The Thread Killer

I'm confused...if Rey won the Rumble, why wouldn't he get a Title Shot at WM? Isn't that the rule still?

Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada (Triple Crown - 1/19/95) This is Kawada's one successful Triple Crown defense after he defeated Steve Williams on 10/22/94 at the Budokan. People who love the first two Joe/Punk matches should watch this one. I saw Joe/Punk I & II last weekend, and watched this match this weekend. The first two Joe/Punk matches are praised as classic matches, and they are excellent no doubt...but this match is another example of a very well paced "broadway" match, where the two participants slowly build to a 60 minute draw, and it doesn't become obvious until the last 8 minutes or so that there probably won't be a winner. You can tell by about 55 minutes in, when both guys have hit all of their big moves, and Kobashi starts to crawl around the ring on all fours that they are kinda killing time...but still in all there are a great series of near falls in the last 15 minutes. A lot of people crap on this match because there isn't "a finish" or clear winner...especially because Kawada ended up losing the TC to Stan Hansen at the Bodokan that March so this is the only match where he retained. You can debate that Kawada should have ended up beating Misawa in 94, or that he deserved a better reign or whatever...but looking at this match on it's own you can't deny that it is a very good if not great performance, especially by Kawada. The no selling is at a minimum, and some of the near falls are great, as I said. You won't get any argument from me when you say that Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi on 06/12/98 for the Triple Crown is the best match these two guys ever had...however for those that think that Joe/Punk are the GREATEST MATCHES EVAR~!!! or that Flair had some great 60 minute matches with Steamboat or even his one in St. Louis with Brody...watch this match. I wouldn't say this is a "forgotten" classic...but it's funny that Kawada/Kobashi/Misawa etc. had SO many great matches, that people tend to think of the top 5, and forget that they had some lesser know matches like this one, which still blow away anything that happened in North America for the most part.

That makes both of you.

A look at my sig should show you my guilty pleasure.

Here's the thing though...are they even losing money? From what I remember (and correct me if I'm wrong) they're still making money because they are making cuts and layoffs and whatnot. I agree that the product is pure ass, but they aren't bleeding money like WCW was, are they?

He did bust out the Scorpion Deathlock on Sunday...although that's not what got the win.

When I saw that match with Martel (then AWA World Champ) and Flair (then NWA World Champ) as a team against Jumbo and Tenryu I was blown away by how good Martel was. As a Canadian, I was used to seeing him in boring matches with Dino Bravo and bloody brawls with Abdullah, both from Montreal, and of course his run as "The Model." I want to get some more Martel from AJPW.

Didn't he blow out his knee in that triple threat match with Booker T and Saturn for the TV title? And wasn't it just one of those things, rather than somebody else causing the injuries?

This child must be named Damien. There is no other choice.

I remember Beef (or Biff) Wellington well from my days watching Stampede on TSN. He and Benoit were a great team, and I always wondered why he never made it big.

I agree that Juvi should have a mask vs. mask match even though he doesn't wear one anymore. It would be as good as the Hair vs. Hair match that Paul Ellering and Teddy Long had back in WCW...when both of them were almost bald and were looking for an excuse to totally shave their heads.

To me, it's always sad when I find out that a character I bought into was a jerk when the cameras weren't rolling. I was sad when I heard that Brody and Onita were both jerks...since both of those guys were characters I liked. I was also saddened when I heard that both Misawa and Kawada hated Americans. Sometimes it's better not knowing what your favorite stars or wrestlers are "really" like off stage. The myth is almost always better than the truth.

I agree about Missy Loss, but doesn't Stephanie draw bad heat simply because she's annoying and most people know what she does backstage? To me, she always got "change the channel" heat, not "kill the bitch" heat. I never saw Stephanie as being terribly effective at her on screen role.

Back when I was a lad, the WWF used to run a huge show on Boxing Day every year at Maple Leaf Gardens, and I went for 4 years in a row I think. It was good times...and since Jack Tunney was the promoter he would sometimes book matches that you'd never see elsewhere. I remember one year he ran Psycho Sid (with Harvey Wippleman) vs. The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) and they were both heels. It was awesome. Then again...I was younger then.

It's looks like she's mining for boogernuggets, and smoking at the same time!

I would say that All Japan from 1990-1999 or so produced the longest streak of high quality matches that any organization could ever hope to. Hell, I was looking over my collection the other day, and noticed that I have no less than 260 matches from AJPW during the 90's in my collection. I honestly don't know how anybody who has seen any of the 90's AJPW stuff could argue that any other fed put out this quality of work over this long a period of time. If you are the kind of person who puts stock in Meltzer's star rating system, then check out THIS and you will see all the proof you need.

