TheBean

Two of the very best putting on a classic match. Superstar Sleeze's write up hits the nail on the head. If you're a fan of either, go watch this!

This is a pretty fun match. I wish we got a clean finish or at least something not as meh as an NWO interference. Still enjoyable stuff seeing Savage vs Giant/Big Show. Less than 10 minutes too.

For those interested Lucha Libre USA has a YouTube channel still(?) and have posted the first episode. The hope is that they're going to post every episode: Anyone know anything else?

Mini review for my April Anarchy project. Check out Wrestling Dream Battles and/or The Further Adventures of Puro + More... for additional good shit. Thanks 🙂 Don't Sweat the Technique - April, 2015 ACH vs Tommaso Ciampa - Lil bit of comedy but Ciampa puts an end to that with with stiff elbows and knee strikes. ACH is no slouch and responds in kind. These guys work well together. We get a Stone Cold Steve Austin offense from ACH but it actually works rather than just being goofy fun. Nice finish too!Good pacing, no over-kill and a good mix of serious on-point wrestling with light heartedness. Andrew Everett vs Ricochet - PWG was the monthly indie super show in 2015. So this felt like the two best indie high flyers facing off. They were in lock step with one another. Ricochet was at his best when he employed brutal kicks from a variety of angles. Now there was definite over-kill and "showing off" but if you flip the switch off in your brain this was a helluva exhibition. Plus that finish was badass! Guilty pleasure recommendation 🙂

Nice to see ECW and old Japanese indie guys get some love! Koshinaka & Kobayashi too! I know Danielson is going to finish pretty high but I probably have him right around the same spot on my list. Savage at #8, I dig it!

Loved reading all of the Steamboat ideas! I totally second the opinion of wrestling on the weekends. Until high school, that was the only time I got to watch wrestling. When ROH was on Sinclair, it was shown Sunday 11am which totally was in line with those hour long weekend shows of old. Hoping this show will have the same vibe.

Thanks for posting this one! This was a lot of fun. Great there's no commentary. It was a laugh hearing Piper shouting and grunting 😄

For those who've submitted their lists already, is there anyone you wish you would have included? Maybe your #101 but also anyone you would have swapped out in hindsight? Or someone you just plain forgot about until after submitting?

You know, I was actually thinking Steamboat in ECW could have been a possibility but yeah SMW seems more likely in terms of finding some success. I definitely like the idea of him working WWF with Vader & Owen. It probably would have been short lived. And him working Saturday Night and Thunder here and there with those guys would have ruled. It makes me think of the Larry Z vs Regal stuff in '94. He comes out of semi-retirement to teach some guy a lesson for a summer program 🙂

•Gran Hamada vs Perro Aguayo (NJPW 04/21/82): Woefully, we only get the last five minutes. Thankfully we got something at all! This was 5 minutes of excellent action from both guys. Hamada was flawless & quick in his execution. I definitely need to see even more Gran Hamada after watching this. Definitely worth your 5 minutes! •Akira Nogami & Takeshi Iizuka vs Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto (NJPW 04/16/92): Yes! 7 of 11 minutes of fun, fun tag wrestling. Neon pink and yellow trunk wearing baby faces versus two fat on muscle mask wearing heels (Saito & Goto were in their Raging Staff gear). This was a treat! These teams fit like a glove. Like WCW Saturday Night, this is simple quality pro wrestling. 3 guys on my top 85 favorite wrestlers list! •Kenta Kobashi, KENTA & Tamon Honda vs Yoshihiro Takayama, Naoki Sano & Go Shiozaki: A lot of the match story & action was Shiozaki challenging his mentor, Kobashi. They damaged each other's chests with vicious chops. Then there's the additional element of Go breaking away from 'Burning' so Honda & KENTA are glad to punish Shiozaki for. Sano & Takayama are a helluva team to have on your side though. Takayama has eternal beef with Kobashi and KENTA for instance. There's tons of hard hitting action like you'd expect. If you like this style then, I RECOMMEND this one - it's great! See the full 04/27/08 NOAH show review here! •Akira Tozawa & Kevin Steen vs Young Bucks (PWG - DDT4 2011 - 04/03/11): Wow, this told a story! This was a typical Bucks get their shit in match. Tozawa & Steen are fighting the Bucks in the crowd early on. Very much a battle! The Bros. injured Akira and Steen is left to fight on his own. 2 on 1 - can Steen survive? Can Tozawa do anything to help!? Haha you might be able to predict a little of what happens but you'll have to watch to find out 🙂 Great match from the first third of PWG's peak. RECOMMENDED •Athena vs. Ayako Hamada (Shimmer #53 04/06/13): This marks pretty well on my April Anarchy checklist. Two 'A' wrestlers and an April match. And this is actually a lot of fun! The crowd is a little sleepy since this was a Wrestlemania weekend show and I'm sure were overloaded. Anyhow, this was a good vet vs up-and-coming star match. Hamada was drilling Athena with kicks. She was taking some big risks too. I think this could have been more developed but by the three count, I had a big smile on my face. •Angelico & Hijo del Fantasmo vs Masato Tanaka & Ikuto Hidaka (AAA - Star Battle Japan 10/26/16): OK now this isn't an April match BUT it's Triple A plus we've got an 'A' wrestler - good enough for me! 😄 Plus two more guys on my 85 favorite but not greatest 85 wrestlers list. Actually, Tanaka definitely is on my top 100 GWE. Anyway, this is a blast at 15 minutes. A load of fun fireworks wrestling. Angelico who I've seen maybe once was impressive in a modern wrestling sense. I definitely recommend this match if you're looking for something a lil different.

