From: foleye@xanth.CS.ORST.EDU (Stilt Man)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling
Subject: Re: realism?
Date: 11 Jan 93 02:39:24 GMT
Organization: Oregon State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: xanth.cs.orst.edu

In article <6032.137.uupcb@ssr.com> dave.scherer%acc1bbs@ssr.com (Dave Scherer) writes:
>foleye@xanth.CS.ORST.EDU (Stilt Man) writes:

[stuff about weightlifting, which I will cede to Mr. Scherer out of admitted
ignorance on the subject, deleted]

>
>  >Vader, a guy twice his size and at least in the same neighborhood in skill.
>  >I don't care how much flying Liger is capable of, if that match is booked
>  >realistically, it's going to last about as long as it takes Vader to get a
>  >good handhold on him.  Then they load him on a stretcher with a spatula.
>  >This sort of blunts my enthusiasm for Liger, not surprisingly, and as a
>  >result I dissent from this group's near-worship of him as a wrestler.
>
>While it is true that Liger against the big guys looks unrealistic, that
>should not detract from an intelligent appraisal of his ability.  

[stuff about light and heavy boxers deleted]

Yes, I will freely admit that Liger has a great deal of ability.  However,
my basic appreciation for pro wrestling has a lot to do with how often I see
a given move.  When Muta went up against Brad Armstrong, there was a lot of
stuff that I could never imagine was possible on there.  But it does get old.

For instance, when I saw 2 Cold Scorpio on WCW for the first time, which was
some time after when the group first mentioned him (I missed that last Clash),
I was expecting to see some spectacular moves.  What I saw was a standing
moonsault, which was interesting but looked pathetically ineffective from a
realistic point of view, and a one-and-a-half gainer Olympic-class bellyflop
onto his opponent.  Neither of which I found impressive.  Just flopping around
in mid-air is simply not a thing that is going to impress me by itself.  I see
enough of that in gymnastics meets (which, given that OSU has the 4th-ranked
women's team in the nation, is not too uncommon). 

In pro-wrestling, there's only so much flippity-flopping around that I can 
watch before it seems very unrealistic to me, which is why, in the FWF, the 
guys who mimic Jushin Liger are few and far between.  If you'll look in that
UseNet list of votes for the "most overrated wrestler" list, you'll notice that
Mr. Liger got a first place vote.  Any wild guesses as to who placed that vote?

I'm not saying that Jushin Liger has no ability.  My digression from this
group's proclamation of his godhood, however, is based first upon the fact
that a guy like Vader, who I regard to be the best superheavy in the world,
could leave this guy fit to be taken out of the ring with a mop and a broom,
and second that I simply do not feel that the aerial maneuvering some of these
Japanese guys do is all that impressive.  Guys like Hase, Chono, or Muta, I
can stomach.  They are mat wrestlers who do some aerial moves.  Liger, however,
is more of an aerial attacker who does some mat moves.  When he doesn't do
aerial moves, people start griping that he's wasted.  That pretty much says it
all.  He's just too much an aerial flopper to get any enthusiasm from me.

 __________________________________________________________________________
|The Stilt Man   		       foleye@xanth.cs.orst.edu		   |
|  --Never ask a mortician to go out and bring you back a cold one.        |
|__________________________________________________________________________|
|foleye@storm.cs.orst.edu     | The opinions expressed do not necessarily  |
|foleye@mundania.cs.orst.edu  | represent those of Oregon State University |
|foleye@mist.cs.orst.edu      | or any of its departments.  Thus, the place|
|foleye@prism.cs.orst.edu     | has not been the victim of arson recently. |
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