The Russian Daydream

If you're looking for comedy, the bit at the end of the Rob Naylor episode where you were reading out YouTube comments on Muscle-Bear (is that one word, like SummerSlam or two, like kick boxer?) videos featuring James Earl Wright was absolute gold. That had me laughing so hard I nearly had to pull my car over until it finished.

Really good match. I like how, for the bulk of the match Akiyama was wrestling like he was on the level of the others, as opposed to the previous year when he was only able to hang with the big guys because of his heart. The finish made the point that altough he's in there league now, he's still got some way to go. Kawada and Taue were at their brutal best again here. The spot where Akiyama is resisting being turned over into a Boston Crab and Kawada just starts stamping on his head repeatedly until Akiyama gives up and allows the hold to be applied is wonderful.

Good fun again guys. I was beginning to wonder if Parv had completely thrown in the towel! One thing about that Sting vs Vader match that I never hear mention these days but which I love is the Sting-turns-the-cross-body-into-a-powerslam finish. Back in the spring of 1992, right at the beginning of their feud, Sting had his ribs injured in a house-show match with Vader. I believe the actual injury happened when Sting hit the barrier outside but it was credited at the time (either on TV or in WCW magazine, I can't remember which) on Vader catching Sting on a top rope cross body and turning it into a powerslam. For the people following things at the time, I thought the finish of the Starrcade match was a nice 'what goes around comes around' rounding up of that story.

There was a point about a third of the way through this match where I thought it was going to be really good. Kawada was going after Misawa's arm on the outside with real brutality. The second time he ran him into the railing it looked like the railing actually bent. Alas, it went nowhere and as they moved to the final third of the match, the arm work was forgotten and Misawa wins with the elbow anyway. It was a good and pretty exciting match, it's just not as good as either Misawa vs Kobashi match from 97 or most of Misawa's matches with Kawada either.

This really was just a wonderful, timeless piece of wrestling. In a sort of Beethoven, Mozart, Shakespere sort of way, superficially it might not be somebody's cup of tea but if you take your time to really watch it, you see why this match is held in such high regard. Every move, hold, action and reaction has its place in the story, both within the match and the wider picture of All Japan at this time. Not only that, but the timing of each 'event' in the match was placed so perfectly too. I don't really mind Kobashi's kick-outs at the end. It is not like he kicked out and came back. After the Tiger-Driver 91, he was a beaten man. His character was such at this time that unless he was rendered unconscious, he was not keeping his shoulders down regardless how damaged he had suffered. This was further emphasised by the length of time he lay motionless after the final fall.

This match really is something. It works as a classic just stood on its own in isolation but when viewed as part of the full year of 96 All Japan it becomes really really special. The main points have already been written above, but I'd like to give mention to my favourite moment in the match. At one point Kawada knocks Misawa down with a big kick then tags to Taue who comes in, steps on Misawa's face and just grinds his boot in. It just says so much and it's brilliant.

When was that Savage letter published? I distinctly remember reading it, but I was very much a WCW guy in mid 1992 and don't think I even bought a WWF magazine until the second half of 1993 (when a friend of mine got SKY TV and I finally had access to see the WWF). if I'm remembering right, I wonder why WWF would wait a full year to do this? Or else my memory is a complete muddle, in which case, just ignore me!

Hatred is definitely the word. I'm not sure there's ever been a match where the hatred has felt quite as intensely believable. From a pure excitement standpoint, some of the earlier Wargames matches are hard to beat. I'd rate the 92 Dangerous Alliance one just above the first one in 87. It really was a tremendous concept and when done right was so exciting. I know it's not particularly highly regarded as a match, but as a spectacle, the Mankind vs Undertaker cell match was awesome. There are so many visual moments in that which are just etched into my mind. Both Foley's falls, him coming back up the aisle after getting off the stretcher, the visual of him sitting in the corner looking like he's smiling with his tooth hanging out of his nose. As a match it doesn't hold up to much scrutiny, but it was totally unforgettable. I think I could easily say, of those four, the Tully vs Magnum one is the 'best'. To decide on a 'favourite', as in which would I most like to go off and watch right now? I'm really struggling to pick.

Very funny. If I ever end up getting divorced, I'll definately be trying out The Guardian's dating site.

