Why does every japanese wrestler that comes to WWE turned into jobber

[pigman]

Why does every japanese wrestler that goes to WWE a jobber. They either give him some stupid gimmick or he always loses to a guy that my little brother could beat. I surprised that they let Yoshihiro Tajiri tag team champion. Thats probably all that they will allow him to have. I'm not mad at WWE or anything its just that they treat wrestlers with such amazing ability like crap.

[Mco543]

They cant get over or connect with the fans. The only Japanese wrestler thats ever gotten over and/or significantly connected with the fans was Muta. The reason he was headlining WCW pay-per views and winning their championships wasnt only because he was doing things noone has ever seen before it was because the fans loved him and wanted to see him. Muta and the fans had a connection whereas Tajiri and the WWE fans dont. Yea they enjoy seeing him but they dont care one way or the other noone buys a ticket to a raw house show hoping to see Tajiri.

[kwilson83]

I beg to differ, Mco553. Throughout different points of his career, Tajiri has been very over with the fans. He was in ECW, and he was during his time as a tag team champion with Eddie a few years ago. The problem is he never gets a push that lasts for longer then a month or two, and then he fades back. While I don't think he is on the level to be the world champion, I believe that he could be more successful if he was given a longer push and a more important storyline.

Fans don't pay to see most mid-carders, but it is also the job of Creative to get the fans to care through storylines. Really, I think there are only 4 or 5 wrestlers in the WWE that people buy a house show ticket just to see, and that does not include the Smackdown! world champion ;) So that probably isn't a real fair benchmark to set to determine if a wrestler is successful or not.

[MARTYEWR]

Basically, it's whether Vince sees them as anything special or not. Lots of them CAN get over. Tajiri has. Funaki has. TAKA Michinoku (while with Funaki) had. The brief series in 1997 between TAKA Michinoku and the Great Sasuke got over well with the fans. Kenzo Suzuki (while not exactly a favourite of mine) has received solid reactions. But again, it's whether or not Vince McMahon sees anything in them to push them into the upper card. The WWE has always been not about making the fans happy, but making Vince (as well as Hunter these days) happy. Actually, you can say that about a lot of other promotions as well.

[One to Remember X]

What Vince sees is not always right. With Muhhamed Hassan I compare with the Iron Sheik with the WWF title in 1983 I compare Kenzo with Mr. Saitō with the AWA World title. The problem is Vinch want experiment like his dad. No one gets chances and long shots arnt even explored for a week or month. Why even bother with hiring him at all if he has no faith? It want hurt the company to give it a try. Stan "the man" Stasiak would've vouched for me.

[Luds]

Reasons:

#1: Most talented puro wrestlers stay in Japan

#2: WWE doesn't care at all about cruiserweights. That's why Akio and Tajiri are jobbers.

#3: Kenzo Suzuki sucked in New Japan, so he won't be much better in WWE!

[One to Remember X]

#1. Not ex-NWA World champion Masa Chono. Jushin Liger. Mr. Saito, ex-AWA World champion. The WWF tried to give TAKA a legit chance as LHW champ. Tanaka was ECW World champion. Ultimo Dragon. Mr. Fuji in his prime.

#2. X-Pac is a crusierweight and so is Jericho. Jericho is a high mid-carder. I believe Christian is an ex WWF light hw champ. Guerrero was WWE champ and an ex Welterweight and Crusierweight champ. X-Pac came close to main eventing at times and joined the NWO. You see Mysterio at the Rumble?

#3. Ultimo Dragon hasnt sucked ANYWHERE yet he sucked in WWE. Somethins gotta be done and a J free TNA his the closest soluction.

[kwilson83]

1. All those wrestlers you named were not full fledged wrestlers in the WWE except for TAKA and maybe Saito. Chono only had a handful of matches on American soil, so he can hardly count period. The topic says "WWE." Liger, Chono, and Tanaka were not in the WWF(E).

2. All those wrestlers don't wrestle as a cruiserweight any longer. The only option a lightweight has IS to move up to a different weight class. Mysterio, in case you haven't watched Smackdown lately, doesn't usually wrestle cruiserweights now. It's the division Vince doesn't care about, some wrestlers have been lucky/skilled enough to move up.

