Haha, I had a feeling I'd be throwing up the jdw Bat-Signal with my analysis. I should note that I limited my analysis to singles matches since virtually all the notable tags involved Misawa and Kawada going with or against each other. On the Taue front, I like all the Misawa/Taue TC matches better than any Kawada/Taue match. In fact, I think that in a lot of ways, Taue was Misawa's ideal opponent. He was certainly more limited than Kawada and Kobashi, but he was also less prone to excess.

And on a base level, Taue was just a better bad guy.

I don't know the date but there was one Taue-KAwada match that had blood and was pretty awesome.

You're probably thinking of 1/15/91. Good brawl. Was it the last match under Baba where someone bladed?

Well Kobashi bladed in the '99 Battle Royal... but how much Baba was doing at that point a few weeks from death is, y'know...

Rey Mysterio, Jr. is interesting to talk about as his career has to be winding down now. I think he's great but I never bought him as a top guy. He has a pretty stacked résumé of great matches but I still can't put him ahead of SO many guys. Curious where abouts everyone else has him landing?

I'd have him top 15, I think.

I have him in the 20-25 area but on any given day, his number can jump or fall three or so slots in either direction.

I could see people who grew up/had their formative years in the 2000's seeing Rey as number one. He's definitely the best tv match wrestler ever as far as I'm concerned. Not sure where I would rate him, but it's hard for me to imagine leaving him out of a top fifteen and top ten seems probable.

You're probably thinking of 1/15/91. Good brawl. Was it the last match under Baba where someone bladed?

Well Kobashi bladed in the '99 Battle Royal... but how much Baba was doing at that point a few weeks from death is, y'know...

There was an Abby-Ogawa match later in the year where Ogawa juiced. I think Baba made an exception for Abby, but in a very limited fashion.

 

John

It's hard for me to imagine leaving Mysterio out of a top fifteen and top ten seems probable.

 

The whole list is hard. Which is why it is both frustrating & fun.

 

Funk, Flair, Savage, Steamboat, Hennig, Rude, Hansen, Williams, Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, DiBiase, Lawler & Vader I have all ahead of him. Which of those, if any, would you disagree with?

 

Then there's guys like Liger, Guerrero, Windham, Tully, Gordy, Jumbo, etc. & it starts getting fuzzy.

I see no argument for Williams, Hennig, DiBiase or Rude above Rey. I think a certain type of fan could make an argument for Savage built around "iconic matches" but I wouldn't buy it and and think Rey is clearly better. I would have Rey behind Funk and Lawler for sure and almost certainly Flair. After that from the first group I'd have him ahead of Vader, Kobashi and Steamboat for sure. Misawa, Kawada and Hansen are all pretty tough and I'd have to think about it more than just the couple of minutes I'm putting into this post. I'd rate Rey ahead of everyone in the second group, though I sometimes wonder if I went back and watched a bunch of peak Liger if he wouldn't slide back into a solid top ten spot.

 

The guys I am absolutely positive I would have above Rey are Funk, Lawler and Negro Casas.

Thinking about it, I've seen almost Rey's entire career & he doesn't have a bad period. I think his Filthy Animals unmasked run in WCW was probably his worst but even then, the matches weren't bad. I mean, when he's going over Scott Norton in like ten seconds after a low-blow obviously that's garbage, but I don't think those are the types of things that people remember great workers for.

 

Mysterio also has going for him working in all three big U.S. promotions of the cable era & being good in all of them.

 

I think you & I greatly differ on Savage though as to me, he's in my top 5. He's also one of the biggest reasons why I got into wrestling period too though so maybe my opinion on him is slanted. His early stuff was great. His WCW stuff, not so much. I need to re-evaluate a lot of guys too, like Martel, Morton, Eaton, Santana & Anderson.

For fun, every month a selected core of people (any number as long as they commit to doing it monthly, could be the entire board...no criteria to vote except maybe being a board regular as determined by management) submit a list of their top 25 wrestlers at that moment in time. Results are compiled (1st place vote = 25 points, 2nd place =24 points, etc.), and the top 50 or so are posted in a sticky. Next month, re-vote, with movement up and down and new entries analyzed in an accompanying "ratings analysis" style thread.

 

I figure so many people in this thread move people around thier own personal lists on a given day, the ratings would probably change a fair bit every month.

That would be fun but I don't envy the guy in charge of it; tallying up all the votes. Seems like a lot of work!

Once a month is too often. Bi-annual would work better, IMO.

Once a month is too often. Bi-annual would work better, IMO.

Quarterly, perhaps....once every three months.

How about quarterly?

 

December 1st

March 1st

June 1st

October 1st

Yes, what he said

If someone smarter than me can figure out the details, I'd count the "ballots."

If you know someone like Ric Flair is going to get a ton of points, are you going to rate him lower because you know he's going to show up & put someone else higher on your list so they have a better showing? If a couple different people were to do that, it would definitely affect the list & could get a guy to drop a spot or two. I guess that's the nature of the beast & kind of the point though.

Strategic voting is bullshit. The votes should be earnest.

Strategic voting is bullshit. The votes should be earnest.

Absolutely. How the numbers fall, if they fall honestly, would make for great discussion. And since they would likely change a bit here and there quarterly, the discussion would change.

We need some criteria set in stone. :-) Like, what are we supposed to base our votes off of? Personal favorites? In-ring work?

Why? You'll just respond by whining about snowflakes and workrate.

Wow, alright, since you're just going to hold a grudge & throw a fuckin' pouty fit, I'll just go away.