The Nomination Thread

benjaminkicks · April 27, 2015

Awesome, thanks a bunch guys.

Johnny Sorrow · April 30, 2015

Hey has New Jack been nominated yet? Cause I nominate New Jack.

Gregor · April 30, 2015

I'm not sure if any of these guys has a shot at cracking someone's list, but whatever.

Javier Llanes

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-333-random-cmll-part-two/

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-413-dandy-vs-llanes-trios/

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/15525-el-dandy-vs-javier-llanes-cmll-022294/

Norman Smiley

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/18020-konnan-rey-misterio-sr-vs-chris-adams-norman-smiley-nwa-starrcade-121690/

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/18674-blue-panther-javier-cruz-pierroth-jr-vs-el-dandy-apolo-dantes-black-magic-cmll-081691/

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/20612-dean-malenko-vs-norman-smiley/

Robert Gibson

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/12472-robert-gibson-vs-jimmy-del-ray-smw-tv-091893/

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/12610-rock-roll-express-vs-heavenly-bodies-wwf-survivor-series-112493/

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/14989-heavenly-bodies-robert-gibson-vs-the-thugz-brad-armstrong-smw-tv-112595/

Shane Douglas

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/14050-jushin-liger-kensuke-sasaki-vs-ricky-steamboat-shane-douglas-wcw-philadelphia-122992/

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/12140-ricky-steamboat-shane-douglas-vs-hollywood-blonds-wcw-worldwide-032793/

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/11260-shane-douglas-vs-2-cold-scorpio-ecw-a-matter-of-respect-051196/

DR Ackermann · May 1, 2015

I nominate Jay Youngblood. Haven't seen a lot from him yet, but I thought he was better than Steamboat in the Final Conflict match and he's supposed to have some great stuff with Buddy Rose in Portland.

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/19164-jack-brisco/page-3&do=findComment&comment=5657238

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/18986-where-the-big-boys-play-3/

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/30203-steve-williams-terry-gordy-vs-stan-hansen-joel-deaton-ajpw-super-power-series-060193/&do=findComment&comment=5643575

TravJ1979 · May 1, 2015

I nominate LuFisto. Match reviews coming ...

El-P · May 6, 2015

Has Tarzan Goto been nominated yet ? If not, well, he should at this point. I mean, there are tons of way shittier workers discussed already. The two deathmatches with Onita from 90, the IWA title match against Cactus in 95, the two bathhouse deathmatches with Gannosuke vs HeadHunters and then Nakamaki & Ohno (or was that Yamada ?).

Dylan Waco · May 7, 2015

Nominating Mitsuhiro Matsunaga

El-P · May 7, 2015

Nominating Hido.

Dylan Waco · May 8, 2015

Nominating:

Gedo

El-P · May 8, 2015

: Jado

Dylan Waco · May 8, 2015

Nominating

Akira Nogami

Mens Teoh

Sho Funaki

Silver King

Graham Crackers · May 8, 2015

If we're doing evil karate guys who fought Onita then I nominate Masashi Aoyagi.

Segunda Caida reviewed a bunch of Aoyagi over the years as seen here: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/search?q=aoyagi

DR Ackermann · May 9, 2015

Aoyagi wasn't nominated yet? For some reason that's really surprising.

El-P · May 9, 2015

I nominate the Devil, Kevin Sullivan.

GOTNW · May 10, 2015

Nominating Akitoshi Saito

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/25836-jun-akiyama-akitoshi-saito-vs-kenta-kobashi-kentaro-shiga-noah-navigation-against-the-current-101902/?hl=%2Bakitoshi+%2Bsaito

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/25851-jun-akiyama-akitoshi-saito-vs-kenta-kobashi-tamon-honda-noah-navigation-with-breeze-060603/?hl=%2Bakitoshi+%2Bsaito

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/25901-kenta-kobashi-vs-akitoshi-saito-noah-navigation-against-the-current-102404/?hl=%2Bakitoshi+%2Bsaito

BillThompson · May 12, 2015

Super Dragon

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla: Tango & Cash Invitational - Day 1 (01-24-2004) Excalibur & Jonny Storm vs. American Dragon & Super Dragon

I think he may be dead, like all legit like!

This is a first round match in the Tango & Cash Invitational tournament for the vacant Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Tag Team Championship.

I’m not going to mince words when it comes to this match. This is a stiff as all hell beating, and it is glorious. Essentially one of the owners of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Excalibur, said to one of the other owners, Super Dragon, “Hey, why don’t we bring in American Dragon, team the two of you up, and you guys can beat the shit out of me?” I have to imagine that’s how that conversation went, because that’s what happens, and man does Excalibur ever take a great beating. Jonny Storm is present too, and he gets in some good stuff of his own, but to be honest he is very much a minor player in the slaughter of Excalibur.

