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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Jan 7, 2019 14:03:04 GMT -5
I still stand by that Nakamura feud and Joe wasn't all that bad However, in saying that AJ has been booked like a legend since Day 1 despite what people try to say. If you can get that booking the results will vary but the company clearly believes you and keeps putting you in positions to be on top so yeah if you are booked as even half of what AJ has he's golden from that perspective Overall, Kushida will do okay. He's a beast on the ring and will get his time to shine in that regard. Assuming he keeps the Back to the Future type character I think it will get over good enough especially in NXT which is where I assume he goes for the first year.
Yeah, AJ's certainly been booked as a big deal, no doubt about it; just for me from a fan perspective I feel WWE's writing woes keep his stories from feeling interesting most of the time, and that's the problem. I guess it's kind of my issue whenever talk of "so and so might come to WWE" crops up: people get excited, guy comes in and usually things go kind of "meh", and the shows continue not to be very good, yet people then get all excited again the next time a name is talked about as potentially heading to WWE as if the same thing isn't likely to happen again. Until WWE's booking, writing, and match layout styles change, I can't imagine any talent coming in and stopping things from feeling pretty flat and uninteresting. Doesn't mean I won't be happy for the guys if they're getting paid well and are content with how they're doing, that's all a professional can ask for, but again just speaking from a fan perspective. Yea, from a fan perspective it is disappointing that the feuds you know that shit rip the door off the hinges sometimes barely matter in the big scheme of things because they can't get it right. I'm sure from a wrestlers perspective too the stagnating feeling of not having that creative freedom hurts as well
On the flip side the "downfall" of a wrestler like Nakamura is overblown and same with AJ not really getting his due as well. I think from a wrestlers perspective they see them getting paid well do get their chances to shine even if they don't reach the heights fans think they should be at. I would categorize Nakamura run as successful despite the non WWE title run thus far and AJ has had a HOF legacy in WWE alone in his short years there
I think overall KUSHIDA will be fine as my expectation of him is to do well in NXT and get a decent run with the CW title. If Omega makes the jump he's going to be compared to AJ which may not be fair but assuming he's getting big money they are going to make him a big deal out the jump and his best place is to more than likely be on SD
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Post by Georgina's Fancy Water on Jan 7, 2019 14:59:19 GMT -5
I just hope that he's not stuck in the CW division, because that would be like the ultimate kick in the dick after New Japan refused to let him go beyond Junior Heavyweight forever.
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Post by YAKMAN is ICHIBAN on Jan 7, 2019 15:07:15 GMT -5
I just hope that he's not stuck in the CW division, because that would be like the ultimate kick in the dick after New Japan refused to let him go beyond Junior Heavyweight forever. Hope he got it in writing. VINCE: GREAT TO MEET YOU TOSHIBA. YOU'RE GOING TO GO TO 205 LIVE, PAL! KUSHIDA: My contract says I'm to be booked as a super heavyweight. VINCE: BUT YOU'RE TINY! KUSHIDA: Super....heavyweight.
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Post by abjordans on Jan 7, 2019 15:08:46 GMT -5
Has Nakamura been booked poorly though? Let's be honest he's had one legit great match in the WWE and it was his first one. Through it all he's always been a big deal, main event stories, won the rumble, etc. [/ This is my thing. Nakamura hasn’t had the main roster centered around him (guess what- he didn’t have that in NJPW either), but he hasn’t been booked poorly either.
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Post by 2coldMack is even more baffled on Jan 7, 2019 15:12:11 GMT -5
Eh, up until recently Nakamura'd been doing the "Hahaha, I'm the US Champ but I'M NOT FROM HERE!" heel schtick, yeah, he's been booked poorly. No faith that they'll see a smaller than average guy in KUSHIDA and decide to treat him like something special. He'll be doing the job on 205 and coming out to "Generic Asian Music #312".
