JerryvonKramer Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Who are the best offensive wrestlers in your view? I made a top ten of those I've spent decent amounts of time viewing. 1. Kenta Kobashi - so dynamic, so huge 2. Yoshiaki Yatsu - I think people should make more of a fuss over his amazing offense in general 3. Bob Orton Jr. - probably the most exciting bombmaster of his generation 4. Harley Race - suplex for every occasion, piledrivers galore, awesome "follow through" punch in corner, headbutts, bizarrely worked underneath for most of his career. 5. Jumbo Tsuruta - the only man who can make a basic bodyslam seem like a finisher. Every move he hits is like a finisher. 6. AJ Styles - the most exciting and dynamic of that generation of guys for me, sick bombs. 7. Billy Robinson - swank moves, massive bombs. 8. Bobby Eaton - maybe I'm a mark for back breaker variations, see also Billy Robinson 9. Iron Sheik - in his younger days awesome suplex machine 10. Vader - yes. The reason guys like Angle and Benoit aren't here is because I often feel like they don't give moves time to sink in and register. See also "go go go". I've been really disappointed by Benoit whenever I've seen him recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliott Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 "Best offense" could mean a lot of things but looking at your comments it looks like you're focusing more on variety of bombs and suplexes and being "dynamic" more than anything else. Keeping that in mind... Yatsu was the first guy to come to mind since I watched the famous match with Choshu vs Jumbo and Tenryu again tonight. Yatsu was really a go go go worker at heart but he was relentless in throwing bomb after bomb. He was the lowest ranked guy in that match but was determined to prove he could hang. The best way to do that was throw as much shit as he could at Jumbo/Tenryu. Misawa, Kawada, and even Taue should really be on a list like this if Kobashi and Jumbo are going to be mentioned. The All Japan heavyweights really have incredibly deep movesets. 2 Cold Scorpio is an under the radar sort of guy. Dick Togo is another one. Both guys could toss their opponents around with powerbombs and suplexes, but could crush dudes with high flying moves. Liger. I still love Shinjiro Ohtani's offense too. Really the same as the last two. Liger probably has more variety on offense than anybody that I could think of. I always LOVED Ohtani's springboard offense which looked brutal as fuck. Add in powerbombs, germans, dragon suplexes, the boot rake in the corner, etc Junior OHtani's offense was terrific. Lots of Joshi workers deserve mention. But I'll single out Hokuto, Aja Kong, and Bull Nakano. I almost forgot Randy Savage. I also wanted to give shout outs to Buzz Sawyer and mid 90s Barbarian when he added the powerbomb and was kicking dudes faces off. And Volk Han came to mind. Obviously he had a very different offense and threw bombs of a different variety. But Volk was easily one of the most exciting wrestlers ever to watch on offense. For Lucha guys, El Dandy and Pirata Morgan come to mind. Santo Jr's signature offensive spots are some of my favorite in wrestling and always look great so he deserves a mention. Oh mid 90s Rey Jr. Editing in Alexander Otsuka because GOTNW reminded me by saying Ikeda. Freaking Otsuka! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOTNW Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Ikeda. Full stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjaminkicks Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Some that come to mind for me, that haven't been mentioned yet: Daniel Bryan Shinya Hashimoto Meiko Satomura Jun Akiyama Cesaro KENTA Batista Daisuke Sekimoto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 I love Bret Hart's offense. Also Goldberg has amazing power and MMA type moves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Robinson - Ahead of his time with combo of matwork and big moves Jumbo - Also ahead of his time with suplexes and moves off the top rope, kept adjusting to keep up with the next generation Hansen - Not fancy but incredible impact, often from odd angles, and he kept adding stuff to the repertoire into the '90s Liger - Huge array of high spots, power moves and strikes, all of which he absolutely nailed Misawa - Once he took the mask off, brought an unmatched combination of grace and force Kobashi - As big a bag of moves as anyone, ranging from the basic to the most devastating, and he did them all well Eaton - World-class punches and killer top-rope moves in the same package Danielson - Another guy with a vast array of stuff, from submissions to high spots to suplexes, and he executed it all superbly Vader - No need to elaborate Steve Williams - Peak didn't last long but he was an offensive machine at his All-Japan best Hijo Del Santo - Most gorgeous package of signature spots, and he's been hitting them all perfectly for 35 years Marty Jones - Could be stiff and nasty but also really athletic Finlay - Every single thing looked like it hurt Benoit - Terrific execution, looked equally comfortable trading high spots with the NJ juniors or slugging it out with Regal and Finlay Styles - Might be the best right now ... what I love is that even when he does something flippy, he makes sure to deliver a blow on the end I know I'm forgetting some other great ones ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 For me, context is important when looking at who has great offense. Does the offense fit the style they're working? Does it come at the right moment? Psychology matters but so does crispness and impact. With that in mind I would definitely have these guys that Parv listed. 1. Vader 2. Billy Robinson 3. Bobby Eaton I would also go with these guys that elliott and GOTNW mentioned 4. 2 Cold Scorpio 5. Daisuke Ikeda 6. Alexander Otsuka 7. El Dandy 8. El hijo del Santo And I would add 9. Dustin Rhodes 10. Barry Windham These two might not have thrown the biggest bombs and had more streamlined offense compared to others on the list, but they made it all look so crisp, it felt big and they had excellent timing. Their punches and strikes felt like bombs and got the crowd really involved. 