1001 MATCHES: Medium One (Part 2)
50 matches to get 700. Part 1 can be found here.
676) SAMOA JOE vs. TAKESHI MORISHIMA – RING OF HONOR (02/16/07)
(Note: Because apparently I can’t tell the difference between a 0 and 1 – this ended up in the 2017 section. I wasn’t blowing up two pieces to put it in the right place chronologically. So here it lives. I know no one cares.)
This the last of the three Morishima in ROH trio that you should watch (the McGuinness and Danielson matches are already on the list.)
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677) TEAM ROH vs. TEAM CZW – COMBAT ZONE WRESTLING (07/15/06 – Cage of Death)
Team ROH: Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, BJ Whitmer, Adam Pearce, Ace Steel
Team CZW: Chris Hero, Necro Butcher, Eddie Kingston, Claudio Castagnoli, Nate Webb
The best non-NWA/WCW Wargames match in terms of both quality of wrestlers and story. If you want to read a recap of the entire feud, you can find one here.
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678) VIN GERARD vs. FIRE ANT – CHIKARA (06/15/08 – Young Lions Club VI Finals)
One of the most memorable matches in Chikara history. Gerard is the former Equinox. Fire Ant was Orange Cassidy. And that is all the Chikara historical data you are gonna get from me or we will be here all day. Your enjoyment of this match will probably hinge on your opinion on the selling (or lack thereof) of a Burning Hammer.
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679) CHRIS JERICHO vs. DANIEL BRYAN – NXT (02/23/10 – NXT Season 1)
The first episode of the original version of NXT and they managed to get everyone talking by smartly having Jericho (who was World Heavyweight Champ at the time) wrestle the newly christened Daniel Bryan in outstanding sprint complete with the missed tope heard round the world. One of those times the WWE succeeded in spite of themselves.
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680) SETH ROLLINS vs. HUNICO – FCW (01/14/11 (Taped), 02/11/11 (Aired) – Jack Brisco Classic Final for Vacant FCW 15 Championship)
https://youtu.be/P-mHpVmOz64
A wackadoo tournament to crown the first wackadoo champ. Basically the 15 title meant that all the matches were 15 minute Iron Man matches. And the tournament had some sort of Round Robin mechanic that I am still not quite anyone actually knew what was going on. This match crowns the inaugural champ. It is really fun to go back and see the old FCW stuff. Here is a Sin Cara showcase.
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681) EDDIE KINGSTON vs. MIKE QUACKENBUSH – CHIKARA (11/13/11 – CHIKARA Grand Championship)
Another in the “Maybe this is the best match in Chikara history” category.
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682) DEVIL ROCKER/MACHINE ROCKER/SOUL ROCKER vs. FENIX/FREELANCE/SAMURAI DEL SOL – AAA (09/28/12 (Taped), 10/13/12 (Aired)
Fun spectacle out of AAA which includes a pre-Kalisto Samurai del Sol. Devil Rocker is the former Picudo. Machine Rocker is now Black Taurus. Soul Rocker is sometimes a fake Tito Santana which still makes me happy.
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683) POLVORA vs. TITAN – CMLL (01/01/13 (Taped), 01/05/13 (Aired) – CMLL World Welterweight Championship)
This kicked 2013 lucha with a bang. At some point people will remember Titan as a great luchadore of this decade.
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684) ERNESTO CHAVANA vs. KONNAN BIG – LUCHAMANIA MONTERREY (07/14/13 (Taped), 07/21/13 (Aired) – Hair Match)
“This match makes me miss VCRs an videotapes and comp tapes. This would be so perfect as one of those matches that isn’t a technical masterpiece but is so fun that everyone should see it.” – DEAN (on the board somewhere)
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685) CESARO vs. SAMI ZAYN – NXT TAKEOVER ARRIVAL (02/27/14)
The very first match to ever air live on the WWE Network. All the Cesaro/Zayn matches are must watches… this might be the best by just a hair.
