Childs

I enjoy watching all the PPVs and let my subscription renew for that reason. But I've barely watched it on non-PPV days the last few months. I guess it'll be helpful when I want to check out specific matches for GWE.

Yeah, for me it was late 2005 through the end of 2007. The ROH of that period is probably more responsible than anything for causing me to dive down the rabbit hole of unhinged wrestling fandom. I'd read the Torch on and off and had always held a latent curiosity about the Japanese product. But when I started reading the raves about Joe/Danielson/Styles, etc., I finally bought a few indy DVDs. And when I dug those, I decided to bite the bullet and investigate what these Kobashi and Misawa dudes were all about. That led to DVDVR and Goodhelmet and the whole nine. But I'm not sure any of that happens if ROH didn't generate serious buzz in 2005. It was just a fun product to follow in those years, with the great working stars and the aforementioned story lines. I went to a bunch of shows in '06 and '07 and saw the best live wrestling I'd caught since the heyday of Crockett running Baltimore. It's a time I have a lot of affection for, even if it's not the wrestling I'm most apt to revisit.

I fell asleep while watching Thatcher-Finlay, which probably speaks more to my two small kids and workload than to the match. I will give it another shot. But I found the far away single camera a bad fit for the match, because I couldn't really see the small bits of struggle or selling that were likely going on. I do have a question about this Thatcher-Gulak-Busick renaissance. And it really is just a question, because I haven't seen enough to judge. Are they guilty of fetishizing strong basic work a little too much? I mean, I love a well-worked hold or battle for leverage, probably more than the vast majority of wrestling fans. But are they capable of building from that to a great crescendo? I'll be interested to find out.

I will say though, the relentlessness really was Hansen's style. Not that he never slowed down. But his whole thing was eating up an opponent's space and attacking from every angle. That's what made him such a convincing brawler. Would you want to fight that?

How are you picking these matches Matt? I don't think anyone would point to them as particularly good samples of the guys involved.

I really loved their June '07 one back in the day. I recall that being their tightest match, though I probably haven't watched it in 3-4 years.

I've revisited some of the WOS matches I reviewed a few years back and my thoughts have changed considerably in a lot of cases. I mention this only because it feels like a style I learned to watch, and I'd encourage others to stick with it, even if it seems foreign for a time.

I doubt I would list Tanahashi but at the same time, think it's completely reasonable for him to pop up in some top 10s and top 20s. If you like what he does, he's been doing it at a high level for a long time now. He's earned a grudging respect from me in recent years. When it's time for him to perform on a big show, the guy works his ass off and absolutely carries himself like a star. I might not love the modern NJ main event style, but a lot of people do, and he played a big part in defining it. He's not some mindless twit reeling off moves; he's a performer who has to be reckoned with if you want to understand the state of the art in 2014.

I agree with this. He's like the Lesnar of New Japan for me, though not as awesome physically. I see him come out, and I know someone's ass is getting beat. No shot at my list, but I'm happy he's around, doing his thing.

I'm finding this discussion odd, because I honestly don't think of Austin as a "brawler." I know that was his persona, but not many of his matches were out-and-out slugfests. His punches and kicks weren't anything special. He never created that feeling of just eating up his opponent's space, like a Hansen or Finlay. As Stone Cold, he was great at applying his charisma to matches, so great that what he actually did physically didn't matter much to the crowd. He was certainly a far greater total performer than pure in-ring guy. For that reason, he'll be tough to rank--probably middle of my list.

I've rarely found Nagata interesting, but I've been watching this year's G1 lately, and I quite enjoyed his match with Nakamura. Nagata gave an appealing performance as the fired up old man, trying for a big upset. The crowd really treated it like a main event even though it was what, fourth from top?

If you like '80 Fujinami, you should also check out his stuff from the late '70s. It reinforces the idea he was one of the very best in the world at his cruiserweight apex. Parv talked earlier about how Brisco was ahead of his time. So was Fujinami.

Yeah, that's fair. He used it to good effect at times but not always. It never bothered me immensely. I know some people also feel he went to the head scissors too readily.

The Fujinami singles series in '83 was the best thing he did all decade. I'd probably put the tag series in All-Japan against Jumbo and Tenryu right behind that. He wasn't clearly better at one or the other. What impressed me about him as a tag wrestler is that he pulled off strong matches paired with almost every member of his crew, from Saito to Yatsu to Hamaguchi to Khan. And he was the constant, a guy who could generate heat from the apron and then pop in for tremendous bursts of action. Hell, he had a great tag match paired with Iizuka in '89. I loved the spot in that one where he kicked his own partner to fire him up. Choshu was weaker in matches that went too long, because he really didn't have a deep bag of shit to do. But give him 20 minutes and a big stage and he'd knock it out of the park in tags, singles and multi-mans.

Yep.

Yes.

He was always the respected veteran in Choshu's crew. If you hit the New Japan set, you'll get a much better sense of Saito.

Don't know the exact details of the prison thing, but if you want to see the match, it's in the extras on the All-Japan set.

I have to stress again thought that ROH really did get better, with fans caring about storylines, rivalries and the titles, not just MOTYCs. I'd argue it was a genuinely good promotion from mid-2004 until maybe '08. Not perfect, not devoid of annoying ticks, but good.

Now that's the match I truly regret leaving off the DVDVR set.

I watched Ken Joyce against Costas from 1980, and though I found Joyce very skilled, he seemed a little cutesy for my taste. Is that a bad read on his style? Walton obviously loved him.

Would Myers rank any higher for you if the Iron Fist gimmick had never happened? Not that you don't rank him highly as is.

I enjoyed him as Kokina in Japan. He hadn't gotten super-fat so he was more of a standard mobile big man. But he carried more presence as Yoko. If his WWF run doesn't put him in a GOAT discussion for you, I don't think the Japan stuff would push him over the top.

I nominated him, because I really like some of his '70s WOS work, when he brought a unique, aggressive style to match-ups with some really great opponents. I didn't think much of his Black Tiger work in New Japan, but I at least wanted him to be up for discussion.

No, I think that's dead wrong. He was a huge factor in some of the greatest tag team matches of the '80s, with multiple partners. The voting on the DVDVR '80s sets bears that out.