Superstar Sleeze

Go Shiozaki & Takahashi Sugiura vs Shinsuke Nakamura & Milano Collection AT - NOAH 3/01/09 Why has Milano Collection AT not been in more nominated matches? I thought the awesomeness began and ended that he walked an imaginary dog to the ring, but this match not only proved he was a great wrestler, but one who could be the driving force behind what might be the MOTY for 2009 in Japan. Not to heap all the credit on Milano, Go Shiozaki looked best he has since his great performances with Kobashi in 2009. Of course, the big difference here was that he was expected to be the senior member of his team and he delivered in spades. I would not say I am seeing next generation ace, but he is definitely a talented wrestler and a boon to any roster. I loved his ability to fight from underneath and be scrappy. So many babyfaces are just dying on me. It makes their comebacks look incredulous. Shiozaki looked like he was fighting through some serious pain but firing off some wicked chops sometimes even from the ground. I loved that sense of struggle from Shiozaki. Overall the whole match had way more heat than the Dome NOAH vs New Japan match. Nakamaura and Milano were in full heel mode and Shiozaki & Sugiura are great at delivering punishment to these dick heels. Milano really got going early with some great fundamentals presisng the advantage inherited from Nakamura by establishing arm work on Sugiura. When Shiozaki tagged in, I loved how Mlano did not just roll over for him so when Shiozaki got that first shoulderblock it felt big. Then the fun began! Milano did a log roll the length of the ring to esacape the hard-hitting Shiozak. He then goaded Shiozaki to the outside only to roll back into the ring. He then kicked the ropes into his leg as he was getting in. The coup d'grace is he hogtied his legs and arms together around the ropes. I was amazed at how awesome and innovative that was. I am usually someone who shies away from innovative, Milano had at least a half dozen spots I had never seen before and were all awesome. Nakamura and Milano did some very good basic leg work on Shiozaki using the railing, kicks and submission holds to control him. The beauty was Shiozaki's selling and that ability to express fighting through pain in a credible fashion. It some of the best selling I have seen in a while. This middle portion is where they lose me for a bit before the badass finish run. Nakamura inexplicably lets up on the knee, which allows Shiozaki to chop his way out of trouble. Sugiura is actually best utilized as a hot tag as it plays to his energetic strengths. I loved the look on Milano's face as he was being bullrushed away from Nakamura. They get a little suplex happy, but once Shiozaki tags in the match elevates to the next level. Shiozaki chops the fuck out of Nakamura, but gets trapped in a flash triangle -> cross-armbreaker!!! Sugiura saves in a ncie bacllback to the Dome. The best part of this all is Shiozaki just cant seem to get his hands on that elusive Milano who is full splitting, back bending, putting ref on top of him his way out of trouble. Each spot is unique and it is infuriating because you just want Shiozaki to take this little punk's head off. Milano backslide -> 2! O thank God! Lariat, whiffs, damn back bend. Falling chop and he rolls out of the way. Just. Stay. Still! Milano inside cradle roll through into a GO BRAINBUSTER! LARIAT! FINALLY!!! Awesome build to a very satisfying conclusion. I feel like I have been beating a dead horse complaining about all these matches that have great opening and disjointed finishes that torpedo the match. This is how you build to a sweet climax. Shiozaki falls prey to Milano's underhanded tactics and is fighting out of a hole. Then he can't get his hands on him, but when he does I was popping five years after the fact in America. That is power. That is pro wrestling, BABY! If you are not believer in Shiozaki, watch this. I imagine this is Milano's career performance and what a great performance. Nakamura and Sugiura are along for the ride and have their best match of the 00s. Basically, Shiozaki and Milano wrestled a singles match and it was killer. ****1/2

Word. Mitsuharu Misawa & Takahasi Sugiura vs Shinsuke Nakamura & Hirooki Goto - Tokyo Dome 01/04/09 Nothing captures how strange this match is as much as Sugiura coming out to "When Loves Comes To Town". Mutoh is suing for gimmick infringement. The best part of this match was the great reaction Misawa gets from the Dome crowd during his entrance and when he first enters the match. It is heart-warming witnessing that. On the other end, watching him take routine suplexes so close to his death made me cringe. The match felt very American to me. It is clear as the 00s progressed that wrestling between America and Japan has tended toward homogenization with the profilieration of long finish runs filled with nearfalls in American matches and more Japanese wrestling concerned more with spots than transitions. I was so sad to watch Misawa/Goto do a standing switch on a waistlock with absolutely no struggle. Goto literally just let Misawa out and then Goto threw a prefunctory elbow to complete double reverse to hit a suplex. I expect that bullshit in America and don't mind, but it was sad to see it in Japan. Another American attribute was everyone hit their finisher to level everyone right before the finish proper. I actually like that sequence usually it was just strange to see it in Japan. The whole match was weird. There was no flow and no real sense of progression. Two wrestlers would just sort of hit stuff on each other and that was that. Goto and Nakamura made it a point to go after Misawa on the apron, but that did not build towards anything. Nakamura lasted longer in the face of the vaunted Misawa elbow, but that may just be a function of it being 2009. Suigura busted out his one good spot when he hangs Goto out and it is misdirect to smoke Nakamura with a big boot. Sugiura did his Angle impression with suplexes, Ankle locks and Angle Slams and it is so amateur hour. Goto is boring as fuck. Misawa should have retired, but we all know that. Nakamura is better than this. I loved the flash submission with the cross armbreaker. Respect the cross-armbreaker. I know shit happened for like 12-15 minutes and I remember it all, but it seemed like nothing happened just like Orton/Ziggler match from this past RAW. Yep, the convergence of America and Japan is scary and sad.

You could run a strong NYC/ LI promotion around Ziggler. Dude has nuclear heat. Wait, I thought if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.

