Tadao Yasuda: The Best of/Primer (W/ Gordy List)

[Ma Stump Puller]

Other Deep Dive stuff

Introduction

Ok, so you are probably wondering how, of all things, did this come to be in the first place? Simply put, I wanted to see if Tadao Yasuda was ACTUALLY the worst IWGP champion in history, and I was left so impressed after watching what's available of his title stint that I changed into a Deep Dive: was those three Nagata matches outliers, Nagata carrying him to greatness, or did Yasuda actually have a GWE case that hadn't yet been discovered? My findings are....complicated. I outlined some basic thoughts midway though on another thread, but here like with Nishimura I really wanted to put all of the cards on the table, and see what you think of what's there.

 

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?

Yasuda is complicated here because his "longevity" is decent enough: he wrestles the same style from the mid to late 90's up to the mid 2000's. I would say his mutation as a worker starts early on as he functions more as a tag guy with some nice big-man spots to then go into MMA, and then return with a Inoki-Ism style. He then transitions into the Coward Shooter persona, where he's a cowardly heel with the same MMA shtick, which is surprisingly unique for the time. After his NJPW stint Yasuda still mostly retains the tendencies from this time, but he can change them to be a babyface or a heel depending on where or who he's facing off with. By the end of his career (2011) Yasuda is mostly done due to sumo and wrestling + age catching up with him, but he's not terrible and his final matches are solid for what they were. Yasuda doesn't have a big peak but he's consistent, if that makes any sense.

 

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

Ok so Yasuda isn't a workrate god or someone with a thousand flips, but what he has is a general understanding of his role in the ring, and how to play it: he can be a underdog baby-faced goof, a lesser half of a big tag team, a henchman heel, a cowardly heel, a bully heel, a old vet with some smart tricks left in the bag, etc etc. Yasuda has a great knowledge of how wrestling works, and he's great at playing up babyface/heel stuff with whoever he's with, either getting over guys like Tanahashi or Nakamura or getting himself hated (or loved) by a multitude of different crowds. He's not a master of wrestling per-se, but a master of wrestling dynamics: whatever role he plays, he plays it to great effect.

 

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?

No. Yasuda was never ever the best wrestler in the world by any metric. He was at best top 15 in NJPW's heavyweight division in 2001 and 2002 before he turned into a badly overpushed ace babyface but that's really it. For me though, that doesn't impact his GWE case, but it instead strengthens it: we have somebody who was never the best around, but consistently got huge reactions regardless of his positioning on the card. 

 

4. How many years were they a top worker (top worker being a candidate for top 10 wrestler in the world)? 

Yasuda's "peak" comes between 2001 and 2003, his full mainline push. His babyface stuff isn't great because he's being pushed above Nagata (which was a obvious doomed project before even starting off) but everything before and after is mostly great, either his role as G1 spoiler or dickhead Makai Club boss, he excels in both. I say "peak" because his late 90's work basically had him wrestle some fairly solid matches, but more as a underdog babyface working under big mainstream acts or a fun midcard tag option. 

 

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)

Yasuda was a bit generic for a while but grew a big following due to his big pushes in G1 cards as basically the 90's version of Honma: someone who never really won a whole lot, but always had the crowd right behind them in terms of fighting and scratching for a win. He arguably got some of the more hotter matches out of Tenzan and Kojima at the time due to said dynamic. Yasuda after his prime is iffy: his HUSTLE stuff isn't terrible but he was mostly going for a paycheck there. His IGF is interesting with some good matches I'll mention in a moment but he was mostly used as squash fodder. His ZERO-1 stuff is limited but he does good work there. Nothing on the quality of the NJPW stuff, but decent additions that help his case in terms of being able to keep delivering the same Yasuda-style performance while not losing a whole lot of quality. 

 

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

I have mentioned this before but he has a good selection of matches: not all of them are excellent, 4 star+ showings but a lot of them showcase his ability to stand out, to get big reactions, and also to showcase his ability to work heel/face styles super effectively. He definitely has a large body of work to be impressed by, especially when you dig around for content and whatnot. 

 

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

I mean Nagata, Fujinami, Nakamura, Tanahashi, Kojima, Tenzan, Nakanishi, Tanaka, Muto, Ogawa....I'd say so, and that isn't even everyone involved.

