Yoshinari Ogawa

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Loss]

Ogawa has become my pal lately. In the late 90s, he starts to emerge as this opportunistic and constantly desperate little fuckhead who's out to do everything he can to stop this losing streak that has been plaguing his career for years. Sometimes, it works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you feel his struggle and sometimes he's a total asshole and you wish he'd back off. But he's always true to himself.

 

I think his case starts around the time of the issue with Akiyama in '98. The six-man on 8/23/98 where he pins Akiyama is an excellent match where their issue takes center stage, and the 9/11/98 match against Akiyama at Budokan is his coming out party. He has a whopper of a match with Masahito Kakihara in January and then continues as Misawa's unlikely tag team partner throughout '99. From what the threads in the 2000s tell me, this continues into the next decade as well.

 

I think he had a label on him as a midcarder, plus he was smaller than any of the All Japan top guys and wrestled in a different way. For that reason, he probably didn't get the credit he deserved when his ascension started, although I have enjoyed everything I have seen him in from 1998 on. I can't see him not making my list in some fashion. The question is where to rank him. He's a guy where I worry about going off of match rep because I think there was resentment everywhere except DVDVR at the time he was made GHC champ because he was everything your typical world champion in the Japanese feds was not.

 

For those who were watching and didn't like him at the time, he probably deserves a revisit.

[Lee Casebolt]

I remember him as the weak link in a lot of AJ tags in '98, then missed fifteen years of his career, and picked him up as the grizzled vet of today, who I kinda dig. Definitely someone who needs a closer look.

[dawho5]

It wasn't just DVDVR as far as resentment for his title run. His match vs. Takayama on 9/7/02 had Takayama destroying Ogawa early while making fun of him for being the title holder. I get that was part of Takayama's thing at the time, but the crowd didn't seem to mind much. Great match though. Some more from the 2000s -

 

vs. Kobashi 11/1/04 - Superstar Sleaze caught that I hadn't watched this and I was glad he mentioned it

with Misawa vs. KENTAfuji 4/25/04 - easily one of the better matches either KENTA or Marufuji has been involved with

with Kotaro Suzuki & Tenryu vs. Sasaki/Morishima/Nakajima - Tenryu and Ogawa make this match, Ogawa vs. Morishima is so damn great in a way that you just don't see in Japan very often

[Childs]

Ogawa has become my pal lately. In the late 90s, he starts to emerge as this opportunistic and constantly desperate little fuckhead who's out to do everything he can to stop this losing streak that has been plaguing his career for years. Sometimes, it works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you feel his struggle and sometimes he's a total asshole and you wish he'd back off. But he's always true to himself.

 

I think his case starts around the time of the issue with Akiyama in '98. The six-man on 8/23/98 where he pins Akiyama is an excellent match where their issue takes center stage, and the 9/11/98 match against Akiyama at Budokan is his coming out party. He has a whopper of a match with Masahito Kakihara in January and then continues as Misawa's unlikely tag team partner throughout '99. From what the threads in the 2000s tell me, this continues into the next decade as well.

 

I think he had a label on him as a midcarder, plus he was smaller than any of the All Japan top guys and wrestled in a different way. For that reason, he probably didn't get the credit he deserved when his ascension started, although I have enjoyed everything I have seen him in from 1998 on. I can't see him not making my list in some fashion. The question is where to rank him. He's a guy where I worry about going off of match rep because I think there was resentment everywhere except DVDVR at the time he was made GHC champ because he was everything your typical world champion in the Japanese feds was not.

 

For those who were watching and didn't like him at the time, he probably deserves a revisit.

 

You've got to watch that Ogawa/Takayama match from 9/7/02 if you haven't already. Great shit as Ogawa tried to keep his improbable title run going against the heaviest of hitters.

[dawho5]

I actually had the Kobashi match from 03 slightly better than the Takayama match. Kobashi gets royally pissed at Ogawa for being such a little shit and the results are incredible. And surprising.

[Steenalized]

I actually had the Kobashi match from 03 slightly better than the Takayama match. Kobashi gets royally pissed at Ogawa for being such a little shit and the results are incredible. And surprising.

Cannot recommend that match enough. It won't be at the very top of my Best of Japan 2000s list but it won't be far off either. I enjoyed it as much as any match that wasn't the Taue/Kobashi vs. Tenryu/Akiyama tag.

[Childs]

I actually had the Kobashi match from 03 slightly better than the Takayama match. Kobashi gets royally pissed at Ogawa for being such a little shit and the results are incredible. And surprising.

