With the Best of the Super Juniors XIX fast approaching I thought I would showcase a few combatants. This match makes it easy as everyone in it will be competing in the tournament with the lone exception being Brian Kendrick.
Jado and Gedo have worked as a tag team with amazing chemistry for years, but each can pull out a good match when put into singles action. Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask IV have records that should speak for themselves, but both are never willing to be the least valuable player in a match. Just look at Liger’s crossbody off the top rope to the floor! KUSHIDA is considerably younger than the other four and has the most to prove. This is an intriguing factor to consider when taking in this upcoming tournament.
WCW closed its doors over 10 years ago when it was purchased by the WWF and as such the future looked bleak for cruiserweights. Never known for pushing its smaller talents the WWF and later WWE at least tried to have a cruiserweight division.
Shane Helms came in with the WCW Cruiserweight Championship and eventually dropped it to Billy Kidman. While Kidman had some decent matches, a year later he was the only wrestler known primarily for his work in WCW to hold the title. Eventually, the title, which was now known as the WWE Cruiserweight Championship was given to the renamed Gregory Helms and promptly forgotten for a year. Then it was given to Chavo Guerrero and forgotten for half a year. Finally, the title was put on comedy wrestler Hornswoggle and forgotten about until at least 2012.
However, what if instead of letting the title gradually die, the WWF instead brought in as many of WCW’s former cruiserweights as they could get their hands on? They’d probably book them horribly and the title would die anyways. Still, here is the top 10 WCW cruiserweights who never made it to WWF/WWE TV!
1. Jushin “Thunder” Liger
Despite holding the forgotten version of the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship, international sensation Jushin “Thunder” Liger never wrestled a single match on WWF/WWE television. Snagging Liger in the early to mid-1990s may have been ideal for two reasons. First, Liger was arguably in his physical prime. Second, Liger would have been an interesting fit during the New Generation Era. Even if the WWF didn’t give him a strong push just imagine the matches he would have had with Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and the 1-2-3 Kid just to name a few. Yet, Liger has had a lengthy career and would have been a strong presence even about seven or eight years later when the WWF absorbed WCW.
2. Alex Wright
I have often thought that if how successful a wrestler will be relied solely on their talent then Alex Wright would have had multiple WWE Championship reigns. I really wanted to put Wright at the very top of this list and would have, if it wasn’t for the undisputable awesomeness that is Jushin “Thunder” Liger. While it may be a little farfetched to say Wright could do it all, he had an impressive range both inside and outside the ring. Technical wrestling? Check. High flying ? Check. Ability to read the crowd? Check. Also, while his German accent might have annoyed some fans, he was criminally underrated in his interview skills. Don’t let the voice fool you! Wright was nowhere near Brakus territory.
3. La Parka
Just about anyone could see, especially in his later WCW career that La Parka was hardly just a skeleton. Although he may not have always technically been a cruiserweight, he pretty much exclusively wrestled against cruiserweights and that is good enough for me. La Parka was let go before WCW closed down and the WWF should have snatched him up then. Forget being solely in the cruiserweight division! The chairman of WCW would have fit perfectly into the WWF’s hardcore division! Even now it would be fun to see La Parka (or L.A. Park as he is now known) make a cameo in the WWE. Still, if La Parka never appears in the WWE, he at least is doing pretty well for himself in AAA.
4. Disco Inferno
Disco Inferno always seemed like he would be a better fit for the WWF than WCW. At least before Vince Russo came to the company, WCW was known as being more of a pure wrestling company than the WWF. Yet, even among the Dean Malenkos, Chris Jerichos and Eddie Guerreros, plenty of gimmick wrestlers with less than ideal workrates existed. I am not sure when Disco Inferno would have worked best in the WWF. He seems like he would have worked in the New Generation Era, but probably would have come off as bad as those occupational gimmicks that mid-1990s wrestling fans would like to forget. Since he at least had a personality and could be funny perhaps he could have worked as a manager for lower card guys after WCW was purchased.
5. Lenny Lane
Even before WCW saw fit to give Lenny Lane a gimmick and some mic time, I saw some potential in him. At that point on the surface all that stood out about him was that for some reason he wore tights with a Confederate Flag on them and looked like a Chris Jericho clone. Yet, if one actually paid attention to his matches then he or she would see what he was capable of. Oh well, at leasy you can still book him for your next birthday bash. Anyway, Lane would have worked best being brought in with tag team partner Lodi. At the time, the WWF actually had a tag team division and they would have made a great addition as a lower tier team. Think of them as Billy and Chuck, but a few years earlier.
