Reel in Place

Place to be Nation did a list of the 100 greatest matches in WWE history . I like making lists, and I've got plenty of time to waste, so I watched every match nominated and then submitted a ballot . Here's some stuff from that ballot that I put together.  I ended up watching close to 500 matches for this, most of which I had probably seen at least once before, but a lot of them, especially a lot of the 80s stuff, I watched for the first time. When I get to the stats later, you'll see the people who showed up on the list the most, and I'll talk about that a bit later, but there are some guys who aren't exactly heavily represented on here that bare mentioning.  The first thing worth mentioning is that not a lot of pre-Wrestlemania matches ended up getting nominated, and so I think its safe to say that there are big swathes of WWWF stuff that isn't represented here, and to be fair there's not a ton of 60s and 70s stuff around, but if a project like this comes a

The whole playlist is here , for your continuous viewing pleasure.  Ted DiBiase vs Magnum T.A. - July 6, 1984 I'm slowly making my way through the DVDVR Mid-South set, and a lot of it is good, but nothing so far has struck me as great. This isn't great, but it's the best thing I've seen thus far. Stan Hansen vs Jerry Blackwell - June 28, 1986 Blackwell's a guy with a rep as an all-time great wrestler, which in my limited viewing I don't see, but Hansen rules, and he beats the shit out of Blackwell with a boot here.  Stan Hansen and Genichiro Tenryu vs Giant Baba and Rusher Kimura - November 29, 1989 Hansen and Tenryu assault senior citizens. An all-timer. Rey Mysterio Jr, Solar, and Volador vs Fuerza Guerrera, Juventud Guerrera, and La Parka - October 30, 1993 An all killer, no filler Lucha 6 man. Masahito Kakihara vs Yoshinari Ogawa - January 15, 1999 Ogawa trying to beat a UWFi guy with eye pokes and cradles, great stuff. Mariko Yoshida vs Megumi Fujii - May 2

The whole playlist is here , for your continuous viewing pleasure.  El Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas - July 18, 1987 I was thinking about Hijo del Santo early this week, and I'm not entirely sure, but if you asked me right now, I think I'd say he's the greatest wrestler off all time. His offense is perfect and he puts together great matches. Negro Casas would be the best luchador ever if Santo didn't exist. El Hijo del Santo vs Psicosis - May 3, 1995 These guys supposedly have a ton of great matches, but this is the only one I've seen. If this is any indication, I'd bet the rest are pretty great. El Hijo del Santo & Negro Casas vs Bestia Salvaje & Scorpio Jr. - March 19, 1999 I don't know a ton about Salvaje, supposedly he's a guy who shines in trios matches, and honestly I'm not going out of my way to watch random trios matches, so I don't know, but he's good here. El Hijo del Santo vs Blue Panther - April 9, 2000 Older Santo, older

The whole playlist is here , for your continuous viewing pleasure. Tatsumi Fujinami vs Chavo Guerrero - May 9, 1980 I downloaded a bunch of the old DVDVR sets, and have been jumping around between them. Fujinami in the 80s is really great, but I already knew he was great. Chavo, who I haven't really seen anything of, has impressed me, both here in NJPW and on the Mid-South stuff I've seen him in.  Super Tiger vs Marty Jones - March 2, 1985 A lot of stuff came out about Marty Jones being a racist piece of garbage recently, so if that effects you're enjoyment of watching him wrestler, that's cool. He's not going to make any money off of this though, and I like this match, so here it is. One of the few good Sayama matches from this period.  Mr. Gannosuke vs Leon Spinks - August 31, 1993 ' One of these guys beat Muhammed Ali, the other went on to be one of the stars of the Guts World promotion. Is it a good wrestling match? No, but for what it is, its great.  Abdull

The whole playlist is here , for your continuous viewing pleasure. Carlos Colon vs Stan Hansen - October 12, 1986 There is a comp video of this entire feud on YouTube, I just started watching it. This is the first match on that comp, I really liked it. Atsushi Onita, Tarzan Goto, and Hijo del Santo vs Horace Boulder, Tim Patterson, and Negro Casas - May 16, 1992 Negro Casas and Hijo del Santo, maybe the two best wrestlers in the history of lucha, have a great lucha match, while the other 4 FMW guys brawl around the arena. Kensuke Sasaki vs Masahito Kakihara - October 9, 1995 This is from the first UWFi vs NJPW show. The entire show is fun, but kind of a dud. Takada/Mutoh stinks, Liger/Sano is good not great, and this match isn't great either, but they hit each other hard and the finish is cool.  Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan - April 29, 2012 Sheamus rules. Daniel Bryan might be the greatest wrestler ever. This is one of the best 2 out of 3 falls matches in modern history.  Roman Reigns

