ohtani's jacket

#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.

Sorry, I was mistaken about the Thompson/St. Clair match. I thought it was brought up as an example of a straight fall finish due to an injury and misremembered it completely. Mistakes aside, I still don't see the comparison. The only comparison I can see is that they're both straight fall, 2-0 victories. You seem to be arguing that myself and others would only consider the two submission victory as legitimate, but that was never the argument. The argument was about the execution of the KO finish. I think everyone can agree that the Leduc finish is well-booked. I think it's better than the finish to Thompson/St. Clair, which is fairly standard. Thompson/St. Clair isn't an injury finish or a KO finish, so there's not a lot to compare. Yes, it's effectively the same result, but one is significantly more dramatic than the other. I think Leduc gets an out for the injured "belly." I don't know whether it was his ribs or not. The commentator says he has a cut above the eye. He gets thrown over the top rope by the hair prior to the first finish, and is punched multiple times during the second fall. It's a beating, and a rather stunning one as far a the crowd is concerned. The commentator keeps harping on about the violence. Calling it an out makes it seem cheap, which I don't want to accuse it of being, but it definitely sets up the possibility of a rematch, and I don' think it makes Leduc look weak in any shape or form. A lot of the injury finishes in WoS are sold as unlucky. It's a different type of finisher. Off the top of my head, the only thing I remember being similar to Borreau's move in terms of impact is Kendo's finisher.

Nobody thought Thompson was going to beat St. Clair in that bout except for Thompson's mother. A draw would have been a good result for Thompson. It's not a matter of technical skill or a reflection on Thompson's ability. It's the perception that the promoters created about the weight classes. Lighter wrestlers weren't supposed to beat heavier wrestlers. That's why they "gained" weight to move up a class. If you want to call St. Clair's victory an upset then yes, the injury was an out. I don't consider it an out since I don't think there was any way Thompson was winning, and I don't think they would have booked Thompson to beat St. Clair in the first place since it doesn't make any sense and doesn't help business. The only way I could see Thompson winning was if they were moving him up a class and wanted to give him an extra push, but I'm not sure they'd use a rookie to put him over. The entire point of the match was to give the new kid a rub without making Thompson look bad. It's so commonplace that you don't batter an eyelid. The Leduc match, on the other hand, was completely out of the ordinary. There's a difference between destroying an opponent with two KOs and a typical injury finish. No one is arguing that the former isn't legitimate. You can't seem to distinguish the difference. I don't know why. If you watch the Leduc match properly, you will see the case for foul play. In any event, it's a great finish and there's no reason to turn it into a thesis on why everyone is wrong about the finishes in WoS. They're not even connected. I would be extremely surprised if any booker, or worker, in the UK ever had the finish to that Leduc match in mind when they came up with some cheap way to finish the match without jobbing.

Borreau/Leduc and Thompson/St. Clair are like chalk and cheese. IIRC, Thompson vs. St. Clair is a catchweight contest. It isn't realistic in that context for Thompson to defeat St. Clair, so they have to think of a polite way for St. Clair to win without making Thompson look bad. I can't remember if Thompson held a championship bout at the time, but he was one of the top wrestlers in his weight class. It's a nice little finish where everyone can say hard luck and carry on with their lives. I don't really consider it to be an out. Borreau/Leduc was unequivocally an out because Leduc put Borreau over in a way where he could claim he was injured and demand a rematch when healthy. He could even claim foul play if they wanted to go down that route. There's nothing clean about that victory, though it is decisive. Knockouts can be clean finishes, but this wasn't one of them. And your typical injury finish on WoS is about as far from clean as Giant Haystacks' drawers. Having said that, it was a finish they used a lot, so I imagine most viewers were used to it. But was it ever good? Rarely. I actually think they were limited in how they could apply the KO finishes since ITV didn't allow an excessive amount of violence and so flying over the top rope and injuring yourself led to a lot of the finishes rather than forearm smash knocking someone unconscious.

#97 Barry Windham Barry Windham is another guy whom cagematch users don't think that highly of. I wonder if there's a correlation between cagematch votes and how territories guys fared. Arn Anderson, Ric Flair & Tully Blanchard vs. Barry Windham, Lex Luger & Sting (NWA, 3/31/88) This was a fun match with a super hot crowd. Kind of a precursor to those great six mans during the Dangerous Alliance era. Windham was the workhorse for his side, but everyone brought their working boots and Luger did a surprisingly good job as the FIP. The Horsemen were great, however it was Arn who stole the show again with his comedic facials. I wouldn't have said no to another five minutes, but you knew at some point the Horsemen would cheat to win. Not exactly a showcase for Barry, but he shone in his role, which is a large part of the case for Barry -- he always looks good, no matter what sort of match you put him in. I do think it's a bit troubling how low his match ratings are, though, especially compared to a guy like Hero. It may be increasingly difficult to convince the younger generations that Barry was a special talent when he has so few matches over 8.0.

We are not talking about squash matches. We're talking about matches where they don't want one wrestler to go over the other cleanly. I will say this about knockouts, though. The ones in the 40s and 50s clips are much better than the KO finishes from later on. There are only a handful of British wrestlers that I could convincingly believe could deliver a knockout to another wrestler in the same manner. Pat Roach, Kendo Nagasaki, Fit Finlay. That's about it.

Anytime you're too injured to continue it's an out. That's why Joint Promotions bookers ran the finish over and over again. This idea you have about knockout finishes is delulu, or whatever it is the kids say these days.

I don't know what the official result of the Leduc match was, but he couldn't come out of the corner for the next round despite being given an extra minute's rest. In my books that's an injury finish. Is it a KO? I dunno. Does it matter? He isn't technically knocked out, but he can't answer the count because of the injury. Whatever it is, it's devastating. The audience were cleared shocked, both at the venue at at home. It's shocking because you don't expect to see Leduc manhandled like that. You can't pretend that it was common place. If it were common place, it wouldn't have received that sort of reaction. Was it more effective than Le Borreau de Bethune scoring two falls over Leduc and winning the bout? Maybe. Either way it would have been a shock. The reality is that Leduc losing this way gives him an out of not having lost by pin or submission. It gets Le Borreau de Bethune over while helping Leduc save face. It's classic booking not some magic European formula. Again, for all this talk about technical wrestling, you're once more showing you love for brutality. Come over to the dark side.

You can't compare the finish to Leduc/Le Bourreau de Bethune to the cheap, poorly executed, ineffectual finishes you're talking about. I'm fairly certain those smart people who scoffed at you understand that KO finishes can be effective when done right. Unfortunately, British wrestling had many weak finishes that hurt the overall quality of the matches. It's a reality that you have to factor in when assessing the matches, and has nothing to do with the great finish to this match.

I guess favorite targets like Sayama and Brody have rebounded while Race and Dynamite Kid haven't. In the case of DK, I don't think people take into account his WoS work, his Calgary stuff, or even his Portland work. That said, his positives amount to an extremely short career. It's really a matter of whether you think his execution is deserving of his rep.

Hey, look, it's Roderick Strong! He's one of the greatest workers of all-time! Okay, that's not really fair to Strong, who's a really good worker, but look at him, he's the absolute definition of a good hand. Maybe he gets better over time, but I don't see how you can watch this match and not think Aries is the better wrestler. Aries probably does a little too much at times, but he's always moving about keeping things interesting. These two were tag partners and had a nasty break-up. Interestingly, they chose to make Strong the heel despite Aries being more charismatic. For a grudge match, this isn't particularly heated. The commentators try to cover for it by saying it's not a blood match, but rather a contest to see who carried the tag team. Seems like a stupid question given that Aries is a former world champ. Lack-of-hate aside, it's a decent match with some good wrestling. I didn't come away feeling like I'd seen anything of note, but I enjoyed watching them work.

