Dylan Waco Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Been thinking about this with the AWA Set coming out, but can anyone think of a guy who had one single stand out year that was so dramatically ahead of the pack that it is the essence of a one year peak. I know Ken Patera in 80 was a case of a guy who really had everything hitting at once, but he was a major star before and after. The guy I always think of is Doug Somers (hence the AWA Set connection). Prelim guy before and after for the most part, but for one year (in an admittedly dying company) he was a star and putting on awesome matches every time out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chess Knight Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 I've always seen Rick Rude's 1992 to be so incredibly ahead of anything else he did that it's kind of surprising. Maybe I'm missing something (or multiple somethings), but other than the Warrior carry I don't remember any Rude match outside of '92 being one of his better matches or performances. Also, call me crazy, but I really don't think Cena ever came remotely close to his 2007. I can be persuaded to think otherwise if someone shows me the right stuff; I'll admit I'm pretty ignorant on his 2009. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Pierroth in 1992 was pretty spectacular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Would Christian's 2009 work for this? It wasn't that his work was THAT much better but it was that he had the opportunity to showcase it on a weekly basis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJH Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Well the first to my mind is Hokuto, Dream Rush to TLTB '93 (OK, so that's about fifty-four weeks), though it's not as though she was nothing before (moreso) or after. Doc's Carnival 94->Bust is a run far-and-a-way above any other part of his career, too, as mentioned in the Yearbook thread. He was good in '93, and had moments for the first year of his return (the 3/97 match with Misawa was dire and it didn't get much better afterwards), but he stepped it up big time with his push. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Kobashi 1993. He got pushed higher and harder after, and had other good years. But 1993 was where work, role and character came together best. The Yearbooks won't really capture it because it by nature has to cut down the amount of matches shown and you don't really get the sense of week-in-week out stuff, and what Kobashi is putting out in a roll-em-out *** or ***1/2 six man tag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kostka Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Also, call me crazy, but I really don't think Cena ever came remotely close to his 2007. I can be persuaded to think otherwise if someone shows me the right stuff; I'll admit I'm pretty ignorant on his 2009. I think booking plays a big factor in that. He has great matches and performances sprinkled throughout the years proceeding 2007, but in 2007 he got to work lengthy singles matches, PPV after PPV, against different opponents with no overbooking or booking handicaps at all. Jim Duggan 1984. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditch Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 Kobashi 1993. He got pushed higher and harder after, and had other good years. But 1993 was where work, role and character came together best. The Yearbooks won't really capture it because it by nature has to cut down the amount of matches shown and you don't really get the sense of week-in-week out stuff, and what Kobashi is putting out in a roll-em-out *** or ***1/2 six man tag. Kobashi was really good week-in-week-out in '92 as well, and in '94 the TV cutback means we get less week-in-week-out content. '93 was a peak but I wouldn't call it dramatically better, let alone a 'one year peak'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 Maybe I'm missing something (or multiple somethings), but other than the Warrior carry I don't remember any Rude match outside of '92 being one of his better matches or performances. His match with Bossman in December 93 on Saturday Night was a great performance from Rude. Maybe the best I have ever seen from him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 He also had a great match with Dustin Rhodes in 1993, but his '92 is head and shoulders above any other year in his career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chess Knight Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 Maybe I'm missing something (or multiple somethings), but other than the Warrior carry I don't remember any Rude match outside of '92 being one of his better matches or performances. His match with Bossman in December 93 on Saturday Night was a great performance from Rude. Maybe the best I have ever seen from him. I've heard really good things about that from others, of course I thought it was 1992. Think I'll watch that tonight. He also had a great match with Dustin Rhodes in 1993, but his '92 is head and shoulders above any other year in his career. Which one did you think was great? --- Another guy that springs to mind for this, and I'll totally admit I might be missing something, but I've never seen anything from Ohtani outside of 1996 I thought was really great. The top 5 Ohtani matches I've seen are all from 96. I didn't really like the Liger match from 97 a year and a half ago, but I won't use present tense to say "I don't like it" because I probably really was missing something then. And you know what? I'll say '96 Akiyama as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 The Rude/Dustin match I liked from '93 was in May, I think. They had a lot of poor matches that year so you have to be careful. EDIT: Checked the Smarkschoice WCW results and it must be Dustin Rhodes vs. Rick Rude - Worldwide 5/15/93. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chess Knight Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 I watched all Dustin/Rudes I could find from 93 earlier this month and thought they were all just pretty good. Kind of fell under the category of matches in 1993 WCW I thought could have been a lot better (Steamboat/Regal, Arn/Regal, Flair/Rude, Dustin/Windham, Austin/Dustin, Austin/Pillman...