Jetlag

This is a "Pirate Fight" - a chain match where the goal is to climb the opponent's turnbuckle and remove his flag. For my money it's the best match from germany on tape, and a real contender for the best euro match ever. The battle is pure stylistic weirdness as it's a chain match that goes nearly 40 minutes, filmed like a documentary style handheld, worked like a PWFG bout. Lots of grappling, elaborate chain tricks. It seems absurd but it totally works thanks to the great filming and both guys doing a fantastic job in their roles. Taylor is the grimacing heel laying a huge beating on Van Buyten, who is an incomparable babyface here. It really is the camerawork that pushes this to the next level as you get lots of great shots and closeups of their faces. The match itself is very minimalist, as they struggle for minimal position changes as if it were a shootstyle match to which the crowd reacts accordingly (the crowd is incredibly loud throughout this, by the way). Both guys do all kinds of chain chokes, inbetween beating the fuck out of eachother. Taylor dishes out some heavy punches, Franz smashes into him with reckless elbows. The "nearfalls" consist of guys tugging on the chain while trying to get the flag, and you won't believe how compelling they make it look. I don't think there was a single wrestling move or big bump in here, but the whole match works as a battle of wills and endurance and as such is done as well as any other wrestling match in history.

This is a No DQ, Tap Out and Knockout Only, Loser Leaves Town match that goes about 35 minutes. Despite the length it's a real goody, maybe the best match of the year. Dieter is the local babyface technician who can kick ass if necessary. Morowski was a canadian worker who is used to these stipulation matches. No gimmicks required, they just beat the shit out of eachother. The technician vs. brawler story makes this unique as it leads to some unusual matwork and struggling. Dieter wants to do holds and takedowns into a pin, but Morowski throws punches and pulls his hair. This leads to Dieter visibly aquiring Morowski's tactics over the match and fighting fire with fire. It develops into a really compelling bout with great selling. Dieter has this great punch drunk selling and at one point does this ridiculously great sell of a Morowski heart punch. Morowski on the other lands punch after punch and does a very convincing job selling that he is slowly punching himself out. After 7 rounds with no winner, the announcer says the 8th. round will be endless until there is a decision. At this point both guys look like they have been beaten past the point of human tolerance. It builds to really nifty, albeit clunky finishing sequence. Great bout, one of the best from germany, and according the Dieter himself the best of his career.

I'm having problems with Austin. He seems like somebody who should cruise into my Top 100, but then just doesn't. Like his WCW work a LOT, like the Bret Hart matches, like him in 2000-2001 and the Angle match is a favourite of mine. But then I started putting my Top 100 together and the competition is starting to get really steep for him. I'm starting to feel he is, in essence, just not that good. I've been kind of avoiding his commercially most succesful phase, but if somebody could point me in the direction of a few matches from that period I would really appreciate it.

So what makes him so different from Robert Gibson? You can say he was carried by his partner, but he was in a bunch of good matches. Why does Jumbo being in good matches add to his resume while Gibson's are comfortably ignored? I just looked at your list of +**** ranked 70s Jumbo and I would be curious about what your measure for a "great" match by 70s standards is. I like those Funk tags but in no way are they +**** material. The guys that jdw posted are interesting. Are there any 1971, 1972, 1973 Fujinami matches on tape? The earliest Fujinami I can find on Ditch's site is 1977. That's not a real comparison. If you keep it fair and include Fujinami's stuff until 1979 it's much more even. He was doing really phenomenal stuff by that time. Taue: if Jumbo gets points for being in those Funk tags what does Taue get for being in the 1993 MOTY tag, the best long AJPW tag in a while with Jumbo, and the best 6 man ever? If you ask me he is much closer. Really excellent match series against Kawada, a few real good long singles matches, actively great in tags. How about these guys: Marty Jones 1972 - 1978 - I think only matches from 1976-78 are available, but what is there is a damn great match against Rudge and a super impressive, state of the art match series against Mark Rocco. Jun Akiyama: 1992-1998 - has those HDA tags in 1996. Bryan Danielson: 1999-2005 - while not his best work, he got good as early as 2001 and continued to do some of the best work on the scene for years. Yuki Ishikawa 1992 - 1998/ Daisuke Ikeda 1993-1999/Alexander Otsuka 1995-2001 - these guys are interesting because much of their case rests on that early period. They all look good almost from the get go and have a bunch of good/great matches under their resume despite limited footage situation. Throw in a couple other guys like Low Ki (1998-2004), Masa Funaki (1985-1991), Kiyoshi Tamura (1989-1995), Yujiro Yamamoto (2008-2011), Ken Shamrock in PWFG and Jumbo's resume as a young worker doesn't seem super special anymore. EDIT: Naoya Ogawa (1997-2003) would also be an easy inclusion. I think "Best Rookie" would be an interesting discussion. Also: JvK, what is your Top 10 for 70s workers? I've thought about it a little and from the top of my head I would rank these guys above Jumbo: Jack Brisco, Destroyer, Billy Robinson, Buddy Rose, Jim Breaks, Alan Sarjeant, Steve Grey, Mick McManus, Tibor Szakacs, Terry Funk.

