TheBean

Tenryu & Tsuruta vs Choshu & Yatsu (02/05) - Great, hard fought match! Choshu & Yatsu assault Jumbo at the outset. Tenryu is the guy you want to make a hot tag to! At one point I thought he & Yatsu were going to go at it for real. They get back in the groove. Damn near everyone gets worked over at some point. It's a real physical affair - the stuff you typically associate with Hansen...just violence at every opportunity. All that said, it doesn't seem to have big peaks and valleys in the story or excitement level. It's peak actually is at the beginning. Just straight upwards and then keeps that level until the finish. It's a heck of a neat finish too! Great match Tiger Mask & Mighty Inoue vs Ashura Hara & Great Kabuki (02/22) - This was a very good tag match! Wow, this was really enjoyable. There was plenty of action in the beginning. They slowed it down in the middle with some leg locks. Finally, the brought it back up for an exciting final third. The finish was great too. I think what I enjoyed was the contrast of the junior style (Tiger & Inoue) with the more rough & tumble style. March Jumbo Tsuruta vs Animal Hamaguchi (03/13/86) - This was a sick match! 😋 Animal jumps Jumbo at the bell...he's crazy! There's a lil down time where Animal works the arm but after that this cooks. Animal is out ranked big time but dammit, he's fierce. He pisses the All Japan ace off. Jumbo pulls Hamaguchi up a couple times from his own pin in order to punish his foe some more. This backfires as Animal doesn't know the meaning of quit. And he's got moves and takes some crazy bumps...which makes this quite exciting. This was a very good match. If you've wanted to see an Animal Hamaguchi match, this is one to try! Harley Race & Jerry Blackwell vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & One Man Gang (03/13/86) - This is one I'm watching because it's part of my AJPW Samurai Classics DVD collection. I would have skipped it otherwise. It's fun though 🙂 We get Blackwell vs O.M.G executing fat guy moves on each other. Both dudes are pretty fantastic for their size. Then Harley & Tiger Jeet take over. It's typical stuff from Tiger trying to attack with the spike and we get a DQ. Still, you're not watching these to see who wins. These are meant as pure fun and it accomplished that goal. Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta (03/29) - You're always going to get a quality match with these two. They will lay in some meaty shots and get physical at the very least. And that's really what most of the match was - Stan & Jumbo rough & tumble wrestling. Stan locks on a chin lock here and there but his main weapon is dropping knees on Jumbo's head. Tsuruta is a little more technical going for arm breakers in between clubbing blows & jumping knees. It's not beyond their standard match except the rather hazardous finish. That was quite memorable. So if you're going through 1985 AJPW then it's definitely worth your time. It's very good because it's Jumbo & Hansen in their prime. +Plus+ There's some really fun matches from the 03/15 TV show that are edited down. Fuyuki vs Kurisu & Kobayashi vs Ishikawa get the most time. Both were excellent from what was shown. Glad I found these even if in edited format. Mighty Inoue vs Killer Khan is there but doesn't get as much time. The full matches (or fuller) are Jumbo vs Animal Hamaguchi and Choshu vs Tiger Mask. Jumbo vs Animal is above. Riki vs Tiger sounds cool.

I definitely think he entered pro wrestling a little too late. That's to say, I think he would have been a great player in mid to late 80's AJPW with the sumo background. Wajima wasn't a very good wrestler but had very good matches with Hansen because of the raw physicality of his style. Tadao Yasuda definitely would have benefited from that style more than the 90-00 style allowed. I think the matches he is best in tap into this instead of the shoot wrestler he was molded into. Just a "what if..." thought.

Punk vs Bryan Danielson (Dangerous Intentions 2005) - Great match. Punk loves working the crowd early on in FIP. There's like 20-30 fans at these shows so, good on him for engaging the crowd and getting some good heat. The fans in the audience love hating on him 😄 Anyhow, this was an intense match and the best bout thus far. Danielson always brings it and Punk is game. This is a long match in a good way. We get a cheap win but, it doesn't sour my opinion of the fight. And it works out...

1986 Nikita Koloff/Krusher Kruschev vs Yoshiaki Yatsu/Isamu Teranishi (01/01/86) - Squash match Tiger Mask vs Mil Mascaras (01/02) - OK Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Nikita Koloff & Krusher Khrushchev (01/02) - Good tag match, worked smart and told a nice story Mil Mascaras vs Takashi Ishikawa (01/11/86) - Good Jumbo Tsuruta & Samson Fuyuki vs Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda (01/11) - Fun all action match. Mil Mascaras vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (01/28) - Really good junior technical wrestling Tiger Mask vs Great Kabuki (01/28/86) - Near classic Tenryu & Tsuruta vs Choshu & Yatsu (02/05) - Great, hard fought match!

