Boss Rock

While Hansen and Misawa may not have been each other's best rivals, I do think their matches are underrated. I loved this. Misawa went after Hansen from the get go, playing his game by taking things to the outside and just absolutely brutalizing him and his arm. For a match focused almost entirely on limb work, they made this engrossing as hell. And while Hansen was still able to finish off Misawa with just one lariat, I think it fit the story perfectly. Hansen selling and showing ass has always been to portray him as a wounded animal-vulnerable and in trouble, but still very dangerous. And seeing as how Misawa's mega-push was coming later, this match did a terrific job in making him a legitimate and credible challenger. A fun, crazy brawl with great limb work and an excellent story.

When I was younger, I remember thinking the countless gimmick matches were cool but looking back it's like...wow, that was really, REALLY stupid.

Was a great facial reaction, especially considering how serious Itami is most of the time.

I think Dave is just trying to always stay "ahead of the curve". i.e. evolutions to styles were almost always met with derision and Dave wants to make sure he's part of the "just wait, this stuff will be celebrated years later" crowd. I think there's something to that in change doesn't always mean "killing the business" and people who like PWG stuff shouldn't be told they're stupid or don't "get" wrestling. But I also think not all change is necessarily for the better. Sometimes angles or in ring work gets too meta as opposed to working face/heel dynamics or doing heated, personal feuds. Not to say that's always a bad thing, but I'd hate that to become the dominant force behind all matches. I also think it's possible to find enjoyment out of everything and don't think it should always be an "us vs. them" scenario. I like Kenny Omega and think Jerry Lawler is one of the greatest wrestlers to have ever lived. I find the Young Bucks entertaining while the Holy Demon Army is my favorite tag team of all time.

Really good episode. Almas squash was a lot of fun, Lars destroying people makes me long for a match with Braun, and the main event was good. Still not crazy about Deville. The presentation of her as an MMA fighter just seems so forced (which is ironic considering she did MMA) as opposed to the more natural charisma and presence of Shayna.

Pushing Braun as a top face and champion is a bit of a conundrum, but I lean more towards just going for it and see what happens. On the one hand, the amount of television WWE produces dictates that Braun will need to be on TV a lot. I think WWE could easily rectify this by not having him show up every week or at least keep him out of random matches for the sake of filling time, but that doesn't seem to be WWE's MO anymore unless you're Brock. And while I think they could give him a Goldberg-style monster face push, I do wonder if there is a shelf life for that due to, again, how much TV there is. On the other hand, Brock doesn't move the needle in any significant way, the fans have made up their minds about Reigns, and they seemingly have no interest in pushing an over babyface like Finn. Why not take a chance on a guy who's already super hot with the audience?

This. Not to say there's anything wrong with disliking a particular style, but the whole "those fans" mentality is something I've always hated.

2005 was probably their peak in terms of in-ring quality. But there was still lots of good stuff to be had scattered around amidst all the absurdity.

Finished the second round of videos. Really good stuff overall. While I'm not sure it's quite reached the peaks of the CWC, it more than makes up for it in volume and consistency. Kairi and Shayna have been the MVP's thus far, but Mercedes, Toni, and Piper have stood out as well. And seeing how Bianca did against Kairi, the sky is clearly the limit for her.

21st anniversary of this match! Don't think it's as good as their '91 or '93 encounters, but still an absolute perfect match to end the Kobashi-Hansen rivalry with. Every time Kobashi would get just a liiiiiitle bit closer to victory only to fall short, but this time Kobashi is Hansen's clear superior and has what it takes to take down his fiercest rival of all time.