I have been spending a lot of brain power and time thinking of Greatest Wrestler Ever. It's actually been taking away from my own projects. So I want to get back to that with a mix up of wrestling in the spirit of April Anarchy. Keep checking out wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com for more recommendations 👍 •Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura vs Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne (04/19/81 AWA): A really fun cage match! To be honest, the faces probably got too much offense in but Adrian and Jesse were calling it so it stayed competitive and kept everyone happy. Adrian even did a splash off the top of the cage! •Devil Masami vs Chigusa Nagayo (04/15/87 AJW): This was a great match with high energy & high intensity. It begins with a technical orientation but escalates into a power battle as Devil takes over. This Crush Gal won't quit and rattles Devil with great duplexes and pinning holds. Masami gets frustrated and brings out the weapons and introduces a bit of anarchy into this April match. At under 15 minutes, I give this a Strong RECOMMENDATION as two of the best ever go at it. Click the link for pics & more April Anarchy! •Hijo Del Santo y Negro Casas vs. Bestia Salvaje y Scorpio Jr. (04/02/99 CMLL): The crowd was really amped for this one. I think that elevated excitement. This was fun seeing Negro and Santo on the same team. Good action, each fall was a little different and was a fun afternoon wrestling match 🙂 •Blue Panther vs Hijo del Santo (04/09/00 Monterey): This was a ton of fun! Painful holds, flying head scissors, pinning predicaments - it was two masters going at it. This was allowed to breathe and by the 3rd fall, the outcome was in doubt. Folks that have seen WAY more lucha libre than me have called this a classic. I can't say since I'm tourist in Lucha libre land. I will definitely recommend this bout though. You will have fun too. Also I noticed that no one has commented on the PWO match discussion archive since 2018. I'm glad to give this a mention 👍 •The Rock vs Triple H (04/30/00 WWF Backlash): Make no mistake, this isn't pro wrestling. This is Sports Entertainment®™. And it is great sports entertainment. Seeing as it's been awhile since I've watch a big time WWF/E match, it reminded me that the "match" is a device to get the audience to big moments, to the spectacle. We pop for everything else except the match. This is a shining example of that. There's a guest referee, run-ins, shenanigans, and bonus shenanigans. This additionally seems like a fantastic one match summary of this era of the McMahon-Helmsley regime. It's a classic Sports Entertainment®™ main event. •Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero vs Super Crazy & Ryusuke Taguchi (04/28/03 NJPW): This is a real treat for fans of these dudes. Bucanero & Ultimo are their usual great selves - a top 10 tag team of the 2000's. Super Crazy meshes well with them and is cool to see him in this setting. Taguchi is pretty under appreciated. Here he's still a young Lion on whatever 😋 He's in all black gear and his main offensive move is a killer drop kick. And from watching a lot of 80's wrestling, I've learned to really value a good drop kick! (Heck that seems to be what Okada thought too!). Anyway, this was one from my Video Daze post and am glad I made time for it. Solid Recommendation for fans of any of these guys. •Eddie Guerrero vs Kurt Angle (04/14/05 WWE Smackdown): 99% of this bout is fantastic! These two guys flowed. They never made this dull. Everything kept moving and they filled this with plenty of surprises. This was PPV level stuff and actually felt like they wanted to prove that they could do a ROH/Japan high work rate match on TV. It's only sullied by a WWE finish but I highly recommend this. It's on the Eddie Guerrero 'Viva La Raza' DVD. Thanks for reading!

You're probably right. I was thinking that if he got a bigger national audience via Nitro that his career wouldn't be so linked to Ric Flair (and 1 match versus Macho Man) in the mainstream/WWE collective memory. I don't have any fantasy booking ideas though but it definitely would be cool to think about or someone to write up. Maybe if he stuck around long enough for NWO?

