Clayton Jones

Up: Jun Akiyama: starting to look like a legit #1 contender for me. Peak longevity, consistency, adaptability, and variety candidate. Andre the Giant: digging into his French footage is making me feel like I'm going to be a "how high is too high?" Andre voter Yuki Ishikawa: climbing from top half candidate to top quarter. Devil Masami: has had a trajectory in my first year very similar to Akiyama, where she pops back up constantly and is always so damn good Jack Brisco: great champion, great tag wrestler, great TV studio wrestler, great against Inoki Psicosis: one of those guys that I didn't have a super strong idea what I was going to do with going in but I was hopeful. So far he hasn't disappointed me and falls into the "makes the most of every opportunity" category that I highly value Kyoko Inoue: in kind of similar territory as Psicosis only I didn't really expect to rank her. Thus far though I'm realizing she has more depth and more high end matches than I was giving her credit for. Mark Rocco: problematic for certain, by no means a lock, but Rocco at his best is an all-timer and has a compelling case to be made Down: Aja Kong: Aja is great, I will vote her high, she's just not the women's GOAT I once thought she was Mikey Whipwreck: kind of falls in that Psicosis/Kyoko territory but went the opposite way on my first round with him. Still going to watch more but I'm having a harder time seeing it WALTER: man I love WALTER and would love to have him as a more modern guy who makes my list. But dude why you gotta chop the ring post so many damn matches. Why. I think his NXTUK time has helped but recycles too many sequences in general when watching with some scrutiny. Hopefully I feel differently next round with him.

Awesome! I hope he feels totally physically ready and continues to have good health moving forward. For him to even get back to this point is something extraordinary indeed.

I just don't understand how one "acquires" an audience. It seems to me a wrestler would have to get over with said audience in the same ways Mercedes is being knocked for not doing in order to acquire them in the first place.

I was rooting for Perez to continue to beat the odds for as long as possible but at least he got to be in control of a terrible circumstance. I respect the way he chose to leave this earth surrounded by family and friends in his home. And his work had more of an impact on my life than almost any comic creator. RIP

What exactly is the difference between an acquired audience and a regular audience?

Great episode! I would definitely call 2006 the creamy middle of material for this podcast even if 2004 is my personal favorite. I'll have to get some live thoughts sent in for Hell Freezes Over, I wanted to for Final Battle but you guys are pumping them out so damn fast these days. I might have some more (admittedly minor) details to help Matt on his Drano Angle Investigation.

Man, it's hard not to be disappointed with this match despite the fact that what we got was pretty sweet. Zangiev is such a force but Choshu treats him like a nuisance. A respectable nuisance but there's definitely no feeling of threat to this match which is especially strange given the setting. But Zangiev is great and Choshu isn't bad by any means, just not inspired. Still worth a watch.

How is everyone feeling now that we're a little over 20% done our journey? I had a rare quiet moment to sit down with a cup of coffee today and update my log for most of what I can remember watching for the past few months. This is the hardest part for me, finding the time to document everything, and I'm not using any formulas or equations or anything fancy here. But I know it's necessary for me to reevaluate everything when we start to approach the finish line. Watching the footage continues to be a blast and I'm pretty happy with the 200 or so matches I watched for GWE in year 1. If I break 1K for the project I'll feel like I've made a valiant effort for most of my names under consideration. I know there are folks out there watching at a more rapid pace and I tip my cap to you because this is definitely the best I can manage.

Well that was McHoy match was Rocco punching up (literally based on the size difference) and punching down at the same time to an extent, and it was a really great performance. I love the context knowing about it being such an impromptu match with big shoes to fill. Rocco worked a very different pace and approach and got way more out of McHoy than he had any right to. I'll keep the Roberts and Royal matches in mind the next time I circle back to Rollerball. He's a curious case for sure, someone I could see in my top 50 or not making my list at all. The more I watch the less I think the latter will happen but I didn't have him penciled in on my initial rough draft.

I've been digging into these lately and I really like the top 25 by year format with rotating guests. Some episodes have some audio issues that I'm sure you're aware of but otherwise I'm a big fan of how this podcast has been evolving. I don't think it matters if the guest is on to share their top 25 or make a #1 case, either way it adds a nice variety episode to episode.

I agree completely with OJ's 2016 comments about the Rocco/Jones feud. And a lot of the overall sentiment about Rocco in this post although I tend to be higher on him than most. Something I'm trying to get a feel for is what did he look like against lesser opponents? Not elevating them to a great match but working against talent that was clearly a tier lower than him. Does anyone have recommendations along these lines? Often I've seen him fall into that same manic pace regardless of the caliber of opposition, I'm curious if he ever varied his tactics based on punching down to who he was working with.

