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yatsuatari
Posted: 2002-01-01 11:44:39
Posted: 2002-01-01 11:44:39
>>>nobody taps to a forearm to the throat like that, with LeBanner being as strong as he is.... hate to say it but i gotta think its a worked fight, just to build up Tadao Yasuda as a star in Japan. Jerome probably got paid a hefty sum<<<
Definitely not a work. Plenty of experienced grapplers tap to all kinds of basic submissions, I have no trouble believing that a guy with zero experience in such ground fighting taps the moment he feels 200+ lbs. crushing his wind pipe. Jerome got scared and tapped there's nothing more sinister to it.
The simple fact is that if you are going to work fights, you work them for a reason. There was little reason to work this fight...and absolutely zero reason to work it with LeBanner losing.
Yasuda is an old man and has been jerking curtains in New Japan Pro Wrestling for years. This win isn't going to make him a star. He surely isn't going to be a successful shooter against skilled MMA opponents and he isn't going to become a star in the world of puroresu. Yasuda lacks the charisma, in-ring ability, and psychology to ever become a star in pro wrestling. He means little to NJPW and Inoki in terms of long-term business potential.
Quite the contrary, however, is Yuji Nagata. Nagata has been groomed as heir apparent to Keiji Mutoh and is NJPW's next breakout star. He was booked to win the recent G-1 Tournament and has a huge interpromotional matchup against NOAH's Jun Akiyama at the Tokyo Dome on Jan. 4. Unlike Yasuda, he is the best permormer in the New Japan heavyweight division and brings tons of charisma, as well as solid ring skills to the table. Basically, he has the one key ingredient to being a success in pro wrestling: he is "over" with the fans. If ever there was a case to work a fight it would be to protect Nagata and have him win or at least draw with Cro Cop. No way you let him get slaughtered like he did in a worked environment.
Same story with Fujita. Fujita was New Japan's IWGP Champion and riding a huge wave of success in both Pride and pro wrestling. The Japanese were ecstatic to finally have a native fighter who could compete with, and actually defeat, the foreign heavies. There is absolutely zero chance that they work a fight to have him lose. Especially when you consider the results...the New Japan booking committee was thrown into chaos by Fujita's loss, as a years worth of building had to be scrapped and storylines rewritten in the wake of that debacle. Since then, Fujita's career has sputtered and gone nowhere. He can likely get it back if he returns to Pride and has some legit. victories, but his mystique in NJPW took a huge hit.
Ditto Nagata. Nagata has no future in MMA, so he is completely dependant upon his image in New Japan. He was slated to win the 1/4 match at the Dome, but now all that is up in the air. He suffered a humiliating loss, and now the New Japan brass are asking themselves how they can elevate a guy who just got destroyed to the #1 position in the company. Answer...they probably can't. There goes months and months of work right down the toilet.
Simply put Inoki is a fool. He made his own career by winning worked fights against martial artists, and somewhere along the line he bought his own press, and started believing that pro wrestlers could win shoots. He isn't completely wrong...some of them can. But in any shoot situation you roll the dice...and he got burned. He thought for sure that Fujita would beat CroCop, and likewise, felt reasonably sure that Nagata could hang with him as well. He lost those gambles and ended up looking stupid to both fans as well as those who pull the strings behind the scenes in the pro-wrestling world. Inoki may be a fool, but it is certain he doesn't like to look the part. There is no way on earth that he books these matches to intentionally leave himself with egg on his face. No way ! The sad part is, these were actually pretty safe bets on Inoki's part. The history of MMA is filled with billions of examples of ground fighters taking down and easily submitting standup fighters with no grappling training. Frankly, the K-1 side should have done a lot worse...but they were saved by very favorable rules and some mismatches. I can't imagine anyone thinking that the top 10 K-1 fighters would win any fights against the top 10 Pride fighters in an NHB match. Which is why I think the whole excercise was stupid to begin with. They are different sports and mixing them proves nothing.
