Every 5 Star Wrestling Match...Ever...

I rate wrestling matches, as one does.  I've rated 50+ matches at 5 stars.  If you don't see a match here that you believe to be 5 stars, there are three possibilities.

1. I haven't seen it.
2. I've seen it.  It's a 5 star match.  I've just forgotten to put it here.
3. It's not a five star match.

3 is most likely; there aren't too many super elite matches I just haven't seen.  It's probable that I've scored it below 5 stars. My non WWF/WCW record keeping is not complete for sub 5 star matches, so were you to say "what did you give to X" I wouldn't necessarily know, but if there are queries I'd give it a shot.  Ain't nothing wrong with a 4 3/4 star match.  That's not a slight.  Someone says "hey, do you want to watch this 4 3/4 star match, I'm gonna say yes, yes, yes, I would like to watch that match, yes."  It's just not quite 5.  I give fewer five star matches than do most people, admittedly.  I try to limit the grade inflation.

1983
Dynamite Kid v. Tiger Mask (Apr-NJPW)

1984
Ric Flair v. Ricky Steamboat (Mar-NWA)

1988
Nobuhiko Takada v. Akira Maeda (Nov-UWF)

1989
Ric Flair v. Ricky Steamboat (Feb-WCW)
Ric Flair v. Ricky Steamboat (Apr-WCW)
Ric Flair v. Ricky Steamboat (May-WCW)

1990
Jushin Thunder Liger v. Naoki Sano (Jan-NJPW)

1991
Akira Taue Jumbo Tsuruta Masanobu Fuchi v. Kenta Kobashi Toshiaki Kawada Mitsuharu Misawa (Apr-AJPW)

1992
Jushin Thunder Liger v. El Samurai (Apr-NJPW)

1993
Kenta Kobashi v. Toshiaki Kawada (Apr-AJPW)
Manami Toyota/Toshiyo Yamada v. Dynamite Kansai/Mayumi Ozaki (Apr-AJPW)
Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi v. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (Dec-AJPW)

1994
Owen Hart v. Bret Hart (Mar - WWF)
Shawn Michaels v. Razor Ramon (Mar-WWF)
Kenta Kobashi v. Dr. Death Steve Williams (Apr-AJPW)
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Toshiaki Kawada (June - AJPW)

1995
Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi v. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (June-AJPW)

1996
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Kenta Kobashi (Mar - AJPW)
Great Sasuke/Shiryu/Tiger Mask IV v. Taka Michinoku/Super Delfin/Naniwa (Mar-Mich Pro)
Taka Michinoku/Dick Togo/Shriyu/Mens Teioh/Sho Funaki v. Super Delfin/Tiger Mask IV/Gran Hamada/Naniwa/Yakushiji (Oct-Mich Pro)

1997
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Kenta Kobashi (June-AJPW)

1998
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Kenta Kobashi (Oct - AJPW)

1999
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Kenta Kobashi (June-AJPW)

2000
Kenta Kobashi v. Jun Akiyama (December NOAH)


2001
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Jun Akiyama (July - NOAH)

2002
Bryan Danielson v. Low Ki (March - ROH) 

2003
Chris Benoit  v. Kurt Angle (Jan - WWF)
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Kenta Kobashi (March - NOAH)
Kenta/Naomichi Marufuji v. Jushin Liger/Takehiro Murahama (July - NOAH)
Kenta Kobashi v. Yuji Nagata (Sept - NOAH)

2004
Kenta Kobashi v. Jun Akiyama (July - NOAH)
Kenta Kobashi v. Akira Taue (Sept - NOAH)
CIMA v. Susumu Yokosuka (Sept - Dragon Gate)

2005
Kenta Kobashi v. Kensuke Sasaki (July - NOAH)

2006
Kenta v. Bryan Danielson (Sept - ROH)

2007
Kotaro Suzuki/Ricky Marvin v. Taiji Ishimori/Rocky Romero (Feb - NOAH)
Briscoes v. Roderick Strong/PAC (May - PWG)
Bryan Danielson v. Nigel McGuinness (Sept - ROH)
Taka Michinoku/Dick Togo v. Kota Ibushi/Madoka (Dec - KDojo)

2008

Masato Tanaka/Shinjiro Otani v. Yuji Nagata/Manabu Nakanishi (May - Zero 1)

2009
Kenta v. Katsuhiko Nakajima (Feb - NOAH)
Kenta v. Jun Akiyama (May - NOAH)

2010

Tyler Black v. Davey Richards (June - ROH) 

Takashi Sugiura v. Takeshi Morishima (Dec - NOAH)

2011

Katsuhiko Nakajima v. Kotaro Suzuki (March - NOAH)

Go Shiozaki v. Takashi Sugiura (July - NOAH )

2012

Davey Richards v. Michael Elgin (March - ROH) 

Kota Ibushi v. Kenny Omega (August - DDT) 

2013

Kenta v. Takashi Sugiura (May-NOAH)

