For the longest time, big men in wrestling were of one mould. Slow, lumbering and of course large, not much was ever expected of a 350lbs+ performer from an athletic point of view. Their asset was their size and as long as they maintained that, they would be fine. Leon White changed that. Making his first (and perhaps biggest) impact in New Japan Pro Wrestling in the late 80′s, White was given the gimmick which he would carry with him for his whole career – Big Van Vader. As a former NFL prospect, Vader was blessed with legitimate athleticism for someone his size. Not only was he as strong as an ox but he could move around the ring with a swiftness that defied his size. His agility was equally as impressive, peaking on the occasions where he would pull off a top rope moonsault (never the prettiest moonsault but still absolutely remarkable). These talents gave Vader the ability to have some really great matches throughout his career, and the combination of guaranteed match quality plus his natural monster aura made him a guy much more suited to being a top guy in the main event scene than most of the big men that came before him.
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The new issue of Fighting Spirit Magazine is now available! Fight Game Blog is well represented as I have two big articles (PWG and Tanahashi) and a report of the DGUSA iPPV. Get yourself a subscription to the best wrestling/MMA magazine out there.

IMPORTANT: This month’s FSM has an a full, alternative back cover! Please see both images above.

In this month’s issue, FSM has features on:
- Hulk Hogan, who speaks at length to FSM about his time in WWE, WCW, and TNA
- TNA’s Maximum Impact Tour 2012, and the first-ever TNA UK television tapings
- How television has shaped WWE creative in the Entertainment Era
- Why Pro Wrestling Guerrilla remains the most entertaining of all the indys
- How Hiroshi Tanahashi turned his career around to become a New Japan record breaker
- How the glitz, glamour and spectacular match-making of PRIDE FC made it the MMA fans’ choice in the early-2000s
- And FSM reviews the new UFC Undisputed 3 release, asking whether it truly is the greatest MMA videogame in history

All of this, plus our usual news, PPV and TV reports, and reviews. We also have our distinguished columnists Bill Apter, Nick “Magnus” Aldis, Lance Storm, and RD Reynolds offering up the benefit of their experience in the pro wrestling business.

The cheapest and easiest way to subscribe to FSM is via our website, here: http://www.fightingspiritmagazine.co.uk/subscribe.asp . However, if you prefer to pick up FSM on your travels, WH Smith and Easons are the most consistent FSM stockists in the UK and Ireland. For other outlets, please consider asking your newsagent to reserve you a copy each month.

For international customers, FSM is also available as an iPad/iPhone app. You can purchase the app here: http://tinyurl.com/FSMiPhoneiPad The app itself costs $2.99, but you are entitled to download a free issue with this purchase.

We’d love to hear your feedback on this issue of FSM. Send us a tweet to @fsm_editor ! (or to me personally @Alan4L)

Watch the time.

In tonight’s WWE Money in the Bank pay per view, the clock may be a deciding factor in the CM Punk fiasco. With more “hype” surrounding it since WrestleMania, I wonder just how much of that hype is real.

Take a look at the RAW’s surprising 2.9 rating. Was it due to the baseball home run derby? Did fans not realize Punk was going to be on the show? Was this a hold-over from the previous week’s holiday and folks getting caught up to real life after returning from vacation? Or does the average fan just not care about the particular storyline?

As much hype as this show has, it may be one with a surprisingly low buy rate. Hardcore wrestling fans are rejoicing in this storyline, with Punk’s mentions of ice cream bars, Colt Cabana, and “WHAT A MANEUVER!”, but as I watch I can’t help think of Chris Jericho and Steve Austin from 10 years ago. Heck, Punk was even inexplicably wearing a Steve Austin t-shirt when he delivered his first promo “heard ’round the world”.

Going back ten years, Jericho was here to save the WWE and Steve Austin was there to undermine authority. Watching Punk I could see the BIG ANGLE simularities. Let’s go outside of the norm, the writer’s say. Can we say this? How about this? Vince MacMahon must be worried about the business today to give Punk this much free reign. Then again, this is almost a blow by blow re-enactment of Punk leaving Ring of Honor a few years back, except when he ran the title in his last match there he stuck around for a few more months.

In case you didn’t know, Punk’s WWE contract expires tonight, the same night he faces John Cena for the World title. If Punk wins, he says he’ll leave and take the WWE belt with him, perhaps to Japan or ROH. Also if he wins, MacMahon says he will fire Cena. You know, like he did last year when Cena didn’t miss any shows.

Just watch the clock.

