TheBean

Hamada UWF / FULL SUPER ESTRELLA '90 Gran Hamada vs Perro Aguayo (06/01): 11+ minute, really good lucharesu but too many moves followed by a pin attempt which stifled the flow. A pet peeve still a quality match. Hijo del Santo vs Fuerza Guerrera (06/04): 9+ minutes, pretty good- great under 10 min. match. =-=-=-= Yoshihiro Asai vs Cuchilla (06/04): Another really good under 10 min. match. A good portion of this was mat wrestling. Aja Kong, Bison Kimura & Grizzly Iwamoto vs Manami Toyota, KAORU & Mika Takahashi (06/04): Aja & co. are brutal bruisers while Toyota & Honey Wings are technical and fast. Pretty much exactly what I wanted with this one. Near classic match, LOVED IT! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Gran Hamada, Perro Aguayo & Kendo vs El Signo, Texano & Negro Navarro (06/04): Really fun first fall, nice pace & structure. 9min. 2nd fall featured a great technico shine with the rudos dominating towards the end to get the pin. 7 minutes. Quick moving third fall, 7 minutes. This match was a lot of fun! Yoshihiro Asai vs Negro Casas (06/07): Great match that should be part of the 90's junior canon. Mat wrestling, fierce chops and slaps plus nice twists & surprises. RECOMMENDED! =-=-=-= Kato Kung Lee & Super Astro vs Blue Panther & Cuchilla (06/07): Good stuff with good moves. I would have preferred a quicker pace but it had a nice rhythm nonetheless. Hamada UWF / FULL 1991 Yoshihiro Asai vs Bestia Salvaje (06/07): These guys threw caution to the wind! A year later, Asai puts on another awesome match. He & Salvaje brought the intensity and the moves. Great match, RECOMMENDED! Gonna keep my eye out for more Bestia Salvaje in the future. IWE Strong Kobayashi & H. Eigen vs Isamu Teranishi & Mighty Inoue (06/29/80): 2/3 falls. Great match! Match builds wonderfully. A match for old school tag wrestling fans. 20 min or so. RECOMMENDED NJPW Tiger Mask vs Villano III (06/24/81): Amazing technical encounter. Two greats engaged in a battle of wit & will. A classic bout - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Toryumon CIMA & Sumo Dandy Fuji vs Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask IV (06/04/00): Very good action tag match. Cool moves & big dives. 13 min. CIMA vs Sumo Dandy Fuji: Follow up to the previous fight. Speed vs Power wager match. Sumo Dandy Fuji impressed me with his lariats & chokeslams. 7 minutes. UK Classic Wrestling Marty Jones vs Bernie Wright (08/87): Great technical first fall. Jones fights his way back into the 2nd fall. Fall #3 was quick and emphatic. Very good 10-11 min match. UWA Hamada, Solar & Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas, Dr. Wagner Jr. & Baby Face (05/30/92): Excellent first fall, technical wrestling with Solar & Wagner, Puro style with Casas & Hamada then fast spectacular moves with Santo & Baby/Babe Face. Fall #2 is rudo score evening. Fall #3 brought it home. 16 min, fun, fun wrestling!