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Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Jan 7, 2019 15:32:54 GMT -5
Obviously whatever they promised him vs what they do with him might differ. However, I think Kushida would have been willing to stay in NJPW if he could move up to heavyweight which they seemed unwilling to do. While he was in a relatively good spot over there, it seemed like he had a clear ceiling. Now, could he end up floundering on 205 Live? Of course. But when you look at guys like Finn Balor, Rey Mysterio, and Daniel Bryan, you see a world where size may hinder you but does not disqualify you from being a star. So from that perspective even outside of money, I get it. He may not achieve what he is fully capable of, but it seems worth the risk.
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Post by Slanted and Enchanted on Jan 7, 2019 15:37:32 GMT -5
Not sure why NJPW didn't at least have him competing for the NEVER Openweight title. Ospreay's career got a major jolt just from mingling with different guys for a new title. Kushida would have added so much depth to the NEVER picture. I can see Kushida being in 205 Live. But I can also see him doing stuff with the NA title in NXT or possibly something on SDL or RAW. Mustafa Ali has proven that 205 Live is not a death knell and anybody can ascend to bigger heights if they go above and beyond.
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Post by Chainsaw on Jan 7, 2019 15:44:41 GMT -5
Simply put, KUSHIDA does not have history on his side that he won't merely be just another guy.
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Post by 2coldMack is even more baffled on Jan 7, 2019 15:45:39 GMT -5
Simply put, KUSHIDA does not have history on his side that he won't merely be just another guy. <iframe style="position: absolute; width: 22.480000000000018px; height: 2.9200000000000017px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none;left: 15px; top: -5px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_5111817" scrolling="no" width="22.480000000000018" height="2.9200000000000017"></iframe> <iframe style="position: absolute; width: 22.48px; height: 2.92px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1065px; top: -5px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_71538116" scrolling="no" width="22.480000000000018" height="2.9200000000000017"></iframe> <iframe style="position: absolute; width: 22.48px; height: 2.92px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 15px; top: 87px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_44114690" scrolling="no" width="22.480000000000018" height="2.9200000000000017"></iframe> <iframe style="position: absolute; width: 22.48px; height: 2.92px; z-index: -9999; border-style: none; left: 1065px; top: 87px;" id="MoatPxIOPT0_99766088" scrolling="no" width="22.480000000000018" height="2.9200000000000017"></iframe> Right. Is the potential and his skill there? Absolutely. BUT......I also have pattern recognition.
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Post by abjordans on Jan 7, 2019 15:47:39 GMT -5
Eh, up until recently Nakamura'd been doing the "Hahaha, I'm the US Champ but I'M NOT FROM HERE!" heel schtick, yeah, he's been booked poorly. No faith that they'll see a smaller than average guy in KUSHIDA and decide to treat him like something special. He'll be doing the job on 205 and coming out to "Generic Asian Music #312". Unless I totally missed it, which I guess could be possible, Nakamura was never really doing an evil foreigner gimmick as US Champion.
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Post by 2coldMack is even more baffled on Jan 7, 2019 15:51:32 GMT -5
Eh, up until recently Nakamura'd been doing the "Hahaha, I'm the US Champ but I'M NOT FROM HERE!" heel schtick, yeah, he's been booked poorly. No faith that they'll see a smaller than average guy in KUSHIDA and decide to treat him like something special. He'll be doing the job on 205 and coming out to "Generic Asian Music #312". Unless I totally missed it, which I guess could be possible, Nakamura was never really doing an evil foreigner gimmick as US Champion. Let's see, going on and on about the "True Nak-American Spirit", dressing like this....
which is pretty much a stone's throw away from recycling this...
Yeah.....your witness.
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Post by froggyfrog on Jan 7, 2019 15:51:49 GMT -5
I’m a Kushida fan and I’m never a guy to not want someone I enjoy to come to WWE, but I just remembered Hideo Itami and I got sad
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Post by 2coldMack is even more baffled on Jan 7, 2019 15:53:31 GMT -5
I’m a Kushida fan and I’m never a guy to not want someone I enjoy to come to WWE, but I just remembered Hideo Itami and I got sad Now, being fair, Itami literally tripped out of the starting gate, and pretty much every time he got back up, he'd take another couple of steps and hurt himself again. It's not anybody's fault his run's been lame, really, just pure bad luck.
