EnviousStupid

I had always believed the idea that Orton wasn't clicking as a face around 2004-5 until I actually went out of my way to watch the Raw episodes from this period. He's over. More natural and complete as a heel, sure, but definitely not a misfire like his face run in 2010. That being said, it was probably for the best that Orton's push was cut short so that Batista and Cena could be the top faces of each brand.

Not high on any of the matches but hey, Randall and Punk are back and likely to be on the upcoming Raw. First time I might watch an episode in full since pre-pandemic.

Even though I didn't love the title matches with Sheamus or Drew, the TV title matches and the tags with Imperium have really impressed me. So far, it's been a super strong run for someone I never would've thought could transition well into WWE.

Hated the Dynamite opener with MJF/Garcia. I appreciate them trying to make it feel like something noteworthy in the short span of time they built to it, though seeing the story going in be Garcia showing up as the 'professional wrestler' and then watching MJF consistently get the better of him feels so disgusting. It's great if the intent was for Maxwell to live up to the HHH comparisons, but idk if they could've gone about the match in a worse way with the time they were allotted.

I wasn't impressed with the recent Rampage match against Rocky Romero, but I'm not sure if that's a good representation of his work since rebranding as Mistico. Does anyone have a list of great matches from him over the last couple years?

I get the feeling that there's more to appreciate here in theory or in the conscious decisions made throughout the match. I can only recall one rope break being used - with Danielson immediately being called a coward for it - and from then on relying on moves like stomps, Busaiku Knees and a Regal-plex that aren't based in the style of wrestling they were trying to emulate prior. Moreover, neither man exited to the outside at any point, threw a closed-fist punch, or did much in the way of conventional pro wrestling spots. These kinds of details I think are worth note, but like @Ma Stump Puller I also found a lot of the grappling and counters to be very weightless and lacking the effort of making moments feel memorable after happening. Commentary mentioning Inoki/Robinson also made me want to watch that over this. Felt too much like it was worked as an exhibition of what elaborate holds they can string together whilst being very co-operative with each other, a stark contrast to many of Inoki's older matches.

Didn't catch the last half but kicking Da 'mite off with back-to-back title matches was fun. The women's match is particular is worth checking out.

I'm a lot more interested in where Punk goes from here than what AEW looks like with Punk gone, which as we've seen from AEW this year, is a far worse wrestling product. There's a slight chance he goes back to WWE, but I'd be willing to bet there's not many on the roster willing to deal with him in a program. Some other promotion (or a new one altogether) could get behind Punk, though once again those chances are slim; Punk doesn't strike me as the type to wrestle for much less pay at his age. I'm hopeful for maybe a deal with New Japan, as they seem like the only other realistic option for him in wrestling. If it's a contract like Mercedes', he'd be working less dates and featured on major shows. Maybe with the option to work certain guys he's already shown interest in (Ospreay).

I expect to make a proper case for Funk when 2026 rolls around as I've had him pegged as my #1 for a few years now. But I think even just looking at his body of work in All Japan, Terry is probably hovering around top 25 all time for me. Easily the most over gaijin I've ever seen, and at worst the 2nd greatest gaijin ever after Stan Hansen. You have a fantastic mix of singles and tags, the latter almost always with him being the highlight. All-time rivalries against Abdullah and Hansen, as well as an underrated one with the Funks playing soft heel to Baba/Jumbo across multiple Tag Leagues. His NWA title defense with Jumbo is the only one we have in full, but also happens to be one of the best of its time and style. There's also great stuff with him as a title challenger against Flair in 81, and Bockwinkel in 83 (non-title match, but Bock was billed as AWA World champion at the time). Gave the likes of Tiger Jeet Singh and Bruiser Brody most of their best matches on footage. For my money, he had the best retirement match I've ever seen and could've stopped there, but he returned a year later and instead of keeping to what he was, he evolved overtime. Like a precursor to the middle-aged and crazy phase, acting as a sort of old guard to the likes of Choshu/Yatsu, Tenryu/Hara, Misawa/Kawada.

He's a guy I'd figure has more great promos and moments than great matches. Even when travelling the world and working all the indies and New Japan, he was never a guy touted for in-ring work. I think his peak work lies in AEW, but you also have the lows (Ogogo) and downright baffling period of him never turning heel and having his own stories feel disconnected from the rest of the show.

