The WORST of LOW KI: From Stiff Shots to Burnt Bridges

After so many requests for a Low Ki video, I couldn’t pass up the chance. Ki is an incredible talent who should have had a great career, but he’s largely to blame for it not going that way, and this vid goes into why: There’s the tantrums, being too stiff in the ring, being hard to work with…and of course, there’s his WWE run as Kaval. Enjoy!

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Low Ki on Cafe de Rene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vrHudS-wpk&pp=ygUTbG93IGtpIGNhZmUgZGUgcmVuZQ%3D%3D

0:00 Introduction
2:03 The Original Tantrum in CZW 2000 and THAT Picture
4:59 When Low Ki’s Stiff Kicks Ruined Matches
14:05 Being Difficult to Work With + Not Jobbing
20:17 Low Ki Leaves ROH
21:14 Kaval in WWE: Wins NXT, Gets Jobbed Out, All Goes Wrong
26:34 Why is Low Ki Like This?

#kimjustice #wrestling #wrestlinghistory #wwe #indywrestling #puroresu

Well, you wanted it. There were so many comments 
on the last video requesting one solely dedicated to Low Ki, and I can hardly go ahead and ignore 
them…besides, why would I not want to do such a video? It’s freaking Low Ki, after all. We looked 
at a couple of Puro-related Low Ki incidents, mainly that time when he went into the Tokyo Dome 
in Agent 47 cosplay, had an awesome match with Prince Devitt and Kota Ibushi and, thanks to doing 
it in a suit, totally burned his bridge with New Japan to the point where he will never, ever be 
going back there…that’s the quintessential example of the Low Ki paradox – it’s something awesome 
that also screws something up. And of course, there’s so much more to look at. I wondered how 
to go about this…should I mix the good and the bad? The thing with Ki is that, yes, he is a 
talent, someone who had quite the influence, one of ROH’s founding fathers…but honestly, 
even when you try and go through that, it’s not too long before you run into him 
being a total prick, doing things that are just unforgivable – whether it’s refusing to job, 
being too stiff, throwing tantrums, taking himself too seriously, burning endless bridges…all sorts. 
To flip between the good and the bad would be too much of flipping from one extreme to another, 
so really this video has to focus on the bad. There will be opportunities, in other videos I’m 
sure, to talk about better things – matches that came off beautifully, things that happened in 
the first few years of ROH and so on…but I don’t think that’s what you’ve come here for, and it 
certainly wasn’t what you requested. And so, this video’s going through the worst of someone 
who may well be, at times, a wrestler like no other…but ultimately, there’s just too much bad 
shit that can’t be ignored, and eventually – like so many bookers and promoters over the years – you 
just give up on him. Here’s the WORST of Low Ki. To begin with, we need to look at the story behind 
a rather infamous photograph. We’re going all the way back to 2000, even before Ring of Honor, 
and a time when Low Ki was actually much more of a high-flyer than the was a striker, and 
he was primarily working for Jersey All Pro Wrestling…however, CZW is where we’re going for 
our first taste of bad Low Ki. Yes, it’s that picture where Ki’s having an absolute tantrum, 
and gets picked up and dragged out by a burly bouncer. What exactly was the story behind that? 
Well, it happened on March 18th 2000 at a show called X-spelled, in a tag match where Low Ki and 
Mercury took on Ric Blade and TCK…if you know CZW, you’re likely familiar with Ric Blade as he was 
one of the company’s most notable high-flyers   and daredevils in its early years. Footage of the 
tantrum itself is rather tricky to come by, but the match itself is out there, and it was a bit of 
a mess – indeed, Low Ki nearly hurt himself very badly early in the bout, trying to do a Phoenix 
Splash off a ladder to the outside that goes completely wrong, and he ends up nearly spiking 
himself on the freaking apron…honestly, it’s a wonder he wasn’t seriously hurt there. Later on, 
it’s Ric Blade’s turn to go wild; he climbs on top of a basketball hoop and performs a leg drop 
through a table onto Mercury. Again, it doesn’t go as planned – Blade ends up *just* short, falling 
back hard and absolutely twatting the back of his head on the floor…he’s legit knocked out. TCK and 
Low Ki continue in the ring with TCK superplexing Ki through a table, but eventually it becomes 
clear that Blade is absolutely knacked, and the match needs to be stopped – what should happen at 
this point is that TCK pins Ki to end it, but Ki kicks out…still, the 3 is counted, and the match 
ends. It’s very confusing, especially seeing as it’s Ki’s music that ends up playing – presumably, 
they were supposed to win the match. Anyway, the post-match is cut, but Low Ki felt that the 
whole thing was a screwjob, something to do with bad relations between JAPW and CZW, he was angry 
at not being able to get his moves in…and yeah, he threw a huge tantrum right there in the arena, 
shouting the whole place down, with the infamous picture being the result. Not exactly a good 
look, considering that Ric Blade was bashed up, but Ki clearly couldn’t be told any different. 
