stunning_grover

Tragedy This clearly calls for a Negro Casas comp. Who will heed the call? In all seriousness, Negro Casas is one my favorite wrestlers. For some reason it is easier for me to get immersed in his matches than for any other wrestler. A Negro Casas compilation would be the greatest compilation of all time. Hopefully there will be a 60-disc Negro Casas DVD Set one day.

62 min. Great match. The winner of the match would win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which had been vacated. Shawn Michaels, who had recently turned heel, was interviewed by Sean Mooney before the match. Ric Flair was interviewed by Lord Alfred Hayes in a Coliseum Video exclusive interview where Flair revealed that he had drawn number 3. It was followed by promos by Randy Savage, Sid Justice, Repo Man, Davey Boy Smith, Jake Roberts, Ric Flair, Undertaker and Hulk Hogan. The line-up for this Royal Rumble was definitely the greatest Royal Rumble line-up ever. Basically all 30 participants were top superstars. The match turned out to be the best worked out Royal Rumble ever with many different stories going on and many great moments. A wonderfully booked match. The participants of the Royal Rumble Match were: #1 Davey Boy Smith. He gave a very good performance. His main opponent was Flair. He lasted 23 minutes until he was eliminated by Flair. Davey Boy played a big role in the match for the first 10 minutes or so, but he became less noticeable when the ring started to fill up more and more. This match was the first of many times he would be able to show how well he could work with Michaels and they showed nice chemistry together. #2 Ted DiBiase. This was during the final weeks that DiBiase was managed by Sensational Sherri. He would form the Money Inc tag team with IRS soon and Sherri would go on to manage Shawn Michaels. DiBiase lasted one minute in this match and didn’t play much of a role in this match. He did a nice job of making Davey Boy look very good before Flair would enter though. Too bad that he got eliminated before Flair entered, but it made sure that Flair got all the attention that he needed and that the stories would be worked out correctly. #3 Ric Flair. The man of the match, quite obviously. The performance he gave in this match was one of the greatest performances he has ever given (and that says a lot!). He lasted an hour in this match and worked with 28 men (the only man he didn’t work with in this match was DiBiase, who was eliminated before Flair entered). He took many bumps and dished out a lot of punishment. He was the main man in his match and his story was the main story of the match. The many great things he did in this match are just way too many to list. #4 Jerry Sags. He lasted a minute and was eliminated by Davey Boy. He basically added nothing to the match. By the way, his partner Brian Knobbs was injured and wasn’t in this match. #5 Haku. He helped out Flair for a little bit until he started attacking Flair. The Flair vs Haku stuff was great, even though it was pretty short. He would eventually be eliminated by Davey Boy even before the next participant had entered. I wished he would have stayed a bit longer in the match. #6 Shawn Michaels. This was his first televised match as a heel in the WWF. He did some of the stuff he would later be famous for. For example, the overselling and wild bumping. He gave an excellent performance. He wasn’t as smooth and comfortable as a heel as he would later become, but it was a nice preview of what an amazing superstar he would eventually become. His superkicks didn’t look all that great here though. The Flair vs Michaels stuff was fun to watch. Michaels and Santana eliminated each other at the same time after Michaels had been in the match for 15 minutes. #7 El Matador Tito Santana. He brawled a bit with Michaels, who would be his opponent at WrestleMania VIII. He also brawled quite a bit with Flair. Michaels and Santana eliminated each other at the same time after Santana had been in the match for 13 minutes. #8 The Barbarian. The Barbarian lasted 12 minutes, which was a cool thing. He didn’t give a performance that was all that memorable (although he gave a pretty good performance), but he sure was a nice addition to the match. He was eliminated by Hercules. #9 Texas Tornado Kerry Von Erich. He immediately went after Flair, who had a long history with him, of course. Michaels sold discuss punch hugely. He lasted 9 minutes until he was eliminated by Flair, one of his main rivals throughout his career. #10 Repo Man. Demolition Smash had been repackaged and now known as Repo Man. He did his usual Repo Man stuff and played his Repo Man character quite well in this match. He lasted six minutes until he was eliminated by Big Boss Man. #11 Greg Valentine. He was a babyface around this time. I thought the Flair vs Valentine stuff was really good stuff. They gave each other some stiff chops. Valentine executing the figure four on Flair was also a nice thing to see. He only lasted 4 minutes, but he was great while he lasted. He was eliminated by Repo Man. #12 Nikolai Volkoff. He wasn’t the greatest, but he was a well known WWF superstar and a former WWF Tag Team Champion. So him participating was a nice addition to this line-up. He only lasted a minute in this match and he basically didn’t do anything. He was eliminated by Repo Man. #13 Big Boss Man. He showed a lot of energy during the three minutes he was in the match. He added some nice intensity to the match while he was in there. As soon as he entered the ring, people started to get eliminated really fast. He was eliminated by Flair. #14 Hercules. He didn’t even