As someone who has seen every 70s Jumbo match there is too find... what exactly are the performances that make him a top 10 worker for the period? He is in some good to great matches, some of which I'm a big fan of (the Bockwinkel match springs to mind), but I don't recall him doing a single thing that really pushed him being head and shoulders above a majority of the talent pool of 70s wrestlers... I think the word that describes him best is "good in his role" during that period. While a top 10 tier worker would be described as "sensational in his role". Re Fujinami, I guess argueing whether it's "better" is a matter of taste, but he displayed more mat skill in his LA match vs. Mando Guerrero than I've ever seen from Jumbo. Wouldn't say it makes me rank Fujinami above Jumbo but it def. adds more to Fujinami's resume for me than Jumbo being handlead from one hold to another by Funk and Robinson. If you wanna go by sheer volume of great matches, sure, Jumbo beats them all by footage KO. EDIT: Where does Antonio Inoki rank for you, considering he was in some damn good matches against Brisco, Destroyer, and Backlund?

Never seen this dude. Is he as good as Yujiro Yamamoto?

I like him as he's been in a handful of matches I really like. That being said has he ever had a really good match against somebody who isn't a superworker like Hashimoto, Tenryu, Fujiwara and Tamura, or to be precise a match where he actively brought something of his own to the table besides kicks? Is he better than, say, Osamu Kido?

He really doesn't have a lot of non-Navarro singles matches, but I recall him doing a mighty fine job carrying Blue Demon Jr. on one of these UK shows.

That match is really amazing because it showcases a great wrestler translating into a seedy environment. The guy who produced epics in the Tokyo Dome is still great even when matched up with sub-par talent and doing spots with valets. Still has the same aura and presence that commands respect. I think there's also a US match of his vs. Corino online that showcases this.

I enjoy the second wind his career is having now that he dropped the mask. That being said his matches were utter skip material for a long time and mostly very much the opposite of what I want from lucha.

I don't think anybody attacked Mochi for not following up a random armbar. My problem was you had Shingo hitting a Death Valley Bomb on the apron, and then without even going for a cover immediately moving on to work over Mochi's legs. Really robotic transition. Then you have the problem in almost all these matches Mochizuki's legs are attacked for several minutes, establishing that his kick attacks are dangerous enough so his opponent will want take out his legs. Now If Mochi actually sold that and put over the fact his legs were beaten badly making him unable to land his kicks you'd get a much more interesting match. This is a pretty basic criticism and while I'd say Mochizuki is better at selling than others I think his matches would be a lot better if he took it more seriously and went outside of his comfort zone to put over the story of a match. Also I think context is really overrated. A top 10 all time worker shouldn't be so dependent on knowing the context to his matches. I watched many, many matches completely without context when I started downloading stuff off the internet. This includes stuff like the 1995 HDA tag (probably the first japanese match I saw), Destroyer/Mascaras, Saint/Breaks, Tamura/Tariel, the 2008 BattlARTS 6 man, etc. If workers are good enough the internal logic of a match will make sense of it's own.

OJ already did a detailled reply but since Mike from WKO was kind enough to type a response I'll c+p it over here aswell Azteca expected a tie up but Dandy shot in for the takedown. Initially Azteca’s momentum carried him forward, a second later Dandy uses leverage to force him backwards. It’s a pretty common takedown. He doesn’t just basically roll over. Azteca breaks the hold by applying pressure to Dandy’s ankle and then elbow. A very basic, common reversal that requires little cooperation other than not holding onto the facelock. Perhaps there was no struggle because Azteca caught Dandy off guard? I didn’t notice any sloppiness here. This was just a sequence of basic counters and holds. Azteca applied a basic hold which Dandy easily countered. Nothing more to it. At worst it was forgettable grappling. Looked like a tight face lock to me. Dandy’s initial resistance was clear. Great example of struggling, competition and pain. Leverage counter. Crossface chickenwing counter. Dandy looked to be going for some kind of armbar but it didn’t pay off. I’ll admit it was a pretty weak transition. Lucha matches rarely focus on a body part. They’re going for submissions for the most part instead of trying to gradually weaken body parts. Was a sleeper hold. Dandy wasn’t trying to wear down his opponent he was going for a submission. Azteca needed to escape quickly, which he did. He then hit the leg sweep, which Dandy sold really well. I didn’t see that happening. Didn’t they just restart the action? Azteca’s arms were trembling from strain, much like when Misawa locks in his facelock. There looked to me a ton of pressure and struggling. There’s supposed to be a gap where the guy’s hands meet.

