TerjeRUN Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 If Shinzaki had stayed after the Bret match and turned face, he probably could have gotten over. He did stay after the Bret match and he did turn face... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fresh Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Rick Rude's theme makes me want to swivel my hips and call every other male in the vicinity an "inner city sweathog". I can't really give a fair judgement on this one because I wanna do this everyday, whether I hear Rude's music or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Spanish Waiter Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Did Stone Cold not exist or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonL21 Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Yokozuna got over. Though I don't know if he counts because he wasn't actually Japanese. Though most fans didn't know that. The funny thing is Yoko was billed as being from Polynesia, which does include the Samoan islands, not Japan despite still doing a gimmick implying he was from Japan. Pretty much the same thing with Kofi. Being billed from Ghana but still doing a Jamaican gimmick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greggulator Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 I was once at a bar in York, PA in 1999 where the DJ played Stone Cold's theme song and people danced to it.It was one of the more sublime moments of my life. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valcourt Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 So, I'm watching NXT today and the crowd is going bananers for a simple, smartly-worked little Sami Zayn-Adrian Neville match, even chanting 'NXT!' (a la E-C-dub) and I thought "Man, there is this great fanbase here and they're just so into it, why hasn't someone started a fed down here in Florida and used this crowd just starving for good wrestling (reminds me a little of ECW's fans) and try to build themselves up a little bit, maybe not to ECW's level but at least elevate themselves above the average shitty indie fed" and I sat there and watched for five minutes or so and went "Oh yeah I guess there is wrestling in Florida", And THAT is how big of an impact (Ha!) TNA has made on your average wrestling fan. There are a LOT of wrestling promotions in Tampa/Orlando these days... FIP runs Ybor and Orlando about every other month or so, usually doing two shows a weekend. One in Tampa, one in Orlando. I usually hit up the Tampa show, and while they don't draw insane numbers, it's in a cool bar/club and the shows are usually good and well worth the price. They also book most of the well known Indy stars (Roderick Strong is on the next show) but I get the feeling they draw a lot of casual fans to their shows. Last night Florida Underground Wresting (NWA offshoot) did a show in Tampa at a cool theater with Chris Hero on the card (Very cool dude). The venue was super cool and had a pretty decent sized crowd (maybe 50+). A lot of Chris Hero fans, but also a lot of casual fans. There is also Shine (in Ybor as well) and Evolve is coming back to Ybor in January. Uproar Wrestling is running its third show in January and their are a few other smaller indies in the Pasco (North of Tampa area). Anyway... There is a lot of wrestling that goes on here but a lot of the crowds are the typical southern fans. The Orlando fans for NXT are somewhat of an anomaly that seem like wwe fans (cheer and boo the "right guys") but seem to really grab onto the dudes who are legitimately GOOD. Which I like. One of the reasons NXT is good is because I think the crowd is the perfect mix of smart and legit into what is going on. Outside of some people turning their back on Bo, none of the fans seems to be trying to get themselves over. tldr; lots of good wrestling in Florida, weird crowds. On a side note. At last nights FUW show the guy selling Matt Morgans merch fell asleep at his gimmick table while Matt Morgan was in a match..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 New Japan wrestler already work a version of the WWE style. Very much so. NJPW right now is a weird hybrid of WWE style with some strong style still mixed in, and MUCH more engaging characters. If they work the WWE style they have nothing to get themselves over with. I also agree with this. I mentioned Tanahashi, Okada and Kojima specifically because they have outstanding physical charisma, and could possibly get over either way. With that said, very few of the very top guys over there are working the dangerous 90's-mid 2000's style anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LooseCannon Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Hmmm...I'm going to be in the Tampa area on vacation during the holidays. I have never been to an indy show and FUW has a December 27 show.... Eh, I'll probably end up at the Hard Rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valcourt Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 I'm going to try and make the 27th show.Sam Alias (Corey Graves brother) just debuted with them (In an $80 shirt from express, BABY!) and is going to be in a 3-way title match with Matt Morgan and Titan. Alias didn't work a match but cut a fun promo, so i'm looking forward to that. I think they are doing the show at the Tampa Picture Show again and the venue is pretty cool, and the beer is cheap enough for a good time. I hear Hard Rock is a good time as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 If Shinzaki had stayed after the Bret match and turned face, he probably could have gotten over. according to Bret no one else wanted to make him look good. He stood out to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rzombie1988 Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Hakushi wasn't the easiest match to work. He had his spots and that's mostly it. You're not going to get good selling out him and he doesn't have much charisma. Great athletic ability though and a cool look, but he doesn't have half as many good matches as his peers in M-Pro did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SorceressKnight Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 New Japan wrestler already work a version of the WWE style. Very much so. NJPW right now is a weird