Jetlag

He also had a pretty excellent match against Kishin Kawabata of all people on a random NOW show. Other than that, it's a bit surprising how few matches he actually has on tape. For someone who is clearly skilled and respected, you'd expect him to get a vanity title run in some indy promotion or something.

After watching her most hyped matches, she is #1 on my list of "Wrestlers I never ever want to watch again."

Kawada, Tenryu... Tanomusaku Toba. Not kidding in the slightest about the last one.

El Dandy... Mitsuharu Misawa... Jumbo. If you want an outsider candidate - Shinobu Kandori.

Yuki Ishikawa. You could skip the entire year except for the top 4-5 matches or so and you'd miss nothing, though.

Black Terry. Other contenders are Brian Kendrick, Rush, LA Park, Hechicero, and Meiko Satomura. Looking back, it was an extremely weak year though.

Those Takayama matches he had in the 90s were great. Like a plethora of 90s guys, he had his moments, but he was a couple classic matches and maybe feuds away from me truely considering him one of the best. Could've had a great veteran career, but he got thrown into the MMA meat grinder. Still looked decent the few times he showed up in the last few years, though.

Another guy with about 20 matches. He is good, but never made me think more than "wow another cool Russian grappler".

I am pretty sure he had less than 20 matches, and I never thought he looked like the 3rd best guy in RINGS. That said he does some fantastic stuff in his matches. The 1999 Han match is a borderline masterpiece and at times the best grappling shootstyle match I've ever seen.

If this were a list based on raw talent he'd have a good shot. Really good shootstylist when he came into his own. He doesn't really have the kind of superclassics I want a margin candidate to have (the Tamura match is good but a little overrated, the Suzuki match is also good but wouldn't make a Top 50 of the decade probably). I could see him making it if he keeps having 1-2 matches a year for the next 5 years like he does now. Other than that I welcome anyone to go back and watch all his IGF and NJPW work. I recall him feeling very much like an awkward MMA guy trying to not hurt anybody in his earliest matches, and he was in some shitty IGF main events.

I remember him being incredibly dull when I went through all the IWE footage years ago. Really had me tearing my hair out watching badass legends like Vachon face this dullard. Even in his marquee matches like the Jumbo bout he doesn't add much. His old man run also produced about a solid decade of skip material. I know we shouldn't judge that stuff, but other guys like Aoyagi actually managed to add to those matches. He has his moments here and there but then, who doesn't?

If people can nominate and vote the likes of Mokujin Ken there's no reason they can't vote for Jim Londos.

I wouldn't say they were hurt by that. But they were working a style of match that was a little below what Ono is capable of. They just did scuzzy heel stuff instead of quasi shootstyle epics and they were a bit spotty/sloppy here and there. It would be an upside to most wrestlers career but for Ono it's a bit of a step down he didn't work matches like in 1996/1997 that year, although they had a few great matches.

