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Purotopia Catch-All Thread 2014


Graham Crackers

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How far could have Kikuchi gone if he had been pushed with Misawa, Kobashi and crew? He always seems to be the most over when he was paired with them in the early 90's, had the most fire and honestly looked like the better wrestler at times. I really think AJPW could have done something with him as an underdog main eventer.

 

Also, why were there no real significant Baba matches against the Big 4, Tenryu or Jumbo(minus the '75 match)?

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What's the general consensus on Killer Elite Squad? I've seen them work a couple of matches for NWA Houston, and I thought Smith and Archer were both really impressive. The match in April when they won the NWA tag titles was especially great. Haven't seen as much of their work in Japan, but I plan on getting caught up soon. I don't see a lot of talk about them, though. Thoughts?

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How far could have Kikuchi gone if he had been pushed with Misawa, Kobashi and crew? He always seems to be the most over when he was paired with them in the early 90's, had the most fire and honestly looked like the better wrestler at times. I really think AJPW could have done something with him as an underdog main eventer.

 

Also, why were there no real significant Baba matches against the Big 4, Tenryu or Jumbo(minus the '75 match)?

 

RE: Kikuchi, that would have required All Japan to have a junior division that they actually gave a flying crap about. Kikuchi eventually got his big win over Fuchi for the junior strap, but it was three years past the point of anyone caring. I suppose if AJPW pulled the trigger on him in '93, had he had a better crop of guys to work with, he'd have done OK for himself.

 

RE: Baba, during his heyday the big drawing concept was Native vs. Gaijin, so the idea of Baba vs. Jumbo really wasn't a big money idea. It wasn't until Chosyu jumped that Native vs. Native came into play, and by that point, Baba was already phasing himself out of the big picture.  By the time Tenryu left and Jumbo was passing the torch to Misawa and co. Baba was pretty much out of the picture.

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How far could have Kikuchi gone if he had been pushed with Misawa, Kobashi and crew? He always seems to be the most over when he was paired with them in the early 90's, had the most fire and honestly looked like the better wrestler at times. I really think AJPW could have done something with him as an underdog main eventer.

 

Also, why were there no real significant Baba matches against the Big 4, Tenryu or Jumbo(minus the '75 match)?

 

RE: Kikuchi, that would have required All Japan to have a junior division that they actually gave a flying crap about. Kikuchi eventually got his big win over Fuchi for the junior strap, but it was three years past the point of anyone caring. I suppose if AJPW pulled the trigger on him in '93, had he had a better crop of guys to work with, he'd have done OK for himself.

 

RE: Baba, during his heyday the big drawing concept was Native vs. Gaijin, so the idea of Baba vs. Jumbo really wasn't a big money idea. It wasn't until Chosyu jumped that Native vs. Native came into play, and by that point, Baba was already phasing himself out of the big picture.  By the time Tenryu left and Jumbo was passing the torch to Misawa and co. Baba was pretty much out of the picture.

 

Oh no, I mean non-juniors stuff. I think he would have made a great piece of the Big 4 puzzle.

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Was anyone else bothered by the lack of Misawa continuining to focus on Kawada's knee in the 6/3/94 match? That's really the only big hole it has.

 

I also just watched Misawa/Kobashi from 97 and hated it. It was too long and I hated how all of the arm work on Misawa ended up meaning jack. Also hated the TD91 being kicked out of.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So looks like New Japan's new Jr. Heavyweight, El Desperado, is Kyosuke Mikami.  Haven't heard his name in a long time, which makes sense since he has been in CMLL for the last two years.  Anyone seen his work there? Sometimes excursions work wonders for wrestlers, other times they come back and go right back to opening cards as if they never left.  Will be interesting to see how he does.

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No one seems to be sure whether it's him or Sugi. Meltzer seems to think it's Sugi and people are saying the guy is too small for Minami.

 

He was good in CMLL as a rudo. He got over and fans didn't want him to go back. He definitely grew as a worker and had a really cool mask. He mostly just did brawling but he was good at being aggressive about it.

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I can't imagine it is Sugi, New Japan didn't seem to have interest in him when he was "hot" (which was years ago), and after his drug thing he has virtually disappeared (has he wrestled since his brief run as "Dual Force" in NOAH last summer?).  Plus Mikami just left CMLL so it matches up.

 

But once a match of his makes TV we will know for sure since you're right, their sizes are quite different.  Glad that Mikami had success in Mexico if it is him, always enjoy having a little shake-up in my pro wres.

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I can't imagine it is Sugi, New Japan didn't seem to have interest in him when he was "hot" (which was years ago), and after his drug thing he has virtually disappeared (has he wrestled since his brief run as "Dual Force" in NOAH last summer?).  Plus Mikami just left CMLL so it matches up.

 

But once a match of his makes TV we will know for sure since you're right, their sizes are quite different.  Glad that Mikami had success in Mexico if it is him, always enjoy having a little shake-up in my pro wres.

 

I am not sure if they did it in purpose or not, but at the Tokyo Dome when the two met, the only camera on Desperado and Kota was from the floor.  Still though from the brief moment they were actually standing fully upright facing each other, unless they switch wrestlers ala Black Scorpion no way this is Sugi.  Kota is billed at 5'11", Mikami 5'9", and Sugi 5'4". From the picture, Desperado only looks a few inches shorter than Ibushi and definitely not 7 inches shorter.  So either they are pulling a switcheroo or Dave is just being silly again (spoilered for size):

 

tVA1vjG.jpg

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Shingo in AJPW is mildly interesting. I wouldn't mind seeing Dragon Gate guys wrestling more in other promotions this year. Anything to create some fresh matchups.

 

God damn that is interesting! didn't know about it

 

It was just one match on a show that likely wasn't taped. It was in Shingo's hometown.

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