School is back in session, football has returned, and the days are getting shorter. A lot of things can describe the changing of August to September, but in the world of pro wrestling, nothing is seasonal. This is a world built on unpredictability as being, or attempting to be, one step ahead of your audience is key to keeping things fresh and entertaining. With basically every major promotion on the planet trying to attract to new fans to their product while keeping the fans that have stuck around from leaving, it’s a balancing act. August was full of big shows and bigger stories that have long-lasting effects for the promotions involved with several of the most noteworthy being looked at by myself, Dave Ditch, and Kevin Wilson.
1. Bryan Danielson made a surprise return as the seventh member of Team WWE at Summerslam. We all knew that he would like be back in The E eventually, but what do you see in Danielson’s E future?
D.D.: As much as I think Danielson is an incredible talent, I don’t see him becoming any sort of headliner. He isn’t an incredible talker, he’s on the small side, and he doesn’t have a special look or gimmick to ‘hook’ casual fans. Benoit was a fair amount bigger, and I think that’s the floor of how small a straightforward wrestler can be and still get to main event status. Certainly Danielson can be a productive midcarder, but we shouldn’t expect that he’ll be given, say, 25 minutes to have a match of the year against someone like Regal or Mysterio.
K.W.: I think that where he is now in the card he should be able to maintain as he is an entertaining wrestler that connects with the fans (that being his mid-card/upper mid-card feud with Miz), but he won’t get any higher then that as he is simply too little. I think he will be in a similar spot that Bourne is in, in that the crowd will enjoy him and he will get his occasional chance in the spotlight, but you won’t see him elevated the same way that Punk was. So I don’t think he will be a “future endeavored” casualty in the upcoming years, but I think that might be his last PPV main event in a long time.
P.C.: Not to be cynical or dismissive, but he’s amazingly talented, he’s small, and he doesn’t blow people away on the mic, what do you think his future in The E is? For every Evan Bourne that The E gives a little T.V. time there are three or four or five slow-moving wrestlers bulging with muscles that get more time and more attention in terms of wins and pushes. Rey Mysterio’s longetivity and main-event presence in The E can be traced to two things: Eddie Guerrero’s death putting Rey into the main-event and his fame Internationally keeping him there. It may sound harsh, but it is what it is because in between the Eddie tribute angle that gave Rey his first world title push, there was four years without him getting even close to winning it again before finally getting another quick main-event push partially because there was literally nobody else on SmackDown to give it to and partially as a thank you for putting off surgery he needs to be that one big star on the show. If Ditch is right and Danielson is destined to be just another awesome mid-card talent, I can live with that as long as it means he will be the workhorse that provides the best match on many of the shows. At the same time, Danielson is probably the best example of why there needs to be a real, competitive alternative wrestling promotion in America because, while he may be used decently in the long run, it’s still such a waste of a great talent.
2. Pro Wrestling NOAH will be running Budokan Hall September 26 (so much for what we said weeks ago) against New Japan’s Kobe World Hall show the same day with Makabe/Tanaka for the IWGP title. Thoughts.
D.D.: Relative to ‘on the same day’, the shows won’t affect each other. Even though it only takes a couple hours by train to go from Tokyo to Kobe, it’s more like if there was a big show in New York City and another in Toronto: almost nobody going to one would even consider going to the other. As far as the shows themselves go, I expect that they’ll be closer to half-full than sellouts, especially for NOAH. Sugiura vs Shiozaki last year had a decent crowd based on a Kobashi tag that got cancelled, and Sugiura’s reign has been a letdown from a business standpoint. I don’t think Shiozaki’s wins over New Japan wrestlers will make him attractive to anyone who wasn’t already a fan, since NOAH’s shows no longer reach a mainstream audience. New Japan’s decision to pull the trigger on a Masato Tanaka title shot is also strange. For one thing, he has no particular connection to Kobe, and if anything he’s tried to Tokyo the way ECW guys are to Philly. For another, Tanaka hasn’t had a big win in New Japan in many months. To round it out, ‘smart’ fans aren’t going to expect a title change since that would mean having Tanaka vs Kojima headlining the next Sumo Hall card. That just isn’t going to happen. If I were New Japan, I’d hurry and try to get Dragon Gate to agree to send one of their stars, since that’s the only other company with strength in Kobe.
