Multi-Person (8 or More) Matches You're Considering
Jan 17, 2018 4:05:44 GMT -5
Post by elliott on Jan 17, 2018 4:05:44 GMT -5
I expect I'll end up making quite a lot of threads like these (and I encourage others to as well) because I think it is interesting and useful for organization. So expect threads for "Tag Matches You're Considering", "Brawls", "Title Matches."
But I figured an easy one would be to look at the matches with a lot of people. I think trios and tags deserve there own separate threads, so this is where to talk about and compare and contrast your favorite War Games or Torneo Cibernetico or New Japan Gauntlets or Dragon Gate Whatever Matches (We need some Dragon Gate fans participating and making nominations by the way).
Looking at my rough drafts, there are actually a quite a few 8-10 man matches that are locks to make my list. I have the following two matches as top 10 contenders.
Team New Japan (Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Umanosuke Ueda & Kantaro Hoshino) vs Team UWF (Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Nobuhiko Takada, Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido) (Elimination Match) 3/26/86 NJPW
The Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes & Paul Ellering vs The Four Horsemen & JJ Dillion (War Games) 7/4/87 JCP
In a world where Sangre Chicana vs MS-1 didn't happen, these are two matches that I would strongly consider putting #1. New Japan vs UWF is probably the greatest feud in wrestling history when it comes to peak and depth of great matches and this is the best match of the feud. War Games is a match everybody knows. I know most people tend to rate the 92 version the highest, but I've always loved the first one the most. It was unique and special and worked absolutely perfectly from start to finish. 4 Horsemen at their peak against 1987 Dusty, Nikita & the Road Warriors? I'm sorry, but that's just too badass. The 1992 match is SUPER hot and has a great atmosphere. But the 1987 one just feels so much bigger to me.
Really all of the big 80s New Japan matches are going to make my list. But after 3/26/86 the two that stand out the most to me are:
Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs Riki Coshu, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Animal Hamaguchi, Isamu Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi (5x5 Gauntlet) 4/19/84 NJPW
Tatsumi Fujinami, Keichii Yamada, Shiro Koshinaka, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs Hiroshi Saito, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Super Strong Machine, Masa Saito & Riki Choshu (Elimination Match) 09/12/88 NJPW
The 1984 gauntlet was the match that finished #1 overall on the DVDVR 80s NJPW set so you know it is hot shit. It is 75 minutes of incredible wrestling in front of an insanely hot crowd. Exposer mentioned this as his no brainer #1 and while it isn't mine, I totally get where he's coming from. I'm not sure exactly where the gauntlet will land, but it isn't just a lock, it is a top 50 lock.
The 1988 match stands out for two things. One for being better than I expected. When I first watched this, I knew it 3rd on the DVDVR 80s set voting. But 1988 Koshinaka, Hiroshi Saito, Kobayashi & Super Strong Machine had me sort of hesitant to believe it. All those guys are fine to great in this, but this stands out because of Masa Saito having one of the greatest performances in history working the whole way, making it to the end, bleeding a horrific amount of blood. It is an great match lifted to an all time classic on the strength of that Saito performance.
Both of these matches are almost certainly going to be in my top 50.
Dick Togo, Taka Michinoku, Shiryu, Mens Teoh & Shoichi Funaki vs Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada, Super Delphin, Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushiji 12/16/96 M-Pro
Mayumi Ozaki, Cutie Suzuki, Candy Okutsu & Sumiyo Toyama vs Dynamite Kansai, Devil Masami, Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi (4x4 1-Count Match) 03/21/95 JWP
These are two matches that I could also see making my top 50. I feel like the M-Pro match is pretty widely regarded as the best match in the history of that promotion. I would absolutely agree with that sentiment. It is the high water mark of this style of match and the crowd reacts appropriately. One of my favorite crowds of the 90s.
The JWP match is sooooooooo great. The 1 count stipulation makes literally everything about this meaningful and dramatic. This is such a brilliant stipulation for the Joshi style and they work the gimmick just perfectly.
The other big 80s NJPW matches that I'll be really surprised if they don't make my list are:
Team New Japan (Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Seiji Sakaguchi, Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada) vs Team UWF (Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Kazuo Yamazaki & Nobuhiko Takada) (5x5 Gauntlet) 05/01/86 NJPW
Antonio Inoki, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Seiji Sakaguchi, Kantaro Hoshino & Keiji Muto vs Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda, Kengo Kimura & Super Strong Machine (Elimination Match) 08/19/87 NJPW
Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine vs Antonio Inoki, Dick Murdoch, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi (Elimination Match) 9/17/87 NJPW
Of those 3, I think the September 1987 match is the best one. Compared to the 8/19 version, it is a little bit slower paced, but I think the Fujinami finishing stretch pushes it above the weaker Muto finish from August. I also kinda like the fact that Murdoch is brought out as basically the enforcer after the prior month's match and he & Choshu take each other out immediately. Sure it robbed us of Murdoch & Choshu being in the match. But still, the great work and Fujinami performance down the stretch carry it above the August version.
