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Top Japanese Wrestlers


elliott

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The "Best 80s Worker" got me thinking about breaking this stuff down even further and I figured we could take a look at Japan first.

 

Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?

Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?

Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?

Who was your favorite Ace?

Who was your favorite top challenger?

Who was your favorite under the radar guy?

Who was the best at their peak?

Who has disappointed you the most?

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Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?

Shiyna Hashimoto. I'm still finishing my Ohtani thing so I doubt I'll have enough time to make a gigantic case for Hashimoto but I don't think there's any single criteria which would "disqualify" him from ranking #1. I mean I get that most folks just don't like him as much as I do but getting that he is a perfectly fine choice for that spot acknowledged would be progress by itself. I think. Maybe.

Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?

I don't have time for this.

Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?

70s are tough because of the reliance on foreigners. But If I'm going to be smartass and count 1980 (hint-I will) I'll just say Fujinami. I liked him a lot more than anyone else when we did the Before The 80s project and with no foreigners.....fuck it. Fujinami it is.

80s go to Fujiwara

90s Hashimoto

2000s go to Akiyama

2010s to Akiyama again

Who was your favorite Ace?

Hashimoto

Who was your favorite top challenger?

I have Kawada above Akiyama and Fujinami right now.

Who was your favorite under the radar guy?

Yoji Anjoh.

Who was the best at their peak?

Takada is in my #1 and #2 matches ever so while I could see maybe giving him the edge talking strictly about absolute peak performances/matches Hashimoto smokes him as an all around peak performer.

Who has disappointed you the most?

Probably Jumbo. Not big on him in the 80s.

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Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?

 

Jumbo

 

Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?

 

Jumbo, Baba, Tenryu, Choshu, Yatsu, Fujinami, Misawa, Kawada, Taue, Kobashi, Hashimoto, Liger, Muta, Hase, Fuchi, Saito (if he counts as Japanese), Onita

 

Probably: Akiyama, Kickuchi

 

Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?

 

70s: Jumbo

80s: Jumbo

90s: Misawa

00s: Probably Kobashi from what I've seen

10s: no

 

Who was your favorite Ace?

 

Jumbo

 

Who was your favorite top challenger?

 

Kawada?

 

Who was your favorite under the radar guy?

 

Taue

 

Who was the best at their peak?

 

Jumbo

 

Who has disappointed you the most?

 

Maeda (boring), shoot style in general, not for me

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Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?

 

Tenryu. Easy #1 on my list

 

Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?

There will be 50-60 on my final list.

 

Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?

70s probably Jumbo or Fujinami

80s would be Fujinami

90s is harder, but I'll actually go Liger

I agree with GOTNW that 2000s and 2010s is Jun Akiyama

 

Who was your favorite Ace?

Misawa

 

Who was your favorite top challenger?

Not sure what this covers exactly but I will go Tenryu or Kobashi if it means challenging the ace

Edit: Actually, I will go with Kawada even though I picked him for the most disappointing because the 1992-1995 Kawada chasing Misawa arc is the greatest ever.

 

Who was your favorite under the radar guy?

Alexander Otsuka

 

Who was the best at their peak?

Akira Hokuto 1993-1994

 

Who has disappointed you the most?

Kawada to be honest. He was a different beast during his peak (late 93-1996) but outside of that I am not that high on him.

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Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?

 

Kawada. It's funny because in my mind when I separate guys into categories I put Stan in the Puro section, and I have him higher, but if we're talking natives then Kawada.

 

Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?

 

Not really sure yet, but the number looks to be closer to maybe 30 people.

 

Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?

 

70s I haven't seen enough to say.

80s I haven't seen a lot of NJ so Jumbo.

90s Kawada.

00s Probably Kobashi.

10s I have no earthly idea.

 

Who was your favorite Ace?

 

I can't decide between Misawa and Liger.

 

Who was your favorite top challenger?

 

Kawada.

 

Who was your favorite under the radar guy?

 

Kazuo Yamazaki.

 

Who was the best at their peak?

 

This is a hard one. Maybe Tamura 97-98.

 

Who has disappointed you the most?