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 Rude's matches with Flair in 93 are terribly disappointing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 2 Cold Scorpio in 1996 was definitely his career year. Easily one of the best in the world at that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted June 25, 2012 Report Share Posted June 25, 2012 Kobashi 1993. He got pushed higher and harder after, and had other good years. But 1993 was where work, role and character came together best. The Yearbooks won't really capture it because it by nature has to cut down the amount of matches shown and you don't really get the sense of week-in-week out stuff, and what Kobashi is putting out in a roll-em-out *** or ***1/2 six man tag. Kobashi was really good week-in-week-out in '92 as well, and in '94 the TV cutback means we get less week-in-week-out content. '93 was a peak but I wouldn't call it dramatically better, let alone a 'one year peak'. The topic was "career year", which doesn't mean that the guy didn't have other great years. Just a matter of which was the highpoint of his career based on some such criteria. Of course his career year in terms of accomplishments would be something during his GHC run. In terms of "work" and "character", I found his work in those years uninteresting. Hence looking for another year. I find Kobashi in 1994 to start being a bit annoying at times. It was stronger in 1995, and after that he largely annoyed me even if he was still "great". That really isn't evident in 1993. In 1992 he was still stuck down being the #3 guy in his group. Sure, he was great in the role and great in the year. But it was also something he'd been doing for two and a half years and was a little thin. The push in 1993 was more interesting as well: 1992 Budokans 03/92 Baba & Andre & Dory vs Kawada & Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 06/92 WTT: Tsuruta & Taue vs Misawa & Kobashi 08/92 Kobashi & Kikuchi vs Fantastics 10/92 Williams & Spivey vs Patriot & Kobashi 12/92 Abdullah & Kimala II vs Kobashi & Kikuchi (non-league match) Other TV singles matches: Jumbo vs Kobashi, Kawada vs Kobashi (Carny), Hansen vs Kobashi (Carny), Kobashi vs Patriot, Hansen vs Kobashi Honors: All Asia Tag Title (4th time) Only one pushed Budokan match. The singles matches, other than the Patriot one, were Kobashi largely in the same spot he'd been in before: #3 on his own side, quite a ways off from beating Jumbo and Hansen, though spunky. The honor was cool to watch, but Kobashi won those back in 1990 (with Misawa and Ace) and in 1991 (again with Ace). It's not even the case of Kenta moving up to be the top guy on his team: he had been that teaming with Ace. 1993 Budokans 02/93 Kobashi vs Spivey 06/93 Kawada & Taue vs Misawa & Kobashi 07/93 Hansen vs Kobashi 09/93 Kobashi vs Patriot 10/93 Kawada vs Kobashi 12/93 Kawada & Taue vs Misawa & Kobashi Other TV singles matches: Taue vs Kobashi (#1 contenders), Kobashi vs Furnas (Carny), Misawa vs Kobashi (Carny), Kawada vs Kobashi (Carny), Gordy vs Kobashi, Williams vs Kobashi (#1 contenders), Kobashi vs Bossman Honors: World Tag Titles, RWTT Winner Really only one throwaway Budokan. Since Gordy was going to challenge Misawa, and Kawada & Taue would be tied up putting over Hansen & DiBiase, it looks like that might have been Williams-Kobashi on that card, which would be yet another big Budokan singles match for Kenta. Instead, they had the #1 contenders match earlier in the series and Kobashi got a lesser match here, though in a sense a bigger match with Doc earlier. Even the Spivey match here had meaning: Kobashi's first pin on one of the top four gaijin of the 1990-92 period. Over the course of the year, the singles matches are a big step up. Basically big singles matches against everyone got aired on TV. There's a lot of variety there as well. Obviously the big honors here in the RWTT and World Tag Titles. In comp, Kawada the tag titles for the first time just two years earlier in 1991. Misawa and Kawada each won the RWTT for the first time in 1992. Quite a big step up for Kobashi (not to mention pinning Kawada to win it). There is just more "there" to Kobashi's 1993. His work is better than in 1993. His push is more advanced. His character is stronger, but still well in focus rather than the confused one he'd get later in the decade. There are more matches, more variety of matches, more big matches, and even some nice small matches (Can-Ams vs Kobashi & Asako) that are fun counterpoints to the Big Matches that we all tend to get focused on. To me it's an easy career year for him. By Carny 1994 the cracks were starting to show. Still "great", but things like Kobashi-Akiyama relative to Kawada-Akiyama and Williams-Akiyama showed that he issues. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 How bout Samoa Joe's '05? He was crazy good around that time. He was still good while in ROH, but really just went to shit after a while in TNA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLIK Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 How bout Samoa Joe's '05? If you stretched that to cover about late 03 through 06/07 I think Joe is a perfect candidate for a discussion like this. For a guy who was once considered one of the best wrestlers in the world and has been around 13 or 14 years, he really only has that comparatively short 3-4 year window of greatness on his resume. The topic was "career year", which doesn't mean that the guy didn't have other great years. By that standard, I think Bull Nakano peaked in 1991 during their height of her 3WA title run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 I'd add for Kobashi in 1993 as a career year: It is the one year of his career where there is the perfect finish for him in The Last Match of the Year that fitting of where his character was. Even his RWTL wins with Jun later in the 90s didn't really give us something fresh, new and making one look forward towards the new year over what was ahead. 12/03/93... that does something. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 Undertaker's 1997 would probably count as well, at least until his mid-2000s resurgence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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