Scott, I've been a lifelong fan of professional wrestling, but I've never really strayed from the American product. I'd love to try some rasslin' from the Land of the Rising Sun, and would like advice from you as to where to start. Promotion(s)? Match(es)? Wrestler(s)?
Thanks, Scott!
Well the thing is that New Japan isn't what you'd call storyline based in any real way, or at least not in the way that we think about it, so really it's a case where you can just dive right in and watch something and see if you like the style. If you want current product, New Japan is the place to go right now, and you've even got AJ Styles on top as the champion and some other guys like Bulldog Jr. and Karl Anderson working a very American-ized style. It's very easy to jump in, as long as you don't get hung up on the lack of English commentary. I've posted a million Youtube clips on here with Tanahashi v. Okada and other great combos, so maybe just search the YouTubes for "New Japan Pro Wrestling" and dive in!
TNA was horrible at the beginning and would be for several years until Joe and Angle were headlining. Even when they let the workhorses main event (Lynn, Ki, Styles) there was so much gimmicky crap, bad tag matches, and corny plot lines that you were already embarrassed to be watching before the good could counter the bad. In 2002, TNA would be more comparable to the GWF from ESPN, or late AWA from 1989. At its peak, I'd say TNA was a WCW '94 type show. But in 2002, it's 90% garbage with a mix of Styles and Lynn.
ReplyDeleteIf you want older stuff, All Japan Pro Wrestling in the 1990s was amazing stuff as well; with guys like Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, and Akita Taue, along with Steve Williams, Terry Gordy, Stan Hansen, and even Johnny Ace; plus New Japan Pro Wrestling in the 1990s was also pretty good with Muta, Liger, Shinya Hashimoto, Hiroshi Hase, Masa Chono, Vader, Tatsumi Fujinami, Bam Bam Bigelow, Benoit, Eddie, and others.
ReplyDeleteThe Lou Thesz segment was awesome.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the responses, Scott & BoDers! Keep 'em comin'!
ReplyDeleteJust out of curiosity, what is there to "get" about Fire Pro games?
ReplyDeleteThe commentary always kills it for me. I can watch a bit on mute with music playing in the background or something, but it's really hard to listen to a constant stream of (what is to me) gibberish.
ReplyDeleteI love Fire Pro Wrestling Returns on PS2, I even downloaded it from the PS Store for my PS3 and imported my old rosters, a complicated process, but it worked.
ReplyDeleteThe Death Valley Driver Review had a list of the top matches of the 90s and most of those were from Japan. That website is not what it used to be, but a quick google search found a reposting of the list on a bodybuilding forum:
ReplyDeletehttp://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=111796271
I'm not sure where to find a similar list for the 2000s.
Start left, finish right. Variety is the spice of life.
ReplyDeleteNJPW needed to hire Jim Ross yesterday to an English commentary.
ReplyDeleteGo to inside pulse (even with all the computer-eroding goodness), and read the first fifty or so Puroresu Pulse articles from David Ditch. You'll learn all the stuff that makes up Japanese wrestling, and gives you amazing starting points to watch.
ReplyDeleteEveryone treats them like the greatest wrestling games ever made, but I never understood the mechanics of it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should go to New Japan Pro Wrestling... maybe you should go back to Ring Of Honor... Hi Colt Cabana
ReplyDeleteAnd Gedo!
ReplyDeleteI've been rewatching the old clashes since I haven't seen the early ones since I was a kid and I still don't get the Dr. Death love. He's awful on the mike and kinda dull in the ring. Am I the minority thinking this? I just remember the observer letters loving his style. Idk
ReplyDeleteOnly Japan stuff I ever really watched was that Super J Cup tournament (I think that is what is was called) that had Benoit losing to Gedo as well as Lionheart and Tigermask 4 (Eddie) in it that I bought off Jay Bower. The commentary always kills Japanese wrestling for me though... just a bunch of gibberish.
ReplyDeleteOr hire JR to train people in the art of commentary, and get some new blood out there.
ReplyDeleteHe's a fine tag wrestler.
ReplyDeleteHis celebrated match with Kobashi is mostly him taking liberties.
ReplyDeleteMachine Gun Anderson on pace to become the number one most successful Gaijin of all time. That is all. #over
ReplyDeleteI'm the same way on the commentary. Also, some of the Japanese wrestling I don't exactly "get". For example, Misawa and Kobashi had a legendary series of matches, correct? I mean, from what I've seen, I do hate the matches or anything, but it isn't exactly my thing, if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteFucking ordered a Japanese Sega Saturn off the internet in like 1999 literally just so I could play 6 man scramble. Thanks Dad.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to go is start with Meltzer's 5 star NJPW matches, remember the guys you like, and watch all of their matches.
