Ditch

Matches I'm assuming will be in: Misawa vs Kobashi, AJ 1/20 Han vs Tamura, RINGS 1/22 Liger vs Ohtani, NJ 2/7 Owen vs Bulldog (Euro title, aired 3/3) Bret vs Austin, WM 13 Champions Carnival Final matches (Misawa vs Kobashi, Misawa vs Kawada, Kobashi vs Kawada) MPro 6-man, ECW Barely Legal Kanemoto vs Samurai, NJ 6/5 6-man tag, MPro 10/10 Misawa vs Kobashi, AJ 10/21 Eddie vs Rey, Halloween Havoc Shawn vs Taker, Hell in a Cell Misawa/Akiyama vs Kawada/Taue, RWTL finals

I love 1/24/95 and rated it 14th for AJ in the decade. Vastly more coherent and watchable than Kawada/Kobashi or Toyota/Inoue, which I'm guessing are likely to go on the set.

AJ Misawa, Kobashi & Akiyama vs Williams, Ace & RVD, 2/17: The March tag title match is well-regarded, and this is a fine lead-in tag. Doc and Ace are very aggressive, trying to take a piece out of the champs. Akiyama and RVD are good athletes/bumpers and thus make for good whipping boys. As with most any AJ lead-in, this is good by itself and better in context. Misawa vs Kawada, CC: Misawa breaks his face, which was a huge deal. Maybe clip this or something since it's a letdown compared to their title bouts. Kawada vs Taue, 4/8: The Kobashi match from the first night of the tournament is famous as Taue's "coming out", but from a work perspective I think this is quite a bit better. Possibly Taue's best singles match to this point. Hard-hitting, well put together, great selling, big nearfalls... everything you want from All Japan. Kawada vs Kobashi, 4/13: This takes all the best elements of the January broadway and lops off the flaws. One of the best Champions Carnival round-robin matches (along with Kawada/Taue) and another must-have for quality purposes. Plus it was recently aired in mint condition on AJ Classics. Hansen, Kobashi & Akiyama vs Kawada, Ace & Omori, 4/15: Everyone knows the "Misawa's broken face" storyline, but "Kobashi's bad knee" was an even bigger part of the 6/9 match and that's set up here. The Kawada/Kobashi stuff rocks. Plus: grumpy Stan Hansen! Kroffat vs RVD, 6/9: My pick for the best '90s junior match in All Japan. As I wrote in '07: "I'm not big on a lot of juniors matches that start plodding and jump randomly to highspots, so having a good start is a big plus. The escalation is done well, the spots are done well, the roles are done well." Kroffat is fantastic in this and RVD is a fine high-flying babyface. Misawa/Kobashi/Asako vs Kawada/Taue/Honda, 6/30: Pretty sure Meltzer called this 5*. We only get the second half, so it might have been the sort of "looked to be 5*" semi-rating he gave out from time to time. Anyway this is the best 6-man of the year and with it being clipped in half there's no reason to leave it out. Misawa, Kobashi & Akiyama vs Kawada, Kikuchi & Ogawa, 7/8: Bit of an unusual pick but I think the combination of Kawada sending a message to Misawa and the rare heel-turn Kikuchi appearance is enough. AJW Bull vs Kyoko 3/26 Bull vs Kyoko 9/2: I'm lumping these two together because they're both good 'big match' joshi bouts, they're the last highlights for Bull Nakano, and it's teacher vs student. Toyota vs 30 Opponents, 12/25: Not for the quality, but for the uniqueness. Big Japan Shopping Mall match, 7/1: Also unique. Problematic with its length, though. JWP 4-on-4 "1 Count" match, 3/21: Hey it's another 'unique' one. The singles matches could maybe be clipped off, but then they do set up the 1-count stip. MPro Mask League Sasuke vs Naniwa Sasuke vs Delfin Sasuke vs Caras 1 Naniwa vs Gorgon Cross Sasuke vs Caras 2: Again I'm putting these in as a block. Sasuke vs Naniwa, vs Delfin and the first Caras match all set up his vulnerability in the big finals match. Naniwa vs Mr. JL is all kinds of fun and maybe the most memorable win in Naniwa's career. NJ Chono, Tenzan, Hiro Saito & Sabu vs Hashimoto, Choshu, Hase & Hirata, 2/3 falls, 3/13: Chono's heel turn was the big storyline of the first 2/3rds of the year. This is the best multi-man tag from the feud, with plenty of hate and action, AND you get Sabu to spice it up. Mutoh vs Tenzan, NJ 4/16: A short-ish match that announces Tenzan's arrival. Only mentioned because of its relative brevity. Chono & Tenzan vs Hashimoto & Hirata, 6/12: This kicks off the mid-90s tag title revival as both TenChono and Hash/Hirata are formed. They mesh so well, with the clearly defined roles and face/heel distinction. PWFG Fujiwara vs Taka, 8/26: This should be a fast squash. Instead it's all kinds of fun. Phil's take: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2010/07/o...ing-damned.html RINGS Han vs Zouev, 3/18: For pre-1996 Han matches, I like him best against other Russians who can go with him on the mat. Zouev was IMO the second-best of the RINGS Russians, and we get yet another masterful Han outing. UWFi Yamazaki vs Takayama, 6/18: Also here for the brevity and to mark Takayama's rise in stature, but a much better match than Mutoh/Tenzan given those two characteristics. Anjoh vs Sano, 6/18: Just flat-out good shoot-style, like the '93 match. Way better than anything Takada did in '95. Chono vs Anjoh, 10/28: Big-time heat, big-time personalities, and it's compact. What's not to love? Chono & Tenzan vs Anjoh & Takayama, 11/25: Wild, hate-filled, and almost all action. I will take this over legbar-fests anytime. WAR Ultimo vs Jericho, 7/7: Ultimo's unique outfit, the fact that it's clipped, and the 'bigness' of it are enough to warrant inclusion. Tenryu & Ultimo vs Fuyuki & Kandori, 12/8: Hard to top this when it comes to intergender matches. There's the usual entertainment/comedy aspect stemming from the battle of the sexes, but most of the value is in treating Kandori like a small underdog. She works hard, Fuyuki has her back, Tenryu and Ultimo walk a fine line in how they handle her, and the crowd responds very well. WCW Hogan vs Vader, Superbrawl: Vader cutting Hogan off repeatedly and no-selling the legdrop makes up for the craptastic finish.