I've liked HARASHIMA back to the HERO days and have always found him to be one of the brightest spots of any DDT show I check out over the years. Still I hadn't considered him for my ballot until reading the above comments and then I felt like he more than deserved some consideration. My first round of HARASHIMA viewing had some interesting twists and turns. HARASHIMA/Masaharu Tsuchihashi VS Yukio Sakaguchi/Takatoshi Mastumoto - DDT Hard Hit 12/21/2014 This was some real DDT weirdness but in the grappling subgenre. Hold for hold HARASHIMA is some of my favorite of his stuff and as such he was by far the best thing about this match. Every time he's in it he commands your attention and he throws one shoot german suplex that is especially impressive and convincing. Nothing great but more than entertaining thanks to HARASHIMA (and Sakaguchi). Kazusada Higuchi/Shigihero Irie (c) VS HARASHIMA/Naomichi Marufuji - DDT KO-D Tag Team Championship 8/20/2017 Ironically this was my least favorite of this batch of matches even though it was the one I was probably most looking forward to. I'm a big fan of Higuchi and Irie and they both look great here. Marufuji is someone I have a complicated opinion of but overall I like him more than I don't (and have to figure out what to do with him re GWE as well). I thought a team with him and HARASHIMA had some real Ace potential. Unfortunately there was no chemistry between them besides nicely matching shiny pants. I don't know if this was a case of HARASHIMA being more accustomed to the 1A role instead of 1B in a team, or if this match was just designed to be something different than what I was looking for. But it was just alright. HARASHIMA VS Shigihero Irie - DDT King Of DDT Semifinals 6/25/2017 This plays off a long rivalry between the two and Irie looking for his first win in their series of matches. It has a shotgun start and a nice little story to it. Nothing ground breaking but it keeps with the theme of HARASHIMA always weaving little storylines and reasons to get invested into his matches no matter what the circumstance. HARASHIMA VS Konosuke Takeshita - DDT Title VS Title 11/3/2019 Well I had to include one of these. This is big match HARASHIMA doing big match HARASHIMA things. Takeshita to his credit feels like a real disciple of the groundwork HARASHIMA has laid in DDT for this type of main event and one of the best possible dance partners he could have. This was great, among the best matches I've watched for GWE, and really everything you could want if this sounds appealing to you on paper. A deliberate build, smart selling, amazing spots, clear hierarchy, a huge crescendo of a finish. HARASHIMA has had more of these matches over the years than many of his more celebrated contemporaries and he's better than almost any of them at it. Smile Squash VS Kazusada Higuchi/Kouki Iwasaki - DDT Beer Garden Fight 7/30/2017 So here we have HARASHIMA back in the 1A role in his tag and this match thrives as a result. It's built largely around the supporting characters as Takao and Iwasaki really shine here. But the captains of their teams also look great as well and this fits the reoccurring theme of HARASHIMA matches that don't have huge stakes going in that still feel essential by the end. My closing thoughts after this round of HARASHIMA viewing are he's someone that's always trying to push younger talent forward, teach them, learn from them, and never stays stagnant in his Ace role. This is something I really value especially when it's a promotion like DDT that isn't necessarily thought of as having a highly competitive main event scene with clear tiers and breakout stars. But it very much is the case and that's mostly thanks to HARASHIMA's contributions over the decades. He's the type of wrestler that holds up to a high level of scrutiny but is also easy to pick up and watch and enjoy no matter what your starting point. I'm high on his chances of making my ballot after my first round of viewing.

Awesome, I can't wait to dig into that stuff. It's an era of Doc's career I'm largely ignorant of and I'm always down for more Albright as well.

Thanks so much for these recommendations, this is just the type of stuff I need to fill in my gaps on Doc who I have penciled in as very borderline. What's the date on the GET tag? Are there any other standout Triangle of Power matches I should check out?

On the heels of their great July match this is a big one. Jones comes down to Rocco's weight class and they both put their titles on the line. This was fantastic. Great escalation from both guys, Rocco more engaging (to the point of a fan physically lashing out at him), Jones more deliberate. Marty is a little dull for my tastes at times but when he shows fire here it feels real. Technically he's excellent and the way they weave chain wrestling with heated physical meltdowns with high flying is sublime. This captures a big title fight feel as well as anything I've seen from this era of British wrestling and then follows through with a big pay off. Great finish, classic match.

Man Rocco is a heat seeking missile in this one. Maybe to a bit of excess but the crowd loves it. Jones is a good straight-laced foil for Rollerball but this does get very personal by the end. There's a great feeling of trial and error in the tactics between the two and this ends in a satisfying way that beautifully sets up their double title match. I'm not one for star ratings typically but this is easily in **** territory and the rematch is even better.

The way I remember this fairly interesting feud ending was exactly that, the fans are pretty much totally behind Bray, they do a big bells and whistles "blow off" match, Cena shrugs, there's no resolution for anyone, everything goes back to normal. I'm enjoying you revisit it and am curious to see if that's basically your take as well.

Even if it has I'm excited to watch it!

LuFisto A trailblazer in an era when intergender wrestling wasn't the norm, she made non-believers buy her against the toughest bastards going. At the same time she anchored women's divisions and worked around the world in a variety of roles that she usually thrived in. As an elder stateswoman she continues to deliver great performances and give back to the younger generation. Still doing some of her best work and finally getting some of her much deserved flowers. VS Necro Butcher - Stranglehold Wrestling KOTDM Finals 10/29/2006 VS Ayako Hamada - NCW Femmes Fatale Championship 3/12/2011 VS Jordynne Grace - Beyond Wrestling 5/29/2016

I had Andre pencilled in my top half orginally, spent some time watching his late 60s footage and some early 80s on my first round with him, and found myself thinking "how high is too high??" Then read through this post and for once I really enjoyed the back and forth debate. I thought both sides made great points and it gave me a good batch of matches to start on when I get to round two. Andre is a rare candidate where I'm looking forward to watching his lesser stuff, although I'm also admittedly going to give him a bit of a pass after he really starts to break down.

I am really glad I've held a few spots back for my late considerations because after just watching the Andre match Van Buyten is someone I'm so excited to dig into over the next few years.

The preceding Sakaguchi match has more substance and this Hansen brawl feels more like an angle. Still a great one-two punch with Sakaguchi using his judo throws with shockingly effective results and then Hansen trying to utterly swarm Andre. Throughout it all Andre looks as dominant as ever while making both big men look like very formidable threats. Great little package of pro wrestling.

Ah gotchya. It's just easy to jump to those conclusions these days. Either way, Kerry had an awesome year!

I'm assuming BigBadMick had a reason he asked you about those series of names, DiBiase's fraud, the obvious ones you mentioned, Buzz being a bully/miserable prick, Taylor I think allegedly a racist. I couldn't tell where Kerry fit in.

What is the Kerry question referring to?