AUGUST 2019 WRESTLING CHAT.

[OSJ]

The fates of Nak, Kana, and KENTA should serve as an object lesson to any Japanese wrestlers considering working for Vince:

 "Hey, pal! How come you're not throwing salt? That's what the people want to see!  Oh, we're going to put two of you guys together as a tag-team, the gimmick will be that the ref can never figure out who the legal man is 'cause you guys all look the same! HAHAHAHAHA! I'm telling ya pal, it will be huge! You think that maybe you guys could put on some weight so you look more like Sumo guys?  If that's too much trouble we can give you Kendo sticks to hit people with! I remember seeing this tape with a fat broad chasing people around with a Kendo stick, it was hilarious, pal! You know any fat broad that we could bring over as your valet? This is main event stuff, pal; wait until you see the crowds!"

Of course, VKM might go for a less sophisticated approach, but the above  is likely pretty close. 

[Matt D]

That reminds me. Memphis wrestling is awesome.

[Infinit]

3 hours ago, Craig H said:

TIL that my birthday falls on a Thursday this year. I learned this because Blood Money 4 takes place on Thursday, October 31. So, that's neat.

Happy Halloween/birthday to me!

Blood Money 3 took place on my birthday! Does that make us....Blood Money Buddies...?

[Dolfan in NYC]

10 minutes ago, OSJ said:

The fates of Nak, Kana, and KENTA should serve as an object lesson to any Japanese wrestlers considering working for Vince:

 "Hey, pal! How come you're not throwing salt? That's what the people want to see!  Oh, we're going to put two of you guys together as a tag-team, the gimmick will be that the ref can never figure out who the legal man is 'cause you guys all look the same! HAHAHAHAHA! I'm telling ya pal, it will be huge! You think that maybe you guys could put on some weight so you look more like Sumo guys?  If that's too much trouble we can give you Kendo sticks to hit people with! I remember seeing this tape with a fat broad chasing people around with a Kendo stick, it was hilarious, pal! You know any fat broad that we could bring over as your valet? This is main event stuff, pal; wait until you see the crowds!"

Of course, VKM might go for a less sophisticated approach, but the above  is likely pretty close. 

I mean, it's no "Woman getting pregnant because her vagina was sprayed by black mist leading to her laying an egg", but the money's alright I guess.  

 

[Casey]

32 minutes ago, OSJ said:

The fates of Nak, Kana, and KENTA should serve as an object lesson to any Japanese wrestlers considering working for Vince:

 "Hey, pal! How come you're not throwing salt? That's what the people want to see!  Oh, we're going to put two of you guys together as a tag-team, the gimmick will be that the ref can never figure out who the legal man is 'cause you guys all look the same! HAHAHAHAHA! I'm telling ya pal, it will be huge! You think that maybe you guys could put on some weight so you look more like Sumo guys?  If that's too much trouble we can give you Kendo sticks to hit people with! I remember seeing this tape with a fat broad chasing people around with a Kendo stick, it was hilarious, pal! You know any fat broad that we could bring over as your valet? This is main event stuff, pal; wait until you see the crowds!"

Of course, VKM might go for a less sophisticated approach, but the above  is likely pretty close. 

I dunno, it seems like Nakamura is pretty content cashing in his WWE paychecks, not doing a physical New Japan style anymore, and surfing whenever possible. It's just dependent on the person, really. Nak probably isn't your best example to use, since he's actually had a pretty decent run in WWE. Has he had a billion 4 star and up rated matches? Probably not. But he had a nice run in NXT, was the focal point of that brand for awhile, and went on to be a x2 US Champion, x1 IC champion, and won the Royal Rumble. That's not bad, for being a Japanese star and working for someone like Vince.

But, hey, it also fits your narrative too, I guess, so... eh.

[Ultimo Necro]

3 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Crown Jewel 2: Blood Diamonds are Forever* will be held on October 31st from Riyadh, KSA

 

---

* - not the actual name.

Genuinely sounds like the name of a late-era Hammer Horror Flick I would get to review in Halloween Havoc.

