Mr. Pogo

[Dylan Waco]

Discuss Here.

[KB8]

I've never wanted to vote for someone based on one paragraph more than I do now after that. 

[Clayton Jones]

One of the only nominees that when considering how he utilizes his toolbox bell to bell, you literally have to evaluate how he uses a toolbox.

I'd love to vote for Pogo. I really would. I don't see it happening but I guess never say never.

[PeteF3]

Every negative the Sheik is accused of having, and much less. One of the worst workers of all-time, even "for what he is." It got so bad that I was basically skipping every Yearbook chapter he was involved in because I didn't want to be bothered. Like the Sheik and like peak Reign of Terror HHH, there's never any comeuppance or payback for the shit he pulls, so there's no emotional attachment to watching him wrestle.

[strobogo]

Interestingly, my first and really only venture into tape trading that ended up being very short lived due to videos on the internet becoming so much easier to find and watch shortly after, also included Mr. Pogo. The tapes consisted of 6/3/94, a collection of some young fella named Kenta Kobayashi in Zero 1, and a couple of horrible deathmatches with Mr. Pogo in some tiny gyms just digging his scythe into a forehead and back for what felt like longer than the Misawa/Kawada match.

 

Mr. Pogo fucking sucks. Nothing enjoyable about his brand of deathmatches, and the pre-death match stuff I've seen from him in various territories also sucked. 

[Jetlag]

12 hours ago, Cien Caras said:

One of the zero reply guys from 2016, thank you to whoever nominated him. When I got into tape trading in the 90s, I watched all the Japanese wrestling that everyone else was watching, I rarely if ever go back to revisit it. The exception being W*ING and this tubby, twisted depraved sadist torturing various deviant low-lifes with knives, scythes, drills, maces and other medieval instruments. One of my treasured tapes was a compilation from Big Japan from later in the 90s, this degenerate was even slower and fatter, would never take a bump, the weapons were more outrageous and he had an army of debased reprobates dressed like him. The crowds were long gone, and he was more warped and twisted than ever. Occasionally I will come across footage of this wretch in his final years having hit rock bottom, stabbing some miscreant in what appears to be a darkened brothel basement, sinful and corrupt until the bitter end. Mr Pogo is a lock for my top 100.

This is easily the best justification post for voting for a certain guy I've seen in a while, only rivalled by the one in the Ultimate Warrior thread I will say that Mr. Pogo is actually quite the effective heel and a good character wrestler. Definitely better than Triple H.

[elliott]

I liked the November 1990 match with Onita where Onita just obliterates him with headbutts. And the 1996 Anniversary show match I liked a lot. But I could go the rest of my life without seeing the scythe bullshit again. 

[Childs]

9 hours ago, Jetlag said:

This is easily the best justification post for voting for a certain guy I've seen in a while, only rivalled by the one in the Ultimate Warrior thread I will say that Mr. Pogo is actually quite the effective heel and a good character wrestler. Definitely better than Triple H.

I mean, anytime you whip out the term "debased  reprobates," we're on the right track.

[MLB]

Mr. Pogo's case for GWE is being criminally overlooked here. One of the worst wrestlers of all-time? Fucking sucks?  

Like Tony Khan, "I'm serious, I'm not gonna sit back and take this fucking shit." 

This was a career that spanned 42 years. Pogo was great even before the deathmatch stuff, very good martial artist with a sweet roundhouse. Great bumper, fantastic street fighter. Best fireball ever. Epic and unforgettable feuds. Big main events. Incredible career. Lost his first match to Fujinami in '72. Wrestled in Stampede against Bret in '80. Matches with Jack Brisco and a tag against Dusty and Mil Mascaras in '81. Entertaining tag stuff with NJPW in the late 80's. Tagged with Fujiwara for crying out loud! Pretty awesome in Puerto Rico. Legendary heel but also extremely over as a babyface at times. I absolutely *love* W*ING and everything about it! Had a bizarre and chaotic brawl with Tenryu in WAR that went off the rails, I'd love to see that if anybody has a link. Pogo was doing coffin and inferno matches before the Undertaker. Who was a better heel in Japan during the 90's?

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

3 hours ago, MLB said:

Mr. Pogo's case for GWE is being criminally overlooked here. One of the worst wrestlers of all-time? Fucking sucks?  

Like Tony Khan, "I'm serious, I'm not gonna sit back and take this fucking shit." 

This was a career that spanned 42 years. Pogo was great even before the deathmatch stuff, very good martial artist with a sweet roundhouse. Great bumper, fantastic street fighter. Best fireball ever. Epic and unforgettable feuds. Big main events. Incredible career. Lost his first match to Fujinami in '72. Wrestled in Stampede against Bret in '80. Matches with Jack Brisco and a tag against Dusty and Mil Mascaras in '81. Entertaining tag stuff with NJPW in the late 80's. Tagged with Fujiwara for crying out loud! Legendary heel but also extremely over as a babyface at times. I absolutely *love* W*ING and everything about it. Had a bizarre and chaotic match with Tenryu in WAR that went off the rails, I'd love to see that if anybody has a link. Pogo was doing coffin and inferno matches before the Undertaker. Who was a better heel in Japan during the 90's?

 

It's included alongside the full card on Internet Archive!

What would your recommendations for Pogo be, simply asking? 

 

 

[MLB]

Thanks for the link, I checked it out. Mr. Pogo only did two shots for WAR. It was a strange match but I enjoyed the chaos of it. They tried to lock up awkwardly at the start, then Tenryu blasted Pogo with a power slap off the break. Tenryu completely no sells a back elbow. Pogo almost goes full Jeff Hardy, attacking Tenryu's eyes trying to get disqualified two minutes in, before bailing out of the ring and screaming "fuck you!" at Tenryu. Pogo is pursued outside by Tenryu and they scrap a bit. At one point, Pogo starts fighting with random people and young boys in WAR tracksuits at ringside. Eventually, the sickle comes out, along with a huge knife from Pogo, who uses the blade to cut Tenryu's boot. In the end, the audience seemed very confused as Pogo walked out and lost by forfeit.  The camera crew followed Pogo all the way out of the arena as he got into a taxi. 

I think he's had plenty of super famous hardcore matches with Onita, Matsunaga, Terry Funk, Kanemura and Masato Tanaka. Also, teaming with Terry Funk (who else has teamed with Fujiwara and Funk?) vs. Hayabusa and Tanaka is great. A lot of his FMW stuff is sick. Insane violence in IWA-Japan. 

Pogo vs. Gypsy Joe from W*ING is pure mayhem, and the hardest I've ever seen a human get thrown into a steel cage. Brutal matches vs. Kim Duk. The coffin match with Jason the Terrible is a wild brawl. 

In WWC, he has a good match vs. TNT (Savio Vega), and as a member of the Ninja Express vs. Rocky Johnson and Bruiser Brody. Molten hot PR crowds for both matches. I haven't seen the Brisco matches or any of the early 80's Stampede footage. I only saw highlights of the Ninja Express vs. Maeda and Takada in NJPW '87 and it looked cool.

It just pisses me off @strobogo and others called Mr. Pogo trash, gimme a break.