Jetlag

The list feels like a collection of random names mostly so far. I am amazed Ultimo Dragon has barely moved an inch and RVD has even improved, while someone like Virus who actually added to his case in the last 10 years drops. Hirooki Goto almost a 100 places over Masahiro Chono after not even ranking at all in 2016? That IWGP title win sure did wonders for him. The #1 vote for Ultimo even mentions AEW. Without Ultimo Dragon, we wouldn't have AEW! Preach it.

He can still be contacted by email which is ( I think) the same as it always was.

Masanobu Kurisu ending up this high is kind of amazing for a cult hero who never really had an extended run of main events or anything safe for a minute in FMW in 1990.

Hasegawa, one of the guys behind Mutoha, is happy with Yasushi Satos ranking (making it above the likes of Gypsy Joe, Rusher Kimura and Jimmy Snuka) and wrote a little blog post: https://ameblo.jp/itako1818/entry-12965979197.html

The ranking of japanese indy talents such as Taro Yamada and Yuiga are garnering some happy reactions even among Japanese speakers:

My Top 100: 1. Shinya Hashimoto 2. El Hijo Del Santo 3. Terry Funk 4. Negro Casas 5. Takeshi Ono 6. Blue Panther 7. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 8. Yuki Ishikawa 9. Yasushi Sato 10. Command Bolshoi 11. Genichiro Tenryu 12. Mitsuharu Misawa 13. Stan Hansen 14. Virus 15. Jim Breaks 16. Antonio Inoki 17. Volk Han 18. Tarzan Goto 19. Dick Murdoch 20. Tatsumi Fujinami 21. Shinobu Kandori 22. El Dandy 23. Aja Kong 24. Toshiaki Kawada 25. Akira Hokuto 26. Riki Choshu 27. Akira Maeda 28. Kiyoshi Tamura 29. Akira Taue 30. Devil Masami 31. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 32. Chigusa Nagayo 33. Rey Mysterio Jr. 34. Masanobu Fuchi 35. Osamu Nishimura 36. LA Park 37. Dynamite Kansai 38. Greg Valentine 39. Mariko Yoshida 40. Gilbert Leduc 41. Roddy Piper 42. Low Ki 43. Black Terry 44. Vader 45. El Satanico 46. Wahoo McDaniel 47. Sangre Chicana 48. Meiko Satomura 49. Yoshihiro Takayama 50. Pirata Morgan 51. Yoshinari Ogawa 52. Jun Akiyama 53. Daisuke Ikeda 54. GENTARO 55. Jaguar Yokota 56. Alexander Otsuka 57. La Fiera 58. Keita Yano 59. Naoki Sano 60. William Regal 61. Jumbo Tsuruta 62. Jerry Lawler 63. Franz van Buyten 64. Super Dragon 65. Bobby Eaton 66. Nick Bockwinkel 67. Steve Grey 68. Katsumi Usuda 69. Buddy Rose 70. Jushin Liger 71. Great Sasuke 72. Bret Hart 73. Kenta Kobashi 74. Tanomusaku Toba 75. Negro Navarro 76. Bill Dundee 77. Mayumi Ozaki 78. Finlay 79. Daniel Bryan 80. Jackie Sato 81. Koki Kitahara 82. Dick Togo 83. Masao Orihara 84. Toshiyo Yamada 85. Hiroshi Watanabe 86. Carlos Amano 87. Eddie Guerrero 88. Harley Saito 89. Ran YuYu 90. Kazunari Murakami 91. Carl Malenko 92. Ric Flair 93. Fugofugo Yumeji 94. Ricky Morton 95. Alan Sarjeant 96. Inca Peruano 97. Tajiri 98. Dump Matsumoto 99. Ricky Steamboat 100. Anton Tejero Of course, immediately after sending I noticed that I forgot to add Tamon Honda. Fortunately I was able to figure out how to resend it and add Tamon somewhere in the 70s-90s range.

Many people consider Aja Kong to be a #1 contender when it comes to the women, but Dynamite Kansai feels hardly mentioned. But, to be honest, I think the gap between them is smaller than most people think. Dynamite Kansai is a lot more than a heavy hitter. I love Aja to death, but often she did the same thing. Kansai was able to adapt to a variety of different opponents in different ways, all while dealing with her own health problems. I keep finding awesome performances from here throughout the 2000s, she's still a pretty great monster working against underdogs like Carlos Amano or Chikayo Nagashima, great as a standing tall babyface going at it in crazy brawls with Ozaki and her underlings. I also dig her use of the iron claw. She was able to have great matches as late as 2011 (vs Ran YuYu) and 2016 (vs Sonoko Kato). She was also already quite good in her earliest appearances that we have in the 80s. It all sums up to a really formidable career.

