The NEW Wrestling Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread... Thread.

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Gavok: Oct 10, 2005; Brock! Oh, man, I'm sorry about your...

...tooth?

Gaz-L posted:

Oh boy.

OK, Naito was being groomed as early as 2013 as the successor to Tanahashi, the clean cut smiling babyface who had a big spectacular high flying finisher and would take the torch and be the rival to the young hotshot heel Kazuchika Okada. The problem is it wasn't working. He wasn't over, and when he won the G1 and came out to make the final challenge for the Wrestle Kingdom main event, even the crickets were silent. This forced NJPW to rethink the whole card and come up with a hail mary, which was to call a fan poll on whether the world title match (Okada/Naito) or the IC title (Nakamura/Tanahashi) would go on last. The fans voted for Shinsuke and Tana. So Naito is the only guy, since the briefcase tradition started, to win the G1 but NOT get his title match as the official main event at the Dome. He then spent a year or two dicking around the upper mid-card but basically being bland and pretty much not over despite the booking's best efforts. So he went back on a mini-excursion to CMLL (the same kind that resulted in Nakamura becoming the King Of Strong Style that got him over) where he met up with La Sombra and friends, Los Ingobernables. He basically went full rudo, telling racist fans to gently caress off and parodying their own racism back at them. And when he got back to Japan, he kept doing that and found some like minded buddies in EVIL and Bushi to hang out with, deciding that if the company and fans didn't want him when he worked his rear end off for them, then he was going to tell them to piss off and do the bare minimum and STILL be better. Eventually this led to him winning the world title, but only after outside interference and at Dominion, in Osaka, where he has the most heat of all. He also wins the IC title during this time and absolutely shits on it, smashing it against the ringposts, dragging it on the floor, straight up refusing to take it back to the locker room, basically just taking out the frustration he feels at being passed over for this white leather strap that was basically only invented to give MVP a vanity belt.

Fast forward to 2 years ago. Naito and LIJ have gradually turned babyface, being more anti-establishment anti-heroes, and Naito wins the G1 again. THIS time, he gets his main event with Okada, but he gets just too caught up in the moment and it costs him, he loses and it feels like this was his last chance to exorcise the demons from WK8. So he drifts back to the IC title, his relationship with it becoming more complicated as he reconciles his anger at it with the fact that winning it does in fact put him on some what of a pedestal. He more or less forgives it at WK13 when he refuses to use it on Jericho, showing the belt respect for once.

That led to him deciding if he can't best Okada in any other way, length of reign, being the youngest champion, most reigns or defences... He'll do it the only way open. By embracing the intercontinental title and being the first ever guy to hold it AND the world title at the same time. And then Ibushi and White decided to butt in and say they wanted to do that too. White even won the IC title in the autumn, pulling the goal one step further from Naito's grasp. But then ANOTHER fan poll got held to see if the fans wanted Naito's idea of the Double Gold Dash to happen. And they did. The fans chose Naito after 7 years.

That's awesome. Thank you.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 02:13

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# ? May 23, 2024 23:58

Cavauro: Jan 9, 2008

Gaz-L posted:

And they did. The fans chose Naito after 7 years.

wow i cried to this. powerful posting

# ? Jan 6, 2020 02:19

Benne: Sep 2, 2011; STOP DOING HEROIN

Val Venis was fine as a midcard guy, but even in 1998 there was only so far the porn star gimmick could go. There's a reason his run peaked early with the Kaientai feud.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 02:25

Jerusalem: May 20, 2004; Would you be my new best friends?

Gaz-L posted:

So he went back on a mini-excursion to CMLL (the same kind that resulted in Nakamura becoming the King Of Strong Style that got him over) where he met up with La Sombra and friends, Los Ingobernables.

Mentioning this can't ever go without pointing out that the EXACT moment Naito went from Stardust Genius to Tranquilo was captured perfectly:

https://twitter.com/ChrisCrash00/status/901142898648825856

Gaz-L posted:

And they did. The fans chose Naito after 7 years.

It was so loving beautiful :allears:

# ? Jan 6, 2020 02:26

Max Coveri: Dec 23, 2015; by Athanatos

Gaz-L posted:

The fans chose Naito after 7 years.

