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Lily Catts posted:What are Masato Tanaka's best matches? I wasn't around for his ECW run, heard the series with Mike Awesome was great. I mostly got into him in his later years, being amazed at his capacity to absorb punishment lol. I imagine he was even better in his prime. If you've never seen it there's a great tag match from a 2015 Hikaru Shida Produce show: Shida & Tanaka Vs Kenny Omega & Kana (aka WWE asuka). There's a bit of comedy around everyone doing hip attacks, but it works as complete package. there's some great stuff with him & Yuji Nagata in the late 2000s, and a match with 2013 Ishikawa that's essential viewing. There's also 2 matches in 2008 with Daisuke Sekimoto, one in 01 & the other BJW, which are killer. His highest rated match on Cagematch is Daisuke Sekimoto, Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura vs HARASHIMA, Yuji Hino & Yuji Okabayashi which somehow I've never seen but it's from a BJW TV so I don't know why I didn't see it
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Mar 18, 2024 10:44
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He had an amazing match against Tetsuya Endo at DDT Wrestle Peter Pan in 2020,but it often gets overlooked because there was no crowd.
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Mar 18, 2024 11:02
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Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka is the perfect wrestling match. All of them.
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Mar 18, 2024 17:35
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Lamuella posted:He had an amazing match against Tetsuya Endo at DDT Wrestle Peter Pan in 2020,but it often gets overlooked because there was no crowd. Nobody talks about the tremendous cinematic match with Takeshita & Yoshihiko from that show either. Exquisite in it is both a great parody of the Boneyard or whatever it was called and just terrific as a DDT match on its own merits.
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Mar 18, 2024 18:28
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Mike Awesome hitting Tanaka with a chair shot from the top rope is up there with Snitsky putting the baby into the audience, for all time great wrestling visuals.
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Mar 18, 2024 19:55
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It wasn't his fault.
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Mar 18, 2024 20:22
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One of the things that pissed me off at the time and still dies is how Mike Awesome is killing himself at One Night Stand 2005 against Tanaka and Joey Styles on the mic spends the entire match making GBS threads on him. Mike Awesome deserved better.
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Mar 18, 2024 22:35
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Awesome was so great. I know it was WCW 2000, but man, they completely wasted a 6'5" 250lb killer who was strong, could move fast and fly, and knew how to work. Would Awesome have fared better in WWF? If he arrived at the same time as Jericho and The Radicalz?
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Mar 18, 2024 23:42
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Kosmo Gallion posted:Awesome was so great. I know it was WCW 2000, but man, they completely wasted a 6'5" 250lb killer who was strong, could move fast and fly, and knew how to work. he arrived one year later and was there for about a year
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Mar 18, 2024 23:49
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Kosmo Gallion posted:Awesome was so great. I know it was WCW 2000, but man, they completely wasted a 6'5" 250lb killer who was strong, could move fast and fly, and knew how to work. Awesome had his match in that there's big bombs and big bumps and if he has someone who could take them like Tanaka or Spike Dudley, there's a spectacle. But there wasn't much once you got past the surface and the top guys in the major promotions weren't going to take the kind of bumps that an Awesome match would require. Awesome looked big in ECW but he's about the size of Billy Gunn, in terms of sneakily big guys, so you'd have someone doing power moves who isn't the biggest or most impressively looking guy. Awesome was a Sid-level talent who could move a bit better, but he was a one-trick pony who's one trick wasn't going to work outside of FMW and ECW.
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Mar 19, 2024 00:07
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I want to say it was on a Stevie Ray interview that he said Mike Awesome's career was over when he powerbombed Booker T and almost hit Booker's head on the turnbuckle or ring ropes or something. I also remember getting the sense that the audience and the other wrestlers strongly disagreed on whether he was a good person to have in a match
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Mar 19, 2024 00:15
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C. Everett Koop posted:Awesome was a Sid-level talent who could move a bit better, This is objectively wrong. Not subjectively but like have you seen Awesone work in non-extreme Feds? I compare Awesone to a proto-Konosuke Takeshita often because Takeshita is better in every way but they have the same talents and style. Awesome was even a high flier, limited but man could jump. In ring Sid as a comparison point is just the gently caress.
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Mar 19, 2024 00:19
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Lid posted:This is objectively wrong. Not subjectively but like have you seen Awesone work in non-extreme Feds? I compare Awesone to a proto-Konosuke Takeshita often because Takeshita is better in every way but they have the same talents and style. Awesome was even a high flier, limited but man could jump. In ring Sid as a comparison point is just the gently caress. Show me an Awesome match that's worth a poo poo and doesn't involve furniture then.
