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1 hour ago, HumanChessgame said:

No mention of Davey Richards?

ROH's curtain jerker matches for the 04-06 era all seemed to have the same combination of generic Johnny Kickpads guys (Shane Hangadorn, Tank Tolland, Davey Andrews, Pelle Primeu, a couple other guys).

 

I didn't think I'd ever defend Shane Hagadorn, but I don't see how he was a "Johnny Kickpads" at all. If anything, he borrowed a lot from Adam Pearce during their run together. I don't think Tank Toland fits either. Toland was a power guy, and I never recall him having a kick based offense. I might grant you Pelle Primeau, and definitely Davey Andrews.

 

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1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I didn't think I'd ever defend Shane Hagadorn, but I don't see how he was a "Johnny Kickpads" at all. If anything, he borrowed a lot from Adam Pearce during their run together. I don't think Tank Toland fits either. Toland was a power guy, and I never recall him having a kick based offense. I might grant you Pelle Primeau, and definitely Davey Andrews.

 

You're probably right, I just looked over some old results and all those guys ran together for me as they were always working the opening matches in some combination and I couldn't remember any individual details about them. Now that I think about it, I know one guy (I guess Toland) had the gimmick of bringing some spring loaded exercise tool out with him, and was it Hagadorn that they were always trying to make lose weight?

There were also a bunch of guys from the Texas academy that might have fit the label as well.

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1 hour ago, HumanChessgame said:

You're probably right, I just looked over some old results and all those guys ran together for me as they were always working the opening matches in some combination and I couldn't remember any individual details about them. Now that I think about it, I know one guy (I guess Toland) had the gimmick of bringing some spring loaded exercise tool out with him, and was it Hagadorn that they were always trying to make lose weight?

There were also a bunch of guys from the Texas academy that might have fit the label as well.

Bobby Dempsey was the whipping boy of Sweet 'N Sour Inc. and Tank Toland was the personal trainer for S&S. Toland was such a good fit for the group.

Hagadorn was Adam Pearce's lackey.

As much as I do enjoy Jack Evans, he fits the criteria, right down to the shiny pants and kickpads.

Just about the entire Special K faction can be thrown in here. As least, Jay Lethal has come a long, long way from his Special K days. 

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The Johnny Kickpads era definitely has its genesis from UWF and Pancrase and everyone is saying RVD, Samoa Joe, Low Ki should get a pass as they had a kick-based offence... and I'm not so sure about that. Why the hell would you wear pads to protect your opponent if your offence is kick based? Yes it's a work, but come on, that's a serious flaw in logic.

I noticed the turn around about 2004-5 when Punk changed his gear from the baggy shorts gimmick to JKP. From there it just seemed to balloon across the indies for the next decade.

I wish we'd held off on this topic and done an actual tournament 

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Furthermore, Nobuhiko Takada is unique in that he's the only wrestler in history whose level of career success is directly proportional to how covered up his shins are. Think about it: Kickpad wearing UWF-I star, selling out stadiums. And after that, main eventing the Tokyo Dome as NJPW's interpromotional rival, in kickpads. Takes them off and becomes a bare-legged Pride FC fighter, humiliating defeats, one after the other. But then, Long trousered M. Bison look alike, charismatic superstar. He'd never have gotten over in Hustle if he'd worn shorts.

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5 hours ago, CreativeControl said:

I noticed the turn around about 2004-5 when Punk changed his gear from the baggy shorts gimmick to JKP. From there it just seemed to balloon across the indies for the next decade.

 

Wasn't Punk's change in gear mostly because he was trying to get into WWE? I don't really recall a change to his offense. I think Punk only became a JKP when he was called up to WWECW and was given a muay thai gimmick.

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20 minutes ago, ComingToAmerica said:

I was/am a fan, but Super Dragon deserves to be in the conversation I think .

Super Dragon is way too cool to be considered a Johnny Kickpads, and I dare anyone to call him that to his face. He lives by the proverb "Surly to bed, surly to rise!"

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9 hours ago, CreativeControl said:

Yes, and to me that sums up a JKP - someone who wears the gear for no reason other than it looks cool

Indeed, and to follow this line of reasoning to its conclusion, the most JKP that one can be is one who wears the gear and DOESN'T kick anything, in short, wearing the gear because they think it makes them look cool. I hereby nominate Tony Kozina, who along with being a foul-tempered, roided-up dwarf, has had about as much of a JKP career as one could possibly have. Maybe that does give him an excuse for being such a sour bastard.

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On 10/10/2018 at 1:30 PM, Curt McGirt said:

I will say this, once you hear his voice the one time you'll never forget it. 

This also begs the point of who the best/worst Japanese Johnny Kickpads is, because that's where the whole trend came from. 

Most of them kick people though because that's the whole reason they wear the damn things.

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I just think indy guys bought them to cover up their tiny calves and so they wouldn't have to get proper expensive wrestling boots. Forget the kicking part.

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11 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

 I think Punk only became a JKP when he was called up to WWECW and was given a muay thai gimmick.

Which is odd, because Muay Thai fighters don't wear kickpads.

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Ankle sleeves, sure. But not kickpads. That's Buakaw Por Pramuk by the way.

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Honorable mention to a JKP that is a black belt in taekwondo, has an 0-1 MMA record, WWF jobber in 1995, notable WCW jobber, and also worked New Japan in 1998...

Jerry Flynn

Yes, this thread would have made for an awesome tournament. 

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