GOTNW

For me Blue Panther’s candidacy is eerily similar to Jerry Lawler’s. I’m often more impressed with his opponents in his big matches, but I can’t really argue with his resume. Like Lawler Panther also benefits from representing and excelling at a very particular style of wrestling (mat-flavoured title match “technical wrestling”). As far as variety goes, I don’t think he was a natural brawler, but when needed I do think he was great at escalating the violence in his matwork and taking a rougher, more violent approach reminiscent of someone like Masanobu Fuchi. I would also honestly say he wasn’t that great at the non-matwork, “workrate” part of technical-style bouts. That is why, if you want pure Blue Panther fanservice, I think you are actually much more likely to find it in his old man maestros bouts than you are in many of the matches during his athletic prime. I am pretty alienated by the idea he is a serious top 20 candidate, unless you are either going to have a very Lucha-heavy or matwork-heavy top of the list. Even in this thread at least half of the posts amount to people expressing their disappointment with some of his most hyped bouts (out of which I don’t think there’s a single one I actually dislike or even consider average) or Panther in general. There are some good posts highlighting his strengths, but no one has really made a convincing case he should be seen as a truly elite top tier Lucha worker. Does anyone really think Panther is better as a complete worker than, say, Casas, Santito, Dandy or Satanico? Are Pantherheads dead set on mythologizing his bouts vs Atlantis the same way Sangre Chicana and Perro Aguayo enjoyers appraise their bloodbaths? Do Blue Panther advocators really get butterflies in their stomach for his sheer presence in a trios like I do for Emilio Charles Jr. or Pirata Morgan going berserk? Even in the genre of mat-based lucha title matches, I think Virus is a better worker than him. I’d say a more realistic evaluation of Blue Panther is that he is akin to a Lucha Taue - universally acclaimed and acknowledged, and while sometimes the beautiful aesthetics of llave or an Apron Chokeslam cloud one’s judgment and invoke hyperbole, when you look at his career more rationally, no one actually thinks he is the best. That is, unless you ignore match structure, selling, charisma and just intensively focus on wrestling ability. You can’t really argue with the beautiful neck bridges Blue Panther does in his 50s and 60s. Still, there’s no shame in being a second/third tier candidate for a list of the greatest to ever do it. I am going to have Panther somewhere in the middle of my list and would absolutely recommend folks who aren’t familiar with Lucha matwork to check him out. It really is an incredibly cool aesthetic. Recommended matches: w/Sergio El Hermoso vs Solar & Super Astro (1987/8/22) w/Negro Casas vs El Hijo Del Santo & Eddie Guerrero (1989/11/5) w/Negro Casas & Fuerza Guerrera vs El Hijo Del Santo, Gran Hamada & Yoshihiro Asai (1990) vs Gran Hamada (1990/11/13) vs Panterita del Ring (1991) vs Atlantis (1991/8/9) vs Ultimo Dragon (1992/1/31) vs Love Machine Art Barr (1992/4/3; mask vs mask; more of a standout angle than a notably great match) vs Angel Azteca (1992/9/4) vs Super Astro (1992/10/9) vs Love Machine Art Barr (1993/18/7; mask vs hair; similar deal as their previous bout) w/Eddy Guerrero, La Parka & Psicosis vs El Hijo del Santo, Jushin Liger, Octagon & Tiger Mask III (1994/5/15) vs El Mariachi (1994/10/30) w/Psicosis & Fuerza Guerrera vs El Hijo del Santo, Octagon & Rey Misterio Jr. (1995/03/17) w/Fuerza Guerrera, Pentagon & Psicosis vs. El Hijo del Santo, La Parka, Octagon & Rey Misterio Jr. (1995/6/18) vs Atlantis (1997/12/5) w/Black Warrior & Dr. Wagner Jr vs El Hijo Del Santo, Felino & Negro Casas(1998/12/11) w/Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Negro Casas & El Hijo Del Santo(1999/9/17) vs El Hijo Del Santo (2000/4/9) vs El Hijo Del Santo (2000/5/28) vs El Hijo Del Santo (2001/1/28) w/Arkangel de la Muerte vs El Hijo del Santo & Mil Mascaras (2001/1/28) vs Felino (2001/2/15) w/Super Parka vs LA Park & Safari (2003/12/21) w/Angel Azteca & Astuto vs Charles Lucero, Averno & Mephisto (2004/5/2) vs Charles Lucero (2004/5/9) vs Dos Caras (2004/9/25) vs El Hijo Del Santo (2004/10/6) vs Black Tiger [Silver King] (2004/11/16) w/Atlantis vs Averno & Mephisto (2005/4/1) vs Atlantis (2008/7/11) vs Negro Casas (2008/8/3) vs Villano V (2008/9/19, mask vs mask) w/Negro Navarro vs El Satanico & El Solar (2011/3/5) vs Negro Casas (2011/4/24) vs Felino (2011/8/19) w/ Atlantis & Solar vs Ultimo Guerrero, Felino & Negro Navarro (2012/1/14) vs Negro Casas (2012/1/27) vs Negro Casas (2012/3/2, hair vs hair) w/ El Sagrado vs Rey Hechicero & Califan (2013/4/14) vs Virus (2013/5/12) vs Averno (2013/9/13, hair vs hair) w/ El Solar & Super Astro vs. Black Terry, Negro Navarro & El Satanico (2013/11/17) vs Averno (2013/12/22) w/Black Panther & Cachorro vs Negro Casas, Puma & Tiger (2014/1/14) vs Negro Casas (2014/1/21) w/Black Panther & Cachorro vs Felino, Puma & Tiger (2014/3/24) w/Negro Casas & Atlantis vs Black Terry, Negro Navarro & Solar (2014/8/16) w/Ultimo Guerrero vs Solar & Black Terry (2014/11/15) w/Delta vs Shigeo Okumura & Virus (2014/12/23 vs El Satanico (2015/7/25) w/Negro Casas vs Black Terry & Solar (2016/2/28) vs Hechicero (2018/3/3) vs Virus (2019/3/23) vs Bryan Danielson (2024/4/5)

