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Post by [Darren] on Nov 21, 2021 16:51:12 GMT -5
This is a fantastic list. I’m glad the 5/23/96 match is up quite high. I liked that match so much more when I watched it this time as opposed to 5 or so years ago.
Bryan/Sheamus was a match I loved and was over the moon on and was less thrilled by Cena/Lesnar but I have flipped on it. I think I’d definitely consider putting that match on my next list.
I rewatched Angle/Austin and didn’t really click with me this time. But I’m a bit fan of this list
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Post by mvz on Nov 21, 2021 21:52:08 GMT -5
Love seeing this list. A few of these choices landed on mind so thanks for your advocacy. I am happy to see Cactus Jack-Orndorff, I didn’t have room for it but it is such a cool match.
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Post by [Darren] on Nov 21, 2021 22:05:47 GMT -5
Yes. Cactus/Orndorff was a real treat. I watched and reviewed it just after Orndorff passed away. Such a unique and fun little match.
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Post by Cap on Nov 23, 2021 8:46:28 GMT -5
6. Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle (WWF, 8/19/01) I said this elsewhere, I really want to like this match more than I do. Love seeing it on other's lists.
12. Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori (AJW, 4/2/93) Outside the top ten *shakes head*.... 12 isn't bad though haha
17. Vader vs. Sting (WCW, 12/28/92) 19. Vader vs. Sting (WCW, 7/12/92) I almost added at least one Vader/Sting match. I think it is only a matter of time before I tip on one add them. If we do a favorites list they will be represented for sure.
28. Eddie Guerrero vs. Brock Lesnar (WWE, 2/15/04) I wish I could get over the Goldbergness of it all, but that holds this match off my list. The rest of it is basically perfect.
35. Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Stan Hansen/Akira Taue (AJPW, 12/3/99) I'm not sure I have ever seen this. I need to check it out
37. Vader vs. Keiji Mutoh (NJPW, 8/10/91) Awesome! I haven't watched this in probably 6 years or so. I gave it serious consideration first ballot and haven't thought about it much since. Another one I should check out.
41. Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles (TNA, 12/11/05) My #1 TNA match.
52. Giant Baba vs. Billy Robinson (AJPW, 7/24/76) Happy to be seeing this match pop up here and there.
72. CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston (AEW, 11/13/21) Damn... I love that this is getting some votes. I gave it a second watch and it shot up my MOTY list, but to #2. I Still have Kingston vs Dragon above it, but maybe I am being bias. When I see it getting GME love I need to rewatch these things together again.
92. Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage (AEW, 1/13/21) Also interested to see this get a vote here. It fell off my top 10 list. I LOVE it, but at this point I am not nearly this high on it. I talk about this a lot, but I'll be intertested to see how this year from AEW ages. They have a lot of what I think of as VERY GOOD to GREAT matches of different styles. I think some of it is going to age well and really emerge in this conversation. maybe this is one.
