ohtani's jacket

That's a pretty good ranking for Cortez. Maybe the first case of over-achieving for the Brit sect.

I actually thought Gotch was one of the better picks in that glut of votes. You'd think the workers would be getting better as we approach the top 200 but that was some rut. The irony in Solar dropping so far from 2006 is that the amount of Solar footage that's surfaced in the last ten years dwarfs what little we had of him in '06. So much for the credo that footage changes everything.

So, apparently Akram tried to shoot on Inoki during this bout and Inoki ended up breaking the guy's arm when he wouldn't submit to the chicken wing arm-lock. I Because Akram was the nephew of the Great Gama, Inoki returned to Pakistan a few years later to help restore the family's dignity. He let Akram's 19-year old nephew, Jhara, manhandle him for large portions of a five round draw and symbolically raised his hand at the end. I didn't know any of this. I actually thought the younger Pahalwan making mincemeat out of Inoki was a sight to behold until I read up on it. When I realised Inoki wasn't putting up a fight the bout took on an entirely different light. One thing I'll say for Inoki, he may be a charlatan but he wasn't afraid to stick his neck out. And if you've never seen a Pakistani in-ring celebration you really should.

I don't think there's any shame in voting for Mascaras. There are two Johnny Saint/McManus matches. They're both good.

We don't have an expression in British English that means diaper-headed. Parv probably means textured.

Trios wrestling is completely formulaic. The chaotic elements of lucha involve the haphazard booking. If you do the legwork there is nothing confusing about lucha trios matches.

He wasn't dumb, but he was more of an exceptionally hard worker than a guy who was ring-smart.

Nice stuff, grover. I always did like the cut of your jib.

The 11/93 Captain Fall Survival War was a classic representation of inter-promotional era warts and all. For the most part I found it entertaining. When I was younger I would have really been into the narrative of two of my all-time favourites with their backs against the wall but these days it's a bit like listening to your favourite band from high school -- you can never quite recapture the magic. Still, there were a lot of solid performances. Nobody hit a home run, but Devil showed the veteran presence we've talked about before, Ozaki had some neat selling and clever escapes, and Minami reminded me of why she was such an underrated worker despite some awkwardness in her in-ring movement and a stinging lack of charisma. Kansai was solid without being spectacular, and Hokuto was likewise good without being truly outstanding. Their individual match-up didn't have quite the edge to it you'd expect. Nevertheless, I dug the basic narrative of Hokuto the She-Wolf and her hellcat minions giving the finger to JWP president Yamamoto and the close-knit family aspect to JWP even if it wasn't one of the more emotional "JWP overcomes the odds" storylines they rolled out during the inter-promotional era. I think I'll revisit Thunder Queen before it's all said and done. That's something I've been meaning to do ever since Loss did a 180 on it.

Are you talking about the character or the wrestler? I am confused. I think the dude is probably a good bit smarter as a wrestler than he gets credit for sometimes (though I never really thought people thought he was dumb), but I think you nailed his character in the 90s. I meant both. The All Japan guys didn't really play characters.

"Ok" is a massive upgrade over how old-man Cota was viewed back in the day, but that apuesta match in particular I didn't really care for.

Myers did okay. He's in some pretty decent company. Cortez hasn't dropped yet, has he? That surprises me. I keep thinking I'm gonna cry into my cornflakes over Grey.

I love Cota as much as the next guy, but his ranking is based on two matches against a guy who didn't even get nominated (iirc) and a bunch of OK stuff after he got out of prison. Porky seems too high as well.

Maybe it's just me, but whenever people lavish praise on Kobashi he always comes across as sounding smarter than he truly was. When I think of Kobashi, I always think of a shy jock with a big heart not some kind of wrestling genius like Negro Casas.

Shiro Koshinaka is a mediocre pro-wrestler so I'm not surprised about that. Dump was viewed as one of the all-time great heels back in '06. You could maybe argue that the lack of a DVDVR Joshi set hurt her, but the matches on YouTube and elsewhere. She just doesn't get talked about enough because I figure a DVDVR set would have really only uncovered some hidden gems. People sometimes act like the 2006 list is some kind of relic from the past. It may be antiquated, but we were savvy enough to have Kohsaka higher than he was here. I've seen exactly one great Adrian Street bout (vs. Breaks) and then a stream of disappointment. If we had more of his WoS stuff that might change, but he left for the indies during his physical peak. I don't think he was as good as his partner, Bobby Barnes, who did the exact same gimmick. I don't think Bobby Barnes was even nominated. I keep waiting for Mocho Cota to drop. How on earth did he get such a crazily high ranking?

Lou Thesz always kind of bores me, but I liked his old man performance against Inoki. It was a neat maestro performance simply to Pat O'Connor's All Japan stuff from the same era. I broke my own rule and watched Ruska/Inoki I. It wasn't that bad actually, though I can see why the martial arts world thought it was a sham. From memory, it drew one of the biggest television ratings of all-time. Ruska heeled it up far more than you'd expect. Inoki vs. Strong Kobayashi was similar to the Sakaguchi match and another strong native vs. native bout from the mid-70s. Inoki bled and there was a cool image of him bandaged up at the end with a blood stained face. I got a kick out of Andre and Inoki working the mat. I doubt armwork is what anyone wants to see from an Andre bout, but given my general dislike for limbwork (or rather the over-reliance of it as an expression of psychology), it was surreal enough to be some of the most fun limbwork I've seen in a while.

I will try to watch those matches later, but it's not unusual for a guy to do nothing in a trios match. There's a slew of trios matches like that for plenty of top lucha candidates. The Satanico vs. Lizmark matches are disappointing. It's a match-up that looks better on paper (and in my head) than in reality. I'm glad there's someone else who loves the Parka match, though. I thought I was out on an island with that one.

Can you give an example of a match where you felt Lizmark was particularly underwhelming?

Watched a bunch of JWP tags over the weekend. Completely nonessential stuff, but it was nice to see an old favourite (JWP) still have some pluck to it. Though I will say that middle of the road Joshi tags can be a real chore to sit through and nobody really did anything to enhance their reputation. Kansai coasted a lot as though it was the regular season and I kind of saw Jetlag's argument about Devil too. The exception was when they worked with Cutie, who brought an exceptionally high level of energy to her boots and a ton of grit as well, which I wasn't expecting. She ended up impressing me more than Ozaki in the sampling I saw.

Not sure what Yamada did to deserve that dubious distinction. The lucha graveyard continues. Must... fight... the... urge... to... have... backlash...against...token... picks.

That's Espanto Jr's son who's currently doing the gimmick in CMLL. I'm pretty sure Tim voted for dad.

Greco! Standing out like a diamond in the rough.

When push comes to shove is Bobby Heenan truly a wrestler? Alan Sargeant did extremely well for only 4 votes.

Kevin Cook uploaded a bunch of lucha during the watching and nominating period in '06 and among the smaller ballot turnout were some lists stacked with luchadores.

Who would have thought Smarkschoice would be more lucha savvy.