Jetlag

So initially I was very sceptic on Usuda myself, despite the above post. I'm still sceptic whether he deserves serious consideration, but after putting a matchlist together I realised what a career the guy had. I had doubts whether I could come up with 20 matches that I considere very good, but I quickly threw up around 40 no problem and had to cut the list down. Makes me think even I'm overlooking Usuda. Now I think a 25 match Katsumi Usuda DVD set would be absolutely kickass, and on a 50 match Katsumi Usuda comp matches #26-#50 would still be very good and a breeze to watch. Big Ol' Katsumi Usuda matchlist 1. Carl Greco vs. Katsumi Usuda (PWFG 10/29/93) Time limit draw between two really young guys. Not for the faint of the heart, but there is some top notch stuff in this contest and Greco's talent shines. On the 1993 yearbook. 2. Yuki Ishikawa / Shoichi Funaki v. Daisuke Ikeda / Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS 1.13.1996) Bigger and better main event continuation of the previous match they had in PWFG. Usuda and Ikeda beat the shit out of Funaki and while Ishikawa/Ikeda is the focus, Usuda and Ishikawa have some real quality exchanges. 3. Katsumi Usuda v. Alexander Otsuka ( BattlARTS 4.6.1996) This is an awesome 7 minute studio match. Not a lot of kicks to the face, but some cranking submissions and Usuda is really great at getting dumped on his head. Intermission - What are some more of these quality Usuda undercard matches? Katsumi Usuda vs. Naoki Sano (BattlARTS 9.6.1999) - A shame this was clipped to a few minutes because these two have really fun chemistry together. Katsumi Usuda vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BML 9/11/2005) - Brutally violent 5 minute velocity match between the hardest hitting BattlARTS vets. Katsumi Usuda vs. Yujiro Yamamoto (26.7.2009) - Usuda vs. the most talented Ishikawa trainee in a sweet match that reallly should have gone twice as along. Katsumi Usuda vs. Akifumi Saito (12.6.2009) - Usuda vs. the most talented Sayama trainee. Pretty much the perfect undercard match - quality matwork and the kick the shit out of eachother. Katsumi Usuda vs. Super Tiger II (BattlARTS 30.8.2009) - Usuda goes head to head with Ishikawa and Otsuka in the "Who can carry STII the best?" contest. Usuda selling really makes this short match into something memorable. Usuda/Takeshima vs. Shark/TAGAI (Ishikawa Produce 13.1.2013) - Usuda salvages a match with some iffy guys by doing awesome mat stuff with Tagai and tooling fools. 4. Daisuke Ikeda v. Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS 9.1) Ikeda sells great and Usuda looks like a machine kicking the fuck out of him in this tournament finale. 5. Katsumi Usuda / Takeshi Ono v. Daisuke Ikeda / Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 12.25.1996) First in a series of really great tags with some junior-ish touches. Some awesome Usuda/Ikeda mat exchanges here. 6. Daisuke Ikeda / Katsumi Usuda v. Yuki Ishikawa / Takeshi Ono (BattlARts 1.21.1996) One of the best tags of 1997. Again Usuda shines on the mat and with his great offense. 7. Yuki Ishikawa/Minoru Tanaka vs. Alexander Otsuka/Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS 25.12.1998) This is a total wrestling clinic. Not many strikes, but Usuda looks beastly on the mat along with the other. 8. Yuki Ishikawa v. Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS 3.6.1998) Tremendous match with nasty matwork and some ungodly violence. 9. Katsumi Usuda v. Ryuji Yamakawa (BattlARTS 8.29.1998) Katsumi Usuda vs. Tomoaki Honma (BJW 9/23/98) Excursion into weirdness for Usuda. Yamakawa match is a proto-Stop the Matsunaga match, he gets pissed off and bloodied and ends up chasing Yamakawa with barbed wire around his kickpad, real crazy. Honma match is Usuda as touring indies superstar matching up really well with a worker outside his comfort zone and carrying the match through his selling. 10. Katsumi Usuda v. Ikuto Hidaka (BattlARTS 3.12.2000) This is the J-Cup qualifying match and marks the start of Usuda's really great run doing hybrid junior's matches vs. random guys. And these two match up incredibly well and do some brilliant stuff that makes any other juniors match that year (or really most of the rest of the decade) look lame and uninspired in comparison. 11. Katsumi Usuda vs. MEN's Teioh (Super J Cup 2000) Usuda enters the junior tournament and this is the showstealer. Really great shootstyle vs. western style matchup and I think Usuda debuts his sickening punt kick here. 12. Katsumi Usuda v. junji.com (BattlARTS, 1.7.2001) Another tremendous junior style match against a nobody. No offense to Junji, but this is the Usuda show. He sells great for the little guy and nearly dislocates his shoulders on a couple occasions, just punishing the poor kid. 13. Katsumi Usuda v. Carl Malenko (BattlARTS, 6.2.2001) Usuda takes on the shootstyle terminator that is Carl Greco and this is a really rocking match. Fast pace, slick wrestling action, this had all the guys in NJPW who tried to be shooty juniors at the time eating their hearts out. 14. Yuki Ishikawa v. Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS 6.9.2002) BattlARTS returns for a one shot and these two take the opportunity to go out and kill eachother in a spectacular match. 15. Katsumi Usuda & Manabu Hara vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Munenori Sawa (BML 3.22.2006) Really good BattlARTS style tag from the overlooked BML promotion which would've looked kickass on any 90s card. Young guys step it up and Usuda teaches young Sawa a few lessons. 16. Hara/Usuda vs. Ibushi/HARASHIMA (Differ Cup 2007) Ugly ass BML crew Usuda and Hara enter this junior tag tourney and once again produce the best match in the first round as they beat the fuck out of the pretty boys in a heated match. Some really grand stand up sections and matwork here and this is just a great 17 minute tag. 17. Katsumi Usuda & Fujita Jr Hayato vs. Munenori Sawa & Yuta Yoshikawa (BattlARTS 25.2.2007) Usuda again mixes it up with the kids in this super fun contest loaded with nasty strikes. Intermission: What are some more awesome violent tags involving Usuda? Katsumi Usuda/Manabu Hara vs. Kota Ibushi/Tanomusaku Toba (DDT 6.13.2007) -BML crew enters DDT. A heated awesome 10 minute whirlwind of action, Usuda is a kickpadded Mini-Fujiwara here shoot headbutting fools into oblivion. Otsuka/Usuda vs. Hidaka/Alvin Ken (BattlARTS 17.4.2000) - BattlARTS vets punish the kids, especially Alvin. Usuda is great as a smirking dick here. BattlARTS 6 Man Tag (26.7.2008) -A certified classic and Usuda,while not the focus of the match, does perfect in this barfight of a match. 18. Katsumi Usuda vs. Keito Yano (BattlArts, 11/16/08) Epic carryjob. Usuda manages to make the atrocious Yano look credible while reminding you who he is by punting the youngster into a coma. 19. Yuki Ishikawa/Super Tiger II vs. Sekimoto/Usuda (BattlARTS 21.12.2008) Great BattlARTS tag and Usuda is carrying his team here. Really great Ishikawa vs. Usuda finish here. 20. Katsumi Usuda vs. Yuta Yoshikawa (2.15.2009) Another tremendous Usuda carryjob. Usuda sells the fuck out of his leg. Watching him fighting on the edge of defeat here is something else. 21. Hidaka & Sawa vs. Usuda & Yoshikawa (BattlARTS 2.7.2010) This is Yoshikawa's retirement match, but Usuda and Hidaka totally steal the show looking like superstars against eachother, doing super matwork and exchanges. 22. Kengo Mashimo/Yujiro Yamamoto vs. Katsumi Usuda/Hikaru Sato (Kana Pro 29.04.2010) Another world class contest. Usuda and Yamamoto do some blowaway great stuff for the finishing run here. 23, Takeshi Ono vs. Katsumi Usuda (Futen 24.11.2010) Usuda returns to Futen and he and Ono bust out a classic. The two have tremendous chemistry and it produces an awesome fast paced fight loaded with greatness. 24. Ishikawa/Ono vs. Usuda/Ikeda (Futen 19.12.2010) Futen closes out the year with a bang. Usuda and Ono again match up tremendously well and put a world class finish together. 25, Katsumi Usuda & Yujiro Yamamoto vs. Minoru Tanaka & Ikuto Hidaka (11/5/2011) Once again Usuda vs. Hidaka delivers as all four guy deliver a rocking match on the last BattlARTS show. Summary: Usuda never really broke out and doesn't have quite the depth of high end matches the other Top BattlARTS guys have. It's still a pretty great resume for a guy who is generally considered the least of his crew and the length, volume and variety is impressive. Quality worker from the get go, and quality worker near the end. 5th best BattlARTS guy ain't bad at all.

