supremebve

That is 100% what I meant when I said this... I can analyze matches to death, but some wrestlers just work because they work. Trying to figure out why every little thing matters is kind of ageainst the point. My process is to do a first watch and to see whether or not I like a match before doing a rewatch and figure out why I did or did not like it. There are plenty of matches I've enjoyed and thought, "wow, that was great," and then realized that it doesn't really lend itself to further analysis. Somethings are just good because they are good, and I'm fine with that. To me this would be fine if we were rating matches, but that's not the question GWE asks. Except guys like Hogan, Tanahashi, and The Rock made careers out of having good to great matches that don't necessarily hold up under a microscope. I honestly think that is one of the most defining factors of the "It Factor." Those guys have a level of in ring charisma that accentuates their positives and diminishes their negatives in a way that doesn't hold up to deep analysis, but undoubtedly works in their matches. I also think that is why those guys' work is so polarizing. If a guy had one of those matches I'd understand the argument that they aren't good workers. Those guys do it over and over again, and at a certain point I felt the need to give them credit for being able to repeatedly pull good to great performances out of their asses. I think the ultimate gauge for how good someone is in the ring is whether or not their matches are good. Most workers go in the ring, put two and two together and end up with four. I acknowledge that there are some workers who put two and two together, and despite how often I run the numbers in my head, come up with five. It doesn't make sense, but that is a very valuable quality to have as a wrestler.

That is 100% what I meant when I said this... I can analyze matches to death, but some wrestlers just work because they work. Trying to figure out why every little thing matters is kind of against the point. My process is to do a first watch and to see whether or not I like a match before doing a rewatch and figure out why I did or did not like it. There are plenty of matches I've enjoyed and thought, "wow, that was great," and then realized that it doesn't really lend itself to further analysis. Somethings are just good because they are good, and I'm fine with that.

The thing that I've learned the most is that wrestling should be viewed with an open mind. Trying to view a joshi match the same way you judge an All Japan heavyweight match will just frustrate you. They are different things with different rules, and different logic. Another thing I've learned is that fun is important to me. I'm sorry, but I don't care about whether or not you are a great seller, have flawless psychology, and you have an arsenal of every move ever invented if I am not enjoying you wrestle. If I have to choose between a dry ass worker who is technically great and a super fun worker with obvious flaws, the fun worker wins out. I also think the sum is more important that the collection of parts. If a worker is constantly in good to great matches, it doesn't matter if they don't fill every criteria. I don't care how good a painter's brush strokes are if they haven't painted any beautiful paintings, nor do I care if you have a seven octave range if you've never sang a good song. If what a worker does in the ring doesn't translate into good to great matches it is irrelevant to me. Not everything has to make sense. Even if I understand what you are doing is dumb, if you can make it work I'll give you credit. Hogan wrestles in a way that doesn't really make any sense, but he has too many good to great matches for me to hold it against him. What he does works, and it doesn't matter that it wouldn't work for anyone else.

That may very well be the best comparison for Toyota. I currently have Kurt on my list, but now I'm thinking that I should trade them out. When I was thinking about Toyota and her place on my list, I was comparing her to other joshi workers. The way I compiled my list was to look at every nominee and mark who I felt was in contention. I had well over 100 wrestlers so I started doing simple comparisons to narrow it down. Toyota was one of my last cuts, based mostly on her being perhaps my least favorite of the joshi greats that I've watched. I know above I lumped her in with Mil Mascaras and Inoki, but I don't feel the need to ever watch any more Inoki or Mil matches. Toyota isn't in the same box as those two, I'd gladly watch more Toyota. Toyota just does a lot of things that bother me, much like Angle. With that said, I think Toyota is better at the style than Angle is, but I didn't really think of them together until now. Angle is someone I added to my list, because I thought he was someone who overcame all of his faults with pure entertainment value. He was someone who did a lot of nonsense in his matches that didn't really make sense, but his matches were still infinitely watchable. Kurt Angle is essentially the Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz of wrestling, nothing they do can be considered great, but if "Get Low" comes on 10 years from now I'm still going to like it. I think there is a value to being able to do wrong right, and both Angle and Toyota kind of excel at being ridiculous. I think it was JVK who said that every time he watched Toyota she was essentially an adreneline rush. I think I'm going to put Toyota back on my list and instead of just comparing her to other joshi workers, and start comparing her to the best all action workers.

I'd rate Toyota over Sabu. Sabu may be the wrestler I loved the most in the moment, but can't really stand in retrospect. If I was doing this in 2000, he'd definitely be on my list, but I don't know if he would be in my top 250 right now. Sabu is just too spotty, sloppy, and batshit insane for me to think of him as one of the greatest wrestlers. I loved him as a teenager though.

I wouldn't disagree with this, as I'm currently watching a lot of joshi from that era. My argument against Toyota is that I find myself more enthralled with everyone else in those matches. Toyota is mostly really good, but I don't value her style nearly as much as I value someone like Mayumi Ozaki. When I first learned that there was a such thing as Joshi, Manami Toyota was the wrestler who I heard about the most. When I actually started watching, she was in a lot of the best matches, but she was often my least favorite part. Not saying she's bad, just not good enough for her to get into the best 100 wrestlers of all time in my view. But Mayumi Ozaki worked essentially the same style as Toyota; she just happened to be one of the greatest actors in wrestling history and an all-time great seller. You might get a bit more character work with Ozaki, and she was more willing to bleed than Toyota, but the same execution issues are there, the same structural flaws, the same pacing problems; and if you want to talk about wrestler's valleys, Ozaki's work takes a plunge after 2000-01. I mean, really, Ozaki is one of the worst examples of a valley there is. She's like Ohtani except that no-one can really defend the past 15 years or so and come up with evidence of where she's still good. Despite all that, I still love Mayumi Ozaki and think she's one of the hundred greatest wrestlers of all-time. Toyota's had a rep since the heyday of the dirt sheets and the early days of the internet and she's had a counter rep for almost as long. The backlash against Manami Toyota started a long time ago. Nothing is ever as good or as bad as people say, and I know I was able to find a balance with Toyota in my own viewing, but her rep is a double-edged sword. People are just as likely to not vote for her because of her negative rep as they are to vote for her because she was a 90s favourite. I think that's particularly true of people who are influenced by what they read on the boards and by people they share the same tastes with. Or people who don't have the time or inclination to explore a worker who turns them off. I mean with a guy like Inoki it's easy to think "yeah, I don't really like him and I'm sure what people are saying about him is true" and then not watch stuff. I've been kind of surprised by the two most recent Inoki matches I watched ('71 against Brisco and '69 against Dory), and I'm starting to wonder if people aren't basing too much of their opinion on his work from the 80s when he was entering into his third decade in the business and already had a full two decades worth of work behind him. Maybe folks are looking at the wrong stuff. I'm not sure yet, but it's worth exploring so that's what I'm doing. This kind of goes back to the there is no way to possibly watch enough wrestling to judge all these wrestlers for their entire careers. All of the Ozaki and Toyota matches I've watched are from the 90's. I wanted to learn more about the style so I sought out the most notable matches. I wish I could have watched their entire careers play out, but that just plain isn't possible for me. You hit the nail on the head for why I like Ozaki over Toyota though. She puts so much personality into everything she does that I can forgive flaws in her work that I can't with Toyota. It feels like Ozaki puts more thought into her work to me. I think the biggest thing that I've decided about this project is that I'm going to compile my 100 and then judge their peaks against each other. I think that is the most fair way to do it. I'm much more interested in how great a wrestler was at their peak than whether or not they were great for a long time.

