it "captures the fury and wrath of the wretched oppressed who curse and revile their oppressor using the finest of Gaelic curses and ill-sentiments (to which the characteristic sound of the Irish language lends itself so well)." Fans of Tasmania's Psycroptic will find much to admire here, and the singing in the final minutes is the deadliest we've heard thus far.

The record finishes on "Mogore the Unkind", the longest track at nine-and-a-half minutes. It contains lines of ancient Hittite, a mysterious kingdom only uncovered archaeologically in 1834 but memorialized in Egyptian writings and reliefs. The Hittites were famous for their chariots of war, these "dark warlords of Hattusha." The song is about blood, sand, betrayal, and burning cities. A fitting end to this damning tour de force.

One more thing you should know, Ten Ton Slug tells us:

The last notes on the album were played by the remnants of a prehistoric lumbering beast that lived some 20,000 years ago...using a plec made from the tusk of a Siberian Mammoth, paying homage to the colossal beasts of the past.

This monster slithers out on vinyl, compact disc, and digital formats on Wednesday, May 1st (pre-order here).

And now get ready for a wild ride, as Doomed & Stoned gives you a first listen to Ten Ton Slug's Colossal Oppressor.

Give ear...

Colossal Oppressor by Ten Ton Slug

SOME BUZZ

Ten Ton Slug originated in the depths of Connemara in the west of Ireland in 2014 and plays a riff-filled mix of sludge and doom characterised by huge riffs and pummeling drums coupled with dynamic and charismatic heavy vocals.

The Slug has gained a stellar live reputation and a loyal and ever-expanding fanbase throughout Ireland, the UK and beyond, having shared stages with bands such as Black Label Society, Corrosion of Conformity, Memoriam, Crowbar, Conan, Jinjer, Bongzilla and more.

Self-organised tours across the UK, Ireland and brief runs into Europe as both support and headliner alongside appearances at notable festivals including Bloodstock Open Air and Metaldays have helped spread the slime far and wide; continuing this year with the band’s upcoming slot at Maryland Doom Fest and run of shows in the USA in mid 2024.

Two studio releases (‘Brutal Gluttonous Beast’ and ‘Blood and Slime’), one live EP (’Live at the Siege of Limerick’) and a single (‘Hunting Ground’) have all garnered excellent reviews to date, and May 2024 sees release of the long awaited and eagerly anticipated debut album Colossal Oppressor, featuring guest vocals by Karl Willetts of Memoriam/Bolt Thrower on the track "Brutus."

‘Colossal Oppressor’ is a slab of triple distilled slime that constitutes the culmination of over five years of work and dedication. It features all the elements from previous Ten Ton Slug releases such as powerful riffs and huge drums with Ronan’s characteristic vocals layered on top, yet develops them further and expands on them by incorporating more dynamic bass, developed songwriting and a wider variety of different grooves, atmosphere and melodic feels resulting in an album the Slug will be proud to enslave humanity to.

With cover art by Adam Burke of Nightjar illustration and guest vocals by Karl Willetts on the track "Brutus," ‘Colossal Oppressor’ melds doom, sludge, and metal elements to create 40+ minutes of prime riffage. The album expands upon the previous sound of the Slug incorporating new languages and elements including acoustic guitar intros, interludes, leadwork and more of a dual vocal approach.

TEN TON SLUG ON TOUR

Ireland

May 3rd - Limerick (tix)

May 5th - Dublin (tix)

North America

June 19th - Cambridge, Massachusetts @The Middle East (upstairs)

June 20th - New York (TBA)

June 21st - Frederick, Maryland @Maryland Doom Fest

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

[whocaresifwearecrazy]

TMS Incorrect Quotes: The Masked Town Edition

Thingamajig: "I LOVE sleepovers!"

Serpent: "You're in the hosssssssspital..."

Thingamajig: "Then why am I wearing this oversized pajama top?"

Serpent: "Hossssssssspital gown..."

Thingamajig: "Truth or dare?"

Serpent: "...dare..."

~~~

Unicorn: "Thingamajig's been in the hospital so much that the doctors gave him a punch card."

Unicorn: "One more stunt-gone-wrong and he gets free Jell-O."

~~~

Astro: "How drunk was I, last night?"

Robot: "Well...the police came by and asked you your name."

Astro: "My response?"

Robot: "You told them to Google it."

~~~

Rottweiler: "YOUNG BLOOD!"

Flamingo (Rottweiler): "Say you want me, say you want me OUT OF YOUR LIFE! AND I'M JUST A DEAD BIRD WALKING TONIGHT! (MY LOVE! IT'S MORE THAN ENOUGH TO FIRE ME UP!)"

Rottweiler: "ONE RUSH! MY CLUTCH! AND DANGERS GOT NOTHING ON TROUBLE LIKE US! YOUNGBLOOD!"

Flamingo: "Oh...I thought we were singing the same song..."

~~~

Fox: "My sons built a slug hospital and found thirty 'patients' who are now escaping and nothing in the parenting books prepared me for this..."

~~~

Unicorn: *sees two creatures trying to ride a go-cart on a skateboard ramp*

Unicorn: "What idiots..."

Flamingo: "Wait! THOSE ARE OUR IDIOTS!"

~~~

Astro: "How many kids do you have?"

Bee: "Biologically, emotionally or legally?"

~~~

Bear: "Name a more iconic duo than my trauma and anxiety. I'll wait..."

Rhino: *kisses Bear on her forehead* "You and me."

~~~

Raven: "Here there, demons. It's me, ya birb."

~~~

Chameleon: "Now somebody, anybody, scream!"

Sun: "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

Sun: "There're squirrels in my pants!"

~~~

Whatchamacallit: "Thingamajig! Unicorn! Do we have any red paint?

Thingamajig: "What?!

Unicorn: "Why do you need red paint?"

Whatchamacallit: I’m going to commit vandalism!"

Thingamajig: "I’m not letting you vandalize anyth-"

Whatchamacallit: I saw an Autism $peaks sign, you two."

Unicorn: "…"

Thingamajig: "Let’s go buy some red paint!"

[cake-in-a-tin]

My thoughts rewatching all the Harry Potter movies back to back

forgive typos, and be warned - there's a lot...

the first two have a smaller amount of thoughts for some reason, idk why

 Philosopher’s Stone

teeny harry haha

that snake is so beautiful

no post on sundays bro

hi hagrid

how did the dursleys get off the island tho

aw harry is so teeny and innocent

ollivander’s entrance is so iconic, like i want to enter every room like that

hermione is so great already

and you are…

‘you’ve got dirt on your nose by the way, did you know?’

haha tiny malfoy

TREVOR! + neville

that death glare mcgonagall omg

oof snape really hates harry

it's leviooosa not leviosaaa

troll in the dungeon!!!

hi fluffy

ew norbert is gross to be completely honest

creepy malfoy staring at the window

malfoy being sassy wow

‘nighty night…’ whyyy filch?

oof ron are u ok

bye hermione

voldemort is kinda cute with his big eyes

harry really just killed quirrell jeez man

alas earwax

Chamber of Secrets

ah go away dobby don't be weird

yes the car with fred and george

oof bye uncle vernon haha

ah awkward let go of harry lockhart we hate u

haha ginny is iconic

rons face when the train comes omg

ron can drive? that's impressive…

ooh a voice scaryyy

hey colinnn

eat slugs - yas

let go of his arm lockhart

uh oh colin is petrified

hahaha snape annihilated lockhart wow

gosh moaning myrtle is annoying

tom riddle is such a weirdo hgh

ew spiders

lockhart is hilarious when he has lost his mind wow

yas fawkes

ew he just stuck the sword right through its head didn't he...

powerful sock…

go away lucius ur annoying

Prisoner of Azkaban

ugh aunt marge blow up already

sassy harry tm

tom is iconic

so is crookshanks tbh

the knight bus kinda sucks in the movie tho

yess lupin hi

ugh shut up trelawney

ah the best scene aka harry and draco being sassy towards each other

‘it’s killed meh!’

the other best scene: lupin, boggarts and the record player

love when they are eating sweets and just being good friends

yay marauders map - iconic fred and george

nice snowman also

my dad didn't strut and neither do i - yeah right...

yes leave hermione

trelawney stop being creepy

take that malfoy

harry third wheeling

yas remus save sirius

"old married couple" haha snape knows what's up

die peter lol

haha yes they will chop your leg off ron definitely

ugh harry stop being noble

haha yes mentioning the marauders

ew stop peter

oh no werewolf

sirius is so dramatic haha he cant stop turning into a werewolf my dude

bad idea yes ron i agree

oof fight him sirius

no sirius!

the dementorssss

no harry that's not a real patronus dude

nom eat the little soul nugget nice

ah no they're gonna kiss sirius nooo

scabbers did it ok... shut up ron

dumbledore just smacking ron's broken leg and being mysterious

and enter many time paradoxes

‘this is not normal’ hahahah wow harry

yess save buckbeak dudes

yas beautiful patronus dude

this music tho wow

au revoir sirius

I wonder how many stairs they ran up...

poor ron so confused

that bird just got squished no

don't leave lupin

please tell harry about the marauderss

i love lupin omg

ooh a firebolt thanks godfather

the ending face wow

Goblet of Fire

ooh nagini hello

yay frank you will die soon so enjoy your tea

dr who!

ah voldemort's creepy little hand tm

yes ron is covering his non existent boobs wow

hermione's so mad 4 some reason

yes cedric diggory in a tree

everyone has long hair why

isn't just any manky old boot mate

cedric amos and arthur are show offs

feet off the table!

i luv magik

wow krum is enjoying himself

Why is draco wearing a suit?

lucius is very ominous

think ur in luvvv ron

is there no winky in this? sad

harry is so awkward omg

bye hedwig find sirius even though the ministry cant

oh bonjour beauxbatons

wow so dramatic here come the durmstrang peoples

wow run filch ao athletic

ew the beauxbatons entrance is so weird and compared to the durmstrang one is kind of sexist

ow poor flitwick a fork to the hand that's gotta hurt

moody is so dramatic

dumbledore already shouting nice

why does he have so many bugssss

ah that is a creepy spider

poor neville he has to have cuppa with moody that sucks

yess fred and george back at it again

hermione ruining the vibe

HARRY POTTER DIDJA PUTCHA NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIYAH dumbledore asked calmly

what would happen if harry was just like "nope"? would he die that would be interesting

igh rita skeeter go away ur creepy my dude

hate it when ur eyes glisten with ghosts of ur past

yas sirius in a fire

"who are u talking to?" "im vlogging ron" (how it should have gone. harry should have a youtube channel just saying)

poor harry a third wheel yet again between madame maxime and hagrid ew

wow draco in a tree, why? so many people in trees this movie

"nyaaah"

malfoy as a ferret is my favorite character

my father will hear about thissss

omg rita get outttt

fight the dragonnnn

feel like someone should have stopped the dragon after it broke free... idk *shrugs*

it would be so boring if u were watching the tournament because you can't see anything that's happening most of the time, only for the 1st task and a bit if the 3rd task.

knew u wouldnt die harry, lose a leg - or an arm -pack it in all together? nevaaaaa

god just open it harry

ron ur so awkward...

harry spitting out his drink will never not be funny to me

oh yes the gorgeous dress robes

poor ron has it tough, having to dance with mcgonagall and having ro wear those robes...

*babbling bumbling band of baboons*

the twins are hilarious in this haha

aw neville!

snape is really violent can't 2 boys discuss their love lives or lack thereof in peace

ron's jealous of viktor krum haha

love harry just being so confused and saying "spectacular" when cedric speaks to him.

given the fact harry literally told him the task cedric didn't do that much to help.

ugh no myrtle stop

harry going "do i" when neville tells him he seems tense is such a mood

harry's hair when he was swimming haha

just leave them harryy omg too noble

harry holds his breath for a long time after his gills go away - longer than i can

fred and george making fun of harry having 'moral fiber' is exactly what i would do in the situation

mr crouch stop being weird

yes finally singing hoggy warty hogwarts

oh hi mr crouch, taking a nap in the forest are u? cool

i would say do not stick your face in the pensieve but that's just me

Dr Who changed a bit since i last saw him, he's a bit mental now...

snape is so iconic wow

"bubble juice sir?" bahaha sassy harry back at it again

this music is so great

i would freak out if i had to go in that maze it's so creepy and feels like it would be so filled with jumpscares just nope

"a cauldron? What are u guys gonna do - eat me? that's gross!" feels like it should be in the movie

aw baby voldemort is so cute

ugh just chop off another finger or something wormtail jeez so much drama

how is voldemort still alive - the cauldron is on fire??

the movie is also really missing voldemort dancing with the death eaters

u dont have hair my dude stop caressing ur bald head

voldemort has lovely long fingernails

lucius' blonde hair poking out from beneath his hood is so funny 4 some reason.

