Loss

While we don't have a lot of footage of Bastien, I still thought he'd be interesting to discuss since he looks so good in the limited amount we do have. I do agree it's probably not enough for even a 95-100 spot, but it didn't feel right not even having him as an option.

Tetsuhiro Kuroda has 13 matches here: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/tags/forums/Tetsuhiro%2BKuroda/ I should apologize. It turns out I listed and ranked matches featuring most of those guys on my old master list of match ratings, but I never actually reviewed them. So they don't have three matches for anyone else, just three match ratings for most of them. If anyone has reviewed the Rikidozan-Thesz matches or any other Rikidozan, please list it here. He is the one I'd most like to see at least nominated.

I am pretty confident, but I'll look them up this evening and give links.

These are going to be super-short reviews, but my goal is just to get a thread started for GORGEOUS GEORGE where I can elaborate more later. I have way more to say about him than this, so this is just formality. Gorgeous George vs Hans Schnabel - 2/3/50 God Bless Russ Davis. He has so many quotable lines that I couldn't begin to list them all. One match I raved about a few months back was Mae Young vs Stacy in Power Pro, just because it showed Mae's command of parts of the heel act that are often taken for granted. A great heel can get tremendous heat removing jackets and other accessories before the match. I realized after watching this match where she got that schtick, and as much as I loved it when she did it, George does it so much better. The match sounds silly in description but is actually really fun and not just in a comedic way, although a large part of it is George not wanting his hair messed with and going out of his way to avoid it. When Hans finally messes up his hair, it gets a huge reaction. Not transcendant, but good build to a singular moment and worth a watch. Gorgeous George vs Jesse James It's amazing watching this guy because you really see how many aspects of heeling were taken from his act. This is a very good match that I really enjoyed both for the schtick and the substance. As an addition to his normal act, between falls, George requests and receives a tank of imported Florida air (which is beyond awesome) and we also see a lot of aggression from the guy - he has some really nice strikes and is solid on the mat. Both in this match and the other, you see a wrestler who is fundamentally very good, but who is made great because of the sheer size of his personality - it takes up the whole building, and it's awesome. Gorgeous George vs Andreas Lambrakis I've seen examples of it in the other two matches, but I think George's typical strategy is most apparent here. His goal is to anger his opponent in a way that he breaks the rules to go after him in a reckless way, forcing a disqualification. Think about Fred Phelps' family trying to egg people into attacking them so they can sue and you have a similar dynamic. In each case, he's able to win at least one fall that way. In his final fall, he tends to show the most aggression. This is laid out similarly to the Schnabel match, but is more compact.

Would anyone who has seen more of these guys than I have consider them thread-worthy? I've at least heard them all called good at some point. Roy Welch Jesse Barr/Jimmy Jack Funk Bobby Jaggers I might add others later.

Any chance we could get threads for the below names? They should all have three matches reviewed somewhere at the board. Bobo Brazil Don Leo Jonathan Gene Kiniski Kim Duk Kintaro Oki Mr. Pogo Red Bastien Rikidozan Tetsuhiro Kuroda

Who's better at JobbingNotJobbing -- Nash or HHH?

I think they feel like they already did when he was in The Shield.

Definitely sad. I've become a big fan the last few years as I've gone through his peak years.

Bray Wyatt beat Bryan at the Rumble. He should have beaten Cena at Wrestlemania, then lost to Bryan at Extreme Rules.

It's harder in this case to come up with some online since New Japan is so aggressive about taking stuff down. But I'd go with these. Kanemoto vs Pegasus (03/13/95) Kanemoto vs Otani (04/16/95) Kanemoto vs Liger (02/16/97) Kanemoto vs Wagner (06/03/98) Kanemoto vs Liger (07/15/98) Kanemoto/Otani vs Liger/Wagner (03/06/99) Kanemoto vs Liger (03/17/99) Kanemoto vs Liger (05/31/99) Kanemoto/Tanaka vs Otani/Takaiwa (10/11/99) Kanemoto/Tanaka vs Otani/Takaiwa (06/25/00)

That total includes HHH's money as a performer. Nearly $2 million of that is from his performer contract, actually.

Batista had huge value to Smackdown. When Eddy-Rey ran its course, he was the guy keeping the ratings afloat, to a point that part of the famous Booker T-Batista fight stemmed from Batista pointing out (correctly) that the ratings were down when he was out injured. Batista was a strong draw for a few years.

Wait, so is this Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez, noted long-time wrestling insiders, or just two guys who happened to be named Dave and Bryan, genuinely baffled at the possibility that someone in the wrestling business might have questionable motives for making shitty booking decisions? Seriously. See Wrestlemania 18, where HHH was happy to sabotage himself as long as he sabotaged Jericho more.

Bryan was over because he was a real person with relatable motivations and challenges in an artificial world. He was the modern version of the common man but not the hypermasculine version of that we've seen in previous generations. He's what top babyfaces of old would be in the Information Age where manufacturing jobs are gone and your average middle class family has dad working behind a cash register all day instead of standing in an assembly line. He captured that cultural shift in a way no one else in wrestling really has.

Can someone please confirm the right way to spell his name? The thread title is a fourth version of it that I have seen.

That's true, but I'm speaking more about things being out of vogue *now*, which if that was true, it seems like reactions to WWE's international signings and the cruiser tournament would be very different.

I think it was a few years back for sure. But lately, I've heard a lot of talk about how with the talent departures, New Japan should focus on their great junior heavyweight division, and Liger still seems pretty revered.

Are Japanese Junior style and American cruiserweight style really the same thing? It has similarities but it doesn't feel like it's a total apples to apples thing. I wrote a post about a year ago about the homogenization of wrestling styles around the world that I do think rings true. And I don't even know what American-style cruiserweight wrestling is -- there is no such major league weight division, and most of the smaller guys on the indy scene also work Japan.

I'll probably have Liger higher, but I can't say for sure. They make almost too perfect a comparison. As soon as I say I'll have Liger higher, I think about their respective careers and Casas seemed to peak way higher. I can't see them more than 1-2 spots apart from each other either way.

One of things some elite great workers have I suppose. This reminds me of all the Misawa matches where he's lying there selling while pulling up his pants.

Is juniors wrestling really out of vogue? People sure seem excited for the global cruiserweight tournament. It's like when people talk about Joshi being out of vogue but love Sasha Banks. It's double talk I don't quite get.

The board will be detonated in 23:59:59.

I'm still an idealist. I would rather them take an honest look at what ails them and have the courage to really fix it. I don't care about 3-6 months of fun that is destined to end in disappointing fashion every single time. I want a better functioning WWE.