ZubazKid

I also love his tag match with Ron Simmons against The Fantastics at Clash IV. Seems like a very random match, but turns out great. Gilbert gives a helluva FIP performance selling his shoulder and fighting & digging down until like the 3rd time he rams his shoulder to the post is just too much. It was in Chattanooga so Eddie was over like a God.

He’s got a match against Tully on the 5/16/87 Pro I liked quite a bit. I’ve often wondered if both Ricky & Robert had other partners if we might be talking about 2 great babyface tags. I think Gibson was very good as FIP, I think it was one of his great strengths. But Ricky’s the best to ever do it so obviously gets more credit.

I’m a little surprised PAC isn’t getting more discussion here, since he’s killing it in AEW right now, but I think he’s worthy of consideration. Nearly every time I watch a PAC match I find something enjoyable about it, and whenever I’m getting burned out researching a particular style for this project, I take a break and watch a few PAC matches and am always glad I did. Whether it was as a fresh-faced, up-and-coming high-flyer in PWG in '07 or the arrogant, bullying Bastard in RevPro in ‘19, he always brings something interesting to the table. The fact that he can play both characters and tell good stories as he’s evolved as a worker is a big point in his favor in my book. As he’s bulked up, he’s added more power moves to his arsenal, but maintained his athleticism and can still break out his aerial moves. Check out the match against Michael Oku below for a good example. I haven’t even mentioned his NXT stint, which included a classic against Sami Zayn, again telling a great in-ring story to go along with the athleticism. And he’s still going strong as his AEW work, particularly the match against Andrade, shows. I think he deserves consideration now, but the Bastard could add significantly to his case before 2026. I’ve included a few match suggestions that I find interesting and enjoyable. I’ve got more research to do, so this isn’t a complete list or anything. I notably didn’t include or mention his work in DragonGate since I’m not familiar with it (but will do what I can to change that before ballots are due) and I know there are many on here that are well-versed in DragonGate, so I’d welcome any other match recommendations. Vs. Kevin Steen- PWG Holy Diver Down- 2/24/07 w/Roderick Strong vs. Briscoe Brothers- PWG DDT4- 5/20/07 (I think this is a tremendous, fast-paced tag match) w/Roderick Strong vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico- PWG Giant Sized Annual #4- 7/29/07 Vs. Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Tyson Kidd- NXT Takeover Fatal Four-Way-9/11/14 Vs. Sami Zayn- NXT- R-Evolution- 12/11/14 PAC vs. Pentagon Jr. - TNT Extreme Wrestling - 4/18/19 PAC vs. Michael Oku- RevPro Live at the Cockpit 42- 6/2/19 (I love the story they tell here and PAC really helps get the crowd behind Oku) PAC vs. Kenny Omega- AEW All Out 2019- 8/31/19 PAC vs. Amazing Red- RevPro British J Cup 2019- 11/24/19 Andrade El Idolo vs. PAC- AEW Rampage-10/22/21 PAC & Penta El Zero Miedo vs. FTR- AEW Dynamite 12/3/21

I've been watching the 80s Lucha set in rotation with the 80s AJPW & NJPW sets & I think Lucha is definitely harder to get into & get a feel for. I hadn't watched any lucha or puro to speak of before these sets. I found Lucha matches to be structured differently making it harder for me to determine Faces from heels (or rudos from technichos I guess) & even to tell which wrestler was which. I seem to be able to understand the gist of Japanese commentary better than Spanish despite taking Spanish in HS & college (that was a minute ago & I was never very good at it.) The appearance of so many gaijin undoubtedly made puro a lot more familiar & easier to comprehend as well. The production values in Japan also made it easier to see what's going on & that was a challenge with some of the Lucha footage. Now that's not to say any of this is bad. Indeed I've been pleasantly surprised by the blood soaked brawls & mask pulling in some of the best Lucha. I'd been expecting more "Nitro Cruiserweight" style, which I enjoy, but I appreciate the variety between the brawls & a good trios match with some flying. The 2/3 falls format & heavy use of submissions that don't allow you to tell when they are submitting took some getting used to. Overall, Lucha isn't my favorite style but I'm trying to learn. Sangre Chicana & El Hijo del Santo stand out but I expect more to come from El Satanico, El Dandy & others.

