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Tanahashi to ROH



The question is who does he face? I have no desire to see him wrestle Styles again (even if they are to battle to see who is the true owner of the CLASH). Cole is their main guy, but the match doesn't have that big fight feel, same with Lethal. Briscoe would be a waste, Steen would be a clash of styles. Bennett? No. Ciampa? Not really. ACH and Kyle O'Reilly would make for great matches, but for the money I'm sure that's not the direction they are going. Ah yes, Matt Hardy. Ok, no. That pretty much gives us Elgin, Strong or Hero. Anyone else come to mind?

Figured this would give the board a chance to make witty quips about combining the two fan bases and it adding up to 18, or some similar "hip" banter. I can confirm however that many of us will in fact sleep better at night now.


Either Hero or Styles would work for me.  

Comments

  1. That's huge for roh. Is he going full time or just to work some dates? Also Roh is now the official #2 north american promotion

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  2. "Figured this would give the board a chance to make witty quips about combining the two fan bases and it adding up to 18, or some similar "hip" banter."

    If you want to get out in front of being made fun of for spazzing out over this...

    "I can confirm however that many of us will in fact sleep better at night now."

    ....don't follow up with that.

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  3. "Figured this would give the board a chance to make witty quips about combining the two fan bases and it adding up to 18, or some similar "hip" banter. I can confirm however that many of us will in fact sleep better at night now."




    dat insecurity

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  4. Regardless of the tone of this email this a huge deal and it opens up the (arguably) best in the world to a new audience. I'll follow roh closer now.

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  5. Man, if they could convert Tanahashi to Main Event Style and teach him English the WWE could do some good business. I saw that match with the JapanTrash Michael Jackson attired guy a week or so back in the blog and Tanahashi looks like someone Asian McMahon or Asian HHH would hire. Hes got that rock star-esque quality to him.

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  6. It's a lot more than just Tanahashi. The other names include Okada, Gedo, Jado, and Kushida, with more to come. The official announcement is in about 25 minutes.

    They're coming over for 3 dates in May. I dunno why Meltzer just put Tanahashi in the headline. Is Okada not a big enough deal!?!

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  7. Where are you getting this information?

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  8. This would have been great, say... five years ago.

    Today... big whoop.

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  9. Maybe not to Meltz. PW Torch also has the weird habit of using only last names for a bunch of NJPW guys, like they were 80s Japanese heels.

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  10. Oh, and serious answer: Paul London.

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  11. I think it was just a matter of not having confirmation on that one. Obviously it's a HUGE deal. He's gotta be the projected #1 pick on any mock draft, and establishing him in the states now is a great move considering he's gonna be the man for at least another 10 years. Dudes bares an uncanny resemblance to The Rock, minus the wildman promos.


    And if Nakamura's also on that list, even better. He's really the one guy whose charisma is the most transferable to the North American audience.

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  12. Man, ROH just might outdraw nearly all TNA shows for the first half of the year huh?

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  13. Depending on who's coming in, Tanahashi/Steen could work. I'd also book Okada & Gedo vs. Cole & Hardy, since there's a similar dynamic in play. Timesplitters v. ReDRagon could be fun.

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  14. I watched the CHAOS/Goto & Shibata tag from New Beginning last night, and it's remarkable seeing Okada's progression. Dude's star presence is right there now.

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  15. Remember when Okada was in TNA. The was they used him was SO smart!!!

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  16. At the very least, it's a fun highlight for that run of shows. Well worth making the play.

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  17. Funny how he went from nobody in TNA to one of the main stars of NJPW,He had a Lesnar Type since he returned in 2011.

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  18. Amsterdam_Adam_CurryFebruary 22, 2014 at 1:31 PM

    ROH has been #2 for a while now, which is actually kind of sad if you think about it.

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  19. Um, how so? Isn't New Japan currently enjoying a massive wave of popularity right now they didn't have 5 years ago?

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  20. Amsterdam_Adam_CurryFebruary 22, 2014 at 1:36 PM

    Because they're not even half as big as ECW was, and ECW was #3 by a mile. Just shows the piss poor state THIS BUSINESS is in.

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  21. Unfortunately this business is getting smaller.

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  22. Tanahashi vs. Roderick Strong could be great.

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  23. Holy hyperbole Batman!

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  24. "Oh and before anyone has the opportunity to question it, my penis is perfectly normal, thank you."

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  25. To me it isn't a big deal because I'm perfectly happy watching him go against guys I don't know with commentary I don't understand.

    Also, wasn't Tanahashi vs. Bryan posted a while ago? I can live with that.