That is a valid opinion. Where to put Hogan is probably the hardest decision I'll have to make on my final list. He's someone I think belongs, but there is so much to think about both positively and negatively.

I wouldn't disagree with this, as I'm currently watching a lot of joshi from that era. My argument against Toyota is that I find myself more enthralled with everyone else in those matches. Toyota is mostly really good, but I don't value her style nearly as much as I value someone like Mayumi Ozaki. When I first learned that there was a such thing as Joshi, Manami Toyota was the wrestler who I heard about the most. When I actually started watching, she was in a lot of the best matches, but she was often my least favorite part. Not saying she's bad, just not good enough for her to get into the best 100 wrestlers of all time in my view. You are still assuming that Duggan would have been allowed to be Mid South Duggan in the WWF. The WWF of that era was not a place where people went to have great matches. They wanted to get characters over not wrestlers over. Duggan being a big goof with a 2x4 was much more important in that promotion than being a good wrestler. It isn't a coincidence that so many great wrestlers from the territories got to the WWF and stopped having great matches. Hogan somehow still had great matches in the WWF, despite the fact that the style seemed to neglect the quality of their matches. Hogan gets into my top 100, because somehow some way he was able to have good to great matches even when no one seemed to give a crap how good his matches were. There is a value to being able to get things over even when the way you get them over is nonsensical.

Maybe not, but that may just be my interpretation of those particular careers. I've watched a decent enough of all three of them, and I don't see it. Inoki has some really good performances, but there is so much boring nonsense. Mil Mascaras was lazy and uncooperative as much as he was good. Toyota was good at a lot of different things, but I'd pick 5-10 other Joshi wrestlers before I'd pick her. When I say that people may be voting for them based on their rep, I'm saying that all of them seem to have reputations that I don't believe they've earned. I think the bigger issue for me is that there are people who I feel are deserving based on limited viewing, but I very well could be overrating them because I've only seen good stuff. I've seen a lot of Jumbo matches, but mostly I've only seen his great matches. I neither have the time nor interest in finding his average to bad matches. If I was to only watch Triple H's best matches, and just plain ignored all the week to week bullshit that happened over the years I'd have a much higher opinion of him. Triple H wouldn't be Jumbo, but he'd be much higher on my list.

I don't think that those wrestlers are incapable of greatness, they just weren't consistently as good as some other people who were less well known than them. For the most part everyone we're discussing is capable of greatness, but I don't think Inoki, Mascaras, or Toyota should be automatically included because of their reputations as great workers. If you think they're great go ahead and put them in, but I think those three in particular don't hold up very well upon closer examination. They have their peaks, but I think they all have some deep ass valleys that I think are deeper than their peaks are high. All three of them were more than capable of great performances, I just don't think that they reached that level often enough to vote for them.

Yeah, this is where I am with Hogan. I was born in 1981, and watched pretty much the entire Hogan era. Hogan "Hulking Up" was the single best part of the presentation to me. I was a kid who liked to root for the bad guys more than the faces, but when Hogan made his comeback I was on his side. It may not be what got him over, but it was a huge part of what got his matches over. Looking at it critically as an adult, it is absolutely absurd, but I can't deny that it worked.

Do you actually think any of those people are great, or that they are clearly considered great? I personally don't think Inoki or Mil Mascaras are great wrestlers. They are basically two guys who were pushed as great, and put in a position so that all of their best moments seem like huge events. If you were to put the aforementioned Big Boss Man in a position where all of his matches were treated as the most important matches on the show, all of his good matches would seem great too. I honestly think Inoki, Mil, Hogan, etc. are all capable of having the occasional great match, but their great matches get seen as legendary because of their place on the card and in the heart of fans.There's an output argument as well as in input argument. There are specific matches to consider, the case is made of more than just what I personally make of any one wrestler. And Mil, Inoki and Hogan have all been in really good matches that one might give ****3/4 or ***** to, several of them, whereas I'm not sure that is true of Bossman. You can change the names and specifics here, they aren't really important. You can replace them with The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and John Cena and Bossman with whoever you want. There is the worker and then there is the body of work and the career. And the body of work to some extent can't be denied. I accept arguments that want to poke holes in the body of work or argue that great matches aren't great. I am less keen on the arguments that only consider the input side because that seems to get away from tangible measurables. And, like I've said before, too crap shoot-y. I honestly think the hardest thing to do is to try to objectively look at people who are asked to do completely different things based on their roles. It was not Hogan's job to go out there and put on 5 star classics, his job was to sell out arenas. He sold out arenas for years, and occasionally had good to great matches. Did he overachieve as a worker or underachieve? I currently have Hogan on my ballot, but I have no idea where to put him. He was the biggest star in the business and the style he rode to the top was a handicap to his ability to have great matches. His matches were based on building to a ridiculous comeback sequence, that threw all selling and psychology out the window. Yet, some of those matches were really good. How do we give proper credit to a guy who had great matches that were some of the most successful ever, especially when he was wrestling in a way that made his matches worse? Is he better because he overcame the limited structure of his matches, or is he worse because he created a character that made that structure limited?

Do you actually think any of those people are great, or that they are clearly considered great? I personally don't think Inoki or Mil Mascaras are great wrestlers. They are basically two guys who were pushed as great, and put in a position so that all of their best moments seem like huge events. If you were to put the aforementioned Big Boss Man in a position where all of his matches were treated as the most important matches on the show, all of his good matches would seem great too. I honestly think Inoki, Mil, Hogan, etc. are all capable of having the occasional great match, but their great matches get seen as legendary because of their place on the card and in the heart of fans.

I don't have Toyota on my list either. I have a few Joshi wrestlers, but I think she's vastly overrated. I love her as a hot tag, but that is about it. I feel like she is a worker who needs her opponent to do all of the work, while she just does flashy moves. She's in a lot of really good to great matches, but I don't attribute many of them to Toyota.

