Guest DragonflyKid Report post Posted October 9, 2002 Most of what I have seen has been AJ but I have recently been watching Joshi so I'm not as caught up as much as I'd like to be. Add anyone you'd like as I'd like to know why one likes or dislikes certain wrestlers or feels a wrestler is underrated or overrated and so forth. Favorite matches and performances are also welcome. Misawa -Great at selling the toll of a match, great high flyer for a heavyweight. Great array of stiff elbow strikes and huge moveset. Made the transition from a lightweight to being an ace heavyweight. Favorite match: 1/20/97 vs. Kobashi Favorite performance: 6/8/90 vs. Tsuruta Kobashi - Great passion and charisma although some contend he can become goofy at times. Great moveset that featured chops and high-impact offense, was a great bumper for a man his size. I like the no-selling/"fighting spirit" but his overall selling of punishment in the late 90's was inconsistent. Favorite Match: 6/9/95 With Misawa vs. Taue/Kawada Favorite performance: 7/29/93 vs. Hansen Kawada -Great array of kicks, may be the best seller,carrier and pacer I've seen. Not flashy but never dull. Favorite match: 6/4/94 vs. Misawa. Favorite performance: 6/12/98 vs. Kobashi. Taue -Physically awkward but grew into a great wrestler but had a short peak. Not a big moveset but knew when to use his moves. Favorite match: 6/9/95 With Kawada vs. Misawa/Kobashi Favorite performance: 4/15/95 vs. Misawa Kikuchi -Amazing bumber, the way he got thrown around and sold moves like Kroffat's Cobra Sleeper and was contorted by a Boston Crab was fantastic. Favorite Match: 5/25/92 With Kobashi vs. Kroffat/Furnas Favorite performance: Any match where he gets his ass kicked by Jumbo only to come back fighting(1/26/92 With Kobashi vs. Taue/Tsuruta or various six-mans.). Tsuruta -Great when he was young and making a name for himself and just as great when he was the grumpy veteren trying to keep his spot. Great seller who worked very stiff and adjusted flawlessly to different roles and a more high-impact style. Favorite match: 9/1/90 vs. Misawa Favorite performance: 11/4/85 vs. Choshu or 9/1/90 vs. Misawa Hansen -Defined the Monster Gaijin perfectly, a big brawler who sold well, could bump a little and knew how to work a match and utilize the Native vs. Gaijin formula effectively. Favorite match: 7/29/93 vs. Kobashi Favorite performance: 7/29/93 Mutoh -I recently watched a 3 volume comp of his Muta work and liked his grace and quickness but got frustrated watching him roll to the outside and use weapons. I still have to watch more of his non-Muta work from the late 90's-on even though I hear how lazy he can be. Liger - Legend who could fly, mat-wrestle, sell, carry and revolutionalize and whose moveset was big and innovative. Favorite match: 4/16/94 vs. Great Sasuke Favorite performance: 8/10/89 vs. Sano -Liger sold the shoulder as well as Kawada sold the knee in the 12/3/93 match. I saw the 8/8/89 Liger/Nogami vs. Sano/Hoshino match where they attack Liger's shoulder which sets up 8/10/89 and it's all done great. Toyota -First thing I noticed about her was her beauty, the I noticed her workrate. Her matches are usually all action with moves I've never seen before, her matches do tend to leave psychology and selling(I have yet to see her later stuff.) to a minimum. She bumps and sells submissions like noone else and attempts dangerous spots frequently, I have only watched 7 of her matches and aside from the 1/4/92 Yamada match I haven't seen her penchant