Favorite DVDVR 1980s set

[goodhelmet]

If you didn't buy any or take part in the project so far, not really interested in your thoughts. If you picked up some sets post-voting I would still entertain your opinions. If you chose to participate in some, not others I would love to get your opinion and why you exempted yourself from some of the promotions. I am excluding the 1st WWF set from discussion because the current project is fundamentally different from the initial project. These are the sets that have been released so far.

Other JapanMid SouthMemphis New JapanTexasAll JapanAWA

[Tim Evans]

I participated in the Mid South, Memphis, Texas and New japan sets. My favorite was Memphis by far. So much great extras on that set. New Japan kind wore me out so I didn't participate in All Japan. So many shitty Koshinaka matches on that New Japan set.

[EricR]

Memphis for me as well. I have taken part in every one of the sets so far (currently 40+ matches into AWA). I just loved the vibe of Memphis and got into all the angles. All the extras really made me feel like I was a part of this weird, cool little community (also got that vibe during the Texas set, but preferred the wrestling on the Memphis set).

[KrisZ]

All of them were great to be a part of although I wasn't part of New Japan in the decision process but I'll go with Mid-South mainly because we had so much good footage from OKC & Tulsa that had never really been seen before plus 1986 UWF is one of my favorite years of any promotion ever.

[shoe]

I'm going to go with Mid-South as well. I just thought Mid-South just had more versatility when it came to the wrestlers . As in you got to sample a lot of different wrestlers. Memphis would get a 2nd place. With AWA in 3rd because I never really sought out AWA footage so it has a cool freshness to me.

[Childs]

New Japan. Great depth and variety, and the idea that "shitty" Koshinaka matches made up any significant percentage of it is just silly.

 

All Japan might have had more matches that I'd call great, but it also presented fewer surprises or discoveries.

 

Memphis was my favorite of the American sets -- best high-end matches, best lead guy in Lawler and plenty of surprises. Texas was my least favorite set so far -- plenty of good stuff but not a whole lot that would contend for my top 20 lists on the other sets.

[PeteF3]

1.) New Japan. Best variety of matches and probably the first set to actually end on a high note until AJPW came along.

 

2.) Mid-South. Probably #1 in terms of depth. NJPW had several matches that I (and others) hated. Mid-South had about two matches for the whole set where I thought, "That wasn't that good." I was convinced that McAdam's old website header about Mid-South being the Best Wrestling There Ever Was, was true (since he was clearly going by U.S. promotions only).

 

3.) All-Japan. Agreed about fewer surprises, and less variety as well. It did end with the strongest year, which helps. May also have been deeper than NJPW even if the peak wasn't quite as high.

 

Really 1-3 are in a major cluster and really I could see arguments for any of them being the "best" set and some of it depends on how I feel on a particular day. 4-6 are much the same way.

 

4.) AWA. Some bias here because it's the set I viewed most recently, but this edges out the other two territory sets by virtue of variety and surprises. I mean, John Studd and Jesse Ventura actually turning in good performances? Col. DeBeers being decent even if I wasn't nearly as gaga over him as the committee? Even as the promotion was dying I got a kick out of all the random names who would show up for 1 TV taping and then vanish. A lot of the '88-'89 stuff was a real chore, admittedly, and the booking lagged pretty far behind the other territories even if the action held up way better than its reputation.

 

5.) World Class. Never really had a deep roster even at its peak so there was a lot of repetition when you plow through about 8 years of material in a few weeks. I also failed to really get sold on Kevin Von Erich as a superworker even though I liked plenty of his matches. Next to Mid-South it had some of the most creative finishes of its day and the Embry run from '89 was a revelation.

 

6.) Memphis. Again, 4-6 could conceivably be in any order. There really weren't a lot of studio matches that I was that high on and many of the arena bouts were clipped. The high-end stuff was equal to anything else in the U.S. but I don't think it could match the other sets in terms of depth.

 

7.) WWF. Remains to be seen if the re-do ranks higher but there are a lot of things about the style that I'm just not crazy about. This also had other issues that the Will sets didn't have: no order to the matches, matches on the set in hacked-to-death clip form when full(er) matches were available, a less-organized nominating process, basically no WWE 24/7, etc. etc. etc.

