Queue Slayer #5

THE LIST:

1. Krotch/ MsChif v. The Northstar Express Berwyn Street Fight – AAW Scars and Stripes 07/10/10 (B: #2 J: #2)- 132 pts
2. The American Wolves v. Bryan Danielson/ Tyler Black ROH Tag Title Classic (B: #1 J: #4)- 131 pts
3. Minoru Suzuki v. Yuji Nagata - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome 01/04/07 (B: #5 J: 1)- 130 pts
4. Yoshinobu Kanemaru v. KENTA NOAH 09/26/10 (B: #4 J: 3) – 129 pts
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi v. Taiyo Kea - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome 01/04/07 (B: #3 J: 7)- 126 pts
6. Jimmy Jacobs v. Deliroius Markham Street Fight – ROH Tag Title Classic (B: #8 J: #6)- 122 pts
7. Hiroyoshi Tenzan v. Yoshihiro Takayama ) NJPW G1 Climax 2003 Semi Final (B: #11 J: #5) – 120 pts
8. Tyler Black v. Jimmy Jacobs ROH The Hunt Begins 04/17/09 (B: #12 J: #11) – 113 pts
9. “Brother” Yasshi/ Shuji Kondo/ Jushin Liger/ Minoru/ Milano Collection AT v. Koji Kanemoto/ Wataru inoue/ Kaz hayashi/ Taka Michinoku/ Tiger Mask IV - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome 01/04/07 (B: #9 J: # 17) – 110 pts
10. Roderick Strong v. Jay Briscoe - ROH Tag Title Classic 04/18/09 (B: #19 J: #8) – 109 pts
11. Kensuke Sasaki v. Great Muta - - Wrestle 1 Grand Prix 10/02/05 (B: #18 J: #12)- 106 pts
12. Tito Santana/ Ricky Steamboat v. Greg Valentine/ Brutus Beefcake WWF Toronto 04/21/85 (B: #21 J: #9) – 106 pts
13. Toshiaki Kawada v. Shinsuke Nakamura - - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome 01/04/07 (B: #13 J: #18)- 105 pts
14. Chuck Liddell v. Vernon White UFC 49 (B: #16 J: #16)- 104 pts
15. Mitsuharu Misawa/ Yoshinari Ogawa v. Akebono/ 2 Cold Scorpio - Wrestle 1 Grand Prix 10/02/05 (B: #14 J: #20) – 102 pts
16. Eddie Kingston/ Grizzly Redwood/ Brodie Lee v. Incoherance - - Chikara “The Bobliographan 04/26/09 ( B: #23 J: #14) – 99 pts
17. Strike Force v. Hart Foundation WWF Superstars 11/07/87 (B: #17 J: #23)- 96 pts
18. Tito Santana v. Greg Valentine Steel Cage WWF Baltimore July 1985- (B: #10 J: #30)- 96 pts
19. Yves Edwards v. Josh Thomson – UFC 49 (B: #31 J: #10)- 95 pts
20. Evan Tanner v. Robbie Lawler UFC 50 (B: #6 J: #35)- 95 pts
21. Terry Funk/ Jumbo Tsuruta/ Genichiro Tenryu v. The Destroyer/ Jerry Blackwell/ Ron Bass – AJPW 09/14/82 (B; #15 J: #29)- 92 pts
22. Matt Hughes v. Georges St.-Pierre UFC 50 (B: #24 J: #22)- 90 pts
23. Karo Parisyan v. Nick Diaz UFC 49 (B: #26 J: #25)- 85 pts
24. Osirian Portal v. The Future is Now - Chikara “The Bobliographan 04/26/09 (B: #7 J: #45)- 84 pts
25. Bob Sapp v. Jun Akiyama - Wrestle 1 Grand Prix 10/02/05 (B: #28 J: #24) – 84 pts
26. Cheech & Cloudy v. 2.0 v. Super Smash Brothers v. The Unstable - Chikara “The Bobliographan 04/26/09 (B: #20 J: #33)- 83 pts
27. Strike Force v. Hart Foundation WWF MSG 11/24/87 (B: #42 J: #13) – 81 pts
28. Austin Aries v. Roderick Strong v. Jay Briscoe v. Kenny Omega - ROH The Hunt Begins 04/17/09 (B: #30 J: #27)- 79 pts
29. Frank Trigg v. Renato Verissimo UFC 50 (B: #43 J: #15) – 78 pts
30. Abdullah the Butcher/ Giant Kimala v. Dory Funk jr/ Katsuhiko Nakajima - Wrestle 1 Grand Prix 10/02/05 (B: #32 J: #26)- 78 pts
31. Austin Aries/ All Night Express v. Kevin Steen/ Player Dos/ Kenny Omega – ROH Tag Title Classic 04/18/09 (B: #27 J: #32) – 77 pts
32. Keiji Muto/ Masahiro Chono v. Satoshi Kojima/ Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome 01/04/07 (B: #22 J: #38) – 76 pts
33. Randy Couture v. Vitor Belfort UFC 49 (B: #29 J: #34) – 73 pts
