Loss

It's possible for women to be better at the same things than men. I know you used Christina Aguilera as your example, but surely there are songs by women you like better than songs by men.

Charisma is a good universal criterion. Depending on where you wrestle, you're expected to display that charisma in different ways. In the U.S., there is obviously a bigger focus on showing it verbally. When comparing wrestlers internationally, I think you have to find the things wrestlers are expected to do across all settings and compare them based on that. But yeah, for interview delivery, there are people like Choshu and Hokuto that rival just about anyone from the U.S.

WCW really needed young heavyweights that could work in the Nitro era and didn't have too many.

Why not? That deserves further explanation.

That's sexist.

This is a fancy way of saying you don't take my opinion seriously. I keep telling you I would be happy to make a short list of Joshi For People Who Don't Like Joshi recommendations. Hope to be taken up on it sometime.

That was Scott Williams, who turned in a ballot without participating in any discussions. I put him in the same category as other 80s hardcores like Jeff Bowdren and John McAdam -- they made up their mind about who they like decades ago and see no reason to think about it anymore. DiBiase was a huge hardcore favorite at the time. I'd imagine a similar poll done in the 1980s would have DiBiase in the top ten, maybe even top five.

Seems like I've heard of some Nord matches from All Japan that are well-received (I'm guessing for reasons that don't have much to do with him). *checks* Yep: 01/30/94 Hansen & Nord & P Williams vs. Williams & Slinger & Gunn *** 02/06/94 Hansen & nord & Costello vs. Kawada & Taue & Omori ***1/2 02/27/94 Hansen & Nord & Van Dam vs. Misawa & Kobashi & Akiyama *** Nord is the Mid South Barbarian, correct? If so, he had a handful of really strong matches where he's being carried, but isn't useless. I wouldn't put him ahead of HHH, but he wasn't terrible.

And GOD was that European crowd insane when he faced Davey Boy!

It's a shame Shawn had broken down so much by the end of 1997, because they finally had him in the perfect role.

It's possible you're right. I'm just saying I could never tell.

To be fair (sort of), Wade has always had a healthy amount of speculation in what he writes. I think in his mind he somehow thinks it's his job to "hype" what he's reporting, so he throws stuff out like that to create intrigue. I might be off on that, but that's the only thing that makes sense to me.

I could never tell in ECW if Shane Douglas was hated because he was a great heel and fans were into his act, or if he was hated because people wanted him to go away and never return.

They didn't ignore the crowd at all. I agree that's not a definition of great work. It's also not what happened in this match. (I know you're quoting Graham Crackers)

This a million times. There are times when you can blame the wrestlers for a bland crowd, because they're not really involving the audience in the match. This is anything but one of those cases. All four guys (five, counting Cornette) know this is a big chance for them to show their stuff and really bust their asses. It's really hard to get over cold with a Northeast crowd, but they do their best. Tremendous match.

I still don't think we're in an informed enough position, to be honest. We're still in the stage where people are discovering and watching old stuff that hasn't really been seen or discussed much. When you can get a few dozen people who are equally familiar with Continental, PWFG, Joshi, lucha libre, European wrestling, early 90s indies, Lou Thesz matches, all the 70s AJ & NJ Classics and so on, then we're ready. I think if we did one now, it would end up looking like the 2006 one -- acting more as a time capsule of what online sentiment was in 2012 than a definitive list that can withstand the test of time. I would want a yearbook for every single year of wrestling from 1980-present, along with something compiled similarly for the 70s and before where everyone voting has waded through all of that before trying it again. In other words, we're nowhere close to ready.

I've never seen trash pelted at DiBiase (which is my personal barometer for getting heat) and crowd noise was so piped in at that point that it's hard to get a feel for genuine heat. I really, genuinely loved his act at that point and I know people hated him. But did they hate him so much that they wanted to jump the rails and attack him? The MSG cage match is the only example I can think of there, but then I think of 1987 Ric Flair in the cage against Jimmy Garvin with a few fans trying to climb the cage and Flair's reaction when he crawls away to get away from Ron Garvin being pretty awesome. And that was hardly the only example of a fan getting feisty during that time. DiBiase is definitely in the running for most hated WWF heels. But most hated heels in all of wrestling? Probably not.

Dave has the school of thought that instead of elevating Cena to Rock's level, they're bringing Rock down to Cena's level. Is this accurate?

In terms of a visceral, hate-filled reaction, I've never seen another heel consistently get the reaction Shawn Michaels got in 1997 during the last few months of the year.

Which Kudo matches were disappointing? I loved her WWWA title match challenging Kong. I'm not doubting you, I'm just curious which ones.

I forgot Devil Masami was ranked so highly, which probably wouldn't happen this time around, but still makes me happy nonetheless. I would definitely bang the drum for Megumi Kudo this time around. I think she's better than many of the far more loved AJW and JWP wrestlers of the time period. El-P will object, but Hotta would generally do well for me too.

I don't know if this is the best WWF tag ever, but it definitely came out of nowhere and was a legit great match when I saw it recently: Bret Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs Owen Hart & Bob Backlund (WWF Action Zone 02/26/95) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-DmH6dn3VY

THAT is absolutely amazing. Five billion stars. This is pretty much what it sounds like when he and I talk, although I don't swear very often.

The '91 Clash match is their shortest -- and best -- match. Only about five minutes, but incredibly heated and dramatic.

But that alone doesn't make Dave Taylor a better baker. ETA: Especially if making the cookie is pretty easy relative to the cake.