Now we're on to 1987. Change of pace, just going to post the reviews/write ups & pics here. Jan-March 01/10/87 Riki Choshu vs. Ashura Hara: Very good stuff with these two water buffalos locking up. Unfortunately not long enough to really develop into something special but with these two you can't go wrong. Animal Hamaguchi/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu : Intense, urgent tag wrestling. This is how it should be done. And don't be confused, this isn't Jumbo & Tenryu carrying anyone. Animal & Yatsu are criminally underrated. Two of the best Japanese tag wrestlers of the 80's. Great match and little more than that to be honest. 03/12/87 Yoshiaki Yatsu/Animal Hamaguchi vs. Terry Gordy/Art Crews: A very good all action tag match! There's lots of rope running and simple but good looking moves. I'm unfamiliar with Art Crews but he keeps the party going so this is a winner of a tag match. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. The Road Warriors - Great big time tag match! Lots of action and the Warriors actually used some wrestling holds. And sold for Jumbo & Tenryu. This was pretty much what you want with this matchup. 03/28/87 Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Pete Roberts: This is one for the real wrestling fans in All Japan. 8 of 9 minutes of these two trading holds & fighting for leverage. Then we get about a minute of big moves to set up the finish. I'm glad that we get to see Pete work a technical match. I think Yatsu is the man to have it. I really am starting to really appreciate him. This is a fast, athletic and competitive bout. Very good stuff, an easy recommendation. I see Pete vs Masa Fuchi get recommended, this is better. Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask vs. Tommy Rich & Jerry Oates. - I don't care for this match. There's nothing special about it. Feel free to skip right past it. Genichiro Tenryu & Hiroshi Wajima vs. Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase. - Wajima was a yokozuna in sumo which makes sense why Baba would have him debut in his late 30's. The focus on the bouts is Stan vs Wajima... which kinda seems like a waste of Tenryu. However, he improves any match with him in it. So he does the bulk of the nuts & bolts work for his team. Wajima wasn't as bad as I remember though. He does very well when he has his moments. I didn't write a rating but I would say this was good to pretty good.

Lucha Libre: World Wrestling Peace Festival '96 and IWE '81 IWE Cobarde & Herodes vs Isamu Teranishi & Mach Hayato (02/28/81): Great action tag match! Tons of stuff going on here. Definitely recommend this one! Ref kinda muffs the finish but it doesn't really matter. Mach Hayato vs Cobarde (03/02/81): Pretty cool stuff, paced closer to Mil in AJPW but moves similar to NJPW lucha libre at the time. joined in progress Carlos Plata & Jose Luis Mendieta vs Isamu Teranishi & Mach Hayato (04/08/81): This was off the hook! Joined in progress but fast paced action with some really crazy moments. Definitely recommend this one! Herodes vs Mighty Inoue (1981): Roy's got this listed as El Cobarde but it's Herodes. Very good stuff, Herodes is quite the the chicken shit heel. Good face/heel match with Inoue finding his openings. Exciting finish too. World Wrestling Peace Festival 06/01/96 Lady Apache & Reina Jubuki (Akira Hokuto) vs Bull Nakano & Neftali: This was Bull vs Hokuto with Lady & Neftali as help. A fun time! Negro Casas vs Hijo del Santo: Great match, they packed a lot into a short time. That dive was badass. RECOMMENDED Black Cat vs Tatsumi Fujinami: Fun, simple yet clever wrestling. Rey Misterio Jr & Ultimo Dragon vs Psicosis & Heavy Metal: Rey & Ultimo showcasing spectacular offense. Fun fireworks match. Perro Aguayo & La Parka vs Pierroth Jr. & Cibernetico: A blast! A bunch of action plus Parka is a hoot. RECOMMENDED Dos Caras, Atlantis & Hector Garza vs Dr. Wagner Jr, Silver King & Gran Markus Jr: LOVE IT, technically minded, BIG RECOMMENDATION to lucha novices like me.

Rey & Ultimo showcasing spectacular offense. Fun fireworks match but not much more. Other stuff from this show I'd recommend above this match are: Lady Apache & Reina Jubuki (Akira Hokuto) vs Bull Nakano & Neftali: This was Bull vs Hokuto with Lady & Neftali as help. A fun time! Negro Casas vs Hijo del Santo: Great match, they packed a lot into a short time. That dive was badass. RECOMMENDED Black Cat vs Tatsumi Fujinami: Fun, simple yet clever wrestling. Not recommended above Rey/Ultimo tag BUT feels like a definitely good stuff. Perro Aguayo & La Parka vs Pierroth Jr. & Cibernetico: A blast! A bunch of action plus Parka is a hoot. RECOMMENDED Dos Caras, Atlantis & Hector Garza vs Dr. Wagner Jr, Silver King & Gran Markus Jr: LOVE IT, technically minded, BIG RECOMMENDATION to lucha novices like me.

