TheBean

Glad you enjoyed it! I was going to do top 5's but it was a bigger task than I thought 🙂

For shits & giggles, I tallied the top 3 wrestlers from everyone's list submitted from the Your GWE List thread. I gave 3 pts. to a first place, 2 pts. to 2nd place, and 1 pt. to a 3rd place vote. That top 10 looks like this: Bryan Danielson Terry Funk Tenryu/Kobashi Hijo del Santo Bret/Fujiwara/Bockwinkel Ric Flair Shinya Hashimoto Misawa/Rey Misterio Jr/Negro Casas/Austin Hokuto/Liger/Inoki Kawada/Chigusa/Wagner Jr In case of tie, I used their composite top 25 scores from 2006 & 2016. Whoever basically did better in '06 & 16, would place higher in the tie. So that looks like this: Bryan Danielson Terry Funk Kenta Kobashi Genichiro Tenryu Hijo del Santo Bret Hart Nick Bockwinkel Yoshiaki Fujiwara Ric Flair Shinya Hashimoto Mitsuharu Misawa Rey Misterio Jr Steve Austin Negro Casas Jushin Liger Akira Hokuto Antonio Inoki Toshiaki Kawada Chigusa Nagayo Dr. Wagner Jr Just missing the list are Volk Han, Tanahashi, Aja Kong, HBK, Randy Savage & Jumbo...each with 2pts. A half assed methodology but seems more representative of PWO members sensibilities 🙂 Top 3 also seems likely too. Just tacking it here for fun also.

For shits & giggles, I tallied the top 3 wrestlers from everyone's list submitted. I gave 3 pts. to a first place, 2 pts. to 2nd place, and 1 pt. to a 3rd place vote. That top 10 looks like this: Bryan Danielson Terry Funk Tenryu/Kobashi Hijo del Santo Bret/Fujiwara/Bockwinkel Ric Flair Shinya Hashimoto Misawa/Rey Misterio Jr/Negro Casas/Austin Hokuto/Liger/Inoki Kawada/Chigusa/Wagner Jr In case of tie, I used their composite top 25 scores from 2006 & 2016. Whoever basically did better in '06 & 16, would place higher in the tie. So that looks like this: Bryan Danielson Terry Funk Kenta Kobashi Genichiro Tenryu Hijo del Santo Bret Hart Nick Bockwinkel Yoshiaki Fujiwara Ric Flair Shinya Hashimoto Mitsuharu Misawa Rey Misterio Jr Steve Austin Negro Casas Jushin Liger Akira Hokuto Antonio Inoki Toshiaki Kawada Chigusa Nagayo Dr. Wagner Jr Just missing the list are Volk Han, Tanahashi, Aja Kong, HBK, Randy Savage & Jumbo...each with 2pts. A half assed methodology but seems more representative of PWO members sensibilities 🙂 Top 3 also seems likely too.

Awesome Akira Hokuto pic - she is such a badass 😋 One of the few from my top 10-15 that did as well as thought they "deserved." Hoping that more recent wrestling fans are finding all kinds of old school wrestlers to watch from the GWE list. I feel like 1980-90's wrestlers in the #26-100 range (at least) are due more attention by younger fans in the next 10 years.

Gonna post the rest of '86 shortly & then start posting '87. 1987 is an interesting year. I've seen most of the "good stuff" but I think there's a couple more I ought to see... ...OK I've got the time so let's get back to the final quarter of 1986: Genichiro Tenryu/Jumbo Tsuruta vs Yoshiaki Yatsu/Animal Hamaguchi (09/20): Great action packed tag! Funk Bros vs Road Warriors (10/20): Great Warriors match w/ the Funks Haru Sonada, Genichiro Tenryu & Jumbo Tsuruta vs Hiro Saito, Super Strong Machine & Ashura Hara (11/01): Hard hitting intense stuff Stan Hansen vs Terry Funk (12/03): VG, very stiff Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen & Ted Dibiase (RWTL Playoff Match 12/12): Awesome stuff Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen & Ted Dibiase (RWTL Final 12/12): Heck of a finals especially given how it all played out. Great match! For more in depth reviews of the last 3 months, check out:

Just want to say this is a great post by cad! Invaluable as I start to get into lucha libre. Just wanted to bump this also in case anyone else is interested.

