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I liked this bit of development a good bit although it might have been too much of a tease for the impending turn especially with Piper saying he was going to talk to Virgil.

Pretty shocking that they use a 60 minutes sytle news item and tag in Slaughter.

I was blown away by this one. Intense brawling that cut a great pace for all 24 minutes. I also don't really subscribe to Loss' opinion of Kyoko. She was the worst person in this match and had the poorest execution but to me that added to the frantic nature of the match and got over the stakes of the match. I also didn't think she had any alarmingly terrible botches unless I missed something. Only negative might be that the ending a little abrupt but the post match with Aja looking like a legit badass getting her head shaved and Bison making me want to cry with how much sorrow she showed from taking the fall was emotion you dont see often from wrestling. MOTYC for me for sure and I liked it better than any joshi match in 1990 except for Aja/Bull Cage 2.

I am sort of confused does it have to be the same match or just the same two opponents? I perfer the Bash match to the Clash one myself.

Is it ok for me to admit that I was not bothered by Mulligan in the tag match on the AWA set? He is clearly the 4th worst guy but his performance in that match was just as good as a couple of Mad Dog performances and was serviceable. I also re-watched that match solo last night and think it is still fun as hell and really good overall.

Terry Funk vs. Ric Flair Great American Bash 1989

I need some clarification on USWA TX. When did the tv show resume after it was cut from the air for the women beating incidents. Was 1/5/91 the first show or we just don't have footage/ nothing was yearbook worthy on the previous shows? Also, Scott Hudson mentions that everyone was based in Atlanta and then flew to Dallas to tape the tv. Does anyone know why Pedicino did this?

Ohtani- I came in her to clarify that I forgot that him jumping back to WCW in November of 1991. I always think that happens at the January 1992 Clash for some reason. That match is one of my favorite and honestly may be a top 10 Steamboat match for me. Shoe - We discuss this in the second part of the podcast but I am shocked at Dave's description of their respective performances in the matches. Again it is comparing great to great , but I stand by the fact that 50 years from now if someone wonders onto a wrestling message board and says what is the deal with this Ric Flair guy? I would point to Wrestlewar quickly because of the transformation Flair takes in that match. In the beginning minutes he comes out with 30 women and is strutting around, by the end of Funk's beatdown he is an extremely sympathetic babyface that just had his big moment ruined. Parv- I think you have become really high on the Final Conflict match in retrospect. On shows we have watched currently, it would probably be in the top 10 but when we get to the rest of 1989 and especially the TV stuff, there is no way. I honestly don't know at this point if I would put it above Fantastics/MX from Clash 1 or Luger/Flair from Starrcade.

Hey Jimmy, the announcer was David Crockett. The best worst announcer of all time.

70. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Sting vs. Buzz Sawyer, Dragon Master & Great Muta (Power Hour 1/26/90) Oh what could have been of the babyface faction Horseman. I have watched two yearbooks now that started with face Flair. Once he has turned, it has taken a while for him to recover and he has lost his way. This match was fun as hell with a nuclear crowd. WCW had a decent stable of heels to pick from and could have always brought in people like Hansen or even turned Lex to feud with the Horseman. 69. El Hijo del Santo, Yoshinari Asai & Gran Hamada vs. Negro Casas, Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera (WWA 1990) The first match on the set is a great exhibition into lucha. Everything looks good and everything is hit crisply. You also get to see young Ultimo and the original gangster in Hamada doing his great spots. 68. Atlantis, Angel Azteca & Javier Cruz vs. El Dandy, Emilio Charles Jr & Satanico (EMLL 8/24/90) The final straw in Dandy vs. Axteca/Atlantis and the seeds of dissention on what his next feud will be. All 3 main pairings worked very well for me and this was the match where Satanico made the leap in my eyes to becoming one of the best workers in the world in 1990. 67. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (JIP) (AJPW 9/29/90) The Ace/Kobashi team came out of nowhere in September and had a great month run. This match really showed Kawada/Misawa solidifying as a team and had Kobashi really setting out to prove himself. 66. Genichiro Tenryu & Tiger Mask vs. Riki Choshu & George Takano (NJPW/AJPW 2/10/90) Choshu vs. Tenryu is always a pairing that can disappoint me but always seems to shine in tag settings. It was great here with an electric dome crowd. This was also Tiger Mask's best performance before Misawa lost the match and showed that Takano was not some stiff as we will see later on in the SWS stuff. The best match from a really good card overall. 65. Riki Choshu vs. Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW 11/1/90) This took all the aspects of their earlier match in the year and bested them. It followed a typical Choshu big match structure but he is so well at keeping the opening mat work engaging and then bringing it in for a climatic finish. Hashimoto was a little under the radar for parts of 1990 but got to shine well here even in defeat. 64. Lightning Kid vs. Wellington Wilkins Jr. (PWA 11/90) Lightning Kid proves he can do it all in 1990 by being a great sympathetic babyface after being a dick in his series with Lynn. Wilkins is a gritty wrestler that really had you believing in the upstart/veteran theme of this match. 1 of 4 really good Lightning Kid matches in 1990. 63. Steve Austin & Jeannie Clark vs. Chris & Toni Adams (USWA TX 7/20/90) This feud kind of seems like an afterthought by the end of 1990 with the TV being cut from TX. However, it dominated 4 months of the promotion and this was the highpoint in ring for all major players involved. The 7/4 mixed tag and blowoff cage were disappointments but this mixed in the right amount of hate and interactions from the ladies. Austin definitely had "IT" for many portions of 1990 but sometimes he was too inexperienced to put it all together. He actually had this problem until 1996 in my opinion. He does give a splendid performance in this match however. 62. Jeff Jarrett & Billy Travis vs. Sweet Daddy Falcone & Chico Torres (USWA TX 7/4/90) I had never heard of Falcon or Torres. They turned in probably their career match in this match. Falcone was actually a scuzzy heel I enjoyed a good bit. Torres was mostly shit but I did kind of like the hot sauce angle he took. This match is mostly about the great babyface team of Jarrett and BJT. BJT was one of my favorite finds of 1990 and was great as both a face and heel. This match followed a real southern structure and was given plenty of time to develop into something special. 61. El Hijo del Santo, Eddy Guerrero & Satanico vs. Los Brazos (EMLL 9/14/90) This match made me eagerly anticipate the Brazos/Guerrero stuff in 1991 as Eddy's interaction with especially Porky was grand. We also got some hatred from Oro and Santo building up to their wager match. Really good trios match with a lot of interesting developments.

I am surprised that the Z-Man won. Wonder if it was worked? They barely showed a clip of him in the promo.

We may have found the most divisive match of 1991 int he first one. I do add a lot to the fact that the setting was so grimey that I had to stop eating my lunch and lost my appetite while watching.

When did all these joshi matches get so grounded and have awesome focus. This was an awesome storyline match and Toyota was relentless int he match going after the arm. That killer instinct was severely missing in some of her later stuff. I agree with Loss that her facial expression at the end is glorious.

This was rocking to. Basic start that takes a severe turn into awesome with the eye work. The kicks and punches to the eye were nasty and made Vader look like a huge bad ass when he won.

A lot of hour glass metaphors by Warrior on this one.

Wild spectacle of a match with Funk doing his show and Lawler acting more like the base. The spot Lawler took into the ropes and poles for the fans was nasty. Funk also took some sick table bumps. One thing I will say is that I thing Craig Johnson has improved a lot since 1990. It is hard to believe this is a week removed from the year I just finished watching. Everything feels so revitalized as December 1990 felt a lot like a reset month to me.

This was a fabulous match and should be the prototype to anyone wanting to work the style. Gilbert at points as the most devious look on his face that is just subtle enough for the camera to pick up. I can't believe the shoe lace spot hasnt been lifted to death.

War Games should have been a staple every year. I miss the rap for WrestleWar.

LT keeps calling Paul E and Big Cat pansies and ends up cracking up at the end of this interview.

Not a bad manager feud. I liked Paul E insinuating that missy is a slut.

I can imagine a 17 year old asking Mom for premission to talk to the Stinger.

I agree that the stipulation was not executed as well as it could have been. Rogers pinning him right before five minutes would have been a nice moment, then have the ref re-count after 5 minutes and PIllman kick out. This featured some big bumps and dives but I think I liked the first Pillman/Rogers match overall better.

