Jetlag

Fun worker and one of those guys who got the best out of Baba. There's also a JIP match vs. Joe Blanchard on YouTube which is a couple minutes of in your face greatness. He genuinely looked like a terrifying nazi assbeater and his style makes you take stuff like The Claw seriously even 50 years later. If there was more footage he'd probably be a lock.

JIP - Lucy Kayama/Mimi Hagiwara v. Rimi Yokota/Seiko Hanawa (low sound) - Mid/Late 1979 Yokota tries the Masa Fuchi "make the foot touch the head" spot at one point in this. Other than that Seiko Hanawa did the bulk of the work here and neatly so. This was back to grappling and throws and it was good stuff until Yokota and Hanawa got more aggressive attacking Hagiwaras leg and took it to the outside. The legwork went probably too long and Yokota didn't really come alive during it like in previous matches. Hagiwara was fairly impressive (I can't recall a lot of workers who can transition from a victory roll into a gutwrench suplex and make it look good and seamless) but I imagine her screaming selling would really drive you up the wall if the sound quality here wasn't low end. I think Hagiwara is some kind of spiritualist these days which makes me a little disappointed as I'd like to her what a black metal band with her as vocalist would sound like. Victoria Fujimi v. Rimi Yokota - September 1979 Fujimi wasn't doing any of that Kung Fu nonsense here. In fact, she sort of redeemed herself by being a perfectly formidable opponent for Yokota. She has a really graceful single leg takedown, busts out the neat Gory Special pin and a really beautiful Huracanrana for a kinda chunky girl. On the other hand, she tried an incubatory springboard-style move that got laughs from the crowd. This was mostly action with a bit of matwork thrown in. I liked how Fujimi sold a Guillotine, liked how Yokota refuses to be put into boston crabs. I wonder if this style is the earliest instance of japanese natives working quasi-lucha against eachother. Jaguar at this point while not great had spotless execution (dig that stalling Butterfly Suplex) and the pissed-off intensity that would make her so outstanding later on. She seemed disgusted with her opponent and it reflected in her stomps and eye gouging. I love me a worker with good stomps and eye gouges. This was fairly short and ends with both of them taking turns smashing chairs over eachothers head before getting counted out. After that they walk back into the ring in unisono to insist on getting their hands raised.

I quite enjoyed Misawa vs. Nakajima. Probably the best possible Katsuhiko Nakajima match.

Rimi Yokota/Nancy Kumi v. Mami Kumano/Monster Ripper "late 70s" Ahh, the wonderous Monster Ripper. I dunno if she was technically good, but she surely was efficient, aside from having one of the best wrestling names ever. This was the best of the "heels beating up faces" TV matches so far. It was mostly a squash but they kept things interesting throughout. Kumano and Ripper knew how to mix it up aswell as understood how much offense to give the young faces, unlike the previous . Kumi starts this off with a Butterfly Suplex over the rope which is certainly unique, but Ripper runs back in and it quickly turns into an assbeating. I really, really liked Kumano here. She gave a nice understated heel peformance next to the freakish MR, stepping on fingers and and scraping faces with her bootlaces. Once Kumi and Yokota tried to mount a comeback on her she simply produced a foreign object and stabbed the fuck out of their faces and hands. Normally foreign objects/interference spots in japanese wrestling are handled pretty terribly where they just do whatever they want while some really shitty ref distractions is going on, but in this case Kumano was both hiding it well (it was a pretty small thing after all), then strutting around the ring and showing it to Yokota while the ref was distracted with her for a moment. So that was nice. Also really liked the timing on the "heel hits her own partner" spot. Yokota throw some nice punches which had no effect on Monster. She sold well throughout and here comeback spots in this match where noticably better in this bout than previously, but this match was all about Ripper and Kumano.

Seiko Honawa/Rimi Yokota v. Judy Martin/Yumi Ikeshita 1979 Martin just dwarves everyone here. I remember enjoying Ikeashita before, but this was kinda lame. Fairly by the numbers heel beatdown without much drama or great babyface comebacks. Martin was kind of awkward and blew a slingshot spot badly at one point. Match got a little heated when Ikeshita used a foreign object. I really like the way Ikeshita carries herself, but her punches weren't great (for someone who throws a few punche). Not much t say about Rimi and Seko in this. Rimi Yokota vs. Chino Sato 1979 If I remember correctly these two had a fairly noteworthy match in 1980. This was far from that match but I always enjoy finding rookie versions of great matchups. And let me tell, this was really enjoyable. It may have to do with the fact I find heatless technical matches much more tolerable than heatless face/heel matches. This was solid to the core matwrestling, mostly basic holds and throws, but everything was executed nice and smug, with some snap and fight to it. My favourite bit was probably Chino working surfboard variations. Nothing complex but she understood exactly what she was doing. Actually Chino controlled most of the match and did so admirably with cool throws, nice varied legwork and the described smug matwork. Yokota did a nice job selling the leg and fleeing to the ropes, but her eventual comeback was lame. The finish however was really neat. Both girls showed some great timing throughout this.

