WWE Region, Wellington Subregion, FirstRound:(6)Rey M. Jr. vs. (27)Edouard Carpentier

[klunderbunker]

This is a first round match in the WWE Region, Wellington Subregion. It is a standard one on one match held under WWE Rules. It will be held at the TSB Bank Arena in Wellington, New Zealand.

#6. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Vs.

#27. Edouard Carpentier

​

Polls will be open for four days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[Tastycles]

A man comes into a big time American wrestling promotion and is a little smaller than most of the other wrestlers. He speaks English, but his first language is foreign. His high flying high energy style is not common in the top level wrestlers, but nevertheless he defeats the biggest names of the day and ends up becoming a world champion. The ultimate underdog story. And here, he's facing Rey Mysterio in the first round of the tournament.

Carpentier did what Mysterio did in the 1950s. We talk about how different things were then, and that's what makes Carpentier's achievement all the more remarkable. For that reason, I think he has to go through here.

 

[HBsam31]

Had to do some research on Carpentier, and what I found makes me agree with Tastycles. Rey seems to have a rather high seed in the tournament. Possibly higher than he deserves. Carpentier did what Rey did when times were very different, and I think that gives him the edge in this match.

 

[The Brain]

So it seems these two are pretty similar. I don't really know anything about Carpentier so if they are similar enough I'll go with the guy I know. That way I can argue for or against someone we all know instead of someone that's name would never be typed on this forum if not for this tournament. Mysterio for me.

 

[nightmare]

I have to give this to Rey. That sneaky bastard has won matches that I never thought he would. It is his thing- overcome ridiculous odds against larger opponents & put on a great show with the smaller guys. In his prime he was fucking fast & hard to get a hold of. Unfortunately, when you did grab him he had a tendency to spin and reverse your move before you could stop the momentum.


Rey takes this in a close match. Very close considering the opponent. In the end Mysterio heads to the second round.

 

[deem]

Last year I supported Bobo Brazil to beat Rey Mysterio in the first round. This year, Rey faces his superior tag team partner.

This is actually a kind of awkward match to imagine. It'd be "high flying" but the high-flying intensity had been ramped up so far between Carpentier and Rey that it'd be pretty awkward to observe. Carpentier has some size about him - rather than a cruiserweight he is more the build of a Jericho or Eddie. Unfortunately, this is pretty much exactly the size athlete that Rey excels against.

So I'm torn. I'm happy to say Carpentier achieved significantly more than Mysterio ever did, has wins over bigger names and I really hate how over-seeded Mysterio is. I kinda wanna take Carpentier just for going 9-2 over Lou Thesz but I think it'd be hypocritical of me. I used the evolution of heel tactics to support HHH over George - i should use the evolution of high flying for Rey over Carpentier. I used the importance of wrestlers under represented to support Misawa over Brisco - I should take a mexican huge draw over a canadian huge draw.

I guess I need to decide how much credit to give Mysterio being 26-7 vs Jericho, 27-10 Vs eddie and 2-0 over Benoit when attempting to predict his success vs this style. Those are crushing win rates and is certainly indicative of Mysterio at his absolute best vs technical 200-240lbers. I guess I have no choice but to choose Rey, but I'm really not happy about it

edit: I think I've re-evaluated. Rey may have had success against the modern version of that style, but it's far removed from what he faces here. just look at Carpentier Vs Thesz here

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It's impossible to picture how Rey would fare, so I'll go back to the fact that Carpentier competed in the heavyweight division for his entire career, picking up wins against a who-is-who of wrestling, while Rey's short lived main event reigns lacked the definitive singles wins that Carpentier had. Plus, and perhaps more appealingly, I can really see Bockwinkel Vs Carpentier in the second round stealing the show. He is THE perfect opponent for him at this stage of a tournament (not that Rey is a bad choice either). I'm ok with whoever wins, but I'm with Edouard.