WCW: Heart and Soul

Satyr24 · January 4, 2018

WCW Women's World Championship/AAAW Singles Championship Unification Match: Manami Toyota {©} vs. Aja Kong {©}

Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita

Ultimate Fan Series Finals (#3 Sin-free Society vs. #4 Satyr's Hopeful Few): Daffney (Society) vs. Melissa Anderson (S.H.F.)

It's Funny Daffney was original who I wanted as she would off fit better with my group of hopeful few, but alas now she must be destroyed so my team can continue on to greater things <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue

Nattie Neidhart vs. Shinobu Kandori

Momoe Nakanishi vs. LuFisto

What will be the match of the night?

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita

The new format is fine I've seen it on these boards before and it works well enough if it makes you happy i say JUST DO IT

chrismday · January 4, 2018

Fan Scorecard:

WCW Women's World Championship/AAAW Singles Championship Unification Match: Manami Toyota {©} vs. Aja Kong {©}

Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita

Ultimate Fan Series Finals (#3 Sin-free Society vs. #4 Satyr's Hopeful Few): Daffney (Society) vs. Melissa Anderson (S.H.F.)

Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue

Nattie Neidhart vs. Shinobu Kandori

Momoe Nakanishi vs. LuFisto

What will be match of the night? Toyota v Kong

kinnikuniverse · January 4, 2018

Manami-sama. No man is worthy of her greatness!

Meiko vs devil: hmm, togh one. Though I feel this is only the beginning of the feud, so devil.

Mita, though just barely

My darling Melissa

Yamada.

Nattie vs kandori: not sure...kandori's more over in japan, but a win for nattie would be big for her....let's go with nattie.

Momoe. As much I as I love lufisto (but kana is best waifu!), momoe is just too much for her.

Match of the night: Toyota Vs kong

YASS, WELCOME BACK! Gonna see wrestle kingdom too! Can't wait to see if jericho still got it!

Wonder who's being caught in the bidding war.

Rateddc · January 4, 2018

WCW Women's World Championship/AAAW Singles Championship Unification Match: Manami Toyota {©} vs. Aja Kong {©} Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita Ultimate Fan Series Finals (#3 Sin-free Society vs. #4 Satyr's Hopeful Few): Daffney (Society) vs. Melissa Anderson (S.H.F.) Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue Nattie Neidhart vs. Shinobu Kandori Momoe Nakanishi vs. LuFisto What will be match of the night? Manami vs. Kong General diary comments/questions/critiques: Personally I preferred the old layout, but if this helps you get shows out faster then I'm sure I can learn to love it. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="K-Nection" data-cite="K-Nection" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Wow good job booking Mania! I'm utterly shocked that Scott didn't show up a drunken mess so that probably helped a lot.</div></blockquote> You and me both! I was seriously expecting Hall to turn up wasted and very nearly ran Jericho against Benoit for the ECW Championship in the main event instead but I couldn't bring myself not to have the WWE Championship headline Mania so had to grin and bare it. Worked out alright in the end!

Danny_H22 · January 4, 2018

WCW Women's World Championship/AAAW Singles Championship Unification Match: Manami Toyota {©} vs. Aja Kong {©}

Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita

Ultimate Fan Series Finals (#3 Sin-free Society vs. #4 Satyr's Hopeful Few): Daffney (Society) vs. Melissa Anderson (S.H.F.)

Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue

Nattie Neidhart vs. Shinobu Kandori

Momoe Nakanishi vs. LuFisto

What will be match of the night? Toyota/Kong

General diary comments/questions/critiques:

cbacon87 · January 4, 2018

WCW Women's World Championship/AAAW Singles Championship Unification Match: Manami Toyota {©} vs. Aja Kong {©}

Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita

Ultimate Fan Series Finals (#3 Sin-free Society vs. #4 Satyr's Hopeful Few): Daffney (Society) vs. Melissa Anderson (S.H.F.)

Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue

Nattie Neidhart vs. Shinobu Kandori

Momoe Nakanishi vs. LuFisto

What will be match of the night? Kong/Toyota

The Final Countdown · January 5, 2018

April 2003: Pre-Unified News and Notes

April 6th, 2003
Sapporo, Japan
Hours before the doors open:

"You handled that well, babeh."

"Thanks, Dream," I said with a sigh. This was not what I needed on the cusp of a pay-per-view!

Dusty had called me out of my preparations for the show to tell me there was a situation that needed handling. I arrived to see Shinobu Kandori and Momoe Nakanishi being held apart by their fellow Renaissance wrestlers, with Kandori holding a hand to her face in obvious pain. I was quickly given the rundown: Kandori had been acting rudely towards Momoe, and as the situation got worse, she threw a punch. It didn't end well for the former judoka, because Momoe got the better of the fight. I obviously didn't deal any sort of punishment to Momoe, since all she'd done was defend herself. Kandori had already gotten into some trouble in February when she blew off a media appearance, so I chose to hit her with a fine this time. She didn't really react one way or another to that, but Momoe was pleased with my decision. Hopefully Kandori doesn't act up again. If she does I'll suspend her at the least, and perhaps even fire her.

