Superstar Sleeze

In regards to NJPW vs AJPW venues, the one thing that has always piqued my curiosity is that it is generally accepted and proven that NJPW has been historically a more popular promotion than AJPW yet NJPW never ran the Budokan and AJPW consistently ran the Budokan in the 80s and 90s doing very well in the 90s. Obviously the fact that NJPW could run the Dome speaks to their popularity, but how come their lesser shows are at the Sumo Hall, which is half the size of the Budokan. I understand if AJPW had a contract with the Budokan similar to WWF & MSG, but if NJPW is this powerhouse promotion why would they not at the very least find a 15k-20k arena to run in or actually get the contract for the Budokan? I believe people when they say NJPW >AJPW in drawing and popularity, but the Budokan vs. Sumo Hall is just an inconsistency for me regarding that fact. If anybody could shed more light on this that would be appreciated.

Fujita Jr. Hayato vs Koji Kanemoto - NJPW Super J Cup 12/02/09 Hard Rock Hallelujah, big ass hair and a middle finger to the sky, move over Yoshinari Ogawa, I think I have a new favorite wrestler and his name is Fujita Jr Muthafuckin Hayato. The beginning of this match was absolutely electric. I know Hayato always comes in with a bad attitude, but I have no idea what he did to piss in Kanemoto's corn flakes It was just amazing stand up fighting that felt hate-filled and violent. I loved how Kanemoto would grab Hayato hair and unload. Kanemoto in a full mount with his hand around Hayato's throat and throwing closed fists was the best opening to pretty much any match so far. I loved the early matwork as it was a struggle from the beginning with Hayato gouging the eyes and getting a cross armbreaker which triggers flailing from Kanemoto. Kanemoto gets his facewashes in to show up Hayato. Outside the ring they throw each other into chairs and wipe out fans. Kanemoto pulls Hayato down from the apron by his hair. There is just great atmosphere for this match. The crowd is hot and there is just a buzz to this match. Hayato wins an apron battle and punts Kanemoto with a wicked kick. The fight continues in the ring with Hayato's bone-crushing kicks. Kanemoto applies a deep double wristlock out of a German suplex into a heel hook that Hayato sells like a million bucks including a lunge for the ropes and then not being able to walk. Kanemoto drills a Steiner Screwdriver, but goes back for a facewask, which seems more like a move of humiliation and weird choice this late. Hayato jumps at the opportunity to apply a guillotine choke. Kanemoto makes the ropes. They simultaneously kick each other in the head. Kanemoto ends up on his ass; Hayato looks to take his head off, but Kanemoto catches the kick for a heel hook submission. What a fucking fight! Has 2009 been the year of the juniors or what! I loved the energy and the hate. They were just leaving everything they had in that ring. I don't know if this match had a buzz coming into it, but fuck man as soon they opened up they had that place going mad. My complaint is the lack of selling. It is a fucking fight. I am not expecting Ricky Morton selling, but sometimes Kanemoto seemed to just plain not care about selling and would just go on a no-selling rampage. It felt like he was showing up Hayato but in a borderline unprofessional way. That just keeps it from MOTDC status still a strong 2009 MOTYC. I got it number two behind KENTA/Suzuki. Badass fight that everyone take a chance to watch, ****1/2

I glad you liked the match. I really went in expecting a decent power match, but was totally caught off-guard by great Sasaki was in the match. If you think about it, I really shouldn't have been because as you pointed out he has delivered in spades throughout the decade. As long as Kobashi was not in the match, he was gold during this stretch. This was the first instance he was in the ring with a lesser worker and delivered an awesome match. His other great matches were with the likes of Kawada, Tenryu and Takayama. It shows that Sasaki was not being carried in those matches if anyone were to doubt him.

Nakajima is my favorite Japanese wrestler to have debuted in the 2000s. He wrestles way beyond his years as he was just 18 when he debuted in 2004 and by 2005 he was winning MOTYs (w/Sasaki vs Kobashi/Go, Purotopia), In 2007, he was crafting well-laid out matches against Shuji Kondo at a level that few wrestlers ever reach. In 2008-09, he was essential to the Kensuke Office vs. Burning feud that could have culminated in the greatest series of juniors of the decade had KENTA been a bit more cooperative. Nakajima is a prodigy in every sense of the word. His basic fundamentals and commitment to sound wrestling psychology make him stand out in the decadence of the 2000s. It begins and ends with selling. If you don't make the move feel critical, the transition feel consequential, the contest worth winning, if you don't believe, then nobody will believe. When you watch Nakajima, he believes in what he is doing. He has a game plan, it is dynamic and adaptable, but he has a strategy to win because that is what wrestling should be about. Along the way especially as a rookie, he is going to take his lumps and he responds to these lumps by selling and adapting. His selling is among the best of his generation and his fighting spirit more convincing than most. I believe that the only thing holding him back is lack of junior peers for him to excel against. Just googled Nakajima vs Hayato, O FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!! Not one, but two matches, so pumped. At 28 years old, he is already a ten year veteran and with the right push, the sky is the limit. Want to go all the way back to his rookie year (won the Tokyo Sports Award for Rookie of the Year) in 2004 against Great Sasuke. Great Sasuke vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - Michinoku Pro 6/19/04 Right from the get go, Sasaki really did know he had something special with Nakajima and was able to convince a lot of his peers. Japanese matches are very hierarchical, based on that tradition you would expect this to be a shit kicking, but Nakajima shows some fighting spirit, but ultimately succumbs to Sasuke. The Sasuke treats Nakajima like his peer. Having watched a lot of puroresu, this makes Nakajima right then and there in my eyes. You know he is a wrestler to watch immediately. Just like the Sasuke match I watched recently with Hayato, they are working a match around struggling for a victory, but along the way they are popping the crowd. Nakajima takes advantage of Sasuke giving his back with roundhouse kick and kicks him in midsection. He makes the mistake of breaking without protecting himself and Sasuke takes him to the mat. The matwork is really sound with Nakajima doing some great verbal selling, but fighting Sasuke every step of the way. I loved Sasuke pounding the mat in frustration when Nakajima grabbed the ropes on a cross armbreaker. Once Nakajima starts revving up and looks to dive, Sasuke hightails it. Nakajima continues to dominate once Sasuke returns. I will say Nakajima for how comfortable he looks selling and working spots would get more fluid on offense. I loved Nakajiam wriggling out of a powerbomb with a backslide and then immediately following a whiff by Sasuke he goes for a roll up. On the second nearfall, he pounds the mat and lets out a yell because he knows how much a victory would mean over a legend like Sasuke this early in his career. He goes for an axe kick and Sasuke dumps him on his head. Does this spell the end of Nakajima's cinderella run or does the phenomenon pull off the unbelieveable and score the upset? Watch the match as it is worth it. Great little veteran vs rookie match that really showcased Nakajima. ***1/2

Both of the Tito matches are pretty good with my recollection being the lead-in to Survivor Series '89 being the better of the two, but overall it was a disappointing program because it was booked around the loop as a 4 minute match. You have the best blood feud worker in the company up against a hot new heel that just backstabbed him. Infuriating! My thought process: they wanted to push Martel (he is a top 3 heel WM VII), but the booking mentality was not to have a face lose a feud like that hence 4 minute matches. The best singles Martel match was a Primetime match with Bret Hart in '89 (NOT the MSG house show match from '90 that was a borefest). This was during the year where they were teasing a Bret babyface singles run as he barely tagged with Neidhart all year. You could tell Bret's effort was at all time high in the WWF because he wanted that singles push. If you don't care about just singles matches, the obvious great heel Martel match is Santana/Rockers vs Martel/Rougeaus Summerslam '89. Martel. Bravo, Valentine, Rougeaus would have been an all-time great WWF Jimmy Hart heel stable.

