Ditch

I can see how Tenryu can elicit a "he's just doing the usual" response, but he doesn't have the 'four moves' problem of Choshu and is way better when controlling a match; as such Tenryu-by-numbers is (to me) infinitely more enjoyable and less repetitive than Choshu-by-numbers.

Is this news? http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/0...123101?sac=Home "The day before his first arrest [August], Hardy was involved in a crash with his 2006 Cadillac on U.S. 1 in Southern Pines. An officer found that he had run the car off the road and crashed into a guard rail near South Bennett Street. Hardy told the officer that a car ran him off the road, causing him to crash, according to the accident report."

Doing all that to look like she did *without actually wrestling* is baffling.

I'll second Choshu. Andre the Giant is a big one thanks to seeing more footage from when he wasn't crippled by gigantism. REALLY smart, way way better as a giant than everyone who followed because he could mat wrestle. I wasn't won over by seeing him vs Strong Kobayashi in IWE, but now I know that Strong was kinda bad so it wasn't Andre's fault.

Taue, Fuchi & Ogawa vs Misawa, Kobashi & Kikuchi, July 21st Unique match because of how it plays out; a bit more intensity/drama than the standard 6-man; sets up a lot of the psychology of the Hansen vs Misawa match a month afterwards.

Lethal would have been such a better fit teaming with Joe and trying to hang with Kobashi, especially if it was Kobashi and Ki since Ki/Lethal is a great pairing. Homicide was totally the wrong choice for a Kobashi tag no matter what side he was on.

So I assume one of those lines is Dave and not the other...?

Jade moved to California.

Sasaki is a really tough call in some ways, but I think he clearly had some good draws to his name. -The '97-'98 run is REALLY hard to quantify since you had the Choshu and Inoki retirement shows as two of the four defenses. Doesn't seem to have been a negative though. -New Japan did fine with him on top in 2000 despite not having a lot of their big '90s names (Hashimoto after April, Choshu, Hase, Yamazaki, Mutoh was in-and-out for WCW). vs Kawada, you could have plugged in Hashimoto or Mutoh or Chono and drawn the big gate, which doesn't say anything against Sasaki because those three are in the Hall. And the undercard was kinda bad. Can't credit Sasaki with the follow-up draw in January since that was a tournament. -World Japan... lordy, that was hopeless and stupid from the start. It was SWS for a new decade. And does anyone hold SWS against Tenryu? -Sasaki vs Kobashi was the big draw for the '05 dome show. It wasn't an "anyone vs Kobashi would draw" situation; Mutoh was mentioned, and again, he's an uncontested Hall member so how does that reflect badly on Kenskay? Plus, Sasaki moving from NJ to NOAH was a significant factor in NJ having its #1 status contested for the only time since the '84 crisis. -Sasaki as a worker... is his body of work really much weaker than other NJ guys in the Hall like Mutoh, Chono and Hase? None of them were MOTYC factories like their All Japan counterparts. Sasaki was prone to the occasional braindead match, but then so was Mutoh. Sasaki is a marginal choice at best for the Hall of Fame. A lot of points above are "me too" or "well he's not BAD..." rather than "he was obviously a megastar/superworker and should go in". The comparison for Sasaki isn't to the cream-of-the-crop Hall of Famers, but to guys who have gotten in over the last decade or are under serious consideration. Compared to Hase, Edge and Angle, Sasaki looks darn good. And I think Sasaki stacks up really well compared to Williams, who was a better worker but not much else.

They don't dog it on purpose, with the exception of trying to save the best for the Rumble ---> Mania run.

And if it's going to be work, it's gotta be in WWE. Being a top worker in the decaying husk of Japan is not something Dave will put an iota of effort into hyping. Danielson, if he becomes a mediocre-drawing WWE main eventer but is still winning those WON year-end awards, can have his work push him over the top. Big, big difference between him and KENTA... and both are still a few years out from even qualifying.

It's actually the show after that from July. And after having just watched it I say, PUT IT ON THE YEARBOOK! Tamura is incredible, the crowd is incredible, Anjoh is solid in sticking with/feeding Tamura (who would have obliterated him in a shoot), it's faster-paced than the '92 match, and there's even some storytelling as spunky young Tamura gets fired up and manages to keep hanging with the more experienced Anjoh.

Danielson is on his way to making an impression in WWE. And Danielson has at least been winning best technician and most outstanding; that's a clear accomplishment relative to the WON HoF.

Even for as much as Angle, Ultimo and Hase were weak, there was at least a case for them outside workrate. There isn't for KENTA, and I really do think it would be a significant jump to get there.

I don't think you can really say, "well Angle got in, why not KENTA" with a straight face. Angle was a featured star during the tail end of the late '90s/early '00s boom, was a three-time Most Outstanding in WON and one-time Best Technical, headlined several major WWE PPVs as a legit headliner rather than a "we don't have anyone so plug him in with Cena" type guy we get today... I mean clearly he got in way too quickly but it's night-and-day different from the "well he sure is a good worker" and nothing else case for KENTA. That would only hold water if Alan4L was the typical WON voter, and he's not. And even among the younger-puro-fan group Taue is respected and I'd expect would get more Hall of Fame support.

They've never done it to further a storyline. Bryan and Noble were done for disciplinary reasons, regardless of how sincere WWE was.

I have my doubts about KENTA-but-not-Taue. How many wrestlers who were worse draws/less important than KENTA are in? The case for Danielson obliterates KENTA and I'm not sure Danielson gets in right away, plus there's no way *actual Japanese people* vote KENTA. IE. The Japanese people who are so picky that they turn up their noses at Fujiwara.

Last year after he used a tie on the ring announcer during the Nexus debut. He returned a few weeks later once things blew over... but it wasn't a planned storyline point like if Nash's firing was a work.

They had a match on 9/24/93 taped for comm but that was Mutoh not Muta and I'm pretty sure it didn't have blood. No Muta vs Hase on 9/23; Hase was kinda busy with Tenryu! Hase bled vs Fuyuki on 9/12/93...

There's a case for him as a better worker than Chono and Mutoh, but he wasn't nearly the star they were, and he doesn't have enough MOTYCs to his name to be a pimped midcarder.

How is it not??

WWE is so much more professional than UFC, it isn't even close. And it's not like WWE is any sort of paragon of corporate virtue.

Coz starts out goofing around, but Sandman gets a turn and shows him up. Coz really does better than one would expect from an Ace vs Comedy Guy match. Both of them really turn it on given their age; I can only think of this being like a hypothetical Fujiwara vs Eigen or Arakawa match if it was done in the 2000s. Sandman decides to go to his gimmick and forces Coz to use a chair because Coz is clearly out of gas. Finally Coz gets saved by a run-in. Million billion stars. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaBTaok3qG0

I think the Hogan vs Warrior promos are really underrated and have a strong overall point if one is willing to look past the goofiness.

Meng and Savage appeared after their contracts expired, but that's different than what you're referring to.