Cena Region, East Rutherford Subregion, First Round:(7) DDP vs.(26) Shinsuke Nakamura

[klunderbunker]

This is a first round match in the Cena Region, East Rutherford Subregion. It is a standard one on one match. It will be held at the Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey.

#7. Diamond Dallas Page


Vs.

#26. Shinsuke Nakamura


​

Polls will be open for three 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]

How successful Nakamura is in the USA remains to be seen, so for now I'm going to have him lose against one of the most popular stars from one of the most popular eras of professional wrestling. DDP didn't really appear to have much of anything, but he had a cool finisher and was greater than the sum of his parts and ultimately that's why I think he'd win this.

 

[NSL]

I hate when Tasty posts before me, because I feel like copying and pasting what he said should be enough.

Nakamura was great in Japan, but his popularity in the states has yet to be seen, meaning we don't know if his star power translates yet. DDP was oe of the top guys, in the best era for wrestling. He wasn't on level with Flair or Benoit in the ring, but he was good enough, and had a finisher that he could hit at literally any moment.

It's a closer match than I'd like to give it credit for, but DDP wins this.

 

[enviousdominous]

It had to be in New Jersey.

I'm committing so many sins in regard to going against my better interest, but I'm going to have to go with Shinsuke Nakamura on this.

DDP is one of the greatest human beings to become a prowrestler, but for my money his work in the ring has never deserved to be recognized in any "best of" compilations.

Shinsuke Nakamura has put on epic matches with the likes of Hiroshi Tanahashi, AJ Styles and Kevin Steen. Obviously it's easy to have an epic match when you work with performers like those, but Shinsuke is definitely someone who deserves to be recognized as one of the best of this generation.

DDP has been a world champion, of a dying company that was shooting in the dark to figure out a way to get the fans back on their side. His matches with Karl Malone, David Arquette and Dennis Rodman were easy candidates for several "worst of" lists. Just saying, all we fans have to go on is what we've seen of these performers.

Vote Shinsuke, but much love to DDP for rehabilitating Jake and Scott.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

DDP has better credentials and has had a career that should have never been.

Love me some Shinsuke, but not now. His run in these tourneys will come.

 

[nightmare]

Always felt that DDP was a decent worker, but nothing special. His move was & technically it was the first to be regarded as "out of nowhere". He beat some big names in his company & deserves credit for doing so being older than essentially 90% of the roster.



Nakamura is something special. Hopefully his charisma and success transfers to his US run, but we dont know for sure. He has done very well in Japan and honestly I can see him going over here. A veteran who reinvented himself and has won major titles in his company by defeating some big names there.

Could go either way, but I vote Nakamura.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Since it is close, I will throw my support in for DDP. People have already stated that Nakamura's US appeal is yet to be seen, so he could fall on his face. Being one of Japan's biggest stars isn't a bad way to go down, but it won't win you this tournament. DDP hit his stride late in life, but he was a fairly big player when WCW wasn't crap and he saves people's lives with his yoga. When has Nakamura ever saved someone with his swag?

 

[NSL]

The fact this is tied, is crazy. I get that Nakamura "is a big deal in Japan", but do you guys simply forget just how huge DDP was at the height of the Monday Night Wars? I'm not saying it was necessarily a good thing to have guys like Rodman, Malone, and Greene involved in wrestling storylines, but the reasons they showed up on Nitro, were because of how many people were tuning in to see DDP. Same with Leno and Arquette. These guys may have sucked in the ring, but they were huge outside of wrestling, and that crossover appeal was there because of Page.

Him and Goldberg were literally the only holdouts when the factions exploded all over Nitro. I clearly remember an episode where Schiavone mentioned that the only 2 guys still fighting for Nitro were Goldberg and DDP, and everyone else was in some sort of clique or faction.

And you know why he wasn't lumped in with the nonsense? He didn't need to be. He was big enough on his own.

 

[Dmbfantomas]

I voted Nakamura on accident, meant to vote for DDP.

DDP might be my favorite "people's champion" of all time. He got over through hard work, dedication, and having an unbelievably infectious personality. He'll be a WWE hall of famer as soon as they either go to Atlanta again, or the NY/NJ area again for Mania.

Nakamura is AWESOME, but as pretty much everyone else has said, time will tell if he'll translate to the States.

Also, DDP beat Jimmy King in Ready to Rumble. It wasn't even a PPV.