The Ki sez...I'm backstage at Raw for a tryout!

[KingofOldSchool]

Current IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion Low Ki is backstage at the three hour Monday Night Raw taping in Tampa, Florida.

The first ROH champion, Ki is also a former TNA X-Division champion. The word going around is that he's in for a tryout.

Ki regularly appeared on WWF programming on the syndicated Jakked and Metal shows during the early part of the decade when Kevin Kelly, who was a big fan of his work, was in charge of bringing in prospective talent to the company.

[Innovator]

Tits, all around tits

[Gertner]

Warrior.

[Innovator]

Doesn't matter that he won't be on TV, now I have to go watch some Double Stomps

[NeanderCarl]

WhoIsSuicide?

Watch Raw and find out.

[Loose Cannon]

he'll never be part of WWE

[Destor]

Low Ki rocks. That is all.

[Jeritron]

he'll never be part of WWE

He could get signed, but he'd likely never make it out of OVW or get packaged with a meaningless gimmick and last all of 2 weeks on ECW, if that.

So it's probably better he isn't.

[Destor]

He could get signed, but he'd likely never make it out of OVW or get packaged with a meaningless gimmick and last all of 2 weeks on ECW, if that.

So it's probably better he isn't.
*FCW

[A7X]

WhoIsSuicide is about Kazarian, not Low Ki.....

[McLegend]

he'll never be part of WWE

They should sign him to do voice over work.

That in itself would be sick.

[HeartBreakMan2k]

Yeah, way too stiff. He'd last all of 2 weeks before he chopped or kicked the wrong person and then he'd get put in a handicap match with 2 or 3 people who stiff the shit out of him before he was wished well in his future endeavors.

[Funky Fly]

Yeah, he's a stiff bastard and he will get mauled and buried at the same time.

[Dave Youell]

I don't like Ki

He's not a 'worker' there's no skill in hitting someone as hard as possible.

But, if he calms it down, there's no reason why he couldn't make it right now, who honestly thought Evan Bourne would do as well as he did? So this is the best moment he's had to at least give it a shot

[Mr. Nerfect]

"Hey, PWG, thanks for letting me win the Battle of Los Angeles."
"Sure, no worries, man. Do you think you'll be able to make the next show?"
"Umm, about that..."

I've never been as big a fan of Low Ki as some people. That being said, however, he has a charisma I can really (honestly) see the WWE going after. I mean, you could tell they were having a field day with Tajiri when they had him. Ki's kicks, intensity and general wrestling skill will be going for him.

[NeanderCarl]

WhoIsSuicide is about Kazarian, not Low Ki.....

It's Low Ki's voice.

[KingofOldSchool]

From the ECW/Smackdown tapings going on right now,

Dark match:

* Primo Colon b. Low Ki
- Primo got the win via pinfall after hitting a flying dropkick off the top rope.

[U-Warrior]

I don't like Ki

He's not a 'worker' there's no skill in hitting someone as hard as possible.

But, if he calms it down, there's no reason why he couldn't make it right now, who honestly thought Evan Bourne would do as well as he did? So this is the best moment he's had to at least give it a shot

Sick of this argurment, tbh.

He does a hell of a lot more than strikes. He can work the mat, he's got a lot of knowledge about submissions, and he can take to the air. He'shonestly one of the most versitale people on the indy scene.

[HeartBreakMan2k]

Except in this business regardless of what you do right, if you're not a safe worker protecting the person you're working with, you're still absolutely shit and all the talent in the world doesn't justify it.

[Theo Dious]

Kevin Kelly is fagtastic.

[Dave Youell]

Sick of this argurment, tbh.

He does a hell of a lot more than strikes. He can work the mat, he's got a lot of knowledge about submissions, and he can take to the air. He'shonestly one of the most versitale people on the indy scene.

I’m sick on being in the ring with guys who think that strong styles is awesome.

There’s no skill in hitting someone as hard as possible, there is a skill in making it look like you’ve hit a guy as hard as possible, but at the same time, protecting the guy your 'Working with' (not, not fighting, working), I’ve spoken to guys who have had matches with him, and unless you’re a ‘name’ he basically takes liberties on you, I’ve seen some guys in the UK come out like a total mess after having a ‘Match’ with Low Ki.