2009 could have been the year of the juniors if KENTA just treated Nakajima with some respect. KENTA absolutely hit out of the park with Kotaro Suzuki in my current 2009 MOTY. Then this match just killed pretty much any non-KENTA/Danielson juniors match. Love seeing the juniors stepping their game up. Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion Fujita Jr Hayato vs Great Sasuke - Michinoku Pro 6/19/09 Great Sasuke is truly one of the greatest junior heavyweights of all time and it really shines here. He is partying like it is 1994 out there with his crazy bumps, but always consistently selling and working an angle to win a match never just to pop the crowd. If he pops the crowd so be it, but he is here to win and that is what I want out of my wrestling. The whole match from the get-go to ending feels like Sasuke trying to prove to himself, the world and most importantly this punk, Hayato he can still hang with the best of them. He bullrushes with a dropkick, but Fujita side-steps. The matwork in the early part of the match is fierce and heated. Sasuke scores an early victory with an Ultimo Dragon like baseball slide and Hayato wipes out a bunch of chairs. Ultimo Dragon is looking on and rooting for Sasuke. Back to the matwork, Hayato comes out of the fracas with a heel hook that bothers Sasuke, but is not enough to fuck him up yet. Sasuke hits a T-Bone off a criss-cross and Hayato powders. Sasuke looks for the Asai Moonsault (lots of Dragon influence) but on the all important back kick to set it up, Hayato catches the foot and yanks him to the ground, which now really messes up his leg. Hayaot sends Sasuke through the chairs in a fashion that has to be seen and takes a chair to his leg. Hayato works the leg well, but the key in this type of early leg work is always on the seller and Sasuke really makes you believe with how he is writhing. Sasuke meets Hayato on the top rope with great shots to the midscetion, he looks to regain the advantage with an elbow drop, but eats apron. OW! Hayato sees his opportunity and seizes it by the throat literally. Twice he applies the guillotine choke and on the second time Sasuke powers out and drops him on his head. Sasuke heads up top to press his newfound advantage, but misses the swandive and sells the back by taking a walk. Hayato follows and Sasuke catches and sends him into the post. This sets up the big Sasuke dives to the outside, the swandive and dropkick that show he has not lost a step since 1994. He looks to end it with a painful looking chickenwing crossface, but before he could really cinch it in Hayato makes the ropes. Sasuke starts looking for chairs and makes a big pile of them. He suplexes Hayato onto them and then decides a high speed swandive is what he needs to be done to finish him off. Hayato moves and OOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! Hayato realizes to beat this sick fuck he is going to have cave his head in with strikes. In my favorite moment, when Hayato starts going off with strikes, Sasuke actually moves closer to shorten the distance and move into the clinch. Perfect. He throws him with a double underhook. Sasuke is feeling it dives onto Hayato's bad arm and then a big powerbomb, but nada. He goes up top, but Hayato kicks his head off. Sasuke tries to retreat, but Hayato hits a plancha. Back in the ring, Hayato hits a big German and then obliterates him with big knees. A valiant effort by Sasuke to hang with Hayato, but Hayato is not just the future he is clearly the present after that performance. I would say the second best juniors match of the decade behind only the heated brawl between KENTA/Kotaro Suzuki. Sasuke was amazing in every facet of the game: offense, selling and huge bumps. He was just pouring so much effort into this match. Unlike the Dragon 2007 match, he had an opponent trying just as hard as him. I loved smooth transitions of the match. The early heel hook was not capitalized on until Asai Moonsault, the power out of the choke did not lead to Sasuke full recovery until the posting, Sasuke crashing into a bunch of chairs did not end his run until Hayato kicked him off the top rope. Abrupt transitions can be very powerful tools, but can also be lazy and weak. This match showed how dynamic Hayato could be working well on top and from underneath with equal proficiency. What makes it extra compelling was the emotional connection with Sasuke wanting to see the old time pull off the upset one last time, but falling short in a great effort. ****1/2

After reading the comments, I was afraid of this going really long especially when you see the video is a total of 38 minutes long. However once you cut out intros and post-match, the match is 25 minutes and really did not think there was much in the way of overkill especially relative to NOAH at the time. Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion Yoshitune vs Fujita Jr Hayato - Michinoku Pro 12/12/08 Fujita Jr Hayato is a name I have heard bandied around for the past couple months as leading the Michinoku Pro revitalization having about one great match a year from 2008 up until now. From my understanding, the only reason he has not had more is due to a dearth of opponents not because of an inconsistent skill level. Hayato is a shoot-y style junior with lots of kicks, good matwork, a choke out submission, can fly when necessary. His real hallmarks are he is an amazing seller and brutal, violent muthafucka. Yoshitune is one of the coolest looking masked wrestlers I have ever seen with a really cool costume. I thought his strikes were dogshit, but he kills any of the Dragon Gate guys in how well he flies and when he times his highspots. He was amazing at your standard high-flying spots (Shooting Star Press, moonsault press to floor), but he had some fantastic highspots that would be over like rover in America. I loved the balance on top rope superkick to Hayato and the run the top rope dropkick. Between the costume and the spots, he seems like someone who get over really fast with children and lovers of great acrobatics. Yoshitune establishes that he is going to use his speed early to avoid Hayato kicks and matwork. He busts out a 619 and a Space Flying Tiger Drop early to get that blood flowing. He starts throwing Hayato into the apron. Hayato does a great job selling his midsection throughout the match. Yoshitune may have sucked at striking, but he was great at hurling his body at Hayato. I loved the moonsault where he landed with his knees in Hayato's midsection. I love the M-Pro throw people into chairs spot and Hayato takes over on Yoshitune. The main flaw in this match is that the Hayato control segments come off as too much like an exhibition because Yoshitune is not really selling nor is he struggling. He is just letting these submissions and throws happen to him. In a match with so many great spots, my favorite may have been, Hayato preventing Yoshitune from diving off a balcony onto him by hurling a chair at him with pinpoint accuracy. They fight on the balcony with Hayato losing and eating a double stomp to his injured abdomen. Great, great wrestling. Yoshitune much like Ultimo Dragon is better on offense because he is so breath-taking and because he blows at selling and hope spots. So in the ring things are way more entertaining with flying around, but with the purpose of attacking the midsection and Hayato selling like a champ. Hayato gets knees up on Super Quebrada. He unloads with a big knee and spear leading to the guillotine choke, but Yoshitune makes the ropes. Yoshitune gets one last run with all his big spots before Hayato takes advantage of him whiffing on a head kick then annihilating him with kicks, knees and suplexes . They worked a great match that felt really fresh because it is the opposite of how air vs ground matches are worked. Instead of grounding Yoshitune and building to the big spots. Yoshitune overwhelmed Hayato with his aerial assault, but had a target that being the midsection. A lot of high flyers fly around, but it does not seem like they are doing damage, but Yoshitune was hurling his body with a specific target. Hayato to his credit made this all the more worthwhile by really selling the injury. Once he made the comeback you knew Yoshitune was at a disadvantage because Hayato's arsenal is loaded with knock out blows where as just does not have that. Also, the way it was worked prevented the "high flyer blows off selling to do dives" criticism. The main flaw was that it still felt too much like an exhibition to me when Hayato was on offense because Yoshitune was not really all that good at anything else besides high flying. Hayato's midesection gave Yoshitune's offense a sense of purpose, but I don't think they did enough with it to develop Hayato's offense around compensating for it. Honestly, I thought Dragon Gate would be more like this: eye-popping spots with some good work around it. M-Pro totally kills the standard fare Dragon Gate (only really high end DG was better than this.). This is exactly my kind of juniors match great acrobatics, a well-defined styles clash and strong surrounding work to prop up those big spots. ****

