Tim Cooke

My favorite fights are: Saku vs. White (Pride 2) Saku vs. Newton (Pride 3) Saku vs. Renzo (Pride 10) Nogueria vs. Herring (Pride 17) Nogueria vs. Sapp (Pride Shockwave) Nogueria vs. Fedor (Pride 25) Nogueria vs. CroCop (Pride MGPF) Still need to see Bushido and New Years Eve 2003, both of which are coming soon. Tim

"Am I the only one that just doesn't care for this season?" Yes. Tim

The best match from a working and storyline point of view is Wargames 1992. The best singles match I have seen in a cage? Haven't really seen one that is really awesome. Tim

Nagata has never been a draw. Look at the numbers when he was headlining. 90% of the shows were down. Stick to something you know about. Tim

Both Hoost/Sapp matches weren't worked, they just were able to come up with lousy ref stoppages to make Sapp advance. Hoost was killing Sapp most of the time. Sapp is a lot better in MMA rules matches. Tim

Dustin's work from 1992-1994 was hardly "boring". From 1995-1999, his other problems got in the way, along with other stuff like Russo. I do like the idea of AMW turning heel to feud with The Rhodes. Dusty and Dustin open up with their hot spots, Dustin does some more face work, AMW get the transition to face in peril on Dustin, Dustin does his FIP act, hot tag to Dusty, and work to the finish. Sounds like a good feud to me, especially considering Dustin is very good at laying out tag matches. Tim

K-1 is Kickboxing. For tournaments, they use 3-3 minute rounds. For non tournament super fights, they use 5-3 minute rounds. The Sapp/Hoost fights from 2002 (10/5 and 12/6) are fun, if just to watch Hoost dominate Sapp until the cover up to keep Sapp face occurs each time. There is a nice Andy Hug special, actually two out there, one covering full fights from 1992-1995 and another covering clips of every fight from 1993-2000. Tim

Nina isn't in prison. She was given the Presidential Pardon. Tim

"Don't get me wrong, I liked the match. The psychology in this match is FAR from superior though. They do a lot of selling that makes no sense and you said it perfectly about SIMPLE dynamics. I agree they were very SIMPLE, as this match is good but doesn't compare to some of the above mentioned." Compared to what? 3/1/03 Misawa vs. Kobashi - a mess. Kind of fun to watch one time to see the insane highspots that only braindead Kobashi would take (TS off the ramp) but then the total disregard of selling makes me want to punch myself in the face. 3/23/03 Kanemoto vs. Akira - they thought they would sell like death for parts, then not doing anything resembling selling the next minute. Way overhyped and no where near 1/21/96 Sammy/Otani which some people have claimed it to be like. 4/13/03 NOAH - have the top 2 matches coming soon. 6/6/03 NOAH - see above 7/16/03 Liger/Murahama vs. KENTA/Marifuji - good tag match, better than 9/12 imo but still a step down from London/Danielson. 7/23/03 Toryumon 3 way 6 man - for a spotfest with stories, feuds, and work rate all combined, it is up there as far as they types of matches go. 8/17/03 Akiyama vs. Tenzan - good match. Sad thing is, Akiyama looked like a WORLD CLASS VETERAN when compared to New Japan's new "ace." Good stuff but 4/12 London/Danielson had a lot better ideas in selling and overall match layout. Props to Akiyama though, he looked like he finally had a purpose. 8/30/03 Toryumon 4 way 6 man - see 7/23 match, but add more praise. I'll be happy to go over specifics of 4/12 if needed. If selling and psychology bothers you for 4/12, then Misawa/Kobashi, Kobashi/Nagata, and all the Juniors matches should as well, since they have all the usual flaws and more. Tim

Storm is a decent spot worker but nothing more than that. Tim

Noble is the best all around guy. London is second and could be as good as Noble someday, though they both will probably never show how great they truley are. Rey Jr. is 3rd. And Ultimo Dragon 1996 was way better than 1996 Rey Jr. and that is from a big Rey Jr. fan who thinks Rey Jr/Juventud (3/16/96 Tijuana) is better than 8/4/96 Ultimo/Otani. Tim

Eh, that wasn't blown, it was sloppy. Tim

Of course don't credit the graphic to the person who created it. Tim

Care to name the blown spots? Because there weren't any. Tim

Best Tag Title Match: Midnight Express defeat Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard © to win the NWA WOrld Tag Team Titles on 9/12/88. Best 6 man Tag Team Match: Great Sasuke/Gran Hamada/Masato Yakushiji vs. Dick Togo/Men's Teioh/Taka Michinoku (4/13/97) Best Singles Match: Bryan Danielson vs. Paul London (4/12/03)

Cruiserweights never drew in WCW. They were something WWF didn't have but they never drew. Tim