I already have half the posts in this thread, but might as well finish it off with the Gordy list... 1. What kind of candidate is this wrestler (Peak vs Longevity,Peak+ Longevity, Big Match Wrestler, Week to Week Performer etc) and what range would you consider ranking them? He has definitely strong longevity with him being being great as early as 1996 and as late as 2012. He was pretty consistently good although not super outstanding in the 90s, from 2009-2012 he was incredible every single time he made tape though. 2. What is your elevator pitch for this wrestler to be a Top 100 Wrestler? (Sum up their case in a short paragraph). Stiff bastard who was fantastic as both a sleazy dick heel and as a respectable veteran worker. At his best just about the most incredible quasi shootstyle worker on the planet giving and taking insane beatings. Great technician, great at filling time, great in tags, great in singles, great in throwaway undercard matches as well as in main events, very unique worker being a skinny ratboy shooter who hangs with big bruisers. 3. Were they ever the best wrestler in the world? Were they ever the best wrestler in their country? Were they ever the best wrestler in their promotion? Who were some of their competitors for the best wrestler in the world, country, and promotion? He was probably the best in the world in 2010 head to head with Black Terry, he was definitely the best guy in the world to wrestle twice a year in 2011 and 2012. He was consistently among the best BattlARTS guys although he was probably never quite able to top Yuki Ishikawa, but that was probably due to him getting less main events. 4. How many years were they a top worker (top worker being a candidate for top 10 wrestler in the world)? Who were some of the other top workers of this era? I would classify 1996, 1997, 2010 and 2011 as his top years. He also looked like the best in the world the one time he made tape in 2009. For an undercard worker, he was also quite great in 2000 and 2001. 1998 and 1999 he fell of a bit due to working with Masao Orihara a lot/his matches not getting aired. 5. Were they a great worker before their prime? Were they a great worker after their prime? How great were they (were they a best in the world, country, promotion candidate while before their prime/after their prime) He was a fun worker before his prime and got great pretty fast (within 2 years). He pretty much retired in his prime and looking like the best guy on earth. Between his two peak periods (1996-1997 and 2009-2012) he still looked great. 6. Did they have the opportunities to produce a large body of excellent matches? I'd say yes, even though he was only getting very few main events in BattlARTS, he was still working some great talent and making tape consistently. In FUTEN he also got plenty of long matches. He was still shafted a lot into short undercard matches for such a talented wrestler. IF YES 6a Do they have a large body of excellent matches? Yes, absolutely. His top 20 beats the shit out of a lot of very well respected wrestlers. 6b Do they have a large body of excellent matches against a variety of opponents? Probably not since he only worked other indy shooters, although he looks good working guys who were foreign to shootstyle. 6c Do they have a large body of excellent matches in a variety of settings? (for example singles, tags, gimmicks, no gimmicks, brawls, technical, short matches, long matches etc) He has excellent singles and tags, but they are pretty much all in hybrid shootstyle. He would do more regular pro style and brawling teaming with Orihara but it was not as good, and he had a great match against Toi in 2002 that involved brawling. 6d How much of those excellent matches were a direct result of their performance? Pretty much all of them, don't recall any instance where he was carried, and you definitely can't replace him even in multiman tags. IF NO 7. Do they have a large body of excellent performances in a variety of roles (heel/face, undercard/midcard/main event, champion/challenger, underdog/favorite, younger/older etc) Yes, although his main role was acting like a dick, he looked great selling more sympathetic when it was needed. He is also one of the most excellent undercard workers I know, and he is also great both as a youthful punk and as a veteran. 8. Do they work in a way that is consistent with the way they're booked & presented? Yes. I guess sometimes he is a bit too brutal for an undercarder. But he looks absolutely credible working slugfest main events despite being skinny. 9. What are their standout traits? (For example, selling, psychology, offense, character work etc) Definitely being a skinny bastard with MMA gloves who will kick and punch people in the face and in turn take monster comeuppance beatings. Also really slick matworker with some incredible transitions and moments of selling. His psychology in tags both as a heel as well as building to epic showdowns is top notch, too. 10. Did they make the people and workers around them better? Yes, carried a few guys to great matches and feuds, integral to many of the best 90s BattlARTS tags. 11. Is there any reason to believe that this wrestler was better or worse than they appeared? He worked a ton of FUTEN shows that haven't shown up yet, which I imagine would really boost his case. 12. If you had to pick 5-10 matches (Or more) to sell someone on this wrestler what would they be? (Not necessarily the best matches but ones that are best representative of the wrestlers’ GWE case). w Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 10/30/1996) w Daisuke Ikeda vs. Satoshi Yoneyama & Alexander Otsuka (Inoki Festival 12/1/1996) w Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda, BattlARTS 1/21/1997 w Daisuke Ikeda vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Yuki Ishikawa, BattlARTS 3/14/1997 vs. Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 12/25/1999 vs. Yuki Ishikawa, BattlARTS 6/18/2000 w Hiroyoshi Kotsubo vs. Carl Greco & Super Rider, BattlARTS 8/25/2001 Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Manabu Hara & Takahiro Oba, FUTEN 4/26/2009 vs. Daisuke Ikeda, FUTEN 9/26/2010 vs. White Moriyama, Futen 1/30/2011 13. Feel free to recommend more matches here if you like! https://reverseviperhold.blogspot.com/2020/12/takeshi-ono-documentation-project.html 14. Any final thoughts you’d like to share? Revisiting his career more in depth now I think I had him too low last time.

