Ray

I got the WON HOF issue a few days ago. Partial results: Paco Alonso is the only person to be voted in this year. He got 73%. Konnan and Dr Wagner Sr got 48% and didn't make it in. Atlantis and Blue Panther were both below 40%. Fabulous Moolah just missed the cut, getting 138 votes when you need 147 to enter from the US section. Midnight Express got 133, but their percentage jumped to 54% from 35% last year. Jesse Ventura had 119 votes. Mysterio 104 votes. R&R Express 95 votes. For the historical category, Bill Miller got 90 votes and Roy Shire 86 votes. Needed 94 to enter. For Japan, Seiji Sakaguchi almost made it with 43 votes with 49 needed. Hector Garza, Jun Akiyama, and Fit Finlay all got less than 10% and will be dropped from the ballot next year. Edge will appear on the next year's ballot for the first time. Dr Wagner Jr will be placed on the ballot again. Benoit recall vote: YES (should stay in) -- 46.4% NO (remove him) -- 53.6% However it required 60% to remove him, so he's staying in. If anyone wants to know more results, let me know.

FWIW, Benoit was using the diving headbutt from the top rope to the floor against Liger in '93..

Shouldn't Flair take some hits for mentioning Benoit's name in the first place?

It's just the latest round of "Meltzer be fer him, so we be agin' him!"

From the 3/17/08 Observer: "While they were not in the best match, the most impressive workers were Bryan Danielson and Takeshi Morishima, who continued their feud in a brawling style short match. With no Chris Benoit, and with Samoa Joe and Fit Finlay not having any recent mathces that stand out, these two came across in the ring as being the best workers in North America." "Morishima is now like a better working and fatter version of Terry Gordy. He can get away with it because he's so good, but in the long run, if he doesn't want his joints to start turning against him, he needs to drop a good 40 pounds." And can we stop referring to EVERYTHING as a "talking point" ? Buzzwords are so tiresome.

Not to drag up an old topic but... Kobashi used the moonsault four times after the Takayama defense, I believe. vs Akiyama, 7/04 (Tokyo Dome match, then NOAH's biggest show ever.) vs The Gladiator, 12/04 (This one is most questionable, since Mike Awesome hardly warranted it. I got the sense that he pulled it out to send the fans home happy, as they had reacted to the match as a disappointment to that point.) vs Rikio, 3/05 (Rikio ends Kobashi's two-year title reign.) w/Takayama vs Misawa/Akiyama, 12/07 (Kobashi returns from injury after missing a year and a half.) I don't recall any other instance where he used it or even teased it, though I could be wrong on the latter.

Isn't fewer deaths a given? At least I hope it would be. Hoping for: Shinsuke Nakamura to improve while champion as much as Tanahashi did last year, although I have serious doubts about it. Cena returning and reclaiming his title. Kobashi to stay healthy and give NOAH a much-needed boost.

The poll was always based on in-ring work, though it was up to each voter to determine what great in-ring work was.

Another Projects and Lists request. PM'd you. -- Loss, 01/13

I found a few things: Steven Regal GWE discussion GWE: Jumbo vs Kawada More GWE stuff Page 1 of the GWE countdown Kazou Yamazaki GWE discussion

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Hot nearfalls rule. A match where the last 10 - 15 minutes is nothing but nearfalls isn't 'hot' nearfalls, its just cheap heat. Yeah, those Misawa/Kobashi/Kawada/Taue matches sure sucked.

If I ever see that awful "2.9 count" buzzword again I'll scream. I love how hot nearfalls have become a terrible thing which must be avoided at all costs.

I don't get this Matt Hardy love at all. I've seen his matches with Kennedy, Regal, Finlay, and Cade recently and I thought they were all thoroughly average. I really can't see it being anything more than a part of the "good punches = good wrestler" trend that is so widespread right now.

