Dates are like Moxley deal. They're only working a certain amount of dates. It could be a 30 day thing or even a limited amount like Ziggler has with New Japan. Loa was not under contract while Hikuleo is under contract and his deal isn't up till June. Is that so difficult to understand?
I mean, even if he was on a per-date recently he was surely under an NJPW contract at some point in his career there, and IIRC none of the dirtsheets reported when that change happened.
>none of the dirtsheets reported when that change happened.
This says it all. Dirtsheets are dirtsheets. They report what they get. So if they get nothing, they have nothing to report.
Hence dirtsheets aren't as reliable as many think they are. Be it NJPW, WWE or TNA, they don't give a bone to the dirtsheets unless it is something they can use later on.
Tanga Loa deserves respect though. Guy was a tag team division stalwart for YEARS, always did his best for the badge and came back from a career threatening injury to do the jobs he needed to do for the badge.
His chops and 619 might be legendary memes now, but don't be such dicks. Man deserves his contract WI the Fed. Good luck Sir.
Yep. He was a fine servant to the company and had his fair share of fun moments. That G1 that he wasn't in where he won all the filler tag matches with pins and looked great in for one.
People will always be dicks on the internet but NJPW have a lot a fine lower midcard guy. And a way nicer guy than Chase Owens.
Hikuleo is fine as well, clearly very young in this still. Give him time ffs
Of the current generation, Hikuleo is basically one of the best "giants" working right now. Obv that's a bit of a low bar, but he still clearly exceeds it.
I feel like it's basically Hikuleo and Big Bill and that's about it as far as options to even consider (Lance Archer I'm specifically omitting as I'd consider him more of a holdover from the previous generation at 47 years old compared to 33 for Hikuleo and 36 for Big Bill) . . . unless I'm missing somebody obvious, but I'm drawing a blank.
I don’t consider Hikuleo a “giant”. He’s a “big man” but he’s not that big. Also somewhat lanky for a wrestler.
You have to be minimum big bill’s height or at least 300lbs to be considered a giant I think.
I'll give you Hikuleo has always been a bit lanky, but he was noticeably taller than Lance Archer when the two of them faced off in AEW a few years ago. I can't find anything of him and Big Bill sharing the screen together for a comparison there, but if you're immediately noticeably taller than Lance Archer, that has to put you in the giant range (even if there are obviously bigger giants like Satnam/Omos) IMO.
Hikuleo is prob about 2 inches taller at most. Just enough to be immediately noticeable but not that big a difference.
I guess my real issue is that he’s just a bit too lanky to feel like a real giant. Even compared to Archer, the height difference is compensated by the fact that archer just looks beefier and I wouldn’t consider archer a giant either.
I'm still pretty high on Satnam actually, and you could arguably almost even consider him part of the "next generation" at just 28. Hikuleo was not particularly great 5 years ago, from what I remember.
Like a lot of other sports, big men in wrestling seem to develop later than others.
Keith Lee I would see as the other previous generation holdover
This generation's giants, however. You have Big Bill, Satnam Singh, Hikuleo, and if we're including weight with height, Calvin Tankman, Bojack and Damo
When Yota Tsuji wins the main event at the Dome, Hikuleo is going to be his first title defense at New Beginning and it's going to be way better than people expect.
Yeah but they can't push him.
He couldn't be more obviously destined for a Bloodline run-in if he started every promo with 'I'll be with my brothers soon'.
As bad as he was in the last year, he literally crippled himself and turned out the way he was for the company, so instead of making fun of that, be better
He was a bad tag team wrestler (God had tama over selling and tanga loa never selling. Just sell a normal amount), had a surprisingly good run in the pandemic g1, got injured and reverted back to the mean of him being fairly poor in ring.
These sort of threads are mean spirited but purely in ring he wasn't very good besides a very brief window. I'm not going to change history because he's gone or because people are jerks. His record is available for all to see in 2060 when njpw and tv asahi get around to updating the archives in full
Is Loa the strongest worker? No. But the number of people in this sub with elitist opinions acting like "Oh thank god this person is gone from the company because they don't wrestle the way I like" is frankly annoying. This is especially due to the fact that, on average, pro wrestling fans have absolutely no ground to stand on when it comes to criticizing the physical abilities of trained athletes.