Well, that was a war! I wasn't quite sure what to expect but the hate in this match was off the charts. It wasn't the quick burst of hate type match but more of a smoldering hate. Shit talking on the mic, stare downs, nasty looks and gestures and of course blood and kicks to the face. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't a fast paced match but I thought that it was wonderfully laid out. The match was almost a series of escalating encounters of violence. I could see some fans of more modern wrestling not liking this. In my book though this was a classic. Very distinct and memorable for sure.

On the same card: Takako Inoue & Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa vs. Mariko Yoshida & Kaoru Ito & Rie Tamada. A bit rocky in the beginning but the pace was great throughout and it was quite exciting. Takako/Mariko was the focus. ***3/4 Aja Kong & Reggie Bennett vs. Lioness Asuka & Bison Kimura. - It was a very neat match but not spectacular other than Aja brutalizing Bison. ***1/2 Minami Retirement Memorial: Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta vs. Las Cachorras Orientales. A great AJW style tag match with Minami being in the majority of the match. Hotta was minor in her role...I'm not sure this was because it was Suzuka's retirement match or what. Still it was very exciting and I really wasn't sure who was going to win. Really emotional too which is nice to see. LCO were pretty good here in their berserk heel mode giving Suzuka a tough retirement match. ****1/4 - Match of the Night

This was clipped to 6 minutes from 14 minutes. I call bullshit but, there's a handheld available. Probably from way back in the seats or down low since this was outside in Yokohama Stadium for the explosions. What we do see on the commercial release is pretty damn good (and well spliced!). It's pretty much all the fast paced highlights. Bull & Akira knock fuck outta the FMW gals but, like Onita they show that never say die attitude. Very enjoyable and recommended stuff. Per BAHU & Steve Ayy's FMW podcast, some AJW girls were considering jumping to FMW's women's division. Of course that didn't pan out but, is probably the catalyst for the AJW owners OKing the interpromotion stuff to keep them happy as well as rake in the bucks.

This was a ferocious match. The Yamazaki & Harley team was one I wish I could see more of but we're almost to the end. This was a great match...seek this one out!

This one was fucking brutal! This was one of the most emotional and destructive spectacles that I have ever had the joy to witness. Everyone was trying to beat the living shit out of one another in some primal kind of way. These women would never be the same after this disturbing confrontation. There is no doubt about it. This match, if you want to call it that, covered Korakuen Hall in boiling hot blood and sweat soaked face paint for days. The echo of their howls could be heard months after. This is a must-see classic. *****