Thanks to Wrestling Culture #50, already had a template. Basically the only movement has been due to 00s Japan. Akiyama makes the list. Tenryu and Kobashi are the huge winners. 1. Ric Flair - The Man, sheer volume 2. Stan Hansen - Inching closer and closer 3. Mtsuharu Misawa - Best comeback 4. Toshiaki Kawada - Best knee selling 5. Kenta Kobashi - GHC Title Reign Takes Him To Top 5 (Great Underdog and Champion, a complete story) 6. Rey Misterio Jr. - Perfect Integration of Lucha & American wrestling 7. Jumbo Tsuruta - Mr. All Japan 8. Genichiro Tenryu - King Prick 9. Jushin Liger - Best Japanese Junior 10. Vader - Best big man ever 11. Eddie Guerrero - Most Entertaining Wrestler 12. Terry Funk - Ultimate Main Event Utility Player 13. Randy Savage - Intensity, credibility, ruthless 14. Barry Windham - Best ring movement 15. Bobby Eaton - Best punch 16. Ricky Morton - FIP 17. Arn Anderson - Best midcarder ever? 18. Greg Valentine - Best WWF Bellhop (Could carry anyone). 19. Shawn Michaels - Rockers run & 90s singles >>>>>>>> 00s comeback 20. Akira Taue - 1995 & 2005 21. Nick Bockwinkel - Thinking man's wrestler 22. Ricky Steamboat - What is about "Ricky's" and selling? 23. John Cena - Best wrestler of 00s 24. Shinya Hashimoto - Best Strong Style 25. Bret Hart - Best offensive moveset of North America 26. Jun Akiyama - White or Blue, he is still cool 27. Dr. Death - 1994 28. Steve Austin - Best Attitude Era Worker 29. Bob Backlund - God of Headlocks 30. Daniel Bryan - Sky is the limit...well you know... (wrote that before the injury, for me as a viewer it still is because I have seen so little of his indy work) 31. Chris Benoit - Separation of art and the man 32. Dustin Rhodes/Goldust - Saga continues... 33. Tito Santana - Blood feud worker 34. Rick Martel - Most consistent wrestler 35. Lex Luger - Best bodybuilder wrestler 36. Hulk Hogan - Most underrated 37. Brian Pillman - What could have been? 38. AJ Styles - Air, Land and Sea 39. Yoshinari Ogawa - My Spirit Wrestler 40. William Regal - Ring General 41. Ronnie Garvin - OW! 42. Yoshihiro Takayama - Bleach Blond & Badddddddd 43. Owen Hart - Best Younger Brother Brat 44. Curt Hennig - AWA salvages Mr. Perfect 45. Kerry Von Erich - Flair/Jumbo, need to see more 46. Jerry Lawler - Separation of the wrestler and the commentator 47. Yuki Ishikawa - Crazy hair, crazier punches 48. Kensuke Sasaki - POWER WOYAH (So that's his worst run, but the name is very apt) 49. Marty Jannetty - Rockers 50. Sean Waltman - Best Underdog Story...until now?

Parv, I was thinking that because it is a collective term, but it sounded weird to me because we are ranking 100 wrestlers. Lets leave it be then!

I do not mean this to be a slight to this match, but rather praise to the overall level of BattlArts quality in 2008 when I say that Ishikawa & Sawa vs Tiger & Hara was even better than this. This match was a tour de force and representative of how on fire the promotion was from a quality standpoint. Yuki Ishikawa, Alexander Otsuka, Muneori Sawa vs Daisuke Ikeda, Super Tiger II, Katsui Usuda - BattlArts 7/26/08 Elimination Match Anytime, you see Ishikawa stand across the ring from Ikeda you know shit is going to get real. I loved how organic, but yet thoughtful the match was. When they did a Northern Lights Suplex or a figure-4 or a Sharpshooter, it felt like legitimate, believable ways to apply the hold while still never losing a sense of authenticity. I have never seen a Sharpshooter or Figure-4 in an MMA fight even though it would obviously hurt if wrenched in because the setup would be intricate, but here you see demonstrations of how it could be done without excessive cooperation and it was really neat. This is in addition to just fucking brutal all those strikes were. My favorite part of the match was the buildup to the first elimination. The very first thing established is that Sawa has a chip on his shoulder and wants to take out the big dog, Ikeda. He is obsessed with him to point of costing himself the match attacking when he is on the apron and not even in the match (Ishikawa bails him out). Ikeda shows he is a level above Sawa keeping him at bay with relative ease. Usuda has a deep, deep toehold on Sawa that causes some serious knee pain for Sawa going forward. There is great selling and sense of desperation from Sawa for self-preservation from Usuda's relentless onslaught and the fact that Sawa basically dug this hole for himself by disrespecting the opponent in the ring by going after an opponent on the apron. Usuda eventually gets Sawa to tap to a heel hook after a great sense of struggle. If the match ends, it would be a MOTYC, but we get even more goodness that pushes it is into MOTDC territory. From here, the match does really well is showcase how much being a man down really puts you in a hole. Too often in the WWE do we see one man overcome two men on a regular basis that we lose that sense of a real disadvantage. Here the opposing team has an extra man to save his partner from a submission. Thus the that puts more onus on the disadvantaged team to win by knockout. Well good thing the other team is suplex machine Otsuka and punches really hard Ishikawa. Otsuka applies the most vicious snapmare you will ever see on Super Tiger, When snapmares are looking vicious you know you are in rare air. Ikeda and Tiger target Otsuka's leg, but he gets a throw to bring Ishikawa in. The first Ishikawa/Ikeda encounter underwhelms actually because I did not think there was much struggle it was just Ishikawa kicking the shit out of him. Eventually we get some struggle with Ikeda landing some big strikes and Ishikawa having to fire up to trap him in the corner and tags out to Otsuka. Otsuka applies an arm triangle to Usuda, Ishikawa detains Super Tiger, but Ikeda strolls over to break it up. That is the 3-2 advantage right there. Otsuka hits his German/Dragon Suplex combo to KO Usuda and even the score. Otsuka goes for the Boston Crab and almost does a bit of a Giant Swing. Ikeda backs Otsuka into his corner where Tiger kicks him in the head. Ikeda hits a brainbuster and punts him in the head for the knockout elimination. Genius booking, you get faces back to full strength only to have the heels use a numbers game and knock one out leaving Ishikawa back in the hole. Ishikawa is at his best fighting from underneath. There will be no one to save him from submissions and his submissions will be broken up at will. Ishikawa keeps getting those holds and Ikeda keeps kicking him in the head. Damn that must be annoying as fuck. In the spot of the match, Ishikawa has Super Tiger in a Standing Deathlock so everytime Ikeda kicks Ishikawa down it wrenches the hold in more. Maybe the greatest spot in history. Eventually Tiger's knee is so fucked it is an instant tap out and Ikeda cant save. Well the whole match has been building to this and here we go ISHIKAWA VS IKEDA, BABY!!!! I didn't think this standalone portion was as good as their 2005 match, but it was a good ending to an excellent match. Ishikawa comes out hot, but may have punched himself out. Ishikawa starts going for heel hooks with Ikeda likes the kick to the head as his primary weapon both are stiff and violent looking. Ishikawa gets a choke and then without warning the bell rings and it is a draw. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! So why do I think this draw sucks? I like draws and I think they are a useful took. For instance, I think the NJPW/AJPW Dec 2000 is the perfect use of the draw and I will probably rate that match over this because I think it uses the draw better. That felt like a war where both teams earned the draw because they had kicked the shit out of each other so bad that it just needed to be stopped because they would go forever. This match I thought Ishikawa earned the draw, but Ikeda did not . Was he really in the match that long overall? He had plenty time to recover since outing with Otsuka. It was not an even match. Ikeda's team had the advantage the majority of the time. Since the match was uneven, I think we deserved a winner. Ikeda winning because Ishikawa falls short at the finish line or Ishikawa pulling out a miracle either finish takes it to ***** and a top 3 match of the decade, but the finish puts it in the Top 10. Overall though Sawa's elimination was incredible and then how they worked the uneveness was so entertaining. Just thought that finish stretch and finish left a little sumthin sumthin to be desired. ****3/4

Charles or Will, could you please change it to "Who Are Your Top 100 Right Now?". A person in my position can not afford to look ridiculous.

I believe that the change is more important the destination in this progress. How we have changed because the additional footage we have watched over the course of the year and how we view that footage and how are beliefs change are the real values of the project. The "ultimate" list that this produces will be static and representative of a time period. Pro wrestling is dynamic. One of the many reasons I love pro wrestling is that it never ends. So how can any list produced about a dynamic form of entertainment ever be considered final. Thus a static list measuring a dynamic quantity is on its own useless unless there are static lists that document the changes in time. One could argue that 2006 Smarkschoice Poill is the baseline. Well I did not take part in that poll so FUCK THAT POLL! I am kidding, I am kidding. As an example of what dramatic things can change in an eight year period, my feelings on John Cena has radically changed. In 2006, I hated John Cena with a passion. Man alive, I bought into every single bit of smarky bullshit especially the fact that he was a "bad" wrestler. Fast forward 8 years and I think Cena is one of the best in-ring workers (his character & out of ring work tends to suck more often than not in my opinion, but that is for another thread). I would actually rank Cena as one of the top 25 workers of all time. Now, what would have been interesting is if I documented that on a year to year basis. I know 2011 with Punk is when I started to turn the corner on him. Or how my brother loves to throw in my face "Remember when you loved The Miz and hated Sheamus". 2010 was a bad year for me folks, but it should have been documented! I think an additional baseline would help because it will show how much from the start to finish there was a change. Next argument would be that initial lists could cause influence, group think or convergence. However, we are all promoting what we love anyways so why no fully categorize. I have not fully exploited Dylan's list yet when he did for Wrestling Culture #50, but when he ranked Yuki Ishikawa (a guy who had never even heard of) and Tatsumi Fujinami at #5ish (I have seen like 3 Fujinami matches), it was a wake up call. So when I was doing Ditch's 00s project, I highlighted to make sure to watch every Ishikawa match and they have been tremendous (in two of my current top 10) and I bought New Japan set first so I can see what Fujinami is all about. That's how an initial list can be valuable in guiding our watching. So have at it. I will post one later in the week because I am at work and should be doing work, but I am committed to this viewpoint. It is going to be a crazy list, but hell it is only more fun that way.

What I think I really do not fully comprehend is why this can not be viewed as a checkpoint. There is never going to be finality. There is way more value in seeing how things change than in an "ultimate" list. In fact, I urge people to put together a Top 50/100 ballot now at the beginning as a baseline. Then check to see what their final ballot is in 2016. The change in that 1.5 years is going to be far more valuable than the final ballot ultimately because it represents how much more we have watched and how we changed in our viewing habits. If you are hung up on the semantics of "Greatest Wrestler Ever" is an unattainable goal because people are still wrestling. It is 100% impossible to declare the greatest wrestler ever. Why can't it just be the "Greatest Wrestler Ever Based on What X has seen in his Lifetime Up To Wrestlemania XXXII?" (With X being the voter). The beauty of it is that it is just like pro wrestling. There is no ending. It just goes on and on.

Funny you should mention cutting off ten minutes because we lost 8-10 minutes given the official time shown at the time of the fall. So they did cut off ten minutes and yet you wanted them to cut off ten more. GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion Bryan Danielson vs KENTA - NOAH 10/13/08 If only KENTA was allowed to wrestle Danielson, he would be the greatest junior heavyweight of all time. Danielson brings out the absolute best in KENTA by forcing him to slow down and work matches based around selling and storytelling. The moves fit the circumstances and strategies of the competitors rather solely to pop the crowd. I thought they would be hard pressed to top their 2006 MOTYC and I would say they would have except for the fact we are missing about 8-10 minutes of footage. I hate rating 75% of a match, no matter how great, against a whole match. For that reason, I put the 2006 match ahead, but the 2008 match was incredible and testament to both men's ability and especially to Danielson as a ring general. KENTA has all the physical tools to be one of the greatest of all time, but indulging the worst excesses of 00s have proven him to be inconsistent at best in delivering a cogent performance. Danielson has twice now taken him to the promised land providing him with two out of three of his best singles matches of the 00s (the other being against ultra-heel SUWA in 2005). The match picks up with KENTA delivering a rifle kick to Danielson's midsection like he is Sano's prodigy. Danielson sells this like a million bucks and really makes it worthwhile. KENTA dominates the midsection hitting a drop toehold sending Danielson's midsection into the steel railing consolidating his hold. Then a double stomp from the apron and more strikes has Danielson reeling. He tries to fire himself up with "C'mon muthafucka", but KENTA immediately kicks him in the rib. Then Danielson breaks into what will be vintage 2013 Danielson with a backflip in the corner and then a running elbow. It felt really fresh and desperate here. Danielson hits a baseball slide to set up his big springboard splash. He hurts his mdisection but lets a defiant yell because he is ALL MAN~! They tease a countout finish, but KENTA makes it back with Danielson pin attempt unsuccessful he takes to the sky, but KENTA wipes him out with a big kick. KENTA reconsolidates with a Go 2 Sleep crashing the midsection to the railing. Double stomp from the heavens to Danielson's midsection. KENTA is so focused, Danielson selling like a champion and the transitions drip with desperation, fuck this is good. KENTA picks up the pace because he is pressing the advantage. This is an excellent time to use the million miles per hour pace. The Texas Cloverleaf looks to have it sealed up for KENTA, but Danielson scratches and claws to the ropes. God, Danielson used to be the King of Selling. Danielson goes full on Ishikawa when he catches a kick into a heel hook only to reel him into a German suplex. 2008 was awesome, baby! Danielson hangs on and KENTA is desperately trying to hand onto the ropes, but eats another German. Danielson goes for Cattle Mutilation, but KENTA reverses into an STF and a Danielson forearm knocks out KENTA. The strikes are getting weaker and the counters more plentiful as the struggle is on. Danielson looks to complete his counterattack with another move from the top and KENTA goes for the running kick to dislodge him from the high ground, but this time it costs KENTA as he wrenches his knee and is left hanging in the tree of woe. Danielson throws the ref out of the way and rains elbows onto the knee. The heel hook can not force a submission as gets the ropes. Danielson hits his big bomb which is a super back suplex. Now he thinks it is time for Cattle Mutilation, but has to settle for MMA elbows to head. KENTA in a last ditch effort hits Go 2 Sleep from the position stunning Danielson and giving him time to recover. Danielson gets up bloody while KENTA runs the ropes noticeable slower. WAY TO GO, KENTA! Danielson catches him in a sleeper, now a Tiger Suplex and a Cattle Mutilation, but nada. Danielson goes for the kill witha super butterfly suplex, but KENTA counters into a Super Fisherman Buster for two. A needless strike exchange mars the finish stretch, but KENTA hits the exploding knee and G2S to take it. Part of me wants to commend KENTA for wrestling such an amazing match, but the other part of me is pissed about the Nakajima matches where KENTA clearly just said Fuck You, Nakajima. KENTA crushed it on offense, but when Danielson was launching his counterattack he modulated his selling perfectly first exhaustion then his knee, but never dying. He then at the final hour scored a big victory from the top rope to set up his eventual victory. At the end of the day, Danielson was the driving force. His selling hooked you into the match early then worked in perfect hope spots before finally consolidating into a late match rally. It was too little too late. Would love to see this in full, but right now I see this in the top 30. ****1/2

Preface: I love Misawa and he will be in my Top 5 unless something crazy happens. I just am looking to promote an interesting discussion is all. Selfishly, I would also like to see what people thought of Sasaki vs. Morishima because I thought it was crazy awesome. I just watched the GHC title matches from 2008 between Misawa vs Morishima and then Sasaki vs Morishima. The Sasaki match blew the Misawa match away. I think it was a complete smokeshow. I do not think there is one person that would posit it Sasaki is a better worker than Misawa. So what happened? I think Sasaki respected Morishima and how Morishima was different. He took what Morishima brought to the table: that he is fucking huge and used to create an amazing match. Where he, the veteran and great powerhouse, was totally overwhelmed by this behemoth. He kept preserving looking for those young champion mistakes and changing his strategy. The match started to tip in his favor forcing Morishima's hand into attempting a big bomb (moonsault) misses and bingo Sasaki is in the driver's seat. In the Misawa match, Misawa did not respect Morishima. He treated him like he was Kawada. Kawada and Morishima are two very different wrestlers. Misawa's elbow was still the equalizer and he was still content to do his extended comeback. Misawa did come up with neat ways to get Morshima in Emerald Flowsion other than that it is just seemed ho-hum. Misawa match had some non-layout issues: they kept selling just by laying around and Misawa just was not in very good shape. Should we chock this up to post-prime Misawa or is this systemic from basically wrestling the same handful of guys for a decade? Is this why the Hansen matches are not that well received (have not watched them in ages)? The questions is twofold. How do weigh the fact that Misawa really did not have a wide variety of opponents against the versatility of others? Secondly, is Misawa guilty of plug and play on a systemic level? I will come to Misawa defense in this post by offering up the '94 Dr. Death match. I felt like Misawa treated Dr. Death as a unique entity. Doc has a unique brand of power and explosiveness. Misawa felt like he was always trying to contain that and never let match get away from him. Whereas the Kawada and Kobashi matches, never felt like Misawa could be so readily overwhelmed. You just wish you could get more non-Hansen/Non-Doc/non-Corners matches so you could compare Misawa to those with a wider vocabulary.

GHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Morishima vs Kensuke Sasaki - Budokan 9/6/08 TAKE THAT DREAM! Sasaki's masterpiece that proves he can deliver an excellent match with a worker less experienced and not as talented. When I think of Sasaki's great singles matches they are against workers better than him like Hashimoto, Tenryu and Kawada. He is a very carryable wrestler that can be a part of great matches, but his performance is not the stand out performance. I say this as a fan of Sasaki. Unfortunately, the later part of the 00s, he was paired frequently against Kobashi. I think this was much too detriment of both men's career from a quality perspective (business-wise, yes I am taking that 2005 Dome check, thank you very much). They fed into each other's worst habits. Kobashi not against Sasaki was still delivering MOTYCs post-cancer. Sasaki proved it was not just Kobashi that was being dragged down, he was being dragged down too, when he took Morishima to promised land and together they put together Morishima's best match and what I would say is a top 5 Sasaki singles match. If you treat your opponent with the respect he deserves, the match will be respected. Sasaki respected Morishima as a monster and finally Morishima seemed to reach his potential. Morishima had been plugged into Misawa's formula and it led to middling results. It basically treated Morishima as if he was Kawada and thus not respecting Morishima's number one asset: he's fucking huge. Sasaki being a short, stout powerhouse worker found his normal strategy thrwarted by the fact that Morishima was fucking huge. At first, he tried to bullrush Morishima and that nearly got him killed. So he tried to slow the pace down with a headlock and probably re-think his strategy. So Morishima kicked his ass and when he tried to retreat he came flying out and wiped him out with a crazy suicide dive. Sasaki's selling throughout the match is amazing and you really feel like he is totally overwhlemed by the power and strength of Morishima. Sasaki's only hope is Morishima makes mistakes because he is young and he does. Morishima has a bad tenedency of telegraphing moves. Like running down the ramp for a lariat or taking too long to set up on the top rope. So Sasaki takes advantage of these moments to hit bombs to slowly wear down Morishima. At first, he inflicts a bloody nose, Sasaki thinks he can begin to throw around Morishima, but Morishima literally squashes that my sitting on him during two powerbomb attempts, one on the apron. Morishima hits a DDT on the concrete. Morishima, for his part, is not running through his offense like an exhibition this time he is making a statement. He is not just going to win this match. He will dominate this legend by stepping on him and pinning him with one foot. Sasaki new strategy after attacking Morishima for taking too long is to take the high ground and come flying off the top rope. However, the monster rises and meets him up top and hits a superplex. Again, Morishima takes too long and Sasaki hits a super back drop. Sasaki follows up with four more, but can't negotiate the pin. He is in shock. He goes to clubbering. NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB! KICK OUT?!?!? Sasaki is exasperated. He hit the monster with his best shot and could not keep him. Sasaki's selling of these kick outs make it all the more impressive. Respect your opponent and the match will be respected. Morishima comes back and Sasaki does all he can to stop the back drop driver. They do a lariat battle, which is smart because it is the only Morishima strike that looks good. Morishima for all his power is having trouble hitting a bomb on the fiesty Sasaki and goes for the moonsault and crashes and burns. This major mistake allows Sasaki to finally get Morishima off his feet with a lariat, which feels like a huge victory. Sasaki goes for Northern Lights Bomb, but Morishima hits a Back Drop Driver. Kick out! Sasaki will not be denied. Lariats are flying and a Northern Lights Bomb takes it for Sasaki. Sasaki dictated the pace so well. His early selling put Morishima over then he kept changing his strategy and looking for openings. Morishima did a great job modulating his selling so that Sasaki would earn minor victories from his mistakes until Sasaki finally dug deep and put him away. Best non-BattlArts match of 2008 by a good margin. TAKE THAT DREAM! ****1/2

GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Takeshi Morishima - NOAH 3/2/08 Morishima, go out and get it, brutha. In 2006, in that KENTAFuji tag, Morishima was out for blood and hungry. Again, in this Misawa match, he seemed to shy away from the big moment. Hey, Budokan against perhaps the greatest wrestler, at very least the greatest champion ever in the AJPW/NOAH lineage and you are going over and expected to be The Man. Yeah, that is what rubber pants are made for, but brutha if you are going to be The Man, BE THE MAN! None of these nancy boy inside forearm smashes. Misawa is smoking your ass with elbows and where you at? Morishima has a helluva lariat, but those inside forearm smashes are dog shit. He has some great big offense and a big time presence. He needs urgency and an energy to him. It feels too much like an exhibition, but that maybe a limitation of Misawa. Misawa seemed content to hit his elbow and then lay around and sell. Sure he hit a senton from the apron or take a HUGE suicide dive from Morishima, but Misawa spent most of the time on his back "selling". This is my second complaint, there means to make this "epic" rather than lots of MOVEZ was to lay around as if they were spent, but this is really only good for once a match. It gets old and especially when the moves they were hitting given the context of the time period and promotion did not warrant this "selling". Also this is not really selling. It is more a breakdown rather than a bridge to a chorus. I thought the finish was the best part of this match by far. Misawa has so much cache with his comeback that you really believe that once the Emerald Flowsion hit (both times, creative ways to get it) and the elbows start flying that the old bugger may pull it off. Then Morishima hits the lariats and Misawa does a great job selling how much he can't afford to take the back drop driver. Once it is hit, it is a fait accompli. It should have been a big moment on the level of Misawa/Kobashi 2003, but falls far short of that. Misawa just does not feel like The Man like he did in 2003. With Kobashi injured and Akiyama damaged goods, it was his best bet to be the torch passer, but he did not have much left to give in a singles context. Morishima looked like in 2006 he was a year ot two away from clicking, but did not seem to grab the torch like Kobashi did. I am very curious to watch the Morishima/Danielson matches because I heard they were so good, but yet Morishima does not seem to hit that level here. I like to reward matches with great finishes, but this just falls short of the mark. It is a god match that tries to reach epic with smoke and mirrors, but instead feels like an exhibition or movie rather than a great struggle for the world heavyweight championship. ***