The PWG crowd is in on how awesome this match is going to be from the very start. They are small in number, but man do they ever create a frenzied atmosphere. Once the ass kicking begins they never really let up either. And like great performers all involved feed off of the crowd and build and build until the crowd is ready to lose their collective minds. I mean, it’s hard to describe how badly this Santa Ana, California crowd wants to see Excalibur killed dead. Every time he takes a bump or a stiff shot, the crowd erupts, and they only get louder the longer the match goes.

I really want to talk about how bad ass Super & American Dragon are. Because they come across as absolute killing machines in this match. They pick apart Excalibur at will, and they engage Storm in the little moments of technical back and forth he wants to employ. Of course they are always quick to Slap Storm in the face or level him with a European Uppercut so that he remembers this isn’t a match about being technical but hitting dudes hard in the mouth. The thing is though, that while the two Dragon’s deserve a lot of credit for the crispness of their offense and for their ability to keep up a breakneck pace; they are not the stars of the match.

The star of the match is Excalibur. His bumping and near death selling is top notch. He even looks good when he gets his few moments of offense in. But really he shines the brightest when he is bumping big for the two Dragon’s. They toss him around like a rag doll, and he makes their offense look super believable. Without Excalibur’s impeccable bumping and excellent timing on said bumps neither Super or American Dragon would have looked anywhere near as great as they did. The spotlight is on those two, but the true star in the ring was Excalibur and his excellent ability to take a beating.

I’m not bashing Storm, I’m really not. But he does instigate a bit too much chain wrestling and spottiness for a match that isn’t about those two things. He always reigns it in as soon as he gets hit in the mouth, but he does on multiple occassions attempt to take the match in a direction that it need not go in. Conversely near the end of the match he is spot on with the pace he is working and the way he is flinging his body at his opponents like a weapon. In fact, his Reverse Avalanche Frankensteiner on Super Dragon may have been the most brutal move of the match.

At twenty minutes American & Super Dragon versus Excalibur & Storm is the right amount of time for the match they are trying to deliver. I kid you not when I say that watching the Dragon’s stiff the bejeezus out of Excalibur, and Storm, was an event I will never forget as a professional wrestling fan. I may be eleven years late to the party, but the party is still awesome and I’m just glad I was able to experience the sheer viciousness of this match.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla: The Secret of the Ooze! (08-14-2004) Super Dragon vs. Samoa Joe

When the company prick meets his match!

The best way to describe Super Dragon is not as the company ace, but as the company prick. He is in fact the ace of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, as he draws the biggest reactions from the fans and is consistently in programs that accentuate his strengths as a pro wrestler. However, the role that Dragon has taken on is that of a grumpy, pissed off ass kicker. He’s not your typical ace in that regard, he’s far more Taz than he is John Cena. But yet Dragon is in a category all his own because he doesn’t just rough guys up, he stiffs the ever loving hell out of them as he leaves a path of destruction in his wake. Championship belts aren’t even part of the equation for Dragon. He’s not the company ace because of a title belt. He’s the company ace because he can beat up anyone who competes in PWG.

Enter someone like Samoa Joe, an ass kicker the world over. He’s been in PWG on multiple occasions, and every time he has come away looking strong. He’s shown an ability to stand up to and take out other big name indie talents. He’s run roughshod over any local PWG talent who came into his path. In every imaginable way Joe lived up to the persona he had crafted for himself. Yet he still wan’t the ass kicker in PWG, that title belonged to Super Dragon.

The beginning of this clash plays out just like a match between two wrecking balls of destruction should play out. Joe and Dragon unload freely with stiff shots from every angle possible. Dragon appears to be holding his own, which is exactly what an ace should do. Things change when Joe really starts to bring the heavy strikes down on Dragon. Joe is bigger, much bigger, and he leans into Dragon and by about the eight minute mark the match is no longer a clash between ass kickers. Now the tale being told is one of Dragon attempting to survive the onslaught of Joe.

There are moments of offense for Dragon, but they are fleeting. In holding true with one sided slugfests; for every one move or shot Dragon gets in he is lit up by three or four in return from Joe. Joe bludgeons Dragon, beating him down in front of fans who have been trained that Dragon gets up from anything and takes no quarter from any man. That’s why Joe presses on, and that’s why he slowly and surely beats Dragon down in front of his hometown fans. Joe is systematically taking out the ace of the promotion, and the ace appears helpless to stop his own demise.

There are various hope spots set up throughout the match. Each of them is very effective because they come from different angles. A few are based on Dragon trying to outwrestle Joe. Some others are based on him trying to stun Joe with stiff strikes. Even more are based on Dragon taking to the air and blitzing Joe with an aerial assault. Each and every time Joe has an answer for whatever Dragon throws at him. He’s the ace stopper and Dragon is the ace unable to get past the roadblock.

The ending is fitting in that regard. Dragon is in the middle of another comeback attempt when Joe stops him dead in his tracks and hurls him to the floor with an Overhead Belly-to-Belly Suplex. Dragon has been beaten so badly that he can’t answer the count. It’s not the conventional ending, but context is important. Joe didn’t just beat Dragon enough for a three count victory, he beat him down enough for a twenty count victory. Dragon had ample time to get back up and fight some more, but he couldn’t. In the span of twenty minutes Joe has mauled the body of Dragon and destroyed his aura as the ultimate ass kicker in the land.

