CurtainJerker

I always knew Scott would leave us too soon. I first noticed Scott Hall when he teamed with Curt Hennig in the AWA, although I do recall seeing the name Starship Coyote in a PWI mag. I had Scott's 3 inch AWA mini-masher action figure. Followed him as The Diamond Stud and then Razor Ramon. Was really impressed with how well he was able to change his appearances. I really thought Scott would have stayed with the WWF since Razor Ramon was such a WWF-type gimmick. But lo and behold, he got over on his own name in his return to WCW. Hall is someone who was underrated in terms of awards and star/Cagematch ratings. When I look at his canon accomplishments, his legacy is that he was I-C champ, had two great matches with Shawn, and shook up the industry in 1996. That misses his various gimmicks, making Sean Waltman, insane levels of charisma, mainstream appeal, Clique, exactly how important he was in the Monday Night Wars and over the Outsiders were, and tons of other intangible things. Sadly, his "demons" will probably always be mentioned. In fairness, he was a bad drunk but at least he didn't deny it. I did like Bryan Alvarez's discussion about his career with Lance Storm, about how Hall was a great professional wrestler in terms of psychology and character work, but because he didn't have the great matches or MOVEZ he is tended to be overlooked. He said he worked safe, got his opponents over, made the fans happy, and wasn't as selfish as the other 1990s guys. IIRC Bryan also scratched his head about how Diesel was chosen over Razor for the WWE title (could have been on his show with Mike S.), and the answer was that Nash was taller.

Ouija boards existed in the late 1800s. Anyway, Rogers was better than Cyclone in this match. Although the matwork and wear-down holds were indeed rugged, organic, and real, the bulk of the match wasn't exciting to me. Had to wait for the end of the first and second fall to get into the hot action. I felt the match stalled at times when both men went back on their feet. However Rogers is the master strategist so at least the match felt like he was trying to win. Interesting that The Nature Boy is concerned about Cyclone's health at the end of the match. Probably the worst of the existing Rogers matches out there, but still a good performance and sampling of his style. Just a little tedious for my tastes, but at least he was working very hard with the hold variations, and there were a few highspots and bumps eventually.

Moose Cholak stole the show. I could see the roots of WWF in this spectacle of a match. Looks like the head of former governor Chris Christie grafted on the body of AWA's Leon White. The audience wanted to fight him before the bell. But he relished in making a fool out of himself by bumping so much, missing his Moose charge many times, and getting hit by his own partner. Big, big difference with this type of wrestling compared to a random 1950s Chicago and Hollywood bout. It was much more fast paced and entertaining. Of course Moose's comical bumps and the Kangaroos' athletic spots subtracted from realism, but they made a fun match. Young Bucks prototype? LOL The Original Kangaroos are a team that is in the WON HOF and when I was a kid they were namedropped in various magazines and books as being one of the best tag teams of all time. In this match they had very frequent tags, including the trope where partners switch arm wringers. Mighty Atlas didn't do much, however the commentator said he has expensive $20 shirts. I didn't like the non-finish (DQ?) or the two straight fall loss for Moose + Atlas. Anyway, Moose Cholak made such an impression on me. For a 1961 super heavyweight he was more fast and exciting than most smaller wrestlers of his day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHDkr6V6968

Bobby is around 22 years in the biz and Poffo is around 10. Managoff doesn't show much- he offense is basically a hammerlock with some basics. Angelo had some Macho Man mannerisms, which at least rewarded my watching: besides the side-profile and facial expressions, he had a robe, colorful (kinda sexy) tights, put his arm up signaling false victory, made the X to cover his head, kinda had a similar side-headlock, and stepped out of the ropes to hide. The commentator said he was universally disliked. This match teased going into second gear but eventually went back to headlocks, hammerlocks, and toe locks. It meandered to a disappointing draw. Angelo outshined Bobby here and somehow balanced being aggressive and cowardly well. But the lack of highspots, speed, or anything interesting made this match a snoozefest. I guess they just did their broadway so never thought about building to a finish. Even the 1937 Bronko Nagurski vs Vincent Lopez match had shoulder tackles, bodyslams, and some mean punches, so for 1958 this was a step backward. Not recommended, but I can see where Randy and Lanny would be upset that their dad's legacy was not recognized. He was probably an effective heel.