Matches that should be a lock: Misawa/Kobashi vs Kawada/Taue, AJ 1/24 Misawa/Kobashi vs Williams/Ace, AJ 3/4 Lioness vs Hotta, AJW 3/26 Eddie vs Dean, ECW 4/15 Misawa vs Taue, AJ 4/15 Misawa/Kobashi vs Kawada/Taue, AJ 6/9 Misawa vs Kawada, AJ 7/24 Inoues vs Toyota & Hasegawa, AJW 8/30 Kong vs Kansai, AJW 8/30 Hokuto vs Toyota, AJW 9/2 Raven & Richards vs Pitbulls, ECW 9/16 Rey vs Psicosis, ECW 10/7 Misawa/Kobashi vs Kawada/Taue, AJ 10/15 Liger vs Ultimo, J Cup Rey vs Psicosis, J Cup Matches I'm reasonably sure would be on and will explain if asked: Taue vs Kobashi, AJ 3/21 Hashimoto vs Regal, NJ 4/16 Misawa vs Taue, AJ 9/10 Kawada vs Albright, AJ 10/25 Guerrero vs Ohtani, Starrcade '95 Big pimping post coming up...

Not just for '95 but for all of '90 through '96. Sadly there's a pixelation problem on a lot of the discs. I'm working with Brent Baker, who's in touch with the person in Japan who did the VHS-to-DVD transfer. Hopefully it can be fixed.

TV deal, more fans/revenue.

