KB8

He's wanted to do that to those DC folk ever since they told him Black Adam couldn't hang with Batman.

I watched the February '96 match with Mascarita Magica towards the end of last year and it really is excellent. I wouldn't put it quite on the level of Damiancito/Cicloncito the following year, but it wasn't a million miles off it either. I also don't think I've seen that particular Fuego match so that's cool as well. I'll still likely have him around my top 20.

Orton's skin tone is somewhere close to that Liver King maniac on instagram. Although the latter is definitely natural and attained his physique from living the ancestral lifestyle, so I guess maybe Orton is just eating a bowl full of raw pig hearts and bull testicles. A true Primal has no need for Tren!

Mariko Yoshida v Yumiko Hotta (AtoZ, 11/9/03) - GREAT I guess these joshi promotions of the 2000s really liked running one-night tournaments. We know Tony Khan was a DVDVR poster back in the day, can we be sure he wasn't also one of the three dozen people still following joshi during those dark years? You'd assume he watched a lot of IWA Mid-South but do we know for a fact he didn't develop his fetish for wrestling tournaments from places like AtoZ (which I did not realise before was just a rebranded ARSION) and Ice Ribbon? This was relatively short and compact and had a real nice sense of escalation running through it. The first few minutes weren't anything special, because Hotta isn't the most compelling mat worker, but it didn't feel like they were simply going through the motions either. It got really good when tempers flared, though. I've watched enough 2000s Yoshida recently to figure that eventually she'd punch Hotta in the face at some point, and I've watched enough Hotta from any time period to know how she would respond to that. Yoshida was absolutely clobbering her with shots and Hotta would just punt Yoshida in the face, almost casually which somehow made it even more callous. It wasn't personal for Hotta, no more than the torturer cutting a confession. She just is what she is and this was no more than business. I don't remember ever seeing Yoshida take a shot like the roundhouse kick to the face while she was on her knees. Maybe that made it personal for her and the moment she ripped her glove off and fucking nuked Hotta with a straight right was biblical. You could literally hear this thing. Mariko Yoshida v Sakura Hirota (GAEA, 11/3/04) - FUN This was a comedy match and a pretty whimsical six minutes all told. I would assume Hirota is a comedy wrestler by trade, like your Kikutaro who does impressions of other wrestlers. She was dressed in a spider suit getup and credit where it's due, her Yoshida impression was highly amusing. She had the swagger down, did the perfect double biceps pose, and the moment where even Yoshida broke into a chuckle felt legit. 2004 was also a very different time than 2023 so I guess Hirota doing a bunch of creepy weirdo pervert stuff was less frowned upon. She tried to plant the lips on Yoshida at several points and then she broke a submission hold by jabbing her in the butthole with a finger, which is the sort of thing many a 90s message board poster would've paid obscene amounts of money for. Yoshida didn't even punch her in the face once but in the end she did tie her up in enough of a knot that Hirota couldn't sex pest her way out of it.

I haven't dug THAT deep into post-2003 Yoshida yet, but I'd agree with the notion that she was ultra consistent way past her actual peak. I guess there's a paucity of her later career out there relative to some other joshi candidates, but either way I don't remember watching her in the late 2000s or so and thinking she was anything other than good (and fairly often I thought she was still REALLY good). At this point I'm pretty okay in the knowledge that I'll generally value peak more than longevity anyway, and I probably was in 2016 if maybe not to the same extent, but I feel like I still undersold the length of her peak during the last vote. She's incredible in that '98-'01 period and four years of that quality will go a long way with me. Throw in the stuff before and after that period to bolster her case and she's probably landing in my top 20. She'd be top 10 if it were a pure favourites list.

Mariko Yoshida v Mika Akino (ARSION, 1/17/99) - EPIC An absolutely ferocious Yoshida performance. If you're Akino, a whole six months into your career at this point, you almost need to wonder what you can even do. Go head first at Yoshida and she'll catch you and tie you in knots. Hang back and let her come to you then Yoshida WILL come to you and that might be even worse. Yoshida is just about the greatest swarm in wrestling history and she was all over Akino from the bell, twisting her every which way while Akino had to frantically scramble to keep her head above water. There was an absolutely spectacular exchange where Akino managed to finally buck Yoshida off and they went into kneeling switches for waist control, then when they got up to their feet I thought they were going to do a show of respect and instead Yoshida just kneed Akino in the face and monkey flipped her into a cross armbreaker. The greatness of Yoshida's grappling doesn't necessarily lie in how much cool and inventive shit she does as opposed to the intensity with which she does it all. That said she had at least three holds here that I can't remember ever seeing before and the reverse figure-four thing had my jaw on the floor. None of those holds looked contrived though; they all had logical setups and felt organic. You couldn't see the wheels turning, couldn't see her working through the components in her mind as she was doing them, no "this crosses over this and I do this to put this limb here" or whatever. She snapped into them as quickly as she'd snap into any basic hold and they actually felt like appropriate responses to what the situation gave her at the time. It wasn't a fancy armbar setup just to be fancy, she did it because Akino's proximity and body position made it the most feasible at the time. Just because 95% of wrestlers ever couldn't think of it doesn't mean it's not the smart thing to do. Most of Akino's offence came in bursts but she got to look spunky and explosive and that's about all you can ask for. She also got to look resourceful at points with how she'd attempt one thing and Yoshida would counter it, then if she went back to it a second time she'd switch it up and connect on it. The cool part was that if she went to it TOO often Yoshida would inevitably bring it back around and find yet another solution. That's what Yoshida does and I guess if you're Akino you live and learn. I thought for sure the kid was tapping on at least two choke attempts so she got to look tough as nails by hanging in there and eventually making the ropes. Yoshida was a monster in '99 and I'm looking forward to watching all of it, some for the first time and some for a second time. This was a great way to start off a banner year.

Mariko Yoshida v Aja Kong (ARSION, 10/17/00) - GREAT This was a semi-final bout of a one-night tournament (the final of which I talked about a few days ago). It was also an ARSION tournament in Korakuen Hall and not a seven-hour All Japan Women Tournament in the Tokyo Dome, so it wasn't likely to be a lengthy affair. For 10 minutes of brute force against dexterity it'll be hard to go wrong with these two, and this was a badass 10 minutes. At some point in the year 2000 Yoshida started incorporating more striking into her arsenal, and by striking I mean absolutely walloping people in the face with her fists. It meant this had an extra layer to their usual dynamic, where Yoshida didn't have to rely on JUST the grappling and could throw hand grenades when she had openings. She had several openings and threw a goodly amount of hand grenades. Obviously Aja tagged her back and there was one incredible sequence where Yoshida was throwing lefts and rights to the head, Aja standing there out on her feet, then from nowhere she unleashed a back fist that about ripped Yoshida's face in two. In the end though, if Yoshida was going to win she'd need to do it with what she did better than anyone. It was just a question of whether she could do it to someone with as much BEEF as Aja. Or if she could do it before Aja caved her head in. Mariko Yoshida & Yumiko Hotta v Sumie Sakai & Megumi Yabushita (AJW, 11/3/02) - GOOD I initially came across this when trying to find the Yoshida/Hotta singles match from November 2003 (in a promotion called AtoZ, which I honestly had never heard of in my life). Yoshida and Hotta teaming together seemed interesting if nothing else, and that team against a couple girls who'd only been wrestling for about five years was an interesting spot for them to be in. I figured Hotta would do what she usually did against lower-ranked opponents and I've watched enough peak Yoshida against wrestlers like that to know it's probably going to be good. And this was decent enough, mostly for those reasons, but also for the infighting between Yoshida and Hotta. While it's probably a stretch to assume they used this to build to a singles match a whole year down the line, it must've at least whet the appetite. Hotta was in a sprightlier mood than usual here and I don't think she full force punted anybody in the face even once. She was more condescending than anything else, hooking Sakai in an armbar while grinning up at Yabushita on the apron. The young girls threw a few stiff shots and not once could you say Hotta flew off the handle in response. Yoshida wasn't in as jovial a mood, nor was she particularly interested in playing with her food. The first thing she did when entering the ring was kicking Yabushita in the head and she was very businesslike the whole way. There was one exchange in the middle between her and Yabushita that was excellent, really snappy grappling with Yabushita holding her own admirably. I knew Yabushita was a kickboxer but I didn't know she could bring the MATWORK~ like this. As the match goes on the more cracks between Hotta and Yoshida start to form. Yoshida held one of the youngsters for Hotta to smack, but the youngster moved and Yoshida took the shot instead. It didn't sit well with her and when the shoe was on the other foot later you almost wonder if she wasn't outright aiming for Hotta. They didn't come all the way to blows, but they were close and when Hotta told Yoshida to move so she could put a ribbon on things at the end you know Yoshida wanted to fucking kill her. Luckily I do not have to wait a year before seeing a singles match, although knowing me it'll be a decade before I actually get around to it.

