Post by Dr. Wrestling on Aug 23, 2008 13:14:48 GMT -5
This week for That's My Story and I'm sticking to it I'll be telling you what I think of the WWE possibly signing NOAH star and former Ring Of Honor World champion, Takeshi Morishima.
Takeshi Morishima is one of the main stars in Pro Wrestling NOAH, which is considered by some to be the top promotion in Japan and he is also the current GHC Heavy Weight champion for the promotion. He has also spent time in the United States when he was Ring Of Honor world champion and was featured on ROH PPV during his eight month reign as champion. The WWE signing Morishima is an interesting story because while he is a star in Japan because of his size and agility,his work in the U.S. has been debated, which is mostly due to the fact that when he was the ROH champion he was compared to past ROH champions. Those champions competed at a top level and Takeshi Morishima at least in my opinion was not on the same level as those past champions in terms of in ring ability or the pace of the matches. Don't get me wrong here, Morishima has some skill but because of his size, his matches were often slow paced and he lacked technical skills, which didn't seem to mesh well with the ROH style. During his time in ROH, I watched a decent amount of Morishima's matches and there's really only one match that I could say was great, which was against Bryan Danielson at the "Man Up" PPV while the rest of his matches seemed just average. Besides being compared to past ROH champions, Takeshi Morishima is by no means "the best NOAH has to offer" and the motive ROH had for bringing him to the United States is suspect. ROH booker, Gabe Sapolosky seems to have the "if they are from Japan then they are a great wrestler" theory, which isn't always true and you have to wonder if giving Takeshi Morishima the ROH title was more of a way for ROH to establish a business connection with NOAH then it was a way to help ROH? It's a valid question because NOAH has been associated with ROH's tour of Japan and they are associated with ROH's upcoming return to Japan in September.
As far as the WWE signing Morishima, he worked dark matches at last week's T.V. tapings when he wrestled Charlie Hass at Raw and Jamie Noble at Smackdown. It's worth noting that his manager for the matches was WWE Hall of Fame member, Tony Atlas and he worked the matches with the permission of NOAH. I have to say, I think Takeshi Morishima's style would work very well in the WWE and alot better then it did in ROH. With his size and agility he could be a major star, especially if he was a heel with a manager to do the mic work. There's really alot of potential for him in the WWE and as I said I think he could be a major heel. Even though he is the current GHC Heavy Weight champion in NOAH, there's still a possibility that the WWE could sign him because the WWE has signed major japanese stars in the past. In 1995, Jinsei Shinzaki was signed from Michinoku Pro and had a short run in the WWF but during that run when he was known as Hakushi he wrestled Bret Hart for the WWF title at an "In Your House" PPV event. Another example of the WWE signing Japanese talent was in 1997 when TAKA Michinoku was signed to help start the Light Heavy Weight title division, which didn't really get off the ground but TAKA did become the first Light Heavy Weight champion when he defeated Brian Christopher in a tournament finals match at the WWF "Ground Zero" PPV and he would remain with the company for the next few years.
If Morishima is signed with the WWE, he will obviously have to drop the GHC Heavy Weight title but NOAH has more then a enough and quite frankly better talent that could replace him, which makes the signing even more possible to happen. NOAH has the legendary Kenta Kobashi, who is one of the best in Japan and he even returned to the ring a few months ago after beating cancer, which is just an amazing thing to do and it's awesome that Kobashi could return to the ring. Marufuji is a former GHC champion and has made some ROH appearances but wrestles full time for NOAH so he is very useful for the promotion as well. KENTA is one of NOAH's best young stars and it seems like it's only a matter of time before he becomes the company's top stars. He has also made U.S. appearances for ROH but very similar to Marufjui, he is wrestling full time in Japan. Another young NOAH star that has to be mentioned is Mohammad Yone, who is known for his wrestling skill as well as his trade mark afo. NOAH's president and former champion Misawa is way past his prime in my opinion but he is still a draw so that could be useful if Morishima would sign with the WWE.
