NintendoLogic

Davey's conduct is obviously completely indefensible, but did the promotion really have no other options? They couldn't declare the match a no contest or have someone run in from the back? Anyway, I've said it before and I'll say it again: the only acceptable ending to this saga is Davey going into MMA and getting Yuji Nagata'd.

That's the thing, though. Linda shouldn't be leading among working-class voters at all. In 2010, she only won 39% of the votes of those with a family income of less than $50,000 and 43% of the votes of those with a high school education or less. It's not a general anti-Democrat sentiment, since polls show Obama with a comfortable lead. There has to be something else at play. I don't have a problem with people viewing wrestling as lowbrow or trashy. It's the notion that involvement in wrestling is so disreputable as to be a disqualifying offense for someone seeking high office. There are plenty of legitimate criticisms to be made of the impact the McMahons have had on the wrestling industry, but most of the actual criticisms tend to be of the moral panic variety. There's been far more discussion of the propriety of Vince making Trish bark like a dog than of the propriety of the death clause. Sturgeon's Law, dude. 90% of everything is crap. It's not specific to wrestling.

It seems that this race has caused the monocle to pop out of the eye of someone at The New Republic: http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/108687/why-d...ons-senate-race Stuff like this just smacks of cultural elitism (note the reader comment about "coarsening of popular culture"). Wrestling fandom has become almost exclusively the province of the poor and uneducated, and I'm inclined to believe that Democrats harping on the issue has caused a backlash among working-class voters.

Apparently, it was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Just like his dad.

It should be noted that Tenryu being better than Jumbo is hardly a consensus view. You just happen to have come across the corners of the Internet where a lot of Tenryu advocates reside. And for the record, I don't dislike Magnum/Tully at all. I'd have it just outside my top 50.

I already did something like that. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?showtopic=14217 Anyway, here's my list broken down by promotion: 19-AJPW 12-WCW 8-WWE 3-Memphis, NJPW 1-AJW, AWA, CMLL, Mid-South, WCCW And by wrestler: 12-Mitsuharu Misawa 9-Toshiaki Kawada 7-Kenta Kobashi, Jumbo Tsuruta 6-Akira Taue 4-Steve Austin, Stan Hansen, Dustin Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, Genichiro Tenryu 3-Eddy Guerrero, Bret Hart, Jerry Lawler, Vader, Barry Windham What does this say about my tastes? Well, I value strong storytelling above all else. I tend to enjoy high-end brawls and well-done big man-little man matchups. I really like targeted body part work that plays an important role in how a match unfolds and isn't just done to kill time. The Hart/Austin submission match isn't my favorite match, but it is the most influential on the development of my tastes. It's the match I've watched more than any other, and it's the one that led me to the view that brawling combined with submission wrestling is basically the ideal style of wrestling.

