ohtani's jacket

Marty Jones & Dave FInlay vs. Mile Zrno & Franz Schumann (Vienna, 8/3/90) I had high hopes for this and it didn't disappoint. Fun, houseshow-esque title match that may be low on grappling skill but makes up for it with attitude. Jones plays a heel here -- a role he was born to play. Lots of fun heel work. Schumann blades, but it's hard to see in the black and white copy I saw. The crowd can smell a title change and are right behind Zrno and Schumann. They scrape out a win and the fans at ringside are extremely happy. Worth watching if you want to see a heel Marty Jones.

The Royals were fans of wrestling long before the Crabtrees got together and thought up the Daddy gimmick. Here's a little excerpt for you: "An entry in Labour cabinet minister Richard Crossman's diary for 1968 recounts a meeting with an unusually jovial Her Majesty The Queen, who is described as "writhing" in delight at the ringmasters' exploits." I believe it was the Duke of Kent who confirmed that the Queen used to "sit up" at 4 o'clock each Saturday and watch the wrestling.And there's that famous story of Princess Anne meeting McManus and remarking: "I didn't recognise you with your clothes on." McManus was buddy buddy with Thatcher and John Major. I'm 100% sure that McManus was a Tory. I'm sure Daddy and Haystacks had plenty of celeb fans. Another oft-told story is the time Frank Sinatra approached Haystacks backstage at the Royal Albert Hall and told him that British wrestlers were the best entertainers in the world. But we're talking about Mick McManus. The main even inspired Peter Blake to paint wrestler portraits. The same Peter Blake who did the cover to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. No matter how you slice it, he was infinitely cooler than Crabtree.

I would be tempted to add Giant Baba vs. Dick the Bruiser (11/24/65). This was the night where Baba won Rikidozan's vacant NWA International Heavyweight Championship -- a clear sign that the JWA was building around Baba in the wake of Rikidozan's death. The '67-71 period was one of the hottest in Japanese wrestling history with nightly sellouts and prime time TV on Fridays and Mondays. Inoki and Baba were the top drawing team in that period. I'm not sure what their biggest match was during that period but they headlined against plenty of big American names. I also mentioned Baba winning the NWA title from Race. Whether that was as important as the first win over Brisco I'm not sure.

Also, after reading Matt Farmer's article and checking cubsfan's site, you really need to add the Santo vs. Aguayo mask vs. hair match to the list. The date was 10/3/75.

Since I was being lazy here are the dates for these: There was some discrepancy about which matches aired on the 1/13/65 broadcast so I would nix those. I forgot that McManus and Pallo had a rematch on the '63 Cup FInal Day show. The date was 5/25/63. I believe this is the match that was claimed to have been seen by over 20 million people.

McManus/Pallo wasn't that bloody long ago. I ask you this, Parv: Were the Stones fans of Big Daddy? http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BK_187mCQAIHdDO.jpg:large Was Prince Philip eager to meet him? http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/05/22/article-2329043-0040428A00000258-352_634x462.jpg Did Big Daddy get to horse around with Tony Cooper? http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/05/22/article-2329043-0060B09500000258-611_634x531.jpg Did he put Pete Murray in headlocks? http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/media/images/67896000/jpg/_67896015_3167552.jpg McManus is in the National Biography for crying out loud. I know there are people who push hard for Daddy in the HOF each year, but McManus was the most famous and important wrestler in the history of British wrestling.

#285 I like this match. It's not as epic as their 1/97 match, obviously, and it's a bit too lenient with the back and forth action, but they work really hard to bring Kobashi up to Misawa's level. I don't think they could have had the 1/97 match without having a match like this along the way. Since there's been a lot of Jumbo on the list thus far, I noticed a contrast between how guys were elevated against the two aces, Tsuruta and Misawa. With Jumbo, Misawa & Co. had to overcome his size advantage on a constant basis as he had so much more power and strength than them. Whereas Misawa's rivals had to outgun and outmaneuver him. All Japan under Misawa became much more move focused. That's odd to say in a promotion that also valued selling, psychology and build, but it really is the ultimate video game wrestling. You could stick a life meter on either side of the screen and watch it tick down as they hit their shit. Is it any wonder we were all into this at the same time we were playing Tekken? Another thing this match did was reacquaint me with what a beautiful seller Misawa was. His early 90s stuff had me wondering whether I was wrong to think that Misawa was one of the all-time great sellers, but it's clear to me now that he didn't become a sublime seller until his all-round ability peaked in 1994. Sure he has certain quirks that are picked up in close-up, but he sells a stretch run like nobody else. This wasn't for all the marbles, but it was a five setter in a Grand Slam, 9th innings of a World Series game, triple over-time in a playoff game... you get the idea.