"i can touch u now" is really not a good sentence

bit awkward to return with a dead body...

its alright harry *shakes his head violently*

uh oh that's not professor moody its barty jr

Order of the Phoenix

halfway done woo

the intro music is still a jam the 5th time

that is big whinging not little whinging

hi big D what a great nickname...

uh oh dementorrrrr

yes mrs figg the most iconic character in the movies

harry looks a lot like frodo baggins

yay the order is rescuing him finally

yes remus and sirius and mrs weasley and everyone

ooh kreacher

jeez hermione attack him

crookshanks attacking the extendable ears is just what my cat would do

cute godfather godson moments yeass

arthur weasley trying to function as a muggle is just so wholesome

ugh not umbridge ew

yes clear those charges

aw padfoot yess

wow that's a lovely coat sirius

voldemort looks great in a suit wow

didn't harry see his parents die? why couldn't he see the thestral before?

yes luna!

oh shut up umbridge oh my goddd

yes ron u tell seamus like a good friend

sassy harry reaching full potential

ugh umbridge sucks wow

so evil torturing harry

yes weasleys wizards wheezes

luna is so pure and perfect

the friendship between her and harry is so amazing

yas tell umbridge, mcgonagall

trelawneys bad but she doesn't deserve to be kicked out by umbridge

oof professor dumbledore just straight up ignored harry

yes harry just say you're rubbish that will make people think your sane

yes hermione break the rules!

oof ginny is jealous of cho liking harryyyy

yay the room of requirement!

dumbledores army is so fabuloussss

nigel is amazing and i love him

wow hermione just knocked out ron haha

harry potter the boy who made cheesy inspirational speeches

wow ginny is so powerful

harry and cho are so awkward eeehhhh

just because you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon *cringy forced laughter*

occlumency lessonnssss yay what fun

cute christmas scenes wow

ooh the family tree and sirius' backstory yay

harry u aren't becoming like voldemort u are going through pubertyyyy its hormonesssssss

yay hagrid finally

oh no it's bellatrix get ready for crazinesss

poor sirius he keeps getting the blame for everything that's so unfair

is neville tall or is harry short, because there is a huge height difference

aw all the patronuses are so cute

uh oh here comes umbridge...

noo they are captured and dumbledores lying waaa

oof dumbledore is as sassy as harry at some points - "dumbledores got style"

no umbridge is heaf and shes fricking evilllll

grawp yess. hes kind of cutee

ron is jealous of grawp bahaha

sheesh snape chill

yes a bit of maraudrrss aahhhh

thats it? noo

aw fred and george comforting a little boy is too cute!

yes fred and george!!! disrupt those OWLS!!

no harry! he doesn't have sirius nooo

yes hermione fake it till u make it ( or until u get umbridge attacked by grawp )

yay the centaurs are here as well get herrr

'i must not tell lies' the sass omg

jeez how many prophecies are there wow

pranked, harry dude ur kind of rubbish

well done ginny you've made all the prophecies fall

yh id rather watch my friends die than give u the prophecy, don't really like them tbh

yas sirius!

the order yes

you're beautiful sirius

noooooo siriusss 😭😭😭😭

yooo voldemort my dudeee

hope the ministry has a massive roomba

the DA just come in to see harry writhing on the floor and are like 'cool'

nice one fudge finally realised he's back cool, cool

ah yes angsty harry tm

aw poor luna, her shoes are all stolen.

luna is an icon though

we have something voldy doesn't - noses hahahaha

Half Blood Prince

uh oh the dark mark is here

death eaters as well fun

fenrir greyback!!

oh no not this bridge! i went across it and i was scared af

dumbledore appearing out of nowhere is so funny

ew slughorn no

wow i need dumbkwdored tidying spell so badly

slughorn collecting people is kind of creepy tbh

im so glad i dont have as many staircases as the weasleys

oh yes narcissa and bellatrix being shifty

oops snape u probs shouldnt have done that

yess fred and george!!!

weasleys wizard wheezes looks amazinggg

uh not cormac mclaggen

oooh its "draco and mummy"

no fenrir we wanted to look at draco stroking a cabinet

yes arnold!

yes draco malfoy is a "creepy bloke" ronald

why is draco always wearing a suit??

yes draco is going to pigfarts!

ouch why would u stomp on his nose??

yez luna save him

noo dont let snape teach defense against the dark arts!! i miss lupin...

poor harry having to do potions again ugh

dun dun dunnn the half blood prince

poor seamus stuff is still exploding

haha dumbledore ships hermione and harry lol

baby tom riddle is creepyy

tom riddle and slughorn were bffs wow so cute

edgy draco in his loki suit

aw rons the only one listening

ugh cormac mclaggen is so gross nooo

haha ron is so rubbish at quidditch id be just like him

'the binding is fragile' hahaha excuses

harry sleeps with his potions book hheehe wow

wow sneaky draco

rons face when hermione mentions her snogging him haha.

uh oh cursed necklace alert

harry pottrr the boy who just knew

snape is so sarcastic wow icon (not really tho ew)

oh god they're talking about skin aahhh

noo harry stop being awkwarddddd sit downn

ew cormac stop eating profiteroles so suggestively ugh

haa rons outfit

ew lavender stopp

oh yes "felix felicis" makes ron great at quidditch

poor hermione she just loves ron thats all

aw hermione and harrys friendship is so nice

angsty draco standing in a tower

"bUt I aM tHe ChOsEn OnE" god harry so pretentious

luna is the coolest person there is, nice work harry

draco in a suit again looking sad he does that a lot

no draco ur apple!

oh nvm its back dw

ugh cormac sucks.  hermione why??

at least cormac did 1 good thing and vomited on snapes shoes

draco was lurking omgggg thats his vibe now

cant break an unbreakable vow - figured that out for myself thanks (sassy harry)

ew lavender stopppp

ooh noo ginny dont feed him a mince pie awkwarddd

thanks ron

stoppp ginny. harry can tie his own shoelaceee

why do they need to burn the burrow this doesnt happen in the books #not canon

wow everyones sassy including hermione now

also lav is an awful nicknname

aha tom riddle is still creepy

okay thats a lie slughorn u told him about horcruxes

uh oh ron loves romilda vane oop

harry thinks the moon is divine haha

Ron hugging a pillow then falling off the sofa in the background oh my gosh

slughorn is so useless

haha snapes face while rons saying hermiones name

draco being edgy again woowwww

lavender that is a death glare if ever i saw one

oh no draco is crying in a bathroom now like a moody teenager

let him cry in peace harry god man

'nyaaah' is dracos go to dueling sound

oops harry u kinda killed him a little bit.

no this is so awkwarddd ginny dont

just kiss like in the books after the quidditch match thats way better

yes the felix felicis

love harry potter like this its so funny

‘harry!’ ‘sir!’

not to mention the pincers *gestures awkwardly*

nice speech harry, now u have answers on the horcruxes

ooh back to tom riddle being creepy

yas harry and dumbledore field trip quality student teacher time

snape being edgy now wow everyone is in this movie

oops foreshadowing...

harry has precious blood apparently?

yay boat ride and smoothie

harry potter not harry water bro

noo bad just aguamenti right into his mouth Harry

yay new friends!!!

dumbledore ur gonna set harry on  fire careful my dude

ooh death eaterz

did draco change intot hat suit to impress the death eaters?

oop bye dumbledore

harry brooding in dumbledores office

yess RAB get wrecked voldemort

harry ur thick apparently?

aw cute friendship

Deathly Hallows Pt. 1

rusty logo wow

‘ello whoo are u

oh scrimgeour hi i dislike u dude

veey dramatic

aaawww hermione no

yas dudley being nice to harry and vernon listening to him and leaving

ron brooding wow

bye parents sad face

wow vernons old man

ooh its snapeee he looks loke he has a lot of contpur on

yay snape has a savey seat

pius is a great name

uh oh i dont wanna give u my wand voldy

dracos face haha

ugh do they have to watch nagini eat professor burbage gross

the dursleys house looks so empty

yay the cupboard happy memories and his baby toys cuteee

moody thinks that harrys gorgeous.

yay remus and tonksss

shut up mundungus

blimey hermionee

'just trying to diffuse the tension' hahaha lol

wow so many harrys lol

yh  wouldnt want to go in the motorbike tbh

uh oh death eaters

wow parkour harry

nooo hedwig - the saddest bit of this movie

yo voldemort wassup

oops the pylons fell down... just fly away good idea

nooo george's ear

jeez lupin y are u being crazy dude

george is saint like and holy aw so cute brother moments

uh oh bye moody u were a bit creepy tbh

ha lol harry a lot of people are going to die for u

harry stop being moody omg

wow george way to ruin the vibe dude

yo minister leave pls

ron just being ungrateful - u can turn out lights now ron lucky u

yay hermione you get a childrens book thats great

wow a snitch lucky u harry. hes so pleased with that. little does he know.... its a resurrection stone bro

give him the sword man

yay nice wedding

luna interrupting deep thoughts casually

xenophilius is creepy

ron and hermione staring at each other is a mood.

way to crash a wedding dude

hermione is the most competent out of all three it has to be said

i really want that bag of hermiones

shouldnt have said voldemory now the death eaters are here whoops

"hermione" *strokes face awkwardly*

sassy harry yas

oh yes grimmauld place

oof voldys having wand struggles

hi kreacher please leave ur creepy thanks

aw siriuzz room so cute sad hes dead

regulus arcturus black yay

ugh mundungus fletcher u suck dude

aw neville

oh no pie dude is the minister if magic now

uh shut up umbridge

feel like u dont need that many posters

sentimental piano playing wow

yo dobbyyyy

umbridge ruins everything omg

ron - u dont have a wife

haha harry getting out of the lift and walking in such a weird wayyy bahahaha

ew umbridge has moodys eye groosss

yas the ugly plates are still in her office

oops ron u just kissed that random dudez wife

nice suit harry

ouch splinch

lovely tent

kill the locket dude

dean thomas is on the run ooh fancy

yh harry stop letting voldemort in dude

harry stop being so moody bro

ooh watch snape on the map thats not creepy.

oh no snatchers...

ah u almost got caught dudes

ron ur so weak wow cant apparate or anything

lot of missing people...

haha a quarantine haircut

yes hermione ur brilliant

oh god ron stop chill

bye ron i guess lol

poor hermione

yas awkward dancing timee

awkward stares

kissy for the snitch. he must really miss ginny

uh oh its opening at the closee

vfd!!! an eyee!!!

ooh godrics hollowwww

oop its christmas eve whoopssss

oh a deathly Hallows

parents grave yay!

ur bathilda? nope im a snake boiii

bathilda is 1 creepy lady

what are u saying my dude????

ew snake lady

chaira are good defences agaunst snakes definitely

ah she jumped at them

looks like a nice campsite

wow now hermiones being sentimental

oop she sat on harrys wand

wait nvm

oooh a doe a deer a female deer

dont drown harry that would be awkward

omgbharry stop undressing

oof the locket strangling him

yay ron saved him yas dude

ron kill the horcrux

u tell him hermione

nice ron tell them u have been hearing voices

yes go see xenophilius the crazy dudee

aw ron ur so awkwsrd bro

their house is so cute

shut up ron god

yay we know about the deathly hallows now

xenophilius is so suspicious tho

why would you say his nameeee

noo snatchers

ooo ominous malfoy manor

draco dont doo ittt

yay dobby!

ah no hermione

aw draco looks sad in his little loki suit

yay dobby 'maiming and seriously injuring'

nooo dobby! he deserved so much better 😭

"hey guys welcome back to my unboxing video today we are opening dumbledores grave"

yay the elder wand wow

giving away ur position a bit dude by shooting stuff in the air

Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

snape hi ur brooding

lots of dementys

dramatic music

waaa dobby

yay bill and fleur

yo griphook what up

the sword was in a river bro

madam lestrange? no!

oops thats not dracos wand anymore wowww

wands are just like 'ya hiiii we have feelings too'

oop ollivander knows about the elder wand bros

ron looks great with a moustache tho

harry just broke the law jeez...

wow that cart looks fun

wow they fell from the cart nice

oh no ron broke the law too whoops

yay a dragon

lots of gold nice

yay the cup

oops they messed up nkw everything is multiplyinggg

griphook y are u evil my dude

yay ride a dragon

oops they fell no

yas they escaped

uh oh voldemort is onto them

that's a lot of dead people

oh no everyones looking for them

ah aberforth hi!

the other part of harry's mirror!

oop dumbledore was a secretive dude

ariana yas

neville!

i love neville hes so great now

yay all of the DA

luna!

ginny is being awkward

'shut up seamus' hhaha

aaa snape yooo

snape stop being a meanie

stop being angry harry

yas queen! mcgonagall!!!!

yay

uh oh voldemort is whispering to harry again

stop voldemort you need a cough sweet

yes everyone protect him

haha filch is a blithering idiot wow

i love mcgonagall

run harry

boom! seamus blow stuff up!

yay the knight peeps

uh yes theyre protecting harry and everyone

yes luna is so smart and iconic

go talk to a ghost harry

thats a lot of death eaters

go away voldemort no one likes u

yes go stab a crown harry

yay remus

fred and george aw

ron fake parseltonguing lol

nooo quidditch

lol peeps got disintegrated

go hermione stab the cup

yessss kisss!!!!

tonks and remus together wow

wow i hate voldemort's bald head with the weird veins

run neville!

yay ginny and neville

yay a little kiss for harry!

ooh the room of requirement

edgy draco back at it again

ooh the diadem

no dracooo

yh draco y didnt u give harry away?

aw ron loves hermione

uh oh fireee

nice work goyle

bye crabbe lol

yay hes saving draco

nice killed the tiara

oops voldemorts getting angry

snapes gonna dies dudes

runnnnn guys

lavenders being eaten

yay aberforth

yeet snapes dying

gosh naginis violent

“ew snape sorry i dont like u even tho u loved my mum” - what harry should have said

woops bye snape

freds death is too sad

nooo remus and tonks

go watch snapes life my dude

yess the always bit (i dont like snape but its iconic)

poor harry

its so sad that hes just sacrificing himself

his eye contact with ron omg im cryinggg

ooh yay his familyyy

he should have said 'its muffin time’ to the resurrection stone and it would be like 'cool bro here's your dead family'

u got this harry

yay teddy mention

"until the end" yas james

lets do this harry

wow voldemort why are you standing like a weirdo

yes harry be a brave man

byee harryyyy

oooh hes alive still

hi dumbledore

yes harry is a brave brave man

cool explain it to him dumbledore

bye dumbledoreeee

wow voldy u weakk bro

yas dracos alive get off me

aw neville u got this man

voldy yeeted that dead giant wow

ew snakey boi

nooo hes dead waa

poor draco such an awkward hug

oop neville what?

ok ur just making a speech that fine carry on

voldys very polite for a villain

yay harrys alive

haha dieee

run lucius wow

oof destroying the school harry really

naginis coming run hermione

u got dis neville

noo ron

yes molly!!!

y r u hugging dudes u arent friends... did u forget? oops..

ouch

bye snake boiii

neville is so iconic omg

kill him HARRY

noice

haha disintegrate voldemort

byeee

dont breathe in voldemort guys

wow harrys a mess

yay hagrid

hermione and ron are so sweet aw

harry yeet the wand

wow draco owns the wand and now harry has it

YEET

aw the friendship

yess 19 years later

wow that hair harry

all of their haircuts are tragic tbh...

should be albus remus potter... just sayinggg

THE END DUDESSSSS

[darling-i-read-it]

Lyrics

Steve Harrington x reader

Word Count:1.1k

Warnings: curse words

Author’s Note: I hope you liked what I whipped up here! I choose one of my favorites because I read one with this AU a few years ago and I really liked it? Idk I hope you like it :)

Requested by: @cherryarchangel, I’ve noticed that there aren’t enough soulmate AUs for Steve Harrington x Reader! Could you write something fluffy?

Summary: Each person has the first words their soulmate says to them on their wrist soulmate AU

Genre:fluff!

Song: Let’s Dance by David Bowie

(not my gif)

Everyone was born with the first thing their soulmate says to them on their wrist and to be honest it was very stressful. You constantly found yourself wondering in what conversation you would find yourself saying the thing written on your soulmates wrist.

