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Book It
Book It
2-23-02
Each week in Book It we help the struggling WWF creative team with a few ideas on how to get talent that has been stuck in a rut over with the WWF fans.
Yoshihiro Tajiri has all the tools to become a major force in the WWF. He has both the wrestling talent that impresses the fans and the creative skill to invent new moves. Taking on the old school "mist spraying" gimmick, Tajiri has made it believable and exciting to the fans. He also has two highly prized items in the WWF, the light heavyweight title and Torrie Wilson. So why does a wrestler with all these things going for him not appear on television more than once or twice a month? Yoshihiro Tajiri has all the tools to become a major force in the WWF except the ability to speak English.
Most of the best wrestlers in the world come from Japan, where wrestling is still an art form. But these wrestlers have limited crossover success when trying to ply their trade in the big money market of America. Great wrestlers like Hakushi, Ultimo Dragon, Taka Mitchunoku and Funaki have floundered in WCW/WWF despite their skill. The same applies to Mexican wrestlers such as Essa Rios. WCW proved that just putting two talented non-English speaking wrestlers in the ring is fun to watch, but fans quickly lose interest if there is no backstory as to why the two are fighting. The ability to cut a promo goes a long way towards building a wrestler's gimmick and getting the fans interested in a match up.
Of course there are exceptions. La Parka got over in the WCW because he looked funny in his skeleton outfit and he did a little dance. Goldberg never spoke more than two or three words during his rise to fame. The Ultimate Warrior has never given a coherent interview. Even Tajiri himself became very popular with the fans during his "manservant to Commissioner Regal" gimmick. So we know that getting a non-English speaking wrestler over with the fans can be done, especially with someone as talented as Tajiri, but the question is how...
First, let's re-live recent WWF history just to set the stage. Near the end of last year, William Regal was the heel Commissioner in the WWF. He took on Tajiri as a manservant because the guy wanted a job in the WWF. Steve Austin turned heel and joined the Alliance. Much in the way the school bully hangs out with the runt he beats up on, Austin and Tajiri started hanging out together because Austin felt that Tajiri was the only one in the WWF that Austin could talk to (Tajiri doesn't understand English, get it? har har).
Austin would rant and rave at Tajiri in English and Tajiri would chatter back at him in Japanese. Both, for an unexplained comedic reason, were able to understand each other. It made for some funny segments, but Austin moved on to other things. Eventually Regal, who turned baby face because he was defending the WWF, joined the Alliance and had a feud with Tajiri. That was the last big thing Tajiri did and since then he's been wallowing in the undercard.
Jump forward to today where the heel stable of the NWO is running wild in the WWF and babyface Austin is feuding with them. It's been long established that the NWO will stoop to any level to win a battle (like hit Rock's ambulance with a semi truck, for example). For the first part of my plan, Debra needs to show up a little more on television. Just make a few appearances on Raw or Smackdown doing nothing more than hanging around.
Next on an edition of Raw, Debra shows up, but Steve has yet to arrive. She goes looking for him and finds Ric Flair. Debra explains to Ric that Steve was supposed to meet her at the arena but he hasn't shown up yet. Ric doesn't know where Austin is. Debra continues to look for him, but instead of finding Austin backstage, she finds the NWO. They surround her like a pack of wolves and tell her that they took care of Austin so they could be alone with her.
Just as it looks like the are going to beat the crap out of her, Tajiri arrives at the arena with Torrie. He sees what is going on and attacks all three members of the NWO. They leave him bloody and beaten, but in the melee Torrie and Debra have gotten away. Later in the same show Austin arrives in his truck (which has had the tires slashed, windows broken and spray painted with NWO letters) and finds Debra. Debra tells Austin what the NWO did and that Tajiri saved her. Austin, Debra and Torrie go to Tajiri, who is being loaded into an ambulance and they ride along with him to the hospital.
On the following Smackdown, Tajiri isn't around in order to sell the injuries he sustained. Michael Cole does report that he is in stable condition and has been released from the hospital.
Austin, on the other hand, is out for some revenge. He cuts a promo talking about how the NWO should have never dared to go after his wife. He says that he will make the NWO pay dearly for crossing Austin and for hurting his good friend Tajiri. Backstage Austin, Debra and Torrie are all in Austin's locker room talking about the situation. He gets a little revenge later that night by attacking one of the NWO members during a match.
On the following Raw, Tajiri is backstage hanging out with Austin, Debra and Torrie. Austin thanks Tajiri for what he did and Tajiri chatters back to Austin in Japanese. The four of them basically hang out and do some of those humorous backstage skits that the current writing staff likes. Nothing too big, just to establish that Austin and Tajiri are close buddies again and that the two couples hang out together.
As time passes, Tajiri can slowly be worked into tag teaming with Austin against the NWO. Tajiri adds a fresh face to the Raw/Smackdown main event. He can tag team with Austin or Rock or be in a six-man match with both guys. He can also do singles matches against any of the NWO members and because the NWO is hot right now, Tajiri is hot as well. If X-Pac joins the NWO, then Tajiri is the perfect WWF foe for him to feud with.
I'd love to see a situation arise similar to when Kevin Nash threw Rey Mysterio like a dart into the side of a truck but when Nash tries to throw Tajiri, Tajiri sprays him with the green mist. Nice little nod to history without beating us over the head with it.
Tajiri can play sidekick to any of the big main eventers. Rock and Austin are strong enough on the mic that they can carry Tajiri. Matching him up with heels that are equally good at cutting amusing promos like Hall and Nash will help get the feuds over. Fans want to like Tajiri. They are just begging to make him a star, but the writers see only Tajiri's drawbacks, not his strengths. My idea for getting him into the main event is simple. I'm just following up on work that was done months ago. Tajiri has the talent to be a big wrestler in the WWF if just given the right chance.
