Cool find incoming. Wrestler Observer readers voting on the best wrestler of 1989 based on ring work rather than kayfabe accomplishments...

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}

I'll dissect the list later and might even create a table if I don't get too wrapped up with 1999 posting.

Aug 7, 2023 22:30:54 GMT @ness said:

Didya know kayfabe gets the red squiggly. It suggests wayfarer. A traveler.

Real ones wear Wayfarer's Clothes.

Aug 7, 2023 22:55:06 GMT @ness said:

WM6... Was it good or just a fever dream?

Great! The Flair/Steamboat of limited muscleman matches.

Aug 7, 2023 20:59:55 GMT Baker said:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}

Flair is an obvious #1 given it's the greatest of all time having his greatest year.

Wouldn't have guessed Jushin "Riger" being this high this early on. Given Naoki Sano's high placement this must have been the year of their big feud. WON take on Jushin's surname reminds me of another early Observer boner- Big Ben Bader.

Only argument I can see against Steamboat & Funk in the Top 5 is both guys only worked half the year. But they were awesome when around.

Dan Kroffat at #7 is the biggest shocker yet.

#8 Kawada trouncing #70 Kobashi (youngster who did a lot of jobs) and off the list Misawa (injured, it turns out) is another big surprise. 

Shawn Michaels at #9 makes it three surprises in a row. I knew the Rockers were well regarded, but I never would have predicted Observer readers (or anyone) having him Top 10 in the world way back in 1989. He was already the highest ranked WWF guy! As 1/2 of a tag team way back in 1989!

A part of me expected #15 Muta & #23 Scott Steiner to be even higher given how HIGHLIGHT REEL they were

Somebody chat me up on Kazuo Yamazaki. Never heard of him.

Flexy Lexy at #19 HELL YEAH!

Owen > Bret. Then. Now. Forever. I tend to forget Owen was a smark darling long before he became a guy who mattered in WWF.

Shawn & Owen over Bret despite Bret being the most experienced of the bunch has to burn "The Hitman" You know he'd give this list a 4/10.

Eaton falling out of the Top 10 for the first time in years actually makes sense given 89 was a weak year for the Midnights. Still, this list could have been sweeter to Stan Lane.

Observer readers overrated the hell out of WWF Dibiase

Barry Windham is a total reputation pick at #28. I like the Luger match at Chi-Town as much as the next guy, but Windham did nothing of note after February. His WWF run was such a colossal flop that I have a habit of forgetting it ever existed.

This must have been the year Rick Rude got good.

Young Chris Benoit making it this high is another unexpected moment. And check out Eddie at the top of the honorable mentions. JJ, Cactus & Dean show up there as well.

Why did Observer readers hate Tito Santana in 85-86 and love Brad Armstrong so much?

Popped for the late Chris Champion sighting. Also cool to see him get some recognition for his 1987 New Breed run.

No Lawler, no peace.

The jerks who voted won't be invited to Larryland any time soon either.

Just realized no Rougeau Brothers either. Worst. List. Ever.

*I managed to find more of these old Observer lists. Will share if there is any interest.

Joe Malenko > Dean Malenko? Clearly only red-headed stepchildren subscribed to the Observer.

I'm fascinated by the list as well, and I'd love to eventually put together my own. I just wonder what the criteria is? Because looking at the list, it seems to really favour smaller guys who changed up their act one way or another. You can see that with Liger who only just debuted his anime gimmick in April of that year.

To me when I think 89, I exclusively think Flair/Steamboat, Muta, Demolition, The Red Rooster etc. Chris Benoit being this high would have been mind-blowing to me years back. I'm really not that familiar of Benoit's Stampede work, because of the WWE DVD, I always think of his first bit of success coming in NJPW as Kid Pegasus. I could see that getting him on the end of some ballots, but even then 1993 was the year I always thought Benoit broke out, turns out I was wrong.

Aug 9, 2023 0:06:33 GMT Big Pete said:

Joe Malenko > Dean Malenko? Clearly only red-headed stepchildren subscribed to the Observer.

Joe > Dean barely registered with me. This is one anomaly I just accepted given Joe was the more experienced of the brothers Malenko.
===========
Broke this off into its own thread because I found enough data to reconstruct the lists for 85-88. Since we started with 89 I'll begin reconstructing them in reverse order beginning tomorrow. Going to shoot for one a day. 

After coming back from the New Japan Dojo in early 1988 Benoit was used much more prominently in Stampede. In '89 he had the notable dream feud with Dynamite Kid and teaming with Davey after the Bulldogs split. He also feuded with #48 Johnny Smith who was an underrated talent. I think he got injured mid year after a car accident in Banff Alberta with Davey iirc. By the time he was back Stampede was on it's last legs, a slight surprise he was rated this highly.

