Board 8 > All-Purpose Wrestling Topic 491: Seth Rollins Appreciation Topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

Is there something inherently racist about the term Kabuki?
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Kairi really had no actual kabuki element to her gimmick until after they turned heel
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I'm just confused with the naming sense here when the cast is usually all male.

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But Asuka clearly did, right?
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voltch posted...

I'm just confused with the naming sense here when the cast is usually all male.

Kabuki began as a female ensemble.
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TheRock1525 posted...

But Asuka clearly did, right?

Yes
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Think of it like Rhodes Scholars. Damien Sandow clearly wasn't a Rhodes!
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What are you implying about Codys intelligence
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Jakyl25 posted...

What are you implying about Codys intelligence

They were both scholars but only one Rhodes.

Just like they were both warriors but only one kabuki.
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And to be fair now Kairi is kabuki too
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Nick Jackson apparently wrestling his first singles match in 4 and 1/2 years against Fenix on AEW.
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SD ratings were down

Heres the chart
https://www.f4wonline.com/sites/www.f4wonline.com/files/u14296/sd_on_fox_1.png
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TheRock1525 posted...

Nick Jackson apparently wrestling his first singles match in 4 and 1/2 years against Fenix on AEW.

Im gonna guess the last time was a BoSJ tournament match
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I think calling Kairi's portrayal in WWE racist is kinda just trying to play the race card for the sake of it

Especially when you pair it with saying Io's is. Really hurts your credibility on the matter.

It's extremely lazy to take two Japanese women and team them basically just cause they're Japanese and make their name senselessly have Kabuki in it especially when Kairi's gimmick even at a stretch couldn't be called kabuki related (Asuka at least has always had that kinda motif in her entrance)-- but I wouldn't call it inherently racist.
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I think itd definitely be racist if neither Asuka or Kairi had been Kabuki at all and suddenly they were just the Kabuki Warriors out of nowhere, but it had already been Asukas thing, so it makes a bit more sense since its more just a case of a tag team partner fitting the others gimmick

Now them randomly being put together as a team just because theyre Japanese is a bit more eh
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HashtagSEP posted...

Now them randomly being put together as a team just because theyre Japanese is a bit more eh

We see that historically with every ethnic group in WWE/wrestling in general
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Well, right

Ive always thought it was dumb, since its at the least incredibly lazy
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I'd still chalk that up primarily to laziness rather than racism.

Like people of the same race do often get along easier due to more inherent common ground in culture, same primary language spoken, etc. That's not like, racism to suggest that they might team up. I feel like it'd be racist if it was like, Asuka and Gail Kim or somethin.

If you were to team up Kairi and Natalya instead you'd have to do something like put a story behind that and who could be bothered, right?
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I mean, Ive heard enough from Gail Kim about what Vince thinks about Asian women to not need to wonder whether theres racism in play, whether or not the specific act of naming them the Kabuki Warriors is racist in and of itself
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Lopen posted...

If you were to team up Kairi and Natalya instead you'd have to do something like put a story behind that and who could be bothered, right?

This implies they bother to actually tell stories even when people are mismatched <_<

Theres never been a story as to why Fire and Desire are teammates besides they just are. Yes its because theyre best friends IRL but to the casual they dont seem to have much in common
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I roll my eyes at it but I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call it racist. Not sure why they couldn't just let Kairi have her own gimmick though. Was a good one.

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Tom Bombadil posted...

I roll my eyes at it but I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call it racist. Not sure why they couldn't just let Kairi have her own gimmick though. Was a good one.

Theyre about to have Wrestlemania at a stadium with a BUILT IN PIRATE SHIP

Better kill off the very popular pirate gimmick!
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I mean the motivation might be racist in Vince's case but that doesn't make it inherently racist is all I'm saying. It's something that does make some base amount of sense. Like if I had to team Kairi with someone on the main roster and didn't want to give any real justification for it, Asuka does make the most sense like it or not.

I do think with some MINIMAL justification you could pair her with someone much more interesting like I dunno Carmella or something (pirates like finding gold and Carmella wears a lot? I don't know) but yeah.

And Fire and Desire's justification is they debuted together on the main roster with Paige. If they were independently established talent they absolutely would have got something.
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But this was also Kairis debut on the main roster!
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Why do Roode and Ziggler team?
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Roode and Ziggler teamed because they were thrown together in a gauntlet at random and had unexpected team chemistry and were both in slumps as singles guys.

It is minimal justification but it is justification.
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The worst bit of it all is the mist spitting but that's mostly asuka to be fair
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On a somewhat related note, Io has the best entrance in WWE right now.
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Didn't know this, but Oney Lorcan switched his Twitter name to his Indies name and apparently requested his release last month.
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Wheel Dragon! Xavier Woods was excellent at extra life last week for Roosterteeth. Not sure if anyone saw the clips of him chopping guys or dressing like Spyro

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TheRock1525 posted...

