Dylan Waco

Thanks for the links guys. I'm going to put them all on the dock.

Brian Lee As a face Brian Lee was pretty terrible. As a heel he was much better, though I'd still call it a stretch to say he was a good worker. He did have moments, notably the tag team with Candido which was a good showcase for the strengths of both guys. In ECW I thought he was extremely effective in his role, though it was not a role intended to produce good matches. HHH was better than Lee, though Lee had points where you thought he might take it to the next level. Chris Candido I was disappointed by Candido's ECW run, but he was still good there and he was great in SMW. Hell I liked a fair amount of Boddydonna Skip. Candido was a small guy who wanted to be that NWA tourning champ style heel. He had a tremendously varied offense, literally one of the most expansive and interesting of any wrestler I can remember. He was also an excellent bumper both in terms of theatrics and in terms of standard delivery. His promos fit his character well and were generally very good for what they were. He should have amounted to far more than he did, but unlike HHH he fucked the wrong woman and she helped ruin his career instead of make it. He was a whole lot better than HHH. Harris Brothers I actually don't think the Harris Brothers are THAT bad. I mean they aren't good, but they aren't the worst ever. Of course they are neo-Nazi's as opposed to HHH who just enjoys Nazi aesthetics. So I'll take Trip. Sandman Oh I think Sandman wins this pretty damn easily. Sandman was a very fun worker despite his limitations. Yeah he could stink up the place if he was too fucked up, but on other nights he could really deliver an extremely entertaining brawl. Another guy with surprising offense, great right hand, really underrated as a guy who could sell and bump his ass off, et. Plus he was a rare guy who had "It" in spades. Crazy charismatic, with the perfect gimmick and the best entrance in wrestling. Cane was better than sledgehammer. Woman was better than Steph. Scorp was better than shawn Michaels. Sandman all the way. Rocco Rock Rocco was a guy who always tried hard, but that often wasn't enough. PE ages pretty badly, but it was an act that meant a lot to the growth of ECW and Rocco clearly carried the act. I always felt like Petty could have been a really good wrestler in the right situation but he was never really put in that situation. I would lean toward him anyhow, but I'm not sure I could really justify it if pressed. New Jack Overall I think New Jack is easily better because he was a great promo. Seriously his SMW promo work was absolutely out of this World great. Best promo on Earth in 95 and he had plenty of really good Pulp Fiction ECW promos as well. I actually think The Gangstas were a good tag team in the ring in SMW as well and Jack's diving clothesline off the apron may have been my favorite regular spot in wrestling during that period. When he went to ECW he immediately became a caricature though it was a crazy over act and I can't really blame him. I suppose almost killing Vic Grimes is worse than anything HHH has done in wrestling (maybe). HHH was the better in ring performer largely because Jack found a niche that involved doing nothing more than blasting people with weapons and made a career out of it. Tim Horner Horner was the better worker by a long shot. Really a good hand in the ring, who was capable of very dynamic exchanges and was also an underrated brawler. On the other hand he was horrible as SMW's lead babyface and was really only suited to work the under card. One of the worst promos I've ever seen, and he stuck out like a sore thumb in a great promo company like SMW. HHH was probably better all around because for all of his faults he was at least believable as an upper tier wrestler and while he was/is a tedious promo he's nothing like Horner in that regard. Still Horner was the better work. And "Shameless" is one of the best wrestlecrap things ever. Balls Mahoney I like Balls better. I think Balls was a strange wrestler who at times looked like a really good wrestler and at other times looked like the sloppiest, silliest guy on Earth. Still he had more good nights than bad nights. His tag team with Axl Rotten should have been terrible but was actually pretty good. He had good matches with RVD, Tanaka and others. Even had some entertaining stuff with the Baldies. The Spike team was quality. The SMW run was silly but it was similar in that he had some good performances and some performances that left you wondering if it was even the same guy. Balls character was basically Balls the person. I actually think I could find more Balls performances I like than HHH performances. Nightstalker Not a Bryan Clark fan. He had some cool spots but I thought he was a massive underachiever. Seemed like he could have and should have been a break out star but wasn't. I'd take Trip over him. Barbarian Barb easily. Another guy who was really convincing and violent as fuck. You bought him as an asskicker probably because he was one. Even as Headshrinker Sionne he added a lot to matches. Another example of a guy with a bigger offensive arsenal than you might suspect and was one of the better guys at working brick wall and then selling based on chinks in the armor over the course of a match. Certainly projected a much more serious aura than the game.

I'll do these two together: Edge I really did have to think about this, but I'd go with Edge. Edge's overracting, shit finisher, terrible offense and bad instincts were really bad at their worst to the point where I may have hated him even more than HHH. Edge/Lita was even annoying to me though it did get heat and I liked it better than HHH/Steph. One big difference to me is that I think Edge was more carriable than Hunter and Edge was willing to convincingly lose even in matches when he didn't have to (see the tremendous Cage Match with Matt Hardy at Unforgiven). Stuff like Jericho v. Edge and Del Rio v. Edge are the type of matches where Edge didn't do a lot other than follow the blueprint, but that was enough and I can't imagine Trip not trying to make the blueprint needlessly lengthy/complex. Randy Orton I am not an Orton fan, but he's a carriable wrestler, who at times will show flashes in the ring. He is far better as a heel than as a face and is a proven failure as the top guy on a brand. He's also a pretty bland promo more often than not. But I could probably name more quality Orton matches and performances than HHH has had with very little effort and Orton has had a substantially shorter career. Can anyone fathom HHH having the matches Orton had with Christian or Henry this year?

