Who are your favorite/the best wrestlers in big epic settings?

Riki Choshu and Epic are basically synonymous as far as I'm concerned so he's the first guy I thought of. Hashimoto is next on the list. Sangre Chicana and Perro are the definite standouts for Lucha. Again, will post more thoughts when I see who other people come up with.

Atsushi Onita.

Onita is a great pick.

 

Also thought about Hansen for matches vs Andre, Funk, Colon, Vader, and Tenryu.

 

Vader deserves a mention as well for matches vs Inoki, Choshu, Takada, and Hansen.

 

Tenryu for his entire career post 1985ish. Can't believe I didn't mention him with Choshu and Hash

 

Piper, Dusty, and Randy Savage are 3 other US based workers I thought about.

LA Park would be near the top of my list.

Onita was immediately the first one that comes to mind. The Funk Barbed Wire match is IMO the best spectacle type match ever done.

Wagner, Jr. in the mid 00s was so good at projecting to the entire crowd and amazing at telegraphing his moves in a good way, in setting the stage for them so that they mattered. The problem is that he took it too far and could be an absolute ham when something like, I don't know, selling, would make more sense.

Can't see past Sgt. Slaughter for this.

Onita for me is the epitome of this.

Michaels. Never failed to have me on edge during his big matches.

Hashimoto is the first one that comes to mind. He always looked like he belonged on the biggest stage and always seemed to deliver.

Hulk Hogan, HBK, Terry Funk, Abdullah, Onita, Chosu, Savage.

I'm not sure anyone fits the bill better than Onita.

 

I think on other parts of the internet, Undertaker would probably get a lot of love for this question. Not saying that's right or wrong, but it's probably a major opinion.

Brock Lesnar.

Hash, Lesnar, Inoki even. Onita for sure. Hokuto and Chigusa are totally a part of this. Atlantis for lucha. Even though he stunk, Takada did do well in big match settings. Cena is up there.

Fuyuki is a good sleeper pick. While the Foot Loose run is what he tends to be most remembered for, he was an excellent poor man's Tenryu type at late as 1999 in FMW. Others I would mention that haven't been brought up yet in this thread are Akira Maeda, Giant Baba and Kenta Kobashi.

Onita was immediately the first one that comes to mind. The Funk Barbed Wire match is IMO the best spectacle type match ever done.

 

Loss had the best throwaway line about this match in the yearbooks that has always stuck with me since I read it:

"Quentin Tarantino would love this match."

 

This is so true. Tarantino really needs to make The Terry Funk Story.

I'm not saying he'd be my number one, but if you are picking Onita you have to at least think about Carlos Colon. I've said this before, but I find it completely impossible to believe that Onita didn't develop a lot of his big spectacle, death match style, based off the Colon template - the similarities are just too obvious. The Hansen feud is a great feud of course, but I think that big "ball park" death match spectacle that Onita mastered, was something Colon had mastered years before working guys like Abby, Jos Leduc, Hercules Ayala, Steve Strong, and others.

Misawa, Hashimoto, Tenryu, Akira Maeda, Chigusa Nagayo and Akira Hokuto spring to mind. Ric Flair as well. Perro Aguayo. Jumbo Tsuruta. Liger in his weight class. Riki Choshu.

Fuyuki is a good sleeper pick. While the Foot Loose run is what he tends to be most remembered for, he was an excellent poor man's Tenryu type at late as 1999 in FMW. Others I would mention that haven't been brought up yet in this thread are Akira Maeda, Giant Baba and Kenta Kobashi.

 

First of all, you are a true gentleman for bringing up Maeda and Baba.

 

But more importantly, can you recommend the best big Fuyuki in FWM matches to watch? I was hoping someone not on my radar would be brought up and Fuyuki's FMW career is definitely not on my radar.

Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka vs Yukihiro Kanemura & Kodo Fuyuki (05/27/98)

Hayabusa, Daisuke Ikeda, Hisakatsu Oya & Ricky Fuji vs Kodo Fuyuki, Koji Nakagawa, Kintaro Kanemura & Gedo (06/19/98)

Hayabusa vs Kodo Fuyuki (11/20/98)

Hayabusa vs Mr. Gannosuke (08/25/99) *

Masato Tanaka vs Kodo Fuyuki (11/23/99, Loser Leaves FMW Electric Cage Match)

 

* While Fuyuki is not actually in the match proper, he is the centerpiece of the surrounding hoopla. In the same way Kudo-Toyoda from '96 is a case for Onita as a big show performer, this is a case for Fuyuki. I know it seems odd that he's not even involved in the match that makes his spectacle case better than any other on the list, but just trust me on this one. You will be blown away.

This is entirely different from what everyone else is saying, but: Hogan/Warrior. If the main event of Wrestlemania 6 ain't EPIC~!, I dunno what is. In some ways it's the biggest match ever, cuz nobody knew who was gonna win. Hogan/Andre had a much more foregone conclusion.

You know, I'm not one to praise Dibiase a lot because it gives Parv a big head, but he's a guy who really could project to the last row too, and make things feel important. I will give him credit for that.

Agree with Inoki, Chigusa and Hokuto who I madly forgot about. I'm softer on Inoki than most because of his innate charisma. His chin alone is a Big Event. Chigusa was superb at playing to the rafters and beyond. The atmosphere she generated felt less like a battle between rivals and more like a match as existential threat. Hokuto Is God.