I have this third overall for the tremendous BatBat year. Ikuto Hidaka & Muneori Sawa vs Yuki Ishikawa & Yuta Yoshikawa - BattlArts 8/31/08 2008 was BattlArts everyone else was just playing for second place. Sawa is just a dynamo in the ring. Hidaka complements him well as a quick paced junior who introduces a little pro wrestling, but can go on the mat. Even though Ishikawa is a lot bigger than his opponents they have some great mat exchanges with Hidaka using his quickness to best Ishikawa's weight advantage. I love shoot-style tags for their internal logic like Ishikawa backing Hidaka into the corner to tag out and Hidaka hightails it out of there. Or when Ishikawa is trapped in the other corner and Sawa unloads with wicked fists to the face and even hits Hidaka because he is in the way. Ishikawa does not dominate Sawa, but the kid gets in his licks. Yoshikawa gets trapped as the face in peril after an axe kick by Hidaka and a really cool Hidaka powerbomb. Hidaka's heel hook gives Team Sawa their target, Yoshikawa's leg. Yoshikawa does a great job modulating his selling as the beating progressing peppering in hope spots early before he gives a last ditch effort which ends with Hidaka almost kicking his head. off. Deep, deep half crab by Hidaka should win it but Yoshikawa gets to the ropes. Ishikawa really ought to interject himself. Yoshikawa mounts a comeback with Zidane headbutts and now an inverted figure-4 and double wristlock combo. He catches Sawa in a heel hook and Ishikawa puts him in an armbar, sweet spot. Yoshikawa knows it is time to get out of there. Hidaka swats Ishikawa out of the sky with a kick to the head. He retreats and tags in Sawa. IT IS ON BABY!!! This is so scrappy. Sawa wants to prove himself to Ishikawa who is trying to weather the storm and knock this punk out. Sawa lands a head kick and then a Shining Wizard and it looks to be over. Ishikawa grabs a German Suplex and wisely tags out to Yoshikawa. Sawa winds up for the big punch, but gets caught in a cross armbreaker. Yoshikawa keeps going back to the cross armbreaker and Sawa goes for a KO punch. Neither gets it done and they both look ready to pass out from punching themselves out. Hidaka and Ishikawa scuffle while the very fatigued Sawa and Yoshikawa look to finish this one out. Another hard hitting gem from BattlArts as they showcase their style through the battle of attrition at the end with Sawa and Yoshikawa. Sawa had plenty of chances to tag out, but pride kept him in there to finish off Yoshikawa. It became a war not just about winning a match, but to see who the better was Yoshikawa or Sawa. Hidaka was great in this match with tons of sweet offense and really added a lot by bringing a little bit of pro wrestling to the match. Yoshikawa was a great underdog face that was there right to the end. Sawa was just a huge bundle of energy and really drove the match home. Would have loved to see more from Ishikawa as he played a backseat to the other three. The match lacked a big overarching story that would have the finish run better if Sawa/Yoshikawa had interacted more earlier as it seemed the issues were Ishikawa/Sawa and Hidaka/Yoshikawa. Still it is a great match and will definitely make my top 100. ****1/4

Tanahashi in 2007-2008 has been undeniable with only one misfire, but I am watching him do his pretty boy, cowardly heel schtick and he is friggin killing it. There are less pissing contests and more focus on actually winning matches. Tanahashi has been a huge breath of fresh air in 00s purorresu. I plan on watching his stuff from 2010-2014 and if he is as good as in 2007-2008 he is a lock to be in my Top 100. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 2008 This did not make the Best of Japan 00's voting, but could not simply resist watching one of my new favorites against one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. Tanahashi as the cocky, pretty boy that will do anything to win matches is incredible. What makes him such a great heel is that he is always doing something underhanded to take the advantage. Early on, he gets under Kawada's skin by slapping him on a rope break and running away.He transitioned this into a baseball slide and wiping out Kawada with a plancha. When Kawada started kicking his pretty face in with big boots and then whipping him into the railing, he tried to blow out Kawada's knee. Unfortunately for him, Kawada has not sold his knee all decade and he probably is not going to start for this punk kid. Kawada is the perfect foil for Tanahashi. Unlike Suwama and Goto for are ultra-serious Strong Style pro wrestlers. Kawada has character. He holds Tanahashi in contempt for flaunting his hair and being a punk. So when Kawada is beating the snot out of him it is all the better. They do a great build on the outside to a Kawada powerbomb where he just throws Tanahashi DOWN! Tanahashi has been a great bumper in the matches I have seen. He really makes people's offense look good. Just when it looks like Kawada has him beat as he goes for a second powerbomb, Tanahashi low blows him. Awesome! The finish run is very well-done with minimal no-selling. Tanahashi is just absolutely desperate. He throws everything at Kawada going after his knees, throwing out cradles and sprinting for High Fly Flow. Kawada is also working hard to win the match using cradles, hits his brainbuster and kicks to head. There is a real sense of urgency as the clock winds down to a draw. This is the best Kawada match seen since 2005 and is about on par with Misawa Dome match. Tanahashi played to 00s Kawada's strengths and that is just letting him kick ass and work a hot finish. The more I watch the more I believe that if the NWA travelling champ was still a thing that Tanahashi would be the best NWA champion today. He works great with a variety of opponents, he knows how to shine them up, he always gets the crowd invested in his matches, he knows how to work on top as a face or as heel and his finish run lead to a climax. It was great to see Kawada have another great match and this leaves me only more excited for more Tanahashi matches. ****