That's why I'm saying a handful of problematic performances hurts that case tremendously when you couple it with her not being on a number of shows. The number of good Hokuto matches on tape from that year isn't, like, 50. It's in the rage of 10-20 depending on tastes, unless I'm really missing something. I haven't seen anyone's GOAT case be so completely reliant on one year, or even a 2-3 year run, as Hokuto's 1993. For it to be convincing it really ought to be 'denser' or have her just running the table with great matches. Yes, a lot of it depends on taste. But how many of those are even held up as joshi MOTYCs? The Kandori matches, I can maybe see the November 4 vs 4 tag being held up on that level, the Toyota match, the Hotta match if you ignore the leg selling, and the tag league finalie. Those six, and there's a couple I haven't seen yet so let's round it up to ten. The Kazama matches were Kazama's best but weren't anything earth-shaking. Even if one concedes that as the best year any wrestler ever had, it's not by the sort of margin I think would be called for when there's just such a dearth after it, and *maybe* ten matches that joshi fans rate highly from her before '93. Seems mighty thin to me.

...for the year to be considered so overwhelmingly good to make up like half the case for her as a top 5 of all time candidate. If she had several more years at that level, MAYBE, but she didn't.

I just watched her vs Harley Saito from JGP and thought it really failed to follow up on the intensity they had in the trios early in the year, but that's where she got hurt? There's a couple matches, vs Hotta and another I can't recall offhand, where she does really annoying "ow my leg I'm crippled ---> hey I'm on offense so I'm fine" selling. The Kong match, which I guess isn't really her fault? Oh and apparently she missed a bunch of shows. So while it's one of the best years in joshi history, it's not the sort of year that's so overwhelming as to make her a legit Top 5 pick. Again, it's not arguing against greatness, but rather about how it stacks up compared to the best in wrestling history.

I've been watching a lot of '93 AJW lately, and I think the case for Hokuto as GOAT is incredibly weak, much weaker than for Takada. The case for her was always about that year and a relative handful of highlights from other years. Well, there's simply too many mediocre matches/performances from her in '93 that it would be enough to overcome the number of great years that other wrestlers had over time, and I don't think she's even good enough to be the consensus pick for that year alone! Granted, only one person had her #1 in the SC vote, and with how joshi-friendly the board was that's saying something. But she got 11 top 5 votes, and I don't think there's a case for her as top 5 unless one is rating joshi twice as much as any other style.

I don't care what video it is, the odds are one of the top comments will have profanity. I just want to show my dad basketball highlights and my mom cute stuff without them being accidentally exposed to the toxic nethers of the internet.

Youtube comments are the lowest common denominator of humanity and it is shameful that Google refuses to let them be blocked (other than through browser plug-ins).

The '94 match has at least two big spots get missed by the cameras.

I rate Kobashi over Lawler big-time but Lawler's punches add far more than Kobashi's chops. Kobashi's chops are more like moveset filler than brutal/dramatic blows. That said, Lawler being a better striker compared to broken down Kobashi isn't the hugest accomplishment.

I don't think he's touted as a serious GOAT candidate; more as someone to compare to within shoot-style, someone who is in a lot of people's top 20, maybe the best worker ever match-for-match.

