With little else to talk about right now, I've decided to amuse myself, and maybe others, by saying what I really think about certain people. If you'd like to be one of these people then post here, and I'll tell you what I really think of you.
Yea, Though I Walk Through The Valley Of The Shadow Of Suck – Part 1
The Undertaker and Kane v Kronik – Unforgiven 2001
Oh dear lord, did this much suck the big one, and then some. Here we have a match where three of the four involved are infamous for their reluctance to sell, with the fourth participant, Kane, getting caught up in the Vortex Of Suck™ that is Undertaker, Brian Adams and Bryan Clarke. There is absolutely nothing resembling psychology in this match, with the closest thing to it being how one team will punch and kick a lot, then the other team will punch and kick a lot, before the other team resume punching and kicking, and the whole thing starts again. All through the match, it becomes glaringly obvious that nobody wants to sell anything for the other team, with the closest thing to selling being each guy nodding their head in a rather vigorous manner when getting punched. What non-punch/kick moves that did happen were executed with such sloppiness and hesitation that you’re left thinking that either this match was called on the fly, and so nobody was prepared for what the other guy was going to do, or that if it was laid out beforehand, everyone developed a case of amnesia and forgot everything that had been agreed to. There were a number of blown spots, leading credence to the theory that the match was laid out beforehand but that those involved just forgot what had been planned, some of which were blown with such mind numbing incompetence that, not only were you left with no clue what was meant to happen, but that those involved were so bamboozled that they had no idea on how to salvage things. Case in point being Adams hitting the ropes and Undertaker swinging for what I guess was meant to be a clothesline or something, but he barely grazes Adams, who then turns around to face Undertaker before they stare at each other for what seems like an eternity before Undertaker decides to just punch Adams, and get on with things.
The biggest example of someone being totally unwilling to sell came in the big babyface comeback, if you can even call it that, being that the babyfaces sold almost nothing, when Undertaker was punching away at Kronik. While Bryan Clarke took a flatback from each blow, the best we got from Bryan Adams was on instance of him going down to one knee for a bout two seconds. Apart from that, he wasn’t selling a thing during the big comeback, which takes away whatever fire this suckfest of a match was able to generate in the first place. Eventually, Adams deigns to sell a punch by dropping to the mat and rolling out to the floor, on his feet, naturally, leaving Clarke to get chokeslammed by The Undertaker, which mercifully ends this absolute travesty of a match.
Afterwards, Steven Richards, who was managing Kronik, but played no part during the match, goes to hit Undertaker with a chair, but gets caught, and winds up getting chokeslammed by Kane, and takes the best bump of this whole sorry mess, and sells that one move better than anything ‘sold’ during the match itself.
This match was without a doubt one of the very worst matches of all time. It was horrible beyond belief, and after watching it you can understand why Kronik were summarily given the boot the next day. I don’t know if the star rating scale goes as low as is needed to rate this disaster, but if it does, the rating this abomination would get undoubtedly be minus infinite stars.
What Will Eddie’s Death Ultimately Mean To Wrestling?
A man, a father, a loving husband who brought great love and compassion to his family, is dead. To his family he was everything and he gave them the kind of joy that you only get with true love and warmth. Eddie Guerrero was a tremendous human being who overcame incredible odds, fought back from death, and achieved the pinnacle of his profession, professional wrestling. That was Eddie Guerrero the person, and he will be missed by so many, but most of all he will be missed by his family.
But the point of this is not to talk about what Eddie’s death will mean to his family, because no article, no words, no book can truly convey the kind of loss that they are feeling right now. This is about what Eddie’s death will mean to wrestling.
Nothing.
Eddie’s death will ultimately mean nothing to wrestling. No, I’m not talking about the people in wrestling who knew Eddie and were friends with him. I’m talking about the business of wrestling, and, as sad as it is, as tragic as it is, Eddie’s death will mean absolutely nothing to wrestling. When Art Barr, Eddie’s best friend, died as a result of mixing drink and pills, it was sad, but it meant nothing to the wrestling business. When Brian Pillman, who also died in Minneapolis, and died to continued drug use despite having know heart problems, it meant nothing to the wrestling business. When Louie Spicolli, also a friend of Eddie’s, died from taking too many somas, it meant nothing to the wrestling business.
Why did those deaths, and the deaths of so many others like Rick Rude, Hercules, Curt Hennig, Larry Cameron, and even Eddie’s own near-death experience, end up meaning absolutely nothing to the wrestling business? Because despite all of the pain, misery and sadness that all of those deaths and many like them caused, the same roads that led to those deaths end up getting taken by wrestler’s time and time and time again. Even though the results of the excess and the partying and the drinking get seen for all to see, people in wrestling still end up taking that road, and inevitably some of them, a lot of them even, wind up at the same place as all those other names I mentioned; dead.
Why would someone keep doing all that stuff, the drinking, the pills, the steroids, if they have seen first hand what the effects of that insane lifestyle can be?
There are a lot of reasons. A lot of it comes from the sense of invincibility that wrestlers have, where they think they can’t get hurt and that even if they do get it hurt it was just a fluke and it wouldn’t happen again. A lot of it comes from flat out denial. A total refusal to acknowledge that the drugs drink and steroids had anything at all to do with the deaths. Even when Davey Boy Smiths autopsy showed that heavy long-term steroid use was a factor in his death, there were people who refused to accept that, and insisted that steroids had nothing to do with it. Can steroids kill you? If you abuse them they can, and Davey abused them, but even though they knew this, some people still refused to accept that steroids had anything to do with his death.
But the biggest reason, the underlying reason is far more simple, but very chilling. The wrestlers know all the side effects, they know the reactions, and they know what can happen when they take any one or even all of these substances and do so for an extended period of time. But the wrestlers take them anyway.
Why? Because it’s demanded of them. It’s demanded of them by promoters and by fans. The promoters demand it because they don’t think the fans will accept a top guy if he’s not got a certain physique, the kind that you can’t get without taking some kind of drug, and also because they themselves have the mindset that only big tough guys can be top guys. The fans demand it because they’ve been conditioned to accept that only big guys with that drug-aided physique can be top guys. The promoter knows what it takes to get that kind of body, and a lot of the fans also know what it takes to get that kind of body. They should, having watched big guy after big guy from their childhood drop dead in their 40s. But despite all of that, despite knowing what it takes to get that kind of body and knowing the consequences, neither the promoter nor the fan cares enough to do anything about it.
If the promoter cared enough to do anything about it, he would stop giving the top spots to guys that, has hard as they’ve worked out in the gym, have had to take drugs to get that freaky physique that the promoters have demanded and obsessed about for years. The promoter would stop determining the top spots based solely on size and muscle mass, and would base it on talent and ability. But he doesn’t. Why? Because he cares too much about making money and filling his bank account to care about the cost that the wrestlers he hires and employs go though to get the kind of look that demands and wants out of his top guys.
