wrestling / Columns
That Was Then, Is This Too? 04.13.10: Foreign Imports
Welcome to yet another installment of That Was Then, Is This Too?, the column that looks for parallel lines in all the right places. As usual, we have comments:
Good article, but I do think Swagger will lose the title before June. WWE has backed themselves into a corner here, with Cena squashing Swagger’s win and Orton subsequently pinning him clean, Swagger appears inferior to Raw’s contenders.
While the draft may shake this up, right now Swagger is an inferior champion, and he must lose it fairly quickly, or have a JBL-esque cheap run to make the rest of the brand look credible.
Posted By: Sean (Guest) on April 06, 2010 at 05:35 PM
I actually consider JBL’s run to be pretty smartly booked. The stipulations for his title matches covered up his in ring weakenesses, and he was a great talker. Plus, the fact that he held the title for nearly a year made look all the bigger for being the one to dethrone him.
I have no faith in WWE’s ability to produce main event worthy title holders. Besides, they want movie stars and celebrities not wrestlers. That’s why Otunga gets a bigger push than Danielson. Swagger and Sheamus ultimately mean nothing because the titles mean nothing. The last generation was Cena, Batista and Orton and they lost my interest almost immediately. I don’t like The Miz, but even he would be preferable because he has shown major improvement and is a better representative for WWE than Swagger with his ridiculous lisp and Sheamus who is just ridiculous.
Posted By: Loomis (Guest) on April 06, 2010 at 06:48 PM
Last time I checked Bryan was still number one, and getting more airtime than pretty much any other NXT rookie. He might not be wimming matches, but it’s clear that WWE wants us to pay attention to the guy. As for making new stars, they can certainly do more, but over a dozen wrestlers have won a first WWE or world heavyweight champion in the past decade, and most of these wrestlers (with obvious exceptions like Goldberg, Eddie Guerrero and RVD) have gone on to have main event careers.
Most people have very weak first title runs. Apparently WWE fans don’t remember anything though since the only people to hold belts recently have been multiple time champions for the past few years.
Jericho, Angle, JBL, Orton are all examples of guys that were booked really weak as world champions. They would job or have cheap wins. Your first run is to prove you can handle it, then you get another chance later on..usually.
I don’t remember The Rock, Austin or HHH’s first runs with the title. They were probably booked strong but these guys are all bigger draws than Swagger is.
Posted By: Guest#0692 (Guest) on April 06, 2010 at 10:31 PM
I think a bigger problem here is that the first three men you’ve mentioned were all heels during their first run, and WWE has a real problem booking a heel as anything other than a coward that runs away at the first sign of trouble.
You make a good point in the article, the short title reigns follwing MITB cash-ins have been less-than stellar. But keep in mind – that even though those initial title reigns have been short, they’ve effectively established the winners as viable contenders. CM Punk isn’t main eventing right now, but they could just as easily move him back to the World Title picture at any time. Edge has been set as a main event fixture for the past several years, RVD obviously sealed his own fate, and Mr. Kennedy couldn’t say healthy long enough to make the best of his situation – but the success Edge and Punk have had after their MITB victories gives me plenty of reason to be optimistic about Jack Swagger’s future. That – and with a little character-tweaking, he’s got the talent to stay near the top for years to come.
Posted By: Rick (Guest) on April 07, 2010 at 10:21 AM
And that’s the most important thing to note about the Money in the Bank concept. It might look weak on paper, but it has played out far better than it had any right to in practice. The very nature of the match makes it hard to take winners serious as credible contenders, but for both CM Punk and Edge it provided just that little push they needed to break through, something that they might not have received otherwise.
That leads us to Banner 2.0!
