Dylan Waco

I've been thinking about him a lot over the last few weeks because on the surface he seems like he should be less of a sure thing than the other lucha candidates I have declared myself absolutely in favor of (unrelated to this post, but Pirata Morgan can definitely be added to that list). He is a guy who theoretically has a long run of great matches, but so little of it is captured on tape that there is no way we can be sure. He's never worked in front of the brightest spotlights. Many of his best matches have dropped off of YouTube in their complete, and while they are still available via Black Terry Jr., it's unlikely that many of them will ever be seen by a large number of people again. And yet this is a guy who I absolutely do feel has to be on my list, and it's largely because of a run that started when he was well into his 50's. Because the truth is that just has Chris Hamrick made me an indie wrestling fan, Terry is really the guy who made me a lucha fan. I first started getting into lucha toward the end of 06 as YouTube started to explode in popularity, but it really wasn't until 08 that I became a semi-regular viewer. This semi-regular viewing would sustain itself for a few weeks at a time, then filter out, and I'd come back to watch a handful of highly touted matches every now and again. Then toward the end of 2009 it came to my attention that IWRG was being taped by Black Terry Jr. and uploaded to YouTube in full. And while I immediately fell in love with people like Los Traumas, Freelance, Chico Che, Dr. Cerebro, Negro Navarro, and others, it was looking forward to seeing what sort of genius performance Black Terry was going to make that hooked me. I went from being a casual viewer, to a regular viewer who would watch the shows with his kid almost overnight. Below is a list of matches thrown together at WKO from Terry's 2010, which was his best year and really the high point of the IWRG run as a whole. Aside from the volume (26 matches, all of which got a lot of time), the other thing that is really notable is that there is not a singles match on this list at all. This is remarkable when you consider that Terry absolutely jumped out from the pack this year and distinguished himself as both the best wrestler in the promotion and in the world (in a tough year to claim that mantle). Even considering the much smaller number of singles matches in Mexico relative to the U.S., Japan, Canada, PR, or the UK, it's simply amazing to think that a guy had such a brilliant year without ever having a singles stand out performance. Even great trios workers like Virus are remembered and stand out for their singles matches, with most trios or tag performances barely remembered. Not with Terry. Another thing worth considering is that there is a lot of variety on this list and in Terry's run in general (going from memory