Jetlag

Demus only made his debut in 2004, right? Was he very good as Mini Damian? I think his 2010 match with Pierrothito is a classic, but other than that he's "only" an excellent trios worker.

I don't think Dr. Cerebro is completely out of the question. He had some great stuff with Santito (altough not a great worker then) the early 2000s, was supposedly a freaky matworker back then already (would need to see these 1999 IWRG or Dragon System shows), turned into a really good worker throughout the 2000s with the 2004 tag title match with Cerebro Negro against Virus and Suicida being a real highlight, and was one of the best workers in the world 2009-2011 (where he carried some greenish guys like Multifacetico to high quality title matches). Hechicero seems like another case where there might be lots of cool under the radar stuff. He was in that awesome title match with Valiente in 2008 and a few matches with Caifan that are def. quality stuff. He's had quite the career - spending 10 years in nowhere then rising through the ranks in CMLL in minimal time. Las Traumas are probably the hardest to sell considering they didn't get "good" until 2009 but had sometimes weekly awesome performances after that. They both where close to being the greatest in the world in some years, but vanished for now. Altough I liked their rudo run in IWRG earlier this year.

There's way more "Ikeda working from underneath" than you'd think and he rules at it. He always gets credit for the maulings he dishes out, but his selling ability is as good as anyone elses.

Every match on this list that OJ did should be a must watch http://z11.invisionfree.com/wrestling_ko/index.php?showtopic=2555&st=0 But most probably don't have the time to dig through all of that now. But I've been checking out OJs recommendations for years now and I don't regret it. WoS rules

Greco is all I want from a shoot stylist. A total grappling machine that looks like he would pop your shoulder in seconds. He was amazingly consistent in his first BattlARTS run and always delivered crazy matwork and forced his opponents to go all out. Also has a legit classic with the Ishikawa singles match which is pretty much the perfect grappling match.

Not the most consistent of the 90s BattlARTS crew and no long classic singles matches then, but always looked good to great and was reliable in tags, then came back as an excellent veteran worker in the reincarnated BattlARTS. It's a broken record, but at that point this guy could've had a match with a half eaten sausage, and makes you wish more wrestlers got this good as veterans. Also worth noting that he looked on Ono's level when they battled in Futen.

Another matter of how much you value volume. From the 90s footage that is available (often his matches were cut or clipped), Ono looks like he was good from the get go, and pops up occasionally in a big tag, being really good and playing his role to perfection. The early 2000s saw him relegated to undercard matches, showing glimpses of later genius and putting on quality performances in pretty meaningless matches. Then Ono disappears for almost 10 years, pops up again as veteran on Futen cards and has reached unreal levels. Guy with blindingly fast matwork and submissions, throwing a variety of strikes and delivering mark out worthy selling is a great recipe for Battlartsian quasi shootstyle and Ono routinely looked like the best ever at it delivering one great match after another. Also, probably the greatest skinny wrestler ever.

Takeshi Ono http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/21985-daisuke-ikeda-takeshi-ono-vs-manabu-suruga-takahiro-oba-futen-040909/?hl=%2Btakeshi+%2Bono http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/11550-yuki-ishikawa-alexander-otsuka-vs-daisuke-ikeda-takeshi-ono-battlarts-103096/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/11618-katsumi-usuda-takeshi-ono-vs-daisuke-ikeda-alexander-otsuka-battlarts-122596/ Katsumi Usuda http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/11618-katsumi-usuda-takeshi-ono-vs-daisuke-ikeda-alexander-otsuka-battlarts-122596/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/25987-katsumi-usuda-vs-keita-yano-battlarts-111608 http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/12559-carl-greco-vs-katsumi-usuda-pwfg-102993/ Carl Greco http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/12559-carl-greco-vs-katsumi-usuda-pwfg-102993/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/26981-yuki-ishikawa-vs-carl-greco-battlarts-042498/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/21902-yuki-ishikawa-vs-carl-greco-battlarts-young-generation-battle-060108/

Don't forget to check out the 1991 Anjoh match. That's definitely an early great, altough Anjoh plays his part there aswell.