Road Dogg I actually think Road Dogg is pretty underrated. He is charismatic and a good talker and has a few identifiable spots that always work. He doesn't have the matches HHH has, but he was never booked to have those matches. Overall I think he's better than HHH. As a worker I'd rather watch him, though I acknowledge that he has very few stand out performances. Billy Gunn Billy Gunn is one of those guys who is totally uninteresting, but also totally unoffensive to me. Hunter is better, but if you gave me the choice between a wrestling show with Gunn on the roster or one with HHH on the roster I'd take Gunn. Sean Waltman Well this is a no brainer. I am not really a huge Waltman fan, but at his best he was a great wrestler. Was a great under dog babyface and actually was a pretty great heel at times, though he had a tendency to push things to far. Fucking Chyna on the way down also is a lot more justifiable than fucking Chyna on the way up. Chyna Come on, Hunter's bad he's not that bad.

All the other stuff is at least arguable, but come on. HHH may have no grasp of his limitations, but he's a fundamentally competent worker. About the nicest thing you can say about Nash from an in-ring standpoint is that he was carryable. I don't see how Nash is fundamentally incompetent. Neither guy is a good worker. If you want to say HHH is better I wouldn't argue to hard, though I don't think there is a massive gap between the two.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj0kl92ccQs Tajiri v. Super Crazy - FMW 12/11/99 This was a good version of their touring match. I am not a huge fan of Crazy as a rule and think some of his transitions to offense were weak here, but as a broader match this impressed me. These guys got ten minutes and got all of their major shit in and did it without it feeling like a totally heartless exchanges of spots. The opening parity exchange was about as well done a version of those as you'll ever see and some of the other spots in this were really fantastic. Tajiri's hilo was a fun surprise, Crazy's Asai taking out multiple Japanese businessmen was great, the tarantula and bridge out spots looked really excellent and I really liked the fact that Tajiri went over in Japan with the Dragonsuplex. I also came to the realization that when Tajiri does his mocking poses and taunts he looks a lot like Alan from The Hangover. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvvNG-ummZ4...feature=related Tajiri v. Jerry Lynn - ECW CyberSlam 99 I was not high on this the last time I watched it and while I enjoyed it more this time I have not softened much. I liked Lynn better in ECW than I thought I would and I love Tajiri (of course), but this match lacked flow to me at times and I thought there were several moments in the early going when things were noticeably "off." Things started to heat up a lot once Tajiri took control and there were some really great spots, but the finish felt out of nowhere and over all I thought this was really middling for Tajiri in a year where damn near everything he was a part of was awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sPELxv4ek4 Tajiri v. Rey Misterio - WWE SD 1/?/04 This is a Rey t.v. match so you know it's going to be good coming in, it's just a matter of how good. Well, it was pretty god damned good. Tajiri is a good opponent for Rey because he can take all of Rey's spots naturally and still play bruiser by turning his heel persona up. This match sort of has a dual story as you have Rey's leg as a target and Rey trying to fight off Tajiri's ringside cronies. They work some really great spots out of this, including a great counter of Tajiri's rewind elbow that sets up a nice Rey hilo and an awesome 619 attempt where Rey gets caught by a Tajiri second and just heaved to the floor. I also really liked the bump Tajiri took for the 619 later in the match and the roll through counter on the seated senton into a half crab on Rey's busted knee was a cool spot. I didn't remember much about these guys matches coming in, but this really makes me excited to check them all out.

