Tim Cooke

I thought the most interesting thing in the WM 17 match was that Angle was clearly blown up after the opening amateur stuff. He was clearly winded but Benoit looked fine.

To add to Chad's list: If you haven't watched any of the Jumbo vs. Misawa feud from 1990, I would sample: 5/26/90 Jumbo/Fuchi/Kabuki vs. Misawa/Kobashi/Taue 6/8/90 Misawa vs. Jumbo 9/1/90 Misawa vs. Jumbo 10/28/90 Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi vs. Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi 04/20/91 Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi vs. Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi 10/24/91 Jumbo vs. Kawada Here is what I would add to the Misawa/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue feud: 10/21/92 Misawa vs. Kawada (first singles match for the Triple Crown celebrating 20th Anniversary of the promotion. This sets the feud up) 04/12/93 Kawada vs. Taue (TV is fine but Ginnetty also just got a Handheld of this show. The end of the big Taue vs. Kawada rivalry that was second to Misawa vs. Jumbo from 1991-1992) 7/2/93 Misawa/Kobashi/Akiyama vs. Kawada/Taue/Ogawa (great six man that really cements the Misawa/Kawada rivalry along as well as progresses a couple of other storylines)

I don't know what this means.

The Pirata Morgan match has a lot of extended selling from both, which is almost All Japan like. The Santo UWA 1991 match is also a classic.

It's not a MOTYC candidate in the ****1/2+ definition (though what is in 2015?), but Rey/Mistico vs. Perro Jr./Pentagon Jr. from Rey de Reyes was a lot of fun. I recently rewatched the Rey vs. Eddy SD matches from March 2004 and June 2005. Both of those are absolutely fantastic. If they happened today, people would be throwing ***** at them like it was nothing but back in '04-'05, they were just TV matches, though the 6/23/05 match did get some MOTYC consideration. Fast Forward 10 years later and Rey is performing moves like it is 1997 again. His team with Mistico makes makes a good Mexican RnR Express. Perro/Pentagon Jr. were a much lesser version of the MX, but that's not in insult to them. I didn't see much difference between this and the 12/15/97 Rey/Juve vs. Parka/Psicosis match from Nitro that Dave said was the modern day RnR vs. MX match (and that match is fantastic, especially for a Nitro length match during a time when the cruisers were in the midst of being booked horribly week in and week out). The Nitro match had bigger overall high spots but this had just as much action and more heat. This seems like a warm up for a few more big Rey matches before he hangs it up and if that is the case, they are off to a great start.

Joe's title shot against Misawa *was* a failure. But it is at most 50% on Joe, but probably a lot less. Joe and Kobashi tear the roof off in NYC in October 2005. NOAH has the chance right then and there to book him as a regular or semi-regular. He would have instantly been their best gajin heavyweight, maybe best gajin overall. What happens? They don't do anything, bring him in for two matches (not even one tour), against a completely broken down Misawa who is only holding the belt because Kenta and Marifuji can't draw and Morishima wasn't (and never would be) ready. Misawa's last even good performance before that match? Maybe the 9/10/04 Double Agents tag? Certainly wasn't the Kawada Dome match. The fans had no reason to get up for a Joe vs. Misawa match. Misawa obviously couldn't or wouldn't do much. Don't see how that is all on Joe. But Joe is a failure because of one bad match with a broken down Misawa? Small Sample Size.

That's the funny thing. Come 1993, Hansen and Misawa finally have their legit good match (5/21) but still have a disappointing Carnival Final. Kobashi and Kawada get career best matches out of Hansen in 1993 (Kobashi twice). Hansen in singles matches from 1989 to 1992 was still finding his way in the new, younger, faster AJPW style. In tags, such as the 88 RWTL final night match against Revolution, he fits in like a glove but Hansen singles matches after Choshu comes in are very hit and miss until 1993.

This is a good point though I think the better way to look at it is UWF style isn't so much going after injured body parts (it happens but it's not a focal point). The idea is they are using 'legitimate' holds that should make the opponent tap out instantly or within a few seconds if not close to a rope break. It's the opp of pro style where you 'wear' down an opponents body part with a variety of moves. It's no coincidence that UWF eventually lead to Pancrase and Pride, even if most of the great pro wrestlers sucked in actual MMA competition. Glad to see you enjoying this style a little more. Hopefully Lucha will eventually win you over too

From 3/16/15 WON Steve Grey, a three-time British welterweight champion in the 80s, now in his late 60s, came out of retirement on 2/28 in Peavehaven England as a late sub. Grey, who debuted in 1968 and was one of the stars of the 70s and 80s World of Sport era television show, was said to be in tremendous shape for his age, and did both a tornado DDT and won his match with his trademark surfboard submission move.