hybrid of WWE style with some strong style still mixed in, and MUCH more engaging characters. If they work the WWE style they have nothing to get themselves over with. I also agree with this. I mentioned Tanahashi, Okada and Kojima specifically because they have outstanding physical charisma, and could possibly get over either way. With that said, very few of the very top guys over there are working the dangerous 90's-mid 2000's style anymore. Even physical charisma doesn't necessarily mean a Japanese wrestler could work in WWE, though. There's plenty of talented Japanese wrestlers who don't have charisma that translates in the West- they fail if they go to WWE. If a wrestler- like a Tajiri [or a Tanahashi/Okada/Kojima] does come to the WWE...if they don't speak English, they'll fail to get over in WWE because they can't cut promos. Then, to make matters worse- even if they have outstanding physical charisma, and they can speak English fluently (witness Tajiri/Yoshi Tatsu/Funaki as three good examples of those)...they're still screwed, because apparently from booking, Vince McMahon thinks that their accent is inherently funny (so they'll be locked into being comedy characters.) , So...if a puro star had a great, WWE-style in the ring...and impeccable physical charisma...and they were fluent in English, which they speak with a newscaster's lack of accent...then, maybe they'd get over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LooseCannon Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 I don't follow puro. Which guys with "physical charisma" have the size of, say, Alberto del Rio, which might make them more interesting to WWE? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 What's up with so many of the Hart boys having names that should be last names. Bret, Ross, Smith, Owen. No wonder Bobby Heenan didn't trust them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roman Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 The problem of promos could be be easily circumvented by using a manager. Japanese wrestlers in the WWE seem to have the tendency of being brought in as a heel, anyway. And it would be a good opportunity to bring in a new manager who can actually talk or, at the very least, be entertaining and easy to boo. I've always loved managers who didn't scream throughout a match and thus took away from it, or interrupted virtually every single match at some point. Having a guy strictly as a mouthpiece would be nice. Sylvester Lefort comes to mind. He could make a new Legionnaires faction, too. Or a female mouthpiece like Sunny back in the day. She was actually good on promos. I think if you bring in a Japanese guy as a heel and get the crowd get used to him and his mannerisms, it's easier to eventually turn him face by his mere gestures, mannerisms and attitude. I love guys like Yoshihiro Takayama, Minoru Suzuki and Genichiro Tenryu not just because they're great wrestlers, but because they have a body language and do little things that just makes you like them. Grumpy old man Tenryu a few years ago was perhaps the most entertaining wrestler at the time, especially when he was involved in a match with Kobashi. I never saw any interviews or promos with him, and his in-ring work was still pretty good for an old man (although his chops and punches were still stiff as hell), it was the little things he did that made me love him so much. If you find such a guy and give him enough in-ring time to let that register with the crowd, I have no doubt he could get over. Although I do think he'd need a bit of a 'grim, determined ass-kicker' gimmick to make it work and to have an excuse to not be constantly interviewed. It worked well for Goldberg and Benoit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Is there really a radical difference between WWE and Japan now? Most of the upper midcard is using that go go go style now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 I don't follow puro. Which guys with "physical charisma" have the size of, say, Alberto del Rio, which might make them more interesting to WWE? Shinsuke Nakamura. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LooseCannon Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 I don't follow puro. Which guys with "physical charisma" have the size of, say, Alberto del Rio, which might make them more interesting to WWE? Shinsuke Nakamura. Is he just an example, or is the full list actually only one name? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 An example. The top of the list is him, Tanahashi, and Okada. They have size and charisma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 He's not a big dude, but I'd think Akira Tozawa could get crazy over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Jun Kasai's bid for the WWE would end about the time he's accidentally touched in the forehead and blood starts flowing out of his scar tissue. Although it couldn't hurt his life expectancy to occasionally take breaks from doing crazy shit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tromatagon Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 They should bring in a crazy looking fucked up dude like Nozawa or Kasai I prefer the versatility of Nosawa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 They should bring in a crazy looking fucked up dude like Nozawa or Kasai I prefer the versatility of Nosawa Kasai has the goggles spot, I can see that being easily used in the WWE. Now, they'd probably veto him leaping off the titantron to splash someone duct-taped to a table on the ramp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SturmCRF Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Nakamura seems like a great call. Not that it's ever likely to happen as he's probably doing just fine in New Japan and WWE are unlikely to want him, but they could bring him in tomorrow as some kind of crazed, drunken knee-assassin and he'd be one of the best things on any of their shows. I'd also pay good money to see Yujiro Takahashi turn up as the fourth member of 3MB, complete with spectacular porno-sax entrance music. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 +1 for Tozawa; dude's just great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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