Paul London vs Akio(JWY) feud on velocity was amazing.

[Gertner]

Remember how awesome the cruiserweight velocity matches were? These 4 with Akio/London were amazing.


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London/ Akio 1



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London/Akio 2


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London/Akio 3


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London/Akio 4

[Xero]

A lot of people never watched Velocity, so no.

[Mr. JL]

Yeah, I remember how awesome they were. I believe London gets spiked on his head real badly in one of them.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, and Josh Mathews goes "Holy shit!" Those two men had fucking fantastic chemistry. Some guys just work really well together, and these two men just clicked. Apparently Brian Kendrick and Jamie Noble have similar chemistry? I remember thinking about how awesome a tag team rivaly between Paul London & Brian Kendrick and a redneck pairing of Jamie Noble & Jimmy Wang Yang would have been.

[GD]

Josh Matthews made it better.

[DAMN iNATOR]

These matches were ok, but I wasn't a huge fan of Tajiri's "henchmen", Akio and Sakoda.

[Lock Jaw]

Tajiri was awesome back then as well.

[Johnny Vegas]

London/Akio II was the best IMO. That belly-to-belly suplex into the turnbuckle was sick

[Anybody Thrilla]

Yeah, and Josh Mathews goes "Holy shit!" Those two men had fucking fantastic chemistry. Some guys just work really well together, and these two men just clicked. Apparently Brian Kendrick and Jamie Noble have similar chemistry? I remember thinking about how awesome a tag team rivaly between Paul London & Brian Kendrick and a redneck pairing of Jamie Noble & Jimmy Wang Yang would have been.

I do remember a few matches back in the day when Nidia was with Jamie Noble with Spanky, and they were fantastic.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Also, I met Akio at Hooter's a few months ago. He was really nice.

[KaliKot]

God how I loved velocity compared to heat back then.

And yeah Akio is awesome especially back in WCW

and yeah like all the other potential talents, he probably will only serve as fodder for stars

[Mr. Nerfect]

LOL at everyone calling him "Akio" in this thread, like he's done nothing since.

Josh Mathews used to do this quirky thing on Velocity, where he would rattle off facts about the wrestlers that I'm not sure are true to this day, or if he was just bullshitting -- "Akio is a film star in Korea," "Funaki is 35% Italian," etc. I wish he'd bring that to ECW.

The WWE dropped the ball poorly with Paul London. You can say that he had attitude problems all you want, and well, I guess he probably did, but a lot of that seemed to stem from the WWE fucking up with him, and not vice versa. Looking at Evan Bourne -- I have to believe that London is the better mat wrestler, the better flyer, the better talker and even has a better look. Maybe I'm alone in that, but if Evan Bourne has found a little niche for himself as the WWE's "young guy that flies and is DIFFERENT!" then Paul London could have definitely done the same. And I still stand by my suggestion that Paul London & Brian Kendrick could have been, comparatively, as big as The Hardys. Of course Matt and Jeff would have made more money overall, given the period they dominated as a tag team, but London & Kendrick were just overall better talents during the tag team periods of their careers.

And Paul London vs. Billy Kidman from No Mercy 2004 is honestly one of my favourite matches ever. If I was trying to make a wrestling fan, I would show them the story of Paul London & Billy Kidman starting off as an underdog tag team, and based solely on talent overwhelming the veteran staple of the tag team division, and winning the Tag Team Championship, only for one member of the team to be filled with doubt when he accidentally injures a guy using his style, which causes a rift in the team leading to one snapping on the other, and their eventual one-on-one match. I may get ridiculed for that, but as far as cruiserweight stories go, that is just one of the best I have ever seen.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Tajiri was awesome back then as well.

I fucking loved Tajiri. I know a lot of people loved him as a heel, but in the WWE, I marked out like fuck for the guy when he was a face. I still remember his in-ring debut with the WWE after serving as William Regal's errand boy. He kicked the fuck out of Crash Holly, and it was tremendously entertaining that Regal's assistant had so much bad-ass in him when he got in the ring.

But I've always loved the loveable guy who turns out to be not so loveable when things get competitive.

[Mr. Nerfect]

One thing probably worth noting about the Paul London/Akio series, is how they gradually got more and more time in which to work. That's the company taking notice and saying "Holy shit, we should actually let these guys...wrestle."

[abec]

The WWE dropped the ball poorly with Paul London. You can say that he had attitude problems all you want, and well, I guess he probably did, but a lot of that seemed to stem from the WWE fucking up with him, and not vice versa.

I'm sure the WWE doesn't see it that way. They cant have a bunch of people that have attitudes running around and raping the company doing whatever it is they want. They mold and shaped some of their best superstars in the past that had lots of problems but look where it got them, almost put the company under when a few jumped ship, and now its changed the way they do business for a long time until the industry is stale and they are losing money ( which they arent ).

Its a shame that TNA is such a stupid name with an ugly ring or they COULD take advantage of all this brash talent that just wants to show off their ability as they have nothing else to lose.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Well, TNA was going to give London a crack, but that was in a thrown together team with The Amazing Red, and London pulled out due to slight back problems. He didn't tell TNA either, so I'd say his dash is done with them, which is London's fault.

As for London's attitude, I'm going to again say that I don't think London was ready to sell-out. He was signed because he was the hottest talent in the independent scene. I don't think the guy was ready to throw all his talent out the window and be under contract literally as a guy who stands around doing nothing special. There were moments where it looked like the WWE has a spot for London, but there were always some politics floating around.

I hope Paul London bought himself a really nice house with his money from the WWE, because I think the guy deserves to get some happiness from his WWE run.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I'm sure the WWE doesn't see it that way. They cant have a bunch of people that have attitudes running around and raping the company doing whatever it is they want. They mold and shaped some of their best superstars in the past that had lots of problems but look where it got them, almost put the company under when a few jumped ship, and now its changed the way they do business for a long time until the industry is stale and they are losing money ( which they arent ).



Yeah that's a pretty funny statement.