what's the knock on TM 3?

[Guest permagrinning]

What's the knock against Tiger Mask 3? I don't even know who he is as a wrestler after the mask, or what merits or flaws he has. But out of the 4, he's generally talked about like that one uncle no one in the family wants to admit they're actually related to.

[Guest J*ingus]

TM3 is Koji Kanemoto. There's nothing wrong with him per se, he just didn't do the gimmick for very long and his ringwork was nothing spectacular.

[Guest permagrinning]

so, while not being offensively bad, he just didn't have quit the gleam that the others did? Did he ever develope past that? As in did he find his style or ring presence.

[Guest Tim Cooke]

Well, other than the fact that Kanemoto couldn't hold a light to what Samaya and Misawa did as Tiger Mask, he also is a mediocre junior. He needs to be carried to do something memorable. Benoit and Liger took care of that somewhat in 1995-1996 but by 1997, like Otani, Koji just went off into his own little world of weird selling, bad psych, and lots of wild and crazy moves.

 

Tim

[Guest wolverine]

"Koji just went off into his own little world of weird selling, bad psych, and lots of wild and crazy moves."

 

E.g. Kanemoto vs. Samurai, 6/5/97

 

YUCK.

[Guest Tim Cooke]

6/5/97 = why juniors wrestling is often very annoying.

 

Tim, who was VERY impressed by the Benoit/Angle v Kidman/Cena tag match on Smackdown.

[Guest Black Tiger]

New Japan gave Kanemoto the Mask when he was still in his Young Lion stage, so he had almost no moveset besides the basics, he was never sent on a learning excursion to learn other styles.

 

I think Kanemoto did very well for himself after losing the mask and becoming his own person.

[EL DANDY~!]

I mean look at him now. After losing the TM 3 moniker, he turned into an Ohtani-like dickish heel and was kicking some ass. His match with Sammy...not the one in question, but the OTHER match...October 97, I believe, was one the greatest matches in junior history, and probably Koji's best. It was outstanding, and of course, the Reverse Rana had something to do with that...

[Guest RickyChosyu]

First of all, if it's the best juniors match ever, how can it be "probably Koji's best" match? Did he have a past career as heavyweight that I didn't know about?

 

Second, what does a reverse rana have to do with making it the best juniors match ever?

 

I don't see how that's anywhere near the best match for either man, or anywhere close to the best juniors match ever. And Kanemoto became Ohtani-like in the vague area of attitude, but nothing like him in the area of selling or ability to play off of his elders effectively.

 

Watch Liger/Samurai BOSJ finals '92 if you want to see a good "Cocky Heel versus The Man" match. It's my favorite juniors match of all time, at present.

[EL DANDY~!]

Ricky...I said it was ONE of the greatest junior matches in history. I've only seen that match out of Koji's matches, so I don't know if he has had a better match or not.

 

OH, and what's wrong with Sammy's head being DRIVEN into the mat with that rana? That was the OH SHIT of that match...I loved it.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

What's the point of saying it was probably one of his best if it's the only one you've seen?

 

And there's nothing wrong with that spot, it was jus done in a match with little meaning behind the spots other than "Sammy lands on his head."

[Guest wolverine]

"I said it was ONE of the greatest junior matches in history"

 

Well...it isn't.