Goodear Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 I'm with Smelly on this one. I have seen Hero throw who knows how many forearms and elbows and I don't think I've ever felt that wince you get when someone really unloads on a guy. I think some of that has to do with working indys with guys so much shorter than him, but it held true against Harper as well. I totally felt like Harper was the better striker and Hero wasn't even in the conversation. The striker stuff is all promotion with no substance to really back it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DylanWaco Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Jesus are we really pretending Hero is a bad striker in a tournament with Tanahashi? Anyhow Hero wins in a massive slaughter of that overrated shitbag Christopher Daniels. Honestly I find Bad Influence to be the most annoying, quasi-hipster gimmick, this side of Chikara. "LOL Zubaz!" got tiresome after about week four. I will say that I think Daniels is way better as a tag worker, and for your cocky, snotty, heel tag teams Bad Influence is about as decent in the ring as you are going to be, especially in a hellhole like TNA. But all their Appletini skits come across as the worst sort of HHHAHAHHAAA stuff in wrestling. Give me the remote and I'll turn that shit off every time. Hero may have washed out, but Hero's wash out (along with Styles hitting the indies) has created more interest and enthusiasm in the "super" indie scene than any time in the last two years.The Ray Rowe, Drew Gulak and Cedric Alexander matches he's had on the indies are better than any Daniels match I've seen in at least six years. People keep saying "well anyone could have great matches with Harper and Regal!" and you know that's probably true to a degree, but for my money Hero v. Regal was the best match in the United States last year, and not every body has those. In fact the last time Daniels had anything approaching that level was against peak Samoa Joe close to eight years ago. So this is a vicious ass stomping by Hero. I agree that his year wasn't other worldly, an in many ways was disappointing. But thankfully he wasn't Christopher Daniels. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirSmUgly Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 See, I like the over-the-top goofy hipsterness of that gimmick. I don't see it as HAHAHAHA LOOK AT HOW FUNNY WE ARE, but more like they are working an only slightly-over-the-top version of what hipsters that look down on other hipsters as being too hipsterish would do. Maybe it's just because of where I live, but that act connects with me. As an aside, I am shocked that Daniels has sort of reinvented himself nicely after being completely blase in every way for a considerable period of time. Somehow, that awful Claire Lynch angle sort of helped Daniels find himself a bit. Moving on, comparing Hero's striking to Nakamura's Tanahashi's (don't know how I misread that - and yeah, Tanahashi is a pretty awful striker even though I like the guy) is a non-sequitur in this specific discussion. I can criticize Hero's striking without having to note that there are probably thousands of other wrestlers on the planet that look like they're politely knocking on someone's door when they throw strikes. Personally, I think that if you're going to base your offense around something, you'd better be clearly better at it than most of your contemporaries. Hero's striking is nowhere near that level to me. I could be spoiled because I feel like current WWE has a few high-quality strikers right now, and maybe I expect more in that regard. I definitely understand you preferring Hero's matches, but I typically just don't enjoy Hero or his offense, so his matches don't work for me. To each his own, though and I appreciate your response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DylanWaco Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Note that I think Hero's strikes look great compared to the vast majority of people in wrestling and I compared him off the cuff to Tanahashi, not Nakamura. Beyond that we just disagree. Bad Influence goofball shit is an immediate change the channel for me. As a complete aside, thanks for listening to the podcast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimo Necro Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Hero had one of the best matches Ive seen in CZW this year against Gulak and was having decent matches in NXT, if he hadnt looked like a sack of potatoes then chances are he would still be in NXT. I love Daniels and the Bad Influence, Appletini, hipster-douche gimmick, but Im not going to pretend I can remember one single Daniels match from this year that I enjoyed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 It's weird to throw out the word hipster so many times since that's pretty much what I thought Ohno's gimmick was, at least as a heel. He was this smarmy glasses wearing, big words throwing out, snarky hipster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DylanWaco Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 It's weird to throw out the word hipster so many times since that's pretty much what I thought Ohno's gimmick was, at least as a heel. He was this smarmy glasses wearing, big words throwing out, snarky hipster. Matt, it's already been established you don't watch the matches, just stop. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 I sure as heck watch interviews with Renee Young, you glasses wearing, bearded ... Actually you're more of a survivialist manifesto writer than a hipster. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyLaw Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 I don't really like either guy, so I'm voting for the one who had matches with guys I like, in a promotion that I like. Vote Hero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AND THE BEAT GOES ON! Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 I saw Hero in 3 matches this weekend in pcw, and I was feeling a bit of a carelord at his strikes. I wouldn't mind so much if there had been some build so they seemed valuable at least but they were just scattered randomly through his matches. He's also getting fatter. Take that Triple H! Daniels has also gone massively up in my estimation from downright loathing, for his great character work. He's less annoying in-ring these days but he's also not found much to replace the stupid offense. He's bland This is closer for me than it would have been previously but it's still Hero all the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caley Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 I went with Daniels because I like the way his career was reborn as a stooging heel who drinks appletinis. It's not quite the McConaissance, but it's a very good reinvention. JKL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 I would have voted Sting over either of these two but I went with Daniels because he has an entertaining act. Neither had a ton of great matches. Hero had the Regal match but it doesn't make up for his terrible look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AND THE BEAT GOES ON! Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 He really did look worse than at least half the fans at pcw... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DylanWaco Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Not going to defend Hero's look, but odd to cite it as a negative against Chris Daniels who might have the all time shittiest look in the history of wrestling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdangerously Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Daniels never got fired for his look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaedmc Posted March 6, 2014 Author Share Posted March 6, 2014 Hero 57 -44 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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