World's Worst Man

WM III is pretty much the epitome of a one match show. Steamboat vs. Savage was excellent (albeit, one of the most overrated matches of all time, and not even close to being the MOTY for 1987), and none of the rest was any good. It wasn't a bad show, because a few things on the undercard were at least average-decent. The show basically just met my minimum expecations for a big wrestling show, from a match quality standpoint. That doesn't make it a good show in my book.

Yea, I feel the same way. Blu Ray and High-Def media in general can kiss my ass for all I care, it just seems so superfluous to me. But if its success is going to drive down the price of PS3, giddyup. Although I suppose I like blu ray as far as storage goes. Being a wrestling DVD junkie, as well as a PC junkie, the 25 gigabyte disc sounds like a capital idea. The thought of high-def media replacing DVDs as far as gaming and movies go, horrifies me to no end though. Mostly because I won't be buying an HD capable TV anytime in the near future. I just don't want to have to pay extra for something I really couldn't care less about (high-def video).

That's what I'm worried about. When does the price come down, 18 months, 2 years? Isn't that about the timeframe for when PS2's price dropped? And how much did it drop anyway, $50? $100? That would take the basic PS3 price from $550 CDN to $450 or $500. Hurray

Worst G1 ever about sums it up. Unless the match quality was insanely good, which I wouldn't count on. And no Nagata vs. Kojima was mind-boggling and disappointing.

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Yea that's true. I can understand a bit of grumbling over the price (it does suck), but I guess what I don't get is the attitude of some people who are completely swearing off the system, along with the subsequent overreaction to the Wii. I mean, I'm annoyed at the price too, but I also realize that the only way to play some of these games will be to take out a 2nd mortgage and buy the system. I get the feeling that many of the people raising a big stink about it know that too.

If you're seriously asking that question, you're too lazy to even look at a list of announced titles. By the way, the 3 titles that have totally sold you on PS3 aren't even coming out this year. MGS4 Q1 07 if you're lucky. FFXIII is probably '08. You sure pegged me. Actually, the point of the question was so that I might understand why the Wii is getting this insane hype. But as for titles I've noted, the new Super Mario game will probably be good, but it's not a system seller for me. Metroid 3 I can take or leave. I'm not sold on the Fire Emblem games. And outside that, there doesn't seem to be anything to speak of, as far as concrete, announced titles go (please don't bring up Super Smash Bros). And I don't see what relevance the release dates of those PS3 games have. I never said I was going to buy on launch, and in fact, I never buy systems at launch, unless they're loaded with tons of quality launch titles (which rarely seems to be the case). The point is, Sony has a history of solid 3rd party support, and a bunch of great game series'. I certainly want to play my Final Fantasy, Gran Turismo, Ace Combat, Metal Gear Solid, Virtua Fighter and NIS games, so I'll go with the system that has them (which would appear to be the PS3). I'll probably end up buying a Wii too, because I think they'll end up with some solid exclusives as well. Whats leads me to question the Wii currently, is that I just don't get all the crazy hype the Wii is getting, considering that it seems to me that PS3 has the more impressive software lineup right now.

PS3 has MGS4, FFXIII, and Virtua Fighter 5 announced already. Those 3 games are themselves enough for me to want the system. Nevermind all the other good titles that are generally out on Sony systems (Ace Combat, Gran Turismo, etc). The Wii is just hilariously overhyped, almost as much as the Xbox 360. What good titles are announced for the system, outside of a Zelda game that will be released on the Gamecube as well? Mind you, I'll buy a Wii the second I see some significant 3rd party support. The Xbox 360 is a dirt-poor man's PC. So if you don't have a good gaming PC, I guess it's viable. Even so, if you're not interested in sports games and crummy console FPS games, it's probably not worth getting at all.

This is probably the worst booked tournament in quite some time. If the match quality isn't any good, it'll probably be the worst G1 period. It's just so mind-boggling to have Kanemoto advance over Nagata, and Tanahashi (a guy who they need to present as a solid champ) not get in. If they wanted a junior in, Liger was right there, and he happens to be more credible against the heavyweights, and seems to be a better choice all around. They also ruined the chances of maybe the only big match in the G1, that being Kojima vs. Nagata. And the likeliest outcome seems to be Kojima vs. Tenzan part XII, which I'm not looking forward to, mostly because Tenzan has been lazy, unmotivated and out of shape lately.

I just watched that part of the match again. It wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered. I think I was looking too hard to find something wrong with the match. I'll probably never be a fan of a wrestler shrugging off moves to transition (I just think there are better ways), but it wasn't badly done here. I still don't think Misawa being superior applies in that match though, because Kawada seemed to be the better man on that night, and only lost because he failed to capitalize on his chances well enough, and then Misawa busted out his super finisher. But that's neither here nor there I guess. Misawa was definitely Kawada's "better" in the grand scheme of things though.

Yea, he won the first IWGP tournament, which pre-dated the IWGP heavyweight title by 4 years. It's a common misconception that Hogan was the first IWGP heavyweight champion, but the IWGP was only a tournament before the regular championship title was introduced in 1987.

