Superstar Sleeze

FMW World & Brass Knuckles Champion Mr. Gannosuke vs Hayabusa - FMW 4/30/98 I just met you and this is crazy...but I love Mr. Gannosuke! All-star performance by the bleach blond badass from Japan as he carries Hayabusa to a great match. I very seldom call a match a carry job, but Hayabusa just is not doing it for me, but luckily he has the magnificent Mr. Gannosuke in there with him. Hayabusa has literally zero fire and no panache, which is crazy to say because he is almost all high flying. His highspots just feel there for me. Good beginning of the match as Gannosuke makes Hayabusa pay for his high risk offense early. Hayabusa gets a quick dropkick to the knee. Hayabusa's leg work is solid, but it is Gannosuke's awesome committed sell of this leg work throughout the match that makes this work. All the way to his last nearfall on a Northern Lights Suplex with a bridge, Gannosuke sells the leg by bridging on one leg. Gannosuke gets an armbar takedown when Hayabusa tries to take this uptempo and goes to work on the arm. He does a terrific job even though Hayabusa will blow it off, which is fine because it is the arm. Hayabusa uses a springboard dropkick to the knee as his transition, well done but the Asai Moonsault does not hit. Gannosuke tries to put him away but his knee keeps flaring up and this allows Hayabusa to hit some of the laziest superkicks you will ever see to transition to a nice dive to the outside. He does have a very pretty 450 splash that climaxes his first finish run. Gannosuke has a lot of trouble hitting any move because of his knee especially the Gannosuke Driver (I assume that's the name). He eventually catches these really slow kicks to hit a dragon leg screw and Gannosuke Driver. They blow something off the top rope badly so Gannosuke just starts selling the knee...smart man. HEY! A nice Hayabusa superkick and ballshot, wicked Tiger Suplex by Hayabusa! Falcon Arrow...boooooooo! Hayabusa wants the Phoenix Splash, but Gannosuke has too much life. Hayabusa tries something springboard and gets swatted out of the sky. Go Gannosuke Go! Gannosuke ballshot and powerbomb!!! 1-2-NO! Psychology seemed a little backwards there, but liked the symmetry though the ballshot should have been better respected. This is the point of the awesome Northern Lights sell. Hayabusa hits a NASTY headrop Dragon Suplex and then the very cool Phoenix Splash. Definitely the best of the finish stretches as it progressed very nicely and Gannosuke's selling added a lot and you could not tell who was going to win. I liked Hayabusa needing a little extra to get that Phoenix Splash. Gannosuke looked great here. Hayabusa was all over the place in this match and his lack of fire really brings the match down. Gannosuke's performance and strong dramatic finish stretch is enough to call this great. ****

Looks like Im the high vote on this match. I loved it! FMW World & Brass Knuckles Champion Masato Tanaka vs Mr. Gannosuke - FMW 1/6/98 If you ever played the original Doom, Masato Tanaka makes the same sounds as the demons being killed in this match. It is brutal! Never even heard of Mr. Gannosuke before this match and I think he may be my new favorite wrestler. He friggin' rocked it. I am a total sucker for bleach blonds too! First ten minutes was just awesome brawling and hard-hitting action. Totally wiped the floor with the Hayabusa match. They were just going to balls to the wall with stiff shots for each other. I loved the energy! Really liked the reverse atomic drop counter on the Tornado DDT attempt by Gannosuke. Tanaka's selling of it as a ballshot really made it. The crowd brawling was exceptional some of the best ever. Love a great chair throw! That powerbomb off the riser through a table below was insane! Then the violence of snapping that stick in half and then ripping open his arm. Masato Tanaka is unleashing some of the loudest cries of agony I have ever heard. Brutal! Tanaka's comeback is insanely fiery and glorious! I love him using that half of table to destroy Gannosuke and then using his elbows to set up Tornado DDT. The counter to the elbow into an armbar on the bad arm was sick! I will admit what does take the match down is that they go for an All Japan style finish run, which does not fit this style of match PLUS nobody really does that as well as the Pillars so trying to do their style is a losing proposition. Still there is plenty of heat, drama and powerbombs down the finish stretch. The finish is really damn good with Gannosuke countering by hooking the arm and then rolling through into a pinning combination to win the titles. Awesome brawling, great initial Tanaka comeback, solid finish stretch and great finish. Check this match out! There is hope for FMW and his name is Mr. Gannosuke! ****1/4

