Microstatistics

Anyone who doubts Shawn was an all time great wrestler should watch this match. He is able to turn a goofy stipulation like the superkick being banned into a creative and compelling match based around veteran smarts and new strategies. That type of thing only comes with a total mastery of pro wrestling. Orton also looked like a killer. Smart finish as well that paid off the stipulation. Great stuff. ****

Terrific brawling and tons of blood. I don't think it had even one dull moment. Really dug the story of aging vets trying to survive the onslaught of the younger guys and fight fire with fire. **** 1/2

Inoki was ok here but Brisco pretty much drags him to a great match when his selling, intensity and attention to detail. One of the finest individual performances I've seen in a match. The matwork in the initial few minutes was mindblowing and felt like the precursor to shoot-style in some ways. ****

**** 3/4 vs. Steamboat (Chi-Town 89) **** 1/2 vs. Ricky Morton (GAB 86) vs. Steamboat (Clash 6) vs. Steamboat (Wrestlewar 89) **** 1/4 vs. Jumbo (6/8/83) vs. DiBiase (11/6/85) vs. Foley (Summerslam 06) **** vs. Funk (GAB 89) vs. Luger (Wrestlewar 90) vs. Fujinami (Superbrawl I) Total: 10

I agree 100%. Please keep that stuff away from here.

Anyone who is a fan of the Midnight Express or of the recent Revival NXT tags needs to watch this ASAP. This is a sensational combination of the southern tag formula and British wrestling with some lucha elements thrown in, while being wrestled at a ridiculous pace. **** 1/2

I agree with this. If Foley had actually "retired" here and instead came back 3-4 years later for the Orton feud, this would probably be remembered more. The immediate return at the next event negated the effect of the finish and the stakes.

One thing you can conclude from both of our lists is that El Satanico rules. Looking forward to the Kiyoshi Tamura infested version.

This match did a terrific job establishing the threat of the Atlantida for the apuestas match. The way I saw it was V3 was presented as the superior wrestler: he out wrestled Atlantis in the 1st fall and controlled the 2nd but the Atlantida was the great equalizer which significantly hurt him and made him desperate. Which led to the 3rd fall playing out the way it did . Great storytelling. ****

Satanico and co are so evil here, torturing Tarzan Boy and generally being bullies. But they get too cocky and the technicos manage to fight back. The finish is superb, making Satanico look like a jackass who got exactly what he deserved. Really good stuff. *** 1/2

Curious, since I have frequently seen this criticism against Marufuji and many of the "flippy" wrestlers. If the illusion of impact is the important thing when it comes to strikes in pro wrestling, then what it the problem with doing something that makes a strike seem more devastating than it actually is. On the other hand, why do some US wrestlers get praised for having great punches when they barely make contact at all and some even use the stomping the mat sound effect.

Seth Rollins vs. Triple H (up in the air) Shane McMahon vs. AJ Styles (not confirmed yet) Big Show vs. Shaquille O'Neal Charlotte vs. Bayley vs. Jax vs. Banks (Raw Women's Title) The Miz & Maryse vs. John Cena & Nikki Bella Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton (WWE Title) Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar (Universal Title) Well, that looks dire. Only the Raw women's match looks any good. Also not sure why they would waste maybe the best wrestler in the company on Shane McMahon.

Fantastic, smartly wrestled match. Kudo felt like the underdog here and did all she could to maintain the upper hand but Kandori's home turf advantage proved too much. Brutal and memorable finish. **** 1/4

Spectacular match. The perfect scrappy underdogs vs. sadistic heels match. LCO are out of this world heeling it up. Superb action. Off the charts violence, drama and emotion. **** 1/2

This is held back by some structural/pacing issues, otherwise it would have had a good shot at dethroning 6/9/1995 for me. Still all time Top 10 level though. What are the structural/pacing issues with Queendom? It's not as compact as it could have been. There is some meandering around in the middle, some of the submissions run too long. They could have tightened the whole thing up a bit and cut around 2-3 minutes from the overall time. It's not really a big deal for a long match like that but it plays a factor when comparing it with the best of the best. Still, that would be the first match I would show someone if I wanted to emphasize the storytelling power of pro wrestling. Also the exchange in the postmatch is simply the greatest pro wrestling moment ever in my eyes.

Reigns at #30 was genius. Him eliminating Taker was the icing on the cake.

I've actually wanted to do something like this for a while. But I decided to hold off on suggesting it because I figured everyone would be burned out from the GWE project. I feel many people would find making a Top 100 matches list much easier than making a Top 100 wrestlers list. But it would probably be a nightmare for the person organizing the whole project since thousands and thousands of matches could be nominated as compared to just 600-700 wrestlers.

Agree. The Kobashi drama at the end actually enhanced the match for me. It added another layer to the story, without overshadowing the primary arc.

This is held back by some structural/pacing issues, otherwise it would have had a good shot at dethroning 6/9/1995 for me. Still all time Top 10 level though.

Even if that's true, it can still be the greatest. Greatest ≠ Perfect.

Not necessarily. I picked the 90s and like 90s All Japan a ton but that was just one of the considerations. Yes 90s All Japan > 80s All Japan and is one of the great wrestling promotions, but you also have things like 90s New Japan > 80s New Japan (sorry Fujinami), much better shoot-style, much better joshi, BattlARTS + FMW. The 80s have better US wrestling (for sheer variety of the territories atleast, though I prefer the higher end stuff of the 90s), better Lucha, Puerto Rico and Britain but everything Japan in the 90s just swamps everything.

6/9/1995. But it is no longer completely set in stone. Shawn vs. Foley Mind Games 96 is a close #2. Both are my only ***** matches.

A more condensed version of the MOTYs by year thread. What is your pick for the MOTD of each decade?

In my opinion, yes Wasn't my (or I'm sure Jvk's) intention. Was just defending my seemingly hyperbolic claim with some evidence.