Along with Hikari Fukuoka, she's the JWP ace who should get more talk but doesn't for reasons that are mysterious to me. Her matches aren't that hard to find anymore, and she is the kind of wrestler that should appeal to modern audiences. She's basically a workrate queen, the kind of worker that will hit 10 german suplexes really fast and then a knee to the face for good measure before going into an exchange of complicated pin combos before leaping to the tope rope in an instant and hitting a missile dropkick, and that was just the middle portion of the match. But she's capable of bringing substance to a match in a way that makes her more interesting to watch than the likes of Kurt Angle. Even though that kind of breackneck style wrestling is her trademark she's also capable of doing interesting matwork and selling. I have this theory that she's just not gimmicky enough as she's a pretty stoic wrestler.

I'm still a big Katsumi Usuda fan. In the last 10 years I've been able to watch even more BattlARTS (thanks to all those brave uploaders) and pretty much every time I check him out I come out being impressed. He's the kind of guy who puts in the effort to make even throwaway midcard matches interesting. Consistency is his key card as he's basically been the same guy for his entire 15+ year career, he just got better and better to the point where in late 2000s he was carrying half-baked rookies like Yuta Yoshikawa to great matches and having amazing matches against the likes of Keita Yano and Yujiro Yamamoto. His one sin is that he keeps doing the same calf slicer/armbar reversal spot in so many of his matches. That said, there are many wrestlers widely considered great who have nowhere near the great match resume of Katsumi Usuda.

I watched her a few times for my 2025 project and each time I thought she looked so uncoordinated and clearly the weakest worker in the ring that she must be a rookie who was thrown in with barely any training. Turns out, she's actually a 10 year veteran! Must be the STARDOM effect.

Two cult favourites with undeniable greatness and a penchant for blood to them. Eddie may be the more polished overall wrestler but Mayumi may have more epic matches. Who is better?

