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Hogan has been champion for 2.5 months but it doesn't feel like it. When I think of moments of why Ill be a wrestling fan for life, this match comes to mind. Up until UnderTaker losing at Mania this year, I never experienced a moment close to this live. I remember so much of this match 16 years ago. I remember where I was sitting. I remember going hoarse from chanting Goldberg so loudly. I remember embracing my dad and us having a truly special bonding moment cheering Goldberg on. I remember wearing my black Who's Next shirt for the next four days. I remember going to Kroger and buying up all of the PWI magazines for that month. What a special night. (**)

I understand the stack the deck prinicple but I never liked this warm up match for Goldberg. Still, I got chills listen to this crowd including myself going ape for Goldberg. Hall was terrible tonight and looked so uncool staggering down the ring. The moment of Page and Karl with the chairs was fun and a good instance of one upping the NWO. Hogan is next. (*)

I was ready for Buff to jump onto the babyface bandwagon and combat the NWO. He was over huge here as a babyface and gives on the surface a very sincere promo. Missed opportunity for sure to see what could have happened.

This was the best way yet they have thought of to keep these guys apart for Jericho to do other things and then they could revisit Jericho vs. Dean down the line. I remember Jericho being really detested live.

This was a good feature with Mongo treating it seriously. I don have a soft spot overall for Mongo because he did at least put effort into his whole wrestling career.

Final hype for BATB which sort of snuck up on me. DDP and Karl give a better promo than the previous week for sure.

Lawler vs. Silva??? ugh, don't know what that drew. I did like the Fourth of July outside setting they had going on for this show as it felt like going down to your local parade and catching some wrestling before you went home to grill before the fireworks. Dave Brown's shirt was in my dad's collection.

I had forgotten about the Taco Bell commercials too around this time. That made this a little better but this seemed a tad too goofy for most of it for me.

Another Raven vignette with some weird production. Another thing I could have done without in my 1998 wrestling consumption.

Wonder how many of these fans were going up to Atlanta to see that show on Monday. I remember already having my tickets and being beside myself when this announcement happened.

This was great and I loved seeing the Jericho hijinks with a new opponent which makes the unsatisfying conclusion of the Malenko feud sting a little more. Columbus, GA is a pretty detestable town so Jericho busting on it is fine by me. Jericho has done everything he could in 1998 to get himself over by thinking outside of the box in every way.

Garbage style match and not a particular good one as the best aspects of Sabu and RVD's spotfests were not on display here. Still miffed at the Candido/Storm reconciliation. *1/2

We really feel like a long way away from just a year ago with the cool moment of Lawler showing up. Onita was a decent surprise but then he turns which doesn't make any sense and Jeff Jones and Victory feel so two bit that no one gives a shit. (*1/2)

Fuck, why is Storm here with them. Can Taz go one Triple Threat interview without coming out to interrupt. He has bullied around an injured Douglas for months now and Bigelow again has to come to his rescue.

I do think they at least made the Kane title reign kind of cheap and set up the biggest feud of the summer in Taker vs. Austin but this felt a little bait and switch to me. It almost felt like the progression from the old days when the title would be held up. Still, Austin gets an enormous pop when he wins and the WWF is heading into the summer with some good set up.

Vince coming out here was a great move to educate the fans on where Taker was headed. I see Taker's logic as sound here as he shows more remorse for Kane than Kane has for him so far.

Dustin Rhodes has another character that I don't remember at all. Val has some eyes for Yamaguchi's wife and has a semi decent Raw type match vs. Togo here. Val is just a character I can't get behind. (*)

This was the glowing moment for Bearer with his great promo gloating at Kanes win. Surprisingly, Kane as the corporate champ kind of works here. Austins promo was good but Bearer and Kane drifted too far into Mr. Fuji territory for me agreeing eagerly to the title match.

To me the landscape is starting to become more reminiscent of the territory system and 2001-2004 initial indy boom. There was a time frame from perhaps 2005-2011 or so where most indies felt the same and didn't do a good enough job of distinguishing themselves. One exception to that would be Chikara during that time frame and to a lesser extent I could see an argument for PWG. The reason I was all into the indies in 2001-2004 was the shear variety. You had IWA-MS being worked like a true territory with weekly cards, ROH as the catch -all indy talent show, CZW mixing in imports, deathmatch and highspot showcases, NWA Wildside bringing southern style flavor and featuring managers, a young CHIKARA, random Canadian indies where Steen, Generico and Sexxay Eddie cut their teeth, JAPW having Japanes style bombfest featuring the Da Hit Squad in a sketchy arena and California indies featuring talent that didn't travel east very often in Jardi Franz, Bobby Quance and Super Dragon. The last couple of years have done a good job of bringing about that diversity in the ways Joe speaks of. As a result, this is an exciting time for indies and to see what talent will emerge.

Agree with Pete on the AWA stuff, I didn't get it and hated his character. I have seen a smattering of his Portland stuff and he was much better there especially with young Hennig and in the ring with Rose. Still, pretty tough sell for me to see him as top 100.