That is true, but Dylan admits to thinking Jumbo is great, he is just someone who he doesn't enjoy watching. My point is if he acknowledges his greatness he should rank him based on that greatness, despite his personal feelings. I'm not a huge lucha fan, so I'm probably not going to spend much time watching Negro Casas or El Dandy, but they're both on my list. They wrestle in a style that I either am not a big fan of or don't understand, but that doesn't take away the fact that they are great at it.

I think you should vote for him, because you do acknowledge that he is a great wrestler. If you didn't see his greatness that would be something different. I'm not ranking Mil Mascaras, because I don't like him, and for the fact that I've also never seen any reason to think he was any good. I don't like Tom Brady, but I also think he's one of the three best quarterbacks of all time. He is not someone I would rank on my 100 favorite quarterbacks, but I couldn't make a list of best quarterbacks without him.

According to his testimony in court, Andre the Giant isn't the only thing Hulk Hogan has been shamelessly exaggerating about.

2/24/91 - Sting/Pillman/Steiners vs. Sid/Flair/Zbyszko/Windham - War Games (WCW) ***** This is great from the very first second. Pillman and Windham start and I would have been satisfied if it was just 20 minutes of these guys brawling. Pillman is a house afire and Windham sells his ass off. Windham blades maybe 30 seconds into this match and is wearin the crimson mask before Flair comes in and they commence to put the beatdown on Pillman. Sting comes in next and this match has so far been structured perfectly. Zbyszko comes in next and the heels once again get the advantage while they have the numbers advantage. Rick Steiner is in next, and I honestly wonder if anyone has ever told him that he doesn't have to try to kill people with those Steinerlines. Seriously he hit a couple of clotheslines where he launched himself in the air and put all of his strength into them. I love the War Games concept, but there are a couple of reasons that I can see why they don't do them anymore. The first thing is that the distance between the rings is problematic. There are a couple of times where a guy would throw someone from one ring of the other only for them to realize in midair that their legs weren't going to make it over the second set of ropes. The second thing, and I don't have any idea how they didn't realize this back then is that the ceiling of that cage is ridiculously low. The end of this match is basically Sid's almost seven foot tall ass almost killing Brian Pillman with a powerbomb because his feet hit the roof on the way up. To add insult to injury El Gigante comes out to drag Brian Pillman out of the ring and we don't really a satisfying ending. Other than the last minute and a half, this was outstanding. There was not a single dull second of this match. The heels were vicious, the faces were full of fire, and everyone…OK, maybe not Sid…had on their working boots. For an added bonus you should look up the bad ass poster for Wrestle War '91 with Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, and Sid in camo. That is worth almost the full ***** all by itself. 4/20/91 - Tsuruta/Taue/Fuchi vs. Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi (AJPW) ***** This is a rematch of my 1990 match of the year, and I have to say, I'm pretty much pumped to see what these guys give me. The first thing that strikes me in this match is that the vets have stepped up their viciousness and are done fucking around with these punk kids. Taue and Jumbo seem to have decided that these young bucks have gotten a little too big for their britches and it is time for them to pay for the last year of transgressions. The main feud in 1990 was between Jumbo and Misawa, but it is very apparent that Kawada and Taue have grown to hate each other's guts. Taue knocks Kawada off the apron a couple times early, leaving him unavailable for the first 5 minutes or so of the match. When Kawada comes in to break up a submission he pays him back with about 9651658965165891653 thousand stiff ass kicks and that is before he mounting him (pause) and dropping a bunch of punches and elbows. Kawada is absolutely everything I could ever want out of a wrestler, he sells his ass off, and hits some of the nastiest strikes of all time, and even does a brainbuster. The first half of this match is basically a showcase for everything great about Kawada. Another great thing about these matches is that there really isn't a face team and a heel team. The vets work more like heels, but their work comes off more like wily veterans who know how to take a man apart than bad guys trying to injure their opponent(I typed this sentence before the systematic destruction of Kobashi's knee). This dynamic allows both teams to have long heat segments, for there to be face in peril segments for both teams, and for the crowd to cheer loudly for both teams at different throughout the match. Once again Kobashi is the world's most sympathetic babyface as the vets decide that they want to see if they can rip his leg off and beat him to death with it. After about 15 minutes of some of the most vicious leg work you'll ever see, Kobashi gets the hot tag to Kawada and he elbows Fuchi about 75 times before hitting him with about 25 short arm clotheslines. Kawada tags Misawa and a loud Misawa chant breaks out. Fuchi turns the tide and a loud Fuchi chant breaks out. Jumbo comes in and destroys Misawa with a lariat four a 2 count and the crowd chants for Misawa again. The last 10 minutes of this match are fucking masterful. So many two counts, so many momentum swings, and an ending that calls back to the very beginning of the match. I am trying to decide whether or not I like this match than the one from 1990, and I think I like the 1990 one better. With that said, this is fucking excellent. In the 1990 match there was a bigger gulf between the vets and the young guns, and that is the only reason I'm rating it higher. I prefer that dynamic just a tad more than this one…but this is an almost unbelievably good wrestling match. 8/3/91 - Cactus vs. Gilbert (TWA) ***** This is a difficult match for me to actually rate, because it is a fairly crappy handheld video and all of the big spots seemed to happen on the exact opposite side of the ring from where the camera was set up. They are not only taking crazy bumps in front of about 200 people, a good portion of the crowd can't even see what is going on. This is billed as a 2 out of 3 falls match, but it is more like a best of three series of matches. The first match is falls count anywhere, the next match is a stretcher match, and the third is a cage match. I think it would be unfair for me to try to rate this match as a 33-year-old, who has been watching wrestling as long as I can remember, so I'm going to turn this over to 10-year-old Supremebve…Cactus Jack is a crazy person who is mad at "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert, because he thinks he's so cool. In the first match Cactus Jack beat up "Hot Stuff" and won the match. In the second match "Hot Stuff" hit Cactus Jack in the head with a bottle and then stabbed him in the face with it. He told Cactus Jack he was going to kill him and then gave him a piledriver and a DDT on the concrete floor. I thought that Cactus Jack was dead. The referees save Cactus Jack's life, by putting him on a stretcher and taking him away. The third match was a cage match, and I didn't think Cactus Jack was going to be able to wrestle. They played his music and he didn't come out, and Eddie Gilbert got on the microphone and called him gutless. They played Cactus Jack's music again, and he still didn't come out. The doctor said that Cactus can't wrestle, because he is too hurt. People in the crowd started cussing. Cactus Jack came out with his head wrapped up like a mummy, and said that he doesn't want any matches he wanted Eddie Gilbert's a-word. He got in the cage and started kicking "Hot Stuff's" butt. Cactus Jack climbed to the top of the cage and "Hot Stuff" drop kicked him out of the ring all the way to the floor. Then they fought outside the ring, look I know wrestling is not real, but these guys are really fighting. "Hot Stuff" clotheslines the referee and then Cactus Jack punches him in the face with some brass knuckles. "Hot Stuff's" brother jumps in and beats up Cactus Jack, and starts choking him. "Hot Stuff" then tells Cactus Jack he's going to kill him again, and then starts kneeing him in the nuggets. Doug Gilbert takes off his boot and starts hitting Cactus Jack in the face with it. Bam Bam Bigelow jumps in and then him and Cactus Jack beat up the Gilbert brothers. I really liked this match, because they did some stuff that I never seen anyone ever do before. Cactus Jack did a lot of crazy stuff like doing a top rope elbow drop outside of the ring, and Eddie Gilbert hit him in the head with a bottle. 