1990

[Grimmas]

Who is the greatest wrestler of the year?

[Jetlag]

El Dandy... Mitsuharu Misawa... Jumbo. If you want an outsider candidate - Shinobu Kandori.

[Grimmas]

I did a podcast on this and easily had Bull Nakano number one. Being the complete ace and having many classics, but also telling the story in her work of slowing down after each and every big title defense. It's a thing of beauty.

[Boss Rock]

I lean Jumbo. The Pillars were already very good but still coming into their own. Jumbo really helped make Misawa in those matches and was always a killer in tags.

[DylanZero]

Jumbo was the one who elevated literally everyone around him. Far and away the best wrestler in the world this year. I think you could argue it's one of the best singular years ever by a talent. Every match he was featured in he was excellent. 

[SmartMark15]

Definitely Jumbo but there's some very good competitive picks for this year. Feel like Satanico and Dandy both deserve a shout from Mexico. Even outside of their feud with each other which is the crux of their case, they both do a whole lot of really strong stuff in EMLL throughout the year. Dandy probably gets the nudge for those great title matches with Azteca but Satanico is a joy in trios and tags all year long.

I think Jumbo holds down All Japan in one of its most important years and he was the one that really helped bring all the Pillars up to his own level. Misawa and the rest all improved rapidly to meet the challenge but I don't know if they put everything together quite as well without Jumbo being an anchor throughout the year.

[ohtani's jacket]

Even I can't argue with Jumbo for this year. Satanico, Dandy and Fujiwara the best of the rest. 

[elliott]

Bull Nakano isn't just the best wrestler on Earth in 1990, she's up there for coolest living human in 1990. 

Runner Up - Jumbo, who else?

[Mr JMML]

Jumbo is the greatest wrestler of the year for me. El Dandy is my runner up.

[KB8]

Roberto Gutierrez El Dandy. Fujiwara might be #2. The Jumbo/Misawa matches are good but I didn't LOVE them on re-watch, although Jumbo's still brilliant in tags that year as he fully embraced his grumpy old man side. 

[cad]

Mexico:
1. El Dandy
2. Fuerza Guerrera
3. Angel Azteca
HM (so I guess fourth): Pirata Morgan

Another CMLL only year, but with fewer shows missing than 1989. My top two from last year, Emilio Charles and Dandy, both had programs with Angel Azteca early in the year, with Charles' solid and predictable whereas Dandy's was intense and creative. I'd say Dandy took over as number one pretty much from the start and held the rest of the promotion at arm's length almost all year. Only in the final few months did Fuerza manage to keep pace with him, as his crafting a hot feud with two different guys simultaneously impressed me just as much as Dandy vs Satanico. Angel Azteca spent most of the year in matches with excellent workers and never once looked out of place or in over his head, and very often figured in the high points of those matches. Pirata hadn't declined from his 1989 level, but the dissolution of the Bucaneros left him with fewer chances to put on a show. He still managed a very famous match against part timer Faraon.

There was a time when Dandy's 1990 used to be talked about as one of the all time great years a wrestler ever had, and from the looks of the replies in the thread he's still considered up there with (and maybe even above) anyone else in the world.

My top ten matches:

Spoiler

1. Angel Azteca vs El Dandy (June 1)
2. Fuerza Guerrera vs Pantera
3. Mogur vs Pierroth Jr.
4. MS-1, Pierroth Jr. and Ulises vs Dandy, Mogur and Popitekus
5. Atlantis, Sangre Chicana and Dandy vs Satanico, Universo 2000 and Ulises
6. Cien Caras vs Rayo de Jalisco Jr.
7. Lasser, Robin Hood and Danny Boy vs Tigro, Panthro and Leono (August 17)
8. Dandy, Texano and Chavo Guerrero vs Americo Rocca, Javier Cruz and Angel Azteca (March 16)
9. Satanico vs El Dandy (December 14)
10. Atlantis, Angel Azteca and Astro de Oro vs Espectro de Ultratumba, Espectro Jr. and Gran Markus Jr.

