Laz
Making dumb observations since 2002
He was...alright. Probably about Zack Ryder levels of in-ring talent but with a serious lack of charisma. The NWA in the 90s, especially after Douglas threw the belt down, was too stuck in their supremely outdated ideologies about what a champ should be, even when they were at the lowest levels of relevance in the history of the "organization."I never saw a Mike Rapada match but I assumed he was not good on basis of him being NWA World Champion right before TNA days. Has anyone here seen him wrestle? @tekcop maybe?
For record, here's a decent-but-forgettable match he had with Dean Malenko in 1997, right about when Rapada was getting pushed as a bigger deal in the NWA.
re: DGUSA
That whole thing was just a shitshow from start to finish. It wasn't a case of not being during an indie boom (since it was literally booked by Gabe after he left ROH), nor of the US indie audience not being familiar with Japanese talents (since PWG was getting hype for booking DragonGate talents since 2007), but that the product was...well, pretty fucking weak. It didn't last long because it was basically just "EVOLVE...but occasionally with DG stars."