The more Rusher that I watch, the more I like. Not enough to put him in my top 100 (yet?). I haven't seen his IWE work so thanks for these links. I was having a hard time finding the Gypsy Joe one especially. Definitely going to have to watch more IWE.

1985 cont...Click the underlined matches. They are links to the full reviews with pics when applicable 🙂 Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa & Haru Sonada vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Animal Hamaguchi (07/08) - Great, excellent finish Ashura Hara vs Masanobu Kurisu (07/12) Fun Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu/Takashi Ishikawa vs Riki Choshu/Killer Khan/Animal Hamaguchi (07/12) - Great Takashi Ishikawa & Akio Sato vs. Animal Hamaguchi & Isamu Teranishi (07/18): Great All Asia tag match Mighty Inoue/Tarzan Goto vs Kuniaki Kobayashi/Norio Honaga (07/28) - Very good action Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Norio Honaga (07/30) - OK, good start though Stan Hansen v. Shoehi Baba (07/30): VG Riki Choshu/Killer Khan vs Genichiro Tenryu/Jumbo Tsuruta (08/02) - Great Terry Funk v. Stan Hansen (08/23): Great, wild match! Dory and Terry Funk v. Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (08/29): VG Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Tiger Mask (08/31): Classic, close to Kings Road Stan Hansen/Ted DiBiase vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu (08/31) finish was cut from my vers. Near classic Tiger Mask vs Marty Jannetty (09/05): jip. fun Tiger Mask/Takashi Ishikawa vs Norio Honaga/Kuniaki Kobayashi (09/09): VG, exciting Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Yoshiaki Yatsu/Killer Khan (09/14/85): VG-Great, Yatsu is impressive Jumbo Tsuruta v. Harley Race (09/19): VG-Great, more deliberate pace but hard hitting October '85 - Will just link the month since all below are in the same post. Riki Choshu vs Ashura Hara (10/04): Fun, full speed ahead ass kicking. Dory and Terry Funk v. Road Warriors (10/19): Fun Ric Flair v. Jumbo Tsuruta (10/19): Great, technical and hard hitting Shoehi Baba/Takashi Ishikawa/Mighty Inoue v. Ashura Hara/Rusher Kimura/Goro Tsurumi (10/21): Really fun Kabuki v. Killer Khan (10/21): Good brawl but short Dory and Terry Funk/Tiger Mask v. Billy Robinson/Terry Gordy/Chavo Guerrero (10/21): Fun Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Road Warriors (10/21): VG heavyweight fireworks Ric Flair v. Rick Martel (10/21): Classic match Dory and Terry Funk v. Terry Gordy/Art Crews (10/22): Good stuff Mil Mascaras v. Norio Honaga (10/22): Quick fun match. Ric Flair/Rick Martel v. Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru (10/22): Great, dream match November '85 Riki Choshu vs Jumbo Tsuruta (11/04) VG - Great looking, long didn't watch in full Stan Hansen/Ted Dibiase v. Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith (11/23): Great, fast paced, all action Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Nick Bockwinkle/Curt Hennig (11/23): Great Shoehi Baba/Dory Funk Jr. v. Harley Race/Jesse Barr (11/27): Long match but a really good one. Tiger Mask v. Dynamite Kid (11/27): VG Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Rusher Kimura/Goro Tsurumi (11/27): Good match with a really good final third Stan Hansen v. Ashura Hara (11/27): Good, wish was longer but violent bout Stan Hansen/Ted Dibiase v. Harley Race/Jesse Barr (11/30): VG- Great, fast paced and move heavy. Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith v. Tiger Mask/Mighty Inoue (11/30): Great all action match. Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu (11/30): Classic December '85 Stan Hansen/Ted Dibiase v. Nick Bockwinkle/Curt Hennig (12/07): Very fun, great showing from Curt Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith (12/07): VG match Harley Race/Jesse Barr v. Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith (12/12): Great! Perhaps the best Race match of '85 Shoehi Baba/Dory Funk Jr v. Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru (12/12): Near classic-classic, excellent pacing and layout Stan Hansen/Ted DiBiase vs Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu (Real World Tag League Finals) (12/12): jip by 14 minutes, great, maybe a classic in full? Rick Martel v. Stan Hansen (AWA Title, 12/29): AWA match but Very good - great match one of the most psychologically strong matches of '85

Cool! yeah the other ones I remember from '85 were a Road Warriors squash and a joined in progress 6 man when he's on the same team as Tiger Mask Misawa but Goto gets in a beefy power slam & backdrop suplex. Definitely hope more quality mid 80's Tarzan Goto sees the light of day someday

Have you seen Mighty Inoue/Tarzan Goto vs Kuniaki Kobayashi/Norio Honaga (07/28/85) in All Japan? That's a really good all action match. I wouldn't say he's the Goto we know and love yet but, I was happy to see it.