Your newly formed friend, Nancy had just recently found her soulmates and you were listening to her tell the story at the lunch table of Hawkins High. You were looking around at the mass of people around you as she spoke. You doubt you had spoken to everyone here. What if you had passed your soulmate a hundred times and never bothered to look up from your book or away from the conversation?

“Jonathan really managed to say, ��Oh I’m so sorry,” as the first thing he ever said to me. The most common one in the book. Thank goodness I had said ‘Well those fliers aren’t going to hang themselves are they?’ or else i would have been looking for someone who said I’m sorry to me for the rest of my life.” Barb was laughing at the idiocity.

“You still here Y/N?” Nancy asked. You looked back at your friends from the crowd and nodded. You had just joined this school, moving in from out of state. You wondered if this was finally the place you were going to have the moment Nancy had just described.

“Yeah yeah I’m here sorry.” Barb didn’t have anything written on her arm. Nancy had told you that. She explained Barb had came to the conclusion that her soulmate was mute, rather than the fact she was never going to meet them. You probably would have done that too.

“What’s your arm say?” Barb asked. You pulled up your sleeve so that she could see the neat print on your wrist.

“Let's dance put on your red shoes and dance the blues,’ you told them, not needing to look at your arm. You sighed.

“Isn’t that the lyric of the new David Bowie song?” Barb asked. You nodded solemnly.

“Let’s Dance, David Bowie, 1983. So anyone singing that song could be my soulmate. Isn’t that peachy?” you asked, bringing your sleeve back down. You tried to remind yourself not to complain. After all at least you had a quote.

“You sure your soulmates not Bowie?” Nancy asked. You laughed and looked down.

“I had heard other songs before that one otherwise I would be in Hollywood and not this school. I mean it's a good song I’m not really complaining. I’ve avoided the song like the plague though. So if someone sings it maybe I’ll be able to pinpoint it you know?” you asked. Nancy and Barb nodded.

“I like the way you think,” Barb said, eating some food. You shrugged.

When the bell rang you walked to class and returned to the remainder of your day. It slugged on for the last few periods and then you were released for Friday, two days of break. You walked out into the parking lot, passing cars filled with couples and empty spaces of people who had ditched last period.

You reached your car and reached in your bag for your keys. You sighed, digging through the bag. While you were busy at that a car came up behind you, parked behind the car beside you as they tried to get out. Music blasted from the sound system and when you realized the sound you nearly dropped your bag. You shot around to be met with a boy, singing the first few lyrics to Bowie's new song under his breath as he waited.

“Let's dance put on your red shoes and dance the blues,” he said. You opened your mouth to speak and ran to the open window.

“Turn off that goddamn song!” you yelled. He stopped, looking at you with shocked eyes. He turned down the music.

“Hold on,” he muttered, taking the parking spot of the person who had just pulled out beside you. He got out, standing beside you.

“When I pictured you saying that I didn’t know I’d be playing such an iconic song,” he told you. Your eyes widened, trying to find his wrist. He seemed to have read your mind because he raised his arm, showing you the nice even print there.

“Turn off that goddamn song,” you whispered with a small smile. You showed him yours to which he grinned.

“I gave you such an iconic song. You knew one of David Bowie’s most iconic song before he did. You gave me a curse word.” You laughed, unable to stop yourself.

“I’m Y/N,” you told him, holding out your hand. He took it and firmly shook it.

“Steve Harrington. I’m sorry I’m not David Bowie,” he told you. You could already tell this was going to work really well. That was probably why you were soulmates maybe.

“I’m loving the hair already it may make up for that fact you don’t look like David Bowie,” you told him with a laugh. He was grinning.

Nancy was walking past you to grab the book she had leant you for a class you had.

“I see you met Steve,” she said with a bit of distaste in her mouth.

You raised your wrist that was already revealed from how you had earlier showed Steve. She opened her mouth in awe.

“Are you joking me?” she asked. Steve feigned hurt.

“Why can’t you just be happy for me and my new found soulmate Nancy?” he asked. You hit him.

“Steve Harrington?” she asked you. You shrugged.

“It’s not like it was my decision Nancy!” she rolled her eyes and looked at the two of you.

“I guess you’re kinda cute,” she announced. You handed her her book. She was gone in a flash and you were left alone with Steve again. As alone as you can be in a parking lot.

“I guess we’re kinda cute,” you mimicked. He laughed lightly.

“Care for a ride home?” he asked, pointing to his car. You pointed to your car.

“Great we already have two cars, this marriage is gonna be great.”

[stevecanmakeanythingnerdy]

Battle #17

Polysics: Karate House (Side 1)

Vs.

The Slugs: Non-Stop Holiday (Side 1)

Polysics: Karate House (Side 1)

POLYSICS are a Japanese new wave and rock band from Tokyo, who dubs its unique style as "technicolor pogo punk". Polysics was formed in 1997 by then Japanese high-school student Hiroyuki Hayashi. After watching some live footage of Devo and becoming inspired by new wave music of the West, Hayashi quit his soccer team and formed a band to expand on the cartoonish image and musical ideas of the zany art-punk icons he had seen on TV. He was joined by drummer Junichi Sugai and Sako (aka Poly 2). Another member named Kaneko joined within the early years of the band, but he left and was soon replaced by Kayo. Kayo's mechanical stage presence provided an asymmetrical dynamic to the frenetic antics of the other three members. The name of the band derives from the first synthesizer owned by Hayashi, the Korg Polysix. They are certainly a band that wears their heart on their sleeve. Influences range from a diverse multitude of bands such as : Neu!, Brian Eno, XTC, Talking Heads, The B-52's, King Crimson, and Kraftwerk. Even some more obtuse reference like Nirvana, Man or Astroman, David Bowie,and Plastics. The most obvious though is undoubtedly DEVO. Both in sound and image. Even re-interpreting lyrics, ideas and imagery of the band that borders on obsession and plagiarism. So naturally, I LOVE THEM. I have only ever seen live footage, but they certainly bring their “A Game” and full on Japanese quirky experience with them. It was difficult to find any release info on this particular version of this album. It appears to be a double LP packaging of their two albums We ate the Machine and Karate House on MySpace records ( no, really...THAT MySpace.) I am never sure about anything with this band as unique is an understatement. So many things about the time period this was released in still cause me befuddlement. First of all, MySpace had a record label?!??!!?! Wasn’t it pretty much already defunct in 2009? I think the band became popular among Myspace users as a sort of internet phenomenon... I could be totally wrong about that though. Anyhow, Karate House is the LP that came up randomly and side B of said album, so let’s dive into “My Girl’s a Cyborg”. It’s psycho new wave punk from Japan. 100%. Imagine Missing Persons and Devo forming a supergroup and doing crack on stage. Yeah, that. Frantic and mechanical discordant madness! “Akai Master “ follows and circles around a pop keyboard riff. It’s about as calm and mainstream accessible as this band gets. Would you like to be inside a cool computer that writes music for video games? Then you might really enjoy “Dream Programmed”-because it’s essentially your soundtrack. Top it off with male/female vocals and viola! “Professional Tennis “ has timing and frantic randomness to offer. This is actually a very good example of what the band does. Genre mixing and talent levels are on super excite! Mimicking the back and forth of a tennis match. “Always Happiness” is climbing the stairs of insanity. It’s very difficult to tell, as sometimes the band will literally sing in gibberish, but it could be native Japanese also. I am not versed in the language. A bit more melodic on this one, but undoubtedly Hiroyuki shows his penchant for musical intimacy and vocal harmony. Also vocal harmonies! “Shizuka is a Machine” is a very robotic, herky jerky tune. Seems to make sense considering the title. “You-You-You” is very keyboardist focused, mellow and relaxed. It almost feels like someone lip synced to a Rentals album. The final cut is somewhat of a repeated theme (not unlike DEVO’s “Jocko Homo”) called “Polysics or Die!” In fact it’s a direct homage of the parenthetical reference. Basically this is an amalgamation of electronics, surf, indie, new wave, ska, noise, punk and neon. EXACTLY what you would expect from Japan. The only way it could be MORE perfect is if you bought it from a vending machine and it came with Pocky.

The Slugs: Non-Stop Holiday (Side 1)

The Slugs are an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, United States. Starting in 1983, the band plays power pop heavily influenced by bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Kinks. From their wiki “The Slugs grew out of basement jam sessions by brothers guitarist Dag and bassist Gregg and guitarist Al Paulson in Paulson’s Park Ridge, Illinois home. All three were co-workers at SportsVision (later renamed SportsChannel and FoxSports Chicago). By the early eighties, anxious to become a real band, the trio put out an ad for a drummer that was answered by Chicago native Mike Halston. The Slugs were officially formed on March 6, 1983.” This is their third recording, but first full length album. I’m uncertain if Pravda Records is a personal label of one of the members, but it seems to be the home of the majority of their catalog. In 1988, while still just a trio, the Slugs put out their first full length. The record sleeve for Non-Stop Holiday displayed a photograph of an adolescent Mike Halston. The band toured extensively throughout the Midwest in support of it, gaining a cult following but little notice from record companies.

For a first true album, this has some good structure and cohesion. The examples are spread throughout. “Clock that won’t Stop”is a super popper pop trip down Smithereens lane. Very catchy and jangle jam. You might think you were watching an episode of Friends. “Romeo Sings a Song” continues down jangle street, but with a more mod ala The Jam feel. Maybe even Plimsouls too. A good pedigree! “My Street Your Street” has some surf injected riffs and is a beefier stock. “Indiana Hardcore “follows and is no doubt some sort of geographical joke. Harmony suffers a little (intentionally??) but almost like it’s a guest or different singer. I am almost certain it’s to poke fun at Hoosier punx. Maybe not. Still a good tune. Not as good as “Wasted Bullets”though. Very hook laden with a decent energy and focus. The melody and riffs are present and wrapped up in a neat little package. The hits keep coming though with “Beat City” next on the docket. Gruff and more anthemetic this go around. One might even say punk, really. “Everything is Go” finds the band really hitting its stride. More catchy hooks, not unlike contemporaries such as Material Issue or The Records. The final number doesn’t let up either.

“Five O’ Clock” is calling all mod cons (#seewhatididthere)! Jam-a-lam! It’s a leaving work tune that we can all relate to. Some other key elements you should be plugged into are the fact this little gem was produced by Phil Bonet (Smoking Popes) and it has the Chicago pedigree. There’s just something about that city that produces good music! All of the previously mentioned artists from The Jam, to The Records, to Material Issue, Plimsouls and The Smithereens are well represented here. If you are fans of any of those bands, do yourself a flavor and check out this treat, too! The one party fail is that they sure get their song titles across...so repetitive with the titles...to the point if you didn’t know what the song was called, you could easily guess it.

The Slugs: “Wasted Bullets” is the song I wanted to post but literally couldn’t find much of anything by the band out there except this live clip on WGN news from 2000. MUCH LATER in their career so not as representative of this earlier poppier stuff.

https://youtu.be/SWaJAPZ-6_I

#Randomrecordworkoutseasonsix

#Randomrecordworkout

[moonshroooms]

Hi there I’m going to talk about my pokemon now

So Sun & Moon was my first Pokemon game (Sun, specifically. I liked Moon/Lunala better but I liked daytime being daytime more. And didn’t want to just change the time cause of my Animal Crossing village VoV), despite the fact I’ve loved Pokemon for years.

Anyways it took me forever to get what I feel like is a good team and I want to talk about them.

Alta: Alta’s my Primarina and my like 15th restart to get a female first Pokemon ever and I love her. Honestly she’s so flipping cute and it feels like she just grew up to be the group mom. Like anytime an opposing pokemon kills one of mine it’s like ‘bring in the big guns’, ‘oh shit mom’s here’. I gave her scald, ice beam, moonblast, and aqua ring (after a butt ton of breeding). She is stronk and sturdy. I wanted a name that referrenced her singing so I took Alto and just. Put an A on the end. I didn’t like it at first but it’s grown on me :3

Willow-Wisp (Willow for short): Willow’s my Chandelure :3 She was the first pokemon I happened to get with the island scan and I fricking fell in love with this tiny ghost candle it’s so adorable. She’s very fast and kicks lots of things butts and spins around if I feed her. Her and Alta make a good tag team and cover each other’s weaknesses. She’s got toxic, hex, shadowball, and flamethrower. And Flamebody, which I always get lucky and it activates like 90% of the time someone takes her down. #pettymaster Her name’s pretty obvious. Will-o’-the-Wisp. My friend thought it was creative though VwV

Cannis: Cannis is my Leafeon and he is a noble creature. There’s not much to say on Cannis other than I had a hell of a time deciding what eeveelution I wanted my dudes. They’re all amazing and aaaaah how could I chooose. But I went with a Leafeon because I needed/wanted a grass type to help Willow deal with pesky water types and Leafeon’s one of my favorite of the eeveelutions. He’s so chipper and bouncy it’s adorable. I gave him synthesis, sunny day, (there’s a reason for that even though he doesn’t have/hit hard with solar beam), swords dance, and leaf blade. He is speedy and hoo he hits hard. His name is actually short for cannibis but I really like his name XD

Lumina: Lumina is my Goodra and she is jiggly and amazing. Honestly Goodra is so good she’s just flawless. IT’S A DRAGON. MADE. OF. GOO.

GOO.

She’s just so fun to look at. I even drew a cute picture of her poking a shiny sliggoo VwV I know they don’t have it but I gave her a little drippy teal heart on her side and a teal spot on her foot. My headcanon is the teal goo is luminescent, like a luminescent sea slug :3 She’s so bulky, even against fairies, I love her. I gave her rain dance, rest, dragon pulse, and thunder. And she’s got the hydration ability to make good use of that rain :3 I know sap sipper’s generally more useful but I just love being able to heal off damage. Lumina is just reminiscent of luminescent VwV

Divi: Divi is my Reuniclus and he is slow but he’s Sturdy. He’s just so squishy I love him. I looked up all the pokemans available in Sun/Moon and I saw him and was like. You™. And after I saw how many hits he could take (even super effective hits), he was never leaving. I love when you pet him and the hand icon gets all covered in goop it’s fantastic. What’s more with a bit of trick room and a life orb he sweeps like a Boss! I gave him calm mind, trick room, psychic, and recover. I know he’s useless against darks like that but I try and take out those threats before it’s a problem VoV His name is just short for Division, like that thing cells do :P

Sundew: And last to join the group (but certainly not least), is Sundew, my Mawile! :D My only other physical attacker/defender. I think I have a bias. I wanted to use her for a long time but her stats were just so awful I thought it’d be better to wait for the mega stone to come out. But then I got impatient and used her anyways, lol. Dude intimidate is so useful honestly? I can’t believe I never had a pokemon with it before. She’s just so useful and I really needed a steal type to help me pesky poisons. I gave her taunt (also very useful, I need more pokemon with support moves. When I first played I kinda ran on ‘why setup when I could just hit you?’ logic >^<). She also has sucker punch, iron head, and play rough. Before I got the mega stone I gave her zoom lens. I wonder how often play rough will miss now ._. Sundew is named after the sundew plant, a carnivorous type of plant. While she doesn’t look like it i.e. shaped similarly, she does have the same colors, so bam.

