Ditch

Okay, I just wrote this long post about Kengo Kimura, saying there isn't much of a case for Kengo. I compared Kengo to Yatsu. Hoshino is an even better measuring stick. Hoshino would CARRY THE HELL out of guys, night after night. He just BROUGHT IT and looked like the baddest man on the planet under 5'3". Those are great performances. The physical effort, the fire. And from what little footage we have, the Yamaha Brothers team looked incredibly fun, like a proto Midnight Express in terms of teamwork and moves. Ultimately, I think footage is Hoshino's biggest weakness. His peak was late '70s to early '80s, and as an undercard guy not much made tape. Unlike Destroyer, who will likely place well in spite of limited footage, Hoshino's best stuff isn't MOTDC-caliber. If we had more Hoshino, I suspect the case would be easy to make. But we have what we have, and he has to compete with those who started a few years later and have 10-50x as much to watch and judge from. I won't rule out Hoshino, but it's tough.

The case for Kengo as top 100 all-time seems thin to me. Yatsu is a good comparison: mostly known for tags, and as the #2 guy on a team; in some famous matches; good amount of natural ability but not a phenom. I think Yatsu smooooookes Kengo career-for-career. I can see someone saying their best 5 matches/performances stack up to one another, although I would naturally give Yatsu the edge given my particular biases. That said, Yatsu has way more depth and a higher 'floor'. Post-peak, Kengo tended to be lazy and dull, even though he still had the capability of greatness. The initial NJ vs WAR tag from October '92 has possibly the best Kengo Kimura performance, as he out-Tenryus Tenryu. Where was that Kengo in the months before and after? Where was that in the YEARS before and after? Meanwhile, you'll have something like Yatsu bringing the goods night after night in really fun outings during G-1 1994, even though he's clearly tournament fodder at that point. Yatsu strikes me as a 51-100 level wrestler. Maybe that's underselling him. Anyway, he's someone where if you see him on a match listing, you expect it to be good unless he's in there with absolute garbage. That is most certainly not the case with Kengo Kimura. I've gone through way too many NJ TV blocks and comm releases where his match or performance was completely and thoroughly forgettable to see him as deserving of discussion as top 100. Is he even top 25 for NJ Dojo products?

All-time though? Really? Top 100 from Japan maybe, or post-2000, but *ever* is a tough tough sell. He added a lot to a couple G-1 tournaments but that Akiyama match (for instance) isn't great enough to be a big selling point in a GOAT discussion.

Taue turned a corner in 1995. He still ruled a lot in the first half of the decade. Watch him control like 70% of the January '91 bout with Kawada. Watch him as a very effective underdog on 9/30/90, or in the overlooked series of tags with Jumbo against Hansen & Spivey. His selling was the centerpiece of the 5/22/92 6-man, which is possibly the best 6-man since 4/20/91. Which he was also in. THEN you get '95-'96 peak Taue, and from '97 on you could still count on at least one great performance a year and several very good ones. It's a hell of a resume. He only seems to fall short in comparison to the crème-de-la-crème that AJ's dojo produced. Taue vs Hashimoto is an interesting discussion, as is Taue vs Akiyama. Hell, I'd probably put Taue ahead of Liger.

Danielson's 2005-2006 run was insane. There was a certain amount of repetition, yes. It would be nearly impossible not to be repetitive when wrestling so many 20+ minute singles matches in that timeframe. What's astounding is how much he managed to mix things up while on the indies. Different finishes, different approaches, seeking the right balance between continuity and freshness. He carried wrestler after wrestler to new career heights in the ring. He's effective as a face or heel, as an underdog or an ace, as a headliner or a show-opener, in intense feuds or comedy. He's got good strikes, impact moves, and is excellent on the mat. I saw a lot of doubters when he signed to WWE, but sure enough he was effective at all aspects of that game as well. I was the high vote for him in the SC vote. I suspect I'll have more people backing me up this time.