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Post by nintendologic on Nov 23, 2021 18:22:45 GMT -5
Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue/Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, 5/22/92)
Hey, better late than never. We're JIP a little less than three minutes in with Kobashi and Fuchi in the ring. Kobashi hits a bulldog on the outside, but he might have gotten the worst of it as he leaps from the apron to the floor and lands right on his coccyx. As I recall, that's how Johnny the Bull tore his urethra in WCW. He tries to bring Fuchi in the hard way with a suplex, but Taue breaks it up. This leads to a sequence ending in all three members of Jumbo's team sent to the floor and all three members of Misawa's team hitting planchas. Taue comes up clutching his knee, as Kobashi's plancha has re-aggravated the leg injury he had recently returned from. Misawa tags in, and when Jumbo tries to snatch him on the apron, he sends him to the floor with an elbow. However, the momentary distraction enables Fuchi to tackle Misawa and pin him in the corner long enough for Jumbo to return to the apron and tag himself in. Misawa attempts his reverse diving headbutt counter to being whipped into the corner, but Fuchi has it scouted and holds Misawa in place while he's perched on the second rope. This enables Jumbo to hit a second rope backdrop. He dumps Misawa to the floor, where Taue hits a golden arm bomber on the exposed concrete after Fuchi pulls back the protective mat. After rolling Misawa back into the ring, Jumbo's team performs a number of nasty double and triple-team maneuvers centered around choking Misawa on the top rope. Taue's leg is clearly bothering him, so he only comes in for short spurts and quickly tags back out. Misawa finally creates an opening by kicking Taue's injured leg out of his leg. Kawada senses an opportunity to both save his partner and inflict punishment on his archrival, so he drags Misawa and Taue over to his corner and tags himself in. He takes a page out of Team Jumbo's playbook by dropping Taue shin-first onto a ringside table. Team Misawa has also by this point made great strides in the art of torturous double-teams. Kawada puts Taue in the tree of woe and steps on his head while Kobashi kicks his leg. When Fuchi tries to run in, he gets put in the tree of woe himself. Misawa even gets into the act, laying into Fuchi with stomps while Kawada is standing on his head. Team Misawa targets Taue's leg with various submissions, and because of the preexisting injury, the submission work has a purpose and payoff beyond simply eating up minutes for the sake of going long. The tide turns when Jumbo lariats Kawada in the back on the head while Kawada is trying to turn Taue over for a half crab. Taue tags out to Fuchi, who dumps Kawada to the floor. Jumbo pulls back the mat and piledrives Kawada onto the concrete. Fuchi delivers a receipt for Kawada's earlier insolence (both the tree of woe and flipping Fuchi off when he ran in to break up a scorpion deathlock) by putting Kawada in a Jumbo-assisted tree of woe and standing on his head. Due to Taue's condition, he can't do much more than join in on team attacks from the floor. It's not nearly as much of a glorified handicap match as the 10/15/91 six-man, but Team Jumbo is definitely short-handed. In an incredible moment, Jumbo on the apron acts like a heel manager and gestures to the crowd to keep it down when they start chanting for Kawada. We get a double KO spot after Kawada hits a short-arm clothesline. In the US, that would usually be a setup for a simultaneous tag. That kind of nonsense hadn't infected Japan at this point, so Jumbo runs in and lays the boots to Kawada. However, that proves to be a miscalculation as Misawa runs in and knocks Jumbo to the floor. As a result, Fuchi has to make the tag to the compromised Taue. Kawada makes the most of the opportunity by immobilizing Taue with leg kicks before tagging out to Kobashi. Taue manages to fend off Kobashi and tags out to Fuchi, who treats Kobashi like he's Kikuchi with repeated backdrops. However, Kobashi hits a leaping shoulderblock and performs a rolling cradle (Fuchi's scream when put in the cradle has to be heard to be believed). Kobashi goes for a moonsault, but Jumbo restrains him on the turnbuckle. Misawa sends Jumbo packing with an elbow and stuns Fuchi, enabling Kobashi to hit a twisting crossbody. Misawa tags in and applies a facelock, but Taue breaks it up. Misawa disposes of him with elbows and reapplies the hold. This time, Fuchi makes the ropes. Misawa goes for a tiger driver, but Fuchi forces him into the ropes for Jumbo to land a Hart Foundation-esque knee to the back. Jumbo tags in and hits a backdrop, but Misawa kicks out. He goes for a second backdrop, but Misawa reverses into a crossbody and tags out to Kawada. After Jumbo hits a kitchen sink, he makes the tag to Taue. Kobashi breaks up a blockbuster attempt, and Kawada hits a rabbit lariat. Taue escapes a powerbomb attempt and hits a chokeslam, but Kawada kicks out. Kobashi breaks up the pin after a second chokeslam. Kawada catches a charging Taue with a leaping kick and locks in a stretch plum, but Fuchi breaks it up. A powerbomb from Kawada gets two. The finish is reminiscent of a triple submission in a lucha trios. Kawada submits Taue with a stretch plum while Misawa has Jumbo in a facelock and Kobashi has Fuchi in a sleeper.
