TNA Region, Edmonton Subregion, First Round: (4) Lou Thesz vs. (29) Hideo Itami

[klunderbunker]

This is a first round match in the TNA Region, Edmonton Subregion. It is a standard one on one match held under TNA Rules. It will be held at Rexhall Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

#4. Lou Thesz

Vs.

#29. Hideo Itami

​

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.

 

[Bernkastel]

Here we have one of the most well known and respected gaijin wrestlers in Japan, versus someone who probably isn't even top ten in his own nation of top stars. Should there be any contest on who wins this match? You have the greatest pro wrestler ever, up against someone who became big recently - as in the past 5/7 years or so. KENTA is not his namesake, and he's not Misawa, Hashimoto, Inoki, or Rikidozan either. Thesz is a bigger star in Japan than KENTA is, let alone the rest of the world.

Pretty routine win for Thesz. Why isn't KENTA on the main roster yet? I don't watch NXT so I often forget he's there.

 

[Bagpipes]

I've watched very little of his work as KENTA, but as Itami in NXT, he's been largely a bore. I've heard the argument that you can't judge a foreign character before they have somewhat of a grasp on their new second language, but I don't really buy any of that.

Itami has no charisma and there are plenty of undersized guys with similar movesets in WWE that are much better workers than he is (see: Daniel Bryan).

In my opinion it's a real shame that Shinsuke Nakamura isn't on this list in place of Itami. Talk about charisma...

Anyway, I'm voting Thesz by a wide margin.

 

[deem]

Yeah, Thesz destructs, but I'm amazed at the lack of respect for KENTA. Dude is one of the best light heavyweights in the past 15 years. I mean, this should be a win to nil for Thesz and I wouldn't even put KENTA in the tournament (very important for me to have a large amount of success in open weight classes, which KENTA lacks for the most part. Same argument for Liger), but he's really, really good at pro wrestling even if slightly regressing now.

Thing with Thesz - he'd undoubtedly the biggest star in wrestling between 1935 and 1960. Like, NO ONE comes close in that time, and no one had a longer time on top than that in the rest of history. The only way to beat Thesz is using a "the sport has evolved" argument, that he hasn't wrestled anyone with that style before and would be exposed. While a flippy kicky lightweight seems perfect to apply that to, unfortunately KENTA doesn't have a track record of beating absurdly strong, heavyweight world class athletes either, so I think everything can be saved for a later match here.

 

[HurriKane]

Lou Thesz is probably the biggest star, and arguably the greatest wrestler to step foot inside a wrestling ring. And I really really love KENTA (I'm sorry I'm just use to it.) He's had some of the best matches that I've ever seen against Marufuji, Nakajima, and has stood toe to toe with Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Suigura, and has had classic matches. And if it was against anyone else, I would have probably went with Kenta, but unfortunally he's up against a guy would probably win against the likes of Hulk Hogan, Austin, and great wrestlers like Kurt Angle, or Bret Hart.

So yea. Sorry KENTA, much respect though.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Itami is a fabulous light heavyweight, we can this from his matches in Japan, but he hasn't really impressed me since coming over to the US. He's been very mediocre in NXT and I can't put an NXT midcarder over one of the pioneers of the business.

Thesz is a pretty quick victory here, I'm surprised Itami is in the tournament if I'm honest.

 

[Tastycles]

Well, Thesz wins, obviously. Quickly, obviously. Thesz is one of the biggest names in the history of wrestling, and is against someone from NXT. It's not unfair to say that this is a mismatch of monumental proportions, and I got to go Thesz.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Ye Lous just wins this comprehensively, good match. I think we can all refrain from spouting Thesz's credentials till a bigger dog comes to face him here.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Pretty routine win for Thesz. Why isn't KENTA on the main roster yet? I don't watch NXT so I often forget he's there.

Hideo was awful during his first few months in NXT. Awful. Incredibly sloppy, incredibly... soft in the ring. He sustained a concussion in one of his early matches. He didn't have a match that wasn't hard to watch for a very long time. It was as if he was afraid to be thought of as too stiff and so was holding back on his strikes. His moveset is almost entirely strikes so the entire thing was preposterous.

However, the crowd stuck behind Hideo and he's come on leaps and bounds. He's starting laying in the strikes - so, thank goodness, they actually look like they're connecting - and has had some good matches, most notably with Tyler Breeze. He's still not on the level of Zayn, Owens, Neville or even Balor, all of whom are due a call-up before Itami is, but he's at least doing himself justice.

Well, Thesz wins, obviously. Quickly, obviously. Thesz is one of the biggest names in the history of wrestling, and is against someone from NXT.

I think the idea was - or at least why people put him on their lists - was that his time as KENTA was being taken into account. KENTA obviously being a bigger deal in Japan than Hideo Itami is, well, anywhere.