#98 Daisuke Ikeda The highest ranked Ikeda match I haven't seen is an intergender match. I could lie and choose something else, but part of me is proud of having seen all of the higher ranked matches. Daisuke Ikeda & Syuri vs. Kana & Kenichi Yamamoto (Kana Pro, 6/17/2012) A note to anyone who wants to watch this match: I watched a clipped version on YouTube first then saw on cagematch that the bout was 46 minutes long. I managed to find a longer version that was infinitely better than shorter one. The shorter version mostly cut a lot of Syuri and Yamamoto's involvement, but it also cut a lot of Kana's offense and changed the narrative of the bout. The longer version is closer to the cagematch rating than the shorter one. I quite liked the Kana/Syuri exchanges here. They worked shoot style and went hard. Kana, as you know, is a very good worker and well-suited to this style. Off the top of my head, I can't remember if I've seen Yamamoto anywhere. He wasn't particularly great, but the beauty of Ikeda is that he's fun to watch against anyone. The men and women wrestled each other here. and it led to Syuri and Yamamoto positioning themselves at awkward angles to avoid anything weird. Kana and Ikeda were the main draw, and they squared off for the latter part of the bout. Kana had a first hand introduction to Ikeda's infamous headbutts, chops and right hands, Kana gave as good as she got, and there was some cool submission work. The shortened version robbed the audience of a great Ikeda selling performance, glossed over his hardway blood, and missed the part where Kana removed her boot to attack Ikeda barefooted. I wasn't particularly swayed by the Kana/Ikeda stuff in the short version, but the longer clip was much better. It's worth noting that it's a KO only match (something cagematch doesn't make clear.) They kind of ignored Yamamoto and Syuri while they did their thing, and I didn't love Kana's nuanced KO sell at the end, but it's her produce and she'll cry if she wants to. Short story version -- I was going to rubbish this until I saw the longer version and then I was happy I watched it. Not a match you'd include to support Ikeda's placement in the top 100, but if you ever wanted to see Kana wrestle Ikeda then here's your chance.

Dick the Bruiser is okay, but I can guarantee that Gagne gave you the best Bruiser match you've seen.

I suspect Larry Z would've been given the boot if Tully had been in the Dangerous Alliance.

What a lousy title change. Maybe it meant more at the time with McGuiness finally winning the world title, and being the one to end Morishima's reign, but watching it on tape some twenty years later it's completely uninspiring. The commentators kept saying Morishima had run out of gas, and they weren't wrong. From a kayfabe standpoint, this was exactly the type of match that Morishima had been winning throughout his run. McGuiness didn't have to dig deep to beat the champ. The match barely lasted 15 minutes. Morishima seemed burnt out. I guess the question becomes should he have lost to Danielson or McGuinness. People more familiar with ROH lore can answer that question. I expected more out of a title switch, but I'm glad the reign is over.

#99 Tully Blanchard cagematch users don't rate Tully Blanchard matches very highly. There were a couple of cool looking NWA matches, but of course the highest rated match I haven't seen is a Brain Busters vs. Rockers match. The rules are the rules. I've seen Brain Busters vs. Rockers matches before, but I couldn't tell you which ones, and it's not a matchup I hold in particularly high regard. Brain Busters vs. The Rockers (WWF, 1/23/89) This started with a typical WWF heel-in-peril section, which I guess you'd call an extended shine (if that's the word you're supposed to use.) Then the heels took over and there was a Shawn Michaels face-in-peril section. Michaels made the hot tag, pandemonium broke loose, and the Brain Busters cheated to win. Solid match, but there was nothing great about it. They probably ran a variation on the following night, and the night after that. It's more of an Arn showcase than a Tully bout. That doesn't surprise me. Arn hadn't peaked yet as a worker or a stooge, but he was still better suited to WWF wrestling than Tully. Tully feels like a quintessential 80s wrestler. It's hard to imagine him transitioning into the 90s. They may be because we didn't actually see it, but what was Tully's ceiling in 90s WCW? Does he join the Dangerous Alliance? Fill Orndorff's role? If Arn had stayed in the WWF, I can see them using him in a midcard role. At least for a year or two. Tully was such a product of 80s brat pack and yuppie culture that it's hard to see him being successful in any other role. The Rockers, on the other hand, seemed primed for a run as WWF tag champs. It's too bad that Vince lost interest in the tag division during '89.

