elliott

I want to 2nd the love for all of these matches and especially mention the rivalry with Hercules Ayala. That is one of the all time blow your expectations out of the water feuds

Something El Dragon said during the launch podcast with Grimmas stood out to me and I wanted to push back on it. He said the rhetoric around Hokuto has always been that she was a good worker before 1993 when she exploded into the all timer we think of her as. That's never been the case. If you read old WONs from 91 and 92 Hokuto and Toyota are regularly spoken about in glowing terms. Whenever Dave would talk about the best worker in the world, he would always end it with something like "of course none of these people are in the same universe as Hokuto and Toyota." Eventually Kyoko started to get mentioned in that group as well. Shes always had a big reputation. Even before what would become her signature run. This got lost over time because the DreamRush - Queendom run (some might stretch it to the 95 Toyota match) is so great. It was alluded to above, but Hokuto set the bar too high for herself. Everyone arrives at Hokuto now hearing about the DreamRush-Queendom run so when you go backwards and watch 1991 Hokuto and shes not the Dangerous Queen, its jarring. Shes still amazing, but folks are expecting something else because they watched DreamSlam first so that pre 93 era has gotten the reputation as "not as great" when Hokuto up until 11/92 was still better than almost everyone ever. Yall watching her journey from the beginning is the way to do it.

I was really happy to hear Grimmas and El Dragon have such kind words to say about Bison Kimura during the opening podcast. We did her wrong last project. Another supremely underrated Joshi worker

If you were going to tell someone to watch one Toyota match which would you pick?

When I first made my way to internet wrestling discussion, Abdullah was the representation of everything I hated in wrestling. Almost 25 years later and Abdullah has become someone that haven't just learned to appreciate, I would say I now am a genuine fan of Abdullah and I can't imagine a list without him. I love his matches against Carlos Colon, Terry Funk, Giant Baba, he even has one of the handful of great Brody singles matches. I would strongly encourage folks to watch his matches from the early 70s because he's a much better athlete than you'd expect if your frame of reference is 80s and 90s Abby.

Very interested to see where people stand on Toyota this time around.

Chigusa from like 84-87 was as great of a run as you can have. See everything from that stretch.

I would absolutely take the Mariko Yoshida complete & accurate journey with you.

I need to take a closer look at Yoshida outside of her peak. Late 90s-early 00s she is an undeniable all time great. Has anyone looked much into her later career work? How was she when she was in her final years as a full time performer? What about this brief 2016-17 comeback? She's someone who is a lock for my list based on her prime years. But I could imagine her absolutely flying up the list.

I haven't rewatched it since then and since revisiting a ton of classic Joshi.

Revisiting them after 20 years, I'm back in the "average LCO match is reliably entertaining at worst in addition to the handful of classics" camp. I totally understand how its an act that can wear on people over time, but it never got there for me. I'll watch them against any opponent. If you asked me to watch LCO vs Wrestler X & Wrestler Y, I dunno who Wrestler X & Y would have to be for me not to watch to watch the match. El-P, The 11/23/00 match Kadaveri mentions is spectacular. Definitely check that out.

LCO is an all time great team and Mima was the star. She is another person who's late 90s & early 00s work deserves a closer look. Not just the LCO stuff most would likely be familiar with. But there's some excellent singles work against Takako Inoue, Misae Genki, Yoshiko Tamura, and I always enjoy it when Shimoda & Etsuka Mita match up against each other. She's not as polished as the best Joshi workers, but she has great charisma and is a standout character.

OOOOOH! I missed this the first time around! Thank you!

We should have a thread where we can identify people who may have been helped by newly unearthed footage. Phil just mentioned Buzz Sawyer. I didn't know about that JYD match but now I'm gonna go find it.

Great write up Kadaveri.

Takako Inoue Supremely underrated performer. Was part of a legendary tag team with Kyoko, but I would highly encourage her singles work in the late 90s-early 00s as she was consistently a high level performer. Excellent at working the breakneck style people associate with Joshi. But knew how to sell, work the mat and would hit spinning backfists every bit as violent as Aja Kong. There is no chance I put together a top 100 without Takako Inoue. I still need to fill in gaps for 2003-Present. But based on the strength of 1993-2003 she's a no brainer. Takako Inoue & Kyoko Inoue vs Mayumi Ozaki & Cutie Suzuki (AJW DreamSlam - 4/2/93) Takako Inoue vs Mayumi Ozaki (JWP - 5/18/96) Takako Inoue vs Mariko Yoshida (ARISON - 12/17/02)

Greatest offensive wrestler ever? Greatest seller? Greatest big match performer? Greatest peak? Greatest character ever? Hokuto has to be on the short list for #1.

Phil, is there enough Jackie Fargo out there that he warrants a serious look? What's come out in the last 5 years? He's someone I've always really liked but I've never felt like there's quite enough. He's pretty high on my list of people to check out if there's enough footage.

I have Dump written in stone in my top 5 and penciled in at #2 behind only Terry Funk. I'll probably go back and forth between Dump & Hokuto for #2 but thinking about what I really love in wrestling the most, its pretty much Dump Matsumoto. The over the top spectacle and violence appeals to me far more than polished technique at this point and no one does over the top spectacle and violence better than Dump Matsumoto. Longevity hurts her for sure. I definitely won't argue her case on the basis of longevity. Its peak only. I've seen a little bit of her comeback work and its not good. But from 84-87 she is such an amazing presence that I think she transcends wrestling in a way I haven't seen from anyone else. When I watch prime Dump Matsumoto, I don't think of her in comparison to Bull Nakano or Aja Kong or Vader or whichever large "bully" heel you can think. To me Dump belongs in the category with Michael Myers from Halloween, Jason from Friday the 13th. She's one of the great horror characters in film & television history. When you see "Dump Matsumoto" your brain instantly goes to the Chigusa Nagayo matches. With good reason. Those matches have been put over for 35 years. For anyone who likes those matches or just wants to see an example of completely chaotic spectacle driven wrestling with incredible character work, I can't recommend the following two matches enough: Dump Matsumoto vs Yukari Ohmori AJW - 3/20/86 Dump Matsumoto vs Itsuki Yamazaki AJW - 8/21/86 I consider these all time great must see matches. I'll have more to say about Dump as the project continues. But she was just unbelievable in her prime.

I'm really glad you mentioned Ron Starr. WHen I watched the 80s Puerto Rico set I was really impressed with him. He's someone that could have used the Goodhelmet set treatment because he worked in a variety of more under the radar places and was always really good as I recall. Love him in Puerto Rico. Really good in Portland. There's some NJPW stuff. He was definitely someone I would have considered in 2016 had the PR set come out in time.

I've got Invader 1, Carlos Colon & Chicky Starr as people I'm sure I'll vote for. Who else from PR should I look at? Is there enough Invader III? Abdullah will make my list and PR definitely plays a big part of that.

Takako Inoue needs to be revisited. I need to look at post 2003-present for her, but from like 93-2003 she is supremely underrated

Which wrestlers that weren't nominated in 2016 are you most looking forward to nominating and promoting as a candidate?

I'm not sure which actor but if Ric Flair was a cheese hed be Parmigiano reggiano.

^ This is one of the best match reviews you'll ever read. Fantastic. I hope people notice Kadaveri's work here.