Chess Knight

Not sure I can post links, here, but the three minute Tajiri/Mark Henry match from 2002 is probably one of my favourite matches of all time. Tajiri bobbing his head up and down while trying to grab Henry's leg for the tarantula is Planet Earth's best moment.

Should that really matter, even if it was true? I mean the Dynamite Kid/Tiger Mask matches were some of the most popular matches of all time largely due to athleticism, and people watching the NJPW 80s comp a few years back (myself included) came out thinking they sucked. How many of us sitting there bored were thinking "man the crowd and wrestling reporters really liked this, standards have been risen?" None, I bet. We were thinking "I can't wait for another Fujinami match like the one I saw from two years before this". My point is that I don't think somebody should judge a wrestler based on other people's standards and opinions. I'm not trying to say anybody does that literally, but I don't see why anybody would ever say "wrestlers were better during this period because if you cut and paste them into this other period, people would have lost their shit". (semi-separate point) - It kind of almost seems like some of this argument toward athleticism is based off of how other people are perceiving it. I don't care if an NWA studio crowd would have gone nuts for Kofi Kingston working the way he does. I'd still think he's rubbish, and would even more-so if Jerry Lawler is working the next night using only a punch to create a classic.Lack of athleticism only matters if you actively try to work athletically. A guy like Lawler knew his limitations and stuck to what he knew he was completely capable of. Dolph Ziggler can bump a lot but when I see him bump with the same velocity for Cody Rhodes that he does for the Big Show, I'm not going to be very impressed that he can bounce off of the floor. Sometimes I can't take him seriously because I think with his bumping he's trying to get himself over more than he is the guy attacking him. http://i.imgur.com/XUL7y.gif why do my fucking posts on every fucking forum always mean to be two lines and wind up being this long

Loss did you ever wind up watching the Tamura/Sakuraba trilogy(one is a really short match, though, IIRC)? Some of those exchanges are insane. I think their best match together would be my favourite Tamura-in-UWFi match.

Sometimes sloppy can look more realistically violent, and can make a spot better than it otherwise would have been. Works for bumps, too. I'm thinking of Yokozuna v. Virgil from Survivor Series 92, where Virgils bumps looked like they were from somebody who maybe hadn't been actually learned how to take a bump, but honestly that made it more reckless and awesome, It can feel much more organic.

I have honestly always really, really not liked KENTA, but I'm interested to see what he'll do in a WWE setting. Could help all of the stuff I don't like about him go away and focus on what I actually do like about him .

Richards/Elgin. IIRC the only one of Meltzer's five star matches I thought was legitimately bad as opposed to 'OK' or 'not that good'. I remember thinking it wasn't terrible until Richards no-sold a turnbuckle powerbomb and sprinted toward Elgin to do some ridiculous Davey nonsense (or just a kick, w/e). Went to shit from there.

Oh God this is mine. I write about quite a bit of wrestling sometimes and the amount of times I either have to actually describe the move or just say '_____-thingy' is embarrassing. I've made the same 'I'm good with move names' joke while writing IDK how many times now. I couldn't even come up with words to describe the headlock where you're using your figure-four-crossed legs.

I think Punk is better at getting over a story or feud or 'theme' of a match (AKA being the underdog or selfish dick or man who wants the torch) than he is on selling or offense or almost anything else 'mechanic' (for lack of a better term). He's absolutely a great feud wrestler. I think at his best he's really great, at his worst he kind of blows, and on average he's good/very good. I'm not a massive fan and I honestly wouldn't bother even jotting him down if I were making a list of guys I might possibly see as a top 100, but if I watch a random CM Punk match I usually don't wind up disappointed.

Re-watched Benoit/Angle at the Rumble few months back: Honestly this was the first watch of the match where I noticed they fell into 'not selling fuck all' to that degree. I can't call this 'garbage', but at the same time the second half kills the idea of me calling it 'good'.

I'm a massive Backlund apologist (I think of that group only Regal, Austin and Jumbo stick out 'I would take him over Bob without much consideration'.....Austin is actually kinda borderline with some deeper thought) but I can't imagine even the people who find Backlund really overrated would rank him below Helmsley, Angle or Scott Hall.

Got re-upped by the guy on YT who for a couple of months I thought uploaded nothing but Tajiri. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i95WsMehcfQ

You gave Mascarita Sagrada v. Espectrito five stars, no?

I've been thinking about doing this for aaaaaages but could never bring myself to (God knows why, I tackle so many other stupid goals). Glad someone is getting it together.