Didn't know this, but Oney Lorcan switched his Twitter name to his Indies name and apparently requested his release last month.

I saw that. Very interesting to me since he hasnt really been misused yet, and his career trajectory has been upward
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Did he delete his old tweets, too?
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TheRock1525 posted...

Did he delete his old tweets, too?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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I wonder how Danny Birch feels about that. Their tag teams like the only thing hes got going. Wouldn't surprise me if he requests his release too tbh

ffmasterjose posted...

I wonder how Danny Birch feels about that. Their tag teams like the only thing hes got going. Wouldn't surprise me if he requests his release too tbh

Alternatively, since they're not gonna actually grant Lorcan's release, nothing really changes.
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Relevant to our previous conversation

https://twitter.com/laurawrestles1/status/1195891176831930368?s=21
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Charlotte and Natalya aren't a regular team though so not really relevant actually.

I'm not really sure what you're getting at anyway though. Like yes obviously they're lazy with non minorities too from time to time, particularly with teams that don't last, but that's more a sign that it's not a racially driven agenda, right? I mean Naomi + Carmella teamed for no reason for a few months too earlier this year. Naomi + Ember Moon or Alicia Fox or whatever wasn't the team.
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Im not arguing any racial point. Im just trying to deny your claim that sometimes WWE will give explanations as to why things happen.
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Alexa and Nikki Cross, Sasha and Bayley both got a lot of justification.

Most no justification teams that exist for more than a few weeks are debut teams, really.

Not saying that WWE is great at this or anything, just that some justification being given for teamings isn't as rare as you're saying.
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Imagine AEW doing it beyond the jobber/dark level though. (where we got CIMA/SCU and Kip/TH2 with limited reasoning given but for that level that's probably fine)

Sammy/Jericho? They have a reason to be tagging.

Every other tag team came into the company as a pretty well established tag team and even in the case of SCU, the reason Sky/Kazarian were the pairing instead of Daniels/Kazarian had a reason and even prior to that the INTENDED pairing of Daniels/Kazarian had a reason.


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Lopen posted...

Alexa and Nikki Cross,

To be fair, does this still count when it was clearly intended to go in one direction but then they became a legitimate team because they got turned face with no reasoning other than "This other team was even more mean?"
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Do we have a reason as to why Bryan gets a title shot?
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(The real reason is because they realized Fiend vs Miz is kinda lame)
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Fiend played too rough with him.

Also I assume long play for Wyatt Family from 3 decades ago. Also Sister Abigail is Birdie's real mom
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This is way too complex for a WWE character but I really wish they made the Fiend kinda like some sorta Pyramid Head type character where his power is based on the guilt or inner conflict or whatever of the guy he's facing.

So a guy like Seth Rollins who has backstabbed his dear brothers and is currently a smarmy dude wearing a facade as the face of the company, his strength is ungodly and can't be beaten. A guy like Bryan who has some conflict about whether he wants to be a condescending preacher or the voice of the people, he's pretty strong.

Meanwhile a guy like Miz who has, douchey or not, been fairly straightforward that being the case for most of his career, he'd be less potent.

Again way too complex for WWE, but it's the one way I could enjoy the character, and strangely almost seems like something they're leaning into, but they won't.
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Jakyl25 posted...

Do we have a reason as to why Bryan gets a title shot?

at the end of Smackdown Bray did say to Bryan it's because of something he did that The Fiend hasn't forgotten about

I'm guessing they'll reveal that later on

whether it's related to when Bryan infiltrated the Wyatt family or something completely unrelated is yet to be seen
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https://youtu.be/ORilswjZtvc
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Lopen posted...

This is way too complex for a WWE character but I really wish they made the Fiend kinda like some sorta Pyramid Head type character where his power is based on the guilt or inner conflict or whatever of the guy he's facing.

So a guy like Seth Rollins who has backstabbed his dear brothers and is currently a smarmy dude wearing a facade as the face of the company, his strength is ungodly and can't be beaten. A guy like Bryan who has some conflict about whether he wants to be a condescending preacher or the voice of the people, he's pretty strong.

Meanwhile a guy like Miz who has, douchey or not, been fairly straightforward that being the case for most of his career, he'd be less potent.

Again way too complex for WWE, but it's the one way I could enjoy the character, and strangely almost seems like something they're leaning into, but they won't.

That would be incredible

So it won't happen
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ninkendo posted...

Jakyl25 posted...

Do we have a reason as to why Bryan gets a title shot?

at the end of Smackdown Bray did say to Bryan it's because of something he did that The Fiend hasn't forgotten about

I'm guessing they'll reveal that later on

whether it's related to when Bryan infiltrated the Wyatt family or something completely unrelated is yet to be seen

Thats why you have a fight, thats not why someone gets a World Title shot after losing to Adam Cole
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You must be confusing smackdown with a promotion where rankings pretend to matter
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