Jetlag

Really? I've never heard many positive words for him even from DG/Evolve fans. In fact the general opinion on him seemed to be that he was "Gabe's project" and not good enough to be poster boy. He has also worked several indies and never really set the world ablaze.

I think not being on the same level as the best rudos ever isn't a big knock against someone. It really may be your expectations. I'm not very familiar with Panther's rudo work but I really enjoyed his amusing bumping and stooging while working in Hamada's UWF. As far as placing Panther goes, he'll be about in my Top 20-30. He's had a loaded career with great mat performances, quality singles matches and that really great late career feud with Casas. And he's still been damn good in the last couple years. I guess you could make the argument that he's a bit of a one trick pony but when your trick is hitting the mat hard and being as awesome as he is I simply don't care.

I watched the recommended Austin matches that I wasn't familiar with. I think the problem for me is that Austin's image has been built up as this mythical asskicker, almost like a Stan Hansen or Vader type slotted into crazy overbooked matches. His 2001 run matches that image, as he is awesome as a psychopath there. The Attitude Era stuff shows him not quite as that asskicker, but rather as a pretty smart worker, which is a big plus. A negative is that the matches don't feel very violent even when Mick Foley is there killing himself. Sometimes the smoke and mirrors (as in the matches with Rock) gets a little overbearing. Overall I'd say the stuff is underwhelming but still ends up being a feather in his cap, if that makes sense.

Pirata Morgan: There's also a Complete & Accurate for Pirata here: http://segundacaida.blogspot.de/search?q=Pirata+Morgan Blue Panther:

I'm not really seeing that bit about Hash being a specialist. The guy has a huge variety of great matches under his belt, including several matches built around all the things you mention about Hase (well, except maybe for bumping and stooging, but doing something like that simply didn't fit his role). Including matches against other heavyweights, juniorweights, martial artists, guys from other promotions, jobbers, US style workers, etc. And he does those things as good as anyone I've seen. I could see it if you said Hase is a superworker due to being closer to an US guy, but that raises the question can only US style guys (or guys who are close to it) be superworkers?

I'm a little puzzled by Hase getting praised as a superworker. He's clearly the most talented NJ heavy after Hashimoto, but Hash will be in my Top 10-20, while Hase right now isn't a lock for the list at all. He has strong positives: quality amateur style matwork, great at bomb throwing, and knows how to create drama. Problems for him are the chunks missing from his career due to him being exiled from NJ and being a part timer later on. In the 2000s he is far overshadowed by other guys even in post-split All Japan. What is most puzzling about him is that he clearly understands wrestling very well as evidenced in his selling and expressiveness, but also sometimes mixes these Kurt Angle-ish tendencies into matches (throwing a dozen Uranages in a row, awkward pacing etc). I can only watch so many matches that build from indian deathlocks to Uranages and nearfalls before it gets old. His AJPW work, very good Akiyama match aside, was very underwhelming. His match vs. Kobashi wouldn't even make my Top 30 for 1997 and him vs. Misawa in 2000 is kind of painful. His best match for me is against Hashimoto and the gap between that match and the rest of his work is nearly as big as the gap between him and Hash.

He looks good in the little footage we have, but ultimately he's a guy who's legendary for his influence and vision rather than legendary matches. If you want to put him on your list based on him being a fun old man technician there's a lot of competition for him.

Szakacs is amazing. I don't think there's anybody who does the "crazy british hold escapes" better. Maybe it's because he's a heavyweight, but the way he moves is really fascinating to watch. The KO chop finisher is brilliant too and makes for really interesting bouts. The guy combines intensity and technical brilliance like the best of the british wrestlers. Also has that Volk Han-like charisma that only a former Hungarian army officer/refugee could have. The problem? He has about 10 matches on tape. But since Alan Sarjeant has a thread too, the name Tibor Szakacs deserves to be known. Recommended matches: vs. Big Bruno Elrington vs. Jack Fallon vs. Prince Kumali

Roach not being talked up much is a bit of a mystery to me. A badass giant with a black belt in judo, who wasn't afraid to rip guys heads off with forearms or just dump them hard in the middle of the ring. And it's surprising how well he works as a TV star in restrained british style bouts when you expect this guy to show up in NJPW and battle Hashimoto. I find it really amazing that I watch his matches to see him eventually knock the shit out of people, but then end up staying for the more technical stuff. I really love his graceful throws and surprisingly agile movements when locking in holds. Due to him being Roach, every match becomes interesting simply because he has it all over his opponent's in size and skills. Being quite a household name, he also has many taped matches including some brawls in germany (which I enjoyed more than OJ), so unlike some other british guys footage is not an issue with him. Also, I have soft spot for the guy because watching him as an unstoppable machine in Never say Never again is one of my earliest childhood memories. Recommended matches: Pete Roberts vs. Pat Roach (2/13/80) Pat Roach vs. Gil Singh (4/21/80) Pat Roach vs. Tom Tyrone (10/11/83)

