Guest CB2M Report post Posted March 1, 2002 Results of the WWF show at Yokohama Arena on 3/1 courtesy of Zach Arnold at Puroresu Power: - Shane McMahon defeated Yusuke "Wally" Yamaguchi by KO. Yamaguchi is the long-time writer for Weekly Gong, All Japan 2nd-in-command referee, and long-time wheeler-and-dealer in Japan. Yamaguchi's relationship with the WWF is connected in a couple of ways. Yamaguchi was unfortunately "Yamaguchi-san" with Kaientai a few years ago. The WWF actually tried to hire Wally's brother, Shun (who's a fabulous photographer out of Boston), but Shun had brains and didn't do it. Also, Wally took care of one of Jim Ross's daughters a few years ago when the daughter went to Japan for a modeling session. - WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Regal over Edge in 14 minutes, 41 seconds. - Lita over Mighty Molly in 6 minutes, 26 seconds. - WWF European Title Match: Diamond Dallas Page over King Haku (this can't please Tenryu) in 5 minutes, 37 seconds. Page couldn't have been happy about this one - several fans left for the merchandise tables and the bathrooms during this match and that's not a work, either. - Shoichi Funaki over Shane Helms in 9 minutes. TAKA announced he would be at the Smackgirl show on 3/2 at Differ Ariake in Tokyo. - WWF Tag Titles Match: Billy Gunn & Chuck Palumbo defeated Matt & Jeff Hardy in 9 minutes, 20 seconds when Gunn went over on Matt Hardy. The Japanese weren't very interested in most parts of this match. Lots of hardcore fans ribbing the Hardy Boys by doing "Mikami!" calls during the match whenever Jeff Hardy would go for a swanton bomb since that's what Mikami does in DDT. - WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Yoshihiro Tajiri defeated Billy Kidman in 11 minutes, 38 seconds with a stick-kick. Tajiri did the green mist and it got a lot of interest from the crowd because Mutoh was at ringside doing TV commentary and Tajiri had some "explaining" to do to Mutoh. - Ric Flair defeated Riki Choshu. Well, sort of. Choshu showed up and went to fight Flair and the fans were crazy. William (Steve) Regal then did a run-in and Flair put Regal in the Figure-4 Leg Lock. About only half the fans knew who Choshu was. Someone who I talked to at the show said that it was amazing how many "new" marks at the show didn't know much about the history of Japanese wrestling. - Kane & Big S(l)how defeated Buh-Buh Ray & D-Von Dudley in 11 minutes, 8 seconds when Kane went over on Buh-Buh with the chokeslam. - WWF Title Match: Chris Jericho defeated The Rock in 20 minutes, 53 seconds. Whoever decided on this finish needs to be shot. They did a screwjob finish in which the Dudleys ran in and interefered and Jericho got the win. The fans were pissed off and afterwards a non-title re-match was issued between both men. - The Rock defeated Chris Jericho in 30 minutes with the People's Elbow. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Mighty Damaramu Report post Posted March 1, 2002 Jericho and Rock went 50 minutes? Jeez........sounds like a crappy ass show though. Good luck trying to return WWF. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest gusmahler Report post Posted March 1, 2002 Of course they can come back. They featured the return of Haku Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest bps "The Truth" 21 Report post Posted March 1, 2002 I read that a ton of merchandise was sold and I see right up in the report that half the crowd didn't know who Choshu was because they are "new" marks... Maybe it's because I'm not a cynical puro guy (who preached on and on that THIS show would bomb, mind you) But I think they can return just fine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Mighty Damaramu Report post Posted March 1, 2002 Hey I said they would make it one time but then the fans would see the crap that was on and wouldn't come back if they try it again. Unless they bring Steve Austin to Japan........ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest bps "The Truth" 21 Report post Posted March 1, 2002 They could bring Hogan too... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Brian Report post Posted March 1, 2002 Zach has more notes: "I won't mention many notes regarding the WWF's 3/1 Yokohama Arena show (they could have Tsuji, Mutoh, & Ogawa there but it's still a black eye to the Japanese business to me personally) but the one big note is that Shane McMahon was at the show representing management and largely got booed by the Japanese fans. Ric Flair also showed up and got a good response. The Japanese fans tried an "ass hole" chant in English on Steve Regal. Lots of ribbing on Jericho for being Super Liger a few years ago in Japan. Rock did his standard moves and English catchphrases at the show (including Rock Bottom, People's Elbow, and if you smell... line) while having the American flag. TAKA Michinoku was Shoichi Funaki's "ring second" for Funaki vs. Shane Helms. Both TAKA & Funaki got booed. Stacy Keibler showed up with short red pants on and why some of the horny fans in attendance got off on it, other hardcore fans in the crowd started making fun of her because the nickname that the Japanese have given to Billy Gunn & Chuck Palumbo for their "gay duo" routine is "The Red Tights Party." Also, guess who showed up for the Yokohama Arena show - Johnny Ace. Ace is trying to broker a deal with either All Japan or NOAH. He'll have more success with NOAH because there's still bad blood between him and All Japan. (Every time I think of Johnny Ace and his reputation, I think about the time he