Ma Stump Puller

If this was "top 100 draws" in wrestling, Sapp would be in a fair position for himself given how insanely popular he was as a pop-culture figure. For what it's worth, I think he's not the worst of the worst and has had some fairly decent matches when paired with people who can bump around for him. Him and Osamu Nishimura actually had a pretty good sequence together back in NJPW, through I think that was more Nishimura being a amazing carry than Sapp's own qualities. Limited, sure, wouldn't get nowhere near a top 100, but he's got some stuff worth checking out: in particular his match series against Manabu Nakanishi and some of his IGF work if only for how bizarre some of the matches were. He also had a ZERO-ONE exploding barbed wire baseball bat 6-man with Onita and co that was pretty entertaining.

I definitely agree with this. Seeing Sakuraba do NOAH-style strike exchanges with Marufuji and just outright letting him chop him as hard as possible with no resistance makes zero fucking sense. When he isn't doing that, he's doing incredibly slow, tenseless technical work that gets overextended a lot. He's great in short bursts of action but anything paced longer is a struggle.

I do remember watching some very early Kong and being impressed by how good she was already for someone who had maybe a year or so actual ring work at that point. The main issue is that most of her Japan work came during a time where Joshi wrestling in general was on a major downturn and actual footage was incredibly hard to check out. I'll need to do a deep dive soon to see what's up with that these days. That being said, she's a great sprint worker and a solid monster role when paired with someone who can play a equally impressive underdog alongside her. Top 100 material? Me personally at the moment, I don't see it.

Thanks for the interesting thoughts on the matter. I'm obviously not incredibly privy to the exact consensus people have exactly on this site: but generally I see Taue being either omitted a lot outside of the usual big hits people cite or just outright ignored at points, especially on more popular forums. This is a baseline opinion that's obviously not centred to any one niche area naturally. The rest of your post does bring up good points in all fairness, I'll need to think those through. That being said, Akiyama is one of those guys who I stylistically don't really like, especially with his later NOAH work and beyond. He's still obviously brilliant for the reasons stated but I don't really get any connection from his work. I get your point, I just don't agree with it personally.

Thanks! One bit of extra context for the last match that might be of interest is that while most of Kea's Heavyweight Trial Series wasn't televised, we do get a full match with him and Misawa as well. To note, while that match is still fairly good especially with Misawa bumping like a madman for all of Mossman's offence and that getting him over because of sheer name value, it isn't nearly as dynamic as the Taue bout was in terms of storytelling and whatnot. I think there's a fascinating contrast in that to make between the pair in terms of wrestling philosophies.

