ohtani's jacket

1951.1.5 Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Guy Laroche 951.3.9 Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Harry Fields 1951.3.25air Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Harris (?) 1951.5.18 Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Harry Fields 1951.9.21 Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Jack Cunningham This is a much better collection of clips. I absolutely love Harry Fields. He doesn't wrestle like a typical British worker, but I love the way he sells, his approach to the lock-up, and the way he keeps dumping Rene on the mat with hard back bumps ala lucha. He even does a type of released power bomb. His matches with Rene are gritty and hard fought just the way I like my wrestling. The match against the mysterious Harris is probably the best Rene has looked in these clips. A lot of hard fought submission wrestling. The Cunningham match is fun as he's a South African worker who looks like he's a teacher but is actually a skilled athlete. In the Laroche match, Rene takes a huge bump off the apron into the crowd. I don't know if it was sped up because of film transfer issues, but Rene went absolutely flying into the dark. I really loved the stuff I saw from Rene in the Fields and Harris clips. Against the right opponent, it seems like Rene could deliver some wars. I'm not sure if it's the close-up work at ringside, but the post-war British workers were amazing at selling. Not something I'd expect from British wrestlers, to be honest.

One of the biggest disappointments for me from the French footage was Rene Ben Chemoul. He was a guy who I expected to be an amazing wrestler and instead he turned out to be more of a showman and performer. So, I thought I'd take a look at some of the clips we have of him from his younger years to see whether they change my opinion of him. 1950.1.20or1950.11.10 Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Andre Chauveau 1950.3.24 Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Johnny Peters 1950.4.28 Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Andre Gasnier 1950.5.12 Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Henri Moreau 1950.5.19 Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Andre Coquard 1950.11.20 Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Guy Robin These clips show a young Rene Ben Chemoul with a full head of hair against a variety of opponents. They generally focus on highlights so there are a lot of dropkicks, monkey flips, splashes and swinging punches, as well as Rene's hurricanrana spot. Some of the clips focus on holds. We can tell that Rene liked to work the shoulder and was fairly decent at working his way out of a headscissors. At times he reminds me of Rocca, but against a more skilled opponent he appears to have a somewhat decent mat game. Amusingly, there are a number of clips that look like modern indy standoffs. The thing that stands out the most is versatility. Rene may not be a great wrestler, but he appeared to tailor his matches to suit his opponent. Peters was famous for his dropkick, so you get a battle of the dropkicks. Against the heels, he works a big, theatrical style. Gasnier, IIRC, takes an approach after my own heart and simply punches him. He kicks Rene after pinning him which sets off a kerfuffle. Probably the most interesting clip is the match against Robin. Robin looks like the kind of utility player that us diehards love. Rene didn't win me over with these clips, though there was certainly a lot of skill on display. I can understand why he was popular since he was flashy, but I wonder how good he truly was at grappling.

Carl Malenko is one of my favorite workers of all-time. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that the Segunda Caida boys would be able to drag him out of retirement in 2026. I wasn't sure what to expect from a Carl Malenko match in 2026 as my image of him is from a different time and place. When he returned to BattlARTS in 2008 it felt like a comeback, but let's see what this chapter is about. Karl Greco-Malenko vs. Matt Mako (ACTION Wrestling, 2/28/26) Seeing Malenko walk out to the ring reminded me of them bringing back characters in Cobra Kai. Hey, he's in great shape for his age and the hair looks cool. This was very much a maestros version of a shoot style bout, but I'm okay with that. I don't expect Carl to move like he used to, certainly not in his first match back after so many years out of the ring. In fact, it's impressive that he looked as good as he did. The grappling parts were more interesting than the standup, and I could have done with a few more minutes of mat wrestling, but overall it was a successful return. I didn't get a feel for what Mako brings to the table, but good for him if he's working the style on the US independent scene.