Hayabusa vs Masato Tanaka - FMW 3/13/98 Never seen a Hayabusa match or an FMW match. I recognize this is not the prototypical FMW Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match, but having seen a bunch of Masato Tanaka in ECW, thought it was a good as time as any to try to dip my toe in the FMW waters. I really want to like Hayabusa because I think he looks really fucking cool and I love the 450 splash. Pretty underwhelmed by this. This felt like the New Japan Juniors had a baby with the modern WWE style. The beginning 15 minutes or so was fine. Tanaka sold the arm really well when Hayabusa was working the arm. Tanaka worked the leg really well, loved those figure-4s on the kneecrusher before doing a really figure-4. It was rally cool seeing Tanaka wrestle in a non-Mike Awesome match. He looked really good doing pro wrestling. I thought the match was slow at times. Like the way they went through that chaining sequence was positively sluggish and the way Hayabusa threw himself into those corner bumps was pathetic. Still, they were off to a fine start and laid the ground work for any interesting finish stretch. If you JIP'd to the Tornado DDT, you would have never even known the first 15 minutes of the match existed! I hate when that happens. So now lets talk the modern WWE main event style. This would have been so over today. They would have gotten at least two "This is awesome!" chants. Lots of MOVEZ~!, no progression and lots of kickouts. Kickouts have taken the place of actual struggle in wrestling. I will say this is a bit better than modern WWE style because wrestlers did at least string a combination of moves together before switching to the opponent and there were real transitions so I will give them credit for that. When it becomes a match that is about the spots instead of the psychology well then your spots better be fucking cool. The Falcon Arrow just isn't cool. Three of them isn't better. Hayabusa has some impressive flips but there was just no sense of urgency. The 450 splash was by far the coolest move. Masato Tanaka did take some nasty head drops. It is a good match because there is enough good in here. There was just no sense of intra-segment struggle. When a wrestler was in control the other wrestler just played ragdoll for him. The good was the dueling limb work and selling was good. There were good spots at then and there was some drama with Tanaka's elbows. It was just a match about moves that forgot about energy, urgency and struggle. ***

ECW World Heavyweight Champion Masato Tanaka vs Mike Awesome - ECW 12/31/99 What the hell match was I thinking of? I swear there is a match or post-match where Mike Awesome Awesomebombs someone from the ring through a table that is by where the entrance ramp meets the ringside area. I have this memory seared into my brain and I could have sworn it was this match. Anyways my faulty memory aside, best match of the series. It finally did not feel like an exhibition. A lot of it had to do with Awesome coming out of the gate red hot steamrolling Masato Tanaka. Awesome was pissed and wanted the title back. That gave the match a sense of urgency on his part that was lacking. Also he felt like an unlikeable brute for the first time in this series. In doing so, this gave Masato Tanaka something to overcome increasing the struggle of the match and made him feel like an underdog. So better face/heel dynamics. Still very spotty, but the spots are always really good in this series now they have the heat to match. I really don't have much else to add. It is a lot of the same spots but down with more vim & vigor and better transitions. The finish is fucking mind-blowing! A sitout, REVERSE, SUPERBOMB~! Marked out huge! Great match! **** The post-match angle to set up the Guilty As Charged 2000 main event sees Spike's girlfriend give Judge Jeff Jones the Acid Drop only to be WIPED OUT by an Awesome Clothesline. She has worked internal bleeding ala Ken Shamrock. Horrible. Im just so glad man on woman violence has ended in pro wrestling. Just stupid.

Dusty Rhodes vs Steve Corino - ECW Living Dangerously 2000 ECW's presentation at this point was abysmal. "Quit being a heel" "Oh try to put the heat on me" Everything was a shoot and this horrible fucking Network angle. Before this match, Corino goes a tirade against Sandman's wife calling her a whore and saying that he was the only guy she hadn't put over. Then he manhandles her into the ring. His boys Rhino & Jack Victory are in the ring. Sandman saves, but Rhino GORES Sandman's wife through a table. He does not take it easy on her. Thank God wrestling has advanced beyond these horrible, tasteless man on woman violence angles. Corino calls himself the New American Dream and here comes the Real American Dream. Lots of slow crowd brawling. I will say there is lots of blood and they carve each other pretty good. It is 2000 so Dusty was not exactly in the best condition. I didn't think Corino did enough to carry this. The finish was good with a Bionic Elbow to the cowbell taped onto Corino's head. ECW sucked in 2000.

