|
|
|
| Guest Columns | Matt Wilson |
MainBLAH |
SHOOTING TNM World Tournament Well, I'm back again with the second stage of the TNM World Tournament: far east region. Remember, this isn't the first tournment column, so if you haven't all ready read the one before, I suggest you dig that one up in the archives. As before, I'll print the primer, followed by this regions seedings. There are four regions (like Coale's version): northeast, far east, south east and south. I've included some unused or unsigned ECW talent in the south east (or WCW) region. Unlike the Wrestleline one, I've decided to include injured wrestlers. Now I can include Kenta Kobashi. My version is mainly centered around wrestlers with the best work-rate in each region, but, as you can see, there are some exceptions. This week I'll be siming the far east (or Japanese) region using TNM. Naturally, I'll be siming the whole tournament with TNM (probably the best wrestling sim around). So, without further ado, here are the seedings for the TNM World Tournaments far east region: 1. Mitsuharu Misawa 2. Kenta Kobashi 3. Jun Akiyama 4. Toshiaki Kawada 5. Kensuke Sasaki 6. Keiji Mutoh (The Great Muta) 7. Jyushin Lyger 8. Shinya Hashimoto 9. Yuji Nagata 10. Masa Saito 11. Masahiro Chono 12. Masato Tanaka 13. Dragon Kid 14. Tatsuhito Takaiwa 15. Kendo Ka Shin 16. Shinjiro Ohtani Introduction to northeast region In this, probably the most unusual regions, two weight classes (with visible differences) collide: the heavyweights and the juniors. Jyushin Lyger leads the juniors at seed 7, whilst the number 1 seed, Mitsuharu Misawa, heads the heavyweights. Of course, it won't just be limited to heavyweights vs. juniors, it's the luck of the draw and anything can happen. This region show cases some of the world's best wrestlers, and many will be expecting a lot from the strong style wrestlers of Noah and All Japan. There's a lot of bad blood in this region, and it's the first time this many Japanese wrestling promotions have come together to deliver a super show, which promoses to show some great matches. The Tournament Round 1: Tatsuhito Takaiwa pinned Dragon Kid with the Death Valley Bomb in 0:06:55. Rating: ** 3/4 Takaiwa (seeded 14th) advances impressively after hitting his variation of the DVD. Kendo Ka Shin made Jyushin Lyger submit to the Cross Arm Scissors in 0:08:31. Rating: **** In one of the best matches of the region, Kendo Ka Shin took it to Lyger. Ka Shin worked Lyger's arm, finishing him with the Cross Arm Scissors. Kenta Kobashi made Toshiaki Kawada submit to an abdominal stretch in 0:03:20. Rating: *** In one of the most anticipated matches of the whole tournament, Kobashi and Kawada got to mix it up in the center of the ring. There's a lot of bad blood between these two. It was short but sweet. Shinya Hashimoto pinned Masahiro Chono with the Vertical Drop DDT in 0:16:13. Rating: ** 3/4 Hashimoto, the ledgend, beat another veteran in this all right match. Kensuke Sasaki made Masa Saito submit to the Power Special in 0:12:16. Rating: ** 1/2 Another average match, ended when Sasaki slapped on this rare submission hold. Shinjiro Ohtani pinned Masato Tanaka with the Dragon Suplex in 0:09:25. Rating: *** Good match between these two. Ohtani finished Tanaka with a devastating Dragon Suplex. Jun Akiyama pinned The Great Muta after a German suplex in 0:04:14. Rating: ** In another wildly anticipated match, Akiyama took on Muta. It was short, but interesting to see the clash of styles. Mitsuharu Misawa pinned Yuji Nagata with the Tiger Driver in 0:03:24. Rating: ** The number one seed advances impressively against Nagata. Quarter Finals: Tatsuhito Takaiwa pinned Kendo Ka Shin with the Death Valley Bomb in 0:08:32. Rating: ** 3/4 These two impressed the crowd, but it was Takaiwa and his variation of the DVD which won. Shinya Hashimoto pinned Kenta Kobashi with the Vertical Drop DDT in 0:11:34. Rating: *** 1/2 In a great match, that will be remembered for a long time to come, these two veterans ripped it up. It was Hashimoto who came out on top, taking a victory which must be considered a shock. Shinjiro Ohtani pinned Kensuke Sasaki with the Dragon Suplex in 0:17:09. Rating: ** 1/4 Ohtani takes the shock win against Sasaki, once again winning with an impressive Dragin Suplex. Mitsuharu Misawa pinned Jun Akiyama with the Tiger Driver in 0:11:57. Rating: ** 3/4 In yet another highly anticipated match, these two got the crowd into it, before Misawa won with his much talked about finisher. Semi-Finals: Tatsuhito Takaiwa pinned Shinya