Wrestling Encyclopedia

Obviously the longevity, adaptability, versatility, storytelling so on is impressive, but I pose the question above. please explain

Known mainly for his time in AJPW in the 90s primarily for his tag team action, and inventer of the ace cutter with tons of variations which has been used by many wrestlers since its inception . I dont mean to insult anyone just curious how many knew that

*warning: long answer don't read if you don't want a well thought out and reasoned answer)

For me, it is the over 20 year spanning feud between Puerto Rico's most famed wrestler Carlos Calon and the iconic nasty Abdulah the Butcher. These 2 feuded in some downright gruesome for the time matches, including Puerto Rican death matches, cage matches, no holds barred and other violent affairs long before an ECW or nowadays CZW. The 2 contrasting styles were fun to see, and boy did large crowds come to see these 2 bloody each other up. This feud was not strictly contained to Puerto Rico however, as the 2 fought at events in america like Starcade. Segments in this feud like Abbie stabbing Calon with a fork while he is in a net is somewhat classic, and does not pertain to bloody matches. This feud also spilled into a nice program with fellow legendary brawlers Bruiser Brody and Hansen, which was sort of a foreigners invading feud, where Abbie and Carlos united. This feud would not only help pave the way for hardcore feuds and companies like CZW, but also provide international fans with a very long lasting, entertaining feud.

However, when great feuds come up, only us old and seasoned fans bring up the feud on a list, hence why I feel the feud is underrated. (More impact than credited for). It is saying something when you could say this is perhaps Abbie's best 1 or 2 feuds (vs Brody the other), and a great feud for Calon, who had been championing the WWC for so long. (25 times I think). Calon needed something to versify himself, and this certainly helped him get more known to American fans, since Abbie had worked in many a territory in his nomadic tours bloodying all in his path. I ask you though, what feud do YOU consider underrated in the world of wrestling?

This is completely subjective, but there is NO DOUBT that no one has the volume of diversified classics be it tag team, 6 man Misawa and CO vs Jumbo and CO or a legion of singles matches, as Misawa who as I wrote my reasons for before my question got deleted, is the greatest in ring performer of all time. Anyway, the high spots of Misawa's greatest matches are:

Kawada vs Misawa Triple Crown 1994: Emotional brilliantly long and intense psychological match that some consider the greatest match of all time, plus you can just SEE the determination in Kawada's style in the match, plus the match is brilliant upon building off of other matches where Kawada hurt his knee

Kobashi vs Misawa 1998 10/30: Some also consider this the greatest match of all time

The 1995 tag team classic that builds off of the 1992 one, and is considered the best tag match of all time (Misawa Kobashi/Taue Kawada)

Jumbo Tsura/ Mitsuharu Misawa 1990 : The best passing of the torch match bar none and wonderful storytelling as Misawa is great in making a now older and slower Jumbo look like he can still be a threat

Of course, with the Taker/Michaels wrestlemania matches, Guerrero/Malenko, Angle/Benoit RR 2003, Flair/Funk I quit match, Austin/Hart WM 13 match, Bret vs Owen WM 10, , Liger/Sano 1989, Flair/Steamboat trilogy, Punk vs Joe 2, Lynn/RVD, Savage/Steamboat WM 3, the 2 final matches of the 1994 Super J Cup, Daniels/Styles/Samoa Joe, Austin Rock at WM 17, Guerrero V Mysterio 1997 Halloween Havoc, Hart/Bulldog at Summerslam 1992, The Dynamite Kid/Tiger Mask 1 matches, Kobashi/Akyama last encounter, and Hart/Michaels Iron man match WM 12 among many others, there is stiff competition for the top 15 matches of the last 30 years title, so I ask buy or sell the question!

For example, perhaps you wish that with his aggressive style, darker gimmick and the mist, you would want Great Muta to go to ECW instead of working in NJPW (The company he is most known for and had the most success wrestling in though he found success in WCW and AJPW where he was the president) Perhaps for us old school fans, you would want an officialy Giant Baba vs Andre feud, thus perhaps you would move Giant Baba to WWF/WWWF.

By the way, I am leaving this section after many fun months of being a regular top contributor , though occasionally I will answer a question or two. I hope I have enlightened or tought someone some fact with my 53 years of very vast wrestling knowledge and wish the most prosperity to this section and its users in the future.

Be it Black Saturday when Vince purchased TBS's GCW timeslot to try to further monopolize wrestling, which turned into a huge failure for Vince since fans were ticked off that their high quality wrestling was replaced with cartoonish "sports entertainment" and ratings tanked, thus Mcmahon sold his slot to Jim Crockett, be it Vince Mcmahon Jr's failed weightlifting league, or even his involvment in creating a much larger steroid atmosphere in wrestling, Vince has had his fair share of failures, but which failure do you think has been Vince's largest? I would have to go with the xfl as the idea of having a much lesser talented gimmicked football league to take down the nfl juggernaut just wasn't going to succeed and never took off at all. Black Saturday a very close second.

