Control21

Victor Zangiev The archetype of the burly strongman from the Soviet bloc. Zangiev would become one of the most recognizable and impactful foreigners from the late 1980s for Puroresu. Even influencing video games such as Street Fighter. Zangiev would make his debut in 1989 for NJPW after Antonio Inoki visited the Soviet Union and negotiated access to two Russian amateur wrestlers (Salman Hashimikov was the other). Zangiev was perhaps the more charismatic of the two and was capable of having good matches. Seemingly a natural, Zangiev became one of the most formidable outsiders in 1989. Zangiev would later work on several UWFi shows. Recommended matches – vs Shinya Hashimoto (4/24/1989) vs Nobuhiko Takada (10/8/1994) w/Vladimir Berkovich vs Naoki Sano & Yoji Anjo (8/18/1994) w/Salman Hashimikov vs Kazuo Yamazaki & Yoji Anjo (6/10/1994) Taiji Ishimori One of the more talented junior heavyweights in wrestling since the mid-2000s. Ishimori has made a name for himself in NOAH and NJPW. He has combined his considerable athleticism with technical skills and a knack for inserting a ton of energy and excitement into his matches. While other wrestlers like KUSHIDA and Hiromu Takahashi may overshadow him, he still has quite a resume and continues to deliver worthwhile matches. His consistency and output warrant at least a conversation. Recommended matches – vs Hiromu Takahashi (6/4/2018) vs Hiromu Takahashi (6/21/2022) w/KENTA vs Kota Ibushi & Naomichi Marufuji (7/15/2007) w/Naomichi Marufuji vs Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki (6/13/2012) vs Dragon Lee (5/3/2019) Hiroyuki Ito Making his debut in Kiyoshi Tamura’s U-Style, Hiroyuki Ito was a talented grappler and shoot-style underdog. He was quite decent and had several worthwhile matches with Kiyoshi Tamura, Kyosuske Sasaki, and Ryuki Ueyama. After U-Style’s closure, Ito would go on to further ply his trade in NJPW, Futen, Battlarts, and Big Mouth Loud. His output remained consistent and is probably worth a closer look. vs Kiyoshi Tamura (8/18/2004) vs Manabu Hara (4/24/2005) vs Yuki Ishikawa (4/19/2006) vs Ryuki Ueyama 10/6/2003) Naoyuki Taira “The Real Baki the Grappler,” Naoyuki Taira was a talented shootboxer that eventually tried his hand at pro-wrestling, and was quite good at it. Taira spent most of his time in BattlArts, but also appeared in RINGS for a handful of shoot matches. Taira distinguished himself with flair and style and often appeared quite competent in terms of building match structure. Perhaps he falls in a Kohsaka-esque category of wrestlers who were just really good with a small body of work. vs Alexander Otsuka (5/11/2000) vs Carl Malenko (7/20/2000) w/Kazunari Murakami vs Yuki Ishikawa & Carl Malenko (9/7/2000)

