PeteF3

I just watched Onita drag something semi-watchable out of Leon Spinks, for Christ's sake.

I was pimping that Veidor/Davies match years ago on DVDVR to anyone who would listen. I stumbled across it going through a huge mass of WoS DVDs and was blown away by it. Seeing the love for it now is like seeing your favorite local bar band hitting it big. What also helps the public-warning system is that rules matter and have consequences. The referee doesn't just ineffectively tell guys to "open them up"--if a wrestler's caught throwing a punch, it's a DQ. Even hair pulling, or Davies yanking on Veidor's fingers, would end a match at least eventually. Outside of Bill Alfonso-type referee angles, that's never done. Not only are there only 2 other Davies matches circulating, but one is against Giant Haystacks. It's still interesting to view because despite taking place at virtually the same time, Davies is naturally the babyface and works as a total bouncing gladhanding one. Fun to see, but it's still Haystacks and there's only so much that you can do. The third match, with Dennis Mitchell, was rather disappointingly straight-laced and dry.

Khan had a really shitty MSG match with Savage, so that is entirely believable.

The Good: Killer feuds involving small-time promotions. Specifically the Moondogs vs. every babyface in the USWA, Tenryu and WAR stirring shit up in New Japan toward the end of the year, and the AJW vs. JWP feud leading to Dream Rush, probably the best wrestling card ever. The Bad: The WWF's attempts at pushing Papa Shango, the Berzerker, and Nailz as major heels feuding with top babyfaces. I liked some of Shango's antics but he turned off a lot of longtime fans, especially when the Warrior puked on an EMT. Berzerker was impossible to take seriously as a threat but was basically harmless. Nailz, despite a fairly hot debut and a workable idea, was a disaster. The Ugly: There was a lot less of this than in '91 or '93. However, Global had some stuff that was so undignified that it made Papa Shango and Nailz look like something out of All-Japan. The Rude Dog, Sebastian, Manny Villalobos' broke gimmick, Mike Davis, etc.

Definitely one of the great big-match workers ever. I'm not sure if his "middling" performances are quite up to par enough to put him in a list. Khan's best: Killer Khan vs. Andre the Giant (4/1/82) Killer Khan vs. Terry Gordy (Texas Death Match, 11/22/84) Killer Khan vs. Stan Hansen (5/14/85) Killer Khan vs. Riki Choshu (7/31/86) It's not that his non-"big" matches don't have good performances in them--there's a match vs. Chris Adams on the MId-South set that I liked quite a bit. But Khan was a guy who tended to raise and lower himself to the level of the match that he was in.

It's weird, because the Jumbo/Tenryu team had sort of a mentor-junior dynamic to it, but Tenryu's a year *older* than Jumbo. It's just that Tsuruta was pushed very quickly (immediately, by Japanese standards) and Tenryu was a late bloomer. By 1989, Tenryu was already 39. It's clear that his departure ended up being a blessing in disguise for forcing Baba's hand.

The best Onita matches--yes, there's gore--but they're more about how the wrestlers go about trying to avoid said gore and their reactions to it, rather than violence for the sake of violence. The real shitty torture-porn stuff is something I generally lay at the feet of guys like Mr. Pogo. No, there's absolutely no enjoyment to watching him carve guys up with a sickle.

I have nothing substantial to say but looking at the 2006 poll, which had input from a number of joshi fans, I'm stunned that she didn't make the list at all. She was good enough in the early part of the '90s, and in a not-insignificant role as Manami's partner, to draw at least a token vote, I would have thought. That said, unless she had a late-'90s resurgence she seemed to best fit as a tag specialist. A good one, but one who seemed exposed when I watched her in singles.

The 1999 stuff with Goldust, Godfather, and Road Dogg all hurt it severely, for sure. Chyna and the dual-champion thing with Jericho was worse. But Chris Benoit had gotten the belt back to respectability and was constantly referred to as the "fightingest Intercontinental champion ever," despite being a heel. Then he unceremoniously dropped the belt to Rikishi after a short reign. As much as I liked the Rikishi-Val feud and as over as he was, Rikishi pretty much epitomized the "doesn't need a title" mold. That was the belt's last gasp, at least for awhile.

