soup23

Agree with PeteF3 that my favorite comments site (avclub) has really went by the wayside with their new comment integration.

Jaze: When discussing the difference between ***** and ****3/4 for me, it gets deep into minuita and tickey-tackness. I am more petty on the difference between those two rankings than any other save maybe **** and ***3/4. I am extremely selective of the matches I give ***** and think they represent the absolute best that pro wrestling has to offer. To use a cliche, those are the matches I want to be buried with. Rey vs. Eddy is a superb match and I agree with your sentiment that it may be the best WCW match in history from Flair/Steamboat onward (I suspect it would land top 3 for me after 92 Wargames and Flair vs. Funk GAB89). Only nitpickey things I could find would be that it could have used a couple of more minutes of Eddy on top to really soak in his overconfidence in the match to take Rey's mask. Zenjo: Thanks for the kind words. I am starting with 1998 next and for some dumb reason, I keep telling myself I should do 1995 at the same time.

Muto/Chono would be My #1, then Otani vs. Liger. I need to rewatch Samurai vs. Liger from 92 again as well as some of the heavy pimped stuff from the G-1 Climax from 1995. I also was really fond of Liger vs. Hashimoto and the 10 man elimination tag from 1990 as they would probably make an overall top 10 of New Japan for the decade.

Absolutely to the sentiment that LIger vs. Otani is the junior match of the decade for me. I have seen the highly pimped J Crown matches from 1996 before and have Liger vs. Otani above that. Right now my top three would probably be Liger vs. Sano, LIger vs. Sasuke from July 1994, and LIger vs. Otani 1997 certainly made me want to seek out any Han matches I haven't seen before. He is a wrestler that really brings forth a case of quality over quantity both within his matches as a whole and his overall career as a wrestler.

In this episode of the Place to Be Podcast, Justin and Scott head into the Vintage Vault for Armageddon 2002. They talk about Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar,Paul Heyman, The Big Show, Triple H, HBK, Three Stages of Hell and more! So fire up this action-packed episode and join Scott and Justin because it is time for another edition of the PTB Podcast! Also, the PTB Podcast is available on the Stitcher Radio app! Visit www.stitcher.com for more information! Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well as help out Place to Be Nation by checking out these great items! http://placetobenation.com/place-to-be-podcast-episode-322-armageddon-2002/