You know I'm the #1 Yasushi Sato supporter. The man rules, and even in the last 2 years with his progressing age I've thought he was clearly among the best wrestlers in the world, down to having a quaint little great match that was done in the fucking greco roman style things last year. Only Yasushi Sato can really do things like that, and that's why he's special I'm still griefing the fact there seems to be no way to watch his old Ustream.tv matches that he was having every week for years, but what can you do, maybe a data hoarding superfan from Nagoya will show up and make Yasushi Satos #1 case crystal clear in the next 10 years. Eitherways, here's a deep dive of great Yasushi Sato matches: vs. Akito (Sportiva 11/30/2011) A crazy grappling match in that iconic Japanese sportsbar, this was like if Tamon Honda fought Alexander Otsuka in U-Style or something. I'm in shambles that this seems to be only surviving match of Sato from the Sportiva era but what can you do, it's a really great, unique piece of wrestling. vs. Nori da Funky Shibaresasu, Imaike Pro 10/13/2013 The only match between Nori and Sato that I was able to find, again it's extremely regrettable since these two have had a ton of chemistry. Nori is quite the spectacular Taue-like gangly odd heavyweight wrestler who will kick you in the neck and Sato builds a sweet match around him. vs. Dekai Ichimotsu, 12/15/2013 It's kind of a dream match as Yasushi Sato faces one of the most unique and talented guys from the amateur-pro wrestling scene. Pretty much a great signature Yasushi Sato match, cool matwork, nifty counters and suplexes, Dekai is really good and far from carried in this etc. w Yuiga vs Aki Shizuku & Taro Yamada, Mutoha 7/13/2014 Totally sick intergender match that works with some spectacular matwork and sick headbutts between Sato and Yamada. vs. Akito, Sportiva 8/3/2014 This had those 2 count ironman rules so it's another unique and crafty match. Not quite as shootstyle as their 2011 match but good in it's own way so whichever you prefer is up to you. vs. Taro Yamada, 10/26/2014 I think their first encounter, these two are an amazing match up and this is a straight up great match in their signature style. Lots of matwork, some amazing counters, bla bla it's exactly what you expect and it's a pretty great match. vs. Hiroshi Watanabe (European Rounds) Mutoha 9/21/2015 A masterful rounds match between two of the greatest technical wrestlers of the modern era. vs. Oga Nozaki, JWA Tokai 7/24/2016 Nifty match as Yasushi Sato comes in as an outsider to take on the eternal ace of JWA Tokai. Nozaki has been working big matches on this small niche stage for 15 years and he wrestles a bit like a worshipper of 90s New Japan, he's another cool opponent for Sato to build his signature excellent match around and heeling it up a bit on the locals. vs. Hakaru, 3-2-1 Count Rules Jishidan 11/27/2016 Hakaru is a guy who adds a bit of a more gritty vibe to mat wrestling. This also has the rule that it's a 2/3 falls match with the 1st fall having 3 counts, 2nd 2 counts, and 3rd 1 count rules so it's just the kind of experimental chess match grappling that Yasushi Sato lives and thrives by. w Konaka vs. Hiroshi Watanabe & Hideya Iso, Mutoha 2/5/2017 A really cool showcase tag from Mutoha, pretty much 4 great matworkers hitting the mat for 15 minutes and doing their thing, Yasushi Sato is right at home here and his build to his unique submission finisher is really great. vs. Hideya Iso, Mutoha 5/21/2017 I love Iso to death and he's another great match up for the unstoppable force that is Yasushi Sato. vs. Idea, Bukotsu 6/11/2017 Any idea who Idea is? I don't, and neither has Sato because he just eats this guy up. Almost a Fit Finlay/Regal ish performance from Yasushi as he stretches this guy and builds a quite entertaining match around someone who brings very little to the table. vs. Super Taira, JWA Tokai 6/18/2017 These two are a great match up and this is a great match that would look good even next to your 90s junior classics. Tairas mixture of lucharesu and shootstyle is really cool and clearly these two have a blast grappling it out. vs. Shunsuke Sayama, Mutoha 1/14/2018 A great 10 minute war against Sayama who kicks really hard. The way Sato adapts his usual style to more hard hitting, vicious opponent is wonderful. vs. Taro Yamada, No Rope Escape 4/21/2018 Another great match against Yamada, this time more experimental and with some sick headbutts. vs. Masamune, Mutoha 6/3/2018 The match that enlightened me to the greatness of Yasushi Sato. It's pretty fucking great. Masamune is a guy who also has legit amateur credentials and this provides a real challenge. vs. Konaka, AWG/JAST 6/24/2018 vs. Konaka 2 Count Ironman Match, Mutoha 7/21/2018 Yasushi Sato and Konaka had a 60 minute ironman match in 2013 which is probably my ultimate holy grail in wrestling. At least we have these two matches to make up for it. The AWG/JAST match is just an insanely fun 10 minute match with two slick technicians doing cool stuff and impressing with basic things like Yasushi Sato hitting the most perfect kneedrop, while the 2 count ironman is more of a sicko grappling chess match and there's also some insanely great stuff. vs. Hiroyuki Kondo, BRAVES 9/24/2018 Kondo is another obscure indy guy who is secretly really good and has a lot of nifty tricks in his bag, so just a perfect opponent for Sato to go at it. More great inventive work here. vs. Hiroshi Watanabe, Mutoha 4/27/2019 It's another rounds match between them and while it's not as good as their match in 2015 it's still damn good pro wrestling in the classic vein. w Hiroshi Watanabe vs. Manabu Hara & Raito Shimizu, Mutoha 1/13/2020 Mutoha guys facing some shootstylists. It's really good and Yasushi Sato rules here, throwing punches and crazy headbutts like he should've been a BattlARTS guy. vs. Kenichiro Arai, Mutoha 11/3/2020 Another great chess match. Sato may be Arais best opponent besides GENTARO, nobody quite matches him like Sato does. As such this is probably my 2nd favourite Arai match next to the GENTARO bout too, it's damn good and Sato is great here. vs. GENTARO, Mutoha 3/19/2022 These two had a match in 2009, which unfortunately we will probably never see. Thankfully we have this match in which they basically have a great MUGA style match with maximum resistance and intrigue to every hold they do. vs. S.T., 8/13/2023 S.T. is Super Taira who was going through a bit of a phase at the time going through various name changes. This also has the 'no rope breaks' rule. It's pretty much a great maestros match with both guys hitting the mat, busting out crazy holds and using the no rope breaks rule to the full effect. vs. Super Shisa, 11/4/2023 Another experimental rules match. It's pretty great, too. Listen, I can only say this stuff so often, but Yasushi Sato really cames out like the most intelligent wrestler in these, just making the most out of everything. Oh and this is probably the best Super Shisa match I've seen too. vs. Takafumi Ito, Mutoha 7/7/2024 Yasushi Sato takes on an ex-Pancrase guy. Pretty great outmatched Sato performance, as he really doesn't want Ito to KO him, and he really has to try to seize even the slightest advantage. vs. Kenichiro Arai, Mutoha 12/1/2024 Their 2020 felt almost like 80s New Japan in how straightforward it was. This is a bit more like if Tracy Smothers and Dick Murdoch were told to have a 20 minute scientific match on an IWA MS show. I think I prefer the 2020 match but this is another class in getting the most out of every movement. vs Shoji Ohno, Mutoha 2/16/2025 Shoji Ohno fucking rules and it's another great performance in Yasushi Satos resume as this one is a bit more about how if the challenger can topple the champion. w Taro Yamada vs. Akira Jo & Hideya Iso, Yoshino Aid 6/22/2025 4 oddball technical wresters having one of the best matches of the year and looking spry as hell despite being old as hell. Yasushi Sato vs Super Taira, Greco Roman Rules Match, JWA Tokai 4/20/2025 It's a fucking greco roman rules match. They totally make it work though and basically have a 15 minute clinic of extremely believable and intrigueing grappling, the kind that won't see in any other match post the 1930s. So yeah, here's ~25 great Yasushi Sato matches. If you And since you know I have tried to watch as much Yasushi Sato as humanly possible it's almost every Yasushi Sato on tape too. He's also great in those Unicorn 3 vs. 3 matches that I didn't include and there's some extra stuff from JWA Tokai that I haven't seen yet but I will definitely try to unearth at some point. Either way, Yasushi Sato rules.