33-year-old me is coming back, and later he said he'd tell me what a boobie feels like…OK, he wasn't supposed to share that last part. I turned this over to 10-year-old me because it is important to look at some of these matches the way they were watched at the time. This is the earliest version of the brawling style that ECW made famous later in the decade. There were table spots, big bumps to the floor, and all types of other nonsense. The bottle spot was insane, only Foley would let a guy break a bottle over his head in a worked match. With that said, this doesn't hold up very well. The match itself isn't bad, but there is absolutely no selling despite putting each other through tables, hitting each other with chairs, and breaking a fucking bottle over Cactus Jack's head. It told a decent story, and it was innovative, but those two things can't justify a ***** rating. 1/23/91 - Nakano vs. Hotta - Cage (AJW) ***** I've been watching wrestling for as long as I can remember, and I have very few blind spots when it comes to watching the squared circle. Joshi is essentially the dark side of the moon in my universe of wrestling. It is completely uncharted territory, that said the Joshi wrestler I've seen the most of is Bull Nakano. I remember her brief runs in both WWF and WCW, but she isn't exactly a woman you forget. This is an escape rules cage match against Yumiko Hotta, and not only is this the first Joshi match I've ever watched, I think it is the first Japanese cage match I've ever seen as well. Bull comes into the match with a heavily taped left knee and Hotta targets it with kicks from the opening bell. Bull uses her superior size and strength to take over and put a beat down on Hotta. Hotta makes a comeback and hits a top rope back elbow that buckles Bull's knee and tries to make an escape. Bull pulls her off the cage and hits a nasty backdrop followed by a series of jumping kicks that all look brutal. Someone throws some nunchucks in the ring and Nakano proceeds to beat Hotta half to death with them. This building needs better security, because every time one of the women tries to climb out, a bunch of fans runs up to the side of the cage so they can't make it to the ground. This match ends with one of the most absolutely insane, why the fuck did Hotta agree to do that, spots I've ever seen. Nakano, who is at least 200 lbs. hits Hotta with a flipping guillotine leg drop from the top rope, only to climb to the top of the cage and hit her with another guillotine leg drop. There are a lot of women I'd like to sit on my face, but I don't think I'd let any of them sit on my face like that. Seriously it has to be seen to be believed. This probably isn't a ***** match, but it is pretty damn good and that finish really puts this in a whole different stratosphere. There are a lot worse ways you can spend 20 minutes. 1/4/91 - Nakano vs. Hokuto (AJW) ***** Bull Nakano is back and this time she looks pissed…OK, she always looks pissed, but that isn't really the point. Akira Hokuto looks to be on the losing end of about a 110 lb. weight disadvantage, but she is game and rushes Bull to start. Nakano clearly doesn't like that so she proceeds to kick the shit out of Hokuto before taking her outside and hitting her in the face with the mallet from the ring bell. Hokuto fires back with some forearms, and goes for a rollup only to have it countered into an oma plata…who knew that Bull had a jiu jitsu background? Hokuto reverses into a liontamer and takes over for a bit with submissions before Nakano reverses into a liontamer of her own. It turns out that the smaller Hokuto is the better submission wrestler and she once again takes control leading to a couple of picture perfect dropkicks. Bull sells the dropkicks in a pretty unique but effective way. She doesn't just take a snapback bump, she kind of leans back like she is doing everything she can to stay up, but the impact was just too much and she finally falls over. It basically puts over her strength as the monster heel and the strength of Hokuto's drop kick. Hokuto goes to the submission well once too often, and Nakano counters and hits her with a couple of nasty backdrops that drop Hokuto directly on her head. Bull hits her top rope leg drop for two, and goes for another only for Hokuto to move and hit her with a tiger suplex. Hokuto hits a series of top rope moves, until once again she goes for one too many and Bull takes over. Bull Nakano then hits Hokuto with a tombstone piledriver from the second rope followed by a powerbomb. Hokuto kicks out at two and Bull can't believe it. Hokuto takes over once again and hits a fucking northern lights bomb and Bull just barely kicks out. Just as Hokuto looks like she is about to win, Bull counters into another devastating backdrop and gets the one, the two, and the three. This was outstanding, and I can see why Meltzer gave it the full ***** rating. It was Bull dominating with her overwhelming power, and Hokuto countering with her superior speed and technical ability. Every time it looked like Bull was going to just run Hokuto over, Hokuto would do something that would turn the tables. When Hokuto took control she emptied her entire arsenal and tried to take Bull out as quickly as possible. The strategy would work until she would get caught with her hand in the cookie jar and Bull would just cut her off and kill her dead with power moves. I haven't seen many better examples of monster heels vs. fiery babyfaces, you should track this down if you are even remotely interested in Joshi. 5/24/91 - Tsuruta vs. Kobashi (AJPW) ****3/4 If I had to rank the AJPW heavyweights, at least the ones that matter, from favorite to least favorite Kobashi would be near the bottom, and that is saying something because I think he is fucking awesome. He's undeniably great, but he is clearly number four when compared to Kawada, Misawa, and Jumbo with me. That said, this is pretty damn good, and highlights what is great about both guys. Jumbo is "The Man," and Kobashi is the fiery youngster who will give everything he has and never quit. Kobashi hits him with everything he has, but Jumbo is still Jumbo and he doesn't lay down for young punks like Kobashi. Kobashi takes Jumbo to the limit, and Jumbo kills him dead with a back drop to get the win. The only version of this match I could find was clipped, so I can't say whether this is properly rated, but what I watched was outstanding. 3/21/91 - Hase/Sasaki vs. Steiners (NJPW) ****1/2 So this is my first NJPWworld.com watch, and let me tell you I couldn't have picked a more fun match. I've seen this match probably 15 times over the years, and while I don't think it holds up as a ****1/2 match, it is basically the best heavyweight tag spotfest ever. There isn't much of a story, there isn't much psychology, and there isn't really much selling, but there are suplexes on top of suplexes on top of suplexes. Scott does that one suplex where he basically just double legs Hase and turns it into a backdrop. Rick does his top rope belly to belly. Scott does his spinning belly to belly. Hase hits a couple of those beautiful uranages. Sasake hits a couple of those powerslams where he catches the guy in mid air and then turns him over. There are probably 10 other big bombs that I don't remember. If you like suplexes, and have 15 minutes to kill, there isn't much more fun you can have with a wrestling match.