I think you share the same general reaction that the footage received when it first aired on Classics. The clipped version was long considered a five star match, but people wound up thinking that Chigusa vs. Devil had the better psychology and build and that Lioness vs. Jaguar was spotty. I haven't seen the match in years. I imagine it's the type of thing I'd go back and forward on depending on how much I could get into the rhythm.

Elliot, Baba swapping the NWA title with Race prior to Jumbo becoming the ace was important. Also Baba winning the NWA International Heavyweight title that later became part of the Triple Crown.

Parv & Alan, I get that Haystacks and Daddy were household names, and still are to some extent years after their deaths, but people having some vague idea that they fought at "Wembley" doesn't make it the most important match in British wrestling history. Not when they sold out Wembley two years prior with Daddy vs. Quinn and not when it led to a downturn in wrestling's popularity instead of adding to it like McManus/Pallo did. Aside from the fact that Daddy vs. Haystacks was held at Wembley Arena and not the Wembley Town Hall, I can't think of a single reason why Daddy/Haystacks was better, or more important, than McManus/Pallo, other than the generation that witnessed McManus vs. Pallo has largely died out. McManus/Pallo was the better match, had the better build, did the better rating (per head of population/TV set), led to greater things in terms of wrestling's popularity, and the pair hobnobbed with the Queen Mother, the Duke of Edinburgh, Sandie Shaw, the Beatles and Richard Attenborough not bloody Noel Edmund and Bruce Foresyth. Wrestling was never more mainstream or accepted in England than it was in the 60s. The reason I mentioned the match not being well remembered is that I don't think people are actually reminiscing upon the match. 1981 was a long time ago. People may have fond memories of Botham in the Ashes but the better judge of how important the Botham Ashes were is how relevant they were at the time. I don't think the Haystacks/Daddy match mattered a month later let alone a year. They actually rode a re-match into the ground when Daddy won convincingly enough. I already mentioned knowing about Andre vs. Hogan long before I ever saw it and I think Daddy vs. Haystacks is folklore at best. And to be frank, if that's the most important match in British wrestling history then the history of British wrestling is pretty sad. Thankfully. it's not -- on both accounts.

It's important because there was a tiny article about it in the Guardian that's not even about the match? 1981 wasn't the peak of British wrestling and the rating for Daddy vs. Haystacks has never been proven. It's speculative like the rating for McManus/Pallo in '62. If Haystacks vs. Daddy was so important why did they never run Wembley again? Why did so many guys jump to Dixon the following year? How come Dale Martin/Joint Promotions began a massive slide thereafter? I give Daddy all the credit in the world for picking up Dale Martin & Joint's business in the mid-to-late 70s and sustaining it for a good ten years longer than it might have lasted after British wrestling's peak in the mid-60s, but arguing that Daddy/Haystacks is the most important match, or even show, in that era of British wrestling reminds me of the argument that Big Egg Universe was the crown jewel of Joshi shows.

So are you saying your girlfriend watched Daddy vs. Haystacks in '81 or that she knows it from Noel Edmund's House Party and the Generation Game? The bout may be famous but that doesn't make it important. What is so important about Big Daddy vs. Giant Haystacks?

I doubt you'd find that many people these days that remember a match from '81. Old-time fans don't remember it with any fondness. It killed the territory and was shit. People may remember Big Daddy and his entrance but I bet the majority of those remember Big Daddy from his post-81 years much like I first saw Hogan after he'd wrestled Andre. Anyway, it's not the most important match in British wrestling history. Let's bury that.