Nikita Koloff/Krusher Kruschev vs Yoshiaki Yatsu/Isamu Teranishi (01/01/86) - A squash match which is kinda a waste of Yatsu & Teranishi. Koloff & Krusher had some nice offensive moves. Tiger Mask vs Mil Mascaras (01/02) - Good on paper but bad in reality. That badness is due to Mil. If Misawa had a tell-all book, he would have a story about this match. It reminded me of Mick Foley's recounting of his match with Mil. No it's not the worst thing but it ambles, Mil doesn't seem to know what's up, and he couldn't care less. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Nikita Koloff & Krusher Khrushchev (01/02) - Yeah, Krusher Khrushchev is Barry Darsow. I thought so 😁 Good tag match in the sense that they worked smart and told a nice story by working Jumbo's back. The "Russian" team wrestled more like how I wish the Roid Warriors worked. The looked strong but Jumbo & Tenryu were competitive. This was enjoyable stuff & put a smile on my face. Mil Mascaras vs Takashi Ishikawa (01/11/86) - A little slower version of the Kobayashi match. Still it sucked me in. It was technical and competitive but very old school for '86. Most of the match consisted of stretches leveraged into pin attempts. Hey! I'm a fan. You might not be. Then the finishing segment was a play on the finishes of the previous Mil matches but with surprises. I liked this. I'm not going to overdo it. I thought it was a good match. Jumbo Tsuruta & Samson Fuyuki vs Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda (01/11) - These four guys in '86? Yes please. This is a really fun all action match. Nothing fancy or complex but they keep the energy up. And that's what you want in a tag match like this. I don't think I'll see anymore Windham or Rotunda here but this is a good match for a project like this. Mil Mascaras vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (01/28) - Now this is what I'm talking about! Mil came to wrestle. Really good junior technical wrestling punctuated by Kobayashi & his temper. He turns this into a brawl and The Man of a Thousand Masks is down to fight. Personally I'd prefer the technical wrestling from Mil but it keeps the intensity up and isn't much of the match (*cough it sets up the finish *cough). Skip the Tiger Mask match and watch this one. Tiger Mask vs Great Kabuki (01/28/86) - Kabuki wrestled a technical match. He kept Tiger under control with arm bars for much of the early portion of the bout. Thankfully, they knew how to keep wrestling while working the arm. This would have been pretty bland otherwise. Eventually, our masked hero snaps and attacks Kabuki with a chair! Whoa!! The Great One is bleeding buckets. Everyone is fully invested now. This is beyond what folks saw coming. Before you know it, things get out of hand...and then they get really out of hand! This is wild actually! The match itself is really smart and a great one overall. The whole segment is a near classic. I'm not sure if we get an explanation in the booking later on in the year. I'm not sure a non Japanese speaker can exactly make 100% sense but, dang it! That's pro wrestling for ya! 😄

Great big time match! The storytelling was excellent. Bret & Gordy are a great pairing where they just worked really well together. The finish was a little too quick after the bell part BUT in a way goes back to earlier when Bret was faking the injury... He was smart and using any opportunity that Piper would give him. There's probably too much punching as I prefer a little more variety but that's minimal. I don't think this is on the same level as the Valentine matches but THIS is how to do a match in a this setting/venue. It is big, grand melodrama with the in ring action to back it up.