The difference, as I see it, is that, in the context of pro wrestling, I could believe that Vader back-flipping onto me would wind me sufficiently to pin me (and perhaps kill me). The gif in question shows two guys having a gymnastic exhibition. It doesn't even pretend to be two guys trying to beat each other. That's not to say it isn't impressive to watch, it's just not what I look for in pro wrestling. I would liken this style to turning on the TV to watch a serious hard-hitting drama only for the actors to talk as quickly as possible in tongue-twisters.

I love that Noel's House party with Mr Blobby got a mention on Between the Sheets! The memories.

Good show guys. A few things: Firstly, I can completely identify with Parv's story at the beginning. As a teacher of teenagers myself, I've been very careful to not share my wrestling fan-dom with any colleagues and definately none of my pupils. There was a bizzare moment a few months back when I had cause to shout at a boy who was walking illegally across a stretch of grass, only for him to turn towards me and do the John Cena "you can't see me" wavy hand. Cheeky shite that he was. I shouted that "I can see you" only to wonder if I'd let my secret slip. It's never been mentioned since so all is fine. The early 1993 "Real Event" tour was quite something. I remember it being pused heavily on TV and pestering my dad to take me to the show in Aberdeen Scotland. I have to say it was a fantastic show and I had a fabulous time. Except for Cactus Jack vs Vinnie Vegas, which was crap. Rick Rude's 1992 is a weird one. It's not just the two Steamboat matches and the Chono G1 match which the legend is built on. On PPV, he was really good in Wargames and I thought the match wiere he teamed with Austin vs Williams and Rhodes at the Great American Bash may have been the best match of the NWA tag title tournament. He also had good matches on TV too, including against Dustin Rhodes in the Nintendo Challenge. You guys were right though, he went off a cliff in the Autumn. The Halloween Havoc match was absolutely rubbish and the Sting match at the clash was pretty boring too. I know that at Havoc, Chono was only a few weeks removed from his neck injury at the hands of Austin's botched piledriver, so he was really limited. I also have to wonder though, whether Rude had already suffered the injury that would eventually force him out of action in December and was just trying to work through it. He just seemed so sluggish all of a sudden. Or perhaps it really was that his mustache held all his powers. Incidentally, as a boy, I hated the no mustache Rude. When he came back from his injury with the mustache back AND an obscenely hairy chest though, I thought he was the coolest man that ever lived. I can only dream of achieving that level of manliness!

That was a fascinating story.

I'm looking forward to this quite a bit even though I didn't post a tag ballot myself. Its going to be really interesting to see what people valued in their teams because I think the 'great teams' are less clear cut. For every team I would have considered on my list, I can think of a negative argument against them. For example a lot of teams on my mind had short runs or built their case against only a few opponents or only worked in one place or were only ever heels or faces and so on. Realistically, I think Flair (or at a push maybe Funk or Misawa) were always going to be number one in the singles list. The top end of the tag list seems much more open to me.

I'm only part way through this episode (perhaps I should move further from my work to give me a longer commute!) but I wanted to agree with Parv regarding the issue of weight classes. On this issue, I always think of WWF's In Your House DX PPV in December of 97. In the undercard you had Taka Michinoku wrestling Brian Christopher (who weighed about 220 lbs) for the new WWF Light Heavyweight title. In the main event, World Champion Shawn Michaels (who weighed about 220 lbs) is wrestling Ken Shamrock. It made no sense. I felt this situation hurt Michaels because why should a lightheavyweight be the world champion, but more so really hurt Christopher, who I think could have become a somebody. Instead he became a bit of a joke. Regarding the 'lights out' match, the Sting-Vader match at Superbrawl 3 was announced as an 'unsanctioned, lights out leather strap match'. As an 11 year old I didn't really know what it all meant but it sounded brutal - and as it turned out, it was.

Really? I've not seen that match in a few years, but I really liked it. I'd be so disappointed if I rewatched it and it wasn't any good.

The thing is, this match never really had a chance. Both these guys acts at the time were mainly based around them selling and bumping for other people's offence, and the match just didn't have the balance. They both needed someone to sell for on the other side of the match but neither seemed willing (or able perhaps) to be that guy.The whole match really is like someone trying to run with two left feet.

