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Post by elliott on May 7, 2019 21:33:45 GMT -5
An old topic, but I don't think we have a thread for it here. Pretty simple, what is your pick for the best year in wrestling history in terms of great matches? 1989, 1993 & 1997 have always been the usual suspect picks. How do folks feel about that after the first ballot? What other years stand out as contenders?
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Post by pterois on May 7, 2019 22:40:10 GMT -5
1985 has Lawler vs Dundee, Flair vs Terry Taylor, Reed vs Murdoch, Lawler vs Martel, Flair vs Koko Ware, Flair vs Dibiase, Martel vs Tsuruta, Valentine vs Santana, Nagayo vs Dump, Magum Ta vs Tully.
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Post by bossrock on May 7, 2019 23:01:45 GMT -5
Based on the number of 5 star matches I have per year:
1989: Flair-Steamboat series, Flair-Funk series, Tenryu-Jumbo, RWTL Finals
1995: Arguably the peak year for AJPW
1997: Misawa-Kobashi, Bret-Austin, Rage in a Cage, Hell in a Cell
2006: Arguably peak year for ROH with the DG tag, Bryan-Nigel, and the ROH-CZW cage match. Oh yeah, and Necro-Dragon.
2017: Arguably the peak year for the Bushiroad-era of NJPW
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Post by microstatistics on May 8, 2019 1:33:14 GMT -5
1984, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997 are my top picks. 2004 from the new millennium. 1986 and 1990 are also great and the high end stuff of 1999 is hard to deny.
2006 is a good pick as well, don't know why it gets so much hate.
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Post by fxnj on May 8, 2019 3:05:08 GMT -5
1998 is fucking loaded in terms of top tier matches. Ikeda/Ishikawa, Kobashi/Kawada, Tamura/Kohsaka, Kobashi/Akiyama, And Kobashi/Misawa all made my top 20. Also making my ballot were Hase/Akiyama, Misawa/Kawada Hash/Fujinami and Tenryu/Araya. Tamura/Mikhael and Hotta/Kandori are also strong candidates.
2000 is still probably the strongest from the new millennium. H/Foley, Aja/KAORU, Misawa/Akiyama (my current match of the century), Atlantis/Villano, Hash/Ogawa, Murahama/Hoshikawa, Kobashi/Tak, Crazy/Tajiri, Kobashi/Akiyama, Kawada/Tenryu, Kawada/Nagata tag. I’m not big into NOAH and US indies, so 2001 is where things kind of go to shit for me.
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Post by tetsujin on May 8, 2019 5:06:40 GMT -5
1983, 1992, 1994, 1997 and 2005 are the first ones that come to mind.
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Post by kas on May 8, 2019 6:09:02 GMT -5
2017 would be my pick. New Japan was putting on a MOTYC on every show, PWG had not yet begun their decline and were putting out some fantastic stuff, WWE main roster was great for the first half of the year while NXT started gaining their reputation as a dream match factory, All Japan made a fantastic resurgence thanks to Kento Miyahara, and a w hole heap of other stuff that I haven't mentioned.
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Post by Cap on May 8, 2019 7:28:02 GMT -5
Ok... This is based ONLY off my 5 and 4.75 star matches, so its a completely top-heavy evaluation without thinking much about overall consistency. Its also written up pretty quickly as I put off grading final exams, so I don't really know how much I stand by this, but....