AJ Misawa & Kobashi vs Kawada & Fuchi, 1/7: Kawada/Fuchi are ring generals and do better than Kawada/Taue did in the classic from a month earlier. Baba's ultra-conservative booking hurts, but Kawada and Fuchi are good enough to overcome that. Kawada, Taue & Fuchi vs Misawa, Baba & Kobashi, 1/29: Baba is used smartly and effectively, adding rather than detracting from the usual goodness you'd get from the other five. Kawada & Omori vs Kobashi & Asako, 2/19: Every pairing except Omori vs Asako is wonderful. One of those few notably good All Japan midcard matches. Misawa & Kobashi vs Baba & Hansen, 3/5: Important, and most of all GOOD. Hansen vs Kobashi, 4/10: It drags in parts but these two are so good together that you can't help but enjoy it. And a historic finish! Kobashi & Akiyama vs Taue & Honda, 6/3: Hot crowd, more than enough good action, and one of the few good Honda outings from the '90s! Kawada, Taue & Fuchi vs Misawa, Akiyama & Kikuchi, 6/30: Best example of the standard AJ-style 6-man that the company produced in '94. Misawa/Kobashi vs Can-Am Express, RWTL: Granted, there's a lot of talent, but the 'rank' disparity is working pretty hard against it. So Kroffat & Furnas turn up the teamwork and HEELING to make it interesting! Misawa/Kobashi vs Williams/Ace, 12/10: A match I think anyone can enjoy. Hate, intensity, peril, quality tag match structure, and a plenty-big finish. Kawada & Taue vs Baba & Hansen, 12/10: Baba's last big match and he does bring it as much as he possibly can. He has some exchanges that make you wonder how great he'd have been in a more workable body. (Answer: REALLY great.) AJW Kong vs Hotta 1/24: This is sorta like the Hansen vs Kawada ’93 match, only with women, and only MORE BRUTAL. Kong/Hokuto vs Kansai/Hotta, 8/24: The booking is somewhat obvious if you know what the storyline is and how Japanese booking tends to go. Thankfully I doubt many will be able to predict the eliminations. Big-time, hard-hitting tag battle. MPro 6-man, 11/20: For some reason we get a Michinoku Pro match at an already absurdly long card. Not that I’m complaining, because this is full of lucharesu action and fun! Kansai vs Kyoko Inoue, 11/20: Battle of the crucifix bombers! I respected both of them already when I first saw this, but even then I was still surprised by how much they were able to pull off a Tokyo Dome caliber bout. Kong vs Kansai, 11/20: An improvement on their '93 bout because this one is a bit tighter. Michinoku Pro Sasuke vs Delfin 6-man, 2/4: Somewhat of a distillation of the spots/formula they were doing in their home region. Lots of things you’ve almost certainly never seen, and are doubtful to see again. Taka vs Jado, 7/30: Wee Taka takes on the WAR invader. Agile babyface versus hard-hitting heel is a winning formula and this is a total hidden gem. NJ Hashimoto vs Tenryu, 2/17: Huge historical importance and plenty of drama, this should be a lock. Hashimoto vs Liger, 2/24: Heavyweight ace versus junior heavyweight ace! Hash really goes the extra mile for Liger. Hashimoto vs Norton, 3/21: Showing how good Hash was, here he is against a 'lesser' opponent in a 'lesser' title match and it's still very good. Liger vs Delfin, BOSJ final: This being a BOSJ final, plus their combined charisma, plus Delfin's special outfit, plus the it-is-a-good-match factor, should be enough to get it in. Fujiwara And Yatsu Rule The G-1 Climax: Hard to pick one match, but man are they GREAT in it. Both vs Choshu, against each other, Yatsu vs Mutoh, just so many highlights. Hase vs Koshinaka, G-1: This really fell through the cracks. One could argue that there’s overkill, but it’s not like they dish out gansobombs and burning hammers and shooting stars. I’d say that the very big, very dramatic second half is enough to make this one of the better New Japan heavyweight matches of the decade. Hashimoto vs Hase, 12/14: One of the best IWGP title matches ever, in what wound up as Hase’s only heavyweight title shot. Wicked finish. RINGS Han vs Kopylov, 10/22: There are other good Han matches, but those are just Han carrying someone. In this he's certainly the better man, but Kopylov holds his own and makes this more than just a Han exhibition. UWFi Vader vs Tamura, 6/10: David vs Goliath, with a minimum of fat as far as the match goes. I'll take this over the anticlimactic, poorly-shot Takada match anytime. Takayama vs Kanehara, 10/8: I have no idea what the general response to this will be, but if you enjoy hard-hitting heavyweights this is for YOU. Vader & Tenta vs Albright & Yamazaki, 10/8: Yamazaki is out of place amongst the BEEF, but he does deliver, as does Tenta. Vader vs Albright is the key and it gives the match a 'bigness' that's other than just the combined weight of the competitors. Yamazaki vs Kakihara, 11/30: I really, really like this one. Kakihara's spunk, Yamazaki as the frustrated veteran, and a whole lot of quality shoot-style action! WCW Boss vs Vader, Spring Stampede: An easy top 5 match for Traylor, and yet another fun battle from Vader. Vader vs Dustin Rhodes, Clash 29 (November): This should have been a feud, they work so well together. Dustin is big enough to go toe-to-toe, but small enough (ie. not jacked) that Vader can still be a monster. Steven Regal vs. Larry Zbyszko - Saturday Night 5/28: You wouldn't expect babyface Larry Z to work so well. This was the last meaningful feud of his career (aside from the booking-heavy one vs nWo) and it's nice he got one last chance to shine. Regal is Regal. WWF Bret Hart vs 123 Kid, 7/1 (Raw): Reasonably well-known, probably Waltman’s career match. The underdog vs ‘ace’ dynamic is one you see much more in Japan than the US. The two notable instances in WWF/WWE were both very well-received, the other being Taker vs Jeff Hardy. Hart is good at controlling things and feeding Waltman just enough to make it exciting down the stretch. Bret Hart vs Bob Backlund, 7/3 (Superstars): Every so often I see people ragging on Backlund and I honestly don’t get it, especially what comes *after* his big WWF title run. He was effective doing shoot-style in Japan, he’s effective as a crazed technical foe for Bret, and another couple of years after this he was still good in Japan. Anyway, I prefer this to the Bret vs Owen bouts as straight-up quality grappling. Shawn & Diesel vs Razor & Kid, 9/28 (aired 10/30 Action Zone): The famous 'Kliq works hard to make each other look good' tag. Off-hand I can't think of a '90s WWF tag match I liked more. The basic face/heel tag formula done by three good athletes and a fourth who could still sorta 'go' (Nash). Matches I assume will be on: Kawada vs Williams 4/16 Liger vs Sasuke 4/16 Flair vs Steamboat, Spring Stampede Misawa/Kobashi vs Kawada/Taue 5/21 Misawa vs Kawada 6/3 Misawa vs Williams 7/28 Williams vs Kobashi, 9/3 Kong vs Toyota 11/20