ReplyDeleteI think most people would agree you can't go wrong with a combo of any of the following:
Tanahashi
Okada
Iishi
Ibushi
Nakamura
Prince Devitt
Also, AJ Styles just replaced Prince Devitt as leader of the Bullet Club, so it's even more American than it was.
I've been wondering for years why Japanese wrestling companies don't do that, but then, I have to wonder what the market for Japanese wrestling is in North America.
ReplyDeleteFun fact, I came back to the blog 2 years ago by writing these reviews.
ReplyDeleteIt's all about timing. I suck at it, but love the game anyways. I think people like it because it provides properly structured wrestling matches. You start off with basic moves and build up to big suplexes and finishers - and the game always did a good job integrating near falls. The result is a game that pretty closely mimics the Japanese (especially the NJPW) style. It is also EXTREMELY customizable, so you can get the computer-controlled wrestlers to essentially play like their real life counterparts.
ReplyDeleteI also bought a DC just to play FPD. I even had this whole setup where I connected to a 56k modem attached to my pc in order to access the internet and download all the rosters and added moves. I had a 200 page binder full of all match results and title histories, and such. Never got as much into FPR despite owning the Japanese version. I think the lack of internet access was a part of that (I would have to buy an ethernet adapter for my model-1 PS2) as well as the lack of American rosters. FPR had some very cool additions, though, so I hope to get back to it some day.
Look for Okada Ibushi from earlier this year, 4 stars easy.
ReplyDeleteI own FPR, but I never won a match, just like to make matches and watch.
ReplyDeleteI wore the shit out of my Dreamcast between Crazy Taxi and Soul Calibur.
ReplyDeleteLet's go. I'll give you Stan Hansen
ReplyDeleteI was watching Wrestlemania III, and Jim Duggan telling Nikolai Volkoff that he can't sing the Russian national anthem because he's in the land of the free.....is kind of retarded.
ReplyDeleteSupposedly the wwe is trying to sign him too
ReplyDeleteI don't quite recall the look of Liberty High, but it'd have a ways to go to surpass the community college in Loch Sheldrake, NY they ran right before WM10. Unfortunately they didn't tape Raw there, but they did tape the March to WrestleMania special as well as Challenge. It's possibly the most low-rent venue I've ever seen from a major promotion.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's what it was I got. All I know is I spent $250 on a Saturn, Fire Pro, and whatever was needed to play. And I was 17.
ReplyDeleteAOL + ordering awesome foreign wrestling games = the day the internet won me.
Sweet T?
ReplyDeleteAt least the commentary will be better than the wwe.
ReplyDeleteWes Brisco
ReplyDelete85% of all Japanese wrestling I've seen is from links posted on this blog, I've liked it all but I have two complaints. 1)As a american wrestling fan thats been conditioned to certain things 60 every match being 60 minutes is too long for me. I'm fine with a hour long match here and there once or twice a year but almost every tanahashi/okada/ibushi etc match I've seen is almost an hour. I'm from the Vince McMahon school of 20-30 minutes is plenty for a big match. 2) sometimes the chest chopping is a bit too much for me. I don't like it.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise yeah, Japanese wrestling can be very cool and as far as in ring products go it's obviously top notch.
WWE should get the rights to license NJPW for the Network and have Joey Styles do English commentary.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2014/04/10/a-beginners-guide-to-new-japan-pro-wrestling/
ReplyDeleteExcellent link.
I personally loved TNA circa 2002. It was dark, gritty, and made for a much needed alternative to the increasingly stale WWE product. Plus, much like ECW in the '90's, it proved to be a place for wrestlers who had either worn out their welcome in WWE or were not yet on the radar. Going with the "strictly pay-per-view" business model was ballsy if not suicidal, but TNA, to their credit, pulled it off.
ReplyDeleteAn hour match has to have a big buildup for me to care enough to invest that kind of time.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. And obviously I don't have any clue what the build was for these matches but I've seen enough of them to figure out that over there they just give the guys an hour to do their thing but I just don't have the attention span to do that for every match.
ReplyDeleteMy self-diagnosed dyslexia caused me to read your description of RVD's video-game-cover-gracing maneuver as the Van Laminator... which actually sounds more painful.