For a while, I've been entertaining the idea of compiling a list of desert island matches that would be broad enough to serve as a crash course for those just getting into pro graps. After some thought, I've managed to put together a list of 50 matches that pretty well encapsulate what I like most about wrestling. And with the discussion on the most recent Wrestling Culture podcast about favorite matches that you could watch over and over again, I felt the time was right for a favorite matches vanity list thread. As the subtitle indicates, this isn't just intended for discussion of how awesome/stupid my list is. Feel free to contribute your own. And it needn't be 50. 10 or 25 or whatever else is fine. So without further ado, here's my list. After the top ten, it's strictly in chronological order (edit: they're all in chronological order now). Also, I had intended to write a little bit about what I liked about each match, but then I got lazy. Still, I'd be happy to give my thoughts on specific matches for those curious. Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (Memphis, 3/23/81) Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (Memphis, 6/6/83) Sangre Chicana vs. MS-1 (EMLL, 9/23/83) Sgt. Slaughter vs. Iron Sheik (WWF, 6/16/84) Terry Gordy vs. Killer Khan (WCCW, 11/22/84) Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase (Mid-South, 3/22/85) Bill Dundee vs. Jerry Lawler (Memphis, 12/30/85) Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW, 1/28/86) Midnight Rockers vs. Buddy Rose/Doug Somers (AWA, 8/30/86) Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (NJPW, 6/9/87) Stan Hansen/Terry Gordy vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 12/16/88) Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair (WCW Chi-Town Rumble, 2/20/89) Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW, 6/5/89) Lex Luger vs. Ricky Steamboat (WCW Great American Bash, 7/23/89) Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk (WCW Great American Bash, 7/23/89) Naoki Sano vs. Jushin Liger (NJPW, 8/10/89) Stan Hansen/Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW, 12/6/89) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW, 6/8/90) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 9/1/90) Jumbo Tsuruta/Masanobu Fuchi/Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 10/19/90) Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Masanobu Fuchi/Akira Taue (AJPW, 4/20/91) Ricky Steamboat/Dustin Rhodes vs. Arn Anderson/Larry Zbyszko (WCW Clash of the Champions XVII, 11/19/91) Barry Windham/Dustin Rhodes vs. Larry Zbyszko/Steve Austin (WCW Superbrawl II, 2/29/92) Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Doug Furnas/Dan Kroffat (AJPW, 5/25/92) Big Van Vader vs. Sting (WCW Great American Bash, 7/12/92) Ricky Steamboat/Shane Douglas vs. Barry Windham/Brian Pillman (WCW Starrcade, 12/28/92) Sting vs. Big Van Vader (WCW Starrcade, 12/28/92) Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 2/28/93) Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori (AJW, 4/2/93) Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect (WWF King of the Ring, 6/13/93) Barry Windham vs. 2 Cold Scorpio (WCW Clash of the Champions XXIII, 6/16/93) Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 7/29/93) Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (AJPW, 12/3/93) Bunkhouse Buck vs. Dustin Rhodes (WCW Spring Stampede, 4/17/94) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 6/3/94) Vader vs. Dustin Rhodes (WCW Clash of the Champions XXIX, 11/16/94) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue (AJPW, 4/15/95) Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 6/9/95) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 7/24/95) Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind (WWF In Your House: Mind Games, 9/22/96) Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (WWF Survivor Series, 11/17/96) Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama (AJPW, 12/6/96) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 1/20/97) Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (WWF Wrestlemania 13, 3/23/97) Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Eddy Guerrero (WCW Halloween Havoc, 10/26/97) Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (NJPW, 8/2/98) Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 2/27/00) Kurt Angle vs. Steve Austin (WWF Summerslam, 8/19/01) Eddie Guerrero vs. Brock Lesnar (WWE No Way Out, 2/15/04) Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero (WWE Smackdown, 6/23/05)

Wrestling historian Scott Keith on Halftime Heat:

I don't think Dylan would fail to give a match a fair shake based on who was in it. But I do think it's a bit unfair to penalize Tanahashi for an anomalously great Suzuki performance.

Now that I'm caught up on lucha, I think this is off. I thought Tanahashi contributed way more to the Suzuki match than Sombra did to the Casas match or Che to the first Terry match.

Do you have an ad blocker? I recently got one, and it's made DM a million times more tolerable. On the All Japan front, there needs to be more love for Sekimoto/Okabayashi vs. Akebono/Hama. It's not the best match of the year, but it might be the most fun. Styles make fights, and power offense vs. fat man offense is a matchup that rarely disappoints.

Thumbtacks. In 2012.

And wasn't Naito working the G1 with a blown-out knee?

How was it less than good? It was too short to have any real meat to it, and the transition to Funaki on top was terrible. He does a heel hook, wins a strike exchange, and hits the Hybrid Blaster. The first time I saw the match, I felt like Krusty after watching Worker and Parasite: "What the hell was that?" Anyway, I watched Punk/Cena and Funaki/Suwama. I thought the former started out really well, but then it just plateaued for a while and ran out of steam toward the end. The latter was quite a bit better than I thought it would be, but it wasn't anything close to a MOTYC. Funaki isn't the kind of guy who should be in long matches, and Suwama isn't the kind of guy who can carry someone to a main event epic.