3. Dragon didn't suck in WWE. He just wasn't pushed. His matches I thought were quite entertaining.

[One to Remember X]

although the W(W)WF/E would be included in question 1 it wasnt directly in reagards to WWE but WWE would still be a huge part of any equation.

[Luds]

#1. Not ex-NWA World champion Masa Chono. Jushin Liger. Mr. Saito, ex-AWA World champion. The WWF tried to give TAKA a legit chance as LHW champ. Tanaka was ECW World champion. Ultimo Dragon. Mr. Fuji in his prime.

#2. X-Pac is a crusierweight and so is Jericho. Jericho is a high mid-carder. I believe Christian is an ex WWF light hw champ. Guerrero was WWE champ and an ex Welterweight and Crusierweight champ. X-Pac came close to main eventing at times and joined the NWO. You see Mysterio at the Rumble?

#3. Ultimo Dragon hasnt sucked ANYWHERE yet he sucked in WWE. Somethins gotta be done and a J free TNA his the closest soluction.

One To Remember, seriously, you missed the point completely.

#1 Chono, Liger, Saito, TAKA, Tanaka only had minor stints in America.
The point which you missed is that basically every major Japanese stars stay in Japan. Name them. Kobashi, Misawa, Muta, Chono, Kawada, Choshu, Koshinaka, Hase, Fujinami... All the talented Japanese guys spent like 95% of their time in JAPAN. THAT's was the point.

#2 I'm talking about the CRUISERWEIGHT DIVISION here. Again you missed the point completely. I'm not talking about wrestlers who make it and have a cruiserweight weight like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho... I'm talking about CRUISERWEIGHTS. Like the fact that WWE puts about 10 minutes of cruiserweight action per show. They don't give a **** about them. WCW used to have at least 2 or 3 cruiserweight matches per shows, and many of these matches were classics since they had plenty of time to work to play with.

#3 WWE has Kenzo, who sucks. They had Ultimo and didn't use him see point #2. They have Akio who isn't used see point #2. They have Tajiri. See point #2. The POINT here is that WWE only has untalented Japanese wrestlers (like Suzuki) or cruiserweights which they don't use (point #2.)

[MARTYEWR]

To add to Luds' first point, Masato Tanaka never went to the WWE ever. He was only in ECW when in North America.

BTW, Luds, how have you been? Haven't seen you in a while. Vacation?

[One to Remember X]

I think Tanaka and Saito are fair to mention due to the WWF's habbit of taking top ECW and AWA stars.

As for Jericho I actually couldnt believe Y2J because when I last saw "lion heart" in WCW he was still winning Crusierweight titles and only recently got his hands on the TV title. I think its not that Mcmahon doesnt care but more the WWE/Sports entertainment structure. Meaning that the top titles already command/auto-receive respect and that other titles would need to run on absolute star power. Meaning each week we'd need to have Liger, Dragon, Red, AJ Styles, X-Pac, Mysterio, Nicho, Low-ki, Spanky, P. Williams and etc. on the roster would provide the star power to get it time. It takes alot but I dont see other ways to jump start it. They aint got WCW's visa card so this is about it.

[Pheonix_Chi25]

This is all the more reason Yoshihiro "The Artist Formerlly Known As Ultimo Dragon" Asai does not return to the WWE anytime soon.

[OrangeCrush51]

American wrestling is all about sports entertainment, and you can't do the entertainment well if 1) you don't speak the native language fluently, 2) you're very visibly foreign and 3) you're not familiar with pop culture, what's cool, etc. You can bring the most talented, technical wrestler in the world and put him in an American promotion, but if he's from a completely different country with completely different attitudes to the spor, you're not going to get over.

Taijiri and Funaki have gotten over, but it's been despite their Japanese backgrounds. Fans respect them for their skill but they like them for the humorous bits they've done or the spots they've performed. But like it's been said, unless Japanese superstars can give a Rock-like or Austin-like promo, no one's going to care enough to see them be majorly pushed.

