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Carl Greco


Grimmas

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Greco is all I want from a shoot stylist. A total grappling machine that looks like he would pop your shoulder in seconds. He was amazingly consistent in his first BattlARTS run and always delivered crazy matwork and forced his opponents to go all out. Also has a legit classic with the Ishikawa singles match which is pretty much the perfect grappling match.

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  • 1 year later...

Ballpark, how much footage is out there? I've seen around a half dozen matches so he's not a candidate to make my list but he is incredibly great and I want to watch everything that is available. Really spectacular mat worker but will surprise you with crazy jumping side kicks and other really good looking strikes. I really love his palm strikes that he uses when he's in the mount not so much to go for a knockout but usually to get his opponent moving and blocking to open them up for a quick submission attempt (usually a jaw droppingly fast cross armbreaker attempt).

 

Ishikawa and Ikeda are great for sure but after watching all the BattlArts on the yearbooks, the two guys I want to see everything of are Otsuka and Carl Greco/Malenko.

 

Also, that earring is hilarious.

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  • 4 months later...

Maybe I should have started posting these a little earlier. I'm still not sure if I can justify ranking Greco, but putting a 25 match list together may help with the decision.

 

Big Ol' Carl Greco Matchlist

 

1. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco (PWFG 6/1/93)

Their first battle. Different from their later matches in BattlARTS as both guys are new to the scene and eager to make a name for themselves. This was after the PANCRASE exodus, so Ishikawa is the buzzing new japanese talent, while Greco is stand-in for Ken Shamrock. Pretty damn good 20 minute match for two guys in their first year of wrestling.

 

2. Carl Greco vs. Katsumi Usuda (PWFG 10/29/93)

Time limit draw between two really young guys. Not for the faint of the heart, but there is some top notch stuff in this contest and Greco's talent shines. On the 1993 yearbook.

 

3. Carl Greco vs. Shoichi Funaki (8/13/94)

If you don't want to watch the above match, here's a great 6 minute sprint. They go all out on the mat. You can find this match online if you search for Greco's name in kanji.

 

4. Takeshi Ono v. Carl Greco (PWFG 6/18/95)

Greco twists little Ono into pretzels.

 

5. Carl Greco vs. Daisuke Ikeda (PWFG 8/26/95)

Greco twists Ikeda into pretzels. Even more impressive performance than the Ono match because Ikeda isn't a stick.

 

6. Yuki Ishikawa/Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Don Arakawa/Carl Greco (Weekly Pro 2/4/1995)

Great fun tag from a japanese supershow. Ishikawa and Greco put on some superb shootstyle action here.

 

7. Victor Krueger / Carl Greco v. Yuki Ishikawa / Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 12.4.1996)

Greco tags with the austrian powerhouse. You want this for the Greco vs. Otsuka pairing. These two guys do some fantastic stuff together.

 

8. Victor Krueger / Carl Greco v. Daisuke Ikeda / Takeshi Ono (12.4.1996)

Greco continues to carry the gaijin team by salvaging the match through awesome exchanges with Ono and Ikeda.

 

9. Carl Greco v. Daisuke Ikeda (2.20.1997)

This match only goes 7 minutes but ends up being one of the best BattlARTS matches of the year. Greco is a machine and Ikeda retaliates by stomping his ass.

 

10. Yuki Ishikawa / Carl Greco v. Daisuke Ikeda / Mohammed Yone (11.25.1997)

This is an example of the greatness BattlARTS would deliver multiple times a year, working in tiny halls for 60 people in the audience. Ishikawa does some great stuff on the mat and Greco rips both opponents apart to the point where Ikeda and Yone are forced to use double teams on him in order to contain his explosiveness.

 

11. Yuki Ishikawa / Alexander Otsuka v. Daisuke Ikeda / Carl Greco (4.19 1998)

Another match in the same style as # 10. Not only do you get the usual Ishikawa/Ikeda greatness but also Greco mixing it up with the best matworkers in BattlARTS.

 

12. Yuki Ishikawa v. Carl Greco (4.24.1998)

Greco takes on the BattlARTS boss and this is another super contest. Greco is relentless and Ishikawa is pushed to the limit.

 

13. Daisuke Ikeda / Mohammed Yone / Gran Naniwa v. Yuki Ishikawa / Ikuto Hidaka / Carl Greco (5.10.1998)

One of those ridiculous BattlARTS experiments. This is an elimination tag with lucharesuish infuences. Greco is great here and there is some unusually heated stuff near the end.

