Dave Meltzer Discusses Takeshi Morishima's WWE Tryout Matches

A name from wrestling's past found its way back into the public eye in recent weeks as the WWE Vault YouTube channel dug deep into their archives and released official footage of former ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima's tryout matches in 2008. The Japanese star, flanked by Tony Atlas of all people, won two convincing bouts over Charlie Haas and Jamie Noble respectively, but was never hired by the company and instead finished up his time with ROH later that same year, before finishing the rest of his career primarily in Japan.

Morishima was seen as a megastar on the independent scene in the 2000s, as well as a guy who could carry the Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion to the next level once the older wrestlers decided to retire, so if that's what everyone at the time thought that about him, why didn't WWE hire him? During a recent episode of "Wrestling Observer Radio," Dave Meltzer recalled a conversation he had with a WWE higher-up the day after Morishima's tryouts, and Vince McMahon was not impressed at all.

"Vince took one look at him, and he thought that it was so disrespectful that the guy showed up and his body looked the way it did, even though that's how his body looked. He was an awesome worker in those days, he was a great working big guy, like Terry Gordy-ish, but Vince saw that body and it wasn't even like 'oh whatever,' it was like an adament 'this guy was so disrespectful trying out for our company looking like that. Without even getting shape.'" Morishima would retire in 2015 due to being in poor physical health, as well as citing mental health issues, and hasn't wrestled since.

Please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.