Boss Rock

As someone who's still getting his feet wet with classic lucha libre, Satanico is a guy who really stands out to me. Fantastic brawler when the match called for it, probably one of the best ever. The aspuestas match with Dandy in particular stands out when it comes to Satanico as a brawler and is one of the best matches I've ever seen. That's not to say he was a slouch in any other department, though. I prefer him as a brawler but he was a very good mat worker as well. Heck, I found a match between him and Dandy from 2014 that featured great mat work and submissions.

He's already in my top 20 (19 to be exact), but I still have a ton of other stuff to watch so that might change.

One of my favorites from either man. Like Loss said, tremendous offensive heavyweight match, possibly the best ever. And while Misawa hitting that last forearm after Kobashi spent most of the match brutalizing it seems weird, it actually works. Despite how much punishment Misawa was put through, he still had JUST enough power to make it lethal. Like Hansen hitting a lariat with an already-damaged arm. A wounded animal is still dangerous. It's been a few months since I've seen this one but I was absolutely blown away. Perfect example of why these are two of the GOAT's. *****

I love these intense brawls where the fists just fly with abandon. Also loved the little things, like DiBiase pulling Duggan's jacket and shirt over his head to prevent him from seeing and punching.

Great story here. Sabre foolishly tries to step up to Ishii and fails with hilarious results. Eventually turns the tide with his subs and does some vicious work to the arms, which Ishii sells beautifully. And the spot where he's grabbing hold of both of Ishii's arms and one of his legs to prevent him from getting to the ropes is one of the most dramatic moments I've seen this year. But like the wonderfully badass babyface he is, Ishii finds a way to overcome and win. Fantastic match and a hell of a spring. ****1/2.

Very good match and a good sign of New Japan's future. Here, you had Okada as the recently-crowned, young hot-shot champion and Naito as the plucky underdog. Naito gets him early with flashy moves and Okada absolutely cuts him off by planting him with a tombstone-all within a few minutes into the match. Okada then works over Naito's neck to logically set up another tombstone and Rainmaker, but Naito fights back by going after Okada's leg (take away the dropkick). Great back-and-forth battle with Naito showing some good fire and Okada cutting him off every time. ****1/4.

One of the things I loved about this match is that there were 3 stages: 1. Ishii blitzes Okada and nearly finishes him early. 2. Okada weathers the storm and gets back into his groove. 3. Battle to see who can hit their finisher first but constant countering because they know each other so well. Ishii avoided the tombstone like the plague because he knew that sets up the Rainmaker. Okada in turn did everything in his power to avoid the brainbuster. In the end, Ishii is just to powerful and overcomes. Terrific performance by both men and a reminder that Ishii may be the best worker in all of NJPW. ****1/2.

Very good match and like the first Tanahashi and Naito matches, a bit of foreshadowing of what Okada was capable of. You could see the wheels spinning a bit too much in Okada's head when he did the guardrail spot, went back in the ring, and THEN hit the apron drape DDT, but other than that he didn't telegraph anything else. Anderson arguably put on a career performance here and was fantastic in the finishing stretch. They went the normal story route that they do with a lot of Okada matches where he's in trouble, but all he needs is one good dropkick and BAM! Tide immediately changes and it's a tombstone and Rainmaker for the win. These guys always had great chemistry and this was no different. A bit slow in the beginning, but the last 15 minutes or so were very good. ****

I really liked the Dome match and feel it often gets overlooked, but I think this slightly outdid their previous encounter. Tanahashi going after him early was great and really liked how he kept the aggression going throughout the match (looked like he was damn near throat-punching him from the mount position). As a whole I felt there was a lot more desperation and urgency to this bout and it fit perfectly considering the story. Naito was great as always and judging by Tana's performances in Long Beach, carried him to something very good. ****1/4.

