How good is Tessa Blanchard?

[tangata motu'a]

That isn't what I was saying at all. I was pointing to the fact that you have had wrestlers like Taka who was considered a top 5 wrestler in the world, Ultimo Dragon, etc., who weren't going to get near the heavyweight title even though they were obviously great wrestlers. Personally, I would have loved to see Taka as the heavyweight champion, or Ultimo, or Minoru Tanaka in AJPW or Saint in World of Sport or what have you. I have no objection to a littler guy who is a great worker beating a bigger guy who isn't on his level, especially if it is done well.

What's funny to mean about Michaels, Brian Danielson and now Blanchard is why they choose to make them exceptions when you have had so many great wrestlers that didn't get the top slot due to size. Michaels is great, for example, but in all honesty, there have been tons of great lighter guys. He outshined them largely because he was allowed to win against bigger guys IMO.

Especially in Blanchard's case, her being a woman and being so small, I was a bit surprised. I expected her to be a bit bigger. Her finisher is very impressive and high-impact looking though. Nobody in this thread seems to be questioning her as a worker, so I guess that's why she has the belt. Also, I'd guess, as a way of getting people to talk about Impact!.

guys like taka and ultimo dragon were never going to be champ because they spoke little to no English and as good as they may have benn, they didn't capitivate the crowd like michaels and bryan did. it takes more than being good. ricochet can do all kinds of crazy shit and he may be my least favorite wrestler in the world because he does NOTHING else. no in ring psychology....no nothing. he does spots.

 

[tangata motu'a]

hw title
x division title
knockouts title- ladies

wow. ok. surprised they do that for the ladies. I assume, however, the prestige is all in the hw, like it is in wwe

 

[moonwolf]

wow. ok. surprised they do that for the ladies. I assume, however, the prestige is all in the hw, like it is in wwe

if tessa had won the x division title first, and then worked her way towards the HW title, it would have made more sense and there'd likely be more acceptance.
similar how macho man, warrior, bret, shawn, etc started off as Interncontinental champions and then moved forward to become world champions.

instead they hotshotted tessa to the hw title for social media coverage and an attempt at ratings.

 

[moonwolf]

guys like taka and ultimo dragon were never going to be champ because they spoke little to no English and as good as they may have benn, they didn't capitivate the crowd like michaels and bryan did. it takes more than being good. ricochet can do all kinds of crazy shit and he may be my least favorite wrestler in the world because he does NOTHING else. no in ring psychology....no nothing. he does spots.

The Great Muta was NWA world champ and he didn't say shit.
ricochet as prince puma in lucha underground is a much better watch.

 

[Kforcer]

guys like taka and ultimo dragon were never going to be champ because they spoke little to no English and as good as they may have benn, they didn't capitivate the crowd like michaels and bryan did. it takes more than being good. ricochet can do all kinds of crazy shit and he may be my least favorite wrestler in the world because he does NOTHING else. no in ring psychology....no nothing. he does spots.

Taka and Ultimo did captivate crowds, as much as anyone. If you are made a joke time and again, the crowd will lose interest. But if you look at them in Japan or anywhere that they were given a real push, you'll see they did have great charisma and ring psychology. In Taka's case, the crowd was chanting his name when he won the light heavyweight title against Brian Christopher. Ultimo Dragon always had a larger than life presence, much like Jushin Liger or Tiger Mask, that allowed him to play that superhero sort of character.

That's true that you have smaller guys that are just big spot guys. I don't think the guys I mentioned fall into that camp.

 

[Kforcer]

The Great Muta was NWA world champ and he didn't say shit.
ricochet as prince puma in lucha underground is a much better watch.

Snake-Eyes never said anything and he was arguably the coolest GI Joe. Not every wrestler has to be a stand-up comic. Drives me nuts how people seem to think that these days.

 

[Kforcer]

if tessa had won the x division title first, and then worked her way towards the HW title, it would have made more sense and there'd likely be more acceptance.
similar how macho man, warrior, bret, shawn, etc started off as Interncontinental champions and then moved forward to become world champions.

instead they hotshotted tessa to the hw title for social media coverage and an attempt at ratings.

Yeah, her not being an X-Division champ first was one of my biggest question marks about the whole thing.

