tcg91

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

Lesnar had a series of highly overrated matches after his 2012 return. The people that loved his countless suplexs, no-selling and exaggerated kickouts were the same that used to blast the indies for doing that! Jay Briscoe was an incredible tag team wrestler and also a solid champion when ROH needed somebody to step up, but I am not sure about him being in the top 100.

I don't know. That honestly would make it even more confusing to me. It's not like I care or anything, I was just commenting on how different today's wrestling business feels to me. I would actually use social media in an effective way and turn this into an angle, as Chelsea embraces her new MAGA attitude and becomes the biggest heel of the division for a few of months, before a babyface destroys her. You can't do stuff like that today on an entertainment program, yet you can have a president say "a civilization will die tonight" in real-life and nobody seems to do anything about it. I just wished it was the other way around!

I am not a Trump supporter at all. However, given who owns WWE, them doing stuff with Trump doesn’t surprise me one bit. WrestleMania will probably be held at the White House soon as well. Call me old school, but I’m more annoyed about a heel tweeting about “supporting the community” and being an “advocate for human rights,” lol. She’s the same one who once wore a Cactus Jack outfit just for the sake of it, and got more cheers than her babyface opponent, right? Excellent job.

I see your point. I was mostly commenting on the top 100 featuring a lot of modern talents at the expense of others, as clearly the voters are friendly with the current product. I am not being critical, it is completely normal. My top 100 wouldn't feature much Joshi or 2020s wrestlers, for instance. Regal was a fitting example, because according to the top 100 he's in contention with Ospreay for the accolade of best UK wrestler ever (and one between them, Claudio and WALTER will be the best European wrestler). It's not a surprise that 3 of these guys are current stars and that the other has been on American TV for the last 30 years.

Agreed, and I like Hero a lot. I feel the same way about a lot of people in the top 100. I didn’t vote because my list would have been extremely biased, as I stopped watching current wrestling a long time ago. But now I think my ballot would have been a fair counterbalance to other people’s biases. Regal is the only WoS wrestler who made the top 100, even though he’s not even close to being the best from that era. I like Regal, but his list of great matches pales in comparison to Breaks’, Rocco’s, Grey’s and so on. Does he deserve to be in the top 100 just because he got tons of WWE screen time?

10. Jumbo Tsuruta Not an excellent year for Jumbo, but 1981 was a bit weak in general and so he managed to get in my top 10 again. He carried his tag matches with Giant Baba but did his best in singles competition against Ric Flair. Him vs Flair from October is probably the very first Flair highlight of the 80s, so that is somewhat important. 9. Gino Hernandez Gino had a great run in Houston, which made him one of the best heels in the territory and in the country. Him and Tully Blanchard put on an impressive series of tag bouts. While I can’t say Gino had a classic single performance, he did great against veterans like Wahoo McDaniel and Chavo senior because he made them look great and managed to get more over at the same time. 8. Mark Rocco Like Gino, he was an excellent heel and always a pleasure to watch. I am not a massive fan of the Dynamite Kid vs Tiger Mask series, but in 1981 Rocco managed to have a great match with both these guys. His best bout was against Chris Adams in September, which featured one of the best turnbuckle bumps I can remember. 7. Dory Funk Jr. I know Dory is heavily criticized at times, but I think he had a great year. The Funks vs Brody & Snuka in the RWTL was legendary, but I believe Dory’s best singles from 1981 are underrated. Him vs Terry was a unique match in April, while his Jerry Lawler match from Memphis is not famous only because Terry had a better one. He even carried Bruiser Brody to a good match! 6. Sgt. Slaughter It’s a shame he didn’t do anything noteworthy in the second part of 1981, because he killed it the first 6 month. Very strong series of matches with Bob Backlund and Pat Patterson, culminating in epic gimmick matches, especially his cage bout with Backlund where Slaughter’s demise was so satisfying. He also had a fun match against Andre in March, which he carried for the most part. 5. Nick Bockwinkel Another good year for Bockwinkel, who was involved in my favourite match of the year against Tito Santana in Houston. Of course, most of his good stuff was from the AWA, he also a couple of great ones against Jim Brunzell, making him look like a million bucks. Other than that, he was also able to carry Verne Gagne to some decent stuff again. 4. Stan Hansen What a progression from the previous year. Hansen vs Andre the Giant is a famous match and a great spectacle, but Hansen had a remarkable year in general. Him and Inoki had more good matches, both in singles and in tag matches. Seeing him against Bob Backlund in the WWF was also a treat. One can see why Baba paid him a lot of money to jump ship. 3. Steve Grey Easily the best British wrestler of his generation and an amazing babyface. He had two masterpieces against Jim Breaks and Jon Cortez, selling his arm masterfully on both occasions and coming back from underneath. He also had a good series with Johnny Saint, even though their January 1980 match couldn’t be topped in 1981. 2. Bob Backlund Another outstanding year for Backlund, who was a solid champion for the WWF and did his best stuff against Sgt. Slaughter but also had good series of matches against Stan Hansen and Greg Valentine. He was extremely versatile in the ring and adapted to very different opponents or stipulations, which is something that I consider to be a key detail for a great wrestler. 1. Terry Funk His Jerry Lawler stuff in Memphis is legendary and their No DQ Match is a true gem. Apart from that, Terry did great stuff in All Japan too, against Bruiser Brody but also in his only match ever against Dory Jr. The Funks also shined as an item, especially in the RWTL match against Brody and Jimmy Snuka. I also wish we had more footage of his Florida run from 1981, as his stuff with Dusty Rhodes looked like a blast.

Man, I hate lists sometimes! I wanted to come up with a top 20, but this is heavily influenced by lack of footage for many wrestlers. Billy Robinson is in my match of the year, but he falls into that category, like Steve Grey or others. 10. Stan Hansen This was the year of Hansen fighting Antonio Inoki 10 times in singles matches and, while none of them was a masterpiece, it was a very good series in terms of Hansen evolving and becoming more dangerous as it progressed. To me, this was the year Hansen became a better overall performer. 9. Ken Patera Quite possibly the best year of Patera’s career. His Texas Death Match against Bob Backlund is must-see stuff, but he also proved to be very versatile, doing remarkable work against Pat Patterson and Inoki. He consistently made a simple bearhug look like the most lethal submission move imaginable. 8. Jumbo Tsuruta He still wasn’t at his peak as a performer, but he was featured against all the gaijins invading All Japan and that helped his progression massively. His bout against Dick Slater is remarkable, but he also had a great match with Harley Race in a year when Race wasn’t exactly on fire. 7. Dynamite Kid His matches against Tatsumi Fujinami might not have been as historic as the later Tiger Mask bouts, but they were way better in the ring. He was also the perfect foil for Mark Rocco in the UK and the little footage I have seen from Stampede confirms that Dynamite was incredible in 1980. 6. Bob Backlund Discovering that Backlund was not a boring champion (at least in the ring) became one of my favourite wrestling findings. Apart from his masterpiece against Patera, Backlund’s year was remarkable for the way he made his opponents look (a green Hogan above all) and for how hard he worked in multi-promotional showcase matches that were usually treated as throwaways, such as his matches against Dusty Rhodes and Hansen in Japan. 5. Terry Funk 1980 doesn’t feature an all-time great singles match from Funk, but his performances were consistently outstanding. Whether it was tagging with Dory in the RWTL, or facing Abdullah and Jumbo, his opponents always thrived and looked better when Funk was involved. It’s a shame none of his American matches with Dusty from this year are available on tape. 4. Buddy Rose Easily the best heel of the year, his work in Portland was a blast. Rose could look dangerous and technically brilliant while also being goofy and obnoxious at the same time, mastering his character and serving as the perfect opponent for Piper and Martel. His ability to wrestle long matches over 3 falls and perform well with different tag team partners was one of the highlights of 1980. 3. Nick Bockwinkel Aside from his masterpiece against Billy Robinson, Bockwinkel was an excellent competitor throughout 1980 and performed better than any of the NWA World Champions that year. It’s no surprise that Dory, Baba, and even Verne Gagne all had strong matches against him. While he isn’t my #1, Bockwinkel was probably the best wrestler in the world in 1980. 2. Rick Martel An amazing babyface and a tremendous performer. His feud with Buddy Rose carried Portland for months and produced great singles and tag matches for the territory. Martel and Piper worked surprisingly well together as a team, despite being so different. It’s a shame Martel didn’t do anything noteworthy during his All Japan tour that year. 1. Tatsumi Fujinami None of Fujinami’s matches would make my top 3 or even top 5 matches of 1980, but he was the most consistently excellent performer of the year. I genuinely haven’t seen him have a match that was less than good. He was clearly the ace of the junior heavyweight division, taking on gaijins from all over the world (Dynamite Kid, Chavo Guerrero, Steve Keirn and others), while also elevating local talents and giving Kengo Kimura possibly the best singles match of his career.