Lets take a look another 25 of the greatest matches of the 90s. Im falling behind! #350 - Just watched this in Colorado. Hard-hitting with heavy hands. Think this falls short of the 93-94 classics, but a great match. #349 - Never even heard of these guys! #348 - Loved Fujiwara in the 80s not seen anything besides that. #347 - Need see more of these Liger matches. #346 - Aja Kong vs Bull Nakano sounds impressive on paper #345 - LOVE THIS "MATCH"! Absolute great remake of the concession stand brawl. For my money, the better version. #344 - Got on twitter to say I prefer WCW match but I can see why people like these ECW matches #343 - Been ages since I seen this #342 - When I was doing my AJPW watching, never watched the Johnny Ace tags. Don't know why Im so JohnnyAce-phobic. #341 - Toyota vs Kong seems like a natural pairing #340 - I have been meaning to watch this match for ages. It sounds like a barnburner. #339 - Never saw the match that predated the Finals, will have to check it out. Doc was so good in 94 338 - 1995 Champions Carnival is the greatest tournament ever. The recent G-1 Climaxes don't come close. #337 - I need to see this. Sabu from 93-95 is one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. #336 - Bodies vs THUGS sounds great, SMW sounds so good on paper just have had trouble finding the stuff. Maybe with Network I can get to it. #335 - Loved their 6/00 match, which I thought was a top 40 match of the decade, can imagine their 99 match is pretty sick. #334 - Only seen their October 91 match, should check this out. #333 - This is an excellent hidden gem Charles found years ago. #332 - Dandy in 1990 is a wrestler I need to see. #331 - Such a great matchup historically, 2001 and 2004 too. Of course in April they have a MOTDC #330 - Joshi street fight #329 - I don't think I have seen this. A lot of All Japan Ive missed apparently #328 - Honma is quite the death match worker #327 - I wonder who rules the this lower portion more, M-Pro or Jeff Jarrett #326 - Early 90s Liger is something I really need to check out.

Lets wrap up 375-351 #375 - This Manami Toyota seems pretty good at this wrestling thing. #374 - I have seen a Bed of Nails Death Match before, I don't know about this one, Charles, I just don't know. #373 - I thought you were going to have this one higher. I need to see more NJPW heavies. #372 - Been ages since I watched this one. I need to do a complete AJPW 90s rewatch as a treat to myself. #371 - I have never seen a Dos Caras match #370 - I have never thought to watch this match! #369 - Dream match on paper, never seen it. #368 - Wicked bitchin bloody brawl, I'd have this one higher #367 - Takada vs Tamura sounds bitchin #366 - I have really liked Bigelow in 98, should revisit him. #365 - Love Bret vs Kid match, great another great example of Bret killing it in the face vs face match #364 - Forget women in Hell In A Cell, how about women in a barbed wire match! #363 - Midget Madness! #362 - Love this match, I think it is one of Bret's masterpieces. HIGHER! #361 - Maybe it was this Hase/Hash match I expected you to be way high on. #360 - Pretty damn high for this. Im with Parv, Kawada/Albright is great, but not exceptional. #359 - El Hijo Del Santo knows how to wrestle. #358 - Hansen/Kobashi greatest match up of all time #357 - Lioness Asuka has hands down the greatest pro wrestling name of all time #356 - Never seen this! I love Hash, but need to see more! #355 - Chono/Tenzan in UWFi sounds interesting. #354 - Kaientai in their natural habitat! #353 - Rey Mysterio Sr exists! #352 - AJPW 4/18/91 is a badass card #351 - Gracie-Hunter in worked matches is not something I have seen much of.

Duh! Why did I not think to look there!

Matt, you love context. You should watch Misawa/Taue vs Kobashi/Akiyama from 8/5/00, NOAH debut show that sets up the Kobashi vs Akiyama 8/6/00.

ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mike Awesome vs Spike Dudley - ECW Guilty As Charged 2000 As expected great David vs Goliath match. Thought Spike really gave an inspired performance both as ragdoll for Awesome to throw around and someone with a lot of fighting spirit. I loved how he threw himself into every spot whether it be a bump or offense. You felt he needed every a pound of body weight to contend with Awesome when he hurl his body at him or tackle him. Great use of chair as equalizer. Awesome as a Goliath offensively was great throwing Spike through tables at will, steamrolling him with clotheslines. I wish he was a better heel. Like a really despicable bully there are still to many times where he is trying to get himself over with his cool spots which detracts from that emotional impact of the match. Finish was great loved the Acid Drop counter through a table on the outside and nasty chair shot from top rope to floor. You actually kinda believe Spike has a chance. Goes for the Acid Drop but is FLYING THROUGH A TABLE!!! Great spot1 They give Spike one more hope spot before THE MOTHER OF ALL AWESOME BOMBS FROM THE TOP ROPE THROUGH A TABLE!!! I liked this better than any Tanaka stuff because Spike made for a lot better babyface still Awesome needed someone to teach him how to be a heel. ***3/4

I cant believe this match is not online. It was the only match of the series I had seen before. The Awesome Bomb from the ring through table is one of my all-time HOLY SHIT spots I was really looking forward to reliving it. Oh well!

Now you are all watching NOAH! Where were you two years ago!

ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka - ECW 12/17/99 I really enjoy these matches. No wasted motion, energetic fun spots. I finally figured out was missing lack of strong face/heel dynamics. Awesome is technically a heel but he does nothing heelish. It is a real harbinger if what's to come in pro wrestling. Great angle to set this up with Masato Tanaka in the front Row. Spike Dudley hits the Acid Drop on Judge Jeff Jones. Awesome takes umbrage with that and HURLS Little Spike from the ring into the crowd onto Tanaka!!!! HOLY SHIT! It's on! Paul E let's them fight for the title. I love how tight this is shot as this is a house show so no hard cam. All the same great spots at beginning. I like how setting up the table spots costs Awesome. He recovers enough to his a crazy Awesome bomb from Apron through a table on floor. New Years Eve in my memory is the best but this was pretty badass. Second table spot coats him dearly as he takes a German through a table and Tanaka begins his comeback. Then comes those brutal chair shots. The big turnaround and should have been the finish was the Tornado DDT into table by Tanaka great sell by Awesome. Roaring elbow and NEW CHAMP! Awesome puts belt on Tanaka not a heel! Compact action packed, slight alteration on their classic spots. Crazy to think Masato Tanaka was World Champ of the third biggest promotion at the height of US wrestling popularity these are all enjoyable quick contests. Great series ***1/2

Another batch of goodness!!! #400 - Joshi, guys #399 - That Doink run in 1993 was so much fun. So many great TV matches #398 - Loved the one Yamazaki and the couple Tamura matches I have seen are great. Them together would be badass. #397 - Definite must-see match for me from SMW. I really need to see SMW. #396 - Fucking love this match. Quintessential dueling limb psychology #395 - WOAH! Huge drop for this match. Expected this to be in top 200 from the initial rankings (top 20 in a loaded 1994) What happened? #394 - Hey it is Kobashi working a Hase match! Great mat wrestling vs power match, just a beautiful styles constrast working together. #393 - Never thought much of this match, which is a controversial opinion but have not seen it in like 6 years. 392 - Choshu vs Tenryu sounds excellent #391 - Muscle Storm is a great pro wrestling card Name. I need to watch more NJPW TAGS. #390 - "DUST-Y!" "DUST-Y!" "DUST-Y!" Great feel-good match. #389 - Woah, no way I have this one over Wargames '94. This is a great match and a quintessential Southern Tag, but Wargames should be way higher. #388 - After Santo/Rey Rey this will be next. #387 - Love this match, I would probably have it higher but is been six years. #386 - Best RVD match ever? I think Bam Bam Bigelow & Furnas may have something to say about this. #385 - Great Southern schticky match in WWF between HBK and Double J. Best Jarrett match ever? No way *****, SKeith, but a top WWF match of the 90s. #384 - Thunderous! Great popcorn six-man tag. Type of match that I would try to get as high as I can. #383 - Love the underdog Ogawa vs the rookie supernova Akiyama. Great action-packed sprint. #382 - Liger was able to be pushed as a major draw in NXT in 2015 because of THIS MATCH! That's so impressive. #381 - KAWADA FINALLY WINS! #380 - Such a badass series! Takada is a great pro wrestler. #379 - Never seen a Hase vs Sasaki match sounds like a good technique vs power match. #378 - I am really glad this made the list. Sometimes I feel like I am the only who loves this match. This is a classic to me. #377 - Love their 2001 classic in AJPW and 1996 in WAR, but need to see their 1999 NJPW match. #376- OH HELL YEAH! Steiners and Nasties just chuck each other around! Great choice!

ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka - ECW November 2 Remember 1999 ECW presentation and commentary is insufferable. Total ripoff of the garbage Russo was spewing in WCW. Fuck the term "powers that be" I thought match was really well-segmented. Each section had its purpose. There was no real selling or storytelling but the spots were fun and hit cleanly. Tanaka started off in control using chair. Nice Suplex by Awesome and some really well Awesome dives by Awesome. Don't hit Tanaka in the head with chairs it is how to power him up. Tanaka hits the Roaring Elbow into chair into the face that just seems like it would hurt your elbow so now we get the Tanaka finisher stretch tornado DDT on chairs. The crowd leads Tanaka by chanting one more time. Never repeat the move brutha. Awesome reverses so Tanaka ends up in chairs. Now it is working around table on outside. Thought this was the weakest version of that spot. Awesome's ass takes brunt of it and actually cuts himself so maybe the most painful. Then Tanaka gets a super plea through a table. One more round of Tanaka finishers. Awesome hits a wicked head drop German that just powers him up of course hey he's consistent! Awesome frog splash and wicked top rope Awesomebomb! Spots were Awesome! Very well-paced and efficient. Right on same level as Heat Wave 98. ***1/2

Kobashi's GHC is what makes or breaks him. If you don't like it you tend to lowball Kobashi. I love it and to me it is what cemented him number one over Flair. Not only does he have transcendent underdog babyface charisma we see become fully realized in amazing seizing of torch match against Misawa, the Destruction of Rat Boy and the Battle of Bulls in Takayama. For a sport that is scripted, very few careers ever go according to script but you couldn't have written a better career for Kobashi. You get to grow up with Kobashi and see his development all along unlike any other wrestler. It is that fullness and attachment that fosters through charisma that sets him a part as the greatest.

#425 - Underrated classic. The 4/18/91 Budokan card is a contender for an all time great card. #424 - Love this Misawa/Kawada match. Action-packed and fierce. #423 - This will definitely be one of the first Lucha matches I check out. #422 - Double J rules 400s #421 - Tenryu lives everywhere #420 - Watched this recently great exhibition of both men's talents #419 - A team with a woman named Kong, Bison and Grizzly sounds terrifying. #418 - I think I saw this and it was excellent; it will have to check again. #417 - Great brawling sprint. Love the belt shots. #416 - Need to rewatch this because always thought it was good not great. Love the middle finger psychology. #415- Really liked this as a big man vs little man match. #414 - Early Cactus is a mystery to me. #413 - Rockers do the impossible and get a great match out of Powers of Pain. Legitimately amazing. Best tag team ever. #412 - A Texas street fight in Japan? Love it! #411 - AJPW juniors is something I have never watched, I should to see more Fuchi, Kikuchi and early Ogawa. #410 - AWESOME MATCH! Action-packed sprint, not one moment of downtime.Perfect bully vs energetic babyface match. #409 - Flair vs Savage, my two favorites in a great match, but don't let this fool you, the true violent classic is the Great American Bash '95 match, which I think would make my top ten US matches of the 90s. Criminally underrated. #408 - Wrestlemarinepiad sounds like a great name for a card #407 - Dangerous Alliance 8-man such fun popcorn. #406 - Wish we had more Lawler in the 90s. #405 - This is the awesome Sting vs Cactus match. In the Beach Blast match, Cactus wrestles himself. Here he goes on offense. #404 - I never got this match. Need a rewatch. #403 - Have not seen this in ten years. It is Jumbo vs Kobashi, my #3 and #1 wrestlers of all time and I should do myself and favor and rewatch. #402 - Yes, Windham in that classic NWA World Champ vs young upstart role this time against Regal. Great shit. #401 - Flair as a face vs Eaton as a heel is the definition of fun pro wrestling. Highly recommended so many great bumps. Energy is awesome.

