benjaminkicks

Not sure how others feel about it, but I just watched Yuji Okabayashi vs. Daisuke Sekimoto from the 7/20 Big Japan Sumo Hall show, and I thought it was an easy MotYC. I have it around the ****1/2 to ****3/4 range, and it's probably in my top 15 or 20 matches of the year so far.

I'll be sure to check those out when I get a chance. Sounds like good stuff based on their interactions and performances in that Big Japan tag.

Haven't seen much of Kanemoto, but I just watched him at the recent Big Japan Sumo Hall show tagging with Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. the two Hashimoto's (Daichi and Kazuki), and I really enjoyed Koji's performance. Had some great exchanges with Daichi. His kicks and strikes were good stuff, and I liked him in the "grumpy old man veteran" role. The match really made me want to check out more Kanemoto.

I need to see more of Meiko. As a Joshi novice, I've only seen two of her matches, both against Kairi Hojo (12/10/14 Fortune Dream and 6/14/15 Stardom) but she was awesome in both, and made me really want to see more of her work. She brought a lot of fire to both matches, which I loved, and her offense really appeals to me. Stiff kicks and strikes, sick submissions, and some nasty throws. All great stuff. And her selling was very good as well. Obviously I can't rank someone based on just two matches, but if she works like she did against Hojo every time she steps in the ring, she might have a good case for me, if I can find the time to watch more of her stuff. And those awesome Satomura/Hojo matches (the latter of which I would consider a legit MOTYC) reminded me that I should really get off my butt and watch more Joshi.

I think Hogan sucks in pretty much every way besides drawing, which I'm not taking account in this list. No way he makes my list.

He'll be on my ballot for sure, but I'm not sure how high yet. I'd need to do some digging, but I think Ohtani has some hidden gems from the last 15 years in Zero1. Enough to pad his resume at least.

Maybe I'm overrating Tanaka because he was pretty much my first exposure to Japanese wrestling, but I think he's pretty fucking great, and I'll almost definitely find a place for him on my ballot. I enjoy a lot of his ECW and FMW stuff, but even if you're not into that, Tanaka has been delivering great (non-deathmatch/hardcore) performances and matches for like 15 years now in a bunch of different promotions like Zero1, NOAH, New Japan, and Big Japan. Every time I watch a Tanaka match I know I'm going to get a fast-paced, exciting, and hard hitting modern puro match. He's a total asskicker who always seems just so jacked up to be out there hitting guys. And his Dangan Yankees team with Sugiura right now is definitely padding his resume. Pretty much all of their matches are must watch for me.

I should probably stay updated on this thread too. I'm only 20, ha.

I've been digging into some random Akiyama matches recently, and it's really cementing him as at least a top 20 guy for my ballot. He's a guy who's work totally connects with me. I find most of his matches to be very compelling, often solely because of his performance. His offense is an absolute joy to watch, and on the flip side he's great at captivating me when he's getting worked over. He was an awesome underdog with an edge in his early All Japan years, and he's fantastic in the stern badass persona that he's had pretty much since the beginnings of NOAH. And now he's been pretty consistently great for like 20+ years, so there's a nice longevity argument to add to his case. I will try to be as critically minded as I can when I'm making my ballot, but Akiyama is a guy that I really have a hard time coming up with many negatives for. He just totally clicks with me.

The modern WWE has pretty much killed my enjoyment of ladder matches. I even have a hard time watching older ones that I used to really enjoy.

So I'm getting towards the end of 1991 in my chronological watch/rewatch now. About to watch Jumbo/Kawada on 10/24. I've been looking ahead to what lies in wait in 1992, and I have a question: Am I wrong for thinking 1992 was an off year for All Japan, at least compared to what came before and after? It's the 3rd year of Misawa vs. Jumbo, but even though I don't think those matchup are stale yet, from what I understand this is when Jumbo starts to slow down, yes? I guess I'm just really excited to get into the "meat and potatoes" stuff, like once Kawada joins up with Taue, and I'm having trouble think of as many classics from 1992 compared to the other years. Is there just more great hidden gems than flat out classics that year? Because that I'm down for that, but I've been watching a lot of matches for every year, and I wonder if anyone will advocate me taking a less comprehensive approach to 1992, so as to get to the later stuff quicker? If so I'd love an easy 15 to 20 match list of essential matches from the year. The biggest thing to look forward to looks like Misawa stepping up into his new role as Ace, though in my eyes he already seemed ready for that step by the end of 1991. But I'm curious if people think the booking of Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, and Taue had grown stale by 1992, and it was only Jumbo's need to step down that got things really moving again? Again, I've only seen bits and pieces of 1992, and I'm filling in the rest with what I've perceived from word of mouth, so I could be way off on this. If I am, let me know. Thanks.

