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I've currently got him at 26 on my draft. There's still a lot I haven't seen, so he could change, but for now something that I'm certain of is that he has the "it" factor for me. Even with how he constantly got jobbed out in NJPW and AJPW, he has that ability to make you buy into him against anyone he's in the ring with. I currently see him as the best of the NJPW's 90's heavies and a huge blessing for AJPW after he jumped. Compared to his contemporaries, he was the best by far on the mat, had charisma out the ass, and could trade open handed strikes as good as anyone. Hash peaked higher and got more opportunities, but Hase blows him away for consistency/variety. He's done quite well for me just watching random NJPW matches with stuff like somehow pulling a good match out of Tadao Yasuda's debut or the aforementioned 93 G1 Chono miracle match. But I see his run from after the AJPW jump as the point where he leaves no doubt of himself as an elite level performer, and I think it deserves some in-depth talk here. So, here's some recommendations from that period as supplement to Loss's list from earlier. Lots of stuff I haven't seen even just from this period but should be enough for a starting point. w/ Misawa & Kawada vs. Taue, Akiyama & Kobashi 9/15/1997 - Awesome 60 minute 6-man that recaptures the energy of the Jumbo 6-mans while still feeling fresh thanks to Hase's role as the odd man. vs. Kikuchi 1/3/1998 - Some of the most tricked out matwork you'll find from 90's AJPW, made even more awesome by Kikuchi's trademark underdog selling. vs. Akiyama 5/1/1998 - First of Hase's AJPW Dome show epics and one of the greatest meat stick measuring matches. Two wrestling jocks from the same college going hard flexing their mat wrestling and then dropping each other on their heads. vs. Kawada 5/2/1999 - Second of Hase's AJPW Dome show epics and not far behind the Akiyama match in quality. Perfect combination of bodypart focused grappling, hot strike exchanges, and incredibly nasty head drops. vs. Vader 8/30/1999 - Great 11 minute quasi-squash that feels right at home as a sequel to their tags from earlier in the decade. Hase sells his ass off and gets the crowd huge into it. vs. Taue 9/4/1999 - Have only seen the JIP NTV version, but looks like a hella fun bomb throwing match adapted nicely to the size difference and both guys' unique movesets. w/ Izumada & Momota vs. Akiyama, Eigen, & Honda 9/18/1999- Again have only seen the JIP version, but way better than it looks on paper. Hase gels really well with Eigen mixing workrate wrestling and old man comedy spots. vs. Misawa 1/9/2000 - Already discussed extensively but well worth a watch if you haven't seen it. Impressive feat from these guys having a great match in the year 2000 that's almost 25 minutes of various Hase armlocks. vs. Fuchi 1/2/2001 - Basically the AJPW equivalent to a lucha maestros match. Great matwork and loads of fun moments from both guys. Watch the GAORA broadcast for the first 5 minutes then switch to the New Year Giant Series comm for the last 9 minutes. vs. Muto 6/6/2001 - Incredible matwork in the first 20 minutes or so. Muto gasses out and they have to switch to more straightforward bomb throwing, but still well worth a watch. vs. Tenryu 8/30/2002 - Awesome striking-based match that works for how careful both guys are in selling damage and varying their attacks as needed. Feels like a match that dudes working soulless forearms exchanges should study. vs. Kojima 10/27/2002 - First half is Hase gobbling up Kojima on the mat and it's glorious. Second half is fun bomb throwing with a passing of the torch feel.

Positives here for me are how they kept a fast pace for the first fall matwork, the handful of fun learned psychology moments, and the way they carefully build to/sold the flat back bumps. Negatives for me are... a lot of other stuff. Coming to this after having seen the 1997 match a few times, I was surprised how the stuff they were doing on the mat lacked the creativity and spontaneity of that match. The grappling was also too loose for my tastes in how easily they let go of holds. The clotheslines here almost resemble a hug more than a move that should down an opponent. The spotty selling and crappy transitions did not help things either. Wasn't feeling the extended nearfall trading in the 3rd fall and I was begging for things to end.

Who does this? I enjoy Ospreay's big matches for the high octane stunt shows that they are, but can't say I see more than superficial similarities between him and 90s AJPW.