Kevin Sullivan's a strange guy. I tend to think of him as not that good of a wrestler but every now and again I realise he has matches that show him in a completely different light.

I had Funk at 1 and Flair at 2. It really was a toss up. I just felt more comfortable putting Funk at 1 due to his versatility. I was exactly the same.

1 Terry Funk 2 Ric Flair 3 Mitsuharu Misawa 4 Stan Hansen 5 Kenta Kobashi 6 Nick Bockwinkel 7 Genichiro Tenryu 8 Jumbo Tsuruta 9 Keiji Mutoh 10 Bret Hart 11 Jerry Lawler 12 Randy Savage 13 Vader 14 Jushin Liger 15 Shawn Michaels 16 Ted DiBiase 17 Ray Stevens 18 Steve Austin 19 Toshiaki Kawada 20 Pat Patterson 21 Dory Funk Jr. 22 Ricky Steamboat 23 Akira Taue 24 Jun Akiyama 25 Curt Hennig 26 Rey Mysterio Jr. 27 Triple H 28 Dusty Rhodes 29 Scott Steiner 30 Andre the Giant 31 Dynamite Kid 32 Ricky Morton 33 Hiroshi Hase 34 Jack Brisco 35 Shinya Hashimoto 36 Riki Choshu 37 Tatsumi Fujinami 38 Harley Race 39 Bobby Eaton 40 Barry Windham 41 The Destroyer 42 Mick Foley 43 Rick Martel 44 Brock Lesnar 45 Hiroshi Tanahashi 46 Owen Hart 47 Tommy Rich 48 William Regal 49 Tully Blanchard 50 Dustin Rhodes 51 The Undertaker 52 John Cena 53 Ivan Koloff 54 Roddy Piper 55 Davey Boy Smith 56 Hulk Hogan 57 Eddie Guerrero 58 Rick Steiner 59 Terry Gordy 60 Daniel Bryan 61 The Rock 62 Atsushi Onita 63 Giant Baba 64 LA Park 65 Sting 66 Masa Fuchi 67 Chris Benoit 68 Jeff Jarrett 69 Perro Aguayo 70 Scott Hall 71 Sean Waltman 72 Wahoo McDaniel 73 Fit Finlay 74 Kurt Angle 75 Original Sheik 76 El Dandy 77 Yoshihiro Takayama 78 Masa Chono 79 Arn Anderson 80 Jeff Hardy 81 Sabu 82 Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 83 Mark Rocco 84 Marty Jones 85 Stan Lane 86 Bill Dundee 87 Kerry Von Erich 88 Buddy Rogers 89 Rick Rude 90 Nobuhiko Takada 91 Tracy Smothers 92 Dave Taylor 93 Verne Gagne 94 Yoshihiro Tajiri 95 Greg Valentine 96 Great Sasuke 97 Jim Duggan 98 Jimmy Snuka 99 Larry Zbyszko 100 Abdullah the Butcher

Just a curiosity, but I wonder how many of those who had Flair at 1 had Funk at 2 and vice versa?

Well, I had Funk as my number 1 and Flair as number 2. Before I submitted by ballot though,I went back and forth on the two of them before finally giving it to Funk. For me, the key was Funk's diversity during his career that put him just a shade ahead. Scientific NWA champ, wild brawler, death match worker, sweet old man, tag teams, singles, sympathetic face, crazy heel... i can't argue with it coming out the other way round though. Incidentally, thanks so much to Grimmas for overseeing this process. I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing the results come out and, I think, I've learned a lot about what I value in wrestling. Well done sir. I didn't submit a tag-team ballot (a fill-time job, wife, 18 month old child and a Labrador leave me with just not enough hours!) but I'm quite excited about seeing these results now.

Ouch! My top ten was looking ok until today and then I lost Bockwinkel (6), Tenryu (7), Tsuruta (8) and Hart (10) all in one swoop. A painful evening.

Absolutely in 100% agreement here.

I don't mean to sound smart or start an argument by saying this, but why is it unacceptable to believe that a good proportion of the greatest wrestlers ever are 'mainstream' guys? Is it not plausible that many great wrestlers became mainstream guys because they were great wrestlers? Surely most wrestlers who are/were great get noticed, gain higher profiles and therefore become 'mainstream'.