ohtani's jacket

Not sure how I feel about this Parka rating. I get why he's beloved, but I'd like to think I've watched more Parka than the average guy, and I dunno... if you're looking at it from the perspective of how many good Parka matches can I find, you won't be disappointed, but if you ever sit down and watch Parka week-to-week, he's less compelling.

His name is Volk Han, he’s a Russian mat wizard, and he does magic tricks. And his theme music is epic.

Inoki beating Fujinami is wild. Why stop here? Let’s win this thing.

God, Parv would hate this.

That's one!

I really wanna see who Inoki takes down on the list. I hope he's not next Sill conning folks from the afterlife.

It's the "Let's go Cena! Cena sucks effect!"

I wouldn't argue with anyone who voted him higher than #1.

I had a hard time getting into this as I don't buy Morishima as a monster heel, and I don't care about Danielson's quest to win back the ROH title. There were some nice strike exchanges, and I liked the finish, but MOTY? I guess if you care about Danielson's eye a whole bunch. He seemed to base the entire match off UWF-i tapes, which is another big turnoff for me. I'm not why people were so hyped for Morishima at the time. This is several steps down from what Samoa Joe brought to the table, and not even a good Vader facsimile.

Who were these 200;+ people who didn't vote for Fujiwara? Name them.

I would take Sting vs. Vader, Cactus Jack, The Dangerous Alliance and Regal over Cena's entire career. Though, to be fair, Cena had about a half a dozen great matches.

I liked a lot of the concepts in this match, like Orton continually working the head and returning to the side headlock/sleeper, and the intensity levels were good (easily Cena's biggest match since Mania), but there were a lot of poor transitions. Lawler tried to sell it as a sign of how quickly the momentum could change, but you know the King had better transitions in his matches. Cena's spotty selling didn't help matters. It's not easy to sell during a comeback, especially when you've popped up all of a sudden. Cena knew he should stumble about a bit after hitting his move, but he was never very good at that type pf selling and by the end he had given up completely. Orton doesn't get enough credit for his ability to wrestle like a snake. Lawler alluded to him being like a boa constrictor when he had Cena tied up on the mat, but it's his viper-like selling that I enjoy, especially when he's about the strike for the RKO. I'm sure folks got sick of it over time, but Orton was pretty damn good at character work and his selling was great. Look at the way he sells the thought process about the punt. It was ruined by a shitty Cena counter, but it was a great piece of selling. Some of his other shit was weak, but I really liked that sequence. If the finish had been better, this may have flirted with four stars, but that pop up for the FU was atrocious. Shame on whoever booked that.

Why are we worried about Sting when Cena is still on the table?

Onita is a nice pick for #50. I find him kind of worthless as a wrestler, but he's a cool character. Volk should have been higher. If Sting vs. The NWO had a payoff, I'd be down with this placement. But it didn't. Surfer Sting is great.

You're welcome to post this as my blurb for Satanico if you like.

Shoot style is a tough sell. If Tamura had a G-1 run, he'd probably fare better, but then he wouldn't be Tamura.

I'm old. I had a hard enough time using the google form.

Disappointed that Devil, Satanico and Tamura didn't make the top 50. I can understand voters having cold feet over those styles of wrestling, but other wrestlers from those styles finished higher.

Folks really like Gunther, huh? That's an extremely high debut. Don't really care about The Rock's placement.

Arn pins Hogan again! That's a classic picture of Double A.

Suzuki's bleached blond hair made him look like a crazy albino. This was a good match. It was mostly centered around the mat given Suzuki's rep and the canvas being the place where Mutoh felt the least amount of physical pain. Once again, I enjoyed Mutoh's work despite my head telling me I shouldn't. Personally, I think he was just as good as Kobashi at overcoming his physical limitations, though Kobashi's highs were higher. A lot of that had to do with the respective health of their promotions, however. I didn't love Suzuki's performance, but I've made peace with the fact that he's not Fujiwara. He shows flashes of greatness, but he spends too much time poking his tongue out and sneering instead of crafting a masterpiece. Others may find this Fujiwarian but not me.

I like a lot of stuff Hogan did early in his career before Vince took wrestling out of the bingo halls. The early Andre matches are slobber knockers. Even after he developed his formula, he mostly brought his working boots. He moved fairly well for a guy his size. I dunno. It's hard to hate on 80s Hogan. When I think of bad Hogan, it's monster trucks, Thunder in Paradise, and Dungeon of Doom.

Muto falls. What's that old saying about death, taxes, and people loving Kenji Muto? I remember back in the tape trading days belonging to match review groups where you'd get a free tape based on what the group voted for. It was maddening how many people wanted Muto tapes. I've gotta admit that I've softened on Muto over time. There was a time when I would have expressed my displeasure at this result, but I enjoyed watching Shining Wizard Muto against Kawada and Tenryu, Perhaps it was seeing his face plastered all over vending machines and outside pachinko parlors. For a long time, he was one of the most visible wrestlers whenever I was out and about.

Huge second fall comeback from Mistico. I've noticed that his resurgence has led to renewed interest in his older stuff. The last time I watched an Asuka match was around 2010, and I've never seen an Iyo Sky match. I should probably do something about that. Ishii I'm cool with. I used to have a low opinion of Dusty's ring work, but I became a fan watching old Florida clips. I don't think people comment enough on how hard he worked to get into shape in the late 70s as he was gearing up the NWA title. Dude was lean. Lithe, if you will. I do think his promo work is a factor, but how could it not? I could listen to Dusty commentate over his own footage for hours. In fact, I have. I don't get the Cody talking point considering that both Dusty and Dustin finished above him. I think it's more of pushback to the idea that Dusty sucked in the ring; The same thing happened to a lesser degree with Bruno and Superstar Graham.

Man, if only shodate had voted. Maybe he did.