ReplyDeleteThey don't dance to Adam Roses music?
ReplyDeleteDon't tell Meltzer
ReplyDeleteRVD 4:20 says I just perma-plaqued your ass
ReplyDeleteVader?
ReplyDeleteChrist, I'd forgotten Lochsheldrake, with the Bret/Crush match. I remember it was fucking DARK. Also of note was Alexandria Bay, NY in July 1993, which is as well lit as a second-rate poker tourney on some local-affiliated sports channel.
ReplyDeleteI know people are hating on Japanese matches for the commentary...but I kinda like it a bit. Sure, I can't understand a word of Japanese dialect but it adds something unique when a commentator is going ballistic with the crowd during the false-finishes of classic matches.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe I'm just so sick of American commentary that ANYTHING is better.
I can't believe how much Meltzer gets unfairly bashed for his reporting (which is really good) but almost never gets much heat for his star ratings. Foley vs HHH hitc is 4.5 stars but every single match Misawa ever had is 5 stars? Big Meltzer fan but he's a little "too cool for the room" with the stars.
ReplyDeleteWell, Jim Duggan is kind of retarded.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I like about Japan is that their women wrestlers are light years ahead of the current divas on WWE in move sets and bumping by the ladies... Manami Toyota is a great female wrestler and Akira Hokuto is one of my favorites and if you watch just one female match, go to YouTube and enter Akira Hokuto and watch the first match they have listed v Shinbo Kandori and all I will say is that Hokuto's hair goes from blonde to red, with both women blading, Meltzer gave this match 5 stars and I agree...
ReplyDeleteit was stuff like that that really made me hate Duggan. He and Warrior were the first faces I really disliked.
ReplyDeleteLou Thesz and "Unsolved Mysteries" segments FTW
ReplyDeleteHaving said all that I do wish we could get some kind of world cup show with wwe guys for NJPW guys. That would be such an amazing thing and if they could pop a big buy rate in Japan (do they do ppv over there) that plus the gate could be a nice windfall. Would Cenas brand really be hurt that much if did a Broadway with tanahashi or would Vince really lose sleep if ziggler jobbed to one of those guys in exchange for another one jobbing to D Bry or something? Its one of those things that will never happen, but there's really no good reason why not.
ReplyDeleteI've said it before but if Vince had booked those All-Japan matches Dave would have had an epilepric fit over how he's abusing his "circus animal" performers for his own benefit.
ReplyDeleteBut since it's just a couple japanese dudes damn near killing each other in a rigged match it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Don't get me wrong Misawa,Kobashi & Kawada are amazing workers and they put on amazing matches but i'm genuinely surprised only 1 of them died in the ring.
Yeah but are wwe divas really a good a representation of north american women's wrestling? I don't follow women's wrestling but the divas are garbage one and all. Isn't that like comparing a high school soccer team in New Hampshire to Manchester United. Surely there must be at least MLS level women's wrestling somewhere out there even if no one watches it?
ReplyDeletein Vince's defense Savage was really mailing it in in 92 and 93 with every match being him getting his ass kicked for 95% of the match and doing maybe 2 moves, one of which is the big elbow.
ReplyDeleteOkada?
ReplyDeleteLol! Even Kurt Angle couldn't get him to two stars
ReplyDeleteI up voted everything in this thread. Except that statement. You deserve that down vote.
ReplyDeleteHas North American women's wrestling ever even been consistent enough to have a "representation?" For every Sara Del Rey out there there seem to be three WWE Diva-level girls even on the indies.
ReplyDeleteShhhhh!!!! You're ruining my hyperbole!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI still remember going to a house show up here in Edmonton during the glory years and here comes Hacksaw down the aisle chanting U-S-A U-S-A. By the time he hit the ring to silence he seemed to figure things out and just started belting out Hooooo's.
ReplyDeleteThey offer some of the most enjoyable simmed matches in video games.
ReplyDeleteJesse Ventura at Wrestlemania V: "Look at that snot hanging from Hacksaw's nose!".
ReplyDeleteThere was a Wrestling Challenge taping in my hometown in Nova Scotia back in '93. Duggan came out the first time with his U-S-A chants and was booed mercilessly. He came out the second time against Yokozuna and carried the Canadian flag that time around. A heel turn and a face turn on the same show!
ReplyDeleteMy DC is still hooked up in my bedroom. I think Star Wars Episode 1 Racer is in it right now.
