WingedEagle

I liked his match vs. Kawada from June 2004. Thanks, will definitely give that a look.

Check out Fuchi vs. Momota 3/29/89, vs. Hiro Saito 6/12/86, vs. Kobayashi 4/6/86, vs. Kikuchi 7/12/90. Awesome, thanks. Just realized that a few of those are on the DVDVR set and I even had the Momota match ranked right near the top quartile on that set. But of course have no recollection of any of them which is a damn fine reason to break that set out this week.

Did Jamal/Umaga have any standout matches in All Japan? His absence from Ditch's Best of 2000s list suggests the answer, but I'd like to think there were a few from that time that are worth checking out.

I don't know if Kansai & Oz have enough of a run where they place on a list like this, but I Oz and Masa Fuchi absolutely deserve some kind of honorable mention. They add so much to any tag match from their work on the apron and in ratcheting up the heat as part of any team.

Love this. Hopefully it gives folks some random, quick hit things to look up as it certainly did that for me. Current Favorite Wrestler to Watch: Masa Fuchi. Just rewatched the AJ/NJ tag from 12/00 as part of the Best of 2000s and an AJPW 6 man from 1/29/94 as part of the Yearbook. I'd love to see some all time Fuchi singles matches (holler if you can point me to them), but he brings as much character and heat to the tag & 6 man matches from the four corners era as anybody. Last Fun Match You Saw: Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta, 1/24/94. I knew nothing about it heading into the match but and was a bit underwhelmed by Bull/Kyoko and the Toyota/Yamada tag on the undercard, but holy shit was this not an incredible spectacle that did its best to approach Dump/Chiggy. I'll have to add more in the match discussion thread but I blown away by this, and really the only thing it was lacking was the killer crowd it deserved. Give it a hot crowd and we're looking at a classic. Wrestler You Want to See More of: Dragon Gate! I swear I'm going to jump on board and try to get into this ASAP. Hoping to burn through a couple recent NJ iPPVs I've fallen behind on today and then give this the look it deserves based on Alan's love. Also, Jack Brisco because Mooney has me salivating. Match You Are Looking Forward to Watching Soon the Most: Brisco vs Inoki. Last Fun Interview/Promo You Saw: Its been a while since Heyman has been on TV for anything significant, and Ambrose has been sent to third rate horror movie school after flunking out of bad comedy, so let's say Flair's backstage promo after Starrcade '93. Last Interesting Thing You Read about Wrestling: Rusher Kimura bio in the Observer from 2004. Love going old school. Last Worthwhile Wrestling Podcast You Heard: Austin hasn't had a guest on recently, so All Japan Excite Series Numbah 2. Most Fun You've Had Watching Wrestling Lately: Bull-Hotta. MORE MORE MORE

Maybe I'm an outlier but I enjoyed Taker/Flair when I rewatched it this summer. Flair did his part given his limitations, bled like a champ and we even arguably the last non-throwaway Arn moment. I was pleasantly surprised. Not a classic or anything anyone should hang their hat on, but not something I'd fast forward through either.

FLIK, what else should people check out leading up to this?

Funny, that 'style' may very well be my absolute biggest pet peeve in all of wrestling. Such a stupid, mind numbing concept. How does the champ come out looking like a credible 'champion' in any way shape or form afterwards? Imagine if every single Floyd Mayweather fight ended with Floyd getting a lucky KO in the 12th round after being down 11-0. So dumb. That's why I feel like Misawa is a very legitimate GOATC, because he perfected the role of an 'ace' in his matches, where his opponents really had to climb a mountain to defeat him. Two totally different mindsets. Misawa was coming back to town and making all the same stops on the loop on the next tour. The local ace still had to headline for the next X months if/until the NWA Champion made his way back to town. To some extent that makes protecting the local star a hell of a lot more important.

Perfect, thanks.

Is Rusev/Sheamus available on demand yet?