34. Team 3 D v. Chuck Palumbo/ Johnny Stamboli - Wrestle 1 Grand Prix 10/02/05 (B: #25 J: #39)- 72 pts
35. Tito Santana v. Don Muraco WWF MSG 02/20/84 (B: #44 J: #21)- 71 pts
36. David Terrell v. Matt Lindland UFC 49 – (B: #35 J: #31) – 7 0 pts
37. Tito Santana v. Greg Valentine WWF Philly Spectrum 03/31/84 (B: #39 J: #28) – 69 pts
38. Tyler Black/ Dan Lawrence v. House of Truth v. Zero Gravity - AAW Scars and Stripes 07/10/10 (B: #33 J: #36) – 67 pts
39. Tito Santana v. Rick Rude – WWF Boston Garden 02/11/89 (B#51 J:#19)- 66 pts
40. Riki Choshu/ Manabu Nakanishi/ Takashi Iizuka/ Naofumi Yamamoto v. Giant Bernard/ TARU/ Suwama/ Ro’Z - - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome 01/04/07 (B: # 36 J: #37) – 63 pts
41. Danny Daniels v. Trik Davis - AAW Scars and Stripes 07/10/10 (B: #34 J: #43) – 59 pts
42. Rich Franklin v. Jorge Rivera UFC 50 (B: #38 J: #40) – 58 pts
43. Suwama v. Minoru Suzuki - Wrestle 1 Grand Prix 10/02/05 (B; #37 J: #44) – 55 pts
44. American Wolves/ Sylvan Grenier v. Bryan Danielson/ Kevin Steen/ El Generico – ROH The Hunt Begins 04/17/09 (B: #41 J: # 41)- 54 pts
45. Ivan Salaverry v. Tony Fryklund UFC 50 (B: #40 J:# 47)- 49 pts
46. Joe Riggs v. Joe Doerkson – UFC 49 (B: #48 J:#46) – 42 pts
47. Togi Makabe/ Toru Yano/ Tomohiro Ishii v. D’Lo Brown/ Tomko/ Bull Buchanan- - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome 01/04/07 (B: #45 J:#50 )- 41 pts
48. Chris Lytle v. Ron Jhun – UFC 49 (B#55 J:#42)- 39 pts
49. Louis Lyndon v. Mason Beck - AAW Scars and Stripes 07/10/10 (B: #47 J: #52) – 37 pts
50. Don Frye v. Jamal – Wrestle 1 Grand Prix 10/02/05 (B:#50 J:#51)- 35 pts
51. Justin Eilers v. Mike Kyle – UFC 49 (B#52 J: #53)- 31 pts
52. Jimmy Rave/ Claudio Castagnoli v. Colt Cabana/ Brent Albright – ROH The Hunt Begins 04/17/09 (B: #49 J:#56) – 31 pts
53. F.I.S.T & Buck Hawke v. The Colony/ Mike Quackenbush/ Jigsaw - Chikara “The Bobliographan 04/26/09 (B#60 J#49) – 27 pts
54. Vin Gerard v. Glacier - Chikara “The Bobliographan 04/26/09 (B: #46 J:#64)- 26 pts
55. Marvin Eastman v. Travis Lutter – UFC 50 (B: #54 J:#57)- 25 pts
56. Colt Cabana v. Claudio Castagnoli – ROH Tag Title Classic 04/18/09 (B: #65 J:#48)- 23 pts
57. Tito Santana v. Randy Savage No DQ Match – WWF MSG 04/22/86 (B:#59 J:#55) – 22 pts
58. Shadow Phoenix v. Claudio Castagnoli - Chikara “The Bobliographan 04/26/09 (B: #61 J:#54)- 21 pts
59. Jado/Gedo v. Nosawa/ Mazada - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome 01/04/07 (B:#53 J:#62)- 21 pts
60. Masa Fuchi/ El Samurai/ Ryusuke Taguchi v. Kikutaro/ Nobutaka Araya/ Akira Raijin – NJPW Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome 01/04/07 (B#58 J:#58)- 20 pts
61. Chandler McClure/ Knight Wagner v. Colt Cabana/ Derek St. Holmes - AAW Scars and Stripes 07/10/10 (B#57 J#60)- 19 pts
62. Eric Young v. Robbie E – TNA Xplosion 12/03/10 (B#56 J#61)- 19 pts
63. Shark Girl v. Sara Del Ray - Chikara “The Bobliographan 04/26/09 (B#62 J:#59)- 15 pts
64. Arik Cannon v. Flip Kendrick - AAW Scars and Stripes 07/10/10 (B#63 J:#63) – 10 pts
65. Samuray Del Sol v. Jordan McEntyre – AAW Scars and Stripes 07/10/10 (B#64 J:#65)- 7 pts
66. UltranMantis Black v. Create-A- Wrestler – Chikara “The Bobliographan 04/26/09 (B: #66 J:#66)- 4 pts
67. Tito Ortiz v. Patrick Cote – UFC 50 (B: #67 J:#67)- 2 pts

THE ANALYSIS:

Jessie:

After watching countless hours of footage, both diverse and unique to my eyes, going to share my thoughts on the top 5 or so matches and the bottom 5.