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)

Definitely. His Nagata series is mostly worked-MMA shtick and he's shockingly good for a lumpy ex-sumo with not a lot of big agility. His 2001 G1 stuff is based around short showings where he gets to be a spoiler with his clinch-work and dangerous submissions that can get him easy upsets, his IGF match with Naoya Ogawa is mostly him getting kicked hard in the fucking chest for about 5+ minutes and it's GREAT just because Yasuda is able to convey so much with so little to work with, his Makai Club tags involve solid brawls, good heel performances, as well as some of his later stuff where he's jobbing to youngsters and getting them over with big-man bumping and excellent stodging, and on the flip-side he has a endearing partnership with Hashimoto in a lop-sided tag where he has to try to hold his own with a ace, and he....can't, but still pushes on as much as he possibly can despite taking some bad beatings. Yasuda has literally done it all and then some.

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

I mean the Nagata stuff is either/or but I think Yasuda definitely wasn't carried in those matches: he holds his own, gets his own dynamic over, and definitely isn't a pushover. Sure one can argue that his involvement with big stars would enhance his image, but he's had so many good to great outings with a wide range of different wrestlers that at some point, you do have to acknowledge that Yasuda is definitely pulling his weight in a lot of them, either emotive or otherwise. 

 

"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)"

This was basically answered above but I'll act like it wasn't. Yasuda is not a amazing main ace babyface, but that's with a unwarranted push (basically he goes from tweener heel in 2001 to suddently being treated like the Next Best Thing because he beat Le Banner in a MMA contest in a insane upset) and he has no chance against Nagata in terms of popularity. Everything else? Yasuda consistently makes a presence regardless of the position on the card; he can work a underdog role great, but then can also flip a switch and go into full bully-mode with a Jr heavyweight. He can be a dangerous heel upset challenger or a comedic heel tag specialist who uses his dirty antics to entertain a crowd rather than to simply make them boo. He can be a old vet on his last legs with nothing in the tank and really drag a crowd into getting super invested in his stuff. One of his greatest strengths as mentioned already is his ability to play a multitude of roles and focus on dynamics.  

 

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

Absolutely: even though the failed Inoki-Ism push wasn't successful, Yasuda still wrestles fairly solid for the role provided, going into a more MMA-focused babyface ace position who focuses on his strength and sumo-spots (which are always over) to topple his opponents before tapping them out. He also uses more fantastical stuff for the comebacks, like his dropkicks or rare stiff-arm lariat. He's actually solid in the role, but compared to a prime Nagata, being "solid" isn't enough, especially with so much goodwill on his side already. Coward Shooter Yasuda is fantastic: he's so good at working a crowd while doing so little, stalling for time, going for cheap shots, low-blows, trash talking, etc. Just his general look, this bald-lumpy dude who has a consistent scowl on his face...like it takes no time at all for anyone to tell that he's a heel. The same focus on clinches appears here as well, only Yasuda adjusts it to be used as heat spots and to allow the babyfaces to rally the crowd to their side, which is extremely effective. Simple changes like that are the forefront of Yasuda's style. 

 

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

Yasuda is amazing at character work in-ring, either emoting as a babyface underdog in how he's a really big dude who usually dwarfs his opponents, but in the sense of being more of a big lump who eats a lot of offence before finally getting that big comeback to pop crowds huge. That's NOT easy to do (especially when you are 6'5 and again, really big) but Yasuda has tons of those moments because he's also a really solid big-man bumper, able to take backdrops, German suplexes, powerbombs, brainbusters and other really big moves on a whim. One of his signature spots is doing a RVD-lite head spike off a DDT, which makes the move look terrifying. This turns from a sympathetic thing to the opposite when Yasuda becomes a heel, as he's basically eating his comeuppance, so the bumps are the same but used in a different context for a different reason, mainly to get the faces over. Yasuda compensates for not having a big move-pool with intelligent ring-psychology, able to play his role great while not overusing his big bumps or spots, always keeping them in the back pocket for the right moment for them to really pop out. It also helps that Yasuda as Coward Shooter typically always eats shit when he doesn't have his goons to help him out, so the dynamic is fresh and typically quite effective. He's a great seller and has a good mind for knowing how to get a crowd invested in what he's doing. 

