The Puroresu Thread

[Bigpapa42]

This is meant as a discussion thread, but I figured I would kick things off with some "primers" to help those who don't know puroresu to understand things a bit. Its not intended to be that in-depth and information is gleaned from a lot of sources. I freely admit I am no expert - my understanding of certain things may be skewed or plain wrong.

 

Feel free to ask questions, as its one of the easiest and most direct ways to learn.

 

What is "Puroresu"?

 

Quite simply, it is Japanese professional wrestling. The term "puroresu" is primarily used by English-speaking fans and is formed from the Japanese words for "professional wrestling".

 

A key aspect to understand about wrestling in Japan is that it is basically presented as a form of full contact sport. Some fans understand it’s a work, but essentially suspend their disbelief. Other fans accept it as "legit", in part due to the way the "sport" is covered by the media. Realistic-looking strikes are a key part, as are fairly-realistic submissions. Its not uncommon for wrestlers to have a martial arts background (often Judo). A big aspect is "fighting spirit", which often seen in big exchanges of strikes that may be no-sold by one or both wrestlers.

 

"Joshi" is Japanese women's wrestling, and it combines the different styles of men's wrestling.

 

What Makes Puroresu Different?

 

It might be easier to explain what is similar to the American style of pro wrestling. So much is different.

 

When it comes to promotions, let's just say that it would be nice if the Japanese scene was as simple as its CornellVerse counterpart. You have your major promotions and your bigger "indy" promotions. You also have a lot of small groups (such as freelance offices) that run occassional shows. Some of these smaller shows can use bigger names, even some that are attached to the big promotions. Those big promotions often co-promote, though it typically seems to be under the banner of one promotion. The co-promotion matches can be promotion-vs-promotion super-fights, and those may even involve title changes. For example, New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show from the 4th of January this year featured wrestlers from NOAH, CMLL, TNA, and DDT.

 

The way that shows are run by the "regular" promotions in Japan is different, as they run a touring system. It’s a bit like the WWE's house show circuit, with a couple of shows per week but without the TV tapings that the WWE has. Japan as a nation has a limited number of larger (10k plus) venues, so a lot of tour shows only draw a few thousand fans. Those tour shows provide the promotions with the matches they show as part of their regular TV shows, which are just highlight shows. The bigger events take place at bigger venues and may be broadcast via pay per view, but that aspect isn't really a primary revenue source for the promotions, as it is for the WWE. PPV sales in Japan are very limited. House show attendance is more important, and when a promotion is hot, they can sell out major venues for years on end. Some tours are focused around tournaments or leagues (singles or tag) while others are just regular tours.

 

Puroresu does not feature storylines, per se. Not in the way that wrestling fans in North America have come ot expect. There are feuds, and they can be between wrestlers, teams, stables, or even promotions. Some of those feuds can be lengthy and layered, even subtle at times. A fairly standard "young upstart trying to score big win over established star" feud could run years, with numerous singles encounters and tons of tag matches buidling up to the eventual win. Each encounter between them would add another layer. Most promotions do make use of interviews, but in the style of press conferences after the match. These are covered extensively by the Japanese media.

 

Most Japanese wrestlers don't use gimmicks, at least in the sense that we know them. The characters are presented are usually an extension of the worker themselves, and they evolve over time. There is a sense of continuity - when a worker moves full-time with one promotion to another, it carries over. It a wrestler had some MMA fight, that would become part of their gimmick, even if they were unsuccessful. In the US, a promotion might use that or it might ignore it (especially if they were successful fights).

 

The press coverage of professional wrestling in Japan seems similar to how they cover legit MMA. Which is pretty incredible when you consider it for a moment. I've read stories about how during the early territorial era here in North America, local newspapers would cover wrestling shows like they were any other sport. That is still happening in Japan! Its why you see dozens of photographers around the ring at big events - those are part of the Japanese sporting media.

 

Fans are also different in Japan. While they get hot for certain matches and sequences, they are often quiet throughout a match. It’s a sign of respect, and that quiet viewing is part of the reason that Puroresu can build subltly into their matches. The fans in Japan also seem to lack the cynism that has marked North American fans for many years.

 

________________

 

The intent to is follow up over the next week or so with more "good to know" information, such as a brief history of puroresu, promotions and names to know, and some links.

 

Primers

 

A Brief History of Professional Wrestling in Japan

Styles?

Promotions

[Synticha]

This is one of the threads I've been waiting for. I have to say that your text was great one for anyone who wants to get into puroresu. I myself watch a bit of puro and the latest one I watched was DDT Special 2010. When I first began to watch puro I really didn't understand a bit but nowadays after watching a lot of animes and everything other Japanese I've actually began to understand the promos etc.