Rude's work with Warrior I'm sure got him over with the observer crowd, working miracles in the narrow minded observer's view.

What the hell is Buzz Sawyer doing at #41? Early 80's I could see him on this list but in 1989?

Still don't quite get the quantum leap Luger made in 1989. His work since coming to Crockett in 1987 was solid and his 1988 feud with Flair produced some of Flair's best matches let alone Luger's.

Shawn Michaels I would have rated my number 1 (or 1a with Owen) future prospect in 1989, top 10 overall is a surprise.

Aug 9, 2023 2:26:08 GMT Shootist said:

Rude's work with Warrior I'm sure got him over with the observer crowd, working miracles in the narrow minded observer's view.

What the hell is Buzz Sawyer doing at #41? Early 80's I could see him on this list but in 1989?

Still don't quite get the quantum leap Luger made in 1989. His work since coming to Crockett in 1987 was solid and his 1988 feud with Flair produced some of Flair's best matches let alone Luger's.

Shawn Michaels I would have rated my number 1 (or 1a with Owen) future prospect in 1989, top 10 overall is a surprise.

Thanks for the tips, Shoot

Don't want anyone to think I was pooh poohing Rude's high rating in '89. Just thought it odd that he went from off the list way up to #30 that year. Hence my "got good" comment.

Good question about Buzz. I think he was working New Japan? Maybe NWA at the tail end of the year?

'89 is Luger's consensus best year, but I'm with you in that he should have been somewhere on the list in 87 & 88. '88 saw him have four good to great matches- two w/ Windham vs. Arn & Tully and two vs. Flair. Even as a greenhorn in '87 he did some solid stuff. Enough to at least warrant a low vote imo. 

Hats off on being an early Shawn & Owen backer. Always cool when you can pick a winner before they were stars. Even my 90s Cincinnati Bengals GM self has a few of those under my belt. 

1990

1. Jushin Liger	16. Terry Funk	31. Riki Choshu	46t Masa Chono	61. Tracy Smothers
2. Ric Flair	17. Shawn Michaels	32. Ricky Steamboat	46t Gran Hamada	62. Brad Armstrong
3. Bobby Eaton	18. Hiroshi Hase	33. Rick Rude	48. Barry Windham	63. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
4. Mitsuharu Misawa	19. Arn Anderson	34. Marty Jannetty	49. Jeff Jarrett	64. Stan Lane
5. Mr. Perfect	20. Bret Hart	35. Dan Kroffat	50. El Dandy	65t Cactus Jack
6. Jumbo Tsuruta	21. Ted Dibiase	36. Akira Maeda	51. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi	65t Big Boss Man
7. Keiji Muto	22. Nobuhiko Takada	37. Pirata Morgan	52. Super Astro	67. Minoru Suzuki
8. Toshiaki Kawada	23. Owen Hart	38. Lex Luger	53. El Hijo del Santo	68. Emilio Charles
9. Naoki Sano	24. Brian Pillman	39. Shiro Koshinaka	54. Ricky Morton	69. Atlantis
10. Chris Benoit	25. Randy Savage	40. Kazuo Yamazaki	55. Masa Saito	70. Bobby Fulton
11. Negro Casas	26. Masaharu Funaki	41. Kensuke Sasaki	56. Sting	71. Tony Anthony
12. Genichiro Tenryu	27. Jerry Estrada	42. Stan Hansen	57. Eddie Gilbert	72. Johnny Smith
13. Yoshinari Asai	28. Terry Gordy	43. Shinya Hashimoto	58. Ron Simmons	73. Tito Santana
14. Kenta Kobashi	29. Rick Steiner	44. George Takano	59. Steve Armstrong	74t Buddy Landel
15. Scott Steiner	30. Tommy Rogers	45. Steve Williams	60. Terry Taylor	74t Hiro Saito

Marty Jannetty's Top 40 ranking in back to back years further proves my theory  that "The Jannetty" of a given tag team should be called "Anvils," who rightfully is nowhere to be found on these lists.

Liger & Flair flip flop at 1-2. Dave did this from 81-90. Ric Flair finished #1 eight times and #2 twice. GOAT numbers.

Bobby Eaton all the way up at #3 is beautiful.

Also cool to see my man Mr. Perfect rise to #5.

Misawa climbed to #4 in his breakout year while Kobashi skyrocketed from #70 to #14 and Kawada held steady at #8.

Benoit already cracking the Top 10 has me looking at the late 90s-early 2000s Benoit Cult in a new light. Don't get me wrong. They were still annoying af. But I kind of get it now. The smarkiest smarks were already rating this guy Top 10 in the world way back in 1990. He really was the Bryan Danielson of his day.

Negro Casas becomes THE breakout luchador by rising to #11. 

Check out the future Ultimo Dragon becoming a smark darling years before I thought at #13.

