Jetlag

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.

I really loved this and it instantly became one of my favourite AJ matches. I'm one of those people who are bored by a lot of 90s AJPW so I guess it's a matter of preference. The opening work was tremendous. I enjoy watching talented workers battling over tight holds and they did a great job here. Even simple things like Hansen escaping a headlock or Misawa retaliating with a series of elbows to Hansen's arm felt really important. It also helped that Hansen just beat the shit out of Misawa throughout the match. His shoulder block might be one of my favourite spots ever - I mean just imagine this huge Texan with notoriously bad eyesight crashing his body into yours at full speed. The bit on the apron with both guys stubbornly battling for control and Misawa leaping into some kind of desperation elbow drop was also really great. The whole match was a hard stubborn battle for control really. Misawa trying to facelock Hansen with his weak arm then switching sides and almost putting him away was one of the coolest spots I've seen. The finishing run was also really great. It didn't have big bumps or anything but they really got you to believe they could put eachother away with basic submissions, and Hansen repeatedly crushing Misawa underneath him was brutal. The finish was the only real logical way for Misawa to beat this fucker and they had done a great job building toward it. You see so many shitty meaningless elbow exchanges these days that Misawa really looks like a GOAT contender just based on all his extremely well timed strikes that he lands with considerable smack. Great match, the bad rep is undeserved.

Actually, I thought the matwork in this was brilliant. Hashimoto may look clumsy, but anytime he did something it felt innovative, while Hase was really aggressive and trying to use his powerful takedowns to his advantage. Once they stood up this turned into a festival of pure distillated death. If I had been asked who threw the hardest chops before I probably would've said Tenryu or Kobashi, but Hase of all people may outdo them both in this one, just trying to fell a tree. The look Hashimoto gives him before getting up and damn near splitting Hase in half with one of his own says it all. That's the kinda moments why Hash is the fucking greatest. Then I believe to take Hase's speed advantage away he decides to knock the wind out of him in the nastiest manner possible. He really establishes basic moves like toe kicks or body scissors as deadly by doing them in the most violent manner possible. The last couple minutes felt like Shinya putting on some AJPW-ish touches to his game by busting out variations on his signature moves, but it had that distinct NJPW feel where they fight over posture and mini details like that, in between absolutely nuking eachother. Hard to believe anyone could get up from that spin kick alone. Badass match, Hashimoto is the king.

Looks like Le Petit Prince Daniel Dubail. According to french Wiki a he made his first TV appearance with Andre.

This reminds me a little of a situation I had with a friend of mine a while ago. She was really concerned that people would ridicule her if she admitted that she loved classical music, but at the same time had no problem talking about her love of cheesy hollywood movies. Maybe it's because I live in a country where pretty much everybody indulges in Trash TV, or because I'm younger (20) and the people I surround myself with, but hiding your love of wrestling seems silly in these days and ages, as long as it's not your only hobby (to be fair, if I met somebody who watches 5+ hours of WWE a week and spends lot of time gossiping about backstage stuff online I'd probably think that person is pretty weird too). Actually, I've gotten more shit on online message boards for watching "obscure" wrestling like lucha or shootstyle, while explaining the concepts of lucha de apuestas or exoticos makes for pretty amusing conversation with people who are foreign to the subject. I don't really have a fellow fan that I chat about current wrestling to, but then I don't follow current wrestling closely anyways. About girls and getting laid, I've experienced very little problem. I guess it helps that wrestling has inspired me to join BJJ and amateur wrestling classes - girls dig a guy who can handle himself on the mat.

Mother of fuck that Rudge/Hurst match is great. That is what I love about watching old wrestling, when they take offense that we think of as low end and make it interesting. Rudge may have turned a hairpull into a holy shit spot in that match.

I think Jeff Cobb was part of Guam's olympic wrestling team. Guy has some talent and really beautiful execution on some of his moves and especially really nice suplexes, he had a match vs. Timothy Thatcher that was really good I thought last year. Of course he could also turn into another Kurt Angle - when you mentioned a stupid powerslam move I thought you were talking about that backflip thing I've seen him do in another match. Personally I don't think that sort of move or the one you see in the video is as stupid as, say, most Go 2 Sleep variations or convoluted facebuster moves you see other indy wrestlers do, atleast it's athletically impressive enough. Oliver John I think is a guy who also had a good match with Timothy Thatcher (hey Meltzer if you are reading this why aren't you raving about that guy cause he really rules). He's been working US "lucha" shows for a while and when he fought Hijo del Santo in TXT he didn't show anything that would make him stand out amongst a million other US workers. In the US I think he works a generic Border Patrol stooging heel. Just a baldheaded wrestler dude.

