Wade Garrett

All-Japan and New Japan in 85 aren't stellar years for singles matches. There's some pretty great tag matches. Shit in All-Japan Flair and Martel may be the best singles match, Either that or Tenryu and Choshu. Tenryu and Choshu had a match in early 85 I have on an old tape somewhere but it was UWF I think? Come to think of it all the high end singles stuff in Japan in 85 was UWF stuff. Fujiwara has got to be a top tier WOTYC in 85. Super Tiger, Maeda, Takada, and Yamazaki are all in the mix. Time to dig up some tapes. I agree with ya on Chris and Kerry goodhelmet as far as WOTYC. I remember that time well as I was 26yrs old and watchin a lot of that stuff.

85 if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks for the responses guys.

WOTY. NWA Champion Ric Flair would be hard to nudge outta this spot. Wide variety of opponents who he's working great against. Just aces. WOTY. Top Contenders in no particular order at this point. Tenryu All-Japan. Fujinami New Japan Dibiase & Murdoch* Mid-South Lawler Memphis *I may be biased because he's one of my all timers but damn Murdoch was 40/40+ years old and working a couple handfuls of great matches in New-Japan to add to Mid-South matches. Others. Not WOTY though. Tully Blanchard had a great 85. If we were grading this on July/Aug 85 thru July/Aug 86 I don't know if there's anyone I woulda rather watched as an overall package than Blanchard. Chris Adams and Kerry Von Erich are the brightest spots in World-Class. Kevin usually holds up his end in singles and I liked him in tags. Gino I never had any use for unless it was with Chris or Tully. Bobby Eaton at the time was underated. What did ya folks think of Fujiwara, Maeda, and Takada in 85? I haven't seen that stuff forever.

Don't want to take this thread off course but I have two questions and don't know if it's worthy of it's own topic. Sorry if it's wrong to ask this in such a great topic. Does anyone prefer and/or think Tenryu was better then Tsuruta? Does anyone prefer and/or think Fujinami was better then Tsuruta?

Can't nominate them because of footage issues but Ole Anderson & Ivan Koloff were a really great team briefly in Georgia in the late 70's.

Paul Jones? I know there's not a lot of stuff floating around from the 70's and early 80's but there's some clip/jip stuff that will give ya some insight. It pisses me off to no end at all the great stuff that's missing from the 70's which was very influential on me remaining a fan from childhood.

Paul Jones was pretty great. I don't know how much complete stuff is available but some of the 70's clip/jip stuff will give ya some insight.

I have a question for those who may know. Why did they stop the Bad News Barrett gimmick? Only to award him with the dated (always shitty in my opinion) KOTR gimmick? The guy is frozen once again from where I sit. Another question I have. I was lurking over at Wrestling Classics and a poster made the comment that Rollins isn't believable as WHC because he's to small. I find that interesting considering he isn't small from what I can see. I'm still a pretty big guy at my age. I can suspend my disbelief pretty damn good with Rollins and his tactics. Then again in the 60's, 70's, and 80's this point wasn't made as much by us fans back then. If you can fight you can fight. I worked as a bartender and bouncer for years and I've seen smaller guys whoop the piss outta bigger guys. Mostly because they were in better shape, quicker to the punch, and/or had some athletic/fighting ability/training. Rollins isn't a favorite of mine but I can buy him as a well conditioned and trained wrestler although he's playing chicken shit bad boy. There were a lot of guys I saw live in the 70's and 80's who weren't what I would call all around big guys who were believable as ass kickers and skilled wrestlers/fighters.

For me it depended on who Flair was making look good. I didn't see the Cena match but isn't Ryder off the radar completely? As in a Jobber?

I know Vince has a daughter who he obviously has groomed in regards to the family business. However Vince comes from a very different era in time too.

As far as the Women are concerned I don't know about a main event spot on a ppv. I do think by presenting them better on Mondays by allowing them to have better matches could gradually lead to giving them a larger roll or main event on Thursdays to test the waters. Being they tape the Thursday show on Tuesdays if they have a well received match they have two days to promote that match via .com, app, twitter, etc. as a much watch match. I don't know. I'm not a pro wrestling promoter and have never worked in that business. If I'm not mistaken don't HHH and Stephanie have daughters? I would think that would lead to them wanting Women to have equal opportunities in todays society. Then again I guess it's not for them to make that decision with Papa still sitting at the head of the table.