Hello fellow wrestling dorks! DVD viewing time and I'm watching more Zero One. •Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito v Osamu Namiguchi & Shito Ueda: Pretty fun little match. Simple but effective tag wrestling. Seriously, U.S. wrestling should just aim for this instead of over complicating everything. •Takao Omori v Kohei Sato: I'm not sure how this was edited time wise. Maybe half was shown of 10 minutes. What we got was enjoyable stuff. •Daisuke Sekimoto v Kamikaze: 7 of 11 minutes. Holy cow! This was a hard hitting yet surprising little sprint. Kamikaze is an excellent mid card bruiser who pairs well with Sekimoto. This was a blast if you like lariats and suplexes! •Ikuto Hidaka & Munenori Sawa v Masaaki Mochizuki & Minoru Tanaka: Junior shoot-style brawl? That's a good way to describe this bout. They were haphazardly kicking each other all match. There's a lot of animosity here. This was really exciting and although a bit frenetic, it sold the hate. I definitely want to see more of these guys squaring off in '08. So it definitely did it's job 🙂 Great match •Masato Tanaka & Shinjiro Otani v Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi: Pretty damn captivating all out war! I actually watched this 2 nights in a row. The first time, I was pretty sleepy so I wanted to give it more attention. I'm so glad that I did. Any iffy feelings I had before could be attrition my need for sleep. This bout was the hard hitting, big bomb dropping match you want. Faces were smashed, brains were busted - yes if you like these wrestlers then, you will want to see this. And I'm going to say, give Manabu Nakanishi a little credit as a wrestler. This is the type of match he needs and thrives in. He might just be the best guy in here tonight. He had all kinds of little twists and cutoffs that added a bit of variety between the melee. This has a 9 on Cagematch and I can get behind that score. I'd say 8.5...it's a low end classic match. Clearly they have more inter-promotional fires to burn. I'm looking forward to seeing those!

