Puroresu Thread

[thecoolestjedi12]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Kitarzu" data-cite="Kitarzu" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="35157" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I think you inverted the promotions.<p> </p><p> AJPW King's Road derives from the NWA American style of wrestling. AJPW in the '70s and '80s was the Japanese promotion for the alliance, where big NWA names like the Funks, Harley Race and Ric Flair wrestled under Giant Baba's banner. This style emphasizes brawling, holds and heavy storytelling, trait you find in AJPW until Keiji Mutoh's takeover. </p><p> </p><p> NJPW Strong Style derives from Antonio Inoki's vision of wrestling as combat sport. Given his background in catch wrestling derived from his mentor Karl Gotch, this style incorporates a lot of strikes and locks from martial arts, with an emphasis on submission wrestling. Strong Style is a precursor of the grappling and striking styles that were fundamental in the creation of the Japanese MMA movement.</p><p> </p><p> So, given the styles and people working for them and their movesets, BHOWTG is closer to AJPW, regarding style and heavyweights. Instead the junior division is more like the '90 NJPW, with names like Jushin Thunder Liger, El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto. The INSPIRE alumni are more similar to the UWF invaders of NJPW in mid '90. </p><p> </p><p> Instead PGHW is more like Inoki's NJPW, with most of his roster members are or were technical wizards and submission specialists. There's a few exception like Raymond Diaz, PRIDE Koiso and Sadaharu Jimbo, but basically men like Yoshimi Musashibo, Eisaku Kunomasu, Koryusai Kitoaji embody Strong Style.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Oops, my bad. What was said above.</p>

[Kitarzu]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="thecoolestjedi12" data-cite="thecoolestjedi12" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="35157" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Oops, my bad. What was said above.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> No problem. Just a post to avoid confusion.</p>

[WWZone]

So what is Royal Road then? I believe it's a style that NOAH uses, is just a mixer of the King's Road and Style?

[Waters]

Hey everybody. I've been watching NJPW on-and-off for the past couple of years (mainly BOTSJ, G1 Climax, Tokyo Dome and other big events/matches, so I don't really know much beyond that), but have started watching it consistently now through NJPW World. I have a few questions about booking puro.

 

1. How should "feuds" be simulated? Should I create storylines via that section, and does the success of a storyline still have an effect on match ratings in Japan? I'm assuming it does.

 

2. How should I book my young lions, against both each other and against veteran workers?

 

3. What's the best way to get a heel stable over?

 

4. What puro companies in the CornellVerse are most comparable to real life promotions? What real life promotions do they emulate?

 

5. Anything else you think I should know?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Hashasheen]

1. Feuds are very simple to simulate. You can absolutely use storylines to support a puro feud, using hype videos, brief-post match pull aparts and match moments to do so. Feuds in Japan can be as short or as long as you like, as long as you've got a story that's continually being told.

 

To use as an example in a WWE context, imagine if John Cena and Roman Reigns wrestled a tag match main event against Big Show and Kane, with Roman getting the pin after tagging himself in. Roman is the champion, but Cena is the ace. Cena might take umbrage to Roman trying to finish the match, might be amused by it, might shrug it of. How then does Roman react in your mind, and to what end? Will they Roman defend his title to prove he's bigger than Cena? Will it stretch out during a tag tournament? Will they make amends after a title match, or will one or the other become the pseudo-villain of the story?

 

2. Young lions shouldn't get victories unless it's over other young lions. They exist to learn and get beat up, to pay their dues before finding themselves. They have no heat with other young lions in the long term, unless you've got two very good lions that you see as becoming rivals years down the line. They can work with veterans as their heaters, losing to keep the veterans looking good. They can also become proteges, and over time as they shed their young lion status you can that attribution to develop actual stories as they step out from their veteran's shadow or perhaps tag with them properly to compete as a tag team.

 

3. Just have them win and have them cut good promos if they can do that. Keep in mind that not everyone can be over in a stable and not everyone can win in a company all the time. You need to make the losses count and the wins typical, but also look to get good matches to help grind out popularity.

 

4. See above, someone's already discussed it.

 

5. Don't freak out. Take your time booking smaller puro feds and find out what works for you. I usually prefer to book between three and seven shows every two months, with one show being used as a training school. Tournaments running across multiple shows are a good way to ease into puro booking, as that's a staple that'll never go away. Challengers can appear during the shows, outsiders can accept open invitations, and if you've got champions in the tournament then them getting pinned or a partner getting pinned means you've got an obvious title match.