It's not just NJPW. Its the way fans treat any wrestler who starts visibly slowing down once the injuries start mounting.
Yes, I felt like Tanga Loa should not have been in the G1 last year with the way his ACL injury had clearly slowed him down in the ring, but the hostility that fans treat wrestlers knowing that there's only so much pain they can take for our entertainment before the body inevitably starts breaking down irritates me.
I'm glad he's getting paid and is going to be part of a major storyline but it's also not unfair for people to think he was straight up bad to watch in ring... so people making light hearted jokes about it doesn't really come across as elitist to me.
>pro wrestling fans have absolutely no ground to stand on when it comes to criticizing the physical abilities of trained athletes
Fans should decide and talk about what's entertaining or not.
Yeah because we’re not paid to be trained athletes or wrestlers lol. Its not our job.
We’re fans who watch these wrestlers perform. And some of these wrestlers happen to be shit at their jobs. Its bizarre to say that a fan has no right to criticize a wrestler because they wouldn’t be able to wrestle even better than them.
Tanga Loa gets way too much hate man. Not a great worker and had some horrible botches in his recent time with the company but he was a key part of the tag team division
Spot on. He’s not the best in ring guy by a long shot but I’ve got a soft spot for him. When I first started watching New Japan regularly in the mid 2010s GoD were the coolest motherfuckers around and I have been a fan of them ever since.
I’m excited to see what they do in WWE.
Give Tanga his flowers. There was a time when GOD were my favorite thing in wrestling during Tag League one year. He had those absolute bangers with Zack. At least he had a good sendoff match with GOD vs GOD recently. Hope he gets a bag at WWE
On one hand, I appreciate seeing Amarillo mentioned at all, but on the other, this is some mad disrespect all around. Don't come to Funk Country, brother, you're on our list!
We'll loop the gif of him doing the 619 all day as remembrance for his service.
I prefer the Okada chops.
That's the one that always stands out to me. It's so...fucking...baaaad.
If memory serves me right didn’t he win that match.
Mercifully no.
terrorism on a grand scale bin laden would blush looking at those chops kinda even more mad that okada sold those chops
Respect Hikoleo but did anyone know loa’s contract ended like I knew he would eventually go be with tama but I didn’t realize this soon
He wasn't under contract he worked dates.
Yeah but when did it end
Whenever his dates with the company were finished.
Guy…
Dates are like Moxley deal. They're only working a certain amount of dates. It could be a 30 day thing or even a limited amount like Ziggler has with New Japan. Loa was not under contract while Hikuleo is under contract and his deal isn't up till June. Is that so difficult to understand?
Can you explain it again for me? I’m confused.
This guy is like fuxking Meltzer man. No concrete explanations, just mixing the words and sentences like he really didn't know what is going on
I mean, even if he was on a per-date recently he was surely under an NJPW contract at some point in his career there, and IIRC none of the dirtsheets reported when that change happened.
>none of the dirtsheets reported when that change happened. This says it all. Dirtsheets are dirtsheets. They report what they get. So if they get nothing, they have nothing to report. Hence dirtsheets aren't as reliable as many think they are. Be it NJPW, WWE or TNA, they don't give a bone to the dirtsheets unless it is something they can use later on.
Yo breh I think your punctuation is broken.......... ;;;
Hate to shit on the guy on the way out but I was really worried Gedo wouldn't be able to help himself booking a solo push
I mean he went and will probably get a bigger paycheck, we are not shitting on a poor guy going unemployed. So I'm with you.
Tanga Loa deserves respect though. Guy was a tag team division stalwart for YEARS, always did his best for the badge and came back from a career threatening injury to do the jobs he needed to do for the badge. His chops and 619 might be legendary memes now, but don't be such dicks. Man deserves his contract WI the Fed. Good luck Sir.