[Bigpapa42]

A Brief History of Professional Wrestling in Japan

 

Rikidozan was the great star of early pro wrestling in Japan, running his Japan Pro Wrestling Association (JWA) from 1953 until 1963. In 1958, he defeated the great Lou Thesz, helping to make Rikidozan more than just a star in Japan, but a cultural icon. Such "native vs Gaijin (foreigner)" matches made for huge business, and some of his matches are amongst the top-rated TV events in Japan history. Rikidozan also trained both Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki. He died in 1963 of "minor" stab wounds received from a disupte with the Yakuza.

 

JWA continued beyond Rikidozan's death. Inoki left briefly in the mid 60s but returned, only to be expelled again in 1971 over a "bid for power". He formed New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1972. Giant Baba left later that year and formed All Japan Pro Wrestling. JWA closed in 1973, but NJPW and AJPW would remain rivals for a long time, even with the occassional crossover. "Japan vs Gajin" matches remained the biggest draws, with just a few "Japan vs Japan" feuds drawing. Inoki became a mega-star through matches with a number of non-wrestlers, including Mohammad Ali. Most were works, but they established Inoki as a "tough fighter", drew well, and created Inoki's obsession that continues to this day.

 

The late 70s saw a "Gaijin breakthrough" as the Funks and some others became stars in Japan. So as I know, they were the first foreigners to become heroes in Japan. The WWWF had many ties to NJPW in the 70s, including a short world title reign by Inoki and Fujinami doing well for the WWWF. The 1980s saw a number of developments, including NJPW and AJPW competing to grab the top Gaijin. The emergence of Tiger Mask in New Japan would see it become the home of the top super junior wrestlers, an aspect All Japan would continue to lack for many years. Major star Riki Choshu left New Japan, ended up in All Japan, then back in NJPW. Akira Maeda and some other talent left New Japan to form the UWF, which was the first shoot-style wrestling promotion. It failed, the departed stars returned, only to leave again before long to try it again. New Japan created their primary title, the IWGP world title, in the late 80s by turning the Grand Prix tournament title into an actual title. All Japan had focused on tournaments since the 70s, but they also created a primary title by combining three belts into the Triple Crown. Vader became a huge Gaijin star, pinning Inoki in his debut, ina messy situation that created a riot. Also of note was Fronter Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW) forming, creating a garbage style with some great wrestling, eventually "inspring" a certain Paul Heyman.

 

The 1990s were a golden period in many ways for Japan. New Japan created the G1 Climax tournament in 1991. The Three Musketeers - Shinya Hashimoto, Masahiro Chono, and Keiji Mutoh - were big stars for New Japan. The junior division had an array that may never be equaled. In 1996, the now Japan was created and things took a turn toward storyline-based drama. At the end of the 90s, New Japan changed it focus again and pursed a more MMA-based product. In All Japan, the Four Pillars of Heaven - Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue, and Kenta Kobashi - were handed "the toch" by Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta. The foursome were the core of a period that would see some of the finest wrestling matches ever seen. FMW grew to the point where it could draw huge crowds (upwards of 30k). There were other promotions that opened and then failed, such as Super World Sports, who made a splash by signing Genichiro Tenryu from All Japan. After SWF failed, Tenryu had nowhere to go (Baba would not let him return to All Japan), so he opened WAR. Which also failed.

 

Giant Baba died in 1999, and his widow became the owner of All Japan Pro Wrestling. Presidency was given to Mitsuharu Misawa, but the widow Baba and Misawa disagreed on direction, leading to an exodus. Misawa and all but two native Japanese wrestlers left. One of those remaning was Kawada, but All Japan lost their TV deal. They were left in a mess. Mokota Baba convinced Tenryu to return, then entered into a feud with New Japan. The cards featured wrestlers from each promotion facing each other, and included Keiji Mutoh winning the AJPW Triple Crown. He would sign with All Japan in 2002, remaining their "ace" as the promotion moved to a more entertainment-based approach. The fortunes of All Japan have been up and down a bit since, and they remain some distance behind New Japan.

 

After leaving All Japan, Misawa formed Pro Wrestling NOAH. He was joined there by Kobashi, Taue, and most of the rest who left All Japan. NOAH continued the "King's Road" approach used by All Japan in the 90s. With some great wrestlers who had strong name value, the promotion succeeded from the start. It peaked with Kenta Kobashi's epic two year title reign, which featured some great matches and huge houses. During the middle part of the 00s, NOAH was probably Japan's biggest and most popular promotion. The problem was the age of the core stars and the damage that they had accumulated through the years. Kobashi was diagnosed with cancer in 2006 and he has not wreslted with significant regularity since, due to that and other injuries. New stars like Rikio and Morishima simply did not draw like the old stars. Attendances declined. In June 2009, Mitsuharu Misawa died after taking a back drop suplex in a match. It was a horrible loss for NOAH, puroresu, and professional wrestling as a whole. Since then NOAH, has recovered somewhat but they remain a long way away from where they were in 2004-2005.