last a minute and was eliminated by Big Boss Man. #15 Roddy Piper. His entrance was a great moment. Just look at the look on Flair’s face and listen to the crowd reaction. He played a big role in this match. Piper had won the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship from The Mountie earlier that night, so he had the chance to win two championships in one night. He lasted 34 minutes before he was eliminated by Sid. #16 Jake Roberts. He was awesome heel in this match. He double-crossed Flair to prove that you can’t trust a snake. The Jake vs Flair vs Piper interactions was about the half-way point of the match. It had already been a great match up until that point and there was still a lot of things to come. Jake constantly was looking who was entering, because he wanted to see when Randy Savage would enter. Jake and Savage had a great feud at the time. Jake lasted 10 minutes in this match before he was eliminated by Savage. #17 Jim Duggan. Things started to slow down in the match around the point Duggan entered and the ring would slowly fill up more and more. He lasted 20 minutes before he was eliminated by Virgil of all people. He didn’t do all that much during those 20 minutes though. #18 Irwin R Schyster. IRS was always a gimmick I loved. It’s such a typical early 1990s WWF gimmick. He lasted a long time in this match. He lasted 27 minutes before he was eliminated by Piper. #19 Jimmy Snuka. He wasn’t much of a factor in this match, but it was nice to see yet another legendary superstar. He was eliminated by The Undertaker after a couple of minutes. #20 The Undertaker. He was one of the favorites to win this match. He made quit an impact in this match, but he was eliminated by Hogan after 13 minutes. #21 Randy Savage. One of the top performers in this match. As soon as Savage entered, Jake slithered out of the ring. Savage was looking around and couldn’t find Jake. Eventually Jake attacked Savage, but Savage fought back and eliminated Jake. Savage was so intense and crazy that he accidentally eliminated himself by jumping over the top rope. Undertaker tried to cover it up and threw Savage back in. Savage went back out again and brawled a bit with Jake until Undertaker threw Savage back in again. Commentators Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan tried to explain that Savage was allowed back in because of the fact that apparently you can’t eliminate yourself during this edition of the Royal Rumble. After 22 minutes, he was officially eliminated by Flair and Sid. He was one of the final four participants left in the match. #22 The Berzerker. He lasted 9 minutes before he was eliminated by Hogan. He did okay in this match and his eliminated got a nice reaction (mostly because he was the second worker to be eliminated by Hogan in a matter of seconds). #23 Virgil. He lasted 7 minutes before he was eliminated by IRS. He didn’t play much of a role. The announcers mentioned that he had lost the Million Dollar Championship, which was a storyline from late 1991. #24 Col Mustafa. This was a weird gimmick where the legendary Iranian superstar Iron Sheik had to pretend to be an Iraqi wrestler known as Col Mustafa. He would still work as Col Mustafa for another four months after this match. He basically added nothing to this match, but was eliminated after only a couple of minutes anyway. #25 Rick Martel. I just realized that whenever he was wearing his pink outfit (which was mostly throughout 1992), he wasn’t all that over anymore (he used to be quite over otherwise). He lasted 12 minutes in this match before he was eliminated by Sid. The announcers mentioned the fact that he stayed in a very long time in the 1991 Royal Rumble Match. #26 Hulk Hogan. The biggest favorite to win this match. Things had slowed down considerably before Hogan entered. Things started to get hot again as soon as he entered. Hogan was just being Hogan, which was a good thing. He eliminated Undertaker, which was a nice way to get revenge on Undertaker (Hogan vs Undertaker was one of the many feuds going on at the time). The crowd loved it. Hogan’s elimination by Sid during the final moments of the match turned out to be one of the big stories of the match and the upcoming weeks in the WWF. #27 Skinner. Steve Keirn with a weird gimmick. His gimmick was basically that he was a dirty guy who liked to hang around alligators and swamps or something like that. He didn’t do anything special and lasted only a couple of minutes before he was eliminated by Martel. #28 Sgt Slaughter. He took a huge bump over the turnbuckle into the ringpost to the outside after Sid threw him in the corner. That was also his elimination. Other than that, he didn’t add much to the match. He lasted four minutes. It was nice to have another former World Heavyweight Champion added to the already incredible line-up though. #29 Sid Justice. He played a big role during the final moments of the match. His feud with Hogan started here, because he had the audacity to eliminate Hogan. He was the final man to be eliminated when he was eliminated by Flair. After the match, Hogan was threatened with death by Sid. #30 Warlord. Him being the final participant was a little bit anti-climactic and the crowd didn’t really react to him that much. He only lasted a minute though and was eliminated by Hogan and Sid. After the match, Flair cut an awesome promo. Mr Perfect and Bobby Heenan joined the celebration. Gene Okerlund told someone in the room to “put that cigarette out!” in a moment that had me and my sister laugh out loud back when we were kids. Heenan’s commentary throughout the Royal Rumble Match was amazing, by the way.