2014

Kenny Omega v. Harashima v. Isami Kodaka (Aug - DDT)

2015

Kota Ibushi v. Shinsuke Nakamura (Jan- NJPW)

Kota Ibushi v. Harashima (Feb - DDT)

Tomohiro Ishii v. Tomoaki Honma (Feb-NJPW) 

Kyle O'Reilly v. Yujiro Kushida (June-NJPW)

2017
Kenny Omega v. Kazuchika Okada (Jan-NJPW)

Kazuchika Okada v. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW, Apr) 
Kenny Omega v. Tetsuya Naito (NJPW, Aug) 

Yujiro Kushida v. Will Ospreay (NJPW, June) 

10 Best Television Shows of 2015 (July-September)

April-June was here.

1. Halt and Catch Fire (AMC)
2. Review (Comedy Central)
3. Wet Hot American Summer (Netflix)
4. Catastrophe (Amazon)
5. Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
6. The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
7. The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC)
8. Unreal (Lifetime)
9. Difficult People (Hulu)
10. Big Brother (CBS)

I haven't seen Mr. Robot; my working plan is to catch it in its next life, wherever that might be.  I'll endeavor to get it on the next quarter's list.

I didn't dislike Halt as much as did others in its first season, but this was a clear jump and you could position it in the upper echelon of the post Mad Men landscape with The Americans and Better Call Saul.  Review/Amy Schumer/Broad City are Comedy Central's best shows; Wet Hot hit their return squarely, it was better than had I anticipated.  Catastrophe was the surprise of the summer. Orange has probably seen its best days and has settled into a middle tier of quality television.  Jon Stewart's closing run is here; if Chris Hayes doesn't have the best news show than Maddow does. Lifetime makes an appearance with its pulpy behind the scenes imagining of The Bachelor franchise.  Difficult People isn't really as deviant as reviews would suggest, but hits on enough jokes to make this list; Big Brother is a great game and often a not very good show, this has been a particularly well made installment.

That's 30 down - there are 3 months left in the year, let's see how we close it out.

Tendown Sep 13, 2015

190 is here. This is Tendown 191.

1. The Patriots, of course.


2.  Colbert's got balls.


3. Every week until he stops - vote for Bernie Sanders.

4. Nick Saban is an employee of the state of Alabama.



5. Ranking Talk Show Hosts.

6. Abortion isn't as legal as it was the last time you checked.

7. Guess the last name of the candidate who wants an enormous tax cut for the rich?

8. Want Children to Flourish - Live Where the Unions Are.

9.

10. But aren't there actors who wouldn't do this? And aren't they competitively disadvantaged? And what about the children? Where are the congressional hearings to talk about the children?

And finally...

That's all for this time.  I'll be back next time.  If there is a next time...

Your pal,

Jim

2015 NFL Supercontest Picks, Week One (And Eliminator, as long as I'm alive)

Using the Westgate Supercontest lines and rules, I'll pick 5 games a week.  In addition, if there are other games I like, I'll note them, but they won't go into my running totals, they're just for your use.   Finally, as long as I'm alive in the suicide pool, I'll include it as well.  Theoretically, since I'm not picking the Thursday game, I might change some of this before the weekend. I just wanted to get this in before the season's official start.

Supercontest Picks
Chi +7 GB loss
StL +4 Sea win
Wash +3.5 Mia loss
NYG +6.5 Dall win
Jags + 3 Panthers loss

2-3

Additional games
Raiders + 3 Bengals
Atl +3 Phi

Eliminator Winner: Dallas

2015 NFL Predictions

I make picks. I may tweak on Thursday prior to the first kick.  I'm going to go with the Stanford (Luck) v. Cal (Rodgers) Super Bowl in the first game in the Bay Area in three decades+.  A Luck/Frank Gore Colts team would be pretty popular to a bunch of locals.

AFC East
1. New England 11-5
2. Miami 9-7 WC2
3. NYJ 8-8
4. Buffalo 7-9

AFC North
1. Baltimore 10-6
2. Cincinnati 9-7 WC1
3. Pittsburgh 8-8
4. Cleveland 5-11

AFC South
1. Indianapolis 12-4
2. Houston 7-9
3. Tennessee 5-11
4. Jacksonville 4-12

AFC West
1. Denver 11-5
2. Kansas City 8-8
3. San Diego 8-8
4. Oakland 5-11

AFC Champion - Colts

NFC East
1. Philadelphia 11-5
2. Dallas 9-7 WC1
3. NYG 9-7
4. Washington 5-11

NFC North
1. Green Bay 12-4
2. Detroit 9-7 WC2
3. Minnesota 8-8
4. Chicago 6-10

NFC South
1. Atlanta 9-7
2. New Orleans 8-8
3. Carolina 7-9
4. Tampa 5-11

NFC West
1. Seattle 12-4
2. Arizona 7-9
3. St Louis 7-9
4. San Francisco 5-11

NFC Champion - Packers