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No I am referring to the Punk match in 2013, but he might have done it with Balor as well. He gets shoved into the corner of the table and starts saying "Paul, my stomach" and changes color as he looks like he's about to puke.

Kintaro Oki is real weird to me as I've seen matches where he literally does nothing but headbutts and it's the worst, and I've seen matches where he does nothing but heatbutts and it's pretty awesome. A couple of classic Baba/Jumbo vs Oki/Kim Duk tags in the mid 70s that really set the template for the high energy hateful tags more associated with Choshu's influence on AJ. Sakaguchi was also definitely awesome.

It's crazy how much better of a wrestling program Saturday Night is in 1993 compared to Raw. In terms of like...everything. Better wrestling, better commentary, better production, better squashes, better weekly storylines, better build to PPVs, better characters and motivations. I think the only thing you could maybe argue is better on Raw at this point was the ring mat.

I really do enjoy matches where dudes just do not take Inoki's shit and bully him. There aren't that many, but the above mentioned Rolland Bock match, Vader, and the Thesz/Gotch vs Inoki/Sakaguchi match where Lou just straight up legit bullies him with ease and treats him like a rookie is hilarious. I definitely do enjoy all the Backlund matches, but I have come to really enjoy Backlund because he's so weird even if I don't find too many of his matches particularly entertaining as a whole. Inoki/Brisco from JWA in 1971 is awesome. Some real proto UWF stuff that I wouldn't be surprised was the specific inspiration for Maeda/Takada/Sayama to get into wrestling and go down the path that ended up being UWF. The Dory match in 69 is real good, too. I enjoy all the Andre matches, and there is one match with Tiger Jeet Singh that is good (and I mean one) but I can't remember which of the hundreds it is. I know there was a bunch of really cool shit on youtube that NJ nuked when they started NJ World and then never uploaded those matches, including a ton of Inoki stuff that I wish I would have checked out while I could. I also wonder what could have been if NJ had a better cast of gaijin in the 70s, because god damn you look at his match list and there's some real dire looking shit compared to what was going on with AJ at the same time. And really into the 80s as well. I think Inoki's 90s output is rarely talked about but he has some real good spectacle matches with Hase/Tenryu/Muta/Vader. Over all it's hard to argue that Baba doesn't have a better track record despite Inoki being a much more capable athlete and mechanically better. I do wonder how much of that is the gulf in talent both guys were regularly working with in their prime years.

I have trouble with him as a top tier great as well because I find junior stuff especially when Liger was at his peak generally have zero story or psychology at all. Just cool moves. Which is cool, especially combined with a cool look. Like I'm always going to play as Liger in games because he's got brainbusters and powerbombs and SSP and palm strikes and koppo kicks and shit. But I often don't find much to sink my teeth into in his matches other than cool moves most of the time.

The slam off the top was a running gag by 1994/1995 at the latest. I would argue earlier which is why it was always a big pop when he'd hit a move off the top as a face even in 1989 and 1993.

I can't say I've actually ever seen too much of his work, but his nut shot to Kimo at the Dome might be the GOAT nut shot in pro wrestling. Just annihilated that breh's balls.

The sell of getting rammed into the corner of the announce table in the Punk match is an all timer. This coming off his bout of diverticulitis and his sell job was turning ghost white (no small feat as he was already purple) and desperately trying not to puke.

No that's a pretty accurate memory. Ted is real dry until the 1985 tours where he suddenly adopts Stan's look and energy for a bit, and in 1986 he has a lot more energy and intensity to his work, but they never really gel as a team. Part of that could be that it seems like everything on tape with Ted also involves Tenryu, and despite what feels like 100 matches between the two, they never had chemistry.

I'm 100% positive Brock is going to do whatever it is he feels like doing in the ring. No agents are telling Brock what to do in his matches, and no one in the ring is telling him to do shit he doesn't want to do.

I would definitely say the glory of Stan Hansen is the chaotic nature of his being can produce excellence or a mess, but ultimately everything Stan Hansen does in the ring feels authentic to what Stan Hansen should do in the ring.

I'm not talking about high talent guys sitting on the sidelines. Not talking about Andrade types. I'm talking about these people who got recruited to the PC and then did nothing for years but get paid to be in catering.

Yeah there's a whole lot of talent that gets signed to WWE that really has no business being there to begin with, those people should be thrilled they're getting paid to have access to the PC 24/7 and not have to travel and take bumps.

One thing I never understood was why he had a reputation as being a stoic guy. Misawa is obviously the stoic one and Kawada was very prone to intention emotional outbursts in matches all the way from the Revolution days to the end of his career.

His matches with Choshu suck but I'm putting that squarely on Choshu, who seemed to be going out of his way to have shitty matches with the top level guys in 1986.

Finlay is another guy, maybe an even better example than Arn of enjoying a guy for his individual performances more than the sum total of his match quality due to positioning on the card.

Bo Dallas sucks, too, though.

Generally in my head Attitude Era is 1998/1999 but sure I'd push it to 2000 as well. It's just a really great match with greatly defined and portrayed roles in a period where such matches and match quality in general was such dogshit outside of just a couple of people. A great title match that doesn't involve Austin or Foley dying to get someone over is very rare in 1998/1999 so this has always stood out to me. And also putting the "X-Pac was never over" shit to rest. X-Pac was crazy over in 1998 and most of 1999. Dude was ending shows doing the beer bash with Austin on the reg.

And also has hilariously weak looking strikes. The clips from the match with Bulldog Jr. were so, so bad I don't know how people weren't laughing in the audience.

Yeah mostly. He only comes alive when he can do some CZW trash or in a NJ ring. In AEW he's very much settled into the lazy, seemingly completely bored and unmotivated guy he was for much of the last 2-3 years of his WWE run outside of a handful of performances. Seemed to start with the terrible Jericho feud and just stuck with him.

I understand cutting the people they haven't used in ages, but it seemed like they gave Billie Kaye a lot of screen time the past 3-4 months. I don't know why they bothered putting in so much time to get her a story for WM just to cut her immediately after along with her partner who they thought had way more upside and did nothing for in the same period.

Just watched this, was real interesting because Fuchi hadn't really grown into his dickhead persona and style yet, and Kobayashi was always more on the aggressive heel side of things. The match starting with Kobayashi bum rushing Fuchi like a cheap heel, but then throughout the match everything turns and Fuchi is being the dick we'd come to love and Kobayashi is bleeding and getting big face heat. I don't know if it was a contextual thing or if it was something of a double turn for both going forward, but it was a real fun match and certainly a lot better than the Choshu/Hansen match the same night.

Well to take this back to Arn, I feel like for me Arn is a top 10 because his performance is always at a 5 star level no matter the opponent, spot on the card, length of match, angle going into the match, etc. He doesn't have the match out put like a Misawa/Jumbo/Flair/Okada because he was never put into that position and wasn't that kind of wrestler. But there are few guys I enjoy watching more than Arn Anderson even against some real shitty guys.

X-Pac vs The Rock at Capital Carnage 1998 is excellent work from both guys, standing out all the more because it's on an atrocious UK PPV. It's under 15 minutes and is probably the best Attitude Era title match that didn't involve Austin or Foley, imo.

Oh most definitely, Flair does arm work all the time that never ever goes anywhere. Especially in matches that go over 25 minutes. Pure filler work. He usually doesn't even start going into attacking a leg until the last 5-10 minutes in long matches, and in shorter matches usually not until the very end.