Maybe I should have started posting these a little earlier. I'm still not sure if I can justify ranking Greco, but putting a 25 match list together may help with the decision. Big Ol' Carl Greco Matchlist 1. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco (PWFG 6/1/93) Their first battle. Different from their later matches in BattlARTS as both guys are new to the scene and eager to make a name for themselves. This was after the PANCRASE exodus, so Ishikawa is the buzzing new japanese talent, while Greco is stand-in for Ken Shamrock. Pretty damn good 20 minute match for two guys in their first year of wrestling. 2. Carl Greco vs. Katsumi Usuda (PWFG 10/29/93) Time limit draw between two really young guys. Not for the faint of the heart, but there is some top notch stuff in this contest and Greco's talent shines. On the 1993 yearbook. 3. Carl Greco vs. Shoichi Funaki (8/13/94) If you don't want to watch the above match, here's a great 6 minute sprint. They go all out on the mat. You can find this match online if you search for Greco's name in kanji. 4. Takeshi Ono v. Carl Greco (PWFG 6/18/95) Greco twists little Ono into pretzels. 5. Carl Greco vs. Daisuke Ikeda (PWFG 8/26/95) Greco twists Ikeda into pretzels. Even more impressive performance than the Ono match because Ikeda isn't a stick. 6. Yuki Ishikawa/Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Don Arakawa/Carl Greco (Weekly Pro 2/4/1995) Great fun tag from a japanese supershow. Ishikawa and Greco put on some superb shootstyle action here. 7. Victor Krueger / Carl Greco v. Yuki Ishikawa / Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 12.4.1996) Greco tags with the austrian powerhouse. You want this for the Greco vs. Otsuka pairing. These two guys do some fantastic stuff together. 8. Victor Krueger / Carl Greco v. Daisuke Ikeda / Takeshi Ono (12.4.1996) Greco continues to carry the gaijin team by salvaging the match through awesome exchanges with Ono and Ikeda. 9. Carl Greco v. Daisuke Ikeda (2.20.1997) This match only goes 7 minutes but ends up being one of the best BattlARTS matches of the year. Greco is a machine and Ikeda retaliates by stomping his ass. 10. Yuki Ishikawa / Carl Greco v. Daisuke Ikeda / Mohammed Yone (11.25.1997) This is an example of the greatness BattlARTS would deliver multiple times a year, working in tiny halls for 60 people in the audience. Ishikawa does some great stuff on the mat and Greco rips both opponents apart to the point where Ikeda and Yone are forced to use double teams on him in order to contain his explosiveness. 11. Yuki Ishikawa / Alexander Otsuka v. Daisuke Ikeda / Carl Greco (4.19 1998) Another match in the same style as # 10. Not only do you get the usual Ishikawa/Ikeda greatness but also Greco mixing it up with the best matworkers in BattlARTS. 12. Yuki Ishikawa v. Carl Greco (4.24.1998) Greco takes on the BattlARTS boss and this is another super contest. Greco is relentless and Ishikawa is pushed to the limit. 13. Daisuke Ikeda / Mohammed Yone / Gran Naniwa v. Yuki Ishikawa / Ikuto Hidaka / Carl Greco (5.10.1998) One of those ridiculous BattlARTS experiments. This is an elimination tag with lucharesuish infuences. Greco is great here and there is some unusually heated stuff near the end. 14. Carl Greco v. Ryuji Yamakawa (8.22.1998) More weird than great, but this showcases how good Greco is at working nifty little matches. In this case against a seedy garbage wrestler, but even in this bout Greco wows you by reversing a Figure 4 like you've never seen before. 15. Yuki Ishikawa / Carl Greco v. Minoru Tanaka / Masaaki Mochizuki (12.25.1998) Greco and Ishikawa carry the spotty juniors way beyond their limitations. 16. Joe and Carl Malenko v. Yuki Ishikawa / Daisuke Ikeda (6.9.1999) Carl teams up with his buddie in this nostalgic tag and this is just really fun action all around. Showcase match for awesome Malenko mat stuff and violent in the second half. 17. Katsumi Usuda / Carl Malenko v. Yuki Ishikawa / Masaaki Mochizuki (Tag Tournament final, 12.5.1999) Another great tag tournament finale and Greco continues to look great in a year where he doesn't show up much. 18. Naoyuki Taira v. Carl Malenko (World IND Jr. title, 7.20.2000) Ridiculously great junior's match. Taira was a grappler who got a push in BattlARTS that year, but Greco puts the fear of god of him in this contest. Some of the most stuff intense I've seen Greco do and a great chance for him to excell even against a lesser worker. 19. Carl Malenko / Katsumi Usuda v. Yuki Ishikawa / Ryuji Hijikata ( Tag Final, 12.3.2000) Another in a string of really good tag finals, this time with Hijikata in the mix. 20. Tiger Mask / Alexander Otsuka v. Carl Malenko / Ikuto Hidaka (1.28.2001) The best BattlARTS tag of the year and Carl and Alexander look like total superstars. 21. Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Tiger Mask IV v. Carl Greco/Yuki Ishikawa BattlArts 5/5/01 Why this didn't make the Best of BattlARTS comp is beyond me. Greco vs. Fujiwara is a dream match up that delivers. Greco doesn't hold back against the old guy at all and this ends up being one of Fujiwara's best 2000s showings. 22. Katsumi Usuda v. Carl Malenko (World IND Jr. title, 6.2.2001) Great junior style match. For some reason Usuda was on fire with matches in that style in 2001 and Carl fits like a glove into this fast paced bout. 23. Bas Rutten v. Carl Malenko (10.14.2001) Carl takes on Rutten in a high end shootstyle contest, hanging with a world class athlete. 24. Alexander Otsuka / Carl Malenko v. Bas Rutten / Amir (10.26.2001) Continuation of the above match. More Rutten vs. Greco goodness. Both these matches are on Dailymotion. 25. Carl Greco vs. Yuki Ishikawa (BattlaRTS 6/9/2008) After a 7 year absence, Carl returns to japan to paint his masterpiece. Strong MOTD contender and the best mat contest a BattlARTS ring has ever seen. Summary: Carl always looks like Carl no matter who he is in the ring with or what style he is supposed to be working. Not the most surprising worker, really, but his ability to be slotted into any match at any point in his career and deliver quality work aswell as pushing any opponent to their limits with his sheer intensity and relentlesness is remarkable.