I had Fuchi placed around 50-60 last time, and thought “hmmm Fuchi was great but was that a bit high?”. I decided to give him a more focused look and the deeper I get the more convinced I am the opposite is the case and he should have ranked much higher than that. One aspect of Fuchi I’ve come to appreciate the most is probably his look. It might not be imposing initially, but it speaks so much. First thing it says is old-school wrestler, and that’s absolutely what you’re getting from him. Second thing you can see is that he is clearly an athlete. Maybe not a bodybuilder, but clearly in shape, something akin to a 2000s UFC career journeyman Welterweight veteran. He’s big and tall enough that he can believably stand up to his peer heavyweights when need be. But he’s also pale and somewhat frail. I remember one time a camera zoomed in super close and you could see acne scars on his face. His skill is great, but physically he’s just barely lacking. Just a little bit more and it would be enough for his stature to be so much greater. I can’t help but wonder if there is a deep pain inside him. If he wore a dress shirt instead of wrestling trunks I could imagine him as a salaryman sadistically daydreaming of taking out the injustices of this world on his annoying supervisors and seniors. Luckily destiny guided him to pro-wrestling instead of an office career and we get to see him brutalize and torture younglings in 6-man tags. Fuchi definitely represents a type of worker. The Arn Anderson/Fit Finlay/William Regal respected role player veteran who helps backstage. And if you want to make a fact-based argument, it’s going to be hard to point to someone who was better at him at being that type. For one, he agented the most revered wrestling of all time (90s All Japan). But as a worker, he has a really sneaky strong case and checks all the boxes. At various points in his career, he: -was a great base for luchadores -had some of the best brawls ever to take place in Memphis and All Japan -had probably the best “role player” performances ever as a torturer in the best run of 6 man tags of all time -worked great junior title matches -went hold for hold with shooters -worked as a sympathetic underdog, eating a big beating if needed You can repeat talking points like “All Japan didn’t focus on the Juniors enough for Fuchi to have a strong enough resume of singles matches”, and that may be true. If you’re talking about a top 10-20 placement. As it stands, I think there’s more than enough volume to deduct that he was a phenomenal pro wrestler. The man carried Hiro Saito and Kuniaki Kobayashi to near-classics. Enough said. For a solid mix of canonically accepted all time great wrestling, flavored Fuchi performances and “you just gotta watch this”, I would point to the following list as a glimpse of his development and variety as a worker: vs Dos Caras (AJPW 1978/8/18) w/Atsushi Onita vs R2 & C3 (AJPW 1979/7/6) vs Chavo Guerrero (SCW 1981) w/Atsushi Onita vs Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee (CWA 1981/8/1) w/Atsushi Onita vs Eddie Gilbert & Ricky Morton (CWA 1981/9/4) vs Chavo Guerrero (AJPW 1983/8/19) vs Chavo Guerrero (AJPW 1983/8/31) vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (AJPW 1986/4/6) vs Hiro Saito (AJPW 1986/6/12) vs Joe Malenko (AJPW 1989/1/21) vs Mitsuo Momota (AJPW 1989/3/29) vs Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 1990/7/12) w/Tsuruta & Taue vs Misawa, Kawada & Kobashi (AJPW 1990/10/19) vs Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 1991/ 4/16) w/Tsuruta & Taue vs Misawa, Kawada & Kobashi (AJPW 1991/4/20) vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 1991/7/18) vs Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 1991/9/4) vs Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW 1992/1/21) w/Ogawa vs Kobashi & Kikuchi (AJPW 1992/4/18) w/Tsuruta & Taue vs Misawa, Kawada & Kobashi (AJPW 1992/5/22) w/Ogawa vs Kobashi & Kikuchi (AJPW 1992/7/5) vs Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 1993/2/28) w/Kawada & Taue vs Baba, Misawa & Kobashi (AJPW 1994/1/29) vs Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 1996/7/24) w/Toshiaki Kawada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 1997/1/26) vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 2000/7/1) vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (AJPW 2000/7/11) w/Kawada vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka (NJPW 2000/12/14) w/Tenryu vs Kawada & Araya (AJPW 2001/6/30)

