Nathers

Just watched this a couple of days ago myself and it's a real gem of a match. Top 20 for the year in my book.

October Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW, 10/19/90) ****1/2 Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF, 10/25/90) ****1/2 Akira Maeda vs. Masakatsu Funaki (UWF, 10/25/90) ****1/4 Genichiro Tenryu vs. George Takano (SWS, 10/11/90) **** Rick & Scott Steiner vs. Nasty Boys (Halloween Havoc, 10/27/90) **** El Dandy vs. El Satanico (EMLL, 10/26/90) **** Midnight Express vs. Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich (Halloween Havoc, 10/27/90) ***1/2 Midnight Express vs. Rick & Scott Steiner (NWA World Championship Wrestling, 10/13/90) ***1/2 Doom vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson (Halloween Havoc, 10/27/90) ***1/2 Hart Foundation vs. Rockers (WWF Fort Wayne, 10/30/90) ***1/4 The best six man of the year jumps into my top 10, great great match. UWF has been an enjoyable promotion to watch on the yearbook and this was their best 1-2 punch. Takada/Fujiwara had more going on but Funaki/Maeda was quality too. Tenryu/Takano was a blast, short but very engaging. A number of good to great tags in the US highlighted by the Nasty Boys/Steiners. Even without Kid/Lynn (a '91 match so I skipped it for now) this is still one of the best in ring months of the year.

September Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 9/30/90) ****3/4 Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 9/1/90) ****1/2 Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs. Cien Caras (EMLL, 9/21/90) ****1/4 Great Muta vs. Hiroshi Hase (NJPW, 9/14/90) **** Fantastics vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (AJPW, 9/7/90) ***3/4 El Satanico, El Hijo Del Santo & Eddy Guerrero vs. Los Brazos (EMLL, 9/15/90) ***3/4 Fantastics vs. Joe Malenko & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW, 9/1/90) ***3/4 Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 9/29/90) ***1/2 Ricky Morton vs. Bobby Eaton (NWA World Championship Wrestling, 9/29/90) ***1/4 Vader vs. Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW, 9/14/90) ***1/4 All Japan is really hitting a groove now. The 45 minute draw was pretty incredible and seemed to fly through while watching. Jumbo/Misawa II improved on the June encounter though in a way I was slightly let down by it. Weird because it's still an excellent match and I did like it a lot, it just wasn't the MOTY that I thought it would be. Lucha main event was great and I loved Cien Caras heeling it up the way he did. It just added this element that made the match so enjoyable. The Black Scorpion stuff deserves a mention here too. It's right there on the upper echelon of WrestleCrap. The promos do make me chuckle though because it couldn't be anymore obvious that it's Ole delivering them.

August Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Bull Nakano & Grizzly Iwamoto (AJW, 8/19/90) ****1/2 Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW, 8/18/90) ****1/4 Vader vs. Riki Choshu (NJPW, 8/19/90) **** Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto (AJW, 8/19/90) ***3/4 Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 8/31/90) ***3/4 Jushin Liger vs. Pegasus Kid (NJPW, 8/19/90) ***3/4 Atlantis, Angel Azteca & Javier Cruz vs. El Dandy, El Satanico & Emilio Charles Jr (EMLL, 8/24/90) ***1/2 Fit Finlay & Marty Jones vs. Mile Zrno & Franz Schumann (CWA Vienna, 8/3/90) ***1/2 Steve Austin vs. Chris Adams (USWA TX, 8/3/90) ***1/2 Hulk Hogan vs. Earthquake (WWF SummerSlam, 8/27/90) *** Really liked both AJW efforts this month. Toyota/Hokuto certainly had its flaws but it was a very good match with a lot of desperation to it. The tag was my MOTY until the final few minutes when things became disjointed, still awesome though. The 8/18 6 man didn't feel as big as 5/26, they still delivered a great match as you would expect but it felt much more like a build up. I couldn't quite get into the Vader/Hansen matches but Vader/Choshu was great, the control segment was well done leading into a Choshu comeback with a ton of heat and an excellent finish.

