Osamu Nishimura

[Childs]

Dan alludes to one of the other things Nishimura did well, which was to walk big lugs like Nakanishi, Tenzan and Suwama through surprisingly good, longer matches.

[ohtani's jacket]

Nishimura vs. Tanahashi from 2003 was cool until the shitty throwback to countout finishes of ol', I think there's some credence to MJH's observation that Nishimura's offense is too counter based. He was a great defensive wrestler, but working from a defensive position makes him seem weaker in a kayfabe sense than everyone he faces. Young Tanahashi was solid in this, but took too much of the bout because of the way Nishimura liked to stay back and work his way from a defensive position into a counter attacking opportunity. It's a cool strategy for hardcore wrestling junkies like ourselves, but in a "sport" where perception is everything, Nishimura often comes off like a trusted midcard hand sent out there to make others look good. He did have excellent European uppercuts, though. What a potent weapon those were.

[dawho5]

I tend to agree that he was almost too defensive, but there are times that works in his favor. When he's in against a bigger heavyweight who can dominate him physically (I'm thinking of Takayama especially here) it makes for a great dynamic. I loved the king of the mountain bit he and Fujinami did because it fit the Fujinami aggression and the Nish having to find a way to counter. But then you look at matches like vs. Kanemoto and it detracts from the bout because Koji is a junior. The match isn't supposed to go the way it does because Nish as a heavyweight ought to have the advantage. It's a good match and I won't ever say it isn't, but it doesn't feel right.

[ohtani's jacket]

Nishimura vs. Takayama is a fascinating bout. I'm not sure it makes a lick of sense for Takayama to try to wrestle Nishimura's style, and when he started throwing him about at the end I couldn't help but wonder why he didn't manhandle him from the start. Then I started wondering if it would have made more sense for Nishimura to have countered some sort of big time Takayama strike to start with and forced him to work from beneath and win the match the hard way. But if you take the match at face value, it was a classy old style build full of neat Nishimura moments. I loved his modified single leg takedown out of the corner that he followed up with a pin point diving knee from the top. I'm not sure if Nishimura is a complete worker, but he does so much cool shit in his bouts.

[dawho5]

It's not about making sense to me. It's about Takayama having the hubris to believe that he has such a huge advantage over Nishimura that he can wrestles Nish's match and still come out on top. Others have looked at it as a more "exhibition" match and I can see that viewpoint. I tend to go with Takayama getting overconfident because of his size advantage and the (perceived) major advantage in striking he had. Once it becomes apparent that Nishimura can put Takayama away in the match that Takayama has been wrestling, Takayama changes up the gameplan and finds out that it's not going to be as easy as he thought to put the old, frail-looking guy away.

[ohtani's jacket]

Why would Takayama do that, though? I'm not familiar with the era at all and I wasn't listening to the commentary when I watched it, so it would have been nice if there had been some visual clues that Takayama was deliberately wrestling Nishimura's style.

[ohtani's jacket]

The Tanahashi bout from 2004 was good. Can't accuse Nishimura of being passive in this one as he was pissed at Tanahashi and took the fight to him. Tanahashi was pretty solid in his younger days though he was already showing the kind of mannerisms that make him annoying like the ridiculous fist bump celebration at winning where his injured leg immediately buckled. I can understand him wanting to sell that way, but it looked so lame. I suppose for Tanahashi fans it shows his passion. Fiesty Nishimura was cool.

[ohtani's jacket]

It's a bummer that the Kawada match is clipped. Nishimura looked like he took his striking game to another level and I love the shoot-like quality that Kawada brings to his submissions in this sort of environment. Would have liked to have seen how they handled the rounds system. Kawada and Nishimura having a standoff at the end with push-ups and bridges was amusing.

[Childs]

It's a bummer that the Kawada match is clipped. Nishimura looked like he took his striking game to another level and I love the shoot-like quality that Kawada brings to his submissions in this sort of environment. Would have liked to have seen how they handled the rounds system. Kawada and Nishimura having a standoff at the end with push-ups and bridges was amusing.

They had a G-1 match too.

[Parties]

It's a bummer that the Kawada match is clipped. Nishimura looked like he took his striking game to another level and I love the shoot-like quality that Kawada brings to his submissions in this sort of environment. Would have liked to have seen how they handled the rounds system. Kawada and Nishimura having a standoff at the end with push-ups and bridges was amusing.

 

I was ludicrously amped about this on DVDVR circa 2007. Dug Nishimura after the Fujinami match and sought out earlier/later stuff. There was an enthusiasm back then toward seeing cards in advance, then not being able to see tape of the show for long after, building up the legend of the match and eagerness to see if it delivered.

[ohtani's jacket]

The Rutten match was interesting. It was kind of like watching a guy who wasn't entirely comfortable at working a pro-wrestling match against a guy who wasn't entirely confident at doing a worked shoot. Rutten seems like a guy who would have been a natural at pro-wrestling if he'd spent more time doing it. He grew into the bout as it progressed, though at 10 three minute rounds you'd hope he might settle down a bit. Nothing they did blew me away, but it was perfectly solid. Rutten hadn't really moved on from mid-90s Pancrase in terms of his fighting style so it wasn't really cutting edge shoot style stuff, but I enjoyed it.

[Dylan Waco]

Do not forget about him voters! If you haven't seen him seek him out. On another note if people have links to the Akiyama and Takayama matches DM with them ASAP.

 

I'll probably have more to say about him in the next few days, but I wouldn't be shocked if I was the high voter on him

[ohtani's jacket]

If anybody can re-up the Tajiri match that's one I'd really like to see. Cheers.