That's because Santo was one of the most formulaic wrestlers of all-time, and if there were any sort of decent discourse surrounding him, the point would be well-discussed. I'm generally of the opinion that it's exciting every time you see it, but that's because I don't watch a lot of Santo matches in succession. You can't really compare it to the genius of Casas, who was a superior performer to Santo in terms of adlibbing and improvisation. I think it makes more sense to compare Santo to the likes of Solar, Lizmark and Atlantis with the knowledge that Santo had far more control over his career, and was aided by a famous father and legendary mask. Santo was an excellent wrestler, no doubt, but he doesn't leave this guys in the dust if you break down what they're actually doing in the ring. One of the most enlightening moments I ever had online was a guy breaking down the AAA Psicosis/Santo singles bout and pointing out the flaws in it. If there were more posts like that, I think we'd have a better handle on exactly how good Santo is.

Latin Lover, Lizmark & Solomon Grundy vs Angel Blanco Jr., Pirata Morgan & Satanico (AAA, 11/12/93) Man, Lizmark has his work cut out for him carrying that trio. Mind you, with the amount of bickering Morgan and Satanico are doing, he probably could have chosen anyone to be his partners. Angel Blanco Jr is the man who has been given the unenviable task of keeping Morgan and Satanico from killing each other. Satanico smartly has his hair slicked back. He knew the right signals to send to the audience. Blanco and Lover start things on the mat, which surprises me, and you know what? It's not bad. Blanco works a few holds, and if you squint a bit you could almost mistake him for Dr. Wagner Jr. Satanico and Lizmark work a rapidfire exchange, and Pirata takes some decent bumps for Grundy. They switch it up in the segunda caida, and Pirata and Lizmark put on a show. Man, I wish we'd gotten that match during Lizmark's AAA run. Lizmark and Blanco wind up having an exciting exchange where it's hard to tell if Blanco was always this good or if it's Lizmark bringing it out of him. It's a two fall bout that leads to some divine Satanico/Pirata brawling, but the tecnicos work together smoothly and are extremely effective. Never judge a book by its cover. The brawling is mana from heaven. Their hair match was always one of my favorite matches of the 90s. I've been afraid to revisit it in my current state of mind, but if you're like me and you've never seen the lead up to it, find the matches. You won't regret it.

I like this look for Hero. I'm used to watching him clean shaven, wearing the blue Superman t-shirt. I don't know who originated this look on the indies, but he reminds me of Steve Corino. Danielson looks like Luke Skywalker with a beard. I've seen a lot of comments about this being unfocused. It's true that they move from one section to the other, starting with what some folks would call a matwork section (to me it was more holds than matwork), then potato shots, big moves and strikes. I've never wrestled a match, but I imagine it's easier to break it down into sections in your head. You run the risk of telegraphing things for fans who've been around the block a few times, but I'm willing to cut them a little slack. The strikes weren't as popular among reviewers as the early mat portions, but I really liked the ear shots. I wish more wrestlers would take a page out of Hero's playbook and mess with a guy's ears. It's better than the twisty shit he does on simple moves. I get why wrestlers like to get a little showy with moves, but if you're a big guy just drop an elbow or knee. You'll get more mileage out of it in the long run. The size difference bothered me early on. I kept thinking that Hero should just beat the crap out of Danielson, so I was actually happy to see Danielson crank thing up. The two things Danielson had going for him here were high impact strikes and nasty looking submissions. The best in the world shit drives me crazy. I know it's a gimmick, but the fans are so slavish about it. You're wrestling in front of a 100 fans. You're not the best in the world. You're the best indy worker to make tape. Still, everybody takes that shit seriously. The whole story revolves around Hero having to prove that he's better than Danielson even though he's the champ. It's too bad they deliver a regular sort of bout instead of a match for the ages. Regular Hero/Danielson isn't bad, but can't live up to the hype. I liked this moment-to-moment, and I thought the finish was cool, but I dunno what they smoke on cagematch to rate this so high. Whatever it is, it must be the best in the world.

