Tim Cooke

With Rey Jr. doing the Indy Dream match tour (vs. Mistico in AAA, vs. Red from August, Ki in November, and hopefully more Zack Sabre Jr., New Japan guys, etc. - Danielson is obviously a dream match but probably won't happen because of circumstances), it's interesting to see a very small indy boom right now. PWG over the weekend sounded like a lot of fun and I'll judge the shows myself when we get the DVD's. It is certainly not the 2002-2005 Indy boom, but it's still something.

Thoughts on Banks/Bailey: - Match was very good. Really liked the hand spot for the rope break but was that even the best rope break spot of the past month and a half (Sakuraba/Shibata)? - Not sure why Banks did a flashy dive when she is the heel and Bailey didn't get to do a dive. Weird psychology. Liked the spring board lucha arm drag though. - Execution was an issue like MJH said, but that's not new news. I can live with some execution issues but if they are there, they should be acknowledged. To expect anyone to be Jun Akiyama level out of the gate is absurd, but it's equally absurd to just gloss over this. - When Bailey was screaming in pain (which I thought was good selling), it was reminiscent of Toyota screaming, which is something she usually gets blasted for. - Like most of the New Japan stuff that has been hyped as the second coming, I don't see this at *****. That's not completely fair because this match was very good but *****, MOTY? I think bias gets in the way because the sample size of good women's wrestling today is so small that any good match sticks out and becomes great. In baseball, you need a decent enough sample size to be able to tell if a hitter is legit. 50 PA: Swing % 100 PA: Contact Rate 150 PA: Strikeout Rate, Line Drive Rate, Pitches/PA 200 PA: Walk Rate, Groundball Rate, GB/FB 250 PA: Flyball Rate 300 PA: Home Run Rate, HR/FB 500 PA: OBP, SLG, OPS, 1B Rate, Popup Rate 550 PA: ISO Obviously the wrestling equivalent would have to be much smaller since wrestling 2-3 times per week is much different than getting 3-5 plate appearances every night. If this match was worked by two male wrestlers, spot for spot, etc. would it be getting ***** hype? My guess is no but maybe I'm the outlier there. Novelty plays a big role in NXT. Cart out NXT every Monday Night - would the results be the same? But it's like Santo showing up on tape 1-2 times per year from 2006-2010 or BattlArts disappearing for 3 years from 2005-2008 before showing up for monthly shows again in June 2008. Once the novelty wears off, you can get a more accurate read on how good these matches really are. Also, WWE pushing this as the main event despite it not being the main event is a fuck you to Banks and Bailey. Unless it is Hogan in the 80's working the match before intermission or a stacked Wrestlemania card (this show was neither), the main event is the main event. Even ROH got that right from the start - Eddy/Super Crazy went on second to last while Daniels/Danielson/Ki closed the show. Like I said above, maybe I'm the outlier because this stuff just isn't hitting me with being in the all time great league. But I also watched two excellent lucha matches this week, with good heat, wrestled in front of 3,000 people, and both are at this level or better. [Hechicero/UG vs Avisman/Caifan and Virus vs. Cerebro] The first was an excellent tag match and the second was maybe the best Virus match of the last 2-3 years. I'd put the tag at **** and the Virus match at ****1/2. But they aren't novel, especially since BT Jr. took over the lucha indy reigns in 2009 and we are getting to see this stuff much more frequently. This match struck me as novel and it will be interesting to see if it holds up over the test of time.

Tanahashi might make my list. I like his match layout and while his execution can be heavily flawed, match layout is more important to me. But is his best match even close to the best 3 Misawa/Kawada, Misawa/Kobashi, or even Misawa/Taue matches? I don't think so and that automatically keeps him out of the top 30. Is his best match as good or better than Hashimoto vs Choshu (8/2/96), Chono vs Mutoh (8/11/91), or Hashimoto vs Tenyru (2/17/94)? If not, that keeps him out of the top 60-70. Also, has anyone really watched all of his 2001-2010 stuff besides Stuart from Puroresufan? How much of that is good? Was he getting a good rep before Meltzer finally started watching New Japan again in 2011? For a person with the same time frame as a wrestler, Daniel Bryan pretty clearly has a bigger and wider output of great matches. Danielson probably makes it in the top 40, but it's not gauanteed and he is a LOCK to make the list for someone who only worked from 2000 on.

