And Outshines Cena, HBK and Hogan on RAW

WHOA.

I never believed it.

I never would have believed it.

Here is the RAW Recap via The Observer:

The show opened with a great video package on the Shawn Michaels turn. They

then went to Carlito’s Cabana. Carlito introduced Michaels, but got Chris

Jericho instead. Jericho claimed he upstaged Carlito last week, and would do

so again this week. He said Michaels would be his guest instead. They argued

on and on about who has the better talk show, which was annoying. Carlito

called Jericho boring and fat. Jericho called himself Chris Canadian Cool

and Carlito Sideshow Bob. Jericho’s mic work was better than it’s been in a

while. Jericho introduced Michaels, but instead got Roddy Piper. Piper said

he’s the only original, and neither of them would interview Michaels. He

said he would provide the answers, because Michaels would be in Piper’s Pit.

This was a nice payoff to the annoying talk show bickering, and it was smart

to draw out the Michaels interview.

 

They aired a package on the WWE trip to Japan, which was usual made WWE look

like a big deal. Chris Masters beat Tajiri with the full nelson in a brief

match. There were light ECW chants. Backstage, Edge, Gene Snitsky and Lita

re-watched their wedding for God knows what reason, and once again showed

the Matt Hardy tease. The story line is that Snitsky has a foot fetish and

Lita offered her feet to him if he helped Edge in his match with Kane. What

low brow crap. They showed HHH leaving the Cell, and presented it in a way

to elicit sympathy. They are teasing a face turn, whether or not they

execute it. I just hope they don’t make a face look like an idiot trusting

HHH. They said they don’t know when HHH will be back, and Ross said we will

see a new HHH.

 

Shelton Benjamin beat Carlito via countout. Carlito talked about Carlito

being the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time, which was

preposterous even for a heel commentator. Carlito worked over Benjamin for a

while. Carlito got a near fall with a DDT, and Benjamin got one with a neck

breaker. Carlito rolled up Benjamin with the tights, but Benjamin kicked

out. Carlito used a superplex for a near fall. Carlito brought in the title

belt but it was removed by the referee. Benjamin hit a Samoan drop and

kicked Carlito to the outside. Carlito had the chance to get back in, but he

grabbed his title and left. This was slightly better than the previous bouts

between these two, but still rather boring. The finishing sequence

demonstrated a serious problem with WWE style. The wrestlers are only

allowed to use a small set of moves, and very few of them are taken

seriously at all as finishers by the audience.

 

Backstage, John Cena and Eric Bischoff got into an argument. Cena came out

and said he was having a bad day, with Bischoff and Jericho causing

problems. He told Jericho to come get some, but Bischoff came out. Bischoff

threatened to throw his weight around, and Cena threatened him back. Jericho

came out, and Bischoff announced Cena vs. Jericho for SummerSlam. Jericho

said Cena cheapens the title, and he doesn’t deserve it. Jericho said he

would recreate himself, but Cena told him to get off his own dick. Cena

ended up giving Bischoff the FU. Jericho isn’t in Cena’s league on the mic

in 2005. The interplay between Bischoff and Cena was very good. It’s really

bad that they are sticking Cena in a midcard feud for SummerSlam that will

likely be positioned fourth or fifth from the top.

 

The diva search segment sucked again. They cut the girl who is a wrestling

fan. They had a talent competition. Much to my surprise, most of them had no

talent whatsoever, other than stripping. The one exception was the girl who

did gymnastics. Christy kept making these phony positive remarks about the

idiotic routines, which was really irritating. If I wanted this sort of

thing, I could have a much better time at one of LA’s 8,000 strip clubs.

This is just pointless, time-wasting crap. Look, Vince McMahon masturbating

on the air would draw good ratings. So would Vince Russo setting himself on

fire. That doesn’t make those good ideas.

 

Kurt Angle held another Kurt Angle Invitational. His challenger was Matt

Striker, who claimed to be Matt Martel from New York. Angle identified him

as Striker, and noted he claimed to be from Philadelphia previously. He

called him a liar, and they played up Striker’s story. Striker lasted to the

end, but got tapped with the ankle lock in the last second. This was a cute

usage of Striker. After the Boogeyman gimmick flops, maybe Marty Wright can

team with Striker. Hell, they can bring in Sam Hoger and recreate the six

man tag titles.