I loved this match. Thought it got off the ground a lot quicker than the WK match and was much more of a collaborative effort rather than the Kenny Omega show. Also loved the role reversal callbacks from the prior match. Thought the first half went by pretty quickly and then we were off to the races following the Cody spot (really the only thing I disliked). Would have made more sense for Omega to try and make the cover on Okada as time expired but considering he couldn't get the job done in 60 minutes leaves Kenny well-protected. That being said, it wasn't perfect. The Cody spot was annoying and the leg work on Okada being dropped after the 15 minute mark or so was odd, but I can't really complain because I felt everything else delivered in spades. Unbelievable action, felt shorter than its actual run time, and had great storytelling. I couldn't have asked for much better. *****

Wasn't crazy about this match, but it was markedly better than the Backlash bout (not a hard goal to surpass quite honestly). The limb work was simple but made sense, especially when it was instrumental to the ending (Jinder kicking Randy's leg to set up the Khallas). I really appreciate that kind of storytelling. Still, it was a bit longer than it needed to be and while the Singh Bros. going after Cowboy Bob was a logical incentive for Randy to lose control, it was still essentially the exact same thing we saw at Backlash. Average match, but nothing spectacular. **1/2.

Loved this match. The kind of violence you would expect in a LMS match yet Asuka and Nikki's violent tendencies amplified it a bit more than recent LMS matches. Thought it was a little weird that Asuka took as many heavy shots as she did and STILL made it up at 9 following the superplex (unbelievable spot by the way), but it will make her eventual defeat all the more impactful. ****1/4.

One of my favorite matches this year and the perfect way to cap off the feud (although Hiromu being a break-out star for NJPW could have used the rub). That being said, KUSHIDA was every bit as aggressive as he was at Sakura Genesis but a little wiser this time around. I was surprised he won with the Hoverboard Lock as opposed to Back to the Future considering that was being presented as his unbeatable move (similar to Kobashi and the necessity of the Burning Hammer), but like soup23 mentioned, this might have been a more fitting end. KUSHIDA was finally able to put Hiromu away with the move he never could before. Great spots, tons of aggression, and excellent storytelling? ****3/4.

My favorite lucha match of all time, and maybe even my favorite brawl. The October match between the two was indeed great, but this was an absolute classic. Dandy showed that he could get gritty, but Satanico really stands out to me the most. When discussing the best brawlers of all time, I think you have to include Satanico. He was absolutely sublime. And the finish was great.

Fair enough, my apologies. Yes for Okada-Omega II. Yes, they went an hour. Yes they had leg work that was abandoned early. Yes the stupid spot with Cody. But not only did the first half go faster than it did in the last match, they did a great job with the role reversals in the callbacks. It was also a much more collaborative effort than the WK match which was largely a Kenny Omega performance. Was not bored at all and thought it was one of the most exciting matches this year. Yes for Dunne-Bate II. Good Lord, this was a FIGHT. I certainly loved the spots, but my absolute favorite was the two of them just throwing fists back and forth without abandon. They went for broke and got a crowd who may not be familiar with them 100% invested. It just had that big fight feel you don't always get in WWE title matches anymore. Yes for AoP vs. Revival vs. #DIY. Excellent storytelling with the hated rivals putting their differences aside and saying "You know what? We have a bigger problem here." And the spots of separate tag members doing the other team's finisher was both creative and logical. #DIY and Revival had been at it so many times, they knew each other like the back of their hand. They knew what each team would do in that given situation and reacted accordingly. My only gripe was #DIY getting eliminated first and doing heel vs. heel in the end. Yes for Day-Lee. A match that got the NJPW main event style right. While I am a fan of the NJPW style, there is often a feeling of long just for the sake of long. And while I understand the feeling out process by using mat work, there are times where it's completely pointless and drawn out. This match got to the point a lot quicker and still had the length, build, and action of a NJPW main event. And while a ton of indy wrestlers miss the point about "fighting spirit" and just completely forget to sell anything, that was not the case here.

