Grimmas

Done with 1985 and the podcast should be up on Monday. There ended up being a lot of great candidates, but this was really the AJW show.

Back after a lot of 1985 watching to get ready for the next podcast. 2006.4.23 JWP Joshi Puroresu Tokyo Kinema Club Azumi Hyuga vs Command Bolshoi We've seen these two mesh really well in tags and this carries over into this singles match! Great matwork, great chain wrestling, great flying! The match built so well and just got better and better as it went along. Bolshoi brought the vicious shootei back and added discus backfist that looked great! What's awesome is it didn't go from grappling to bombs, it kept the grappling mixed in through out. I bought on some awesome nearfalls and it had a definitive finish. I'm rather high on this one. Rating - 8/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBDNgxMJa8U 2006.6.15 JWP Joshi Puroresu Itabashi Green Hall Command Bolshoi vs Toshie Uematsu They fought over who would do the rope walk, so this match was an A+ for me. This was more fun than great. A really nice mix of great wrestling and comedy. A good way to spend 10 minutes and it gets better and better as it goes. Really borderline DB territory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0KkkxKDUK8 2005.8.21 JWP Joshi Puroresu Tokyo Kinema Club Command Bolshoi vs Kayoko Haruyama I don't recall every seeing Haruyama before. Turns out she is an awesome kind of bruiser, but also good worker type of wrestler. This fucking ruled! Two wrestlers going all out for a win, but not some ridiculous kick out spot fest. Watch it. Rating - 8.5/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MRWNDJEy0A

Yeah, saw those, and didn't like them or his performance, but that's a me thing. As for me, any bringing in of salary is just ridiculous. Bringing up Goldberg was just to illustrate that.

I don't think Shawn is an all time great and haven't thought he was great since The Rockers. Why am I wrong... Also, Goldberg gets paid way more per match, I was considering voting for him before I guess he's a lock know using that logic.

This was fucking brilliant, built around Hokuto's "leg injury". Hokuto tried to hit when counters when she could, but Kong was a dominant force and worked the leg in her way. Some amazing spots like Hokuto countering a discus backfist with a spinning leg kick. Hokuto's selling was out of this world. Just beautiful pro wrestling. 9/10

Grimmas said - "Up until a few months ago I just thought she was a fun undercard comedy worker in Stardom and then I saw her prime work and was BLOWN away. I now have two matches of hers that may be in my top 100 matches of all-time. On top of the current day great comedy work, in her prime she could work a sprint as well as anyone. Her offense is devastating and she's a real bulldozer in there. Great in both tags and singles as well. An easy nominee here." 2009.7.19 JWP Pure Slam Command Bolshoi & Megumi Yabushita vs Emi Sakura & Kaori Yoneyama 2010.9.19 JWP Revolution Emi Sakura vs Kaori Yoneyama, Hair vs Hair 2012.8.19 JWP Pure Slam Arisa Nakajima & Command Bolshoi vs Emi Sakura & Kaori Yoneyama

UDATED

mmcoor said - "Bundy was a great big man. He was athletic for his size and was a decent seller. He was great at being a monster heel and had a genuinely scary Presence." Jerry Lawler vs King Kong Bundy (Jimmy Hart's $10,000 Challenge, 7-16-84) CWA Wrestling Kevin Von Erich Vs King Kong Bundy Vs Hulk Hogan WM 2

Carlosa said - "He is my pick for best in the world. He's very good at selling, submissions, strikes, and all the subtleness in a match where someone can appreciate. My 2021 MOTY is the Devlin/A-Kid Iron Man Match which was phenomenal. He's had matches with WALTER, Tyler Bate, Devlin, Dragunov which were all incredible." vs Sabre Jr WWW 2018 vs Trent Seven 11/26/2020 NXT UK vs Walter 1/14/21 vs Ilja Dragunov 4/30/20

Witlon said - "He came along way from being a complete joke to being a perfectly acceptable wrestler with some great matches sprinkled in, and quite frankly, not very much bad stuff after his initial run. The Bryan and Ziggler feuds are some of the memorable stuff the 'E has churned out in the last 10 years, and Miz plays his role perfectly in both." vs. Daniel Bryan (09-19-2010) vs. Daniel Bryan (08-19-2018) vs. Seth Rollins (05-06-2018)

El McKell said - "Excellent at playing a monster, terrifying prescence, knows exactly how much to give an opponent, breaking out occasional explosive quickness just enough to make it special when he does it. Legit isn't even that big but comes across like he's huge with how he carries himself. A good comparison for him is Mark Henry as someone who is from the same place and time and also really 'gets it' whenit comes to being a monster big man. But unlike Henry, Umaga stepped it up and had great matches when it was asked of him with CM Punk, Jeff Hardy and in an all time classic with John Cena." w/D-Lo Brown vs Keiji Mutoh & Bob Sapp (AJPW - 22nd February 2004) vs Brian Kendrick (21st Janurary 2008) vs John Cena (28th January 2007)

She is one I am completely considering based on her Shimmer stuff alone. Especially now that I have got to her heel turn and how well she can play both sides. Not a top 50 person, but easily a bottom 25 person to consider. Reminds me a lot of a Finlay-Regal type.

