The Funaki Factor Sep 03 - 01:18 pm EDT
Opinion by DrVenkman
Funaki. Shoichi Funaki. The Big Sho. If you're a net fan (and you're reading this on the net, aren't you?) you know him and love him. If you're a casual fan, well... what the hell DO you think about him? Let's look back at the 4 year history of Funaki in World Wrestling Entertainment...
1998: Funaki wrestled on THREE PPVs, something that hasn't happened since. The first two, Judgment Day and King of the Ring, he was feuding with TAKA as part of WWE's initial version of Kaientai. TAKA, the Light Heavyweight Champion at the time, was not yet seen as a comedy act by the fans, and the matches were more or less well received by the fans in the arena. However, by his last PPV of `98, Kaientai now included TAKA, and were turned into a total joke act that got squashed by The Oddities at SummerSlam 98. Shortly after this, TAKA lost his title to Christian - in Christian's first WWE match, mind you - and Kaientai members Dick Togo and Mens Teioh were gone from the WWE. Funaki was more or less out of the picture.
1999: Funaki and Taka were now the only Kaientai members in WWE and did nothing of interest. They were scheduled to compete with Blue Meanie and Big Show in a Survivor Series Elimination Match, but Big Show beat up his team in the locker room and stated he wanted to take on Team Bossman on his own. Kaientai were not involved in a #1 Contenders Battle Royale that opened Armageddon, but the Mean Street Posse were.
2000: This was the year Funaki became a total comedy jobber, and one of the stars of Metal and Jakked. His heel / face status also changed quite a bit, depending who he wrestled on the weekend syndicated show. This pattern has kept up until just the past month. Funaki opened the year by being eliminated from the Royal Rumble 3 times, each about 3 seconds after running in. He and his partner TAKA, who suffered an injury due to an over the top rope bump, were not official participants. Funaki had a couple of minutes with the Hardcore title at WrestleMania 2000, but only because the APA knocked Viscera out and threw Funaki on him. This brief title win allowed Funaki to compete in a similar time limit title match at Unforgiven later in the year. TAKA had a big world title match with HHH that was supposed to be a joke, but turned into a very competitive, very good match. However, this is about Funaki, not TAKA.
2001: Kaientai wrestled on Heat before the Royal Rumble, losing to Lo Down - another jobber team - in a match that was to determine an entrant in the Royal Rumble match. Drew Carey ended up taking the spot anyway. HOWEVER, this where things briefly turned around for Funaki, and briefly gave him a following by fans in the arena, not just those of us who yell "FUNAKI~~~!!!" while watching wrestling while on IRC. Kaientai was given a Dubbed Godzilla Movie gimmick, courtesy of Shane McMahon's voice, which spawned the #2 catchphrase of 2001 (I think we all know what #1 was. You don't? WHAT?).. INDEED (along with the almost as popular EVIL). It sold lots of shirts, and allowed fans to get behind Kaientai during promos and even sometimes during matches. This boom period for Funaki was short lived, however, as the team was never given a big time match, and were still comedy jobbers. The last Kaientai match before TAKA got injured and went back to Japan involved Kaientai getting squashed by Kronik to prepare for one of the worst matches of the year. After TAKA left, Funaki was doing weekly face/heel switches, wrestling different opponents on Metal/Jakked (as mentioned above), and losing most, if not all, of them. At the house show I went to on Dec. 1, 2001, he even lost to The Brooklyn Brawler.
2002 / PRESENT DAY: TAKA is gone. Funaki's main eventer friend Steve Austin is also gone. Funaki continues to wear a shirt referencing the outdated gimmick he once had. But glory be, is it true? Funaki is having COMPETITIVE matches on TV? Funaki PINNED Tajiri clean? Funaki now speaks with his own voice? He is the #1 SMACKDOWN ANNOUNCER? He mostly wrestles on Velocity, but damn if his matches with Tajiri and Noble haven't been great for free TV. This past Saturday in particular, Funaki was made to look very good in his outing, and due to his recent exposure as SmackDown's #1 announcer, he got some good responses from the crowd. Hell, he even cut a post match promo after losing, declaring that even though he lost, everyone still loves him, because he's SmackDown's #1 announcer.
What does the rest of the year hold for Funaki? The CW division is still being worked on, but Funaki has a place to be in the roster now. His comedy act on SmackDown is getting him over as a babyface, but now, unlike the "INDEED" era, he is allowed to be more than a comedy babyface in his matches. The last time Funaki experienced such a boom in popularity from the arena fans, which often times love to sit and be quiet during his matches, it was short lived, and he was still a jobber. But now, I wouldn't be surprised to see Funaki vs Noble was the CW title match at a PPV. I still think he needs a new shirt, though. The shirt he wears now will do as the design - blue with the red sun on the front, but instead of "EVIL / INDEED", it should be "FUNAKI" on the front, and "#1 SMACKDOWN ANNOUNCER" on the back.
I just hope WWE doesn't pull the plug on this new Funaki semi-push like they have in the past.
Fun Fact: See that one sentence I did about Funaki needing a new shirt? That was the ENTIRE BASE of this rambling article. And now you know, and knowing is half the battle (to take a line from WDB's Webmaster... who takes a line from GI Joe).
This is Dr "Stephen Gray" Venkman, WrestlingDB #1 Article Writer... or just article writer...