The spectacular Scott Steiner actually seems kind of low at #15.

Michaels falls to a still respectable #17. Still above the more experienced Bret at #20. Spoiler Alert: Bret's rankings in these were remarkably consistent

Dibiase remains overrated at #21. Great character, and I'm a Million Dollar fan, but where are the matches? Or maybe Observer readers just loved him because all his stuff looked textbook? idk

#32 Steamboat is this year's Barry Windham as a total reputation pick. What was Steamer even doing in 1990? Had he already returned to WWF? Or was he just working the occasional Carolina indie shot?

Flexy Lexy falls to a still respectable #38 while his buddy Sting comes in at #56. Worth noting they had Lex > Sting by 15 or more spots both years.

Young Double J, the biggest babyface in Texas if the great kashdinero is to be believed, and he is, comes in at a very respectable #49.

#57 Eddie Gilbert & Cactus Jack debuting on the list at #65 no doubt earned their spots on the strength of what was arguably the first must see indie feud

Ron Simmons debuts at #58

Overrated Brad Armstrong falls to a more palatable #62

Observer voters still not being very sweet to #64 Stan Lane. 

No King or Larry Legend again Look, I'll admit '89 was a weak year for the King. His worst since 1980 when he was out most of the year with a broken leg. '89 is the only year during the decade when Lawler did not have any legendary matches or feuds. But he absolutely deserves to be in the list in '90 if only for allowing Eddie Gilbert to hit him with a car. E-C-Dub! E-C-Dub! He's Hardcore! He's Hardcore! Who else was doing such craziness in 1990? 

Nobody else comes to mind as an egregious omission. I was pulling for the Destruction Crew to sneak on the bottom but they could honestly be real sloppy at times. It's just that a cool theme and a killer finisher went a long way with me. Still do tbh.

Gonna knock out one more tonight because I don't think I'll have time for extended posting tomorrow.

1988

1. Tatsumi Fujinami	16. Randy Savage	31. Bobby Fulton	46. Dan Kroffat	61. Michael Hayes
2. Ric Flair	17. Tully Blanchard	32. Jumbo Tsuruta	47. Kuniaki Kobayashi	62. Yoshiaki Yatsu
3. Barry Windham	18. Toshiaki Kawada	33. Stan Lane	48. Jerry Lawler	63. Other Danny Davis
4. Ted Dibiase	19. Kazuo Yamazaki	34. Yoshiaki Fujiwara	49. Ashura Hara	64. Road Warrior Hawk
5. Keiichi Yamada (Liger)	20. Masa Saito	35. Riki Choshu	50. Ken Wayne	65. Paul Diamond
6. Owen Hart	21. Bret Hart	36. Mike Rotunda	51. Stan Hansen	66. Mark Rocco
7t Bobby Eaton	22. Brad Armstrong	37. Biff Wellington	52. Steve Williams	67t Mando Guerrero
7t Nobuhiko Takada	23. Terry Gordy	38. Kengo Kumura	53. Buzz Sawyer	67t Jerry Estrada
9. Tiger Mask Misawa	24. Curt Hennig	39. Pirata Morgan	54. Jason The Terrible	69. Shinichi Nakano
10. Shiro Koshinaka	25. Super Black Ninja (Muta)	40. Sam Houston	55. Jeff Jarrett	70. Johnny Smith
11. Genichiro Tenryu	26. Sting	41. Masaharu Funaki	56. Shawn Michaels	71t Dynamite Kid
12. Arn Anderson	27. Pat Tanaka	42. Samson Fuyuki	57. Terry Funk	71t Ricky Morton
13. Akira Maeda	28. Dick Murdoch	43. Tom Prichard	58. Tito Santana	73. Hector Guerrero
14. Eddie Gilbert	29. Tommy Rogers	44. Terry Taylor	59. Chavo Guerrero	74t Brian Pillman
15. Rick Steiner	30. Chris Benoit	45. Atlantis	60. Lizmark	74t Manny Fernandez

Aug 10, 2023 1:05:02 GMT Kilgore said:

Marty Jannetty's Top 40 ranking in back to back years further proves my theory  that "The Jannetty" of a given tag team should be called "Anvils," who rightfully is nowhere to be found on these lists.

Just watched the Marty Jannetty Dark Side Of The Ring episode and at the conclusion Al Snow chimes in with "it should be an honor to be called the Jannetty of a tag team", or something to that effect.

UWF shooters well represented as they were really killing it in 88-89, interesting seeing Takada crack the top 10 both years. Kazuo Yamazaki was one of his guys from the Takada Dojo he was a UWF guy but he defected to New Japan right before Takada attempted his invasion with UWFI in 95-96. Yamazaki snitched all the shooting techniques and counters to all the NJPW wrestlers in their dojos basically helping them fight off the invasion. Without his defection I don't know that NJPW is here today, Pride may never have existed if UWFI succeeds you just have a much bigger shoot style org, Yamazaki really changed history.