for blowing spots that I have read her being criticized for. Favorite match: 11/26/92 With Yamada vs. Kansai/Ozaki Favorite performance: 11/26/92 Kansai -Great stiff kicks, a worker who can play the role of monster but also work with larger wrestlers like Kong and have great matches. Favorite match: 11/26/92 With Ozaki vs. Toyota/Yamada Favorite performance: 3/17/95 vs. Ozaki Hokuto: -Have only seen three of her matches but they were all ****+ IMO. Has an aura and talent that can't be denied. Favorite match: 4/2/93 vs. Kandori Favorite performance: 4/2/93 vs. Kandori Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest wolverine Report post Posted October 9, 2002 This post by Dylan Waco on A1wrestling.com pretty much sums up my thoughts on Toyota in the mid-90's: Since I am the guy who is probably the closest to a "Toyota basher" here, I guess I should defend myself somewhat (even if you weren't referring to me). Here is my expierence with Toyota. Starting back in 95, when I really started to get into Japanese wrestling, I was subjected to alot of Joshi pimping. Naturally being an American male I was critical of the claims that Joshi was this excellent style that surpassed everything under the sun, but after months of hearing about this great worker named Toyota, I gave in and got some stuff. After all, Toyota was being touted nearly everywhere as the greatest worker in the world, with the best moveset, and best skills. I figured even if the hype was off, it couldn't be way off. I'd given in on Kobashi, Kawada, and Misawa and none had disappointed. So I pop in some stuff, watch her perform and given the hype I was tremendously disappointed. Not only was she not the best best worker in the world, she wasn't even close IMO, and she was very sloppy, and appeared to have a Sabu-like tendency to blow spots. Was she good? Yes, but she was nowhere near what I was expecting. To this day I still can't find any reason to put her in the league of Aja or Hokuto. As for Aja, she was an excellent surprise. She was like Vader but better. Everyting seemed ruthless, but with a controlled ethic that made things methodical, but with pace. Very hard to describe. Very few wrestlers capture that sort of vibe. Basically from day one, I've always thought Aja was better. I think Aja is a better candidate than Toyota for a few reasons, but the first reason is that she is the best joshi worker I've ever seen. Hokuto is a close second, but I can't bring myself to rate her over Aja. Toyota is certainly not bad, but I don't even know if she's top five. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Tim Cooke Report post Posted October 9, 2002 Misawa Favorite - 12/6/96 w/ Akiyama v Kawada/Taue Kawada Favorite - 12/6/96 w/ Taue v Misawa/Akiyama Kobashi Favorite - 7/29/93 v Hansen Taue Favorite - 4/96 v Williams Toyota Favorite - 11/20/94 v Aja Kong Hokuto Favorite - 4/2/93 v Kandori Kansai Favorite - 11/26/92 w/ Ozaki v Toyota/Yamada Liger Favorite - 3/17/96 v Otani Vader Favorite - 1/4/96 v Inoki Takada Favorite - 8/13/88 v Yamazaki Volk Han Favorite - 9/26/97 v Tamura Tamura Favorite - 6/27/98 v Kohsaka Choshu Favorite - 1/28/86 w/ Yatsu v Tsuruta/Tenyru Rey Misterio Jr Favorite - 3/16/96 v Juventud Guerrera Tsuruta Favorite - 9/1/90 v Misawa Can Am Express Favorite - 5/25/92 v Kobashi/Kikuchi Fantastics Favorite - 3/27/88 v Midnight Express Midnight Express Favorite - 7/7/90 v Southern Boys Mutoh Favorite - 8/91 v Chono Tim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest wolverine Report