Yuki Ishikawa & Muneori Sawa vs Super Tiger II & Manabu Hara - BattlArts 11/16/08 Tremendous. Fucking Tremendous. BattlArts serves up its second Match of the Decade Contender with its take on my favorite Japanese staple: Veteran/Hungry Young Lion versus two pricks. Sawa is a ton of energy and seems to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He takes offense to Hara's introduction and gives him a quick low kick. This is going to be chippy. The opening is some great jockeying for position. Then Hara opens it up on Ishikawa who is held by tiger with wicked kicks to his midsection. The way Ishikawa sold this was just amazing. Tiger and Ishikawa start to got at it and one shot to the gut and Ishikawa just crumples. I love how Tiger was going for the axe kick while it happened and then realized Ishikawa collapsed. That is "Think Shoot, But Work", baby! Tiger goes after Ishikawa's legs. I loved how all the holds were sold in this. Everyone was desperately lunging for ropes and selling when the timing was right. Tiger freaking out when Ishikawa gets a quick leg bar on him just when we think Ishikawa is done for is a great example. Ishikawa wisely tags out and thus begins one of the best damn face in perils of the decade. Sawa starts off in control, but quickly it becomes more even as they are trading blows on the mat. Tiger hooks in a choke and now Sawa freaks out until he gets the ropes. Tiger comes in all kicks blazing. Hara cuts Ishikawa off with a knee to the midsection. This leaves Sawa prone to be kicked to death by Tiger and Hara mercilessly. I like how Sawa starts off chippy, but is progressively worn down by the barrage of kicks so as not to die too quickly. Hara still has to work hard to get holds on, but when Hara does Ishikawa has to bail Sawa out. Everyone looks great. Sawa fighting through the odds, Hara is earning his takedowns and Ishikawa is doing the right thig. There is none of this deadfish selling and then miraclous kickouts that makes everyone look like an ass. Sawa dragon leg screw, WIND UP, HERES THE PITCH, STRIKE! PRO WRESTLING LOVE! SHINING WIZARD! Hot tag to Ishikawa. The rest of the match is basically a handicap match because Sawa has been so debilitated. He is still great for a save, but Ishikawa goes it alone against Tiger and Hara. At first, he fares well suplexing Hara and applying a wicked deep double wristlock, which Tiger breaks up. Hara suplexes Ishikawa!?!?!?! Tags out to Tiger.Tiger roundhouse kicks him right in the chin and Ishikawa fires up. Tiger catches him with an elbow and he goes down like a ton of bricks. You realize here that Ishikawa and Sawa are in deep shit. Tiger gave Ishikawa a run for his money in August and now he is weakened Tiger will be looking for that knock out blow. Just like in August here comes the Ishikawa comeback with the same staples, jumping kick to head, catching kicks to heel hooks and even a suplex. We all know how weak Tiger's neck is. It looks like Ishikawa is going to pull it out. Ishikawa goes for the submission and Hara and Sawa have this amazing skirmish where Sawa actually puts up a real defense. Hara actually has to beat him back and lunge at Ishikawa to break it up. That's type of shit that takes for you from Match of the Year Contender to Match of the Decade Contender, baby! Now Tiger has Ishikawa in a double wristlock and the same awesome skirmish breaks out and this time time Sawa breaks through. Awesome, awesome, awesome! I am not going to spoil the finish because it something that should be viewed with no foreknowledge. Is it better than elimination match? It is damn close. Damn close. These BattlArts matches have sure made things interesting. I thought my Top Ten was locked up, but shit is going to be tossed around now. Shoot-style tag team matches may be my new favorite thing in this world. ****3/4

Yuki Ishikawa vs Super Tiger II - BattlArts 10/25/08 As I have become more accustomed to the work of Ishikawa, the more I realize how much he likes to work underneath. He is up there with Flair and Kawada in terms of selling the general fatigue of battle. He has a hard time on the mat from what I can tell. He does not really sell the holds offensively or defensively. I feel like he gives up on holds too readily and when in a hold does not do much to convey the pain he is in. Still, in terms of stand up fighting, there are very few better. He dishes out as good as he gets. It is amazing how hard he hits and how hard he is hit. His selling of exhaustion and his striking work make up for a medicore mat game. I liked the Greco match, but besides that, does anybody have recommendations for better Ishikawa mat performances? Surprisingly, I liked the Otsuka match a lot more even though Ishikawa has impressed me alot more than Otsuka. Otsuka and Tiger told a simple story of stylsitic differences with a few entertaining highspots that led to a satisfying conclusion. This match meandered a bit before it got into its groove. Their matwork was an exhibition with each moving out of holds at will without much struggle. Super Tiger finally remembered that he is a lot better striking and instead of giving a rope break starts stomping. Tiger comes up with a few nifty ways to kick and knee Ishikawa in the face really hard. It is amazing the amount of punishment the human body can take. Tiger is actually able to use this to set up some nice submissions like a triangle choke. Ishikawa is starting to make his comeback as Tiger is puncking himself out. Ishikawa is grabbing heel hooks out of the weaker Tiger kicks, before he finally reels him into a suplex. Ishikawa hits a head shot and dumps him on his head for the victory. Tiger sure does lose a lot of matches by getting suplexed. He ought to learn a defense for that. Slightly under Otsuka match for me, but both are close. Otsuka/Tiger was a tandem effort whereas the Ishikawa/Tiger was the Ishikawa show with his selling and comeback being the focal point. ***1/2