I guess a lot of that depends on how good this new "King's Road" promotion ends up being. If it comes off as planned, then it sounds like it might take what little fan base AJPW has left with it. Then again, AJPW still has Kojima and he's pretty popular. What I'd love to see is Kojima end up in NOAH.

I love what Jim Ross said in that column he did on wwe.com, that McMahon has totally lost touch with what wrestling fans really want, and what real people are interested...that he is so out of touch he takes a limo when he gets his haircut. I guess when I look at WM20 as a single event, I saw that at least for that one night, Triple H tapped out in the middle of the ring to Benoit. It was the Main Event, the 20th Anniversary of their greatest event ever, in their holiest of holy arena. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I'll plead ignorant about what happened before and after. I was at somebody else's house watching the show, and I never watched one episode of RAW after that...I wouldn't watch that crap if you paid me.

I dunno sek. Their relationship with the NWA (such as it is) is pretty shaky right now, from what I understand. I don't even know if the NWA has a sitting president right now, I think the old one stepped down and their website is hopelessly out of date...or it was last time I checked. I am pretty sure that this announcement is going to be about going on the road, doing IMPACT tapings or house shows around the country, not just at Universal Studios anymore...OR that they are getting a new more viable time slot, maybe even opposite WWE.

My argument against Miavia is this...at that particular time in wrestling history I think if Hogan played his 80's schtick in the WWF he would have been booed out of the building. That was right when he was finding that out in WCW...and Austin was about to explode in the WWF. That was around the birth of the anti-hero. For the record, I thought Rocky sucked too...mostly because of his hair and ridiculous ring attire. I also don't think that the anti-hero thing has been good for wrestling...it makes the heel and face roles much less defined and results in almost everybody wanting to act like a badass and not look cowardly. Obviously I would be a moron to say that Hogan didn't draw money, the man was a human cash register for gawd's sake. If you are saying "who is the most popular wrestler ever with the fans" then I would probably say Hogan or Austin. But my point is that in the overall package, he was not as convincing at playing that role as other people were...people who didn't get the publicity he did. It brings up an interesting argument. McMahon once said that he could have done what he did with Hogan with somebody else in the 80's but he "chose" Hogan. I wonder if that's true...or if Hogan was as good as some people think he was. In the 90's in WCW before turning heel, Hogan proved that his tried and true formula didn't always work...but could somebody else have done what Hogan did in the 80's if not Hogan?

From Meltz: "Regarding TNA's big secret, the idea that it will change the face of wrestling, if it's what I'm expecting, is way overblown. Personally, to me, signing Christian was a bigger deal in the long-run, although it's possible this would be slightly bigger short-term, but only slightly if at all." Some people (at SK's board so take that for what it's worth) are speculating that it's an announcement that Chris Benoit has reached a verbal argreement with TNA for 2006 when his WWE contract expires.

Yeah Rico has gone back to being a cop again. And if they sign Haas, I will personally be very happen. And if Kanyon comes in, I will mark out, because...say it along with me now...who better than Kanyon? And NO NO NO NO. NOBODY is as bad as Glen Gilberti...NOBODY. I had to sit through his world title shot push in TNA back during the weekly PPV era...and it was AWFUL. That man SUCKS in the ring. SUCKS I tell you, and his on screen character makes me want to burn things.

I disagree. I think a face should be judged by how well he plays the role overall. Let's be honest...a great deal of wrestling fans are idiots. They cheer for stuff like "HLA." Does that make the Bischoff on screen character a face for providing it, and the bimbos faces for doing it? I think not. A great face plays the part of a "good guy" to perfection. And no...I never wrote Funk or Steamboat a letter. The Funk match I mentioned happened when I was 7 years old...in Japan...and I only saw it a couple of years ago. By the time I was 33, I was past writing wrestlers. And I never wrote Steamboat either. Maybe I'm unlike most fans...I started watching wrestling in 1980, when I was 10, but I knew it was fake then. This is why when characters I liked got hurt or attacked and it sucked me in, it was like watching a good movie...and when people like Hogan got attacked I laughed a lot. Was the Earthquake attack the one where he was kicking his legs comically and foaming at the mouth afterwards? If so, that was FUNNY. Hogan is like the worst actor EVER. That's why he was so great in the nWo...he's a HAM.

Credit where it's due...Captain Trips did put over Benoit in a huge way at WM20, and put Batista over at WM21 and beyond. It's the rest of the year I find him to be tiresome. Actually...that's not totally true. It's his WIFE I can't stand. Him I can live with.