Unsurprisingly, this was the end of Ki’s time in CZW – short of a brief match on a show co-promoted 
by CZW and Dragon Gate USA, he’s never been booked by the company again. That’s the first bridge 
to be burned and…well, it won’t be the last. With that introduction out of the way, the worst 
of Low Ki is something that’s easy to break down   into segments – there are multiple examples of him 
being too stiff or refusing to job or whatever, so it’s easy enough to group them together, 
and we’re going to start with his absolutely   reckless strikes. First up, we’re in 2002 – this 
is Ring of Honor, where Low Ki truly broke out, where most of the matches against the likes of 
American Dragon, Samoa Joe and AJ Styles are amazing and seriously worth checking out, where he 
was the inaugural champion…most everything that Ki did in 2002 was great, but even here there’s still 
a black mark, a moment where he was way too stiff, whether it was by accident or by design…a moment 
where you realise that the reason those kicks look so good is because…well, they’re live rounds, 
and Ki doesn’t exactly subscribe to the old rule that when you throw hard, you should do so in soft 
places. The first of five examples here comes from the 1st round of ROH’s original Title tournament, 
when he’s against Prince Nana – who is much better known as a manager nowadays, but he did use to 
wrestle. Nana gets the advantage in the match by attacking Ki before the bell, spending a couple of 
minutes on offense before Ki dodges a hip attack. Ki hits a couple of chops and then…bang. Lights 
out. A ridiculous headshot that ends the match right there – Ki wins by knockout, seemingly 
concussing Nana. I’m not 100% sure whether this was the intended finish or not, but either 
way it’s something that kinda reinforces a bad attitude – it’s not exactly a satisfying finish, 
and not really what the crowd wants to see, even booing it a little and acting concerned…kinda 
shows why you generally don’t book someone, even if they’ve got a “shooter” type gimmick, 
to win by sudden knockouts and the like. The 2nd one also comes from ROH, from the 
following year – this time it’s the card’s main event, with Low Ki against Dan Maff. We’re a 
little over 10 minutes into the match and things are starting to build up nicely, Maff dodges 
an initial move, Low Ki goes for his Tidal Wave   springboard kick and…BAM. Catches Maff utterly 
cold. Knocked out. It becomes clear after about 30 seconds of Maff not moving that this match 
cannot continue, at which point Low Ki pins him…absolutely atrocious end to a main event or 
indeed any match, and quite clearly not what was planned. Now, you could put both the Nana and Dan 
Maff spots down, in isolation, as accidents – this ain’t ballet and all that. But when you’ve 
got them both together? Well, it feels more like recklessness, and of not doing what should be 
done in order to protect the other guy that you’re working with – which…well, is obviously one of 
the cornerstones of being a freaking pro wrestler. There’s another ROH example, also from 
2003…this one isn’t a main event – instead, it’s a match against Deranged, who was a part 
of the Special K group, a rather lousy crew of ravers that were feuding with Ki at the time. 
This one seems to be set off by Deranged coming in with a handspring for a spot that ends 
up being rather awkward – he gets blocked, they teeter for a bit, Ki puts him down and 
then…jeeeeezus. Low Ki just goes absolutely wild with the Kawada kicks – there’s clearly 
several of these rapid shots that connect, although thankfully nothing connects enough to 
knock Deranged out. These rapid-fire Kawada kicks on the ground are a common Ki spot, but this one 
feels especially filled with stank – particularly with all the hair grabbing and the Koppou kicks 
and so on, and you do kinda wonder if Ki got a bit heated by the awkward spot preceding it. 
