PeteF3

Workrate is one descriptive tool among many--neither meaningless nor the be-all and end-all.

As I tried to explain in that WC thread from way back only for it to amount to talking to a bunch of brick walls (except for Tabe), TM/DK got shat on by people who were watching it direct comparison to what else was going on in New Japan in the early 1980's, not in comparison to an ROH spotfest from 2006. People who remember the New Japan '80s balloting, voting, and discussion remember that a hell of a lot of people watching the matches IN CONTEXT were shitting on them, too. The worst TM-DK match is better than the best Takada-Koshinaka match from later on in the set, but both guys have giant, glaring flaws in their game, Sayama moreso than Dynamite.

The build to Flair vs. Kerry in the Cage on Christmas Day might be the greatest build to the greatest swerve in wrestling history: - Kerry gets a title shot in Reunion Arena in August, and gets two apparent victories over Flair in a 2/3 falls match, but the outside, NWA-appointed referee Alfred Neely calls one of them as a controversial DQ before losing control of the match entirely. - Fritz is so upset with this that he roughs up Neely after the match, drawing a fine and suspension from the NWA and causing them not to grant Kerry a return match. - Kerry is now the "uncrowned champion" in the eyes of Texas. Then he gets injured by the Great Kabuki at a spot show in Oklahoma, where the "NWA isn't as strong." - Rumors swirl that the injury was a hit piece orchestrated by Flair. Flair and Gary Hart deny, deny, deny, but Fritz is adamant that a bounty was put on Kerry's head. - Meanwhile, union man King Kong Bundy demands a raise from Gary Hart. Hart blows him off. - Bundy goes "on strike," and gets his hands on a check made out by Flair to Hart and gives it to Fritz as revenge. - Fritz turns the check over the NWA, and over the protests of Flair and Hart, the NWA announces they're going to make a ruling. - The ruling is: Flair must defend the title against Kerry in a cage, with a special World Class-appointed referee. - Who's going to decide the referee? YOU, the fan. The Von Erichs' good friend, the hugely charismatic Michael Hayes, Fritz's old friend and rival Duke Keomuka, or World Class front office guy Ken Mantell. - The popular Hayes naturally wins the vote! That's 4 months of build for one big payoff--Kerry refuses Hayes' help in winning the title and gets the door slammed on his head by Terry Gordy in return. Cue the hottest run Texas wrestling had ever seen and one of the biggest runs of business in the U.S. in 1983. And it incorporated all sorts of other guys on the roster, with every step of the way making logical sense. It's one of the most well-laid-out long-term angles with a decisive, pre-planned endgame that you'll ever see.

Misawa had to bust out *two* new (you know what I mean) wrinkles to beat Kawada in that match: Kawada's knee had been hurt since the previous Tag League and became a recurring story thereafter, but Misawa had never specifically targeted it until that match. Then of course, bringing out a move he hadn't done in 3 years. I thought the fact that Misawa even needed to utilize either one of those weapons at *all* was enough to put Kawada over, in a way. AJPW specialized in getting guys over through losses a la Austin and Bret, better than any promotion probably ever on a consistent basis.

Mason Ryan played semi-pro soccer before signing with WWE. Paul Diamond was a goalkeeper in the old NASL.

Having just seen that match now, I'm pretty sure "Wee Willie Wilkins" is Wellington Wilkins, the shootstyle/PWFG guy.

That Michaels segment belongs in the old How Not to Cut a Fucking Promo thread. That was some of the absolute worst shit ever. Nothing like beating us over the goddamned head that this stuff is all fake.

I'm middle of the pack on this. It did drag and Canek's offense wasn't that good, and that delayed turnbuckle bump was indeed comical. But Corleone's work looked good, both working holds, unleashing big moves, and selling Canek's weak-ass offense. Even Canek's tope didn't seem all that painful. I liked Canek quite a bit in New Japan--he and Blackman were about the only two Mexicans to get a good match out of Tiger Mask, and he had some killer bouts with Fujinami that I hope the next bout lives up to. I didn't hate him in this as much as Will did, but he didn't give a performance befitting of a Heavyweight champion here. And as much as I liked Corleone here, he looked better in the NJPW match against Fujinami.