I thought I'd seen this already, but I either failed to do a write up of it, or ignored it because the video length is over 40 minutes. God, I hate NOAH. I'm not gonna lie, I watched this while listening to a cello concerto and trying to finish a short time event on the mobile game I play. That's the only way I'm sitting through a 40 minute NOAH video. I thought it was inoffensive. There was a lot of criticism in the match thread about it starting out solid then turning into a mess, but I'm not sure what people expect. NOAH fans expect a certain formula, and they worked their butts off to give the fans what they want. They made some mistakes along the way because they were too young to be going so long, but they delivered enough big moments that I doubt there were many fans who dissatisfied with their effort. Would I want to watch it again? Absolutely not, but it didn't make it want to pluck my eyes out. So that's something.

#71 KENTA I've seen KENTA plenty of times, so I kind of already know what he's about. I used to assume he was some kind of heavyweight plonker using uppercase letters, so I was surprised to discover he was a lighter weight wrestler using a kick-based offence. Is he one of the greatest workers of all-time? He was one of the most prominent workers of the 2000s, and one of the better Japanese workers in what was a fairly shitty time for Japanese pro-wrestling, but I dunno. I thought the narrative surrounding KENTA was that he was good in his earlier years and mediocre afterwards. I don't see his early peak being special enough to warrant inclusion in the top 100, and he didn't press on in the way that a lot of his 2000s peers did. KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH, 10/29/06) I thought I'd seen this already, but I either failed to do a write up of it, or ignored it because the video length is over 40 minutes. God, I hate NOAH. I'm not gonna lie, I watched this while listening to a cello concerto and trying to finish a short time event on the mobile game I play. That's the only way I'm sitting through a 40 minute NOAH video. I thought it was inoffensive. There was a lot of criticism in the match thread about it starting out solid then turning into a mess, but I'm not sure what people expect. NOAH fans expect a certain formula, and they worked their butts off to give the fans what they want. They made some mistakes along the way because they were too young to be going so long, but they delivered enough big moments that I doubt there were many fans who dissatisfied with their effort. Would I want to watch it again? Absolutely not, but it didn't make it want to pluck my eyes out. So that's something.

#72 William Regal I like a good Regal match as much as the next guy, preferably if it's from the mid-90s, but I don't think you can justify him being ahead of so many British legends. It's not Regal's fault that his career coincided with the end of ITV wrestling, and he should be applauded for finding success in the US and keeping some of the traditions alive, but I feel he gets a similar sort of rub that Johnny Saint does among hardcore fans. It's tough because he's clearly a fantastic worker, but not one of the hundred best. Dean Ambrose vs. William Regal (FCW, 6/7/12) Dusty says that Dean Ambrose reminds him of James Dean, which I thought was kind of fitting because just like Dean you could accuse Ambrose of trying a little hard with his method acting. I like Dean, and I'm sure Ambrose has his fans, but a lot of the stuff they did in this match was too minimalist for a studio audience and wasn't going to get a reaction from all but the nerdiest of fans. Even Dusty and JR had difficulty talking around it. I'm talking about things like Ambrose ramming his own shoulder into the turnbuckle to fix a dislocation, or get it working again. It's a great idea in theory but doesn't play to an audience well. The match was kind of slow to begin with, and while there were small details that I liked, Regal generally had better matches than this on regular WWE TV where things are generally more formulaic. I honestly thought a wild brawl would have been more fun than the psychological stuff they were aiming for here. I don't think Regal belongs in the top 100, but he's too good of a worker for me to kick him out. So, I'll call him iffy.

#73 Mercedes Mone Another new one for me. I've heard she's a highly regarded worker, but I'll admit my ignorance here, I had no idea that she used to work in the WWE as Sasha Banks. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks (WWE, 8/22/15) I was a bit skeptical about this after the entrances, but once they settled into the match, I was quite impressed by both women. There were a few little things that were amateur hour, but Mone struck me as a solid performer and a smart worker. She was a good heel, and showed plenty of swagger. She also sold well, and did cool things like unstrapping Bayley's hand and trying to rebreak it. Details that you don't really expect from modern day bouts. Her performance was part Hokuto/part Ozaki. The only thing I didn't see from her was some higher end offense. If Mone has another 10 years of this sort of work under her belt, then I can understand why people are high on her.