 

8.) Other Japan. 'Nuff said. I needed the novelty stuff (the JPW matches, the Brits showing up in UWF) to make it through.

[Cross Face Chicken Wing]

I've watched Mid-South, Memphis, Texas, All Japan and AWA. Here's how I'd rank them.

 

1. All Japan. You won't find a better 15 discs of kick ass wrestling anywhere. A lot of this stuff was new to me, so that probably helped.

 

2. Mid-South. Everything about Mid-South seemed so well thought out. Very professional and very fun.

 

3. AWA. Very surprised at the quality of the work rate in AWA. Eye-opening. I became a wrestling fan in 88-89 thanks to the AWA (I was 7 and it was my hometown promotion) and WWF, so there's some nostalgia here too.

 

4. Memphis. Great stuff. Finished fourth because the "southerness" would get to me every now and then.

 

5. Texas. Von Erich burnout and not getting Eric Embry makes this finish fifth.

 

All of these sets were amazing. A big thank you to everyone who worked on them. Please keep them going.

[Dylan Waco]

Good topic.

 

I have participated with New Japan, All Japan, Texas and obviously AWA where I was on the committee. I have and have seen virtually all of Memphis. Still haven't gotten Mid-South or Other Japan, though I really should.

 

In order:

 

1. New Japan - maybe it's because it was the first one I was involved with, but it really blew me away watching it. I think it had more variety than any other set, more guys that were discovered/rediscovered, lots of interesting/unique novelty matches, and the absolute best stuff is the best of the high end stuff on any of the sets. Hoshino, Fujiwara, Fujinami, Choshu, Sakaguchi being shockingly good, Killer Khan, Saito, Kimura, et.

 

2. AWA - I'm biased because I was on the committee and of course I'm the guy working the "Jerry Blackwell's biggest fan" gimmick, but this was a set I really enjoyed watching all the footage for - and if anything I enjoyed most things even more on rewatch. The randomness is something I consider a plus and being able to see the greatness of Bock, Blackwell and Hennig unfold really is cool to watch. I also think the top stuff on this set is WAY better than I expected coming in, which helps. Oh and the Rose/Somers v. Midnight Rockers feud is awesome.

 

3. Memphis - On some level I like Memphis better than the AWA, but A. the AWA is my baby and B. Memphis is something I've been pimping for years and years. This was the ultimate confirmation set as it could confirmed all the things I already believed, with guys who I really enjoy watching.

 

4. All Japan - Lots of great matches, but what hurts this relative to the three above is the lack of surprises and the fact that it was a set that felt every bit as long as it was. Still awesome, but this is the set I'm least likely to go back and watch a lot of outside of the top handful of matches.

 

5. Texas - Enjoyable set, with some stuff like the Embry run, Michael Hayes and Chris Adams having the quasi-revisionist flare that I enjoy. But there were more matches I was indifferent to than on any other set and I think this had by far the fewest high end matches.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Memphis is head and shoulders above all the sets I got. I didn't get any of the Japan ones, but I'd rank what I did get as

 

1. Memphis. This was the most fun of all the sets and that's my number one concern when watching wrestling.

2. Mid South. I have such great memories of watching Mid South/ UWF when I was 16-17 that this set was both a walk down memory lane and a chance to see shit I had only read about.

3. Texas. Thanks to the "Classics of World Class" I had seen most of the stuff that occurred before we got WC, so most of this was a true walk down that memory lane. I loved it but the repetitiveness of the wrestlers on my screen DID get a little tiresome, no matter how awseome the matches were. The Embry era stuff was a hoot cause I had never seen it.

4. AWA. Still getting through it. I love a lot of what I've seen so far and haven't gotten to the point where we got AWA TV. Blackwell is the coolest, and Greg Gagne still stinks.

 

The reason I didn't get any of the Japan sets is a mixture of finances and the fact that I like to know what's going on when I watch wrestling. I want to know WHY these people are fighting, and I don't understand Japanese. It's not a deal breaker or anything, I got that amazing Misawa/ Kawada set some years back and I love it. But when I have to decide on how I spend my cash, the "intangibles, let's say, come into it. I'll probably get them someday, to have a complete collection.