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Mar 19, 2024 01:36
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C. Everett Koop posted:Show me an Awesome match that's worth a poo poo and doesn't involve furniture then.
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Mar 19, 2024 02:13
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Plus wasn't Mike related to Hogan? He's up there with Alex Wright on dudes I'm baffled WCW managed to screw up.
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Mar 19, 2024 02:32
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C. Everett Koop posted:Show me an Awesome match that's worth a poo poo and doesn't involve furniture then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuVdBiPZ7QU click anywhere you want
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Mar 19, 2024 03:20
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Sega 32X posted:Plus wasn't Mike related to Hogan? He's up there with Alex Wright on dudes I'm baffled WCW managed to screw up. he was his nephew
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Mar 19, 2024 03:35
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STING 64 posted:he was his nephew He's Horace's cousin. Still enough to get him in the Bloodline.
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Mar 19, 2024 03:43
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Alex Wright felt like a young talent who peaked really early at 'mediocre'.
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Mar 19, 2024 03:44
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davidbix posted:The first match he had with Kenta Kobashi in 1999: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4psx0x That was pretty good. Kobashi's style meshes well with Awesome's though; Kobashi's willing to throw bombs and take ludicrous bumps. The Sid comparison may have been unfair but so is a Takeshita one; Awesome's not nearly as versatile. I'm also not watching a 3 hour video of Mike Awesome matches, no offense. I also maintain he wouldn't have fit in well in early 2000's WWF. No main eventer is taking his moves: he'd kill Austin and Angle, he's the same size as the Rock, HHH isn't taking those bumps, he wouldn't be able to throw around Undertaker/Rikishi/Kane/Show. Jericho/Benoit maybe but Awesome wouldn't be able to keep up with them. At best he's midcard with the Hardys and Christian being willing to take some of his moves, but he'd be SOL against someone like Test or Albert. We also need to be aware that a lot of the high flying stuff would be cut out. The dive to the outside for sure, maybe the splash off the top. Springboards would also be a no-go. At best he keeps the slingshot shoulderblock and that's it. Even assuming you don't get the Invasion and a super-bloated roster and the WWF side all trying to keep their spots, he probably fizzles out as a lower card Heat-level talent working five minute matches before deciding that Japan was a better use of his talents.
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Mar 19, 2024 04:17
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i wish roh woulda featured him early as just a destroyer but he would have probably been well out of budget
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Mar 19, 2024 04:20
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STING 64 posted:i wish roh woulda featured him early as just a destroyer but he would have probably been well out of budget You can't compete with MLW.
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Mar 19, 2024 05:01
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STING 64 posted:he arrived one year later and was there for about a year IIRC, he first appeared early in the Invasion angle, powerbombing Rhyno onto a ladder to win the Hardcore title on Raw. He definitely got lost in the shuffle, but he wasn't alone in that and I guess not being a WWF guy really counted against him in the end. Also didn't he leave ECW because the cheques kept bouncing? Haha yeah, Joey. gently caress that Mike Awesome, leaving ECW because *checks notes* he has the temerity to want to be paid for his work and the ridiculous poo poo he was expected to put his body though in your pissant parish-pump promotion. Suck the poo poo directly from my rear end with a straw, you loving chud, you loving boy. ECW crowd can eat poo poo with their "you sold out" chants. gently caress off, you entitled pieces of poo poo.
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Mar 19, 2024 05:56
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edogawa rando posted:IIRC, he first appeared early in the Invasion angle, powerbombing Rhyno onto a ladder to win the Hardcore title on Raw. ecw kool aid is something else you had to be there at the time.
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Mar 19, 2024 06:05
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STING 64 posted:ecw kool aid is something else you had to be there at the time. The crowds ECW can really elevate matches, no argument there, but my god, they also can make it a hard watch at times.
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Mar 19, 2024 06:08
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i still miss it from time to time
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Mar 19, 2024 06:21
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"Suicide dive by Mike Awesome! And it's a shame he didn't succeed in taking his own life!!" I'm not the biggest Mike Awesome fan by any means, but I still find it baffling how WCW made a big song and dance about signing him (which caused the ECW title to show up on WWF television) before putting him straight into a feud with Kevin Nash... one of the few guys on the roster who was noticeably bigger than him and one who was extremely unlikely to take any of his cool power/speed moves. And then within months he was the Fat Chick Thrilla and That 70s Guy.