Incroyable.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 02:47

NuclearPotato: Oct 27, 2011

Gaz-L posted:

He more or less forgives it at WK13 when he refuses to use it on Jericho, showing the belt respect for once.

My dude, the post was a great recap overall, but the match literally ended with Naito taking the IC belt he loathed so much in hand, and smashing Jericho in the face with it.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 02:47

Artelier: Jan 23, 2015

NuclearPotato posted:

My dude, the post was a great recap overall, but the match literally ended with Naito taking the IC belt he loathed so much in hand, and smashing Jericho in the face with it.

But also! Iirc he thanked the belt for helping him out in the post match promo.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 02:56

Gaz-L: Jan 28, 2009

NuclearPotato posted:

My dude, the post was a great recap overall, but the match literally ended with Naito taking the IC belt he loathed so much in hand, and smashing Jericho in the face with it.

I forgot the exact finish and I knew the end of the match was kind of a turning point in that part of the story, so I assumed he did the Roddy Piper at WM8 bit.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 02:59

Silly Burrito: Nov 27, 2007; SET A COURSE FOR
THE FLAVOR QUADRANT

Gavok posted:

This will always be my favorite one. It's just so well done and is one of those special wrestling moments where poo poo is hosed due to real life and they pull out a gem with their backs to the wall.

For those who haven't seen it, the storyline was that Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior had a face vs. face title match at SummerSlam, which was ruined by Ric Flair and his "executive consultant" Mr. Perfect (who hadn't wrestled since the previous SummerSlam). Flair beat Savage for the title shortly after... which he then lost to Bret Hart, taking the belt out of the story. Savage and Warrior became a tag team based on being over-the-top lunatics in silly sunglasses and were set to face Flair and Razor Ramon (who was new to the company and was getting a brief main event heel push) at Survivor Series.

A couple weeks before the PPV, Warrior quit WWF. Or was fired for using human growth hormone. Whatever. He was off the show. The only silver lining was that his last segment was using his body to shield Savage from a beatdown, which at least wrote him off in kayfabe.

They had all the Superstars and Wrestling Challenge episodes taped. All they had to work with to pivot the story was Prime Time Wrestling, which at the time was just about Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, Mr. Perfect, Jim Duggan and Hillbilly Jim discussing storylines and showing clips from house shows. They dedicated one episode to basically rebuilding their big Survivor Series match by having Savage appear via satellite to say that he wanted Mr. Perfect to be his partner. Heenan, Flair, Razor and even Perfect laughed their asses off at this idea. Perfect and Flair were buds! Perfect was in Flair's corner! Why the hell would Perfect be his opponent?

But as the two hours continued, cracks started to show. Flair's confidence started to get a little out of hand and he went from saying Perfect wouldn't take him on to saying Perfect couldn't take him on. Savage made it apparent that he respected Perfect and wondered why he was stuck on the sidelines. Perfect started to question it himself, all while Flair and Heenan insisted on talking for him. Was it in his best interest to be the "executive consultant" or was it just a way for Flair to keep one of his greatest potential threats under his thumb?

Then when it came time for Perfect to give his answer, Heenan tried to control him and bit off more than he could chew. It finally pushed Perfect into siding with Savage, which made Heenan slap him out of anger and immediately grovel upon realizing what he did. Perfect humiliated Heenan to end the show and that one episode of Prime Time sold a Warriorless PPV.

Then we got Perfect vs. Flair, in what was probably the first truly great match in Raw history.

This and the video were great, but why was Perfect out for a year? Legit injury?

# ? Jan 6, 2020 03:15

Glass Punkbull 141: Jan 9, 2008; This is the face of a winner. This is what winning looks like.

Artelier posted:

But also! Iirc he thanked the belt for helping him out in the post match promo.

He also did the eye open taunt to it before he used it.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 03:18

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Silly Burrito posted:

This and the video were great, but why was Perfect out for a year? Legit injury?

Recurring back problems I believe

# ? Jan 6, 2020 03:20

Gaz-L: Jan 28, 2009

I will point out that Naito was SO bland after the WK8 fiasco that I genuinely always forget that he was the guy AJ Styles wrestled at WK9, despite that being the first full NJPW show I saw. Like I know AJ wrestled SOMEone on that card but I will always go "who was it?" and then look it up and be surprised.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 04:25

Gavok: Oct 10, 2005; Brock! Oh, man, I'm sorry about your...