Gorgeous George vs Woody Strode, possibly 1952, in the Wilmington Bowl in South Los Angeles according to Steve Yohe. Georgie set so many tropes. Here we see his valet disinfecting the ring, wearing a ravishing robe, bleached blond hair, and GG stalling and delaying. No doubt that GG could get over in the WWE from the 60s until today. Woody Strode, famous athlete + actor- is all muscle with no fat but doesn't really have convincing grappling submissions or counters is not calling the match (we can see GG whispering). Woody is very serious and focused. GG's outrageous comical quotes and mannerisms get pops. 1st fall: Woody wins with a shoulder block (!). 2nd fall: GG wins with a toe hold off the ropes (!). 3rd fall: GG wins via some sort of wishbone submission (!). GG attacked the legs the whole match to set it up. Woody just didn't have good enough offense or convincing counters to make it exciting. Lou Thesz would have never allowed GG to keep him in such weak looking leglocks or toe holds. If GG existed in later eras, I could imagine him being a bump machine like Pat Patterson and Adrian Adonis did when they copied his gimmick. However in this match, it was a battle of wits, GG didn't bump, and GG was shown to be more savvy. Not really recommended except for GG's entrance.

Chess match. Fans into it. 1950s babyface vs heel structure. I see a lot of Lou in Babyface Champ Bret Hart in terms of authenticity, attempting to engage in fair play, putting in the grind work but keeping it active, and allowing their opponents to look great. 1st fall: Immediately established that Lou is trying to engage in a scientific bought, but Wild Bill is a cheater. Lots of mat and ropes work, but usually kept moving or at least enraged the crowd when Bill cheated. Glad this wasn't a long match, though, a la Inoki matches. Lou punches back after a while. There was a lot of psychology with closed fists back then. Thesz Press for the win, although the commentator didn't say the name. 2nd fall: Finish: consecutive piledrivers beat Lou cleanly. 3rd fall: Lou backdrops the piledriver, rushes Bill with drop kicks, and gets the pinning combination. Two of the most famous wrestlers of all time and it did not disappoint. Both were over 20 years in the biz at that time. Does not approach epic looking back from 2022, but possibly was considered a barnburner in the 1950s especially with the piledriver spots and them going all out in the 3rd fall.

2/3 falls Berry was a 26-year veteran here, and Blassie was in for 18 years, which is surprising to me because he acted like a vanilla lower card babyface who was dominated by the crafty Berry. Blassie as a scientific wrestler here showed none of the charisma we've come to expect from him. Was really outclassed and beguiled by Berry's rulebreaking tactics. Ironically both men would become highly respected heel managers. We can see some of Berry's natural heel charisma as he works the crowd and the ref. The in-ring work is very dry yet technically sound but I was not entertained, although both men executed their holds well. The finish was not a good payoff (to me) with Blassie tripping over the bottom rope and getting KO'd/bloody. Not recommended.

2/3 fall match Danny McShain would be a 24-year vet here if the numbers are right, and Eagle 10 years. Commentator mentions that Eagle's father is Chief War Eagle. At one point in the match, the ref did not break a hold even though Danny touched the ropes- something which was brought up recently with Roman vs Goldberg in Saudi. 1st fall is what we have come to expect from most of the history of wrestling: very snug body contact, locks, holds, limb-work, submission attempts, and fight for control. Eagle looks very tall and his head scissors and shoulder pulls remind me of Giant Baba's but is more of an athletic specimen. Danny immediately establishes the fact that he's the heel and is great at getting rule breaking heat. 1950s fans were engaged in this match. I'm usually bored to tears with this style, but I didn't fall asleep because both men made it look authentic and Danny would cheat at any moment. I am actually impressed with the in-ring work even though it's tough for me to feel entertained. Danny wins with his finisher, but the film was cut. 2nd fall predictable has Eagle winning. At the end he shows off his boxing skills and shows more energy and offense, logically since he is behind. Wins with an Indian Deathlock pinning combination, although from 2022 it is debatable if he was causing Danny's shoulders to be counted out. 3rd fall like most in history is where the real excitement is, although we had to wait for the last few moments. Eagle did his wardance and seemed ready to defeat Danny, but the crafty villain was able to avoid and run out the clock (very smart). Both men were punching each other when the bell rang. This would have been great booking to build to a rematch, but I believe it was just a one-off. Both men were pros and did their job well. Good psychology and authenticity. Obviously not a lot of highspots and bumping. I was thinking of how Mox and Danielson kind of idealize this type of mat work.

