Jetlag

Right now there are about 180 wrestlers listed where I'd gladly sacrifice every single bit of footage they have on tape if it means I could watch more Takeshi Ono matches. By any metric the guy kicks the shit out of anyone else listed. Except maybe Lizmark. Lizmark rules. The challenge I posted in his thread still stands: name a wrestler with a better Top 10 matches. Average vote of 70 for Rick Steiner is nuts. I mean, placing him at 99 when you really need to fill out your ballot, that's fine, but the time spent on this project could have been used to find better talent.

Katsumi Usuda - 35th best wrestler ever. I want to hug the person who did that. I think I'd have him in my Top 5 japanese juniors. Yamada is depressing. Really talented girl, but deserved a better career. Great picture though. Lizmark not cracking the Top 300 is annoying too, altough I've conditioned myself to see the rankings so far as a random assembly of names and not as a legitimate ranking. I know I cut out one really popular name from my list cause Lizmark was better. Great masked technico.

That moment when you were the biggest advocate for a guy, even compiling a big match list, and then you are the low vote on him. Should have been a little more confident placing Greco so he could have atleast beaten Sabre. It makes me really happy that 6 other people voted for him. Great worker. Re Quack, I really think him as #6 isn't outlandish if you are really into him. Considering he has been around extremely long aswell. And, his fake lucha/WoS/M-Pro style is better and more original than the fake fighting spirit style other indy guys do.

I don't mind Quack. Better than a lot of spotty guys, and he has carved out a niche for himself. Much of these low placings have been a mess, so I'm not taking them very seriously.

Man, Matsunaga tied with Murakami over Shelley is a beautiful thing.

3 people voting for FvB is cool. I had him at 97 and that's the highest I could justify it personally, but it's cool regardless. I wonder how many guys would've gotten a significant boost if someone had done a big post + matchlist for them too.

Really? What are those great T1 mat performances? I always thought he was a disappointing matworker,while T2 always looks super talented when it comes to grappling. T1 gets stuck doing the "catch and release" stuff too much, altough his selling is good enough to keep it interesting. Also, Hashi should be higher. Watching some NOAH had me really tempted to vote for him because damn this guy got really exciting, violent exchanges out of guys like Marufuji, even very early in his career. And his 2010 is a truely great year. I'd also replace the recommended match with the Ikeda tag from 2010.

Are all 500 guys who received votes gonna be revealed, or just the Top 100?

You forgot his time in BattlARTS and indies. It was a little underwhelming considering he was such a genius in PWFG but he was pretty fun there crossing his junior style with the quasi shootstyle. He also did a damn good job carrying Minoru Tanaka at one point and had a really fun match with Ishikawa at a Rikidozan Memorial show.

Daisuke Ikeda is the next guy who deserves a big post. The guy's longevity is quite incredible. We're not talking about a guy here who has a long career where he is looking really solid till the end. But rather a guy who has really great matches and MOTYCs in almost every year where he makes tape, up until the very end. The guys versatility is underrated. Sure he is a beast and that's his selling point, but especially during the early BattlARTS months where other guys were still adjusting he was clearly leading and holding things together, along with Ishikawa. He has the epic big matches, the blood feud with Ishikawa aswell as very good sub 10 minute matches to pad out his resume. Daisuke Ikeda of the Year 1993 - I don't think his debut was taped 1994 - Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (M-Pro 15.12.1994) 1995 - Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda v. Yuki Ishikawa & Shoichi Funaki (PWFG 5/19/95) 1996 - Ikeda/Ono vs. Ishikawa/Otsuka (BattlARTS 30.10.1996) 1997 - Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS 5.11.1997) 1998 - Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS 29.8.1998) 1999 - Yuki Ishikawa v. Daisuke Ikeda (7.29.1999) 2000 - Daisuke Ikeda vs. Mitsuya Nagai (BattlARTS 30.1.2000) 2001 - Daisuke Ikeda vs. Tamon Honda (NOAH 1.9.2001) 2002 - Morishima/Ikeda vs. Takayama/Smith (NOAH 26.7.2002) 2003 - Ikeda/Morishima/Rikio vs. Akiyama/Izumida/Saito (NOAH 16.3.2003) 2004 - Morishima vs. Ikeda (NOAH 1.6.2004) 2005 - Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (Futen 24.4.2005) 2006 - Ikeda/Nagai vs. Ishikari/Miyamoto (Kings Road 9.4.2006) 2007 - Yuki Ishikawa/Alexander Otsuka vs. Hara/Ikeda (BattlARTS 21.7.2007) 2008 - Ishikawa/Otsuka/Sawa vs. Ikeda/Usuda/Super Tiger 2 (BattlARTS 26.7.2008) 2009 - Ikeda/Ono vs. Suruga/Oba (Futen 26.4.2009) 2010 - Ikeda/Oba vs. Hashi/Mashimo (Futen 24.10.2010) 2011 - Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS 5.11.2011) 2012 - Daisuke Ikeda/Takeshi Ono vs. Kengo Mashimo/Hikaru Sato (Futen 22.1.2012) In a 20 year career, there are about 15 real hits there that would tremendously boost any very well respected wrestlers resume, and in many of these years there's lots of extra awesome matches even when they are 2nd best. And that is with the disadvantage of much of his Futen work not being available and BattlARTS stuff often being clipped.