Until next week
That's My Story and I'm Sticking To It
Dr. Wrestling
If you have comments or questions e mail me drwrestlingallpro@yahoo.com
Takeshi Morishima is one of the main stars in Pro Wrestling NOAH, which is considered by some to be the top promotion in Japan and he is also the current GHC Heavy Weight champion for the promotion. He has also spent time in the United States when he was Ring Of Honor world champion and was featured on ROH PPV during his eight month reign as champion. The WWE signing Morishima is an interesting story because while he is a star in Japan because of his size and agility,his work in the U.S. has been debated, which is mostly due to the fact that when he was the ROH champion he was compared to past ROH champions. Those champions competed at a top level and Takeshi Morishima at least in my opinion was not on the same level as those past champions in terms of in ring ability or the pace of the matches. Don't get me wrong here, Morishima has some skill but because of his size, his matches were often slow paced and he lacked technical skills, which didn't seem to mesh well with the ROH style. During his time in ROH, I watched a decent amount of Morishima's matches and there's really only one match that I could say was great, which was against Bryan Danielson at the "Man Up" PPV while the rest of his matches seemed just average. Besides being compared to past ROH champions, Takeshi Morishima is by no means "the best NOAH has to offer" and the motive ROH had for bringing him to the United States is suspect. ROH booker, Gabe Sapolosky seems to have the "if they are from Japan then they are a great wrestler" theory, which isn't always true and you have to wonder if giving Takeshi Morishima the ROH title was more of a way for ROH to establish a business connection with NOAH then it was a way to help ROH? It's a valid question because NOAH has been associated with ROH's tour of Japan and they are associated with ROH's upcoming return to Japan in September.
As far as the WWE signing Morishima, he worked dark matches at last week's T.V. tapings when he wrestled Charlie Hass at Raw and Jamie Noble at Smackdown. It's worth noting that his manager for the matches was WWE Hall of Fame member, Tony Atlas and he worked the matches with the permission of NOAH. I have to say, I think Takeshi Morishima's style would work very well in the WWE and alot better then it did in ROH. With his size and agility he could be a major star, especially if he was a heel with a manager to do the mic work. There's really alot of potential for him in the WWE and as I said I think he could be a major heel. Even though he is the current GHC Heavy Weight champion in NOAH, there's still a possibility that the WWE could sign him because the WWE has signed major japanese stars in the past. In 1995, Jinsei Shinzaki was signed from Michinoku Pro and had a short run in the WWF but during that run when he was known as Hakushi he wrestled Bret Hart for the WWF title at an "In Your House" PPV event. Another example of the WWE signing Japanese talent was in 1997 when TAKA Michinoku was signed to help start the Light Heavy Weight title division, which didn't really get off the ground but TAKA did become the first Light Heavy Weight champion when he defeated Brian Christopher in a tournament finals match at the WWF "Ground Zero" PPV and he would remain with the company for the next few years.
If Morishima is signed with the WWE, he will obviously have to drop the GHC Heavy Weight title but NOAH has more then a enough and quite frankly better talent that could replace him, which makes the signing even more possible to happen. NOAH has the legendary Kenta Kobashi, who is one of the best in Japan and he even returned to the ring a few months ago after beating cancer, which is just an amazing thing to do and it's awesome that Kobashi could return to the ring. Marufuji is a former GHC champion and has made some ROH appearances but wrestles full time for NOAH so he is very useful for the promotion as well. KENTA is one of NOAH's best young stars and it seems like it's only a matter of time before he becomes the company's top stars. He has also made U.S. appearances for ROH but very similar to Marufjui, he is wrestling full time in Japan. Another young NOAH star that has to be mentioned is Mohammad Yone, who is known for his wrestling skill as well as his trade mark afo. NOAH's president and former champion Misawa is way past his prime in my opinion but he is still a draw so that could be useful if Morishima would sign with the WWE.
Until next week
That's My Story and I'm Sticking To It
Dr. Wrestling
If you have comments or questions e mail me drwrestlingallpro@yahoo.com