Hi Scott,
What was the deal with Taka being under contract with WWE from 1997 until 2001 yet he still appeared on ECW shows and a PPV in early 1999?
Was it just an arrangement made between Vince and Heyman or was Taka unique in his contract situation allowing more freedom?
Do you have any favourite Taka moments from during his time in WWE? As personally his match against Great Sasuke at Canadian Stampede and his title match against HHH on TV, really stand out as his best for I.
Cheers.
I barely even remember him being on ECW PPV in 99, but I would presume Vince didn't give a shit about letting Paul use him by that point. They were doing a lot of two-way stuff with the WWF invasion angle in 97 as well, for example.
Obviously my favorite Taka match was the one he had with Sasuke in Edmonton on RAW the night after the PPV, because now I can say I've seen a Great Saskuke match live. And yeah, the HHH match was pretty great and memorable, too. If you've never seen any of his Michinoku Pro stuff from around the same time and you like what you saw of him in the WWF, then I'd recommend picking something up from Rudo Reels or another site like that. There's endless variations of tag matches with Kaientai against Sasuke and his crew and they're just the BEST. Here's a free plug for Rudo Reels:
There is also that awesome 6 man tag on the ECW PPV (Forget which one) with Dick Togo, Sasuke and some other guys. Best ECW match ever in my opinion (not saying much, but still).
ReplyDeleteI think it was barely legal
ReplyDeleteWho cares about Tough Enough? The show has a horrendous track-record as far as WWE actually doing anything with the winners. John Morrison is the only winner to accomplish squat in WWE and they didn't even mention he won TE
ReplyDeleteNo it was legal, they had building permits and everything for the event. I just can't remember the PPV
ReplyDeleteLol that was great
ReplyDeleteWe're just having fun here and telling stories!
ReplyDeleteThe WWE has no new ideas, so they are reviving everything they have ever done in an effort to build content. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they brought back the XFL.
ReplyDeleteI remember him having a great, tragically short match for the Light Heavyweight Title against Dean Malenko on Smackdown. Do you all think that if Taka had wound up in WCW in 96, he would have been in the mix with the first wave of cruiserweight legends--Rey, Dean, Eddy, and Ultimo Dragon--one of the cornerstones in one of the greatest divisions ever--or would he have been thrown in with the enhancement cruisers like Super Calo, Juvy, and Lizmark Jr? I thought Taka was incredible and it was a shame the WWF's lightweight division seldom gave him the opportunity to have the matches he was truly capable of.
ReplyDeletehi why taka both places
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy how the WWF hyped up Taka Michinoku as one of the biggest signings ever, and he was an absolute afterthought not even a year later.
ReplyDeleteAdd Tiger Ali Singh and Brakkus to that list too. It seems like every mid-late 90's WWF 'big signing' was a total bust.
ReplyDeleteAre you implying that Brian Christopher and Scott Putski weren't the right opponents for him?
ReplyDeleteI loved that match with HHH, he was so good. Too bad he didn't sign with WCW instead.
ReplyDeleteExcellent question, Shelton.
ReplyDeleteThat match with HHH is tremendous. HHH's reaction to facing TAKA only to see the Acolytes behind him is great. It always sucks me in and makes me think he's going to pull off the upset
ReplyDeleteAt least it was justifiable in Singh's case. Aside from his ability to generate instant heel heat on the stick, he was AWFUL. It was like watching Muhammad Hassan 7 years earlier.
ReplyDeleteWell, sort of. They signed Kurt Angle in '98. But yeah, he's more the exception than the rule.
ReplyDeleteThe rock?
ReplyDeleteBeing in wcw wouldn't have helped Singh or brakkus. They were terrible
It makes me mad just thinking about it. They brought him in to be the star of their light heavyweight division, but then they filled the division with homemade Luchadores and undersized heavyweights. Then, instead of making it its own thing, they used the entire division as job fodder, presumably because their size gave them a built in excuse for losing to the big guys. This thing where WWE thoughtlessly destroys anything with any potential is not a new trend.
ReplyDeletePeople shit on WWE's cruiserweights, and they're right but WCW picked that market clean. There wasn't a lot out there in the late 90s.