This is a much more reasonable list as there are guys I at least had to think about and other guys where I can at least see an argument for HHH even if I think it's a weak one. Kurt Angle I'll take Angle. Angle at his most annoying is arguably worse. Really it's tough because worst v. worst it's a contest between a guy who worked long matches filled with nothing because he didn't have the tools he thought he had and a guy who worked long matches filled with too much because he thought his concept of working a match is built entirely around near falls and escapes. I mean Angle doing parity mat exchanges with Shane McMahon is fucking idiotic, but is it really worse than the cerebral assassin stalking around the ring for a half hour building to a weak slot with a gimmick sledgehammer? But best v. best, Angle wins fairly easily. Angle doing abstinence skits was better than HHH doing cock jokes. Angle as lunatic, dangerous roid head is better than HHH as "King of Kings" phony tough guy. Angle from 00-02 is better than any run of HHH's career and I would rather watch his SummerSlam matches v. Austin and Rey than just about anything HHH has ever done. Both guys now work in promotions that cater to their vanity and illusions about what makes a good match which is not good. HHH is more likely to cover up someones murder and Angle is more likely to carry out one, so that may be a minor plus for HHH. Still I take Angle. Keiji Mutoh I have soured a lot on Mutoh over the last decade and I see a lot of similarities between him in Trips. But Mutoh was a bigger star on his own and their are flashes. He was never a great worker, but his over all act could add to a match, something I cannot say for HHH. Mutoh's best matches are almost assuredly better. Mist is better than crotch chop. 89 Muta was hugely influential on my wrestling fandom and gave us great moments like the angle with Eddie Gilbert and "The Japanese have attacked Ric Flair!"/"Doug Dillinger's a civilian!" Yeah got to go with Mutoh. Shawn Michaels Shawn. For all his faults - and there are many - there is no case for HHH. Even as annoying company ace, with on air sexual tension involving a McMahon family member, Shawn was clearly better. HHH is a guy that needed a gimmick match and Shawn was always a better gimmick match worker than him. I would take Shawn just based on The Rockers alone really, but there is plenty there up until his first retirement to merit him being over Trip. Post-comeback Michaels v. HHH is tougher, but I still think I'd take Shawn as he was good for at least one good match a year and was less likely to annoy me or kill me with a lengthy idiotic promo than Hunter. Plus Shawn defenders arguing that that Shawn was still a good worker because his gimmick was that he was supposed to be a terrible wrestler, amused me in a way HHH defenders never have. Shane Douglas Shane Douglas would have been an infinitely better HHH, than HHH. HHH played angry guy with shit overacting and still does. Douglas was a delusional nut who's "cut my fucking music!" shooting bit was half act, half real, and entertaining more often that not. Both guys saw themselves as heirs to Race and Jack Brisco and both were dead wrong. Both worked too long with guys they shouldn't have due to their own egos/insanity. But Shane was far less likely to do this and his best performances were far better. Shane had series with guys like Scorp and Mikey that HHH could have never had. You could throw him in there with a Jerry Lynn even after he was broken down and he could give you a real miracle performance. Shane is a guy who's stock went up post ECW watch, HHH is a guy who's stock never goes up. Rick Steiner I would rather watch Steiner for sure. If you are going to be an unprofessional piece of shit with an inflated sense of self I want to see you display that by beating the holy hell out of people in an entertaining fashion, not cutting peoples balls off/ruining their careers in a cowardly back handed fashion. Maybe this is a character flaw on my part but so be it. Also I like Rick's work as "fun loving, mildly retarded, bruiser" better than HHH's work opposite Rick clone Eugene. Dean Malenko I am not a Dean fan, but he's better than HHH. Obviously the guy is no kind of promo, but he was a good Nitro style worker and he had plenty of solid little matches. The things that annoy me about him pale in comparison to things that annoy me about HHH. Mistico I really haven't seen enough of his CMLL career to be fair. Was certainly a bigger star/draw than HHH though. Taz Taz was never a good worker in my view, but he had plenty of entertaining squashes and competitive squashes. The average Taz match was really short. I would rather watch a string of competitive squashes/short matches than a long boring HHH shit fest. As a promo Taz's little man syndrome rants were awesome at the time and still hold up pretty well for me. HHH has more good matches, but I would much rather watch Taz at his peak than HHH at his. Kevin Nash This is a pick em. Nash is funnier, though his humor is overrated. Neither guy is a particularly good worker, though Nash was a better foil for Shawn and Bret than some may remember. I honestly have no dog in this fight. Scott Hall Hall. Young Scott Hall was not very good, but I still have a soft spot for Razor Ramon. I suspect if you had plugged him into the HHH role he would have had much better individual performances and far fewer shit shows. If you plug HHH into Razor's role, I doubt we even remember it at all. King Kong Bundy Bundy was a legit good fat man wrestler. He did not have a long run as a quality performer, but there was a point where for his style he was one of the better guys around. I actually like him as a promo too and I thought he had a unique look for a big guy that added to his over all act. Sid Vicious I would rather watch Sid squash people with powerbombs and fumble over promos. I LIKE Sid better than HHH. Was he better? No. Raven Both are crazy overrated heels that's for sure. I am really torn on this. I think HHH's best matches are easily better. Both guys are among the most annoying and least interesting promos in wrestling history. Both fancy themselves master psychologist and neither was. Raven was far less likely to have a crazy long match with someone he had no business going long with, but I really can't recall Raven matches where I thought he did anything that added to the match at all. HHH at his best was a good bumper. So I take HHH

I'm not exaggerating. I honestly believe everything I said about those other guys relative to HHH. I'll start working on Jingus list shortly

Thanks! I edited it into the original post. More reviews coming tonight

Lots of crazy shit in WCW syndication, but PG-13 showing up and being awesome and Hack Myers actually working one taping are among my favorites. Corporal Punishment randomly appearing in ECW a few times shouldn't have seemed that weird to me but it really did. Dick Slater showing up in 89 WWF.

