Jetlag

After recently discovering the epicness of the Robby Lance vs. Damon Scythe 30 minute ironman match from 2002, I think both of them deserve a mention. It seems neither of them has more than a handful of taped appearances besides maybe some shindy VHS stuff that nobody ever bought and is lost footage/stored away in someones garage right now. Lance doesn't even have a profile on the usual wrestling data sites, though he won the world title of a small Portland indy in 2012.

So recently I learned that SPORTIVA (which was the home promotion of Yasushi Sato and a few other guys like Shigehiro Irie) used to livestream matches on a service called USTREAM every wednesday 10 years ago. Unfortunately that streaming service is no more but it's still archived here, sadly the videos don't work anymore but you can still look at the thumbnails and video lengths https://web.archive.org/web/20130925165112/http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sportiva-ch At the very least this confirms some of those matches were filmed and I hope they can surface again. It's too bad nobody including me knew what the fuck SPORTIVA was in 2013 because they ran some absolutely mouth watering match ups like a 60 minute Yasushi Sato vs. Konaka ironman match which is definitely a holy grail for me Couple more Sato matches have surfaced on the internet since that last post vs. Dekai Ichimotsu, ?? 12/15/2013 Satos opponent here isn't even a pro wrestler but it's still a really good match. Feels like a good example of Satos signature match, lots of matwork, nifty spots and suplexes, some great counters etc. Dig the crazy amateur throw he busted out. w Hiroshi Watanabe vs. Manabu Hara & Raito Shimizu, 1/13/2020 Great tag with two wily technicians facing a pair of shooters. Sato vs. Hara is just magical and surprisingly stiff. Again Sato looked like the best guy in a match with a bunch of really good guys in it. vs. Taro Yamada, 10/26/2014 Another great match, Yamada is a pretty game grappler himself. Really good grappling, neat psychology and some amazing counters as always. vs. Shinichiro Wakita, 8/12/2019 Just a short match against a rookie but Sato does pretty well for himself here. The rolling legbar into the figure 4 is nothing short of genius There's also some highlights on the Sportiva channel, like check out the highlights of this match against Konaka, absolutely sick looking stuff. Right now every Yasushi Sato match I came across is a total gem and totally worth seeking out, he's also had some amazing matches against the likes of Hiroyuki Kondo, Hakaru Imai and GENTARO which aren't online at the moment but you should totally purchase if you come across them in somebodies tape listing. If some of those Sportiva archive matches start popping up I could see Yasushi Sato doing insanely well on my list because he's totally my kind of pro wrestler. The guy made me believe in a Russian Leg sweep and if that is not the sign of a great worker then I don't know what is.

His best work is in FUTEN. He really came into his own there and looked like an absolute monster. The Ono match is an amazing crowbar showing but the 2011 Suruga singles is a genuinely really great match that would look amazing on anyones resume. He's solid in the BatlARTS stuff but doesn't stand out as much. I imagine there could be some fun performances in the mid 2000s.

Yuiga is cool, I think she was trained in the WYF dojo or another sleaze indy company which is why she mostly stays around those sort of companies, she also books some awesome matches like GENTARO vs. Yuki Ishikawa, nice to see her brought up. This match against Hikaru Sato was pretty tough:

I've been on a Ran Yu Yu kick lately so I decided to rewatch this match. It was a bit better than I remembered but still not very good. There were a few nice bits, such as the opening open hand strikes and Ran Yu Yu is indeed awesome, but there was still a lot of meandering work especially the stuff on the floor and too many moments where one of them just absorbed moves and then hit one move to go back on offense. I think OJ is right that Yu Yu outclassed her opponent. She's awesome and her elbows were spectacular. Genki has some good power offense but she lacks intensity and who cares really when Ran kicked out of like 3 emerald frosions in this?

I like her, but I never considered her more than "pretty good", so my instinctual answer is no. But on second thought, she has a pretty lengthy career and good matches dating way back to 97/98ish, and knowing that tiny Japanese indies can sometimes deliver stupidly good matches I'd be surprised if she didn't have some hidden gem performances working Ice Ribbon houseshows on a parking lot or something. The most interesting phase of her career is that late 2000s/early 2010s period where she suddenly became a VIP and faced top workers with the shaven head. I also want to know what she was up to in places like NEO or that Gatokunyan project. On the other hand, she is also way into that "clap your hands for half the match to engage the audience" thing which makes her and her ilk hard to watch for me. At the very least, she deserves credit for being a smart enough worker to collect AEW paychecks and make new fans in this day and age.

