Jumbo vs. Tenryu

[GOTNW]

Since we're doing the hard polls here's another one. I used to think Jumbo was better. I enjoyed watching Tenryu more, but I always thought of Jumbo as a smarter and a more versatile worker. Even though watching Tenryu stiff the shit out of people brought me epiphanous joy I subconsciously wrote him off as a lesser worker that had to compensate his lack of other skills by working in that manner. And it took me many great matches to realise how smart of a worker he really was. Yes, his work is/was simplistic, but it ALWAYS worked. There wasn't an environment that Tenryu couldn't adapt to. And he has continued to produce great work years after his prime. He managed to put on great performances when he could (legitimately) barely walk. He's my pick.

[Dylan Waco]

I think 90's inter-promotional rivalry era Tenryu is the most intense and exciting wrestler in the world to watch.

[Graham Crackers]

If people want to tout the "variety" in Jumbo's resume they need to try Tenryu's oeuvre. Tenryu's wrestled NWA champs, AJPW regulars, New Japan wrestlers, Hulk Hogan, martial artists, brawlers, deathmatch freaks, and luchadores. He's also made his act work in every one of those settings.

[El McKell]

I feel like both of these guys did great stuff over a very long period of time, but Tenryu was consistently great and Jumbo was very hit and miss until the last few years before he stopped wrestling

[WingedEagle]

This one is a lot tougher for me than Jumbo/Misawa. Tenryu has the amazing 90s interpromotional period as well as later runs in NJ, AJ and NOAH that all add a ton to his record. Not sure just yet how I'd weigh that against Jumbo's work in the 80s and his run in the Misawa feud.

[DR Ackermann]

His work may have been simplistic in general, but beginning somewhere between 87-89 he started working in all kinds of exciting spots and sequences into his matches. Until he leaves All Japan he blows Jumbo away during that periold as far as keeping his matches different, exciting and fresh. He does alot of cool stuff during this period that he probably wasn't able to do physically a few years down the road. It really makes me wish he had been just a few years younger when he reached his peak.

[DR Ackermann]

Also Tenryu has some vicious striking offense and Jumbo has one of the all-time ugliest punches.

[JerryvonKramer]

Something interesting: right now, Jumbo is winning the poll vs. Misawa but losing this one vs. Tenryu. Makes me wonder what a Misawa vs. Tenryu poll would look like. But the poll market has become almost as saturated as the podcast market recently. Still, interesting. If these polls are anything to go by, maybe Tenryu is a dark horse outside bet to finish very high in the final standings (as in Top 3).

[goodhelmet]

Eventually, this microscope forum will be littered with polls. Better to start now so they are staggered instead of posting them all at once as the deadline nears. Right now, I am doing polls with guys from similar roots. I may branch out to the matchups like Loss has in his thread but some of those aren't so much who is better in their genre but what genre I enjoy more and I fully acknowledge that.

[NintendoLogic]

I don't see a GOAT contender when I look at Tenryu. To be sure, his sheer presence elevated just about everything he was involved in, and he almost always contributed at least one memorable moment to his matches. But he also had trouble keeping things consistently compelling, so his matches tended to have tons of dead time. For a guy who was supposedly all about kicking ass and taking names, he spent an awful lot of time lying on the mat doing nothing. For that reason, I find he was at his best in a tag setting or when reeled in by a superworker. Like Jumbo, for instance.

[goc]

Throw some lucha polls into the mix!

[Parties]

Tenryu is benefiting from a real renaissance rediscovery of his work. Jumbo's been kind of uncool for a while now: we know what he is, and it's harder to find hidden gems. I'm not saying the people voting for Tenryu are wrong (I might be one of them), but in terms of timing, Tenryu is coming off of the All Japan set (which should benefit Jumbo too, really) and the Segunda Caida coverage of WAR that really opened a lot of people's eyes to how good 90s Tenryu was. If I went back and watched the best early 90s Jumbo when he was teaming with Fuchi as a borderline heel, I might swing towards him. But Tenryu as a persona is pretty hot right now in our circle, and rightfully so.

[JAC]

I picked Tsuruta. Just like Tsuruta v. Misawa, I think this is a close call. Both guys have really impressive 20-year peaks. In Tsuruta's case, it's basically his whole career. In Tenryu's case, his peak came late, but endured seemingly forever. I've never liked a wrestler over 50 years old more than I like old Tenryu. I can't think of any other wrestler whose 40's decade I like better. He's really nifty in that regard. What's even cooler about Tenryu is that his awesome 'old' aged run came at a time when great performances by old wrestlers was less of a thing than it had been in years past. Ric Flair and Terry Funk were both very active into their 50's, but I think the quality of Tenryu's work during that same period was a few notches above theirs.

 

I don't love the WAR stuff as much as others, so perhaps Tenryu's candidacy--from my perspective, at least--would have been helped if he'd have returned to AJPW sooner or made NJPW his home promotion for an extended stretch. Then again, the outsider appeal added much to the aura of many of his most memorable matches. His matches with Hashimoto in 1993 to 1994 are probably my favourite Hashimoto matches.

 

So... I picked Tsuruta, but I can't stop talking about Tenryu. Hmm... He's just such an interesting candidate. That said, I think Tsuruta was more effective at working a wider range of styles (I'm thinking in particular of some of his matwork-heavy 70's stuff), was a more consistent performer (based on what made tape) and had a few more high peaks. Of course, their best singles match was against each other, so they share that one in particular.

 

Both guys would make my Top 10, maybe even my Top 5, so there's not much to choose from.

 

I'll give Tenryu this thought--if hair was part of the criteria, Tenryu's handsome Jheri curls would win hands down. Best hair in wrestling, bar none.

[GOTNW]

"Jumbo"

"20 year peak"

LOL