ReplyDeleteLook up a guy called the One Man Thrill Ride - that's the guy they need on Tough Enough
ReplyDeleteNot from his WWF run, but his six man from Barely Legal 1997 is ridiculously good.
ReplyDeleteHHH in 2000 was absurdly good at making his opponents look like Gods.
ReplyDeleteIt was an amazing match.
ReplyDeleteYes Rock and Angle were exceptions. Even Rock was *this* close to being cut in 1997 after the disasterous 'Die Rocky Die' phase before he miraculously got a second chance as a heel with The Nation and became the biggest star ever.
ReplyDeleteThat's an insult to Muhammad Hassan.
ReplyDeleteThe reason why he was at an ECW PPV in 99? Vince bought ECW in 1996 that's why.
ReplyDeleteMan, did he ever SPLAT in that Royal Rumble.
ReplyDeleteI'm picturing Kaientai vs. the LWO and it's making me smile.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, the WWF Light Heavyweight Division was garbage. They had TAKA, Brian Christopher (who wrestled a slow plodding Memphis style), a green-as-gooseshit Super Crazy, Papi Chulo (the original Sin Cara as far as botches go), Scott Putski (...), and a bunch of indy/USWA castoffs like Scott Taylor, Flash Flanagan, Devon Storm, etc. I remember they had a match between Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers, and even the 13-year old me said "Jesus. They really don't get it at all, do they?"
ReplyDeleteAs much as I dug TAKA (it's supposed to be all caps, right?), that's the most memorable moment of his for me because of how gleefully Lawler reacted each of the seventeen times they replayed it. Actually, scratch that. It's my favorite Lawler moment.
ReplyDeleteBy the time the rest of Kaientai came in, it was too late.
ReplyDeleteBetter is the 6 man they had on hardcore TV a few weeks before Barely Legal. It's on Unreleased Vol 2 and blows the PPV match out of the water.
ReplyDeleteTaka is no El Dandy tho.
ReplyDeleteI once bought a Michinoku Pro tape on Scott's recommendation, some rando thing from 96. Every match was some combination of Taka, Funaki, Sasuke, Dick Togo, Mens Teioh, Gran Naniwa, and Gran Hamada and they were all awesome. Taka and Funaki used to do a double team sequence that made the Young Bucks look like the Godwinns.
ReplyDeleteThe WWF Light Heavyweight Division looked so second rate by comparison, it was painful. It's not like good talent wasn't available. They had just done that cross-promotion deal with AAA and could have brought in Hector Garza and guys like that, but I honestly think Vince just didn't get the appeal of the cruiserweights. He filled the division with guys like Scott Putski and Brian Christopher and thought this is what everybody must be raving about in WCW.
ReplyDeleteTAKA was one of my sleeper favorites when I first became a fan, because since I wasn't always allowed to stay up late on Mondays my parents didn't give a shit about the weekends so I ended up watching Shotgun Saturday Night more frequently than Raw. I saw a lot of combinations of Kaientai - Too Much - the Oddities - Hardys (in their original hideous green plaid).
ReplyDeleteYea he was. He was on shawn bret flair levels of great til the quad injury.he should have changed his moveset after that injury
ReplyDeleteIs it on WWE Network?
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I haven't seen enough of TAKA's Japanese work to really compare him to El Dandy. That'd be a great comparison though. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteProblem with Vince is that even when he got Mysterio and Tajiri and Kidman and Noble and Moore and Hurricane and Dragon... he had them work WWE cruiserweight style. They weren't allowed to cut loose. And only Mysterio had the charisma to get over doing that style.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure nobody remembers this, but there was a Flash Funk vs. TAKA match from Shotgun in 1998 that was absolutely phenominal. It ended with Funk doing a moonsault into a guillotine leg drop and I lost my shit. It was one of those matches where they could just cut loose because clearly nobody gave a fuck about the B shows (ala the London/Akio series from Velocity).
ReplyDeleteEats tuna sandwich. I'm still thinking of vince being a preacher and shaking uncontrollably while praising the Lord
ReplyDeleteI think it didn't help that by late 2000, Angle was the best wrestler in the company.
ReplyDeleteI also remember a really fun sprint between TAKA and a very young Christoper Daniels from Shotgun that same year.