Chilanga Mask show from this past weekend looks like it may have four legit good to great matches. Watching those tonight.

Tamura will easily get into my top 20. Probably not top 10, but that's no slight on him. My dream match is still Tamura vs. Sakuraba in a worked environment. The UWF-I matches were great teases of something that could have been absolutely amazing. He is one of the only wrestlers on my list who will make it without 20+ great matches. But the Volk Han trilogy, the Kohsaka trilogy in RINGS, Yamamoto in 6/99, and then the Kohsaka and Ito matches in U-Style are just too great and make it a necessity that he is top 20. I *think* he will be above Volk Han but haven't made that final decision. If you haven't seen any Tamura, but have enjoyed shoot style, check out the January 97 match against Han and the June 99 against Yamamoto. Those are the two easiest introductions to Tamura. June 98 vs. Kohsaka is absolutely world class but I wouldn't recommend it as a first match to see.

If you haven't downloaded any of the past issues, this one is a great one to start with. My favorite issue so far.

Goto vs. Ishii from yesterday was not a disaster like I thought it would be but it isn't the MOTYC that is being thrown around. Ishii was a Choshu trainee (pretty sure about that) and obviously didn't take away Choshu's strengths. For a bull versus bull match, this was no Hashimoto vs. Choshu. When Meltzer talks about this period in New Japan being reminiscent of Crockett in 1987-1988, something else he is missing from the working side is the game of top this. If two wrestlers throw 15 lariats at each other and don't go down until the last one, what do you expect will happen the next time the match occurs? 20 lariats? 30 lariats? It's the All Japan/NOAH lesson of "top this" will either: a.) make matches on the undercard seem completely irrelevant when people actually do sell (but this is also the better case) or b.) leads to the body breaking down much quicker. Goto's move that he does on his knee almost never looks good because if you truly take that one your head, you are probably going to get knocked out or concussed. So his opponents, rightfully so, aren't able to take it in a realistic manner and it ends up looking like a bad 2001 CM Punk move.

Maestro matches are generally wrestled technico vs. technico with submission skill being emphasized over technico vs. rudo or flying. It's very free flowing in that the transitions are from submission to submission. The only place I've seen this done other than maestro matches and where it was not exhibition style, would be the Destroyer vs. Mil Mascaras 7/74 AJPW match. But like most wrestling, there isn't a formula that goes 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 that everyone follows. Solar and Negro Navarro work submission to submission with some stand offs. The recent Blue Panther vs. Satanico incorporated a lot more of the traditional lucha transitions in between the mat work (rolling bumps from irish whips and arm drags).

This show wasn't great but that's more on the way AAA runs matches, angles, etc. Thought the opener was fun. There have been many mixed Atomicos matches over the years (I believe they started roughly around 2002 with the Man/Woman/Mini/Exotico formula) and while this didn't stand out from the pack, it was still solid. Villanos match wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen but it certainly was below average. I dug the symbolism of the old guard great trios team versus AAA's new guard trios team. Cage match had some neat spots, especially the Super Mario World like climbing on the cage and the light fixture. Evans was great with his highspots. Paul and I were watching a bunch of Shane Helms in WCW this weekend and the way Helms and Moore bumped in early 2000 would have fit right in with this match. But too many people in this cage made for a pretty forgettable match. Blue Demon Jr. tag was interesting. Blue Demon worked very hard and when he was in with Electroshock, you would have thought Electroshock was actually competent. Waste of a match and way below the Blue Demon vs. Villano IV match from Rey de Reyes. Cage vs. Del Rio was fine for what it was. Del Rio was very over and the finish got a nice pop but Cage isn't any good and the build to this hair match wasn't good. Rey vs. Myzteziz was a solid match. I was somewhat disappointed since I probably has unreal expectations for it but there were many positives: - Myzteziz did a real nice job of being a good base for Rey - Rey brought out his usual energy and good move set - The match also built well and while I'm not usually a fan of "use your opponent's moves" as a big part of the match, it felt fine here, especially since it directly played into the finish. Negatives: - At least on the spanish feed of the iPPV, the match didn't have as much heat as Del Rio vs. Cage, which was disappointing. I still think a Rey Jr. vs. Myzteziz Mask vs. Mask match would be great. Also think a toned down Pentagon Jr. (i.e. - no rudo ref garbage, not so many weapons and tables) vs. Rey Jr. would be excellent.