Lunch time, WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO #450 - I have seen this before a long time ago. Awesome bloody brawl is my recollection with a table getting involved. This is some choice Muta. Totally different than their 2001 classic. #449- Saw this a long time ago. I am pretty sure this is the Birth of DX match. Have no real recollection of quality, Ill have to check this out. #448 - Double J is the king of **** match in the early 90s apparently. #447 - Buzz Sawyer's last hurrah. Really came to like Buzz in Mid-South should give this a watch. Also babyface Horsemen with Sting, pretty novel #446- Savage vs Tenryu. I know, I know, I know. This has been on the to do list forever! So has Flair/Tenryu. I need more time #445 - Awesome Dome style match. Just so big. That German is gnarly. Best Inoki match I have ever seen, but I have not seen many. #444 - I know Chad/Charles loved this, but I thought it was more of a good match than great match but it has been 4 years now so I will check it out again. #443 - You know what, I feel this is the most overrated of the Rocker matches. Kinda all over the place which is weird given that is Bret. There is one thing about Bret is that his matches are almost never all over the place. #442 - Love their Survivor Series 95 match, need to check this one out. #441 - Super fun, fast-paced, action-packed tag. Only thing that keeps it low is the clipping. #440 - Never seen this. I need to find it sometime. 439 - Lucha...I think this has been the first Lucha match that surprises me. #438, I really need to see this Sabu match. High quality Sabu is just the best. #437 - Just watched this 15 days ago, awesome match. Kobashi looks elite in the loss and Misawa proves "slow n steady" wins the race. #436 - One of the all-time great finish stretches, a Bret Hart masterpiece #435 - A little high for me, but a great veteran NWA Champion vs young upstart match. One of my favorite match genres. I wish Windham got more chances to do this. #434 - I always waffle back and forth on whether I like the 1990 or 91 match better either way Flair vs Pillman is electric! #433 - OH HELL YEAH!!! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! Awesome Hogan MSG brawl. The end of an era, the last great MSG match. #432 - Honma has been around this long?!?!? #431 - Love the brothers vs brothers tag. Need to rewatch just because it is so great. #430 - Joshi, man, I am missing out. #429 - Dick togo, Black Buffalo & Police Man sounds like the best Village People ensemble ever. #428 - A little high for me. Rewatched this recently. Great atmosphere, but everything goes through Sherri and Flair is really presented as a run of the mill heel when the whole story is that it is HOGAN VS FLAIR, but it could have been Hogan vs any heel. Still a very good Hogan match because Flair is excellent. #427 - Have grown not to care for this match. Finish stretch is way too long. #426 - I have seen two Volk Han matches in my life and I need to see more. I will do the next 25 later today. This is awesome.

ECW World Tag Team Champions Dudley Boys vs Spike Dudley & Balls Mahoney - ECW 6/17/99 Balls says he owes the Dudz a receipt for putting him through a flaming table with thumbtacks strewn on it. Im just glad he upgraded his partner to Spike Dudley. Really tight, action-packed garbage brawl. The Dudleys have been a great heat-seeking act, but really have not been having the matches to match how good they are as asshole heels. I feel like this is the best possible Dudleys match. Great spots...loved Balls hurling Spike onto the Dudz outside the ring with force. The cheese grater stuff was violent as hell. Spike's balcony dive was a holy shit spot. The stereo nearfalls (loved the Acid Drop/legdrop combo) were cute in a very fun way that I liked. Sign Guy distracts the faces long enough to cause enough commotion that Spike eats a wicked 3D. DAMN! I forgot how badass that move could look. 3D is the one thing in ECW that is sold as death and even though match goes on for another two minutes, Spike never moves. I love that. Balls tries to fend off the Dudleys going so far as to set up the table, scatter the thumbtacks and douse it with lighter fluid, but eventually the numbers game catches up to him. Putting Balls through a flaming table never gets old!!! Marked out all over again! Double pinfall win. Great finish. Like I said super compact, never a dull moment, the finish is a great climax. ****

For those interested. there was a nomination process. It looks like the most nominating votes determined your seed. Explains the whacked out seeding and why the fuck Ellsworth is in there. Also I liked that pitted Ellsworth against the Owen Hart, the wrestled who died the most tragically. I could easily see Ellsworth doing well with ironic votes. I could see him beating Benoit for instance. By putting him against Owen, definitely will make people think twice. Cageside Seats was thinking when they put this together.

