soup23

wow, the full monty on the wargames in 1991. Just curious if you have seen the ones from 1987 or 1992 Vinnie?

I didn't really understand or like this rambling mess. Stevie doesn't sound to have a clear reason for returning to ECW to me. Did we ever really decide what his deal with WCW was all about?

I was the high vote of the 1991 match and still like that one a tad more but only because it went a little longer. What we got here was 18 minutes of completely beautiful wrestling with both guys being stuck together like glue at times as they fluidly go from one spot to the next. This felt like a great come from behind story for Atlantis as he is forced to win two straight falls and he goes out there and does it. I could watch this all day.

Pete & Pete, thanks as always for the added insight. Pete F, I wouldn't say Nikita vs. Sting is too similar to Brock vs. Cena. Some of the general storyline narrative is similar (heel takes a majority of the match and whips babyface's ass), but Brock's offense in that match was so visceral and violent. I really enjoy Nikita vs. Sting but do see the criticism that Nikita's stuff on top isnt all that revolutionary or inspiring. I think the main takeaway I got is that Sting really felt like a top babyface again and on this individual show, he did feel more over and performed better than Luger. I also thought he performed better than Luger in the Superbrawl I match. I keep a running track of those two and this is the first time I can recall Sting has had a consecutive show advantage over Lex.

Maybe not up to the level of last year, but a damn good match ending a perplexing year for the company. I would say the only match that really disappointed was the Kawada/Misawa 6/6/97 match but yet something feels a little off for the year and less flattering tendencies are creeping in. I enjoyed the way this match ended with a stiff kick from Taue getting revenge for Akiyama's big upset in January. Misawa finding new ways to match up with Taue/Kawada is always a treat with his rana reversals.

WCW does feel pretty shoddy not helping out DDP at all. This is a good beatdown and all but they should have probably explained where the hell Sting is at.

Hogan going after the grandma was amazing. He did more in his five minutes here than many guys can in 20 minutes now. He puts over his feud and his paranoia and then gets into the classic spat with the grandmother. This is pro wrestling.

I wan entranced by this. Slick work all around and some straight disgusting strike exchanges. The short punches in quick succession led to a lot of brutality. In fact I liked this better than the hyped RINGS stuff in November and thought I would be the high vote when I ranked, then I looked over my MOTY listing and saw that it was #27 and that just reaffirmed how top end this year has been.

Neidhart gets embarrassed and beaten and then spraypainted. On the surface the ending scene looks like DX getting a taste of their own medicine but Shawn is overacting so bad and of course we get the lollipop incident that it is completely ridiculous. Horribly booked PPV.

DX has rapidly became one of my favorite things in wrestling to one of my least favorite. The stuff vs. HF was great trolling but now they just have no respect for anything going on and the feud was Shamrock is a lost cause.

Tito still rocking the Matador coat. King uses his insults to score a quick victory and faces Sunny in the finals.

"Lawler ought to do this interview in a body condom". This shows the attitude era in full scope as it is unimaginable that this would be on WWF tv even two years before this. Goldust and Luna kind of work as a pair but this whole turn seems one note to me. The artist formerly known as Goldust is announced.

Shane has some terrible matches surrounded by iconic moments like this and The Night the Line was crossed match. This was pretty much nothing until the pop for the finish.

I liked some spots of this (that nasty piledriver, Tommy kicking RVD's ridiculous offense, Beulah vs. Fonzie) and hated other aspects (the referee nonsense, RVD being fairly sloppy, the non finish, finish). Stevie coming back was a shocking moment but this whole scene felt like overkill.

Good match but nothing I will be able to remember a week from now. Karou's spots and dives in this match were the highlight to me along with Ozaki being overall good. The brawl and skirmish after the match looked more heated. GAEA had some peaks and valleys in 1997 from stuff we saw.

Ridiculous use of copyrighted stuff but it wouldnt be ECW if they didn't do this. This did an effective job of putting over the feuds heading into N2R.

Short and sweet but Dandy impressed with his smoothness and taking the big bump to the outside. Would have definitely liked to have seen a longer showcase match between them.

Warrior/Savage at #1 I knew would be perplexing with most. It is honestly the one match I cant really view objectively and I judge the entire package instead of bell to bell. I really don't think I would still be a wrestling fan if not for that match. War Games is heavily skewed on the first five minutes being awesome but when rewatching it with Parv, I did pick up on a few things in the match that I didn't notice before like Flair coming in early, and the Steiner suplex spots. I find the Fantasia/Thundercats match fascinating as I would say there is one match per year where I am wildly different from you/Peter/Charles on.

