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Your "So So Good" Top 100 Matches of All Time


elliott

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Might as well add mine. As it stands, it runs a little long. Everything from #93 through #110 is basically tied for 93rd. Even running over, there are obviously a ton of great matches left of the list.

 

 

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  On 1/27/2018 at 1:55 PM, gordi said:

Might as well add mine. As it stands, it runs a little long. Everything from #93 through #110 is basically tied for 93rd. Even running over, there are obviously a ton of great matches left of the list.

 

 

I freaking love these lists. Never, ever tire of looking over them. I'll need to try and compile mine at some point, but a) when I sit down to put that time into wrestling (which is certainly often enough) I end up watching something rather than looking through lists to collect all of the top matches and B) I have no idea at all how I'd rank everything I've rated most highly. But those are good problems to have.

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  On 1/27/2018 at 2:20 PM, WingedEagle said:

 

  On 1/27/2018 at 1:55 PM, gordi said:

Might as well add mine. As it stands, it runs a little long. Everything from #93 through #110 is basically tied for 93rd. Even running over, there are obviously a ton of great matches left of the list.

 

I freaking love these lists. Never, ever tire of looking over them.

 

I feel the same way. Almost every time I look at someone's list I find a new match or two (or twenty) to love. And I find it really interesting to see what different people's tastes are, and how they match up with and differ from mine.

 

I definitely recommend making a list. I found the process very interesting and I feel like I understand my own taste in wrestling better now, if that makes sense. It'll be interesting to revisit this down the line and see what's changed.

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  On 1/27/2018 at 2:25 PM, gordi said:

 

  On 1/27/2018 at 2:20 PM, WingedEagle said:

 

  On 1/27/2018 at 1:55 PM, gordi said:

Might as well add mine. As it stands, it runs a little long. Everything from #93 through #110 is basically tied for 93rd. Even running over, there are obviously a ton of great matches left of the list.

I freaking love these lists. Never, ever tire of looking over them.

I feel the same way. Almost every time I look at someone's list I find a new match or two (or twenty) to love. And I find it really interesting to see what different people's tastes are, and how they match up with and differ from mine.

 

I definitely recommend making a list. I found the process very interesting and I feel like I understand my own taste in wrestling better now, if that makes sense. It'll be interesting to revisit this down the line and see what's changed.

 

 

Totally makes sense. How did you go about it? I've tried tracking how I rate most matches over the last few years, so on the one hand I could gather up those I've rated 5 and 4.75 and work from there. That obviously leaves out certain personal favorites that I wouldn't try to argue are on the periphery of the discussion of the best matches ever, but I love them nonetheless for whatever reason. But that gets into best vs. favorite.

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My basic method was to make a huge list of matches that I believe qualify as "objectively" pretty great (I.e. 4.5 stars plus), then try to narrow that down to 100.

My first attempt, I went with "What matches do I think belong on everyone's list?" as my main criterion for ranking. I think that was a pretty great list... but it wasn't MY list.

There are a few matches (Billyken vs Togo, Harada vs Kotoge, Ebessan vs Kuishinbou) that I sincerely believe are in the "pretty great" range that probably resonate more with me because Osaka Pro is my local indie promotion and I know and like the people involved. There are some matches that I rank in that range that may fly a little under the collective radar where maybe others might rank them more like 4 1/4 stars or whatever (like Vader & Tenta vs Albright & Yamazaki, that one Tenryu & Hara vs Jumbo & Yatsu match where I felt like all the pieces came together perfectly, or that Usos vs New Day match that is the only recent WWE match that really blew me away).

I tried a list where I put those matches at or near the top, but it felt disingenuous.

Finally, I decided to take my list and rank it by "how much did this match make me personally mark out?" That list felt right to me. No "objectively great" match made me mark out as much as 6/9/95. Hokuto and Kandori vs Bull and Kong came pretty close...

#3 through #19 are all pretty much tied for third, but I did my best to put them in some kind of order.

I've got Savage and Steamboat from WM3 at #20. I watched that on closed circuit with friends at Pacific Colloseum and it was the greatest mark-out moment of my life. Adjusted for circumstances, though, 20 seemed fair.

There was a pretty great match at WMXX that was also, at the time, a massive mark-out moment for me. But now, I don't wanna think about that match or that wrestler. It's not on the list, nor are there a lot of matches where Misawa gets dropped right on the top of his head.