Predicting who will win by whatever polling method is pretty easy except the top left. Shawn, Flair and Savage are mortal locks for the Final Four. I will be shocked if any of them falls off before the Final Four. Shawn's biggest competition is Bryan and Angle. I think Angle has fallen quite a bit in last couple years. Bryan may be able to do it. I think that would be interesting. Flair's biggest competition is Eddy and Bret, but I think Flair's rep and the fact everyone loves the Nature Boy character will get him the bracket handily. I could easily see Brock upending AJ in the first round. Savage in a fucking cakewalk in this bracket. Maybe Rey can challenge him. Macho Man will crush. Top left is the most up in the air. I could see HHH, Taker or Austin winning. I think HHH and Taker have been pushed like Michaels as a great wrestler so that will help them. I think it is a close call between Taker/HHH. I could really see it going either way. Going with Taker. Savage over Taker easily. Shawn over Flair in a squeaker. Savage over Shawn in a squeaker. Are the results up?

Im glad you are doing only 50. I love lists. I love lists about pro wrestling. I love lists about pro wrestling matches. IM SO EXCITED! I was going to tweet about each match because that seems en vogue, but feels like it would be disorganized and cluttered. I have no idea why so many people are flocking to twitter and leaving message boards behind. #500 - KNow its rep need to see it. #499- Im an M-Pro noob and need to remedy that. #498 - Awesome clash of the titans match. Goldberg had great presence should have been a tweener. Great Sting match in absolutely abysmal year for him. I missed this match by one week. I went to Nitro after it, which was the Nitro one week before Flair's return. I got to see Raven break one of the Villano's neck. Bad luck. #497 - Joshi noob. Shoot-style, M-Pro, FMW, Joshi, World of Sport then Lucha. #496 - Sounds fucking awesome. Need to see this. #495 - SMW noob. Put that between Shoot-style and M-Pro. #494 - I remember this. Fun TV bout. I am totally alone in thinking their Bash at the Beach match is great. That's an awesome Austin performance. #493 - I don't think of Jake when I think SMW. Ill check it out. #492 - USWA noob. Damn have even ever watched wrestling? #491 - Always on the lookout for this one. NJPW is the hardest thing to find on youtube/dailymotion. I should sign up for NJPW World already. #490 - Awesome violent brawl. Would have this way higher. You can literally hear Regal's nose smash into a million pieces when Finlay hits him and up until that it was just dripping with hatred. #489 - I know have seen this. I found all the Shawn/Marty matches to be around ***1/2 and kinda forgettable. #488 - PG-13 is something I just gotta see. #487- FUCK YEAH! So happy Jericho/Eddie vs Meng/Barbarian made the list! Awesome power vs speed tag team match. Highly recommend this. #486- Jeff Jarrett killing it in USWA. What happened, bro? #485 - M-Pro, yeah #484 - Larry Z vs Saito, why have I not seen this? #483 - Remember loving Savage vs HBK someone really milks a knee injury probably Savage since he was the babyface. Need to rewatch. #482 - One of the greatest 5-minute sprints ever. All you have to say is that and I bet 95% of people on here know the exact match I am talking about. #481 - Need to see Tamura like yesterday. #480 - PG-13 came to Waltham, MA, that much Southern white trash greatness was just 20 minutes from my house at one point. #479 - Joshi, brah, gotta see some. #478 - Never seen this and was not planning to watch it, but since it made the rankings Ill take a look. Liked the Hansen & Spivey against MVC at 4/18/91. #477 - Joshi, I'll see you eventually. #476 - This would probably be a borderline pick for me. None of their matches stand out they are all around that ***3/4 & ****. I think I go with the Superbrawl I match. #475 - I used to LOVE this match then it didn't do much for me. I think it would make the list if I did one like this. Shawn did well in these David vs Goliath matches. #474 - A good Kerry match in the 90s is what I need to see. #473 - Flair vs Morton in 1990, drool. #472 - WAY HIGHER DUDE! Wow really shortchanged this one in my opinion. Especially knowing you will have Rey/Dragon way higher, shaking my head. #471 - Good pick, liked the placement. I think Shawn vs Owen gets underrated. It is high quality. #470 - WAY HIGHER DUDE! Parv & Chad have already taken you to task on this one. So I am going to lay off. #469 - Vader vs Tamura, fuck yes! #468 - Been watching a lot of ECW recently, I should watch this one eventually. #467- M-Pro, brutha, need to make it happen. #466 - Very famous match feel like I have seen it, but don't remember it. #465 - I honestly cant believe a good Eliminators match exists. They may be the worst tag team ever. But if they were to have a good match it would be with the FBI. #464 - I need to see more Liger/Ohtani outside the wicked famous match. #463 - ANother match I am always on the lookout for. Maybe it is on the Network #462 - OH HELL YEAH! Great pick, brutha! Rey/Juvy vs La Parka/Psicosis absolutely kill. Everything that was great about the cruiserweight division in one delicious Nitro match. #461 - Two Carolina boys stiffing the hell out of each other in 1990 yes please. Garvin vs Valentine is one of my all-time favorite match ups. #460 - One of my all-time favorite matches. There is nothing I love more than two big uglies fucking chucking each other around. Vader/Boss is a match after my own heart. #459 - Jarrett what the fuck, brah. #458 - Oooooooo I think you shortchanged this one too. Eddie vs Jericho Fall Brawl used to think whats the big deal, watched it again and was blown away. #457 - Hashimoto The Destroyer! NJPW so hard to find shit. Hope I can find this. #456 - Need to see more Fantastics in AJPW #455 - I just checked this out today because of the list. Check out my thoughts in the thread! #454- ZUBAZ~! ALL THE STARS IN THE WORLD!!!! #453 - Fucking killer face vs face match, which is of course Bret's speciality. #452 - I am going to say this is a little high and would not make my list. Liked Steamboat/Douglas vs Blonds matches, but didn't love any of them. Could see why you would feel they need to be represented. #451 - Hashimoto The Destroyer needs to be more present in my life.