This is not terribly hard. When I was talking on the podcast I was talking about in ring, but I'll try and make notes on other aspects of performance as well. Still this initial list is really cupcake stuff. Rick Rude This isn't close on any level. Rude was the much better worker, better on the mic, better character, better wrestling gear, better angle involving cuckolding of rival, et. There is no metric where HHH is better other than over all "stardom" and that is entirely circumstantial in my view. Can anyone imagine HHH having a match like Rude v. Steamboat or Rude v. Warrior? I'll set the bar lower. Can anyone imagine HHH executing a spot with as much consistency and violence as the Rude Awakening? Dino Bravo I'd take HHH with the minor qualification that I haven't seen much Dino in Montreal yet. That could change things. Greg Valentine Valentine smokes HHH in the ring. I mean absolutely demolishes him. Both guys worked a "deliberate pace" but Valentine's actually added to his matches. He was a much more convincing wrestler and tough guy than HHH. He was better at working long (see Backlund draw from 79), better at working gimmick matches (see v. Tito and Dog Collar v. Piper), was better at working blood feud/tight brawls (see v. Wahoo, v. Piper, v. Tito, v. Garvin), he was better v. underdog faces (see v. Owen), he was better in "technical" showcases (see v. Bret), he was better in escalating matches that started cleanish and led to babyface fire segments (see v. Steamer, v. Tito). Valentine is one of the most underrated workers in wrestling history. HHH is one of the most overrated. Ronnie Garvin Garvin is far better. Underrated on the mat, great striker and brawler. For a french guy, who mostly worked in the South he was a surprisingly better than average promo as well. Carny stuff I've seen from ICW, is better than shitty DX skits. Hammer Jammer is better than Hornswaggle under the ring in DX shirt or Chyna as ringside neutralizer. Loved his match with Big Bubba and the ten count spot in that was better done than similar HHH spots in any LMS match. Tully taped fist match was good and the Worldwide match is possibly the greatest free tv match I've ever seen - far better than any HHH match I've ever seen. Miss Atlanta Lively was better than Katie Vick. Flair series was awesome and better than any HHH series. Was a far better tag wrestler and his short lived team with Windham was miles better than any HHH team. Garvin feud with Jake in GCW was fun. Garvin working unprofessional match v. Scott Steiner in AWA, was better than HHH working unprofessional match v. Scott Steiner in WWE. I mean really this is a slaughter. Curt Hennig You could maybe convince me that 2000 HHH was better than any year Hennig had in the ring during the Mr. Perfect era, though that character was way better than any HHH character. But career v. career this is another monumental ass beating. From 82-88 Hennig was a tremendous worker who could work sprint brawls with Hansen, broadway classics with Bock, excellent 2/3 fall matches with Buddy Rose, play a great FIP in a tag match, or work cheating, bumping, cowardly heel v. Lawler, Wahoo or even DJ fucking Peterson. He was also a much better promo than HHH. Brian Pillman Pillman from 89-92 was a brilliant babyface worker, among the best I've ever seen in a wrestling ring. I've never thought "boy HHH is among the best I"ve ever seen" at anything in wrestling other than backstage politicking. I don't like heel Pillman as much, though it was better than heel HHH. For hokey home invasion angles "Pillman 9 mm" trumps HHH beating up Randy in front of his fake wife. Loose Cannon was also far more entertaining than "lol DX." Paul Orndorff I wish we had more prime Mid-Atlantic Orndorff but I'd still take him over Trips. Orndorff was Hogan's best overall opponent (angle, promos, drawing and match quality taken into account) and I cannot imagine HHH being able to "handle" a role of the consistent "loser" to Hogan. I liked the feud with Cactus a lot in 93. He was the best part about early SMW with his crazed piledriver spots. Ornndorff beat Vader's ass, HHH backed down to Bret Hart. I don't think this is nearly the landslide the others have been, but I would rather watch a best of Orndorff comp. Roddy Piper Piper easily. Even now I'd rather watch trainwreck, unintelligible Piper promo to HHH "epic" promo. Prime v. prime Piper decimates HHH as a promo and was a better worker too. I like his matches v. Rose a lot, the Valentine Doc Collar match, the Bret match from Mania, the six-man right before Mania III, the Savage match with the great airplane spin spot, Rude Cage match, et. He was lighting the World on fire but he was a guy who worked his character really well into his match. He was also more likely to work too short than too long which is a huge plus in a head to head v. Trip. Rick Martel Well HHH was probably a better promo than face Martel, though I cop to liking the Model act a good bit. As a worker this is another epic destruction of HHH. There is nothing he does better than Martel. People give Martel shit for the decline of the AWA in 85, but HHH in that role would have been so much worse it's comical to think about. The idea of HHH going to Japan and having compelling matches? The idea of him having a legit very good serious v. Boris Zhukov? The idea of him having a legitimately great match with Brad Rheingans based entirely around milking holds and slow build to highspots? I mean this shit doesn't even pass the laugh test. Barry Windham You are fucking with me right? Windham at his peak might be the best North American talent I've ever seen. Was literally excellent at everything. Was a big guy who could