ReplyDeleteNo, it was on TV in early 97, and the Network hasn't gotten to that point yet. I do imagine it'll get reviewed shortly by Chad because it was after Cyberslam 97 and before Barely Legal. Seriously tho, it's non stop action and is way better than the Barely Legal match, IMO.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to replicate that match/dynamic today, who do you throw out there? Prob doesn't work with Rollins as champ but who is the challenger...?
ReplyDeleteExcellent no sell
ReplyDeleteHe had a match like that with Spike Dudley around 2003 as well.
ReplyDeleteThe WWF is listed as being as one of the parties being owed the most money from ECW in ECW's 2001 bankruptcy filing ($587,500). Rob Van Dam was the wrestler owed the most money ($150,000).
ReplyDeletehttp://canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingECW/apr11_ecwwoes-can.html
Take that up with wnyxmcneal.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure he bought the company outright, but it's been well documented that there was a talent exchange between the two companies and Vince was helping them financially. TAKA, Droz, Brakkus, Furnas and Lafon, Lawler, Cornette, and Al Snow all spent time down in ECW while under WWF contract.
ReplyDeleteWWE is listed as being as one of the parties being owed the most money from ECW in ECW's 2001 bankruptcy filing ($587,500). Rob Van Dam was the wrestler owed the most money ($150,000).
ReplyDeletehttp://canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingECW/apr11_ecwwoes-can.html
They could only cut loose on Velocity when nobody was watching. I honestly wish they had just relegated the entire division to B shows and had London/Noble/Tajiri/Dragon/Funaki/etc. tearing shit up with no handcuffs every week.
ReplyDeleteDaniels was almost 30 at that point.
ReplyDeleteDon't believe it for a second. I have a long standing conspiracy theory involving WWF and ECW and no court document will change that.
ReplyDeleteYou can't replicate that match today, because everything is too safe and predictable. WWF 2000 had just the right kind of atmosphere where I could suspend disbelief and honestly think to myself "OMG, they're going to put the title on TAKA!" The "anything can happen in the WWF'' days are long dead.
ReplyDeleteYou call it talent exchange, I call it owning ECW.
ReplyDeleteYoung in his career.
ReplyDeleteThey tried for the taka-hhh dynamic and missed on that
ReplyDeleteProbably the same one I have. Fantastic except I cannot STAND super delphin.
ReplyDeleteIf Vince owned ECW outright, I'm sure we would have seen a lot more ECW guys on WWF TV. Especially when WCW was destroying them week-in, week-out. I doubt Vince bought a company just to have one "invasion" episode of RAW, and for the Sandman to pour a beer on Savio Vega at a throwaway PPV.
ReplyDeleteFeels like there are a lot of cruiserweight type talent out there right now. It's a shame WWE sees no value in it as two cruiserweights are about to break the PPV buyrate record.
ReplyDeleteReads as... 'no matter what solid evidential basis you can argue your case on, I've made my mind up regardless and nothing will change that',
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, I have a long standing conspiracy theory involving the Illuminati, aliens, the mafia, Area 51, Elvis, the moon landings and the reanimated zombie corpse of Frank Goodish that explains how and why Bret got screwed in '97, and aint no so-called 'evidence' gonna change that.
Aliens and zombies don't exist. Vince buying ECW in 1996 does.
ReplyDeleteSlob knockah
ReplyDeleteespecially with APA watching his back
ReplyDeletethat's a semi-famous match. It got Daniels booked in Japan and pretty much launched his career
ReplyDeleteI think based on this thread I would call it you being a lunatic. :)
ReplyDeleteActually I thought they brought Sasuke in to be that star, but Taka was so impressive they took him instead?
ReplyDeleteWhat's the deal with the name being in all caps? Never understood that
ReplyDeleteMaybe out right owned is putting in strongly but I feel Vince funded ECW from 1996-2001. That's why the whole Tod Gordon/mole thing blew up so big. Paul promised Vince that no ECW guy would go to WCW but Tod had a good relationship with Terry Taylor and went behind Paul's back and got them jobs at WCW.
ReplyDeleteBeen called worse!