17 min. Excellent match. Norio Honaga defended his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Jushin Thunder Liger defended the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship, which he had won from Brian Pillman on 1991-12-25 in Atlanta, GA. So this match between Liger and Honaga was a double title match. Honaga was a member of the Blond Outlaws along with Hiro Saito and Tatsutoshi Goto. His style was different from most of the other junior heavyweights at the time. He worked a “less spectacular” and more methodical style. I loved how Liger was screaming when Honaga was working over his ribs. Honaga was in control for most of the match. I really like the pacing of the match and I really like Honaga’s style. I think it’s because of his style that this match ages a lot better than a lot of the other junior heavyweight matches from that time. I always really liked his work and I think it’s great that more people have discovered him. Liger won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

I think they were both babyfaces in this match, because this was still from back when Canek was the top star of the UWA. I believe he started to turn more often during later stages of his career. And I know you were probably just kidding, but he sure didn't turn more often than Lawler and Dundee.

Excellent match. Canek defended the UWA World Heavyweight Championship. This was during his tenth reign as UWA World Heavyweight Champion. Dos Caras pinned Canek to win the first fall. Canek pinned Dos Caras to win the second fall. Dos Caras pinned Canek to win the third fall. Dos Caras won the UWA World Heavyweight Championship for a third time. A great display of matwork, especially by Dos Caras. I liked how they were teasing a double pin on a several occasions. Dos Caras was for sure one of the toughest challengers Canek had ever faced.

I believe Don Bass really was Flaming Star. Flaming Star didn't look all that small here and it's not like Don Bass was all that huge anyway.

Good to see Dirty White Girl Kimberly Anthony make an appearance on the set. She was always one of my favorite women in wrestling.

Pegasus Kid Chris Benoit defended the WWF World Light Heavyweight Championship, which he had won on 1991-03-03 from Villano III. He had Tigre Canadiense Mike Lozansky in his corner.

I feel that Hamada's UWF was basically a full-fledged lucha libre promotion in Japan, while Michinoku Pro was a lucha-influenced puroresu promotion.

This was taped on 1991-12-03 in San Antonio, TX and aired on the 1992-01-12 episode of WWF Challenge. It’s the famous Barber Shop segment where Shawn Michaels turned heel on Marty Jannetty. Classic stuff!

12 min. Good match. This match was for Tatsumi Fujinami’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship and Riki Choshu’s NJPW Greatest 18 Championship (which is a championship that was awarded to Choshu in 1990). The one and only Antonio Inoki entering the ring after the main event made the match and the entire show seem even more important.