wrestle like a big guy as a face or heel - or wrestle as a chickenshit big bumping heel or as underdog/FIP babyface. Was a great brawler. Is probably the best tag team wrestler of all time, certainly no worse than top five. One of the few American wrestlers who was good at working a hierarchical main event style, though he didn't have to and wouldn't always if he didn't think the situation called for it. Had really good performances going back to 81 and really great singles performances as late as 93. Tremendous big man bumper and brilliant at selling both fatigue, long term damage and a body part. Had a really varied and compelling offensive and an excellent delivery of said offense. Also if you compare HHH singing happy birthday to Vince, to Windham's stellar musicianship in West Texas Rednecks he wins via that metric as well. Mike Rotunda I find Rotunda boring as piss for the most part and think he is a pretty fair comparison to HHH. He was definitely more fundamentally sound than Trip in the ring, but that didn't translate to much because he was largely a black hole. Varsity Club was better than DX, but Rotunda was the least interesting aspect of that. I would lean toward HHH here because the chances he has been afforded means he's had more good matches. Steve Keirn Keirn was better. Fabs were a great, great tag team and I also have enjoyed other Keirn I've seen as he's sort of a bruising type that can also work well on the mat. I suspect if there were more footage of him available this would be considered a slam dunk. Tito Santana Tito easily. Really underratd babyface who was better at showing fire than Steamboat and some of the other "top" babyfaces of the era. Feuds with Savage and Valentine are better than anything HHH has ever done. The glimpses in the AWA tell us that he was good before his WWF run too. Again with more footage this would probably be even more evident. Butch Reed If you listened to the podcast you know my answer. Reed had a better look, was better in the ring, and was better on the mic. Even if I were just looking at Doom era Reed, I'd take him over the great majority of HHH's career. Add in Mid-South and stuff like the Blackwell match from St. Louis and this is not close at all. Mike Enos Wayne Bloom Well, this is tough because neither of these guys got anything near the chances HHH had, nor did they have an extensive career as a secondary guy like Barry Horowitz. Bloom was actually a very good promo, a big time bumper for a guy his size and could work. Enos was an awesome offensive wrestler, a good bumper, had lots of neat counters, et though he was not a very good promo. I would say both guys were better in the ring, but it is really hard to compare them over all. Ted DiBiase Ted in a walk. Million Dollar Man was a far more memorable gimmick and really that was his low point in a lot of ways. Really awesome brawler and was good as fuck as both a babyface and as a heel. The awesomeness of the brainbuster angle laps any angle that HHH was ever involved with and Dibiase was involved in plenty other memorable one as well. Koko B. Ware I'm not entirely sure I wouldn't take Birdman/High Energy Koko over HHH, but when you factor in Memphis this is another easy pick. Great wrestler in his prime and Trip was never a great wrestler. Probably worth going back to see how much good Koko there is from other periods actually. Dory Funk Jr. I agree that Dory is pretty god damned boring, but so is HHH. I actually liked Dory v. Brody and I fucking hate Brody. Would I like HHH v. Brody? Highly unlikely. Still this feels like a toss up. Haku I fucking love Meng as a character. Just a big fan of the tough gatekeeper to the stars role that he played so well. Sort of like a Mark Henry before there was Mark Henry, though Henry in that role was a better worker. In his younger years he was a very good bumper. The Islanders were an underrated team and I enjoyed him as King Tonga too. Overall I prefer him to HHH and in the ring I'd much rather watch him. Harley Race Not sure I buy Race as Kurt Angle criticism and even if I did I'd take him over HHH. In fact I'm not sure there was ever any point in his career where Harley wasn't better than HHH. Seriously put aside his classic stuff for a second. Harley working sprints v. Tommy Rich, Harley as challenger in the AWA in 90 and having an awesome match at Wrestlerock with Martel, Harley in Puerto Rico, Harley in entertaining brawl v. Hogan and bumping like a loon for JYD, Harley taking huge bumps as Vader's manager. Honestly I'd take Harley from 86-90 over any comparable run from HHH - and that's Harley well past his prime, supposedly carry around a bag of shit for part of the run. Prime Harley? I mean really would you rather watch dock worker, with crazy old man strength and tattoos or Tom of Finland's guy working twent plus minute matches v. Kevin Nash. Tom Zenk I fucking hate Zenk. Tommy Rich We don't have much of prime Rich, when he was the first national star. We do have more than enough Rich as an awesome heel from Memphis, Rich with Mr. Donnie, Rich as the Big Don, Rich in USWA, et to know that Rich was fucking awesome. Absolutely great promo, all time classic facial expressions and heel mannerisms, could work a solid tv match v. Eddie Gilbert even in an out of shape state, post-meth problem still throws better punches than HHH ever has. I would guess if we had more prime Rich he would be considered a top fifty ever candidate. Hulk Hogan Hogan by every metric. Far better interview, far more charismatic, far better look and was a better worker too. HHH's best matches might be better than Hogan's (maybe), but I would rather watch a collection of Hogan v. a collection of HHH.

