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Chief Jay Strongbow vs Moose Monroe (8/1/79) I won't be too mean to this one, because it was only a TV squash after all, but they went 7 minutes and this was about 4 minutes too long. It felt like an eternity. I haven't seen enough of Monroe to compare him to others, but he definitely had super lame offense and some of the weakest punches I have ever seen in a wrestling ring. It didn't help that Strongbow was just walking and strutting while getting hit, giving no credibility to his opponent. Strongbow also missed both a kick and a knee shot during his comeback, which was hilariously bad. Again, this would have been an inoffensive squash if it had only lasted a couple of minutes. DUD

That's not the same thing, though. Nobody is disputing that a good match is still good if it has a stipulation. I was saying that Foley mostly only had great (not good, great) matches when a stipulation was involved.

Let's be honest, we all like Foley's work to some extent and he's universally known as a very nice guy. That being said... apart from the excellent Shawn Michaels match from Mind Games, can anyone name 5 *great* Foley matches that didn't involve any special stipulation?

Joyce Grable & Vivian St. John vs The Fabulous Moolah & Kitty Adams (7/30/79) Fink announced the ladies, then corrected himself by saying this was a 2-out-of-3 falls match, and the MSG crowd booed hahaha. Very basic and mediocre stuff here, as we saw the same Moolah/Vivian armbar sequence three times in a row. They did a bad looking human pile spot, with everyone jumping on the referee for no apparent reason. The babyfaces did some weak work on Kitty's leg, which at least kept Moolah away from the action, but at some point Joyce started hitting the wrong leg and I just couldn't take it anymore. This gradually went from being a bad match to a complete joke, as the referee ignored two different long sequences with both babyfaces in the ring at the same time, so they could use some amateur-looking submissions and try to pin the non-legal Moolah. Needless to say, the leg work went nowhere and was just a time filler. This went almost 20 minutes and it was bad. -*3/4

That one is on the list!

SD Jones vs Nikolai Volkoff (6/20/1979) The crowd was so shy here, Volkoff (despite having Freddie Blassie in his corner!) received no heat and SD got very few cheers. This actually started somewhat logically, as Volkoff focused on SD's back (in a rather clumsy way, though), before completely forgetting about it and constantly trying to smother his nose and mouth for some reason. It looked quite rotten. SD didn't shine either. At one point, he started a comeback and Volkoff probably forgot to cut it off immediately, because there were 5 uncomfortable seconds of Volkoff selling an irish whip while SD just looked at him, panting. My favourite spot was Blassie hitting SD with the cane and the referee not even bothering to turn around, he just didn't care. Somehow, Volkoff reminded himself about SD's back and won after a weak-looking backbreaker, even though SD was up before his opponent. 1/4* The Colombian Jaguar vs Jose Estrada (6/20/1979) I know Estrada, but I have no idea if Jaguar was supposed to be a jobber or not. The crowd, once again, stayed silent. Twenty seconds in, Jaguar botched a headscissors by almost kicking Estrada in the face and making it look like an enzuigiri-headscissors combination that would have been incredibly revolutionary in 1979, if done on purpose. Bruno Sammartino himself, on commentary, admitted he has no clue how to call that move. Estrada actually tried to save this, consistently hitting Jaguar on the chin and using a chinlock, but the crowd didn't care one bit. They did a bad looking Savage/Steamboat style near-fall reversal sequence that was about ten times worse and looked incredibly choreographed. I feel for Estrada, as Jaguar messed up literally everything he did in this match and still went over with a clumsy sunset flip. DUD

For the last couple of years, I have been fully invested in rewatching the 1980s. As that project is almost complete, I want to focus on something else. While everyone has made a list of their favourite wrestlers/matches at least once in their lives, very few people (if any?) have ever made a list of bad matches to review. We all love great wrestling, but I actually enjoy watching the 'so bad it's good' matches too. I have 10 rules for this little crazy journey: 1. This project only involves WWF/WWE, as it is the only way for me to make a comprehensive list. I cannot pretend to have seen (or have access to) everything that has ever taken place around the world. It is also not fair to compete a bad backyard match with a WWF production, it is a totally different ballgame. 2. I will only watch matches that were broadcasted by the company (TV, PPV, PLE, YouTube, etc.) or released on a later date (DVD, WWE Vault and so on). This ties into the “WWE only” rule, since the company itself has made the footage available and I do not have to dig around for it. 3. I will watch 10 matches per year, from 1979 to 2025 (and beyond?). 4. I will rate matches using the star system, with the worst possible rating being -*****. 5. This is not simply a review of matches that other people rated poorly, as I will base everything entirely on my own views. For example, John Cena vs AJ Styles from last year WILL be on the list, despite most people loving it, while Hogan vs André from 'Mania 3 will not, because I do not think it is an atrocious match, despite everyone else believing otherwise. 6. I will not watch “cinematic matches” because I do not consider them to be wrestling. 7. I will not watch matches contested under another sport’s rules (for instance, the infamous Mr. T vs Roddy Piper boxing match). 8. I will not watch matches where the whole bout, or part of it, is a shoot (for instance, the Brawl for All). 9. There are no minimum-length requirements for a match to qualify for this list, but there are some obvious exceptions. For example, Bryan Danielson vs. Sheamus at 'Mania 28 is too short to be considered. I don't consider it to be a bad match, it was a bad decision. Which brings me to... 10. This is not a booking assessment. I hate when people judge matches depending on who went over and that argument appears to be very popular today.

