Pro Wrestling Chronicle

An interesting Four For the Road as I look at why Kenny Doane and Kid Yamamoto might be the future of their chosen professions. Well, there’s still time. This is the 5.18.06 Four For The Road.

– Move over Wanderlei Silva, Kid Yamamoto is the REAL deal. There is officially a new “man without conscious” walking around Tokyo. For the first time in years the man I speak of does not sport a tattoo on his head or resemble a much focused Vin Deisel. That’s because for the first time since 2001, I’ve found a new man to cheer in Mixed Martial Arts, which has cross over appeal (similar to males 18-34 with UFC and WWE) to the man I fear in my sleep. Move over Silva, here comes the KID.

I use to think to myself, as I watched Wanderlei Silva try to foot stomp a man’s head, that Silva was a man without a deity. After watching Kid Yamamoto this past week, I now think that Yamamoto might be that theoretical pound for pound divinity Silva has been ignoring all these years. The thing is this higher power seems more like the God who sends floods then the “check out my burning bush” buddy Christ. Just watch Yamomoto’s latest fight against Kazuyuki Miyata at a Hero’s show on May 5th.

People use to say that Mike Tyson was the baddest man on the planet. It was said he “threw punches with evil intentions”. The charismatic Yamamoto came out with a flying knee against Miyata that had no intentions. It just flawlessly killed his opponent. I doubt former collegiate wrestler even knew the Kid was hovering over him a second later, blasting him in the face with punches showing pin-point accuracy. If Tyson throws with intentions, Kid Yamamoto simply lands. He needs no intentions, his strikes are facts. It happened, and it will happen again.

I viewed several of his fights after seeing this knock out with my own eyes. Time after time, I was amazing with his hand and foot speed, conditioning, control, hand-eye coordination, power, intensity, mental focus and his ability to end fights. Trainers instruct fighters to punch through a target. It’s a visualization drill. Yamamoto DOES punch through his target. On fight night that target is another human being.

Along with Kid’s speed, skill, and grace comes his chiseled body and charisma. He’s a good looking guy who makes the ladies swoon. The guys love him too. His charm and good nature are too great. He’s a sponsor’s dream fighter. For as much as a killer as Kid is, his rapport with children breaks through any language barrier. His cardio, which is incredible, is often done on the streets in Japan as onlookers wish him well and children run after him.

He has only one competitor remotely near his level. Genki Sudo. Kid’s beaten him once, but it was considered a premature stoppage, so they might fight again. I fear for Sudo.

No one in UFC can touch Yamamoto. With the exception of possible dream fights involving Hero’s promotional rival, Pride Fighting Championships, only Yamamoto rivals himself. He’s on a level only Fedor Emelianenko and Silva have reached. The translation is that they are so good they must compete against themselves. Not even history can be chased, because Yamamoto is writing it with every fight.

About the only thing that can beat Kid Yamamoto right now is a sneaky submission on an over confident mind. That or maybe a lightening bolt. There is one more amazing fact you should know about the impressive Yamamoto. He stands 5’5 and weighs 150 pounds soaking wet. Kind of makes you wonder if William Wallace will be shooting that lightening bolt, aimed at the Kid, out of his ass, doesn’t it.

–Cena versus Kenny Doane draws strongest RAW rating in years. Kenny Doane, of the much maligned Spirit Squad, is just 20 years old. John Cena, the champ, is 29. Together they helped WWE’s 5/1 broadcast of RAW to a 5.06 rating for their main event match. Many people, myself included, were pushing for more Edge in the main event rotation after he pulled off the highest ratings on WWE TV in years. Kenny Doane’s segments are even higher.

The week before on RAW, the Spirit Squad, led by Doane, had a main event match against HHH/Cena/Edge that did a 4.92. At the time, that was the best quarter hour rating all year. Both the 5/1 and 4/24 matches gained over a million viewers from the prior segment. You can argue that Cena, HHH, and Edge pushed the ratings, or in some cases HBK, but you can only make the argument for so long. After all, those same men have been in the main events on RAW, specifically the first four months of this calendar year (including Wrestlemania season), and we didn’t see ratings like that.

I don’t have quarter hour break downs for last week’s Cena/HBK vs. Squad main event. I do know the show did a 4.1 rating, which tells me the main event was probably around a 5 rating again. Regardless, the WWE has been impressed enough with the Spirit Squad experiment and the abilities of Kenny in particular, that he was booked into the main event of this week’s RAW. After this rating comes out, I don’t think anyone will be able to deny that Kenny Doane is the next break out star.

This doesn’t mean money for the WWE up front of course. The advertising dollars go straight to the USA Network. But if the eyeballs on TV sets correlates to buyrates on pay-per-view, then WWE writers better figure out a way to remove Doane from the Spirit Squad by say… Summerslam. I’d keep the kid a heel and semi-main event until at least the Royal Rumble in January, but it’s a great time to use these numbers for more the just window dressing. If you’re testing the kid, he’s passing, and he needs to be moved off that damn mid-card cheerleader crap that they’ve some how made acceptable.

Doane has twenty more years in the ring if he doesn’t kill himself, and at least eight to twelve can be with John Cena. They love each other, they hate each other, but mostly, they could make money together.

The Spirit Squad is getting some real heat now. Not that “go away” heat they were getting. Cena is a clever turn away from being a low rent Rock. Kenny is moving forward. He also has years after he gets away from the Squad to erase our memories. I don’t like the gimmick, but if we’re using it for BETA testing, it’s working. Coupling at times with the HHH/HBK interaction was adequate protection from the beginning. The slow build is also gaining a ton of fan interest and will peak next month with a reunion. How do they do certain aspects so well and most so damn poorly? I just want Vince and his “aren’t I so entertaining with my overacting” off my screen. I don’t want that man to ever use the word entertainment, or any words starting with E.

Even if I think ECW and DX are concepts better left a decade back, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out next month will be huge for the WWE. With WWE, that always means in terms of money, not creativity. I’d be willing to bet they’d have it no other way.