Guest Report post Posted June 1, 2002 I'll tell you this much, I am extremely new to the world of Japanese Wrestling, but my friend showed me two matches, and I must say, I love it. Anyway, who are your top two wrestlers, and if you want/have the time to put down their best match or something so I can try and check it out, It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. My top Two: CIMA Magnum TOKYO (or TOKYO Magnum...I always get mixed up) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest PlatypusFool Report post Posted June 1, 2002 Welcome oh yonder Toryumon fan! Since you have obviously only seen Toryumon, I advise you to GET THE SUPER J CUP TOURNAMENTS from 1994 and 1995. Hey, if I hadn't have said it someone else would have. My favourite wrestlers then are Jyushin 'Thunder' Lyger - because he looks great, wrestles great, has the best mannerisms ever, and has the LYGERKICK~! - and Kawada. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Jubuki Report post Posted June 1, 2002 Akira Hokuto: from August 1992 to August 1993, she was the best worker in the world, bar none. She wrestled on 2 continents with broken bones in her neck and back, faced a wider variety of competition than anyone else, and had good to great matches with anyone she faced in Japan. When her knee blew out, she slowed down quite a bit, but she still came back by December and had more great matches when she chose to work in early '94. Just get everything from the time she goes Dangerous Queen until the knee injury and you'll be set. Jumbo Tsuruta: he was a top guy his whole career, so no matter what timeframe you choose from, he's going to have top men across from him. His early stuff has matches vs. Terry Funk, Harley Race, Flair, & Mil Mascaras that rule. His "Ace of AJ" stuff has the Choshu feud & the Tenryu feud as the main draws. Then the Grumpy Old Jumbo days have tons of greatness against Misawa and the new crop of great workers. Virtually anything you see from him is going to be outstanding. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Son of Sting Report post Posted June 1, 2002 Kawada and Kobashi. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Dangerous A Report post Posted June 1, 2002 I'll go with 2 from NJ and 2 from AJ. New Japan- Chono and Hashimoto All Japan-Kawada and Kobashi Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest wolverine Report post Posted June 1, 2002 Kenta Kobashi--His 1993 made me a fan of Japanese wrestling. Chris Benoit--I just love his work, period. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest RavishingRickRudo Report post Posted June 1, 2002 Shinjiro Ohtani: He can fly, submit, strike, throw, sell, and can make any match entertaining with his facial expressions alone. He is very flexible not only in his bridges but in his style. Kenta Kobashi: If there was any wrestler who could be considered a 'hero', its Kobashi. His nobility and pride and honour and spirit and all that good shit we don't see in the Wwf makes him king. Plus I LOOVE his moonsault. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Report post Posted June 2, 2002 My two faves from Japan are prolly Ryuji Yamakawa and Meiko Satomura. Yamakawa is the most fun all around in every aspect and I hope he completely recovers. Meiko is just awesome technically and psychologically. Get Yamakawa vs anybody. Get any of the Meiko Satomura vs Aja Kong matches and her match last year against Akira Hokuto. Get all of her tag matches tagging with Sonoko Kato from 96 to 99. DEAN. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Black Tiger Report post Posted June 2, 2002 Koji Kanemoto: He plays the punk heel to the point of almost never selling moves, he once no sold a moonsault and two michinoku drivers. He's also regarded as one of the best workers in New Japan. Mitsuharu Misawa: His amount of 4-5 star matches in umatched, he remains of of if not THE BEST wrestler in the world today. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest wolverine Report post Posted June 2, 2002 "Mitsuharu Misawa: His amount of 4-5 star matches in umatched," This is very true. "he remains of of if not THE BEST wrestler in the world today." This is very laughable. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Dangerous A Report post Posted June 2, 2002 I have to agree, Wolverine. Misawa will be considered one of the top if not the top Japanese Heavyweight wrestlers of all time. But right now he is barely a top 30 worker in the world. That's not chopped liver or anything, but comparing Misawa 1990-2000 to Misawa 2K2 is a joke. There is a tremendous drop off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Black Tiger Report post Posted June 2, 2002 I worded that a little funny, I mean to say that. He remains to be remembered as one of the greatest workers ever. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest CoreyLazarus416 Report post Posted June 2, 2002 My two favorites from Japan are and always have been Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka. I'm not really into the slower, more technical stuff, and I've yet to see much puro due to a lack of availability, so I've only seen some Big Japan, FMW, MPro, and a few matches from New Japan and All Japan...so Hayabusa and Tanaka get the nod from me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest thefrenchargel Report post Posted June 3, 2002 black tiger-did Kanemoto have any notable matches as Tiger Mask III? He's the only incarnation of TM i've never seen. my 2 picks are Liger and Kobashi, hands down. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Report post Posted June 3, 2002 Thank you all for the match suggestions. And also, I saw the '94 J-Cup, and I was completely blown away, but for some odd reason, I only remember Benoit and Lyger from that show. Weird. What would you guys recommend from MPro? I have seen the Ten Man Tag with KAIENTAI DX vs. Assorted Good Guys (Naniwa rules, might I add) and, once again, was blown away. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Joshi Guerrero Report post Posted June 3, 2002 I would go with 1- Ultimo Dragon, I think he had a style that get's over real well with fans of American wrestling and he has such a great history of good puro, lucha and American matches that it's easy to find great stuff. Secondly, I would show them some Manami Toyota, while she is not my fave joshi worker. I think like dragon her style would get over with "uneducated" fans better than most and she too has a fairly large backlog of great work. You can't go too far wrong getting tapes of those two, as an end note if I had to pick two workers to get a new fan into Lucha I would go with Silver King[black Tiger] & Negro Casas. Another two awesome workers, that I recomend to any Lucha newbie. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Black Tiger Report post Posted June 3, 2002 Kanemoto as Tiger Mask III had a couple of good matches with Lyger. Kanemoto was TM for only about a year or so, so I don't have that much of him in the mask. Tiger III vs Lyger on Donkatu 1993 was very good (same card as Hogan vs Muta, if the name doesn't ring a bell) Their most famous match was on 1/4/94, Lyger's IWGP Jr. Title vs Kanemoto's mask. Maybe Pegasus Kid can point you in a better direction. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