Inoki is probably better at working more styles and has the better match catalogue, but Hash was never frustrating like I've found Inoki to be across the 80s. Outside of how other wrestlers were shafted by him, Inoki just is not as consistent as his contemporaries, and has a tendency of forcing matches to work in his favor, even at the detriment of everyone around him. Off the top of my head I can think of matches with Choshu, Saito, tags with Fujinami where he does this, and the best explanation I can give for him doing it is sheer vanity. Whereas with Hash, if he's working with guys who are limited or inexperienced but have some kind of martial arts background, he's making them look great and accentuating their strengths. He was arguably the highlight of both NJPW's interpromotional feuds with WAR and UWF-i. His rivalry with Ogawa in his final years with New Japan is an all-timer. I'm inclined to say that in-ring, he was doing Inokiism better than the originator.

Yesterday marked the 40-year anniversary of one of my favourite matches, so I decided to revisit it and, big shock, I still adore it. Very technical and mat-driven with all the holds applied being so hard-fought and gritty. Neat little ideas like Terry grape-vining the leg whenever Bock applies a hold to not give him much leverage, sometimes failing early on before it finally leads to him working over the leg. Or how Bock will apply a Headlock that's sold like it sucks the energy out of his opponent, with Funk having to throw knees into the back of the legs in an attempt to break out of it. Bock eventually starts doing his own knees to lead into working Funk's leg and he does a fantastic job of making it distinct from the way Terry worked over the limb: lot of cheap tactics and rabbit punches before really torquing it in painful ways. Of course, with these two kinds of wrestlers, you know the kind of selling and general reactions they'll have, all having a cumulative effect on moves done and choices made thereafter. I think it's a match that teaches one a lot about the kinds of wrestlers these two are; what they stand for and represent, the strengths they tend to lean on in matches, as well as what they're willing to do when put in desperate situations. It's also a match that had to end the way it did - in classic AJPW fashion - knowing where both Funk and Bock were at this time in their careers. Some might have wanted something more, but the work on display impressed me in so many little ways that I feel grateful that we have (most of) it on footage. Two of my all-time favourites putting on one hell of a contest.

While I'm in the camp who still hold his ROH run in high regard, I've been finding most of his other indie work pre-WWE to be disappointing. The FIP title reign as a Saturday morning cartoon-like heel worked against virtually all his strengths back then. The work I've seen of his NJPW/NOAH tours was often ordinary and at times outright wrong-headed for the situation (see the KENTA match in '06 NOAH). While the rivalry with El Generico did nothing for me, there is some great matches from him in PWG, but they tended to be against other greats from his generation who were consistently great back then too. That's kind of where I see some holes in his career. ROH over that period of time is so lauded and near-mythologized that it makes someone like Danielson, prominently featured from the start to his departure, appear head-and-shoulders above his contemporaries. But I think when you look at the scene in its entirety, you'll find guys like Low Ki, Chris Hero, Necro Butcher all having great runs and standout work over several promotions, and that's something I can't say about Bryan back then.

Gonna go with Rey-Rey, but they're completely different cases and workers to compare. When I think of Rey, I'm thinking of a guy who put so much effort into working around and adapting to opponents of all statures. That's a stark contrast to who might as well be the platonic ideal of his archetype, whether he be in WCW, WWF, New Japan, All Japan, UWFi, Europe, you get the gist.

THE guys from the 2000s/early 2010s North American independent scene.

If I were a booker, I wouldn't be putting that on free TV. But I am no more than a fan, so instead I'll appreciate the gifts thrown my way.