1985 Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu & Takeshi Ishikawa vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Isamu Teranishi (01/06): Great, exciting stuff Tiger Mask/Magic Dragon vs Kuniaki Kobayashi/Isao Takagi (01/26): Joined in progress. Great action Choshu, Masa Saito & Killer Khan vs Jumbo, Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa (01/26): Violent, intense stuff - great match! Jumbo & Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (02/01): Great Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs Riki Choshu/Masa Saito (02/05): Great match with four legends. Giant Baba vs Tiger Jeet Singh (02/05) - skipped. British Bulldogs vs Animal Hamaguchi & Kuniaki Kobayashi (02/09) - Fun stuff, lots a cool moves Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu/Takashi Ishikawa vs Riki Choshu/Masanobu Kurisu/Yoshiaki Yatsu (02/28): VG extremely enjoyable Harley Race & Klaus Wallas vs Killer Khan & Mananobu Kurisu (03/09): Fun Tiger Mask II vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (03/09) - Fun Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Road Warriors (03/09): OK Road Warriors vs. Riki Choshu & Killer Khan (03/14) OK Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (04/21) : Great well paced and hard fought match. Riki Choshu/Animal Hamaguchi vs Genichiro Tenryu/Takashi Ishikawa (04/21) - Great action Ric Flair v. Jumbo Tsuruta (NWA Title, 04/24/85): Long match, great fight between two of the very best. Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs Riki Choshu/Animal Hamaguchi (05/17): Very good match Shoehi Baba/Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenryu v. Tiger Jeet Singh/Terry Gordy/Mario Milano (05/31/85): Fun match Road Warriors v. Takashi Ishikawa & Tarzan Goto (05/31/85): Too short to rate Road Warriors v. Killer Khan/Masanobu Kurisu (06/02/85): Too short to rate Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith v. Tiger Mask/Magic Dragon (06/02/85): Excellent Bulldogs match! exciting Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu/Animal Hamaguchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu/Motoshi Okuma (06/02): Great, absolutely crazy match Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith v. Kuniaki Kobayashi/Shinichi Nakano (06/04/85): Another really good Bulldogs match! Jumbo Tsuruta v. Terry Gordy (06/04): Great match around 20 minutes. Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith vs Tiger Mask/Toshiaki Kawada (06/05): jip Fun stuff Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Magic Dragon (Mask vs Hair) (06/05): jip, good, good stuff. Giant Baba v. Rusher Kimura (06/05): Good pace is quicker Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Road Warriors (06/05): VG Ashura Hara v. Haru Sonada (06/21): Quick match Kuniaki Kobayashi v. Tiger Mask (06/21): Classic match Jumbo Tsuruta/Takashi Ishikawa v. Yoshiaki Yatsu/Animal Hamaguchi (06/21): Excellent pacing, excellent action & smart finish. Riki Choshu vs Genichiro Tenryu (06/21): Near classic - classic Damn, that's a lot of 1985! I'll put the 2nd half of '85 in a new post so it's easier to locate stuff.

1984 Jumbo & Baba vs Gordy & Hayes (01/20) - Fun Jumbo & Kabuki vs Gordy & Hayes (01/22) - Fun-good, cool finish Bockwinkel vs Jumbo (02/23) - Great, slow burn title fight Bockwinkel vs Jumbo (02/26) - Great compliment to previous match Chavo Guerrero vs Mighty Inoue (02/26) - VG technical match Jumbo vs Black Jack Lanza (03/04) - Good, AWA bout Billy Robinson vs Jumbo Tsuruta (03/11) - VG title fight, AWA bout Jumbo Tsuruta vs Jim Brunzell (03/15) - Good-VG, AWA Baba vs Stan Hansen (03/24) - Great match because of the story Jumbo vs Greg Gagne (04/19) - Great, tech. & athletic Gagne performance High Flyers vs Dory Jr. & Kerry von Erich (04/24) - Great, exciting spots, excellent wrestling Brody & Hansen vs Jumbo & Tenryu (04/24) - Great big time tag match Brody & Hansen vs Baba & Dory Jr. (04/25) - VG, fast paced Jumbo Tsuruta vs Jim Brunzell (04/26) - VG-Great, excellent pace Dory Funk Jr. vs Stan Hansen (04/26) - Great, authentic feeling w/ little things done right Rick Martel vs Jumbo Tsuruta (05/13) VG-Great, AWA Harley Race vs Ric Flair (05/22) - Great, steady pace w/ plenty of surprises Jumbo Tsuruta vs Kerry von Erich (05/22) - Classic, best singles bout of AJPW '84 Baba vs Stan Hansen (07/31) - Great, intense w/ a great post match Tiger Mask II vs La Fiera (08/26) - Fun, top notch sequences and moves for '84 Brody & Hansen vs Baba & Dory Jr. (08/26) - Classic, all time perhaps? Furious pace, stiff w/ great post match Onita & Fuchi vs Hector & Chavo Guerrero (09/03) - Great Jr. tag action + comedy Jumbo & Tenryu vs Brody & Blackwell (09/03) - Great, excellent pacing & sense of doubt in the outcome Hamada & Mighty Inoue vs Hector & Chavo Guerrero (09/12) - VG, great lucha bits Jumbo & Ishikawa vs Brody & Moon Dog Moretti (09/12) - VG Tiger Mask II vs Jerry Estrada (10/05) - Fun, nice moves Rick Martel vs Ashura Hara (10/05) - VG, wish match was longer Rick Martel vs Jumbo Tsuruta (10/11) - VG, emphasis on parity Jumbo & Tenryu vs Gordy & Hayes (10/16) - Good Jumbo Tsuruta vs Terry Gordy (10/29) - VG once Jumbo starts bleeding Kabuki & Tiger Mask II vs Buzz Sawyer & Fiera (11/03) - Fun, great moves Funk Bros vs Jumbo & Tenryu (11/28) jip, great, hard shots, blood, well paced Bockwinkel & Race vs Ishikawa & Inoue (12/08) - Exciting, all action at junior pace Tiger Mask II vs Pirata Morgan (12/08) - Great, dazzling moves Brody & Hansen vs Funk Bros (12/08) - All time classic, peak chaos & animosity Funk Bros vs Bockwinkel & Race (12/12) - jip, only half shown but great stuff shown Jumbo & Tenryu vs Brody & Hansen (12/12) - All time classic, fast paced, intense fight Click the underlined matches. They are links to the full reviews with pics when applicable 🙂