He's a great all around wrestler, and truthfully 2026 does give him time to pad his case to sneak in at the bottom. I have not been disappointed with his AEW run. He's a modern day Barry Windham, but with more passion and a better attitude. He does everything that he asked to do efficiently. Not a spot monkey. Tag, singles, champ, upper card, melodrama, comedy, hardcore, technical, great look, agile, brawler, fan control, builds up matches to become epics with awesome finishes, stamina, and already more great matches than many on the 2016 list to be frank.

I followed Shane growing up, and as a clean cut babyface he was fine (although the fans changed and booed him) but not as good as people like Santana, Martel, Morton, Steamboat, or even Zenk. As an obsessed ECW fan, I never bought into him being The Franchise, not with Sabu, Taz, RVD, and others on that roster. Raven, Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, New Jack, Foley, etc had better character work. Guys like Too Cold, Dean, Eddy, Benoit, Jericho, all outclassed Shane. I wasn't excited about his matches. He was pretentious- like Triple H and FTR- to showcase "real wrestling" but he wasn't as good as he thought he was. Or maybe he could have been, but just needed some better opponents or maybe not be on drugs all the time. Really fell off the cliff after his ECW peak. Intelligent guy in real life.

He was fantastic on the mic, great look, historically significant, and helped draw TV ratings and PPVs. But what are his Top 10 matches again? How many years was he a Top 10 worker? I mean very basic Gordy List questions...

Great menacing character work playing the monster. I liked his World Class intro being a rugged babyface from Nome, Alaska- the crowd liked it. Good matches in Memphis. I was very happy to get his LJN action figure as a kid, and I liked his Saturday Night's Main Event run. Bobby Heenan helped him a lot. Bundy had limited movements, moves, and mobility in the WWF, so lots of his longer matches were boring compared to his TV squashes. Did not steal the show in WrestleMania 2, as the Hogan match was not as good as the Bulldogs vs Dream Team or Funks vs JYD + Tito. Did not like his Tony Garea MSG match or any of his Andre matches. His tag team with Big John Studd failed in comparison to later monster combos like The Twin Towers or Natural Disasters, or even the aura of The Colossal Connection.

He was a heatseeker for a short time, and cashed out on that gimmick for the rest of his life. Great entertainer and he's unforgettable. I feel Vince was all-in on the gimmick and title run but saw HTM as a one-trick pony, and HTM did not do well without the I-C belt. WWF crowds were very loud for almost everyone during his timeframe so I don't really give him full credit for being unique in that regard. Just because he isn't "the worst wrestler ever" (which is hyperbole) it doesn't somehow transform him into a hidden gem Top 100 worker, unless it's from the HTM, Ultimate Warrior, Kevin Nash perspective that being a good worker only means drawing money from the marks, and even then HTM's drawing power is shaky.

I love everything I have seen (sadly there's not tons out there) of the original Nature Boy except Buddy Roger's Corner, which is one of those things that I could see Vince thinking it would work, but bombed, like Billy Graham as color commentator. I guess my problem with many older workers is the lack of footage compared to the 80s+ stars and not seeing them live. Their whole cases rest on their canon status (awards, lists, history books, newspapers, records), drawing power, and historical influence. With superstars like this, we are basically extrapolating their careers and relying on historians- which is fine for me to believe Rogers was one of the best ever, but seems outside the scope of this project. I actually do believe the good press for Buddy and he would be in my Top 10 based on his influence alone. Not ranking him or Lou Thesz (or ranking them low) feels nonsensical, but ranking them high feels disingenuous because it's such a small sample size. So I have no idea, unfortunately.

It's a shame Utami overshadowed Syuri due to the long title reign because Syuri missed out on winning PWI/WON /Tokyo Sports awards even with her output of great matches. I have a sad feeling that she will be surpassed in canon awards in 2022 for some reason. She did win Stardom's 2021 Outstanding Performance Award. Ranked #23 in Cagematch's Top Female Workers of All Time. Syuri is technically sound, good strikes and submissions, professional, emotes well, very experienced, can do comedy or serious work. Can have an epic match on command, it seems. Insane stamina and toughness. Good person, as well. Any criticisms really stem from her booking/push, not her in-ring work.