There’s an old Dutch saying: “Wat je van ver haalt is lekker”. It basically translates to “What you get from afar tastes good.” It most likely has its origins in the spice trade that jump-started our economy in the seventeenth century, but it certainly has a wider application than that. One place where the saying might apply is this weekend’s SHIMMER tapings, which featured a handful of Japanese women flown in and placed on strategic places on the cards in singles and tag matches. This is where SHIMMER’s schedule of taping four shows in one weekend actually works out well for them. Flying in foreign exports this way allows them to be used on four separate DVDs in stead of just one or two, which makes it easier for SHIMMER to get a return on their investment. Of course SHIMMER is no stranger to foreign imports, with wrestlers from Canada, Mexico, Australia and Croatia appearingin the past.
One such foreign import that recently made a splash (although I use foreign import in the loosest sense of the word here, since she’s already employed fulltime by another American company), is Ayako Hamada, the former TNA knockout tag team champion. Last November she was brought in for the taping of volumes 27 and 28, and was immediately thrown in the deep end against Sara Del Rey, former SHIMMER champion and probably the best women’s wrestler in America today.
Going into the match Sara Del Rey is the clear heel, having been on an absolute rampage for the better part of a year now. Ayako Hamada meanwhile is a babyface simply by virtue of being a foreigner. She makes the mistake of turning her back on Del Rey at the start of the match, and she’s rewarded with a series of kicks and forearms. Hamada recovers, scoring with a kick and a headbutt, only to get booted down again. A legdrop gets two, and Del Rey grounds Hamada with a chinlock. Hamada manages to reverse it into a heel hook variation, but Del Rey gets to the ropes and we have a standoff. Hamada looks to go Greco-Roman, but gets her legs kicked out from under her for her troubles. A flurry of strikes gets Del Rey another two count, but a whip in the corner is reversed.
Hamada charges in but gets sent to the apron, but a headbutt gives her the oppertunity to grab a knucklelock, showing off some of her lucha skills by walking the top rope with it and hitting a front flip into an armdrag. Del Rey charges in, but gets hip tossed for her trouble. A spinning kick from Hamada sends her out to the ring, and Del Rey is clearly frustrated. She leaves for the back as referee Bryce Remsburg starts the count. Of course you don’t earn the name Death Rey by just walking off, and she returns with a steel chair, shoving the ref out of the way and taking a few wild swings. Eventually she manages to catch Hamada, braining her with the chair and leaving the referee no option but to disqualify her.
She continues to beat on Hamada, and the crowd and commentators naturally shit all over that outcome. Of course, Hamada isn’t about to be stopped by a measily chair shot, as evidenced by the results of the Google image search I did to find images for this article. She gestures for Remsburg to restart the match, and eventually she gets her message across and the match is restarted as a no disqualification match. That’s where the party really starts.
Del Rey, clearly not used to having her opponents fight back, is immediately sent to the floor with a dropkick. Hamada is done with the fancy lucha, tossing Del Rey into the guard rails repeatedly before they end up in the crowd, tossing chairs of the non-folding variety at each other. They continue to throw each other around and clubbing on each other, eventually emerging back at ringside where Hamada gets a taste of the ring steps. We get an exchange of strikes, which Hamada ends abruptly with a superkick out of nowhere. We go back into the crowd, with Del Rey getting the worst of it as Hamada just PLANTS one of the hard chairs on the top of Del Rey’s head.
They continue to brawl through the crowd, and Del Rey manages to reverse an Irish whip to send Hamada crashing through several rows of seats. Del Rey makes it a point to chop whatever part of Hamada’s body she can reach, and she just continues to lay into Hamada. Hamada takes a tumble into some more chairs, and Del Rey pauses to gloat before laying in with some more forearms. Hamada is completely lost now, getting choked out on the back of one of the chairs. She makes a tactical retreat to ringside, where she manages to send Del Rey into the steel steps and the barricades. The advantage is short lived however, as Del Rey manages to prevent the Asai moonsault.