If Adam Copeland were a bad actor, would he have received a starring role in a WWE Films production? They don't give those to just anybody, you know. You have to at least be on the level of noted thespians Glen Jacobs, John Cena, and Paul Levesque.

I loved Tanahashi/Suzuki. In fact, I thought it was the kind of match you'd have to go out of your way to find serious problems with. Suzuki may have been the main driver, but I never felt like Tanahashi was just along for the ride. The High Fly Flow onto Suzuki's leg in particular was awesome. I'm a huge mark for limb work that plays into the story of the match, and this match had it in spades. In fact, it's the best match centered around dueling arm/leg work I've ever seen. What sets it apart from Samurai/Ohtani and Hayabusa/Tanaka is that both guys sold consistently throughout and didn't magically heal when it was time for them to get their shit in. The only real problem I had with the match was Tanahashi being in the cross armbreaker for too long. Shoot-style submissions should result in either an instant tap-out or a frantic scramble for the ropes. I haven't seen Punk/Cena from NOC yet, and I want to watch all the top matches again to be sure, but this is my tentative MOTY. On the All Japan front, I'm pretty shocked that people are calling Funaki/Akiyama, which isn't even the best sub-five minute Akiyama title defense, a good match, let alone a great one. I have no real desire to watch a Suwama match of any length, but I'll check it out eventually.

Speaking of debates, I wonder how Vince feels about the VP debate supplanting his match with Punk as the week's most entertaining beatdown by an old man. To further tie it into wrestling, conservatives are now trying to say that Biden should be disqualified for kicking too much ass in the same manner that a wrestler who refuses to break a hold after the bell has his win overturned by the ref.

When I saw the Smarkschoice WWF poll results, I was struck by how few of the top matches were decisive feud enders and how many had screwy finishes. The OP already mentioned THAT'S GOTTA BE KANE! In addition, HBK/Mankind from Mind Games had the Vader run-in for the DQ. Angle/Austin from Summerslam had Austin getting himself intentionally DQed. And of course, Austin never actually submitted in the submission match. That's not even getting into all the matches with ref bumps and run-ins. It seems that the WWE has kind of struggled in providing really satisfying blowoff matches.

Dylan can't do a Dusty Rhodes impression? No wonder he doesn't have a WON HOF ballot. Anyway, the Regal story sounds off. He started wrestling in 1983. Clash 6 happened in 1989.

It's like anything else in wrestling. Clean finishes are the preferred way to go, except when they're not.

Dave has said that Dump Matsumoto was more well-known at her peak than Steve Austin ever was. But I think you have to distinguish between name recognition and drawing power. Everyone may have known who the Crush Gals were, but they only really drew from a niche audience, albeit a highly passionate one.

Shoot Phil Schneider a PM.

Wrestling is real within the reality of wrestling. Within that same reality, the abdominal stretch is not an effective submission. Again, it wasn't like Gorilla was burying the Million Dollar Dream or the Sharpshooter. And even if you do see it as a serious issue, it was usually mitigated by the color guy. Like, when Gorilla would say something like "In all my years in this business, I've never seen anyone submit to a side headlock," Jesse or whoever else would chime in with how it was supposed to be a wear-down hold. I think the ideal approach was by whoever was announcing this one Flair/Wahoo match I saw. He talked about how the double wristlock wasn't going to win a match on its own, but it set you up to hit the moves that would win the match.

This isn't a big deal to me either. Anyone over the age of five knows that no one's going to submit to an abdominal stretch. It wasn't like he was burying legitimate submissions. And Kent Walton talked all the time about how guys were unlikely to get submissions with the holds they were applying.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Gorilla was ideal. But the claim made by Dave and others was that he was actively injurious to the product, a below replacement-level announcer in sabermetric terms. I don't think that was the case.