There’s certainly a difference in how spots like these are perceived these days, to be honest 
– unlike the first two examples, this isn’t a spot that finished the match, which obviously Ki went 
on to win despite various Special K shenanigans, so generally the reaction was “Woah! Awesome! 
Low Ki’s a total badass!” and all that. Nowadays, when this clip gets pulled up, or others 
that we’re going to go through?…yeeeeah, not so much to be honest. It’s more along 
the lines of “Ugh, Low Ki’s an arsehole”. Our 4th and 5th examples come from tournaments 
outside ROH – neither of these finished the match in question, but they feel worse than 
the previous ones because, simply, they don’t look like accidents at all. First, it’s the 
final of the 2006 Ted Petty Invitational in IWA Mid-South – Ki vs Roderick Strong vs Arik 
Cannon, in an elimination-style 3-way dance. Ki goes wild with the strikes as normal, puts Roddy 
on the ground and…boom. Soccer ball kick. Roderick Strong is immediately knocked out…I mean, for 
fuck’s sake, Ki. Ki grabs Strong but it’s clear he’s done and he just pins him, eliminating 
Strong. If this hadn’t been a triple threat, obviously that’d have been the end of the match – 
as it is, Ki ends up submitting Cannon to win the   match and the tournament. The match itself went 
35 minutes and the knockout of Strong happens around the 27-minute mark, but still it’s another 
incident where Low Ki can just piss off by this point. Next, there’s the Final of PWG’s Battle 
of Los Angeles in 2008 – Low Ki vs. Chris Hero. We’re not far into the match, there’s another 
strike exchange, Ki knocks Hero down and…yep, there you go. Soccer ball kick, again. Busts 
Hero’s nose right up. In this instance it’s not a knockout and the match continues, with plenty more 
stiff shots between the two and Hero absolutely cinching in a few submissions as something of a 
receipt, but again it’s Ki who ends up winning…in fact, it’s said that Hero was originally booked to 
win, until of course Ki complained and threatened to no-show if he didn’t win. What a cock. Hero 
himself’s commented on this a few times, once simply calling it the “opposite of professional”, 
and yeah – you can’t exactly disagree with that. And then, of course, you’ve got the most famous 
of all the Ki knockouts – one that’s gone viral several times and is assuredly the biggest 
example of just how much of a dick he can be   in the ring. It’s January 2012 and Low Ki’s making 
his debut in EVOLVE, wrestling against Ahtu in an open challenge. It’s almost a reunion of sorts – 
once again, Low Ki’s working under Gabe Sapolsky, the ROH co-founder, the guy with the book when Ki 
was at his peak…and mere seconds into this debut, I imagine that Gabe was wondering why the hell 
he bothered. Ki’s pumped up, Ahtu wants to take his best shot, the bell rings and…yeah, you 
know it already. ONE SECOND into this match. First move. Ahtu’s out. Completely. The worst 
thing is, it’s not even the end – we wait like, a minute and a half, Ki posing around like a 
dickhead all the way through, for Ahtu to show some semblance of life, to try and prop himself 
up – JUST so Ki can roll him out of the corner and do the Warrior’s Way. Because HE HAS TO GET 
HIS SHIT IN, against an opponent who’s obviously too concussed to take it. I love that during this 
the idiot commentator says that “Low Ki has NEVER looked better!” when all he’s done is completely 
blindside a guy who wasn’t expecting it. What an absolute clown. What an arsehole. Jim Cornette 
went viral for laughing like hell and absolutely scorching the whole thing, and obviously he was 
right to do that – it’s one of the dumbest and   most reckless things I’ve seen in a pro wrestling 
ring. Shockingly, Ki’s time in EVOLVE didn’t last long – seemingly ending due to his increased New 
Japan commitments, but it’s kind of irritating that he was even booked again after that 
first match to be honest. Still the same   as ever. So yeah, that’s five examples of Ki 
being ridiculously, recklessly stiff – and I’m sure there’s plenty more. Hell, he even managed 
to do it in WWE, but I’ll get to that later. Listening to various people talk about Low 
Ki, whether they’re people who don’t like him   or those who have more time for him, common 
themes do emerge – generally, Low Ki is as intense in the locker room as he is in the ring. 