Del Rey hits a leg drop on Hamada, which stuns her long enough to let Del Rey slingshot her into the ring steps. We’re finally back inside the ring, and the fans are all over Del Rey as she sets Hamada up in a chair. A big boot from that position gets a two count, with Hamada getting her foot on the rope. Del Rey grabs the chair, but Hamada ducks, hits a kick to get Del Rey to drop it and just waffles her with chair shots of her own. A scoopslam puts her in position, and Hamada ascends the turnbuckles with the chair in hand. Moonsault with chair! Del Rey caught that one full in the face but somehow manages to kick out. Neither Hamada nor the crowd are buying it. Hamada goes up again, hitting a missile dropkick for another two count. Del Rey looks pissed, but she manages to slip out of a powerbomb attempt. A big boot rocks Hamada, and a gorgeous German suplex gets Del Rey a two count. Hamada blocks the Royal Butterfly and sets Del Rey up on the top rope, but the Hama-Chan Cutter gets blocked. Del Rey looks to take the advantage with a double axe-handle, but gets dropkicked out of mid-air. Hamada looks to follow up with a folding powerbomb, but it only gets two. Hamada takes it a step further with the AP Cross Diamond, but Del Rey manages to reverse the pin for two. They collide into each other’s boots, and the double count is applied.
Both women struggle back to their feet, breaking the count at eight. Slaps are exchanged, and Hamada manages to catch Del Rey off guard with an enzeguiri. A schoolgirl out of nowhere gets her a two count. Del Rey is dropped with a spinning kick, but manages to get her knees up on a second moonsault attempt. That gives her all the clearance she needs to finish things off, as she nails Hamada with a koppo kick and a piledriver to get the one of the hardest fought three counts in her entire career.
All in all it was an absolutely spectacular contest, with Del Rey clearly not expecting Hamada to fight back in the way she did. In the end she did get the victory, but she probably had to fight harder than she has had to in a long time. What initially seemed like an idiotic finish was turned into what was probably the best and definitely one of the most brutal matches in SHIMMER history, one that can easily be compared to another match where a local legend went toe to toe with a Japanese visitor…
That Was Then…
In late 2005, the legendary Kenta Kobashi was going to make his first appearances in North America ever. Kobashi, who had pretty much made All Japan Pro Wrestling through his work with the likes of Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue. He would appear for Harley Race’s WLW promotion and for Ring of Honor, the two future American members of the Global Professional Wrestling Alliance, the organization set up by the late Mitsuharu Misawa to facilitate the exchange of talent between various independent companies. As a prelude to this extended exchange, which has since led to extended American excursions for wrestlers like KENTA, Naomichi Marufuji, Takeshi Morishima and Go Shiozaki, Kobashi would finally make his American debut. His first match in Ring of Honor would be against the man who made the company, Samoa Joe. What followed was an absolute epic clash that I could in no way do justice, which is why I’ll quote the review of 411mania colleague Arnold Furious:
Atmosphere is electric with the crowd chanting “KO-BASH-EE” before the introductions. The pop for Kobashi is ENORMOUS. “KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE”. Joe has his “this is my house” face on. Ring FILLS with streamers on Kobashi’s introduction and he looks totally freaked out. KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE. The atmosphere is ELECTRIC in that arena. It’s so loud. It sounds like 20,000 people. Joe leads in with a leg kick, which Kobashi shrugs off. They lock up and Kobashi is backed into the ropes AND JOE SLAPS HIM IN THE FACE. OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
The reaction on his face is priceless. KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE. Kobashi backs Joe up and CHOPS HIM IN THE THROAT. Joe gets in his face. Crowd is going INSANE. Another lock up. Kobashi goes to overpower. “This is awesome”. Joe SUPLEXES out of the lock up. Kobashi no sells it so Joe shoulderblocks him out of the ring. ELBOW SUICIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! “JOE, JOE, JOE, JOE”. Kobashi shows the undercard how to sell by staying down until he’s fucking well picked up. Joe then assaults him on the mat and facelocks him. Kobashi is still recovering from the elbow suicida selling the importance of the move. He edges towards the ropes but Joe hooks up a Stretch Plum. OOOOOOOHHHHHHH.