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Mar 19, 2024 08:13
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C. Everett Koop posted:Show me an Awesome match that's worth a poo poo and doesn't involve furniture then. Why? It's not as if using furniture precludes you from being a good wrestler.
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Mar 19, 2024 09:36
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More like mike mid
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Mar 19, 2024 09:48
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the sex ghost posted:More like mike mid No that's Mike Sanders
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Mar 19, 2024 10:19
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Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 had him as "The Radiator" with AWFUL written on his trunks, as he'd left AJPW shortly before the game came out. "The Radiator" Mike Awful
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Mar 19, 2024 10:32
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edogawa rando posted:No that's Mike Sanders Michael cole -level 15-> above average mike sanders -level 32-> mike awesome
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Mar 19, 2024 11:17
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I'll be honest, I had forgotten that Mike Awesome was ever part of the Invasion. Possibly because looking at his WWF match history: Raw 7/9/2001: Part of a tag match that broke down into a no contest and turned into twenty man tag match that broke down into a no-contest Smackdown 7/12/2001: Loses the stolen hardcore belt to Jeff Hardy Raw 7/16/2001: Beats Edge after "botched" interference from Christian + a Lance Storm run-in Invasion PPV: Edge & Christian d. Lance Storm & Mike Awesome July 24-September 25: Mike Awesome goes 2-11 and Heat/Jakked, picking up his two wins against K-Kwik and Crash Holly Smackdown 10/4/2001: Spike Dudley & Big Show d. Hurricane & Mike Awesome in four minutes Smackdown 10/25/2001: Mike Awesome is in, loses, an "Alliance Battle Royal" He has a handful of b-show losses in October (and beats Scotty 2 Hotty), then disappears from November 2001 until the summer of 2002, where he loses even more matches on Velocity and is released. I no longer feel bad about forgetting this run.
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Mar 19, 2024 13:30
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I remember a blurb about how Vince was really down on Awesome for how he performed in non wrestling segments and how apparently there was a segment with Kurt Angle that bought him some time but had it not gone well he would have been gone from WWE that day Meanwhile Shawn Stasiak gets how many chances
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Mar 19, 2024 13:56
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Wasn't Stasiak one of many that was recording people in the locker rooms?
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Mar 19, 2024 14:01
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Pope Corky the IX posted:Wasn't Stasiak one of many that was recording people in the locker rooms? Yes, and I believe that was the last straw, but the idea of keeping Stasiak and dumping Awesome is kinda dumb to me They should have used Awesome the way AEW uses Cage, a capable gatekeeper who wins enough to stay credible
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Mar 19, 2024 14:11
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Oh, I know they wasted Awesome, I just remembered that was an issue with Stasiak and it's pretty relevant considering recent events.
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Mar 19, 2024 14:18
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Pope Corky the IX posted:Oh, I know they wasted Awesome, I just remembered that was an issue with Stasiak and it's pretty relevant considering recent events.
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Mar 19, 2024 14:47
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Granted, Stasiak's "second chance"* in WWF during the Invasion was becoming a comedy goof who was routinely humiliated, which might have actually fit him better than the weird over-push he got in WCW. Then later on he got a gimmick where he rhymed during his promos. * In fairness, this might have been his THIRD chance, since he apparently blew the surprise of WCW guys appearing at WMX7 during the Vince vs Shane match in a radio interview and Vince almost fired him again before he could even re-debut? I thought Awesome stealing the hardcore title in MSG was a cool moment and it was one of a handful of things that seemed to indicate that we were about to get some fun cross-promotional chaos. Obviously we didn't really get that, but I think Awesome might have been screwed on arrival anyway. In addition to no one wanting to take as much punishment as Masato Tanaka or Chris Kanyon did on a regular basis, I feel like he might have had the same problem as Public Enemy where he was maligned by the fed guys for signing with WCW instead of them. Who knows, pretty much everyone that came in was given a reason why they should be buried (DDP was too over, Palumbo and O'Haire were too green, Buff was Buff, etc).
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Mar 19, 2024 16:19
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Hedgehog Pie posted:"Suicide dive by Mike Awesome! And it's a shame he didn't succeed in taking his own life!!" The baffling thing is they weren't trying to bury him, Russo genuinely thought the dumb gimmicks would get him over.
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Mar 19, 2024 20:10
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