I ranked 275 matches in all and this is where the top 100 aligned. 1991 as I have said before may not have been a year where the top flight stuff was truly elite in wrestling history, but it had some really good depth. For instance, I have the WM 7 opening tag ranked #163 and I think that match is a ton of fun. Even though it took me longer to watch this footage than any other year, I fully enjoyed doing it. I would be very pleased to hear comments from others based on this list on rankings you agree/disagree with and were surprised by my ranking of. ***** 1. Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior (Mania 3/24/91) ****3/4 2. Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko vs. Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes (Clash 11/19/91) 3. Masa Chono vs. Keiji Muto (NJPW 8/11/91) 4. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 4/20/91) ****1/2 5. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJPW 11/29/91) 6. Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 9/4/91) 7. Atlantis vs. Blue Panther (CMLL 8/9/91) 8. War Games (Wrestle War 2/24/91) 9. El Hijo del Santo vs. Brazo de Oro (UWA 1/13/91) 10. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 10/24/91) 11.Vader vs. Keiji Muto (NJPW 8/10/91) 12. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Manami Toyota & Esther Moreno (AJW 4/29/91) 13. El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas (WWA 5/17/91) 14. Wayne Shamrock vs. Naoki Sano (PWFG 5/19/91) 15. Trio Fantasia vs. Los Thundercats (12/8/91) 16. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW 4/18/91) 17. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 9/4/91) ****1/4 18. Hulk Hogan vs. Genichiro Tenryu (SWS 12/12/91) 19. El Hijo del Santo & Black Shadow Jr vs. Fuerza Guerrera & Octagon (12/15/91) 20. Dynamite Kansai vs Harley Saito (JWP 11/02/91) 21. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 10/15/91) 22. El Satanico vs. El Dandy (Hair vs. Hair) (CMLL 12/6/91) 23. Bull Nakano vs. Kyoko Inoue (AJW 9/7/91) 24. Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto (AJW 1/11/91) 25. Los Brazos vs. MS-1, Pirata Morgan & Satanico (CMLL 11/22/91) 26. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Masa Fuchi & Akira Taue (AJPW 1/27/91) 27. Akira Hokuto vs. Suzuka Minami (AJW 4/29/91) 28. Wayne Shamrock vs. Masakatsu Funaki (PWFG 8/23/91) 29. La Fiera vs. Jerry Estrada (Chain Match) (Monterrey 1991) 30. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue (AJPW 4/18/91) 31. Jushin Liger vs. Hiroshi Hase (NJPW 5/6/91) 32. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue (AJPW 1/15/91) 33. Masa Chono vs. Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW 8/9/91) 34. Octagon vs. Fuerza Guerrera (CMLL 11/1/91) 35. The Scorpion vs. Cutie Suzuki (JWP 8/30/91) 36. Keiji Muto & Masa Chono vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW 7/4/91) 37. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue (AJW 6/18/91) **** 38. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 4/6/91) 39. Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt Slaughter (Desert Storm Match) (MSG 6/3/91) 40. Ric Flair vs. Brian Pillman (WCWSN 4/13/91) 41. Jeff Jarrett vs. Tom Pritchard (USWA TX 4/12/91) 42. Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect (SSLAM 8/26/91) 43. Barry Windham vs. Brian Pillman (Pro 4/6/91) 44. The Rockers vs. Orient Express (Rumble 1/19/91) 45. Jeff Jarrett vs. Eddie Gilbert (USWA TX 1/5/91) 46. Jeff Jarrett vs. Tom Pritchard (USWA TX 3/22/91) 47. Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey vs Steve Williams & Terry Gordy (AJPW 04/18/91) 48. Naoki Sano vs. Minoru Suzuki (PWFG 7/26/91) 49. Jushin Liger vs. Norio Honaga (NJPW 5/31/91) 50. Jeff Jarrett vs. Tom Pritchard (USWA TX 3/1/91) 51. Apolo Dantes, Black Magic & El Dandy vs. Blue Panther, Javier Cruz & Pierroth Jr (CMLL 8/16/91) 52. Cactus Jack vs. Eddie Gilbert (Falls Count Anywhere/Stretcher Match/Cage Match) (TWA 8/3/91) 53. Jushin Liger vs. Akira Nogami (NJPW 8/9/91) 54. Brian Pillman vs. Jushin Liger (Meadowlands 12/27/91) 55. Atsushi Onita vs. Tarzan Goto (Barbed Wire Cage Bomb Match) (FMW 9/23/91) 56. Jushin Liger vs. Akira Nogami (NJPW/WCW 3/21/91) 57. Atlantis, Mascara Sagrada & Octagon vs. Pirata Morgan, Pierroth & Kendo Nagasaki (CMLL 8/23/91) 58. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Ashura Hara (SWS 11/10/91) 59. Akira Maeda vs. Volk Han (RINGS 12/7/91) 60. Randy Savage vs. Jake Roberts (Tuesday in Texas 12/3/91) ***3/4 61. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hanson & Dan Spivey (AJPW 11/16/91) 62. Atlantis, Mascara Sagrada & Octagon vs. Los Brazos (CMLL 5/17/91) 63. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Steve Williams & Terry Gordy (AJPW 5/24/91) 64. Sting vs. Larry Zbyszko (Main Event 3/10/91) 65. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey (AJPW 6/27/91) 66. Eric Embry & Steve Austin vs. Bill Dundee & Gary Young (USWA TX 3/8/91) 67. Akira Hokuto vs. Bull Nakano (AJW 1/4/91) 68. Jushin Liger vs. Norio Honaga (NJPW 4/30/91) 69. Ric Flair vs. Bret Hart (New Haven 11/11/91) 70. Rick & Scott Steiner vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW 5/31/91) 71. Jeff Jarrett & Robert Fuller vs. Steve Austin & Tom Pritchard (Tennessee Street Fight) (USWA TX 5/3/91) 72. Lex Luger vs. Dan Spivey (Wrestle War 2/24/91) 73. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 11/21/91) 74. Chavo, Mando & Eddie Guerrero vs. El Satanico, MS-1 & Masakre (CMLL 8/23/91) 75. Sting vs. Cactus Jack (Submit or Surrender) (Power Hour 11/23/91) 76. Toshiyo Yamada vs. Yumiko Hotta (AJW 5/26/91) 77. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 8/18/91 78. Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Scott Norton (NJPW 12/16/91) 79. Mr. Pogo & TNT vs. Iceman & Akitoshi Saito (Cage Match) (W*ING 9/12/91) 80. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Wellington Wilkins Jr. (PWFG 5/19/91) 81. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Terry Gordy (AJPW 6/1/91) ***1/2 82. Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn (Piledriver vs. Sleeper, 2/3 Falls) (GWF 12/27/91) 83. Robin Hood & Los Ninja Turtles vs. Shu El Guerrero, Jose Luis Feliciano, El Texano, Black Terry & Ricky Boy (Hamada's UWF 9/12/91) 84. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Bull Nakano & Kyoko Inoue (Hair vs. Hair) (AJW 1/11/91) 85. Freebirds & Badstreet vs. Young Pistols & Dustin Rhodes (WCWSN 6/15/91) 86. Atsushi Onita vs. Tarzan Goto (FMW 2/26/91) 87. Jushin Liger vs. Norio Honaga (NJPW 6/12/91) 88. Eddy, Mando & Chavo Guerrero vs. Los Brazos (CMLL 7/26/91) 89. Masa Chono vs. Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW 8/11/91) 90. Bill Dundee vs. Eric Embry (Cage Match) (USWA TX 5/24/91) 91. Jushin Liger vs. Negro Casas (NJPW 4/30/91) 92. Lex Luger vs. Ron Simmons (2/3 Falls) (Havoc 10/27/91) 93. Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Norton (NJPW 11/5/91) 94. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 5/24/91) 95. Ricky Morton vs. Robert Gibson (GAB 7/14/91) 96. Rick & Scott Steiner vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW/WCW 3/21/91) 97. Barry Windham vs. Brian Pillman (Taped Fist Match) (SuperBrawl 5/19/91) 98. Bret Hart vs. Ted DiBiase (SNME 4/27/91) 99. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW 7/6/91) 100. Sting & Lex Luger vs. Rick & Scott Steiner (SuperBrawl 5/19/91)