11. Negro Casas 12. Negro Navarro 13. Black Terry 14. Blue Panther All lucha guys and you could add a lot more. Great on the mat, great strikes. Casas not as much as the others when it comes to mat wrestling. You don't always have as many high impact bombs in lucha because the mats are so much harder than others. 15. William Regal Great technician with great striking. Has so much he can do to an opponent and so much of his offense puts the opponent in a position to fight back and look good doing it. See Bill Goldberg and Ultimo Dragon. 16. Dick Murdoch Awesome strikes. Vicious guy who has some surprisingly high impact and great looking bombs as well. There are tons of guys I would add that I just can't think of right now. Dundee and Lawler maybe.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Plus the All Japan guys and Liger minus Jumbo. One of the all time worst punches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Marty Jones is a great pick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRGoldman Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 I have no complaints against anyone mentioned thus far, but I wanted to give a shout out to Muta. He has well documented problems as a wrestler, but everything he did on offense had this snap and speed to it that made it look really vicious, different and special. The elbow drop he does off the ropes is a good example. A lot of dudes drop an elbow, but Muta looked like he was trying to throw every ounce of momentum in to making his elbow drop kill a man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Plus the All Japan guys and Liger minus Jumbo. One of the all time worst punches. I hate the back-slappy thing Jumbo did but not enough to discount all the other devastation he unleashed. Grumpy Jumbo decapitating Kikuchi remains one of my favorite things in wrestling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Mentioning Kikuchi brings to mind Mass Fuchi. He had some really unique and vicious, painful-looking offense once he got going as a grumpy veteran in the 90s. He had some nasty strikes too, but prior to that he had some awful-looking punches in the 80s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted October 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Childs, Benoit might be top for execution, but moves lose their impact in his matches sometimes. Doesn't let them sink in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidebottom Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 I love Bret Hart's offense. First guy that came to mind. I loved the way he would take a great beating, sell it beautifully, then slowly start the engine again to an offensive climax, usually with the crowd right behind him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Many guys already mentioned so I'll throw in Jerry Blackwell. He always made everything he did seem devastating; his Powerslam or Samoan Drop looked like it could crush your ribs. He also knew when it was the right time to break out the bigger moves and built up to those big moments really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlingshotSuplex Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Windham and Eaton are two guys whose stuff always stood out. Buddy Rose in his prime had sneaky great offense: an amazing flying back elbow smash, the Robinson backbreaker, crisp knee drops, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Yeah, in terms of everything looking good and having a nice variety of moves, Barry Windham is one of the first guys that comes to mind. He's not best, but I always liked Manny Fernandez's offense a lot. Buzz Sawyer too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Childs, Benoit might be top for execution, but moves lose their impact in his matches sometimes. Doesn't let them sink in.Sometimes, sure, but there were also times going through the yearbooks when I thought he looked like the best wrestler in the world. And the Regal and Finlay matches don't fit that criticism at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Raven was on Austin's podcast today and pretty much echoed Parv's thoughts on Benoit. Said he hated working him because he never let stuff breathe. I agree with most of what has already been said and I'll throw Ron Simmons on the list as an honorable mention. I don't think he ever put all of the pieces together as a complete package but god damn I could watch him throw people straight through the ring all day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 I know Raven has a rep as a sharp wrestling mind but given a choice between watching his brand of work and Benoit's, I'll take Benoit's every time. In fact, Benoit dragged Raven to one of his best matches if I recall correctly. That's not a shot at you for bringing it up Chief. I'm just not a Raven fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 I hear ya. Raven's a guy who almost never practices what he preaches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Mark Henry uses negative space as well as anyone I've ever seen, if we're talking about making moves have impact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 What about a guy like Scott Norton. He looks like he's absolutely mauling guys at times and he wrestles exactly like you would want him to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 One who often gets sadly forgotten: Tajiri. He's mostly remembered as a buncha kicks and mist, but he had a whole bunch of other tricks in his bag. And hell, even with just kicks and mist, he could still manage to vary the way he was delivering them enough that he could literally work a fifteen-minute Kicks-&-Mist Match and probably never do anything the same way twice. In fact, Benoit dragged Raven to one of his best matches if I recall correctly.Yep, Souled Out '98. And generally, Raven's best matches have almost always been when he's actually having to take a rare beating from someone with a lot of offense, and isn't allowed to waste time by eating the other guy's lunch or doing a bunch of convoluted Sportz Entertainment smoke and mirrors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted October 13, 2015 Report Share Posted October 13, 2015 Raven is the far-out extremist that would hate WWE for not being sports entertainmenty enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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