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686) JOHNNY GARGANO vs BIG DADDY WALTER (WESTSIDE XTREME WRESTLING 3/15/2014)
Reviewed by DEAN in DVDVR #173
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687) BRAZO JR. vs. KORTIZ – WMC (08/23/14)
Another generation of Villano vs. most likely a fake member of the Brazos. They go out and bleed and bleed and bleed. Everything I want out of my seedy lucha matches.
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688) TIMOTHY THATCHER vs. JOHNNY GARGANO – EVOLVE 51 (11/06/15 – EVOLVE Title Match)
A mile marker match in the history of EVOLVE with Thatcher being pissed that fancy pants Sami Zayn had shown up on previous EVOLVE shows and declared Gargano the face of EVOLVE. All about Thatcher becoming the man in EVOLVE and Gargano beginning his journey to being the best wrestler in the world.
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689) BLACK TERRY vs. AERO BOY – TULACINGO LUCHA (06/10/16 – Mask vs. Hair)
Back to the lucha blood. Oh and I remind you that Black Terry is the only person who can challenge Negro Casas for crown of best old ass wrestler.
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690) KILLSHOT vs. DANTE FOX – LUCHA UNDERGROUND (06/25/16 (Taped), 09/27/17 (Aired) – Hell of War Match)
Still more lucha blood. A lot of folks might have missed this as they gave up on LU while waiting for the rest of Season 3 to air. Shane Strickland and AR Fox go toe to toe for three falls with different stips. First is First Blood. Second is No DQ. Third is a “Medical Evac” match which is basically a stretcher match.
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691) SAMI CALIHAN vs. RICOCHET – IMPACT PRO WRESTLING (07/22/16)
Match occurred during Hall of Fame week that a lot of old timey folks made a big deal about… well at least until Ricochet’s woman tried to fight everyone.
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692) IO SHIRAI vs. SHAYNA BASZLER – STARDOM (02/23/17 – World of Stardom Championship)
Shayna Baszler’s coming out party as a wrestler. It is absurd how good she is at this pro wrestling thing in less than a year. Oh and she is working Io Shirai. Yeah – watch this now.
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693) TREVOR LEE vs. CHIP DAY – CWF MID-ATLANTIC (03/25/17 – CWF Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title)
The CWF Mid-Atlantic match of the year.
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694) AYAKO HAMADA vs. TAYA – AAA (04/21/17 – Street Fight, AAA Reina de Reinsas Title)
There is not enough time in the day to watch all the wrestling I want to watch. AAA is often the first thing axed off my list. However – all the lucha folks I know where praising the hell out of this match and, yup, you wanna watch it. I hope Ayako Hamada never stops working random blood feuds in feds that no one watches.
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695) TYLER BATE vs. PETE DUNNE – NXT TAKEOVER: CHICAGO (05/20/17 – WWE UK Title)
The Match of the Year to come from a WWE affiliated show. They might hate this title they created but it pretty much as a perfect record in outstanding matches.
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696) MINORU SUZUKI vs. SANSHIRO TAKGAI – DDT (06/1/17 – Tokyo Dome Empty Arena)
So much fucking fun. The video is only the first half but even then it is a party. Minoru Suzuki is the world’s most terrifying comedy worker.
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697) IRON KID vs. DEMUS 3:16 – LUCHA MEMES (06/18/17)
Super short. Super violent. You have never heard of either of these guys. Fix that.
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698) HARASHIMA vs. TETSUYA ENDO – DDT “KING OF DDT 2017” (06/25/17 – Finals)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5wig3e
Poor poor forgotten DDT. Endo is still a baby and HARASHIMA is somehow older than me. Wrestling is weird. Anyway this is #1 and the best.
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699) HIROYO MATSUMOTO vs. CHIHIRO HASHIMOTO – SENDAI GIRLS (07/15/17 – Sendai Girls’ World Championship)
If you ever wondered if there could be a Joshi Hoss match – here ya go. This was the main event of an amazing card since Jaguar Yokota wrestled in motherfucking 2017 and Aja Kong and Meiko Satomura teamed together.
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700) MICROMAN/EL GALLITO vs. CHAMUEL/MIJE – CMLL (09/12/17)
Microman for WON ROOKIE OF THE YEAR~!
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