Low Ki along with Styles is one of my favorite workers from 00s Indies era. I always thought he portrayed a badass well, but still being able to show vulnerability through selling. I liked his foward posture and how he moved in the ring. It felt very aggressive and offensive. Like Styles, I think he is really smart about integrating cute spots into his match that will pop the crowd and logically fit rather than forcing them in. Here is two Low Ki reviews from the 00s Japan project. Low Ki vs AJ Styles - Z1 01/05/03 AJ Styles as the cocky, douchey show-off heel was one of my favorite things about wrestling in the 00s. He is perfectly contrasted against the ultra-serious, no-nonsense Low-Ki in this match. I have seen this match before and thought it was pretty good, but this time around I was actually blown away how well this came off. The spots were well-executed at a pace that kills, but in addition there were actual transitions and it felt like an actual contest with two combatants struggling for victory. The early matwork was really well done and felt super organic. Each wrestler was looking for a hold, but could never really wrangle one. I dug Ki's kick to AJ's head during a Stampede roll-around on the armbar. Everytime, AJ went to bask in his own glory it usually led to a swift kick to his head (second time he jumps over the railing to avoid contact only for Ki to wipe him and a bunch of fans out was friggin awesome). Or AJ liked to do a kip up hurricanrana at the time and I just watched the ROH 2002 match against Ki where he does it out of nowhere and it looked pretty stupid. Here, Ki has been on offense for the majority of the match, but during a criss cross AJ hits a dropkick to a leapfrogging Ki to hit his kip up rana and it looks so much better since Ki is bending over. AJ was not just some Scotty Steiner doing a spot and then popping for himself. When he nailed Ki with one of his semi-finishers (one of them indy-riffic suplexes), he was pissed off that he did not win and started to unload with a bunch of closed fists. He cared about winning in a wrestling match what a novel concept! Of course, his overzealousness costed him as Ki caught him in a powerbomb. Ki showed the crowd that Styles was not the only one who cared about winning as he unleashed some devastating Kawada kicks. There were a lot of great spots in this one, but spot of the match had to be AJ catching Ki off some crazy flip and seamlessly turning it into Style Clash. AJ, brash as ever, signals he has a three only for a kick out and his face says it all. Now if Ki hit the Ki Krusher and won right there. I think I would have an argument to call this an elite match, but AJ kicks out and the finish sequence goes two minutes longer than it should. AJ counters Kawada kicks with a suplex combination that is indy-riffic in his no-selling and its presentation. He does grab his neck (Ki Krusher) and show some hesitancy to go for Super Styles Clash so I will give him that. Ki is able to take advantage of this to hit his Ki Krusher and roll into a wicked looking Dragon Sleeper for win. There are definite issues in terms of long-term selling and the finish sequence going into spot overdrive, but in terms of a fireworks display with struggle and well-done transitions this hard to beat. **** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Low Ki - Budokan 9/10/04 Low Ki is one of my favorite 00s American Indy workers so I thought I would give this one a look see. It was an entertaining affair with Ki carrying Kanemaru, one of my least favorite junior workers, to a very good match. This is one match where I thought a lot of the cute spots worked really well in a logical fashion to progress the match. Whether it was early on when Ki went for the kill with a springboard double stomp while Kanemaru was hanging on the railing or catching Kanemaru with a rolling kappo kick or utilzing the Tidal Wave better than Cody Rhodes ever has. In addition, to well-integrated "innovative" spots, Ki kept basic early with great arm work and anytime Kanemaru looked to rally he applies the Dragon Clutch from all sort of locations. I thought the missed double stomp outside was a great transition. I did not care for Kanemaru jump, catch, DDT off apron because it is one of those moves you can't tell who takes the damage. Credit to both of them because Kanemaru sold the arm and Ki sold the head the rest of the match. He did a great job milking the count until 19 and then being a bit foggy the rest of the match. I will say this followed more of an All Japan juniors template with lots of selling in between moves, but still executing a lot of moves. It is a weird hybrid that could rub someone the wrong way. I thought they stayed on the right side of things for the most part. Even though I think Kanemaru's offense is pretty much dogshit (has a split legged moonsault ever looked good) I thought his camel clutch, fishhook move was great and that stayed on the head. Once Ki was back on offense whilst selling the head things were more interesting I loved his elbows and that Tidal wave and I am a sucker for the double stomp. Both seemed intent on hitting their finishes: moonsualt vs Ki Krusher. Each got it and kicked out, which is a sign of times, but not something enamores me to the match. I liked Ki's strength spot on the ramp with Kanemaru in the muscle buster I especially liked the presentation of trying to each side of the crowd so they could see. It shows he really understands the showmanship aspect of pro wrestling. Then he impressed me by chucking Kanemaru back into the ring. He hits the Tidal Crush and then blows me away with his splash. You want to impress me add flips and spins to your splashes don't hit modified suplexes those just look stupid. Unfortunately, Kanemaru kicks out and counters the Ki Krusher. He hits a barrage of brainbusters to win. I thought this was a great Low Ki performance, but Kanemaru really did not add much. The match was a bit busy were the transitions made sense from segement to segment, but overall the story was lost, Styles/Ki was the better Japanese Ki performance, but still an entertaining match. ***1/2

GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Low Ki - Budokan 9/10/04 Low Ki is one of my favorite 00s American Indy workers so I thought I would give this one a look see. It was an entertaining affair with Ki carrying Kanemaru, one of my least favorite junior workers, to a very good match. This is one match where I thought a lot of the cute spots worked really well in a logical fashion to progress the match. Whether it was early on when Ki went for the kill with a springboard double stomp while Kanemaru was hanging on the railing or catching Kanemaru with a rolling kappo kick or utilzing the Tidal Wave better than Cody Rhodes ever has. In addition, to well-integrated "innovative" spots, Ki kept basic early with great arm work and anytime Kanemaru looked to rally he applies the Dragon Clutch from all sort of locations. I thought the missed double stomp outside was a great transition. I did not care for Kanemaru jump, catch, DDT off apron because it is one of those moves you can't tell who takes the damage. Credit to both of them because Kanemaru sold the arm and Ki sold the head the rest of the match. He did a great job milking the count until 19 and then being a bit foggy the rest of the match. I will say this followed more of an All Japan juniors template with lots of selling in between moves, but still executing a lot of moves. It is a weird hybrid that could rub someone the wrong way. I thought they stayed on the right side of things for the most part. Even though I think Kanemaru's offense is pretty much dogshit (has a split legged moonsault ever looked good) I thought his camel clutch, fishhook move was great and that stayed on the head. Once Ki was back on offense whilst selling the head things were more interesting I loved his elbows and that Tidal wave and I am a sucker for the double stomp. Both seemed intent on hitting their finishes: moonsualt vs Ki Krusher. Each got it and kicked out, which is a sign of times, but not something enamores me to the match. I liked Ki's strength spot on the ramp with Kanemaru in the muscle buster I especially liked the presentation of trying to each side of the crowd so they could see. It shows he really understands the showmanship aspect of pro wrestling. Then he impressed me by chucking Kanemaru back into the ring. He hits the Tidal Crush and then blows me away with his splash. You want to impress me add flips and spins to your splashes don't hit modified suplexes those just look stupid. Unfortunately, Kanemaru kicks out and counters the Ki Krusher. He hits a barrage of brainbusters to win. I thought this was a great Low Ki performance, but Kanemaru really did not add much. The match was a bit busy were the transitions made sense from segement to segment, but overall the story was lost, Styles/Ki was the better Japanese Ki performance, but still an entertaining match. ***1/2

Sterness (Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito, Jun Izumida) vs Daisuke Ikeda & Wild II (Takeshi Rikio & Takeshi Morishima) - NOAH 3/16/03 NOAH from inception to the Koabashi title loss was a really cool promotion. Yes, they had a main event style, but there were a lot of neat matches that were a departure of "EPIC" Main event matches. You had the fun Ogawa matches, the stiff Takayama appearances, the early KENTAFuji stuff, the quick Misawa matches all that made for a very diverse card. Here we get a crazy brawl that even includes a concession stand brawl not as epic as the ones in Memphis nor do they end up in the women's bathroom, but for NOAH this was crazy shit. Hell, the match began with a masked man (I assume Marufuji) hitting a sliced bread on Akiyama on the ramp. I love those little twists every so often and it was a great way to jump start the match. From there, Morishima and Rikio are just killing Akiyama. I love how they target the top dog rather the usual policy of going after the low man on the totem pole (Izumida). It was another cool wrinkle. They do a good job showing how this man advantage allows them to keep Saito at bay while they try to get the quick pin on Akiyama. Then Ikeda, who delivers a heel perfromance similar to a Murakami or Ogawa, drags Akiyama to the concession stand. I loathe arena brawling for the most part, but this was really well-done. Back in the ring, Akiyama just owns it selling this beating. It is scary it is not even his best selling of the year because of the Tenzan G-1 Climax match. It was great getting to see Akiyama in this role because as the heel in the Kobashi matches you don't see this side of him and he is very good at it. ikeda and Takeshis really heel it up with double teams and cheating. Then in a true shocker there is a great strike exchange between Akiyama and Morishima. It is a great strike exchange because of the context. It was not just shoehorned in there or because it was supposed to be there. Morishima had started to punch himself out and Akiyama was using the ropes to hold himself up starts throwing slaps. Then BOOM Jumping Knee to tag out to Saito. The finish run falls a little flat. I thought Saito and Izumida were fine hot tags and Morishima sold well and Ikeda was a great prick, but it was a little too strike exchange-happy. The best part was when Akiyama finally got back in and just starts hammering Morishima with closed fists loved it. The actual finish is pretty anticlimatic because the two of the six least important members finish with Rikio pinning Izumida when neither did that much. The wild post-match brawl salvages it some as Akiyama goes crazy with a chair. In fact, I would say that a no contest finish with a crazy post-match brawl would have improved the match and put more heat on Sterness' upcoming tag title defense against Morishima & Marufuji. As it stands, a really fun NOAH brawl that you wish you see more of. Not the best NOAH six-man ever that belongs to the first Kobashi six-man of 2008, but something borderline to making my top 100. ***3/4