Charles put this in his Top 500 so I had to watch. Found the July match online. This is the date 7/25/99 that ECW Smarkschoice poll lists as the good one. Prowrestlinghistory.com has both dates as plausible as both dates have Sabu vs OMG matches. An above commenter says Rod Price as OMG's second, here it is Justin Credible. So maybe a watched a different match... Sabu vs One Man Gang - ECW 1999 One Man Gang looks better here then when he was Akeem ten years prior. Fun, energetic brawl. Sabu hit his spots cleanly and his straight right looked great. OMG looked menacing. Good cat and mouse early with Sabu using speed and aerial moves to gain advantage. Good crowd brawling M-Pro style by clearing out chairs. OMG taking a rana off the top was impressive. Nice table bump by OMG. Vicious scissors stab by Sabu. I love Sabu! Loved Cane shot on OMG by accident by Credible and then a wicked chair throw by Sabu on Credible. Love the heel comeuppance. Tight finish to send crowd home happy with Triple Jump moonsault and a Arabian Facebuster. Great brawl! ***1/2

I don't love Sid in an ironic way. He is legitimately awesome as a badass wrecking ball. Oozes charisma and just kills muthafuckas. The segment with Justin Credible at Hardcore Heaven 99 is awesome. I get why he does not draw. At the same think I think he could have been leveraged as a combination of a 911/Andre character that should have ruled the world! I think people would hear those pops and say put the belt on him. I think he is great as a top monster heel for a month or two and then extended run as a monster babyface that just kills chickenshit heels dead.

Sid vs Justin Credible - ECW Hardcore Heaven 1999 This was fucking awesome. Way better than that awful RVD/Lynn match. Sid killing muthafuckas is the best thing ever. Credible was actually a pretty damn good punk chickenshit heel. A DQ in ECW!!!! I am laughing! Sid must not have wanted to job to the punk and you couldn't have your top heel (lets face the Impact Players were their top heels, maybe could argue the Dudleyz) eat a pin either. Then Impact Players ballshot Sid and beat him. Now Sabu is out. What the fuck!?! I thought they were feuding with Dreamer and Douglas. Sabu legdrops Sid though a table that's crazy!!!! Sabu destroys a random security guard through a table! Sabu/Sid as a tag team and then feuding would be pretty much the greatest thing ever. Wicked entertaining segment!!! SID IS DA MAN!