I'd argue 08-12 was his "peak" run in terms of combining decent amount of footage with high end performance, but I'd want to go back and look over some lists to be sure of that). He is a brilliant matworking maestro, but he's also an excellent brawler. On the list below you have great matches v. up and comers and vets, matches that run all over the arena and see guys getting beaten with buckets of beer and cacti....and matches that are worked hold for hold. Blood feuds and calculated games of uber competitive showmanship. With Hamrick the great matches don't really exist on tape, at least not in meaningfully large number. But with Terry - the guy who is most responsible for making me a lucha fan forever - there is a list this deep for one year, and many other high end bouts that can be pointed to in the years before and after. No offense to Fuerza Guerrera or LA Park. I might end up voting for both. But I can't rate them over Terry. w/ Dr. Cerebro & Cerebro Negro vs. Pantera, Suicida, & Zatura (IWRG, 1/7) w/ Dr. Cerebro vs. Gringo Loco & El Hijo del Diablo (IWRG, 1/24) w/ Dr. Cerebro & Negro Navarro vs. Solar I, Suicida, & Zatura (IWRG, 1/28) w/ Gringo Loco, Avisman, Bombero Infernal, Dr. Cerebro, Trauma I, Trauma II & El Hijo del Pantera vs. El Hijo del Signo, Heros, Maldito Jr., Samot, Alan Extreme, Guizmo, Imperial, & Dinamic Black (IWRG, 2/4) w/ Dr. Cerebro vs. Gringo Loco & El Hijo del Diablo (IWRG, 2/7) w/ Sangre Chicana & Negro Navarro vs. Olimpico, Solar I, & Rocky Santana (AULL, 2/13) w/ Shu el Guerrero vs. Negro Navarro & El Signo (???, 2/14) w/ Dr. Cerebro & El Hijo del Signo vs. Pantera, Zatura, El Hijo del Pantera (IWRG, 2/18) w/ Dr. Cerebro & Trauma I vs. Pantera, Zatura, El Hijo del Pantera (IWRG, 2/18) w/ Negro Navarro & El Signo vs. Los Cadetes Espacios (Monterrey, 3/2) w/ Dr. Cerebro & Chico Che vs. Gringos VIP (IWRG, 3/7) w/ Dr. Cerebro & El Hijo del Signo vs. Negro Navarro, Trauma II, & Barba Roja (IWRG, 3/11) w/ Dr. Cerebro & Chico Che vs. Gringos VIP (IWRG, 3/14) w/ Negro Navarro & Villano IV vs. Blue Panther, Ultimo Dragon, & Olimpico (UWE, 4/24) w/ Cerebro Negro vs. Los Traumas (IWRG, 4/29) w/ Negro Navarro vs. Ultraman & Solar I (Arena Neza, 5/1) w/ Dr. Cerebro & Cerebro Negro vs. Gringos VIP (IWRG, 6/5) w/ Dr. Cerebro & Cerebro Negro vs. La Ola Maldita (IWRG, 6/24) w/ Solar I vs. Fuerza Guerrera & Negro Navarro (Tlahuac, 7/7) w/ Solar I vs. Rocky Santana & Negro Navarro (NWA Mexico, 7/23) w/ Negro Navarro vs. Solar I & Mano Negra (???, 9/12) w/ Dr. Cerebro & Cerebro Negro vs. La Ola Maldita (IWRG, 10/17) w/ Dr. Cerebro & Cerebro Negro vs. Angel Mortal, Espectro, & Gallego (IWRG, 11/14) w/ Shu el Guerrero vs. Dos Caras & Negro Navarro (Centro de Desarrollo Social AA, 11/20) w/ Negro Navarro vs. Solar I & El Hijo del Black Shadow (Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera, 12/18)