Even taking this argument at face value (and while I don't necessarily agree with it I can see where it's coming from), I'd argue Foley did more damage than Onita anyway. Foley was a far greater, more wide-reaching influence on the U.S. than Onita was for Japan.

Windham? Just throwing it out there, but he did walk out over Montreal. Once you eliminate all the top guys, there's not much separating the rest of the chaff. It could have been a Godwinn or a Boricua. The highest-"ranking" candidate besides Pillman I can think of would be maybe one of LOD.

My favorite 3-minute WWF B/C-show match involving the Boss Man is the Doink match from the syndies (his last match before leaving, in fact). Borne is awesome in it, but Boss Man is just as good, getting tossed around and manhandled by Doink and making him look like a million bucks. I've always been impressed by the amount of growth and learning that Traylor underwent through his career. He was brought up as a silent bodyguard who never talked or sold. Eventually he turned into a very good, underrated talker and became one of the all-time best at projecting sympathy and vulnerability considering how much bigger he tended to be than his opponents. I know Bix loves to cite the MSG match where DiBiase works a bearhug on him and they actually make it look believable. The Doink match is another example, as is his stuff with the Mountie. I wouldn't say it's enough to build a Top 100 case, but as big-man workers I'd probably have him even at worst with Bam Bam. It doesn't affect the working ability argument, really, but I also have to have respect for him for being one of the few Attitude Era wrestlers completely unafraid to be a total unlikable slimeball heel. The matches themselves were bad but Boss Man was fully committed to not being remotely "cool." I love the story from Foley's second book about how Mankind cut a promo at an amusement park card about BBM getting sick on a kiddie ride. Boss Man, instead of refuting this story, got on the mic and angrily explained that he had a stomach-ache BEFORE getting on the ride. That's commitment to a role right there.

Aww, we missed the segment with Sullivan running through the woods in his wrestling trunks (and, if I remember correctly, King Curtis appearing in the sky). FROM THE CESSPOOLS OF BEIRUT TO TOKYO, EVERYWHERE THEY RACE(?) BY THE MILLIONS PER DAY. POISED TO NEVADA (???) OF THE IMMORTAL HULK HOGAN. Kevin Sullivan in a role that will surprise you, that of a groveling nincompoop.

The "no more title shots" thing was just done with the Gangstas--further indications that Cornette is running out of ideas. I wonder if Snow knew the implications of saying that the thief would get a "package in the mail" from Unabomb.

This match was a blast, and was shaping up to be one of the better lucha matches of the year after a super-hot first fall (even before the first fall, with Fuerza and Perro, Jr. going at it). La Parka takes a sick bump off the ringpost and Pentagon is really compelling--kicking Octagon's ass when he blindsides him, but running like a scalded dog when Octagon has a fair shot at him. And holy fuck, that La Parka/Pentagon spot...one of the greatest comedy sequences I've EVER seen. That was some David Copperfield-level shit. Probably the hardest I've laughed at any single thing on any Yearbook so far, once I realized what had happened. All that said, the third fall is a mess with an anticlimactic ending, and that's where this falls comfortably short of being a lucha MOTY. The Octagon-Pentagon story never pays off, and where the fuck WAS Konnan for all this? I literally forgot this was 4-on-4 until he suddenly reappeared at the end. Naturally he gets the winning submission and gets his music played. Hogan-esque.

Not that it excuses it or justifies it, but if it makes you feel any better, Sandman thinks that match is hilarious (there's a shoot where he's downing beer watching it with the interviewer while laughing his ass off).

These matches made the AWA '80s set: Col. DeBeers vs. Buck Zumhoffe (2/23/86) Col. DeBeers vs. Nick Bockwinkel (4/17/86) Col. DeBeers, Buddy Rose, & Doug Somers vs. Nick Bockwinkel, Brad Rheingans, & Steve Pardee (5/31/86) Col. DeBeers, Larry Zbyszko, & Doug Somers vs. Curt Hennig, Greg Gagne, & Jimmy Snuka (7/26/86) Col. DeBeers vs. Crusher Blackwell (ladder match) (11/27/86) Col. DeBeers vs. Jimmy Snuka (diamond glove match) (2/21/87) Col. DeBeers vs. Sgt. Slaughter (boot camp match) (12/13/88) That said...out of 150 matches I personally had the Bockwinkel match as the highest-ranked, at 71. Defenders of DeBeers would note that he was better at working squashes and short TV matches than big long singles features, which may be true but doesn't really bolster a case for a top-100 guy, and I can't see DeBeers being better at TV bouts than a 1-2-3 Kid or Dustin Rhodes, who were true masters of the form. He also had a long run in Portland as plain Ed Wiskowski, and I have no doubt there are some good matches there.

