Badlittlekitten

El Santanico's calm swagger as he directs traffic for another Infernales beat down. Stan Hansen dropping knees to poor sods throats. El Signo's face.

Love Steve but if you're going with the Great Match Theory I can't see past Shawn. He took a while to find his feet as a solo act but Austins WCW run is just as bland as Shawn's early heel run. HBK already had a fantastic early career with the Rockers. 94-97 for Shawn and 96-99 for Austin are four year periods where everything come together for both acts. Austin completely nailed it as a character and changed the business. For Great Match Theorists, Steve had better matches with Bret. Shawn had better volume of good and great matches with Razor, Owen, Taker, Mankind, Jarrett, Diesel etc. I think Micheals takes it pretty easy here. Turn of the century Austin has his hallowed 2001, his best year in ring. Angle, Rock and Benoit. His HHH matches sucked a bit less than Shawn's. But if you can get over the fact he looks like a balding Old Compton Street transvestite Shawn's comeback run is on par. His live and die in the moment, heart in mouth, SHOWSTOPPA! routine isn't for everyone but it's perfectly in line with WWEs vision and it's little surprise they tout him as the GOAT. Also - frankly - I think some people will always give Shawn the short end of the stick because of who he is and the hype he gets. The Taker matches, Cena matches, Jericho, the only worthwhile Shelton B match, the tremendous Survivor Series 03 performance. . . It's Shawn. -On side note, I don't buy the notion that Jannety was better than Shawn. They generally looked like complete equals. I could see the argument for Shawn being the better at taking a beating. He's certainly more charismatic. Marty was never gonna get above the midcard as a singles

Bet you're great company on a night out!

Oh man, real shitty news. RIP big Dust.

So you don't give Michaels any credit for these 'better days'?

I like Saint a fair bit. I know OJ thinks he's bland but I think he has that odd, goofball, Backlund like charisma which is a plus in my books. I even enjoyed him as an old man popping up in random Indies the last 20 years. Perhaps not among the tip top WOS workers but then the likes of Grey, Breaks and Sarjeant are world fucking class. May get a nod in my GWE list.

1993-Hokuto

Adrian Street (vs Breaks) Roddy Piper (various Portland stuff, Bret match, dog collar) Austin Idol (hair match) La Galactica (Nagayo matches) Kerry Von E (Jumbo match) Doug Summers (Midnight rockers) Shinobi Kandori (Devil, Bull, Hokuto feud) Masa Fuchi (various tag classics) Rick Rude Owen Hart . . Loads more I am going to have to kindly disagree with El McKell and say that Kerry is a lock for the top half of my list and if Reigns has the same career as Kerry with another 4 years or so, he would be a lock too. Reigns is having an awesome in-ring year this year and he has quality big time matches with the Shield. He just needs to have more years under his belt. I've seen hardly any of Kerry's Texas run, it's just something I wanted to put out there. I think they're similar in certain ways.

Has to be Flair and his legends run. Chi town rumble is his best match in my eyes. His promo at the Feb Clash and the subsequent beat down and humiliation at the hands of Steamboat is just so quintessentially Ric Flair. It may just be my favourite wrestling segment of all. The Funk feud may be the strongest story he's had with a rival and its certainly his shining moment as a babyface. But I can't forget Lex. He didn't have a stand out classic match or an angle as brilliant as Flair/Funk but he was the most consistently enjoyable act in the promotion that year. He totally came together as a character and worker and his heel turn and the run as the conceited entitled prick was pitch perfect. The roids hadn't yet aged him 15 years and he looked great. The face that should've been plastered to the marquee for the next decade. His promos improved a ton too. A good big man always beats a good little man. Matches? Well his name pops up more than anyone else in my 89 match list.

Of the top of my head Sting, Magnum, Ulimate Warrior, Reigns.. Totally off topic but this is a comparison that's been rolling round my head. How is Reigns as a gwe pick next to Kerry Von Eric?

After reading some of the comments in the Misawa thread I feel like I've a new found appreciation for the guy. Him being the promotions ace isn't really something I kept in mind when watching his work before. Once you do you start to see his understated selling and stoicism in a new light. But still, it goes like this . . Kawada Misawa Taue Kobashi Taue shines like a motherfucker in the tags and the best matches of the period are the tags. Plus I like his 4/95 Misawa match more than any of Kobashi's singles against the natives. I really dug Kobashi at first. He stood out from the rest. But when the All Japan style starts to get annoying around 95 it feels like he's the main agitator.

I think they've pretty much been spot on with both guys to be honest. So far anyway.

Is there a reason why they don't use skits, on location promos or any of the cool stuff they film for their website/youtube? More of that sorta thing would make raw a more tolerable slog. Last thing that show needs is more wrestling.

Yeah thanks for these. Just about to get stuck in.

Just watched the Kyle O'Reilly match linked above. Thought it was fantastic for the most part. Loved the last ditch tombstone at the end. My first ever time seeing O'Reilly and I was pretty impressed. The arm go behind into the legsweep was an awesome spot. Only thing I didn't like was the crowd, but sadly I expect that in this setting. Outside of the G1 run what are AJs best post-TNA matches (including NJ, Indies etc)?

Okay thanks. On a related note can anybody find the link to the podcast for the 80s lucha set? Edit, scrap that found it.

What is an'apuesta' match?

*meatballs = nearfalls. Auto correct classic.

I only watched Owens/Cena and the tag match in full. The tag chamber was horrible until the end. Kalisto was irritating as fuck, match felt like TNA thrashing out on its deathbed. The first three quarters of Owen's/Cena was superb, the splurge of meatballs towards the end took me out of it slightly, but WOW! Shock finish! Not a streak ending gut punch but a hefty blow nonetheless. I'm new to Owens and his act is real refreshing. After months of disinterest they've tickled my pink and got me invested into an act again. Bastards. I watched bits and bobs of the other matches (except the divas rubbish) they seemed very underwhelming. I LOVED the video package for Ambrose before the main. Dusty finish isn't ideal but I think it's a good sign Ambrose kept the belt and got a little promo at the end. They'll build an angle round it, possibly ladder match? . . Disappointing overall but looking forward to Raw.

Really looking forward to Cena/Owens and to a lesser extent the tag team match. Have a sneaky felling Ambrose will win the main and go on a mini run. My only worry is the Corpse Christie crowd sitting on there hands during the main and Owen's appearance.

Yes, think I'll nominate Dean Ambrose. Via usual threads.

On one part of the show it was hinted that Flair had major heat with the Japanese, what is this in reference to?

Redman is spot on about Larry's character. One of those gobby, grotesque, sniveling little shitbags that talks like he's the toughest kid in school but runs home and escapes a beating. He's totally selfless with his work, lacking any kind of cool, a surprisingly rare trait for heel performers. He often reminds me of Tully although I think Zbyszko has the edge on him in that side of the game. I like how he is constantly vocal in the ring especially the 'oww!'s and 'ahh!'s he blurts out during a battering. I'll need to watch some more of his big matches but I'm certain he'll make my bottom twenty. One of those guys that's fun to watch in any and every situation.

I've only seen his early ROH tag work but he already felt like a standout (along with Danielson, Ki and Doug Williams) for his brawls but mostly presence alone. Would love to see more of his work. What are his best matches? TNA in particular as they'll be easy to find online.

Arn. Top 15 candidate. Morton is likely to be top 20, top 30 for sure. Bobby somewhere close by. Condrey is a possibility for the list once I watch more mid south. It breaks my heart but the Steiner bros and Sweet Stan will miss the cut.