I want to summarize Takeshi Ono. It's a little tricky because many of the guys matches aren't on the Best of BattlARTS comp - but that doesn't mean they are bad. In fact scratching together various BattlARTs shows and watching the undercard stuff you get a good picture of the guy. And my picture of Takeshi Ono is that the man could do no wrong. Very good heel working over a guy and acting like a dipshit, great at selling, being sympathetic and a tremendous hot tag, fun when in an experimental mood and crossing his shootstyle with junior influences. He makes 7 minute opening matches must watch because he will always do something great like bust out a unique transition or do an amazing glass eyed sell of a blow to his head. In addition to all this, I dare YOU to name me a contender who had a 10 match streak as epic as Takeshi Ono's from 2009-2012, as demonstrated hereby: Big Ol' Match List: 1. Daisuke Ikeda / Takeshi Ono v. Yuki Ishikawa / Naohiro Hoshikawa (10.2.1996) Ikeda/Ono aka Team Taco is an always reliable heel duo. Ono gets some especially sneaky nasty kicks in during this. 2. Daisuke Ikeda / Takeshi Ono v. TAKA Michinoku / Shoichi Funaki (semi-final, 12.4.1996) Ono vs. TAKA is a match made in heaven. M-Pro guys mix the BattlARTS style up making this feel like a bizarro NJPW/UWF match with strong style vs. lucharesu brawling and the teams match up extremely well. 3. Victor Krueger/Carl Greco vs Daisuke Ikeda/Takeshi Ono (12-4-96) Team Taco advance to the finals and face the beastly gaijins. A chance to see Ono vs. Greco which is just a gem aswell as Victor tossing the tiny dudes around. 4. Yuki Ishikawa / Alexander Otsuka v. Daisuke Ikeda / Takeshi Ono (10.30) A definitive BattlARTS classic, the Ikeda/Ono duo is a fantastic heel tandem here. Ono's heeling and dynamic with Alexander is tremendous. 5. Daisuke Ikeda/Alexander Otsuka vs. Takeshi Ono/Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS 25.12.1996) A tremendous junior/shootstyle crossed match. Ono and Otsuka put a great finish together. 6. Daisuke Ikeda / Katsumi Usuda v. Yuki Ishikawa / Takeshi Ono (BattlARTS 1.21.1997) 1997 tag MOTYC, really great Parejas Increibles tag where all the participiants kill it. 7. Katsumi Usuda / Takeshi Ono v. Yuki Ishikawa / Tiger Mask 4 (9.24.1997) TM4 drags this down, but everyone else is game here. Another entry in the collection of very good BattlARTS tags. 8. Ikeda/Ono vs. Yone/Orihara (BattlARTS 25.6.1999) Team Taco delivers another corker. The Tonpachi Machine Guns (Ono and Orihara) explode and we get some exchanges between the two which are japan-sleaze-indieriffic in the best possible way. I mean fuck a Minoru Tanaka this is great juniors wrestling. 9. Takeshi Ono/Ikuto Hidaka vs. Ryuji Hijikata/Minoru Fujita (BattlARTS 1/30/2000) This is a junior's match. Dives, miscommunication spots... Ono is pretty great in this environment as he doesn't do anythig cute and instead kicks and punches fools in the face between flying around. 10. Takeshi Ono vs. Yuki Ishikawa, 6/18/2000 Ono gets a chance to take on the boss and gives his all. Ono is world class here just flying around Ishikawa and trying his darndest, pouncing on Ishikawa with stiff knees and punches aswell as looking like a freak on the mat. 11. Takeshi Ono vs. Katsumi Usuda, 1/8/2001 A very good B-Rules match showcasing Ono's ability to do slick matwork. 12. Takeshi Ono vs. Ryuji Hijikata (BattlARTS 3/14/2001) A very good example of the tremendously fun matches these guys were having around this time. Tight worked, uncooperative, some neat stuff on the mat aswell as awesome punches to the faces, Ono doing some really nifty transitioning and a great sell of a near KO lariat to his face, all in a 7 minute match. 13. Great Sasuke v. Takeshi Ono (NWA Middleweight title, 5.10.2001) Another juniors match where Ono counters the legend's trademark spots in sometimes nifty and often violent fashion.. Some surprisingly big spots and this ends up being one of the better Sasuke matches of the 2000s. 14. Masaru Toi vs. Takeshi Ono (Rainbow 21.3.2003) This is is from a Fujiwara Gumi vs. W*ING show. Polished shootstylist Ono heels it up on old man Toi and we get a kickass undercard match. 15. Ikeda/Ono vs. Suruga/Oba (Futen 26.4.2009) Team Taco returns! One of the funnest matches of the decade and a great example of the random wrestling greatness generating Bati Bati style . Great mix of comedy and brutal BattlARTS style wrestling. The beginning of Ono's world class run as he tears it up on the mat and throws beautiful combinations. 16. Takeshi Ono/Manabu Suruga & Hajime Moriyama vs. Daisuke Ikeda, Brahman Shu, & Brahman Kei (FUTEN, 4/22/2010) Great trios match. Ono and Ikeda square off in the finish and I kid you not it's as good as the best Ishikawa/Ikeda face offs. And this is just a sign of what was to came later in the year. 17. Ono/Takahiro Oba vs. Manabu Suruga & Kengo Mashimo (FUTEN, 5/30/2010) This is it... this is the stuff. Futen crew blows everyone's minds with this epic shootstyle/junior cross. Takeshi Ono is off the charts here, being a shockingly great sympathetic babyface and delivering an out of this world finish with Suruga. 18. Takeshi Ono vs. Mitsuya Nagai (FUTEN, 7/25) You know you have an amazing worker when he gets a match this epic out of Mitsyua Nagai. Broken down, lousy old Nagai gets to look like a monster. Ono takes a monster beating and once again is a worldclass babyface. 19. Takeshi Ono vs. Daisuke Ikeda (FUTEN, 9/26/2010) Team Taco EXPLODES!!! This is the greatest sub-5 minute match ever. Tremendously hard hitting, high end submission and counter work, and tells a great story aswell. If you want to do a 4 minute presentation on why pro wrestling rules just use this. 20. Takeshi Ono vs. Ryuji Hijikata (FUTEN, 10/24/2010) Ryuji Hijikata left for All Japan and has picked up lots of shitty habits during his time as a junior there. That doesn't stop Ono in the slightest from carrying him to his career match. 21. Takeshi Ono vs Katsumi Usuda (Futen 11/24/10) Another fast paced world class match packed with great energy, sequences and transitions. These guys have unreal chemistry together. 22. Takeshi Ono & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Katsumi Usuda & Daisuke Ikeda (Futen 12/19/2010) BattlARTS/Futen collab continues to rule. And Ono and Usuda continue from their great match the month before and put together one of the best finishing runs I've ever seen. 23. Takeshi Ono vs. Hajime Moriyama (FUTEN 1/30/2011) Total Ono showcase matches as he beats the shit out of lifelong jobber White Moriyama and produces another MOTYC. Ono punches and soccer kicks are a thing of beauty, he comes across as almost Regal-ish here, but what puts this over the top is the fighting over the big throws and build to the finish. 24. Takeshi Ono & Ryuji Hijikata vs. Kengo Mashimo & Junji Tanaka (BattlARTS 11/5/2011) The final BattlARTS show has a real goodie in it's lineup with Ono's return to the promotion. Really fun midcard match where Ono once again looks like the smoothes guy around with his transitioning and punching dudes in their faces. 25. Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs Hikaru Sato & Kengo Mashimo (Futen 1/22/2012) Last Futen show to make tape and they use the opportunity to get up and have one last great tag. Ono/Mashimo exchanges are tremendous once again. Ono retired shortly after, marking the end of this tremendous run. Summary: I'm going to have Ono stupidly high on my list

OJ already did a great job running through Perro's best matches, so I won't bother with a big match list here. However, Perro is the fucking man and that must be known. So I will post some old match reviews of Perro Aguayo's 1990 where he was in Hamada's UWF and had that fucking great feud with Gran Hamada amongst other things. Perro Aguayo vs. Gran Hamada (3/2/90) Your man: Perro Aguayo. Fucking great brawl that really deserved more heat. Aguayo continues his mauling of Hamada that began in the first UWF in the 1980s (well probably before that too) (Note - this review was in 2013, since then I have found out via the Lucha set Perro and Hamada were having kickass brawls as early as 1980). And let me tell you this is a brutal fucking match. Aguayo kicks the shit out of Hamada with stiff fucking punches and just annihilates him with these incredibly fast Yakuza Kicks. Then he tosses Hamada to the floor, dumps rows of chairs and a table on his head and nails him with a bottle. Hamada of course is Your Formidable Babyface. Perro Aguayo/Jose Luis Feliciano vs. Gran Hamada/Lizmark (3/1/90) Perro Aguayo: not afraid to kick serious ass in 1990. Start of the match he bashes Hamada in the face with a bunch of flowers, and it goes from there. Feliciano and Lizmark have their moments (some blown moments), but this is Your Aguayo/Hamada show from start to the shock finish. Hamada is fucking great. Gran Hamada vs. Perro Aguayo (UWA World Light Heavyweight Title, 3/5/90) This is not the match I thought it would be - as it is a title match, so they work it 2/3 falls like proper sportsmen grappling on the mat.. Aguayo does a really neat transition from the hammerlock pinning predicament which I've never seen before. He fakes an injury and it breaks down to Aguayo drilling Hamada with one brutal move after another. Three falls in and it turns into the match I thought it would be, they start fucking annihilating eachother, Hamada hits a killer tope, Aguayo beats the piss out of him and they crack eachother in the skulls with chairs. If a bloody Hamada headbutting a bloody Aguayo isn't awesome then you shouldn't call me a fan of the professional wrestling.Hamada gets his bloody ass fucking stomped leading to the controversial finish sparking intense contempt from the fans. They start booing Hamada, Aguayo struts around, "No! Me champeon!". They continue to brawl, Hamada gets on the mic, fans chant Perro's name. Your No. 1 babyface: Perro Aguayo! Your MOTY for 1990: This fucking match! Well maybe not quite MOTY, but let me tell you this is a really fucking good match. Gran Hamada vs. Perro Aguayo (UWA World Light Heavyweight Title, 6/1/90) They finally run this match on japanese TV and it's not as good as the previous two matches! However it's still pretty good as these two have really grown this Ishikawa/Ikeda like dynamic beating the unholy crap out of eachother inbetween wrestling on the mat and working Lucha exchanges. Hamada hits more dives in this, so there's that. Formidable greatest hits version of the previous two bouts. And, let me tell you, the Perro Aguayo will hit you with a number of grossly stiff punches. Misioneros de la Muerte vs. Kendo/Gran Hamada/Perro Aguayo 6/7/1990 This has some weird moments and a few moments of what some people might call lulls. Still this is a great fucking match that had me marking out almost the entire time. First you have the Misioneros doing exactly the kind of stuff that made them such big stars in the first place - stooging like motherfuckers and kicking the shit out of the technicos - then you have two completely awesome technicos in Kendo and Hamada who are more than game to engage in an endless series of great exchanges. And there's Aguayo, who's not exactly the greatest fit in a technico role but man he has the best moments in this entire match - as he's still the Perro Aguayo and the Misioneros just can't fucking beat that old fuckers - they all take turns laying into the guy like all hell, battering him with great looking punches and he just absorbs it all, turns around and fires all the momentum back in their faces. Just holy shit great. Navarro looks buff as fuck here and is a total asskicking machine. And fuck Hamada is a total champ too bumping and flying and dishing out crazy shots if pissed enough... this match is like you crossed a Lucha Trios with a Choshu tag.

