EnviousStupid

I have to concur with the Great Bretans. There's a case for Cena excelling more on the biggest stage/s or in front of partisan crowds, but the consistency of Bret in different roles on different stages is more persuasive for me.

Bryan's gotta be one of the few guys who can realistically be called the best in the world and actively refuses to carry himself like such. Working a competitive 20-minute match with an old rival whose been retired for almost 13 years only further illustrates my issue with it. Surprised at how much of the tag match serviced Kyle Fletcher and elevated his standing. Maybe they have something in mind for him when AEW come to Brisbane? I'd think Mark Davis would be fit to return by that point. Darby just can't help take sick bumps.

I have no idea what justification there is for Will Ospreay and MJF to work an hour-long singles match together. There's good parts and moments within it but that sucked away so much of my interest and time, and another Learning Tree segment on TV? Diabolical stuff here. I did like Sting Jr falling from the rafters in his mentor's fashion.

Max is definitely the type to watch The Wolf of Wall Street and make the fraud character his new personality. I can at least appreciate the sincerity there.

Cool lil returns for Prince Nana and TK. More a show about moments than matches, which shouldn't come as a surprise given it's the Dynamite before DON. Despite how disjointed so much of the weekly shows are booked, they've managed to pull me in with the PPV card.

A great litmus test for how people view various aspects of wrestling.

I also don't see him getting much chance here come 2026, so I think the least we can do is provide as many matches of his worth checking out that are available. Here's a dozen or so to start: Jake Lander vs. Mad Dog Connelly (ZERO1 USA, 30/4/2022) Camaro Jackson vs. Mad Dog Connelly (SLA Dingo Invitational, 17/6/2022) Camaro Jackson vs. Mad Dog Connelly (ZERO1 USA Homecoming 2022, 19/7/2022) Mad Dog Connelly vs. Thomas Shire (SLA Circus Maximus X-7, 29/7/2022) Mad Dog Connelly vs Remington Rhor (Flophouse/PPW Booze-A-Palooza, 20/11/2022) Jeremy Wyatt vs. Mad Dog Connelly (SLA Gateway To Anarchy 2023, 27/1/2023) 1 Called Manders vs. Mad Dog Connelly (SLA As Seen On Anarchy, 14/4/2023) 1 Called Manders, Christian Rose & Mad Dog Connelly vs. Derek Neal, KC Karrington & Moonshine Mantell (SLA Giant's Woke, Eyes Open, 9/6/2023) 1 Called Manders vs. Mad Dog Connelly (SLA Circus Maximus X-8, 28/7/2023) Jordan vs. Mad Dog Connelly (Timebomb Pro There Goes The Neighborhood, 10/8/2023) Mad Dog Connelly vs. Matthew Justice (PPW 6th Anniversary Show, 3/11/2023) Camaro Jackson vs. Mad Dog Connelly (SLA Battle Of Spaulding II, 29/3/2024)

I think your best bet is somewhere between 2007-2010. I'd call this period of time his peak and when most promotions either weren't doing so hot or had past their hottest periods (ROH, NOAH). Even then though, I wouldn't call Taker a lock for any of those years.

I've also loved a lot from the little I've seen of Aoki. Unfortunately (for us) he seems to prioritize his MMA and grappling career over pro wrestling, even after two decades in the sport. Even still, I'd recommend quite a few people check him out whenever he pops up in DDT, GLEAT or any other wrestling show.