Seems like a good example of a worker that's a favourite but not a great. Her big advantage is her fairly unique style, at her best being reminiscent of Negro Navarro or Tamon Honda with all kinds of neat grappling and an endless array of unorthodox submissions (perhaps too endless and unorthodox). Some strong showings in 1999 (which was a dire year otherwise), but after that there's not many great matches despite making tape plenty of times. It would be interesting to go and watch her work as a veteran in her own Ibuki promotion, as I feel she played second fiddle to her opponents a bit too much.

Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mighty Inoue/Great Kabuki (AJPW 2/21/90) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CDlYdMe0qs Sweet Jesus this RULED. I think after watching this Mighty and Kabuki deserve a closer look at their careers as I didn't realize they could still go this hard into the 90s. Everybody played their roles to perfection and the result was a super gritty, violent spectacle. Tenryu and Kawada were being gigantic dickheads to the old guys, constantly running in and kicking them in their faces, Tenryu gets especially nasty towards the end. Inoue was great as the plucky technician and took horrific abuse, while Kabuki was a tank. I don't know which I loved more, him repeatedly running across the ring to punch Tenryu in the face, smashing a chair over his head or finally having enough and repeatedly punting him in the eye with the point of his boot. The early going was a lot of holds, but all quality stuff, as the submissions made sense and Kawada did a great job selling chokes. The finishing run sees Mighty finally losing his cool and decking Tenryu with lefts and rights, just killer. If you want to watch some violent pro wrestling with strong character work, give this a shot.

Fiera is not to be underestimated. The singles matches with Babe Face and Estrada are gritty masterpieces and really showcase that nasty gut wrenching feeling you only get in these old lucha brawls. The rest of his work sees him living up to his reputation as one of the best workers around - just a blindingly spectacular wrestler who'd bump like a madman. Throw him in there with a young Misawa, with a dozen other guys in that Cibernetico, or pretty much any other random matchup, and he'd steal the show.

Honda has his sceptics, and probably for good reason, but never overlook a guy who arguably outwrestled both Akiyama and Kobashi in singles matches. All-out Honda was undoubtedly a world class worker, and even while some of his undercard work is uninspired, there's plenty of neat underrated stuff to be found thanks to his unorthodox style and exceptional moveset. I think NOAH letting him go was a mistake, as he could still go in his Futen matches (of which there are far too few available) and he was able to have a surprisingly good tag in 2012 with Akiyama, Shiozaki and his old rival Saito.

Maybe the discovery of the Lucha 80s set, with two classic title bouts, great work in tags and awesome character work. Cota is one of those faces made for pro wrestling. He still had plenty left in the tank for his 90s run as old guy, so there's a lot to check out.

Maybe a lucha dark horse for me, this guy was definitely one of the most skilled technicos around. Always a highlight in tags and a quality guarantee when working title matches, including one of the definite lucha singles against Dandy and holding his own against Blue Panther. Doesn't seem like a huge career compared to other lucha guys, but there's plenty of quality stuff, neat exchanges in random tags to be found throughout the 90s.

Not the most beloved WoS worker at this stage, as he had annoying tendencies, but was undeniably in some of the best WoS matches and he could really go when outside of his comfort zone. Also, a pretty cool run as ancient maestro type worker on the indy scene with lots of good to great exhibitions.

This blog post says more about Terry than I ever could http://segundacaida.blogspot.de/search?q=Black+Terry Long, excellent career with plenty of classics and hidden gems sprinkled throughout. Pretty great run for a guy who pops up only sporadically, and when he was showing up more regularily thanks to his kid from 2009-2011 he was delivering high quality stuff sometimes twice a day. Great brawler and technical worker, who has that "it" in him to produce epic moments similiar to other lucha greats like Sangre Chicana.