Michinoku Pro Wrestling •Dick Togo vs Masato Yakushiji (03/07/97): Was going to watch this for March Mayhem but got it now! Yakushiji does a bunch of cool arm drags & ranas like you want him to. This is prime Togo so he makes all of that look great will still man handling the weenie Masato 😄 11 minutes of really fun stuff! •Shinzaki & Hamada vs Naniwa & Mochizuki (05/09/99): This match was about Jinsei being a heavyweight competing against juniors...and a FMW & All Japan level heavyweight at that. We get fun comedy with Mochi & Naniwa not wanting to face him. But they put their pea brains together and attack him as a team! Hamada does some big moves but no other Gran Hamada awesomeness of note. This is a breezy action packed tag match. About 15 minutes. •Great Sasuke vs "Fake" Sasuke (Masao Orihara) (05/09/99): Big time singles matches. Much like lucha libre, there's more more brawling. Orihara & his valet were excellent heels. I mean Orihara was a real scum bag. But don't think there was great flying, counters & false finishes, this was a great match. Definitely cathartic. Rey Mysterio vs Eddie Guerrero (03/18/04 Smack Down!) A very good match for the belt. It was cool seeing them go so hard on a TV match when just a few years earlier they couldn't get 10 minutes on Nitro. vs Eddie Guerrero (09/09/05 Smack Down! Cage match): This is towards the end of the Dominik's Dad saga. Eddie looks like a disturbed individual. I really am appreciating his character work. This bout has excellent intensity along with cool cage spots. They told a great story and sold how much they wanted to win. The finish was extremely clever given the storyline & personal animosity. A great cage match and seriously I am not a cage match fan. Motor City Machine Guns vs Kings of Wrestling (May 2010 ROH Super Card of Honor V): The Guns come out ready to fight. They do their synchronized attack but the Kings respond with a Storm of Boots to the face. The big guys use their size to their advantage. Chris damn near KO's Shelley with a back brain elbow - damn! This is as awesome as I hoped. I'm not going to spoil anything but we get a finish that serves the overall booking instead of serving the match. I can live with that especially since it's justified. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Ring of Honor tag match. A classic to me. vs Matt Taven & Vinnie Marseglia (04/28/17 ROH Unauthorized): This takes me back watching ROH on Sinclair. I've got a clutch of these DVDs to watch and am pumped after this bout. It's a relaxed tag rules match. It features all sorts of tag switch a roo's, dives and other spots - High octane stuff! Taven & Vinnie were really good in keeping up with Shelley and Sabin. In fact, neither get any credit from what little I've seen. Taven was a great character & heel in late original ROH. In fact, he gets in some character work in this high speed bout. Respect is due! Great match - recommended! Lucha Libre Ladies •Cynthia Moreno, Lady Apache & Xochitl Hamada vs Martha Villalobos, La Tigresa, & La Diabolica (05/08/92 CMLL): Anyone familiar with early 90's joshi should be familiar with a few of these luchadoras. Like in AJW, they are amazing here. Just an amazing pace & dazzling skill from the technicas. A great team of rudas. I LOVED THIS ONE! •Cynthia Moreno, Lady Apache & Miss Janeth vs Dibolica, Tania & Maria del Angel (05/08/93 CMLL): Wow! What a first fall! Cynthia & Lady Apache are on some next level shit. They are so quick & graceful, making the rudas work like mad. Falls #2 & 3 are good and definitely have their moments but Fall #1 is where it's at. LIKED IT More good shit at wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com

I was looking at the 2006 poll and the top 25 then had 3 women in the top 25 with Hokuto, Aja & Jaguar. This time around seems more similar to the 2006 poll in other ways too.

There's a really fun thread in the 2016 GWE folder where folks in 2016 make predictions about the 2026 list. Many are off the mark in a fun way. Great insights but also shows how much things can change booking wise, who's going to be a big star, etc. Fun read!

They weren't getting the votes to begin with. Does that mean they aren't great then? No, of course not. My rough list got shredded to bits already this time. It's 90% 80's & 90's wrestlers. Well, we're still using all of the top 100's of the 2006 & 2016 poll along with whatever the top 100 of this year is. I think 80s & 90s will be accounted for. I think reevaluation for younger folks will occur within that pre-existing pool (largely). I think the footage is already there for this GWE. I think there might be reevaluation of the 2000's moreso. But my idea isn't something with every facet accounted for, just a general idea to maybe use what data we have. Again, if we're trying to make a list of the Greatest Ever 🙂 Warts & all

It's not arbitrary. It's using the data we have already collected the last 20 years. Not using that data and starting from scratch every 10 years is arbitrary. Ruling people out is the point of making the list to begin with. But like I said, no one is going to use it 🙂 I mean its 10 years from now anyhow.