Tier: 3. Mea culpa for sleeping on this for far too long. There's a strong argument for this being the best of the Jumbo/Misawa six-mans. The Pillars are more polished, both teams are operating at a high level of hate, and Taue's leg injury provides a strong storyline hook. This really needs to be on more ballots in the future.
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Post by nintendologic on Nov 24, 2021 9:21:38 GMT -5
Inspired by elliott, I decided to tabulate the number of wrestlers who appeared on my ballot and rank them by number of appearances. I can't guarantee complete accuracy since I didn't do any double-checking, but if there are any inaccuracies, they're minor. Total appearances are in parentheses.
1. Kenta Kobashi (17) 2. Mitsuharu Misawa (16) 3. Toshiaki Kawada (15) 4. Akira Taue (12) 5. Jun Akiyama (9) 6t. Bret Hart, Genichiro Tenryu (7) 8t. Stan Hansen, Jumbo Tsuruta (6) 10t. Ricky Steamboat, Vader (5) 12t. Steve Austin, Riki Choshu, Masanobu Fuchi, Brock Lesnar, Barry Windham (4) 17t. Tatsumi Fujinami, Eddie Guerrero, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Jerry Lawler, Shawn Michaels, Yuji Nagata, Yoshinari Ogawa, Dustin Rhodes, Kensuke Sasaki, AJ Styles, Minoru Suzuki, Yoshihiro Takayama (3) 29t. Ted DiBiase, Mick Foley, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Terry Funk, Owen Hart, Shinya Hashimoto, Tomoaki Honma, Kantaro Hoshino, Takashi Ishikawa, Kengo Kimura, KENTA, Shiro Koshinaka, Lex Luger, Keiji Mutoh, Rey Mysterio, Kazuchika Okada, CM Punk, Rick Rude, Tito Santana, Randy Savage, Katsuyori Shibata, Davey Boy Smith, Sting, Super Strong Machine, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yoshiaki Yatsu (2) 55t. 2 Cold Scorpio, Johnny Ace, Darby Allin, Arn Anderson, Kurt Angle, Giant Baba, Bob Backlund, Brutus Beefcake, B. Brian Blair, Tully Blanchard, Jim Brunzell, Bunkhouse Buck, Brian Cage, John Cena, Bryan Danielson, Shane Douglas, Jim Duggan, Bill Dundee, Dynamite Kid, Bobby Eaton, Ric Flair, Doug Furnas, Robert Gibson, Terry Gordy, Hirooki Goto, Tatsutoshi Goto, Scott Hall, Animal Hamaguchi, Hiroshi Hase, Curt Hennig, Akira Hokuto, Takashi Iizuka, Daisuke Ikeda, Antonio Inoki, Iron Sheik, Marty Jannetty, Shinobu Kandori, Eddie Kingston, Koki Kitahara, Brian Knobbs, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Aja Kong, Dan Kroffat, Masanobu Kurisu, Stan Lane, Jushin Liger, Akira Maeda, Togi Makabe, Naomichi Marufuji, Dutch Mantell, Ricky Morton, MS-1, Dick Murdoch, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kevin Nash, Jim Neidhart, Michiyoshi Ohara, Takao Omori, Paul Orndorff, Alexander Otsuka, Brian Pillman, Roman Reigns, Billy Robinson, Buddy Rose, Jerry Sags, Hiro Saito, Seiji Sakaguchi, Samoa Joe, Sangre Chicana, Naoki Sano, Sgt. Slaughter, Sheamus, Go Shiozaki, Doug Somers, Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner, Manami Toyota, Ultimate Warrior, Umaga, Greg Valentine, Sean Waltman, Steve Williams, Kazuo Yamazaki, Yoshitatsu, Larry Zbyszko (1)
A total of 139 wrestlers appeared on my ballot. My list is basically a pyramid with a handful of guys at the apex and a bunch of one and two-hit wonders at the bottom. Sasaki is a bit of a weird outlier, but the list of guys with three or more appearances overall maps up well with my favorite workers. I was mildly surprised to see Kobashi finish above Misawa and Tenryu above Jumbo since I had always ranked them the other way around in my mind.