I don't think anyone comes close from Japan. Several had a run of 15 good years. Tenryu gets to 21, '85-'05, and I don't think there's a case to say he had any significant dips as a performer during that run. *Maybe* 1997, with WAR heading downhill and minimal interpromotional action. Even then he had matches with Anjoh and Fujiwara to show that he was still Tenryu. Someone like Liger has a peak that kicks in around '88, he had some time off for injury, and his 2005-2008 doesn't have much in the way of high-level quality. If you broke Tenryu's career into '83-'94 and '95-'06, you'd have a top 10-20 career and a top 40 career. Combining them is insane to even comprehend. Going through random '90s comm releases and TV blocks, Tenryu is a guy who you keep finding in hidden gems. His best '80s and '00s work is well known; you could almost see his 1989 leading into his 2000. That's a top 10 career ('83-'89 + '00-'06). Throw in the '90s? Top 5. Even after 2006 there are a handful of compelling 'Tenryu as high-end Baba' outings like the Misawa memorial 6-man from 2009. There are some areas where Tenryu isn't strong. If you value those more, I can see not rating him highly. But I suspect most people will give him a fair shake, which makes me anticipate a top 10 finish for him.

I was the only real Takayama supporter in the SC vote. I stand by it. Some good matches in UWFi, more good matches in All Japan, and a hellllll of a 2002-2004 run before the stroke. Plus a few more strong outings since his return as icing.

Yamazaki had a really good ~15 year run. -Started out quite solid in UWF 1.0 as a young lion, hanging just fine with the others. -Further developed and contributed plenty when UWF invaded New Japan. -Took the next step up during UWF 2.0. -Tended to deliver in UWFi when given half a chance. -Really brought the goods during the last few years in New Japan. I see people bring up El Samurai based on a couple matches. Having gone through '90s and '00s New Japan, Samurai's good outings were a tiny percentage of his body of work, and he was often the least guy in good matches. In contrast, Yamazaki had better execution, better matwork, a longer period as a consistently good worker, and the 'floor' for his matches was quite a bit higher. Not as spectacular as Han or Tamura, but far more consistent than Takada or Maeda.

No way. A couple overrated deathmatches, a long period as a forgettable journeyman, and now he is Poor Man's Ishii, when Ishii will be lucky to get on even 1 ballot.

Is he even top 10 for shoot-style workers? I've been irked by high placements for Takada but I'd definitely have Takada over Maeda, to say nothing of Tamura, Han, Yamazaki, Fujiwara, Minoru Suzuki, Ishikawa, Ikeda, and some combination of Anjoh, Kakihara, TK, Y. Yamamoto, Otsuka... hell he might not crack my top 15 if you include Takayama. And that's just shoot-style, which isn't nearly as deep as 'US territories' or 'traditional Japan' or (for those so inclined) lucha. Tough to fit Maeda in there.

Literally every review I've seen has been positive, most saying it's a MOTYC, so I have no idea where that is coming from.

Not nearly enough quality work before 2013. Like, he'd make top 100 from 2000 and later, but all-time? Nooooo. And I love Ishii a whole lot.

I hated Choshu. Hated hated hated. Probably the biggest flaw is his limited moveset, which included stuff like "backdrop to counter a headlock" that forced his opponents to feed him in ways that weren't always fitting. Or, the deathlock being his go-to submission, but he didn't have much else and was prone to using it too much, and without setting it up well. But oh man, he sure was in enough great matches to make up for it. The Inoki feud, the All Japan invasion, the late '80s wars with various factions, the WAR feud, the Hashimoto rivalry... there's a lot to love when you can accept his flaws. Hard to know where to place him, which is different from 8 years ago when I didn't even consider him.

Ohtani as a heavyweight doesn't knock him out of being solid top 100 material, but I think it does mean that the 27th place he got in the SC vote was high. He's had loads of opportunities to produce MOTYCs over the last 13 years and only has a couple. The Nakamura match is very good; it's also the only really strong singles match he's had as a heavy. There are some 'fun' matches but not much that would register in a GOAT discussion. Almost certainly on my ballot thanks to the juniors work, but not excessively high.