An interesting guy to me because he's really the forgotten founding father of Ring of Honor. I haven't watched early stuff involving him in ages, but I loved him when I first saw him because he felt distinct from the other guys who were a part of that scene, and his finisher was exciting/fresh. I am almost afraid to go back and watch that stuff now, but if someone wants to rattle off a top 10 Williams matches on YouTube or something of that ilk, he's someone I'd be willing to reexamine in the next month or two.

Yeah I'm posting in this thread again, and I'm really trying to avoid recency bias, but this guy is close to playing his way into my bottom five. Went back and watched some of the Lucha Underground stuff and he is really magnificent in the Mil Muertes role. If you can make me buy into an intergender match as a monster you are doing something great, and Puma and Fenix matches from season one hold up tremendously on rewatch. I realize there are some lazy and bleak years in here, but a guy like Roddy Piper probably has a similar resume (very high highs, great character work, low lows) and I can't imagine dismissing him out of hand.

I nominated him for someone else who was considering him but didn't want to do the reviews. That said The Naturals were really, really good. It's easy to dismiss them because "lol TNA," but I'd take them over teams like reDRagon and The Young Bucks 100 out of 100 times and I enjoy both of those teams for what they are. I have also seen a good bit of post-Naturals Stevens and really liked it, including the feud with Andy Douglas from SAW, a bunch of his stuff from the WrestleForce promotion here in SC, and other tidbits from Southern indies. I don't know that he'd make my top 300, but if I was seeing him weekly on TN indie shows I might be singing a different tune.

