King Steventon

- TNA X-Division

- Bret Hart

- Matches being called in the ring or planned backstage?

- FIP - Full Impact Pro

- The Necro Butcher

- Edge/Rey vs Angle/Benoit - No Mercy 2002

- Lex Luger

- Ladder matches

- Mark Henry

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horrorfan_1986

- TNA X-Division
The element that used to make TNA so great. While the WWE was really starting depush the CW's, TNA came in and showcased theirs. Ironically, the best time in the X-Division, would be the beginning of the end. As great as Daniels/Joe/Styles feud was, it fucked everything up. They never really put over any of the guys who would be taking over the division. Just like that *Snaps fingers* the X-Division went down in legitimacy.

- Bret Hart
One of the greatest of all time. He could literally get a good match out of just about anyone. At the same time, the WWE never really used him to their best advantage. Just looking at his Wrestlemania history, you can see that they didn't really give him a chance to look good until Wrestlemania 8. Even when they made him a main eventer, they were so quick to always be looking for the next main guy. So instead of focusing their time and effort on Bret, they were seeing dollar signs (Falsely) in Lex Luger, Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels. In a very tough time for the WWE, Bret was reliable, could produce good matches, looked like a guy who wasn't jacked on steroids, extremely loyal, brought in money in Europe (AKA the only place the WWE could rely on to bring in money during the mid 90's) and really helped produce one of the biggest stars of all time in Steve Austin. He had a bit of an ego, but who wouldn't when you're a diamond surrounded by such poor pieces of coal? If only there were a dozen more Bret's.

- Matches being called in the ring or planned backstage?
There seems to be a certain stigma about having the match be planned backstage. It's almost as if you're not as good if you have to call it before the match. Being a fan, I don't care how it's called as long as the match is good. Some of the greatest matches in history have been planned in the back. There's some who thinks they're better wrestlers because they can call it on the fly. Which is completely ludicrous since the fans have no idea if you're calling it in the ring or not. All they care about is if you can produce a good match. So it doesn't make you better if you can call it in the ring or not. The one thing though is if you're calling it in the ring, do NOT let me hear or see you talking to each other. That bugs me so much and takes me out of the drama of the match.

- FIP - Full Impact Pro
I haven't seen too much, but it's decent enough. Like any company, they've had a few years to figure out what works and doesn't. They remind me a bit of early ROH.

- The Necro Butcher
One crazy sonofabitch. Necro actually seems like a decent enough brawler that doesn't need to rely on garbage wrestling. He's very Brody-ish who gets a thumb up for being so over.

- Edge/Rey vs Angle/Benoit - No Mercy 2002
One of the better US PPV matches of the decade. The match alone showcased just how far behind Raw was in quality to SD. If only the WWE always gave that sort of attention to their tag divisions.

- Lex Luger
Extremely underrated. I don't know where all of this hate comes from. The guy was very over and could put on some good enough matches. The guy was one of the better wrestlers in early WCW. His WWE career was marred by just terrible booking. There was no way he could of been the next Hulk Hogan. Like most wrestlers, the quality of his matches started to drop as he got older in the late 90's. So while I won't say he's one of the best of all time, he's easily one of the most underrated in my eyes.

- Ladder matches
Wash, rinse and repeat. It seems as if no one puts in any effort to tell a story during ladder matches anymore. It's just a match of huge spots to get the crowd loud. They're really risking their safety to do shit that doesn't matter. How does say 12 huge spots in a match make it any better than just 5? The perfect ladder match would be a regular match, only inserting the ladder in regular moves. Things like a body slam on a ladder is so much better and smarter booking than leaping from the ladder doing a 720 flip through a table. All of the spots just means more likelihood to botch. And damn if we haven't seen plenty of those.

- Mark Henry
It always amazes me when I remember that he's been around since 1996. With Hardcore Holly now gone, I believe that makes Henry the longest running active wrestler in the WWE behind Taker and Trips. And really, what has he really done? It just seems like a huge waste of money. I'm glad he's finally improving in the last few years, but the guy just hasn't warranted such a long stint.

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Bigpapa42

TNA X-Division

I didn't get into TNA until relatively recently, and I heard a bit about how cool the X-Division stuff was. What I've seen over the past year or so hasn't been that great. Definitely want to see more of the older stuff.

Bret Hart

Underrated. As Jim mentioned, he could do so much so well. His career should be looked upon at least the same way as Shawn Michaels and Undertaker, but it doesn't seem like he is by a lot of peple. It still feels like he could've been more - especially his WCW run, where he floundered and was misused for so long. He should've had a Flair-like career, when you get right down to it.

Matches being called in the ring or planned backstage?

A match that entertains and flows is all I ask for. Could care less how it was planned. Being able to call the match is impressive, especially a longer match, but what does that matter if the result sucks?

FIP - Full Impact Pro

Haven't seen that much. Much like ROH, I want to see more.

The Necro Butcher

I don't know enough but the guy intrigues me. He doesn't seem like a hardcore guy who does it because he can't offer anything else.

