ohtani's jacket

If I didn't make it clear, I'd take Kandori and Nakamura out of the top 100.

#91 Shinsuke Nakamura Kota Ibushi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (NJPW 1/4/15) I honestly can't remember which Nakamura New Japan matches I've seen. There's a good chance that I've seen this before. I know that I definitely haven't seen his WWE work, but I figured that he made the top 100 based mostly on his New Japan run. His entrance immediately reminded me of why I never vibed with Nakamura. His look was different for wrestling but not different from what a lot of non-salary men types are continuing to do today. He borrowed a lot of his showmanship from punk rock and J-Rock, and part of me thinks I should like it, but at the end of the day my Japanese wrestling hero is Akira Maeda and Nakamura is not Akira Maeda. He's fairly restrained here (by Nakamura standards) outside of his entrance. The problem is that Ibushi isn't that interesting. Nakamura may act like he's on speed, but Ibushi is plain boring. I liked the finishing stretch here, but five stars? Not in my sky.

This was presumably part of the build to the Hokuto/Satomura singles match. It's a typically messy GAEA match that favors heat over match structure. They cram a good 25 minute match into 13 minutes, which may be merciful depending on how much you like Joshi. The finish is exciting and the post match brawling is cool. You definitely leave feeling you've seen something good even if it's not quite as good as it could have been. Ozaki isn't far removed from her prime. She gives herself a hideous, unnecessary crimson mask, scraps, gets thrown around like a ragdoll, and sells great. I don't think she quite clicks with Hokuto as they're too similar, but she doesn't detract from the main storyline of Hokuto going after mother bear and baby cub. The Hokuto/Satomura match is one of the great matches of the early 00s, IMO, which makes the setup worth seeing even if it's pure setup rather than a great match on its own.

#92 Mayumi Ozaki Ozaki is a bit of a strange one. She has an overall 9.14 rating, but cagematch users have only rated a small fraction of her matches. It's a mix of her most well-known matches and random stuff from this century that I've never heard of. I'm intrigued by that stuff, but at the same time I'm not sure that I trust cagematch ratings. Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura (GAEA 3/11/01) This was presumably part of the build to the Hokuto/Satomura singles match. It's a typically messy GAEA match that favors heat over match structure. They cram a good 25 minute match into 13 minutes, which may be merciful depending on how much you like Joshi. The finish is exciting and the post match brawling is cool. You definitely leave feeling you've seen something good even if it's not quite as good as it could have been. Ozaki isn't far removed from her prime. She gives herself a hideous, unnecessary crimson mask, scraps, gets thrown around like a ragdoll, and sells great. I don't think she quite clicks with Hokuto as they're too similar, but she doesn't detract from the main storyline of Hokuto going after mother bear and baby cub. The Hokuto/Satomura match is one of the great matches of the early 00s, IMO, which makes the setup worth seeing even if it's pure setup rather than a great match on its own.

This was pretty great. Wrestlers, I'm telling you, if you hate a guy, I mean really, really hate a guy, it's much better if you beat him up in and around the ring than in the bowels of the arena. Just letting you now. This obviously had great heat and a ton of fantastic violence. I loved how much Joe was enjoying throwing cats around at the start of the match. It was a nice bit of juxtaposition to the rage he showed after the bout was over. I like Necro Butcher. I mean, how could you not? He looks like a mentally ill vagrant, and has such a simple, direct approach to wrestling. Loved all of his exchanges with Joe, and the exchanges with Whitmer. Super Dragon was low key great in a style of bout that you don't automatically associate him with. Hero seemed to be ducking the action a bit. Perhaps the camera man wasn't following him, or the editor didn't find any shots he liked. I thought his selling was a bit iffy at times. They could have trimmed the fat a bit, but it was a heck of a spectacle, and a great set up for the Cage of Death match.

