Grimmas

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

My, almost, daily routine of watching Bolshoi matches with my morning coffee is very good. 2010.6.13 JWP Shinjuku FACE JWP Certified Indiscriminate Championship [Champion] Nanae Takahashi vs Command Bolshoi [Challenger] This match is awesome and a well built main event match. That kept getting better and better as it went along with some outstanding nearfalls that I bit on many of them. Love seeing Bolshoi work the main event style for a change. The desperation on her near the end trying to get the title was so great! Bolshoi really tried to strike her way to victory. Rating - 8.25/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN_-hjnW6Lc 2004.5.9 JWP Dojo English Ban Match Command Bolshoi & Kayoko Haruyama vs Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kaori Yoneyama The typical good match you'd expect from this group. Yoneyama hitting Haruyama with a paper fan as foreshadowing of her current days hitting people with newspapers is funny to me. In such a small setting they don't go as all out, but they have some fun. The referee also uses the paper fan to hit almost everyone to laughs. An all around good time is had watching this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3HyqKaRmBk 2006.9.18 Korakuen Hall Tag Partner Decision 3way Match Command Bolshoi vs GAMI vs KAZUKI They did a three person running ropes criss cross, so this match is an A plus. Actually this match is worked like an undercard three way AZM Stardom match, where everyone is trying to sneak in a victory quickly and we get various team ups. Another setting that Bolshoi excels in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KYdB-K2fFw

CHIKARAPRO USA September 15, 2012 Command Bolshoi & Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kaori Yoneyama vs Chuck Taylor & Icarus & Johnny Gargano When you plan to watch every Command Bolshoi match you don't realize that gets a Johnny Gargano match, but here we are. Bolshoi has an opening segment with Gargano and made him look okay. We'll take this as a victory. Each member of Team JWP get their little moment to shine and it's a borderline spreadsheet match. Well worth your watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lvv3iLiFQk 2010.3.22 Osaka Sekaikan JWP Certified Tag Team Championship Finals Command Bolshoi & Megumi Yabushita vs Toshie Uematsu & KAZUKI I really like Bolshoi and Yabushita together, they are like submission buddies! They do some good work on that front in this one. Just another solid tag match, nothing to go out of your way for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mc8tGp3-Nw 2010.7.18 Korakuen Hall Command Bolshoi vs Sakura Emi I LOVE how often The Great Kabuki was in Bolshoi's corner. I had no idea, but it's so awesome. These two both know so many grappling tricks and it's a joy to watch. This felt like an awesome 9 minute TV match, more than them going for an all-time classic. They clearly work well together and I hope a bigger match pops up. Rating - 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a07ruS9oZqI Another fun batch of matches here.

She uploads so much! I take one day off and two matches are uploaded! At this rate it will take forever to go through the back catalog. It's awesome though. 2006.12.17 JWP Dojo Match [If there is a Christmas tree in the ring] Command Bolshoi vs Kayoko Haruyama Rule: In addition to the normal rule, if you defeat the Christmas tree, you will lose. What are these rules? All the match titles and participants I post are a google translate from Bolshoi's Japanese title. There is a christmas tree and they have presents. They both are wearing a santa outfits over their gear, including Bolshoi wearing a santa hat over her mask. This is just silly fun with some cool spots trying to get the other to knock over the tree to lose. The ability to insert great work into comedy by Bolshoi always rules. The crowd loved it and so did I! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHHGf6tomHo 2005.11.27 Tokyo Kinema Club Command Bolshoi vs Fighting Beast Fang Leon My first real exposure to Bolshoi was a 2019 match against Leon in EVE, so seeing a much earlier version of that match that blew me away is very exciting. The intro is them talking about the past and they look like best friends now. They have really good chemistry and this is a fine technical affair with the high spots mixed in. Well worth your watch. Rating - 7/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvbs8NZ845Y 2003.12.22 JWP Battle Sphere Tournament ▼ 3WAY Match Bolshoi Kid vs Azumi Hyuga vs Sarubobo No idea who the third is here, but I love the other two. We get old school Bolshoi outfit, so maybe this will be comedy. Sarubobo is like Bolshoi's comedy second. Azumi is not having this shit, while Bolshoi is doing a bit of great wrestling and comedy. I loved early on when Azumi would kick down Sarubobo and then Bolshoi would play dead and Azumi would look confused. I looked it up and Sarubobo is Yoneyama! No wonder she rules. Wow, her being a future clown too. This is all falling into place. This legit fucking ruled! Just great mix of technical wrestling and comedy, but not comedy in the "wrestling is fake" mode. A hot match well worth watching. Rating - 7/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ennfNr327E