Maybe not. I liked almost all of those matches, and some of them a lot. Particularly the Dory, Terry No DQ, Dutch barbed wire, Dundee LLT and Idol/Freebirds bouts. I didn't particularly care for the Savage stuff much. I may have also not framed things in the proper context -- I found it all underwhelming as far as making a case for Lawler as an all timer, not as a worker who I enjoy and can appreciate.

Steamer absolutely belongs on my list. But I have zero desire to rewatch anything here. We'll see how that shakes out. Need to be objective and give certain matches another look.

Will, I loved the post. Problem is that your recaps set a bar that the matches just don't reach for me when watching them. They highlight certain qualities to look out for. But the matches almost always underwhelm. There's enough here for me to rewatch some Lawler matches when the time comes, but not so much that he would place.

Have to imagine Lawler will be my low among guys who otherwise finish high. Will be surprised if he places for me.

I thought their profit on it was rather small, but it was still profitable. I don't think they do it at a loss.

Looking forward to that one and saving it for a weekend run. Side question: do we have any idea how lucrative this is for Austin? I don't have a clue if he makes serious money for it or if its more a steady promotional vehicle.

Just wanted to add that I loved Jimmy's post as it expressed a major point I haven't effectively been able to make on my own -- selling is great, but it often feels like a crutch that can be used to knock a wrestler or match when someone mounts a comeback, pulls out a win or delivers any sustained offense because in doing so they to some extent had to stop completely selling whatever work was previously done. You carry that too far and you've got an all time squash performance.

That's basically where I am as well -- the entire match shouldn't be one tug of war over a ladder, but if its a gimmick match I want the match about that gimmick rather than have it serve as some prop like a chair that's pulled out for a random spot. It also goes against what I generally think about rewatching matches, but I think the HBK/Razor matches have been somewhat hurt over time because of the explosion of similar matches in subsequent years. At the time, they felt pretty crazy and innovative and shouldn't be dinged that badly just because I've since been desensitized due to the gimmick being overdone.

But isn't the ladder being somewhat an end unto itself at least part of the point of a ladder match?

The problem with the number is that I believe they previously indicated an expectation of 1MM+ by year end. That clearly isn't happening at this rate and is the impetus for luring folks in with a free November. At this point its about managing expectations that have run away from them. The good news, if any, is that the failure to deliver on what they promised may at some point force them to think outside the box and try different things from creative, content and promotional perspectives. But we're not there yet.

Kane? No, not the worst. But given how long he's been booked so often he definitely has a craptastic resume.

I'm absolutely with you on a well timed no sell. I'm just not at all there with with openly and regularly inviting your opponent's strikes. Its one thing to simultaneously throw bombs. Its another to stand there with your hands down and ask for it.

I don't hate WWE. There are nights I love it and nights I don't like it, but if I really, truly thought it was garbage with nothing redeeming I'd turn it off. Not every episosde of any show or every game in every sport is going to be a winner.

That show was a ton of fun and a breeze to sit through. I even got to check out a bit of MNF during Kane's interminable chinlock. I'm sure it won't exactly do gangbuster numbers, but I'm kind of psyched about an old school Survivor Series show. Some fun, long matches with quick exchanges that advance storylines sounds pretty good. A fresh Ryback, rejuvenated Henry, a plainly different Orton -- all good times.

Then watch an actual Wrestling company. WWE has always leaned on kitsch and spectacle. I've made the same arguments for a trolling end many times but WWE IS Sports Entertainment it is a different genre, it isn't booking it IS Creative for them. They hire writers to come up with creative and goofy stuff not bookers to book towns. Hardly a newsflash but seem to eer back to them being a Wrestling company. At least in the case of the main event finish, though, there's still a different expectation for something like Seth Rollins vs Ambrose in a Hell in a Cell match compared to The Undertaker vs. Yokozuna in a casket match. Exactly. Not every program is booked the same or every match laid out the same. There are different goals and expectations that will bring about difference reactions from the audience. This is good because otherwise the product would get awfully boring.