>thanklessly has better TV matches on throwaway C-shows from 20+ years ago than any of the "workrate banger" merchants on TV todayHow did he do it? What was his secret to consistency?
>>19430649Good training
>>19430649Japanese lightweights were workrate banger merchants Anon, but you're allowed to like them.
>>19430664They were workrate banger merchants, today's guys are "workrate banger" merchants with quotation marks
>>19430739So what you're saying is, that being a smark was cool back then but now it isn't?
>>19430757You're so upset lmao
>>19431188Getting invested in a short debate hardly makes me feel upset, though I suppose since you're laughing your arse off you're actually right
>>19430757this but unironically
>>19430757Pretty much. Back in the day the dudes in the crowd with smarky signs were always normal looking men in their 20s. Now they're 40+, fat, and balding.
>>19430664Tajiri actually had a personality and was unique and funny
>>19430649He always tossed his opponents' salad the night before the match.Something about "chi" or some sort shit. Dunno. Sure could shine a butthole, though.
>>19432165>20 years ago smarks in their 20s are in their 40s nowno way
>>19430649>How did he do it?I don't know why but I also had this thought and the only conclusion I could come to is Tajiri is the GOAT.
>>19432466Most of them stopped taking wrestling so seriously so only the most vile ones remained.
>>19433290The worst part is that the ones that left never got replaced by younger smarks. So now you're left with an aging audience that demands that the companies pander to them. Most young people die of embarrassment when they turn wrestling on.
>>19430649He had quite a number of trademark spots that the crowd would always pop for. Also, he mastered the thigh slaps before they were spammed to death.
Honestly this may be why I can't get into AEW25 years ago they'd all be sunday night heatershow times have changed
>>19433979the actual truth is that the WWE C-shows in the early 2000s were absolutely stacked with great talent that was cursed to come up too early to move up the cardfor example if paul london opted not to sign with WWE in 2003 and kept working TNA, ROH and japan he could have had a career like styles or danielson. he was on their level in the ring and had the same "secretly charismatic vanilla midget" thing vibe to him but burnt out way too soon.
Midcarders back then are coolhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJr5w-amdJk
>>19430649It's really bizarre to me. I don't understand why modern wrestling is considered good when I can watch old matches and they are always miles better. I was watching a random fucking drew mcintyre vs matt hardy match from pretaped smackdown era and it had better pacing and timing than any modern slop
cause he's japanese you racist
>>19433312This is any hobby that doesn’t renew itself properly. The issue is, there does need to come a certain time of acceptance where you realize the mythical “new” (young people, women, foreign market, brand new casual viewers) audience they keep chasing is never going to materialize. Mistreating the only people who actually care about your product will eventually be the death of your industry (looking at you comic books)
>>19430664>>19430757not really. nobody was arguing if tajiri was actually the best wrestler and had the best matches. you liked him because he was funny and the mist was cool. smark back then meant someone who didn't like boring crap. now smark means loving boring crap.
>>19435505Both these guys are still extremely active which is cool. Tajiri's still full time in Japan and Rhino was signed to TNA until fairly recently. Also speaking of former ECW guys who are still wrestling full time, somehow Masato Tanaka is still going strong after taking more nasty unprotected chair shots to the head than possibly anyone. And he's still good, too.
>>19435662>now smark means loving boring crap.
>>19435657There are still little things they could do that won't piss off the core audience. Like banning wrestlers from wearing skinny jeans.
