NintendoLogic

Being cool at the time is literally the entire point of professional wrestling.

in presumably unrelated news, Cena is being sued by Ford for selling a custom car they gave him. He said he did it to pay bills, which is kind of concerning when you consider all the money he makes from WWE, Hollywood, and endorsement deals. Has he been taking financial advice from Ric Flair?

Instead of "this is awesome," we can chant "great match theory."

Featuring Bryan in an on-screen role unfroze his contract. Regardless, it doesn't expire until 2018.

Why not? Historical memory is fickle and largely outside the control of the wrestlers.

I had considered this as well, and it makes me curious as to how one is deemed qualified to vote in a particular region. Is it purely on the honor system? But someone who watches 2017 AJ Styles matches for the first time in 2037 is going to have a completely different perspective than someone who watched them in 2017. And I don't dispute the value of rewatching and reevaluating old footage as a fan, but I do think it's kind of silly to say that someone can't be considered a great worker unless their matches hold up 20 years after they've retired. As for Tamura, it's not like he was a complete nobody. He was voted Best Technical Wrestler by Observer readers in 1998.

Maybe they wanted to avoid confusion with Fit Finlay's Riot Squad.

Dave addressed this in the HOF issue. He said that workrate candidates have to go in early because their legacies tend to be forgotten as years go by (he specifically mentioned Kiyoshi Tamura and Red Bastien as victims of this tendency). On the other hand, guys who won lots of titles tend to do better as the years pass. This seems like an inherent issue without a structural fix. Anyway, looking at the lucha candidates, Los Misioneros, Ultimo Guerrero, Villano III, Cien Caras, LA Park, Karloff Lagarde, Dr. Wagner Jr., and Blue Panther all received between 40 and 60 percent of the vote. There seems to be a serious collective action problem with Mexico voters. They need to coalesce around a couple of candidates to break the logjam.

I would think that bringing in ICP would repel at least as many fans as it attracts.

Someone on the F4W board mentioned a show in Atlanta with LA Park that drew 6500. Can anyone vouch for this?

I just watched this for the first time, and my initial inclination is to declare this the greatest shoot-style match I've ever seen. I can't think of another match that successfully integrates the technique and realism of shoot-style and the drama and theatricality of pro-style at this level. With most matches in this style, one or the other is sacrificed. Not this time.

Here's a quote from Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels.

AJ and Tanahashi have both said that their match in the 2015 G1 was their best match ever (that is, best match period, not best match with each other).

It's been a while since we've had a good comparison thread, and it recently occurred to me that these two guys track each other pretty closely in terms of in-ring style, career length, and popular/critical acclaim. A year ago, I would've picked Shawn without a second thought, but now I'm inclined to give AJ the nod. His 2014 to whenever it ends is shaping up to be one of the all-time great runs by a US worker. It certainly smokes any comparable stretch of Shawn's career. Part of that is having better opponents, but he's also been able to produce quality matches with guys I normally have little use for like Kevin Owens and Finn Balor. I still think that Shawn's very best matches are better than AJ's best, but the gap isn't large enough to overcome the sheer volume of high-end Styles output. Thoughts?

Really good show overall. I feel like the trend with WWE PPVs is that the ones that look really promising on paper tend to disappoint while the ones that seem underwhelming overdeliver. I'm glad to see them buck the trend.

Did Saxton seriously say that Raw was the longest-running television show in history?

Best Lesnar match since WM31. Big match AJ does it again.

Some pretty hardcore gynecomastia on Brock.

That was actually a pretty decent poor man's Takayama/Ogawa.

Ashura isn't a Japanese given name. It's a warrior demon in Buddhist cosmology. As for actual names, Masa Saito's name was announced in the Western order, at least from the 80s on. Anyway, really enjoying the writeups. Keep them coming.

Rick Rude of the Year

I actually thought the Sasaki and Tenryu matches were pretty awful the last time I watched them. "I'll stand here and let you hit me and then you stand there and let me hit you" wrestling will never appeal to me on any level. I do really like the tag match at the first post-split Budokan show, though. Overall, I'd give the nod to Akiyama in 2000 on the strength of the Misawa and Vader matches. Kobashi is up there as well, but his best match that year was against Akiyama.

They'd probably make more than a few of the wrestlers.

I don't think Vince would've signed two of New Japan's four biggest stars if he didn't know or care about them.