ReplyDeleteThey offered him a contract,he denied.
ReplyDelete'If I don't get a title shot yeah, I'm gonna have sex, yeah, with your underage daughter, yeah, dig it'
ReplyDeleteWell his first interview after the turn they had him all decked out in a suit and tie.... then, he was back to tatanka. Wtf
ReplyDeleteUmmmm,no.
ReplyDeleteHe works 3 days a week tops. I dont feel for a guy taking zero bumps and making 450 grand a year for that. Ask the poor low card guys
ReplyDeleteJoey dies less than two weeks from this raw
ReplyDeleteThat's what I do too. I make tournaments, keep track of wins and losses and stuff, and my wife and I write storylines based on the match outcomes/finishes and book future matches out of that.
ReplyDeleteI'd disagree. I'm not calling for three hours of squashes, but at least you didn't have ridiculous 50/50 booking back then and matches didn't get worn out. If 1994 was booked like today, Bret and Owen would've fought 20x on RAW before SummerSlam in a cage.
ReplyDeleteSquashes also helped put over a wrestler's arsenal. You got to see their big moves and it helped get finishers over.
ReplyDeleteI feel Vince looks and acts much nicer back then, which is strange since his company was in the toilet financially and creatively.
ReplyDeleteHow to build a Dave Meltzer ***** match
ReplyDeleteBook 2 japanese
Let them chop each other for the first ten minutes
Then,let them do crazy suplexes for the next 15 minutes
And for the final 10,let them use their finishers 6 times.
I really don't know. Was GLOW any good? I've never seen anything from it. Wasn't there another one too?
ReplyDeleteI will say that the TNA knockouts were pretty cool. They usually seemed to have interesting or at least entertaining angles and gimmicks and in addition to that the girls were hot and TNA sexed it up a bit with the costumes so they all looked hot too. I don't remember the matches being anything special though (being kind) so that doesn't really answer our question either.
I don't get the wwe divas thing though. If they are supposed to be "Tits and ass" set dressing then let them outfits that don't look so ridiculous and put them sexier gear and have them feud over dudes or purses or something. But if you want them as actual wrestlers that are supposed to be good and a part of the show then fire everyone you have and hire people who are actually good or get a trainer who doesn't suck and hire new trainees. Maybe having huge tits and not weighing very much makes it harder to work a good match. So in that case don't put those kind of girls in the ring every week? Whatever the wwe is doing now with it, it sucks.
How could you vote for Tunney? Gorilla took over for a retiring Tunney!
ReplyDeleteThe government really screwed that case up. You make Hulk Hogan your BIG witness and then he gets on the stand and destroys your case?
ReplyDeleteThe game is not that great as a game for gameplay, but the CPU v CPU matches have some really excellent stuff, which is the opposite of what a video game should be, yes, but I got my money's worth out of making a CAW fed with matches that gripped the attention equally as much as Kurt Angle and Edge did in 02. In the end, thats what wrestling should be all about, gripping your attention with a solid story that distracts you from life for a few hours.
ReplyDeleteIt might be best to treat it as an ultra-customizable DVD? I dunno.
No Ibushi, I read that a few days ago. Guess they have a lot of interest in him.
ReplyDeleteUmmmm,yeathodude
ReplyDeleteOkada too,but he denied.
ReplyDeleteWonder why?
ReplyDeleteProbably afraid they'll turn him to asian jobber.
ReplyDeleteIbushi is one of my all time favorites. If he, Devitt, and KENTA were all in the WWE fighting each other, I wouldn't be upset.
ReplyDeleteYOU SHUT YOUR FILTHY WHORE MOUTH
ReplyDeleteNo console has a better ratio of classics:total game collection than the DC.
Even with Savage mailing it in, he still had better matches than most of the guys that given night.
ReplyDelete50/50 booking existed back then. It's hardly a new thing. 50/50 booking has always been around.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that Typhoon came back after Quake left
ReplyDeleteI WISH they of have done this.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I knew heel Tatanka was doomed one day after the turn when he lost to Razor Ramon. Not saying Tatanka should have beat him, but they shouldn't have booked the match in the first place. Tatanka beating a jobber would have been just fine.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, that's a nice analogy. Actually makes sense.
ReplyDeleteYeah after WMX the Luger character was essentially dead. He needed the heel turn in the worst way to become relevant again. WCW didn't do a lot right, but they were smart enough to make Luger a heel when he jumped ship in 1995.
ReplyDeleteNo, that's the best part.
