Discuss here.

I can't see including him, but wanted to nominate him because if Joe Lanza votes I suspect he'd vote for him, and there are others who might consider him. I haven't watched "athletic prime" Gedo in years and have no clue whether or not he would look better or worse in the rearview. In real time I thought he was fine, and occasionally really good, but never great. Post-prime, grumpy bastard Gedo I really like. In fact if he had a whole career of that I could see him making my ballot. Super fun as a sort of Japanese version of a Southern heel, with a distinct flare, who can work almost anyone in a good/fun match.

I used to really like fat athletic Gedo (I always enjoy fat athletic guys). Not much of a fan of the Complete Players era Gedo (really, Kaori was my favourite member), and I really haven't seen anything post FMW. I wonder how his match with Tajiri in the final of the Junior tournament in Big Japan in 98 holds up.

The lack of super high end MOTY contenders is a problem. But if you value guys who really understand nuance, facials, mannerisms, and working crowds in subtle ways, then you would really dig "second career" Gedo, who really has had two very distinct and different careers. He'd never sniff something like this with just his "first" career, but his late career sleazy heel work is some of the most under appreciated work in modern puro. I would STRONGLY rec his Korakuen Hall main event vs Prince Devitt from 2012 (which Devitt calls his best career match, and it is a Gedo match all the way), and his BOSJ bout this year vs Liger (all of his Korakuen BOSJ bouts this year, actually). I'd also look up some of the under the radar tag matches with Okada, particularly when Bad Luck Fale is on the opposite team. There is a Gedo/Okada vs Fale/Omega match from the last full tour that is one of the best tag matches I've seen this year.

How do people feel about Gedo? I remember when I first found online wrestling discussion people hated him and by the time I started to sort of check out on modern wrestling (early 2000s), the worm had started to turn and Gedo was winding up on Schneider comps. There's some intresting looking stuff on paper against people I generally enjoy. 

Gedo & Jado vs Great Sasuke & Masao Orihara

Gedo & Jado & Kanemoto vs Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka & Masahito Kakihrara

Gedo & Jado & Kanemoto vs Eddy Guerrero & Minoru Tanaka & Black Tiger (Silver King!)
Sounds cool. 

I don't see myself voting for Gedo, but he's a consistently fun watch for about 20 years. Given the time I'd love to deep dive his stuff. Gedo & Jado vs Tarzan Goto & Mr Gannosuke from WAR 7/7/95 is a classic.

With the exception of maybe A.J. Styles, Gedo was easily Finn Balor/Prince Devitt's greatest opponent.

21 hours ago, Boss Rock said:

With the exception of maybe A.J. Styles, Gedo was easily Finn Balor/Prince Devitt's greatest opponent.

Their singles match at Korakuen is comfortably my favourite Devitt match.