Kazuo Yamazaki

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Ditch]

Yamazaki had a really good ~15 year run.

 

-Started out quite solid in UWF 1.0 as a young lion, hanging just fine with the others.

-Further developed and contributed plenty when UWF invaded New Japan.

-Took the next step up during UWF 2.0.

-Tended to deliver in UWFi when given half a chance.

-Really brought the goods during the last few years in New Japan.

 

I see people bring up El Samurai based on a couple matches. Having gone through '90s and '00s New Japan, Samurai's good outings were a tiny percentage of his body of work, and he was often the least guy in good matches. In contrast, Yamazaki had better execution, better matwork, a longer period as a consistently good worker, and the 'floor' for his matches was quite a bit higher. Not as spectacular as Han or Tamura, but far more consistent than Takada or Maeda.

[Timbo Slice]

He'll be close, if not just making the bottom part of the list. If anybody hasn't seen the 6/12/96 tag with him and Iizuka vs. Hashimoto and Hirata, go see it right now. One of his great non-UWF performances.

[ohtani's jacket]

I can't see how anyone could follow his shoot style career and not find it an utter disappointment. The guy was one of the most under utilised, misused talents ever. I'm not even a huge fan, but it was ridiculous how little he was pushed. People who like him have always tended to really like him. I did enjoy a couple of the barn burners he had in UWF-i when the mood struck him.

[rzombie1988]

He was very unlucky and misused. Anyone not named Maeda, Funaki or Takada from UWF ended up having a mess of a career due to promotions closing and having to switch promotions. It kind of was his own fault though. Takada and Maeda were like crazy girlfriends. They have their on/off switches. The good times are good but the bad times are bad and you never want to put your career in their hands. If you do, you end up like he did - switching from promotion to promotion in between the good and bad periods.

 

He really should have been the shoot style Kawada but egos were more important. He likely would have had a better career if he hadn't left NJPW. Great wrestler.

[GOTNW]

I love Yamazaki. His apathetic gaze is probably my favourite pro wrestling facial expression AND he kicked people in the head. I watched his match vs. Fujinami from the 1998 G1 the other day-a good match but what really stood out was Yamazaki's amazing sell job. He made it seem like Fujinami was going to break his leg in half. It was unbelievably captivating, to the point I'd feel profound elation from watching him take a Dragon Screw.

[El-P]

Fuck yeah. Great wrestler. Totally underpushed and undersold these days. Gotta love his "apathetic gaze" like GOTNW said. He was not laid back, he downright looked stoned, or not giving a fuck. And then he kicked you in the head. And sold like a motha. Career cut short by injury too. Shoot-style needs more love, this guy was terrific.

[Parties]

On the "Other Japan" set he went from being my least favorite guy to my favorite in a span of five years. In '84 he was kind of lumbering through a technically sound but repetitive style. By '88, he'd turned up the heat and became an opponent on Fujiwara and Maeda's level. He's someone whose peak matches get him really high on my list. Like, top 40 high.

[concrete1992]

Just watched him vs. JT Southern.

 

Needless to say he's making my list.

 

EDIT: I also watched him vs. Takayama which for six minutes was a complete blast. Takayama looks like the giant from 300 and that don't get old.

 

Also popped on a match with Tenryu/Araya against him and Iizuka which was friggin' great. His moments with Tenryu were out of this world intense.

[Jetlag]

I like him as he's been in a handful of matches I really like. That being said has he ever had a really good match against somebody who isn't a superworker like Hashimoto, Tenryu, Fujiwara and Tamura, or to be precise a match where he actively brought something of his own to the table besides kicks? Is he better than, say, Osamu Kido?

[GOTNW]

I'm not sure how you get to the conclusion he brought nothing to the table in those matches other than kicks. I already pimped the Fujinami G1 98 match as an example of his selling and the Naoya Ogawa match as an example of his understanding of struggle over transitions. I believe there's a match from Masakatsu Funaki in 1990 where Yamazaki's selling performance really helped establish Funaki as a serious player. Anyway I'm not sure I could think of an example of Yamazaki having a good match against a subpar opponent but I find it silly to blame him because I think he faced good opponents. Then again I am way higher on UWF bubble guys than most. Actually I just remembered I liked his matches vs. Mutoh and Chono so there.

 

I vaguely remember Osamu Kido as the least good guy in New Japan tag matches.

[elliott]

I ranked Kazuo Yamazaki 67th in 2016 and that's another one I feel good about. OJ referenced it in the last project, the people who like Yamazaki tend to really like him and I really like him. I'm a little surprised I only had him 67th because thinking about it, I really liked him at every stage of his career. I'm not as high on the Takada series as I was in like 2000, but his matches with Fujiwara sort of replaced them as the best Yamazaki matches. I absolutely love him as a Maeda opponent too. Stuff against Tamura and Tenryu. Shit I remember liking a 1996 G1 Climax match against Koshinaka a whole bunch. He was never the best shoot style guy or even the best guy in his promotion (that'll happen when you spend you career in promotions with prime Fujiwara, Fujinami, Hashimoto or near prime Tamura), but he was great enough to merit consideration.