And that’s my main team! :D I don’t actually play online or anything. I just play against the battle tree and my friends occasionally. The only friend I play against regularly runs on ‘why setup when I could hit you’ logic. I also saw his physical attackers with special moves and I’m like. Broseph. My dude. Why. So I convinced him to switch it up, so hopefully he’ll get better and I’ll have more fun with a challenge :3 (Though most of his team is comprised of fighting/dark types, so until he fixes that too Alta and Sundew will continue sweeping most of his team). I like double-battles the best. I don’t even bother with singles, I like having more to multitask. It feels like I’ve got more protection with two pokemon. Usually the pokemon teammates run like:

Alta - Divi: Divi’s trick room helps them sweep, and Alta takes care of Divi’s dark weakness and Divi takes care of Alta’s poison weakness. They work good off each other

Cannis - Willow: I usually open with them, since they’re my fast sweepers. Cannis’ sunny day activates first and it usually boost Willow’s flamethrower enough to take out the first opponent (and keeps Cannis from getting status effects! :3). And if I’m feeling cocky enough I can get a swords dance up >-> Usually not the case, but it’s nice sometimes cause Cannis hurts man.

Sundew - Lumina: They’re my tankers. Well, bigger tanks than the rest of my bulky-ish pokemon. (I never thought I’d like my tanks so much. I usually take the fast/nimble options in. Well. Any video game really, lol. I think it’s because there’s no choice but getting hit in pokemon usually. You don’t get much of an evade option. And I hate being out-sped and going down in one hit). Sundew hit’s like a fricken trick man, and Lumina’s not-too-shabby in the beatdown department. And the rain dance helps Sundew deal with her fire problem VoV And Sundew’s iron head deals with them fairy types >:3 It’s a shame they’re both so slow, but I can count on them to switch in to some physical and special attacks :3

And those are the pokemon on my main team. They work very hard and I’m proud of them <3

[xtruss]

‘It Will Be Beautiful Again’: How California’s Redwood Forest Is Recovering After Last Year’s Wildfires

— Gabrielle Canon in Big Basin | Saturday 5 June 2021 | Guardian USA

The headquarters at Big Basin Redwoods state park was destroyed by the CSU Complex fire last August. Photograph: Gabrielle Canon/The Guardian

Big Basin state park, scorched last August in the CZU Complex fire, is showing signs of rebirth in its majestic redwood trees

There are spots inside Big Basin Redwoods state park that appear to be frozen in time.

Roughly 10 months after the CZU Complex fire burned 97% of California’s oldest park, some trees still smoke and smolder. An open champagne bottle sits untouched atop a scorched picnic table alongside cooking utensils that are melted and singed together. Contents from a toppled cooler, left agape, have begun to blend into the forest duff. The skeletons of burnt cars and trucks are still parked in front of once-iconic headquarters, now reduced to rubble.

But, amid the wreckage, there are also signs of rebirth. Wildflowers are growing over charred debris. Blackened trees have sprung vibrant green sprouts. Birdsongs and hammering woodpeckers accent the hum of state-run construction crews working to ready the beloved park for a new chapter in its history.

“The biggest loss is the human side. This park is not going to be the same place that I saw as a little girl,” says Joanne Kerbavaz, a senior environmental scientist with California state parks on a tour of the park this week. “But as an ecologist, part of me is thrilled by the opportunity to watch how the redwood forest recovers.”

Crews work to clear dead trees from within the burn scar inside Big Basin Redwoods state park. Photograph: Gabrielle Canon/The Guardian

Big Basin is home to roughly 4,400 acres (1,780 hectares) of old-growth redwood trees, majestic giants that are among the oldest living things on Earth. Their lifespan can stretch beyond 2,000 years and they have adapted to survive and thrive in California’s mediterranean fire-prone climate.

After being heavily logged in the 1800s, the Sempervirens Fund, a non-profit group, formed to protect the trees in 1900 and two years later Big Basin was created – California’s first state park – so millions of people from around the world could travel to marvel at them.

Just like the redwoods, Big Basin, too, will survive this fire. But when it reopens, it will look different. Along with new structures and facilities, many of the park’s 80 miles (128km) of trails will have to be newly carved into the rewilded landscape with new bridges, steps and railings built to support them.

“We have the opportunity to reimagine how to interact with this park,” Kerbavaz says. There are discussions around how to rebuild the park back, to be even more accessible for generations to come. Attitudes have changed over the last 119 years and the park, like others across the US, has exploded in popularity. The climate is also changing, adding new pressures and threats to the ecosystems.

“There is going to be a very robust planning process,” she adds, acknowledging the range of views about how old-growth forests should be protected and enjoyed into the future. “It is going to be open and inclusive and that means it is going to take a while to make some of the calls.”

Flames from the wildfire burned through the thick bark on some trees, singeing through to the wood underneath. Photograph: Gabrielle Canon/The Guardian

Most agree that increasing resilience should be a priority. “The near-complete destruction of the buildings and facilities at Big Basin illustrates just how ill-adapted they were to fire,” the Sempervirens Fund wrote on its website in February. “If you love Big Basin, please consider this: rebuilding Big Basin can pioneer a new model for California’s state parks, just as Big Basin accomplished more than a century ago.”

Before rebuilding begins, though, there’s a considerable amount left to be cleared.

Along with toxic debris and crumpled buildings that need to be cleared, hazardous trees are being assessed for removal. The process of identifying which trees are dead or dying is delicate and layered. Five agencies have already weighed in, and perspectives on what should stay and what should be pulled out do not always align.

Several beloved old-growth trees have already been saved by park officials, including the famous Auto Tree, which is the most photographed Redwood in Big Basin. Estimated to be more than 1,500 years old, generations of visitors have climbed into its large opening created by fires in the past. The pictures go back to the park’s beginnings. There are photos of horses and buggies backed in and of ranger trucks in the 1970s.

large redwood tree, which fell decades ago, was a favorite stop in the old-growth grove in Big Basin. Flames swept over the base of the giant tree and half of the sign introducing it. Photograph: Gabrielle Canon/The Guardian

“There was a mark to cut down the tree,” Kerbavaz says, “but I said, hey, this is one we really don’t want to lose.” So far, it’s showing signs of survival, with small green offshoots at the base and sparse growth in the canopy, and there’s hope that it has enough structural support to stay standing.

The process of deciding what will stay and what will go has been thorough and arduous. First, CalFire came through and cleared a path for crews. CalTrans examined what might become hazardous to the roads. Santa Cruz county officials assessed the areas managed by the municipality, and then PG&E did their analysis. California’s Department of Emergency Services is currently in the park and still finding trees to mark for removal.

Trees are painted with a series of letters and numbers, meant to catalog them and indicate to crews that they should be culled. Some also have flags and ties, showing that park officials, who have overseen the process, do not agree.

Blackened redwood trees show signs of new growth after the CZU Complex fire burned through 97% of the park. Photograph: Gabrielle Canon/The Guardian

“There is a science and an art,” Kerbavaz says of the process. “I come, of course, from the parks’ perspective, which is we really would like to keep as much as we can”.

Along with tree removal, trails will have to be remade. Most of the wooden infrastructure, including steps, bridges and railings were obliterated in the fire. Some of it was put in place to hold erosive hillsides, which have since crumbled. Other hazards have to be assessed before guests can be welcomed back in. There are pits left from where subterranean roots from more flammable trees, such as Douglas Firs, burned into the earth.

Meanwhile, scientists are utilizing the opportunity to use the burn scar to learn about fire behavior, ecological resilience, and climate change. “We are trying to get baseline data so people can return in maybe 5 or 10 years down the line, and see how it grows and changes into the future,” says vegetation ecologist Alexis Lafever.

“There are so many baby redwood seedlings and they are so cute,” she says. In some areas, she’s encountered hundreds of seedlings. They won’t all survive, but, she adds, “things are growing back. The forest will be fine.”

There are also signals that animals are emerging and returning. Salamanders survived by burrowing under the duff, banana slugs took refuge underground, and birds have reinhabited the burned branches.

Joanne Kerbavaz, a senior environmental scientist with California state parks, speaks to researchers and students during a tour of the park. Photograph: Gabrielle Canon/The Guardian

“Almost everything that lives here has some strategy for avoiding fire,” Kerbavaz says. “But any kind of disturbance like that, there are some species that are harmed and some species that are favored.”

There are those that thrive after fire. The Knobcone Pine requires temperatures up to 350F (177C) to melt a resin from its cones to sprout seeds. Some woodpeckers prefer dead trees to living ones. But the fire, which burned fast and hot, with flames that licked the canopy 300 feet (91 metres) into the sky and tore through close to 18,000 acres (7,285 hectares) of the park in only 24 hours, did leave devastation in its wake. Current assessments show even with the resiliency of the redwoods, 10% of the trees won’t recover. The damage is also expected to cost nearly $200m.

“Those buildings are gone. That specific experience is gone,” Kerbavaz says. “There’s some of that loss of the big trees that make it such a special forest. But we have opened up places for the next generation of big trees to grow,” she adds. “It will be beautiful again – even if it is not as you remember it”.

[placetobenation]

“The revolutionary force for over 50 years in sports entertainment” was a clever tag line used in the mid 90s before every WWF show. For most United States wrestling fans that are still alive, it is a way of life. Greater by the day is the lack of variance in the answer of what wrestling an individual grew up on. For better or worse, WWE has been the standard bearer. Throughout that rich history, performers ranging from Nature Boys to Undertakers have graced the squared circle. Foreign legends have had extended runs and some of the most iconic figures in pro wrestling history have been aces of the promotion reaching unequivocal mainstream pop culture heights in the world of wrestling.

With such a large history to play with, discovering the beauty of Bob Backlund’s charisma or the connection of Bruno Sammartino to the MSG crowd was a new development throughout this project similar to rewatching The Godfather and On the Waterfront to rediscover the genius of Marlon Brando. WWE may not have always been YOUR promotion but for the better part of 50 years, it was THE promotion in the United States and transformed the pro wrestling landscape. This project serves to praise the individuals that best helped shape the vision of Vince McMahon Sr. and Jr. Place to be Nation is proud to present to you a ranking of the Greatest WWE Wrestlers Ever.

– Chad Campbell

Note: Results of this list are based on 118 ballots received between May and December 2017. Voters were asked to submit their list of the 100 Greatest WWE Wrestlers of all time and consider only their WWWF/WWF/WWE career. Ties were broken based on 1) number of ballots a wrestler appeared on and 2) high vote. 

Every wrestler who received at least one vote will be recognized in the coming weeks. Please stay tuned to Place to Be Nation as we reveal all of the honorable mentions right through the cream of the crop. Read the other installments, both written and audio, of this project here.

149. Matt Borne Total Points: 509 Total Ballots: 21 Average Rank: 76.8 High Vote: 38 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: David Carli

Key Matches & Moments: Was enhancement talent in 1985-86 and lost to Ricky Steamboat on the first WrestleMania; Returned to the company in 1992 and soon assumed the mantle of Doink the Clown, a maniacal wrestling clown; Feuded with Crush after attacking him with a prosthetic arm, leading to a match at WrestleMania IX; Faced Mr. Perfect in great qualifying matches for King of the Ring 1993 and after two time limit draws, Perfect defeated the clown; Had a good two-out-of-three falls match with Marty Jannetty on the 6/21/93 edition of Raw; Jerry Lawler hired Doink to wrestle Bret Hart at SummerSlam when Lawler feigned injury, Doink lost to Hart via DQ in a good match; Doink turned face in September 1993 and Borne was gone from WWF soon after with the babyface Doink character played by Ray Apollo

Staff Thoughts: Matt Borne played the Doink character as well as anyone could play an evil wrestling clown and deserves credit for getting the gimmick over when it could’ve bombed (and did as a face character when Borne was underneath the makeup). In addition to the character work, Doink had really good matches week in and week out, with his two-out-of-three falls match with Jannetty, KOTR qualifiers with Perfect and SummerSlam match with Bret standing out. Once he left, the Doink character fell flatter than a whoopee cushion with a hole in it.

From the Voters: “Tough because the longevity isn’t there, but that half-year or so of evil Doink is fantastic character work. Promos were so-so, but everything else was tremendous. Maybe a 90-100 type guy for me, but he’s on the bubble.” – Greg Phillips, June 1, 2017

“Evil Doink rules the school! Loved the combination of old school 70s heel work with the manical clown gimmick. Great matches with Bret, Perfect, Jannetty and Savage. Makes the cut!” – Martin Boulevard, November 15, 2017

148. Nikolai Volkoff Total Points: 510 Total Ballots: 24 Average Rank: 79.8 High Vote: 41 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Bret Hart

Key Matches & Moments: Began wrestling for WWWF in 1968 as Bepo Mongol winning the WWWF International Tag Team Titles with partner Geeto Mongol; Held the titles for a year before losing them to Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler to unify the International and World Tag Team titles; Took on the Nikolai Volkoff gimmick and challenged Bruno Sammartino in a soldout MSG in 1974; Donned a mask as the third member of the Executioners, along with Big John Studd and Killer Kowalski; Returned to his Nikolai Volkoff gimmick and challenged Sammartino and Bob Backlund for the WWWF/WWF title between 1976-1980; Apparently moved to Russia prior to 1984 return and forming a tag team with the Iron Sheik; Known for singing the Russian national anthem before every match; Volkoff and Sheik, managed by “Classy” Freddie Blassie, won the WWF Tag Team Titles from the U.S. Express at the first WrestleMania before losing the titles back to the U.S. Express; Challenged Hulk Hogan at the second Saturday Night’s Main Event; Defeated Corporal Kirschner in a flag match at WrestleMania II; Feuded with Jim Duggan, including Duggan stopping Volkoff from singing prior to his match with The Killer Bees at WrestleMania III; Teamed with Boris Zuckoff to form the Bolsheviks in late 1987, losing to the Powers of Pain at the first SummerSlam and to the Hart Foundation in 19 seconds at WrestleMania VI; Turned babyface and feuded with Iraqi sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter, with his Alliance team defeating Slaughter’s Mercenaries team at Survivor Series 1990; Returned in 1994 as part of the Million Dollar Corporation, sometimes being referred to as “Nickel and Dime” Volkoff; Appeared in the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-7

Staff Thoughts: Most wrestling fans were probably introduced to Nikolai Volkoff during his tag team with the Iron Sheik and from his appearance on the Rock ‘N’ Wrestling cartoon, but Volkoff was challenging Bruno Sammartino in 1974 and won tag team gold as Bepo Mongol before that. That’s some longevity, if nothing else. He was a heat magnet singing the Russian national anthem in the team with Sheiky Baby, leading to Hacksaw Jim Duggan declaring he couldn’t sing it, because he was in the land of the free. Hacksaw should debate Scott Steiner sometime. In the ring, Volkoff was god awful, but who could ever forget that singing voice sweet as honey. “Soyuz nerushimy respublik svobodnykh, Splotila naveki velikaya Rus’!”