1. What kind of candidate is this wrestler (Peak vs Longevity,Peak+ Longevity, Big Match Wrestler, Week to Week Performer etc) and what range would you consider ranking them? His earliest great matches were in 1998 and his last in 2018. He is definitely a candidate whose case is based on his peak work from 1998-2001 ca., although he has a couple more great performances after that and he is consistently entertaining even working undercard comedy matches. Most of his best matches are big match spectacles but he also has some great performances in mid card matches even when he's not the focus of the match. 2. What is your elevator pitch for this wrestler to be a Top 100 Wrestler? (Sum up their case in a short paragraph). One of the most unique wrestlers to have a lengthy career, a boxing gloved maniac who is like a shot of heroin for any matches he's in, always making stuff more exciting, adding violence and unpredictability, always surprising you with the shit he does. 3. Were they ever the best wrestler in the world? Were they ever the best wrestler in their country? Were they ever the best wrestler in their promotion? Who were some of their competitors for the best wrestler in the world, country, and promotion? He was probably never the best wrestler in the world but he has a solid case for being among the best on the indy scene consistently. Definitely the best wrestler in his promotion along with MIKAMI and Takashi Sasaki. In his best year, 2000, I would rank him as the best guy on the indies with only a handful of top tier guys in the main promotions like Tenryu or Kawada being better and I'm dead serious. 4. How many years were they a top worker (top worker being a candidate for top 10 wrestler in the world)? Who were some of the other top workers of this era? He was definitely a top worker in 2000 and has a shot in 1999 and 2001 as well. 5. Were they a great worker before their prime? Were they a great worker after their prime? How great were they (were they a best in the world, country, promotion candidate while before their prime/after their prime) He's another case of a guy who was great from the get go. After his peak at 2000-2001, he still has many great matches and performances and I'd say his peak only ended because of the booking of DDT shafting him away into undercard matches. He still looks great when he pops up working a style that suits him in promotions like HARD HIT or XGF in 2007. I'd say his physical prime ended around 2010 as wear and tear slowed him down considerably and he was almost entirely relegated to working comedy tags, although he still has some great moments here and there such as his 2018 Abe singles match. 6. Did they have the opportunities to produce a large body of excellent matches? I would say the answer is in the middle. He was definitely given more main events than you'd expect a skinny boxer to be given, but like I said later he was shafted into comedy undercard matches a lot. I'd say he had plenty of opportunity, but not nearly as much as I would've liked him to have. IF YES 6a Do they have a large body of excellent matches? He definitely has, all things considered. 6b Do they have a large body of excellent matches against a variety of opponents? He really mainly faced indy juniors, but they represented a variety of styles. Some of them flyers, some more powerhouse type workers, some shooters themselves. He matches up very well against them all. 6c Do they have a large body of excellent matches in a variety of settings? (for example singles, tags, gimmicks, no gimmicks, brawls, technical, short matches, long matches etc) He's like 90% in tags and basically forces everyone to match his style of wrestling. 6d How much of those excellent matches were a direct result of their performance? I'd say he's definitely irreplacable and a lot of the time he gets better performances out of guys than they would have against anyone else simply because he will punch them in the face and force them to match him. There's no one like TOBA. IF NO 7. Do they have a large body of excellent performances in a variety of roles (heel/face, undercard/midcard/main event, champion/challenger, underdog/favorite, younger/older etc) He's always in his crazy thai boxer role, but he works a few different roles within that. He looks good being more dominated putting a beatdown on people, he also looks great selling vulnerability, taking huge bumps and beatings. He also works well as a broken down vet. He's definitely a great babyface. He also worked the masked GHOST BOXER gimmick for a bit where he acted like the crazy secret weapon of a heel stable and while he just did his usual thing it was a fun role of him. 8. Do they work in a way that is consistent with the way they're booked & presented? Well, yeah. He's always that kickboxer who will kick ass, sometimes bust out an unexpected highspot and is weak to submissions. Even in undercard matches he comes across as dangerous. He does his thing to a t. 9. What are their standout traits? (For example, selling, psychology, offense, character work etc) Brutal strikes, ragdoll bumping, great selling, unique character and style, turning everything into a wild fight, never taking of his gloves and just being TOBA 10. Did they make the people and workers around them better? Yes, definitely got random DDT midcard slobs to show more fire than they did otherwise. Don't recall any match where I thought he dragged things down. 11. Is there any reason to believe that this wrestler was better or worse than they appeared? He worked a ton of CAPTURE shows that never made tape and I imagine would add a lot to his case. As well as many intrigueing DDT match ups that we don't have, plus the already mentioned poor booking. On the other hand, he has the advantage that all his opponents were always willing to go along with his style. His act probably couldn't work in environments outside of the seedy Japan indy wrestling underworld that he exists in. I imagine some boxing purists won't like his more showy punches. 12. If you had to pick 5-10 matches (Or more) to sell someone on this wrestler what would they be? (Not necessarily the best matches but ones that are best representative of the wrestlers’ GWE case). w MIKAMI & Takashi Sasaki vs. Great Takeru & Phantom Funakoshi & Asian Cougar (DDT 5/25/1998) 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 Takashi Sasaki vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Super Rider, DDT 4/19/2000 w Tsunehito Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Tomohiko Hashimoto, DDT 5/26/2001 w MIKAMI vs. Kota Ibushi & Daichi Kakimoto, DDT 12/28/2005 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 vs. Fuminori Abe, BASARA 4/20/2018 13. Feel free to recommend more matches here if you like! https://reverseviperhold.blogspot.com/2020/12/tanomusaku-toba-documentation-project.html 14. Any final thoughts you’d like to share? Even if you don't care for the thaiboxer act, Tobas career is well worth checking out simply because it exposes you to a ton of great hidden obscure wrestlers. Probably the best of all the guys who did a "martial artist who doesn't work like a normal wrestler" thing and yes that includes Aoyagi, will probably be my top Non-BattlARTS weird indy shooter.