Kagetsu She was Stardom's number one heel. Highly charismatic with great fan interactions. She did most of the heavy lifting to help carry the company with Io. She was the-on-the job trainer. Great body of work with rematches, tags, and feuds. Definitely a great and amazing worker who is danger of being lost to history. Won Stardom's official 2018 Best Match + 2017 Best Tag awards. Ranked #26 in Cagematch's Top Female Workers of All Time, under Aja Kong. She holds up compared to her contemporaries and today's batch of joshi. Sacrificed her body and career with high risk moves during her peak (2017-COVID). Mayu Iwatani vs. Kagetsu (12/24/2019) Io Shirai vs. Kagetsu Kagetsu vs. Jungle Kyona (1/14/2019) Kagetsu vs Mayu Iwatani (12/24/19) Kagetsu vs Hana Kimura (10/23/18) Kagetsu vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto (4/12/2017) Kagetsu vs Mei Suruga (2/09/2020) Kagetsu vs Stardom (Gauntlet Final) Kagetsu vs Meiko Satomura (Kagetsu's retirement match 2/24/20)

The backlash is just as bad in 2022 here where people are condemning him for creating...Adam Cole- the guy who gets some of the biggest pops in wrestling and is paid $2 million for 52 appearances if he's lucky, and is respected by PWI + WON readers. Talk about gatekeeping a certain style.

I guess this match was put on Texas TV on 12-24-77 because that's what my video filename says. Hype: 7 I don't have the TV buildup, but obviously this was a big match to test David who was dubbed as Rookie of the Year. "2/3 falls or TV time remaining, whichever comes first"...gee, I wonder. The post-match was awesome as Harley took the mic, begrudgingly complemented him, and had an interview putting David over. This is probably why people have said David was pegged to be champ one day. This was very out of the ordinary and special. In-Ring: 6 This was mostly a scientific match. It was mat wrestling. It looked realistic. Workrate was slow. It's 1977. It's the NWA. Front facelock and armbar sequences were very boring. Commentator frustrated me when he said David was resting when Harley had him in the front facelock. He also said David was wearing Harley's arm for the whole match, but I didn't see Harley sell it when he was up. David was very basic. Harley just called this match for David to survive, so there's a lot of down time. Highspots: 6 Harley hit the piledriver, knee drop, and elbow smash but David kicked out. Please remember this when people complain about kicking out of moves in "modern wrestling" Harley hit his varied set of knee drops and suplexes. Wanted to give this a higher rating, but the armbar work was too safe. Storytelling: 8 This was about Harley making a star, and he accomplished that. Things heat up in the last 10 minutes when he allowed David to string in offense and Harley bumped. For the first 20 minutes unfortunately Harley kept telling David to get him in an armbar to plan out the next few moves, and then they went back to the armbar or facelocks. Ruined the match and IMHO didn't really put over David's offense or IQ. This was a match where Harley probably said, "I'll take care of you, kid"- and he did, and I can see Fritz not trusting David to have any input in this match, so Harley played it safe. Fan Reaction: 6 Fans were happy toward the end, but kinda held their breath for the first 20 minutes and the action didn't ask for pops. TV setting. I don't think they were expecting David to survive. Match Rating: 6.6/10