Cheap plug time as I was a guest on my long time wrestling geek comrade Thomas Holzerman's podcast today http://wallsofjerichoholic.blogspot.com/20...e-43-dylan.html . We talked about all kinds of shit including modern indies, the pitfalls of Mark Henry and The Miz in current WWE, the Mania build, some MOTYC follow up from 2011, et. He's doing a show with Dave and I this weekend that I will post in the appropriate thread when it is finished. On another note after I'm done with this Tajiri project (which still has a lot of legs) who should I move on to?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEzvoMHsir0 Eddie Guerrero/Tajiri v. The Basham Brothers - SD 6/5/03 This is a super fun little tv match. Eddie and Tajiri really were a great team as they both had tons of cool offense. Eddie gets a bunch of it in early, goes FIP after taking a sick blindside clothesline, comes back for the hot tag off of a brutal backdrop suplex and then Tajiri gets his turn to hit all of his signature spots in a really great way. Bashams took everything nice and added some nice touches. Nothing fancy and not terribly developed but this is a snapshot of a tag team that could have been an all time great team even if it would have been ridiculous for the WWE to go that route at that time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8gEfmkB1Mc Tajiri v. Nunzio - SD 1/16/03 I'm sure I'll talk about this more later, but I actually think Tajiri v. Guido is the best series in ECW history. Tajiri and Crazy's best matches were probably better and they had a great routine, but the Tajiri v. Guido matches had more subtlety to them and more variety. One of the themes they often worked with was Guido targetting the arm and Tajiri working the kicks to counter, a sort of workrate/BattlArts hybrid that is kind of distinct in its characteristics. That is basically how this is worked, but this is few years after their peak ECW run, they are even more restricted by time than normal and the match is just fodder for a bigger angle involving Tajiri and Jamie Noble. And this is still pretty fucking good. Guido is awesome at busting out the Fujiwara from a variety of positions and here he does it out of a swinging slam attempt and it looked like the slickest and most vicious counter in the World. Tajiri keeps trying to come back and Guido keeps give him a big fuck you by going to that arm. There are some really awesome Tajiri comebacks, including a spot with Guido avoiding one head kick only for Tajiri to throw another from a different angle and Tajiri locking on this spinning Gori specialesque move that he immediately dropped into a German for a near fall. Tajiri does a good job working in offense and selling his arm in between spots. Noble tries to get involved and takes a great leaping bump on the apron for a high kick. Nidia tries to get involved and takes the green mist but Tajiri turns right into Guido, who grabs his arm and does his tornado single arm DDT which looked really good and was a totally believable finish to this match. These guys really had it down to a science. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yil3kLDH8zU...ture=plpp_video Tajiri v. Little Guido - ECW TV 8/6/99 I feel like I should toss out another one of their awesome ECW matches here for comparison. It was one of many Tajiri matches that easily could have made the ECW Set, but there wasn't room for fifty Tajiri matches. Tajiri's mouth is taped up from getting barbed wire shoved down his throat by Taz at the ppv, so Guido smacks him in the mouth and then opens up with matwork. Tajiri breaks it up with a nice kick while laying down. Guido keeps going to the arm every chance he can, including a really great looking Fujiwara counter spot. Guido keeps slapping his ears and he ties Tajiri in the tree of woe. Guido goes for sliding dropkick but crotches himself and Tajiri looks to take over but takes a Tomikaze. Corino pulls Guido out of the ring and gets sprayed in the eyes with something by Corino. I thought this was going to be the finish, but they go back and fourth then Tajiri starts throwing vicious shots to Guido's leg which he sells by just plummeting when Tajiri tries to shoot him into the ropes. Tajiri ends up locking in a Texas Cloverleaf for the submission. Good match, very different from their other stuff. This is pretty much the best series in ECW history. Tajiri v. Mike Awesome - ECW 10-2-99 I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand I really didn't like Awesome in this. Thought his offense just looked really phony and weak by comparison to Tajiri's and he seemed to be moving around in an oddly plodding fashion. On the other hand I fucking loved Tajiri in this. Thought his Hulk Up spot after Awesome dominated the early going was a really awesome spot that did a good job making him look like Awesome's equal. I also really dug the spot where Awesome went for a German, Tajiri landed on his feet and Awesome lets out a "what the fuck?" as Tajiri goes behind him and drops him with a German of his own. Tajiri taking over by working the leg was also a really smart tactic, though Awesome forgot about it in the end. The finishing table spot was also pretty cool here as Tajiri blocks a table powerbomb by standing on it and hitting a tornado DDT only to get caught with a a powerbomb through the table a few seconds later. I nominated this for the ECW set on the strength of the carry job. Kris and Will actually liked it more than I did. All the more reason for a Tajiri set. Tajiri v. Super Crazy - ECW 2-12-99 (Available on the ECW Set) I have two mild complaints with this. First was that the comeback spots seemed predictable as every time they ran the ropes you knew it was coming. Second complaint is that I thought the trading tornado ddt's spot was a bit unnecessary. Other than this was a tremendous match, probably one of the best in ECW history and anywhere in the World in 99. The Queens crowd was uber hot here and both guys really seemed to feed off of it. This was a "top this" match but rather than it being spot trading, "top this" was actually the story of the match. It was not back and fourth at all and the transitions were really believable and well done. Loved the early spot of Tajiri dumping Crazy into the crowd wildly and then hitting a Asai that tore the roof off the place. Later Crazy did the same thing and it got an even bigger pop. Tajiri's kicks looked brutal and Crazy was really connecting nicely with his stuff as well. Finish was really awesome as Crazy hit a series of top rope dropkicks and then a frog splash for a clean decisive fall. Really awesome stuff and one of their very first matches together. Pretty amazing how on they were right away. This is probably their best match from 99 - at best it's their third best match of the rivalry. Fuck maybe Guido v. Tajiri isn't the unquestioned top of the heap?

