El-P

ARN !

I don't understand how could anyone rank Volk Han (who was my #37) and not Tamura. I had Owen at #56 so it hits pretty close to home to me. Owen doesn't have a lot a great stuff, but he has a lot, a lot of very good stuff and was damn consistent. Re-watching WWF 95/96 kinda reminded me that even when he was cruising at times, Owen was still better than most. Not surprised about the drop though.

Bull vs Aja in a cage, the two Bull vs Kyoko in 95 from the top of my head. LCO are not top 100 indeed. They are top 15 at worst.

PPV 42 delivered. For a Vince Russo booked product, it was quite decent, although it had way too much stupid booking, obviously. Raven vs Jeff Jarrett could have been an excellent match, although Jarrett’s execution is somewhat off at times. But he works hard, and Raven rules at this point. Took it slow at first, then went into blood, teased a table shot that came only later. Then, well, they kicked out of their finishers. I dunno when that stuff really became prevalent, if that came from the indy mentality or if WWE was doing it already in big matches, but it’s annoying, especially with stuff like the evenflow DDT which was instant death in ECW and WCW. But anyway. The stupid stuff began when team ECW showed up, handcuffed Jarrett and used chair on him. Yeah. Russo is recycling that damn Douglas vs Foley match *again*. Then, lights go off and I was more annoyed, but when it was Sabu ! Well, I thought it was pretty cool since that was his gimmick entrance in ECW and it’s unexpected that he would go against Raven. Then again, the timing of the whole thing was off. I never get tired of Sabu though, so that’s good. I must also point out how terrible Rudy Charles is as a referee. It took hims so long to try to get the handcuffs off Jarrett that freakin’ Raven had to help him and made it look like a defiant gesture toward his opponent. Anyway, Jarrett kicked out of another Evenflow before winning. So yeah, much more a Double J Special than a Raven Dog & Pony show, which Raven doesn’t need anyway now. I’d call it quite good still, all things considered and all stupidity aside. The fans totally shit on the finish BTW, speaks how highly they think of Jarrett as their ace babyface. Funny fact, Raven quoted Fleetwood Mac in his promo tonight, after quoting David Bowie a few weeks before. That’s really Scott Levy talking, he was never really a gen-Xer listening to grunge, ya know. Match of the night goes to Jerry Lynn vs Christopher Daniels, who’s a terrific heel and worker. I don’t get the criticism of « too smooth » at all, sounds like complete bullshit to me. He’s just super crisp but everything he does looks on point and he shows tons of character too. Lynn works differently than against Red, with more intensity. That’s one thing I really like about Lynn, he’s not just a mindless spot monkey, he puts intent in what he does. The X-division match between Amazing Red & Kid Kash was pretty good too, although a bit sloppy, which is always a risk with these two, especially Kash who’s still way better as a dick heel. He gets tons of heat too. Too bad the ending has to do with that stupid mystery luchador. It’s been going on forever and nowhere and has not link with Konnan anymore. It’s like Russo has no idea what to do with this stupid stuff now. The screwjob ending + shitty referee work kinda killed Red’s big moment of winning the belt too. Then, some clusterfucky X-division action with a four way between Jimmy Rave, Chris Sabin, Shark Boy & Jason Cross. Rave & Cross are everything I dislike about 00’s indies, work and look. Got better with Shark Boy & Sabin at the end. Sabin almost killed himself by trying to jump on the top rope and sliding outside, all that for a stupid 4-way cluster. Another 4-way in the opener, between four teams, always a good idea. Harris vs Lee & Slash vs Saturn & Credible vs AMW. Decent action, too many decent guys not to be, but too many bad guys to amount to anything, plus making it non-elimination always makes it worse. Perry & Credible won, which is kinda baffling. On the funny side of things, they cut back just after the match, and the Harris boys are in the locker room, all fresh and shit. Great production, guys. A pretty good tag match with AJ Styles & D-Lo Brown against No-Charisma-So-We-Need-Desire’s tits and ass team of Siaki & Young, who never looked better. Wonder why. And the promo/angle front, Eric Watts is supposed to be funny, Konnan & Ron Killings are heels for talking about racism (although Konnan’s promo is excellent, as always since he arrived, too bad he can’t work worth a damn) and a jealous stripper attacks Lollipop so we have a stupid catfight. Yes, that is the debut of Tracy Brooks. And Lollipop should never cut a promo, ever again. Pretty decent show with its share of good stuff, but the booking screws up most of the good in-ring work. Raven has failed in his quest to win the title despite having four guys handcuffing Jarrett and hitting him with chairs square in the head, after what Jarrett still kicked out of the Evenflow DDT. Kinda makes Raven looks like a bitch. Jarrett was really the HHH of TNA, except he didn’t marry the boss daughter, he just had his daddy made up a promotion for him and had his friend book it. No idea where this is going. Not anywhere in the long run, I know… 2003/04/30 AJ Styles & D-Lo Brown vs Sonny Siaki & David Young 2003/04/30 Amazing Red vs Kid Kash 2003/04/30 Jerry Lynn vs Christopher Daniels 2003/04/30 Raven vs Jeff Jarrett

