Top 30 Matches of 1990

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  Among the broadcast debuts of Twin Peaks & Rosanne, John Gotti getting arrested, Days of Thunder & Kindergarten Cop hitting theaters,  Iraq invading Kuwait, and Ice Ice Baby topping the charts...some wrestling happened.

  Matty P.  has gone through hours and hours, no, DAYS AND DAYS worth of wrestling matches from the year 1990, and now you too can feast of the fruits of his labor. Here are his top 30 matches of 1990:

  *each pick is linked to a video of the match!*

  
  
  30. Stan Hansen vs. Steve Williams [AJPW 6/5] 
  
  29. Hulk Hogan vs. Stan Hansen [Wrestling Summit 4/13]
  
  28. Jumbo Tsuruta/Great Kabuki/Mighty Inoue vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada/Ricky Fuyuki [AJPW 1/25]
  
  27. Randy Savage vs. Genichiro Tenryu [Wrestling Summit 4/13]
  
  26. Vader vs. Stan Hansen [NJPW 2/10]
  
  25. Minoru Suzuki vs. Tatsuo Nakano [UWF 2/27]
  
  24. Aja Kong vs. Bull Nakano [AJW 11/14]
  
  23. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada [AJPW 12/7]
  
  22. Jerry Estrada vs. El Satanico [EMLL 3/23]
  
  21. The Rock N' Roll Express vs. The Midnight Express [WCW 2/25]
  
  
• 20. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue/Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi [AJPW 8/18]
  
  19. Great Muta vs. Hiroshi Hase [NJPW 9/14] First match of the video.
  

  
  18. Bull Nakano vs. Manami Toyota [AJW 7/21]
  
  17. Jerry Lawler vs. Snowman [USWA 6/16]
  
  16. Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta [AJW 6/17]  Starts at 1:13:00
  
  15. El Dandy/El Satanico/Emilio Charles Jr. vs. Angel Azteca/Atlantis/Javier Cruz [EMLL 5/11]
  
  14. Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs. Cien Caras [EMLL 9/21]
  
  13. Jumbo Tsuruta/Great Kabuki/Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Akira Taue [AJPW 5/26]
  
  12. Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue [AJPW 8/19] Unfortunately I can't find a video of this online. This was a handheld that I got.
  
  11. Keiji Mutoh/Masahiro Chono vs. Hiroshi Hase/Kensuke Sasaki [NJPW 11/1]
  
  
• 10. Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger [WCW 2/25] This is seen as the last of old Ric Flair matches of the 80s and he puts on a great performance. Besides outside booking issues of seemingly just turning him kinda heel in this match even though he was such a great sympathetic babyface in 89 and Luger had momentum as a heel, both looked great in this. This may be their best match but I have to rewatch their matches in 88.

  
  

  9. The Midnight Express vs. The Southern Boys [WCW 7/7] A great fast-paced tag with an incredibly hot crowd and a slight change in the southern tag layout. A ton of great innovative double teams by both and the karate standoff between Tracy Smothers and Stan Lane was a sight to behold. One of the absolute best tag matches of the year and one of the best US tag matches of the decade!
  
  8. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa [AJPW 6/8] This is the match that got the ball rolling towards the All Japan 90s wrestling fans are all familiar with. After the mass exodus of talent led by Genichiro Tenryu from the company, a group of younger wrestlers were around to fill the void. Led by Misawa, who just a month ago been Tiger Mask II, these young lions [Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, Tsyoshi Kikuchi, Akira Taue] challenged the top aces of the company, Tsuruta, Masa Fuchi, Great Kabuki and Mighty Inoue. After a month of building to this, this match puts Misawa on the map with an incredible performance from both guys. I think their match a few months later is even better but this is a legendary and a star making match!
  
  7. Jungle Jack vs. Bull Nakano/Grizzly Iwamoto [AJW 8/19] Jungle Jack was a tag team of Aja Kong and Bison Kimura and this was a continuation of the Kong/Nakano feud. The hate in this match is palpable and it is a great bloody brawl. The smaller wrestlers get thrown around quite spectacularly and the two bigger wrestlers just throw bombs as hard as possible. If you don't think women's wrestling can't be hard hitting, check this out!
  
  6. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue/Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi [AJPW 10/19] The Jumbo & Co. vs. Misawa & Co. feud up until this point is 5 months in and continues into 1991 but this is the match that really gets the standard 6-man layout that would be seen into the next year. The feud earlier was built around Misawa trying to break out and become a star and Jumbo showing that he is still the ace but now it's personal and there's much hate in here. So many great angles going on here. Kobashi is amazing in his selling as his knee and especially his nose is viciously attacked throughout the match. Kawada and Taue continue to show how much they hate each other and any interaction between Tsuruta and Misawa blows the roof off the place! Kobashi also shows that he may be one of the besty face in peril wrestlers this side of Terry Funk and Ricky Morton!
  
  5. Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano [NJPW 1/31] Most serious wrestling fans know about this match so I won't speak much about it other than it's a continuation of the great feud that these two had in 89 [those matches aren't as well known but just as good]. Awesome hateful blood-soaked brawl!
  
  4. Angel Azteca vs. El Dandy [EMLL 6/1] This was my MOTY as of the end of the first half of the year. I think this is a great match to show people that lucha is more than just a series of dives with a match surrounding it. This has possibly some of the best high end mat wrestling you'll ever see. In 1990, El Dandy was by far the best wrestler as he could do just about anything. I think with more accessibility to lucha footage, hopefully wrestling fans will come around to really appreciating this style.
  
  3. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada [AJPW 9/30] The best match that these two teams have had against each other. Especially for it's time, this is a long match but there is very little downtime. Taue really gives his first really great performance in his career. He has very firey comebacks that he didn't quite get later in the decade in the epic tags that he was involved in. The crowd is equally sympathetic to both sides as they want to cheer the new breed but they also feel loyal to the old guard who have to put up with these kids. Also an incredible final stretch is absolutely great with so many desperation pin attempts.
  
  2. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa [AJPW 9/1] While their match on 6/8 is more well known and for good reason as it is a star marker, I think after watching the feud up until this point, this is the better match. While that focused on Misawa, this one was almost purely Jumbo. The facial expressions on him are absolutely tremendous as he does everything he can to keep up with Misawa and try to outsmart and possibly out wrestle him. This also puts over Misawa as someone who can hang with Jumbo. So much great drama and psychology in this match. One of the all time greats.
  
  1. El Dandy vs. El Satanico [EMLL 12/14] Not just my MOTY but this might go down as one of my absolute favorite matches ever. While his match with Azteca showed how proficient he was in mat wrestling, this shows how good El Dandy is at brawling. That said, El Satanico is also one of the best at brawling and technical wrestling as well. This match is about hate and how neither man is going to lose easily. This has everything you want in a great lucha brawl, great punches, blood, some really sick dives, crowd heat and some great wrestling on top of that. What makes this match even more important is that this is a hair match and that very stipulation, along with mask matches, makes it personal and the participants are willing to put everything on the line to not lose. Some of the greatest near falls you'll see in wrestling.
  *SPOILER* As a note on the ending. Without seeing the feud, the ending will seem like bullshit but Satanico had done everything he can, including cheating, to win his matches against Dandy and Dandy is brilliant at showing how much of a bitch karma is. I absolutely love Satanico's expression when he realizes what happened.