This is probably one of the greatest matches I've ever seen and if it doesn't surpass their January '97 match, then it is at least on par with it. Great escalation and some absolutely incredible offensive sequences. They did a great job telling the story of Kobashi being on Misawa's level and perhaps on the verge of surpassing him when Misawa hit a huge move (the insane Tiger Suplex) that Kobashi could never fully recover from. The only criticism I would offer is that they probably could have ended the match after the Tiger Driver '91 and really hammer home the point that Kobashi had nothing left after the Tiger Suplex. Everything else afterwards felt just a tad excessive. But I can understand the need to make Kobashi look as resilient as possible, so mission accomplished. All in all, an absolute classic and if not a contender from greatest match of all time, then at least a contender for greatest AJPW and 90's match. *****

I love a bloody lucha brawl and this did not disappoint. Has a real shoot fight feeling with the superb selling and Sangre Chicana puts on an exceptional babyface performance.

Been alternating between AJPW, NOAH, and old CMLL. Gonna finally watch Dandy-Azteca tonight.

August 23 episode: The mask vs. mask match between Sexy Star and Veneno never really happened as Joey Ryan almost immediately interfered and exposed Veneno as Cortez Castro. Looks like Castro's cover is blown. And as much as I hate commentary, I got a laugh out of them mentioning Super Fly and saying "Remember him?" Prince Puma vs. Pentagon Dark faced off in a pretty good match for the Cueto Cup. Some of the strikes were a bit off but still a rather fun, fast-paced affair. Destroyers galore and Puma ended up winning with the 630. He and Vamp mocked Pentagon with the cero miedo sign and the fans booed this pretty hard. It's still clear that Pentagon is their favorite and they were none too pleased that he fell short yet again. Rey Mysterio vs. Johnny Mundo was the match of the night. Rather long as it clocked in at nearly 20 minutes, but still very good. Before the match, Johnny and his stupid agent (really dislike this character) warned Dario that if he Johnny loses, he'll jump to another promotion with the belt. While Rey is certainly past his prime, he's still a great high-flier and is very smooth with a lot of his moves. Rey took the advantage early with his speed and aerial maneuvers while Mundo regained control by utilizing his size and strength advantage. Ref bump led to Mundo trying to hit Rey with the belt but Dominick came in and tackled him before being chased off by security. Rey looked to have the match won but Dario interfered and began slapping Rey. Like, I get Dario interfered to protect the title, but trying to bully Rey just looked so stupid. Rey hit a 619 on Dario but the distraction caused Mundo to nail him with the belt and retain with End of the World. Crowd was torn over the finish. Overall a pretty solid episode. The last two matches were good, especially the main event, but Dario interfering kinda hurt the finish (even if I enjoy a heel needing to cheat to win, which is something WWE never seems to do anymore). August 30 episode: Show starts with Dario visiting Matanza, telling him he was wrong about Matanza's desire for revenge and that Rey humiliated him and the family. A match between the two will take place in two weeks. Son of Madness vs. Mascarita Sagrada was a pretty short but decent affair. Sagrada came out with the vest Havoc gave him during the Famous B feud, which explained the reason behind the match. Madness won pretty quickly and was looking to inflict more punishment before Havoc came in. Security separated the two and Dario set up a Boyle Heights Biker Brawl for an Aztec Medallion. Paul London meanwhile carried away the still-dazed Sagrada. Sexy Star vs. Joey Ryan was a bit awkward to watch considering what happened at Triplemania. Still, they had a better-than-expected match with Sexy primarily in control. She's usually sloppy as hell but looked a lot smoother this time. I really hate to compliment her at this point. Joey took advantage when Taya came out with a Sexy Star sign and mock cheered her around the ring. Sexy looked to have the match won but, like an idiot, attacked Taya who wasn't even interfering and got hit with a superkick for the loss. Joey tried to put his lollipop in Sexy's mouth (gross and an unnecessary visual) but Castro attacked him with a kendo stick. Dario set up a 5-0 Street Fight between the two next week for a Medallion. Marty the Moth beat Argenis in a pretty solid match. Marty was dominant throughout but not your typical squash as the match went longer than 5 minutes. Marty slammed Argenis into the bleachers and tore his mask, leading to Mariposa slamming his head into the post. Pretty much half of Argenis' face was covered in blood as Marty picked up the win and proceeded to unmask him. Marty then challenged Fenix to a match at Ultima Lucha Tres for his mask. Fenix attacked both Mariposa and Marty before accepting the challenge, but demanded that it be mask vs. hair. For some reason, I'm not as into this feud as much as I should be. Marty is a good heel and did a great job being despicable in this match, but I still think he over-does the gimmick sometimes. I dunno, I feel like there's room for more subtlety but maybe I'm way off. Main event was match of the night, as Havoc and Madness had a really fun No DQ match. Havoc won with a beer bottle to the head and a shooting star press before taking back his vest. Only thing I was disappointed about was that there were motorcycles and helmets around the ring and neither were used! A surprisingly good episode considering most of the top talent was nowhere to be seen. Ultima Lucha Tres was also announced as a four night event, starting in four weeks. And in regards to Aztec Medallions, the Rabbit Tribe and Son of Havoc each have one and another will be determined next week between Joey and Castro. That leaves two left for Gift of the Gods.