For me it is HBK vs Flair (or HBK vs Y2J)

The man was Vince Sr's top draw in the mid 60's through the 70's headlining and even selling out the Garden (WWWF's primary operative) many a time. Promoters liked Bruno's charisma and he was over so much as a face that he held the title for 10 straight years! The man was a powerhouses' powerhouse who even slammed the heavy Haystacks long before Andre slammed Hogan. Bruno also has a lot of longevity workiing for WWWF/WWF/ I as a young fan to a teen in his prime at the time loved his charisma and powerful moveset, and wonder if guys like Gange (AWA), Dusty Rhodes NWA/WCW), Ric Flair NWA/WCW) and Bobo Brazil (NWA after Vince Sr split) all are in the hall yet known for work for rival promotions, why isn't Bruno in the hall?

Note: I realize that Bruno and Vince Jr have a bit of bad blood, but the relationship between Vince jr and Bret Hart have been repaired)

Asante is still in my view a top 8 cornerback in the league

(Revis, Woodson, Nnamdi, Flowers, Mathis, Williams (GB) , Mccourty not in that order being the others) , yet Samuel doesn't seem to get much praise, though he is great zone coverage corner, as well as popping a big hit on a wide reciever, Asante has good instincts and is great at especially getting interceptions as the man tied for leading the league in picks 2 years ago and last year got 7 in just 11 games, as well as in 06 a 10 pick year! In fact, after 7 years, Samuel is 3rd among Cornerbacks in career interceptions behind Bailey and Woodson who have played over a decade.

Despite this talent, people talked about Reevis and Asomough as a godly team, but no one mentions the potential threat of Asante and Nnamdi at opposite sides. scary considering people will probably test Samuel (assuming he is not traded) now that Nnamdi is covering the primary guy, which could results in a huge year for Samuels if the Eagles keep him around. I just ask, do you think Asante is being underrated or overshadowed?

Legendary comedian Richard Pryor needs no introduction to most of you and is very highly thought of as a true king of comedy along with Carlin and a select few others. I ask you what is your personal favorite Richard Pryor bit/joke/skit/material. Mine is the Winos dealing with Dracula skit.

BQ: Sam Kinison underrated or overrated in your opinion and why?

(on a side note this is the first question I have asked outise of the wrestling section not counting the favor for a relative if any wrestling section lurkers are reading)

Basically, from A to Z name who you think is the greatest wrestler who's ring name starts with the letter . If he has 2 names, go with the second name. IE: for A one might put Steve Austin or for U obviously Undertaker. Here is mine:

A: Steve Austin

B:Nick Bockwinkel

C: Ed Carpentier (for the kids who weren't alive to see him or dont know him look him up he was very graceful, a big draw locally and highly skilled technically though known for brawls with Killer Kowalski)

D: Rob VanDam

E: Kerry Von Erich

F: Ric Flair

G: Gorgeous George (Andre the Giant REAL close second, but for his major influence both on the prototypical cocky blonde heel persona, the influnce on famed celebs, the unheralded popularity, ability to get heat and starting a foreign object trend, Wagner gets the nod

H: Bret Hart ( or Hulk Hogan depending on how you go about the list)

I ( this is the US version, thus no Inoki, so I suppose Ivory will work

J: Chris Jericho

K: Dynamite Kid (sorry Killer)

L: Ernie Ladd (known as the cat and he was agile and a popular heel in the day)

M: Shawn Michaels

N: Bronko Nagurski (off the top of my head the best I could do)

O: Paul Orndorff (Bob Orton suitable as well)

P: Roddy Pipper

Q: Mike Quackenbush

R: Buddy Rodgers (Harley Race real close second)

S: Bruno Sammartino

T: Lou Thez

U: Undetaker

V: Greg Valentine

W: Barry Windham

X: Xpac

Y: Yokozuna

Z: Larry Zbyszko

Assuming the Kings of Wrestling reach a deal with WWE, do you expect them to be a tag team, part of a ROH stable with CM Punk perhaps along with the rumored Cabanna and a called up Tyler Black or a least some involvment in the Punk vs WWE storyline, or maybe the two wil be solo stars since WWE's tag team division is so weak. How do you expect Claudio and Chris Hero will be used? Also, do you think we will see any other ROH talent in WWE in the future?

