Chess Knight

I think it's up in the air whether whether Steamboat would have been given a solid British Bulldog-like position, or an ignorable Barry Windham position in mid-90s WWF, though I'm leaning toward the latter given they probably would have slapped that fire breathing crap back on him.

Rough estimate at the moment Terry Funk El Satanico Yoshiaki Fujiwara El Hijo del Santo Negro Casas Stan Hansen Genichiro Tenryu Mitsuharu Misawa Jerry Lawler Kiyoshi Tamura

Steamboat on late 90s WCW syndicated shows being put in random matches with Finlay and Kaz Hayashi and Villano IV would have ruled.

A pre-Hall of Pain Mark Henry tv match recommendations list, probably for those already fans that want to bolster his case more by seeing him in a few different roles and positions, deniers need not bother. Bunch of these are in the realm of being only 4~ minutes long so taper expectations for a mountain of hidden ‘Great Matches.’ I only wanted to stick to 1v1s. vs. Christian, Velocity 7/6/02 vs. Mike Awesome, Velocity 8/24/02 vs. Tajiri, Smackdown 9/5/02 vs. Goldberg, Smackdown 10/6/03 vs. Shawn Michaels, Smackdown 11/3/03 vs. Booker T, Smackdown 11/17/03 vs. Chris Jericho, Raw 1/12/04 vs. Chris Benoit, Raw 2/2/04 vs. Rey Mysterio, Smackdown 1/20/06 vs. Rey Mysterio, Smackdown 1/27/06 vs. The Undertaker, Smackdown 2/10/06 vs. Chris Benoit, Smackdown 5/26/06 vs. Rey Mysterio, Raw (Tribute to the Troops) 12/24/07 vs. HHH, Raw 6/23/08 vs. Matt Hardy, ECW 8/19/08 vs. Finlay, ECW 9/16/08 vs. Matt Hardy, ECW 12/29/08 vs. Finlay, ECW 11/4/08 vs. Matt Hardy, ECW 1/6/09 vs. Christian, Superstars 5/12/09 vs. Evan Bourne, ECW 5/26/09 vs. Evan Bourne, ECW 6/16/09 vs. Cody Rhodes, Superstars 11/19/09

Might be a better argument for Silver King's case than Fiera's because he's *great* here, but I thought this was pretty awesome and Fiera brings it as a veteran tecnico working his way up from an assault. Unsure exactly when Fiera's peak is supposed to end, but I'm pretty sure it was prior to 1997 and this is a nice way to consider the kind of match he could still have during a post-peak.

This makes me feel better about leaving gaps, and actually up until just yesterday I decided I didn't want to submit a list because I hadn't revisited so many things for over a decade. But I said screw it I'm in. I just won't be able to properly judge a lot of people whose cases are mostly made from 1983-1989, because recently I put together a big watchlist of 80s matches and am adamant in sticking to it in chronological order (unless I accidentally skipped something). Only being at the end of '82 at the moment means some wrestlers might have to have their placements mostly made based on my memories of them from a long time ago (Tully, Garvin, Maeda, Windham, Sangre Chicana) while others that I have/currently am only scratched the surface of will have be left off entirely even though they've been up my alley (every joshi wrestler of the 80s, Michael Hayes, Masa Saito). AWA, Portland and Puerto Rico are mostly blindspots for me entirely so some of the best there will take a hit where they probably could have placed higher. In Puerto Rico's case I've to this day only seen maybe two matches. Zero from World of Sport. I'll hopefully avenge my silly self in 2036.

I don't think I've seen that since like 2012 either so maybe I would agree.

Kawada becomes great no earlier than late 1990 imo. Also Tenryu vs. Satoru Sayama from 2010 is probably better than any Kawada match after 2004 though I won't commit to that until I revisit some of it. Edit - I'm adding the caveat that I haven't seen Tenryu/Kawada vs. Hansen/Gordy in a long time so maybe Kawada is great there but my memory tells me he wouldntbe close to the best worker in the match.