I'm the opposite of Case in that Kingston is one of the only reasons I started giving AAW a shot again after yeas of ignoring it because of it being littered with a bunch of other guys I either don't care about, or actively dislike. That said, Kingston is really inconsistent. I don't find bad Kingston to be really bad per se, but he can be mind blowingly boring in the wrong setting. On the other hand, at his best he is better at transmitting the character he outlines in those great promos into his matches than just about anyone else on the indies this side of Mark Briscoe. I could probably rattle off a list of Kingston matches I enjoyed that would be substantially longer than that of indie workers who would more likely come to mind when I'm thinking of good workers on that scene which is kind of interesting to me. Even against a guy like Keith Walker who I have no interest in at all, a motivated Kingston had a legitimately very good match. I can't imagine voting for him, but he's hardly an unreasonable candidate.

Needed his own thread. Kind of a strange guy in that my instinct is to dismiss him, but he's been around for along time, wrestling style(s) I like, in settings where he could probably do much less. I also tend to give him a lot of credit for being one of the few guys in contemporary wrestling who is capable and willing to have a true old school style brawl. In the last seven or eight years he's had legitimately great matches with guys like Vordell Walker and Preston Quinn, but it impresses me more to see him work against a guy like Charlie Dreamer who is obviously limited and have a legit great match that is built around his opponents strengths. One of the better punches in the business, but also one of the better flyers, including innovative spots that aren't completely illogical or horribly contrived. The biggest knocks against him are that he doesn't consistently make tape, and he works in places where the context isn't known, let alone appreciated. If I'm being fully honest with myself, I think it's exceptionally unlikely I'll vote for him, but I could see others doing so.

I understand this will sound hyperbolic, but as a guy who prides himself on being an obsessive fan and not letting talented guys slip through the cracks, the fact that Kash is just now getting a nod makes me think he has to be one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time. Before you dismiss this as just Dylan being Dylan, at least consider the scope and diversity of Kash's career. He first comes to prominence as an undercard attraction in ECW, where he is cast as an underdog spotfest worker. He sells better than almost anyone else on the roster, though he's rarely put in positions where that matters or means anything. He has the good sense to develop one exciting looking spot that he runs into the ground - a necessary staple of wrestling during that era, especially in ECW - and sort of quietly coasts along as a guy who is in consistently fun matches that don't matter much. As a result he gets over big time, and was probably poised to be a big star either near the top of ECW, or at the top of the WCW cruiserweight division, but then both companies went under. He ends up going back to the indies and TNA, where he is on the early end of the style revolution taking place, though he is almost never cited as one of the guys who was either an influence on it (as Tajiri and Super Crazy sometimes are for example), or one of it's early practitioners. This is of course demonstrably false, as with the exception of Jerry Lynn, Kash is probably the only guy who can really claim to have been both. He ends up being one of the better dance partners for both Amazing Red and AJ Styles, having some of the better matches that both guys had at that juncture of their careers. This is also a period where we start to see Kash morph into a more veteran bruiser role, as he's often cast as the more experienced guy going up against up and comers. As a result he starts to add stiff strikes, heel tactics, and a more deliberate demeanor where called for, often resulting in matches that seemed destined to go off the rails being held together. Going back and watching a lot of the TNA stuff over the last several months, Kash is one of the most consistent performers from the pre-Impact period, and was almost certainly the most versatile X-Division guy when it came to playing a variety of roles effectively. After this period he ends up working the WWE, a short lived stint, that saw him repackaged with short hair, and a much more deliberate mean streak. This period is notable for a variety of fun matches teaming with Jamie Noble in "The Pitbulls" and as a single, many of which were built almost entirely around body part psychology. Kash turns into more of a striker, targeted assassin, and guy who will murder you dead with his brainbuster which was probably on the short list of "holy fuck" finishers during this period. Leaving the WWE, he ended up back on indies, where he would occasional work "dream match" type affairs, but was largely in the role of "mean spirited veteran, pissed off at what the wrestling world and his place in it." It was during this period where you'd first start to see him popping up on Tennessee indies almost touching off riots by trolling fans, completely controlling crowds, and stiffing the shit out of people. He was as good at building a feud as anyone in wrestling, and though much of this didn't survive online, watching in real time he came across as a dangerously unhinged sociopath who you never wanted to miss in action. He went back to TNA during this period and had some fun matches v. Joe, Aries, and others, but it's really the run in places like USWO, SAW, and other places where Kash stood out as a completely believable bad ass, who could make any third rate hack, washed up has been, or talented but green kid look like a star. Even last year he had an incredibly emotional, and well built match with Chase Owens where he put his career on the line against Ricky Morton's (yes you read that right). Kash lost, and who knows if that stip will hold, but the execution of the feud and bout were excellent. One other thing I really appreciate about Kash is that he's a guy that fully invested into his respective "looks" so that the various characters he portrayed over the course of his career were especially believable. When was breaking in he was supposed to be a Ricky Morton clone and he looked like it. When ECW decided to run a bit with the "Kid" aspect of his name, and give him a Kid Rock makeover he ran with that. When he ended up in WWE as a thickened out "pitbull" he became a guy you who looked like a jacked up, little man syndrome having, bully. And when he was the cranky old vet on the Southern indie scene, the scowl and the sleeve tattoos really helped get across the vibe of him as the dickhead dad of the dickhead kid who just beat your kids ass. Watching several Kash matches tonight, one of the themes was that each match seemed to have one or two "off spots" early. Then it was almost like Kash got mad, everything he clicked, and the match quickly went to the next level. The flaws were pretty well obscured by the character portrayal, psychology, and effort. It's like he angered himself into good performances when things should have gone terribly wrong. In a way that is far more impressive to me than a guy who goes out every night and hits all his cues, and wrestles like their isn't a flaw in the world. I can't honestly say Kash will definitely be on my ballot, but there is a unique quality to him that's hard to deny.