I have no idea what "Pitchfork-style poptimism" means here. I don't see Sting as a shoo-in this time around. I'm not low on him, but there's just so many guys who meet similar criteria of "had a match series I like and was mostly solid for the rest of a long career." I like Vader/Sting, especially the strap match, but I don't think it's so great to guarantee Sting a spot. A few months back I watched Sting/Vader at GAB 92 back-to-back with one of the Vader/Kobashi matches, due to them both following a similar premise of Vader vs underdog who can do power moves. It was pretty jarring how much better the selling and offense was in the Kobashi match. Like I posted here 10 years ago, I continue to think the most interesting thing about him is how he managed to stay solid and not feel out of place in the main event scene even well into old age. Haven't seen his AEW run besides the retirement (which seemed more a case of great presentation than a great match), but I think he could land a spot if I really vibe with that stuff.

Carryjob probably isn't the right way to describe this being that Sayama brought a lot to the table with his athleticism and the match was clearly booked as a showcase for that, but Dynamite Kid's performance here has to be in the conversation as one of the best examples of covering some very glaring holes in your opponent's game and making them look like a million bucks in the process. Sayama botches a shit ton here, some of it just being some kicks that didn't land properly, while others are a lot more noticeable, but Dynamite Kid never misses a beat. Seeing the things he did to cover for his opponent were the best part of the match for me. A big one is when Sayama is on Kid's shoulder and attempts some sort of counter, but he just ends up unceremoniously falling down. Kid's response is to sell the impact on his arm as preventing him from following up, thereby giving Mask plausible time to recover and go for something else. Kid's character work is also tremendous in building up Sayama's aura as a real life superhero. Right from the opening bell he's showing how scared he is to engage and selling every one of Sayama's kicks as dealing serious damage even when it's just a grazing blow. The athletics sequences themselves aren't all bad and some of them still stand as legitimately impressive. There was one armlock sequence they did that looked like something out of WoS in its elaborateness but it was executed at breathtaking speed. I was also a fan of the finishing sequence that saw Kid land hard on the mat off a missed headbutt, eat some stiff head kicks on the outside, and then lose to a beautiful German suplex coming back in.