Hase placed #33 in the Smarkschoice list, so the idea that he is some kind of undiscovered great or unfairly dismissed worker is funny. It's just that people have had their share of japanese style heavyweight epics and gotten busy with fresher stuff. That's okay. The idea that this is some kind of "battle" is also funny. You should stop taking every different opinion as a personal attack at you. NWA style matwork vs. lucha/shootstyle/etc is interesting. I don't think there is such a clear difference between them. Some of it is good, some of it not so much. IIRC the NWA matwork is more about building to a transition. When the transition is a letdown you feel cheated because you just sat through a bunch of hammerlocks and headlocks for nothing. When a lucha or shootstyle match ends in a letdown, atleast there is a chance you saw some sweet wrestling before that. For what it's worth, all kind of matwork can be dull and listless.

Bull has been one of the more frustrating wrestlers to watch for this project. Clearly a very good wrestler: Really great offense, very good seller, to the point where her selling keeps me interested in otherwise messy matches, and better than most in the early time killing sections that so many of these matches have. All that and I just can't seem to find the matches to piece a case for her together. It's surprisingly rare for her to really work like a monster, and more often than not she's playing second fiddle in a tag. OJ's comment above that she didn't want to be a heel seems strangely fitting, as she has a lot of matches where she sells sympathetic. The stuff where she actually works like a beast is very fun, but it's not the type of truely great stuff that I could point to in order to justify her as an all-timer. The short career is obviously a bummer. The comments above that she's better than Aja seem ridiculous. Clearly she has a few things that Aja lacks, and you could argue that she was the better worker from 1990-95, but Aja's resume stomps hers and Aja also has the standout performances that I've been sorely missing with Bull. I don't know, if somebody wants to do a big match dump of really great Bull performances now is the time, because currently she doesn't cut it for me in a list of all-time greats.

Finally! A Bull Nakano match where she works like Bull Nakano. This was her working as a monster. Yamada can't lift her etc. Nakano is great at putting over Yamada's kicks and offensive flurries. When she's on offense, she's just beating the shit out of Yamada. I wish these matches had transitions that felt a little less random, but what do ya want. Not all of Yamada's stuff landed clean, but it didn't really matter as she was just throwing the kitchen sink at Bull.

I was disappointed to see this not holding up quite well. I remember feeling there was something fishy about this when I first watched it years ago and now I remember why. This had the lamest crowd brawl in the middle. I enjoyed them punishing eachother with the chain and there were some great visuals here, but this could have been so much more. Outside distraction was crap, so was Kandori's armbar. I liked Nakano avoiding Kandori's feeble punches and just kicking her in the face. Finish makes up for the dragging parts. Good match.

This was the most annoying match ever. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to have this go 20+ minutes? Edit this to about 10-12 and you get a perfect match. The match felt like a DDT weapons battle royal at times. Match would've been better if they had thrown in Super Uchu Power too. Jesus, why was it impossible for Nakano and Aja to have a great match together? Their 1992 match sucked too. Bull vs. Toyota was better than this. In what bizarro world am I where Toyota has a better match than Aja?