Very excited for some Yokota!! 2009.10.4 JWP Korakuen Hall Bolshoi 20th Anniversary Match Command Bolshoi & GAMI vs Jaguar Yokota & Tsubasa Kuragaki GAMI is a weird choice for a partner for this match. In this match, her character is I'm a bad a wrestler. However, she's clearly really talented so it really takes a talent to fake being bad. It's actually good comedy. Her segments are all fun. Tsubasa and Bolshoi continue to be a good pair, but the few minutes of Jaguar-Bolshoi we got were fucking awesome! Tsubusa also pulled out a double torture rack. A fun, just outside the spreadsheet match. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMhsxyukylw Let's stick to the legends and go to America. CHIKARAPRO USA September 16, 2012 Command Bolshoi & Tsubasa Kuragaki vs Manami Toyota & Kaori Yoneyama This is not Bolshoi's cam from the balcony, this is straight Chikara footage with a pre match promo by Bolshoi and Tsubasa plus commentary. This is a fucking awesome showcase match and it really warms my heart to see American fans go nuts for Toyota's and Bolshoi's regular spots. This is legit Rey-Psicosis level of touring match! Watch it! Rating - 8.5/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ4OfOojhRg One more, because I woke up early. 2009.7.19 JWP Certified Tag & Daily Sports Certified Women's Tag Championship <Champion> Command Bolshoi & Megumi Yabushita vs Kaori Yoneyama & Emi Sakura <Challenger> On the watch party we saw Bolshoi/Nakajima vs Yoneyama/Sakura and it was an all-time classic. I'm very excited to see how this matches up. It's not on the exact level of the before mentioned match, but it does fucking rule. Yabushita and Bolshoi have a great technical chemistry that works really well. Yoneyama and Sakura would become an elite team, but here they are just developing their great chemistry. Another must watch. Rating 8.25/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeDXGAqZEhg

After a few days of laziness, let's get back in with the clown. I want to keep up with the latest drops, while slowly filling in the backlog, so two have been posted since my last post. 2005.5.22 Kaikyo Messe Shimonoseki Bolshoi Kid vs Erika Watanabe Did I point out how cute the cartoon graphics on this channel are? Her giving a little talk about the history of the match or opponent before the match is the best idea ever, I just wish it was subtitled. These would be unbelievably valuable. For some reason Bolshoi is in her very early 1990s costume, that's interesting and I have no idea why. To answer my question, Bolshoi flat out starts the match with all her old comedic schtick. That's fascinating, I wonder if this outfit is her comedy outfit she pulls out when she wants to do comedy matches? SHE WENT FULL CLOWN in this match. Some hilarious stuff, and really cool how she can incorporate her cool real spots and slightly adjust them to comedy. I love that her comedy isn't kayfabe breaking like some it doesn't make the match feel fake, just that she is trying to frustrate her opponent. A small example is that Watanabe slams her and goes to the top rope to do a high flying move, while climbing Bolshoi casually gets up and moves and lies back down too far away. Watanabe then has to go to the other corner and repeat. Watanabe then tries the too far dive and misses. It's good stuff! A fun match and one of the better comedy matches I've ever seen if not the best. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U4R4y9y_mE 2005.5.22 Kaikyo Messe Shimonoseki Command Bolshoi & Azumi Hyuga & Tsubasa Kuragaki vs Kayoko Haruyama & Erika Watanabe & Aja Kong This is the main event of the show where the previous match took place on and she changed into her legit gear. That makes a lot more sense, she's working twice so let's make them completely different matches. It's amazing that when I saw Tsubasa vs Bolshoi I thought she was a world beater, but in this she is a solid wrestler with cool athletic spots. That might be the best case for Bolshoi you can get from this match as she clearly wasn't the focus here. Hyuga continues to impress and Kong looked great as well. Sadly no Kong-Bolshoi moments. A pretty good match, borderline spreadsheetable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL7z2HQSPPk One more before work and we can go back to the oldest posted stuff. 2009.4.12 JWP Korakuen Hall JWP Certified Tag & Daily Sports Certified Women's Tag Championship <Champion> Yumiko Hotta & Kikyouto vs Command Bolshoi & Megumi Yabushita <Challenger> Later Hotta is all about crowd brawling and using her chain. It's so strange because I'm in 1993 with her. Yabushita bleeds early and the first few minutes is just all out war around the Hall. We settle into the ring for a petty traditional match after that. What sucks is this rules, especially Bolshoi and Yabushita EXCEPT for when Hotta is on offense for the body of the match. The last third we get no Hotta boring us with her offense and it gets rather exciting. She is either working with others who are doing all the fun stuff or she is throwing bombs. This ended up with a damn good finishing sequence. I'd say about on par with the previous match above. If you use the star ratings the 3ish to 3 1/2 star range. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tsZt8-3iDU

