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Dominic DeNucci vs Jimmy Valiant (9/12/79) This was something else. Valiant stalled forever and it took ages for this match to get started, but once it got going, the action was actually worse than the stalling phase. Valiant used some object to rake DeNucci's eyes on three separate occasions and even Vince McMahon was shocked by how blind the referee had to be not to see that. DeNucci tried to hold on to the ropes while selling and looked like an old, immobile turtle on its back. They did a bad double knockout spot and then DeNucci started his dreaded comeback, finally using Valiant's gimmick on him (it looked like a plaster for kids?), before the 12-minute time limit expired. Well, screw you guys. -*

Easily the best match between these two teams, signalling Kawada's constant growth and Jumbo getting more and more of a dic*head as time goes, as he would then pretty much act like a heel for a long time. The champions focused on Kawada obviously, keeping him on the mat, but also stopping Tenryu's interferences and taking continuous shots at him at anytime, to isolate Kawada like the gaijins did at the RWTL 1988 finals. Kawada grew to the point of now being able to compete against Yatsu on his own, but the 2vs1 was too much for him and Tenryu had to step in superhero mode later on to keep the match alive. This was great and only had a slight weird moment at the end with a cradle that confused the referee, but they quickly recovered and the finish was good. I could argue this match did more for Kawada than the RWTL finals. ****1/4

This was a good match and a sort of passing of the torch, but it felt way overdue and a bit too late for Choshu. After tying (and mostly failing) to hang on the mat with Inoki in the previous matches, Choshu had a no-nonsense approach here and attempted to end this as quickly as he could, meeting Inoki's resistance and conservative tactics. Inoki took a beating and, despite a few selling flaws, made Choshu's power stuff look very strong. Not a fan of the 3.01 kickouts at all times, but it kind of made sense given that Inoki was refusing to go down here. ***1/4

This was an amazing match and a great way to start their trilogy. Fantastic psychology as Flair, often struggling against young studs like Sting and Luger, always found a way to beat them due to their inexperience, but he couldn't do this with Steamboat, who happened to be great at basics, maybe even better than the Naitch. All of their stuff was crisp and got great crowd reaction, there were many nearfalls as they both could win a match in so many possible ways. Flair's leg work was another subtle detail, as he only used the figure four to weaken Steamboat's mobility, almost like he knew that he wouldn't submit him anyway. Good finish, especially as it created controversy and led to a rematch. ****1/2

I liked this, as they fought in a very smart way and Windham sold his hand injury in an effective manner, as the pain affected his performance. Luger's weaknesses were hidden pretty well here and he only looked awkward on a couple of occasions, as he mostly brawled with decent fire and Windham bumped very generously for him. The finish wasn't too great though, despite being the germ of a good idea; it would have been so much better if Windham's hand was the reason for the champion's shortcoming. ***

Hidden gem here, as they were given 20 minutes and put on a rock solid house show bout. The WWF 80s model was so strange, as a good amount of their big shows sucked, but the live events could easily feature a good match like this, thanks to such a deep roster. Martel sold Haku's attacks really well and gradually built to his comeback with a lot of fire, while Haku was focusing on Martel's neck to ground him. They worked around the clock very well, the time expiring right when Martel finally applied a crab was a good way to end this. ***1/2

Definitely not their best one, but it was a short and sweet 10 minutes match that reached its purpose of putting Vader over. Fujinami actually lifted Vader a few times here and I think it was too much, even though Fujinami had to look good in defeat at least. Vader bumped quite a lot and thrived in a short & sweet match, as they took a few risks and kept an enjoyable pace throughout the whole bout. The finish was good as well. ***

This was an exciting first time ever and a dream match, in front a good crowd, presenting them a rare WWF vs WCW showdown. My only issue with this was the announcers, as their vibes were massively leading towards a time limit draw and that is exactly what happened. This didn't feel like 30 minutes, as the Bulldogs were good heels and had 2 very good heat segments on the Rock & Roll. Once again, Morton stole the show with his selling and deserved much credit here. Decent stalemate finish. ***1/4

Bob Backlund vs Johnny Valiant (8/18/79) This has some decent reviews, but I thought it sucked and they had no business wrestling for 20 minutes. Valiant keeping his jacket on while Backlund attacked him was fun, but this had like 5/6 minutes of Backlund taking a single shot every 20 seconds and Valiant selling it like he was dead every time. The crowd bought it, at least. Backlund's leg work somehow elevated this, as it at least gave the match a purpose, while Valiant's rest holds made me drowsy and cooled down the crowd as well. Backlund going over with a sudden small package was also weird, as it looked like he had Valiant's number for minutes and just decided not to beat him. This felt like a Hulk Hogan match at times, as nothing really happened for minutes on end. 1/2*

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: Wrestlingtraining gear Worst match of the year Worst matches of all time

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