Easy- Misawa Tsuruta Kawada Liger Kong Windham Backland Midnight Express Tim

Rudo = " " Tim = no " " “Watched Dragon/London 2/3 falls again - on mute - and there is no way this is MOTY. There's a lot of smart work in it, but there's also a lot of very stupid stuff as well.” Hmmm. There is stupid stuff in Misawa/Kawada 6/3/94 (wrong man winning) but that doesn’t mean it isn’t the best men’s singles match ever. ”HeY! Dragon is tired! No wait! Dragon is fresh! No! Tired! No!!! FRESH!” From memory, London controls early with the side headlock, Dragon takes over with some offense control, and London wins the fall by reversing the top rope move. Care to list where there is a bad transition? ”London's leg is hurt! Look at him SELL~! POWERBOMB! SSP!” Desperation finisher. Once again, for every time Kawada’s leg was hurt from 12/93 to 6/94, he was still able to hit the powerbomb. He hit it twice on 6/3/94 even though Misawa spent an extended segment working over the leg. ”Hey! A headlock! Going nowhere! And another headlock! Also going nowhere! HEY~! A HEADLOCK! GOING NOWHERE!” Called the babyface doing what he needs to control the pace of the match. This match was no Kawada/Tsuruta (10/24/91) but it was trying to establish the same principles. Of course they didn’t get near the level of Tsuruta/Kawada but then again, no one is saying they are at the level of two of the finest. *snip multiple pin falls paragraph due to no specifics* *snip again – see above* ”They over-played the top-rope-battle spot, they must have done that over half-a-dozen times, each ending with "stupid" Dragon falling to the mat.” I *might* agree with you if they hadn’t built that spot up on 12/7/02. That was an important spot on 12/7 because after 3 exchanges, London hit the finisher and was able to get the win. Here, he needs 2 falls instead of one and they play off the previous spots. It may have been a little overdone but I see it more as smartly working a key spot from a previous match and showing its importance. “There was a spot where London and Dragon were copying eachothers moves... for whatever reason... I think they probably thought it would be "fun" to do.” Examples? London hit 7-8 moves the whole match. The “dreaded” headlock, leg lariat from second rope, shooting star press….christ, my mind can’t even think of more than that right now though I know he did more. So where is the copying each others moves? ”Now, correct me if I am wrong, but was American Dragon playing the "cagey veteran"?? Cause I kinda got that feeling. American "4 years in the business" Dragon playing the well-travelled vet doesn't quite work for me.” I didn’t get that impression at all. I got that Danielson was a guy who the company was built around, always has good matches, and is technically sound. London is the up start babyface who everyone loves and has progressed rapidly but his 12/7 win over Danielson only proved that *any one* can get a fluke win. As far as the pacing goes, I think with 2/3 falls they did a fine job. It may have run a tad long but it isn’t like 10/22/94 Kawada vs. Williams where they desperately needed 10 minutes shaven off to even keep it at a “great level.” All in all, the work is just as smart as Benoit’s work was in the Rumble match. Benoit taking the first five minutes and building to the sharpshooter, which then got a HUGE pop when he finally locked it on, is called killing time wisely. The sharpshooter never appeared again nor did the leg selling of Angle, but it was still smart work. After that, I felt the match took a tumble down hill, especially the silly reversals at the end.

"Dragon v. Joe from 1st Ann" - Good match but doesn't stand up to Danielson's work with London, Styles. Just wasn't feeling it, maybe I need to re-watch it. "Daniels v. London" - Excellent. Should be added to the list. "Homicide v. Joe" Yuck. Way too much no selling, way too much goofiness. Joe kills the middle of the portion with those stupid bootscrapes on the outside. Once is fine but they are so annoying now. I doubt their 10/25 rematch will be any better. The 11/16/02 match is the best and that isn't even worth checking out more than once. "Whitmer v. Homicide v. Maff v. Cabana" Live it was okay. On tape it wasn't. The 1/11/03 4 way kills this. Way too much head dropping, wacky selling, and not enough logical thought. Cabana was good though. "Punk v. Raven- dog collar match" Good stuff. Need to watch again. I would also add the 8/9/03 Cabana/Steele vs. Jacobs/Shelley to the list. Still not the great southern tag match that ROH is *capable* of putting on but a step in the right direction. Tim

In 2003- ****+ 3/22/03 Williams vs. Daniels 4/12/03 Danielson vs. London 6/14/03 London vs. Styles 8/16/03 Homicide vs. Corino The other top matches from the companies history that I would defend: 11/9/02 Danielson vs. Styles 12/7/02 London vs. Danielson 12/28/02 London vs. Xavier (London showing he was truley game in the ring) 4/26/03 Carnage Crew vs. Fast Eddie/Don Juan/Hotstuff Hernandez (under rated- I'm not a fan of spotfests but this had a good storyline, good intensity, and heat.) 7/19/03 London vs. Joe (probably no better than ***1/4 but a personal favorite for a London fanatic) Tim

Coming back Rudo? Or are you having trouble finding problems with London/Danielson? Tim

Danielson has stated numerous times he isn't interested in the WEE at this point in his career. That tends to float over peoples heads. Tim

Back to original point... Rudo? Where are yeee? *edit 11/19* Winner? Tim

"Well, I guess that's one persons opinion. I'm not going to back and rewatch the matches on tape 4 times and disect every move. What about Daniels?" Daniels is a spot guy most of the time in TNA from what I have seen. As Curry Man in MPro and NJ, he is obviously a spot guy too, though my NJ footage of him is limited. Daniels in ROH rides the wide spectrum. Against Doug Williams on 10/5/02, he is primarily a spot guy. Against Williams again on 3/22/03, he is a ****+ guy. Against Homicide on 4/12, he looks like crap and wrestles as a spot guy. On 4/26/03 against London, he wrestles with some more thought again. Daniels is a guy I love to hate to love. He churnes out a performance like 3/22/03 and the possibilities are endless. But then when against a decent guy like Samoa Joe on 9/20, he wrestles his typical spot, no transitions style. Tim

Sabin? Haven't seen a match of his that hasn't been a spotfest. His Super 8 work, which I saw live, was spotfest material. His TNA work hasn't shown any story to the least degree. His ROH work, both live and on tape, has been spotfest stuff. 6/28 vs. Styles (no real story, just a lot of spotty moves) 9/20 vs. Styles and 2 others in a 4 way (the most spotty 4 way of the year in ROH) 10/16 vs. Stryker (granted, Stryker had an off night but Sabin didn't do anything to help make the match anything other than a spot0fu) Tim