After rewatching this, I'm ready to stay my ground on this match. This bout is akin to Bockwinkel vs Hennig from 1986, in that Reigns puts on an all time great performance, and the bout is structured in such a way that it plays to Jey Uso's strengths and he doesn't get in the way of it and stop it from being a classic. Obviously Jey Uso is nowhere near as good as Curt Hennig, in fact Jey Uso isn't considered a very good (you can take out the very) singles wrestler by most. Yet he's still an important part of this and adds to it, because he's limited to what he knows to do. This was an extended squash in which he had to do exactly three things: 1. Act 2. Sell the beatdown 3. Make a comeback akin to one which he regularly made during Usos tags I am not sure if there is a fourth thing in pro-wrestling Jey Uso is good at, but this match required him to do just these three, and he excelled at them. For a company which has talked about "sports-entertainment" for so long, WWE really rarely does match-angles, and it is especially rare that they do them well and actually pull off something more complex. So as an actual match it is more similar to Lawler vs Idol than an hour long wrestling classic. And this is an interesting match because it is so unique. You can make some obvious comparisons: Terry Funk vs Lawler Empty Arena - no fans, epic charismatic performance by Funk Rock vs Mankind Empty Arena Falls Count Anywhere - no fans, epic charismatic performance by The Rock Lesnar vs Cena Summerslam - WWE championship main event extended squash This match is like a combination of all of the above. And you know what, it is much better than Funk vs Lawler Empty Arena or Lesnar vs Cena from Summerslam. And while I'm at it, it's also better than Lesnar vs Cena from Extreme Rules. I don't know if there is any other match in company history where a WWE wrestler feels like a force of nature the way Reigns does here. There is a DVDVR/PWO neologism "negative space" used to describe the times in the bout inbetween the action, and this match is a masterclass in negative space. Reigns commands attention - his interactions with Uso, Heyman and the referee were absolutely perfect, and he had the right offense for this type of match to work - classic US heavyweight ex-football player offence, good worked punches and some rope-runs with a running Tackle to finish things off. Would Gus Sonnenberg and Bronko Nagurski be proud? Honestly - who cares? Have you seen how much TKO stock is worth? This match right here is why. It's a wedding of all the great soap-opera melodrama which has driven the first legitimate revival WWE in popularity WWE has had in 20 years and classic prowres violence. When Reigns starts going berserk and throwing punches in bunches and brutal forearms at an already physically defeated Jey Uso who is held back from quitting only by the power of his spirit while his twin brother cannot stand to watch it and throws in the towel? That's as pro-wrestling as pro-wrestling gets. There's no way this wouldn't be hailed as brilliant if it had happened in 1985 AJW or Memphis. And it absolutely should. Because Reigns throws really good punches. And also he put on a masterful "less is more" performance which serves as a perfect reminder to everyone "wrestling work" is everything done inside the ring and acting and the selling of the action is equally, and often even more important than the quality of the actual action; a statement which should be co-signed by everyone who liked Terry Funk more than Dory Jr. Is it hokey? Is it cheesy? Aboslutely. It's also pro-wrestling. Terry Funk yelling about yellow pigs isn't exactly a profound acting performance. And you know what, call me an educated pleb, but Reigns' performance here seemed like a pretty phenomenal character performance to me. Certainly the best one I've ever seen in pro wrestling. That might not cover as much ground as it might initially seem as matches of this type aren't very common, but I still deem it to be a true statement. I rate this as a 10/10 pro wrestling classic, US match of the year, and while miracles are possible, most likely my 2020s US match of the decade. Interestingly I'm not sure if it wins not only 2020s MOTD but even 2020 MOTY because Ikeda vs Ishikawa also happened in the same year so it's a case where I have to think a bit first. Still. What a damn match.

I've changed my mind and now see this take from teenage me as reactionary, even though I think it's more of a matter of changing my perspective as I grow in age and (hopefully) wisdom than thinking Bret vs Curt Hennig is better or worse than I thought 4 or 10 years ago. I do wish that Ditch post was still up somewhere. We're losing knowledge like libraries are burning in the Internet age. I've said in Dory's thread that I would have the post-Thesz "technical" NA wrestler power ranking as Brisco>Dory>Bret. After doing some more re-watching, I have it as Brisco>Bockwinkel>Bret>Dory, and I'm seriously considering Dory for my list. So, Bret is in this time, and has no chance of falling off, in fact I'm more likely to put him in the middle. I do maintain I don't see him as someone who has a serious case for the top 10/20. But it isn't Bret who has changed (duh), it's me and what I want from him. Looking at his stoic peers of the time like Misawa or Santo, Bret isn't going to do very well in direct comparison. Excellence of execution blah blah - I don't care. Could anything be more boring than a wrestler who just does moves correctly? That sounds like Dean Malenko. I want something more, and in prowres that's either going to be expressed through intensity, sheer beauty or more. And that's where Bret is going to be lacking. He's just not that guy. He doesn't have the intricate matwork you'll see from Brisco, or for a contemporary peer of his, El Dandy. His moves are well executed - sometimes I'll nod my head and say "hell yeah that's how you do a Russian Legsweep" ; but they are rarely breathtaking like a Santo Dive, Atlantis Monkey Flip, Misawa Elbow Barrage or Sliding Kick. Then there's the problem of great matches, cream of the crop, classics and near classics. Again, Bret isn't a case like Misawa/Kobashi/Hashimoto/Kawada/Jumbo/Flair/Lawler/Casas/Santo where a fan of his is going to point you to 30 different matches at that level, and when you adjust that to someone who isn't that into them you get you get a fifth of that which is canonically accepted as all-time excellence. If someone's really into Bret, maybe you get around 5 or 10 of those at the highest or close-to-it level, and then it's just a bunch of good-really good matches which a lot of wrestler who aren't nearly as hyped as him also have. Then there's also the whole deal about him only really being Bret in the WWF under certain conditions, which is one of the reasons why I thought Owen was better last time, I'd watch Owen look spectacular in New Japan or wherever, and meanwhile Bret would look completely mundane outside of his ideal setting. So I adjusted for main-event placement inflation which explained Bret's stronger high-end resume and ranked Owen on the lower end of my list and didn't rank Bret at all. And I would absolutely agree with the idea that Bret Hart was not a great improviser, and if you sent him out there with a very good worker and gave him no time to work on the match it probably wouldn't be special. Despite all of this, I've continued to enjoy his work and appreciate him more and more. Because there is one thing Bret Hart brings to the table and it matter more than anything else to me. I think it's pretty clear, if you've listened to him talk for 2 or more minutes, Bret Hart is a completely delusional egomaniac, and is probably not a good person. This is one of those archetypes which make for a successful pro-wrestler, kind of similar to how sociopaths rise to the top in business in an unregulated free market. Bret Hart takes pro wrestling, how do I say this without sounding ableist... seriously in a very literate and dedicated sense. He clearly put a lot of thought into structuring his matches, transitioning from one point to another and having it all make sense. Pro-wrestling should make sense within its own confines. It shouldn't be especially difficult because the audience is already accepting the ridiculous prerequisition of treating this nonsense as somewhat legitimate combat. If Bret Hart has a ladder match, it's going to make as much sense as a ladder match can, and there won't be a moment where I'll go "gee why doesn't one of these wrestlers just jump on the damn ladder and grab the belt I really am watching phony nonsense". If I'm watching a Bret Hart cage match, I won't have a though of "these guys have forgotten they can win by escaping". There are a lot of nominated wrestlers who can do a Brainbuster or a Suicide Dive, but not a lot of them would think up grabbing Shawn Michaels by the hair after he pushed you off a ladder so you can both fall down and have a cover for why he didn't just immediately win the match. And that's what ultimately convinced me. Bret's dedication and passion and his successful execution of it through his match planning are what keep intriguing me in his work and why I keep coming back to it, and having the willingness to watch their matches is the highest praise I can give to a wrestler as an employed adult with a thriving social life. So, as much as part of me still wants to go "actually these random obscure wrestlers are better than Bret", I feel at peace with my appreciation of him now. In hindsight, that question from the second page to "name a 100 better wrestlers" really wouldn't be much of a challenge for someone who'd be more focused on action itself than I am.