 

Probably Riki Choshu, in the sense that I went in thinking I would like him and ended up...not seeing the big deal. I do need to see more, but I won't prioritise him before the ballot which means I probably won't rank him at all.

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Well I seriously doubt I have time to finish a list in time for the deadline, but if I did...

 

Highest ranked Japanese wrestler- Tenryu. Maybe an outside shot at Kawada.

 

Japanese wrestlers I'd probably rank (off the top of my head)- Tenryu, Kawada, Lyger, Misawa, Kobashi, Jumbo, Baba, Hashimoto, Kikuchi, Fujiwara, Fujinami, Choshu, Taue, Akiyama, Tamura, Yamazaki, Maeda, Sasuke, Tajiri, Noaya Ogawa, Nakamura, Sano, Hase, Inoki.... Christ there are probably another 15 to 20...

 

70s- Baba or Jumbo

80s- Tenryu probably

90s- Misawa or Kawada probably

00s- Kobashi probably, maybe Akiyama

10s- Nakamura

 

Favorite Ace- Misawa

Favorite Challenger- Kawada

Favorite under the radar guy- I don't know what qualifies as under the radar. If you mean somebody who isn't going to get a lot of votes. Guys like Ogawa, Takada, and Onita for example. But they are all big names so I don't know. If you mean small time indy guys, maybe somebody out of BattlArts or some deathmatch guy would be on the borderline for me.

Best peak- Misawa 91-95 ish

Biggest disappointment- Inoki... people say watching 80s AJPW they were disappointed by how lazy Jumbo was at times, I found Inoki's laziness and lack of cooperation to be far more disappointing

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Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?


If we're counting Hansen, then Hansen. If not, Kobashi, Kawada, then Tenryu. That's my 1-4 right now.



Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?


Half of my list, at least, is Japanese wrestlers. Dragon Gate, New Japan, All Japan, Big Japan, DDT, RINGS, UWFi, Michinoku Pro, and NOAH all have representatives.



Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?


70s: Void - haven't seen enough


80s: Fujinami, Choshu, Maeda, Tenryu


90s: Kobashi, Misawa, Hashimoto


2000s: Kobashi, KENTA, Masaaki Mochizuki


2010s: Tanahashi, Akira Tozawa, Masaaki Mochizuki



Who was your favorite Ace?


Misawa in 90s All Japan, Kobashi in 2000s NOAH, and Mochizuki in 2011 Dragon Gate



Who was your favorite top challenger?


Kawada



Who was your favorite under the radar guy?


Susumu Yokosuka, Daisuke Sekimoto, Yoji Anjoh



Who was the best at their peak?


Kobashi, Kawada, Mochizuki, Tenryu, Tanahashi



Who has disappointed you the most?


Inoki - mainly because he has so much charisma and continues to produce such disappointing matches. Volk Han continues to drop as I watch more Tamura, Anjoh, and Maeda. I thought I'd have him much higher, so I'll mark him down as a disappointment, also .

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Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?

Misawa

Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?

Misawa, Jumbo, Kawada, Kobashi, Hashimoto, Taue, Choshu, Baba, Tenyru, Kikuchi, Fuchi, Tamura, Kohsaka, Maeda, Fujiwara, Liger, Otani, Ishikawa, Ikeda, Otsuka, Yatsu and a few more TBD

Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?

Baba 70's, Choshu 80's, multiple 90's

Who was your favorite Ace?

Misawa

Who was your favorite top challenger?

Kawada

Who was your favorite under the radar guy?

​Not sure I have anyone truly under the radar

Who was the best at their peak?

Jumbo or Kawada

Who has disappointed you the most?

No one stood out as disappointing from the Japanese side

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Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?


- Tenryu.



Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?


- Tenryu, Fujiwara, Hashimoto, Tamura, Fujinami, Misawa, Kobashi, Taue, Choshu, Maeda, Ishikawa, Ikeda, Otsuka, Ono, Jumbo, Liger, Sano, Fuchi, Anjoh, Yamamoto, Yamazaki, Aja, Hokuto. They're not ALL necessarily locks (some of them most definitely are), but they're close enough. There's a bunch on the bubble as well.



Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?


- 70s: I guess Jumbo, but I've re-watched a chunk of 70s Jumbo over the last couple months and I'm really not huge on him pre-'86 or so. I just don't remember seeing much of anybody else recently enough to give this to them. Maybe Baba? Honestly not sure.


- 80s: Fujinami.


- 90s: Hashimoto.


- 00s: Kawada, though a lot of that is down to the first half of the decade.


- 10s: Pretty much a blind spot for me, but it feels like Akiyama from the limited stuff I've seen.



Who was your favorite Ace?


- Hashimoto is pretty much everything I think of in an ace.



Who was your favorite top challenger?


- Kawada, I guess.



Who was your favorite under the radar guy?


- Would've said Anjoh, but he's already been mentioned so maybe he isn't as under the radar as he used to be. Maybe Yamamoto? It's hard to find anyone who's all that under the radar at a place like this.



Who was the best at their peak?


- Maybe Misawa, but guys like him, Fujiwara, Hashimoto, Tenryu, Tamura, Fujinami and Kawada have all had stretches of a couple years where they were unreal. If I go by who I'd want to watch at their very best, then either Tenryu or Tamura, probably.



Who has disappointed you the most?


- I guess it's Jumbo after how flat he left me on the All Japan 80s set (when ten years ago he'd have possibly been my #1 for this). In terms of guys that used to be personal favourites that I've since gone way down on (Jumbo was never really a personal favourite as such), then probably Liger.


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Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?


Kenta Kobashi, he's part of the 2 man race for my number 1 spot



Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?


There's going to be close to 50 of them, so no chance of a list here



Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?


70s: Jumbo


80s: Jumbo


90s: Kobashi


00s: Kobashi


10s: Hiroshi Tanahashi



Who was your favorite Ace?


either Kobashi in NOAH or Hiroshi Tanahashi



Who was your favorite top challenger?


Kobashi in late 90s AJPW



Who was your favorite under the radar guy?


Can't pick Kobashi again here. How under the radar do you have to be? Does Marufuji count? If not I'm gonna say Natsuki*Taiyo, but I'm starting to think there's no room for her in my top 100



Who was the best at their peak?


Akira Hokuto



Who has disappointed you the most?


Yoshiaki Fujiwara, I was initially kinda impressed with him in multi mans but he was really disappointing when I started looking at him individually. Tiger Mask also disappointed me a lot, but everyone on this site realised he's nothing special way before I did. Also Shinya Hashimoto


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Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?

 

Kawada


Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?

 

Kawada, Tenryu, Kobashi, Jumbo, Misawa, Fujinami, Hashimoto, Fujiwara, Liger, Choshu, Taue, Akiyama, Tamura, Sano, Ishikawa, Kansai, Baba, Maeda, Takayama, Ohtani, Kong, Togo, Fuchi, Ikeda, Otsuka, Hase, Nishimura, Suzuki, Kikuchi, Yamazaki, Saito, Nakano, Nakamura, Tajiri, Takada, Masami, Hokuto, Anjoh, Onita.

 

Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?

 

70s - I like Baba's best matches the best. Fujinami would be the answer for the end of the decade. Jumbo probably has the most good matches on tape. Tight race. Can I answer Billy Robinson?

 

80s - Fujinami

 

90s - Kawada

 

00s - Akiyama though Kobashi and Takayama hit higher peaks

 

10s - Nakamura

 

Who was your favorite Ace?

 

Favorite? Hash. Best? Misawa.

 

Who was your favorite top challenger?

 

Kawada by a hair over late '80s Tenryu.

 

Who was your favorite under the radar guy?

 

Sano if he fits the category.

 

Who was the best at their peak?

 

Misawa

 

Who has disappointed you the most?

 

In the course of this project, no one. In the course of my overall exploration of Japanese wrestling, probably Inoki or Mutoh.

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Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?

At this stage, probably Kawada.

Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?