 

Antoio Inoki's obsession with worked-shoots lead to New Japan using a significant MMA influence through the early part of the 00s. NJPW wrestlers fought in MMA, and MMA fighters wrestled in NJPW. MMA was huge in Japan at the time, but business declined for New Japan. The approach lead to Inoki being forced out due to that declining business. A focus on their own talent saw Hiroshi Tanahashi become their "ace" and New Japan has taken over the clear top spot again. Inoki runs his own promotion again, the Inoki Genome Federation, which focuses on using MMA fighters - Kimbo Slice will wrestler there in February.

 

Throughout the past near-decade, DragonGate has provided top quality wrestling with their "lucha-resu" approach. It is fast-paced and cutting edge, perhaps one of the most accessible styles for North American fans to get used to.

 

As for 2011, wrestling in Japan is not in a particular strong posistion in terms of talent. Business remains pretty mediocre, with New Japan drawing well under 20k to the Tokyo Dome for the Wrestle Kingdom show at the start of the month. Promotions continue to have difficulty with their TV deals, which limits their ability to build new stars to draw.

[Bigpapa42]

Styles?

 

It doesn't take a lot of viewing to realize that stylistically, professional wrestling in Japan is fairly differrent from what WWE/TNA fans would be used to.

 

Your basic "strong style" is what New Japan featured in its heavyweight division through the early 90s and again today. It’s a relatively realistic approach, using realistic-looking strikes and realism-based submissions. The matches are rarely epic length (the 30 minute barrier). You still see "fighting spirit" sequences resulting in no-selling, epic comebacks, and such.

 

The "King's Road" approach is (to me, at least) more of an off-shoot of strong style than a true different style. It is a deeper, more layered approach. The realism of strong style is mostly eschewed in favor of deeper storytelling. The storytelling goes beyond that individual match, building up on previous encounters and other matches. Jumbo Tsuruta is apparently the "godfather" of the style, with All Japan throughout the 1990s utilizing it, contining with NOAH after the 2000 exodus. The style uses longer matches (often well past the 30 minute mark) and tag matches can be just as important to the intertwined stories as singles matches. The easiest (I think) way to understand it is that each wrestler has tiered offense, including different finishers. The tier of offense used at a given point in a match indicates the level of opponent. And it builds over time. The primary issue with the style is that a continual build becomes difficult to sustain, and under Misawa, some of the subtlty gave way to emphasis on big moves. Back drops and head drops of increasing nastiness, which caused greater wear and tear on the wrestlers, etc.

 

The Super Junior style features junior heavyweights, obviously. Call them cruiserweights, if you prefer. It takes the realism inherent to strong style - strikes and submissions - and it mixes it with a high-flying approach and faster-pace. Its a luchalibre influence, and its not uncommon for super juniors to spend some time in Mexico learning while they are still relatively young.

 

Lucha-resu is the trademark of DragonGate, though I believe there are other promotions that use it (DDT???). Once again, it seems more like an extension of another style (super junior) that something that evolved completely separate. Lucha-resu has a heavier luchalibre influence than the super junior style. While there may still be some stiff strikes and kicks, the submissions and moves as a whole lose their "realistic" edge. I find it interesting that Lucha-resu basic strong style and luchalibre are essentially contradictory styles, not complimentary - strong style looks for realism in strikes and submissions, whereas luchalibre (that I have seen, at least) goes for fast pace and exciting, with moves and submissions that are acrobatic and cool but not at all realistic. Lucha-resu tends to be fast-paced and innovative, and pretty amazing to watch at a high level.

 

Shoot-style is super-realistic. Promotions like UWF, UWF-I, and RINGS were built around it, though other promotions have used it to some extent at various times. It seems like RINGS moved into legit fighting at some pointj, so shoot-style can be really close to actual fighting simply with worked results (early Pancrase might qualify under this).

 

You also have "garbage wrestling". Call is "hardcore" or "death match" wrestling... If it’s a Exploding Barbed wire Cage Death Match, it fits. Weapons, barbed wire, light tubes, things that explode, and buckets of blood… From FMW through the 90s to Big Japan today, some of the most extreme stuff done in a ring is done in Japan. Including the use animals - pirahanas, crocodiles, take your pick. Of note is that FMW had a lot of non-hardcore wrestling and some of it was fantastic quality - especially the stuff I've seen from Hayabusa.

[BurningHamster]

Lucha-resu is the trademark of DragonGate, though I believe there are other promotions that use it (DDT???).

 

DDT is more if a weird entertainment promotion than lucharesu. They do have high flying but it isn't really the focus. The focus is the insanity/comedy/oddness. Michinoku Pro is probably a good example (though I have not seen much of their recent stuff, but back in the day they were a good example), and I would say that the original Toryumon before it became Dragon Gate was probably the lucharesuiest promotion ever and I feel deeply sorry for people who came in late when they had Jack Evans and people on their shows as that is when it started going downhill and the annoying ROH type fans started getting into it.