I've no problem saying Anton Tejero is probably the greatest stooge/bumper of all time. He shows up 17 times in our goldmine of French stuff, from 1965 to 1984, mostly in matches going 20-30 minutes, pretty much all great and not a single bad performance from him. He's also a quite great aggressor. He also has about 4 singles matches which are also great with the Bordes, Mantopolous matches being something that would be considered an all time classic if any US territory guy had it. He was even still producing good stuff in 1984 when he was old as dirt and French wrestling was going to hell. Anton Tejero matches: RENE BEN CHEMOUL & GILBERT CESCA VS INCA PERUANO & ANTON TEJERO (03/12/1965; 32:15) RENE BEN CHEMOUL & GILBERT CESCA VS ANTON TEJERO & PANCHO ZAPATA (07/18/1965; 33:20) ANTON TEJERO VS WALTER BORDES (08/29/1967; 29:18) VASILIO MANTOPOULOS VS ANTON TEJERO (10/21/1967; 34:35) RENE BEN CHEMOUL & WALTER BORDES VS INCA PERUANO & ANTON TEJERO (03/09/1968; 38:15) INCA PERUANO & ANTON TEJERO VS RENE BEN CHEMOUL & WALTER BORDES (04/21/1969; 33:27) RENE BEN CHEMOUL & WALTER BORDES VS ANTON TEJERO & INCA VIRACOCHA (12/13/1969; 33:24) RENE BEN CHEMOUL & WALTER BORDES VS ANTON TEJERO & ANTONIO MONTORO (09/20/1971; 27:15) RENE BEN CHEMOUL & WALTER BORDES VS ANTON TEJERO & INCA VIRACOCHA (01/18/1973; 33:38) MAURICE DUMEZ & GEORGES COHEN VS ANTONIO MONTORO & ANTON TEJERO (04/30/1973; 28:58) RENE BEN CHEMOUL & WALTER BORDES VS ANTON TEJERO & UNKNOWN WRESTLER (02/23/1974; 33:41) DON GIL DON VS ANTON TEJERO (04/18/1976; 13:29) KADER HASSOUNI & LE PETIT PRINCE VS ANTON TEJERO & BOB REMY (01/08/1977; 39:42) LE PETIT PRINCE & GERARD BOUVET VS ANTON TEJERO & ALBERT SANNIEZ (01/01/1979; 31:38) LE PETIT PRINCE & CLAUDE ROCCA VS BOB REMY & ANTON TEJERO (08/18/1980; 36:17) GEORGES COHEN VS ANTON TEJERO (07/18/1984; 15:33)