#74 Giant Baba Baba being paired up with Will Ospreay is amusing. It's hard to imagine two wrestlers who are so far apart both physically and stylistically. Baba has a healthy 8.80 rating on cagematch, but his matches haven't been explored in any great depth. It's better than someone like Jaguar Yokota, but basically the greatest hits. Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW, 12/11/80) I may, or may not, have seen this in the past, but I figured with Dory's recent passing now that all of the principles have passed away it was worth watching. I'm not a huge fan of All Japan from this era. I like 70s All Japan, but I feel like nothing really exciting happens in 80s All Japan until Choshu arrives. That may not be completely true, but it's the feeling I have. I'm also not a big fan of Jumbo Tsuruta during this era, though I'm willing to acknowledge that technically he's a decent wrestler. I kept waiting for some sort of hook that would pull me into the match, but the commentators kept mentioning that it was a marathon match, and it became obvious that nothing exciting was going to happen until the final ten minutes. In fact, you could edit this to the last 10 minutes and stick it on a RWTL commercial tape and basically lose nothing. Having said that, it's never boring. It's just not that special. If you're into All Japan legends, and the history and lore, then you'll enjoy it, but even the excitement towards he end doesn't get paid off in a satisfying manner. It ends with a ring out finish when Terry fails to make the count. The crowd don't care at this point because in 1980 ring out finishes were an accepted norm, but eventually they'd become Japan's version of the Dusty finish. Baba doesn't do a lot. Tsuruta works the bulk of the bout and occasionally the Funks oversell for Baba's weak offense. Whenever Baba is in peril, Tsuruta gets fired up and those moments provide some of the most exciting moments of the bout. Baba's prime was in the 60s. The case for him being an all-time great was always based around ring smarts and overcoming physical limitations to be a good worker. By this stage, the focus was on seniority and hierarchy, and everyone was working around Baba's limitations to make it a good match. Baba isn't terrible, but I do question whether he should have been there. I think it would have been a far better match if Tsuruta had been the senior partner to a younger worker, similar to what All Japan ultimately did in the late 80s and 90s. I don't know who that partner would have been off the top of my head, but I feel that Jumbo had outgrown Baba by this point. As far as Baba in the top 100 goes, it's a tricky one. Can you really say that Takayama is top 100, but Baba isn't? If we're going to put Baba in the top 100 it needs to be the earlier Baba, who surprised everyone with his athleticism and wrestling ability rather than this Baba who does his signature spots while his opponents try hard not to hurt him. I lean towards no, but I could watch a match from the 70s tomorrow and swing yes.

#75 Will Ospreay Will Ospreay has a whopping 9.26 rating on cagematch with an overwhelming majority of voters rating him a perfect ten out of ten. He's a popular lad. Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay (NJPW, 1/4/23) This is Ospreay's highest ranked match on cagematch, though not his highest rated match in the Observer. it occurred as we were coming out of the pandemic and New Japan were allowed to have live attendances again. What is up with these cosplay entrances? Give me a real entrance. Shinya Hashimoto, now there was an entrance. The commentary blows as well. It's not a fifth form English essay, buddy. I'll cut to the chase. I didn't hate Ospreay. It was difficult for me to get a gauge on him because this is the first time seeing him and he showed very little character. His deal,, outside of his millennial haircut, seems to be that instead of taking the simplest, most direct route to striking his opponent, he likes to twists and turns. I didn't feel like anything I saw was too egregious, but it was one match. It was also a match where he sold a lot. The only thing that I thought was stupid was how every move had a name and seemed to reference a video game. Your weird backhand chop is a backhand chop not some sort of hidden flame. Omega is on an entirely different level with his goofy facial expressions and his stupid film references. I thought he did a phenomenal job of destroying Ospreay after Ospreay was cut open, and aside from some goof stuff, Ospreay did a great job of doing a glassy eye sell job. That part of the bout was engaging. The jury is kind of out for me on Ospreay, but I didn't see anything that made me immediately hate him. Kenny, on the other hand, needs to learn that you cannot out ham Shawn Michaels. Not on your best day. Even if you had Michaels' lazy eye.

