Four months ago, I posted a column on this very site called “GOAT Talk.”
It was a play on the show of the same name that airs on the Complex YouTube channel, where different celebrities are given rapid-fire topics and they have to share their GOAT (Greatest Of All-Time, if you haven’t been around for the last few decades) of that particular topic.
I reached out to a handful of people and had them throw me topics, but I made sure that they weren’t all the usual things to talk about. In keeping with the rapid-fire nature of the Complex show, I didn’t want to have topics that were going to have me type out thousands of words to answer.
Because I enjoyed doing it back in March, I decided to bring it back. I reached out to some of those same people from the first edition, plus a couple new names, and had them give me topics to use. The rules were the same this time around… try to have some fun with the topics, but still give me some wiggle room to have a discussion in the first place.
Let’s get this started, shall we?
GOAT Wrestler & Fan Interaction: Samoa Joe & CM Punk troll a fan at Ring Of Honor’s World Title Classic in 2004. For those not aware, the whole thing was simple. During their match, Joe went to the outside, where he saw a Punk fan doing the Punk “X” thing with his arms. Joe walked up to the fan and trash-talked him for a second before pretending like he was going to hit the fan, causing the fan to completely recoil in fear. Everyone laughed, Joe called the fan a bitch, and we thought that would be the end of it. Punk, not going to stand for the disrespect, got out of the ring and walked up to the fan. Punk sticks his hand out for a shake, but just when the fan goes to shake his hand, Punk pulls his hand back and walks away. Easily the worst night of the fan’s life.
GOAT High Flyer: Rey Mysterio. Sure, there have been wrestlers who could jump higher than Rey, but in his prime, he was the best at defying gravity and making his matches must-see. When he first started his career, he was known as ColibrÃ, which is Spanish for “hummingbird.” That’s a great description for his work back in the day. He’d fly, and almost seem to hover in the air, suddenly darting to the next spot. Even facing other cruiserweight wrestlers, he was usually at a size disadvantage, but he made up for it with his aerial abilities. He is still flying around wrestling rings today, a few months away from his 50th birthday, and remains one of the most influential pro wrestlers to ever live.
GOAT On-Screen Authority Figure: Vince McMahon. If you can take away any complaints you have about Vince the human being and/or Vince the creative leader, there should be no issues here. As a heel, there aren’t many in the history of the business that could make you hate them more than Vince. As a face, he was just grandfatherly enough to make you root for him, especially when he was going up against his dastardly spoiled children. He also carried the rank as THE authority figure. When you have a General Manager or something, you know their power only goes so far. Vince was where the buck stopped at all times.
GOAT “Bad” Match: The Undertaker vs Mankind in Hell In A Cell from King Of The Ring 1998. Unless, of course, the play on words means that you’re looking for the worst match ever, in which case my pick is The Bushwhackers vs Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik from the 1999 Heroes Of Wrestling pay-per-view. Taker vs Mankind is known all over the world as one of the wildest spectacles that any wrestling fan has ever seen. Far too often, though, people confuse the crazy spots that Mick Foley took in the match for making it high quality. I’ve seen people call it the best match of all-time, five stars, and so on. Watch it objectively, though, and you see that there really wasn’t much to the match, mainly because Mick Foley had no idea what planet he was on for large chunks of it. The match will never be forgotten, and for good reason, but it wasn’t a good match by any stretch of the imagination. It was an amazing spectacle. Nothing more, nothing less.
GOAT Wrestling Publication: “Have A Nice Day” by Mick Foley for books, Pro Wrestling Illustrated for magazines. Mick’s first book was the perfect blend of comedy, drama, and informative writing. He impressed the hell out of me with that book. PWI has been going strong for decades, and I still eagerly anticipate the annual PWI 500 issue to this very day.
GOAT Food To Eat While Watching Wrestling: Chicken wings. I’m a little biased, though, because chicken wings are my favorite food. I’m just used to eating them during things like wrestling pay-per-views, “real” sporting events, and so on.
GOAT Wrestler Name Drop In A Song: “El Scorcho” by Weezer. There are a billion name drops in hip-hop, half of which involve Ric Flair, but this one wins for me. “Watching Grunge leg drop New Jack through a press table” is beautiful. It’s obviously a reference to New Jack and Johnny Grunge from ECW, but it has also gained momentum in the music nerd circle as a double entendre, with the New Jack Swing style of music that was popular in the late-80’s and early-90’s being essentially pushed out of the spotlight by the grunge music scene that was taking off in the early-90’s.