Lets go over each match and try to get a grasp on how much the WWE is panicking after a 2.9 rating. As usual, I’ll guess the order of the matches.

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Over the next week or so, I’m going to be posting a series of articles EXCLUSIVELY here at FGB documenting the state of Japanese Pro Wrestling at the moment. Each article will highlight one or maybe a couple of feds. We kick things of with …

New Japan:

One could quite easily make a case that this is the most well rounded wrestling promotion in the world right now. New Japan offer up a bit of everything. You have a junior heavyweight division headed by Ireland’s Fergal Devitt which has been producing one classic MOTYC after another. Matches like Devitt vs. Kanemoto, Devitt vs. Marufuji and Fujita vs. Kanemoto all deserve to finish high in any match of the year list. There is a tag division which after a few years of neglect and tarnishing (cough…Team 3D… cough) is really making a comeback with IWGP Tag Champs, Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson) leading the way. With the G1 Tag League upcoming, this division is about to get even hotter. Then there’s the heavyweight singles guys, and among them are some of the best in the world – guys who are right now in their prime like Tanahashi, Nakamura, Makabe and Goto, and dependable veterans like Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima. Shinsuke Nakamura in particular is on fire right now and has a case for being the best heavyweight in the world.

All of this is backed up by sensible booking with a willingness to create interesting storylines that allow the wrestlers to display their characters. There are numerous clear heels which you don’t have in alot of Japanese companies.

The future looks incredibly bright too. Tetsuya Naito looks a lock to be the ace of the promotion for years to come. He has it all – a unique charisma, incredible natural talent, and a great look. His partner Yujiro Takahashi may end up more suited for being the ace of the junior division due to his height but he too has great skills and personality. With the talented Kazuchika Okada due back from his US excursion soon and the new crop of young lions that debuted this year there is even more reason to be optimistic.

Thanks to www.purolove.com for the lineup.

This promises to be one of the best shows of the year. NOAH’s on a roll right now with a change in booking philosophy, and several of it’s wrestlers being on fire.

The top three matches are ridiculously good on paper. The NOAH vs. NJPW tag will look to continue where the Tokyo Dome left off, with Go Shiosaki and Milano stepping in for Misawa and Goto respectively. The two stars of the 1/4 match, Nakamura and Sugiura, are still in place though and will no doubt be fired up every time they cross paths in this match.

Nakajima and KENTA just put on a MOTYC three weeks ago and that will be hard to top, but these crazy S.O.B’s will no doubt try. KENTA is pretty clearly the best wrestler in the world based on form in the last three months. He has never looked better and considering some of his prior years, that’s really saying something.

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With DVDVR ballots due soon, here’s my top 20 puro matches for the year 2008:

1. Kensuke Office vs. Burning (8/17) (KO)
2. Speed Muscle vs. Shingo/BxB (1/15) (DG)
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kohei Suwama (4/9) (AJPW)
4. Mashimo/Madoka vs. Men’s Teioh/Shinobu (5/23) (BJW)
5. Nakanishi/Nagata vs. Ohtani/Tanaka (7/7) (NJPW)
6. Naomichi Marufuji vs. Shuji Kondo (11/3) (AJPW)
7. Briscoes vs. Ibushi/Nakajima (9/6) (NOAH)
8. Speed Muscle vs. Shingo/Dragon Kid (8/28)(DG)
9. Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid (11/16) (DG)
10. Kobashi/Honda/Taniguchi vs. Marufuji/Sugiura/Morishima (2/21) (NOAH)
11. Nakajima/Sasaki vs. Akiyama/Rikio (4/27) (NOAH)
12. KENTA vs. Naomichi Marufuji (10/25) (NOAH)
13. Yugi Nagata vs. Masato Tanaka (10/13) (NJPW)
14. Masato Tanaka vs. Koji Kanemoto (4/13) (NJPW)
15. Shingo/BxB Hulk vs. KENTA/Ishimori (3/20) (DG)
16. Suzuki/Kanemaru vs. KENTA/Ishimori (12/7) (NOAH)
17. Naruki Doi vs. KENTA (5/5) (DG)
18. Doi/Tanisaki vs. Cyber Kong/YAMATO (11/16) (DG)
19. Kobashi/KENTA vs. Nakajima/Sasaki (6/14) (NOAH)
20. Suwama/Kondo vs. TenKoji (11/24) (AJPW)

I also did a top 20 for all of wrestling, but this was done under the Observer criteria (Dec2007-Nov2008)

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