Opposite Ends Of The Scale: Kung Fu Naki and Edge

No two men in WWE that debuted in the same year are more different than those mentioned in the title of this article. While one has wrestled the best of the best on the biggest stage year after year, the other had become the irrelevant “jobber to the stars” until recently when he seems to have disappeared from the WWE Universe. Really, one of the only similarities that they share is that they both debuted in WWE in 1998.

In WWE, Edge is widely know for his ability to work a great match that tells a story better than almost any other superstar on the roster. Kung Fu Naki is not.

Edge constantly finds himself in the world title hunt while wrestling some of the biggest names in the business today. Kung Fu Naki does not.

Edge is famous for putting his body on the line time after time in a bevy of Ladder, TLC, Steel Cage, Hell In A Cell, and Elimination Chamber matches. Kung Fu Naki is not.

Edge has headlined numerous WWE PPV events over the years and delivered on each and every occasion. He has been given the proverbial ball by Vince and the rest of the big wigs backstage and has run with it, scored a touchdown, ran out of the stadium, and is now somewhere on the other side of the country. That’s how far Edge’s career has gone after a small push. The same can NOT be said for Kung Fu Naki.

As you can probably tell by now, Kung Fu Naki hasn’t really done anything noteworthy over the last 11 years. But that leads to the question, if Fu Naki hasn’t accomplished much during his time in WWE, why have they kept him around and what initially persuaded the company to hire the Japanese wrestler? Surely he had at least some talent for Vince to even look at him as a potential WWE roster member.

Before he was contacted by Vince, Fu Naki was predominantly known for being a part of the Kaientai stable in the Michinoku Pro Wrestling promotion where he wrestled with and against several big names in puroresu including Dick Togo, Kaz Hayashi, Men’s Teioh (No. 44 in the TWD 50), Taka Michinoku, Gran Hamada, Super Delfin, and Tiger Mask IV. He was impressing all of the right people with his high flying and lucha inspired technical wrestling maneuvers.

Do you want to know how badly Fu Naki has been misused during his 11 year stint with WWE? Ever since signing his WWE, then known as WWF, contract he has only been featured on a grand total of 16 PPV cards outside of dark matches, and out of those only two were one-on-one encounters, both of which he won. How’s that for a statistic?

To demonstrate the pure talent that Fu Naki has always possessed but been unable to show the WWE Universe, just watch this 5-on-5 tag team match between Kaientei DX and Michinoku Pro. Look out for a younger Fu Naki wearing black and white striped wrestling attire. Part one, part two, part three, and part four can be viewed by clicking on each link.

On the other hand, here’s just one of the many examples out there that show how Fu Naki and those he was associated with were mistreated.

Ironically enough given the subjects of this article, it seems like Edge was actually the man that drove the last spike into the coffin known as Fu Naki’s WWE career. After returning from a broken nose, Fu Naki received the smallest of pushes when he underwent a slight gimmick change and started using more kung fu inspired moves during his matches as well as wearing the outfit to match his new persona.

In his first two matches back on WWE television, Fu Naki had a win over MVP and Shelton Benjamin in a tag team match with R-Truth as his partner, and then the following week he defeated MVP after a distraction from The Great Khali. A few weeks later an impromptu throw away match was put together at the last minute by Vickie Guerrero when she placed Edge in a match against a mystery opponent who turned out to be Fu Naki. A few short minutes later…

Ever since then Fu Naki’s career which looked to be surprisingly on the rise instead took a steep decline which still hasn’t stopped. Most of his rare appearances on our screens in the past 12 months have been squash matches, even losing to a developmental wrestler at one stage, and battle royal matches to qualify for a special event such as an Elimination Chamber match or the Money in the Bank match at Wrestlemania.

It all really comes down to the creative team. It may be too late to start pushing Fu Naki at the age of 41 years old, but surely even a short run in a mid-card division would be a just reward for all of the selflessness that he has shown over the past decade. Hell, they made Vladimir Kozlov look half decent at one stage. Couldn’t they perform some of the same magic for the cult favourite Japanese superstar?

Image Credit: Online World of Wrestling

Kung Fu Naki

Career Highlights

• Competed in the 1995 Super J Cup tournament
• Wrestled at 3 Wrestlemania PPV’s (2004, 2005, 2006)

Achievements

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• Ranked No. 103 in the PWI 500 (2001)

World Wrestling Entertainment

• 1x Cruiserweight Championship
• 1x Hardcore Championship

The accomplishments of Fu Naki’s career, as a part of WWE and beforehand, clearly pale in comparison to Edge’s. While none can argue that Fu Naki is the bigger draw card between the two, most will agree that he deserves more respect than he has gotten.

Somebody has to be the one that helps put over other talent, but it’s just unfortunate for Fu Naki that it ended up being him. Maybe Sheamus will retire him soon too…

Image Credit: Online World of Wrestling

Edge

Career Highlights

• Wrestled in 8 Wrestlemania PPV’s (2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
• Participated in 3 Elimination Chamber matches (2005,2009[2x])
• Participated in 1 Hell in a Cell match (2008)
• Participated in 12 TLC/Ladder matches (1999, 2000[3x], 2001[3x], 2005,  2006[2x], 2008, 2009)
• Participated in 2 MITB matches (2005, 2007)

Achievements

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI Match of the Year (2000 – with Christian vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardy Boyz in a Triangle Ladder match at Wrestlemania 2000)
• PWI Match of the Year (2001 – with Christian vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardy Boyz in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at Wrestlemania X-Seven)
• PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2001)
• PWI Comeback of the Year (2004)
• PWI Feud of the Year (2005 – against Matt Hardy)
• PWI Feud of the Year (2006 – against John Cena)
• PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2006)
• Ranked No. 2 in the PWI 500 (2007)

World Wrestling Entertainment

• 5x World Heavyweight Championship
• 4x WWE Championship
• 5x Intercontinental Championship
• 1x WCW United States Championship
• 13x Tag Team Championship
• Fourteenth Triple Crown Champion
• King of the Ring (2001)
• 2x Mr. Money in the Bank (2005, 2007)
• Slammy Award for Couple of the Year (2008 – with Vickie Guerrero)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• Tag Team of the Year (2000 – with Christian)
• Match of the Year (2002 – with Christian vs. Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle at No Mercy)
• Worst Worked Match of the Year (2008 – vs. Triple H vs. Vladimir Kozlov in a Triple Threat match at Survivor Series)

Edge has done almost all their is to do during his time in WWE. The biggest accomplishment that he is yet to achieve, but probably will sometime in the next few years, is win the Royal Rumble. Besides that, he only needs to win the ECW Championship and WWE’s version of the US title and he’ll have a clean sweep, but they would really be a big step down for the “Rated R Superstar.”

With at least another good 5 years left in his pro wrestling career, as long as no more serious injuries occur, Edge still has a lot to prove to the fans. I have no doubt in my mind that he’ll come back strong from his current achilles heel injury, and quite possibly win the award for “PWI Comeback of the Year” yet again, but the specifics of what happens after that is anyone’s guess.

I hope he has a speedy recovery but on the other hand I don’t want to see him rush back from a career threatening injury that could potentially sideline him for good.

Next time on Opposite Ends Of The Scale I’ll be taking a look at two wrestlers in the literal sense of the title. It will be the biggest member of the WWE roster, Big Show, matched up against the lightweight of the Smackdown brand, Rey Mysterio.

Until then, be on the look out for the return of the Next On The Agenda series later this week where I will take you back into the board room and discuss the possibility of Sheamus becoming WWE Champion and what WWE might do when/if Jeff Hardy returns to the promotion.