Hi guys, Merry Christmas, I returned opening the comparisons about who is a better in ring performer?

The criteria are storytelling, in ring psychologhy, selling, quality of matches, workrate, cleaning in the execution of moves.

The comparisons are:

Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs AJ Styles

Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada

Bryan Danielson vs Jun Akiyama

Yuji Nagata vs Akira Taue

 

Thank you very much

Merry Christmas. I vote Kobashi. I prefer Misawa series of match with him to the one with Kawada. I do believe Kobashi's career in the 2000s (untill 2006) smokes Kawada's one. I'm also really astonished at Kobashi selling. I haven't seen enough of Tanahashi 2000s work and AJ Styles TNA work to make my mind up. My vote for Akiyama is a personal one. It would be difficult for me to chose Danielson because he spent most of his career in the us indies and in WWE. But ROH isn't my cup of tea. I much prefer All Japan and NOAH, where Akiyama has excelled for years.

Merry Christmas to you as well. Majority of these had my head hurting so I can only be clear about polls 1 and 5. Kobashi is one of those I hold in high regard as the epitome of a perfect professional wrestler. He just excelled at everything from strikes, selling, and facials. It also didn't hurt that he had that legendary GHC title run to add to his body of work while Kawada was having great ones in the 00s but not on the level of Kobashi. I've grown a appreciation for Taue over the years but if cleaning in the execution of moves is a big criteria for determining who's better then I'm going with Nagata all the way. Taue's clunkiness has a charm to it but wears out pretty quickly over time. 

Unless Kawada is wrestling Gary Albright, Kobashi smokes him when it comes to great matches, selling, attention to detail, consistency, versatility etc. IMO

Styles over Tanahashi quite easily. More varied career, more high end stuff. Small sample size but Tanahashi winning right now on a PWO poll is not what I expected.

Okada over Omega. Has more great matches. Interestingly I think the least acclaimed match between the two is the best NJPW match since probably 1996. 

Bryan vs. Akiyama is awfully difficult. I gave the edge to Bryan for versatility but it could easily be the other way around. 

Taue over Nagata. I like Nagata, probably more than others but no contest here.

4 hours ago, Tenese Sarwieh said:

Merry Christmas to you as well. Majority of these had my head hurting so I can only be clear about polls 1 and 5. Kobashi is one of those I hold in high regard as the epitome of a perfect professional wrestler. He just excelled at everything from strikes, selling, and facials. It also didn't hurt that he had that legendary GHC title run to add to his body of work while Kawada was having great ones in the 00s but not on the level of Kobashi. I've grown a appreciation for Taue over the years but if cleaning in the execution of moves is a big criteria for determining who's better then I'm going with Nagata all the way. Taue's clunkiness has a charm to it but wears out pretty quickly over time. 

The only thing that I don't like about Kobashi are his chops. They are really bad, in my opinion, especially comparing them to Benoit's chops for example.

 

What do you think about Danielson vs Akiyama?

10 hours ago, yesdanielbryan said:

The only thing that I don't like about Kobashi are his chops. They are really bad, in my opinion, especially comparing them to Benoit's chops for example.

 

What do you think about Danielson vs Akiyama?

This is one of the polls I had difficulty in deciding. With the criteria you stated both men checks everyone of those boxes. I guess with versatility of oppents and making weaker performers look better than they really are I'd give the slight edge to Danielson. 

12 hours ago, yesdanielbryan said:

The only thing that I don't like about Kobashi are his chops. They are really bad, in my opinion, especially comparing them to Benoit's chops for example.

 

What do you think about Danielson vs Akiyama?

What about Kobashi's chops are so bad? He had such a powerful build and threw his whole frame into them, I thought his chops looked way more clubbing and damaging than Benoits. 

Benoit's chops were loud and crisp whereas Kobashi's were thudding blows, which I always interpreted like a leg kick in MMA, the ones that don't make a loud pop have so much more force and power landing.

So I went with Kobashi just because the amount of classics he's had plus the decent variety he got during that GHC Title reign really props him up over Dangerous K.

Couldn't quite pick between Tanahashi and Styles because I haven't seen much of Tana from the 2000s but I must say that of late, I'd much rather watch a Tanahashi match than a Styles match.