Short answer: loads

Long answer:

Akira Taue
Shinya Hashimto
Tatsumi Funjinami
Akira Hokuto
Bull Nakano
Masaaki Mochizuki
Kyoshi Tamura
Dick Togo
Great Sasuke
Hayabusa
Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Hiroshi Hase
Aja Kong
Manami Toyota
Jaguar Yokota
Chigusa Nagayo
Masa Fuchi
Megumi Kudo
Jushin Liger
Jumbo Tsuruta
Genichiro Tenyru
Giant Baba
Toshiaki Kawada
Mitsuharu Misawa
Kenta Kobashi
Jun Akiyama
Yoshihiro Tajiri
Yoshiaki Yatsu
Yushi Ishikawa

Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?

70's: I'm tempted to say Baba here based on my ongoing quest to get through Ditch's archive.

80's: Chigusa Nagayo. Yep, I think she's that good. Also torn between her and Fujinami and Fujiawara. OH FUCK I DON'T KNOW.

90's: Kawada

2000's: Kobashi. Not to everyones taste as he changes stylistically, but one of the definitive babyface champion runs.

2010's: Shinsuke Nakamura

Who was your favorite Ace?

Misawa. I didn't really feel like I used to get Misawa, but rewatching so much All Japan alongside the All Japan Excite podcasts has finally made me feel like I understand that stoic hero mixed with barely stifled boiling rage that erupts in massive fuck off elbows kind of deal he's got going on, and for me he's the ace. Plays his role perfectly, even if I like Kawada better.

Who was your favorite top challenger?

Kawada!

Who was your favorite under the radar guy?

Sekimoto

Who was the best at their peak?

 

Tempted to say Hashimoto just because I hate myself for not having Hash in any of the previous answers despite how much I love him

Who has disappointed you the most?

Probably Inoki, but then I wouldn't necessarily say I was disappointed as there is little hype for him round these parts anyway. More a confirmation of everything I thought when I first watched his stuff years ago.

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Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?


Either Fujinami or Tenryu.



Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?


Fujinami, Tenryu, Fujiwara, Tamura, Hashimoto, Choshu, Kawada, Daisuke Ikeda, Yuki Ishikawa, Otsuka, Liger, Yoji Anjoh, Kantaro Hoshino, Kobashi, Misawa, Taue, Akiyama, Masa Saito, Masa Fuchi, Giant Baba, Tajiri, Maeda, Hiroshi Hase, Naoki Sano, Kazuo Yamazaki, Tamon Honda and maybe a few more



Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?


70s Fujinami or Baba?


80s Fujinami


90s Kawada?


2000s IDK


2010s IDK



Who was your favorite Ace?


Tenryu



Who was your favorite top challenger?


Fujinami or Kawada



Who was your favorite under the radar guy?


Kantaro Hoshino for sure. Amazing wrestler who could adapt to the needs of a match even if that meant playing a vicious heel bully despite being the tiniest guy almost every time out. Yoji Anjoh and Masa Saito are right up there too if they count.



Who was the best at their peak?


Probably Fujinami or Tenry in 89.



Who has disappointed you the most?


Possibly Misawa? I'm going back from the 80s through the 90s in my Japan watching and here at the end of 93, Misawa is behind the other 3 All Japan Pillars as far as career output goes. Tiger Mask was weak, then Misawa seemed like the best of the bunch in 1990 and has been stagnant since. Taue and Kobashi got really good really fast.

Scratch that, Mutoh. So much potential, so little actually going on.
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Misawa is behind the other 3 All Japan Pillars as far as career output goes.

???

 

This Japan thread has been one of the more surprising to me since this whole GWE deal started.

 

 

Specifically by the end of 1993. Let me clarify. He's obviously the biggest star of the bunch by then. I mean that as far as producing quality work, he's behind Kawada in my eyes. They started around the same time and Kawada was better faster and I like his work up to that point more than Misawa's. Misawa wasn't very good until 1990 and by 1993 Taue and Kobashi have produced a better body of work in their first few years than Misawa did in his first few.

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Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?

Jumbo

 

Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?

Dozens of them.

 

Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?

70s - Jumbo

80s - Jumbo

90s - Misawa

00s - No clear number one for me - Kobashi, Mochizuki, KENTA

10s - Again, no clear number one for me - Nakamura, Sekimoto, and Tozawa

 

Who was your favorite Ace?

