southofheavy Posted August 16, 2016 Report Share Posted August 16, 2016 JCP/WCW, from when I first started watching wrestling at the age of four in '85 up until just after Hogan came in. The first wrestling I ever saw was an episode of Superstars. Hoss had Jim Thompson or whoever the fuck in a Boston Crab and Terry dropped a knee on the back of his head. Hogan cut a promo after that and by the end of the show, I was hooked. I watched everything I could, and what really grabbed me was the NWA, and more specifically, JCP. Don't get me wrong, I loved the WWF, but I was the weird kid on the playground that liked the NWA more, and NO ONE had my back. My fandom and watching habits would go through phases, naturally, but I remember really checking out on WCW not too long after Hogan came in. I don't think it was specifically about him, really, though I remember being totally over him and not really digging the fact that WCW's mainstays weren't the focal point of the show anymore. I was going through some rough family shit at the time and started playing music, so I kinda drifted on wrestling as a whole for a while. It wasn't until ECW, RAW and then Nitro came along that I really got invested again. But damn, nothing tops JCP/WCW for me. I've seen the promotion get analyzed to death on this and other boards, and it definitely wasn't perfect. But during it's heyday, it was the coolest promotion ever, in my opinion. Seeing The Great Muta do a moonsault for the first time tore my wig off. The Four Horsemen, Sting, 6:05 eastern time, The Road Warriors, The Rock and Roll Express, The Midnights, Jim Cornette, Clash of the Champions, Wargames...fuck. Do I really even have to explain it? JCP/WCW IS professional wrestling to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeg Posted August 18, 2016 Report Share Posted August 18, 2016 ECW it's what introduced me to everything else. So many of my favorite guess and angle AJPW from the debut until Baba's death. Probably the GOAt promotion. Mid South 81 ish to 86 ish. Watts at his best. Do aide at his best NOAH debut show until Misawa's death. I don't think there is anything I love more than Burnong vs Strerness feud the interpersonal feuds etc Toryumon 99 until the name change. It had some crazy angles. Great feuds , M2K vs Crazy Max, etc. Genki Horiguchi's run at El Numerous Uno 2003, Michinoku Pro 1993 to 1997. Kaientai Dx plus other goodies World Class 1982 1984. I love the whole Von Erich vs Freebird feud BJW 2006 to 2011. That was the height of their deathmatches as well as the height of the Strong BJ division RINGS Han, Tamura. Yamamato, TK, random Dutch kick boxers etc what a great promotion. WWF 85 to 93. This is what I grew up on. FMW 89 to 1995. Did anybody do big stadium spectacle better than Onita? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahoos Leg Posted August 18, 2016 Report Share Posted August 18, 2016 JCP/WCW from the time Steamboat came in up through when they started the Black Scorpion bit will always be one of my favorite timeframes SMW -- watched every week on WCYB and had I been 5-10 years older, I probably would have tried to wrangle my way into working with or for them in some shape form or fashion CHIKARA during the meat of the whole BDK storyline ROH from the Summer of Punk up through the CZW feud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahoos Leg Posted August 18, 2016 Report Share Posted August 18, 2016 WWC: 2011- March 2016: Recent WWC is so good but no one talks about it because the TV is kinda bad. 2011 started the short-lived IWAPR vs WWC feud with a bunch of ex IWA guys like Chicano, Thunder and Lightning, Invader and others coming in. This period also featured Sandow coming in as Idol Stevens and really finding his footing. 2013 had the return of Savio Vega which led to the return of TNT and the rise of young guys that sadly didn't stay long like Chris Angel, Aj Castillo Abbad and the awesome Sons of Samoa tag team. Also had Ray Gonzalez being great as the lead babyface, the dominance of Mighty Ursus in 2015 and Mike Mendoza/El Cuervo. This year has been a mixed bag. It featured the what I believe is the feud of the year with Mendoza/Cuervo vs La Revolution(Masked shield gimmick that has lasted longer than the Shield ever did) and Mr. 450 having great matches week in and week out. These days it has gotten stale but I hope things pick up with the Chicano heel turn. Is the 2011 stuff available somewhere? I havent had much luck on Youtube maybe I am not looking the right places Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Microstatistics Posted August 18, 2016 Report Share Posted August 18, 2016 EMLL/CMLL 1983-1992 and 1996-97 Joint Promotions 1974-1984 JWP 1992-1997 All Japan Women 1977-1993 WCW 1989-1994 UWF I & II 1984-85 and 1988-90 PWFG 1991-1993 RINGS 1991-1999 IWRG 2008-2010 Outrageously hipster. I thought this was the "absolute favourite wrestling companies" thread not your most staid opinions on pro-wrestling! Besides, IWRG is the only really hipster pick. Maybe JWP and PWFG but I also included the major promotions for Joshi and shoot style. Fred Kohler's promotion might join my list soon. Don't see the hipster argument. Being a hipster usually implies rejecting "mainstream"/conventional stuff for the sake of rejecting it. Simply liking niche/lesser popular stuff more doesn't qualify. AJW and EMLL are hardly hipster picks anyways. Anyways mine: NJPW 1983-1996, probably the best run any company ever had in terms of variety, range and quality. EMLL 1984-1990 and 1996-97 NOAH, 2001-2006 AJPW, 1986-1995 RINGS at any stage BattlARTS at any stage UWF 1989-90 AJW 1990-94 WCW 1989-92 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted August 18, 2016 Report Share Posted August 18, 2016 If you combined the in-ring action of 1992 WCW with the booking of 1997 WWF, you'd have the perfect promotion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOTNW Posted August 18, 2016 Report Share Posted August 18, 2016 