I find it interesting that @InYourCase brought up Ospreay's 2019. At the time, I also thought of him as among the best wrestlers in the world, but with the caveat that it overexposed him in my eyes to what he tended to do. Something like that can make the extraordinary dives feel much more ordinary than they should, and I put a lot of the blame for that on the guy who constantly does them. He worked three singles tournaments that year, along with major matches on New Japan's big shows, and I didn't get enough of an impression that he changed up his style, moves, and approach to different opponents to not get bored of him. I understand that to some, that last sentence might sound absurd. He is definitely capable of a lot of great things, but it may be a case of whether he was inclined to demonstrate those capabilities in the frequent opportunities given to him, or to keep honing in on what was working for him at the time for that audience. Some of these responses to his criticisms are very odd to me though: The perceived bias on flying moves didn't stop Rey Mysterio or Jushin Liger from being ranked 5th and 6th in the last GWE. I don't see some of the more modern-day candidates expected to jump up the list in 2026 like Kazuchika Okada, Kenny Omega, or Darby Allin getting much pushback because of their use of dives or springboards. Would Kobashi's moonsault count as a flying move? How about a top splash like how Eddie Guerrero, Mitsuharu Misawa or Hiroshi Tanahashi used in their respective primes? I think everyone expects Bryan Danielson to rank #1 the next GWE and he's still doing flying moves long after the concerns about his concussion history and general health started. It's great that Ospreay can throw great-looking strikes, but maybe like with the flying moves, the issues seem to lie more in the way they utilize such moves in their matches. I agree that his elbows and forearms look great more often than not, and yet I'm not interested at all watching the striking exchanges he has play out. "Misawa's elbow is God" not just because it looked stiff, but because it fucking levelled the guys opposite him. I recall Jumbo lying on the outside for minutes after just one, or Kawada collapsing after taking some to convey how much damage they hold. Then again, Misawa and Ospreay are very different types of wrestlers. Shibata's another example: often he'll take a handful of elbows from his opponent before knocking them down with just one. The last few times I watched Ospreay, he likes to show how good his strike looks and sounds, soon followed by trading elbows 50/50 with his opponent no matter their size or stature. This is not how I'd like to see him go about such talents and part of what makes him so frustrating. I haven't seen all of Ospreay's AEW matches, though I don't think any of them were about building sympathy bar the last 5 minutes of his recent one with Danielson. Nor why him being the "most over guy in an American promotion" discredits selling complaints like he wasn't well-received from the moment he came on having signed to AEW. I do agree about a limb not having to be useless if worked over, but I'd also like that limbwork to have had some kind of meaning in the grand scheme. In my eyes, Ospreay just isn't particularly interested in selling past in the moment. Like @corwo mentioned, the man took a disgusting Turnbuckle Brainbuster that left welts on his back, but no mark on the rest of the match, which happened to be a goddamn back-and-forth.

Sakuraba v Santino is a dream match I never knew I wanted

I've always viewed early Jumbo as following the lead of his opponents in matches, though I can't recall a single time when he felt out of place in those matches. He played the native going up against the best in the world and holding his own consistently. Jumbo was much simpler a character and I believe easier for audiences to project some of themselves onto him. They were seeing one of their own beating the likes of top-tier technical guys ala Robinson, Funk, Bockwinkel, as well as dastardly heels now and again. He wasn't an Inoki with the kind of undeniable, irreplicable presence he carried, but I never thought he needed to have that. He meshed in with the pieces around him, rather than trying to move everything according to his vision or design. I think there's something to be appreciated from a wrestler doing that effectively against so many different types of workers. Though I still maintain that Jumbo from 86-92 is likely the most complete wrestler I've ever seen.

Angle's been coming up a lot in terms of his "greatness", mainly by people who can't believe Meltzer gave him no 5 stars. Regardless, I thought I'd add my 2 cents here on him. I like Angle. More as a personality and promo than in-ring, but the guy was an athletic freak who could go go go with great wrestlers and often enough result in something great. Well, at least for a handful of years consistently. I think by 2005 he's clearly intent on having a kind of epic match that loses its lustre the more you see it. It can still work to a lesser degree with some guys, but it really did depend on the guy opposite him and how much his opponent was able to call their match/es. The picture of him being this great technical wrestler lies primarily on his credentials and everyone around him referring to Angle as such. Rarely ever was it his own craft living up to the moniker. Still, he had his strengths that, for a period of time could mesh well with the talent around him. I think his body of work as part of the Smackdown Six and late Attitude Era is more than enough to prove that. Mostly though I just like how he'd lean into being a goofball. When I think of peak Angle I don't think of matches, but Milkomania, or shooting a tranquilizer dart at Big Show.

Rock Concert!

It's far too early to say this seriously, but Okada may end up being their best signing in terms of taking a high-profile star and doing something completely distinct from his previous work. Putting him with the Bucks does well to hide the weaker aspects of his in-ring game nowadays, while also highlighting things that had been seen only sparingly like his comical side or speaking primarily English confidently. For me, it's probably the most interesting story to come from AEW this year.

2 mins of her entrance was enough for me to hate the song choice.