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I loved the Sabre match live. Best use of dueling limb work I've seen in a while

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Chris Michaels From Phil Schneider Bull Pain/Todd Morton v. Jerry Lawler/Chris Michaels XCW-Midwest 8/9/08 This is a match I had big expectations going into, and it totally exceeded them. Morton and Pain are a tremendous tag team, they take huge bumps, really violent offense, great at cutting off the ring, pretty much everything you want from a Southern Heel tag team. Morton really looks like one of the top 10 wrestlers in the world, his stuff is so crisp and athletic for a guy who has to be in his mid 40s, and his bumping is crazy. Usually in a tag match like this your big indy legend will hang around the ring apron and come in for a spot or two at the end, Lawler however worked about 70% of the match, bumping around the heels early, taking a big beating (including a ring post bump which is as good as the best post bumps on the Memphis set) and delivering the big comeback. Michaels looked good in his spots, but this was a Lawler showcase and it was awesome. Finish totally ruled with your big revenge spot by the crutch wearing Tony Falk son at ringside, and a Lawler Fireball. Hit up XCW Myspace and pick this up. From Big Rob at WKO Hot Rod Biggs vs Chris Michaels - SAW 19th Jan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDf1peeMZxo (33 mins in) Borderline nomination really, but I enjoyed this a lot. Hot Rod shocked me, as he's another guy that I kind of wrote off based on look but he was so much fun here with his goofy selling, meaty elbow drops and some really choice weapon shots. Michaels seemed a little slow on his comeback, but he sold great. Biggs took a lovely dustbin shot at one point, falling throat first on to the middle rope which looked really cool. Superkick to end it looked cracking too. A really fun ten minutes, I could see people going either way on this but it's definitely worth checking out. Kid Kash v. Chris Michaels - SAW This is borderline and I can see a good case against it, as it is sloppy in parts and some people will not liked the over booked finish. I'm nominating it because I thought they did a great job getting over the importance of the match and Kash as a loose cannon character really works. He nearly gets in fist fights with virtually every female fan in the audience and is just incredibly hateable. His work on Michaels arm was not anything special, but it was effective enough. The trading submissions stuff was actually not as bad as it might sound because of how it set up. I actually liked the double re-start finish and the post-match angle with Riggins was good too. Not a great match, but something I would vouch for on a list of things people should really watch. Kid Kash From Hector at WKO Kid Kash vs. Pauly Thomaselli- SPW 1/4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SagXkrrhY5Y This isn't a great match, but man do I love me some Kid Kash. It's amazing how the guy can transition from old school junior to Southern heel at the drop of a hat. He reminds me of Casas in the way he's pretty much as athletic as ever but also has that veteran presence to go along with it. I was doubtful about Thomeslli early on, but he grew on me as the match progressed. Sadly, we were robbed of a proper finish because of whatever storyline they're running there. This is pretty lean for a nomination, but I think it's an easy match to enjoy. Kid Kash vs. Chase Owens- NWA Smokey Mountain 12/19 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X3LgLQpe6A This is a career vs. career match between Kid Kash and Ricky Morton with Chase Owens filling in as Morton's surrogate. It's kind of a silly premise considering Morton is pretty much done anyways, but man did it make for an awesome match. Kash has developed into a fantastic ring general in his later years which was in full display in this match. He was constantly on Owens with chops, corner stomps, headbutts, pretty much all go-to staples for a good Southern heel. It reminded me of a more mature, professional version of a Super Dragon beat down. There was a great moment towards the end where Owens and Kash are trading punches, and Kash sneaks in a dirty jab and follows up with a nasty left-right combo in the corner. It's a shame we never got Kash vs. Low Ki outside of a crappy X-Division setting. Owens kept it simple with some solid punches and basic babyface comebacks, which is exactly what he needed to do. The post match was great with Morton cutting a phenomenal promo bringing it all home for us. I've seen a lot of mediocre junior matches this year get touted as Southern wrestling, but this felt like the Southern wrestling we know and love. Everyone should check this out. Chase Stevens Team Impact (Gunner, D.O.C., Crimson, Chase Stevens) v. Team Wrestleforce (Brady Pierce, John Skyler, Cedric Alexander, Juggernaut Jon Malus) - WarGames Wrestleforce 5/16/13 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrF5SQwLGno It's a shame the finish of this was so idiotic, because up until that point this was a fucking awesome wargames match. Started off hot with Gunner and Skyler brawling all over the place and beating the piss out of each other all around the ring and really went from there. Tons of fun stuff in this. The Cage isn't used a lot but every time guys are brawling on the ropes and someone hits the ropes the whole cage shakes and it adds an extra degree of danger. Gunner takes a crazy back body drop and almost breaks his neck. Skyler does a cage dive and it's actually well set up and doesn't come off as stupid. Every think Gallows does in this looks vicious, really makes you realize how much he is being wasted in TNA. And man Juggernaut Malus looks fucking awesome in this as his teams big guy, trying to defend the runts he's with by standing toe-to-toe with the giants....and then he turns on them at the finish and it's fucking stupid. But there is WAY too much good shit in this up to that point not to nominate it. Jon Malus v. Chase Stevens - Street Fight Wrestleforce 4/20/13 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyraNqO9wN4 Pretty borderline and could see some strong arguments against it, but this was a pretty violent match and it hit a lot of the right notes for me. I really enjoyed Malus in the aforementioned cage match and he was fine here, but I thought Stevens was a ton of fun in this. Pretty solid punching and brawling tactics, but what makes this to me is this damage the guy is willing to take. This is a random outdoor show in a Columbia, SC suburb and the guy takes two brutal unprotected chairshots, almost accordians himself on a spear and takes one of the crazier bumps into a standing chair I've ever seen. Good match Stevens also has several matches/segments reviewed in the Best Things Ever Said on Wrestling Message Board thread via tomk's old TNA Workrate reports

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This is a placeholder post to remind me I need to make threads for a couple of TN indie guys if possible.

