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Everything posted by smkelly
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Haven't thought about this for a few years, but this would be my tentative top ten: * Bryan Danielson * CM Punk * Toshiaki Kawada * Stan Hansen * Mitsuharu Misawa * Kenta Kobashi * Jushin Liger * Ric Flair * Jumbo Tsuruta * Bret Hart
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First match I remember seeing was Hogan vs. Warrior at WrestleMania 6. I recall seeing some WCW around the same time and was an instant fan of Sting - I even had a few of the WCW action figures, which IIRC, included Sting and Brian Pillman. I recall seeing some ECW, don't know the year, but I was young enough for my mother to censor my viewing it after she saw bloody faces. My memory becomes clearer during the Attitude Era, particularly of Stone Cold. I was grounded from watching wrestling after me and a few friends at school had a Royal Rumble match and I gave one of them a Stone Cold stunner...and subsequently got suspended for it. I followed Goldberg all throughout 1998, and this is when I became aware of Chris Benoit if memory serves right. During this time I had the N64 and the IMO, very best wrestling games ever made: WCW/nWo Revenge, WWF No Mercy, WWF WrestleMania 2000 and WCW vs. nWo: World Tour. I became involved in the tape trading scene in 2000 or 2001, which is when I was exposed to puro, joshi and lucha. I took an instant liking to puro, especially All Japan and the New Japan juniors. I continued watching wrestling after graduating high school and joining the Marines. When I was in the fleet I ordered some DVDs from Will, the 2005 MOTYC set IIRC. After getting out of the Marines, I continued watching regularly until June 2007, when the Benoit murders happened. After that, I sporadically watched, mainly All Japan from the '90s. My interest waned considerably thereafter following a family tragedy. I downloaded a few matches here and there that had received praise, but otherwise didn't watch much of anything wrestling related on any sort of regular basis. It wasn't until recently that I started watching wrestling again, mostly documentaries or compilations I could find on Youtube.
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Bryan Danielson's "pre-peak" ranks in my mind.
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Are psychology, "logic" and storytelling within a match overrated?
smkelly replied to JerryvonKramer's topic in Pro Wrestling
There are some real wrestling fans in this thread. -
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The powerbomb and chokeslam come to mind for big guys.
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[1993-08-31-AJPW-Summer Action Series II] Steve Williams vs Kenta Kobashi
smkelly replied to Loss's topic in August 1993
Meltz: "In my opinion this was even better than Hansen/Kobashi and was an all time classic match. This was the best performance I've ever seen of Williams. A major match of the year candidate." I don't agree with his sentiment, but Kobashi's bump taking here was extraordinary, one of his finest performances for sure.- 15 replies
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- AJPW
- Summer Action Series II
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Just watched this tonight on a Schneider Comp with my dad and fiancee. I've seen this match several times over the years; first time was in '02 IIRC, so it isn't new to me, but it was brand new to them. They dug it for about all the same reasons all us hardcore or smart fans do. The early rudoing of Samurai, the brawling on the floor, the revenge spots, the comeback of Liger, the comeback of Samurai, and then the comeback and finishing run of Liger's. My fiancee actually clapped when Liger pinned Samurai.
- 43 replies
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- NJPW
- Top of the Super Juniors
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Watched this with my dad (of all people) tonight. I've seen it several times, and the only reason why I'm commenting is because of his reactions. He took a liking to Kudo right away, and likened Toyoda to my sister (which is an accurate description). He noted the difference in how they were hitting each other, "A lot different than them women on the WWE." "Holy shit," was his response to the first explosion. "Holy shit," was his response to several of the head-drop suplexes and the follow-up explosions, especially the, "Had to be planned one." Overall, he thought the match was exciting, but was downright cruel on par with some of the MMA female cage fights he's seen recently online.
- 16 replies
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John Cena 1. Umaga 2. Edge 3. Batista 4. Punk 5. Jericho William Regal 1. Finlay 2. Benoit Bret Hart 1. Owen 2. Davey Boy 3. Benoit 4. Hennig 5. Piper
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Those are considered pythons?
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[1995-04-16-NJPW-Battle Rush] Shinya Hashimoto vs Steven Regal
smkelly replied to Loss's topic in April 1995
Agreed, had Hashimoto delivered the Scott Norton 'chest collapse' strategy here, oh man.- 15 replies
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[1995-04-06-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada
smkelly replied to Loss's topic in April 1995
It's one of the better matches they had together. This was gut-check city for Misawa. The weird thing is that the kick didn't look any worse than a normal hate-filled Kawada kick. Weirder yet, Misawa is so epically stoic about it. 6/4/94 is def. their best. 5/98, 10/92, and 7/95 are all excellent as well. Matches they had in the Carny, like 3/93 and 3/98 and 3/00, I'm drawing a blank. IIRC their first Carny match in '97 was a great performance. Pretty much, they're all awesome matches, and it would be splitting hairs to rank them.- 11 replies
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- AJPW
- Championship Carnival
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[1995-04-08-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue
smkelly replied to Loss's topic in April 1995
Oh, definitely. 1995 was an excellent year for All Japan. I'm thinking several five-star matches will be from All Japan on your list, though, I have been surprised by a few of them already, so maybe not- 15 replies
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- AJPW
- Championship Carnival
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[1995-04-08-ECW-Three Way Dance] Raven vs Tommy Dreamer
smkelly replied to Loss's topic in April 1995
Classic Paul Heyman booking and Dreamer getting his ass kicked by everyone. The continuation of this angle was cool, Jerry Springer 'before' Jerry Springer stuff. -
[1995-04-13-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi
smkelly replied to Loss's topic in April 1995
Oh, it definitely is a great match, but I'm thinking Loss would need to see their match in '98 to make that judgment. The two one-hour draws were fantastic matches, but this match and the '98 one are at a clearly different level.- 15 replies
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- AJPW
- Championship Carnival
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[1995-04-12-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue
smkelly replied to Loss's topic in April 1995
The next two matches of their's will probably be a welcomed view, Loss. Two of Taue's best singles performances.- 8 replies
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- AJPW
- Championship Carnival
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[1995-04-15-ECW-Hostile City Showdown] Eddy Guerrero vs Dean Malenko
smkelly replied to Loss's topic in April 1995
The first one- 17 replies
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Rumored returns, arrivals, matches, etc..
smkelly replied to jpchicago23's topic in Megathread archive
I recall hearing that Heyman tried to get the Undertaker. -
This link has several: http://www.puroresucentral.com/videoepics.html The site, lead by Kevin Wilson, has several bios that have videos of captured moves. And I agree, a digital host for moves would be a cool resource.
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[1995-03-21-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Toshiaki Kawada vs Jun Akiyama
smkelly replied to Loss's topic in March 1995
Thanks for the good read John, always a pleasure.- 12 replies
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- AJPW
- Championship Carnival
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[1995-03-21-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Toshiaki Kawada vs Jun Akiyama
smkelly replied to Loss's topic in March 1995
Yeah, Akiyama's craft through the years rapidly improved. I wish I knew more about Akiyama's background prior to his debut, but he seemed something like a coveted young boy. And like Ohtani, Jun was talented enough to work at an advanced level relatively early in his career, but was always in the shadow of his mentors. Maybe John can elaborate more on why Jun didn't get his first TC challenge until September '97, as he seemed structurally sound enough to get a TC challenge in '95, '96 at the latest. I think when you see Akiyama in his first TC challenge, and especially his second, and after seeing his evolution over the years, I think you might feel the same way I do and others do: Akiyama was good enough to be the Ace. I've always thought Akiyama got slept on too much.- 12 replies
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- AJPW
- Championship Carnival
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