Incredibly serious about the wrestling business, of course – to an extreme level, even, a point 
that can be too much for some people. And when it comes to matches, there’s often a lot to discuss – 
especially when it’s something that Low Ki doesn’t particularly agree with…we’re talking lengthy ones 
that always seem to go a bit like a guy saying “Well, this needs to happen because this and that” 
and so on, and Low Ki repeatedly responding with “But why would I do that? I’m Low Ki and I’m a 
legitimate ass kicker who could beat everyone up”. And on it goes – when you hear folks like Jeff 
Jarrett, Dutch Mantell and Konnan speak about him, you see rather quickly why Ki is considered 
to be pretty hard to work with. Homicide, the guy who trained and mentored Low Ki and is 
certainly one of his best friends in the business, admits that sort of intensity can be too much 
for a lot of people, once putting it succinctly by saying that “Brandon’s cool, but Low Ki can 
be a dick”. This sort of intensity and the need to go over things in such detail seems to be a 
major turn off for lots of people, especially seeing as it mainly happens if it involves 
something that isn’t just “Low Ki goes over”. As you might have guessed, getting Low Ki to 
do the job can be quite the struggle – there’s   plenty of stories of him refusing to do so, 
or at least having major arguments about it. Hell, we literally just saw him win the 2008 
Battle of Los Angeles because, if he hadn’t been booked to win it, he’d have walked out and 
screwed the whole tournament. For that is the way of the warrior. Staying with PWG, there’s 
the story that Kevin Owens – or Kevin Steen, as he’d have been then – told in which, back 
in 2011, he had a massive problem with losing to Claudio Castagnoli, who was the company’s 
top star AND champion…oh, and a human horse, as Steen puts it. Eventually, Low Ki did do 
business here, the match happened, it was good, and Claudio won – but the mind does kinda boggle 
somewhat at this whole deal, wondering just why losing to the top guy would be such an issue. 
Like, wanting PWG to change its whole direction just like that so that Low Ki can be catered 
for. Ridiculous. When looking at the stories of Low Ki not jobbing or having massive problems 
doing so, it kinda makes me think back to that match in 2001 where Eddie Guerrero, freshly 
out of WWF, starting his journey over again, put the young Low Ki over in Elk’s Lodge…great 
match, and a great moment. But it’s not exactly something that Low Ki would end up paying 
forward, is it? Not that he’d have ever done this, but I wonder if things would have worked out 
differently if Eddie had turned around and   said “That doesn’t work for me, hermano” and Jim 
Hellwig’d the piss out of him in 2 minutes flat. As we get near the end of Low Ki’s time in ROH, 
there are a couple of examples of pretty obvious interference in how a match should have ideally 
gone – beginning with two matches with Austin   Aries from 2004 and 2005. Now, Aries is a major 
prick himself, even more so than Low Ki – but it’s amusing here to see the lengths that Ki goes 
in order to not properly lose a match. Firstly, on December 7th 2004, there’s a #1 Contendership 
match for the ROH World Title that ends in a 20-minute time limit draw. Five more minutes 
are announced, but Ki…well, he just walks off. Low Ki was ROH’s top heel at this time and wasn’t 
playing by any Code of Honor, which is how that’s justified in storyline, but it’s still not exactly 
a satisfying ending, and not a satisfying build-up for Aries, who gets the #1 contender slot and ends 
Samoa Joe’s epic title reign on the next show. An old David Bixenspan tweet reminded me of 
the next one; months later, we have what should really be a simple title match between Aries and 
Ki – however, it ends up being an “unsanctioned” non-title match…in storyline, this is because 
Ki’s kayfabe suspended for striking an official, but the crowd in NYC – Ki’s hometown, no less – 
quickly figure out just why these stipulations are in place, especially as these guys proceed 
to wrestle what’s probably the cleanest “unsanctioned” match in the history of wrestling, 
hardly even leaving the ring. Of course, it’s all set up this way so that Low Ki can win, which of 
course he does. Big surprise. The feud with Jay Lethal also warrants a mention – Lethal, an up 
and coming star, had been teaming with Samoa Joe and feuding with Ki and the Rottweilers, showing 
a lot of fire throughout even if he was often the one taking the fall, and it should really all be 
a set up for Lethal getting a big win over Low Ki, particularly at Glory By Honor, one of the 
company’s biggest annual shows…but again, it’s awkward. They have two matches on the show 
– first a Fight Without Honor, a great match which Low Ki wins. Later on, with Colt Cabana and 
Homicide going to a DQ, we get more antics, Lethal comes out to challenge Ki again, and this time he 
wins…but still, it takes TWO matches and a whole bunch of Rottweilers, Joe and Cabana shenanigans, 
and a super finisher for it to actually happen – it all does feel a bit overbooked 
for ROH, and it’s kinda clear why that is. Ultimately, we get to the straw that broke the 
camel’s back – it’s February 2006, and Low Ki’s scheduled to face Roderick Strong, another guy 
who’s getting a heavy push up the card. However, this match never ends up happening – Low Ki and 
Gabe Sapolsky had a whopping great disagreement over pay that escalated to the point of Ki walking 
out, with no chance of him ever being seen in the company again. It was pretty quickly reported that 
Ki had refused to job to Roddy, although in truth that’s never fully been confirmed – in the likes 
of the Observer, it was reported as being over Ki demanding more money and Gabe not budging on that. 