And which Japanese world title was this? Hogan never held the IWGP title or Triple Crown. Kojima held both the IWGP and Triple Crown just last year. I'd say that counts as holding two legitimate world titles. Keiji Muto and Taiyo Kea held both the IWGP Tag titles and AJPW double tag titles at the same time in 2001.

It was probably done specifically to get Kobashi over as being the toughest guy in pro wrestling, a reputation he still has today. I mean, Kobashi was like one in a million. He was incredibly talented and someone decided to book him in such a way that would cement his superman status forever. It's not the sort of thing that happened regularly, if at all, outside this scenario. Of course today, every top guy just straight out no-sells high-end offense like it's going out of style. But back in '97, that wasn't the case. So yea, I don't have a problem with how it was booked, since it was such a unique situation. Yea, it did end up being kind of pointless. The reasoning behind the strategy was sound, it just didn't lead to anything at all. I wonder if they played up any reason why Kobashi stopped the arm work. I've seen matches where a body part is worked on, and then dropped because another opportunity presents itself. Oh well, something I'll keep in mind next time I watch the match.

I think the point of the finish was that Kobashi was so dead that anything would have beaten him. As for the arm work, IIRC, Misawa's arm hadn't been worked on for something like 15-20 minutes by the time the finish came. Misawa had a lot of time to recuperate, so I don't see the arm work really being an issue. And IIRC, 10/21/97 had some straight up no-selling/delayed selling. As a matter of fact, I actually thought that match was better than 1/20/97 until that lapse in selling.

People usually don't let the facts get in the way of their arguments. With MMA, especially.

It supposedly mirrors an earlier Jumbo/Misawa match where Misawa is destroying him in the corner and Jumbo just no-sells and lariats the shit out of him, establishing Misawa as a fiery youngster, but Jumbo as still 'the man'. Now, years later, Kawada is the fiery newcomer and Misawa is 'the man'. At least that's what I've read. It DOES look silly though. Those are some of the nastiest kicks Kawada has ever delivered, and that's saying something. I've heard that as well. I don't think it's playing off the previous match per se, as much as it's just a gimmick to use in the later stages of a match to cue a comeback. Whatever convoluted reasoning someone wants to come up with (I don't mean you), I still don't dig late match no-selling, unless something happened during the match, or some common-knowledge is present to explain it.

MMA is a big reason why wrestling in Japan hit the skids. Then again, wrestling in the US hasn't been looked at as athletic competition in years, like it has been in Japan, so it might not have that same impact. I mean, I don't see any WWE fans turning to MMA because it exposed WWE as being fake. Realistically, most people watch WWE for the angles and characters. The people who actually care about wrestling quality are watching indy and Japanese wrestling. And many of those people either like MMA or differentiate between MMA and pro-wrestling. Personally, MMA can't replace pro-wrestling and vice versa. Worked fights and shoot fights are two different forms of entertainemtnt to me, and one doesn't replace the other. So to sum it up, I don't think MMA will have much of an impact on WWE. I just don't think the WWE has the sort of fans who would turn on the character driven WWE product for an athletically driven product like UFC.

Steamboat's selling of the leg in Flair & Steamboat's 2/3 falls match was lacking at various points. The execution in Toyota vs. Yamada from August 15 1992 was sloppy in certain spots. Even moreso in Toyota/Yamada vs. Kansai/Ozaki from November 26 1992, even though it was still a better match than the former. A couple of spots were missed/awkward in Misawa vs. Jumbo from September 1 1990. Nothing overly important, just something I noticed.

It sounds like you work with people who suck. Here, let my signature image cheer you up.

Misawa no-selling/fighting through Kawada's corner kicks in their 6/3/94 match. The only flaw in the match.

He was apparently a big tape junkie back in the day. But the reason he had heat with the agents was that he tended to "simulate" wrestling matches, as opposed to working them. I don't think "stealing" the moves was the big problem, it was how they were used. And while Punk's work has had the tendency to become a littled "forced", for the most part, he's pretty solid.

I can't imagine any roster being better than AJPW's in 1990, 1991 or 1992. You pretty much had 4 of the top 10 workers of all time in Jumbo, Kawada, Misawa and Kobashi. Taue would become a borderline great worker later on. Akiyama would do the same (he debuted in '92). Giant Baba was a pretty good worker during his prime. You had Stan Hansen, Terry Gordy, Steve Williams, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Kroffat & Furnas, and The Fantastics, all at least good. I've probably missed a few even still. For high-end talent, I doubt there's been better.

Whoops. I seemed to have missed it when I put together the list. I'll add it now, but it won't be very high because of the offense overkill, no-selling and wacky pacing in the later stages of the match. I used to watch WCW from early-late 90's, but I haven't seen much lately, outside of some PPVs. Everything on this list is stuff I've watched since getting back into wrestling in 2004. I didn't keep track of stuff I watched from 99-2000 (when I first became a fan of in-ring work) and stuff I watched before then, and even if I did, it wouldn't be an accurate representation of what I think now, because my methods and criteria have changed drastically.

That's pretty much a medical fact. It's why Billy Graham had liver problems. I believe high liver levels can also be due to high cholesterol or an enlarged liver (which isn't necessarily a problem on its own). Given the way pro wrestling is, I'd imagine the simplest explanation is the correct one though.

Love the generic rock music that goes along with those too. WWE theme music is so awesome.