Crowley Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 Who do you think was the best mat wrestler in Japanese wrestling history? I'm looking for lots of headlock takeovers, fireman's carries, and hammerlocks. Post youtube videos if you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poe Øhlin Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 I highly suggest going to Youtube and checking out KingsRoadJapan's channel. They upload full matches for All Japan almost weekly, and is a great way to get introduced to a lot of puro talent. They also have links on their channel to Big Japan's channel and if I remember correctly Noah's. As far as actual talent goes, you can't go wrong with Keiji Mutoh. Here's the match he had that got Wrestling Observer's match of the year in 2001. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS1yA7OWfM8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowley Posted October 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 That looks like an excellent channel. Thank you for sharing that! I'll definitely be checking some of those matches out. That's not exactly what I'm looking for though. I have something very specific in mind. I'm mainly looking for Japanese wrestlers who were known exclusively for their mat wrestling skills. Maybe they weren't as talented overall or as well known as someone like Mutoh, but they were recognized solely as being great technical wrestlers. And I'm mainly looking for the old fashioned style of technical wrestling. Think more along the lines of classic, scientific wrestling than the more modern, flashy type of technical wrestling you might see from someone like Kota Ibushi. Here's an example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv7s2BBjcRQ Hopefully that will give you guys a better idea of what I'm looking for and you can help me out. I'm familiar enough with Japanese wrestling to know most of the major legends and stars, so maybe the experts here could introduce me to some technical wrestlers who may have slipped under the radar over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.ZEN Posted October 12, 2012 Report Share Posted October 12, 2012 Its a tough question considering all the great mat wrestlers who have worked in Japan over the years and I'm no expert as I've only scratched the surface of Japanese wrestling compared to how much others have seen but I'll give a few names. The Destroyer - An all time great gaijin who could have a great match with anyone. Here's part 1 of his classic with Mil Mascaras, shitty video quality but a damn fine match from what I can remember http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmpNEjOM8ro Yoshiaki Fujiwara - I've shamefully not seen much of Fujiwara but everytime I have watched him he was pretty awesome. One of his matches with Hase http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW3ZKQHXlw8 Tatsumi Fujinami - An all time great and legit candidate for greatest of all time . Heres his match with student Osamu Nishimura who himself deserves to be discussed as great mat wrestler http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpLmprhmfc0 Volk Han - Despite not having many matches at all, Volk amassed a fantastic body of work and had some of the most compelling shoot style matches ever. His match with Tamura http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab9n0jmi05s Minoru Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki - I shouldn't really lump them together considering how fantastic they both are but their careers were pretty intertined, heres a match between them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrccNIv0tmM Tamon Honda - Honda was an Olympic wrestler for Japan and whilst he didn't win a medal he was a fantastic technician who put on some great matches in NOAH. In my opinion his match against Kobashi was better than Kobashi's title win against Misawa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3cD6pVV9lA Billy Robinson - I again haven't seen much of him, but Robinson was an expert in catch wrestling and had some phenomenal outings in Japan. His match with Inoki may be the best match Inoki ever had http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZRXsmA14Bc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oresama Posted October 15, 2012 Report Share Posted October 15, 2012 I don't watch much Puro anymore but my first thought was Koji Kanemoto..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poe Øhlin Posted October 16, 2012 Report Share Posted October 16, 2012 Not sure if she could be classified as a mat wrestler, but Kana does a lot of submission based moves. Sorry if I'm not much help. I've only started to really get into the more mat and technical styled stuff, as I'm more use to watching stuff of Super Juniors and obviously hardcore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago Made Posted October 18, 2012 Report Share Posted October 18, 2012 I'm not sure if you would put him in the same group of classic old school mat based wrestlers, but Yuji Nagata performs a ton of different holds and grapples. I sort of consider him a more modern day take on old mat technicians. He has a bit of flair here and there, but he seems like what you are aiming for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CactusClothesline Posted October 19, 2012 Report Share Posted October 19, 2012 You need to get some shoot-style in your life. Anything with Volk Han or Tamura in it is a must watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKlHF9khM2I I think this is a good start if you want to get into this style of wrestling. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSVFOTtx52A Widely considered Volk's best match. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6e7ws_yuki-ishikawa-vs-carl-greco-battlar_sport?search_algo=2 Insane matwork in this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowley Posted October 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Outstanding posts, Cactusclothesline and Zen Nihon. That's exactly what I was looking for! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Knight Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Shinsuke Nakmura hands down. Such an athlete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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