Dylan Waco

How often was Murdoch really a top gaijin? How much credit should someone really get for being top guy of Mid-South in the period immediately proceeding the arrival of JYD? I've seen some people say that Patera v. Watts feud heated up business in 76 which had been down up to that point. I believe Murdoch was the top guy with Watts at that point. I want someone to do with Murdoch what I did with Patera.

Still need to listen to the show. I hope it is filled with specifics and not generalities. Parvs outline above is interesting, but ideally I want to see a comparison between these two done

Buddy Rose is a 70s guy

Bock has over a hundred matches on tape.

Europe -- Steve Veidor vs. Gwyn Davies (5/26/76) I probably need to revisit this when I don't have ten thousand things going on in the house. Even still I thought this was a great match. A truly great multi-fall or multi-round match needs to escalate in a logical, but progressive way, from fall/round to fall/round. This match absolutely fit that. I imagine that the first portion of this would be slow going for some, and you could argue that the over reliance on the cartwheel escape was a bit much, but aside from that this was very sharp stuff. Davies is a great heel both in mannerism, delivery of the cheapshot and look and Veidor was great as the babyface trying to do the right thing and eventually snapping, only to pay in about the most brutal way possible given the context of the promotion. This match also includes the single best "milk the bodyslam" spot I've ever seen as they go from teasing a splash, to teasing a slam, to teasing a slam, to tease a press and then finally a slam in the most organic way ever. It sounds tedious and stupid when I type it out like that but everyone should watch it to see what I'm talking about.

Little nudge here. I kind of feel like at least Aries and Steen need threads, but I don't want to be the guy to nominate either guy (especially Steen to be honest). Still someone should take that task upon themselves

I have no desire to watch any post-comeback Michaels ever again, but even I have always acknowledged that he was usually good for one or two really good performances/matches every year. The problem was that week-to-week he was a boring, cliched, weak and under performing worker in my eyes. At one point years ago I pointed this out after a couple of weeks of particular bad efforts and was told that I was stupid because Michaels gimmick was that he was "supposed to suck." I don't even know what to do with that. I also tend to like his best post-comeback efforts far less than most, even when I like the matches. And then there are a handful of those matches that people love which I think are terrible. For example I think the Jericho v. Michaels Ladder Match is complete garbage, and I think Michaels performance in that match is holy shit level awful. IIRC that match won Observer Match of The Year which will always mystify me because I watched it in a room full of Michaels fanatics who spent the entire match shitting on Shawn's performance and talking about how he should retire. Still probably the biggest gap I can remember having from my live viewing experience and the world of online fandom.

I am the original Masters pimp, but I just can't do it. He is a guy who SHOULD be a top 100 guy, but the WWE stupidly released one of the best workers on their roster, and he hasn't made tape on the indie scene nearly enough to add to his resume in the way he would need to to be at this level. As it stands he sort of feels like his generations Doug Somers, which is a compliment in some ways and really sad in others

Christian gets huge points for me for three things: 1. He was really, really consistent. It's an odd comparison for several reasons, but I actually liken him to Arn Anderson in the sense that you could argue he never really had a bad period in his career, and even though he wasn't pushed at the tip, top level, he did get chances to show what he could do in meaningful matches and settings. 2. He is a rare guy who's TNA case helps him. It's not so much that he was great in TNA, but he worked hard there, and did produce solid matches in a setting where very few guys excelled, and almost everyone - even good workers - dramatically declined or produced at a weaker level than they did before hand (at least eventually). 3. You could make a serious case for him as the best in the world in 2009, which was also a year where he was working as sort of bizarro-ace role, and having good-to-great long matches on a weekly basis against a who's who of random guys. Some might say that it didn't mean as much to be the best in the world that year, and honestly Christian would probably not be my top pick for that year, but it's hard to argue strongly against him and that's a year when IWRG was great, and Rey was incredible. He also wins points for me because his body part selling is really good, and even though his offense is sort of odd and can be really telegraphed at times, I think he generally does a good job mixing in signature spots, which he has a large variety of. Oddly enough what hurts him is the same thing that hurts a guy like Regal in the eyes of many - he's seen as a guy who either A. doesn't have any "true" great matches (I think this is bullshit but...) or B. because of the level of the push and his stardom he seems like a strange guy to vote for because he never had the marquee matches a lot of people favor for polls like this. Even in my case I admit that I hadn't thought a ton about him for this, but when I really think about the scope of his career, and how high I think his peak was, I really feel like if he had the exact same career in the 80's or 90's I would see him as a no brainer. I definitely need to think about him more

Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr vs. The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher (9/19/78) I've seen this a million times and love this feud. I am a fan of the hide the object stuff. I am a fan of blood loss. I am a fan of Sheik and Abby antics. But I am especially a fan of babyface Terry Funk in All Japan. I'm not positive it's my all time favorite babyface run, but it's pretty close to it if nothing else. I will never tire of the way he sold beatings there and the boxing jab comeback that leads to the big hook gets me every time. I don't want to see Dory short here because he worked stiff and added to the match, but I really don't see how he was the star of things here. Not at the level of the best match of this series, but still a hell of a lot of fun.