Unbeknownst to me, my day was about to get much worse.

My cell phone buzzed. I looked at the caller and smiled. While I'd already gotten several of my guys' extensions finished, this was the big one, the one most important to our company, both short and long term.

"Ready to make it official?" I asked. The pause that followed wiped the smile from my face. Not good.

"Uh, actually, I got an offer from Vince. Great money, long-term, full creative control, the works. I wanted to call you before I agreed to anything, because I respect you and I appreciate the opportunity you've given me, man."

"Don't sign anything until I get back from Japan, alright?" I said firmly, not allowing myself to panic. "We can go over the terms and see if we can get it worked out."

He agreed to do so, which was a relief. This was not a piece of the puzzle I could afford to lose. If Vince wanted to steal him from me, he was going to have to pay through the nose.

I was all prepared to put that unpleasantness behind me and return my attention to tonight's show, but then a text message came through, from a number I recognized:

My brother's talking to Vince. He promised he'd call you soon, but I thought you oughta know.

Damn. Vince really wasn't playing around, huh? Well, two could play at that game. Vince had several expiring contracts of his own to deal with. Time to turn up the pressure a bit and make some phone calls.

http://i.imgur.com/nUYCk9q.jpg

Current bidding wars aside, we also got several roster members signed to extensions:

-Kidman, Chavo, DDP, O'Haire, Rick Steiner, AJ Styles and Mortis all signed written, exclusive contract extensions of varying lengths.

-Hugh Morrus is also sticking around for now, but I've moved him to a pay-per-appearance deal.

-Ric Flair, Stacy Keibler and Nick Patrick all signed new contracts for their non-wrestling roles. Hopefully this means Ric has given up on the idea of working any more matches for us.

-Johnny the Bull signed an extension and will remain in our developmental system until I'm ready to bring him back to the main roster.

There was some development on the broadcasting front:

-We signed a fresh one year extension to keep Nitro in prime time on the USA Network. I expected to be able to get this deal done with our recent gains in national attention, but it's still reassuring to make it official.

-In the British Isles, Nitro will be moving from Channel 5 to a prime time spot on ITV. This is a good move that puts our coverage in the country on even footing with WWE's spot on Channel 4.

-In Europe, Nitro will be staying put on Sky Euro for another six months.

On the PPV side:

-We're moving Nitro off of Cablevision and onto Dish Network in the US, which is a big step up.

Scott Steiner bruised his ass during a tag match on the March 24th Nitro. Fortunately it didn't keep him out, and we were able to proceed as planned with his match for Clash of the Champions.

After getting word that Aja Kong was irritating some of the other women on Renaissance with her selfish behavior, I called her up and gave her a stern warning. I was later told that she seemed more annoyed that usual for the rest of the night, so I don't think the message really took.

http://i.imgur.com/7AiYO6E.jpg

-I've initiated contact with a handful of WWE performers who have expiring contracts, but there are several others they've already locked up to extensions. That list looks like this:

-Test, Michael Cole, Perry Saturn, Tazz, Steve Keirn, Teddy Long, Tim White, Terri, Jack Doan, Bruce Prichard and Dave Hebner

No one there I have any real interest in bringing in, and I made no attempt to negotiate with any of them. Vince will be in for more of a fight on a few others though.

http://i.imgur.com/HLY8nvy.jpg

NOAH's most recent big show, 'Spring Navigation', was held on April 3rd. It wasn't a bad show technically, but it was well below what they've been churning out month after month. Akira Taue retained the GHC Heavyweight title over Masao Inoue in a fairly standard semi main event. The main event saw Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Daisuke Ikeda defeat Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa. That was the match of the night, but even that was a pretty disappointing match by their standards. This show also featured appearances by a couple of WCW guys via our talent trade agreement, as Hugh Morrus lost to Rusher Kimura and Harry Smith was defeated by Akitoshi Saito.

http://i.imgur.com/JO5PDMM.jpg

The group held their latest show, 'Victory', on March 24th. Mantaur continued to take center stage, retaining the TNA title against Eddie Colon (the young son of Carlos Colon) in a main event that wasn't great. There were a few better matches on the show, but they weren't way better or anything. The best performer was probably Ruckus, who had co-match of the night as he unsuccessfully challenged Kent Kohl for the X Division title. This show also saw a title change, as Chris Parks won the NWA North American Heavyweight belt from Sean Royal. The show was among their worst so far.

http://i.imgur.com/1eeVS9d.jpg

Bad news for Naruki Doi, a really promising 22 year old who has been impressing people with his work in Michinoku Pro. He broke his neck during a match against Genki Horiguchi on March 24th, so he'll probably be out for a year or more, if he ever comes back.

General diary comments/questions/critiques: Find the new format rather interesting, I'm assuming for the next normal WCW PPV it'll rehash the same month?

Yep.

