elliott

I stopped watching WWE regularly in 2002. Spent the last 3-4 years watching a good deal of what I missed before that as well as most of the current pimped stuff. I nominate Wrestling Culture to do a Bret vs Cena pod.

The matches make for an even better comp than the feuds. Cena/Brock Extreme Rules vs Bret/Austin WM Cena/Punk MITB vs Bret/Austin Survivor Series Cena/Bryan SummerSlam vs Bret/Owen WM Cena/Umaga Rumble vs Bret/Davey Boy IYH Cena/Punk 2013 Raw Match vs Bret/Davey Boy SummerSlam Cena/Rey Raw vs Bret/123 Kid Raw Cena/Orton SummerSlam vs Hart/Hennig SummerSlam Cena/Shawn Marathon Raw vs Bret/Shawn WM Cena/JBL Bash vs. Bret/Piper Mania Cena/Mark Henry MITB 2013 vs Hart/Bigelow (pick your favorite) Cena/Rusev series vs Har/Diesel series Cena/Khali vs. Bret/Sid Whenever Cena/Brock/Rollins Triple Threat vs Bret/Vader/Austin/Taker Final 4 Nexus SummerSlam 2010 vs Canadian Stampede Something like that.

Parv, Cena had the sort of match with Owen that Bret did. But he did it against Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam 2013 and (I think) had a better match than Bret vs Owen. Seriously. Watch that match. It is sooo fucking great.

Just thinking off the top of my head, Cena's best matches and volume just overwhelms Bret. Someone should break down the Bret vs Austin feud against Cena vs Brock Then do Bret vs Owen against Cena vs Punk. I guess a super Bret fan might like Bret vs Davey Boy more than Bryan vs Cena but it would take a lot of convincing. I think Bryan vs Cena is a strong contender for best WWE match ever. Cena vs Umaga is better than any Bret vs Monster match. Cena vs Rey and Bret vs 123 Kid from Raw are pretty lateral. I can see ranking either one above the other. I think Cena's matches vs old down Shawn are better than Bret's matches vs in his prime Shawn. Cena vs Khali is a more impressive carry job than Bret vs Nash. Etc etc etc. Bret's not exactly known as a model of consistency with a ton of forgotten house show and tv matches. He was very much a big show performer. So we're really looking at the best matches of Bret's career. I think Cena stacks up surprisingly well as far as peak performances AND has more meat to his career.

HBK is Jason The Heartbreak Kidd. Terrific younger player yet flawed. Played a big role in breakup of Mavs/Rockers. On the surface, was an unselfish on the court/in the ring (first rate passer/great bumper). But there was always always a "look at me"vibe to them while at their athletic peak that made them standout even though it seems like they're carrying their teammates. Seemed to have an inordinate amount of backstage non-sense in spite of looking like a team first player to casuals. Really great top player in the east at his peak but there was always at least a couple of people better around the league/world (Duncan, Shaq, Kobe, KG, Misawa, Kawada, Liger, Casas etc etc). On top during the dark ages of his company/conference (1996 WWF = 2001-03 Eastern Conference). Horrible/hilarious hair style decisions - Kidd's bleach blonde hair = 2003 Shawn's bob haircut. "Trainer" of prodigious young talent Daniel Brayn/Giannis.

Karl Malone is Grizzly Smith.

Nominating Austin Idol I'm watching the Lawler vs Idol/Rich feud and thought "I should go check out the Austin Idol thread in the nominees section and get some recommendations." Then I saw Austin Idol wasn't nominated yet. Tremendous cage match against Lawler. Fun tags with Rich vs Lawler/Bigelow. Fun matches vs Savage and Hansen, etc.

At what point did Hijo del Santo become the biggest drawing card in Mexico? My intro to Lucha in the late 90s early 00s was the When Worlds Collide show and Tenay did a great job getting over how big El Santo and put over Hijo del Santo as a major star also. When watching tapes I always looked at him as the Ace. Like he was the Misawa of Lucha. As I learned more I learned about guys like Perro, Cien Caras, Konnan, etc who I always see talked about as the biggest stars of the late 80s early 90s. So I guess I'm wondering if you guys can talk about El Hijo del Santo's star power and help put him into context as a draw. When did he become the biggest draw in Mexico? Who ranked above him and when as a draw? Is viewing him as a Misawa like Ace fair?

I mentioned Kurt Angle before and you mentioned Brody in response. Josh Smith is a known pot-head so maybe Rob van Dam? I'm trying to figure out the pro-wrestling equivalent of James Harden's 13 turnovers. Stairway to Hell between Sabu and Sandman? I can't wait to watch Golden State just completely dismantle this Cavs team.

