That Was Then, Is This Too? 08.25.09: The American Dragon and The Canadian Crippler
Posted by Jasper Gerretsen on 08.25.2009
After years touring Japan and the American independents, Bryan Danielson finally seems set to take a shot at achieving WWE fame. Check inside for this week's column as we take a look at another wrestler who preferred to tell his story in the ring rather than in front of the microphone.
Welcome back to another installation of That Was Then, Is This Too?, the column that was completely rewritten on Monday night due to the shocking developments that reached me a few hours late due to timezone-related shenanigans. Of course that doesn't mean we won't start off with comments.
You sure don`t see many superheavyweights anymore. Bundy, Akeem, Vader, Bam Bam, Uncle Elmer, Kamala, Monsoon, Tugboat, Earthquake...so many are dead now, maybe that`s why there are so few similar builds in WWE now. Also, the mobility is an issue- the slow, plodding offence is not that exciting to watch.
Posted By: FUZEY (Guest) on August 18, 2009 at 05:23 PM
I think that this is mostly due to the fact that over the last fifteen years or so, wrestling has gotten a lot more 'serious', with a lot less room for sideshow acts. Even Kahli, the last true giant to make it to WWE, has a history in bodybuilding, giving him a very different look from most conventional giants.
I must confess to being a complete and utter Vader mark.
Vader actually provided me with my earliest wrestling memory. One Saturday afternoon when I was about 5 years old, my Dad was casually flicking through channels and happened upon some WCW program or other, just as Vader was being prevented by the referee from performing a moonsault on Sting. I remember thinking how on earth would anyone survuve a monster like that landing on you from so high?
I had nightmares about Vader for months following that one short clip.
I see a lot of similarities in Kong (maybe it's why I like her so much as a performer), and I hope there are children somewhere waking up in a cold sweat anticipating the crushing force of Kong crashing down on them from above.
Posted By: smithy84 (Guest) on August 18, 2009 at 05:28 PM
I can imagine there are children having nightmares about Kong crashing down on them from above, but if there's anything the internet has taught me, it's that there's probably an equal amount of confused young men masturbating over the same.
"As hard as Punk has been pushed lately, I simply don't think he's ready for Taker in a Cell. It would certainly make for a huge win for Punk if he did pull it off though"
I'm calling it now. Punk to end 'taker's streak at Wrestlemania!!!!!
Posted By: mrfish (Guest) on August 18, 2009 at 06:10 PM
I think that at this point even the most diehard ROHbot would cringe at the thought of Punk beating Undertaker at WrestleMania.
Vader was so dominant during his WCW run that when Cactus Jack defeated him by countout during their WCW Saturday Night match, it was considered a huge upset. Let me repeat that. Vader was so dominant that defeating him by COUNTOUT was considered a huge upset, even with the help of the steel rails at ringside! I totally marked out when I watched that on Foley's DVD. It's one of my favorite all time matches because of the brutality and the upset factor.
Posted By: Andis (Guest) on August 18, 2009 at 08:59 PM
Yeah, I was so glad they included the full match in one of Foley's DVDs. It's just one of those matches that's perfect if you need to convince someone that professional wrestling is more real than they'd like to admit.
Watching Vader in action you couldn't help but wince in sympathy for the poor guy that had to face him as the way he just manhandled everyone that was put in his way be it his forearms, his chokeslam, his vader splash, his vader sault, and especially his vader bomb. And he just wasn't a big brute, he could move like a cat when he needed too against others who tried to stay away. He was stiff yeah but unlike Hardcore Holly he took care of his opponents making sure not to do serious damage to them as one time he was very upset when he accidentailly broke a guy's back (It should be on youtube.) and if you stiffed him back and took the fight to him you would earn his respect.
Posted By: Michael (Guest) on August 18, 2009 at 10:09 PM
I think there's a whole host of severely injured jobbers that would beg to differ about Vader taking care of them. I think Vader could easily have toned down his stiffness a bit and still be over like rover as a monster.
With regards to Awesome Kong's opponent what about Tara/Victoria? If they built her right that would be a great match...