I want to have a place to focus on AJPW of the 1980's and provide a good launch pad for people who are interested in checking this decade out. I didn't see a thread in the Microscope so I thought I would start one. I've watched a bunch of 1984 & 85 and am working my way through 86. I've seen some matches from the early 80's (80-83) which I will post in this first one. I am also trying to watch my way through the 80's. I plan to update along the way. My plan isn't really to put full reviews here so it doesn't get too wordy & bogged down. Click the underlined matches. They are links to the full reviews with pics when applicable 🙂 1980 Bruiser Brody & Angelo Mosca vs Rocky Hata & Tiger Toguchi - 01/08/80 - Fun Giant Baba vs Angelo Mosca - 01/18/80 - Fun Abdullah the Butcher vs. The Sheik - 12/01/80 - Classic, an amazing spectacle/aura Billy Robinson vs. Nick Bockwinkle - 12/11/80 - Classic match w/ sense of struggle, excellent selling and pacing Harley Race & Larry Hennig vs. The Sheik & Mark Lewin -12/11/80 - OK short brawl Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Umanoseke Ueda - 12/11/80 - Great brawl 1981 Giant Baba vs Killer Karl Kox - 03/03/81 - Fun 2/3 falls Funk Brothers vs. Umanoseke Ueda & Buck Robley - 10/06/81 - Great esp. with the brawl at the end. Dory Funk Jr. vs. Terry Funk (04/30/81) Great, 50 min technical match wrestled in the NWA style 1982 Dory Funk Jr. vs Bruiser Brody - 04/21/82 - Great, simple yet primal Funk Bros. vs Brody & Snuka - 04/22/82 - Good-Very Good, more of an angle than a match Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat - 06/04/82 - Great, athletic bout Terry Funk vs Stan Hansen - 09/11/82 - VG-Great, chaotic w/ a sense of violence throughout Funk Bros vs Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood - 12/02/82 - Near classic, very exciting stuff Giant Baba vs Umanosuke Ueda - 12/07/82 - Fun brawl 1983 Jumbo Tsuruta vs Nick Bockwinkel (07/13) - VG technical match 30 min Baba & Jumbo vs Tiger Jeet Singh & Umanosuke Ueda (07/26) - Fun Funk Bros & Baba vs Brody, Hansen & Gordy (08/30) - Great, feverish action Chavo Guerrero vs Masa Fuchi (08/31) - Great, technical wrestling Bruiser Brody vs Jumbo Tsuruta (08/31) - Great, bloody dramatic title fight Funk Bros vs Hansen & Gordy (08/31) - Great stuff, a spectacle Baba vs Stan Hansen (09/08) - Good-VG, Baba pushed himself Bruiser Brody vs Jumbo Tsuruta (10/14) - VG, Brody was technical, double blood Stan Hansen vs Dory Funk Jr. (11/28) - Great, timeless stuff Tiger Jeet Singh vs Dory Funk Jr. (12/05) - VG Baba & Dory Jr. vs Brody & Hansen (12/10) - Classic intense sprint Ric Flair vs Great Kabuki (12/12) - Fun title match

