KB8

Sorry to drag this off topic, but I was watching Will's Dandy comp last night and started thinking about whether or not Dandy and Fuerza Guerrera ever had a big singles match. I've never even heard of a singles match between them, period. So, am I just *that* far out of the loop, or have they actually never done anything together in singles matches worth noting at all?

Liger will be released before the end of the year, maybe as soon as November. Awesome news. I never even knew you were putting one together, let alone having it almost finished.

Personally, I'm glad there's a bunch of Fujiwara on there. I'm not really a shoot-style kinda guy (although Fujiwara's actually my favourite shoot-type ever, probably... either him or Han), so I'm looking forward to seeing a chunk of his pro-style (or "more" pro-style that shoot-style ) stuff. I know there's a lot of people that pimp him really heavily already, so it should be interesting to see what other people - people that haven't seen a whole Hell of a lot, like myself - think of him by the time they've worked through the set. I wouldn't be surprised if I came away loving him, though (really enjoy him already anyway). I already mentioned the 6/9/87 match opposite Chosu, which is probably gonna be up in or around my top 5, so if the other stuff clicks with me like that, then I'll no doubt be sold... Quick question, Will: are you planning on ever comping Liger at any point?

Set looks incredible. So much stuff I never even knew existed. And the fact there's 3 Chosu/Fujiwara matches on it that I haven't seen means I'd probably pay the $45 dollars for discs with those matches alone. I also echo Floyd's sentiments on Fujinami/Keirn from 2/1/80. And ditto that for about 100 other matches.

Fuerza Guerrera or Jerry Estrada? Watched a fair amount of Fuerza lately and the guy is now comfortably one of my all-time favourites. I'm hardly the biggest Lucha guy around here, so the comparison might seem weird to some, but Jerry is a guy I always see get pimped (and I like him a lot myself) as a top rudo, and he was pretty much the first guy that came to mind anyway.

I adore that Eddy/Jericho match from Fall Brawl. If I had time to get a list together, I think I would've ranked that highest out of anybody that voted (I probably would've had it top 15). Then again, you never can tell with these things. I watched the Clash VIII tag yesterday and really, really liked it. Again, had I managed to watch enough stuff to justify making a list of my own, I would've had that top 50. The post-match angle is one of my favourites, and Dylan's totally right when he says Funk's delivery on big angles is practically unparalleled. Interested to see where all the Flair/Steamboat matches from '89 place. I think the handheld matches might take a hit in the final list due to some voters not wanting to vote for non-televised matches (which I can understand), but I'm expecting the Clash and Chi-Town Rumble matches to do extremely well. Hopefully WrestleWar puts in a good showing too (I'm almost certain it will despite it seemingly falling out of favour the last few years); it's still my favourite of their series, although it's been a long time since I watched any of their matches, Chi-Town Rumble aside.

I was meaning to ask you this when the WCW poll was still running (way back a whole 24 hours ago) and never got around to it, but what is it about the Midnights/Southern Boys tag that you dislike, OJ? I haven't seen it myself in a long, long time, but it seemed like a match that was pretty much universally praised for as long as I can remember.

I'm actually one of the people that thinks he is. Along with Eddie and Dick Murdoch, I could watch Liger all day and not get bored at all. So with that being said, I should probably check this out at some point. Actually, I've seen way less Liger from this decade than I probably should have...

Probably not the right place to ask this, but I've been looking for the 4/27/04 Mysterio v Noble match on your list for a LONG time and can't seem to find it anywhere. Any idea where I can get a hold of it?

Watched this earlier, and I liked it even more than I did when I saw it originally. Agreed on Edge being pretty awesome in it. Just watched this, and I'd probably have it as my TV MOTY so far. Great, great match. Punk looked fantastic in it, busting out some really choice offence (nasty German suplex, inverted supex from the middle turnbuckle, roundhouse leg sweep while Morrison was on the apron). I also liked him going for the sunset flip bomb and kicking Morrison in the neck so he'd let go of the rope. Finish was nice, too.

