Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted April 3, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2016 (edited) So far it looks like he doesn't need the development, so judging by the 2016 debuts, it's better to bring him in like outside megastar AJ Styles than Sami "some cunt from developmental" Zayn. Nobody thinks of The Shield as them cunts from development. That's because they weren't. I don't think Ambrose ever appeared on the NXT show, if Reigns did it was only a handful of times and Rollins had a completely different gimmick there. The Shield were a main roster creation and pushed right off the bat. Edited April 3, 2016 by Arch Stanton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Also, Pitcos is right about the iron never being hotter. Wrestling these days pretty much hinges on word of mouth. There were a few thousand fans at Takeover, each one chanting Nakamuras name; bet your arse they don't all watch NJPW. It tends to spread from a small core of hardcore purists, to a wider group of Internet snarks and then eventually to a broader audience. It never goes completely mainstream, but word of mouth at least helps colour the opinions of the sort of people who buy live show tickets. And, after Friday, the word of mouth is pretty much unanimously 'what a star', 'match of the year already', 'best wrestler in the world' etc etc I don't know his act will ever get hotter in the WWE.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 But with Nakamura, I don't know what there is for him to work on -- maybe his English could be loads better in a year or two than it is now, but will he ever be a promo guy in the US? And they're desperate for charismatic, high-level performers at the minute. The iron might never be hotter. I'm not sure if anyone else got the same vibe from him, but he comes across as if he'd be perfectly suited to the role of a slightly unhinged Japanese Yakuza type mob boss, with his weird movements and facial expressions. A bit of a mentalist. Imagine him as the head of a proper faction on Raw or Smackdown? Maybe another two or three solid Japanese workers alongside him, black suits, red ties, serious beatdowns and shit? A bit like the Shield but without the body armour or Ambrose's ridiculous hair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reznor Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 I had some time to kill yesterday and ended up watching it against my better judgement. I never got a whole lot out of it, but I did enjoy the tag opener which was a lot of fun. It was a bit too modern for me to love it, but they got me into it despite having never heard of either team. It at least stuck to the traditional principles of American wrestling and for that it was a breath of fresh air. I particularly loved that creative hot tag cut off spot, which may be my favourite spot of the year so far. Also of note, Nakamura's entrance theme is pretty stunning, and Justin Credible being shunned was also amusing to the childish part of me. Oh, and Vinces old 80s jacket (minus badge) making a reappearance was kinda neat I guess. Kinda struggling for much more. Probably fair to say it's not a fed/brand i'm likely to become a fan of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 You'd think at 36 and having presumably worked a style that would make Daniel Bryan wince that WWE won't be looking to hold back Nakamura for too long. You could probably say the same for KENTA though and they've been right not to bring him up. Can totally see that Yakuza style stable as well with Nakamura as the Ichi the Killer style leader with the other three Japanese wrestlers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paltaper Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 You'd think at 36 and having presumably worked a style that would make Daniel Bryan wince that WWE won't be looking to hold back Nakamura for too long. You could probably say the same for KENTA though and they've been right not to bring him up. Can totally see that Yakuza style stable as well with Nakamura as the Ichi the Killer style leader with the other three Japanese wrestlers. Nakamura is near fucked. Wasn't he badly injured last summer? He'll have a few biggish matches, get an injury and then Hideo Itami the rest of his contract out. Will be fucking hilarious when Bryan ends up swapping to NJPW and WWE retain Nakamura while knowing his head is just as fucked up. As for the rest of the show, I never watch NXT but gave it a spin. Tag titles match - Green boys day out. From Gable and the other fella almost walking into each other on the stage it was amateur hour. It had a couple of minutes wrestling followed by nothing but 2.9 counts. Cobblers. Aries/Corbin - Alright. Except for no crowd reactions as it wasn't chock full of spots. Asuka/Bailey - This wasn't bad at all, better than I thought it'd be. Aside from being dressed a bit similar for some reason, they did the pro wres pretty well. Nakamura/Zayn - Alright. A bit too takey turns, being 'epic' for me. But a good debut. Joe/Finn - Finn looks like such a tool, terrible ring entrance and tired face paint deal. He also looks like a stick and is hard to buy vs. Joe. Joe, on the other hand looked great and should be 100% on the proper roster. The crowd - Should be declared nuclear whipping boy and be used for calibrating missiles. Wishing, chanting and hoping matches better than they were, and oh so desperate to get themselves over. You'd start to get into a match then be taken out by a 'this is awesome' chant not related to what's going on in the ring. I don't think you can remotely measure Nakamura's potential on a normal show based on this crowd. I could see a lot of people watching him shucking and jiving and just thinking 'WTF?'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paltaper Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Forgot to add, forget Ospreay/Sabre - Chris Hero & Tommy End vs. Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams was the best match I've seen so far this weekend (from my TV anyway) an excellent tag match with no comedy, no playing and pandering to the crowd. Proper wrestling done well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Really harsh on that tag opener there. I like the idea of Balor's entrance but it certainly needs tweaking. Lose the weird dreadlock hat for a start. Hopefully he'll be riding big LG to the ring soon in flashy trunks anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love-Wilcox Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Say what you want about Balors entrance but at least he stands out and the live audience completely eat it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paltaper Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Really harsh on that tag opener there. Dude, it was almost all near falls and nowt else, no meat on da bone! They also looked like create a wrestlers before you do anything to them, apart from Gable who could be Zandig Jr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted April 3, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2016 Whereas Chris Hero looks like a star. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CavemanLynn Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Sorry to the regulars for feeding this, but noone gets to deride anyone's look, bemoan the number and quality of nearfalls, or accuse anyone of trying to be too modern, and then cite Hero as a paragon of wrestling excellence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Sometimes folk take shit far too seriously. Just enjoy the show. That event the other night was one of the best I'd seen in ages, and I've been pretty jaded by wrestling for a while. It was good fun, and that includes the crowd, be they smarks, marks or whatever the fuck we're calling them these days. It was a bunch of folk who looked as though they had a good time, and that's all that counts surely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzer Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Watched the show yesterday and cannot see how Mania tops that. Thoroughly enjoyed that and felt that every matched had me hooked. Am already planning on going to the Echo Arena for the tour and this show was a big selling point for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 I don't think you can draw comparisons between this show and Mania. Different ball parks, Mania is as much about the spectacle as anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts