Bierschwale

If they really go with the "bracket" of hair matches that leads to Rush-Volador at the Aniversario, it feels like the absolute worst handling of UG, who I think is easily their biggest hair draw right now. Fuckin' Thunder.

I didn't like the majority of that, which is not related to the music, it's just that I'm not a huge fan of non-pop electronic. I'm a headphone listener. That, along with instrumental post-rock and a few other things, don't feel right on a list of songs, they feel like their own thing (How very GWE). At least I can claim these as my top ten albums from '75-'84, otherwise known as the Loss Decade: 10) Broken English by Marianne Faithfull. (1979) 9) Blondie by Blondie. (1976) 8) Pretenders by Pretenders. (1980) 7) The Dreaming by Kate Bush. (1982) 6) Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. (1977) 5) Marquee Moon by Television. (1977) 4) Another Green World by Brian Eno. (1975) 3) Purple Rain by Prince and the Revolution. (1984) 2) Remain in Light by Talking Heads. (1980) 1) Parallel Lines by Blondie. (1978)

Geigel was still running a promotion. He ran the area as the World Wrestling Alliance and had a decent amount of AJ-affiliated talent floating around. and Mike George was his World champ. Good times as always in KC.

Ironically just talked about this show last night, though it was about the Bulldogs-RNR match.

Nine of my ten, and everyone you guessed. We had that conversation on Twitter about me having a consolidated US-born top 10, except that having found another time that I referenced that top 10, it was only 9 of those 10 and that the tenth slot (which this time was Austin) is seemingly always up for grabs.. I am PERFECTLY happy to pull Lawler from "gutless #11-#20 list member" up to "gutless #1-#10 list member".

Oh yeah, there's absolutely no Memphis loyalty, not at all. When only Lawler and Dundee make the top 100, there isn't. It's not like there were any other Top 100 worthy candidates over there. Wait, yes, Eaton and Dutch Mantell, both of whom I voted for. Ironically, Savage is another "Memphis guy" in the top 100.

Imagine if Casas had asked for a few final tours in NJPW over the last few years? I'm going to assume without evidence that he gets to #17.

Of my crappy cataloging, he went MOTYC-level or better in AWA, NJPW, CWA, WCW, UWF-i, WWF, & AJPW. There being a match I like at that level from his NOAH team with Scorpio wouldn't be at all surprising. It's strange not one person could get on all ballots. Never been a unanimous induction for the Baseball Hall of Fame. It's just the way of things. Also, whoever suggested GAB as the Sting match over Starrcade/SB III has a beautiful soul. Best match of the three.

Of my several dozens of laments on not getting in a ballot, I can say that I'd also have put him #2. I'd have had Casas... above where he finished but not by a tremendous margin. For some reason, I'm going to instinctively say one spot ahead of Jun so maybe #12?

Uh-huh.

I can take solace for Hash in my mini-game of "best tag match between four consecutive workers" being Austin/Windham-Hash/Taue, at least. That's a fucking wild match. And the six-man of Austin/Eaton/Windham-Akiyama/Hashimoto/Taue is even better.

We've talked about how Jun's second run AJPW stuff might not benefit him at all with most voters. Compare that to Regal, whose best match of the '90s is ABOUT as good as Akiyama's best singles match of the '90s and had gone completely dark for years (SuperBrawl IV). I'd have Akiyama over Regal but there's solid reasoning for the inverse. Jun would have been my nonexistent #13-#16 and Regal my #22-#25.

And on the resume-building front, Casas & Santo are polar opposites since 2006.

And if ANYONE on the planet's rank not changing is hilarious, it's Taue.

He's one of my ten or twenty laments on not getting in a ballot. I'm absolutely with you on the idea that he could have been all-world with different circumstances, Matt.

I really hate Garza going that low. REALLY hate it.

I would be far more sympathetic to this argument if the top 25 wasn't shaping up to be filled with Japanese wrestlers who peaked before 2006. Heck, of all of the wrestlers yet to be listed, I think there's only 5 (maybe 6) where you can argue their active work since 2006 helps their case. Everybody else has not been active or their work since has almost no bearing (IMO) of their case for GWE. Akiyama, Bryan, Casas, Regal, Rey... Misawa's last run doesn't change him in where he is. Liger, just a little? Yeah, it's a small group.

Is there footage of Dundee-Lane from Memphis in '81 for Stan's US Junior title? I would watch the hell out of that.

Well, I can't either, and I'm sure his average vote will be lower than Santito's. But I really love Bobby Eaton. He was almost the perfect offensive wrestler, maybe the greatest tag wrestler of all time and a top-shelf in-ring heel. His skills were elite and his body of work fell behind only the best of the best. I'm pleased to see him climb so high and to me, he's an example of a "mainstream" choice that actually isn't that mainstream. I have no issue with Bobby and had him on my ballot. It just feels weird for me to see him finish so much higher than Dennis Condrey (199) and Stan Lane (260) when most of his case is made from teaming with those guys. Especially when those 2 guys were also part of great tag teams away from Bobby. It's not like I've ever watched a Midnight Express match and felt like Bobby Eaton was ten times better than his partner, it was a pretty equal pairing with both versions. Condrey will always be underrated because he was in the less-famous version of the MX (and his lack of non-MX work), and Lane will always be underrated because people have regularly made the argument that he was the second best guy in all three of his big teams AND that Condrey's MX and Del Ray's Bodies were better. Most importantly, though, and if I'm showing some philistinism-- what the hell is either guy's best singles match? I am a reasonably well-informed though chronically absent-minded PWO member and I don't have a clue.

Santo was already above Shawn Michaels in 2006. But Santo is lower this time. While Micheals is higher. What Santo has added since 2006: Mostly some cool stuff in TxT and England that about 40 people have seen. What Shawn has added since 2006: 12 **** matches from Meltzer amongst a whole lot of other crap.

His average was about #48. Bobby's just a guy without true negatives. Arn is the most arch version of that.

Eaton as the Norm Peterson of the list makes perfect sense. Everybody knows him, knows that he was great, the more voters that you add the higher that he'll finish and it's just that simple.

I suggest that 2026 should have pooled nomination threads that can lead to secondary and tertiary pooled threads where everything's up in the air. Specific thread limit for each candidate. But that's 2026 and why in God's name would we break out Robert's Rules for it now?

If it's Arn or Eaton this is still the greatest trios ever. Yes, I am instinctively slotting Benoit in as a tecnico.

Time makes fools of us all. All I know is that pasty dudes with outstanding guts did way better than they did ten years ago. Buddy & Murdoch never worked the same territory, right? That'd have been an amazing team in the ring and a very awkward one outside of it. Edit: Well, they definitely worked in AWA together. That's a trademark oversight on my part. But Cagematch, which has a decent number of AWA results for the era, doesn't have them in a match together. Or in NJ, or the WWF. I am totally missing something here.