andrew79

The Benoit-Liger series from 90-92 confirms he was a top level worker back then. 8/19/90, 11/1/90, 7/4/91, 10/18/91, 2/10/92, 8/12/92 are all worth a watch.

No, use your preferences for your list.

Dick Murdoch, Mil Mascaras, and Dos Caras.

When I watched Lesnar/Reigns I saw a sports entertainment main event, and one brought down a notch by Lesnar's ridiculously safe-looking suplexes. When I watched Banks/Bayley I saw a professional wrestling match, and a pretty damn good one at that.

I like your approach. Your scores rank the wrestlers: Ric Flair 53 Terry Funk 53 Mitsuharu Misawa 38 Arn Anderson 33 Bobby Eaton 30 Ted DiBiase 29 Bret Hart 28 Dory Funk Jr. 28 Do you agree with that? Would that be how you'd have ranked them before BIGLAV?

Here's the must-watch Chigusa: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami (08/22/85) Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka (The Crush Gals) vs. Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki (The Jumping Bomb Angels) (03/20/86) And her singles matches against Lioness Asuka and Yukari Omori from 85-87 are also worth your time.

She'll probably be top 20 for me. And closer to 20 than 10 as she doesn't have the longevity.

Yes. I'm favouring dedicated tag team wrestlers over two primarily singles wrestlers working together otherwise the two ballots would be too close. So that means I don't want "better" teams such as Kadawa/Taue, Jumbo/Taue, Misawa/Akiyama, Misawa/Kobashi, Toyota/Yamada, etc. in the top slots. And in terms of dedicated tag teams, the Bucks have already had a better run than most and in a wider variety of styles. They've excelled at everything from comedy to hardcore in PWG. They fit perfectly into ROH. They had good matches in the more corporate environment of TNA. They worked well in NJPW. And their run in Chikara's King Of Trios (with AJ Styles) showed they were on a different level to the other teams. I like their work, I like their shtick, and I like how easily they can go from funny to vicious and back again. They're something different, they seem to wrestle how they want to wrestle and where they want to wrestle, and it appears they doing well for themselves on their own terms, so I'll take them over the likes of the Midnight Express.

I imagine they're a divisive team, but I'm comfortable putting The Young Bucks at #1.

Timothy Thatcher vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (EVOLVE 47, 8/15/15) Not sure why the Gargano match is held in higher regard. This has better work, better pacing, and the will to win is evident in both men. If anything this shows Gargano was holding Thatcher back, as with Sabre he’s able to work a faster, more fluid and organic style of mat-work. And Sabre not only keeps up, but brings plenty to the table himself. If you want a quality, almost exclusively mat-work driven match, you can’t go wrong with this. ****1/4 I'm going to keep on my Thatcher journey and add Sabre to my "To watch" list.

Timothy Thatcher vs. Johnny Gargano (EVOLVE 51, 11/6/15) I was excited for this given the reviews and that I’d seen neither man in action before, but it ended up disappointing and being good rather than great. First the positives: The time flew by - At no point was I bored or wanting them to get a move on. The selling - The limb work was sold throughout by both men and factored into the finish. The focus - Other than one unnecessary dive, the work was tightly focused around Gargano’s arm and Thatcher’s leg. And the negatives: The commentators - They shilled the WWE Network. They talked too much. And they didn’t seem to get the finish or the story of the match. The work - Not enough variety by either man and too much “you do a couple of holds then I’ll do a couple” which leads into my biggest problem with the match... The drama - There was no struggle, no passion, neither man seemed like they were in a must-win fight. Entertaining enough, but too much like an exhibition rather than a struggle for victory. ***3/4

