Tomoaki Honma

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Ditch]

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.

[Timbo Slice]

Can't do it. Fun to watch, though.

[tim]

I think his work this year is absolutely off the charts. I couldn't rank him above Ishii since Ishii has had much better chances but I think there's an argument that he's been BETTER with the chances he's been given. Clearly the MVP of the G1 for me. That Fale match was off the charts given what it was. Shibata/Honma is my MOTY at only 10 minutes long. A bunch of other awesome stuff.

 

I thought he deserved a thread because I'm also aware of his death match reputation, which can add to his incredible 2014. I haven't watched much of it, and that's one of my big to-dos for this.

 

Another guy who could have a stronger case when the ballots are due than he does now. Hopefully NJPW gives him the push he deserves after his G1 performance. No reason he shouldn't be a top 5 worker in the world for the next 2 years.

[Dylan Waco]

Honma is the kind of guy I could see someone putting at 100 as a personal favorite they want to see represented and I'd have no problem with that. People forget the first poll was at the very beginning of the footage explosion. AT the time hitting 100 was semi-challenging for some. Now restricting it to 100 will be brutal because there are probably close to five hundred names I would consider at least somewhat viable candidates

[rzombie1988]

He's one of the deathmatch guys that got his career ruined due to the "deathmatch stink" ala Masato Tanaka and any old FMW/BJW/IWA alumni. Was very good early on and was an indy star. Then basically got to do nothing for 8+ years. He finally got into NJPW and was still mistreated and misused due to the deathmatch stink. I feel very bad for him.

[BillThompson]

Are you referring to the way promoters viewed him, or fans? I can see either way to be honest, but I have no problem with death matches and wouldn't hold them against a guy.

[rzombie1988]

Are you referring to the way promoters viewed him, or fans? I can see either way to be honest, but I have no problem with death matches and wouldn't hold them against a guy.

The promoters and the politics. No one from the deathmatch scene, minus Hayabusa, ever really got a fair shake in any other Japanese promotion. Masato Tanaka had a hard time finding home when FMW closed, did some indies, joined up with Zero-1, was misused, then joined NJPW and was misused as well. Kanemura did some Z1 and FMW knockoffs but never got anywhere further after FMW. Mr. Gannosuke? Same thing.

[Grimmas]

Honma is the kind of guy I could see someone putting at 100 as a personal favorite they want to see represented and I'd have no problem with that. People forget the first poll was at the very beginning of the footage explosion. AT the time hitting 100 was semi-challenging for some. Now restricting it to 100 will be brutal because there are probably close to five hundred names I would consider at least somewhat viable candidates

There are only 345 nominees, so get nominated!

[W2BTD]

 

Are you referring to the way promoters viewed him, or fans? I can see either way to be honest, but I have no problem with death matches and wouldn't hold them against a guy.

The promoters and the politics. No one from the deathmatch scene, minus Hayabusa, ever really got a fair shake in any other Japanese promotion. Masato Tanaka had a hard time finding home when FMW closed, did some indies, joined up with Zero-1, was misused, then joined NJPW and was misused as well. Kanemura did some Z1 and FMW knockoffs but never got anywhere further after FMW. Mr. Gannosuke? Same thing.

 

 

Interesting theory with the deathmatch guys, but I disagree when it comes to Tanaka. It may have taken a few years, but I don't think he's been misused in Z1 or NJPW. In NJPW he was a secondary title guy and tough gatekeeper of sorts, which I think was perfect slotting for him. He's also being used very well in NOAH these days.

 

As for Honma, he'd have to be considered. There seems to be this idea that he emerged in 2014, but he's been this good for several years now. The forced sabbatical made people forget about him a little bit, and the G1 was obviously huge in terms of exposing him to people for a two week period when everybody is paying close attention to all of the shows. What also hurts him a bit is that he really excels in random tags, the kinds of matches that non hardcores of the promotion are likely to skip if they're cherry picking cards.

 

He was just as great in 2013 as 2014, minus the G1 of course. And watch the 12/23/11 IC Title match from Korakuen vs Tanaka if you are looking for something a few years older to show that he's been at this level for a while now.

[GOTNW]

and now he is Poor Man's Ishii

Don't think this is the case at all. Ishii may have been booked as an underdog but he never truly worked as one.

[Clayton Jones]

Man, I don't think this post gave Honma a fair shake at all. His time in AJPW had some high points such as the excellent Tanahashi match and Turmeric Storm always brought an A+ effort even if they didn't have much to work with. His run in Big Japan is hardly overrated, he basically revolutionized deathmatch wrestling to this day with Yamakawa and gets very little credit for it. He had two all-time great deathmatches against him, one against Kobayashi, and the tag against WX and Winger. On a deathmatch wrestler's resume which is going to have a limited peak regardless that's damn good. It took me a while to warm up to headbutt comedy NJPW Honma but stuff like the 2014 match VS Shibata, the tag with Nagata VS Goto/Shibata, and the flat out great February 2015 Ishii match eventually made me turn the corner. He's not a lock for me by any means but he's a strong candidate that I'm going to spend some time figuring out one way or another. That said, if deathmatches aren't your thing then I'd totally understand a hard pass on Honma, I don't think there's a top 100 career there without that brief beautifully gruesome peak.

[Ma Stump Puller]

I definitely do have to agree with the post above that Honma has been criminally underrated in his early years, especially his AJPW stuff. I've been recently just going through a lot of the material from that time and Honma shines already there with the underdog work he'll throw out in NJPW later on: there are a ton of matches where he just gets the piss beaten out of him and bumps like crazy. This man has to eat shots from guys like Kawada and Sasaki and has to try to earn their respect by essentially taking all of it and then some. He's a good hand that gets strong reactions and solid matches regularly, especially when he has the chance to emote and show off his agility.

Of course his NJPW and deathmatch stuff has the more high-end/better quality runs, but I think his AJPW work does come a good way in showcasing how his week by week workrate looked like, as well as how early on he had a grasp on the stuff that would later make him a much more bigger deal.