If the fans cares enough, they’d stop cheering and popping for every jacked up stiff that walks out from the curtain. They’d stop looking all awestruck at the latest generic looking stiff to get brought up from training about two years too soon. Instead, they’d start cheering and popping for the guys who have trained, who do work hard in the ring, and who can wrestle for more than five minutes before becoming exhausted. Once in a while the fans do act like this, and someone like Chris Masters, even with a non-stop nine month push, gets treated with silence. But that is the exception, and not the rule. For every Chris Masters you get a Batista, and all credit to Batista for working out, but we all know what he’s taking to get that type of physique. Batista has torn his triceps twice, maybe three times, and only days ago tore his lat, and badly. Those kinds of repeated tears don’t happen on someone who hasn’t overdeveloped their muscles, and we all know how, why and what Batista took to get to that point. Because the promoter wants it, and because the fans cheer for it, and because Batista knows he has to take those kinds of risks to get the top spot.
Vince McMahon doesn’t flat out tell his guys to take steroids and jack themselves up as large as they can. But when you look at the type of guy who consistently gets the top spot, and the type of guy that gets called up from developmental ahead of far more talented guys, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what you have to do, because you can’t do it naturally, to get that top spot or to get called up the main roster and make the kind of money you can really live off of. Take a look at The Dicks, the recent call up from OVW. They are far from ready for prime time, and yet here they are. It doesn’t take a genius to work out why The Dicks are here, and why Johnny Jeter, Matt Capotelli, and other more talented and more ready, if maybe not totally ready, guys are still toiling away in OVW.
It’s because the promoter demands it. It’s because the fans, fans like you, demand it.
So, when the next Eddie Guerrero happens, and you’re asking why it happened, do two things; take a look at Vince McMahon, and then take a look in the mirror. Because you’ll be looking at the two main causes, whether you can accept that or not.
If you were a wrestler, would you:
Prefer to be given only finish and call everything else in the ring? Lay the entire match out beforehand?
Like to have your promo's scripted? Or just be given a couple of bullet points, and wing the rest?
Blade often? Only on occasion? Would you rather never blade at all?
What style would you like to wrestle? Why would you prefer to employ that particular style over others?
Refuse to take certain moves? Only take them when working with certain wrestlers?
Are there any match types you'd like to wrestle in a lot? Some match types you'd rather never have to work in?
What style of normal match would you like to do the most? Would you prefer to sell or to dominate? Would you like to do long matches?
Would you like to have a manager or valet to work spots with or would you rather just do it all yourself?
Are there some types of angles that you would refuse to do? Some types of angles that you'd love to do?
What promotion would you like to work for the most? What promotion would you hate to work for?
What promotion of the past would you most liked to have worked for? What promotion would you have hated working for the most?
Any wrestlers today that you'd like to work against? Any you would avoid working against at all costs?
What wrestlers from the past would you like to work against? What wrestlers from the past would you not want to work against?
With the glut of fantasy booking that has started springing up all over the place lately, I've decided to take a crack at it. I'll be taking hold of the NWA starting in the middle of 1989. If you've read Loss's blog, and if you haven't I recommend you do, then you'll have read him mentioning that we batted around ideas for booking the NWA in 1989 based off of Ric Flair being able to lure away a group of wrestlers from the WWF that he was after. With Loss taking a shot at booking WCW from early 1999, I've decided to stay with the original idea of booking the NWA in 1989, and see what I can do with it.
I'll post the background to this shortly so you can get an idea of where things are going to be starting from, but things will be markedly different from how things went down in real life.
That means no Ding Dongs.
Kane vs. Kane II: This sounded interesting enough that I made the time to watch a clip of it. It was well executed, in that it played out exactly like Kane’s debut; Kane was on the verge of victory when Kane II came out, and Kane looked at Kane II not knowing what was going on. The one thing I take issue with is that the scenario as it played out made Shelton Benjamin and the IC title come off as secondary. Shelton pulled a David Copperfield when the angle started, vanishing from sight and was never seen again. If they were going to have Kane II debut in the same manner as the original, they could have at least had Benjamin drape an arm over Kane to get a win. That way, Kane II would, not only have attacked Kane and laid him out, but would also have cost him the IC Title. It would have given them more an issue to fight over, and would have done something to make the IC Title more important, because Kane would have, theoretically, been angered over being cheated out of the belt.
Kurt Angle joins ECW: Kurt Angle was vociferously anti-ECW last year, and got choked out by Tazz, so why would he join ECW and not seem to care? Would it not have made sense for him to attack Heyman on Raw or do something to show how unhappy he was with being drafted to ECW? For all intents and purposes he seemed quite fine with being drafted and was more than happy to attack Mick Foley, a staunchly pro-WWE person, someone who Kurt should have sided with? I’m guessing, or more accurately hoping, that this gets explained in some fashion, but I won’t hold my breath.
Sabu vs. Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight title at One Night Stand: It doesn’t make sense on the surface for Sabu to get a World title shot at One Night Stand. After all, from a storyline standpoint he’s done nothing to earn a title match, and Sabu isn’t winning the belt which means he’s very likely losing, and given that Sabu is meant to help ECW draw on the road beating him clean, one assumes, on his first match back as part of the reformed ECW seems totally illogical. However, from an ECW standpoint, it makes sense. It will be the first ever match between a guy who helped make ECW what it was and is an ECW legend, and a revolutionary high flyer who ECW fans loved and took to their hearts. For ECW fans it won’t be the result that matters, as long as Sabu looks competitive against Rey before getting beaten. What matters to them is that they are getting to see a historic match and as long as the match isn’t terrible, I think ECW fans will be happy enough with seeing history being made, rather than unhappy with Sabu losing.
ECW’s summer tour schedule: WWE announced a 28-date ECW for the summer, from June 20th to August 15th. In the fifteen days from July 15th to July 30th, there will be ten dates, with two runs of four dates in a row. As anybody who worked the ECW style can tell you, working that style more than twice a week takes its toll, not only on the body but on the quality of work. If this ECW is, from a style and presentation standpoint, going to anything close to how the original ECW was, then the guys on the roster are going to hurting a hell of a lot when the summer tour ends. ECW was more than just crazy brawling and weapon shots mixed in with insane spots. It was also a work ethic that made the wrestlers give everything they had for the fans, night in and night out, and, for better or for worse, that isn’t something a wrestler can do for four nights a week and expect to have prolonged career. And that’s just for the ‘safe’ WWE style. Imagine what’s going to happen if the new ECW style is even half as punishing as the old ECW style, and you’ve got wrestlers working that style four nights a week, combined with the oft-forgotten work ethic that prevailed in ECW? We could see a lot of battered and broken people come August 15th, and if you think the Smackdown roster was decimated in recent weeks, you might have only seen the beginning.
Smackdown’s depleted roster: Smackdown has had the heart of its roster taken out in the last two weeks. They’ve lost Kurt Angle, JBL and Chris Benoit, with Angle having been drafted to ECW and JBL and Benoit out with injuries, and neither man coming back any time soon. Without those three, the top pushed talent on Smackdown is Rey Mysterio, Mark Henry, and The Great Khali. Mysterio has been so badly booked the last three months that his value is nowhere near what it could or should be. Henry, despite what the bandwagon fans think, is below average at best. And despite the awe some people have for Khali, he is not someone you can build around or really push in the main event scene; he’s just far too terrible and limited in the ring. What can Smackdown do? Well, Batista is coming back in about six weeks, which is good for Smackdown, but carries a lot of risk. Batista is coming back around two to three months sooner than his doctors advised him to just after his surgery, which, combined with his fragility, means that building around him, which seems a forgone conclusions, is an incredibly risky thing to do. When it comes to elevating people, the most likely candidate seems to be Mr Kennedy, who is a favorite of Vince’s. Kennedy is good enough in the ring that he could be carried to something decent, has a great presence and is very good on the mic, which are two factors that WWE favor over ring skills, so he has a great shot at getting pushed enough to the point that, eventually, he’ll catch on as being credible in the main event scene. Apart from Batista and Kennedy, and Batista won’t be returning for over a month, who else is there for them to elevated on Smackdown? Booker T? He’s a good hand, and makes for fine midcard comedy, but he doesn’t have the talent or credibility to play any more than a passing role in the main event.