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Post by andylfc on Nov 26, 2021 0:03:02 GMT -5
Great thread.
Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue/Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, 5/22/92)
- Good call on this one. I'm pretty sure I had it on my ballot a few years back. Due to time constraints I didn't get to rewatch it this go around, but I remember it being comfortably up there with the likes of 10/90 and 4/91. Yeah this one needs more eyeballs.
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Post by mvz on Nov 26, 2021 4:18:41 GMT -5
As I am doing some of the tallying, I am reminded of some of the things I didn’t get to watch or rewatch and that 1992 six-man is another one. When I first saw it I thought it was at least on par with the one from 1990. And NL Recommended some great hidden gems, I am sure this is another one. So much wrestling to watch!
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Post by lemming on Nov 26, 2021 9:24:52 GMT -5
I don't post on the board much but I really enjoyed following this thread as it was rolled out. Nice to see the '92 six man make a late appearance, last time I watched through 90s All Japan, that was my favourite of the Misawa-Jumbo tags.
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Post by nintendologic on Dec 7, 2021 18:08:08 GMT -5
KENTA vs. SUWA (NOAH, 9/18/05)
After a decent amount of digging, I think I've managed to put together the backstory for this match. The story as I understand it is as follows: SUWA has been a thorn in KENTA's side ever since coming over from Dragon Gate in 2004. The only singles match between the two prior to this took place in April and ended in DQ when SUWA clobbered KENTA with an AV equipment case. KENTA won the GHC junior title for the first time in July, and he wanted his first defense to be against SUWA so he could finally score a pinfall victory against his hated rival. I'll be honest, I almost always skip the entrances and ring introductions and go straight to the opening bell. Here, though, the pre-match pageantry is a key part of the story. For one thing, SUWA comes to the ring with (presumably) the same case he had used as a weapon in April. In addition, after the title match proclamation by figurehead authority figure Joe Higuchi, SUWA tears up the parchment Higuchi had been reading from. Those two actions make it clear that he has no interest in titles and just wants to stick it to KENTA. The match begins with a heated forearm exchange. SUWA powders to the outside, where KENTA whips him into the guardrail and rams his head into the timekeeper's table. SUWA responds by nailing KENTA in the face with the ring bell. He then retrieves the case and hits KENTA with it, drawing a warning from the referee the first time and a DQ the second. SUWA takes the L, but he again manages to avoid being pinned. He celebrates like he managed to put one over on both KENTA and NOAH. However, Higuchi isn't about to let him off that easily, and he orders the match to be restarted. Before SUWA can return to the dressing room, KENTA intercepts him and drags him back to the ring. SUWA gets into it with Higuchi, and the old man threatens to take off his suit jacket so he can put that punk in his place. While SUWA is distracted by Higuchi, KENTA gives him a taste of his own medicine by kicking the second rope and crotching him as he reenters the ring. Things taper off a bit as KENTA applies a chinlock, leading to clumsy transition where SUWA takes over with a Regal cutter. With SUWA in firm control, though, things pick right back up again. If the match isn't going to be stopped no matter what, he's going to show everyone just how much of a shitbag heel he can be. First, he chokes KENTA with athletic tape. He then removes the padding from the top turnbuckle, throwing the pad at Higuchi for good measure. He cuts off a forearm exchange with an eye rake and then punts KENTA right in the family jewels. He's still not done as he boots Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, who had been trying to reapply the turnbuckle pad, off the apron. He dumps KENTA to the outside, where he demonstrates his mastery of body part psychology by ramming him crotch-first into the ringpost. KENTA seemingly regains the momentum after a series of kicks, but in possibly the spot of the match, SUWA counters a springboard dropkick attempt by shoving the referee into the ropes. A straight right to the jaw may be small potatoes compared to SUWA's other heeling, but it's still well outside the bounds of acceptable behavior in a Japanese title match. As KENTA struggles