PS 50 for 2012

[Jimmy Redman]

I am interested to hear what MiSu has done outside of the Tana matches. Not that I dont believe it exists, but just that I havent seen his name in any other pimped Puro stuff off hand.

[Frank Botch]

I think it would come down to what you are rating these guys on (not you personally, the collective ''you'') and where you come down on the volume vs quantity debate. Like the Tana match in October is as good an individual performance from a worker as I've seen in many years. I don't think it was a total carry job like some, the dudes saying Suzuki could have had the match with any carbon based life form(though that is quite a good line) but he completely made the match for me. He's been at least solid in all the other matches I've seen with him. Lesnar would probably make my top fifteen off one match, but he doesn't have the other solid performances Suzuki has.

Case is the same for Panther/Negro who are there mostly for their matches/interactions with each other. I'll take one classic match with an outstanding performance over a bunch of goodish ones. Happens a lot with workers who are in FUTEN too with me since they don't make tape much. Callihan has a huge quantity of good matches, a few great ones and a couple of complete carry jobs with backyard level dudes who he drags to decent matches. So he hits a sweet spot. Of sorts. Seems like this is a complicated endeavour with me.

[Jimmy Redman]

Yeah fair enough then. Like I said I just wasnt sure what the argument for him was, whether it was essentially just for having the MOTY, or whether there was other stuff I had missed.

Sometimes I think the Tana haters border on Cena haters for their almost comical refusal to credit him with anything. Not aimed at you, by the way, just generally speaking. His style or work need not appeal to everyone, by all means, but they are at that stage of "He's had all these great matches sure but they were ALL carryjobs and he doesnt add ANYTHING to ANY of them" denial. He had a great match with a great worker. Its OK to say so.

For what its worth I feel like he contributed enough to the match. The limb selling was the key to it and they were both selling really well. MiSu was the star of it to be sure, but I find he always appears that way in major matches since his style is so different and he drags other guys to it.

I am not opposed on principle to a guy making the list with only a handful of matches. Hell, I'm not entirely sure I wouldnt put Brock on a list based off his performance in two matches (he was the only thing I liked about the Hunter match). And I put Kharma on my SOTY list last year based on a month's worth of run ins.

At the same time I also rank a huge laundry list of good matches really highly too. It all just depends.

[Frank Botch]

Yeah I thought Tana was fine in the match, the lads who dislike him don't usually like his pimped matches overall though. Like the Okada matches people loved were hated by those guys. I wouldn't put myself in the camp of ''he's terrible/a disgrace to the belt/history'' but, being honest, I don't think much of him at all overall. It's possible I missed guys saying the Okada matches were great but Tana was still crap/carried though. Like with Cena you've got things like PowerSlam praising the road agent for the LMS Umaga match which is pretty unbelievable. So crazy I remember it five years later. Probably boils down to a Confirmation bias type deal in general.

On the other thing, I would have a guy like Sheamus in a top twenty since he's had so many good matches but I didn't feel like he had any blow away matches or a borderline classics in there, it does depend though I agree.

[Jimmy Redman]

Sheamus to me had plenty of high end matches. I'm sure if I wrote out a, say, Top 20 or so for the year (WWE-centric of course) he'd be on it more than anyone else. Things like the Show, Bryan and Dolph matches.

I dont disagree that his biggest plus is having a boatload of good matches though.