ReplyDeleteYeah they really should have given the big heel push to Luger instead of Baclund at the end of 94.
ReplyDeleteWell, after Tatsu's career.....
ReplyDeleteThat would be great.
ReplyDeleteHe became my favorite Japanese wrestler after I saw the Okada match with him.
ReplyDeleteMust have a killer promotion that's better than the current product.
ReplyDeleteHa I was actually thinking do we actually need another TNA Day 1 rant.
ReplyDeleteI remember that politician--and I remember Todd Pettengill's extremely nervous laughter and how he quickly moved on, after someone mentioned a WCW guy. That's what you get for doing unscripted promos!
ReplyDeleteI don't know, from a storyline standpoint it kind of made sense. The first time I remember him mentioning it was on Superstars or Wrestling Challenge, after he had already acquired Volkoff, Underfaker, and Bam Bam Bigelow, and was looking to expand his new Corporation. Why wouldn't you go after a big name, especially one who the fans knew would turn him down?
ReplyDeleteI never played this game, although I've heard tons of great things about it, but did I ever love my Dreamcast. I still remember being blown away at the graphics on the NFL 2K series.
ReplyDeleteI always feel like a 5 year old for not being able to figure this out, but how does he play the game on his dreamcast but make a video that he can post on youtube?
ReplyDeleteI think sometimes the only answer to some things is, "Well, because he's Vince McMahon.."
ReplyDelete''I don't think I can put into words how hard it was for me mentally to wrestle him every night.''
ReplyDeleteI camped out on 9/9/99 to get a DC, got SC, NFL2K, Sonic Adventure, and House of the Dead 2. I went through about half-a-dozen boxes shitting myself from all the amazing graphics.
ReplyDeleteI always thought it was cool he and Sting maintained a friendship even when Luger turned heel. Made Sting's bitter promo after Fall Brawl '96 that more deep.
ReplyDeleteBeing Vince McMahon's avatar is a tasking position for TV. I'm sure he puts in more work than any of us realize.
ReplyDeleteI hated when EA reached an exclusive agreement with the NFL a few years back. The 2K franchise was so good and the Madden franchise would have been in trouble, I think.
ReplyDeleteMabel had a run on the house shows with Bam Bam Bigelow... just saying? LOL
ReplyDeleteI love it when wrestling follows that bit of continuity too and pays attention to previous back stories.
ReplyDeleteTNA circa 2002: midgets, boobs, X-Division, and 20 guys interfering in every main event.
ReplyDeleteI played a lot of NBA 2k, that was a great game.
ReplyDelete1999! God I feel old. Sonic Adventure was a great, underrated game. And Shenmue was awesome.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the NBA 2K franchise has been strong for years now.
ReplyDeleteHow do you know that? I'm not saying you are wrong, I'm asking in a very sincere sense. Also, he does have to do all the brutal travel the other guys do, even without the bumps. I'm sure he works plenty hard.
ReplyDeleteI wish there would be an era of no authority figures again, or very little of them. Obviously not counting refs, timekeepers, etc., before some smartass decides to chime in :-p
ReplyDeleteEnough GMs, enough owners, I want to see all that stuff at least take a vacation. I know I won't, but that doesn't mean I can't WANT it to happen...
My two favorite DC games!
ReplyDeleteI miss my dreamcast. Could get a new one for $40, but it wouldn't be the same now. Plus most of my games got taken along with it. They had some of the best Bullet Hell Shooters ever.
ReplyDeleteSavage was bad in 1992? You mean his angles with Flair and Warrior and then being the voice that turned Mr. Perfect face sucked?
ReplyDeleteI only remember him having a match on Superstars or Wrestling Challenge or something like that...I think he teamed with Mabel against Yokozuna and Crush. I thought it was odd that Earthquake disappeared and Typhoon suddenly returned, and sure enough, it was connected.
ReplyDeleteHe sold that knee injury like death.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid I thought Savage only came out of retirement to take care of Jake, and then Flair fucked with him, so he kept going while he was feuding with him/Razor, and then cut back once his scores were settled.
ReplyDelete"Because McMahon" sure is catchy.
ReplyDeleteoh, we usually see all the moves from many guys. it's just that they beat almost nobody with them.
ReplyDeleteI said matches, not angles and actually the "payoff" of Warrior/Flair was atrocious with neither turning. I'd argue WWF got lucky in a way with Warrior bailing on Survivor Series and providing the opportunity for Hennig to turn face.