to return to his feet, SUWA crushes him with a John Woo dropkick to the face. KENTA finally manages a comeback after a headscissors takedown from the second rope and a boot to the face. SUWA sidesteps a running corner big boot and regains control with a flapjack. After a diving lariat, SUWA hits a huge tope that's sold lucha-style with both men struggling to beat the count and return to the ring. From here, the heel work from SUWA subsides and it becomes more of a standard juniors match. KENTA had managed a near fall in their April match with a hurricanrana, but SUWA has it scouted this time and counters with an electric chair facebuster. SUWA goes for the FFF, but KENTA reverses into a tiger suplex. SUWA escapes a GTS attempt and launches KENTA into the corner with another John Woo dropkick. He goes for FFF again, but this time KENTA reverses into a GTS. A wrestler hitting his finisher but being too wiped out to follow up with a cover is a great storytelling device for restoring parity to a match. Both men start throwing shoot punches from their knees, and KENTA drops SUWA with a rolling sobat. After a series of head kicks that look like he's trying to knock SUWA's head into the stands for a fan to take home as a souvenir, KENTA gets the pin with a busaiku knee.
Tier: 3. This is a match I regret not revisiting during the voting process. If I had the opportunity to amend my ballot, I'd swap out Lawler/Dutch and Ikeda/Otsuka for this and Hijo del Santo/Brazo de Oro.
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Post by nintendologic on Jun 6, 2023 9:50:52 GMT -5
The deadline is just around the corner, so I suppose it's time to get serious about putting together my ballot for this year. A while back, I reached the point where my top 50 contained no repeat matchups (no exact repeats, anyway). It was kind of an end-of-history moment for me, and it largely sapped me of the desire to engage in serious match exploration and re-evaluation. Here's my top 50 in chronological order:
Giant Baba vs. Billy Robinson (AJPW, 7/24/76) Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (Memphis, 3/23/81) Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (Memphis, 6/6/83) MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana (EMLL, 9/23/83) Sgt. Slaughter vs. Iron Sheik (WWF, 6/16/84) Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase (Mid-South, 3/22/85) Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW, 1/28/86) Midnight Rockers vs. Buddy Rose/Doug Somers (AWA, 8/30/86) Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (NJPW, 6/9/87) Tatsumi Fujinami/Riki Choshu/Akira Maeda/Kengo Kimura/Super Strong Machine vs. Antonio Inoki/Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Seiji Sakaguchi/Kantaro Hoshino/Keiji Mutoh (NJPW, 8/19/87) Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk (WCW, 7/23/89) Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (NJPW, 8/10/89) Stan Hansen/Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW, 12/6/89) Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue/Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, 10/19/90) Vader vs. Keiji Mutoh (NJPW, 8/10/91) Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue (AJPW, 11/29/91) Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat (WCW, 6/20/92) Genichiro Tenryu/Koki Kitahara vs. Shiro Koshinaka/Kengo Kimura (WAR, 10/23/92) Vader vs. Sting (WCW, 12/28/92) Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 2/28/93) Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori (AJW, 4/2/93) Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect (WWF, 6/13/93) Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (WWF, 3/20/94) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 6/3/94) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue (AJPW, 4/15/95) Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (AJPW, 6/9/95) Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (AJPW, 5/23/96) Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind (WWF, 9/22/96) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 1/20/97) Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (WWF, 3/23/97) Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota (AJW, 8/20/97) Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. (WCW, 10/26/97) Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama (AJPW, 7/24/98) Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (NJPW, 8/2/98) Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Stan Hansen/Akira Taue (AJPW, 12/3/99) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama (AJPW, 2/27/00) Toshiaki Kawada/Masanobu Fuchi vs. Yuji