I wouldn't mind seeing a review of this. Franz Schlederer vs. Franz Schlenz, Austria 1985, Austrian Volksfestcup Final

Seen a handful of her matches and enjoyed what I've seen. I've got a bunch of early AJW, so let's assess her properly. Victoria Fujimi/Nancy Kumi v. Seiko Hanawa/Rimi Yokota - AJW TV 1978 I don't think Jaguar had been wrestling for a very long time at this point, hence her and Hanawa are called Young Pair. This is distinctly joshi from the get-go, which is kind of cool to see that the style was firmly in place as early as 1978. Fast paced, quick in and out tags, momentum changes, hard to tell who's in etc. I enjoyed this more than some of the 90s sprints because the takedowns and throws in this all ruled, the match was fairly scrappy and hate filled and laid out in such a way that the lack of selling didn't stand out in a bad way. Yokota and Yanawa were a pair of vicious pricks, rushing their opponents at the start and always coming out on top when the action spilled to the outside. I enjoyed how calmly they walked back in the ring after sending Fujimi and Kumi headfirst into chairs with no regards for anyones safety. Jaguar did some cool flying headscissors and attacked people's eyes after getting the hot tag which was cool, but hard to stand out in this kind of match. I also enjoyed the Golden Pair's arm work. My favourite thing about this early joshi stuff is that it all feels like a struggle. No laying in holds or waiting for the other guy to hit his offense at all. I also enjoy the whole 70s look with the stylish bathing suits and the colorful flower ring. Marina Figueroa vs. Rimi Yokota 78/79 Marina looks like a grumpy farmer's wife who's not afraid of hard work. Of course she was great. The match was very short (and apparently clipped) and essentially Marina delivers a rudo beatdown at double speed. Yokota gets two quick comebacks but essentially gets stomped. Not a bad showing at all from Marina, she has a really great chinlock, attacks the nose, uppercut to the throat and stomps the shit out of Yokota's arm, but this was just a squash. Yokota completely ignores the work on her bandaged arm so Marina finishes her with a neat backbreaker hold. One thing I noticed is how silent the crowds for these matches are, makes you wonder what AJW's premise at the time was. Marina Figueroa deserved better than this. Victoria Fujimi vs. Rimi Yokota late 1978/early 1979 Fujimi wears a karate jacket here and tries working like a Kung Fu/Stan Lane/Kato Kung Lee type which may be my least favourite type of babyface worker. The crowd took some delight it in though and they didn't go overboard. Interesting style for this, as the open with exchanges that feel absolutely lucha (Rimi does neat Negro Casas "stand on your toe and push you" takedown), then things break down and Fujimi takes a bump into unforgiving looking wooden chairs before Yokota does some really solid groundwork. Fujimi removes her jacket for her comeback and wrestles like a standard 70s joshi again which was amusing but I don't care for her stuff at all. The finish felt typically japanese. Nothing much to see here. Lucy Kayama vs. Rimi Yokota late 78/early 79 This was a solid, basic match between the youngins. I only noticed Lucy Kayama for fearlessly going for springboard dives on a 70s ring with loose ropes, but she was calmed down here. Once again Yokota rushes her opponent at the bell and stomps the fuck out of her leg. It was really nice, intense varied legwork that I imagine would've looked pretty great if these matches had any heat. Or if Lucy had sold any of it. I get US style limb selling and psychology is not what these rookies are going for but watching a few minutes of limb work followed by a payoff of another couple minutes of limbwork with neither section being sold is kind of pointless. I enjoyed it but I wouldn't call it something that's worth going out of your way to see. Good finish here as they scramble for Cobra Twists before Kayama lands a few nifty backbreaker variations and seals it with the gory special.

