Guest mastermind Report post Posted March 5, 2002 According to some here and especially at the old forum there was a war about the wwf style vs. Japanese/Mexico style. That the wwf was so inferior. That the wwf would bomb over seas. Well, take a look at this report by a Japanses reporter. Well here is a report I completely ripped off from PWTorch.comWWF International Tour results March 1, 2002 Yokohama, Japan at Yokohama Arena Report by Koichi Yoshizawa This was a successful, great show. I have never before seen Japanese fans as excited. They cried, cheered, and chanted. The American WWF style is a good style. The fans seemed to understand and recognize all of the wrestlers. I wish the WWF would come more often. (1) William Regal beat Edge at 14:41 to retain the IC Title. Edge tried to tackle Edge, but Regal rolled him up for the pin. (2) Lita pinned Mighty Molly with the moonsault press at 6:26. (3) Dallas Page pinned Haku. (4) Funaki pinned Hurricane Helms at 9:00 after a roll-up. (5) Billy & Chuck beat The Hardy Boys when Billy pinned Matt at 9:20 to retain the tag team titles. Ric Flair came out to address the crowd. He said he has wrestled Jumbo Tsuruta, Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brother, Terry Funk, Tenryu, Riki Choshu, Masa Chono, Tatsumi Fujinami, Giant Baba, and Great Muta in Japan. He said he's been fighting 30 years in Japan, and joked that it was "too long." William Regal came out and attacked Flair. Flair ended up putting Regal in the figure-four. (6) Tajiri (w/Torrie) beat Billy Kidman at 8:40 to retain the Lt. Hvt. Title. (7) Kane & Big Show beat The Dudleys when Kane pinned Bubba at 11:08 after a chokeslam. Big Show chokeslammed D-Von at the same time that Kane finished off Bubba. (8) Chris Jericho pinned The Rock to retain the WWF Title. at 20:53. Notes: Keiji Muto and Naoya Ogawa were TV commentators. Rock and Flair shoot hands with them during the show. The crowd was a complete sellout of 16,000. Tickets sold out the day they went on sale. ---------- This is a respone from a poster at another forum. Not too shabby for a style that sucks according to our japanese wanna-be's here on this forum. Like I said, if the Japs had wrestlers that were big and huge like Lex and Hogan, that would be the style they went with too. But they just have a bunch of child-size rice grinder midgets. So they have to do flips, giggles and crazy BS stunts breaking their stupid necks like Hayabusa. Take from it what you wish. I'm just amazed the wwf didn't give any matches under 5 minutes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest BaronVonStevie Report post Posted March 5, 2002 not a complete success. I heard the japanese reacted badly to the main event finish. Mostly I hear good things about the show. I know Vader has said Japanese fans should laugh at american wrestling and I'm shocked that they didn't. Really I still take Puro and Lucha over WWF's style(there's more storytelling in ring... way more). I look forward to the DVD release, especially wanna see the japanese chant MIKAMI at Jeff Hardy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest benoitisamidget Report post Posted March 5, 2002 I personally feel people say the WWF wouldn't succeed over there are people who like to suck Benoit's sack. Benoit is a no talent hack who is the real superstar who's bomb over there..people just don't like to admit it. His worthless ass should be canned. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest BaronVonStevie Report post Posted March 5, 2002 you know folks who use Chris Benoit as the poster child for the japanese style make puro fans sound so damn smart every time they type stuff like that. I watch Japanese wrasslin. I love it. I've been a fan for a long time of it and Benoit is just one of my favorites. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Risk Report post Posted March 5, 2002 Lets put it this way: WWF style=very bad. Puro style=very good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest BaronVonStevie Report post Posted March 5, 2002 man if it gets you to mark it ain't all bad. That's a pretty ignorant statement as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Brian Report post Posted March 5, 2002 First off, I knew that the WWF would sell out no problem in Japan. The lack of WWF over there and an appearance by the Rock would go over with many of the mainstream fans, while curiousity would draw out some of the hardcore fans. "Not too shabby for a style that sucks according to our japanese wanna-be's here on this forum." Now, I've never said the style sucks but it's severely limiting and seems to pass over the better workers while playing to biases of big, white males. "Like I said, if the Japs had wrestlers that were big and huge like Lex and Hogan, that would be the style they went with too." They do. And yet they somehow manage to put good wrestling on TV. "But they just have a bunch of child-size rice grinder midgets." Vader, Misawa, Ace, Hansen, Kobashi, and them are all pretty child-size. Your exactly the kind of person Vince caters to, the people who call the Asians rice boys. "So they have to do flips, giggles and crazy BS stunts breaking their stupid necks like Hayabusa." At least the don't do crazy BS stunts like Owen Hart. Shit, that's a little deep and a little hard to say, but you get the idea. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest cobainwasmurdered Report post Posted March 5, 2002 Great post Brian you stole the worfs right out of my mouth. I'm not the biggest puro head in the world but i defenitly appreciate the hard work that goes nto the style compared to the wwf style which appears just plain lazy in comparison. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest RavishingRickRudo Report post Posted March 5, 2002 The Wwf doing great business in Japan doesn't surprise me. They do great business in Australia and Britian, why not Japan? They get Wwf TV too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest BlackRainbow1025 Report post Posted March 5, 2002 I'd be happy like the Japanese people were if I saw a WWF show with mostly matches and very few run-ins. Let's see how much they'd love the WWF if they had to watch the show and see only a couple of matches, even less that end clean, in 2 hours plus. That's my major gripe with the WWF, too much talk, not enough wrestling. That and a lot of the wrestlers are just lazy looking. BS stunts like Hayabusa breaking his neck? He broke it doing a move that Jericho does all the time. It's not like he jumped off scaffolding like Grimes or flies through tables off ladders every chance he gets like Jeff Hardy. See, I can judge all of American wrestling on a few bad instances as well as you can just puro on one mistake. At least Hayabusa didn't die doing something ridiculously unnecessary (That's not a rip on Owen himself, a rip on McMahon and his excessiveness). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheMikeSC Report post Posted March 5, 2002 not a complete success. I heard the japanese reacted badly to the main event finish. Mostly I hear good things about the show. I know Vader has said Japanese fans should laugh at american wrestling and I'm shocked that they didn't. Really I still take Puro and Lucha over WWF's style(there's more storytelling in ring... way more).>> Hearing Vader say that Japanese fans should laugh at American wrestling when he was such a total wash-out for the WWF is laughable. -=Mike ...Who remembers that the only guy to get anything out of Vader in the WWF was Shawn Michaels---who was the best worker on the planet Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheMikeSC Report post Posted March 5, 2002 Lets put it this way: WWF style=very bad. Puro style=very good. >> Guess what? Japanese wrestling has quite a bit of absolute crap involved as well and the fans eat it up. -=Mike ...Who could mention guys like friggin' Kensuke Sasaki, or Masa Chono, or Keiji Mutoh (THE poster boy of lazy workers), or... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Brian Report post Posted March 5, 2002 Haven't seen any Mutoh in the last year have you Mike? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest cobainwasmurdered Report post Posted March 5, 2002 I thought mutoh has been wearing his working boots the last little while am I blind or is mike? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheMikeSC Report post Posted March 5, 2002 Haven't seen any Mutoh in the last year have you Mike? >> Nope. Refused to watch another match of his after 2000. Amazing that one allegedly good year overcomes at least 6 years of unmitigated crap. -=Mike ...And they say American fans tolerate crap too easily. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TopSecretMan Report post Posted March 5, 2002 The success of the show was no suprise to anyone with a brain. They have a lot of their own fans that are new and could care less about the Japanese product. Big deal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest cobainwasmurdered Report post Posted March 5, 2002 Haven't seen any Mutoh in the last year have you Mike? >> Nope. Refused to watch another match of his after 2000. Amazing that one allegedly good year overcomes at least 6 years of unmitigated crap. -=Mike ...And they say American fans tolerate crap too easily. Can't really judge the product unless you watch it mikey Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheMikeSC Report post Posted March 5, 2002 I thought mutoh has been wearing his working boots the last little while am I blind or is mike? >> Again, does one allegedly good year make up for at least 6 years of unmitigated crap? My God, he stunk even by WCW's low standards in 2000. -=Mike ...When you look bad in the ring in comparison to Vampiro and Demon, you're not good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest cobainwasmurdered Report post Posted March 5, 2002 I'm talking 2001, not his wcw run mike. and "allegedly" good year may not make up for 6 years of crap but it's a start. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Brian Report post Posted March 5, 2002 So he works hard for a year and a half and is still a lazy worker. I must have missed out on some strange definition of lazy, because it has nothing to do with work except not doing any. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheMikeSC Report post Posted March 5, 2002 Haven't seen any Mutoh in the last year have you Mike? >> Nope. Refused to watch another match of his after 2000. Amazing that one allegedly good year overcomes at least 6 years of unmitigated crap. -=Mike ...And they say American fans tolerate crap too easily. Can't really judge the product unless you watch it mikey >> Oooh, calling me Mikey. Tres harsh. Fact is, I suffered enough of Mutoh's bilge from about 1993-2000 in NJPW and his occasional forays in WCW. I won't watch again because a) Japanese wrestling just has lost a lot of interest to me and b) The puro marks really make one loathe a product. -=Mike ...Figured somebody would have harped on the Shawn Michaels being the best worker on the planet line by now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest cobainwasmurdered Report post Posted March 5, 2002 mike wouldn't know he doesn't watch he just ASSUMES that mutoh still's lazy. what's the old line about when you assume you make an ass out of u and me? oh wait that was the line, cool. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Brian Report post Posted March 5, 2002 I would have mentioned the Shawn Michaels thing, but I thought about putting him in the top five in 1996 and laughed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheMikeSC Report post Posted March 5, 2002 I would have mentioned the Shawn Michaels thing, but I thought about putting him in the top five in 1996 and laughed. >> Who was better? Misawa? Please. Kawada? Nope. Kobashi? See above. Liger? Quite good, but no. Hashimoto? Just kidding on that one. The WCW Cruisers? Good workers---but no. Anybody in ECW? Well, had to throw in one laugher. Shawn dragged good matches out of borderline inept workers---and THAT is what seperates a great worker from a merely good one. Until anybody else can churn out a good match with Kevin Nash, Sid, Vader, Davey Boy Smith, and Undertaker, then there is no comparison. -=Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest cobainwasmurdered Report post Posted March 5, 2002 Bret dragged out good matches from all of them. and i like shawn but he was a unprofessinal dick. remember the temper tantrum he through at summerslam against vader? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheMikeSC Report post Posted March 5, 2002 Bret dragged out good matches from all of them. and i like shawn but he was a unprofessinal dick. remember the temper tantrum he through at summerslam against vader? >> Michaels had better matches with Nash, Sid, Vader, and Taker than Bret did. And I could care less about a guy being an unprofessional dick. If he can go in the ring, that's all that matters to me. I blasted the WWF for signing the nWo not just because they're unprofessional asses backstage, but because they also are quite bad in the ring. If a guy is great in the ring and a headache backstage, I'll support them nonetheless. -=Mike ...Besides, it's not like Shawn had no reason to be upset with the WWF Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Brian Report post Posted March 5, 2002 Easily in North America at the time Benoit, Guerrero, and Juventud were all above his level of workrate. Michaels matches are hardly anything great, as the only three matches Michaels can truly get credit for were the ladder match at Summerslam, Mankind at Mind Games, and the Hell in a Cell. Everything else was pretty pedestrian and really doesn't do anything for me. Michaels in a way invented the WWF style; he pushed the basic outline almost every match. He was just that, and his matches weren't spectacular as everyone talks about. I'd go with Ohtani, Liger, and Kawada out in the world as easy picks at that time. And Vader's best match was easily against Inoki. Find it some time. Worth it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest cobainwasmurdered Report post Posted March 5, 2002 i liked bret's matches better than shawn's. shawn didn't have much to complain about he was world champ and used vince as a whipping boy. he got to be a dick to everyone and only gave his best when he wrestled his friends. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Brian Report post Posted March 5, 2002 And he had Vince's ear during the entire period. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheMikeSC Report post Posted March 5, 2002 <<i liked bret's matches better than shawn's.>> Can't say I see why. Bret's matches tended to be the same match over and over. <<shawn didn't have much to complain about he was world champ and used vince as a whipping boy. he got to be a dick to everyone and only gave his best when he wrestled his friends. >> Go back to 1996. Shawn is busting his BUTT and drawing good crowds everywhere. He is carrying PPV shows on his back. He works great matches with Vader when Vader can't work well with anybody. He works a good match with friggin' Sid who's not exactly Shawn's best friend. He works good matches with Davey Boy---again, not exactly a good friend. Bret is on the sidelines, engaging in a bidding war between the WWF and WCW while criticizing the WWF incessantly. So, to repay Shawn for his hard work and Bret for his disloyalty, Vince makes Shawn drop the belt to Sid once and then probably to Bret (or Sid, depending on which story you buy) at WM (or that Thursday RAW show---again, depending on what story you believe). So Shawn was pissed at the WWF for that slight and he had EVERY reason to be pissed off. Bret was just as much a total prick as Shawn. -=Mike ...And he couldn't compare with Michaels in the ring. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