That was one of Tajiri's major taunts. As a heel it was very rare for him to make it through a match without doing that at least once. Usually he would change it up for setting/opponent a bit.

Terry Funk vs. Jerry Lawler (JAPW 4/12/03) Terry Funk vs. Jerry Lawler (3PW 5/3/03) Terry Funk vs. Jerry Lawler (MLW 8/22/03) I remember really loving these when I watched the Funk comp. Seem to recall liking the 3PW match the best but it's been a while.

All you fuckers watch that El Lobo match and TELL ME IM WRONG

This is from some NY Indy called UCW from date is 1/26/01. Low Ki did have a bunch of matches in another indy called ICW around this time so I get the confusion. Ki had allready been around a few years by this point and was just starting to become one of the mega indy darlings around this time so he was getting booked vs a lot of bigger names. A mild dream match for some atleast when it happened. He wrestled Sabu, Kidman, Eddie Guerrero, Minoru Fujita & a bunch of others that year. Anyways, yeah this is really disapointing. I remember seeing it years & years ago on a "best" of Ki comp that RF video put out and had the exact same thoughts you did and couldn't stand the announcing either. What's crazy about this is that this match was held in the Elks Lodge in Queens less than two weeks after ECW went out of business.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNVdFt4fTc8 Tajiri v. Low Ki - ICW ?/01 The commentary here is just unbearably awful. Maybe the worst commentary I've ever heard. This wasn't really a dream match at the time, but in hindsight feels like one and by that standard it is really disappointing. By the standard of vet working competitive match with upstart before putting him away? Not bad, but not memorable. Lots of fun Tajiri taunt spots and Ki takes a crazy bump into the guardrail off of a slap of all things. Still this didn't have the time to develop and this was working looser than you would like (or at least the camera angles used gave it that effect). More of a novelty than anything else. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twu0wb8aU1w Tajiri v. Taz - ECW on TNN 9/3/99 Jesus Christ this was a great five minute match. Tajiri winning the open exchange with a rewind elbow that Taz took really well was awesome and made better by Tajiri spitting on him. Really loved Tajiri going for the tarantula and Taz stopping it with the angry man slam. Taz is just brutally stiff here throwing a nasty clothesline and nasty chops which Tajiri answers in kind. Tajiri ends up going for a headkick and Taz catches his leg and drops him right on his head which Tajiri sells like death. Taz has to pick him up limp bodied and murders him with some nasty crossfaces. Tajiri's facial expressions here were totally awesome. He comes back with a low blow and then just unloads with a barrage of sickening kicks. Tajiri looks to have him reeling but goes for another head kick and Taz slips behind him and chokes him out. Awesome sprint. Possibly the best Taz match I've ever seen.

I had a huge thread over at Classics where I ran down HHH's peak year v. the peak year of tons of other guys. It was spirited discussion for a while but finally broke down after the initial hundred names. Having said that feel free to start a similar thread in the regular wrestling forum.

That makes sense because that was an epic ass beating. I take it you are a fan of the match Tim? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Also thanks for the date wwxwce - and the uploads assuming you are the same guy. Now everyone go watch the damn Lobo match

I added links for Tajiri v. Dreamer and Tajiri v. Calo Mogur/Americo Rocca/Cadaver de Ultratumba vs. Olimpus/Ultimatum/Yoshihiro Tajiri - CMLL 2/18/1997 Did I some how miss a fall in here, because I only remember seeing two? Anyhow this ruled. I loved the rudo team. Bunch of cranky looking bastards in there delivering everything from great cowering spots, to nice mat exchanges, to big bumps. I thought it was neat how you got the tricked out matwork, than Tajiri comes in and starts throwing bombs like no one let him in on the protocol. Faces win the first fall, but when the second starts Cadaver just runs right at Tajiri and starts beating his ass. Mogur (I think) takes over and proceeds to beat the fuck out of Tajiri. Every fucking strike looked like a potential knock out blow and Tajiri was tremendous selling it. I was really expecting this to be an offensive showcase, as Tajiri in 97 is different in someways than Tajiri in 99. Both were spot heavy, but the 99 version has more nuance to him at least that I can attest for. Now I'm starting to think the greenhorn babyface Tajiri of 97 may have made a great Ricky Morton, because his slow motion face planting on the floor and falling in a heap all over fans was some great shit. But Tajiri is not Ricky Morton and there was no comeback. Instead his buddies gave up in the ring, while he got his asskicked on the floor, eating a sick bodyslam and staring blankly at the rafters as blood poured from his nose as the bell rang. Great stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYH7_Yu4tmA Tajiri v. Kurt Angle - WWE RAW 10/31/05 I didn't really think much of this. Not a bad match but Angle was really uninteresting offensively. You didn't get the sense he was kicking Tajiri's ass or sense that he was toying with him so when Tajiri came back it was just "eh." I did think the finish was pretty good though. Tajiri v. El Lobo Andy Anderson - 12/15/01 I don't have a date on this, but it may have been from 2001. Anyhow someone find me a date because this was a great match and an insanely great performance from Tajiri. I don't want to sell El Lobo short. He was really awesome too selling the fuck out of his leg, eating all of Tajiri's stuff and coming back with some truly impressive and really athletic spots. But my god was Tajiri off the charts here. He is just vicious with his shots throughout the entire match. He creams Anderson with shots to his leg and hits some really nice pointed elbows for good measure. When it comes time for a hope spot he is flailing wildly for the sick delayed vertical, then bails to the floor and shoots back in to take over control before Anderson can run a string of offensive together. Later Anderson hits a huge gutbuster but uses his hurt knee. Tajiri sells the impact, runs over and dropkicks the knee to keep him on the defensive and then goes back to selling his ribs. Tajiri's mocking claps, using the ref as a shield, shoving at the ref, et is just all wonderful. Stretch run of this is really great too as Anderson gets a great near fall off of an Alabama Slam/80% across the ring diving headbutt. Tajiri has this great visual freak out as he is screaming in slightly comedic terror as Anderson hits a sit down Razor's Edge for another huge spot. Tajiri's seconds try to get involved and hold Lobo in place, but he ducks and Tajiri sprays the mist into his comrades eyes. You think he is going to turn around into a big spot for the face victory, but instead Tajiri cleans his clock with a blind side kick and follows up with the tarantula. He sprawls himself out on the top rope, leaning head first out towards the crowd literally laughing in their faces, kicking his feet like a little kid in the bath tub, and signalling that he's about to punt El Lobo's head into to the tenth row. But of course he whiffs on the head kick and Lobo hits a kick double underhook/flapjack thinking that Tajiri took really well for the fall. This is one of the best Tajiri matches I've ever seen and everyone should go watch it right this second.

No bullshit I was going to mention Big Vis and talk about how I think the backlash against him in 95 was disproportionately severe.