Ogawa is a guy that you REALLY need to look into to get the true value out of in the first place. I know a lot of people write him off as some basic, undercard journeyman that only got where he was because of a certain association with a certain big time ace at the time taking him up the card. It's not like his lackluster appearance and tendency to not be very dynamic pre-feud with Akiyama does him any favours in that regard. However, his charm quickly pops up when you see just how damn versatile Ogawa is. From dirty bully beating down the other Jr's in his way to fluke champion to giant killer to tag specialist to a grizzled vet hosting his own technical torture chamber, he's the prototypical wrestling everyman in that he's fitted every booking slot you can think of over his career, and still continues to do so even to this day. He's super underrated technically as well: the guy does things I've never seen from anyone else, and unlike other technical oriented wrestlers, he doesn't show off or suspend realism like a Sabre Jr or a Yoshida tend to do at times. If he needs to pull something fancy, he will, but he doesn't need to do so when he has other, simpler means. He's all about practicality: either by a cheap roll up or spamming backdrops to death, Ogawa is all about grabbing the win by any means necessary, and you see that perfectly in his GHC run, as well as his Jr stints. The man has no standards and is willing to go to the dirtiest, darkest lengths possible to win. The real genius is that he can make this a babyface OR a heel story, and both are seamlessly organic. I could go on about his selling or incredible dynamics as a tag duo with Misawa or Sabre but needless to say, I can't not have him be top 100. He's done way, way too much to say otherwise. People know his greatest hits, so I'll throw out some more off the wall match suggestions. Deeply recommend checking these out. Ogawa vs Kaito Kiyomiya I (NOAH, 13.06.2021) Great showcase of modern Ogawa in action. Kaito tries playing Ogawa's own game in a bid to get back his momentum after a crushing loss to old man Mutoh, namely by trying to exhaust him in headlocks and whatnot. He's trying to show off, prove that his big loss was just a fluke and he's in control. This is the case...for about the first 10 minutes anyway, the rest is Ogawa just slowly breaking Kaito down with either some nasty stomps to the head, tying his legs up in painful ways, or just being a shit in general. There's a few points here where Kaito makes big comebacks and Ogawa sells amazingly, truly placing himself in danger before eventually outsmarting Kaito when he tries pulling from Mutoh's playbook in a panic and gets demolished for making such a mistake, eventually losing in the same manner he did in that match by being completely outwitted. This was mentioned as a potential MOTY for 2021 and while I don't quite agree, it's definitely a sleeper hit. Their second match together is also worth checking in on as well. Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (NOAH, 17.03.2019) Such is the state of NOAH that matches like these get buried. Maru is one of those guys that I get people liking but I've never truly dug outside of a few matches here and there, especially later on his career when he turns into a leg-slap spammer that seems to have one note matches all the time. Ogawa and him have some fairly great chemistry through, and it comes off well here, namely in both men working technical. Maru works the arm, Ogawa the neck, and the majority of the match is them selling those effects over time while pulling out flashy counters and whatnot. This turns into more of a regular Maru style match after a while but even then, Ogawa's crazy roll ups + Maru's general insanity in finishing stretches makes this into a really well paced bout that appeals to both men's strengths a good bit here, more so thanks to Ogawa being able to really sell the effects of his arm being attacked a ton: you buy his opponent getting the advantage because of that. HAYATA vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (NOAH, 04.01.2020) A common complaint about Ogawa is that people allege that his slow, technical-oriented limb work isn't very compelling or exciting to watch. This match just outright throws that out of the window as Ogawa gets HAYATA, a pretty middling Jr who has had direct issues in connecting with the crowd INCREDIBLY over, despite the fact that they weren't exactly hyped for this in the first place. This is a basic narrative of HAYATA's speed and youth against Ogawa's experience and how HAYATA's speed gets him a big advantage at first, but Ogawa eventually picks him apart with holds, and through the crowd isn't into it at first, Ogawa slowly gets them into it by consistently hammering in his dominance, until they realise that the champ might actually lose: by that point, every near fall becomes a big deal, and HAYATA gets some sensational cheers as he throws out as much as humanly possible despite the damage. Ogawa's opponent sells a ton for this in turn, sure, but it is Ogawa's approach that drags the crowd into this until they reach a fever pitch at the finishing section. Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW, 27.11.1999) This is a really neat gem that doesn't get much credit at all. Honda and Inoue are two guys who honestly weren't particularly great at this point at all. Honda would get surprisingly solid when the spotlight was on him in NOAH, but as of now he's a goofy mid-card act. Inoue is...well, Inoue, albeit he's way better here than you would expect. Why pick this out then? Basically, Ogawa tries to work fancy with Inoue with the security of Misawa at his side, gets his ass beat when he realises that Inoue is a lot tougher than he thought, and then has to spend the majority of the match selling for two guys who aren't exactly well known for devastating offence or being compelling on top. Regardless, Ogawa actually manages to get this narrative over! The crowd really get into this, especially when Inoue and Honda start pulling out the big signature spots and Ogawa has to not only survive, but also help out his partner out of some surprisingly dangerous situations. It's a great example of Ogawa playing a underdog babyface, but also a established act trying to hold on to that spot against a pair that are willing to do anything to move up in the Tag League, so he plays up his desperateness in trying to protect that with everything he's got on top of everything else. Even some of the best could not make this work, especially with a very much B-show mode Misawa hanging around, but yet, this somehow functions without a hitch.

Sure, I just get a bit lazy sometimes with these lol. I'll edit them in, give me a sec.