Nagata v. Suzuki was just crazy, both guys are masters of in match psychology and facial expressions to get over the story they’re telling. They had a really fun fight on this year’s Wrestle Kingdom, I believe, but this bout was a title match, feeling more important and was a bloody fight to the end. Violent suplexes, bone breaking locks and just so much fun to be had. The Berwyn Street Fight was insane, MsChif is quickly becoming my favorite female performer, she’s really rough, and sells great, this bout went outside in front of the arena, where people were moonsaulting and hitting northern Lights suplexes on the grassy knoll.

The Noah Junior title match was all that you would expect of this talent pool, NOAH has been on the decline in the eyes of the Japanese (and most wrestling forum trolls) but this had every nuance of a big title match and Kanemaru again shows he’s possibly the most underestimated worker in the Land of the Rising Sun. The ROH Tag Title bout was a marathon of epic proportions, 45 minutes total and showed why all 4 men are destined for greatness, at least in work rate. Black was kind of the black eye though, as he worked this one the same as every other match I’ve ever seen him in. The way they broke it up into different sections plus the crazy way it finished up really put it over the top for me.

Tenzan v. Takayama could have been really mediocre, but both guys really pushed themselves and this was a fight that easily could have been the Finals of the G1 and Tenzan especially showed his singles wares. The Markham Street Fight (seeing a pattern here?) had so much story already built into it all they had to do was give a spirited brawl and this would have been great; but they went over the mark, especially the in ring stuff was among the best on this show which featured so much good wrestling.

As for the bottom of the barrel, Tito v. Cote was the main of this centennial MMA card and it stunk the joint out. Cote just never tried to pull the trigger despite the shit he talked and hype he had and Tito showed while he was dominant during his big title run, he was a total lay and pray fighter. God this hurt my soul. Ultramantis Black does not a damn thing for me, even though most of the Chikara-ites adore him. He was fighting, I guess, the representative of the plain dude you can make on pro wrestling games? Could you think of a more stupid gimmick ever? And god that match dragged. AAW proved they could compete with the worst of the worst in Indy while providing a great street fight later on in the card. Samuray just blew, trying to pretend to be a Japanese ninja while obviously being a lazy pockmarked dude who was tired of working the movie ticket counter and started wrestling. Arik Cannon can be good in certain situations but this was not one of them. And Glacier’s big return to Chikara I wanted to like but was just too underwhelming, had the pace of the Tortoise racing the Hare and Gerard who has charisma really couldn’t do too much worthy of watching here.

Brian:

Hey everyone! Wow. Another Queue Slayer in the history books. I actually finished all this footage a few weeks back so I'm not as fresh on it as Jessie. It was a diverse lot.

We saw something like 7-8 selections for this one. The Tito Santana "Hall of Fame" stuff from WWE 24/7 was fun with some grizzly Valentine work always a plus. Think my favorite was their cage match from Baltimore '85 as I just loved the finish. Tito kicking that cage door in Valentine's snout. Chikara show wasn't that great, I tend to enjoy their stuff in the quirky, weird little venues they tour, but this show was in the old ECW Arena, and while that works for CZW, it doesn't really fit with their image. AAW, I've seen some pretty strong shows of theirs, this wasn't one of them, although it ended up with the surprise #1 of the whole project, a really wild, totally fun, Berwyn Street Fight! I loved it.

ROH we did two shows that were actually packaged on one massive DVD titled Double Feature II featuring (supposedly) the best matches off of two Canadian events. I actually liked the bulk of it. 4+ hours of ROH can seem like a haul to some but I've always enjoyed spinning their dense discs when I get a spare hour and this provided a few "must see" selections, namely the epic American Wolves vs. Danielson/Black 45+ min. tag masterpiece (might be slightly overstating it but it was a tasty ride), Jacobs and Delirious' Markham Street Fight, etc. Let's see -- what else? WRESTLE 1 was an outlandish short-lived co. but this was a riot. Then there's the '07 Tokyo Dome which featured a great second-half and of all the big bouts I really liked Tanahashi and Kea throwing bombs. The two UFC events were decent with some quick finishes which is always a treat, a Couture fight that wouldn't appease the bar crowd but I liked, and a few outright stinkers. Overall, a ton of fun, and Queue Slayer #6 is shaping up to be the biggest and best ever.