GOAT Debut: Kane. When you combine the story that led to the debut, the debut itself, the immediate impact made by the debut, and the career longevity that followed for the person that debuted, I think Kane is the clear choice here. The Undertaker checked most of those boxes in permanent ink, but Kane tops him when it comes to the backstory.
GOAT Rumor: Randy Savage & Stephanie McMahon. You probably know the one I’m talking about, but for those that don’t… one of the oldest wrestling rumors of the internet age says that Randy Savage slept with a perhaps not so legal aged Stephanie McMahon back in the day. That would “explain” why Savage was never close to being brought back to the WWF scene after he left the company in 1994, as Vince McMahon did business with all sorts of people through the years that tried to put him in prison, put him out of business, and so on. Do I believe the rumor is true? No. The staying power that the rumor has, though, is impressive.
GOAT Botch/Blooper: Booker T telling Hulk Hogan that they’re coming for him. He has said that he thought his career would come to an end after dropping the infamous n-word on live pay-per-view in 1997, and honestly, I’m surprised he didn’t. Not that I feel he deserved to or anything. I’m just surprised that WCW, with the way that the company was run through the years, didn’t react swiftly and hastily to punish him. Either way, this was an incredible moment. I’ll still watch it from time-to-time, 27 years later.
GOAT Wrestling Video Game: WWF No Mercy for the Nintendo 64. I will freely admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of the N64 when it was out. The O.G. Playstation was getting all of my gaming time at home, but one of my buddies had an N64, and that’s where I fell in love with all of the wrestling games that were out on the console. ECW Hardcore Revolution, WCW vs nWo: World Tour, WCW/nWo Revenge, WWF War Zone, WWF WrestleMania 2000, and others all got a bunch of play, but No Mercy… that was something else entirely. The story mode, insane roster, loaded creation suite, and engine mechanics that allowed for much more in-depth action in the matches themselves… man, we might as well have been swept up in the crack epidemic. Yes, today’s games are bigger and more expansive, but… they’re supposed to be. For that time period, No Mercy was as innovative and as broad a wrestling game as any fan could even imagine.
GOAT Wrestling Facial Hair: Hulk Hogan. The man is known for his horseshoe mustache. So much so that people who don’t even watch wrestling could tell you what he looks like. If you see someone else with a similar style of mustache, there’s a good chance you’re going to hear that person referred to as having a “Hulk Hogan mustache.” That’s quite the legacy. When he was a heel in the nWo, his combination of the blonde mustache and black beard was also pretty memorable. Silly, but memorable.
GOAT Technical Wrestler: Lou Thesz. Think of the best technical wrestlers of the last 50 years. They wouldn’t be where they are without Thesz, his style, and the numerous moves he created and innovated. Think of the best shoot-style wrestlers (and “real” fighters) of the last 50 years. They wouldn’t be where they are without Thesz, his sadistic side, and his desire to hurt people and let them know they were in for the fight of their lives. He plays a very large role in the wrestling we watch today, no matter what company we might prefer.
GOAT 2nd Match At A SummerSlam: Bret “The Hitman” Hart vs Mr. Perfect in 1991 or Cody Rhodes vs Brock Lesnar in 2023. I love both matches, and honestly, my pick for the GOAT would depend on my mood for that given day. The matches are very different in style, so if I was more in a “technical wizardry” mood, I’d go with the former, but I’d go with the latter if I wanted more of a beat-em-up car crash.
GOAT Wrestling Writer/Journalist: Bill Apter. From his work with the “Apter Mags” like Pro Wrestling Illustrated and The Wrestler to taking his PWI work on-screen in the NWA to multiple decades of writing for several websites, Apter has been one of the biggest and most successful names in the entire medium for several decades now.
GOAT Wrestler TV/Movie Cameo: John Cena as Steven in 2015’s Trainwreck, where he stole the show in a cast that featured some of comedy’s biggest stars. If I recall correctly, this was his first movie role that wasn’t under the WWE Studios or Nickelodeon umbrella, and he proved right then and there that he really did have a future in Hollywood should he decide he wanted one. Sure enough, he has gone on to become a huge star.