once travelled to a Dory Funk Jr. camp in Florida and showed up late while the new wrestlers were practicing in the ring. Ace jumps in during the practice session, with his hands greasy after eating out of a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and starts stiffing all the young guys shitless and then says that he's trying to teach them something.) Yoshihiro Tajiri was very much over with the crowd. The show was considered a success by management. When the show started, the electronic board/message area set up said "Welcome to Japan." The lines at the merchandise counter were extraordinarily long and the WWF made out like bandits profit-wise. Total Sports Asia did a very good job of managing the entire show. Every single Rock & Austin T-Shirt sold out, plus most if not all of the pamphlets for the show sold out. WWF announced/claimed 16,000 paid for the Yokohama Arena show." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest bps "The Truth" 21 Report post Posted March 1, 2002 I'd like to see everyone in the US start reffering to Chuck & Billy as the Red Tights Party. It's nice to see that Regal is over in JApan... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest dreamer420 Report post Posted March 1, 2002 Sounds like there was almost had a battle over the mist. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Who's That? Report post Posted March 1, 2002 Who's Choshu? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest CB2M Report post Posted March 1, 2002 Who's Choshu? Riki Choshu is a legendary New Japan wrestler/booker, who is credited for the huge success of the company during the 90's. He is currently in semi-retirement. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Dace59 Report post Posted March 1, 2002 He is also credited with inventing the Scorpion Deathlock. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Risk Report post Posted March 1, 2002 It would have been cool if Muto would have got out of the announce booth and beat the shit out of the Rock. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Ghast Report post Posted March 1, 2002 Why'd they boo Funaki? I would of figured alot of people would be happy to see him after so lnog in the states. And man how did Rock and Jericho go for 50 minutes? They must have been blown up. I also wonder how much they had to pay to get guys like Muto and Chosyu on the show. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Lei Tong Report post Posted March 1, 2002 They booed Funaki because he let himself become a racist stereotype in the WWF, and basically gave up any respect he had for himself. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Masked Yodeler Report post Posted March 1, 2002 The Red Tights Party. I'm so using that from now on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Mystery Eskimo Report post Posted March 2, 2002 Sounds like a slightly random show. Red Tights Party is gold. The WWF should use that. Chant it with me - RTP! RTP! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest the jesuit pig Report post Posted March 2, 2002 They booed Funaki because he let himself become a racist stereotype in the WWF, and basically gave up any respect he had for himself. They get the WWF in the Japan? I thought they only ppvs. How can you be sure of why they booed Funaki anyway? Were you there? No. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest art_vandelay Report post Posted March 2, 2002 People booed Kaientai because they are heels. It actually sounded like a pretty good show. I could imagine the excitement of seeing WWF wrestlers in Japan. Plus with all the special appearances. Am I wrong or did they announce that they were actually going to tape a Raw and/or SD from Japan? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Tony149 Report post Posted March 2, 2002 The WWF won't tape a Raw or Smackdown in Japan. I could see them releasing a video or DVD from the tour. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Sassquatch Report post Posted March 2, 2002 Just a small correction... Zach tried to be the first guy to post the results for the WWF Japan card and in his haste he made a shit load of errors. The first one is this: Rock and Jericho fought for 30 MINUTES. Not 50. Zach meant that they had fought for 20 minutes but then the match restarted and they fought for another 10 minutes until Jericho pinned the Rock at the 30 minute mark. Another mistake: Choshu and Flair never went at it. Choshu was at ringside and when Flair mentioned his name, Choshu stood up. Regal later came out and he was the only guy that Falir got into it with. Choshu and Flair never touched eachother. ALWAYS take what Zach says with a huge grain of salt. He is VERY biased towards companies and it shows in his work after you read it for a while. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Brian Report post Posted March 2, 2002 Kaientai always gets booed when they're in Japan. They're hated by all wrestling fans over there, and the mainstream fans who made up the large audience booed them because they're heels. They're like representatives of puroresu in a way, and look at what Vince has done with them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest the jesuit pig Report post Posted March 2, 2002 So did the fans seem to really like the show? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Rabies Report post Posted March 2, 2002 Would anyone know where photos/images that can be seen on the WWW from any of the Asia shows? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
