Posted May 27, 201510 yr comment_5670594 Barry Windham – Barry’s peak year on tape. Big feud with Flair, tag team with Garvin. Maybe 1988 was Windham’s year but this is his peak as a face. Ron Garvin – Garvin feels like he should be honorably mentioned for 1985 and 1986 against the Horsemen but 1987 has the super feud with the Midnight Express and the title reign with AWESOME cage match bookends. Ric Flair – Windham… Garvin… Broken Back Curt Hennig- Hennig comes into his own as champ with memorable TV matches and Bock’s last hurrah. Genichiro Tenryu Jumbo Tsuruta Stan Hansen Yoshiaki Yatsu - Another ho hum year for the elite All Japan guys. Yatsu was amazing as tag team partner who gets his ass kicked so he deserves recognition. The other guys had remarkable tags and singles. Akira Maeda Masa Saito Nobuhiko Takada Riki Choshu Tatsumi Fujinami Yoshiaki Fujiwara - 1987 New Japan may be the best year ever for a company. All of the above had memorable tags, multi-man and singles matches. If you picked Fujiwara, Fujinami, Choshu, Maeda or Saito as the #1 wrestler of the year, I wouldn’t argue. You may even have to include Inoki worth mentioning for the high volume of matches he was involved in. Dr. Death – This was when Doc gets pushed to the moon in the UWF and then transitions to the NWA. He wouldn’t crack the Top Ten but deserves an honorable mention. Dick Murdoch – UWF, NJ, NWA. He was putting on solid matches here and across but Dick is slowing down. He wouldn’t be Top Ten but deserves the recognition. Jerry Lawler – 1st half of the year has the strong feud against Idol and Rich. 2nd half, we are low on footage but we do have Lawler & Dundee becoming AWA tag champs. Also, it was mentioned on TV, but if there is a lost holy grail, Lawler and Bock go 60 at MSC.
May 27, 201510 yr comment_5670606 I'd also consider Carlos Colon for this year. The second half of the Hansen feud (including the bullrope and cage matches) and his feud with Hercules Ayala that took up a chunk of the year.
May 29, 201510 yr Author comment_5671138 After Mania, he made the rounds with Hogan and I don't remember any of their 1987 matches. After that, he had a long run against Honkytonk Man with lots of matches against Hercules and Harley Race. I don't remember any of these. It's one of the reasons I didn't include Savage or Steamboat even though they started the year hot.
May 29, 201510 yr comment_5671156 Savage did have that incredible match with Bret Hart on SNME in 11/87 and the Hogan series is consistently good.
June 3, 201510 yr comment_5672272 If you are a peak matches type of guy, Colon had four singles matches this year I would rank at an exceptionally high level - two v. Hansen and two v. Ayala. The two Hansen matches are two of the better matches I've seen from anywhere in the 80's (the bullrope and cage match), and the Ayala matches are so much better than they have any right to be it's hard not to marvel at Colon's performance in them. There may have been a third great Hansen match from the year too, I can't remember my timeline offhand. Either way you could make a strong case for Colon as the top worker in this hemisphere at minimum.
June 3, 201510 yr comment_5672274 Either way you could make a strong case for Colon as the top worker in this hemisphere at minimum. Wouldn't that make him the best in the world? EDIT: Nevermind, I thought you were talking about the Northern Hemisphere.
June 3, 201510 yr comment_5672282 OJ, would you agree Franz van Buyten was the best european worker in 1987? Couple matches with Lasartesse, MOTYC against Rudge and getting good matches out of Col. Brodie, Butcher Mason and Suni War Cloud.
June 3, 201510 yr comment_5672283 That's a good question. As you're probably aware, '87 is a year I've ignored in the past and am only beginning to fill in through Arthur Psycho's channel. van Buyten is the front runner at this point. European worker of the year is a great concept. Maybe I'll have a go at 1974-1991.
June 4, 201510 yr comment_5672824 Barry Windham Great choice! Flair series, Garvin team and Murdoch match. Unfortunately, he worked a lot with Larry Z and they didn't click.
June 5, 201510 yr comment_5672918 Barry Windham was fantastic in 1987. The team with Ron Garvin facing off with Condrey & Eaton. He has 6-mans with Morton & Gibson vs. Condrey, Eaton, and Rogers. Hell he even teams with Hector Guerrero vs. Condrey and Eaton. He has matches vs. Anderson and Blanchard as well. Then the GREAT Flair series. He also has matches vs. Luger in the Spring into the early Summer. Much of this stuff happened in the Winter and Spring. By Summer he is working Rogers and has the Murdoch match. Woulda loved to have seen his match with Chris Adams. He continues working Anderson a bit plus matches with Fernandez, Gilbert, Steiner, Bart, and even Murdoch. There are more Midnight matches too vs. Lane and Eaton. I'm gonna put together my results for him in 1987. He has a fair amount of tape. Thing is I saw a lot of him live in 87. I will put those matches out there as well. June 15, 1987 in Greensboro, NC he faced Blanchard. He shoulda won the TV Title period. They also have a match from Lakeland, FL on July 1, 1987 that was taped for NWA Southern Pro where he faces Blanchard. He shoulda won it there. No Western-States shit. All I know is he was the in-ring MVP of JCP in 87 from where I was sittin. In the recliner, barstool, and arena he delivered.
June 5, 201510 yr comment_5672934 What about George Steele? Savage had to be peaking on his road to his first World Title.
June 5, 201510 yr comment_5672936 I agree with everyone who voted the "widow-maker" Barry Windham. Barry had it all.
June 5, 201510 yr Author comment_5673053 RNR are on the way down in 1987. What makes you put Morton on the list?
June 6, 201510 yr comment_5673295 Regarding Savage, the bout with Harley was a lot of fun, but too rushed to help his Wrestler of the Year case. Harley's WWF work is a feather in his cap, though. One that's rarely spoken about.
June 6, 201510 yr comment_5673313 Regarding Savage, the bout with Harley was a lot of fun, but too rushed to help his Wrestler of the Year case. Harley's WWF work is a feather in his cap, though. One that's rarely spoken about. Any Harley matches in particular? I agree it's not commonly mentioned.
June 8, 201510 yr comment_5673806 Regarding Savage, the bout with Harley was a lot of fun, but too rushed to help his Wrestler of the Year case. Harley's WWF work is a feather in his cap, though. One that's rarely spoken about. Any Harley matches in particular? I agree it's not commonly mentioned. Believe it or not, I'd start with the Hogan feud. They had good matches together. Harley adapted better to working in the WWF than a lot of young territory workers, IMO. Really nice veteran run in an environment where you wouldn't expect him to do well.
August 1, 201510 yr comment_5689358 Oh, but the best of his year was sooo good... I'd consider Savage... I would probably end up going with one of the New Japan guys though.
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