Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

Matches of the month


Loss

Recommended Posts

June:

  1. Riki Choshu, Kantaro Hoshino, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka vs Animal Hamaguchi, Super Strong Machine, Tarzan Goto & Hiro Saitu & Masanobu Kurisu (NJPW 06/26/90) **** ½
  2. El Dandy vs. Angel Azteca (EMLL 6/1/90) **** ½
  3. Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta (AJW Grand Prix 6/17/90) **** ¼
  4. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW 6/8/90) **** ¼
  5. Aja Kong, Grizzly Iwamoto & Bison Kimura vs. Honey Wings & Manami Toyota (Hamada's UWF 6/4/90) ****
  6. Vader vs. Stan Hansen (NJPW 6/12/90) ****
  7. Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 06/30/90) ****
  8. Lightning Kid vs Jerry Lynn (PWA 06/90) *** ¾
  9. Stan Hansen vs Steve Williams (AJPW 06/05/90) *** ¾
  10. Espectrito & Piratita Morgan vs. Mascarita Sagrada & Aguilita Solitaria (EMLL 6/22/90) *** ¾
  11. Bull Power vs Otto Wanz (CWA 06/30/90) *** ¾
  12. El Satanico & El Dandy vs. Angel Azteca & Atlantis (EMLL 6/15/90) *** ½
  13. Dave Finlay vs Steve Wright (CWA 06/30/90) *** ½
  14. Gran Hamada, Perro Aguayo & Kendo vs El Signo, El Texano & Negro Navarro (Hamada's UWF 06/07/90) *** ½
  15. Akira Maeda vs. Nobuhiko Takada (UWF 6/21/90) *** ½
  16. Riki Choshu vs. Animal Hamaguchi (NJ 6/12/90) *** ½
  17. Negro Casas, Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera vs. Super Astro, El Hijo del Santo & Kendo (Hamada's UWF 6/4/90) *** ½
  18. Jushin Liger vs. Aoyagi (NJPW 6/12/90) *** ½
  19. Gran Hamada vs. Perro Aguayo (Hamada's UWF 6/1/90) *** ¼
  20. Negro Casas vs Yoshinari Asai (Hamada's UWF 06/07/90) *** ¼
  21. Midnight Express vs. Rock & Roll Express (Clash 6/13/90) ***
  22. Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen (WWA 6/23/90) ***
  23. Perro Aguayo, Ringo Mendoza & Lizmark vs El Satanico, Sangre Chicana & Ken Timbs (EMLL 06/08/90) ***
  24. El Hijo del Santo vs Fuerza Guerrera (Hamada's UWF 06/07/90) ***
  25. Jumbo Tsuruta vs Terry Gordy (AJPW 06/05/90) ***
  26. Owen Hart vs Keiji Muto (NJPW 06/30/90) ***
  27. Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto (AJW Grand Prix 6/17/90) ** ¾
  28. Barry Windham & Arn Anderson vs. Road Warriors (WCWSN 6/2/90) ** ¾
  29. Kerry Von Erich vs. Matt Borne (Cage Match) (USWA TX 6/1/90) ** ¾
  30. Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (USWA TX 6/1/90) ** ¾
  31. Ric Flair vs. Junkyard Dog ** ½
  32. Steve Austin vs. Chris Adams (USWA TX 6/8/90) ** ½

 

Match of the Month: Riki Choshu, Kantaro Hoshino, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka vs Animal Hamaguchi, Super Strong Machine, Tarzan Goto & Hiro Saitu & Masanobu Kurisu (NJPW 06/26/90) **** ½ : I’ll talk about Dandy/Azteca in a bit, but that may have probably been a better match, but I found this to be possibly the most entertaining match on the yearbook so far. They cut an incredible pace, Saito was amazing with his bumps, Kurisu was awesome, actually everyone was awesome. Massive heat from the crowd as well. There was so much going on here, it was fun but also had a serious side as well. Really made me want to watch the highly pimped 80s 10 mans now as well. I just thoroughly enjoyed watching it, and so gave it MOTM.

 

Promo of the month: ANYTHING with Percy Pringle. He’s easily been the best promo man, so entertaining yet so easily loathable. His comment about putting another Von Erich in the ground was incredibly harsh, but in nearly every promo he’s been intense and really good at getting the feud over.

 

Angle of the Month: John Tatum’s nervous breakdown: USWA Texas has really been the highlight of the month in terms of angles, and this was definitely the most interesting. Tatum’s unbelievably overacted ‘changed man’ schtick is beautiful to watch, and the whole concept actually seems quite three-dimensional for such a traditional promotion. Him throwing a jobber into the crowd was obviously another brilliant highlight. I really want to see where they go with this.

 

MVP of June: Lots of people put out lots of stellar performances for the month of June. Dandy, Hansen, Toyota, Perro Aguayo and Choshu all had numerous great matches. All the big 3 feuds in Texas gave people lots of chances to shine. I think I’m going to say Stan Hansen – not only did he have 3 entertaining/great matches, he was also the focal point of all 3.

 

Other thoughts: Well, if May was all about the awesome angles and promos, June was certainly about the matches. Almost too many great matches to appreciate them, but I thought I’d talk about a few:

 

I can see why people really, really love Dandy/Azteca, but ultimately, everyone wants something different out of their wrestling. I think for this mat-heavy style I liked it as much as I possibly could – I was very surprised that it kept my attention all the way through and they had some beautiful exchanges, but it lacked certain elements that would keep it off my GOAT list. It was those same elements that made me not a huge fan of Casas/Asai.

 

Man, was the Jumbo/Misawa match disappointing. I first watched it for the first time when I was 12 and thought it was one of my favourite matches ever. Just didn’t have the same emotional appeal, but I think I’ll rewatch it at the end and see what I think.

 

New Japan had a really fun show on 6/12 – all 3 matches shown had serious blood and hatred. Actually, having never really watched much New Japan before the 2000s, I’ve never been a big fan, but they’ve been excellent so far this year, loads of heated exciting matches.

Felt that most of the angles fell off a cliff in June, Lawler/Snowman has settled down and just feels like another Memphis angle so far, and NWA has grown stale. That said, Texas has really grown on me and all their main angles are firing hot and I’ve really enjoyed everything they did in June.