These are all really interesting predictions! I think I probably have to agree with all of them in some form or fashion. I think "80's wrestlers" are going to get really pushed back which is funny to me because I've been watching way more 80's wrestling in the past few years. Jumbo will never leave my top 20 🙂 But I think a lot of big 80's names from the 2016 list are getting bumped for newer folks. The top 50 may look very different. Lawler & Windham I am looking at especially. Re: #1 - I'm thinking Danielson and Kobashi might be fighting for the top spot. Flair flop indeed! 😄 I think some big jumps up are going to be Okada at #137 in 2016. Omega, is bound to make a big jump, #259 in 2016. I think he & Okada are going to be top 50 at least. Meiko Satomura was #130 and I think she's bound to be in the top 100. A lot of 80's & 90's joshi stars missed the top 100 and I'm hoping that they make it this time. From the lists people have shared, that does seem likely to happen. Looking back at 2016, there were some BIG names missing from the top 100. So they may replace many of the 80's US stars in the top 50. Will Ospreay will probably make the biggest jump if I have to guess. He barely made it on the 2016 at #557 (last place). That will be fun to see where he ends up. Thanks for the encouragement on submitting a list. I definitely made some progress. I think I'm up to around 80. But 60 of those are only slightly more organized 🙂 I think I've got some free time this week so I might have a system to get them in order. And hell yeah, Larry Z! Might make my list too.

That's actually why I probably won't be submitting a list. I just can seem to rank anyone except like a top 10-15. Also I feel confident in my top 50 but anyone past that I wonder, "am I putting them on the list out of some sort of obligation?" without knowing enough. Probably over thinking. Still super interested in the process and the final results especially in comparison to 2016. It sounds like there's a whole new batch of folks voting. I get a vibe that they're will be some BIG jumps. Also think there's going to be some big drop offs. I'm curious if anyone has any predictions.

Am very interested to see if he can pull ahead of Taue this time around (#26 in 2016). I've been watching more Taue recently and am certainly high on him but, I think Akiyama's post NOAH work has got to push him ahead of Akira this time (in my mind at least).

Very interested to see where Akiyama will place. He's had a better/smarter later part of his career than the 4 pillars but I'm not sure that will count as much as it should. There's some good post NOAH recommendations in these 5 pages of posts. He was #27 in 2016.

Cool to see Nagata getting some love and making it pretty high on folks' ballots. He placed #173 back in 2016. I'm hoping he fairs a bit better this time'round.

More April Anarchy! Cruising the 80's to 1986. I'm looking at the under card of this show...it looks great! •Kauze Nagahori vs Condor Saito: Intense, energetic joshi as a competition. Both were attacking and always looking to get the upper hand.. They cut a fantastic pace & nailed simple yet effective moves. Very good stuff! •Jumping Bomb Angels (Tateno & Yamazaki) vs Yukari Omori & Hisako Uno (Akira Hokuto): Rabid pace and an excellent dynamic with Omori as power house paired with the young but competent Uno. You might think she was a liability at this age but she was making Tateno & Yamazaki look great while pulling off her beginning offense in a believable, intense manner. The Angels were in top form today and that's all I need to say about that 🙂 Very good to great match. If you're digging this check out my other blog: April Anarchy: Devil Masami vs Chigusa Nagayo - 04/15/87 March Mayhem: Toyota & Yamada vs Takahashi & KAORU - 03/20/88 Bull Nakano in the 1980's •Bull Nakano vs Yumi Ogura: This is just as aggressive as the previous bouts but more traditional in structure. This has a good baby face vs heel vibe with Bull looking to brawl & cheat. This has a little bit of everything. I think it's a great match! I definitely recommend all of these matches. I'm about quicker, more urgently paced wrestling matches online anymore. If you're interested then these are for you. This show also has some longer matches like Chigusa vs Dump & Lioness vs Devil as well. If you've got the time & inclination, check those out too!