What I'm still unsure about right now is how this will work for Renaissance in the future. There were only two weeks to cover this time, but there will be significantly more to deal with in the future, especially if I stick to my schedule of one Renaissance PPV every three months. I might need to do an update post for Renaissance every month, maybe with just the result screenshots in the months in between PPVs.

Manami-sama. No man is worthy of her greatness!

She's pretty great!

YASS, WELCOME BACK! Gonna see wrestle kingdom too! Can't wait to see if jericho still got it!

Wonder who's being caught in the bidding war.

The answer, at least for me, was a resounding 'yes.' That match was fantastic.

I'll say this much: there are main eventers from both companies being bid over right now. It's a pretty tense time!

Theheel · January 5, 2018

“My cell phone buzzed. I looked at the caller and smiled. While I'd already gotten several of my guys' extensions finished, this was the big one, the one most important to our company, both short and long term.

"Ready to make it official?" I asked. The pause that followed wiped the smile from my face. Not good.

"Uh, actually, I got an offer from Vince. Great money, long-term, full creative control, the works. I wanted to call you before I agreed to anything, because I respect you and I appreciate the opportunity you've given me, man.“

This has to be one of your younger stars, like Styles or Punk. My guess it’s CM Punk. The text that came through I’ll guess is Rick Steiner talking about his brother Scott. It could be one of the Hardys but since they have only been on the scene about 9 months I’m guessing Vince is admiring Mr Poppa Pump

michgcs · January 5, 2018

WCW Women's World Championship/AAAW Singles Championship Unification Match: Manami Toyota {©} vs. Aja Kong {©}

Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita

Ultimate Fan Series Finals (#3 Sin-free Society vs. #4 Satyr's Hopeful Few): Daffney (Society) vs. Melissa Anderson (S.H.F.)

Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue

Nattie Neidhart vs. Shinobu Kandori

Momoe Nakanishi vs. LuFisto

What will be match of the night? Toyota/Kong

General diary comments/questions/critiques: Gonna reserve judgement on the new style. It's not exactly what I expected and I would like to see how it works on the main shows. I'm just glad to see you back, man.

evileddie10 · January 5, 2018

WCW Women's World Championship/AAAW Singles Championship Unification Match: Manami Toyota {©} vs. Aja Kong {©}

Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita

Ultimate Fan Series Finals (#3 Sin-free Society vs. #4 Satyr's Hopeful Few): Daffney (Society) vs. Melissa Anderson (S.H.F.)

Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue

Nattie Neidhart vs. Shinobu Kandori

Momoe Nakanishi vs. LuFisto

What will be match of the night?

Kong/Toyota

jscotty · January 5, 2018

WCW Women's World Championship/AAAW Singles Championship Unification Match: Manami Toyota {©} vs. Aja Kong {©}

Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita

Ultimate Fan Series Finals (#3 Sin-free Society vs. #4 Satyr's Hopeful Few): Daffney (Society) vs. Melissa Anderson (S.H.F.)

Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue

Nattie Neidhart vs. Shinobu Kandori

Momoe Nakanishi vs. LuFisto

What will be match of the night? Toyota/Kong

General diary comments/questions/critiques:

smartman · January 5, 2018

“My cell phone buzzed. I looked at the caller and smiled. While I'd already gotten several of my guys' extensions finished, this was the big one, the one most important to our company, both short and long term.

"Ready to make it official?" I asked. The pause that followed wiped the smile from my face. Not good.

"Uh, actually, I got an offer from Vince. Great money, long-term, full creative control, the works. I wanted to call you before I agreed to anything, because I respect you and I appreciate the opportunity you've given me, man.“

This has to be one of your younger stars, like Styles or Punk. My guess it’s CM Punk. The text that came through I’ll guess is Rick Steiner talking about his brother Scott. It could be one of the Hardys but since they have only been on the scene about 9 months I’m guessing Vince is admiring Mr Poppa Pump

I'm betting that the big name one is Booker T as I can't imagine AJ is quite popular enough for AI Vince to throw that much at him. It could be Punk though, and that would suck mightily. I doubt it is the Steiners because I'd be surprised if Rick isn't on time decline or about to be (which the AI would know about), and they don't sign decliners. It wouldn't shock me if the Hardys would only agree to a 9-month deal since that was before he hit National. This is not looking good for you TFC. And how dare you not sign Test! I'm just kidding. Hope you can poach some stars if you're losing the people I'm thinking you're going to lose.

Bluestillidie00 · January 5, 2018

Predicting RVD or Rey is caught up in the bidding war. Maybe Punk?

Anyway, good to see you back dude, favourite diary by far.

KnowYourEnemy · January 6, 2018

WCW Women's World Championship/AAAW Singles Championship Unification Match: Manami Toyota {©} vs. Aja Kong {©}

Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita

Ultimate Fan Series Finals (#3 Sin-free Society vs. #4 Satyr's Hopeful Few): Daffney (Society) vs. Melissa Anderson (S.H.F.)

Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue

Nattie Neidhart vs. Shinobu Kandori

Momoe Nakanishi vs. LuFisto

What will be match of the night? Toyota vs. Kong

General diary comments/questions/critiques

GingeyOne · January 6, 2018

Fan Scorecard:

WCW Women's World Championship/AAAW Singles Championship Unification Match: Manami Toyota {©} vs. Aja Kong {©}

Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita

Ultimate Fan Series Finals (#3 Sin-free Society vs. #4 Satyr's Hopeful Few): Daffney (Society) vs. Melissa Anderson (S.H.F.)

Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue

Nattie Neidhart vs. Shinobu Kandori

Momoe Nakanishi vs. LuFisto

What will be match of the night? Toyota vs Kong

General diary comments/questions/critiques: Great to have you back! I am writing this from a Japanese laundrette on my trip to Wrestle Kingdom! Cool to see Jericho get the big push in this WWE after his amazing performance against Omega. It has really revitalised me as a fan of his!

Looking forward to he bidding wars to begin. It will be interesting to see the lay of the land after it all. Defections are something Wrestling is missing these days!

Great to have you back in any format!

kinnikuniverse · January 6, 2018

Full creative control??? So its neither punk or rvd or rey, as this is not something they would ask(thank god!). Booker might tho....

Aw, sucks for doi! Btw are you gonna open dragon gate, like you mentioned back then?

OMG, wrestle kingdom was awesome! Just when i thought that new japan sucks now that nakamura and shibata are gone and that they lost what made them unique thanks to too many foreigners and going American, they deliver an awesome show that surpassed my expectation!

I still don't understand why nakamura left. He's arguably the biggest star in japan,why would you go to WWE? That's simply illogical for me, and i Don't respect him anymore, because He's a traitor to me.

Honestly, i loved new japan more when it was obscure and Japanese and an Internet only thing.Im sorry, I know thats hipster AF, but That's really how i feel.

Bluestillidie00 · January 6, 2018

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="kinnikuniverse" data-cite="kinnikuniverse" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div> I still don't understand why nakamura left. He's arguably the biggest star in japan,why would you go to WWE? That's simply illogical for me, and i Don't respect him anymore, because He's a traitor to me. </div></blockquote> Because he can half arse it and get a shit ton of money. No point working this hard hitting main events which will **** your body up, for less money than a safer, less draining style. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="kinnikuniverse" data-cite="kinnikuniverse" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div> Honestly, i loved new japan more when it was obscure and Japanese and an Internet only thing.Im sorry, I know thats hipster AF, but That's really how i feel.</div></blockquote> You're vastly overrating the popularity of NJPW in America, it still is an internet only thing.

KnowYourEnemy · January 6, 2018

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div> My cell phone buzzed. I looked at the caller and smiled. While I'd already gotten several of my guys' extensions finished, this was the big one, the one most important to our company, both short and long term. "Ready to make it official?" I asked. The pause that followed wiped the smile from my face. Not good. "Uh, actually, I got an offer from Vince. Great money, long-term, full creative control, the works. I wanted to call you before I agreed to anything, because I respect you and I appreciate the opportunity you've given me, man." "Don't sign anything until I get back from Japan, alright?" I said firmly, not allowing myself to panic. "We can go over the terms and see if we can get it worked out." He agreed to do so, which was a relief. This was not a piece of the puzzle I could afford to lose. If Vince wanted to steal him from me, he was going to have to pay through the nose. I was all prepared to put that unpleasantness behind me and return my attention to tonight's show, but then a text message came through, from a number I recognized: My brother's talking to Vince. He promised he'd call you soon, but I thought you oughta know.</div></blockquote> I'm not sure what "terms" guys are under. However, it's unlikely to be someone signed since game start. I think this rules out C.M. Punk, Chris Candido, Rob Van Dam, Steve Corino, and Jeff Hardy. First, there are two guys talking to Bret here, so these are two signings. The first guy will probably be a "key player", someone Bret "can't afford to lose". Second, it's someone who would "appreciate the opportunity" Bret gave him. This is probably A.J. Styles. Styles was underutilized in WCW and built most his momentum under Bret and should be close to the Main Event. I think if reigning champion Rey Mysterio Jr. was negotiating, he would let Bret know much sooner. Mortis and Shawn O'Haire could also be involved, but both had some momentum before Bret got the book. The second guy has a brother on the roster and is "talking to Vince". I'm pretty sure this is Scott Steiner. This could be Booker T, and the messenger could be Stevie Ray. However, I haven't seen Stevie Ray much in WCW since the diary started. Rick Steiner has made many active appearances in the diary, and probably had to make sure Bret knew Scott was talking with Vince.

Warhawk8492 · January 6, 2018

WCW Women's World Championship/AAAW Singles Championship Unification Match: Manami Toyota {©} vs. Aja Kong {©}

Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami

Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita

Ultimate Fan Series Finals (#3 Sin-free Society vs. #4 Satyr's Hopeful Few): Daffney (Society) vs. Melissa Anderson (S.H.F.)

Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue

Nattie Neidhart vs. Shinobu Kandori

Momoe Nakanishi vs. LuFisto

What will be match of the night? Title match

General diary comments/questions/critiques: I am thoroughly enjoying your dynasty.

kinnikuniverse · January 6, 2018

I don't think AJ would ask for creative control, but any thing's possible.

Man, TFC, you have a way to build intrigue and suspense!

And beside, even if it's aj or booker, you still have KNOBLEMANIA!!!

Beejus · January 7, 2018

Manami Toyota

Davil Masami

Etsuko Mita

Daffney

Toshiyo Yamada

Nattie Neidhart

LuFisto

MOTN: Unification match

Sorry I don't have much to add about these matches, but I will say I'm happy seeing this back at the top of the forum again <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

The Final Countdown · January 8, 2018

April 6th, 2003: Unified <div style="text-align:center;"><img alt="I3yBlF2.png" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/I3yBlF2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> April 6th, 2003 From Sapporo, Japan Attendance: 23,000 Announce Team: Joey Styles, Tracy Brooks and Bret "The Hitman" Hart <img alt="jUhTewM.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/jUhTewM.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="cyeakzQ.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/cyeakzQ.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="nG8aWZm.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/nG8aWZm.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Official Theme Song: "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes <iframe width="560" height="315" src="<a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0J2QdDbelmY" rel="external nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/embed/0J2QdDbelmY"</a> frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Nattie Neidhart vs. Shinobu Kandori http://i.imgur.com/MAaFqtV.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/EiVoLiY.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/gfF32sn.jpg </div> A few hours after her very real ass kicking at the hands of Momoe Nakanishi, it was time for Shinobu to go to work. This match was nothing special, but it was a decent opener that got the show started on a positive note. Both women were at about the same level of performance here, each doing their job and getting the crowd hotter. Shinobu worked some of her judo techniques into the match and tried to maneuver for a submission, but Nattie fought her off and hit a discus clothesline to get the pin. Nattie was always going to get the win here, but Kandori did her long term prospects no favors with her antics earlier in the day. <div style="text-align:center;">Grade: C+</div></div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Momoe Nakanishi vs. LuFisto <img alt="5P9dIaj.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/5P9dIaj.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />http://i.imgur.com/EiVoLiY.jpg<img alt="nduX6fx.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/nduX6fx.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div> This match was a bit of a step up from the opener. The bulk of the credit for that belongs to Momoe. While LuFisto is solid, Momoe was definitely leading the way here. She's a very likeable babyface, and her personality as an expert of flash pins continues to get more over. She went for several such pin variations throughout the match, with LuFisto continuing to kick out. LuFisto's greatest success in the match came when she was able to get down and dirty and turn things into more of a brawl, but <a href="https://imgur.com/JDEIFjp" rel="external nofollow">the Momo*Latch</a> resulted in a second straight babyface win. <div style="text-align:center;">Grade: B-</div></div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">http://i.imgur.com/LyKOnBY.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/iVkKXFP.jpg</div> We aired a video recapping the dispute between Aja Kong and Manami Toyota over who is the true world champion, with comments from both women. The story started back in January 2002, when Kong left AJW and focused on her work in GAEA, in the process vacating what was then known as the WWWA World title. That was the title that eventually wound up becoming renamed the WCW World Women's Championship when we purchased AJW, and months later when we bought GAEA as well, Aja Kong joined our roster and brought that promotion's top title, the AAAW Singles belt, with her. Aja glared into the camera and said no one had been good enough to beat her for the belt Manami now wore, just like no one was good enough to take the AAAW Singles title now. She cannot be beaten, and tonight all of Manami's adoring fans in Sapporo will be forced to watch as their hero is put in her place. For her part, Manami said she knew she was in for a grave challenge tonight. She'd battled Aja many times over the years, and it was a fierce battle each time. Sometimes she won, as she did in March 1995 when she ended Aja's nearly two and a half year long reign as WWWA World Champion. Sometimes she lost, and she was not ashamed of that. But this was a new day, a new era and a new world for women's wrestling, and she planned on proving to all the fans watching all around the world that she is the greatest female wrestler on the planet. Tracy's commentary was noticeably weak here, but the segment itself was great and it made an already hot story even hotter as we prepare for the big main event. <div style="text-align:center;">Grade: A</div></div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue http://i.imgur.com/zVT0XcD.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/EiVoLiY.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/SKNBQrE.jpg </div> I expected this to be pretty good, and I wasn't disappointed. This was the best match of the night to this point, with both women doing a good job. I thought Takako was slightly better, probably because she's more charismatic and can project as a star better than Yamada, who is talented but not much of an entertainer. That said, the work of both women was good, showcasing their well-rounded skillsets. Toshiyo threw lots of kicks here as per usual, and Takako made a show of trying to avoid taking any blows to the face. (Not that that wouldn't be a logical thing to do, but here it was more about her being superficially concerned with her appearance.) Inoue did some nice heel work, playing to the fans when she had control and mockingly asking Toshiyo if "oneesama" (big sister, a reference to her partner Manami Toyota in this case) was too busy to worry about her tonight. Takako's arrogance came back to bite her when Toshiyo connected with a flurry of kicks, culminating with a corkscrew roundhouse kick to the face that finished her off. <div style="text-align:center;">Grade: B</div></div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Ultimate Fan Series Finals: #3 Sin-free Society vs. #4 Satyr's Hopeful Few (series tied 1-1) Daffney (Society) vs. Melissa Anderson (S.H.F.) http://i.imgur.com/ZHerQIf.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/EiVoLiY.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/OophliK.jpg </div> This was obviously a big match with the UFS implications, and there's also some history between these two with the tag team feud between Our Generation and the Daffney/LuFisto pairing. I had originally envisioned doing a big blowoff tag match for that feud on this show, but that plan was abandoned when I decided to take advantage of the timing of this show and include the UFS finals here. Unfortunately, it turned out that these two women just didn't work well together at all without their partners there to join in. Both women worked hard, with Melissa's performance being slightly better. The match itself was fine, but obviously it could've gone better without the bad chemistry in place to drag it down. The idea we sold here was that Melissa was the more skilled wrestler, but Daffney's wild and unpredictable style made it difficult for "Arn's niece" to gain the upper hand. She even teased spitting the poison mist at one point, but seemed to think better of it when Charles Robinson insisted she would be disqualified (and thus put the Society one loss away from elimination.) Eventually Melissa rattled Daffney's brains with a spinebuster and got the duke with a bridging German suplex, putting the Hopeful Few ahead in the series 2-1. <div style="text-align:center;">Grade: C+</div></div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Chigusa Nagayo vs. Etsuko Mita (w/Eric Bischoff) http://i.imgur.com/XvzeNmR.