Poor Franz has stranded on the very last page. I'm still really high on the guy, but it seems almost all of the online footage has vanished. Apparently Franz vs. Terry Rudge is still online... on a gay porn site. What a pitiful thing to happen to one of the best 80s babyfaces. Maybe I'll get around and do a mass upload within the next few days, but something tells me it's kind of pointless. Regardless of that here's a big match list, just so I've got it. 1. Hassan Ali Bey, Monster Rousimoff & Franz Van Buyten vs. Rusher Kimura, Isamu Teranishi & Thunder Sugiyama (Japan, 2/5/1972) Random appearance in japan. Really fun 6 man tag and Franz's interactions with Andre are solid gold. He is pretty great as a stooge aswell as working technical exchanges with Teranishi. 2. Franky van Buyten vs. Ivan Strogoff (Hannover, May 1981) Franz in Hannover was Franky and merely a mid card act. A pretty good mid card act as this is an enjoyable match against the bruising tough Strogoff. 3. Franz van Buyten & Bobby Gaetano vs. Judd Harris & Le Grand Vladimir (Recklinghausen, April 1984) European tag wrestling is weird, but this is a tremendously fun match. Gaetano and van Buyten make an awesome babyface team and this has plenty of great spots throughout and cuts a tremendous pace. 4. Franz van Buyten vs. Rene Lasartesse (Hamburg 18/9/1984) Their first match we have on tape! And this is a great one as it is a frenetically paced tour de force. They beat the fuck out of eachother and besides that there is also some killer work around Rene's tombstone piledriver. 5. Franz van Buyten vs. Rene Lasartesse, Chain Match (Hamburg 11/10/1984) JIP with a little less than 10 minutes shown, but what is shown is fucking epic. Franz is relentless, Rene struts, they fight tooth and nail to a great finish. 6. Franz Van Buyten vs. Frank Mercx, Chain Match (Belgium, 1984) Franz in his home country of Belgium. His connection to the crowd in Hamburg is great, but in these matches from Belgium it's something else. People running up to fix the corner pads after heels remove them and all that. This is a tremendous chain match. They beat the shit out of eachother, things get bloody, and eventually Franz gets a great comeback. God knows where the footage came from and why it was taped. Just be thankful it's there. 7. Franz Van Buyten vs. Le Grand Vladimir (Belgium, 1984) Another match that exemplifies Franz's greatness that I described in the first post. Really, there was no way in hell Vladimir could have had this match with anyone else. This is more of a wrestling match than the chain brawl, but it is fucking tremendous with each hold cranked in and both guys laying it in. 8. Dave Taylor vs. Franz Van Buyten, Chain Match (Hamburg, Germany, 5/10/1986) This is it. Franz's masterpiece. 1986 or 1985, no clue what the real date is, but it doesn't matter. Contender for the greatest chain match ever, and quite possibly the greatest european match on tape from the 80s. I've written alot about it in varies places and it never stops being fascinating. 9. Franz van Buyten vs. Terry Rudge (1/10/1987) The tournament finale. This is a brilliant match, as you'd expect from the greatest babyface vs. the greatest heel. They do some slick wrestling before Rudge puts in an ass stomping and things go from there. Both guys get to do what they do best. 10. Franz Van Buyten vs. Suni War Cloud (Hamburg 8/10/1987) Franz does the impossible and gets a good face vs. face bout out of this awful indian. I mean, there is a ceiling to what a guy like Suni War Cloud can do, but there are some genuinely very good exchanges sewn neatly into this bout. 11. Franz van Buyten vs. Rene Lasartesse (Hamburg 17/9/87) Their first match in the tournament and sets the tone for the finale later on. Another very good match in the series, and while the don't go all out Rene busts out his signature bump off of the top rope which is a pretty crazy sport for guy who looks like your grandpa. 12. Franz van Buyten vs. Crusher Mason (Hamburg 18/9/87) Crusher Mason, the man with an iron grip, a stomach made of stone, and no shoes. Granted the guy isn't awful, but he surely has never looked this good in any other match. Franz works the best match possible, turning Mason's goofy claw spots into heat fuel and making this short, big bellied guy look like a menacing giant. 13. Franz van Buyten vs. Col. Brody (Hamburg 20/9/87) Franz was on fucking fire in September of 1987. Brody is the absoute worst - just the lamest possible euro heel you've ever seen. And Franz easily turns this into another good match. I remember first watching this, after skipping through dozens of shitty Col. Brody matches, and here he was in a compelling match - I thought there was no limit to what Franz could do. 14. Franz van Buyten vs. Rene Lasartesse, Tournament Finale 1987 This is a match I got directly from Werner Bendig and I uploaded it a few years back. I don't think it's on the CBW DVDs. This is a fantastic match that would boost any wrestler's resume, and a showcase for both guys. Lasartesse works over van Buyten like an expert, van Buyten fight backs with some out of this world hope spots, and it all builds to a tremendous finish. 15. Franz van Buyten vs. Frank Merckx (Herne, 11/6/1988) Oh man. Merckx was absolutely done at this point and this goes about 20 minutes too long. There is also a weird intrusion where it seems members of the audience jump into the ring and get chased away. Aside from all that, Franz is good working from underneath,and they manage to actually pick it up near the end and deliver a huge finish that got great reactions. 16. Franz van Buyten vs. Mike Shaw (7/10/1988) 17. Franz van Buyten vs. Mike Shaw (22/10/1988) Mike Shaw is Norman the Lunatic. I'm not very familiar with that guy but I imagine these are the best matches of his career. Franz lays out effective structure around him and the two matches play of eachother. 18. Franz van Buyten vs. Rene Lasartesse, Chain Match (15/10/1989) Their last taped meeting. Lasartesse is corpse-like but he can still engage in a violent brawl, and this is a stupidly good match. Lasartesse throws a mean punch and Van Buyten is fantastic at getting the fans into the match and making Lasartesse look credible. 19. Franz van Buyten vs. Indio Guajaro (18/10/1989) After his bout with Lasartesse, Franz is tasked with working a long match against another nearly decrepit guy. Guajaro is over the hill, but he can still do his type of match and van Buyten holds this together excellently and once again protects his opponent from getting exposed. Quite a long match, but a worthwhile tournament finale. 20. Franz van Buyten vs. Terry Rudge (Hamburg 11/9/1990) Velocity version of their brilliant 1987 match. Hamburg in 1990 was a pretty dire scene with lots of subpar talent, but these two were comfortably in their old groove and produced a bright little spot. 21. Flesh Gordon & Franz Van Buyten vs. Carl Wallace & Rick Crawford (Eurosport 1992) This wrestling show on Eurosport was really bad. Franz was one of the few bright spots and it as he could still go in the 90s and this is a pretty fun tag vs. PCO. 22. Franz van Buyten vs. Giant Haystacks (Eurosport, 1994?) European wrestling was dying and Franz was stuck here with Giant Haystacks. And yet the man gives it his all and manages to have the most entertaining match possible in this situation. A fighter through and through, that Franz. Summary: So that's about it for Franz. It's worth noting that he was paralyzed after an accident in 1975 and it's a near miracle that he was able to get back on his feet, let alone produce such a run of quality stuff through the 80s. Overall I'd put his best matches up against almost any other guy, and his consistency is remarkable as he improves every match that you can find him in.

