EnviousStupid

What is Bryan's peak work in tag settings? Excluding the big gimmick matches like Anarchy in the Arena or Cage of Death, I don't know if his best is in the six-mans opposite The Shield or if there's some major tags from the indies I'm forgetting. I'd love to see how it compares to someone like Terry, where a lot of their All Japan work is in tags and with him regularly putting on the best performances in those matches.

I feel like the lesser of great tag teams who never really went away to become singles stars are almost bound to be omitted in ballots, whereas their better halves gain all the credit. I know there's a couple title matches with Flair in 86, but does anyone know of other worthwhile singles work from Gibson?

I'm now of the opinion that Ogawa was Hashimoto's best opponent, and that their rivalry across the late 90s-2000 is an all-timer.

With almost every match I see from her Stardom run, the more I feel inclined to call her the best joshi ace I've ever seen, and that's against the likes of Aja Kong, Bull Nakano, Chigusa Nagayo. For the qualities and ability that kind of role asks from a wrestler, I think that Io covers the most ground.

I just think Punk has far greater highs, consistency, variety, adaptability, match layout, character work, rivalries, etc. over his career. Even in 2009, when Jericho had the big rivalry with Mysterio - arguably the BITW that year - Punk was getting quality stuff out of Jeff Hardy and The Undertaker. Then he went on to lead one of the best stables of that era and have a great feud with Mysterio the following year.

My expectations going into this were extremely low, knowing that both are well past their primes and how these two can tend to phone it in, but I completely dug what they were going for here. It's a match that takes into account their physical limitations and builds off of their collective charisma to make all the sparks and quick bursts (particularly from Mutoh) hold much more significance than usual. The matwork and limb targeting early on is kept to a minimum and that's for the best: Mutoh's a great face when his sporadic choices in pacing and offense come off like a necessary reaction to his opponents. Chono can't work like Vader in 1991, but somewhere along the lines of an older Tenryu is possible and that's the feeling I got while watching this. Chono is in control most of the time and is usually able to shut down those moments of hope from the champion and be disrespectful as hell while doing so. It's one of the few times I can recall finishers being blocked instead of just countered or avoided. The match also plays on the more recent parts of their rivalry; Chono had beaten Mutoh earlier in the year as well as the year prior, both times submitting to the STF. They milk that a couple times in the finishing stretch, however it's Chono's insistence of never really trying to win quickly that left the biggest impression. He knows that this matchup has been in his favor these last few years, so he's not rushing to a pin after most of his Yazuka Kicks land their mark. By giving Mutoh enough time to recover, he's quick and still agile enough to perform a flash Frankensteiner to snatch the win. Not a MOTYC, but it's one that I felt strongly enough about to post here.

That's awesome. Even though I'm a fan, Chono's always been a case of what could've been had he not suffered that neck injury early in his career, as until that point he would've probably been my favourite of the Musketeers. I always remember how in those early G1 final matches, he worked the finishes as though he were capitalizing on opportune moments to barely come away with the victory, which was really distinct from how most other heavyweights would go about their matches.

Watched this on a whim and once again I'm left thinking Orton is one of the greatest sellers in wrestling history. I could see some faulting him for a lack of fire here, but there's just so many minute details to his reactions and gait that it makes up for never really excelling as a face for me. Add in how rougher and less contrived this felt compared to standard TV wrestling, and it makes the work put in from both men stand out that much more.

I've worked myself into really digging this card, even though I do not care about the build for all of them. It's nice to see so many of the young, homegrown talent getting PPV matches against big names established elsewhere, and that so many of them have a decent shot of winning.

Watched this for the first time since it happened live and I feel roughly the same way about it as I do for the Ric Flair/Ricky Steamboat Spring Stampede match in 94. The attire of both champs dictates what the story will be. Unlike Flair though, Punk has no need to fight past demons and history from repeating itself. He won the title from Cena as the ultimate hometown underdog the year before at Money in the Bank, then won again at the following PPV. The rivalry has been in Punk's favor for a while now, so wearing Yankees-themed trunks in Boston is not only an incredibly heelish move, but one putting their feud into perspective. Punk is the dynasty here and has no problem showboating about it. He can still back it up in the ring though. The guy has Cena scouted like few others, having an answer for practically all of Cena's moves and attempted comebacks. Once Cena does get time to work on top, he's compelled enough to think outside the box, like going for a Tope or ditching the typical theatrics because of how they gave Punk the chance to counter earlier. Much like the aforementioned Flair/Steamboat bout, the finish is a double-pin where the babyface looked like they should've won, except they weren't able to properly capitalize on the opportunity. For Steamboat, it was not being strong enough late in the match to hold a bridge with a Double Chickenwing ala Clash of the Champions 1989, but here it's Cena going out of his wheelhouse again with a German Suplex off the ropes, either forgetting to bridge or not realizing where his shoulders are during the pin.