How long of a run did he have as a top-flight worker? Two and a half years, maybe? His "coming out party" seemed to be the Bash at the Beach '94 match with Regal, and it ended with his ACL tear early in '97. He was shit for most of the first part of the '90s and after his injury he effectively reinvented himself as an abusive ratfuck heel, but the matches suffered (not to mention the environment and how conducive to good matches it was). I think a guy with a 2.5-year peak could very easily crack the list, but Mero has almost literally nothing to show for his career outside of that window. A 2.5-year-career guy would need to be a true Best in the World or Best in the Country or even a Best in the Promotion candidate, and Mero was never any of those things. That said--get on the Network and check out the Fall Brawl '94 match with Regal. The Pillman match the next year deservedly gets most of the hype but I love, love, love the previous year's bout as well.

I was really disappointed with this guy compared to the pimping that he got going into the AWA set. Kevin Von Erich was similarly overhyped going into the World Class set but he did have some standout matches and performances. DeBeers had mostly middling performances, some good matches against masterful opponents, and was so shitty on interviews and at playing his character that it tended to detract from the full package. I found the gimmick pretty abhorrent years ago but I was really prepared to go in with an open mind and hope to see a lost worker. It didn't happen.

What are the best Borne in Portland matches? Borne was one of the 3 best guys in the WWF in '93, along with Bret and Jannetty. If you're giving consideration to character work, that run was a huge plus in that regard as well. He had the killer brawl with Kerry Von Erich in World Class. He was part of a fine tag match in Mid-South against JYD & Olympia. I just don't know if he had a sustainable run that would actually get him into a top 100. Borne seemed to be unable to get out of his own way a lot of the time. Big Josh was a colossal disappointment despite a few nice matches. As much as I love Borne as Doink, I think those Portland matches would really need to wow me.

It seemed by the '90s that Shawn had legitimately surpassed Marty with the Rockers. They were fairly even in the AWA, but later on I got the distinct vibe that Shawn was churning out more good performances even before the break-up. That said, I would not hesitate for a second to rank 1993 Jannetty ahead of 1993 Shawn. Jannetty had more good matches with a wider variety of opponents and outworked Shawn in the matches they had with each other. That's as far as I'll go however, and of course that nugget is relatively meaningless to a GOAT list. Shawn had another 15 years' worth of overrated but still strong performances. Jannetty had to remain content with blips of goodness (the Douglas match in ECW, the Angle match) here and there, which I don't think is enough for a Top 100 case.

In earlier Yearbook years I was lamenting that Japan had gotten away from being able to build a match around low blows and displaced turnbuckle pads like in the Liger-Norio Honaga matches.

I don't know how many **** classics it produced but the Flair feud, once Angelo got attacked, was one of the few truly emotionally intense feuds WCW had during the Hulkamania Era. It was instantly a breath of fresh air in an unbelievably sterile promotion. I so don't want to derail the disucssion, but getting fans emotionally invested in a match is a part of wrestling and I think that has to count for something.

Right now, as I'm sitting in mid-'95 in my Yearbook-viewing Mikey is my favorite ECW worker, and I strongly think he'll end up being ECW's best "homegrown" product. Terrific bumper and seller, naturally, but the timing of when to get in his offense has been superb as well. I don't know if it's enough to get him in the list, as he is sort of a one-note poor man's Kikuchi, but he and Richards are the two guys I perk up the most when an ECW segment comes along.

Tugboat was attacked at the end of the (I think) 7/17 Superstars during a squash by Bravo and Earthquake, took two Earthquake splashes, and was stretchered out, knocking him out of SummerSlam. I just felt that segment should have been on the Yearbook--it was a rare booking detour by the WWF at the time, it was a weird bit of circumstances that no one really knows the full story behind (did Tugboat piss somebody off? Was the gimmick just not working? etc.), and on top of that it was the last appearance for Jesse Ventura until coming back for SummerSlam '99. Something for any potential errata set, I think.