The link to Ishikawa's thread in the index of nominees is broken. I just did a big match dump for Navarro, so why not Ishikawa too? This one's gonna be real easy as Ishikawa's career is loaded with awesome and weird. As far as finding this stuff goes, the Best of BattlARTS compilation is a must have. Maybe you can find it in a torrent or something. IVP guy had it up for download for a while, maybe you can email him too. Why Yuki Ishikawa is the greatest darn wrestler ever in 25 steps 1. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Duane Koslowski (PWFG 8/29/1993) Tenacious baby Ishikawa makes a name for himself against the beastly olympian. Great young lions match, with plenty of fight and piss and vinegar. Crowd gets really into this. 2. Yuki Ishikawa/Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Don Arakawa/Carl Greco (Weekly Pro 2/4/1995) Don Arakawa cranks up the stiffness. Ishikawa and Greco do some blow away great wrestling here. One of those matches you might find randomly on a japanese youtube channel and walk away with a smile on your face. 3. Yuki Ishikawa/Sho Funaki vs. Daisuke Ikeda/ Katsumi Usuda (PWFG 5/19/1995) The demise of PWFG and it's UWF style brings forth the creation of the madness that is BattlARTS. Ishikawa and Ikeda introduce the style here by annihilating eachother. Funaki and Usuda also bring the goods. Yuki Ishikawa/Sho Funaki vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS 1/13/1996) Bigger and better main event continuation of the previous match. They establish the Ishikawa/Ikeda dynamic aswell as Ishikawa as the mini-Fujiwaraish company ace. 4. Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka vs Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono (BattlARTS 10/30/96) A real corker of a match. This is really BattlARTS at it's very essence. Violent, crazy pace, matwork interspersed with guys punching eachother in the jaw... Ikeda and Ono heel it up and Ishikawa makes them pay with some nasty submissions in the second half. 5. Yuki Ishikawa/Alexander Otsuka vs. Carl Greco/Victor Krueger (BattlARTS 12/4/1996) Greco has top notch exchanges with everyone. What a shock! Even more shocking is that Ishikawa carries Krueger like it's nothing. 6. Yuki Ishikawa / Great Sasuke v. Gulliver X / Gulliver XX (12/26/1996) Pirates invade BattlARTS!!!!. Ishikawa and Sasuke beat the shit out of these goons. I mean really they beat the absolute piss out of these guys considering this looks like a weird light hearted indy match on the surface. Ishikawa does a slingshot tope to crown the strangeness. 7. Daisuke Ikeda / Katsumi Usuda v. Yuki Ishikawa / Takeshi Ono (BattlARTS 1.21.1997) Another tag classic. Gritty, hard fought, awesome mat exchanges, all four guys ruling it. This is also interesting because we get a role reversal where Ishikawa and Ono attack Ikeda's leg. 8. Yuki Ishikawa/Minoru Tanaka vs. Alexander Otsuka/Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS 25.12.1997) BattlARTS crew continues to rock. Lots of quality exchanges in this and Ishikawa carries his side of the team. 9. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlArts 9/1/97) First classic in the series. And just under 15 minutes! The great thing about Ishikawa/Ikeda is that while all their matches guarantee brutality, they are all different from eachother. They dish out some insane punishment and do great on the mat, while still leaving plenty on the table for later matches. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS 4/15/97) Fantastic 30+ minute shootstyle clinic. Not for the faint of the heart, but they went out to prove something here and succeeded. Not an all out war like their other matches, but they do some spectacular wrestling. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS 27.05.1998) Streak of epic Ishikawa/Ikeda matches continues. And this is another fucking great fight and very possibly their best match so far. This worked more like an NJPW vs. UWF star match, Ishikawa channeling Fujinami, while Ikeda destroys him. Except this has better matwork and is much stiffer than most NJPW matches so... well. 10. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco (BattlARTS 4/24/1998) Ishikawa faces the beast the is Carl Greco. Greco is machine on the mat and may kick you in the face. Ishikawa presents himself as a real superstar on the mat here and finds nifty ways to counter the beast. 11. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 1/20/1998) God damn Ishikawa was on a tear of epic matches in 1998. This expands on their previous match and really exemplifies how badass and innovative the BattlARTS guys could get. Otsuka as experimentalist grappler is brilliant and Ishikawa with his Fujiwara-ish no-nonsense approach is a great counter to him. This stomps any junior match that year. 12. Yuki Ishikawa v. Daisuke Ikeda (7.29.1999) This may be the stiffest Ishikawa/Ikeda match to date. Think of the ground that covers. Both guys had previously worked matches that night as this is a tournament final, so they work this like a fight to death full of great exhaustion selling. Ishikawa is super aggressive here. They keep the match building and building, and the result is a slam-dunk MOTYC and one of the best BattlARTS singles matches. 13. Yuki Ishikawa v. Kazunari Murakami (11.26.2000) This is a good of an intro to Ishikawa as I can think of. Murakami is a maniac. Ishikawa must counter this madness. Ishikawa takes a murderous beating and rules it on the mat. Super simple, fast pace, this is in your face greatness exemplified. 14. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Hiroyuki Ito (U-Style 9.10.2004) Ishikawa faces U-Styles best in this rocking shootstyle match. One of the best of 2004. 15. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (Futen 24.4.2005) Their most famous match, and rightfully so. Terrifying brutal, but there's also some really nifty submission and counterwork going on here. Not just a spectacle, a great match all around. 16. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka (BML 11.9.2005) Their best match to date. This is the debut BML show and they totally steal it. Not only is the matwork and hard hitting great, but they lay this out and time everything in such a way that you get almost a perfect TV match. 17. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Munenori Sawa (BattlARTS 5/13/2007) The 2000s BattlARTS reemergence begins and Ishikawa establishes himself in his new role of carrying spotty youngsters. By beating the tar out of them and schooling them on the mat. Intermission: Here is a laundry list of king sized Ishikawa carry jobs: Ishikawa vs. Super Tiger II, 10/25/2008: Shitty ST2 gets to look world class thanks to Ishikawa leaning his face into his kicks and working for 2 on the mat. Ishikawa vs. Ryuji Walter, 6/5/2009: Walter can punch you in the face really hard and not much else. That is enough for Ishikawa to expertly carry this into a pretty great 20 minute war. Ishikawa vs. Sanshu Tsubakichi, 8/8/2010: Ishikawa twists this kid into pretzels.I Ishikawa vs. Hideki Suzuki, 10/24/2010: Suzuki rocks a bizarre 70s style moveset and Ishikawa turns this into a really great unique match with some of the best selling you will ever see. Ishikawa vs. Kawakami, BJW 1/17/2011: Ishikawa carries this limited BJW guy into his career match without breaking a sweat. Ishikawa vs. Munenori Sawa, 6/19/2011: Their final confrontation. Ishikawa carries Sawa at the peak of Sawa's awfulness. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Mitsuya Nagai (RJPW 9/21/2012): Broken down old Nagai was back to giving a shit during this period and Ishikawa makes the most out of it. 18. Yuki Ishikawa/Munenori Sawa/Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Katsumi Usuda/Super Tiger II (BattlARTS 7/26/2008) My gateway drug into the style, and among the best things done in this style. Ishikawa and Ikeda are the stars here and their epic face off near the end of this is among the most satisfying in wrestling history. 19. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco (BattlARTs 6/9/2008) Ishikawa faces the most dangerous BattlARTS matworker in an all-grappling match. An aquired taste, but I consider this match a borderline masterpiece. Great grappling and they tell a story. 20. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (Kana Produce 4/29/2010) Japanese wrestling masters face off and this is a really nifty dream match. Both guys bring plenty to the table in a match that goes just about 10 minutes. Intermission: here are the best Yuki Ishikawa Velocity style matches: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (Michinoku Pro 12/15/1994): They shock unsuspecting Michinoku Pro fans in this frantic paced sub-10 minute. A pretty great shootstyle showcase as they hit the mat hard and beat the fuck out of eachother. Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka (Real Japan 6/19/2008) Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 10/1/2009) -> 2 great maestro vs. maestro style matches in under 10 minutes. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Yujiro Yamamoto (Real Japan 10/25/2011): Ishikawa faces his best student in a slick, high end 7 minute contest. 21. Yuki Ishikawa/Carlos Amano vs. Kana/Yoshiaki Fujiwara (Kana Produce 1/10/2011) Tremendously fun intergender match, Ishikawa assists Kana's transformation into a great wrestler and valiantly allows her to look like a killing machine. 22. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS 11/5/2011) Final BattlARTS face off. They go all out but are wise enough not to try and make this too "epic" for it's own good. Instead they beat the snot out of eachother, do nifty selling and have a great finish in the tradition of BattlARTS matches that end abruptly on a high note. 23. Yuki Ishikawa vs. AKIRA (Kana Produce 6/17/2012) Kana continues to provide Ishikawa opportunities to rule. This is a great veteran vs. veteran match and a chance to see Ishikawa killing it while working an opponent who's a little outside his usual circle. 24. Yuki Ishikawa/Super Tiger II vs. Kazunari Murakami/Hidek Suzuki (Ishikawa Produce 1/13/2013) BattlARTs is gone, but that doesn't stop Ishikawa from booking himself into getting massacred. Murakami looks like he did in 2000. Great mix of violent (Ishikawa vs. Murakami) and more technical sections (Ishikawa vs. Suzuki). 25. Yuki Ishikawa vs. George Terzis (Battle Arts 6/14/2014) This marks the beginning of a really fun match series of semi retired Ishikawa carrying random scrubs as enthusiastic kids cheer him on. Summary: Ishikawa has +20 years of greatness to his resume. The footage-wise patchy spots (mid 2000s) are compensated by a handful of outstanding matches during the period.