 

They showed Edge coming to the ring backstage when Matt Hardy jumped him and

ran off. They played it like a shoot, and the announcers no-sold it. They

ran a vignette for the Boogeyman character, which is a blatant, obvious

rip-off of a mediocre B-movie few people watched. I hope they reached an

agreement with the producers of that movie, or they are going to be losing a

lawsuit. It might be understandable if they picked a decent gimmick to

thieve. No pun intended.

 

Kane beat Edge via DQ. Snitsky attacked Kane on the outside just moments in,

and they brawled into the crowd. Matt Hardy then jumped Edge in the ring,

while security tried to pull him off. He called Edge Adam, promised to make

Edge and Lita’s lives miserable, and said WWE can kiss his ass. He

referenced ROH on the air as they tried to pull the mic from his hand. They

then arrested him. A segment of the crowd was into this, but it was clear a

lot didn’t know what was going on. There are definite pros and cons to this

angle. It’s at least interesting and different, and makes for an intriguing

feud. I like the occasional angle that is portrayed as not part of the

regular show. On the other hand, it’s kind of hard to recreate the Pillman

angle ten years later. Wrestling is so different. The fans that know what is

going on don’t buy it as a shoot, and the others don’t know what’s going on.

 

Piper’s Pit with Shawn Michaels saw Piper give Michaels the microphone.

Michaels, wearing a prominent cross around his neck, said he has always

tried to give people something they won’t forget. He said he decided to

sacrifice himself to give the fans what they wanted, which is one more Hogan

match, against Michaels. He challenged Hogan for SummerSlam. Piper said

Michaels still hadn’t answered why he did it, and said he is ashamed of

Michaels. Michaels acted guilty, and wouldn’t answer. Piper told him not to

walk away, and called him a coward. Michaels gave Piper the superkick. We’ll

see where they are going with this. It still has a lot of potential. Thus

far, I’m not sold. This seemed like one of those lame “greater glory” feuds

I hate, where wrestlers do what they do just for the sake of having a match

rather than out of a more organic motivation. Of course, just because the

Michaels character said he did this for the sake of having the match doesn’t

mean that is the case. There is still time for Michaels to reveal his real

motivation, whether it is jealousy, arrogance or contempt. It was a great

idea to have Piper out there, because he made the segment much more than

Michaels.

Intresting. Very Intresting.

Hardy goes to ROH, where Danials is trying to defend ROH after the total coniption withe the ROH title with CM Punk still in not willing to defend. There is still a chance Hardy goes to TNA with there PPV, and then we have a situation where Danials will have to calm Hardy down and show him his true nemsis... Then we have Tito Oritz would love nothing better than to kill Edge (i.e. Edge's Wife is Ortiz's sister) after this indsent.

So you have ROH, TNA, UFC all having a intrest in this storyline- making sure Edge gets whats coming to him. And WWE has to defend (i.e. No sell) this? WOW. Heyman knows how to stir up a hornets nest. Period.

But this was one hell of a work. And made RAW better than it was...

Saturday at 8, we will have the results of Smackdown. But friday I will have more news dealing with the ROH situation with the Title, One week away from the Big AJPW/NOAH match between Misawa and Kawada.

But I have some major sad news to report. REALLY Sad news.

Tokyo Broadcasting System reports that Shin'ya Hashimoto has died at the age of 40. The official report from Tokyo Broadcasting System is that he died of a brain hemorrhage in Yokohama city hospital on Monday. The news is just breaking and people are in a flurry in Japan to try to find out more details. It's literally a headline story in every newspaper publication in Japan (Nikkan Sports, Yahoo/Sports Navigator, Yomiuri Sports, Sankei Sports, Daily Sports, etc.).

 

Nikkan Sports reports that Hashimoto's family lawyer will have an interview with the press later tonight. The news report states that Hashimoto's death was sudden. Hashimoto's birthday was July 3, 1965, in Gifu Prefecture (near Nagoya). His last wrestling match was on 8/31/04 in Morioka at Iwate Prefectural Gym, teaming up with Yoshiaki Fujiwara against Shinjiro Ohtani & Takao Omori.