Edge/Rey vs Angle/Benoit - No Mercy 2002

Barely remember teh match. Must re-watch.

Lex Luger

His WWE run was pretty meh, but he was good in WCW, especially the first run. His late career was kinda forgettable.

Ladder matches

Seen a few very good ones and a lot of forgettable ones. Typically more fun than a "whatever on a stick" match, but seems overdone.

Mark Henry<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

Long career but not a great deal accomplished. He seems like a guy who is going to be easy to forget once he's gone.

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Tommy Platinum

TNA X-Division
Nothing to speak of now, although they do have some great 'X Division' wrestlers.... and by that I mean the Guns and nobody else. However back in 2005 it was the highlight of the product and produced the best matches in the history of the company. That said, I always feel that the division was overrated to an extent even when it was good, as people marked for Ultimate X spotfests. I like spotfests now and again, but the X Division was sometimes too much for me, and looked way too choreographed. Also psychology and selling took a backseat to action more often than not. Matches like Joe/Styles etc can't be criticised though.

Bret Hart
I wasn't watching wrestling before 97, but having watched a lot of his most famous matches since, I think he warrants his reputation as one of the best wrestlers ever. The thing that strikes me about Hart is that he simply never fucked up. The 'excellence of execution'' moniker was perhaps the most accurate one ever, as I can't remember him ever botching a move.

Matches being called in the ring or planned backstage?


Like others, I don't care as long as it doesn't look too fake and choreographed and they actually produce a good match. Planning backstage I imagine would be better to ensure they know what they're doing, but I personally would like to see a combination of the two with the major moves planned backstage, but still a little room for improvisation.

The Necro Butcher
From what I've seen of him in ROH, he is a pretty good brawler and isn't the shitty 100% garbage wrestler I envisaged from his name and the fact that he was in CZW. Still not a huge fan though.

Edge/Rey vs Angle/Benoit - No Mercy 2002
Has there been a better tag match in WWE since? I loved it. If only we could see tag team wrestling like this nowadays.

Lex Luger
From what I've seen he was pretty bad, and as Jim said, to try to make him the next Hogan was dumb. I've not seen his WCW stuff though.

Ladder matches
The innovative ones are great, and I am usually entertained by a good ladder spotfest even if it isn't too original, but I do feel they are overused nowadays, and it is usually the same moves over and over. Ladder matches which avoid the typical spots and try something new, such as Benoit vs Jericho, get the thumbs up from me. MITB has become pretty boring.

Mark Henry
Like Jim, I really can't believe this guy has been around for so long and cost WWE so much money. Although he has improved, I would still like him to be released and feel that he is incapable of producing a good match against anyone. Pretty good mic worker though.

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Crest Fall

TNA X-Division
Non-existent at this point. I remember the last day of 7th or 8th grade and seeing TNA for the first time and I was pretty amazed, it's what led me onto wrestling like Puroresu, Independents, etc. It's a shame what they've become when they have so many great pieces. Just really really clueless management.

Bret Hart
I grew up on Bret Hart, so I had exposure to great wrestling at a young age. Easily one of the best of all time, could get a great match out of anyone. So many people discredit his legacy because of his attitude, or recent events, or the whole "FIVE MOVES OF DOOM," but it's bollocks to me. He's in my top ten of all time, don't know about you.

Matches being called in the ring or planned backstage?
As long as it's good, but being able to plan prior to the match and on the spot during the match are both important qualities for a wrestler. A botch can happen to anyone so you always have to be attentive. As I said though, I don't care how they do it as long as it's good.

FIP - Full Impact Pro
Only seen a little bit of it, have the first couple of shows and have gotten a couple of shows since then. It's not bad, but it's not my cup of tea... especially since Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens bore me to tears. I loved what Punk was doing in early FIP though.

The Necro Butcher
Dude is a genius. I prefer his old school brawls to his ultraviolent matches, because I really only prefer BJW when it comes to hardcore wrestling. He's just really good at what he does and everything he does is completely believable from a fan's point of view. There aren't many wrestlers around today that are like Necro, he's just so unique and refreshing.

Edge/Rey vs Angle/Benoit - No Mercy 2002
Never saw it, I believe I stopped watching wrestling for awhile during tis time.

Lex Luger
I DON'T KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I could never stand him as a kid, and all the noises he would make in the ring are comparable to Psycho Sid-levels to how much they annoyed me. His forearm smash was so lame as well. I never saw anything of him before 1995, where I only remember a couple of matches of him in the WWF... Never made me care regardless).

Ladder matches
They're so unoriginal and nonsensical nowadays. They're always fun nonetheless, but I think they could be done so much better and it doesn't involve doing fifteen dives off the top of it, or the Briscoes and Steenerico nearly killing themselves.

Mark Henry
I can't help but love this dude, I have no idea why. He just looks so mean and pissed, and his matches aren't terribly boring despite the limited things he can do in the ring. Plus his Christmas promo with Tony Atlas is worth every penny WWE ever paid him xD. His theme music is cool too. I'm amazed he's lasted this long though.