I may be the only person in PWO history excited for a Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels match. The thing I appreciate about this match is that it's a non-standard WWE match. It feels like Michaels and Orton are working instead of acting out some predetermined match layout. You can argue that the work doesn't go anywhere but at least it feels organic. I've ragged on Michaels a bunch in the past, but I really like this 2005-07 period of his comeback. He brought back a lot of old-school matwork during this run. At a time when everyone was trying to mimic the UFC, he was out there getting pops off a backslide. Orton is also strangely non-formulaic for a guy who everyone says can't work. The finish of the match is amusing. Michaels spazzes out after hitting the Savage elbow, trying to get the crowd into it. It's classic over-the-top Michaels bullshit. He tunes up the band and Orton hits him in the balls while he's going for the superkick. It's a bullshit finish in terms of Orton getting DQ'ed and retaining his title. That's a crappy rule that doesn't make any sense. Why didn't Orton just low blow him in the opening minute if he didn't care about losing the bout? At the same time, Michaels it for all of his carry-on before the superkick. I enjoyed this match for the most part, but the finish pretty much ruined it.

I was expecting this to be a bigger style match with plenty of nearfalls, though to be honest I don't know if that was McGuinness' style of match. Instead, this was tightly focused on head shots and attempts to decapitate each other using the ropes on moves to the outside. It was brutal at times, but captivating. Maybe it's me, but I don't think you should be allowed to hit a guy with a tope when he has his back turned to you. Topes are dangerous at the best of times let alone when get hit from behind. I'm guessing he was concussed. I don't think his selling was that good. Then again, he was able to continue with the match, so who really knows. I was into the finish. I don't know my ROH title lineage so I thought Aries might pull it off. Good fight even if it was a bit hairy at times.

This was OK, I guess. It kind of showed an alternative universe where Morishima was a classic pro-wrestling heel instead of a working big man. I don't know if either version is truly satisfying. This was one of those matches where Danielson's goofy selling reminds me of Backlund except Backlund never had the vicious offense that Danielson dishes out.

#93 Necro Butcher Necro Butcher may be the lowest cagematch ranked wrestler to make the top 100 at 6.96. Team CZW (Chris Hero, Necro Butcher & Super Dragon) vs. Team ROH (Adam Pearce, BJ Whitmer & Samoa Joe) (ROH, 4/22/06) This was pretty great. Wrestlers, I'm telling you, if you hate a guy, I mean really, really hate a guy, it's much better if you beat him up in and around the ring than in the bowels of the arena. Just letting you now. This obviously had great heat and a ton of fantastic violence. I loved how much Joe was enjoying throwing cats around at the start of the match. It was a nice bit of juxtaposition to the rage he showed after the bout was over. I like Necro Butcher. I mean, how could you not? He looks like a mentally ill vagrant, and has such a simple, direct approach to wrestling. Loved all of his exchanges with Joe, and the exchanges with Whitmer. Super Dragon was low key great in a style of bout that you don't automatically associate him with. Hero seemed to be ducking the action a bit. Perhaps the camera man wasn't following him, or the editor didn't find any shots he liked. I thought his selling was a bit iffy at times. They could have trimmed the fat a bit, but it was a heck of a spectacle, and a great set up for the Cage of Death match. Claudio's cameo at the end was better than anything in the AEW match. There's your Claudio match, folks.

Man, I wanna see those matches.

You could kind of sense it coming, though I don't think anyone expected it to be mid-series. I wish he had held on a little longer, but NZ don't play enough test cricket for him to reach the milestones I was hoping for. I'd still call Hadlee our greatest cricketer, but Williamson is definitely our finest batsman.

#94 Claudio Castagnoli Same deal as Kingston. Kenny Omega, Swerve Strickland, The Opps (Katsuyori Shibata, Powerhouse Hobbs & Samoa Joe) & Willow Nightingale (w/Prince Nana) vs. Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley, Marina Shafir & Wheeler Yuta) & The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson & Nicholas Jackson), Anarchy In The Arena Match (AEW, 5/25/25) What the fuck was this? This was one of the worst matches I've seen in my entire life. I hated crowd brawling and backstage fights while it was happening in the 90s. Why would I want to watch a pussified version of it in 2025? I think Claudio was the guy fighting Fat Joe. He did his giant swing a couple of times later in the match. God the shit later on was awful. The Bucks are awful. Kenny Omega is awful. Claudio deserved a better match than this, but Dave and his wrestling midlife crisis gave this five stars. The CZW match was so much better. I need to go watch a classic concession brawl to wash the taste of this match out of my mouth with mustard and ketchup.