 

[tangata motu'a]

Taka and Ultimo did captivate crowds, as much as anyone. If you are made a joke time and again, the crowd will lose interest. But if you look at them in Japan or anywhere that they were given a real push, you'll see they did have great charisma and ring psychology. In Taka's case, the crowd was chanting his name when he won the light heavyweight title against Brian Christopher. Ultimo Dragon always had a larger than life presence, much like Jushin Liger or Tiger Mask, that allowed him to play that superhero sort of character.

That's true that you have smaller guys that are just big spot guys. I don't think the guys I mentioned fall into that camp.

of course taka and dragon captivated crowds in japan since they are Japanese. but to my knowledge they didn't speak English and that isn't winning you a title in the usa at least. taka got over a little as a comedy act, but he was never getting a main event push. and dragon to a casual in the usa was nothing special. I actually liked taka quite a bit but never took him as a main guy.

 

[Kforcer]

of course taka and dragon captivated crowds in japan since they are Japanese. but to my knowledge they didn't speak English and that isn't winning you a title in the usa at least. taka got over a little as a comedy act, but he was never getting a main event push. and dragon to a casual in the usa was nothing special. I actually liked taka quite a bit but never took him as a main guy.

Taka was over when he first came in as a face, when he won the light heavyweight tournament. That run where he took the tournament win and ultimately defended at Wrestlemania, he was quite a bit over. Like I said, he had the crowd chanting his name against Brian Christopher. For whatever reason they started to have him fight and lose to heavyweight midcard heels like Marc Merco instead of defending his light heavyweight title and naturally that is going to lead to people not taking him as seriously.

I wouldn't say that Ultimo Dragon was nothing special to US fans either, actually. But I think he could have and would have been bigger with a bigger push. Both in the WWF and in the WCW. He always got way more respect than Taka ultimately got though.

Ultimately, I think it gets pretty subjective on which littler guys get the privilege of a push in the heavier weights. And maybe political. I do think the language barrier was an issue with Taka and Ultimo, but at the same time, look at Tajiri in ECW or Nakamura now. I think whatever bookers saw that as a big issue exaggerated it in their minds.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

I have found myself watching Impact on AXSTV on a random Tuesday a few times... Guess when the biggest star is a female, why not. Plus she is smoking with a nice butt and puts on better matches than the rest of the roster... Butt really, kforcer, you need to Google the manager of RVD... if a low tier trailer park strip club is your thing...

 

[Kforcer]

Butt really, kforcer, you need to Google the manager of RVD... if a low tier trailer park strip club is your thing...

I feel like I missed something somewhere....

 

[El Moose]

It's only fair that Impact has a female as their world champ since AEW has a man as their women's champ.

 

[Wrath of Foamy]

I'm fine with it, as long as her matches are believable.

 

[D.R.H.]

I think she's as good as Asuka, in the ring. Above all the english speaking women on the WWE roster and she has presence a lot of them lack. Her promos are above average and are getting better. She's great.

 

[The Elemental O]

Having a smaller wrestler be a world heavyweight champion is seen as some promoters as attempting to make big stars out of them because unlike all other combat sport venues like Boxing, Kickboxing and MMA where lighter-weight champions like Anderson Silva, Mayweather and Pacquio can be big box office attractions, that mentality hasn't really seen much relevance in wrestling promotions outside of Mexico an Japan. True there are exceptions like WCW's cruiserweights during the Monday Night Wars, the X-Division and names like Rey Mysterio other than that wrestling promotions and the fanbase tend to favor larger than life heavyweights because "realism" (even though there have been examples of smaller guy beating bigger in real fights).

Why it worked for some like Daniel Bryan is because he connected with the crowd as an underdog babyface who would told he couldn't reach the top and the story told connected with people and Bryan was very convincing. However that's not going to work with every small wrestler.

 

[D.R.H.]

Why it worked for some like Daniel Bryan is because he connected with the crowd as an underdog babyface who would told he couldn't reach the top and the story told connected with people and Bryan was very convincing. However that's not going to work with every small wrestler.

Doesn't work with every big guy either for the same reason. People gotta buy what you're selling...which is why wrestling is in a ditch....despite any silly talk of a wrestling war and boom...wrestling is in a hole because nobody buys what the guys today are selling.