As far as nominating to "poll harcore wrestling fans on who they think the greatest wrestlers ever are... basically a survey done every 10 years" as Kadaveri succinctly says, should be done differently. I have an idea that will never happen but here it goes: There will be three Top 100 lists by the end of this project. Anyone who made the Top 100 in '06, '16 or '26 gets automatically added to the 2036 eligible wrestler list. We don't need to re-nominate them. These wrestlers earned it. Additionally, we need to stop including wrestlers from the 80's, 90's etc. who haven't made the top 100 yet. They have had 3 chances to make the top 100 and haven't made it. A lot of favorites are going to be left off but if they haven't made it yet & they aren't going to. Trust me, a lot of my favorites get slashed but so be it. Here we have to acknowledge that the list has and it's limitations- some part of it is a "popularity" contest and is a product of recency bias. That's probably not going to get better but it can be accounted for with the following points. For anyone who's an active wrestler by the end of the 2026 project from 101-400, gets automatically added to the 2036 eligible wrestler list. These are wrestlers on the rise and we can expect them to keep pace or improve in 10 years. So, it's worth including them no questions asked. There's not actually as many as you would think. I counted around 35 wrestlers in the 201-300 range for instance. I don't follow current stuff but I know most of them as their reputation proceeds them. Any active wrestler from '26-'36 outside of that (or brand new) has to get nominated with matches from 2026-2036 along with some kind of substantial claim or review/write-up of those matches. See Kadaveri's point #3 for a fantastic explanation. If it could be done without being a hassle, a 2035 approval vote like HowtobeaMark suggests would finalize a nomination. If done on PWO, the post can be made as a poll & people can vote. This probably can be done elsewhere too. If the yays outweigh the nays by the deadline, they get added. If there's no votes or they don't get enough yays then, they aren't added but that wrestler still is getting promoted/discussed. Then in 2036, the eligible list is set and that should be ample time for anyone wanting to research a wrestler better. And any discussions etc. should be focused on that list. So if there's anyone late to the project, they have a pre made list to construct their top 100. If they can't put a list together from that list then it's just not the project for them. The bar to nominate has to be higher. Everyone should be welcome to vote but it needs a leaner ballot. There was 867+ people voted for and more nominated. I think 300-400 would be reasonable (I'm guessing at that number). Plus it would be more manageable for whoever is doing the work at the end. With this method, we should essentially have a good chunk of the 2036 nominations set in a few days too. Then it's up to the active wrestlers to keep up the good work and for us, to watch more wrestling in the meantime 🙂

I pity the fool who thought I was taking a break! May Madness is here! A Video Daze entry as I'm posting video links where applicable. There's going to be more at Wrestling Dream Battles so click that link and join me. Marufuji, Danielson & CIMA vs Davey Richards, Rocky Romero & Mochizuki (ROH Live in Osaka): Mochi is an honorary No Remorse Corps member & it totally makes sense. This is exactly the match you from these 6 dudes - plenty of stiff kicks & elbows, great team moves yet excellently paced. There's no rushing but no dragging things out either. A near classic? Low level classic? You decide! Strongly recommended 6 man. Rey Mysterio Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Psychosis (WCW Bash at the Beach 1996): Fucking psychotic awesomeness! They wrestled this like it was their first, last & only match in WCW. They wrestled this like it was their last day on Earth. This was next level shit that is still ahead of its time because it is executed to perfection. As far as WCW Cruiserweight matches go, it a classic. Loved it! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED vs Dean Malenko (08/15/96 WCW Clash of the Champions): Rey was aggressive with his moves but Dean's had more effect. Malenko's Ice man persona was a great contrast to Rey's Mighty Mouse. This was a lot of fun opening match for the Clash. Cool finish too! vs Kaz Hayashi (05/01/99 WCW Sat. Night): 7 minutes but this was very good. It wasn't all rope running & high flying. Kaz was a good rudo & maskless Filthy Animal Rey was keeping hope alive. Very good TV match. Macho Man vs Bret Hart (Sat. Night Main Event 11/28/87): Only 15 minutes but they told a great story. There's great selling and constant action. Miss Elizabeth on the outside is fantastic! Bret and Savage are two of the very best going at it - classic match! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED vs Ted DiBiase (06/27/88 Cage Match): This is WAY better than their WM 4 match. This is a fight with urgency & desperation! Virgil is playing spoiler on the outside. Miss Elizabeth is beautiful yet helpless. The fans are electric! One kid is SO electric that his dumb ass climbs the cage trying to save Savage from Virgil's vicious assault. 😆 I love it! This is a great cage match. I recommend it to ya. Thank you for reading folks! More Madness to come!

