Graham Crackers

Solar is one of the classiest wrestlers I've ever seen. There is something eternal about him that makes every taped appearance he makes feel special. Who knows if those classic matches that were never taped or nobody saved are really the classics I like to imagine. Regardless, that great Space Cadets vs Exoticos fan cam from 1984 is an incredible glimpse at an era of wrestling that's underrepresented. What I am sure about is that Solar wrestled in my favorite AAA match ever (Mariachi vs Blue Panther), my 2005 MOTY (Cadetes Del Espacio vs Misioneros de la Muerte), and following his never ending feud with Negro Navarro is one of the most special things about being a wrestling fan in the internet age.

I have a big soft spot for Rayo and I don't think he's a crazy pick for this list even if I wouldn't have him very high. He's a great spectacle wrestler and that's made better by the fact that a lot of his spectacle offense is built around feints and defensive movement instead of overwrought epic bullshit. Don't get me wrong, Rayo will duke it out. He'll fight like hell to keep his mask or get revenge on the rudos that have busted him open and I love it. He's a pretty consistent trios worker on the 80s set and his charisma can really elevate a match when he's on. I'll admit that he can dog it from time to time (especially as time goes by) but I love him too much to not consider him.

An easy lock, and I couldn't imagine a list like this without him. One of the most consistently entertaining wrestlers I've ever seen no matter what year the match I'm watching was taped in. He has strong showings in a few of my favorite trios matches from the 80s lucha set (2/26/84 & 8/18/89 specifically).

Hombre Bala is someone I was very interested in after finishing the 80s lucha set. Los Bucaneros were my favorite unit and while he wasn't the elite level worker that Pirata Morgan was, he was still right there pushing those matches forward. The hair match against Javier Cruz was a standout performance for both men and played to Hombre Bala's strengths when it comes to brawling, timing, and high workrate exchanges. I'm know that he wrestled as Monsther in AAA after the turn of the century but unsurprisingly I don't remember anything about him wrestling there nor do I really remember much of anything he did during that Invasion angle in CMLL. Alebrije stood out as a much more impressive bizarre looking former AAA guy. cubsfan's matchfinder makes it seem like he was at least an EMLL regular for a few more years in the early 90s. If those late 80s matches are his peak then he was a very very strong trios worker and if he can maintain some of that standard into the 90s then he'd have a good shot.

Isn't he Lance's dad?

Man, Brock vs Roman has me so conflicted. They had me believing we were watching one of the all time best Mania matches and probably best Mania main event but I really can't justify that finish. It wasn't even a cool non finish like a wild out of control brawl, it was a lame screwjob. Count me in the camp of being over the Money in the Bank.

Probably 1982 Memphis or 1986 New Japan.

I like Flair and I have liked him for a long time. That said, what he does isn't very high on my list of priorities as a wrestling fan anymore. When it comes to American wrestling the only styles I really love are brawls, David vs Goliath matches, and tags. Flair is great at these but he's not the best at them either. When it comes to Americans I'll definitely have Lawler, Hansen, and Funk ahead of him. Throw in Japanese and Mexican workers who perform styles of matwork and match layout I prefer and Flair is someone who might not make my top 20.

OJ, these are so great. i just want to thank you again for organizing this information so well.

Racism is a complex beast. I don't know how many racists you have in your life but if you're white you probably know at least one or two (and that's not counting casual ignorance that grows out of privilege). Unfortunately my dad is pretty racist. Yeah, he loves a charming performer like Clifton Chenier. He loves a funny loud mouth like Red Foxx or even Muhammad Ali. Obama? It's embarrassing the shit I've heard him say. I'm sorry if you're naive enough to think that racism doesn't influence the way every person of color is presented on television but unfortunately it does.

As Bix said, it's not necessarily about being humble but playing to "acceptable" archetypes. Rampage's goofy personality and the "wildman" demeanor that he honed in PRIDE could be equivalent to JYD dancing, shucking, and jiving.

Thanks for the shout out OJ. I always felt like Volador was the more impressive of the Misterioso/Volador pairing even if he was just as much of a spot guy who lacked fundamentals. I'm pretty sure I've seen Fuerza singles matches against both listed among old match results and I've always been curious about how Fuerza would make those matches work.

Have the exact same scenario, but no clue what the problem is with Firefox. It's been that way for almost a month now. Are you guys using adblock?

I'd call this the best All Japan match of the year so I don't think your enthusiasm is ridiculous. I do prefer the 4/91 version of this match. it's longer so I fear that you may find that one to be more bloated but it's been so long that I couldn't tell you how much more nearfall heavy it was. When I remember that match it's mostly character things and not the nearfalls that I think of.

Reading this thread reminded me of something Phil Schneider said to me at an indie wrestling show back in 2011 that never really occurred to me before. That is that the majority of independent wrestlers are hobbyists and that is evident in the way they work. I know that many indie wrestlers have gimmicks and attempt to fit into roles within matches but the goal of almost every match is to have a great match and make each other look good. These great matches are frequently based upon idealized visions of of a wrestling utopia and typically fetishize athleticism and/or insider knowledge. Unfortunately not everyone's vision is what we might consider great wrestling and not every indie wrestler is up to the challenge of having a great match. In the territorial days wrestlers were called upon to fill a number of roles on a roster and many of them did not call for those mythological "great" matches. That's not to say that you couldn't have a great match when filling those roles. I have seen New Japan Young Lion matches I'd consider great, squashes with great performances, and filler matches on old cards that I might even call great but usually because of the way those wrestlers filled their roles. Some wrestlers were great at portraying their lack of experience or that they were going to get killed by some big fat monster. Back to the point, I think that some of that "hobbyist" attitude has spread to the "professional" levels of the sport and the lack of managerial guidance that Parties is talking about plays into that. Look at the way that the classic hierarchical structures of Japanese wrestling have broken down. Look at the way that WWE throws wrestlers out on TV to fill time with little care as to what happens in their match and how it relates to long term plans. The dreaded "even steven" booking makes that even worse. I don't mean to place the blame entirely on wrestlers. It's promoters, wrestlers, and fan expectations. I don't think modern wrestling has completely left me behind even if I don't follow it that closely. I think the best matches of the last few years are classics, some of my favorite matches. I think that the talent level today is high though it depends on the setting. The unfortunate result for my current enjoyment of pro wrestling is just that there are fewer of those great matches happening in a given year and fewer special moments.

I'm so glad In decided to give this another shot. I remembered the violence and blood but I mustn't have been paying close enough attention because this was way more focused than I gave it credit for. Possibly the best women's match of the decade.

WWE missed the boat by 30 years: http://luchawiki.org/index.php?title=Super_Raton

The 2006 iteration is a lock for my ballot but this has a chance of sneaking on behind it. Like the 2006 match this is one of their most focused matches, in this case because they choose to work this around targeting an injury. Satomura comes in with an eyepatch after having her orbital bone broken so Kong targets it with backfists. Satomura dodging backfists and selling her eye is the story of this match and it's pretty fun one.

That's amazing. I love that they drew Dave in zubaz.

Atlantis vs Villano III is definitely in the running. I haven't watched Santo vs Perro in a while but I remember thinking it was near that level.

I believe that the one word explanation is "Cocaine."

I should be able to submit a list but I need to do some organizing first.

When is US matwork ever cool? I'm with ya. At least there's a shooty element to those guys sandbagging each other.

The only cool Doc/Gordy matwork is in the Steiners match from the Clash of the Champions where they are all sandbagging each other. Way better than their PPV draw.

I just assume that if you run into Ric Flair the odds that he cries or blades are pretty high.