Also for more Tajiri matches and pics, see my latest post here: TAJIRI - You Might Have Missed #2 Also saw that FLIK requested a review of Tajiri & Great Muta vs Goldust & Hakushi. That's up on Gaora's YouTube and on my watch list so I'm going to watch that one next time. Great Muta, Great Kabuki & TAJIRI VS KAI, Yasuhi Nakanoue & Yusuke Kodama (WRESTLE-1 05/05/15) - Oh yes, this was a load of fun. Tajiri & Muta did most of the wrestling for their team of course. Kabuki was definitely involved though. Don't think they didn't touch him. No he got beat on and in fact that's what the story of the match was. KAI and his team focused on beating the aged Kabuki and the fans did not like it. This was a blast and a dream team to have all 3 mist spraying wrestlers on one team 🙂 Great Muta, Great Kabuki & TAJIRI VS Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Hiroshi Yamato & Shotaro Ashino (WRESTLE-1 07/12/15) - Grandpa on grandpa violence to start. Yes! This is another fun match with the poison mist trio! A lot of the charm of this one is from Fujiwara actually. Tajiri is great at showing he's afraid of the old grappler. 🙂

You're really missing out if you're not checking out this stuff. This has been an absolute revelation to me. And hey! I get it, I didn't watch Zero One for like 15+ years. A big reason is that no one talked about it. Or the internet wrestling taste makers didn't like it at the time. Screw that 😀 This is some fun smash mouth wrestling. Now that there's a wealth of wrestling posted online, this really is worth watching especially if you're into 2000's wrestling. •Masato Tanaka vs Yoshihito Sasaki (05/27) -This is precisely what I wanted with this matchup. These two guys who have the energy, intensity and toughness to break bricks with their bare hands. They gave no quarter and expected none in return. Korakuen Hall brings out the best in people and this was no different. Hard chops, harder elbows and lariats so stiff it knock a T-800 down. Yeah Masato Tanaka is a known great but Yoshihito Sasaki doesn't get enough love. If you're a Tanaka fan then you NEED to see this match and you'll probably be a new Sasaki fan by the end. Classic match. •Steve Corino & CW Anderson vs Tajiri & Masato Tanaka (06/20) - Flashback to ECW & early Zero One! I had to watch this one. And it was worthy of being associated with ECW. All the guys were still in very good shape so they showed great energy as they fought around Korakuen. Chairs were used, mist was sprayed and tables were broken. This was a lot of fun. Some matches that remind us of ECW don't really embody that energy & excitement of the promotion. I think this match did and would recommend it for any fan of that lil promotion outta Philly. For more the full Zero One 2007 project, check out: https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/search/label/2007 Bunch more match recommendations & cool pics! Also will be looking at a bunch of 1980's wrestling with Cruising the 80's & AJPW 1986 projects. •Masato Tanaka v Dick Togo (09/30) Good gawd! 90's indie dream match fulfilled. This was was so good. It got going with a bang and never quit. Lil ECW at times and both guys may have been bleeding the hard way. This was representative of the intensity. They brought it back into the ring and really surprised me. There was legitimate near falls in this match. It was part of a Jr. tournament so anything "big" felt like it could end the bout That fact added on top of their great work made this a near classic match...if you're interested in seeing this then you should watch it. •Takao Omori v Masato Tanaka (10/26) Well that was awesome! These Zero One cats don't play around! This was fantastic stuff and all under 15 minutes. They had one high spot that I absolutely popped for but the rest was just hard hitting no nonsense puro. Omori was a nice change from Sekimoto or Sasaki as he has more variety to his moves. I felt this mixed things up. I don't have much more to say. Zero One Wrestling in 2007 has been pretty amazing with these dream match ups. I'm going to say this was a near classic but I'm being conservative. I really dug this! •Masato Tanaka & Ryouji Sai vs. Shinjiro Otani & Yuji Nagata (11/13) Lots of animosity in this match. Every pin or submission was broken up with nastiness. Sai was a very good pupil for Tanaka. They were right in there with Otani and super star Nagata. Those two were especially vicious with their kicks - tandem kenka kicks in the corner and a fierce sandwich enzuigiri. •Masato Tanaka v Yoshihito Sasaki (12/24) This was called Best of 2007 because these two were the best Zero One Wrestling had to offer. They did not disappoint me. There was good wrestling on the mat. Tanaka tries to weaken Sasaki's arm seeing as the lariat is a big weapon of his. But let's be honest, this is not the point of the match. No, there was fighting on the floor, there are big moves and very hard strikes were there too. Sasaki got busted open the hard way from a table thrown by Tanaka. So he was bleeding most of the match. What really put this above just another great match was the counter moves. There were a few choice moves that really surprised me. It made this really feel like two of the best that Zero One had to offer. By the end both men were loopy and although only one man got his hand raised, both were winners in my eyes. I would call this a classic and highly recommend it. Couldn't ask for a better way to close out this brief look at 2007 Zero One Wrestling. For Part #3 of 2007 Zero One Wrestling, come over to: https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2026/01/zero-one-wrestling-2007-final.html

Definitely need to see more 1985 AJW based on everyone's comments, damn! I'll say Ted DiBiase for 1985. His work in Mid South as singles performer and his team with Dr. Death would be enough BUT he was also crushing it in AJPW with Stan the Man - its the cherry on top. I could see Duggan but I think the middle of '85 dipped for me as he was working Skandor Akbar & Kimala, I believe 🤔 The beginning with Ted & end versus Slater & Buzz Sawyer were both phenomenal though.