 

Also, FMW flipping ruled.

[Hashasheen]

Also, FMW flipping ruled.

 

Mike Awesome, Masato Tanaka, Hayabusa... **** yeah it ruled.

[Bigpapa42]

DDT is more if a weird entertainment promotion than lucharesu. They do have high flying but it isn't really the focus. The focus is the insanity/comedy/oddness. Michinoku Pro is probably a good example (though I have not seen much of their recent stuff, but back in the day they were a good example), and I would say that the original Toryumon before it became Dragon Gate was probably the lucharesuiest promotion ever and I feel deeply sorry for people who came in late when they had Jack Evans and people on their shows as that is when it started going downhill and the annoying ROH type fans started getting into it.

 

Also, FMW flipping ruled.

 

I've seen a fair bit of Ishibushi but a lot of it outside of DDT. Now that its mentioned, I also recall some of the matches against the blow up doll that I've seen from DDT, so that makes sense.

[Linsolv]

I find that the biggest trouble with Puro is not really getting into it—it's finding it. For instance, I went looking for 80s-90s AJPW a while ago, to really try to understand King's Road and that sort of thing. Well, actually, there is a lot of Triple Crown match video out there. But if it's not a championship match? You can forget it.

 

Same thing with ZERO-1. Haven't been able to find a video, legitimate or not, since 2001. They have a schedule that runs to this day, and it's just like nobody's video taping it.

 

(And since NJPW, AJPW, and ZERO-1 are the only things I can seem to muster an interest in... well, there's only so many different matches that Prince Devitt's gonna have, especially in singles, so that pretty much leaves me with a limited amount of Puro I can watch.)

[Bigpapa42]

I find that the biggest trouble with Puro is not really getting into it—it's finding it. For instance, I went looking for 80s-90s AJPW a while ago, to really try to understand King's Road and that sort of thing. Well, actually, there is a lot of Triple Crown match video out there. But if it's not a championship match? You can forget it.

 

Same thing with ZERO-1. Haven't been able to find a video, legitimate or not, since 2001. They have a schedule that runs to this day, and it's just like nobody's video taping it.

 

(And since NJPW, AJPW, and ZERO-1 are the only things I can seem to muster an interest in... well, there's only so many different matches that Prince Devitt's gonna have, especially in singles, so that pretty much leaves me with a limited amount of Puro I can watch.)

 

I'll cover that in a day or two. I have a few suggestions on where you can find actual matches. Tons and tons of them, in fact.

[BurningHamster]

Mike Awesome, Masato Tanaka, Hayabusa... **** yeah it ruled.

 

Don't be forgetting my boy Kintaro Kanemura.

 

Also I liked the old school FMW when Onita was kicking it. You'd get the weirdest shows. Like a deathmatch main event but he undercard you'd have a women's match, a lucha match, a midgets match, maybe a worked shoot match between a wrestler and a judo guy and maybe a tag match with a couple of American wrestlers from the 80s in there or something. I think that kind of variety is what is really missing from wrestling these days.

[Bigpapa42]

Promotions

 

New Japan Pro Wrestling - has been a major promotion from Antonio Inoki opening it in 1972. It was here that the super junior style seemed to first take hold and its been a fairly key part of the promotion since. The early to mid 90s were a heyday for the style. As mentioned, they went to a more entertainment-based style in '96 (thanks NWO) and then an MMA influence. After giving over top spot in Japan to NOAH in the mid-00s, they seem to be back on top. The main belt is the IWGP Heavyweight championship. They the G1 Climax tournament, Best of the Super Juniors, New Japan Cup, and G1 Tag League. Besides Antonio Inoki, many big names have wrestled there at some point - natives like Riki Choshu (who still wrestles), Shinya Hashimoto, Kensuke Sasaki, Keiji Mutoh, Masa Saito, Masahiro Chono, Hiroshi Hase, Tatsumi Fujinami, and Minoru Tanaka - as well as many top gaijin - Vader, Stan Hansen, Scott Norton, and some dude named Hulk Hogan. Hiroshi Tanahashi is the current IWGP champion and ace of the promotion at the moment.