From the Voters: “One of my all time favorite gimmicks was when he’d ask the crowd “to please rise and respect his singing of the Soviet National Anthem”. Just pure, awesome heel heat. The crowd would be out of their minds, pelting the ring with garbage while he stood there, singing so seriously. Really liked his team with Sheik. They would make my top 100 WWF tag team list, but Volkoff isn’t making this 100.” – Tim Tetreault, June 2, 2017

“When I think of Nikolai, I think a lazy slug unwilling to sell anything or bump. And the Bolsheviks are one of the worst teams in WWF history. An absolute no for me.” – Brian Cullinane, June 1, 2017

147. Tully Blanchard Total Points: 513 Total Ballots: 20 Average Rank: 75.4 High Vote: 33 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: John D’Amato

Key Matches & Moments: Teamed with Arn Anderson as The Brain Busters, managed by Bobby “The Brain” Heenan; Participated in the 1988 Survivor Series 10-man tag team elimination match, which started the feud with The Rockers; The January 23, 1989 match between the teams was listed as one of PWI’s 50 greatest matches; The teams also battled at the March 11 Saturday Night’s Main Event and their match from March 18 at the Boston Garden is well regarded as well; Faced Strike Force at WrestleMania V winning when Rick Martel walked out on Tito (Chico) Santana;  Won the WWF Tag Team Titles from Demolition on the July 1989 Saturday Night’s Main Event in a two-out-of-three falls match, ending their historic tag team reign; Defeated the Hart Foundation at SummerSlam 1989 before losing the titles back to Demolition in October; Lost a two-out-of-three falls match to The Rockers on Saturday Night’s Main Event before the team split

Staff Thoughts: Tully Blanchard’s run as one-half of the Brain Busters was only about a year in length, but they packed in an all-time great tag feud with The Rockers during that time. Any match between those two teams is wonderful. The Brain Busters were masters of cutting off the ring and isolating a body part and, in the WWF, ending things with their spike piledriver. The Brain Busters were also selected to end Demolition’s record-breaking tag title reign. Unfortunately, Tully failed a drug test holding him out of the Survivor Series 1989 tag match, but he had still a great, if brief WWF career. The guys talk about The Brain Busters in a FYC here. You probably know he was best work was elsewhere, but if not please seek out more of his work outside of the WWE Universe (™ Maggle Cole.)

From the Voters: “One strong year in WWF is really enough in my opinion to be considered among top 100 greatest of all time. The Rockers program is one of the best in WWF history. The Hart Foundation match is a strong PPV tag and the Demolition stuff which I have gone on record of hating cannot be denied as important. “ – Martin Boulevard, November 19, 2017 (To read more of Martin’s thoughts click here.)

146. Ernie Ladd Total Points: 536 Total Ballots: 17 Average Rank: 69.5 High Vote: 40 Low Vote: 98 High Voter: Edwin Ortiz, Jr.

Key Matches & Moments: Ernie Ladd was a traveling attraction due to his size and power, leading to his nickname, “The Big Cat;” His run with the WWWF featured a feud with Andre the Giant, who Ladd called the Dummy or The Big Fat French Fry; Challenged Bruno Sammartino at Madison Square Garden; Also challenged Pedro Morales for his WWWF Championship; In 1978 challenged Bob Backlund for his WWF title

Staff Thoughts: It’s always challenging to gauge the impact of traveling attractions on the company, but there’s little doubt Ernie Ladd was one of the biggest attractions of his time (literally and figuratively). He packed them in the building everywhere he went, and was known as a really good promo, riling up the crowd by insulting his opponents. Ladd was a legit great athlete playing for the San Diego Chargers, Houston Oilers and Kansas City Chiefs in the American Football Conference (before the merger) and is in the Chargers Hall of Fame. He began wrestling part-time during the football offseason. He possessed extraordinary agility for a man his size and was known for his taped thumb, which he claimed was an old football injury and announcers claimed held a foreign object. Ladd was also known for walking out of the match and taking the intentional countout. The fact that he challenged Sammartino, Morales and Backlund shows The Big Cat’s ability to draw as a special attraction. Ladd was an announcer for the football player battle royal at WrestleMania 2 and the Big Event, but was a better wrestler and promo than announcer.

From the Voters: “The Big Cat. The very first African American booker in history. He was a monster and Andre the Giant was afraid to get in the ring with him because it would expose his real height. Ernie was a main event talent everywhere he went. In top 100 for me.” – Eric Boyd, May 30, 2017

“A pretty decent one-on-one match with Haystacks Calhoun. That’s a point in his favor.” – James Proffitt, August 2, 2017

145. Braun Strowman Total Points: 556 Total Ballots: 23 Average Rank: 76.8 High Vote: 51 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Kris Zellner

Key Matches & Moments: Joined the Wyatt Family in 2015 attacking Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose; Appeared in tag matches with other members of the Wyatt Family at Night of Champions and TLC 2015; Eliminated five wrestlers in the 2016 Royal Rumble match for the WWE Championship before being eliminated by Brock Lesnar and returning to help the Wyatt Family eliminate Lesnar; Appeared at Wrestlemania 32 in the confrontation between the Wyatt Family and the Rock and John Cena; Split off from the Wyatt Family when he was drafted to Raw in 2016, and went on a run of squashing jobbers and lower-card guys; A member of Team Raw at Survivor Series 2016, he was counted out chasing James Ellsworth to the back; Feuded with Sami Zayn, failing to defeat him in the 10-minute time limit at Roadblock: End of the Line, before winning a Last Man Standing Match on the January 2, 2017 Raw; Eliminated seven wrestlers in the 2017 Royal Rumble match; Challenged Kevin Owens for the title on Raw but Roman Reigns interfered setting the table for a match at Fastlane; Strowman threw Reigns into the turnbuckle causing the ring to break at the Fastlane contract signing, before losing to Reigns at Fastlane taking his first pinfall loss; Eliminated half a dozen wrestlers in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33; Continued feuding with Reigns, including an attack on the April 10 Raw that culminated in Strauman tipping over the ambulance Reigns was in; Superplexed the Big Show causing the ring to collapse on an episode of Raw in April, and throwing Kalisto off the stage when he was trapped in a dumpster; Defeated Reigns at Payback injuring his elbow in the process and undergoing surgery, returned to challenge Reigns to an ambulance match at Great Balls of Fire in July; Challenged for the WWE Universal Championship in a four-way match with Brock Lesnar, Reigns and Samoa Joe at SummerSlam in a chaotic brawl showcasing Strowman; Challenged Lesnar for the title at No Mercy, but was unsuccessful; Defeated Reigns in a cage match on Raw; Was one of two survivors when the Raw team defeated the SmackDown team at Survivor Series 2017, beating Triple H after the match; Teamed with The Miz and his team to face The Shield and Kurt Angle at TLC; Challenging Lesnar at Royal Rumble in a match also involving Kane

Staff Thoughts: Remember when fans were only interested in making fun of Braun Strowman’s name (Brown Snowman? Brawly Strongman?) and pointing out he looked like Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds? Yeah, those were simpler times. But seriously, Strowman’s improvement was a welcome surprise in the last year. His feud with Roman Reigns was awesome, with wild brawls and feats of strength establishing Strowman as a monster. The ambulance match at Great Balls of Fire was a nice brawl and his recovery from attempted vehicular homicide from Reigns was impressive. He stood out in the great four-way brawl at SummerSlam. Strowman was red-hot going into the match with Lesnar at No Mercy, and the WWE should’ve put the title on him and let him run with it, but they didn’t. His hot streak this year had voters debating if it was enough to make the list, but it wasn’t enough to overcome his cold run and lackluster matches with the Wyatt Family. He’s one to watch if PTBN revisits this list in later years.

From the Voters: “I’m curious what Braun would have to do in the rest of 2017 to make people’s lists. I think if he won the belt, he’d jump onto mine. Otherwise, his terrible run as a member of the Wyatt Family cancels out his current awesome run, so he’ll be on the outside looking in.” – Jeff Walker, July 2, 2017

“I really love him right now. Raw has suffered without him, which shocks me. But it may be too soon for me to include him. Never thought I’d consider putting Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds on a top wrestler list.” – Jason Sherman, May 28, 2017

144. Faarooq Total Points: 56 Total Ballots: 25 Average Rank: 78.72 High Vote: 45 Low Vote: 94 High Voter: Blaise Perrone

Key Matches & Moments: Debuted in a baby blue gladiator outfit including strange penis-like hat; Kicked Ahmed Johnson in the kidney; Led sixty people to the ring at Royal Rumble 1997; Was part of the fun Chicago Street Fight at WrestleMania 13; Main evented King of the Ring 1997 against the Undertaker in a match; Came to his senses and fired Savio Vega from the Nation Of Domination; Argued for minutes with a referee after being cleanly eliminated from the 1997 Survivor Series; Was given a sweet portrait of the Rock in the buildup to WrestleMania XIV; Formed the Acolytes with Bradshaw, together they would win the WWF Tag Team Titles, dominate a number of Tag Team TURMOIL matches all while solving problems for anyone who had the cash; Brought DAMN into many households and schools, much to the chagrin of uptight parents and teachers everywhere; Distributed disgusting spinebusters to anyone he could get his hands on

Staff Thoughts: Faarooq was in the company a very long time with almost no great matches to his name. That’s not to say he wasn’t an excellent performer in many other ways it just never seemed to really all come together for the matches. The Nation Of Domination was a fun stable, and he looked great in that leather jacket. Once he was ousted he kind of floated around with little to do until he and Bradshaw found one another. The APA had a TON of memorable moments and sketches and will forever be one of the most fun teams of the Attitude era. His promos were fun especially if you enjoy the expression “GUESS WHAT??” His work in ring was oftentimes crisp and the dominator was a awesome finish. One might question how he ended up on his opponent’s shoulders every night screaming “OH NO PLEEEAAASE!” but one would be thinking too hard.

From the Voters: “Had a solid run where at the least he always came off as being somewhat legit. Whether as a singles or in the APA, it meant something getting a victory over him. Good promo, and I have a soft spot for the Nation. Wrestling needs more Faarooqs. Possible back-ender.” – Adam Russell, July 9, 2017

“Never seen a great Ron Simmons singles match or tag match. That’s sad.” – Good Ol’ Will From Texas, May 29, 2017

143. Chief Jay Strongbow Total Points: 575 Total Ballots: 14 Average Rank: 59.9 High Vote: 10 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Grady Blount

Key Matches & Moments: With partner Sonny King won the WWWF World Tag Team Championship on May 22, 1972; Captured his second tag team title on December 7, 1976, this time with partner Billy White Wolf; Had an excellent feud with Greg Valentine beginning in 1979; With Jules Strongbow feuded with The Misters Fuji and Saito for the WWWF Tag Team Titles; Was drawn repeatedly on blackboards by Bret Hart throughout the late 80s and early 90s

Staff Thoughts: Jay Strongbow was a hugely over babyface and a staple of the promotion for most of the 1970s. There are accusations that he became (or always was) a lazy worker but it cannot be denied that he had an electric connection with the crowd and was a very memorable and colorful character in an era where that wasn’t the norm.

From the Voters: “Given the spot he occupied in the 70s, I figured he would be a lock. After some research…not so much. I rated him on the scale, but I think he finished around 130.” – James Profitt, December 12, 2017

“Strongbow was the number 2 babyface for a super hot WWWF for most of the 70s, beloved and fondly remembered. Definitely became a typical lazy New York worker by the late 70s. Still, feud with Valentine in 79 is legit great. 82 run with Jules against Fuji and Saito is surprisingly good. 90-100 guy for me probably” – Kelly Nelson, May 28, 2017

142. Santino Marella Total Points: 588 Total Ballots: 30 Average Rank: 81.4 High Vote: 34 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Stacey O’Loughlin

Key Matches & Moments: The Milan Miracle is still considered one of the better debuts of all time; Had a relationship with both MyMaria and Beth Phoenix that generated comedy gold; Best use of a Honk-a-Meter in company, or I dare say, world history; Corpsed John Cena when he declared “You gotta big mouth John Chena!”; His team with Sheamus was an all time classic; Nearly won the 2011 Royal Rumble to a massive reaction; Nearly won the World Heavyweight title at the 2012 Elimination Chamber to an even more massive reaction; Was a fun US champion for most of 2012

Staff Thoughts: Easily the best comedy act in company history, and not half bad in the ring either. He has a TON of memorable moments and skits and was one of the most consistently entertaining guys on the roster for a solid six years. Perfect for opening matches and waking up crowds, Santino’s stuff could have been hokey at times but it almost always delivered. His speed walking to the ring was funny, his trombone… dance was sublime. A guy with his personality and creativity is sorely missed today on a roster full of uber-serious wrestlers. He understood his role and bought in, a lesser wrestler many have balked at the role, and what it created was pure magic at times. Why can’t he be one of the general managers??? Where is Jerry Stupid Lawler???

