5 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (June 8)
1. That Which Is Hiromu Takahashi, Part II
We debated last week the dumbest wrestler in all the land. This week, the man who won New Japan Pro Wrestling's Best Of The Super Juniors tournament formally announced himself as the most insane wrestler in all the land.
There are some honourable mentions worth noting. Bobby Lashley is a strange f*cker, reacting to a campaign of abuse with a dopey grin eerily fixed all over his bracket. Nia Jax is suffering from a sort of split personality disorder at present, at once a face and a heel, a continuation of her inability to settle on being passable-in-context or the Best Botch Machine. Matt Hardy is a bit crackers - not because he acts the part, but because he presumably left the new riches of the Independent scene, creative freedom and all, expecting WWE not to ruin any intrigue surrounding his BROKEN act. Big Cass thinks he's getting over by simply raising his hand aloft.
None of them have anything on Hiromu Takahashi, who took one of the most ridiculous bumps you're ever likely to see this week.
During an electric 34-minute instant classic, Takahashi and Taiji Ishimori fought up the stairs to the upper reaches of Korakuen Hall. Takahashi threatened to powerbomb Ishimori down the stairs - and his character is crackers enough to do it - before Ishimori reversed it into a Frankensteiner, sending Hiromu down. The. F*cking. Stairs. If Jim Cornette was watching, he'd have followed suit.
This wasn't as brainless as it may read. Throughout the remainder of the match, Takahashi used and manipulated this audience sympathy into an emotional and deafening cacophony to humanise and elevate his psychopath act into a more human realm. This was not a spot for the sake of a spot; it altered the narrative of the match and, ironically, the career trajectory of its victor.