What exactly is it that you find disappointing about him? I think Chavo is really outstanding as a junior worker. vs. Kengo Kimura (NJPW 9/30/80) I like Kengo and his 1980 match vs. Fujinami a lot, but this is the Chavo show. Top notch contest. Really great snug work on the ground, which I like a lot more than the boring shit you'd see in AJPW. Chavo is really sinking into holds. When they stand up, Chavo is just beating the shit out of Kengo, elbows and knees to his face, punches him in the nose etc. vs. Atsushi Onita https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS2avPQAtHc This was really great, why wasn't this on the 80s set? Lots of beautiful wrestling and I loved the tricked out, dramatic finishing run. Onita looked fantastic aswell, this is way better than the Fuchi match (which is good). vs. Mighty Inoue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSvfc7txR2k Chavo once again looks like a world class pro wrestler. I loved him viciously elbowing Inoue's face while on the ground and him showing off some lucha craziness on the ground aswell as flying. Going to work on Inoue with chairs etc. was sweet aswel. The structure wasn't as good as in the previous matches but I liked that Chavo seemed to try everything he knew until Inoue just caught him. Should also mention that Chavo is really great at selling defeat which is a major plus for me. Add in the Fujinami match, and you get a really impressive resume. It seems like Chavo got a little slept on in the 80s polls as he was buried under workers with more exciting feuds. Should also mention that he looked better than Bockwinkel in their singles match on classics. Along with his impressive tag resume this makes a really good case. The only thing I don't like about Chavo is his hip attack move.

That tag was very good. I really liked how Martel sunk into that hammerlock, but Piper's performance blew him away. Yes I did, in fact I watched near every match I could find. Bock matches were very good but I thought Martel was merely a foil in them. I remember nothing at all about most of the Jumbo matches. They had one match where they just traded moves and I didn't like it at all. I also watched the Saito match. It was good, but again nothing blew me away. I should probably mention that I've known Martel for a few years since I first discovered Portland, and I was careful not watch too much footage in a row of the same guy while watching things for this project I think I like Martel in Portland the best, probably because Portland in general is so awesome. But as far as Portland guys go, Rose and Piper would probably be my #1 and #2 and there's a big gap after that. The competition for the #3 spot is pretty tough. And I don't know if I will rank Piper. I also watched a few of Martel's matches in Europe and while he was a good heel there, he didn't as look as good as, say, Barry Horowitz. The big problem with Martel is that he's clearly excellent in his role and has a bunch of very good-great matches. But I would like something a little more than that. I probably don't value "good in his role" as much as everyone else around here.

Rick Martel hasn't really clicked for me as much as I would like to. He should be my type of wrestler, but for some reason, I find the man terribly unmemorable. Clearly the matches he's in are logical, the selling throughout is impressive and he shows fire. There's just nothing in them that sways me in any particular way. The only thing Martel seems to do outstandingly is selling limbs, which doesn't always produce great matches. I also dislike the springboard crossbody flash pin and his slingshot splash. Can some Martel fans point me in the right direction maybe?

Daichi really is shit, so I don't blame Ogawa for threating him accordingly. Blue haired punk needs to get in shape and stop getting on by his name. I find it funny that someone would name Kawada of all people as an example of perfectly ethical stiff work. Dude even broke his own arm from hitting so hard. This whole "I am so OFFENDED by [xy scummyness] in pro wrestling" is so lame. It's like complaining that black metal is full of neonazis or that hip hop is misogynist. "You don't kick someone in the point of the chin, that's how you win a kickboxing match!" I don't think I've ever seen a kickboxing match that was won by a pulled kick.

