World's Worst Blog

Kenta Kobashi

Toshiaki Kawada

Mitsuharu Misawa

Shinya Hashimoto

 

Kenta Kobashi

 

At his peak, he had the best moveset in wrestling history, was a great dramatic seller and could get a story over with his intensity and emotion. The downside to the latter point is that he occasionally let that intensity and emotion throw the logic of the match out the window. Along those lines, he's also a fair bit responsible for the no-selling that's become a staple in big match Japanese pro-wrestling. Even so, for the few "silly" performances of his, he's had ten times as many that showed he was quite a smart wrestler. Kenta Kobashi is probably one of the ten or fifteen best workers of all time and is certainly the greatest wrestler of the past 10 years.

 

Toshiaki Kawada

 

Completely believable, stiff offense. The best selling ever. A clear understanding of how to tell a story in the ring. Toshiaki Kawada is the best worker of all time. His longevity was certainly not at the level of a Jumbo Tsuruta, but from about 1993 to 1998, I don't believe there was a better talent in the history of pro-wrestling. Every wrestler should watch and learn from Toshiaki Kawada.

 

Mitsuharu Misawa

 

Mitsuharu Misawa was undoubtedly the star of All Japan during the 90's. Oddly enough, among American wrestling fans, he's probably the least popular of the "big 3" of All Japan (Taue is less popular, but he's not really at the level of ability as the other 3). Still, I believe he was a better worker than Kobashi. Misawa just wasn't as flashy or fancy, but the guy was just completely solid as a wrestler. He's probably been involved in more great matches than anyone else, mostly because all of the other AJPW workers' great matches typically involved him as well. His feud with Kawada is probably the best of all time, spanning 6 years and 10-12 matches over that timespan, almost every single match over ****. Misawa was also a large draw, and along with Keiji Muto and Shinya Hashimoto, was the face of Japanese pro-wrestling througout the 90's and into the 2000's.

 

Shinya Hashimoto

 

Shinya Hashimoto was larger than life. Combining crisp looking offense, fantastic selling and an overwhelming amount of in-ring charisma, Hashimoto matches were often spectacles and he was well loved by the fans. Probably the biggest Japanese draw of the 90's, he built his reputation as the "true" successor to Antonio Inoki. The amount of fire and emotion he brought to his matches is unmatched by all but a few. His feud with Naoya Ogawa was probably the last great feud that NJPW ever did. Hashimoto is a true legend and may well be among the greatest of all time.

Ranma 1/2

Ranma 1/2

 

I've only seen the first two seasons. The show became too formulaic and boring for me to continue watching it. It would have been fine as a one season show, because the premise was good and the show was entertaining for a while.

Keiji Muto / Mutoh / Muta

Harley Race

Jerry Lawler

AJPW pre-split

Keiji Muto / Mutoh / Muta

 

Incredibly talented and charismatic. Also incredibly lazy. Muto unfortunately decided that once he was over like a god, he would stop working hard in the ring, and he never really reached his full potential as far as an in-ring performer. In his later years, he was still decent at various points, but the overall story was one of a veteran coasting on his success. In any case, he's still one of the more popular Japanese wrestlers of all time, and is notable for his success in the American market as well.

 

Harley Race

I've not seen a lot of Harley Race, especially his American work, but from what I can tell, he know how to get it done in the ring. Very good worker with a solidgrasp of psychology and believable execution.

 

Jerry Lawler

 

I haven't seen a prime Lawler, but I look forward to it during the DVDVR 1980's project.

 

AJPW pre-split

 

There's not much to say that hasn't been said before. Calling 1990's AJPW the best wrestling product of all time is such a cliche and there seems to have been some backlash against the promotion for garnering such praise and attention, but I do believe they produced more of the best matches than any other wrestling promotion. They were still basically a one or two match show during their glory years, but I'm just not so sure that even matters considering the the quality and quantity of their high-end matches. For someone who enjoys the serious, sporting form of wrestling over the more theatrical, I can't imagine a better promotion to get into.