The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-05-26)
A great week of watching, just read below at all the awesome stuff I watched! The 2019 MOTY list is complete, just needs editing, and the top 25 wrestlers of 2019 list is very close!
#16
Mamani Toyota vs Mima Shimoda
“Japan Grand Prix 1995 Red Zone Match”
AJW Japan Grand Prix 1995
July 23, 1995
A fascinating match where if you edited out parts, this would be a 9/10 all-time classic, but with those left in it was really disjointed and jarring. The great moments were unbelievably great though!
Rating: 7/10
#15
Hazuki & Kagetsu vs Kaho Kobayashi & Takumi Iroha
Sumire Natsu Produce Forever
December 15, 2019
A fun little tag match with the real highlight of Hazuki and Iroha having amazing chemistry. Kagetsu also brought his evil badass self to add another fun wrinkle to this one. I forgot how fun old Oedi Tai was and this was a great reminder!
Rating: 7/10
#14
Mercedes Mone’ vs Willow Nightingale
“NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship – Final”
NJPW STRONG Resurgence
May 21, 2023
A tremendous match with a rushed finish due to an injury. Willow was amazing on top utilizing her power and the crowd was eating it up! This could have been a top match of the year with a comeback from Mercedes and a more exciting finish, it had been building so well up until going to the finishing sequence.
Rating: 7.25/10
#13
Daniel Makabe vs Timothy Thtacher
3-2-1 BATTLE! Wet Hot Seattle Summer 3
July 12, 2019
If you like the worked shoot style with logical progression and amazing technical wrestling, this is the match for you. It’s gritty and intense.
Rating: 7.25/10
#12
Takumi Iroha vs Arisa Nakajima
“SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Championship”
SEAdLINNNG Endless Summer
September 18, 2019
These two are all time world beaters, so although this is a really good match it was disappointing. I’m not sure what was missing, but it didn’t have that usually energy I’d expect from these two. That said, Iroha’s kicks are great, and Nakajima worked smart and I’d recommend this.
Rating: 7.25/10
#11
Arisa Nakajima vs ASUKA
SEAdLINNING Stay Tune
May 29, 2019
A tremendous sub ten minute sprint with great bombs thrown and a lot of intensity. I have no idea what the story was here, but there was a prematch attack and chair shots and some wild dives. It was followed up by a cool post match too.
Rating: 7.5/10
#10
Mercedes Mone’ vs Stephanie Vaquer
“NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship Tournament – Round 1”
NJPW STRONG Resurgence
May 21, 2023
These two worked at a great pace and it was very hard-hitting. Kind of a perfect match for an early match on a tournament show. They did a great job of keeping Vaquer looking great in a match everyone knew she would lose.
Rating: 7.5/10
#9
Momo Kohgo vs Willow Nightingale
“NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship Tournament – Round 1”
NJPW STRONG Resurgence
May 21, 2023
I’ve always been a fan of Kohgo, but she rarely gets opportunities like this to deliver and she delivered big time here. She is such a tremendous underdog that she forced the loveable Willow into a heel role here. The hope spots were amazing and when Willow finally beat her away it was a big accomplishment.
Rating: 7.75/10
#8
Momo Watanabe & Utami Hayashishita
vs
Jungle Kyona & Konami
“Goddesses of Stardom Championship”
Stardom World Big Summer In Nagoya
July 15, 2019
A great ending to the story of Jungle trying to overcome her big rivals and won the belts in her hometown. She was really the focus, but Konami added some awesome moments too. It was exciting and stiffly worked with a hot crowd.
Rating: 8/10
#7
Veit Müller vs WALTER
wXw Dead End XVIII
February 15, 2019
This is an indie version of the Gunther-Sheamus matches last year that ruled so hard. Veit is not Sheamus, but he’s tough and rough and comes to fight. His chest is disgusting in the end. WALTER is so good at controlling from on top and beating people up, this is shockingly good.