Mariko Yoshida v Ayako Hamada (ARSION, 10/17/00) - EPIC This was the final of a one-night tournament and only went 11 minutes. A tournament final, even of one held on a single night, going 11 minutes and not 52 today feels damn near inconceivable. Shit even for 2000 it feels inconceivable, but then ARSION were all about doing things differently for a while there. A great little promotion. For a while there. These two were in a tournament final from '98 that I watched about a year ago now and at that point Ayako Hamada was in a very different place. That match didn't even last 11 minutes and Yoshida basically mopped the floor with the poor lass. I think she even beat her with a foot on the chest and then Hamada got carted out by three people like she was a carcass left in a ditch. Two years later and Hamada is now the grand old age of 19. I guess in pro wrestling terms you grow up quick because she handled herself much better here and at least felt plausibly on Yoshida's level. Yoshida was so fucking good. I don't just mean here, I mean in general. She can demolish you in a dozen different ways and she started this by jumping all over Hamada and trying to yank her into armbars and chokes and anything else she could think up. When Hamada tried to catch her in a bodyscissors, maybe just for a tiny bit of respite if nothing else, Yoshida applied the fucking STOMACH CLAW and then threw some of the greatest body shots she's ever thrown. For a glorious 90 seconds she then worked the midsection with gutbusters and body blows and this was looking like a legitimate 12-star affair. Pretty quickly Hamada made a comeback and they never returned to the body work, but it was amazing while it lasted. You also make peace with them moving past it as Yoshida very soon punches Hamada in the face so hard she starts selling her own hand like she broke it. Yoshida's arm is already taped up so I'm guessing this plays off a previous tournament match, but even on its own it ruled. This was also just about the greatest punch Yoshida's ever thrown. It was largely a sprint from there, but they absolutely blistered each other and I never felt like they went fully into spotty territory. It felt frantic, like two people who've just wrestled twice on the night know the adrenaline is going to wear off pretty soon. Some of the striking was exceptional and you had Hamada recklessly spin kicking Yoshida in the face and neck and Yoshida throwing haymakers. Hamada in particular worked with a real urgency, probably because she knew Yoshida needed to be put away with some haste. She tried one preposterous rolling submission thing that she definitely learned from her old man and Yoshida reversed it into a fucking kimura and I fell out the bed. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't vote Yoshida top 10 in the '26 GWE.

