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Your Current Fav Five


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"I got me a friend ,fella, his name is Dan Sullivan, he's Irish as they come, just like me. We used to drink together a lot in me village. After two drinks, he would look like an Irish pirate. You know? You think he had luck? In one day he got his car stolen, like I did to Alberto that one time, and the stupid, he had no insurance, and no license, and he gets locked up for being drunk. And after that, he takes off for someplace like India or Nepal, or someplace like that. And his mother dies, ya know, so they wire him to tell him to come to the funeral. It's his mother's funeral, that's all. And he's in India or Nepal, sitting squat-legged listening to some sacred cow. So he comes back and he gets stopped at U.S. Customs for trafficking illegal drugs, not holding, he's trafficking! I mean, here's this guy Sullivan, his old lady kicks off, he gets popped at the border and he's sitting on fifty pounds of black Tibetan finger hash and two keys of slam. Now that's not bad luck, fella... that's DUMB luck. I don't think luck has anything to do with it meself, I don't think he has any brains at all. First of all, he's drunk, then he's a junkie. I don't know what's worse. Don't ask me, ask Sullivan. And what happens? He calls me up and says, "Hey man, I got busted at the border. I need five grand bail." I said, I said, "Five grand man!? Hey man, I've never even seen five thousand dollars in my life, so don't ask me for it, man, why don't you ask your Ma!!" Which was a dumb thing for me to say because his Ma just died. So, fella... now, I got this drunken Irish junkie who wants to kill me because of what I said about his mother being in terminal dreamland. Oh fella. One thing! One thing!!! We love our mothers, boy, oh we love their mothers. It's momma this, momma that. Oh me Irish mother! Ireland must be heaven, because me mother comes from there... and so does me Brouge Kick!! So consider yerself Sullivan, fella. And me boot, well, it's yer dumb luck.

Sheamus = Irish Mick Foley ?

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If we're talking about all time favourites :

 

Yoshiaki Tamura : poetry in motion. The best shoot-style worker ever.

 

Mariko Yoshida : see above + workrate style from Zenjo + ultimate stylish wrestler (best outfit ever). Her first 12 months in ARSION were my favourite pro-wrestling ever.

 

Aja Kong : These days I would probably put Bull ahead of her, but I have loved Aja so much for so long.

 

Steve Austin : responsible for the best years I had watching US wrestling. The more I watch him as I dig deeper into his career the more I love his work. Need to see his Dallas work some day as what I read from the Yearbook threads sounds fun to me.

 

Terry Funk : the best ever.

 

If we're talking about these days :

 

Barry Windham : always been a big fan, and going through his WCW years from 91 to 93 has been a blast.

 

Chris Candido : like Funk (or Sabu, sure me!), I never ever get tired of watching this guy. So much fun from his very early days to his very last.

 

Bobby Eaton : He was my favourite wrestler in WCW in 1990. Just an incredibly solid worker who was already quite fantastic in Memphis in his very early days, then of course the entire MX run, and whenever he pops up on a B-show on WCW TV it's always good to watch him work.

 

Vader : man this guy had such a terrific stint in Japan and WCW. Such a unique worker in every way, with tons of classics on his hands. It's too bad the WWF clipped his wings because he should have been huge there too.

 

Raven : yeah, in any incarnation I'm a Scott Levy fan. I'll need to see his Portland stuff one day too. A guy who obviously loves wrestling and to me it translates into his work, depsite his physical limitations. And I love the depressed moody character, I guess because I'm a depressed and moody human being myself, with all the annoyance that goes with it for me and others.;)

