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The Oklafan Top 50 out later today

Posted: Dec 31st 2012 By: mikeiles

Today is December 31st and later tonight as the clock strikes midnight, Burnham will be posting the 2012 Oklafan Top 50. The Oklafan Top 50 is bittersweet. I kind of have a love-hate relationship with it.

It was my idea in 2005 to do a Top 50. Actually I wanted to do a Top 100 but there weren't enough wrestlers back then to actually have a Top 100. Obviously the idea came from Pro Wrestling Illustrated's PWI 500 they do every year. That is usually the only issue of PWI that I purchase each year.

Last year I wrote a similar story to this one and in it I mentioned that in 2005, the first year for the Top 50, there were only 6 active feds. To end 2012, we have 7 feds. Last year to close 2011, there were 10 active feds.

As with every Top 50, the thing I don't look forward to is the complaints from wrestlers and/or promoters because their guy (or them themselves) weren't ranked. I have listed some things to remember below. Some of these are repeats from last year's column I wrote about the Top 50. I have made some changes as well.

1. The ENTIRE thing is a work. This includes the list itself and the opinions of the voters.
2. Yes, the voters are all marks. Technically, everyone involved in wrestling all the way up the ladder to Vince McMahon is a mark is some form or fashion. Otherwise we wouldn't be involved in this crazy business.
3. You won't get booked any more or any less depending on where you were or weren't ranked. This one came from "Big Money" Chris Matthews who told me that in 2005 when he was ranked #36 despite not wrestling in Oklahoma for the latter part of 2005. This one is a big one. I doubt very seriously that WWE, TNA, Ring of Honor, or any fed overseas is going to look at the Oklafan Top 50 and decide who they will be booking or signing.
4. This last one is my rule. There were 167 wrestling shows in 2012 (up from 143 in 2011), not counting the WWE and TNA shows. If a wrestler didn't work at least 12 matches during the year, I did not consider them. I was looking for the Top 50 wrestlers in Oklahoma for 2012 (according to my opinion) and if a wrestler couldn't get booked on at least 1 show per month out of 7 active feds and 167 shows, they weren't one of my Top 50. I have had some close friends not make the list in the past because of this rule and they ribbed me about it (Jason Jones being one of them). Does that exclude some wrestlers that if they had 12 matches they would have been at or near the top? Absolutely. But again this is my opinion and it is only for a 12 month period. Not a career achievement. Again, this rule is what I go by. I don't know if the other voters have a similar rule or not.

So tonight as you are looking over the Top 50, keep these things in mind. If YOU as a wrestler are happy with how you are being booked and how you are being perceived in the feds you work in, then the list shouldn't mean squat to you.

Have a Happy New Year everyone!!!