K.W.: Starting with NOAH, they have a chance at pulling a decent crowd as with Takashi Sugiura vs. Go Shiozaki as the only announced match I think there is at least an 80% chance that Shiozaki will win the title back which would be a big moment for NOAH. While I think that will be an entertaining match, of course in today’s climate they need to have something supporting it which obviously won’t be any New Japan wrestlers. Since they have a light feud going on that is the only issue with them both having it the same day, they can’t have any cross-promotion matches with any wrestlers important enough to make a drawing difference. Speaking of which, Makabe/Tanaka is a pretty low-level match and I don’t imagine it will do that well, it will be interesting what else they try to do with the card. I like Tanaka but I don’t think he has much drawing ability in New Japan, and in terms of popularity Makabe is a big step down from Tanahashi and Nakamura. I think that NOAH’s show will be more of a success as you have potentially Shiozaki winning the belt, while there is virtually no chance of Tanaka beating Makabe.
P.C.: The NOAH show will obviously do better strictly based on venue as the major summer shows have shown that Budokan Hall still feels like a big deal to Japanese wrestling fans. And while I’m psyched for Tanaka/Makabe being a fan of both, I do see Shiozaki/Sugiura II being the better in-ring and better received match. Tanaka’s post-match attack of Makabe on the final day of the G-1 was a fun and simple way to put him in position for a forgone conclusion title match with a good match likely to result. However, Shiozaki/Sugiura II simply feels like a bigger deal in the grand scheme of things as these two are likely going to be the focal point—Shiozaki for sure—of NOAH for the next couple of years as they are the only younger wrestlers that are still somewhat fresh on top for NOAH. Morishima, Rikio, KENTA, and Marufuji are all established now as being the next generation of main-event talent in NOAH as they’ve all been in and out of the main-event circle during the last five years with all likely to be inserted there for good in the near future. With Shiozaki primed to lead the way as the star of the future, it’s more about all of these guys coming together and really making an attempt to build NOAH back up to what it had the potential to be only a few years ago. As for the New Japan show, it’s only a set up for Sumo Hall as Kojima’s challenge is a bigger deal because of where it’s at, his history in New Japan, and his G-1 win—with its added significance.
3. What are you thoughts on Delirious replacing Adam Pearce as ROH booker?
D.D.: Pearce as booker seemed to not ‘get’ ROH. He wasn’t a trainwreck, but he was definitely a step down from Gabe. As for Delirious, I hate to say it but I don’t think anyone can make ROH ‘must-see’ at this point. The roster is by far the weakest it’s ever been, and between Tyler Black leaving and Richards saying he’ll retire, it’s only going to get worse. ROH has always been about the talent rather than the booking, so…
K.W.: I won’t pretend like I follow Ring of Honor closely and I haven’t seen an event in probably three years (just to be honest), but from what I’ve read about Pearce over the years I wasn’t too surprised. If someone has the book for several years and the promotion has become stagnant either booking or attendance-wise (or both), generally a new booker is found…. it is nothing personal against Pearce, that is just the way it is, and it is unusual for any promotion to have someone that isn’t the owner/promoter hold the book for very long for that reason. I know even less about Delirious’s booking style but I am sure it is different then Pearce’s, and it will be interesting to see if there are any major noticeable changes in how the promotion is run.
P.C.: Any type of radical change isn’t going to happen in the coming months as Cary Silkin is smart enough to know how vulnerable his promotion is right now and that the rest of 2010 is too vital to ROH’s future to shake things up in any real way. There’s an internet pay-per-view in a week and a half, and there’s the waiting game to see if the Sean Davis Project even gets up and running as a good chunk of ROH’s current roster seem to be tied into that promotion, if it even comes to fruition. I’m not too familiar with any of Delirious’ philosophies on booking a promotion (if any), so I don’t really know what to expect out of him. As for Adam Pearce, I won’t say that his time as ROH booker was a disaster. Yes, the promotion didn’t make any forward progress as far as reaching more homes or reigniting the popularity it had just a few years ago, but outside factors and the disastrous pay-per-view project of 2007-08 were going to make any progress next to impossible during his two years as booker. As for the product, has ROH’s product really differed during Pearce’s time as booker from what it was when Gabe was booking things? Now I don’t have HDNet (damn you Time Warner Cable), but from what I’ve read and seen it really doesn’t appear to me that there have been any changes to the product that have proved so detrimental to the product ROH puts out there that you could call Pearce’s brief tenure as booker a failure.
4. What are your initial thoughts on All Japan’s Sumo Hall show this past Sunday with Suwama defeating Minoru Suzuki in the main-event to become the new Triple Crown champion?