Given that you wanted "to see them against other guys" these are more an overview against a variety of opponents than absolute best ofs. That said, there's still some pretty good stuff listed below. Jumbo Tsuruta Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Terry Funk (6/11/76) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Billy Robinson (3/5/77) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kerry Von Erich (5/22/84) Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (1/26/86) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Stan Hansen (10/21/86) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (10/28/88) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (9/1/90) Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi (4/20/91) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Toshiaki Kawada (10/24/91) Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi (6/5/92) Shinya Hashimoto Shinya Hashimoto vs. Big Van Vader (7/19/91) Shinya Hashimoto & Riki Choshu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa (4/2/93) Shinya Hashimoto vs. Genichiro Tenryu (2/17/94) Shinya Hashimoto vs. Jushin Liger (2/24/94) Shinya Hashimoto vs. Hiroshi Hase (12/11/94) Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Mutoh (8/15/95) Shinya Hashimoto vs. Nobuhiko Takada (4/20/96) Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Takashi Iizuka (6/12/96) Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu (8/2/96) Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (2/16/97) Kenta Kobashi Kenta Kobashi & Joe Malenko vs. Can-Am Express (10/11/89) Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kobashi Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (10/19/90) Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Can-Am Express (5/25/92) Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen (7/31/93) Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Can-Am Express (11/24/94) Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (3/4/95) Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (10/31/97) Kenta Kobashi vs. Yuji Nagata (9/12/03) Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama (7/10/04) Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki (7/18/05) Mitsuharu Misawa Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (11/29/91) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Stan Hansen (5/21/93) Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen & Giant Baba (11/30/93) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Steve Williams (7/28/94) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (7/24/95) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue (9/10/95) Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (6/7/96) Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki (11/27/97) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (4/15/01) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Takeshi Morishima (3/5/06) Toshiaki Kawada Toshiaki Kawada & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy (12/16/88) Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki vs Can-Am Express (6/5/89) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen (2/28/93) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi (10/23/93) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Steve Williams (4/16/94) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright (10/25/95) Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki (11/23/97) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kensuke Sasaki (10/9/00) Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka (12/14/00) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Shinya Hashimoto (2/22/04) Jushin Liger Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (7/13/89, 8/10/89, 9/20/89, 1/31/90) Jushin Liger vs. Pegasus Kid (11/1/90) Jushin Liger vs. Owen Hart (4/27/91) Jushin Liger vs. El Samurai (4/30/92) Jushin Liger & Pegasus Kid vs. The Steiner Brothers (4/4/94) Jushin Liger vs. Great Sasuke (7/8/94) Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Ohtani (2/9/97) Jushin Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto (2/16/97) Jushin Liger & Wataru Inoue vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (2/17/02) Jushin Liger & Takehiro Murahama vs. KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji (7/16/03)