Just posted a couple "battle archive" match recommendation lists on the other blog. Links underlined & in bold 👍 Joshi You Might Have Missed which is mainly GAEA, a really great promotion, but also some JWP & AJW in there as well. Definitely planning on more old time JWP down the road. Plus the big boy, Early 2000's Puro You Might Have Missed which I think is quite a resource to an overlooked & underrated time in Japanese wrestling. This definitely is ongoing.

That'd be pretty awesome. Hope you can! Thanks for your hard work with this project.

You're braver than I am. Back in the winter when we were going over Flair, I would think that's a reasonable bet. Not the vibe I was getting but a safe bet. However, I'm not so sure after seeing the drops from earlier today. I can't gauge how strong the "Flair is the best because he's Ric Flair" sentiments are anymore 🙂

I put this in the reactions thread but it probably was the wrong place so I deleted, updated and put here instead: I wonder, if it wouldn't be a pain in the ass, to sort the final results by the "started viewing" categories/demographic. Just the Top 100 ? After everything is revealed of course! I think that might be cool to see how each age/viewing group voted. I think there will be some interesting breakdowns with those groups. I guess I'm in the segment that's interested in 1) getting recommendations for new wrestlers to check out 2) seeing the intergenerational differences as that seems to be the BIG story so far. Maybe this is something planned but wanted to mention it. Thanks!!

Very interested to see where Flair ends up given how things are shaping up. I don't think there's been any bombshells yet but there's time... This all started with thinking he'd not make the top 10 and now I'm really wondering if he makes top 20. I almost think "conventional wisdom" gets him there over people who have actually watched many of his full matches of his especially since many are on the longer side, personal issues folks have with him etc. People seem to have voted with their hearts more this decade so maybe there will be a few shockers. Still hoping Steamboat finishes higher 😋 But again, this time around I'm not holding my breath!

Thanks! There's a lot of "who the hell is this person?" right next to someone I'd consider a favorite when I've checked.

For someone who's not keeping up with all of the drops & discussion, what's the general vibe with the 2026 list so far? Any big surprises?

•Lex Luger vs Masahiro Chono: Color me surprised! This was very good stuff...maybe even great. Chono doesn't get the love he deserves. Just a great character especially in Japan. But here, I had no idea Luger was still wrestling. You know what I mean? This would have been pretty well received if it took place in the States, I think. Probably just because they actually wrestled with a good pace, good action and there wasn't a bunch of crap. Not gonna say I'm a Lex fan but...he's probably one of my favorite muscle bound meatheads. •Riki Choshu & Takashi Iizuka & Osamu Nishimura & Satoshi Kojima vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Akira Nogami & Michiyoshi Ohara & Akitoshi Saito: As I get older, I understand the punch & stomp-on-the-throat style of wrestling much more. I have always valued intensity in wrestling; a type of intensity that you don't get in 2020's wrestling (sorry it's true). It connects with me on a primal level. I'll be honest, I'm more interested in these bone eating, skull fuckers smashing their fat fists into each others' faces than what Muto is doing too. This is that type of match. I don't think it hits the same highs as the similar 04/05/96 bout in Korakuen Hall but it is very good stuff nonetheless! •Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Genichiro Tenryu: Two of the very best ever. Two guys that are in my personal top 10 ever. Early on the Dragon is breathing fire and Tenryu is getting burnt. Dragon Rocket topes until Genichiro puts an end to that. Tenryu busts Fujinami in the snout and is gushing blood! This is what he needs. Tenryu feeds on his opponents pain. Oh this is fucking beautiful - blood is spraying off Fujinami's chest with every chop from Tenryu! The Dragon WON'T QUIT. This is classic stuff. Emotionally speaking, this is an All Time Classic to me. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Must see! •Randy Savage vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan: Where did this come from?! This was great. They worked surprisingly well together. Savage took a couple insane bumps for his 1996. This was about 9 minutes of wrestling joy. Maybe I'm a Tenzan & Savage fan. Maybe I just love bright colorful pants? Either way RECOMMENDED stuff. •Shinya Hashimoto vs Nobuhiko Takada: That bastard Takada waltzes back into New Japan and wins the belt??? Hashimoto says 'Fuck that!" The mutton chopped big man is gonna get that title strap back. Takada isn't buying it. This is a very good to great big-time title fight. Both guys are laying in the kicks. Hashimoto is hitting his chops. Heck even the submission holds are pretty good too. A match like this makes me wish Takada had just stayed with NJPW for his own sake. He's a pro wrestler more than a shoot stylist. Seeing him here is a precursor to Yuji Nagata (Nagata trained under Takada) so, it definitely could have worked. Anyhow, this is a nice hybrid of both styles and definitely is worth your time. It's not a long match, like 12-13 minutes. Many people think this is a classic so there's no reason to skip it. Please check out my other blog Wrestling Dream Battles Thank you for reading!