I just recently watched him vs. Tiger Emperor (Kotaru Suzuki in a mask) and it was certainly one of the best junior matches of the decade. Heck, it may be the best Michinoku Pro style singles match I've seen. He seems like an ultra-talented dude who is hurt by by being stuck in dark period for juniors, but I def. have to check out more of him before I can assess him properly. So far what I've seen is he has top notch execution on spots, no-nonsense offense, great base and knows how to play the music between the notes.

"People saying he's better than Brock in the Brock thread makes me laugh." "Saying he's better than Brock, who actually has a legitimate case for this list, just doesn't sit well with me." So... why is Brock's case more legitimate than Ogawa's then? You can go on about how ridiculous x is, but with nothing to back it up you are just dropping assertions which makes a GWE discussion pointless. As I said in the Brock thread, Ogawa a) has good matches with lousy workers doesn't look carried or out ofplace when matching up with guys like Hash, Kawada, Fujiwara c) thus is in a bunch of high end matches for such a "lousy" worker d) is otherwise comparable to Brock and e) while having some stinkers in his career, he doesn't sink to the same lows as Brock (something which people have yet to comment on in the Brock thread). So again, why is Ogawa > Brock ridiculous? Why is Brock more impressive when he's having great matches with super talented dudes like Cena and Reigns and shit matches with Angle and Triple H, when Ogawa has great matches with super talented dudes and decent matches with guys like Yasuda and Coleman? (by the way, wouldn't mind reading a Triple H/Yasuda comparison, Dylan) What does Brock DO that makes him better than Ogawa. Unpredictable offense? Ogawa kind of matches him. Selling? Again something Ogawa is really good at. Bumping? Ogawa's a bump machine. Charisma/aura? Again Ogawa is up there with the most impressive in all of japanese wrestling. Again Ogawa's chances of my list are reeeally low. Large chunk of his career in HUSTLE and stopped giving a crap in the last couple of years, altough I'll take him and Kaz dicking around for 7 minutes before an amusing Inoki fuckfinish over Brock and Angle going 60 or the dicking around Brock was doing in japan. But he is being way undersold. It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison between something him and Brocks best matches.

Thanks Khawk, I forgot the obvious I watched the first Spiros Arion match and it was total crap. Just really basic lame wrestling with nothing to sink your teeth into. It may be because of Spiros though, boy was that low blow lame. I didn't notice any transcendental crowd connection either, can anybody explain what Bruno actually does to merit such a 10/10 ranking? His selling was fairly goofy, aside from the whole match being kind of sloppy. The cage match was better but merely okay due to too much bullshit about climbing out the door and over the fence. Once again I'm not sure what Bruno did in it. I liked his punch combo but at another point he was wandering around looking like he was lost not knowing what to do. Also has a stupid dive off the cage when you could just win the match. I also watched clips of that Greek deathmatch. It looked a lot better but also kind of goofy. It's a little shocking to me cause I remember enjoying Bruno's selling of Baba's chops. Maybe he was too much in his comfort zone in those WWF matches. Anyways after going through what I assume are his best matches Bruno has no real chance for me. The Zbyszko and Hansen matches are more fun than great and he's not better than his opponents there. If you like him I suggest you check out Franz van Buyten.

I enjoy Baba but often he is just there and I don't recall any singles matches or tags where he was the better guy. The 1989 tag with Rusher is awesome and you want him to work like that more often but he just doesn't. The supposed "chess match" thing is something I don't see at all - he was good at working holds, but often he was just filling up time like many other workers. I think he's a fun worker but his "smart" working is way overrated. Also, way too reliant on his opponent to make his lousy offense look effective at all. Is "solid all around" and "never did anything wrong" enough to merit ranking him above genuinely outstanding workers?

What are the Top 5 Bruno matches? I've seen him vs. Baba, Larry and Hansen.

I think the 1999 Ogawa/Hashimoto match and Ogawa/Kawada are better than any match Brock has been in. Ogawa is actually a similiar case to Brock where he has been a part timer for most of his career and similiar to post-comeback Bock with the german suplex replaced by judo throws and his matches are smarter. Now Hash and Kawada are better opponents than Brock has had but Ogawa also figured out how to get good matches out of guys like Mark Coleman or Tadao Yasuda and has an enjoyable tag run teaming with Hashimoto.