D.D.: I am not what one would call a fan of recent All Japan, and as such I’m not even going to watch 44 minutes of Suzuki vs Suwama unless it somehow gets an overwhelming amount of positive response. I have no idea why anyone would book the match to go that long considering how much those two struggle when called on to fill a lot of time. As far as the decision to put the title on Suwama, I think they really had to, since he hadn’t gotten a win in any of the title matches he had at the last three Sumo Hall shows in August. Will it be good for business, that’s hard to say. Suwama had a lot put on him when he debuted, essentially being called the reincarnation of Jumbo Tsuruta and put in high-stakes matches early on. He clearly isn’t a Hall of Fame level talent, nor is he any sort of proven draw, but it’s still better than having the title with a stale, 42 year old Minoru Suzuki. All Japan, like NOAH, is having some real difficulties right now. NOAH has a better main event prospect in Shiozaki, but other than that the future is equally grim for both companies.
K.W.: Well I haven’t watched it yet, but everything went according to plan. I was minorly surprised that Muta lost to Kenzo Suzuki, until I read that Suzuki had signed a long term contract which made it make sense. The win meant more for the crowd taking him seriously then it would have for Muta, even though Suzuki had a lot of help to win it still puts him to that next level. The main event (Suwama/Suzuki) sounds scary-long but I will wait to see it before I pass judgement. I was glad Suwama won however, he has improved so much in the last two years and I think that he is ready for a decent-sized run with the belt. Between Funaki, Kono, Hama, and others he has plenty of matches that either are fresh or have already been set-up with past feuds. I also liked Sanada/Soya winning the All Asia Titles, nice to see a young team with the belt. My only complaint would be Kaz retaining the title for the 14th time, not that I necessarily wanted Yang to win, but really it is time for Hayashi to drop the belt to a younger wrestler that needs the boost.
P.C.: I’m with Ditch on the Suwama/Suzuki match as I had the same reaction to the time given for this one as I did this time two years ago when Kensuke Sasaki won the title from Suzuki at Sumo Hall: they gave that match that much time? While I still believe Suzuki could become an effective heel in America during the course of one match if allowed to do his thing, he was too old to be going that long when he and Sasaki went over forty minutes. As for Suwama, why is All Japan having him do these marathon title matches when it’s the match more than the amount of time it went that counts? Any match can go thirty minutes to an hour, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be good. Thirty minutes should be the maximum that a Suwama title match (or any Suwama match) goes as you’ll get better matches and more mileage out of the guy that way. I’m really hoping that the longer matches with Suwama isn’t some attempt to have him recapture what the Triple Crown title matches of the 90’s had in terms of an epic feel because if it is, then they missed the point completely. First off, most of those title matches didn’t go more than thirty to thirty-five minutes anyway and a lot of them fell between the twenty-five to thirty range. Second, the matches had an epic feel—even the twenty-five minute ones—because they were so jam-packed with action and stiff shots; it was the mix of a lot of time and a lot of action, not just one of the two. But Suwama was the right choice and hopefully they do the right thing this time around and give him a nice, long title reign to conclusively establish himself as the new ace of the promotion, something All Japan needs.
5. What is your take on the Chris Nowinski/WWE back-and-forth as of late?
D.D.: I don’t know if the McMahons don’t know they’re acting like carnies, or if they know and think it can be glossed over with enough ad buys, but there’s no doubt they’re being carnies. The lies and half-truths are thrown out so often and so sloppily that it’s a wonder Linda isn’t a laughingstock in the general public. The saving grace is that wrestling is so toxic and ‘beneath’ most people that hardly any reporters have an inkling of just how much blood the McMahons have on their hands. It was one thing for old-school promoters not to have ‘wellness programs’ or be up-to-snuff about brain damage, but WWE has no real competition and is hugely profitable. They had every ability to clean things up long before the tragedies of a few years ago, and they didn’t until the last possible moment. The stuff Nowinski says might not be 100% correct, but it should be taken very seriously. If WWE really cared about the welfare of its roster—a roster that is constantly depleted by injuries—they would have long ago hired Nowinski as a consultant and done as much as reasonably possible to deal with the consequences of concussions. Banning chairshots to the head is a good start, but it’s only a start. Until WWE finally gets proactive rather than reactive, stops trying to look blameless, and stops attacking those who speak out, the McMahons will have no business holding any sort of political power.
