Discuss here.

Discuss here.

Maybe its because he's someone I hadn't watched in years and had formed a gross misconception about him, but in going through the '92-'93 yearbooks Hase has been one of my absolute favorites. His holds, spots and transitions are all crisp without theatrics and he's as awesome at selling as he is tearing into an open wound and trying to drain every last ounce of blood from his opponent. That's before we get to his fire and charisma. He could play the fiery NJ babyface vs. WAR on one night or a bloodthirsty and vicious heel the next. Easily someone I want to go back and watch what he was doing in the 80s as well as what was there when he moved to AJ, as on the New Japan side the only one at his level is Hashimoto.

Hase is definitely someone I'd advocate strongly for and someone that I think deserves a closer look. I'll come back with a full list of match recommendations.

That would be great, Loss.

 

Don't want to derail this, but is it just me or do NJ heavies in the 90s not get enough love lately?

They've gotten a lot more love in recent years than they did for a long time, when the juniors were considered king. If you look at the year-by-year threads for the '90s, you'll see a ton of praise.

That would be great, Loss.

 

Don't want to derail this, but is it just me or do NJ heavies in the 90s not get enough love lately?

 

I may be guilty somewhat of this with my Taue HOF vindication but that doesn't take away from the fact that I think Hashimoto and Hase are great workers for a large junk of their career. Choshu is a personal favorite of many here. Chono, Muto, and Sasaki are more spotty but definitely had some classic matches throughout the years.

Now their careers are junk?! You just don't know when to stop, do you Chad?

 

Ha Ha *CHUNK

 

That's what I get for typing on PWO instead of working.

Hase was so much better match-for-match than Mutoh and Chono, it isn't even close. Just as athletic as Mutoh, just as much charisma as Chono, and vastly more consistent level of effort. His lack of a big singles push, and the somewhat short nature of his full-time peak (under 10 years), hampers him in terms of reaching the top tier.

 

Worth noting that in singles matches with Misawa and Kobashi, he brought more to the table.

I've heard some say that on work he's better than Chono and Mutoh and I agree to an extent. He was also hurt by booking, but he was also as strong a hand as New Japan had during his heyday. I think he has a chance to make the bottom of my list.

Multiple Hase threads?

Yeah, Hase already has a thread.

I think I need a match by match run down for Hase.

Going purely from memory, to me Hase was the #2 NJ heavyweight of the 90's behind Hashimoto. Always a guy I was really high on and a guy who would always bring something great to a match. As a fan, his ability and work never resulting in an 'appropriate' push was most frustrating.

 

Look forward to watching a lot of his stuff again, but if my memory has not failed me, an absolute cert for my top 25.

Think I was the highest voter on Hase last time. I had a fair bit of his stuff on a comp, his consistency struck me more than anything else and his versatility. Was great at those fiery exchanges as well, really made them look authentic rather than a lot of the strike trading you see now. Will try and dig out the match list from an old hard drive because there were some gems on there. He usually kept up a fast pace which I like in a worker.

 

The 1998 All Japan match with Akiyama is superb and on YouTube, there were some fun tags with Sasaki and a good early singles match against Liger which is sloppy but interesting. Seem to remember him wrestling Terry Funk at some point.

Looking forward to that match list if you get the chance to post it. I think I've seen most of the highly touted NJ matches, but haven't seen much of his AJ and definitely want to see what else is out there.

One of the best wrestler anywhere in the world from 88 to the time he went into semi-retirement. Amazing as a junior, as a tag guy, as a heavyweight taking on NJ's opposition, amazing pretty much in any kind of role (not to mention assistant booker to Choshu during NJ's hottest period ever).

And he's the Minister of culture and communication of Japan now. Certainly beat everybody on the political field.

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/32747-hiroshi-hase/

 

I don't know if I'll be the highest voter on him, but I can't see how he's not going to rank above Taue for me, and given how many great matches Taue was in, I can see him finishing outside the top 30. Which means Hase is likely going to be top 20.

 

Definition of a "super worker" who can do it all, and charismatic as hell to boot.

Not to criticize, but two weeks ago was he even in your top 100? Based on your list from a few months ago that's a dramatic rise.

He's made a big impact. Sometimes you just "know" aka the Jim Breaks effect.

I felt the same way with Lothario, Black Terry & Negro Navarro. Hase will make my list for sure, but I'm having trouble placing him.

I've basically been watching Hase's greatest hits, and ideally I'd also want a sense of what a "typical album track" is like of his too.

 

However, I think you can get a sense of what a guy is like over 10+ matches. I have a good idea of what his go-to spots are. I've seen him work face, heel, bully / favourite, plucky underdog, singles, tags, as younger guy and as grizzled vet.

 

I can add some more meat to that with further watching, but I think the core of the case is likely those matches I've just reviewed.

You should check out some of his 90-92 tag matches with Sasaki. I cant point to any specific ones right now, but I liked a lot of them that made the yearbooks. Its also worth noting that he was very good very quickly. The guy debuted in 86.

I watched two extremely good Hase / Sasaki tags earlier, see review thread. One features one of the best FIP sequences I've ever seen.