Aug 10, 2023 4:08:46 GMT Shootist said:

Aug 10, 2023 1:05:02 GMT Kilgore said:

Marty Jannetty's Top 40 ranking in back to back years further proves my theory  that "The Jannetty" of a given tag team should be called "Anvils," who rightfully is nowhere to be found on these lists.

Just watched the Marty Jannetty Dark Side Of The Ring episode and at the conclusion Al Snow chimes in with "it should be an honor to be called the Jannetty of a tag team", or something to that effect.

It's crazy that Al was the Jannetty of a literal Marty Jannetty tag team.

Still get a kick out of Marty Jannetty not winning PW's Best Jannetty countdown. Extremely on brand. Anvil really did luck out though.

1988 Thoughts

Fujinami ends Flair's seven year reign atop the list. Slick Ric would get his revenge a few years later at Wrestle War '91.

I personally would bump Eaton up to #3, Windham down to a still strong #4, and Dibiase down to a generous #30. Tempted to list 10 NWA guys who had a better in ring year than Teddy Wrestling.

Barry is absolutely deserving a Top 5 spot though. He completely changed up his style after turning heel without losing a step. What a legend. 

Guys, I'm starting to think Jushin Liger was always good. Here he's Top 5 before even taking on the Liger gimmick.

Similar case with young Muta down at a very respectable #25.

Check out Das Wunderkind Owen Hart up there at #6.

Haven't commented on Arn, Tully, and Savage yet. That's because their rankings have been pretty spot on. Well, Savage was maybe a wee bit high in 89 & 90, but nothing too egregious.

What did Eddie Gilbert do to warrant a #14 spot? Even if Observer readers loved his feud with #48 Lawler, which they should, it still doesn't warrant "Hot Stuff" being 34 spots above "The King?" Was Gilbert booking the Alabama territory into their 15 minutes of smark darlingdom really THAT impressive?

Rick Steiner at #15...I'm strangely ok with that high placement factoring in pitch perfect booking & character in what was his breakout year.

Mr. Consistency Bret Hart is in his usual position.

Brad Armstrong at #22 is lol. Really wish Dave had kept this going for a few more years. Would have been sweet to see Barry Horowitz sandwiched between legends Sasuke & Cactus at #22 in a few years. I know I'm always knocking Brad. He'd be fine as a bottom third 'good hand' guy. Wouldn't hear a peep from me. But he just doesn't have the matches. He's the midcard Ted Dibiase of these lists. The much-maligned Luger smokes Brad in volume of good/great matches. 

Hennig is maybe a wee bit low at #24 and Sting too high at #26. Observer readers must have REALLY loved the Flair match.

Bump freak Pat Tanaka was good, but still a surprise at #27, while the Fantastics & Sweet Stan were high, but I’d be ok with them being even a wee bit higher. Still cool to finally see Lane get some recognition here in the Midnights best year.

One day I'll have to watch some Dick Murdoch. DEAN's favorite wrestler had go away heat with me growing up for being a beer bellied old man and I never bothered with him much other than to groan and resist the temptation to fast forward whenever he showed up on my NWA and Mid South tapes.

Neat to see the Stampede & Alabama territories get some representation. Check out young Benoit already at #30.

Mike Rotunda at #36 is about right in what would turn out to be his best year as an all arounder.

I genuinely expected Lawler to be hovering in or around the Top 10 most years. His low rankings have been one of the bigger shockers of these lists. How is Eddie Gilbert 34 spots above him when Lawler also had an all timer with Hennig + more good matches with Curt & Kerry?!?

Stan Hansen is another guy who has underperformed my expectations. Figured he'd be Top 20 every year.

Shawn Michaels at #56 is closer to where him (and Jannetty) to be on these things. Coming in I'd have guessed 30s or 40s for both Rockers during the years in question.

Bottom quarter of the list is chock full of Guerreros with Chavo leading the pack. And I am cool with that since I've long thought he was the best of the 80s Guerreros.

RW Hawk at #64 is interesting just because he strikes me as the type of wrestler Observer readers would hate what with being a jacked, no selling, face painted, muscleman who rarely put anybody over. Then I remembered Dave was actually a mark for the Road Warriors.

#74 Manny Fernandez was another Dick Murdoch All Star to kiddie me. 

Notable Omission: Fabulous Rougeau Brothers. Babyface Rougeaux strike me as a team Observer readers would dig. Feel like they'd surely have made it on the bottom third of the list had they worked in NWA rather than WWF. But I could WON readers souring on the heel Rougeaux- "The Rougeau Brothers have become too entertaining since their heel turn and it sucks. There's no room for entertainment in wrestling, dammit! Stupid Vince killing the business..."