From the Voters: “Great comedy worker. Always entertaining. Understood how to balance his comedy with seriousness in moments such as the 2011 Rumble finish & 2012 Elimination Chamber finish. Legitimately tremendous character in 07-08 WWE. His debut is one of the best WWE debuts in history. Most importantly, he understood his role & did everything he could with it. Sometimes his comedy, especially during the PG era, could be horrible. Santina storyline sucked for example. Doesn’t have high end, great matches to his name. Has a great shot of making my ballot. Bottom 10 probably.” – Devon Motivator Hales, June 2, 2017

“He’s on the bubble for me. He was insanely over for a while. When he was the final two of the 2012 elimination chamber, the crowd were fully behind him winning the title, to the point that a small title run wouldn’t have been the worst thing ever. Really effective worker” – David Clare, June 3, 2017

“In a company that has repeatedly shown they are TERRIBLE at comedy for about 15 years, to be able to get legit laughs from me is pretty remarkable, and Santino was able to do it.” – Jordan Duncan, June 3, 2017

141. Antonino Rocca Total Points: 604 Total Ballots: 12 Average Rank: 51 High Vote: 6 Low Vote: 92 High Voter: Grady Blount

Key Matches & Moments: Antonino Rocca started wrestling in the New York City territory for Toots Mondt in 1949, in the territory that would become Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) and eventually WWE; In 1963 CWC left the NWA, forming the World Wide Wrestling Federation and crowning Buddy Rogers it’s first champion, after listing he won the title over Rocca in the finals of a tournament in Rio de Janeiro, site of all fictitious tournaments; Rocca set the post-World War II record for wrestling attendance at the Madison Square Garden 49th-50th Street location against an unknown wrestler, while working for Kola Kwaraini and Jack Pfefer, during a time they had split off from their partnership with Vince McMahon, Sr.; Teamed with Bruno Sammartino around the same time before McMahon Sr. took back over the New York area; Provided commentary on WWF Championship Wrestling and All Star Wrestling from 1972-76

Staff Thoughts: So, by all accounts Antonino Rocca was one of the great draws in the New York City area, setting attendance records at the old MSG location. However, figuring out what was done under the CWC banner for McMahon or done elsewhere and what fell after 1963 to be eligible for this project was hazy at best and confusing as hell at worst. There is footage of Rocca matches out there, but it is a challenge to determine if any particular match would fall under the guidelines of this project. A playlist was shared on the Facebook page featuring a match with Rocca vs. Karl Von Hess featuring a mat-based gymnastic style.

From the Voters: “Drawing wise Rocca is all-time great. Revitalized NYC wrestling in 1949 after being dormant for eleven years. King of New York until early 60s. I’m not an expert on his work by any means.” – Kelly Nelson; May 28, 2017

“Top 25 guy for sure. He was the top guy in the territory prior to Bruno, and led the wrestling revival in the northeast US.” – Sean Fluharty, September 28, 2017

140. Killer Kowalski Total Points: 638 Total Ballots: 14 Average Rank: 55.4 High Vote: 17 Low Vote: 91 High Voter: Sean Fluharty

Key Matches & Moments: Formed a tag team with Gorilla Monsoon, winning the United States Tag Team Championship from Skull Murphy and Brute Bernard before losing them to the Tolos Brothers; Teamed with Big John Studd as The Executioners and won the WWWF World Tag Team Championships but were stripped when a third Executioner (Nikolai Volkoff) interfered in a match to Chief Jay Strongbow and Billy White Wolf, the Executioners lost the match and never regained the title; Kowalski was one of Bruno Sammartino’s main rivals in the 1960s and 1970s challenging him for the title nearly 30 times, sometimes in Texas Death Matches and stretcher matches, and winning one by countout and battling Bruno to a draw in another; He also faced Buddy Rogers in two title matches in 1963; He also had numerous battles with Andre the Giant, Pedro Morales and with and against Gorilla Monsoon

Staff Thoughts: Killer Kowalski was 6’6,” which was an imposing height for the day and he presented a believable monster heel character. He battled Bruno Sammartino many times, with one of those matches included on the Bruno Sammartino collection on the WWE Network. He wrestled…let’s say a deliberate pace…at least by the mid-1970s where he has the most footage. One of the few wrestlers to have a pinfall win over Andre, though it did not occur in the WWWF, but photos from that match helped build Andre’s reputation because he towered over the more well known Kowalski. Opened a wrestling school and trained Triple H, Chyna, Big John Studd, Perry Saturn and others, which may make you like him or hate him more, depending on your view of those wrestlers.

From the Voters: “Absolutely on my list! The best heel in the company and perhaps the entire business for several years. His matches with Bruno stand out to me the most and what was also incredible was that he was a vegetarian. 6’6″ was a monster at the time and the fans legitimately feared the man. Top 100 guaranteed” – Eric Boyd, May 30, 2017

“He was like an actual zombie but slower.” – Parv, May 31, 2017

139. Arn Anderson Total Points: 639 Total Ballots: 21 Average Rank: 70.6 High Vote: 32 Low Vote: 99 High Voter: John D’Amato

Key Matches & Moments: Teamed with Tully Blanchard as The Brain Busters, managed by Bobby “The Brain” Heenan; Participated in the 1988 Survivor Series 10-man tag team elimination match, which started the feud with The Rockers; The January 23, 1989 match between the teams was listed as one of PWI’s 50 greatest matches; The teams also battled at the March 11 Saturday Night’s Main Event and their match from March 18 at the Boston Garden is well regarded as well; Faced Strike Force at WrestleMania V winning when Rick Martel walked out on Tito (Chico) Santana;  Won the WWF Tag Team Titles from Demolition on the July 1989 Saturday Night’s Main Event in a two-out-of-three falls match, ending their historic tag team reign; Defeated the Hart Foundation at SummerSlam 1989 before losing the titles back to Demolition in October; Lost a two-out-of-three falls match to The Rockers on Saturday Night’s Main Event before the team split; Arn competed in the tag team elimination match at Survivor Series 1989; Interfered in the Ric Flair/Undertaker match at WrestleMania X8 hitting the spinebuster on Undertaker for a memorable near fall for Flair

Staff Thoughts: The Brain Busters had an all-time great year for WWF tag teams the year they were in the company. The feud with The Rockers produced some of the best tag team matches the company has ever seen. They defeated Demolition to end their historic reign, and were the opponents at WrestleMania V for the Strike Force split. Anderson’s great offense (spinebuster, DDT, etc.) and excellent timing and teamwork with Tully Blanchard helped make any Brain Busters match must see. Anderson also competed in the fun Survivor Series 1989 Tag Team elimination match and helped Ric Flair score a near-fall in his WrestleMania match vs. Undertaker in a moment that threatened the streak. Obviously, a lack of longevity hurts Arn, and he is much better known for his great work elsewhere.

From the Voters: “They brought southern tag team wrestling to the NE perfectly. They made an impact immediately, although it was only for a year. Considering others who have a bigger WWF resume, I don’t know.” – Jeffrey Thomas, May 30, 2017

“Probably a bubble guy for me. I know there isn’t a ton of meat on the bone here, but his year was solid and pretty influential. He has made marks on the company out of the ring as well.” – Matthew Richards, May 30, 2017

138. Mickie James Total Points: 644 Total Ballots: 24 Average Rank: 74.2 High Vote: 35 Low Vote: 98 High Voter: Ash

Key Matches & Moments: Came into the company as Trish Stratus’s biggest fan, quickly morphing into James being obsessed with Trish and eventually a lesbian angle; Defeated Stratus for the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 22 in one of the best women’s matches in WrestleMania history; Feuded with Lita facing her in the finals of the Women’s Championship tournament after Trish retired; Won her second Women’s Championship from Lita at Survivor Series 2006 in Lita’s retirement match; Challenged Melina in the first Women’s Falls Count Anywhere match; Teamed with Kofi Kingston at SummerSlam 2008 losing a Winner Takes All match vs. Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella losing her Women’s Championship and Kingston’s IC title; Participated in WrestleMania XXV 25 Diva battle royal; Feuded with LayCool when the two bullied her and dubbed her “Piggy James,” but James got her revenge defeating McCool in 20 seconds at Royal Rumble 2010; Returned to the company in 2016 challenging Asuka for the NXT Women’s title at NXT Takeover Toronto in a very good match; Feuded with Becky Lynch and competed in the six-pack challenge for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 33; Switched to Raw and challenged for Alexa Bliss’ Raw Women’s Championship at TLC 2017; Will compete in the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble match; James was a five-time Women’s Champion and a one-time Divas Champion

Staff Thoughts: Mickie James was one of the best workers in the women’s division in the era before the, ahem, “Women’s Revolution Thanks to Stephanie McMahon.” Her match with Trish Stratus at WreslteMania is finger-lickin’ good…OK, sorry for that. That match is legitimately excellent, one of the best WrestleMania women’s matches in history. She held the Women’s Division together after the retirement of Trish and Lita. Her return match against Asuka at NXT Takeover is great and one of the highlights of Asuka’s NXT title run.

From the Voters: “Mickie vs Trish stands out to me as the best women’s feud they have ever had (in terms of story and characters. They had better in ring ones since). Very interesting and entertaining. I think she is the best women’s wrestler they had until the Women’s Revolution. Light years better than Trish or Lita. Her comeback really cemented her spot. Great matches with Asuka and Alexa Bliss. Nutty Mickie was a lot fun, but once she settled into babyface Mickie, she has great energy and gives lots of effort. Definitely makes it.” – Martin Boulevard, November 19, 2017

“Pretty sure she will be on my list as her feud with Trish was really great , their match at Wrestlemania 22 was the best women’s match at WrestleMania until last year. She was definitely the most over babyface in the women’s division and at a time when nobody cared about the women and used it as a bathroom break people actually got invested in Mickie. Her match against Asuka at Takeover Toronto is one of my favorite matches Asuka has had in NXT.” – Trent Williams, June 2, 2017

137. Mike Rotundo Total Points: 648 Total Ballots: 25 Average Rank: 75.1 High Vote: 29 Low Vote: 96 High Voter: Scott Herrin

Key Matches & Moments: Teamed with Barry Windham as the U.S. Express using Real American as their entrance music before Hulk Hogan; Won the Tag Team Championship from Dick Murdoch and Adrian Adonis before losing them to the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff at the first WrestleMania; Regained the Tag Titles from Sheik and Volkoff before losing them to the Dream Team; Teamed with Dan Spivey in a poor-man’s version of the U.S. Express; Returned in 1991 as wrestling tax collector Irwin R. Schyster; Defeated Greg Valentine at SummerSlam 1991 and feuded with Big Boss Man; Formed the Money, Inc. team with Ted DiBiase, defeating LOD on a house show before the team even debuted on TV; Lost to the Natural Disasters by countout at WrestleMania VIII retaining their titles, but eventually lost the belts to the Natural Disasters; Faced LOD at SummerSlam 1992; Regained the titles from the Natural Disasters causing the Nasty Boys to turn on Jimmy Hart; Faced the Mega-Maniacs team of Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake at WrestleMania IX, winning by DQ in a reversed decision to retain their titles; Feuded with the Steiner Brothers in 1993 trading the Tag Team Titles; Feuded with Razor Ramon over the IC title and later Tatanka in 1994 before joining the Million Dollar Corporation; Feuded with the Undertaker, facing him in a losing effort at Royal Rumble 1995 before stealing the urn; Rotundo was a five-time tag team champion

Staff Thoughts: The U.S. Express was a fun babyface tag team that could’ve had some legs if they’d had a longer run. Money, Inc. was a major force in the tag division during some very dark days for the tag division. IRS was a memorable character and Rotundo did his best to make that work for a long time. He is a five-time tag champion and had a WrestleMania match against Hulk Hogan, both of which are significant achievements. Can’t remember a single match being exciting and his abdominal stretch based offense bored me to tears. One of the pioneers in wearing a tie in a match allowing himself to be choked with it regularly. 

From the Voters: “I mean, he was wrestling tax-man. Right off the bat, you know that’s going to be near impossible to pull off, but he pulled it off….for years. He made it all the way to a WrestleMania match with Hogan off a “wrestling tax man” gimmick. Huge props to Mike Rotundo. He took that thing further than would ever be even moderately reasonable to expect.” – James Proffitt, June 4, 2017

“Really liked Money Inc. but always bored me as a singles. Really can’t think of any singles matches during his IRS run that would even hit ***. I always found him to be a bit lazy in the ring despite being mechanically sound. Like it always seemed like he just kind of doing the bare minimum to get by.” – Wade Ferrari, June 1, 2017

136. Mr. Fuji Total Points: 656 Total Ballots: 28 Average Rank: 77.6 High Vote: 44 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Jason Fastkade

Key Matches & Moments: Teamed with Prof. Tanaka managed by the Grand Wizard winning the World Tag Team Titles from Sonny King and Chief Jay Strongbow; Defended the titles against then-WWWF Champion Pedro Morales and Bruno Sammartino; Fuji challenged Morales for the WWWF title; Fuji and Tanaka traded the Tag Team Titles with Tony Garea and Haystacks Callhoun, before losing the titles to Garea and new partner Dean Ho; Fuji and Tanaka returned to the WWF in 1977, taking “Classy” Freddie Blassie as their manager and defeating Garea and Larry Zbyzsko for their third Tag Team Titles; Fuji teamed with Mr. Saito in 1981 managed by Capt. Lou Albano and began feuding with Garea and Rick Martel winning the Tag Team titles in a very good match; Feuded with Chief Jay Strongbow and Jules Strongbow trading the titles back and forth; Fuji competed as singles competitor and teamed with Tiger Chung Lee before turning on him and feuding with Lee; Fuji was a five-time WWWF/WWF Tag Team champion; Became a manager following his in-ring career, managing Demolition to the Tag Team titles and Yokozuna to two WWF Championships; Star of Fuji Vice

Staff Thoughts: Mr. Fuji had some great tag team feuds and matches with both Tanaka and Saito, and many of his matches can be found in the Fuji collection on the WWE Network. The matches with Martel and Garea are excellent. He’s also known for wearing a tuxedo and bowler hat, carrying a cane (that often found it’s way into matches) and throwing salt in the eyes of his charges opponents as a manager. He guided Yokozuna and Demolition to gold, but peaked as a manager during his star turn in Fuji Vice.

