Jetlag

I think putting him in a Top 100 would be OK if you've only ever watched WWE.

It should be Naoshi Sano, who unfortunately is pretty terrible when he's not playing a monster.

His initial run as a shootstyle havoc wrecker in Osaka Pro was damn great. After that, he kind of just became another kickpadded junior, although his high end striking is great. Notoriously, he wanted to fight Tamura in U-Style and Tamura promptly fired him for running the ropes.

I didn't say KAORU is better, just that KAORU looks better based of a run of matches in what is probably her career year and a random match comparison. I put her in the Maybe pile along with some others because there is a chance that in 4 years I will have watched all the GAEA in existance and I'm gonna say fuck a Bull Nakano, KAORU and Toshiyo Yamada are the best. I can't make a definite case right now but I could see it happening. I can also see myself going back and rewatching some of that AJW and turning around and saying Nakano actually rules and 2021 me was a dumbass. That said late 90s GAEA is ridiculously great and I like it way better than the AJW period Bull Nakano was big in, I mean so great it makes me want to throw up nominations for Toshie Uematsu and Maiko Matsumoto. FWIW the competition in my 2016 list was incredibly steep. I can't remember if I had Bull on. But in the end there were like 40 people competing for the last 15 spots on my list, and I wanted every entry of mine to have some matches I really loved and I couldn't find many Nakano matches that I saw at that level for me. There's a good chance I ended up having her below someone like Mighty Inoue based on that

Harley Saito Gee, how is Harley Motherfucking Saito not nominated? I would comfortably rank her as the best worker of the original JWP promotion. A badass shooter who was a fantastic sympathetic face. Her 1991 alone smokes a lot of well respected workers best years. She also had some banging matches in the interpromotional era. I've yet to dive into her LLPW work, so that is something to look forward too. Match reviews: Recommended matches: Shinobu Kandori vs. Harley Saito (7/19/90) Devil Masami & Itsuki Yamazaki vs. Miss A & Harley Saito (8/12/1990) Miss A & Harley Saito vs. Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama (JWP 10/10/90) Mayumi Ozaki & Rumi Kazama vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito (JWP 1/6/1991) Miss A vs. Harley Saito (UWA Tournament finals) (2/1/91) Miss A & Harley Saito vs. Rumi Kazama & Mayumi Ozaki (JWP 4/23/1991) Harley Saito vs. Eagle Sawai (7/14/91) Dynamite Kansai & The Scorpion vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito (8/4/1991) Dynamite Kansai & The Scorpion vs. Harley Saito & Itsuki Yamazaki (JWP 8/8/91) Harley Saito vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP 11/2/1991) Harley Saito & Devil Masami vs. Dynamite Kansai & Madusa (JWP 12/7/1991)

Gee, I'm getting flashbacks to the last project already Having her slightly outside my top 10 honest to god greatest women wrestlers to ever walk this planet list doesn't mean I don't like her.

Well, I prefer storydriven matches over matches with lots of effects. Back then I was underwhelmed watching random Bull Nakano matches. Meanwhile watching KAORUs run of weekly great matches in 1997 GAEA blew me away. I mean, there may have been some Pat Patton magic going on in those matches, but as far as I'm concerned, KAORU is as integral to that promotion as Hokuto. Watching Bull Nakano lariat someone really hard is fun and all, but I prefer KAORUs veteran dynamic to the GAEA rookies. Also I thought all the Bull/Aja matches were underwhelming and KAORU/Aja is a MOTDC. That's enough for me to put a KAORU in the Maybe pile for now.

I've been coming around on Devil and her 90s work lately. That, and she is pretty much better at being a monster than Bull. I watched her and Bull teaming up just a couple days ago and Devil looked head and shoulders better than Bull.

I have 10: 1. Hokuto 2. Devil 3. Jaguar 4. Meiko Satomura 5. Kandori 6. Harley Saito 7. Mariko Yoshida 8. Aja 9. Jackie Sato 10. Kana Maybe: Chigusa Yumiko Hotta Carlos Amano KAORU Ayako Hamada Dynamite Kansai Toshiyo Yamada Michiko Ohmukai Azumi Hyuga Mikiko Futagami Command Bolshoi Mayumi Ozaki Yumi Fukawa I'll have too rewatch Bulls top matches, though

I am gonna do the comparison and say Yatsu is better based on the fact his matches have never made me want to stab my eyes out and I gave way more a shit about his prison hold than Angles Ankle Lock.

That's a different match, actually.

I've found out that Yatsu has really good longevity for a guy who's considered a heavyweight spot machine. SPWF was a pretty bizarre promotion, as half the roster left in 1994 and Yatsu was left to scrap cards together, but he always works hard on those shows and has some cool matches. He also looks good in the early 2000s still working places like World Japan and NJPW in one off appearances. The most notable thing is he never really changed his style, he's always there being Yatsu, hitting bulldogs and powerslams and it never ceases to entertain.

I actually think his best stuff is in WAR in the mid 90s. He was just allowed to let lose and be a stiff technical bruiser like a more shooty William Regal. Granted, that lasted only about one tour. God damn I wish he had done more stuff like that, or at least that we had more of his indy career on tape. The UWF stuff is cool but I'm not sure he's better than random eastern europeans having brief stints in RINGS.

I hope people will give Jackie Sato more attention this time around. She was quite the badass and with more eyes being on that era of joshi and more footage becoming available people should watch. The Yokota match is brilliant and Sato is every part of it. There's also some of her JWP work becoming available, something that was completely in the dark to me 5 years ago. It seems she pretty much reinvented herself. She had an interesting superstar match against Nancy Kumi. I also just now watched her in a tag where she grappled with Shinobu Kandori like a BattlARTS match.