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"I got me a friend ,fella, his name is Dan Sullivan, he's Irish as they come, just like me. We used to drink together a lot in me village. After two drinks, he would look like an Irish pirate. You know? You think he had luck? In one day he got his car stolen, like I did to Alberto that one time, and the stupid, he had no insurance, and no license, and he gets locked up for being drunk. And after that, he takes off for someplace like India or Nepal, or someplace like that. And his mother dies, ya know, so they wire him to tell him to come to the funeral. It's his mother's funeral, that's all. And he's in India or Nepal, sitting squat-legged listening to some sacred cow. So he comes back and he gets stopped at U.S. Customs for trafficking illegal drugs, not holding, he's trafficking! I mean, here's this guy Sullivan, his old lady kicks off, he gets popped at the border and he's sitting on fifty pounds of black Tibetan finger hash and two keys of slam. Now that's not bad luck, fella... that's DUMB luck. I don't think luck has anything to do with it meself, I don't think he has any brains at all. First of all, he's drunk, then he's a junkie. I don't know what's worse. Don't ask me, ask Sullivan. And what happens? He calls me up and says, "Hey man, I got busted at the border. I need five grand bail." I said, I said, "Five grand man!? Hey man, I've never even seen five thousand dollars in my life, so don't ask me for it, man, why don't you ask your Ma!!" Which was a dumb thing for me to say because his Ma just died. So, fella... now, I got this drunken Irish junkie who wants to kill me because of what I said about his mother being in terminal dreamland. Oh fella. One thing! One thing!!! We love our mothers, boy, oh we love their mothers. It's momma this, momma that. Oh me Irish mother! Ireland must be heaven, because me mother comes from there... and so does me Brouge Kick!! So consider yerself Sullivan, fella. And me boot, well, it's yer dumb luck.

Sheamus = Irish Mick Foley ?

 

Not exactly....

 

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Bret Hart - with the new DVD and all the talk on the board, I've been watching a lot lately and he's just as good now as he was watching him in the 90's. His stuff doesn't age.

 

Yoshihiro Tajiri - I watched a lot of Tajiri in December and it was a joy. Even his shorter WWF matches were real fun.

 

Negro Casas - For a guy who is getting old, he certainly is still really great. All of 2012 he had just great matches with Panther and others.

 

Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel - I love tag wrestling and Superstars is the show I watched. They have had some real good stuff on that show.

 

Dean Ambrose - Really should be the future of the WWE.

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I only watch 80's AJW and current WWE/Tna at the moment so my list will greatly reflect that.

 

Too difficult to put into any kind of order;

 

 

Dump Matsumoto

I've already talked about her in the AJW thread. Perhaps the greatest heel I've ever seen. Love the sight of her and her leather clad gang ripping shit up at ringside before a match has even began. Love her kicking the shit out of referees for seemingly no reason. Love the ridiculous over use of weapons and interference and the general air of chaos she brings. Maybe it's because it's fresh in my mind but the hair match vs Chigusa is the best match EVA.

 

Bull Nakano

Just look at her. The most visually striking wrestler ever? Not much to add here except I love the karate kick thing she does. The nun chuck spot is always cool too. In terms of being a monster heel she's never been as convincing as Aja or Dump, but then that's probably just me finding her too . . cute to be a monster. She's good bad but she's not evil.

 

Akira Hokuto

She never looked like a monster or even a mean shooter but there is just something so, um, badass about Hokuto. Obviously the knowledge of her injuries help - she completed a match with a broken freakin' neck - but it's the way she carries herself; even when surrounded by giants like Bull or Aja, she's the alpha female, as highlighted by the LCO days. Couple that with her frenetic wrestling style, legendary theme music and a cool as fuck look (in her post-Wham days) then you have an easy top 15 GOAT for me, probably higher once I've seen more.

 

Christopher Daniels

I only started following Tna last summer when it was relatively hot. It's gradually turned into the embarrassing WWE-lite show I always imagined it to be but one constant source of enjoyment throughout has been Daniels. Apparently he was a bland babyface once. You'd never guess it. The Curryman strut, the appletini, the goofy facials, the sleazy promos - I don't think I've found a guy to be this consistently hilarious and flat out entertaining since corporate Rock all that time ago. Matches? Well the one with him and Kaz vs Angle/Styles was probably the best tag of last year.

 

Austin Aries

Reason two why TNA's worth pursuing. I'll bring up 1998 corporate Rock again (Rocks peak imo) cos that's what the sideburns, sunglasses and great douche promos bring to mind most. There's a bit of Punk in their too but Punk was never this funny. So crisp in the ring, him vs Bully, Roode, Joe and the Hardy ladder match from last year are all top notch.