Well damn, I forgot about this thread! I haven't gone two and a half years without watching any Yoshida. Mariko Yoshida v KAORU (AJW, 8/28/94) - GREAT This wasn't perfect. It was rough around the edges and at times they maybe struggled a wee bit to fill the half an hour, but at the very least they went out and worked something different to just about any AJW midcard match of the time (not that I've seen a ton of the 1994 AJW midcard, mind you). Yoshida is returning to action after nearly two years out with a broken neck and it turns into a minor story point throughout. If you'd only seen wrestling from America you'd be shocked that a broken neck isn't the main focus of the match, sort of like how Shawn Michaels came out of retirement after a slipped disc and everyone worked over his back for the next eight years. KAORU hits a couple piledrivers early and Yoshida's selling for the next little while was sublime, the way she'd snap KAORU into a leglock but immediately have to give it up, clutching her neck like the jolt from dropping to the mat had undone two years' worth of rehab. KAORU would go back to it sporadically throughout the match as well, sometimes just to give herself some distance by punching Yoshida in the neck. It worked every time so it would be hard to fault her. Yoshida never brought the same grappling that she would a few years later, it was very different here, much more scrappy and unrefined, but it was also really compelling. It was always gritty if nothing else. Sometimes she'd just grab KAORU's leg and twist it, whereas in ARSION she'd have turned it into something preposterous and beautiful and KAORU would've been scrambling for the ropes. I did love her putting KAORU in a half crab and tearing away her knee strapping, even biting her on the kneecap while the ref' wasn't looking, then she turned it into an STF where the leg was torqued at a putrid angle. Where the match mostly stood out from other AJW stuff was the pacing, which almost felt like a New Japan match at points. They'd go into stalemates and resets, regroup and come back at each other with different strategies. It meant we got a bit of everything, some matwork, some flying, some striking, a few bombs, but I never really thought they were just doing shit to be doing it. Some of the flying was great, especially KAORU's Asai moonsault, and one of Yoshida's topes where she landed all sideways. When it came to the striking they'd often shit-talk each other before throwing brutal slaps. And for the big high impact stuff, Yoshida practically hitting a Ganso Bomb was ludicrous. As the time limit approaches you kind of know what's coming, the bell ringing as Yoshida is pressing to secure a leglock. When they manage to get it restarted Yoshida comes out fast again, but then the neck comes back to haunt her as KAORU just spikes her with a tombstone. Very nifty. Mariko Yoshida v Yumi Fukawa (ARSION, 5/8/98) - GREAT It feels like I say this every other time I write anything about her, but my god is Mariko Yoshida a force of nature when she really goes after someone. She takes about 80% of this with Fukawa having to claw for every morsel. Fukawa tries a rolling armbar early on and pretty much whiffs it, so Yoshida looks at her in disgust and stomps on her head. My favourite bit of Yoshida matwork here was how she prevented Fukawa from rolling through on a legbar attempt. The first time she went for that legbar Fukawa did roll through and Yoshida couldn't lock it in. When she grabs it again later Fukawa tries to roll through once more, but this time Yoshida sticks a foot out to stop her, then somehow manages to corral Fukawa's other leg in the process. It probably sounds mundane when you're only reading about it, but it's the micro-details like those that separate the good mat workers from the great ones and Yoshida's attention to detail is magic. Some of the grappling exchanges were excellent, especially when Fukawa was able to keep those exchanges relatively even. Towards the end Fukawa manages to actually put Yoshida in trouble, but then Yoshida grabs her in the middle of the ring and is totally relentless in working through several submission attempts until Fukawa finally succumbs to the inevitable. Mariko Yoshida v Mikiko Futagami (ARSION, 8/9/98) - EPIC What a wonderful wee eight minutes. It's sort of jarring watching this back to back with Yoshida/KAORU from four years earlier. Obviously Yoshida's aesthetic presentation is much different in '98, but stylistically it's almost night and day difference. She was once again a demon on the mat, ripping Futagami into armbars and leglocks. There was nothing about her act that felt like it needed refining or like she was trying stuff to figure out what she wanted to be -- this was final form Yoshida and it's one of the best things ever. Futagami is hardly a slouch on the ground but, similar to their match from May that year, she needed to rely on the strikes if she was to have a chance. She rocked Yoshida initially with a palm thrust, then later connected with two absolutely brutal koppu kicks. The set up to the second one looked a bit ropey at first, like Futagami was on some All Japan fighting spirit juice after taking a German suplex, but I think she was supposed to flip out of it and just undershot the move in the first place. So we may all sleep easy. I've said this a bunch of times as well and it rings true again; Yoshida is probably the best I've ever seen at making you think she's going to submit to a hold. Part of this is the ARSION house style of course. You can buy someone submitting in six minutes in ARSION because of the shoot style elements and that matches are naturally shorter anyway, whereas if it happened in AJW I doubt I'd be buying it six minutes into a match no matter how good an actress she is. But it is what it is and it's hard to be The Ace while selling plausible vulnerability so early in a match. She never goes half-baked on trying to make the ropes and there's always that seed of doubt in your mind that she'll make it. The finish being what it was here just reinforces that things can end quickly in ARSION, and even the spider queen isn't safe. I love this pairing. Mariko Yoshida v Michiko Ohmukai (ARSION, 8/31/98) - GOOD This was Ohmukai with a kicker's chance against Yoshida who will tie her up and rip her limbs off if given half a chance. Both of them worked this with a sense of urgency, but Ohmukai almost felt desperate at points given her busted up shoulder. You knew that if Yoshida got a hold of it then it would probably be curtains, and Ohmukai knew that as well, so she swung for the fences straight away. There wasn't a ton of variety to what she did, I guess other than which type of kick she was throwing. The kicks looked mean though, most of them landing with a thud, a handful catching Yoshida flush. One in particular caught her right under the chin as Yoshida came back off the ropes. It wasn't a long match, but the longer it did go the more Ohmukai needed to push things and that left open doors for Yoshida, who will happily walk through a door and submit you. Even something fairly standard can look spectacular when Yoshida does it and this time it was the way she dropped to a knee for a rear waistlock as a counter to a simple arm wringer. Other than that she was hooking things from all angles, sprawling and rolling through and generally being relentless. She wasn't even all that bothered about targeting the shoulder. When the opportunity presented itself she went for it, but she wasn't perturbed when Ohmukai managed to escape. When she caught one of Ohmukai's high kicks and yanked her into a sick ankle lock you kind of knew it was inevitable. The only question was what Ohmukai would tap to. Because in the end they all tap. Mariko Yoshida v Ayako Hamada (ARSION, 8/31/98) - FUN The final! Hamada came into it having bested - or perhaps upset - Futagami and Mary Apache and maybe figured she'd have an outside chance of dethroning the queen in waiting. She was clearly a fool as this was basically an extended squash. What an extended squash though, with Yoshida twisting her into knots and never giving her a second's peace. She was relentless and any time Hamada looked like putting a run together she would be stopped emphatically. Yoshida is spectacular as always, just ripping off armbars and leglocks while this kid wonders what she's gotten herself into. There was one brilliant nearfall off a backslide where Yoshida managed to get a toe on the rope, then she got up and Hamada never got close again. In the end the poor lass is carried out like a pit fighter that Yoshida made an end of. The queen of ARSION. Mariko Yoshida v Reggie Bennett (ARSION, 8/31/98) - GREAT This is a great match up and of course this was badass. I like just about all of the wrestlers on the ARSION roster from this period for one reason or another, so this shouldn't be read as a knock on them, but Yoshida is different gravy and looks flat out amazing nearly every time she shows up. The early matwork here was fantastic and nobody else really does it quite at that level. The struggle, the way it looks uncooperative but slick, it's really great. She was crawling all over Reggie trying to work around the size disadvantage, trying to hook a limb in a way that wouldn't allow Reggie to literally just fall on top of her and smother her. Reggie is a blast and more than holds her own on the mat. Where did she actually go after ARSION? She'd have been a great Serena Deeb opponent in the year 2022. Yoshida was for giving nothing easy and Reggie had to fight for every throw just as much as Yoshida had to fight for every armbar or ankle lock. Yoshida cracking the code with the slickest armbar you've seen is a pretty awesome finish as well. It wasn't like she focused on a specific limb through the match, she was just grabbing whatever was there, used one hold then would transition to another when it presented itself, just constantly recalibrating as necessary. One of the best to ever do it. Mariko Yoshida v Yuu Yamagata (ARSION, 12/8/01) - GOOD Here's a revelation for you - Yoshida was very different in 2001 than she was in 1990. This was peak Yoshida, oozing confidence and working at a ridiculously high level, really just one of the best wrestlers ever. Her silver Spider-Man 2099 getup was also A+. I'm sorry but I do not have a clue who Yuu Yamagata is. Apparently she's a rookie. I can believe that because Yoshida smashed her to bits. Yoshida stretching a rookie with submissions is something you expect and she really tortured the poor girl. What's unexpected is the way she was also throwing hand grenades, backing Yuu into the corner and unloading with a huge punch flurry, these big sweeping haymakers right on the button. You maybe don't think of Yoshida as a great striker, or at least that's not the first thing you think of with her, but she sure had some great strikes here. I liked how she sold for Yuu as well. There was dismissiveness when Yuu tried a feeble backslide, annoyance when she tried it again and got a two count, frustration when she refused to be hooked in some preposterous hold, then even a pinch of concern when Yuu managed to hook something of her own. In the end the kid had to submit, but she gave an okay account of herself all told. If it turns out to be my only Yuu Yamagata singles match I will cherish it dearly.