He was great shootstylist who figured how to have great matches in what was arguably the weakest form of shootstyle presentation. Great singles bouts with Funaki, Tamura and Sano, all of which stand out as among the best bouts of it's respective company. Smart matworker with a knack for layout and some killer strikes. His big drawing card however is his ability to switch it up and transform into an absolute bastard and heat magnet when slotted into interpromotional battles. His expressiveness matches anyone else's in japanese wrestling history which makes him a great opponent for guys like Tenryu or Fujiwara, and one of those must-watch candidates where any possible matchup is interesting. Anjoh vs. Tarzan Goto? You know you want to see it, atleast I do, which is why digging up all the undercard Anjoh matches from the 2000s has been on my to do list for a while. The biggest crack on him is that the KINGDOM promotion that used him as ace was kind of a failure, but if you are considering Ohtani then Anjoh more than deserves a look.

His post comeback work has been hits and misses and only produced a small handful of matches. His first run had stuff like those fucking terrible Angle matches, the Goldberg fiasco and the horrible no-good japan stint. Granted he was a huge talent, is a spectacular attraction now and had a few good matches, but I don't see how he cracks a Top 100 unless you want to count his UFC impact which is like voting for Angle based on his medal. I'm not even sure he's better than Naoya Ogawa.

I went with Santo because he has quite a few impressive bloodbaths under his belt which is something Casas' career seems to be otherwise lacking. Unless I'm missing something there. I agree with OJ and Casas probably has more good/diverse matches on tape, but for me those two are almost interchangably close and Santito's aura matches Casas' character work.

I think he's kind of like a japanese Undertaker. Some good matches, but could get really annoying with antics and shtick. Didn't really become a great worker until the last couple years, and even then the booking hasn't done him much favors. Could see a chance for him once I watch all the PWFG.

I felt Reilly/KUSHIDA went about 20 minutes too long. They had some good ideas, but tried too hard to stretch the match and put in a bunch of goofy/throwaway moments. Stopped caring really. The end wound up feeling random. Maybe I'll like it more on rewatch.

I thought Mesias was excellent in that match and not spotty at all. Especially his selling of the Tombstone piledriver where he kept holding his neck in place and went for desperate takedowns. That is exactly how you make a believable comeback after getting drilled. He also threw rockin punches and a great tope. I don't see how that plancha to the floor was treated like nothing either - they teased a countout afterwards and Park made a lucky comeback knocking Mesias over with a punch to the face. Park was excellent in the match and it was a distinctly heel performance. You had him stomping the piss out of Mesias, landing square punches to the face and explicitly making sure to attack Mesias' pretty face in front of his female fans. He also made little things like getting crotched or taking a bump to the floor look amazing. After Mesias got into the match Park was fading away and resorting to more and more cheating tactics. FYI Park's brother was murdered just shortly before this event. So the bit with the sheet was typically pro wrestling. It only took a few seconds and didn't detract from the match at all as it allowed Mesias to believably survive, while it emphasized Park was a tasteless arrogant prick. So there you have it. Still the best singles match of the decade so far if you ask me.

You ought to do like Matt D and get some lessons in the gentle art of enjoying mexican wrestling.

Billy Catanzarro. vs Cesca is still about the best performance I've seen from a guy who has 1 match on tape. Nothing else has surfaced from him, altough Cesca showed up a couple times more on youtube. Also, Dave Taylor somehow ended up in the best chain match ever against van Buyten. He was a solid worker who probably should have been a big star with his freaky power spots alone, but in that match he was really great. Some more of these: - Masao Orihara vs. Akitoshi Saito - Sumie Sakai vs. Megumi Yabushita - Tatsuo Nakano vs. Masakatsu Funaki - Arandu vs. Guerrero Negro - Abe Ginsberg vs. Pete Curry - Red Bastien vs. Verne Gagne - Axel Dieter vs. Moose Morowski Fucking footage issues, can't we just have time travel already?

OJ, would you agree Franz van Buyten was the best european worker in 1987? Couple matches with Lasartesse, MOTYC against Rudge and getting good matches out of Col. Brodie, Butcher Mason and Suni War Cloud.

1997 - vs Fujiwara 1998 - vs Araya, vs Hashimoto 1999 - vs Hashimoto 1995 -w Ultimo vs. Kandori & Fuyuki I'd be shocked if there was a Tenryu match not worth watching.

After that shit-talking Dean in the other thread I really want to see a shit ton of match recs for Debbie now.

Joe Malenko should be a lock for my Top 100 Wrestlers I Love But Can't Honestly Call Top 100 All Time list.