...tooth?

Silly Burrito posted:

This and the video were great, but why was Perfect out for a year? Legit injury?

oldpainless posted:

Recurring back problems I believe

Yeah, his back was majorly hosed. His last hurrah was dropping the Intercontinental Championship to Bret Hart at SummerSlam '91, which is the best way to do it.

After his face turn, he feuded with Flair until winning a Loser Leaves match. Once that was over with, WWF used him to put over Lex Luger and later Shawn Michaels (great feud that introduced Diesel). He left once again in the lead-up to Survivor Series '93, fittingly enough. They hinted at his return a few times, but his back issues were too severe and he was stuck in non-wrestling roles like commentator and Triple H's manager.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 05:00

MassRafTer: May 26, 2001; BAEST MODE!!!

Hennig had one of the Lloyd's of London insurance policies and retired to take advantage of it. Bret Hart had one too and got sued for doing the comeback matches with WWE. Not sure how that one turned out.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 05:16

ChrisBTY: Mar 29, 2012; this glorious monument

Turns out professional wrestling is the worst drug of all.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 08:28

NikkolasKing: Apr 3, 2010

Which wrestlers had the best mullets in wrestling history? The longer they had it the higher their ranking should be, I think.

I'm biased but I really wanna say it was early 90s HBK. Just looking at some old clips and he rocked that thing like nobody's business.

Speaking of early 90s HBK, do any female managers even come close to Sherri? I can't remember a one that was anything but a pretty face. Sherri was a true manager and excellent at her job.

NikkolasKing fucked around with this message at 09:18 on Jan 6, 2020

# ? Jan 6, 2020 09:16

Maxwell Lord: Dec 12, 2008; I am drowning.
There is no sign of land.
You are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand.

And I hope you die.

I hope we both die.; Grimey Drawer

Eddie's mullet was pretty powerful.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 09:22

Hedgehog Pie: May 19, 2012; Total fuckin' silence.

I feel like Ricky Morton's mullet is either the best ever or the worst ever.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 09:25

Randaconda: Jul 3, 2014; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Mike Awesome had a pretty incredible mullet

# ? Jan 6, 2020 12:24

Cavauro: Jan 9, 2008

Shingo

# ? Jan 6, 2020 12:37

a cyborg mug: Mar 8, 2010

Tenzan's skunk mullet is the worst thing

# ? Jan 6, 2020 12:39

STING 64: Oct 20, 2006

riki choshu.

STING 64 fucked around with this message at 12:46 on Jan 6, 2020

# ? Jan 6, 2020 12:43

harperdc: Jul 24, 2007

Gaz-L posted:

I will point out that Naito was SO bland after the WK8 fiasco that I genuinely always forget that he was the guy AJ Styles wrestled at WK9, despite that being the first full NJPW show I saw. Like I know AJ wrestled SOMEone on that card but I will always go "who was it?" and then look it up and be surprised.

I'll always remember that Naito had lost his momentum as the white-meat Stardust Genius face partially because he injured his knee, it was when he came back that the shtick just fell completely flat. And in one of the few bad booking calls Gedo's had, they just kept rocket-pushing him despite the crowd wanting Tanahashi, Nakamura, or Okada over him at the top.

And at WK12 two years ago, after Naito won the G1 and was white hot, they did extra special entrance videos for Okada and Naito for the Main Event. Here's Naito's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XCA3bZWz0c

A lesser booker would have pulled the trigger on Naito that night with that entrance video. Going over the whole arc, the whole development. The crowd wanted it. But no, the money is in the chase.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 13:30

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

NikkolasKing posted:

Which wrestlers had the best mullets in wrestling history? The longer they had it the higher their ranking should be, I think.

Not a wrestler, but who's showed the same long-term commitment to their mullet as Jimmy Hart? All time greatest, I say.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 15:01

Davros1: Jul 19, 2007; You've got to admit, you are kind of implausible

Halloween Jack posted:

Not a wrestler, but who's showed the same long-term commitment to their mullet as Jimmy Hart? All time greatest, I say.