 

Sankei Sports reports that one estimate about the collapse is that it took place at 8:55 AM and that a 119 (Japan code for calling an ambulance) took place. At 10:30 AM at the hospital he was dead.

 

Writer Tarzan Yamamoto talks about how he found out the news on Hashimoto's death. It's actually in a very similar manner to how I found out. Yamamoto said that once all the Japanese writers and reporters started spreading the word of Hashimoto's death, the main rumor was that Hashimoto was suffering from heart problems (arrythmia). Jimmy Suzuki shares his personal thoughts on Hashimoto's death by talking about some of the good personal encounters he had with the man. Sports Navigator (Yahoo) got comments from Yoshihiro Takayama about Hashimoto's death. Takayama was ironically giving a speech at a Tokyo university on top athletes/health and he indicated that he had been told of a rumor about Hashimoto's death before the speech. Takayama said that he had waited for Hashimoto's rehabilitation to work out so that the two could have a singles match. It was in August 2004 in which Takayama suffered a stroke after having a crowbar-style slugfest with Kensuke Sasaki in Osaka. Takayama made a warning about the health of pro-wrestlers and MMA fighters in the industry. This wrestling fan comments on what the impact of Hashimoto's death will likely be. The fan makes an interesting comparison to America and how wrestlers have been dropping dead due to steroids, drugs, and side effects from long-travel. The Japanese wrestling business cannot afford to lose any more of its credibility, especially on medical-related issues if it involves guys being in the ring if they have no place being in one.

 

Nikkan Sports continued their excellent coverage by getting comments from several people in the wrestling business who worked with Hashimoto. In a press interview, assembly member Atsushi Onita carefully chose his words in commenting on Hashimoto's death. Onita told reporters that Hashimoto was a supporter of structural reform of the pro-wrestling industry in Japan, and that Hashimoto was a very important person for advancing reforms in a sluggish pro-wrestling business. Assembly member Hiroshi Hase (of Kanazawa) was in shock over the death, saying that it was unbelievable and that he was saddened by the death of someone that he had known who had 20 years of experience in the wrestling business. Masa Chono made very brief comments about Hashimoto's death, stating that the death was tragic but that Hashimoto really enjoyed life. New Japan consultant (and former wrestler/CEO) Seiji Sakaguchi said that he thought it was unbelievable that Hashimoto had died, but that he had known of Hashimoto having high-blood pressure for a long time. Sakaguchi was very quiet in answering questions. Sakaguchi was quoted in Sports Nippon as saying that he was there for Hashimoto's wedding and that he sympathized with Hashimoto's health condition because he felt that the ZERO-ONE project caused mental and physical stress. SN said that Sakaguchi made his comments with red eyes. Naoya Ogawa was visibly shaken up and crushed by the news of Hashimoto's death. Ogawa had an interview at DSE's Tokyo office at 8:20 PM on Monday to talk about the situation. He stated that it was unbelievable because his death happened so suddenly. Ogawa didn't want to believe it until he confirmed the reality with his own eyes. He's taking the death very hard and is also in denial about it, trying to call Hashimoto's cell phone. DSE big boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara talked about Hashimoto being one of the key cornerstones for Hustle and that he had recently spoken to him about making a return to the ring after the shoulder surgery. Of course, after saying that, Sakakibara started talking about the upcoming Hustle shows on 7/13 at Fukuoka International Center and 7/15 at Osaka Prefectural Gym. Sakakibara said that he would make sure that Hashimoto's "dying wishes" would be fulfilled on the shows. The boss stated that he would help out with funeral arrangements if needed.

 

Ichiro Furutachi, the TV-Asahi wrestling announcer who did announcing in the 80s for New Japan (including Hashimoto's Young Lions matches), went on TV-Asahi Monday and gave a very moving tribute. Furutachi said that Hashimoto "died in the line of duty" and that he represented the true meaning of heat for fighting.

 

Thats...messed up...utterly messed up.