 

Yeah, just watched Kobashi-Ogawa for the first time in many years, and it was great. Might be No. 1 for me in the 2000s Japan project right now, though I have a bunch of highly pimped stuff still to view. Ogawa was as good as anyone I've seen at working from the "I'm completely outgunned" point of view. His approach was such a delightful change of pace in NOAH, where everybody always tried to prove how tough they were.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Kobashi/Ogawa is without a doubt my personal favorite match of 00s Japan. To me it embodies the absolute essence of what makes pro wrestling just so damn fun. It strikes me as a match that even if you were a fan of just American wrestling you could get into this puroresu match and cheer for Kobashi to beat up this little cheating chump. I will have it in my Top Ten, but I don't think it will make the Top 5.

I thought I may have overrated Takayama/Ogawa, glad other people dug it. I am going to rewatch it soon.

I have said it before and I'll say it again, Yoshinari Ogawa is my spirit wrestler. Right down to the zebra print tights, hair style and body type I would wear if I was a wrestler. I would be the most UN-macho wrestler always looking to cheat or get under someone's skin. I am so sick of everybody being a tough guy in wrestling. Ogawa is a breath of fresh air and one of my favorites to watch.

[goc]

Yeah, just watched Kobashi-Ogawa for the first time in many years, and it was great. Might be No. 1 for me in the 2000s Japan project right now, though I have a bunch of highly pimped stuff still to view. Ogawa was as good as anyone I've seen at working from the "I'm completely outgunned" point of view. His approach was such a delightful change of pace in NOAH, where everybody always tried to prove how tough they were.

I just watched Kobashi/Ogawa and WOW. This match was a huge revelation to me, as I had never even heard of Ogawa before. I honestly have never really gotten into anything I've tried to watch from Japan. From 80s/90s All Japan/New Japan heavyweights, New Japan light heavyweights, some NOAH stuff, nothing has ever really stuck for me. I've seen a lot of matches that I thought were good but my main issue with the style is what Childs said about everybody always trying to prove how tough they are.

 

I loved this match and Ogawa's performance in it because it is anything BUT that. The finishing stretch felt really fresh without the two of them exchanging bombs and kicking out of them all. I loved how Ogawa was in control for almost the whole match until Kobashi's comeback but he ALWAYS felt vulnerable. What a piece of shit Ogawa is in this match, and I say that as the utmost form of praise as a big heel fan. I haven't really seen anything from Japan that immediately made me want to seek out more except for my brief love affair with the New Japan/Z-1 feud from like 2006, but I could absolutely see myself going through Ogawa's whole title reign now.

[Jimmy Redman]

So, this guy. This fucking guy.

 

My discovery of the day. I knew so little about him going in that I thought that he and the New Japan Ogawa that had that Hash feud were the same guy. Never laid eyes on this cat before (clearly). Now he's like my new favourite wrestler.

 

This guy is like...inadequacy personified. And I mean that in the best possible way. Especially in the world of puro, where everyone is trying to out-macho each other, here's a guy who is just plain...inadequate. He's tiny and dorky and cunning and has to use every trick in the book just to keep up with everyone else. No other semi-important guy around him resorts to eye pokes and shit, because they don't have to, they're all macho tough guys. Ogawa has to do this shit just to avoid being killed for another night. He's like in a constant struggle to keep up with all of the adults around him.

 

This bit from Loss really sums him up well:

 

Sometimes, it works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you feel his struggle and sometimes he's a total asshole and you wish he'd back off. But he's always true to himself.

 

He is always true to himself. Everything he does, he does in a very Ogawa-ish way. He's unique and really stands out in the environment he's in. Sometimes, like vs Akiyama '98, he comes off as the plucky, outmatched underdog, where the crowd is pulling for him and you want him to somehow pull off the upset. And sometimes, like vs Kobashi '03, he comes off like a snivelling, outmatched weasel, using every heel shortcut like a total asshole and just begging to get the shit kicked out of him. Either way, he's always outmatched. But there's so many ways that they can go with it, depending on who he's facing, and how far he's willing to stoop.

 

He's so great at taking a beating. Even from Misawa, his big buddy, when he elbows him his head just comes clean off, let alone taking it from big stars who don't have the slightest bit of respect for him like a Hash or Kobashi or Takayama. And then in turn he's great as the little buddy tag partner, who won't give up and will always just hang in there, but who will also inevitably get killed in spectacular fashion.

 

I love this guy.

[InYourCase]

I think it was Sammy that said that whenever he watches Ogawa, it makes him feel good. I strongly agree.