 

Strange that no WWE guys have stood out enough to be listed as I've been pretty high on the WWE for the last couple of months. 2012 was terrible but they've done promising little things lately so some honourable faves - Bryan, Punk, Sandow, Cesaro, Uso's, Ambrose, Eve Torres, Ziggler. I wanted to include the awesome Bray Wyatt in the initial five but he only had a couple of squash matches before getting injured. Look forward to him getting the call up.

 

Oh yeah, and Tully Blanchard. I agree, how can you not love the sneaky little fucker? He is wrestling.

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I watch hardly any wrestling anymore, but if I do it's likely to be these guys:

 

Briscoe Brothers

 

Great promos, great matches. Characters you can buy into, chemistry, a unique look, seem like genuine badasses - all you can want from a tag team really. It's a shame WWE didn't deem them 'cosmetically pleasing' enough because they would absolutely flourish in that division. A feud between them and Daniel Bryan/Kane would be hilarious out of the ring and incredible in it.

 

Kota Ibushi

 

I'm not really around to see the consensus anymore, but I assume Ibushi is pretty much seen as a spot monkey? That's OK by me, I still love his matches. A friend introduced me to him a couple of years ago, and he gripped me straight away. Spectacular spots, agile, looks great, has charisma. Another one who would probably do well in WWE if they're looking for young, good looking flyers.

 

Katsuhiko Nakajima

 

Probably basing this too much on his series with KENTA, which was a while back now. They were two of the best big matches I've seen in a long time, even if they got a bit ridiculous. They will still worked smartly as well, there was loads of cool stuff in the second 2009 match referencing their earlier stuff. Just another guy who goes hard, has loads of awesome looking offence and is generally cool as fuck.

 

Young Bucks

 

Awesome little tag team. Can be spectacular, high flying babyfaces and dickish, conceited heels and either comes across as natural. Some of the spots they pull out are insane, innovative as hell, they always try to do something special for each match.

 

Necro Butcher

 

Still can't get enough of Necro. You know what you're getting, it's violent and painful and awesome a lot of the time. His stuff is kind of samey so the match quality does often depend on his opponent, which isn't to say he brings nothing to the table, as his wild, crazed act never gets old. I'm a sucker for sick death matches as well, as long as they don't drag with tons of set up for the spots etc.

 

If I was randomly throwing a match on these days it would be one of those five.

 

A few months ago CM Punk might have made the list, but he has bored the hell out of me lately. I stopped watching Raw about two months ago after a brief resurgence of interest. Three hours is just too much and Punk has been doing the same act for ages now. Daniel Bryan was also close to getting on the list, his tag team with Kane is brilliant and was always the best thing about Raw. It's still weird to me that these guys I watched and chatted to in tiny little halls are major stars in WWE now.

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Honorable Mentions: The Shield. I love what they are doing with these guys. Their promos are top shelf, love the Joker style deal. And their TLC match was my WWE MOTY for 2012.

 

1) Antonio Cesaro- My favorite guy in WWE right now. Was always a fan of him in ROH and I knew he would fit right in as a player. I actually really liked his "Main Event" match with Khali last week(?). Really made Cesaro look like a badass when he "neutralized" Khali. I'm dying to see him in a ppv match with Punk or Danielson. 1 more thing, they dusted off Slaughter for a squash on Raw, how bout they bring back vader for a 10 minute bout for the 20th Anninversary Raw?

 

2) CM Punk- Cesaro has taken my top spot as a favorite, but Punk is still the best. He's been trying to play Ric Flair with the Ryback for a few months but now with The Rock feud started he's back to being 'The Man'. Also looking forward to the rumored Undertaker Mania feud.

 

3) Big Show- always been a fan of his. Was lovin' his WHC run, I like a monster heel. Too bad its over and he's back to mediocrity.