July Midnight Express vs. Southern Boys (NWA Great American Bash, 7/7/90) ****1/4 Masa Fuchi vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW, 7/12/90) **** Mr. Perfect vs. Tito Santana (WWF SNME, 7/28/90) ***3/4 Manami Toyota vs. Bull Nakano (AJW, 7/21/90) ***1/2 Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW, 7/7/90) ***1/2 Steve Austin & Jeannie Clark vs. Chris & Toni Adams (USWA TX, 7/20/90) ***1/2 Doom vs. Rock & Roll Express (NWA Great American Bash, 7/7/90) ***1/4 Jeff Jarrett & Billy Joe Travis vs. Sweet Daddy Falcone & Chico Torres (USWA TX, 7/4/90) ***1/4 Ric Flair vs. Sting (NWA Great American Bash, 7/7/90) *** Harley Race vs. Tommy Rich (NWA Great American Bash, 7/7/90) *** Pretty short month, got through it quickly. WCW had some solid matches at the Bash even if it's clear the quality has dropped since the start of the year. The Midnight Express have been outstanding on the yearbook and they pull another gem out of the bag this month. I didn't like it quite as much as the match at Wrestle War but still quality stuff. Perfect-Santana slots in at #3 for WWF. WWF was actually very good this month. Nice build they had going for SummerSlam.

June El Dandy vs. Angel Azteca (EMLL, 6/1/90) ****3/4 Riki Choshu, Kantaro Hoshino, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Animal Hamaguchi, Super Strong Machine, Tatsutoshi Goto, Hiro Saito & Masonobu Kurisu (NJPW, 6/26/90) ****1/2 Akira Maeda vs. Nobuhiko Takada (UWF, 6/21/90) ****1/4 Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 6/8/90) ****1/4 Aja Kong, Grizzly Iwamoto & Bison Kimura vs. Manami Toyota & Honey Wings (H-UWF, 6/4/90) **** El Dandy & El Satanico vs. Atlantis & Angel Azteca (EMLL, 6/15/90) ***3/4 Negro Casas vs. Yoshinari Asai (H-UWF, 6/7/90) ***3/4 Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta (AJW, 6/17/90) ***3/4 Stan Hansen vs. Steve Williams (AJPW, 6/5/90) ***3/4 Riki Choshu vs. Animal Hamaguchi (NJPW, 6/12/90) ***1/2 What a great month, every promotion outside the US brought something to the table. Dandy/Azteca was a match I was expecting to be down on, I'm not a fan of extensive matwork but you can't help but be impressed at how simple and slick everything was, Dandy gives an exceptional performance and they found a way to engage me throughout the 30+ minutes. If the 80s NJ 10 man tags are better than the one this month then clearly I've been missing out, this one should make my top 10 for the year. Maeda/Takada takes the #1 spot for shoot style. Jumbo/Misawa didn't hit classic status but the heat, story and finish is enough for me to rate it among the upper echelon. Yearbook has picked up in a big way. Roll on July.

May Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Kabuki & Masa Fuchi (AJPW, 5/26/90) ****1/2 El Dandy, El Satanico & Emilio Charles Jr. vs Atlantis, Javier Cruz & Angel Azteca (EMLL, 5/11/90) **** Riki Choshu vs. Keiji Muto (NJPW, 5/24/90) ***3/4 Midnight Express vs Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk (WCW Capital Combat, 5/19/90) ***3/4 Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs Yumiko Hotta & Mitsuko Nishiwaki (AJW, 5/13/90) ***3/4 Ric Flair vs Lex Luger (WCW Capital Combat, 5/19/90) ***1/2 MS-1, Emilio Charles Jr. & Ulises vs Atlantis, El Dandy & El Satanico (EMLL 5/4/90) ***1/2 Riki Choshu vs Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW, 5/28/90) ***1/2 Kerry Von Erich vs Matt Borne (USWA TX, 05/11/90) ***1/2 Rick & Scott Steiner vs Doom (WCW Capital Combat 05/19/90) ***1/4 AJ 6 man! Going into the year I half expected to have them at #1, #2 and #3 for the year. Heh. While that's not quite the case I'd be surprised if they didn't all rank very high in my top 100. 5/11 is my #1 lucha match on the set so far. Some impressive sequences there. The contrast between the athletic feats of Atlantis & Dandy one minute then switching to Cruz & Satanico squaring up gave it that real nice variety too. This was the easiest month to plow through, USWA angles have picked up and I'm generally enjoying what everyone was putting out in May. Except RoboCop, that shit was bad. Thanks soup

April Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto vs. Masa Kurisu & Dragon Master (FMW, 4/1/90) ****1/4 Hulk Hogan vs. Stan Hansen (WWF/AJPW, 4/13/90) **** Kazuo Yamawaki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF, 4/15/90) **** Randy Savage vs. Genichiro Tenryu (WWF/AJPW) ***3/4 Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoji Anjo (UWF, 4/15/90) ***3/4 Ryuma Go vs. Masaji Aoyagi (Pioneer, 4/5/90) ***1/2 Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior (WWF WresteMania VI, 4/1/90) ***1/2 Midnight Express vs. Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk (NWA Power Hour, 4/23/90) ***1/2 Midnight Express vs. Rock & Roll Express (NWA Main Event, 4/22/90) ***1/2 Akira Maeda vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWF, 4/15/90) ***1/2 The wild brawl from FMW takes the #1 spot for April. Brilliant match. I found the Pioneer match hard to grade as I'm struggling to think of anything I've seen like it. There were great things about it but it also annoyed me at times too. ***1/2 felt like the right choice. I've probably overrated Hogan/Warrior somewhat but it was a nice surprise and well put together. Nothing absolutely blew me away here but there's a number of gems that made this month very enjoyable.

Not that it's massively important but is anyone else confused by the commentary during the Ascension stuff over the past few weeks? It's like JBL is shooting on them. Here's a funny stretch of dialogue from this week: JBL: (Rags on them because of who they're facing.) Booker T: "We got to give these guys the benefit of the doubt" JBL: "No we don't" Booker T: "I got to put these guys over here" Weird stuff, isn't JBL supposed to be the heel commentator? I'm not a fan of them by the way, just commentary shitting on them is strange. There's probably something to it.

March Jerry Estrada vs. El Satanico (EMLL, 3/23/90) **** Ric Flair vs. Ricky Morton (NWA World Wide Wrestling, 3/24/90) **** Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk vs. Midnight Express (NWA World Championship Wrestling, 3/10/90) ***1/2 El Dandy vs. Angel Azteca (EMLL, 3/23/90) ***1/2 Eddie Gilbert vs. Cactus Jack (NWA Power Hour, 3/23/90) ***1/4 Jeff Jarrett & Bill Dundee vs. Robert Fuller & Brian Lee (USWA TX, 3/30/90) ***1/4 Tiger Mask vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 3/6/90) *** Atlantis, Villano III & El Satanico vs. Pirata Morgan, Jerry Estrada & Emilio Charles Jr. (EMLL, 3/16/90) *** Bret Hart vs. Rick Martel (WWF MSG, 3/19/90) **3/4 Perro Aguayo vs. Gran Hamada (H-UWF, 3/2/90) **3/4 The top two stood out in what will probably be the worst month of the year for match quality. I really enjoyed Flair/Morton but had to give the Estrada/Satanico the edge due to its big fight feel and emotion. It's clear from watching the Dandy/Azteca match that they're capable of great things in the ring together so I'm looking forward to see them clash again in June. One massive positive of making it through this month is no more Hogan/Warrior build. Win.

February Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger (NWA Wrestle War, 2/25/90) ****1/2 Midnight Express vs. Rock & Roll Express (NWA Wrestle War, 2/25/90) ****1/2 Genichiro Tenryu & Tiger Mask vs. Riki Choshu & George Takano (AJPW/NJPW, 2/10/90) **** Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF, 2/27/90) **** Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Kengo Kimura & Osamu Kido (AJPW/NJPW, 2/10/90) ***3/4 Larry Zbyszko vs. Masa Saito (AJPW/NJPW, 2/10/90) ***3/4 Ric Flair vs. Brian Pillman (NWA World Championship Wrestling, 2/17/90) ***3/4 Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs. Rock & Roll Express (NWA Main Event, 2/18/90) ***1/2 Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF, 2/9/90) ***1/2 Midnight Express vs, Rock & Roll Express (NWA Worldwide, 2/10/90) ***1/2 WCW, the AJ/NJ card and UWF take up the top 10 for February. Good month all in all, some MOTYCs with USWA and WCW bringing the goods angle wise. Can't complain. Flair just continues to deliver, on the mic, in the ring, flirting with Woman. It's all great. WCW for that matter has been the best promotion by some distance through the first couple of months as others have mentioned here. The AJ/NJ card was awesome, crowd was nuts the whole way through. Really helped matches that could have been pretty average on paper (the Jumbo tag for one) seem like a massive deal.

