justinsdrown

This thread is one of the more frustrating to read on the board. Most of the reasons given for not liking Jumbo are exterior(this jealous peer gave this account), based on obfuscated “vibes”(I don’t like his aura),or critiques that don’t match the footage. It’s telling that those who heavily criticize Tsuruta tend to pair these criticisms with the fact that they don’t ever watch his work. Jumbo mastered three distinct styles. But he also defied formula. Instead adapting to his opponents. Jumbo’s rookie years being described as only “competent” by some users here is a hilarious understatement. Compare his early work with Misawa putting out his worst output dogging it as Tiger Mask II. Not only that but he was a better seller than Masawa. And more fundamentally sound than any of The Four Pillars. There was a great X/Twitter post I read that there is a formula to popular accepted 5 Star “bangers” and once you recognize this formula wrestling becomes boring. Jumbo owes some blame in helping innovate the BIG MOVE, FALSE FINISH, BIG MOVE, FALSE FINISH style match in the mid-late 80s. It was The Four Pillars who beat that particular horse far beyond death. Jumbo Tsuruta was a far more varied and interesting worker than he’s sometimes given credit for in this thread. The footage shows this. In my mind, where others view him as a boring pick, I view Jumbo as an ideal Puro Ace. It’s the same feeling I have for El Hijo del Santo for Lucha, Juguar Yokota for Joshi, and Thesz or Funk for American Wrestling. He’s among a small handful of workers I find endlessly rewatchable.

I think it helps too that people have grown to respect good striking/brawling. Reading the old posts it seems a lot of users were ver “moves” centric. Now, with wrestlers pulling off leaping tombstones onto steel steps as a mid-match move, people are reevaluating what makes a great worker.

Just watch it all. No joke. She’s extremely entertaining. She’ll go on my list. Given her style she’s going to be one of the harder wrestlers to place.

I think Cena works closer to some of the all time greats than most internet darlings.

I haven’t seen an objective argument for why Tanahashi shouldn’t be considered the best wrestler of the 2010s. Users seem to chalk it up to “he makes my skin crawl” or “I personally don’t like him”. Tana ranking lower than Danielson would be the easiest example of a wrestler getting a geographic edge. American Dragon indeed. Yes, for Tanahashi it was a slow build to an otherwise incredible peak. But that outweighs Bryan’s heel work in ROH or Bryan’s wasted periods(concussion years, certain weak WWE runs). Spent the morning watching some Tanahashi matches with a good friend of mine. One of my favorite tricks in his bag is the ability to play heel for a single match. Giving it that extra bit of heat. We were watching that 2013 match he had against Ishii. Tanahashi acting like a cocky douche gives the match explosive heat. It makes me think of how hard Austin has to work to get the audience to boo him. If there’s any justice he’ll rank the highest of his contemporaries.

I’m a stronger proponent of highest peaks. All I need is strong run. Quality > Quantity. I think longevity can be overweighted as a whole. I’ll take a Rose or Matsumoto’s 80s over someone like Nagata who had longer but less breathtaking peaks. That said I’ve become obsessed with Dump Matsumoto’s heel work. I prefer her aura and the chaos that follows her to even that of Aja Kong. I hope people are doing their 80s Joshi homework because Dump should be a lock for the top 100. She’s at minimum in my top 25.

Jimmy Valiant by far. Though I’m not a fan of The Young Bucks in general. I find myself struggling to care during most of their matches. They are the wrestling equivalent of Michael Bay.

Michaels for me. Shawn does all the little things so well. It’s something that I think Omega is frequently missing in his matches. Not in every match. But in most I feel like Omega is gunning it from high spot to higher spot.

Jericho. Shocked by the poll. Punk has had a few high peaks. But he gets in his own way when it comes to legacy. Jericho is constantly evolving. He’s smoother, has better ring psychology. Oh, and unlike Punk, managed to navigate his way through the WWE political machine without constantly having public melt downs.

Bock by far. Though I wish we had more footage than what’s available.

And people like myself are find PWO every day. We just usually lurk.

It’s cool that you keep up with this. Is this series dead? Has Adam moved on?

40 minutes in and Conrad has already been stunned silent several times.

It hurt but I vote Mysterio.

Thank you for all this work.