Takahashi Sugiura & Atsushi Aoki vs Hirooki Goto & Kazuchika Okada - NJPW 5/5/09 The star power in this feud sure did plummet in short order. The obvious reason to watch this match is to see how good a young Okada is. He is actually very good relative to his experience level. I love the Face Vet & Rookie vs two prick heels tag match. If Okada was paired with three better workers there was a chance for it to be the best of its genre in the 00s. His performance was every bit as good as Shiga or Miyamoto, but the other pieces just were not there. I loved early on how hard he was trying to get a single leg takedown on Sugiura, but Sugiura just no-sold. Sugiura showed his leg and said go ahead and take it. So Okada slaps him. The kid has moxy. Sugiura squashes any attempt at a takedown. Also, Okada is wicked over especially for a rookie. Besides having a very expressive face (very sharp features), I don't see what innately causes him to be that over. Eventually of course, Okada is thrown to the outside and the fun begins with Sugiura whipping Okada into the railing and generally beating the shit out of Okada. I loved his misdirect whip into a big boot onto Goot. I thought it was funny that Goto's hot tag sequence was basically the same as Sugiura's hot tag sequence from the last NJPW/NOAH match. Sugiura/Goto is a shittier verison of Kobashi/Sasaki, a much shittier version. Things pick back up once Okada gets his false finish run. He has a pretty dropkick and I loved his out of nowhere STO. You could tell he was putting a ton of effort into this match. Maybe the crowd is feeing off that. Sugiura midsirect kick to Goto jarrs Okada long enough for Aokit to hit a missile dropkick. Yes, Aoki took part in this match. Sugiura throws Okada around to "O-KA-DA" chants before polishing him off with Olympic Slam. Okada's effort and selling make this worthwhile, but just a good match. ***

Go Shiozaki & Takahashi Sugiura vs Shinsuke Nakamura & Milano Collection AT - NOAH 3/01/09 Why has Milano Collection AT not been in more nominated matches? I thought the awesomeness began and ended that he walked an imaginary dog to the ring, but this match not only proved he was a great wrestler, but one who could be the driving force behind what might be the MOTY for 2009 in Japan. Not to heap all the credit on Milano, Go Shiozaki looked best he has since his great performances with Kobashi in 2009. Of course, the big difference here was that he was expected to be the senior member of his team and he delivered in spades. I would not say I am seeing next generation ace, but he is definitely a talented wrestler and a boon to any roster. I loved his ability to fight from underneath and be scrappy. So many babyfaces are just dying on me. It makes their comebacks look incredulous. Shiozaki looked like he was fighting through some serious pain but firing off some wicked chops sometimes even from the ground. I loved that sense of struggle from Shiozaki. Overall the whole match had way more heat than the Dome NOAH vs New Japan match. Nakamaura and Milano were in full heel mode and Shiozaki & Sugiura are great at delivering punishment to these dick heels. Milano really got going early with some great fundamentals presisng the advantage inherited from Nakamura by establishing arm work on Sugiura. When Shiozaki tagged in, I loved how Mlano did not just roll over for him so when Shiozaki got that first shoulderblock it felt big. Then the fun began! Milano did a log roll the length of the ring to esacape the hard-hitting Shiozak. He then goaded Shiozaki to the outside only to roll back into the ring. He then kicked the ropes into his leg as he was getting in. The coup d'grace is he hogtied his legs and arms together around the ropes. I was amazed at how awesome and innovative that was. I am usually someone who shies away from innovative, Milano had at least a half dozen spots I had never seen before and were all awesome. Nakamura and Milano did some very good basic leg work on Shiozaki using the railing, kicks and submission holds to control him. The beauty was Shiozaki's selling and that ability to express fighting through pain in a credible fashion. It some of the best selling I have seen in a while. This middle portion is where they lose me for a bit before the badass finish run. Nakamura inexplicably lets up on the knee, which allows Shiozaki to chop his way out of trouble. Sugiura is actually best utilized as a hot tag as it plays to his energetic strengths. I loved the look on Milano's face as he was being bullrushed away from Nakamura. They get a little suplex happy, but once Shiozaki tags in the match elevates to the next level. Shiozaki chops the fuck out of Nakamura, but gets trapped in a flash triangle -> cross-armbreaker!!! Sugiura saves in a ncie bacllback to the Dome. The best part of this all is Shiozaki just cant seem to get his hands on that elusive Milano who is full splitting, back bending, putting ref on top of him his way out of trouble. Each spot is unique and it is infuriating because you just want Shiozaki to take this little punk's head off. Milano backslide -> 2! O thank God! Lariat, whiffs, damn back bend. Falling chop and he rolls out of the way. Just. Stay. Still! Milano inside cradle roll through into a GO BRAINBUSTER! LARIAT! FINALLY!!! Awesome build to a very satisfying conclusion. I feel like I have been beating a dead horse complaining about all these matches that have great opening and disjointed finishes that torpedo the match. This is how you build to a sweet climax. Shiozaki falls prey to Milano's underhanded tactics and is fighting out of a hole. Then he can't get his hands on him, but when he does I was popping five years after the fact in America. That is power. That is pro wrestling, BABY! If you are not believer in Shiozaki, watch this. I imagine this is Milano's career performance and what a great performance. Nakamura and Sugiura are along for the ride and have their best match of the 00s. Basically, Shiozaki and Milano wrestled a singles match and it was killer. ****1/2

Word. Mitsuharu Misawa & Takahasi Sugiura vs Shinsuke Nakamura & Hirooki Goto - Tokyo Dome 01/04/09 Nothing captures how strange this match is as much as Sugiura coming out to "When Loves Comes To Town". Mutoh is suing for gimmick infringement. The best part of this match was the great reaction Misawa gets from the Dome crowd during his entrance and when he first enters the match. It is heart-warming witnessing that. On the other end, watching him take routine suplexes so close to his death made me cringe. The match felt very American to me. It is clear as the 00s progressed that wrestling between America and Japan has tended toward homogenization with the profilieration of long finish runs filled with nearfalls in American matches and more Japanese wrestling concerned more with spots than transitions. I was so sad to watch Misawa/Goto do a standing switch on a waistlock with absolutely no struggle. Goto literally just let Misawa out and then Goto threw a prefunctory elbow to complete double reverse to hit a suplex. I expect that bullshit in America and don't mind, but it was sad to see it in Japan. Another American attribute was everyone hit their finisher to level everyone right before the finish proper. I actually like that sequence usually it was just strange to see it in Japan. The whole match was weird. There was no flow and no real sense of progression. Two wrestlers would just sort of hit stuff on each other and that was that. Goto and Nakamura made it a point to go after Misawa on the apron, but that did not build towards anything. Nakamura lasted longer in the face of the vaunted Misawa elbow, but that may just be a function of it being 2009. Suigura busted out his one good spot when he hangs Goto out and it is misdirect to smoke Nakamura with a big boot. Sugiura did his Angle impression with suplexes, Ankle locks and Angle Slams and it is so amateur hour. Goto is boring as fuck. Misawa should have retired, but we all know that. Nakamura is better than this. I loved the flash submission with the cross armbreaker. Respect the cross-armbreaker. I know shit happened for like 12-15 minutes and I remember it all, but it seemed like nothing happened just like Orton/Ziggler match from this past RAW. Yep, the convergence of America and Japan is scary and sad.