You could call this the Ricky Morton or Bobby Eaton question. Who will be your highest ranked wrestler who is primarily known for tag work? Does anyone have a guy known mostly for tag work contending for your #1 spot?

"Rebook" the cast of Seinfield, using larger than life 80's era WWF characters only. Feel free to include as many of the supporting cast members as you'd like - Newman, the Costanzas, etc. That's it for the here and now. I'll ponder over something more serious and submit it later. Stealing this brilliant idea and revamping it. If you watch Game of Thrones... You're the King of Westeros. Which wrestlers make up your Small Council? Which five wrestlers would you pick to be in your Kingsguard?

Steph Curry and Klay Thompson could not have worked All Japan.

I was trying to think of one when you initially posted this then forgot about it. I thought about Mark Henry as another great trash talker but that doesn't feel quite right. GP didn't take as long to get really good. Maybe Arn? Has to be a great worker and talker.

Matt D sent me this link: Of a Satanico vs Ultimo Guerrero singles match from their classic feud in 2001. Starts off as a wild brawl on the ramp leading to the ring. Guerrero gets the advantage and dominates the first fall with brawling tactics and actually uses the old feet on the ropes for leverage on the pinfall. Crowd is really hot from the start. Satanico is terrific selling the beat down and in between falls. He complains to the ref to start the 2nd fall which allows Guerrero to jump him and continue his advantage.Guerrero uses reallly basic offense to control the match. Punches, kicks, dropkicks, boots to the face, etc. Satanico's selling is really great and the crowd is hot for everything. Great transition as Satanico is on the outside of the ring selling and Guerrero leans out to talk trash and Satanico manages to grab Guerrero and rip him through the ropes. Guerrero takes a nice bump to the floor and Satanico takes over with boots to the face and postings. Satanico takes the fall with a rana which you don't see often but works because he's the babyface in this feud. 3rd fall is dramatic with more brawling and big attempts to put each other away. I'm a broken record at this point but Satanico is terrific selling in this match and the build to the big spots in the 3rd fall is very good. Satanico actually hits a tope which is a rarity in his matches compared to every other luchadore I've seen. Both guys end up counted out while brawling around ringside. Post match is Satanico getting some payback on Guerrero and the ref. Tarzan Boy shows up in a neckbrace to distract Satanico so someone (not sure who) can attack Satanico from behind. But then Shocker shows up to save Satanico. Really fun match advancing the feud between Satanico and Guerrero. Great heat throughout this match and Satanico continues to look excellent. I love that he worked in technico staples like Ranas and Topes. This isn't a really great match, but is a good one and important to have for the feud. Good find Matt D!

I'm only familiar with Savio in the WWF. I'm curious because I saw he landed in Grimmas' top 100. What should I look for?

No. I will say that in the late 90s and early 00s I liked him a lot as a bomb throwing junior. He was a lot of fun as the jacked up little guy killing people with powerbombs, death vallery drivers and lariats. He definitely stood out for me amongst the NJ Juniors for being something different. But I don't think I ever actually saw him in a really great match. But I always thought if he could ever put it all together his style could have made for some really terrific juniors matches. I have no idea if that ever ended up happening but considering how long it took him to get nominated, I kinda doubt it did.

I came up with a Sophie's Choice style question for Will. You can have every match from Dick Murdoch's entire career on film. But to get them means there is no Jerry Lawler footage. You can have every match from Jerry Lawler's entire career on film. But to get them means there is no Dick Murdoch footage. Who are you taking? Murdcoh or Lawler?

Kobe, Rondo, Kevin Love, Julius Randle, Jahlil Okafor, Nick Young, maybe pick up Jordan Hill's $9mill offer, Jordan Clarkson, Coach Byron Scott. I said it on the podcast and I'll say it again here, that's a recipe for 125 points allowed per game. Warriors fans have some time. Lakers are funny too. I don't want to downplay the amount of LOL's they've given me the last few years. But it's a different kind of funny than watching the Warriors score 10 points in 15 seconds.

I'm really really really sad that there isn't a Fujiwara vs Fujuinami singles match from like 1986. That is a crime against the world.