Notable Omission #2: Flexy Lexy. Had no fewer than 3 great matches and 1 very good one. That's a stronger resume than #4 Dibiase, #22 Brad Armstrong, #26 Sting, and a whole lot of other guys who made the list. I'd have been cool with Luger being in the upper half of the list.

1987

1. Ric Flair	16. Kazuo Yamazaki	31. Dick Murdoch	46. El Hijo del Santo	61t Chris Champion
2. Nobuhiko Takada	17. Bret Hart	32. Hiroshi Hase	47t Barry Orton	61t Shawn Michaels
3. Owen Hart	18. Terry Taylor	33. Buzz Sawyer	47t Kuniaki Kobayashi	63. Jerry Lawler
4. Barry Windham	19. Randy Savage	34. Steve Williams	49. Jeff Jarrett	64. Jason The Terrible
5. Akira Maeda	20. Brad Armstrong	35. Arn Anderson	50. Bad News Allen	65. Shunji Takano
6. Bobby Eaton	21. Eddie Gilbert	36. Negro Casas	51. Masaharu Funaki	66. Super Astro
7. Ted Dibiase	22. Pat Tanaka	37. Stan Hansen	52. Rick Steiner	67. George Takano
8. Tatsumi Fujinami	23. Ricky Morton	38. Kengo Kimura	53. Hector Guerrero	68t Chris Adams
9. Masa Saito	24. Yoshiaki Fujiwara	39. Pirata Morgan	54. Tom Prichard	68t Tama
10. Ricky Steamboat	25. Shiro Koshinaka	40t Sam Houston	55. Billy Travis	70. Ashura Hara
11. Tiger Mask Misawa	26. Bruiser Brody	40t Yoshiaki Yatsu	56t Harley Race	71. Davey Boy Smith
12. Curt Hennig	27. Genichiro Tenryu	42. Stan Lane	56t Tim Horner	72. Brian Pillman
13t Tully Blanchard	28. Keiichi Yamada	43. Jumbo Tsuruta	58. Hiro Saito	73. Tommy Rogers
13t Riki Choshu	29. Keiji Muto	44. Bam Bam Bigelow	59. Super Strong Machine	74. Dennis Condrey
15. Rick Martel	30. Terry Gordy	45. Sting	60. Tito Santana	75. Road Warrior Hawk

Young Owen was great but ahead of 1987 Barry Windham?

DiBiase ahead of Steamboat? lol

Martel ahead of Bret, Bret's singles match with Savage was better than anything Martel did.

More to come later...

1987 Thoughts

Overall: Thought this was easily the strongest year so far stateside. So expect a lot of "coulda/shoulda been higher" and a bunch of notable omissions.

Flair is back on top. This also looks to have been UWF Japan's strongest year with Takada at #2 and Maeda at #5. This accurate, Neo Zeed ?

Last post I jokingly referred to Owen "Das Wunderkind." Here I'm opting for "Jackie Wilson" because at #3 he keeps climbing higher and higher.

I'm cool with Windham at #4. The Flair matches ruled. Even as a kid I knew young Barry was a cut above the rest, though I wouldn't have had the words for it. Now I can safely say he was the best in ring babyface in the business.

Bobby Eaton is actually a wee bit high at #6. Never thought I'd find a scenario in which Eaton was overrated, but here we are. The Midnights just didn't have any all time classics in 87 the way they did in 88 & 90, even if they were the best squashers in a business still largely built on such things. So let's bump Beautiful Bobby down to Steamboat's #10 spot. Still a very respectable position.

Dibiase is still too high at #7, but he does get a boost this year by working the first third of it in Watts UWF. Hate being so cliche, but his in ring game really was better there. UWF allowed him to branch out, bleed & brawl, which he was very good at. Still a better character in WWF though. Come on. Who is going to draw more dimes: The Million Dollar Man or The Big Cheese? Best 1987 Dibiase match I've seen was against One Man Gang in UWF.

I'd bump #10 Steamboat down to Savage's #19 spot and Macho all the way up to Eaton's beautiful #6. Crazy to have The Dragon above The Macho Man in 87. Savage worked the whole year, was much better in squashes, had the great Bret match on SNME, and the memorable babyface turn on Honkytonk. 1987 was Randy's best in ring year imo.

Hennig at #12 in his breakout year is fine.

Interesting to see #13 Tully so far above #35 Arn here. AA would close the gap next year. Safe to say '88 is when Arn progressed from good to great?

#15 Rick Martel should not be so far above his Strike Force partner #60 Tito Santana. I'm fine with Martel > Tito. Don't have a dog in that fight. But they should be much, much closer. Drop Martel 20 spots, bump Tito an equal 20, and #35 Martel & #40 Santana would be more like it.