[KB8]

Memphis and Mid-South are pretty much right on the same level as my favourites. They're by far the two best sets of wrestling footage I've ever spent money on. Honestly, I don't think I've ever had as much fun watching wrestling as I had going through those sets.

 

New Japan kind of wore me down at a few points going through it, but there was an absolute shit ton of great stuff on that set. So much of it was new to me as well, and in general I thought it had way more variety than All Japan. Nothing has more re-watch value to me than Memphis or Mid-South, but there's still a boat load of stuff on the NJ set I've went back to watch again, and there's plenty more that I'll go back to at some point in future.

 

All Japan had huge highs, but it also had the most amount of matches that kind of ran together and didn't really stand out when it came to finalising a ballot.

 

Thought Texas had the least amount of "great matches," but it was still a bunch of fun and had a ton of nifty shit on it.

 

Only 3 and a bit discs into AWA right now, but that set's been every bit as good as I was hoping it would be. More or less every match so far stands out in my mind for one reason or another. Need to get back to watching it, actually.

[babylonianfrost]

The WWF set is a bizarre one compared to the later ones (Steve Travis? Johnny Rodz?), so excluding it is probably for the best, though I swear to god that the Brisco/North-South and boot camp matches will finish higher in my final '80's tally - assuming ww're still doing that - than most.

 

I participated in all of the sets barring the NJPW and AJPW ones. I will probably go back and touch on those later but at this moment...I just don't feel enthusiastic enough about them to work my way through them. Maybe it's the lack of english commentary (which is a pathetic rationale, I grant you...), but I just didn't feel up to tackling them.

 

My favorite so far is Mid-South, I think. The work and the angles are all so strong overall (barring a couple of excruciatingly long matches...Terry Taylor's representation on the set comes to mind) that it eclipses the other sets for me.

 

After that, comes the Memphis set, although to my surprise the AWA set may take its spot. I knew Bock and Hansen would be great, but I never thought I would enjoy Greg Gagne even as much as I did and Brunzell and Blackwell were revelations. Memphis was probably more consistent though with a higher number of different quality workers going through...I don't know. Call it Memphis, then Minnesota.

 

World Class would be my number four. The matches were overall good but there were always little things (often involving the deification of the Von Erichs through commentary or through excessive face referee annoyances) that keep me from loving it wholeheartedly. I do love me some Freebirds though, and while the Embry stuff wasn't unforeseen (I had ESPN in the late '80's), it was fun to relive.

 

The Other Japan set was somewhat difficult for me. When my favorite things are the IWE and the novelty gaijin matches, that can't be a good thing but I admit to never liking Maeda's UWF that much and I wasn't really the fan of guys like Kido and Fujiwara that some are, just because of personal taste.

 

That reminds me, I need to get off my ass and post my AWA rankings actually....

[Clayton Jones]

Sets I exempted myself from: Other Japan, Memphis, All Japan

 

OJ and Memphis were just a styles preference. Outside of BattlArts shootstyle has never been a favorite of mine, and I think the reason I've always enjoyed BattlArts is it has more roots based in pro wrestling than its contemporaries. There were some novelty matches on the OJ set that appealed to me but even if that had sold me I didn't think I could give a fair analysis overall. I'll probably feel similarly about the Lucha set when that one happens but I think I'll be more willing to go outside of my comfort zone just for educational purposes there.

 

Memphis, I know this is an unpopular opinion in our circles of the IWC, but Memphis isn't my thing. I like Jerry Lawler (as a wrestler), but don't love him. I am not crazy about Bill Dundee. I know this is blasphemy. But I've seen enough matches to know that this set wasn't for me. I would have been in it for Jimmy Hart, and the handful of matches from Bam Bam, Koko, the Poffos, but it wasn't enough for me to make the plunge.

 

All Japan was a few factors. It was the set that I had seen the most of previously (maybe 20% of by a generous estimate, but that's still what... 30 some matches?). And NJPW was the only set that I had doubts if I could finish, and the AJPW set was just as long IIRC. I knew that it would be more of an endurance test than I could take on around that time period of my life, which was particularly busy. I'm sure I would have thoroughly enjoyed it had I participated, but my guess is it would have been the one set I didn't get a ballot submitted for so I don't regret skipping it.

