Timbo Slice

1992 Rick Rude had an argument for one of the best workers in the world. He was that good. Like Jerome said: High-end peak, but pretty short with that peak. He's an interesting choice and someone I'm not writing off completely, but off the top of my head, he's not a Top 100 guy for me.

He's had some really effective times over his career where he shined, but overall, I don't think it was a great career. The AJPW/NJPW stuff was fine in 2000-2001, but what Joe said about him against AJPW a few years back as keeper of the Backdrop Hold spiking young punks on Jumbo's old turf might have been his best work. I did like the Akiyama stuff, and he does have the Taue match under his belt (along with the underrated '01 match he had with Kaz Fujita) but I don't think it's Top 100 material.

Yeah, that's baffling to me. He was pretty hot the early part of the year, drew a great gate with AJ at Sumo...him being a flop of this tournament is just mind boggling.

I rewatched this earlier this year because someone brought up joshi tag wrestling for the GWE project and both teams had to be considered simply because of this series. On first watch, it was one of the greatest tag matches I've ever seen from strictly a work standpoint. The biggest point that's always brought up is how it's the first time either of these two teams met in the ring and how this, and not the Aja/Bull match ended the show because it was the first interpromotional match between AJW and JWP. So right away, the aura of the match is a big deal and everyone's wondering how the two teams will match up. Once things get going, you realize right away that JWP is on a similar level to AJW, which is a major plot point for the match and sticking point with me (like other interpromotional feuds that actually worked, letting the "invading" team look good makes the feuds better). Kansai is immediately the biggest and best part of the match for me. The way she throws her weight around in the match and rag dolls Toyota is some of her finest work, and while I have come to loathe Toyota as a singles wrestler, her work as a face in peril and her selling overall is top notch here. The second fall with Yamada just going in on Kansai was my favorite part of storytelling in the match, even more than Ozaki's antics, which were spectacular. Her getting the pin on Kansai is an absolutely huge moment in the match because of how Kansai had looked so far, evening things out for the third fall to come, which was just an all-out war. It reminded me a lot of the 5/21/94 HDA vs. Kobashi/Misawa match because of how they built this really long stretch of near falls, and even the decisive pin being a bit inconclusive added to the allure of the interpromotional setting. I know there are some that rate the DreamSlam II match higher because of the the structure (I actually have it behind the St. Final tag, which was a tremendous sprint and showed just how Toyota had owned the style at the time considering where she'd go from there), but there was truly magic behind this match that is hard to quantify. I'm with Pete in my love for the Queendom tag, but I constantly go back and forth between the two for my favorite joshi tag of all time. If you're a Toyota fan, this is an easy pick over Hokuto, but I'm such a huge Hokuto/Aja/Kandori mark that it's hard for me to put that match behind this. All in all, a spectacular match and an easy Top 10 tag match ever, maybe even Top 5.

I get where the 5-6 months came from because they only started calling themselves the Blondes months after they started teaming.

HOLY SHIT THE SLEAZE ROUND.

Hash, Lesnar, Inoki even. Onita for sure. Hokuto and Chigusa are totally a part of this. Atlantis for lucha. Even though he stunk, Takada did do well in big match settings. Cena is up there.

This is an awesome, awesome bit with Woody Paige talking about a time he hung out with Piper after a match one night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1LADs_ZIVA&feature=youtu.be

Not on YouTube, but here's the DailyMotion video: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2hid3c

The biggest thing for me is that everything is micromanaged. Too much. The best parts about wrestling at its peak was that everything was managed, but loosely. Generalized, even. Here, everything is so high-strung and calculated that it screams overly scripted, even to many people who aren't hip to the business, so to speak. It's the new corporate mentality, which has been prevalent at other sports institutions, most notably ESPN. Brand over stars. The problem is that stars improve the brand. The brand doesn't make stars. The one time it worked was with Hogan. Everything else was by chance or by being forced into the situation. Unless they break that down and let people stand out without having to have a rigid structure in place, it's going to slowly erode.

Steven, I'd add the other 8/22/85 match between Chig and Devil on that list, too. The main was more dynamic, but Chig and Devil showed just how advanced the women were by incorporating all the other major styles at the time into one match. Absolutely sensational stuff.

I understand not wanting to ding Satomura because of the landscape she worked most of her prime in, but at the same time, if you're gonna tell me that Satomura's best against Hojo was better than the two DreamSlam matches, the '93 Grand Prix and TLTB matches she had, the St. Final match that, while not much of a match was one hell of an angle, and, if you want to go a bit further, better than the Queendom tag, then we're gonna be apples and oranges. Simple as that. The 16 month stretch Hokuto had from Dream Rush to the Queendom tag is one of the greatest stretches in wrestling history, let alone female wrestling history. She's a fine performer, but her best doesn't touch Hokuto's. Or Aja's '94. Or Kandori's 93. Or even Kyoko's '93. Or Toyota's 13 month stretch from Dream Rush to the St. Final tag, maybe even out to tag title match with LCO a few months later. That's what Meiko is going up against when it comes to peaks. She doesn't have that peak, and while that's not entirely her fault, it's still a part of the equation.

See, that's totally subjective and goes back to my point about expectations for how guys work. People see how Hero works and wonder how a guy looking like that works like he did, while as with the guys you mentioned, the look amplified what they did because it was more inherent to their character. I don't get the double standard here. You can't have one and say it doesn't work the other way. Hero has done plenty to make himself standout with that physique. It doesn't matter that he looks that way. The guys you mentioned had personalities that made you fear them. It wasn't their look that did it. You want an example of Hero looking like a badass with that physique? Check out him taking a shlub like Reed Bentley and carrying him to a damn good match because of how he carried himself. It was one of his first matches post-WWE and it looked like he had something to prove, and he did it in spades

Meiko in 2000's joshi being better than Hokuto in 1993 is rubbish.

To Bill's point, they had him rile up a dead crowd basically by himself before his match with Thatcher at the WWNLive Supershow and it absolutely made that show. He made me feel like it was worth the money I paid to see that show BY HIMSELF. That was also the night where he had his awesome "I Work Hard For This Body" shirt, so that should tell you how much he cares about what you think of his body. This is more stemming that people are pissed he didn't work harder to get into "WWE" shape so that he could be working NXT, I'm pretty sure. There's an air of disappointment there. Which is understandable. There's also the idea that a guy should work like he looks, and then people get surprised and think it's awesome when Owens is as agile as he is, or Cage, or Vader, etc. So I'm not buying this idea that because he looks a certain way he should work a certain way. He works how he works, and he's a compelling worker, which is the point of the project. Now I feel like putting Hero #1 just to spite you all.

Thatcher does everything that Zack Sabre does way better. Flashy doesn't always mean better.

Bottom of my list, but she could be pushed out.

Was just about to post this. It's gonna be Rose more than likely.

I get he's supposedly on a hot streak right now, but he had all those years in NOAH and didn't really look good at all. He still doesn't. Not even close on my ballot.

I'm glad people nominated these guys for all the previous mentions. I'm not sure if they'd make my list, but them being so enjoyable is a huge feather in their cap that isn't in a lot of others.

Fingerpoke of Doom. Katie Vick. The Gobbledygooker.

I'm a sucker for the 30-minute draw with Taue from 04. I want to say 8/1/04.

Good ol' Inoki booking: Gotta get Hash paired up with Ogawa!!! So he was pushed down while Tenryu got groomed for the title win over Mutoh a few months later. Just hilariously inept.

Awesome stuff, as per usual from you guys. Rave was a great guest, hour flew right by. He was the Young Bucks before the Young Bucks were.

Footage of Will after the show ended: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9lg6HqJeY0