I've said more than enough in my first post, but it cannot be said often enough. Toba rules. Great wrestler. Not just a great 'novelty act' but a great all around wrestler, full stop. Not many wrestlers have been this good for for 20 years while only changing their act to accommodate for their progressing age. 25 Great Tanomusaku Toba Matches w Nihao vs. Takashi Sasaki & Asian Cougar, DDT 11/27/1999 w Super Rider & Neo Winger vs. Phantom Funakoshi & Exciting Yoshida & Yuki Nishino (DDT 12/22/1999) vs. Takashi Sasaki, DDT 1/30/2000 w Shinigami vs. Ni Hao & Tadahiro Fujisaki, WYF ??/2000 w Takashi Sasaki vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Super Rider, DDT 4/19/2000 w MIKAMI vs. Sanshiro Takagi & Takashi Sasaki, DDT 4/20/2000 w Koichiro Kimura vs. Sanshiro Takagi & Exciting Yoshida (DDT 7/6/2000) vs. Takashi Sasaki, DDT 11/19/2000 w MIKAMI vs. GENTARO & YOSHIYA (DDT 11/30/2001) w MIKAMI vs. Super Uchu Power & Poison Sawada JULIE, DT 8/25/2002 w MIKAMI vs. Takashi Sasaki & GENTARO, DDT 10/24/2002 vs. Takeshi Yamada, Nightmare Pro 2/2/2002 vs. Yuki Nishino, DDT ??/2003 w MIKAMI vs. Kota Ibushi & Daichi Kakimoto, DDT 12/28/2005 vs. MIKAMI, DDT 12/29/2006 w Kota Ibushi vs. Munenori Sawa & Yuta Yoshikawa, DDT 4/1/2007 vs. Munenori Sawa, DDT 5/4/2007 w Kota Ibushi vs. Manabu Hara & Katsumi Usuda, DDT 6/13/2007 w Ranbo Yoshida Okuntun vs. Kota Ibushi & KUDO (DDT 8/8/2007) vs. Shinjuku Shark, XWF 9/8/2008 w HARASHIMA vs. Masashi Takeda & Takashi Sasaki, 1/25/2009 w MIKAMI vs. KUDO & Choun Shiryu, DDT 4/1/2009 vs KAZMA, Ganbare Pro 8/11/2017 vs. Fuminori Abe, BASARA 4/20/2018 w Ikuto Hidaka vs Hikaru Sato & Brother Yasshi, Kakuto Tanteidan 10/12/2023 It's one hell of a resume for a wrestler to have 25 matches like this under their belt, and Toba is definitely someone who brings out the best out of otherwise bland wrestlers like KAZMA or Tomomitsu Matsunaga.

Rank the following wrestlers starting with the letter 'M'. Which ones are likely to make your Top 100? Mad Dog Connelly Mad Dog Vachon Madison Eagles Magnum TA Maki Ito Makoto Hashi Mami Kumano Manami Toyota Manny Fernandez MAO Marc Mero Marcela Marcus Alexander Bagwell Mariko Yoshida Mark Briscoe Mark Henry Mark Rocco Marty Jannetty Marty Jones Marty Scurll Masa Chono Masa Fuchi Masa Saito Masaaki Mochizuki Masahito Kakihara Masakatsu Funaki Masanobu Kurisu Masao Inoue Masao Orihara Masashi Aoyagi Masashi Takeda Masato Tanaka Masato Yoshino Masayuki Naruse Mascara Dorada 2.0 Mascara Sagrada Mascarita Dorada Mascarita Sagrada Masked Superstar Matt Borne Matt Hardy Matt Jackson Matt Sydal Matt Tremont MJF Mayu Iwatani Mayumi Ozaki Masakazu Fukuda Megumi Fujii Megumi Kudo Mei Suruga Meiko Satomura Melina Mentai Kid MEN'S Teoh Mercedes Martinez Michael Elgin Michael Hayes Michel Saulnier Mick Foley Mick McManus Mickie James Mickie Knuckles Mighty Inoue Miguel Perez Jr. MIKAMI Mike Awesome Mike Bailey Mike Jackson Mike Quackenbush Mike Rotunda Mikey Whipwreck Mikhail Ilyukhin Mil Mascaras Milano Collection A.T. Mile Zrno Mima Shimoda Mimi Hagiwara Minoru Suzuki Minoru Tanaka Mio Momono Mistico Mitsuharu Misawa Mitsuhiro Matsunaga Mitsuya Nagai Miu Watanabe Miyu Yamashita Mocho Cota Modesto Aledo Momo Watanabe Momoe Nakanashi Monster Ripper Mr. Condor Mr. Fuji Mr. Gannosuke Mr. Niebla Mr. Pogo Mr. Wrestling II MS-1 Muhammad Ali Munenori Sawa