Poor Pete Roberts. I don't think I've seen anyone really praise this guy except for OJ and Regal. Doesn't look like much, not flashy at all, but he has a real knack for slick, graceful technical wrestling (especially dig his takedowns) and creating intensity within the span of a few rounds wrestling session on TV. It's not just that he can throw a european uppercut, but really work escalation into his matches, even when they technically remain fairly harmless. For example, in one of his bouts vs. Pat Roach, he does this awesome half-boxer/half-Fujiwara-like ring positioning about to lure Roach into the corner and then kick the shit out of him. His big drawing card is his consistency as he has shown up on british TV for many years and never stopped being awesome even as british TV wrestling was on it's last legs. Apparently he has worked abroad aswell but somebody else will have to comment on that. Only seen him matching up really well with Fujinami in japan once. Regardless, give him a chance. Recommended matches: vs. Pat Roach vs. Wayne Bridges vs. Terry Rudge

He also did some really fun stuff in NOAH, working as a heel invader there.

Nominating: Tibor Szakacs, Pete Roberts & Pat Roach via. OJ's euro wrestling thread: http://z11.invisionfree.com/wrestling_ko/index.php?showtopic=2555&st=0

I like him and he's a guy with some worthwhiel matches under his belt but there's about a dozen other euro guys who deserve your attention more, and perhaps another dozen who deserve to be nominated just as much as him. Why bother with this guy when Franz van Buyten is right there? EDIT: Actually I just remembered all the Van Buyten matches I uploaded to YouTube have been deleted, so I guess he's not there actually.

Is it really? A lot of old school workers have these abilities. In fact, the combination of these is almost a must have for anyone in order to get into my Top 100. I'd say that right now there are 70 workers locked for my list who all have what you describe here and then I've got another 50 workers battling for the last 30 spots who aren't much worse.. I mean, since you don't seem to be considering post-2000 workers at all, you obviously have a smaller pool of talent to choose from... and granted, I like Ted a lot, but this argument about Ted being a rare combo (a total package?) isn't going to make me rank him ahead of 20 other workers.

Isn't the whole "Showstopper" gimmick centered around him being a superworker? The most obvious example would be that street fight with Jericho. They both come out in street fight gear, trying to look really tough and all that, then trade lousy punches. Their WM match felt like a pretty dire forced epic to me aswell. He also loved participating in convoluted matches with Triple H. Perhaps it is also lack of understanding his physical limitations (believability) and bad execution, for example when he works "seasoned veteran controlling a stronger, young opponent" against Cena and doesn't come across that well doing it. The thing is that watching post comeback Shawn I often feel that it's clear he still knows what he's doing, but doesn't have the physical tools/awareness to put it together into actively good matches. Slightly adjusting his style could've helped.

Post comeback Shawn is a pretty good example of someone who's not the all-capable superworker he thinks he is (similiar to Triple H) and was unable to adapt properly to age. Pre-comeback Shawn really liked to do that silly over the top bumping shit that rarely made his opponent look good and also fucked himself up good. Anyways I really can't stand post comeback Shawn (45 minute bout with Cena aside, through some miracle) and his pre-injurystuff, while often solid and sometimes great, is still below someone like Bret Hart. No chance.

I absolutely hate Minoru Tanaka. Absolutely one of the worst guys in the old BattlARTS stuff. Not that his junior shit is bad, but as a shootstylist he is insanely dull. Interesting moveset, but mostly he is just plain uninteresting with his silky soft kicks and light matwork.

I can't find Jaguar Yokota vs. Pantera Surena online anymore. Anybody still have it? FLIK? Sadly flik.theditch.biz seems to be gone.

I'm sure he has a hundred good matches on tape if you go through Cubsfan's channels. And he has that fucking amazing 2010 brawl against... I think it was Demus? That match had blood and flying and reckless punches and remains one of the better singles matches of the decade, no kidding. Pretty awesome talent and an ideal example of someone who doesn't need to be a star to be awesome all around.

Great upload, Bob Alpra deserves a medal. Hoffman wrestles pretty much exactly like he does in AJPW, even doing the same spots. That deadlift Fallaway Slam into a seamless pin was insane. I think Dave Taylor stole that?