Welp, guess I've gotta stake something here. I'm not gonna act like big Johnny was a consistent workrate machine but I do think people underestimate him in terms of how essential he was to the AJPW scene, especially in the mid to late 90's. Ace goes from being mostly a third party figure who is mostly known for refining a early Kobashi with some title gold to having three successful pairings: one with Williams, the other with Kobashi collectively in GET before breaking up and creating Movement, of which has him get Bart Gunn to some of his best tag work since...ever, really. Through he was never the big singles star that I think they were grooming him to be, Ace pulls out some, well, ace work as a tag specialist that had tremendous success, especially for a guy who's best known work is arguably outside of his prime. Watching daily AJPW content, this becomes really apparent as he's mostly involved in some form of high-card match doing his thing. He's almost omniscient in how he almost always has something to do. Sure, was there some carrying involved? 100%. Did he get some of his initial success from backstage bias? Yep. The fact is that Ace got REALLY fucking over, and you see that a ton in his high-stakes bouts, especially when pairing with Kobashi. Both men are incredibly well regarded by the crowd and everyone loses their shit whenever Ace gets his signature comeback sequence from a hot tag, or nailing his big moves. Obviously the guy has his negatives: he's a complete goof in terms of promos, his look is pretty shoddy, and he has no real measure of success outside of the AJPW bubble despite multiple attempts. That being said, while I probably wouldn't have him particularly low on my list, he's definitely one to consider in terms of consistently being pretty solid workrate wise and being able to adapt to a changing wrestling climate, namely AJPW moving away from more brawl-orientated scraps to more athletic displays. If you can appreciate that, then perhaps he can fit in on a top 100. Some (late game) Ace you should be watching (bolded are particular highlights) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Johnny Ace & Mike Barton (09.06.2000) Johnny Ace & Mike Barton vs Jun Akiyama and Mossman (15.04.2000) Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama (23.07.1999) Johnny Ace & Mike Barton vs. Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi (09.06.1999) Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace vs. Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi (04.12.1998) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace (27.11.1998) Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (21.11.1998) Akira Taue & Tamon Honda vs. Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi (23.08.1998) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi (05.06.1998) Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen & Vader (01.05.1998) Johnny Ace vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (28.02.1998) Johnny Ace vs. Kenta Kobashi (21.03.1998, through I wouldn't recommend this personally I've heard others say it was good, albeit their 1995 encounter is better) Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa (23.11.1997) Akira Taue vs. Johnny Ace (21.10.1997) Gary Albright & Steve Williams vs. Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi (25.07.1997) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi (27.05.1997) Johnny Ace vs. Stan Hansen (30.03.1997) Johnny Ace & Steve Williams vs. Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa (30.11.1996) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Johnny Ace & Steve Williams (22.11.1996) Johnny Ace & Steve Williams vs. Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa (16.11.1996) Johnny Ace & Steve Williams vs. Kenta Kobashi & The Patriot (12.10.1996) Danny Kroffat, Johnny Ace & Steve Williams vs. Giant Kimala, Kenta Kobashi & Patriot (28.09.1996) Johnny Ace & Steve Williams vs. Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa (05.09.1996) Johnny Ace & Steve Williams vs. Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa (07.06.1996) Johnny Ace, Lacrosse, Patriot & The Eagle vs. Kenta Kobashi, Kentaro Shiga, Mitsuharu Misawa & Satoru Asako (This one is very fun) (22.01.1996) Johnny Ace vs. The Patriot (24.07.1995) Johnny Ace vs. Kenta Kobashi (26.05.1995) Akira Taue vs. Johnny Ace (13.04.1995) Akira Taue, Johnny Ace & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa & Stan Hansen (02.04.1995) Johnny Ace & Steve Williams vs. Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa (04.03.1995) Johnny Ace & Steve Williams vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (02.01.1995)

I can get why people would think he'd be a good fit, but for me, I feel like he got really good way too late: it didn't help with the fact that NO FEAR, by far his biggest thing he's known for, quickly fell apart as Asako retired after his traumatic neck injury and Takayama was being pushed elsewhere, literally too big for the group anymore. He was just sorta stuck in limbo afterwards, floating around in lesser promotions, occasionally showing up here and there but mostly in nothing matches. His pre-breakout stuff is pretty eh as well: Omori as a bland babyface with zero flavour does him nothing with the crowd and while he does have some good matches on the AJPW circuit, he's mostly just the fall guy/the one that bumps a lot, especially when working with older guys. I can appreciate that fact as the function of a good hand, but still, he's JUST a good hand. Kobashi seems to be the only one that gets anything out of him in singles for the longest time. He's a good tag specialist and can play the hot babyface leading the charge or the dirty heel that'll do anything to get ahead, best used alongside stronger acts workrate wise. Omori is a good brawler but he needs a greater opponent to bounce off of in the ring, and he's kinda middling in anything that's not a scrappy brawl or stiff striking. If I could make a comparison, he's basically in the role of Akitoshi Saito: loyal workhouse, good in tags, can be brought to something truly great with the right man leading, but he's a lot more underwhelming than you'd expect from someone with the rich history he has. Even his TC run, as short as it was, was incredibly forgetful. It would take a revelation for him to even get a whiff of the top 100.