It was a shame, especially considering that this came pretty soon after what was unquestionably the 
best match of Ki’s career – his Final Battle 2005 main event against KENTA – but…well, it wasn’t 
exactly a surprise that things would end this way. And speaking of unsurprising endings, we do 
obviously have to mention Kaval here – Ki’s time in WWE seems like a good way to wrap this video 
up. Back when Ki was signed by the Fed in 2008, most people didn’t really know how the hell it 
was really going to go down…like, surely he’ll have to tone down his stiffness? How long until 
it all goes completely tits up? And so on – you wouldn’t be blamed for giving the whole thing 
a couple of months tops before going to shit. In the end Ki spent a little over 2 years in the 
WWE system – although he did miss a big chunk of 2009 due to a leg injury. Ultimately we get 
to NXT Season 2 and the pairing with LayCool, one of those things that was pretty clearly a 
massive rib due to how seriously Ki takes himself, but then didn’t actually work out too badly to 
be honest – they worked pretty well together, and apparently there weren’t any problems 
at all…turns out Low Ki can actually do comedy from time to time, and that he makes 
for a pretty good straight man. Of course, despite being booked to lose damn near every week 
and being endlessly ripped by Michael Cole in the prime of his heel persona that made the product 
freaking unwatchable, Kaval ends up winning the season thanks both to the fans’ vote and that 
utter choke of a Michael McGillicutty promo – at which point every other rookie came out to attack 
him in a spot that was called out of nowhere,   a complete clusterschmozz which saw Ki think 
it was a proper shoot and react accordingly, at least until Husky Harris grounded him and 
presumably told him what was going down. It was a somewhat hopeful start at least, but it did then 
kind of go all to hell on SmackDown, where he just didn’t get anywhere and it was basically all jobs, 
jobs, and more jobs. Jobs to the point of being able to survive 5 minutes with Big Show in order 
to get a spot on the Bragging Rights team, only to lose that spot immediately to Tyler Reks (Gabbi Tuft). The 
highest profile match ended up being an IC title bout against Dolph Ziggler at Survivor Series 
where, in a losing effort, this happened…yep. This one didn’t result in a concussion, but it did 
bloody up Dolph’s nose a fair bit. What with the WWE predilection for ribbing guys who’ve come in 
with an outside profile and that kinda being taken to an extreme with Ki, the size going against 
him and all that, something like this happening, even if it didn’t result in a serious 
injury, was always going to be bad news. It was kinda clear that, despite the fans 
voting him as the winner of NXT Season 2, Kaval was never really going to have a chance – 
not during this time period in the WWE…he most certainly was going to have to eat a dumptruck 
full of elephant shit each week in order to get anywhere, and of course it didn’t work out – it 
wasn’t exactly a surprise when he was cut right at the end of 2010, 2 days before Christmas. How 
did it eventually finish? Well, there’s a tidbit from an old Santino Marella interview, talking 
about how Low Ki was saying that he wanted to say something to Vince McMahon’s face…and, shockingly 
enough, someone ratted him out to the management. A bit more detail about how things went down 
that doesn’t exactly paint Ki in a good light has come out more recently, and that’s from…ah, 
Low Ki himself. Ki’s own account of things, from his 2024 Cafe de Rene appearance, was that he 
was talking with a couple of guys, annoyed about doing another job on TV – specifically to Drew 
McIntyre, a 6”5 275 lb. guy who Ki felt that if he wanted to, he could just go out there off-script 
and make submit in seconds…hmmmmmm. Anyway, Ki was pissed and said that he should go right into 
Vince’s office and hand him his ass, which…er, yeah. I assume Ki meant that he was going to go in 
