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*Official* Pro-Wrestling Thread II

Red_Ink_Squid

Red_Ink_Squid

Global Moderator
19. Ric Flair vs Ted DiBiase, Mid South November 1985

Bell to bell this is merely 'very good'. But cheating a little bit and counting the pre and post match angle as part of the overall action and it's a classic.

Ric Flair is in Mid South as the touring NWA world champion and it sets up a memorable face turn for local mega heel DiBiase. He has a title shot against Flair but Dick Murdoch demands he step aside and let him have the opportunity. DiBiase refuses and Murdoch (assisted by a gleeful Flair) beats him down before the bell. He needs medical attention but insists on continuing and we get a story similar to Bret vs Austin at 'mania 13 of the bloodied and beaten underdog winning over the crowd with his refusal to quit.

Murdoch attacks him again after the match, because why not.

20. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Nobutaka Araya, WAR Jan '98
19. Ric Flair vs Ted DiBiase, Mid South Nov '85
 
Red_Ink_Squid

Red_Ink_Squid

Global Moderator
18. Genichiro Tenryu vs Shinya Hashimoto, NJPW February 1994

Hashimoto is another ATG. I think of his matches being like the wrestling equivalent of a Leone spaghetti western: they are rarely non-stop action but rather about building up and maintaining tension for as long as possible before delivering short bursts of violence. He'll milk every drop of drama from a simple lockup or a staredown and then he'll suddenly explode with a flurry of hard chops and kicks or snap on a submission from nowhere.

This match is the pinnacle of the interpromotional WAR vs NJPW feud (which, sidepoint, is totally awesome. You can throw on any random WAR vs NJPW tag match and expect it'll rule, pretty much regardless of participants) and by this point Tenryu has beaten everyone of note in New Japan, including Hashimoto previously but also Antonio Inoki which was a Big Deal in Japan. Hashimoto's star was on the rise though and had recently captured his first world title. This is him fighting for personal and company redemption against the final boss of the rival promotion.

20. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Nobutaka Araya, WAR Jan '98
19. Ric Flair vs Ted DiBiase, Mid South Nov '85
18. Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu, NJPW February '94
 
Aritro

Aritro

International Vice-Captain
Will be keen to see how many Flair vs Steamboat matches make this list. I downloaded a couple of bootlegs around 2000ish which were too grainy to enjoy, but I wasn't blown away - maybe because I didn't appreciate what they were doing. Only been able to find one good quality one on Youtube since I started paying attention to wrestling again, which was pretty good but again I wasn't blown away. I still love watching early 90s wrestling as that's when I fell in love with the artform, but I think maybe the issue is 80s wrestling, with its different pacing and limited move set is hard for me to get into.

Would be keen to watch a couple of their classics and just focus on the storytelling, as I gather that's what they excelled at - particularly Flair. Although as someone pointed out either here or on another forum, now that we have access to loads of matches and can watch them back to back, it stands out a lot more that Flair "wrestled the same match every time" than it was when he was on TV every now and then and you never saw the house shows. Which is no slight on him obviously; different eras and all that.
 
Red_Ink_Squid

Red_Ink_Squid

Global Moderator
Aritro said:
Will be keen to see how many Flair vs Steamboat matches make this list. I downloaded a couple of bootlegs around 2000ish which were too grainy to enjoy, but I wasn't blown away - maybe because I didn't appreciate what they were doing. Only been able to find one good quality one on Youtube since I started paying attention to wrestling again, which was pretty good but again I wasn't blown away. I still love watching early 90s wrestling as that's when I fell in love with the artform, but I think maybe the issue is 80s wrestling, with its different pacing and limited move set is hard for me to get into.

Would be keen to watch a couple of their classics and just focus on the storytelling, as I gather that's what they excelled at - particularly Flair. Although as someone pointed out either here or on another forum, now that we have access to loads of matches and can watch them back to back, it stands out a lot more that Flair "wrestled the same match every time" than it was when he was on TV every now and then and you never saw the house shows. Which is no slight on him obviously; different eras and all that.
Click to expand...
Without giving away what's on my list, you can't go too far wrong with watching their famous series of title matches from 1989 (from Chi Town Rumble, Clash of the Champions 6 and Wrestlewar).
 
GotSpin

GotSpin

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Austins podcasts are so interesting. Some of them are made into youtube videos here https://www.youtube.com/c/WrestlingRambles89/videos

Anyway, I can't find the actual post - It was a few pages back - discussing the last match between Austin and Rock and how the Rock carried Stone Cold. Pretty interesting that Austin was in the hospital the night before and wasn’t medically cleared
 
sledger

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
"not medically cleared" probably understates his condition at the time tbh, he was in a seriously bad way iirc
 
sledger

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
haha yeah tbh can't see it being anything other than a glorified angle

the entire WM card looking pretty grim atm though imo
 
Red_Ink_Squid

Red_Ink_Squid

Global Moderator
As a placeholder then til Vince vs Pat McAfee takes its spot:

17. Kerry Von Erich vs Jumbo Tsuruta, AJPW May 1984

Kerry is the NWA world champion and takes the belt on tour to Japan. This is a 2/3 falls title match against local hero Jumbo, one of the top stars of AJPW. Kerry uses the unashamedly goofy (but very pro wrestling) Iron Claw as his finishing move, which Jumbo sells as a death move.

This match is a clinic in escalation. Although Kerry is an outsider and the crowd have a clear favourite, this is worked ostensibly as face vs face and the first fall is mostly a clean, technical affair. Fall two both men step up the aggression and start hitting harder and by the third fall they're trying to kill each other. Countout finish is a bit of a cop out but it's done in a way that pays off the work in the 3rd fall and plays of the finishes to both of the first two falls. The mission to make Jumbo look strong against the world champ without him getting the belt is a success.

20. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Nobutaka Araya, WAR Jan '98
19. Ric Flair vs Ted DiBiase, Mid South Nov '85
18. Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu, NJPW Feb '94
17. Kerry Von Erich vs Jumbo Tsuruta, AJPW May '84
 
Red_Ink_Squid

Red_Ink_Squid

Global Moderator
honestbharani said:
There is no way it only makes 17 in your list RIS, come on.
Click to expand...
Presume it'll top the WWE list but be so transcendent it even features on the 'not WWE' list.

Anyway...

16. Andre the Giant vs Stan Hansen, NJPW September 1981

Best hoss fight ever? This is big evil monster vs even bigger, eviller monster. Andre is so over as a heel in Japan that the crowd starts getting behind Hansen, one of their regular top heels.

Andre sets the tone as he kicks Hansen in the face in the act of stepping into the ring and they just brawl wildly from there. He's much more mobile here than in his late WWF run so able to move much quicker and bump bigger than in 'Mania 3 era. There's not much more I can about this one, other than watching two unreasonably large humans pretend to fight each other is one of life's simple joys.

20. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Nobutaka Araya, WAR Jan '98
19. Ric Flair vs Ted DiBiase, Mid South Nov '85
18. Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu, NJPW Feb '94
17. Kerry Von Erich vs Jumbo Tsuruta, AJPW May '84
16. Andre the Giant vs Stan Hansen, NJPW Sep '81
 
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