Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Pro Wrestling: NJPW, HOG and CM Punk

That was quite a Saturday. These don't happen often but when they do it reminds me of why I spend time watching the things I watch. My Saturday started before the sun was up watching this years New Japan Pro Wrestling: Dominion from Osaka-Jo Hall in Osaka, Japan. Theres no need to recap the whole show but I will say this the first time I can remember a NJPW feeling like an NXT: TakeOver. What I mean was it was a great show, with the worst match feeling like it would be a great match on another show. The quality was so high on this show that anything less than 4 out of 5 stars would be considered substandard.


I'll stick to the important points. The best match on the show was the Intercontinental Championship match. I know that's not the popular choice but here's why I say that. This was the most complete match on the card. It had the big fight feel but it also felt personal. This was the match that looked and felt like a fight between two guys trying to beat each other. It had the moments of flash but also had the hard hitting moments that a personal conflict should have. It was blood and guts with emotion that grabbed the audience more then I thought it would.


The World Championship was great but it had a few flaws that I don't think people want to admit. My thing was that while the counters and reversals were good the match had poor defense. I saw the first match, I thought it was amazing. The next match was even more amazing with the third match being great. The problem was all of them were offensive spectacles with no defense. I thought that if you are Okada, you know you cannot kick out of the One Winged Angel then maybe you should do something that prevents Omega pulling off the move. This is where the "wrestling" in pro wrestling comes in. I was thinking maybe Okada works on injuring Omegas lower back or his legs. The move requires strength in those areas so why not work on taking that move away. Those V-Trigger knee strikes are brutal why not take that away. On Omegas part work on a knee or shoulder since the Rainmaker Clotheline requires strength from those body parts.


The match psychology for this match was off for me. The bang-bang, back and forth was great but by the third fall the whole thing became performance art instead of a fight for a World Championship. I've seen this style of match plenty of times before. The one that jumps to mind was from E.C.W. back when Rob Van Dam was defending the E.C.W. World Television Championship against Jerry Lynn. The first match was an offensive explosion, the matches after that were all filled with great offense along with counter, after counter, after counter, after counter to the great offense by both men. It was fun to watch but what was better then those matches were the W.C.W. matches between Dean Malenko and Rey Mysterio Jr. for the W.C.W. Cruiserweight Championship.


In those matches you had the great offense and the counters but Dean Malenko would attack a body part, ground the high flying Mysterio to change the pacing of the match. It was a more dramatic presentation because with each match you knew both men had to come up with something different from the last match because they knew each other so well. Offense for the sake of offense was not going to win the match when your on match five. I thought Okada versus Omega 4 lacked that change of pace, grind them down, fight feel that a fourth match could have had. This match felt too similar to the match from Dominion last year only with an additional 10 minutes added to it.


This match is the greatest example of the counter for counter style of match I've ever seen. It's still an amazing match that was at a very high level of athleticism and skill that only a few wrestlers male or female can pull off. But it's not very deep in emotional connectivity. That's why the Naito versus Jericho match was better to me. They covered so much ground emotionally that the audience actually started cheering for the bad guy, which in this match was Jericho. I'm not one of those people who says a match always needs a good guy versus a bad guy. The Okada/Omega match was two popular guys trying to see who was the better wrestler, I'm totally fine with that. I just wanted to see some variety from that match since it was their fourth time facing each other.


That was my Saturday morning while my Saturday evening was watching something of lesser quality. A friend of mine bought tickets to the House of Glory Pro Wrestling: Temperature Rising event in Queens, New York. The show was not bad at all, except for some drunk guy who kept turning around to offer commentary on the last HOG shows he was at. The thing that stuck out to me at this show was a phrase that popped in to my head, "look the part". Most of the performers at this show did not look the part of a pro wrestler. Keep in mind a lot of these guys are teenagers or are in their early twenties so they still have more to grow but a lot of them need to get a gym membership and a clean eating plan.

I've been to a HOG show before so some of these performers were familiar to me. I subscribe to their YouTube channel and have watched some matches online. The best of the bunch that I saw that night was Ken Broadway. He was one of the few who actually looked the part. He still needs some work on his physique because he reminds me of Cedric Alexander back when he was in Ring of Honor. The talent is there, he has good charisma but this was the worst match I've seen him in. I expected more out of him because he's a guy I think could make it to WWE. I think at this point he needs to move on from HOG and try to get into ROH or even Impact. If I had a message for him it would, step out of your comfort zone, your better then you give yourself credit for. My friend and I both agreed that he's got the tools but more experience around the world is what he needs.