I always liked her and I thought she had a stupidly good match series with Yoneyama at a time where I stopped giving a fuck about joshi and wrestling in general. Looking forward to dive deeper into her work, although the competition in "gutsy workers with a hard head gimmick" department is fierce.

This is one of the stupidest things I've ever written. I mean, I still stand by much of it, but I've come way around on Hotta. When she's on she's become one of my favourite workers and I don't care anymore how stupid or dangerous she is. I'm not sure if there's enough to justify her on a Top 100 considering she still has some stinkers and from what I've seen her 2000s stuff is atrocious. Still, I love me a good senseless Hotta match.

It's probably Buddy Rose. You might also give outsider consideration to Jackie Sato or Jaguar Yokota if you like their style. The World of Sport situation is a bit frustrating for individual workers, while we have lots of excellent wrestling most guys only show up on TV a handful of times per year, and we don't even have all the TV.

Him having a thread was really unpredictable!

He's really good, but I wish he had more than a couple good undercard matches and that Lightning Kid match. Surely he has to have had more matches in the style of the Waltman match in the US? I want to dive more into his Michinoku Pro stuff but I will gladly skip all Yone Genjin matches.

Amazing nomination, but I think Riki Senshu has the better matches.

It's weird. Togo probably has more great matches, but he also has a ton of stuff where he is merely solid. Being one of the most commonly booked Japanese wrestlers probably brings that. And he also has some unfortunate Kurt Angleish/overkill tendencies that crept into some of his matches. That said, he has a ton of excellent stuff. But Dick Murdoch feels more special. I'm leaning Murdoch but I'd rather not vote.

Someone made a challenge on Twitter about workers who had great matches in 4 decades and I noticed Fugo is part of this small and illustrious circle of elite workers. FUGO OF THE DECADE: 90s - w Makoto Saito vs. Cosmo Soldier & Takeshi Sato, WYF 6/10/1997 2000s - w Takao Ohmori vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Mitsuhide Hirasawa, Z1 2/17/2008 2010s - w BUKI vs. Yuki Ishikawa & JOHTA, EXIT 7/14/2018 2020s - w Hiroaki Moriya vs. Tatsuhiko Nakagawa & Hiroyuki Iwahara, FU*CK 1/3/2022 Footage is a bit of an issue, notably he started showing up more in the 2010s as DVD releases of these craptastic indy shows started making their way on our Google Drives. That said more and more has been seeping out, for example Fugo sent a 30 minute match against Keita Yano to his buddy to randomly to put on youtube with no description, and as stuff continues to seep out over the next 3 or 4 years I can see Fugo ending up with a pretty decent spot on my list. You know someone is a special talent when they have a great match on a FU*CK show, for crying out loud.

I can't think of any of Hashis peers that are clearly better than him. Hashi in NOAH is insanely consistent, and when looking at his biggest matches I'd say he's easily better than the likes of Marufuji or KENTA. There's plenty of random midcard stuff where Hashi is bringing it hard. I remember a completely random opening match against Takeshio Rikioh that would be like, the 5th best match to happen in 2022. I can't think of many wrestlers in NOAH clearly better than Hashi aside from the big name guys who got to work epic main event matches much more often. Kikuchi? Honda? There's Saito, and I am hesitant to say Saito > Hashi because Saito's had a lot of solid but forgettable matches. Going back through under the radar NOAH matches, Hashi may easily be the best guy to watch. And I haven't dived nearly as deep into it as I intend to. I wouldn't be shocked if Hashi makes my list next time.

I'm pretty sure you are confusing Shinichi Nakano with Shunji Takano there, at least as far as the teaming with Great Sasuke part goes.

I can't think of more high quality competition for Yoshida to face than Hiromi Yagi. Aja Kong and young Ayako Hamada weren't too shabby, either.

These are the main matches. I recall maybe 1-2 other matches worth watching, but I can't remember the names of the opponents. Just check out any footage of him you can find, I guess.

Sonoko Kato seems like a good contender. I think her story was that an injury derailed her career. She's had some good matches in the 2000s, but nothing on the level of other contemporaries like Meiko or Ayako Hamada, or what her early work was hinting at. There seem to be a lot of early GAEA workers whom this applies to due to retiring early. Chihiro Nakano, Rina Ishi, Hiromi Kato etci...