First time I watched this ~10 years ago I marked out huge for this match and thought it was MOTY. Since then it's diminished with every subsequent viewing and I started to fall in line with the consensus on this as a spotfest with lots of blown off selling. Rewatched it last night and suddenly I have no idea how I ever fell out of love with this. Fantastic match that both guys should be proud of. Awesome opening amateur wrestling inspired matwork. I love how explosive both guys are with their escapes/transitions. It's amazing to watch and it adds a layer of realism. The matwork is also great at foreshadowing the dueling legwork story. Muto's bad knees become a factor early with him having difficulty defending against Kawada's takedowns, and Kawada takes that as a signal to transition into a targeted attack. Muto briefly attacks Kawada's arms, I assume to try to draw Kawada's attention away from the knees, but it doesn't work and Kawada remained undeterred. Admittedly, I was groaning when I saw Kawada go for the standard awful 50/50 leglock spot like you'd see in NJPW, but my expectations were happily subverted when, at the point where I expected Muto to grab onto his own leglock, he just panics and squirms his way to the ropes. If anyone doubts the psychological genius of Muto, I point to that spot. Of course, then Kawada then proceeds to kick and stomp the shit out of his head for that. The next thing that stuck out to me was the sheer emotion behind Kawada's performance. A leglock being followed by a head-focused striking assault normally wouldn't seem that great of a transition, but in that moment I could feel Kawada's emotions bubbling over in wanting to bring the belts back to AJPW. The rest of his performance was basically pure fire with him switching between unloading on Muto with kicks that didn't look pulled in the slightest and fighting against his own body to get up from Muto's counterassault on Kawada's knees. Kawada's leg selling, by the way is incredible and loaded with nice details. Every time he needs to get back up after going to the mat he makes it look like a herculean effort, often having to hold onto Muto or the ring ropes to do so. Another nice touch is also how he repeatedly looks at Baba's portrait throughout the match, as if drawing inspiration from it to push him just a little farther to land a big move. As for the pop-ups, I'd actually argue them to be a point of genius in the match. Modern stuff has conditioned us to view pop-ups as little more than a cheap shortcut to pop the crowd, but there was a lot of strategy driving the pop-ups here. Both guys have signature moves that rely on the other guy being in certain positions, so it's logical that they'd both let themselves eat moves from their opponents if it means a set-up opportunity for their own move. Exhibit A for this is the point about 8 minutes in when Muto eats a brainbuster from Kawada and immediately follows up with a Shining Wizard as his first big bit of offense in the match. The angle that Muto landed on in that brainbuster really didn't look that bad, while the Shining Wizard he landed on Kawada looked like a straight knee to his temple, and Kawada accordingly sold it as devastating. A big thing to pay attention with the pop-ups or moments of seemingly blown off selling is how they often come following moves that either didn't land cleanly or were partially blocked. That sort of thing normally isn't a factor in match psychology, but it is here. An obvious exception to this is Muto's late-match pop up after a nasty Kawada backdrop, leading to a double down. I give that a pass because 1. It's a late match desperation move after he'd had significant time to recover following Kawada's failed powerbomb and 2. Kawada's backdrop is a lower ranked move than his powerbomb, so there's some drama in him being forced to settle for a less damaging move and it backfiring. Admittedly, there was a point lasting about a minute or so where I started to feel things get a little repetitive with the Muto Shining Wizards and Kawada head kicks. That immediately ended when Kawada laid himself near the turnbuckle to bait Muto into hitting a moonsault, who obliged but hurt the shit out of his own knees in the process. Brilliant psychology of them finding themselves at a stalemate but one guy doing something to break the rhythm. Muto's offense, though mainly relying on bread and butter Shining Wizards and dropkicks aimed square at the knees, had some other cool break the rhythm type moments of his own. He landed an amazing Frankensteiner when Kawada was running at him off the ropes and a stiff knee to Kawada's head when Kawada went for a takedown late in the match. The whole situation surrounding Kawada's powerbombs was utterly captivating to me and worth a closer look. The first one he hits is just your standard late match Kawada powerbomb for a hot near fall. After some more hard struggle, he gets Muto's feet off the ground but can't bring him up all the way. I can kind of see why this might look like a botch, but I thought it was intentional as a continuation of Muto's leg attack sapping Kawada's strength. The camera shot of Baba's portrait looking on during the power bomb attempt and Kawada drawing inspiration from it to push forward was maybe a little cheesy, but it worked for me in making Kawada's attempt and his subsequent failure feel huge for the match. After that failed attempt, there's visible hesitation from Kawada as he backs away and uses the ring ropes to hold himself up whilst contemplating what simpler moves he should go for instead. Again, this is awesomely creative work that stands as a testament to the smarts of the workers involved. After a few more minutes of stuff, including the aforementioned Muto backdrop pop-up, we get to the big ganso bomb. For me, it looked 100% intentional and it works awesome as the cherry on top to add weight to Kawada's win. Seeing him unseal that move after 3 years to take back the belts from this invader is a lot like Misawa unsealing the Tiger Driver '91 against Kawada on 6/3/94. Kind of weird that it wasn't the finish, and I don't think we were supposed to notice Muto talking to Kawada and the ref mid-pin, but it kind of works to keep him looking badass given he goes down like a minute later anyway.

Well, that escalated quickly.

On paper, two shoot-stylists being dragged kicking and screaming into working a southern style tag is not a recipe for success, but Fuchi and Fujiwara are good enough to make it work. The opening matwork is solid and Fuchi looks to have some fun mixing up his style of matwork with the shoot style guys. When it gets going is during the heat segment on Nagai. Fujiwara and Fuchi instantly become deliciously smug working him over. Even a mundane spot like the heels switching without a proper tag becomes a hilarious moment for how charismatic the old guys are. An unfortunate clip (thanks GAORA) means we miss the hot tag, so we just come back to Fuchiwara continuing to dominate but with Kakihara in the ring instead of Nagai. It's still pretty fun for to see him get stretched out. Kind of whatever on the shoot style guys winning after getting in like a minute of offense, though at least it was a submission instead of some lame flash pin.

I've started looking through their TV and I kind of get what you mean. So many cool sounding match-ups which get cut for TV to only a few minutes airing. I wouldn't say it's not worthwhile to look for hidden gems, but it's very disheartening.

