Tim Cooke

Andrei Kopylov is sort of under the radar from RINGS. Has more good matches than bad and may have Maeda's best non-Han match from July 1992.

The 5/17/86 Pro match against Morton is their best singles match. The 7/5 is a cage match if I remember correctly but I didn't like it too much. 4/12 is their WTBS studio match, which has some fun stuff but isn't blow away by any means

Yea, as Tim said, Havoc '97 is a greatest of all time candidate. The 3/16/95 AAA trios is certainly a best AAA match ever contender. Vs Kidman on Nitro in March '99 is a sub 10 minute greatest of all time candidate. I think the 6/23/05 SD match vs Eddy is a WWE best match ever candidate.

He makes it just for his 1981-1982 and 1985-1986 Memphis all time great matches. But that list is short but I think that has to do w lack of Memphis being preserved.

OJ has a list of good to great Shoot Style matches. SegundaCaida blog also ran through every PWFG and UWF 2.0 show. The cream of the crop from RINGS (leaving out a lot of 'should watch but not great' matches from Han against a variety of Europeans from '92-'94): 7/16/92 Kopylov vs. Han 8/22/92 Han vs. Vrij 8/22/92 Maeda vs. Kopylov (maybe Maeda's best non-Han RINGS match) 6/17/95 Han vs. Yamamoto 9/25/96 Han vs. Tamura 1/22/97 Han vs. Tamura 4/22/97 Tamura vs. Kohsaka 6/13/97 Tamura vs. Zouev 7/22/97 Tamura vs. Bitsadze Tariel (one of the best carry jobs ever?) 9/26/97 Tamura vs. Han 6/27/98 Tamura vs. Kohsaka 6/24/99 Tamura vs. Yamamoto Also highly enjoy the 9/26/97 Frank Shamrock vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka shoot from RINGS. Tamura vs. Frank Shamrock from 4/23/99 is also a fun shoot.

"When did Shoot style move completely away from top rope moves?" UWF 2.0 had no top rope moves. They were actually gone for the most part by the end of UWF 1.0 but 2.0 is where the "UWF" style really started to be built for it's 1990's run. "When did they move to just submissions and knockouts (ie no pinfalls)?" UWF 2.0 had pins early. The 8/13/88 Takada vs. Yamazaki match had pinfalls and ends with a german suplex if my memory is correct. PWFG didn't have pins (at least for matches within their rules). RINGS definitely didn't. Fairly sure UWF-I didn't but I can't say that 100%. "What are the other notable shoot style promotions?" PWFG, at least early in it's run, has a lot of good stuff. Sano/Shamrock (5/91) and Sano/Suzuki (7/91) are two stand out matches. RINGS - can't list all the great matches here. UWF-I - especially in retrospect, it may not hold up as well but there are some good matches. I enjoy the Vader stuff as it is different and has a ton of heat. U-Style - Tamura's 2003-2004 promotion. Ueyama vs. Ito (10/03), Tamura vs. Kohsaka (2/04), and Ito vs. Tamura (8/04) are all outstanding matches.

Rey's last strong WWE match was right after Money in the Bank 2011 on RAW when he wrestled Cena. He's been good in AAA but still waiting for that blow away match, which I'm pretty sure he still has left in him.

Yep, saw this the other day. Santo and Espanto clearly had some routines and regular spots but god damn if those spots aren't amazing every time out

Rave had a really good 2005 but I don't think there is room for him on my list. The Punk feud, the 7/23 Styles match, and the Generation Next vs. Embassy blow off cage match are all worth watching.

I don't think Daniels being smooth makes him "too good." But that's another debate. My favorite lucha feud is Santo vs. Espanto Jr. We have as much, if not more of Dandy/Satanico, similar footage for Chicana/MS1, etc but this feud still feels like it produced once in a lifetime matches. Here's what we have documented on tape: 3 singles matches (1986 Mask vs Mask, 1988 Title Match, 1992 Title Match) a couple of trios matches (with Espanto first as Santo Negro and then Pentagon Jr.) and a tag from 1985. All of this stretches 10 years and god knows what we don't have on tape. When I first got into lucha through the AAA mid-90's trios matches, I thought Santo and Blue Panther were the best pairing for pure lucha. Today, I think it's pretty easily the Espanto feud that is the height of Santo's career. Santo will probably be my highest non-Rey Jr. luchador on this list. Him or Casas - to be determined.