Posted By: AH (Guest) on August 19, 2009 at 07:29 AM
To be honest I hadn't even thought about Tara as a possible opponent for Kong, but I guess they could pull it off, if they're willing to give them as much time as they gave Kim and Kong of course.
With that out of the way, it's time to move on to the column! Banner!
That Was Then, Is This Too? - The American Dragon And The Canadian Crippler
Before we start off, I'd like to insert a small disclaimer here regarding Chris Benoit. It's been two years since the horrible murder/suicide events, and I'd like to think that at this point I can write a column about Benoit as a wrestler without catching flack for it. Obviously he's a horrible person and the wrestling world is off worse for what he did, but regardless of what Benoit did as a person, his achievements as a wrestler can't be denied.
It was way too early on Monday morning, after having caught only a few hours of sleep due to watching Summerslam, that I caught the news of Bryan Danielson agreeing in principle to a WWE contract. After wrapping up his indy commitments, which will most likely be done by the end of September or the start of October, Danielson will be checking in at Florida Championship Wrestling to be converted from the best independent wrestler in the world to, hopefully, the best sports entertainer in the world.
Of course a lot of people are skeptical about Danielson's chances at long term success in WWE. After all, their track record with indy wrestlers is spotty at best. While Evan Bourne and CM Punk have found success, other big indy names such as Ace Steel and Colt Cabana were released long before they ever got a proper chance to show what they could do. With Kaval (Low-Ki/Senshi) set to return from a serious knee injury and Danielson about to make his FCW debut, FCW will be a very interesting place to watch for independent wrestling fans.
Of course this isn't Danielson's tango with WWE's developmental system. Fresh out of high school, with most of his experience coming from backyard wrestling, Danielson signed on with Shawn Michaels' Texas Wrestling Academy to receive his first real training. During his time there he met with many future WWE superstars, including Lance Cade, Paul London and Brian Kendrick. For the next few months he would tour the country, until he was signed to a WWF developmental contract and assigned to Memphis Championship Wrestling, where he remained until he was released from his contract when WWF moved its developmental territory to the Heartland Wrestling Association.
After being released from his developmental contract, Danielson would go on to become one of the "founding fathers" of Ring of Honor, competing on most of the company's shows throughout 2002 while also working in several other American and Japanese promotions. Then in 2003 came his second attempt to get a foot in the door with WWE, this time as enhancement talent on the secondary shows Heat and Velocity. One of his most famous matches from that period was against John Cena, a clash between the future of sports entertainment and the future of independent wrestling:
The match starts with Danielson controlling most of it with the standard indy arm wringers, and there's even a pretty cool spot where Cena forces him into a pin off a Greco-Roman knuckle lock, only for Danielson to bridge out and sucker him into a monkey flip. Then right in the middle of the match Cena just hits a huge clothesline, and from there takes control with high-impact power based offence. It was a perfect display of the difference in style between ROH and WWE, packed within a four minute match.
Danielson never got his WWE contract however, and soon went back to touring for ROH and Japan, developing the in-ring skills that eventually allowed him to claim the moniker of "best in the world". When he captured the ROH World Championship from once and future WWE superstar James Gibson, he ushered in one of the most exciting eras in ROH history, taking on all comers and planting the seeds for his legendary on again, off again rivalry with Nigel McGuinness. He would hold the ROH title for over a year, finally dropping it to Homicide before taking off time to heal some lingering injuries.
Over the years Danielson developed the Best in the World moniker into one of the most recognizable gimmicks of the indy scene. While he was never strong on the mic, he still managed to get himself over through the sheer intensity of his work in the ring, with a little help from The Final Countdown as his awesome entrance music. Danielson is a small man, probably the palest wrestler working today and not muscular by any stretch of the imagination, but when you get in the ring with him, you know you're about to get stretched out in ways you previously thought impossible and/or, as the crowd often likes to remind you, "going to get your fucking head kicked in".
That Was Then...
About twenty years earlier, there was another relatively small, soft spoken wrestler that was making waves across American and Japanese promotions with a vicious technical style. After training in the Hart Family Dungeon, Chris Benoit made his way over to Japan, first as the masked Pegasus Kid and later as the unmasked Wild Pegasus, and soon became one of the top junior heavyweights in the country, even winning the inaugural New Japan Pro Wrestling Super J Cup.
