Reactions to the List: 100-51

[JerryvonKramer]

 

So if he isn't a shootstyle guy, what style is he? I might check him out.

Battlarts and Futen are very much hybrid shoot style promotions. Shoot style is their base but they incorporate pro style moves in more realistic ways. Ikeda specifically is known for being probably the stiffest worker ever.

 

Battlearts reoccurred a lot on the lists of Childs, Chad and Charles, and clearly with him ranking #100 a lot of people are high on him, so I might watch some of this stuff when I start watching wrestling again.

 

Your description and what I've heard sounds vaguely promising, and I'm wondering if it's more accessible than the dryer-than-paint-1990-UWF type stuff I tried to watch whenever it was or than Volk Han etc.

[andrew79]

I didn't rank Virus.

 

I had Kerry at 97.

 

And Ikeda at 54. I probably should have put him in the top fifty, but it's nice to see he's crept into the top 100.

 

Hopefully it'll be a while before we see Ishikawa.

[GOTNW]

I still mantain the 1989 Masakatsu Funaki-Tatsuo Nakano match is your best bet for shoot style. Yes, it's in UWF, no it doesn't matter. All time great brawl with all time great heat, a classic underdog story and submissions as epic nearfalls instead of being the body of the match.

[Manatee]

I decided to watch one of the recommended matches for each guy as they are revealed. Started with Ikeda vs Ishikawa from Futen which was good and stiff but my God what was up with the editing? Was this shot by the Japanese Kevin Dunn? There was not a single shot that lasted more than 2 seconds.

[Danish Dynamite]

PWO GWE Project - The Matches

 

YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoeBY9gVL9d13ytshbXVg_EnCzjHVPUOt

 

Yes!!! Thank you!!!

[Jimmy Redman]

 

 

So if he isn't a shootstyle guy, what style is he? I might check him out.

Battlarts and Futen are very much hybrid shoot style promotions. Shoot style is their base but they incorporate pro style moves in more realistic ways. Ikeda specifically is known for being probably the stiffest worker ever.

 

Battlearts reoccurred a lot on the lists of Childs, Chad and Charles, and clearly with him ranking #100 a lot of people are high on him, so I might watch some of this stuff when I start watching wrestling again.

 

Your description and what I've heard sounds vaguely promising, and I'm wondering if it's more accessible than the dryer-than-paint-1990-UWF type stuff I tried to watch whenever it was or than Volk Han etc.

 

 

As someone who came at shootstyle from a very similar place to you, I think, the one thing I'd recommend is looking for a guy like Alexander Otsuka or even Carl Greco. Those guys tend to incorporate more hybrid stuff - more pro-style, more suplexes, Otsuka even has some lucha influence - to go along with the stiff shots and more shooty stuff. You'd recognise it a bit more I think.

 

Something like Ikeda vs Ishikawa I doubt would be your cup of tea because the ones I've seen mostly involve them beating the shit out of each other.

[JerryvonKramer]

I do like a bit of brutality mind. Think I will review matches on Alan's playlist later, even the Virus ones.

[GOTNW]

Yeah Otsuka would be Parv's best bet as far as Battlarts goes probably. Might be the GOAT suplex thrower. Here is a another pic of Ikeda's dog to make the quasi shoot style voters feel good for having superior taste:

 

[Danish Dynamite]

Ikeda: Didn't rank him. Am gonna check out the recommende matches if possible. But from what I've already seen I still wouldn't go top 100.

Virus: Really haven't seen enough. Didn't rank. Will definetely check out!

Kerry Von Erich: My #56. My highest to fall until...

The Destroyer: My #43, my first top 50 casualty. Expected that to be someone else :-)

 

Looking forward to seeing Virus and maybe Ikeda more. Glad that both Kerry and Destroyer made it. I had my doubts earlier, but they did well.

[andrew79]

I had The Destroyer at 81.

 

Such a fun, smart and skilled grappler. A real shame we don't have more footage.

[Jimmy Redman]

I do like a bit of brutality mind. Think I will review matches on Alan's playlist later, even the Virus ones.

 

You do and I think if you do get into those kinds of matches it would be for the brutality of them.

 

But I also think that what they do in between punches is the kind of shootstyle matwork and jockeying that you've found boring in the past. I could be wrong though.

 

Also Destroyer is my first man down, but I'm happy about him making the 100 in any form. If anyone hasn't yet seen that Baba match, do so immediately.

[JerryvonKramer]

The Destroyer was my 29th.

 

I don't have great love for him like some people do, but do dig his character work.

[Grimmas]

Parv reviewing Virus matches is a good thing. I'm not sure what he will make of him, but what a great worker.