@InYourCase thanks for the recommendations. I had only seen a handful of Shingo matches from ROH previously. I've just been bumbling around YT & DM so far like an ADHD afflicted WWE writer, but loved the BxB Hulk hair match linked above as well as 1 from 2017. Also thought the Danielson match was tremendous. Looking forward to watching more of his DG stuff & eventually his NJPW run. But Shingo has carried himself with such an aura & brings violence & a disdain for his opponent to all the matches I've seen so far so looking forward to more.

I've been working my way through the 80s AJPW, Lucha & NJPW sets alternating (2 discs AJPW, 2 Lucha, 2 NJPW, repeat.) Also one off matches of 70s AJPW, Joshi & some 95 WCW (yes on purpose why do you ask?) Not sure I'm finding anything unexpected, the names highly through of here are popping Fujinami, Hansen, Funk, Jumbo, Billy Robinson, Destroyer, Choshu. Struggling to follow lucha but Sangre Chicana & El Hijo del Santo look good in the little bits I've seen. Joshi has been random matches but Jaguar Yokota has impressed & Hokuto v. Kandori was tremendous.

Here are matches 15-6. Top 5 should drop next Friday. http://placetobenation.com/gwcw-match-results-match-15-6/

I've got a lot of catching up to do on various eras, promotions, styles, etc. So I outlined a rough plan to do so. Right now I'm watching comps for 80s Memphis, AJPW, NJPW & Lucha. I'll watch a couple discs of one then move onto the next so I don't get burned out on any one style. Next year I want to fill in some WWE gaps, take another look at my ROH collection & check out Portland & AWA, and so on. I may switch things up, focus on a candidate that interests me along the way, but having some semblance of a plan will help me see if I'm on track. I'm rating matches from each comp as I go, but I am trying to decide how to keep better track of candidates that appear in many different places. I am keeping a working list and will move candidates up & down it, but I don't add anyone until I feel like I've seen enough to consider them so it's nearly worthless now. Lastly, I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I want to watch as much as I can because I enjoy watching wrestling & want to see new stuff. I'm taking the project seriously & I'll consider everyone I can, but if it's more about the journey than the destination (and I believe it is) if I can't get to everything or something derails me hopefully I'll have still seen a bunch of great new stuff. At least I'm saying that with 5 years left.

I think there's a pretty good Mixon 80s JCP goodness and 90s stuff. Chad did a good job preaching the JCP gospel on Carolina Dreamin'.

Here are the next round of results in the PTBN GWCW Match project. We are in the top 25 now and results should drop the next 2 Fridays on the Place to Be Nation site. http://placetobenation.com/gwcw-match-results-match-25-16/

Tyler Bate His freakish strength for a guy his size leads to some interesting offense, & I thought his emoting in the corner added a lot to the story of the NXT TV tag title match against Undisputed Era. He's been a stalwart of NXT UK with great singles & tag matches, Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne NXT Takeover Chicago Moustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era NXT TV 7/11/18 Tyler Bate vs. WALTER NXT UK Takeover Cardiff

Thanks to everyone who helped compile these resources. I've been pretty confined to WWE, WCW & ROH, but really wanted to start expanding into other eras, parts of the world, territories, etc., so the timing of this project is perfect. I've got some GH comps too, but a list like this makes catching up on viewing possible, if daunting. I'm a bit of a blank canvas so looking forward to seeing tons of new stuff.

The top 100 matches have started to drop. Results are posted every Friday at placetobenation. Sorry I forgot to post when the countdown began, but you can find previous results linked in the article below. http://placetobenation.com/gwcw-match-results-match-100-76/

Ballots are now open! You have until 12/31 to vote at the link below (also on the FB page under announcements) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfA0xWeKzXXINlm5RSthnfKU_rAyG8V9YTbb_nIO9UCXhFl5Q/viewform

I've updated the Google doc and tried to add matches from here not already included https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UwSVmjhfoqvSEygTNMLriPfx7komnGOkdi-oMVUZQCE/edit?usp=drivesdk