Chavo feels like a guy tailor made for this list. A guy who looks rugged and tough as hell, and at the same is a really graceful wrestler. One of the few guys where the "complete package" tag truely applies: tremendous babyface. Really good at being a stooging and bumping heel. Throws a beautiful punch (especially in the few LA clips), can go on the mat, fly like the best of the 80s guys, and he shows up in all kinds of places - Mid South, Japan, Mexico - and belongs. Also, he has that masterpiece with Mr. Olympia, which is stone cold locked in my personal canon of all time favourite matches. He shows up in mat based junior matches, workrate matches, heated brawls and lucha trios aswell as legend nostalgia stuff or random indy appearances. The rest of his Mid South resume ain't too shabby either. These matches all placed in DVDVR's Top 100: 5.) Mr. Olympia vs. Chavo Guerrero ( 6/24/1983 ) - 9953 points 26.) The Fabulous Ones vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (Mexican Death Match) ( 1/24/1986 ) - 7991 points 29.) The Fantastics vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero ( 10/12/1984 ) - 7959 points 39.) Rock N Roll Express vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero ( 2/13/1985 ) - 7320 points 54.) Chavo & Hector Guerrero vs. The Fabulous Ones (Texas Tornado Cage Match) ( 2/28/1986 ) - 6612 points 64.) The Fabulous Ones vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero ( 12/29/1985 ) - 6019 points 68.) The Fabulous Ones vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero ( 12/27/1985 ) - 5801 points 81.) Chavo Guerrero vs. Buzz Sawyer ( 6/13/1986 ) - 5474 points 84.) Buddy Landel, Chavo & Hector Guerrero vs. Brickhouse Brown, Bill Dundee & Jose Lothario (Elimination Match) ( 11/16/1984 ) - 5386 points 97.) Chavo Guerrero vs. Steve Keirn (no DQ loser is painted yellow match) ( 1/31/1986 ) - 4756 points Other notable appearance include: NJPW Chavo Guerrero vs. Kengo Kimura (11/3/80) Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Chavo Guerrero (5/9/80) Chavo Guerrero vs. Kengo Kimura (9/30/80) AJPW Chavo Guerrero vs. Masa Fuchi (8/31/83) Chavo & Hector Guerrero vs. Mighty Inoue & Gran Hamada (9/12/84) Dos Caras & Mil Mascaras vs. Chavo Guerrero & Ricky Steamboat (9/6/81) Mighty Inoue vs. Chavo Guerrero (2/26/84) Texas 102.) Chavo Guerrero, Iceman King Parsons & Kerry Von Erich vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (Penalty Box Match) (4/29/83) - 2,787 points He also shows up in that 1990 trios with Dandy, Azteca, Cruz and Rocca. He is not that outstanding in it, altough that would be impossible with all the ultra talented dudes in their prime right there. Still another entry in my canon of super classics. Guerreros vs. Brazos trios from 1991 is really great and has Chavo locking up with Porky, and it is really cool to see him as a master tangling on the mat with a beast. After that there's not much to be found of his career, but there's stuff like him showing up in 1993 WAR and looking really cool, or that PWG legends battle royal where he has a really fun performance for a 100 year old guy. NWA Classics has unveiled some more stuff where Chavo looks excellent. He is always doing neat stuff in singles matches and the tag stuff is a blast. At times he looks a Gran Hamada placed in there with these big heavies. All that and I have to say Chavo doesn't have the kind of tremendous career I feel he should have. Maybe it's that he's not consistent, maybe it's just lack of opportunity. But regardless of that he is a very strong contender in my eyes.