I would consider Kawada a top 20 lock at worst and this is still easily Tenryu without a second thought. He was great before Kawada was great, was great while Kawada was great, and was great after Kawada stopped being great. Watching some 2003 Kawada lately he will sometimes bust out some of the coolest moments in the entire world and the Ogawa match is a MOTYC in my mind, but he also just often straight up stops any attempts at pushback of running through offense, which can ruin an otherwise promising match (like vs. Don Frye). His physicality might not have been as limited as Tenryu's at the time, but his motivation seemed to definitely dwindle in the early 00s in a way that most major Japanese stars' didn't. Well, maybe Hashimoto too as much as it pains me to say it. I've never actually thought of who has the higher peak out of Kawada or Tenryu, but either way it can't be a tie-breaker when I'm not considering it a tie in the first place.

What was it he was saying on social media? I must have completely missed that, though admittedly unsurprisingly because I don't tune in much.

2004, or, despite the terrible booking, injury late into the year, and lame duck title victory, I actually think 2006 might be my favourite. The best thing about Rey to me is how he matches up vs. different varities of opponents, and he gets to be put up against Orton, Henry, Booker, Chavo, Angle, Finlay, JBL, etc in those ten months and excelled vs. all of them imo. 2010 is similarly good for those reasons, but I don't quite think he reached the heights of the Eddie, Chavo, and Noble matches from 2004, or Orton or JBL matches from 2006. I do really like the Rey/Punk feud, but I guess less than most.

To be honest it's a pet peeve of mine when people do that, and I avoid doing it, but its also ultimately harmless I guess.

I've heard that he said he wanted to come in as a stereotypically Asian heel because he didn't think the audience would be familiar with him, but I've not actually seen it backed up.

Andre vs. Big John Studd 11/10/84 is worth a look, maybe my favourite Andre singles match in the WWF tbh.

There isn’t much better pro wrestling than Kenta Kobashi selling a limb. The Big Fight Feel in the room is already tremendous during Kobashi’s entrance and the introductions, All Japan just does not here feel like accompany that’s on the brink of getting gutted. Takayama kicking Kobashi in the head worked to keep the atmosphere up, and forced Kobashi to work upward a bit even against a wrestler ranked lower than he was, which was a great way to begin. Takayama wasn’t quite a main event monster yet, though he looked like he was slowly turning into one during this match by refusing rope breaks and using those massive knees which always felt like a momentum killer for Kobashi, and got a big audience reaction. Kobashi’s higher rank kept the match pretty even despite that start, until Takayama focuses on the right arm. Kobashi selling the arm was of course great for his grimacing faces and hurled over body movements and how great his “I’m sick of this shit” aura is, but it also felt a little more unpredictable than most people selling a limb; it looked like he was ready to mount an offense again several times but couldn’t get it done. They kind of worked me in a way that wrestlers work most people in the arena with hope spots. The finish stretch was absurdly good, I feel like these two could have worked against each twice a year in a big match and created endless moments of magic. The lariat with the hurt arm was amazing because of how Kobashi fell clutching the arm, and because it really looked like Takayama just wasn’t expecting Kobashi to bother trying it. Another highlight for me was when Kobashi - having already taken at least one German - was fighting his way out of another German where Takayama had locked both Kobashi’s arms down. So basically, good luck to Kobashi not landing on his head if he doesn’t get out. Then there are the fisticuffs which blew me away tenfold. Their 2004 match has Takayama, near the end of the match, trying to desperately swing at Kobashi to finish him off (which may be the best moment in a match the whole decade) and so seeing these two go apeshit at each other like that here was amazing. And well shit I certainly didn’t remember it happening in this match let me tell you. Kobashi was awesome trying to only use the left arm during the fisticuffs, but then realising whatever further damage he does to his right arm is worth the damage saved done to his head. A lot of this felt like Kobashi taking Takayama off guard to pull the victory through a mix of guts and intelligence and it’s incredible to watch. If this match isn’t a classic then it's of the highest ranks in the tier below it.