March 1, 20169 yr comment_5730252 Pat Tanaka is a total dude. I mean, the guy is just cool and oozes cool. He also has a lot of good matches to his name. I gave this one four-stars on the AWA set: Mando Guerrero vs. Pat Tanaka (6/12/88) and this one ***1/2: Ken Patera & Brad Rheingans vs. Badd Company (3/25/89) There are also the Orient Express vs. Rockers matches to consider. And Tanaka was arguable "the worker" in any iteration of the Orient Express. I have not seen the Memphis stuff yet, but the idea of Tanaka against Tarzan Goto sounds awesome. There's also the ECW run. He could be a guy who might sneak on some ballots, and I'm kinda surprised he wasn't nominated already.
March 1, 20169 yr comment_5730269 I loved Tanaka as a kid, and still love him any time I see him pop up on something I'm watching. Smooth and flashy worker, who was a good heel while also having cool offense for the era. That said he comes across as a guy who's aesthetic and wrestling style serve to obscure the fact that he really didn't do that much of note. For a guy with his talents and ability I'd regard him as a clear underachiever. An underachiever can my ballot, but not without a strong body of work. Tanaka doesn't really have that.
March 1, 20169 yr Author comment_5730286 My 95-100 spots are saved for favourites who may not belong on a top 100, but I love watching anyway. Tanaka may sneak into that spot.
March 1, 20169 yr comment_5730350 i wonder if his lack of buzz around here doesn't have to do with his general negative rep among hardcore sheet readers these days. the scuzzy stories of him claiming he'd book guys in Michinoku Pro, that kind of stuff "Pat Tanaka is a special kind of fuckup" - Bix
February 28, 20232 yr comment_6000127 He's kind of got a cool vibe but I wish he had an output of better matches or just more stuff where he stands out as something special. We all love the Royal Rumble 91 match but that's really more of a great Rockers performance. The only match in the little list below where I thought he was the best performer was the one with Jannetty. There's a zero percent chance that Pat Tanaka ends up on my list. What I watched for this so far and my match ratings Pat Tanaka & Jeff Jarrett vs Memphis Vice (27/09/86) *½ Badd Company vs Midnight Rockers (19/02/88) **¼ Badd Company vs Brad Rheingans & Ken Patera (25/03/89) *** Pat Tanaka vs Marty Jannetty (17/10/93) **¾ Pat Tanaka vs Steve Austin (02/04/94) **
February 28, 20232 yr comment_6000135 He had a really good match with 123 Kid on Superstars at some point in 93 https://youtu.be/ih6IC1whujg
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