Mutoh & the rock?

[Guest]

From Strong Style Spirit:

Keiji Muto held private talks with WWF star, The Rock, yesterday, although the full details are unavailable. Muto has been looking for an alliance between All Japan and the WWF for some time, but nothing has come of it yet. There are rumours of a Muta vs. Rock match, although some barriers would have to be crossed before that could happen.

 

Nothing good can come of this...

[Guest The Mighty Damaramu]

Hmm......but All Japan and WWF? This could give my 2 favorite wrestlers Benoit and Kawada a chance to beat the shit out of each other.

[Guest muzanisa]

I'd love to see cross promotion between these two feds.

[Guest wolverine]

Hmm......but All Japan and WWF? This could give my 2 favorite wrestlers Benoit and Kawada a chance to beat the shit out of each other.

Don't hold your breath.  First of all, Kawada is out until 2003.  Secondly, if that were to ever happen, it would happen in an All Japan ring, certainly not in the U.S.  Third, the match serves no purpose whatsoever, other than it being the wet dream of a few puro marks.

[Guest]

I'd love to see cross promotion between these two feds.

No one can win in a situation like that, however. We all know how Vince feels about Japanese stars. It would just sour and end in burnt bridges. Either that, or WWE would only send over mid-card JTTS like Saturn & whatnot. =\

[Guest The Mighty Damaramu]

"Don't hold your breath.  First of all, Kawada is out until 2003.  Secondly, if that were to ever happen, it would happen in an All Japan ring, certainly not in the U.S.  Third, the match serves no purpose whatsoever, other than it being the wet dream of a few puro marks."

 

Wow first of all could you possibly answer that a little nicer? Second of all I don't care if the match serves no purpose it would still be a damn good match that I want to see. Third of all....who the hell cares what kind of ring it happens in as long as it happens? I know the WWF rings are bigger but I'm sure Kawada could easily adjust.

[Guest wolverine]

"Wow first of all could you possibly answer that a little nicer?"

 

Sometimes the truth hurts.  No need to fantasize about something that isn't happening.  

 

"Second of all I don't care if the match serves no purpose"

 

Then you may as well stick to WWF because most of the matches there serve no purpose.

 

"it would still be a damn good match that I want to see."

 

Let see.  A junior heavyweight that fans in Japan wouldn't take seriously against a heavyweight like Kawada, which would result in little heat.  Against (in 2003) a 39 year old legend whose best days have long since passed.  Look, this isn't 1995 or 1996 when that match would've been great.  The reality is that both of these guys are getting old and wouldn't be able to accomplish what you would like them to.  There's tons and tons of All Japan TV and tapes out there that feature matches that those two couldn't possibly have at this point.

 

"Third of all....who the hell cares what kind of ring it happens in as long as it happens?"

 

Maybe we can have the battle of the Grandpa's as well, Hogan vs. Tenryu!  Woo hoo.  Who cares as long as it happens right?

 

"I know the WWF rings are bigger but I'm sure Kawada could easily adjust."

 

WWF rings are the last thing I'd worry about.  Vince couldn't give a shit about Kawada, so it's pointless to even fathom such a thing.

[Guest dr deaf]

damn, some people just want to be sour no matter what happens.  What is it?  From where I sit I would eat it up growing up on WWF (fuck the E) and just getting into Japanese puro.  It may not lead to stellar matches, but that's not the point I think, it would lead to interest in a business that's grown fairly stagnant as of late on both ends.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

While it might not be a great technical match, a Rock vs. Mutoh match could be a big draw with lots of heat. The Japanese wrestling fans would eat it up with a spoon, I think.

[Guest The Mighty Damaramu]

*edit*sorry*edit*(but the rest still stands)  

 

The match would still be light years away from anything they put on TV in the WWF lately and would probably blow the fans away.

And once again who cares if the match serves no purpose! Does a match have to have an awesome back story to be great? What if the match itself is technically good? Do you just not care because it "served no purpose". If it was a 5-star classic would you go "Well it really served no purpose. All these people are misguided! I say it sucked!"

[Guest HopeSpot]

If any of this hcomes to pass I will bend over and kiss my own ass. Personally I think Kawada walking to a WWE ring accompanied by a chorus of silence only broken by the occasional rube spouting something along the lines of "Who is that fat Jap?" would be well...different. Far be it from me to call the WWE what it is but the shills who jam those arenas night after night are pro wrestlings equivalent of the teeny boppers who stand up to sing your favariote bands only single and move on when it's no longer percieved to be hip.  Here's hoping the WWE dies in all of thier carnistic glory and they never get their chance to put their mark of stupidity on the legacy of All Japan.

 

And Kawada vs. Benoit would rock the shit crowd heat or not.

[Guest Stuart]

... and they never get their chance to put their mark of stupidity on the legacy of All Japan.

I don't want to see the WWE in All Japan either, but regarding the above comment, the legacy of All Japan has already been highly ruined. The company is unrecognizable and has thrown out many of it's old values, since Muto has gained a lot of power since joining. It has become far more Americanized than ever in the past 13 or so years. I think I preferred Tenryu's booking in early 2001, when the company had so little talent, but was more focused. Muto is treating AJ like a clone of NJ, only it doesn't work, because of the mish mosh of talent. Kokushi, Hakushi and "Foolish Orphan Zero Knight" (Kojima) main eventing an All Japan show goes against Baba's belief of no nonsense wrestling, and just shows that Motoko is letting Muto "upgrade" the company far more than Misawa EVER wanted to do, which caused the split.