ReplyDeleteSuperstars wasn't good either.
ReplyDeleteall this really makes me wonder why they never did a tv taping or ppv in Germany in 1993 or 1994.
ReplyDeleteat that point the WWF easily drew more than 5000 people at every houseshow they did here (and they did a lot of houseshows here, especially in 1994). why not use one of the shows in Berlin or Dortmund that drew 10000 people or more to tape a show instead of doing one in front of 1500 people?
It can cover so many bases, too.
ReplyDeleteJust proper hook ups to a DVD recorder or something, I'd bet. That's how I used to record video from my PS2 way back in the day.
ReplyDeleteI think they figured that Vince had turfed him to WCW and he might be bitter. What he didn't realize is that Hogan is a master politician and had no beef with the guy who had made him millions, having simply moved on to maintain relevance. I also don't think Vince was some sort of steroid dealing mastermind. Sure, he kept around a doctor that was dealing steroids to him and to the talent, and that was good for business, but it wasn't somehow trafficking
ReplyDeleteCosts
ReplyDeletewouldn't it have still been worth it if the attendence is that much bigger than in the US? (again, we are talking 1500-2000 vs. 10000+ here)
ReplyDeleteFuck yes. I bought a US Dreamcast just so I could import this beast. I was a SFPWXP on the emulators junkie back in the day and when I found out the series was still going, I had to get in on it. First I bought a GBA and the Fire Pro game for it, but between the display being so bad you needed to be on the sun to see it, and less options/moves than the SNES counterparts I had been playing for years, I decided to buy a Dreamcast and import FPD. The GBA/game combination cost $150, which is what I paid for these two items. The game was $78 shipped, which remains the most I've ever paid for a single game, but holy shit was it worth every penny. Not until Fire Pro Returns did I stop playing it on a semi-regular basis.
ReplyDeleteYeah it was really stupid to put Randy on the sidelines at a time when Vince badly needed talent, that would be like TNA putting Samoa Joe on the sidelines and turning him into a commentator today.
ReplyDeleteYou can thank the same group of pansies that managed to severely water down Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for that one. This started a period for the WWF where weapon shots were banned from TV altogether because of this stupid anti-violence group that was trying to ban violence from broadcast television (and yet strangely enough, they never went after Cops so they obviously got bribed by the producers of that show).
ReplyDeleteOn the plus side, Tough And Deadly was at least a hell of a lot better than Mr. Nanny and Thunder In Paradise. Piper was quite busy from 1994-1996: He made seven movies in that timeframe (Immortal Combat, No Contest, Tough And Deadly, Jungleground, Marked Man, Sci-Fighters and Terminal Rush) and all of them are surprisingly fairly decent, Immortal Combat in particular is a great movie (it even has cameos from Chris Jericho and Art Barr!).
ReplyDeleteBeing in huge demand in the straight to video world will do that to you. Once the movie roles died down, his physique noticeably went to shit.
ReplyDeleteMel Gibson still wants his son back dammit!
ReplyDeleteThey weren't smart enough to give him his old music back however (Why did he never get that back anyway?).
ReplyDeleteThey still could have done it in 2006 when he came back. Tatanka and JBL were on the same damn show and yet they had no interaction whatsoever, that's almost as big of a waste as the original DiBiase idea.
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't even bother to defend TNA anymore so it can't be him. Stalking porn stars is apparently too time consuming to continue trolling message boards with TNA propaganda. And TNA quit paying him, that's probably another reason.
ReplyDeleteI still want to see that two sided ring Kevin Nash joked about in 2006.
ReplyDeleteThat was the one with Cornette's debut, right? I remember Cornette being absolutely drenched in sweat at the end of like a 3-minute promo.
ReplyDeleteI should clarify that I'm a fan of small, intimate venues for wrestling or for concerts and other events for that matter. But you can be small and still look professional--the Manhattan Center, Lowell Auditorium, and even the Irish McNeil Boys Club in Shreveport are ideal. These places were not.
It's interesting as in an interview Lanny Poffo pretty much repeats this and brings up Savage wanting to do a program with Shawn Michaels.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/m1H44Z3LY88 (at about the 9 minute mark). Take it with a grain of salt of course but it's interesting at least.
The cost of shipping full TV crews and sets to Germany, especially then, is fairly prohibitive. Notice the location of these small venues. Right in the old WWWF/Capitol Wrestling territory, where they could drive in talent, gear and had plenty of nearby jobbers
ReplyDelete