What Would Kevin Do?
01-21-2006, 06:48 AM
This is swiped from http://pphradio.proboards27.com/index.cgi?board=puroresu&action=display&thread=1136641026. They're the message boards attatched to http://www.puroresupower.com
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I debated putting this over at http://www.fightopinion.com (http://www.fightopinion.com/) or here. I decided to put it here because I figured it would generate more discussion.
Here's a link to the video clip again:
http://www.youtube.com/?v=aDDzviZQRoA (http://www.youtube.com/?v=aDDzviZQRoA)
It starts out with a video package highlighting Lesnar vs. Nakanishi from 12/10 in Osaka and Lesnar vs. Nagata from 12/11 in Nagoya. He gave the Verdict to both men and each time it looked sloppy. They moved onto footage of Shinsuke Nakamura doing run-ins at past events (including the 2/20 Tenzan vs. Kojima 4-crown match). When Nakamura tried to do a run-in after the Lesnar/Nagata match, Lesnar pushed him around like a little brother.
Ring introductions. Nakamura came out to a pretty quiet reaction. Same for Lesnar. The TV announcer on the broadcast tried to make a comparison of Lesnar as a dominant gaijin in a similar manner to Hulk Hogan & Stan Hansen.
The first thing you'll notice for this Tokyo Dome crowd is that it's pretty quiet. The second thing you'll notice is that ring announcer Hidekazu (Hideyuki) Tanaka did not do his normal over-the-top announcing. It was almost monotone in pitch, which had me scratching my head. The TV graphic on the upper left corner of the screen mentioned "world dominant" Lesnar vs. "Child of God (Inoki)" Nakamura. The TV side kept billing Lesnar as a "wrestling machine." Masao "Tiger" Hattori was the referee.
This match is 9 minutes long. Even with that stated, my first watching of the match indicated one thing - this match ended way, way too quickly. Maybe not for Lesnar (more on that later), but certainly for everyone else. Match starts off with Lesnar bullying Nakamura around like a little kid. He gave some shoulder tackles in the corner and Nakamura fired back with an enzui giri. Whenever Nakamura delivered an offensive move, the crowd popped. Whenever Lesnar did a move, dead silence. This crowd clearly felt Lesnar was going to win the match. Whenever Lesnar clubbered Nakamura with some blows, it drew minor "aahs" from the audience.
One of the first things you'll notice in this match is that Nakamura's style threw off Lesnar's timing. Lesnar mistimed two or three big key spots in the match. Either ring rust or just not a good style match-up here. Nakamura tried a crucifix hold and Lesnar just slammed him back to the mat. They fought outside the ring and did some forearm exchanges. Lesnar drove Nakamura against the ring apron and started showing some signs of being winded. This is about 5 minutes into the match. Nakamura tried to do a tope suicida to Lesnar on the floor, but had to stop his momentum mid-way in the ring when he saw that Lesnar screwed up the timing on the outside of the floor. Nakamura then had to do the move with little to no momentum. To top it all off, Lesnar ended up being the first guy standing (over Nakamura) after the spot. Lesnar ended up slamming Nakamura against the ring pole.
Back in the ring, Lesnar missed an elbow drop and Nakamura tried applying a sleeper hold. Kanazawa of Gong Magazine (doing color commentary) tried to compare Lesnar as a gaijin giant in a similar manner to Aleksandr Karelin. One of the surprising things about this match is that Lesnar totally dominated the offense. Nakamura caught Lesnar with a shot and then went to the top rope. He went to apply a tarantula-style triangle lock (over the ropes) on Lesnar, but Lesnar nearly missed the timing of the spot and it came off botched. After Nakamura got it on the second attempt, the fans didn't react much to it. Nakamura hit Lesnar with a missile-style drop kick, to which Lesnar got up immediately and no-sold it. Nakamura then gave Lesnar a German which drew the first real shock/applause from the crowd. After it, Nakamura transitioned into a cross-arm scissors hold and applied the triangle-lock. However, Lesnar is so damn big, when Nakamura put the spot on, the fans knew immediately that Lesnar was going to pick him up and slam him, which he did. Then Lesnar gave him a sloppy crowbar-style lariat. Then the Verdict (formerly the F5), and that was it.
They tried to put over Nakamura's offensive highlights from the match in the post-match conference (on the TV side). Lesnar said that Nakamura was his most credible opponent in Japan after the match. "I don't have to pick nobody, I'm the champion!" "Everybody wants to be me."
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This was a bad match. And it was not Nakamura's fault. The booking of it is also confusing because the only outcome from the match is that Nakamura is "just another victim" of Lesnar's title reign. It does signal that Lesnar will be the company's long-term champion, but the problem is that there was absolutely zero drama here for Nakamura chasing the belt. In order for a strong champion to draw, you have to have workers who the fans believe that can chase for the belt and win it. NJ had a golden opportunity to put over Lesnar but make Nakamura stronger in the process by giving him a real shot of winning. Instead, Lesnar swatted away Nakamura like a fly and nothing really has changed in the title picture scene.
The strange part about this is that if they go ahead and do Lesnar vs. Giant Bernard, Bernard will be the first challenger Lesnar faces that will actually produce a competitive title match fight. What is going to happen on the Japanese side of the equation for New Japan?
