Badlittlekitten

I am too. I think Tenryu's surliness and his emotionless face hurt him when he's meant to be the plucky young protege. He's not very sympathetic or likable. However, those same qualities make him awesome in 88-89. I've still not got up to the late 80's in my All Japan viewing so my attitude towards Tenryu might change. (For what it's worth I've seen zero New Japan outside of the current stuff) The 80's set looks like a good place for me to start with Lucha. But even with my silly little list names keep on popping up in my head that I'd forgotten and somehow wish I could squeeze in (Dibiase, Bockwinkel, Carlos Colon, Azumi Hyuga, and, yes, Shawn Michaels). Hard work.

Enjoyable show lads, love it. I have to say I'm on the opposite side to Dylan with the Tenryu/Jumbo thing. I find something very likeable and endearing about Jumbo, especially that goofy "OOOAAAH!" thing he does when he's firing up. Rick Martel is another guy like Tenryu for me; an excellent wrestler that ultimately bores me and not somebody that I'd get excited about watching. (I just watched the Portland Martel vs Ed Wiskoski match for the first time and, yes, it was excellent.) I popped for Buddy Rose. I hope more people come round to watching and appreciating him. My knowledge of Japan is limited and I know fuck all about Lucha so I wouldn't attempt a comprehensive 'best wrestler' list anytime soon. Even if I had the knowledge, putting together this type of list is not something that interests me to be honest (although the value of others doing it can't be overestimated). I had done a list a little while ago though. Whenever I do these things it's purely based on 'people I enjoy watching most at this moment'. Anything else would drive me mad. Sorry I don't know how to use the good spoiler tag, but for shits . . (I'm not putting it in bloody order. Extra special people in bold. ) Abdullah Butcher Aja Kong Akira Hokuto Antonio Cesaro Arn Anderson Barry Windham Bill Dundee Bill Eadie Billy Robinson Bob Backlund Bobby Eaton Bret Hart Brian Pillman Buddy Rose Bull Nakano Chigusa Nagayo Daniel Bryan Dean Ambrose Dustin Rhodes Dusty Rhodes Dutch Mantell Ed Wiskoski Hulk Hogan Jerry Blackwell Jerry Lawler Jim Breaks John Cena Jumbo Tsuruta Koko Ware Madison Eagles Mark Henry Mickey Whiplash Myumi Ozaki Owen Hart Portia Perez Randy Savage Red Lightning Rey Mysterio Ric Flair Ricky Morton Riki Choshu Sara Del Rey Stan Hansen Steve Austin Terry Funk Tommy Rich Tully Blanchard Vordell Walker William Regal Yumi Ikeshita

Sara Del Rey vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki (Chikara joshimania 3/12/11) This was a fun power house bomb throwing type match. It's probably better than the Hamada match on the list that's from the same event.

For such an excellent talker I do find Eddie Kingston's commentary quite underwhelming.

Grado is a gem. A true underdog and every man. He's more fun and funny than Colt bloody Cabana ever was. He's promos are excellent, it's a shame they won't translate across the pond

If that was the case then I'd be happy to see Barrett and Neville kicked to the curb. Martin Stone as the West Ham football thug is the greatest thing of all time. Push him on NXT, push him on Raw . . push him to the moon and take my money.

This is my favourite match from the last year and or so; Lovely chain wrestling, WOS style comedy spots and a great story of Gallagher being the cheeky artful dodger that constantly one-ups Whiplash only to get outsmarted when it counts. Bunches of fun.

Looking forward to giving this a listen. The HOF talk wouldn't usually interest me but the last podcast was quite fascinating. Educational shit. Semi- related question: A few shows back Dylan mentioned he'd done a podcast on the Shield. Sounds sexy. Where can I find that?

He's a blast ain't he? 'Col Mustafa's spiky boots used to scare the shit out of me as a WWF kid. I can only imagine the terror that The Butcher would have struck in me if I'd have seen him back then. You only have to look at him; the boots, the wacky trousers, the scars, that cartoonish egg body, those eerily pretty eyes, . . . he's a freak and a monster and a nightmare. He's twelve times larger than life. And that's all before the bell rings and he unleashes the blood, the nutshots, the demonic 'howl' and The Fork. I could watch him all day. He bumps and sells like a pro as well, and his 'karate' thrust cut-off's are timed beautifully. You can't really go wrong with a bit of Abby. The wrestling world misses guys that have that aura and notoriety about them. My favourite match I've seen so far was the one linked in the Puerto Rico thread vs Carlos Colon. I won't go in to specifics about matches just yet, so I ask you people . . what do you think of the Madman from Sudan?