I last watched this about 12 years ago when we were doing the "Best of Japanese Pro Wrestling Before 1980" project, and I remember thinking it was really good, but I didn't rank it in my top 20. This was at a time when "two territorial US wrestlers throw worked punches for 20 minutes" didn't sound very exciting to me to say the least. I've softened my stance on the genre and figured I'd see how this looks now. Well, 12 years later, sorry, this still isn't some sort of super classic. You wanna talk about great punches, there are plenty of great punches here, but unfortunately there's an unignorable amount of strikes which could have by all means been thrown by Triple H, Randy Orton or Seth Rollins, the kind of punch which isn't a ridiculous wide swing and a miss like a John Cena punch, but doesn't actually look good either, and if you're working a match based around great punches, that's gonna take it down a notch. Lawler vs Mantell this was not. Also, if you're having a match based around projecting violence (which is what they were doing, this wasn't an actual display of violence like an Ikeda vs Ishikawa, Hashimoto vs Tenryu, Valentine vs Wahoo), you'd expect it to be treated seriously so that the gravity of the violence is sold. If you ignore common sense in a ruleset for a bit (how preposterous a no-DQ match ending in a no-contest is), this was booked to perfection, with almost laboratory conditions for these two to have the best match possible. A special stipulation which emphasizes violence and a brigade of wrestlers breaking them apart, meticulously isolating their limbs with Murdoch and Kox breaking their grips only to clash into one another again and again. Some of their ideas definitely had potential and could have been executed and dramatized as great moments (like them both falling down after an O'Connor roll attempt and Kox trying to swing at Murdoch but falling down due to exhaustion), but I'm rating this not on potential but on execution, and their execution was such that the crowd ended up laughing at them. That's now how you sell something which is supposed to be a brutal battle of attrition. It may sound like I am harsh on this, but with the reputation it has, I think it's going to be fine, it can withstand some clarity in criticism. Its strengths are still there (a lot of good looking punches, tight lock-ups, a very focused working style which plays to their strengths and a pool of blood), but as far as wild out of control brawls of the time go, this isn't in the same stratosphere as something like Oki vs Sakaguchi from 1975. Still well worth a watch. Great match, 8/10.

Well, that was a lot of gibberish without a clear point. It seems at though I ended up ranking Lawler #44, which is higher than I remembered. I decided to go back and watch some Memphis because: a) as the quoted post testifies, it is a style I enjoyed and found easy to watch even at a time where I would spit before uttering the phrase "80s US wrestling" b) I've become a boomer and my stylistic preferences have moved even more towards the kind of minimalistic wrestling you can see there. Also some things just suddenly make sense. When I was 16 it was all about championships and tournaments and whatnot, hair vs hair matches just seemed like a dumb medieval relic. Now that my friends are balding I'm like "yeah forget about titles it's all about hair vs hair you're already fighting the inevitable you really don't want to get beat up in the process too". So, now I'm old and pretty much the target audience for this stuff. Lawler certainly has the output to be considered a greatest of all time candidate. Has he found his way into the depth of my heart and is now challenging for a top 10-15 placement? That's gonna be a no. I like the matches a bit more now (and I already loved them dearly), but I find it I largely feel similar to how I did 8-9 years ago. For all the talk about offense, I think the "invisible" work is really where Lawler shines. He really knew how to sell and position himself while eating a beatdown, it's really the kind of stuff which should be shown in wrestling school. And of course he is a legendary puncher, his jabs, corner punches and big haymaker swings all look amazing. However, when it comes to throwing smaller and shorter punches, I don't think he is that great. In fact, I came away thinking Dundee and Mantell were actually better punchers than him after watching their encounters. In fact, while I currently lack the immediate reference materials to fully flesh out a concise case for it, my gut instinct tells me I might prefer Dundee and Mantell as workers in general. It might not be the easiest case to make with how Lawler-centric Memphis is as a territory, but looking at their input, it just seems like they work with a bit more snap and manage to project themselves more, and I am pretty confident it has nothing to do with them being heels when opposing him. Luckily my main criteria is "vibes" so if the footage convinces me of it he can have 20x more greatness on his resume I won't budge. Also, I mention this reluctantly because I don't think it's a big deal and I ignore it most of the time and just accept it as part of the style, but the "straps coming down" and the cartoony comeback I am not a big fan, especially in the context of "greatest wrestling of all time" discussion, this means I am comparing it to Antonio Inoki firing up, Lou Thesz losing his temper, Sangre Chicana comebacks with burst of energy exploding in counter straights, Misawa's extended comeback, Santo cleaning house and so on. To me it looks out of place, but different strokes for different folks. Lawler is probably going to move up on my list, but top 20 is probably out of reach. When I think of all time great brawling, in the sense of classical prowres brawling which combines these big mesmerizing personalities and worked punching, I think of wrestlers like Sangre Chicana, Perro Aguayo, Terry Funk, Pirata Morgan and Johnny Valentine, and for me he falls a bit short in direct comparisons. I may end up ranking Lawler over at least 1 or 2 of the mentioned but when I factor in all other styles of prowres I like, there's just too much competition.