Arn.

Living in France, I waited like 3 or 5 weeks before I was getting my batch of 5 or 6 120mn tapes every three months or some, after spending shitloads of money I didn't earned. Today ? https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Kiyoshi+tamura So let's not kid ourselves.

I don't want to listen to spoilers about LU = I don't listen to Dave spoiling LU. But it's kind of his job to report on pro-wresting, ya know

THANKS. I voted for Andre after waching a bunch of younger Dre, but in all honesty, I think we all got totally carried away by pimping how good he was. Well, he was that good, but not a Top 100 candidate either. iI's just the best giant ever…. except he's not. I had Baba at #80. One of the smartest wrestler I've seen, just a pleasure to watch. That being said, Andre is not the one I kinda regret voting for.

Joshi slaughter. I don't know how much Phil's line about LCO being the female Public Enemy has stuck as far as a change in acclaim, but Takako Inoue (as El-P has bitched over and over) wasn't nominated either and she wasn't part of the team, just part of the same AJW generation. LCO are the fucking best. Check the '90s yearbook forums for a sampler. I really should have found a way to make a ballot, she'd probably have gotten a Mando-esque vote out of me. Schneider was saying the same dumb shit about LCO 17 years ago FWIW. Yeah, Joshi slaughter, plain and simple. Seeing a great fuking wrestler like Bull Nakano drop so low in the top 100 is a symptom of this. Saying she isn't a great match worker is totally wrong. She had a bunch of epics. She was my #17. And since my favourites are dropping now, Tamura, of course, my #5. It's not surprise the two guys from my top ten wo have dropped are two shoot-style workers. The Croatian Devail said Tamura was Beethoven. Pretty much. Tamura vs Kohsaka for 30 mn is the apex of pro-wrestling from an aesthetic poit of view. The most beautiful match I've ever seen. (Yoshida vs Fukawa being the female counterpart)

Don't think she was nominated. There are *tons* of joshi worker as good or way better than tons of people making the list . It just fell out of fashion. If anything, Mita should be part of the tag team poll as LCO, although since I didn't turn a ballot for this, I don't expect them (that's her and Shimoda for those not familiar with joshi) to do that well.

Didn't vote for Slaughter this time around. I think I did in 2006. Not too sure why. His greatest matches are terrific. Not much post-prime work though, but his peak is excellent. I probably should have voted for Sarge again.

Keiji Mutoh, the greatest laziest wrestler ever. Could be awesome. When he didn't give a fuck, he really didn't give a fuck. Kept himself relevant in the 00's. Shinjiro Ohtani. Greatest peak of a junior wrestler ever ? And he could work with the UWF-I guys like no one else. Underrated heavy career probably. My #86 and #76.

