Lee B.

I agree that Estrada's selling was very effective in this match. It made the opening matwork much more compelling than I usually find matwork to be. Estrada sold his head and neck quite energetically as well later in the match. (Maybe too energetically?) I was fine with the doctor stopping the match at the end. It was an unusual way to end the match, which is fine with me. It did seem that the doctor was celebrating the win a bit after the match, which made me suspicious. Overall, this was pretty mid-rangey and could slip to my lower half, but maybe not.

This was pretty good. I liked the good will between the two competitors, shaking hands throughout. The matwork in the first fall was pretty deliberate but effective. The first fall submission by Vera was cool, and I liked the super-fast pin by Caras to end the second fall. I second the love for Caras's second working on him between falls. In the third fall, Vera's escape from the back-stretcher into a pin attempt was nifty. Wow, a figure four from Vera, but Caras flips it pretty quickly. Vera misses a charge to the corner and hurts his knee. The lack of sell for Caras's piledriver was unfortunate. Caras hits a good dive to the floor. Vera nicely suckers Caras to charge the ropes and then ducks, so Caras falls to the floor and gets splashed by Vera. The finale sees an elaborate pin attempt get reversed into a pin by Caras. This match cold have been more heated, but it was quite solid, with nothing much wrong with it. It will probably settle into my mid-range or maybe even slip into my lower half, but I did like it.

I am a newer fan of Lucha and thought this was pretty special. The opening was a lot of fun with the cat-calls and all three exoticos getting to strut their stuff. The masked fellers were super quick and crisp and fun to watch. Another top-quarter match for me, most likely. The match could have used a bit more hate, but this is probably not the correct genre for a super hate-filled match. I can live with that. Fun is the word.

I thought this was pretty great. The relentless rudo beatdown through the first two falls was quite impressive. The visual of the excessive roughness DQ for the second fall was great. I liked bloody Salazar finally getting his revenge on Herodes but going too far. Herodes is really effective. It really did boil down to Salazar and Herodes as Mendoza and Lizmark didn't make a huge impact, although the dives by all three technicos was cool. This probably will be in my top quarter of matches, unless things get much more awesome on this set.

This match was a bit confusing, what with the opening brawl with the people not in the match, and the two partners disappearing in the third fall, and me not being able to tell Lizmark from Atlantis. The sound was very quiet on this match, for my disc at least. I did like the rudo claiming to be fouled and the post-match unmasking, which got a good reaction from the crowd. This probably will end up in my bottom quarter.

I agree that Cota's mannerisms were great throughout this match. I think James Franco should bulk up a bit and play the lead in the Mocho Cota Story. The handwork by Cota was nasty, as was the head-rub in the first fall. I liked the first and second falls quite a bit, but the short third fall left me a bit underwhelmed, although it made sense. I also have this a bit below their previous match, but this match should be a strong mid-range match for me.

I wasn't quite as taken with the matwork during the first fall as others were here. I think things really picked up when Cota went on the offense. I also liked Cota's armbar takedowns and thought his submission series during the third fall was breathtaking. Interference by the second was fun and added to the intensity toward the end. I was surprised the crowd didn't react more to the finish. This match seems to be a the top portion of my mid-range so far.

I think this match flowed very well, with great back-and-forth and counters and transitions. Often on this set, one wrestler or team will dominate the first fall, and then they switch gears abruptly and the other team dominates. This match was not so clear-cut and obvious. The ending was a real surprise, and I second all the love for Satanico. I can see the Adrian Adonis comparison, and some of his early yelping reminded me of Larry Z. I could see having this in my top 3-4 matches so far. I liked this.

I enjoyed Rubio a lot here, especially the way he screamed and played to the crowd. I though the first fall went a bit too long and was too one-sided. I was really enjoying the match by the third fall, however. Guerrera's punches were sweet. I think I have this in the upper mid-range of the matches so far, maybe #4 or so.

