(by PHIL RIPPA)

I finally compiled a big file tracking who and how many times I picked wrestlers because of course I did. I am sure it is comically filled with mistakes especially when it came to remembering some dudes gimmicks. Putting that aside – all the guys I was picking here had only (to the best of my knowledge) only appeared in one match in the first 835 that showed up.

Please enjoy my descent into madness.

836) MICK MCMANUS vs. STEVE GREY – WORLD OF SPORT (05/11/77)

PART ONE : PART TWO

Mick McManus: vs. Kung Fu (WOS 04/24/76)

Steve Grey: vs. Clive Myers (WOS 11/22/75)

I purposely tried to spread out the love on the British World of Sport guys and it turned out I did too good a job as almost all of them only showed up once. And since we have to pretend Jim Breaks doesn’t exists right now – here we go.

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837) MAGNUM T.A. vs. TED DIBIASE – MID SOUTH (05/27/84 – No DQ, Mid South North American Title)

Magnum T.A.: vs. Tully Blanchard (I Quit Match)

Just a reminder that Magnum had some great matches beyond the I Quit match.

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838) DEVIL MASAMI vs. CHIGUSA NAGAYO – ALL JAPAN WOMEN (08/22/85 – All Pacific Championship)

https://dai.ly/x33blle

Devil Masami: w/ Plum Mariko vs. Cutie Suzuki/Chigusa Nagayo (AJW – 11/18/93)

I have had a weird relationship with Devil Masami since I definitely didn’t appreciate how good she was when I first got into Joshi (and what is funny is I consider myself getting into Joshi “late” because I probably didn’t really start trying to find the tapes until like 1999/2000). I almost worked backwards on here career since late stage Grumpy Grandma Devil finally clicked for me and then as more of here younger days became available, I enjoyed myself more and more. I toyed with giving Devil her own section (I even had a “The Devil Made Me Do It” name for it any everything) but footage is so very dicey.

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839) EL CANEK vs. DOS CARAS – UWA (02/02/92 – UWA Heavyweight Championship)

El Canek: vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (New Japan – 03/17/78)

Dos Caras: vs. Great Sasuke (Michinoku Pro Mask League 95 Finals)

Yeah – I am chuckling at the fact that two of the biggest named luchadores and the match picked for each was from Japan. Here the long rivals battle over the UWA Heavyweight Championship… again.

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840) HERCULES AYALA vs. CARLOS COLON – WWC 15th ANNIVERSARY SHOW (WWC – 09/10/89, Fire Match)

Hercules Ayala: The Great War I (12/12/87)

There are better Ayala/Colon matches in their underappreciated feud but this one was set up by one of the all time great angles: Ayala attacking Colon’s wife.

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841) LOVE MACHINE ART BARR vs. BLUE PANTHER – CMLL (04/03/92 – Mask vs. Hair)

https://dai.ly/x17lkxr

Love Machine Art Barr: Los Gringos Loco vs. El Hijo del Santo/Octagon (When Worlds Collide)

The OTHER Love Machine hair match you should watch.

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842) HEADHUNTERS vs. MIGUEL PEREZ JR./”MR. DANGER” MITSUHIRO MATSUNAGA – EASTERN CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING (08/31/93)

Headhunters: A vs. B – IWA Glass Death Match

Miguel Perez Jr.: vs. Huracan Castillo Jr. (WWC Dog Collar Match)

Mitsuhiro Matsunaga: vs. Atsushi Onita (FMW Electrified Barbed Wire Match)

ECW when it was still Eastern. Behold the days of when random FMW/WING/IWA guys who work matches. Usual fare not necessarily good but bloody. I think the post match brawl might last just as long as the actual match.

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843) VOLK HAN vs. KIYOSHI TAMURA – RINGS (01/22/97)

https://dai.ly/x1wvyj0

Volk Han: Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (RINGS 08/24/96)

Kiyoshi Tamura: Yoshihisa Yamamoto (RINGS 06/24/99)

I think I had always assumed I had picked one of the Volk Han/Kiyoshi Tamura matches already. Turns out I had put each one on the list once but not against each other. RINGS is always gonna be a tough ask for folks (especially newer wrestling fans) but Han and Tamura (and by proxy RINGS) need to be talked about a little more. This is probably the most famous of their matchups.

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844) HIROYOSHI TENZAN vs. JUN AKIYAMA – NEW JAPAN G1 CLIMAX ’03 (08/17/03 – Finals)

https://dai.ly/x2dgcfg

Hiroyoshi Tenzan: vs. Toshiaki Kawada (All Japan 12/05/04)

Maybe Tenzan should have wrestled in only G1s. And and yeah – dick Akiyama wrestling in a New Japan ring was wonderful.

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845) OSAMU NISHIMURA vs. TATSUMI FUJINAMI – MUGA (09/25/06)

https://youtu.be/C_29-QXRh1E

Osamu Nishimura: vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (New Japan G1 ’02 Semis)

For as much as we love(d) Nishimura and Fujinami, I normally would say this match was definitely reviewed but it also was around the time the entire nature of DVDVR changed. Now I am gonna have to look through all the issues… again.

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846) TETSUYA NAITO vs. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA – NEW JAPAN G1 CLIMAX ’11 (08/14/11 – Finals)

Tetsuya Naito: vs. Kenny Omega (G1 2016 – 08/13/16)

Baby Naito in arguably his first big match. Also a nice juxtaposition to the Finals we have gotten the last few years.

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847) YOUNG BUCKS (NICK & MATT JACKSON) vs. KEVIN STEEN/EL GENERICO – ROH FINAL BATTLE ’09 (12/19/09)

Young Bucks: vs. Hardy Boys (08/02/14)

Perfectly fine match. More notable for a) being ROH’s 1st live PPV and b) Steen turning on Generico post match to start their now famous rivalry.

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848) MARTY SCURLL vs. WILL OSPREAY – REV PRO (01/16/16 – RevPro British Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Match)

Marty Scurll: vs. AJ Styles vs. Will Ospreay (Rev Pro 08/02/15)

LONG before they had matches in the place were only great matches can occur – Scurll and Ospreay were having well received matches all over the UK.

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849) PENTAGON DARK vs. BLACK LOTUS TRIAD (DOKU/YUREI/HIDOKIRI) – LUCHA UNDERGROUND (04/10/16 (Taped), 11/30/16 (Aired) – Gauntlet Match)

Pentagon Jr: w/ Rey Fenix vs. DJZ/Billy Star vs. Gringo Loco/Skayde Jr. (09/10/17)

Doku = Kairi Sane

Yurei = Mayu Iwatani

Hidokiri = Io Shirai

The uniqueness of Lucha Underground on display here as an entire episode is dedicated to Penta taking on the Stardom three.

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850) JIMMY & JEY USO vs. NEW DAY (BIG E/XAVIER WOODS) – WWE SUMMERSLAM ’17 (08/20/17 – Smackdown Tag Titles)

https://dai.ly/x632cc4

Usos: vs. New Day vs. Lucha Dragons (WWE TLC 15)

Xavier Woods: X-Division Steel Asylum Match (TNA Impact 01/04/10)

I rewatched this recently for another project I am working on (and might finally finish) and this is hands down the best WWE Kickoff Show match ever. Stupid WeeLC.

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