K.W.: I think it is the classic case of both sides exaggerating, no one of importance taking either one seriously, and nothing will happen in the end. I tend to side with Nowinski of course since I am a normal human being, but I don’t think going back and forth with WWE is the way to get people behind your cause. While I admire Nowinski for fighting what he sees as the “good fight” (and generally I agree with him), in the last few weeks it has turned more into a personal argument then one that is designed to find ways to solve the problem. Nowinski and WWE should be working together to find solutions, not arguing over small details and not focusing on the big picture. I agree with Nowinski’s cause, I just hope they can find a way to help wrestlers and not turn it into a one on one give-and-take.
P.C.: I do credit Nowinski for, if nothing else, helping to bring the attention to the health issues surrounding multiple concussions that it deserves. It is amazing to think it’s taken as long as it has for people to realize that taking numerous shots to the head could be a bad thing. But because it’s pro wrestling, nobody cares. And sure Mick Foley is a guy who’s brain and memory seem to be amazingly intact considering the damage it’s taken over the past twenty years, but many others aren’t as lucky and it is a serious health issue. The Benoit tragedy was pitifully glossed over because of the steroid connection to those events and that (steroids) connection to wrestling from over fifteen years ago when Vince almost went to jail because of it. But the fact is Nowinski isn’t going to accomplish anything going after the McMahon’s, even if he’s right. All that’s going happen is whatever McMahon is speaking for the family that day will dismiss the claims and a back-and-forth will ensue accomplishing nothing for either side. Oh wait, that is what happened. Nowinski should just stick to doing the work he’s doing and dedicating enough of it towards the wrestling business so that maybe at some point in the future something tangible can be done.
SEVEN MATCHES UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN
Toshiaki Kawada Vs. Gary Albright, AJPW, 10/25/1995
The match that best shows how versatile Kawada could be. Albright was recently out of UWFi and came in with only shoot-style wrestling experience. This was the best choice for him as Kawada’s style employs a lot of kicks and a fair amount of submission work, two things central to shoot-style wrestling. The result is a match that ranks up with some of Albright’s best in UWFi and is one of Kawada’s better matches because of that.
Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi Vs. Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka, New Japan, 12/14/2000
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The match that maybe more than the Sasaki/Kawada Dome match from two months before best shows the intensity and hatred that helped the New Japan/All Japan feud become so successful. At the same time, this turned out to be one of the better tag matches of 2000 and 2001 (I go with Meltzer’s voting period going December to December). Fuchi can be such a bastard and it’s wonderful while Nagata & Iizuka were such an underrated team then and now. Then again, Kawada & Fuchi kind of was too. Anyway, the match rules.
Terry Funk Vs. Tiger Jeet Singh, IWA, 8/28/1995
This was part of IWA’s King of Deathmatch tourney from Kawasaki Stadium, the one with one of the famous Funk/Foley hardcore matches. Singh always had a bit of a hardcore streak to him, even back in the 70’s, so this fit him pretty well. If you’re a fan of hardcore, watch it. If not, check it out for curiosity’s sake.
Triple Crown: Kenta Kobashi (c.) Vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, AJPW, 1/20/1997
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One of the many epics that these two were putting on during this time period. Proof: this is one of THREE matches between the two during 1997-98 that has gotten greatest match ever hype. These matches get it from people for much different reasons than Flair/Steamboat, trust me. Whether this is one of the best ever is up to you, but that it kicks ass is undeniable.
Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa (c.) Vs. Vader, AJPW, 10/30/1999
From All Japan’s 27th anniversary show. This is one of the few occasions you’ll see Misawa play punching bag as much as he does here. Granted we are talking about someone who got powerbombed on the floor by Vader at The Dome earlier that year and does take a WHICKED German from Vader around a year later in NOAH. This one is short, but brutally sweet.
WCW Lt. Heavyweight Title: Jushin Liger (c.) Vs. Brian Pillman, WCW, 2/29/1992
The match that started it all in terms of smaller guys getting long matches and big time exposure in WCW. You can thank this one for setting the template for guys like Too Cold Scorpio, Benoit, Jericho, Guerrero, Benoit, Mysterio, Psychosis, Juvy, and the rest of the high-flyer’s to follow years later. It’s special to me as it took place in Milwaukee, but it’d be special to me regardless and you’ll know why once you’ve watched it.
Shinya Hashimoto Vs. Ric Flair, NJPW, 1995
One of the best things about the New Japan/WCW work agreement in the 90’s: WCW sent their big stars to Japan as well. This was during the time that Flair made his only G-1 appearance. And while the match isn’t anything either man would top around this time period, it’s still Flair in Japan when he was still really, really good.