Also: there are no HBK or King matches on my list. That is pure, inexplicable, personal taste. I can recognize their greatness as wrestlers and understand why some of their matches get all the stars... but for whatever reason I just don't like those guys and their matches don't do it for me.

Taste is a very strange thing. I love Neil Young but I don't like Springsteen. I love Dvorak but I can't get into Brahms. I dig Bret and Jumbo but HBK and King just leave me flat. Who can say why... and I don't even think the why is all that important.

If you fall down and skin your knee while eating a hot dog, when you are 5 years old... it's quite possible that, as an adult, you will hate hot dogs. You might be all, "I don't like hot dogs because they are greasy and salty and bad for you" but really it's some long-forgotten childhood trauma that's at the root of it. Doesn't matter, though. No use in pretending to like hot dogs if you really don't. Grab a burrito or a hamburger instead , and enjoy it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 8 months later...

I always love doing lists like these and seeing other people's choices.

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For variety's sake I had no duplicates, and keep in mind that I'm a relatively new wrestling fan and haven't seen nearly as much 60s-80s as I have wanted to, and that I've only recently gotten into lucha libre.

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  • 3 years later...

We just did our annual vote for the Greatest Matches Ever over at the GME board and I figured I'd bump this thread and share my new list top 100 and encourage others to share theirs. 

 

