Alan4L

glad you mentioned the Tommy match as I too was really impressed by it. Liger totally hangs with him.

Joe makes a great point there with the very good matches with lesser opponents. Definitely a strong part of the candidacy for sure. To contrast, here's some of his best matches with more well regarded opponents: Vs. Kota Ibushi (G1 2013) - Maybe the best match of both men's careers. My 2013 MOTY. Vs. Okada (G1 Final 2014) - a huge performance on a huge stage. He really does a ton for Okada here. Vs. Tanahashi (April 2014) - Sumo Hall main event for the IC title. Really well worked. Probably their best match against each other. Vs. Minoru Suzuki (G1 2012) - Such an intense match. One that I've seen alot of non-NJPW fans enjoy.

watched Vader vs. Tamura at my buddies house today. What a match. The staggering selling he does in this is some of the best I've ever seen. UWFI Vader is becoming a real favourite of mine. Like everyone, I'm a huge fan of his WCW work and what I've seen of him in New Japan and All Japan. Really feels like a guy who I'll have quite high.

because I was on NTL and not Sky for the first few weeks of TWC, my buddy had to record stuff for me. Can't remember if he started getting stuff pre-launch. I do remember those awesome SUPERSHOW SUNDAYS though! I loved loved loved the IWA Mid South shows.

I certainly don't think I'd class what Akira Tozawa does as lucharesu. His generation (w/Takagi, Hulk, Kong and YAMATO) weren't trained in Mexico and have a much different style to those that came before him (CIMA & Co) and after him (Millennials). So I would say you're missing out personally. First match I'd recommend is this absolute gem from the most recent Korakuen Hall show. It's the last match of a three match series, so you can skip the two matches which comes before it. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x27myhk_bxb-hulk-masaaki-mochizuki-dragon-kid-vs-masato-yoshino-akira-tozawa-shingo-takagi-dragon-gate_sport The story is simple. Mochizuki has beat the shit out of Tozawa from his first day in a wrestling ring and now as Tozawa is on the verge of a title match, he must go through his tormenter. His charisma and underdog skills shine through.

here are the singles matches: http://theditch.us/MochiVsFujii5-11-05.avi http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tz3gg1gck5vbn6f

Love the 97 Ikeda match. Otsuka was a fearless pro wrestler, not because of crazy bumps or anything but because he had no fear in terms of experimenting with different ideas and stuff jn his matches.

I just discovered this match and google lead me to this thread. I absolutely loved it. Robin was oustanding - his little shuffle fire up dealy after the dive series was the greatest thing I've ever seen.

haha sorry Chad! Should've probably listed yourself and Parv. Was just going to mention "organiser Steven" but then I thought Charles is kinda the organiser too so I should mention him.

My first blog entry about my experience. Won't be doing a huge amount but once every month or two is certainly a possibility. http://fightgameblog.com/2014/10/introduction-greatest-wrestler-ever/

Really well said

held up way better than I expected to, I'll be honest. I rated this really really high at the time but I figured alot of that might have been based on how these two guys wowed me with everything they did back then. But Ishimori's assault of the leg was fantastic, he was unrelenting on it and had all kinds of cool ways of working the leg work into the match. The athleticism spots were still mighty impressive 5 years later. Big props to this match. Probably won't make top 50 but it should make the second half of my list.

funny I was just looking to see if the Jody Fleisch tag was on there yesterday. Disappointed it didn't make the cut. I had it 7th in 2003. I might just include a personal list of honourable mentions in mine (things that would have finished high if they were on there - mainly DG).

So how we doing lads? How many of us are getting ballots in by end of year?

No problem Mick I really soured on the product in 2009 during Pearce's first year in charge. They seemed really focused on the HD Net TV and I didn't really enjoy it. However looking back there was still alot of good stuff on the non-TV shows just not the pletora we were used to from previous years. Danielson had great matches on his way out against Hero, Davey and Tyler. Hero came into his own as a singles guy with the advent of his KO gimmick. I loved his match with KENTA which was probably my fave HD Net match. Steen & Generico and the American Wolves carried the tag scene pretty well. 2010 was all about the Steen & Corino vs Generico & Cabana feud (which produced some incredibly heated, hate filled matches), and as the year went on the rise of the reformed Kings Of Wrestling (they had great matches with the Briscoes in Toronto, MCMG in NYC and Haas & Benjamin in NYC). Overall there wasn't a greath depth of match quality up and down the cards though. The roster just seemed very handcuffed. If I could recommend one show though it'd be April 24th in Chicago which had three of my fave matches that year in ROH. 2011/2012 were really the main Cornette years I think. There was some good stuff smattered around and the likes of Elgin, Cole & O'Reilly were a nice bit of fresh blood but on the whole these years don't come close to the peak years. 2012 in particular was just a wasteland in terms of great wrestling. After Cornette left, 2013 felt like it was almost a rebuilding year and they ended on a real strong note with an exciting Final Battle PPV. This year has seen that rebuilding pay off and the result has been a much hotter product, with bigger crowds, better matches and the best TV show they've ever had. August and September may have been the best two months of ROH since Gabe left. Jay Lethal has somehow become a fantastic heel TV Champ (his title defence against ACH in August in one of my fave ROH matches ever), the Briscoes have matured into perhaps their most well-rounded incarnation yet, reDRagon and the Bucks have been having some sensational tag matches, Adam Cole has developed into a really consistent heel worker and AJ Styles and Chris Hero have come back as part-timers having fantastic matches. The roster is a bit thin where they're only 2 or 3 injuries away from being in trouble though but I hope with TNA guys becoming available and some good up and coming talent out there on the indies, that they'll be fine.