Dokonjonosuke Mishima Dokon only had a brief run in U-Style, but he delivered in almost all of them. One of the most unique JMMA fighters also proved why he could have been one of the most unique wrestlers in the 2000s if he had continued his career. He’s a bit like Megumi Fujii in the sense that he deserves a nomination based on how unreal he was in a worked format. His matches against Tamura, Manabu Hara, and Kyosuke Sasaki are worth checking out. Recommended matches – vs Kiyoshi Tamura (4/6/2003) vs Manabu Hara (2/4/2004) vs Kyosuke Sasaki (6/29/2003) vs Kiyoshi Tamura (8/7/2004) vs Crafter M (12/7/2004) Wataru Sakata Sakata was a RINGS dojo product and spent most of his career in shoot-style before working Zero-1 and HUSTLE in the 2000s. He wasn’t the flashiest of wrestlers but was a solid hand for the RINGS undercard for several years before becoming a similar roster member for more diverse promotions. He went from facing the likes of Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, Nikolai Zouev, and Kiyoshi Tamura to going face-to-face with CW Anderson, Jun Kasai, Tenryu, and Super Crazy. Certainly a colorful career worth examining. Recommended matches – vs Hiromitsu Kanehara (6/20/1998) vs Kiyoshi Tamura (7/20/1998) vs Masayuki Naruse (12/13/1997) vs Naohiro Hoshikawa (12/15/2002) vs Genichiro Tenryu (3/12/2006) Ryuki Ueyama Ueyama was one of the last UWFi dojo trainees along with Daijiro Matsui. Both would become JMMA-focused guys but Ueyama had some runs in the squared circle as well. After the end of UWFi, Ueyama would try his luck in KINGDOM, RINGS (although most of these matches were probably shoots), U-Style, DDT, HEAT-UP, and even a match in AJPW! As you would expect from someone who was trained in the UWFi dojo, Ueyama was technically proficient and capable of working a sound match. Another guy who I think deserves some examination here. vs Seichi Ikemoto (10/9/2004) vs Hiroyuki Ito (2/15/2003) w/Seichi Ikemoto vs Kiyoshi Tamura & Takaku Fuke (12/7/2004) vs Ryuji Hijikata (4/12/2003) vs Daisuke Nakamura (3/19/2015) w/Kiyoshi Tamura vs Hidehisa Matsuda & Yuki Kotake (6/29/2007) Osamu Kido Karl Gotch’s unheralded student and “son.” Kido was a proficient technician and became a staple in NJPW from its conception all the way into the 1980s and 1990s. Kido was also a key piece in the early years of the UWF revolution, participating in its first iteration. Later in the 2000s, Kido would make a stop in Big Mouth Loud and had a hand in training Shinsuke Nakamura in the NJPW dojo. A very underrated wrestler and one that probably merits his own thread based on a very consistent body of work. Recommended matches - vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (9/6/1985) w/Akira Maeda vs Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami (8/5/1986) w/Keith Haward vs Akira Maeda & Pete Roberts (12/5/1984) w/Akira Maeda vs Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara (12/10/1986) vs Tatsumi Fujinami (2/6/1991)

Masakazu Maeda! I was thinking about him too actually. It's incredible how good he was. Apparently, he felt wrestling wasn't for him and left the business altogether.

Yeah, some of the guys I listed have way more matches than some of the others OP mentioned but still, guys like Kohsaka only have about ~20 matches and I foresee a lot of people using the "but he only has 20 matches" argument by 2026.

Dokonjonosuke Mishima is another name that comes to mind. Only had a few matches in U-Style but he was incredibly good. Might deserve a Megumi Fujii-esque nomination.

Some names that I would have in my top 100: Nikolai Zouev Mikhail Ilyukhin Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Top 10 for me) Andrei Kopylov Grom Zaza Carl Greco Yoshihisa Yamamoto They probably won't make my top 100, but Bas Rutten and Caol Uno probably deserve a shout too. Uno's match against Kohsaka on the last RINGS show was some really tasty stuff. Frank Shamrock and Daisuke Nakamura had a great match on U-Style's last show. Nakamura has had a few more matches since then. If you throw in Frank Shamrock's shoots against Kohsaka and Tamura from RINGS, his case gets even stronger. I want to say Valentijn Overeem as well, just for his match against Tamura in 1999 that was a work, but very well done. Other names that come to mind: Aleksander Karelin (had a worked match with Maeda on a RINGS show, he carried a presence in that match that made it feel quite special) and Hideo Tokoro (who showed how promising he could have been as a pro-wrestler in the worked grappling tag he had on a RIZIN show with Sakuraba vs Tamura and Wanderlei Silva).