Guess who's back, back again. vs. Tajiri, WWF Jakked (25.02.2002) This is a bit of an oddity as it's broadcasted on March 2nd, after Goldust had won the Hardcore title the last episode of Smackdown, so he's recognised on commentary as champion despite not coming out with the belt. As for the match, it's not too different from their one I covered in an earlier post. Bit more fun with taunting early on, some work over the back from Goldust, but the broad strokes are roughly the same. Tajiri taking control of the match 10 seconds after taking a top-rope Bulldog was egregious, though the match is only a few minutes long and they don't establish much of a hook or story in that time. Goldust wins after a series of counters leads to a Curtain Call Neckbreaker. A tad lower than their Smackdown match, but I don't expect much more when they're given just 2 minutes on a C-show. Full match available here **Between this match and Goldust regularly teaming with Booker T, there's more than a handful of singles matches he has on episodes of Sunday Night Heat. Unfortunately I can't seem to find them available online, but if they do show up, I'll try and make sure to cover them later** _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ w/ Booker T vs. The Hardy Boyz, WWF RAW (15.04.2002) Starts off as a brawl that quickly shifts to Booker working a heat segment on Matt. Most of Goldust's time in the ring is spent taking hits from both Hardy Boyz, though he does manage to pick up the victory after one of Booker's Harlem Sidekicks. Commentary points out how weird it is to see Booker T and Goldust as a team, but there are moments of natural chemistry between them early on that can be seen as signs of a promising new duo. This is also the match where Brock ends up hitting an F5 on Matt onto the stage, building up to their PPV match which obviously takes precedent over a random TV tag. Full match available here _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ w/ Booker T vs. Bubba Ray Dudley & Spike Dudley, WWF RAW (22.04.2002) This is awesome. Spike dives over the ropes and the match officially starts with a flurry of fun offense from Bubba; punches, elbows, slaps, even a fucking Mongolian Chop to pop me. Goldust also feeds into and bumps off of it all so well. Then once Spike tags in, he's able to use his speed and manoeuvre around Goldust to maintain the advantage, only losing that when Booker T gets a cheap shot in. The match is a really good example of how great Goldust can work as a base, regardless of the size of his opponents. The unlikely couple pull off another victory when Goldust attacks Bubba while looking for a table, allowing Booker to hit Spike with the Scissors Kick. Steven Richards run out afterwards to attack Bubba, only to get Powerbombed through a table for it. Recommended. Full match available here _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vs. Spike Dudley [c] - WWF European Title Match, WWF RAW (29.04.2002) It's under 2 minutes and all Goldust, which was probably for the best as both Spike and the referee were messing up. There was a neat idea with Goldust having an answer to Spike's speed this time around and cut-off any chances of a comeback. Sadly, it's never able to be properly fleshed out, as Booker T comes out to hit him with a Harlem Sidekick and Spike capitalizes off of that to retain. Hate this booking. Full match available here

I would put the Ogawa matches (excluding the shoot) and rivalry overall above Hash's stuff with Tenryu across the 90s. They were the peak of Inokiism and hold up tremendously well, even after the MMA craze that followed.

HACKSAW

I'd stick with Necro primarily for being a major part of the overarching CZW/ROH feud and having incredible work across multiple promotions compared to someone like Danielson. Rey is probably the most consistently great wrestler this year though. The title run isn't so fondly remembered, but goddamn if he wasn't delivering every time he worked on TV.

He's not the best in 93, but Hiroshi Hase had a fantastic run.

Joe and Kobashi are in the middle of all-time great world title reigns, along with Eddie Guerrero at arguably his best. Though I had to mention how incredible Randy Orton is in those Evolution tags and singles work against Foley and Benoit especially. It was like seeing a future GOAT and it sucks that he never fully turned out that way.

For my money, Foley had a MOTYC with all three of his gimmicks in 1998. Also had an incredibly fun team with Chainsaw Charlie for the first few months. Genichiro Tenryu is also pretty fantastic this year, as is Shinya Hashimoto with one of the best G1 runs ever. Need to see more from Santo but if the Felino match is any indicator, he's also in the conversation.

Not a favourite, but he's almost certainly the best wrestler of the 2000s in my eyes, and that's the decade I grew up watching wrestling in. Plenty of great stuff across singles, tags, multimans, main-events, undercards, sprints, 30+ minute epics and practically everything in between. He even participated in one of the best G1 Climax tournaments, concluding with an all-time finals match against Hiroyoshi Tenzan.

Steamboat stopped wrestling in 1994. If Rey is still active come 2026 his career will have covered twice the amount of time Steamboat's did. That might not matter to some, but I think the body of work is comfortably in Rey's favor. More situations, more settings, more opponents, more great matches and performances in general, almost all of which took place outside of WWE's best years