I totally get that. In a way I'm holding off on Europe and Puerto Rico even though I know I'll love it. I didn't watch Breaking Bad until after it had ended even though I had heard for years that it was great and I knew I would love it. I had other stuff going on, I knew I would get to it one day and love it so I just put it off and put it off. Then I binge watched it all in a week. The little bit of Europe and PR stuff I've seen I've dug. I took a really long break from watching wrestling regularly and I wanted to revisit a lot of territories, lucha, and puro and try to fill some gaps and further explore guys with so much footage available so easilly now before diving into new styles. Shoot style guys I overlooked years ago like Fujiwara, Funaki, Suzuki, etc and post 2003 Lucha are the major blindspots I think I will reasonably fill before the deadline at this rate.

Have you seen the Destroyer match from 75? Short but really fun match. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyPo27BOEhM

I know I know. Its a huge blind spot for me even though I absolutely love the little bit I've seen. I remember seeing the M-Pro These Days Card and then immediately emailing Jeff Lynch and saying "I don't have your European Listings, can you just pick your 10 favorite Johnny Saint matches and put them on a comp for me?" This was over a decade ago but I remember it having some Breaks, Grey, Finlay, Rocco, Clive Myers, and some other guys and I loved it. I have every intention of jumping into the Euro/WOS stuff for this project. I have some discs already but just haven't made them a priority yet. I was poking through your Euro workers thread just the other day actually so I feel like I'll dive into that soonish.