1997 doesn't have as many complete matches as the other years I have watched but the top quality is amazing. I feel like I am fairly stingey with my ***** and this year has five of them. The #1 match from the year I am ready to declare the greatest match of all time. Beyond that, this year features amazingly memorable storylines and was the peak of creative forces in wrestling matching the athleticism. ***** 1. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 1/20/97) 2. El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas (Hair Match) (CMLL 9/19/97) 3. Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (I Quit Match) (Mania 3/23/97) 4. Toshie Uematsu vs. Yoshiko Tamura (GAEA 7/19/97) 5. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe (Cage Match) (AJW 9/21/97) **** 3/4 6. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 10/21/97) 7. Torneo Cibernetico (CMLL 4/18/97) 8. Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker (Hell In A Cell) (Badd Blood 10/5/97) 9. Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio Jr (Havoc 10/26/97) 10. Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani (NJPW 2/9/97) ****1/2 11. Volk Han vs. Kiyoshi Tamura (RINGS 1/22/97) 12. El Hijo Del Santo vs. Psicosis (Promo Azteca 10/3/97) 13. Yoshihisa Yamamoto vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (RINGS 4/4/97) 14. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS 4/15/97) 15. El Hijo del Santo vs. Felino (CMLL 7/4/97) 16. Great Sasuke & Super Delphin vs. Mens Teoh & Shoichi Funaki (M-Pro 11/9/97) 17. Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker (One Night Only 9/20/97) 18. Terry Funk vs. Sabu (Barbed Wire Match) (BTBW 8/9/97) 19. Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, Jim Neidhart & Brian Pillman vs. Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust & Road Warriors (Canadian Stampede 7/6/97) 20. Megumi Kudo vs. Shinobu Kandori (Street Fight) (FMW 3/14/97) 21. Bracito de Oro, Cicloncito Ramirez & Mascarita Magica vs. Damiancito El Guerrero, El Fierito & Pierrothito (CMLL 10/3/97) 22. Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu (NJPW 1/4/97) 23. Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa (BattlARTS 9/1/97) 24. Jushin Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto (NJPW 6/1/97) ****1/4 25. Jushin Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto (NJPW 2/16/97) 26. Atlantis vs. Blue Panther (CMLL 12/5/97) 27. Shawn Michaels vs. Davey Boy Smith (One Night Only 9/20/97) 28. Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara (Kingdom 12/2/97) 29. Volk Han vs. Kiyoshi Tamura (RINGS 9/26/97) 30. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa (AJW 8/20/97) 31. Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs. Shawn Michaels & Steve Austin (RAW 5/26/97) 32. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJPW RWTL Finals 12/5/97) 33. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW Carnival 3/30/97) 34. Daisuke Ikeda vs. Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 11/5/97) 35. Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin (KOTR 6/8/97) 36. Great Sasuke, Oriental, Tiger Mask IV & Norihiro Hoshikawa vs. Men's Teioh, Dick Togo, Hanzo Nakajima & Shoichi Funaki (Elimination Match) (M-Pro 8/17/97) 37. Taka Michinoku, Mens Teoh, Masayoshi Motegi, Dick Togo & Shoichi Funaki vs. Great Sasuke, Super Delphin, Gran Naniwa, Gran Hamada & Masato Yakushiji (M-Pro 3/16/97) 38. Cicloncito Ramirez vs. Damiancito El Guerrero (CMLL 1/7/97) 39. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (WAR 11/24/97) 40. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda (AJW 8/9/97) 41. Bret Hart vs. Terry Funk (Wrestlefest 9/11/97) 42. Ric Flair, Roddy Piper & Kevin Greene vs. Scott Hall, Kevin Nash & Syxx (Slamboree 5/18/97) 43. El Hijo del Santo vs. Felino (CMLL 7/25/97) **** 44. Great Sasuke & Super Delphin vs. Mens Teoh & Shoichi Funaki (M-Pro 11/2/97) 45. Eddy Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho (Fall Brawl 9/14/97) 46. Megumi Kudo vs. Shinobu Kandori (Street Fight) (LLPW 1/5/97) 47. Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (Revenge 4/20/97) 48. El Hijo Del Santo, Emilio Charles & Dr. Wagner vs. Negro Casas, Felino & Ultimo Dragon (CMLL 6/20/97) 49. Cibernetico Torneo (CMLL 3/18/97) 50. Kenta Kobashi vs. Hiroshi Hase (AJPW 8/26/97) 51. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW 3/1/97) 52. Owen Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith (RAW 3/3/97) 53. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs. Mikhail Ilioukhine (RINGS 11/20/97) 54. Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind (RAW 8/11/97) 55. Dynamite Kansai vs. Hikari Fukuoka (JWP 4/8/97) 56. Masato Tanaka vs. The Gladiator (FMW 9/28/97) 57. Shinjiro Otani, Koji Kanemoto, Mens Teoh, Dick Togo & Hanzo Nakajima vs. Great Sasuke, Super Delphin, El Samurai, Norio Honaga & Gran Hamada (2//3 Falls) (NJPW 5/3/97) 58. El Hijo Del Santo, Scorpio Jr. & Dr. Wagner vs. Negro Casas, El Fiero & Ultimo Dragon (CMLL 6/6/97) 59. Owen Hart vs. Steve Austin (SSlam 8/3/97) 60. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJPW 11/28/97) 61. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW Carnival 4/19/97) 62. Taka Michinoku vs. Great Sasuke (M-Pro 10/10/97) 63. Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (SSeries 11/9/97) 64. Akira Taue vs. Johnny Ace (AJPW 10/21/97) 65. Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Don Frye (NJ 8/2/97) *** 3/4 66. Raven vs. Tommy Dreamer (Wrestlepalooza 6/7/97) 67. Randy Savage vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Las Vegas Street Fight) (Havoc 10/26/97) 68. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Tarzan Goto (WAR 7/6/97) 69. Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (NJPW 2/16/97) 70. Steven Regal vs. Ultimo Dragon (Slamboree 5/18/97) 71. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (AJPW 11/15/97) 72. Ultimo Dragoncito & Cicloncito Ramirez vs. Pierrotito & Damiancito El Guerrero (CMLL 3/14/97) 73. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 4/19/97) 74. Vader vs. Owen Hart (One Night Only 9/20/97) 75. Hulk Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs. Lex Luger & The Giant (BATB 7/13/97) 76. Terry Funk vs. Sabu (ECW 8/8/97) 77. Akira Hokuto vs. Kaoru (GAEA 4/12/97) 78. Koji Kanemoto vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (NJPW 5/20/97) 79. Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo (Street Fight) (GAEA 2/23/97) 80. Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama (AJPW Carnival 3/30/97) 81. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue (AJPW 7/25/97) 82. Koji Kanemoto vs. El Samurai (NJPW 6/5/97) 83. Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda (AJW 6/18/97) 84. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (AJPW 10/11/97) 85. Akira Maeda vs. Kiyoshi Tamura (RINGS 12/23/97) 86. Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker (Ground Zero 9/7/97) 87. Taka Michinoku, Mens Teoh & Dick Togo vs. Great Sasuke, Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushiji (Barely Legal 4/13/97) ***1/2 88. Jushin Liger & Wild Pegasus vs. Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (NJPW 3/8/97) 89. Atsushi Onita, Masato Tanaka & W*ING Kanemura vs. Cactus Jack, The Gladiator & Terry Funk (FMW 4/29/97) 90. Hiroumi Yagi vs. Tomoko Kuzumi (JWP 3/9/97) 91. Megumi Kudo vs. Mayumi Ozaki (No Rope Barbed Wire Barricade Double Hell Death Match) (FMW 4/18/97) 92. Chris Benoit vs. Fit Finlay (Nitro 10/27/97) 93. Shinjiro Otani vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri (NJPW 5/20/97) 94. Shinya Hashimoto vs. Naoya Ogawa (NJPW 4/12/97) 95. El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas (CMLL Japan 2/6/97) 96. Cactus Jack vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Street Fight) (RAW 9/22/97) 97. Lioness Asuka vs. Jaguar Yokota (Jd' 10/21/97) 98. Bret Hart vs. Sid (RAW 2/17/97) 99. Hulk Hogan vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro 10/27/97) 100. RVD & Bill Alfonso vs. Tommy Dreamer & Beulah McGillicutty (AGAIG 9/20/97)

