So I gave Okada/Omega another chance after all the hype it was getting. I'd say the good outweighed the bad overall, but I doubt it would make a list of my top 200 favorite matches. But that's not the focus of this thread. Given all the reaction to Meltzer's ****** rating, I figured this would be a good time to revisit the topic. What do you consider to be the greatest match of all time? No lists, pick one and only one. Include an explanation if you like, especially if your pick is somewhat unorthodox. For me, it's an easy call: 6/9/95. 'Nuff said.

I recently watched the New Japan gauntlet from 1984. I think that's the one for me. I also rewatched Hennig-Bock hour long draw from 1986 this past week. That's up there. 6/9/95 is up there for me as well.

I stand with Kiyoshi Tamura vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto-RINGS 24.6.1999.

It's MS1 v. Sangre Chicana and it isn't that close.

6/9/1995. But it is no longer completely set in stone. Shawn vs. Foley Mind Games 96 is a close #2. Both are my only ***** matches.

 

6/9/95 is my one unquestioned pick also. It stands clearly above the rest for me and I have no doubt that it's the best of all time.

Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness, 02/23/08.

Naming ONE MATCH gets old. I think a top 100 matches ever project and poll similiar to the Top 100 wrestlers ever from last year would be really interesting.

I recently watched the New Japan gauntlet from 1984. I think that's the one for me. I also rewatched Hennig-Bock hour long draw from 1986 this past week. That's up there. 6/9/95 is up there for me as well.

 

You're the man. The '84 Gauntlet and 6/9/95 are immediately the first 2 that came to mind. Henning/Bock is also definitely in the discussion on the domestic side of things, likely along with some of that Flair fella's work from 1989.

Easy. I don't think I'll see a better match than the 6/9/95 tag.

6/9/95 definitely has its flaws. I'm not sure what the flaws are for Sangre Chicana vs MS-1 or Bock/Hennig.

What are the flaws of Clash 6?

It's MS1 v. Sangre Chicana and it isn't that close.

That's number three for me, behind Magnum / Tully I Quit and the 83 Lawler / Dundee Loser Leaves Town.

MS-1 vs Sangre Chicana definitely. Then something like Tamura vs Yamamoto, Tamura vs Han (01/22/1997) the New Japan '84 Gauntlet, El Dandy/El Satanico apuestas from 1990 and Ikeda/Ishikawa FUTEN.

What are the flaws of Clash 6?

 

Half honest question: would you consider the fact that I really don't want to revisit it to be a flaw?

It's MS1 v. Sangre Chicana and it isn't that close.

 

Agree with this.

Reading the responses, it's clear this is a referendum on best style as much as best match. For example, Phil and I probably agree on 95 percent of matches. I'm rarely going to be cold to something he loves. But when parsing between accepted classics, he's invariably going to favor the perfect bloody apuestas match over the perfect All-Japan epic. I'm invariably going to go the other way. Same with Matt, who finds aspects of All Japan inherently distasteful.

 

There's nothing wrong with any of that. It's just what struck me as I read the thread.

 

Anyway, the answer is 6/9/95.

Akira Hokuto/Shinobu Kandori vs. Aja Kong/Bull Nakano, Wrestling Queendom '94.

6/9/95 definitely has its flaws. I'm not sure what the flaws are for Sangre Chicana vs MS-1 or Bock/Hennig.

 

Even if that's true, it can still be the greatest. Greatest ≠ Perfect.

Cena vs Umaga, Rumble 2007.

6/9/95 definitely has its flaws. I'm not sure what the flaws are for Sangre Chicana vs MS-1 or Bock/Hennig.

 

Be interested in hearing about the specific flaws

Akira Hokuto/Shinobu Kandori vs. Aja Kong/Bull Nakano, Wrestling Queendom '94.

 

This is held back by some structural/pacing issues, otherwise it would have had a good shot at dethroning 6/9/1995 for me. Still all time Top 10 level though.

 

6/9/95 definitely has its flaws. I'm not sure what the flaws are for Sangre Chicana vs MS-1 or Bock/Hennig.

 

Be interested in hearing about the specific flaws

Kobashi went overboard with the crying and popping up derailing the point of the finish

I looked back over my notes from when we did remedial wrestling over at DVDVR.

 

I had general style complaints, like Childs notes ("That's the tragedy of this match to me. They have such attention for detail, such thought in the layout, such care in their selling, such intensity and willingness to just give themselves to pro wrestling. If they worked this match in a style I actually like, it could be like nothing I'd ever seen before, because of the talent and the work put into it. Instead, we get something that is exquisitely beautiful, but that manages to succeed despite its loudness and brightness and not because of it."), but my biggest specific concern was, yes, Kobashi.

 

Here's what I said about that (keeping in mind that I said this 2.5 years ago):

"The biggest real issue I had with the match was the Kobashi superman run. That's exactly what it felt like. It's funny that I've always heard that this stuff was somehow "more real." Personally, I don't mind it all that much. It felt like something out of a cartoon or comic book or sci fi, but I like those things. Actually it felt like the kid who got the Charles Atlas correspondence course and beat up the guys who kicked sand at him, or even more like it should have come after a montage with "Simply the Best" in the background. What it felt like most of all was some sort of kung fu movie (and Kung Fu Hustle came to mind) where the hero finally found his inner power and peace of mind and was able to develop super powers. It was hugely entertaining and kind of emotional, but not in the same way 99% of wrestling comebacks, even comebacks like Hogan's and Cena's, are. It felt anything but real. The issue to me wasn't even that, but that it ultimately didn't really matter. Kobashi had this once in a lifetime comeback, this sort of thing that stretches credulity so far past the breaking point that his hair should have turned hot blonde and energy waves should have been coming off of him, and it was awesome, and ultimately, they still lost. It just seemed like a story element that belonged in another match, maybe? Not the one where they were finally putting Kawada/Taue over. "

He didn't derail the point of the finish. He was willing to die for his captain and die he did.