Tanahashi vs Shibata is the best G-1 match I've seen so far. Still a notch behind Saku vs Shibata but really strong opening and no goofiness that seems to creep into most Shibata matches.

I agree with Dylan. If that is traditional selling, then it exposed all the other matches as being completely meaningless. It's why the 90's All Japan style died: top this, top that move wise - no more moves then we will no sell to pop the crowd. What will Ibushi and Shibata do in their next match? Double up on that sequence? It's one thing to just work a near fall match (Cena vs Owens I, II, and III) and while that may be flawed, at least they are just throwing bombs. No idea what Shibata and Ibushi were thinking, especially since the rest of the match was pretty good.

Yup, though probably getting the iPPV because Matt Striker is a terrible lead announcer and I imagine will only be worse on color.

The LA Gracie thing started the spiral but they also had failed to create any new stars so Takada/Vader III was a disappointment box office wise. The next logical step was Takada to do a real fight but since I think he knew deep down that he wasn't a fighter, the New Japan inter promotional deal gave the company new legs for another 8 months. As for great works in Pride or Pancrase, there aren't many "great" matches. Shamrock/Hume is worked but it isn't extra special. Takada/Otsuka from Pride 9/12/99 is worked but it is well below what Otsuka was producing in BattlArts at the time.

Agreed, although the '88 match has some unique charm to it. Also has the slingshot cannonball flip spot that I've never seen done anywhere else

Tadashi Tanaka thought Uno vs Sato I from Shooto 5/29/99 was the ultimate pro wrestling match taking place in a real environment. I wouldn't call it pro wrestling but if you watched it without knowing it was real, you might think it was the best RINGS match ever

I think the Santo/Espanto matches we have on tape are as good as anything Casas has done (on tape) but I generally agree that run of the mill Santo is much less than normal Casas.