Match was fun with a spirited sprint and nice strikes and fire from both guys. Booking again is really perplexing with both guys having this huge rematch on Nitro just one night after the big PPV. Sad that 1997 ends with me really scratching my head a bit at a decent amount of the things WCW has been doing throughout the year. 1997 was a hell of a ride regardless.

Man alive this match was ugly as hell between both guys being sloppy in their current state. The real story is the temper tantrum Jericho throws at the end of the match.

I am conflicted because this was a good promo from Flair and finally sets him up for an important feud vs. Bret. Also, history has shown the fans got behind this program as SOuled Out 98 did surprisingly good business. However, we just saw Bret throw down the challenge vs. the NWO. I know he mentioned Luger, Benoit, etc as wanting to wrestle them but he had a bonafide grudge feud ready set for him. I would have held the Flair stuff off for a few months as a bridge gap to get to Bret vs. Hogan.

This was a great babyface promo by Bret and planted the seeds for perhaps a Starrcade 1998 encounter vs. Hogan. I'm not sure if they could have held off that long but even Superbrawl would have awesome. Bret needed to run the gauntlet vs. the NWO.

Funny that the matches too short thread was just begun because this match would be thrown into that pile for me. Tack on 5 more intense minutes and Owen winning clean at the Rumble in a non-title grudge match (use the cop out that Vince doesnt trust the title on a Hart) and you have a MOTYC and the makings of a #2 babyface after AUstin takes over at WM. This was great and those punches on the outside by Shawn were super impressive. The finish was cheap and I'm saddened by what happens to Owen in 1998 after a really good 1997.

Whoops, looks like I missed this when I was going through the footage. I did like Vince telling parents that Livewire was suitable for them but probably not Raw.

This did feel like a more sincere attempt at what Jim actually feels. In fact I think this was the debut episode of the Jim Cornette Experience. He gives a good rant that carries a lot of sentiment but I don't believe his stances are shared by the majority of the wrestling audience.

The promo segueing from Dude to Mankind to Cactus was good and evoked the MSG one. He comes out and essentially has a handicapped match with the outlaws until his buddy Chainsaw Charlie emerges to help him out. Good tag team feud is brewing here.

Sort of weird VInce PSA that doesn't quite coincide to his current onscreen character.

Rock gives his thoughts on the elderly and social security then turns his attention to Ken Shamrock. Shamrock has defeated two nation members the past two weeks so next week he will get the honor of facing Farrooq. Farroq doesn't seem too pleased at this development.

DX is actually clever here. Shawn coming out in the casket helps build the RUmble feud and HHH gets some of his best lines in while talking about Chyna's Christmas present. I even enjoyed Slaughter being goaded because at the end he had the last laugh announcing the Shawn vs. Owen tonight. I do think they still dropped the ball on not making that match bigger but I'm certainly looking forward to it.

This took to long to set up and I don't know why Goldust didn't just retreat to the back. Maybe it goes into his whole enjoying punishment persona but it seemed stupid as Austin went on and on and lowered the port a potty down to the ring. Payoff wasn't worth the weight and Austin is sort of having one off things to do between now and the Rumble it seems.