All Japan Pro Wrestling Tiger Mask (Misawa) vs Great Kabuki (01/28/86) HM Genichiro Tenryu vs Ashura Hara (04/12/86) Jumbo Tsuruta & G. Tenryu vs Yoshiaki Yatsu & Animal Hamaguchi (05/17/86) Tenryu & Giant Baba vs Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (07/05/86) HM Tenryu vs Yoshiaki Yatsu (07/31/86) HM Hansen vs Terry Gordy (09/11/86) HM Jumbo & Tenryu vs Baba & Tiger Mask (11/28/86) HM Zero One Wrestling Omori & Otani vs Takayama & Kohei Sato (02/18/07) Manabu Nakanishi & Omori vs Takayama & Sato (03/08/07) HM Masato Tanaka vs Daisuke Sekimoto (07/16/07) M. Tanaka vs Yoshihito Sasaki (05/27/07) Omori vs Y. Sasaki (07/16/07) Sekimoto vs Y. Sasaki (07/28/07) Sekimoto & Sato vs Omori & Y. Sasaki (08/02/07) HM M. Tanaka vs Dick Togo (09/30/07) HM M. Tanaka vs Takao Omori (10/26/07) HM M. Tanaka vs Yoshihito Sasaki (12/24/07) M. Tanaka & Otani vs Yuji Nagata & M. Nakanishi (05/29/08) Ring of Honor AJ Styles & Matt Sydal vs Dragon Kid & G. Horiguchi (Dragon Gate Challenge 03/30/06) Aries, Strong & Jack Evans vs CIMA, Doi & Yoshino (Dragon Gate Challenge 03/30/06) HM * Blood Generation vs Do Fixer (Supercard of Honor 03/31/06) Aries & Strong vs SHINGO & Doi (03/04/07 5th Year Fest: Finale) B. Danielson, Marufuji & CIMA vs D. Richards, Rocky Romero & Mochizuki (2007 ROH in Osaka) Kenny Omega vs Davey Richards (Epic Encounter III March 2010) Austin Aries vs Tyler Black vs Roderick Strong (Big Bang) HM Kings of Wrestling vs The Briscoe Brothers (Big Bang 2010) Roderick Strong vs Davey Richards (Bitter Friends... II) HM Motor City Machine Guns vs Kings of Wrestling (Supercard of Honor V - May 2010) *Kings of Wrestling vs The Briscoe Brothers (DBD VIII - June 2010) Pro Wrestling NOAH *Marufuji & Ibushi vs KENTA & T. Ishimori (07/15/07) Marufuji & Suguira vs Briscoe Brothers (03/02/08) New Japan Pro Wrestling *T. Fujinami vs Solitario (05/10/79) Muto & Kensuke Sasaki vs Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata (03/26/96) HM *Tatsumi Fujinami vs Tenryu (04/29/96) Japan Others TAKA, Naniwa & Tiger Mask IV vs Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada & Pablo Marquez (03/06/99) HM Yuji Okabayashi vs Shuji Ishikawa (02/02/15) HM United States - Major * Roddy Piper vs Greg Valentine (Mid Atlantic 07/09/83) Randy Savage vs Bret Hart (Sat. Night Main Event 11/28/87) *Rey Misterio Jr vs Psicosis (Bash at the Beach 1996) Neville vs Sami Zayn (NXT Revolution 12/11/14) HM Neville vs Finn Balor (NXT Rival 02/11/15) HM *Neville vs Cesaro (NXT TV {unaired, on first NXT dvd} 03/05/15) •Feud of the for the first half of 2026 would be Kings of Wrestling vs The Briscoe Brothers (reviews forthcoming). All Japan '86 is the only other stuff where I have been watch a year's worth. I really was digging Riki Choshu versus everyone especially Super Strong Machine. I like Steen & Corino vs Generico & Colt as well but it's not my favorite so far. Super quick to call a feud but the Omori vs Takayama stuff in early 2007 is top notch. •Biggest surprise so far might be black & yellow NXT. The peaks are really high but it might be due to cherry picking. Neville, Sami Zayn & Balor are great but they already were great as PAC, Generico & Devitt...which is why I hated NXT at the time. But now that we're 10 years passed all of that, I can enjoy it for what it is rather than what it was. •Tag team of early 2026 viewing is Kings of Wrestling. Briscoes are right there with them though. Like 1a & 1b. Marufuji has been killing it in his assorted tag matches. •Best Wrestler would probably be Masato Tanaka. His 2007 is amazing in Zero One. Having fantastic opponents like Yoshihito Sasaki and Daisuke Sekimoto helps! Y. Sasaki would actually be my #2 choice... a break out year in '07. Macho Man, Neville/PAC deserve shout outs. You should be checking their stuff out. •Best Match Watched candidates are marked with the star (*). Anything unmarked are just right under that designation. HM matches are Honorable Mention. Don't discount them one bit though... those are beyond just great matches, they're near classic bouts. What is next? I'm thinking Joshi June. Really enjoyed early JWP and I'd love to pick that up. Also want to keep going with ROH 2010 and will be putting those recommendations up shortly. I'm watching lucha libre and lucharesu so I'll be posting what I like/love. And then I'm trucking on with Cruising the 80's with a focus on AJPW 1987 but definitely have some excellent New Japan and IWE lined up. Actually, I'm interested in the intersection of some of those topics like ladies lucha libre, early 80's luchadores in Japan so it should be cool 😎