I was going to be done for the day, but I decided to fit in a few more. 2007.8.26 JWP Korakuen Hall Command Bolshoi & Kaori Yoneyama vs Chisako Kanari & Sachiko Kanari A sister team? Siblings or not they are very aggressive, but seem to be new to the business as most of their offense was dropkicks. Maybe Manami Toyota trained them? Luckily Bolshoi and Yoneyama carry the load. Bolshoi pulled out another version of the tarantula. Seriously how many different versions can she do? Her and Yoneyama have good team work too. A real fun tag match! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft4_SsKWFvA One more before I am done for today. Seeing Hotta in the thumbmail made me not continue going from oldest to newest, so I will do the most new upload I can. 2006.9.3 Tokyo Kinema Club JWP Certified Tag Team Championship [Champion] Ran Yu-Yu & Toshie Uematsu vs [Challenger] Command Bolshoi KAZUKI This match has Bolshoi and KAZUKI talking about it in current time. That's a fun feature and I wish it was subtitled. The "Bolshoi Class" t-shirt is pretty cool. Ran Yu-Yu can keep up with Bolshoi in exchanging holds, so this is a great open to the match. Toshie is a wild women. This is an uptempo tag match that was very exciting. Lots of drama with the nearfalls and just great action. Rating - 7/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzLtWwnBW0w

Well I can't get enough Bolshoi and this match looked too tasty to wait on. 2005.9.18 JWP Korakuen Hall Command Bolshoi & Devil Masami vs Amazing Kong & Haruka Matsuo I never thought about Kong vs Bolshoi before, but what a fucking dream. There opening segment with each other is everything you could had hoped for and more! Bolshoi tags out and then we have Devil vs Kong, which same thing! We don't settle who has more power, which leads to Matsuo tagging in. She's all speed and quickness and Devil murders her. Luckily Kong helps her and she gets some great stuff in on Devil. There is some laughs at Matsuo is so clearly under matched vs Devil. One thing I loved about Bolshoi in tags is her taking out the opponent on the apron in order to ensure her stuff in the ring vs the legal opponent. Kong and Devil do dueling gorilla presses!!!! After a fun Kong-Bolshoi segment, Bolshoi does a flying rana from the top rope to the floor on Kong! This follows with Devil crowd brawling with Matsuo and Bolshoi and Kong crowd brawling. The wrestling is good today! After another fun Bolshoi-Kong sequence, Bolshoi does a super rana on Kong. This whole sequence with Kong gets better and better and better. I don't want to ruin it, but hot fucking damn this rules! I hope a singles match exists, because this is the best! The finishing sequence then rules! Watch this match! Rating - 7.75/10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkzwR2Gcjbg