10. Dynamite Kid His stuff with Tiger Mask in New Japan wasn't outstanding, but had a few good ones in Europe, especially against Marty Jones in England. However, the best work of his year was the heel run in Portland and the great matches against Buddy Rose. 9. Stan Hansen Solid year, with a few disappointing performances, but he also had a few remarkable performances in All Japan, of course against Terry Funk in singles and tag action. This is also the year he starts tagging with Terry Gordy, such an upgrade from Brody. 8. Riki Choshu Most of his year's highlights were his series against Fujinami, but I got Choshu so low because I felt Fujinami was the one that made the matches great. Choshu had his best year yet though and he would keep on getting better. 7. Terry Gordy I can't put him higher, as he didn't shine in singles bouts, but he was part of great matches with the Freebirds in World Class and with Hansen in All Japan. The dude was barely 22 at the time and that is incredible. 6. Buddy Rose He had a very fun series with a young Curt Hennig, before finally turning babyface and doing great stuff against Dynamite Kid in Portland. He made Billy Jack look passable, for crying out loud! 5. Tatsumi Fujinami As mentioned earlier, I think he's the one that deserves most of the praise for his good matches against Choshu, especially the ones in April. He went from being a top junior heavyweight to a very competent main eventer. 4. Greg Valentine I wish we had more footage, but it looks like Valentine had an excellent year. A few good matches in St. Louis, then of course some great stuff in Mid-Atlantic against Flair and Piper (their iconic Starrcade match). 3. Ric Flair Another good year for Flair, who had an excellent bout against Jumbo and a series of good bouts in other territories. I don't think he did as well as a title chaser, his matches against Harley Race were good but a tad disappointing. 2. Kevin von Erich I think Kevin is the unsung hero of the von Erichs vs Freebirds feud and did amazing in their series of tag and trios matches. Also, he was more consistent of his brothers in singles matches against Flair, Race and Garvin. 1. Terry Funk He just couldn't stay away and was as good as ever, especially against Hansen. Dory was clearly declining and Terry still did his best to bring their tag bouts to a good level. His match against Bob Orton in Southwest is a hidden gem and Funk put on an amazing performance there.

Me too. I mean, Punk himself would chuckle at that lol.

134 people didn't have Liger in their top 100?!? Forgive them, for they know not what they do.

His run with the All Japan Junior Heavyweight Title is actually kind of underrated. Probably my favourite Omega era.

According to the Observer, Kenny Omega was involved in 15 ***** matches and had 14 matches where the rating was higher than *****. Overhyping something to this extent is ridiculous and counterproductive. Kenny is a competent, athletic wrestler that can get over with a specific crowd. He's not suited for long matches and he's got very annoying habits.

Cena's best matches only happened against great workers. When it was time for Cena to lead (and elevate) a less talented opponent, the matches almost always sucked: Miz, Barrett, Wyatt, Rusev and I could name others. They were all exposed after feuding with Cena, but that was because Cena wasn’t good enough to do for them what Angle and others had done for him. That Cena vs AJ Styles match from last year is genuinely atrocious.

I have no idea how Moxley is performing these days (if you look at Meltzer's ratings, he's Ric Flair in 1989 lol), but he's always been one of those “and then the bell rang” guys for me, going back to the DGUSA days. The Shield was very cool as a concept, and let's be honest here: time told us they weren't just hiding Reigns' flaws, but also Rollins' and Ambrose's. I’m shocked to see La Parka so high too. I’d be interested to see whether that’s because modern watchers like him for... I don’t know, branding a chair in WCW? His in-ring work is nowhere near that of so many other Mexican wrestlers.

I'm actually shocked Gunter/Walter didn't have a single vote in 2016, he was already the best independent European heavyweight. His transformation has been fantastic though.

This was a cool match, in front of a very receptive crowd. Very solid limbwork and quick exchanges, but I was a bit disappointed by the Dynamite vs Dean stuff because I wanted so much more from it. In many ways, it looked like an exhibition match, despite still being quite solid, as the Malenkos were quite spotty during their control segment, more than a normal team would in All Japan. Fun epilogue and good babyface finish, this was surely a pleasant one to watch. ***1/2

Their best match at that point, probably because the Rockers got enough time to put on an excellent shining segment, which frustrated the Brainbusters and motivated their aggression later on, as they were more interested in hurting Shawn, rather than focusing on a specific body part to keep him down. Blanchard was outwrestled by both babyfaces and bumped around big time, until the heels cut Shawn off with an impactful lariat and their got some good heat on him Shawn was no Ricky Morton at this time, but still a very skilled underdog. The finishing stretch was quite hot as well, with a classic heel finish. ****

