Fuminori Abe

[Grimmas]

Jmare007 said:

"Just like Takuya Nomura, I think it's best to get a nomination early because by the time we vote he's gonna have a decade worth of footage and as another young prodigy, he can end up making a case to get into some ballots. Abe is really small, but he has no issue working big. He can also be very flashy, very stiff and take a whole lot of punishment. He can pull off some incredible reversals and has done some really great stuff trying to keep the FUTEN/Battlearts aura around puroresu as well as more traditional work that is also top notch."

[Jetlag]

I wouldn't put Munenori Sawa anywhere near my list and I'm definitely not gonna put a Munenori Sawa imitator near it. There are so many cooler BattlARTS workers you could rip off, where's my Carl Greco imitator?

[Makai Club #1]

Fun wrestler. Maybe a bit too low-key to make a top 100. Consistenly enjoyable and capable of having a great match. Abe doesn't ever level up to that higher level though. Even compared to Nomura who is less consistent, depending on Big Japan's booking which is atrocious, but has way more prolific high quality matches and performances. 

[Boss Rock]

Doesn't have the peaks Nomura does but still very good. Another "wait and see" candidate.

[Jmare007]

My biggest fear with Abe is that he ends up getting lost in the shuffle once his tag with Nomura reaches it's limit and/or ends. I'm glad he's been getting All Japan bookings and stuff like Colega Pro but we'll see how booking treats him in the next couple of years. As with other fringe GWE ballot candidates, I like him a lot and will put him in consideration but as much I enjoy his work, he doesn't have enough so far. I truly hope he gets more and more chances to show what he's made of.

[Jetlag]

Abe vs. Toba was the best singles match I've seen Abe in:

https://reverseviperhold.blogspot.com/2021/05/tanomusaku-toba-documentation-project-11.html

A lot of that is due to Abe slipping into Tobas match formular, but if he has more matches like that I could see him having a chance at making a list in 5 years.

[mjp7798]

Jetlag, I completely understand your Sawa clone thoughts because I'm by no means a Sawa guy either. But I find myself gravitating towards Abe far more than I ever did towards Sawa.  Especially as he's dialed back the 'Sawaisms'.  This could be largely in part to how stale I find Japanese wrestling ATM but I do find Abe to be one of the best on the island by a mile. Still the second of the Astronauts to me.