Ashura Hara

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Jetlag]

Same deal as T. Ishikawa. Old sumo asskicker is among my favourite types of japanese wrestlers and this guy is next to Tenryu for me. Hara uses about 3 moves but I love him for the little things. For example, he is among my absolute favourite guys ever at receiving kicks. There is a tag with Tenryu against Kitahara and someone where Kitahara unloads his arsenal and Hara is out of his world great getting clocked in his head, ear or barrel chest. His performance in the 1993 tag with Fuyuki against Hashimoto and Ohara is almost all headbutts but it's one of the best tags I've ever seen. I believe unlike Ishikawa he also has a handful singles matches very much worth watching. A guy who did simple things and created awesome moments. Wonder what his IWE stuff is like.

[goodhelmet]

I need to dive into more Hara. I feel like he may be a guy who gets overlooked.

[dawho5]

Hara in late 80s All Japan was a discovery and a half for me. I felt like he had some of the major aspects of what would become All Japan style long before anyone else did. Tenryu seemed to come alive once Hara started teaming with him.

[DR Ackermann]

I like Hara and think he made a good team with Tenryu, but from what I remember, Hara was fucking up a lot of basic spots in the there tags against Jumbo and Yatsu. He seemed to mistime a lot of stuff and be out of position constantly. If that's his peak, a period where he seemed lost and somewhat green, then he is a definite no for me, but I want to go back and watch some of it before all of this is over

[El-P]

Yeah, Hara was just not very good. Limited worker, who worked stiff and that's about it. I'm not sure which period I like the most, the earlier version in All Japan were he was just an inferior version of Ishikawa, or the later version in SWS/WAR era where he came back as an old fuck who would just stiff the fuck out of everybody because that's all he knew. The match where Tenryu beats the living shit out of him until one bodypart becomes as purple as his trunks (and quite disgusting looking) is probably is glory hour. That and the infamous tag match against Onita and Tarzan Goto which had nuclear heat. So yeah, I probably like the older version the most. Going from Tenryu & Jumbo against Ishin Gundan to Jumbo & whoever vs Tenryu & Hara was a big step down in quality and intensity because of inferior tag partners (not that high on Misawa Mask BTW).

[DR Ackermann]

I would say that Hara was a notch or two below Takashi Ishikawa and Hara got a lot more opportunities than he did. Hara benefits from being in big matches with great workers, but Ishikawa did more with the opportunities he got. He worked really hard to earn his keep in the WAR/New Japan feud. While Hara was solid and good at best, Ishikawa was good and pretty darn good at best. Ishikawa was a more game second fiddle to Tenryu and Ishikawa is not making my list.

[elliott]

Can someone recommend where to start with 70s Ashura Hara? I love him in the 80s & early 90s as an old fat tough motherfucker but I would love to check out his IWE stuff but need a push in the right direction. 

[KinchStalker]

I'm going through the IWE footage right now myself. I'm only just about done with July 1979 so I'm only a couple defenses into Hara's junior title reign, but both of his defenses I've seen thus far were good: the 1979.05.06 Mile Zrno match, and *especially* the 1979.07.21 Dynamite Kid title vs title match. The latter is unique in that it's an eight-round bout. I'm not going to participate in GWE myself but as I watch this stuff I'll be happy to point out more Hara matches.

Also the 1980 Fujinami match, while being the end of Hara's junior run, is of a piece with that era of his work.

[strobogo]

I've come to really enjoy him (and Ishikawa). Just consistently fun mid card dudes being angry and hitting hard usually in short matches that don't wear out their welcome and are able to keep up the energy. Neither belong on a top 100 list, but both would make a top 100 mid carders list.

[Jetlag]

50 minutes ago, elliott said:

Can someone recommend where to start with 70s Ashura Hara? I love him in the 80s & early 90s as an old fat tough motherfucker but I would love to check out his IWE stuff but need a push in the right direction. 

Just watch everything you can find. It's not like there's a metric tonne of stuff. The best match is the Zrno singles. There's also a Zrno rematch, even, although it's not on the same level but still cool. He also had some nice bloodbaths in the early 80s against the likes of Gypsy Joe.

[elliott]

Awesome! Thank you!