Bob Sapp

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Wade Garrett]

Who nominated Sapp? I'd like to see a write-up or some matches pointed out for watching purposes. I only saw the guy Fight. Seemed like the kinda guy McMahon woulda signed. Probably making great green in Japan negated that though.

[El McKell]

Bob Sapp is someone with a rep as a terrible worker who I irrationally love. Even though his execution is bad, I always feel like his offence looks like it could kill someone and he carries himself in an incredible way, like if we give guys points for the way they walk to the ring he's gotta get something for that. He won't make my list though, he didn't have very many matches in his career and if he did his act would've probably gotten old.

 

 

His best matches are: vs Kensuke Sasaki

vs The Great Muta

w/ Mutoh vs D'Lo Brown & Jamal

vs Jun Akiyama

[Ma Stump Puller]

If this was "top 100 draws" in wrestling, Sapp would be in a fair position for himself given how insanely popular he was as a pop-culture figure. For what it's worth, I think he's not the worst of the worst and has had some fairly decent matches when paired with people who can bump around for him. Him and Osamu Nishimura actually had a pretty good sequence together back in NJPW, through I think that was more Nishimura being a amazing carry than Sapp's own qualities. Limited, sure, wouldn't get nowhere near a top 100, but he's got some stuff worth checking out: in particular his match series against Manabu Nakanishi and some of his IGF work if only for how bizarre some of the matches were. He also had a ZERO-ONE exploding barbed wire baseball bat 6-man with Onita and co that was pretty entertaining.

 

 

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

You know what? Fuck it. Time for some match writeups about Sapp. This is probably a terrible idea but it's worth showcasing some of his bright (ish) spots. Not including his more obvious solo showings with Nakamura or Akiyama, if only because people know about them already.

Danshoku Dino vs. Bob Sapp (DDT Peter Pan, 24.07.2011)

This is billed as a "Special Rules Match" AKA it's MMA, so rounds and breaks here. Dino is surprisingly alright here, playing a blend of goofy comedic act that thinks he's Inoki all of a sudden and a legitimate underdog babyface when things go to pot. Sapp plays along with Dino's antics until he gets hit in the balls, getting him mad. This involves some big slams, some funny outside brawling and even beating up people not involved in the match because he's that mad. Dino gets his revenge in the second round with....a combo of low blows? He then does a Dragon Screw notion while holding on to Sapp's groin, which was pretty funny. Sapp's selling is also super solid as he shrieks in terror while this destruction is going on and frails around frantically to escape Dino's grasp. One thing I can say about this match is that Sapp is perfectly game to play along with all of this silly shit and making it as exaggerated as possible. He gets what wrestling is about ultimately, which is more of a pantomime than anything else. I mean ffs, he even gets a Danshoku Driver here no problem. Through his offence is mostly pretty basic, the crowd eat up his last domination section here in the third round as he takes back control: him making fun of the consistent Dino chants gets him big heat as well. While Sapp's offence is, again, basic, he does nail a fantastic Kobashi-lite standing lariat that takes Dino's head off for a near 10 count. Eventually he misses a second one, gets Dino'd with all of his signature spots, and then trapped in a Gedo Clutch for the win. Obviously your mileage on Dino will vary but for what it's worth, this is a good example of a near perfect Bob Sapp match: all of the main spots are done by someone else, he gets in his big offence and pops the crowd, plays a solid monster, etc. The comedic stuff is also well done and Sapp is a good sport, selling some incredibly goofy offence far better than a lot of wrestlers could. 

 

Aja Kong, Atsushi Onita & Shogun Okamoto vs. Bob Sapp, Jaguar Yokota & TARU (ZERO-ONE Bob Sapp Current Blast! 12.05.2017)

Honestly, I loved this if only for how trashy it was. It's such a bizarre matchup that it somehow works, and even despite the conditions, Aja Kong and Yokota do actually have some decent exchanges with each other workrate wise, and Yokota was way more mobile than you'd expect her to be here. While everyone else was at different degrees of limited, they do as best as they can here with them. Bob Sapp is a good giant to have throw around the other guys here, Onita gets a fairly good pop when he gets his comeback going (despite some truly terrible stunners and double suplex attempts) Okamoto was a fine third party brawler, and TARU was a mega shit heel as per standard, consistently getting in the way of the other team's big efforts. As a match objectively, this is a big old trash brawl with some of the most awkward pacing around. Subjectively, it's a dumb hardcore bout that manages to be charming despite the circumstances: it's entertaining, and I think that's the main aim to come into this with. Bob Sapp is obviously quite beaten up by this point but he suits a cartoony Onita-style foil way better than you would expect. 

