WingedEagle

If referencing Drake and Meek Mill doesn't get Mauro fired we'll know he's safe.

Cesaro's been one of the most consistent WWE performers the last few years, but it hasn't been long enough nor with enough true highlights for me to rank him. That plus never finding his pre-WWE stuff to be out of this world means he's just not a contender this time around. Hope that changes next time.

Awesome. Just curious why it rated so highly.

The 6/99 Misawa-Kobashi is usually not atop most lists of their best matches what puts it over the top for you?

Only for those of us who pay. If you don't mind going the other route you can probably get it next year.

Does Jake have anything that approaches this? Really amazing to think about how many wrestlers had their career match with Flair.

Hashimoto-Chono main evented. Ah right. Wasn't the reaction to that match pretty subdued following the AJ crew?

Its quite the stretch, but what about for his appearances in NJPW or the Zero-1 bit with Hash? How about the fact that the All Japan crew were chosen to close out the Weekly Pro Wrestling show in '95? Nothing there amounts to a run, but they show a certain level of success or reputation outside of Baba's world.

I have been sold on this. The five minute Gangrel episode will be must listen stuff. Its a pretty fun idea. Could even cluster them into a few per episode and have someone responsible for honoring the clock.

What's the sense on Flair now? Are people bored and he's falling to the back of a top 10? top 20? Or is he in the mix for a top 3/5 spot for many?

​But can't you say the exact same thing with the roles reversed for 03-05 NOAH Sure, I would just say that Misawa's run on top was longer. Kobashi brought incredible charisma, no doubt. But I'd argue Misawa brought as much, just of a different and subtler sort. In fact, he'd be the definition of a great intangible wrestler for me, because he was so effective at projecting himself as ace without a lot of obvious emoting. Misawa's run was certainly longer, but I think there's an argument that Kobashi's is more impressive because he didn't have anything approaching prime Kawada, Kobashi & Taue supporting him. It was essentially a one man show with a rotating cast of dance partners as opposed to a HOF ensemble backing him up. But still not sure its enough for me to put it ahead of Misawa's run.

On the other hand, why does it absolutely have to be different?

Indeed. Just curious about the things that do work.

For folks who are huge fans, how much do you think your ranking is impacted by his gear? Would he rank the same way if you saw his face rather than the mask, gloves and full outfit?

May have to steal this. Easy is good.

Have you worked up Kobashi's numbers yet? If not, will you have an opportunity to watch any NOAH footage before doing so? When you factor that in I imagine he'd fare quite well.

If one match with a given opponent at that level is enough to include them, then yes, he should be a 10.

Really depends on your threshold for quality of the match, but I'd probably argue all of the names noted above are ahead of Gordy on Misawa's book of work. Same for Chono, and specially Hash & Nagata from the Zero-1 tag.

He was going to get the title at Mania 30 until the Bryan thing took over. Not sure how much beef he necessarily as over it as he was more than a good sport in putting Bryan over and coming back for the Shield matches, but he's also at a point in his career now where he absolutely does not need WWE and doesn't have to bite his tongue. They want to be associated with him more than he does them. That changes the dynamic.

YES.

Misawa & Kawada Bull & Aja In both cases the former is clearly above the latter for me, but barely so.

Banks-Noami. But yeah, better than AJ-Jericho. Thought it was Banks's best match on the main roster. By a longshot.

I might need to rewatch the first match, because I thought it was good but nothing special (3 1/2 ish) while I liked Webster's match more. Mid way through main event now, so can't comment. You're able to objectively rate a big match while stopping midway through to do other things?

Its underwhelming to say the least, and with the state of the roster am not sure what options they have to even juice it up. Cena pulling another rabbit out of his hat and making it back for Taker would help, but that also leaves a Brock match that doesn't exactly feel like a special attraction. Could put together a decent card just with the injured list, but hey, this is where we are.

Not exactly Toyota-specific, and at least partly due to my inability to begin framing the list, but I am having a real tough time placing the women. Not at all comfortable with them high, low, just finding it a lot more difficult to look at them comparatively than I expected.