I'm not sure I'd phrase it exactly like this and point out the same things, but upon rewatching this I have to say I largely agree with what I had to say 8 years ago. The amount of modern wrestling of questionable quality I was watching at the time probably helped a lot with pointing out the stylistic strengths of 90s All Japan which this match greatly represents. It's understandable why this match is so hyped. It's got a big fight atmosphere, an excited crowd, there's a story to it with Kawada having just won the Champion Carnival and Misawa having reigned for so long that makes it feel this could be the title change. It's worked about as typically as a big 1990s All Japan Triple Crown match could. Hot beginning to start things off>slowing down>picking up again for the finishing stretch. It's got the eye-catching Kung Fu action movie striking and bomb-throwing but it's not ridiculous to the point you could earnestly fault them for being excessive. That's kind of the problem I have with it. It's all by the book. There's nothing to grab me as something special. Misawa's targeting of the knee might be significant to someone writing a piece on the rivalry, but in the context of the match I didn't find it that significant; proficiency in legwork isn't what I love Mitsuharu Misawa for, and it ended up being just another thing which they moved away from later. The body of the match in particular is just them doing stuff. There's not a lot of filler, their stuff looks good, occasionally there are moment of truly captivating violence (like the face kick to counter the Half Crab and Misawa's brutal Shining Dropkick), but there is never an escalation, nor does it really set up anything in the grand scheme of things. In a way it feels like Misawa and Kawada played it safe; which is completely fine. But the match doesn't start feeling special until about 23 or 24 minutes in. The scale of the finishing stretch is something which definitely resonated with me this time, and why I think the match has the reputation it does. It's hard to add much to it at this point. Just an absolute master class of milking heat and dramatizing struggle. My favourite moment of the match was probably when Misawa no-sold Kawada's head kicks in the corner, stood-up and just knocked him down with an Elbow. I've talked about it when describing Hashimoto matches several times, but the beauty of pro wrestling is that it operates outside of logic, much like the real fighting it is (at least vaguely) based on. It's a preposterous spot when you describe it, it's preposterous in execution by almost everyone, but when you're that captivating of a worker and manage to create that magical magnetic atmosphere by using your selling prowress, you can get away doing more. Life isn't fair. 8/10. Even with their flaws, I prefer the 1992 and 1993 Triple Crown Misawa-Kawada matches over this one. The uncertainty of what was going to happen in the 1992 bout (not in terms of the result but in terms of how they were gonna put together the match) and the spectacularity of the 1993 one are more endearing to me than a great execution of a textbook layout.

Continuing the quest of finding my favourite Misawa vs Kawada match, we go here. Is this the one? Hmmm. It's a weird match. The opening isn't very good. Even if you don't like AJPW stylistically there's a certain level of respect and acknowledgment you should have for these two for their ability to chain movements together and put on complex matches. The opening is basically a complete negation of that. They were not synchronized at all, which you could especially see at certain moments (Kawada's weird Shoulder Block where he gently took down Misawa, Kawada bumping huge for an Elbow which Misawa didn't really throw with the swing and intensity of a big knock-down Elbow). Then there's a moment where they re-create a spot from the 1992 match, which was a big turning point in that match, where Kawada throws a kick which lands pretty high on Misawa's chest but it's high enough that when you have an all time great seller in Misawa he can get away with a magic trick and convince you his throat got crushed. It was a filler spot here which was very annoying. Then there was Kawada's armwork which was complete filler, lacking the intensity and conviction he is often praised for, as well as as proficiency in execution. I was honestly ready to give up. But then they started doing moves. When Misawa started kicking Kawada around for the comeback, it really felt cathartic. Alright, enough of this nonsense, the match starts now. And they put on a fantastic fanservice of what I want Misawa vs Kawada to be. If you were to JIP the match from that point on I would see it either as a near classic or a classic. The sheer magnitude of the brutality and their dedication to the stiffness and action was outstanding, Misawa throwing Elbows which basically go through Kawada, who in return answers with beautiful desperation punches. This is a match of which you can make beautiful GIFs and highlight videos if there ever was one. Obviously these two have the common sense to intertwine it altogether with the struggle and build for this not to fall apart, and sometimes the struggle is even more interesting than the bruality - I loved Kawada running towards the ropes to block the Tiger Suplex and Misawa desperately Armdragging himself out of Stretch Plum attempt. Then comes time for the finish which is one of my favourite parts of these Misawa-Kawada matches where Misawa just nukes Kawada with Suplexes and goes over to remind everyone he is the king of All Japan and Kawada is an ugly loser. Speaking of details! Kawada's weak kick-outs really sold his inevitable doom and I loved him just desperately diving for Double Legs as a last resort. So how to rate this? I'm uncertain how I'd compare it to the 1992 bout. Once the match actually starts, it's on another level compared to 1992; much more compact. 1992 loses steam in the middle whereas this doesn't open in an interesting manner. But the beginning of this is worse than anything in 1992. But a bad start is structurally not as bad as a bad middle. But it took a while for the start of the bout to come. I give out a verdict of 8-8.5/10.

When I was about 13-14 I watched all of the Misawa/Kawada singles matches and I distinctively remember having a favourite and it not being the 1994 one. Even though it's been years since I rewatched it by this point, I have confidence my opinion on the 1992 one would remain the same, so now it's time to find out which one I liked the best (maybe it will be the 1994 if it magically clicks with me once I watch for the, urgh, fourth time?). So, what is gonna be my favourite Misawa-Kawada match? Well, not this one! Which is somewhat counter-intuitive. Even if this match doesn't have some great reputation, stylistically it should fit what I like in Jwres and Prowres. It's shorter and more compact than their 1992 bout. About a half or two thirds of this were worked in a very gritty manner, smaller than you'd expect from these two and more in the vein of what Tenryu and Hashimoto would do. Them just grabbing each other's heads and violently smacking them on the turnbuckle was not what I was expecting, maybe they got jealous watching the WAR tapes. I liked them methodically going after each other and hitting nasty shots, but if we're gonna talk about all time great wrestling, and with these two it's almost an insult to give out other comparisons, I'll take the stuff Hashimoto and Tenryu were doing at around the same time over the Misawa-Kawada tribute job. Eventually when it came time for the finishing stretch they settled into what they usually do, and it was nowhere near close to the best version of the stuff they can do in terms of chaining sequences and showcasing spectacular offense. And honestly I think the indecisiveness is the downfall of the match. They didn't dedicate to working a minimalistic match where Kawada's early control would build heat and lead to a big Misawa comeback, nor did they really organize and structure it like a big spectacle (despite actually doing quite a lot in terms of offense they busted out, particularly Kawada) so it just kind of fell in-between. Felt like a 7-7.5/10 match.