1. What kind of candidate is this wrestler (Peak vs Longevity,Peak+ Longevity, Big Match Wrestler, Week to Week Performer etc) and what range would you consider ranking them? I would say he is a case of a guy with both a case of insane peaks and insane longevity. You can find peak level performances as early as 1989, and as late as 2007 or even 2009, and plenty in the middle. Week to week he looks consistently solid in random house show and TV matches, with some insanely good handheld performance that were never meant to be released. 2. What is your elevator pitch for this wrestler to be a Top 100 Wrestler? (Sum up their case in a short paragraph). He's a guy who has everything I want in a pro wrestler. Can work lengthy technical epics and also violent graphic blood baths. Insane number of great matches throughout 3 decades in a variety of promotions, against opponents ranging from the top of the industry to borderline untrained indy scum. 3. Were they ever the best wrestler in the world? Were they ever the best wrestler in their country? Were they ever the best wrestler in their promotion? Who were some of their competitors for the best wrestler in the world, country, and promotion? He was probably never the best worker in the world or in his country from 1989-2000 due to insanely steep competition in the industry, but he was consistently among the best, especially in 1989, 1990, 1997, 1998. I suspect the main reason he fell out of the picture in the early 2000s is lack of footage as he basically retired to his own promotion Goto-Ippa of which footage is very hard to come by. He might have been the best wrestler in the world in 2007 based on 4 or so matches that he had on tape then, he was incredible then. He was definitely always the best guy in the promotion when he worked deathmatch indies like IWA Japan or Big Japan, he probably was the overall best guy in WYF in 1997 too despite only working a few matches. When he worked WAR in 1997 he was second best to only Tenryu who worked more matches. He was a consistent contender for being the top worker in FMW along with Kurisu in 1990 and Onita who got all the big spectacle matches. If I had to book an ideal wrestling promotion I imagine he'd be the top heel. 4. How many years were they a top worker (top worker being a candidate for top 10 wrestler in the world)? Who were some of the other top workers of this era? I'd say he was absolute top for at minimum years see the years mentioned above. I've yet to fully dive into his 1991-1995 work but he has some fantastic matches in that period that I've seen. In those years I would only put him below absolute legends (El Dandy, Tamura, Tenryu, etc) 5. Were they a great worker before their prime? Were they a great worker after their prime? How great were they (were they a best in the world, country, promotion candidate while before their prime/after their prime) Considering he has prime level work in 1989 and 2007 there's only very few glimpses outside that. From what I've seen he was at minimum a fun worker. He still looked great carrying an untrained girl in 2009. 6. Did they have the opportunities to produce a large body of excellent matches? Yes, since he worked FMW, a promotion that had a ton of big shows that got filmed although often in a handheld format. He was also consistently a main program worker when he made appearances in other promotions, usually as an outsider heel. IF YES 6a Do they have a large body of excellent matches? Yes, I've already written up over a dozen of his excellent matches and I'm nowhere near done. 6b Do they have a large body of excellent matches against a variety of opponents? His opponents range from Japans top stars, to martial artists with little pro wrestling experience, to foreign brawlers and even luchadores, to sleazy indy undercarders, to borderline untrained girl wrestlers, and he has looked consistently excellent working with all of them. To be far it's not an insane variety for a Japanese indy guy since back then nearly everyone had to face a karateka at some point, but it's a huge variety compared to pretty much all non-Japanese contenders. 