Recently I went through an old March Madness bracket for "The Greatest WWE Wrestler Ever" and saw him against Shawn Michaels. Now, I must confess, I am a fan of most of the Shawn's big classic matches, however I really struggled to rank him above Reigns. For one, Shawn's case on this topic leans a lot on his peaks, but the week-to-week wrestling and overall consistency isn't there in my eyes the way it is for Reigns. The Shield run is obviously chalked full of great tags and trios matches until their breakup. What's less accepted is his singles work from 2015-2018 and that when not burdened by the likes of Jericho, Wyatt, or supremely awful booking, he was reliably great in all sorts of roles that were thrusted onto him. Whether it be as a badass running through tons of guys at once, working on top against smaller underdogs while not undercutting himself technically as a face, or being the sympathetic figure in his selling, offense and fire in the face of monsters. There's a breadth of versatility in his performances that I doubt Shawn was ever full capable of, and he had many more years to work with in comparison. All of this during the time when Roman was getting John Cena-levels of heat regularly from a significant enough portion of their crowds. That's a lot of pressure to work under in that kind of environment, and he did better than I think anyone could've realistically expected for the time. That's another thing he has over Shawn, who had plenty of tantrums and "controversy" that tarnished potentially great matchups or feuds without as much backlash from the audience.

Darby is the only pillar that feels integral and needed in the company right now. With other young guys like Garcia, Yuta, Starks, Hook, Wardlow, Hobbs, Top Flight, among others to fill various roles on-screen, the other 3 pillars feel more expendable than ever since AEW first started.

The AEW run is probably as ideal as we could've hoped for Sting to be booked and utilized, with plenty of great tag matches over those few years. Really cool to see given how some have panned his work over the mid-late 90s and TNA stint in general.

Missed opportunity if BCC came out with Road Warriors gear and didn't no sell a piledriver.

Love the difference between Eddie landing on his head, neck & shoulders off the suplex whereas Bryan's head was always a foot above the mat when getting thrown. Call him a goat if you want, but he don't got that dawg in him like Kingston do.

All Out 2021 and maybe Full Gear 2021 would've been my picks for the best builds AEW have pulled off, but there's a fair bit going for this one. Feel like they've balanced enough across Eddie/Bryan, Sting's last match, OC/Roddy, and even the women's title match. I'm in the camp that find Hangman easy to dislike, although I still struggle to view him as the heel in this scenario. Same goes for Swerve as the face. To me, it feels like the recent actions of both go against what was established between the two last year, rather than a part of the natural development of their feud. Hanger losing him moral compass out of spite doesn't work as well if I can't get behind either Swerve or Joe as the face in contrast.

Saw this live and despite my low expectations, it was a fun time with the whole live crowd experience. Chamber matches are what they are - cool concept in the moment and rarely hold up - although Orton's selling performance alone had me hooked with the men's match. Lucky Seth to being returning to action early and not having to face someone who's actually good at selling his back. Rhea/Nia might be the shortest PLE main event in a long time and while that does leave a bad taste in my mouth, I wouldn't want this pairing to go over 15min. I despised everyone involved in Grayson's segment and felt like the only one who wasn't a fan of all four guys. Ah well.

Bit the bullet and tried watching this one. Ospreay no-selling his back once hitting the Tiger Driver on the outside was more egregious than usual for him. Alexander collapsing on the mat before the match had even hit the half-way point gave me more cause for concern. By the time they reach the ramp for another spot that won't matter, I was reminded of how transparent a lot of the big matches inspired by Okada had become, especially if they feature Ospreay. Most of the time I was just calling what move I expected them to go for and was right almost every time. As much as I'd like to pat myself on the back for it, it's really not at all hard when wrestling has become as homogenized as it is now.

The only thing that I think keeps him from being a high-end candidate to me is that Choshu never really worked well in long singles matches. Maybe some feel differently about that '84 Inoki match, but the guy is tailor-made for short, compact outings and for my taste, never was able to adapt to something longer. I don't know if there's a singles match of his that goes over 20 minutes that I would recommend as great. That probably doesn't matter to some here, but when I look at Fujinami, Jumbo, Inoki, Tenryu, Fujiwara, Hashimoto, any of the Pillars, etc. I can see plenty of longer matches that're held up as not just their best work, but among the greatest matches ever. Compared to them, it's just something he seriously lacks.