From the Voters: “For anyone with WWE Network access, there is a blast of a tag-team match under the Fuji collection with he and Prof. Tanaka against Peter Maivia and Chief Jay Strongbow. I’ve laughed at least 3 times and I’m just now about 2/3 of the way through it.” – James Proffitt, August 2, 2017

“I was surprised by how much I enjoyed some of the 70s matches included in the memorial collection on the Network. He definitely has a good shot.” – Glenn Butler, June 2, 2017

135. Big John Studd Total Points: 690 Total Ballots: 29 Average Rank: 77.2 High Vote: 13 Low Vote: 99 High Voter: Andrew Lacelle

Key Matches & Moments: Joined WWWF in 1972 under the name Chuck O’Connor facing Chief Jay Strongbow and Gorilla Monsoon before unsuccessfully challenging Pedro Morales for his title; Returned as Executioner #2 (the handsome one) where he won the tag titles with Executioner #1 (Killer Kowalski) before being stripped due to interference from the nefarious Executioner #3 (Nikolai Volkoff); Returned in 1982 under the Big John Studd name originally managed by “Classy” Freddie Blassie; Brought a stretcher to the ring and beat his opponent so badly they needed one; Feuded with Andre the Giant over the “Bodyslam Challenge” throughout 1983 with Andre slamming him several times, including once collapsing the ring; Challenged Hulk Hogan for the WWF Title while maintaining he was the True Giant in Wrestling and that he’d never been slammed (Hogan also successfully slammed Studd); Paired with Bobby “The Brain” Heenan in 1984 and joined with Ken Patera to “rape Andre of his dignity” by cutting his hair; Studd lost a Bodyslam Challenge match against Andre at the first WrestleMania; Began teaming with King Kong Bundy to face Andre and a variety of partners; Participated in the battle royal with football players at WrestleMania II; Continued teaming with Bundy in 1986 to challenge The Machines (Big, Super and Giant with guest appearances from Hulk and Piper); Retired for two years, returning in 1988 to feud with the Heenan Family; Won the first Royal Rumble in 1989; Was the special referee in the WrestleMania V matchup between Andre and Jake “The Snake” Roberts

Staff Thoughts: Forever tied to Andre the Giant and forever in his shadow, Studd provided a believable monster for Andre to conquer. With Ken Patera, he was part of the “raping of Andre’s dignity” haircut angle (FYI yelling that a stylist is raping you of you dignity WILL get you banned from Supercuts…so I’m told). The Bodyslam Challenge was a fine heel gimmick as Studd continued to deny ever being slammed. The team with Bundy was a good monster pairing and led to the fun Machines angle. If Studd had any good matches, I haven’t seen them nor heard of them, but he was one of the dastardly chums of Roddy Piper in the Rock ‘N’ Wrestling cartoon and had a sweet LJN figure.

From the Voters: “Hot angle with him and Patera trashing Andre, but that was all. Worked Hogan around the loop for the belt. Awful feud with Bundy against the Machines and his ’89 return is quite sad. I’ll pass.” – Jason Greenhouse, May 28, 2017

“Member of the Heenan Family, great tag team with King Kong Bundy, wrestled Andre at the first Wrestlemania and a heavyweight contender his entire WWE career. He would be very close to the top 100.” – Eric Boyd, May 28, 2017

134. George Steele Total Points: 694 Total Ballots: 24 Average Rank: 72.1 High Vote: 17 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Vince Male

Key Matches & Moments: Wrestled Bruno Sammartino to an hour-long draw at MSG in 1968 and challenged Bruno numerous other times throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s; Adopted a crazy heel character tearing turnbuckles apart with his teeth and grunting promos with nonsense like Duuh-dahh; Regularly challenged Pedro Morales and Bob Backlund for their WWF Titles; Turned babyface when his teammates Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik abandoned him on the first SNME, joining forces with Capt. Lou Albano, who helped him improve his speech during an electric shock therapy session (How Now Brown Cow); Developed a crush on Miss Elizabeth (as did most fans) in 1986 leading to a long feud with Randy Savage; Was in Ricky Steamboat’s corner during the WrestleMania III classic IC Title match vs. Savage; Began carrying a stuffed bear called “Mine” to the ring in 1988; Was entered in the battle royal at WrestleMania IV but never got in the ring; Returned in 1998 as part of the Oddities; Wrestled over 600 matches for the company

Staff Thoughts: I learned everything I know about wooing women from George Steele, leading to a permanent green tongue and several restraining orders. In all seriousness, he was a scary-ass heel in the late 1960s challenging Bruno Sammartino and becoming a beloved comedy goof in the mid 1980s. That checks the boxes for longevity and flexibility quite nicely. He was a key player in the Beauty and the Beast story with Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth and challenged Savage many, many, many times before appearing in the corner of Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania III. That was the best match Steele had anything to do with, but you’re not really watching The Animal for workrate anyway. You MAY be watching his matches to learn the proper way to eat a turnbuckle or to compare back hair with future “Superstar” Albert.

From the Voters: “Well, he sure had the longevity aspect down. From the 60s on through the very early part of the 90s, even a short run in the Attitude Era with The Oddities. Workrate, he was horrible. However, he went from effective heel to lovable babyface almost overnight. I’m going to say YES and probably put him in the lower end of the list, between 90-100.” – Chris Jordan, May 30, 2017

“Like Volkoff, his early work is much better.. George Steele’s matches against Bruno and Pedro are great, especially that new one on the Network that I think is ’69 Philly but is labeled MSG ’75 or something. His stuff with Savage was entertaining for Steele, even if we think it was wasted on Savage. I wish we had more Pittsburgh stuff.” – Lee Wes, October 7, 2017

133. Fabulous Moolah Total Points: 701 Total Ballots: 18 Average Rank: 62.1 High Vote: 13 Low Vote: 90 High Voter: El Groino

Key Matches & Moments: Began working for Capitol Wrestling Corporation, under Vince McMahon, Sr. in 1955; Won the vacant World Women’s Championship in a battle royal in 1956; Her first women’s championship reign lasted more than ten years; In 1972 became the first woman to wrestle at Madison Square Garden, which had previously banned women’s wrestling; Had an uninterrupted eight-year title reign ending in 1976; Bought the legal rights to the championship in the late 1970s and had another six-year title reign; In 1983 sold the rights to her women’s championship to Vince McMahon, Jr. and became the first WWF women’s champion; Lost the title to Wendi Richter (with Cyndi Lauper in her corner) at the Brawl to End it All, which was broadcast on MTV and a critical part of the Rock N’ Wrestling Connection; Donned a mask as the Spider Lady to win the belt back from Richter in the original screwjob; Held the title another two years before losing it to Sherri Martel; Captained a team in the  women’s match at the original Survivor Series in 1987; Appeared with Mae Young in numerous comedy roles primarily in the Attitude Era, including one final title reign in 1999

Staff Thoughts: Fabulous Moolah controlled women’s wrestling in the WWWF/WWF for decades for better or worse (and the stories of the worse are abundant). She most certainly has decades of championship reigns. She was a part of the Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Connection, with her battles against Wendi Richter when Richter was involved with Cyndi Lauper being a huge part of getting on MTV and exposing wrestling to many new fans in the 1980s. The Master of the Hair Pull Toss, “Schmoolah” was never known for her five-star classics. No one could match her for longevity though. As far as wrestling pimps (allegedly) we prefer the Godfather.

From the Voters: “I would have a lot of trouble putting her on my list, not only for the controversies, but because I actually kind of think she drug women’s wrestling down in America, particularly the F/E. I’ll probably be passing on her, though I understand the argument for her.” – Matthew Richards, May 30, 2017

“The longest reigning champion in wrestling history. 48 years I believe. She was the start of what Today is maybe the most entertaining aspect of the show.” – Eric Boyd, May 30, 2017

“She is a trash human being.” – JT Rozzero, January 23, 2017

132. Cody Rhodes Total Points: 705 Total Ballots: 31 Average Rank: 78.3 High Vote: 38 Low Vote: 99 High Voter: TheBestThereNeverWillBe

Key Matches & Moments: Feuded with Randy Orton to defend the honor of his father The American Dream; Earned Bob Holly’s respect and formed a tag team winning the World Tag Team Championship; Turned on Holly at Night of Champions 2008 to join Ted DiBiase, Jr. as his partner and becoming a two-time tag team champion; Joined forces with Randy Orton and the two were sole survivors for their team at Survivor Series 2008, and DiBiase eventually joined them and formed The Legacy after jettisoning deadweight Sim Snuka and Manu; Was one of the final three in the 2009 Royal Rumble; Teaming with the Legacy against Orton’s rivals led to a feud with the reformed DX of Triple H and Shawn Michaels in a good series of matches at SummerSlam, Breaking Point and Hell in a Cell 2009; Rhodes and DiBiase turned on Orton leading to a triple-threat match at WrestleMania XXVI; Took on the “Dashing” gimmick and formed a team with Drew McIntrye winning the WWE Tag Team Titles; Broke his nose in a match with Rey Mysterio, causing him to wear a protective mask and the two wrestlers to have matches at WrestleMania XXVII and Extreme Rules 2011; Participated in the Money in the Bank match in 2011; Won the Intercontinental Title from Ezekiel Jackson; Feuded with Randy Orton and was one of two survivors at Survivor Series 2011, defeating Orton’s team; Eliminated six wrestlers in the 2012 Royal Rumble; Pinned Big Show in the Elimination Chamber setting up their feud where Rhodes lost his IC Title to Show at WrestleMania XXVIII after a 236 day reign; Formed the Rhodes Scholars tag team with Damien Sandow where they challenged Team Hell No in a series of matches for the Tag Team Titles, before Sandow turned on the now mustachioed Rhodes to win the Money in the Bank 2013 briefcase; Rhodes minus mustache defeated Sandow at SummerSlam 2013; Rhodes was put in a match for his job after opposing the Authority and losing the match getting fired as a result; Formed a team with his half-brother Goldust, defeating The Shield at Battleground 2013 in an excellent match to regain their jobs; Goldust and Cody would win the Tag Team Titles from The Shield and successfully defended them at Hell in a Cell and TlC 2013 in very good multi-team matches; After losing the titles and going on a losing streak Cody took on the Stardust persona, and he and Goldust again won the Tag Team titles after turning heel; Turned on Goldust and feuded with him before competing in the IC Title ladder match at WrestleMania 31; Teamed with Wade Barrett to challenge Neville and actor Stephen Amell at SummerSlam 2015; Competed in IC Title ladder match at WrestleMania 32; Rhodes was a three-time WWE Tag Team Champion, a three-time World Tag Team Champion and a two-time IC Champion

Staff Thoughts: The tag team run he had with Goldust in 2013 is fantastic, a hot angle with his brother and father involved, leading to great matches with The Shield and in multi-man matches at Hell in a Cell and TLC. The series of matches he and DiBiase had with DX was also good and most of the rest of the run was fine if unspectacular. He’s been a steady part of the mid-card through mustaches and protective masks. Through it all he’s just been Cody and Glenn Butler explains about the Cody line in this FYC podcast.

From the Voters: “Looking at it objectively, Cody rates well in every catagory. Promo, work rate, big moments, longevity. If he has any weakness it’s that he was much better as a heel than a face. I wonder where people have him after these many months.” – Michael DeDamos, December 22, 2017

“Cody is sneaky good. I crunched some Royal Rumble numbers last year and the algorithm I used had him surprisingly come out as a top 15 RR performer. He’s got midcard longevity, different gimmicks, strongish IC title work, he’s got the high-end tag work with Goldust, a brief run on top lackeying for Orton in the only I thought Orton actually connected as world champion. He’s on my shortlist of 130 guys. I think he’ll make the cut.” – James Derbyshire, May 31, 2017

131. Barry Darsow Total Points: 732 Total Ballots: 28 Average Rank: 74.9 High Vote: 52 Low Vote: 99 High Voter: Andy Halleen

Key Matches & Moments: Replaced Randy Culley as Smash, teaming with Ax (Bill Eadie) as Demolition; With their face-paint and leather and studded ring gear and masks, Demolition was WWF’s answer to the Road Warriors; Won the WWF Tag Team titles from Strike Force at WrestleMania IV, which they held for 16-months, a record only surpassed by the New Day; Turned babyface and ended association with manager Mr. Fuji at Survivor Series 1988; Defeated the Powers of Pain and Mr. Fuji at WrestleMania V; Traded the Tag Team Titles with the Brain Busters losing them on the July 1989 edition of SNME; Lost the belts to the Colossal Connection before winning them back at WrestleMania VI becoming three-time champs in a match known for Andre the Giant turning babyface after the match; Crush joined Demolition and the team could defend the titles under Freebird rules; Lost the belts to the Hart Foundation at SummerSlam 1990; Feuded with LOD in 1991 before disbanding the team; Darsow took on the new gimmick of the Repo Man, looking and acting like The Riddler, feuding with Virgil and later the British Bulldog after Repo Man hung him over the top rope; Stole Randy Savage’s hat and was defeated by the Macho Man

Staff Thoughts: Good Ol’ Will’s favorite wrestler was one-half of Demolition, an important tag team in WWF history. Sure, they may have been Road Warrior rip offs, but their entrance music was cool and their ring gear made them look like monsters until you saw their ‘chiseled physiques.” Still Demolition had a record-breaking run, looked good squashing jobbers and had some decent matches with the really good teams of the era, like the Brain Busters and Strike Force. The guys talk about Demolition on this FYC podcast. Darsow was also the Repo Man, once stealing Randy Savage’s cowboy hat. Why he couldn’t have just gone to any carnival and won it at the ring toss like the rest of us is beyond me.

From the Voters: “I’m going to just put this out there: Isn’t he top 100 solely based on the rarely seen half mustache + facepaint combo?” – Ronnie Vod, May 29, 2017

“1/2 of the Longest Reigning WWE Tag Champs until New Day past it last year. And of course Repo Man. What more do I have to add?” – Greg Diener, May 28, 2017

130. Bray Wyatt Total Points: 739 Total Ballots: 30 Average Rank: 76.4 High Vote: 32 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Darren Hibbert

Key Matches & Moments: As Husky Harris he was part of the Nexus and later the New Nexus; Developed the Bray Wyatt character of a cult leader of the Wyatt Family (Luke Harper and Erick Rowan) in NXT;  Debuted on the main roster and defeated Kane at a Ring of Fire match at SummerSlam 2013; Feuded with Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, with the Wyatt Family defeating Bryan in a three-on-one handicap match at TLC 2013; Bryan briefly joined the Wyatt Family, before turning on them; Bray had his best singles match when he faced Bryan at Royal Rumble 2014 in a very good match; The Wyatt Family interfered in a match on Raw costing The Shield a spot in the Elimination Chamber, leading to a fantastic six-man match between the Wyatt Family and The Shield at Elimination Chamber; Cost John Cena in title matches at both the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber 2014 leading to their match at WrestleMania XXX, which Cena won; Continued Cena feud that also involved creepy children’s choirs, facing him in a steel cage match at Extreme Rules and a last man standing match at Payback; Set Harper and Rowan free disbanding the Wyatt Family; Feuded with Dean Ambrose in late 2014; Lasted 47 minutes and eliminated six wrestlers at the 2015 Royal Rumble; Challenged Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania 31 in a losing effort; Reformed the Wyatt Family with new member Braun Strowman and feuded with Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose; Wyatt Family confronted The Rock at WrestleMania 32; In late 2016 Randy Orton joined the Wyatt Family and Bray and Orton won the SmackDown Tag Team titles at TLC 2016, though Orton and Harper (defending under Freebird rules) would lose the titles causing dissension in the Wyatt Family; Won the WWE Championship in the 2017 Elimination Chamber; Lost the title to Randy Orton at WrestleMania 33 in an awful match involving holograms of bugs; Faced Orton in a non-title House of Horrors match; Feuded with Finn Balor, before getting involved in a feud with “Woken” Matt Hardy

Staff Thoughts: The Eater of Worlds also knows his way around a plate of nachos, because despite all his spooky promos he’s just another guy. Tons of potential when he debuted as something different than the usual jacked-up bro character, but never realized that potential. A gifted talker, Bray showed promise before the promos got overly repetitive. He was involved in the fantastic six-man matches with The Shield and had a really good match vs. Daniel Bryan at the 2014 Royal Rumble (good thing they didn’t put Bryan in the Rumble match too, that would’ve been crazy). Has faced John Cena, Undertaker and Randy Orton, in addition to appearing in a segment with The Rock, at WrestleMania. The match against Orton at WrestleMania 33 is one of the all-time worst title matches at Mania, unless you are obsessed with worms and maggots and grubs. Their House of Horrors rematch continued the ridiculousness, and nothing he’s done since has helped him right the ship. The guys talked about Bray in this episode of the FYC podcast.