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  26. If only they could sign the GREATEST HEEL IN WWE HISTORY CM Punk to their roster

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  27. YankeesHoganTripleHFanFebruary 22, 2014 at 2:53 PM

    This has nothing to do with the post but a few years ago I was next door neighbors with a really cute tween, (nice girl too could have a normal conversation and stuff) The family moved away but I always assumed that she was going to be a smoking hot heart-breaker. Saw her in the supermarket today...turns out she peaked at 13....always a shame. Who do you suppose is the wrestling equivalent to that?

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  28. Why don't you take a seat...

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  29. Final Battle 2014: Tanahashi vs. Punk in a grudge match. The last match will be Dolph Ziggler challenging Adam Cole for the ROH title with special guest referee Mick Foley.

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  30. Arguably he is. His run with the belt as a heel and his ses run were some of the greatest heel work. Who you got? Hhh lol no. Undertaker? Maybe. Yokozuna? Its arguable. Jake? Too short of a run as a heel. Rock/Austin? Could be. Its debateable.

    Also TNA is dog shit. It doesn't matter they have a TV deal. Roh has no real TV presence and they can actually sell tickets. TNA is on spike. That's all it is. They can't sell 200 tickets to a show. If you think you can be the #2 wrestling promotion without being able to tour and make money I don't know what to tell you.

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  31. Also just for the record, when I say wwe I only mean since they changed the name, otherwise I would say wwe/WWF history but I'm willing to play the game with the whole WWF history

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  32. If you can't sell tickets to your show your not bigger than ring of honor.

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  33. "Who you got? Hhh lol no. Undertaker? Maybe. Yokozuna? Its arguable. Jake? Too short of a run as a heel. Rock/Austin? Could be. Its debateable."



    wat

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  34. If you still show PPVs on the internet, your not bigger than TNA.

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  35. So I guess the wwe is about to drop behind tna. Good point, the internet is a dying medium. Anyone who utilizes it probably is stupid

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  36. Good job totally missing the point. Your probably one of those people that believed ECW was the number 2 promotion at one point.

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  37. No one watches tna ppvs. No one buys tickets to see tna. Some people allegedly tune in on TV. Its TV show with OK ratings. Not a wrestling promotion.

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  38. Good job making a straw man argument. Its the sign of a strong and intelligent debater.

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  39. Cable TV deal and PPV deal makes them bigger by default. Live events mean nothing.

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  40. Can you really be bigger than roh and sell 400 tickets to bound for glory? They can't even run a small house show schedule. The TV deal is a huge plus for them, but is that alone enough go be #2?

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  41. They sold 2500 for BFG2013 and the buyrate was 17,000. They are an international company. ROH is nowhere close to them.


    Your only argument means nothing in 2014. Nobody gives a shit about live events when you can see a better version of the product on TV.

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  42. How old were you when you were attracted to this 13 year old girl who is now unattractive to you at the age of 16?

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  43. I know this is a joke but if Punk really wants to be some sort of voice for the revival of the art of Professional Wrestling, then he should take a pay cut and do the match for ROH. It would be a smark's wet dream match and easily be ROH's biggest gate ever.

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  44. On what planet are "Roderick Strong" and "great" used in the same sentence??

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  45. When was this?

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  46. I imagine he's referring to ROH's roster today compared to 5 years ago.

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  47. NJPW sent Okada to TNA to get experience in 2010.

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  48. I think Punk's title run wasn't even as good as his SES run if we are looking at heel heat. Fans didn't want him as a heel and he was having to pull out every cheap heat tactic in the book. SES Punk was naturally despised. Either way Biggest WWF/E heel of all time goes to Piper, easily.

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  49. Even IF you just use the WWE timeframe Edge has him surpassed in virtually every way. Punk's heel work never really drew buyrates nor did he pull anything resembling the kind of heat that Edge did. Hollywood Batista is another.


    And that's just off the top of my head. If you're going to include WWF as well?!


    McMahon
    HHH
    HBK

    Piper
    Orndorff
    Heenan
    Savage
    Honky Tonk Man


    That's with very little effort thinking about it. I guess when you throw in the term "arguable" it takes some of the onus of you to prove it because I could argue that treebark tastes better than filet mignon. I'd be an idiot for trying, but I could argue it.

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  50. YankeesHoganTripleHFanFebruary 22, 2014 at 3:45 PM

    Old enough to know better...Yeah she flirted with me, (a little not much) but in the time we were neighbors her parents were awesome to me. I never even thought about it.

