Childs

Make sure you eat at Cochon.

Do you think he will? I'm not sure. He'll likely be left off a lot of ballots completely.

Just a spot worker from what I've seen. Total spot monkey. And it seems to have infected John Cena's work. Yep, pretty much. Which is a shame, because as Loss said, he really is gifted at projecting his character.

Excellent list.

I don't find that WWE has sanitized Owens' in-ring work. My complaints about it are pretty much the same as they were when he was in the indies.

I'm glad you guys put a spotlight on that Hase-Chono match, because I had forgotten it existed. I agree that Hase's control section would have felt more dynamic if Chono had struggled against more of the moves or teased a couple of comebacks. But it was by no means bad. The match popped off in the finishing stretch, which was genuinely great. In that sense, I can see the comparison to a modern NJ main event, but that shouldn't be taken as pejorative. Hase turned in one of his best selling performances; I always love it when a guy rips the wrap off his busted leg. If I was a star person, I'd have it 4 or better--not quite a classic but a real pleasure.

JLKINGLAV ... dammit, that's nine.

Is he still above Shelton's grandma?

He worked some rookie punishment matches against Kawada and certainly took on that role in tags and six-mans.

I made a concerted effort to watch a lot of Akiyama from the last seven or eight years for this project. The weird thing is I was extremely impressed with his work during that period but won't end up ranking him much higher than I expected coming in. What that means, basically, is that the 20 or so guys above him (including Kawada, Kobashi, Misawa and probably Taue) were really fucking great. That said, he's a completely reasonable top 10 or even top 5 pick, especially if you emphasize longevity and the ability to remain great under sub-optimal circumstances. I imagine he might have done even better under BIGLAV if Parv had had time to check out his post-2000 work.

Anyone who ever expected that was living in fantasy land.

The answer is always "and."

I'm having a great time listening to this. More than once, I've wanted to jump into the podcast and argue, which is probably a good sign.

But we've already established that you're in the bag for the current product

I'm also intrigued to watch that Masami match. Are you going to do a big Masami post, Dylan? Curious if she's a lock for you.

If they can give him the similar rub as they did Foley in the 99-00 role while jobbing, then I'm ok with it yet this is going to be tough to do in this day and age. While I agree that there's some obvious parallels between Foley and Ambrose, Ambrose is head and shoulders better in the ring. What's Ambrose better at than Foley? I can't think of a single thing.

I agree with this wholeheartedly: Buddy has to be watched week to week for the deepest appreciation to set in. It's awesome that we have the footage to do that, but it's also a lot to ask. I doubt I would have done it if I wasn't reviewing stuff for the '80s set.

Yeah, the idea that Hash didn't have great rivalries is bizarre. Hash-Tenryu is one of my five favorite pairings in wrestling history. I'd also add Mutoh to the list, even though I don't love (or even like) Mutoh.

Inoki

Is there a broad feeling that the more butch workers have gotten a tougher shake over the years? I've never gotten the impression that it mattered much but I'm hardly a joshi enthusiast.

I don't really blame Sarjeant for it, but Walton's relentless rooting for his opponents to put him in the Boston Crab was unfortunate.

Sort of amazing that Khan had a singles match make the top 10 of three different DVDVR sets and yet he won't make most ballots. But the ten-track single disc is a pretty good summation of his career, and that wasn't enough to put him in serious contention for me.

OJ learning not to trust himself is my favorite thing in this thread.

If Flair finishes top three (top five?) do we get to stop talking about him for the next 10 years?

Dave has taken to answering Twitter questions about wrestlers by saying: "Ask him." Which is obnoxious. If he doesn't like the Twitter questions, he should ignore them. But why give that answer to fans who are in no position to query wrestlers? It's a small thing but a bad look for someone who's always put a lot of effort into audience engagement.