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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Apr 18, 2022 22:23:31 GMT -5
For the best. Dude was always an odd fit in NXT to start with, even moreso in the 2.0 reboot. Better to let him go than to hoard him, and it’s not like there’ll be any shortage of potential landing points for him.
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knsffa
Team Rocket
Missed This Place and People
Posts: 796
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Post by knsffa on Apr 18, 2022 22:36:44 GMT -5
We're going back to the WWE being about looks and bodies and not workers.. we're very quickly getting to that point too. In a few years I suspect a lot of the main roster will feel out of place with the direction they seem to want. Just imagine a jacked specimen like McIntyre feeling out of place. Right now they are still calling up the likes of A-Kid and Nathan Fraser to 2.0 from the UK so one would assume they still aren't at that point yet even if the call-ups are more so being used as subs for the lack of vets cause they have more experience at least and are young. Any tenured members of 2.0 and UK who want to have some WWE future might want to hope for a call-up asap. And maybe enjoy something before the winds change a bit stronger in a couple years. Unless the 'athletes' start to flop badly in developmental and they rethink their strategy. Lashley said in the BSS he did that he liked going to work outside the WWE to gain experience and another perspective on the buisness. Maybe they need to let their 'athletes' do that a bit while in developmental.
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Mecca
Wade Wilson
Posts: 25,127
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Post by Mecca on Apr 18, 2022 22:39:33 GMT -5
We're going back to the WWE being about looks and bodies and not workers.. we're very quickly getting to that point too. In a few years I suspect a lot of the main roster will feel out of place with the direction they seem to want. Just imagine a jacked specimen like McIntyre feeling out of place. Right now they are still calling up A-Kid and Fraser to 2.0 from the UK so one would assume either they still aren't at that point yet or they are being used as subs for the lack of vets cause they have more experience at least and are young. Any tenured members of 2.0 and UK who want to have some WWE future might want to hope for a call-up asap. And maybe enjoy something before the winds change a bit stronger in a couple years. Unless the 'athletes' start to flop badly in developmental and they rethink their strategy. Lashley said in the BSS he did that he liked going to work outside the WWE to gain experience and another perspective on the buisness. Maybe they need to let their 'athletes' do that a bit while in developmental. I think it's all about saving money.
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Post by YAKMAN is ICHIBAN on Apr 18, 2022 23:01:08 GMT -5
Thank the wrestling gods
What a wasted run, he was one of the best juniors in world when he left NJPW
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JoDaNa1281
Crow T. Robot
Jackie Daytona, Regular Human Bartender. #BLM
Posts: 41,010
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Post by JoDaNa1281 on Apr 18, 2022 23:01:36 GMT -5
Dude's definitely going back to New Japan, and the AEW Crossover will only benefit them I would love to see a Time Splitters reunion... Alex Shelley is already booked by just about every reputable indie under the sun, so I definitely want Timesplitters against all the teams. Hell, let's get a Motor City Time Splitters trio going.
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khali
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,659
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Post by khali on Apr 18, 2022 23:05:43 GMT -5
Jacket Time was one of the worst tag team names ever.
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Post by Cyno on Apr 18, 2022 23:07:19 GMT -5
Sounds like he did a whole lot of nothing in WWE. Would love to see him back in New Japan, and with them working with AEW/ROH and Impact, there's a lot of opportunity for him to work both sides of the Pacific.
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Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Apr 18, 2022 23:09:50 GMT -5
Even at the time he came over, it seemed like a risky decision coming to WWE. They were starting to get congested with talent and were struggling to get guys to successfully transition to the main roster (especially the smaller guys). I knew he had a ceiling in New Japan as a junior but I had doubts that he could get much farther in WWE. Unfortunately, that decision aged worse over time as NXT changed. Luckily he can still go and work Japan. Plus travel is easier now and he can still make money stateside.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Apr 18, 2022 23:12:29 GMT -5
Now is the time to change up his look/presentation. It's the main thing hindering him in my opinion. Dude is talented as hell, but the Marty McFly cosplay ain't it, and hasn't been. Wasn't that meant to be like a one off thing in New Japan? It being his entire like gimmick in the WWE really did him no favors.
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Post by sarkerpolseng on Apr 18, 2022 23:23:35 GMT -5
I feel like he showed up at the wrong time. He popped into NXT in the middle of a bad time where new people weren’t cracking the main event scene. Then all the covid shows killed the momentum Of the entire product. But he had "all the time in the world."
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Mozenrath
FANatic
Foppery and Whim
Speedy Speed Boy
Posts: 121,314
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Post by Mozenrath on Apr 19, 2022 0:13:08 GMT -5
When he left NJPW, a lot of it seemed to be since he had done pretty much everything worth doing in the Jr. division. That would still be an issue if he goes back, but at least the division has changed considerably in the interim. There would be a lot of fresh matchups for him.