You could run a strong NYC/ LI promotion around Ziggler. Dude has nuclear heat. Wait, I thought if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.

Thanks to Wrestling Culture #50, already had a template. Basically the only movement has been due to 00s Japan. Akiyama makes the list. Tenryu and Kobashi are the huge winners. 1. Ric Flair - The Man, sheer volume 2. Stan Hansen - Inching closer and closer 3. Mtsuharu Misawa - Best comeback 4. Toshiaki Kawada - Best knee selling 5. Kenta Kobashi - GHC Title Reign Takes Him To Top 5 (Great Underdog and Champion, a complete story) 6. Rey Misterio Jr. - Perfect Integration of Lucha & American wrestling 7. Jumbo Tsuruta - Mr. All Japan 8. Genichiro Tenryu - King Prick 9. Jushin Liger - Best Japanese Junior 10. Vader - Best big man ever 11. Eddie Guerrero - Most Entertaining Wrestler 12. Terry Funk - Ultimate Main Event Utility Player 13. Randy Savage - Intensity, credibility, ruthless 14. Barry Windham - Best ring movement 15. Bobby Eaton - Best punch 16. Ricky Morton - FIP 17. Arn Anderson - Best midcarder ever? 18. Greg Valentine - Best WWF Bellhop (Could carry anyone). 19. Shawn Michaels - Rockers run & 90s singles >>>>>>>> 00s comeback 20. Akira Taue - 1995 & 2005 21. Nick Bockwinkel - Thinking man's wrestler 22. Ricky Steamboat - What is about "Ricky's" and selling? 23. John Cena - Best wrestler of 00s 24. Shinya Hashimoto - Best Strong Style 25. Bret Hart - Best offensive moveset of North America 26. Jun Akiyama - White or Blue, he is still cool 27. Dr. Death - 1994 28. Steve Austin - Best Attitude Era Worker 29. Bob Backlund - God of Headlocks 30. Daniel Bryan - Sky is the limit...well you know... (wrote that before the injury, for me as a viewer it still is because I have seen so little of his indy work) 31. Chris Benoit - Separation of art and the man 32. Dustin Rhodes/Goldust - Saga continues... 33. Tito Santana - Blood feud worker 34. Rick Martel - Most consistent wrestler 35. Lex Luger - Best bodybuilder wrestler 36. Hulk Hogan - Most underrated 37. Brian Pillman - What could have been? 38. AJ Styles - Air, Land and Sea 39. Yoshinari Ogawa - My Spirit Wrestler 40. William Regal - Ring General 41. Ronnie Garvin - OW! 42. Yoshihiro Takayama - Bleach Blond & Badddddddd 43. Owen Hart - Best Younger Brother Brat 44. Curt Hennig - AWA salvages Mr. Perfect 45. Kerry Von Erich - Flair/Jumbo, need to see more 46. Jerry Lawler - Separation of the wrestler and the commentator 47. Yuki Ishikawa - Crazy hair, crazier punches 48. Kensuke Sasaki - POWER WOYAH (So that's his worst run, but the name is very apt) 49. Marty Jannetty - Rockers 50. Sean Waltman - Best Underdog Story...until now?

Parv, I was thinking that because it is a collective term, but it sounded weird to me because we are ranking 100 wrestlers. Lets leave it be then!

I do not mean this to be a slight to this match, but rather praise to the overall level of BattlArts quality in 2008 when I say that Ishikawa & Sawa vs Tiger & Hara was even better than this. This match was a tour de force and representative of how on fire the promotion was from a quality standpoint. Yuki Ishikawa, Alexander Otsuka, Muneori Sawa vs Daisuke Ikeda, Super Tiger II, Katsui Usuda - BattlArts 7/26/08 Elimination Match Anytime, you see Ishikawa stand across the ring from Ikeda you know shit is going to get real. I loved how organic, but yet thoughtful the match was. When they did a Northern Lights Suplex or a figure-4 or a Sharpshooter, it felt like legitimate, believable ways to apply the hold while still never losing a sense of authenticity. I have never seen a Sharpshooter or Figure-4 in an MMA fight even though it would obviously hurt if wrenched in because the setup would be intricate, but here you see demonstrations of how it could be done without excessive cooperation and it was really neat. This is in addition to just fucking brutal all those strikes were. My favorite part of the match was the buildup to the first elimination. The very first thing established is that Sawa has a chip on his shoulder and wants to take out the big dog, Ikeda. He is obsessed with him to point of costing himself the match attacking when he is on the apron and not even in the match (Ishikawa bails him out). Ikeda shows he is a level above Sawa keeping him at bay with relative ease. Usuda has a deep, deep toehold on Sawa that causes some serious knee pain for Sawa going forward. There is great selling and sense of desperation from Sawa for self-preservation from Usuda's relentless onslaught and the fact that Sawa basically dug this hole for himself by disrespecting the opponent in the ring by going after an opponent on the apron. Usuda eventually gets Sawa to tap to a heel hook after a great sense of struggle. If the match ends, it would be a MOTYC, but we get even more goodness that pushes it is into MOTDC territory. From here, the match does really well is showcase how much being a man down really puts you in a hole. Too often in the WWE do we see one man overcome two men on a regular basis that we lose that sense of a real disadvantage. Here the opposing team has an extra man to save his partner from a submission. Thus the that puts more onus on the disadvantaged team to win by knockout. Well good thing the other team is suplex machine Otsuka and punches really hard Ishikawa. Otsuka applies the most vicious snapmare you will ever see on Super Tiger, When snapmares are looking vicious you know you are in rare air. Ikeda and Tiger target Otsuka's leg, but he gets a throw to bring Ishikawa in. The first Ishikawa/Ikeda encounter underwhelms actually because I did not think there was much struggle it was just Ishikawa kicking the shit out of him. Eventually we get some struggle with Ikeda landing some big strikes and Ishikawa having to fire up to trap him in the corner and tags out to Otsuka. Otsuka applies an arm triangle to Usuda, Ishikawa detains Super Tiger, but Ikeda strolls over to break it up. That is the 3-2 advantage right there. Otsuka hits his German/Dragon Suplex combo to KO Usuda and even the score. Otsuka goes for the Boston Crab and almost does a bit of a Giant Swing. Ikeda backs Otsuka into his corner where Tiger kicks him in the head. Ikeda hits a brainbuster and punts him in the head for the knockout elimination. Genius booking, you get faces back to full strength only to have the heels use a numbers game and knock one out leaving Ishikawa back in the hole. Ishikawa is at his best fighting from underneath. There will be no one to save him from submissions and his submissions will be broken up at will. Ishikawa keeps getting those holds and Ikeda keeps kicking him in the head. Damn that must be annoying as fuck. In the spot of the match, Ishikawa has Super Tiger in a Standing Deathlock so everytime Ikeda kicks Ishikawa down it wrenches the hold in more. Maybe the greatest spot in history. Eventually Tiger's knee is so fucked it is an instant tap out and Ikeda cant save. Well the whole match has been building to this and here we go ISHIKAWA VS IKEDA, BABY!!!! I didn't think this standalone portion was as good as their 2005 match, but it was a good ending to an excellent match. Ishikawa comes out hot, but may have punched himself out. Ishikawa starts going for heel hooks with Ikeda likes the kick to the head as his primary weapon both are stiff and violent looking. Ishikawa gets a choke and then without warning the bell rings and it is a draw. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! So why do I think this draw sucks? I like draws and I think they are a useful took. For instance, I think the NJPW/AJPW Dec 2000 is the perfect use of the draw and I will probably rate that match over this because I think it uses the draw better. That felt like a war where both teams earned the draw because they had kicked the shit out of each other so bad that it just needed to be stopped because they would go forever. This match I thought Ishikawa earned the draw, but Ikeda did not . Was he really in the match that long overall? He had plenty time to recover since outing with Otsuka. It was not an even match. Ikeda's team had the advantage the majority of the time. Since the match was uneven, I think we deserved a winner. Ikeda winning because Ishikawa falls short at the finish line or Ishikawa pulling out a miracle either finish takes it to ***** and a top 3 match of the decade, but the finish puts it in the Top 10. Overall though Sawa's elimination was incredible and then how they worked the uneveness was so entertaining. Just thought that finish stretch and finish left a little sumthin sumthin to be desired. ****3/4