Matt Hughes destroys Royce Gracie: I gave Gracie far too much credit when I thought he’d last at least a round or two with Hughes. Matt just took Gracie apart and it was clear from watching the PPV, and the reaction on various MMA boards and sites, that a lot of people were genuinely shocked and stunned that Hughes, not only beat Gracie, but did so in such a decisive and dominating manner. As much of a legend as Gracie is, it was clear before he even stepped into the octagon last Saturday that time has passed him by and he is no longer this great fighter who can beat just about anyone. Times change and standards improve, and Gracie, while a great fighter for his time, just doesn’t have the all-round skills to hang with top fighters like Matt Hughes. Gracie is great at Gracie Ju-Jitsu, but just being great at one discipline, even Gracie Ju-Jitsu, isn’t going to cut it today, and Royce showed that his time has long since gone.
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, the Guest Booker DVD series is an idea from KayfabeCommentaries.com where a famous wrestling booker is given the task of booking a promotion or territory form a particular point in time with the idea that things didn’t go exactly as they did in real life and this is their chance to show us what they would have done were they the booker at the time. The first DVD featured Kevin Sullivan booking the WWF from the beginning of 1984 but without Hulk Hogan, who, for whatever reason, never made the big jump from the AWA. It’s a very interesting DVD, and while some of Sullivan’s ideas seem a little out of place, it still gives a lot of insight into the mechanics of booking and you still learn a lot of things about the art of booking that you probably won’t learn anywhere else.
With the concept explained, I shall set out the premise for this version of ‘Guest Booker’;
In late 1989, the NWA and Ric Flair were making a play to bring Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard back to the company, but there was also talk of other names being courted to jump to the NWA, specifically Ted DiBiase, Curt Hennig, Bret Hart, The Rockers, Roddy Piper and Randy Savage. Of course, we know that the only name of all of those to jump was Arn Anderson; Blanchard would have jumped back too but Jim Herd withdrew his contract offer when Blanchard failed a drug test for cocaine, which coincided with his decision to leave the WWF.
But what if Tully and Arn had returned together? And what if those other big names had made the history altering decision to jump to the NWA as well?
How would things have changed?
Well, this is where Guest Booker comes in, and I book the NWA in the 18-month period from August of 1989 to the end of 1990.
There will be six main parts:
NWA World Heavyweight title
US Heavyweight title
World Tag Team titles
US Tag Team Titles
World TV Title
New Arrivals (with each one talked about individually)
It wound up being a pretty long deal, so I'll be posting it in sections to make it easier to digest.
Constructive comment and debate over the decisions made is welcome.
TEW Demo
TEW 2005 Update #3
Download and install the demo. Download the update, and use the .exe it gives you to replace the .exe that came with the demo.
The demo version allows you to play for one month of in-game time per save slot.
Has anyone else downloaded this yet? What do you think of it? There will be real life data coming out in a week or so, in time for when you can purchase the game, though you can still use the real life data with the demo version. If you buy the game and are going to use the real life data, what will you be trying to do? Improve WWE? Make TNA a true player?
HTQ reviews Joe versus Kobashi
Without a doubt, this was the most anticipated match in ROH history, and the most high profile match in Independent wrestling for a very long time. On one hand, you had Samoa Joe who is the biggest star in ROH; no disrespect to Daniels. Danielson and others, but you can tell the fan consider Joe the top name, even if he doesn’t have a title. On the other hand, you have Kenta Kobashi, who is a bona fide legend in wrestling, and is one of the biggest names in Japanese wrestling both, past, present, and, as long as his knees hold up, the foreseeable future. When the match was first announced, there was an immediate buzz among hardcore wrestling fans over the first ever meeting between two of the most physical and hard hitting wrestlers in the sport today. People were speculating that this match had the potential to be a Match of the Year candidate, with some even saying there was no chance this could be anything less than great.
With such high expectations going into this match from the fans, and both Joe and Kobashi putting a lot of pressure on themselves to produce the quality of match to meet those expectations, would the match live up to all of that?
The match itself had an electric atmosphere from the beginning, as you would expect, with the fans going crazy pretty much from the moment Joe was introduced and not stopping. The people were standing all through the introductions, and I don’t think anyone sat down until the match actually started. Kobashi, like every major Japanese name before him in ROH, got the streamers, but in a nice touch, was announced the same way he would be in Japan, with his surname first.
The match began with the expected slow build, and the first key spot was in the first minute or so when Joe knocked Kobashi down with a running elbow and Kobashi rolled to the floor and backed up. That one spot, as simple as it sounds, immediately put Joe over as a threat to the legendary Kobashi because Kobashi showed that he had to take a second, back up, and think things over before trying to take on Joe again. The building of Joe continued for the early portion of the match, with Joe knocking Kobashi to ringside area again and busting out his huge top dive and sending Kobashi, and himself, crashing into the security barrier.
While on the floor, Joe pulled out his Ole kick, but in a nice twist, when he tried a second one, Kobashi blocked it and even did what was almost a mini-Ole chop, which I know I got a kick out of and the people liked a lot.
Back in the ring, the match was very physical, and we got the expected, and much anticipated, exchange of chops, which was typically hard hitting. It didn’t look contrived and was as well executed as the same style of exchange would be between Kobashi and Kawada, and even looked like that in some ways but with Joe getting knocked down at the end of it which is usually the Kobashi role. The chops themselves were as hard hitting as you would think, with Joe’s shoulder looking all bruised up.
The match itself played out as a NOAH match, with lots of hard strikes and blows, and a few very dangerous looking suplexes, all of which Joe took. Don’t think, though, that Kobashi didn’t take his lumps, because he took a powerbomb into the turnbuckles, which he sold tremendously.
The finish itself saw Joe survive a brutal looking sleeper suplex, a series of stiff looking backhand chops, before finally going down to Kobashi’s signature running lariat.
The fans popped for the finish, and as both Kobashi and Joe were down from exhaustion, which wasn’t selling after that match, they gave both men a standing ovation. When Kobashi and Joe were finally able to get to their feet, Kobashi walked over to Joe and offered a handshake and both men shook hands a big ovation and more applause from the fans, who hadn’t sat down since match had finished. And they still wouldn’t sit down, and both Kobashi and Joe got standing ovations as they, slowly, walked to the back, with Kobashi walking off ahead of Joe, and the final scene was of Joe at the curtain turning around to acknowledge the reaction of the fans who were still applauding him.
So, after all of that, does this match live up to the hype of being *****?
