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| Party on, Manami Photo Credit: Leslie Lee III/DDS |
Manami Toyota celebrated 25 years as a professional wrestler in September. I know, I know, it's pretty late to note that fact, but a) I'm notoriously slow on the draw on happenings in Japan, and b) it was just brought to my attention by Dirty Dirty Sheets, which by the way, I'm thrilled to death has returned to posting on a regular basis. Anyway, more than a few people (like DDS editor Leslie Lee III and Chikara booker Mike Quackenbush, for example) consider her to be the best of all-time. I'm not one to argue with minds like that, especially when I've been only been exposed to such a small sample size.
However, I have had the privilege of seeing her live five times, and all five times, I was left with the impression that I just watched a master at work. Specifically, there was the match against Madison Eagles at what I consider the finest single show I've ever been to, Chikara King of Trios '11, Night 3, that I thought was just fantastic. More than 25 years in the biz, and she's still among the best in the world... that's something to be extremely proud of.