During his time in Japan, he caught the eye of Paul Heyman, who brought him into Extreme Championship Wrestling. Although Benoit had made a few appearances in WCW as part of their talent exchange with NJPW, this was his first extended stint in a major American company. It was in ECW that he would be rechristened as The Canadian Crippler, following an incident where Sabu broke his neck after botching a bump off one of Benoit's suplexes. Even though Benoit was devastated at the thought of having crippled someone, Heyman insisted on turning him into the ruthless crippler that had no regard for the health of his opponents, a gimmick that stuck with him in various degrees throughout his career.
In 1995 Benoit made his jump to WCW. Unlike many ECW wrestlers debuting in the company at the time, he was actually brought in through the WCW/NJPW talent exchange program in stead of Bischoff's attempt to sign anyone and everyone who had spent any significant time in ECW, and unlike many of his ECW colleagues he only spent a few weeks in the cruiserweight division before moving up to the heavyweights as part of the newly reformed Four Horsemen.
Being associated in any way, shape or form with Ric Flair and/or the Horsemen should be a huge boost to anyone's career, but like many others Benoit found himself frustrated with locker room politics time and again, which is why he jumped ship to the WWF the day after winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, taking the equally frustrated Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn with him. Even though they started out as a minor stable Benoit was quickly thrust into the WWF title picture, even winning it on several occasions only to have the decision overturned.
Benoit truly flourished in WWF/E, with Angle as the perfect opponent. They had an on again, off again feud that lasted over three years, with many excellent mat-based wrestling matches and even an interesting run in the SmackDown! tag division when it was glowing hot. Even though he didn't win a world title until 2004, he was still involved in many memorable matches, and clearly given the appreciation he rightfully deserved for the ruthless intensity he brought to the ring time and again, both when fighting for the title and when grooming guys for their future in the company, as was the case with his last major program, the feud over the United States Championship with MVP.
...is this too?
At this point I have to note that it is surprising that Danielson even made it to WWE, considering that with the demise of ECW and WCW, there is now a huge gap between independent wrestling and mainstream wrestling. Still, Danielson has worked hard for years and now we can start rooting for Punk vs. Danielson as the main event for Wrestlemania 28. Of course Danielson still has a very long way to go, but a writer can dream...
Still, the similarities between the career paths of Danielson and Benoit are obvious. They both received training from absolute legends (although Michaels' credentials as a trainer would probably be more impressive if he hadn't returned to fulltime wrestling in 2002), and both had major success as junior heavyweights over in the land of the rising sun, with styles that perfectly suited the tastes of the Japanese audiences. Of course one has to remember that being a junior heavyweight in Japan is nothing like being a cruiserweight in America, as Japanese junior heavyweight divisions form highly appreciated parts of their rosters, with matches going on for 30 minutes or more being the norm.
I think that at this point, calling Danielson a modern age Benoit would be a very fair comparison. Although Danielson borrows heavily from MMA, both men have a very physical submission arsenal that more than makes up for any shortcomings they may have in the mic skills department. It takes an extreme amount of talent and dedication for a wrestler to get over purely through their in-ring performances, but Danielson and Benoit have both achieved this in their own way.
Time will tell if Danielson's transition to the WWE style of wrestling will go smoothly. Many thought that Colt Cabana would have been a perfect fit for sports entertainment, but he got the axe simply because the creative department couldn't think of anything for him to do. Furthermore, where Benoit came into the company with years of national exposure already behind him, Danielson is still a relative unknown to 99% of WWE's audience. However, with WWE's growing emphasis on smaller wrestlers and the success of CM Punk, as well as Danielson's unbelievable amount of raw talent, I'll be going with cautious optimism for the time being.
If only the WWE would bring Paul London back to team with him...
Posted By: Michael (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 03:13 PM
i have this strange feeling that Danielson will actually get a legit shot in the WWE. And he will be given something very very close to the crippler gimmick, with no mention or acknowledgement of Benoit, kind of a way to further erase the memory of the wolverine. cattle mutilation will be replaced, not by the "crippler crossface", but by "The Dragon's Crossfire"
Posted By: jojo (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 03:31 PM
It would be excellent if they had him appear cost Orton the title at the submission only PPV so that he could get a shot at Cena. The announcers could play him up as a dangerous veteran who's won wherever he went and isn't afraid to hurt people. Since the WWE added the ridiculous stipulation about Orton losing the title if anyone interferes on his behalf, Danielson could emerge from the crowd and hit Cena with the Cattle Mutilation, thus injuring him while insuring he gets the title.