[WingedEagle]

PWO GWE Project - The Matches

 

YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoeBY9gVL9d13ytshbXVg_EnCzjHVPUOt

 

 

A true GWE MVP.

[Tim Cooke]

BattlArts was a hybrid promotion. Otsuka and Ikeda worked a match in April 1999 that had all the usual submissions and striking associated with shoot style, but also included dives and some crowd brawling. That happened a fair amount. Ishikawa and Ikeda matches were heavily strike oriented, with their stiffness being the selling point in the late 90's over the mat work. You go through the Phil Schneider comp match descriptions from that era and Battlarts stiffness > BattlArts mat work. It's definitely not shoot style in the vein of the UWF style promotions that started in 1984 and ended in late 2004.

[Dylan Waco]

I liked Ikeda but didn't rank him. Him Atlantis were probably the two most "emotional" rejections on my list in that my primary reason for not voting for them was that I just don't "feel" greatness in them. Actually that's not entirely true as Ikeda was great at times, but felt more like a flash in the pan in that regard than Ishikawa or Otsuka. That said I really do wonder if I would feel that way if I had never seen him work NOAH.

 

Kerry is weird in that I agree that he doesn't look or feel out of place to me in the 90's, I agree that he's been unfairly maligned as a worker in some quarters, and there is an extent to where he feels like a good rep for the "footage explosion." That said he's also not an obscure figure like a Hoshino, or a guy who was wildly misrepresented like a Piper or Hayes. I didn't vote for him, and didn't even strongly consider him, in part because I was underwhelmed by World Class. That said he had great series' with Flair (though that Christmas night cage match sucks) and Lawler, and matches with guys like Hayes and even Jumbo that are legit great. He's not someone I can get really excited about seeing on the list, but I don't have a part of me that really sees him as a "bad" guy to make the top 100 either.

[Grimmas]

The Destroyer was my 29th.

 

Today I will lose 4 people...

[JKWebb]

 

 

PWO GWE Project - The Matches

 

YouTube Playlist:

 

A true GWE MVP.

Yes, Thank you! Kerry was my first to fall, but looking forward to watching these recommendations

[Parties]

Beyer is my 41st to fall. I had him at #82 and could have gone higher with more footage. I agree with the assessment that he's one of those guys who embodies pro wrestling, to the point that if something like MAD Magazine or a political cartoon was drawing a stereotype of a wrestler in the 60s/70s, they pretty much just drew the Destroyer. Yet in spite of that he's sort of a singular act: there's no one quite like him, and to Dylan's point elsewhere about originality, he's a dude who I love in part because of his novelty and unique role in Japan.

[cubbymark]

Destroyer belongs for reigning in that piece of shit Mil Mascaras whenever they wrestled.

[Jmare007]

PWO GWE Project - The Matches

 

YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoeBY9gVL9d13ytshbXVg_EnCzjHVPUOt

 

 

My god...there goes my productivity.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

Finally high vote on my second guy, The Destroyer. Basically wanted to say that he, to me, is the epitome of a pro-wrestler, but a couple of other people already said the same thing. Never less than entertaining, be it grinding holds or doing comedy shtick. The GOAT verbal wrestler (think someone else said that before, so I'm just copying). Not a lot of footage, but enough for me to know he is one of the best ever.

[GOTNW]

Voting LA Park #4 has to be the most DEAN thing ever.

[stomperspc]

Ikeda never really connected with me either. In general, I prefer quality mat work over sheer stiffness when watching a more realistic style and think Ikeda leans too far in the one direction. His NOAH stuff never knocked me over either.

 

I had Virus at #22. I wrote more about this on my blog but while I obviously think very highly of Virus and think he is far more well-rounded than even his supporters sometimes give him credit for, it was difficult to rank him much higher after diving deep into his 90's and early 2000's work last year with Tim. We came away impressed at his consistency (Virus doesn't have bad performances and is rarely involved in below average matches) but also noticed even when provided the opportunity there just isn't a lot of truly top end Virus matches (singles or otherwise) pre-2010. #22 felt about as high as I could go after that. Having said that, a little disappointed at the #99 finish. I was hoping he would get a few more votes (50+) which probably would have bumped him up a couple of spots.

 

I had The Destroyer at #35. He and Virus were my two top 40 guys to fall. A nice jump for Virus but a big fall back for The Destroyer.

[goodhelmet]

I love Ikeda and Ishikawa. I had them both in my 30s back to back. They are my gateway drug into BattlArts and if Phil Schneider tells me to watch a match with either of them in it, I don't hesitate.

 

I had Kerry in my top half because I think he was a legitimately great wrestler who held his end with great wrestlers and also carried the load with lesser guys. Easily the best Von Erich ever.