Microstatistics

Lovely match. Great matwork, super intense and dramatic stand-up strike exchanges and awesome character based storytelling. Murahama comes in as the cocky yet tenacious shooter and never loses that edge even when Naohiro's size and strength advantage has him in trouble for significant periods of time, and that ends up being the deciding factor.

Far and away the best display of old style matwork I have ever seen. Innovative, intense and fluid, just amazing stuff. Destroyer is simply brilliant as the vicious, cheating heel using every dirty trick in the book to gain the advantage while Baba is great as the top guy relying on skill and toughness. Along with the French Catch stuff, the highlight of the 60s. **** 1/2

From my limited sampling, this is the best match I have seen out of Germany so far. I read the Segunda Caida guys review and was surprised that they gave most of the credit to Morowski for this. He threw great punches and took some huge bumps but, personally, this was clearly the Dieter show. Terrific performance as the babyface hero resisting the relentless bull through technique and ferocious fightbacks. His selling was excellent throughout. Super intense and dramatic match with a great crowd. Unique finishing stretch as well. **** 5/8

I thought it was really intense, well constructed and had a very interesting dynamic . Murdoch was the bull, adding cool heelish touches and throwing amazing strikes and just trying to pulverize Fujinami. Fujinami tried to control him with holds and technique but was more than willing to fight back with fire. Even the finish and post match were super intense. The match had a lot of energy. I have it around **** - **** 1/4. Probably wouldn't be a MOTYC in most years but I thought 1982 was kind of a weak year in general so it was good enough. Worth checking out Flair/Kerry and Andre/Killer Khan from that year. Probably others as well but those are what come to mind first. Andre/Khan was my original pick. Not a fan of Flair/Kerry. One of the Lawler/Mantell bouts has a good shot, need to revisit.

I would actually argue Orton has had a pretty strong career. Loads of decent-good matches and some great ones (vs. Foley, Rey, Bryan, Cesaro etc.). It's all accumulated quality of course and doesn't mean he is a great wrestler by any means (though I consider him to be pretty good). Lots of duds and mediocre stuff along the way. I don't want to veer off into GWE territory but Orton is a good example of why having a resume of good matches built up over a bunch of years doesn't mean you are an elite worker. "Has any other top star been as lackluster as Orton?" would be a better question for me personally.

I thought it was really intense, well constructed and had a very interesting dynamic . Murdoch was the bull, adding cool heelish touches and throwing amazing strikes and just trying to pulverize Fujinami. Fujinami tried to control him with holds and technique but was more than willing to fight back with fire. Even the finish and post match were super intense. The match had a lot of energy. I have it around **** - **** 1/4. Probably wouldn't be a MOTYC in most years but I thought 1982 was kind of a weak year in general so it was good enough.

The best pure brawl of all time, IMO. One of the big reasons is that it is so different, completely rejecting the standard structure and themes of 2/3 Lucha brawls and 80s US bloodbaths. This was all about Satanico willing himself to stand up to master brawler Sangre Chicana. Satanico is working from underneath but he is still a rudo and doesn't hesitate to resort to dirty tricks including an awesome eye hook. Chicana uses cool psychological tactics to gain the advantage. Felt like an incredibly gritty yet strategic fight and where they are trying to claw and maim each other but remain somewhat cerebral in their approach even as the intensity ramps up. Includes the best punches ever thrown in wrestling, out of this world great selling from Satanico and the best use of a non-finish ever. Satanico is THE wrestling genius and Chicana is an all time great brawler and so they were able to construct something so unique and great. A breath of fresh air and a big middle finger to the formulaic American and Lucha brawls we keep seeing a millions times. ****5/8