Okay, I liked this a ton. Along with the big NJPW multi-man tags and well-done big vs. little matches, I think lucha title bouts are now my favorite type of wrestling match. Centurion Negro becomes the first of what I'm sure will be multiple guys who will go from "who?" to "this guy's fucking awesome" by the time the set's done. He looks like a great mat wrestler here and he sets up Hamada's flying spots beautifully while throwing in some highspots of his own. Some really good close near-falls close out the third fall before Hamada takes the UWA Middleweight title. This is easily the best of the first 3 matches.

Match went too long for my tastes, but there were some fun Andre spots here even if they were fairly standard ones. It's cool to see what a truly worldwide sensation Andre was in the '80s, since he did these shots in Mexico and Europe that other top stars didn't. This also has the bizarre (to me, at least) sight of Cien Caras working babyface. His calling was clearly that of an asskicking heel, but that was certainly novel while it lasted. I don't foresee this escaping the bottom 25. Maybe bottom 10 if the rest of the set is strong enough.

Re: high votes...no one seemed as gaga over the Gagne/Crusher cage match as me, so I'm guessing no one else had it at #3. I was fairly cold on both Hogan/Bockwinkel matches, and had the 4/24/83 match at #143. Hogan in general was much, much better working the apron in tags as the lurking force getting the hot tag, than he was a single.

Good start that seems very "traditional" pro wrestling-style as opposed to lucha, which makes for a good gateway with new/inexperienced lucha watchers. Hamada shows some great fire here in-between some dazzling sequences, and this is centered on a developing feud with Aguayo. Babe and Sayama look good too but this is Hamada and Aguayo's match. Finish could be seen as cheap but it was a great, great low blow, and seemed like a natural conclusion to the escalating violence throughout the match. 7.0/10

Aaaand my top 25: 1.) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig (11/21/86) 2.) Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (8/30/86) 3.) Da Crusher & Greg Gagne vs. Crusher Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Kaissey (Cage Match) (3/25/84) 4.) Stan Hansen vs. Curt Hennig (5/31/86) 5.) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Rick Martel (8/16/84) 6.) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Wahoo McDaniel (8/28/83) 7.) Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie vs. High Flyers (Cage Match) (4/18/82) 8.) Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (Cage Match) (12/25/86) 9.) Tito Santana & Rick Martel vs. High Flyers (8/29/82) 10.) Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. High Flyers (11/24/83) 11.) Buddy Rose, Doug Somers & Despina Montegues vs. Midnight Rockers & Sherri Martel (11/27/86) 12.) Stan Hansen vs. Sgt. Slaughter (2/2/86) 13.) Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito vs. High Flyers (3/7/85) 14.) Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (Cage Match) (1/17/87) 15.) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig (5/2/87) 16.) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Rick Martel (9/29/85) 17.) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Rick Martel (3/28/85) 18.) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Rick Martel (9/20/84) 19.) Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. Blackjack Mulligan & Jerry Lawler (3/4/84) 20.) Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (12/13/88) 21.) Adrian Adonis & Bob Orton Jr. vs. Midnight Rockers (January 1988) 22.) King Tonga, Masked Superstar, & Sheik Adnan Kaissey vs. Crusher Blackwell & Sgt. Slaughter (Cage Match) (4/21/85) 23.) Crusher Blackwell vs. Kamala (9/28/85) 24.) Stan Hansen vs. Leon White (3/13/86) 25.) Ken Patera, Jesse Ventura& Bobby Heenan vs. Hulk Hogan & High Flyers (3/13/83) Bottom 10: 141.) Steve Regal vs. Buck Zumhofe (11/28/85) 142.) Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura vs. Hulk Hogan & Mad Dog Vachon (1/16/83) 143.) Nick Bockwinkel vs. Hulk Hogan (4/24/83) 144.) Col. DeBeers, Larry Zbyszko & Doug Somers vs. Greg Gagne, Curt Hennig, & Jimmy Snuka (7/26/86) 145.) Sherri Martel vs. Debbie the Killer Tomato (7/26/86) 146.) Leon White vs. Boris Zuhkov (2/21/87) 147.) Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts vs. High Flyers (5/23/85) 148.) Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts vs. Da Crusher & Baron Von Raschke (6/13/85) 149.) Wahoo McDaniel vs. Manny Fernandez (7/6/88) 150.) Wahoo McDaniel & Tom Zenk vs. Manny Fernandez & Larry Zbyszko (2/7/89)