Koko Ware, Dream Machine, Nightmare, Speed & Jimmy Hart v Dutch Mantell, Bill Dundee, Steve Keirn, Rick Gibson & Robert Gibson (Memphis, 9/19/81) Koko has thrown his lot in with Hart and the First Family, thus beginning the amazing heel Koko Ware run (and soon-to-be even more amazing heel team with Bobby Eaton). There actually wasn't a ton of Koko in this, but it was a super fun 10 minutes and really how could it not be with those participants? Dutch tried to jump Koko at one point and I'm not sure Koko expected it because he fucking HURLED himself out the ring to safety. Jimmy was so good in this. Obviously he had no intention of getting in there unless the deck was stacked completely in his favour. That happens once where he puts the boots to Dundee, then Bill comes back at him and Hart is out of there like a shot. There were three or four instances where the babyfaces just ran around to that side of the ring and Jimmy leaped over the fucking announce desk while Lance got peeved at it all. Sweet Brown Sugar & Dream Machine v Rick & Robert Gibson (Memphis, 9/26/81) Koko has now started going by Sweet Brown Sugar. Koko's the first Sweet Brown Sugar I was ever aware of in the world of professional wrestling and naturally I fell in love immediately, so there have been many disappointing realisations over the years when perusing tape lists that Skip Young was also going by Sweet Brown Sugar down in Florida (and to be fair to Skip, he was the first Sweet Brown Sugar). I cannot articulate my joy at finding a tag match with Tenryu and Ashura Hara against the Destroyer and Sweet Brown Sugar. Neither can I articulate my despondency upon realising it was Skip Brown Sugar and not Koko. No offence intended to our man Skip. Anyhow, this was another really fun 10 minutes. Jimmy Hart is running around with a big stick, wearing a yellow jumpsuit like Uma Thurman. He got under Rick Gibson's skin so deep that Gibson would outright chase him away from ringside repeatedly, often to the point where he'd lose sight of Koko and Dream Machine entirely. Sometimes that even left Robert alone to be beaten on. Jimmy was hilarious trying over and over to come back out from the curtain like your little brother when yer ma keeps sending him back to tell you it's HIS turn on the PlayStation. Sweet Brown Sugar & Stan Lane v Bill Dundee & Roy Rogers (Memphis, 10/3/81) You know, we always talk about Koko/Eaton being the lost Midnight Express, but Koko/Lane might just be the lost Heavenly Bodies. There are only so many ways to say "this was a fun 10 minutes" but what can I tell you, this was a fun 10 minutes. Koko was pinballing around off amazing Dundee punches, including one coming off the ropes where it looked like Dundee was trying to jam his fist through the back of Koko's head. Koko also gets mad height on those fist drops and I love that he'll make a beeline straight for the tag whenever things are getting a little out of hand. Jimmy Hart running around gibbering like an idiot prompting Lance to mutter "aw go and siddown, Hart" was also perfect. Sweet Brown Sugar v Jerry Lawler (Memphis, 10/5/81) Aw man I wish we had this in full. We only get five minutes of it and honestly, what was actually shown made it look like one of the greatest 5-minute matches ever - and it was spliced together well enough that I could believe it only went seven - but I'm pretty sure they announced at one point that 15 minutes had gone and really it's a travesty that we don't have them. Still, I will reiterate that what we saw of it ruled like a bastard. Koko is spectacular here, really playing to the arena crowd by being the sort of shithead you could see alllll the way in that back row. When Lawler tries to backdrop him Koko flips out like fucking Tiger Mask, getting more height than even Sayama would, then does the most amazing little celebratory jig you've ever seen. Lawler tries several times to punch him and Koko ducks, dodges and dances each time, Lawler getting more and more irritated with every miss. I've lost count of how many times I've mentioned the Koko Ware dropkick, and I mentioned it all those times with good reason, but I think because that thing was SO good I almost forgot that Koko was also an unbelievable puncher. He would avoid those Lawler punches and tag him back repeatedly and it was just brilliant heat-building. When Koko lands on his feet and starts dancing off the fourth backdrop attempt Lawler rips down the strap then and there and fucking obliterates Koko with a right hand mid-2-step! It wasn't the big comeback, Koko hadn't done enough where one was warranted yet, it was just a moment of rage boiling over, like Thor calling on the hammer to clobber a shoplifter. Probably unnecessary in the grand scheme of things, but play stupid games you win stupid prizes. Koko running through a bunch of Lawler signature spots after that was amazing. The level of difficulty on making Jerry Lawler signature punches look good must be through the roof, yet here was Koko hitting a top rope fist drop and the kneeling punch flurry and I'll be damned if they never looked great. Truly a testament to our man Koko. And then obviously Lawler paid him back and even if all those 'Purple Rain' covers are cool and everything there's nobody who can do it quite like the one and only. Sweet Brown Sugar & Stan Lane v Ricky Morton & Eddie Gilbert (Memphis, 10/10/81) This was perfect Memphis studio wrestling. What I think Memphis did better than any territory during the 80s was blend angles and interviews and matches into a seamless singular package, all on TV. Before the bell here Jimmy Hart was going IRATE about something to do with Jerry Calhoun, long-time Memphis referee. I honestly don't remember anything about the Hart/Calhoun feud from around this time but pretty soon Calhoun comes out shirtless, Lawler by his side, and seconds later Hart and Calhoun are rolling around shirtless taking wild windmill swings at each other. That lit a fire under the audience so they were hot for the eventual match. And the match itself was a wonderful eight minutes, really just the best sort of TV wrestling. It's a bit more traditionally structured than your hectic studio bout so we get defined segments. The first third was mostly about Morton and Gilbert controlling and they did it with a vice grip on Stan Lane's arm. There was one extended hammerlock segment where Lane would keep trying to shake them only to get dragged back into it, hitting a slam while Gilbert still has his arm hammerlocked, Gilbert refusing to release and rolling through to maintain it. Morton and Gilbert make quick tags while passing the hold between one another and it was all nifty stuff. Eventually we go into Morton in peril, and in case anyone's wondering Ricky Morton was already fucking great by 1981. The transition ruled with Morton knocking Koko off the apron as the latter tried to interfere, turning around into Lane's diving headbutt to the gut. Lane hits a nice gutwrench suplex and has this cool takedown clothesline, like an STO without the leg sweep. Koko holds Morton in an abdominal stretch so Lane can karate kick him in the ribs and Stan Lane also ruled in case anyone was wondering. There was one amazing Morton hope spot where Koko backed him into the corner and Morton hit this upkick/dropkick thing that nearly decapitated Koko. Koko pulling a chain out and clocking him with an A+ punch was of course awesome. I'm repeating myself, but Koko and Lane were so good together. Sweet Brown Sugar v Rick Gibson (Memphis, 10/17/81) Okay what in the fuck? As far as eight-minute studio matches go this was six and a quarter stars. With a couple more minutes and a proper finish it might've achieved studio match royalty. Koko had folk on strings before the thing even started by trying to flip into the ring and landing on his arse Whether it was deliberate or he really did fluff the landing I'm not sure, but does it really matter when you have their attention from the jump? When it started properly he was incredible taunting and dancing like an idiot, in much the same way as against Lawler. This was possibly even better in fact, because the camera was right there and you could see more clearly the annoyance on Gibson's face, and more importantly the joy on Koko's. Koko was shuffling and shadow boxing and when Gibson took a swing at him Koko went to the ref' like "hey watch that fist there, partner." Koko's exaggerated head bob while leaning against the ropes was genuinely funny stuff. They do a double dropkick spot that allows Gibson to briefly take over, but then a minute later Koko is back to avoiding getting hit and chicken dancing like a prick. It was amazing and Gibson hit him with one punch that really did not look pulled. I think Koko might've worked the worker! After a few nice exchanges Koko takes over when Gibson goes shoulder-first into the post and from there Koko goes to THE CHAIN~. I guess everyone who worked Memphis for any reasonable amount of time just got great at hiding the foreign object shtick? In the end the match gets thrown out when Jimmy whacks Gibson with a stick, but we don't have time to rest as a post-match brawl kicks off with the First Family and Lawler and Jerry Calhoun arriving. And I'll be fucked if I'm not ready to lay down some hard-earned cash for a Jimmy Hart v Jerry Calhoun match.