Can he do other stuff? Sure he can, he’s athletic and can fly and he can do decent submission work, the only thing I said bad about him was his strikes, fact is, if he didn’t kick people as hard as possible, people wouldn’t really know that much about him, as there’s guys that do flying and submission and mat based stuff a heck of a lot better than he does.

He throws his summary out of the pram whenever he doesn’t get his own way, he left ROH twice and TNA twice, he went an entire year on the indys and only jobbed once to protect his character, he believes he’s the shit, when in actual fact, he’s a short guy, who looks and talks like a monkey who’s only unique attribute is to hurt people.

That my friend is not wrestling

[Destor]

Come off your high horse Dave, they're both wrestling. Just becuase you don't like one doesn't make any less credible. Let's not forget how stiff wrestling used to be pre-70's. Just because we're letting a larger class of pussies into the buisness doesn't mean being stiff isn't legit.

MAN UP

[NeanderCarl]

Dave's right, though.

The art is to kick somebody, and make it look like it hurts. There's no art in giving somebody a kick that truly hurts. If you want to do that, get in the Octagon, not a wrestling ring.

Not saying there should be no contact, no impact, of course you have to be a tough cookie and take what comes your way. But a guy making no effort whatsoever to 'work', preferring to just potato his opponents, has no respect for his opponent or the business and should be (stiffly) kicked the fuck out of it.

[NeanderCarl]

Is Low Ki a genuinely tough customer then? Because I could imagine somebody with a bit of a hard rep maybe reacting to one of those stiff kicks and beating the fuck out of him.

[Destor]

Apparently he has a MMA background.

[Destor]

FTR: I'd rather have a guy work stiff than Memphis light. At least stiff shots look good.

[NeanderCarl]

Well why don't you take a kick from Low Ki, and a punch from Jerry Lawler, and then decide which encore you'd prefer?

[Destor]

Jery Lawler has been known to thrown careless potatoes :o

[Destor]

BUT ANYWAY

It's not like I haven't worker both sides of the coin and it's not like I wont agian. I tend to work as stiff as my opponent does, but stiff stuff is WAY more fun and ALWAYS way more over. It's better. Suck it.

[NeanderCarl]

Well, maybe it's fun for you now, but when you're struggling to get out of bed in the morning in 10 years time maybe you'll see why a lighter style benefits everyone concerned without detracting from the entertainment of the show whatsoever.

Your audience knows it isn't real. They don't need to be convinced that it is. Maybe in the 70s, but not today.

[Destor]

...you need to work down south.

[NeanderCarl]

Blatant oversells and missed moves do distract the crowd, but a light punch as opposed to a potato, nobody gives a shit because it's the meaning behind the punch in the storyline of the match itself that matters, the consequence of it.

When you see a character get shot in a movie, you don't groan because the gun was obviously fake and firing blanks, you immediately understand the impact of the gunshot on the overall picture of the story unfolding in front of you.

If a guy has been selling a knee injury the whole match, a kick to the knee during a comeback registers to the audience as a blow to the face-in-perils weak spot, his achille's heel, whether it's nailed with extreme and undue force or not.

[Destor]

Kayfabe is alive an well

[Destor]

Blatant oversells and missed moves do distract the crowd, but a light punch as opposed to a potato, nobody gives a shit because it's the meaning behind the punch in the storyline of the match itself that matters.

When you see a character get shot in a movie, you don't groan because the gun was obviously fake and firing blanks, you immediately understand the impact of the gunshot on the overall picture of the story unfolding in front of you.

If a guy has been selling a knee injury the whole match, a kick to the knee during a comeback registers to the audience as a blow to the face-in-perils weak spot, his achille's heel, whether it's nailed with extreme and undue force or not.Yeah, you can get anything over. But when two guys are out there working hard and stiff the crowd feeds off that intensity. Some of the most electric matches I've ever been around were stiffer than hell. Does every match NEED to be like that? Nah. But it doesn't bother me when I see it. If two guys are cool with it it really doesn't fuckin matter. Now in Low Kis case this isn't what happening which IS a bad thing. But shitting on stiff wrestling in gerneral is stupid.