 

Halfway through the year, I’m very surprised/impressed that Flair/Luger is still my MOTY. There have been so many good performances in the last few months I now have no idea who my WOTY is. Maybe still Flair, but Dandy and Satanico are creeping up on him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 53
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

July:

1. Midnight Express vs. Southern Boys (GAB 7/7/90) **** ½

2. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW 7/7/90) ****

3. Manami Toyota vs. Bull Nakano (AJW 7/21/90) *** ¾

4. Mr. Perfect vs. Tito Santana (SNME 7/28/90) *** ¾

5. Steve Austin & Jeannie Clark vs. Chris & Toni Adams (USWA TX 7/20/90) *** ½

6. Ric Flair vs. Sting (GAB 7/7/90) *** ½

7. Doom vs. Rock & Roll Express (GAB 7/7/90) *** ¼

8. Harley Race vs. Tommy Rich (GAB 7/7/90) *** ¼

9. Demolition vs. Rockers (SNME 7/28/90) *** ¼

10. Stan Hansen vs. Tommy Rich (WCWSN 7/14/90) *** ¼

11. Jeff Jarrett & Billy Travis vs. Sweet Daddy Falcone & Chico Torres (USWA TX 7/4/90) *** ¼

12. Rick Rude vs. Ultimate Warrior (SNME 7/28/90) *** ¼

13. Tommy Rogers vs. Jimmy Backlund (IWA 7/28/90) ***

14. Steve Austin & Jeannie Clark vs. Chris & Toni Adams (USWA TX 7/4/90) ***

15. John Tatum vs. Bill Dundee (USWA TX 7/4/90) ***

16. Jeff Jarrett vs. Iceman Parsons (USWA TX 7/13/90) ***

17. Dean Malenko vs. Ricky Rice (IWA 7/28/90) ** ½

18. Zeus vs. Abdullah the Butcher (WWC 7/7/90). Awful...why did they think going this long was a good idea? Great monkey flip though.

 

Match of the Month: Midnight Express vs. Southern Boys (GAB 7/7/90) **** ½ : Even though I love southern tags, not all of the matches so far this year have been sure-fire hits to me. But this felt a lot like the best Mid-South tags, who I felt did the style best. The pace was much different to other tags so far this year, and everything had time to sink in and seem important. If this had a slightly better finishing stretch, this may have pushed it over the edge into one of my favourite matches ever, but as it was, I thought it was really good and maybe my MOTY so far.

 

Promo of the Month: Eddie Gilbert Interview (USWA 7/14/90) I think this is the one I’m thinking of, but really I could’ve chosen any of his promos. He beats up a fan trying to take a picture and demands his money from Dundee and Lawler, ranting and raving and generally being awesome. I’d like to add he’s gotten more heat during only his second promo in 1990 than Lawler had throughout his entire heel run.

 

Angle of the month: Steve Austin & Jeannie Clark vs. Chris & Toni Adams (USWA TX 7/20/90) The feud that just keeps on giving, aside from a great match, they somehow manage to involve characters from some of the other big feuds in Texas into the story of the match. Pringle is great and a really chaotic ending that generally sums up why TX has been so good since May.

 

MVP of July: Eddie Gilbert. Breathed fresh life into Memphis, is entertaining in everything he does, and even the highlights of those matches with Lawler/Dundee have been great. Never seen too much of him before other than his ECW feud with Terry Funk. He was great in that as an obnoxious prick, and he’s just as good here.

 

Other thoughts: This was a short month, I blasted through it pretty quickly. Not too much to say other than most things were good, or at least entertaining.

 

GAB had a few good matches, but not as good as Capital Combat. I love how Texas has gone from being a promotion I really couldn’t care less about at the beginning of the year, and in 3 months has become my favourite wrestling of all.

 

I’m really enjoying the Lawler/Dundee vs. Seemingly the rest of the roster rivalry at the moment in Memphis.

 

The build for Summerslam seems much more interesting the Wrestlemania, and the SNME this month was much better than I expected.

 

With a quiet month in Japan and Mexico (although I liked the AJPW matches), this is probably the first month that US wrestling was definitively better than anywhere else in the world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

August:

 

1. Bull Nakano & Grizzly Iwamoto vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura (AJW 8/19/90) **** ¾

2. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 8/18/90) **** ¾

3. Fit Finlay & Marty Jones vs. Mile Zrno & Franz Schumann (Vienna 8/3/90) ****

4. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 8/31/90) *** ¾

5. Atlantis, Angel Azteca & Javier Cruz vs. El Dandy, Emilio Charles Jr & Satanico (EMLL 8/24/90) *** ¾

6. Jushin Liger vs. Pegasus Kid (NJPW 8/19/90) *** ½

7. Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto (AJW 8/19/90) *** ½

8. Steve Austin vs. Chris Adams (USWA TX 8/3/90) *** ½

9. Hart Foundation vs. Demolition (2/3 Falls) (SSLAM 8/27/90) *** ½

10. Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee vs. Gary Young & John Tatum (USWA TX 8/31/90) *** ¼

11. Larry Zbyszko vs. Harley Race (AWA 8/27/90) *** ¼

12. Vader vs. Riki Choshu (NJPW 8/19/90) *** ¼

13. Jerry Lawler & Jeff Jarrett vs. Sweet Daddy Falcone & Gary Young (USWA TX 8/3/90) *** ¼

14. Bill Dundee & Steven Dane vs. Rock & Roll RPMs (USWA TX 8/31/90) *** ¼

15. Rick Rude vs. Ultimate Warrior (Cage Match) (SSLAM 8/27/90) ***

16. Hulk Hogan vs. Earthquake (SSLAM 8/27/90) ***

17. Owen Hart vs. Dave Finlay (Vienna 8/26/90) ***

18. Steve Austin & Jeannie Clark vs. Chris & Toni Adams (Cage Match) (USWA TX 8/31/90) ***

19. Rockers vs. Power & Glory (SSLAM 8/27/90) ** ¾

20. Midnight Express vs. Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk (WCWSN 8/18/90) ** ¾

21. Atsushi Onita vs. Tarzan Goto (No Rope Barbed Wire Electric Current Explosion Death Match) (FMW 8/4/90) ** ¾

22. Eddie Gilbert vs. Cowabunga (USWA 8/25/90) ** ½

23. Lex Luger vs. Arn Anderson (Main Event 8/19/90) ** ½

24. Steve Austin & Percy Pringle vs. Chris Adams & Chris Von Erich (USWA TX 8/17/90) ** ¼

25. The Pearl vs. Joe Cazana (WCWSN 8/4/90) * ¾

 

Match of the Month: Bull Nakano & Grizzly Iwamoto vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura (AJW 8/19/90) **** ¾ : You know in June when I said about wanting certain things out of certain matches? Well this had everything I could possibly want. Blood, hatred, weapons, an insanely high level of violence, all somehow weaved into a compelling story. The only thing that took this down from being perfect was the last few minutes was a step below and the finish was not great, although I can understand why they did it and I’m fine with that. But seriously, how violent was this match? I’m not sure wrestling will ever be the same again for me. It just so happened that my no.1 and 2 matches so far this year happened a day apart.