 

All Japan Pro Wrestling - the most direct rival to New Japan for many many years, yet they always seem to be just a step below in popuarltiy and prestige (so far as I can tell). They've had some amazing talent - from Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsruta, and Genicho Tenryu to the Four Pillars of Heaven, then Keiji Mutoh (Great Muta) for most of the past decade. While New Japan worked with the WWWF (now WWE), All Japan was connected to the NWA, and had such notable gaijin as Ric Flair, Terry and Dory Funk, The Destroyer, Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody, Steve Williams, Bam Bam Gordy, and again, Vader. There has rarely been a focus on the junior heavyweights. For pure match quality, its difficult for any promotion anywhere to equal what All Japan produced through the 1990s. The promotion has never really recovered to the same heights after the 2000 exodus. Even under Mutoh, they seem to make some booking mistakes - such as giving the Triple Crown to Ryoto Hama last year, a huge former Sumo with limited experience. The Triple Crown - which is indeed three belts, which makes it all kinds of awesome - is held by Suwama. The primary All Japan tournament is the Champions Carnival, plus the Real World Tag League, Junior Heavyweight League, and the Junior Tag League.

 

Pro Wrestling NOAH - it is rare for a brand new promotion anywhere, let alone in Japan, to have the kind of talent and immediate fan support that NOAH had from its very first day. It remains one of the most easily recognizable Japanese promotions for many North American fans due to its crossover with ROH, where not only did Kenta Kobashi have a great match, but a number of NOAH stars have put on really good matches (I got to see Davey Richards vs KENTA live in Houston) and Takeshi Morihima held the ROH World title for a long time. Many primary ROH wrestlers have worked in ROH at some point - Bryan Danielson, Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, Nigel McGuiness, Roderick Strong, Claudio Castagnoli, and Chris Hero. NOAH does feature a junior heavyweight division with some real quality wrestlers, and there seems to be more crossover between that and the heavyweight division than other promotions have (at least so far as I can tell). The primary belt is the GHC (Global Honored Crown) Heavyweight championship, which Takashi Sugiura has held fo rmore than a year. NOAH has no primary singles tournament, but they do have the Global Tag League and a Junior Heavyweight Tag League. Became Japan's biggest promotion in the 2004-2005 range, when Kenta Kobashi had an amazing 2-year run with the GHC Heavyweight title. They have since fallen to about the #2 spot, and are slowly recovering from the death of Mitsuarhu Misawa... RIP...

 

DragonGate - started by Ultimo Dragon, it was originally known as Toryumon Japan. Ultimo left in 2004 and it became DragonGate. Almost exclusively using junior heavyweights, I've always though of the style as representing lucha-resu, but I am learning it is perhaps closer to puro-influenced lucha than a true combination. There have been crossovers with ROH, though I don't know that too many American wrestlers have wrestled in Japan for DG. The promotion is primarily broken up in warring stables, and there is some comedy involved. They produce some top quality matches, and I've seen the 2006 6-man tag that took place in ROH (which was given the full 5-stars by Melter) has been called "the best match ever I've ever seen" by at least one reviewer I trust. The main title is the Open the Dream Gate belt, which has been held by Yoshino since August.

 

Big Japan - a deathmatch/hardcore/garbage promotion that's been around since the late 90s, they actually seem to produce some decent matches. Its not my cup of tea, so to speak, so my experience with BJW is limited. As previously mentioned, some of the matches apparently include live - and dangerous - animals as some part of it. Hardcore indeed.

 

Michinoku Pro - started by The Great Sasuke in 1993, it has been running ever since. I am told the late 90s period of MP is the truest "lucha-resu" to be found.

 

Dramatic Dream Team - how to describe DDT…? Well, YOSHIHIKO is a blow up doll that seems to be a fairly regularly competitor for the promotion. I've seen that doll put on some decent matches...

 

Pro Wrestling Zero-1 - a strong style promotion started by Shinya Hashimoto in 2001. It featuers wrestlers such as Masato Tanaka, Toshiaki Kawada, and Steve Corino

 

Inoki Genome Federation - the new project of Antonio Inoki which started in 2007. It has held 11 events and has a heavy MMA influence. MMA fighters such as Bobb Sapp and Josh Barnett are often used. It had its own version of the IWGP Heavyweight championship, which was held by Brock Lesnar (after NJPW stripped him of their version), then Kurt Angle, then Shinsuke Nakamura unified it with the NJPW version of the IWGP Heavyweight championship.

 

HUSTLE - started in 2004, it was originally owned by Dream Stage (which also owned Pride Fighting Championships). It was strongly entertainment based, which made the WWE's most soap opera-ish (is that a word?) stuff look like heavy drama in comparison. Not sure if its really still around or not, as shows have been sporadic.

 

Defunct

 

Frontier Martial-Art Wrestling - truly unique, FMW was started in 1989 by Atsushi Onita as a one-time shoot-work show that was promoted with $400. It was such a success that it continued beyond that. Onita had spent time in the US territorial promotions, as well as Puerto Rico, and he combined some of the elements he saw there - the brawling of Memphis, the passion of the Funks in Texas, and the bloody weapons and barbed wire in Puerto Rico. It was a uniuqe combination and it worked. It was more than pure hardcore and blood, as there was plenty of quality wrestling. It even featured women's wreslting, which something no other male promotion in Japan did at the time. Onita became a serious draw, including bringing in almost 60,000 fans for his retirement match in 1995. Think of a promotion that was roughly the equivilent of ECW in the late 90s drawing 60k… Hayabusa became the main star, though never as big as Onita, until he suffered a paralyzing neck injury in 2001. FMW closed in 2002. Without FMW, we may never had known the ECW we did.