Posted By: Iron Knee (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 03:50 PM
Of topic, but wouldn't it be cool if Brock Lesner returned (which I think he eventually will) for a program with John Cena, with the roles reversed (Cena the over-baby face and Lesner the heel with something to prove)
Posted By: Joel Yeomans (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 04:03 PM
do you guys think wwe will give the name that everyone in the indy sence known him as "american dragon" or change his name. I think they going to change his name because swegger name is "the all american american" so i dont think they will keep his indy name
Posted By: Endy (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 04:06 PM
Interesting comparasins between both guys, both are/ were phenomenal in ring yet lacking big time in promo skills and charisma. Benoit had an impressive physique which negated that to an extent while Danielson just looks some everyday guy you'd see walking the street which makes me thinks his prospects for succes are less. CM punk is comparable to Danielson through the physique/ ability standpoints but is far more accomplished with promos and connecting with a crowd outside a ring. I fear he's going to fall in the London/ Kendrick category of "Yeah there good in the ring but thats 1/3 of the package" 2/3 will cut it, and Danielson doesn't have that.
Posted By: Will (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 04:09 PM
This comparison is the strongest argument that Danielson might make it past development and become a legitimate WWE star. Benoit could be viewed as the model for succeding in the WWE purely on the basis of work rate, with his best tecnical wrestler in the world gimmick and his Cross-face Crippler submission hold having brought him to the greatest height in sports entertainment. I do have to wonder if the thirty plus pounds of muscle that Benoit had over Danielson will make a difference, though. It may bode well that the WWE have signed him knowing what Danielson looks like and definately aren't going to want to see him turn into a mini-hulk before appearing (given the microscope that suspicious muscle development is currently under). I do think Danielson's appearence and crowd rapport should work in his favor. While Benoit was always a strange looking man and perfomed for the audience in a detached manner, Danielson has proven to have a versitile appearence and his ability to interact with the fans (as both a face and a heel) during his matches has flourished over the years.
Two more things that I think will work in his favor:
A) I predict The Cattle Mutilation will be hugely over. It's a genuinely different submission move which we haven't seen in the WWE recently. Most of the WWE's current submission finishers are just stock moves that certain wrestlers have latched onto (ie the STF, Full Nelson, Camel Clutch). The Cattle Mutilation looks awesome and it will instantly identify Danielson in the same way the SSP has made Bourne stand out.
B) The MMA Elbows could be a revolutionary development in WWE. I personally am a big fan of the repeated strike finisher. This is a concept that is relatively new to WWE; we did see it in the Jericho/Michaels feud, but in that case it was used to prolong the feud without to occurence of a decisive victory. Now we could see it make it's way to the WWE as a regular finishing sequence. When I heard that Danielson had started using this finish in ROH I ordered some DVDs because I just had to see how badass it looked, and I was not disappointed.
While they won't admit it, the WWE wants in on MMA's demographic, that's what Breaking Point is about. That's why there have been so many more knee strikes and kicks worked into the action. This is a finish that will appeal to MMA fans and get over the brutality that Danielson is capable of dishing out regardless of his stature.
Posted By: Lance O' Leary (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 06:25 PM
Whatever happened to Benoit?
Posted By: Guest#8466 (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 06:53 PM
Danielson has an uphill battle ahead of him in WWE. Not only will he have to use his questionable promo skills, he'll have to tone down his in ring style to suit the 'E, cause I don't see Vinnie Mac letting a short, pale, 185lb, tattooless guy in maroon underwear using strong style on any of his brands. I'm not worried about which brand he gets put on because I know he can work wonders with anybody, but I don't want to hear Cole and/or Lawler trying to call one his matches.
Posted By: K. Bett (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 08:50 PM
If Sheamus is getting a shot in ECW, the pale look may not be as much a hindrance to Danielson as before.