Greatest Wrestler Ever is in the reveal stages. I was gonna put a list together but, it wasn't to be. I'm not a good person for lists. Do you know what I mean? I'm not a list kind of guy. Sure I'll have a shopping list or or a to-do list but I struggle with these kinds of lists. It starts out as fun but it eventually takes over my fucking mind. "Just Right" thinking is what it's known as in some circles 🙂 So there's no way I can get a list of 100 of my favorite wrestlers together in any fucking order at least. Yeah, ordinal lists are a problem. It's cool to see a bunch of other people did. It's also cool to see some youngbloods on the board. Hope you folks stick around! As I said elsewhere, it be cool to hear some different views on some old matches on the Match Discussion archives. Back on my original blog, I did a big list of my favorite projects from the first 350 posts. I'm going to share that here with you. It's really the best way I feel like a I can participate in the GWE experience/excitement. If you're looking to the GWE stuff for new people and matches to watch, I hope this helps. I'm pretty sure you're still going to watch wrestling afterwards, right? ----- Early-mid 80's AJPW is really awesome stuff. I think it's a fantastic way for someone to get into old school wrestling or Japanese wrestling. You've got lots of legends and it's got a even mix of U.S. & Japanese stars. Then when Terry "retires", Brody is in NJPW and Riki & co. join for a few years, it feels like a brand new organization. Similar to the early days of NOAH or when Akiyama & co. go to AJPW in 2013. Hansen, Tenryu & Terry Funk are my #1, 2 & 3 wrestlers of all time. Jumbo, Misawa and Riki up in the top quarter for sure. I would probably put Dory Jr. there as well. Seriouly, I see people ranking Baba but no Dory Jr.!? 😁Then personal favorites like Ted DiBiase, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Ashura Hara & Kuniaki Kobayashi are shining in this era too. Top 50 guys. This is prime stuff. Here's the best of what I saw: Bruiser Brody vs Jumbo Tsuruta (10/14/83) Dory Funk Jr. vs Stan Hansen (AJPW 11/28/83) Baba & Dory Jr. vs Hansen & Brody (AJPW 12/10/83) Jumbo Tsuruta vs Kerry Von Erich (AJPW 05/22/84) Brody & Hansen vs Baba & Dory Jr. (AJPW 08/26/84) Tiger Mask II vs Pirata Morgan (AJPW 12/08/84) Brody & Hansen vs Terry & Dory Funk Jr. (AJPW 12/08/84) Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW 12/12/84) Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Tiger Mask (AJPW 06/21/85) Riki Choshu vs Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW 06/21/85) Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Tiger Mask (AJPW 08/31 aired 09/07/85) Stan Hansen/Ted DiBiase vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW 08/31 aired 09/07/85) Ric Flair v. Rick Martel (AJPW 10/21/85) Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW 11/30/85) Shoehi Baba/Dory Funk Jr v. Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru (AJPW 12/12/85) Stan Hansen/Ted DiBiase vs Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu (12/12/85 aired 12/14) only 1/2 aired Tiger Mask vs Great Kabuki (01/28/86) Genichiro Tenryu vs Ashura Hara (04/12/86 AJPW) Tenryu & Giant Baba vs Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (07/05/86) Stan Hansen vs Terry Gordy (09/11/86) Tenryu & Tsuruta vs Giant Baba & Tiger Mask (11/28/86) You'd be wise to check out 1985-86 for Animal Hamaguchi, Isamu Teranishi and