Your Current Fav Five

[Matt D]

Pretty much all I watch is lost footage now so,...

1983 Jake Roberts: This is the Jake we were always promised and so rarely got. The way he uses his body to stretch out and make use of the whole ring, the complex spots and finishes, the heat. 

1983 Buzz Sawyer: Just an amazing connection with the crowd as he turns face, without changing too much and pandering. He let them come to him and not the other way around and so long as he did that, it was magic. Honorable mention to 83 Brett Sawyer who was just great working from underneath. . 

1988 Ron Garvin: We had ~30 seconds of him and it was gold. He was such a great pissy heel and it's a shame we didn't get a lengthy run out of this; to see him up against Sting a few months later would have been something special.

1992 Mountie: Same thing. There's a few more dark matches that could be something special like the weird one from late, late 91 with both he and Bret having four guys at ringside for some reason. Totally committed to the act even when he's going to lose in 30 seconds.

Either Rey Sr. or Super Boy from the Festival De Lucha: I've seen only a little Rey, Sr. as a rudo and he's both got the look and the attitude to really make it work. Just a scummy jerk with mean offense. I bet there's more out there for me. Super Boy looked like a Brazo turned up to 11 so that's pretty much always going to work. It's a shame that didn't carry forward. 

[Log]

19 hours ago, Matt D said:

1988 Ron Garvin: We had ~30 seconds of him and it was gold. He was such a great pissy heel and it's a shame we didn't get a lengthy run out of this; to see him up against Sting a few months later would have been something special.

Is that 30 second match all that's out there of '88 heel Garvin?  It didn't hit me until I saw that match, but I vividly remember him rubbing money all over himself after turning on Dusty.  It never occurred to me that I hadn't seen any of the heel stuff that followed.

[Migs]

CODY - Having an all-time classic promo year, and has put together some exceptional matches too.

El Phantasmo - Has grown on me a ton over the last few months, his smarmy heel act is great and he can really bring it in big matches. 

Suzuki-Gun - Archer has been amazing these last few months, and he and Suzuki as a team not only bring the violence but also the two best theme songs in New Japan. Still enjoy me some ZSJ and Taichi too.

Hikaru Shida - Next footage binge for sure.

Tessa B - The best thing about three different promotions I watch semi-regularly.

 

[NotJayTabb]

At the moment...

Roman Reigns - The Big Dog! Consistently the best member of the Shield for the past 4 years, he now feels very much back in the groove after his return earlier in the year. He seems relaxed, the crowds are finally on his side, his on-screen friendship with Ali and Shorty G has felt very natural and Keith Lee got more out of a competitive showing with Roman than he did by pinning Rollins moments before. A reliably entertaining presence.

Mike Quackenbush - This is mainly because I saw him last week have one of the best matches I've ever seen live against Tyler Bate. This wasn't fun, exhibition submission Quack, it was "I'm totally going to fuck up your leg with a range of nasty holds" Quack, and it was excellent. Whenever Quack shows up nowadays, it feels like an event, and he's still incredibly fun to watch - the Thomas Santell match, based almost exclusively around knucklelocks ruled.

Mike Bailey - I've seen Mike Bailey a lot in the UK this year, and he's always tremendous. He was the standout in a really great Moonlight Express vs Lucha Brothers match in Fight Club: Pro last week, just 5 days after an equally entertaining, yet totally different tag with the Anti-Fun Police at GOOD Wrestling. He's the epitome of a guy who's name you see on a card and you know he's not going to phone it in.

The Bird & The Bee (Solo Darling & Willow Nightingale) - Maybe the best pure babyface team in the US today. Absolutely loved their title win against FIST last month in CHIKARA, it was a perfect storm of long term personal issues, an heroic comeback (after Willow broke her neck earlier this year), proper dickhead heels and a huge pop after a deserved face team victory. Just incredibly easy to cheer for, both really excellent at building sympathy and making hot comebacks, just a great team.