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Okay, incase you didn't know,Giant Bernard is none other than everyone's favorite ape, A-Train. Also, NJPW is going through some fucked up times right now. Pay cuts, etc, etc. I heard that some peeps may be losting up to 50% of their salary.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
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I debated putting this over at http://www.fightopinion.com (http://www.fightopinion.com/) or here. I decided to put it here because I figured it would generate more discussion.
Here's a link to the video clip again:
http://www.youtube.com/?v=aDDzviZQRoA (http://www.youtube.com/?v=aDDzviZQRoA)
It starts out with a video package highlighting Lesnar vs. Nakanishi from 12/10 in Osaka and Lesnar vs. Nagata from 12/11 in Nagoya. He gave the Verdict to both men and each time it looked sloppy. They moved onto footage of Shinsuke Nakamura doing run-ins at past events (including the 2/20 Tenzan vs. Kojima 4-crown match). When Nakamura tried to do a run-in after the Lesnar/Nagata match, Lesnar pushed him around like a little brother.
Ring introductions. Nakamura came out to a pretty quiet reaction. Same for Lesnar. The TV announcer on the broadcast tried to make a comparison of Lesnar as a dominant gaijin in a similar manner to Hulk Hogan & Stan Hansen.
The first thing you'll notice for this Tokyo Dome crowd is that it's pretty quiet. The second thing you'll notice is that ring announcer Hidekazu (Hideyuki) Tanaka did not do his normal over-the-top announcing. It was almost monotone in pitch, which had me scratching my head. The TV graphic on the upper left corner of the screen mentioned "world dominant" Lesnar vs. "Child of God (Inoki)" Nakamura. The TV side kept billing Lesnar as a "wrestling machine." Masao "Tiger" Hattori was the referee.
This match is 9 minutes long. Even with that stated, my first watching of the match indicated one thing - this match ended way, way too quickly. Maybe not for Lesnar (more on that later), but certainly for everyone else. Match starts off with Lesnar bullying Nakamura around like a little kid. He gave some shoulder tackles in the corner and Nakamura fired back with an enzui giri. Whenever Nakamura delivered an offensive move, the crowd popped. Whenever Lesnar did a move, dead silence. This crowd clearly felt Lesnar was going to win the match. Whenever Lesnar clubbered Nakamura with some blows, it drew minor "aahs" from the audience.
One of the first things you'll notice in this match is that Nakamura's style threw off Lesnar's timing. Lesnar mistimed two or three big key spots in the match. Either ring rust or just not a good style match-up here. Nakamura tried a crucifix hold and Lesnar just slammed him back to the mat. They fought outside the ring and did some forearm exchanges. Lesnar drove Nakamura against the ring apron and started showing some signs of being winded. This is about 5 minutes into the match. Nakamura tried to do a tope suicida to Lesnar on the floor, but had to stop his momentum mid-way in the ring when he saw that Lesnar screwed up the timing on the outside of the floor. Nakamura then had to do the move with little to no momentum. To top it all off, Lesnar ended up being the first guy standing (over Nakamura) after the spot. Lesnar ended up slamming Nakamura against the ring pole.
Back in the ring, Lesnar missed an elbow drop and Nakamura tried applying a sleeper hold. Kanazawa of Gong Magazine (doing color commentary) tried to compare Lesnar as a gaijin giant in a similar manner to Aleksandr Karelin. One of the surprising things about this match is that Lesnar totally dominated the offense. Nakamura caught Lesnar with a shot and then went to the top rope. He went to apply a tarantula-style triangle lock (over the ropes) on Lesnar, but Lesnar nearly missed the timing of the spot and it came off botched. After Nakamura got it on the second attempt, the fans didn't react much to it. Nakamura hit Lesnar with a missile-style drop kick, to which Lesnar got up immediately and no-sold it. Nakamura then gave Lesnar a German which drew the first real shock/applause from the crowd. After it, Nakamura transitioned into a cross-arm scissors hold and applied the triangle-lock. However, Lesnar is so damn big, when Nakamura put the spot on, the fans knew immediately that Lesnar was going to pick him up and slam him, which he did. Then Lesnar gave him a sloppy crowbar-style lariat. Then the Verdict (formerly the F5), and that was it.
They tried to put over Nakamura's offensive highlights from the match in the post-match conference (on the TV side). Lesnar said that Nakamura was his most credible opponent in Japan after the match. "I don't have to pick nobody, I'm the champion!" "Everybody wants to be me."
--
This was a bad match. And it was not Nakamura's fault. The booking of it is also confusing because the only outcome from the match is that Nakamura is "just another victim" of Lesnar's title reign. It does signal that Lesnar will be the company's long-term champion, but the problem is that there was absolutely zero drama here for Nakamura chasing the belt. In order for a strong champion to draw, you have to have workers who the fans believe that can chase for the belt and win it. NJ had a golden opportunity to put over Lesnar but make Nakamura stronger in the process by giving him a real shot of winning. Instead, Lesnar swatted away Nakamura like a fly and nothing really has changed in the title picture scene.
The strange part about this is that if they go ahead and do Lesnar vs. Giant Bernard, Bernard will be the first challenger Lesnar faces that will actually produce a competitive title match fight. What is going to happen on the Japanese side of the equation for New Japan?
-------------------------------------------------------------
Okay, incase you didn't know,Giant Bernard is none other than everyone's favorite ape, A-Train. Also, NJPW is going through some fucked up times right now. Pay cuts, etc, etc. I heard that some peeps may be losting up to 50% of their salary.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->