11 min. Good match, but the most spectacular thing about this match were the entrances. It was part of NJPW/WCW Supershow II (aka Starrcade 1992 In Tokyo Dome), which was the first of many January 4th Tokyo Dome shows presented by NJPW. A nice way to start off the set.

If I had to guess, Afa likely wished to devote time to his wrestling school. I thought of that, but then Afa did come back to manage for a short time. The Wild Samoan Training Center started in the late 1970s. Its location has changed over the years, by the way. I think Sika returned to WWF in late 1986 after The Wild Samoans left in early 1985 (or early 1986?). So it's not like Sika stayed and his brother Afa left. It's more like Sika returned to the WWF in September 1986 (until April 1988) and Afa returned to the WWF in mid/late 1992 (until mid 1995). And I think it's definitely possible that there were times where Afa wanted to concentrate more on the training center.

Jim Cornette's comments from jimcornette.com...

Terry Funk said it too, but differed on the opinion of why Murdoch never got the belt. A quote from his autobiography here: A page later, he even talks about Murdoch and the HoF. Not sure if I agree with all that, but it's an interesting perspective from a guy who knows the situation well. I've heard similar things before. Jake Roberts mentioned in one of his shoot interviews that he feels that there were nights were Dick Murdoch was one of the best workers in the business, but that there were also nights where he wasn't even trying to the point that he was making himself look ridiculous.

Owen Hart or Brian Pillman? Brian Pillman. Owen was one of the best workers in the world in 1987 and 1988, but his career never lived up to its potential when he started working for WWF on a regular basis (I really like his 1994 run though). Also, he seemed unmotivated at times, while Pillman was seemingly always motived. Pillman always tried to work as good as he possibly could, but unfortunately he had many injuries and that's why he couldn't always work as good as he wanted (especially at the end of his career). Pillman clearly loved the wrestling business and I think it's that passion that makes his matches more interesting than Owen's matches. Sano or Ultimo Dragon? Sano. I think Sano is one of the 25 greatest Japanese workers ever. I never liked Ultimo Dragon that much, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because of that match with Otani in December 1995 where they were no-selling piledrivers... and I blame Ultimo Dragon for that one since he should've known better as he was in Mexico for years. Or maybe it's because of that ridiculous finishing move he had in WWE when he was facing guys like Shannon Moore... I don't recall the details about the finisher though, including the name (but I think it's strange to see that your opponent actually has to execute your finisher for you... that's on the level of "everyone tries a powerbomb on Kidman even when they never do a powerbomb and nobody is able to powerbomb Kidman" or whatever it was). Anyway, about Sano, I know his career was not only about the series with Liger, but that's still the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Sano. And that series he had with Liger was really awesome... it's way more awesome than everything most people have ever done in their careers. So yeah, Sano quite easily. Tom Zenk or Scotty Riggs? Tom Zenk. I don't recall Riggs doing anything noteworthy. Zenk was a decent worker who had some fun matches, Riggs was a decent jobber who didn't have any memorable matches (as far as I remember). Brad Armstrong or Jim Brunzell? Brad Armstrong. I think he was more versatile than Brunzell and I just think he was simply better than Brunzell overall. Genichiro Tenryu or Randy Savage? That's a very tough one. I'm picking Tenryu right now, but Savage was definitely awesome. Then again, I could easily change my mind and pick Savage. Ted DiBiase or Rick Rude ? Ted DiBiase. His run in Mid-South was awesome. His work in All Japan was usually really good. And his run in WWF is legendary. But, I like DiBiase more than most and Rick Rude is someone I know I have been underrating. I should probably watch more Rick Rude anyway (especially his WCW matches, I guess). Fuerza Guerrera or Jerry Estrada? I'm a huge Jerry Estrada fan and I love his crazy bumping and selling, but there are not many luchadors who have had a better career than Fuerza Guerrera. So, I'm going with Fuerza Guerrera. Pirata Morgan or El Dandy? El Dandy. I think Pirata Morgan was an excellent wrestler. But... who are you to doubt El Dandy? 1980s Ric Flair or 1980s Jerry Lawler? 1980s Ric Flair is one of the very best pro wrestlers ever. And I don't think 1980s Jerry Lawler was one of the very best US wrestlers that has ever lived. So, it's not even close, in my opinion. Jumbo Tsuruta or Harley Race? Jumbo Tsuruta. Then again, there are not many people who I'd rank higher than Jumbo... maybe about 10 people and Harley Race is not one of them. Rob Van Dam or John Morrison? RVD! John Morrison doesn't even come close. I probably wouldn't even pick John Morrison over Dolph Ziggler. Who is better... Kimala I ("Kamala" Jim Harris) or Kimala II a.k.a. Uganda ("Botswana Beast" Ben Peacock)? Head Hunter A or Head Hunter B? Dick The Bruiser or The Crusher? Stan Lane or Dennis Condrey? Tom Prichard or Jimmy Del Ray? Brian Blair or Jim Brunzell? Dustin Rhodes or Barry Windham? Noriyo Tateno or Itsuki Yamazaki?