Kobashi gets the ropes. Joe starts chopping Kobashi and wouldn’t you know it he’s totally unimpressed. He looks pissed. CHOP, CHOP, CHOP, CHOP. Roderick Strong is in the back saying “damn that’s a hard chop”. Joe retorts with a jumping ENZIIIIIGURIIIIII. “JOE, JOE, JOE, JOE”. KAWADA KICKS MOTHERFUCKER!!!! NO SOLD. CHOPPING TO THE NECK. NO SOLD. KAWADA KICKS. MORE CHOPPING. JOE THROWS KNEES. Kobashi is down! “ROH, ROH, ROH”. CHOP, KICK AND KNEEDROP! Kobashi is selling like a motherfucker. He rolls outside holding his chest. Joe wants the Ole kick. He sets Kobashi up for it. OLE, OLE, OLE, OLE…WHAMMOOOOOOO! Joe just Ole Kicked Kenta Kobashi! And he wants another one! OLE, OLE, OLE, OLE….CHOP TO THE NECK!!! Joe is on the chair AND KOBASHI CHOPS HIM OUT OF IT OVER THE RAIL! Are you fucking kidding me? That was AWESOME.
Kobashi with a DDT on the floor. Kobashi looks pissed off again. Back inside Kobashi continues his CHOPPING. If God could chop someone he’d do it through Kenta Kobashi’s body. He starts with the knees and the FINAL CHOP sets up Joe getting CHOPPED on the mat. CHOP MOTHERFUCKER! RUNNING JUMPING…CHOOOOOPPPP! I wonder if that was a rib on Misawa. Kobashi wants a suplex but Joe sandbags him and hits his own. He needs recovery time and that buys him some. Those chops are wearing him down. CHOPS, CHOPS, KICKS FROM JOE, CHOPS, CHOPS, CHOPS, CHOPS, CHOP WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO SOLD BY KOBASHI! CHOOOPPPPPPPPPPP!!!! Joe’s chest is FUCKED UP from this match. Kobashi with the Shades of Wilbur Snyder and he pushes Joe’s head down to make him his personal bitch. Joe falls out of it into the ropes. He’s not competing here, he’s surviving. He may be trading with Kobashi to prove a point but when he does he’s discovering that trading with Kobashi will get you fucked up.
God, I love this match. Kobashi with the NECK CHOPPING. He goes for a spinning neck chop BLOCKED INTO THE STJOE! Running senton from Joe. Kobashi is pained. FUCKING VIOLENCE PARTY~~~~!!!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT THAT’S FUCKING AWESOME! Violence Party on Kobashi. He tries for a powerbomb but Kobashi won’t move so Joe kicks him in the face twice and POWERBOMBS HIM INTO THE FUCKING BUCKLES. “HOLY SHIT”. Joe is doing a little more than surviving now. BOOOOOOOT SCRAAAAAAAAAAAAPES. Joe only hits the MUSCLEBUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA….for 2. Yeah, like Kobashi is lying down for Joe! Joe throws the KNEES and wants the CHOKE. No dice. POWERBOMB INTO THE STF!!! Joe is throwing EVERYTHING at Kobashi here. Just everything he has in his entire arsenal. Kobashi keeps breaking the hands to prevent the STF being on properly. So Joe grabs the arm too and hooks the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE. KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE. Kobashi goes with the other arm so Joe locks THAT one up too and Kobashi has to use his leg. Brilliant.
