Takao Omori

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[BillThompson]

Not sure if there's enough old man Omori for him to make my list. I haven't seen a lot of his earlier stuff, but what I have seen in no way measures up to his later output.

[GOTNW]

He's got plenty of good matches under his banner. What I found really interesting about him is how he never seemed out of place against opponents held in higher esteem. On the contrary-he totally looked like he belonged. But there's a pretty big gap in his career between him leaving NOAH and his resurgance in All Japan. And while he does have some qualities I'd say he relies more on his opponent to bring the match structure and such, which is why you'll never see him make something from nothing like Ishii, Akiyama etc.

[Ma Stump Puller]

I can get why people would think he'd be a good fit, but for me, I feel like he got really good way too late: it didn't help with the fact that NO FEAR, by far his biggest thing he's known for, quickly fell apart as Asako retired after his traumatic neck injury and Takayama was being pushed elsewhere, literally too big for the group anymore. He was just sorta stuck in limbo afterwards, floating around in lesser promotions, occasionally showing up here and there but mostly in nothing matches. 

His pre-breakout stuff is pretty eh as well: Omori as a bland babyface with zero flavour does him nothing with the crowd and while he does have some good matches on the AJPW circuit, he's mostly just the fall guy/the one that bumps a lot, especially when working with older guys. I can appreciate that fact as the function of a good hand, but still, he's JUST a good hand. Kobashi seems to be the only one that gets anything out of him in singles for the longest time. He's a good tag specialist and can play the hot babyface leading the charge or the dirty heel that'll do anything to get ahead, best used alongside stronger acts workrate wise. Omori is a good brawler but he needs a greater opponent to bounce off of in the ring, and he's kinda middling in anything that's not a scrappy brawl or stiff striking. 

If I could make a comparison, he's basically in the role of Akitoshi Saito: loyal workhouse, good in tags, can be brought to something truly great with the right man leading, but he's a lot more underwhelming than you'd expect from someone with the rich history he has. Even his TC run, as short as it was, was incredibly forgetful. It would take a revelation for him to even get a whiff of the top 100.