TNA Charlotte: Round 1, Match 3: #15 Dean Malenko vs. #50 King Kong Bundy

[Shocky]

The following matc takes place in the TNA Region in the six sided ring in Charlotte, NC.

#15. "The Man of 1000 Holds" Dean Malenko

vs.

#50. King Kong Bundy

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Truffle Shuffle then splash. I don't think Dean Malenko has ever beaten anybody bigger than him before. After all, he's a small wrestler, but a large cruiserweight. Unless he's beaten Benoit, but fuck it.

 

[NSL]

As much as I'd love to vote for Malenko here, I just can't. He's just not big enough, or strong enough, to overcome Bundy's size. He knows a ton of moves, but I don't think there's enough magic in there to get Bundy off his feet, and then lock on any of his other moves. An attempt at a Cloverleaf would be laughable. Bundy sucks, and will hopefully lose in Round 2.

The sad thing is, he has a potential 2nd round match with Matt Hardy. If Malenko doesn't stand a chance, Matt better not.

 

[Thriller Ant]

Wow, Malenko got a terrible draw. He is one of the greatest pure wrestlers ever to grace a major promotion's ring. But, a great equalizer to technical ability is size and power. As talented as Dean is/was, I can't see him getting Bundy down to lock in the cloverleaf. Malenko will put up a hell of a fight, but Bundy will win fairly easily.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Here it comes...

Bundy is the most over-rated Superheavyweight I've ever seen.

Didn't see that coming, did you?

KKB is a man who relied ENTIRELY on his size and his manager, with very limited substance beyond that. He's a one trick pony, who made his name for getting beaten by Hulk Hogan in a cage at Wrestlemania 2 (at a time when Hogan was being made into the giant-slayer), splashing a midget, and asking referees to count to "5" when he pinned a jobber. Big deal.

Malenko is so much quicker than Bundy, and 10x smarter. Once Malenko plays possum and KKB goes for a big splash, then Malenko has the advantage. KKB will miss his weighty maneuver and hit mat, giving Malenko the chance to work over KKB's ankle or knee, which cannot handle his weight. If his leg is wounded, it slows the impact of the avalanche, giving Malenko a chance to move and hit one final move to win.

I am, shockingly, backing Malenko in this match.

 

[justinsayne]

I would love to vote for Malenko here, but i just can't see how Malenko could get Bundys fat ass off his feet much less lock in a submission that would make Bundy tap, Bundy unfortunately gets the win here

 

[Mr. TM]

IC makes the point here. As soon as I saw this matchup, I knew how Milenko was going to go over. Tubs goes off of one side and goes for the big splash, when out of no where, Milenko rolls out, and locks on 17 moves at once. The 6 sides play to Milenko's advantage here, adding to his impressive win he will get.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Damn. While I admit it will be tough for Malenko to get Bundy off of his feet but one wrong move by KKB and Malenko can apply the Cloverleaf. I believe the chances of the wrong move are more likely so I am going to go with Malenko.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

IC makes the point here. As soon as I saw this matchup, I knew how Milenko was going to go over. Tubs goes off of one side and goes for the big splash, when out of no where, Milenko rolls out, and locks on 17 moves at once. The 6 sides play to Milenko's advantage here, adding to his impressive win he will get.

It amazes me that Justin continues to shout to the high heavens about how Vader, Andre, and Yoko were "fat tubs of suckage," but when he is faced with a talented professional like Malenko vs an actual fat tub of suckage, he goes with Bundy. Just sad.

TM, we think on the same lines here. Malenko is a thinking man's wrestler who would modify his attack to Bundy's weakness. Sucker him in to a high impact move, make him miss, and then slowly attack the weakness. It's the same idea behind Rocky defeating Clubber Lang in Rocky 3 - play it smart and fast, fake the opponent out, and then capitalize.

Anybody who villifies Cena for "only knowzing fiv movez" should hit Bundy for knowing four - the shoulder block, the bodyslam, the big splash, and the avalance. Just because WWE's version of the Michelin Man is big doesn't mean he's worth a serious look here.

Vote Dean-o Machine-o.

 

[Theo Mays]

This is a tough match for Malenko, but I think he could pull it off. Like Little Lawler said, the 6 sided ring favors Malenko. Malenko would just need to outsmart (piece of cake) and out maneuver Bundy. And a miscue by Bundy (a missed splash) and Malenko can capitalize and we can say good by to King Kong Bundy.

 

[klunderbunker]

I could see Malenko winning here also. I expected IC to say that, because IC is smart and this is obvious. Tell me, what has Bundy ever done? Who has he beaten of note? No one, that's who. He's fat and sloppy. I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you're finishing move is a running splash, you're not a good wrestler. THat is the simplest move there is and it's never been used by a good wrestler. Show me one wrestler that uses a splash (not from the top rope) that is a good wrestler.

People seem to think that Malenko could only use the cloverleaf. He's the man of 1,000 holds. I'm sure there's something in his bag of tricks to stop Bundy.

 

[Tastycles]

Bundy is a fat sack of shit, and literally has nothing going for him except for the fact that he looks like Jabba the Hutt. He was slow, and so fat that I'm actually surprised he is still alive.

