Kurasawa

[Deleted]

I'm seeing this guy for the first time watching these old Nitro episodes, really dig his work. I'm guessing he's very successful in Japan under a different name, no way was he just a WCW midcarder for a little bit. What's the deal with this guy? He woudld've been great working with the likes of Shamrock/Blackman/Severn during the Attitude Era.

[Deleted]

Kurasawa is Manabu Nakanishi. He was pretty green when he was in WCW. He was sent there as part of the WCW/NJPW working agreement to gain experience. In Japan, you'd could say he underachieved. He may have been able to stick as main eventer in the late 90s / early 00s, but Inoki started pushing MMA guys really hard during that time. By the time Inoki was gone, Nakanishi was pushing 40 and pretty much missed his window.

[Shark]

His real name is Manabu Nakanishi and I think that's what he goes by in Japan. He's seemingly only ever worked for New Japan in his career outside of his short stint in WCW. He's had a good career in Japan, though maybe not as good as it could have been. Still he is a former G-1 Climax champion and that's nothing to sneeze at. He's still wrestling today at 47.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

He was also on one of those obstacle course game shows once...it was surreal seeing a puro star I recognized on there. (Just felt like sharing because that's the only thing I really remember about him.)

[67 more]

He competed in the 1992 Olympics in amateur wrestling, wrestled in New Japan for a few years, won the Young Lions cup, joined WCW in 1995 to get better, returned to New Japan in 1996. He won the IWGP Tag titles with Satoshi Kojima (who would go on to hold the IWGP, NWA and AJPW titles) in 1997 and beat then-IWGP Champion Keiji Mutoh in 1999 in the finals of the G1 Climax tournament via submission. He also won the IWGP Tag titles again, this time with Yugi Nagata, who went on to be a 2-time IWGP Champion.

He didn't do much after that until 2006 where won the IWGP Tag titles with Takao Omori (who recently held the AJPW title this year). In 2009, he was given a thank-you reign with the IWGP title, beating Hiroshi Tanahashi (who at that point was already a 3-time IWGP Champion, before dropping it back to Tanahashi a month later. Since then, he's slipped back into the tag ranks and unsuccesfully challenged Rob Conway for the NWA title in 2013.

[Deleted]

Cool, thank you for the responses. Maybe I need to watch puro, I really like that guy and the consensus seems like he's good but somewhat unremarkable in the grand scheme. His style definitely stuck out in WCW. I enjoy that he believed in the POWER OF HOLDS and broke Hawk's arm.

[Deleted]

I thought Kurosawa was awesome, and his run in the USA was somewhat impressive considering how hard it is to get Japanese talent over here.

What gripes is me how American fans acted like inbred idiots when any international stars in those days, breaking out the "USA! USA! USA!" chants all the way through the match and not giving the guy a chance to get over. Contrast that with the warm reception that American stars get when they go to Japan.

[Mozenrath]

I heard that after Kurosawa, he briefly had a gimmick under the name Rashomon, but all the stories I've heard about it have been conflicting. I don't really know what to believe.

[Deleted]

Sept 7, 2014 9:56:29 GMT -5 @lovehater said:

Cool, thank you for the responses. Maybe I need to watch puro, I really like that guy and the consensus seems like he's good but somewhat unremarkable in the grand scheme. His style definitely stuck out in WCW. I enjoy that he believed in the POWER OF HOLDS and broke Hawk's arm.

If you plan to check out Nakanishi's work in Japan, avoid anything recent. He's broken down big time and is probably the worse wrestler on the roster.

[Digital Witness]

It should be noted as I didn't see anyone mention it, Nakanishi did get a thank you run with the IWGP heavyweight title defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi.

[boogeyman]

I like nakanishi. His power stule is under appreciated. I loved his torture rack into german suplex

[cabbageboy]

Yeah I remember the guy from 1995 era WCW and thought he was pretty vicious for that time period. In fact just today I watched that Clash with him and Meng vs. Hawk/Sting. Match itself wasn't much but the post match angle with Kurasawa snapping Hawk's arm with that sick arm breaker was cool stuff.

WCW actually did present Japanese wrestlers with respect in the early 90s, whenever guys like Muta, Hase, Fujinami, Chono, and so on came over for shows. But that was a far more realistic and athletic WCW than the Hogan cartoon show of 1995.

[boogeyman]

The most offensive wcw asian gimmick was yoshi kwan. Who had japanese first name. Korean last name. A chinese robe, and he hailed from the orient just bad



just offensive to me as an asian guy.

Worst part was him not even being asian

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

I think it was him that had a really bad match on Nitro with Disco Inferno that involved Disco trying to swing his disco ball at Kurusawa and completely missing.

Not his fault, but that's my prevailing memory of the guy.

[Sir Woodrow]

He's like me in that we both make mad films.

Ok, I don't make films.

But if I did they'd have a Samurai

[Dr. Mantis Toboggan]

Sept 8, 2014 1:21:55 GMT -5 Oh Cry Me a Screwball said:

I think it was him that had a really bad match on Nitro with Disco Inferno that involved Disco trying to swing his disco ball at Kurusawa and completely missing.

Not his fault, but that's my prevailing memory of the guy.

I was wondering if that was him too. I remember some disco dancing guy comes out during the match, distracts the opponent, Disco Inferno tosses the disco ball, whiffs it, and the opponent still sells it like he got shot.

[BigJerichool222]

Nakanishi is f***ing adorable these days. His offense is so slow and just looks like the most loveable lug on the planet out there.

So when I see him in WCW with a mullet, I can't not laugh.

[Squirrel Master]

Oops, wrong guy...

[percymania]

Cool topic. I saw this guy on WWE Network recently too and wondered who he was. He was pretty good.

[________ has left the building]

I kept wondering where was his kneepads? He was solid but guys like Ultimo Dragon, Koji Kanemoto , and Liger impressed me more in WCW. I still laugh that was booked to break Road Warrior Hawk's arm and Hawk never got revenge.