Fairly unique worker who doesn't have any really flashy spots or works exceptionally stiff compared to other euro workers, but was able to create highly engaging matches out of thin air through excellent selling. You could probably pick any tall, fat ugly dude from a bar or construction site and Franzl would get a three star match out of him. Also, he was able to get a better match out of Suni War Cloud than Terry Rudge, in my opinion. There's a decent amount of footage available from his late career, even into the early 90s in that france wrestling promotion where he was still able to have really fun matches (check out that Haystacks bout). Of course the highlights are against the king bad boys like Rudge and Lasartesse. Overall an exceptional euro heavyweight worker with a tremendous ability to connect with the crowd, and had what is for my money the greatest chain match ever with Dave Taylor of all people. Recommended matches: vs. Terry Rudge vs. Rene Lasartesse vs. Dave Taylor

This is probably more a question of how much more footage will show up. This dude is one of the definite heels on the euro scene who was extremely effective working in germany throughout the 80s and able to have super heated, fairly gritty matches while looking like your granddad. Pretty fun run but wouldn't consider him for a Top 100 all time on that alone, but with more of his early work from france showing up thanks to youtube, I could see him being worth consideration with a few more lost gems showing up. Recommended matches: - like half a dozen vs. Franz van Buyten - vs. Michael Allary - vs. Billy Samson

Since Terry Rudge is a definite consideration, Cortez should be a must have too, as I think he was arguably more consistent. I think there is only one match of his from the 70s available (a pretty fun bout), but throughout the 80s he was such an awesome veteran technician on the british TV, who got high quality, hard fought matches out of anyone, with most of them being up there with the best stuff of the decade. Recommended matches: vs. Pete La Paque vs. Steve Grey vs. Keith Haward

I think this guy has like 10 matches on tape, so if you like volume, he has no chance, but it would be a sin to not atleast look at this guy. Sarjeant may be the definite mindblowing brit technician for me, as his endless array of intricate techniques, freaky body contortion spots and great sense of timing and structure always made for highly entertaining TV matchups. He also could do in a fast paced heated match as the McManus bout proves. When it comes to delivering matwork, I don't think Sarjeant is much below your best shoot stylists or luchadores. Recommended matches: vs. Clay Thomson vs. Robby Baron vs. Eddie Capelli

Black Terry http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-184-black-terry-handhelds/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-280-black-terry-negro-navarro-y-villano-iv-vs-blue-panther-ultimo-dragon-y-olimpico/ Angel Azteca http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/17326-el-dandy-vs-angel-azteca-emll-032390/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/17504-el-dandy-vs-angel-azteca-emll-060190/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-132-blue-panther-vs-angel-azteca/ Mocho Cota http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-393-cmll-the-lost-years-pt-1/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-374-dvdvr-best-of-the-80s-2/ Johnny Saint Alan Sarjeant Jon Cortez http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/15983-the-beginners-guide-to-british-wrestling/ Rene Lasartesse http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/15983-the-beginners-guide-to-british-wrestling/page-9 http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/16764-french-catch/page-5 Franz van Buyten http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/15983-the-beginners-guide-to-british-wrestling/page-4 Tamon Honda http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/25797-daisuke-ikeda-vs-tamon-honda-noah-departure-090101/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/25848-kenta-kobashi-vs-tamon-honda-noah-encountering-navigation-041303/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/25847-tamon-honda-vs-akitoshi-saito-noah-encountering-navigation-033003/

I'd add this for BattARTS stuff Daisuke Ikeda vs. Mohammed Yone, BattlARTS 8/29 Daisuke Ikeda/Takeshi Ono v. Masao Orihara/Mohammed Yone BattlArts 6/25 I'd say BattlARTS was pretty great in 1999, Daisuke Ikeda may have been the wrestler of the year.

The Jacobs/Whitmer I Quit from IWA MS 500th show should be a must. Necro Butcher vs. Toby Klein from the 2004 KOTDM too if you want to include deathmatches.