I've started watching every Koko Ware match that I can find, from his debut in Memphis up through the middle of 1982 (so far). I would like to vote Koko somewhere around the top 4 (yes four) in 2026 so this is me making an attempt at showing my work. Koko Ware & Pat Hutchinson v Bill Irwin & Larry Latham (Memphis, 11/1/80) Pretty great studio tag. It's one-sided, but you don't mind when the one-sidedness results in such a total destruction of Pat Hutchinson (or anyone, really. Nothing against Pat Hutchinson). Irwin and Latham just mollywhop him for about nine of the 10 minutes, barring one minute where Koko comes in and absolutely rules it hitting big dropkicks and punches. Irwin foolishly decides to headbutt Koko and rears back dazed like he's about to topple, so Koko stares at him bemused for a second before sending him on his way with a dropkick. But really, yer man Pat gets stomped out completely. Irwin was actually a super fun bully and had a great time beating on him, hitting one pump kick to the sternum where he took off from about six feet back. Latham was just murdering the poor guy with kneedrops to the back of the head, pure Super Tiger to Fujiwara style while Hutchinson was quivering on the canvas. Irwin picks him up and spears him into the corner where Pat lands hard on the middle turnbuckle and a bit later Latham hits an Oklahoma Stampede! A Koko hot tag would've pushed this into classic studio tag territory, but as it is it's one heck of an extended squash. Koko Ware & Bill Dundee v Roger Kirby & Guy Mitchell (Memphis, 11/29/80) I had no recollection of Roger Kirby being a Nature Boy. Which begs the question - how does one even become a Nature Boy? How is the moniker earned? Is it simply a blond hair thing? Is it bestowed upon you by the original Nature Boy? Was Buddy Rogers running around siring Nature Children like some pro wrestling Robert Baratheon? This was shorter and a bit more hectic and nobody got their tail beat like Pat Hutchinson did, but Kirby and Mitchell were fun enough bruisers and we got a nice extended heat segment on Dundee. Mitchell is someone I haven't seen a lot of but he was determined to keep the ring cut off and you can't help but appreciate that. He also had no qualms about waltzing over and stomping someone in the neck to halt any momentum. Koko got to come in off the hot tag and wouldn't you believe it but he hit both Kirby and Mitchell with gorgeous dropkicks. The heels hitting a fucking Demolition-style backbreaker/elbow drop off the middle rope was wild and Koko about got snapped in two with the thing. Koko Ware, Bill Dundee, Tommy Rich & Eddie Gilbert v The Bounty Hunters, The Angel & Ali Hassan (Memphis, 2/28/81) This got a ton of time, like 25+ minutes, which is a rarity for the studio. You could maybe tell the wrestlers knew they had half an hour to fill because it wasn't worked with the same sort of franticness that was the norm. There were still lots of quick tags and guys rolling to their own corner before getting swarmed, but the opening stretch was much more like an extended babyface shine you'd see in the arena. Eddie Gilbert was the most featured of the babyfaces in the first fall and it was him who eventually took the beatdown for his team. 20-year-old white meat babyface Gilbert is a different kettle of fish from weasel heel Gilbert but he was perfectly capable in his role, which you probably expect. Dundee was really great here, bringing all sorts of neat touches and doing something worthwhile basically every other second. He went for a running elbow drop at one point and the intended recipient moved, maybe a little earlier than planned because it looked like the elbow was set up to be missed, so rather than do it anyway like most might've Dundee course-corrected and jumped on whoever it was with a facelock. There was lots of fun spots around Dundee causing miscommunications, like covering a guy and then moving at the last second when someone tried to break it up, effectively goading that someone into stomping his own partner. One of the Bounty Hunters holds Dundee in the ropes to get punched, but Dundee ducks and the Bounty Hunter gets popped in the mouth by a teammate. When Koko then holds one of the heels for Dundee to hit him, Dundee fakes the punch, the heel ducks and glances around to see if Koko got cracked, then turns back around into that Dundee roundhouse. If we're ranking the all time best studio match workers then the Superstar is right there in the discussion for #1. Koko Ware & Ron Sexton v Masa Fuchi & Atsushi Onita (Memphis, 5/16/81) This was another fairly one-sided thing, but Fuchi and Onita certainly took it to the babyfaces and brought a nice level of viciousness while they were at it. They'd evidently been watching Guy Mitchell and Nature Boy Roger Kirby because they really made an effort to cut the ring off and keep an opponent in their corner. Usually that opponent was Ron Sexton, who took a proper whooping here. Fuchi and Onita would cut Ron and Koko off by just clawing at their eyes and hitting overhand chops to the sternum. This was real nasty face-clawing and eye-gouging as well, digging fingers in there like they were trying to peel an orange. They'd back Sexton into the corner and whoever was on the apron would grab him by the hair so the other guy could chop him or put the boots to him with impunity. By the third fall they're even biting Sexton's forehead, then Fuchi hits a mean neckbreaker where he keeps hold of Sexton's head after they hit the ground. Sexton goes rigid like he's in the throes of death so Onita comes in and ends his suffering by chopping him dead in the face. Koko doesn't get much offence or anything but he was clearly rated highly in the territory. He doesn't eat either of the pinfalls and wipes out both heels with some dropkicks, which Fuchi and Onita obviously bump big off of. Lance and Dave mention between falls as well how Sexton has really struggled against a well-oiled team but Koko has looked really good despite the losing effort. They obviously knew they had something with him and I like how they subtly tried to protect him even in defeat. Koko Ware v Chic Donovan (Memphis, 5/30/81) I've said this on here before and I'm sure most/all of the other places I regularly talk to people about wrestling, but 80s Memphis might be my ultimate pro wrestling comfort food. The DVDVR Memphis set was the first deep dive I ever did into a territory and I blazed through every disc in like six weeks, something I would never be able to do today, 15 bastard years later. The whole aesthetic with the purplish background, Lance and Dave narrating everything from the desk, guys like Lawler and Dundee and Mantell and then Jimmy Hart running around like an idiot, there's probably no wrestling easier for me to sit and immerse myself in. And the pre-match here wasn't quite full over the top MEMPHIS, but it was still very Memphis, with Tojo Yamamoto in his broken English introducing his new charge, Lance groaning like Marge Simpson at "Mr Lance Russell, I have something for you today." Tojo has found someone who's going to be the next Southern Heavyweight Champion, the greatest singles wrestler in the world. I could not tell you the last time I watched a Chic Donovan match but I'm shocked he wasn't calling himself Nature Boy. I'm guessing was TRYING to cut himself from the same cloth as Flair, a bit more shredded than Ric but lacking somewhat in presence. As an actual contest this was seven minutes of what could've been an awesome 14-minute match. The roles were maybe a wee bit backwards as you had Donovan working an armbar from the start, Koko coming up for air before being taken back down into it, but I guess the goal was to establish Chic as a solid hand (or the greatest singles wrestler in the world, as it were) so why not. He's sort of clunky at times, probably not surprising for someone who's only been wrestling for about three years, but he threw at least a couple mean forearms that might rattle your brains. The arm work is fine enough as well and Koko is all energy when he has his hope spots. Loved the bit where he took Donovan over with a leaping headscissors and Donovan planted himself on top of his head like it was a fucking piledriver, then got up and turned around into THE Koko Ware dropkick. This is the earliest picture perfect Koko dropkick I've seen - before he had the crazy spring but the landing didn't look as graceful, where he'd come down almost on his back. This time it was gorgeous and it most importantly hit Donovan right on the button. He even hit a second one and Lance and Dave popped huge. "THERE'S that Koko Ware dropkick!" Donovan kind of no-selling it was rubbish though, and then he goes straight to some approximation of the figure-four and I'm wondering if he wasn't going by Nature Boy after all. The shift to that from having worked the arm early was maybe a little jarring, but it is what it is. I enjoyed the whole lot of this.