What makes Akiyama so hard to judge is that he had a sidekick role in all those '90s classics, and didn't have a headliner run *quite* on par with the four corners. So, apparently Dylan aside, not many would have him in the absolute top tier of Japanese wrestlers. Yet he's now 22 years into his career, and in the vast majority of those years he was involved in a MOTYC/four-star caliber bout, often several. He has been a quality headliner in addition to that 'young phenom' run in the '90s. I was the high vote for him in the SC vote. Not sure he'd make my top 20 this time around when the likes of Lawler weren't even on my ballot last time, but I can still see him in the top 25.

Kanemoto has held up really well. When the Smarkschoice vote was done, '90s nostalgia was a huge factor, and '90s Kanemoto wasn't quite consistent enough to stand out from the pack. However, while most of his peers had a huge drop-off in quality in the 2000s, Kanemoto didn't. I value long good runs over flashes of brilliance. And Kanemoto had those as well. Not a lock by any means, but he deserves better than he got in the SC vote.

Having gone through the '90s as much as possible to find hidden gems, and having seen pretty much every notable match he had since 2000, I don't think he's in the ballpark of top 100. Someone like El Samurai has a vastly superior body of work and Samurai will struggle to make many ballots.

I can see leaving Fuchi off if you don't put much stock in '90s All Japan. But man, if you like that period, no way should Fuchi be left out. Too many great performances, too much consistency from the mid '80s through the mid '90s, plus the post-split resurgence. FUCHI~

From the top 25: Harley Race Ricky Steamboat Dynamite Kid The Destroyer Terry 'Bam Bam' Gordy http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/18532-mitsuharu-misawa-vs-terry-gordy-ajpw-super-power-series-060191/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/18914-mitsuharu-misawa-toshiaki-kawada-vs-steve-williams-terry-gordy-ajpw-real-world-tag-league-120691/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/13904-jumbo-tsuruta-akira-taue-vs-steve-williams-terry-gordy-ajpw-october-giant-series-100792/ Yoshihiro Takayama http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/25754-kenta-kobashi-vs-yoshihiro-takayama-ajpw-super-power-series-052600/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/25821-yoshihiro-takayama-vs-osamu-nishimura-njpw-g-1-climax-081002/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/25880-kenta-kobashi-vs-yoshihiro-takayama-noah-encountering-navigation-042504/ Kazuo Yamazaki http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/11313-shinya-hashimoto-junji-hirata-vs-kazuo-yamazaki-takashi-iizuka-njpw-best-of-the-super-juniors-061296/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/19989-shinya-hashimoto-vs-kazuo-yamazaki/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/27275-shinya-hashimoto-vs-kazuo-yamazaki-njpw-g-1-climax-080298/ KENTA http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/25862-kenta-naomichi-marufuji-vs-yoshinobu-kanemaru-makoto-hashi-noah-navigation-over-the-date-line-091203/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/25884-kenta-vs-yoshihiro-takayama-noah-accomplish-our-4th-navigation-062704/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/26000-kenta-vs-atsushi-aoki-noah-exceeding-our-dreams-092109/

Vader wasn't a conventional masked character. It was always an accessory, not part of his identity.

They had three matches in '88: 1/4, 2/7, 7/29. Inoki wins on 1/4 by DQ, 10 minutes. 2/7 ends in a no contest, 7 minutes. The third match goes 16 with Inoki winning.

That is the debut of the Vader gimmick. One of the most famous and infamous nights in Japanese wrestling history. Extended video: http://theditch.us/NJ12-27-87endPart1.avi http://theditch.us/NJ12-27-87endPart2.avi Explanation: http://theditch.us/riot.html

The Japanese head drop thing has been reeled in significantly over the last decade. There are still big moves, but nothing like the Misawa vs Kobashi spine-rattling bump-fests.

That's a pretty high bar to clear...

Yup. Just look at the famous 10-man from 2000, which was pretty much just a sprint and had a rather abrupt finish, yet is a segment that stands out for anyone who watched it. Part of that was WWE booking the show very well to make the 10-man seem like a huge deal, but still, I think the quality of work and exchanges in this 6-man would get a lot of notice in WWE.