Animal Hamaguchi

[7.0] "As a wrestler, Animal Hamaguchi did quite well in the role he occupied as a solid midcard hand and tag team specialist. While my rating is only about his own in-ring work, his contributions to the business as a trainer are also worth mentioning."

[10.0] "Just to get it out of the way, Hamaguchi's contributions to wrestling through his training are basically enough to warrant at least a 7. He's had a hand in shaping a number of genuine legends (Takagi, Otani, Omori, Hidaka, Nanae, etc), and there's very few Hamaguchi trainees I'd call genuinely bad. The fact he's been able to output such an insane talent pool is worth tremendous praise, but his actual in-ring work is usually given significantly less attention. That's not to say he's a bad wrestler though, because in my opinion he's one of the most enjoyable midcard guys of the 90s. His Animal Elbow is genuinely the greatest running elbow drop of all time in my opinion, and his Samoan Drop just might be the best one outside of Umaga's. Everything he did had such an insane amount of energy to it, really making all of his matches just a fun watch. His work in the 70s and 80s is also really damn good, with him working with a similar amount of energy but at a much higher level in terms of card position. His tags with Choshu in AJPW were great, and definitely worth seeking out. Overall, Hamaguchi is a great pro wrestler who filled his role perfectly, and his work outside of the ring has turned him into a legendary figure for good reason."

[10.0] "Tag specialist and the best independent trainer Kojima, Otani, Omori, Takagi, Naito Bushi, Evil and more! Simply brilliant and deserve my 10!"