Rating: 8/10
#6
Kyoko Inoue vs Sakie Hasegawa
“Japan Grand Prix 1995 Blue Zone Match”
AJW Japan Grand Prix 1995
July 23, 1995
The two early DDTs from Kyoko Inoue were just unreal and it started to make the match feel like a squash until Hasegawa made an awesome comeback and they started brawling on the outside. Inoue hit a wild vertical suplex from the apron to the floor! Sakie almost destroyed Kyoko with a variety of head-dropping Exploders, but a comeback from Kyoko lead to a tremendous finish to a great under-ten-minute sprint!
Rating: 8/10
#5
Arisa Hoshiki & Mayu Iwatani vs Hazuki & Kagetsu
Stardom Goddess Of Stars
December 1, 2019
All four were hitting on all cylinders in this match. Kagetsu and Mayu always have excellent chemistry and it shined through here, but I also learned Hazuki and Hoshiki have amazing chemistry as well. They really beat the hell out of each other in this exciting tag.
Rating: 8/10
#4
Arisa Hoshiki vs Hazuki
“Wonder of Stardom Championship”
Stardom World Big Summer In Tokyo
July 24, 2019
Another tremendous title defense for Hsohiki in 2019. These two have great chemistry and they worked a smart and dramatic match. The kicks, the power moves, the submissions, everything clicked here. I love how desperate Hazuki was to try to finally dethrone Hoshiki.
Rating: 8.5/10
#3
Blue Demon, Jr. vs L.A. Park
IWRG 57. Aniversario De La Arena Naucalpan
December 15, 2019
What a tremendously gritty bloody brawl! Some of the weapons they used were unreal, like Demon squeezing a lime into Park’s cut, or the final segment where a hammer is the main weapon! Usually I’d complain about the evil referee being biased, but after this year’s NHL Playoffs it felt real enough. The interference on top of that brought this down from the Greatest Match Ever candidate, but it’s damn close!
Rating: 8.75/10
#2
Bad Nurse Nakamura vs Chigusa Nagayo
GAEA Hearts On Fight
July 29, 1995
This is the most shocked I have ever been by a match being great. The story of this classic is that Bad Nurse and her second Shark just destroy Chigusa with weapons and brawling bloodying her up until Chigusa calls her out as a chicken and challenges her to wrestle. Nakamura takes up the challenge and argues with Shark leading to her throwing away the weapon and grabbing a headlock. Chigusa makes the comeback and after some tremendous nearfalls wins with a Running Three into a Dominator-type move that looked vicious.
After the match, Chigusa offers to train Nakamura to wrestle and challenge Shark. This match needs to be seen to be believed how great it is.
Rating: 8.75/10
“Match of the Week”
Arisa Hoshiki vs Jungle Kyona
“Wonder of Stardom Championship”
Stardom X Stardom 2019
August 10, 2019
The Hoshiki great White Belt reign continues with an amazing defense against Jungle Kyona! Jungle comes into this one going for the kill! She spent the first half of the match destroying the leg, trying to limit Hoshiki’s main offensive weapon. It worked for the most part. Jungle brought some amazing offensive with some great power bombs, especially one on the apron, a giant swing, and one of the coolest ankle locks ever. She picked her up mid-ankle lock and bent her in half as well. Hoshiki’s used knees instead of kicks, due to her leg’s damage, and the few times she went for kicks it hurt her, and she could not capitalize on the well-crafted finish. A real classic and a top 100 Greatest Match Ever contender.
Rating: 9/10
Upcoming!
I’ll be back next week with whatever I’m watching. The 2019 Match of the Year list will be released next week. Remember to join the discord for Sunday at 4pm EST for this great Joshi Night lineup has the best stuff from AJW August 13-14, 1995, FMW August 25, 1995, and JWP August 29, 1995.
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The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-03-24)
I have spent so long on 2001, I was determined to finish my 2001 watching this week! I accomplished that goal! Expect the 2001 Match of the Year and 2001 top 25 wrestlers of the year posts soon!
What that means is there are a lot of matches that I’d recommend from this week’s watching!
#17
Chavo Guerrero, Jr. vs Rey Mysterio, Jr.
“WCW Cruiserweight Championship”
WCW SuperBrawl Revenge
February 18, 2001
It got a little long in the tooth, but a really good title match. Mysterio did a great job of selling and was missing moves due to that. Chavo feels really good in the role of a rudo champion.
