10 Good Matches From Wrestlers You Wouldn't Expect
8. John Laurinaitis (w/ Dr Death Vs. Misawa & Kobashi) - AJPW 5 Stars
Current wrestling fans might know John Laurinaitis as the croaky-voiced populist tyrant who besmirched the WWE in the early 2010s. As general manager of Raw, he inflicted a clutch of insipid promos and one of the worst matches WWE ever produced onto the jaded fans.
But before he was People Power John, he was Johnny Ace, and travelled to Japan where on behalf of AJPW he had two matches so outstanding Dave Meltzer bestowed the sacred five stars upon them.
One of these, from March 1995, saw Johnny Ace sporting a resplendent blonde mane and tagging with 'Dr Death' Steve Williams against Mitsuhara Misawa and Kenta Kobashi. It's 30 minutes of four huge stroppy men beating the hell out of each other without letting up, with Johnny Ace looking just as dangerous as everyone else, all in front of a Japanese crowd increasingly vocal in their reactions to every hefty impact.
Fun bonus fact: Laurinaitis' perma-strep throat voice was allegedly created when Steve Williams treated his larynx like a squeeze toy.