So, Jaguar. I will now weird out possibly everyone on this board by saying the following: after thinking about Jaguar very hard for a bit, I developed this theory that the Crush Gals ruined joshi with their pathos. Kind of like the Beatles ruined popular music. Late 70s-early 80s AJW is some of the most fascinated wrestling I've watched. I really like the weird mix of matwork, throws, and lucha, the focus on nifty takedowns and throws aswell as the brawling which often comes across like a vicious mauling. Because it's so under explored you never know what you are getting from the workers. Jackie Sato was a great ace and Jaguar stands out as a brilliant wrestler amongst the bunch. Jaguar was def. guilty of many tendencies that later gave so many people headaches when watching the praised 90s joshi. But Jaguar strikes me very much as a "wrestler's wrestler" type. She gets praised for having an ahead of the time moveset, and she is def. in there with Gran Hamada, Mighty Inoue and Hoshino as a really fun stumpy legged 80s proto highflyer. She does so many things in her matches that I would love to have become standards, such as the struggling over basic holds, ability to destroy a limb in very compelling ways or neat defensive spots. Couple this impressive skillset with her relentlesness and sheer intensity, and you get a really compelling package. Now to get back to the initial Crush Gals diss. This probably sounds like a cliche, but when they showed up and got popular, the focus stopped being on the wrestling. The fans who had initially shown up to watch Jackie Sato were replaced by rabid schoolgirls. When I first watched the 70s footage, I noticed how quiet the crowds were. I'm not trying to say that the folks who went to AJW shows in 1980 were gentlemen connoisseurs of grappling or something, but it seems their enjoyment of the action was very close to how people who went to AJPW or NJPW shows enjoyed wrestling. The wresters were stoic. Now compare Chigusa vs. Dump to Jaguar vs. Monster Ripper. Chigusa match is about babyface crying and breaking down while the heel is grotesque. The visuals are just as deafening as the heat. These matches are beloved because they are so in your face and shock rock, but I don't think they are great. Now Jaguar vs. Monster Ripper is about Jaguar using her wrestling, being tenacious and cutting down the beast. Of course Ripper is also grotesque (but still in the normal realm of typical big freakish wrestlers) and Dump is a copy of her. Compare Jaguar vs. Jackie Sato to Chiggy vs. Lioness... former match is fast paced, yeah, but it's just a rough as fuck wrestling match where they turn a basic body scissor spots into holy shit moments... later match is all about emotional tension. Or to go back further, compare to Jackie Sato vs. Vickie Williams... match has interference and foreign objects, but resolves to Sato scoring an impressive takedown and stomping the crap out of the heel. Crush Gals matches are centered around crowd connection over anything else. I found that Lioness Asuka is pretty good when working early 80s style matches and bloody awful afterwards. Chigusa was always bad, I watched her vs. Jaguar from 83 and was tearing my hair out about how bad it was. I felt that Chigusa matches are centered around building towards the crowd connection spot, rather than building toward something in the match narrative. Hence these matches are such a mess. Jaguar matches feel like a fight that build towards a finish and not the dramatic crowd connecting with wrestler moment. You don't see the annoying clapping or forced character work in Jaguar matches. Post-Chigusa wrestlers tried to recreate the effect, resulting in so much joshi being a disjointed mess. Hokuto was kind of like that too, but I think she fixed the formula by centering the crowd connection spots around injury stories. Eventually Meiko Satomura comes around and is back to being an aggressive stoic badass rather than whiny crying babyface. So that's that. Just me trying my best to rationalize why I like Jaguar so much despite much of her work having the same "go, go" characteristic that later stuff has that I don't care for. All that considered, for this project Jaguar is on the bubble for me right now. I've watched a ton of her stuff and found a lot to love, but I think her resume is a little thin for somebody who gets dropped as Top 10 and even #1 contender. Granted, she still looks ridiculously good in 90s stuff and after and clearly leading lesser workers, but I am annoyed about her early retirement and can't find any great matches from afterwards. Still, she has a hell of a peak.

There was no way the Yoshida vs. Bolshoi matchup would live up to my expectations. I was a little underwhelmed by Yoshida here. She had some fun exchanges vs. tiny Bolshoi on the mat here and punched Yabushita in the face at one point, but that was about it. Also, here was an annoying clip in the middle of he match. The Yoshida team was carried by Akino, who looked pretty good. Yabushita is a judo girl with legit ability, so all her flying armbars and fighting on he ground looks really good, as she actually looks like she is constantly pulling her opponent into a submission to beat them, rather than doing a pretty spot. She looks more Brock Lesnar than Minoru Tanaka and if Ronda Rousey ever gets into wrestling I imagine this is how she would work ideally. Akino was good but I hated her no selling Bolshoi's top rope Uranage, altough I've learned to give these girls one stupid spot off. Same with Bolshoi's shitty 619. The fancy rollup and flying submissions all looked good, Bolshoi is crazy fast, like twice prime Misterio speed, there were a few moments where they countered eachothers counters, which gave the match a hard fought feeling. The Akino vs. Yabushita finish run was really good with Akino catching her in surprise Fujiwara armbars and Yabushita avoiding Akino's kicks and throws. Also, these girls like to go for the Liger running palm strike, but while the move connects and makes a sound, I think it doesn't look visually impressive because they are physically so tiny. Match ended when it should. Very fun bout.

Of the matches I listed above, only about 7 are lighttubes and barbedwire etc. deathmatches. Like I said, after the Joe match people got hip to Necro vs. regular wrestler matches, in regular matches. Those matches usually have hard hitting and stuff like bumps into chairs, tables or on the floor, but nothing more over the top than, say, ECW. Also, usually the matches are closer to something like a Tupelo Brawl and not like contrived spotfests. But part of his case absolutely rests on his deathmatch work, and is also hurt by some of his deathmatches being listless.