Responding to Jerry, I did this in a Word Doc so I just put Jerry's comments in "quotes." Added in my rankings for context. I would already change a bunch of things to be honest. I put this together late last night and forgot about some things as I may not have been of clear mind. A few months ago I broke things down regionally and made my list of #1 candidates/locks to make the lists/likely guys to make the list/guys I need to see more of and I used that as a guide to formulate my list but a lot of it was “how do I feel right this second.” For example, I originally had Kobashi ranked around 12 or 13 but he kept falling and falling. “I just can’t put Kobashi above Mysterio Jr.” “No way does Kobashi go above El Dandy.” Etc. Like I said there are already some things I’d definitely change. I feel good about my top 30ish though. I should’ve stopped there J At this point for me in my wrestling watching, Lucha is my favorite. Particularly 80s/early 90s era lucha. So the guys that were good then will rank higher for me than for some because that’s what I like the most. I would say of the 10 best matches I’ve ever seen probably 5 to 6 of them are from 80s/early 90s Lucha. Anyway, moving on 3. Satanico “What would you point to for him?” Everything from the 80s set. The 1990 feud with El Dandy is one of the best feuds in history. Subsequent matches with Dandy are excellent. Any early 90s trios match with the other Infernales. 1993 match against Pirata Morgan. 2001 feud with Ultimo Guerrero. Etc etc etc. He’s great at brawling, mat work, selling, etc. Can work face or heel. Combines all time great level peak with longevity. We have very little of him at his athletic peak but he was clearly a great worker by the time he shows up on tape and stayed that way for a long time. He is a direct peer of guys like Hansen, Flair, Jerry Lawler, etc as far as age. When he shows up on tape in 83 he looks every bit as good as them. He was great longer than Flair and was having a feud of the year type feud after Hansen had retired. I haven’t seen as much late era Lawler as I have Satanico. The late era Lawler I have seen is really good to great and I can see liking old Lawler more than Satanico. I punished Satanico slightly because we simply have more peak era Hansen and Lawler. But I could easily go #1 for Satanico. 6. Negro Casas “Ditto. I still really feel like I need to get into Lucha and might just beeline straight to all the highend stuff.” The eternal feud vs Hijo del Santo is arguably the best in ring feud in the history of wrestling. His 1992 match against El Dandy is one of the best matches ever. He had the best Ultimo Dragon match ever (that probably sounds like a backhanded compliment but it’s a really really great match that I think happened before Dragon’s peak as a worker). Stands out in practically every 6 man. He’s another guy who can work heel, face, brawls, mat work, stooging, etc. Just a wonderful worker. I haven’t even watched a lot of post 2000 Casas which pretty much all lucha fans say is fantastic. He could easily end up at #1 when its time for the final list. 8. Toshiaki Kawada 9. Mitsuharu Misawa “Interesting that you have these guys below Flair.” I think both guys at their best were better than Flair but Flair’s peak as an all time great level worker was longer if that makes sense? At some point the All Japan style really grates on me and I’m not a big fan of Noah. I’m also weird. I will absolutely give Lawler or Satanico or Bockwinkel credit for being great as old fuckers but it still feels dumb to me to punish Flair for being a crappy worker for a long time when he was old when he still accomplished what he accomplished. I dunno. All of these guys at this point are still #1 candidates for me to be honest. 10. Sangre Chicana 11. Hijo del Santo “As with the other Lucha guys.” Sangre Chicana is my most “controversial” pick at this point probably. He is definitely a case of “valuing peak performances” over having mountains of footage and examining every single match from a guys career. We probably have more than 1000 more Ric Flair matches on film than Sangre Chicana matches. That said, by far the two best matches I’ve ever seen in my life are Sangre Chicana matches (vs. MS-1 from 9/23/83 and vs Perro from 2/28/86). And I think it was Chicana that took them from being “great matches” to “these are easily the 2 best matches I’ve ever seen.” He has been the star of literally every match I’ve seen him in. This is a footage issue. If we had more footage he could probably be #1. Or if we had more he could possibly fall to #50. Maybe the 20 or 25 or however many of his matches I’ve seen are just the absolute best of his career. That would be awfully lucky if they were. There are lots of guys on my list that are hard to figure out what to do with because of footage and a lot of guys that didn’t make it for whatever reason. I tried to be fair in most places. If we were ranking favorites I would have put Buzz Sawyer and Mad Dog Vachon in my top 5 and someone like Vader or Bret Hart wouldn’t make my list (ducks for cover). Sangre is definitely a favorite so I probably have him ranked too high based on available footage vs what’s available for others. But this is a “best wrestlers ever list” and at his absolute peak he’s the best I’ve ever seen. So I had to put him there. With Santo Jr, I think he’s the best babyface worker and best high flyer ever. He is great on the mat and in brawls. Feud with Casas is arguably best in ring feud ever as I said above. Feud with Blue Panther is great. When Worlds Collide Tag is great. Monterrey Brawl vs La Parka is phenomenal. Matches against Espanto Jr are all great. A bunch of stuff I’m forgetting right this second. He’s another guy that matches an all time great peak and great longevity. I know a lot of people will criticize Santo for being a formula worker. And they’re right. But I don’t care. I love Santo’s formula match and signature spots. I’ve seen more Santo Jr matches than any other luchadore and I am not tired of him in the slightest. 