Taue is incredibly underrated, and it bugs me to death. Sure, he doesn't have as many high points as the other Pillars: he has no definitive singles title run outside of a kinda middling Triple Crown reign that's more known for how it ends than how it actually was as a whole: but what he does have is incredible ring presence and psychology. Everything Taue does in the ring makes sense to his character: he's a big dude who throws around the smaller guys without abandon, he's a bully who makes sure to get in the way of anyone else mounting offence, even if he's not the legal man. When you look at the many six-man tags and general work, Taue stands out as a supreme ringleader, keeping everything in line, even with those who usually aren't particularly fantastic. He can be a masterful babyface, either a young hotshot aiming against the big bruisers, or a war-weary vet battling against a new generation of scrappy guys. He's so good at making narratives in his matches and sticking to them regardless of the outcome. Here are some Taue matches you might've not considered before showcasing this: Akira Taue vs. Takeshi Rikio (NOAH 2005) Rikio's title run isn't getting over, despite Misawa and Kobashi giving the poor lad wins in big main event slogs. Most people know about this already: Rikio was a failure in terms of main event stuff, namely because of a true lack of charisma. Taue comes in at the last second to be his rival, and he takes advantage of this, teasing the crowd that he (might) just lose this despite his best efforts. Despite Taue by this point being banged up, he delivers a hellacious performance and hits all of his usual big notes while selling his vulnerability. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW, 2000) Taue goes into this incredibly injured (namely his shoulder and some smaller issues) and has to play the plucky underdog against two guys who don't give him a inch to work with. This is essentially giving a extended look into Taue selling his injuries, struggling to fight back as Omori rips away at his bad shoulder with malice and whatnot. Takayama steals his bully routine, consistently gets in shit when he's just about to get a comeback or tag out. He paces himself greatly here so that when he gets that hot tag and starts throwing out everything he possibly can do, the crowd completely eat it up like he's just won the lottery. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace (AJPW 1998) Gunn and Ace are vultures here, picking away at Kawada. They can't collectively beat him, but with Ace on the outside wearing him down, Gunn in the ring keeping their momentum up, Kawada is soon barely able to run to the ropes, let alone fight. Why mention this? Because Taue does some great work on the apron, consistently saving Kawada's ass from near falls, getting amped up when he's able to recover, and even putting himself in danger (namely having to quickly risk damage by crawling to save Kawada after a big double suplex) when he does get in, it's great: big offence, huge cheers, only stopped when he gets a bit too ahead of himself and gets a Ace DDT off a chokeslam. Again, Taue barely shows up here and he's still able to deliver some great work, despite not even being in the ring for the most part. Akira Taue vs. Maunakea Mossman (AJPW 1998) Mossman/Kea gets some pretty harsh criticism at points, unfairly at times. One thing that I can agree on is that he wasn't very interesting outside of workrate: he didn't really have anything for crafting stories in the ring and his charisma was....ehh. Not exactly anything to talk about. This match is short, but Taue gives the guy something to work with here, namely the fact that Mossman at this point is moving to a Heavyweight, and this is essentially his Trial Series, to get him over as one in the eyes of the crowd. Most guys wrestle normal bouts here, giving and taking offence, taking it easy. Taue tries this for a bit, takes some big offence until he basically gets fed up and starts beating the crap outta him: DDT's on the mat, boots to the face, big brain chops, you name it. Taue has no respect for this little Jr who thinks he's a giant killer and he really wants him to know it as well, even daring Mossman to throw out his usual kicks to no effect. This gets Mossman over as well: the small pockets of room where he throws out as much as humanly possible are met with strong reactions. The result is obvious, but Taue almost convinces those watching that he might just....lose here, and that's not easy to do by any means. I could go on all day, but needless to say, Taue kicks big ass. The top 20 more than does him fine on my list.