From the Voters: “Great character that debuted but then started losing every feud he was in which just makes his character a fraud and not to take seriously. Needs someone better than him in ring (Bryan, Cena, etc ( to have a great match with. Very low on the list.” – Dennis Nunez, May 29, 2017

“Most useless, pointless character in the last decade.Weird promo on some guy for no reason. Boring 3 match series. Win or lose repeat with next guy. No growth, no character development which usually doesn’t matter but this guy is literally all character.” – Aaron George, May 29, 2017

129. Road Dogg Total Points: 746 Total Ballots: 35 Average Rank: 79.7 High Vote: 50 Low Vote: 98 High Voter: Brad Faulk

Key Matches & Moments: Served as “The Roadie” to “Double J” Jeff Jarrett and was the real voice behind “With My Baby Tonight,” which was supposed to start a feud between the two wrestlers; Returned as “The Real Double J” Jesse James feuding with The Honky Tonk Man and his protege Rockabilly Billy Gunn, before teaming with Gunn as the New Age Outlaws; Defeated LOD for the WWF Tag Team titles and continued feuding with LOD shaving part of Hawk’s signature reverse mohawk; Feuded with Chainsaw Charlie and Mankind leading to a dumpster match at WrestleMania XIV; Joined D-Generation-X; Participated in the Intercontinental Title four-way at WrestleMania XV after he surprisingly won the IC title after pursuing the Hardcore Title for some time; Teamed with and later feuded with X-Pac; Formed an alliance with K-Kwik, got rowdy, then left the company; Returned to win another Tag Team Championship with Gunn at Royal Rumble 2014; Teamed with Kane to face The Shield at WrestleMania XXX; Was a six-time Tag Team Champion, a Hardcore Champion and an IC Champion

Staff Thoughts: Oh you didn’t know? Your ass better caaaalll somebody. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages…The New Age Outlaws were one of the most popular acts of the Attitude Era, during one of the hottest times for the company. They were fresh and new and stood in stark contrast to the stale and old LOD, signalling a changing of the guard in the tag team division. He remained popular as part of DX and was in a number of Russo-riffic storylines, most notably having a good multi-man feud for the Hardcore Title before winning the IC title and being thrown into that match because Swervz Brah. Road Dogg had the gift of gab and his schtick was huge getting the NAO over. None of his singles or tag matches particularly stand out.

From the Voters: “Very good promo. I think he could be fun in tags & is one half of the most popular tag team of 1998 during a monster year of business. He got stale in the latter years of the Attitude Era though & couldn’t keep up with the change of expectations in workrate once guys like Jericho & the Radicalz came in.” – Devon Motivator Hales, June 2, 2017

“The name “New Age Outlaws” always bothered me. When I think New Age, I think Yanni, weird crystals, and meditation. I am going to take a look at Road Dogg. He has enough time with the company and was quite over for a period of time. Maybe he is underrated.” – Michael DeDamos, July 8, 2017

128. Becky Lynch Total Points: 754 Total Ballots: 22 Average Rank: 66.727 High Vote: 19 Low Vote: 99 High Voter: Scott Herrin

Key Matches & Moments: One of the “Four Horsewomen of NXT”, competed in the four-way match for the NXT Women’s Championship at Takeover Rival; Challenged Sasha Banks for the Women’s Championship at NXT Takeover Unstoppable losing in an excellent match; Debuted on the main roster as part of the “women’s revolution” invented by Stephanie McMahon as part of PCB; Got the pin on Brie Bella to win a three-team elimination match at SummerSlam 2015 for her team; Challenged Charlotte for the Diva’s Championship at Royal Rumble 2016; Challenged for the new WWE Women’s Championship in a very good three-way match with Banks and Charlotte at WrestleMania 32; Drafted to SmackDown and won the inaugural SmackDown Women’s title at Backlash in a six-pack challenge; Was the last woman eliminated from the SmackDown team at Survivor Series 2016; Lost her championship to Alexa Bliss in a tables match at TLC 2016; Continued feuding with Bliss and battled her in a steel cage match on SmackDown; Competed in six-pack challenge for SmackDown Women’s Title at WrestleMania 33; Participated in the first women’s Money in the Bank match; Captained the SmackDown team that lost to the Raw team in the women’s match at Survivor Series 2017; Attacked by the debuting Riot Squad putting her out of action to film the Marine 6 (there are six of those damn movies???) before recently returning to SmackDown

Staff Thoughts: Becky Lynch had great matches against other great women’s wrestlers, generally in NXT with the other Horsewomen. The four-way with all the Horsewomen and the match at Takeover Unstoppable vs. Sasha Banks are excellent must-see matches. She lacks the high-end classics that Bayley and Sasha had and the high-profile position and multiple championships that Charlotte has and just feels like the fourth most important member of the group (and perhaps overshadowed by other women on the roster as well). The women’s three-way match at WrestleMania 32 was among the best women’s matches in WrestleMania history. Lynch has been a pillar of the SmackDown women’s division since moving over to the blue brand. Hear more about the Lasskicker on this FYC podcast.

From the Voters: “Definitely very good, but it’s interesting how she’s managed to be overshadowed in every major situation. She has the instant classic with Sasha Banks at Takeover, only for Sasha and Bayley to overshadow it at the next Takeovers. She debuts on the main roster and is instantly lower on the power rankings than Charlotte. She gets her own division built around her on SmackDown, only to be undercut by Alexa Bliss’ quick rise, and then the Naomi push, and then Charlotte gets traded over. Doesn’t necessarily count against her in a significant way, I just think it’s interesting.” – Glenn Butler, May 29, 2017

“Hands down the most dependable worker of the current era. She should still be the SDL champ. Remains popular despite not being the focus of the division anymore. I’d like to include her, but I can’t justify it.” – Adam Russell, July 14, 2017

127. Brutus Beefcake Total Points: 757 Total Ballots: 33 Average Rank: 78.6 High Vote: 32 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Andrew Lacelle

Key Matches & Moments: Had a match at the first WrestleMania against the lesser Sammartino; With Partner Greg Valentine formed the Dream Team and won the WWF Tag Team Titles; Had arguably the best match on the card at WrestleMania 2 when the Dream Team dropped the titles to The British Bulldogs; Turned face and then attended beauty school and became a barber; Spent the latter 1980s both strutting AND cutting his way through the midcard; Was brutalized by Ron Bass’ spurs in a CENSORED moment that surely scarred a generation; Invented the catchphrase “SCARY SHERRI” and went on to main event SummerSlam 1989 with Hulk Hogan; Assaulted the Genius and cut his hair WITHOUT CONSENT; Ended Mr. Perfect’s undefeated streak by defeating him at WrestleMania VI; Opened a Barber Shop that was eventually destroyed by a shaving cream laden Sid Justice; Formed the Mega Maniacs with Hulk Hogan but came up short in the bid to win the Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania IX

Staff Thoughts: While perhaps never the best in ring general, it’s hard to deny that Brutus Beefcake was one of the most iconic grapplers of the 1980s. He’s one of the few guys you could mention to a non wrestling fan that they would remember. His colorful outfits meshed perfectly with Jim Johnson losing his mind on the bass. Brother Bruti was OVER with a capital O, often receiving pops that rivaled the tops stars despite being amid-card bulwark. His promo skills were a bit hokey, and his character development rarely strayed beyond crazy wide-eyed guy with garden shears but it’s safe to say that Brutus Beefcake left an undeniable mark on the business. Long live Brutus the fucking Barber Beefcake!

From the Voters: “Shear off the ugly ends of his WWF career with those oversized clippers and he had a decent middle. Did well enough in the Dream Team with Greg Valentine and then put it together as The Barber, having good matches against better workers like Ted DiBiase and Mr. Perfect. The less said about his first singles run and/or 1993 comeback the better. I think he just misses the list.” – Ben Morse, June 5, 2017

“He had a 6 year run, and was always relevant during it. He worked his way up to the top of the mid-card for the last year of his run, and he earned it – he was super popular, a solid worker and a solid promo. He was Hogan’s friend, but that didn’t seem to really help his career until 1993. He shouldn’t be penalized for coming up alongside a more successful performer.” – James Profitt, July 20, 2017

126. Samoa Joe Total Points: 779 Total Ballots: 28 Average Rank: 73.2 High Vote: 24 Low Vote: 98 High Voter: Bret Hart

Key Matches & Moments: Defeated Baron Corbin at NXT Takeover Brooklyn; Won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament with Finn Balor with the final two matches taking place at NXT Takeover Respect; Turned heel and challenged Balor for the NXT title at NXT Takeover London; Defeated Sami Zayn in a two-out-of-three falls match to determine the #1 contender for the NXT title; Challenged Balor at NXT Takeover Dallas getting cut early in the match and failing to win the title; Won the NXT title from Balor at a live event and successfully defended the title against Balor at NXT Takeover The End; Lost the NXT title to Shinsuke Nakamura at NXT Takeover Brooklyn II; Defeated Nakamura for the NXT championship at NXT Takeover Toronto to become the first two-time NXT champion; Lost the title back to Nakamura in Japan and failed to win it back in a steel-cage match in Australia; Debuted on Raw attacking Seth Rollins and aligning himself with Triple H; At Extreme Rules 2017 Joe defeated Balor, Rollins, Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt to become the #1 contender for Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship; Challenged Lesnar for the title at Great Balls of Fire in a fun hard-hitting sprint; Again challenged Lesnar for the title in a really good four-way match at SummerSlam also involving Reigns and Braun Strowman; Was part of the winning Raw team at Survivor Series

Staff Thoughts: Samoa Joe had good, main event matches against both Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura in NXT on Takeover cards that featured great matches on the undercard often overshadowing the title matches. His match with Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire was really good for as short as it was, but lacked time to become a classic (if either guy could have a long, classic match these days). The SummerSlam four way is a great, violent chaotic match. Joe’s been hampered by injuries on the main roster as well. We all know Joe’s earlier work and are left to wonder what could’ve been if he’d gotten to the WWE earlier in his career, but it wasn’t meant to be. Still, his solid NXT career and the Balls match and SummerSlam match indicate there could be more good stuff to come.

From the Voters: “He’s had a 2 year run now under the consideration criteria. By year’s end, he’ll be just 6 months short of Rick Rude’s tenure. He has a ton of great matches in NXT, had a memorable debut on Raw, has main evented a ppv and had one of the coolest sub-10 minute matches I’ve seen with Brock on Sunday. He’ll definitely qualify as one of the best 100 just based on his top-tier work in the last 2 years, and I’m looking forward to see what he’ll do in the next 5 months to improve his positioning.” – James Proffitt, July 13, 2017

“One of my all time favorites…great NXT run but his main roster tenure is too short for me to consider him. I hope his career lasts long enough that he’s a lock when we do this again in 10 years.” – Neil Trama, June 2, 2017

125. Finn Balor Total Points: 871 Total Ballots: 33 Average Rank: 74.6 High Vote: 32 Low Vote: 100 High Voter: Henry Rivers

Key Matches & Moments: Teamed with Hideo Itami to feud with the Ascension defeating them at NXT Takeover R Evolution; Won a #1 contender tournament for the NXT title defeating Neville in the finals at NXT Takeover Rival; Defeated Tyler Breeze at NXT Takeover Unstoppable; Won the NXT Championship from Kevin Owens at Beast from the East in Japan; Retained the NXT title in a ladder match vs. Owens at NXT Takeover Brooklyn; Teamed with Samoa Joe to win the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic with the finals at NXT Takeover Respect; Retained the NXT Championship against Samoa Joe at both NXT Takeover London and NXT Takeover Dallas; Lost the NXT title to Joe at NXT Takeover The End, ending his record-setting reign at 292 days in a steel cage match that was his first loss at a Takeover event and his first loss as the demon persona; Drafted to Raw in 2016 draft; At SummerSlam 2016 defeated Seth Rollins to become the first Universal Champion as the Demon King; Was injured in the match so relinquished the title; Competed in a fatal-five way to determine the #1 contender for the Universal title, but lost that match; As the Demon King defeated Bray Wyatt at SummerSlam, leading to a “man v. man” match at No Mercy; Wyatt was ruled out of TLC due to illness giving us the much better Balor as the Demon King vs. A.J. Styles match; Was on the winning team at Survivor Series; Reformed the Balor Club with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson

Staff Thoughts: As the Demon King, Finn Balor’s war paint and entrance stand out and fans love extending their arms with his theme music. When he just competes as Finn, he’s less exciting. He’s a good but not spectacular worker, and his run in NXT exemplified that, having good matches overshadowed by great matches lower on the card. That said, he was the face of NXT holding down the main event for quite a while. Finn seemed destined for greatness when he won the Universal Title shortly after debuting on Raw, but getting injured in the match forced him to give up the title and he hasn’t recovered since. Getting saddled feuding with Bray Wyatt did him no favors. But I’m sure once he wins the 2018 Royal Rumble match, as predicted by Scott Criscuolo, that will turn everything around for the Demon King.

From the Voters: “I like Balor pretty well and I think he gets their eventually, but I am guessing he misses my list right now just based on volume, time, and output. I expect him to have some instant classics in the next year or two as I think the cards are falling perfectly for him, but we will see.” – Matthew Richards, May 30, 2017

“Would have to have some big time moments and matches between now and the rest of the year for my consideration. Not impossible.” – Jeremy Ray, May 29, 2017