1. 1993 - Hansen/Kawada, Kandori/Hokuto, Toyota and Yamada/Dynamite and Ozaki, Hansen/Kobashi (x2), Kobashi/Williams, Satanico/Morgan, Sting/Vader (Strap Match, Holy Demon Army/Kobashi and Misawa (RWTL)
2. 1997 - Kobashi/Misawa (x2), Han/Tamura (x2), Hart/Austin, Kanemoto/Samurai, Casas/Santo, Cicloncito/Damiancito, Liger/Otani, LCO/Ito and Watanabe, Taker/HBK (HIAC), Eddie/Rey
3. 1986 - Chicana/Aguayo, Santo/Espanto, Bockwinkel/Hennig, Maeda/Fujinami, Flair/Morton (cage), Flair/Windham (Battle of Belts), Hansen/Hennig, Lawler/Dundee, Choshu/Khan, Fiera/Babyface, Rose and Summers/Rockers, Bigelow/Lawler, Gordy/Dibiase (Cage), Invader I/Perez
4. 1983 - Final Battle, Lawler/Dundee, Piper/Valentine, Piper/Valentine (Dog Collar) Chicana/MS-1, Buzz/Rich, Flair/Jumbo, Bockwinkel/Wahoo, Hansen and Gordy/Funks
5. 1989 - Flair/Steamboat (x4), Flair/Funk, Flair/Funk (I quit), Jumbo/Tenryu, Chicana/Santanico, Dandy/Charles Jr., Nakano/Funaki
6. 1990 - Dandy/Azteca, Jumbo/Misawa (x2), Fujiwara/Takada, Dandy/Satanico, Southern Boys/Midnights, Kandori/Saito, Hase/Muta, Aja/Bull (cage), Pirata/Faraon
7. 1994 - Aja/Hotta, Kandori and Hokuto/Bull and Aja, Misawa/Kawada, Kandori/Bull (Chain), Bret/Owen, Holy Demon Army/Kobashi Misawa (Super Power Series), Vader/Takada, Kobashi/Williams, Cota/Casas, Gringos Locos/Santo and Octagon, Hashimoto/Hase
8. 2018 - Andrade/Gargano, Omega/Okada (2/3 falls), Walter/Sabre (Progress), Walter/Thatcher, Walter/Darby, Tanahashi/Ibushi, Bryan/Brock (Also, I have Ibushi/Ishii and Omega/Ishii from the G1 at 4.5, but those deserve rewatches as matches that could make the jump and influenced my thinking)
9. 1981 - Hansen/Andre, Patterson/Slaughter, Funk/Lawler (No DQ), Funk/Lawler (Empty Arena), Grey/Breaks, Grey/Cortez
10. 2016 - Terry/Wotan, Terry/Brbara, Terry/Aero Boy, Zayn/Nakamura, Lee/Everett, Omega/Naito (G1), Lupus/Trauma I, Revival/DIY, Shirai/Iwatani
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Post by elliott on May 8, 2019 14:05:00 GMT -5
1983 was a year I had in mind and wanted to put over as a really amazing year both in terms of high end stuff and just depth overall. 1983 has my #1 & 2 matches of all time. But just poking around, there is incredible stuff everywhere you looked in 1983.
WWE - I admittedly haven't watched much pre Hogan era non-Backlund WWE. This is the year of the famous Snuka vs Muraco feud and the end of Backlund's reign. Surely someone had a great match, but it seems like the folks responsible for most great 80s WWF matches were either in other places (Slaughter, Piper, Valentine, Savage, Hulk) or having a down year (Backlund).
Georgia Championship Wrestling - I've only seen one match (well, I guess two) and it is Buzz vs Rich and one of the 60 best matches ever so I'll call Georgia a plus.
Mid-South we're light on footage, but still had 3 matches finish in the top 22 of the DVDVR 80s set voting. Mr Olympia vs Chavo, Dibiase vs Duggan and Mr Wrestling II/Magnum vs Reed & Neidhart. Pretty impressive considering we only had 6 matches.
Lucha we're super limited on footage, but we still have MS-1 vs Chicana (a best match ever candidate), the Infernales vs Cota/Chicana/Fiera 6 man, an awesome Chicana/Satanico singles match, an underrated Chicana vs Ringo Mendoza match and finally Santo's Arena Mexico debut in a really good tag match.
NJPW - We're still deep into the Tiger Mask era if that's your thing. Hogan vs Inoki IWGP title is pretty damn famous. The real story that happened this is the year a little thing called Choshu vs Fujinami kicked off.
AJPW - First 2/3rds of the year had Terry Funk looking like the best wrestler in the world until his legendary (first) retirement match. Matches against Hansen & Bock. Tags with his bro against Hansen & Partner. Tsuruta and Flair also had their famous 60min draw.
Texas - Bulk of Freebirds vs Von Erichs Feud with numerous great matches. Also had Champ Flair come in for matches against Gordy & Kevin and then Race came in later in the year when he was champ. But Really, this is Freebirds vs Von Erichs are their peak. Amazing year.