What an amazing badass violent brawl. I think UWFi did "shooty" tags before this, but I don't remember any of them having this kind of violent, out of control flair. This is really US style tag psychology fused with shootstyle at lucharesu pace. Ikeda and Ono are an awesome pair of bruiser heels. Right at the start they double team Ishikawa pasting him with kicks and cutting off the ring to isolate him while he busts out cool mat counters to defend himself. Otsuka has these really awesome moments of explosive hot tags where he just runs in and dumps somebody on his head right off the bat. Just like the Ishikawa/Ikeda dynamic (who spend most of the early going shoot punching eachother in the mouths) he has this dynamic with Takeshi Ono, who spends most of the fight on the apron waiting to sneak in and kick somebody in the eye to break a submission. At one point, Otsuka is visibly fed up with it an pummels Ono really aggressively into the corner almost like a sumo. He was looking pretty irate and Ono just taunts him even more. When Ono actually was in the ring, we got to see either his slick skinny ratboy grappling or his reckless kicks. We also get to see what Ishikawa is really about as later in the match he gets his comeuppance hooking one nastier and nastier submission on Ikeda. The finish is absolutely picture perfect as Ikeda and Ishikawa go back to the shoot punches while Otsuka finally catches Ono. Perfect introduction to the style. I've watched some top level 90s AJPW tags in the past weeks and I wouldn't hesitate to put this up there with them.

Fujiwara was definitely making an example of Taka here, while Taka gave one of the gutsiest underdog performances I remember seeing. Fujiwara really seemed to intent on driving the point home that Taka was nothing to him and gave him a stretching and beating that would Terry Rudge wince, while Taka never stepped back. All of his attacks were lightning quick and great looking and Fujiwara reversing every single one almost on the spot was freaky. It's PWFG so Taka couldn't do dives or anything and was stuck having to go for submissions, but he just wouldn't give up. Great, great match.

I remember being a little disappointed when I first saw this, but now I have to shake my head at myself because this kicked ass and delivered exactly what almost 10 minutes of Tenryu vs. Sano advertise. Right from the start Tenryu looks concerned that he has to play sportsmanlike in this foreign environment and Sano just keeps upsetting him and awakening his more Tenryuish tendencies. Tenryu is shockingly effective at working quick hold exchanges, but this is about the kicks and punches. Sano really lays in some heavy as lead kicks, refuses to break clean and annoys Tenryu with his junior stuff then even low blows him like he was Perro Aguayo. Really well done build to Tenryu unleashing and when that happens it's on. I love Tenryu's sumo attacks and the knees that busted Sano open were just sickening. Sano to his credit gave as good as he good and just pasted Tenryu's jaw with solebutts. Really simple match, really well done.

Little shocked this wasn't included on the yearbook. Some of the coolest stuff I've seen from the russian shooters. This was not just a showcase for cool mat stuff (as much as I love cool mat stuff) this was a wild fight that told a story. It was all about Kopylov's explosive power vs. all the things that make Volk Han Volk Han. Kopylov was really just tossing Han around and at one point even did that 70s spot where he body slams him while in an armlock, except he just dumped Volk right on his face. Volk was his usual self but in a desperate mode as he was really using all his quickness and at times seemed to go straight for dislocating Kopylov's shoulder. Match had lots of almost pro style spots like Kopylov riling up the crowd after Han goes to his back as if doing a Zbyszko stall. Finish is suitably brilliant with Han finally avoiding another deadlift. Match was as sharp an exciting as the best New Japan matches from this period, and peppered with all the awesome mat stuff you want from your russians.

This was a ridiculously fun match. It's Christmas Day so they work this match almost like Navarro and Solar just constantly tying eachother into the whackiest holds. Really tons of stuff that wouldn't look out of place in a lucha match. There's also one moment where Orlov tries a Koppu Kick and Kopylov nails him with almost a Kawada style enzuigiri. Despite the "show of this crazy matwork" nature of the match there was some nice selling. Orlov wound up using up lots of rope escapes and you could tell he was really desperate to get a good submission of his own. The finish sequence itself was flawless and emphasized Kopylov as the superior grappler well. These russians put on a really neat showcase and the crowd suitably ate it up.

I'm assuming you are talking about their 1992 match? Is that online somewhere? I've seen Morgan vs. Faraon some time ago and it made me fall in love with lucha. On topic, first thing that always pops into my mind is the Nakano/Funaki match from 1989. Nothing says all-out asskicking like that bout, in my book. But there's too many to mention.

Gernot Freiberger put this match of Martin on youtube vs Achim Chall, germany 1980 Not that much to it and it has a shit injury finish, but Caswell shows some nasty looking armwork. Chall looks old, but he moved well, I did like how he splashed Caswell with his gut to break the bridge and he busts out a nice neckbreaker type submission into a pin to counter the armwork.

It would be cool to hear some of these Rene Lasartesse stories Regal mentioned on Twitter.

I always loved that match no matter the long hold spots. There's also a really fun OConnor vs. Lorenzo Parente match on youtube that has some good wrestling and almost lucha-ish flying headscissors.

Ohtani's Jacket wrote that this was pretty awful. I can kind of see where he's coming from, but I still enjoyed this match. I guess it's easier for me to accept two workers meandering and being clumsy when they are working shootstyle. I really dig this light heavyweight style with the gloves that they make good use of, and the finish despite being abrupt was a total killer. Enjoyable match.

Insane match, which you'd expect to see in Futen. Both guys are wearing gloves and giving eachother total hell with punches. Sakuraba spends most of the match working for submissions and he looks to rip Kanehara apart a couple times in truely Gracie Killer fashion, while Kanehara threw a few kicks that looked like nobody would get up from them. I can't remember many shootstyle matches this gritty and nasty.

There is a Caswell vs. Nobuhiko Takada match on tape which I assume is from UWF.