I love the Toronto match. I've never been a big fan of the Wrestlemania match, but the Toronto effort is my favourite Savage/Steamboat match, and one of my favourite Savage matches, period.

I've actually never heard of Hulu before, but I want to try and catch up with a lot of the stuff I've missed, so I'll definitely use this in future. Thanks.

Looks like you're watching a lot of the same stuff I am from Will's Steamboat comp. I watched the Tenryu match a couple weeks ago and thought it was pretty great. I don't remember too much about now, although I recall thinking it really escalated nicely. Did you watch the Steamboat & Youngblood/Briscoes stuff on the same disc? I thought the two TV matches were really fun, and while I didn't like the Starrcade match as much as I had remembered, I thought that was pretty good, too. Edge v Morrison from 6/19 is a match I enjoyed a lot. I've seen very, very little WWE from this year - or any promotion from this year for that matter - but I managed to catch that episode of Smackdown! and I really dug that match. I actually preferred the Punk/Rey match from later in the show, but I want to check both out again at some point. I missed the first five minutes of the Edge match anyway. Looks like I should probably check out the Punk/Morrison match from 6/26, too. For all the matches they've had together, I honestly don't think I've seen an entire match between the two, which is pretty surprising. Have you seen the Rey/Jericho match from the Bash, btw? I loved it and would easily make my top 5 WWE matches I've seen this year (which, in fairness, isn't a whole lot, but still).

Yeah, the finish was fantastic, I agree. Loved the big bump Jericho took from inside the ring on top of the ladder straight to the floor, too. And on mention of the hardway blood, I thought that worked pretty well in their Unforgiven match as well. Jericho seemed to have welts and cuts all over himself. In a sense, something like that seemed a lot more gritty than a blade job. What did you think of that match, by the way, since I don't see it on your list?

Love some of the matches that are included in this. First WWE released set I'm definitely gonna but this year. First I've been sure about buying since Flair's last year, actually (still want the SNME set at some point, though). That scoudrel Goodhelmet gets all my money nowadays.

The last two threads of yours were my favourite on the board, and I used them as frequent go-to lists of stuff I should check out, so a new one should be just as interesting. I actually find your star ratings (which I also like using as a good shorthand as you put it as I have something like this ongoing myself) for 2008 most interesting. I'm not sure why it caught my eye as much as it did, but the ****1/2 rating for the Shawn/Jericho ladder match really surprised me. It's a match that's loved in a lot of circles, but I tend to find it liked much less so around places like DVDVR, Smarkschoice, here, etc. Or at least liked less by the people that frequent those places, anyway. I personally loved it immensely, and it's one of my very favourite matches ever. Being a huge Michaels fan growing up and being so into their feud last year like I was, this was somewhat of a dream match for me. Not necessarily from a "smark" perspective, but more because I was wondering if it could make me feel like a mark again, because not much of the recent stuff had been able to do that for me. I didn't watch it live, but I did go in spoiler free, and needless to say, I wasn't disappointed at all. Really, really loved it. I've only watched it the once, but I think it's the only match I've ever seen where I'll actively try and *not* watch it again so to preserve the whole rush and moment it provided when I first saw it. Sounds pretty silly, I guess, but those mark the fuck out moments where you're desperate for that balding dude that's still kicking it all heartthrob style to grab the shiny belt come few and far between nowadays, so part of me wants to try and preserve that for as long as I can. It's actually a match that I've never stuck any snowflakes to, but ****1/2 is generally where I land if anybody asks me. Danielson/Nigel from the 6th Anny show is another that caught my eye, mostly because I've also got it as the number one match from 2008, and also sitting at ****3/4. I think the way they, especially Nigel, managed to take the "smart" crowd and completely play them like a fiddle is what stands out most to me. The whole "I'm doing this for my health" angle that initially turned people on him was interesting, but the way he managed to outsmart and completely shit all over the people that still defended him was tremendous. A freaking ROH crowd starting a USA chant was awesome as Hell. So many subtle pieces of greatness all the way through that match. I'd say it's my favourite of the Danielson/Nigel series, too. There's some other stuff that I love there as well (Wargames '91 being your top match from that year, which is something I think myself), so I'll probably try and comment on some more stuff when you watch it and whatever.

