Ditch

The vast majority of the US still thinks the company is called WWF. If after a decade they can't get the public to acknowledge the new name, how on earth are they going to make the public forget "rasslin"?

So in essence, Mistico isn't over in Mexico because of being spectacular like mid-90s Rey, but because of booking/personality like '90s Rock. The thing is, with Mistico's natural ability and the usually toned-down WWE style, he can get over in a way that's more WCW/WWE Mysterio than Ace Luchador. He certainly isn't going to get over because of being booked like an ace since that's not in the cards. So if WWE makes him do bland highspots, it's that much less likely he'll impress the fans. It wouldn't be possible for Rock to be a violent maniac, but it is possible for Mistico to 'wow' WWE crowds.

Not yet.

The odds of it being anything other than "hey who's this Mexican that (Meltzer / someone else) says is such a good draw" are low.

That's definitely the impression I get. And no way is Vince going to book him like an 'ace'.

And the '80s crew is open to suggestions from people who are not quite as hardcore (ie. me)

http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2011/2011_04_07.html The jargon density is more than my cerebral cortex can handle. Literally, I can't read more than a couple sentences without having to stop.

Does he talk at all about his bookings in Japan?

Are we counting "the exact participants", or can it be "the match" as a generality? Because there are instances of retirement matches announced a ways off, for instance Onita saying he'd retire on 5/5/95 if he lost on 5/5/94 to Tenryu, or more recently Dick Togo's June retirement being announced last fall.

I'm assuming that "Raw when he came back" refers to early 2002. very delayed edit: I swear my reading comprehension is uniquely awful for Tom's posts.

How much had Benoit trained when he entered the NJ dojo? I always got the impression that if a Japanese promotion thought you'd paid your dues elsewhere, they wouldn't rough you up too bad. But he had been a pro 4-5 years upon entering the dojo and still went through that. Have we heard anything along those lines from Scorpio?

I'm going to assume that came from the book "Ring of Hell", which spent some time on the harsh dojo conditions.

Yes.

FUCHI used Danger Zone. You are all on probation as All Japan Dorks.

It placed 51st in the Smarkschoice WCW poll that RE referenced, which is what prompted his 'underrated' tag.

It was #7 on the much bigger DVDVR '90s vote. The SC vote was more "on further review"... a re-rating, if you will. Not sure what the overall consensus is at this point, but at the very least it's been given a fair hearing.

There's two criticisms about Taker/HHH and I think they're getting overly lumped together. 1. "Too many finishers". The counter, "it's okay in that context and the big moves were sold for a while", seems right to me. 2. "The match was spotty/plodding". This seems just about impossible to refute. The last half of the match, were there even ten moves/spots in the last 15 minutes? Move, pause as the guy who did it recovers, nearfall, more selling, next move. Don't even get me started about the "guy does corner punches in the middle of the finishing run to set up the Last Ride" spot, which happens in over half of the big Taker matches. When I'm watching a match in this style, I find it anticlimactic more often than not. The 'wait 20 seconds before covering' part especially ruins the drama. My thought is that the key to being able to enjoy it, is whether you're a year-round, watch-most-TV-shows WWE follower. In which case... -You're used to being patient for in-ring content -The big main event style stands out more after watching countless forgettable matches -Certain spots (ie. the corner punch ---> Last Ride) aren't as predictable, because you haven't seen it in X number of matches My reactions largely mirror El-P's, and neither of us watch a significant amount of WWE, so maybe that's why.

So after all that- making the Rumble a 40-man field, having Del Rio win- he loses clean in the Mania opener, a match that was at best the 4th biggest match on the card.

Rematch was April 6. It's on the set.

Yes, 1990. Plus it has Warrior freaking out a Japanese interviewer and a hilarious crowd response.

Super Strong Machine was a midcarder and as such probably lost multiple times per tour. Choshu was someone who would book himself to job at forgettable mid-tour shows so without full results there's no way of knowing. SWS and WAR results other than their absolute biggest shows are hard to come by so there's no way of knowing for sure about Tenryu.

When was the "Baba loans them to New Japan" thing? His timelines are all over the place. Which is understandable given that their career was such a sprint.