club

Fabulous, thank you! The Bock match is a great one.

First big show I saw was WM6, Hogan was a big part of drawing me in to wrestling as a kid. I outgrew him, and found him at times embarrassing, at other times deplorable, at times nostalgic. RIP.

Their singles match at Korakuen is comfortably my favourite Devitt match.

I've been watching a lot of 80s WWF and have been loving JYD. He's like a more loveable version of Rock N Wrestling era Hogan. Can someone recommend some key Mid South stuff of his?

I don't see myself voting for Gedo, but he's a consistently fun watch for about 20 years. Given the time I'd love to deep dive his stuff. Gedo & Jado vs Tarzan Goto & Mr Gannosuke from WAR 7/7/95 is a classic.

Brian Maxine I find it quite hard to put into words what I love about Brian Maxine, but here goes. We all know someone who’s an arrogant prick right? Someone who is clearly talented, but also clearly not the genius they make themselves out to be? The type you’re just waiting to fall flat on his annoying face? Brian “Gold Belt” Maxine is the best wrestling personification of this type. Everything he does just screams so well with this, from his wrestling style, to his crown and robe, to his patronising handshake. The WoS environment is perfect for this type of heel to thrive. Maxine’s generally wrestling in front of an audience that views letting success go to your head as a cardinal sin. The whole thing is cartoonishly absurd yet completely relatable. Recommended matches: Brian Maxine vs Steve Wright, 2nd December 1972 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VOn44x3Oso Brian Maxine vs Ivan Penzecoff, 15th Feb 1975 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDwpfwLhhtA Brian Maxine vs Robby Barron, 5th March 1977 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecwJaLJDfAI

To me, Kellet is a fascinating wrestler more than a great one. That juxtaposition of jester and psychopath. Some of the stories in Simon Garfield's book sound terrifying.

This is pretty much where I am with him too.

The deeper I get into this the more I feel this way. Nick Gage won't be in my top 100 but the likes of Sabu, Tommy Rich, Dusty and Dump all will be. Technical limitations be damned. Limited as workers, fantastic as pro-wrestlers.

Sid Cooper God I love Sid Cooper. An ugly, mean spirited, caveman dunderhead in the best way. There’s a simple but great morality tale subtext to his matches; he’s a talented technical wrestler who cuts corners wherever he can. Thing is, this reliance on cheap shots never works. As Kent Walton’s reminds us, if he’d just stick to the technical wrestling he’d get somewhere. As it is he almost always loses. And we love seeing this idiot getting his comeuppance again and again. When he’s not cheating, he makes for a fantastic buffoon, trying to hang with a more athletic opponent and failing miserably. See his matches against Sammy Lee/Sayama for the best example of this. I very much get Les Dawson “it takes real talent to play a piano that badly” vibes from these performances. Not sure what an equivalent reference would be for anyone who isn’t a 40+ Brit. The Washington Generals perhaps? Recommended matches, all from World of Sport: Vs. Clive Myers, 1975 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgAu4Uh0qsA Vs. Kung Fu - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jno3tW9YZq4 Vs. Steve Grey - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDEBM-Ki7aU&t=13s Vs. Dave Barrie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSXemeAyods Vs. Sammy Lee, 1980 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehRX4YvSx6c I’ll find proper dates for these later.

Finally a reason to get on Twitter.

In the course of checking out other people’s matches, Tarzan Goto has cropped up a fair bit. In the process he’s gone from a guy I considered a Japanese Balls Mahoney (not a good thing) to someone whose matches I actively seek out. I could honestly see him landing higher than Onita depending on what indy gems are out there. Many thanks to Jetlag for their list of recs. I’d add: w. Mr Gannosuke vs Gedo & Jado 7/7/95 Vs Matsunaga 12/4/89

I wouldn’t count Saku’s PRIDE run for his case. I'd argue that his understanding of how to entertain as a pro-wrestler contributed to his success as a fighter though. I would of course consider how his fight career played into his pro-wrestling career when he went back. For instance I loved his Laughter 7 NJPW run with Shibata where he was the unstoppable submission machine, culminating in one of the great modern NJPW matches with Nakamura at the Dome. This works because he’s Kazushi Sakuraba, PRIDE star and all-round MMA legend, and he’s booked like a killer. To bring it back to Funaki, I remember being intrigued to see him back wrestling, but to me it hurt his aura that it had come off the back of some high-profile losses to Saku and Tamura (and one very iffy win against Minowaman).