For the Baba/Robinson, here are Frank Jewett's thoughts from Dec 2001: (formatting his, not mine) This review isn't about the WON Awards or a candidate for the WON HOF, but since the match involves two WON HOF members I thought it might find a good home in this forum. Tying back to Steve Yohe's excellent "Wrestler of the Year 1900-1979" work, I'd have to say that the case for Billy Robinson winning WON Wrestler of the Year award in 1976 is strong. Robinson's famous draw with Inoki in 12/75 would fall within the 1976 voting period, as would this match and Robinson's 65-minute draw with Jumbo. It's one hell of a trifecta from a workrate standpoint, though this match, Billy vs Baba is probably my favorite of the three. Frank (Review follows below) ========== If Billy Robinson was wrestling today, one might describe his style as "fusion" since it incorporated tumbling elements now associated with juniors along with matwork now associated with UWFi and selling associated with All Japan. The problem with the fusion classification is that Billy Robinson's prime occurred more than twenty-five years ago, so he isn't a fusion of these disparate styles but rather a wellspring of new ideas or a missing link to the workers before him. Robinson may not have invented these moves, holds, and techniques, but in numerous cases his matches provide the oldest example of their application. Watching Robinson's match with Shohei Baba from 7/24/76 I was reminded of many of the now disparate elements which were fused in Robinson's work, but more than that I got the feeling that I was seeing a historic first. Billy Robinson vs Giant Baba may be the "first" Triple Crown match, not in the sense of fighting for the PWF, International, and UN titles, but in the sense of providing much of the blueprint that was used by Misawa and Kawada in the nineties to make "Triple Crown" synonymous with the ultimate in professional wrestling. One of the hallmarks of Triple Crown matches was the evolution of sequences from match to match as new counters were added to surprise the audience and take the rivalry to new levels. Robinson and Baba didn't have the luxury of playing off their previous encounters, but they had three falls to work with and they used sequences and spots in the early falls to set up surprise counters in later falls. Baba dominated the end of the first fall. Baba whipped Robinson into the corner, then whipped him into the ropes and caught him with a trademark high kick for a hot near fall. Robinson grabbed a headlock, literally trying to "hang on", but Baba back suplexed him to take the first fall. These moves would be replayed later in the match. In the second fall, Baba again tried to whip Robinson into the corner, but Robinson responded with a running elbow to begin to take control for the first time in that fall. Then in the third fall Baba tried for the high kick, but Robinson caught Baba's foot, slammed it down, and dropkicked Baba in the chest. Later, Baba tried another back suplex, but Robinson kicked off the top rope causing Baba to fall awkwardly and hit the back of his head, stunning himself. Counters like these became staples in Triple Crown matches in general and in Misawa vs Kawada matches in particular. Another hallmark of the Triple Crown style was organizing the match into sustained series of offense by each wrestler separated by transitions. The genesis of the transitions was often a single quick counter move, but momentum usually reversed slowly over several moves as it took the former victim time to clear his head after the previous prolonged assault. Robinson and Baba worked several of these deliberate, well planned shifts of momentum into their storyline. Perhaps the best of these transitions, and one of the best transitions I've ever seen, took place in the middle of the second fall. Baba came out strong, controlling the first three minutes of the fall while working on Robinson's sore neck with a series of chops to set up a leg sweep and a swinging neckbreaker for a pair of hot near falls. Baba whipped Robinson toward the corner, but Robinson sprang up onto the second rope, leapt off, and decked Baba with a running forearm to the side of the jaw. Robinson then collapsed himself, still hurting from the earlier beating, but made it to his feet first, steadied himself, and launched a dropkick that took Baba down again. Robinson stayed on his hands and knees following the dropkick, still trying to gather himself. Again he made it to his feet first and again he decked Baba with a running forearm, but this time he stayed on his feet and seeing Baba down he went for a quick cover but Baba, now thoroughly stunned, was able to get his foot over the ropes. Robinson, now fully in control of the action, then hit one of his signature spots, a hangman neckbreaker. Baba shifted slightly, perhaps looking for the ropes again, but had to kick out to avoid being pinned. The entire transition, from Robinson being in peril to Robinson being in complete control took a little over a minute with several "rounds" of combat featuring wonderful selling and decisions that made perfect sense. Slow, well executed transitions like this were one of the elements that separated All Japan's top singles matches from the rest of the world and separated the Misawa vs Kawada rivalry from the rest of All Japan. Another hallmark of the Triple Crown style was teasing and building the importance of key moves by using a sustained series of desperate blocks. In the first fall, Robinson attempted to lift Baba several times for a gut wrench suplex, but Baba hung on to Robinson's leg to block the move. In the second fall, Robinson attempted to lift Baba several times for a double arm suplex, but Baba blocked it in a number of ways, grapevining the leg, dropping to a knee, and hooking the ropes. The implication was that these moves posed a real threat to Baba which is why he was so desperate to block them. Misawa and Kawada often used the same psychology in their matches with Misawa desperately blocking Kawada's powerbomb. When Baba blocked the gut wrench suplex, Robinson shifted to attacking Baba's leg. When Baba blocked the double arm suplex, Robinson went back to the leg and applied a single leg crab, forcing Baba to submit and evening the match at one fall apiece. Robinson opened the third fall by going after Baba's injured leg. He tried to apply the boston crab several times, but Baba made it to the ropes or kicked him off. On one of the kicks, Robinson fell backward and hit the back of his head. Another hallmark of the Triple Crown style was great selling, understated and realistic in some moments while over-the-top theatrical in others. In the second fall Robinson had shown that he could stagger around in peril like Shawn Michaels in one moment, then wilt following a heavy blow like Toshiaki Kawada in the next moment. In the third fall, after bumping his head, Robinson avoided a stomp, made it to his feet, then collapsed and rolled all the way out to the floor. Not to be outdone, after bumping his head when Robinson kicked off the top rope to upset a back suplex attempt, Baba rolled three quarters of the way across the ring, then rolled under the ropes and off the apron to the floor. Robinson and Baba varied their selling, but they were not inconsistent. Their selling reflected the overall flow of the match and the most recent attacks so they were able to mix theatricality and realism like a Triple Crown match. There are plenty of other elements that can be analyzed in this match, from the incredible build to the finish to all the quirky moments Robinson brings to the match, but I'm going to break with tradition by avoiding a blow by blow retelling of the stretch run here so that readers can see it for themselves. Robinson's bumping is great and Baba's signature moves never looked better. At one point Robinson staggers into the ropes, then in response to Baba's chop he falls out between the top and second rope to end up on the apron. Baba's back suplex is majestic with Baba letting gravity do all the work. Baba's finisher, the neckbreaker drop, has all the ferocity of a car wreck with Robinson flinging his legs into the air as his shoulders are driven into the canvas. All that said, I'd rate this match at ****1/2. There were a couple of minor slips early and while their matwork seemed both organic and original it ended a bit abruptly as if they had merely wanted to get it out of the way before moving on to other things. The teasing and failure to deliver later on the gut wrench suplex and the double arm suplex was a negative, but the teasing of a double countout while actually delivering a clean, satisfying finish balances that out. I've seen Robinson vs Baba from 7/24/76 nine times now and I haven't tired of it at all. There are literally dozens of small touches to enjoy around the strong central storyline. It's the quintessential Billy Robinson match, showing his strengths and the diversity (to our modern eyes) of his work while also showing a few moments of Robinson marching to his own drummer. If you were a fan of All Japan Triple Crown matches in the nineties and the great rivalry between Misawa and Kawada then you definitely need to watch this match to see where that style came from. Frank