Interested what Garretta will think about this. Really enjoy reading his views on stuff he hasn't seen/new styles or under the radar matches like this one

Parka is also a lot of fun during the height of the fun AAA trios matches of the mid 90's. Parka/Rey Jr/Santo/Octagon vs. Pentagon Jr./Psicosis/Jerry Estrada/Fuerza from June 1995 has a heck of a comedy performance from Parka, alongside the other tearing down the joint. The 2001 Santo Monterrey bloodbath has never been a huge favorite of mine, but it is definitely a spot where context matters. Monterrey TV in the early 2000's was pretty dreadful. There were some gems here and there (Rob Bihari and Phil Schneider found a few) but for the most part, the TV was poor. So when this came out, around the same time the Navarro/Dandy 11/08/01 match showed up, it was two different versions of lucha that weren't CMLL or AAA and interesting to compare and contrast [title match worked old school style versus violent and BLOODY brawl]. Parka's Guadalajara match from April 2004 against Ultimo Guerrero is good. I know OJ likes it but when I rewatched it a few months ago, I thought it was only above average. He does a great job in the Summer 2004 CMLL trios match with Santo/Mistico/Casas against GDI. Parka is no Emilio Charles Jr. (one of the best trios workers ever) but sometimes his multi man efforts are better than the singles stuff. He was also great in the 12/15/97 match with Psicosis vs. Rey/Juventud from Nitro.

Oh yea, the Hase match is a definite. I also like the 2/22/04 match vs. Kawada as an example of two guys who are clearly slowing down and injured having a smart match that got heat without resorting to goofiness.

Same. Seems there are a lot of rubes on PWO, eh. HBK's rep as a GOAT contender in the WWE universe and online is one of the great mysteries of the world. It's really Scott Keith and Meltzer who drove the Michaels love. Plus he stood out in the WWF in 1994-1996 as someone unique. It's the post comeback love that I really don't get and those are the matches that are getting him to "greatest of all time level" even though for the most part, they aren't better than average to a little above average. The HHH matches in particular are matches I never want to see again.

Singles (I'll leave the tags, specifically the NJ vs. WAR matches, to someone else) 11/1/90 vs. Choshu 8/9/91 vs. Choshu 2/17/94 vs. Tenyru 2/24/94 vs. Liger 8/15/95 vs. Mutoh 4/12/96 vs. Takada 8/2/96 vs. Choshu

vs. Kazunari Murakami (11/26/00 - BattlArts) vs. Otsuka (9/11/05 - Big Mouth Loud) vs. Carl Greco (6/9/08 - BattlArts)

Elgin is such a terrible choice. He can't work short matches, he can't work 30 minute draws. It's a no-win situation for his opponents.

Tamura is red (and will be from here on out) and Kakihara is blue (he will occasional switch up with black)

Punk vs Daniels 7/23/05 Live it was much better than it had any right to be. Re watching it in the last year, it wasn't nearly as good as it was live but for two guys who have no business going 60:00 against each other, it's worth watching to see it kind of work. And the Homicide vs Corino match should definitely be on the list.

3/28/04. Aired 8 mins on Samurai TV so the full match should be available. Pieces of other matches also aired on Samurai TV.

No order but fairly set on these as my top 15 Flair Kawada Misawa Jumbo Rey Jr. Kobashi Santo Volk Han Kiyoshi Tamura Jerry Lawler Steve Austin Negro Casas Destroyer Virus Eddy Guerrero

Morton, Arn, and Tommy Rogers.

Paul's list is comprehensive. I would also want to see the 2001 versions of Ki vs. Danielson to see their growth together (the 3/30/02 ROH match is their 4th singles match, at least on tape) as well as their 6/7/02 JAPW "Submissions" match which is worked much closer to a full UWF style match. I would add in Ki vs. Red from 6/22/02 and put it in bold. It's both guys trying something brand new in the first minute (well, new to ROH - they previously did it in their 8/01 and 9/01 matches) and while it may not be everyone's cup of tea, it's still interesting from a "how can we innovate without being ridiculous" which you see a lot today with top turnbuckle brainbusters and apron powerbombs.

The tar and feathering angle, along with the "All the King's horses and all the King's men" promo are so awesome. But he doesn't have the matches on tape. The clips we have show great stuff but it's not enough. Maybe an honorable mention.

Also great match in PWFG. But no, not top 100.