Promo of the month: Dusty Rhodes (Summerslam). Dusty is the best poet in wrestling history. A lot of hate for Sapphire on here, but screw it, I really enjoyed them together and was disappointed they were split up. Still, Dusty is so damn great and fiery. Even though I was wearing my Bob Dylan t-shirt at the time, I still missed the reference until Loss brought it up, so I’m an idiot, but Dusty can just manipulate my emotions as a wrestling fan so easily.

Angle of the Month: Chris Adams vs. Ed Robinson (USWA TX 8/25/90): This started off really goofy with Pringle in a dress, but then gets really sinister with him choking Von Erich with a coat hanger and general chaos, locking people in cages etc. Just great stuff.

MVP of August: Going to say Jumbo Tsurta for his two stellar matches this month, and generally being kick-ass in both of them, although Chris Adams has a strong shout for holding his feud together so well.

Other thoughts: Well the 8/18 AJ 6-man was incredible. Whilst they’ve obviously had some great matches so far, this felt to me like the first everything really all clicked together within their respective roles, and told one of the best stories I’ve ever seen. So many side-stories also being told, with Kikuchi vs. Fuchi, Kawada trying to prove himself, Misawa and Taue going at it, and Kikuchi taking a tremendous beating, as well as the Misawa and Jumbo interactions being really intense and awesome. I decided the Joshi tag was my MOTM because it was so unique, but it was by no means an easy choice, and this really is fantastic.

The Austin/Adams feud continues to be a great story, with interesting developments each week. I loved the come as you are match, and the cage match felt like a nice way to end it before it outstays its welcome.

Summerslam was a lot of fun, all the matches had something interesting and enjoyable about them, although perhaps not always being ‘classics’.

Perhaps not the most ‘consistent’ month, as I thought some stuff was just ‘alright’ or good rather than great, but we got a lot of high-end stuff that I loved. 2/3 of the way through the yearbook, I’ve realised the beauty of this concept is how many matches it has exposed me to that I wouldn’t have bothered watching otherwise. I would never have bothered watching any of my top 5 matches for August, usually sticking to what I know I like or the ‘safe’ classics, when really there’s a lot out there to see! Great job guys, thanks a lot!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

This will be my last rankings for a few months due to me returning to university. I’ll try to do more at Christmas, but it probably came at the right time because I’m feeling a little burned out at the moment. All-Japan obviously had a fantastic (no pun intended) month, and I loved all of it. Interestingly, WCW had a bit of a mini-revival with lots of really good matches. I finished watching September about a week ago, and so have sadly forgotten most angles and promos, but Eddie Gilbert running over Lawler may have been my favourite angle so far this year. If you’re wondering, I couldn’t pick between about 5 AJPW guys for MVP, so I went with the other standout performer of the month, Bobby Eaton. I hadn’t seen a great deal of him before the yearbook, but I’m now convinced he’s an all time great.

See you at Christmas! I’ve LOVED watching the yearbook over the summer!

September:

1. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJPW 9/30/90) **** ½

2. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW 9/1/90) **** ½

3. The Fantastics vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (AJPW 9/7/90) ****

4. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (JIP) (AJPW 9/29/90) ****

5. Great Muta vs. Hiroshi Hase (NJPW 9/14/90) ****

6. Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger (Clash 9/5/90) *** ¾

7. Rayo de Jalisco vs. Cien Caras (Mask vs. Mask) (EMLL 9/21/90) *** ¾

8. Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu & Isao Takagi (SWS 9/9/90) *** ¾

9. Fantastics vs. Joe Malenko & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 9/1/90) *** ¾

10. El Hijo del Santo, Eddy Guerrero & Satanico vs. Los Brazos (EMLL 9/14/90) *** ¾

11. Scott Steiner vs. Bobby Eaton (Power Hour 9/21/90) *** ¾

12. Bobby Eaton vs. Ricky Morton (WCWSN 9/29/90) *** ½

13. Bobby Eaton vs. Tracy Smothers (Power Hour 9/28/90) *** ½

14. Rip Rogers vs. Big Stephen Pettipas (Maritimes 9/22/90) *** ¼

15. Arn Anderson vs. Scott Steiner (Main Event 9/23/90) *** ¼

16. Vader vs. Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW 9/14/90) *** ¼

17. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs. Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk (Pro 9/22/90) *** ¼

18. El Hijo del Santo, Ringo Mendoza & Lizmark vs. Konnan, Perro Aguayo & Ken Timbs (EMLL 9/21/90) *** ¼

19. Aja Kong vs. Bull Nakano (Cage Match) (AJW 9/1/90) *** ¼

20. Ric Flair vs. Scott Steiner ***

21. Perro Aguayo, Cien Caras & Mascara Ano 2000 vs. Konnan, Ringo Mendoza & Rayo de Jalisco (EMLL 9/14/90) ** ½

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Breezed through October during some short stays at home. Thought it was one of the most consistent months for wrestling action with an array of great, or at least fun, matches, but lacked in the angles department (aside from Jarrett/Gilbert and the SNME with Dustin Rhodes). That AJPW MAY have been better than the August one, but I’d need to watch both again to compare. Wasn’t huge on the USWA title tournament, but loved all of Halloween Havoc. I haven’t taken to Shoot-style very well, but I enjoyed the two matches in October more than the others this year. Was very disappointed with the Dandy/Satanico match, but it may be my 4 months away from Lucha, just another one for the rewatch pile I guess.