I know people prefer their 98-99 stuff or their 4/2005 Futen bout but this for me is the best Ikeda-Ishikawa match and an all time classic. I also think it's the best 30 minute draw ever. Ikeda is pretty much perfect as the injured underdog trying to survive an aggressive Ishikawa using focused counterattacks. I always got the impression that Ishikawa was presented as the superior wrestler and Ikeda was always working from underneath in some ways (even when he was the heel) whenever these guys faced off but it was most obvious in this match. Unbelievable sense of struggle throughout the match, superb mix of intense matwork and crazy stiff strikes with classic pro wrestling counters and build. The pinnacle of the hybrid style. ****5/8

Wanted to create a thread for this because I personally think this is not only one of the best Satanico matches but one of the best of all time. Unique and brilliantly executed story of the Local anti-hero taking on the invading foreigner. Perfectly paced and structured. Amazing brawling and selling. Clever and poetic finish + an awesome post-match. This has it all. ****5/8

Definite contender for best <5 minute match of all time. ****1/8

If only this was called by Jim Ross instead of Matt Striker. I would have got rid of Michael Cole too since we are talking about it, just JR and Lawler would've been perfect. Shawn Michaels haters be damned, this is a masterclass in build and storytelling.

Yeah that is easily the biggest pro wrestling myth ever and still persists even though anyone who watches a major match from 80s-90s New Japan or All Japan will instantly realize that's BS. I never got the Brody-Hansen comparison for North-South. North-South are a million times more creative and skilled and a billion times more giving. This is their best performance. This match is terrific. North-South are vicious and use every trick in the book to gave the advantage all the while make the hometown guys look like a million bucks. Fujinami is amazing as usual and Inoki gives one of his finer performances. **** 3/8

Murakami and Sano in BattlARTS? Yes, please. Sano looked like a young Kawada here.Typically awesome matwork, striking, selling and character work. Otsuka and Murakami didn't go all out as heels but I liked the heelish touches they added at various points. Ishikawa's fiery comeback and his interaction with Murakami was probably my favorite part. ****

Because they are "so-called smart" fans and not actually intelligent. Yeah it proves "smart" fans are the biggests marks of them all and are keeping kayfabe alive. They ferociously boo the guy who retired their favorite but cheer the hell out of the guy who is actually responsible for that and all the other booking decisions and outcomes they supposedly hate so much.

I sadly have to agree. Their first match would make a top 10 WWE matches list for me but the story and way they had executed it felt like a unique, one time thing.

Yeah, that match was def bad because of ROMAN. I hope that's sarcasm because that's not even close to what I said.

I like Reigns quite a bit but let's face it, that was awful. The finishing stretch and Reign's expressions were kind of cool but the rest was pretty bad.

A little disappointed they are working a match instead of it being a squash.

If only the streak was alive, this would be the most heated match in US history. Also yes Jim Ross. I know people hate him but he is the best American commentator for me.

That leapfrog was one of the great transitions of all time.

Those are the mildest Goldberg chants ever.

Rollins leg selling was adequate. Match was bad though, Rollins can't construct a singles match to save his life and HHH isn't exactly the super worker to carry him to a good match.

I give him some credit for selling after every stupid thing he hits. I'd give him more credit if he was adapting his offense to the situation instead. I think El Dragon's point is harsh. You can't expect him to sell the knee for every second of the match like he is Kobashi or Liger or something. The second point would be ideal but even Misawa and Hashimoto didn't stop throwing elbows or kicks after having those limbs worked over. He did a RUNNING BUCKLE BOMB on a leg that came in significantly hurt before the match, and had multiple chair hots on it. At least adjust that into a "counter into a standing buckle bomb" sort of thing to mix it up. Also, Seth Rollins stealing the much more over Johnny Gargano's signature move. To be fair, he did two spots where his leg buckled after powerbomb attempts prior to it.

I give him some credit for selling after every stupid thing he hits. I'd give him more credit if he was adapting his offense to the situation instead. I think El Dragon's point is harsh. You can't expect him to sell the knee for every second of the match like he is Kobashi or Liger or something. The second point would be ideal but even Misawa and Hashimoto didn't stop throwing elbows or kicks after having those limbs worked over.

Anti-climactic