Childs
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Good but not great is the last thing I'd say about Liger. His selling in the 8/10/89 Sano match was as good as any I've seen. His desperate, ripped-mask rally in their 1/31/90 blowoff packed incredible drama. His offensive salvo in the 4/30/92 match with Samurai was something to behold. He wrestled like a much bigger guy when he took on Hashimoto 2/24/94. His ace performance against Ohtani on 2/9/97 made for another of the greatest junior matches of all time. His dickish behavior set the tone for those incredibly heated NOAH vs. NJ matches from 2002. So I can see being bored with his more by-the-numbers performances, of which there were many. But the highs were incredibly high.
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I watched some Billy on the treadmill this morning and goddamn he was good. Talk about a guy who could show up today and fit in just fine athletically ... that's Billy. The 7/24/76 match with Baba is one of those masterpieces that just never gets old. The key in the build was they treated every move, even a Baba body scissors, as if it mattered. Because of that, something like Baba blocking Billy's early suplex attempt could actually feel like a moment. But by the third fall, they were just bringing the offense. Billy hit a flying forearm off the apron, a wild cross body off the ropes, a beautiful standing dropkick after he blocked a Baba boot. And the timing on the finishing spot was incredible. Definite MOTDC and something people should watch in considering the case for each guy. Then I watched Billy against Abby from 12/9/76, and Billy looked just as good brawling as he had working holds--tough and relentless in everything he did. The match ended the way most Abby matches did, so it wasn't as complete as the Baba classic. But it gave a sense of Billy's range. Then he was back to working terrific battles over a Boston Crab and a headlock in his first match with Jumbo from '77. Basically, I just love Billy Robinson, and I will have trouble ranking him below some great wrestlers who put a lot more brilliant performances on tape.
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I'm actually interested in what picture we think we have of him as a 1970s worker. Obviously, we have some reel-to-reel footage and he was pretty fully formed by about 1981. But I'm not sure I have a very clear mental image of say, 1977 Flair. Does anyone?
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Destroyer is one of those guys I've never liked as much as I feel I'm supposed to. He'll be getting a revisit for sure.
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Yeah, I love that they use him as a special attraction. And his performances back that up. We've talked about how WWE grinds the appeal out of potential stars by cycling them through the same matches again and again. So I'm sure not going to punish Brock for what he's doing now. He's hurt more by not having a lot of years period.
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I think it makes sense to compare Flair’s post-50 output to other 50+ year old wrestlers, IF the rest of those wrestlers’ careers compare favorably to the rest of Flair's career. Wrestlers like Terry Funk and Lawler were clearly better at an older age than Flair. If I had Funk & Flair neck-and-neck over their careers to that point, Funk’s work at an old age would give him the edge. If I think Flair was a better worker as Funk for the bulk of their career, the fact that Funk was better than Flair at an age where most guys are retired and the majority that aren’t are not very good, doesn’t hold much weight in my evaluation. Flair’s WWE career as a guy in his mid-50’s shouldn’t be dismissed, but it has to be viewed in the proper context. If someone is deciding between Flair and Funk/Lawler at #5 on their list, then absolutely their 50+ work comes into play. If someone just generally drops Flair down a few pegs because he wasn’t a good 55 year old wrestler, I don’t agree with that. Well said, almost exactly how I feel about this issue.
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No way to put a good spin on that finish, but I'd be happy to see those guys wrestle again. Match-up is gold.
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At least Jericho-Orton wasn't long.
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That was disappointing.
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Tag match passed the time well enough but was pretty forgettable.
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Time killer promo for a time killer match.
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I'd love to see some '90s recs on Cota.
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I'd watch 1/30/74 against Brisco (Jumbo was basically a rookie), one of the '77 matches against Billy Robinson, 5/22/84 against Kerry and 1/28/86 w. Tenryu against Yatsu/Choshu. Those will give you a sense of him at various points outside the Tenryu and Misawa and Co. feuds. There's obviously a ton more if you like those.
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OJ, you should provide a quick match list for Grey, so people know where to start. I'll happily co-sign all of the above. He'll likely be my top pure WoS guy.
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The No. 1 native was the ace in that promotion. Hansen was No. 1 foreigner and on the same tier as Jumbo. But no way he was "The Man." And I think Hansen was the greatest wrestler of all time.
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Really? He's ahead of him in selling a terrible beating? If you prize great offense above all else in wrestling, I could see having Eaton well above Morton overall. But saying he's ahead in every area seems like pure hyperbole.
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Also a very good match vs. Kobashi in '05.
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Had a brilliant match with Naoki Sano in 1991, interesting match with broken-down Mutoh in 2007.
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I thought it was funny that Lawler basically said in the promo it was a knockoff of Austin vs. Vince. Needless to say, Hales was no Vince.
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I don't know if the match was any good overall, but the finishing stretch was surprisingly effective. Sting worked with a lot of energy, and Giant did fine with his force-of-nature kickouts. The crowd popped bigtime when Sting hit the third scorpion deathdrop off the top, like his victory actually meant something. That felt like a huge fucking achievement after the preceding mess of Piper-Savage vs. Hogan-Hart.
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Piper seemed incredibly out of place in all of this, and boy did the crowd not give a fuck about most of it. I give Savage for at least trying to put over his storyline. -
Booker looked great in his early run of offense before Finlay took over and set a really grinding pace as he worked over Booker's knee. Crowd didn't care quite as much about this as the Benoit match, but it served as an excellent chapter two to Booker's story for the night. The finish seemed a little off, like Booker mishandled his counter to the tombstone and then Finlay went down too easily to one big move. But that didn't matter much in the big picture.