 

4 & 5) Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey as a team. On the Youtube front, I've been watching all of their early 90's AJPW stuff. I watched about 4 of their bouts against Gordy & Dr. Death and those are about as good as power tag matches get. Also liked the match vs. The Funks where it started with Dan slamming Terry out of the ring to the floor.

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Man, I haven't felt this out of the loop in a while. I totally didn't know Show dropped the title to Del Rio until reading the previous post. Kind of seems like a needless switch.

The general thought is Ziggler should cash in on a face, not a dominant heel. But I can imagine them running with Del Rio after that match and the crowd reaction.
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Could he win the Rumble and beat Ziggler at Mania?

I don't think they ever intended for Ryback to win a title at Mania. More likely they will still have him face Big Show, or maybe a returning Mark Henry. But it will be someone big where they hope he can do better than the Tensai matches and pick a huge guy up for the Shell Shock and march him around the ring.
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After a month my list has changed pretty dramatically:

 

1. Ric Flair - He is still doing his thing in the stuff that I am watching for the podcast and he has still been really damn good in 1990 as well. Perhaps he has dropped a step or two but he would still be a strong WOTYC in 1990 as I only have Dandy ahead of him at the moment.

 

2. The Rockers - Obviously very interested in them after starting the microscope thread and I was amazed and excited with how much they varied their offense from the two conquistador matchups.

 

3. The Fantastics- They lost a little steam at the end of their NWA run but were still a fun team to evaluate. There run in All Japan in 1990 has been pretty well fantastic.

 

4. Nick Bockwinkel - Been sprinkling in footage that Dylan is reviewing when time allows. A worker that is reputation is really rising in my eyes the more I see.

 

5. Jumbo Tsurtua - Jumbo has finally become a grumpy bastard and it is a glorious transformation. He has been the star in every match he has competed in.

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Top 5 on current viewing all stem from 1990 Yearbook as that's all I've been watching lately.

 

Stan Hansen - I may of missed the boat on this guy but due to my lack of interesting puro, I've never really seen much from him. This guy is awesome though in the foreign environment, the fans look generally concerned when he is swinging his bull rope and cow bell on his way to the ring. His matches with Williams, Gordy and Vader are brilliant, a real riot. On a side note, I can't believe how quick Misawa gets over with the crowd from losing his mask. I'm intrigued with 1990 All Japan now so will be picking up more of that, but really looking forward to the next All Japan match that comes up on the set.

 

Ric Flair - My GOAT if I'm honest but even 1990 he's still the best in the business, the first half of the year Flair is on fire, great matches with Zenk, Eaton and Pillman, let alone his multi man matches, along with his promo work alongside the Horsemen and Woman are excellent. His turn at the beginning of the year is done great, his ability to work against tag team wrestlers and make them look like they may just take the title is world class work. And he must get a nod in his direction for his booking in early 1990.

 

Jerry Lawler - When I was a kid Bret Hart was my favourite wrestler, and I hated Lawler, I mean really hated. Only years later did I realise how good he was because how much I hated him. Now he runs alongside Flair for my GOAT. In 1990 we see such an array of his character, from the cocky heel, to his tweeter work to his full on face. A great year for Lawler and looking forward to his stellar work in the Tennessee/Texas feud which starts at the beginning of 1991.

 

Steve Austin, Jeannie Clark and Percy Pringle - Wow what a trio these guys were in USWA, man did they draw heat. His feud with the next man ill list is the best I've seen in 1990. Too face each other week in week out and still keep it fresh for a good six months is a testament to both of these guys. When WWF dipped into Dallas in 1990 and picked up KVE and Pringle they missed the boat with Austin, even here he is so good. I've been watching alot of USWA 1991 and I keep thinking to myself Austin stands out as the real star here, but watching back at 1990 it's clear 1990 was his star making year.