I appear to be the only one who picked Kenny Omega over Kazuchika Okada so here's my pitch. I think that Omega is just more consistently entertaining than Okada. Okada has those long stretches of uninteresting mat work where Omega will at least toss some power moves and strikes in. I also think that of the main eventers at the top of NJPW, Okada has the worst chemistry with his compatriots, only really excelling against Tanahashi and Omega. Omega meanwhile seems to really gel with all of the main event guys and gets some really great stuff out of them on a more reliable basis.

As fantastic as Jun Akiyama is, Bryan Danielson is the best wrestler in the world and has been for about two decades now. A lot of people have has better individual years but no one quite matches Danielson's consistency and versatility. Danielson's work in 2018 is as good or better than his work in 2006. 

Haven't watched Nagata, I love Taue, so I left it undecided.

I believe the cool kids don't want to say they like Kenny because Dave likes him or some other nonsense.

Kobashi-Kawada is like asking what kid is your favorite, it's almost not a fair question. If I was forced to pick I would probably say Kobashi, just because I think his overall body of work is a little better. 

Styles over Tana for me, AJ spent so much time toiling in TNA that a big chunk of his career gets ignored/forgotten about which is sad. Tanahashi is like the Japanese equivalent of HBK. If you want someone to come through on a big card, he's your man. 

Kenny-Okada is another close one, but Kenny's had like 3 of the best tag matches in addition to his 47 star singles matches so I give him the edge there.

Bryan over Akiyama, since as stated earlier Bryan's been one of the GOATs for seemingly forever.

Nagata over Taue. I have a feeling Nagata's going to end up being remembered either as "that guy from WCW long ago" or as being in nearly every opening match on a NJPW card these days. He's kind of like AJ where his peak was during New Japan's dark period where it was at it's low point exposure wise. 

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

Kobashi-Kawada is like asking what kid is your favorite, it's almost not a fair question

That's the case for every one of these polls, though. All of these wrestlers are great on some level, and ranking one over the other is purely a matter of personal preference. It's not like we're being asked to compare Ric Flair and Raja Lion.

Kawada is a better seller than Kobashi far and away from '89 til retirement. He's clearly got Kobashi beat until the 2000's where Kobashi hits his 2nd peak but then he's very limited in terms of variety. 

AJ has got Tana because The Ace took his in ring style from Muto. He picks and chooses when he dogs it and when he explodes. So there are really awesome bouts but real lackluster ones too for him. Early on AJ decided he was going to give great performances night in night out. Much like Kawada, he's giving ***3/4 matches on small show nights while others chill. He is a workhorse.

I'll say Omega because he goes all out and seems to put his heart into his matches where Okada goes along for the ride in comparison. His moveset doesn't fit his frame and his gimmick doesn't seem to fit his personality but, he's not the first. He's athletic, willing and certainly has a ton of heart but, it can't match Omega's skills and abilities. 

Akiyama over Danielson if only because unlike the other comparisons, Akiyama has at least a decade on Bryan. This is a good one for 2028. Additionally, most haven't seen Akiyama's work in the past 8 years whereas most people are only familiar with Bryan 's last 8 years in a style that is different from his other years. So, there's a disconnect. Maybe a Akiyama vs Roderick Strong comparison is more apples to apples?

Nagata over Taue because like Sasaki, Takayama, and Kobashi he defined 2000's puro. His work in the early 2010's is still pretty awesome as well. Taue was pretty great for different reasons throughout his career and definitely had it from '89-'06 but he never felt like he set the ring on fire. Hmm this is the closest one of all.

 

On 12/26/2018 at 8:55 PM, SPS said:

What about Kobashi's chops are so bad? He had such a powerful build and threw his whole frame into them, I thought his chops looked way more clubbing and damaging than Benoits. 

Benoit's chops were loud and crisp whereas Kobashi's were thudding blows, which I always interpreted like a leg kick in MMA, the ones that don't make a loud pop have so much more force and power landing.

I don't like the way he hit them. Obiouvsly it's not really a critic, but considering how awesome he is, it's the only thing in which I think he is not perfect.