I only watch what I'm told to watch when it comes to New Japan so I only saw Styles/Shibata and Tanahashi/Ibushi. Styles/Shibata was a lot of fun. Styles still can't throw a chop - it's 2002 Christopher Daniels level bad. This is the first time that Shibata has been in back to back singles matches where he has looked good. Headlock hold and abdominal stretch sequence will always win points with me. I liked Shibata's sleeper being used to set up the penalty kick. Even Styles reverse suplex into the turnbuckles, a spot I usually hate, came off well here since Shibata didn't get too much air to make it look a little more authentic. ***1/2 Tanahashi/Ibushi was a flawed match, but it wasn't because of any leg selling issues. There were three things that really stuck out to me: 1. Crowd heat. This had a good reaction for 2015 but it didn't approach even "good" heat from AJPW in the early to mid-90's or New Japan heat in the mid-80's or mid-90's. The amount of stuff they did should have produced a much greater reaction but it didn't. And that is a huge issue 2. Respective Roles. Ibushi has some great spots (his super fast kip up, all of his kicks) but he never strung any sequences together to make it look like he is the young gun trying to knock off the king. He never brought the crowd along on the emotional rollercoaster. I wasn't looking for him to be Akiyama against Kawada in 1993-1995, but did expect something to follow up the Nakamura match from January. 3. Payoffs. New Japan heavyweight's (and juniors for that matter) have always sold a specific way, so complaining about not selling the leg the entire match isn't something I'm interested in. What I am interested in and this goes for all sorts of entertainment (books, movies, TV, music) is if you are going to fill up 75% of the body with leg work, there eventually has to be a pay off. Maybe the payoff is later in the tournament but I doubt it. And all that leg work could have lead to the ref having to stop the match as Ibushi won't quit but the ref can't let someone get injured for the rest of the tournament. Simple pay off, doesn't make anyone look weak, etc. That was the Hashimoto 1996 G-1 story, although he was playing a very different role than Ibushi. Tanahashi comes off to me as the wrestling equivalent of Baltimore Orioles Starting Pitcher Chris Tillman. Neither guy does anything great but they also don't do anything poorly. They both "keep you in the game" and in 2015, that has to count for something.