October:

  1. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 10/19/90) **** ½
  2. Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn (No DQ) (PWA 10/90) **** ¼
  3. Rick & Scott Steiner vs. Nasty Boys (Havoc 10/27/90) **** ¼
  4. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Nobuhiko Takada (UWF 10/25/90) ****
  5. Akira Maeda vs. Masakatsu Funaki (UWF 10/25/90) ****
  6. Genichiro Tenryu vs. George Takano (SWS 10/11/90) ****
  7. Midnight Express vs. Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich (Havoc 10/27/90) *** ¾
  8. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs. Doom (Havoc 10/27/90) *** ¾
  9. Rick & Scott Steiner vs. Midnight Express (WCWSN 10/13/90) *** ¾
  10. El Dandy vs. El Satanico (EMLL 10/26/90) *** ½
  11. The Rockers vs. Hart Foundation (Ft. Wayne 10/30/90) *** ¼
  12. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (JIP) (AJPW 10/7/90) *** ¼
  13. Jeff Jarrett & Bob Orton vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Kabuki (SWS 10/10/90) ***
  14. Terry Funk vs. Jerry Lawler (USWA Title Tournament 10/8/90) ***
  15. Legion of Doom & Ultimate Warrior vs. Demolition & Crush (SNME 10/13/90) ** ¾
  16. Jeff Jarrett vs. Eddie Gilbert (USWA Title Tournament 10/8/90) ** ¾
  17. Terry Funk vs. Brickhouse Brown (USWA Title Tournament 10/8/90) ** ½

P.S: clearly my old lists have been ruined, but realistically, they weren't that great anyway!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

November:

  1. Pirata Morgan vs. El Faraon (EMLL 11/16/90) **** ½
  2. Aja Kong vs. Bull Nakano (Cage Match) (AJW 11/14/90) **** ½
  3. Lightning Kid vs. Wellington Wilkins Jr. (PWA 11/90) **** ½
  4. Aja Kong, Bison Kimura, Madusa Miceli, Tarantula & Xochilt Hamada vs. Manami Toyota, Mariko Yoshida, Kaoru Maeda, Mika Takahashi & Esther Moreno (Hamada's UWF 11/17/90) **** ¼
  5. Keiji Muto & Masa Chono vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW 11/1/90) **** ¼
  6. Jerry Lawler vs. Eddie Gilbert (WWA 11/9/90) *** ¾
  7. Jushin Liger vs. Pegasus Kid (NJPW 11/1/90) *** ¾
  8. Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs. Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue (2/3 Falls) (AJW 11/14/90) *** ¾
  9. Los Brazos vs. Gran Hamada, Yoshinari Asai & Kendo (Hamada's UWF 11/12/90) *** ½
  10. Riki Choshu vs. Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW 11/1/90) *** ½
  11. El Dandy, Ringo Mendoza & Sangre Chicana vs. El Satanico, MS-1 & Ken Timb (EMLL 11/16/90) *** ½
  12. Ultimate Warrior vs. Ted DiBiase (The Main Event 11/23/90) *** ¼
  13. Arn Anderson vs. Terry Taylor (Pro 11/10/90) *** ¼
  14. Brian Pillman vs. Rip Rogers (WCWSN 11/10/90) ***
  15. Terry Taylor vs. Rip Rogers (WCWSN 11/24/90) ***
  16. Undertaker, Ted DiBiase, Honky Tonk Man & Greg Valentine vs. Hart Foundation, Dusty Rhodes & Koko B. Ware (Series 11/22/90) ***
  17. Ric Flair vs. Buddy Landell (Power Hour 11/23/90) ***
  18. Atsushi Onita vs. Mr. Pogo (FMW 11/5/90) ***
  19. Arn Anderson vs. Terry Taylor (Pro 11/24/90) ** ¾
  20. Arn Anderson vs. Terry Taylor (Pro 11/17/90) ** ¾
  21. Sting vs. Bobby Eaton (WCWSN 11/10/90) ** ¾

November was absolutely LOADED with great matches. Not so much in the way of great angles or interviews, but the quality of wrestling worldwide more than made up for it. I really loved the Pirata Morgan/El Faroan match, it struck a chord where a lot of lucha has not this year. Where the Joshi cage match maybe lacked in some areas, it was shockingly brutal and I could not tear my eyes away from it, which for a person with such a short attention span is a big achievement. Lightening/Wilkins is definitely the most unique match I’ve seen this year, and my personal favourite of Waltman’s. Most months have been lucky to get one serious MOTYC, this had 3, plus a slew of other top level matches. These improvements seem to have lit up crowds, and is much appreciated from my perspective!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

December:

  1. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJPW 12/7/90)
    **** ¼
  2. Barry Windham & Arn Anderson vs. Doom (Street Fight) (Starrcade 12/16/90) ****
  3. El Dandy vs. El Satanico (Hair vs. Hair) (EMLL 12/14/90) ****
  4. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami (AJW 12/9/90) *** ¾
  5. Luger vs. Stan Hansen (Bullrope Match) (Starrcade 12/16/90) *** ½
  6. Jushin Liger vs. Negro Casas (NJPW 12/26/90) *** ½
  7. Arn Anderson vs. Tom Zenk (WCWSN 12/29/90) *** ¼
  8. Roddy Piper vs. Mr. Perfect (MSG 12/28/90) *** ¼
  9. Rip Rogers vs. Brian Pillman (WCWSN 12/8/90) *** ¼
  10. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Masa Saito (NJPW 12/26/90) *** ¼
  11. Hansen & Dan Spivey vs. Steve Williams & Terry Gordy (AJPW 12/7/90) *** ¼
  12. Terry Taylor vs. Rip Rogers (Pro 12/22/90) ***

Thought December was a pretty flat month, but had its highlights, and was pretty short and easy to breeze through. Sadly I’m back at Uni now, but would’ve liked to rewatch some stuff and make a top matches list. Looking forward to moving on to 1991 or 1992 in the Summer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you divide quality of posts by volume of posts you're definitely the best guy here Vinnie B!

 

You can click on the edit option (next to multiquote) to restore your previous lists easily enough. It would be cool to see a top matches list for the whole year. I always like to see how much people agree or disagree with match rankings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks! I'd love to post more about various topics on here but I feel I watch so little wrestling these days that I can't really put forward an argument that would be worthy! To that extent, I watch so little that I often feel rewatching stuff isn't as good as taking in stuff new to me, so I would've liked to re-view a few matches but would probably rather move on to 1991. Looking back, I'd say the yearbook has taught me that my mood is a serious variant in how much I enjoy watching wrestling matches, a great match just isn't 'great' unless I'm in a mood to watch it properly. Which probably isn't a great means of rating favourite matches of the year.

 

Overall, I'd say it reinforced my enjoyment of stuff I already enjoyed such as All Japan and Joshi, thoroughly improved my view of New Japan, was sort of hit and miss for a lot of the rest. Lucha was really hit and miss for me (I just didn't dig the El Dandy. I liked El Satanico more, but mainly the trios matches were my favourites). WCW was certainly a mixed bag but I enjoyed a lot. WWF struggled to hit the heights but had its points. I liked Memphis at points but I started to grate after awhile. Texas really surprised me, I went from not caring to loving it. That's not to say I'm ambivalent about the set, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it, but its nice to make the distinctions between good and really outstanding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

Through January:

 

WWF: Garvin/Valentine (Royal Rumble 1/21)- Two all-time greats given one last chance to have an old-school classic, and boy, do they deliver. This is my overall number one. Rockers/Powers of Pain from the Garden 1/15 is second. Piper/Savage for Coliseum Video from Miami 1/22 is a distant third

 

NWA: Flair/Eaton (Main Event 1/7): Very seldom do you see a World title match this great on TV. Arn's TV title win over Muta and defense against Buzz Sawyer run a close second and third.