The whole playlist is here , for your continuous viewing pleasure.   Terry Funk vs Stan Hansen - September 11, 1982 This is the precursor to a much more famous match, but that match doesn't break down into Funk and Hansen beating up referees, so how good could that match even be.  Rick Martel vs Terry Funk - September 20, 1986 More of me trying to get into Rick Martel. This is fine, but Terry Funk is the real star, trying to fight an entire baseball stadium. Terry Funk vs Eddie Guerrero - May 20, 1989 Terry Funk in 1989 WCW is one of the best years a wrestler ever had. Two matches with Flair, one with Steamboat, the Halloween Havoc tag, and then these wild B and C show matches with the likes of Cougar Jay and this one with Eddie Guerrero.  Alex Shelley vs Lee Moriarty - November 2, 2019 AIW uploaded this match a couple days ago. It leans a little bit toward a WHAT WILL IT TAKE indie match, but if you squint real hard at specific camera angles, you can see me in an orange UWFi shirt

The whole playlist is here , for your continuous viewing pleasure.  Wahoo McDaniel vs Johnny Valentine - August 30, 1974 Last week had the Johnny Valentine vs Bull Curry match, and that was incredible, so I tried to find some more Johnny Valentine. There isn't much, a couple clips and some short matches, but this 16mm film of the big screen, chopped up into bits, is about as good as it is going to get. Wahoo throws 7 different kind of chops that seem like they would break you in half.   Ernie Ladd vs Tito Torres & Sylvano Sousa - January 7, 1977 More Ernie Ladd, this time mostly yelling at Vince McMahon. Bob Backlund vs Adrian Adonis - January 18, 1982 Some people will try to tell you Bob Backlund is boring and that he was bad. Those people are not your friends, cut those people out of your life.  Super Dragon vs Rising Son - January 5, 2001 These early RevPro shows are this sort of wild amalgam of matches from a Japanese comp tape, where they're doing a mix of All Japan an

The whole playlist is  here , for your continuous viewing pleasure.  Bull Curry vs Johnny Valentine - June 20, 1969 Here is a comprehensive list of the best things in wrestling: cool suplexes, wild dives, shoot punches to the head. The second fall of this match is mostly Curry punching Valentine in the head a bunch, it is incredible.   Nick Bockwinkel vs Ricky Morton - July 2, 1982 Bock rules, 1982 Ricky Morton does a real bad figure four leg lock.  Jumbo Tsuruta vs Genichiro Tenryu - April 20, 1989 This is the first match of the Tenryu/Jumbo series. The second match is one of the greatest matches of all time, but this one is great too. The botched powerbomb at the end is brutal.   Tatsuo Nakano vs Masakatsu Funaki - July 24, 1989 The opening strike exchanges here are great, and Nakano getting beat up is always worth watching. Naoki Sano vs Rick Martel - December 12, 1992 I've been trying to watch more Martel, there was a match with him and Choshu on an earlier one of these, and I

The whole playlist is here , for your continuous viewing pleasure.  Gran Hamada vs Baby Face - April 3, 1980 1980 New Japan is a wild place where you've got Inoki and his nonsense on the top of the card, and then Fujinami, Dynamite Kid, Tiger Mask, Gran Hamada and company having these wild matches on the undercard. Gran Hamada has a great dive in this match that's worth checking out.  Ernie Ladd vs Tom Jones - January 2, 1981 I've been watching WWWF All Star Wrestling lately, mostly on in the background while I'm doing something else, and it can't be overstated how much life Ernie Ladd brings to the shows. He's just the coolest motherfucker alive, especially compared to Bob Backlund, Dino Bravo, and the rest of the late 70's WWWF crew. I'm not sure he was ever a great wrestler in the ring, but it doesn't really matter, and the double leg drop is great.  Hijo del Santo vs Brazo de Oro - January 13, 1991   As I've been working my way through all t