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Post by abjordans on Jan 7, 2019 15:54:45 GMT -5
Unless I totally missed it, which I guess could be possible, Nakamura was never really doing an evil foreigner gimmick as US Champion. Let's see, going on and on about the "True Nak-American Spirit", dressing like this.... which is pretty much a stone's throw away from recycling this... Yeah.....your witness.
That was from a WWE.com photo shoot and wasn’t done on tv, but ok.
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Post by Tea & Crumpets on Jan 7, 2019 16:00:45 GMT -5
I just hope that he's not stuck in the CW division, because that would be like the ultimate kick in the dick after New Japan refused to let him go beyond Junior Heavyweight forever. It's basically exactly what I'm predicting happens. Vince will laugh and find it hilarious that a short Japanese man thinks he's Marty McFly and KUSHIDA will be the new Kung Fu Naki or manservant-Tajiri on 205 Live. KUSHIDA isn't much different to Akira Tozawa in terms of size, and we all saw what happened there. Tozawa even started getting over and it went nowhere. I'm a fan of KUSHIDA but I just don't expect this to go well. I still can't comprehend why NJPW were so against him moving up to at least the NEVER title.
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Post by HMARK Center on Jan 7, 2019 18:00:13 GMT -5
I just hope that he's not stuck in the CW division, because that would be like the ultimate kick in the dick after New Japan refused to let him go beyond Junior Heavyweight forever. It's basically exactly what I'm predicting happens. Vince will laugh and find it hilarious that a short Japanese man thinks he's Marty McFly and KUSHIDA will be the new Kung Fu Naki or manservant-Tajiri on 205 Live. KUSHIDA isn't much different to Akira Tozawa in terms of size, and we all saw what happened there. Tozawa even started getting over and it went nowhere. I'm a fan of KUSHIDA but I just don't expect this to go well. I still can't comprehend why NJPW were so against him moving up to at least the NEVER title. I think some of it was bad timing on NJPW's part; they spent 2016 doing their best to get Kushida over as the division's ace, didn't handle the booking as well as they should, and then needed him to stay in the division to help guys like Hiromu Takahashi and Will Ospreay get over, probably in the hopes that the three of them could be a sort of juniors Three Musketeers. That said, yeah, it felt like there were times they could've pulled the trigger on a move for him (he did have one NEVER title shot against Ishii years ago) and just didn't; whether that was a refusal to move him or just a matter of the timing always being wrong I don't know, but it sucks. Also, I can't say for sure it's why he's leaving, either, given that he's a guy who digs North America and the US wrestling scene and that might have even just been his motivating factor given where he is in his career. I don't think he's going to get booked TOO badly, I think the days of over the top stereotyping are thankfully dying down, but yeah, again I just don't see him breaking through in a way that feels satisfying to watch as a fan of his just given WWE's track record. Doesn't mean he'll have a bad run, doesn't mean he won't win titles, but that doesn't really mean much to me when it comes to WWE.
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Post by Fade is a CodyCryBaby on Jan 7, 2019 18:29:09 GMT -5
It’s 205Lives time to shine!!..
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Post by The Trashman on Jan 7, 2019 18:41:19 GMT -5
Frankly I dont think wrestlers care half as much as fans about booking. He is going to make great money and tour the world regardless. They wouldn't sign him if they didn't see anything in him. 205, NXT or main roster he will put on good to great matches every night.
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Post by chrom on Jan 7, 2019 19:15:44 GMT -5
They are also interested in trying to get Sanada as well
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Post by chazraps on Jan 7, 2019 23:13:34 GMT -5
It is worth pointing out that KUSHIDA grew up in San Diego and speaks above-average english, so the potential language hurdle that's faced a few other talents who've come over won't be an obstacle for him.
I've been wanting him in WWE since the initial talent jump in 2016. He seems like the one who would really click with the writers and the audience alike.
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