 

Best of the rest: Liger/Sano (New Japan 1/31)- Anyone who says Japanese wrestling is staid needs to watch this on a continuous loop for about three days. They'll need that long to believe what they're seeing. Jarrett/Travis Guitar on a Pole from the USWA is a surprising second, with the Joshi tag third.

 

Overall: 1. Garvin/Valentine

2. Liger/Sano

3. Jarrett/Travis- An absolutely incredible brawl that almost singlehandedly redeems the Dallas version of Jerry Lawler in my eyes. Not that Jeff and Billy Joe weren't good here, but The King was the star, as he has been in both halves of the promotion all month long (with the exception of his horrible performance against JYD).

 

 

 

Just for something different, I'm going to make my "ballot" cumulative, although I'll be sure to highlight the best match each month even it it doesn't crack my overall top three. Back with February soon!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Top three NWA matches through February:

 

1. Flair/Luger (WrestleWar): A true big-match atmosphere and a memorable, if cheap, ending. This match is a shining example of making booking salad out of booking disaster.

 

2. Midnight Express/Rock 'n' Roll Express (WrestleWar): These teams had faced each other thousands of times, but you'd never know it from the match. Tag match of the set so far.

 

3. Flair/Eaton (down from #1 in January)

 

Top three Japanese matches:

 

1. Hansen/Vader (2/10): Leon almost loses an eye, but doesn't take a backward step. Could have been even better without the eye incident, and that's saying something.

 

2. Liger/Sano (1/31)

 

3. Saito/Zbyszko (2/10): The title change alone makes this memorable, as the Japanese crowd gets to salute one of their own. Larry Z brings his A game, which didn't happen too often in the States.

 

Overall top three through February:

 

1. Flair/Luger

2. Hansen/Vader

3. Garvin/Valentine (barely hanging on over MX/Rock 'n' Roll)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Nothing changed in March except for Flair/Morton from 3/24 taking over the third spot in WCW. Now, here are the rankings through April:

 

WWF:

 

1. Hogan/Hansen 4/13 Tokyo Dome (not as well known as the Mania VI main event, but a much better worked match in front of just as hot a crowd)

 

2. Hogan/Warrior Mania VI (Warrior's best match ever and the promotion's second most famous to that time, so it deserves a spot).

 

3. Garvin/Valentine

 

NWA:

 

1. Flair/Luger WrestleWar

2. MX/Rock 'n' Roll WrestleWar

3. Flair/Morton (the best TV match from Flair in a sea of superb ones so far this year)

 

Japan:

 

1. Liger/Sano

2. Hogan/Hansen

3. Vader/Hansen

 

Overall:

 

1. Flair/Luger

2. Liger/Sano

3. Hogan/Hansen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll probably just stick to this "top 10" format and then post my top 100 once it's finished.

 

Top 10 for January

 

  1. Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (NJPW, 1/31/90) ****3/4
  2. The Rockers vs. Powers of Pain (WWF MSG, 1/15/90) ****1/4
  3. Ron Garvin vs. Greg Valentine (WWF Royal Rumble, 1/21/90) ****
  4. Ric Flair vs. Bobby Eaton (NWA Main Event, 1/7/90) ****
  5. Akira Hokuto & Yumiko Hotta vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita (AJW, 1/4/90) ****
  6. El Hijo del Santo, Yoshinari Asai & Gran Hamada vs Negro Casas, Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera (WWA, 1990) ***3/4
  7. Kazuo Yamawaki vs. Yoji Anjoh (UWF, 1/16/90) ***3/4
  8. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Sting vs Buzz Sawyer, Dragon Master & Great Muta (NWA Power Hour, 1/26/90) ***1/2
  9. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Isao Takagi (AJPW, 1/20/90) ***1/2
  10. Billy Joe Travis vs. Jeff Jarrett (USWA TX, 1/26/90) ***1/2

 

Liger/Sano was excellent, the previous matches between the two help build a great story and this just feels like a war from the get go, the beating Liger takes gives it that real brutal edge also. If they had cut the beating by a couple of minutes I'd be tempted to give it 5 snowflakes. The Tag match at MSG was pretty unexpected, I didn't read any of the comments on it beforehand and I'd yet to see it. It's just executed so well, a blueprint for little vs large tag matches.

 

WCW has been the standout so far, still early so I hadn't really got a grasp of the context of some things yet but the WCW segments were the most interesting for me.

 

I generally enjoy shoot style for the most part, all of the UWF matches were good, nothing great yet but I'm sure that will change. Lucha is the style I'm most unfamiliar with but it's something that is becoming more engaging as the year goes on.

 

Must say I'm really enjoying going through this, just the sheer variety is superb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

February

 

  1. Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger (NWA Wrestle War, 2/25/90) ****1/2
  2. Midnight Express vs. Rock & Roll Express (NWA Wrestle War, 2/25/90) ****1/2
  3. Genichiro Tenryu & Tiger Mask vs. Riki Choshu & George Takano (AJPW/NJPW, 2/10/90) ****
  4. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF, 2/27/90) ****
  5. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Kengo Kimura & Osamu Kido (AJPW/NJPW, 2/10/90) ***3/4
  6. Larry Zbyszko vs. Masa Saito (AJPW/NJPW, 2/10/90) ***3/4
  7. Ric Flair vs. Brian Pillman (NWA World Championship Wrestling, 2/17/90) ***3/4
  8. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs. Rock & Roll Express (NWA Main Event, 2/18/90) ***1/2
  9. Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF, 2/9/90) ***1/2
  10. Midnight Express vs, Rock & Roll Express (NWA Worldwide, 2/10/90) ***1/2

 

WCW, the AJ/NJ card and UWF take up the top 10 for February. Good month all in all, some MOTYCs with USWA and WCW bringing the goods angle wise. Can't complain.

 

Flair just continues to deliver, on the mic, in the ring, flirting with Woman. It's all great. WCW for that matter has been the best promotion by some distance through the first couple of months as others have mentioned here.