Hashimoto after a flying forearm in 0:13:53. Rating: *** 1/2 Takaiwa won this great contest against Hashimoto with great style. Takaiwa hit Hasimoto with everything he had. He even hit his variation of the DVD, which Hashimoto kicked out of, leading to a huge pop from the crowd. It was the flying forearm which won it for Takaiwa, after he wore Hashimoto down. Great stuff. Shinjiro Ohtani pinned Mitsuharu Misawa with the Dragon Suplex in 0:13:37. Rating: *** Ohtani shocked the crowd into silence. The number 16 seed beat the number 1 seed. Getting a win like this against a wrestler ranked as highly as Misawa is incredible even in a tournament such as this. This is the kind of win that can make a wrestlers career. Finals: Tatsuhito Takaiwa pinned Shinjiro Ohtani after a Northern Lights suplex in 0:13:33. Rating: *** In the final, we were treated to yet another great contest, as both men hit nearly everything in their offense. Takaiwa was victorios, though, after he hit Ohtani with a Northern Lights Suplex. Good match and a great way to end this regions tournament. Tournament Aftermath Ohtani shocking and dramatic win over Misawa, the stuff of legends, was only overshawdowed by Takaiwa almost equally shocking, but still incredible, tournament win. He produced some great matches, got the crowd into it, and really deserved everything he got. Tatsuhito Takaiwa will Matt Hardy in the World Tournament semi-finals. That's all for the tournament this time around. Next time, the south east region of the tournament kicks off. I Get Letter (s) I got a really long letter this week about my Triple H column. It was so good, and I was so pleased to get one of this lengh, that I decided to print it in full. Enjoy: Hey Matt, I particularly enjoyed your column this week because I DESPISE Triple H (the backstage politician, not the in-ring performer.) I've actually written two columns for slash/wrestling about how his ego has had a negative impact on both the TV product & business in general. In your column, you wondered how Triple H got all this backstage clout & I do believe that I have the answer. Vince McMahon always seems to need a "butt-buddy" with him at all times. In the 80's, Hulk Hogan had a firm liplock on Vince's ass, which gave him the backstage power & the #1 position in wrestling for the whole decade. In the early 90's, Kevin Nash & Shawn Michaels became Vince's "butt-buddies" & were able to keep themselves & all their friends in prominent TV roles even though WWF business was at an all-time low. During the late 90's, Vince Russo became the "butt-buddy," probably because a lot of his innovations were what propelled the WWF to the top again. But after Russo left in 1999, McMahon's posterior was left feeling unloved. With both Steve Austin & Taker, the two biggest lockerroom leaders that made sure everyone kept their egos in line, out getting their respective surgeries, a new "butt-buddy" emerged onto the scene. If you go back to past issues of the Observer & Torch from around late 1999/early 2000, Meltzer & Keller were reporting that Triple H had been palling around with Vince McMahon backstage during every waking hour. The midcarders were even joking about it amongst themselves. Once Triple H got into Vince's ear, he was able to convince 'the esteemed owner of the WWF' that marrying his daughter on TV would be great for business. It also guarenteed that Triple H's nose would take up a good chunk of WWF programming every week. If Triple H wasn't in a match, he was boring-ah the live crowd-ah, with a 20 minute promo-ah. And if he wasn't in the ring at all, he could be seen in virtually every segment backstage, sitting in his black leather couch with his arm around Stephanie & commenting at what was just broadcast on the TV monitor in front of him. But it doesn't stop there. Triple H convinced McMahon that he should emerge from Wrestlemania 2000 as a heel WWF Champion, leaving everyone that paid $50 to see Rock win the title with a sour taste in their mouths. Viewing patterns take a while to change, so the ratings didn't take an immediate hit. But a year of Triple H constantly being put over, without jobbing to anyone except Rock, proved too much for fans to deal with and by the end of 2000, numbers were down all around. Sorry for going off on a tangent there, but I wanted to answer your question (even though it was probably a rhetorical one, lol.) Keep up the good work. -Vinnie- Matthew Wilson ShootAngle.com Mail the Author Visit shootangle.com Comment about this article on the EZBoard |
BLAH |
Main |
||