Kobayashi/Sasaki/Shadow WX/MASADA vs. Kasai/Miyamoto/Numazawa/Teioh - BJW 1/2 Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki - NJPW 1/4 KENTA/Marufuji/Rikio vs. Takayama/Suzuki/SUWA - NOAH 1/21 Ricky Marvin/Kotaro Suzuki vs. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe - NOAH 1/21 Kojima/Mutoh/Hayashi vs. Kondo/TARU/YASSHI - AJPW 1/26 Takashi Sasaki/Shadow WX/MASADA vs. Isami/Miyamoto/Inematsu - BJW 1/28 Toshiaki Kawada vs. Osamu Nishimura - MUGA 1/28 Satoshi Kojima vs. Minoru Suzuki - AJPW 2/17 Yoshihiro Takayama/Kohei Sato vs. Shinjiro Ohtani/Takao Omori - Zero-One Max 2/18 Minoru vs. Wataru Inoue - NJPW 2/18 Kintaro Kanemura/Mammoth Sasaki vs. Jaki Numazawa/Isami - BJW 2/26 Akira Taue/Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Takuma Sano - NOAH 3/4 KENTA vs. Takeshi Morishima - NOAH 3/4 Takashi Sasaki vs. Yuko Miyamoto - BJW 3/14 Yuji Nagata vs. Giant Bernard - NJPW 3/18 Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Rikio vs. Takeshi Morishima/Mohammed Yone - NOAH 4/1 Liger/Minoru/Milano vs. El Samurai/Taguchi/Yujiro - NJPW 4/7 Liger/Milano/BxB Hulk vs. Kanemoro/Inoue/Naito - NJPW 4/13 Minoru vs. Ryusuke Taguchi - NJPW 4/13 Yuji Nagata vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW 4/13 Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Rikio vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Takashi Sugiura - NOAH 4/28 Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Ryuji Ito - BJW 4/30 Liger/Minoru/Devitt vs. El Samurai/Taguchi/Yujiro - NJPW 5/2 Koji Kanemoto/Wataru Inoue vs. Tiger Mask/Tetsuya Naito - NJPW 5/2 Yuji Nagata vs. Shiro Koshinaka - NJPW 5/2 Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Kamikaze - Zero-One Max 5/27 Masato Tanaka vs. Yoshihito Sasaki - Zero-One Max 5/27 Ryuji Ito vs. Jaki Numazawa - BJW 5/28 Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Rikio vs. D'Lo Brown/Buchanan - NOAH 6/8

JD had two good matches in Hardys vs Cade/Murdoch and Cena vs Khali. Everything else was pretty much forgettable. I've seen dozens of matches out of Japan better than anything I've seen on Smackdown this year.

I really, really don't buy that. But then again, I believe our opinions differ. I haven't enjoyed a Kobashi match in years. Judgment Day, SNME, One Night Stand, and Vengeance were all weak shows with one or two good matches each at the most. SNME and Vengeance had no good matches.

I follow the Japanese scene because there are still good matches to be found. The last three or four big WWE shows were pretty bad so I'm not seeing how it's some kind of refuge from the horrors of modern-day puroresu.

Man after reading this I wonder if I'm the only person who still follows what's happening in Japan. Matt Hardy is in half of the year's top ten matches? I don't get that at all. Looking over my personal MOTY list I don't see anything that would crack my top 30.

Akiyama booked his last title reign himself. Most considered it a huge flop. Really, the best role for him now is being a mentor/motivator of the younger wrestlers, such as Hashi. He's terrific when he's slapping them around, trying to get them to step up. I'd love to see Kawada get the GHC, but I doubt its ever going to happen. Word is he pissed off NOAH in a major way with his speech after losing to Misawa at the last Dome show. The book on the Misawa-Kobashi rivalry is, or should be, closed, so I hope they don't go that route. Honestly, I have no idea where they're going next.

http://noah.puroresufan.com/

Downloads access, please. PM'd you. -- Loss, 01/16