Thanks for the rec. Haven't seen this since it happened, will rewatch. The Pancrase thing is interesting. The line between some Japanese MMA and pro wrestling was certainly a lot more blurry in the 90s: early PRIDE, late RINGS etc. Not sure I buy it as the aims are different, but it's an interesting conversation to have for sure.

I'm considering Funaki based on the strength of his pre-Pancrase stuff. His 89-91 run is superb. The Nakano match posted above is probably his best, but he has also has great matches with Maeda, Sano, Fujiwara, Anjo, Yamazaki etc. Plus a weird match with Terry Rudge in Reslo! He has such charisma and dynamism. Perhaps this is coloured by what was to come for him, but from his timing and reactions he comes off as the real deal more so than anyone bar Maeda. Since he's been back I've seen bits here and there but wasn't particularly into it. Apart from the Suwama and Akiyama matches in AJPW what should I seek out?

Therein lies my issue my Jumbo. Classic body of work, never feel like watching him. There are a few guys I feel this way about, Jun Akiyama and Barry Windham come to mind.

Thanks, this was tremendous.

I too have recently been on an Atlantis kick. There's a tremendous rudo Atlantis performance in this trios match on this episode of CMLL TV. Starts around the 49 min mark:

I imagine I'll have both Suzuki somewhere on my list. The criticisms above are very much the same as mine for his later work, overly reliant on tropes such as strike exchanges and no-sell spots. Though he still had his moments. His matches with Ibushi and Ishii in 2020 were both Covid-era highlights. He was already in his 50s at that point. Bar his PWFG match with Sano, I do think his best matches have been in NJPW when he adopted a more regular pro style - Tanahashi in 2012 and AJ in 2014. But I also feel that this style has been detrimental to his uniqueness. These days I enjoyed a lot of his earlier (00s) pro stuff where he worked things differently, like his approach to selling, grappling, or his ability to bob and weave. So refreshing. Matches like the 03-04 with Nagata, his Muto TC match, his NOAH tag with Marufuji vs Hashi and Akiyama.

Definitely want to check out more of Jackie Sato. Her post-Beauty Pair 79-81 stuff in AJW ranges from good to excellent. Wish there was more Beauty Pair available. The only thing I’ve seen is a clipped match of theirs from 76 vs Black Pair which was ok. Ditto for her JWP run.

Thanks for expanding on this. It's a really good point, and would agree the idea is lacking in most modern wrestling. Maybe most wrestling full stop. It's also an interesting way to explore the idea of being a 'good' worker.

This perfectly encapsulates what I love about Randy Savage. Can definitely see this with Austin too. Can you elaborate a bit on why you find Dusty and Bruno so strong in this regard?

Been on an Onita kick recently and he really shines as a wild brawler from 89 to 93. GOTNW made a great post in the Shinya Hashimoto thread about the likes of Inoki and Maeda being able to work their best when able to work their own vision of pro-wrestling. Onita belongs in this category. My read on early FMW is it’s really just the story of Onita getting this improbable second chance to become a star. A punkish underdog heir to Lawler and Funk, dialling up the violence and the emoting. It plays to all his strengths and negates his weaknesses, and that of some of his opponents as well. Even FMW’s DIY aesthetic seems to accentuate Onita’s status as this working-class hero outsider defying the odds and succeeding on his own terms. A pro-wrestling version of Ashita no Joe if you will. Looking at his back catalogue I always assumed that judging him by his big matches against other big 90s names - your Chonos and Tenryus - would give a fair summation. It really doesn’t. A lot of his best stuff come from lesser names: Tarzan Goto, Masashi Aoyagi, Gregori Veritchev. Who the hell has a better match with Gregori Veritchev than Genichiro Tenryu?!

This is a really good point. Not to derail Hash's thread, but I've come to a similar conclusion watching 89-95 Onita FMW. A perfect house style to accentuate his positives and hide his physical limitations. Anyway. The Hashimoto / Tanaka match is a thing of beauty. Such a compelling demolition.

St Clair isn't a WoS guy I actively seek out, but he turns in very strong performances against people I do. His matches with Jones, Bond, Roach and Kincaid are all excellent. He had one of the better McManus matches from the 70s. I doubt he has enough to crack a top 100 list, but what else would people recommend?