[NeanderCarl]

I'm not shitting on it in general. In its place, it's fine. If it's been used to move something forward... a particularly vicious angle, to further a blood feud, to create an epic final chapter to a rivalry, yes, fine.

But if you're going out there and working very stiff, beating up yourself and your opponent (for shit-all money if you're an indy too) all you serve to do is unneccesarily risk injury and either make the next match look like shit in comparison, or raise the bar so that the next guys out are forced to work stiff too, even if they aren't as comfortable as you doing it, so as not to be booed out of the building or made to look phonies.

And if you're match doesn't even have an angle or a background or anything at stake, you're just having a stiff match for the hell of it, then in the words of Jim Cornette "that doesn't make any fuckin' sense".

[NeanderCarl]

Having said all that, if they bring Low Ki in with a series of vignettes featuring a Sigourney Weaver lookalike, and make his catchphrase "I'm the Ki Master, are you the Gatekeeper?" he will instantly become my favourite wrestler.

[Fox]

I saw Low Ki last night. He got a great reaction and people were really pulling for him. I wonder if they would let him do the Warrior's Way if he got signed?

As far as the stiff wrestling argument goes, I think that it's part of the wrestling business. He's not seriously hurting anyone, just a few bumps and bruises, and if you can't take that then you shouldn't be a wrestler. It's not just "entertainment," no matter what Vince wants us to believe.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm not going to take a side in the Low Ki is a stiff bastard argument, because I've never worked with him, but Dave, do you really think that no one would know Low Ki if it weren't for his kicks? He'd have turned up on the indy scene somewhere, kicks or no kicks.

[Dave Youell]

I'm not going to take a side in the Low Ki is a stiff bastard argument, because I've never worked with him, but Dave, do you really think that no one would know Low Ki if it weren't for his kicks? He'd have turned up on the indy scene somewhere, kicks or no kicks.

Granted, but his gimmick, or rather what everyone talks about is his kicks, that's his unique thing, the fact that he kicks people really hard, there's nothing seperating him from loads of other talented indy guys when you take away the fact that he doesn't protect people in the ring.

Carl pretty much sumed up what I said in his first response to all this, as far as Stiff Vs Light goes, I work 'Snug' I make contact, to make it look real, but pull the strike to protect the other guy, if 2 guys in a ring work to make each other look good and protect one another, you will have a better match than knocking your opponant stupid.

Wrestling is an art form, some of the things that Low Ki has done in the past are not, in my opinion part of that art form.

And IF he did get a job in the WWE, the one thing that makes him different would be taken away, as there's no chance he's going to be allowed to go as stiff with paid contracted talent on a nightly basis.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Granted, but his gimmick, or rather what everyone talks about is his kicks, that's his unique thing, the fact that he kicks people really hard, there's nothing seperating him from loads of other talented indy guys when you take away the fact that he doesn't protect people in the ring.

Carl pretty much sumed up what I said in his first response to all this, as far as Stiff Vs Light goes, I work 'Snug' I make contact, to make it look real, but pull the strike to protect the other guy, if 2 guys in a ring work to make each other look good and protect one another, you will have a better match than knocking your opponant stupid.

Wrestling is an art form, some of the things that Low Ki has done in the past are not, in my opinion part of that art form.

And IF he did get a job in the WWE, the one thing that makes him different would be taken away, as there's no chance he's going to be allowed to go as stiff with paid contracted talent on a nightly basis.

But Low Ki surely isn't the only guy on the indy scene to work stiff? Is he actually unique? You talk about some very close second-hand knowledge of what it's like to work with Low Ki, but when Ki is actually working with guys who are (in relative terms, of course) names on the indy scene, does he actually work stiff, or does he just do the "snug" thing?

You don't hear too many complaints about Low Ki being "too stiff." That's all I'm saying. And if he holds back with people who are actually established on the independent wrestling scene, then it's also, ironically, those matches that would be considered his best and have given him his legacy as one of the most important influences in independent wrestling.

I'd accuse Low Ki of being a selective worker and an asshole before I pointed the finger at him being a poor talent.