BJW 2006 to 2011. That was the height of their deathmatches as well as the height of the Strong BJ division The Strong BJ division is way better now that they have guys like Hideki Suzuki and Shuji Ishikawa to complement Chopmasters, as well as a group of very promising young guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankensteiner Posted August 18, 2016 Report Share Posted August 18, 2016 Some of my favorites: AWA 1984-1987. Martel, Bockwinkel, Hennig, Rockers were on fire. Blackwell face turn, Slaughter coming in. WWF 1984; 1992-1995. '84 is a great year with classic feuds like Slaughter/Sheik, Greg/Tito, and Piper/Snuka. Although Hogan was champ, he almost seemed kind of marginalized by comparison. The late '92-mid '94 period may be my favorite ever in the promotion. Bret, Perfect, Doink, Jannetty, Owen, Shawn, Kid, Steiners, Yoko... NJPW 1986-1987, 1992-1996. The first UWF feud is incredible, and then Hashimoto's rise to prominence in the 90s with Hase and Muto also making their mark. RINGS 1996-1997. There are some incredible matches that came before and after, but I think they hit their peak in '96-'97 when Tamura first came in and Han was still in his prime. BattlARTS 1997-1999. BattlArts second run was cool too but this part of their first run was better when they had better crowds and atmosphere. Mid-South 1984-1987. The period when DiBiase came back in 84 to feud with Duggan to about March of 87 when the writing was on the wall. CMLL 1990-1992. Atlantis and Dandy are two of my favorites and this was their peak. WCCW 1982-1985. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted August 18, 2016 Report Share Posted August 18, 2016 I thought it was about promotions you only wached as it happened. So, I have to add : AJPW 80-90s NJPW 80-90s Doh ! FMW, from start to finish (well, until the Hayabusa accident let's say) UWF/UWF/UWF I/RINGS, shoot-style heaven and that sort of things. Zenjo 90's, when the women were better than most men JWP until the curse crashed them down : see above, with that underdog feel (and those dead crowds at points too) And of course, I forgot, my beloved Lucha Underground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superkix Posted August 22, 2016 Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 BJW 2006 to 2011. That was the height of their deathmatches as well as the height of the Strong BJ division The Strong BJ division is way better now that they have guys like Hideki Suzuki and Shuji Ishikawa to complement Chopmasters, as well as a group of very promising young guys. Definitely agree. Now that Kazuki Hashimoto is returning soon, they have the best Strong BJ roster they've had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeg Posted August 23, 2016 Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 BJW 2006 to 2011. That was the height of their deathmatches as well as the height of the Strong BJ division The Strong BJ division is way better now that they have guys like Hideki Suzuki and Shuji Ishikawa to complement Chopmasters, as well as a group of very promising young guys. Definitely agree. Now that Kazuki Hashimoto is returning soon, they have the best Strong BJ roster they've had. They've had an uptick this year, no doubt. but 2012,2013,2014, and a large chunk of 2015 were down periods for the Strong Division as this new crop of guys were greener than goose shit and are just now reaching their own. Guys retired, left, moved, etc., and then it took 3 or 4 years to build the company back up after loosing guys like Sasaki and Sasaki. Plus the biggest problem with Strong BJ right now is that after 7 or 8 years of blugening one another there is diminished returns on every stiff shot, every snug strike gets less of a reaction from fewer people in the crowd than it would have a year before. Their crowds are slightly better this year, but still not good and they aren't reacting to anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOTNW Posted August 23, 2016 Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 BJW 2006 to 2011. That was the height of their deathmatches as well as the height of the Strong BJ division The Strong BJ division is way better now that they have guys like Hideki Suzuki and Shuji Ishikawa to complement Chopmasters, as well as a group of very promising young guys. Definitely agree. Now that Kazuki Hashimoto is returning soon, they have the best Strong BJ roster they've had. They've had an uptick this year, no doubt. but 2012,2013,2014, and a large chunk of 2015 were down periods for the Strong Division as this new crop of guys were greener than goose shit and are just now reaching their own. Guys retired, left, moved, etc., and then it took 3 or 4 years to build the company back up after loosing guys like Sasaki and Sasaki. Plus the biggest problem with Strong BJ right now is that after 7 or 8 years of blugening one another there is diminished returns on every stiff shot, every snug strike gets less of a reaction from fewer people in the crowd than it would have a year before. Their crowds are slightly better this year, but still not good and they aren't reacting to anything. Are you sure you're not actually talking about NOAH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeg Posted August 23, 2016 Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 NOAH has the same problem only worse to the point it's been unwatchable for awhile. Personally I dontbknow how NOAh isn't dead. I mean to me the thing with BJW is they went a long stretch where they were reconditioning their fans as they were changing their product and they were drawing flies and the fans they were drawing were sitting on their hands and that took away from the matches for me. From like March of 2012 to March of 2015 when the Twin Towers came in, the AJPW crew came back, the young kids had gained some experience, etc the product was suffering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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