Kengo Kimura

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Ditch]

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?

[Childs]

Kengo was one of the most pleasant surprises from the NJ '80s watching. His '87 matches against Fujinami, in which he abruptly turned vicious on his longtime partner, were great hidden gems. That said, he never consistently hit that level, even for a year, and I'm unlikely to give him much consideration.

[DR Ackermann]

My theory on Kimura is that the guy had what it took to be great, but unless he was getting pushed or working with top talent he wasn't motivated and mailed it in. He has a lot of highs but he was really inconsistent. I think by the 90s when the next generation was betting pushed to the top he realized his chances at a push were over and his work reflected that.

[Parties]

I've seen little of his work after '90, but his stuff on the 80s set was phenomenal. I've said this in other threads of other workers, but I rarely fault someone for late-career slumps. Almost everyone drops off eventually, especially if their push is over. No one ever says, "Jordan would be the greatest of all time, but that run with the Wizards was unforgivable." Kimura was such a revelation on the DVDVR set that I have him above Choshu on my list. Which is probably crazy, but I thought he was a genuine phenom in his best matches with Fujinami, Fujiwara, Saito, and everyone in the multi-mans.

 

I should seek out some more of his 90s work (I've seen him in at least one mid-90s WAR multi-man with Koshinaka's gang), but even if he comes off as a guy phoning it in or losing his way, I don't typically dock points or think that it negates past greatness.

[Childs]

I would have no problem with Kimura getting on to some lists, but he did benefit from a bit of selection bias with the DVDVR set. I agree his best performances were some of the best on the set, but I also waded through an awful lot of bland Kimura. Part of the reason his '87 matches against Fujinami felt like such a revelation is that he'd spent a long time as the vanilla junior partner. That's not entirely fair; he delivered some top-notch performances before that. But as much as I came away thinking Kimura was a pleasant surprise from the project, he wasn't solid gold for the whole decade.

[El McKell]

I don't think Kengo ever really shows me anything special in matches that don't also feature Fujinami.