Lioness Asuka vs Jaguar Yokota - 8/22/85 I'd recommend watching this after the first hair vs. hair as watching both of those back to back may provide to be too taxing. This was a great ass match worked in a more traditional sense although any match kind of feels that way compared to Dump vs. Chigusa. The opening stanza of "indy respect" mirror spots and quick reverses was done at a speed rare in wrestling. This was one of the better types of sequences of this kind I can remember and it ending with Jaguar narrowly escaping a big punch from Lioness provided an awesome visual. Jaguar really impressed me with her leg work. it was relentless and she was a great technician. I am conflicted on the comeback as it felt like Lioness kind of blew off all of this groundwork only for the ending to be a nice callback, but I was engaged with the increased activity of the striking and big bombs each lady was throwing at each other. Jaguar become someone I instantly wanted to see a lot more of. Giving star ratings, this felt around ****1/4- ****1/2 to me.

Relistened to this and enjoyed. I thought we hashed out the objectives of the project and talked about some of the hypotheticals while also giving a look back at the 2006 project. By the way, my contenders for #1 Misawa Kobashi Jumbo Tenryu Flair Hansen

Chigusa Nagayo vs Dump Matsumoto - 8/28/85 1985 was quite the year for emotionally charged matches between this, LLT Dundee vs. Lawler and I Quit Tully vs. Magnum. In the past month, we saw a great heel dominating performance match when Brock Lesnar destroyed John Cena. We also saw an emotionally charged roller coaster ride of a match with real stakes in place with Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero. This match combined the best attributes of those matches into one total package for me. I had seen this before when I was in my peak of NOAH watching and Japanese wrestling consumption. I appreciated the passion but didn't feel it because of my insistence on seeking out moves and technical ability above all else when it comes to wrestling. I still value execution somewhat but I have grown the fuck up in a lot of ways when it comes to wrestling in the past ten years. This match gripped me more than almost any other in history when I watched last night. The best word I can describe the match is interesting. I'm not sure if it was great, I'm not sure what I would rank it on a star scale, but I damn sure know it has consumed a ton of my thoughts in the past 12 hours. Harrowing isn't a word that I would describe most matches even when a great sense of peril is faced. Peril occurs in every match and whether you are a face fan or heel fan as a kid or in later points in your fandom a fan of this worker or that, the person you are "rooting" for almost always faces peril in any match they compete in. Yet, it is rare that I get an emotional attachment to the story being presented. I can be intrigued by it and applaud and be overly excited with the components of it, but there is still a great divide that this is just a wrestling match. This match rocked me to my core. The reason I like the I Quit so much is the sense of embarrassment you see in Tully as he has to scream YESSS. This is a despicable human, but yet he has emotions like the rest of us. Throughout my life, I have encountered people that seem to have coasted by. They take short cuts in life even if it wasn't necessary. I loathe those people on one level but deep down, if given the choice, I might utilize the same strategy. That layer of depth that is portrayed in this match is majestic. It is easy to see on the surface to see how terrible Dump is and how much you crave that big Chigusa comeback and victory. A deeper look though reveals two women with an army of supporters that are absolutely convicted of their actions. Dump will use every trick in the book to obtain victory and does throughout the match with reckless abandon. I have seen numerous matches with more spectacular spots around weapons or stiffer strikes overall but the vitriol and detest depicted here is extremely rare. Chigusa is busted open creating more sympathy and is dedicated to the cause of locking on the Scorpion Deathlock. I am unsure if this is a signature move she uses or not but this was where the Meta of wrestling as a whole became brilliant because this was the same move that created one of the biggest North American stars in history 12 years after this match. Here the struggle finally pays off and Chigusa locks it in with blood running down her face. Then Dump is able to reach the ropes and all hope is dashed away. The final moments with Chigusa pleading with the fans by pointing in the air felt like the last gasp of desperation and her trying to convince herself more than anyone that she had a fighting chance. Dump’s strut after the chair shot is the stuff of legend and she is certainly proud of her accomplishments as the crowd gasps and realizes what had just occurred. The post match even raises the stakes on the emotion temper which I thought was impossible. Chigusa goes back on her word because this is an instance where her pride and honor is more important than getting her head shaved. Dump sees this as a slap in her face and the viewer is conflicted where Dump is technically in the right, but the punishment seems too severe. It is a stunning scene and an absolutely essential portion of the overall package. Dump parades to the back and all Chigusa can do is be consoled by her friends with empty promises. This was storytelling at its finest and a hallmark moment in the annals of pro wrestling.

Destroyer is a really tough guy to rank. He has enough footage for me to be on my list and of the matches I have seen of his, I can't think of a performance I would consider even meh, but when you start to get down to the top quarter of my ballot, there is a lot of great wrestlers that had multiple great matches and it may become a quantity argument against Dick.

Will match discussion threads be created for these? I dug in and watched the first Dump vs. Chigusa hair match and the Jaguar vs. Lioness match last night but didn't want to double post.