Nominating Damien Wayne Three matches: Damien Wayne v. Chris Escobar 6/2/12 VCW This was really fucking awesome. Wayne is just a great wrestler as he is just as good brawling as he is working lengthy title matches as he is working quasi-spotfests like this. Lots of nasty look punches, some crazy bumps, and some innovative spots that didn't look goofy. That triple wheelbarrow should have been a disaster but Wayne and Escobar really made it work. I also gotta give these guys credit for taking wild as fuck bumps on the floor, on the their ass, trashbagging into the guardrail, et. Just a total blast of a match that I will remember fondly months from now. From Phil Schneider Preston Quinn v. Damien Wayne VCW 3/7/15 https://youtu.be/Y8JLXMVDLDk?t=12m16s These are the two best wrestlers in the Mid-Alantic indies really for over a decade. They haven't had a ton of singles matches against each other which have made tape, so it is really cool we get a big main event title match between each other. Quinn has breathtakingly great punches, and he unloads in a bunch of different ways on Wayne, who fires back with shots of his own. Parts of this match felt like Lawler v. Mantell. They build to some very cool stuff at the end, including Quinn catching a Savage elbow into a cross armbreaker, and hitting a huge second rope brainbuster. There was some ref awkwardness after that, and while I liked the cleverness of the finish, I though they lost a bit of momentum. Still a great match, and I really hope footage of both guys is available more this year. Damien Wayne v. Charlie Dreamer OSF 8/20/11 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRWob_BAMQQ I thought this was a great match that had none of the pitfalls of the average "good" indy matches. It wasn't too long. There weren't too many near falls. It wasn't your turn, my turn. No indefensibly stupid spots. Just a damn good fight, that actually managed to have a big match feel despite the half empty venue. Dreamer was good, but this was Wayne's match. Really liked his mannerisms and facials in this. Most indy guys aren't convincing when they stare into a camera to talk shit and staring down fans is a lost art but Wayne knows that's a part of working and does it well. Really loved the theme of Wayne "outsmarting" a Dreamer counter only to get caught with another counter. The guillotine leg drop set up, was one of the only times I've ever seen that done well and the piledriver near fall was great. Really well executed flash pin finish too. This might be my U.S. indy match of the year.

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Exposure and name recognition in what sense? Internet fans? I'm not even trying to be a dick, nor am I trying to be dismissive. I'm all for inclusion. I'd be in favor of every person named above being nominated. But I won't be the one to do it. I'm also militantly opposed to the idea of adjusting standards down for the failures of the wrestling business as a whole. That said, I do believe in "indie draws" and I think that they are important because I've witnessed it first hand. As for CZW v. Wildside/Anarchy, I think they are fairly comparable. In some ways CZW is "bigger" or more significant (bigger internet buzz, more "name" guys have probably come through there at least in the last 10 years, iPPV presence) in other ways Wildside/Anarchy is (fifteen years with weekly tv, Southern hub that probably directly led to more guys working weekly shows that drew decent or better houses, et).

Like everyone else he was targeted for political assassination and killed off by HHH at the exact moment when his popularity became a threat to the Game's never ending conquest for complete control and absolute supremacy over the contemporary wrestling landscape. That said, there is a lot to criticize about Punk. He could be dreadfully boring and lazy when he was upset about his on screen direction. Despite getting a very long title reign, he came out of that run looking weaker than he did when he went into it. He is one of the most egregious visible spot callers in wrestling history, and he was less than precise (I'm being generous) in the ring. However in many respects Punk was a wrestling genius, and he certainly got it better than most of the allegedly "big time stars" who have emerged post Monday Night War era. This is especially evident when you look at what Punk was able to do with secondary feuds and angles, that weren't necessarily designed to be big drawing cards. Things likes the Straight Edge Society feud with Rey, or the slow heel turn, feud, and eventual loser leaves town angle with Jeff Hardy, are among the best and most interesting things WWE has done in the last decade. On this point I'd argue that Punk was basically his generations Jake Roberts in the sense that he could make secondary feuds feel like the most important things on a show, because he was the best the company had at getting over an angle. I don't entirely understand the question, because hype is relative, but Punk is a guy who was always more over than his push so it seems absurd to argue that he didn't live up to some weird standard put on him by delusional fanboys