 

[The Elemental O]

Doesn't work with every big guy either for the same reason. People gotta buy what you're selling...which is why wrestling is in a ditch....despite any silly talk of a wrestling war and boom...wrestling is in a hole because nobody buys what the guys today are selling.

That's true, we got two larger than life wrestlers as champions right now in Strowman and McIntryre and yet the ratings are still tanking.

People defended Brock squashing Kofi at the world championship main event on the first episode of Smackdown on FOX because of excuses like realism or Brock has mainstream appeal...etc but the following weeks saw a huge drop in the ratings in the following weeks with Brock as champion and it didn't get any better for Brock's reign when he was drafted to RAW.

I guess the main issue is that wreslting itself isn't a draw anymore at least in the US market because from what I understand the business was still healthy and popular in Japan.

 

[D.R.H.]

That's true, we got two larger than life wrestlers as champions right now in Strowman and McIntryre and yet the ratings are still tanking.

People defended Brock squashing Kofi at the world championship main event on the first episode of Smackdown on FOX because of excuses like realism or Brock has mainstream appeal...etc but the following weeks saw a huge drop in the ratings in the following weeks with Brock as champion and it didn't get any better for Brock's reign when he was drafted to RAW.

Here's the problem with that though...the ratings were already shit. IMHO there are only two types of fans left watching WWE. Performance fans...and leftover suspension of disbelief fans. Performance fans are the ones who don't need to buy into what they're watching. They're the ones who want to see stuff that looks neat and don't car if the 4th wall is broken because it's just a show. They're also the ones most likely to be part of those social media numbers WWE like to post after ad breaks on their shows, and I think that's why so many of the people in WWE are the type of person who appeals to them. Their also a niche market...they like things that don't usually resonate with the larger part of society. The second type...the suspension of disbelief type...are a dying breed. Their the fans that don't want the 4th wall broken during the show...they don't care as much about things looking neat as things making sense. The want to believe the guy on their screen is the baddest motherfucker walking even if they know he's not. They're also a niche market just by the fact they like rasslin...but they stuff they like has a better chance of getting over with the larger audience...the mainstream if you will. Unfortunately...and this is just my opinion...they're not the type to be as active on social media about the product...and thus their opinions don't matter so much. Even when WWE tries to go back towards what this type of fan wants...they screw ti up because they're too concerned with what the other group wants. So you get a product that no one is happy with and the ratings stink, house show sellouts are a distant memory, and you a second promotion in a "war" that gets less hype than the average eurotrash dork with a videogame channel. It's a sad state of affairs all around...and again...imho...taking social media interactions as the standard for fan opinions has hurt rasslin to a point it will never recover from.

 

[Kforcer]

Having a smaller wrestler be a world heavyweight champion is seen as some promoters as attempting to make big stars out of them because unlike all other combat sport venues like Boxing, Kickboxing and MMA where lighter-weight champions like Anderson Silva, Mayweather and Pacquio can be big box office attractions, that mentality hasn't really seen much relevance in wrestling promotions outside of Mexico an Japan. True there are exceptions like WCW's cruiserweights during the Monday Night Wars, the X-Division and names like Rey Mysterio other than that wrestling promotions and the fanbase tend to favor larger than life heavyweights because "realism" (even though there have been examples of smaller guy beating bigger in real fights).

Why it worked for some like Daniel Bryan is because he connected with the crowd as an underdog babyface who would told he couldn't reach the top and the story told connected with people and Bryan was very convincing. However that's not going to work with every small wrestler.

Its really not so different from other combat sports. Anderson Silva was 185, so he was actually one of the bigger guys. Mayweather and Pac-Man are historical exceptions to the rule. Heavyweights, as a general rule, make more money. Think of all the ignorant manlet comments you hear on Sherdog, for example.

 

[Kforcer]

I guess the main issue is that wreslting itself isn't a draw anymore at least in the US market because from what I understand the business was still healthy and popular in Japan.

Pro-wrestling was way down in Japan and it charged back. I think a lot of people think Antonio Inoki came close to killing the business and that its resurgence after NJPW got rid of him was largely due to getting rid of him.