Animal Hamaguchi

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[The Man in Blak]

This is more of an exploratory nomination on my part, but I think he could be fodder for interesting discussion. He's held tag belts in six different promotions/territories, including Stampede and Puerto Rico. A stout and feisty character with one of the best running elbow drops you'll ever see. A twenty-five year career in the ring that has been followed up by a notable run as a trainer, if that sort of thing plays any role in your GWE criteria.

[Graham Crackers]

I like Hamaguchi but I think that out of all of the IWE wrestlers that Mighty Inoue is the easiest sell for a list like this. Inoue has great matches/performances in IWE as well as in All Japan. Hamaguchi never felt like more than a solid hand to me in his New Japan matches and was just kind of there in All Japan. Even Teranishi had more memorable performances.

[Dylan Waco]

Total spark plug of a wrestler, I thought he was really fun to watch in the high energy tags and multi-man's NJPW ran in the early part of the 80's. He's a guy I would be willing to explore more of, and I think he's worth thinking about, but I think he may lack the singular performances I ideally want in a top 100 candidate.

[JerryvonKramer]

I think this is the sort of guy who'd have a lot more people taking him up if he spent his whole career in WWF. I mean people are arguing that The Barbarian is a guy who might push for the bottom end of their lists, and, well, surely this dude is better than him and has more memorable matches to his name.

 

I like his singles efforts vs. Jumbo in 1986 as well as Choshu in 1990. Add those to all the multiman extravaganzas he was a part of, as well as the 1970s stuff, and I think it is a solid resume.

[The Man in Blak]

If you're looking for more Hamaguchi singles matches that are worth a look, NJPW World has a Hamaguchi/Fujinami match from 11/5/1981 that I enjoyed quite a bit (outside of the finish, which is garbage). It's only around 12-13 minutes and it's Fujinami, but Hamaguchi acquits himself quite well as a veteran gatekeeper that wants to teach this upstart junior a lesson.

[JerryvonKramer]

I want to find a place for this guy. Convinced that if this guy had had his exact same career in WWF or WCW, he'd be making a lot more lists.