This has 'potential' written all over it. Add in Gail Kim or someone else in either a kimono or a schoolgirl outfit to play mouthpiece / coldly ruthless leader and you've got the popculture yakuza mytsique down to a handy wrestling formula. I am SO into this idea! But...
Problem is, it's just POTENTIAL. And since when has the WWE ever delivered on potential? Only guy I can think of who came out the gate with the P word and lived up to it was Brock Lesnar. Everybody else they've mishandled, poorly booked, shunted to Heat/Velocity out of spite or generally kept in limbo. Ultimo? Nathan Jones? Gail Kim? FBI? You could even argue RVD and Booker in general.
So lately I just assume they're going to drop the ball, and it makes me feel a lot less disappointed when they do. (And a lot happier when they don't.)
Man, I hate to be a typical pessimistic WWE whiner fanboy, but that's how I feel...
Someone once told me that generally speaking, shorter "asian-sounding" names tend to be Chinese/Korean while longer ones are more likely Japanese.
I'm sure people who are from those areas can tell just by the name, much like a white-american can tell that a dude named O'Donnell is probably Irish and someone named Stamboli is probably Italian..
So your Suzukis, Matsuis, Funakis, Iron Chef Rokusaburo Michibas, etc.. Japanese.. Whereas Jackie Chan, Ang Lee, Gaul Kim, Yang, etc.. I think are Korean/Chinese names.
Of course it's not universal, but that's what a Japanese-american friend of mine once told me..
I have to say that I like this idea. This would also be the perfect way to actually factor Ultimo into the mix a little bit. Tajiri sends Yang and Sakoda after Rey, but Kidman comes out for the save which leads to a tag match. This naturally leads to Tajiri interfering, so they need to find someone else to back them up. They can get Ultimo involved by Kidman bringing up "well, the biggest Japanese star we have will know how to deal with the Yakuza." Ultimo could accidentally take out Rey or Kidman during the matches which would lead us to suspect that Ultimo is going to turn. I'd like to see them swerve us and give us the Kidman turn that we figured on getting around Summerslam. Now we'd have TWO cruiserweight fueds Rey vs. Kidman, and Tajiri & the Yakuza vs. Dragon. That's just my 2 cents.
(edited by The Squire on 21.10.03 1254) They gotta bring these back!!!: "talk to the hand because the man don't understand." - "The Crippler" Chris Benoit "...and that is the LAST WORD." - "The Big Nasty" Paul Wight and of course: "Don't hate the playa...HATE THE GAME~!" - WCW World Champion Booker T
Gail Kim is Korean. Kim is the original Korean, means gold. Gail is of course her Canadian name. Her birth name was chieh, which means hottest chic on either roster ever without benefit of fake tits.
Yea, Kim is Korean, and the explain of it meaning "Gold" is right.
Yang is both a Korean and Chinese name... so, we really don't know what Jimmy is.
Tajiri and Sakoda are both Japanese.
As for the Yakuza thing, are they going to have them be Traditional Yakuza, tatted up like the Taker, dress in funky colored suits with Turtle Neck sweaters, and have funky hair-styles and facial scars.
I missed SmackDown! so I didn't get to see them on TV.