Second Round: St. Louis - Toshiaki Kawada vs. Ted DiBiase

[klunderbunker]

This is a second round matchup in the St. Louis Subregion. The ring and arena are universal throughout the first round and the organization is not a factor. There is a 20 minute time limit. Vote using any criteria you like. Most votes in the poll at the end of the time period wins. In the case of a tie we will go off of the number of written votes. In the case of a second tie, both are eliminated. Assume one week has passed since the first match.

Location: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri.

Toshiaki Kawada

Vs.

Ted DiBiase

Voting is open for 4 days.

 

[jmt225]

Kawada, for sure.

I love Ted DiBiase as much as the next guy, but why does he deserve to go over a legend like Kawada? Was DiBiase entertaining? Sure, but he was nothing more than a mid-card level heel his entire career. Someone please explain to me why someone like that should go over a true legend like Toshiaki Kawada? There's no logical explanation anyone could ever come up with; not even a kayfabe argument since Kawada will fucking murder this guy in a match.

And this is coming from someone who doesn't even like Kawada all that much; I just know he deserves to go over here. You see, I respect the hell out of Kawada because while he was an asshole, he was also a smart, smart motherfucker. Instead of being dropped on his head night-in and night-out, he only took risk in BIG matches; matches that a lot of people consider the greatest of all time. Matches against Misawa, Kobashi, Tanahashi, Kea, Suzuki, Tenryu, Hashimoto and Muto. Those matches are truly legendary, and there's nothing on DiBiase's resume that can compete with it.

Vote Kawada, people. It's the right decision, and there's no logical argument that can be made against it.

 

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

Ted DiBiase is no doubt one of the greatest heels of his era, perhaps of all time if you're so inclined. But I'll have to vote for Kawada. I simply do not know whats gotten into me, voting for all these puro wrestlers, but after watching some of Kawada's matches, there is no doubt that he can face anything DiBiase throws at him. He wrestled Kenta Kobashi to a one hour draw. I could have just as easily cited his many wins and world titles, of which DiBiase never laid his hands on, but think about it.

He took everything Kobashi threw at him for a full hour and still couldn't be held down for 3 seconds. That is the mark of one tough bastard, one who will get my vote.

 

[Tastycles]

I think this is DiBiase's. I know he never won the worl title, but how many heels did in the WWF in the 80s? I think he has a good track record against big Japanese stars, and even beat Kawada in a tag match for the AJPW titles, which I haven't seen, to be honest, so it may have been a dirty win. Not that that matters when considering DiBiase's acheivements. Arguably the best heel character ever, and was able to hold his own for a long time at a time when heels were generally cast aside pretty quickly after feuding with the big faces.

 

[gd]

I don't really care much about this matchup, but voted Kawada because he's losing considerably and I feel like this should probably be closer than it currently is. He was part of the HOLY DEMON ARMY, wasn't he? That is definetly in his favor. Dibiase was great on the mic but probably only a little above average in the ring. Plus, his son is a douche. A vote for Dibiase is a vote for bad parenting.

 

[D-Man]

I think this is DiBiase's. I know he never won the worl title, but how many heels did in the WWF in the 80s? I think he has a good track record against big Japanese stars, and even beat Kawada in a tag match for the AJPW titles, which I haven't seen, to be honest, so it may have been a dirty win. Not that that matters when considering DiBiase's acheivements. Arguably the best heel character ever, and was able to hold his own for a long time at a time when heels were generally cast aside pretty quickly after feuding with the big faces.

Besides my personal views, this argument completely convinced me to vote for DiBiase.

Tasty really hit the nail on the head with this one. Even though Ted didn't win a world title, how many heels in that era actually DID? It was an era dominated by "good guys", since it was also an era of comic book characters that Vince always wanted to be dominated by the heroes. But I strongly feel that if a heel like Ted DiBiase Sr. was around in today's market, he would have OWNED the title on many occasions and for lengthy periods of time.

Most of the time, we need to judge these men on more than what they actually accomplished, because they were around in promotions and during time periods where none of that mattered. It was all about the domination of the storybook heroes. (This is the main basis of most of my arguments about Owen Hart, but that's a different subject for a different time.)