I use star ratings because they're an easy way for me to critique a match and determine how much I enjoyed it. Like a great match but not necessarily a MOTYC? Most likely I'll give it a 4.25. 4.5 is when you possibly might have a MOTY argument, 4.75 is a surefire MOTYC, and 5 is a classic even if it isn't necessarily flawless.

For a while I actually preferred the '91 bout between these two, but after a few re-watches I really gained a much deeper appreciation for this match. The whole Hansen-Kobashi feud over the course of the 90's is just a fantastic bit of storytelling, as each time Kobashi just gets a liiiiiiiitle bit closer to finally beating. This time around, he walloped him for damn near the entire match but was still susceptible to a sneaky lariat.

I liked this match, but I feel like the criticisms that New Japan main events receive (slow first half, hot second half) apply to this match as well. It helps that the crowd is insanely hot through this entire match, but the first half felt like they were deliberately stretching for time. That being said, the first half wasn't bad and the second half was great, so all in all it's probably a ****1/2 for me.

I love this match and I think it's often overlooked when discussing both men's best matches. I think it's Shawn's second best next to Badd Blood '97 and quite possibly Mick's best match. Just a wonderfully violent brawl.

The Mankind-Undertaker feud is one of my all-time favorites. While I think the Boiler Room Brawl was their best match, this was a really fun brawl.

My name is Greg and I'm 26 years-old. I was originally introduced to wrestling watching (I think?) WWF Mania. I remember my first favorite wrestler was Ahmed Johnson. I watched until I saw the Undertaker-King Mabel casket match from Season's Beatings and being only 6 years-old, it scared the hell out of me. I didn't watch wrestling again until the build-up to Summerslam 2002, and I was immediately hooked. I only watched WWE until about 2005/2006 when I discovered TNA. Around 2009-2010 I lost interest in both television products (being in college at the time also had me focusing on other things) but largely kept up with it online. I would also pop in from time to time, mainly during the Nexus run, the Pipe Bomb, and Lesnar's return. I got back into watching it full-time right before Summerslam 2013 and got to witness the saga of Daniel Bryan, probably the greatest (even if largely accidental) wrestling story I've ever seen. Around 2015 I began exploring other products and became a huge fan of Lucha Underground and New Japan, both of which I still watch today. I also try to catch Evolve and CMLL when I have the time. Reading through the Greatest Wrestler List on this site inspired me to do more historical viewing and I am currently in the midst of working on my own 100 Greatest Wrestler list. My favorite promotion is 90's All Japan, my current favorite wrestler is Kazuchika Okada, and my all-time favorite wrestlers are Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Daniel Bryan, Mitsuharu Misawa, Stan Hansen, and Kenta Kobashi.

Yes for AoP-Revival-#DIY and Day-Lee.

Yes for Okada-Omega II (one of my favorite matches this year and thought it out-did the WK mathc) and Yes for Dunne-Bate II.

KUSHIDA-Hiromu Takahashi from Sakura Genesis comes to mind. Not really sure if it qualifies as a squash considering the pre-match angle of KUSHIDA nearly finishing him early, but loved the story of KUSHIDA having the perfect strategy only to make ONE mistake, and boom it's over. Really sold the "dang, how do you beat this guy?" booking of Hiromu.

Owens is an interesting case. He's a guy I still like because he's capable of having good matches, he just has a lot of bad habits. Late 2016 is a great example of that, as he was either lazily doing chinlocks for meta heat or having spotfests with Seth to try and pop the crowd. I think some blame deserves to fall on how his reign was booked because it was all about getting Jericho and the list over by having them do comedy, but he would either completely dog it or try and play to the crowd during matches. I feel like he's started to get away from that as he's been doing more heel banter during his matches. He just needs to do less chinlocks. I'm still optimistic about him on SDL as his mic and character work is phenomenal as the cold, uncaring heel who claims his actions are driven by providing for his family when in reality he's just a bad person.