[Disclaimer - most of this is based on my viewing from over ten years ago so it is most definitely subject to change] The greatest wrestler of all time: Jumbo Tsuruta - Astonishingly good matches in the 70s as an up-and-comer with Race, Robinson, Mascaras, Brisco, Kimura, Terry Funk and teaming with Baba against the Funks. More quality in the early 80s against Flair, Martel, Kerry Von Erich, Bockwinkel, Slater, and Murdoch as he transitions into All Japan’s ace. In the mid 80s he becomes AJPW’s defender against the invading Choshu and crew, teaming with Tenryu for some top notch tag matches (and a nice little bout against Hamaguchi that doesn’t get much recognition). By the late 80s, Choshu’s fled and former tag partner Tenryu turns to the dark side leading to some quality tags and classic singles matches between them. Then Tenryu scarpers, leaving the next generation to challenge Jumbo. And together they raise the bar, consistently producing superb singles, tags, and six-man matches from 90 to 92. But catching Hepatitis B in the summer of 92 brings the big man down. He manages to work through October, takes time off to recover, and only reappears in comedy matches. A sad end to an amazing career. In terms of both quantity and quality of matches, Jumbo Tsuruta is the greatest wrestler ever. Contenders for the other nine spots in my top ten (not in any order): Mitsuharu Misawa - When Jumbo was no longer able to perform at his peak, Misawa took over as company ace and a new era began. The already hard-hitting style of All Japan was taken to another level of brutality. And it was awesome. The wrestling was better than anything seen before or since and Misawa played his role as the stoic ace to perfection. The only thing holding him back from being the greatest is that Jumbo was amazing from 75-92, Misawa “only” manages 90-97. But if this was a wrestler of the 90s, he’d take it in a heartbeat. Ric Flair - Flair’s here as a placeholder as I’ve only seen the famous Steamboat trilogy. But I’ve got plenty of footage to go through so I’d be surprised if he doesn’t end up somewhere in the top ten. Manami Toyota - From reading some of the other comments on Toyota I think I’m going to be a lot higher on her than most. As far as I’m concerned she is joshi puroresu. She represents everything great about the style and everything that differentiates it from the men. And that pretty much automatically ranks her above almost every other wrestler in the world. Jushin Liger - Excellent work from the late 80s through to the early 2000s cements Liger’s place as one of the all-time greats. Not much more to say about the man. Shinya Hashimoto - The New Japan heavyweights never hit the highs of their All Japan counterparts. But the wrestler who came closest was Shinya Hashimoto. A fantastic sympathetic babyface with some hard-hitting offense. Quality matches against the likes of Mutoh, Choshu, Tenryu, Hase, Yamazaki, Kojima and Liger, plus more than a few very good tags earn him top ten contendership. Stan Hansen - The more Hansen you watch, the more you appreciate him. As for a man with a seemingly simple relentless brawler style he’s got a surprising variety of matches. He can work equally well on top as a force of nature or underneath looking vulnerable. And with so many good matches against opponents ranging from Inoki to Backlund to Baba to Andre to Kobashi over a couple of decades he’s a lock for a top ten place. Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi - Both great. I’m struggling to separate them. And I don’t know if I want the upper half of the top ten dominated by the AJ elite. AJ Styles - I wrote Styles off when I first watched him as at the time it seemed like he was nothing special among the wave of early 2000s indie stars. Turned out I was wrong. Only him and my next pick consistently performed at a high level over the decade. And Styles is still going strong, still putting on excellent matches. Bryan Danielson - While I found his book a little on the boring side, I did appreciate his dedication to the craft. And it does show in his work, he’s had plenty of good matches against a wide variety of opponents. Styles has been better the last few years, but overall I think Danielson is probably the superior wrestler. Aja Kong - The greatest theme in the history of wrestling. Played her role of monster pretty much to perfection with both an excellent offense and attitude in the ring. She’ll probably finish lower than Toyota because she’s not as joshi, if that makes sense. Other wrestlers who’ll finish high but not top ten: Big Van Vader - The definitive monster heel. Or at least the definitive male, monster heel. The Great Sasuke/Dick Togo - Sasuke shone brighter at his peak, but Togo went on to have great matches after the M-Pro glory days. Billy Robinson - Everything I’ve seen from him has been first-rate, I’ve just not seen that much of him. Riki Choshu - Far from the greatest technical wrestler, but bought plenty more to the table. Chris Benoit - One of the most intense wrestlers I’ve seen. Shinjiro Ohtani - Great wrestler. Would’ve loved to see him tag with Masa Fuchi. Akira Taue - I don’t think you can be in as many great matches as Taue and not have played at least some part in them. Genichiro Tenryu - Variable in match quality, but when he’s on you’re pretty much guaranteed something good regardless of who else is in the ring.

Thank you. I'll have a listen, see if it sounds as enjoyable as when I first watched it...

Hi, I'm Andrew. I started watching wrestling in the early 90s when WCW Worldwide aired on a Saturday afternoon here in the UK. When they stopped showing it, I was able to watch the occasional Raw and WWF ppv at friends' houses. But everyone else grew up and found girls and partying, leaving me with nowhere to watch, so I reluctantly put it to one side. Then in 2000, on a whim, I bought a copy of ECW Living Dangerously 99 and I was hooked again. This led me into tape trading, which led me to the DVDVR board, which introduced me to puroresu. And for about three years I consumed all the wrestling I could get my hands on. I can't remember why I stopped, probably burned out. Now I'm back, I've been causally watching stuff for the past year or so and decided to sign up to PWO to contribute to the GWE poll.