El Desperado A very talented wrestler that has vastly improved his resume over the past four years or so. The "lost" NJPW young lion has become a very versatile wrestler proficient in technical wrestling, Lucha Libre, the modern NJPW "house style," and even deathmatches. He has become an important piece to the NJPW Junior Heavyweight division and is a fan favorite for many. In many ways, he mirrors Hiromu Takahashi to some degree. Desperado is able to convey emotion in his matches to a very palpable degree, a gift that not many wrestlers have. Certainly, someone that could contend for the lower half of a few Top 100 lists. Recommended matches - El Desperado vs Jun Kasai (9/12/2022) El Desperado vs Hiromu Takahashi (12/11/2020) El Desperado vs Francesco Akira (5/21/2023) El Desperado vs Kazuchika Okada (3/2/2022) El Desperado vs Kota Ibushi (3/4/2021) El Desperado vs Titan (5/26/2023) El Desperado vs Dragon Lee (6/3/2018) El Desperado vs Hiromu Takahashi (5/22/2018) El Desperado vs Kota Ibushi (2/11/2014) Kyosuke Mikami vs Hiromu Takahashi (8/24/2010) Hiromu Takahashi One of the best junior heavyweights over the past decade. Hiromu Takahashi is a very gifted wrestler who knows how to work the modern NJPW formula, and by extension, most other modern styles as well. Hiromu Takahashi is also a master of conveying emotion and utilizing psychology in his matches to insert a vivid sense of tension and danger. He has developed memorable rivalries with the likes of KUSHIDA, Dragon Lee, El Desperado, and Taiji Ishimori. While he is still relatively early in his career, I think he has put together a very solid case for one of the best junior heavyweights of all time and could be a contender for some Top 100 lists. Recommended matches - Hiromu Takahashi vs Taiji Ishimori (6/4/2018) Hiromu Takahashi vs Will Ospreay (1/4/2020) Hiromu Takahashi vs Will Ospreay (2/10/2018) Hiromu Takahashi vs Will Ospreay (6/9/2018) Hiromu Takahashi vs KUSHIDA (6/11/2017) Hiromu Takahashi vs KUSHIDA (1/4/2017) Hiromu Takahashi vs Dragon Lee (2/11/2017) Hiromu Takahashi vs Ryu Lee (2/9/2020) Dragon Lee vs Kamaitachi (1/24/2016) Dragon Lee vs Kamaitachi (3/20/2015) Dragon Lee vs Kamaitachi (12/4/2015)

I agree with CheapPop, this was a really interesting match that showed Volk Han's more strategic side. His match with Grom Zaza a few months later is another great example of this. We saw this side of Volk Han in his shoots against Nogueira and Hinkle, so it makes sense we see that here in a more grounded RINGS match. Neither use rope breaks that much as they sort of try to out-grapple each other with some nice wrestling and counterwork. Kanehara appears to be sharper at first, but Volk Han's experience comes into play and he catches Kanehara with one of his trademark SAMBO takedowns for the kneebar finish. A nice taste of Volk Han in a different, more realistic setting. ****1/2

This is a RINGS match that has flown under the radar a bit. I thought this was really good. It was more reflective of the realistic approach RINGS was taking by 1998, in the spirit of Pancrase but there's plenty of excitement here if you enjoy some stiff striking and several spirited grappling exchanges. I never thought of Haseman as a fluid wrestler but he was surprisingly able to do some cool stuff with Sakata. Sakata had some great counterwork that made these grappling exchanges believable and compelling. Both eventually go down their last point thanks to several rope breaks and knockdowns. The last minute had a nice closing stretch with both throwing some pretty stiff bombs. Probably the best match these two had in RINGS. ****1/2

With Nikolai Zouev's passing last year, watching this match is almost a punch in the gut because it is a great reminder of how criminally underrated Zouev was. This was a great match and a match that probably deserves to be on any Tamura compilation. Tamura's quickness and speed is matched really well here by Zouev's more methodical approach, but the Russian has a few tricks up his sleeve as you would expect. ****1/4

I thought this was really good and a reflection of the modern approach RINGS was taking due to the influence of Pancrase and the techniques modern MMA was developing at the time. I don't think they were doing "Fake MMA" though, this is "wrestling" distilled in its purest form from two very good "modern" grapplers both highly trained in the art of catch wrestling. It's not as exciting or epic as Kohsaka vs Tamura from 6/27/1998, but I still very much enjoyed this match. ****1/2

I think this was a work. If I am not mistaken, Meltzer mentioned several times in the Wrestling Observer that RINGS adapted their matches due to the popularity of Pancrase, this included tighter, more realistic matwork like this match and shorter matches on the upper-half of the card. It could have been a worked shoot, but I'm not sure. Either way, I really enjoyed this match when I watched it a while back. I gave it ****1/2 but I'm a sucker for the more realistic RINGS stuff like Tamura vs Kanehara a year later.

Tamura had a great 1998 that goes under the radar. Classics against Ilyukhin, Kohsaka, and Yamamoto and carries a few others like Vrij and Sakata to good matches as well. I would say 1998 was his best year overall but 1999 and 1996 come close.

Misawa probably, but Volk Han has a good case here as well. Had some great matches with Yamamoto, Maeda, and Kopylov.

Volk Han is a strong contender here. Had the epic trilogy with Tamura and Kohsaka, and had a few other solid matches along the way.