6. Lodi
While not being quite as handy in the ring as Lenny Lane, partner Lodi had one advantage that Lane did not. He probably could have worked in a greater number of scenarios. As mentioned he could have worked well as a lower tier team with Lane, but there is no reason to pigeonhole him. Just look how he transformed himself after his WCW tenure! With this look Lodi would have been good as a serious competitor in either the cruiserweight or hardcore divisions. With his old WCW look he also could have been a fun comedy wrestler. As long as they kept his mouth shut as anyone who has heard him talk can attest that his accent really doesn’t match his WCW look.
7. Blitzkrieg
Probably one of the more sane guys you’ll find in wrestling, Jay Ross, the man who wore the mask of Blitzkrieg retired early his career to become a computer technician. He most likely has a comfortable life that is a lot less stressful than the life a typical full-time wrestler lives. Yet, the greedy side of me wishes he never left and at least went to TNA, if not WWF/WWE. While, I don’t think he ever spoke, Blitzkrieg could give a hell of a performance in the ring. So much so that he won Rookie of the Year from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards in 1999.
8. Damien
Damien or Damian 666 as he is known by his much cooler name, was a wrestler that stood out to me as soon as he came to WCW for purely superficial reasons. Simply put, he looked cool. Anyone who has followed his work in Mexico can attest that he is a flexible wrestler capable of working an array of styles. Damien can play a good henchman as his work in the Mexican stable, Perros del Mal demonstrates. In the WWE he could have worked in a similar position by filling the role of the cruiserweight in a heel stable. It is also worth mentioning that WWE showed interest in him well into his forties according to 411mania.com.
9. Villano IV
Villano IV from the Los Villanos stable of wrestlers was one of the bulkier looking luchadores in WCW. I always thought it was at least unique if nothing else that he had a clone more or less when they brought in partner Villano V. Together the two regularly teamed in WCW and were tough to tell apart. Perhaps they could have worked similarly in the WWF as a modern day Mexican Killer Bees team. Hold on a second. That either sounds awesome or completely terrible. I’m not sure which hence why he ranks at number nine.
10. Super Calo
Super Calo bumps Villano V from the 10 spot due mostly to his ability to make gang signs while wearing a mask and still looking completely non-threatening. Additionally, he even had a short stint in ECW proving that he could be extreme. Unfortunately, WCW never saw fit to give him a personality outside of wearing a silver mask and baggy clothing. Still, Calo was among the plethora of luchadores in WCW who viewers could always count on to have an interesting match. They helped to make that Steve “Mongo” McMichael promo that much easier to sit through.
Honorable Mention:
Elix Skipper
Before someone bites my head off for not including Elix Skipper on this list, I’ll say flat out that Skipper should arguably rank in the top three or four. However, Skipper was signed briefly to a contract with the WWF and I think a few glimpses of him made it to WWF TV. Still, Skipper never had a proper run in the WWF/WWE giving me some reason to at least include him as an honorable mention. Since, I left him off of the list I figure that the least I can do is post this:
Correction: Apparently Lenny Lane did make a onetime appearance on the WWE incarnation of ECW. However, he was never under contract and never appeared on either of the company’s two major brands.
Hopefully, the prevailing image that mainstream American wrestling fans have of the Ultimo Dragon will be of a great high flyer that was actually used somewhat well in WCW. However, I’m sure at least a few will merely think of him as that guy who slipped on his cape at Wrestlemania.
Fortunately, Ultimo Dragon has a good sense of humor as he demonstrates in this match with the hot and spicy Curry Man. Although even Dragon does some dancing at one point, the match is not purely for comedic effect and the two use some solid ring psychology as the match progresses. Site visitors may enjoy the fact that there are English speaking commentators for this match, which is a good contrast to all the clips I usually post in Japanese and Spanish. By the end of it though you may be begging for those foreign languages as this pair do a pretty bad impression of Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon.
The in-ring duo play well to the crowd and while the Asai moonsault and the best moonsault ever appear in pretty much every match Dragon and Daniels…uh…I mean Curry Man wrestle in, having them trade these maneuvers against each other is incredible.
Well, not really. At least not in the way that Jim Cornette or any of your old favorites are involved in the promotion. No, Jimmy Del Ray will not jiggle as your gigolo again anytime soon (maybe that’s a good thing). However, NWA Smoky Mountain runs shows at some of the old SMW stops including Morristown, Tennessee where this match took place.
This bout is typical of the sort you’ll find in the main event of indie promotions that are above bush league, but not on the level of a CZW or PWG. The wrestlers are fairly fit and at least make attempts to play to the crowd. Both obviously rehearsed their spots quite a bit, which keeps the match from having a completely natural flow. Also, it is a shame the hard “fan camera” is facing the way it is as the side that the camera is on (or at least the front row of it) is really into the match. Still, I have a feeling that, that side is just as barren as the one the camera is facing.
