DAMMIT MUTOH, DIE ALREADY

[Ditch]

Okay, so maybe I can understand having Kojima do 'spirited losses' to Misawa and Kawada. But now he's put himself over Koji for the umpteenth time since leaving New Japan.

In 2001, Kojima beat Mutoh and Chono in the G-1. Since then he hasn't beaten Tenryu, Kawada or Mutoh, and then there's the jobs to Goldberg and Hashimoto on top of that.

As much as I hate Tenzan's off-again on-again push, at least it's a push. Kojima is absolutely no better off than he was 30 months ago, and Mutoh has wasted a lot of potential in that time.

[Spunk]

C'mon.. 5 Shining Wizards!

[Coventry]

Muto bladed!!!

[Kojifan82]

I think this may be a decent booking strategy by Muto, if any of you have seen recent AJPW TV its clear that Kojima is being booked as "despondent" and self-doubting, and since he has lost all of his recent matches against "quality" opponents (Sasaki, Misawa, Omori, Kawada, Muto) he's clearly being booked in a slump. This is a strategy designed to get Kojima to have a more serious character, by de-emphasising the irreverent side of his character...And I think it will work. Looking at the line-up for AJ's next tour it appears as though he's going to "turn around" as he will likely go over Jamal (a former TC contender, remember) and will probably begin to be groomed to be a Triple-Crown champion sometime in 2005 by getting victories over the people he's lost to recently

Makes sense to me, however, a lot could go wrong with this plan, like injuries may occur to talent Kojima should get pushed over in the future

[Irving]

I agree. While irrational now, you'll see the fruit of the labors of Kojima's slump. You might not agree with this, but we don't pay to watch them wrestle, and we don't book the shows. I've talked to people who've seen AJPW shows live (a.k.a people in Japan), who've been in attendance for these matches, and they said Kojima gained more losing than he could have now winning. Next year will be his "I am here" year, alongside Kohei Suwama, Taichi Ishikari, Masayuki Kono, & Kazushi Miyamoto (if he's improved). His loses fit the situation, and he isn't losing like the guys in Z-1 to Hashimoto. He's losing in good situations were he gets over more than the older guys beating him.

[Coventry]

Kojifan82 is right, Kojima recently went to Animal Hamaguchil because he was doubting himself and trying to find himself where he trained. They were great pieces of video. I think it is a genius move by Muto.

[DynamicA]

Did Kojima learn the super secrets of the running elbowdrop from Animal? Or did Animal rather opt to teach Kojima the bouncy Blockbuster?

-DA, who would love to see Koji beat Kawada or Mutoh with a Samoan Drop

[Coventry]

Now, I can't understand Japanese--but after Kojima did the running punch to the corner, instead of doing an elbow drop from the top rope, he did an elbow drop. So maybe he did learn the secrets to the elbow drop, I'm not too sure though.

[ESP04]

Kojima now has a blog thing on the Leglock site. It's kind of amusing. Apparently he lost some sleep over the Mutoh match.

leglock.nifty.com/kojilog/index.htm

[DynamicA]

Coventry said:

Now, I can't understand Japanese--but after Kojima did the running punch to the corner, instead of doing an elbow drop from the top rope, he did an elbow drop.

Did he scream "YEAAAAH" and shake his fistises (TM Duthty Rhodes) before bouncing off the ropes and dropping the elbow? Anything less would be a blasphemy on the legacy of Animal, Japan's craziest soccer mom.

-DA, who thinks Kojima learning an elbowdrop from Animal is 100X cooler than Kakihara learning a headlock from Billy Robinson

[Ditch]

I always thought the allure was Billy knowing a million ways to ESCAPE the headlock, not using it as a finisher. Silly Kakihara.

leglock.cocolog-nifty.com/kojilog/200409081705000.jpg

Koji's dog lacks fighting spirit.

[Liver Kick]

Ditch said:

Koji's dog lacks fighting spirit.

HAHA!

[Coventry]

Yes, Kojima did--I guess he did learn the secrets of the elbow drop, haha.