I've been making my way through Zero One Wrestling. Man, I have been missing out!The following are from the DVD: ZERO1 Fire Festival 2007 Part 1 Samurai TV. So I watched the full episode/DVD. For more great Zero One Wrestling in 2007, including awesome matches with Yoshihiro Takayama, Masato Tanaka and more, check out: https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2026/01/zero-one-wrestling-2007-part-1.html https://wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com/2026/01/zero-one-wrestling-2007-part-2.html 07/16 •Shinjiro Otani v Kazunari Murakami - This was a brawl which was setup nicely by the video package. These two hate each other. Murakami makes it seem like its going to be a squash at the start. Otani makes his comeback by good old chair swinging. He busts out a chair seat over Murakami's head like it's IWA Japan. This opens Kaz up the hard way. Blood for blood, he retaliates and turns on the crimson faucet by socking Otani in the nose. 14 minutes of mayhem - this was a great match! •Takao Omori v Yoshihito Sasaki - This was one of the best under 10 minute matches in recent memory. Both guys dialed up the impact and intensity for this sprint. Sasaki seems emboldened from his fight with Masato Tanaka and has no hesitation in attacking the veteran Omori. •Ryoji Sai v Yutaka Yoshie - This was a hard fought match. Sai had excellent strikes as he tried to chop down the big man Yoshie. And Yoshie was a fantastic big man with a variety of moves and a lot of muscle under his fat. •Masato Tanaka v Daisuke Sekimoto - Smart stuff at the outset. Tanaka goes after Daisuke's arm. There's a couple brilliant sequences here too. Then, they start pummeling each other. Sekimoto has his chin split open from an elbow strike. That fires him up and this looks like Awesome vs Tanaka at times. These are two of my favorite wrestlers for a reason. Classic dream battle! •Yutaka Yoshie v Ikuto Hidaka 7/22/07 - Really fun big vs little guy match. Good psychology throughout with Hidaka trying to take out the bigger man logically. 07/28 •Ryoji Sai v Ikuto Hidaka - Pretty fun stuff again. This is more evenly matched. I thought Hidaka made this special by taking spirited bumps & and adding a bit of psychology. Sai was smart in letting him tell the story and supplying the kicks & double stomps 🙂 •Daisuke Sekimoto v Yoshihito Sasaki - Holy cow! They put a lot of hard hitting action into 15 minutes! This was at a smaller venue so it lacks a "middle" section. They just ramp up the excitement. If you dig Kobashi era NOAH, you're going to want to see this. Also a good match to show a friend who's curious about "older" Japanese wrestling. •Shinjiro Otani v Akitoshi Saito - Edited to roughly 10 minutes. It's great to see this match up. Very good match that's not clever but two tough guys kicking & suplexing each other. Otani is definitely one of the best wrestlers watched in 2025. This was a great DVD/TV episode! A great overview of the Fire Festival. I feel like the more Zero One Wrestling I watch, the more I like it. This has been a very rewarding project thus far. Thanks for reading! For more including the Final post for 2007 which will coming out soon, visit: wrestlingdreambattles.blogspot.com