Honestly fair. Seeing his shtick so often last year also left a sour taste in my mouth and there's plenty of other wrestlers that I do prefer. I just feel that when looking at the volume and consistency of his output over these last three years, it's hard for most to compare.

Best wrestler of the 2020s so far? He's arguably the consensus WOTY for both 2020 and 2022 with plenty of great matches in AEW, as well as some across the occasional NJPW and indie show he's on.

GWE 2016 was the best time for Nakamura to have a place in many people's ballots. I suspect most were only following the major stuff from New Japan and when a match called for Shinsuke to turn it on, he was clearly one of the best in the world. But excluding that top end material, a lot of the time he was coasting off of his undeniable charisma and while that's not a dealbreaker for a project like this, it is something that gets exposed quickly in a weekly TV setting like WWE.

GWE 2016 was the best time for Nakamura to have a place in many people's ballots. I suspect most were only following the major stuff from New Japan and when a match called for Shinsuke to turn it on, he was clearly one of the best in the world. But excluding that top end material, a lot of the time he was coasting off of his undeniable charisma and while that's not a dealbreaker for a project like this, it is something that gets exposed quickly in a weekly TV setting like WWE.

It's not a long run and she was never the flashiest, but she's easily one of my favourites of the 90s joshi scene. Did a lot of deathmatches, however something like the title match with Aja Kong at St. Battle stands out for how well she can adapt as this invader who is dwarfed in stature and manages to balance a fine line between getting slapped around so much, while still posing a threat to Aja as she goes after the arm.

Surprised that Shinya Hashimoto's name hasn't popped up. Had an incredible run in the 98 G1 Climax, with plenty of great matches spread across other G1s that decade. That's not including the big IWGP Heavyweight Title Dome Show in 1989. Recommended matches include: vs Victor Zangiev & Big Van Vader (24/04/89) vs Masahiro Chono (11/08/91) vs Hiroshi Hase (03/08/93) vs Kensuke Sasaki (12/08/95) & vs Keiji Mutoh (15/08/95) vs Riki Choshu (02/08/96) vs Genichiro Tenryu (01/08/98) & vs Kazuo Yamazaki (02/08/98)

In some ways, I find it the inverse of Sting/Hogan Starrcade 97, which had an incredible build spanning over a year to get to their big payoff, only to not deliver anything close to expectation. This match had the story that Sting/Hogan should've had, with all the physicality and overbooking to stack the odds against Sting, before the true ace stands tall. Was it worth the months the dogshit TNA fed their fans over the Aces & Eights angle? Absolutely fucking not. It's part of the reason I consider 2013 among the worst years of the company. But as for the destination to this journey, it hit a sweet spot, accompanied with an outrageous performance from AJ. No two ways about, he had dat dawg in 'im.