Super Strong Machine (Junji Hirata) as well. No "classics" but really exciting wrestlers in great matches. These guys are fucking great! Definitely personal favorites that I watch for in New Japan and IWE as well. ----- Tatsumi Fujinami became one of my favorites because of my 1988 New Japan project a few years ago. My admiration definitely increased when watching New Japan 1980. Fujinami is the quintessential technical pro wrestler. Top 10 wrestler. I highly recommend watching these: 1980 Tatsumi Fujinami & Kantaro Hoshino vs Dynamite Kid & Steve Keirn 01/18 Tatsumi Fujinami vs Dynamite Kid 02/05 Tatsumi Fujinami vs Ashura Hara 04/03 Tatsumi Fujinami vs Chavo Guerrero 05/09 Kengo Kimura vs Tatsumi Fujinami 09/25 1988 Tatsumi Fujinami vs Big Van Vader (04/27/88) Tatsumi Fujinami vs Riki Choshu (05/27/88) Tatsumi Fujinami vs Riki Choshu (06/24/88) Tatsumi Fujinami vs Big Van Vader (06/26/88) Antonio Inoki vs Tatsumi Fujinami (08/08/88) Other pretty recent recommendations are: Genichiro Tenryu vs Tatsumi Fujinami - 04/29/96 Hulk Hogan vs Tatsumi Fujinami - 03/12/82 👆Click the links to go to Wrestling Dream Battles blog 👍 ----- Tiger Mask I is absolutely worth checking out especially beyond his matches with Dynamite Kid. I think the hindsight "bad reputation" Tiger has gotten is from just how hard those matches were hyped. And don't get me wrong those are amazing matches at first but I've probably watched them all 5 times each. Only their final encounter holds up after multiple viewings. Tiger Mask/Sayama has one of the best runs ever. Some of my favorites from his New Japan tenure are: Tiger Mask vs Gran Hamada (11/05/81) Tiger Mask vs Steve Wright (04/01/82) Tiger Mask vs Black Tiger (05/26/82) Tiger Mask vs Bret Hart (07/30/82) Tiger Mask & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Black Tiger & Pete Roberts (08/27/82 NJPW) Tiger Mask vs Pete Roberts (09/10/82 NJPW) Tiger Mask vs Gran Hamada (02/03/83 NJPW) Tiger Mask vs Dynamite Kid (04/21/83 NJPW) Tiger Mask vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (06/02/83 NJPW) Tiger Mask vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (07/14/83 NJPW) Then you have his stuff in the original UWF and WoS. I don't know if he'd make my top 100 due to the brevity of his quality but certainly top 25 of the 1980's wrestlers. ----- I'm really glad that I've had the opportunity to dig into FMW. As an ECW fan in high school, FMW always seemed like the cooler cousin of ECW...if just for the Tanaka vs Awesome stuff. In my VHS days, I had BJW & IWA Japan stuff but not FMW. Eventually I got an Explosion Death Match comp tape. Then a few years later, I got the Highspots Hayabusa comp which was very good but not great as a taste of the true best of Hayabusa. So finally sinking my teeth into the meat of FMW has been fulfilling. As garbage/hard core wrestling has fallen out of mainstream favor for a long while, I think the memory of ECW and FMW is fading. So I'm glad to keep the flame burning. I need to watch more but my absolute favorites so far are: Atsushi Onita/Tarzan Goto vs M. Kurisu/Dragon Master [Kendo Nagasaki] (FMW 04/01/90) Masato Tanaka, Kuroda & Koji Nakagawa vs Kanemura, Hido & Hosaka (FMW - Exploding Barbwire match - 09/01/96) Masato Tanaka vs Mr. Gannosuke (01/06/98 FMW) Hayabusa vs Masato Tanaka (03/13/98 FMW) Hayabusa vs Mr. Gannosuke (04/30/98 FMW) Jado & Gedo vs Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka (05/05/98 FMW) HM