WingedEagle

If someone checks out a few shoot style and says its not for them and finds it completely boring and unwatchable, that's cool. I'd hope they wouldn't avoid it solely because they don't think there's any relevance to it in the course of wrestling history around the world, but if you check out a few and absolutely nothing resonates there's no reason to search for some connection there.

Would cable execs really even differentiate between the two though? To them, they're both just a non-WWF rasslin show. I don't think TNA's reputation would grant them much over a Jarrett start-up. Let's say they both walk in to pitch. Dixie: "We've been losing millions despite being on national TV for years". Jarrett: "I used to be a big star in the WWF and this is my friend Toby Keith". I disagree. TNA can point to nine years of drawing a 1.0 rating for Spike TV and having much bigger ex-WWE stars than Jeff Jarrett under contract. That track record counts for something. That will certainly count for something. On the other hand, so will Spike walking away from that track record and the shenanigans that brought things to that point. Its up to each team of execs to determine how to weigh those factors.

Flair, Hansen, Jumbo, Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Tenryu, Bryan, Michaels, Liger and Cena is the first batch of names that came to mind. Probably leaving a few off, and there are others I'll want to think about like Funk, Bull, Tanashahi, Hart, Austin, Hashimoto, Hase, Taue, Akiyama, Casas and others who I imagine will be in the mix. And then I'll sit down and look over all the threads and probably find a couple obvious ones I missed and revise things then. But always fun to think about this at different times and in different contexts. EDIT: Annnnnnnd Fujianami is our first definite oversight. He's in the ballpark.

Man, I was looking forward to this as I love Terry Funk and when he's with the right opponent and busts out the crazy I like Sabu. But this just seemed like they had certain spots that needed to be crossed off of a list, and they were going to cross them off that list no matter what. And that's all they did. I just couldn't wait for this to end.

I've loved following as you and others have gone through the 90s, and am having a blast doing so myself, even if I'm not able to maintain anywhere near that pace. Hopefully you pick up with the '00s in the fame fashion. Any plans to add other content to the MDA? In the same vein as as the Japan Best of 2000s, could add everything that placed in WON MOTY voting for every year, all PPV / big show matches, use certain online lists or probably countless other sources to expand the base for that decade until those yearbooks are out.

You can actually find most of them on Youtube/DM. Will only need to download a few.

I love this series. You guys get along great and when you have that going for you I could listen to people talk about these matches for days. Parv, you're driving me crazy with Kenta Ko(great american)BASH-i. Its KoBAHSHI!

This was such a smartly worked match. They go a half hour and at no point did I ask myself how much longer they're going to do this for, which is often the case when people stretch things out too long. The varied offense that each employed to work the neck, and especially the arm by Arn (thankfully much easier to type that repeatedly than say it out loud) was just masterful. I don't always agree with Meltzer, but am usually in the same ballpark even if one of us is in field level and the other in the upper deck. This time? No idea. Thought it was great. The only criticism I'd make is that for as great as Arn's arm work was, it wasn't sold or focused enough down the stretch and almost dropped at the end. But this was great. I also can't imagine that these guys went long given just how long they went. You'd think a couple pros like Regal and Arn are on board with a finish moments before a time limit draw. Its not like they went 27 instead of 20 to get their stuff in.

I have no doubt Brock will do exactly what he is paid to do per his contract, including jobbing for that cat hosting next week if they ask him to. But 60-70K fans crapping all over the match because they all know its his last night wouldn't exactly make for a pretty coronation of Reigns. No guarantees it happens, but I also don't see how you can rule it out.

Only reason not to do that is to avoid a repeat of what happened the last time his contract ran through Mania. That type of scene wouldn't do Reigns or whomever beats him a whole lot of good.

Its great in theory, but they've already pushed Cena/Brock at Rumble. If they're not resigning Brock you wonder if they have to have him drop it before Mania.

After listening to his podcast on only a few occasions, I actually have zero interest in hearing Ross call NJPW. Doesn't seem to be a fan, and I'd much prefer the Japanese call.