That said, he's a 6x Jr. Heavyweight champion. I imagine if he does come back, he'd like to be given an opportunity to do something different.
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Post by "Sweet & Sour" ImSoFudginGreat on Apr 19, 2022 0:44:27 GMT -5
When my partner and I watched Wrestle Kingdom 12 in the Tokyo Dome, our seats were quite far away, and my partner wasn’t as big a fan as she is now. Her favourite match of the night was KUSHIDA vs Ospreay vs Scurll vs Hiromu, and it was due to KUSHIDA. She said she loved his moves, look and he felt like a star to her (she also said similar things about Switchblade which is amazing if you consider his match with Tanahashi wasn’t the best, but I digress).
Random tangent aside, I hope he returns to NJPW. Gedo and the other bookers seem to be more open to Juniors competing in the NEVER division, and I think him returning and tapping out bigger wrestlers would be great. He also has history with Will Ospreay, which I think would be a great return feud. Him vs all of United Empire could be a great series of matches.
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Rave
El Dandy
Perpetually Bored
Posts: 8,206
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Post by Rave on Apr 19, 2022 0:47:17 GMT -5
Left New Japan due to being pigeonholed, only to end up pigeonholed again.
Gimme the Motor City Time Splitters, Impact.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2022 0:57:47 GMT -5
Now is the time to change up his look/presentation. It's the main thing hindering him in my opinion. Dude is talented as hell, but the Marty McFly cosplay ain't it, and hasn't been. I'm gonna disagree. Kushida in shorts/tights looks like every other wrestler. He's not big so he needs something that stands out and the Marty McFly outfit does that.
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Totorob101
Hank Scorpio
Glob Glob Glob
Posts: 5,661
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Post by Totorob101 on Apr 19, 2022 1:25:37 GMT -5
Think all the Japanese talent are on their way out as its clear that none of them are valued,I fully expect Io, Sarray and Jiro to follow and even Asuka too. A shame.
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Post by Andee9001 on Apr 19, 2022 2:18:35 GMT -5
Jacket Time was one of the worst tag team names ever. I'd add them to the "Worst thrown together team" list too. Can't think of a single reason why they would team except that they are both Japanese. And i fully expect that that was the only reason creative had for them too.
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Post by Super Duper Dragunov on Apr 19, 2022 2:28:54 GMT -5
Now is the time to change up his look/presentation. It's the main thing hindering him in my opinion. Dude is talented as hell, but the Marty McFly cosplay ain't it, and hasn't been. I'm gonna disagree. Kushida in shorts/tights looks like every other wrestler. He's not big so he needs something that stands out and the Marty McFly outfit does that. I agree with that look being generic, when I said change it up I meant something that would also make him stand out, but not the cosplay thing. To go back to tights would be a step backwards. Does the BTTF stuff stand out? yeah. But it also feels kinda dorky (not in a good/endearing way) and has a ceiling. But that could just be how I see it. Maybe he'll go somewhere and be a main event talent with the gimmick, who knows?
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knsffa
Team Rocket
Missed This Place and People
Posts: 796
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Post by knsffa on Apr 19, 2022 2:37:08 GMT -5
Within the black and gold NXT landscape, KUSHIDA is someone who felt like he could always be a reliable mid-card guy who would get a one off shot at the NXT title at some point. He was clearly one of the most over tenured guys even during the 2.0 era. He was a cruiserweight who for most of his run was more in the NA title hunt than the CW title hunt. They hinted Swerve vs KUSHIDA prior to or at the start of the pandemic, likely to decide who would face Devlin after the Noam Dar feud for the Ireland Takeover was done, but the world shut down and so did those plans. In 2.0 the Jacket Time team was over enough it felt and they were a fun team in-ring wise, however their 'characters' were reduced to broke english stereotypes. Unlike Jiro, KUSHIDA was least spared a vignette where he was taking a dump.
On the plus side we have at least a few memorable matches from his WWE run to enjoy. KUSHIDA vs Gargano - Takeover: Vengeance Day 2021 KUSHIDA vs Pete Dunne - Takeover: Stand & Deliver 2021 Night 1 KUSHIDA vs Kyle O'Reilly - NXT TV June 2021 KUSHIDA vs WALTER - NXT TV October 2019 KUSHIDA vs Santos Escobar - 2 out of 3 Falls NXT TV KUSHIDA vs Drew Gulak - Series of NXT and Evolve matches KUSHIDA vs Ciampa vs VD - NXT TV October 2021
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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Apr 19, 2022 2:39:28 GMT -5
For what it’s worth, Kushida leaves WWE with a televised win/loss record of 36-26-0.
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mrbananagrabber
King Koopa
Paul Heyman's unofficial joke writer
Posts: 11,835
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Post by mrbananagrabber on Apr 19, 2022 3:37:22 GMT -5
Jacket Time were an embarrassment so at least that’s over. He was wasted in NXT, once he was put into that wacky comedy foreigner tag team he was doomed.
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