ReplyDeleteI probably put that too strongly but I do think Vince funded ECW from 1996 to 2001.
ReplyDeleteIt's TAKA Michinoku as opposed to Taker Michinoku, the Japanese midget version of The Undertaker.
ReplyDeleteLol..
ReplyDeletenah, I noticed it's like that with several Japanese workers and assumed it was a cultural thing. Just kind of goes over my head
It's that guttural way the Japanese pronounce things:
ReplyDeleteTAKAAAAA!
AXE BOMBAHHHHHH
HADOUUUUKEN!!
The majority of the NXT roster are cruiserweights.
ReplyDeleteYou've got Owens, Corbin, Dempsey, Rhyno, Cassady and a bunch of cruiserweights.
He did financially support ECW with loans. It's there in the bankruptcy filing, and Vince himself mentioned it on Raw in 2005.
ReplyDeleteActually, the ECW "invasion" extended through the summer of 1997 with the likes of Heyman, Dreamer and Chris Candido appearing on sporadic episodes of RAW as they tried to exact revenge on Lawler and the ECW turncoat Rob Van Dam.
ReplyDeleteAnd, no, Vince did not own ECW. It was strictly a working relationship, albeit one that had Heyman on WWE's payroll.
I thinks it's even more than loans. I know what the bankruptcy documents say, but when Paul says he only took 1,000 bucks from Vince a week or whatever, that's I lie IMO. And further I believe Dreamer more than Paul, a million times more.
ReplyDeleteI think the "mole" debacle had more to do with the possibility of ECW having an extremely ( pun intended) depleted roster should Gordon have been successful in persuading several top stars into jumping to WCW.
ReplyDeleteOne need only look at the final days of ECW where Paul was forced to elevate lackluster midcard acts to prominent status thanks to losing the likes of the Dudleys and Taz in one fell swoop followed by Mike Awesome, Lance Storm and the recently returned Raven just a few months later.
Hell, the Monday Night War episode on the Cruiserweights openly acknowledges that. They also flat out say WWE was "always about bigger guys" so it didn't get much support and give credit to how the crusierweights were a key reason folks tuned into Nitro.
ReplyDeleteECW the organization was directly was on WWE's payroll. WWE sent $1,000 every week to HHG Corporation (ECW's legal name) starting in September 1996 as part of a deal Heyman cut with Vince.
ReplyDeleteDue to 2 Cold Scorpio, ECW's TV show had a sponsorship deal with Tommy Boy Records for $1,000/week. ECW lost that money when WWE signed Scorpio, so WWE replaced those funds in exchange for WWE being allowed to use ECW as an unofficial developmental group.
I'm sorry but I was such a mark for Kaentai. The way they'd come out and mouth words to a voice on the PA like a badly dubbed monster movie was hysterical. "We are eeeeeeeeeeeeevillllllllllll!" 'INDEEEEEEEEEEEEED!"
ReplyDeleteBrock vs Neville would be great.
ReplyDeleteI didn't much care for Taka, but Dick Togo -- man, he was great to watch.
ReplyDeleteClearly, you weren't paying attention. There was a zombie *in* ECW at one point.
ReplyDeleteVince said the amount WWE was owed on Raw in 2005. It's possible that some of the money did get paid back, especially the first year of the deal as the ECW money problems and the bounced checks didn't start until after Tod Gordon left.
ReplyDeleteYeah, no. THAT ECW doesn't exist either.
ReplyDeleteI have never liked little man wrestling. Didn't like the cruiserweight nonsense in WCW, and don't like that stuff today.
ReplyDeleteBut for whatever reason, I was a total TAKA mark. That guy was cool.
I don't believe the money was owed, no matter what Vince and Paul say.
ReplyDeleteWell there ya go.
ReplyDeleteYes I recall. I was exaggerating just a bit to make my point. But still, I imagine we would have seen a lot more ECW on WWF TV if Vince really owned the company. The ECW/WWF relationship seemed to benefit ECW a lot more than WWF, and that's rare to see Vince enter an agreement like that. Especially in such dismal times for them financially.
ReplyDeleteSure, that much we can agree on. it's pretty well established as fact that Vince was backrolling ECW from late 96/early 97 on.