Not optimistic it'll go any further than adding something different to the Survivor Series match, but really love Harper in there, and frankly Rusev & Ryback as well. Lot of directions they can go.

Maybe spoiler tag these going forward so the page loads quicker and they can be viewed individually?

I liked his match vs. Kawada from June 2004. Thanks, will definitely give that a look.

Check out Fuchi vs. Momota 3/29/89, vs. Hiro Saito 6/12/86, vs. Kobayashi 4/6/86, vs. Kikuchi 7/12/90. Awesome, thanks. Just realized that a few of those are on the DVDVR set and I even had the Momota match ranked right near the top quartile on that set. But of course have no recollection of any of them which is a damn fine reason to break that set out this week.

Did Jamal/Umaga have any standout matches in All Japan? His absence from Ditch's Best of 2000s list suggests the answer, but I'd like to think there were a few from that time that are worth checking out.

I don't know if Kansai & Oz have enough of a run where they place on a list like this, but I Oz and Masa Fuchi absolutely deserve some kind of honorable mention. They add so much to any tag match from their work on the apron and in ratcheting up the heat as part of any team.

Love this. Hopefully it gives folks some random, quick hit things to look up as it certainly did that for me. Current Favorite Wrestler to Watch: Masa Fuchi. Just rewatched the AJ/NJ tag from 12/00 as part of the Best of 2000s and an AJPW 6 man from 1/29/94 as part of the Yearbook. I'd love to see some all time Fuchi singles matches (holler if you can point me to them), but he brings as much character and heat to the tag & 6 man matches from the four corners era as anybody. Last Fun Match You Saw: Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta, 1/24/94. I knew nothing about it heading into the match but and was a bit underwhelmed by Bull/Kyoko and the Toyota/Yamada tag on the undercard, but holy shit was this not an incredible spectacle that did its best to approach Dump/Chiggy. I'll have to add more in the match discussion thread but I blown away by this, and really the only thing it was lacking was the killer crowd it deserved. Give it a hot crowd and we're looking at a classic. Wrestler You Want to See More of: Dragon Gate! I swear I'm going to jump on board and try to get into this ASAP. Hoping to burn through a couple recent NJ iPPVs I've fallen behind on today and then give this the look it deserves based on Alan's love. Also, Jack Brisco because Mooney has me salivating. Match You Are Looking Forward to Watching Soon the Most: Brisco vs Inoki. Last Fun Interview/Promo You Saw: Its been a while since Heyman has been on TV for anything significant, and Ambrose has been sent to third rate horror movie school after flunking out of bad comedy, so let's say Flair's backstage promo after Starrcade '93. Last Interesting Thing You Read about Wrestling: Rusher Kimura bio in the Observer from 2004. Love going old school. Last Worthwhile Wrestling Podcast You Heard: Austin hasn't had a guest on recently, so All Japan Excite Series Numbah 2. Most Fun You've Had Watching Wrestling Lately: Bull-Hotta. MORE MORE MORE

Maybe I'm an outlier but I enjoyed Taker/Flair when I rewatched it this summer. Flair did his part given his limitations, bled like a champ and we even arguably the last non-throwaway Arn moment. I was pleasantly surprised. Not a classic or anything anyone should hang their hat on, but not something I'd fast forward through either.

FLIK, what else should people check out leading up to this?

Funny, that 'style' may very well be my absolute biggest pet peeve in all of wrestling. Such a stupid, mind numbing concept. How does the champ come out looking like a credible 'champion' in any way shape or form afterwards? Imagine if every single Floyd Mayweather fight ended with Floyd getting a lucky KO in the 12th round after being down 11-0. So dumb. That's why I feel like Misawa is a very legitimate GOATC, because he perfected the role of an 'ace' in his matches, where his opponents really had to climb a mountain to defeat him. Two totally different mindsets. Misawa was coming back to town and making all the same stops on the loop on the next tour. The local ace still had to headline for the next X months if/until the NWA Champion made his way back to town. To some extent that makes protecting the local star a hell of a lot more important.

Perfect, thanks.