 

All Japan Women's Wrestling - women's wrestling and Joshi is not really my thing, but one cannot deny the quality of matches that AJWW could put on.

 

There are literally dozens more small promotions from both the past and today. Battle Arts, Kensuke Office, Tradition, Tokyo Pro…. Some are promotions, some are dojos, and some are freelance offices that also put on shows.

[Hashasheen]

All Japan Pro Wrestling -

 

Question, do you have any idea what their roster was like after the exodus in terms of who they signed to fill the roster?

[Bigpapa42]

Question, do you have any idea what their roster was like after the exodus in terms of who they signed to fill the roster?

 

Right after? Honestly, no. I know Tenryu returned shortly after. They seemed to use a lot of older Gaijin like Hansen, Williams, and even Mike Rotunda. They were also promoting shows with New Japan, so it makes it a bit tough to know who was contracted. It might help to take a look at the link below. If you go the Supercard & Tournaments section, then Japan, then All Japan, you can look results of some of their shows from the 2000-2001 area. That should give some idea.

 

http://prowrestlinghistory.com/index.html

[Self]

DragonGate - started by Ultimo Dragon, it was originally known as Toryumon Japan. Ultimo left in 2004 and it became DragonGate. Almost exclusively using junior heavyweights, I've always though of the style as representing lucha-resu, but I am learning it is perhaps closer to puro-influenced lucha than a true combination. There have been crossovers with ROH, though I don't know that too many American wrestlers have wrestled in Japan for DG. The promotion is primarily broken up in warring stables, and there is some comedy involved. They produce some top quality matches, and I've seen the 2006 6-man tag that took place in ROH (which was given the full 5-stars by Melter) has been called "the best match ever I've ever seen" by at least one reviewer I trust. The main title is the Open the Dream Gate belt, which has been held by Yoshino since August.

 

Americans who have wrestled for Dragon Gate include Kevin Steen and Matt 'Evan Bourne' Sydal. Ricochet and Brodie Lee are over there now. They seem to have an affinity for Brits too. Not only is PAC a major star, but Mark Haskins (currently appearing on the TNA European shows as we speak) Marty Scurrl (one half of Britain's best tag team the LDRS) and I believe Lion Kid have been training over there.

 

For anyone who wishes to look into the Japanese Dragon Gate stuff (as opposed to the DG-USA stuff, which I find inferior) check out openthedragongate.com. You'll find uploaded there a bunch of the recent television and PPV's. I'm a pretty big fan of the style. I find it a lot more colourful than a lot of Puro. It isn't generic looking guys in black trunks, there are vibrant costumes and vivid gimmicks, probably from their lucha background.

 

For anyone in the UK, their next tour over here hasn't been announced, but the guy who promoted their show last year (awesome show, available on DVD now) did let slip that it would be a good idea to book October 21st & 22nd off work. Wink.

[Fantabulous]

This is a thread I can sink my teeth into. This post, looking back on it, seems scatterbrained, but, like I said, Japanese wrestling is a subject I really get into.

 

All Japan Pro Wrestling

 

After the Misawa split, All Japan was really a shell of a promotion for a while. As mentioned, they used the likes of Rotundo, Mike Barton (Bart Gunn), as well as Jinsei Shinzaki (Hakushi) and even brought in some Toryumon (I think) workers for a few shots. Some of these workers, like the Toryumon guys, were people the old All Japan simply wouldn't have looked at because they didn't fit in with the All Japan style, but they didn't have a choice because they were gutted when Misawa left and took just about everyone with him.

 

In the 2001 Carnival tour, which was in March/April, they brought in Sabu and Rob Van Dam for a singles match, which is a match you probably would never have got in the old All Japan days. Sabu had worked for All Japan in late 1996, teaming with Gary Albright in the Tag League tournament that year, but Sabu versus Van Dam was a style of match that Baba wouldn't have done and the old All Japan fans would likely have booed and jeered it out of the building. Baba was smart enough to keep Sabu in tag matches where his weaknesses could be minimized as much as possible. Van Dam, though, did have a solid midcard run in All Japan and he had a killer match with Dan Kroffat in 1995.