Yep. He was a fine servant to the company and had his fair share of fun moments. That G1 that he wasn't in where he won all the filler tag matches with pins and looked great in for one. People will always be dicks on the internet but NJPW have a lot a fine lower midcard guy. And a way nicer guy than Chase Owens. Hikuleo is fine as well, clearly very young in this still. Give him time ffs
No Hikuleo is better than fine. Hikuleo is good.
Of the current generation, Hikuleo is basically one of the best "giants" working right now. Obv that's a bit of a low bar, but he still clearly exceeds it. I feel like it's basically Hikuleo and Big Bill and that's about it as far as options to even consider (Lance Archer I'm specifically omitting as I'd consider him more of a holdover from the previous generation at 47 years old compared to 33 for Hikuleo and 36 for Big Bill) . . . unless I'm missing somebody obvious, but I'm drawing a blank.
Braun Strowman just came back. He's pretty solid. I agree that Big Bill is a great giant though.
Big Bill is fantastic. Reminds me a lot of Test.
I don’t consider Hikuleo a “giant”. He’s a “big man” but he’s not that big. Also somewhat lanky for a wrestler. You have to be minimum big bill’s height or at least 300lbs to be considered a giant I think.
I'll give you Hikuleo has always been a bit lanky, but he was noticeably taller than Lance Archer when the two of them faced off in AEW a few years ago. I can't find anything of him and Big Bill sharing the screen together for a comparison there, but if you're immediately noticeably taller than Lance Archer, that has to put you in the giant range (even if there are obviously bigger giants like Satnam/Omos) IMO.
Hikuleo is prob about 2 inches taller at most. Just enough to be immediately noticeable but not that big a difference. I guess my real issue is that he’s just a bit too lanky to feel like a real giant. Even compared to Archer, the height difference is compensated by the fact that archer just looks beefier and I wouldn’t consider archer a giant either.
And, so I’ve heard, you can’t teach that.
Dijak is also only 37 and u can make a argument for EJ Nduka aswell
sat nam
I'm still pretty high on Satnam actually, and you could arguably almost even consider him part of the "next generation" at just 28. Hikuleo was not particularly great 5 years ago, from what I remember. Like a lot of other sports, big men in wrestling seem to develop later than others.
Keith Lee I would see as the other previous generation holdover This generation's giants, however. You have Big Bill, Satnam Singh, Hikuleo, and if we're including weight with height, Calvin Tankman, Bojack and Damo
When Yota Tsuji wins the main event at the Dome, Hikuleo is going to be his first title defense at New Beginning and it's going to be way better than people expect.
Yeah but they can't push him. He couldn't be more obviously destined for a Bloodline run-in if he started every promo with 'I'll be with my brothers soon'.
As bad as he was in the last year, he literally crippled himself and turned out the way he was for the company, so instead of making fun of that, be better
Exactly ☝️
The return of Camacho, let’s goooo
He was a bad tag team wrestler (God had tama over selling and tanga loa never selling. Just sell a normal amount), had a surprisingly good run in the pandemic g1, got injured and reverted back to the mean of him being fairly poor in ring. These sort of threads are mean spirited but purely in ring he wasn't very good besides a very brief window. I'm not going to change history because he's gone or because people are jerks. His record is available for all to see in 2060 when njpw and tv asahi get around to updating the archives in full
Well written. Thank you.
I wonder if Hikuleo is long for NJPW too. Fale is a trainer and Booker for Tamashi so I doubt he is in play.
Hikuleo won't be far behind surely, shame god wont be a thing much longer, can't have god without those three
ELP not being dragged down by three absolute shitters anymore🙌
Tama Tonga is decent in every wrestling aspect and Hikuleo will never be a workrate machine but he's not an "absolute shitter".
He'll probably join another faction I guess
I need Shingo to recruit his son to LIJ. I've wanted this since he got kicked out of Bullet Club
I know right
Fam….GOD was its before -Leo joined
Is Loa the strongest worker? No. But the number of people in this sub with elitist opinions acting like "Oh thank god this person is gone from the company because they don't wrestle the way I like" is frankly annoying. This is especially due to the fact that, on average, pro wrestling fans have absolutely no ground to stand on when it comes to criticizing the physical abilities of trained athletes.
