WingedEagle

Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr vs. The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher (15/12/77) This was good but not what I expected going into it. I figured Sheik & Abby would bludgeon the Funks and we'd get a hot tag and babyface comeback down the stretch. At no point did I imagine seeing Sheik & Abby bumping and selling so well. I'd sooner expect my father in law to come watch Night of Champions tomorrow than see Abdullah take a double atomic drop, but goddamn did we get that here. Terry let his arm get carved up and provide the babyface juice and selling before Dory bailed him out, and that was all well and good, but it didn't outshine the heels here for me. It wasn't as wild and outrageous as it could've been, or as much as the subsequent years will apparently get, but it was solid, fun and not a dull or wasted moment to be found. My only real issue was with the finish -- Joe Higuchi watched Sheik & Abby use proper carving techniques on Terry for the entire heat segment of this match, and then at the end we randomly get a DQ for the same antics? Just don't get that, but it doesn't ruin the whole show. ***1/4 or so. Back after 78 & 79.

Mayumi Ozaki http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/20630-mayumi-ozaki-sugar-sato-vs-kaoru-toshiyo-yamada/?hl=ozaki http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/12631-manami-toyota-toshiyo-yamada-vs-mayumi-ozaki-dynamite-kansai-ajw-120693/?hl=ozaki&do=findComment&comment=5589287 http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/13993-manami-toyota-toshiyo-yamada-vs-mayumi-ozaki-dynamite-kansai-ajw-dream-rush-112692/?hl=ozaki&do=findComment&comment=5517209

Awesome, definitely post which ones we need to check out.

Multiple Hase threads?

I kind of feel the same way, but it raises a question that's been in the back of my mind here -- how many matches is enough to rank someone, let alone highly? We may have more Flair in a given month than from Destroyer's prime, or pre-80s Bockwinkel. Not quite sure yet how to balance that or when I'll be comfortable saying I've seen "enough" of someone.

Ha maybe I'll have to check it out again, as I was with you the first time after initially watching -- felt like a good / very good match with an excellent third fall capped off with some incredible emotion for the unmasking. But it seemed so rushed and without much urgency or tension through the first 2+ falls. We'll see what a rewatch brings. Got the house to myself today with plans to look back at this, ROH TV last week, Funks vs. Abby/Sheik and Billy Robinson. BOOM!

Karl Malone? Not likeable enough to get the Barkley love, and around during Jordan so never got the ring, but still a top 20 all timer.

Yeah, folks were dying to make it out like some Flair/Nikita situation. I love Suzuki and he's probably been my personal favorite in NJPW for the past few years. But that proposition was a big stretch.

Definitely looking more interesting. https://twitter.com/WWE/status/512976420247961600

Thanks, just bookmarked all of that. Plan is to plow through these and Funks vs. Sheik/Abby tomorrow afternoon if I can stay away from the '93 yearbook.

Yes, but Hayes also didn't always get a good night's sleep. And it showed. God bless him but he looked closer to 55 than 35 in 1994.

The Bockwinkel match still blows my mind, but I can still probably count on 1 or 2 hands the number of Robinson matches I've seen and have enough fingers left over for dim sum. What else is out there that I have to check out?

Pretty cool that Bray Wyatt, Blackjack Mulligan, Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda voted last time.

Will, how do you rate him vs. Rey? I feel like I could fill up more space with good Misterio matches but could probably rattle off more than dozen Liger classics that are legit all time great matches. Not sure Rey got to that level quite as many times, even though he was unquestionably not put in a position to do so as much as Liger.

He absolutely looked and carried himself like someone who'd be an out of control brawler. He was okay at that when he did it, but I don't think means people reject him for working differently. If you're going to work holds, make it compelling. Give me a struggle. Show me someone fighting off pain or working to wear down your opponent in a dedicated fashion or avoid having the same done to you. Or work holds to set someone up for a high spot. Brody never did for me. There's also a time and place to not sell and it can be incredibly effective and pop a crowd if held off for a while. But when you never sell at all it renders one half of a match impotent and combine that with a sometimes lacking approach on offense, and you've got someone who's matches don't have a lot I look for. I absolutely get the many digs at Kurt Angle here and can't really argue them, but I can still enjoy what he does for a bit before it becomes overkill. But at least he had some hot spots to keep me engaged. Brody rarely even delivered that much from what I've seen.

I thought Hase was also in for his influence in booking NJPW. No clue how responsible he was or wasn't for the company's direction but I seem to recall Dave giving him a lot of credit for that.

Maybe I'm crazy but I didn't mind the odd spot like Shane outwrestling Kurt. Done well and very sparingly, that always seemed like someone pulling out a move from the and1 tour just to pop people for a second before getting back to business. I found the extended mat wrestling in the Benoit match at 17 a lot more tedious and absurd.

Han is definitely an interesting comparison here. I've got no idea how I'm going to weigh the quantity issue in cases like these other than to guess I'll be inconsistent.

Do I need to watch anything as a lead in to the Sheik/Abby tag league matches from '78 and '79 or can I jump right in?

I will make room for him on my list. Like Joe said, the highs are out of this world, and he's easily a personal favorite who will do something fun or interesting in a throwaway popcorn. Whether he gets a spot at the bottom or because I love him depends on what and how much I find from before the 2000s. I know there are a few highly touted matches in the archives here that I can start with.

Maybe its because he's someone I hadn't watched in years and had formed a gross misconception about him, but in going through the '92-'93 yearbooks Hase has been one of my absolute favorites. His holds, spots and transitions are all crisp without theatrics and he's as awesome at selling as he is tearing into an open wound and trying to drain every last ounce of blood from his opponent. That's before we get to his fire and charisma. He could play the fiery NJ babyface vs. WAR on one night or a bloodthirsty and vicious heel the next. Easily someone I want to go back and watch what he was doing in the 80s as well as what was there when he moved to AJ, as on the New Japan side the only one at his level is Hashimoto.

The Lawler match may very well be his best output. Points for making the LT match more than passable. Is it possible his hottest was the beyond brief debut in WCW where he was programmed with Goldberg before sliding down to the triad with DDP & Kanyon?

I always thought AJ was fine in TNA other than being tainted with the same stink that's afflicted just about everyone there over the years. He had a knack for mixing in flying and athleticism without letting it dominate his game. After his introduction in NJ and insertion in the title picture I was pretty skeptical having enjoyed the Tanahashi/Okada focus over the last couple years. But he's fit in there without any problem at all, was the MVP of the G1 in my eyes and as already noted put himself on the short list for wrestler of the year. I don't know that he'd make my list absent another year or 2 like this one, but I'm now at least happy to look back at some TNA and ROH to see what case can be made for him.

I don't disagree with Jerry about Arn -- not a ton of home runs, but he'll get you 50 doubles and a great OPS. How many great singles matches does he have? How many long singles does he even have? Was the Big Josh match his longest? There are probably countless tag or multi-man matches he was a part of that were great, but the list of 1 on 1s probably has a lot of doubles. I can't imagine my list without Arn.

Yeah, this may result in "guy who had a couple or handful of very good matches" getting nominated, but hopefully it doesn't mean anyone who had a few solid nights places in a GOAT poll.