That lineup is somewhat disappointing, but I will be watching anyway, I am a fan of the series. However, they have considerably lowered the bar when it comes to what 'dark' is, at least in the last 2 seasons. Is it possible that they are not legally allowed to talk about a lot of stuff? I agree that it is too early for the McMahon scandal, but idk the ring-boy story, Ashley Massaro, the female referee from the 80s, the Speaking Out movement etc.?

After making Sting, Flair also made Luger in one night and this was way better than their match from the Bash. After plenty of Dusty finishes, the stipulation forced Flair to actually get pin or submission on Luger, so he changed his approach and Luger got to shine with some awesome power moves. I'd normally be annoyed at Luger starting to work on Flair's arm and then forgetting about it, but this was put over by the announcer as an unexperienced mistake, so it added to the match actually because Luger tried his power stuff instead of continuing with the limb work. As usual, Flair's legwork was the highlight of the match with some great selling by the challenger. The finish was also well done, because Luger once again paid for his lack of experience and his leg collapsed as he was trying a power move. This put over Flair as the most experienced and capable guy, without burying Luger, as he was still understandably not as astute as Flair despite his raw strength. ****1/4

This was a good match, I even liked the stalling segments from Windham as he was clearly outpowered by Bigelow at the beginning and he had to regroup with JJ Dillon. Bigelow looked good and very mobile despite his size, but he insisted on a couple of non-selling spots that I wasn't really a fan of. Windham had a decent control segment on the challenger, but it never led to anything special and the finish was disappointing as well. ***

This was a fun multiverse match, but it would have been tighter if it was 5 or 10 minutes shorter, as it end up dragging somewhere in the middle. Of course, Backlund was focused on grappling his opponent to collect takedowns, while Takada's main weapon were his kicks. It was mostly enjoyable and Backlund's blood added some drama during the contest. I didn't like the finish, as Takada won fair and square, but Backlund got back on his feet even before his opponnet did. ***1/4

Wanz faced the future Yokozuna and, while this was not a great match or anything, they managed to get the crowd involved and go for 20+ minutes. The round system helped a lot here, as the heel's nerve holds didn't do much and this was mostly Wanz taking a lot of punishment, while the clock would either save him from jeopardy or spoil his comeback attempts. Good 'slaying the monster' finish. This was a good example of putting up something watchable, despite all odds. **1/2

An incredible match and a breaking out performance for Kawada, to say the least. This also felt like the quintessential transition from the 80s to the 90s in All Japan and the embrace of the King' Road, moving towards longer selling sequences, deeper storytelling and real finishes. Outstanding selling by Tenryu and brilliant strategy by the gaijins, who decided to destroy Kawada's leg (and his trunks!) and isolate Tenryu in the ring, rather than having the underdog in the ring. Kawada did all he could and tried to save Tenryu to the best of his abilities, but Tenryu basically fought by himself towards the end and he couldn't survive against the two monsters, after they managed to endure his desperate comeback. ****1/2

This was mostly good, thanks to good pacing and some outstanding punches, as they both excelled at that. They tried to build an epic as Lawler made Kerry bleed, even though Lawler's heel work wasn't the best here and Kerry was rapidly declining by that point. However, the crowd was hot and they bought the claw teasing and comeback, making it all quite interesting. The finish was incredibly stupid and one of those that helped killing the territory, rather than hyping a rematch down the line. ***

