Deathstroke's Top 100 Matches From Japan
I have made this list of the Top 100 Puroresu (Japanese wrestling) matches from just viewing and collecting Japanese wrestling shows primarily from the late 70's until present day. I watched regularly from 1995 until sometime last year.
Before I begin, I'd like to make some notes:
1. I try to rank these matches by a number of things including the workrate, the heat and the historic value.
2. There are alot of these lists available on the worldwide web made by members from different locations of the IWC (internet wrestling community) who're far more knowledgable and well-versed in Japanese wrestling than I ever will be. My goal is not to surpass or immitate their lists. Mine will not be the best damn list ever put together and noone wants to see my shoddy immitation of someone elses opinion.
3. This list is entirely my own opinion.
4. I will not provide a video of each match. Alot of the matches in my top 100 are readily available on youtube or dailymotion what have you and knowing this board like I knows this board, not nearly enough people will take the time nor do they have the time to sit infront of their computers and watch them all in their entirety or even clipped.
5. I will not provide pictures of all the wrestlers involved in each match as I have in my past lists. Countless photos of them are just a simply google search away.
6. I will list 10 matches a day for a period of 10 days. I won't slack on this one. It'll definately be complete in 10 days.
7. To avoid repetition. I will only list one match of a series instead of say, listing Benoit vs. Liger five different times.
8. Finally, this is the last attempt at a list I'll ever make unless I try one with MMA fights.
All that said, I bring you my first block of 5 matches, there will be another block of 5 matches later on today:
[b]100. Atsushi Onita vs. Masashi Aoyagi - Karate Fighter vs. Pro Wrestler, FMW 10/6/89:[/b]
In early 1989 Atsushi Onita started his own promotion FMW to compete with UWF-i. FMW wasn't really a garbage fed at this point but a shoot-style promotion. Onita had a match with a legit martial artist Aoyagi where the two brawled in and out of the ring before, during and after the match had started which was something never seen in wrestling or karate before 89. They later met in the rematch that would put FMW on the map and turn Onita into a hardcore icon on 10/6/89.
[b]99. The Sheik & Abdullah The Butcher vs. The Funk Brothers, AJPW Real World Tag League Finals 77:[/b]
From what I understand, this was one of the biggest and bloodiest feuds not only in Japan but in the United States as well during the 70's. I've only seen the matches from Japan and this one is my favorite from four of the most iconic brawlers in the history who put on a hardcore brawl that was arguably way ahead of it's time.
[b]98. Terry Funk & Mr. Pogo vs. Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka - No Rope Barbwire Bomb, FMW 5/5/96[/b]
An very insane match with blood and gimmicks a plenty. This match takes away a huge percentage of Hayabusa's arsenal because he doesn't have much to fly off of and Pogo is Mr. Pogo, a garbage wrestler who cannot work the traditional style of wrestling a lick. But all four men mesh well in an odd way that I can't fully explain as they tell a story with their gimmicks and various sharp objects and they space out their weapons spots well enough to hold my interest throughout the entire match which is rare with me and garbage style matches. Simply put, the match is the epitome of ultraviolentness.
[b]97. Power Warrior (Kensuke Sasaki) & The Roadwarriors vs. Scott Norton & The Steiner Brothers, UWF-i vs. NJPW "Battle Formation" 96:[/b]
In the early 90's, Kensuke Sasaki became the third Roadwarrior known as Power Warrior and he, Animal and Hawk would go onto compete in different combinations in tag team matches and together in six man tags. This was by far the best Roadwarriors match from Japan that I ever seen and it only helped that on this night they were opposing one of the other greatest duos in the history of tag team wrestling and a solid heavyweight worker. It's 15 minutes from one of the best Japan workers and 5 of the best gaijin workers in the world at this point.
[b]96. Stan Hansen vs. Andre The Giant, NJPW 9/23/81:[/b]
What can you say? I love brawls and this is a legendary brawl for obvious reasons. Hansen's selling and brawling allowed this match to be oh so much more than just a big lug and one REALLY BIG lug sweating and pushing each other around. Hansen armdrags Andre, slams the big man and lariat clothelines him to the floor. In the end, it's one of Hansen's first great matches and probably Andre's best performance ever caught on camera.