[OSJ]

1 minute ago, Casey said:

I dunno, it seems like Nakamura is pretty content cashing in his WWE paychecks, not doing a physical New Japan style anymore, and surfing whenever possible. It's just dependent on the person, really. Nak probably isn't your best example to use, since he's actually had a pretty decent run in WWE. Has he had a billion 4 star and up rated matches? Probably not. But he had a nice run in NXT, was the focal point of that brand for awhile, and went on to be a x2 US Champion, x1 IC champion, and won the Royal Rumble. That's not bad, for being a Japanese star and working for someone like Vince.

But, hey, it also fits your narrative too, I guess, so... eh.

Yeah, Nak probably isn't the best example as a lot of my disappointment in his WWE run is directly on him. He seemingly went from  the most exciting guy on the roster in NXT to a Randy Orton level of disinterest in what he was doing.

Granted, KENTA had problems with injuries that sort of derailed him , so there's a percentage of circumstance that isn't just shitty booking to blame, but it's certainly quite possible to keep a guy heated up while he recovers from an injury. Only takes a couple of minutes each week and keeps  the  guy fresh in the minds of the audience  and can certainly be utilized to push a "revenge angle" directed toward whomever  supposedly caused the injury. They didn't do any of this with KENTA, instead they just sort of forgot about him  and left him to flounder around  on 205 Live.

That brings us to Kana/Asuka and what's been done with her is simply unforgivable. Not only is she arguably the best wrestler male or female on the entire roster, but she was called up from  one of the most memorable championship runs in the history of the company. The only knock on her is that her English is less than great, but that's a complete irrelevancy as she's just fine getting her talking points and catchphrase across. Add to that her amazing in-ring work and the fact that she's arguably the most beautiful woman to ever lace up a pair of boots and her treatment since being called up to the main roster is nothing short of criminal. I'm sure that she's getting nice money (which she deserves), and hopefully has a post-wrestling career as an instructor at the Power Plant written into her contract. She damn well deserves a lot better than "Kabuki Warriors". 

[nate]

2 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

I mean, it's no "Woman getting pregnant because her vagina was sprayed by black mist leading to her laying an egg", but the money's alright I guess.  

 

That's how my parents explained it to me in my youth, so I fail to see your point.

Edited August 5, 2019 by nate

[matt925]

1 hour ago, OSJ said:

That brings us to Kana/Asuka and what's been done with her is simply unforgivable. Not only is she arguably the best wrestler male or female on the entire roster, but she was called up from  one of the most memorable championship runs in the history of the company. The only knock on her is that her English is less than great, but that's a complete irrelevancy as she's just fine getting her talking points and catchphrase across. Add to that her amazing in-ring work and the fact that she's arguably the most beautiful woman to ever lace up a pair of boots and her treatment since being called up to the main roster is nothing short of criminal. I'm sure that she's getting nice money (which she deserves), and hopefully has a post-wrestling career as an instructor at the Power Plant written into her contract. She damn well deserves a lot better than "Kabuki Warriors". 

She has so much charisma it more than makes up for English speaking abilities. She’s freaking hilarious. She should be challenging Becky at summerslam since she beat her clean at the rumble, and the sky pirates were already getting over as a team, and they need each other more on the main roster because they don’t have that charisma. 

This was all laid out right in front of their face. 

 

[SorceressKnight]

Even if Asuka was kind of misused...but it's hard to see how much is Asuka not being seen as good enough, and how much of it is placating two year olds who wanna see the lady in the pretty colors win all the time. 

Seriously, we went through this with Goldberg and Ryback. If your whole gimmick is "I always win, never lose", the second you lose- and you will lose one day, the aura is gone forever. Asuka would have been better off eating a pin or two in NXT just to teach the Asuka fans "no. Losing isn't beneath her."

Hell, that's why I'd at least say Kairi Sane has more of a chance to succeed than Asuka or Io Shirai do- simply because Kairi Sane has proven she can lose and fans won't get butthurt any time she loses, dirty, to Brock Lesnar, by every other woman and most of the men and hell throw the 82nd Airborne in there to attack her, and they tie her up in the middle of the ring and hand her to Lesnar, and even then she kicks out a couple times and it takes three F5s and a person bringing in a piece of Kryptonite to finish her.

