Yoshinari Ogawa

[9.0] "Ogawa is great, although admittedly a bit slower in the ring compared to others he wrestles more of an old american style something you'd see in the 90's he however is a technical wizard, and has the best roll up's ever it's not even a comparison never has a wrestler been able to sell me on a flash pin as effectively as Ogawa. He gets a bad rap for not being the traditional Japanese Junior Heavyweight, but he was a pillar of NOAH throughout its entire existence and is still putting on bangers to this day his win against HAYATA for the GHC Junior belt and Tag belt matches make me happy. Living Legend 9/10"

[9.0] "The modern day terminator like untouchable. This guy trained a handful of technical marvels including the front man of TMDK Zack Sabre Jr when he was starting out on the green brand. A straight technical wrestler for the first decade in his career, homing his spot in All Japan. He later gained critical praise and attention by All Japans Mrs Baba, later becoming the leather clan guy we know him today, bounded by his contemporaries in the dojo struck him to be a member of the Holy Demon Army and the tag team with Misawa as the Untouchables. Pro Wrestling NOAH was founded and spent the rest of his career there as the most sports entertainment type of wrestler there with so much pompous and cheating across the green canvas. He found his niche becoming a trainer, naming Kotaro Suzuki, Go Shiozaki of all people, Eddie Edwards, Shuhei Taniguchi, ZSJ, Akihito Ito, Alex Payne from the original ROH dojo, recent generations Kaito Kiyomiya and Ryohei Oiwa. He won titles as a junior heavyweight, even held the GHC heavyweight title off from Jun Akiyama. He kept holding on to that junior heavyweight position even winning the junior tag team titles numerous tag partners over the years and a short reign in his 50s as GHC junior heavyweight champion, defeating YO-HEY. Such integrity yet fetid to his in-ring career. He knows how to get it done in the ring yet can give you the dirtiest of tricks. Ogawa retired after almost four decades through the ropes and ever so loyal to Pro Wrestling NOAH."

[9.0] "Scum of the Earth, Come On! No one has done it Ogawa. Technically great and one of the smartest guys in the ring. The fact he got to main event status as a junior shows just how good he was (or how good of friends he was with Misawa). The title victory over Akiyama is one of the best moments in NOAH history."

[10.0] "It may be difficult to understand because it uses a translation function. One of the best technical wrestlers of all time. In my mind, he's a great wrestler, comparable to Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Keiji Muto, and Bret Hart. His sudden retirement was quite shocking. He is not only an excellent wrestler, but also a top-notch coach, having taught classical wrestling techniques to talented young players such as ZSJ, HAYATA, Kiyomiya, Oiwa, and Yuruka. Also, since he hasn't aged at all since he was young, people joke that he might be wearing the stone mask from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure."

[4.0] "As of now on 13th August 2024, yoshinari ogawa has retired due to the number of overwhelming injuries he has which would take a lot of time to recover, and he went out in his style, no retirement match/ceremony/program, just a news. Well as a wrestler ogawa isn't special, his moveset just consists of roll ups that kinda suit his gimmick but he is hella overrated, and his status of being misawa's friend gained a lot of push he doesn't deserve like being the goddamn GHC heavyweight champion defeating the red hot jun akiyama(this defeat single handedly ruined akiyama) and hin getting the semi main event spot on both of Noah Tokyo dome shows is a result of nepotism, he was the one negative aspect of 2000s Noah which was a great era for the company. He would have been a jobber if misawa didn't partnered with him."

[9.0] "People giving Yoshinari Ogawa low ratings based on a snapshot of the later stages of his long and incredible career owe it to themselves to go back and watch more of his body of work. For me, should be considered as one of the greatest Japanese heels of all time. Everything he does - from the subtle to the bold - means something. He's a master of scheming and cheating and getting under his opponents skin."

[10.0] "This guy is such an incredible technical wrestler. He is very clever in the ring and his quickness and smartness make him do great reversals and quick pins. He's a top guy when he faces a jr. heavyweight and becomes a believable underdog when he faces a guy bigger than him. Can work with anyone, no matter the size, the skills, the athleticism. Still stretching people in his 50s. Underrated and great style"

[5.0] "Yoshinari Ogawa isn't as good as most wrestlers on this roster but it's understandable considering his age."

[10.0] "Great wrestler and one of the smartest workers of all time, Ogawa is unique and special in the ring and the fact that he is wrestling for now is making me happy"

[9.0] "An absolute legend of Jr. Heavyweight wrestling, although he has slowed down over the years, for his age, he is still incredibly good. Should he be holding the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles? Probably not, but he's still serviceable."

[4.0] "H emay be a legend, but he and Stinger are just so boring. He's fine for his age, but the people with twenty years of youth on him have to slow down for him in order for a match to work. Keep him in the seniors division I don't watch."

[10.0] "Yoshinari Ogawa very well may be the smartest wrestler of all-time - someone who has probably forgotten more about pro-wrestling than most ever learn. Even at his current age, there are very few wrestlers in the world who have a better grasp of the fundamentals of pro-wrestling than Ogawa. A master tactician whose mindset is desperately needed in modern pro-wrestling and whose legacy will thankfully be preserved by Kaito Kiyomiya and the rest of the students coming out of the NOAH dojo. I firmly believe that no one has a better idea of what pro-wrestling should look like, and the fact that he stuck to this vision despite being contemporaries with some of the most influential wrestlers of all-time speaks for itself. The world of wrestling would be so much better if we had more Ogawas."

