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When did they make the leap?


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I was watching a match from early 1995 AAA recently and was thinking to myself, "Damn, Eddy looks better here than I ever remember him being when teaming with Love Machine." And it got me wondering if that was when he first became a great worker, and also if there was anyone out there you could pinpoint the moment or match when it happened for.

 

So yeah. The moment when you thought X went from good to great (or, if you'd prefer, from bad to good, or whatever).

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The Steve Austin/Bret Hart angle made both significant and subtle changes to their careers. From a character standpoint Bret was never more convincing then he was as the Hitman character got more agitated with the fact more and more of the audience was cheering the other guy, and how that spun off into the whole Hart Foundation/Canada vs. USA angle was great. Austin had the goodwill of smart marks and people in power like Heyman and Prichard before he even signed with the WWF, he'd gotten an unusual amount of buzz from the "Austin 3:16" promo, working with Bret made him into a star, and the match at WrestleMania 13 made him a legend. Even just on a company level, that angle and the chemistry they had together as characters and in-ring talent, this felt like the first time the WWF could really move on from the ghosts of their previous success and forge a new path.

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Roman Reigns made the leap from a great tag wrestler to a top tier singles wrestler at Summerslam 2014, for me.

 

Also, Braun made the leap when he squashed Ellsworth. It was from that moment on we knew we had something special.

 

 

Braun-Ellsworth is probably the greatest squash in wrestling history, can't think of any other where both parties involved launched careers from it.

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I think it's reasonable to say that Misawa made the leap during the famous Tiger Mask & Kawada vs Yatsu & Fuyuki match when he got Kawada to tear off his mask.

 

It is also the moment when Baba began Misawa's major push (within weeks, Misawa got his big win vs Jumbo). Tenryu had left AJPW, and Baba needed a new star. I'm pretty sure most will agree that Misawa rose to the occasion.

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I'm less sure about this one, but Mick Foley sure seemed to make a leap at Bash at the Beach '92 in the Falls Count Anywhere match vs Sting. His bumping and selling seemed to hit a whole new level and kayfabe wise his character seemed a lot tougher, less quiet and shy, and more dangerous and maniacal from that point on.

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I love me some Eddie. Would love to know what AAA matches are worth watching besides the Love Machine stuff.

 

Some obvious ones:

 

Batista: After starting the 2005 Triple H feud

JBL: After getting repackaged for the Eddie feud

Christian: After debuting in ECW

Tenryu: After starting the Choshu feud

AJ Styles: After leaving TNA

Jericho: After the 2008 heel turn

Sasaki: The 2000 Kawada match

Taue: 1995 Champion's Carnival

Undertaker: After starting the Mankind feud

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Christian: After debuting in ECW

 

This is why TNA is actually a really underrated promotion. Christian's stint in TNA is excellent and he really revels himself as a terrific single's worker and a main-event caliber guy. He was already made-up when he went back to WWECW.

 

AJ Styles: After leaving TNA

 

Sorry, but again, this is ridiculous. Styles was having MOTYs in 2005 in TNA. He was already being a great worker as early as 2003/04. He was overdelivering despite the shitty booking Russo put him though in term of character. He made the best out of every stupid gimmick he was put in (Elevation X anyone ?).

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Cena seemed to start really clicking around after Wrestlemania 22. He had some good matches before, but he really picked it up in the ring around mid 2006.

 

I need to see more early Yoshinari Ogawa, but I remember him starting to get great around the 9/11/98 Akiyama match and The Untouchables forming.

 

DDP got really good around Spring Stampede when he started feuding with Savage. He definitely improved before that and I kind of liked the Johnny B. Badd series, but he seemed like a top guy during and after the Savage feud.

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Roman Reigns made the leap from a great tag wrestler to a top tier singles wrestler at Summerslam 2014, for me.

al.

Roman for me was still pretty green here. His mannerisms and facials just weren't there yet. For me he took the leap when he started his program with AJ at Payback 2016. He became the total package then and hasn't looked back.

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I agree about Christian in TNA. I have never really liked Christian at any other time. Same with Rhino and even Raven.

 

Kinda off topic but someone mentioned Batista above and I love the build to main event Batista. He reminded me of a pet dragon or something. The thumbs up segment is a timeless classic I think. I also have vague fond memories (not revisited yet so..) of Batista in 06-07.

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Roman Reigns made the leap from a great tag wrestler to a top tier singles wrestler at Summerslam 2014, for me.

al.

Roman for me was still pretty green here. His mannerisms and facials just weren't there yet. For me he took the leap when he started his program with AJ at Payback 2016. He became the total package then and hasn't looked back.