If you've read my blog then you know I'm an ECW/FMW/BJW fan. Apache Pro is a post FMW promotion with W*ING Kanemura as it's big star. I've wanted to watch some of this stuff for awhile. April Anarchy "rules" work for this show - it's a promotion that begins with the letter "A" and this show takes place in April. This event is the relaunch of the company. The lead in video shows that Kanemura and other Apache guys invaded NJPW and caused a stir. New Japan isn't happy and have sent some guys to teach this indie a lesson. Welcome to Apache (04/14/06) •NOSAWA Rongai & Onryo vs MIYAWAKI & Naoshi Sano: Joined in progress but no matter. This a fun junior match to kick things off. •GENTARO vs Wataru Inoue: There's a good story here with GENTARO working over Inoue's leg. He uses leg locks, dragon screws and a cool sharpshooter. There's even a really cool spot from the apron too. I really dug this match but man, it needed one more minute. That finish came too quick. GENTARO was great here by the way. He's a guy that I try to catch when I can. Very good match. •Daisuke Sekimoto, Ryuji Ito & Katsumasa Inoue vs Mammoth Sasaki, Hi69 & Saburo Inematsu: Big Japan versus Apache Pro! Everyone showed great effort and heart here. It was only given about 10 minutes but they packed it was action and intensity. This was very good and definitely something I recommend checking out! •Jushin Liger, Gedo & Jado vs W*ING Kanemura, Bad boy Hido & Tetsuhiro Kuroda: This starts as Hido vs Liger. Liger dominated him but gets attacked post match and gets his hair cut. The rest of the guys, who are supposed to have a tag team main event, come out. We get an impromptu 6 man match! They're fighting in the crowd & bleeding. Apache Pro is getting beaten with Team NJPW (CTU) using old school tactics. This gets a little dry but, a molten hot tag is made to Kanemura! It's on like Donkey Kong!! This is very much laid out like a FMW 6 man...I was popping for the final minutes. This is for all FMW fans & gets a rock solid recommendation for me. Plus there's a Jun Kasai Vs Takashi Sasaki death match. It's 18 minutes long and while I like both guys, I'm not interested in spending 18 minutes on it. This was a very good show and relaunch of Apache Pro. I'm looking forward to more of this stuff in the future!

Tiger Mask vs Invader #3 (08/25) Nice to Misawa have a lucha-type match again. I wish they gave Invader #3 a lil more offense. It's short enough that you probably could call it a squash if it were on WCW Saturday Night. I was entertained and feel like I'm getting a better understanding of AJ '86 than just watching the big matches alone. Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito vs Animal Hamaguchi & Kuniaki Kobayashi (08/25) Joined in progress so we only get 5-6 minutes. This is another battle in the war between these factions. I'm really digging these guys beating each other up! It's all about aggression, good pacing and timing. You see a match like this an it's so engaging because it feels like a fight. Stan Hansen & Medico vs Tsuruta & Ishikawa (08/30) - This is a fun match building to Stan vs Jumbo on 09/03 (which I'm going to skip). Medico was fun being an annoyance to Jumbo. He vs Ishikawa was enjoyable too. The big boys have great chemistry so they could sleep walk an exciting 10 minute tag like this. September Riki Choshu vs. Genichiro Tenryu (09/03) I watched this a long time ago along with the Hansen match. I read my old review and I think I appreciate it more now. Its a very good to great match. They did a lot of great fighting here. Tenryu switched his offense up using older maneuvers to re-injure Choshu's ribs. Choshu was tough and pulled out a couple moves that were pretty cool. One that I felt was a decade ahead of its time. Personally, Tenryu seemed to have a better performance but Riki interestingly seemed to be doing better character work. That plays into the finish as well. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Stan Hansen & Medico (09/06) This is a damn fine TV main event. Riki's ribs are taped up so that's Hansen & Medico's target. By the way, with a name like "Medico" you think he'd tried to help Riki Choshu out. Maybe he was late on his bills? Anyhow, this one is neat because your big star is vulnerable. Yatsu has to come through in a big way and take on the unsinkable battleship and his partner. This was good stuff. Also, I believe Medico is José Estrada Sr. who wrestled as Super Medico (I). Perhaps AJPW left off the "super" to avoid association with Super Strong Machine? 09/20 Masa Fuchi/Tiger Mask vs Hiro Saito/Shunji Takano - Fun stuff! Shunji's German suplex looks a lot like Takayama's because of his height. That was sick! Enjoyed Fuchi punch Saito in the head from the mount position. He look crazed. Tiger Misawa is really in his element here. He definitely seems to gaining confidence as a leader. Genichiro Tenryu/Jumbo Tsuruta vs Yoshiaki Yatsu/Animal Hamaguchi - Man, these four tear the house down! Damn that's how you do a mid 80's action packed tag match! I never knew what was going to end it and what a clever finish too. Animal might be my pick of top partner to Yatsu. He's got so much energy and has perfect running elbow drops, top rope elbow drops and running neck breakers. Yoshi Yatsu is always jazzed up too. They operate with an urgency that really pushes the pace. This compels Jumbo & Tenryu to do the same. Great match! Riki Choshu vs Super Strong Machine - Their first lockup looked like two bucks locking antlers. This was a great singles match between the heads of the rival factions. Things really kick off when, after going for a more technical route, Choshu rips Machine's mask. It's on like Donkey Kong now! Strong Machine targets Riki's ribs (which must be on the mend). You know he's got a whopper of a Riki Lariat waiting for him. Excellent main event to this Japan Pro/All Japan show (the last one ever per Cagematch).

Not an indie but, I'd recommend his work in AJPW 2001-2002. He teams with Tenryu a few times. Also he had some quality singles matches. I linked my old blog with the YouTube videos for Anjo versus Kawada & Masato Tanaka from '01. Yeah, Anjo is awesome 🙂