 

The AJ/NJ card was awesome, crowd was nuts the whole way through. Really helped matches that could have been pretty average on paper (the Jumbo tag for one) seem like a massive deal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

March

 

  1. Jerry Estrada vs. El Satanico (EMLL, 3/23/90) ****
  2. Ric Flair vs. Ricky Morton (NWA World Wide Wrestling, 3/24/90) ****
  3. Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk vs. Midnight Express (NWA World Championship Wrestling, 3/10/90) ***1/2
  4. El Dandy vs. Angel Azteca (EMLL, 3/23/90) ***1/2
  5. Eddie Gilbert vs. Cactus Jack (NWA Power Hour, 3/23/90) ***1/4
  6. Jeff Jarrett & Bill Dundee vs. Robert Fuller & Brian Lee (USWA TX, 3/30/90) ***1/4
  7. Tiger Mask vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 3/6/90) ***
  8. Atlantis, Villano III & El Satanico vs. Pirata Morgan, Jerry Estrada & Emilio Charles Jr. (EMLL, 3/16/90) ***
  9. Bret Hart vs. Rick Martel (WWF MSG, 3/19/90) **3/4
  10. Perro Aguayo vs. Gran Hamada (H-UWF, 3/2/90) **3/4

The top two stood out in what will probably be the worst month of the year for match quality. I really enjoyed Flair/Morton but had to give the Estrada/Satanico the edge due to its big fight feel and emotion. It's clear from watching the Dandy/Azteca match that they're capable of great things in the ring together so I'm looking forward to see them clash again in June. One massive positive of making it through this month is no more Hogan/Warrior build. Win.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

April

 

  1. Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto vs. Masa Kurisu & Dragon Master (FMW, 4/1/90) ****1/4
  2. Hulk Hogan vs. Stan Hansen (WWF/AJPW, 4/13/90) ****
  3. Kazuo Yamawaki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF, 4/15/90) ****
  4. Randy Savage vs. Genichiro Tenryu (WWF/AJPW) ***3/4
  5. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoji Anjo (UWF, 4/15/90) ***3/4
  6. Ryuma Go vs. Masaji Aoyagi (Pioneer, 4/5/90) ***1/2
  7. Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior (WWF WresteMania VI, 4/1/90) ***1/2
  8. Midnight Express vs. Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk (NWA Power Hour, 4/23/90) ***1/2
  9. Midnight Express vs. Rock & Roll Express (NWA Main Event, 4/22/90) ***1/2
  10. Akira Maeda vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWF, 4/15/90) ***1/2

 

The wild brawl from FMW takes the #1 spot for April. Brilliant match.

 

I found the Pioneer match hard to grade as I'm struggling to think of anything I've seen like it. There were great things about it but it also annoyed me at times too. ***1/2 felt like the right choice. I've probably overrated Hogan/Warrior somewhat but it was a nice surprise and well put together.

 

Nothing absolutely blew me away here but there's a number of gems that made this month very enjoyable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

May

 

  1. Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Kabuki & Masa Fuchi (AJPW, 5/26/90) ****1/2
  2. El Dandy, El Satanico & Emilio Charles Jr. vs Atlantis, Javier Cruz & Angel Azteca (EMLL, 5/11/90) ****
  3. Riki Choshu vs. Keiji Muto (NJPW, 5/24/90) ***3/4
  4. Midnight Express vs Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk (WCW Capital Combat, 5/19/90) ***3/4
  5. Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs Yumiko Hotta & Mitsuko Nishiwaki (AJW, 5/13/90) ***3/4
  6. Ric Flair vs Lex Luger (WCW Capital Combat, 5/19/90) ***1/2
  7. MS-1, Emilio Charles Jr. & Ulises vs Atlantis, El Dandy & El Satanico (EMLL 5/4/90) ***1/2
  8. Riki Choshu vs Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW, 5/28/90) ***1/2
  9. Kerry Von Erich vs Matt Borne (USWA TX, 05/11/90) ***1/2
  10. Rick & Scott Steiner vs Doom (WCW Capital Combat 05/19/90) ***1/4

AJ 6 man! Going into the year I half expected to have them at #1, #2 and #3 for the year. Heh. While that's not quite the case I'd be surprised if they didn't all rank very high in my top 100. 5/11 is my #1 lucha match on the set so far. Some impressive sequences there. The contrast between the athletic feats of Atlantis & Dandy one minute then switching to Cruz & Satanico squaring up gave it that real nice variety too.

 

This was the easiest month to plow through, USWA angles have picked up and I'm generally enjoying what everyone was putting out in May. Except RoboCop, that shit was bad.

 

 

Enjoying the monthly summaries you are providing Nathers.

 

Thanks soup :)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

June

 

  1. El Dandy vs. Angel Azteca (EMLL, 6/1/90) ****3/4
  2. Riki Choshu, Kantaro Hoshino, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Animal Hamaguchi, Super Strong Machine, Tatsutoshi Goto, Hiro Saito & Masonobu Kurisu (NJPW, 6/26/90) ****1/2
  3. Akira Maeda vs. Nobuhiko Takada (UWF, 6/21/90) ****1/4
  4. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 6/8/90) ****1/4
  5. Aja Kong, Grizzly Iwamoto & Bison Kimura vs. Manami Toyota & Honey Wings (H-UWF, 6/4/90) ****
  6. El Dandy & El Satanico vs. Atlantis & Angel Azteca (EMLL, 6/15/90) ***3/4
  7. Negro Casas vs. Yoshinari Asai (H-UWF, 6/7/90) ***3/4
  8. Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta (AJW, 6/17/90) ***3/4
  9. Stan Hansen vs. Steve Williams (AJPW, 6/5/90) ***3/4
  10. Riki Choshu vs. Animal Hamaguchi (NJPW, 6/12/90) ***1/2

 

What a great month, every promotion outside the US brought something to the table.

 

Dandy/Azteca was a match I was expecting to be down on, I'm not a fan of extensive matwork but you can't help but be impressed at how simple and slick everything was, Dandy gives an exceptional performance and they found a way to engage me throughout the 30+ minutes. If the 80s NJ 10 man tags are better than the one this month then clearly I've been missing out, this one should make my top 10 for the year. Maeda/Takada takes the #1 spot for shoot style. Jumbo/Misawa didn't hit classic status but the heat, story and finish is enough for me to rate it among the upper echelon.

 

Yearbook has picked up in a big way. Roll on July.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

July

 

  1. Midnight Express vs. Southern Boys (NWA Great American Bash, 7/7/90) ****1/4

  2. Masa Fuchi vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW, 7/12/90) ****
  3. Mr. Perfect vs. Tito Santana (WWF SNME, 7/28/90) ***3/4

  4. Manami Toyota vs. Bull Nakano (AJW, 7/21/90) ***1/2

  5. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW, 7/7/90) ***1/2

  6. Steve Austin & Jeannie Clark vs. Chris & Toni Adams (USWA TX, 7/20/90) ***1/2

  7. Doom vs. Rock & Roll Express (NWA Great American Bash, 7/7/90) ***1/4

  8. Jeff Jarrett & Billy Joe Travis vs. Sweet Daddy Falcone & Chico Torres (USWA TX, 7/4/90) ***1/4

  9. Ric Flair vs. Sting (NWA Great American Bash, 7/7/90) ***

  10. Harley Race vs. Tommy Rich (NWA Great American Bash, 7/7/90) ***

 

Pretty short month, got through it quickly.