I watched the first two volumes of the 80s Joshi set Kadaveri set up, which cover the 80-81 period of AJW and go past Jackie's retirement. Commenting on 10 year old posts might seem kind of rude, especially since we're talking about a worker whom barely anyone hyped-up to begin with, but there aren't a lot of them in this thread and some of them I intensively disagree with so let's just get at it: I have yet to watch a Mariko Akagi match or get to Jaguar's prime, so I can't really comment on that. However I totally disagree with the notion Yumi Ikeshita was better than Jackie. I really like Ikeshita, she brings the vibe of intensity and aggressiveness I live for, but AJW didn't have a very deep roster, and when you compare how they fared at getting good matches out of whatever Nancy Lucy Cindy Mimi the AJW idol factory produced, which is going to be a lot of what they were doing at the time, Jackie completely blows her out of the water. I have yet to really find the proper words to describe the AJW style, but the only thing I can clearly pinpoint to is that there was a lot of moves and irish whips. "Gritty matwork" really seems to be connected to Sato as an individual worker than the house style. Which just makes Sato that much cooler in my eyes. I think this is an unfair description. From my point of view, Yokota had some raw skill and a sense for putting together exciting movement, but she wasn't exactly some sort of genius worker in 1980-1981, and to claim Sato was "every part of it" is to approach the matches in reverse of how they should be. The matches are great, but they are much closer to a Billy Robinson/Terry Funk vs Jumbo Tsuruta where the veteran is clearly leading the young up and comer than they are to an equal effort. Yokota was nowhere near Sato's level at that point. That's it for now. I'm counting on OJ and Jetlag to be in good spirits and not get mad. I'm gona put the Joshi set watching on hold because I'm really dreading the idea of watching AJW without Jackie Sato and Yumi Ikeshita, watch some more Sato and come back to this thread to hopefully hype her up with more detailed arguments.

Here's another match which I haven't watched in over a decade and have no idea how it will hold up. Obviously this was a classic to the eyes of a 13-14 year old who started watching Jwres because of TheSuicidalDragon Youtube videos. Misawa is someone whom I've never stopped loving despite my opinions on prowres changing drastically, and 1997 Kobashi isn't full on Crybashi anymore but is also about 3 years removed from becoming a wrestler whom I actually love. So, now that some matches aren't automatically better than other matches to me because they have more cool moves, does this 40 minute maximalist late 90s All Japan bout hold up? Yeah. This match is worked in a style which, for the sake of the pro-wrestling industry as a whole, probably never should have existed. But it is an undeniable masterpiece of that style. I am a much bigger proponent of prowres minimalism than I am of maximalism, something like this dooms the next generations who are sure to see a highlight video of this and fall for the flash of the big spots without understanding all the layers of structure and meaning underneath them. And they are really what sets this match apart. New standards in workrate have been set since this match has taken place, there are matches that have more apron bumps, more top rope action, more headdrops, but this match remains at the top of the mountain of big action-based prowres. Working a long main event title match by just going straight into it, with the "hot start>cool down>finishing stretch" All Japan layout instead of the classic prowres layout of gradual escalation presents many issues, as those of us who have seen a lot of 90s All Japan can witness. Probably the most common one is that matches feel disjointed because wrestlers lose focus in the middle. This match manages to successfully avoid that. The armwork probably helped with that, but these two just had an absolute command of the pacing. I'd say the secret ingredient was the way they used holds to connect their transitions and control segments, especially in the beginning. Putting on a Surfboard Stretch or something similar when you can't even get a deep 2 count makes sense from traditional Prowres logic, and it was crucial in preventing the moves from losing their impact and blurring together. Another important thing is that there wasn't actually a cool down period. This was a long match which escalated gradually, obviously later in the match you're going to have the dramatic selling and the nearfalls, the middle is where you're either going to have some twists and turns or you're going to get lost. Here they managed to connected the armwork to the big moments without it feeling like a rest period, and the viciousness of the armwork itself really managed to make it as legitimate of a choice as the bomb-throwing. That's a proper foundation for a constantly progressive action-based bout Now that I've covered why this works and doesn't fall apart like most contemporary workrate wrestling, this is just a festival of spectacular offence. And honestly the big headdroping suplexes might be the least interesting thing here. Misawa's Sliding Dropkick, the Belly To Back Suplex over the ropes, that beautiful Elbow Drop…..he really gives you a reminder who the real exellence of execution was, just watching him do his stuff and chain moves in sequences is absolutely wonderful. When he busts out something like that crazy Diving Spinning Back Kick it's almost like a flex. 90s Kenta Kobashi is a necessary evil which needed to exist for something like this to come together, he never saw a move he didn't want to do, and if there's a time and a place for that to come to good use it's a match like this. Outside of one stupid facial expression he made when he wasn't in the ring, Kobashi did a very good job of emoting desperation and perseverance, and his stubbornnes clashing with Misawa's stoicism spiced up the good fundamental built and played into the finish nicely. I would rate this as a wrestling classic. It's definitely the best All Japan match of the year and almost certainly the best pro-style Japanese match of the year, as well as a strong candidate for best match ever done in the style. It's not my favourite style, so MOTY will have to go to Casas-Santito which is probably my Lucha match of the decade. Still, if you're not allergic to the style, it doesn't get any better than this.