6c Do they have a large body of excellent matches in a variety of settings? (for example singles, tags, gimmicks, no gimmicks, brawls, technical, short matches, long matches etc) Yes. I'd say much of his body of work is in tags due to booking circumstances but he has a number of top tier singles matches. Usually all his matches involve brawling, weapons and blood, but he also has matches where he does lots of technical work for extended time periods, and he looks great doing it. 6d How much of those excellent matches were a direct result of their performance? Pretty much all of them. I can't recall a single instance where I thought he was carried or didn't add a significant amount to a match. Pretty much all of his best matches I can't imagine with someone else slotted in his role. Especially his heel performances in southern tags. No one else did bloodthirsty heel stuff on his level. IF NO 7. Do they have a large body of excellent performances in a variety of roles (heel/face, undercard/midcard/main event, champion/challenger, underdog/favorite, younger/older etc) I answered the previous question with yes, but I will answer this one too. The matches where he works underdog are few and far between, mostly in 1989 and 1990, but he looks great in them. Other than that he almost always works heel overdog, probably because you can't have a massive guy who cuts people up be the underdog. He does look great working rivals with Onita, too. He is pretty old in 2007 but he doesn't really acknowledge it, although his ranking/status plays a role in the matches. 8. Do they work in a way that is consistent with the way they're booked & presented? Yes. There's few people as consistant and recognizable as Tarzan Goto. I buy into him being a bloodthirsty psycho a 100%. He is also totally credible as a technically proficient veteran due to his AJPW background and being the FMW Dojo trainer. 9. What are their standout traits? (For example, selling, psychology, offense, character work etc) Excellent psychology in southern tags, wild brawls and slugfests, longer technical (but still violent) epics with complex structure, outsider heel invading a promotion, his character as being a bloodthirsty psycho who breaks beer bottles and cuts people up... admittedly he doesn't have many legendary selling performances due to working overdog a lot, but he looks great taking beatings opposite guys like Onita, Kurisu, and various karatekas. 10. Did they make the people and workers around them better? Yes, absolutely. I consider him Onitas best opponent, and a great rival to the likes of Tenryu. There's a litany of guys who don't have great resumes who owe their career matches to him, ranging from guys like Hisakatsu Oya, to Battle Ranger, to Masayoshi Motegi, to fucking Leon Spinks and some near untrained girl wrestler called Lemon. He's had great matches with indy scum guys I'd never consider to watch otherwise. 11. Is there any reason to believe that this wrestler was better or worse than they appeared? Better, because he could've been given a lot more main event time and singles matches in FMW, but was usually relegated to working undercard brawls. Worse, because he was often in a position to look (working as a threatening heel to the top guys in each company he appeared in). Most of his best performances appear in promotions where he had some influence (FMW, Shin-FMW, Goto-Ippah) so he could put himself in a position to look good, but he also looks great in promotions where he's an outsider. 12. If you had to pick 5-10 matches (Or more) to sell someone on this wrestler what would they be? (Not necessarily the best matches but ones that are best representative of the wrestlers’ GWE case). w Atsushi Onita vs. Jerry Flynn & Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, FMW 12/10/1989 vs. Atsushi Onita, FMW 2/26/1991 vs. Hisakatsu Oya, FMW 8/28/1994 w Mr. Gannosuke vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Bruiser Okamoto, BJW 7/25/1995 vs. Dan Severn, IWA Japan 8/20/1995 w Ryo Miyake vs. Masayoshi Motegi & Shinichi Nakano, WYF 7/16/1997 w Masashi Aoyagi & Azteca vs. Dick Togo & Shoichi Funaki & MENs Teioh, Indy World 7/22/1998 w Mr. Gannosuke vs. Soldier & Mineo Fujita, WMF 9/5/2005 13. Feel free to recommend more matches here if you like! My guide to Tarzan Goto (still a work in progress): https://reverseviperhold.blogspot.com/2021/03/tarzan-goto-documentation-project.html 14. Any final thoughts you’d like to share? Best bloodthirsty heel brawler in wrestling history, with surprising technical skills. Will be very high on my ballot. Also a lot of his matches are extremely rare to find but worth seeking out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q9V0iwndeE