Given we both fundamentally disagree on subjects such as Lucha, shootstyle, modern wrestling, or Dory Funk Jr. matches, it's pretty pointless to argue about this as we might aswell come from different planets when it comes to pro wrestling opinions. I checked cagematch and that match has only positive reviews, so there's that. Atleast I agree with you that Ted DiBiase's best stuff is great Hamada vs. Sasuke will be incredibly tough for me. Before I have thought Sasuke would be an easy pick for the Top 100 while Gran Hamada would require some pondering, but now it seems Hamada's case is easier to piece together than Sasukes. They have the similiar strengths though.

I don't have as good of a grasp on Necro's career as I would like to have. His fame really exploded with the Joe match. I have a hard time pin pointing when exactly he transformed from an average deathmatch guy into a fun deathmatch guy and then into the transcendent character that is Necro. I have only seen bits and pieces from that period, altough I was watching his stuff in real time from around 2005 or 2006 onwards. He's had a real incredible career and is so consistent I wouldn't be surprised if he's had hundreds of good little matches doing random deathmatch tournaments and tiny throwaway indy shows that were put on Smart Mark DVD. He has also found the weirdest succesful formula for getting booked into dream matches as he has matches against indy top stars aswell as legends such as Kevin Suvillan, 2 Cold Scorpio or Dan Severn. On the other hand, after 2007 RoH puts a hole into his career and after 2010 he isn't the same anymore. 25 Not So Hyped Necro Butcher Matches that deserve a little hype 1. Necro Butcher vs. Toby Klein, IWA MS King of the Deathmatches 2003 A short awesome little brawl where they smash eachother with foreign objects. Match feels like a fight and avoids the staged violence that these deathmatches sometimes have. 2. Necro Butcher vs. Toby Klein, IWA MS King of the Deathmatches 2004 I think this was the match that really put Necro on the map in the first place. It should have put Klein on the map too because that guy was an underrated talent who could actually wrestle in a more traditional way. Anyways they kill eachother for 18 minutes straight in a seedy arena with all kinds of garbage laying around a handful of people watching. The big spots here feel closer to AJPW apron death bumps, rather than WWF TV ladder match death bumps, if that makes sense. Really grizzly imagery here. 3. Necro Butcher vs. The Green Phantom (CZW 7/24/04) This is like the best possible 1st round deathmatch tournament match. Green Phantom is the first in a collection of bizarre Necro opponents to have their career match against him, a canadian comedy slash garbage wrestler who used to do Hulk Hogan impression promos. This feels like a total fight and it's awesome. 4. Necro Butcher vs. Tank, IWA DS King of the Deathmatches 2005 When I first watched this I would have never ever believed that both these guys would 10 years later be nominated for a spot on a List of the Greatest Wrestlers Ever. Regardless due to who is involved this is a pretty fun lighttubes deathmatch and a satisfying tournament finale. 5. Necro Butcher & Toby Klein vs. H8 Club (CZW 6/11/05) I think this match actually has a fair bit of hype... this is an all out brawl and far better than a H8 Club match has any right to be. 6. Necro Butcher vs. Eddie Kingston (CZW 10/14/2006) These two guys have a bunch of matches, I assume they are all atleast good. This match was after the Necro vs. Joe formula had been established, so promoters were eager to book Necro into matches vs. straight wrestlers where he would get killed. Kingston is a guy who can kick ass and he gets to look great in the process. Also, this match has one of the more stupid Necro bumps, where he takes a Steve Williams Backdrop driver on the steel ring steps. 7. Necro Butcher vs. Yoshiaki Yago (Chikara 2/26/06) This a great example of Necro working his magic. Yago is a japanese nobody who comes over with fellow nobody MIYAWAKI to work Chikara. Necro allows Yago to look like a total killer in this match by letting Yago hit him full force with kicks and punches. I remember some part on the web was really buzzing with hype for Yoshiaki Yago after his Chikara appearance and this match was a big part of that. 8. American Dragon Brian Danielson/Samoa Joe/B.J. Whitmer/Adam Pearce/Ace Steele/Homicide v. Nate Webb/Chris Hero/Claudio Castognoli/Necro Butcher/Eddie Kingston (ROH 7/15/2006) This is the climax of the RoH vs. CZW feud... a great War Games style match and Necro looks like a star here. 9. Necro Butcher vs. Jay Briscoe (RoH ????) They had several matches. I remember Necro being barefoot and doing some spots with barbed wire involving that... this is along with the Homicide match the only really good thing to come out of Necro's RoH stint. Jay Briscoe is a perfect suit. 10. Necro Butcher vs Brain Damage IWA EC Masters of Pain 2007 Brain Damage is another guy who got really over through Necro because Necro was willing to let him punch him full force in the jaw. This is a double hell barbedwire match where they really work way too hard for a first round match.. it's a very good deathmatch though. 