I don't remember whether I actually ever rewatched this match and I'm leaning towards not having done so, so it might honestly have been nearly 15 years since I last saw it. Now, to some of you veterans that's just another chapter in the book, but since I'm 27 the moment this review is written, it's an almost scary reminder of how long this nonsense has been a hobby. I have to admit, I was completely flabbergasted by this match. I don't even think Steve Austin was a good wrestler most of the time during the peak of his stardom (98-99), and Bret is someone whom I've remained interested in but hasn't really vowed me as I've given him more chances. This was a classic when I was 13, but so were Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat and HardyECDudleys Ladder matches. Opinions change, mine mostly have, and the odds were stacked against this bout. Aesthetically, this match feels oddly familiar, but also somewhat out of place. It's incredibly reminiscent of an Apuestas fight or a Memphis brawl, which really isn't what I'd connect with 1997 WWF. They use furniture, but it absolutely works in the context of the match. The quality of weapon usage is lost when the violence doesn't feel organic - when LA Park and Rush or Onita and Tarzan Goto are manically going after each other's throats and grabbing anything that happens to be there, weapons rule. When they're turned into a prop, a part of the stage set almost as much as parts of the ring are, they lose their point because they don't escalate the violence. Action-wise, again, it feels like a pastiche of Terry Funk vs Lawler and Perro Aguayo vs Santito. Non-stop intensity with quality face punching, an intelligent use of weapons, slams into the post/apron/barricade. I would say the match is also similar to Minoru Suzuki vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, not in the output, but in that this caliber of a match was only possible due to how well the wrestlers mashed and cancelled each other's flaws. Bret Hart took the business seriously and put a lot of thought into match structure and coming up with cool spots. I doubt Austin could have thought up a match of his caliber if he was the one in charge. But a Bret Hart vs Bret Hart match of this type could have never been a classic. Bret Hart could execute wrestling moves well, but he was never the best at emoting, which is what is going to carry a significant portion of a match of this type. Austin built one of the most successful runs in prowres history basically solely on emoting, and this match is his finest hour. When he comes out, the crowd really isn't going crazy, despite the announcers pretending so. This needs to hit. He is desperate to get over, desperate to become a star, desperate to succeed, and that happens to coincide with the desperation of his character. Austin bumps like crazy here; Bret takes some really nasty bumps too, but a couple of times when Austin went into the ringpost and the barricade it looked like it almost had to have been unsafe. His body language, facial expressions, voice acting, even the blade job, everything was absolutely on point in conveying that sense of urgency and struggle. The finish was absolutely perfect. One of the obvious question in a bout like this would be "how could Austin possibly submit Bret". He did use the Cobra Clutch for a bit, which he didn't even attempt here, and I thought that was a great choice. Stealing the Sharpshooter made for a much more meaningful moment, as did the use of the cables, which presented a much bigger peril as it was much easier to imagine something akin to that being have made a finish. The ambiguity of "will Austin break the Sharsphooter or not" was milked to perfection, and the icon visual of blood dripping from his forehead before he goes down remains powerful even after having been successfully exploited for profit for decades. Impeccable match. US match of the decade, best match in WWE history, and rest assured - a wrestling classic. (Un)fortunately, 1997 is also the year of Misawa vs Kobashi, Casas vs Santito and Volk Han vs Tamura, and while I could rank this above some of these, there's no way I'd rank it above all of them, so it will have to be deprived of MOTY honours.

I had this listed as a classic and couldn't remember it at all, so I decided to give it a re-watch after what has to have been almost a decade. Well, maybe classic was a bit too much, but I would safely put this in the 9 out of 10/near-classic category, it's definitely one of my favourite trios matches. Opening fall starts ok, some fun Ultimo junior mat-sequences and more intensity than you'd expect from a random La Fiera-Wagner interaction, and even when they switch from doing charismatic lock-ups and staredowns to actual work it's still really good, Fiera hit Wagner with one of the most beautiful Bulldogs I remember ever seeing and his Snapmare and Armdrag also looked very good. Still, Santo vs Casas is the real story here, any time they even lock-up it's just magical, they bring an unmatched intensity to even the most mundane opening tropes of prowres. Match really kicks into a higher gear once Ultimo Dragon gets taken out after getting Hammerlock driven into the ringpost and starts selling his shoulder like it broke, that's a perfect example of a spot you'd look at and think "that probably hurts like hell it doesn't really make sense for you to do stuff like that all the time and just treat it like nothing". Once it's 3 vs 2 Santo and Wagner just go berserk, they beat on Casas like he owes them money and suddenly you get an even clearer reminder of what an all time great rivalry Santo vs Casas is and what it was all about in its best incarnation, which is what you're getting here. Seriously, they don't let him catch a break. Casas does an amazing sell job for the massive beatdown, and when it looks like the rudos are fully in control Ultimo Dragon magically appears and just goes over. Huh. Maybe Mexico is crazy and random things just happen. This is what you're thinking? Well wrong because the new Ultimo Dragon has different offense and movements and everything because it's not really Ultimo Dragon it's Felino in Ultimo Dragon's gear. I always make sure to watch the post-match for matches like these so I don't miss more action, and here it turned out very useful because they basically retroactively explained the entire angle by doing close-ups of how Ultimo looked before he went to the back and after he returned. But with all due respect to storytelling, what you really don't wanna miss is the moment when rudos are pissed off, going off cutting their mad promo and Casas and Fiera wack them one after another as they are moving past them on the ramp. Poetic justice! Cinema! Great match and a wonderful example of a well done mix of creative booking and intense action which purposefully moved forward a great rivalry in Lucha.

