Workers who never had their best match

[Richeyedwards]

One from the ajpw midcard Satoru Asako, he did have some properly great matches as part of six man's when he was the lowest rung of the super generation army in 93,94,95 etc Akiyama had suppassed him by mid 93. But he always seemed like he could be really good but never had a great singles match. I think he is a casualty of the ajpw doesn't care about the juniors idea from the 90s. where so little of the even the title matches made tape and certainly not in full most of the time.

He did have a couple of good matches in early Noah but never felt like he had a **** level singles match with somone like a fuchi or kroffat that i feel he was capable of.

He did retire in early 2002 at only 31 so wasnt able to play the part of the vetran jr fighting KENTA, Marufuji, suguira, Kanemaru, Hashi etc for that long he also just missed some of the njpw noah Jr stuff which gave some heated matches.

[Jmare007]

What about Chono? Haven't watch the first G-1 Final or the Rude match in almost a decade but would those qualify as his best match possible?

[Dale Wolfe]

After watching 

1995.04.16 - Hashimoto vs. Regal 

I now retract my statement about Regal not having a best match, this is almost definitely it

[DR Ackermann]

You could add Waltman to the list as someone who never really had THAT MATCH despite their abilities. Other than this what would be the best match he ever had? One of his early Jerry Lynn matches?

I remember in Jericho's first book after he had screwed up in the ring so many times Vince told him he had to go over all of his matches with Waltman ahead of time.

[DR Ackermann]

3 hours ago, Dale Wolfe said:

After watching 

1995.04.16 - Hashimoto vs. Regal 

I now retract my statement about Regal not having a best match, this is almost definitely it

A long time since I've seen it but his final match with Claudio in NXT is really great.

[Timbo Slice]

I think there’s a lot of people mistaking being in their best match for LEADING their best match. Which takes away a ton of wrestlers. 

[DR Ackermann]

11 hours ago, DR Ackermann said:

A long time since I've seen it but his final match with Claudio in NXT is really great.

It really has been awhile. It might have actually been the Chris Hero match from that same year 

[Jetlag]

Sonoko Kato seems like a good contender. I think her story was that an injury derailed her career. She's had some good matches in the 2000s, but nothing on the level of other contemporaries like Meiko or Ayako Hamada, or what her early work was hinting at.

There seem to be a lot of early GAEA workers whom this applies to due to retiring early. Chihiro Nakano, Rina Ishi, Hiromi Kato etci...

[G. Badger]

Mariko Yoshida, she started working her way up in AJW then injury put her on the shelf. Then really comes back and reinvents herself in Arsion. But she doesn't really have that top tier competition night in, night out had her ascent not been disrupted.

[ohtani's jacket]

If Yoshida hadn't moved to ARSION then I doubt she would have done shoot style. I can't imagine her having matches in '99-03 AJW as good as her matches against Yagi, Fukawa or Fuji, but it's possible. Perhaps she gets Momoe's spot and has some great matches. 

[Jetlag]

I can't think of more high quality competition for Yoshida to face than Hiromi Yagi. Aja Kong and young Ayako Hamada weren't too shabby, either.

[Rah]

With them often being called one of the best American teams of the last 20+ years (and one of the best in WWE ever), would Usos be a good answer?

Like, is there a match where you can go 'yep that's their definitive performance'?

[NintendoLogic]

The HIAC match with the New Day would probably be the closest.

[Dav'oh]

Well, they've certainly had enough chances to have their "definitive performance". And in this age of highly planned-out and rehearsed matches, if you say you haven't had your best match then what the fuck. 

[KawadaSmile]

9 hours ago, Rah said:

With them often being called one of the best American teams of the last 20+ years (and one of the best in WWE ever), would Usos be a good answer?

Like, is there a match where you can go 'yep that's their definitive performance'?

The HIAC match against New Day, the six man tag with Roman vs Drew, Orton and Riddle, and the 2/3 Falls match against the Wyatt Family are some of the best things they have produced.

[sek69]

On 7/4/2022 at 3:56 AM, Dale Wolfe said:

Never saw any Jake Roberts in AAA. Sounds like something i should get into 

Your mileage may vary since AAA since day one has tended to be an acquired taste, but his run leading up to the first Triplemania main event is probably his best work. 

[Clayton Jones]

Their matches VS Harper/Rowan and in the tag team gauntlet with Bryan in February 2015 are also excellent. I don't think the Usos really fit the bill.

Matt Borne and Brad Armstrong were names that immediately came to mind for me. I know both have some really good career highlights, but did either ever have their career defining matches?

[NintendoLogic]

For Borne, wouldn't the 2/3 falls match with Marty Jannetty qualify?

[Hollinger.]

Jake is the first guy that came to mind for me. He had several very good/great matches, but had he stayed healthyish and soberish in the 90s, I think he was capable of a lot more than we got. 

[Clayton Jones]

6 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

For Borne, wouldn't the 2/3 falls match with Marty Jannetty qualify?

I think that's his best match I've seen, but I also could see the argument that it's just a taste of what could have been. I'm not sure if I'm more of that opinion or that it was his perfect moment in the sun, given what he brought to the table in the era.

[Al]

Borne is in a category of guys who probably had great matches that just aren’t on film.

[JerryvonKramer]

On 7/4/2022 at 6:23 AM, Timbo Slice said:

Ted had the cage match with Duggan which is incredible. Mike Rotunda holds the distinction of not just himself, but his kids, too. Amazing accomplishment. 

Thing is though, Ted's rep was as a great technical worker and I don't think he ever had THAT match. Closest were probably the Savage matches in WWF, but still. Even in Japan he never seems to get out of 2nd gear. I saw this as one of Ted's biggest fans.

[Chess Knight]

This is maybe purely stylistic preferences talking but I can envision a universe where Jamie Noble goes full Battlarts and has a total classic.

What about Matt Sydal? He was always a great underdog babyface worker but has maybe one match I can think of (vs. Chavo) that could be put beside dozens of babyface-from-beneath WWE matches. On the opposite side (heel-from-atop), I'm a huge Mark Henry fan and he has way more really good matches than people give him credit for, but I dunno if I could name THE Mark Henry match that hit the highest possible ceiling. Maybe I need to rewatch some of that 2008 ECW I loved so much.

I don't wanna make this thread about Raven discourse and I'm really not a fan of him, but his match with Rhino at Backlash is like pretty much a perfect WWF gimmick match to me. I could theoretically see him having better with an Austin, though.

[strobogo]

On 7/21/2022 at 6:04 AM, Rah said:

With them often being called one of the best American teams of the last 20+ years (and one of the best in WWE ever), would Usos be a good answer?

Like, is there a match where you can go 'yep that's their definitive performance'?

The Usos/New Day match from Summerslam pre-show in 2017 was the WWE match of the year

[Jmare007]

Do we have a defining, classic match/performance by Claudio? Never really thought about it but he kinda is the modern version of "always great, barely got the chance to have a classic of his own". Could it be one of the Generico matches?

I loved what he did against Reigns but wouldn't call it career defining classic match. And after that he has shit load of good-to-great matches from 07' onwards (didn't think much of him as a singles wrestler before that) but I'm not sure we have THE Claudio match...yet.