It's pretty cool when you can just rattle off the date of a wrestling match and everyone knows exactly which match you're talking about. In pro wrestling circles, June 3rd 1994 means Misawa v Kawada. I think my last watch of this was around 2006 and 2006 me was certainly into different things in wrestling than 2023 me. There was still plenty about it that I thought was good, some stuff that I thought was great, and nothing I can possibly say about it will offer a fresh perspective on the most talked about match in the history of the internet. Yet talk about it I will, for that is what the hallowed halls of Pro Wrestling Only are for. I thought the beginning ruled, the way they played up how familiar they are with each other without it being an obvious reversal routine with 2- and 3- and 4-step dance sequences. Those counters and dodges felt genuinely organic, which is a pretty difficult thing to do in a predetermined nonsense like pro wrestling. Kawada about took Misawa's head off with that spin kick and you're thinking Misawa might not have it all his own way this time. It felt significant in my own 90s All Japan re-watch chronology because the last two matches I watched with Kawada and Misawa opposite each other were the '93 Tag League final and the big rematch from May '94. And in the former Kawada was thoroughly outclassed and in the latter he only fared marginally better. And he lost both of them. After the first exchange Misawa responds quickly with a backdrop and you're maybe reconsidering how close this contest might be, BUT Kawada fires back again and shuts Misawa down, firstly off a whip into the rail, then on Misawa's attempted forearm off the apron. It was cool table-setting. As a whole this felt as even as their rivalry has to this point, largely because of Kawada's aggressiveness. He was a pitbull and you got the sense he knew it was imperative to stay on Misawa, to never give him an opening or a chance to recover. Misawa might've been untouchable as the king at this point but the way he started booting Kawada in the leg was an amazing moment. The fact he even needed to go there was maybe the first real chink in his armour, or at least the first chink Kawada has put in it. Compare that to the '93 Tag League final where Misawa was almost derisory in how he *didn't* touch it despite the fact Kawada was hobbled. I don't think I was aware of Misawa's bad neck the last time I watched this, so that's another cool layer. I don't find either guy particularly compelling at working holds, but those parts weren't extensive and Kawada spent more time using brute force to exploit the neck than working the facelock. The striking was absolutely world class, which probably isn't a surprise, and my favourite parts were when they were trying to knock the other's head into the bleachers, which probably isn't a surprise. It may not be as harrowing as Battlarts or FUTEN, but the selling really is top drawer and there's the struggle and the blocking and it all makes every strike exchange feel massive. As pretentious as it might sound, it does feel pretty layered and even NUANCED~ if you know their history. Or as nuanced as two people kicking and elbowing each in the face can be and at the end of the day that's where the bread is buttered. The point where Kawada punched Misawa in the jaw was spectacular, really just a perfect fuck off and die outburst, and then Misawa responding in kind a minute later is one of the best "do you actually know who I am?" moments he's ever had, and he's has a whole lot of those throughout his career. He also hit a rolling elbow to the back of Kawada's head at one point that was sort of disgusting. You don't usually see him lose his temper like that, but there were a couple moments where he clearly did; another being when he just outright stomped on Kawada's face. Kawada's enziguri to the nose, his head kicks in the corner after Misawa's ear had already split open, Misawa's forearm and European uppercut combos - basically there were about two dozen incredible strikes in this match. I thought Kawada was really great at showing desperation the longer it went as well, going back to those strike exchanges even though in the long run he'd never win that particular war. Then there were the momentum shifts and the transitions and how they all had the right amount of selling and WEIGHT around them so it never really felt like they were just trading bombs. Even after all this time, that's something 90s All Japan does better than just about anyone ever has. That reset spot leading to the final stretch with Misawa gathering himself on the floor while Kawada glares at him in unveiled contempt - just a perfect visual. You wonder if Kawada realised then, after hitting those powerbombs and not getting the job done, after knowing he couldn't let Misawa regroup at any point just to see it happen there and then, that maybe it had slipped away from him. And then you've got him feebly trying to fight out of the double underhooks, trying to force Misawa back to the corner, knowing what's coming, only to get put on his neck anyway. I guess this is still okay.

This is the one for me. As soon as I saw the thread title, this was the line that came to mind. I mean, the obscurity level of a Ken Patera reference in 1995 is sort of astonishing. You know he was watching MSG shows back in the 80s. Pusha's 'What Dreams are Made Of' has solid chunk of an actual Ric Flair promo at the intro of it. Pusha is always good for a Ric Flair reference. I remember the picture from Wrestlemania 11 with Bret Hart and Salt-N-Pepa. I do not remember if they were actually involved in anything during the show beyond that, however.

I've watched a lot of Pirata Morgan the last week or so. Maybe it's recency bias, maybe I'm just watching the right stuff, maybe I'm just overrating him because he's a favourite, but I feel like he has a five year peak encompassing 1988-1992 where he's amongst the best wrestlers in the world. You could cut that off at '91 and I wouldn't argue too strongly, but the '92 trios I've watched are a hoot (the Intocables stuff, mostly) and that Masakre match has always been a vampire's dream. He was amazing in 1991. That Volador mano a mano that OJ mentioned way back sits comfortably alongside his other blood-soaked masterpieces, if maybe slightly below the absolute best of them. It was basically worked as an apuestas and that meant we got all the gory Pirata Morgan brilliance that comes with apuestas matches. The Mascara Sagrada match that cad mentions above just about had my jaw on the floor. The first two falls might not be the most graceful and they're certainly slower than what you'd get from the lighter weight divisions, but Sagrada works the primera like a Ricky Steamboat and if nothing else Morgan is great at feeding himself into armdrags. He spends the segunda selling the leg, then the tercera just kept building and building to something brilliant. It started off decent, got really good, and then by the end I couldn't believe how good it was. Morgan was tremendous as a guy having to take progressively higher risks, crashing and burning on all of them, before desperation kicks in and he goes total dickhead with his final gambit. I don't know how much higher I can realistically have him than 44, but as someone who's big on a wrestler's peak, that feels too low right now and I could probably talk myself into going at least 10 spots higher.

I figured my days of ever going to a Wrestlemania were long gone, but if they actually run one down in London, well, I probably still won't go but I'd seriously consider it. Probably.

I actually haven't yet, at least not on this run through, just because the first show of each year tends to be the final of the previous year's tournament. So I'll get to that whenever I get to the end of 1995, basically. I watched it probably 12-13 years ago when I was haphazardly watching stuff and I thought it was really good then too.