Akira Maeda's 1988 run is up there among the best in-year runs ever, IMO.

Akira Maeda is in contention here. Ric Flair probably runs away with it but Maeda had a strong 1989.

It's a shame we don't have more footage of him, but we have shows why he was so highly regarded. My personal belief is that if someone wants to rank him high based on available footage + historical documentation + his lineage of trainees and his influence on the development of the industry in Japan, they should feel comfortable doing so.

His AJPW and NOAH stuff has aged particularly well I think.

Immediate names that jump out to me are Volk Han, Kiyoshi Tamura, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada, and Minoru Suzuki

I know I'm resurrecting an old thread but I've been watching some GCM: Contenders stuff and figured it was worth pointing out. It was a grappling promotion similar to Quintet and it had some really good matches and moments, including a TK/Suzuki vs Uno/Shibuya tag. They didn't have too many shows and were mainly active from about 1999-2002/2003, but lots of high-level stuff.

Volk Han is currently #2 on my list, just behind Bret Hart for me. I consider both of those guys two of the greatest natural performers to ever grace the ring.

I'm continually put off by this guy. He always felt like a slimy character to me. Just a clout chaser and grifter.

Albright will definitely make my Top 100. Pound for pound, one of the best and most exciting gaijin heavyweights during the 1990s along with Steve Williams and Stan Hansen.

Masayuki Naruse While never a major star or a main event player, Naruse was a very skilled wrestler who was very capable of working a solid pro-style or shoot-style match. Naruse came out of Maeda's RINGS dojo and became a key undercard player during the promotion's history, eventually finding his way to become a secondary star and fan favorite. Naruse would win RINGS' Light heavyweight title, although he didn't defend it very often, if at all. Naruse would later find himself as a common participant in Inoki-ism era NJPW during the early 2000s. Someone who could work very hard to put on a good, entertaining, and hard-hitting match. Recommended matches - vs Volk Han 10/25/96 vs Dieusel Berto 9/10/93 vs Wataru Sakata 12/23/97 vs Kiyoshi Tamura 8/28/98 vs Volk Han 5/22/99 w/El Samurai vs Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru 9/23/2002 Mitsuya Nagai A well-traveled shoot-style veteran that has been going strong since the 1990s. Nagai was a product of Maeda's RINGS dojo and became one of the key native mid-carders for RINGS up until he left the promotion in 1997 due to a disagreement with his mentor (Maeda, of course). Nagai was very raw at first, but quickly became a solid pro-wrestler and had some great matches with the likes of Volk Han, Yamamoto, and his dojo partner, Masayuki Naruse. Nagai would later try his hand at kickboxing and would later participate in BattlArts, NJPW, AJPW, NOAH, and GLEAT. He was also a key figure in the early years of post-NOAH split AJPW as an undercard worker. Not the flashiest name, but someone with a lot of longevity. Recommended matches - vs Volk Han 4/24/93 vs Volk Han 12/24/94 vs Nikolai Zouev 12/19/95 vs Yamamoto 3/18/95 vs Naruse 12/16/94 vs Kawada 3/3/2001 vs Kojima 3/24/2002 w/Kakihara vs Shinya Makabe & Yuji Nagata 6/8/2001 w/Dajiro Matsui vs Minoru Tanaka & Masakatsu Funaki 12/30/2021 Dick Vrij A kickboxer built like a bodybuilder, and one from Holland. This would becomome a common theme in Kakutogi in the decade following Dick Vrij's debut in UWF in 1989. Perhaps one of the first true monster heels in shoot-style. Dick Vrij had the look of a crazed man who couldn't work a lick, but was actually very good in the ring and only improved in time in terms of being able to construct a solid shoot-style match. He was a key part of Akira Maeda's RINGS promotion in its early years and provided Maeda with a credible main event rival to help build cards around. Dick Vrij's involvement with Chris Dolman and his dojo would eventually see guys like the Overeem brothers and Gilbert Yvel make their way over to Japan. Perhaps not a heavy contender for most top 100 lists, but certainly name that merits some consideration. Recommended matches - vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara 11/29/89 vs Akira Maeda 5/11/91 vs Akira Maeda 8/1/91 vs Volk Han 8/21/92 vs Volk Han 7/13/93 vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto 7/18/95 vs Masayuki Naruse 11/22/96