Alexander Otsuka vs Super Tiger II - BattlArts 08/31/08 I really like idea of Super Tiger II competing in BattlArts. I know the history of Sayama/Super Tiger wrestling in Orginal UWF against Maeda. It just amuses me that a shoot-style promotion features a wrestler in a cute Tiger Mask. This is my second match watching him and he is a decent hand. He is not blow away good, which is a bit disappointing because I really wanted him to be a badass. Tiger dominates the stand up agam and Otsuka is able to take down and throw Tiger at will. Neither one seems super comfortable on the groud with submissions as they tend to roll around. Otsuka being " the wrestler" can control, but won't finish. Tiger starts rolling with strikes, but whiffs on a head kick and ends up in a Boston Crab. Otsuka keeps it entertaining by switching between Giant Swing and Boston Crab. Cesaro should add the Boston Crab element to the Giant Swing so it is not just a show off spot. Otsuka does a great job selling how being offense can exhaust you after a couple throws on Tiger. Tiger is dazed and confused, but he starts throwing kicks and elbows in depseration. He catches Otsuka with a couple great kicks to head. Otsuka is able to dump Tiger on his head with his German/Dragon suplex combo to win by knockout. There are some many 00s puroresu matches that are trending towards an excellent match, but end up dropping off a cliff in the last 5 minutes. It is so refreshing for a match to be good and entertaining. Is this the greatest match of all time? No, but it was fun and a great watch. Not all ***1/2 matches are created equal. This one is definitely worth watching and will leave you wanting to watch more BattlArts. ***1/2

I agree, Parv, you ought to compare him to his contemporaries, but he was totally different beast than Steamboat or Martel. He was a blood feud worker. He is going to sell, but on that comeback he is going to let those fists fly. Closer to a Bruno or Hogan, but more athletic and bumpable. Top 5 WWF worker of the 80s. Great series with Valentine and Savage and then ripped it up in Strike Force. He does lack versatility. He wrestles all matches like blood feuds like The DiBiase and Rude matches post-Strike Force. As I watch more different wrestling will fall out of zzz Top 50, but should be a lock for Top 100.

Does Ishikawa vs Backlund exist on tape from November '98 BatBat Sumo Hall show? I found Backlund vs Sasuke from same show.

Here is my incomplete AJ Styles thread. I am really high on AJ and will most likely make my Top 50. Once I finish the 00s Puroresu. I am going to try to complete the AJ project and make a big push for him like others have had their respective candidates. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/19786-aj-styles/?hl=styles

Speed Muscle (Doi & Yoshino) vs SHINGO & Dragon Kid - DG 8/28/08 I don't hate Dragon Gate or spotfests in general. In fact, I think a spotfest a major card is a great idea to razzle dazzle an audience and present something unique. My idea of a spotfest tends to be a little different than Dragon Gate's idea. I am more into flips and splashes. Acrobatics really excites me. Weird modified pumphandle slams that are no going to be sold (they are registered, but they are not sold) do nothing for me. I do not understand their appeal. There is an audience for this, but it is not me. The real major issue I have is that there a lot of wrestlers doing what Dragon Gate does better. Marufuji and Ishimori are better at flying and will wow me that way. They are much more well-rounded than Dragon Kid, who is fucking around with his damn arm bands when he should be selling. KENTA is way better than Speed Muscle at the million miles an hour gimmick. Shuji Kondo, who is terribly underrated, crushes SHINGO in the oversized junior heavyweight, who is a complete wrestler. Dragon Gate's bread and butter should be mindless spotfests, but KENTA/Ishimori vs Marufuji/Ibushi crushed any of their mindless spotfests. They do not even hold a competitive advantage over NOAH. If NOAH just wanted to do "Dragon Gate" they would annihilate them in entertainment. What made Toryumon enjoyable and special was the mixture of comedy and acrobatics. What was the only pure Dragon Gate match that was any good featured Genki Horiguchi in a strong character role in a finish run that was memorable and engaging. Dragon Gate seems to have gotten away from that and turned into a super serious pro wrestling company that features knock-offs of everybody else. SHINGO & Dragon Kid are a tag team, my nightmares are made of. Dragon Kid is so fucking useless. His spike hurricanrana is his only spot and it is totally on the opponent to make it look good. He sucks at offense and his selling maybe the worst in history. Dragon Kid may be the worst wrestler ever that is not El Gigante or someone. I just don't like SHINGO because he lacks all charisma. The match is built around Speed Muscle taking out his arm, but he still is constantly hoisting them up into weird slam positions so whjat's the point. I got on Kondo for this in his matches, but it was never as egregious as in this match. Spot of the match was Yoshino hitting a missile dropkick and landing into a perfect senton on SHINGO. Speed Muscle seems fun, but they suffer from the usual Dragon Gate flaws. During the finish run, SHINGO wipes out his own partner with a lariat. SHINGO has been trying to hit this lariat during the finish sequence and he finally hits it and you think damn all that work and he fucked his partner over. Dragon Kid true to form is up and running around 30 seconds. Damn, burying your own partner's move. Yoshino hits the Page Turner twice on Dragon Kid to win. SHINGO was trying in his own way to make this match special with his "selling", but he just carries no gravitas with me. Fuck Dragon Kid.

What the fuck was I smoking? This match is absolutely amazing and brutal. That one Ikeda six inch jab to Ishikawa's face coming out of a rope break followed by a wicked, wicked kick to the head was batshit incredible. I stand-by complaint that this was not the best when they took it to the mat. I have definitely seen Ishikawa have better mat-based performance. The stretch run with Ishikawa's face getting destroyed and bleeding profusely from the mouth was riveting. The suplexes and then crossface chickenwing submission was just the cherry on a sundae with extra bite. ****1/2 and a pretty solid lock for Top 20.