 

Chris Adams - Like mentioned above I love these two guys feud, from the mixed tag matches, to the Judo/football match and the penalty box match its all great. Fading the lines between reality and fiction would become a regular occurrence in the mid to late 90s, but the feud here is years before its time IMO. Take note, this is how a teacher gets his student over...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Steve Austin - I just went through all of RAW from 2001. Aside from the nonsense booking there were a lot of interesting matches and wonderful promos from everyone you'd expect. Austin had great (sometimes painfully short or painfully long) segments with just about everyone in the company and elevated a lot of talent. His paranoid work as a heel is amazing, probably better than his first run in 1998 depending on who you are asking. I could go on but highlights that immediately come to mind are his matches with Spike Dudley, RVD, Benoit before the King of the Ring, a great match with Jericho the week before Vengance and a subsequent cage rematch with Jericho that I'm actually watching as a type this. He had amazing promos all over the (singing nonsense with Rocky, whipping Taz when didn't wear an Austin or WCW shirt), and started another phenomenon with the "What?" stuff. I haven't read throgh enough threads to see if the thought has been established but I think Austin's best work of his WWF career was in 2001. I cannot wait to go through Smackdown. Maybe I should have watched it in order with RAW. Oh well. I will also note that I love his in-ring work in WCW before he was saddled with injuries. I didnt realize he was a no-knee-pad-wearin'-son-of-a-bitch back then. I watched a random ep of Saturday Night where hes wrestling Scott Steiner and the show goes off the air before the finish. I found this odd because Saturday Night was a taped show and one would think producers would want to put a finish on TV.

 

 

The Hell Nos - I guess this counts as two people. Great tag team matches with a humorous promo work, helping to elevate workers like Sandow (although I dont know if he needs much help). Perhaps the shtick has gotten tired lately with the unnecessary return of Shelby but their segment was the highlight of the Rumble match. I dont really ever want to see them stop being a tag team. I'd love to see a rheash of their TLC match with the Shield at Mania sans Ryback since it seems to be turning into BigMatchesFromLastYearMania.

 

 

Ric Flair - Ive recently seen a lot of 88 - 91 WCW for the first time as well as some old NWA stuff (I didn't get into WCW until I saw Flair in WWF and my dad told me where he came from and why he was a big deal). I think that should be enough for me to justify this choice. Enough has been said about Flair on this board, haha. Seeing him back on current product is always nice, too. I have an odd urge to see his WM match with Taker again. I recall loving that match live but havent seen it since.

 

 

Cesaro - Anything I say will be repeating what everyone else has already said. I will say this: He had a great match with Khali and then two weeks later when twenty minutes with Orton on TV in an arguable four-star bout (even brass noticed as they have had about three tv rematches since which didnt turn out as well). Then he stooged for the Miz and is more over. Who the hell does that?

 

Goldust - Loved his Rumble appearance, great work with his brother. Watched some early stuff from 1995 - 6 recently. The gay stuff is amazing. You can quote me out of context on that if you want.

 

I will also mention Punk. It was a variety of reasons I'm sure but he is probably the main reason why I have been semi-enthusiastic about the WWE in its current form again. I haven't been this into wrestling since 1998, watching old shows every chance I get and keeping intune with current product. Maybe its a quarter life crisis or an extreme nostalgia situation but I'd perfer to think its because the product isnt stale anymore. I can't even believe Im saying that.

 

Cheers, have a good weekend guys.

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I cannot do these I have many favorite wrestlers a whole big list but I'll try:

 

 

Kota Ibushi-continues to impress me, always fresh and never stagnant.

 

Low Ki- always amazes me with his martial arts style, feel WWE dropped the ball.

 

Amazing Red- he seems be doing very well, I know he had a dark match try out on smackdown in WWE in 2010 against CM Punk, don't know why they wouldn't pick him up, maybe they felt he copied Rey Mysterio to much.

 

CM Punk- never fails to impress me, wish he would go back to being a tweener or face.

 

Chris Jericho: It's been 6 months, he's never lost it. I love how he puts over the new generation of wrestlers.

 

Kofi Kingston- I used to dislike him very much, he was a spot monkey and I don't really like wrestlers who aren't tenured with 10 years or over of experience, with his constant botching and unlike Evan Bourne he wasn't technically sound in the ring but I feel he's improving and he doesn't botch that much anymore.

 

I only dislike two wrestlers right now and one is for just a gimmick.