I like the 5/1/86 gauntlet enough to say it is a lock to make my list. But it is my "least favorite" of all of these NJPW matches. Don't get me wrong, I'll still end up ranking it like 70th overall of all of the matches to ever happen. So really fucking high. The Yamada vs Takada opening stretch would be a MOTYC by itself. I thought it slipped a bit when guys like Koshinaka, Yamazaki, Kido & Sakaguchi (all guys I like to one degree or another mind you) were involved in the middle portions but once Kimura, Fujinami, Fujiwara & Maeda showed up, it goes to this earth shattering level
The following matches are ones I'm strongly considering and would love to say are locks for the list, but I'm just not sure. I'm already at 9 of these things, jeez.
La Gran Guerrera I: Carlos Colon, Invader I, Bruiser Brody, Dutch Mantell & TNT vs Abdullah the Butcher, Hercules Ayala, Chicky Starr, Kareem Muhammad & Grizzly Boone 12/12/87 WWC
Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Larry Zbyszko & Sid Vicious vs Sting, Brian Pillman & The Steiner Brothers (War Games) 02/24/91 WCW Wrestle War
Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Nikita Koloff vs Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko & Bobby Eaton (War Games) 05/17/92 WCW WrestleWar
Taka Michinoku, Mens Teoh, Dick Togo, Shiryu & Shoichi Funaki vs Gran Hamada, Gran Naniwa, Super Delphin, Tiger Mask & Masato Yakushiji (Michinoku Pro These Days 10/10/96)
El Hijo del Santo, Black Warrior, Silver King, Dr Wagner Jr, El Satanico, Scorpio Jr & Kevin Quinn vs Negro Casas, Ultimo Dragon, Atlantis, Shocker, Mascara Magica, La Fiera & Brazo de Oro (Torneo Cibernetico) 04/18/97 CMLL
La Gran Guerera is basically the Puerto Rican War Games, only everyone starts at once and the object is to handcuff your opponents to the cage. Once all your opponents are handcuffed to the cage, you get 5 minutes to beat the shit out of your opponents. So that's badass. Wargames 92 is one of those matches that will almost certainly be on my list but I'm not sure. I'm not as high on it as most, but it is clearly an all time classic. One of those matches that I don't see as as #1 candidate but if someone voted it there I wouldn't think it was weird. I love M-Pro match and always have. I think it holds up in terms of incredible spots & execution of those spots, but there's so much character to it that really adds to the richness of the whole thing. The Cibernetico match is yet another one of those matches that if someone voted #1 I wouldn't really blink at. There's just so much to love about it. WarGames 91 is my least favorite match of all of the ones I've named but is still something I could absolutely see on the back half of my list.
There are a fuckton of awesome 8 person or more matches. What are your favorites?
But I figured an easy one would be to look at the matches with a lot of people. I think trios and tags deserve there own separate threads, so this is where to talk about and compare and contrast your favorite War Games or Torneo Cibernetico or New Japan Gauntlets or Dragon Gate Whatever Matches (We need some Dragon Gate fans participating and making nominations by the way).
Looking at my rough drafts, there are actually a quite a few 8-10 man matches that are locks to make my list. I have the following two matches as top 10 contenders.
Team New Japan (Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Umanosuke Ueda & Kantaro Hoshino) vs Team UWF (Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Nobuhiko Takada, Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido) (Elimination Match) 3/26/86 NJPW
The Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes & Paul Ellering vs The Four Horsemen & JJ Dillion (War Games) 7/4/87 JCP
In a world where Sangre Chicana vs MS-1 didn't happen, these are two matches that I would strongly consider putting #1. New Japan vs UWF is probably the greatest feud in wrestling history when it comes to peak and depth of great matches and this is the best match of the feud. War Games is a match everybody knows. I know most people tend to rate the 92 version the highest, but I've always loved the first one the most. It was unique and special and worked absolutely perfectly from start to finish. 4 Horsemen at their peak against 1987 Dusty, Nikita & the Road Warriors? I'm sorry, but that's just too badass. The 1992 match is SUPER hot and has a great atmosphere. But the 1987 one just feels so much bigger to me.
Really all of the big 80s New Japan matches are going to make my list. But after 3/26/86 the two that stand out the most to me are:
Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs Riki Coshu, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Animal Hamaguchi, Isamu Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi (5x5 Gauntlet) 4/19/84 NJPW
Tatsumi Fujinami, Keichii Yamada, Shiro Koshinaka, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs Hiroshi Saito, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Super Strong Machine, Masa Saito & Riki Choshu (Elimination Match) 09/12/88 NJPW
The 1984 gauntlet was the match that finished #1 overall on the DVDVR 80s NJPW set so you know it is hot shit. It is 75 minutes of incredible wrestling in front of an insanely hot crowd. Exposer mentioned this as his no brainer #1 and while it isn't mine, I totally get where he's coming from. I'm not sure exactly where the gauntlet will land, but it isn't just a lock, it is a top 50 lock.