 

The previously mentioned working agreement with New Japan saw Keiji Muto win the Triple Crown in July of 2001 from Tenryu, with the idea that Muto would hold it for a couple of months and drop it to an All Japan guy, but the angle got over so big that Muto kept the belt for longer than originally planned. Things changed yet again at the start of 2002 when, in what was a major shock, Muto, Satoshi Kojima and Kendo Kashin jumped ship from New Japan. This sparked interest in All Japan and things picked up, business-wise, for a few years. Shinya Hashimoto had a run as TC champion in early 2003 and was probably going to wind up dropping the title to Toshiaki Kawada but a shoulder injury put him out of action and the TC was vacated with Kawada winning the ensuing tournament. Kawada had a good run, and we did end up with the hotly anticipated Kawada vs. Hashimoto match in the end, with Kawada eventually losing the TC to Kojima in early February of 2005, and Kojima being positioned as the 'Ace' of All Japan.

 

In the last five or six years, I'd say, All Japan has turned into a very Americanized version of Japanese wrestling. You see a lot of American-style feuding and angles and the emphasis has shifted firmly away from great matches and onto the feuds and storylines. The Triple Crown is still, for the most part, kept protected in the sense that they never do a non-finish, although you can still get run-ins and other Americanized gimmickry in TC matches. All Japan has long since fallen from being what you could consider a 'National' promotion and right now I would term it, in TEW parlance, as a Cult level promotion.

 

Business-wise, I remember a lot of talk in the last couple of years that the company was in a precarious position in financial terms, but I don't know how things are currently, although I believe they are struggling.

 

New Japan Pro Wrestling

 

It cannot be emphasized enough how much damage Inoki did to New Japan from 2000 onwards with his obsessive need to put New Japan wrestlers in shoots with MMA fighters. Yuji Nagata never truly recovered from getting slaughtered by Cro Cop in just 21 seconds which, in a stroke of genius, took place just four days before Nagata was headlining New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome event against Jun Akiyama. New Japan did their best to rehab Nagata, including a record setting run as IWGP Champion (most successful defences ever, 10), but the shadow of the Cro Cop loss never went away.

 

Kazuyuki Fujita was an undercard New Japan guy who got put into MMA fights because he had a good amateur wrestling (Greco-Roman) background and when he managed to score wins over Mark Kerr and Ken Shamrock, Inoki decided to put the IWGP title on him in April of 2001. Fujita wasn't a bad wrestler but he was seen as an MMA fighter who wrestled and the fans considered him an outsider so he didn't get over. And this ties in with Bob Sapp...

 

The Bob Sapp experiment did more harm than good; they put the IWGP title on him in March of 2004, and while he did draw a good Dome crowd for his lone successful title defence against Shinsuke Nakamura, Sapp w got slaughtered in a K-1 fight against Kazuyuki Fujita and disappeared, which forced New Japan to strip him of the IWGP title. Fujita wound up with the title, going over a rising Hiroshi Tanahashi in June of that year.

 

A big problem came when they wanted the IWGP title on Kensuke Sasaki. Fujita, heavily influenced by Inoki who had long since seemed to have ost his mind with his MMA obsession, wouldn't put Sasaki over clean and they did a 4-minute match and did a finish where Fujita had Sasaki in a sleeper and fell onto his back and wound up getting pinned. The fans hated this finish and were booing and jeering like crazy. It wound up with Sasaki on the mic and apologizing for what happened and said something along the lines of not wanting to accept the IWGP title under these circumstances.

 

The IWGP title did recover in image, especially in early 2005 when New Japan came to an agreement with All Japan, and they worked out a deal where the reigning Triple Crown champion and former New Japan stalwart Satoshi Kojima would beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan for the IWGP title and have a short run with the title before dropping it back to Tenzan. From here, it went back to Fujita (again, Inoki at work) rather quickly and then New Japan signed Brock Lesnar who got the IWGP title in a rare, for New Japan, three-way match with Masahiro Chono added to the match to be the one who Lesnar would beat.

 

The idea for Lesnar was to market him as an American monster, like Hansen and Brody were, and his (few) matches were generally less than ten-minutes and almost squash-like in fashion. The experiment really didn't work like New Japan wanted and they wound up in a dispute with Lesnar who never came back to New Japan to drop the IWGP title to Hiroshi Tanahashi, so they stripped Lesnar of the title and put it up in a tournament which Tanahashi won.

 

In 2008, Keiji Muto returned and beat Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP title and had a great run as the 'outsider', albeit a beloved veteran 'coming home' outsider, before dropping the belt to Tanahashi at the January 2009 Dome Show.

 

Currently, the IWGP champion is Hiroshi Tanahashi who recently won the belt from Satoshi Kojima. Kojima was doing the 'outsider' angle, which New Japan love to do (obviously) and, in fairness, usually do well. However, Kojima himself is 'freelance' having left All Japan late last year.

 

Business-wise, New Japan are doing OK although there has been serious talk that they might have to drop their annual, and historical, January 4th Dome Show from the calender.

[Bigpapa42]

Thanks Self. Definitely gonna have to check out that site.

 

Great post, Fantabulous. Tons of info and a lot of it I just didn't know. I knew Inoki did damage to New Japan with his shoot-fighting obsession through the early part of the 00s, but just how much is facinating. No wonder he got tossed out.