#76 Yoshiro Takayama I get why people voted for Takayama. Would I put him in my top 100? Probably not, but he was a freak of nature, was tough, like to fuck guys up, and was in some incredible matches. Takashi Sugiura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (NOAH, 7/10/10) This wasn't one of them. Cagematch completely oversold how epic this match is. There are some decent moments, but it's slow as fuck and doesn't have the wild offensive flurries I was expecting from the match descriptions. Apparently, it was Takayama's last big match, which account for the lack of speed. I pray I don't have to watch another Sugiura match for this project. I'd rather watch Kensuke Sasaki wrestle himself in a four way match than ever watch this Sugiura guy again. I got no real beef with Takayama being in the top 100. I like that he's a spot above Brock. Next up, the one you've been waiting for -- Will Ospreay. As Screamin' Jay Hawkins once sang, "What's gonna happen on the 8th day?"

#77 Brock Lesnar Man, it's hard for me to give a shit about Lesnar. I'll admit I liked him during his initial run when he was a wrestling machine, but after he came back from MMA and hooked up with Heyman it was a different kettle of fish. I've never really liked monsters. Cagematch has him at a fairly low 8.08, so you can't claim that they're overrating him. Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk (WWE, 8/18/13) Was Punk going for some sort of Hugh Jackman look around this time? It made him look old. This match was hurt by being a no disqualification bout. Since Punk was into MMA, I would have preferred to have seen a submission match. As it was, the only interesting parts of the match where when they worked submission holds. The rest of the match was uninteresting WWE style brawling. Any match that relies a steel chair this much is creatively bankrupt. I liked some of the Heyman stuff, and I realize Heyman was a great manager by modern standards, but I can't believe that super fan Punk would be suckered into losing the bout because he went after the manager. He should have been smarter than that. Lesnar was meh. I get why people like him, though. I dunno if I'm stealing this line from someone, but it's true -- I'd rather watch Dick Vrij RINGS matches than watch Lesnar try to be a faux MMA fighter in the WWE. Hell, the Undertaker fantasizing about being Randy Couture is more entertaining than Brock. But I won't kick him out of the top 100.

I don't get this Morishima thing. I really don't. I get Danielson trying to get revenge against the monster heel, but I can think of so many different people who would be better in the Morishima role. It's such cookie cutter stuff. Then you take out the monster heel by repeatedly stomping him in the groin? I get that you're actually a heel, but monster heels should have tougher balls than that. I dunno. I didn't like anything about this.

Talk about two guys I've learned not to hate by going through the 2000s footage. I really liked this period of Michaels' work where he'd start out by working the mat. It had no bearing on the finish, but it was cool to see Michaels do a little matwork, and as filler it's better than the usual opening to a WWE match. For all the talk about Michaels and his self-conscious epics, this was a rather minimalist period in his career. In fact, you'd think he'd try harder to steal the show, but who knows what was going on with him at the time. I can imagine people getting their knickers in a twist over him using Bret and Angle's finishers, but I'm too old to care about that sort of thing. The match remains lowkey throughout, but there's a tension about it. The stip means that we don't get the typical WWE finish and instead a more inventive finish. I kind of wanted Michaels to win, to be honest. I wonder if the originally planned Cena vs. Orton match would have been better or worse. I don't buy into the narrative around Cena's 2007, but I'm not sure if Michaels in this pinch hitter role is necessarily better than Cena would have been, especially since Michaels appears to be restraining himself for some reason. Food for thought.