 

Keeping in mind I'm halfway through disc 7 of AWA, my ranking of the sets I have participated in:

 

1. Mid-South - It had everything I want out of wrestling. Great booking, great feuds, a mix of bloody heated brawls and good longer technical wrestling. Interesting talent always coming in to freshen things up. There was no era of this set I didn't enjoy or was a chore to get through whatsoever. I think Watts will go down as my favorite booker all-time as a result of this set.

 

2. Texas - Really not that far off from Mid-South in terms of the positives, but with less of a focus on technical side and more of a chaotic grab and bash your opponent style. Which is fine by me. Less of a variety of talent as well but I was a big Von Erichs fan coming in and that did not change coming out. The Sunshine, Garvin/Adams stuff was a complete revelation and among my favorite sections of the set. I was not a big fan of the Embry stuff later on, but still enjoyed some of the matches.

 

3. New Japan - If I was given the choice to watch my favorite 20 matches off this set or the Texas set, I'd probably pick this set most days. But on a whole, this one was a little hard for me to get through. I'm also in the camp that struggled with the Koshinaka matches and that era of the juniors in general. I honestly preferred the Tiger Mask era juniors matches, especially when Hamada was involved. Still I'm very glad I participated in this set, my opinions of Andre, Choshu, Fujiwara and Vader, which were positive coming in, skyrocketed after this. And guys I didn't know anything of previously, such as Kimura, Hoshino, Sakaguchi and Saito, I came out with a high opinion of.

 

4. AWA - It's early to say but from what I've heard about the last years being the worst for AWA, I'd be surprised if it doesn't stay in the last spot. This was the set I probably knew the least about coming in, from the roster to the style to the history. I knew Martel, Hansen, Jumbo and Slaughter had all been big names in AWA, so I highly anticipated the set and had no doubts I'd participate. When the match list went up I was a little surprised that these guys weren't as prominent as I expected. I went in with an open mind hoping to be as wowed by Blackwell, Bock, the High Flyers and company as others had been, but it hasn't really happened. I definitely have a high opinion of Blackwell at this point but wouldn't consider him in the upper echelon of wrestlers all-time. I know I have more of his matches to come though which I'm looking forward to. The Bock and High Flyers stuff has generally been fun, the set on a whole has been fun and not a struggle by any means. But there have been way more "yeah that was pretty good" rankings on my notes than anything else. The booking style and in-ring style are not among my favorites. Now that I'm getting into the Rose/Somers stuff though, my opinion in those regards has been shifting a bit.

 

All things said the 80s sets have been great. I'm very impressed considering the investment of time and resources required that they have continued as strong as they have. As long as they keep going I'll still be participating on a regular basis, and there aren't many remaining territories that have been discussed that I think I would skip. Revisiting the WWF set is the only one that comes to mind, and I wouldn't rule it out completely.

[Minds_Eys]

I was late to the dance and have only finished the Memphis set, with the Texas set waiting in the on-deck circle. I must add, and I'm sure it is a common understanding here on this board, but my goodness could two better complimentary pieces to the puzzle exist than Lance Russell and Jimmy Hart? You could transplant these two guys in their prime to any territory and instantly enhance the product. If you take them out of Memphis, I don't think the magic would quite be there, even with the great depth and wacky angles.

[jpchicago23]

I have Memphis, NJ, Texas, and Midsouth and definitely think Memphis is the best complete set of them all. MidSouth and NJ may have had the better top matches but even thats a stretch. I just think Memphis has the complete package in promos, angles, and great story telling in the ring. I'm big on angles and such and Memphis was definitely the best for it. Lawler is easily a top ten if not top 5 worker of all time for me now and i never would of thought that before the set.It also doesnt hurt to see guys like Dundee, Funk, Mantell, and Blackwell. I'm as yankee as it gets being from Chicago but damn i love southern wrestling.

