Microstatistics

The one criticism I have of Fujinami is that his character work is not as strong as some of the other GOAT contenders. If I used the JvK's rating model, I would give him 6-7 for Intangibles compared to 8+ Casas, Tenryu etc would receive. It is the one thing that is keeping him out of my Top 5 right now (though that could change as I watch more).

What I had said in the Fujinami thread a few weeks ago.

I had heard Tenryu broke Fujinami's nose in this match but after watching this, it actually looked like he smashed his fucking face in with Fujinami pouring blood everywhere. Tenryu was just the biggest prick here by ruthlessly targeting the nose and doing it so casually. Tremendous heel performance and Fujinami gave great fiery underdog performance.

Rewatched this a few days ago in fact so let me add to the praise. Dundee is such a great heel in this, relentless and cunning but being a total dick with his taunting and showboating during the initial control run. Then he is chickenshit (trying to escape, begging for a countout) when Lawler fights back and then has to cheat to win. This is probably Lawler's masterpiece. The finest selling of his career combined with his best and most gripping comeback. The comeback here was basically an adrenaline/hate fueled surge rather than him suddenly becoming competitive, let alone 100%. All the clipping didn't really matter apart from the one spot where Lawler gets in a punch and suddenly they clip to him throwing Dundee into the table. One of the greatest brawls of all time. **** 1/2

I agree with you. I like Choshu and he will make my Top 50 but he is better suited for tag wrestling than singles. He has been involved in great singles matches but they were against people like Fujinami, Fujiwara and Hashimoto. He is much better in short bursts and at making contributions to matches than he is at holding them together and running things. Haven't seen 7/7/1983 yet but there was something missing about his performance in 4/21/1983, and even though I liked his aggression, I thought it was pretty much a Fujinami showcase (still I love the match and have it at around **** 1/2).

Any recommendations for matches with Rose as a babyface?

Apologies if this comparison has been made somewhere else on the site but he draws an interesting parallel to Misawa (even though their characters are quite different). Booked as the near invincible babyface ace who rarely gets pinned (clean obviously), something that draws the ire of a lot of fans just as I have seen a few people on other sites accuse Misawa of being selfish. Anyways back to Cena, he is definitely a great wrestler. As noted, he has consistently delivered good to great product since 2005 against a variety of opponents including some broomsticks plus he nails the role of the ace like only a handful of people (Misawa, Hashimoto etc.) have. He is also really good at selling (though sometimes he shrugs off offense a bit too easily) especially for someone who is basically superman. He will be in my 40-50 range.

Maybe not based on the 1990s alone, but his 2000 onwards work also has a bunch of good stuff, the biggest example being the Nishimura 9/2006 match.

That is a great point, this match does have a little bit of everything. This is combined with fantastic storytelling of the two evolving and adapting as the match went on with Shawn wrestling more aggressively and violently while Foley became more cerebral and calculating. This is my pick for best US match of all time. *****

Been watching a bunch of post 1989 Fujinami and I completely agree with this. He is certainly much less dynamic than he was before 89 but he is still consistently very good or at worst decent and plays a valuable hand in basically every match. In fact it wouldn't even be crazy to put him on a Top 100 list just based on his post-prime stuff, which is nuts considering how good he was in his prime.

I am not as high on Chicana vs MS-1 9/1983 as most people but MS-1 is a lock for my list. Tremendous rudo (both when vicious and chickenshit), brawler and trios worker and a really good seller. Supremely entertaining in every match.

I will have more than 15 in my final list (all joshi). I don't think it will be too uncommon to have a decent number of Japanese female workers on many lists.

Interesting that you will have Tenryu No. 1 but likely not rank Hansen at all. That's probably a unique combination (not that those two guys are the same, but they'll both be top 5 for me and I imagine both top 10 for a lot of people). Yes I am definitely the odd man out when it comes to Hansen.

I can't seem to find Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee 6/6/1983 anywhere. There is a 2 minute highlights video on youtube but that's about it. Also don't think Fujiwara vs. Takada 10/25/1990 is online.

#1 for me right now and pretty comfortably too I think. Everything said about his aura and ability to make everything feel big and special is so true. Incredible charisma and body language, and also a brilliant seller. Even though he is a natural heel and probably the best ever at projecting disgust and contempt and generally being a dick, he is really fantastic at working from underneath in the underdog/face role. Could work different styles and types of matches, was great everywhere he went, has a catalog of great matches against a variety of opponents over a 20+ year span. Did something interesting and compelling literally every single match.

See I'm the same, have Wrestlewar some ways behind the other two. And I guess I'm just curious about the Wrestlewar love. I made the analogy before that Clash is the classic album, Chi-Town the killer single, and Wrestlewar the greatest hits tour. It's always felt a bit less vital than than the other two for me. Wrestlewar had a really interesting dynamic for me with Flair coming in vulnerable (due to the chicken wing threat) and desperate in his final chance to win back the title. Steamboat pretty much dominates him and Flair is almost an underdog. But he is still really savvy and uses his wits to force Steamboat to abandon his strategy and then capitalizes on it. It is probably his best performance, IMO.

1. Chi-town 2. Wrestlewar 3. Clash (which is my order, funnily enough) and 1. Wrestlewar 2. Chi-Town 3. Clash are still left.

Great to see the Queendom tag so high.

Marufuji. He is pretty much despised here but I like him, despite his flaws. Think he is a great underdog/David vs larger and stronger opponents as well as a great heel when playing the conceited prick who has nothing but contempt for his opponents.

I think I have everyone beat given how he is in nearly every top 10 and tons of #1: Stan Hansen (I haven't completely ruled him out, could still make 75-100 but probably not). Edit: Actually some people won't have Flair or Jumbo so I might not be the biggest anomaly

I forgot about him while listing my top 10 contenders but he has a decent chance (still need to check out some phases of his career). As noted by someone, his world title run in 2005-2006 was just on a different planet in terms of variety and match quality. Easily the best US worker since 2000 and, at worst, top 5 ever.

You have 6/9/1995 listed twice.

Surprised at the lack of discussion about him. He is Mr. Versatility to me and most probably Top 10 . I understand the consistency criticisms (he is certainty no Casas in terms of that) but he has been great in 2000s stuff I have seen, great in the 1980s and great in everything in between. His 1990 was ridiculously good as observed by many. Could work any style, play any role and sell terrifically.

The reason he has 2/3 rather than 3/3 for selling for me is because of how he sells pain when he's in holds, and his apparent inability to do long-term selling. You can be the best bumper in the world, but still not max out in selling because of that. It's ironic that Angle was frequently compared to Jack Brisco, because he might just be the top trump for selling pain in a hold. I agree with this and would give him 2/3 for selling as well.

Also his character work went downhill where he drifted away from the dorky but tough babyface or the jock bully heel who could be vicious to that super intense machine persona which I thought was pretty uninteresting.