Bret at #17 is fine as I agree with Shoot on this being a strong year for The Hitman.

You'd think I'd jump at the chance to bash my perennial punching bags #18 Terry Taylor & #20 Brad Armstrong and, yeah, they're still too high, but this was Brad's best year and arguably Taylor's as well. I'd even be fine with them in the top half of the list...at #36 & #37. 

#21 Eddie Gilbert is still a little high, but nowhere near as egregious as him at finishing #14 in '88. Great heel. The Dr. Death broken arm angle would be legendary if it happened in WWF or NWA.

Pre-fame Liger & Muta sitting pretty at #28 & #29 just feels right.

Tape watching late 90s Baker did not respect #31 Dick Murdoch. His feud with Dusty (which went nowhere, lending credence to my view) was a major wtf moment when I saw it on tape 11 years later. Though he does earn some points for participating in the great Dr. Death broken arm angle.

#34 Doc should be higher. Maybe swap him and #30 Gordy since Doc had more memorable stuff outside of their awesome series- the broken arm angle, his quest for the UWF Championship, etc. 

Better idea. Swap Doc with #22 Pat Tanaka.

#39 Pirata Morgan gets a consistency shoutout. Dude is always #39.

#40 Sam Houston is another Brad Armstrong/Terry Taylor All Star who actually had a pretty good year. Kiddie me kinda sorta liked Houston. What? I dug the Texas jig!

#42 Sweet Stan Lane > #74 Dennis Condrey should settle the debate once and for all (it won't)

#45 Sting & #52 R. Steiner getting the jacked up American version of Liger & Muta's 'before they were stars' rub

I'm typically a low vote on #44 Bam Bam Bigelow. Not this time. He was a beast in Memphis early this year and if nothing else brought something new to WWF by being a super heavyweight who could really move. There's a Lawler/BBB vs. Idol/Rich match in Memphis where Bam Bam looks like a Top 10 lock.

#47 BARRY Orton is the biggest wtf moment yet. Typo with Barry in place of Bob or...? Shootist did Zodiac wrestle in Stampede? I'm so confused!

#49 Jeff Jarrett getting it done again while young HBK also shows up at #61.

#56 Harley Race could/should be higher. Great offense and great bumper even as an old man. Had some of Hogan's best matches. Irrelevant to the discussion, but "King" Harley haters can go suck eggs. The King gimmick gave him a hook to kiddie me, ensuring he didn't end up another Dick Murdoch All Star. 

#56 Tim Horner is another guy who had his best year in mainstream wrestling. Just realized Tim Horner was the Marty Jannetty of a tag team featuring Brad Armstrong. Yikes.

*sigh* #63 Jerry Lawler should be 40-50 spots higher as usual. This time on the strength of his legendary feud/matches with Rich & Idol. 

I popped for Chris Champion at #61. He was sorta the 1987 version of 1999 Jeff Hardy, only with an infinitely better gimmick.

#68 Chris Adams feels low considering how well his feud with #18 Terry Taylor was received (even if TT did carry it from an entertainment perspective)

*Be back in a bit with some notable omissions. List is so long I decided to break it off into a separate post. 1987 US wrestling was stacked! 

They didn't get the UWF(Japan) back off the ground until 1988 I believe Maeda and Takada were still in New Japan in 1987 and also think they were a tag team together around that time. So interesting to see them in the top 5 here, two extremely bad ass wrestlers in their primes. I believe a young Takada could have actually taken Rickson Gracie, he was fast and sharp and Rickson fought much more reckless than Royce could have easily got caught with some rogue shot. By the time they actually fought a decade after this list came out he had so much money I don't think he really cared. He traveled to LA to train at Bas Rutten's gym for the fight and Bas claims he was getting tapped out by white belts. 

Dibiase sure was a different animal in Mid-South/UWF, it was cool to see, him and Steve Williams were a pretty bad ass duo that really stood out over everybody else in the promotion.

1987 Omissions: Notable and perhaps otherwise

Ron Garvin should be Top 30 Dude was robbed. Because Smarks HATED him for taking Flair's title. That got the poor guy 20-25 years of heat with the hardcore fan community. But Garvin could go. Think the world's best Finlay. Real ones know he could go punch for punch with The King himself, while to this day I still refer to open hand chest slaps as "Garvin Chops." Both the big Flair matches rule and he had a pretty fun feud teaming w/ Windham vs. Midnight Express based around the Midnights burning his face. 

Koko B. Ware was actually the first name I thought of though. Wasn't given a lot of chances, and WWF wasn't a 'great match' territory, but he was an entertaining squasher with great offense for 1987 and oodles of charisma. Perfect bottom third/quarter choice in my book. 

Lex/Dusty/Nikita all did solid stuff together + WAR GAMES. More bottom third/quarter type guys.

