Microstatistics

He was a babyface in 2018 too though and a super popular one. All that underdog stuff with the gauntlets, people were all aboard that Rollins train. But yeah the recent social media stuff and the Becky Lynch connection has somehow negated all that.

I'd say Yano is MVP so far.

Bret > Flair Kawada > Okada Kobashi > Misawa Bryan > Jumbo Taue > Tanahashi

From what I've read, Shawn critics act like he was worse than Tiger Jeet Singh in this match. One reason I'm assuming is because he did his usual Shawn Michaels flashy stuff rather than fight. But this wasn't a bloodfeud match because the bloodfeud portion of the feud had reached a logical conclusion at Unforgiven. His performance was exactly what it should have been for the kind of match they had here.

This might already have been discussed but it's amazing how quickly fans on reddit and other places turned on Seth. Just last year, they wanted him as the face of the company and were touting him as WOTY for having amazing match after amazing match. But now suddenly, he hasn't been compelling since the heel run in 2015. I rarely outright dislike a wrestler, but I have to agree with the general PWO consensus here. Something about Seth Rollins' wrestling just feels off on every level. His usual formula might just be the worst possible way to construct a wrestling match.

This is debatable.

Surprised you didn't like this more. This is a solid MOTDC for me and considered a shoot-style classic by many. Fun read, overall. The final is especially underrated.

Of course, most obvious and common one: "But you know it's fake right?" To build on the above posts, they treat it like a sport but the fact that the finish is pre-determined overrides everything else. If the finish is "fake", then everything else must be "fake" too right? They can't possibly be getting hurt. Then, in the same breath, they praise Thanos vs. Hulk as "brutal" Obviously, not all non-fans are like that. Some recognize the physical toll but just can't get into it because of the scripted nature. Which I can understand (though wrestling is supposed to be to scripted since it's an artistic outlet, conveyed through simulated fighting but I guess that's not for everyone.).

And Renee Young. And Corey Graves. The entire commentary scene is poor. Nigel McGuinness is the only good commentator in WWE.

Match of the Year - Tetsuya Naito vs. Taichi (NJPW, 2/3) Best Major Wrestling Show - NJPW Dominion (6/9) Best Promotion - NJPW Best on Interviews - R-Truth Most Improved - Jon Moxley Wrestler of the Year - Tetsuya Naito

Kazuchika Okada defends the IWGP Heavyweight title. Pretty good stuff from Jericho here in between the aggressive attacks, heel stuff and generally trying to stay one step ahead of Okada story wise. I like Okada in general but this was a nothing performance. Aside from the gloating at the start, he contributed nothing to the match. Good finish with Okada outmaneuvering the "brawler" Jericho with a simple wrestling move. The pacing was pretty lethargic though and large parts fell flat. Not bad but hugely disappointing. ***

I get that, even in shoots, fighters enjoy when their fight is praised as exciting or fun. But something about Will Ospreay essentially thanking Meltzer for a 5.75 star rating feels odd.

I don't know, my #1 for 2018 would struggle to make the Top 30 of 1996 or 1997. NJPW fell off a cliff relative to 2017. Maybe I've been watching the wrong stuff.

I honestly thought this was really good. If it wasn't for those last minute botches, this wouldn't get nearly as much hate. In fact I'm not even sure those spots were actually botches. A drained, bloody Goldberg collapsing while going for a tombstone made sense as did the jackhammer not being perfectly executed (it turned into a Hashimoto style sheerdrop brainbuster which I would actually consider to be a bonus). I'll admit the finish was a little too anticlimactic though. Expecting a fluid, fast paced, flawlessly wrestled match was silly. This was exactly what it should have: a gritty, ugly heavyweight slugfest between two past their prime heavy hitters. The snake eyes to spear transition to get Goldberg back on offense was really good. Both threw some great strikes as well. ***1/2

Also I think 2018 might be the worst year in wrestling history, match quality wise. 2011 is not too far behind.

Updated mine as well. Some big changes after GME but overall it's not too different.

This is a great point. Same for guys cosplaying 90s Kings Road without picking up on how important struggle, transitions and selling were to the style. I'm a huge Shawn Michaels fan but his "steal the show", "best performer", "give people their moneys worth" stuff was one of the worst things to happen to modern wrestling. He had the skills and smarts to generally pull it off but most modern guys simply don't. Instead of "I'm here to win/defend this title" or "I'm here to kill this guy", it's "I'm here to put on a great match". Yes I personally care about match quality, but the wrestlers acting like they do too instead of treating it like a competitive fight sort of defeats the purpose. I think that's one of the biggest reasons for the decline of wrestling match quality in 2010s. Another knock against Shawn's legacy is that shitty superkick trend the seemingly everyone has adopted.

I agree. 4 Tamura matches made the Top 30, there were 2 Fujiwara shoot-style bouts in the Top 50, lucha did reasonably well, the non usual suspects territory stuff did really well , there was a bunch of pre-80s stuff. There has definitely been a shift and will continue to be.

Fun and super informative project. Great final list as well. Thank you to Cap, Boss Rock and Elliott for administrative work and to others for participating.

20-11 is up.

30-21 is up Different forum, stricter nomination process, different ranking criteria etc. etc.

40-31 is out.

http://gweproject.freeforums.net/thread/1167/100-greatest-matches-2019-results 80-61 and 60-41 are up. 40-1 will be released in increments of 10 from tomorrow.

200-151 and 150-101 are up in the same thread Boss Rock posted. Rollout for Top 100 will start tomorrow.

Cole is interesting in that he can range from terrific (Eddie, Foley's title wins) to absolute garbage (his heel run, Bryan's WM 30 title win) and be everything in between. Not a GOAT for me but his longevity is impressive.