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DIR Return to: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week
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#Post#: 24881--------------------------------------------------
Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; Starting Over
By: SheriffLonestar Date: March 8, 2014, 1:49 am
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As mentioned last week on PPV, All Japan Pro Wrestling is going
through some what of a changing of the guard. With a lot of the
talent moving to Wrestle 1 with Keiji Mutoh and having
established the Burning crew that came in from NOAH last year,
that I discussed last week. They have had to rebuild their story
lines around their existing talent base and brought in some new
wild cards to give things some lift. The wild cards have
interesting backgrounds to say the least, as they are both hard
working veterans. However they come from polar opposite starting
points and are polar opposite wrestlers. They are well worth
examining though. This weeks show is taken from the AJPW New
Year Wars Tour and is from Osaka. It features the following
matches, because of course some of these names will b unfamiliar
to you;
1. Kotaro Suzuki & Masao Inoue vs Osamu Nishimura & Ryuji
Hijikata – 07:05 (Video Start Time)
2. Kento Miyahara vs Hikaru Sato - 12:20
3. SUSHI, Tyson Dux & Jon Bolen vs Shigehiro Irie, Keisuke Ishii
& Takao Soma - 23:10
4. Go Shiozaki vs KENSO - 35:46
5. AJPW World. Jr. Heavyweight Title: Último Dragón (c) vs
Atsushi Aoki - 54:54
6. Akebono, Suwama & Taiyo Kea vs Burning (Jun Akiyama, Takao
Omori & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - 01:19:10
7. New Year 18 Man Openweight Battle Royale - 01:43:20
The two veterans I wish to talk about are the current Triple
Crown and Junior Heavyweight Champions Akebono and Último
Dragón. Lets start with The Dragon.
Ultimo Dragon is a breathtaking wrestler his list of
achievements in the pro wrestling world seem endless, so it was
a smart move to bring him in over the longer term to bring some
gravitas to the division. The style of the Juniors in AJPW, is
not really that of Último Dragón either, its a solid mat based
approach with less emphasis on aerials and more impact on story
telling and mat wrestling, like a junior version of the
Heavyweights. The last time I saw Dragon was as some of you will
know, was in person in my home town last October. He was a star
attraction of an RDW card and he looked great back then. His
move to AJPW and subsequent win of the Junior Title extends his
already strong list of achievements in pro wrestling as the only
man to hold every major Junior Heavyweight title in the world,
except for the NOAH Jnr. Title. Not to worry I am sure there is
time yet. Considering the fact he entered the Wrestling Observer
Hall of Fame, a tough thing to get into, in 2004 he has had a
very productive ten years since. He began his career in the NJPW
Dojo in 1987, and has wrestled throughout the world, most
pertinently in Mexico which had an obvious influence on his
style. He spent so long there he is now fluent in Spanish,
English as well as of course Japanese. He has been a man in
demand. Having wrestled for WCW and WWE, that kind of legacy is
invaluable to All Japan as they try and build momentum for
themselves and their titles in to the coming year. Here he is
matched up with mat based shooter Atsushi Aoki, and actually
features a lot of traditional American Style wrestling. Pick a
body part and work it for the whole match showing logic and
determination, and is thoroughly entertaining. This kind of
style is also very kind to aerial veterans who may not have the
medical will to climb the ropes any more, and it shows Último
Dragón's depth. He is equally at home here as he is in the air.
I expect more of the same in the coming year, he has a lot of
very able dance partners and it will be interesting to see how
long he can keep the belt for. A twenty seven year veteran he is
more than capable of having a great match with anyone and makes
for very entertaining viewing in this beautifully conservative
environment.
The first time I saw Akebono Tarō was in a very different
kind of wrestling ring. He was back then a Sumo Yokozuna who
achieved that rank in 1993. For a guy who achieved his athletic
peak twenty one years ago you'd have thought he may have shown
signs of slowing down by now. He hasn't and has actually in fact
become a very good pro wrestler. They don't put the Triple Crown
on just anyone. He also isn't Japanese, he's a Hawaiian. He
began his athletic career as an All Star centre and Hawaii
Pacific University. He met Sumo veteran Azumazeki Oyakata in the
late '80s, and always having had an interest in the sport began
to train in earnest. If you look at him he really is totally the
wrong shape for Sumo, a sport that favours those of the shorter
leg and a low centre of gravity. The fact that he became very
first non japanese yokozuna, is quite remarkable. A natural
athlete he applied his talents, grace and balance from his
basketball days to this new role. He was also very popular
indeed. It takes more than sporting excellence to be a grand
champion in Sumo, you have to live with honour and humility. As
one commentator put it "He makes me forget he is a foreigner
because of his earnest attitude towards sumo.". Upon retiring
from Sumo, no matter how much will an natural talent he had he
couldn't get past the injuries his body had to suffer due to his
height, he move on to MMA where he only won one match before
finally settling on a new career as a pro wrestler in 2005.