12. Genichiro Tenryu 13. Tatsumi Fujinami 14. Nick Bockwinkel 15. Buddy Rose “This back half looks strong.” These are the last of my #1 contenders. Seriously. I feel really good about Hansen at #1 and actually have had him as my working #1 from the start of the project. But these top 15 are all guys that I think of as “maybe the best ever” for one reason or another. 25. Ricky Morton 26. Steve Regal “Super high for these two.” I was raised in the American South East so I actually feel bad I didn’t get Ricky Morton any higher…on my list. J Everyone already knows the case for Ricky Morton as an all time great worker. Regal is awesome. I used to buy into the argument that Regal was a guy who was consistently very good and probably great but never really got the opportunity to showcase it and have great matches other than the Finlay match at Uncensored. Then I saw the Arn match from SuperBrawl, the Larry Z matches, the Hashimoto matches, that Chris Hero match from NXT, etc etc etc and I realized Regal had the all time great matches to go with his consistency. 30. Kenta Kobashi 31. Giant Baba “Very high placement for Baba, interesting. I saw him doing well in mine but not that well. Kobashi a fair bit lower than Misawa / Kawada." Like I alluded to above, Kobashi was a hard guy to rank. His feud with Hansen is an all time great feud and the 7/93 match is my favorite All Japan match ever (really!). The 1/97 match with Misawa is an all time classic. I almost forgot, his early 90s matches with Kawada are awesome and super underrated within the context of 90s All Japan. Obviously the tag matches with Misawa vs Kawada/Taue. Etc. Kobashis is great and I probably underrate him. But his performances tend to really annoy me in a way. I really hate the Misawa matches past 1/97. I thought the Dr Death matches were a chore, especially compared to Kawada/Misawa/Taue’s matches with Williams. I’m not a fan of broken down Noah era Kobashi. I really really love Kobashi probably through 1994 but at some point he starts to annoy me in a way the others don’t. I like Taue more than Kobashi but couldn’t rank him higher. I will add that the first two Japanese matches I ever saw when I started watching puro in the late 90s were Kobashi vs Hansen from 93 and the tag with Kikuchi vs the Can Ams from 1992. Both remain two of my all time favorite matches. Giant Baba vs Destroyer from 69 is probably one of the 15 best matches I’ve ever seen. Destroyer (sidenote, I just realized Destroyer didn’t make my top 100 and if I did a list right now, he’s in the top half) puts the match over the top but Baba is really great in it. The Billy Robinson match is terrific. I think the feud with Hansen is one of the best feuds ever. I keep wanting to say that Baba is the smartest worker ever but that feels weird when I’ve mentioned The Destroyer 3 times already in this paragraph. But Baba is a really really intelligent worker who adapted so well when you consider his physical limitations. To me, Antonio Inoki had an uncanny ability to make every match he was in boring. Even if the match was great at some point Inoki did something that made the match boring as fuck. Whereas every Giant Baba match ever has some example of Baba doing something fun. Even if the match was terrible at some point Baba did something fun. I understand if people don’t like 80s Baba. He was awkward and slow sure. He’s definitely a favorite of mine now even if he wasn’t when I first started watching puro. But once I saw the Destroyer match, other stuff from the 70s, I totally “got” Baba and he has “worked” for me ever since. And again, the Hansen feud is one of my all time favorites. I figured the 2 things that would get pointed out about my list would be Chicana so high and Kobashi/Baba back to back. I had Baba ranked ahead at one point actually but then flipped them. Kobashi is maybe the dumbest wrestler ever while Baba is maybe the smartest. J 32. Daniel Bryan 33. Vader 34. Dustin Rhodes “Super high for Dustin here.” I can understand saying that. But I think he’s had a ton of great matches with a huge variety of workers. Great singles and tag matches. Has been a really good to great worker for 25 years unless he was hurt or battling personal problems. I wouldn’t blink an eye if someone had Dustin in their top 20. I’d also note Daniel Bryan is where he is based exclusively on his career up until 2003, the Morishima matches, and his WWE run. I have a huge blindspot on post 2003 indy wrestling (but watched a fuck load of 2000-03 indy wrestling at the time). Bryan will almost certainly shoot up my list when I get around to watching him from 2004 till the beginning of the WWE run. I’ve seen practically everything he did in the WWE. I think the Cena match from SummerSlam is possibly the best WWE match ever. He was a tremendous worker in short tv matches, tag matches, and obviously had tremendous matches when given the opportunity on big shows. Made Kane an interesting week to week character for practically an entire year. Had a MOTYC with HHH in 25+minute non gimmicked match. Had a MOTYC with Bray Wyatt who I legit hate. Sheamus 2/3 falls match from a few years back on PPV is a really great match. The Punk vs Bryan main event lead to some great matches. Mark Henry matches. Fuck, Bryan was awesome. If I made my list again right now he’d be higher already. Vader everyone knows and loves. I think he’s great but I’m really sick of watching him at this point. I feel like I could close my eyes and watch every Vader match ever. 38. Jack Brisco “Nice to see him making people lists.” Always loved Brisco. He could definitely be higher on my list on a different day. 41. Bobby Eaton 42. Randy Savage 43. Ricky Steamboat 44. Arn Anderson “Interesting run here. None of them look out of place.” All of these guys could easily be higher on my list. I fucked up by not ranking Eaton closer to Morton though. That was one of the first things I noticed other than… 45. Jushin Liger 46. Kerry von Erich “Super high for Kerry. I need to see more high-end Liger.” These two! God! Immediately after I posted this, I thought Liger looks weird with a 15 or something next to his name. Liger vs Sano is the best junior feud ever. Great matches vs Sasuke, Pillman, Togo, Samurai, etc etc etc. I’m going to totally rip someone off with this talking point (I think Loss said this, I’ll be safe and