For Japan, the All Japan Woman's Pro Wrestling Championship all-star shows on 9/10/55 and 9/11/55 were important and on 1/4/56 and 1/5/56 too. The Japan Woman's Pro Wrestling Association's first show on 4/29/67 was important too, and Moolah's tour from 3/2 to 4/2 of '68. Matsunaga breaking away and forming All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling in June of that year was even more influential. All Japan's first TV show on Fuji TV on 12/1/68 drew a massive 18.9% rating and was another key moment. The first AJW show at Budokan deserves a mention too -- 11/1/77 headlined by a 60 minute Jackie Sato vs. Maki Ueda match. 1981 saw a passing of the torch with three title changes on the 2/25 show. Jaguar beat Jackie Sato for the WWWA title, Nancy Kumi & Ayumi Hori beat Mami Kumano & Devil Masami for the WWWA tag team titles and Mimi Hagiwara beat Yumi Ikeshita for the All Pacific title. That was a huge deal at the time. Dump Matsumoto's retirement was significant in terms of the impact it had on business. You can probably point to some match where the style began predominantly go-go-go, too.

#280 This was all right. I'm not exactly predisposed towards liking this match. I mean you'd have to be a pretty big All Japan fan to care about what these four workers could do in a midcard match, and to be honest I thought there were better matches earlier in the list that were positioned the same, like the Blondes vs. Scorpio & Bagwell or Kikihara & Sakuraba vs. Lydick & Nelson.

I think you need to make a distinction between trios matches and trios groups. Of course there were trios matches before the Misioneros, and even trios groups. La Ola Blanca spring to mind as a famous rudo trio that existed prior to the Misioneros. But if you look at the history of Golden Age lucha, tag teams were far more prevalent than trios groups. Even La Ola Blanca were primarily a tag team. The Misioneros were responsible for an explosion of trio groups. They may, or may not, be responsible for trios wrestling becoming the standard match type in Mexico but it's hard to imagine that there would have been so many copy-cat groups had they not been red hot. Not only that, but they broke the barriers down for lighter wrestlers main eventing. How much the Misioneros' run means now is interesting. Trios wrestling may still be the predominant form of wrestling in Mexico, but the number of trios groups has dramatically reduced from the mid-80s and you'd be hard pressed to argue that there's an influential trio group in Mexico today. The Misioneros certainly changed the landscape as tag title belts are nowhere near as important or prestigious as they were in the 40s-60s (when there were no sanctioned trios belts.)

Speaking of Inoki, the match where he beat Gotch in '72 drew a huge rating and was the reason why NJPW was given a prime time slot on Friday nights. He had a number of other important fights too -- the interpromotional match with Strong Kobayashi, the shoot angle with Tiger Jeet Singh, his MMA bout with Ruska, which drew a huge TV rating, then in the early 80s the promotion vs. promotion angle with IWE.

Where there's smoke there's fire. She was tough to work with and wasn't the most popular woman within Joshi puroresu.

As for lucha, I recommend reading these two articles by Matt Farmer: http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/10/08/the-importance-of-lucha-libre-in-september-part-one/ http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/10/28/the-importance-of-lucha-libre-in-september-part-two/

If I were a podcast guy, I think I would have a show about whether this match killed the territory. The two matches that old time British fans always talk about are the Kendo Nagasaki vs. Count Bartelli mask vs. mask match and the White Angel vs. Doctor Death mask match. People probably don't think of British wrestling when they think mask matches but Bartelli had worn his for 20 year when Nagasaki unmasked him and Doctor Death was a massive draw. Neither of these matches drew huge crowds by US or Japanese standards but the number of people who claimed they were there has grown exponentially over the years. The McManus vs. Pallo Cup Final Day match from '62 is another major match in British wrestling history and drew a huge television rating. People often talk about the night Prince Philip was at the Royal Albert Hall but that was more for his appearance than any particular match. If you're going to include Daddy vs. Haystacks then you should also include Daddy vs. Quinn from Wembley. I'm pretty sure Bert Assirati had some big matches back in the day. I know of one famous one against The French Angel Maurice Tillet. If we're talking about important matches then the success of the first TV show ought to carry some weight. The matches on that show were Francis St. Clair Gregory vs. Mike Marino and Cliff Beaumont vs.Bert Royal. The peak of the TV success was an episode in 1965 that drew 7.3 million viewers. The matches were Roy Bull Davis vs. Billy Howes and Johnny Eagle vs. Ken Cadman. Not the most famous pair of matches in British wrestling history but possibly the most watched.