One of the first TNA matches I ever saw. Overall, a pretty fun hardcore match. I also liked how they sold the stipulation of "no food and water for 24 hours" by having each guy appear disoriented by the bright lights. Monty Brown was indeed a star in the making and while turning him heel is probably what killed him, you could also argue he was the first victim of the "push every WWE guy we can grab" trend.

And in regards to the Nexus, I believe the plan was always for them to lose. Cena just wanted that specific finish and then realized "Yeah, probably shouldn't have done that". If anything, Cena seems to be more of a measuring stick for someone's success (i.e. determining if someone has "it" or not). http://www.pwmania.com/john-cena-was-allegedly-not-impressed-with-dolph-ziggler

First round was good. Only match I thought was truly bad was Marti-Rachel. I have heard good things about Rachel elsewhere, so we'll see. Favorites so far have been KLR-Sugehit, Jazzy-Abbey, Yim-Logan, and Kairi-Blanchard. And dammit I wish they had signed Jazzy, she's awesome. Not to mention the division is in desperate need of a monster heel not named Nia Jax.

Yes on Ishikawa-Miyahara. Thought it was a step above their previous encounter and a great David vs. Goliath story. There was a bit too much no-selling on the suplex trading and the fact that Ishikawa couldn't put Kento away with three finishers seemed a bit excessive, but Miyahara did a tremendous job selling the accumulated damage and looking all sorts of resilient. An almost perfect match for Miyahara, a guy who I've come to like a lot, to reclaim the title.

Wow, what a tag match (and a thank you to Loss for your top 500 matches of the 90's list that led me to finding it)! This is the only AJPW tag match I've seen that follows the simple yet effective "babyface in peril" formula. Kikuchi was great in this match, showing a ton of fire in his offense while also selling absolute desperation for Kroffat and Furnas. Builds beautifully to Kobashi tagging in and clearing house. Usually when I watch 90's AJPW, I just take in everything I see and enjoy it for what it is rather than get invested in a winner. This time, I was on the edge of my seat pulling for Kobashi and Kikuchi. Great stuff.

This is definitely my favorite Misawa-Jumbo singles match. While I really liked the June match, I had the same issue with Childs in that Misawa looked too much like an opportunistic cruiser as opposed to a rising heavyweight star challenging Jumbo's supremacy. Misawa was great as always but this was primarily a Jumbo match, just absolutely beating the tar out of this guy who just won't go away. Misawa first goes for his barrage of forearms to soften Jumbo up but when those aren't quite getting the job done, he opts for the jumping kicks which look to do more damage but leave him open for offense. Jumbo gets to a point where he's absolutely had enough and just wallops Misawa with a chair on the outside, driving home just how badly he wants to prove that he's better than Misawa. Still, Misawa won't go away and tells Jumbo he has to earn it. My only issues were a few weird things Misawa does during this match. He might be my pick for the GOAT, but him adjusting his tights while selling will never not be weird to me. Not to mention once getting hammered with the chair he's able to make it back to the ring under his own power without much issue, but when Jumbo immediately throws him out THEN he sells like he's exhausted. Nevertheless, a great match and arguably the best non-tag Jumbo-Misawa meeting.

