[2000-01-29-WCW-Saturday Night] Lash LeRoux vs Kaz Hayashi

[soup23]

Another solid match. Leroux seemed to take instruction well and that led to him being placed up the top of the card. In some ways, he also feel like the last in a line of guys that had a good run for a small period of time in the big two and then disappeared. He still is someone recognizable as a name today and probably will be working for AIW in the upcoming year. One of my great mark out moments as a fan was driving to Oxford, Alabama and seeing Leroux on I-20. We waved at him and he did his signature gesture of touching his sideburns. Anyway, this was another fun match on a day that had quite a many of them for WCW. Tony and Scott again work well as a commentary pairing putting over the struggle of Hayashi. Hayashi's strikes look good and he is able to pick up the victory which was presented as a mild upset. **1/4

[Loss]

Lash Leroux! There's someone I haven't thought about in forever. This was yet another solid TV match from WCW. The main thing I remembered watching this was how Dave said the difference in ECW and WCW booking could best be summed up in how over Kaz Hayashi was compared to how over Tajiri was, since he saw Hayashi as the better worker, but said Tajiri was simply booked so much better. I don't really know if that's the case, but I do agree Hayashi had more to contribute, but to WCW's credit, they did figure that out within a few months, at least to an extent. Lash is kinda goofy, but that's part of his charm. He's what I think WWE wishes ZZ would have been from the last season of Tough Enough, but wasn't.

[GSR]

I think LaRoux is meant to be a heel here as there seems to be some audio sweetening and he teases giving his rosary beads to members of the audience before deciding against it. Hayashi is so smooth in what he does, and hits a real nice fireman’s carry takedown early. LaRoux counters a headscissors off the ropes with a side slam for a two count. Tilt-a-Whirl backbreaker on Kaz for another two and Hayashi reverses an attempted bodyslam with an inside cradle for a near fall. Always a fan of someone putting their forearm across their opponents face when they cover them, something that LaRoux does more often than not. Hayashi with an awesome standing huracanrana out of nowhere, an enziguiri and the two counts continue. A neckbreaker variation from Lash and then my least favourite move of his, three rights followed by a little dance, the splits and then a clothesline, or a poor man’s Road Dogg as I like to think of it. LaRoux dumps Hayashi over the top rope but he lands on the apron with Lash thinking he’s dumped him on the floor. LaRoux turns around and is met with a kick to the head and then a slingshot DDT from the apron back into the ring for the pin.

 

Decent little match. A couple of sloppy looking spots (for example, at one point Kaz tries to slide through Lash’s legs but doesn’t quite make it), but both worked hard here with plenty of near falls to get you into the match. I said Kid Romeo was unlucky not to get a chance with the WWF when they initially bought those 24 contracts and LaRoux falls into the same category, although I don’t think he ‘looked’ right for what they were looking for back then. I popped for Kaz’s rana but can’t convey enough though how much I hate that poor man’s Road Dogg spot Lash does.

[Stiva]

Yeah, I agree that it would have been nice to see these two float around 2002 WWE and I'm surprised they didn't. Kaz in some kind of quasi-racist tag team with Funaki and Lash as an undercard heel cruiserweight seems like something WWE may have tried at that point. Anyway, Kaz is a guy that I've always liked in WCW C-show matches since he always finds something memorable to fit into his matches and he has another good performance here, albeit built around selling. When he does hit his comeback, he does so with some excellent stuff; his strikes look crisp, his hurricanrana was fantastic and the spinning DDT from the outside in was an example of a great ending spot. Lash showed some good heel charisma and was never too boring on offense but he still had a way to go to improve. Still, it's immensely heartwarming to know that WCW could still showcase the physical art of professional wrestling, just by virtue of having so many hours to fill. I wonder if they ever lose that.