I'm gonna try to make the case for Albright being at least on the top 100. First off, I'll agree with some of the sentiments here: he's a bit of a lame duck, and when paired with someone who can't take his huge ass suplexes (I.E. a Hansen) he struggles immensely. He's far from a natural in the ring and he quickly gets booked away from the main event after a fairly underwhelming Misawa TC defence. However, when you are going through weekly AJPW tapings, looking at the same guys over and over, Albright is one of the few guys that stays consistently entertaining, at least for myself. He's a great monster heel when he's manhandling the smaller lads, terrorising the Super Generation Army or whatnot, completely wrecking them with big suplexes and slams. Sure, he's NOT charismatic and you definitely can't build a match around him, but he plays a critical role in the Triangle of Power as Williams's vicious partner in crime and supporting act in his later years, getting some really good matches out of someone who was, quite frankly, starting to break down a fair bit physically and wasn't the man he was in prior years. He's a great upper card tag worker and has made some truly bizarre team-ups (him and Sabu) work well. Here are most of his highlight matches in AJPW, in bold being the ones where he particularly shines (please note that I haven't checked out Albright's debut year yet so there's probably a few missing) Gary Albright, Maunakea Mossman & Scorpio vs. George Hines, Johnny Ace & Mike Barton (1999) Gary Albright & Vader vs. Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi (1999) Akira Taue & Jun Izumida vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama (1998) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama (1998) Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Jun Akiyama & Tamon Honda (1998) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright & Steve Williams (1998) Gary Albright & Steve Williams vs. Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa (1997) Akira Taue, Tamon Honda & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright, Steve Williams & The Lacrosse (1997) Kenta Kobashi Johnny Ace & Maunakea Mossman vs Steve Williams, Gary Albright/The Lacrosse (1997) Gary Albright & Steve Williams vs. Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi (1997) Gary Albright vs. Toshiaki Kawada (basically all of their matches together: 1995, 1996, and then one in 1997, albeit that one is weaker than the others) Gary Albright vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (1997) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW 1997) Gary Albright & Sabu vs. Kenta Kobashi & Patriot (1996) Gary Albright & Sabu vs. Stan Hansen & Takao Omori (1996) Gary Albright vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (1996) Gary Albright, Johnny Ace & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa (1996) Gary Albright vs. Jun Akiyama (1996) Gary Albright vs. Masanobu Fuchi (1996) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright & Stan Hansen (they have two matches together in 1996, both worth a watch) This isn't including just generally alright or decent matches (of which there's a fair chunk) as well as his shooty work in UWF, of which some have claimed is of better quality overall before he had his fissy fit against Tamura and essentially ruined whatever chances they had at continuing. All in all, the idea that he was a slow tank that had to be led to good quality matches is incredibly untrue, the man could work quite well for himself, hopefully this list helps in dispelling that.

Don Arakawa Controversial, but Arakawa deserves, at the very least, a crack at nominations. He's one of the most consistent comedy wrestlers ever, and that's coming from someone who groans at that style in general. Under the comedy work is a pretty technical hand who can almost universally take any act and get them to a decent match: a lot of his (documented) SWS work is getting random NJPW guys who are barely out of the Dojo to presentable (or at times even fairly good) matches. He's the perfect opening guy and remained as such for way, way longer than you would expect. That being said, he's had some particularly fun showings when allowed to get his hair down a little, and his weird out of his depth persona when entering shoot style stuff is very entertaining. Don Arakawa vs. The Cobra (NJPW, 1985) Don Arakawa vs Daisuke Ikeda (PWFG, 1993) Carl Greco & Don Arakawa vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Yuki Ishikawa (Bridge of Dreams, 1995) Don Arakawa & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Fugo Fugo Yumeji & Kuroge Wagyuta (ZERO-ONE, 2002) Don Arakawa vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (ZERO-ONE, 2003) Don Arakawa vs. Munenori Sawa (Big Mouth Loud, 2006) Don Arakawa vs Osamu Kido (Big Mouth Loud, 2006)

I've gotten a huge appreciation for the man as I've slowly clawed through his content. If one thing is true, it's that he tries to make every match he's in better. Random AJPW 6-Man tags where most of the guys involved can barely bump or do moves? Sure, he can settle with that. Taking a 70+ Dory Funk to some of his best exchanges in decades in singles or tag matches? Yep, that as well. Taking guys like a super green Ryota Hama or Bas to some of their highlights workrate wise at the time? Not a issue. Going a full 30 minutes with Kentaro Shiga of all people, and getting probably one of his best matches ever out of the guy? Somehow done with ease. He's one of those guys that can be fitted in anywhere as a consistently reliable force, and while his formula gets pretty stale (especially when with someone who can't really work his pace without making it look forced) there's no doubting that he's a top act and should've at least been given a "thank you" run somewhere major. Top 30, no question about it. It's only the lack of a true top run that stops him being further down.