Charles or Will, could you please change it to "Who Are Your Top 100 Right Now?". A person in my position can not afford to look ridiculous.

I believe that the change is more important the destination in this progress. How we have changed because the additional footage we have watched over the course of the year and how we view that footage and how are beliefs change are the real values of the project. The "ultimate" list that this produces will be static and representative of a time period. Pro wrestling is dynamic. One of the many reasons I love pro wrestling is that it never ends. So how can any list produced about a dynamic form of entertainment ever be considered final. Thus a static list measuring a dynamic quantity is on its own useless unless there are static lists that document the changes in time. One could argue that 2006 Smarkschoice Poill is the baseline. Well I did not take part in that poll so FUCK THAT POLL! I am kidding, I am kidding. As an example of what dramatic things can change in an eight year period, my feelings on John Cena has radically changed. In 2006, I hated John Cena with a passion. Man alive, I bought into every single bit of smarky bullshit especially the fact that he was a "bad" wrestler. Fast forward 8 years and I think Cena is one of the best in-ring workers (his character & out of ring work tends to suck more often than not in my opinion, but that is for another thread). I would actually rank Cena as one of the top 25 workers of all time. Now, what would have been interesting is if I documented that on a year to year basis. I know 2011 with Punk is when I started to turn the corner on him. Or how my brother loves to throw in my face "Remember when you loved The Miz and hated Sheamus". 2010 was a bad year for me folks, but it should have been documented! I think an additional baseline would help because it will show how much from the start to finish there was a change. Next argument would be that initial lists could cause influence, group think or convergence. However, we are all promoting what we love anyways so why no fully categorize. I have not fully exploited Dylan's list yet when he did for Wrestling Culture #50, but when he ranked Yuki Ishikawa (a guy who had never even heard of) and Tatsumi Fujinami at #5ish (I have seen like 3 Fujinami matches), it was a wake up call. So when I was doing Ditch's 00s project, I highlighted to make sure to watch every Ishikawa match and they have been tremendous (in two of my current top 10) and I bought New Japan set first so I can see what Fujinami is all about. That's how an initial list can be valuable in guiding our watching. So have at it. I will post one later in the week because I am at work and should be doing work, but I am committed to this viewpoint. It is going to be a crazy list, but hell it is only more fun that way.

What I think I really do not fully comprehend is why this can not be viewed as a checkpoint. There is never going to be finality. There is way more value in seeing how things change than in an "ultimate" list. In fact, I urge people to put together a Top 50/100 ballot now at the beginning as a baseline. Then check to see what their final ballot is in 2016. The change in that 1.5 years is going to be far more valuable than the final ballot ultimately because it represents how much more we have watched and how we changed in our viewing habits. If you are hung up on the semantics of "Greatest Wrestler Ever" is an unattainable goal because people are still wrestling. It is 100% impossible to declare the greatest wrestler ever. Why can't it just be the "Greatest Wrestler Ever Based on What X has seen in his Lifetime Up To Wrestlemania XXXII?" (With X being the voter). The beauty of it is that it is just like pro wrestling. There is no ending. It just goes on and on.

Funny you should mention cutting off ten minutes because we lost 8-10 minutes given the official time shown at the time of the fall. So they did cut off ten minutes and yet you wanted them to cut off ten more. GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion Bryan Danielson vs KENTA - NOAH 10/13/08 If only KENTA was allowed to wrestle Danielson, he would be the greatest junior heavyweight of all time. Danielson brings out the absolute best in KENTA by forcing him to slow down and work matches based around selling and storytelling. The moves fit the circumstances and strategies of the competitors rather solely to pop the crowd. I thought they would be hard pressed to top their 2006 MOTYC and I would say they would have except for the fact we are missing about 8-10 minutes of footage. I hate rating 75% of a match, no matter how great, against a whole match. For that reason, I put the 2006 match ahead, but the 2008 match was incredible and testament to both men's ability and especially to Danielson as a ring general. KENTA has all the physical tools to be one of the greatest of all time, but indulging the worst excesses of 00s have proven him to be inconsistent at best in delivering a cogent performance. Danielson has twice now taken him to the promised land providing him with two out of three of his best singles matches of the 00s (the other being against ultra-heel SUWA in 2005). The match picks up with KENTA delivering a rifle kick to Danielson's midsection like he is Sano's prodigy. Danielson sells this like a million bucks and really makes it worthwhile. KENTA dominates the midsection hitting a drop toehold sending Danielson's midsection into the steel railing consolidating his hold. Then a double stomp from the apron and more strikes has Danielson reeling. He tries to fire himself up with "C'mon muthafucka", but KENTA immediately kicks him in the rib. Then Danielson breaks into what will be vintage 2013 Danielson with a backflip in the corner and then a running elbow. It felt really fresh and desperate here. Danielson hits a baseball slide to set up his big springboard splash. He hurts his mdisection but lets a defiant yell because he is ALL MAN~! They tease a countout finish, but KENTA makes it back with Danielson pin attempt unsuccessful he takes to the sky, but KENTA wipes him out with a big kick. KENTA reconsolidates with a Go 2 Sleep crashing the midsection to the railing. Double stomp from the heavens to Danielson's midsection. KENTA is so focused, Danielson selling like a champion and the transitions drip with desperation, fuck this is good. KENTA picks up the pace because he is pressing the advantage. This is an excellent time to use the million miles per hour pace. The Texas Cloverleaf looks to have it sealed up for KENTA, but Danielson scratches and claws to the ropes. God, Danielson used to be the King of Selling. Danielson goes full on Ishikawa when he catches a kick into a heel hook only to reel him into a German suplex. 2008 was awesome, baby! Danielson hangs on and KENTA is desperately trying to hand onto the ropes, but eats another German. Danielson goes for Cattle Mutilation, but KENTA reverses into an STF and a Danielson forearm knocks out KENTA. The strikes are getting weaker and the counters more plentiful as the struggle is on. Danielson looks to complete his counterattack with another move from the top and KENTA goes for the running kick to dislodge him from the high ground, but this time it costs KENTA as he wrenches his knee and is left hanging in the tree of woe. Danielson throws the ref out of the way and rains elbows onto the knee. The heel hook can not force a submission as gets the ropes. Danielson hits his big bomb which is a super back suplex. Now he thinks it is time for Cattle Mutilation, but has to settle for MMA elbows to head. KENTA in a last ditch effort hits Go 2 Sleep from the position stunning Danielson and giving him time to recover. Danielson gets up bloody while KENTA runs the ropes noticeable slower. WAY TO GO, KENTA! Danielson catches him in a sleeper, now a Tiger Suplex and a Cattle Mutilation, but nada. Danielson goes for the kill witha super butterfly suplex, but KENTA counters into a Super Fisherman Buster for two. A needless strike exchange mars the finish stretch, but KENTA hits the exploding knee and G2S to take it. Part of me wants to commend KENTA for wrestling such an amazing match, but the other part of me is pissed about the Nakajima matches where KENTA clearly just said Fuck You, Nakajima. KENTA crushed it on offense, but when Danielson was launching his counterattack he modulated his selling perfectly first exhaustion then his knee, but never dying. He then at the final hour scored a big victory from the top rope to set up his eventual victory. At the end of the day, Danielson was the driving force. His selling hooked you into the match early then worked in perfect hope spots before finally consolidating into a late match rally. It was too little too late. Would love to see this in full, but right now I see this in the top 30. ****1/2