Emil Krastev v Yuri Bekichev (3/25/96) A spirited little contest. Didn't have a clue who either of them were but the customary google search tells me Krastev competed at the Sydney Olympics for Bulgaria in boxing, while Bekichev is - or at least would become, based on a glance at his late-career fight record - an actual mixed martial artist, though I don't know how many of the martial arts he'd dabbled in mixing at this point in time. I would imagine not very many as this was fought entirely on the feet. Which is probably not shocking when one guy is wearing boxing gloves and the other doesn't attempt to take him to the ground inside four seconds (suggesting he himself would rather the fight not go there). There were a couple awkward moments where they seemed unsure how to react to something, a hesitancy to maybe force the issue and stray a little too close to the shootfighting. At one point Bekichev took a kick to the face and sort of stood there like "what the fuck mate that HURT," as if Maeda suggested this was all merely going to be an illusion and so the possibility of ACTUALLY getting smacked in the face hadn't occurred to our man. But they both grew into it as it went and when Krastev unloaded with a flurry of jabs and a by god spinning backfist I was very much on board. I even hoped he'd get up and we'd get another couple minutes by the end. Wataru Sakata v Christopher Haseman (3/25/96) A short bit of business that I'm thinking may have been a shoot. Not a whole lot happened. There was a bit of struggle on the ground that trickled over to the ropes, they were stood up, Sakata caught Hasemen's leg and after another brief struggle a nice heel hook scored the tap. Watch it while you wait for the kettle to boil, maybe. It's your life, don't let me stop you. Mitsuya Nagai v Mikhail Ilioukhine (3/25/96) Ilioukhine is the bomb. He's a short, pale, stocky wee tank of a man, like a Russian Dynamite Kid who will throw you around like a sack of flour. His mere BEING is a continual advance and Nagai can barely do anything about it, especially on the ground. Some of the setups are a little clunky, like Ilioukhine's cross-armbreaker, but he's inventive and the crowd certainly don't seem to mind too much. I guess this boils down to striker v grappler, which is a tale old as time when it comes to the shoot style. Ilioukhine practically ragdolls Nagai at will but Nagai can cause him real trouble on the feet, so not shockingly that's where he tries to keep it. The one time Ilioukhine tried to respond he fired off a piddly leg kick that Nagai outwardly laughed at, retaliated with a much more effective flurry of his own, so Ilioukhine swiftly took him down and went about bending his arms and legs at weird angles. Ilioukhine also looks like a fella who can take a shot to the face so Nagai needed to make a TKO look convincing, and that palm strike to end things looked fairly convincing. Ilioukhine has at least one stone cold RINGS classic. This wasn't that but it was awfully fun. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka v Hans Nyman (3/25/96) This was nifty as well, and also very much your striker v grappler contest. Nyman always has pretty looking kicks, all of them with a real nice snap to them, but they don't always look like there's a ton of meat behind them. They quite often look like kicks thrown by a guy not actually trying to knock out his opponent *for real* for real, you know? Not every kick he threw in this looked lethal, but some of them did and Kohsaka was absolutely great at selling them, like when he took a glancing blow to the back of the head and half stumbled into a nasty body kick. He gets the full Fujiwara point for his selling performance in this fight. Kohsaka's strategy was obviously to hit the mat but Nyman wasn't about to engage there at all. He basically grabbed the rope any time there was even a chance he'd be caught in a problematic situation, which didn't always make for a very compelling contest but at the same time I guess it was realistic enough. I'm a sucker for someone pulling a rabbit out the hat right when all hope seems lost, so even if the finish was a little on the nose I dug it. Volk Han v Dick Vrij (3/25/96) This wasn't as good as their match from 1992, but it was fought along the same lines. A shorter bargain bin version of it. Vrij is no fool and wants nothing to do with Han on the mat, or anywhere in the building if grappling is involved. He wants to swing for the fences and if he can't score a knockout he'll settle for racking up points via downs. It's a strategy that serves him pretty well, but Han will always be dangerous and Vrij immediately goes to the ropes whenever he's grabbed. There's no attempt to escape by any other means - it would be stupid to bother so why even waste anybody's time with the pretence? A fun six minutes, as you'd probably expect. Yoshihisa Yamamoto v Bitsadze Tariel (3/25/96) Before this show I'd largely been focusing on the early years of RINGS, the furthest I'd gotten when writing everything up being 1993. At that point Yamamoto was a pretty fun rookie starting to find his feet, usually pairing off with Masayuki Naruse in a sort of young lions series. Fast forward a few years and here's Yamamoto in a main event, fresh off a win over the mighty Volk Han a few months earlier, ready to push on and maybe even climb to Ace status. He was obviously more assured here than in '92-'93, though he always had a bit of a chip on his shoulder even as a wee lad. Based on the size difference you'd expect Tariel to come out and force the issue, but it's Yamamoto who throws forty palm thrusts as soon as the bell rings. He fought this like a young phenom who was on a roll, who knew he was ready to put the pieces together and confidence was high. Tariel got pretty fun in his RINGS run but he maybe wasn't quite there yet. He was a bit hesitant at points, where you'd expect him to press on and knee Yamamoto in the spleen while he's buckled over in pain there, and it never quite happens. Maybe he is the gentle sort of bear. Alas, the gentle sort do not last very long in the Fighting Network. It's been ages since I've watched any late 90s Yamamoto and I'm hyped to do so again, but I've never really seen much from his "in between" years so that should be cool as well. Jacob Hamilton v Michael Stam (4/26/96) At six minutes long you could argue this was mercifully short. You could also argue it was still about four minutes too long. I think both cases could be compelling. It was inoffensive, to be fair. I've never seen either guy before but apparently Hamilton is a mixed martial artist from Australia. He pretty much did nothing well and really just got smothered by Stam before tapping to a scarf hold. Stam is a hefty American fellow with very heavy breathing - almost disconcertingly so - who made this one and only appearance on the Fighting Network. At least he went out with a 100% record. Wataru Sakata v Todor Todorov (4/26/96) What a fun wee seven minutes. Todorov is usually game for a spirited contest and this was no different. Some of the throws were a bit easily come by, but they looked pretty enough and Todorov has some really explosive hips, which is a thing I'll always be impressed by as an S&C coach. That finish is one of the coolest armbars ever too. I'm not sure I've even seen Han pull that one out. Mitsuya Nagai v Glenn Brown (4/26/96) I don't know if this was a shoot or not because it lasted all of exactly 40 seconds. Brown I have never seen before, but he looks like a wealthy anime villain who condescends to the main protagonist in an obnoxious British accent, slicked back hair with a very visibly taped up nipple. Just the one nipple. Which you could possibly argue is not pertinent information. Brown comes out in a quirky crane stance and throws a couple kicks that I think drew a laugh from the crowd. Nagai threw kicks that were no laughing matter and Brown immediately started backing up like "ew this is not what I was expecting please behave" and feebly tried to reach the ropes after Nagai took him down. Feebly quickly turned to unsuccessfully and there's yer choke inside one minute. I actually don't think this was a shoot. Gun to my head I'm saying work. Brown's kicks were quite frankly too terrible. Sorry, Glenn. At least you are by far the least cretinous white man named Glenn to wrestle in a Japanese shoot style promotion in the mid-1990s. Willie Williams v Bitsadze Tariel (4/26/96) Willie by god Williams! I had no clue that feller was still doing the shoot style in 1996. There's a sort of endearing quality to Williams, a giant lummox with a heart of gold (prolly), and while this was a lumbering nonsense of a thing there have been worse uses of 12 minutes in RINGS. Both guys are quite tentative, though it seemed that tentativeness was more a result of them not wanting to look stupid throwing ropey strikes than them not wanting to be struck. Tariel has at least a couple really good bouts in RINGS, one against Tamura the following year that I remember being great, but he looked very not good here and Tamura was outrageous in '97 so who knows. I did not buy that finish, however I was also not the one being kneed in the guts by a big giant hairy bastard Georgian karateka. So who knows. Dick Vrij v Maurice Smith (4/26/96) Well damn, I didn't know Mo Smith fought in RINGS. I don't think I've actually seen a single worked fight that Smith was in, even though he's done some stuff in UWF and PWFG (and Pancrase, but I have no clue if those were worked or not). And apparently he fought both Kohsaka and Tamura in RINGS! What the hell? How do I not remember that? Anyhow, this was like four minutes and I'm guessing it was a work. They mostly traded some tentative stand-up before Vrij went for a takedown that in actual fact was more of a falling down while grabbing the other person, and it was pretty amusing seeing Smith take Vrij's back with ease and attempt a choke while wearing boxing gloves. Nice knockout finish. Is it any wonder Smith would take the UFC heavyweight title a year later? Not at all. Volk Han v Nikolai Zouev (4/26/96) How about this for a PRIME cut of the Fighting Network? Han comes out like a whirlwind at the start, throwing a flurry of palms and knees that didn't all land the cleanest, but when you throw about a dozen of them then you'd expect at least one to hit flush. Sure enough a knee caught Zouev and down he went. That set us up for the next few minutes, with Han taking a comfortable lead in points, forcing Zouev into using a few rope breaks after that early knockdown. It's been a hot minutes since I've watched any Zouev but he was looking very much like a Dallas Mavericks second round draft pick out of Slovenia. I'll tell you what though, he can hold his own with the master and some of the grappling was excellent. The overhead camera really gave us an awesome look at the way they shifted for position, grabbing one limb to create an opening for another, sometimes snatching two appendages at once. Zouev hitting a shoot style DDT was amazing and when he grabbed that cross armbreaker he had Han scrambling for the ropes. Even if Han was way out in front on points, there was always a sense that Zouev was capable of catching him and finish things. After Zouev uses up his last rope break he has no choice but to go for the throat and the ridiculous armbar at the end was a fitting way to cap off a fight between these two. This was pretty great. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka v Yoshihisa Yamamoto (4/26/96) This was also pretty great. There have been better fights up to this point in RINGS history, but this one almost felt like a precursor of what would come in the next 2-3 years. You still had Han and a few of the other Eastern Europeans doing their thing right until the end (or at least until the promotion went full MMA in 2000), but what peak RINGS had that the earlier years didn't was that holy trinity of Tamura, Kohsaka and Yamamoto, all of whom were at THEIR peak. Even if Maeda was the centrepiece of the promotion before, he had half a working knee from basically the very beginning and missed stretches of time as a result. A lot of the earlier shows were loaded with random Bulgarians or Dutchmen who were way more interesting than the natives; bland guys like Nobuaki Kakuta and Masaaki Satake who couldn't really do much. Nagai was fine enough but he was nothing on UWFi Tamura never mind peak Tamura. Most of the best RINGS stuff of those years had foreign talent involved and this was a departure from that. Stylistically it was also very reminiscent of some of the top tier RINGS bouts, things like Tamura/Yamamoto, Tamura/Kohsaka, the later Yamamoto/Kohsaka fights, Han against all three. A less spectacular version of those fights, but a glimpse of that particular, wonderful future. Obviously the matwork was exceptional. Yamamoto was on one and raced out to an early lead, forcing Kohsaka into a few quick rope breaks. Then he'd unload with strikes and drilled Kohsaka with an overhand slap for a knockdown. It felt like Yamamoto had an answer for everything Kohsaka threw at him, like when Kohsaka ripped him to the mat with a gorgeous takedown, rolling into a calf slicer, only for Yamamoto to reverse even that. When Yamamoto is finally pushed into using a rope break, losing his first point of the fight, Kohsaka is visibly fired up and it feels like HE feels like the comeback is on. Can he pull something out the bag before the points gap kills him?