Absolutely it does. This match was a tremendous story. As much of a star as he is in ROH, Kobashi is a much bigger star on an international scale, but Kobashi completely put Joe over as his equal and made Joe look like he was on the same level as him, and that Joe more than belongs in the same ring as Kobashi. Had this match been Joe’s debut in NOAH, I guarantee that Joe would have been made an instant superstar with how Kobashi sold for Joe and put him over, because this match was the perfect example of putting a guy over huge while still winning. This is the kind of match that a superstar should have with a guy when he wants to make him a star. I can’t emphasize this part enough. Everything else about this match was off the charts; the selling was great, the facial expressions were tremendous and added so much to the story, the fans were so into this it was insane. This match is easily the ***** that people have said it was, and I cannot encourage people enough to watch this match.
HTQ on the Fantasy G1 Climax Tournament Finals
The 2005 G1 Climax Tournament concluded today at Sumo Hall, and we saw one of the most heated and brutal finals of recent times.
1. G1 Climax - Block A 1st place vs. Block B 2nd place: Toshiaki Kawada beat Shinsuke Nakamura in (17:22) after a backdrop driver
Another dream match here with the battle of former promotional aces, with Kawada a multiple time holder of the Triple Crown, and Nakamura the youngest ever IWGP Champion. Nakamura wrestled the match of his life as he fought his heart out against the outsider Kawada as he sought to make it to his first G1 final, and Kawada fought back just as hard to make to the final and it was Dangerous K who came out on top after stunning Nakamura with a high kick before hitting Nakamura with a brutal looking backdrop driver to get the pin and make it to the G1 finals.
2. G1 Climax - Block A 2nd place vs. Block B 1st place: Kazuyuki Fujita beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan in (14:03) after a running knee strike
Fujita and Tenzan went at it at a fast pace, looking to end the match as soon as possible and enter the finals as fresh as possible. Tenzan was looking to avenge his IWGP title loss last month while Fujita was aiming to maintain his perfect G1 record. Tenzan gave Fujita a hard battle, and almost pulled off the upset with a TTD, but Fujta came back with a wild knee that winded Tenzan and Fujita quickly followed up with a running knee that hit Tenzan right on the jaw and knocked him flat out. Fujita got the pin almost casually, and Tenzan needed to be carried out of the ring.
3. G1 Climax - Final: Toshiaki Kawada beat Kazuyuki Fujita in (12:15) after a high kick
Sumo Hall was loud and heated for this one, as New Japan ace Kazuyuki Fujita took on the outsider Toshiaki Kawada and both men were coming in with perfect records. The match itself was brutal and intense and a lot of fans said it resembled more of a fight than a wrestling match as Fujita and Kawada kicked and punched away at each other with few actual wrestling holds used. Neither man was going down easily here, and when Fujita finally knocked Kawada down to one knee with a straight right, it left Kawada with a glazed look in his eyes. Fujita looked to capitalize on that with his running knee but Kawada fired back with a spinning back kick, that staggered Fuijta a little, and Kawada was able to knock Fujita down to his knee with a spinning back fist. Kawada waited for Fujita to get to his feet before hitting him with a stiff shotgun lariat, which staggered Fuijta again. A second shotgun lariat staggered Fujita a little more, and a third shotgun lariat put Fujita down to one knee again. Kawada then pulled Fujita up to his feet and hit him with a big high kick to the back of the head that put Fujita down and Kawada covered and got the pinfall win to end a brutal but exciting match, and even though Kawada was an outsider on New Japan turf, the Sumo Hall fans still gave him a standing ovation.
After the match Kawada told the Sumo Hall fans that he was honored to have been invited to participate in the G1, and that he felt his winning the tournament was an endorsement of opening up promotional borders. Kawada spoke highly of Fujita, and said he was his toughest oppponent of the G1, and may have even been his toughest opponent ever. Kawada said that after beating Fujita to win the G1 tournament he now wanted to go after the IWGP title, and that he looked forward to meeting Fujita at a future date for the IWGP title. Fujita responded by telling the fans that Kawada was a very tough foe, and that he looks forward to defending the IWGP title against him. Fujita finished by saying that he knows New Japan has a Dome event coming up, and that he thinks the perfect main event would be Fujita taking on the 'Dangerous Outsider', Toshiaki Kawada, which drew cheers and applause from the crowd, and both Kawada and Fujita received a standing ovation from the Sumo Hall fans as the 2005 G1 Climax Tournament drew to an emotional close.
What I'd like to see you do is put together a card made up of the best matches that you've ever seen. That means no fantasy booking; just matches that you yourself have seen and think highly of. There are a few rule to follow:
1. The card should have seven to nine matches, depending on their length.
2. No wrestler can wrestle on the card twice UNLESS he is part of a gauntlet match that you really want on there. Round Robin tournaments don't count as a gauntlet match, so you can't put the Christopher Daniels/Low Ki/American Dragon trilogy from the second ROH show on and then bring all three back later for singles matches.
3. There can be only one world title match, one world tag title match, etc. So, if you are defending the Triple Crown, do not have Ric Flair defend the NWA title on the same show. However, if you have a U.S. tag title match, you can still have a world tag title match. Keep in mind that regional titles such as Memphis's Southern title and Mid South's North American title should be considered World Titles since they were the top belt in their respective promotions.
4. Please explain why you picked the matches you did and why you placed them in their position on the card.
5. You can choose from any promotion in the world. If you want a AAA match next to a WWF match next to a New Japan match, so be it.
6. Try and list the date and location of the match. If you just put down Misawa vs. Kawada, they've wrestled each other so many times that we won't know what match you're talking about.
7. Make it good
I shall be posting my dream card later. Credit for the idea goes to goodhelmet.
Benoit v Regal looked to be good stuff, but the flow was definitely ruined by the two commercial breaks, so it's hard to give it a fair rating. It didn't appear to be at the level of their 2000 Pillman Memorial match, but when I get to see the match without the breaks, I'll be able to say for sure.
The happenings surrounding the debut of The Boogeyman at a Smackdown house show were classic divine comedy. God had to be pissing on the gimmick, which I think most of us mere mortals will be doing should it hit the screens without some serious tuning up.
The initial buy rate for Vengeance is in, and it's a little higher than the first returns for ONS. Naturally, there are those who are gloating over this, which is both missing the point, and missing the fact that it didn't blow ONS out of the ballpark either, which is what I'd be most concerned about. I also note that some people are saying that the Cena v Jericho v Christian match drew more of the buys than Hunter v Batista. Quite how a major gimmick match between two of the biggest stars of Raw, complete with main event level push, would draw less buys than a match between one star and two perennial midcarders, without the main event level push, I don't know, but I guess you can't expect everyone to know what they're talking about.
Speaking of which, someone expressed the opinion that WCW having the better in-ring quality than WWE is a myth. I guess they missed out on WCW having a far better undercard than the WWF for 1996-1998, and some undercard matches that blew away most of what the WWF was putting out, even some of Bret, Shawn or Austin's work at some points. Main events aside, which were usually average to horrible, WCW had a more well-rounded and far superior in-ring product to WWF for a most of the late 90's.
I'm really looking forward to NOAH's Dome Show this weekend. The undercard is a little hit-and-miss, but the top three matches should be something else, if only from a spectacle standpoint. Naturally, the most anticipated match is the main event, with the first Mitsuharu Misawa v Toshiaki Kawada match in over five years, and their first ever match in NOAH. This will easily be the most heated and intense match of the night, and with Kawada being a free agent, I'm betting on him to get the win over Misawa, to set up a run against the top NOAH names, likely ending with a singles bout against Kenta Kobashi. Kobashi will be taking on Kensuke Sasaki, in what will be a hard hitting match, and I expect Kobashi to get the win there.
