Steenalized

Tim Cooke's post in the Daniel Bryan thread about crowd heat not being what it was reminded me of another huge plus in Punk's favor, that is, his ability to draw heat. He did it has a face and a heel. The ROH crowds did their smark chanting, but in the feud against Jimmy Rave and in his farewell heel run he was able to draw some legitimate heat. His WWE feuds with Rey, Jeff Hardy, and Cena did it too. He stands out next to his contemporaries in getting his matches over like that.

Are they going to roll with Lillian Garcia full time?

At least we know Meltzer'll give one match **** on that show.

I loved the Show/Rusev match, but the crowd was definitely quiet. Have been all night. Orton is better as a face when wrestling. Somehow, he's worse as a character.

05-07, basically from Punk's feud with Rave until a little after the CZW feud ended. That was the peak of my ROH fandom, though I was big into collecting the shows from before that too. Never really got into the earliest shows as the production felt pretty rare and the talent hadn't quite come together.

Count me in on the group who doesn't care for Nigel vs. Danielson, but Nigel is one of those guys I just never got into. His rise through ROH correlated pretty strongly with my decline in interest.

You're thinking of Peoria.

How pissed did he get?

Elgin is probably my least favorite wrestler to see on tape or live. Just can't stand him. He's a great example of "I have to get my shit in," no matter what. I get it, you love the delayed vertical suplex spot, why do you have to work it into every match regardless of how it fits, if it even does? Atrocious seller. I think he's a terrible tag wrestler too, FWIW, since he can't sell well enough to be the FIP, can't control well enough to get heat as a heel, and does nothing inspiring on the hot tag.

A little anecdote about that: earlier this year I was having dinner with a professor of mine/director of a clinic I worked at. I mentioned that I've been powerlifting in my free time and he mentioned that growing up in Pittsburgh he used to go to a YMCA or some other gym. Turns out Bruno Sammartino used to lift there and my professor mentioned what a huge fan he was of Bruno. I stunned him when I mentioned that I not only knew of but actually knew something about Bruno and Killer Kowalski. Antonino Rocca apparently was his favorite as a kid but he got noticeably happier when we talked about him and Bruno. This wasn't a case of ethnic pride, my professor is German/Jewish, but Bruno genuinely seemed like a childhood hero or idol for him.

It'd also be worthwhile to see what merch in prominent on WWE shop or on display at shows. What merchandise does Ambrose even have? And add in what Loss said about the actual designs. Most of their shirts are something I know I'd probably never wear, the only wwe shirt I've gotten is a Mark Henry one that looks like a gym shirt.

I was worried that Takayama hadn't somehow been nominated yet. I need to see more of his 90s work, but his matches in the first half of the 2000s get him a spot on my list. The guy was absolutely stellar, one of the best at making every move feel important.

I've thought about lots of guys for this list and put a rough estimate on where I think I'd put them if the list were due today. Somehow I didn't think of Cena and now that I do, I'm not sure where I'll put him. High. Very high. Just how high he'll climb makes me curious.

That's the other thing. Steen is barely 30 years old. He could have quite a career ahead of him still.

I'd put Punk as the #1 "indy" guy even above Bryan, but that's purely selfish reasons since as a Chicagoan I've been a Punk mark since the beginning. Top level ability to connect to crowds both as a heel and a face. Strong feuds in ROH/the indies and some of the best WWE feuds in the last 6-7 years with his work vs. Cena, vs. Rey, vs. Jeff Hardy. Bryan is a better and more consistent wrestler, all told, but I'll admit I tend to put peak performance as high or higher than overall consistency.

I agree that it's a stronger Funk match than Hansen match, but Hansen comes across as such a violent, aggressive S.O.B. in that match which is what I love. Principal Dory making the save doesn't bother me.

Since I was the one to nominate him, I should probably say something. If you can't tell, I'm a huge Steen fan. For the GWE though, I don't think I'll rank him, largely because what makes me such a huge fan is his promo abilities, charisma, humor, etc., so the out-of-ring attributes. I still rank him as one of if not the best indy brawlers of the last decade. He's also a guy who changed his style a ton as his knees went out and he put on weight, which I give him credit for. He's had some of the top indy feuds of the last ten years vs. Super Dragon in PWG, vs. the Briscoes with El Generico, and vs. El Generico. I might sneak him in at the bottom of the list just as an honorable mention sort of thing. Strong tag and singles worker.

Per Dylan's reqest: Kevin Steen, all reviews taken from my old blog. vs. Shane Hollister - AAW 11/13 - http://restholdwrestling.blogspot.com/2014/01/aaw-windy-city-classic-ix-11302013-show.html vs. Shane Hollister - AAW 12/13 - http://restholdwrestling.blogspot.com/2014/01/aaw-one-twisted-christmas-12282013-show.html vs. Kyle O'Reilly - ROH 2/14 - http://restholdwrestling.blogspot.com/2014/02/roh-tv-episode-127-show-review.html

And the match DR Ackermann just linked is my all time favorite match. Hansen and Funk are perfect together IMO.

Out of curiosity, did you watch the cage match after watching the feud in order or did you watch it in isolation? For anyone looking to watch these matches, there's a guide for the feud in the Puerto Rico wrestling thread. In order, twice now, though the first time was back in December or so. It was less bothersome the second time, but I also knew it was coming. I still love the match, the ending just keeps it from being as great as the strap match.

I didn't follow wrestling much between about late 07 and early-mid 2011, basically when I was an undergrad. Chris Master's complete reversal in reputation during that run was maybe the biggest stunner when I dug around online. I've got to check out those matches because while I know his current rep, he's still that green stiff with some obvious enhancements from my memory.

The brawling all around the arena is a good visual, but Colon winning by just stepping out is not something I'm a fan of. I hate escape the cage rules but this was almost an exception as Hansen tried like hell to get away from Colon. For Colon to win like that? Anti-climactic for all that built up to it, for sure.

Bam Bam holds a special place for me since he was one of my absolute favorites as a kid. I thought he was so friggin' cool and he was one of the few guys who I didn't care if he was a face or heel, even though as a kid I hated heels and loved faces. Unfortunately, his career set doesn't really match up, though there are some good highs. Henry would absolutely win this for me if character/promo work is taken into account and I think he's the best 'on a neutral field,' all else considered. Blackwell looks to have the best actual resume, but I've seen the least and have the smallest connection with him.

The more Hansen I watch and rewatch, the more I think he's my favorite offensive wrestler ever. No, he doesn't have the varied arsenal of Kobashi or Misawa, but he's not a simple punch-kick brawler. More importantly, everything he does looks so damn good. His elbows and knee drops look like they're going to bust you up. The lariat has legendary status for good reason. It looks brutal and believable.

I'm with you 100% on that. Those matches blew me away in a way that 90s AJPW never has. They're big pluses in the candidacy for Hansen and Colon and the only complaint I have is the ending of the cage match being anti-climactic.