#78 Bobby Eaton Bobby has a 7.87 rating on cagematch, which is a clip under 8. I guess that's not so bad. He has a number of highly rated War Games and Midnight Express matches. I do kind of wonder what will happen to the legacy of guys like Bobby Eaton as we get further and further away from the era he worked in. I mean, you look at 50s matches and there are guys there who were the Bobby Eatons of their day and are all but forgotten now. Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane vs. Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers (JCP, 4/26/88) This was a great match. I can kind of see how it might appear dated or slow to fans who've grown up on modern wrestling. There is a nostalgia attached to it that takes you back to the late 80s. However, the part where the Midnights take over and start beating up Bobby Fulton was outstanding. Fulton took a hell of bump on the guardrail, and Lane was ferocious in the way he attacked Fulton, especially when he was throwing him around by the hair. The ref stoppage was the best teased finish I've seen in a long time, and a brilliant piece of booking. Giving the Midnights an out like that so that they can produce a billion promos about how the match should've been over was genius. Surely, it was Cornette who came up with that because it wasn't a Dusty finish. Early on, I thought Rogers out to be pissed at his partner because Fulton came across as so dumb, but man, Fulton was a hell of a FIP in this bout. This was a blast. Bobby was the fourth best worker in the bout, but it was a great match nonetheless.

That was an incredible result against England, but it's forgotten about so quickly these days. When I was a kid, the things Hadlee did were legendary and continued to live long in the memory. I guess the world is a faster, busier place these days. I hope folks don't take my reviews too seriously. It's just me talking shit to myself.

This was one of the better matchups in wrestling at the time, and honestly the matches where I like Danielson the best during this stretch of his ROH run. Not one of their classics. The tournament format with the twenty minute time limit makes it the equivalent of a Champions Carnival style match or a block match from the G-1. They still do some nice stuff. I really liked the matwork in this bout.

This isn't the type of match I want to see Finlay and Mysterio wrestle, but you can only wrestle how you're booked. It gave me flashbacks to all of those shitty gimmick matches in Reslo and Germany, but I actually thought they did a fairly good job of putting this together, which speaks highly of them as workers. The improvised finish was smart. Hard to imagine a better match given the confines.

Great match. Awesome crowd heat. I've never been a fan of Christian, but I gained new respect for him after some of those shots he took from Joe. I also thought he did a great job timing his kick outs. I had no idea who would win the match. I figured the longer it went, the more likely it was that Christian would cheat somehow. Naturally, they had to do something with the enforcer at ringside, and I thought that would be the finish, but it was just a tease. Joe has really grown on me since I started watching his early ROH matches. I've gotta say, I'm a fan.

#79 Jaguar Yokota I voted Jaguar #1 back in 2006, so I'm glad to see she's still hanging in there. Her cagematch situation is a hot mess, though. She has a 9.60 rating, but nobody can be bothered to watch or rank any of her matches. So, I get this: Jaguar Yokota, Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi vs. Momo Watanabe, Starlight Kid & Yuu (Stardom, 8/19/23) I wasn't expecting to watch a match with Jaguar as an obasan, but she literally has five matches at 8 or above. Granted, she's pretty badass for an obasan. The cigarettes and booze have taken their toll, but she still has the same fire. This was an exhibition match so it was never going to be great, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse. It overstayed its welcome and should have been shorter, however it was fun watching Momoe wrestling like she hadn't skipped a beat after eighteen years. This was another first for me -- my first Stardom match. Not for me. I'll keep my memories of old-school Joshi, thanks. I'm glad there's an avenue for women to become Joshi pro-wrestlers, though, as it was looking pretty dire for a while there. Jaguar is top 50 at the least, but '79 isn't bad. At least she made the top 100.

#80 Jay Briscoe Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood vs. Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe (ROH, 12/10/22) The Briscoes look considerably different from the 2007 matches I've been watching. I guess they lived a little. This was a brutal, old-school collar match. One of the bloodiest bouts you'll see. It loses some charm due to modern production values, but the commitment to working a career ending brawl was outstanding. Probably the best thing I've watched so far. This was my first time seeing FTR. I've got to say I approve of Dax Harwood's Terry Rudge look. They had some kind of old-school Andersons thing going on. Pretty cool. This was great.