Back to the LeBanner fight...how can anyone believe that Jerome's ego would let him lose a worked fight? Especially considering how weak it made him look after running his mouth so much about winning. Plus, what does Ishii gain? He isn't Inoki's yes man. No way he has his poster boy get emasculated in such a fight especially considering how he needs to be built back up after his Grand Prix showing.
When you work fights you do it for a reason. Either you do it to artificially build someone up or you do it to ensure an exciting fight to entertain the fans. Both are business considerations. Well, none of these fights were particularly exciting so they sure weren't worked for that respect. Let's just suppose that they were going to work the LeBanner fight. Accepting the ridiculous notion that Yasuda is a more valuable asset than LeBanner to their respective companies, lets say we book Yasuda to win. If that is the case, you work the fight in a way to at least make the fighters look good in doing so. You would work it so Yasuda won with a jujigatame or some other technical submission to get over that he is an accomplished shooter...not with some rapist choke. Likewise, even if Jerome agrees to take the dive, he at least gets to get some offense in. Or at the very least you make him look like a tough guy...for example, not tapping to a choke and going "completely out". At 12/31, however, Jerome had the "deer in the headlights" look of someone completely out of his element and he tapped out of fear at the first sign of danger. You don't do that if the fight is scripted.
Bottom line, is all the fights were shoots. They were a stupid waste of time in my mind, but they were legitimate contests. The contests ultimately prove nothing other than that Inoki and Ishii have excercised poor judgement. Neither guy comes out ahead with the way these fights ended up. Inoki's "guys" Fujita and Nagata are much worse off now than before, while the only guys who come out looking better are guys like Yamamoto and Yasuda...which doesn't help you at all in terms of business. The K-1 guys are a little better off. Cro Cop has helped himself a bit in terms of fan perception but since K-1 is ultimately performance based, it translates into little if he goes out and loses his fights. Jerome suffers as well because he looks even more like a big mouth now. But he can take some solace in the fact that it doesn't matter how stupid he looks, if he wins his fights he can get back to the Tokyo Dome in December.
Which is what I wish Ishii would let all the K-1 guys would concentrate on, and put this sorry chapter behind us. Unfortunately, I doubt that will happen.
Definitely not a work. Plenty of experienced grapplers tap to all kinds of basic submissions, I have no trouble believing that a guy with zero experience in such ground fighting taps the moment he feels 200+ lbs. crushing his wind pipe. Jerome got scared and tapped there's nothing more sinister to it.
The simple fact is that if you are going to work fights, you work them for a reason. There was little reason to work this fight...and absolutely zero reason to work it with LeBanner losing.
Yasuda is an old man and has been jerking curtains in New Japan Pro Wrestling for years. This win isn't going to make him a star. He surely isn't going to be a successful shooter against skilled MMA opponents and he isn't going to become a star in the world of puroresu. Yasuda lacks the charisma, in-ring ability, and psychology to ever become a star in pro wrestling. He means little to NJPW and Inoki in terms of long-term business potential.
Quite the contrary, however, is Yuji Nagata. Nagata has been groomed as heir apparent to Keiji Mutoh and is NJPW's next breakout star. He was booked to win the recent G-1 Tournament and has a huge interpromotional matchup against NOAH's Jun Akiyama at the Tokyo Dome on Jan. 4. Unlike Yasuda, he is the best permormer in the New Japan heavyweight division and brings tons of charisma, as well as solid ring skills to the table. Basically, he has the one key ingredient to being a success in pro wrestling: he is "over" with the fans. If ever there was a case to work a fight it would be to protect Nagata and have him win or at least draw with Cro Cop. No way you let him get slaughtered like he did in a worked environment.
Same story with Fujita. Fujita was New Japan's IWGP Champion and riding a huge wave of success in both Pride and pro wrestling. The Japanese were ecstatic to finally have a native fighter who could compete with, and actually defeat, the foreign heavies. There is absolutely zero chance that they work a fight to have him lose. Especially when you consider the results...the New Japan booking committee was thrown into chaos by Fujita's loss, as a years worth of building had to be scrapped and storylines rewritten in the wake of that debacle. Since then, Fujita's career has sputtered and gone nowhere. He can likely get it back if he returns to Pride and has some legit. victories, but his mystique in NJPW took a huge hit.