Such great longevity. His style was made for being a dickhead veteran bully so he was like a fine wine as he got older. I think a good way to encapsulate his career would be watching the following: vs. El Samurai - 1997 BOSJ Final w/Tanaka vs. Ohtani & Takaiwa - June 25 2000 vs. Hashi - August 2003 vs. Danielson - BOSJ 2004 vs. Hayato - December 2009 w/Tanaka vs. Aoki/Suzuki - March 2013

I LOVED that match. It was approx 1 trillion times better than the AMerican Wolves vs. Haas & Benjamin match that weekend. I loved the two Future Shock tags as well though.

that is a healthy list right there. Although one match that I'm shocked by the positioning of is the Cage Of Death - one of the best executed hours of independent wrestling I've ever seen. I don't know how well it would come off to someone who wasn't entrenched in all the storyline things going on with it, but as someone who was it was incredible.

also the Tenzan match which was about as great as a Tenzan match can be that isn't in Korakuen.

Upon my latest viewing, I'd be very comfortable with this as my number 1. I reckon it will be no worse than top 3 if it's not number 1. I viewed the last ten minutes completely differently to Ditch. The "sluggishness" as he called it was great in my opinion - everything after the Tiger Suplex felt like I was watching an incredibly dramatic movie. Kobashi's face told the most wonderful story as he first had to regain his senses, then figure out where he was, then find a way to stop this guy delivering more punishment to him, then start to dish out some meaningful offense of his own and finally get in a position to deliver his kill shot and end the madness. It was amazing.

looking at these nominations and seeing the location of the poster, I can forgive you all for thinking this is my sister. But alas it is not. My sister thinks wrestling is the world's dumbest thing. Can't say I blame her though - she had to deal with a teenage brother during the attitude era and that's not something I'd wish on anyone! But hooray for nominations that I need to sink my advocacy teeth into. I WILL MAKE YOU ALL LOVE MOCHIZUKI LIKE I DO!!!!!

*Katsuyori (sorry to be a nitpicker buddy!) His return has probably gone better than we could have expected. Well from a match quality point of view anyway (booking of him has been so-so). He's a guy that has an aura about him, and it's always exciting when he's wrestling because you feel anything could happen. His best stuff post return have been the June 2013 Goto match, the Dome 2014 Goto match, the G1 2013 Ishii and Kojima matches, the G1 2014 Honma, Tanahashi, Nakamura, Nagata, Ishii and (believe it or not) Shelton Benjamin matches. He also has the recent Tanahashi match that Dave gave five stars to. I wasn't as high on that as him but it was a really great match. Before he left for MMA, his best stuff was the Akiyama match in 2005, the matches with Kawada and Tenryu (where they just NUKE him) and his TAKEOVER tag stuff with KENTA.

I thought the Summerslam match was really good and I only recently learned that Austin was knocked loopy during the match which in a weird way might have helped based on what you're saying here Charles. He was so out of it that at times in the match he did seem very vulnerable and out on his feet as Taker blasted him with big haymakers. The key Austin stuff I want to re-evaluate is his 2001 stuff with the likes of Benoit and Angle. I'm fairly happy in knowing how I feel about his early career, and the 98/99 stuff, but if the more "workratey" matches that he was doing post surgery hold up to what I thought of them at the time then he's going to be a high finisher. Like you guys have said, he worked his character into his matches as well as anyone.

Obviously the Minoru Suzuki match from this year is required viewing as well considering the widespread praise spanning all kinds of fans with different tastes. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22lrf2_g1-climax-24-block-b-match-aj-styles-vs-minoru-suzuki_sport this one with Tetsuya Naito is pretty darn great too: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2266oo_g1-climax-24-block-b-match-aj-styles-vs-tetsuya-naito_sport