Terry Funk got #1 this year to the surprise of me & many others. I think this helped soften the blow of some of the other results this time around. I was going to write about how not to take these things too seriously or how only your list is the one that matters. Forget it. People want to get mad or want to be validated. That's what the internet is for anymore. I'm not going to change that. I'm not into that though. I guess that's why I didn't put a list together. Anyhow, I am pretty interested in the data from the project. I wanted to use the past results in combination with this year's outcome. I took the top 25 results from '06, '16 and '26. I assigned points to where they placed in each of the three polls. #1 = 25pts, #25 = 1pt. Then totalled those points. Finally ranked them by most points to least. For instance Flair's total looks like 18+25+22=65pts. I wanted a list that took all three GWE projects into account. Tie breaker#1: Who appears on more GWE top 25's. Tie breaker #2: Who appears most recently in GWE top 25. Ric Flair Terry Funk Kenta Kobashi Stan Hansen Mitsuharu Misawa Toshiaki Kawada Eddie Guerrero Jumbo Tsuruta Bret Hart Bryan Danielson Jushin Liger Rey Misterio Jr Genichiro Tenryu Steve Austin Vader Ricky Steamboat Aja Kong Chris Benoit Akira Hokuto Jerry Lawler Harley Race Randy Savage Hiroshi Tanahashi Dynamite Kid Hijo del Santo Nick Bockwinkel Mick Foley AJ Styles Arn Anderson Nobuhiko Takada Samoa Joe Tatsumi Fujinami Shinya Hashimoto William/Steven Regal Negro Casas CM Punk Jaguar Yokota Barry Windham The Destroyer Akira Taue (Honorary #40, #26 on two GWEs) Three timers: Jumbo, Kawada, Liger, Kobashi, Eddie, Misawa, Flair, Bret, Hansen, Terry Funk, Ricky Steamboat, Austin, Vader, Tenryu, Rey Jr Highest Three timer: Ric Flair (65pts, #1) Two timers: Hokuto, Aja, Hijo del Santo, Hashimoto, Danielson, Savage. Highest Two timer: Danielson (46pts, #9) One timers: Benoit, Harley Race, Dynamite Kid, Takada, Jaguar, Destroyer, Lawler, Bockwinkel, Arn, Fujinami, Regal, Negro Casas, Windham, CM Punk, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Mick Foley, Tanahashi Highest One timer: Benoit (23pts, #18) Top 40 represented by decade (approximately when wrestler's period of impact began) Pre 80's: 1 1980's: 15 1990's: 19 2000's: 5 Top 10 North American wrestlers: Flair, Terry Funk, Hansen, Eddie Guerrero, Bryan Danielson, Bret Hart, Rey Misterio Jr, Steve Austin, Vader, Ricky Steamboat Top 10 Japanese Wrestlers: Kobashi, Misawa, Kawada, Jumbo, Liger, Tenryu, Aja Kong, Akira Hokuto, Tanahashi, Nobuhiko Takada All that said, it's interesting to see how the list has stayed relatively static. These trends or recent events happen and a one time person cracks the top 25. Now my take away: I know the GWE projects were all done with the best of intentions. In the end though, folks use it argue and shit talk. We can call it debating or discourse but let's get real. There's enough of that shit in the world. Everyone is so primed to argue. Wrestling to me is an escape from that. I'm guessing it is for most folks. So, this list above ends it for me. Look at the number of three timers (15). That's an elite list right there. If we wait a decade, I'm thinking many of those folks are going to be top 25ers again. But if I'm also being honest, I don't want to be reading/writing about pro wrestling in 10 years time for the 2036 poll. This all seems like a young person's thing...especially the list making & arguing about it. I don't know about you but I've got a lot of work and worries as an adult. I'm more interested in watching wrestling and giving recommendations for folks just getting into older wrestling or looking to expand their horizons. If you're using the GWE list to do that then, you're awesome! That's what I think the big purpose of the list (& the hard work Grimmas & others have put into it) is. It is a excellent starting point for someone looking to get into other wrestling & wrestlers. It is also a prompt to get people out of their wrestling comfort zone. I think that is where I'm coming from at least. So in my book, that list above is my list for greatest wrestler ever. It's not my favorites but the numbers don't lie 😄 But it is another good list for someone to hopefully enjoy and get some ideas from. Perhaps, a watch project where they watch one match from everyone on the list. Or maybe making a thread on here or social media looking for other people's favorite matches by all of the one-time wrestlers. I dunno...I hope everyone reading this gets something out of it. Sorry if me being bummed on other people being aggro & shit has got you bummed now but, cheer up! There's wrestling to watch! Take care!