Sad, and sweet, and touching. And by the by, he uses "politically incorrect" in a really great and incisive way--to mean doing right by the "wrong" person, no matter the risk to your job or who in power it irritates. Yes. Beautiful piece by Foley.

Me too at this point. Especially since Raven deserved a much higher spot from me. I should have had Nash at 100. Hey, maybe his TNA years will convince me to do it for 2026… probably not. Now I'm just sitting back and enjoying people getting mad a Kurt Angle making it this far. I didn't even vote for the guy, but I feel kinda vindicated. Now you know how I feel about Hogan/Piper/Dusty making the top 100 people.

Ishikawa is like Ikeda, a victim of me never diving deep into Battlarts. I had other priorities at that time, and I never got back into it later on. It's pretty much a given I would have rated both of them.

I wish this kind of respect and gratitude had been extended to Chyna in life, particularly from the McMahons and Triple H. Too little, too late now, unfortunately. :\ I'm glad I didn't have to say this, but yeah. Considering how she was treated after the breakup, if you believe her version of course, and with the disdain she got from the HHH remarks about the HoF… Especially when she has been very instrumental in helping him get over at the next level.

I believe Pillman had been injured early in 95, but I may be wrong. Or he was just getting too frustrated by the booking which made him no favors for the last year. But yeah, he wasn't as great as he was from 89 to 93.

Probably, and that's one really good thing about the current scene. That's why I find it ridiculous and immature when old-timers are sobbing because the current guys like to "play X-box" and don't got shit in each others bags and drug-rape female fans (sorry, RATS).

PPV 41 Lead-in PPV before the big Jarrett / Raven match, and the final angle was disapointing. First off, Jarrett comes off like a complete scumbag beating on Alexis like she’s just another warm body. Twice in the same show, with garbage weapons. Especially on a show where the hottest new heel is all about mistreating his former girlfirend because he’s a jealous prick. Plus we get Eric Watts thrown in. At least the whole second generation stable seems to be done, Watts is just a goof now, and it’s not clear what is his purpose. Anyway, the whole ECW team joigns Raven at the end, wraps Jarrett in a straightjacket and barbwire and… well, ok they are ECW guys, but what about the Raven vs Sandman feud ? I wonder how Raven will explain that… Talking ECW, New Jack, Sandman & Saturn vs Brian Lee, Slash & Mike Awesome was quite the garbage match, with barbwire on the ropes a la PR and New Jack busting sickles and staple gun and shit. He and Slah exchange bloodcells. Awesome remembers he debuted in FMW by talking the painfull bumps. Guys going through tables. Well if you go that route, might as well go all the way. Looked like an old school japanese sleaze garbage match, so I actually enjoyed the insanity. Justin Credible shows up again and has an impromptu match against Slash, who really earns his money. Justin looked pretty good, although his outfit is even worse than during his ECW days. What’s with the giant… stuff hanging on out of one back pocket ? So yeah, the big undercard match was Kash vs Trinity, preceded with a promo segment that turned into a slapfest. Huge reaction for that. Yeah, less is more. As far as the match went, it was as good as it could be, with some sloppiness obviously and awkward moments, but they made it work. Trinity took one hell of a beating. Too bad the ending involved SEX again, it kinda ruined the feeling, but Kid Kash is made as a scumbag heel. AJ Styles is still paired against Gilberti, this time teaming up with D-Lo against Sanders too in a fine opener, but he really should be used better than this. D-Lo, well, D-Lo ain’t a star, no other way to twist it. And then two really good matches, XXX (Daniels & Skipper) vs AMW, although it was only Storm for a good part of the match. I guess they were teasing a Harris turn with the old « fake beating in the back » angle, but nope. This pairing gets better everytime. They still tease disension in AMW, with Storm acting bitchy that time. Can’t they just get along ? Main event was really good too, Amazing Red vs Jerry Lynn in a pure babyface match. Red looked a bit banged up and wasn’t as quick or precise as usual, but it didn’t keep the match from building to a hot finish. I like how Lynn’s opponents do counter his stupid guillotine move from time to time, nice attention to detail here. Also, Lynn really doesn’t approach this kind of match the way he would against straight heels, he’s not using much punches for instance. Since Konnan was talking about minorities and shit on color, we get a screwjob finish with Ron Killings attacking Lynn. Isn’t this the third time Killings turns in like four weeks ? I guess we get a heel minority faction soon, which is kinda ironic when you think about it. Some good stuff with the tag team and X divisions, a nice payoff to the Kid Kash heel turn (although SEX involvement sucks). As an old ECW fan, I don’t mind to see this Team Extreme having bloodletting, it gives a different flavor to the show. Basically, the stuff that really doesn’t fly at this point is SEX (what are they trying to accomplish ?), although Gilberti has been pretty good on the mic, and sadly Jarrett who’s an awful babyface champion. Raven has totally carried the feud and made it seem like a big deal. Overall, the product is much better than just a month before, there seems to have much more focus despite the surprise appearances every week, lot of them not even showing up again (Viscera, Mike Barton). I actually look forward to PPV 42. Maybe I shouldn’t. 2003/04/23 New Jack, Sandman & Saturn vs Brian Lee, Slash & Mike Awesome 2003/04/23 XXX (Daniels & Skipper) vs AMW 2003/04/23 Amazing Red vs Jerry Lynn