Ditto Nagata. Nagata has no future in MMA, so he is completely dependant upon his image in New Japan. He was slated to win the 1/4 match at the Dome, but now all that is up in the air. He suffered a humiliating loss, and now the New Japan brass are asking themselves how they can elevate a guy who just got destroyed to the #1 position in the company. Answer...they probably can't. There goes months and months of work right down the toilet.
Simply put Inoki is a fool. He made his own career by winning worked fights against martial artists, and somewhere along the line he bought his own press, and started believing that pro wrestlers could win shoots. He isn't completely wrong...some of them can. But in any shoot situation you roll the dice...and he got burned. He thought for sure that Fujita would beat CroCop, and likewise, felt reasonably sure that Nagata could hang with him as well. He lost those gambles and ended up looking stupid to both fans as well as those who pull the strings behind the scenes in the pro-wrestling world. Inoki may be a fool, but it is certain he doesn't like to look the part. There is no way on earth that he books these matches to intentionally leave himself with egg on his face. No way ! The sad part is, these were actually pretty safe bets on Inoki's part. The history of MMA is filled with billions of examples of ground fighters taking down and easily submitting standup fighters with no grappling training. Frankly, the K-1 side should have done a lot worse...but they were saved by very favorable rules and some mismatches. I can't imagine anyone thinking that the top 10 K-1 fighters would win any fights against the top 10 Pride fighters in an NHB match. Which is why I think the whole excercise was stupid to begin with. They are different sports and mixing them proves nothing.
Back to the LeBanner fight...how can anyone believe that Jerome's ego would let him lose a worked fight? Especially considering how weak it made him look after running his mouth so much about winning. Plus, what does Ishii gain? He isn't Inoki's yes man. No way he has his poster boy get emasculated in such a fight especially considering how he needs to be built back up after his Grand Prix showing.
When you work fights you do it for a reason. Either you do it to artificially build someone up or you do it to ensure an exciting fight to entertain the fans. Both are business considerations. Well, none of these fights were particularly exciting so they sure weren't worked for that respect. Let's just suppose that they were going to work the LeBanner fight. Accepting the ridiculous notion that Yasuda is a more valuable asset than LeBanner to their respective companies, lets say we book Yasuda to win. If that is the case, you work the fight in a way to at least make the fighters look good in doing so. You would work it so Yasuda won with a jujigatame or some other technical submission to get over that he is an accomplished shooter...not with some rapist choke. Likewise, even if Jerome agrees to take the dive, he at least gets to get some offense in. Or at the very least you make him look like a tough guy...for example, not tapping to a choke and going "completely out". At 12/31, however, Jerome had the "deer in the headlights" look of someone completely out of his element and he tapped out of fear at the first sign of danger. You don't do that if the fight is scripted.
Bottom line, is all the fights were shoots. They were a stupid waste of time in my mind, but they were legitimate contests. The contests ultimately prove nothing other than that Inoki and Ishii have excercised poor judgement. Neither guy comes out ahead with the way these fights ended up. Inoki's "guys" Fujita and Nagata are much worse off now than before, while the only guys who come out looking better are guys like Yamamoto and Yasuda...which doesn't help you at all in terms of business. The K-1 guys are a little better off. Cro Cop has helped himself a bit in terms of fan perception but since K-1 is ultimately performance based, it translates into little if he goes out and loses his fights. Jerome suffers as well because he looks even more like a big mouth now. But he can take some solace in the fact that it doesn't matter how stupid he looks, if he wins his fights he can get back to the Tokyo Dome in December.
Which is what I wish Ishii would let all the K-1 guys would concentrate on, and put this sorry chapter behind us. Unfortunately, I doubt that will happen.
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