give Loss credit here because he has a knack for summing things up really well) but people think of Liger as a great high flyer, but he would be an all time great worker if he never left his feet. This is so true. Flying Liger is great but so is mat work, bomb throwing Liger. He could have worked anywhere in the world in any style and been great. I would also say I LOVE the Liger vs Noah matches in the early 00s. Which reminds me, Kikuchi absolutely should I have my list. I think I considered him at some position and possibly thought “I don’t want to look up how to spell his first name right now, I’ll come back to him later.” Kerry is another guy who I wouldn’t blink if someone had him in the 30s or so. I love Von Erichs vs Freebirds and he was in great tags and singles against all of those guys. I love the footless drugged up feud against Lawler. Flair feud produced some of the best matches of the 80s. Jumbo match is one of the best ever. Had great singles and tags against Dynamic Duo. Etc etc. Kerry is super underrated as a worker. But again, I’m not holding the shitty WWF years against him. 49. Yoshiaki Yatsu “Yay. I love Yatsu too, but this is pretty high.” Yeah I’d probably rank him lower if I did this again. But I’ve been plowing through the 80s sets recently and Yatsu absolutely stands out as one of the best tag workers of the 80s. 51. Billy Robinson “Seems low relative to Brisco and Baba. Interesting. Robinson is the 70s guy I'm looking forward to exploring the most” . This is a footage issue for me. I love the Baba match from 76, Jumbo matches, the Verne match, etc. I need to see more. If I had seen as much Billy as Baba and Brisco, he would probably rank higher. 54. Rick Martel “High rating.” Terrific babyface worker in the AWA and in Portland. Great matches with Buddy Rose. Could go either way. I regret not ranking him and Hennig closer together as they are similar. I would rank Hennig ahead of him if I did this again today. 58. Barry Windham 59. Ted Dibiase 60. Tully Blanchard 61. Michael Hayes “Interesting run of guys here. Barry over both Ted and Tully interesting, but I can see all this is ballpark. With the exception of the Lucha and Memphis guys, our lists would look quite similar so far.” When I started I was like “I’m gonna put Michaels Hayes at 30 becaue Michael Hayes is awesome.” Then I just couldn’t. I like all of these guys a whole lot. And again are all people who could absolutely shoot up my list on a different day. There are like 8 “Best of Barry Windham” vhs tapes at my parents house that have been gathering dust for 15 years. I’ve always liked him and feel a little bad about ranking him so low. Your whole case about Dibiase being a bookers dream works ten fold for Barry as a worker (I’m not arguing that Barry was a better promo). You could put Windham anywhere on the card in any position. Great as a young up and coming babyface. Great as an ass kicking babyface. Great as an ass kicking heel. Great as a big bumping showing ass heel which was especially impressive considering his size. If anything I ranked Barry way to low. I know you’ll say Dibiase could do all those things too and was better. But I don’t think he was. Even if I agree that he could do all of those things too J 62. Tajiri “Is this the Tajiri from the Monday Night Wars?!” Yes! ECW Tajiri was awesome. I recently watched the Nishimura match everyone pimped in his thread and a Finlay match from SMASH that I dug. Tajiri is pretty fresh in my mind as a guy Ive been thinking about for this project. I love the Corino match from Hardcore Heaven. Had a real aura that I think a lot of other juniors at the time lacked. 65. Masa Fuchi 66. Bret Hart 67. Chris Adams 68. Steve Austin “In isolation this run looks strange to me. Fuchi better than Bret, Chris Adams right there with them. With Austin right there behind them. This would be my biggest disagreement so far.” Bret Hart was my favorite wrestler as a kid. I like him and think he’s great but there are soooo many better wrestlers out there. I love the matches with Austin and oddly enough the Piper match. I do treasure 1997 and think it’s a really great run from an all around perspective. But year, I’m comfortable with 65 guys being better than Bret Hart. Including Masa Fuchi. I love the Jumbo and Co vs Misawa and Co feud and Fuchi was absolutely a highlight in some of the best matches ever. Terrific worker. 71. Andre the Giant 72. Curt Hennig 73. Ron Garvin 74. Bobby The Brain Heenan 75. Mick Foley 76. Fit Finlay 77. Sgt Slaughter 78. Terry Gordy 79. Jerry Blackwell 80. Steve Williams 81. Dusty Rhodes 82. Hulk Hogan 83. Brian Pillman “This run is starting to look more mish-mash, but I can see you trying to get in guys you like. I think a lot of people will do this in their 70-100 range.” This run is definitely more mish-mash. Hennig should go up. Finlay should go up. This is kind of the “I can’t imagine a top 100 based on stuff I’ve seen without these guys” run. With the next group being the “I need to watch more stuff but I would lean towards them making a final list based on what I have seen of them.” 84. Tommy Rogers “Interesting that you ranked Rogers. I think he might just miss out for me.” The Fantastics are an all time great team and the singles matches I’ve seen with Rogers have been very good. I love tag team wrestling, especially 80s southern tag team wrestling and so it feels weird to leave some of those guys off. So Rogers made it. Shit, I thought about Steve Keirn and was going to bring up how much I loved the Fujinami singles match. But he ended up not making it. 87. Mocho Cota “Interested in how much Cota is out there beyond what is on the 80s set. Is there really enough?” There probably isn’t enough. But I might sneak him in the lower region because he’s so awesome. “Cool list though man!” Thanks! This project is fun and I hope all the people who are on the fence about turning in lists when the time comes decide to just do it. J

This is stealing a talking point from I think Zach Lowe, but I have never just burst out laughing before during NBA games more than I do during Warriors games. They are so much fun to watch. I wish this Warriors season could last forever just like this.