Tanomusaku Toba

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

Jetlag said:

"extremely unique with a surprising number of epic matches under his belt. Excellent ragdoll bumper, always forces his opponents to snap out of their usual routine, and of course, spectacular with the constant barrage of stiff punches and kicks on his opponents. I imagine boxing purists won't like him, since some of his punches are obviously showy, but his stuff works for me. Great tag worker who has a cool dynamic with MIKAMI, has a handful of really cool singles. I hope to unearth more under the radar DDT to showcase him."

[Jetlag]

I started a Toba OCD catalogueing project a while ago:

https://reverseviperhold.blogspot.com/2020/12/tanomusaku-toba-documentation-project.html

Watching him has quickly become an obsession. I don't think I've ever seen anyone acknowledge him as a great worker, more of a fun oddity DDT guy, but fuck he is a great worker. Modern wrestling sure could use a lot more Tobas thrown into the mix.

Recommended Matches:

w MIKAMI & Takashi Sasaki vs. Great Takeru & Phantom Funakoshi & Asian Cougar (DDT 5/25/1998) - GREAT

w Super Rider & Neo Winger vs. Phantom Funakoshi & Exciting Yoshida & Yuki Nishino (DDT 12/22/1999) - EPIC

vs. Takashi Sasaki, DDT 1/30/2000 - EPIC

w Takashi Sasaki vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Super Rider, DDT 4/19/2000 - EPIC

w MIKAMI vs. Sanshiro Takagi & Takashi Sasaki, DDT 4/20/2000 - EPIC 

w Koichiro Kimura vs. Sanshiro Takagi & Exciting Yoshida (DDT 7/6/2000) - EPIC

vs. Takashi Sasaki, DDT 11/19/2000 - GREAT 

w Tsunehito Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Tomohiko Hashimoto, DDT 5/26/2001 - EPIC

w MIKAMI vs. GENTARO & YOSHIYA (DDT 11/30/2001) - EPIC

w MIKAMI vs. Kota Ibushi & Daichi Kakimoto, DDT 12/28/2005 - EPIC

w Ranbo Yoshida Okuntun vs. Kota Ibushi & KUDO (DDT 8/8/2007) - EPIC

vs. Shinjuku Shark, XWF 9/8/2008 - EPIC

w HARASHIMA vs. Masashi Takeda & Takashi Sasaki, 1/25/2009 - EPIC

w MIKAMI vs. Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa, DDT 5/10/2010 - GREAT 

w MIKAMI vs. Hikaru Sato & Akito, DDT 9/29/2013 - GREAT

 

Regardless where you stand on the merits of boxing gloves in wrestling, that is one hell of a career Top 15, and I'm not done deep diving him. It seems DDT moved him out of prominence in the mid 2000s after giving him many main events earlier on, which sucks and seriously made that company a lot worse.

[Reel]

I just saw Toba for this first time a couple of days ago on the Samurai TV 5th Anniversary show. Those big punches with the boxing gloves are awesome. Interested in checking some of this stuff out. 

[smoldoink]

SUICIDE BOYZ is one of my favorite indie teams ever and Jetlag's list does a great job of capturing their peak. Toba is always a delight to find on a card and rewards your effort in twofold by bumping like a madman and throwing the stiffest spinning back fist in the biz. 

Even after his peak, he still pops up with good performances as recently as Toru Owashi & Yasu Urano vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Tanomusaku Toba 2/19/21. (Side note: this one pretty definitively answers the question, "Does Shuji suck now or is it just All Japan?")

[Jetlag]

1.    What kind of candidate is this wrestler (Peak vs Longevity,Peak+ Longevity, Big Match Wrestler, Week to Week Performer etc) and what range would you consider ranking them?

His earliest great matches were in 1998 and his last in 2018. He is definitely a candidate whose case is based on his peak work from 1998-2001 ca., although he has a couple more great performances after that and he is consistently entertaining even working undercard comedy matches. Most of his best matches are big match spectacles but he also has some great performances in mid card matches even when he's not the focus of the match.

2.       What is your elevator pitch for this wrestler to be a Top 100 Wrestler? (Sum up their case in a short paragraph).

One of the most unique wrestlers to have a lengthy career, a boxing gloved maniac who is like a shot of heroin for any matches he's in, always making stuff more exciting, adding violence and unpredictability, always surprising you with the shit he does.

3.        Were they ever the best wrestler in the world? Were they ever the best wrestler in their country? Were they ever the best wrestler in their promotion? Who were some of their competitors for the best wrestler in the world, country, and promotion?

He was probably never the best wrestler in the world but he has a solid case for being among the best on the indy scene consistently. Definitely the best wrestler in his promotion along with MIKAMI and Takashi Sasaki. In his best year, 2000, I would rank him as the best guy on the indies with only a handful of top tier guys in the main promotions like Tenryu or Kawada being better and I'm dead serious.

4.       How many years were they a top worker (top worker being a candidate for top 10 wrestler in the world)? Who were some of the other top workers of this era?

He was definitely a top worker in 2000 and has a shot in 1999 and 2001 as well.