 

One thing I've always wondered about and never really seen much on is just what Makoto Baba's vision for All Japan was that Misawa disagred with. I've read she wanted to take a more entertainment approach. Is it what AJPW ended up becoming? Or did she want to go further, something like HUSTLE?

 

I think all the promotions in Japan are having some type of financial issues. From what I've read, no one has good TV slots anymore and sponsorships aren't great either. What NJPW managed to draw to the Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Kingdom this month is indicative of just how mediocre the business is in Japan right now.

[Fantabulous]

One thing I've always wondered about and never really seen much on is just what Makoto Baba's vision for All Japan was that Misawa disagred with. I've read she wanted to take a more entertainment approach. Is it what AJPW ended up becoming? Or did she want to go further, something like HUSTLE?

 

I think all the promotions in Japan are having some type of financial issues. From what I've read, no one has good TV slots anymore and sponsorships aren't great either. What NJPW managed to draw to the Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Kingdom this month is indicative of just how mediocre the business is in Japan right now.

As I read it at the time, and heard later on, Misawa wanted to change the contract structure in All Japan. He wanted to give the wrestlers full medical coverage and generally give them more financial security. Misawa was also keen, or at least open, to the idea of working with other promotions, which is something we saw lot of in NOAH over the years. Makoto, on the other hand, wanted to maintain the status quo, for things to remain the same way they had always been. Baba was well aware of the problems between the two and some time before he died, not too long I think, he had actually made Misawa the head booker for All Japan. But with Makoto the company president she still controlled the purse strings and Misawa was not in a position to make the changes he wanted to.

 

The TV coverage for wrestling in Japan is terrible, especially compared to years past, and is probably the main reason that there have been no Stars (with a big S) created in the last decade or so. The TV for, I think, New Japan, went from an hour long show at around midnight to way in the AM, maybe 3-4AM, and was cut to thirty minutes. Sure, the hardcore fans could still tape it, but the casual fans, the ones you need to make the big Yen and make Stars, couldn't watch it. The magazines, a vital part in covering wrestling in the 90s, have all but died out. Weekly Pro, who did that 13 matches from 13 promotions Dome Show back in 1995, are either died or close to it. I think Gong died years ago as well. Really, it mostly boils down to coverage as to why wrestling in Japan has been in a downward trend over they last decade. It's almost impossible for casual fans to catch wrestling, with the changes to timeslots, and the death of the magazine scene means they can't even read about it.

[Big Roguey]

Is Osaka Pro anything like Dragon Gate?

[Fantabulous]

I haven't seen any recent Osaka Pro, but if they haven't changed too much, then no, they're not like Dragon Gate. The wrestling Osaka Pro is what I'd call Strong Style-lite; it's serious but not so intense and not quite so hate-filled when it comes to the grudge stuff. It's almost New Japan meets WWE and is a good middle-ground, I think, between Japanese and American wrestling.

[BurningHamster]

Is Osaka Pro anything like Dragon Gate?

 

Sort of but not really. They are lucha influenced (as they were founded by Super Delfin who was a pretty big part of Michinoku Pro) but their style is more lighthearted, they have a lot more masks and comedic/cutesy gimmicks and are probably not quite on the same level as Dragon Gate in terms of popularity. Also, Dragon Gate I would say focuses more on athleticism and at times has aimed for more the female/gay fanbase whereas Osaka seems a lot more family oriented.

[Fantabulous]

Are we only able to point people in the direction of official sources of match footage?

[Bigpapa42]

Are we only able to point people in the direction of official sources of match footage?

 

I'm not entirely certain. So far as I'm aware, there really isn't much issue in downloading Puroresu since most of it was broadcast on TV in the first place.

[Fantabulous]

I'm not entirely certain. So far as I'm aware, there really isn't much issue in downloading Puroresu since most of it was broadcast on TV in the first place.

 

I was thinking in terms of DVD's, although there is a well known source of Puroresu who has tons of stuff to download.

[Bigpapa42]

I was thinking in terms of DVD's, although there is a well known source of Puroresu who has tons of stuff to download.

 

If you are referring to the Fantastic Mr. Ditch, I am planning on pimping the site on a future-primer. I had emailed to request permission to post an actual link to the site (I don't know that he would care, but I err on the side of caution) and have yet to hear back, however.

[Fantabulous]

If you are referring to the Fantastic Mr. Ditch, I am planning on pimping the site on a future-primer. I had emailed to request permission to post an actual link to the site (I don't know that he would care, but I err on the side of caution) and have yet to hear back, however.

I indeed referred to Mr Ditch. I think he is fine with people posting the link as long as they're careful where they do so, but it probably is safe to ask first. He has some real gems that would serve well to give people a taste of the various groups in Japan.