GOAT Ladder Match: Chris Benoit vs Chris Jericho at the 2001 Royal Rumble. Just to narrow it down, I only went with matches under the straight up Ladder Match title, so things like TLC and the like didn’t count. This was every bit the physical contest that you want these types of matches to be, but because it featured two of the greatest in-ring performers ever, it was more than that. Everything they did made sense, and there was actually ring psychology! Benoit targeted Jericho’s arm and shoulder, and simply wouldn’t let up. If memory serves me correctly, they only used one ladder for the entire 19-minute duration of the match, which is crazy. These days, you’ll see multiple ladders brought in the ring before the first bump is taken. Just amazing work by both Benoit and Jericho here.
GOAT Venue Seating Position: Front row. Seriously, if you can afford to swing front row seats to a wrestling show, do it. That goes for everything, from your local independent promotion to WrestleMania. The experience is worth the price. If you can’t sit in the front row, though, floor seats can be very overrated, with sight lines that aren’t always ideal. You’re potentially spending a ton of money to still have to look at the video board or the “TitanTron” to watch matches. If you can’t swing front row, but you want great seats, look for the first section of riser seats, preferably North or South (versus East or West, where the entrance ramps would be). The line of sight is usually straight ahead at that level, and you’ll get the second-best experience of anywhere in the building.
GOAT Emotional Moment Not Involving A Death: Daniel Bryan’s retirement in 2016. If you weren’t watching the WWE product from 2012-2014, words can’t truly express how much you missed out on when it comes to Daniel Bryan. I’ve never seen a connection between a wrestler and a fan base like that, and I have my doubts that I’ll ever see something like it again. It was more than “I’m a fan of this guy” or “this guy is my favorite wrestler.” He was OUR guy, and became the living, breathing embodiment of what we, as fans, wanted compared to what a company was looking to give us. We went through so many ups and downs with him, and just when we reached the top of the mountain together at WrestleMania 30, injuries took it all away, and we thought it would be for good. Him being forced out of what we loved, not of his own volition, broke the hearts of fans across the world.
GOAT Wrestling Tweet: “I’ll take that bet Dave.” There have been a million funny tweets by various wrestling personalities in the history of the social media app. None of them moved the needle like this tweet from Cody Rhodes on May 16th, 2017. Someone tweeted Dave Meltzer and asked if Dave thought Ring Of Honor could ever sell out an arena with 10,000+ seats, and Tuna Meltz responded by saying that it wouldn’t happen “any time soon.” That led to Cody’s tweet, responding to Meltzer. I’m not sure how serious people took it at the time, but Cody immediately went to work with The Young Bucks on making something happen. Fast forward to September 1st, 2018. Cody and the Bucks, in association with Ring Of Honor, put on the All In pay-per-view. Tickets for the show sold out in less than 30 minutes, and they put 11,263 fans inside of the Sears Centre Arena in the Chicago area. The wild success of the show directly led to the formation of All Elite Wrestling, and here we are today. Again, there have been lots of funny and memorable wrestling tweets in the history of ever, but this one tweet led to hundreds of millions of dollars being thrown around over the next handful of years. That’s incredible.
How did I do? Using the topics listed here, do you agree or disagree with my selections? You don’t have to go over all of them if you don’t want to. I just want to see if I’m crazy or not. As always, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Now, let’s get back to the regularly scheduled programming and move on to my Weekly Power Rankings, before wrapping things up with the list of songs I was listening to as I put this column together.
Weekly Power Rankings
Mariah May’s Turn: A ton of people fantasy booked this moment when it was revealed that Mariah would be participating in the Owen Hart Cup. You could argue whether or not the turn should’ve happened a bit closer to All In(nit), but that doesn’t change the fact that this was very well done. As soon as Toni Storm came up bloody after the initial belt shot, Mariah was like a shark in the water. She swarmed all over the AEW Women’s Champion, busting her open even further with some stiff shots to the head with a high heel shoe. The champion, to her credit, sold the entire thing perfectly. Her mix of screaming and crying made Mariah look even more brutal and psychotic as she continued the beating. Wrapping it all up by kissing Toni’s bloody forehead and then smearing Toni’s blood all over her own face was a perfect cap for Ms. May. The entire turn was a very memorable one, with visuals that will be highlighted by AEW for a long time to come.