Cubsfan's matchfinder page for Negro Navarro: http://www.thecubsfan.com/cmll/roster/matchfinder.php I got in the mood today and compiled this massive detailled 25 matches post on Navarro. Most of this stuff has been covered before, but I will list it anyways just to have a comprehensive post. This is STILL only a frame of Navarro's work, leaving out plenty of good stuff from his peak years. 1. Negro Navarro vs. Mando Guerrero, LA 80s I assume someone found this on some old VHS in his garage and randomly decided to put it on YouTube. So we get to watch! This is a total gem, as it showcases a style of wrestling that is so rare to find. Navarro villains it up, and we get to watch them punching eachother in the mouth. Some of the best exchanges and worked punches you will ever see. Navarro utilizes various objects in order to increase the face punchiness. 2. Misioneros vs. Hamada/Aguayo/Kendo (Hamada's UWF 7.6.1990) People call the Misioneros disappointing. I've not seen much of them but everything has been pretty fun. And this is probably my favourite showcase match for them. Navarro has changed his form since his battle with Mando and turned into a bodybuilder. He still throws a mean punch a plenty. Lots of great exchanges, stiff brawling, technicos are great, Misioneros stooge, Perro also has great exchanges with everybody. 3. Negro Navarro vs. El Dandy (8/11/2001) Fast forward 11 years. Navarro and Dandy were having this underrated feud in IWRG. This is a classic title match and probably the first really blowaway great singles match in Navarro's career. Navarro wasn't as beastly as later on, but he looks like a master. Just two legends hitting the mat hard for 20+ minutes. 4. Negro Navarro/Shu El Guerrero vs. Solar/Skayde (AULL 11/01/02) I think Black Terry Jr. should have this. This is a great handheld from some gym. Early match from the Navarro vs. Solar feud, where they do lots of unique stuff you wouldn't see in their later matches. This is another absolut clinic in Navarro's resume. Also, Shu El Guerrero rules. 5. Negro Navarro/Pantera vs. El Dandy/Ultimo Vampiro (IWRG 4/4/02) Hey! Did you like that Mando/Navarro match above? This is another piece from the Dandy/Navarro feud. Except they drop the maestro vs. maestro stuff and engage in an all-out war here. Ridiculously great stuff, some of the greatest punches and exchanges ever caught on film. Not only are the punches great, but the selling is off the charts, like you are really watching two tough bastards determined on beating eachother within an inch of their life. This stuff has Dick Murdoch eating his heart out. I remember when I first saw this, I was so blown away I compiled all the Dandy/Navarro exchanges into a video. 6. Negro Navarro vs. El Engendro (2/15/2003) This takes place in some seedy gym, event organized by a Z-level lucha fed which I assume normally does deathmatches. So they go out and deliver a mat clinic with near UWF-like intensity. This is to old school lucha matwork as Chicana/MS-1 is to lucha bloodbaths. Engendro ain't too shabby either and Navarro turns this into an easy Lucha MOTY. 7. Misioneros de la Muerte vs. Villanos (IWRG 12/11/2004) 2000s IWRG is like a treasure trove of random old guys delivering the awesomeness. This starts out nice enough with maestro matwork and degenerates into a face stabbing, biting, blood-drenched massacre. Also worth checking out for you Villano completists. 8. Negro Navarro/Texano/Signo vs. Solar/Ultraman/Super Astro (IWRG 2/10/2005) The somewhat nicer equivalent to the previous match. Outstanding trios match which delivers it all, like they thought to themselves "let's do a textbook example of how lucha should be". 8. Solar/Dos Caras Jr/Heavy Metal vs. Negro Navarro/Villano IV/Villano V (AULL 2.11.2006) Another out of nowhere MOTYC. Navarro vs. Solar delivers in spades and Navarro vs. Heavy Metal is a great surprise matchup. Navarro has become a bald headed badass and really started positioning himself as one of the most respected wrestlers in the country around this time. 9. Negro Navarro/Mano Negra vs. Solar/Super Astro (Monterrey 14.10.2007) Another in a string of great matches involving these guys. Super Astro also kills it here. 10. Negro Navarro vs. Solar vs. El Engendro (12/13/2008) Navarro and Solar is a badass enough matchup. Add in Engendro and you are in for something. This isn't a triple threat but rather a series of single matches where guys tag in and out. Exactly what you want. 11. Negro Navarro vs. Black Terry (11/1/2008) YouTube allows us to piece together one of their few meetings. Some top notch mat stuff on display here. 12. Negro Navarro/Mr. Ferrari/Kendo vs. Quack/Solar/Kendo (CHIKARA? 3/8/2009) Navarro and Solar come to a tiny US location to show folks who the masters are. Navarro/Solar is great as usual, but what pushes this over the top is Navarro teaching Quack a few wrestling lessons. 13. Negro Navarro vs. Solar (AULL 5/16/2009) You could easily make a 50 match list of great Navarro/Solar matchups. I will include this because this is their first singles match I saw and it blew my mind. Long excellent title match. 14. Negro Navarro/Traumas I/II vs. Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro (3/28/2009) Negro Navarro/Traumas I/II vs. Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro (4/16/2009) Negro Navarro/Traumas I/II vs. Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro (4/23/2009) IWRG crew starts getting into their groove in 2009. These are all great examples of Navarro's fury unleashed. You have him dominating fools on the mat and demonstrating his ability to crush mere mortals with a thought, aswell as absolutely destroying people in standup and street fighting sections. 15. Negro Navaro vs. Solar (Ultimo Dragon Produce 7/19/2010) Navarro/Solar World Tour continues as they rock a throwaway UD show and outwork everybody else in the country in the process. This is also a threat because the filming emphasizes Navarro's great facial expressions. 16. Negro Navarro/El Signo vs. Black Terry & Shu el Guerrero (???, 2/14/2010) This is must watch because of the location alone. They work a kickass in some demolished sports yard for a bunch of empty seats. Seriously, can you imagine going to your local bush indy and seeing a match this good? Navarro and Shu have a cracking mat section which really feels like bulls squaring off. Afterwards we get some great brawling and Navarro throwing punches. This is how you work a match for 20 people in the audience. 17. Negro Navarro/Black Terry vs. Gran Apache & Angel Mortal (IWRG, 1/9/2011) AAA maestros invade! This starts out great with rocking matwork and gets blowaway epic when Apache makes the mistake of pissing off Navarro. What follows is a Navarro tour de force of looking like the baddest dude ever. Some of the most intense submission work you will see in a non-shootstyle match. 18. Negro Navarro/Black Terry vs. Traumas I/II (LUCHA POP 8/21/2011) Throwback to brawling Navarro! Everything seems like business as usual, until TI knocks his dad out cold and Navarro loses his cool. Shoulder dislocating submissions, shadow boxing and a generally tremendous pissed off Navarro performance ensue. 19. Negro Navarro/Black Terry vs. Solar I & Ultraman (3/13/2011) Negro Navarro/Black Terry vs. Solar I & Ultraman (3/20/2011) March of 2011 was a real streak for great old guy lucha. The first match is a classic 2/3 falls technical clinic with everybody matching up and Navarro busting out plenty of neat stuff. The second match is like a Velocity match which ranks up the intensity. Navarro and Ultraman and up throwing down and try to one-up eachother with beautiful punches. 20. Negro Navarro vs. Decnnis (DTU, 8/13/2011) Decnis is a pretty haired AAA nobody. Navarro cranks out another beastly performance and drags the rent boy to a really good Velocity match. 21. Negro Navarro vs. Nicho el Millonario (DTU, 10/15/2011) Navarro battles the broken down former Psicosis in seedy DTU. Nicho tries to drag Navarro into a garbage brawl involving light tubes and barbed wire. Navarro makes him pay dearly. 22. Negro Navarro/Trauma I vs. Damian 666 & Bestia 666 (IWRG, 10/11/2012) Navarro and son demolishing a pair of goofy clowns. Navarro really tortures Damian at some points during this. 23. Negro Navarro vs. Negro Casas (Chilanga Mask, 5/19/2013) Kickass 7 minute Velocity match between two of the best workers on the planet. 24. Negro Navarro/Black Terry vs. Cachorro Zapata/Tigre Universitario (9/8/2013) Naucalpan maestros take on Monterrey maestros! The Zapata/Navarro matchup is especially great. Zapata is a powerful guy for Navarro to test himself against. 25. Negro Navarro vs. Virus (11/15/2014) A good hearted metalhead videotaped this with his cellphone, so we get to watch. Navarro takes on the best of the best and comfortably outclasses Virus. Negro Navarro vs. Virus (12/25/2015) This show was a sell-out, so we get to watch. Navarro and Virus work for a bigger audience this time and twist eachother up in impressive ways. Summary: So there's that. Ignoring Navarro's 90s and 80s output, he has from 2001-now a run of 15 years of almost uninterrupted greatness.