[GOTNW]

Do not forget about him voters! If you haven't seen him seek him out. On another note if people have links to the Akiyama and Takayama matches DM with them ASAP.

 

I'll probably have more to say about him in the next few days, but I wouldn't be shocked if I was the high voter on him

Can you see yourself going top 50 with him? I have him fairly high (in comparison to the consensus of him being a guy that could make the bottom of a list).

[Rah]

If anybody can re-up the Tajiri match that's one I'd really like to see. Cheers.

 

It's available via RealHero's account

[Dylan Waco]

 

Do not forget about him voters! If you haven't seen him seek him out. On another note if people have links to the Akiyama and Takayama matches DM with them ASAP.

 

I'll probably have more to say about him in the next few days, but I wouldn't be shocked if I was the high voter on him

Can you see yourself going top 50 with him? I have him fairly high (in comparison to the consensus of him being a guy that could make the bottom of a list).

 

 

I haven't thought a ton about him in comparison to other guys, but it's not impossible. I think in terms of being able to build a match he's better than a lot of guys who might have him beat on volume.

[ohtani's jacket]

 

If anybody can re-up the Tajiri match that's one I'd really like to see. Cheers.

 

It's available via RealHero's account

 

 

This is their 2013 WNC match and not the 2007 MUGA bout I was really after, but at this point I'll take anything. Nishimura is such a joy to watch. Aside from Fujiwara I can't think of any Japanese male workers who bring me as much joy as Nishimura. This match with Taijiri wasn't all that great in terms of what you'd expect from other workers in similar circumstances, but I could watch Nishimura working holds all day long and Tajiri was game enough to make it worth my while.

[Ma Stump Puller]

I've gotten a huge appreciation for the man as I've slowly clawed through his content. If one thing is true, it's that he tries to make every match he's in better. Random AJPW 6-Man tags where most of the guys involved can barely bump or do moves? Sure, he can settle with that. Taking a 70+ Dory Funk to some of his best exchanges in decades in singles or tag matches? Yep, that as well. Taking guys like a super green Ryota Hama or Bas to some of their highlights workrate wise at the time? Not a issue. Going a full 30 minutes with Kentaro Shiga of all people, and getting probably one of his best matches ever out of the guy? Somehow done with ease.

He's one of those guys that can be fitted in anywhere as a consistently reliable force, and while his formula gets pretty stale (especially when with someone who can't really work his pace without making it look forced) there's no doubting that he's a top act and should've at least been given a "thank you" run somewhere major. Top 30, no question about it. It's only the lack of a true top run that stops him being further down.

 

 

 

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

Having gone though a ludicrous amount of Nishimura content from all over his career as apart of his Deep Dive (but mostly his G1 showings) here are some observations:

1. Nishimura can be a bit.....predictable when it comes to match structure. He has a tendency to keep going back to the same spots over and over in a particularly constructed way with whoever he's with. While some individuals (Suwama, Kojima, Nagata) manage to break him out of these routines, more passive workers kinda just let him do his thing. Not that it's a bad thing, mind you, but it does show perhaps a need for safety. 

2. Nishimura is GREAT at subtle stuff. The Super Rookie Nakamura match is a good example of that as Nakamura shows off with some of his (at the time) innovative and rather fancy technical work; Nishimura immediately gets a bit miffed and starts going for even more elaborate routines to show the youngster up. His Kenzo Suzuki G1 showing has him kinda be a bully in that he just torments the youngster with consistent badgering on the outside. The man is almost gleeful at that fact and it gets incorporated into the finish, which has Nishimura become compliant and lose the match after a surprise roll-up.

3. Nishimura is also pretty damn good at communicating aggression against certain people. While he's generally stoic and neutral in most of his matches, he kinda has that Dory Funk principle where there's just that one or two guys that really piss him off immensely. In this case guys like Minoru Suzuki and Suwama make Nishimura a lot more prone to go for brawling and/or dirty breaks, at times just exploding with headbutts or something super uncharactistic. He never goes 100% off the deep end but you know he's bubbling under the surface, especially in some of the more hard-hitting matches.

4. His history with getting lesser talent to his level is naturally one of his greatest features, BUT what's important to address here is who seems to get more out of their encounters. Guys like Tenzan and Nakanishi, for example, have multiple really good matches with the guy, namely because his defensive style lends well to their more powerhouse antics. His work in elevating older talent (Fujinami, St. Clair, Kengo Kimura, Fuchi) is also pretty well established, especially when he has the time to pace out the match and showcase good technical work alongside them. What's weird is that there are some people who just seem to not really work with his style; guys like Muto even in his sensational 2001 prime just don't really click; their matches are underwhelming bar a spot or two, and it feels like Nishimura tries too hard to make them work by going at Muto's more crazed pace than his own. This is also evident in some of his showings against Kensuke Sasaki, where the two seem to try for weird novel concepts, like Nishimura spamming dropkicks or using chairs in their 1998 title match, or stealing each other's style in their 2004 showing. It's a bit too creative for its own good in that case.

5. Nishimura's "prime" can be accurately scaled to the late 90's where he takes off in popularity, and he peaks in the early to mid 2000's quality-wise. He is still very good in his later AJPW work, but his relentless political campaigning meant that the latter end of the AJPW work caused him to be unable to really commit fully into wrestling. This isn't to say he became bad, just that AJPW tended to use him for years in nothing 6-man matches. Occasionally he gets to show off just how good he can be (in particular carrying Yoon Kang Chul, a nothing South Korean wrestler to some of his best matches ever) but he's mostly relented to being in limited vet matches. I haven't yet checked out his very recent VAMOSTAR matches yet, so the jury is still out on how good he tangibly can be at this point.