The first step was was compiling the star ratings data. Thankfully, this was completed completed by someone else - see starratingslist.blogspot.com

This website tracks all of the matches which Dave Meltzer has reviewed and rated three stars (out of possible five) or higher.

Next, the data is imported, the names are standardized and the matches are sorted into "pure" singles (just two competitors battling it out mano a mano) and tag varieties.  (We'll explore the implications from using "multi-man singles" matches such as the "Money in the Bank" ladder match at the end of this piece.) 

For each standard singles match (competitor A versus challenger B) we want to know several pieces of information:

* What is the average star rating for competitor A's single matches overall? How many singles matches has competitor A had?

* What is the average star rating for challenger B's single matches overall? How many singles matches has challenger B had?

* What is the average star rating for singles matches where A wrestles B? How many singles matches did competitor A face challenger B?

Essentially, we're trying to determine whether a singles match between two wrestlers is higher or lower than the average singles star rating for each those competitors against other opponents. 

* Significant Positive Effect on Opponents: Shawn Michaels, Ricky Steamboat, Mick Foley, John Cena, Ric Flair, Brian Pillman, Chris Benoit, Brock Lesnar, Ultimo Dragon, Bret Hart

(Runner-ups: Kidman, Luger, Finlay, Batista)

There's certainly some surprises in the list.  I knew HBK and Steamboat were great workers and expected Ric Flair, Bret Hart and Chris Benoit to do quite well.  However, I was certainly not counting on John Cena or Ultimo Dragon to break into the top echelon.  Likewise, I expected Kane to fare poorly. Still, I did not conceive that both Regal and Finlay would both find themselves on the negative effect list. 

This is the point when it's appropriate to start the long list of disclaimers associated with this approach.

First of all, all of the star ratings are the opinion of a single person - Dave Meltzer. This is not a reflection of what matches were popular, sold the most PPVs, drew the highest television ratings, sold the most tickets, etc. It was a reflection of how Dave felt about that match in front of that crowd on that day.  My dataset is only matches that were ranked 3 stars or higher.  I'm certain that if you normalize for total televised matches, you'd see that someone like Kurt Angle really stands out compared to someone like Hulk Hogan in that Kurt had a lot of great highly rated singles matches while Hogan didn't.  If I had the star ratings for every Hogan match (not just the three star plus affairs), his overall average would be a lot lower which could have a dramatic effect on what the "impact" residuals look like.  There's even the whole subject of which matches were being judged - secondary television shows (Smackdown!, WCW Saturday Night, ECW television) are likely underrepresented on this list.  PPVs are almost always rated which may be affecting John Cena's rating, though truth be told HHH and Kane have been on more PPVs over the years, so it's not like longevity alone drives a positive impact residual.  Lastly, this is only looking at pure singles matches - tag team analysis is a bit harder, but it'll be coming down the line.

If you don't control for it, each wrestler gets to count each singles pairing in the match as a separate "feud".

Christian ends up with 7 feuds - one again every single wrestler.  When you consider that on average, multi-person singles have a higher star rating average (3.69) than tag (3.50) or singles (3.56) it quickly rewards people who participated in good matches such as the Money in the Bank Ladder match with lots and lots of impact residual points.

Sin Cara (0.35 impact avg)

Edge (0.32 impact avg)

Shawn Michaels (0.3 impact avg)

Mike Awesome (0.3 impact avg)

Mark Henry (0.3 impact avg)

Santino Marella (0.29 impact avg)

Cody Rhodes (0.28 impact avg)

Ricky Steamboat (0.27 impact avg)

Matt Hardy (0.26 impact avg)

Jeff Hardy (0.24 impact avg)

Kane (0.23 impact avg)

Alberto Del Rio (0.22 impact avg)

Finlay (0.22 impact avg)

Daniel Bryan (0.2 impact avg)

Ric Flair (0.2 impact avg)

Christian (0.2 impact avg)

Evan Bourne (0.2 impact avg)

Psicosis (0.19 impact avg)

Brian Pillman (0.18 impact avg)

Bret Hart (0.18 impact avg)

Chris Benoit (0.18 impact avg)

Shelton Benjamin (0.17 impact avg)

Brock Lesnar (0.15 impact avg)

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More careful controls need to be implemented to ensure points from each match are essentially only counted once.