I also love the fact that the booking established Akiyama can be easily upset (beaten in just a few minutes if his opponent plays his cards right). It's lead to a number of great sprints throughout his career and people really buying into nearfalls on him in the early minutes of a match.

Great last 10 minutes. Funaki is absolutely out of control with the legbar variations here. Anytime TAKA attempts a comeback his fucked up leg thwarts him. It makes for a great dramatic contest. At one point TAKA fights out of another Funaki leg lock and Funaki just gets up and slaps and kicks the shit out of him. What a statement. This may be one of the best examples of "junior match with damaged leg selling" I've seen, makes you wish the full version was available somewhere.

I felt Shingo was pretty bad. He did those ridiculous Tenryu style kicks to the face that didn't even touch Mochizuki's head, later the same with punches. He also blew a sequence and was absolutely guilty of that obnoxious video game like on/off selling. He redeemed himself a little with the punches he threw later. The second half of the match felt like every 2nd sequence involved running in some way. I mean almost all of Mochi's signatures involve running, the kick to the apron, the springboard enzuigiri, the axe kick from the corner, the yakuza kicks, soccer kicks, etc. I think it would increase the sense of desperation if he didn't do that so much. Imagine if Kawada had to run the ropes everytime he tried his gamengiri. Watched some more Mochizuki: vs. Dick Togo http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x698xe_masaaki-mochizuki-vs-dick-togo_sport Mochizuki slotted into a signature Togo match. Togo essentially brutalizes Mochizuki, blooding him up and destroying his leg. Mochizuki still hits all of his signature kick combos, sprinting across the ring etc. It wasn't a terrible performance from him but I felt you could've slotted any other indy kicker into his place and gotten an equal result. Mochizuki was much less compelling when taking a beating here than in the Takagi match. Notable obnoxious moment: Mochizuki kicks out of a Pedigree from the top rope, then wins the match with a botched rollup. w Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Koji Kanemoto & Kazuki Hashimoto, Fortune Dream 12 10 14 Pretty typical junior kickers face off type match. Kanemoto looks way over the hill but was still pretty fun as he has fun ways to lay an asskicking on someone. Kanemaru and Mochizuki turn this into almost a comedy match halfway into it by doing lots of low blow spots. I really liked Mochizuki's non chalant knee to the balls but I think I preferred Kanemaru kicking Kanemoto in the balls and then doing the mexican fake. Other than that this was pretty much guys hitting and getting hit until the time limit draw. One thing I noticed is that Mochi looks much more generic here than the veteran who challenged Shingo one year later. vs. TAKA Michinoku, DG 7/3/05 Great match. I guess some could argue that the first half of this was TAKA kicking the shit out of Mochi's leg and the second half is Mochi hitting all of his signature kicks anyways. I thought the initial transition with Mochi hobbling across the ring then slapping his lleg and shrugging the injury off was good enough. On the other hand this was an excellent TAKA performance. He was really compelling both getting the shit kicked out of him, making the early armwork look important and working over Mochizuki. Mochizuki does well in his role but I have to see he doesn't look very charismatic next to his peers. The finishing stretch was a little your turn-my turn-ish but I felt they got the point across well that Mochizuki was about landing his combos and closing in on TAKA while TAKA had more of a punchers chance with his out of nowhere kicks. Didn't like the Kurt Angle-ish use of Taka's face lock, but what do ya want. I think it was very notable that this match had much less rope running and contrived sequences and thus felt tighter and more urgent. One match in favor of Mochizuki so far. So far I'm not blown away but I will try to check out a little more to see how he does against his peers. For someone people say is different from the typical DG worker it seems that he is very much guilty of shit typically associated with bad DG/Junior workers: no selling, filler limb work, getting his shit in, etc. I will try to find a match where he is in a more dominant role because selling and taking a beating doesn't seem to be something he really grasped until this year.

I watched Mohizuki vs. Shingo which appears to be the most pimped (5 stars) match of Mochizuki's career. Also the first Mochizuki singles of that caliber I've seen. I was fine with Mochizuki's performance in it, particularily the fact that he was able to control his opponent in a way that didn't get dull. On the other hand, the DG style is so weird with the constant no selling and contrived sequences that everything kind of gets lost in a shuffle. There were moves like an apron death valley driver that weren't even followed up by a cover. Shingo was def. the worse guy in the match but there were many moments where Mochizuki looked like your typical DG style worker who loves to engage in running contests.

I enjoy him in those WAR tags punching dudes in the face but I've also heard bad things about him. I think I've seen 1 or 2 matches from the 2000s where he looks kind of Momota-ish but sadly doesn't do any face punching. Recommendations?