AWA - The amazing Crusher Blackwell vs Mad Dog Vachon feud was tearing the house down. Multiple great tags and a legendary singles match. Bockwinkel was still champ and going really strong having matches against folks like Wahoo (classic!), Martel (great!), Rheingans (don't remember!) and Hogan (great!)Hogan was of course an enormous star and was a really good wrestler who had incredibly fun matches at this time. High Flyers also a really great US team at this time.
Memphis - Lawler vs Dundee obviously, Moondogs vs Fabs had multiple truly great matches, Hansen comes in for his run, RnR Express, Bobby Eaton, Tommy ROgers, Koko Ware and Dutch Mantell are all kicking around. Oh, Randy Savage comes in at the end of the year. Are you shitting me? Memphis 1983 was amazing. Oh and that Garvin vs Savage cage match might have been 1983.
Portland - Buddy Rose starts year in great feud against Hennig. Has the legendary babyface turn and ends year in great feud against Dynamite Kid and Assassin. Chris Adams was also in Portland in 83 and they actually got a late October 83 Harley Race NWA title defense, which is just cool if nothing else.
JCP - Even with limited footage (I think, how much 83 JCP is out there?) we've got big pieces of legendary rivalries Flair vs Race, Slaughter & Kernodle vs Steamboat & Youngblood and Piper vs Valentine. That is pretty fucking incredible.
I kinda think 1983 might belong in the conversation with 1989 and 1993.
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Post by Cap on May 8, 2019 15:17:07 GMT -5
I have it above 89. Honestly, the strength of the two big Valentine/Piper matches and Sangre Chicana/MS-1 is enough to put it in my top 10 years.
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Post by elliott on May 8, 2019 15:24:59 GMT -5
1986 is another year that deserves mention and might be my pick. Several territories were down, especially compared to 1983, but others are having major major years.
Portland - On its ass. Unless you're a huge Billy Jack Haynes fan.
Texas - Not a good year. Freebirds were still around but there is too much Lance Von Erich. Chris Adams is still around and is awesome. But there's not much going on this year in Texas.
Mid-South - Freebirds came in so you had good-great stuff with Gordy against Dr Death, Duggan, Gang. Dick Slater vs Jake Roberts was really good.
Memphis - Light on footage it seems, but we've still got Lawler vs Dundee, Lawler & Dutch vs Dundee & Landel, and Lawler vs Bigelow.
Lucha - Chicana vs Perro, Santo vs Espanto, Fiera vs Babyface is about as terrific a top 3 matches as there is. It isn't close to that level but Rayo vs Mascara Ano is a really fun match. Would need to revisit the trios matches.
AWA - Huge in-ring year from AWA. Of course Bock vs Hennig and Rockers vs Rose & Somers are the heavy hitters. Hansen was alsp in and had really good-great stuff against Slaughter, Hennig, Blackwell
Puerto Rico - Monster year with Invader I having an amazing year. All time classics against Al Perez & Ron Starr. Great match against Eric Embry and maybe the best 5 min match ever against Kamala. Invader III was also terrific with the famous scaffold match against Chicky & a great match against Embry. Colon continued his eternal feud with Abby. Super Medico vs White Knight was a completely out of nowhere holy shit level match. TERRY FUNK was peak TERRY FUNK. Oh and Hansen showed up to start the Colon feud. 1986 Puerto Rico was fucking stacked.
WWE - Hogan as champ was still awesome. Savage was in by now and started/finished/flirted with rivalries against Tito, Steamboat & Hogan. The Tag Scene was good with Dream Team, Bulldogs, Harts, etc etc.
JCP/Flair - Peak Horsemen. Flair against Morton, Garvin, Windham, Magnum, Dusty, Luger, Keirn (in Fl, I don't think I've seen that, but I want to). Peak Midnights vs RnR's era. Tag scene had Arn, Ole & Tully, Midnights, RnRs, & Road Warriors. Ridiculous year.
---------------------------------------------------
AJPW - Choshu's Army vs All Japan
NJPW - UWF vs New Japan
Wanted to put these two together because this is nuts. A standout year in the careers of Choshu, Jumbo, Tenryu, Fujinami, Yatsu, Fujiwara, Maeda, Inoki, etc. It is just nuts that these two things were happening at the same time.