Starting out as a pro wrestler in when your 35 is no mean feat.
As you know generally speaking WWE won't look at anyone for a
contract near that age, however for the star power alone they
did sign Akebono to help them get a step ahead in the crowded
Japanese market. While his time in WWE was short it is what
helped him decide on his career change and he signed on with
AJPW entering their dojo and taking Keiji Mutoh himself as his
mentor. Akebono is still hige, not Sumo huge, he has lost weight
since then, no really. However he is still 6' 8 and heading
upwards of 400lbs. He isn't going to worry Último Dragón in the
mobility stakes, but he does what he needs to do and does it
very well indeed. That determination to succeed that made him a
champion in Sumo has fired back up and his dedication to Pro
Wrestling has had to be seen to be believed. At 44 he is now the
Triple Crown Champion having worked nearly every promotion and
style in Japan. Most impressively he has learned to be a great
monster, which is all someone of his size, age and mobility can
be in this business. However he is an engaging and impressive
champion. All Japan could have done a lot worse, he is still
capable of having those long hard matches the Triple Crown
winner has to have and hasn't been hidden in tag matches. He
also has great respect for the business and has worked hard to
improve himself, which to be honest I didn't think he could
master in his early days in the pro wrestling ring. He will take
All Japan forward this year and here is a taste of what they are
going to be doing. I think most people would also enjoy the
Battle Royal, because its a chance for the normally dead serious
All Japan crew to let their hair down. All round an entertaining
and interesting experience.
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz4FdbHqVBo
#Post#: 24898--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; Starting Over
By: 01332tnafan Date: March 8, 2014, 10:05 am
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love reading them ..
#Post#: 24916--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; Starting Over
By: SheriffLonestar Date: March 9, 2014, 4:21 am
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Why thank you sir :) I greatly appreciate it because I really do
like writing them.
#Post#: 24918--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; Starting Over
By: Zax Date: March 9, 2014, 6:00 am
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You are lucky you have the free run of it on here tbh
#Post#: 24927--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; Starting Over
By: SheriffLonestar Date: March 9, 2014, 10:24 am
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Well I enjoy writing and after so many columns its a challenge
to come up wirh something different every week.
#Post#: 24930--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; Starting Over
By: tnagirl Date: March 9, 2014, 12:04 pm
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the ebst one you did was the ecw one back in the day . I loved
that and reading the making of ecw one of the best brand in the
world back in the day ..
you are very lucky to have free run on here a lot of forums are
dicks when it comes down to member's making there own bits
#Post#: 24931--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; Starting Over
By: SheriffLonestar Date: March 9, 2014, 12:18 pm
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Well thank you, the trouble is there is sadly only one ECW and
so you can only tell that story once lol, though if there are
promotions you would like to know more about, I shall load up my
Blackberry for the trip to work with the requested PPV's and get
to it :).
Thank JP he embraced the idea and gave me my own child board, a
very nice man.
#Post#: 24934--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; Starting Over
By: tnagirl Date: March 9, 2014, 12:27 pm
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that's why I loved the old ECW because it was the only one lol..
how about doing something on the UK big brand .. that be a get
to know your place one
#Post#: 24936--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; Starting Over
By: SheriffLonestar Date: March 9, 2014, 12:35 pm
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Sure I shall see what I can find :), though the British
companies tend to be protective of their cards I shall see whats
available.
#Post#: 24959--------------------------------------------------
Re: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; Starting Over
By: tnafan Date: March 11, 2014, 9:49 am
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[quote author=SheriffLonestar link=topic=5169.msg24936#msg24936
date=1394386501]
Sure I shall see what I can find :), though the British
companies tend to be protective of their cards I shall see whats
available.
[/quote] That is true .
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