#279 Volk is pretty to watch even when it's just him dismantling an opponent. Not sure how this got so high considering it was little more than a squash, but it was fun to watch.

#276 This is totally new to me. Oya didn't look like much of a wrestler. That was a surprise to me at first. His matwork was a bit awkward, but it was gritty enough to keep me interested. The heat segment on Hayabusa in this match was incredibly long. It reached the point that I kind of admired how belligerent Oya was being. Hayabusa's offense in his first comeback was ridiculous. His second comeback was much better. It was a layered comeback that made Loss' praise seem warranted. In fact, it's hard to disagree with the notion that the stretch run was as good as anything outside of All Japan. The Osaka crowd ate it up in a big way and made it seem like a star making performance from Hayabusa. Pretty good match once you distill what's going on.

Volador Jr. vs. Cavernario, NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship, CMLL 10/7/16 Well, it was obvious watching this that CMLL title matches are no longer mat-based classics but generic singles matches, and that lucha is more influenced by outside influences than ever before. That said, I still enjoyed this. What I liked about it was that the rudo, Cavernario, had the momentum for most of the bout. and the tecnico, Volador Jr, had to keep fighting back even after he'd squared things up. Not only were the dives crazy, it also felt like they were right on cue. There's nothing quite as pretty in lucha as a dive that happens exactly when it ought to. You're into the flow of the match, the timing is right for the dive, and off they go. Of course, it helps that Cavernario is mental. He takes some of the nuttiest bumps in the history of lucha. It's like Psicosis turned up to 11. I don't watch a lot of Volador Jr., so I found a lot of his offense novel. I could see how it would wear thin if he does it in every match, and I wasn't sure how much of it was the way Cavernario took the bump, but that sunset flip thing he does where it looks like he piledrives the guy was a hell of a punctuation mark to end a fall. The shit they did on the set sucked, but that's one of those things where as soon as one guy does it, everybody has to do it, and they're constantly having to up the ante. It seemed WWE influenced to me. There was nothing authentically "lucha" about it, but they wiped the bad taste of my mouth pretty quickly, and overall I have mostly positive things to say about this.

#287 I'd been wanting to see Al Snow but hadn't been able to find any of his stuff so far. He looks like he stole Rick "The Model" Martel's kit bag! The early part of the match was filled with all sorts of US staples. There were plenty of leapfrogs and criss-cross spots, armdrags and hiptosses. There was even a fireman's carry and a backslide. It almost felt old-fashioned in a way. Solid, but not as exciting as watching Crockett workers do it during the Kip Frey era of WCW, for example. I thought Snow hiding under the ring was stupid and the payoff made it pointless. After that, he tried to up the stakes a bit with state-of-the-art offense like the powerbomb and a release german, but Jannetty didn't have the arsenal to match him. The finishing stretch was okay, but I never got the feeling I was watching anything special. My feelings were encapsulated by the finish -- "he held onto the tights. Is that it??" Afterwards, one of the commentators mentioned off-camera that it was a hell of a match and that it was a shame that the crowd weren't into it more, but I think they were a bit too caught up in the old-school psychology of working the arm, wearing your man down and thinking two or three moves ahead to notice that Snow and Jannetty hadn't done enough to get the crowd invested. Not at a time when the bar was being constantly raised by the 90s workrate heroes. Snow seemed like a solid worker, but that "Sensational" Rick Martel shtick barely played its way into the match once the bell had rung and I think that was a big shortcoming since Jannetty wasn't really the most charismatic of dudes even in his Rockers days. . So, a bit disappointing, but we'll see if anymore Al Snow makes the list.

What does WOTD stand for? Wrestler of the decade?