 

WCW had some solid matches at the Bash even if it's clear the quality has dropped since the start of the year. The Midnight Express have been outstanding on the yearbook and they pull another gem out of the bag this month. I didn't like it quite as much as the match at Wrestle War but still quality stuff.

 

Perfect-Santana slots in at #3 for WWF. WWF was actually very good this month. Nice build they had going for SummerSlam.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

August

 

  1. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Bull Nakano & Grizzly Iwamoto (AJW, 8/19/90) ****1/2
  2. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW, 8/18/90) ****1/4
  3. Vader vs. Riki Choshu (NJPW, 8/19/90) ****
  4. Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto (AJW, 8/19/90) ***3/4
  5. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 8/31/90) ***3/4
  6. Jushin Liger vs. Pegasus Kid (NJPW, 8/19/90) ***3/4
  7. Atlantis, Angel Azteca & Javier Cruz vs. El Dandy, El Satanico & Emilio Charles Jr (EMLL, 8/24/90) ***1/2
  8. Fit Finlay & Marty Jones vs. Mile Zrno & Franz Schumann (CWA Vienna, 8/3/90) ***1/2
  9. Steve Austin vs. Chris Adams (USWA TX, 8/3/90) ***1/2
  10. Hulk Hogan vs. Earthquake (WWF SummerSlam, 8/27/90) ***

 

Really liked both AJW efforts this month. Toyota/Hokuto certainly had its flaws but it was a very good match with a lot of desperation to it. The tag was my MOTY until the final few minutes when things became disjointed, still awesome though.

 

The 8/18 6 man didn't feel as big as 5/26, they still delivered a great match as you would expect but it felt much more like a build up. I couldn't quite get into the Vader/Hansen matches but Vader/Choshu was great, the control segment was well done leading into a Choshu comeback with a ton of heat and an excellent finish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

September

 

  1. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 9/30/90) ****3/4
  2. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 9/1/90) ****1/2
  3. Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs. Cien Caras (EMLL, 9/21/90) ****1/4
  4. Great Muta vs. Hiroshi Hase (NJPW, 9/14/90) ****
  5. Fantastics vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (AJPW, 9/7/90) ***3/4
  6. El Satanico, El Hijo Del Santo & Eddy Guerrero vs. Los Brazos (EMLL, 9/15/90) ***3/4
  7. Fantastics vs. Joe Malenko & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW, 9/1/90) ***3/4
  8. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 9/29/90) ***1/2
  9. Ricky Morton vs. Bobby Eaton (NWA World Championship Wrestling, 9/29/90) ***1/4
  10. Vader vs. Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW, 9/14/90) ***1/4

 

All Japan is really hitting a groove now. The 45 minute draw was pretty incredible and seemed to fly through while watching. Jumbo/Misawa II improved on the June encounter though in a way I was slightly let down by it. Weird because it's still an excellent match and I did like it a lot, it just wasn't the MOTY that I thought it would be.

 

Lucha main event was great and I loved Cien Caras heeling it up the way he did. It just added this element that made the match so enjoyable.

 

The Black Scorpion stuff deserves a mention here too. It's right there on the upper echelon of WrestleCrap. The promos do make me chuckle though because it couldn't be anymore obvious that it's Ole delivering them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

October

 

  1. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW, 10/19/90) ****1/2
  2. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF, 10/25/90) ****1/2
  3. Akira Maeda vs. Masakatsu Funaki (UWF, 10/25/90) ****1/4
  4. Genichiro Tenryu vs. George Takano (SWS, 10/11/90) ****
  5. Rick & Scott Steiner vs. Nasty Boys (Halloween Havoc, 10/27/90) ****
  6. El Dandy vs. El Satanico (EMLL, 10/26/90) ****
  7. Midnight Express vs. Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich (Halloween Havoc, 10/27/90) ***1/2
  8. Midnight Express vs. Rick & Scott Steiner (NWA World Championship Wrestling, 10/13/90) ***1/2
  9. Doom vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson (Halloween Havoc, 10/27/90) ***1/2
  10. Hart Foundation vs. Rockers (WWF Fort Wayne, 10/30/90) ***1/4

 

The best six man of the year jumps into my top 10, great great match. UWF has been an enjoyable promotion to watch on the yearbook and this was their best 1-2 punch. Takada/Fujiwara had more going on but Funaki/Maeda was quality too. Tenryu/Takano was a blast, short but very engaging.

 

A number of good to great tags in the US highlighted by the Nasty Boys/Steiners.

 

Even without Kid/Lynn (a '91 match so I skipped it for now) this is still one of the best in ring months of the year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I better get a few of these down while I'm thinking of it. Sorry I've been so lax. Rankings are through August, as I'm about halfway through September:

 

WCW:

 

1. Flair/Luger (WrestleWar)

2. Midnight Express/Southern Boys (GAB)

3. Rock 'n' Roll/MX (WrestleWar)

 

USWA Texas:

 

1. Adams/Austin (Barbed Wire, 5-11)

2. Kerry/Borne (5/11)

3. Jarrett/Travis (January, Guitar on a Pole)

 

Japan:

 

1. Doc/Hansen

2. Liger/Sano

3. Misawa/Jumbo (6/8)

 

Overall:

 

1. Flair/Luger (WrestleWar)

2. Liger/Sano

3. Misawa/Jumbo (6/8)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

I'm gonna drop my rankings for the month's matches here with some reasoning for each match. Its pretty scatterbrained. More of a journal than a scientific response to why I like each match.
1. Jushin LIger vs Naoki Sano - This was clearly the match of the month to me. Really the only match that pulled me out of my seat. It was as if I could feel the energy from the audience inside me. Kind of hoping it doesn't serve as my match of the year though, as the finish didn't quite leave me as stimulated as the hope spots did. I understand the big shooting star at the end, but could have hoped for more.
2. Rockers vs Powers of Pain - I'm hoping I'm not just an old school WWF mark as I do these. A hope of mine is that I gain a larger understanding of other styles as I watch these yearbooks. But, in what was a very modest month in wrestling I find this as my second favorite match. I thought that the Jannety selling was crazy and the Powers of Pain looked like as legitimate of a tag team as they ever will.
3. Fantastics vs Kawada and Fuyuki - I'm shocked to see this match not coming in higher from other people. I thought it was a damn good wrestling match. I'd only seen Fantastics stuff from the south and wasn't quite aware that they were going to go in and have any style of match outside of the traditional southern match or a little brawl. This delivered far past that. I thought that the offense from the fantastics was fantastic. Just watching them stand in and duel with Kawada and Fuyuki popped me enough to love this match.