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/EiVoLiY.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/cAw5Dl8.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/eX0IXCy.jpg </div> There was a pre-match package recapping the feud, with comments from both participants interspersed. Mita did a good job with her delivery, coming across as genuinely dismissive of anything she could hope to learn from Chigusa, and Bischoff added to that simply by standing there and being his naturally smug self. Tracy's announcing was again a detriment to the segment, but it was still a strong one. <div style="text-align:center;">Grade: A</div> I had pretty high hopes for this one, so I gave them a good amount of time and told them to start off slow and really draw out the drama for maximum effect on the fans. Both Chigusa and Etsuko thrived under those directions, each turning in strong performances. I'd say Chigusa was slightly better, but it's splitting hairs and honestly irrelevant because their output was well above any other match to this point. With Bischoff egging her on, Mita went out of her way to try and show up the veteran. It worked well because Etsuko is a very good heel, but even more importantly, Chigusa is a truly top notch babyface. The fans love her and naturally rally around her, and it enhances every match she's in. The fans urged her on, cheering when she kicked out of a superplex, sighing in relief when she evaded Mita's signature Death Valley Driver, and coming to their feet when she executed a folding powerbomb. They were momentarily disappointed when Mita got a shoulder up just before three, but the veteran wasted no time in going right back on the attack. She pulled Etsuko to her feet and hit her with the 'Super Freak II' (a spinning Doctor Bomb), and there was no kick-out this time. <div style="text-align:center;">Grade: B+</div></div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Meiko Satomura vs. Devil Masami <img alt="OCuJKqq.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/OCuJKqq.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />http://i.imgur.com/EiVoLiY.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/gOVE3CN.jpg </div> The first singles meeting between these two in WCW was less about the action and more about the story being told. That might have kept the match from fulfilling its maximum potential, but it also wasn't helped by Devil having an off night. When she was supposed to be ruthlessly punishing Meiko, her offense just didn't look as credible as it usually does. There's nothing negative to be said about Meiko's performance, though Devil still contributed slightly more to the match based on her good brawling skills and superior charisma. The match itself was fairly good, but I'd be lying if I said I hadn't expected it to be better. Still, I tentatively viewed it as the third best match coming in, which was why I put it in this semi main event slot to act as a bit of a buffer between Chigusa/Mita and the main event. The story here was that Devil was more interested in trying to beat on her opponent than actually win the match, even passing up multiple potential pinning situations in order to inflict more punishment. Meiko had no such qualms, but she found Masami to be a tough nut to crack. She thought she had an opportunity to connect with her signature Scorpio Rising kick, but Masami had actually been suckering her in and put her on her back with a hard lariat. From there Devil slapped on her sleeper hold, which has made numerous opponents pass out. Meiko squirmed and struggled, but was fading fast. Just when it seemed like she was done, she summoned one last bit of fight. Meiko burst out of Devil's grip, surprised her with a go-behind and rolled her up for a sudden three count, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. <div style="text-align:center;">Grade: B-</div></div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">http://i.imgur.com/7IEXPEL.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/741TrEA.jpg Aja Kong {©} vs. Manami Toyota {©} http://i.imgur.com/iVkKXFP.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/EiVoLiY.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/LyKOnBY.jpg</div> The pace of this match became clear right from the opening bell, when rather than coming after each other and getting the action started off quickly, the two champions had a staredown in the center of the ring. Make no mistake: this was going to be a slow, deliberate match that gradually built to high drama later on. Given Aja's physical limitations at this point of her career, I figured this was for the best. Trusting in the psychological savvy of Toyota, I let them call this one in the ring and do whatever they felt was best to keep the crowd invested. They had a very good match, but I think it'd be fair to say it was a slight disappointment. It was clearly a step down from Manami's title match with Devil Masami from the first Renaissance PPV, and even Kong's semi main event against Chigusa Nagayo from the same show was slightly better than this. It was good, but Nagayo vs. Mita wound up being the best match from this show, which I would not have expected heading in. I can't blame Toyota too much for that though. She did her part and had another great individual outing, probably the best all night, but Kong just couldn't match her level. The story early on was Toyota throwing dropkicks, flying forearms and a bevy of other attacks at Kong, only for her to shrug each and every one off with little to no effect and dare Manami to try and stop her. She did stagger Aja with a missile dropkick, but when she went back up top to try and repeat the move, Kong caught her out of mid-air and drove her into the mat with a powerslam. Thus began an extended run of Kong brutalizing her smaller opponent with slams, splashes and strikes. Toyota beautifully sold having the breath knocked out of her body with a splash from the second rope, but still got a shoulder up before she could be defeated. Manami ducked underneath the Uraken backfist and started rallying back with some forearms before heading back up to the top rope, but she was again thwarted. This time Aja cut her off and launched her halfway across the ring with a military press. With a smile, Aja slapped Manami across the face a few times before lifting her into the air and delivering a vicious <a href="https://i.imgur.com/lbADeZd.gifv" rel="external nofollow">Aja Bomb!</a> The fans in Sapporo went silent as Charles Robinson counted once, twice... ...but Toyota got a shoulder up before the three! Aja let out an angry snarl and began peppering Manami with blows to the face. She picked Toyota up for a powerbomb, but the WCW World Champion showed championship poise by countering it into a facebuster. Manami went back to the top rope yet again, and yet again Kong was there to greet her. She climbed up and joined Toyota on the ropes this time, intending to throw her back down from an elevated height. She wrapped her hand around Manami's throat in what apparently was going to be a chokeslam, but Toyota blocked it and rocked Kong with several forearms to the face. But with her back to the floor and Aja's bulk being almost impossible to move from that angle, there wasn't much Toyota could do to follow up. Knowing she was in a bad position, Manami slid through Kong's legs until her feet were back on the mat, but they weren't there for long. She quickly climbed back up the ropes, standing on the top rope behind Kong. Those who knew Toyota's pre-WCW career well came to their feet, recognizing this setup...and sure enough, she nailed the <a href="https://i.imgur.com/uLcmzUo.gifv" rel="external nofollow">Victory Star Drop!