 

His early NOAH run is outstanding. He's so different than Akiyama/Takayama/Misawa/Kobashi and that only helps him. It helps him in tags and it especially helps him in singles matches. I can't get enough of his big matches with Takayama and the GHC match with Kobashi. Add in the All Japan run and factor in what he's still doing, he's someone who I'll be voting for.

 

I'd love to know the last ****+ Ogawa match? He's so good, even today, but I can't remember the last time I gave him anything over ***1/2. That doesn't hurt his case, I'm just curious.

[GOTNW]

Reasons why I love Ogawa and matches with a certain amount of stars aren't really intertwined iny my mind. Have you seen his match vs. Rikioh from ~2006? That's the first one I thought of anyway.

[InYourCase]

Reasons why I love Ogawa and matches with a certain amount of stars aren't really intertwined iny my mind. Have you seen his match vs. Rikioh from ~2006? That's the first one I thought of anyway.

I have not, but I can't find it on Ditch's site.

[andrew79]

[Timbo Slice]

I love Ogawa so much. He's a junior who Misawa brought along for the ride because he saw something in him and lo and behold, he turned out to have a pretty damn great career.

 

In the ring, when he's at his best, I don't think there's a more enjoyable wrestler to watch in a lot of ways. He reminds me a lot of Nishimura in the sense that you look at him and aren't supposed to be impressed right off the bat, but by the end of the match, you're excited about what you just saw. The Kobashi GHC match is a revelation, his tag work is tremendous, and the small stuff I saw from him in recent NOAH still popped me. He's what Gedo aspires to be. I want to find room for him on my list, but I don't know if he'll get there.

[pol]

I definitely get the impression that he could still be having great matches if positioned to do so. I remember Ogawa/ZSJ vs. Masamune/Taiji Ishimori from last year being a ***1/2-3/4 deal

[Jetlag]

I wouldn't be shocked if Ogawa vs. Kiyomiya ends up being the best match to come out of Japan in 2021. Meaning Ogawa has had great matches in 5 different decades now. And he looked as good in that match as he did 20 years ago and pretty much carried the show.

[Boss Rock]

As Homer Simpson once said "Who could forget dear Rat Boy?"

[Ma Stump Puller]

Ogawa is a guy that you REALLY need to look into to get the true value out of in the first place. I know a lot of people write him off as some basic, undercard journeyman that only got where he was because of a certain association with a certain big time ace at the time taking him up the card. It's not like his lackluster appearance and tendency to not be very dynamic pre-feud with Akiyama does him any favours in that regard.

However, his charm quickly pops up when you see just how damn versatile Ogawa is. From dirty bully beating down the other Jr's in his way to fluke champion to giant killer to tag specialist to a grizzled vet hosting his own technical torture chamber, he's the prototypical wrestling everyman in that he's fitted every booking slot you can think of over his career, and still continues to do so even to this day. He's super underrated technically as well: the guy does things I've never seen from anyone else, and unlike other technical oriented wrestlers, he doesn't show off or suspend realism like a Sabre Jr or a Yoshida tend to do at times. If he needs to pull something fancy, he will, but he doesn't need to do so when he has other, simpler means. He's all about practicality: either by a cheap roll up or spamming backdrops to death, Ogawa is all about grabbing the win by any means necessary, and you see that perfectly in his GHC run, as well as his Jr stints. The man has no standards and is willing to go to the dirtiest, darkest lengths possible to win. The real genius is that he can make this a babyface OR a heel story, and both are seamlessly organic. I could go on about his selling or incredible dynamics as a tag duo with Misawa or Sabre but needless to say, I can't not have him be top 100. He's done way, way too much to say otherwise.

People know his greatest hits, so I'll throw out some more off the wall match suggestions. Deeply recommend checking these out. 

Ogawa vs Kaito Kiyomiya I (NOAH, 13.06.2021)

Great showcase of modern Ogawa in action. Kaito tries playing Ogawa's own game in a bid to get back his momentum after a crushing loss to old man Mutoh, namely by trying to exhaust him in headlocks and whatnot. He's trying to show off, prove that his big loss was just a fluke and he's in control. This is the case...for about the first 10 minutes anyway, the rest is Ogawa just slowly breaking Kaito down with either some nasty stomps to the head, tying his legs up in painful ways, or just being a shit in general. There's a few points here where Kaito makes big comebacks and Ogawa sells amazingly, truly placing himself in danger before eventually outsmarting Kaito when he tries pulling from Mutoh's playbook in a panic and gets demolished for making such a mistake, eventually losing in the same manner he did in that match by being completely outwitted. This was mentioned as a potential MOTY for 2021 and while I don't quite agree, it's definitely a sleeper hit. Their second match together is also worth checking in on as well.