Rating: 7/10
#16
Black Warrior vs Negro Casas
“Leyenda de Plata 2001 Final”
CMLL Super Viernes
October 19, 2001
A one-fall contest that didn’t even last 10 minutes, but I really enjoyed it. They both were going for the win but didn’t lose anything in the selling. Warrior has a lot of great offence from his wicked power bombs to a wild tope. Casas held everything together really well.
Rating: 7/10
#15
FMW Scramble Survivor 2001
Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs Kyoko Inoue & Lioness Asuka
November 23, 2001
A really fun tag that was rough and wild with some weapons, but kept inside the ring. LCO always brings the madness, and Kyoko is a great foil in these matches.
Rating: 7.25/10
#14
Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada
AJPW Champion Carnival One Night Special
April 14, 2001
This was the last match I felt I needed to watch before I finished my 2001 Match of the Year list and… it did not make it.
The first long stretch is pretty boring and paint by the numbers, but the match does pick up and really peaks with an amazing finishing sequence. For a dream match of NJPW vs AJPW, it did not disappoint.
Rating: 7.25/10
#13
Blue Demon, Jr. vs Blue Panther
“2/3 Falls”
IWRG TV
July 26, 2001
I liked how much these two disliked each other and how well it transferred into the match. It started with crowd brawling and didn’t let up until the referee called it off after Blue Panther ripped off Blue Demon’s mask. It was snug and stiff and nothing fancy, but an awesome brawl.
Rating: 7.5/10
#12
Mayumi Ozaki vs Aja Kong
“AAAW Championship”
GAEA God Only Knows
October 28, 2001
A rematch from a match later covered this week and it is a complete role reversal. This time Ozaki is the champion and she works like a good violent Honky Tonk Man. It plays well off the other match, but this time they both bleed. They add a vicious piledriver table spot this time. Kong’s hand gets injured again, but this time due to a weapon shot. When we get to the spot where Ozaki used to win with last time, Kong shrugged it off and takes her out for revenge! A fun brawl and an end to a story.
Rating: 7.5/10
#11
Antifaz del Norte & LA Par-K defeat Dr. Wagner, Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero
“NAWA Tag Team Championship 2/3 Falls”
Wrestling In Monterrey
December 30, 2001
Park and Wagner were a decade away from their classic wild brawls, but they had chemistry big time already. They work a championship primarily technical match, but with these characters that are hard to control bending the rules around the edges. They get lots of time and have lots of moments between Park and Wagner. The finish was something I had never seen before with everyone tied up leading to the pin.
Rating: 7.5/10
#10
Reggie Bennett vs Takako Inoue vs Toshiyo Yamada
“All Pacific Championship Triangle Match”
AJW Wrestling Queendom 1995 Victory
March 26, 1995
This was one-on-one, but once someone gets a win the other person replaces the loser. However, it keeps going until someone wins two straight falls. They used those rules really well and all of the finishes were tremendous. Weirdly the star of the match was Reggie Bennett who was on a path of destruction here!
Rating: 7.75/10
#9
Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio, Jr. vs Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo
“WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles Tournament Final”
WCW Greed
March 18, 2001
The exciting end of a tournament you want with some great spots and nearfalls. They used the tag format excellently with a really good face-in-peril segment on Kidman and used it to hide the weaknesses of Kidman and the heels. One of the highlights of the end times of WCW.
Rating: 7.75/10
#8
Etsuko Mita vs Mima Shimoda
“Japan Grand Prix”
AJW
June 18, 2001
It was a real joy seeing these two, who have caused so much terror to others, being forced to terrorize each other! For the Japan Grand Prix, these two were up to their usual tactics, but this time against each other. It was such a fun brawl!
Rating: 8/10
#7
Dr. Cerebro vs El Felino
“IWRG Intercontinental Welterweight Championship 2/3 Falls”
IWRG TV
January 18, 2001
I thought this was a tremendous title match. For some reason, I much prefer matches started on the mat in lucha libre over other styles and this starting sequence felt like a real struggle. The match built up to bigger high spots including Cerebro hitting one of the most vicious topes I have ever seen!
Rating: 8/10
#6
Bull Nakano vs Kyoko Inoue
“WWF Women’s Championship”
AJW Wrestling Queendom 1995 Victory
March 26, 1995
Kyoko Inoue seemed to have channelled her inner Warrior to try to do a WWF-style match for the WWF Women’s Title! Nakano is the monster character she was in the WWF too. They did the style filtered through the AJW style and it ended up being a well-built match with an exciting finish. Best WWF Women’s Title match in history at this point.
Rating: 8/10
#5
Black Warrior, El Satanico, & Shocker vs Rey Bucanero, Tarzan Boy, & Ultimo Guerrero
“Rights to Los Infernales Name 2/3 Falls”
CMLL Homenaje A Dos Leyendas 2001 – Juicio Final
March 30, 2001
The two rudo teams battle to keep the name El Satanico made famous in the 80s for their group. These two evil groups don’t like each other, but they both also love to cheat. It’s a great feud and a great moment in that feud. One of the better trios matches I’ve watched in a long while.
Rating: 8/10
#4
Antifaz vs Negro Casas
“2/3 Falls”
Wrestling in Monterrey
June 10, 2001
This rocked hard! The first fall was just murder by Casas and it was so satisfying. Just all over the outside of the ring and using the ring posts! Antifaz made the comeback to send the third fall, that was an awesome brawl with a hot crowd. These are the types of matches that make you love lucha libre!
Rating: 8.25/10
#3
ASUKA & Saori Anou vs Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu
Sendai Girls Step And Go
January 8, 2023
Team 200kg (Hashimoto & Yuu) is such a great brute tag team and ASUKA and Anou are a perfect foil who tried to use flying and speed to overcome. The early dominance by Team 200kg was tremendous, but the match really picked up with the comeback. I LOVED the whole segment on Anou trying to sunset flip Hashimoto out of the ring and the contributions of both of their partners. The outside-the-ring brawling was fun and the finish was wonderfully done. I can’t wait for the rematch!
Rating: 8.25/10
#2
Aja Kong vs Mayumi Ozaki
“AAAW Championship”
GAEA Wild Times
January 14, 2001
This is everything you would want out of these two, a vicious wild bloody brawl. After Ozaki survives the initial onslaught she ducks a spinning back fist which causes Kong to injure her hand. After that, it’s a battle of how can Kong put Ozaki away with that injury? The answer was that Ozaki would put her away with a spinning back first of her own!
Rating: 8.25/10
“Fan Favourite”
Akira Jo & Yusaku Ito vs Hitamaru Sasaki & White Moriyama
“HEAT UP Universal Tag Team Championship”
HEAT UP Last Battle Of 2022 ~ Merry Christmas On Fire
December 25, 2022
This “fan favourite” suggestion comes from Emb on Discord. These are four people I had never heard of before in a promotion I had never heard of before, so this should be something.
This followed the tag format very well and was built around some really good submissions and violent headbutts. We had an exciting face-in-peril and a cool hot tag. The finish was particularly brutal with these shoot headbutts.
If I was connected to these wrestlers or promotion I would probably rate this, but I was really cold going into this. Thanks for the match Emb!
Rating: Very close to going on my spreadsheet.
“Match of the Week”
Megumi Yabashita vs Sumie Sakai
“AWF Women’s & Queen of the Ring Championship”
Jd’
March 18, 2001
I loved this match. It was fast and had some amazing spots, but I wouldn’t go to say it’s a spot fest as they were not no selling or just trying to set up cool stuff, these two were trying to win the title. The German Suplexes were some of the most vicious I’ve seen. The finish was definitive and great. This is a top match of the year!
Rating: 8.75/10
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Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-03-17)
#9
El Satanico vs Ultimo Guerrero
“2/3 Falls”
CMLL Super Viernes
May 11, 2001
I like the story of the evil teacher trying to be surpassed by the evil protege and this was a fun match. It was intense with lots of hate. The finish was a schmooze, but it’s definitely a great feud that needs more diving into.
Rating: 7/10
#8
The Rock vs Rob Van Dam
“WCW World Heavyweight Championship”
WWF Raw
October 15, 2001
These two have some oddly good chemistry, which makes sense since they both move oddly. I don’t think anyone sold Rock in such a devastating-looking manner. The crowd was really hot and it’s too bad the finish sucked with schmooze setting up the Jericho-Rock feud.
Rating: 7/10
#7
Aoi & Unagi Sayaka vs Itsuki Aoki & Mio Momono
Marvelous
March 10, 2023
Aoi & Sayaka are quickly becoming my favourite tag team. They have the best energy together and have started to develop some good team moves! This time they are taking on Mio Momono, who I missed dearly, & Itsuki Aoki, who I don’t know but who had some Unagi character parts.
Unagi and Momono had pretty good chemistry for the match, and I want to see more. The match was exciting, and everyone did some good stuff in here. My Marvelous subscription is really paying off.
Rating: 7/10
#6
Blue Panther vs El Felino
“Copa Ovaciones Final Match”
IWRG
February 15, 2001
These two veterans battled hard to win this tournament and it resulted in a tightly contested struggle. They did some gritty work holds segments and tried to tear each other’s masks off. This was intense.
Rating: 7.25/10
#5
American Dragon vs Low-Ki
“Special Referee: Ricky Steamboat”
ECWA
July 21, 2001
I completely see why people were excited by this feud in 2001 and why it ushered in the new era of Indies. These two put on a high-end match at such a young age. They were crisp on the mat, the strikes hit hard, and the high spots were tremendous. I can appreciate all that without these two not being my thing and them not working in a style I enjoy.
Rating: 7.5/10
#4
Jerry Lynn vs Rob Van Dam
ECW Guilty as Charged
January 7, 2001
Rob Van Dam returns to ECW and faces his long-time rival, Jerry Lynn. This was a nice version of their feud, as it wasn’t as long as some of the others. RVD matches in ECW are a fun showcase, as they aren’t always what you expect from a match they are a different thing. The spots were awesome, and the crowd was HYPED. Lynn working more heel also made it have a different feel. A really nice way for the last real ECW match.
Rating: 7.5/10
#3
Orange Cassidy vs Jeff Jarrett
“AEW International Championship”
AEW Dynamite
March 15, 2023
I’ve always enjoyed Cassidy and Jarrett is the perfect person to have this kind of shenanigans match. He goes full old-school cheating Memphis style and it’s perfect. Cassidy is such a perfect underdog. The Sharpshooter spot, because lol we are in Canada, was kind of lame, but that’s a minor distraction point.
Rating: 7.5/10
#2
El Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas
“2/3 Falls”
Tijuana
June 9, 2001
Another awesome brawl in their long history. They brawl from the start and Santo hits a tope dive while wearing his cape! Such a great visual. It was intense with a great crowd and some awesome rudo work by Casass. He won the second fall by punching the referee “by accident” and then hitting a low blow! He looked to have won the third fall with a low blow too, but the second referee saw it and reversed the call.
Add this match to their classic series and well worth the 15 minutes.
Rating: 7.75/10
Fan Favourite!
Andre the Giant vs Osamu Kido & Haruka Eigen
“Handicap Match”
NJPW 2nd Madison Square Garden Series
May 25, 1979
Thanks to Elliott from the Disord for this suggestion. I love Andre and it’s been a really long time since I watched a handicap match, so this should be interesting.
From the get-go, they try to double-team Andre, but at every pass, he is too big and strong and counters everything. They keep trying until they start running scared and try to surround him with a new approach. This turns out to be futile too, leading to Andre putting on double submissions on them!
They get in a few spots and even try to dogpile a pin attempt, but really they are like flies to Andre. The finishing sequence rules as it looks like Andre separates them and can kill one to get the pin, but then he goes to the outside to bring the other one in so he can beat them both at once.
Rating: A fucking blast!
Match of the Week!
Juventud Guerrera vs Rey Misterio Jr.
Tijuana
April 6, 2001
These two flashback to 1996 and their world tour stopping in the ECW Arena and it’s really at that level. They only get ten minutes, but they make the most of it with an awesome cruiserweight match with some wild offence from Juvi, including an Ocean Cyclone Suplex and a vicious Michonoku Driver. The crowd is wild and really adds to this!
Rating: 7.75/10
You can discuss this on Twitter!
Discord
We also have a lovely discord community to discuss the greatest wrestler ever project and anything else under the sun. It’s an open and welcoming group and I am very proud of it. Everyone is welcome:
Join:
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Top Ten 2016 Matches of the Year
It’s that time of the year where we talk about the matches of the year! 2016 was a great year with streaming services emerging, amazing tag wrestling, women’s cage matches, and great mask lucha matches!
Honourable Mentions:
Chris Hero & Tommy End vs Sami Callihan & Zack Sabre Jr. (EVOLVE 53, 1/22)
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Chris Hero (WWN, 4/2)
Rey Hechicero vs Negro Casas (Monterrey, 4/24)
Roman Reigns vs AJ Styles (“Extreme Rules”, WWE Extreme Rules, 5/22)
LA Park vs Rush (Liga Elite, 7/14)
Now onto the list:
10) Allie vs Rosemary
(“Cage”, SMASH Canusa Classic, 10/22)
*available on Smash on Demand
The blow off of an 18 month feud and the conclusion of a one night USA vs Canada series. This is everything you want in a feud ending match, as these two beat the crap out of each other. It’s a match that pays off it’s history with a lot of call backs and nuances that can only exist at the end of an epic feud.
9) Sasha Banks vs Charlotte vs Becky Lynch
(WWE WrestleMania XXXII, 4/3)
*available on the WWE Network
After a year of horrible booking in the women’s revolution, the three top women in the WWE stepped onto the big stage at WrestleMania and stole the show. It needs to be seen again, as it was hurt the night of after such a long weekend and show.
8) Chris Hero vs Gunner Miller vs Jimmy Rave vs Anthony Henry
(Scenic City Invitational, 8/6)
*available here
The finals from an amazing tournament saw some of the best psychology in a single match this year. All four men shined and it even played off the finals from the previous year’s touranament. The whole tournament might be the best show’s of the year and are available for a cheap price.
7) Black Terry vs Wotan
(Chilanga Mask, 8/21)
This is a throwback to the Steven Regal vs Fit Finlay feud in the mid 90’s in WCW. These two beat the crap out each other in a realistic and violent fashion. The full match is available by contacting Black Terry Jr.
6) #DIY vs The Revival
(NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, 8/20)
*available on the WWE Network
These two produced the best tag team feud in WWE history. Is there anything in wrestling better than a proper heel and babyface southern tag match? This is about the best version of that style that you can have.
5) Delta vs Galactar
(“Mask vs Mask”, MDA, 11/26)
What more can you ask from in a mask vs mask match, then insane drama, broom attacks, blood, and it ending with a wedding proposal?
4) Shinsuke Nakamura vs Sami Zayn
(NXT TakeOver: Dallas, 4/1)
*available on the WWE Network
WrestleMania weekend was magically with WWN Live putting out great show after great show, however this NXT show was the highlight of the weekend for me. Nakamura’s debut in the WWE was a special moment and this match has a special aura about it.
3) Sasha Banks vs Charlotte
(“Hell in a Cell”, WWE Hell in a Cell, 10/30)
*available on the WWE Network
The chemistry between Charlotte and Sasha is at an all-time level and this feud has produced as many great matches as any feud in WWE history. If you want to hear more about this match listen to this amazing episode of “Stacey & Elliot’s Bogus Journey” where they talk this match for 90 minutes.
2) #DIY vs The Revival
(“2/3 Falls”, NXT TakeOver: Toronto, 11/19)
*available on the WWE Network
This match has the advantage of me being there live, but this match has enough praise from others for me to feel confident going the full five stars on it. This is the best tag match in WWE history and perhaps in North American history. It played off their previous matches, it built suspense, had high end moves, and insane crowd heat. I love this match and it was incredibly special. It was so special, that my friends I was with rushed to the merchandise stand to purchase a #DIY shirt immediately following it.
1) Trauma I vs Canis Lupus
(“Mask vs Mask”, IWRG, 9/4)
This is on par with the Atlantis vs Ultimo Guerrero match from a few year’s ago, but it’s different. While they both had the drama, this one brought the blood and hatred. A real throwback to the classic mask matches of the 80s and 90s. A five star classic that will stand the test of time.
There you have it, my top matches of 2016. Was there any matches I missed or you hated the placement of? I will take those comments and any others on my twitter.
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