how would you place 98-100?

[shunsukenumber98]

A month ago, I created a thread about how I would place 98-100 from tournaments 4-41 (link at the bottom), and despite some very good feedback regarding my number placement, I still agree with the list i made at the current moment. 

Now, how would you place the numbers from 98-100 from 4-41? I didn't do 1-3 as the numbers weren't fleshed out yet, but feel free to do 98-100 from 1-3 if you like! 

The 98-100 placement can be based upon you own opinion entirely, and not on any side of realism and imagine if it were you in charge of the number placement from 98-100 for each tournamen. So if you would like to place a rando athlete at number 99 in sasuke 40 for instance, by all means, go for it, just give a reasoning for it lol. 

So, how would you guys place 98-100 from 4-41? Let us know!   

Link for you all to get what I mean: sasukemaniac.proboards.com/thread/9732/number-98-100?page=1&scrollTo=210375 

[dakohosu]

To be honest when it comes to number placements I've never had a massive issue with who gets what number. Most of the time it makes sense based on performance and/or fame or them being a celebrity etc. and are clearly meticulously decided from the perspective of things like pacing towards the end of Stage 1. 

I remember back in the day loads of people complained about competitors like Darvish and Hiromichi Sato getting numbers in the high 90s, which if you're looking at it from purely a performance based perspective, sure they didn't deserve those high placements, but it worked from a ratings perspective to ensure fans would stay tuned in for longer until their run. And for the most part the majority of the tournaments we've had have had absolutely stacked 90s with All-Stars, new stars, breakout runs, etc. so a couple of celebs here and there to drive ratings I'm ok with.

The only things I've had legitimate issues with are tournaments like early Shin-Sasuke where they just fill the 90s with rando athletes for some reason; mostly resulting in them getting digested or cut as they usually fail Stage 1 bar a few exceptions here and there. It just results in a bit of a break in immersion in what should be the most nail-biting and exciting part of Stage 1. Ideally you want the 90s to have the most "will they, won't they" competitors as they're more worth waiting for and a good climax to end Stage 1 on, so having that section filled with a bunch of fail digests was always underwhelming to me. I also felt that for what it's worth, Shingo and Takeda deserved #99 at least a couple of times each, with Shingo ideally getting #100 in Sasuke 8 due to being the lone Finalist in the previous tournament.

That said, I do like what they're doing nowadays where they split the stronger competitors more evenly throughout the field, such that no matter what, a competitor you want to see is never more than 10-20 minutes or so away, rather than having to sit through loads and loads of first obstacle fails in succession before someone eventually clears in like the 60s.