Malenko was faster than him, and I'm sure he'd find some move in his arsenal that would get Bundy down on the ground, and from there anything is possible.

People are keen to point out the surroundings in ECW, so I'm going to do it here. A Superheavyweight has never done well in TNA. I can't even think of any off the top of my head that have even competed regularly, and certainly none that are stylistically similar to Bundy.

Bundy loses this, after Malenko outwits and outpaces him.

 

[thewrestlinghero]

I dont see Dean Malenko winning here and less he somehow make king kong bundy tap out or something. other then that i think it would be a squash match with kkb getting alot of offense then winning.

 

[SavageTaker]

i think malenko will pull the win.while KKB dominates most of the match he will make a mistake and that's were malenko will take the oppurtunity to finish him off.like other have said bundy is sloppy and hasnt beaten anyone important.his only 2 accomplishments i can remember are getting beat by hogan in the first ever steel cage match at WM and losing to the undertaker at WM.

So malenko wins here but king kong bundy will be dominating most of the match.this one will be a tough one for dean and it can go either way but my vote is for dean.

 

[Shocky]

I'm actually torn on this one. Dean Malenko is about as technically sound as they come, but I think that people are voting on the memory of what we think Malenko should have been. I can't recall Malenko ever beating a man of Bundy's size in the middle of the ring.

Bundy, sure, sloppy as all hell, but he at least competed on the main event level. Holding the fact that Bundy made a career out of killing jobbers with a 5 count, and smashing midgets isn't necessarily a good argument. To many, Malenko was nothing more then a glorified jobber, and according to Hogan, nothing more then a Vanilla Midget, which works in Bundy's favor.

 

[gd]

I'm going with Bundy here. I think the size will just be too much and I don't think Bundy will be knocked off his feet the whole match.

 

[joker76]

Bundy would crush Malenko in 5 minutes for a 5 count. Bundy is just too big for Dean. This one is not even close for me, sorry. Also I do believe Matt Hardy could beat Bundy. He has beaten Mark Henry many times and henry is a better heavyweight than Bundy ever was.

 

[Skillz]

How the fuck is Malenko winning this? Bundy was shit, but at least he main-evented a WrestleMania, which is way more than Malenko ever did in his overrated career. Bundy is more than twice Malenko's size, and would squash him like a bug.

 

[Mr. TM]

How the fuck is Malenko winning this? Bundy was shit, but at least he main-evented a WrestleMania, which is way more than Malenko ever did in his overrated career. Bundy is more than twice Malenko's size, and would squash him like a bug.

So did Lawrence Taylor and some people do not even consider him a professional Wrestler/Pro Football player. It is a shame that people who main event WrstleMania are so easily forgotten. Even if you are fat and useless.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Okay, okay, okay. Let me stop this "Main Evented Wrestlemania" bullshit first and foremost.

Bundy "headlined Wrestlemania? Not so much. Headlining WM2 didn't mean what it means today, folks. WWF had no true serviceable heels to challenge Hogan until the following year and the Andre heel turn. Bundy existed only to build Hogan as a giant-killer, that's it.

Wrestlemania 2 was the headline in and of itself. It came from 3 locations, it wasn't even a singular event. The event was shit - one of the worst Wrestlemania's ever.

Bundy got a Main Event role because of his size, not his talent or skill. He was a poor man's Andre. He's the godforsaken Michelin Man.

Malenko needs to go over here. I am often the first to defend an SHW, but aside from his weight, Bundy had NO redeemable qualities.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Gosh damn, shit draw for Malenko. as much as I love him this match has mid card squash written all over it. allll over it. Malenko has all the technical ability in the world, but Bundy has been part of way higher profile things in the sport, and is about triple Malenko's size. blame it on bad luck of the draw.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

King Kong Bundy was a cool guy when I met him before. One of his brothers is one of the 2 gym teachers that I had for 7 years, and his other brother used to be the principal of my middle school. So you'd think I'd have a biased opinion about it.

But Malenko wins here. I'm not one of those guys that thinks Malenko was super-fantastic and a god in the ring and all that. Entertaining, yeah, but Malenko was always kind of bland to me. Same as Benoit. Very skilled in the ring, but no real personality.

However, Bundy was the type of guy that wasn't "untouchable". Sure, he was big, but he's sort of like Umaga in a way...a big guy who smaller people can beat. Malenko would play a smarter game and outwit Bundy, and like IC25 said, Bundy would go for a splash of some sort, Malenko would move out of the way, and lock on some submission and get a shock win.

 

[Fizzy]

Malenko will win here. He is just the kind of guy who studies wrestlers weakness, and exploits them better then almost anybody. KKB is overrated as shit. Hogan made him, by beating him, and that's all. Malenko will get tossed around a bit, but once KKB goes for the splash, Malenko will move out of the way, lock in a submission, and win.

 

[butsecks]

Bundy was ass, and malenko would run circles around bundy....this is a wrestling match, and malenko would outwrestle bundy and pin fatass 1,2,3.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

I think Malenko would have enough fight in him to take out Bundy. Bundy was always susceptible to men with speed, and Malenko is no exception. However, I definitely don't see Malenko winning with a submission here. Rather, I see him winning with a barrage of kicks and punches and something off of the top rope to finish it all off.