He's new to the main event scene. So the answer is "no", WWE is trying to push new stars and it's a struggle. GREAT point. There was definitely a certain 'gritty' quality to the show circa '97-'01. Now it's all so bloodless, and I don't just mean the 'no blood' policy!

Of what's on the set, I'm not sure I saw the '86 one, I probably saw the '87 one and didn't care for it, I know I saw 3/9/88 and was disappointed, not sure about 3/27/88 or 7/27/88. I'm pretty sure there were some I saw that aren't on the set. But heck, maybe I'm wrong, I mean I enjoyed a lot of their tag interactions. In which case I really can't think of a good wrestler Tenryu couldn't mesh with.

I will second the love of Flair's promos on Garvin. Soooo much better than "boy I sure respect you Dusty, yessir!". Garvin as the plain, straight-laced fighter was a wonderful contrast to Flair, and Flair screaming about how Garvin can't bang enough women to be The Champ is priceless. In fact, I think it might just be the ultimate expression of Flair's "to be the man" talking point, covering before Garvin won, before Starrcade, and after it.

I think a mark of greatness, beyond the number of good and great matches, is the ability for someone to be plugged into different scenarios and still work. Tenryu as the AJ homegrown vs Choshu, as the rebel vs Jumbo, as the ace in SWS, as the invader in NJ vs WAR and AJ vs WAR, as (essentially) a legend doing dream matches in NOAH... it all worked. Plug him in with great workers like Hashimoto and the result is great. Plug him in with a lesser opponent and the result will be a career match or at least a top 5 match for the guy. Meanwhile, there's very few times where Tenryu didn't match up well with someone, at least when that someone was any good. Hansen comes to mind. I think Liger in the '90s is a really interesting comparison. There's lots of times where Liger was the driving force in a match; where Liger got career-level performances out of an opponent; where Liger was a one-man show. But there were also plenty of instances of Liger in a title match or on a big show where he did stupid things (especially late in the decade), did mindless bomb-throwing, went through the motions, or was simply out-worked. I've watched loads of semi-obscure NJ TV, and sometimes a hidden gem would turn up, but other times those less-famous Liger matches were simply a letdown. Some of it, I'm sure, is the difference in how junior matches age compared to heavyweight style. But there's no excuse for failing to lay a match out properly, or dogging it until being told to start trying hard because of the TV JIP mark. There's no excuse for Liger going along with the overkill & no-selling trends in the late '90s. At this point I'm pretty sure I've liked more Liger matches in the '90s than I have Tenryu matches, but in terms of *performances*, and matches that are better than good, or distinct/memorable, I think Tenryu beats Liger hands-down.