Hayabusa & Tanaka vs W*ing Kanemura & Kodo Fuyuki (05/27/98 FMW) HM Tetushiro Kuroda vs Masato Tanaka (06/19/98 FMW) Hisakatsu Oya vs Tetsuhiro Kuroda (12/12/98 FMW) Masato Tanaka vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda (FMW 02/27/99) Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki vs Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda (FMW 03/19/99) Masato Tanaka and Mr. Gannosuke are definitely top 100 guys. Tanaka's case gets stronger as he's awesome in the 2000's & early 2010's. I would say top 35. He is probably my favorite wrestler of all time BUT in my mind, that's not what the Greatest Wrestler Ever is. But maybe that's why I didn't put a list together 🤔😋 ----- I'm very glad that I've been able to find and enjoy early ROH. I wasn't quite sure of what I was in store for as I wasn't sure just how developed some of guys were. And you can definitely see some chinks in their armor on some of the lesser known matches but, on the big recommended matches below, they delivered. As you can tell, there's a handful of guys working at that high level but the matches never seem repetitive. I threw in a couple other matches from IWA-MS may as have been in a ROH ring. The list below has some usual suspects but I bet there's a couple that you don't know: American Dragon vs Low-Ki vs Christopher Daniels - Era of Honor Begins (2002) American Dragon vs Christopher Daniels - Round Robin Challenge (2002) Christopher Daniels vs Low-Ki - Round Robin Challenge (2002) American Dragon vs Low-Ki - Round Robin Challenge (2002) Jerry Lynn vs AJ Styles - Road to the Title (2002) American Dragon vs AJ Styles - All Star Extravaganza (2002) Low Ki vs American Dragon vs Steve Corino vs Samoa Joe - Final Battle (2002) Bryan Danielson vs Paul London (ROH - Night of the Butcher 12/07/02) Samoa Joe vs Homicide (ROH Do Or Die – May 2003) Samoa Joe vs Christopher Daniels (ROH Glory by Honor II - September 2003) Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles (ROH War of the Wire - November 2003) AJ Styles vs Bryan Danielson (ROH Main Event Spectacles 2003) CM Punk vs AJ Styles (Tradition Continues 2003 ROH) Samoa Joe vs Homicide (ROH Death Before Dishonor 2, Night 1 07/23/04) Bryan Danielson vs Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles (TPI 2004 Finals 09/18/04 IWA-MS) Bryan Danielson vs Chris Hero (TPI 2005 09/24/2005 IWA-MS) HM Low Ki & Homicide vs Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal (Punk: The Final Chapter 2005) It looks very likely Danielson could end up winning the 2026 GWE. I can't rate him that high especially since I haven't seen much of his 2011-present work. I'd say top 50 and undoubtedly top 10 best wrestlers of the 2000's. AJ Styles is right up there with him...like I would probably put AJ ahead of Bryan because of his adaptability. He can wrestle American Dragon's style but also do the traditional high flyer style and more when he gets to TNA. Samoa Joe makes the top 100 but I'm not sure where. Top 75-85? CM Punk should be on the list. If we're talking total package then top 50 perhaps. Certainly top 25 of the 2000's. ----- I'm going to keep posting some of these match guides (battle guides) over on Wrestling Dream Battles. So if you're planning on watching more wrestling, you'll find some great recommendations there. Ones that are planned are: Joshi, Dragon Gate USA, AJPW 2010's, Ring of Honor 2009-2010's & Early 2000's Puro. Hope to see you there!