[10.0] "Rat boy, moving like the wind and stealing victories like a common but successful thief! Ogawa is actually longer than most well known guys in the business and learned the ropes firstly under Tenryu back in the 80's, then joining Kawada & Taue set him up as a threat in the juniors division, then a life long partnership with Misawa helped him to catapult his career to the tag team belts! In NOAH, the height was bigger and being the first junior to be GHC Heavyweight Champion and feuding with Akiyama showed us how venomous this rat man can be!"

[9.0] "This is a tentative rating that I'll likely come back and adjust later, as I'm quite early into going through his body of work, but having now seen a good selection of matches from across Ogawa's long career, even I've been surprised by how immediately he's clicked with me and I've loved him. There are so few wrestlers who have had such a strong grasp on conveying strategy in professional wrestling as Rat Boy, and I love the fact that his style is incredibly logical, satisfyingly technical, surprisingly versatile at times, and manages to make "cheating little prick" a gimmick that can be obnoxious and detestable when he's at his most vicious and heelish, but also oddly endearing and even funny when he's leaning less into that side of it, in a way that sometimes even gives me faint but very welcome vibes of Eddie Guerrero. I love the way that his approach to wrestling, being so wildly different from so many of his contemporaries in AJPW and NOAH, forces people, including some of the all-time greats, to work a very different kind of match that they may never have otherwise, and it's a kind of match that's just as entertaining and well-executed as much of their usual affair, but stands out from it. I think it takes a very special kind of wrestler to force not just so much variety, but genuinely great and refreshing variety, just by showing up and doing their thing. The very definition of a wrestler who's not for everyone, but an all-time great at what they do, so it feels like a no-brainer for me to rate him highly when he also suits my personal tastes so well."

[8.0] "Ratboy is a legend and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. At his peak was Ogawa as good as the other heavy hitters in NOAH and AJPW - no, but he gets a tough rep. Ogawa matches get you on the edge of your seat. Big props to Ogawa for still putting together compelling matches in his 50s"

[3.0] "Fucking Rat Boy. Terrible in the ring, no promo to speak of, lives off of his chicken shit heel tactics and his status as Misawa's friend; which make even matches with the very best boring affairs. He may be partially a victim of Misawa's patronage as much as he benefitted from it but no. Fuck him. Fuck Rat Boy. Kobashi should have chopped his head off."

[9.0] "This guy being a former GHC Heavyweight champion will never not be funny to me. But yeah I love Ogawa, he really does have great psychology in his matches. Like others said he's not a high spot type of wrestler, I think if you're a really nerdy wrestling fan who appreciates a story in the ring rather than move move move move you'll like Ogawa."

[8.0] "Ogawa's a required taste even for the fan who prefers more technical, psychology based matches: he's not exactly astounding appearance wise, most of his earlier work wasn't particularly good (unless he was in a tag match where his limitations could be covered by better and more experienced workers) and for a junior heavyweight, he doesn't have a high flying moveset or a gimmick that makes him stand out. What Ogawa IS good at exactly is his underhanded tactics and mastery of surprise pins and counters, being able to pull out wins from nowhere and forcing his opponents to work around his style, which has led to some pretty fun matches. Ogawa's sense of ring psychology and cleverness often addresses a criticism that wrestling itself gets a lot, namely how those working within often do things or act in a way which is unrealistic or completely illogical. In this sense, Ogawa's ability to wrestle a more realistic style: that is, cheating when he can, focusing on trying to get a quick win at any point of the match rather than working random holds for 15+ minutes is a breath of fresh air. His workrate also in his prime was very impressive, being able to work a range of different matches at multiple different levels, even the main event. Of course, I would argue that Ogawa is at the point where he should be retired, if only because his current work is a lot more inconsistent and he doesn't quite have the same energetic flow he used to have. That being said, he's still a solid wrestler, with a unique style that cut past all of his contemporaries at the time."

[10.0] "A truly unique case in the puro scene. Brought up during a time when the style was moving away from strong technical wrestling and to a more hard hitting style. He was never going to bring the same level of intensity as a Misawa or a Kobashi, but they were never going to bring what Ogawa brought either. Possibly the most intelligent wrestler ever, he has the perfect character for his style and never, ever differs from his classic strategy, which sees Ogawa attack a body part, cheat when the opponent tries to fight back, then fluster them until you catch them in a mistake. It's a simple style, but elegantly performed by the master. I think anyone who has followed his career for an extended period of time can really appreciate the different things he brings to the table, and his matches are always a breat of fresh air when compared to the spot heavy Junior style of other promotions. 10/10"

[8.0] "Once one has accepted what Yoshinari Ogawa is not, they can start to appreciate what he is. No, he's not an era-defining talent as a junior (especially if you're trying to compare him to the juniors in contemporaneous New Japan). And he doesn't measure up to the Four Pillars, Akiyama, or probably even to the cream of the first-gen NOAH crop (Marufuji, KENTA, Sugiura, peak Morishima, etc). I'll also concede that he took a while to get good. But he became a fantastic worker in his own right, with a great character. I'd even argue that his time in major programs in the late 90s and early 2000s added color to the proceedings in a way that another hypothetical workrate legend wouldn't necessarily have (though this is the key to understanding why he got so much crap from the Western puro fandom, which was not the case for AJPW/NOAH's domestic audience). And while I understand that part of the resentment against him is due to him ending Akiyama's first GHC reign, the failure to push Akiyama properly is not something I am going to blame on Ogawa, because the problem was bigger than that. I might be only giving him an 8, but this is as reverent an 8 as one can give. ZSJ is correct to have spoken so highly of him."

[4.0] "Yoshinari had to have had blackmail material on Misawa or someone else high up in NOAH. He was light years away from being good enough to get the kind of push that he did."

[8.0] "Ratboy is underrated his GHC heavyweight title reign was one of the best decisions in NOAH"