EnviousStupid

When it was Tenryu/Tsuruta it was fire, but to the point where Takagi and Kawada couldn't sustain it whilst they were the legal men on their teams and leaves the match dragiing along at points.

This was fun. Hard to get over immersion-breaking moments like Fuerza running the ropes at his age as effective offense, but the match largely sticks to slapping each other's chests red and bleeding from the head. While it may never have a frenzied sense to the brawling, things like falling onto fans and stumbling all across the arena help to keep this engaging. Some grotesque shots of Demus' crimson mask replacing his usual face paint. Definitely the kind of fight that belongs in a grungy hall with only a few dozen in attendance. By the end there's an empty sense of victory, knowing what they did to each other to get to that point.

Tully half throwing himself into the shoulder bump into the corner and over the ring to try and get a cheap DQ win had me stunned for a second. Then in the heat just dumping the dude over the top without shame, I had to applaud it. Also really dug Sting desperately grabbing on a bodyscissors after his leg got worked - something I could argue is illogical, but the visual of the big strong face fighting through pain for a submission hope spot just hit the right notes for me. One of my favourite Arn/Tully tags that left me appreciating what the Brain Busters do a lot more.

I didn't consider Bruiser and had seen only a handful of matches from him before submitting my ballot. Like with a couple other nominees now, I blew it not voting for him. Awesome example of the big tough brawling archetype, whether a dastardly villain or the hero kicking ass.

I said a few years ago somewhere that on the basis of his All Japan work alone, Terry could sneak into the top 30 of my GWE, and I'd still stand by that. Plenty of great matches for my taste, whether across singles or tags, working technical or brawling, sub-10 minutes or going much longer.

Second this. When he wrestled other older and larger guys like Undertaker, Lesnar, Sting, etc. you didn't get as much time put towards graps and holds like we see from him against Bryan, or Reigns a couple years later. Triple H working younger guys in marquee matches on the biggest show is a chance to remind everyone what he thinks he's still capable of at a high level. And while Bryan does seem the type to let his opponent get more say in how a match goes than they probably should, it's hard to tell your boss to follow your lead instead.

God bless her wielding those nunchucks in the Dream Slam 1 tag. RDT_20260531_112919.mp4

I had Misawa at 23 and he's never been my favourite of the Pillars, nor my favourite Ace (even just within the AJPW promotion). Though I have felt a need to point out what his strengths and qualities were in response to this pushback of him being too stoic or lax to appeal to those looking back. He's one of the best examples of an obstacle for other wrestlers to overcome. Figures like Vader and Aja Kong are worth note, but with Misawa he wasn't as tied to, nor defined by the archetype during that period. He was just the one pushed to take the mantle left by Jumbo, and he ran with it, fending off both his former stablemates and gaijin heavyweights for years. To the former, he was akin to this calm mountain standing tall for the more expressive and "flawed" wrestlers to climb atop. Someone whose contrasting persona magnified their most endearing qualities, whether intended as faces or heels. He could take beatings, get trampled on, struck down, but always had the arsenal to pull from that any move or strike he landed could change the landscape of a match. He endured the punishment better than most, knowing full well the kind of destructive power he himself wielded. And when we do see holes in his game take shape overtime, the emotions and expressions that leak out of him feel even more significant. He's not histrionic to the degree of a Jumbo, or Hashimoto in their respective falls from grace. He's more subdued in general, but that standard is in part what makes those moments just as if not more meaningful to watch play out. Knowing who he was, the role he was playing, and the crowd's undeniable love for him that was never not audible across all those matches throughout the years. The static character forced to be more dynamic when the apex is in sight. Wrestling isn't just about what we see, but also what we hear, what we know, and what we feel. Even when yearning for the Kawadas and Kobashis to get their due for so long, Misawa played his part in making us care to great effect. Perhaps better than anyone else would've.

Just watched his two singles matches in 92 with Masanobu Fuchi today. I'm more partial to how the sly junior worked those matches, but Misawa's great qualities and that audiences' love for the man can't be understated. Few ever elicit that kind of a reaction, for as long over the course of their careers as he managed to, all while being relatively expressionless.

Watching Fuchi kick away at and violently drop Misawa down on his knee is so delightfully nasty. Such a glorious way of embellishing in the heat as the veteran doing what he can, before the heir to Jumbo's throne knocks him down a peg or two. Even him using the Backdrop Driver and Thesz Press ala Jumbo had me more invested in just how badly Misawa would make the bastard pay. While Misawa does lack a certain fire here that I yearn from most babyfaces in his position, there's no denying just how loud and adoring the audience is to him. They live and die on his leg selling and subsequent offense as it becomes a focal point of the match. Fuchi is the highlight though, made even better when the handheld footage we have includes very audible Fuchi fans throughout. Wish there was as much footage of him around this decade as we have of the Pillars.

Bret ranked 42nd for me. Maybe a tad low in hindsight, although I think I'm at the stage of believing he just wasn't head and shoulders above his predecessors or contemporaries in WWE. I had Savage, Steamboat, Austin and Foley all higher. His best work is right up there with all those names, but I find him lacking in comparison when it comes to volume and versatility to some degree. The tag work with Anvil has really never impressed me like I hoped, nor the TV/house show matches outside of those already canonised (vs 1-2-3 Kid, vs Perfect in 89, etc.). If anything, his case is largely about who he worked against in his classic matches, and how he got so much mileage out of your Diesels and Bulldogs than anyone else.

Moxley above Fujiwara? Aight fam, gonna go find something to bash my own head into as tribute to the latter.

The structure of most of Sting's matches in AEW were reliant on Darby being as quick and willing to take hard bumps as he is to compensate for the legend's limitations at the time, this match included. That's largely what I mean and with respect to the Bucks' ability to stooge, setup spots and be genuinely hateable, this needed Darby to be the exciting worker he is before taking the biggest dive of his life.

More Darby than Bucks if we're being honest, but we can also give a 65yo credit for hitting his spots and bringing his own fire to the match like he did several other AEW tags

Have also seen this, can vouch that it's really great, and that it's still available to watch on YouTube