[Graham Crackers]

There was a topic on WKO awhile back where we ranked the 80s sets and I had Memphis first and NJPW second. My opinion on Memphis hasn't changed but my feelings about NJPW have. About a year ago a friend and I decided to have a viewing marathon of NJPW vs UWF matches and in doing so I realized just how much I love that angle and, in turn, classic NJPW. 80s NJPW may have it's share of lows but the mid range stuff is consistent and full of variety and the best matches are amongst the best ever.

 

1. NJPW

2. Memphis

3. Other Japan - I only have a couple of 1989 matches to watch but this set is full of great shoot style and lucha-ish stuff.

4. Mid South

5. AJPW & AWA - AJPW's top 40 wipes the floor with AWA's top 40 but this set was a lot of fun and I got me pretty pumped to watch wrestling again. The worst AWA matches were better than the worst AJPW matches and the top 10 compares pretty favorably to the other sets I've watched.

 

I'm currently watching the Texas set. I've only watched the 82, 83, and 89 matches so far. The jury is still out but so far I think it's at a similar level to AJPW and AWA.

[Loss]

I am so behind on 80s sets, even though I have them all, so I feel weird for even participating in this thread. But ... the Mid South set was fantastic and was my favorite in the sense that I got through it pretty easily and found something to like about pretty much every match on the set.

[Dylan Waco]

5. AJPW & AWA - AJPW's top 40 wipes the floor with AWA's top 40 but this set was a lot of fun and I got me pretty pumped to watch wrestling again. The worst AWA matches were better than the worst AJPW matches and the top 10 compares pretty favorably to the other sets I've watched.

I'm not going to argue with sentiment about the top forty matches, but one of the things that really hit me with the AWA was that I thought the depth of matches I considered really high end was awfully high. Not as high as NJPW or AJPW, but much higher than Texas and probably lateral with Memphis at worst (and I'm about as big a mark for Memphis as you'll ever see).

[goodhelmet]

The Memphis set had the mega-extras and that puts it over the top for a lot of people. For people watching the Memphis set, the extras were just as important as the matches and might be the only set where that is the case except maybe Crockett.

[Dylan Waco]

The Memphis set had the mega-extras and that puts it over the top for a lot of people. For people watching the Memphis set, the extras were just as important as the matches and might be the only set where that is the case except maybe Crockett.

I totally agree with that.

 

AWA is also a weird set in that you could argue the majority of the super high end stuff is after the company was tanking business wise.

[Johnny Sorrow]

The Memphis set had the mega-extras and that puts it over the top for a lot of people.

That makes it the best set as far as content goes, of course. But I think it also had the best matches of the sets I got as well. I'd watch Nightmares vs Fire and Flame over any Flair/ Terry Taylor match from Mid South for example, if given the choice.

[goc]

The Memphis set had the mega-extras and that puts it over the top for a lot of people.

That makes it the best set as far as content goes, of course. But I think it also had the best matches of the sets I got as well. I'd watch Nightmares vs Fire and Flame over any Flair/ Terry Taylor match from Mid South for example, if given the choice.

 

I'm still bitter about how those Flair/Taylor matches all finished fairly high when no one seemed to even like them that much when commenting on them.

 

EDIT: Ok I take that back, I just went back and looked and it seemed like most had 1 match out of the 3 they really liked and 1 out of the 3 they thought sucked. I didn't really care for any of them and didn't think any of those matches should have been in the top 20 but at least Jake/Flair finished higher.

[rainmakerrtv]

In my view the objective standards best set was All Japan, but my favorite was Memphis. Maybe what put Memphis over Mid South for me was that I was expecting Mid South to be great, but for some reason I wasn't expecting as much from Memphis so it was more of a pleasant surprise.

[Zenjo]

The only poll I've taken part in is AJ, though I've also watched NJ and OJ. Will definately be on board for the lucha set.

 

1) All Japan - Some classics, loads of good matches and very few bad ones.

 

2) New Japan - A very good set. The top 125 matches weren't far off AJ quality overall. I'm glad I din't have to rate the bottom 50 matches though because 175M rather than 150 was a mistake.

 

3) Other Japan - Half the length of the other sets and about half as good. I still enjoyed it though.

[Guest Andrews]

Just to bump this for my LOVE of the Memphis set.