I enjoyed this match, although I can sympathize with Matt D in feeling a bit out of it in Lucha-land. Did Chicana really do a double foot-stomp from the top turnbuckle down onto Ringo's stomach in the third fall? I really love Chicana's selling of the torture rack-type hold in the third fall as well, when Chicana was just rolling around in extreme pain like he was on fire. The post-match with the coin-throwing and the ring slowly filling up with boys was fun as well. It kind of reminded me of a recent Kansas-Colorado basketball game that Colorado won amazingly at the last second, resulting in the crowd mobbing the floor and totally obscuring the players. I have no idea where this ranks, other than top-half for sure.

This match had plenty of jaw-dropping moments, but like others I was pretty darned confused about who was who. I knew MS-1 and Chicana from the other match, but in my head Cota was the guy with the mask, and Satanico was the guy with the goatee who bled a lot. Oh well, I'm sure I will figure it out more. Also, again I watched this over multiple nights, which doesn't help. I agree with the favorable comments, but probably tempered slightly. It may take me a while to buy into the sudden switching of gears like when the beat-down team suddenly is destroying their opponents in the second fall. It seems a little scripted and abrupt. But still, a fun match, and maybe number 2 for me as well so far.

It's a bit of a bummer to know that I have seen the #1 match only a short way into the set. I thought this match was quite powerful as well, and I have to nod along to what others have posted. I wasn't watching the match thinking THIS IS AWESOME THIS IS AWESOME (like the Midnight Express/Rose & Somers bloodbath), but it was a very brutal, bloody match. I did like the old lady trying to help out at the start of the match. The moment of Emmey-Essey-Uno coming to terms with his head-shaving toward the end was effective as well. I'm sure I will need to watch this match again as I ended up watching this in small pieces over the course of a few nights. I can see why it should be considered #1 on the set so far, but I'm only 7 matches in. I have to say I wasn't totally sold on Chicana's floppy selling. I understand the blood loss and exhaustion, but some of that selling seemed a bit gratuitous at times. But to be clear, I thought this match was very, very good, and it will stick with me for a while.

I'm with Yo-Yo on this. I think it may be my favorite match so far. I really didn't know or care much who these guys were (other than KVE) going in, but by the end I was excited to see more of them and really appreciated their individual talents. I agree that the rudos were more fun than the Kevin and company. Pirata was amazing with the bumps, and Herodes was a lot of fun as well. If we're giving grades, then B+ based on what I have seen so far on disc 1.

My views on this match were pretty similar to some of those already expressed. Fujinami pretty much carried this. Because I liked Fujinami and his big hair, I liked this better than the Corleone match. I liked the Hamada matches better than the Canek matches, though. Fujinami's enzugiris seemed a bit light.

I have to side with the crowd that was not very impressed with this match. The two wrestlers didn't seem to be on the same page at critical moments. Canek's delayed bump in the corner was painful. They didn't even get that muddy when they did their dives outside the ring. I did like the way Corleone cried out when he was laying in offense during the first fall. Overall, this was not even as entertaining as the Andre match, so this is #4 of the 4 matches I have watched so far.

I liked this match a lot more as it went along. Like some other viewers, the matwork during the first fall resulted in my attention wandering a bit. I thought the rope-running sequence at the end of the second fall was a bit clunky, and Hamada's pin seemed abrupt. The third fall was a lot of fun with the muddy dives, but Thesz seemed to be pretty out of position for some Negro pinfall attempts early in the third fall. I think this has been the most impressive match of the first three matches I have watched.

Not much to add here. It was fun to see Andre in Mexico. I liked the Andre head-as-a-battering-ram spot in the second fall. This will likely be in my bottom half or third as well.

I don't have much to add, other than I also liked this match. I thought the rope-running sequence between Hamada and Baby to open the second fall, with all the great arm drags, was quite sweet. I also dug Hamada's head-butts in the third fall. I don't think Sayama was all that painful to watch here.