post Posted October 9, 2002 Jumbo Tsuruta Favorite: 9/1/90 vs. Mitsuharu Misawa Mitsuharu Misawa Favorite: 12/6/96 w/Akiyama vs. Kawada/Taue Toshiaki Kawada Favorite: 12/3/93 w/Taue vs. Misawa/Kobashi Kenta Kobashi Favorite: 7/29/93 vs. Stan Hansen Akira Taue Favorite: 9/10/95 vs. Mitsuharu Misawa Akira Hokuto Favorite: 4/2/93 vs. Shinobu Kandori Aja Kong Favorite: 11/20/94 vs. Manami Toyota Mariko Yoshida Favorite: 1/17/99 vs. Mika Akino Momoe Nakanishi Favorite: 9/16/01 vs. Kaoru Ito Jushin Liger Favorite: 3/17/96 vs. Shinjiro Ohtani Nobuhiko Takada Favorite: 8/18/94 vs. Vader Kiyoshi Tamura Favorite: 6/27/98 vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Black Tiger Report post Posted October 9, 2002 Misawa: Favorite 6/8/90 vs Tsuruta Kawada: Favorite 5/1/98 vs Misawa Kobashi: Favorite 12/23/00 vs Akiyama Taue: Favorite vs. Kawada in CC 1995 Hase: Favorite w/Sasaki vs Steiners 3/21/91 Kanemoto: Favorite vs Lyger 6/3/97 Ohtani: Favorite vs Ultimo Dragon 8/4/96 Hashimoto: Favorite w/Iizuka vs Ogawa/Murakami Guererro: Favorite vs Rey Jr. 10/25/97 Benoit: Favorite vs Sasuke 4/16/94 Lyger: Favorite vs Sasuke 4/16/94 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Lear's Fool Report post Posted October 9, 2002 I can't say that I've read anything at all from Dylan that made a lick of sense. And that sure looks like something Dylan would say. He should work alongside Lorefice for a while; they can share bad ideas, or something...or at least we can see them kill each other off from being on opposite ends of the Toyota Fanboy Spectrum. Toyota doesn't carry anyone, but she doesn't *not* carry anyone, and she doesn't get carried herself. Toyota simply is. She shows up for a match, does her thing, and goes home. As often as not, that results in some good matches. It also results in some incredibly empty, emotionless, icy performances, where it's almost impossible to be emotionally invested in anything she does, no matter how much she screams or cries or carries on. The worker that she reminds me most of is probably Mil Mascaras; Dick Beyer once said you had to fight for every hold you got from him. If you let him, he'd wrestle the whole match himself and take, take, take. I don't think Toyota is quite that bad, but it seemed to me like it required a really dominant personality - Hotta, Yamada, Kansai, Ozaki, Hokuto, Aja, Bull - to get her to wrestle a match that meant something. Otherwise, she just goes into the Toyota Show and disappears. And what the Hell, I'll play along, so here are my TOP FIVE ALL-TIME FAVORITE MATCHES from the 5 best wrestlers I've seen (at least, if I've seen more than 5 of their matches): 5. MITSUHARU MISAWA: -5. vs. Kawada, 7/24/95 -4. vs. Kawada, 10/21/92 -3. vs. Tsuruta, 6/8/90 -2 w/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue, 6/9/95 -1 w/Akiyama vs. Kawada/Taue, 12/6/96 4. JUSHIN LIGER: -5. vs. Big Dick TOGO, 6/17/96 -4. vs. Owen Hart, 4/20/91 -3. vs. Pillman, 2/29/92 -2. vs. El Samurai, 4/30/92 -1. vs. Ohtani, 3/17/96 3. TOSHIAKI KAWADA: -5. vs. Albright 10/25/95 -4. vs. Kobashi, 6/12/98 -3. w/Taue vs. Misawa/Akiyama, 12/6/96 -2. vs. Misawa, 6/3/94 -1. w/Taue vs. Misawa/Kawada, 12/3/93 2. AKIRA HOKUTO: -5. vs. Toyota, 8/21/93 -4. vs. Satomura, 4/29/01 -3. vs. Kyoko Inoue, 11/26/92 -2. w/Kandori vs. Kong/Nakano, 3/27/94 -1. vs. Kandori 4/2/93 1. JUMBO TSURUTA: -5. vs. Misawa, 9/1/90 -4. vs. Kobashi, 5/24/91 -3. vs. Kawada, 10/24/91 -2. vs. Misawa, 6/8/90 -1. vs. Funk, 6/11/76 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