This is a pretty terrific match and maybe the best singles bout of Jun's career. Great story of Jun being good but still not on Kobashi's level offensively so he needs to go for the injured knee. Kobashi does a tremendous job selling the damage and with his mobility compromised, has to rely on chops and lariats. While the chopping got a bit out of hand during Kobashi's NOAH years, they definitely make sense here because they're pretty much all he has with the injured leg. And though Kobashi proves that he's still the better man, Jun looks like an absolute world-beater. My only issue with this match is that the fighting spirit spots get to be a bit much. You have one spot in the middle where the two are suplexing each other back and forth where it doesn't really make sense to do so, and in the end you see Kobashi immediately pop up after an exploder to hit a lariat and then collapse in exhaustion. Other than that, this is a fantastic match and probably the best of 1998.

A lot of the criticisms I've come across regarding Cena's selling (I've even had a few myself) is that he pops up or manages some kind of reversal 30-60 seconds after taking a big move, which to be fair isn't all that out of place in a NJPW match (and this is coming from a huge NJPW fan). But I think there are a lot instances where Cena's selling made his opponent seem like a huge threat (the Khali and Brock matches come to mind).

Thought I wasn't a wrestling fan at the time, after revisiting 90's WWF this is definitely one of my favorite feuds. Much more violence between these two than you would see anywhere else in the fed. I not only enjoyed the amount of violence in this match, but how it was structured and filmed. Taker slowly searching the boiler room in complete silence only for Mankind to emerge from the shadows and attack from behind made this feel like a horror movie in the best possible way. Have never seen anything done like that before nor since. Mankind absolutely brutalizes Taker for the majority of this match while the Deadman makes the occasional comeback. They're literally throwing everything not nailed down at each other, and the coffee maker was a brutally nice touch. And while tag teams and managers seemingly break up every year, can only imagine how huge it must have been at the time for Bearer to turn on Taker after 6 years. While the Buried Alive match is the one I usually revisit the most between these two, I would definitely say this is the best.