#81 Kevin Steen Kevin Owens Steen has a 9.23 rating on cagematch, so clearly you people failed to recognize that he is one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time voting him at a mere 81. El Generico vs. Kevin Steen (ROH, 12/18/10) This was a fight without honor match, and also mask vs. career. I watched these guys not so long ago tagging against the Briscoe Brothers. Spoiler alert, but they had a big falling out and a length singles feud. Watching the blow off to a feud without the build up is never a good idea, but basically this was a mish mash of generic hardcore wrestling, lucha apuestas wrestling, Puerto RIco, and Attitude Era main events. In other words, a perfect representation of the shit we were dissecting in 2010. It's a decent enough match. I was basically entertained despite the fact that it wore its influences on its sleeve. I kind of wish that ROH had better commentary. It's hard to take the big emotional moments seriously when it sounds like two guys doing a podcast together. I kind of hate how they point out all the call backs. I also hated the finish. First of all, they did a shitty Attitude Era type scenario where there are run-ins and the refs keep getting taken out. Then they had the big Shawn Michaels style moment at the end where Generico is looking at his old mask and weighing up whether to hit Steen with a chair, which was the same action that started the feud and would end Steen's career. I get that they thought it was poignant, but you can't rag on the WWE for their melodramatic shit and then pull the same crap in your own ring. You might as well be auditioning for a WWE spot by that point. I don't have anything against Steen as a worker, mind you. He wasn't the most gifted athlete of the day, but he found a way to forge a career for himself. So not a terrible pick.

#82 Sabu I was surprised by how well Sabu did, as well as some of the FMW wrestlers. I imagine there is a type of fan who considers that Sabu is pro-wrestling. I'm not one of them, but I don't hate the guy or anything. John Kronus & Perry Saturn vs. Rob Van Dam & Sabu (ECW, 3/29/97) I was never an ECW guy. Hell, I didn't really watch any indie wrestling into I was well into my 40s, which is sad, but I think you really need to be a young guy in your 20s to truly care about this sort of stuff. I was a tables and ladders match, but fairly tame by the standards of the matches that followed in the 2000s. Not a great showcase for Sabu. It actually only has 17 votes total on cagematch, so I probably should have taken that into account, but apparently 17 people liked it even to rank it the second highest Sabu match of all-time. It's not my top 100, it's the people's top 100. Sabu, you get a pass.

This was a decent match. It made a change from the millionth edition of Triple H vs. [insert WWE wrestler here.] Pretty much what you'd expect from a WWE street fight except it's Umaga doing his Samoan wild man schtick. I usually hate the sledgehammer, but it was the only way Triple H was going to stop the monster.

There are a few guys I regret not voting for, and some guys I would have left off if I'd realized that they were ineligible.

#83 Minoru Suzuki Minoru Suzuki has a 9.46 rating on cagematch. Get the fuck out of here. You know what else happens 9.46 times out of 10? Minoru Suzuki is a disappointment. Dude has all the tools to be a great professional wrestler but wastes too much time on his yanki bullshit. People act like he's Fujiwara. He's not Fujiwara. Minoru Suzuki vs. Takashi Sugiura (NOAH, 9/19/15) This was such a boring match. I resent the fact that I had to watch this. Takashi Sugiura couldn't be more generic if he tried. he won a modicum of respect from me for some of the strikes he landed on Suzuki, but fuck me, it took forever for Suzuki to apply a single hold, and to get to the inevitable slapping competition. They botched a reversal that was supposed to lead to Suzuki's sleeper hold and had to re-build the finish. It was like watching two bricklayers fuck up a wall. Minoru Suzuki get out of the top 100. I'd rather see Takada in there, and that's saying something.