 

EDIT: Also...

 

Muto vs. Hall: Worst Triple Crown match ever.

Muto vs. Barton: (Justified assumption) Worst Champion Carnival Final ever (at least in the modern era).

Kea & Smith vs. Tenryu & Duk: Worst World Tag Title match ever.

Muto vs. Chono: One of the worst, or at least most underwhelming, AJ Budokan main events ever.

 

These all in the last year or so, so also hurt that past legacy.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Wow....do I have to agree with you? Are you like the god of wrestling that if I disagree with I'm some simple minded fool? Get over yourself.

Because I disagree with you. The match would still be light years away from anything they put on TV in the WWF lately and would probably blow the fans away.

And once again who cares if the match serves no purpose! Does a match have to have an awesome back story to be great? What if the match itself is technically good? Do you just not care because it "served no purpose". If it was a 5-star classic would you go "Well it really served no purpose. All these people are misguided! I say it sucked!"

Maybe I missed something but when I read his post all I saw was him stating simple facts. If you, like so many others, want to interpret this sort of attitude from a fellow poster as him saying he's a wrestling god and you're unworthy of speaking to him, then fine. I'll never understand how people can get so caught up on stupid crap like that. It's not like he went and insulted you, he just gave you his take on the situation, which is really all you can ask for. How can you slam someone for giving you an opinion. If you want some else to cream themselves over this kind of thing then go to the Fantasy Booking Forrum, or something.

 

Kawada/Benoit probably would not blow any of the WWE's fanbase away, or even inspire them to do anything but stare. If anything, a match of that kind would probably piss them off and get all sorts of "borring" chants and other sorts of hostility from the fans. Witness Benoit/Malenko from WCW Hogwild '96, as Chris and Dean work a blow-away match and get nothing but heel heat from the crowd of rubes who only want to see Hogan.

 

And yeah, it does matter if the match serves no purpose, because then there's no reason for the two company's to book it. Kawada means nothing in the states, and Benoit is forever-considered a junior in Japan, so it doesn't work no matter which ring it takes place in. That tends to make bookers think twice about booking a match, wouldn't you think?

[Guest The Mighty Damaramu]

Yes I suppose your right. I apologize to Wolverine. I guess you caught me at a bad time. Sorry....sorry...no need to reply to my asshole post.....

 

Anyways of course it would serve no purpose if they booked it right off the bat. They need to build it if they were ever to have a cross-promotion feud. It would serve purpose if it were built right. Hell a "greatest wrestler in the world" moniker could start the feud. And if they held it in oh say St. Louis or Canada I think the fans would get really into it. Especially the stiff kicks and chops. And in Japan Benoit is a lot bigger than a Jr. these days. Just have him come out and whip a few heavies asses and maybe just maybe the fans would accept  him as a heavy.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

The whole affair is just so steeped in political nonsense that a proper full scale feud between AJPW and WWE would never happen the way we would want it to.

 

Benoit vs. Kawada - Firstly, no Japanese company is gonna have Benoit come in and just beat a load of their heavyweights to build him up. It'd be great if they did, but they wouldn't. Secondly, only a hardcore american audience would care about it, so unless it was held in something like Pro Wrestling Iron or whatever that new promotion from Mike Modest is called, it would be pretty pointless to put the match on. But of course that would never happen. Finally, yes, it would be GREAT to see this match, but don't get your hopes up im afraid.

 

As for Rock / Mutoh, the AJPW fans really would eat it up with a spoon as they all love Rock just as much as americans do, and obviously, Mutoh is still very over. I think this would also work in the WWE ring, but Mutoh would need to be built up a little first with plenty of run-ins and stuff. I think Mutoh has a very WWE quality about him, in his mannerisms and things, that the crowd would definately pop for given the chance.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

I think Angle vs. Kawada would have a much better chance of happening, at least since Japan, since in Japan Angle would be considered a "shooter" and he's a legit heavyweight so the fans would take that match much more seriously.

[Guest dr deaf]

I think Angle vs. Kawada would have a much better chance of happening, at least since Japan, since in Japan Angle would be considered a "shooter" and he's a legit heavyweight so the fans would take that match much more seriously.

plus he could get over immensley as a foreign heel.  Who better than angel to make an american invasion on the japanese scene?

[Guest RickyChosyu]

I think Angle vs. Kawada would have a much better chance of happening, at least since Japan, since in Japan Angle would be considered a "shooter" and he's a legit heavyweight so the fans would take that match much more seriously.

plus he could get over immensley as a foreign heel.  Who better than angel to make an american invasion on the japanese scene?

At the same time, I'm not sure Angle would be a very good match for Kawada. When faced with working a slow-paced match with subtle build and intricate story-telling (namely, his submision match with Chris Benoit) he seems very out of place and allows himself to be carried through the inititial stages. Also, after the heat that developed between him and RVD when Rob broke his nose, I'm not sure he'll be willing to take some of Kawada's more brutal strikes.

[Guest MrDanger]

Also, after the heat that developed between him and RVD when Rob broke his nose, I'm not sure he'll be willing to take some of Kawada's more brutal strikes.

I think Kurt Angle could handle it, RVD busted him open on two or three occasions last fall but Angle never wimped out and continued to work with him.