Ditch

Meltzer is human and prone to giving 5* ratings based on short-term emotional sentiments. He has never claimed to be the best reviewer or have the best opinion. For obvious reasons his opinion gets a lot of weight (deservedly so), but it's not like 25 years ago where only a tiny number of people were watching everything from around the world. We no longer need Dave Meltzer to tell us what's good. I guess what I'm trying to say is that we all know Meltzer's flaws, they've been known for a while, and at this point it's a dead horse. The 'Meltzer 5 star rating' only matters to the extent that we make it matter; I guarantee he's never lost sleep upon realizing in hindsight that he overrated something.

Kanemoto has plenty of great performances. The only question is how high you set the bar on consistency. I've seen many wrestlers described as 'great' based on a relatively small number of great matches.

Great point. Kobashi moonsault teases were pretty standard, but that Misawa had to pretty much set the table for him after multiple attempts is an interesting payoff.

Fujiwara was a kickboxer, or at least trained as one. Which makes his willingness to be a punching bag against Maeda, Takada et al. especially generous. I have since been disabused of this, FWIW. My statement was based on bad Wikipedia info.

Tony Halme vs Nagai, RINGS 1/25. Halme is Ludvig Borga and this is shockingly good.

I can only imagine how many times two NJ dojo graduates who spent years working with guys like Hashimoto would have had their noses broken.

I'm 32. When looking for home storage supplies for a sister in July, multiple people asked if it was for my college dorm. I look older than him. What.

Liger is *really* short, but he could have pulled off the Mysterio-in-WWE vibe as well as humanly possible in Japan. That said, having him as the junior ace of the country helped the company cement itself as #1, and it's not like he would have drawn as an underdog midcard heavy. The compromise would be having more mixed junior/heavy tags like this.

It says something when the most prominent WWE Establishment guys are constantly going out of the way to book themselves with Punk and Bryan.

Not disputing, but I'm just curious - on what tape is it available in full? 1280, disc 2.

Either you moved to your current locale or you've got an interesting story behind that...

Just watched Liger vs Kanemoto from July. It is available in full from Lynch but really, REALLY drags in the first while. If it aired JIP on TV, that's all you need.

I just took a glance at the number of threads in the yearbook folders and, well, damn. It's almost 5000 threads! To say nothing of the length and detail of many of the posts. Loss has really gone above and beyond with this, and it gives the rest of us a place to comment on the content in the sets, whether we're watching the yearbooks in order or randomly seeing individual segments. I really hope the board doesn't suffer a DVDVR-like crash, because this will be a valuable resource for years to come. Kudos, Loss!

NJ list note: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs Genichiro Tenryu & Shiro Koshinaka (NJPW Tokyo Dome 01/04/99) (Finish only - title change) I would say to put the full match in. It's solid and very important.

To paraphrase Churchill: Never was so little owed by so few to so many

Going back to "Ronda turned heel"... well she pretty much says so here:

Loss said "low-end MOTYC in a normal year" and that's about right. 1993 was anything but normal, and there were dozens and dozens of better matches than this. In a weaker year, this would be worth considering for a year-end rundown.

Mooney owned Sid so brutally there. That was fucking ice cold. I like how WCW returned to the *exact same angle* in 2000.

To be fair, a WWE low-elevation flat-bump German is totally different from a Takayama high-elevation, high-angle/impact German. The latter is something WWE wouldn't tolerate on a regular basis, and is a credible finisher. Benoit/Angle rolling Germans are mid-range in terms of impact and sold as such.

Tamura vs Kohsaka, U-Style February 4th 2004 Background: Two of the best shoot-style workers of the '90s were eventually forced to do shoots, with some interesting results. U-Style was a worked promotion started in 2003 so that Tamura could return to worked bouts. Why I think it's underrated: Shoot-style in general isn't as popular as other styles, for reasons that probably don't need explaining. Tamura and Kohsaka go at it with such speed and fluidity that I think most people will be able to appreciate this. What it deserves: Top 100, and top 50 consideration for shoot-style fans.

Tenryu vs Araya from 1/14 WAR is worth adding. Not especially long, and it feels like an ECW match as much as anything. Pretty sure Lynch has it in two versions: from a tournament comm and the show itself. The comm is complete and good condition so that's what I'd recommend to be safe.

Toshiaki Kawada vs Takao Omori (AJPW Championship Carnival 03/22/98) (Cut?) - Yes cut Jun Akiyama vs Stan Hansen (AJPW Championship Carnival 03/22/98) (Cut?) - Finish only Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori (AJPW Championship Carnival 03/29/98) (Cut?) - Yes cut Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW Championship Carnival 03/29/98 (Is this date right?) - Was on the 27th Jun Akiyama vs Johnny Ace (AJPW Championship Carnival 04/12/98) (Cut?) - Yes cut. Steve Williams vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW 06/05/98) (Cut?) - Pretty sure there's a clipped version on a comm you can include. Full, no.

Joe Silva has to be booker of the year.

Kobashi, Rikio & Hashi vs Akiyama, Morishima & Kikuchi, NOAH January 10th 2004 Background: For some reason, NOAH decided to headline a Nippon Budokan event with three tags, and put champion Kobashi in a third-from-the-top 6-man. Worked out reasonably well. This was done to continue the Kobashi/Akiyama feud en route to July's show at the Tokyo Dome. Why I think it's underrated: Insert my previous comments about 6-man tags being overlooked. The teams are 'parejas increibles', since Rikio/Morishima, Akiyama/Hashi, and Kobashi/Kikuchi are all long-term stablemates. This ends up becoming a showcase for Hashi as he tries to prove himself against his mentor and friend. Good exchanges, plenty of fire, and a receptive crowd all add up to something special. What it deserves: Top 100. Too many spectacular matches from 2004 for this to hit the top tier, but it's got enough quality to merit inclusion.

4-way trios match, Toryumon August 30th 2003 Background: So they did the 3-way trios in 2001 and 2002. Where do you go from there? Why, a 4-way of course. Why I think it's underrated: This blows the 2001/2002 iterations out of the water, but it happened at a smaller show and didn't get much notice. The mix of athletic sequences, fast-paced action and comedy all leads to a momentous finish. Dragon Gate fans, you must see this. Dragon Gate skeptics, give this a shot, because it avoids many flaws of the current DG style. What it deserves: Top 25 consideration. I rate this as the best match from Toryumon and possibly the whole Toryumon/Dragon Gate universe. Takaiwa & Hoshikawa vs Togo & Hidaka, Zero-One December 26th 2003 Background: Zero-One's top juniors (Takaiwa/Hoshikawa) face off against long-time stablemates Togo and Hidaka in a match to determine the promotion's first junior tag champions. Why I think it's underrated: I saw no discussion of this match whatsoever prior to watching it last year. It's easy to miss; the card is instantly forgettable overall. That's unfortunate, because these four go the extra mile to deliver something special. They build off elements established in a series of Hoshikawa vs Hidaka matches in years past, as kick-based Hoshikawa has to survive the anti-leg offense of Hidaka. Good tag structure in the body of the match followed by a big-time finish, including a semi-accidental bump you'll never forget. What it deserves: Top 50 consideration. If they had a hotter crowd and went about 5 minutes shorter it would probably be a MOTYC. As it stands this is a hidden gem.