Another for shits & giggles list using the different polls: I took the top 25 results from '06, '16 and '26. I assigned points to where they placed in each of the three polls. #1 = 25pts, #25 = 1pt. Then totalled those points. Finally ranked them by most points to least. For instance Flair's total looks like 18+25+22=65pts. I wanted a list that took all three GWE projects into account. Tie breaker#1: Who appears on more GWE top 25's. Tie breaker #2: Who appears most recently in GWE top 25. Ric Flair Terry Funk Kenta Kobashi Stan Hansen Mitsuharu Misawa Toshiaki Kawada Eddie Guerrero Jumbo Tsuruta Bret Hart Bryan Danielson Jushin Liger Rey Misterio Jr Genichiro Tenryu Steve Austin Vader Ricky Steamboat Aja Kong Chris Benoit Akira Hokuto Jerry Lawler Harley Race Randy Savage Hiroshi Tanahashi Dynamite Kid Hijo del Santo Nick Bockwinkel Mick Foley AJ Styles Arn Anderson Nobuhiko Takada Samoa Joe Tatsumi Fujinami Shinya Hashimoto William/Steven Regal Negro Casas CM Punk Jaguar Yokota Barry Windham The Destroyer Akira Taue (Honorary #40, #26 on two GWEs) Three timers: Jumbo, Kawada, Liger, Kobashi, Eddie, Misawa, Flair, Bret, Hansen, Terry Funk, Ricky Steamboat, Austin, Vader, Tenryu, Rey Jr Highest Three timer: Ric Flair (65pts, #1) Two timers: Hokuto, Aja, Hijo del Santo, Hashimoto, Danielson, Savage. Highest Two timer: Danielson (46pts, #9) One timers: Benoit, Harley Race, Dynamite Kid, Takada, Jaguar, Destroyer, Lawler, Bockwinkel, Arn, Fujinami, Regal, Negro Casas, Windham, CM Punk, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Mick Foley, Tanahashi Highest One timer: Benoit (23pts, #18) Top 40 represented by decade (approximately when wrestler's period of impact began) Pre 80's: 1 1980's: 15 1990's: 19 2000's: 5 Top 10 North American wrestlers: Flair, Terry Funk, Hansen, Eddie Guerrero, Bryan Danielson, Bret Hart, Rey Misterio Jr, Steve Austin, Vader, Ricky Steamboat Top 10 Japanese Wrestlers: Kobashi, Misawa, Kawada, Jumbo, Liger, Tenryu, Aja Kong, Akira Hokuto, Tanahashi, Nobuhiko Takada

Thanks again for sorting the data by "started viewing" & thanks for your hard work in general 🙂

Wanted to say next post should be the Best Matches Watched of 2026 (so far) along with Best Wrestler, Feud of the Year etc. Stay tuned for that! I might also have some Greatest Wrestler Ever stuff too.