Tommy Rich & Austin Idol could have snuck on for their famous stuff with Lawler (and Bigelow). Moreso Rich than Idol, who really was a classic WWF sports entertainer who chose to stay close to home in the South because he was (justifiably) afraid to fly.

Jimmy Garvin considered for the first and only time on the strength one awesome Flair match. Sure, wrestling 80s Flair in a high profile match is a cheat code, but Gorgeous Jimmy held up his end of the bargain by selling the knee like a champ. 

Sean Royal- Total homer pick, but he was the Matt to Champion's Jeff....if Matt Hardy had busted out a Ganso Bomb.

Larry Zbyszko is another homer pick, but he was already a great in ring heel in AWA, even if he wasn't THE guy yet. Had a well received feud with Bock (who retired halfway through the year) and was instrumental in Hennig's career making turn to the dark side.

Hulk Hogan is perfect as a cheeky 'last spot on the ballot' pick. The Kamala & Race feuds were two of his better in ring rivalries, he had the famous Cage Match with Orndorff, and carried an immobile Andre in the most famous match of all time. Also warranted consideration in 1989. Even '90 just for the Warrior match.

1986

1. Ric Flair	16. Kuniaki Kobayashi	31. Negro Casas	46. Arn Anderson	61. Harley Race
2. Ted Dibiase	17. Buzz Sawyer	32. Jumbo Tsuruta	47. Tommy Rogers	62. Eddie Gilbert
3. Tatsumi Fujinami	18. Terry Taylor	33. Bam Bam Bigelow	48. Greg Valentine	63. Jerry Lawler
4. Yoshiaki Yatsu	19. Randy Savage	34. Magnum TA	49. La Fiera	64. Buddy Roberts
5. Bobby Eaton	20. Bruiser Brody	35. Mark Rocco	50. Shiro Koshinaka	65. Keiichi Yamada
6. Terry Gordy	21. Ricky Morton	36. Dick Murdoch	51. Jake Roberts	66. Dennis Condrey
7. Nobuhiko Takada	22. Genichiro Tenryu	37. Jack Victory	52. Pirata Morgan	67. Nick Bockwinkel
8. Ricky Steamboat	23. Davey Boy Smith	38. Rick Martel	53. Bad News Allen	68. Michael Hayes
9. Riki Choshu	24. Chavo Guerrero	39. White Ninja (Muta)	54t Shawn Michaels	69. Rick Steiner
10. Akira Maeda	25. Brad Armstrong	40. Sam Houston	54t George Takano	70. Robert Gibson
11. Barry Windham	26. Stan Hansen	41. Terry Funk	56. El Hijo del Santo	71. Ron Garvin
12. Tiger Mask Misawa	27. Owen Hart	42t Buddy Landel	57. Hector Guerrero	72. Tim Horner
13. Tully Blanchard	28. Hiro Saito	42t Animal Hamiguchi	58. Shunji Takano	73. Masa Fuchi
14. Steve Williams	29. Dynamite Kid	44. Kengo Kimura	59. Curt Hennig	74. Butch Reed
15. Bret Hart	30. Hacksaw Jim Duggan	45. Yoshiaki Fujiwara	60. Super Strong Machine	75t Koko B. Ware

                                                                                                                                                 75t Blackman
                                                                                                                                                 75t Osamu Kido

Yoshiaki Yatsu fought in Pride in a pretty infamous fight against Gary Goodridge(huge dangerous brawler, owner of some of the most gruesome knockouts in the early days). The fight always made me think that’s what it would look like if Cactus Jack fought mma. He just took ridiculous shots that would have dropped a mortal man, it was a fun battle I think they set up a rematch a few years later if I remember correctly.

1986 Thoughts

*Haven't seen a ton of 1986 wrestling. Watts UWF is actually the promotion I've seen the most from that year.
*Observer readers with their biggest crime yet in WRECKING MY BEAUTIFUL TABLE with that three way tie at #75...

But at least they continue to be fair to Flair

"Junior partner" #14 Steve Williams had better matches with worthy #6 Terry Gordy than #2 Ted Dibiase did. Just saying...

Eaton feels a little high again at #5. Bump Gordy up to his spot. Gordy ruled as UWF Champ. Watching 1986 UWF  in the early 00s is when I came around on Terry Gordy after 13-14 years of dismissing him as another Dick Murdoch All Star. I highly recommend the Gordy/Dr. Death series in particular. Actually, go big or go home. Bump Gordy up to #2 and Dr. Death up to #5. 

Interesting to see #15 Bret score his highest placement to date. Guessing this is the year of his semi-famous singles bouts with Steamboat & Dynamite?

#17 Buzz Sawyer actually did rule during this period while #19 Randy Savage could/should be higher.