While you can't exactly say any of them are "expected", this one is just WAY outta left field. Really, really crazy. Rest in peace, is pretty much all I can say.

I watched this three times this week and it got better every time. So, so great. It's pretty much the perfect balance between Lucha and Mid-South that I could imagine, and since I've been on a big lucha kick as of late and Mid-South's my favourite promotion ever... well, you probably get the idea. The first time I actually wished the lighting was better, but after checking out the link that John posted and going back and re-watching the disc version, I thought the dim lighting added to the whole feel - this is a fight, these two are beating ten shades of shit out of each other to the point where it's almost human cockfighting and the darkness highlights the overall gruesome tone. Or something. I love that Chicana gets absolutely zero offence in for about a caida and a half. None at all. Whatsoever. Instead he just bleeds and bleeds and bleeds and takes an ass-stomping like a man. Of course, the heat they build for the eventual comeback is about as well done as I've ever seen, and the crowd completely blowing their stack for a duck and punch is a pretty beautiful thing. The revenge spots are simple yet naturally effective, and then the plancha that totally creams MS-1 which leads to him being counted out was pure greatness. Third caida is amazing, from the scud missile planchas that resemble hate-fuelled diving headbutts to the mat being completely stained red. This is the only match I've ever seen featuring these two, so I'm not sure this is even the case, but was there a couple moments where MS-1 teased applying the move that Chicana later submits him with (which I'm assuming is Chicana's signature hold/finisher)? He grabs the leg as if he's going to slap on a half crab and the heat it generates is crazy, even more so when he grins out at the crowd. Then he grabs Chicana's arm and the heat that gets is huge, too. Nothing important or anything, but it's yet another little thing I loved about the match. The bump off the missed senton looked especially nasty, and the resulting submission and head-shaving capped everything off perfectly. Just a great, great match.

I thought this was pretty fantastic! I'm pretty sure this is my first foray into the Lucha minis, but it's definitely given me motivation to start checking out some more of the highly pimped stuff; from '97 CMLL, for example. Mascarita Sagrada's so awesome, and Espectro taking multiple cheap shots at him as the crowd goes ballistic leading to the big save in the third caida was my favourite part about the whole thing. Both guys bump like loons, too. The Espectrito bump in the third (don't remember what he was going for... I watched this a few days ago and it's slipped my mind) looked nasty as shit. It looked like they botched the intended finish, but it doesn't make a difference at all really, because everything else was great. When this isn't even the best lucha singles match I've watched from a single disc in the space of a week, I know I'm watching a stacked comp.

I'm pretty much echoing the sentiments of everybody else here, but yeah... suitably nuts. The way he goes from slick Ric to this insane headcase that's jabbing himself in the forehead is great. I watched this more than once.

Thanks for posting this! I love reading thse kinds of things, so I'd definitely be psyched if you do more from time to time.

I'm especially interested in seeing the Russians/Rock 'n' Rolls tag from JCP, which I think I recall Loss being pretty high on, although I'm really not sure where I read that, if I even did at all . The response to the omission of the Harts/Steiners tag from 1/94 has been bordering on outrage on some forums, since I guess people were expecting that to be a lock for this ever since it was announced. I'm not terribly fussed about it myself, though; never really was that high on it. I'm still a sucker for the Steiners/Hase-Sasaki match, so I'm glad - and maybe a little surprised - that that's been included. And I don't really know why, but I'm psyched to see the Demolition/Killer Bees 2/3 falls match.

I'm definitely gonna participate in this at some point (would've bought it already had I not received three Schneider Comps today; gotta get a head start on watching some of this stuff). Assuming people are still free to do so in say, two weeks down the line, anyway?