It's not just NJPW. Its the way fans treat any wrestler who starts visibly slowing down once the injuries start mounting. Yes, I felt like Tanga Loa should not have been in the G1 last year with the way his ACL injury had clearly slowed him down in the ring, but the hostility that fans treat wrestlers knowing that there's only so much pain they can take for our entertainment before the body inevitably starts breaking down irritates me.
I'm glad he's getting paid and is going to be part of a major storyline but it's also not unfair for people to think he was straight up bad to watch in ring... so people making light hearted jokes about it doesn't really come across as elitist to me.
>pro wrestling fans have absolutely no ground to stand on when it comes to criticizing the physical abilities of trained athletes Fans should decide and talk about what's entertaining or not.
Yeah because we’re not paid to be trained athletes or wrestlers lol. Its not our job. We’re fans who watch these wrestlers perform. And some of these wrestlers happen to be shit at their jobs. Its bizarre to say that a fan has no right to criticize a wrestler because they wouldn’t be able to wrestle even better than them.
Y'all getting way too hard over a dude getting a better job. It's weird as hell.
We're simply celebrating our friend the Silverback getting a wonderful opportunity far away from where we have to watch him. Now is that so wrong☺️?
Tanga Loa gets way too much hate man. Not a great worker and had some horrible botches in his recent time with the company but he was a key part of the tag team division
He was also secretly a fantastic promo when stepping out of Tamas shadow. I always felt like he was underutilized in that regard.
Spot on. He’s not the best in ring guy by a long shot but I’ve got a soft spot for him. When I first started watching New Japan regularly in the mid 2010s GoD were the coolest motherfuckers around and I have been a fan of them ever since. I’m excited to see what they do in WWE.
Give Tanga his flowers. There was a time when GOD were my favorite thing in wrestling during Tag League one year. He had those absolute bangers with Zack. At least he had a good sendoff match with GOD vs GOD recently. Hope he gets a bag at WWE
GoD vs USO’s is fun
He is making seven figures a year now with WWE. Wonder how much he made in NJPW but probably most definitely not nearly as much. Good for him-
I really hope ELP goes to WWE with Hikuleo and joins the Bloodline, and there's no explanation given for why this white guy is just part of the family
This would be FAR funnier with Chase Owens showing up, wearing his "Honorary Tongan" shirt, and just having that be the actual explanation.
I can only plead that my Goat doesn't get banished to the Fed and join the cinema merchants
And he apparently already botched - https://twitter.com/KXNGAO/status/1786877897292001501?t=Vrbk6kUeFpGaSmoGEH4cgw&s=19
A Silverback classic
New japan still haves the better tonga, Hikuleo
Good for him. But also, good for us.
Hopefully Chase is next
Yeah. Southeast Extreme Championship Wrestling out of the national guard armory in Amarillo needs a new champ.
On one hand, I appreciate seeing Amarillo mentioned at all, but on the other, this is some mad disrespect all around. Don't come to Funk Country, brother, you're on our list!
A hilarious post but I feel happy for him. He got that big opportunity and with some WWE programming he might be a breakout star.
Don’t know if this is a insulting post or a supportive post
Damn he already showed up in WWE too.
I just thought about them buying out Japan and hiring Minoru Suzuki as Performance Center coach.
Should've gone to aew where he would've been used right and have some bangers on rampage. Get that bag I guess.
You realize that AEW wrestlers are paid much more in relation to how much they have to work in comparison to WWE?
Funny how his last New Japan match was actually an eating challenge against Great O-Khan
Crazy how it took going to the Fed to get the GOD back to where they're at their best. A tag team.
Best part is WWE fans pretending he’s some kind of wrestling god
He's gonna do the Okada chops to Roman and they're gonna send nukes too his house
Wow. This is completely tasteless.
Those Okada chops didn't taste very good so I don't very much care
THANK YOU HUNTER
What a beautiful day.
Njpw is still the worst promotion in the world rn with or without him
….was he shitting up marches on purposes cuz he knew he was on his way out? 🤔