El McKell said - " I'm probably not the person to make the case for Sara Del Rey but surely some people will want to vote for her. Probably would have been the consensus pick for best women's wrestler in North America during the late 00s or early 10s. One of the MVPs of Shimmer for a number of years, good in Chikara when Chikara was good. Good as both a heel and a babyface and understood how to change how she carried herself for whatever role she was in. People who've seen more of her than me can explain why she's good in th thread" Here' some good easily available matches: vs Mercedes Martinez (November 6th 2005) vs Lacey (June 2nd 2007) w/Claudio Castagnoli vs Mike Quackenbush & Manami Toyota (September 19th 2010)

Ma Stump Puller said - " Alright, hear me out on this one. Inoue isn't really much of a hand in his AJPW stuff: I've had the unfortunate task of watching most of it in action: but he evolves into probably the best "fish out of water" wrestlers ever, a pure and true underdog that couldn't even be called that, because at least underdogs win big matches sometimes. Inoue wins nothing, but somehow manages to get the crowd to rally endlessly behind him in every endeavour he makes: either teaming up with the old guard to try to get a big win or staring down some of the meanest, nastiest wrestlers on the roster, he's a true master of getting the most out of a considerably limited moveset, using a mix of comedy alongside genuine selling to get a audience to laugh, cheer, or even boo him. He won't amaze you with Terry Funk tier selling or astonish with epic workrate, but he'll rake the eyes really good, and on the (very) rare occasion he gets that Backbreaker off, the roof almost always nearly falls with how much fanfare he gets. The best "I know I'm bad but that's my gimmick anyway" worker I've ever seen. He's more Rocky than Rocky ever was." Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Masao Inoue (NOAH 14.06.2020) Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue vs. Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima (NOAH 04.08.2019) Kenta Kobashi & Masao Inoue vs Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito (NOAH 14.2.2014) Jun Akiyama vs. Masao Inoue (NOAH 23.04.2006) Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (NOAH 10.09.2004) Masao Inoue vs. Yuji Nagata (NOAH 14.05.2003) Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW 27.11.1999) Kenta Kobashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Masao Inoue & Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 02.01.1998)

Bolshoi 25th Anniversary "World Masked Martial Arts Supper" 2014.10.19 Hotel Edmont 3WAY Match Bolshoi Kid vs Leon vs Ray This is a Bolshoi celebration and she's in her old gear. Just a fun light-hearted romp. Plus they showed all the nice flowers she got. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plNPt8N_OB4 2014.10.19 Iidabashi Hotel Edmont Bolshoi 25th Anniversary Special Single Match Command Bolshoi VS Meiko Satomura DX Meiko is in an evil mask to continue the Bolshoi celebration and now she's dropped the comedy old school outfit and is ready to go! This is 5 minutes of AMAZING action, and 90 seconds of weird comedy interference in the middle. I want a real match between these two sooo bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StaUuFQ2kkc 2006.6.25 JWP Tokyo Kinema Club JWP Certified Tag Team Championship <Champion> Kaori Yoneyama & Fighting Beast Fang Leon vs Command Bolshoi & KAZUKI <Challenger> This one got a lot of time and was quite quite good. Yoneyama and Leon are a great team and had some awesome double team moves. Bolshoi was not easy on the shootei in this one! She really carried her team. Some really tremendous nearfalls and the move Yonoeyama uses to end it is an unreal flipping pin move! Rating - 7.25/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOhrqpcub0E

I agree this ruled. Kyoko was on a mission to show she wasn't second fiddle to Devil. The giant swing ruled and I was never happier than seeing Kyoko pick up the win! Devil, of course, had a great reaction. Kyoko was above or on par with Devil here. 8.75/10

Thank you.

two more match recs please.

She uploaded this herself as her debut, but yeah I wouldn't be surprised she worked unmasked before. That would make sense!