Iyo Sky vs Utami Hayashishita: Iyo, a former “ace” of Stardom, was wrestling her first match outside of the WWE umbrella since 2018. Utami, another former “ace” of Stardom, came in with a chip on her shoulder, with many feeling that Iyo was the greatest wrestler in Stardom history and was on a different level than Utami was. I guess you could say Iyo had a chip on her shoulder, too, because she wanted to show younger fans that she’s more than what she is able to portray on WWE programming, as good as that is. This was a fantastic match, with everything you could want out of a joshi puroresu contest. Iyo turned the clock back several years, and Utami showed why she has been able to accomplish so much already at the young age of 25.
Bryan Danielson vs “Hangman” Adam Page: Pay-per-view main event quality match in the opening bout of Dynamite. For better or worse, that’s AEW for you. The men’s finals of the Owen Hart Cup saw two men who were competing for a World Title shot at the company’s biggest show of the year, and they wrestled like it. As I’ve said a million times before, it’s a beautiful thing when matches have actual stakes on the line.
Rhea Ripley: Mami’s home. Liv Morgan is in trouble. Dominik Mysterio is in trouble. Everyone might be in trouble. Great to see Rhea make her return, and she got quite the face pop in doing so.
AJ Styles vs Naomichi Marufuji: Lots of similarities between this match and the Sky vs Hayashishita match listed earlier. AJ returning to Japan for the first time since 2019, and for the first time on a non-WWE show since January 2016. Both Styles and Marufuji have had legendary runs in Japan through the years, and both men wanted to prove to the world that they have a lot left in the tank. They proved just that, with AJ (47 years old) and Marufuji (almost 45 years old) looking as good, or better, than they have in years. With WWE’s working relationships expanding all across the globe, I look forward to more situations like this (AJ in Japan to wrestle in Pro Wrestling NOAH) and Iyo Sky in Japan to wrestle in Marigold. There’s a lot of fun that can be had there.
Stephanie Vaquer: Quite the whirlwind month or so for her. She showed up to wrestle at AEW’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view as the New Japan Strong Women’s Champion, the CMLL World Women’s Champion, and one-half (with Zeuxis) of the CMLL World Women’s Tag Team Champions, before dropping the Strong title to Mercedes Moné at the event. A strong performance in the match led people to believe that she would/could/should be signing an AEW contract. About a week later, all that was thrown out the window, as it was announced she was leaving CMLL and NJPW, effective immediately, with the rumor mill saying that she was actually WWE-bound. As one of the top women in the world of wrestling, she will immediately add to the quality of the NXT roster, and of the Raw or Smackdown roster when she inevitably gets called up. I’m not here to comment on whether or not she handled her departure in the right way (Andrew Ardizzi has a column posted on this site looking more at that angle). Approve or not, you can’t deny that she really maximized her screen time at Forbidden Door.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Kyle Fletcher vs Pac vs Tomohiro Ishii: Hey, it’s another match where there are stakes on the line! Pac picked up the win here, earning himself a shot at the AEW International Title. On paper, that might not sound too special to some, as it isn’t the company’s biggest, or even second-biggest, men’s title. However, the champion coming out of this week’s episode of Dynamite will either be Will Ospreay or MJF, which means that there will be a huge spotlight that benefits Pac tremendously.
Jacob Fatu: After a WWE Tag Team Title match on Smackdown, Jacob Fatu ran to the ring and took out Austin Theory, one-half of the challengers, as well as both Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, the champions, all by himself. Some of you are under the impression that one man destroying three other men on his own buries the three, and in a lot of instances, I would be right there with you. Jacob Fatu is on an entirely different level, though. He has been presented as an unstoppable monster that is the most dangerous man in the building as soon as he steps foot in that city. Him laying out three men, all of whom are smaller in stature than him and who just competed in a match, isn’t “burying” anyone. It is making Mr. Fatu look even stronger, though, and that’s a great thing.
Willow Nightingale vs Mariah May: While it won’t be as memorable as the post-match stuff that took place when it was all over, this was a pretty good match all on its own. Once again, it all boils down to the wrestlers stepping their game up because something major was on the line.
Joe Hendry: Do you believe in Joe Hendry? I believe in Joe Hendry. The guy’s popularity is absolutely insane right now, and it seems like he might be a big part of NXT during whatever we’re calling this crossover between the brand and TNA. Rumors are that Hendry’s TNA contract expires in a couple months, so he could become a true part of NXT sooner than later.