Brock won't make my list (neither will Ogawa) but it's still a stretch praising Ogawa for the Hashimoto matches. Those matches generally had good heat but they were complete messes in the ring. It's not even fair to call them poor UWF matches because the worst UWF style matches I've seen at least seemed to have an end goal in mind. I'm not sure what the end goal of any of the Ogawa/Hashimoto matches were. From the actual execution to the booking, they were a mess. Murakami, who certainly isn't a world beater, had the match Ogawa/Hashimoto were looking for in November 2000 against Ishikawa. Granted, Ishikawa is good but it wasn't a carry job and I'm not about to nominate Murakami for this list (even though he has a handful of matches that I would classify as good+. Ogawa wanted to be a top flight UWF style worker but he just wasn't any good at it. The Kawada match is good but two months later, Kawada rolls out of bed to have a TC match with Hashimoto that is much better than the Ogawa match. And that's with Hashimoto and Kawada both physically broken down. Ogawa wishes he could have had the Cena/Brock match at Backlash 2012. Hell, he probably wishes he could have had the Brock/Punk SS 2013 match (and Punk isn't a UWF worker by any means, but he incorporated one or two elements into that better than Ogawa was able to do 95% of the time).

He had the good 12/14/03 Kawada match and the weird 1/4/04 Goldberg match but he doesn't belong anywhere near this list.

Baba had a legitimately great match in four decades: 3/5/69 vs Destroyer 7/24/76 vs Billy Robinson 2/4/82 vs. Stan Hansen 11/30/93 w Hansen vs Misawa/Kobashi I understand people not being into him but selling isn't a weakness for him, at least in the 60's and 70's footage we have. As his body started to break down by the late 70's, his selling became different. Whether that was good or bad selling is in the eye of the beholder I guess

That's a good point about the immediacy of today's wrestling versus the viewing landscape in 1998. I'm still not sure why his 1998 way of thinking wouldn't apply in 2015 though - it's always good to give an initial opinion but the best stuff in life (whether it's TV, movies, books, food, etc) tend to hold up well when judged in the context of its time, at least in the eyes of the beholder. I get why 1983 Dave flipped out for TM/Dynamite Kid. But the 2001 version of me appreciated the flying but also saw it didn't stand the test of time as well as some other matches from that period (ex. the TM/Kobyashi New Japan series is generally as good if not better). It's interesting seeing his week by week recaps of the rise of Steve Austin. In Yearbook form, it's almost all above average to great but in the latest 1998 back issue, you can sense Dave is starting to tire a little bit from it (which makes sense when watching the full shows in a weekly context).

