Microstatistics

Is this the correct date? It's listed as 12/21/1996 on Tabe's Tamura set. Anyway, this might be the most gruesome shoot-style match I've seen. The reviewers above bring up an interesting narrative regarding Yamamoto's frustration at his lackluster transition to be the top native talent in RINGS and his anger at a seemingly new golden boy in Kiyoshi Tamura. The standup had an aura of reckless violence and while the matwork was a little stagnant, it was quite ferocious and led to Tamura pouring hardway blood and almost getting his face rearranged. He nearly spiked himself setting up the finish too. ***3/4

I think this is easily the best match of its kind from this era. A few narrative points I picked up on that I feel are enough to label this as more than just a mindless stuntfest. - The Dudleyz were too fixated on their beloved tables, which caused them to waste time and lose the initiative (Jerry Lawler made a similar point on commentary) - The Hardyz (in particular Jeff) were needlessly enamored with daredevil maneuvers and so when one didn't pan out, they would crash and burn badly - Edge & Christian, on the other hand, were the most pragmatic and cunning. soup23 mentioned Edge taking the weakest bumps but I think that's a positive in the context of the story. These two did only what they needed to do to win and that seems to be the recipe for success since they had this match won twice (once prior to Lita's interference) and why they won WM2000 and TLC II as well. Anyway, the biggest strengths of this match are the non-stop action (with reasonable selling and transitions), the violent bumps, and the escalation. D-Von's bump near the end is particularly underrated and always makes me wince. ****1/4

What a difference four years make. I was more impressed with Inoki than Brisco this time around. Brisco was still world-class with his aggression and attentive selling but Inoki's wrestling skill and composure allowed him to shine. 1971 MOTY. ****1/4

I'll likely have these two at x and x+1 in my Top 10. As people have alluded to, their case (i.e., ungodly peaks but stop-and-start careers) is remarkably similar. I'll go Eddie by the finest of margins for his versatility.

Top 10 contender. Other-worldly mat-worker who was pretty much world-class from day one. His ability to conjure gorgeous, limb-maiming submissions out of thin air was truly special but he was also a great striker and seller. He was THE star of 1992-1996 RINGS, gelling well with everyone, from the native talent to the other Russians. He didn't reach the heights of Tamura or Fujiwara, which is why I won't rank him as high as the other two. But on a per match basis, he is hard to beat.

Casas was #4 for me in 2016 and, looking back, that was way too high. A charismatic, skilled, versatile wrestler with incredible longevity but I'm having trouble finding truly great Casas matches that don't involve Santo in some way, particularly singles bouts. I still need to check out some of the trios KB8 has listed above and re-watch some other stuff (like the Hechicero match from 4/2016) but the lack of non-Santo output could limit the ceiling.

I was the co-high vote on Satanico at #2 in 2016 and am proud of it. There is a decent chance he'll again end up somewhere around there. At the very least, he's a Top 10 lock. Footage limitations could make the difference when I have to split hairs. Anyway, healthy number of great matches, best brawler ever, maybe the best punches ever, effective rudo and technico, world-class mat-worker, great seller etc. He is also a guy I'm struggling to find valid criticisms for. I've pointed out weaknesses of my other Top 10 guys, be it Kobashi or Santo or HBK, or even Fujiwara and Tamura (albeit to a lesser extent), but Satanico seems to have all bases covered. Maybe a stronger aerial game (though I've seen him bust out impressive dives) or more high impact offense?

Pat McAfee is the worst commentator since Matt Striker.

As sek69 mentioned earlier, I think he just doesn't care.

It might be a bit odd but if he believes it, there is nothing wrong in saying so. The AEW roster jumping to Kenny Omega's defense in response and touting him as the best on Twitter is much more bizarre and frankly quite pathetic.

The funny thing about this is that the pathetic backtracking is largely meaningless since now people want him to say Taiwan belongs to China (a common CCP talking point) or they won't accept the apology. Maybe placating authoritarians and their enablers is not such a wise idea. You give a hand and they take an arm.

Yeah, this is a great observation. I'd add Taue to that list as well. He is still in consideration for my bottom 20 or so and I think his selling ability was fine but his psychology could really be wonky. His love of following up big offense with the ankle lock and tendency to shoehorn it into finishing stretches were particularly egregious. I feel Eddie Guerrero was his best opponent since I feel he was able to cover for Angle's psychology lapses and provide organic transitions and a structure . The WM 20 match is probably Angle's career match, especially because the shift from the ribwork on Eddie to the anklelock heavy finish felt natural and earned.

Busting Makabe hardway disqualifies him I think.

1992-1993 Hiroshi Hase was a miracle worker. He got MOTYCs out of Mutoh AND Chono. That alone is Top 50 worthy.

Honestly, it's unlikely, but I could see him sneak into the 85-100 tier for me. I guess he benefits from my heavy emphasis on high-end stuff. Though, you could argue his good match/total match ratio is awful and diminishes his case. Still, the Foley, Austin, Bryan matches are all high-end and he effectively plays his role in them. The 2005 HIAC vs. Batista is his crowning achievement IMO since he got a great match out of a lesser wrestler.