Posted By: djkeyserv140 (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 09:04 PM
There are three crucial reasons why Bryan Danielson will be the next CM Punk and not the next Colt Cabana.
1) He is a mat based worker with the ability to work larger than he really is. Kendrick and London both work at their size, not above it. Danielson will be able to make the jump up to the heavyweights where others couldn't.
2) He is highly intelligent and has, from all accounts, a really good head on his shoulders. Paul London lost his way because of his attitude and Brian Kendrick decided he liked the marijuana more than his job. A great attitude, massive talent and an ability to engage and deal with political obstructions is a key in dealing with any corporate setting, much less the WWE.
3) High placed political allies. He has his trainer (Shawn Michaels), his mentor (William Regal) and a contemporary (CM Punk) on his side which is more than most talent gets when they arrive. He's extremely well connected. Plus, I'd imagine that it wasn't cheap for the WWE to bring him in, so I doubt that they wouldn't give him an opportunity to succeed.
Let's just see how this plays out rather than jump the gun and call it a bad move on Danielson's behalf. Jericho, Rey Mysterio and Kofi Kingston are all title holders right now and they're just about the same size as Bryan Danielson... it doesn't mean he will immediatley fail.
Also, if you're a ROH talent, the WWE probably looks better than TNA right now because a ROH Alumnus just headlined SummerSlam while Samoa Joe is stuck in the mid-card.
Folks like Nigel McGuinness, Davey Richards, Bison Smith and the Briscoes have to look awfully hard at their careers and decide if this would be the right move for them.
Posted By: xXxLenWierzalisxXx (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 09:33 PM
if this danielson is so good, best in the world, why would he need to go to florida wrestling? goldberg, steiner, rvd, all these people never went to developement when they signed with wwe.
this shows all roh wrestlers are green, and need to be fine tuned before stepping up onto the big stage.
Posted By: danny (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 10:22 PM
if this danielson is so good, best in the world, why would he need to go to florida wrestling? goldberg, steiner, rvd, all these people never went to developement when they signed with wwe.
this shows all roh wrestlers are green, and need to be fine tuned before stepping up onto the big stage.
Posted By: danny (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 10:22 PM
Danielson is anything but "green", my guess is they want him to adapt to the "WWE Style", and work on "connecting with the crowd" and inring promo work.
But has far as technical wrestling ability is concerned, he's nowhere near "green".
Posted By: Pat (Guest) on August 25, 2009 at 11:06 PM
Indeed, it's obtuse to suggest that he's 'green' simply because he's not ready for WWE TV. There are many other kinds of wrestling beyond that which 1 guy (Vince McMahon) thinks is the correct kind. Danielson can do any style, but it takes time to get used to a different (and large) ring, and adjust your style for a new format.
Posted By: DocSarpolis (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 01:11 AM
Daniel Bryant, coming to ECW, 2010.
Posted By: The Hitcher (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 06:52 AM
Both guy had TONS of charisma. The problem is that most smarks see charisma as being promos and there's so much more than that. Almost NO ONE in the WWE has facial expressions in the ring as Danielson.
Posted By: Guest#9082 (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 09:17 AM
Of course a lot of people are skeptical about Danielson's chances at long term success in WWE. After all, their track record with indy wrestlers is spotty at best. While Evan Bourne and CM Punk have found success, other big indy names such as Ace Steel and Colt Cabana were released long before they ever got a proper chance to show what they could do. With Kaval (Low-Ki/Senshi) set to return from a serious knee injury and Danielson about to make his FCW debut, FCW will be a very interesting place to watch for independent wrestling fans.
During his time in Japan, he caught the eye of Paul Heyman, who brought him into Extreme Championship Wrestling. Although Benoit had made a few appearances in WCW as part of their talent exchange with NJPW, this was his first extended stint in a major American company. It was in ECW that he would be rechristened as The Canadian Crippler, following an incident where Sabu broke his neck after botching a bump off one of Benoit's suplexes. Even though Benoit was devastated at the thought of having crippled someone, Heyman insisted on turning him into the ruthless crippler that had no regard for the health of his opponents, a gimmick that stuck with him in various degrees throughout his career.