KENTA >>> SHINGO. SHINGO is easily the worst thing about Dragon Gate matches consistently now. New Hazard would be my favorite DG team if it was not for him. Horiguchi, Hulk, and Cyber Kong would be ultimate dream DG team. You have a great character, a good flyer/seller (there are obviously a lot of these in DG, but I think Hulk is one of the better at selling) and the best power guy they got. SHINGO is supposed to be their ultimate hybrid wrestler that can do a little bit of everything that could hang with the NOAH juniors if he was to wrestle there, but also keep up in DG. If you listen to Paul E.'s shoots with Austin, he definitely envisioned RVD as ECW's sort of all-around wrestler and crown jewel. I feel that both these guys suck and part of it is that they are so watered-down because they are supposed to be good at everything when they really were not that good at anything. I thought KENTA easily outclassed SHINGO in being the "heavyweight" of the match. New Hazard (SHINGO & BXB Hulk) vs NOAH (KENTA & Ishimorii) - Dragon Gate 3/20/08 I am really disappointed that none of these matches so far have included BXB Hulk's entrance with all the dancing women. I really enjoyed getting to see Magnum Tokyo's entrance in the Kensuke Sasaki match and I was hoping to see Hulk's entrance. Hulk impresses throughout this match as he is by far the best wrestler in the match. He works well with both Ishimorii in a flyer vs flyer battle and the KENTA portion has a great bully vs. underdog vibe. SHINGO is great at throwing Ishimorri around, but keep him and KENTA away from each other. It is just mindless striking and suplexing. KENTA is just so much better at that style and has way more charisma than SHINGO. KENTA totally outclassed SHINGO in home to be the heavyweight of his team. At times, KENTA was channeling some Tenryu in how he was treating Hulk during the great face in peril. I liked how this face in peril built in drama. At first they are controlling Hulk, but before you know it they are really being dicks to him. Then as he gets his hope spots in, KENTA really starts brutalizing his face and opens him up hardway. It was really compelling. SHINGO was a pretty good hot tag, I would have loved him to throw Ishimorii down on KENTA a little sooner instead of making KENTA way like an asshat, but picking nits, because it was a great spot. Once KENTA/SHINGO get together, it gets messy. Ishimorii starts flying around to keep me entertain. This was not enough of a spotfest to salvage this so they really needed to pick up the wrestling. When Hulk tagged back in, I loved his intensity and passion. None of these lame strikes, he was going for Ishimorii and I dug it. Ishimorii rattles off a quick super hurricanarana. I would have loved them to actually transition back into another face in peril, but with more nearfalls and really ramp up tension. SHINGO kills Ishimorii with a JBL-orgasm-inducing lariat. Ishimorii is really great at these bumps. Hulk impressively whiffs on tackling KENTA to prevent the break-up. I mean he dived in opposite direction of the way KENTA was going had me laughing. ​The finish stretch is surprisingly really strong and smart. They choose end with the two big hitters: KENTA vs SHINGO. However, the underlying theme is that since they are so even that each needs their little buddy to give them a boost. First KENTA has the advantage, but a timely kick by Hulk and then a dropkick into a Back Drop Driver gives SHINGO control. As SHINGO rattles moves off, KENTA does a sweet drop down into an out of nowhere Ishimorii dropkick. It was wicked nice. Now SHINGO tries to orchestrate a double team with Hulk to regain control, but it backfires and Hulk hits (ok, grazes) SHINGO. Ishimorii takes Hulk out with a wicked corkscrew splash to the outside. KENTA polishes off SHINGO with G2S and wicked kicks to head. There were stretches that were boring and filled with inconsequential spots, but overall this was more entertaining than not and the finish stretch actually added to the match. It is incredible how many matches I am actively thinking to myself please don't fuck this match up. I like rewarding matches that finish on a high note. KENTA was perfect as the hard-hitting bully of the match. I prefer Ishimorii over every single one of DG's flyers. He is so fluid and bumps huge. Hulk was great as the face in peril and added a lot when he was featured. SHINGO is so bland, but at the end of the day KENTA smoked his ass and that made me a happy camper. ****

I just watched the Low Ki vs American Dragon Submission Match from JAPW in 2002 that Stomper posted in the Daniel Bryan and it was fucking amazing. I was in a bit groggy watching it so I need watch it more closely to do a proper review, but I really got into it after the 10 minute mark. It was really tight work, tons of great, gritty matwork and a basic, but awesome story of two different styles meshing. I came out of it wanting to see more Ki for sure. There is a great Low Ki match against AJ Styles from ROH 2002 and an even better Ki/AJ match from Zero-One in 2003. Low Ki is now very high on the list of guys I need to watch.

I want in on the Best of The Indies 2000s project. Keep me in the loop. Thanks in advance for all the hard work

New Hazard (SHINGO, BXB Hulk, Cyber Kong) vs Muscle Outlawz (Doi, Yoshino, "Chubby Rey Mysterio" vs Typhoon(Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, Yokosuka) - DG 6/5/07 Shit happened. A lot of shit happened. A perfect microcosm of this match was the first elimination where Dragon Kid accidentally elminiates his own team by pinning Yokosuka after Doi threw him in the way of hurricanarana. I could not figure out what the controversy was initially until rewound and realized he pinned his own team member. It was just plain chaos. Some Toryumon/M-Pro staples like the opening triple wrist lock spot, triple bow and arrow, everybody suplexing each other, dive trains in corner and to floor were fun. I wish Cyber Kong was given a bigger role like old Don Fuji role. In general, more comedy would have been nice. Where the hell is Horiguchi? I love how there is always a rows of chairs wipe out spot even though it seems really token. The finish stretch featured a pretty good beatdown on BXB Hulk by that "Chubby Rey Mysterio" (who was that fucker?), but ends up going nowhere. I was hoping Kong would kill that little pip squeek, Yoshino, but instead he fell prey to his speed. This was total non-stop action in a good way. I put a notch below the two other really good Toryumon/DG spotfests that include Horiguchi. ***3/4