</a> Not even the mighty Kong was kicking out of that one! <div style="text-align:center;">Grade: B+ <img alt="nG8aWZm.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/nG8aWZm.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div> I came into the ring after the match and presented Toyota with both titles, officially making her the undisputed world champion and #1 women's wrestler in the world. (We probably won't refer to the belt as the undisputed/unified title or anything like that though; I'd like to keep it simple.) She shook my hand and bowed, then took the microphone to thank the fans. While I couldn't understand her speech to the Japanese fans, there was no doubt that it got over. I rewatched it later with subtitles, and basically she'd thanked the fans for their support, said it felt good to remove any doubt about the validity of her status as the world champion, and promised that she would continue to represent Renaissance and WCW as the champion with pride until someone rose to the occasion and defeated her. She asked the fans to continue watching and supporting Renaissance and WCW, because together, WCW and the fans can change the wrestling world! I felt it was necessary for someone to present Toyota with the two belts to drive the moment home, and there was no one better than me to do it. My presence was really missed at the desk though. Tracy did a poor job on color, and it was magnified without me there to help Joey mask her weaknesses. She does continue to improve, but it's going more slowly than I'd like. I'm not sure we have a better option though. Anyway, the promo itself was great and sent the fans home happy. <div style="text-align:center;">Grade: A</div></div></blockquote> <div style="text-align:center;">Show Overall Grade: B+</div> <hr noshade size=3> Lots of speculation about who Vince is trying to steal, which is obviously what I was going for! I'm not going to give anything away here, but I'll probably include another little teaser in the post-Unified story update tomorrow. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Bluestillidie00" data-cite="Bluestillidie00" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Predicting RVD or Rey is caught up in the bidding war. Maybe Punk? Anyway, good to see you back dude, favourite diary by far.</div></blockquote> Thanks, I appreciate it! It's nice to know so many people are enjoying this and are happy to see it return from its brief hiatus. Sometimes I need to take a bit of a step back to recharge the batteries and focus on other things, and it's reassuring that people are willing to wait those periods out. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="GingeyOne" data-cite="GingeyOne" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div> General diary comments/questions/critiques: Great to have you back! I am writing this from a Japanese laundrette on my trip to Wrestle Kingdom! Cool to see Jericho get the big push in this WWE after his amazing performance against Omega. It has really revitalised me as a fan of his!</div></blockquote> Oh man, I'm seriously jealous! I hope you enjoyed yourself. I'd love to see an NJPW show live, never mind Wrestle Kingdom. I'm not a huge fan of flying though, so I probably wouldn't do well on a trip halfway across the world. Other than ROH regulars like Cody and the Bucks, the only NJPW guys I get to see live are the ones that come to ROH on excursion (so Hiromu/Kamaitachi in 2016, and Jay White, Sho and Yoh last summer. If ROH comes to my area in the summer again like they have for the past several years, maybe I'll be seeing Kitamura this time?) I'm totally with you on Jericho. I've been a fan of his ever since he turned heel in WCW and had that incredibly entertaining run in the cruiserweight division. I was kind of sad watching him wrestle AJ Styles a couple of years ago, because it just didn't impress me. His angles with Kevin Owens were a lot of fun, but this whole thing with Omega has just been on a different level. The build-up was great, but the match really blew me away! It was quite possibly my favorite Jericho match ever. The only other contender I can really think of was that ladder match he had with Shawn, but that was what, over nine years ago? He's always been a master of reinventing himself and adding different facets to his character, but I never would've thought he'd have a match of this caliber in 2018! <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Looking forward to he bidding wars to begin. It will be interesting to see the lay of the land after it all. Defections are something Wrestling is missing these days!</div></blockquote> I totally agree. That's one of the reasons I wanted to do something in this time period rather than a later one where WWE had already taken everything over. I think the game world has gotten a whole lot more interesting now that I've hit national. WWE can steal my guys, but I'm in a position to try and do the same! <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="kinnikuniverse" data-cite="kinnikuniverse" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div> Aw, sucks for doi! Btw are you gonna open dragon gate, like you mentioned back then?</div></blockquote> Yeah, I probably should. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>OMG, wrestle kingdom was awesome! Just when i thought that new japan sucks now that nakamura and shibata are gone and that they lost what made them unique thanks to too many foreigners and going American, they deliver an awesome show that surpassed my expectation!</div></blockquote> I understand what you mean. Gedo was apparently a big fan of American territory wrestling, and it shows in his booking. The product is a blend of US wrestling and traditional Japanese style, for better or worse. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Honestly, i loved new japan more when it was obscure and Japanese and an Internet only thing.Im sorry, I know thats hipster AF, but That's really how i feel.</div></blockquote> While I've watched certain individual matches and shows from Japan since about 1999, that was pretty infrequent and I only became an avid New Japan fan a few years ago. I get what you mean though, because I probably feel pretty similarly about ROH. Last year was apparently their best year ever business-wise, but I was a much bigger fan of the company in 2005 or 2006. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Bluestillidie00" data-cite="Bluestillidie00" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Because he can half arse it and get a shit ton of money. No point working this hard hitting main events which will **** your body up, for less money than a safer, less draining style.</div></blockquote> Yep, pretty much this, plus I think he always wanted to try becoming a star in America. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>You're vastly overrating the popularity of NJPW in America, it still is an internet only thing.</div></blockquote> It's exponentially bigger than it was even a year or two ago, but yeah, it's still very much a niche thing. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="kinnikuniverse" data-cite="kinnikuniverse" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div> Man, TFC, you have a way to build intrigue and suspense!</div></blockquote> I do what I can! <img alt=":D" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Beejus" data-cite="Beejus" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43035" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div> Sorry I don't have much to add about these matches, but I will say I'm happy seeing this back at the top of the forum again <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote> You and me both! I hope to see Hate the Game up there again soon as well! <img alt=";)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/wink.png.686f06e511ee1fbf6bdc7d82f6831e53.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