This match is a hidden gem to me, although I concede the first time I watched it years ago I was disappointed with the finish. However, with a fresh pair of critical eyes, I found this to be one of my all-time favorite Harley matches. I am currently going through the earliest Word Class footage I have access to, and this match has been the best so far. Heat: 8 The hype was that Kerry has a chance to be the youngest World Champion and he had already put Harley to sleep in their non-title match. This was Star Wars and this was the NWA title match, so the fans were hoping for a title change. Unfortunately I don't have any TV or promos for the build. But I gave this match a high Heat rating because it was booked as part of an angle, and was important and had meaning (the exact opposite of an AEW Dark match.) In-Ring: 8 No wasted time to start and no boring restholds. The workrate is fast. Kerry may not be crisp, but Harley's bombs are. Kerry's power moves (press slam, body slam, discus punch, gut wrench suplex, and even drop kick) inspired awe. I have no need to penalize this entire match because Kerry is green because Harley lets him throw the kitchen sink at him, a la Flair vs Sting/Luger/Nikita. I also compared this match to Harley making David Von Erich in 1977. Harley kept telling David to go back to the armbar to get instructions for the next sequence. Pretty boring stuff for 20 minutes until they picked it up for the last 10 to a time limit draw. Kerry is much more exciting than David in this match, but Harley called both completely. Highspots: 9 I now understand why the double countout finish was acceptable here: Harley missed the flying headbutt from the corner of the apron onto a table. That is a jaw dropping highspot in 2021, so imagine it in 1981. Harley bleeds in this match. Misses a splash/headbutt attempt earlier in the match. Action spilled outside of the ring. Lots of bombs hurled. Storytelling: 9 Kerry is a young stud who oozes charisma. The guy was so over it's not funny. Harley is the grizzled and respected champion who will do anything to retain the title. Harley cut out all the boring stuff as usually seen in NWA title bouts, enhanced Kerry's good qualities, and created an exciting match. Kerry missed two leaping elbow smashes. Even the commentator noted the second one was not smart. Harley is the one who called for it, so he was showing that Kerry was still young and overeager. The match was built on Kerry hitting the sleeper hold again, since it was shown to beat Harley last time. The sleeper hold attempts were fine in this match. You knew it would be bad news for Kerry when he hit the sleeper on the outside with no ref. At least he rolled Harley in for the pin, something other babyfaces from the era forget to do. I didn't mind the ref bumps, by the way. It didn't feel that choreographed, and it allowed the fans to see that Kerry would have won. The substitute ref ran in but was too late as Harley kicked out at 2 to a big pop. Unfortunately any time the NWA champ fought a Von Erich, the question was always "how do we get out of this?", something that AEW has deconstructed in modern times. So WCCW had to have two ref bumps, Kerry with the 10-count pin, and then a DCO for the finish. Fan Reaction: 9 The acoustics of Reunion Area and/or the audio recording isn't that loud, but the fans were clearly into every move, standing up, running around, and screaming, so I am sure the live experience was deafening. Kerry is mobbed when he walked out and tons of fans wanted autographs. One fan ran under the ring ropes to make the 3 count after the ref was knocked out. Match rating: 8.6/10 Recommended

I know people say he underachieved or didn't reach his potential, but he had a nice 13 year run (80-92) which is nothing to sneeze at! He gave us a bunch of excellent matches, and showed great range as a babyface, heel, singles, or tag. One of the best wrestler ever, for sure.

I am so on the fence with him. I liked his Mid-South/Houston/UWF stuff when he came off as a legit main eventer, possibly future world champ. I loved when he brawled and showed fire. But the NWA top babyface/heel/champions material scene got so crowded in the 1980s that poor solid conservative Ted was left in the dust. His St. Louis and Japan stuff was like watching paint dry, and his long WWF run was disappointing and paint-by-numbers in ring, it was all about his gimmick/angles/mic work. I'd rather watch random matches of Jim Duggan or Steve Williams in 2021.

Was told by a famous old-timer that I had to have seen him in the 60s in California and the 1970s. Ignore anything after 1980. Sounded reasonable. Finally saw Pedro vs Baba from '74 and I almost fell asleep- it never got going. But vintage AJPW can do that sometimes. I have an open mind that Pedro was good in the 60s but I haven't come across evidence to demonstrate this, nor have I been motivated to search his territory runs. I do not recall enjoying him vs George Steele, Stan Stasiak. or Ivan Koloff in world title matches. But boy, was he popular.

She may be itching for retirement to start a family one in a couple of years, so we may not have much left to see, but she has been my favorite Stardom wrestler since Io left, and was already top notch in 2015. I really can't say enough about her in-ring work and quirky character, or recommend any new matches- just find whatever you can and watch her. Was a Jeff Hardy-wanna be in the early 2010s but morphed into someone who would be in the 1990s joshi elite class. Was disappointed the spotlight shifted away from her with Giulia + Utami's pushes. Wish she would have a nice AEW run; she'd go over bigger in the states now than her ROH appearances.

Character-wise, Larry Z was one of the best heels I've ever seen, and he had smart in-ring tactics. I could see him replacing Piper during Hulkamania in an alternate reality. He crossed into different eras and territories. I always went out of my way to follow him wherever he jumped to. I was hoping he would have been placed higher on the card in WCW (since I always viewed him as a main event heel) but he fit his roles well. I will admit, however, that he has a ton of TV match stinkers, the stalling criticism was deserved, and he worked slow and methodical more often than not to conserve energy. But he could speed it up when necessary. Lots of great matches on video. I see Larry Z in MJF more than Flair, Rock, or Piper comparisons, and wish the announcers would mention Larry in this regard.

Sarge's 80-84 (5) is so amazing that I have to wonder what his 1970s looked like.