NintendoLogic

How about this Regal/Steamboat house show match? Their match at Fall Brawl is a bit unfairly maligned, but this is probably better.

Let me begin by saying how jarring it is to see Casas as a smiling babyface. Not that he's a bad tecnico (he's a great one, in fact), but it's just so far removed from what I expect to see. On that note, I was kind of surprised to see Santo on the rudo team. I thought he had returned to the tecnico side by this point. I guess not. Santo/Casas and Atlantis/Panther obviously need no introduction, but I have no idea what beef Niebla and Warrior have with each other, if at all. The first fall is mostly contested on the mat, and it's as good as you'd expect. I especially liked Warrior and Niebla busting out the Rick Rude tombstone spot. The second fall is kind of perfunctory to the point where I can't remember anything that happened in it. The third fall is when all hell breaks loose. It's one of those falls where so much is happening that it's hard to keep track of it all. It probably comes across a lot better watching it live in the arena. We get a cheap unmasking DQ finish, which I assume was an attempt to set the table for an Atlantis/Panther apuesta match that obviously never happened. Fun match overall. It wouldn't be my pick for 1998 MOTY (neither would Kandori/Hotta, for that matter), but I'm glad I watched it.

If you haven't already, you all need to check out Flair's title defense against Brett Sawyer in Portland from October 1982. It's probably the closest he's ever come to coming across as a pure asskicker. For non-US bouts, Jim Breaks vs. Johnny Saint is a good choice. It's chippy the whole way through, but it reaches another level once Saint goes up a fall. When Breaks realizes his belt is in serious danger, he goes berserk and just beats the fuck out of Saint until the referee has to stop the match. Also, Vader vs. Jun Akiyama from All Japan in 2000.

Hansen actually worked a match against the R&Rs in 1988 (Dan Kroffat was his partner). All-time great asskicker Hansen against all-time great asskickee Morton sounds awesome on paper, but it didn't really work for me because neither R&R could conceivably pose a credible threat to Hansen. They should've just brought in Morton and had him team with Jumbo or Tenryu. Anyway, if you liked this match, the 1999 version with Hansen and Taue teaming up against Burning is even better.

"WWE can't control what I say anymore" promos are almost always cringeworthy, but this particular one didn't go off the rails until about seven and a half minutes in. Aries was clearly gotten to by the hecklers (You're at ECW Arena and heckling throws you off that much? Seriously?), and the interminable length put it over the top.

Austin Aries served up this gem at the last House of Hardcore show.

The joshi match immediately piqued my interest. I've been a Kandori advocate for a while now, but I don't think I've ever seen a Saito match before. And I didn't know that she had died until a few weeks ago. Anyway, this match is presented as a straightforward styles clash. Kandori controls the mat while Saito has the advantage in the standup and striking portions. It feels like one of those early UFC events before everyone started cross-training or Ryu vs. Zangief in Street Fighter. There's a double pinfall a little more than 15 minutes in which leads to a restart, and they kind of lose me from that point as it becomes a bit nearfall-heavy for my tastes. But the finish redeems it, as Kandori comes dangerously close to inventing the Tiger Driver 91 a year early. To be honest, it feels like the germ of an all-time great match that isn't quite fully realized. Still worth checking out, though.

Whenever I go back and revisit him, I'm blown away by what an amazing worker John Cena was in 2007. The beauty of this match is that it seems minimalist on the surface but is actually quite rich in detail for those willing to pay attention. Note the little touches like Cena coughing after escaping a chinlock and Orton selling the STF's impact on his leg after hitting an RKO. I recall reading at the time that there was a conscious attempt to dial back the style after the Benoit tragedy. It's a shame that this direction wasn't explored as much as it could have been.

Even in a vacuum, I'd give the nod to MX/RR. Scott's a fine FIP, but it's hardly an insult to say that he's no Ricky Morton.

I'm sure Monsoon is meeting him at the pearly gates and threatening to have him thrown out of there. RIP.

When was the last time you two watched MX/R&R at Wrestlewar? Because MX/Steiners is almost a complete carbon copy of that match. There were more spots than I could count that were simply lifted from it wholesale.

"David Otunga is in the building!" "Yeah, but whose side is he on?"

I was recently reminded of wwe.com repeatedly referring referring to Miz as the Cleveland Screamer for some reason throughout 2011. A few examples: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2011-05-09/results http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2011-05-16/results http://www.wwe.com/shows/capitolpunishment/2011/riley-miz I honestly have no idea how they got that past the radar.

How did I not post in this thread previously? Anyway, here's a pair of classic WCW tags: Then there's this: Amazingly, this is only their second-best match with each other.

I'm almost certainly in the minority, but I think cheating of the feet on the ropes/fistful of tights variety should be done away with. When every sport is incorporating instant replay to minimize human error, having such blatantly tainted finishes makes wrestling look behind the times.

On a similar note, I've been watching quite a bit of 92-93 Flair lately, and what struck me was the quality of his arm work. Dude could work an arm like an Anderson when he wanted to, which makes sense since they were kayfabe cousins. Also, 1993 Rick Rude is due for a re-evaluation. Conventional wisdom states that he fell off a cliff after his neck injury, but I'm not finding that to be the case at all. In particular, the Iron Man match with Dustin Rhodes has been unfairly maligned.

I must confess that I haven't done a deep dive into the Mero oeuvre, but I'm a big fan of the KOTR match with Austin. Then again, 1996 Austin might be my favorite wrestler of all time. He even had a good match with Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

In case you missed it, here's JBL getting chewed out over his headset for uttering the dreaded b-word: https://streamable.com/qdm2i

Cena/Umaga my dudes.

For a more outside-the-box pick, I'll go with Sekimoto/Okabayashi vs. Akebono/Hama on January 3. Power wrestler vs. fat wrestler is pretty much an idiot-proof matchup. It's on Ditch's website.

Multi-man elimination tag matches are the best thing about 80s New Japan, and this is my favorite of the bunch.

1991 is shaping up to be the Hardcore Title of MOTY picks.

The only other complete match I know of from that year is Destroyer/Rikidozan.

Or a Downward Spiral, to complete the holy trinity of geek finishers.

The Maharaja of Strong Style.