About the reason for booking, where did you hear that?

Gerald's tag w Patterson in May 1999 against Mean Street Posse is a glimpse of the fire and charisma you could assume showed up sometime during his career that may not have made tape.

Black Terry Jr. taped that. Shoot him some money via PayPal and he'll hook you up

February is due out by Saturday (maybe earlier). We are in northeast but will be heading to Florida for Orioles Spring Training Friday so want to try to get it out by then

If you liked this, the RWTL match from Dec will be a real treat. Same with their 1991 tags

Strong/O'Reilly surprised me a in good way. Strong has been pretty good in the 2015 stuff I've seen him in and O'Reilly, now away from Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, and Tony Kozina seems to have some understanding of how to present modern MMA spots into a US pro wrestling match. I thought the main event was okay. For a feud blow off, assuming this is the case and they don't try to squeeze any more out of it, I thought they showed good restraint which is a one of my top complaints about the US Indy and Japanese scene for many years. But there are inherent issues with the third fall. Maybe it was a booking issue conflicting with what the wrestlers were going with but a falls count anywhere fall not having a single near fall occur outside the ring is amateur hour. This is especially true when you have the finish (the diving doomsday) and can pin the guys right on the floor because that is where he fell. It only makes perfect sense and instead they just lift him back into the ring. And Matt Taven is below average and that's probably being kind. I'm not a Michael Bennett fan (and his punches in this match resembled someone who had never used their arms for anything physical in real life) but Taven made him look very polished. Briscoes deserve a WWE/major promotion run. WWE would help tone down their style, which could benefit them in terms of longevity. But that's not always a sure fire solution. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose both benefitted from the WWE style initially but then a combo of booking and staleness has made them run of the mill. I also read somewhere else that this show had good heat. Maybe I'm watching too much AAA and Cara Lucha where the big AAA crowds are really loud and the small Cara Lucha crowds are really good for being around 75-100 people, but standards have nose dived if this show was a product of good heat. I didn't think it wasn't heated but it didn't stick out to me as anything special. Watched a fair amount of other stuff today (AXS show from last night-Naito v Tanahashi was not very good at all) and some older stuff and the ROH matches came out in the middle of the pack, which is a lot more than I can say about most of their stuff from the last 5 years. Edit: Tavon for Taven the second time I wrote his name. I'm guessing Tavon Austin would have been a great wrestler if he chose that. Certainly would run the ring ropes faster than the DG guys

This. Or even just typing his name into You Tube and seeing that there is a lot of stuff available.

Should have named your cat Rumina in 1995 - would have beat out Silva. Rey vs. Eddy from 3/18/04 SD, vs Noble from 5/1/04 Velocity, and 6/23/05 vs Eddy (SD) are three of my favorite WWF matches ever. He also did some good stuff with Chavo in the ring, but nothing that comes to the level of those three matches. Hope he gets one last run. Perro Jr. vs Rey Hair vs Mask or Mistico vs Rey Jr Mask vs Mask could be quite spectacular.

John has talked about this before but this this is the match where you can see all of the tape watching Rey and Juventud had done and see how they incorporate a lot of different moves into their repertoire. Not many luchadores had large move sets around this time (for better or worse) and this is really the height of that particular youth movement in terms of blending Japan, Europe, and Mexico together. That would happen in a different way in the early 2000's with stiffer matches based on Japan work (Shocker, Dr. Wagner Jr., etc.) as well. This still held up well for me the last time I watched it. Bob Barnett had a great view of the match which prior to Black Terry Jr. taping stuff in Mexico, you handhelds were very hit or miss (if this was the version used for the yearbook). Same can be said for Japan (try watching the 6/3/94 Misawa vs. Kawada handheld - can barely see anything).