100. Chikayo Nagashima vs Sugar Sato (Street Fight - Oz Academy - 11/4/02)
99. Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer & Beulah vs Mick Foley, Edge & Lita (ECW One Night Stand 6/11/06)
98. Rob Van Dam & Bill Alfonso vs Tommy Dreamer & Beulah (ECW As Good as it Gets - 9/20/97)
97. Midnight Express vs Road Warriors (Night of the Skywalkers Scaffold Match - JCP Starrcade - 11/27/86)
96. Eddy Guerrero & Love Machine & Fuerza Guerrera vs El Hijo del Santo & Blue Panther & Octagon (AAA - 8/28/93)
95. Crusher Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Kaissey vs Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke (AWA - 3/13/83)
94. Buzz Sawyer vs Tommy Rich (Last Battle of Atlanta Steel Cage Match - GCW - 10/23/83)
93. LA Park vs Dr Wagner Jr (TXT - 5/11/13)
92. El Hijo del Santo & Scorpio Jr & Bestia Salvaje vs Negro Casas & El Dandy & Hector Garza (CMLL - 11/29/96)
91. Steve Austin vs Dude Love (No DQ Falls Count Anywhere - WWF Over the Edge - 5/31/98)
90. Invader I vs Ron Starr (WWC - 9/19/86)
89. El Hijo del Santo vs La Parka (Monterrey - 12/23/01)
88. Atsushi Onita vs Great Sasuke (No Rope Barbed Wire Time Bomb Exploding Landmine Double Hell Death Match - Michinoku Pro - 10/30/94)
87. Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr vs Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy (AJPW - 8/31/83)
86. La Parka & Rey Mysterio Sr & Halloween vs Rey Mysterio Jr & Damian 666 & Vampiro (Tijuana - 10/26/01)
85. Terry Funk vs Sabu (Barbed Wire Death Match - ECW Born to be Wired - 8/9/97)
84. Kiyoshi Tamura vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto (RINGS - 6/24/99)
83. Randy Savage vs Ultimate Warrior (Retirement Match - WWF WrestleMania VII - 3/24/91)
82. Kiyoshi Tamura vs Vader (UWFi - 6/10/94)
81. Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr vs Abdullah the Butcher & The Sheik (AJPW - 12/13/79)
80. Tully Blanchard vs Ron Garvin (JCP - 5/3/86)
79. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger (UWF - 12/5/84)
78. El Dandy vs Pirata Morgan (Hair vs Hair - EMLL - 9/23/88)
77. El Satanico vs Sangre Chicana (EMLL - 5/26/89)
76. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJWP - 1/28/86)
75. Greg Valentine vs Roddy Piper (JCP - 7/9/83)
74. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai (AJW - 11/26/92)
73. Shinya Hashimoto & Takashi Iizuka vs Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murakami (NJPW - 1/4/00)
72. El Satanico vs El Dandy (Hair vs Hair - EMLL - 12/14/90)
71. Buzz Sawyer vs Jim Duggan (UWF - 11/11/85)
70. Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto vs Masanobu Kurisu & Kendo Nagasaki (Texas Death Match - FMW - 4/1/90)
69. Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne vs Nasty Boys (Chicago Street Fight - WCW Spring Stampede - 4/17/94)
68. Carlos Colon vs Hercules Ayala (Fire Match - WWC - 9/10/88)
67. El Hijo del Santo & Octagon vs Eddy Guerrero & Love Machine (Double Mask vs Double Hair - AAA - 11/16/94)
66. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas (AJPW - 5/25/92)
65. Fabulous Ones vs Moondogs (CWA - 4/4/83)
64. Devil Masami vs Chigusa Nagayo (AJW - 8/22/85)
63. Sgt Slaughter & JYD vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (WWF - 10/13/84)
62. El Hijo del Santo vs El Dandy vs Negro Casas (Mask vs Hair vs Hair - CMLL - 12/6/86)
61. Bull Nakano & Grizzly Iwamoto vs Aja Kong & Bison Kimura (AJW - 8/19/90)
60. Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Tommy Rich & Austin Idol (Double Jeopardy - CWA - 3/16/87)
59. Fabulous Ones vs Moondogs (Stretcher Match - CWA - 5/2/83)
58. Jaguar Yokota vs La Galactica (AJW - 2/27/85)
57. Fuerza Guerrera vs Octagon (EMLL - 11/1/91)
56. The Destroyer vs Giant Baba (JWA - 3/5/69)
55. The Rock & Roll Express vs The Russians (JCP - 7/9/85)
54. Atsushi Onita vs Terry Funk (No Rope Barbed Wire Exploding Ring Death Match - FMW - 5/5/93)
53. Johnny Valentine vs Wild Bull Curry (Houston - 6/20/69)
52. Sgt Slaughter vs Iron Sheik (Boot Camp Match - WWF - 6/16/84)
51. Jerry Lawler vs King Kong Bundy ($10,000 Challenge - CWA 7/16/84)
50. Aja Kong vs Bull Nakano (Cage Match - AJW - 11/14/90)
49. Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (RINGS - 6/27/98)
48. Terry Funk & Hiroshi Ono vs Shoji Nakamaki & Nobutaka Araya (Hair vs Hair No Rope Barbed Wire Fire Death Match - IWA Japan - 11/13/94)
47. El Hijo del Santo & Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto vs Negro Casas & Tim Patterson & Horace Boulder (FMW/WWA - 5/16/92)
46. Akira Hokuto vs Shinobu Kandori (AJW - 12/6/93)
45. Kiyoshi Tamura vs Volk Han (RINGS - 1/22/97)
44. Bull Nakano vs Devil Masami (JWP - 4/18/93)
43. Fabulous Ones vs Moondogs (No DQ Loser Leaves Town - CWA - 1/16/84)
42. Kerry Von Erich & Kevin Von Erich vs Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy (Country Whipping Match - WCCW - 11/4/83)
41. Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Tommy Rich & Austin Idol (Texas Death Match - CWA - 3/23/87)
40. Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr vs Abdullah the Butcher & The Sheik (AJPW - 12/9/78)
39. Akira Hokuto & Aja Kong vs Shinobu Kandori & Eagle Sawai (AJW DreamSlam II - 4/11/93)
38. Kerry Von Erich vs Michael Hayes (Country Whipping Match - WCCW - 9/5/83)
37. El Hijo del Santo & Negro Casas (Mask vs Hair - CMLL - 9/19/97)
36. Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda (No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match - FMW - 5/5/96)
35. Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk (No DQ - CWA - 3/23/81)
34. Jerry Lawler & Randy Savage vs King Kong Bundy & Rick Rude (CWA - 9/10/84)
33. Terry Funk vs Stan Hansen (AJPW - 4/14/83)
32. Ric Flair vs Ricky Morton (Cage Match - 7/5/86)
31. Sangre Chicana vs Perro Aguayo (Hair vs Hair - EMLL - 2/28/86)
30. Sangre Chicana vs MS-1 (Hair vs Hair - EMLL - 9/23/83)
29. Invader I vs Al Perez (Street Fight - WWC - 10/26/86)
28. Tully Blanchard vs Magnum TA (I Quit Cage Match - JCP Starrcade - 11/28/85)
27. Kerry Von Erich vs Michael Hayes (Loser Leaves Town Cage Match - WCCW - 11/24/83)
26. Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee (Loser Leaves Town - CWA - 12/30/85)
25. Jerry Lawler vs Andy Kaufman & Colossus of Death (Handicap Piledriver Match - CWA - 5/2/83)
24. Jerry Lawler vs Andy Kaufman (Boxing Match - CWA - 11/4/83)
23. Andy Kaufman vs Jimmy Hart (CWA - 7/11/83)
22. Jerry Lawler vs Andy Kaufman (CWA - 4/5/82)
21. Midnight Express vs Rock & Roll Express (Night of the Skywalkers Scaffold Match - JCP Starrcade - 11/26/87)
20. The Rock vs Hollywood Hogan (WWE WrestleMania 18 - 3/17/02)
19. Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk (Empty Arena Match - CWA - 4/6/81)
18. Alexander Otsuka vs Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (BattlArts - 11/19/99)
17. Chicky Starr vs Invader III (Scaffold Match - WWC - 5/86)
16. Roddy Piper vs Greg Valentine (Dog Collar Match - JCP Starrcade - 11/24/83)
15. Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW - 7/29/93)
14. Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr vs Abdullah the Butcher & The Sheik (AJPW - 12/15/77)
13. Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr vs Abdullah the Butcher & The Sheik (AJPW - 7/15/79)
12. Infierno en el Ring (CMLL - 9/28/01)
11. Stan Hansen vs Andre the Giant (NJPW - 9/23/81)
10. The Four Horsemen & JJ Dillon vs The Super Powers & Paul Ellering (WarGames - JCP - 7/4/87)
9. Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen (AJPW - 11/29/89)
8. Jerry Lawler vs Austin Idol (Loser Leaves Town Hair vs Hair Steel Cage Match - CWA - 4/27/87)
7. Crush Gals vs Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano (AJW - 10/10/85)
6. Dump Matsumoto vs Itsuki Yamazaki (AJW - 8/21/86)
5. Dump Matsumoto vs Chigusa Nagayo (Hair vs Hair - AJW - 8/28/85)
4. Dump Matsumoto vs Chigusa Nagayo (Hair vs Hair - AJW - 11/7/86)
3. Akira Hokuto vs Shinobu Kandori (AJW DreamSlam - 4/2/93)
2. Akira Hokuto & Shinobu Kandori vs Aja Kong & Bull Nakano (AJW Queendom - 3/27/94)
1. Dump Matsumoto vs Yukari Ohmoi (AJW - 3/20/86)