Eh. It's free. There are a fuck load of problems with it though.

I thought Debbie was a fake! We would have gotten to the Samoans for sure but Dave had to cut things short. It's conceivable we could do a "families part two!" down the line as there were a lot of things we didn't get to. I'm still something of a Lucha novice, but I'm learning and would like to do a show about Lucha families down the road with someone who is more of an expert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL9WRuJCDnI Tajiri/Brian Christopher v. Taka Minchinoku/Scott Taylor - WWE Shotgun Saturday Night 7/11/97 This is another one that is really short, but is still a cool find. Really this is a totally bizarre match as you have pre-Too Cool, Too Cool on opposing sides, teaming with guys that were the equivalent of random Japanese dudes to the average person in the States at the time. To top it off Jim Cornette and JR are calling this. Taylor is in all of his mulletted glory and is actually kind of a high spot machine here which might surprise some people. He also fucking creams Tajiri with a couple of rights at one point. Tajiri and Christopher have a fun Southern heel dynamic that they try and cram into such a short match and the miscommunication spots played well. Tajiri and Taka had some nice exchanges, including Taka selling the fuck out of a Tajiri spin kick and Tajiri following up with a really great looking Asai moonsault. Christopher ends up taking a wild bump off an accidental collision with Tajiri who turns into the Minchinoku Driver for the fall. Really fun match. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1d02FgAakU Tajiri v. Mr. Aguila - IWA 5/21/99 This was not a particularly good match, but I am glad I watched it because Tajiri was a really good heel in it. This sort of reminded me of a much less dramatic/over the top version of that Michaels v. Jericho ladder match that everyone other than me loved. I thought Jericho worked his ass off in that match and desperately tried to make it a great match and it just wasn't happening because Michaels was totally off his game. Even if you think I am batshit on that one, that is exactly what happened here as Tajiri was awesome with the heeling right out of the gate here, kicking Aguila in the gut on the handshake and taking things from there. But Aguila was totally off of his game. Aguila is a guy who is all spots and if he isn't hitting his spots cleanly or given the time to thin them out some over the course of a match he really has nothing else to offer. I was really impressed with how well Tajiri played the old "fake a knee injury/attack the face when he's not ready" bit. I also really enjoyed the fact that he did the bridge out spot, but resisted the back kick to the head which is really a babyface spot. His shit eating facial expressions, prickish golf clapping and loogey hocking gets me every time. He also worked a really stripped down heelish offense that was unique and felt right for what he was aiming for, did a good job cutting off Aguila int he early portion and his selling of the superplex ruled. Too bad Aguila was dogshit. Tajiri v. Super Crazy - ECW 2/7/99 This was fun as hell. There was no pretense of psychology in this and it was a basically a total spotfest, but it was laid out well and the spots all looked dynamic and exciting. We got a rolling surfboard from Crazy, a really cool vaulting dive from him, some moonsaults, et. Tajiri brought some nasty headkicks, rewind elbow, his vault hilo, et. Opening mat exchanges with the knuckle lock roll throughs and escapes looked really awesome and was a good way to set the tempo for the whole match. Tajiri won with a German which was semi-surprising but fitting. Not sure if this even went ten minutes, but it was a really well presented match. Sort of a "sampler" type bout for what these guys were capable of which is the only reason it didn't make the ECW Set (and it barely missed the cut). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENb5sysKDvo Tajiri v. Tommy Dreamer - ECW on TNN 10/1/99 (available on ECW Set) This however DID make the ECW Set and was one of the my sleeper "holy shit this ruled" matches for the entire process. Here were my thoughts on the match on initial watch: "God damnit we are getting to the point where any Tajiri match is a strong contender for the set. Tajiri slithering around the match, yelling at fans, et. is always fun, but I really loved how Dreamer kept reverting to nut based offensive attacks to the turn the tide. Seriously, Tajiri gets crotched on guardrail, takes a nasty crotch slide into the post on a missed tree of woe spot, sells his ass off from Dreamer kick to the crotch. There is a Rude v. Dustin match that works with a similar theme and I'm not sure Asian ethnic stereotypes lend themselves to crotch being main body part weakness to target but I still liked that Tommy was working over a body part. The big spots in this are also really awesome, with Dreamer flying backwards over a table off of a kick on the floor, Tajiri taking a huge bump into the crowd, Tajiri leaping on to a table in the crowd only to eat a nasty chairshot, et. Tajiri ends up blading in the crowd and is running around in the penalty box at the stadium knocking over fans. Dreamer bites the cut and punches it in the corner and then goes for a corner charge and gets his head kicked right off. Tajiri stands on Dreamer's head and spits on him and then runs from one corner to the other spitting on fans. Dreamer ducks a spin kick and hits a DVD but Corino pulls the ref out of the ring. Francine beats up Corino. Raven runs in and DDT's Dreamer and Tajir hits a running dropkick to him for the pin and celebrates by crawling around on the mat like a dog with two broken hind legs while cackling into the camera with blood pouring down his face. This is THE Dreamer v. Tajiri match to include and this is coming from someone who really liked the other two and hates the sort of run-in train finish we got here. I defy anyone to show me a better wrestler in 99 than Tajiri." I would only add that Tajiri may have actually been Dreamer's best opponent as they had two other very good matches, one of which fed right into the insane Mike Awesome drops the ECW title to Taz segment.