Austin Vs Bret Mania 13 Funk vs Hansen 4 14 83 Royal Rumble 1992 Lawler vs Funk No DQ Impossible to not love.

2013's probably already been one of the best runs in the companies history. The three hour format is still too much but I can't deny that I haven't enjoyed Raw this consistently since . . 1997? Admittedly, 2000 - 2003 I only half remember but I wasn't keen on the Attitude era and the Invasion thing was awful. Everything since then has been a pile of shit with the odd diamonds scattered about. It's still far, far from perfect - the booking and lack of direction of the midcard guys, inability to leave the Authority Figure role in the past, the stale commentary team and general presentation, the terrible diva's division (although judging by NXT, a half decent women's division isn't a unlikely as it may seem) - all major problems, but they've got a ridiculous amount of talent, promising young guys, vets on speed dial and they seem have realised how important good, lengthy matches can be. If you're somebody who only tunes in for the wrestling alone then you seriously have nothing to complain about. The PPV's this year have mostly been quality and piss all over anything produced by the indies/Japan (I don't follow Lucha so can't comment). If you include NXT (perhaps the best show they've EVER produced) then they're looking pretty fucking good. It's easy to whine about them throwing it all back in your face (or, in other words, giving HHH the title) but they haven't yet. Just learn to enjoy it.

Awesome thread this is. I actually enjoy single shot filmed matches for the most part, if it's a decent shot I find it quite relaxing for some reason. Less jarring than the multishots. And I like to hear the impact of the moves, the shit talking of the heel and the reactions of the crowd (especially kids). Lack of shite commentary is a bonus too. I'll try and check out lot of this stuff. Two guys I discovered through Dylan's mental list - Kyle Matthews and Vordell Walker - I've been really impressed with. I enjoyed their match vs each other (forgot the date but it's the one where Matthews is selling an injury pre-match), one of the best indie matches I've caught this year. Robbie Dynamite vs my fave British guy, Mikey Whiplash from ICW is up there with the best indie matches I've seen as well. Some lovely mat work going on. (29 mins in) Most of the WWE ones have been mentioned but I feel Uso's vs Shield MITB pre-show shouldn't be overlooked.

He hit Randy with the move that beat Cena. That's all that matters really.

I'm shit with dates but Cesaro vs Kofi Kingston on Main Event in May is class. Bryan vs Ryback on Smackdown a few months ago was brilliant. Ryback AND Bryan looked like beasts in that match. Every six man tag with the Shield ever.

AJ Styles shoot brother! Don't think I've heard a 'wrap it up' chant for a promo before.

Her nastiness is awesome. She is awesome. The joshi stuff that pops up rarely is any good. The style has eaten itself. It's load of stuff happening at a million miles per hour for no reason. Back in the day the matches were paced better and they'd even be - shock! - selling in them. There was gravitas and a sense of drama there. Now it's a crowd of 50 middle aged geezers who look like they're bored out of their nut. It's depressing. There's no larger than life personalties any more. Apart from Hiroyo Matsumoto and the three I mentioned above, everyone's forgettable.

I think someone in these parts listed Moolah in their top 10 wrestlers (including males) of all time. Though they were referring to mostly WWF. But sharpen that ban hammer in case they show up in this thread. Might have been me fella GFOAT? It's Hokuto all the way for me. Her peak was short but prime Hokuto is still the greatest wrestler I've ever seen. Brilliant, dynamic offence, as good in a sympathy role as she is at being a viscous bully, great entrance music, charismatic as fuck . . Even post- peak she's more entertaining than most. I would be happy with anyone that said Chigusa though. No wrestler has captured an audience like she did. Her selling was superb at times as well (as was Hokuto's). Jaguar is a machine and she deserves credit for the girls she's trained too. Ozaki is probably the smartest joshi worker there's been and I find her brawls fun to watch even today. I've never been keen on Toyota, not necessarily for her style, I just find her bland as fuck. Even though I like her, I've never been a huge fan of Aja for some reason, despite clearly being very good. I prefer Kansai actually. I'm guessing nobody here is likes modern day joshi? Don't blame you, it's horrible for the most part. I do enjoy Ayako Hamada, Kyoko Kimura and Kana though, really stand out from the pack. In terms of North America I gonna have to wax about Sara Del Rey. She's not the best babyface worker in the world but for that period in Shimmer where she dropped the title, lost her mind and started blazing a trail through the young, blue eyed midcard girls, she was amazing. For me it's up there with The Shield and Henry 2011 as one of my favourite heel runs of the last several years. Her matches with the likes of Jessie Mckay, Serena Deeb, and Tenille ( NXT's Emma) were magic. She beat the shit out of them yet gave them enough to earn credibility and made them look like stars in defeat. A veteran at their best. Her ten minute destruction of Rachel Summerlyn's pinky finger is quite something. It was a good Rachel Summerlyn match for a start!