Yasha Kurenai Seems like one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time. Badass girl brawler who wrestles like a pissed off, kendo stick wielding Taue. Will boot you in the face, chop you in the throat and has a cool finishing hold. Really good in both a face and heel role, consistently entertaining in both undercard tags and main events. I think she only wrestled for 10 years in niche promotions but she has a few all time level performances under her belt. Recommended Matches: w Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama vs. Eagle Sawai & Michiko Nagashima & Sayuri Okino, LLPW 2/15/1998 vs. Hikari Fukuoka, JWP 12/6/1997 vs. Michiko Nagashima, LLPW 6/21/1998

This discussion is old hat by now. The real question is, how to deal with guys with no historical relevance, little footage, but we know they are awesome?

It took me forever to find the correct disc, but here's the actual match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-o_YOCIT0Y

I disagree, I've always called him Mokujin Ken after the monster from Tekken. The fact that he's a blocky wooden monster with club hands who happpens to be plainly named "Ken" is hilarious enough. I think part of the mystique is that he's the one monster Tobita couldn't beat. The strongest thing in the universe being a blocky piece of lumber that clubs you in the head is hilarious on it's own. Also his taunt, and the fact he can only exist in this scuzzy underworld of Japanese indy wrestling where they don't use rings.

Based on the fact I am interested in 100% of available Johnny Valentine matches and 0% of available matches from Nese, I'd easily give it to Valentine. Not the best comparison since we have full of matches of Valentine on tape where he looks good. I would never vote on somebody based on hearsay though.

Well, with some of the recent nominations, I might as well... Hiroshi Watanabe The story of Hiroshi Watanabe is that he was an incredibly talented wrestler whose lack of size denied him success or exposure beyond Z-level indies. That said if you come across him, he is an incredible discovery. The most apt description I can come up with is that he's a sleazier, shorter Osamu Nishimura. A guy who has a knack for working lengthy, extremely technical, brainy matches. Fortunately for us the fed called MUMEJUKU allowed guys like him to do their thing and work the niche 70s throwback matches our hearts long for. I'd say Watanabe is easily one of the best pro-style matworkers outside of lucha of the 21st century. Given how rare quality pro style matwork is these days he's remarkable. He also manages to do his throwback style without feeling phony or like a LARP. That kind of dedication - the fact he's wrestling for over 20 years working the lowest of the low indies and still puts on great performances working brainy technical matches in front of the smallest crowds - should make him well worthy of all-time level consideration despite limited tape history. Recommended matches: vs. Fuminori Abe, HEAT-UP 5/19/2019 vs. Yasushi Sato, Mumejuku 4/17/2019 vs. Kousei Maeda, Mumejuku 6/2/2007 Yasushi Sato The case of Yasushi Sato is even more mysterious than Watanabe. From what I know he only started wrestling in the mid-2000s, at a pretty old age, and barely ever making tape. But when he does, this guy looks like a wrestling genius. He is incredibly efficient working technical matches built around his leg grapevine moves. He also has a neck for unique amateur spots and cradles, a bit like a smaller Tamon Honda. I wouldn't hesitate to call his match against Masamune a match of the decade contender, and for someone who shows up on tape so little his hit rate of great matches is incredibly high. Definitely someone everyone should check out. Recommended matches: vs. Masamune (Mumejuku 6/3/2018) vs. Hiroshi Watanabe, Mumejuku 4/17/2019 w Konaka Pale One vs. Hiroshi Watanabe & Hideya Iso, Mumejuku 2/5/2017 Fugo Fugo Yumeji Okay, hear me out. On the surface he's a Zero1 jobber who rarely made TV. How on earth can he have a case? But really, if you look at his indy career, he has been a great wrestler since at least 1997 (only 1 year in his career), and up to 2018. That's a 21 year span. He's shown up in huge variety of different settings, and is always extremely efficient. And he was a pretty great character in Z1 too, attacking people with crazy headbutts and having a few memorable short TV matches. His technical ability is pretty good and he has a knack for building great matches around a few suplexes and his incredibly violent headbutts, which he uses better than almost everyone. Another interesting thing about him is his project EXIT, a promotion that seems to focus on short, intensely violent matches in a ring that has chains instead of ropes. If anything, he's a guy I always want to check out no matter what kind of match he's in. Recommended matches: w Makoto Saito vs. Cosmo*Soldier & Takeshi Sato, WYF 6/10/1997 vs. Katsuhiko Masada, MUGA 4/6/1999 w BUKI vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Johta, EXIT 7/14/2018

It's Keita Yano.

GAEA was pretty great in 1997. Chigusa, KAORU, and probably Hokuto all warrant Top 20 consideration, along with the young girls. BattlARTS was mad strong, too. Tarzan Goto had those crazy feuds against WAR, WYF, and Masashi Aoyagi. Obviously, CMLL was at an all time high level with Casas, Santo, Felino, the minis and a bunch of others looking amazing. On the Japanese indy scene, Masao Orihara and Tadahiro Fujisaki were quietly some of the best guys going.