Biggest shock was Anthony Gagnone looking like the sloppy drunk version of Tony Neese. If I didn't know better I think he was Tony Neese's twin brother who was the physical opposite of his brother. I thought it it looked sad since Gagnone like Kenny Broadway is good in the ring. I think the character he's playing is like what Eric Young is doing with Sanity in WWE. It just comes off like the drunk, drugged out, cheap version of that gimmick. I was looking at the back of his head for a bald spot like Johnny Hendricks has since he looked like him as well. The worst part was his stable mates. One guy looked like the skinny version of No Way Jose which got the crowd chanting No-Way-Jose (repeat). Some other guy looked like the son of the Boogie Man, check the video and tell me I'm wrong. I don't even want to remember the walk way the performers used to get to the ring but I saw Jessica Havok look at that thing like, "please don't let me twist an ankle walking on this thing."

The other guy who looked like a pro wrestler was a member of the Latin American Xchange, Santana. I remember when he was in HOG in another tag team. Now he's looking more of the part of pro wrestler. Time on Impact Wrestling has helped him improve even though the match he and his partner were in was not good. The events before and after the match were entertaining especially since it was two Puerto Ricans wrestling in Queens, New York on the Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend. Things got rowdy and I don't mean Roddy or Ronda. The crowd loved both performers even though their match was bad. The main event featured Sami Callihan in the worst match I've ever seen him in. I don't blame Sami but he's another guy that I have higher expectations for. I know I've been burying this show but bear with me. The best match I saw on the show featured featured a 51 year old Japanese man dressed in a fish costume, trained by Bruce Lee, calls himself Dragon but in Spanish versus someone calling themselves Butter. Along with Sonny Onoo who apparently is the king of the selfie. This reminded me of why what I saw this morning was great and this show was far from it.


Ultimo Dragon was at the show to sign autographs and face another masked caped wrestler named Mantequilla, which in Spanish means Butter. The match was probably the best match Butter will have if he actually studies what happened. The match was not a high flying spot fest, since Dragon is 51 years old. He was in great shape for someone his age whose been wrestling after all these years in the business. His offense was ground the high flyer and force him to either counter out of the holds or overpower the opponent. Here's where going to the gym and looking the part comes in.

Dragon gave up height to Butter but his opponent looked like he either scheduled off or called out his job as the pizza delivery boy just so he could have a match with a legendary wrestler. That's not the worst part see Dragon approached the match like a pro wrestling match. It started off with a few wrestling holds, ground his opponent by working on his legs and lower back. A few strikes a come by the opponent back, a counter back to the mat and reset. The problem was Butter didn't look like he knew how to counter out of any of the holds he was in. It looked like he was waiting for Dragon to let him up for another move and then waiting for his turn to do some flippy flying shit. Dragon ended it with the Dragon Sleeper but it was fully locked in. It looked like if Butter tried he might have gotten out of it or maybe countered into a potential pinfall. In the end he tapped, Dragon raised his hand, Sonny Onoo took some selfies with him and people looked at their phones to see what time is it. It certainly was not Vader time, it was time for someone have this guy watch some Ultimo Dragon from WCW on the WWE Network. Or maybe go back and watch NJPWs G1 Climax from 1996. The point is do more homework so you can improve your work especially against those who have do this longer then he's probably been alive.


                                     There is a playlist for this event on my YouTube channel.

The show finished by 10PM so as I was on my way home the UFC was having its card in Chicago, Illinois. Punks fight was the opener of the card, I think you know that he lost the fight. What got peoples attention before the fight was the end of his lawsuit. What got peoples attention after the fight was Corey Graves taking exception to Punk turning his back anyone related to WWE. That might extend to people related to pro wrestling since apparently he and Colt Cabana aren't on the best terms anymore. What got my attention was if all of this is true why is he still willing to profit off fans of his past work in pro wrestling?

At the upcoming All In show in September in Chicago the day before Punk will take part in autograph signings at the Pro Wrestling Tees store. The PWT store will be selling plenty of his merchandise which I'm sure will make everyone involved lots of money. That brings me to my issue with this situation. Why should anyone support this guy when he wants nothing to do with the business? Except to make a profit off of it.