The NJ '80s set *definitely* made me go out and buy/trade for a lot of early '90s material that flows from the '80s. In addition to the 1993 stuff at WKO, another thing I did was take a closer look at '90 and '91, which included January-April 1990 AJ (a very overlooked period) and SWS. In early '90 you have: -Two or three good Jumbo vs Tenryu tags -Tenryu delivering an impressive squash to Isao "Arashi" Takagi -The barn-burner NJ vs AJ tag at Tokyo Dome Then add in the Tenryu vs George Takano match from SWS, and 1990 goes fron being a near-zero in Tenryu's career to being perfectly acceptable. A couple more good outings in '91 SWS don't really add much to a GOAT case, but it helps remove the stigma that Tenryu did nothing in the '90s until the NJ vs WAR feud. And that feud has been very overlooked until lately, adding tremendously to the case. With Jumbo vs Tenryu 6/5/89, various matches opposite Choshu and the Hansen/Gordy vs Tenryu/Kawada RWTL '88 epic all having been widely seen, the 'consensus' has been that Tenryu was excellent in the mid-late '80s. The AJ set will magnify this, but won't really change minds in that regard. People already know how good Tenryu was in the early '00s. What's different is the '90s, because unless Tenryu was top 5-10 from Japan in the '90s he really can't be considered for GOAT. What did people generally see from Tenryu in the '90s? Well, there's the solid but unspectacular April '90 match vs Jumbo, 1/4/93 vs Choshu, the bloody nose match vs Fujinami, the G-1 '98 slugfest with Hashimoto, and maybe people saw his bouts with Takada and/or Onita. All that doesn't really suggest someone who stacks up with Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi, let alone Liger or Taue or [joshi wrestler of choice]. It's not just that Tenryu had some good highlights, but that he had a VERY deep 1990s in terms of high-end matches or at the very least high-end performances. So, to draw on the NJ '80s set effect, the AJ '80s set will jack up interest in '90s Tenryu, be it people downloading NJ vs WAR matches, or be it people buying the Tenryu Comp Of Doom from Will. The talking points won't be new, the matches have been on the Lynch catalog since before I entered high school, but there's going to be much fresh talk about Tenryu over the next couple years!

Again, I compare it to Vader or Steamboat: widely/universally loved but one notch from the top 5/10 types in how high he would be praised. Tenryu's run in early '00s All Japan was much acclaimed and helped ensure the respect of people like me who were new to the scene. Same with his '04 NJ and '05 NOAH runs. The underappreciation is more about people rating him high enough, as opposed to people not rating him (ie. Fujiwara). I want to say that in the Smarkschoice poll I had him around 10th-12th... he'd be top 6 for sure now. That sort of thing.

Since people with 'rising stock' is the gist of the topic, Tenryu should be someone in the hunt. As of the big Smarkschoice vote he was on 80% of ballots but only got a single top 5 vote and ended up in 21st place. I'd put him in the same general category as Steamboat, Vader and Mysterio: well-liked but not at the highest level. With the resurgence of SWS/WAR-era Tenryu, and the anticipation of the AJ '80s set, Tenryu seems like someone who would get a lot of top 5 consideration. I think he stacks up darn well in comparison to Jumbo. While Jumbo was a better athlete and a better technician, Tenryu had good matches in a wider variety of settings and with far more opponents. He wrestled at a high level for longer, and granted that's mostly because Jumbo got hepatitis, but Tenryu aged better than all but a small number of wrestlers. I think his body of work absolutely creams the likes of Liger, Bret Hart and Takada. Certainly there were flaws, and he barely changed a thing from '85 on, so it's not air-tight or anything. But there's a case to be made, one that wasn't being made a few years ago.