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  51. Ah, that's true I guess. Current ROH still has enough great talent to make this worthwhile though IMO.

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  52. Sure Roddy has all the personality and charisma of a brick but the man's still a damn good worker.

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  53. I'm a big fan of your work, Mr Lawler.

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  54. YankeesHoganTripleHFanFebruary 22, 2014 at 4:02 PM

    What The King and I have in common is that we never touched a 13 year old girl...ever. And I don't know who you are so you should probably leave the Blog now.

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  55. Fair enough. DBishness withdrawn. And I'm not talking about Edge's Smackdown run I'm talking his stint with Lita. He was killing it then

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  56. He was Samoa Joes sidekick in a Kato from Green Hornet ripoff.

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  57. Grizzly Redwood

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  58. Aren't you the guy that mocked me for my Punk v Tanahashi in 6 months comment ?

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  59. Yep. This is a continuation of that mocking.

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  60. I'm not sure the #2 U.S. promotion is a ROH vs. TNA thing. If we're talking about a combination of Most Talented Roster, Best Matches, Best Crowd, and maybe the most important Biggest Financial Profit... Then I'm pretty sure PWG has 3 out of 4 of those for sure, and they could possibly have the Most Talented Roster as well. A mix of ROH, DragonGate and CZW upper-carders vs. TNA's extremely talented roster (for now at least). It's a push, Flip-a-coin.

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  61. Okay so I'm back. 1. Heenan is the best heel-ever, even over Vince and flair. He was definitely a draw and was able to turn beloved Andre heel by association. But I'm just talking post "f" wrestlers.

    Edge was amazing and had two crazy runs. Rated R and the king of smackdown. And he (rightfully) closed out wrestlemania 24. Edge vs undertaker was 100% a legit and real wrestlemania main event. Plus his ratings impact in the rated R days is well documented. Much like punk vs cena at wm27 many people think cena vs edge should have been the main event for wm22.

    Cm punk basically had two great heel runs. Ses into his super underated run as new nexus leader, which took him all the way to the pipe bomb promo where he eventually turned face, and then his heel turn as champ at raw 1000 into him turning on heyman. Punk legit mainevented summerslam against Jeff Hardy in one of the hottest feuds I've ever seen. Those guys may have been perfect foils for each other. He also had a great feud with rey (which I only bring up as a rey mark) but the hardy feud is an example of him making a face bigger by being a heel. His wwe title heel run had an amazing cena feud that had one of my favorite raw endings ever where punk beat up jerry Lawler locked inside a cage while cena desperately tried to break in. He also got to work a program with the rock. That's a big deal.

    Edge got more boos ultimately, but in edges prime Theres two things at play helping him. First I believe that the fans hadn't completely turned on the wwes booking. When punk was ses/ new nexus punk he got all boos. But when he had the title the audience was legit sick of cena and rebelled against the turn because everyone saw it as a move to protect cenas spot and the fans had (and still are) become fucking jaded. That's more a long term failure of wwe creative than anything punk did wrong. Also flair got a lot of cheers because he was so goddamn awesome . Punk, I believe, was getting similar treatment. Just two awesome and over. If 1985 piper did his act in 2012 wwe and beyond he'd get cheers. People want a change on top. #2 Edge was able to be more "protected" by being on smackdown. I love smackdown. I've been watching it for years. But for a long time its fans were less "smart" than raw fans. If edge ran that same stuff on raw he would have been cheered (partially because of cena) but he was able to work in front of a more markish crowd and play off faces that were actually over with the whole crowd. Rey, taker, angle etc. Also, just like wwe champ punk had heyman to help with his heat edge had Vickie. If punk was able to get that spot he would have gotten booed like crazy to. Punk never had problems with cheers during his sxs run, and that's partially because he was on brand split smackdown.

    I think if you put r rated edge or smackdown boss edge against ceña in 2012 he gets cheered too. If you look at the work punk did against Hardy and cena its hard for me to imagine a heel doing any better work than that. Those were monster feuds that carried the promotion. Now edge arguably had undertakers best feud ever (Shawn might have, but that was more face vs face respect stuff, and Austin obviously did huge business with him) and closed wm24 which is something punk never did. As far as work rate goes I'd say punk is a cut better than edge ever was (which is saying a lot). To me, in a vacuum, punk was better on the mic as a heel (edge got stronger reactions but I think I explained why) and better in the ring. So to me that's why he's the best.

    If this makes no sense or has 8 million typos I apologize I'm doing this drunk and high at 1230 on a Saturday but I really wanted to respond because the edge thing you brought up is a really good point

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