w/ William Regal vs. Edge & Rob Van Dam, WWF Raw (18.02.2002) This is the most promising so far on paper. Still much too short at under 4 minutes, but there's some fun action to see here. The heels isolate RVD and while it's not great, it's quick enough to not grow dull. Goldust bumps well for Edge's offense the few times they interacted, but I didn't take away much from this that showcases what Goldust can do. It's primarily about building to Regal and RVD for the IC title at Wrestlemania. Regal taps to the Edgucator and then Goldust takes a Spear after the match. Shoutout to Lawler on commentary saying Goldust/RVD at No Way Out went 30 minutes when it didn't even go half as long. Full match available here _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vs. Maven [c] - Hardcore Title Match, WWF Smackdown (28.02.2002) Hardcore time! Most of the matches I've seen for this title are hoots, so my expectations are higher than usual. Start off with Goldust immediately beating on Maven, then slowing it down as he bring weapons into the fray, allowing for moments where Maven can eventually pull off the upset. Aside from that, Maven doesn't do much at all, but Goldust is good enough at working in control to make up for that. His standing Gourdbuster looked particularly nasty here. Not something I would recommend, but nothing to really complain about. Enjoyable! Full match available here _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vs. Tazz - Hardcore Title Match, WWF Raw (04.03.2002) Goldust now holds the title after winning it from Maven later on that last episode of Smackdown. Tazz comes down the ring with a ref while Goldust was in the middle of a promo, and they just jump right into things. It's full of great slaps, strikes and suplexes, with Goldust bumping huge for Tazz's offense. He finally gets to hit Shattered Dreams in an official match! Tazz gets hold of a Tazzmission to an audible pop, but Goldust is able to reach a trash can lid and knock him out for the win. Another fun one! If they're only going to give wrestlers 2-4 minutes of TV, at least they get to work these kinds of matches. Recommended Full match available here _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vs. Rob Van Dam - Hardcore Title Match, WWF Smackdown (06.03.2002) This is roughly 10 minutes shorter than their PPV match and it's definitely for the better. RVD is a lot more suited to these shorter, spot-oriented layouts that the Hardcore title is wrestled under. He tries to rush Goldust early with a Tope but winds up eating shit when he goes high-risk a second time. This is also the first time I can recall seeing golden-tinted weapons found under the ring. Once again, 3 minutes of killer action, mostly from hitting each other with trash cans. RVD has a neat counter to Shattered Dreams that took me completely by surprise. Regal is on commentary and winds up distracting Rob long enough to Goldust to win with a rollup. Recommended Full match available here _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vs. Al Snow - Hardcore Title Match, WWF Raw (11.03.2002) Goldust throws a ton of weapons into the ring and attacks Al on the ramp. This one comes off a more frantic and immediate kind of fight, probably because it's barely over a minute long. Al blinds the champ with a fire extinguisher before hitting a Snow Plow onto a trash can to win the title. Maven wins the title the very next day on Smackdown. Nothing else to say about this one. Full match available here _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vs. Maven [c] - Hardcore Title Match, Wrestlemania X-8 (17.03.2002) Cool to see Goldust have an official match at Wrestlemania! He's more creative with his offense here than previous Hardcore title matches, but it runs more of less the same story and issue as their last match together. Goldust is good at holding up his part, Maven less so. Unfortunately, the match ends with Spike Dudley pinning Maven after a double KO spot, with Goldust along with Crash Holly chasing him through the crowd Full match available here _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vs. Booker T vs. Bubba Ray Dudley [c] - Hardcore Title Match, WWF Raw (08.04.2002) This is scheduled originally as Booker T vs Bubba Ray Dudley, but it's also the last time for the year the Goldust wrestles in a Hardcore Title match, so I want to include it here. The dance battle right beforehand is well worth the watch alone. As far as the match goes, it's pretty tame on the hardcore stipulation; Bubba does regular moves for some reason and never tries using the weapons he throws into the ring. Goldust runs down once a table is set up and tries to win the title, only to get powerbombed through said table for his troubles. Full match available here