Thought I'd give this a go. This isn't necessarily a list of my highest ranked matches (otherwise I'd have a lot more from the last two years), but rather, a list of my favorite and essential matches. Also note that these are ordered chronologically rather than by best (although if forced to choose right now, I'd probably go Misawa, Kawada, and Kobashi vs. Jumbo's Army '90, Kobashi-Misawa '97 or the Queendom tag). Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (March 23, 1981) Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (Empty Arena, April 6, 1981) Stan Hansen vs. Andre the Giant (NJPW, September 23, 1981) Stan Hansen vs. Terry Funk (AJPW, September 11, 1982) El Satanico vs. Atlantis (EMLL, 1984) Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan (MSW, March 22, 1985) Stan Hansen vs. Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW, July 27, 1988) Stan Hansen and Terry Gordy vs. Genichiro Tenryu and Toshiaki Kawada (Real World Tag League Day 22, 1988) Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (Chi-Town Rumble 1989) Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (Clash of the Champions VI) Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (WrestleWar 1989) Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk (Great American Bash 1989) Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk (Clash of the Champions IX) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Stan Hansen (AJPW, July 27, 1990) Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue, and Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, October 19, 1990) El Satanico vs. El Dandy (EMLL, October 26, 1990) El Dandy vs. El Satanico (EMLL, December 14, 1990) Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue, and Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, April 20, 1991) Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW Summer Action Series II, September 4, 1991) Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta and Akira Taue (AJPW Summer Action Series II, September 4, 1991) Jushin Liger vs. El Samurai (NJPW, March 30, 1992) Negro Casas vs. El Dandy (CMLL, July 3, 1992) Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, February 28, 1993) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Stan Hansen (AJPW April 21, 1993) Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, July 29, 1993) Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams (AJPW, August 31, 1993) El Satanico vs. Pirata Morgan (AAA, November 11, 1993) Akira Hokuto and Shinobu Kandori vs. Aja Kong and Bull Nakano (Queendom II, March 27, 1994) Jushin Liger vs. The Great Sasuke (Super J Cup, April 16, 1994) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, June 3, 1994) Cactus Jack vs. Vader (Halloween Havoc 1994) Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota (AJW, November 20, 1994) Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, June 9, 1995) Akira Hokuto vs. Manami Toyota (AJW, September 2, 1995) Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud (Big Ass Extreme Bash 1996) Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, May 23, 1996) Undertaker vs. Mankind (Summerslam 1996) Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen (AJPW, September 5, 1996) Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind (In Your House: Mind Games) Undertaker vs. Mankind (In Your House: Buried Alive) Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Bret Hart (Survivor Series 1996) Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, December 6, 1996) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, January 20, 1997) Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart (WrestleMania 13) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, June 6, 1997) Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker (Badd Blood 1997) Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, July 24, 1998) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader (AJPW, May 2, 1999) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama (AJPW, February 27, 2000) Kenta Kobashi vs. Vader (AJPW, February 27, 2000) Atlantis vs. Villano 3 (CMLL, March 17, 2000) The Hardy Boyz vs. Edge and Christian vs. The Dudley Boyz (WrestleMania 2000) The Hardy Boyz vs. Edge and Christian vs. The Dudley Boyz (WrestleMania X-Seven) Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker (No Mercy, 2002) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (NOAH, March 1, 2003) Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi (NOAH, July 10, 2004) Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi (NOAH, September 10, 2004) America’s Most Wanted vs. Triple X (Turning Point 2004) A.J. Styles vs. Abyss (Lockdown, 2005) A.J. Styles vs. Samoa Joe (Turning Point 2005) Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA (NOAH, December 2, 2006) Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinnes (ROH Unified 2006) John Cena vs. Umaga (Royal Rumble 2007) Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness (ROH Sixth Anniversary Show) Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 25) Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho (The Bash 2009) Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 26) CM Punk vs. John Cena (Money in the Bank 2011) El Mesias vs. L.A. Park (Triplemania 19) Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena (Extreme Rules 2012) Minoru Suzuki vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (King of Pro Wrestling 2012) Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (Invastion Attack 2013) Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii (G1 Climax 23, August 4, 2013) Kota Ibushi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (G1 Climax 23, August 4, 2013) Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk (Summerslam 2013) Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena (Summerslam 2013) Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (King of Pro Wrestling 2013) Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H (WrestleMania 30) Daniel Bryan vs. Batista vs. Randy Orton (WrestleMania 30) The Shield vs. Evolution (Payback 2014) A.J. Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki (G1 Climax 24, August 1, 2014) Kazuchika Okada vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (G1 Climax 24, August 10, 2014) Kota Ibushi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (Wrestle Kingdom 9) Seth Rollins vs. John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar (Royal Rumble 2015) Fenix vs. Mil Muertes (Lucha Underground, March 18, 2015) Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns (WrestleMania 31) Kazuchika Okada vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (G1 Climax 25, August 15, 2015) Io Shirai vs. Meiko Satomura (Year-End Climax, December 23, 2015) Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (Wrestle Kingdom 10) Kamaitachi vs. Dragon Lee (Fantastica Mania 2016) Kamaitachi vs. Dragon Lee (CMLL, March 4, 2016) Aztec Warfare 2 (Lucha Underground, March 23, 2016) A.J. Styles vs. Roman Reigns (Extreme Rules 2016) Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenny Omega (G1 Climax 26, August 13, 2016) A.J. Styles vs. John Cena (Royal Rumble 2017) Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (Dominion 6.11 2017) Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii (G1 Special in USA, July 2, 2017) Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (G1 Climax, August 12, 2017) Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenny Omega (G1 Climax, August 13, 2017) Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe vs. Roman Reigns (Summerslam 2017)

Texano is always a guy I "wanted" to like because he has the look of a brawling cowboy. Instead, he's so slow and clunky. And Crane has indeed been very good this season.