Misawa

 

Who was your favorite top challenger?

Kobashi

 

Who was your favorite under the radar guy?

Is anyone under the radar on a forum like this? Probably Men's Teioh.

 

Who was the best at their peak?

Misawa

 

Who has disappointed you the most?

Fujiwara. I need to do some more watching, but I've not been impressed by his shoot-style outings.

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@ DR Ackerman: I was just wondering about the phrase "output" because for raw great matches etc., I'm not sure if Misawa has an equal and probably has more ****1/2+ to his name than even Jumbo or Flair.

 

On my own scale, he's a perfect 10 for great matches, but gets hurt in variety and longevity stakes.

 

I hadn't really seen anyone put forward a case that Misawa has less output than the other two. It's usually more that people don't get his character work and find it easier to connect with Kawada / Kobashi. So the output thing interested me.

 

I'm in the camp that does see Kawada's Footloose run as a plus for him, but I've been a bit disappointed with his post-peak work. He was the worst of Hase's opponents when I saw him run the AJ gauntlet a month ago and have seen Kawada dog it far too many times.

 

I also feel like Jumbo's "boring" period from 81-84 is generally held against him far more than down periods for other guys, while his 70s work isn't taken into account as much and generally phenomenal 85-92 a little lightly dismissed.

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Which Japanese wrestler will you rank highest?

Fujiwara

Which Japanese wrestlers do you expect to make your list?

Fujiwara, Misawa, Ishikawa, Hashimoto, Tenryu, Choshu, Fujinami, Togo, Tamura, Kawada, Ikeda, Maeda, Otsuka, Sano, Taue, Liger, Jumbo, Kobashi, Akiyama, Honda, Usuda, Takayama, Nishimura, Kikuchi, Fuchi, Tajiri, and Onita are locks. Ono, Kanemoto, Yatsu, Anjoh, Hamada, Yamazaki, and Masa Saito are all strong possiblities.

Who was the best of the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s to come out of Japan?

70s: Hard to say. If we're just talking natives I'd say Fujinami given the footage I've seen. That said, I haven't seen a great deal of 70s IWE but 70s Mighty Inoue seems like someone I'd like to investigate further one day. Too bad I probably won't have time to devote to that anytime soon.

80s: Fujiwara with Choshu and Fujinami not too far behind.

90s: Misawa followed by Hashimoto, Tenryu, and Ishikawa

00s: Very inconsistent decade. My gut reaction is Ishikawa but he was MIA for large chunks of the decade. Akiyama had a few great years but I thought his character transition in the early part of the decade was really awkward. Honestly, Misawa probably had an overall better 2000-2009 than him but I could hardly justify calling him WOTD. Tamura was awesome as U-Style's ace but that was short lived. Hiroyuki Ito was great for a minute too. This was really a decade made up of midcard guys in Japan having brief awesome runs. That means guys like Tamon Honda. Takayama was great for half the decade. We lost Hashimoto. Frustrating times.

10s: I don't feel like I'm qualified to answer this.

Who was your favorite Ace?

I probably prefer Misawa to Hashimoto but I'd rather watch Hashimoto work with much lower ranked guys.

Who was your favorite top challenger?

Tenryu

Who was your favorite under the radar guy?

Is Alexander Otsuka under the radar? What about Sano?

Who was the best at their peak?

Fujiwara in 89

Who has disappointed you the most?

Those BJW guys.

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These are the workers I would have considered:

 

Fujiwara, Fujinami, Tenryu, Hashimoto, Misawa, Kawada, Taue, Kobashi, Maeda, Tamura, Ikeda, Ishikawa, Jaguar, Chigusa, Ozaki, Kyoko Inoue, Hokuto, Toyota, Devil, Kansai, Bull Nakano, Mimi Hagiwara, Yumi Ikeshita, Mariko Yoshida, Volk Han and Carl Greco (if they count.) Azumi Hyuga and Meiko Satomura I would have come close to considering and prime Ohtani. Akiyama I'd need to watch more of his 00s stuff.

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