I want to watch every Hogan interview about Wrestlemania III, and count the number of changes, injuries, bullshit, etc. That dude will lie when the truth will do, he just plain can't help himself. I forget who I heard say it, but they said the difference between Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin as people are that Hogan is always working and Austin is never working. Hogan's phoniness is part of his appeal while Austin's appeal is his authenticity.

1/31/90 - Liger vs. Sano (NJPW) ***** I somehow couldn't find this on YouTube when I was going through these matches in order, but now there seem to be 10 different videos of it. It is kind a gift to have misplaced because it breaks up the All Japan matches that have dominated 1990. Liger is on the short list of greatest of all time, and this is one of his greatest matches. He takes an ass whooping for the record books early in this match with his mask being ripped off and a pretty nasty blade job on top of it. Sano tries to knock him the fuck out hitting big moves and backing off so the referee can make his 10 count. Liger sells all of Sano's offense like absolute death and at one point has to use the referee's leg to pull himself up before he can complete the count. Sano's throws every suplex in the encyclopedia in this match, and every single one of them is executed perfectly. I'm a huge mark for suplexes so this is right up my alley. Liger makes his comeback after reversing a back drop and they go into the finishing run. Liger hits a stiff Ligerbomb and finishes Sano off with a Shooting Star Press. If you haven't seen this match go to YouTube and give it a look. It is probably 5 years ahead of its time and a pretty strong peek into what is to come during the NJPW Jr. division's incredible run in the 1990s. This match deserves the 5 stars, it is one of the best examples of one of my favorite types of matches. The NJPW Jr. division was what got me into Japanese pro wrestling and the run they had in the 90s was comparable to any run in history in my opinion. This is basically the egg that hatched and gave birth to that run. 9/29/90 - Misawa/Kawada vs. Kobashi/Ace (AJPW) **** How bad of a wrestler would the fourth guy in a match with Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi for it to be a bad match? I'm typing this as Johnny Ace, his mullet, and his absurd mannerisms and I have to say I'm not impressed. My only Johnny Ace experience is his WCW run as a Dynamic Douche and as the Raw general manager, so forgive me for not coming into this with a positive opinion of him. Business picks up as Kobashi and Kawada brawl, and Kawada decides he's going to murder Kobashi with a powerslam on the floor. Not satisfied that Kobashi is still drawing breath Kawada then decides to suplex him from the apron to the floor. Johnny gets a hot tag and takes over for a second before getting elbowed into oblivion by Misawa, and tagging in Kobashi. Kobashi hits a series of slaps before getting kicked in the back by Kawada while running the ropes and eating a brainbuster. As far as faces in peril go, you don't get much better than Kenta Kobashi, he is about as sympathetic a character as there has ever been in wrestling and this match takes full advantage. Kobashi counters a Kawada powerbomb and tags in Johnny. Kawada cuts him off on the top rope only to have Kobashi come in leading to Kobashi and Ace hitting a Doomsday Device. Before too long Misawa and Kawada continue murderizing Kobashi before the match ends abruptly. I think that this was a time limit draw, but I don't speak Japanese so I can't confirm. This was essentially everyone doing what they do best, Kobashi being sympathetic, Misawa being the ace, and Kawada kicking ass…oh and Johnny being a big goof. This was a **** match that seemed like they were going through the motions. I want you to understand that there is nothing at all wrong with this match, they do a lot of really fun sequences and Kobashi takes a couple insane bumps. The only issue with this match is that in 1990 three of these guys are in at least 10 better matches that make this look average. Seriously, if you don't pay attention to anything else I say here, know that the feud between Jumbo and Misawa is one of the greatest feuds ever and you should watch all of it. 12/16/90 - Doom vs. Anderson/Windham (NWA) **** This is a street fight for the titles and it is just a flat out brawl. There really isn't much to say about this match other than that you probably don't want any problems with any of these dudes in real life. All four guys beat the hell out of each other. All four guys blade and bleed all over the place. All of these dudes have been pretty good for most of their careers, and this is a pretty good performance from all four of them. I don't think this is a **** match, but I also don't think that is the point. This was a mid feud match that was designed to make the audience think that these are the four toughest motherfuckers on the planet, and set up a blow off to the feud. It was a fun brawl between four absolute pros and it accomplished everything it set out to do. 7/28/90 - Perfect vs. Santana (WWF) **** Tito Santana is a wrestler I remember loving as a kid, but this is probably the first Tito Santana match I've even thought about in 20 years. These guys have a really good chemistry. Tito's simple babyface fire offense and Perfect's crazy bumping fit together seamlessly. Tito has the match won about 75 time, except Mr. Perfect fell into Earl Hebner's knee making him unable to make a count. We get a new ref, and Perfect takes control. They battle back in forth in a really fun match that ends when Perfect reverses the small package, that Tito reversed the Perfectplex with. I don't think this is a **** match, but this is a really good television match that I probably watched 75 times as a child. I used to tape the Saturday Night's Main Events and watch them over and over, and this would have been right up my alley. This is everything that a 9-year-old me could have wanted, but 33-year-old me found it to be a little less than ****. 7/12/90 - Tsuruta/Inoue/Kabuki vs. Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi (AJPW) **** Guess who 's back in the mother fucking house with a **** match for your motherfucking mouth. There are very few things in this world that are certain, but I think it is safe to say that 1990 All Japan is one of the best single year runs in the history of pro wrestling. I started this project hoping to see some good matches and discover some wrestlers I may have missed over the years. Before I started I had never watched one second of Jumbo Tsuruta, and now I feel like I missed the boat on one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. I've been watching wrestling as long as I can remember, and in a couple of months Jumbo has climbed into a echelon of my fandom held by the likes of Flair, Savage, Foley, and Austin. He is on the shortlist of guys that mere sight of their name on a YouTube clip piques my interest. It doesn't matter who he's wrestling, because if Jumbo's in the ring I know I'm in good hands. The YouTube version of this match is only 12 minutes, and it starts with Misawa, Kawada, and Kobashi doing their standard spots against Inoue and Kabuki. I really thought this was going to be a bit of a letdown, but Jumbo wouldn't let it happen. He let his partners shine, as much as they could, during their segments, but there was no mistake who the star was when he stepped into the ring. I don't think there is an active wrestler in the world right now who has 5% of the presence that Jumbo had in the ring. Everything about him just screamed, "THE MAN." 5/26/90 - Fuyuki/Kikuchi vs. Kawada/Nakano (AJPW) **** This one starts with Kikuchi taking it to Kawada and really laying in the kicks…bad fucking idea. Kawada counters a snapmare and returns fire with a barrage of kicks that eventually became uncomfortable to watch. I took the opportunity during the last match to write a fanboy love letter to Jumbo, and before this list is over I foresee myself writing one to Kawada as well. He is just about everything I want from a wrestler. This is clipped down to 8 minutes and while I wish I could watch and rate the entire match it doesn't seem to lessen the emotion of the match. Both teams are working their asses off, the crowd is invested, and it feels like a big match. Based on the I minutes I saw I'm going to go ahead and assume that this earned its **** rating, I'd like to see the whole thing though. Well that wraps up 1990 and now let's give out some awards. Wrestler of the year: This is simultaneously the hardest and easiest award to give, because there are only two people in contention, but I don't think it is possible to separate Mitsuharu Misawa and Jumbo Tsuruta. This is the ultimate changing of the guard feud. Jumbo is the epitome of old school surliness. He doesn't tell kids to get off his lawn, he goes outside and kicks their ass until they leave and never come back. Misawa is the one kid who wouldn't leave. Sure, he took his beatings, but deep down in his heart he knew he had what it took to take his place. Thankfully I'm an academy of one, and I get to make up these awards as I go along. Both guys get the award, and 1990 for Misawa and Jumbo is every bit as good as 1989 was for Ric Flair. Match of the year: 10/19/90 - Tsuruta/Taue/Fuchi vs. Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi (AJPW) ***** Feud of the year Jumbo’s Army vs. Misawa’s Army The Jumbo/Misawa match from June is a close second, but while that is a great match this is the best six-man tag match I've ever seen. The Jumbo/Misawa feud defined the year, and while the singles matches were great, the tag matches are what really told the story. Jumbo and his crew of vets are defending their place in the world and Misawa's crew of young guns are coming to knock them off their perch. Most wrestling feuds are told as simple man vs. man stories, but this one works better as army vs. army. Jumbo and Misawa are unquestionably the generals of the armies, but Taue, Fuchi, Kawada, and Kobashi bring another layer of storytelling that pushes this feud over the edge of greatness into the realm of legendary. Those are the only awards I'm giving this year based on the fact that no matter what other award I'd think of it would go to these guys for the exact same reasons I've stated above. I'm not really one to tell people that they have to do anything, but if you are a wrestling fan you have to watch the Misawa/Jumbo feud and the tag matches that go with it. Trying to talk about great wrestling without these matches is like trying to talk about the history of black music without mentioning James Brown. The conversations would just be incomplete.

