by Daniel Johnson
Hate vs. Nobutaka Araya
One criticism I’ve been seeing around a lot online of current NWA World Heavyweight Champion Kahagas is that he is a rip-off of The Great Muta. While there are plenty of reasons to attack the current incarnation of the NWA this one just leaves me scratching my head. Plenty of wrestlers have been influenced by Muta without facing as much criticism. One wrestler in particular, Hate is featured in the above clip.
As for the match quality of this bout it is an odd pairing to say the least. Hate flips off the audience to get some heat, but as soon as he goes after Araya (who in that yellow singlet looks reminiscent of a Peep) it is obvious Araya isn’t going to sell a lot for his much smaller opponent. Hate draws more from Muta and continues with his heel tactics eventually bringing in a fire extinguisher. Hate fails to use it the first time and Araya performs the move of the match shortly later with a Vader moonsault. I call it a Vader moonsault because it is obvious that whenever these guys try that move there is no way they are going to hit it. Otherwise there would be a Muta inspired pancake to scrape off the mat. Hate closes things out by throwing the fire extinguisher at Araya’s face which is apparently legal in Japan.
To get back to the initial point let’s play devil’s advocate and say Kahagas, Hate and other wrestlers are just ripping off Muta. Isn’t it more fun to have a bunch of Muta clones than generic guys wrestling in black tights?
Categories: Wrestling Clips
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