Loss

I'm a firm believer that any match from any promotion, style or era can be compared to any match from a different promotion, style or era. There were also great matches in 80s WWF. It may not have been as emphasized, but many times, wrestlers managed to have great matches while still serving their many masters.

Same for BattlARTS: Minoru Tanaka vs Yoshihiro Taijiri (BattlARTS 01/20/98) Yuki Ishikawa vs Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 01/20/98) Yuki Ishikawa & Naohiro Ishikawa vs Minoru Tanaka & Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS 02/07/98) Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs Tiger Mask & Naohiro Hoshikawa (BattlARTS 02/11/98) Yuki Ishikawa vs Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS 03/06/98) Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) vs Minoru Tanaka (BattlARTS 04/19/98) Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka vs Daisuke Ikeda & Carl Greco (BattlARTS 04/19/98) Yuki Ishikawa vs Carl Greco (BattlARTS 04/24/98) Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone & Gran Naniwa vs Yuki Ishikawa & Ikuto Hidaka & Carl Greco (BattlARTS 05/10/98) Minoru Tanaka vs Maasaki Mochizuki (BattlARTS 05/27/98) Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS 05/27/98) Ikuto Hidaka vs Willow the Whisp (Jeff Hardy) (BattlARTS 06/14/98) Alexander Otsuka vs Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS 07/25/98) Carl Greco vs Ryuji Yamakawa (BattlARTS 08/22/98) Minoru Tanaka vs Victor Krueger (BattlARTS 08/22/98) Katsumi Usuda vs Ryuji Yamakawa (BattlARTS 08/29/98) Yuki Ishikawa vs Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 08/29/98) Hisakatsu Oya vs Greg Valentine (BattlARTS B-Cup 10/05/98) Bob Backlund vs Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS B-Cup 10/05/98) Yuki Ishikawa vs Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (BattlARTS B-Cup 10/05/98) Great Sasuke vs Victor Krueger (BattlARTS B-Cup 10/23/98) Yuki Ishikawa & Bob Backlund vs Alexander Otsuka & Hisakatsu Oya (BattlARTS 10/23/98) Yuki Ishikawa vs Hisakatsu Oya (BattlARTS B-Cup 11/23/98) Bob Backlund vs Great Sasuke (BattlARTS B-Cup 11/23/98) Road Warrior Animal & Road Warrior Hawk vs Alexander Otsuka & Mohammed Yone (BattlARTS B-Cup 11/23/98) Yuki Ishikawa vs Bob Backlund (BattlARTS B-Cup Final 11/23/98) Minoru Tanaka & Masaaki Mochizuki vs Minoru Fujita & Ikuto Hidaka (BattlARTS 12/16/98) Yuki Ishikawa & Carl Greco vs Minoru Tanaka & Masaaki Mochizuki (BattlARTS 12/25/98)

How's this for an All Japan list? If push comes to shove, what are the first cuts? Can anything be clipped to the finish? Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJPW 01/07/99) Yoshinari Ogawa vs Masahito Kakihara (AJPW 01/15/99) Vader vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 01/15/99) Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki vs Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida (AJPW 01/16/99) Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama & Jinsei Shinzaki vs Vader, Masahito Kakihara & Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW 01/22/99) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 01/22/99) Giant Baba funeral coverage (AJPW TV 02/13/99) Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki vs Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida (AJPW 02/13/99) Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa & Masahito Kakihara vs Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga (AJPW 02/13/99) Jumbo Tsuruta retirement announcement (AJPW 02/20/99) Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama (AJPW 03/06/99) Vader vs Akira Taue (AJPW 03/06/99) Jun Akiyama vs Akira Taue (AJPW Championship Carnival 03/26/99) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Vader (AJPW Championship Carnival 03/26/99) Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW Championship Carnival 04/04/99) Vader vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW Championship Carnival 04/08/99) Vader vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW Championship Carnival 04/16/99) Great Sasuke, Tiger Mask IV & Hayabusa vs Maunakea Mossman, Masahito Kakihara & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW Tokyo Dome 05/02/99) Giant Baba Ceremony (AJPW Tokyo Dome 05/02/99) Mitsuharu Misawa + Keiji Muto (AJPW Tokyo Dome 05/02/99) Toshiaki Kawada vs Hiroshi Hase (AJPW Tokyo Dome 05/02/99) Vader vs Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW Tokyo Dome 05/02/99) Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki vs Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW 06/04/99) Mitsuharu Misawa & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 06/04/99) Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn (AJPW 06/09/99) (Finish only - title change) Yoshinari Ogawa vs Kentaro Shiga (AJPW 06/09/99) Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Yoshihiro Takayama & Takako Omori (AJPW 06/11/99) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 06/11/99) Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga vs Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori (AJPW 07/04/99) Toshiaki Kawada vs Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW 07/17/99) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 07/22/99) Vader & Gary Albright vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama (AJPW 07/23/99) Yoshinari Ogawa & Masahito Kakihara vs Johnny Smith & Jinsei Shinzaki (AJPW 07/23/99) Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori (AJPW 08/25/99) Yoshinari Ogawa vs 2 Cold Scorpio (AJPW 08/30/99) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW 09/04/99) Jun Akiyama vs Takao Omori (AJPW 09/04/99) Vader vs Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW 09/04/99) Kenta Kobashi vs The Gladiator (AJPW 09/04/99) Yoshihiro Takayama, Takao Omori & Masa Fuchi vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama (AJPW 10/09/99) Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama (AJPW 10/23/99) Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs Yoshinari Ogawa & Takao Omori (AJPW 10/30/99) Vader vs Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW 10/30/99) Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs Vader & Johnny Smith (AJPW 11/13/99) Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama (AJPW 11/20/99) Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs Stan Hansen & Akira Taue (AJPW 12/03/99)