 

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

Not the easiest question but let's try to provide a good answer. Controversial opinion, but I think Yasuda's work with Nagata really made him stand out when he won the championship. Why? Because Nagata's run afterwards would basically be a super dominant "Giant Killer" run, fighting guys like Fujita, Sasaki, Takayama, etc. Yasuda provides the basis for this big run, as well as his first win unintentionally adding to the drama as Nagata has to chase a guy who stole his first big chance at a title. Nagata's chase and subsequent match is what develops his endearment to the crowd and you can really track that progression as we go though the duo of matches. If he had just won it the first time, I'd argue it wouldn't be AS effective than it would have the second time, especially with the added dynamic of Yasuda being a dickhead spoiler heel who is desperate to stamp out Nagata for good. He doesn't necessarily "make" Nagata, but his loss to him stamps his mark as someone who can do Big Match formats while also getting his challenger more over.

On top of that we also have good heat-seeking performances against a number of babyfaces, in multi-tags where he can really drag out his heel stuff to get the biggest impact and whatnot. He arguably gets a lot of that mileage out of bullying a young Tana alongside Murakami; despite being a bit-player in their overall feud, he works his role well as the larger bully, and bumps huge when Tana does get his big second wind, even eating a loss to him at one point. 

 

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

Yasuda definitely looks worse than you think, especially if you go off the occasional match or whatnot: he just seems like a big lump with a limited moveset and not a lot else to him beyond that. He doesn't look particularly the part and his looks especially in this case are very deceiving given you'd just write him off as another ex-sumo looking for paychecks, even though Yasuda clearly put in the work and was a lot more talented than on the surface.

 

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)

Alright so I already stuck on a big list elsewhere but I'll modify it slightly here to provide a more detailed case. 

Being a Underdog

vs Hiroshi Hase 06/11/1994

vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan 01/08/1997

w/ Shinya Hashimoto vs Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima 17/09/1997

w/ Manabu Nakanishi, Satoshi Kojima vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Michiyoshi Ohara & Scott Norton 02/11/1997

w/ Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu & Shiro Koshinaka 14/07/1998

vs Satoshi Kojima 01/08/1998

w/Takashi Iizuka vs Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Nishimura 08/08/1998

vs Naoya Ogawa 20/12/2007

W/Shinjiro Otani vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama 04/02/2011

Being a Spoiler Heel/Mat-Work

All of his 2001 G1 showings (ESPECIALLY the Nagata and Tanaka matches)

vs Yuji Nagata 16/02/2002

vs Yuji Nagata 05/04/2002

vs. Kensuke Sasaki 05/06/2002

vs Yuji Nagata 12/08/2003

Best of Coward Shooter

w/ Yutaka Yoshie vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Shiro Koshinaka 20/07/2002

w/ Makai #1, Ryushi Yanagisawa vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Masahiro Chono & Tatsumi Fujinami 23/11/2002

w/ Ryushi Yanagisawa vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono 10/12/2002

w/Makai #1, Makai #5, Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Hiro Saito, Michiyoshi Ohara, Takashi Iizuka & Tatsutoshi Goto 21/07/2003

vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 14/08/2003

w/Makai #1, Ryota Chikuzen vs Jinsei Shinzaki, Jushin Thunder Liger & Osamu Nishimura 03/11/2003

w/ Kazunari Murakami vs Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yutaka Yoshie 12/03/2004

vs. Takao Omori 10/10/2005

vs. Josh Barnett 29/06/2007

 

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

Not a whole lot, just that I feel like the early 2000's of NJPW has been kinda shrouded in this Inoki-Ism revisionist idea that the entire era was a mess and it didn't get good until Tanahashi and Gedo took the reigns: that's maybe true from a business standpoint but it also means that guys like Yasuda get buried in every obscure trivia as Inoki's Failed Ace, routinely billed as the "worst IWGP champion ever" and as essentially a joke to poke fun at, which is a massive shame because Tadao Yasuda was genuinely a bloody solid act that is sadly only historically known for being a bad ace. I hope that this has at least tried to remove that stigma and allowed you to check out his work, because it doesn't deserve to be buried alongside everything else.