#23 Davey Boy Smith has already surpassed #29 Dynamite Kid. Throw in the fact Davey had 14 more years in mainstream wrestling while Dynamite permanently disappeared from my tv screen two years later and is it any wonder I always viewed Dynamite as the Jannetty of the Bulldogs?

Rookie sensation #33 Bam Bam Bigelow had my MOTY with #63 Jerry Lawler. King should be Top 10 for sure. #6 sounds good. In addition to the Bigelow match, he had the famous 26 fall, 55 minute Texas Death Match w/ Dutch vs. Bill & Buddy which was the last MSC sellout, and his third critically acclaimed Loser Leaves Town bout with Dundee in three years. Speaking of Bill, Buddy made the list at a respectable #42, but where is "The Superstar?"

Cool to see Magnum TA at #34. Too bad his archrival Nikita Koloff couldn't crack the list as well. 

Kilgore's guy Rollerball Rocco gets to #35.

Jack Victory at #37? lol. This a rib? Or did Jacko's partner John Tatum bore Observer readers so much that Victory seemed like Ric Flair in comparison?

Nice to see #48 Greg Valentine finally make the cut in what turned out to be his last year as a somewhat prominent player. 

#51 Jake Roberts also debuts on the list.

Hennig seems low at #59. 1987 was his year as a bonafide breakout superstar, but he was quickly climbing up the card, gaining momentum, throughout '86.

#62 is about right for Eddie Gilbert since "Hot Stuff" was doing the wimpy manager/wrestler thing a la 1999 Steve Corino.

Bock seems way too low at #67 and Hayes is definitely way too low at #68.

Poor #70 Robert Gibson is so Jannetty his Jannettyness has largely been forgotten. At least he scores a rare W by finally cracking the list.

Last time I said Observer readers hated #71 Ron Garvin because he beat Flair. Wrong! Apparently they were anti-Garvin even before then because "Rugged" Ronnie should be top half of the list again.

*This might be the last one. The project didn't really get over and the further back we go, the less I've seen. Or maybe I'll just post some Top 10s or 20s from here on out? We'll see...

Not posting the whole list but Top 3 for 1985 was

1. Flair
2. Dynamite
3. Dibiase

And I'm cool with that. In fact I'd be cool with Teddy Wrestling at #2! He ruled in 1985, having Mid South's consensus best match- vs. Duggan: multiple stipulations, and my personal favorite Mid South match- vs. Flair on tv. The Flair match is his career masterpiece imo. I'm only here to say something positive about Dibiase because you have to understand those 5 years of Dibiase bashing brought me no joy. I like Ted Dibiase! But I also have to call it how I see it.

Better late than never....


Still gonna hark on Dibiase being way too high, personally I would have him in the 30 to 40 range for his WWF years anyway. 85-86 Teddy would be a solid top 20.

Owen going down a few spots from 1987 to 1988 doesn't seem right to me, he improved every year from his debut right up to his run with Bret in 1994. Still though he was 3 in 1987 and ahead of peak Barry Windham which I don't get. Owen was incredible but he didn't have the talent depth to work with in Stampede like BW did with Crockett.

Bobby Eaton seems high on these lists as well, not on a DiBiase scale though.

The gap between Tully and Arn shouldn't be that wide. By 1987 Arn surpassed Tully imo.

Hennig is low for 1986, his match with Bock at year's end should have boosted him 20 spots. Probably hurt him that match happened so late.

In 1986 Buzz Sawyer being ahead of Randy Savage does not compute.

1986 is when Dynamite had the back injury, perception I guess is reality with the Bulldogs.

Ronnie Garvin should be more prominent in 1986/87, great matches with Flair, Tully, The Midnights and Bubba.

Martel ahead of Savage in 1987 fries my brain as well.

Love Duggan at 30 for 1986, in a few years he would be a laughing stock.

Steve Blackman getting an honorable for 1986, I don't even remember him in Stampede.

Lawler's 1987 was way better than 1986, top 20 for sure, same can be said for 1988.

Terry Funk at 41 in 1986, don't really see it. Especially since he had an endless feud with the regressing JYD. Plus I didn't know he existed in wrestling in 1988, thought he was doing movies.

Pillman should be higher and he improved massively in 1988 getting his character down with pre ECW Beulah and teaming with Bruce Hart as Bad Company. Top 50 for sure in 1987 and top 20 material for 1988.

Don't really remember Barry O/Zodiac in Stampede. Turns out he was just a mid-card guy at the tail end of 1987. He did rub shoulders with Pillman, Owen and Benoit which would have given him a boost in the Observer.

Keiichi Yamada was in Stampede for a spell in 1989, I had no idea I was watching a future legend. He appeared infrequently on TV so I have no real clear memories of how good he was then, top 5 for 1988 is pretty cool.

Shawn Michaels should be top 30 for 1988, no way did he go down from 54 to 56.