Love that someone else is as high on that Fuerza/Pantera match as me. I haven't watched it in a long, long time now, but I did re-watch Dandy/Azteca (June 1st) the other night (albeit half asleep) and it fell strangely flat for me considering I would've called it a top 50 match ever a few years ago. I'm not saying I'd definitely put Fuerza/Pantera over it, but I do feel like giving that a re-watch to see how they compare now. Either way I agree that it's a top 5 CMLL match of the year, and 1990 CMLL is one of my favourite calendar years for any company in history.

I've watched a ton of WWF Piper over the last couple months, and he was a guy I knew would be a lock this time around anyway but it's really just confirmed that he'll be fighting for a top 30 spot. Piper was fucking amazing. His best work might’ve come outside the WWF, at least from a pure match quality standpoint (and some of that non-WWF stuff is incredible), but as a sheer heat magnet with absurd charisma, WWF Piper is next level. In the 80s, as a heel or a babyface, he was nuclear pretty much every time out, especially before the retirement in ’87 and MORE especially in MSG. He had a crowd connection in the Garden that was right there with Bruno’s, Hogan’s Backlund’s and Andre’s, and Piper had it as a heel AND as a babyface, eliciting searing hatred as the former and undying love as the latter. Honestly Piper is pretty close to the perfect sort of wrestler for me stylistically at this point in my fandom. I like spectacle and Piper’s a fucking spectacle unto himself. Someone on the GME board or discord or maybe even here made a comparison between Piper and Bret, or at least posed the question of "who was better?", and it got me thinking about how Bret is one of the great understated, subtle sellers ever, and well, Piper is the whole entire other end of the spectrum because he’s selling not just for the back row but for someone watching on the fucking moon. I’ll tell you what though, nobody sells having a perforated eardrum like Piper, not even Funk. Almost nobody sells reckless abandon or UNTAMED FURY like Piper. He wrestled Adonis on house shows leading up to Wrestlemania 3 and they'd build part of those matches around Piper being blinded by whatever Adonis had in that big atomiser, and blinded Piper taking a swing at everything in the hopes of connecting with anything is the very best. When that man wanted to portray hatred I bought it completely. His stuff doesn't necessarily look great in a technical sense, but he has a kind of rubbery quality to his bumps that adds a sense of realism, and some of those bumps are pretty wild. In Portland he was a maniac for the back body drop bump where he'd just land all loose and he looked like a crash test dummy being yeeted out of a Tesla. He doesn't have the prettiest armdrags or hip tosses, but he performs them with a real sense of intent, like those moves aren't there to look pretty, they're there to legitimately throw someone across a ring. He’s also a decent actor by pro wrestling standards so his ability to convey emotions is actually pretty great. Even melodramatic shit like “oh no I’m conflicted about hitting this person with the ring bell as I am a reformed character” comes off well, and we’ve all seen enough modern WWE to know how cringey that nonsense can be otherwise. An absolutely phenomenal stooge with a hundred different plays on things like your face-first timber bump, jelly-legged selling, begging off, the whole lot. And again, as a babyface he was brilliant at garnering sympathy and working scrappy. Just an amazing pro wrestler. Maybe the person I never voted for in 2016 who'll finish highest on my 2026 list.

I would say his case absolutely is deep enough, and in fact is much deeper than even I thought the first time around. I don't even think I've seen anything post-2017, but I thought he still looked great then. Your mileage will vary on what "deep" is and how much weight you apply to that when voting, but I don't see his case being any less deep than someone like Rick Rude and I voted for him in 2016 and will vote for him again in 2026. Does Murakami have substantially less to go on than someone like Mariko Yoshida? She'll be around my top 30 so it's not something I'm worried about. Of course how GOOD you actually think a lot of the Murakami stuff is, that's another discussion. I think there's lots of good, though.

Roberto Gutierrez El Dandy. Fujiwara might be #2. The Jumbo/Misawa matches are good but I didn't LOVE them on re-watch, although Jumbo's still brilliant in tags that year as he fully embraced his grumpy old man side.

I can't say anything about Dump because I haven't watched the Chigusa match in about 15 years and I don't think I've even seen any of the other stuff, but last year I watched basically all the Fujiwara we have available for '86 and he was absolutely sensational the whole year. If I go through that AJW stuff and come out the other end of it thinking Dump is the clear #1 for the year then I guess I'd be in agreement with it being the highest peak of anyone ever, because Fujiwara's '86 is one of the absolute best years I've seen from a wrestler. Morton is a good pick as well. Maybe not for the top spot, but top 3 in a great year for wrestling is hardly an insult.

I'll co-sign that tag. Really an out of nowhere awesome match, with a great Hogan performance and Orton using the cast for one of the best transition spots of the decade.

I need to re-watch stuff, but he's on my maybe pile this time. Really an awesome base and the Mascarita Sagrada match was still amazing when I last watched it (that was not exactly yesterday, however).

Gibson v Flair from the a June '86 episode of World Pro is really great. Obviously Flair/Morton was the money pairing with Flair v the Rock n Rolls, but Gibson sure wasn't in there just getting by on a bargain bin Ricky Morton impression.