I dropped Roberts and Gordy as one of my best/favorites . No knock on Hayes as I think he's underrated by some. As a trio they're my absolute favorites. The only other group of guys I liked as much if not a little more as a group were Flair, Blanchard, and The Andersons. I always thought it woulda been interesting to see the Freebirds get a rock solid 4th guy to go along with the originals in 1986 for Watts.

Sheamus. Really enjoy the guys matches. Prefer him as a bad guy as that's where I lean. Like him as a good guy minus the mic.

I wish I could be more helpful in regards to Patterson and even Stevens. As I stated in my introduction to the board I cut my teeth on SF in the 60's but being I'm 56 I was very young at the time and memories only get ya so far. However both were very influential on me becoming a fan. I guess you could say they'd be picks based on nostalgia if they made my list. For a project like this though it's probably unfair. Buddy Rogers, Pat Patterson, Ray Stevens, and Johnny Valentine all fall into this category I guess. I must say some of ya guys are amazing in your dedication to analyzing matches at the level ya do! Where do ya find the time!?

I'm a Condrey & Eaton guy 1st. With that said Lane & Eaton will be on this list and in the top half.

They have a really good shot. I prefer the brothers in tag matches anyway. Whether it be 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 they just work better in that setting outside of Kerry who could work the main event solo. But still they were better as a team imo. Wasn't into David at all. Thought he was overrated as all hell.

They were good but they come up short. A good six month run with the World Tag Titles might have changed that. Wanted to see more outta them.

This is a real tough call. If they make my list it will more then likely be in the #24 or #25 spot.

Not a chance. It will be very hard for a WWWF/WWF/WWE team to crack my list.

Mix of best and favorites. Ole & Gene Anderson Terry & Dory Funk Flair & Valentine Condrey & Eaton Roberts & Gordy

I really enjoy older Puerto Rico. The atmosphere alone really elevates everything about the big matches.

This whole thing seems like a really bad idea.

Top 3 Cowboys-Texans. All will rank VERY HIGH on my list. 1. Terry Funk 2. Stan Hansen 3. Dick Murdoch Others in no particular order. Don't know if all make my list at this point. Barry Windham Tully Blanchard Ted Dibiase Dusty Rhodes Dustin Rhodes Dory Funk Jr. Kerry Von Erich Kevin Von Erich Steve Austin Bob Orton Jr. Dutch Mantell Blackjack Mulligan

Favorite style of wrestling? Southern style. Southern style progression in a long term program. Favorite way wrestling is presented? Houseshow footage from the 1970's and 80's. Favorite type of match? 1 Fall in either a singles or tag-team match. Anywhere between 15-45min in length. Favorite gimmick match? Cage. (I quit stipulation as an added bonus is welcome. Makin another man say Uncle is about as humiliating a payback ya can get). Favorite wrestler? Ric Flair circa 1976-1986. (Kinda impossible to answer though). Favorite match? Nearly impossible to answer but I'd go with these 5 Houseshows. No particular order. -4/1/79 US Title Cage match. Greensboro, NC. Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (Flair won title. It went well over 30min). -5/8/77 World Tag Title Cage match. Charlotte, NC. Ole & Gene Anderson vs. Ric Flair & Greg Valentine. (Andersons won titles Wahoo McDaniel was Ref). -12/26/76 World Tag Title No Dq match. Greensboro, NC. Ric Flair & Greg Valentine vs. Ole & Gene Anderson. (Flair & Valentine won titles). -10/16/76 MA Title vs. Hair match. Greensboro, NC. Ric Flair vs. Wahoo McDaniel. (Flair won title). -5/24/76 MA Title vs. Hair match. Charlotte, NC Ric Flair vs. Wahoo McDaniel. (Flair won title). Favorite feud? Impossible for me to answer. Favorite angle? Ric Flair, Arn & Ole Anderson break Dusty Rhodes leg in the Fall of 1985. JCP business took a nose dive in 1984 and was hit and miss until around the Summer of 1985. This angle made the company rock solid for another 12 to 16 months. Favorite promotion/period of wrestling? George Scott era JCP. Southern wrestling in general from the mid 70's-mid 80's. Little things that happen in wrestling that you always love? Punch in the face.