Punk left WWE because apparently he was living life like a horror movie. They still send him checks for the merchandise they still sell. Now he gets checks from PWT for them selling his merchandise. Even though he doesn't wrestle anymore he's still getting something from the business. Now he's been saying that he's done with the wrestling business and wants nothing to do with it. Add to that he says no one has asked him to wrestle for another promotion besides WWE. Throw in the issue with Corey Graves now I'm looking at this and thinking, this is why you judge people by their actions, never just their words.


There was a rumor that Vince was never sold on Punk being the top guy in the company. It didn't sit well with people since Punk seemed to have many of the qualities that fit a top guy. He lacked a great physique but he had personality, speaking skills and could perform well in the ring. Vince wasn't buying any of it which didn't make sense to those of us outside his circle and apparently those with the circle didn't understand it either. I think now I get it. It came down to actions. Vince could hear everything people said but he couldn't believe Punk because the actions don't fit what he was actually doing. Looking back now I think people should look back at how Vince approached his dealings with Punk and see that he wasn't far off about the guy.


I know some people might want to be apologists for Punk but the should reconsider that. Maybe while the lawsuit against him was going on against him he may have stayed away from people in WWE to not damage his case but that doesn't seem like the character Punk present himself to be. I think now we're seeing the contradictions of character that he come out. After this lose in the UFC people can analyse Punk in a more clearer light. It seems profit is more important that what he's led everyone to believe it was to him.

It's one thing to leave wrestling but to turn your back on the people who respected and admired you in that business is cold. Then to say I'm not in the business anymore one day but later say no ones ever asked me to come back is two faced. Like there's a company in the business that would be against having CM Punk work for them. This is after you say I'm done with the business so don't ask me to come back. After all of that come back with t-shirts and stuffed puppets to sell on a website that sells pro wrestling merchandise. So you don't want anything to do with the business but you'll let someone sell merchandise for you that's wrestling related, got it.

I'm looking at this UFC run and thinking to myself Dave Batista got his MMA fight done for practically no money. It wasn't about the money for him it was just about the experience. Punk could have gone the same route meaning an amateur fight for little to no money, away form the cameras. Instead he let the money Dana White offered put him in the position he's in now. If it really was just about the experience the money could have been in the billions he should have said no.

You might think it's something that can be glossed over in pro wrestling but one of the old ideas that was built into the business was that pro wrestlers could beat up just about anyone. Now we have a wrestler who got beaten so badly he looked like someone who walked from the street right into the cage. That seems unfair but you have to remember that for a long time pro wrestling was consider a tough guy sport. The people that got into the business were able to wrestle, grapple, look tough, and overall fight. In this day some people may look at pro wrestlers as being just entertainers but for those with legitimate amateur wrestling, grappling, or fighting backgrounds this doesn't shine a positive light on their chosen profession. New Japan actually experienced something similar thing in the early 2000s. There were pro wrestlers stepping into the MMA field that got beat down by MMA fighters. For those who remember Don Frye versus Yoshihiro Takayama you remember the aftermath of that fight was Pride FC grew bigger New Japan went into a slump.


I know people will say, Punks not in WWE anymore so it's no big deal. I know people will say he's almost 40 years old, it's no big deal. I remember Cro Cop versus Dos Caras Jr. not stopping Albert Del Rio from making it big in WWE. I know Nakamura versus one of the Gracies was not a good night for him. The difference is none of those events came with someone turning their back on the business that made them worth watching in those fights in the first place. That's just bullshit. I've got two t-shirts hanging in my closet for a guy who wants nothing to do with the business that made me want to buy those shirts in the first place. I'm not a fan of his anymore. I see why Vince didn't buy into him. The words are great for pipebomb promos but the actions behind all of that don't live up to the hype. Now you understand why we never did get those ice cream bars.

The coverage of E3 is why this one was late. And it's long, longer then I thought it would be. I've got to go over E3 next. The World Cup starts this weekend. I have to explain why this North Korea thing is a lie. And do you watch Ancient Aliens, you should, if only for Giorgios hair. I feel the need to do this since AlienCon is this weekend. Yes there is such a thing as Alien Convention, it's in California because of course it is. It's time to expose some of those secrets "they" don't want you to know. I still don't know who "they" is supposed to be but it's time to expose some things. You'll be surprised. You may even buy a plane ticket. Enjoy.

+WWE
www.jimcornette.com
www.whatculture.com
www.aliencon.com

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