NintendoLogic

Work is quantifiable in the form of Wrestler of the Year/Most Outstanding Wrestler awards and the like. For that reason, I find statements like "the perception of being a good worker is more important than actually being a good worker" nonsensical. Working ability isn't some free-floating abstraction that exists independent of critical opinion. If lots of people think you're a great worker, you are, at least on a certain level. I'm not saying that people shouldn't have their own opinions about who's a great worker and who isn't. But I think that for Hall of Fame purposes, overall consensus should override personal views. To me, disregarding critical consensus on a wrestler's work because you're not a fan is kind of like disregarding a wrestler's drawing ability because you wouldn't buy a ticket to see them. Also, I'd like to see an affirmative argument for Big Daddy and JYD as HOF-level draws rather than simply assuming it to be the case. On the last list I saw of top draws of the 80s, JYD wasn't even as big a draw as Sgt. Slaughter and Paul Orndorff.

Gary Hart and Jerry Jarrett both wrestled for a good length of time, but that's not why they're on the ballot. I get what you're saying, but it seems a bit nitpicky to me. Actually, that gets me thinking. Who had HOF-worthy careers as both a wrestler and a promoter? Baba, Inoki, Verne Gagne for sure. Eddie Graham? Bill Watts? Fritz Von Erich? Who else?

Kevin Owens.

I don't know that pre-WWE body of work is necessarily lopsided in Bryan's favor. AJ certainly has more absolute dreck to his name, but his very best work compares favorably to Bryan's. And I would argue that AJ's run in New Japan was better than any run of equivalent length Bryan had in ROH.

I think it's a mistake to say that Dragon Gate or whoever else don't value psychology. Every wrestling match has psychology by definition. It may not be the kind of psychology you prefer or are accustomed to, but it exists.

You could fill a list like this with just Dangerous Alliance-era WCW TV matches. In particular, I'd include the following: Sting/Steamboat/Windham/Rhodes vs. Rude/Arn/Eaton/Zbyszko (2/22/92) Rick Rude vs. Dustin Rhodes (5/30/92) Arn Anderson vs. Barry Windham (6/6/92)

Bret Hart vs. Ricky Steamboat (Boston Garden) Steve Austin vs. Marc Mero (King of the Ring) Hulk Hogan vs. Vader (Superbrawl) Big Bossman's matches in the 1993 RWTL Burning vs. No Fear (10/30/99)

The text of the Wellness Policy is available on WWE's corporate website. Here's what it says about prescriptions: In other words, prescriptions have to be pre-approved. You can't just get a prescription from a mark doctor and pull it out if you pop hot. The issue isn't having the paperwork in your physical possession at all times. It's submitting the paperwork to the front office in a timely manner.

Ambrose getting booed for laying out Cena? In Philly? Are my ears deceiving me?

After going over my list of 100 favorite matches and putting some more thought into it, I've decided to update and expand my list. Here are my picks: ***** Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (3/23/81) Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (6/6/83) MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana (9/23/83) Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu (1/28/86) Midnight Rockers vs. Buddy Rose/Doug Somers (8/30/86) Stan Hansen/Terry Gordy vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada (12/16/88) Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (2/20/89) Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk (7/23/89) Stan Hansen/Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Yoshiaki Yatsu (12/6/89) Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue/Masanobu Fuchi (10/19/90) Vader vs. Sting (7/12/92) Vader vs. Sting (12/28/92) Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada (2/28/93) Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori (4/2/93) Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect (6/13/93) Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (7/29/93) Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (12/3/93) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (6/3/94) Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (6/9/95) Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (11/17/96) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (1/20/97) Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (3/23/97) Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (10/26/97) Eddie Guerrero vs. Brock Lesnar (2/15/04) ****3/4 Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera (5/19/80) Sgt. Slaughter vs. Iron Sheik (6/16/84) Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (12/30/85) Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (6/9/87) Tatsumi Fujinami/Riki Choshu/Akira Maeda/Kengo Kimura/Super Strong Machine vs. Antonio Inoki/Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Seiji Sakaguchi/Kantaro Hoshino/Keiji Mutoh (8/19/87) Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (8/10/89) El Hijo del Santo vs. Brazo de Oro (1/13/91) Dustin Rhodes/Ricky Steamboat vs. Enforcers (11/19/91) Dustin Rhodes/Barry Windham vs. Steve Austin/Larry Zbyszko (2/29/92) Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Doug Furnas/Dan Kroffat (5/25/92) Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat (6/20/92) Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (3/20/94) Dustin Rhodes vs. Bunkhouse Buck (4/17/94) Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota (11/20/94) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue (4/15/95) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (7/24/95) Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind (9/22/96) El Hijo del Santo/Scorpio Jr./Bestia Salvaje vs. Negro Casas/El Dandy/Hector Garza (11/29/96) Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama (7/24/98) Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (8/2/98) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama (2/27/00) Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle (8/19/01) Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (11/1/03) Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (4/25/04) Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio (6/23/05) John Cena vs. Umaga (1/28/07) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (4/7/13) CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar (8/18/13)

I don't think anyone would dispute that women's wrestling in WWE overall is leagues better now than it was pre-2005. But when you essentially say that there were no great women's matches at all before then, you're opening yourself up.

I liked the six-pack match, but JBA/Glamour Girls at MSG blows it out of the water.

AJ Styles is now the second man to be IWGP champion and WWE champion. What a time to be alive.

This is the best I've seen Miz look in a long time, possibly ever.

I like the idea of the Usos as Samoan Andersons.

It shouldn't be too hard to fill the time. Just have Wyatt come out and ramble on about nothing for a few minutes and make the other matches a few minutes longer.

Punk has no combat sports background and was fighting a guy in his weight class. Del Rio is light-years ahead of him as a fighter.

Slaughter/Patterson ended when the Grand Wizard threw in the towel because Slaughter had lost too much blood. I'd classify that as iconic. And the loaded boot in Slaughter/Sheik was iconic enough for Slaughter to do a callback to it in the Desert Storm Match with Hogan. Basically, I think any match finish centered around a MacGuffin (like the boot or the coal miner's glove in Duggan/DiBiase) qualifies as iconic.

Come to think of it, HHH and Stephanie having a one dollar bet over whether they can mold Kevin Owens into a corporate champion sounds like a pretty cool idea.

Yeah, Buzz turned face shortly after this match when he rescued his brother Brett from the Legion of Doom.

The story goes that New Japan owns the footage but they were embarrassed by Hash/Chono stinking out the joint so they never consented to release it.

After rewatching, I have less of a problem with the opening arm work. It was presented as Sawyer being opportunistic after Rich banged his arm on the cage rather than a strategy formulated beforehand. Given that, it made sense for him to abandon it after Rich kneed him in the groin. it was like he realized there was no real point in working holds in a match where your opponent can escape by gouging your eye or hitting you in the balls.

I posted my initial thoughts in the WWE Network thread, but I'll move them here. I don't want to seem like I'm trying to be nitpicky, so let me just emphasize that the opening lockup/armbar stuff was literally my only problem with the match. Everything after that was pure gold.

EDIT: moved to LBOA thread

Kevin Owens had the absolutely perfect response to the "you deserve it" chants. I'm not a fan of him in the ring, but his character work is gold.