ROH shouldn't have used Matt Hardy. Their fanbase should be smart enough to know that Hardy is just there to further a WWE angle, and that is the absolute last thing that ROH fans want to see at an ROH show. And then to have Hardy make Chris Daniels tap out? Even with the interference of CM Punk, that one was just stupid. Sapolsky must be smoking something low grade if he agreed to that, not least because Daniels isn't getting his heat back from Hardy.
Cena v Edge? Cena right now, but I don't see him sustaining this level of overness for more than another year or so, so I would keep Edge strong so he can be the one to get the belt after. Of course, that doesn't take into account the fact that Hunter will want the belt not long after he returns, regardless of how over Cena is at the time, and so Edge is unlikely to be more than a transitional champion, like everyone not named HHH, even if he should be more.
For fun, and to spark debate, I’m going to be watching all the matches on the Best of Japan 2002 - Complete Edition tape set, that you can find at Highspots. It’s a 13-tape set of 86 of the best matches in Japan in 2002. I’ve watched the set once, so I’ve already rated the matches, but for this venture I will be giving a new rating, and I shall also list some of the key moments and spots in each match. The recaps won’t be too in-depth; there are 86 matches to go through, and if I went into too much detail I’d never get finished in a timely manner. However, I will give enough notes so that, hopefully, a lively and intelligent debate will be sparked.
For a couple of the matches, such as Osamu Nishimura vs. Manabu Nakanishi from the G1, the tape set has the clipped version, but if I have the complete version of the match in question, then that is the version I shall be recapping and rating.
This is how Volume One looks:
I’ll review the matches in Volume One, list the matches in Volume Two, review those matches, and then do the same thing for each of the subsequent volumes.
Block A has: Jushin Liger, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Giant Bernard and Manabu Nakanishi
Block B has: Yuji Nagata, Naofumi Yamamoto, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Makabe and Koji Kanemoto
I think the semi's will be Tanahashi beating Kojima and Tenzan beating Nagata to set up Tanahashi beating Tenzan so he can avenge his loss in the 2004 finals. Liger and Yamamoto seem destined to be the respective jobbers of their groups, though one or both might get an upset win, with Yamamoto's being probably over Makabe or Kanemoto and Liger's possibly being over Nakanishi.
With Vince McMahon’s obsession over Montreal, do you think that even if Bret was somehow convinced to do an angle to put a storyline closure to it, that we’d see an end to the obsession? Would Bret getting involved and Vince getting, in his mind, the absolution he’s been after for so long, finally put an end to Vince bringing Montreal up every year?
HTQ Op Ed #1: Some People Are Really Stupid
I know it’s not the most groundbreaking of statements to make, but some people out there are really stupid. What makes some of those people even more stupid is that they should know better. Yet, for some reason, they don’t. Why are these people stupid? Well, these people think it’s a good thing that Vince McMahon, for the Raw ‘Homecoming’ on the USA network is flushing away around $7.5m in potential PPV revenue for a show that, A: Is part of a ratings war that he was going to easily win anyway, and B: No matter how high ratings are, he won’t make any money from them, because USA handle all the ad work, so they keep any and all ad revenue that Raw makes.
“Ah, but if he can get lots of people to tune into Raw, then Vince can get them to buy the PPV/PPV’s”
Nice idea in theory, but let’s look at it a little closer.
In one night, Vince is giving away, on free television, the returns of Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan and Mick Foley. Now, each of those people could have had their returns built up for a PPV, the revenue of which Vince would be able to keep, and Vince would be looking at three different sets of bumper PPV buys. Now, he won’t get any of that. Sure, he can bring each of them back for a PPV later on in the year, but the return on bringing them back won’t be anywhere close to what it could have been, because he just gave away their return on free television. It’s like trying to sell a thirsty man a glass of water when you’ve just let him drink his fill for free. He’s had his thirst sated, so why should he want to pay for more water?
Looking at the in-ring action of Raw, it’s just as bad, because they’re giving away a Kurt Angle versus Shawn Michaels Iron Man match, and a Matt Hardy vs. Edge Loser Leaves Raw ladder match, both of which could have drawn some PPV buys, on separate PPV’s or one loaded one, and the company could have made some serious coin off of them. Now, if they bring Kurt vs. Shawn back to PPV at any time before the end of the year, it won’t mean as much because people just got it for free on television.
As for getting the people to pay for the PPV’s, they’re giving away a (over)loaded night of Raw for free, so to get people to shell out $34.95 for a PPV, it would have to be something really special after the Raw, and what are the chances of that happening, especially after giving away for free the kind of stuff that people would have paid for?
HTQ on the G1 Climax Tournament Finals
This years G1 Final was a heated and emotional night, but not necessarily one where sensible booking was prevalent.
Was there a reason Nakamura wasn't allowed to last any longer? It's not like they were short on time with the other G1 matches...
I can see the logic in Fujita going over, but can anyone tell me the logic in beating Kawada in little over six minutes? Was it really necessary to beat Kawada like this? Could they not have gone at least over ten minutes? Beating Kawada like this, especially when you add in the loss to Kashin, just diminishes from the lustre of any future Kawada matches, no matter how the NJPW devotees over at SSS try to spin it.
And this lead to the final of:
Yes, they built up Fujita all tournament only to have him go down to Chono in less than ten minutes I'd like someone to explain the logic in this. I know people are going to bring up the Hashimoto factor, and Chono did reference him in his post-match micwork, and it makes for a great sentimental story, but if the negatives outweigh the positives, as they usually do in this situation, then business has to win out over sentiment. People will also bring up the brutal nature of Fujita's match with Kawada, but like with Kawada in the semi's, couldn't Fujita at least have gone past the ten minute mark?
Overall, this years G1 Tournament has been a mix of hot matches, heated crowds, and some really baffling booking. As you might expect, the NJPW devotees over at SSS are praising the G1 up and down, calling it tremendously booked, and saying it's one of the best of all time; one even tried to justify the booking by saying, and this is a verbatim quote:
He quickly got support from another devotee:
Yes, there are other levels than just good or bad booking, but why should I have to accept booking that is just 'acceptible'? Why shouldn't I expect and demand, from the most prestigious tournament in wrestling, good booking? Why shouldn't I expect or demand booking that makes sense? New Japan is one of biggest promotions in the world, and the G1 Climax Tournament is the most prestigious tournament in wrestling. Anything less than spot-on booking doesn't cut it, and is far from 'acceptible'.
And I'll finish up my G1 entries with this gem from the boys over at SSS:
Yes, poor booking doesn't matter. Bet you didn't know that, did you?
HTQ on Jeff Jarrett regaining the NWA Title
Last night in Windsor Ontario, as part of a combined TNA/BCW show, Jeff Jarrett beat Raven to win the NWA Title.
And with that, TNA’s hopes of growing into something special were dashed.