ReplyDeleteNow see, I watched that Heyman documentary as well, and they presented it as if Scorpio was on loan to Vince that entire time. I.E. an ECW wrestler under ECW contract (if there was such a thing) that Vince was "borrowing." Same goes for Terry Gordy in 96. I'm not sure why Vince would have been paying Paul anything if he had outright signed Scorpio to a WWF contract. Especially in 1996 when Vince was about $1,000 away from bankruptcy.
ReplyDeleteI was at that Taka/HHH match and the atmosphere was nuts. I remember hearing a bunch of people in my section repeatedly asking, "are they really gonna do this?!" Everyone bought that Taka could win especially when they revealed the APA watching his back.
ReplyDeleteI think Corino and Lynn "belonged" as ECW main eventers. Justin Credible obviously was out of his depth, but Paul had been pushing him hard since '97. Hell, he pinned Great Sasuke CLEAN in what was considered a patently insane booking decision at the time. Paul had a hard on for Credible that I will never understand. It's almost like he just had a chip on his shoulder to prove that ECW could make anybody a star, even Aldo Montoya.
ReplyDeleteI feel that's arguable, but isn't it pretty clear that both were terrible?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how they successfully duped the entire world into thinking TAKA Michinoku was going to become WWF Champion that night, but everybody (including myself) bought into it and it was magical.
ReplyDeleteFinally I've come to an agreement with someone on the forum today!
ReplyDeleteLike I said, WWE wanted to use ECW and Paul as an unofficial developmental league, so $52,000 a year to help fund the company makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI think it was a case of desperate times calling for desperate measures coupled with Vince being wise enough to follow the advice of whomever suggested taking advantage of ECW's rapid cult following.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, the ECW vs. WWF angle was like manna from Heaven for me as I could finally see the ECW stars that I could previously only read about in the Apter mags.
That, and I think Sasuke didn't want to play ball with Vince. But yes, they attributed their change of heart to how over TAKA got in those matches.
ReplyDeleteAnything can happen in the wurld russlin fuderation
ReplyDeleteI actually thought Hassan could (and should) have been a very big deal, but that's a whole separate rant.
ReplyDeleteGoes to show what a perfectly booked gimmick the APA was.
ReplyDeleteSteve Corino and Jerry Lynn absolutely deserves to be featured as stars. But wrestlers like the Baldies, Chilly Willy and Chris Hamrick greatly paled in comparison to the stars lost to WWF or WCW.
ReplyDeleteIt was not the fault of the wrestlers or Paul Heyman, but it felt like the character and appeal of ECW definitely suffered.
Japanese heels like write their name in ALL CAPS for some reason. KENTA.
ReplyDeleteWrestlepalooza 97, when RVD, Sabu, Lawler, and Jim Cornette all beat the piss out of Tommy Dreamer, was just glorious as a 12-year old little pseudo-smark. I'm sure I was ranting and raving all about it on the WWF AOL message board hahah
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't go so far as to say Justin Credible deserved to be made champion, but I always thought he could have made for a great, smarmy mid-card heel
ReplyDeleteTo the end, I don't get all the hate for Justin Credible. Miscast as the ECW champion? Yes. A terrible wrestler? Hardly.
Agreed. Chilly Willy was a guilty pleasure of mine though. Surprised he never made it out of WWE developmental. He was a prototype WWE midcard comedy act.
ReplyDeleteThe Baldies were horrible. I actually started tuning out of ECW around that time, in large part because that whole angle felt so bush league, and it went on for like a year. Aces and Eights wishes they were as tough to sit through as The Baldies. Chris Hamrick was a solid hand, apparently hired as a favor to New Jack of all people, but yeah... he wasn't putting any butts in the seats, as Tomy would say.
ReplyDeleteIt was nuts. We all thought we were going to see a title change. It was one of those perfectly booked moments. What's crazy is that the match itself was only about 5 or 6 minutes long but they certainly packed a ton of action in that short amount of time.
ReplyDeleteHe was the Roman Reigns of his time.
ReplyDeleteAnd there was also a pretty good angle where Rock beat Bossman in a cage match but HHH came out and bloodied him up with brass knux. I remember a couple of ladies in the crowd who were huge Rock fans (it was in Ft. Lauderdale) who were gasping, "oh my god, I hope he's ok! That's too much blood!"