Both men tough as nails (Sasaki being 1 of VERY few who aren't even phased by Kobashi's machine gun chops), powerful men (especially Sasaki who is strong as a bull) with many different suplexes in their arsonal. Both men have submissions, Taz having the Tazmission and camel clutch while Kensuke has many stranglehold variations. Where the comaparison ends is in that Sasaki has judo elements and more "drivers" if you will that are vicious and innovative along with stiff as hell chops, strikes and a devastating lariat while Taz has somewhat common suplexes and renames them in Tazz forms (ie: belly to belly Tazplex or Tbone Tazplex), and has more of a brawling style than Kensuke. Sasaki has had enormous success being a grand slam competitor in Japan ( IWGP, Triple Crown, and GHC title ), while Taz's biggest success comes from his run in ECW. In the end, I just don't see Taz overcoming the endurance, strength, size and versatility advantages of Sasaki, and ultimately while Taz gives a tough Brooklyn fight, I see Taz being another victim of the Volcano Eruption in the end. How do you see this battle of suplex masters ending?

No doubt Terry Funk was great, be it with his brother Dory in the physical as hell early 80's brawls in Japan vs fellow brawlers Hansen and Bruiser Brody, be it his ultra successful run in NWA feuding with and having a classic i quit match with Flair, as well as numerous feuds like with Harley Race among others, or even be it Funk's great ECW work where Funk used his already solid legacy and smarts to put over the young talent in ECW, where he would have a classic triple threat draw with Shane Douglas vs Sabu, which many credit this match for ushering in the true "attitude era" of wrestling. In the 70's and 80's Funk wrestled a southern texas brawling yet still traditional and methodical style with piledrivers and his spinning toe hold and brawling with elbows and such, and then Funk changed his style to a hardcore suit where Funk would have his ECW classic and the infamously bloody king of the death match vs Cactus Jack among other brutal matches. No matter what, Funk always had a good sense of psychology and had talent in his fist over technique style. No doubt Funk has the longevity, evolution, working/in ring ability and success to be a top 30 great, but I ask you do you consider the Funker an top 30 wrestler of all time? (yes I realize it is very hard to compare real old school wrestlers like Gotch and Hackenschmidt to more modern guys like Michaels and Taker)

With all the raving reception to the MITB ppv around here, I ask you what ppvs WWE produced do you think are the top 10 of the decade (2001-2011) Here are mine (note: if you don’t want to read my typical real long answer PLEASE skip)

1. WM 17: No brainer here as you got great wrestling/storytelling in Angle/Benoit, a solid hardcore match, a highly spotful and entertaining TLC match , and of course the best of the 3 Rock/Austin matches setting up an actually heel Austin ( where he would be booed not cheered) . Not to mention a good HHH vs Undertaker matchup. Real good crowd throughout this night makes for a bonus and a little comedic gimmick battle royal.

2. WM 19: HBK/Jericho is a classic, you got the last match Stone Cold wrestled in and the last of the Austin/Rock feud, Lesnar/Angle was a good and memorable wrestling match, and HHH/Booker T was a solid piece of storytelling (though Booker seemed to me to get the short end of the stick in the feud and this sort of stroked HHH's ego) Not to mention an entertaining short Mysterio/Hardy match and a technical triple threat match.

3. ONS 05: some great technical wrestling, harcore stuff, a good shootish promo by Paul Heyman, and off the charts atmosphere

4. Wrestlemania 21: The first and in my opinion best MITB match, a classic dream match of HBK/Taker, a good Orton vs Taker match, Cena's first title win as well as Batista. Real solid ppv

5. Wrestlemania 20: A classic triple threat match which ended in an highly emotional and great moment for WWE ending the show, a good and underrated good Guerrero/Angle match with a tremendous ending as well as an underrated Jericho vs Christian match. the last wrestlemania the Rock wrestled in (until Wrestlemania 28), and the return of the Undertaker after so much hype.

6. Summerslam 2002: Real good in ring wrestling with RVD/Benoit, Angle/Mysterio, an good return for HBK kicking off the great HBK vs HHH feud, and a passing of the torch from Rock to Lesnar in a sense.

7. Wrestlemania 24: A classic old school Flair vs HBK match where emotions ran high and Flair lost and "retired", a great Edge vs Taker match, sme other solid matches. Real underrated event

8. Royal Rumble 2001: Well booked unique and fun rumble, a great ladder match between Benoit and Jericho, and a solid WWF title match puts that card on this list

9. MITB 2011: Cena vs Punk was a in my view borderline great match and the best of Cena’s since 2007 and Punk’s best at least since TLC vs Jeff, also an good spotfest but entertaining and innovative MITB match from the RAW brand particularly and another solid MITB match. A rare energetic crowd all night and this ppv sneaks in at number 9 in my opinion.

10. Bad Blood 04: WHAT one might ask: but an awesome storytelling and brutal hell in the cell match between HBK and HHH was super and a good Benoit vs Kane title match that I thought was Kane’s 2nd best match of his career behind wm 14. a good tag team match from La Resistance vs Benoit and Edge as well and Benjamin putting on a clinic vs Orton with an decent Tomko vs Jericho match and I put Bad Blood 04 at 10.

Honorable mention: Vengence 2003