Naomichi Marufuji vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (NOAH, 17.03.2019)

Such is the state of NOAH that matches like these get buried. Maru is one of those guys that I get people liking but I've never truly dug outside of a few matches here and there, especially later on his career when he turns into a leg-slap spammer that seems to have one note matches all the time. Ogawa and him have some fairly great chemistry through, and it comes off well here, namely in both men working technical. Maru works the arm, Ogawa the neck, and the majority of the match is them selling those effects over time while pulling out flashy counters and whatnot. This turns into more of a regular Maru style match after a while but even then, Ogawa's crazy roll ups + Maru's general insanity in finishing stretches makes this into a really well paced bout that appeals to both men's strengths a good bit here, more so thanks to Ogawa being able to really sell the effects of his arm being attacked a ton: you buy his opponent getting the advantage because of that.

HAYATA vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (NOAH, 04.01.2020)

A common complaint about Ogawa is that people allege that his slow, technical-oriented limb work isn't very compelling or exciting to watch. This match just outright throws that out of the window as Ogawa gets HAYATA, a pretty middling Jr who has had direct issues in connecting with the crowd INCREDIBLY over, despite the fact that they weren't exactly hyped for this in the first place. This is a basic narrative of HAYATA's speed and youth against Ogawa's experience and how HAYATA's speed gets him a big advantage at first, but Ogawa eventually picks him apart with holds, and through the crowd isn't into it at first, Ogawa slowly gets them into it by consistently hammering in his dominance, until they realise that the champ might actually lose: by that point, every near fall becomes a big deal, and HAYATA gets some sensational cheers as he throws out as much as humanly possible despite the damage. Ogawa's opponent sells a ton for this in turn, sure, but it is Ogawa's approach that drags the crowd into this until they reach a fever pitch at the finishing section. 

Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW, 27.11.1999)

This is a really neat gem that doesn't get much credit at all. Honda and Inoue are two guys who honestly weren't particularly great at this point at all. Honda would get surprisingly solid when the spotlight was on him in NOAH, but as of now he's a goofy mid-card act. Inoue is...well, Inoue, albeit he's way better here than you would expect. Why pick this out then? Basically, Ogawa tries to work fancy with Inoue with the security of Misawa at his side, gets his ass beat when he realises that Inoue is a lot tougher than he thought, and then has to spend the majority of the match selling for two guys who aren't exactly well known for devastating offence or being compelling on top. Regardless, Ogawa actually manages to get this narrative over! The crowd really get into this, especially when Inoue and Honda start pulling out the big signature spots and Ogawa has to not only survive, but also help out his partner out of some surprisingly dangerous situations. It's a great example of Ogawa playing a underdog babyface, but also a established act trying to hold on to that spot against a pair that are willing to do anything to move up in the Tag League, so he plays up his desperateness in trying to protect that with everything he's got on top of everything else. Even some of the best could not make this work, especially with a very much B-show mode Misawa hanging around, but yet, this somehow functions without a hitch.

 

 

 

 

 

[GOTNW]

Ogawa is interesting because he's someone who, maybe due to sheer circumstances, has a fair number of canonically "great" matches, particularly when tagging with Misawa (the match against KENTA and Marufuji might be my favourite NOAH tag), but he's more remembered for adding flavour to those matches and having unique performances. If you want a big list of bombastic singles matches, Ogawa is only going to go so far, but if you're more interested in the intrinsics when rating someone, the sky is the limit. If you have an eye for detail, watch something like:

Kensuke Sasaki, Takeshi Morishima & Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Genichiro Tenryu, Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki-NOAH 27.9.2009. 

and you're going to marvel at how Ogawa does little things to glue transitions together, sell the threat of Morishima and so on.

The Takayama match is probably my favourite match of his, because it is one of the rare cases in pro wrestling where you see a cat and mouse narrative executed at a very high level. I remember Daniel Bryan doing something like that vs. Big Show and Mark Henry in ~2011, but Ogawa vs Takayama is probably the best example I can think of. An incredibly simple match that shows the virtues of stubborness in match structure, where the entire time you're waiting for Takayama to get his hands on Ogawa, or even get a control segment. The work is very good, but there isn't much heat, so you'd expect a Takayama control segment here and there just to get liven the crowd up a bit. And it keeps not coming, again and again. And then the whole thing just explodes. Perfect length, perfect timing.

[Ma Stump Puller]

To add on to this unexpectedly, he just had a incredibly well done 40 minute match with Kiyomiya literally like yesterday that I would highly suggest watching. Sensational technical masterclass.