I see that this match happened and I am happy. I see the length of the video and I am slightly less happy. I see the massive cut made on this match from the 5 minute mark up to the final minute of a 20 minute draw and I am absolutely enraged. I can't fathom why GAORA would so heavily cut what looked like a great match between two of the most important guys to the promotion at this point. The matwork in those 5 minutes does look really good, though. We got a neat leg lock sequence, and I loved the struggle from Hase in preventing Fuchi from applying his STF. Them trading giant swings at the end was also fun. Just hard to enjoy it when you know so much has been clipped out. Edit: Looks like the last 9 minutes were included on a commercial tape. Obviously still not ideal and the quality on the upload is terrible, but if we combine it with the GAORA version we can get a pretty good feel for the match. The comm version shows some awesome struggling for leg locks and some hilarious Fuchi selling.

Have you seen the extended clips that the UofSC posted of Londos/Steele some years back? For me it's probably the most tantalizing bit of clipped footage that exists out there. Keep putting off an extended write-up of it, but "Jim Londos invented Battlarts" sounds right as a quick summary. The newsreel clips of their other matches also look quite great.

Man, what a mindfuck to watch a fully formed southern tag from 1959. Signature spots like ref distractions, double teams, and saves are all present here in basically the same form as you'd get from 80's stuff. About the only sign of this being a 50's match is a body slam being treated like a finishing hold. That aside, I liked this a lot. I usually watch 50's stuff to see guys trading holds, but they did a pretty good job working a striking oriented match. They kept a good pace and all the stuff looked snug. The FIP section was also pretty entertaining due to the guys on the apron being almost as active as the wrestlers in the ring in trying to help their partner. I also liked how the FIP was constantly trying to go back to his corner and needed to be held back by the opposing team.

Found this pretty disappointing mainly due to Liger. Fuchi looked motivated with his prick character work and moving between a nice variety of stretches, but Liger's selling more or less consisted of him laying in the holds and groaning. His counterwrestling was also almost non-existent. A pretty telling sequence came when Fuchi rolled out of one of his holds and basically gave Liger a toe hold opportunity on a silver platter. Liger's response is to get off the mat, throw a few slaps, run the ropes, and then put on his own leg lock while Fuchi has to just passively watch like an idiot. Match picks up slightly before the 10 minute call with a flash Liger armbar. He follows that up with some decent bombs, highlighted by a plancha to the outside. I also liked how Fuchi sold the brainbuster on the outside by laying there and blinking his eyes, like I've seen Misawa and Akiyama do after eating head drops on the outside. Wasn't a fan of Liger kicking out of 3 consecutive backdrops or the flash La Magistral finish right after that.

Baba followed an odd trajectory for me. I watched his matches with Destroyer and Robinson when I was getting into older stuff and came away thinking that the matches were incredible, so that must mean that he's also incredible. Later I came back to them and I became more slanted to the idea that he was more a guy who could be carried than an elite worker in his own right. Now I'm digging more into 6-mans and tags and I'm back onboard the hype. Really impressive how he always manages to find ways to contribute and make himself a highlight even when he's getting up in the years and in there with some of the greatest wrestlers ever in their prime. Consistently great connection with the crowd too. Even if we grant he's being carried in his high profile singles, there's plenty of evidence of him as an elite tag worker if nothing else. Surprisingly versatile as well. I've seen him do great working mat-based stuff, brawling, comedy, even workrate epics.

Muhammad Ali Obviously not a serious candidate, but I think he should be nominated so he can be considered for a 100/99 shoutout spot. He drew heavy inspiration from pro wrestling in crafting his boxing persona, and he then fed that boxing fame back into helping create some of the biggest moments in wrestling history. The most famous one is the Inoki match, which played a huge role in creating Inoki's aura through the rest of his career, and Inoki would reference his strategy in that fight numerous times in later matches. He was also one of the top name celebs in Wrestlemania 1 and was involved in one of the most memorable moments in the main event as the guest enforcer. He was also brought in for WCW's Collision in Korea event and there's a story in the DSOTR episode about how he helped cheer up the boys during what was a very scary time. In the ring, he's had 3 matches which have been advertised as pro wrestling. The first one with Kenny Jay is a quick squash with the presumptive goal of getting Ali comfortable working with a wrestler and doing some wrestling moves. The Wolfe match is much more ambitious and is one I'd rate as one of the better wrestler vs. boxer matches. The Inoki one is a legendary moment which I've written a lengthy review for in the MDA. vs. Kenny Jay 6/10/1976 vs. Buddy Wolfe 6/12/1976 vs. Antonio Inoki 6/26/1976