I'll probably just stick to this "top 10" format and then post my top 100 once it's finished. Top 10 for January Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (NJPW, 1/31/90) ****3/4 The Rockers vs. Powers of Pain (WWF MSG, 1/15/90) ****1/4 Ron Garvin vs. Greg Valentine (WWF Royal Rumble, 1/21/90) **** Ric Flair vs. Bobby Eaton (NWA Main Event, 1/7/90) **** Akira Hokuto & Yumiko Hotta vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita (AJW, 1/4/90) **** El Hijo del Santo, Yoshinari Asai & Gran Hamada vs Negro Casas, Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera (WWA, 1990) ***3/4 Kazuo Yamawaki vs. Yoji Anjoh (UWF, 1/16/90) ***3/4 Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Sting vs Buzz Sawyer, Dragon Master & Great Muta (NWA Power Hour, 1/26/90) ***1/2 Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Isao Takagi (AJPW, 1/20/90) ***1/2 Billy Joe Travis vs. Jeff Jarrett (USWA TX, 1/26/90) ***1/2 Liger/Sano was excellent, the previous matches between the two help build a great story and this just feels like a war from the get go, the beating Liger takes gives it that real brutal edge also. If they had cut the beating by a couple of minutes I'd be tempted to give it 5 snowflakes. The Tag match at MSG was pretty unexpected, I didn't read any of the comments on it beforehand and I'd yet to see it. It's just executed so well, a blueprint for little vs large tag matches. WCW has been the standout so far, still early so I hadn't really got a grasp of the context of some things yet but the WCW segments were the most interesting for me. I generally enjoy shoot style for the most part, all of the UWF matches were good, nothing great yet but I'm sure that will change. Lucha is the style I'm most unfamiliar with but it's something that is becoming more engaging as the year goes on. Must say I'm really enjoying going through this, just the sheer variety is superb.

Hey there, my name is Nathan, I'm 20 years old and from the glorious city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. My wrestling viewing started from a young age, my dad used to own a small movie store chain and he got a few WWF videos from the late 90s that I remember watching back then. Royal Rumble '99 and Survivor Series '99 were the two videos from what I recall. Heh, I used to love the 99 Rumble video but that PPV really doesn't hold up well now. I got into the weekly stuff the following year, me and a bunch a friends used to record Raw and watch the following day after school. Childhood favourite was Jericho, as a kid I found his promos incredibly engaging, the cracks at Stephanie, Benoit, HHH in particular were great. I watched WWE regularly until about 2006 and then stopped, think it's just that natural feeling of growing out of something. The majority of my friends stopped and I just lost interest for a few years. Still played the video games mind you but that was it until about 2010. I stuck Raw on one night and what do you know this group called the Nexus are beating the crap out of John Cena. My interest picked back up then, looked online, bought TEW and I discuss wrestling on a bunch of forums. I've been watching WWE, NJPW and old stuff from Japan semi-regularly ever since. I discovered this forum back in September and it's incredible. I could legit sit for ages reading some of the posts on this forum, great stuff all round. Decided to sign up as I've started going through the yearbooks. I've watched through March 1990 so far and I'll probably post my matches of the months so far sometime over the next week. The GOAT project is something I want to get involved in too, I'm certain my knowledge is nowhere near a lot of people here but I'm sure I'll get up to speed somewhat by WrestleMania XXXII. I'll do a Booker T and just list my fave five right now: Jun Akiyama Jumbo Tsuruta Shinsuke Nakamura Rusev Ric Flair