Thanks Dylan! Those two matches really stood out. I also have to recognize Gary Derusha (sp?) for his heroic efforts at the end of the Blackwell - Hansen match. That was amazing and insane.

D'oh! If you gave me until this Thursday, I might have gotten it right.

Ack, sorry for the poor formatting, but please note Bock v. Wahoo is #7.

Ha-ha, that was good, Goc! Here's my ballot results. Thanks everyone for a great, great set. It was an exhausting process, but lots of fun wrestling. Bottom 10 141. Hulk Hogan, Buck Zumhoffe & Baron Von Raschke vs. Bobby Heenan, Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum (2/28/82) 142. Verne Gagne vs. Nick Bockwinkel (7/18/80) 143. Jimmy Garvin & Steve Regal vs. Scott Hall & Curt Hennig (11/14/85) 144. Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. Steve O & Buck Zumhofe (2/3 Falls) (4/15/84) 145. Steve Regal vs. Buck Zumhofe (11/28/85) 146. Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts vs. Da Crusher & Baron Von Raschke (6/13/85) 147. Sherri Martel vs. Debbie the Killer Tomato (7/26/86) 148. Col. DeBeers vs. Buck Zumhofe (2/23/86) 149. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Pat O'Connor (3/22/81) 150. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Brad Rheingans (7/3/83) Top 25 1. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (8/30/86) 2. Stan Hansen vs. Curt Hennig (5/31/86) 3. Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie vs. High Flyers (Cage Match) (4/18/82) 4. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (Cage Match) (12/25/86) 5. Crusher Blackwell vs. Mad Dog Vachon (Algerian Death Match) (5/22/83) 6. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig (11/21/86) 7. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Wahoo McDaniel (8/28/83) 8. Da Crusher & Greg Gagne vs. Crusher Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Kaissey (Cage Match) (3/25/84) 9. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (Cage Match) (1/17/87) 10.Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. Blackjack Mulligan & Jerry Lawler (3/4/84) 11.Big John Studd & Jerry Blackwell vs. High Flyers (2/20/81) 12.East-West Connection vs. High Flyers (Cage Match) (10/25/81) 13.Stan Hansen vs. Crusher Blackwell (6/28/86) 14.Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. High Flyers (11/24/83) 15.The Road Warriors vs. High Flyers (3/28/85) 16.Crusher Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Kaissey vs. Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon (Taped Fist Match) (3/13/83) 17.King Tonga, Masked Superstar, & Sheik Adnan Kaissey vs. Crusher Blackwell & Sgt. Slaughter (Cage Match) (4/21/85) 18.Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (12/13/88) 19.Nick Bockwinkel, Mr. Saito, & Bobby Heenan vs. Blackjack Lanza & The Fabulous Ones (9/9/84) 20.East-West Connection vs. High Flyers (3/1/81) 21.Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig (5/2/87) 22.Crusher Blackwell & King Kong Bundy vs. The Road Warriors (11/22/84) 23.Mr. Saito vs. Rick Martel (4/24/85) 24.Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito vs. The Fabulous Ones (9/30/84) 25.Terry Gordy vs. Rick Martel (August 1985)

I have to admit, the Trongard/Blears combo has grown on me a little bit. I think they could be very effective at times, either separately or together, like in the Bock/Hennig 60-minute match. Other times they were insufferable but in a kind of fun way, like their pervy-ness during the Sherri/Debbie Tomato match. I thought Don Kent (or whoever it was on the early matches) was pretty bad, though, especially when he routinely confused names and admitted that he couldn't see or understand what was going on. Some of the guest commentators were awful as well, like marble-mouthed Blackjack Lanza.

Yes!! That works well for me. I have 35 matches to rewatch still. At least I don't have a job right now thanks to the government shutdown.

I have a technical Excel question: When I rank a match, I assign it a number, and then I have to manually change the number of every match ranked lower than that. Changing all those numbers is tedious and takes a lot of time. Is there a trick in Excel that automatically reorders the matches when you insert a new number that creates a "duplicate" for an already existing number? Thanks, Lee