For my money Kellett is an amazing character and a guy you have to see once in your lifetime but you have be pretty into that showman style of wrestling to put him anywhere near a Top 100. He could put on a pretty brutal match at times, picture 2000s Kikuchi except without the serious matches on tape. He has about as much of a case as Mitsuo Momota.

It is available in full and used to be on YouTube, but the channel was taken down. Maybe somebody saved it.

I don't wanna make this discussion about Jumbo vs. Taue now. But the point about Taue being in a lot of great matches was to address JvK's point about Jumbo being in a lot of great matches. That being said I think you are underselling Taue's abilities. Taue was a dude who I think was outstanding in the 1993 tag by eating offense and selling. He would fly all over the place when he took an elbow from Misawa or a spin kick from Kobashi, but do it in a believable way. Aside from that he is exceptional in his role as Kawada's backup man. It's one of my favourite understated performances and it gets overlooked because Kawada is right there and also displaying all time great selling. The 94 match against Hansen that OJ brought up is an example of Taue being aggressive and controlling the majority of a match and really stamping his mark on it. I don't ever recall feeling "kid Jumbo is actively making Dory's elbows/Baba's chops/whatever look really outstanding!" or that young Jumbo was being extra-fired up in a remarkable way. Sure he knew how to bump, get fired up and crank up the intensity, but that's about it. And let's be real, being better than Dory and Baba in 1975 and being worse than Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi in 1993 arent things that compare well.

Chino Sato vs. Rimi Yokota, 1/4/1980 This is a remarkable match. It feels different from the previous rookie-ish matches from the get go as they bitch slap eachother and the crowd gets really excited. Following that it's all over the place: brawling through the crowd, hitting the mat, impact moves and flying. It's distinct in the way it builds; they get more and more uncooperative, refusing the even get rolled on their backs for pinfalls. I wouldn't call it a great match but the intensity they created was outstanding. Chino may have been the better woman as I felt she was quite good at expressing the exhaustion and toll that the match was taking. At one point, Yokota keeps reversing Chino's attempt at a boston crab, so she simple hurls her all over the ring with a giant swing. One of the best uses of that move that I've seen.Yokota was less expressive but her ring work was razor sharp as usual. Chino Sato/Rimi Yokota v. Hiroko Komine/Patty Steiger, 2/21/1980 Steiger is a big pale redheaded broad that doesn't really look like she belongs in a wrestling ring. Chino Sato has looked really good so far so I'm stoked to see her teaming with Rimi. This isn't much of a match though. A little clumsy brawling, Sato and Yokota work over Komine's leg a little before they easily beat her. It was all good matwork but nothing to write home about compared to the other matches reviewed above. Poor Komine gets a stalling butterfly suplex, giant swing, two powerbombs and a splash all in a row. Talk about overkill. Ayumi Hori v. Rimi Yokota Hori was a big girl. This was a back and forth, all action bout that switched between hard slams and holds. No real rhyme or reason to any of it but I remain impressed by how good these girls are at the technical stuff. Hori looked physically awkward but had some really good arm work. Yokota was her usual self. At this point my supply of early AJW TV ends (for now) and I'll just continue with all the Jaguar I can find online. Jaguar Yokota & Mimi Hagiwara vs. Devil Masami & Tarantula, AJW 4/1/1983 Devil Masami! After watching this, maybe she's the woman I should be following. Nothing wrong with Yokota, but the focus of this match were the heels and Hagiwara to a lesser extent. Yokota showcases some fun 80s flying offense she gained and not much more. Masami on the other hand beat the shit out of Hagiwara landing rushing headbutts and punting her in the throat with a microphone. Most of heels' attacks were focused on the throat and it was pretty gruesome stuff. After the 2nd fall the faces get real pissed off and even bash the ref in the head with a table. It's really breaking down after that and Hagiwara even tries to disassemble the announcer's rink. Watching these tiny japanese women rampaging like Hansen is pretty funny. Masami gets a big nasty crimson mask but that doesn't stop her from press slamming Yokota out the ring into a bunch of trainees. Three flat falls keep this from being more but it was a fun watch.

Would you say Yamamoto is as good as Ono and Usuda? I've kind of neglected him but I've loved him in the few matches I've seen of his. I dunno, really. I've nominated those guys but I've hesitated to bring up Yamamoto. The short career and spontaneous schedule really hurts him. At his best he was better than half the guys nominated. I'd say Usuda is better because he was right there with Yujiro when it came to carrying the lesser BattlARTS guys and he also got better matches out of Yuta Yoshikawa and Keita Yano. Ono is a little more difficult because he never fought outright shitty guys, but then he has more and better high end stuff. I will say Yujiro Yamamoto may be better at short undercard matches than them.