That's probably true. I was just getting into it and it ended. I might watch it again at some point knowing that it goes short.

#95 Eddie Kingston Team Cash (Chris Cash, JC Bailey, Nate Webb & Sexxxy Eddy) vs. BLKOUT (Jack Evans, King, Ruckus & Sabian) (w/Maven Bentley & Robby Mireno) (c), CZW Tag Team Title Cage Of Death War Games Match (CZW, 12/11/04) I've only seen a handful of Eddie Kingston matches, though I'm aware of the following he has. Multi-man matches aren't the best way to judge a worker, but the rules are the rules and if I start making exceptions now I'm going to start cherry picking the type of matches I want to see. This was early in Kingston's career, so I'm not going to make too many judgements. It was a wild indie War Games match with more than a few insane spots. Kingston is eliminated fairly early on. The biggest impression he leaves is probably before the bout starts when he's jawing with the fans. I don't know where the line between the person and the performer was drawn, but he came across as legit. His work was sloppy and unathletic, but he was good at selling and was involved in some cool spots. I liked the shot of him selling his hand. That type of attention to detail will always get you extra points. Kingston kinda came out of this match unscathed compared to a lot of the other dudes. There was a part where a guy put a trash can over his head and did a moonsault off the top of the cage. I couldn't decide whether it was mad genius or the stupidest shit I'd ever seen. Props for staying inside the can though. There was a spot afterwards where he was upside down in the can with his legs sticking out. It was like a kid playing with his action figures or something. Some of the eliminations off the top of the cage to the outside were ill-advised. They were lucky no-one broke their neck. I don't love these types of matches, but I'm not a complete puritan. I doubt I'll ever watch it again, but as a one time deal there was enough batshit insanity for me to keep an eye on. Dudes marking out with their bros probably enjoyed it more. Eddie Kingston was a part of this match. That's all I've got.

#96 Shinobu Kandori We've come a long way since the days of people believing Kandori was carried at Dream Slam. I don't think we should dismiss those opinions of Kandori outright. There's value in figuring out why the Kunzes and Lorefices felt that way about her as a worker. It's not as though people have been doing a deep dive on Kandori's JWP and LLPW work. Jetlag did some of the legwork on that, but let's face it, it requires watching a lot of LLPW. Aside from the odd match or two, voters are drawing from the same pool of matches. Fans in the past had access to the same matches -- the Hokuto feud, the Bull chain match, the Devil Masami match, etc. Kandori's case isn't based on anything new except for perhaps some recommended JWP bouts and the Devil handheld. So what has changed in the intervening years? Shinobu Kandori vs. Yumiko Hotta (LLPW, 3/21/98) I pretty much hate Yumiko Hotta, so I thought this would be like eating my Brussels sprouts. Then I started watching it and, in the moment, I thought it was awesome. Hotta was bleeding, and there was a bunch of cool shoot style shit. At one point, I thought it was easily the best match I've watched thus far. Then it ended after 12 minutes. Jesus fuck. This thing was not paced to end after 12 minutes. At least not as far as my biological viewing clock is concerned. How the hell this got 9.26 on cagematch is beyond me. So, what does the match tell us about Kandori? She was good at making scowling faces. She was good at projecting an image of being legit tough because of a combination of her background and rep. She leaned into her Mr. Joshi Puroresu gimmick with her attitude and manner of speaking. She was good at strikes and flash submissions. She had a charisma that was based not only on her toughness but her sense of humor and appearances on variety shows and in comedy sketch pieces. She wasn't very good at selling or transitions. She couldn't carry the narrative of the match. She wasn't a storyteller. This is just my personal take, and perhaps I'm pissed at the match ending after 12 minutes, but I think people are buying into Kandori's image over her actual ability. Her best matches were against Hokuto, Bull and Devil. Great storytellers, great at pushing a narrative. Kandori was a unique and interesting foil, but I don't think a foil should be making the top 100. A creator should make the top 100. She's the first wrestler who I think is undeserving of the top 100, especially because there were a number of better Joshi wrestlers who fell below her.