Karl Gotch

[6.0] "He's a pioneer. I decided to watch some of his stuff because of all the hype. I'll just say this. His legacy is undeniable. But I am not a fan of his wrestling, which is the most important thing to me. And because I don't get to see his promos or character work, I have to base it off of solely his in ring work."

[10.0] "There is a reason why he is called God of Wrestling. It's not just a fancy nickname for an old wrestler, it's a title given to a pioneer and legend of professional wrestling. His influence was huge in Japan, and paved the way for legends of the industry. The likes of Antonio Inoki, Tiger Mask 1, Minoru Suzuki, Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada wouldn't have been the legends they were if it wasn't for Karl Gotch. When you watch professional wrestling now, whether it be Japanese, American, European, whatever, his influence is all over the place. That German Suplex you saw? Thank Karl Gotch for that. Cradle Piledriver? Karl Gotch. Tombstone Piledriver? Karl Gotch again. He was the right person, at the right time and at the right place. Pioneer of professional wrestling and is on the Mount Rushmore of wrestling gods."

[7.0] "A true pioneer and innovator. His fundamentals were the key to his success as a professional wrestler. He helped develop so many elements and integral aspects of professional wrestling. His actual in-ring output is nothing fantastical but that doesn't take away from his legacy whatsoever."

[10.0] "Probably the most important wrestler of time, influential in Japanese wrestling, influential in producing shoot-style wrestlers, influential in the moves we see today."

[10.0] "You don't get nicknamed the God of Pro Wrestling for no reason. Gotch's style and vision was key to the development of Strong Style in New Japan and what would be the genesis of MMA in the future. A refined technical wrestler with incredible strength, his legacy lives on thanks to the wrestlers he trained. Minoru Suzuki, Tiger Mask I, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Tatsumi Fujinami, Antonio Inoki, Dean Malenko, Riki Choshu, Bob Backlund just to name a few."

[10.0] "He looks good in the little footage we have, but ultimately he's a guy who's legendary for his influence and vision rather than legendary matches."

[10.0] "There's not a lot of material to judge a guy like Karl Gotch, namely because a vast majority of it is untelevised and lost to time, or is in dark undercard matches in NJPW. What we DO know of the man was that he was probably one of the most refined classical wrestlers of his time, using a lot of old school technique taken from OG wrestlers like Frank Gotch and many more, had freakish strength (capable of throwing men way above his size over for suplexes with relative ease) and is probably THE trainer for Japanese talent. His regime of conditioning the neck and refining the body without weights would be the method used all the way up to the present day, as well as basically training almost everyone who was relevant for NJPW: Suzuki, Liger, Inoki, Tiger Mask, Fujiwara, the list goes on and on. Without him, we don't have shoot-style at all, so MMA wouldn't exist. AJPW in the 90's wouldn't be able to destroy their necks in Kings Road bouts. NJPW wouldn't have the strong focus on legitimising wrestling as more of a sport. He'd be known more if he hadn't chased himself out of America with his very stubborn attitude about what wrestling should be, but even with that in place, he's easily a legend even without access to most of his material, considering he basically set the seeds for Eastern wrestling for decades to come."

[10.0] "Very skilled fighter! Wish I could see more of his matches on Youtube. He is exciting to watch. he was very successful in Japan."