DHK1989 · January 8, 2018

Will a new WCW Women's Title belt eventually be revealed, or will they continue to stick with the old WWWA belt? Just curious.

K-Nection · January 8, 2018

Loved this show! I know Toyota is going to be a great champion for you but it is interesting to see Mita holding it down in the midcard like she is! At the moment she is the clear number 2 as far as ring performances go in Renaissance. She has the long term potential of eventually winning that belt back one day.

kinnikuniverse · January 8, 2018

YASS, my best prediction result yet! UFS, HERE I COME!!

As for the bidding wars, I still think it's booker, as he showed, thoroughout this diary, that he's the kind of guy that wants to have creative control. The way bret's interlocutor talked also sounds like him. Sure, punk,Corino, RVD, AJ, jeff hardy and rey also talks like that, but, like I said, those guys aren't the kind of guys that wants creative control, in fact, they would even be loyal to bret because he's the one who believes in them and gave them their chance. Though punk would've left solely for the money, as he actually stated in an interview that he'd leave for WWE mainly for financial stability. But, with WCW still around and healthy financially, Thad be difficult to judge.

As for the brother, it's obviously scott steiner. In that case, he's not indispensable.

As for the WWE side of the bidding war, it can't be jericho, as he just won the belt. I hope it's eddie and/or angle. I'd love krispin wah too, but...yeah.

Anyway, good job as usual! Always look forward to the next post!

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