TLLK Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Trying to get into Puroresu, since I'm contemplating a Japanese game in TEW with one of the challenges BP gave me in the general discussions forum. I watch Japanese MMA all the time, thanks to HDNet, so, when I see that NJPW uses MMA influences, it inspired me to check them out. Plus, I love seeing ROH and Chikara guys taking on Japanese legends from time to time. (Seeing highlights of Samoa Joe vs. Kobashi last night on HDNet during ROH's Top 5 Moments forced me to revisit that epic event.) Since I appreciate a great match a whole lot more than a "popular" mainstream wrestler, Japanese wrestling appeals to me. I've watched Dragon Gate before, and a little bit of DDT via the Internet...but currently I'm watching a bunch of New Japan. I just love how the media and the fans treat their wrestling, it's actually a breath of fresh air from the gloom and doom I see in American wrestling. The first match I watched was a 5-star one from back in the 90's when The Great Muta took on my favorite Japanese wrestler of all-time, Jushin Thunder Liger. That match was insane on so many levels. Now, thanks to YouTube, I'm currently watching Wrestle Kingdom V that happened at the beginning of this year at the Tokyo Dome. Great stuff from what I've seen so far. To those of you who know Puroresu more than me: When I get done watching Wrestle Kingdom V, what matches should I watch next? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningHamster Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 If you haven't seen it already track down the super bloody Mutah/Hase match from 1992. It's violence done right and something every wrestling fan should see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigpapa42 Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 Trying to get into Puroresu, since I'm contemplating a Japanese game in TEW with one of the challenges BP gave me in the general discussions forum. I watch Japanese MMA all the time, thanks to HDNet, so, when I see that NJPW uses MMA influences, it inspired me to check them out. Plus, I love seeing ROH and Chikara guys taking on Japanese legends from time to time. (Seeing highlights of Samoa Joe vs. Kobashi last night on HDNet during ROH's Top 5 Moments forced me to revisit that epic event.) Since I appreciate a great match a whole lot more than a "popular" mainstream wrestler, Japanese wrestling appeals to me. I've watched Dragon Gate before, and a little bit of DDT via the Internet...but currently I'm watching a bunch of New Japan. I just love how the media and the fans treat their wrestling, it's actually a breath of fresh air from the gloom and doom I see in American wrestling. The first match I watched was a 5-star one from back in the 90's when The Great Muta took on my favorite Japanese wrestler of all-time, Jushin Thunder Liger. That match was insane on so many levels. Now, thanks to YouTube, I'm currently watching Wrestle Kingdom V that happened at the beginning of this year at the Tokyo Dome. Great stuff from what I've seen so far. To those of you who know Puroresu more than me: When I get done watching Wrestle Kingdom V, what matches should I watch next? Great to hear that you're getting into it. There is so much goodness available. "Where to next" leaves a endless options. I might suggest branching out in a few directions, just to get a bit more of a taste of what's out there. Sticking with New Japan, I'd look to some of their early to mid 90s stuff. Look for Mutoh (or Muta), Shinya Hashimoto, and Masahiro Chono, as well as some of the super junior stuff. Liger, El Samurai, Koji Kanemoto and the rest do some great particular, particularly with some of the gaijin you would recognize like Benoit and Guerrero. I would also recommend checking out some mid-90s All Japan. Basically, find any combination of Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada, Jun Akiyama, and Akira Taue. its not guranteed to be great, but its not likely to be poor. Youtube should have plenty of options, but if you are willing to download, check out the link to Ditch's site that I posted in this thread. There is infinite goodness there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ampulator Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 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. But didn't she end up co-promoting anyway? Irony, isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linsolv Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 To those of you who know Puroresu more than me: When I get done watching Wrestle Kingdom V, what matches should I watch next? Anything you can find from the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. In my experience it is the best way to get a solid dose of Prince Devitt. Then again I'm a Prince Devitt mark so that that for what it's worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLLK Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Two words...MUTA SCALE! That. Was. Awesome. Bloody awesome, and I'm not even from England. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infernalmiko Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 I'd agree on checking out AJPW during the mid 90's. The undercards were so so but the main events were off the charts. the very peak of King's Road style before it finally started imploding in the late 90's. I'd also highly recommend All Japan Women's Wrestling (AJW-Victory through guts!) in the early-mid 90s. Even Meltzer admitted AJW during this time had possibly the best top to bottom shows in the world. Personally I've been loving NJPW of the last couple years as well. They've recovered from rock bottom and have been putting on some very entertaining shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infernalmiko Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 That is up there with some of the best things I have ever seen in my life! Ramu-chan was alot of fun. She wrestled for 666, though I think she's out of pro wrestling now. My favorite match was her against Riho, another very young wrestler. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lC88Op6cJo This music video shows 12 year old Riho's title defense against Emi Sakura as well as some of the other strangeness common in Ice Ribbon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGBibG6WRsY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linsolv Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 That was a really nice MV. I should watch more of those to get back in the mood for some Puro! (Except the intergender tag title match, with those two goth folks against... I dunno, I didn't get a good look at them. The work was so bad. Oh, well. They covered the whole spectrum: Puro midcard, which usually sucks, all the way to 5-star excitement!) Edit: Been working my way through a Pro Wrestling WAVE card after watching that music video this morning. I was impressed by one match (Police Woman vs. Sawako Shimotsuke) and it's ability to be funny without being a comedy match. Sadly, I really find that comedy matches are boring to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linsolv Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Question for anyone: Where can I get as complete of a FMW card as possible that is neither their best stuff (nor most extreme) but not their worst either? A definitive "middle-of-the-road" FMW card. I've been doing research for a game I've been trying to get started, and I'm about 2/3 of the way through what I feel is enough ECW to really comprehend hardcore wrestling. I wanted to see if it was similar for the other really super hardcore promotion that I can think of. I can't really make a great comparison to an event in particular, but basically I'm trying to get a sense for what type of matches they use to build feuds, instead of just payoff matches. Maybe I'm not understanding properly, but it seems like in a setting like ECW, most matches involved weapons, but not necessarily going to the lengths of an FMW deathmatch, or even all that crazy, unless it was supposed to be between either two legends (Sabu-Funk barbed wire) or a big payoff match. So... I guess the closest comparison would be an episode of RAW, except that japanese TV doesn't have that type of stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningHamster Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Question for anyone: Where can I get as complete of a FMW card as possible that is neither their best stuff (nor most extreme) but not their worst either? A definitive "middle-of-the-road" FMW card. I've been doing research for a game I've been trying to get started, and I'm about 2/3 of the way through what I feel is enough ECW to really comprehend hardcore wrestling. I wanted to see if it was similar for the other really super hardcore promotion that I can think of. I can't really make a great comparison to an event in particular, but basically I'm trying to get a sense for what type of matches they use to build feuds, instead of just payoff matches. Maybe I'm not understanding properly, but it seems like in a setting like ECW, most matches involved weapons, but not necessarily going to the lengths of an FMW deathmatch, or even all that crazy, unless it was supposed to be between either two legends (Sabu-Funk barbed wire) or a big payoff match. So... I guess the closest comparison would be an episode of RAW, except that japanese TV doesn't have that type of stuff. It depends what era of FMW you are going for really. Their late entertainment era stuff was different from their middle period which in turn was different from their early period in terms of matches, the level of violence, the kinds of workers and the focus of the promotion. Also, since FMW was not really the most TV friendly promotion, most of their "middle of the road" shows would have been the shows than ran on tour which generally don't seem to be available in complete form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linsolv Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Huh. Lame. I guess I'll just have to do my research the long way. (I just kinda assumed there was a show that got out on DVD or something that was "meh." I think I might have become too assimilated into the world of TNA and WWE where they put on PPVs with no really hot feuds to pay off...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningHamster Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 It's not like every single major FMW show was some kind of big bloodbath filled with hot feuds or anything, quite the opposite much of the time. But approaching FMW like it's TNA makes zero sense, much like TNA's product in general Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantabulous Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Question for anyone: Where can I get as complete of a FMW card as possible that is neither their best stuff (nor most extreme) but not their worst either? A definitive "middle-of-the-road" FMW card. I've been doing research for a game I've been trying to get started, and I'm about 2/3 of the way through what I feel is enough ECW to really comprehend hardcore wrestling. I wanted to see if it was similar for the other really super hardcore promotion that I can think of. Your best bet is to get one of their "Story of the F" releases. It shows highlights of all of the important matches and all the streetfights that lead to the, well, streetfights that are the blow off. You're never going to get a full FMW show, as in all matches complete, because I don't think they ever released shows in that format. FMW commercial releases were always clips or highlights of the undercard, sometimes extended if the match was good, with only the top matches in full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linsolv Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Wow. If