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Post by elliott on Jul 31, 2019 1:31:16 GMT -5
I think he has more nominated matches than anyone at this point which is pretty amazing when you consider his career as a serious performer was cut short during possibly his best run.
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Post by Cap on Jul 31, 2019 6:31:41 GMT -5
I love Jumbo. I think is 70s and 80s work puts him among the best of the era (and all time). He had a knack for working with Western talent in a way that I think blended the subtleties of styles well. Jumbo had genuinely very good to great matches (IMHO) with Bock, Terry Funk, Robinson, Flair, Kerry, Murdoch, Slater, and Martel (just off the top of my head). I know that isn't necessarily a hard list to have good matches with, but still. I always tended to like how his style could help all those guys shine. Old grouchy Jumbo moving into the 90s produced some of his best stuff. Great tag worker and singles worker. I think he was a great ace.
There are quite a few of his matches that were on the cusp for me, a few that I would consider high end 4.75 star matches that could make the back end or could one day get bumped to 5 stars and wind up locks on my list one day.
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Post by bossrock on Jul 31, 2019 18:59:11 GMT -5
Pre-'86 Jumbo isn't my cup of tea, but I love grouchy brawlers and he was a terrific grouchy brawler. He was great at heat segments and was probably only second to Hashimoto for bringing the fire in a beatdown. I would actually consider him the star of 6/5/89 in how his frustration repeatedly boils over on Tenryu. Ditto for 9/1/90 against Misawa. And while I think the June 90 match is overrated from an in-ring standpoint, he and Misawa were excellent foils for each other. Terrible shame his career was cut short as badly as it was.
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Post by elliott on Aug 1, 2019 2:36:33 GMT -5
I love Jumbo. I think is 70s and 80s work puts him among the best of the era (and all time). He had a knack for working with Western talent in a way that I think blended the subtleties of styles well. Jumbo had genuinely very good to great matches (IMHO) with Bock, Terry Funk, Robinson, Flair, Kerry, Murdoch, Slater, and Martel (just off the top of my head). I know that isn't necessarily a hard list to have good matches with, but still. I always tended to like how his style could help all those guys shine. Old grouchy Jumbo moving into the 90s produced some of his best stuff. Great tag worker and singles worker. I think he was a great ace. There are quite a few of his matches that were on the cusp for me, a few that I would consider high end 4.75 star matches that could make the back end or could one day get bumped to 5 stars and wind up locks on my list one day. and Harley, Jack Brisco, and Dory. Looking outside US based workers, he had fantastic matches in this era against Mil Mascaras, Rusher Kimura, and I haven't seen the Hoffman match in close to 20 years, but I bet that's good to. I'd be really interested in looking at his matches against Abdullah from this era as well because I really like Abby now and it could be cool for the variety. Jumbo was trained by the Funk family & spent his rookie year in the Amarillo territory. 60s & 70s main event Japanese wrestling was very similar to US main event wrestling of the time period. Jumbo was probably the best heavyweight wrestling of the 70s in terms of natural athleticism. I'm not sure I see him as a best in the world guy in the 70s though. He was the junior partner in most of his great matches. That's not to say he wasn't bringing things to the table. He brought a shit ton of stuff to the table. But the top end stuff in the 70s, is more akin to him being the best luggage in wrestling history. I know the idea of a "carry job" carries a ton of negativity with it. But quite frankly, Jumbo 3 years into his career isn't leading/calling the matches when he's challenging for the NWA title of working Billy Robinson. Maybe saying he's the best canvas for the top artists of the era to work with is a better way to put it? I know folks will see "carry job" and "luggage" and read this as criticism but I don't mean it that way. It is a credit to his natural abilities that he could credibly step into NWA title matches against the champions of the era and go 20-30 minutes and more than hold his own just 2-3 years into his career is incredibly impressive. While I'm rambling I just wanted to also mention I think Jumbo might have my favorite offense of any wrestler ever. It might not be quite as deep & varied as Misawa & Kobashi, but Jumbo really had as big of a regular move set as just about anyone and had a number of different finishes he could use. His Jumping Knee, Lariat, and Back Drop Suplex are 3 of my favorite major moves of his era. |
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Post by elliott on Sept 8, 2019 5:04:50 GMT -5
Underrated pick for best tag worker ever. He was awesome as the young up & comer working alongside Baba in the 70s, as the senior partner to young Tenryu, a more equal partner to Tenryu, with Yatsu, and finally as the grumpy veteran with Taue. He has random good/great tags partnering with Kobashi, Tiger Mask II, Great Kabuki, and Isao Takagi. Great matches against Funks, Mascaras & Caras, Hansen & Brody, Choshu & Yatsu, Tenryu & Kawada, Tenryu & Hansen, Choshu & Khan, Tenryu & Hara, Hansen & Dibiase, Misawa & Kawada, Misawa & Kobashi, Kobashi & Kikuchi, Misawa & Kikuchi and possibly even Williams & Gordy (but maybe not, because Williams & Gordy sucked)
Jumbo's resume is insane.
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