I'd agree with that though. Throw a great punch and have it sold like shit, the result is shit. Throw a shitty punch and have it sold beautifully, and the punch looks pretty good after all.

You can't be sure how hard a guy is hitting. Terry Funk's punches, if you believe Mick Foley, are apparently fucking rough. As far as inspiring the imagination, it sure works with Lawler considering how much people make shit about how creative he was in multiple ways of using his punches when he fact he was just... punching. (but hey, Parv's stuff about Flair's chops is pretty unreal too, so you see, people hitting very hard also inspire imagination)

Can't say this is surprising, but I thought she had been doing better teaching in Japan these last few years ? Well, this is a prety sad story, she's a girl who pretty much had it tough since childhood and she apparently extremely smart. Didn't she speak like four of five languages or something ? The way her life spiraled out of control after she got fired from WWF, from the most petty reasons, is an amazing trainwreck. I was a fan of the character until she became an actual worker, which she sucked at. But the whole amazon woman bodyguard was pretty fun and played a big part in getting Hunter over in the first place. I guess she could have dropped dead anytime in the last 10 years it wouldn't have been surprising news. Another sad casualty of pro-wrestling. Word. French ex-porn actress and feminist Ovidie talks about "social tatoo" for the people working in the porn industry. You just never can get away from it even if you did one scene, it follows you all your life. Coupled with the slut-shaming culture, this can get pretty ugly especially for girls doing it for all the wrong reasons, like Chyna or Tammy did.

A few years back I got into watching old Hogan matches. I enjoyed a great many of them especially the blood feuds and the hot sprints. But honest to God, watching Hogan is like staying home from work sick and getting into the daytime soaps. If you keep watching them for long enough at least one of the storylines is gonna get you hooked. You'll come back for more all right, and by the end of the week you might even convince yourself that they're really well written, but if you have any sense you'll go back to work the following week and forget the whole thing ever happened. Apologies to Hogan and soap fans. Awesome. Really enjoy you going through the names BTW. Keep doing what you're doing !

I really have't seen/watched any Dick Togo since my last MPro tape in early 00 or something. That's the only reason he doesn't get rated. Togo was a great worker. The WWF did its best to ruin him. Just picture Togo in 1998 against Rey in WCW. Damn.

Pillman. My WCW watch saw his stock rise a lot. #43. Excellent in pretty much any role he was put in. The most underrated worker of the early 90's. The injuries killed his career and at the end his life, he had so upward potential still by early 1995. The Loose Cannon had some really good moments, but overall it was the weakest part of his career even as a character, too forced and the shooty stuff led nowhere and had a terrible influence on someone like Russo. But anyway, love Pillman the worker.