Thanks for the feedback. We went in to the January issue with the idea of not just covering the best but also not harping on just the negative. It also depends on the depth of the matches themselves. I would love to travel back in time (for numerous reasons) but I think it would be awesome to do one of these in real time for a particularly great month in wrestling history - say January 1990 or December 1996. Ha, we are indeed brothers. Paul has always liked wrestling as much as me but it wasn't until Punk/Cena at Money in the Bank that he really dove head first back into watching full time and by that time my interest was waning severely, though I still stayed in tune by watching stuff that is still being unearthed (old Lucha, WOS, etc). He was one of the many who contributed to the 2.5-3.0 Nitro (and lesser Thunder rating) rating until March 26, 2001 and we filled the WCW void with ROH DVD's (and 15+ live shows from Sept 2002-August 2006) and more historical matches. Very glad to hear feedback about this. We are planning to continue to grow this slowly and steadily. Next month, the Match Guide will be available for all e-reader devices and along with the already excellent content, the hope is that we continue to expand and refine the look to make it as nice as possible.

I've seen this type of mentality at other events as well. Generally, these people are the outliers but that's not always the case. At Baltimore Oriole games, I have witnessed several regular fans who seem to enjoy being able to yell out in frustration when the O's do something wrong. These people are paying for their seats, come to a bunch of games, and still find some satisfaction with being negative. It's very weird and certainly not the norm, but it is there. An extreme case was a guy in 2013 during a Saturday afternoon game. Couldn't have been nicer for a 1:05 start with bright sunny skies and temperatures around 75 degrees. This guy was sitting in a section that was priced out at $27 per ticket. He was wearing a custom Orioles jersey (at least $150, probably more - even if he got it as a gift, that is an expensive gift). He moaned and groaned the whole game, almost delighted when the other team did something right. The O's fell behind in the top of the 10th only to walk off in the bottom half of the inning. This guy was visibly upset when the Orioles won. From what I could tell, he hadn't been drinking and didn't appear to have anything wrong with his mental faculties. I think sometimes people get into a habit that brings them some sort of comfort and regardless of the overall quality of what they are doing, they still get something out of it. I stuck with WCW until the final sign off on March 26, 2001 but it was a chore getting through most of those 2000 shows. But it was what I did on Monday and Wednesday nights and in this case, my hope was that they would eventually get better. They did in 2001 and I was rewarded for my dedication but if it was at another period in my life, I could have easily said, "Fuck this" and turned it off for good.

Yes, the Memphis show was was 90 minutes, at least for the WMC broadcast, as noted in my original post.