CM Punk & Seth Rollins: I enjoyed their promo battle on Raw. It was intense, but without becoming somewhat awkward. There wasn’t even a true “face” or “heel” in the entire thing. It was just two guys that don’t like each other and feel with their entire heart and soul that the other one is “wrong.” Simple.
Tommy Billington vs Konosuke Takeshita: If they haven’t already signed him, it seems like the pairing between AEW and Tommy Billington is going to be inevitable moving forward. He has two very impressive performances with the company, and it seems like his run could continue as he was saved by FTR after an attack at the hands of the Callis Family.
Ilja Dragunov vs Bron Breakker: These two just have a ton of in-ring chemistry together, going back to their days in NXT. It’s always a fun, hard-hitting affair when they lock up.
The Rascalz: Another fun part of the NXT/TNA work relationship. We haven’t seen Zachary Wentz/Nash Carter in NXT since April 2022, and many feel he was railroaded a bit after the back-and-forth allegations between him and his ex-wife that led to his release. With Trey Miguel on their side, it will be very interesting to see what the trio does on both sides of the work relationship fence.
Dalton Castle vs Roderick Strong: I don’t mean to sound like a broken record here, but these two wrestled as if there were stakes on the line, because there were stakes on the line. A Ring Of Honor World Title shot at the upcoming Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view was on the line, and it was the right call giving Roddy the win. He has been on fire in the ring, and I have no doubt that he and Mark Briscoe will tear the house down at DBD.
Orange Cassidy & Kyle O’Reilly vs Mike Bennett & Matt Taven: A solid, no-nonsense tag match, and sometimes, that’s all you need. Unfortunately, the match probably won’t be remembered because of all the extra pieces involved. Roderick Strong on commentary, before trying to convince KOR to align with him and The Undisputed Kingdom. Tomohiro Ishii coming out to attack Roddy. Trent Beretta coming out to attack Orange Cassidy after the match. Orange Cassidy getting revenge by laying Trent out with a wrench to the back of the head, in what was done to write Trent off of television due to a legit injury. Lots of stuff going on.
Rey Mysterio & Zelina Vega vs Dominik Mysterio & Liv Morgan: Another fun tag match that, unfortunately, won’t be remembered because of what happened surrounding it. As soon as Rhea Ripley’s music hit to signal her return, everything that happened before it didn’t matter.
Bron Breakker: I legit laughed out loud when Bron made Adam Pearce fall for the old okey-doke, pointing in one direction to distract the Raw General Manager and then running in the other direction. It was like a scene out of a Looney Tunes cartoon.
Rey Fenix vs AR Fox vs Komander vs Angelico: The match was approximately ten minutes long, but these four managed to jam about 25 minutes worth of spots into those ten minutes. Fun stuff.
Sonya Deville, Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark: I’m excited to see the new trio unleashed on the Raw women’s division. I can’t say that I’m completely confident that they’ll last very long, or even have a major impact, based on the pushes of the three in the past, but at least I have excitement now.
This Week’s Playlist: “Evil” by Eminem… “Fuel” by Eminem & JID… “Temporary” by Eminem & Skylar Grey… “Tobey” by Eminem, Big Sean & BabyTron… “Somebody Save Me” by Eminem & Jelly Roll… “100 Bars” by BabyTron… “Judas Mind” by Seether… “I’m Not Getting Better” by Marianas Trench… “ZOD (I Win I Always Win)” by Tech N9ne, Kevin Gates, Snow Tha Product & Joey Cool… “Disgusted” by Tech N9ne, Killer Mike & Hopsin… “Roll Call” by Tech N9ne, Rittz, King Iso, Joey Cool, JL, Lex Bratcher & X-Raided… “Funeral” by Teddy Swims… “The Cave We Fear To Enter” by As I Lay Dying… “Prepackaged” by Mushroomhead… “Suicide (The Lovers)” by Fame On Fire… “Walking On Sunshine” by Ice Nine Kills & Reel Big Fish… “Better Written Villain” by 156/Silence… “Outta Control (Remix)” by 50 Cent & Mobb Deep… “To Live And Die In L.A.” by Makaveli… “Pistol Pistol” by D12… “Boom” by Royce Da 5’9″… “I Hate Everything About You” by Three Days Grace… “Mouth For War” by Pantera… “Faint” by Linkin Park… “Levitating” by Dua Lipa