ReplyDeletePart Chuck Palumbo, part Cyrus.... he's CHUCK CYRUS.
ReplyDelete$35 for 12 discs of Mpro?! Dear god. I will never get to watch it, but me wants!!!
ReplyDeleteAs for TAKA, he was the perfect Japanese wrestler to bring over, since Kaientai were the kind of cool rudos that Americans loved during the attitude era. He was funny, mean, talented as all heck. Kaientai could have been a staple heel CW group for years, but the WWF had no clue to use 'em...
12 Discs?! Gimme, gimme, gimme!
They pretty much ALWAYS got the job done. If they were backing you up, you were generally in good shape.
ReplyDeletean APA type gimmick might be a good way to bring Baron Corbin up to the main roster
ReplyDeleteI watched the final ECW Arena show Holiday Hell 2000 available on the Tommy Dreamer / Danny Doring "Behind Closed Doors" DVD available at RFVideo.
ReplyDeleteDreamer alluded to Chilly Willy suffering from PTSD issues stemming from his time serving in Iraq. Apparently the issues were bad enough that it severely detailed Willy's career.
Yeah he might have worked if they had them doing anything close to that but instead they had him feuding with Jerry Lawler and his little boy being the blandest cruiserweight in the world. Hell I don't even remember his move set being that interesting in the WWE.
ReplyDeleteC'mon there's an estimated trillion glaxies that contains a billion planets. Stop being a lunatic! Aliens exist. I dont think theyre coming here giving anal probes though.
ReplyDeleteBaron Corbin is a sidekick at best. Think Diesel '93.
ReplyDeleteBrian Christopher was pretty basic in the ring... just smaller. The same could be said for almost the entire Lightheavyweight Division in WWE.
ReplyDeletethat kind of role is passe. I'd rather see him as a badass helping pathetic dudes like Axel and Slater out of un-winnable situations
ReplyDeleteThe "indeed" stuff cracked me up every time. They really ran with that towards the end with Funaki going on for a full minute before the PA kicked in.
ReplyDeleteThey did that when Daniel Bryan was in NXT and challenged Batista on RAW. Very similar.
ReplyDeleteBrock vs Cesaro.
ReplyDeleteCesaro hits a Swiss Death on Brock and the roof's being blown off the arena.
That stuff wouldn't get topped until the Dragongate guys started doing 6man tags in ROH. I honestly don't think that stuff is beatable.
ReplyDeleteMan, I remember thinking Super Calo was Mike Tenay's favorite wrestler of all time. He'd just gush on and on about him.
ReplyDeleteThe Conscience of WWE...
ReplyDeletehi why chuck cyrus tuff?
ReplyDeleteA hound of Justice, if you will.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a bodyguard for Seth?
Jericho revealing he hired the APA to stand guard during his match with HHH is such a great moment.
ReplyDeleteNo, I would like him as a protector of the heel comedy jobbers that the WWE Universe can't help but cheer
ReplyDeleteWatch the Heyman doc
ReplyDeleteBest possible use of those two guys.
ReplyDeleteI like that hiring the APA was not a cowards way out. It was a smart move for guys with the odds stacked against them.
ReplyDeleteIt was that short? I thought it was like 15 mins. Great match
ReplyDeleteThere's a Heyman documentary? When did this happen?
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, all I can think of is Wanderlei Silva saying "I want to fuck Chuck."
ReplyDeleteThere are several things that I don't believe in: angels, robots, vampires, zombies, dragons and mostly aliens! They just do not exist. I do, however, believe in werewolves and lake monsters.
ReplyDelete'Protector of the jobbers' would actually be an interesting gimmick. He could stand up for them against larger opponents until they all team up to eliminate him from the Rumble or something, then he has to beat every jobber on the roster in a gauntlet match in a battle to not become a jobber himself
ReplyDeleteYeah I did like too much though they were fun
ReplyDeleteI always thought of the Headbangers as the kings of Shotgun Saturday Night
ReplyDeleteFinally the Big Show - Hardcore Holly dynamic again!! That was awesome.