I watched episode 3 of the AXS New Japan show on Saturday and came away with a bunch of somewhat connected, someone random thoughts on the match (Okada vs. Tanahashi from 4/7/13), production, announcing, and great 1 hour wrestling TV shows. · This was easily the best Tanahashi/Okada match from just an in-ring standpoint. They were both super over and had Sumo Hall in the palm of their hand, something that I’ve thought almost all modern day Japanese wrestling has been lacking. The match was well laid out, with super solid early to mid-90’s New Japan heavyweight structure – nothing glamorous or flashy, just rock solid. There is an interesting review (not written by me) as part of an on-going ebook series coming out in early February that takes a look at Tanahashi’s thoughts on match layout (from his book) and how he incorporates that into his vision of wrestling in the ring so I won’t go into any more detail here but structure wise, I thought this was great for 2013 and would have played in many other time periods as well. · Neither Tanahashi or Okada really fit well into what I like about pro wrestling but credit them for laying out and executing this match well. Even the striking sequences were well done. This is the match they should have had at the Dome earlier this month. How both of these can be rated ***** is beyond me because when you watch both in their individual contexts, it is clear which one is better. · John Cena gets a lot of criticism (fairly or unfairly) for lacking with his execution of moves but Okada and Tanahashi were sub-Cena in their forward roll (this was slower than a 70 year old Mil Mascaras would have done it) and one or two other sequences. Cena would be blasted for it but Tanahashi and Okada seemingly get a pass for these minor, yet meaningful, details. · This was not the best 1 hour pro wrestling TV show ever. That’s plain hyperbole. If it was said that you should watch this show if you are looking for a good (even great) English commentary on Japanese matches, I would have accepted that. But when you build something up as the greatest, it better be the greatest. These episodes, off the top of my head (noting that Memphis was usually 90 minutes and the one match I’m including from Raw is obviously 2 hours) are all much better glimpses at truly great 1 hour pro wrestling TV shows: o Memphis 6/4/83 (Lawler vs. Dundee Loser Leaves Town Hype Show) o All Japan 5/22/84 (Jumbo vs. Kerry & Flair vs. Race) o NWA Worldwide 7/9/85 (Rock n Roll Express vs. I. Koloff/Krusher Kruschev) o Memphis 10/16/85 (Dundee turns heel) o Mid South 11/6/85 (Ted Dibiase vs. Ric Flair with Murdoch turn) o Memphis 3/1/86 (Dundee/Landel beat up Jeff Jarrett – Lance Russell and Dutch Mantel call Jerry Lawler on the phone to ask him to come back and restore order) o NWA Worldwide 5/3/86 (Tully Blanchard vs. Ron Garvin) o NWA Worldwide 1/24/87 (Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham) o NWA Worldwide 5/14/88 (Midnight Express vs. Fantastics US Tag Title Switch) o All Japan 9/16/90 (Jumbo/Misawa II, Fantastics vs. Kikuchi/J. Malenko) o New Japan 11/24/90 (Liger/Benoit, Sasaki/Hase vs. Muto/Chono, Hashimoto/Choshu) o All Japan 4/18/93 (Gordy/Williams, Kawada/Taue, and Misawa/Kobashi) o WWF Raw 4/13/98 (show builds around Austin vs. McMahon as the main event – maybe the most convincing build in a 2 hour show that I have ever seen in hyping and building towards a match) · Mauro Ranallo and Josh Barnett were both solid and unfortunately in today’s wrestling landscape, that passes as great. I thought as a team they were better than Ross and Mathews, but that isn’t saying much. Needless to say, they aren’t making you forget about 1990-1999 Jim Ross with their announcing. At one point, Ranallo talks about how these guys are blending many different styles including catch-as-catch can wrestling. They did a nice job blending lucha elements, New Japan heavyweight psychology from the 90’s, some junior flying, and even some strong selling, but I didn’t anything that even began to reference catch-as-catch can wrestling, especially considering that he was almost definitely referencing the style that Karl Gotch helped make popular with the younger generation of wrestling in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I like Ranallo and thought with Bas Rutten, he was excellent in Pride from 2004-mid-2006. But I also thought Stephen Quadros and Bas Rutten were equally as good in Pride and I’m not sure anything either of those announcing teams did would qualify as greatest of all time. To be fair, they sure did blow away the final team of Robbie Mikoski and Frank Trigg. Ranallo made Trigg passable when he first started announcing with Pride, but Trigg was unbearable afterwards. I imagine Ranallo and Barnett would have been excellent in Pride and would most likely be enhanced greatly by calling the matches live at the building as they are taking place. · A two year old match airing on network with limited cable coverage hurts the presentation. Not sure what the answer to that is (hopefully they have Ranallo and Barnett call future big shows on PPV at the arena) but it is something that needs to be addressed. · I like the old World Pro Wrestling graphic that takes you in and out of commercial breaks but I think they clutter it up aesthetically with the match date at the bottom. · I very much appreciate Tanahashi and Okada a lot more for their ability to identify a better way to work a match to get (and keep) both over by not having to use meaningless elbow exchanges, pop up no sells after big moves, and one count kick outs in the late stages of matches as the main ingredients of a match (11/9/14 Goto vs. Ishii springs to mind as great representation of everything wrong with that style).

Where are the 45+ minute Baba, Race, and Brisco matches? Brisco vs Dory Funk from 74 was not good, Race generally went 30 minutes. Baba wasn't working 45+ minute matches in the 70's that made tape and aren't listed above.

Times may not be bell to bell for matches in parenthesis (may actually be with entrances and match introductions but my notes don't indicate). Matches with no times are definitely 45+ bell to bell. These are all widely available, though I'm not sure if they are all on You Tube or Daily Motion. Baba vs. Destroyer (3/5/69 - JWA) Billy Robinson vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (3/11/77 - 47:32) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mil Mascaras (8/25/77 - 43:32) Funks vs. Billy Robinson/Horst Hoffman (12/6/77 - 45:46) Funks vs. Baba/Jumbo (12/14/77 - 48:50) Funks vs. Baba/Jumbo (12/15/78 - 47:20) Ric Flair vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (6/83) Jumbo/Taue vs. Misawa/Kawada (9/30/90) Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi vs. Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi (4/20/91) * regular TV airs 28 minutes. Midnight Special airs almost complete 51 minute match Kawada vs. Kobashi (1/19/95) Misawa/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue (5/21/94) Misawa/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue (6/9/95) Misawa/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue (10/15/95) Kawada vs. Kobashi (10/18/96)