Need to watch Sakuraba vs. Shibata again, but it was really good the first time, in the **** range for me. The praise I’ve seen for this match has mostly been about Sakuraba working a match towards Shibata’s style and that made the ebd result great. But I didn’t walk away from the match with that perspective. My impression of Shibata has been that he is the guy being stiff for the sake of being stiff and that his “shooter” personality makes popping up after 1 count’s late in the match okay. I thought his matches in the 2013 and 2014 G-1 with Ishii were okay but quite flawed from the ****3/4-***** ratings they were given. I’ve been told by people I trust that Shibata has been much better this year but I haven’t paid close enough attention to see it on my own. Regardless, I walked away thinking that this match could only work as well as it did with Sakuraba. Maybe Kushida could do it with Shibata, but that would most likely be too much of a different kind of match (more flying from Kushida). Sakuraba brought too much to the table to call this a typical Shibata match. The early mat work, while not 1998 RINGS Tamura vs. Kohsaka level, was fresh and wouldn’t look out of place in the 2015 legit grappling world. Sakuraba’s foot stomp (from his real fights in PRIDE) and Shibata's penalty kick reversals and the way they ended the scramble with that made me think of Low Ki vs. Red. I would be interested in seeing a Saku vs. Ki and Saku vs. Red match now. And Saku vs. Rey Jr - that may be the ultimate money mark match I would run if I won the lottery. Couple of other thoughts: · Sakuraba’s plancha had some great height on it. I believe he did one in his 2000 worked match against Kendo KaShin on the Inoki NYE show and he has done it a couple times in New Japan but it seemed like this was the first time he was comfortable that someone would catch him properly and that allowed him to get a little more height than usual · I’m usually good with Japanese or Spanish commentary for their respective matches, but I think Mauro Ranallo or someone else would have been good here, if just for this one spot. After Sakuraba eats the corner dropkicks from Shibata, they get back to their feet and Sakuraba wails on him in the corner, ignoring the referee to break. It would have been interesting and added to the match if English commentary talked about how in his PRIDE days, there was no need to break and that Sakuraba was being totally zoned in his opponent and forgot that this wasn’t an MMA fight. It’s a very small thing but when I see things like regular, every day arm selling in Dragon Gate matches or quick glances from seconds in New Japan being praised as strong psychology, I would be remiss to not mention this. · The build to Sakuraba crawling up Shibata’s back and grabbing one arm and then the other so that Shibata had to use his teeth for the rope break was excellent. I’m a big fan of MMA matches with lighterweight fighters who take risks flying around (Rumina Sato vs. Takumi Nakayama 11/02 and Rumina Sato vs. Makato Ishikawa 3/05 being two prime examples). Going into the match, I had no idea that this had been building in their tag encounters. Got a lot of heat, was a neat visual spot, and one that really doesn’t hurt either guy. · Sakuraba’s kicks were great and that variation in striking really helps freshen up matches. It’s one of the reasons the Misawa/Kawada dynamic worked so well: Misawa’s elbow vs. Kawada’s kicks, with each splicing in some other striking to keep the crowd on their toes. · Also read praise for Sakuraba finally taking some big bumps. I counted two (plancha and the german suplex head drop). This made me really want to see more Sakuraba, even if it is in a pro-style worked environment. I still dream that in the next year or two we will get Saku vs. Tamura (take the best elements of their 3 shorter UWFI 1996 matches) or Saku vs. Kohsaka at Korakuen Hall to do their 2015 version of the Worked Shoot but for now, Sakuraba vs. Kushida or Tanahashi would be at the very least interesting and at best, just great.

From the 5/25/98 WON: I don't believe 2015 Dave believes this as much as 1998 Dave did.

This is the opposite ends of the spectrum poll but it's definetly intriguing. I'd take Baba but want to address a few things: Punk is sloppy at times and certainly isn't a great athlete but unprofessional? If that's the case, Tenyru, Hashimoto, and mid 90's Choshu fit that same bill and I would never consider them unprofessional. Watching Punk's journey from his first ROH show in late 2002 through MITB 2011, you see a physically limited wrestler who was sloppy learn how to work smarter to the point that by the summer of Punk 2005, he's only behind Joe and Danielson in ROH in terms of straight up working. WWE gave him the kickboxing gimmick, which doesn't fit his strengths at all but he managed to turn it into something okay. Arguably has given Cena his best match (or best set of matches), the Rod Strong July 2005 match is a 'holy shit, this shouldn't be possible for this to be that good but it is', and then a bunch of solid stuff, including some early matches against Del Rio when Del Rio wasn't having good WWE matches outside of him and Rey Jr.