So we have probably the best in ring year ever up until this point for AJ, NJ, JCP, Puerto Rico, AWA and probably WWE. We also have some all time great matches from Mexico and Memphis in spite of a footage shortage.
Edit:
Forgot to mention, Joshi was still terrific in 86. Maybe down 3% from 1985.
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Post by elliott on May 8, 2019 16:07:44 GMT -5
Since 1989 is the go-to year, lets take a look...
Portland & AWA were dead promotions walking. Some fun stuff here and there but not good.
Memphis - Buddy Landel vs Freddy and Shinya Hashimoto. I'm calling this clear down year a plus.
Joshi - Chigusa's retirement tour. Great stuff with Lioness & Hokuto especially.
WWF - Hogan vs Savage, Warrior vs Rude, memorable tag era with BrainBusters, Rockers, Demos, Harts, etc etc.
Texas - Hidden gem year after being a dead promotion for years. Lawler vs Kerry. Eric Embry has a forgotten amazing year.
Puerto Rico - Neat year with a lot of random dudes coming in. You had regulars like Abby, Herules Ayala, and Dan Kroffat, but there's also Kensuke Sasaki, Rufus R Jones and Rip Rogers. And I swear to god Carlos Colon vs Steve Strong (?!) was a legit great feud and their barbed wire match probably needs to be nominated.
Lucha - Amazing year. You had Chicana vs Satanico, Emilio vs Dandy, Satanico vs MS-1, Brazos vs Bucaneros. There were as many great wrestlers in Mexico as anywhere in the world.
Atsushi Onita - Worked Pioneer, promoted a show called "Ultimate Karate" and started FMW. Had great matches with Ryuma Go and Aoyagi and started one of the most important promotions & greatest success stories in wrestling history is a pretty great year.
UWF - Was the hottest promotion in Japan and changing the way business was done. Multiple classic matches with Fujiwara, Maeda, Takada, Yamazaki, Funaki, Anjoh, Suzuki all against each other.
NJPW - Liger vs Sano was the Juniors feud of the decade. Great heavyweight action with Fujinami, Vader, Hashimoto, Choshu etc. Big Tokyo Dome show with the Soviets had multiple great matches. Choshu & Saito vs Takano & Super Strong Machine 3/16/89 is one of the all time out of nowhere classic matches.
AJPW - The best year in the history of the promotion up to this point. Jumbo vs Tenryu. Footloose vs Can Ams. The Hansen & Tenryu team. Kenta Kobashi on the come-up. This is an amazing year.
WCW - Everybody knows. Flair vs Steamboat & Flair vs Funk alone make this an amazing year. But then you start adding stuff up...Steamboat vs Funk, Steamboat vs Luger, Sting vs Muta, Pillman, Eddie Gilbert, Tommy Rich, Doom, Midnights, Steiners, SST, it is really like a fantasy booking promotion come to life.
This year is just kinda undeniable in a lot of ways. I love 1983 because so many different places are thriving. 1989 has a lot of formerly great places on life support. But the heavy hitters are like the heaviest hitters possible.
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Post by Cap on May 8, 2019 19:19:00 GMT -5
For those who like ROH and NOAH, I would also list 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 as honorable mentions. Those were years we got some great stuff Death-wish Kobashi's title run as well as Joe and Daneilson's run and the stuff they were doing while the other had the strap (including so much more on the under-cards for each promotion).
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Post by nintendologic on May 11, 2019 22:45:15 GMT -5
1993 was my go-to answer for a long time, but as I thought about it more, I realized that it was due almost entirely to a handful of promotions. The three big Japanese companies all had banner years, but if you remove them from the equation, the situation is pretty dire. The WWF and WCW were both in shambles, and CMLL was still reeling from the AAA split. I'd say that 1992 and 1994 were both stronger in that more companies worldwide were consistently producing quality matches.
Also, the WWF was wretched in 1983. I can't think of a single standout match from the promotion that year, and no one else can seem to either. It may be surprising given that pretty much every other promotion on Earth was on fire that year, but that's reality.
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