I do love this Tag Team, and apparently so do their Japanese fans. They were recently named the 2013 Tag Team of the Year by Tokyo Sports Magazine — the first time a non-Japanese team has won this honor in 15 years. “The Mighty Don’t Kneel” actually do kneel when they’ve won some cool trophies!
Shane Haste is the cockier show-off, the tattooed stud flashing a double bicep pose. His partner Mikey Nichols is no-nonsense, the Rescuing Partner who has to save Shane from whatever shenanigans he has gotten into.
Here is a fun match I saw on YouTube featuring the popular TMDK boys against a couple of hard-ass looking Japanese killers. Okabayashi is the big, fat, bald Heel (I love big, fat, bald Heels) and Ishikawa is the long-haired dude in the shiny leather shorts. Damn, call me sadistic, but I can hardly wait for these Japanese Heels to go all Beast-Mode on the handsome Australians Baby-faces…
Per usual, Haste acts disrespectful early in the match (which is frowned upon in Japan) by biting the fingers and head of the big bald stud.
His cockiness is soon punished when he becomes the recipient of some bone-shattering Shoulder Blocks from fat Okabayashi, followed by Ishikawa’s beautiful, long-held Figure Four Headscissor at 9:33 into the video. (Haste grunts and yells “Ahhh!“)
Haste plays the Jannetty role for much of the match, eating five big Body-slams in a row starting at 11:39. Each time Haste mounts a come-back, Okabayashi unloads a killer Clothesline that turns him to jelly on warm toast. The Japanese team tags in and out efficiently, alternating between punishing his back and strangling him with Headlocks and the old leg-choke on the bottom rope.
There is a fun little scene at 12:50 where Haste is acting all dizzy and glassy-eyed from being kicked in the head by Ishikawa. Then Okabayashi enters the ring slowly and stands over our suffering Baby. Haste attempts a couple of weak, ineffective Chops on the big man’s meaty chest, but they have absolutely zero effect. Nothing. What a hot little show of helplessness and impotence by Shane Haste!
Can our dazed Australian stud reach the tag before the brutal Japanese team chokes him into submission or injures his back? Stay tuned, wrestling fans… (Or go watch the video if you can’t stand the suspense.)
To Be Continued…