Dustin Rhodes or Shiro Koshinaka? Dustin. I like Koshinaka a lot though. By the way, about the Dustin discussions... I'd like to add that, around 1996, I remember that it was common to believe that Dustin's days as a really good worker were over when he had become Goldust. People actually recognised Dustin's WCW work as very good at the time. I think Dustin's WCW work became kind of "forgotten" in the late 1990s/early 2000s... until the Dustin Of The Day thing started in 2002. Raven or Sandman? Raven. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that Sandman was a decent worker. Abdullah the Butcher or Bruiser Brody? Abdullah. Shane Douglas or Eddie Gilbert? This is an interesting comparison, especially because Eddie Gilbert was actually the one who was about the first to ever realise Shane Douglas' potential. I really am an Eddie Gilbert fan, but I think Shane Douglas was a very good worker. Still, I think I'll go with Gilbert. Sid or Kevin Nash? Well, Nash's matches with Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker were far better than Sid's matches with Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker. So, I think Nash is slightly better. Jim Powers or Paul Roma? Paul Roma. Undertaker or Vader? Vader. Finlay or Bret Hart? Bret. I already mentioned some things about both of these workers earlier in this thread. But I think that when you take a look at the overall careers... Bret Hart is better than Finlay. Finlay in the early 1980s was great, Finlay from 1986-1995 is nothing really special and Finlay's short brawls from 1996 onwards have been fun to watch. That's not a bad career, but not as good as Bret's. Yoshiaki Fujiwara or Volk Han? Fujiwara. I respect Volk Han's ability and I think he's great at worked shoots (and shoots), but along with not liking the style of RINGS, the trouble I always have with ranking Volk Han as one of the 50 greatest pro wrestlers ever is that he has only worked in one very exclusive style of pro wrestling and never in a more "regular" pro wrestling setting. Sure, he is one of the greatest at what he does... but since we are discussing pro wrestling, I'm not sure if Volk Han would have been able to excel in a more "regular" pro wrestling organisation. For example, what would a Volk Han vs. Genichiro Tenryu match in New Japan or a Volk Han vs. Toshiaki Kawada match in All Japan have been like? I see RINGS just barely as a pro wrestling organisation and actually much more as a MMA organisation (and I'm not one of the many people who think MMA = pro wrestling). MX vs. RnR Express or MX vs. Fantastics? Tough question. But I think MX vs. RnR Express was better... it's definitely a close call though. Rick Martel or Tito Santana? I'll probably have to go with Tito Santana. Martel was probably better technically speaking, but Santana got more out of his matches. Butch Reed or Ron Simmons? Butch Reed. Edge or Christian Cage? Christian. Watching Edge's matches is more like watching a computer game and I don't like computer games. Stan Hansen or Steve Williams? I like Steve Williams a lot, but I'd have to give this one to Hansen. Who is better... Karl Gotch or Lou Thesz? Nobuhiko Takada or Tatsumi Fujinami? Volk Han or Stan Hansen? Harley Race or Genichiro Tenryu? Dan Spivey or Jimmy Snuka?

I came across an old discussion from 2003 and I liked it so much that it made me think about this thread. Remember how around 2003 almost everyone seemed to think Kurt Angle was really great? Kurt Angle actually became one of my least favourite wrestlers partially because of that. And we have been speaking about trends in another thread, but I think the Kurt Angle hype was one of the worst trends ever. Anyway... I found the following from Wrestling Classics message board in 2003... It's from a discussion about whether or not Kurt Angle should be in the WON Hall of Fame... And I really like what jdw wrote in reply to Paul Miller's statement... Paul Miller wrote: jdw wrote:

WWE is not the only one who is trying to forget about Chris Benoit... A couple of New Japan Classics shows were aired on Samurai TV in May/June and they aired Super Junior finals... 1988, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996... but they didn't air the 1993 and 1995 finals (by the way... there was no Super Juniors tournament in 1990, for those who didn't know)... and 1993 and 1995 were the finals where Benoit was working in them (and winning them)...

Very well explained. And I agree.

Okay. Yes, it's true that I am very impressed with Finlay's work from around 1983. I can't really explain why as I just don't care for his work that much from around 1986 onwards, other than his WCW and WWE work being somewhat fun to watch. I guess it's that I think Finlay was just a great athletic young wrestler during the early 1980s and that I don't care that much for his more sluggish work. Well, I'm not sure if Dynamite Kid was a good influence, but he sure was an influence. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the Memphis studio. I also think the Memphis studio stuff is a lot of fun. I think it's the atmosphere in the studio that makes it more fun.

Hiroshi Hase vs. Riki Choshu Thanks to the people who reminded me about Choshu's greatness. I need to check out more Choshu from the 1980s again. But I think I'm convinced already now that Choshu was indeed better than Hase. Hulk Hogan vs. Dusty Rhodes Hulk Hogan used to be the most hated wrestler on the internet until Triple H received power. Hogan is pretty underrated. Sure, he's not a great wrestler at all (technically speaking). But he had a tremendous career. His work from the 1980s and early 1990s was fun. And about the Hogan matwork thingy he does occasionally (usually in Japan), I find it kind of funny. It doesn't look really that impressive and it's the same thing every time, but it really looks like Hogan thinks he is doing something totally awesome and that makes it work for me. But really, when you go back and watch something like the Best of Saturday Night's Main Event dvd set or some other old WWF matches, Hogan wasn't as bad as people pretended he was. Hogan is great at being Hogan. He understands how to work the crowd, that is something that can't be denied. His promos were kind of fun, especially when you keep in mind the audience it was intended for. And yeah, his charisma was great. Speaking of great charisma... The greatest thing about Dusty Rhodes is his tremendous charisma and his awesome promos. But his in-ring work was not bad either. Especially him being able to work longer matches than you'd expect from him is something that is suprisingly good. Also, making his WWF run in 1989/1990 run work is something that shows how great he is. I don't think Hogan could've pulled that off. So... who's better? It's a tough question. Still, I think Dusty is slightly better, but Hogan is definitely not all that far behind. Steven Regal vs. Fit Finlay Steven Regal. He is just awesome. He combines unique British matwork with funny mannerisms and stiffness. Also, in his matches he usually does some clever little things that make him stand out from most workers. And I haven't seem many disappointing matches involving Regal. Sure, not all his matches are equally great and many aren't even great... but his performance in those matches is usually the best he is able to give (for example, his run as "Man's Man Stephen Regal" was really bad, but that was also probably the worst time in his personal life... him being barely alive and still going to the ring at that time was incredible enough). Also, on a less serious note... I prefer Regal's English accent over Finlay's Irish accent. I really wanted to like Finlay. Last year, I watched a lot of Finlay matches. But when I saw more and more matches of him, I actually became less and less impressed with him. Especially his early 1990s work is just incredibly disappointing (for example, his work in Germany, Austria and especially New Japan). I'm not sure and I may be missing something here... but I think it's just a case of Finlay being trendy. So, I have a question for the Finlay marks... is it his WWE work that makes you love him as much as you do? Because I understand it's cool to see him stand out as one of the best and unique WWE workers and I also understand it was cool to see him demolish jobbers in WCW, but I don't really see why he is so awesome when I look back at some of his earlier work. I can't get into his WoS work. I can get into his New Japan matches actually, but those matches are some of the most disappointing matches of the New Japan junior heavyweight division of the early-mid 1990s. I admit that seeing him destroying jobbers in WCW is fun and I understand that he's one of the best things in WWE in the more recent past, but I'm just not as impressed with him as I am with Regal. Also, I actually think Regal's WCW work was more impressive than Finlay's WCW work. Davey Boy Smith vs. Marty Jannetty Davey Boy Smith had almost all the right tools of a great wrestler... the right agility, the right physique, the right family, the right learning environment. But, he didn't have the right mind. He couldn't have a match where he would be the one who was making it work. Luckily, when he was in there with the right workers (workers like Dynamite Kid, Owen Hart, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Vader), he could have a great match. Also, I think Davey Boy Smith really wanted to be a great wrestler and I think he actually thought he was a great wrestler... but he just seemed to be a little bit stupid. Marty Jannetty is a worker who didn't need anybody to help him through the match. He was a great tag team wrestler and even his singles matches were a lot of fun to watch. He was always over with the crowd and he was always having interesting matches. Too bad that he always got fired though. I think Jannetty was better. Unlike Davey Boy Smith, he wasn't the type of tag team partner that needed to be carried (Davey Boy Smith got carried by Dynamite Kid for years and years)... he was a real tag team partner who added a lot to the matches (Shawn Michaels didn't have to carry Jannetty, they were working together as a great team). It's a shame he didn't get more opportunities in his career (although he definitely had an excellent career, he could've had an even greater career), because he is almost somewhat of a forgotten legend. Davey Boy Smith was lucky to have Bret Hart tell WWF to re-hire him and stick up for him all the time. Jannetty was unlucky enough to be the type of guy who gets fired every time. What was the deal with the Royal Rumble 1993 match? Jannetty got fired because he was under influence or something? I remember Jannetty selling the wrong shoulder in that match and that's basically the only cringe worthy moment of his career as far as I remember (other then hearing stories about him no-showing independent shows all the time in the more recent past). Atsushi Onita vs. Mick Foley I'm really not a fan of these guys, so I don't really care about who is better. Both guys really did a lot of harm to themselves and to pro wrestling. I'm not sure who's better, but I'll go with Onita because of the fact that he's a less overrated worker than Foley. Both guys have cool promos though. Foley has really smart promos and Onita cuts promos as if he's playing the lead role in a dramatic action movie (well, his matches are basically like movies anyway with all the explosion crap). But I haven't forgotten about Foley almost killing himself by jumping off that cell at King of the Ring 1998... and that's not what wrestling should be about, in my opinion. That's even less about pro wrestling than Onita rolling around in barbed wire and getting cut by Mr. Pogo's scythe. Mima Shimoda vs. Takako Inoue Like other people mentioned in this thread already, joshi puroresu is no longer trendy. I don't think that it makes the comparison less interesting, I guess it just means that it won't result in a heated discussion. I think Takako was actually better and I always thought she was an underrated worker. Shimoda is one of those wrestlers I really wanted to like, but somehow didn't have the matches I hoped they would have. Takako is quite underrated and maybe the fact that joshi puroresu is no longer trendy actually helps her case (the LCO hype seems to be a thing of the past)... I could be wrong though. Anyway, I should go watch some joshi puroresu from the early-mid 1990s again. Diamond Dallas Page vs. CM Punk DDP quite easily. I think CM Punk is not that great. Diamond Dallas Page was also not great, but he was a pretty good worker. I remember liking his heel run around 1995. Hanging around with Jake Roberts obviously helped him become the pretty good worker he eventually became, because it was psychology that was his strength. Also, he worked hard and had the will to succeed as a wrestler even though he started when he was relatively old. By the way, people talk about how underrated DDP is all the time... but I think he's not all that underrated. As a matter of fact, I'd say he is more overrated than underrated by now. Jerry Lawler vs. Chris Benoit Chris Benoit was a lot better than Jerry Lawler, in my opinion. Jerry Lawler was great at doing his Lawler matches in Memphis. But I'm not much of a fan of Memphis (other than Eddie Gilbert's work). Benoit was just totally awesome. His performances from 1990-1995 are just some of the most awesome performances in wrestling history. Almost everybody used to really liked Benoit's work... until the "Benoit tragedy" happened. I'm curious to see how many default victories Lawler will receive because of it. Robert Gibson or Matt Hardy? Matt Hardy is overrated and got carried by Jeff Hardy. Robert Gibson is not overrated (because everyone knows he was the weak link of the team) and got carried by Ricky Morton. But Robert Gibson was better than Matt Hardy. Why? Well, I'm not sure. Maybe it's because Matt Hardy sucks. Or maybe it's because Robert Gibson didn't pretend to be anything else than the weak link who got carried by Ricky Morton, which is better than Matt Hardy pretending to be on Jeff Hardy's level. Also, being part of the Rock 'n' Roll Express is something to be proud of more than being part of the Hardy Boys. By the way, maybe we could throw in some tag team comparisons in a while? John Cena vs. The Rock Two of my very least favourite pro wrestlers ever, so I really don't care about this comparison... but I'll go with The Rock because of the fact that some of his promos actually made me laugh, which is something Cena never has been able to do.