How does this list look for All Japan? If push comes to shove, what should be the first to get cut? Can anything get clipped to the finish? Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJPW 01/26/98) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW 01/26/98) Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield (AJPW 01/26/98) Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Steve Williams & Gary Albright (AJPW 02/28/98) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Johnny Ace (AJPW 02/28/98) Kenta Kobashi vs Johnny Ace (AJPW 03/21/98) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue (AJPW 03/22/98) Toshiaki Kawada vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW 03/26/98) Masahito Kakihara & Yoshihiro Takayama vs Jun Akiyama & Masao Inoue (AJPW 03/29/98) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW Championship Carnival 03/29/98) Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori (AJPW Championship Carnival 03/29/98) Stan Hansen vs Steve Williams (AJPW Championship Carnival 03/29/98) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW Championship Carnival 04/08/98) Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW Championship Carnival 04/11/98) Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori (AJPW Championship Carnival 04/12/98) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW Championship Carnival 04/18/98) Jun Akiyama vs Hiroshi Hase (AJPW Tokyo Dome 05/01/98) Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs Vader & Stan Hansen (AJPW Tokyo Dome 05/01/98) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW Tokyo Dome 05/01/98) Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (AJPW 06/05/98) Maunakea Mossman vs Satoru Asako (AJPW 06/12/98) Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 06/12/98) Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara (AJPW 07/19/98) Jun Akiyama & Hiroshi Hase vs Kenta Kobashi & Taiyo Kea (AJPW 07/19/98) Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama vs Akira Taue & Jun Izumida (AJPW 07/24/98) Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW 07/24/98) Mitsuharu Misawa, Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako vs Kenta Kobashi, Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith (AJPW 08/22/98) Mitsuharu Misawa, Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako vs Toshiaki Kawada, Yoshinari Ogawa & Takao Omori (AJPW 08/23/98) Jun Akiyama vs Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW 09/11/98) Toshiaki Kawada vs Masahito Kakihara (AJPW 09/11/98) Kenta Kobashi vs Akira Taue (AJPW 09/11/98) Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama (AJPW 10/11/98) Mitsuharu Misawa & Takao Omori vs Kenta Kobashi & Jinsei Shinzaki (AJPW 10/24/98) Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara (AJPW Real World Tag League 10/31/98) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 10/31/98) Vader & Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama (AJPW Real World Tag League 11/21/98) Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn (AJPW Real World Tag League 11/21/98) Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama (AJPW Real World Tag League 11/30/98) Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs Stan Hansen & Vader (AJPW Real World Tag League 12/05/98)

Hashimoto vs Albright would likely be excellent.

Perhaps when we get older, my partner and I will grow ponytails, start making really sophomoric phallus jokes and debate the future of the Undertaker.

Caras smashing Rayo over the head with a guitar during entrances is awesome. Loved the headbutt-centric offense from Rayo to bring home the second fall. In the final few minutes, there were some really great nearfalls. Good match. I don't know that I loved it, but it definitely felt big and was worked well for its audience. The thing I was most looking forward to was seeing Caras's reaction to losing his mask, and that delivered in spades. This had so much heat that fans apparently BROKE Arena Mexico. Quite the scene.

Even though Konnan just turned the week before, he is still having problems with his partners. I'm not quite sure what his role is supposed to be. This was a really good match with lots of brawling and storyline advancement, and a very hot crowd.

Brief clip. Dandy and Satanico end their partnership to take us into the feud that will carry the last few months of the year. It looks like Satanico will come out of it as the rudo from what I can tell, but I may be wrong on that.

Dusty is better than he really has any right to be. Give him something to talk about, and he can talk. He actually made me interested in this feud.

Another mysterious Black Scorpion promo. They had to have wanted people think it was the Ultimate Warrior at this point. This is a pre-Clash tape. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PROMOTION?

Sting may be figuring out who the Black Scorpion is. What an idiot. He asks to see another tape, and they happen to have one. The next clue: Los Angeles. 1986. On The Beach. That's only been said a few times before.

Gary Michael Cappetta as an interviewer? Flair is doing an interview when Doom and Teddy Long interrupt him and tell him to get out of their locker room. Arn provides backup quickly and things get heated. Teddy Long cuts a green screen promo on Flair and Arn. Flair is desperate and Arn is a follower. The Horsemen say they are only tag team champions because Flair never thought about pursuing that title. They actually wanted to make Flair a tag wrestler. This segment is good and intriguing, but Flair is too big a star for that spot.