2006.7.2 JWP Joshi Puroresu Itabashi Green Hall Command Bolshoi & Azumi Hyuga vs Tsubasa Kuragaki & KAZUKI Somehow this 2006 JWP footage is shot in the weirdest screen ratio. Looks like a cell phone, the opposite of widescreen. This was a damn hot tag match. Tsubasa, as always, really excels against Bolshoi. Azumi is someone I am starting to think is a GWE candidate. Some great action here, with some wild spots by Tsubasa. Bolshoi is really great as the glue in any tag match. Rating 7.5/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WwWkkNm8fw 2007.1.27 JWP Joshi Puroresu Akatsuka Public Hall Command Bolshoi, HIROKA vs Azumi Hyuga, Marcella Some new people in this one for me! After this I want to see more. Another good tag match and this is one where Bolshoi got to shine. She was able to do her amazing matwork with Azumi, but also mix in some great flying. This included some great dive fakes I hadn't seen from her before. Azumi is really awesome! Rating 7/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvKLECNZdzA 1991.11.25 Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Tottori Sangyo Kaikan Bolshoi Kid Debut Battle Bolshoi Kid, Makoto Kitamura vs Reiko Hoshino, Akira Fukuoka Ending with a special treat, it's Bolshoi's debut! She rides to the ring on a unicyle! Also this one is clipped to mostly just focus on Bolshoi. She immediately is working submissions, so that's kind of wild for a clown! She also does some nice flying and some really good comedic stuff. I refuse to believe this is her first match, she's too good already. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRFYzXl310c

I think Bret is easily a top 10 candidate, while Fujinami may not even make my list.

Today is special, we have Jaguar Yokota and Arisa Nakajima! 2013.2.17 Osaka Yodogawa Citizens Center Command Bolshoi & Jaguar Yokota vs Tsubasa Kuragaki & Nana Kawasa It's funny how Tsubasa against Bolshoi looks like an all time GOAT, but against almost anyone else she's pretty okay. Jaguar does a decent job at it too though, and is still pretty awesome in 2013 for a wrestler that debuted in the 1970s. A fun tag team affair. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=173co9p-Vsg 2013.7.28 Nagoya Club Diamond Hall JWP Certified Indiscriminate Class / CMLL-REINA International Championship / Bolshoi Decade 4 30 minutes 1 match <CMLL-REINA International Champion> Command Bolshoi vs Arisa Nakajima <JWP Certified Indiscriminate Champion> This was intense and super gritty. Both focused on either out striking the other, throwing the other through the mat, or going for the most vicious rollup pin attempt in history. These two were in a war, but a friendly war. It wasn't hate, it was two vicious violent people trying to defeat the other. The only real draw back was the crowd wasn't very good, they were okay. Add a hot crowd and this is an easy all-time classic. As is though, it's a borderline top 100 match of all-time. Watch it! Rating - 9/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRvBvcToHDQ

2004.9.12 Korakuen Hall Celebrity Tradition / Money ETSU Korakuen Special Command Bolshoi & GAMI vs Etsuko Mita & Yuki Miyazaki This was fascinating. Mita and Bolshoi ruled, but GAMI and Miyazaki just wanted to do comedy. However, there was a great segment with Miyazaki and Bolshoi on the mat. This was an okay all around deal here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRGyYpECNhg 2012.8.19 JWP Korakuen Hall JWP Certified Tag & Daily Sports Certified Women's Tag Championship [Champion] Kaori Yoneyama & Emi Sakura vs Command Bolshoi & Arisa Nakajima This was on the Watch Party and it's an all-time classic. WATCH IT! Rating - 9/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLOvS6rmedI 2012.10.28 JWP Shinjuku FACE JWP Certified Tag & Daily Sports Certified Women's Tag Championship [Champion] Command Bolshoi & Arisa Nakajima vs Hanako Nakamori & Morley [Challenger] Based on these two matches, this tag title run is the best tag title run in wrestling history. Bolshoi and Nakajima are at an unreal level here and these other two are not only around for the ride, but jump way up to that level. Amazing intensity, amazing drama, and amazing excitement! WATCH THIS TOO! Rating - 8.75/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1qOKfD6OoQ

Maybe Not Taue - 2021 ft. Kadaveri https://t.co/AesirLdhSk

2005.11.2 Itabashi Green Hall Command Bolshoi & Azumi Hyuga & Manami Toyota vs Kayoko Haruyama & Tsubasa Kuragaki & ECO The problem with Bolshoi in trios matches is she doesn't really want to be the star. She's great in them, but she clearly takes a backseat to make everyone else look better. Unless a trios match is really juicy, I'll be skipping them going forward. This was a long good trios match though. Bolshoi using the shootei as a finisher is nice to see! Borderline spreadsheetable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tg3btg8Eag 2008.6.1 JWP Dojo Command Bolshoi & Kayoko Haruyama & Mayuka Niizeki vs Fighting Beast Fang Leon & Kaori Yoneyama & Arisa Nakajima When I say juicy I mean Nakajima, Leon, and Yoneyama on a team! I'm really glad I didn't skip this. There was an extra level of intensity and spark to this match, even if it was in a dojo. Bolshoi looks so great against everyone. Haruyama is starting to look pretty carryable too. A little gem here. Rating - 7/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKyBsRrTSzE