Loss

I admit to basing this entirely on AAA 1993-1995 watching as of late. Psicosis was incredible, and at least at that point in their careers, was a more complete wrestler than Rey.

I think I read once that Michaels and Jannetty once showed up to a TV taping both bruised from fighting with each other, and they were both suspended over it.

There was something in the WON recently about Vince shooting down Kurt Angle's name when someone suggested bringing him back.

Not much to add to the names that have already been thrown around, but I'm almost prepared to make sort of a contentious statement, but I'm not quite prepared to back it up just yet. That said, I'll throw it out there, and come back to elaborate or shoot down my own statement whenever I feel like I have seen enough to fairly say: Psicosis was more talented than Rey Misterio Jr.

It's possible I'm way off on this, and I'd have to see the full DVD to judge, but maybe it's in the context of insulting the competition as being fake more than talking about all wrestling as fake. Perhaps it's the same dynamic Jim Ross used on that episode of Power Pro in the Mid South days when he talked about the weak chairshots in the Ricky Steamboat/Don Muraco feud. Suggesting that the competition is worked, but you're real, is kind of a familiar concept.

No, but this sounds awesome. Is it out yet?

No...Jeff is a harder worker than Luger ever was. Jeff is More over than Luger ever was and Jeff actually loves the business as opposed to Luger. Who would deny to people he was even in the business. What are you basing all of that on? All three points you listed are debatable, with the third one being based in nothing I have ever read or heard.

Let me say this the nicest way I possibly can. I believe your views on Vince McMahon and WWE to be overly simplistic.

Come ON. You mean if I put in a change of address to your address at the post office and just decide to move in to your house, you can't kick me out?

It sounds like he's gently suggesting that Angle commit suicide.

I'm not really surprised at all, though. I'm sure Russo thinks this is great and will really add to his gimmick.

Whatever happened to that guy anyway?

I'm about to go through the list and take some matches off. I think the problem before was that I let the list get out of hand and didn't even remember watching some things. Commenting on almost everything briefly does help that, but really, if I've forgotten something less than a week after watching it, it's probably not one of my "favorite" matches. So we'll see what gets the axe. ETA: 103 matches cut. Some will reappear after I watch them again, as there were some I was unsure how I'd rank in comparison to other matches. Some will not reappear. I still intend to comment on everything in this thread though, whether the match ends up making my list or not.

Rey/Juvi vs Psicosis/Parka from Nitro 12/15/97 was really, really awesome. I'm not a fan of modern spotfests, but this match reminds me why I used to like them, because while this is pretty much nonstop highspots, this match is also a logical progression, a clear face/heel divide, and the wrestlers don't blend together because they're each doing something different. Rey and Juvi are great opponents, but what a terrific babyface team also. Psicosis and La Parka are two guys who have grown on me more than ever lately with all the AAA, and of course, they're great here too. Seriously, Psicosis doesn't get talked about much, but his match resume looks good next to just about anyone's. Rey/Juvi from Thunder 1/16/98 was also really fun, although it was not really the match you'd expect to see from these two. It's a bit slower-paced and wrestled in more the heavyweight style. Of course there are some great highspots too, but it's cool to see that side of these guys. Rey/Jericho from Nitro on 8/3/98 was also super fun. I never thought much of their Souled Out match, which is why originally I wasn't sure what to expect from their feud in 2009. But that may have been a fluke with Rey wrestling injured, as this match shows me maybe they always had good chemistry.

I just watched the Funks vs. Sheik/Abdullah matches from the late 1970s. It's amazing how blatant Abdullah works a foreign object to the point where you wonder how the hell the referee can miss it. Lawler by comparison is an absolute master. He hides the object in such a manner that you're convinced the referr could not have seen it. His Superclash III match against Kerry is still the greatest example of cheating I've ever seen in a wrestling match. Very true. Perhaps the most awesome part with Lawler is that most of the time, he didn't even have a foreign object. He just acted like he was reaching for something and pretended like he did, but the people were convinced he had something.

Rey/Santo/Parka/Octagon vs Fuerza/Psicosis/Pentagon/Panther from 6/18/95. This may be the best non-All Japan match of 1995. I mentioned earlier a good primer to lucha libre for those who have never really watched it, and I think this fits that description even more than some of the previous matches I mentioned. Everyone is really at their best. Octagon and Pentagon don't really do much, but then again, you don't expect them to. The other six wrestlers are among the best of all time, and this match really displays them all in the most flattering light possible. The first fall, and a good chunk of the second fall, is wrestled like the best possible first 10 minutes of a Midnight Express match. Lots of athletic heel clowning spots mainly putting over Rey and Parka, as Octagon and Pentagon are kind of off in their own world, and Santo doesn't even enter the match until the middle of the second fall. They do some great footwork spots with the rudos trying to attack La Parka and him moving his feet so quickly every time they try to grab him that they all end up missing. It's really a lightning fast sequence better seen than described. This also appears to be around the time Rey started to become awesome. I still wouldn't call him a ring general at this point, but his highspots are pretty jawdropping to watch, even in 2009. Santo and Psicosis are doing a bit of a mini-feud. Psicosis brings in a chair and destroys Santo with it, which is followed by a hilarious comedy spot where the rudo ref just casually sweeps the chair out of the ring after being conveniently distracted when the bad stuff happened. Santo ends up getting his revenge in the third fall by putting the chair around Psicosis' neck and driving him into the ringpost. While other guys do their share of dives, it seems like there's a deliberate intent to keep it to a minimum -- at least to a certain degree -- to make Rey's highspots stand out even more. Fuerza is Fuerza, always awesome. Lowblowing everyone in sight, and faking being lowblowed every chance he gets, including, hilariously, after a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker where it would have been impossible to low blow a guy. He at one point early on goes for Parka's mask, and Parka comes back after his toward the end of the match. Santo and Panther also work well together, just like always. If the early parts of the match resemble the early parts of a MX match, the rest of the match feels like War Games, with everyone in and brawling at the same time before building to a series of revenge spots and a conclusive finish. I'm not sure what was specifically being praised from AAA in 1995, but if this wasn't getting praised, this falls in the category of a lost classic.

Rey/Juvi from 6/16/95 was good. I think they only had one singles match that made tape prior to this, and you can tell they are still working out some of their kinks, but once they get going, this turns into a really good match. AAA camerawork is frustrating -- slo-moing the awesome opening spot of Juvi hitting Rey with his championship belt mid-air is exposed by Rey putting his hands up when shown in slow motion, and the camera cuts away to show a replay right as Juvi is about to dive to the floor at one point. They would have better matches later, but this is still very good and worth watching.

I watched Lawler/Keirn from the IWA in Florida in 1990. Awesomely fun match, with Lawler doing his "hide the foreign object that isn't even there" schtick, and also doing some great heel work, to a point where despite the arena being nearly empty, the crowd is pretty loud. Keirn's offense looks great also -- he does the Flair drop weight on the guy's leg after draping it on the rope spot, only he doesn't jump up at all, so it looks really snug.

KENTA/Marufuji vs Kanemaru/Hashi from 09/12/03 in NOAH was a pretty awesome spotfest. I think Kanemaru & Hashi seemed like more complete wrestlers than KENTA and Marufuji, but all four were still awesome.

I watched Taue/Nagata from 6/6/03. A little one-sided, but a fun match that put Nagata over strong.

I tried to watch Akiyama/Rikio vs Morishima/Yone from 4/1/07 in NOAH and turned it off after about 10 minutes. Akiyama gets boot after boot from Yone, and the camera zooms into him not seeming all that bothered by it. The brawling in the crowd is also silly, and I'm really over forearm-forearm-forearm-forearm because guys don't know how to throw good strikes. Especially when the forearms don't even get sold.

No, and I kind of despise Manami Toyota for this reason. Noisiest wrestler ever.

I also remember some type of disagreement with them a few years ago because Morton was upset about Gibson receiving equal (or possibly higher) pay for one of the shows they were working to just stand on the apron while Morton would be doing all the work.

As part of the lawsuit, the WWF wanted WCW to say the following every week on television. Can you imagine the damage to the NWO angle if WCW had been forced to say this on TV every week?