Ricky Morton.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 15:22

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

Yeah, but in that case, Hart's is the superior mullet. Robert Gibson still has a mullet too, it's just so bad it doesn't even scan as a mullet anymore.

Now, if we wanna talk one-offs...

# ? Jan 6, 2020 16:04

LividLiquid: Apr 13, 2002

Gavok posted:

That's awesome. Thank you.

It really was. Thanks for the write-up.

# ? Jan 6, 2020 23:46

Randaconda: Jul 3, 2014; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5EkRCVftTI

# ? Jan 7, 2020 00:18

frankenfreak: Feb 16, 2007; I SCORED 85% ON A QUIZ ABOUT MONDAY NIGHT RAW AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY TEXT

#bastionboogerbrigade

Say what you want about Brian Pillman Jr, but his mullet is powerful.

# ? Jan 7, 2020 02:24

saffi faildotter: Mar 2, 2007

Julio Cruz posted:

What would people say is the most famous/iconic face turn in wrestling history?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmO-U7atifQ&t=132s

# ? Jan 7, 2020 02:46

Kosmo Gallion: Sep 13, 2013

Kona Crush had a decent mullet

# ? Jan 7, 2020 13:54

Cage Kicker: Feb 20, 2009; End of the fiscal year, bitch.
MP's got time to order pens for year year, hooah?

SKILCRAFT KREW Reppin' Quality Blind Made; Lipstick Apathy

Sexy Chucky T had the best mullet ever

# ? Jan 7, 2020 15:24

Nehru the Damaja: May 20, 2005

Male. Bi. Unix. posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmO-U7atifQ&t=132s

God wrestling crowds were so amped back then.

# ? Jan 8, 2020 12:37

NikkolasKing: Apr 3, 2010

Which Hart brother is it that is supposedly the extremely unpleasant, bitter and jealous one?

Is any of that true or has the Internet just played it up over my years online?

# ? Jan 8, 2020 19:51

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All of them but Owen

# ? Jan 8, 2020 19:52

El Gallinero Gros: Mar 17, 2010

NikkolasKing posted:

Which Hart brother is it that is supposedly the extremely unpleasant, bitter and jealous one?

Is any of that true or has the Internet just played it up over my years online?

Bruce is a notorious rear end in a top hat, and he married one of his HS students.

He was also the original choice for the Bret vs Owen angle before Bret made a case for Owen being better in every way. Bret was right, Bruce was pretty mediocre. He peaked as a tag partner of a young rookie named Brian Pillman.

# ? Jan 8, 2020 19:56

DLC Inc: Jun 1, 2011

at what point did Taichi start using his bizarre outfit/pageant theme music? I only just got into his career stuff and it's baffling how somebody who looks like such a violent Suzuki-gun sourpuss comes out in Castlevania regalia and has this elaborate singing entrance.

# ? Jan 8, 2020 20:07

forkboy84: Jun 13, 2012; Corgis love bread. And Puro

DLC Inc posted:

at what point did Taichi start using his bizarre outfit/pageant theme music? I only just got into his career stuff and it's baffling how somebody who looks like such a violent Suzuki-gun sourpuss comes out in Castlevania regalia and has this elaborate singing entrance.

While I write this post I'm listening to this older Taichi/TAKA theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSnB6gvUnjc Never miss a chance to post this. From the video you can say Taichi was Taichi in at least 2016)

But yeah, it was sometime between coming back from CMLL at the end of 2010 & Wrestle Kingdom 6 (2012), which is the earliest match on NJPW World with Taichi looking like Taichi that I can find. Suspect it'd coincide with the overthrow of Kojima & return of Suzuki to New Japan in May 2011.

# ? Jan 8, 2020 21:15

Low Desert Punk: Jul 4, 2012; i have absolutely no fucking money

Have there been any good 2 vs 2 elimination tags?

# ? Jan 8, 2020 22:00

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# ? May 23, 2024 23:58

Neurotic Roleplay: May 20, 2005

might be a weird request but where's the video of hogan being looked at by a doctor and sting comes out of nowhere and hits him in the leg with his bat? I had it saved to my favorites on youtube but it's gone

thank you

# ? Jan 8, 2020 22:40

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