2008 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

So he can become, what now, 12-time world champion? :

 

He's trying to catch that wheelin' and dealin' son of a gun who loves to style and profile.

 

wooooooo.

 

Yep. Not counting the overnight title switches he had with Giant Baba in Singapore.

Wait, er, um, wrong guy. :

 

When was that? And who is Giant Baba?

 

Surely you jest.

 

Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki were the Hulk Hogans of Japan. But they owned the companies, as well (New Japan Pro and All Japan Pro).

Before them, Rikidozan was the wrestling god in Japan. Riki was stabbed by members of the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia. He trained Baba (who was something like 6' 8") and Inoki (who was actually Brazilian).

When Harley Race was NWA champion, he did a favor for Giant Baba by dropping the title to him during a tour and regaining it a week later.

Ric Flair and Race did something similar, only in Singapore. The NWA refused to acknowledge the title switches because they were not agreed to by the NWA Board of Directors, who voted on champions.

 

I honestly didn't know who Giant Baba was. Before my time, I guess.

 

I know it's probably one of those wrestling urban legends, but didn't Flair and Race decided to do the Singapore title switch after a night of partying?

I think that title switch is now counted among Flair's 16. Both him and HHH have a long way to go to break Jerry Lawler's USWA record, which is, I think 40-something.

 

Damn bro, you know your stuff. I only heard of Rikidozan when I was looking at a list of dead athletes who did during their active career.

BTW, Inoki was Japanese born and raised in Brazil though, eh?

 

Some interesting tidbits from f4wonline.com:

-- The McMahon/Finlay/Hornswoggle program should be continuing through at least WrestleMania. There has been talks doing something between Vince & Finlay at WrestleMania. Mick Foley may also come into play in McMahon's Mania plans. There have also been talks of Vince vs. Foley, Foley vs. Shane McMahon, or Finlay & Foley vs. Vince & Shane.

-- The feud between Matt Hardy and MVP will resume when Hardy is cleared is to wrestle again, which should be very soon. WWE's plan is to cultimate the feud at WrestleMania with a U.S. title match.

-- WWE plans on holding a Money in the Bank match for the fourth consecutive year at WrestleMania 24 in Orlando. The match will feature Jeff Hardy and five other big stars WWE doesn't have any plans for at WrestleMania.

-- Regarding CM Punk's title loss to Chavo Guerrero, his clean loss to Edge on SmackDown in his big revenge match a few days later, and being eliminated by Chavo at the Royal Rumble, he is reportedly in "the dog house" again. The story backstage is that Punk isn't listening to the road agents who dictate his matches and that his house show matches as of late have been considered to be "indy level sloppy." Also, the agents aren't too pleased that he reportedly laughs about his botches in matches when he comes backstage. As if that isn't enough, there appears to be another political issue of some sort involving Punk hitting on the wrong person in the company.

-- More on Bobby Lashley's departure from WWE. He is the one that wanted out of WWE and not vice versa. Furthermore, he didn't want out to go to a MMA promotion, or TNA, or anywhere else, he simply wanted out of WWE.

-- Ever since John Cena's surprise in-ring return Sunday night at the Royal Rumble, Triple H has reportedly been politicking like crazy for the WrestleMania main event slot.

 

Correct on Inoki.

Speaking of Rikidozan, he wasn't Japanese -- he was Korean. Japanese would have hated him had they known the secret at the time.

I've been hardcore since I was 6. I long for the old days. If they ever have a "Pro Wrestling" category on Jeopardy!, I'm so there.