It's interesting how, for all the talk about the 2006 list being so go-go action oriented, and having taken place at a board literally called "Smarkschoice" with voters using intellectual usernames such as "Benoitsmark" and "This is Workrate", the old timer candidates actually performed better there. Thesz barely made the top 150 last time and was #82 in 2006. When I was making my list last time a part of me wondered whether I was subconsciously influenced by being a contrarian weeb, but I've ultimately come to the conclusion that even if that were true, it is much more likely to be affected in whether I rank someone like Akitoshi Saito or Buzz Sawyer than the top of my list. In actuality I just don't like how American wrestling developed once Harley Race and Ric Flair became important. This is probably part of what made Thesz so interesting to me, together with the reverence for him in the UWFi and among the Catch wrestling circles (amusingly, you could argue Thesz-worship among the Japanese was them being reverse weebs - a Samurai to a Westerner is a Cowboy to an Easterner). Still, that's really no guarantee his work would be on that elite level. Luckily, it is. OJ's responses like "he was just the best wrestler" may seem a bit dismissive, but they are true . But it isn't a statement which is just true on an ontological level, where I would confidently co-sign a statement saying "Lou Thesz is the best American wrestler of all time". It is also true in a sense that the appeal of Lou Thesz and the presentation of Lou Thesz is that he is the best wrestler. In that he doesn't really differ much from a Bret Hart, and you can look at no-nonsense straightmen like Jack Brisco and Dory Funk Jr. as continuing in his style and lineage. I would describe Thesz as being magnetic in his simplicity. Ed "Strangler" Lewis, who was a big inspiration and influence on Thesz, left the same impression on me in the unfortunately limited footage we have of him. Ultimately, what I think makes Lou Thesz one of the greatest of all time are the following: -he worked in a setting which I like stylistically (a strong emphasis on matwork and legitimate wrestling skills) and which fit his strengths -he not only had a great understanding of real grappling, but knew how to transfer it into a working environment and build beautiful mat sequences around it -despite playing a stoic character, he had a great sense of emoting; Thesz losing his temper just means more -he could spice up the grappling with striking and "tricks" like the palm striking his own hand into a Back Elbow, which could be useful both as a revenge towards rule breaking heels and when he was playing a (mostly subtle) heel -he could go through any of the 4 combinations of the traditional roles and types of a pro-wrestler (face/heel x technician/brawler) while staying true to himself and the quality of his work -he worked many greats, but never looks like the lesser great (just for 1970s, where he was already a veteran, he looks completely at home in the clips we have of him going at it with Johnny Valentine in Florida, and clearly outperforms Gotch in their tag vs Inoki and Sakaguchi) -he had a very sophisticated understanding of selling and structuring matches (Thesz vs Gagne 1952/1/25 is to Golden Era prowres what Misawa vs Kobashi 1997/1/20 is to King's Road) I think the beauty in his work is ultimately what sets him apart from wrestlers like Bret and Dory. I might appreciate the thought Bret put into structuring his matches and that he took the business seriously, or the mechanical ability of Dory which could produce epicness against elite opponents like Inoki and Jack Brisco, but neither of them feel complete. Thesz is - which is why I see him more as a comparison to Misawa and Santo in the category of elite stoic wrestling characters who were just "the best". Maybe you could nitpick about Santo here because he had the whole gimmick, but I would turn that around and argue that, with him having the gimmick, it was almost a prophecy for him to be the best. And the beauty of their work is what connects them in my mind. With Misawa, it can be a Forearm barrage or a Sliding Dropkick; with Santo it can be a Hammerfist to get into position for the Camel Clutch or a beautiful Plancha; with Thesz it is a beautiful Drop Toe Hold, a tight Headlock, and, when he loses it, a brutal Knee lift. In conclusion, I have Thesz penciled in my top 10, with a chance of him making my top 5.

I've done a 360 on Oki. At first I was like "this guy is out of this world great why wasn't everyone talking about him before". Then I was like "yeah he looks great in some stuff but then there's actually a lot of matches where he almost feels like a non-presence so it almost makes sense he'd get overlooked". But now I am firmly in the camp which assesses Kintaro Oki was the driving force behind some of the greatest wrestling of all time and was an absolute beast of a wrestler; even if he might not set the world on fire if you autoplay a random tag match, but who cares? Well, maybe you do, but I don't. I'm here for the good stuff, give me enough of it and I'll be forgiving. Terry Funk was doing stupid stuff in Puerto Rico in 1986, are you really gonna look down on the wrestler who had the Lawler and Hansen matches because of that? Anyway. Back to Rikidozan's 3rd and unjustly forgotten student. Do you like minimalism in pro-wrestling? If the answer is no, I don't think Oki is gonna be your guy. You need to really be into it. Even if you claim you love minimalism in pro wrestling, Oki is a test for you. He really might be the most minimalist wrestler of all time. Once you start watching him, try to name one move he regularly does other than the Headbutt. What, you can't? That's what I thought. Who needs moves when you can just stare at someone intensively. Building suspense and tension, almost annoying the crowd before an explosion lets loose and it all turns into a frenzy. This is what Kintaro Oki is all bout. Sometimes it's not about suspense, he'll go out there and just Headbutt someone a million times. But the emoting, the selling, the body language, it's all top notch. Oki just get it, he knows how to project himself like few others do. Right now I'd say his best matches are: vs Antonio Inoki (1974/10/10) vs Seiji Sakaguchi (1975/5/16) vs Giant Baba (1975/10/30) vs Abdullah The Butcher (12/11/1975) w/Kim Duk vs Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta (10/28/1976) w/Kim Duk vs Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta (12/9/1976) vs Giant Baba (10/29/1977) w/Kim Duk vs Rusher Kimura & Great Kusatsu (1977/12/14) vs Giant Baba (4/1/1978) The JWA stuff has faded from memory a bit, but if I were to go back at it I'd probably include something from there. There has to be more from his team with Kim Duk too. Still, I feel comfortable saying I'm at a point where I've seen enough Oki I'll be watching more not because I need additional information to judge exactly what level of worker he was, but out of sheer hedonism. Right now he's safely in my top 30 and one of the million wrestlers I'm considering for the top 10/15 tier.