[Mr JMML]

6 hours ago, cad said:

Mexico:
1. El Dandy
2. Fuerza Guerrera
3. Angel Azteca
HM (so I guess fourth): Pirata Morgan

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Angel Azteca vs El Dandy (June 1)
2. Fuerza Guerrera vs Pantera
3. Mogur vs Pierroth Jr.
4. MS-1, Pierroth Jr. and Ulises vs Dandy, Mogur and Popitekus
5. Atlantis, Sangre Chicana and Dandy vs Satanico, Universo 2000 and Ulises
6. Cien Caras vs Rayo de Jalisco Jr.
7. Lasser, Robin Hood and Danny Boy vs Tigro, Panthro and Leono (August 17)
8. Dandy, Texano and Chavo Guerrero vs Americo Rocca, Javier Cruz and Angel Azteca (March 16)
9. Satanico vs El Dandy (December 14)
10. Atlantis, Angel Azteca and Astro de Oro vs Espectro de Ultratumba, Espectro Jr. and Gran Markus Jr.

Where's Satánico?

[cad]

I'm generally down on all of Satanico's major 1990 matches vs the consensus (really that holds for all of the '90s). I saw the Dandy hair match as a big match that delivered rather than an absolute classic. Thought their other match was good but not anything special. As a whole the feud had a lot of forgettable matches that just kept the angle moving for TV. In the Angel Azteca-Dandy rivalry, I preferred the matches with Rocca/Guerrero to those with Satanico/Atlantis. Didn't really have an opinion on the Estrada match and don't even know what the general opinion of it is. With so many matches that I'm the low man on, he doesn't feel like a guy I need to be shouting out. I'd take Angel Azteca's 1990 resume over his fairly easily, and peak Pirata > postprime Satanico to me.

You can see from this thread though that I'm an outlier here, so you don't need to take my thoughts on those matches too seriously.

[KB8]

Love that someone else is as high on that Fuerza/Pantera match as me. I haven't watched it in a long, long time now, but I did re-watch Dandy/Azteca (June 1st) the other night (albeit half asleep) and it fell strangely flat for me considering I would've called it a top 50 match ever a few years ago. I'm not saying I'd definitely put Fuerza/Pantera over it, but I do feel like giving that a re-watch to see how they compare now. Either way I agree that it's a top 5 CMLL match of the year, and 1990 CMLL is one of my favourite calendar years for any company in history. 

[Mr JMML]

7 hours ago, cad said:

I'm generally down on all of Satanico's major 1990 matches vs the consensus (really that holds for all of the '90s). I saw the Dandy hair match as a big match that delivered rather than an absolute classic. Thought their other match was good but not anything special. As a whole the feud had a lot of forgettable matches that just kept the angle moving for TV. In the Angel Azteca-Dandy rivalry, I preferred the matches with Rocca/Guerrero to those with Satanico/Atlantis. Didn't really have an opinion on the Estrada match and don't even know what the general opinion of it is. With so many matches that I'm the low man on, he doesn't feel like a guy I need to be shouting out. I'd take Angel Azteca's 1990 resume over his fairly easily, and peak Pirata > postprime Satanico to me.

You can see from this thread though that I'm an outlier here, so you don't need to take my thoughts on those matches too seriously.

Thanks for the explanation, I really like your opinions and logic.

[cad]

17 hours ago, Mr JMML said:

Thanks for the explanation, I really like your opinions and logic.

That's nice of you to say, thanks.

21 hours ago, KB8 said:

I did re-watch Dandy/Azteca (June 1st) the other night (albeit half asleep) and it fell strangely flat for me considering I would've called it a top 50 match ever a few years ago.

I wanna let you know, you break my heart, although not as much as the protracted discussion in the Dandy thread about whether it's even good at all. That match might be top 1 for me. But maybe its time has come and gone, and I'm just clinging to an opinion that was fashionable ten years ago.

[Microstatistics]

1. Yoshiaki Fujiwara

2. Jumbo Tsuruta

3. Jushin Liger

4. Vader

5. El Satanico