This was a little masterpiece, a textbook example of a 15 minutes mat-based clinic. While not representing the 'junior' styles of the 90s (or even Tiger Mask vs Dynamite Kid for that matter), this was closer to a Joint Promotions fight from their golden age. Fuchi was a mean one and very precise in his armwork, but also bumped around for the gaijin's offense, setting up a pleasant pace. While not as famous as his brother, Joe was a good hand and fully comfortable with a huge variation of suplexs. ***1/2

This was a fun match and a well executed angle, portraying Steamboat's return (well, technically debut) to WCW and laying the foundations for his program with Flair. The Horsemen had a long heat segment here, but they gave enough to Gilbert, who was of course the babyface in perils and did a very convincing job in that regard. Flair and Steamboat had a good finishing run, an ideal tease to a future singles match, with some exciting stuff and a good flashy finish. This was so simple and worked so well. ***1/2

This was a blast and a fresh matchup, both for the competitors and for the WWF landscape. Typical good Southern tag team action in the north east, even though the Brainbusters were not super aggressive and mostly relied on smart teamwork here. The Rockers looked good and sold for the heels for several minutes, especially Jannetty, who was incredibly crisp during his comeback. It looked like the Rockers could so much more and were told to slow things down, despite this being solid with a good heel finish. ***1/4

Shoot style is not my thing and this actually bored me partially, as they went 30 minutes and killed a lot of time with rest holds that didn't look like a threat. Despite that, this had some great strikes and good selling from Takada, who was getting worked on his leg and was very focused on not being outwrestled on the mat, countering Maeda's grapples and trying to knock him down to win by TKO as a way out. It was a shame, as this could have been a great 15/20 minutes match, but they didn't do enough to justify a 30 minutes epic attempt. ***1/4

Yeah, Hogan famously offered to do the job so he could take credit for the house. The Rodman/Malone stuff brought a lot of mainstream attention that month, I think BatB had 600k buys or something. WCW was still very hot despite sandbagging Sting, botching Bret Hart's debut and the whole nWo split fiasco.

vs Averno in 2005 and vs Negro Casas in 2009!

10. Dynamite Kid 1982 was much better for the Dynamite feud with Tiger Mask, as their bouts in the summer finally clicked and moved on from some irritating habits. Dynamite was a blast throughout the year, tagging with Bret Hart in New Japan and then also facing him in Stampede, even though his best matches were obviously the ones against Sayama. 9. Stan Hansen Another good year for Hansen, as he immediately got involved with All Japan’s biggest guys. Him and Terry Funk had a very good match in September and Hansen also managed to get a few pretty good performances out of Giant Baba. Hansen and Bruiser Brody formed a vicious tag team and they had a positive run during the RWTL at the end of the year. 8. Terry Funk Funk brought it again, as his matches against Hansen and Brody felt like good deals and highlights of All Japan’s year. Regardless of his performances in singles matches, Terry and Dory also had a bunch of solid tag matches throughout the year, working as amazing babyfaces against their aggressive opponents. 7. Nick Bockwinkel Bock didn't have a classic in 1982, but he surely had plenty of damn good ones. He mostly shined in AWA, but also had a couple of good matches against Lawler in Memphis, plus a few shining performances in Houston (loved his Ricky Morton match from July). He also toured All Japan and put on decent stuff against Jumbo. 6. Tiger Mask I think Sayama did very well, as he got more comfortable with the gimmick and dropped a few irritating habits. His best matches against Dynamite Kid were in the summer of 1982, but I also appreciated his bouts against Bret Hart, Steve Wright and Kuniaki Kobayashi. Sadly, his WWF tour was not exciting at all. 5. Jumbo Tsuruta Jumbo was clearly getting better and started chasing his first World Title, adding purpose to all of his gaijin battles against former World champions. The match against Flair was the highlight of his year and proved his resilience. As usual, he tagged with Baba a lot and managed to do most of the work. 4. Bob Backlund Not Backlund's strongest year of the early 80s, but still a very good one. He gave Adrian Adonis his best matches and program ever, did well against Bob Orton and Greg Valentine. The Buddy Rose feud was somewhat of a letdown as I love Rose, but they didn't click too well and you could see the fans were not 100% into Backlund anymore. 3. Kerry von Erich His two matches against Flair were amazing, especially the one from August, while the cage match a tad too overbooked for me despite being a great spectacle. He also had a really strong contender match against Harley Race in June, plus a few good little matches here and there in the Dallas territory. 2. Jerry Lawler Lawler had a strong year in Memphis, especially when battling Nick Bickwinkel in the fall, even though his best match was against Dutch Mantel in March, where his babyface punches were so satisfying. The Flair bout from August was somewhat of a letdown, while the Andy Kaufman feud is not really my cup of tea but was entertaining enough. 1. Ric Flair What a great year for the Naitch. He brought the Flair formula everywhere in the NWA, making all of his babyface challengers look great and creating hype for return matches. Jumbo, Lawler, Kerry and David, Sawyer, Colon, Reed all benefitted from this. Flair had an outstanding series of great matches and it is a shame we don't have a lot of footage from his Georgia or Florida work for that year, because everything he touched in 1982 turned into gold.

Looks like a solid top 70. Sting, Moxley and Necro are probably the only three that wouldn't make my top 70.