ReplyDeleteThat was Holly's best run. And led to the debut of Crash, so bonus points
ReplyDeleteI still remember some puro fans whining that it was racist. Humorless dunces.
ReplyDeleteWCW did something similar with La Parka as well. I cannot remember which came first
ReplyDeleteDoes he say hes like Rock, Austin and hogan mixed into one?
ReplyDeleteBefore I finished reading this, I thought you were calling KO a cruiserweight.
ReplyDeleteI have rarely been that confused.
I will never stop being pissed that they didn't give Cesaro Money in the Bank last year, then have him cash in on Brock at SummerFest due to him being fed up with Heyman constantly pimping Brock's achievements.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Rumble moment, for sure.
ReplyDeleteYou mean best wrestler in the world.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite TAKA moment was back in 2000, he had made his return after the Rumble injury and was taking on the Hardys for a heat taping. My brother and I chanting his name and he was looking around for us but couldnt find us. He must of been thinking what the hell!? Im in Milwaukee and facing the Hardys and yet people are still cheering for me
ReplyDeleteYeah, it definitely wasn't more than 6 minutes long.
ReplyDeleteIs that what it is, if a guy's name is all caps he's a heel? I've always wondered about the all caps thing but never got around to asking anyone about it.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the exact same thing. He's slimmed down a lot from his ROH title days, but he ain't no cruiserweight.
ReplyDeleteHe did that moonsault into a legdrop a lot, I think he called it Tumbleweed. IIRC he did a variation occasionally that was like a 450 into a legdrop.
ReplyDeleteI barely follow Japanese wrestling and I hated him too. Couldn't stand El Samauri (probably not spelling that right) either.
ReplyDelete"Well, I guess you gotta probe me..." (pulls down pants)
ReplyDelete"No, stop! We've learned everything anal probing will teach us."
But yeah, life has to exist at least on a microscopic lever somewhere else in the universe.
He wasn't terrible, but I sure wouldn't call him good either.
ReplyDeleteMight be better than the rest of the matches on that show combined. It's great for nostalgia purposes, but outside of that match the actual wrestling blows.
ReplyDeletePapi Chulo eventually became Essa Rios, right? And God damn, both those names sound racist as shit.
ReplyDeleteNah angle was the man in 2001 after his fued with Benoit and steve austin.don't get me wrong he was a top guy but I didn't think he could beat taker kane austin rock hhh
ReplyDeleteI believe it was to make it clear that the name was to be romanized. Otherwise the name would be spelled in Kanji.
ReplyDeleteHis "Let me introduce ya to my little friends... THE ACOLYTES" was absolutely one of the all-time great "finding the camera" looks in wrestling history.
ReplyDeleteI won't link it because rules but you should google Papi Chulo/Funaki vs Hardy Boyz from Sunday Night Heat... a really really really fun five-minute match.
ReplyDeleteReally? A VERY big deal? Because of the gimmick? His mic and wrestling skills never stood out as anything more than "competent" to me.
ReplyDeleteHe was hindered by Taker jobbing him out, but match wise no-one was better.
ReplyDeleteCesaro vs Brock vs Rollins vs Cena at RR 2015 could've worked, too. Just have Heyman keep Cesaro there to ensure Brock wins (Cesaro takes Cena out), and then Brock is all 'no, I'll kill him too' and Cesaro is all 'CUCKOO MOTHERFUCKER.'
ReplyDeleteA heel would spell his name in English like an American,but a real mega heel capitalises it to put extra emphesis on the fact that it's in English,
ReplyDeleteWow you're the first person I've ever seen who didn't like the WVW cruiser weight division. I take it you're more of a Big Show guy?
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one who thinks Corbin looks too... I dunno, maybe "nice" in the face, to be taken seriously as a monster heel?
ReplyDeleteBig Show has his place, but I just don't like flippy or springboard stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt's silly.
I'd have to watch him around that time but It would be hard for me to belive he's better than Benoit or hhh or austin
ReplyDeleteUnlike throwing a guy against the ropes and he has to run back at you?
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that is sillier. I don't like gymnastic stuff much. I feel sillier watching it.
ReplyDeleteYou are free to like as you wish.