Top 25 Moves of DEAN MALENKO (AJPW)

The Man of 1000 Holds One of the first major companies Dean Malenko worked in was All Japan. He was mostly teaming with his brother Joe though he would have singles success, even getting a shot at the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, a title which his older brother held at one point. He started his in-ring career in Japan where he developed his incredible technical style that he is so known for. Many tours of All Japan helped him get the experience by facing some of the top wrestlers of the late 80s and early 90s. The Malenkos, as a team, faced off against the British Bulldogs, the British Bruisers, MVC (Gordy and Williams) and even the Funks at one point. They were both so technical in the ring. Chain wrestling and submission holds were a regular part of their repertoire, and everything they did was meant to look as legitimate as possible, and of course it was, they were sons of one of the toughest men in wrestling - the Great Boris Malenko. I always compared Dean to Lou Thesz in the way that they were both so serious about the business and all about the hooks and holds. After this run with Baba, he went to New Japan where he further developed his style, eventually going to ECW where he had that match with Eddie, and I guess the rest is history. Dean Malenko is one of the most incredible in-ring performers of all time, you won't find many who are better at wrestling than him. His style influenced a plethora of future wrestlers, the likes of the multiple time world champion, Bryan Danielson. Enjoy! What is funny is that of all the matches we have from his run in AJPW, or at least of the ones that were easy to find on the internet (without buying or borrowing tapes), Dean Malenko never won a match with a move. If it was him who got the win, it was via roll-up. That's why the video ends unlike my other top moves videos. Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro 0:12 - Top 25 0:38 - Top 20 1:07 - Top 15 1:43 - Top 10 2:31 - Top 5 3:30 - 1 #wrestling #alljapanprowrestling #prowrestling #topmoves #iceman