there and complain, but I can’t fully rule out the alternative. Anyhoo, two days later he got the ol’ 
dreaded call from John Laurinaitis, who said that perhaps it was best if they went their separate 
ways as he wasn’t going to be where he wanted to   be on the card any time soon – basically he was 
released, but it was briefed that he’d asked for it. It doesn’t seem like he was very popular in 
the locker room – as you can imagine considering the amount of jobbing he was doing and how much 
Ki likes doing the job, he was apparently usually very glum backstage, and ever more annoyed – 
with having to job to McIntyre in 30 seconds being a bit of a final straw. People in management 
tried to cool him down saying that similar things happened with guys like Rey Mysterio and Eddie 
Guerrero, but Ki’s thought on that was simply that he wasn’t them, he was Low Ki – he’s getting 
beaten up by all these big guys, but he’s the one who’s being the attraction…yeah. It wasn’t ever 
going to work, was it? Thus ends Low Ki in WWE. How do we best sum all of this up? We cover 
so much Puro here – we see a lot of guys who work stiff, but there’s a big difference between 
working stiff and doing what Low Ki does. Someone like Toshiaki Kawada may have some vicious kicks, 
but he is not legitimately hurting people – if he was, then he’d have concussed his opponent 
nearly every freaking time he threw a Ganmengiri,   and that didn’t happen, while Low Ki…well, 
sometimes he just goes way too far. It’s like he gets way too heated in the moment and it becomes 
really freaking reckless – and over the years, that’s happened way too many times to be 
ignored. Clearly, the perceived values of Puroresu are what Low Ki seeks to emulate 
– the absolute respect for the business,   taking it very seriously, keeping it real and so 
on, and I think that these could obviously be very good qualities to have, but Ki kind of takes it 
to an extreme that’s too much for a lot of people, and ends up being very centred around himself – if 
there’s any deviation from that, drama starts to happen, and over the years he’s become more and 
more of a mark for himself – almost like…well, if you couldn’t beat me in a real fight, then why 
should you beat me in a pro wrestling ring? And it seems as though there’s very few people, if any, 
who Ki thinks could take him in such a scenario. He wants to be like Toshiaki Kawada, but too 
often he comes across as more like Koji Kitao. The lengthy appearance on the Cafe du Rene podcast 
does provide a fair bit of insight into the man, but not necessarily in a good way – when it 
comes to damn near every incident that’s covered, there’s not exactly a whole lot in the way 
of regrets, never admitting any wrong-doing, always being the guy who’s shunned 
for speaking the truth and being real. Some may wonder why Low Ki had so many chances 
over the years, but then the man does absolutely have a legacy – he was one of ROH’s founding 
fathers, someone who absolutely changed indy wrestling in the 2000’s, and had an absolutely 
undeniable influence. When Low Ki’s at his best, there’s hardly anyone else like him, no one else 
who can really project that sort of intensity, and when he’s in there throwing down with guys 
like Dragon, Joe, Styles, Amazing Red, Daniels, Ibushi, KENTA, Homicide…it can be absolutely 
special, and those are still matches that, if you’ve never watched, you still absolutely 
ought to – he was part of a lot of the best   moments and bouts of 2000’s indy wrestling 
in particular, and that first year in ROH, his time in NOAH, the first run in NWA:TNA, 
right up to his time in New Japan…y’know, there’s a LOT to recommend – prick that 
he is, Low Ki’s wrestling can’t exactly be ignored. If things were just a little different 
he should have had the same sort of career that a lot of his contemporaries, guys we’ve just 
mentioned, have ended up having. But sadly, it hasn’t worked out that way, and in 
the end you can’t really blame anyone   for that but him. Hopefully you enjoyed this 
video, and until the next time…bye for now!