[For Great Justice]

12 minutes ago, matt925 said:

She has so much charisma it more than makes up for English speaking abilities. She’s freaking hilarious. She should be challenging Becky at summerslam since she beat her clean at the rumble, and the sky pirates were already getting over as a team, and they need each other more on the main roster because they don’t have that charisma. 

This was all laid out right in front of their face. 

 

This 1000x. The correct play was let Becky have a nice month or so after WM and then after her first PPV defense have clown face Asuka show up and destroy her, rightly pointing out that she beat her clean as a sheet and she’s all pissed off that Becky was getting the pub. It’s all right there.

Edited August 5, 2019 by For Great Justice

[SirSmUgly]

4 hours ago, cwoy2j said:

"Look at him Tony. Just look at him. Break him down and make him submit. That's right."

I can just hear  his tone of voice right now.

In the conservative south of the '80s, I'm glad that David Crockett found a subversive little way to be who he was, no matter what anyone thought.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Smelly McUgly

[Godfrey]

14 minutes ago, SorceressKnight said:

Seriously, we went through this with Goldberg and Ryback. If your whole gimmick is "I always win, never lose", the second you lose- and you will lose one day, the aura is gone forever. Asuka would have been better off eating a pin or two in NXT just to teach the Asuka fans "no. Losing isn't beneath her."

I contend this because A) Asuka's winning streak was part of her persona but she had far more of an aura beyond the streak than Goldberg or Ryback ever did and B) I don't think fans got "butthurt" because Asuka lost, they were mad because after that loss she was booked like garbage.

[Casey]

The fans are always the problem according to Sorceress, you should know that by now.

[LoneWolf&Subs]

8 hours ago, nofuture said:

The Ray's mascot isn't the only thing Riddle buried.

It hit me who Riddle reminds me of...

The Great White Hype himself, Peter Berg.

[Eivion]

6 minutes ago, Godfrey said:

I contend this because A) Asuka's winning streak was part of her persona but she had far more of an aura beyond the streak than Goldberg or Ryback ever did and B) I don't think fans got "butthurt" because Asuka lost, they were mad because after that loss she was booked like garbage.

Nah, they were pretty pissed she lost. I mean you could try to argue it was because it was to Charlotte Flair, but it really didn't make sense for Asuka to go any further with the streak than she did. Bad booking post loss just added fuel to the fire, especially since that was the first time it was obvious Asuka should turn towards the crazy clown face paint gimmick for something fresh and different, just like Post-WM this year with Becky.

[Guest The Magnificent 7]

8 hours ago, nofuture said:

The Ray's mascot isn't the only thing Riddle buried.

 

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

16 minutes ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

 

The Great White Hype himself, Peter Berg.

 

[Web Conn]

3 hours ago, Matt D said:

That reminds me. Memphis wrestling is awesome.

Is it? What am I missing cuz I don't think Memphis was all that neat. I got into wrestling well after the territories were over but i've gone back and watched some stuff and Memphis is a little too hokey for me.

[Casey]

Hey, it might be hokey, but at least they had good punches!

[Coletti]

So nobody's gonna bring up that Riddle was watching porn while making that vid?

[Casey]

Nobody’s bringing it up, because he wasn’t watching porn. It was his kids in the background.

[Matt D]

14 minutes ago, Web Conn said:

Is it? What am I missing cuz I don't think Memphis was all that neat. I got into wrestling well after the territories were over but i've gone back and watched some stuff and Memphis is a little too hokey for me.

Next summer. I'm behind on this summer's stuff.

[Coletti]

9 minutes ago, Casey said:

Nobody’s bringing it up, because he wasn’t watching porn. It was his kids in the background.

Well that's just disturbing, definitely sounded far less innocent coming out of my phone speaker. 

[The Man Known as Dan]

I’m curious if anyone but me has had big changes on how they viewed some old workers via footage for recently released. For instance I went from thinking Buzz Sawyer was kinda cool to thinking Buzz Sawyer was fucking amazing and the only reason he isn’t held up as a legend is because he was apparently a dick.