Between the hindu spots stuff in SMW and this, Rogers really put over his conditioning.

Not a bad vignette but this sort of feels like a rehash of the Bossman feud with Ted on location.

80. El Hijo del Santo, Ringo Mendoza & Lizmark vs. Konnan, Perro Aguayo & Ken Timbs (EMLL 9/21/90) I may have been lower on Timbs that most for his appearances but he was really fun here in his scuzzy American roll. Konnan was also shockingly good mixing in some wonderful matwork. On the technico side, Santo and Lizmark had some graceful dives and worked well opposite Timbs. Really good undercard match for the Anniversary show. 79. Rock & Roll Express vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson (Main Event 2/18/90) The highest ranked WCW tv match is a fitting one. Morton vs. either Anderson and Flair never disappoints and it of course delivered here. After a shaky turn, this also felt like the first time Flair and Arn gained their footing with the new reincarnation of the Horseman. Flair/Arn got more time in 1990 to work together as a tag team than in any other year and this was one of their highlights. ***3/4 78. Jerry Lawler vs. Eddie Gilbert (WWA 11/9/90) This probably seems low to Loss and some but I did really enjoy this and am glad we got a full length match to go along with the feud of the year. This match had some great bumping and pacing from Gilbert with Jerry being an amazing babyface for the Philly crowd. I wish we could have all their MSC battles in full. 77. Vader vs. Stan Hansen (NJPW/AJPW 2/10/90) Another big burly slugfest akin to Wanz/Vader but with more a spectacle aspect. This being in the dome had really good atmosphere as they played to the strengths of a crowd that big. Vader's eye mishap is still gruesome to watch and shows how much of a bad MFer he is. 76. Bill Dundee, Chris Adams & Eric Embry vs. Billy Travis, Gary Young & Skandor Akbar (USWA TX 1/19/90) The hype for the USWA Texas stuff set me up for a minor disappointment (for instance I liked Tony Atlas promo but think I was down on them more than most because of the hype going in instead of if I had seen them cold). However, the territory really shined for me and at any given moment had 2-3 hot feuds firing off. This was an early example of greatness to come with heel BJT being amazing, Dundde/Adams/Embry work so well as a southern babyface trio. This had a lot of elements of southern style but it was perfected to the tv formula and was a load of fun to watch. 75. Terry Funk vs. Jerry Lawler (USWA Title Tournament 10/8/90) My favorite squash match of all time. Lawler gets about 3% of offense in. Funk instead of being goofy crazy is straight up batshit crazy here and is legimately scary just wailing away on Lawler with some of the damnedest punches you have ever seen. The way this played into the overall story of the tournament and down the road with Funk winning the belt work well but standalone this is one of the greatest asskickings I have ever seen in wrestling. 74. Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs. Yumiko Hotta & Mitsuko Nishiwaki (2/3 Falls) (AJW 5/13/90) Joshi had many more downs than ups in 1990 which I rehashed over and over but this match was a pleasant surprise. Really well done and featured two workers who were unfamiliar to me but made a good impression based on this match. I also so far in what I have watched in 1990-1994 do not get the hate on Hotta. She was really good here and sold admirably. 73. Midnight Express vs. Rock & Roll Express (Main Event 4/22/90) This match came out of nowhere and was amazing. You shouldn't be surprised by a MX/R&R match but it is a pairing you have seen so much that you kind of already know what to expect. This had an amazing pace and features the best ref interaction spot in a match I have ever seen. These are four guys that do tag team wrestling proud. 72. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs. Doom (Havoc 10/27/90) Again the crowd wasn't crazy about Doom, but I was. This match featured Doom becoming defacto faces and was a great heavyweight semi main match built on a PPV. Havoc featured three unique tag matches all represented on my top 100. 1990 overall was a really interesting year to dissect if you are a fan of tag wrestling. I usually prefer singles but 1990 helped change that opinion slightly. 71. Ric Flair vs. Brian Pillman (WCWSN 2/17/90) The last match of the month long Flair match tour with great stuff vs. Eaton, Z Man, and Pillman. Pillman is certainly a great babyface and I thought Flair was amazing in this match making him look credible but not letting him do too much and always having assertion that he is the main man in the company.