Very good match, mostly focused on Kawada replacing Ashura Hara and gradually trying to hang with the Olympians. This was well done, as Kawada managed to get some offense on Yatsu, but had no chance against Jumbo, who worked on his leg to stop the mobility of such an aggressive underdog. Tenryu got involved more than he usually would, to protect his new partner, which was some good storytelling as he was growing into being the babyface in the Jumbo feud. Besides, the Jumbo/Tenryu stuff was very enjoyable as usual. Good finishing run and a fitting underdog finish, as Kawada proved himself and managed to get Jumbo counted out. ***1/2

This was a blast. The MNX worked so well as babyfaces, bumping around and taking chances against the Horsemen. The crowd was hot for this and Flair, as usual, made his opponent look like gold by selling generously for them and then being extra oppressing in the heat segment. Eaton placed himself very high on the Ricky Morton babyface in peril scale. Good bullsh** finish, but I wasn't too high on it. ***1/2

Fun cage match, with some predictable smoke and mirrors moments. Lawler tried to escape the cage and sold Kerry's stuff in a very good way at the beginning. Lawler taking over thanks to the use of a chain was good and sneaky heel work, but I don't understand why he was hiding it from the referee, as it was a cage match? Kerry used it on him later without any repercussions? Anyway, this had good heat and a decent finishing stretch. ***

A good match and it was quite fun, as they tried to give some spots to all of the teams involved in this bout. They didn't rush this and gave it plenty of time. However, while it never dragged, I wished some of the best worker could have stayed until the end, instead of doing the best stuff and then disappearing. This was ultimately an angle to do a Demolition and PoP double turn, which worked quite well despite a convoluted finish. ***1/4

This had a lot of energy and was a good match, but I can't help thinking that some of the matwork was just filler between a kick and the next kick, as this lacked the substory of other UWF bouts and they just started collecting TKOs to get closer to the finish. Takada's selling was fully convincing. The last minute of the match was simply an epic showdown, also due to the new KO system, but the kicks truly were the only thing to look forward to. ***1/4

This was great and, with a positive finish, it would have been up there with the best matches of the decade. Outstanding hostility feeling and storytelling progression, as they were hitting each other on the head and Jumbo ended up getting some kind of concussion, so Tenryu worked on his head and tried to knock him out. Jumbo had incredible face expressions in this, working on the leg and gritting his teeth to endure the pain. A few impressive near falls and the disqualification, despite being a letdown, was probably the one of the best non-finish ever. ****1/4

This was tons of fun. The Rockers brought a lot of energy and bumped all around the place, while Demolition looked like badasses in their control and wise pacing of the bout. The work over Shawn's back and his selling were pretty great, and the crowd got involved too. The finish was effective, but I really wish they had more time at the end, as things felt a bit rushed after Jannetty finally got the hot tag. ***1/4

Despite not being their best match together, this was very good and almost a lesson on how to fight and create drama without taking unnecessary risks. While Inoki was trying to fight hold by hold, Choshu didn't have enough patience and continued to strike his opponent to change gear, ending up blooding him. Inoki lost it, to the point of getting disqualified at last, showing lots of aggression and seeming tired of wrestling 'the right way', after Choshu spent minutes working on his cut. ***1/2

I got this as 1988-09-24. For a dying territory, this had such a great feeling and a good crowd. Kerry was an amazing babyface and Lawler did very well as a heel, selling Kerry's punches like they were bombs and using his infamous stalling in the right way, as he tried (and at times failed) to stay away from Kerry's claw. This was a solid performance with an enjoyable crescendo later on, apart from the piledriver no-selling that I very much disliked. This had the classic unification match non-finish, as they both got tired of the referee's antics. ***1/2

This was incredible. Morgan was the star of the show and bloodied Dandy right from the beginning, getting over as a ruthless rudo, drinking and spitting the blood of his opponent. While his heat segment was awesome, I can't help but roll my eyes at how Morgan refused to win the match on a couple of occasions; that is not heel behaviour, that is silly behaviour, as his hair were on the line too. Of course, this later on triggered Dandy's comeback and it was a rather feisty one, a captivating eye for eye as Dandy finally drew blood from Morgan as well. The terceira caida was long and satisfying, with a good amount of nearfalls, I just wish the referee wasn't so slow at counting. ****