That would seem the obvious answer for sure, but I've seen a lot of criticism of post-2000 Kobashi. Was wondering if anyone with those criticisms would rank any of the other Pillars' 2000s work above Kobashi's.

Who had the best post-NOAH split work?

Man, wreddit is in an uproar over Sheamus winning the briefcase. "EVEN KANE WOULD'VE BEEN BETTER!" Hilarious.

MotYCs in 2012 (TLC), 2013 (vs. Rhodes Bros.), 2014 (Shield/Wyatts, Shield/Evolution), and 2015 (vs. Brock). Add that to some other really good singles matches (vs. Orton, vs. Bryan, vs. Big Show) and his participation in so many awesome other Shield matches, and he's got a surprisingly good case, at least in terms of guys in the last 4 years. He probably looks better than both of his Shield mates as far as WWE careers go, though they have the benefit of semi-significant pre-WWE career as well. But this all depends on how much value you out in all this. Some would claim he's been carried in all of his good matches. I think that's silly, but I think I'll need to rewatch some of his stuff to figure out *how* good he really is. And if he had pad the next 9 months with more great performances and matches, who knows where he can end up? But I think he needs to be taken serious as a candidate, if you put any value into modern work.

The Cell match is my favorite of their matches for sure. Not sure if I would go 5 stars on it, but 4.75 sounds right. I'll see for sure when I get there in my 90's WWF rewatch.

Hash is the only 90's New Japan guy that I would put on the same level as The Pillars. I really like guys like Hase and Mutoh (sometimes) but they're on a different tier.

I guess I should rewatch them. I liked them at the time, but my tastes and interests as a wrestling fan have changed a lot since they happened.

Sorry if this has been discussed to death or whatever around here, but since we were talking about Austin/Taker, what's the consensus around here on the Shawn/Taker matches? Like the Hell in a Cell, end of the '07 Rumble, and Mania 25 and 26. I get the feeling they're not as well liked as most parts of the internet. I'm interested to see some criticism of those matches in regards to Shawn's performances.

That ladder match hasn't aged particularly well, but I'll take it over Austin/Taker every day of the week.

I would agree with the basic premise of this, but I have similar thoughts about Austin. Does Austin have any high end matches where he carries a lesser opponent to greatness like Owen did with Shamrock (to use your example. I haven't seen Owen/Shamrock in years)?

I would probably take Austin's high end matches over Shawn's, because Shawn never had a match quite as good as the Austin/Bret series, but Shawn simply has way more matches and performances that I enjoy than Austin. I like Austin's WCW work a lot, but he wasn't exactly an elite worker then, and I would put Shawn's early tag team work above Austin's pre-WWF stuff. I LOVE Austin's '96 and '97, but after that he kinda falls off a cliff for me for a couple years. I really dislike most WWF stuff from '98 and '99, Austin's matches very much included, despite a few exceptions like his Dude Love matches from '98. Then when he comes back from injury he has a stellar '01, which I enjoy a lot, but then he walks out in '02 and has a short comeback before he retires fully. I think Austin was a great worker, but his peak is too short for me to pick him here. Shawn, on the other hand, has singles performances as early as '92 and as late as 2010 that I consider great, and a whole ton of greatness in between. I've been trying to come up with a good response to the "Shawn is shit" sentiment that is prevalent around here, but I really can't besides to say that I strongly disagree. Was he the GOAT like the WWE and people all over wreddit like to claim? Nah. But I still think he was pretty fucking great for a lot of his career. Shawn may have never had a single year as good as Austin's 2001, but I think he delivered a larger number of great performances over the course of his career than Austin did. Now, if Austin didn't have to retire early, then maybe that's a different story, but as it is I have to give Shawn the edge. Shawn will be in the 20 to 30 range on my GWE ballot, and Austin will be in the 40 to 50 range.

I like the Kawada match a lot, and it's definitely a must watch if you're looking at either guy, but no way is it a top 10 Hashimoto match.

ECW Arena?

I don't have numbers, but I think there were times during his '05-'09 run that he was the #2 draw behind Cena, and probably #1 draw on SmackDown. Of course I could just be thinking that because he was booked that way. Not fully sure how he compared as a draw to other guys like Edge, Taker, or Orton.