this website is for real and still selling the stuff they say they're selling, I might actually be able to get a ton of FMW matches. Sadly, I don't want a ton, I want just enough to get a strong sense of how it's written. So Story of the F does sound like the thing I should probably look for. I did find a couple releases on the web (Yokohama Deathmatch, where Kudo retired, and some ECW vs FMW thing...) but I somehow think the ECW vs FMW thing will not exactly be their normal stuff, and if one of their two biggest talents is retiring at the end of the night, I somehow doubt it's an "average" show there either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningHamster Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Wow. If this website is for real and still selling the stuff they say they're selling, I might actually be able to get a ton of FMW matches. Sadly, I don't want a ton, I want just enough to get a strong sense of how it's written. So Story of the F does sound like the thing I should probably look for. I did find a couple releases on the web (Yokohama Deathmatch, where Kudo retired, and some ECW vs FMW thing...) but I somehow think the ECW vs FMW thing will not exactly be their normal stuff, and if one of their two biggest talents is retiring at the end of the night, I somehow doubt it's an "average" show there either. Story of the F stuff is pretty standard, bit of a mix of stuff but if I recall (been a while since I watched it) it's mostly bits and pieces from different shows. The White Love tape is similar, from 98 I think, pretty standard stuff of that time. If you want later (more entertainment era stuff) then maybe Backdraft or something. Thing is, if someone wants to know what FMW was about, I would almost always insist they watch a show from the early period when Onita was in his prime, a mid period one (mid 90s, Hayabusa Kudo) and a late period one (2000ish) when it was very American influenced. Oh and Linsolv, check your PMs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teh_Showtime Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 anybody know what Jericho's finish was in Japan? Was watching this match http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJH1TMpePR4&feature=youtube_gdata_player and 3/4 of the way through this video Beniot applies a sick half crab that just ttriggered the question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rone Rivendale Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I'll preface this by saying I haven't read the thread up to this point. I am a big fan of the comedic puro feds like Dramatic Dream Team and Osaka Pro. I have multiple DVDs from each and always enjoy them. My favorite puro wrestler is Kikutaro who used to be known as Ebbesan. I have Kikutaro's best of DVD and it's great. He got to do a couple matches with Keiji Muto who was obviously his idol and their matches tag teaming together are awesome to watch. I also have DVDs from Sendai Girls. Joshi wrestling is way better than anything you see in America (except for SHIMMER which I also love). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hashasheen Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Anyone know when Hayabusa got his FMW main-event push? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningHamster Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 1995. Onita was always the star in the early days but they started building up Hayabusa in preparation for Onita's retirement in mid 1995. Hayabusa jobbed to Onita in the main event retirement not-quite-passing-the-torch match and from then until his neck injury was pretty much the star of FMW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hashasheen Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 1995. Onita was always the star in the early days but they started building up Hayabusa in preparation for Onita's retirement in mid 1995. Hayabusa jobbed to Onita in the main event retirement not-quite-passing-the-torch match and from then until his neck injury was pretty much the star of FMW. I was wondering, because his heavyweight title wins were in 2001. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningHamster Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Before the WEW and Independent Heavyweight titles were introduced though FMW used the Brass Knuckles title as their main singles belt. He won that one in 1995 (but got injured) and I think two more times in the late 90s. Titles in FMW were a weird deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teh_Showtime Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 I will bump this because I'm getting into older puroresu and found a channel on YouTube that uploads entire events, such as the 94 Super J cup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheKenwyne Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 anybody know what Jericho's finish was in Japan? Was watching this match http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJH1TMpePR4&feature=youtube_gdata_player and 3/4 of the way through this video Beniot applies a sick half crab that just ttriggered the question. 'Twas the Lionsault good sir. The Liontamer/Walls didn't become his finish till WCW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soxfan93 Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 I will bump this because I'm getting into older puroresu and found a channel on YouTube that uploads entire events, such as the 94 Super J cup. Incredible event. In my opinion, it's one of the best in wrestling history. Has anyone seen Highspots' Miracle Violence Connection 3-Disc Set? I keep hearing about how great they were but never got around to checking them out extensively. Is this set really the best matches, or are there others I need to watch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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