If you are expecting a Ric Flair or Bret Hart caliber match then you are insane. The only thing you’re going to see here is chaos! Whatever happened to Bob Sapp? Oh yeah, he went into more serious competitive work outside of wrestling. Bad career choice if you ask me. At the height of his online fame I even saw him mentioned in an academic paper on perceptions of race that I was skimming through. Now, I never see him mentioned unless I actually bother to look for him. At least he still makes wrestling appearances, but his star has certainly faded stateside.
Here, he goes up against everyone’s favorite sword wielding, in-ring deadweight Tiger Jeet Singh. As I mentioned the match is mayhem, but the pre-match interviews are classic. Just think if Bob Sapp had his way we would not only have had the first black president of the United States elected in 2008, but the first black president of the United States to win the presidency via beating a foreign citizen in a wrestling match in Japan. That’s the kind of candidate I can get behind!
An intriguing aspect of this match is looking at where each of these guys was just five years from when it took place. RVD was in the hottest independent promotion in the United States while fans wondered when he would finally jump to the WWF or WCW and realize his potential as a main event player in a major company. On the other side of the spectrum after an underwhelming run in the WWF and an even more forgettable stint in ECW (both with partner Doug Furnas), Dan Kroffat aka Phil Lafon was out of the minds of most mainstream American wrestling fans for good.
Where each ended up though has next to nothing to do with their in-ring abilities if you look solely at this match. RVD is not wrestling with a broomstick here. In fact, at the time Kroffat was a much more established wrestler and had already been given a 5 star match rating by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. It’s too bad the WWF never paired him and Furnas with a manager that could act as the mouth behind the muscle. I’m thinking Jimmy Hart, but unfortunately he was long gone by that point.
As any serious fan of Japanese wrestling knows, Tiger Mask I had a legendary series of matches with Dynamite Kid. With their chemistry being as good as it was, it is easy to forget that as those matches were happening Tiger Mask I was also paired with Bret Hart.
Hart’s early matches are a pleasure to watch especially if you go into them not knowing what to expect. The Hitman-esque punches he throws early in the match should tell you it is going to be worth watching. On the unexpected side Bret looks huge in this match! Next to Tiger Mask, he looks like a brunette mini-Dino Bravo!
Getting back to the actual quality of the match I don’t think you’ll ever hear the phrase, “that bad Bret Hart/Tiger Mask match.” These two present a good give and take bout. The only minor flaw is that the rest holds go on a tiny bit longer than need be in the early going. Still, later on the submissions used really look painful thanks to the selling. The way Bret screams it sounds like his knee is about to get ripped off by that figure four!
One stereotype that some American wrestling fans have of wrestling in Japan is that Japanese crowds are always quiet and respectful. As hopefully some of the matches I have already written about show this is not always the case. While there are plenty of quiet Japanese crowds, wrestling fans are capable of getting just as crazy in Japan as they are in America. It also helps that this really is a match worth going crazy for!
At a time when tag team wrestling is as undervalued as it is now in mainstream American wrestling, it is almost tough to believe that a tag match this good can happen. The two traits that really make this match are the teases and false finishes. Before the first powerbomb is achieved it is teased plenty of times, which makes that first impact all the more worth it. As for false finishes, just look at what they come up with for the actual finish. It would have been awesome regardless, but those false finishes and having a pumped up crowd on top of it makes that finish look absolutely devastating!
Yes, X-Pac is still wrestling. This match is over a year old, but it occurred long after X-Pac admitted that he had hepatitis C. While some may not blink an eye at this, others may be opposed to his continuing to perform because of the dangers of infecting an opponent.
As for me I’ll cop out and say that X-Pac would best be utilized as a trainer these days. Even he would probably admit that his best days are behind him. Yet, he still has a great mind for the business if you ever hear him talk about the current product.
The match itself is mediocre. Nothing particularly exciting happens, but at the same time neither guy embarrasses himself.
Just an observation, but I often come across this question whenever I read things about Konnan on the Internet. By comparison I have never seen the question, “remember when Konnan was good in the ring?” So, I thought I would post this match to answer that question. Now, I am not saying necessarily that this match proves that Konnan could go in the ring at one point. However, if you don’t think Konnan put on a good match here then you may be hard pressed to find a Konnan match that you enjoy.
The reason that Konnan is often cited as being so poor in the ring is largely because of injuries. Now, even in this match that took place nearly 20 years ago at Triplemania I, Konnan was still a veteran of about six years. As such, you can try to go back earlier to find an even healthier Konnan, but at least in my experience this match is pretty typical of early Konnan.