I will do a "top workers/matches of PR" addendum to anything written by Boricua

Daniels match from that first impact is incredibly great. I remember him having a shockingly good match with Sonjay Dutt. If you extend things the Sting match was good until the finish and the Aries match from 2012 is great

To be fair best Nash match was gimmicked, and the Sid matches aren't as good as some would have you believe. Still 92-97 singles run Michaeks is a good worker in my view

Here is the ballot I sent Dave. Looking at it seconds before I hit send I almost dropped Shibuya in favor of Villano III, but I just couldn't do it. Still hate leaving him off my ballot. I FOLLOWED THE HISTORICAL PERFORMERS ERA CANDIDATES Kinji Shibuya Enrique Torres I FOLLOWED THE MODERN PERFORMERS IN U.S/CANADA CANDIDATES Junkyard Dog Ivan Koloff Ken Patera Rock & Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN JAPAN CANDIDATES Gran Hamada I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN MEXICO CANDIDATES Cien Caras El Signo & El Texano & Negro Navarro I FOLLOWED WRESTLING IN AUSTRALIA/PACIFIC ISLANDS/CARIBBEAN/AFRICA CANDIDATES Carlos Colon NON-WRESTLERS Jimmy Hart Jerry Jarrett Gene Okerluind Don Owen Stanley Weston

Sending in my ballot as we speak. I'm curious if anyone else here recommended any future nominees to Dave this year? I'm requesting Baron Leone, El Dandy, Don Jardine and Fujiwara. There are others I would suggest but I don't want to be greedy. I mentioned Hugo and Chicky too, but made the point that I feel weird officially suggesting them before Colon gets in.

Bull Nakano vs. Devil Masami (04-18-1993) How do I say this....this wasn't very good. In fact if not for an impressive stretch run (from a spot perspective more than anything, though the set up for the finish I thought was great), I would say this a really bad match. It got something like 36 minutes and I'd say the first two thirds of that at minimum were complete filler. Yeah they did some fun spots in there but none of it meant anything as momentum swings came and went at random, and no one sold any of the big moves like that had any meaning at all. I got excited when Bull started working the leg but that went nowhere too. Things at least started to develop a more natural pace when they went to the crowd brawling, but even still I thought they jammed a bunch of shit into the back end in the way of kick outs, and big spots, that really had little effect because the selling was wonky and the first half of the match was so weak. I get that there may have been a storyline reason for the way this was laid out, but in isolation this was alarmingly bad for a match involving two allegedly brilliant wrestlers. I really, really hope this is an aberration and my Joshi rewatch isn't going to be filled with needlessly long disappointments like this

I agree that the Henry to Andre comp on the grounds of "length of run" isn't really fair, but one could also argue that it wasn't fair that Henry spent most of his career in a promotion that didn't treat him like a star and/or someone who could have an epic, big time match. It is notable to me that the three times Henry got a top dog or near top dog push he had very good years (06, 08, 11), with matches that really aren't that far below "classic" level and might even reach that level depending on how one defines that term.

To be clear, I basically agree with Childs, though I would argue that Henry has come really close to that level a few times. I seriously doubt Henry makes my top 100 for the record, but it's a cut that will pain me. I'll have Blackwell above every big man other than Vader

His best individual matches aren't at that level, BUT (and I love Andre), can we point to a six month Andre period as good as Henry's second half of 2011? I know footage is partially the issue here, but I can't think of one.

Joe, PM me a list of guys you want nominated. If I have reviews I will post them

Blown away by the lack of ove for Colon v. Hanson. I'd rather watch that then 99% of 90s AJPW

If anyone here has any questions, things they want me and Musgrave to cover on our show speak now. Show is going live in about twenty minutes

Playing devils advocate, how long was his peak and how long was he actually a great worker? Not an insignificant length to be sure, but if his peak isn't 92-96, is he as highly regarded? Also does he get points others wouldn't because he's the best big man?

I actually think Hansen was more versatile than Jumbo in some respects. I may come back to that point later.

It will never be all encompassing. You have missed hundreds of quality matches in real time over the last few years while focusing on the 90s. Time doesn't stop.