I think his best match is the Lesnar one from 2015 though. I'd say that's maybe when it came together for him in my opinion. I rewatched the Bryan Fastlane match recently and while he was good there, he was more of a blank slate than he was even a month later.

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Kawada was very good as part of Footloose & Revolution but, I'd say autumn of '91 is when the Dangerous K light got switched on. October specifically leading into his Triple Crown challenge against Jumbo. He moved past his top rope moves and spin kicks from his Footloose days and firmly settled into the character he'd be for the remainder of his career.

 

Matches would be 09/04/91 tag, 10/10/91 & 10/15/91 6-mans, and 10/24/91 TC.

 

As far as when someone went from good to bad, eh I can say when Paul London left ROH in 2003 at Death Before Dishonor. He was on par or perhaps better all around than Danielson, AJ, and Samoa Joe at the time but, no one is gonna say that now.

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

 

AJ Styles: After leaving TNA

 

 

 

Disagree with this one. AJ had quite a lot of good to great matches in TNA. Huge range of opponents and types of matches as well.

 

 

 

 

Taue: 1995 Champion's Carnival

 

 

Strongly, strongly disagree with this one. 1990-94 Taue is fucking awesome. In fact I'll go out on a limb and say before the Misawa vs. Kawada 93 feud began, Taue was the best of the 4 corners.

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A.J. is interesting as I agree he was already one of the best in the world in 2005, but I feel like it was his jump to New Japan (and later WWE) that really put him into GOAT conversation. He was always a terrific high-flier, great babyface, and top-notch bumper, but his skills as a ring general able to get the most out of almost any opponent I think began after leaving TNA.

 

As for Reigns, I'd argue he made two leaps: Mania 31 and Extreme Rules 2016. Mania was when he first proved he could deliver in a big match setting and Extreme Rules was when he began to regularly deliver bangers almost every single week.

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AJ spent a decade having good to great matches - often even with mediocre opponents. But, realistically, a lot of people were never going to overlook the stigma of TNA enough to give him his due for most of that.

 

To some, Styles had already made his case. But it's also true that this stuff was happening in a forest where nobody was around to hear it, so to speak. There's a lot to be said for building buzz and momentum on a greater scale, which is exactly what he got once he fled TNA. His work didn't change that drastically or anything, if you really look at it.

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As for Reigns, I'd argue he made two leaps: Mania 31 and Extreme Rules 2016. Mania was when he first proved he could deliver in a big match setting and Extreme Rules was when he began to regularly deliver bangers almost every single week.

2015 Reigns was pretty much his marquee year as an elite perfomer, even if to me he made the leap @ Summerslam 2014.

 

I mean, while Rollins kidnapped the belt, Roman was having bangers with BIG SHOW (way less mobile than when he fought Braun, mind you), Wyatt (to this day, his best match was at HiaC 2015 against Roman), goddamn Alberto Del Rio, and against Cesaro and Ambrose at Survivor Series. The Sheamus feud was also fucking incredible, so yeah, I'd say that he's made that second leap before ER'16

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As for Reigns, I'd argue he made two leaps: Mania 31 and Extreme Rules 2016. Mania was when he first proved he could deliver in a big match setting and Extreme Rules was when he began to regularly deliver bangers almost every single week.

2015 Reigns was pretty much his marquee year as an elite perfomer, even if to me he made the leap @ Summerslam 2014.

 

I mean, while Rollins kidnapped the belt, Roman was having bangers with BIG SHOW (way less mobile than when he fought Braun, mind you), Wyatt (to this day, his best match was at HiaC 2015 against Roman), goddamn Alberto Del Rio, and against Cesaro and Ambrose at Survivor Series. The Sheamus feud was also fucking incredible, so yeah, I'd say that he's made that second leap before ER'16

 

 

I'm not really as high on Reigns' 2015 as others. The Big Show LMS match was indeed great, but I thought the Wyatt feud was a bit of a drag. Granted none of that was really his fault as Wyatt is pretty mediocre, but I thought he lost a good chunk of the year to that feud.

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I remember being pleasantly surprised by the Wyatt HIAC match, although I haven't watched it back and may just be confusing my reactions for it with the Rusev match from the following year.

 

What did Reigns do in the back half of 2014 that was any good? Not being sarcastic - I'm genuinely curious if any of it's worth seeking out, because my interest was DEAD for awhile following the one-two punch of Bryan's injury and the Shield breakup. Talk about a fucking drop off after such a great early 2014.

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Reigns didn't have much going on for him after Summerslam '14. He had an incarcerated hernia in September and came back at the end of the year. It seemed like he was going to feud with Seth at that time of the injury.

 

Noteworthy matches were the one against Orton and the Fatal 4 Way between him, Cena, Kane and Orton.

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