Let me make it clear that I don’t hate Jeff Jarrett. I think he’s a decent worker, with decent charisma, and decent mic skills. And therein lies his biggest problem; he’s thoroughly decent, and there is absolutely nothing about him that stands out in any way, shape, or form. He doesn’t have anything mind-blowing in his repertoire, he doesn’t have superstar charisma, and he can’t talk people into the building. While it would be great for someone to have all three of those qualities, the top guy of a promotion, especially a promotion that is about to make a bid to go national, should have at least one of those qualities, and Jarrett has none of them.
So, why is someone with such obvious flaws at being a top guy being promoted as a top guy?
Well, TNA was originally formed by Jeff’s father, Jerry Jarrett, and the idea behind TNA from day one was for it to be a vehicle to push Jeff as a superstar. Now, Panda Energy might be the majority stockholders, and Dixie Carter, who is a member of the family that owns Panda, might be taking a more hands-on approach to running TNA, but make absolutely no mistake about the fact that Jeff and Jerry still have considerable stroke. The title change should be proof enough of that. The booking in TNA is currently being done by a committee headed by Scott D’Amore, with Mike Tenay, Jeremy Borash, Dixie Carter, and Dutch Mantell. The astute amongst you will note that nobody on that list has the last name Jarrett, and might think that means he has no say over creative. Think again. Jeremy Borash and Dutch Mantell are long-time friends of Jeff, with Dutch even being brought as booker for a brief period last year. You can bet that Borash and Mantell are going to be looking out for Jeff’s best interests, whether or not they are TNA’s best interests.
So, why is someone with such obvious flaws at being a top guy being promoted as a top guy?
Panda Energy and Dixie Carter are believers in star power; the more power the better. They want to have a star on top of TNA heading into their debut on Spike TV, and in their minds Jeff Jarrett is the biggest star they have. The problem with this mindset is that, outside of Jeff and his immediate family, nobody considers Jeff a star. When Jeff was last seen on national television he was on top of WCW when it was getting some really shitty buy-rates and was slowly and painfully dying right before our eyes. Even before that, Jeff was last seen in the WWF doing a midcard gimmick of hitting women over the head with guitars, and his last night saw him get pinned by Chyna. Jeff had been in the WWF for two years at that point, and it wasn’t until he got the women beating gimmick that he began to get even the smallest glimmer of a reaction from the fans, and that was with his best friend at the time, Vince Russo, being heavily involved in the creative direction of the WWF. Quite how someone who has had such miserable and pathetic run on national television can be seen as the guy to take TNA to the next level, I don’t know.
The first show of the new ECW era was one of the most terrible, mind-numbingly awful one-hours of television in modern wrestling history. Looking like something excreted by Vince Russo after he overdosed on LSD and caffeine pills, the first television show of the ‘new’ ECW could only have been put together by someone with absolutely no real clue or concept about what made ECW. It was filled with the kind of craptacular gimmickry that was the hallmark of Vince Russo, along with the kind of nonsensical booking that is fast becoming, if it hasn’t already, the hallmark of Vince McMahon.
Within ten minutes of ECW restarting, their two faces, Paul Heyman and Rob Van Dam, had been outsmarted and reduced to second tier status in favor of the WWE top guns John Cena and Edge. Edge and John Cena almost effortlessly outsmarted and beat up Heyman and Van Dam, before casually walking off without a care in the world, while the rest of the ECW locker room sat in the back with their collective thumbs up their collective asses. In the next segment, which literally reeked of WWE, we had Heyman rallying the troops and declaring that if WWE wanted to bring it to ECW then ECW would bring it to WWE this Monday on Raw. The first plug for a television program on the new ECW and it’s for a WWE show. How about doing something to plug for the next ECW show first?
The first match featured what could go down as one of the worst gimmicks of the modern era but, fingers crossed, will only go down as a one-night aberration the likes of which harkened back to the dark days of WCW, as The Zombie came shuffling out, complete with powered face and B-movie make-up. When The Zombie started grunting, literally, into the mic, I was immediately reminded of an Ultimate Warrior promo. Thankfully, it didn’t last long as The Sandman, along with his generic sounding uninspiring music, came out and caned The Zombie into the ground and quickly pinned him. That right there was the first ever match of the ‘new’ ECW era, and I don’t think I could come up with a worse way to debut the new ECW.
One of the worst booking disasters was having Paul Heyman announce that, due to what Cena and Edge had done to Van Dam, he was scrapping what he had planned for the rest of the show and was instead going to have a battle royal, under extreme rules, with the winner going on to face John Cena at Vengeance, and also coming with the rest of the ECW crew to Raw on Monday. The major problem I had with this was Heyman shouldn’t be coming on and telling people that whatever he had planned was scrapped because of what WWE did to them. It makes Heyman and ECW look like pussies for caving in to the attack from WWE and abandoning whatever plans he had made to make the first ECW show memorable for the fans. Shouldn’t the ECW fans be dictating what happens on ECW television? Heyman should have come out and said to hell with WWE, we’re doing what ECW does best, an extreme battle royal, and I’m now going to put the winner of that battle royal into a match with Cena at Vengeance. That way, you still wind up with a match set for Vengeance, but it puts ECW over stronger because they’re not seen to give in to WWE and are also the ones forcing Cena into a match. The way it was played out made it appear as if ECW were doing something they didn’t really want and they came across all the weaker for it.
I don’t know what the point of Kelly was. A big-titted bleach blonde bimbo teases going naked and then does one of the least-sexiest dances I’ve ever seen and doesn’t even show her ass or full breast, after two big teases that she would. I know nudity wasn’t going to happen, and the people at home probably knew that the nudity was never going to happen, but why on earth do you tease something like that that you aren’t going to deliver? Sure, it might peak the ratings for one segment, but it sure will leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.
And what was the deal with that vampire-like clown half-way through the show?
Heading into the debut of the ‘new’ ECW, some people were holding up hope that it would at least show that WWE Creative were capable of trying something new, and that there might be a light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel. Instead, we got all that worst elements of WWE, WCW and ECW rolled up into one giant piece of shit.
Lately, I’ve been watching:
The 16-man elimination match and the mask vs. mask main event from the CMLL PPV from March of 2000. The elimination match is good, and there are some typically goofy Lucha holds in there, but it could have been better with about five minutes cut off. The mask vs. mask match still holds up, and is great stuff with one of the most emotional reactions you’ll ever see. When Villano III loses and is being interviewed in the ring prior to taking his mask off, you see shot after shot of various women in the crowd crying at the emotion of Villano losing his mask.
The Ted DiBiase shoot. I’m half way through it, and it’s been really interesting stuff. Ted talks about growing up being a ‘wrestling brat’, liking it to being an army brat where he moved constantly. He talks about breaking into the business, working in Japan, and jokingly bemoans about being in line to be UWF, NWA and WWF World champions and then losing out at the last minute every time. He talks about The Ultimate Warrior, and says he told Vince it was a mistake putting the belt on Warrior and that he said to Vince that he thought he was creating a monster, with Vince saying that “he’ll be my monster”, and that he could control him. DiBiase says that when Warrior tried to demand more money at Summerslam in 1991 he could have walked up to Vince and said “I told you”.
The Super Junior Cup 2nd Stage which was held in WAR. I’ve watched the first four matches so far, and they’ve been ok. The best on has been Ultimo Dragon versus Shoichi Funaki (yes, that Funaki). The opener was a comedy match between Damian and Gran Naniwa, with Damien being is usually funny self by calling out spots from people like Choshu, Muta, Tenryu and Kudo.
