Worst in the World: Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-AJPW Champion Carnival 1988 (4/22/1988)

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Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time (1986) there was a Canadian power lifter named Tom Magee, who decided to begin a wrestling career. He started off hot, with Dave Meltzer giving him high praise, saying he had "the greatest combination of strength and agility the business had ever seen". He signed with the WWF later that year, and had a great match with Bret Hart. He was destined for big things, even being considered the successor to Hulk Hogan. Then it all stopped. Seriously, he just got worse and worse in such a short time. Eventually, the fed stopped trying and shifted focus to another muscled up big guy: The Ultimate Warrior. Now instead of being synonymous with Hogan and Warrior, he's synonymous with Chris Harris and Nathan Jones as one of the biggest disappointments in WWE history. And his match with Hiroshi Wajima from All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1988 is proof why.

The match starts with Magee getting the early advantage with some of the softest chops I've ever seen, knee strikes, and forearms to the back. So less than 8 SECONDS INTO THE MATCH, Magee throws Wajima out of the ring, with Wajima taking the safest bump in history. They brawl on the outside for a bit, ending with Magee Irish whipping Wajima into the barricade. Magee does a flip in the ring because "why not?" while Wajima no sells outside the ring.

A big problem with Magee's strikes are that they look so soft. They don't look the slightest bit powerful or painful. With someone who looks like Magee, you'd think he be able to do offense that at least LOOKS good. Magee hits a few moves, including a very nice leg drop that he got big height on (although I'd avoid things that draw comparisons to Hulk Hogan at this point if I were him), before going for a belly-to-belly that Wajima doesn't even attempt to jump for, so they fall to the ground in a heap. This is another big problem; Wajima isn't helping Magee at all. He's not selling, not jumping for big moves, and kicks out of any big move Magee does at one. Magee hits more soft strikes, which Wajima no sells, delivers his own chops, and hits an arm drag and a clothesline before locking in a Boston Crab (is it racist to call it a Tokyo Crab? Probably.) and gets the win.

The Verdict

There's no question why Vince McMahon gave up on Magee after seeing this. He couldn't throw a convincing strike to save his life, and seemed to only be able to do the most basic of wrestling moves. However, he looked like Bret Hart in the ring with Wajima. I understand that he had a ton of injuries after his sumo career, but he shouldn't have been in a ring to begin with. All he did was no sell and do two moves. This was a short, nothing match.

Rankings (Best to Worst)

Sting vs Vampiro-Great American Bash 2000
Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007

And up next in the Worst in the World is...

Oh boy...this one's gonna be a Slobberknocker.

Thanks for reading.

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