Mania crowds have been crap for a while, it must be the oversized outdoor setting that kills it. PPV's usually have that kind of heat and so does every other Raw, although with three hours and mid card guys that get no direction there's always dead bits.

And you'd piss and moan if they were booking him shit. You're a mark just like the rest of us. Excellent PPV. They seem to have been on a roll lately. No idea where Punk goes from here. Fighting a srub like Curtis Axel isn't gone to cut it. Look at these bastards! I'm not an Orton fan but he's absoulutly perfect in this role.

Are you going to make a list of your 2013 matches as well Dylan? I'm picking off the wrestlers that I'm unfamiliar with and putting them in the Youtube (love what I've seen of Vordell and Matthews so far). It'd be cool to get an idea of why you're rating who as well as a nice addendum to your current list.

Flik, or anybody else, do you have any idea of what Kaoru's theme music is here? It never fails to perk me up when I watch this match. I love the beginning of this where Kaoru stupidly decides to jump Hokuto and quickly ends up paying for it. Hokuto doesn't even need to finish removing her entrance gear before swatting her off. (I wish there was more "wrestler starts fight with belt still on" spots in wrestling. Looks cool and is pretty funny). I love the post match stuff too, especially when Hokuto is seemingly dead and buried under a mountain of chairs only to jolt up from them in a fit of rage. This is one of my favourite matches from the Queen actually. It's the best of vicious meanie Hokuto, and vicious meanie Hokuto is one of my favourite things in all wrestling. Kaoru is quite underrated I feel. I love the calm, breezy presence she has about her which is further brought out by the way she seamlessly flies about the ring. There's a bit where she gives Hokuto a proper death stare after being dropped on her head, that always sticks with me. Good match.

Do you need to quote the entire thing? Punks been hurt by the fact that he had two good matches and then disappeared for months. His been pretty bad since his return. Poor bloke looks like he's still hurt and struggling to me. I'm surprised by how high Regal is. Has he done anything of note outside the Ohno match? Probably the best match of the show IMO. Kind of a shorter version of their grand main event match from vol 35 back in 2010 (my all time favorite Shimmer match, and one of their best top to bottom shows). Eagles is indeed one of the very best, her run on top was Shimmer's peak for me. Great wrestler, character, and promo. Oh yeah . . 2010 is obviously what I meant when I said "last year" . I agree with everything you just said actually. Eagles carries herself like a proper star.

I think that's a bit strong. There's promise there for sure but I think Athena's yet to piece it all together. She can look lost when she's not going through her RVD like spots. I haven't seen the match in question, mind, although I'm sure it's at least good as Hamada is Hamada. Out of curiosity, what was the Eagles vs Mckay match like from that vol 53 show ? Their match from Shimmer last year was an absolute blinder. Madison Eagles is quite brilliant. Anyway, Dylan, I think you might appreciate Sweet Saraya Knight. I haven't caught up with her stuff from this year to recommend something in particular yet. She's a great old school British bruiser, stiff and ugly and scary as fuck.

Taker losing to Ambrose/Reigns/Wyatt/Big E I don't have such a problem with. They're the future of the company. Ohno will probably never get a Mania pay day. I approve of the Rebecca Knox sighting. In my world she'd be in there with monster heel Sara Del Rey. Bryan vs Brock would be magic. I agree they should unify the titles. Too many pointless shit belts about.

What's he good at exactly? He's looked boring every time I've seen him on NXT, with his crappy, sluggish striking. He had a good match with Regal but it's Regal. He looks like shit, has no presence, can't talk . . Don't see it. Everyone on here watches NXT though right? Such a cracking show at the moment.