Ranking Who Was Really The Man In Wrestling Every Year 1990-2020
30. 1991 - Jumbo Tsuruta
1991 was Jumbo Tsuruta's last, awesome stand as the Ace of All Japan Pro Wrestling.
That isn't a synonym from the rolodex; Tsuruta, a super-worker of a colossus, inspires genuine astonishment when revisiting his work. He was at once a spectacle and an artist, and this was the year he roared back after Mitsuharu Misawa had first threatened to displace him in their seminal - mythical - 1990s singles clash.
Throughout '91, Tsuruta worked a gruelling schedule in front of several packed houses amid a renaissance he spearheaded. His work was outstanding on a psychological and practical level; he was the old, reflexive heel slapping down the emerging generation in classic tags that readied them all for the resulting decade of prosperity.
A sensational year-long final jump scare, Tsuruta was at once the Ace, the grizzled old lion, the monster heel and the sentimental favourite in the worker's promotion rising sharply in popularity.