Japanese wrestlers will likely only be midcarders. Assuming the promotion is about sports entertainment and not garbage wrestling (ECW) or sheer ability (ROH). Japanese stars would be better off in those venues.

[Luds]

American wrestling is all about sports entertainment, and you can't do the entertainment well if 1) you don't speak the native language fluently, 2) you're very visibly foreign and 3) you're not familiar with pop culture, what's cool, etc. You can bring the most talented, technical wrestler in the world and put him in an American promotion, but if he's from a completely different country with completely different attitudes to the spor, you're not going to get over.



This is a perfect summary of why WWE sucks so much and why they've been losing 50% of their fan base in the last 2 years.

[Daishikaze]

too true.

On another forum I frequent, we have a wrestling discussion thread. When I started posting in the thread there was well over 20 people contributing, now there are about 4 or 5 of us who post regularly. thats a dramatic decrease since I only started posting on that forum in August.

[pigman]

Don't worry win i make it to the WWE I promise to bring some puroresu with me

[superj]

I hae a few possible explanations, but not too sure...

#1: most Japanese wrestlers who come to the U.S. are not very good on the mic. Almost all of WWF's major stars can work the mic.

#2: most Japanese wrestlers who are hired by WWF are cruiserweights. Other than Suzuki, there's Funaki, Tajiri, Akio, and there is/was Ultimo Dragon...all smaller guys. WWF's main eventers are usually at least 5'10" and 200 pounds - most of the Japanese wrestlers in WWF are smaller than that.

I may not agree that WWF should hold back some great talent just because they can't work the mic, they're not over 5'10", etc., but that's the way its done, and I guess the only thing anyone can do is keep supporting Japanese wrestlers in the WWF and keep watching puro to see Japanese wrestlers showcase their true talent.

[darktowerchilde]

Akio isn't Japanese, though the WWE markets him as if he is. Some Japanese wrestlers do get titles: Taijiri and Kenzo getting tag-title reigns, Funaki winning the Cruiserweight title (then losing it...), but you never see a Japanese wrestler getting the U.S. belt or at least getting a shot at the Heavyweight strap (Taijiri got one against Hunter but that's it). Of course, Luch Libre doesn't fair much better, with only Mysterio, Eddy, and Chavo as it representatives, with perhaps Psicosis to come. I think WWE holds back people in general who came from a wrestling tradition that's different than their own. Look how long it took Eddy and Benoit to get the Heavyweight belts and howshort their reigns were. Jericho had an even less significant run as the "undisputed" champion.

[JKWrestling]

James "Akio" Yun is of Korean descent and is originally from California and presently lives in Georgia. The trio of Tajiri, Akio and Sakoda was doomed from the start, since Akio and Sakoda were given NOTHING to work with and NOTHING to do. No personalities, no characters, no chances to talk, nothing. It's as if once Tajiri, out of a sense of true self-preservation, shot down the Yakuza idea, WWE couldn't come up with any other persona for them.

The only reason that big stiff Suzuki gets pushed is because he's a hoss, since Vince has his weird big man fetish.

I once considered the idea that WWE should turn Akio back into Jimmy Yang and bring back Mr. Fuji to manage him. Although Fuji would be older and slower, he'd still be more entertaining than the two pathetic attempts to clone him were (Sonny Onoo in WCW and Mr. Yamaguchi-San in WWE).

Vince had such a great opportunity with Kaientai and he blew it. Having Bradshaw no-sell three-on-one attacks from Togo, Teioh and Funaki didn't help, but the Val Venis "feud" was indefensible, racist and disgusting, and didn't help Val a bit either. When a character's first major feud includes the line, "Me choppy-choppy your pee-pee," it's time to pack it in and go home. Val should have headed back to Mexico, Canada or Japan, since it was all downhill for him from there. Sure he won some titles, but he never got the kind of great feud that would stay in people's memories. He's a decent worker, albeit one stuck mostly in the mid-80s.