The 1988 match stands out for two things. One for being better than I expected. When I first watched this, I knew it 3rd on the DVDVR 80s set voting. But 1988 Koshinaka, Hiroshi Saito, Kobayashi & Super Strong Machine had me sort of hesitant to believe it. All those guys are fine to great in this, but this stands out because of Masa Saito having one of the greatest performances in history working the whole way, making it to the end, bleeding a horrific amount of blood. It is an great match lifted to an all time classic on the strength of that Saito performance.
Both of these matches are almost certainly going to be in my top 50.
Dick Togo, Taka Michinoku, Shiryu, Mens Teoh & Shoichi Funaki vs Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada, Super Delphin, Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushiji 12/16/96 M-Pro
Mayumi Ozaki, Cutie Suzuki, Candy Okutsu & Sumiyo Toyama vs Dynamite Kansai, Devil Masami, Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi (4x4 1-Count Match) 03/21/95 JWP
These are two matches that I could also see making my top 50. I feel like the M-Pro match is pretty widely regarded as the best match in the history of that promotion. I would absolutely agree with that sentiment. It is the high water mark of this style of match and the crowd reacts appropriately. One of my favorite crowds of the 90s.
The JWP match is sooooooooo great. The 1 count stipulation makes literally everything about this meaningful and dramatic. This is such a brilliant stipulation for the Joshi style and they work the gimmick just perfectly.
The other big 80s NJPW matches that I'll be really surprised if they don't make my list are:
Team New Japan (Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Seiji Sakaguchi, Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada) vs Team UWF (Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Kazuo Yamazaki & Nobuhiko Takada) (5x5 Gauntlet) 05/01/86 NJPW
Antonio Inoki, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Seiji Sakaguchi, Kantaro Hoshino & Keiji Muto vs Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda, Kengo Kimura & Super Strong Machine (Elimination Match) 08/19/87 NJPW
Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine vs Antonio Inoki, Dick Murdoch, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi (Elimination Match) 9/17/87 NJPW
Of those 3, I think the September 1987 match is the best one. Compared to the 8/19 version, it is a little bit slower paced, but I think the Fujinami finishing stretch pushes it above the weaker Muto finish from August. I also kinda like the fact that Murdoch is brought out as basically the enforcer after the prior month's match and he & Choshu take each other out immediately. Sure it robbed us of Murdoch & Choshu being in the match. But still, the great work and Fujinami performance down the stretch carry it above the August version.
I like the 5/1/86 gauntlet enough to say it is a lock to make my list. But it is my "least favorite" of all of these NJPW matches. Don't get me wrong, I'll still end up ranking it like 70th overall of all of the matches to ever happen. So really fucking high. The Yamada vs Takada opening stretch would be a MOTYC by itself. I thought it slipped a bit when guys like Koshinaka, Yamazaki, Kido & Sakaguchi (all guys I like to one degree or another mind you) were involved in the middle portions but once Kimura, Fujinami, Fujiwara & Maeda showed up, it goes to this earth shattering level
The following matches are ones I'm strongly considering and would love to say are locks for the list, but I'm just not sure. I'm already at 9 of these things, jeez.
La Gran Guerrera I: Carlos Colon, Invader I, Bruiser Brody, Dutch Mantell & TNT vs Abdullah the Butcher, Hercules Ayala, Chicky Starr, Kareem Muhammad & Grizzly Boone 12/12/87 WWC
Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Larry Zbyszko & Sid Vicious vs Sting, Brian Pillman & The Steiner Brothers (War Games) 02/24/91 WCW Wrestle War
Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Nikita Koloff vs Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko & Bobby Eaton (War Games) 05/17/92 WCW WrestleWar
Taka Michinoku, Mens Teoh, Dick Togo, Shiryu & Shoichi Funaki vs Gran Hamada, Gran Naniwa, Super Delphin, Tiger Mask & Masato Yakushiji (Michinoku Pro These Days 10/10/96)
El Hijo del Santo, Black Warrior, Silver King, Dr Wagner Jr, El Satanico, Scorpio Jr & Kevin Quinn vs Negro Casas, Ultimo Dragon, Atlantis, Shocker, Mascara Magica, La Fiera & Brazo de Oro (Torneo Cibernetico) 04/18/97 CMLL
La Gran Guerera is basically the Puerto Rican War Games, only everyone starts at once and the object is to handcuff your opponents to the cage. Once all your opponents are handcuffed to the cage, you get 5 minutes to beat the shit out of your opponents. So that's badass. Wargames 92 is one of those matches that will almost certainly be on my list but I'm not sure. I'm not as high on it as most, but it is clearly an all time classic. One of those matches that I don't see as as #1 candidate but if someone voted it there I wouldn't think it was weird. I love M-Pro match and always have. I think it holds up in terms of incredible spots & execution of those spots, but there's so much character to it that really adds to the richness of the whole thing. The Cibernetico match is yet another one of those matches that if someone voted #1 I wouldn't really blink at. There's just so much to love about it. WarGames 91 is my least favorite match of all of the ones I've named but is still something I could absolutely see on the back half of my list.
There are a fuckton of awesome 8 person or more matches. What are your favorites?