For as great as the overwhelming majority of the match is, it’s not a match without its faults. Dragon’s selling of his injured arm is iffy at best. Sometimes he really gets across the damage to his arm. In other moments Dragon seems to forget about his arm for the sake of a spot or a big moment. There are also instances where Joe is too slow to react to the offense of Dragon. At one point Joe is slow to get into position to catch a Dragon Skytwister Press to the outside and the end result is Dragon splatting on the hardwood floor. It’s a moment that helps the idea of Dragon taking a beating, but the timing being off is a little too obvious for the viewer.

On the whole Dragon versus Joe is an example of great storytelling in pro wrestling form. Joe slays the Dragon, and the fans are left in a shocked state. They certainly don’t accept the count out finish, but despite their protests the finish did happen and Dragon has been left in a heap on the floor. The ultimate ass kicker got his ass kicked; Joe reigns supreme, and shocked though they may be the fans know they have witnessed something special.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla: The Next Show (09-04-2004) Chris Hero vs. Super Dragon

What happens when someone becomes just a guy?

Context is very important when it comes to this match. Knowing that Super Dragon is coming off getting ass handed to him by Samoa Joe helps to paint this match in an entirely different light. No longer is Dragon the ultimate ass kicker, now he’s just a guy. Chris Hero recognizes this change, and he attacks Dragon as if he is just a guy. There’s no fear anymore, no worry that Dragon will mess him up. The new Dragon dynamic creates an interesting match, one that I’m not sure Dragon would have been capable of even a month earlier.

Hero takes the fight to Dragon, and Dragon receives as much as he gives. The back and forth narrative is built around Dragon building himself back up again. There are flashes of the ass kicker he can be, but he needs to work to get himself to the point he was before the Samoa Joe match. To that end he works the mat more, he sets up his violence more, and he leaves himself open to Hero’s offense far more than he usually would have.

Everything Hero does is crisp, and very much to the point. He doesn’t waste much motion, and all of his offense is centered around taking apart Dragon’s neck. The Cravate Suplex, the Cravate STF, and so on and so forth target the neck of Dragon and put Dragon in a position where he can easily lose the match. What Hero does by attacking Dragon in a logical manner is to create an air of possibility. I bought that Dragon could lose, and I slowly came to learn that this wouldn’t be the typical Dragon ass kicking contest.

Dragon more than does his part, as he really gets across the difference in his approach. There’s a slight hesitation to his step, and in a very uncharacteristic fashion he plays to the crowd at one point. Not only did Joe destroy the aura of Super Dragon for the fans, he destroyed the way Dragon views himself. In that way the match plays out like a block building exercise for Dragon. He’s trying to put the pieces into place, and that means plenty of mistakes and missed opportunities.

There were really only three distinct moments in the match that I didn’t much care for. There were separate instances of Hero no selling a Dragon Backdrop, and Dragon no selling a Hero Cradle Backdrop Driver. They were unneeded moments, and did little to add to the story of the match. The other moment was when Hero hit a Suicida Senton. It sure as heck looked cool, but Dragon had worked over Hero’s neck pretty good and Hero hitting a high impact move on said neck didn’t make much sense.

In the end Dragon wins a hard fought contest. A true back and forth affair where Dragon began the road of restoring his aura and the pecking order in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Both men looked really good in a match that was as logical as it was exciting. This isn’t your typical Super Dragon match, he gave way more to Hero than he normally would. The result was a great match, and Dragon showing a new side to his character.

Brandon-E · May 14, 2015

I'd like to nominate El Barbaro Cavernario

http://z11.invisionfree.com/wrestling_ko/index.php?showtopic=5380

Jetlag · May 15, 2015

Nominating

Otto Wanz via OJ's european wrestling list

Takashi Ishikawa via 90s forum and SC WAR reviews http://segundacaida.blogspot.de/2010/08/segunda-caida-declares-war.html

Ashura Hara via AJPW 80s and the above SC

Dr Cerebro and Trauma II

http://segundacaida.blogspot.de/2010/06/complete-and-accurate-black-terry.html

Outsider · May 15, 2015

Has anybody got Silo Sam on their list? I was watching old PW News show with Solie & Pedicino and Silo Sam said he was 7'9"! He was horrible talker though. AWA Look him up and you will see the white El Giante!

El-P · May 20, 2015

I nominate Raven. Come one. If I don't, no one will. I mean, litteraly. So yeah. Scott Levy in all incarnations.

GOTNW · May 21, 2015

Nominating:

Tatsuhito Takaiwa

Masakatsu Funaki

Matt D · May 23, 2015

I've not nominated anyone as of yet, I don't think, but a guy I could potentially see towards the end of my list is Adrian Street. So I'm nominating him for discussion.