Joseph and Colette Discuss Fuji Yamada vs. Mark "Rollerball" Rocco

Two greats! And we don't mean "Joseph and Colette!"

BIG EGG is back, baby. Thanks for enduring our brief hiatus, and welcome back to the newsletter. This week, we took on Fuji Yamada vs. Mark “Rollerball” Rocco, a match between two pioneering junior heavyweight wrestlers at extremely different points in their career, with Rocco arguably in his prime, and Yamada a few years from truly taking off as Jushin “Thunder” Liger, who became a generational icon.

Joseph: Fuji Yamada, Rollerball Rocco, and the Breadth of the Wrestling World
Colette: Fuji Yamada and Mark “Rollerball” Rocco Define the Future of Professional Wrestling

Next Week: This week, we talked about a young Fuji Yamada learning on excursion. Next week, we see Jushin "Thunder" Liger on top of the junior heavyweight world, defending his spot as the best in Japan against an outsider: The Great Sasuke. It's a semi-final match from the legendary Super J Cup tournament here on BIG EGG!

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Colette Arrand
We intentionally did a couple of theme months, then somewhat inadvertently put together a junior heavyweight month, I think because either I or you suggested a match the other hadn’t seen and got excited. This one was my suggestion, and I wound up doubly excited about it because, if I recall correctly, you haven’t seen much World of Sport. I’m not an expert or anything, but I’ve been fortunate enough in my life to see Johnny Saint and Johnny Kidd wrestle, and when I followed people like Chris Hero and William Regal I always watched whatever matches in this style that they’d recommend. I think it’s kinda goofy when it’s adapted to modern purposes (let the past be the past, there are no masters of these forms anymore), but when it’s done well, like here and in Vader vs. Wanz, it’s a small kick of narrative ecstasy or dismay. I don’t know if I mean to ask what your experience with this stuff is or what you think of British rounds, but I am curious as to whether or not this is territory you’re keen to continue exploring.

Joseph Anthony Montecillo
Like many fans of the US indie boom, I discovered WOS through CHIKARA bringing in the likes of Saint and Kidd to the States to basically do tributes to the style. As for the actual material itself, I have close to zero actual experience. I've seen a couple of Saint matches from this era, some rounds stuff from other European countries, but really not much. Mostly, I see it brought up in modern contexts, whether via NXT UK's flirtation with the concept or just the modern workers that incorporate trademarks of that style today. I'd say of the original stuff I've seen, this might be one of my favorites and it actually doesn't have too much of what many people would consider strictly World of Sports-style work in it outside of the rounds format. Would you say that's a fair read of it?