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Bigpapa42

Bret Hart

Forgot to mention this in my first post. Hart is also the basis for my greatest "claim to fame" as a wrestling fan - attending a few Stampede Wrestling house shows in my hometown in the mid 80s when I was a kid and getting to see Bret Hart before his WWE career.

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God

If you havent already seen it, Daniels vs Styles vs Joe from Unbreakable is simply the best X-Division match ever. I doubt many will disagree with that either. If you want to see the high paced wrestling that made the X-Division in the first place, then pick pretty much any of the X-Division matches from the first six months of TNA as it was literally two guys entertaining with nothing on the line and no storyline (for the most part) to take away from it.

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King Steventon

I would have thought most would (rightfully) say AJ vs Joe was the best.

- TNA X-Division
Even at the height of it's popularity it was just a bunch of glorified mindless spofests designed for getting cheap pops out of the easily impressed crowds. They have obviously had some good matches, notabley the Daniels/Joe/AJ era as well as others throughout the years though the majority of matches are usually boring and crappy.

- Bret Hart
Best of all time? Definetly not. Probably top 5 best US workers of all time, but as much as I love the guy, he hasn't had the quantity of great matches as other great workers. Obviously not his fault, and I think if he was still wrestling today at the same level he was 15 years ago there would be no doubt about him. Best US worker of the 90's, hands down. No competition.

- Matches being called in the ring or planned backstage?
As long as the match is good, who cares? I do think guys who tend to work in the match and feed off the crowd reactions tend to be the better workers though, case in point, Austin and Flair.

- FIP - Full Impact Pro
Meh, poor man's ROH.

- The Necro Butcher
Shit in ROH, enjoyable in IWA. Works great as the guy who gets the crap beat out of him and manages to get flurries of offence in here and there. Overated for sure, though.

- Edge/Rey vs Angle/Benoit - No Mercy 2002
Great match, but not MOTY. Not even MOTN for me. I prefered the Smackdown rematch but this is still a classic and an example of how to, you know, have good tag matches.

- Lex Luger
Need to see more because I have yet to be impressed. What do I need to see?

- Ladder matches
I've seen the same boring spotfest a million times over. There have been some great ones like Rock/HHH, Jericho/Benoit and even Olsen/Gerrard, but most of them are just contests to see who can hit the bigger spot.

- Mark Henry<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
Works a very generic style quite generically. Not really a fan though I suppose he does his job. Good personality.

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Tommy Platinum

I agree with Steve, AJ vs Joe from Turning Point is the better match.

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Nick Malone

TNA X-Division- A shell of its former self. When I looked at the X-Division I looked at the names of Jerry Lynn, Chris Sabin, AJ Styles, Low Ki, Frankie Kazarian as the names that made the X-Division what it was back in 02/03 and it transitioned with "Maverick" Matt Bentley who did well in 04/05 with Petey Williams and then things dipped after the peak in 2005 with of course Daniels/Joe/AJ. They have some talent still there with Shelley, Lethal, Kiyoshi, Homicde and hell, even Davari could get it done inside the ring if only booking by Dutch Mantle was done right.

Bret Hart- One of the Best Professional Wrestlers of his time and really helped in telling the psychology of the match and a man whose efforts alone make him an unsung hero for the most part in the world of wrestling for making his matches matter and one of the best matches on the card if not the best when he was on.

Matches being called in the ring or planned backstage?- More of the unexpected quality when its called in the ring whether its for the best of worst but all I care about regardless of how its set up is how the match is told and how it is performed.

FIP - Full Impact Pro- Sister company to Ring of Honor and can really be used as a minor league set up system for ROH which could really help ROH flow and such.

The Necro Butcher- The modern day white version non-fatty of Abdullah The Butcher and Butcher will do practically anything to his body to get him and his match over when his actual technicall skills are little to be high about.

Edge/Rey vs Angle/Benoit - No Mercy 2002- One of the best matches on that PPV card that was headlined by Brock/Taker inside a Hell in a Cell. It easily showed just how good and why SmackDown was the Best Brand back then than Raw.

Lex Luger- One of the more overrated pieces of talent that was heavily pushed because of his body. Even in his early WCW days, he had very little talent that was green and made Flair do absolutely everything to get him over.

Ladder matches- I always look forward to these spot fest matches mostly because of the objective to grab the belt and the despiration it creates. It always good when matches like these are used sparingly though because too much of a good thing can be a waste.

Mark Henry- An investment that I hadn't thought paid off until actually he became ECW champ. I really thought that when you looked at the list of ECW Champs that henry was the best one and thats saying alot because while it was relevant during the timeing of when Bobby Lashley and The Big Show held it to the times of giving the ball to the people too soon i.e. John Morrison and CM Punk, Mark Henry came in and brought the Championship to respectability again in a means that made the title look alot more credible and challenging for his challengers than Kane or Chavo's reigns that were less than amyable.

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