 

Dislike-

Daniel Bryan- I like him as a wrestler always will but dislike his gimmick I feel they changed The badass American Dragon into a hammy

passive-agressive sidekick for Kane.

 

The Rock- okay we give over a year of building the championship up and giving it epic prestige then we get a part time champion. face palm*

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  • 7 months later...

My current active fave five:

 

1. Tomohiro Ishii - makes the most meaningless match special. He's got a fire and a charisma that is totally unique to him. People might think he peaked during the G1 but I don't think he's done just yet. Watch out for one or two more big MOTYC's from him before 2013 is out.

 

2. Daisuke Sekimoto - having such a great run with the Strong championship. His matches with Okabayashi and Kawakami were tremendous. Underrated as a smart worker.

 

3. Katsuyori Shibata - the guy is just on fire this year. Every match of his feels special. Kinda like Brock.

 

4. Akira Tozawa - has shot back up my ranks since turning babyface. Best thing for him.

 

5. Daniel Bryan - we haven't had a guy delivering high quality matches as frequently on WWE TV in years. The Cena match cements his run for me.

 

I had about 20 others guys I could have squeezed in there. Such a great crop of wrestlers around right now.

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From what ive been watching. (80's NWA to early 90's WCW and the current wwf and tna) my fab five are....

 

STING flat top sufer version

LUGER (Just love everything about him from the time period.)

Bobby Rhoode ( think he is flawless would love too see him on a bigger stage)

A DOUBLE (just a big fan of his work)

ZIGGLER (I think he is one of the best over all)

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My current favorite five...

 

About two dozen luchadores so I am focusing on people I am digging right now outside the lucha set...

 

1. Goldust - loved his stuff in the Orton match. Need to really finish part 2 of the Dustin set.

 

2. William Regal - once I finish a wrestler set, I usually don't go back and watch the matches for fun. Been loving Regal and only looking for more of his run with the tv title.

 

3. The Shield - 11 on 3? Fuck it, they were still awesome. Really liked the PTP mini feud.

 

4. Greg Valentine - really hoping a bunch of early Crockett pops up out of a garbage can so I can see some early Hammer.

 

5. Carlos Colon- get ready people, Colon will be the next obviously Great wrestler you don't thik twice about calling great.

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My current favourite five:

 

1. Jerry Lawler - I am finally exploring more and more of his less famous Memphis stuff; such as mini feud with The Snowman in 1990 in Memphis which I thought was tremendous.

 

2. Bryan Danielson - The most consistent worker in the WWE in forever. His match with Cena at Summerslam cemented him to me as someone who belongs at the top of the cards in WWE.

 

3. Aiden English - One appearance in NXT so far, but what an appearance. Don't even know if he can work a lick or not; all I know is he entertained me massively and can't wait to see more of him.

 

4. El Dandy - Thanks to you fine guys my eyes have been opened to the epicness that is El Dandy. His work vs. El Santanico is tremendous.

 

5. Brock Lesnar - Ever match he is in has me on the edge of my seat; I anticipate his matches more than anyone else at the moment. He always has his working boots on, and his style is so believable, which to be fair isn't that surprising.

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fave 5.

 

1: Mike Quackenbush. I'm not going to lie, there's something about his work that draws me in. The Quackensaw tag team especially is quality wherever you can find it.

 

2: Motor City Machine Guns (do tag teams count? If not, I'll fix this later.) One of the great crimes of TNA is that Vince Russo's fetish for running tag splits took us away from what could have been a truly awesome reign as tag champs, including a awesome war with Beer Money.

 

3: Ricky Steamboat. I e-fed a lot, and whenever people ask me how a babyface is supposed to act, I say him. Plus, the Steamboat-Flair series is what pro wrestling should be.

 

4: Bryan Danielson. Even though WWE doesn't do weight classes, he is perhaps the most complete jr. heavyweight I can remember seeing. There's nothing he can't do at a world-class level. It's brilliant.

 

5: Brian Pillman. The first wrestler I really enjoyed watching, and the guy who became my gateway into the NJ Juniors.

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