As much as Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi? And have there been discussions of where he ranks among the all-time greats, by comparison to the All Japan guys and other GOAT candidates? Not that I've seen. That's the point, not that no one has ever liked Shinya Hashimoto.

Let's move the Hash talk to the Hash thread.

Dave has said for years he was only over because New Japan fans bought into him as a legit tough guy.

Ring announcer Chris Cruise, Eddie Gilbert and Cactus Jack. Wow, Jim Herd was horrible at keeping talent around. The ring and lighting also sort of looks like a Worldwide taping from this time period, which just enhances that. Gilbert being announced as running over Jerry Lawler gets a few cheers, which is funny. They take a similar approach that they did in the March match, working the mat and doing a lot of wrestling before escalating to some brawling outside and big bumps at the end. I didn't enjoy this match nearly as much as I did that one. Perfectly fine match, but it didn't really feel like much was at stake. The crowd seemed to see this the same way, as they were pretty quiet during most of this.

Tony Atlas, perhaps in disgust with the line of questioning in Dawna's ICW Teen Report, reinvented himself as Saba Simba and went to the WWF. This is on here because of Roddy Piper having a real problem with his gimmick, pointing out that he's Tony Atlas and he has no idea why they're calling him Saba Simba. Vince says he legally changed his name. He actually could have been a decent midcard heel during this time period had they let him cut heel promos, but this gimmick was all wrong. Horrible squash, but Tony Atlas didn't need to be good in the ring to be effective during this time period.

Rick Martel is out to start things out and spray Arrogance everywhere. It's not a right, it's a privilege, to quote Martel. Hawk says someone sprayed something that smells like something he did, which I thought was a great line for some reason. The storyline is that the LOD cost the Demos the tag titles.

Short and to the point, and getting over Sid's height by having him stand next to Cornette is a nice touch.

The main reason this is here is because the biggest lucha libre match of the year is on September 21 when Cien Caras and Rayo de Jalisco face off in a mask match, and I wanted to have something to give it some context. Konnan working good, intricate mat sequences with Mascara Ano Dos Mil in the early stages of this is not something I expected to see. Rayo/Caras hype was what I was hoping for, and the match definitely delivered that. Konnan quickly turns on his teammates, standing on the apron while Rayo gets doubleteamed by the Dinamitas and Mendoza gets worked over by Perro on the floor. He refuses to extend his hand when both of his teammates reach for the tag. The match is a pretty one-sided slaughter as a result. Konnan eventually attacked his teammates, but it took a while. The length of this caused me to get a little bored with it, as I got the point after a few minutes, but mission accomplished - Rayo vs Caras has some context, as Caras was ducking him in the early stages, did quite the number on him during this match, and went for his mask several times.

Some interesting clips here. I'm not really sure what this is about, but the clips were an interesting cross-section of guys.

I thought this was excellent for giving every person involved a chance to stand out in a unique way. The personalities had time to get over, and in turn, the match got over. This is the first time I've ever really paid much attention to the Brazos as a group, and the way they play off of each other works really well. At first, I thought this was a little plodding and wondered why people love the Brazos so much. But I appreciated the contrast in styles the more the match progressed, both within the team and opposite the technicos. Satanico is the best actual *wrestler* in this, but Eddy and Santo look great too. It's too common for luchadores to get lost in trios matches, and that didn't happen here, which is a testament to the skill of charisma of everyone involved.

Holding Bret to WWF standards for smaller shows, yes, he stood out from the pack. I think that's a point worth clarification. I too thought of things like the cage match and the Ironman that I thought were great. He's by no means completely devoid of good matches on small shows. But he's not a consistent TV guy like Arn Anderson, Steven Regal, Barry Windham or even Dustin Rhodes. I'm not sure who in New Japan would make a good Valis-to-Coliseum Video comparison for him, but that would be an interesting project. It's really telling to look at a match list of every single match he's had on Coliseum Video. Looking at my top 100 for each year, his run looks pretty impressive, and fairly consistent. And it was, as long as the right standards are applied. But looking at the full picture of matches that he had that were really bland and uneventful paints a different picture. I'm referring to matches like the cage match with Shawn. The ladder match, which didn't look good at all the last time I saw it. The Martel MSG match that I mentioned. The Harts/Rockers match from SWS. Diesel at Wrestlefest '94. Matches against stiffs like Bravo and Adam Bomb that could have been really good if Bret wanted them to be. There would be a fair amount of small show stuff on a Bret comp, but there would be even more left on the cutting room floor. Proportionately, there wouldn't be nearly as many small show matches left on the cutting room floor for Flair, Funk, Lazy Jumbo or Tenryu. Probably not for Savage or Muto either, and both have the same rep for not going all out on small shows. Probably not for Shawn Michaels either, to be honest.