Mayumi looked like a borderline wrestling genius in this match. She looks like she's 5'0 and 85 pounds, taking on the tank that is Kansai, yet she was able to believably work over her opponent and counter Kansai's brute force. The stiff elbows, kicks to the face aswell as the leg trip during the opening exchange all ruled. Ozaki trying to contain this stiff beast by repeatedly taking her down and grounding her made sense and it lead to a great spot where she almost dislocated Kansai's shoulder with an armbar. She also did some neat details between moves and played up the size difference in a remarkable way. I thought Kansai's dive was weak, but other than that her selling of the arm was excellent, and I loved her planting Ozaki with surprise powermoves. Needless to say Kansai also dished out some of the stiffest kicks you will ever see in a worked match. Thrust kick into lariat combo was also fucking badass and timed perfectly. Great match.

Man, I maybe be insane but 1990-1992 Bull rules so hard compared to what she was doing later. This was Bull as wall of doom who will squash you like a bug. Hasegawa and Bat are the weak links, altough Bat will kick you really hard in the face for a weak link. I continue to love incubatory Hokuto as everytime she's in it looks like a fight to the death. Actually it also looks like a fight to the death when Hasegawa is in because she takes the most god awful beating in this. Horrid horrid horrid. Hasegawa has almost no offense compared to karate Bat and Bull, so she takes her basic junior's spin kick and turns it into a death move. I mean she does this by straight up spin kicking Bat directly in the face several times and not pulling shit in the slightest. I could see Daisuke Ikeda appreciating those kicks. Actually the whole match is about executing moves in the most violent manner possible as Hokuto drops Bull with the absolute nastiest double arm ddt I've ever seen and then makes her nose touch the mat doing a seated Cattle Mutilation. Hokuto has her knee in a bandage and does a pretty realistic job selling it at one point. I mean this is just a super violent 10 minute sprint, but Hokuto will do stuff like that to remind you who she is.

BAT YOSHINAGA!!! She is the worlds greatest bizarro Aoyagi. Yoshinaga dominates Bull for nearly 10 minutes and doesn't lose a step. She kicks the fuck out of Bull and knows how to make basic holds look really painful. Eventually Bull realizes she is getting destroyed and fights back by lariating Yoshinaga's brains out. Despite that moment I was a little underwhelmed with Bull. Normally she improves every match she's in, but aside from the aformentioned lariating she actually didn't add much. I felt she was wrestling too much like one of those idol girls and not like the blue haired demon that she is. She was selling pretty hard for sympathy. Worlds different from the frenzy that Bull has in the years before. Maybe she really didn't want to put too much spotlight on herself in 1993. She didn't even bust out the nunchakus. Regardless of that: BAT YOSHINAGA~!

Call me a philistine, but I haven't been postively swayed by 90s Devil. I've yet to notice the veteran touches that people keep mentioning. I also find her awkward (may have to do with her horrid wrestling gear) and her facial expressions more Edge than Regal. I think she just didn't quite click into the 90s environment. A shame because 80s Devil is a killer and the match with Chiggy is an epic performance from her. Their 93 match... not so much, in fact I thought it was pretty bad. Then again I'm not a fan of Chigusa either.

The first 15 minutes of this were excellent. I think joshi matwork is underrated, so I had no problem getting into what they were doing here. It was remarkable that despite the breakdown in the middle, Bull's selling kept me interested and they delivered a pretty great last 10 minutes or so that got me back into the match. I think having Devil be so dominant was a mistake. I get that you can't have Bull crushing someone for 35 minutes, and Devil isn't much smaller than Bull, but Devil controlling after the pretty perfect sequence on the outside was lame. Maybe because it was JWP they couldn't have Masami looking too weak. It felt like a waste of Bull to me. Regardless, that stretch run is fairly great. Everything felt like a struggle and there were a number of great spots. I also really liked how Devil got into position for the final move.

I could see putting Santo over Casas and Satanico based on longevity and variety. His advantage is that we have much of his early period on tape and it's great. Casas' problem is that he doesn't have many awesome bloodbaths. Also, his big resurgence begins pretty late around 2011, before that he is mostly holding together trios matches and stuck carrying Mistico. Up until that point Santo probably has the better decade, but I just like him doing his thing so much. Satanico looks good-great-phenomenal in every match he's in, but doesn't have a lot of must watch classics after 1990.

I'd like to know which AJPW classics you are actually talking about. The main reason why the AJ guys are so good is because they are experts at controlling a guy for ~10 minutes without the match getting boring and repetitive, aswell as struggling for dear life against the other guys offense. And just to make this clear, hitting 3 neckbreakers in a row isn't the same as hitting 3 chops to the neck in a row.

If you want to go all the way with your list, you'd also have to note that Hase did 3 neckbreakers, 2 guillotine attacks, several of those chinbreakers etc. Mostly in a row. And yes, between those moves there was nothing happening except for Hase picking up Chono to do the next move. That's lazy wrestling in my eyes. Hey Hase, you just gave him 2 neckbreakers. Why are you picking him up to do a third? This is something 1st year wrestling rookies are advised not to do and someone like Hase doing it irks me. Especially as throwaway spots in the opening minutes of the match. As far as the "freezing" thing goes: I think there is an art to controlling an opponent and being on the receiving end of offense all while making everything look like a struggle. It's what makes the fine difference between a wrestling match looking like a fight or looking like a string of glued together wrestling moves. This doesn't mean being an uncooperative sack. In the case of this match, I just find it particularily jarring that Hase, clearly a skilled wrestler, suddenly finds himself unable to do anything as soon as Chono puts him in a dreadful leglock. Especially after Hase had easily kicked Chono's butt for several minutes before that. All he had to do was reach forward like you see so many other wrestlers in the same situation and grab a chinlock, because, you know, he had just spent minutes working over Chono's very neck that was now on display before him.

The initial transition to set up Hase working the neck was good. After that, the work on the neck consisted of: 1.) Hase doing a move. 2.) Hase picking Chono up. 3.) Go back to 1.). Why is he doing moves to Chono just to pick him up again? Also, why can't Chono fight back against Hase when Hase is doing the exact same moves several times in a row? This goes on for several minutes until Chono lands a random move and now it's Chono on the attack. Now it's Hase who is suddenly completely frozen and unable to fight back against Chono, even when Chono is locking in a basic toehold. The work on the neck "went nowhere" meaning that it was buried underneath a whole lot of other stuff in the process. That is the opposite of "laser focus". It was basically two different matches glued together with the finish of the 1st edited on to the 2nd. And yes, OJ's post is correct. I normally don't do star ratings, but I'd probably set the match around *** 3/4 - ****. It would struggle to make my Top 20-30 matches of 1993, so I'm hesitant to call it a classic (which **** indicates). Broken record to say, but if it happened today, it would probably crack the **** rating and be considered a strong MOTYC. I think having a logical match should be standard for workers and if the work isn't great logic alone doesn't cut it.

I watched the match based on the ***** rating. It was a pretty good match, but nowhere near perfect. Hase's work on the neck was boring and didn't go anywhere. It gave me flashes of lousy Tanahashi matches. Some of the transitions were poor. Chono did look pretty good, atleast as good as Hase. His legwork was better, I like how he sold the damage to his neck and I also liked his unpredictable offense consisting of kicks to the face. The mirror figure 4 spots had self conscious epic written all over them. Hase's selling of the leg was good. Not a bad match at all, but it further cemented Hase as good but not great in my mind. I dunno about the comment on AJPW matches. I guess you could argue it's more effective than your typical AJ epic with the consistent selling throughout. On the other hand there's probably 5 singles from 1993 alone I'd rank ahead. Not just from AJPW.