Henry v. Rey (SD 4/29/11) Henry v. Sheamus (SD 8/26/11) I'd say at least watch those. The Rey match is I think the first match Henry had after the heel turn and it was all gold following that. There are tons of Henry/Orton matches on TV that I cant really separate them. I think SmackDown 5/20, 7/1 or 10/14 might be the best one. Again, memory's failing me. It's hard what to say's very good when I'm such a bias Henry prick. Well, those two there are at least as good as some of the Henry matches you have already. The 9/23/11 Christian match, HIAC with Orton, 10/21/11 Morrison sub-squash and 12/5/11 Zack Ryder sub-squash on Raw are good picks, but, again, IDK how 'very good' they'd be to someone else. There are a few Henry house show matches, too. Multiple v. the Big Show (at least one full and really good one. Actually fuck it, I'd say watch that too - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moMBcmhziIo), one v. Bryan, a Christian/Henry v. Orton/Sheamus, etc. May 2nd - Some house show stuff SLL listed - John Cena vs. C.M. Punk (WWE, 2/23/11) -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgJ4UShQwHA John Cena vs. C.M. Punk (WWE, 3/13/11) - C.M. Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio (WWE, 9/3/11) - (part one the match hasn't started yet, I don't think) (match should start here) March 5th - I can't find a third fall but it may have only had two falls, I don't really remember. I kind of want to suggest the Cena/Del Rio match from Vengeance, too. It was right after Henry and Show had collapsed the ring, so they just decide to have the last man standing WWE title match with the ring all broken down there. I wasn't *terribly* high on the match, but it's a damn cool spectacle to watch them work around that.

CM Punk v. Dolph Ziggler Raw in November (someone might know the date, I want to say 11/21) -I've never been a Ziggler guy at all and Punk's post-SummerSlam 2011 feel flat for me (the 8/22 Cena match is excellent though), but this was heated and fun and awesome. Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler v. Evan Bourne/Kofi Kingston, Survivor Series -probably my favourite WWE tag match of the past 3-4 years. I would say, depending on how 'complete' you want this to be, you should add the first Henry/Bryan from 11/4, and Henry/Sheamus from SummerSlam + the rematch later that week (or the next week IDR). There are like 25 Henry matches I could realistically go batting for here, but I'm not sure how deep into the 'not excellent but good or very good' you want to get into, or if you want a general look on 2011, sub-yearbook style. There are Drew McIntyre matches all over the place, the Cena/Miz after ExRules which was fun as hell and should have been how the Mania match went down, Cena/Punk galore on house shows, Punk/Del Rio house show, etc. tbph I guess really nothing in this post is any kind of MOTYC, but it's worth noting if you eventually want to get around to it. For non-WWE I'd say Blue Panther/Negro Navarro v. Solar/el Satanico is a definite. I'll link to some of this stuff later, if only the lucha tag.

I love Austin's call with Ross and Heyman in the Angle/Benoit cage from 2001. I hate the match too, so the commentary's actually a reason to watch it for me. "I hate 'im, the little snaggle-tooth baystard'.

I remember when Brodus Clay first became the Funkasaurus (and I had only read about it), and I was annoyed because I wanted another PHAT monster heel that I thought I was getting. Then I actually watched the debut of the Funkasaurus and it blew my friggin mind out of my head.

I really want to see RVD sell the Cesaro uppercut.

I re-watched Taker/Lesnar recently and I still enjoy it a lot, but yeah I think a match like Lesnar/Cena kind of blows it out of the water. I doubt I prefer it to the best of Mark Henry in recent years, either. Taker's persistence to use the broken hand to punch was irksome. I watched Taker/Angle from 2003 SmackDown after it and thought that was better, as well (I was shocked at how much I still liked it). I still think the HIAC's really good, but not really remarkable.

DG isn't something I really bothered getting into, so having a list of 'best stuff' like that is cool for me to use sometime. Thanks for that. I did really, really like the SUWA/Dragon Kid hair/mask match when I saw it last year. Gonna watch it again in the next few months.

http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2013-06-17/da...stage-26124420/ WWE posted this on Bryan.

Ryback hasn't won a PPV match since he squashed Reks and Hawkins at MITB last year. I think most would question why he got the title shot(s) with Cena in the first place.

Yeah, people are going mad for Danielson and I can't blame them, but I'm all about Cesaro. He's been filling my 'Mark Henry is the best thing I'm watching' void since February. He's the only guy right now I actively seek out, instead of just making a mental note and planning to watch later, and I get amped to watch his stuff unlike anybody else. C'EST UN MIRACLE, C'EST VRAI, C'EST UN MIRACLE.

Those 'Headcase' ones for Mankind are horrifying. Also I thought practically every Doink looked rubbish. Glad they wound up using the one we know now.