 

14. Carl Greco v. Ryuji Yamakawa (8.22.1998)

More weird than great, but this showcases how good Greco is at working nifty little matches. In this case against a seedy garbage wrestler, but even in this bout Greco wows you by reversing a Figure 4 like you've never seen before.

 

15. Yuki Ishikawa / Carl Greco v. Minoru Tanaka / Masaaki Mochizuki (12.25.1998)

Greco and Ishikawa carry the spotty juniors way beyond their limitations.

 

16. Joe and Carl Malenko v. Yuki Ishikawa / Daisuke Ikeda (6.9.1999)

Carl teams up with his buddie in this nostalgic tag and this is just really fun action all around. Showcase match for awesome Malenko mat stuff and violent in the second half.

 

17. Katsumi Usuda / Carl Malenko v. Yuki Ishikawa / Masaaki Mochizuki (Tag Tournament final, 12.5.1999)

Another great tag tournament finale and Greco continues to look great in a year where he doesn't show up much.

 

18. Naoyuki Taira v. Carl Malenko (World IND Jr. title, 7.20.2000)

Ridiculously great junior's match. Taira was a grappler who got a push in BattlARTS that year, but Greco puts the fear of god of him in this contest. Some of the most stuff intense I've seen Greco do and a great chance for him to excell even against a lesser worker.

 

19. Carl Malenko / Katsumi Usuda v. Yuki Ishikawa / Ryuji Hijikata ( Tag Final, 12.3.2000)

Another in a string of really good tag finals, this time with Hijikata in the mix.

 

20. Tiger Mask / Alexander Otsuka v. Carl Malenko / Ikuto Hidaka (1.28.2001)

The best BattlARTS tag of the year and Carl and Alexander look like total superstars.

 

21. Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Tiger Mask IV v. Carl Greco/Yuki Ishikawa BattlArts 5/5/01

Why this didn't make the Best of BattlARTS comp is beyond me. Greco vs. Fujiwara is a dream match up that delivers. Greco doesn't hold back against the old guy at all and this ends up being one of Fujiwara's best 2000s showings.

 

22. Katsumi Usuda v. Carl Malenko (World IND Jr. title, 6.2.2001)

Great junior style match. For some reason Usuda was on fire with matches in that style in 2001 and Carl fits like a glove into this fast paced bout.

 

23. Bas Rutten v. Carl Malenko (10.14.2001)

Carl takes on Rutten in a high end shootstyle contest, hanging with a world class athlete.

 

24. Alexander Otsuka / Carl Malenko v. Bas Rutten / Amir (10.26.2001)

Continuation of the above match. More Rutten vs. Greco goodness. Both these matches are on Dailymotion.

 

25. Carl Greco vs. Yuki Ishikawa (BattlaRTS 6/9/2008)

After a 7 year absence, Carl returns to japan to paint his masterpiece. Strong MOTD contender and the best mat contest a BattlARTS ring has ever seen.

 

Summary: Carl always looks like Carl no matter who he is in the ring with or what style he is supposed to be working. Not the most surprising worker, really, but his ability to be slotted into any match at any point in his career and deliver quality work aswell as pushing any opponent to their limits with his sheer intensity and relentlesness is remarkable.

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  • 5 years later...

I was the highest voter on him last time and certainly will threaten again. I think he doesn't have the total meat of his contemporaries in terms of total matches but he was SO good I love this guy every single time I've seen him. Highly recommend giving him a shot with what's available. He was one of my all time favorites to watch. The true best Malenko of all time.

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  • 1 year later...

Yeah Greco's the best of the Malenko brothers when it comes to just technical brilliance, and the fact he didn't work a lot means there's a lot more consistency to be had, and said consistency was of a pretty high mark. Guy can make short or long matches go like a breeze and he's easily one of the best at crafting these really creative WTF worthy moments when he's just got some submission you've never seen before snapped on out of the blue. Very creative. 

If you want to see a weirder side of Greco then I'd suggest tracking down his AJPW appearances: dude has some really interesting and experimental Jr heavyweight matches with some big names, and with more and more of AJPW being rebroadcast it's definitely worth the search. Dude has a surprisingly intense sub 10 sprint with Kendo Kashin of all people.

 

 

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