The crowd gets a moment to catch it’s collective breath. Myself included. Joe sets up a charge as Kobashi struggles to his feet. Kobashi meets him with a chop to the throat and KOBASHIPLEX!! FUCK, YES! Joe bumps it All Japan style hoping to earn himself more matches in NOAH. Kobashi is up first and he’s looking angry. SPINNING NECK CHOP! CORNER CHOPS!!!! CROWD GOES TOTALLY INSANE. MORE CORNER CHOPS! Joe is reeling from each one and there are DOZENS. He’s taking them like a man to be fair. KOBASHI SPEEDS UP! FUCKIN’ A! I LOVE THIS MAN! DOUBLE CHOP. Joe’s chest is a MESS. This is beautiful. KOBASHIPLEX #2….JOE HEADDROPS IT…FOR 2. Ropes save Joe. He is FUCKED but he comes back with elbows. Kobashi grabs him in a sleeper. He knows Joe can’t have much left so he can probably put him out…SLEEPERPLEX!!!! FUCK, I LOVE THIS SHIT. Joe KICKS OUT! Kobashi is still walking around though and Joe is lying on the mat. Joe comes back with repeated slaps to the face. KOBASHI CHOPS HIS FUCKING ARM. SPINNING CHOP TO THE NECK. THREE FUCKING TIMES. LARIATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Kobashi gets the pin and wins the match. WOOOOOOOAH. KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE.
*****. It has flaws sure but I’ve not been that entertained in years. I loved the shit out of this match. Easily my favourite of the year just for the sheer violence of it. Plus Joe kinda hung with a legend. That has to be good for his stock. POST MATCH Kobashi hauls his corpse up and offers a handshake to respect the man and the company. “Arrigato”. Heh, that’s awesome. Kobashi bows to the crowd.
…Is This Too?
Of course Ayako Hamada can never measure up to Kenta Kobashi when it comes to either name value or career achievements, although she’s still the daughter of Gran Hamada, the man who first merged lucha libre with the Japanese junior heavyweight style. The result was surprisingly similar however, with the visitor bringing a level of violence and intensity that resulted in a single match that’s easily worth the price of purchase of the whole DVD.
Obviously the match between Del Rey and Hamada was far more violent, simply because Del Rey refused to show her Japanese colleague any respect. Hamada dealt out as good as she received, abandoning her lucha libre arsenal in favour for some wild brawling. I have to say that the SHIMMER camera crew definitely did a great job here. Brawls in the crowd can be hard to follow in certain indy companies, but they did a great job to capture all the action, which really helped the enjoyment of the match.
In the end, either match is perfect. The Kobashi/Joe match certainly set the ROH crowd on fire in a way that never happened before, or has happened since, but it wasn’t exactly a complete match. It felt more like an extended end sequence for an AJPW classic than an actual AJPW classic. Likewise, the SHIMMER match was a brawl without any real reason to have a brawl. Sure, it fit Del Rey’s character to start swinging the chair after Hamada blitzed her with lucha moves, and it fit Hamada’s character to refuse to accept the disqualification win, but at the same time it would have made more sense to give the women a storyline that would have justified the violence, something that SHIMMER has been quite capable of in the past.
But it doesn’t really matter that either match has imperfections. In the end, both ROH and SHIMMER fans were treated to exciting stars they don’t normally get to see, and the matches they deliver rank among the best and most memorable in the company’s history. What is important here is that, despite what many pessimists like to think, we do live in a great era to be a wrestling fan. With the internet making wrestlers from any promotion anywhere in the world visible, it’s easy for fans to discover new talent and promotions they might like. Likewise, it gives independent wrestling companies a chance to see which talent might be worth flying in for special occasions, as evidenced by the exotic lineup of the most recent SHIMMER tapings. This works both ways, as I can go to the wXw 16 Carat Gold tournament in Germany and see wrestlers like Jimmy Jacobs, Chris Hero, Naomichi Marufuji, Bryan Danielson and Mike Quackenbush. In the past, it was a rarity to see more than a handful of wrestlers work outside their own ‘territory’, let alone outside their own country. These days wrestlers are more mobile than ever, and it has resulted in some absolutely brilliant matches.