Pretty simple. I'm gonna watch one match for every wrestler who made the top 100. I'll pick the highest match from cagematch that I haven't seen (and can find online.) Feel free to join me, tell me I'm wrong, whatever you like. #100 Chris Hero So, the highest ranked Hero match on cagematch is some elusive German indie match. Therefore, I'll go with: Chris Hero vs. Bryan Danielson (PWG, 9/4/09) I like this look for Hero. I'm used to watching him clean shaven, wearing the blue Superman t-shirt. I don't know who originated this look on the indies, but he reminds me of Steve Corino. Danielson looks like Luke Skywalker with a beard. I've seen a lot of comments about this being unfocused. It's true that they move from one section to the other, starting with what some folks would call a matwork section (to me it was more holds than matwork), then potato shots, big moves and strikes. I've never wrestled a match, but I imagine it's easier to break it down into sections in your head. You run the risk of telegraphing things for fans who've been around the block a few times, but I'm willing to cut them a little slack. The strikes weren't as popular among reviewers as the early mat portions, but I really liked the ear shots. I wish more wrestlers would take a page out of Hero's playbook and mess with a guy's ears. It's better than the twisty shit he does on simple moves. I get why wrestlers like to get a little showy with moves, but if you're a big guy just drop an elbow or knee. You'll get more mileage out of it in the long run. The size difference bothered me early on. I kept thinking that Hero should just beat the crap out of Danielson, so I was actually happy to see Danielson crank thing up. The two things Danielson had going for him here were high impact strikes and nasty looking submissions. The best in the world shit drives me crazy. I know it's a gimmick, but the fans are so slavish about it. You're wrestling in front of a 100 fans. You're not the best in the world. You're the best indy worker to make tape. Still, everybody takes that shit seriously. The whole story revolves around Hero having to prove that he's better than Danielson even though he's the champ. It's too bad they deliver a regular sort of bout instead of a match for the ages. Regular Hero/Danielson isn't bad, but can't live up to the hype. I liked this moment-to-moment, and I thought the finish was cool, but I dunno what they smoke on cagematch to rate this so high. Whatever it is, it must be the best in the world.

Angel Azteca, El Mexicano & Solar vs. Espectro Jr., Pirata Morgan & Satanico (AAA, 11/5/93) This started off with an exchange between Satanico and Solar. Of course it was good. How could it not be? Every time I see Solar work like this, it reminds me that he doesn't get his due. At least not as a trios worker. The jury is still out on him as a singles worker. This was an entertaining bout. Espectro Jr was a workhorse. There was no reason for him to work as hard as he did here. What a champ. The match broke down when Satanico hit Pirata by mistake. That error ended up costing Pirata's team the bout. Up until then, Pirata had been trying to play peacemaker, but this time he attacked Satanico, and let me tell you, there are few things in wrestling better than Pirata Morgan and Satanico punching each other. Pirata's work in the bout was an improvement over his stuff with Jerry Estrada, but I wonder if he was carrying some sort of niggle at the time. He wasn't moving or bumping like the Pirata we're familiar with. I'm not entirely sure when he stopped working like that. This may have been when he started slowing down.

So, what matches would people like to see between the top 100 wrestlers?

This was considered one of Morishima's better title defenses. It was nothing special in that regard, but I mostly watched it because of Claudio. I'm still trying to get a handle on what makes him so popular. It was kind of endearing how loudly they rooted for him. There was some fun bomb throwing, and the finishing stretch was exciting. The commentators pointed out the strain that Morishima's title reign was placing on him, and the constant wear and tear from traveling between Japan and the US, especially that connecting flight to the East Coast. A title change was on the cards, but Claudio wouldn't be the man to do it. Try telling that to the crowd, though. They were right behind him despite his odds being slim to none. It was a cool mix of Claudio being a popular dude and the crowd having fun playing along. They would've popped like that kid in the Simmons fight if he'd won the damn thing.

I didn't see the video package so I have no idea why they're having a Hell in a Cell match, and of course the commentators didn't explain. They were pushing it as the feud of the year and an all-timer, and while I don't think the ring work backs that up, I can see how people would enjoy this rivalry. There was a part when they were both busted open where I started thinking "this is pretty cool" and then the shit with Edge happened. As far as Edge histrionics go it wasn't bad, but it was a TV finish. Hell in a Cell matches deserve better. The first half of the bout was their regular match, and you kept wondering when the cage would come into play. Then they went to all that trouble to bleed everywhere. The chair shots were sickening, especially the one on the steel steps, but the blood deserved more. Even JBL was alluding to the fact that Edge had robbed us of a masterpiece. It wasn't a masterpiece, but I agree with the general sentiment.

I'm jumping about depending on what takes my fancy. I might go back to that.