Dave and Hank take a(n imaginary) trip to Japan to discuss WWE’s Beast in the East and New Japan’s recent events before recapping this week’s Raw. Afterwards, the duo goes back in time to give out awards for the best wrestlers and matches of the first half of 2015.
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Henry, I love you, but you got Brock in New Japan all wrong. Brock won the IWGP title, and then split from NJPW without dropping it, due to claims of unpaid dates. Brock believed he owned the championship since he had the belt (ala Flair in 1991 WWF.) Thus, he went to Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) and defended the title there. His opponent? Kurt Angle. Angle beat Lesnar for the IWGP “Third Belt” title as it was known (it was the third belt design to represent the IWGP title.) As this was going on, NJPW crowned a new champion in a tournament, introducing the current design of the company’s top title. Shinsuke Nakamura won that tournament, and later beat Kurt Angle in a unification match.
Actually, I got a bit wrong. Hiroshi Tanahashi was the winner of that tournament, but by the time the unification match happened Nakamura had the title.
Anyway, don’t worry Henry! You putting Ishii/Honma as your MOTY means it’s all good.
Quick thought; I sympathize hugely with D-Young about the Saudi Arabia thing. I have wrestled with this issue; is it ethical for WWE perform in places where their gay/female wrestlers are not allowed to perform? Hell, in Saudi Arabie, women aren’t even allowed to attend the event (I think this is true in a few other places they go.) I eventually came to the conclusion that they SHOULD continue to tour in such places, because western culture being popular with young people in places with authoritarian rule (like the theocratic rule in Saudi Arabia and Iran) is a BIG, broadly-appealing motivator to fight oppression; people wanna watch Hollywood movies and listen to pop music. They don’t like being told what they can and cannot see. This is even true in North Korea, where people are sometimes able to get smuggled South Korean/western DVDs and DVD players.
Even though WWE isn’t a deeply intellectual microcosm of freedom and free expression, it IS an American art form, it has a broad appeal, and the fact is that women, gay people, and people of all races perform are very simple but undeniably progressive values, even though WWE doesn’t always express those values perfectly (I’m lookin at you, 90% of Divas storylines/Cryme Tyme.) So, overall, I think it’s a net positive to continue to infuse American culture and the basic values of equality and opportunity and straight up FUN into places where people are profoundly oppressed, even if that means neutering it somewhat. (Similar argument that Google makes about China, which essentially says “better to provide as much internet as we possibly can within the awful rules of the Chinese govt, than to provide no internet at all. Some freedom can inspire a desire for more freedom.”)
Really enjoyed this ep, fellas! Good stuff!