Preface: I love Misawa and he will be in my Top 5 unless something crazy happens. I just am looking to promote an interesting discussion is all. Selfishly, I would also like to see what people thought of Sasaki vs. Morishima because I thought it was crazy awesome. I just watched the GHC title matches from 2008 between Misawa vs Morishima and then Sasaki vs Morishima. The Sasaki match blew the Misawa match away. I think it was a complete smokeshow. I do not think there is one person that would posit it Sasaki is a better worker than Misawa. So what happened? I think Sasaki respected Morishima and how Morishima was different. He took what Morishima brought to the table: that he is fucking huge and used to create an amazing match. Where he, the veteran and great powerhouse, was totally overwhelmed by this behemoth. He kept preserving looking for those young champion mistakes and changing his strategy. The match started to tip in his favor forcing Morishima's hand into attempting a big bomb (moonsault) misses and bingo Sasaki is in the driver's seat. In the Misawa match, Misawa did not respect Morishima. He treated him like he was Kawada. Kawada and Morishima are two very different wrestlers. Misawa's elbow was still the equalizer and he was still content to do his extended comeback. Misawa did come up with neat ways to get Morshima in Emerald Flowsion other than that it is just seemed ho-hum. Misawa match had some non-layout issues: they kept selling just by laying around and Misawa just was not in very good shape. Should we chock this up to post-prime Misawa or is this systemic from basically wrestling the same handful of guys for a decade? Is this why the Hansen matches are not that well received (have not watched them in ages)? The questions is twofold. How do weigh the fact that Misawa really did not have a wide variety of opponents against the versatility of others? Secondly, is Misawa guilty of plug and play on a systemic level? I will come to Misawa defense in this post by offering up the '94 Dr. Death match. I felt like Misawa treated Dr. Death as a unique entity. Doc has a unique brand of power and explosiveness. Misawa felt like he was always trying to contain that and never let match get away from him. Whereas the Kawada and Kobashi matches, never felt like Misawa could be so readily overwhelmed. You just wish you could get more non-Hansen/Non-Doc/non-Corners matches so you could compare Misawa to those with a wider vocabulary.

GHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Morishima vs Kensuke Sasaki - Budokan 9/6/08 TAKE THAT DREAM! Sasaki's masterpiece that proves he can deliver an excellent match with a worker less experienced and not as talented. When I think of Sasaki's great singles matches they are against workers better than him like Hashimoto, Tenryu and Kawada. He is a very carryable wrestler that can be a part of great matches, but his performance is not the stand out performance. I say this as a fan of Sasaki. Unfortunately, the later part of the 00s, he was paired frequently against Kobashi. I think this was much too detriment of both men's career from a quality perspective (business-wise, yes I am taking that 2005 Dome check, thank you very much). They fed into each other's worst habits. Kobashi not against Sasaki was still delivering MOTYCs post-cancer. Sasaki proved it was not just Kobashi that was being dragged down, he was being dragged down too, when he took Morishima to promised land and together they put together Morishima's best match and what I would say is a top 5 Sasaki singles match. If you treat your opponent with the respect he deserves, the match will be respected. Sasaki respected Morishima as a monster and finally Morishima seemed to reach his potential. Morishima had been plugged into Misawa's formula and it led to middling results. It basically treated Morishima as if he was Kawada and thus not respecting Morishima's number one asset: he's fucking huge. Sasaki being a short, stout powerhouse worker found his normal strategy thrwarted by the fact that Morishima was fucking huge. At first, he tried to bullrush Morishima and that nearly got him killed. So he tried to slow the pace down with a headlock and probably re-think his strategy. So Morishima kicked his ass and when he tried to retreat he came flying out and wiped him out with a crazy suicide dive. Sasaki's selling throughout the match is amazing and you really feel like he is totally overwhlemed by the power and strength of Morishima. Sasaki's only hope is Morishima makes mistakes because he is young and he does. Morishima has a bad tenedency of telegraphing moves. Like running down the ramp for a lariat or taking too long to set up on the top rope. So Sasaki takes advantage of these moments to hit bombs to slowly wear down Morishima. At first, he inflicts a bloody nose, Sasaki thinks he can begin to throw around Morishima, but Morishima literally squashes that my sitting on him during two powerbomb attempts, one on the apron. Morishima hits a DDT on the concrete. Morishima, for his part, is not running through his offense like an exhibition this time he is making a statement. He is not just going to win this match. He will dominate this legend by stepping on him and pinning him with one foot. Sasaki new strategy after attacking Morishima for taking too long is to take the high ground and come flying off the top rope. However, the monster rises and meets him up top and hits a superplex. Again, Morishima takes too long and Sasaki hits a super back drop. Sasaki follows up with four more, but can't negotiate the pin. He is in shock. He goes to clubbering. NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB! KICK OUT?!?!? Sasaki is exasperated. He hit the monster with his best shot and could not keep him. Sasaki's selling of these kick outs make it all the more impressive. Respect your opponent and the match will be respected. Morishima comes back and Sasaki does all he can to stop the back drop driver. They do a lariat battle, which is smart because it is the only Morishima strike that looks good. Morishima for all his power is having trouble hitting a bomb on the fiesty Sasaki and goes for the moonsault and crashes and burns. This major mistake allows Sasaki to finally get Morishima off his feet with a lariat, which feels like a huge victory. Sasaki goes for Northern Lights Bomb, but Morishima hits a Back Drop Driver. Kick out! Sasaki will not be denied. Lariats are flying and a Northern Lights Bomb takes it for Sasaki. Sasaki dictated the pace so well. His early selling put Morishima over then he kept changing his strategy and looking for openings. Morishima did a great job modulating his selling so that Sasaki would earn minor victories from his mistakes until Sasaki finally dug deep and put him away. Best non-BattlArts match of 2008 by a good margin. TAKE THAT DREAM! ****1/2