vs. Rikishi, WWF RAW (11.02.2002) Goldust's first official match since returning to WWF would be in that year's Royal Rumble match. Following that, a series of vignettes and promos featured Goldust referring to a wrestler as his "rising star". On the February 4th episode of Raw, this turns out to be RVD, who would get attacked and kicked in the dick by Goldust, establishing the returning star as a heel. This is important to note, because Goldust's first TV match of the year would go for a total of 93 seconds, before RVD causes a disqualification and beats on the golden hero. Still, what little we have here shows promise. Goldust's punches and slaps are great, comes across motivated in how he keeps the action moving while in control. He even takes a corkscrew bump off a clothesline that did not look rehearsed at all (fun fact: he's 6'4). It ain't much, but what we do have show signs of promise. Later on Raw, it's announced that Goldust will face RVD at No Way Out. Full match available here _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vs. Tajiri, WWF Smackdown (14.02.2002) This goes a whole 2 minutes! He's also against a completely different kind of wrestler in Tajiri, and easily matches him when it comes to speed and technique early on. They also manage to implement some fun comedic bits into the work while they have TV time. Tajiri rushes to applying his signature Tarantula hold and tries a Moonsault that Goldust moves away from, then unloads with some great slaps in the corner. For some reason, Torrie slapping a wrestler doesn't result in a DQ. Goldust hits a Neckbreaker that Cole calls the Curtain Call, holding onto a tight pin for the victory. Goldust stalks Torrie into a corner before RVD intervenes with a Wheel Kick and Frog Splash. This will be a long project. Full match available here _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vs. Rob Van Dam, WWF No Way Out 2002 (17.02.2002) This isn't a TV match but given Goldust has had less than 5 minutes of in-ring action so far, I'm willing to see the payoff for what little booking they've gien him so far. It'd also be nice to see what he's capable of with a respectful amount of time, even if against much lesser talent. This is actually a great example of how he can excel in spite of his opponent not being up to task. His slaps sound amazing, and he gets quite creative with the early portions of his heat segment; at one point wrenching Rob's neck and back over a ringpost. Goldust homes in on targeting the lower back, making it all look vicious whilst maintaining that sense of mystique over his character and motivations at the time. There's even a fun moment of comeuppance to the feud when Goldust is inadvertedly crotched over RVD's knees. I tend to admire details like this in the layout of a match, and I'm willing to credit it entirely to Goldust, given that Rob doesn't sell any of the damage done to his back once the comeback starts. Finishing stretch is fine even though Rob doesn't try anything flashy and he predictably wins with the Frog Splash. Part 1, Part 2 (not-so-great quality) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This isn't the start that I had hoped for, but it is closer to what I should have expected. WWF at this time is loaded with talent after the WCW purchase and in the leadup to Wrestlemania 18. He was always going to be put in this sort of position as enhancement to wrestlers further up the hierarchy that need something to do. Fortunately, 2002 is a year of great change, so don't expect him to be floating around in limbo for much longer. “You’re going to be all right. You just stumbled over a stone in the road. It means nothing. Your goal lies far beyond this. Doesn’t it? I’m sure you’ll overcome this. You’ll walk again… soon.”

Last year, a friend of mine made a video covering the best matches and wrestlers he saw from 2002 (watch here) and it compelled me to go back and reevaluate what I had seen from that time period; mostly some big PPV bouts with The Rock, Brock/Taker HiaC, and a dozen or so matches featuring the Smackdown Six. Most of it still holds up in my view, but I didn't stick to just the Smackdown side of WWF/E and ended up skimming through what looked appealing on the Raw brand. That led me to the belief that, in a year where all-time greats like Rey Mysterio & Eddie Guerrero were in their primes, getting plenty of time and quality matchup almost every week, Goldust was clearly the best TV worker the company had. I wanted to dig deeper into Goldust's body of work in 2002, covering the available matches he had on television in ways that can hopefully highlight what a terrific wrestler Dustin was at turning shitty circumstances into something wonderful.

Who is the greatest wrestler of the year?

For what it's worth, I just watched this match against Steve Corino in 2001 and while Windham was well past his prime, the dude still had some snap behind his strikes and could work a match with all the marks of an old school JCP bout. Maybe the last great match Barry ever had.

Early on, Vince McMahon is applying a headlock for a good 20 seconds on Ric Flair. The match itself is kind of middling till they start introducing weapons and hit gushers, but I keep coming back to a 56yo Vince grabbing onto headlocks against a (recognized) 16-time world champion... in a Street Fight! I have no idea how to feel about it. Very weird.

Nothing for nothing, but right now Jamie Hayter vs Hikaru Shida has a >9.00 rating on Cagematch and I don't think that has ever happened for an AEW women's match before.

2002.09.09 - Mad Dog McCrea vs. Lobo - NRBW, Taipei, 40,000 Raining Thumbtack Deathmatch - YouTube This is a No Ropes Barbed Wire Taipei 40,000 Raining Thumbtacks Deathmatch (don't worry, I also don't know what that means fully). It's also a fairly infamous match in the history of Australian wrestling. At the time, the promotion (Professional Championship Wrestling) was more family-friendly oriented and still is to this day, but this deathmatch ended up with the company losing their home venue and causing a media storm that greatly affected their fan attendance for future events. As a deathmatch though, it's pretty fun. They deliver on plenty of gnarly bumps and violent spots. Barbed wire breaking off from the ring, thumbtacks falling from buckets high above the ring. It's a pretty fascinating spectacle in such a grimy building with low-budget production that at times makes me think this is what the ideal garbage wrestling looks like. Far from my favourite NRBW deathmatch, but hard not to admire, especially when it comes from my home country. P.S. Not the Lobo from CZW