4. Flair vs Eaton - I didn't really like this match all that much. But it was still better than everything below it. One thing that has me ranking this match so high was that even though I knew Flair was going to end, I still got caught with a false finish and was left believing that the heels would be able to give enough interference to maybe pull out the win. One thing going against the match for that hurts to admit is that I didn't like the commentary. I normally love Lance Russell, but something was just off in this match.

5. El Hijo Del Santo, Yoshinari Asai, & Gran Hamada vs Negro Casas, Blue Panther, & Fuerza Guerrero - Gonna fully admit this is my first time seeing all of these guys except Santo and Asai wrestle. A big part of why I'm purchasing this set is because it allows me to catch some lucha highlights without diving in to just watching lucha. I half heartedly follow modern lucha and have seen stuff here and there from the past, but this is where I will be building a lot of my base for lucha knowledge from. And this match was pretty fun to watch. It didn't blow me away and seemed like a pretty standard bout. But, I didn't like a lot of matches from this set, so its sitting in my top five.

6. Hulk Hogan & Ultimate Warrior vs Mr Perfect & The Genius - Feeling like a homer for putting this so high, but I've always enjoyed this match. Its really one of the matches that shows Perfect's worth as a performer as he is in there doing everything he can to make this match enjoyable. Also, we get what is basically peak Genius and an enjoyable Warrior bout.

7. Jushin Liger vs Owen Hart - I'm feeling like this match is getting pushed down rankings because it was overbuilt. Sure, its clunky and not one of Liger's finest works, but its still a good wrestling match. I heard about this match growing up and it didn't quite deliver.

8. Akira Hokuto & Yomika Hotta vs Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita - This is my actual joshi debut. I've seen a few matches that happen in the US and the World War III match probably 30 times due to owning the VHS as a child, but I'd never seen anything from Japan. I'm not sure if I can elaborate to much on this as it really just seemed like a basic match. But that's where I'm at in the rankings. Throwing out matches I generally enjoyed rather than because I received a huge emotional reaction from watching it.

9. Ron Garvin vs Greg Valentine - I like a lot of Ron Garvin, but WWF Ron Garvin just doesn't do it for me. He always seemed awkward and extremely out of place. This is probably his best match, but even it feels awkward and out of place. I remember watching it as a child and rolling my eyes at the theatrics of Garvin as he waved the shinguard around. I'm still stuck with that view of this match. This match is good though. Just that it bugs me to watch it.

10. Arn Anderson vs The Great Muta - This was a disappointment. I sat up in my seat when I realized this match was starting and was underwhelmed until it ended. However, it was decent. I'm not sure what was off in this match, but it just didn't quite work for me.

11. Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask vs Genichiro Tenyru & Ricky Fuyuki - I know this is going to sound absurd to a lot of people on this board, but Tenyru is the first great "find" for me as I watch these. I'd really only seen his WWF stuff and old man Tenyru at this point and with nothing to base old man Tenyru off of he always seemed really absurd to me. Now I get it. He's a badass who beats the shit out of people. He's like the actual version of what people act like Haku is. Also, this set is cementing my idea of what I figured Jumbo to be. I'd seen young Jumbo on Youtube because I went on a 70s AJPW run for whatever reason and I'd seen grumpy Jumbo and I have to say that I'm in love with grumpy Jumbo. I could watch these two fight forever. Like I'd like to see them show up at like a pizza ranch or something and just destroy the place. This is just so much fun to watch. However, I didn't rank it higher, because the match itself wasn't to fantastic.

12. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, & Sting vs Buzz Sawyer, Dragon Master, & Muta - Boy, was Sting over in front of this crowd. This match never really got moving though. I'm not much of a Buzz Sawyer fan, but I enjoyed him in this match. The rest of the heel team seemed a little unsure against these guys.

13. Genichiro Tenyru & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Isao Takagi - Imagine seeing you had to work with Tenyru during this run. Dude is just nasty. Not really much of a match, but its worlds of fun watching Tenyru and Jumbo do their things.

14. Arn anderson vs Buzz Sawyer - This match was kind of a letdown. We got a good spinebuster out of it. It seems like Buzz is in Abby mode where he is more determined to get his character over than to have a good match. But he's not Abdullah so its way less understandable.

15. Roddy Piper vs Randy Savage - Another letdown. The Macho King wasn't quite Macho's best run. This match felt uninspired.

16. Jeff Jarrett vs Billy Jo Travis - I saw somebody else in this thread championing this match, but I'm not going in with them. I felt it was too plodding. It seems like Jarrett just isn't quite there yet as a babyface and Travis just isn't anything beyond average as a heel. I didn't find this match enjoyable.

17. Bill Dundee, Chris Adams, & Eric Embry vs Billy Travis, Gary Young, & Skandor Akbar - I don't want to look like I'm underrating Memphis, as I really do appreciate the style. I'm just going to consider this a down time for the promotion in ring wise and move on. I'm currently wading through old Memphis stuff on Youtube and loving it. I'm probably just gonna have to wait for some of the hotter angles to really get invested in the matches.

18. Rock & Roll Express & Dynamic Dudes vs Midnight Express & Fabulous Freebirds - I don't think I've seen a Freebirds match post 85 that I've liked. Just not my guys. This match never got off the ground for me. Was very disappointed.

19. Akira Maeda vs Nobuhiko Takada - I'm becoming worried that I may not get into shoot style. I'm hoping to write off these two matches as just not a good example of the style.

20. El Hijo Del Santo & Blue Demon Jr vs Eddie & Mondo Guererro - Not really much to say about this beyond that it wasn't the best wrestling match.

21. Cactus Jack vs Lee Scott - I only ranked this to accentuate the line between the Guererro match and the next two.

22. Jerry Lawler vs JYD - this match was just bad. Lawler tried, but he was in with the aging dog and there wasn't a ton for him to do. He went with the chain gimmick and it all just seemed so lame.

23. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Yoji Anjoh - I didn't find anything to enjoy in this match. The Lawler match at least had beloved announcers. This match put me to sleep once and I didn't like it more the second time. Thumbs down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...