Nagata/Takashi Iizuka (NJPW, 12/14/00) Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle (WWF, 8/19/01) Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (NOAH, 11/1/03) Eddie Guerrero vs. Brock Lesnar (WWE, 2/15/04) Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (NOAH, 4/25/04) Kenta Kobashi/Go Shiozaki vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Jun Akiyama (NOAH, 4/24/05) Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles (TNA, 12/11/05) John Cena vs. Umaga (WWE, 1/28/07) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW, 4/7/13) Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk (WWE, 8/18/13) AJ Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki (NJPW, 8/1/14) Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomoaki Honma (NJPW, 8/3/14) Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns (WWE, 3/29/15) Bryan Danielson vs. Adam Page (AEW, 1/5/22)
My tentative picks for the remainder of my ballot are as follows (again, in chronological order):
Bob Backlund vs. Pat Patterson (WWF, 7/30/79) Dynamite Kid vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (NJPW, 2/5/80) Dynamite Kid vs. Marty Jones (World of Sport, 2/5/83) Hart Foundation vs. Killer Bees (WWF, 2/17/86) Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat (WWF, 2/15/87) Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat (WWF, 3/29/87) Lex Luger/Barry Windham vs. Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard (NWA, 3/27/88) Stan Hansen/Terry Gordy vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 12/16/88) Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude (WWF, 8/28/89) Rock & Roll Express vs. Midnight Express (WCW, 2/25/90) Riki Choshu/Kensuke Sasaki/Shiro Koshinaka/Kuniaki Kobayashi/Kantaro Hoshino vs. Animal Hamaguchi/Masanobu Kurisu/Super Strong Machine/Tatsutoshi Goto/Hiro Saito (NJPW, 6/26/90) Steiner Brothers vs. Nasty Boys (WCW, 10/27/90) El Hijo del Santo vs. Brazo de Oro (UWA, 1/13/91) Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue/Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, 10/15/91) Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue/Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, 5/22/92) Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Doug Furnas/Dan Kroffat (AJPW, 5/25/92) Vader vs. Sting (WCW, 7/12/92) Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog (WWF, 8/29/92) Genichiro Tenryu/Takashi Ishikawa vs. Tatsumi Fujinami/Hiroshi Hase (WAR, 2/14/93) Cactus Jack vs. Paul Orndorff (WCW, 2/21/93) Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 4/16/93) Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue/Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW, 6/3/93) Genichiro Tenryu/Takashi Ishikawa vs. Shinya Hashimoto/Michiyoshi Ohara (NJPW, 6/14/93) Barry Windham vs 2 Cold Scorpio (WCW, 6/16/93) Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 7/29/93) Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (AJPW, 12/3/93) Dustin Rhodes vs. Bunkhouse Buck (WCW, 4/17/94) Shawn Michaels/Diesel vs. Razor Ramon/123 Kid (WWF, 10/30/94) Vader vs. Dustin Rhodes (WCW, 11/16/94) Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota (AJW, 11/20/94) Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams/Johnny Ace (AJPW, 12/10/94) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 7/24/95) Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog (WWF, 12/17/95) Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (WWF, 11/17/96) Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (AJPW, 12/6/96) Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Stan Hansen/Vader (AJPW, 12/5/98) Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Takao Omori (AJPW, 10/30/99) Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio (WWE, 6/23/05) KENTA vs. SUWA (NOAH, 9/18/05) Yoshihiro Takayama/Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuji Nagata/Naofumi Yamamoto (NJPW, 10/9/06) Kensuke Sasaki vs. KENTA (NOAH, 7/18/08) Kazuchika Okada vs. Togi Makabe (NJPW, 6/22/13) Hirooki Goto/Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata/Tomoaki Honma (NJPW, 6/21/14) Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles (WWE, 11/19/17) CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston (AEW, 11/13/21) Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens vs. The Usos (WWE, 4/1/23)
That leaves me with four slots remaining to be filled. Previous years have taught me that my ballot will always have selections and/or placements I end up regretting down the line, so I'm going to try to avoid overthinking things and just go with my gut.
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