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Congrats on updating your list. Talk to me about how 1-7 is AJW and then the promotion doesn’t show up again until almost 40. That’s immediately something that stands out to me. Is the peak of what the promotion could be just higher than anything else but there are only seven matches in that peak or is it match by match and just worked out that way?

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My 2021 ballot is as follows:

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I'm more comfortable with tiers than linear rankings, so it's probably best to view my list as top 30-power gap-middle 30-power gap-bottom 40.

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  On 11/24/2021 at 11:55 AM, Matt D said:

Congrats on updating your list. Talk to me about how 1-7 is AJW and then the promotion doesn’t show up again until almost 40. That’s immediately something that stands out to me. Is the peak of what the promotion could be just higher than anything else but there are only seven matches in that peak or is it match by match and just worked out that way?

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On break at work but I'll toss some quick thoughts out. 

Itst just sort of match by match and works out that way. I think peak Matsumoto 85-86 is the most compelling performer in wrestling history. There isn't anyone else working like her. So even though they both took place on AJW cards in August 1985,  something like Chigusa vs Devil 8/22/85 that I ranked  64, may as well take place in an entirely different universe from the Dump vs Chigusa match from 8/28/85. So its not just that what AJW was doing was better than everything else, its that Dump Matsumoto specifically was operating at a higher level for that era.  Realisitcally I could have included more of her matches, like a lot more, but then I'd have less room for Moondogs or Beulah. :)

But seriuosly, I've been banging the drum on Dump vs Ohmori for the last several years. I thought if I was going to have that at #1, those other matches vs Chigusa, vs Itzuki & the 10/85 tag match are all really special and approaching that level anyway. 

Same thing with Hokuto/Kandori matches. I think early-mid 90s AJW is an amazing promotion with some of the best matches ever, but the Hokuto/Kandori rivalry is atypical for them. You can't compare what they're doing with what Kyoko or Toyota  are doing even though its all under the "AJW" umbrella if that makes sense? Hokuto & Kandori are working on a much grander scale.  Like there are 4 total matches as part of the Hokuto/Kandori feud starting with DreamSlam I and finishing with the Queendom tag. They're all in my top 50. 

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