08/18/90 - Tsuruta/Taue/Fuchi vs. Misawa/Kawada/Kikuchi(AJPW) ****1/2 This is on the list as 10/19/90, but that is the date of the previous six-man tag on the list, which remains the best six-man tag I've ever seen. That isn't a slight on this match at all. That match is Halle Berry in Boomerang, this match is Halle Berry in The Program. Both are damn good, but one kind of has a funny haircut. Kikuchi is switched in for Kobashi in this one, but it honestly isn't that big of a drop off. Kikuchi if nothing else takes a lariat like he's trying to get decapitated for our entertainment. He's the smallest guy in the match, but that doesn't stop him from trying to take it to the much bigger guys in the match. He's like Steve Smith Sr. you might be bigger than him, but you do not want those problems. The thing that makes these matches great is that these guys hit every single move like they are trying to win the match. Jumbo's bodyslams look like he is trying to throw his opponent through the mat, they aren't just there to put a guy in position to do another move. This is something that I think is missing from most current wrestling. They spend so much time setting up their spots, that everything in between those spots loses meaning. Everything here means something, they aren't just trying to get their moves in, they are trying to win the match. They aren't posing and gesturing to let the crowd know what move is coming next, they are punishing their opponent. This is a great match that starts off hot as an oven, and ends roughly the same temperature as a supernova. Everybody gets a chance to shine here, except maybe Fuchi, but that could be because I think he looks like someone's wimpy grandpa. 5/26/90 - Tsuruta/Kabuki/Fuchi vs. Misawa/Taue/Kobashi (AJPW) ****1/2 Fuchi and Taue start this match with a competition to see who has the worst physique. For the record Fuchi clearly has the worse physique, because at least Taue looks like he was put together by a mad scientist. Either way, both guys have the ability to bring it, and that is what really matters. As far as Kabuki goes, this is only the second time I've watched him and the first time his offense was repeated claw holds…he probably did six or seven extended claw holds in an 8 minute match. It is safe to say, that I'm not a fan. I don't know who or what caused this Misawa/Jumbo beef, but it is very clear in this match that these two just plain hate each other's guts. Smack dab in the middle of this match the two of them basically have a brawl that gets so out of hand everyone else has to come in to break it up. It was a pretty cool segment that really put over that this is not just a couple of guys competing to see who is the best. These are two guys willing to end the other's career if that is what it takes to prove they are the better man. It really raises the stakes of the match. It really shows, because I can watch this match commentated in a different language and understand who is who, and what is what based on nothing but how these guys work in the ring. After the brawl it is pretty apparent that Jumbo is pissed, and he takes it out on the young bucks. He really knows how to turn on the viciousness, and he throws the best bodyslams I've ever seen. I love how he plays his role as company ace. He isn't just the face of the company, he is the best in the world, and he will defend his spot tooth and nail. It isn't enough for him to know he's the best, he's going to make sure his opponent knows he is the best. Misawa is right there with him going blow for blow and not backing down from Jumbo's legend. He truly believes it is his turn and he is going to take his spot whether Jumbo likes it or not. These matches are great on their own, but watching them play out over a series of matches really illustrates how incredible of a story they are telling. Jumbo's time on top is coming to an end, yet he isn't dead yet. Misawa's time has come, but he might not quite be ready. These guys are heading to a showdown, and both are 100% confident that they'll be the one to walk out, but one of them is going to be wrong. This is a great match, and my only regret is that I didn't watch these matches sequentially so I could watch this story play out as it happened at the time, but it is still damn good. 2/25/90 - Luger vs. Flair (NWA) ****1/2 (I wrote this for the Wrestlewar '90 review in the WWE Network Thread.) Luger is out first and the crowd absolutely loves him. Flair gets a good reaction too, but Luger is clearly the fan favorite here. 1990 Ric Flair is basically everything you could ask for in a wrestler, he is just a master of every little thing. With that said, Luger is probably at his peak here, and Flair makes his power moves look like a million bucks. The basic story of this match is that Lex is a super human force of nature, but a rookie. Flair on the other hand is a wily veteran who is also the dirtiest player in the game. It is basically a contest to see if Lex can overcome all of Flair's dirty tricks to gain the World Championship. Flair bumps around like a pinball for all of Luger's offense, but when he gets Luger hurt he is focused like a laser. Any chance Flair can get he uses the ropes for leverage, goes to the eyes, or distracts the ref so Woman can get a cheap shot in, because he knows that he can't match Lex strength to strength. So Flair smartly tries to take out an arm first to stop all the power moves and then goes to the leg to set up the figure four. Everything Flair does makes sense, but Lex is essentially superhuman and his strength eventually overwhelms Flair. Woman interferes again and distracts Lex and the ref allowing Flair to ram Luger into the ref and Nick Patrick is out cold. Lex hits about 78 power moves including a powerslam and a superplex before putting Flair into the torture rack, but the ref is still out. The ref recovers just in time to see the Horseman come out to attack the injured Sting, and Lex comes out to make the save. The ref counts Luger out and Flair is still World Champion. This was awesome, Flair was so fucking good at this point, and Luger was no slouch. Everything just clicked, and the only real fault I have with it was the count out finish. 5/4/90 - Pantera vs. Fuerza (CMLL) ****1/4 OK, so as a disclaimer I think I need to say that I haven't watched a lot of lucha, and the little that I have watched I've found confusing. I just don't understand how they build their matches. For instance the first fall of this match was a lot of mat work that didn't really lead to anything. They started off with a lot of holds that were a variation of a groin stretch, but it seemed to be in the match as an excuse to do some crazy matwork. After a couple armdrags, Pantera pins Fuerza Guerrera with a Majistral cradle. The second fall starts with a long sequence of complicated armdrags, and some cool rope running spots from Pantera. He is really good at being the quick, flippy technico. Fuerza on the other hand is basically a surly bastard who would rather stretch this asshole with crazy, overly complex submissions, and takes the second fall with a kind of chickenwing, deathlock. The third fall starts and Guererra is taking it to Pantera. He is hitting a bunch of bulldogs and slams and just generally kicking ass. There is a cool sequence where Pantera kicks Fuerza's leg as he's running the ropes and he does the Chris Hamrick bump, and Pantera follows him to the floor with a tope con hilo…in 19 fucking 90. They then trade Gory Guerrero specials and I really thought Fuerza was going to tap when Panteral rolled through and had him in sort of a rolling boston crab. They trade a few more submissions, that would take a paragraph in a half to describe, before Fuerza goes to the top and goes for what looked like a swanton, but Pantera moves and goes for a Romero Special. Fuerza blocks a hurricarana with a powerbomb and locks in what I'm going to call a Tequila Sunrise(half crab with armhooked, except not turned all the way over like Konnan used to do it). This was pretty fun, and I think I followed it better than most of the lucha I've watched. I can't in good conscious say whether it is worth its rating, because it is a style that still doesn't really click in my mind for some reason. So I'll say that I liked it, and hopefully I'll start to understand it better with this project. 2/25/90 - Midnight Express vs. RNR Express (NWA) ****1/4 (I wrote this for the Wrestlewar '90 review in the WWE Network Thread.) One of my biggest shames as a wrestling fan is my almost complete ignorance of this feud. I mean just look at the mullets, how can I not love these guys. Jim Cornette is wearing the same suit Michael P.S. Hayes wore at the Hall of Fame. The Rock N Roll control early, and Cornette comically tries to help the Midnights and almost gets his ass kicked by Nick Patrick. Cornette is such a stooge, he just knows how to get the crowd to hate his guts. The Midnights take over and Ricky Morton is getting his ass kicked. This is perfect old school tag team wrestling. The faces are full of fire, and the heels are absolute technicians. WWE needs to have a heel tag team like the Midnights who win with just pure execution with their quick tags and double teams. Seriously, if they found two guys who could work that style, and put them with Heyman the tag division would take a huge step up. All their best teams are faces, (The Wyatts excluded) especially with the Real American break up, an old school, technical heel team could really get the division over.

