Microstatistics

I think since Brock/Roman II. Months of Lesnar dominating and beating everyone with one F5 in anticipation of Reigns being the one to vanquish him. He kicked out of an absurd 4-5 F5s and you thought this is it but Lesnar still bizarrely retained. The scenario feels similar to the current situation because Roman eventually won at Summerslam but it just wasn't the same since they missed the boat that mattered. The Okada beating Naito at WK12 pick that was mentioned is another good one.

Also, as someone with no emotional investment in Cody, if we get Gunther vs. Reigns out of this and Imperium putting the final nail in the coffin for the Bloodline, I'd be perfectly fine with that ending.

Night 2 ended up being much weaker than Night 1 even though I anticipated the inverse. Still, not bad mainly thanks to IC title match. Lesnar vs. Omos - Omos works the back, Lesnar sells well, can't get the F5 the first time but the second attempt seals it. Predictable but simple opener. **1/4 Women's Fatal Four Tag - Probably the weakest match of the two nights though Raquel and Green did well. Ronda was barely involved until the win which was weird. *3/4 Gunther vs. Sheamus vs. McIntyre - Probably the strongest match of the two nights. This type of match has a ceiling and these guys, at the very least, reached it. Throw in Regal/Finlay-type stiffness interspresed with big time offense and some cool storytelling elements (the schism between Sheamus/Drew and Gunther exploiting it) and you have an impressive achievement. ***3/4 Asuka vs. Belair - Decent but disappointing. There were some good sequences but they didn't seem to click together and the match was disjointed. Plus, there were more screen issues at SoFi, particularly during key transitions. **3/4 Miz/Shane McMahon/Snoop Dogg - I have to say that Snoop Dogg cover-up was pretty speedy and clever. The Miz looked absolutely panicked at the injury but was selfless enough to lie down for another squash (this time against a complete non-wrestler). Edge vs. Balor - I like Edge (and even Balor to some degree) but this was what I feared it would be. Plodding and fragmented, salvaged only by some decent spots. At least it was only 20 min long and not 30. **1/2 Reigns vs. Cody - Really surprising ending, especially considering how they seemed to intentionally include so many things that suggested it was Cody's night and the end for Reigns (emphasis on his family at ringside, powering out of the guillotine, the bionic elbow tribute sequence, Owens/Sami dumping the Usos and getting in revenge spots on Roman etc. etc.) By the way, the crowd (particularly the kids) was all in on Cody and the ending was super deflating for them. I guess that unusual focus on Solo was for a reason. The match was ok and the kick-out fest was what was expected, though Cody oversold the ribs because that plot point came from nowhere and went nowhere (unless he was actually hurt of course). **1/2

Just came back from WM Night 1. It was a fun experience and a very good (half) show that exceeded my expectations since it seemed like Night 2 had all the strong match-ups. Cena vs. Theory - Passable opener, Theory's heel stuff was decent and Cena, perhaps unsurprisingly, drew some of the biggest reactions of the night. **1/4 Men's Fatal Four Tag - Solid with some memorable spots. **3/4 Rollins vs. Logan Paul - This might have been the MOTN. The screens were down for the initial portion, which distracted the crowd and drew a "Fix the Screens" chant but the work was really good. The rib and hand stuff was neat. LP is such a natural and Rollins played the veteran role effectively. ***1/2 Damage CTRL vs. Becky/Trish/Lita - Similar to the men's tag. **3/4 Rey vs. Dominik - The work wasn't exactly great and there were clear instances of awkwardness from Dom. But as a whole package, from the entrances to the post-match, this was an absolute blast with maybe the greatest crowd engagement of the night. *** Ripley vs. Charlotte - This started off slowly and I was afraid it was gonna be dull. But they quickly put it together and I think this was the right type of match to do a ton of near falls in especially since they had the crowd biting. I still think people are overrating it, maybe because of the suspense over whether they would actually pull the trigger on Rhea but this was pretty good nonetheless ***1/4 McAfee vs. Miz - Filler. Should have used it to stretch my legs. Zayn/Owens vs. Usos - Very good main event even if I found some of the selling wonky (some big spots were recovered from too quickly, while other minor ones were oversold to facilitate a few of the isolated segments). Still, the action and storytelling elements were on point. ***1/2

For heel Marty Jones, I'd recommend his tag match with Dave Finlay vs. Mile Zrno/Franz Schumann (CWA, 8/3/1990). A commanding performance that shows there were more elements to his game than the, albeit great, babyface technician routine. Overall, Jones is a Top 3-5 British worker for me and should make it.

I'm sure @KawadaSmile is disappointed, but Brazil's match followed the classic wrestling match trope of "Arrogant wrestler becomes complacent and gets caught out by the underdog". A parallel that springs to mind is Liger vs. Sasuke Super J Cup where Liger let his guard down after Sasuke slipped, even after seeing how resilient the underdog was. At least Liger bossed that match, unlike Brazil. They bought into their own hype after the South Korea game and delivered an underwhelming, pigheaded performance that didn't adapt to a organized and composed opponent. The 2018 elimination was much more noble.

Gunther's physical transformation has been pretty impressive. Hope we get Imperium vs. The Bloodline at some point.

Dominik getting Vickie Guerrero-level heat seems to indicate the heel turn was a resounding success.

Stock Up: Antonio Inoki: He is someone who has gone from being a token #100 pick to someone I legitimately consider to be great. High-end technician with an unparalleled presence. Had great matches across 3 decades. Chris Jericho: Looking holistically, he has an impressively diverse and varied career. Strong early runs as the NJPW/WCW youngster and WWE TV worker. Has two career peaks, first during the 2008 heel turn and current 2017 post-WWE renaissance. He is a much stronger heel than face, but is adept at both. Edge: Not a ring general but a very effective worker, particularly in gimmicked settings where his slimy heel tendencies and strong sense of timing were at the forefront. Decent, albeit unremarkable, babyface. Kota Ibushi: Someone I never really watched much of until recently, but he has shot up to my #2 (behind Naito) when it comes to the modern NJPW guys. Great athlete, bumper, offensive wrestler etc. Kurt Angle: He honestly comes off as world-class until 2003 or so when his worst tendencies began to ablate the quality of his performances. Even so, he had great technical stuff vs. Eddie Guerrero 2004 and Samoa Joe 2008. Had a legitimately great match with Shane McMahon. Worked both as a jock bully and a patriotic babyface. Jon Cortez: I used to think he was a little bland, but he is a true technical wizard and could effectively play different shades of a babyface (white-meat technician, clean but highly aggressive competitor) Randy Orton: He can phone it in at times, but is technically solid and has enough high-end output. He is at his best as the sadistic, unhinged heel but his babyface work is not too shabby. In fact, I prefer his understated moments of charisma than the bubbly energy of a lot of babyfaces Stan Hansen: I have been one of his most vocal critics and I even standby most of those criticisms (ate his opponents alive in the 80s, complete disregard for limb selling). But he will make it this time on the strength of his offensive flurries and awareness of his character, factors that played a big role in a number of great matches. The Undertaker: Lots of impressive mini-runs across his career (1996-1998, 2002-2003, 2006-2008), though his true classics occurred during the twilight of his career. Great offense, strikes, and aura. Triple H: Technically sound and highly proficient in gimmick matches. Similar to Edge and Orton, he particularly excelled as a heel, but his 2006-2007 run showed he could be a surprisingly solid babyface. Yumiko Hotta: The crowbar reputation, while earned, undersells her talent and output. The ultra-stiff kicks were there but she was also dependable on the mat and effectively slotted into different roles in singles and tags. Stock Down: Billy Robinson: Footage issues don't help, but his most acclaimed matches available have underwhelmed Black Terry/Negro Navarro: I realized I did a lot of extrapolations from performances in a couple of trios and tags when it came to assessing them. Need a more comprehensive deep-dive, particularly of the 2000s-early 2010s stuff, especially since I found a number of recent Terry brawls pretty underwhelming. Blue Panther: Skilled and effective in multi-man bouts but sorely lacks the resume of the lucha greats Chigusa Nagayo/Devil Masami: Still in contention, but their peers (Lioness Asuka, Yokota) seem to eclipse them once you throw the 90s into the mix. El Dandy: The biggest disappointment for me this time around. His brawling and matwork are merely adequate and his big matches underdeliver. Fit Finlay: A very fun, reliable worker but his ceiling seems to be ***3/4 John Cena: Effective ace with impressive babyface energy, but honestly, when he is not getting mauled by Brock Lesnar, I have no interest in watching him at this point. His formula is incredibly stale, to the point where almost all his big matches are virtually identical. Even many fool-proof gimmick matches are merely decent-good because of his limited offense. Randy Savage: Charismatic and athletic but lacking in great matches. Steamboat, Bret bouts are merely good for me Sangre Chicana: Solid, charming brawler in trios but, aside from the 1989 Satanico classic, actually has a dearth of high-end brawls. Meiko Satomura/Yoshihiro Takayama: The ultimate "great on paper but don't click in practice" wrestlers for me. For Takayama, the Kobashi stuff is great but everything else (including matches from his acclaimed 2002) has been underwhelming. Ditto for Satomura without the benefit of a truly high-end bout like Kobashi 4/25/2004. Nick Bockwinkel/Buddy Rose: Great, versatile wrestlers who will (probably) make it, but their high-end output leaves something to be desired Negro Casas/Rey Mysterio: I briefly talked about them in their respective threads a while back. At this point, if it wasn't for feuds with their greatest rivals, Santo and Eddie Guerrero, respectively, they would have been in serious danger of falling off entirely, something that would have been unthinkable just a couple of years ago. Riki Choshu: Can be a dynamic addition to tags and multi-mans and has sound fundamentals but, ultimately, overall match quality is almost entirely contingent on his opponents. Yuki Ishikawa: The more I watch of him, the larger the gap between him and Ikeda seems to grow when it comes to match construction and character.

Jon Cortez vs. Jim Breaks (JP, 2/2) vs. Steve Grey (JP, 7/27)

Brock Lesnar, just on the strength of the WM and Summerslam main events. Sasha Banks, AJ Styles, Kota Ibushi, Roman Reigns round out the Top 5.

This is a surprisingly weak year for wrestling IMO. NJPW is head and shoulders above the rest. Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Fujinami and Inoki are one tier down.

Yep, 1984 was Satanico's year. Yoshiaki Fujiwara provides potential competition due to the Super Tiger feud.

I agree with the Misawa pick. Arguably his peak year. Volk Han, Bret Hart, Mick Foley, and Toshiaki Kawada would be the rest of Top 5.

William Regal. The Ohno and Cesaro matches are more than enough.

Kenta Kobashi, bar none. One of the all-time great individual years.

Good comparison. Both have demonstrated proficiency across different settings (AJPW, NJPW, Mid-South vs. M-Pro, various Japanese indies), which is pretty impressive even if I think both are a little overrated around here. I went with Murdoch for his stuff vs. Inoki.

I would counteract the well-written praise by stating that I find Ono to be very one-dimensional. Very strong offensive wrestler, both matwork- and strikes-wise, who could be relied upon to deliver on that front in any given match. But that's about it. His other tangibles were average, he lacked the presence or distinctness of his BattlARTs counterparts, and all his best stuff involves Ikeda maintaining the match structure in some capacity. No chance at my Top 100, despite my affinity for the hybrid style and his involvement in some great tag matches (including my 2009 MOTY).

Great post, Ma Stump Puller. Between his AJPW and UWFi runs, I wouldn't be surprised to see Albright show up on a couple of lists. I agree that his pseudo-shoot style added some freshness to the usual mid-90s AJPW rotations.

He is a pick I used to scoff at but have come around on after giving his most praised work a shot. Seems like a solid 150-101 pick with potential to sneak into the main list. He really hit his stride in 2008 but had strong runs before that as well. I'd rate all these around ***1/2-***3/4 right now, with some other stuff (vs. Undertaker at No Mercy 2008, vs. Roman Reigns 2015 LMS) yet to be checked out vs. Brock Lesnar (WWE, 5/18/2003) vs. Eddie Guerrero (WWE, 4/15/2004) w/ McMahons vs. Shawn Michaels/Triple H (WWE, 9/17/2006) vs. Floyd Mayweather (WWE, 3/30/2008) vs. Mark Henry (WWE, 10/23/2011) --> Best Henry match I've seen vs. Sheamus (WWE, 10/28/2012) vs. Alberto Del Rio (WWE, 1/8/2013) --> Best Alberto match I've seen

It's perfect that Tony Oliver was the representative for this topic because he is the epitome of the wrestler who I would vote for based on just one performance (2/22/1957 vs. Bert Royal). I hope at least one more of his matches shows up and he becomes eligible for a nomination.

I don't agree with the Takayama pick but I totally get it. He was in a lot of high-profile matches that year. Potentially Yuji Nagata. Otherwise, one of the two big newbies, Bryan Danielson and Brock Lesnar.

I'd go with Io Shirai as well. vs. Kairi Hojo (1/17, 9/3) vs. Mayu Iwatani (12/22)

The more I watch of him, the more I am perplexed that he was once painted as a purely workrate guy. His heel act was great and worked in nearly every setting, from NJPW to WoS to Portland. The Fujinami 2/5/1980 and Marty Jones 1/19/1983 matches are major career highlights.

Anyone going to bat for Wanz this time around? Right now, he is on the outside looking in, but I'm impressed with what I've seen from him so far. Effective territory ace who did all the basics well (absorbing a beating, making a fiery comeback, brawling). Three recommended matches vs. Nick Bockwinkel (AWA, 8/29/1982) vs. Sgt. Slaughter (Graz, 7/9/1983) vs. Bull Power (Vienna, 6/30/1990)