The whole playlist is here , for your continuous viewing pleasure.  ' Tiger Mask II vs La Fiera - August 26, 1984 Tiger Mask Misawa, and really every iteration of Tiger Mask, is polarizing. I'm not crazy about this run, but I don't think it's actively bad, either. In general, I am just sort of generally disappointed in most of the stuff, but there's also usually something cool. The tope in this match rules, but La Fiera is the real star here. Dick Murdoch vs Ray Gonzalez - November 17, 1991 A random TV match between a declining Dick Murdoch and a young Ray Gonzalez, where Murdoch may or may not break Gonzalez's orbital bone, and may or may not keep punching him in the head, while he bleeds buckets. Alexander Otsuka vs Takeshi Ono - March 9, 1996 Someone once described Alexander Otsuka as "Kurt Angle if he was good."   This is from the first Battlarts show, where Es are optional, but suplexes aren't. Low Ki vs Necro Butcher - A

The whole playlist is here , for your continuous viewing pleasure. Mark Rocco vs Fuji Yamada - June 13, 1987 Maskless Liger comes to the ring with a sword, Mark Rocco comes to the ring looking like he read a book about how Japanese people dress. The match is good, though. Ronnie Garvin vs Russ Tyler - June 1, 1988 I've watched a ton of Crockett this year. A good chunk of it is just guys bleeding 7 seconds after the bell rings and matches that are too long, but Ron Garvin slaps the shit out of people, like 2020 Kazuyuki Fujita without the postmodern staring contest. Octagon vs Fuerza Guerrera - November 3, 1991 I write this every week, but I don't know anything about Lucha. So, whatever I say may, and probably will, be wrong. Octagon has never impressed me, I haven't seen a ton, but he seems to just be there most of the time. Fuerza seems pretty good. This match is great though, the best performance I've ever seen from Octagon. Vader vs Dan Bobish

The whole playlist is  here , for your continuous viewing pleasure.   Riki Choshu vs Rick Martel -  October 19, 1985 I'm trying to watch more Rick Martel. I know him from his WWF stuff, which is whatever. He's a pretty great tag team wrestler in the 80s, but by the 90s he's very much ok, and that includes his brief run in WCW, which is one of the most overrated runs in wrestling history. I haven't seen much of his AWA stuff, and none of his stuff in Portland, but this AWA title defense against Choshu is awesome. Jumping Bomb Angels vs Glamour Girls - Novermber 24, 1987 Wrestlemania III aired on FS1 the other day. Steamboat/Savage is great, but this is the best match in 1987 WWF. Vader vs Naoki Sano - October 4, 1993 I'm ambivalent about Vader in UWFi. Some of it is great, the Tamura match and the first Takada match. Some of it is disappointing, the Albright match and the last Takada match are both kinda stinkers. But this match here, this one, th

The whole playlist is here , for your continuous viewing pleasure.  Andre the Giant vs Franz Van Buyten - January 20, 1968 A ton of this wrestling from France showed up online fairly recently. I haven't watched it, but this match got some hype, mostly for being an early Andre match, so I watched it. Franz Van Buyten, who I believe is a German wrestler of some note, spams a bunch of 'ranas in 1968, for real. Giant Baba vs Pedro Morales - June 13, 1974 This is the best Pedro Morales match I've ever seen, which isn't saying much, I haven't seen a lot and most of it has stunk. Baba takes multiple kitchen sink bumps for Pedro, because Baba rules. Invader #1 vs Super Black Ninja - January 30, 1988 I know people don't like Invader, and I'm sure he isn't a great human, but if we're gonna let Chris Benoit's friends rehab his image, we can enjoy some Invader matches. Invader is maybe the best bleeder in wrestling history, he bleeds here w

The whole playlist is here , for your continuous viewing pleasure.  Bruno Sammartino vs Waldo Von Erich - June 16, 1975 Waldo Von Erich is a Nazi. Nazis occupied Bruno's village, forcing Bruno to flee to the mountains where some days they ate snow for lack of food. Waldo stabs Bruno. Bruno beats his ass with one arm. Naomichi Marufuji vs Akira Taue - March 5, 2006 Opinions on Marufuji differ. I like him, but I can see why people don't. Some of his stuff looks bad, some of his stuff is just kind of stupid. Aside from that, this match has a lot of fun counters, including Taue grabbing a chokeslam out of a Shiranui attempt. Post-prime Taue is the best of the post-prime Pillars. Larry Zbyszko vs Sgt. Slaughter - September 7, 1985 I dig Zbyszko, he has a rep for stalling and doing a lot of nothing, which is mostly unfounded. He rules. Sgt, Slaughter, not a real military officer apparently, is one of the best wrestlers ever and takes a stupid bump to the outside on a mi