I just went through all the 80s matches on the list and I thought maybe I should give out some awards so here I go. Wrestler of the decade: Ric Flair, he was probably in 75% of the matches and was the best part of basically every single one of them(Steamboat and Funk gave him a run for his money). 1989 was his magnum opus, he was at his best and he reached levels that very few guys could even dream to reach. Match of the Decade: Either Flair vs. Steamboat from the Clash, Flair vs. Funk from a couple Clashes after, or Steamboat vs. Savage from Wrestlemania III(Meltzer rated this match****1/2…blasphemy). They were basically the best wrestlers of the decade working their asses off against each other, and they are still very entertaining 25 years after they happened. I'd probably pick Steamboat vs. Savage if I had to pick a favorite, but Savage is my all-time favorite wrestler. Tag Team of the Decade: The Midnight Express were about as good of a tag team as there has ever been, and if life was fair they'd have a DVD set out with all of their greatest matches. Revelation of the Decade: It has to be Jumbo Tsuruta, he was someone I've heard about countless times, but he lived up to the hype. He is basically the bridge between the 80s U.S. heavyweight style and the 90s All Japan style. His match with Tenryu was basically the equivalent of Flair vs. Steamboat with fighting spirit. It was the best Japanese match I watched on this adventure. Tiger Mask II was pretty awesome too, but I'd already seen a lot of Misawa. I just didn't realize how good he was as a masked Jr. Heavyweight. Most Overrated and/or Underrated: Lex Luger was great in every single match he was in on this list. I know he was wrestling the likes of Flair and Steamboat, but he absolutely pulled his weight. He also has two matches with Brian Pillman that should be on the list and he miraculously pulls a **** match out of a washed up Tommy Rich. 6/8/90 - Tsuruta vs. Misawa (AJPW) ***** Misawa is out first and he's accompanied by Kobashi and Kawada. The Misawa chants are already in full effect in what I understand is his first big match after losing the Tiger Mask. Jumbo looks to show his dominance early with a big boot to the face and a tooth rattling lariat. Misawa reverses a back drop and baseball slides Jumbo out to the floor. He then hits his trademark rope flip followed by a drop kick to the floor. Jumbo gets cut off coming back in and Misawa then hits a running pescado. Misawa is definitely the plucky underdog here trying to stick and move, and use his speed to counter Jumbo's power. While Misawa's strategy is to strike quick and avoid Jumbo's power moves, that doesn't mean he's scared. He is here to win and even slaps Jumbo a couple times to make sure he knows that he ain't no bitch. Misawa charges with a cross body, but Jumbo catches him and drops him into a stun gun and Jumbo brings the beatdown. Jumbo hits some nasty knees and a powerbomb before getting his double arm suplex reversed into a back slide. Misawa hits him with an elbow and baseball slides Jumbo back to the outside. Misawa hits a pretty swank plancha from the top before going back in and attempting a bridging roll up. Misawa goes to the top to hit his knee tap frog splash, but Jumbo gets the knees up. Jumbo hits a couple of nasty assed lariats before going for the back drop. Misawa kicks off the turnbuckle making Jumbo take most of the brunt of the backdrop on the back of his head and then hits a German suplex and goes for the Tiger Driver. Jumbo reverses it and hits his jumping knee right to Misawa's face. Jumbo sends him into the corner and Misawa tries a springboard crossbody, but Jumbo's ready and hits him with an elbow. Jumbo charges for another jumping knee but Misawa moves and Jumbo gets hung in the ropes. They fight over a vertical suplex, and Misawa drops behind and goes for a back drop. Jumbo reverses in mid air, but Misawa rolls through for the pinfall. This was a great match and the crowd popped huge for Misawa's win. They absolutely love him. Kobashi, and Kawada have to basically fight fans off to get him back to the locker room. This seemed like a changing of the guard and a really historic moment. This is very reminiscent of the Flair vs. Sting match from the first Clash where the young lion takes on the old vet, except the young lion wins here. This is just about perfect. The fans were behind Misawa in the beginning, but by the time he won, they damn near rioted. This is how you elevate a guy, well worth *****. 10/19/90 - Tsuruta/Taue/Fuchi vs. Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi (AJPW) ***** This is one of those matches where you can just feel that something special is about to happen. The last match made Misawa look like an absolute stud, and the crowd here is chanting his name from the very start. Watching Misawa, Kawada, and Kobashi at this age is strange, because they all wrestle with a youthful exuberance that is just plain missing from the matches I've watched over the years. They see the mountaintop, and they're running to the peak. They see the veteran's time waning, and they are looking to take their spots. I don't speak any Japanese, but the story of this match is clear as day. The young guys are looking across the ring, staring down the veterans and telling them, "It's our time now." The veterans are staring back saying "If you want my spot, you're going to have to pry it from my cold dead hands." It works so well because of how both teams work. The young'ns are all enthusiastic hitting their diving clotheslines and running around like lethal chickens with their heads cut off. The vets are just surly assholes who are going to take their time and make this ass whooping count. In the end the old school ass kickers get the win, but it is very apparent that the fans see Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi as the future. This is the best six man tag I've ever seen, ***** is well deserved . It is essentially perfect. 