Future LCO Etsuko Mita is damn near unrecognizable here in her plain-ness. Before the match Minami gets on the mic to say something directed at Hokuto. I don't know if she and Hokuto were tagging at this point, but whatever she said, I'm sure she regretted it quickly as Nakano and Hokuto proceed to beat the everliving shit out of both Mita and Minami. I mean holy hell this match is brutal. Hokuto and Nakano are wrecking machines here. Nakano comes in and blasts everyone around the ring with lariats to the face and throat. Mita lands near KO'd underneath the rope, Nakano steps on her throat and Hokuto delivers a kick square in the face. Jesus. Hokuto proceeds to slap the shit out of Mita, hits some piledrivers and then goes on to toe kick her in the stomach. Mita rolls out of the ring looking like she wants to puke. I'm normally not a fan of the 3 piledrivers in a row spot in joshi matches but the way it was done here, with Hokuto pulling Mita up before the 3 count each time and Mita visibly rocked stumbling to the corner to make the tag, it was pretty effective. Mita is shockingly great as face her considering her later more famous heel approach. At one point Nakano catches a Mita crossbody attempt and Mita starts pummeling her fist into Nakano's side like a frustrated little sibling while Nakano makes unimpressed faces. Minami and Hokuto have some heated fast exchanges, so I assume they were feuding. Minami lands some uncooperative looking backbreaker moves and Hokuto proceeds to sell the back for the rest of the match in a pretty impressive display of selling while squashing the hell out of her opponents. Either she went into the match with a back injury story or just Hokuto being Hokuto. Neat moment where Mita and Minami are both almost counted out after eating the cannonball dive from Hokuto. Nakano is pretty much invincible here and just having a ball spiking her opponents with powerbombs and back suplex moves. Altough I did love Minami getting a surprise takedown on her. Overall highly effective match and a good chance to see pre-DQ Hokuto's greatness.

Can anybody explain what the hell is up with south american countries and their fascination for wrestling mummies? Also, some of this stuff is pretty cool. Swank armdrags and punches to the face.

Peak TAKA is, to me, an incredible wrestler. Incredibly athletic, obviously, but also unbelievably versatile. A tremendous high flyer whose Spaceman dives still hold up as breath taking even today. Could do pissed off brawling, babyface selling from underneath, be a swarmy provocateur heel, tag in and out quick to do something exciting etc. His crowning achievement of wrestling mastery is getting an actively good match series out of Minoru Tanaka. I love the BattlARTS crew, but none of them came close to what TAKA was able to do with that guy. Here's their first match from PWFG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slHBUqCtwtE This really illustrates the versatility of TAKA as it's full on UWF style compared to the more juniorish form their later matches would take, and more impressive than I recall Tanaka's matches vs. the likes of Yuki Ishikawa being. Taka does his dive fake, flips off Tanaka then offers to let him into the ring, and it all works. Taka has also a pretty epic PWFG singles vs. Fujiwara. 2000s Taka can be a pretty great veteran worker and still has killer matches once in a while in his own fed even these days. However, he also goes a little overboard in the Kurt Angle-ish way at times. I'm really unsure on where to go with the guy but based on raw talent he wouldn't feel out of place on a Top 100 to me.

You can actually find quite a bit of Villano III just ctrl+fing through Alfredo's listings, and online aswell. Considering he had that super-classic Atlantis bout in 2000 and still looked sharp until about the mid-2000s, there's probably a lot more quality Villanos stuff buried on various 90s tapes, even if it's just them spin kicking and punching fools while tagging with Psicosis. I know I really really enjoyed the Villanos stuff from Hamada's UWF that I've seen. V3 among others is the type of guy who would benefit alot if someone sat down, went through a bunch of Promo Azteca shows and other stuff and compiled the worthwhile matches into a 10 disc set. Maybe that will have been done in 10 years.

Here is the review Daniel (of the now destroyed puroresu.tv) wrote for the 10/11/99 Hashimoto/Ogawa match That feud is criminally underrated. The 2000 match didn't even make the DVDVR best of japan project (but the tag with Iizuka did?). More reviews in the archived thread https://web.archive.org/web/20130521230205/http://www.puroresu.tv/forums/topic/338-daniels-list-of-great-puroresu-matches/page__st__20

The Sarjeant-Kidman comparison reminds me of this old "Is Johnny Saint the british RVD?" post from DVDVR. Every WoS guy has their reversals. And the point of the Kidman-problem is that wrestlers who would otherwise never try a powerbomb had this sudden urge to try one on him. A boston crab on the other hand is a pretty standard hold and was often used as a go-to finisher in WoS bouts by any worker. In some way the move is a way for Sarjeant to get his freak athlete gimmick over.

That is a great post indeed. However, some of these things stand out to me: Not to dismiss the observations, because there are some excellent points there, but I wonder if this stuff stands out to someone watching a ton of joshi in a short time, like Dylan apparently did. Especially the selling bit and the comparison to other workers. I remember first going through the joshi, Hotta was someone who sparked my interest. I was more interested in shootstyle and stiff wrestling, so Hotta seemed to fit the bill. Going through her stuff at the time she was very underwhelming and at best a fun crowbar. As a worker she is very far from the Daisuke Ikedas, or even the Katsumi Usudas or Koji Kanemotos of this world. From my experience, this is Hotta's typical modus operandi: 1) Recklessly kick opponent to a pulp 2) Sit in a half crab to kill time 3) Throw assorted modified powerbombs and cross-armed germans, often recklessly dropping opponent on their heads in the process 1) can be pretty fun against an opponent who is able to keep it interesting. 2) is necessary when she is up against a not so skillful worker and pretty much exposes her limitations. May be edited out by a good opponent. 3) can be fun to a degree, but after a while I find myself losing interest in the back and forth-bomb trading. As far as matches go, I guess me and Dylan have very different tastes when it comes to joshi. The Asuka - fake MMA match I find to be an atrocious mess. The Kansai match is cool because they kick eachother in the face, but there's fuck all transitions or rhyme or reason in it. Hokuto match is held together by Hokuto's selling and general Hokuto-ness, but I wasn't too hot on that match in total. The best match I've seen Hotta in is the Toyota match from 1995. And good god I'm not a fan of Toyota at all but that bout is a testament to her greatness. Going back to the Sabu comparison, I love Sabu but no way could I imagine Sabu performing like that. Hotta does her usual shit as described above. It makes for a pretty great match, but it's all in her opponent. Otherwise it would have just been the average Hotta match. As far as the selling goes, and her "willingness to illustrate..." I dunno if it really makes such a difference. I did some Hotta YouTube searches today, found a match vs. Aja (not the bloody hand match) where Aja trashes her leg for 15 minutes. Hotta is good selling the beating, but after her comeback she ignores it in order to do 1) and 3). Then found a match vs. Etsuko Mita. In that Mita gets put through 1), then tries to do some leg work, which Hotta ignores and does 2), then Mita locks in a Figure 4, which Hotta laughes off, then Mita locks in a shoot submission(?), emphasizing that she is applying maximum pressure to Hotta's leg, to which Hotta responds by lying on the mat for a while. Then Hotta does the "illustrating that a limb has been damaged" bit before proceeding right back to 1) and then 3). Kansai match also has this bit where Kansai does some piledrivers and a sleeper. Hotta then does this "dizzy head" sell with flailing arms for about 2 seconds between hitting moves. I'm not sure if this is really the sign of somebody who's a superior worker. On the more positive side, looking back at Hotta I've discovered that I think she has pretty good fire. Something I didn't notice the first time around. So there's that. I've dismissed Hotta, so I felt compelled to write this post. As far as crowbars go, I'd probably rank her below Masashi Aoyagi, Kazunari Murakami, Ryuji Walter and others. Just too undynamic. As far as 1993 AJW workers go, I'd probably have her below Bolshoi Kid.

Ryuki Ueyama Wataru Sakata Hiroyuki Ito Nikolai Zouev Osamu Kido Hiro Saito Victor Zangief Manabu Suruga Universo Dos Mil Angel Mortal Bearcat Wright Ayako Hamada Mimi Hagiwara Command Bolshoi Carlos Amano Lucy Kayama Itsuki Yamazaki Sumie Sakai Alan Kilby Sid Cooper Robby Baron Axel Dieter TJP Kengo Mashimo Preston Quinn Herodes Tony Salazar Ultraman to be continued...? It's also very surprising to me that Jorge "Skayde" Rivera wasn't nominated. EDIT: added Hiroyuki Ito. Great shootstyle worker.