Talk about it here.

This was the beginning of the weird angle where Jerry Lawler was accusing Bret of being a racist who hates Japanese people. Bret was being presented with an award by the Japanese media (no, not for hating Japanese people) and Hakushi attacked him after. The WWF ran two angles with Bret being accused of racism, so I guess Vince enjoyed poking fun at him over it. That, or this was a response to the "Japanese political groups" Dave mentioned for coming after the WWF for their stereotypical portrayal of Yokozuna.

I don't get this angle at all. Why do they think Bret hates Japanese people? And I can't believe the camera guy totally missed Hakushi's awesome moonsalt from the stag to the floor.

I don't get this angle at all. Why do they think Bret hates Japanese people?

Lawler's a heel, he hates Bret Hart, he lied to fuck with him.

The longer that the Bret vs Lawler feud went on the stupider the angles became.

I don't have much definitive to say yet in that thread about whether or not ECW was overhyped. But the contrast between the last two promos in which Funk and Cactus are literally promising to kill or cripple the other to what was going on in the WWF then as well as now can't be overstated. The WWF just feels sterile and desperate--ECW is far from perfect but at least the wrestlers and fans are allowed to show real emotion. I wouldn't want all wrestling to be like ECW but it's clear that it was at worst a necessary evil and at best the fire under wrestling's ass that it needed.

 

Anyway, this has to be one of the last appearances of the old podium on WWF programming. Ross regales us with a lecture on the race card as it relates to Jerry Lawler. Bret laments how a man's character can be destroyed by one person making baseless accusations--well, THIS suddenly got unintentionally prescient. Shinja and Hakushi is out and God, was Shinja overlooked in that Fuji thread for most useless managers. Hakushi finally levels Bret to pay all this off with something.