7/7/90 - Midnight Express vs. Southern Boys (NWA) ****3/4 The Southern Boys are out first dressed like confederate soldiers, and in 1990 I'm surprised that shit like that would fly especially in Baltimore. The Southern Boys control Eaton to start, and are basically the most racist white bread babyfaces ever. Sweet Stan comes in and has a karate standoff with Tracy Smothers…Stan Lane's karate is both the best(in a douchebag heel way) and worst(in a this shit looks terrible) example of karate that I've ever seen. What was the last heel tag team that had the always effective gimmick of knowing every trick in the tag team book? The Midnight Express' entire hook was that they knew every single dirty trick ever invented and used them all every chance they had. Seriously, they would just need to have a lot of double team moves, and maybe have a douchebag manager, it would work right now. Oh the match is great, the Midnight Express may be the best tag team of all time, and the Southern Boys ate their Wheaties that morning. ****3/4 may be a little high, but I just watched the above six-man and this just doesn't really compare. This was fun, but don't watch it after one of the best matches you've ever seen and think it's going to compare. 9/1/90 - Fantastics vs. Kikuchi/Joe Malenko (AJPW) ****3/4 I could only find a version that was joined in progress, and was about 10 minutes long. It was really good, but there were some pretty big flaws for a match someone would rate at ****3/4. First there was a spot where Kikuchi was body slammed from the apron to the floor, and he pops up like nothing happened. He took one of the most ridiculous bumps I've ever seen, and didn't sell it at all. Then Kikuchi botches a springboard, and the victory roll setup that leads to a doomsday device. Everything else is pretty stellar, but it is just too flawed to rate that high. I'd probably have it around **** 9/1/90 - Tsuruta vs. Misawa (AJPW) ****1/2 Before I started this project I had never watched a single Jumbo Tsuruta match, but he is basically neck and neck with Flair as far as who is the MVP of this list so far. He is everything I hoped he would be and more, and Misawa at this point was coming into his peak. At this point in their careers the only thing these two couldn't do was suck. These matches are outstanding, but they are becoming increasingly harder to describe interestingly. So don't be surprised if I skip a couple of these every now again to keep this interesting. For now, I think I have to address the absolute nuclear hot crowd here. There are good crowds, great crowds, outstanding crowds, and then there is this shit. I don't remember the last time an American wrestling match had a crowd that cared even half this much. This shit is absolutely insane. There is a point where Jumbo mounts(pause) Misawa and rains down punches before throwing him into the crowd and hitting him with a chair. The crowd reacts like they are watching someone murder their dog. They care about these two wrestlers more than most people care about their children. When Misawa kicks out of a backdrop, I'm surprised the building didn't collapse. Misawa and Jumbo are insanely good here, but this crowd is the star of the match. ****1/2 seems more than reasonable for the match, but this is a ***** crowd. 8/19/90 - Liger vs. Pegasus (NJPW) ****1/2 The 1990s were a golden age for Jr. Heavyweight wrestling and Liger and Benoit are two of the best of the era. I understand a lot of people have well deserved problems with Benoit and how his life played out, but I've always been one who can talk about someone's work without taking into consideration their personal character. So while watching his matches are problematic for some, I can still watch them and enjoy them despite who he was and his personal choices. After all the Nazis basically invented the highway system, and none of us are taking all back roads next time we go to grandma's house. He was a scumbag, but he was also a damn good wrestler. This is 9:00 and I believe the beginning is clipped, but even if it was complete I think it would be overrated at ****1/2. It was a really good, fast paced match, but it lacked that little something extra that takes a match from good to great. With that said, I need to stop watching matches like this directly after a Jumbo/Misawa match. Those matches are so damn good with such an amazing atmosphere, and they all seem like the most important match of all time. I have a feeling that Misawa/Jumbo is going to be to 1990 what Flair/Steamboat was to 1989.

So, we are going to act like James Brown isn't the single most important musical act in all of modern music. He is the bridge from Rock, to Soul, to R&B, to Funk, to Hip-Hop. Without him, music sounds completely different than it does now. There are people we can call great for multiple reasons, but there is only one man who built the highway that all modern music drives on.

I 100% agree that there is a flipside to this conversation. If you were to try to write a comparison of Brad Armstrong and Sean Waltman, you could easily conclude that Brad Armstrong was better than him at everything individually, but I don't know anyone who would say that Armstrong was a better wrestler than Waltman.

I don't know if Undertaker fits. Undertaker is a huge dude, has credible offense, and is ridiculously athletic for his size. That guy would have been a star in almost every single promotion. The Undertaker gimmick is essentially a handcuff on someone who probably would have been a better worker if he was a generic ass kicker. In a What If thread I posted, if he had the Mean Mark gimmck in November of 1990, the consensus was that he would not have lasted very long without his Deadman persona. I don't know if I disagree with that, but he is a guy who we didn't think of as a good in ring guy until pretty late in his run. The gimmick made his career what it was, but I think we'd be talking about him as an all time in ring worker without it. His athletic prime was spent in a gimmick that didn't really allow him to use those athletic gifts.