 

So for example, if I was booking Golden Canvas Grappling, this would be my January-February start:

 

1. Parade of Champions: Challenger Series, Day 1 - Kanto - Five Singles Matches, Two Exhibition Matches.

2. Parade of Champions: Challenger Series, Day 2 - Kinki - Five Singles Matches, Two Exhibition Matches.

3. Parade of Champions: Challenger Series, Day 3 - Chubu - Five Singles Matches, Two Exhibition Matches.

4. Parade of Champions: Challenger Series, Day 4 - Shugoku - Five Singles Matches, Two Exhibition Matches.

5. Parade of Champions: Challenger Series, Day 5 - Kanto - Five Singles Matches, Two Exhibition Matches.

6. Proving Grounds - Hokkaido - Tag Match Headliner, 5 Matches Overall

7. Parade of Champions - Kanto - Series Final Headliner, Two Semi Final Matches, Maybe a 10-Man Battle Royal, An Openweight Title Match, a Tag Title Match.

 

Keep in mind that you don't necessarily have to always use your own regulars for every tour run. As a big GCG fan I like to work alongside WEXXV and make use of their top guys for featured appearances, but other companies will always have one or two guys who might interest you for a one-off. I've brought in everyone from Brothers in Vengeance to Naga-Mori to Black House to Unity Two to C-V-2 just to put my own guys overs. The key to maintaining a fine budget on this tack is to keep the regulars small in number, while also maintaining a healthy group of young lions to one day take over.

[Hashasheen]

Also, don't be afraid to build your own mythology! For my GCG, I always like to build reasons for why things are and histories for certain events. So for example, Hanshiro Furusawa for me is an in-law to Junichi Monou, the original founder of Golden Canvas Grappling. This explains his takeover of GCG, but since I also have a Monou in-game (added character) descended from Junichi's younger brother, then I can use both surnames to build hype and put on the marquee. Similarly, I also have each of the three primary figures for GCG (Takayuki, Hiroyasu, Toshiharu) as a protege to one of the three "Great Lions" in Furusawa, Yoshizawa and Maeda, working to set up continuity as best as I can between themselves and their predecessors.

[Kitarzu]

So what is Royal Road then? I believe it's a style that NOAH uses, is just a mixer of the King's Road and Style?

 

Royal Road = King's Road so, NOAH kept for the first years the old AJPW style.

[Hashasheen]

Just made a comparison of my top 10 wrestlers draw-loss-win records in 2013 across 38 shows:

 

• EAGLE Kawasawa - 8 Losses & 23 Wins
  
• Funakoshi Monou - 10 Losses & 24 Wins
  
• Hiroyasu Gakusha - 1 Draw, 8 Losses & 24 Wins
  
• Kiminobu Kuroki - 15 Losses & 16 Wins
  
• Mabuchi Furusawa - 1 Draw, 8 Losses & 25 Wins
  
• Namboku Makuda - 17 Losses & 15 Wins
  
• SUKI - 9 Losses & 25 Wins
  
• Takayuki 2000 - 5 Losses & 26 Wins
  
• Toshiharu Hyobanshi - 1 Draw, 3 Losses & 33 Wins
  
• Yasuhide Tayama - 5 Losses & 28 Wins
  

 

I'm quite proud of having been able to keep my top guys relatively afloat over my first full year of puro booking. Kiminobu was a headache and a half, and I suppose I was lucky that there were so many people I could snag for a tour to siphon pop, but I'm still proud of building EAGLE, Funakoshi, Mabuchi, SUKI and Yasuhide as main event stars with a a great streak of major wins on guys like Billy Russell, Eiji Hamacho, and Nobatsuku Tasako among others.

 

Some bits of tinkering need to follow though. Right now my schedule is patterned on New Japan's but not quite as effective without the juniors or Fantastica Mania. As is my year is built around the G1 equivalent in the Challenger Series, which sets up title challengers but is primarily about crowning significant storyline moments. Eiji Hamacho announcing his retirement so soon after I'd given him the glory felt like a right proper Burning Hammer middle finger, but he went out on his back for Takayuki 2000 and didn't exactly enjoy a strong lead up.

 

As is, the DESPERADO faction (founded in 1990 by Pistol Pete Hall, later taken over by "Big 2"/Gaijin villains during the course of 2013) is currently struggling, for that it has a strong make up of wrestlers. I'm very reluctant to give them any belts, but I think perhaps letting them win one of my three titles or creating a new one for them to flaunt as a "real championship". As GCG has World titles as well as International/Japanese classifications in the old 77 fanmod, I'm thinking perhaps of using an All-Asia or United National classification for a DESPERADO title. Perhaps a DESPERADO Global Championship, to lead down the line to a unification match? Maybe set up a GCG title being won and lost, and then have DESPERADO form their own title in protest...