As far as the 20 year thing, that would be the criteria that I would be using but no way does anyone else need to use it. 🙂 I think the consistently great matches can be hashed out a bit more by saying: I wouldn't say someone who had one classic, and a load of average matches or stinkers every year for 20 years should be in the same boat as someone who is putting on great & very good matches as well as classics within that time span. For instance someone like Giant Baba. From '69-89, one could argue he had a classic match in there every year (admittedly tags & 6 mans as time went on)...but the majority of folks would agree that he had a ton of crap too (more crap that classics). Whereas Tenryu from 1984-2004+, one could argue he had a classic match every year in addition to a ton of very good & great matches. I'm using Baba as an extreme example for effect. It's about what could be argued reasonably & be convincing. I don't think anyone could do that with Baba though. Also that's to limit part time or once a year wrestling like WWE would do with guys like Undertaker, Rock, Brock etc. Essentially you've got to be part of a roster or working a schedule. Regarding Misawa, I'd argue he's got 20 years. I'd probably say 1985-2005 would work for me. His stuff versus Kobayashi in 1985 and then I know folks aren't unanimous on his Kawada dome match in 2005 but I would say that as a classic from my old notes. Kobashi is outside that bubble since his injuries and illness sidelined him in NOAH. One could argue Akiyama however 1993-2013 for instance. Arguments for Hansen '80-'00 could be made...although those last couple years could be tough. I think Rey Jr, Danielson, AJ 20 year arguments can be made this time that maybe couldn't be made last time. Ultimately the time span is a strong guide more than a rule. I considered 15 as a start as there's a shit ton of wrestlers that had a great 10 year span. 15 years is a good spot for top 25 but 20 years seems to be the max. And when you start actually looking at folks with those kind of spans, it's many the same wrestlers that were in the Top 10 of 2016 or at least got votes. 20 years isn't the rule but 15-20 years of high quality seemed to be the prevailing trend. Regarding Flair, I'm legitimately asking others what their views are regarding these times, not rhetorically. I'm not arguing '74-94 nor saying he had 15 years of crap. I'm actually curious because I know his 80's is golden and his early 90's holds up too. Also thanks for the additional info Mantaur Rodeo Clown, that makes sense 🙂 But when does Flair become like a "Giant Baba?" When does his output become sporadic in terms of quality? Or again, what year do people say, " this is when Flair became one of the best? " 1981-2001 for instance, is that a reasonable 20 year period? Or can we give him a "bridge" over the last few years of WCW and say he came back into form for a few years in WWE?

Is there a consensus of when Flair's great matches start and when they end? I think to be even considered top 10, a wrestler should have a 20 year span of consistently great matches*. If we can agree that Flair has 20 years of consistently great matches then, any crap matches/years afterwards can be "excused" because it is a business/job after all. That applies to everyone. BUT I don't think Flair's longevity for the sake on not wanting to retire should be a positive either. If he's got 20 years of quality and 15 years of crap then, I think those 15 years should be used against him when looking at other wrestlers with 20 years of quality but retired, went to the mid card etc.. (Using 15 years as an example). Again that applies to everyone. *consistently great matches, I mean NOT just a great PPV match one year. At least great matches every PPV, big show, tour, very good TV matches etc. Perhaps a classic per year etc. I don't believe he was de-emphasized or had a quality drop in the early 90's. Having watched a bunch of WCW 1994 last year, Flair was given opportunities and definitely used them. He had a couple fantastic matches with Steamboat, one being an hour or so. He had a great series with Regal although intentionally chopped up into multiple matches (Marquis Queensbury matches). And he was working Hogan in PPV main events. So I think AJ & Rey don't benefit more than Ric (or Hogan for that matter) did. They just happen to have longevity & consistency of quality like Flair. I mention '94 because this might be the last year where he has the quality wrestling & opponents, and one could argue '74-94 are his 20 yrs. If this is the year/period when you were thinking when saying "early 90's" then sorry! 🙂 Also, not sure if this was your intention so apologies if it's nitpicking but long matches don't necessarily equal good matches. I want to but won't hold Flair Broadway matches against him at this point (same with Danielson, if not draws then long matches) while physically impressive, it didn't always yield a better match. I mention those two because the long matches became their trademarks.

Yeah I could see Misawa & Kobashi ranking higher this time. I feel like 90's guys are going to edge out 80's guys just from a "who's participating" perspective too. I think that goes into the mix with Flair a very small amount. Probably the smallest since he stayed on TV in the 90's, 2000's and beyond where a lot of "80's" workers were wrapping up or already done. That was my view regarding Steamboat being done in 1994 in the other thread. Hansen, who might be on the bubble for top 5 in your view is an interesting case. I think his position this time may depend on how people view his pre-Kings Road/4 Pillars work in AJPW, not to mention his NJPW, Puerto Rico, AWA etc. stuff. I think you have a point there.

I think your points with Rey, AJ Styles etc al. combined with Ricky Jackson's above are what leads me to believe he might be out of the top 10. It all depends on who's voting (duh!) but there could be a lot of people that don't like "non WWF 80's wrestling" and could be bounced out. I think the 2016 results had that X factor so I'm keeping that in the back of my mind. If I just think about PWO folks and similarly minded people then I think you're 100% right. If there's no anti-80's/old school wrestling or other surprise then I'm thinking: #1 Funk, #2 Hansen, #3 Danielson, #4 Flair, #5 Hijo del Santo, Rey Misterio Jr, Misawa/Kobashi...someone around the top 5 last time.

Watched WCW '94 a few months back so knew it wasn't then but early 95 stuck in my mind for some reason. Points still the same.