Lots going on in this segment. Sting now has feuds vs. Rude/Abby-Cactus/Luger. We get the first instance of Rude and Steamboat really locking up with Steamboat tossing him in a fun spot and Rude pulling him straight out. Sting wins the battlebowl and has had a good bounce back in the second half of the year. He looks like a player to be reckoned with going into 1992. So long 1991.

Battlebowl is always a concept i liked better hypothetically than executed out. This match does a good job of showing the intricacies you can use with the concept and featured some fun moments with Pillman vs. Abby and Eaton and Sting locking up. All of this is interspersed with Abby and STing fighting each other as partners. It is a fun concept.

Got to this one this morning and enjoyed it. I think after hearing Dylan for about 12 hours of audio in the past week, I will be hearing his voice in my dreams. Adams was an excellent choice for the snapshot for the sprawling nature of his career and his under the radar attributes. All 3 of you guys did a good job getting over the strengths/weaknesses of Adams as a worker throughout this snapshot of matches.

I liked the November match slightly more but I dont know if it is the patriotism of watching on July 4 or the general marking out for Flair and Hogan that I have, but i really like this series. Hogan is a house of fire coming out, using his wrist tape, and hitting a back suplex. Vlad at ringside is delighted watching this. Flair goes after the leg and has a good sequence that plays in the predictable cheap finish. I still cant believe this wasnt the Mania match.

Agree that this was a ho-hum match but it felt really basic and bare minimum stuff until the final five minutes. Sherri being active on the outside really adds so much to her matches and moments like her ringing the bell and ripping Bret's singlet make a match more memorable than usual. Bret's dive to the outside was really sick on replay as well.

We say goodbye to the best promo guy of 1991. Gorilla hates jake and makes that known repeatedly. Jake does a great job getting over the Rumble and Savage feuds together. I do find it interesting that the Barber Shop was used for this and the Rockers breakup.