Not many... Yoshiaki Fujiwara is one of the 10 greatest Japanese pro wrestlers ever, in my opinion. I can think of only 9 who have possibly been better... Jushin Liger, Akira Hokuto, Jaguar Yokota, Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Jumbo Tsuruta, Hiroshi Hase, Genichiro Tenryu, and Kenta Kobashi. Hase? Over Fujinami, Choshu, Maeda, Hashimoto? I just can't see ranking him with the rest of that group, so I'm curious why you like him so much. He was athletic, a strong tag worker and a willing blader, but he rarely added that extra special something to a big match. I'm especially a fan of his late 1980s work in the New Japan junior heavyweight division. And when he moved to the New Japan heavyweight division, he was also showing great work. But maybe I'm overrating Hase and maybe you're right about that he shouldn't be in a top 10 greatest Japanese wrestlers ever list. That makes me start to wonder the following... Hiroshi Hase or Riki Choshu... who was better?

Not many... Yoshiaki Fujiwara is one of the 10 greatest Japanese pro wrestlers ever, in my opinion. I can think of only 9 who have possibly been better... Jushin Liger, Akira Hokuto, Jaguar Yokota, Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Jumbo Tsuruta, Hiroshi Hase, Genichiro Tenryu, and Kenta Kobashi. Negro Casas. He is possibly the greatest Mexican wrestler that ever lived, along with Eddy Guerrero. Negro Casas has such a tremendously long career of greatness. But El Hijo del Santo is defintely an all-time great and also one of the top 5 greatest Mexican wrestlers ever. Barry Windham had a better peak, I love his work from 1986-1989. But Arn Anderson had a better overall career... so, I think it's Arn Anderson who wins. Dynamite Kid. He was awesome. Marty Jones, who is one of the 5 greatest British workers ever, was arguably technically better when it comes to the "British style" you see on the World of Sports shows. But Dynamite Kid made an impact in pro wrestling that very few have ever made. He was such an influential worker. There have been so many people who looked up to him and were influenced by his work, people like Jushin Liger, Chris Benoit, Bret Hart, Owen Hart etc. Dynamite Kid's series of matches with Satoru Sayama still is one of the most important feuds in pro wrestling history.

That's true what you said about Ric Flair, but Flair always got a lot of babyface pops anyway (regardless of him being a heel or face). While on the subject of the best babyfaces... one of my favourite WWF babyface runs was Bret Hart's 1994 run as WWF champion and the build-up of that run (starting at Royal Rumble 1994). He was really like a hero to the kids at the time. And Bret really wanting to be that hero and believing that he was that hero helped a lot in him succeeding in that role. Tito Santana was a very good babyface, but I think he wasn't the very best babyface and he wasn't always that over (especially towards the end of his WWF run when he received a lower push) and I think that a lot of the babyface reactions he got probably were more due to him facing heels that were over than him being over as a babyface (although he was definitely quite over as a babyface at a lot of times). Still, he was a very good babyface.