Boss Rock

I agree with the belief that Tiger Mask is more of a blemish than post-04 Misawa. There were a few Tiger Mask matches that were fun (there's a match against Jumbo in particular, but big surprise, right?), but that's still a long time of not being a very notable worker. Compare that to Kobashi and Jun who picked things up much, much quicker. The last 5 years of Misawa's career aren't always easy to watch but I agree he still had a handful of really good matches. The '06 match against Morishima in particular is terrific.

I will at least try to make the time to watch Tanahashi-White, but 39 minutes is a heck of a long time.

I think that's always been my issue and I do want to give pre-86 Jumbo another shot. Because even though it's my thing stylistically, he was clearly a great athlete. Him being able to work that style and then reinvent himself is totally why I get folks putting him at number 1. Interestingly enough, I don't have that same issue with Hokuto. I've largely enjoyed what I've seen of her pre-Dangerous Queen.

It's always been a stylistic thing for me regardless of wrestler.

Yeah I honestly can't recall a match where his bumping for someone smaller actively bothered me.

Eddie is definitely one where the gaps probably hurt his overall case, but his versatility and high-end matches are great. There are so few wrestlers who could play both a fired-up babyface (Brock, JBL) and absolute bastard of a heel (Rey) with such believability.

Both the 7/24/1995 match and when Kobashi won his first Triple Crown are terrific. Their NOAH match for the GHC title is very good as well if not on the level of their previous matches. I agree that they were a super underrated pairing.

It's a shame that someone who broke a guy's arm and flipped him off immediately afterwards wasn't made the top heel of a promotion.

Good stuff.

Dustin had bucket loads of talent and he's still good to this day in AEW. But the stretches and gaps in his career are pretty big. I want to see a bit more of his early 2010's stuff as I understand that's always been held in high regard (I've already seen the tag matches with Cody against the Shield which are great).

Who was this?

I saw that one a little while ago. Was really good.

Thanks! The Bryan and first Brock match are indeed great.

What are Cena's best matches 2008-2013? I'm mostly in the dark for those years as I wasn't watching.

If Hiromu Takahashi stays healthy I think he's got a shot. The Dragon Lee series is one of the best this century and he's frequently delivered in title and tournament matches. When he's been healthy he's always been a top 10 in the world and last year he had a very strong argument for number 1.

Elliot touched upon this a little in the Gordy thread, but Windham to me seems like a guy who should be better than what he was. I like Barry, he was very good and had excellent execution. But apart from the Flair and War Games matches (and I've honestly never been crazy about the Crockett Cup match), there aren't a ton of Barry matches I'd consider really great. Even the Scorpio match is "just" good.

Early 2000's Necro is awesome, such a unique beast. Just so good at getting beat up and making things feel chaotic. There hasn't been anyone like him since. But how much is there to consider him for? Like obviously he's tremendous in 2005 and 2006, but what are his best years apart from those two?

I had him in my top 20 as recent as just a few months ago but that seems too high now. Still, he's still very good to this day so that's close to 30 years of being good. So maybe not top 20, but I think I'm confident with him as top 50.

Haha, as soon as I posted this I figured you'd have a rebuttal

He and Foley are very different wrestlers, but Onita kinda reminds me of Foley in the sense that they both knew how to create spectacles with violence. He's someone I need to do a deeper dive on but his peaks are undeniable. I will say that if this were simply a "coolness" contest, Onita would be a strong number 1 contender.

I like Kansai a lot and her peaks are pretty dang high. I agree she's not on the tier of like Hokuto or Kong (who is, really?), but she's really right there on the next tier. It also helps she's a heavy hitter which is what I really like to see in Joshi matches.

Agreed that Fuchi is great in those trios matches. Very much an unsung player. I've seen very little of the rest of his career, but the 8/20/2000 match with Kawada is great and sort of a callback to early 90's King's Road. Someone I'd love to see more of.

AJPW 1986-2000, but primarily the 90's.

Loved his 2018 run. Primarily a death match wrestler but he's a strong mat worker with a great sense of psychology and escalation. Still haven't seen enough where I'd be comfortable putting him on this kind of list though.

He definitely would've gotten an IC title run at some point, but I also think a heavyweight title run wasn't outside the realm of possibility had he not gotten injured.