I must be a weirdo because I recall really liking another Tenryu/Dibiase match. Also, how can you forget that we get a Tenryu/Kawada handheld from 1989? Tenryu is the gift that keeps on giving. Even if with no strictly "new" footage there are ton of handheld matches that are barely talked about where he looks really good. I mean really really good, like "getting a great match out of Daikokubo Benkei on a WAR houseshow" level good.

Scorpios universal appeal is incredible. Whether Mexico, Germany, WCW, ECW, Japan, seedy IWA Mid South show, he looks great and gets over.

They had another really great match in 2018. That Doi match is a really good carryjob. He also had a really good match against Nishimura in WNC. Tajiri may actually be one of the best wrestlers of the last decade. He doesn't have a huge resume of "OMG Superclassics!!" but tons lots of crafty good little matches against guys who were otherwise largely useless. Remarkable consistency in his old age. He was also in the cruiserweight classic, even.

I even did a 2 disc WYF compilation. That was after I bought all the available TV footage from Lynch. However, recently, more handhelds have popped up thanks to Max Lanciault. The following list only includes matches that were available on TV and comm tapes at the time: Canek / Principe Maya vs. Motegi / Kamikaze (Tag Tournament Finale, 3/31/95) Motegi / Kamikaze vs. S. Nakano / Hirofumi Miura (7/30/95) Motegi / S. Nakano vs. Okamura / Mochizuki (5/25/97) Kamikaze / Masakazu Fukuda vs. Y. Fujiwara / Hiroyoshi Kotsubo (5/25/97) Y. Fujiwara / S. Nakano vs. Kamikaze / Masakazu Fukuda (5/30/97) Tadahiro Fujisaki / M. Saito vs. Cosmo Soldier / Takeshi Sato (6/10/97) Ryo Miyake vs. Shigeo Kato (6/10/97) Shinichi Nakano vs. Masayoshi Motegi (6/10/97) Kamikaze / Fukuda / Kotsubo vs. Mochizuki / Okamura / Taru (6/10/97) Shinichi Shino / Rikio Ito vs. Masashi Aoyagi / Gokuaku Omibozu (7/16/97) Kamikaze / Fukuda / Kotsubo vs. Mochizuki / Okamura / Taru (7/16/97) Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Shinigami (7/16/97) S. Nakano / Motegi vs. Tarzan Goto / Ryo Miyake (7/16/97) Kamikaze / Fukuda / Kotsubo vs. Mochizuki / Okamura / Taru (8/9/97) S. Nakano / Motegi vs. Goto / Kikuzawa (8/9/97) Tadahiro Fujisaki / Makoto Saito vs. Great Takeru / Akinori Tsukioka (9/23/97) Shinichi Nakano / Basara vs. Tarzan Goto / Jun Kikuzawa (9/23/97) Kamikaze / Fukuda / Kotsubo vs. Mochizuki / Okamura / Taru (9/23/97) Tadahiro Fujisaki vs. Makoto Saito (1/8/98) Masayoshi Motegi / Cosmo Soldier vs. Takeshi Sato / Makoto Saito (3/20/98) Masashi Aoyagi vs. Gokuaku Omibozu (3/20/98) Masked Angel Rosetta / Cosmo Soldier vs. MAKOTO / Masked Angel Freia (11/30/99)

Albert Sanniez Another guy who massively benefited from the French footage becoming available. The man looked world class from his first appearances in the 60s up to his last in the 80s and virtually always had an outstanding match. Amazing technico, but also amazing rudo. Looks great both doing high end technical work as well stooging for faces and being a rough playing bastard. Has both great singles matches and great tags under his belt. One of those French guys whose matches you can show to anyone and their jaw will drop. Matches: w Francis Sullivan vs. Bernard Caclard/Tony Martino, 10/21/1967 w Bernard Caclard vs. Kader Hassouni & Claude Rocca, 3/20/1976 vs. Le Petit Prince, 10/15/1977 http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/search/label/Albert Sanniez https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/wrestling_ko/viewtopic.php?p=46647#p46647

That Rae match was fun, but I actually thought Rae looked better. She did all the fun/unique spots, unpredictable bumping, ate some nasty punishment and was super expressive while Mercedes looked a little bland faced. I actually like that Martinez carries herself like a badass I don't recall ever thinking she was high end. There's def. some good looking match ups there, tho.

There has been quite a resurrgence of interest in joshi on social media, with wrestler like Satomura being signed to WWE and characters like Maki Ito attaining a decent following. Whether that increase in interest is due to the work being good or the idol factor is for the reader to decide.

No but also yes. He's got a shitload of boring as hell material but also some goodies. I am particular to the Inoki matches, but due to Inoki magic.

The Guy Robin match is really good, but to be honest he doesn't stand out a ton among the legion of really great French babyfaces who throw one hell of a forearm and I wasn't super in love with the Hunter team (mostly due to Hunter). His later heel stuff is fun but didn't exactly produce much high end wrestling. I'll pass but it was cool discovering him in his young age.

Pretty good doing worked shootstyle and I'd like to see more of his Style-E material. That said this nu age deathmatch stuff is dreadfully boring and sameish and dead last on the list of wrestling I want to see.

All too little footage of him. He looks like a beast in his one French appearance. The AJPW stuff was right before he quit wrestling. In Germany, he was arguably the most succesful promoters golden boy and wrestled in front of millions each year, a golden era of which we have nothing. I like him in the AJPW stuff, but it feels like judging Lawler without Memphis.