Paul Heyman may have been a terrible businessman, but when ECW was at its best, no one knew his audience better. Mick Foley was absolutely right when he wrote in Have a Nice Day, in re Mikey Whipwreck, "The ECW fans may have been heartless, but they could recognize good wrestling." Watch Barely Legal and see how practically EVERYONE in the M-Pro six-man-tag draws heat. Contrast this with how Vince runs the Cruiserweight Division: Rey is the face, Chavo is the heel, and everybody else is secondary.

[kurama_tengu]

Don't get me started on Sonny Onoo. Meltzer was kind enough to print my letter "praising" him back in '95 or '96, and I basically ripped him a new one for allowing himself to be cast in multiple stereotype roles. If you're gonna sell out, at least do a good job of it.

[edgehead1984]

It's simple, in my view, if the wrestler isn't Vince's creation, he does not push them...

[kwilson83]

He does in special cases (Benoit for example), but yea, most the time he likes to have home grown talent.

[ToXiK_James]

I definately agree with you Edgehead...I have noticed it to. I mean Triple H is a no talent wrestler and the only reason he is still there is because he is married to Steph. When Vince passes away, I feel that WWE will be gone becuase I could never see Shane or Steph run the company. Anyways wrestlers like Kanyon, DDP, Buff Bagwell, and Bam Bam are all great wrestlers and they should have been given a push in WWE instead of eventually firing them.

[MortigiTempo]

What irks me is that gaijin (sp?) wrestlers in Japan get a pretty fair shake..

It's too bad that microphone skills have been prioritized over ability in the WWE.

[darktowerchilde]

When ToXiX_James brought Bam Bam, I couldn't help but think about the time he jobbed to LAWRENCE TAYLOR.... jeez, that's got to be almost as bad as losing to David Arquette or Dean Malenko losing to Lita... Japanese wrestlers has always had problems in the WWE. I remember watching a match in the 80's between the Jumping Bomb Angels (joshi team) and some rather old Southern wrestlers. The Angels did these incredible moves, things that no one in that crowd ever saw before, and the most heat they got was a " Remember Pearl Harbor" comment from some racist jerk. If you watch the old Sasuke and Taka Michinoku matches on WWE, Vince tries to announce them in such a honored way (We are happy to have Mr.Sasuke fly in from Japan, some things like that) but it was done in such a way, that you could tell he saw this as little more than an exhibition match.

[burning spirit blaze]

I really don't understand why the WWE doesn't think before the sign new wrestlers. They made there fan base so they should know what will go over. I know that you can't always know what the fans want but you have a good idea.

[AbBY]

In my opinion, the real reason is that top guys arent willing to give their place to newcommers, such as japanese guys. The top talents are really protective of their places because its really hard this days to make wrestling a good buissnes, so they stick to their places and never give them to younger guys. Of course there are exceptions, like Muto, but that was a long time ago. And i too believe that japanese guys come to us and dont have any mic skills. In these days where real wrestling doesnt even matter, good mic skills are a MUST HAVE, and the real wrestling skills, that puroresu guys have plenty of, dont even matter now. If US wrestling hadnt evolved into what they are today, japanese guys would be some valuable talent. But again, this is just my opinion... :)

[burning spirit blaze]

I hear ya. If the sport of wrestling was respected in the US like it is in Japan or in the yester years of US wrestling would would see wresting over good mic work. But as for the guys who hold there spot. Thats been a fact for years and it even goes on in Japan. Like NOAH. They need to make new stars if there is to ever be a future for the promotion.

[darktowerchilde]

Well, I think the WWE does give new people opportunities to get their spots. Eddy and Benoit became champions and have pretty high spots in the locker rooms of their respected shows. Cena and Batista are both new comers in WWE and they're champions, with Cena recently coming into his own as a locker room leader with his appealing to Vince to continue book first class tickes for the superstars. I think there are plenty of opportunities to get status in the WWE, its just that the highest positions are ocupied by those who've been champions multiple times over the years and have pull in the back, such as Triple H and the Undertaker. That said, Angle has alot of power in Smackdown! but has only been a wrestler for a relatively short time (in comparision to Trips or Holly or JBL and others).