What are his Top 5 matches? I've only seen him vs. Goldberg and two vs. Benoit.

This was kind of a weird match. It feels closer to something like Kikuch/Aoyagi, however weird that comparison may seem. The first match was a real "broad" spectacle going all over the arena while this is worked really "compact". It's almost all in the ring. When Hokuto is selling, she is in kind of a slouched over position, and when Kandori goes for pins she attempts to roll Hokuto into a ball. When the match goes to the outside, it is immediately followed with a big move. When Kandori re-enters the ring Hokuto runs up and absolutely blasts her with a spin kick to the face. It has the feel and intensity as if they were fighting in a telephone cell, or like an amateur wrestling match. They establish Kandori is tougher while Hokuto is slowly falling apart but will not quit. There's a lot of huge bombs in a tight timeframe which aren't no sold but rather sold as in "I am unwilling to stay down for YOUR bullshit offense". Hokuto tries to kill Kandori throwing bombs, Kandori toys around until forced to use her submissions. Eventually they go back to the beginning of the match eskimo boxing. Hokuto has no real chance but Kandori looks like she is giving it all to stay on your feet and remain superior. Hell of a battle.

I think for someone who is thought of as quintessential babyface Steamboat's ability to go outside the typical formula is really remarkable. I watched Steamboat vs. Orndorff from Halloween Havoc today and, while not a great match, it shows what Steamboat was capable of. He does some really nasty armwork almost ripping Orndorffs fingers off. Orndorff's (inital) selling helps, but Steamboat has a Hashimoto like intensity where you think he is going to attack Orndorff to the point the referee will stop the match. After that the match turns into almost a WCWified NOAH structure with a few perfectly timed bumps (including Steamboat missing a charge flying over the top rope from the ramp) and excellent build to Steamboat's crossbody finisher, including landing a flying karate chop on the ramp and then in the ring for a great nearfall. They could have done a generic heat/shine structure no problem, but decided to something more interesting. The Beach Blast match is probably the best example of Steamboat's ability to do a little more complex stuff than anyone else at the time. Really interesting worker.

She is someone I like especially her performance in the Aja match but I recall being disappointed by the Kandori matches (that match with the chain being a particularily messy brawl that went forever and the barbwire match being a rather generic deathmatch) and the AJW tags are a mess and not as good as other womens tags from the time. Feels like a cult hero that really doesn't have much of a body of work to me. Still a hundred times better than Brody though. Where will Necro Butcher be on your ballots folks?

Zoltan Boscik: vs. Robby Baron vs. Jon Cortez vs. Jim Breaks vs. John Naylor vs. Steve Grey vs. Alan Sarjeant Steve Grey: vs. Clive Myers (2 or 3 of them) vs. Mick McManus vs. Jon Cortez vs. Jim Breaks vs. Johnny Saint vs. Keith Haward vs. Ken Joyce Terry Rudge: vs. Les Thornton vs. Marty Jones vs. Tom Tyrone vs. Len Hurst vs. Dalibar Singh vs. Franz van Buyten vs. Steve Regal (Hamburg, Germany)

He worked heel in IWS (canadian indy) earlier in his career (IIRC it was in a feud against that goof Beef Wellington where they traded apron brainbusters and triple piledrivers, so may be not quite worth seeking out). I thiiink he works heel in a youtube match against Maxime Boyer but I can't check it right now. It's been forever but I recall him not doing any exaggerated heel stuff, just working like a pissed off dick punishing guys with Yakuza kicks.

Early 2000s AJPW has some interesting looking cards: AJPW Super Action Series 2000 - Tag 8 Singles Match Mohammed Yone vs. Steve Williams Singles Match Masanobu Fuchi vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara Tag Team Match Jinsei Shinzaki & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Maunakea Mossman & Toshiaki Kawada (Yuki Ishikawa main eventing AJPW! against Kawada!) Anybody seen this? Supposedly it was on GAOA TV. Other interesting looking matchups: 12.9.2000 Nippon Budokan Genichiro Tenryu/Mitsuya Nagai vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Mohammed Yone 11.27.2000 Niigata Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Danny Kroffat vs. The Windham Brothers There's quite a few interesting looking Fujiwara matches there. I've only seen Fujiwara and Fuchi vs. Nagai and Kakihara which is a godlike squash match. Yoji Anjoh also worked there. There's also a 60:00 draw involving Kawada, Hase, Kensuke and Kojima. Only comment on it that I can find is that they filled the time well.

Insanely good in 2010 and 2011 in his Futen appearances. Inspired throughout his NOAH run. Far superior to a lot of other japanese 2000s worker, but I think the early retirement ends his case.