HTQ’s Thoughts on September 20th
I didn’t see a lot of Unforgiven because I had almost no interest in watching anything the card had to offer. What I did see wasn’t that great, but there were a few standout moments, primarily Matt Hardy’s huge legdrop off the top of the cage onto Edge. What was so great about it was that the fans went apeshit for the move, when it’s really a very low-risk move in terms of the chance of something going horrible wrong. It used to be that the fans didn’t care if you came off the top of anything, let alone a cage, unless you were doing 720 degree splashes through flaming tables. Now, they’ve been reeducated to pop for something as basic as a legdrop, even if it is being done off the top of a cage.
Other moments worth paying attention include the great sell-job done by Hurricane off of the DDT he took from Trevor Murdoch, which had one writer to the Observer website so incensed because he thought it was real, and he got so irate over that. Also fun to see that Christ Masters isn’t over a lick still, even though he’s been given the superpush this year.
Vince’s reaction to the upcoming ‘war’ between him and Spike/UFC is funny for all the wrong reasons. To combat this new threat, which is more a creation of his own mind than anything else, Vince is going back to the past by bringing back every big name he can get, and almost every minor name he can find or drag out of rehab. Instead of building to his future by building up his future superstars, Vince is instead relying on names from the past to help fight the problems of today. That never works, and while he might get a one-night boost out of this, it’ll do nothing positive in the long-term. He could have brought the names back one at a time to get a big boost out of each of them, but because he’s panicking, Vince is going for one huge boost all at once, and in doing so is throwing away whatever he could have got from those names by showing a little patience. It’s strange how Vince shows patience when you’d think he’d panic, and panics when he can afford to be patient.
Raw was Bore again. I recorded it, went through it in about ten minutes, and I don’t appear to have missed anything. We get Cena vs. Bischoff for the Raw ‘Homecoming’ on October 3rd. What a classic that’ll be(!). Can we stop with Renegade Babyface versus Evil Owner/GM part 324,686,939?
The prospect of Brock Lesnar wrestling for New Japan appears to be far more likely than a lot of people think. On The LAW radio show this weekend, Dave Meltzer speculated that WWE legal got word that they would likely lose the case, which they probably would have done had the case gone to trial, which would greatly weaken the strength and validity of the no-complete clauses in their contracts, and so are going to try and avoid that by making some sort of settlement to allow Lesnar to wrestle in Japan. If this happens, and Meltzer does think we’ll see the proposed Brock Lesnar vs. Masahiro Chono vs. Kazuyuki Fujita ‘dogfight’, and Lesnar is given the green light to compete for New Japan, then it could be that big boost the company needs to really turn the corner.
Any guesses for the finish to that match?
Over in TNA, they’re about to debut on Spike with Jeff Jarrett as their world champion. Yes, they put the NWA belt back on Jeff. Dixie Carter recently gave a lengthy interview about the company, and her remarks about Jeff make it clear as to why he got the belt, and it might not be entirely down to how he works in the ring. I don’t know what the relationship between Jeff and Dixie is like, but she came across as a lovestruck teenager in the interview when talking about Jeff, and it confirmed once and for all, as if any but the blindest of people had any doubt, that TNA will forever be a vehicle to push Jeff Jarrett as the superstar he can never be.
Ring of Honor changed their main title too, as Bryan Danielson is the new ROH Champion, taking the belt from the soon-to-be departing James Gibson last Saturday night. This is a great move by ROH, because they’ve put the belt on arguably their best in-ring worker, and it’s on someone who isn’t set to leave anytime soon, which I think took away from the recent title reigns of CM Punk and Gibson. The only question now is how long of a reign Danielson will have. With the short title reigns of Punk and Gibson, I’d like to see Danielson keep the belt until at least the end of the year.
HTQ on Day Six of the G1 Climax Tournament
Day Six saw a collection of hot matches, and an upset match in terms of length, as Masahiro Chono just destroyed Kendo Kashin.
Tanahashi gets a forfeit win due to Makabe's injury, though he wrestled a non-tournament match later in the night, beating El Samurai.
Goto getting the expected win over the young Yano.
Nakamura continues his march to the Block B finals. By not keeping the match short, this means that Nakamura's injury from yesterday was a badly thought out work, or legit, and Nakamura wasn't that injured after all.
One of two matches on Day Six that I can't wait to watch. I was hoping for another time-limit draw between these two, but I'll settle for almost 20 minutes.
I can see them wanting to keep Chono strong, but if Kashin was going to go down in less than two minutes, did he have to beat Kawada? Couldn't Kashin have beaten someone else, allowing Kawada to lose to someone else? I'd rather Kawada only have lost one match, but if the intricate booking required two losses, I wouldn't have had one of those losses be to Kashin if he was going to get squashed like this.
The most interesting match of the night in terms of style and content, this is the second match of Day Six that I cannot wait to see.
No surprises here, with Tenzan keeping his campaign strong and looking set for the finals.
Reportedly a hard fought match in the main event, Fujita gets the win, but Nakanishi not being a pushover.
After Day Six, this is how things look:
Block A:
1. Hiroyoshi Tenzan [8]
2. Masahiro Chono [8]
3. Toshiaki Kawada [8]
4. Yuji Nagata [6]
5. Osamu Nishimura [5]
6. Minoru Suzuki [5]
7. Tatsumi Fujinami [4]
8. Kendo Kashin [4]
Block B:
1. Kazuyuki Fujita [12]
2. Shinsuke Nakamura [11]
3. Manabu Nakanishi [8]
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi [7]
5. Yutaka Yoshie [4]
6. Tatsutoshi Goto [4]
7. Toru Yano [2]
8. Togi Makabe [0]
Block A is a three-way tie between Tenzan, Chono and Kawada, with it being virtually certain that two of the three will be in the finals stage. Nagata has a theoretical chance of making it to the finals, but it would require him to beat Tenzan, Chono to lose to Fujinami, and Kawada to lose to Nishimura on Day Seven. Block B is headed by Fujita and Nakamura, who are both assured of entry into the finals stage, with the only question being which one will finish the group stage on top, and that question will get answered in two days as they face off in the main event of Day Seven.
Day Seven will see Yoshie v Goto (Yoshie to win), Suzuki v Kashin (Kashin to win), Tanahashi v Nakanishi (Nakanishi to win), Nishimura v Kawada (Kawada to win), Fujinami v Chono (Chono to win), Tenzan v Nagata (Tenzan to win), and Fujita v Nakamura (Fujita to win).
For predictions, I was 6-1 on Day Six, which is a return to form after a bad Day Five.
HTQ on Day One of the Fantasy G1 Climax Tournament
The G1 Climax Tournament opened up in the Fukuoka International Center before a hot crowd, and they saw some hot matches, and the debut in the G1 Climax Tournament of Toshiaki Kawada.
1. G1 Climax - Block B: Yutaka Yoshie [2] beat Togi Makabe [0] in (9:02) with a diving bodypress
Yoshie getting his tournament off to a winning start, putting his girth to good use to put away a spirited Makabe.
2. G1 Climax - Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi [2] beat Toru Yano [0] in (8:21) with a dragon sleeper
One of the new generation, Tanahashi begins with a strong win, beating the hot prospect Yano with a tight dragon sleeper.