 

Bob Sapp vs. HG (HUSTLEMANIA, 25.11.2007)

This is another one where Sapp's ability to play the monster in danger comes into play here. He's fighting against HG, who's probably HUSTLE's biggest home-grown star and very much over, even if somewhat limited wrestling wise. Sapp spends most of the match on top with his usual big chops, punches, and slams, but also sells pretty strong for HG's dumb offence, most of which is focused around the groin or using it as a weapon, namely countering a powerbomb into a Triangle Choke into a pin, or just slamming it into his face at times lol. Even if his selling at points is somehow doing too little or too much (like he barely budges from a full on dropkick to the back, but a simple enzuigiri sends him flying out of the ring at top speeds) he's pretty reliable here when it comes to making HG's comebacks look pretty solid. He eventually takes over with his usual power moves, but also nails a actually pretty great front dropkick that gets some good height on it. Needless to say, very impressive. Eventually Sapp hits a final powerbomb to end things. This is a nice short match that cuts a good bit of filler and just goes into the pair hitting moves on each other, albeit Sapp dominating for the most part. He puts over HG as having the skills to knock him around, but ultimately falls just short of handling The Beast in action. Not a amazing match but a good short bout.

 

Bob Sapp & Monster Soldier vs Genichiro Tenryu and Shiro Koshinaka (HUSTLE TOUR, 16.10.2008)

This is really only here because Tenryu goes nuts and hits a top rope flipping senton to the outside at the start. For what reason, I don't know, but it's incredibly awesome to see in action. Monster Soldier and co all put on fairly solid performances, but one can argue that Sapp is the guy that functions as the glue of the match here. He plays the inpatient hot tag when Monster Soldier gets worked over against the pair, he gets big heat when he interrupts the two fan favourites during their offence, and while his worked punches are pretty bad, both Koshinaka and Tenryu get good exchanges out of him, in particular the latter: Korakuen roars when Tenryu and Sapp start throwing hands and his eventual big suplex gets big cheers from the crowd, especially after Sapp had been terrorising the pair all match long. This is another well built match that plays to Sapp's strengths, in which he's fairly good at in general, albeit his strikes are pretty bad lol. The crowd really got into this one, but I felt like it wasn't just because they were well receptive to the wrestlers here, it was also because of some good pacing on their part and some fairly basic heel/face dynamics that got the crowd invested into this. Definitely check out this out for a fun outing.  

 

Bob Sapp & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Osamu Nishimura (NJPW Yokohama Dead Out, 03.11.2003)

I mentioned this above as a example of a proper good Bob Sapp match, and I wanted to go into more detail about why this is. For a bonus, Nishimura was doing double god damn duty here as he was also working the opening 6-man card prior to this. In terms of Sapp in general, he works well here with Nakanishi and Nishimura for different reasons. For Nakanishi, both men can work the big powerhouse style fairly solid, and even if Nakanishi was never particularly great, he pulls a solid job here with his facials, completely selling Sapp as a complete monster despite him being quite green (I mean he's only wrestled two matches in a year before this, so understandable) but for what it's worth, Sapp's offence looks completely fine for the most part and he fits his role quite well.

 You'd think Sapp: a big power wrestler who isn't really known for technical work whatsoever: and Nishimura, who's, well, all about technical work probably wouldn't click together, but they probably have some of the best exchanges here. Nishimura takes him down to the mat and does his usual routine, but Sapp legitimately keeps up well with the guy, even doing his signature handstand at one point. The spot where Sapp just has enough and lifts him from the floor to the turnbuckle before doing making fun of Nishimura's "clean break" chest slap gets a great response from the crowd and was pretty cool. They later go into Nishimura's test of strength sequence, with Sapp eventually just having enough of his shit and throwing him right over his head. While Nakamura is obviously the better worker here, he spends most of the match being worked over by the other pair due to a shoulder injury, with Sapp only being able to hit small pockets of offence when him and Nakanishi get into it with some brawls. For what it's worth, what Sapp does here works, even if you can equate some of that to his opponents being solid foils for him. He regardless does wrestle good here for his role, and gets some big reactions when he hits huge power moves on the pair.

 

All in all, while Bob Sapp is a meme (and for obvious reasons given his insanely huge push in the early 2000's) he does eventually mature into a actually half decent worker, capable of being a serious brick of a monster while also working a comedic side that's very underrated. He kinda reminds me of Vince in a way that Vince obviously isn't a very good wrestler, but he's very entertaining to watch and is willing to make a complete fool of himself for the sake of making the match better. Definitely not top 100 in terms of workrate, but he's also got a unfair stigma around him that he doesn't really deserve. Get someone in with him that knows what they are doing, and Sapp can work way better than you think.