5.       Were they a great worker before their prime? Were they a great worker after their prime? How great were they (were they a best in the world, country, promotion candidate while before their prime/after their prime)

He's another case of a guy who was great from the get go. After his peak at 2000-2001, he still has many great matches and performances and I'd say his peak only ended because of the booking of DDT shafting him away into undercard matches. He still looks great when he pops up working a style that suits him in promotions like HARD HIT or XGF in 2007. I'd say his physical prime ended around 2010 as wear and tear slowed him down considerably and he was almost entirely relegated to working comedy tags, although he still has some great moments here and there such as his 2018 Abe singles match.

6.       Did they have the opportunities to produce a large body of excellent matches?

I would say the answer is in the middle. He was definitely given more main events than you'd expect a skinny boxer to be given, but like I said later he was shafted into comedy undercard matches a lot. I'd say he had plenty of opportunity, but not nearly as much as I would've liked him to have.

IF YES
6a Do they have a large body of excellent matches?

He definitely has, all things considered.

6b Do they have a large body of excellent matches against a variety of opponents?

He really mainly faced indy juniors, but they represented a variety of styles. Some of them flyers, some more powerhouse type workers, some shooters themselves. He matches up very well against them all.

6c Do they have a large body of excellent matches in a variety of settings? (for example singles, tags, gimmicks, no gimmicks, brawls, technical, short matches, long matches etc)

He's like 90% in tags and basically forces everyone to match his style of wrestling.

6d How much of those excellent matches were a direct result of their performance?

I'd say he's definitely irreplacable and a lot of the time he gets better performances out of guys than they would have against anyone else simply because he will punch them in the face and force them to match him. There's no one like TOBA.

IF NO

7.        Do they have a large body of excellent performances in a variety of roles (heel/face, undercard/midcard/main event, champion/challenger, underdog/favorite, younger/older etc)

He's always in his crazy thai boxer role, but he works a few different roles within that. He looks good being more dominated putting a beatdown on people, he also looks great selling vulnerability, taking huge bumps and beatings. He also works well as a broken down vet. He's definitely a great babyface. He also worked the masked GHOST BOXER gimmick for a bit where he acted like the crazy secret weapon of a heel stable and while he just did his usual thing it was a fun role of him.

8.        Do they work in a way that is consistent with the way they're booked & presented?

Well, yeah. He's always that kickboxer who will kick ass, sometimes bust out an unexpected highspot and is weak to submissions. Even in undercard matches he comes across as dangerous. He does his thing to a t.

9.        What are their standout traits? (For example, selling, psychology, offense, character work etc)

Brutal strikes, ragdoll bumping, great selling, unique character and style, turning everything into a wild fight, never taking of his gloves and just being TOBA

10.   Did they make the people and workers around them better?

Yes, definitely got random DDT midcard slobs to show more fire than they did otherwise. Don't recall any match where I thought he dragged things down.

11.   Is there any reason to believe that this wrestler was better or worse than they appeared?

He worked a ton of CAPTURE shows that never made tape and I imagine would add a lot to his case. As well as many intrigueing DDT match ups that we don't have, plus the already mentioned poor booking. On the other hand, he has the advantage that all his opponents were always willing to go along with his style. His act probably couldn't work in environments outside of the seedy Japan indy wrestling underworld that he exists in. I imagine some boxing purists won't like his more showy punches.

12.   If you had to pick 5-10 matches (Or more) to sell someone on this wrestler what would they be? (Not necessarily the best matches but ones that are best representative of the wrestlers’ GWE case).

w MIKAMI & Takashi Sasaki vs. Great Takeru & Phantom Funakoshi & Asian Cougar (DDT 5/25/1998)

w Nihao vs. Takashi Sasaki & Asian Cougar, DDT 11/27/1999

w Super Rider & Neo Winger vs. Phantom Funakoshi & Exciting Yoshida & Yuki Nishino (DDT 12/22/1999)

vs. Takashi Sasaki, DDT 1/30/2000

w Takashi Sasaki vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Super Rider, DDT 4/19/2000

w Tsunehito Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Tomohiko Hashimoto, DDT 5/26/2001

w MIKAMI vs. Kota Ibushi & Daichi Kakimoto, DDT 12/28/2005

w Ranbo Yoshida Okuntun vs. Kota Ibushi & KUDO (DDT 8/8/2007) 

vs. Shinjuku Shark, XWF 9/8/2008

w HARASHIMA vs. Masashi Takeda & Takashi Sasaki, 1/25/2009 

vs. Fuminori Abe, BASARA 4/20/2018

13.   Feel free to recommend more matches here if you like!

https://reverseviperhold.blogspot.com/2020/12/tanomusaku-toba-documentation-project.html

14.   Any final thoughts you’d like to share?

Even if you don't care for the thaiboxer act, Tobas career is well worth checking out simply because it exposes you to a ton of great hidden obscure wrestlers. Probably the best of all the guys who did a "martial artist who doesn't work like a normal wrestler" thing and yes that includes Aoyagi, will probably be my top Non-BattlARTS weird indy shooter.

[Grimmas]

Thank you, love to see this list used. Makes an interesting case for them.

[elliott]

FUCKING AWESOME! 

Literally everything I hoped for when putting this list together. Here's a guy that I've never seen or heard of and now I have great introduction to this new (to me) wrestler. 

Thank you Jet this was awesome!