3. G1 Climax - Block A: Minoru Suzuki [2] beat Osamu Nishimura [0] in (16:15) after a Gotch Piledriver
This match was an exhibition of MUGA~, with Suzuki and Nishimura trading holds and counters throughout the match. Suzuki wins after a unique counter to Nishimura's head stand.
4. G1 Climax - Block A: Tatsumi Fujinami [2] beat Kendo Kashin [0] in (10:04) after a cross armbreaker cutback cradle
Kashin was cocky in this one, and the experienced Fujinami made him pay, by countering a cross armbreaker into a modified cradle, and scoring somewhat of an upset win.
5. G1 Climax - Block A: Yuji Nagata [1] v Masahiro Chono [1] went to a draw (30:00) when the time limit expired
Two of the main names in New Japan battled to a time-limit draw, in a match that really had the fans fired up. Nagata had Chono trapped in the Nagata Lock III right at the end of the match, but Chono was able to hold on until the bell, and both men walked away with one point each.
6. G1 Climax - Block B: Kazuyuki Fujita [2] beat Tatsutoshi Goto [0] in (3:16) with a knee strike
This was a short and brutal match, totally controlled by Fujita, who ended it with a hard knee to the chest that left Goto needing help to leave the ring.
7. G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura [2] beat Manabu Nakanishi [0] in (14:59) with a shining triangle
MMA v Amaresu here, with Nakamura and Nakanishi using contrasting styles in their encounter, and it was Nakamura who won out, hitting a heavy knee on Nakanishi which left him open to the shining triangle.
8. G1 Climax - Block A: Toshiaki Kawada [2] beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan [0] in (24:34) after a high kick
The most heated match of the night saw Dangerous K, Toshiaki Kawada, make his debut in the G1 Climax Tournament, against Hiroyoshi Tenzan, who was looking to win his third G1 in a row. Tenzan fought hard, but his quest for a third G1 win started on a loss, as Kawada stunned Tenzan with a pair of shotgun lariats, before finally ending the match with a high kick to the back of the head. After the match, Tenzan needed help to make it back to his feet, but was still able to shake hands with Kawada.
After Day One, the Block standings look like this:
Block A:
1. Toshiaki Kawada [2]
2. Minoru Suzuki [2]
3. Tatsumi Fujinami [2]
4. Yuji Nagata [1]
5. Masahiro Chono [1]
6. Hiroyoshi Tenzan [0]
7. Osamu Nishimura [0]
8. Kendo Kashin [0]
Block B:
1. Kazuyuki Fujita [2]
2. Shinsuke Nakamura [2]
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi [2]
4. Yutaka Yoshie [2]
5. Manabu Nakanishi [0]
6. Toru Yano [0]
7. Togi Makabe [0]
8. Tatsutoshi Goto [0]
There isn't a great deal to comment on so far with only one day gone, but I guess Kashin losing to Fujinami was a bit of an upset.
Day Two takes place the day after tomorrow, with the first of back-to-back cards in Osaka, and this is what we'll see:
NJPW, 8/6/05 (Samurai! TV)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
1. G1 Climax - Block B: Yutaka Yoshie vs. Toru Yano
2. G1 Climax - Block B: Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Manabu Nakanishi
3. G1 Climax - Block A: Osamu Nishimura vs. Kendo Kashin
4. G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Togi Makabe
5. G1 Climax - Block A: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Toshiaki Kawada
6. G1 Climax - Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki
7. G1 Climax - Block A: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Masahiro Chono
8. G1 Climax - Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
The main event sees Hiroshi Tanahashi take on Kazuyuki Fujita, which is a rematch from last June when Fujita beat Tanahashi to win the then-vacant IWGP title. Former IWGP tag team champions Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono collide, and that is a rematch from the group stage of the 2003 G1. Yuji Nagata takes on Minoru Suzuki which is the Day Two match I'm most looking forward to seeing. The most heated match, though, is likely to be Tatsumi Fujinami taking on Toshiaki Kawada, which is also a match I can't wait to see.
Booker T and Batista: It's a work, pure and simple. It's a nice attempt at trying to make a worked angle seem legit, but it's a complete work. That said, at least the resulting matches should be good.
Rey's treatment as World Champion: This has been beyond horrible. Since just after the Rumble, they've booked Rey just about as bad as you could possibly book him, especially as World Champion. He was mistreated before winning the belt, being beaten just the week before he won the World title, and since then Rey has, outside of the match with Randy Orton, been treated as an absolute joke. His size, which can either work for him or against him, has been handled in such a terrible manner as to make it an albatross around his neck rather than something positive, which it could be. Worst of all, he's been beaten clean two weeks in a row, by Mark Henry and Khali, and it's not even to set up a future title match; Rey's next PPV match is against JBL, and he's set to lose the belt there. There is no way to credibly rationlize or justify this treatment of Rey, but it is, sadly, no real surprise when you consider the size-obsession of those in charge of the decision making process in WWE.
The 'return' of ECW: With this being a pet project of Vince McMahon, this has every possible chance of succeeding, because Vince is going to put all of his muscle behind this. That said, there are still a number of pitfalls for this project to overcome. First of, while Vince is apparently gung-ho on making this work, the biggest chance of this succeeding is also the biggest chance it has of failing, and that's Vince. For this to work, and I mean really work, Vince has to think differently to how he usually does, but with the same drive. He can't use a WWE mentality to make an ECW (even if it's really WWE) project work. For this to work it has to be different to WWE in as many ways as possible, or it'll just be a third WWE brand, and we don't need another one of those.
The return of DX: This will be a short-term success, but it has no legs if it's the same DX from 1997-1999. That DX, as hot as it was, was part of another era, and to try and recreate that success today just isn't going to work. Shawn and Hunter reuniting will get a huge pop, but for this to have any kind of lifespan, it cannot be the same DX it used to be. For one thing, Shawn and Hunter are now nine years older and, lilke it or not, fans just are not going to be buy people of their age, almost 41 and 37 respectively, playing at being young punks. They could, just about, get away with it during the original run of DX, but it simply won't work now. I'm not even sure Shawn and Hunter can pull of being punks, at least in the vein that the DX name will warrant, but for it to work they need to make this version of DX a new variation on an old formula, but if it's the same DX as from 1997, then it will be a bomb.
Jim Cornette in TNA: This could have been a good thing for TNA, but it won't be, simply because for TNA to really hit it big the kinds of changes needed, especially taking Jeff Jarrett out of the main event scene, just are not going to happen. Whatever positives could come from Cornette being part of TNA are going to be more than offset by the simple fact that until TNA makes fundamental changes; Jeff Jarrett out of the main event scene, a proper structure to the X-Division, more believable/realistic angles,etc, then nobody who gets brought in is going to have any kind of long-term positive effect. TNA needs to change from within before it can anything other than a distant, and cold, #2.
Matt Hughes versus Royce Gracie: I think time has passed Royce by, and unless something very strange happens, then Hughes is going to win, and I would not be surprised if he mananges to get Gracie to tap out. Hughes in the 4th round by stoppage.
TUF 3: Ken Shamrock is either a bad coach or he's been edited to look like one. Add to that the fact that Tito is so much better at coaching, and Ken comes across as a behind-the-times old guy who seems unable or unwilling to modernize his approach to teaching the fight game.