11. Necro Butcher vs. Masada (IWA-MS vs. ACW Joint Show 4/22/07) Masada is the next nobody who gets to reach some fame and later a big push through a standout match with Necro. I haven't seen this since it first happened so I dunno if it holds up, but the atmosphere (match takes place in a literal bar) and there's a few memorable spots. I also think around this time Necro was trying to turn his Small Package into a finisher. 12. Necro Butcher vs. Davey Richards (IWA-MS 8/4/07) Never actually seen this, but I've heard people calling it Necro's master carryjob, so it's listworthy. 13. Necro Butcher & Mad Man Pondo vs. Briscoe Brothers (FIP 4/21/2007) This is an awesome out of control brawl. Also, FIP is a fed that normally ran family friendly shows, so this sticks out like sore thumb, as you get kids in the audience looking shocked by the carnage while edgy teens cheer them on. Necro vs. Briscoes is a feud that would have fit right into the 80s. 14. Necro Butcher vs. Bryan Danielson (PWG 7/29/2007) This is the match Necro talks about in his shoot where he thought Super Dragon had sent Danielson to stretch and stiff him, so Necro was hitting double hard here in the first place. Don't think that's actually true, but it's a great little bloody brawl with a great finish where Danielson elbows the maniac into oblivion. 15. Necro Butcher vs. Nigel McGuinness (PWG 9/2/2007) Another good brawl against an RoH superstar. This was before every PWG match went 20+ minutes, and happened in the middle of the big workrate BOLA tournament to give all the spotty guys on the show a breather. 16. Necro Butcher vs. Chris Hero (PWG 1/11/2008) Chris Hero debuts his new, super goofy look and "Young Knockout Kid" gimmick, and the crowd gleefully cheers as Necro murders him for it. This is when PWG discovered it's love for overbording epics so it goes 10-15 minutes too long, but it's a damn good match regardless, as Chris Hero is an underrated brawler. 17. Necro Butcher vs. Predator (IGF 11/24/2008) Necro faces fake Brody and this is a better brawl than pretty much any Brody singles you're gonna find. 18. Necro Butcher vs. Bill the Butcher (IWA MS 1/3/2009) Bill the Butcher was a guy with a great look that IWA MS had some hopes for at the time. Necro again in his role of getting a new guy over and this wouldn't have looked out of place on an 80s card. Freakish looking guys going at it. 19. Necro Butcher vs. Bull Pain (IWA MS 6/3/2009) Main event of the first day of a deathmatch tournament. Bull Pain is an old vet and knows how to make stuff not only painful but also meaningful and is a good heel, so this is quality brawl. 20. Necro Butcher vs. Minowaman (IGF 2/22/2010) Minowaman is a crazy MMA fighter who wants to play Pro Wrestler. Necro carries this guy to an awesome blood drenched 10 minute fight. 21. Necro Butcher vs. Yoshihito Sasaki (BJW 6/25/2010) For some reason, Necro's matches in BJW don't come across as so out of control and reckless. This is still a pretty good match against one of the better japanese hard hitting indy heavyweights. 23. Necro Butcher & Yuko Miyamoto vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Kantaro Hoshino (6/27/2010) Necro takes one of the dumbest bumps in his career. After that the match is about Necro's great selling of his broken leg (well may have been legit), where he must save his partner. Kind of channeling Terry Funk in this one with a 20 feet drop added to it. 24. Necro Butcher vs. Matt Tremont (CZW 6/25/2011) Necro faces an actually talented young deathmatch guy and this is another great first round tournament match. Kind of a passing of the torch as Necro's body was really shot at this point. 25. Necro Butcher vs. Vader (PWS 4/14/2012) We all got stupidly excited when this was announced. This is a squash but a very fun squash. Summary: I think it's very clear that besides the high end stuff, Necro has more than enough to pad out his resume. He has his formulas that he can stick anyone into and produce a compelling match that is very remarkable. Still unsure if he belongs on my list personally, but I wouldn't argue with anyone who ranks him very high