Simon Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Totally out of my depth here, but jeez I just had to comment on the Spiral and Ultimate Clash II NJPW Supercard they showed/are currently showing on the Wrestling channel... I really enjoyed it. Of course one of the highlights for me was Chyna (self proclaimed beautfiul woman) being humiliated and pinned after a boot to the face :) Bob Sapp.... who the hell is this guy, he could be so big in the WWE... why have I never seen him on my TV screen before? The guy has THE look. Really can't remember enough of the names to comment enough but I have to say, bar Bob Sapp stealing the Nature Boy's entrance theme I loved that, totally surprised. Just wondering if the show itself was anything special for NJPW standards or whether anyone else enjoyed it as much as I did... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inno Posted April 9, 2004 Share Posted April 9, 2004 Sapp would be huge in the WWE, but he's already massive in Japan... I doubt VInce could match the sort of money he earns in Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikidozan Posted April 10, 2004 Share Posted April 10, 2004 Okey dokey, the deal with Sapp; originally he was an NFL guy, but sustained an injury and gave that up. Next, he signed with WCW, believe it or not, and went thru the Power Plant training facility, and was set to debut on television...but WCW went under. He was jobless and living basically on the bread-line until he accepted a fight on the show 'Toughman'. A Pride Fight Championships match-maker saw him on the show, and invited him to Japan to fight for Pride, became a huge star over-night then starting working for New Japan, K-1 and All Japan. The reason he's a big star, is because of race fort he most part. There aren't any significant minorities in Japan, so hence when a 6'5", 330lbs African American goes over there, and acts like the Japanese stereo-typically expect an African American to act, he's gonna get over huge. Plus he has tons of charisma compared to alot of Puro workers. The Spiral/Crush II; Funnily enough Simon, the Crush II show drew the lowest attended New Japan Tokyo Dome show ever, some 33,000 in the 65,000 capacity Dome. However, I would say that if you liked the action and working-rate from that show, you'll love mid-1990s New Japan. It features guys like Shinya Hashimoto, Vader, WCW/NWO (Halll, Nash, Bagwell, Big Show/The Giant etc etc), Masa Chono in his prime, Jushin Lyger near his prime, and tons of other great, world-class workers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted April 10, 2004 Author Share Posted April 10, 2004 Bobb Sapp bangs the table and I mark out. Simple as that. :D Meant to say I loved when the Japanese guy was interviewing Chyna 'To is the day of your big match'... I love Japanese people. Not a fan of the classic NJPW (and its EXTREMELY annoying advert with the worst possible clips they could have chosen to advertise the show) but I think I'll probably end up watchin a bit more NJPW now as well as NOAH. Cause remember.... to is the day of your big match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter K Posted April 15, 2004 Share Posted April 15, 2004 I remember Bob Sapp in WCW Magazine, the magazine ran a spotlight on future superstars and he was in one and I still have that issue. I watched the supercard and enjoyed it - I just mark out whenever Takayama and Tenzan appears on NJPW they're just awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Young Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 It was too clipped for my liking. I'd rather they showed full Supercards instead of clipping two together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Gringo Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Still don't think Sapp should be the champ... simple as. As for the show well their have been better but its because of the constant booking of popular and better talent ie: it sucks. Chono is too old and beat down, he should if he's gonna work this schedule get his knees and neck sorted... Nagata is wandering round while some rookie gets his shot, Takayama is being to look like he can't be arsed proving himself and Sapp... he's overrated... give the belt back to Tenzan or Nagata. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 SAPP SUCKS!! the guy cant fight and gets tired after about 10 minutes!! the only reason he is at the top is because of his physique and size, nothin else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Gringo Posted May 15, 2004 Share Posted May 15, 2004 Damn straight... he brings in the bucks though and as annoying as it is he's probably gonna hold the belt till the next Tokyo show, but I hop I'm wrong about that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Gringo Posted May 30, 2004 Share Posted May 30, 2004 They ran the full Spirial show from 2002 tonight... The Wrestling Channel need to get some new Japanese wreslting I tells you, I can't be arsed going to Manchester to buy the Kobashi/Takayama match for the GHC title where Kobashi brings back the Moonsault, it'll cost £10 I want the channel to show it instead. On the note of the Spirial, Sapp sucked, he did three moves Argentine Backbreaker, Powerbomb and Dropkick. Fuijita and Nagata had a classic shoot style struggle, great variety of holds on show including the classic shoulder hold at one point from Fuijta (a arm/head triangle choke from side). Chono and Chyna was a crap ending for all concered as was Tenzan and FakeMuta... It goes to show that back in October 2002, NJPW had a crap booking team, it was worse then Smackdown, good thing Nagata saved them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 I watched this the other night as well - how old is it? and generally, how behind real time are the shows that we see on TWC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Gringo Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 The Spiral was held at the Tokyo dome in October 2002, as for the show on TWC, well NWA-TNA is about 6 or so months behind, the NJPW shows are around 4 months, god knows about the NOAH ones, MLW has gone under, CZW are pretty recent, about a month behind and the ROH are about 5 months behind as well. The Supercards are behind an amazing amount due to the fact that the ones they show are all US underground and Japanese so the revenue made from video has to peter out before they sell the rights, just like a movie appearing on Sky really. To put into context, Nagata had 6 more defenses after that one and lost the title in May 2003, then Takayama, Tenzan, Nakamura, Tenzan, Saski and Sapp have all held the title since.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.sixtythree. Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 TWC is terrible for up-to-date TNA programming. It's partly the reason I've never gotten into watching it, because it doesn't keep you clued in on anything. You want to know all the latest that's happening, but I know that in essence I'm basically just watching archive footage and it puts me off. I understand what Evil Gringo said about buying the rights to events, but surely in that sense couldn't they at least just give us up to date TNA: Xplosion shows? Since they're free to air. I mean, I was watching it at some point over the past two days and the commentators were saying "this'll make a great thanksgiving main event". That's back-dating the program nearly three quarters of a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Greenberg Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 TWC is terrible for up-to-date TNA programming. It's partly the reason I've never gotten into watching it, because it doesn't keep you clued in on anything. You want to know all the latest that's happening, but I know that in essence I'm basically just watching archive footage and it puts me off. I understand what Evil Gringo said about buying the rights to events, but surely in that sense couldn't they at least just give us up to date TNA: Xplosion shows? Since they're free to air. I mean, I was watching it at some point over the past two days and the commentators were saying "this'll make a great thanksgiving main event". That's back-dating the program nearly three quarters of a year. At least it's better than nothing! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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