The PGHW Thread

TheOtherJamesCameron · October 3, 2018

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="RingRider" data-cite="RingRider" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41355" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Does anyone know/have a theory about the "in-cannon" backstory behind the Historical title? The lineage predates the debut of the promotion. In Derek's classic 1997 mod, the lineage goes back even further... Is the Historical title continuing a lineage from previously closed promotion?</div></blockquote> I believe that it was a roving independent title held by someone inside the promotion when it formed? It’s something along those lines. It may have a parent promotion somewhere down the line, not sure.

Hashasheen · October 5, 2018

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="RingRider" data-cite="RingRider" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41355" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Does anyone know/have a theory about the "in-cannon" backstory behind the Historical title? The lineage predates the debut of the promotion. In Derek's classic 1997 mod, the lineage goes back even further... Is the Historical title continuing a lineage from previously closed promotion?</div></blockquote> Isn't it from the QUEST Heritage promotion from the 1977 mod? I think it's from there.

Kingster · October 6, 2018

According to this page: <a href="http://gds.wikia.com/wiki/PGHW_Historical_Japan_Championship" rel="external nofollow">http://gds.wikia.com/wiki/PGHW_Historical_Japan_Championship</a> the belt used to be an independent title before being adopted by PGHW when they signed Nobuatsu Tatsuko, the champion at the time. Not sure if any of this is actual canon, though.

Sco xY2Jx · November 19, 2018

Started a fresh save with the C-Verse and trying out Japan for the first time and PGHW. My new found love for NJPW might help with some booking ideas and manoeuvring around the Japanese scene. I've created a consortium/trading alliance with TCW & NOTBPW so in the inevitable struggles of the Japanese disaster, we can help each other out with our competitors. Plus, I've gone on a signing spree of new talent from other companies that'll ease with the intensity of the matches and hopefully ease up injuries.

Stables seem to help a lot with booking many multi-man matches and helping aid in storylines make sense so at this point I've created 4 stables that will soon form through upcoming events.

The C-Verse Rerender Project has given us some incredible pictures to use for the talent and the guys there have basically taken over my C-Verse with their creations. Here are the stables.

Thy Kingdom Come;

<img alt="uF31iKt.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/uF31iKt.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="HFLNfmQ.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/HFLNfmQ.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="29TVrTe.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/29TVrTe.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="rQCJmQ8.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/rQCJmQ8.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="4tPqvXK.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/4tPqvXK.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="1nuYNsc.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/1nuYNsc.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="MDjNSiF.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/MDjNSiF.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Magnum Kobe

Emerald Angel

American Elemental

Gregory Gauge

Matthew Keith

Haranobu Kobayashi

SUKI

Bent the rules here and put myself into a bidding war with BHOTWG for Kobe and Angel and came out on top. Made up of completely brand new signings (with the exception of Kobayashi), they're staging an invasion of sorts and a takeover.

Another reason for Kobe & Angel signing is I wanted to bulk out the roster for the upcoming PGHW Elite Series which I'm going to treat as the G1 Climax.

Seigigun; (Blue Justice Army - yes, stole the name of Yuji Nagata's stable)

<img alt="aNUWJD0.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/aNUWJD0.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="6LDJdKh.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/6LDJdKh.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="y7w5wlE.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/y7w5wlE.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="BFPDaEu.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/BFPDaEu.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="gjG9LvE.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/gjG9LvE.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="oU61WjS.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/oU61WjS.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Yoshimi Mushashibo

Ryoma Muruyama

Masaru Ugaki

Motoyuki Miyake

Commander Kawagishi

Shimpei Hirose

Mushashibo has assembled a group to defend PGHW and help him defend his PGHW Glory Crown title. With Kawagishi and Hirose from EX2010 (PPA deals) as an elite tag team and Muruyama & Ugaki (Arguably, the best tag team in PGHW history), security is strong. Miyake is the young lion protége here to learn from the best in his mentor.

Chaos Club;

<img alt="XO6ygLC.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/XO6ygLC.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="nSztIoj.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/nSztIoj.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="CPLkTct.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/CPLkTct.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="mSraRZ3.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/mSraRZ3.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="yx1JDAj.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/yx1JDAj.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="4BuL6t8.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/4BuL6t8.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Kozue Kawashima

PRIDE Koiso

Eien Miyamoto

KAZ

Orange Tsuchie

Tsurayuki Kamachi

A mixture of the best PGHW has to offer and some younger blood to form an alliance with for the benefit of everyone

The Killa Guerilla's;

<img alt="2WXgKua.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/2WXgKua.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="8U957jy.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/8U957jy.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="j9NebCg.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/j9NebCg.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="WTGexoU.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/WTGexoU.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="k7yWf9M.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/k7yWf9M.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="0FJ6KSN.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/0FJ6KSN.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="tGPbrmT.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/tGPbrmT.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="AqtxPc8.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/AqtxPc8.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Raymond Diaz

William Hayes

Buddy Garner

Bulldozer Brandon

BISON Yano

Brute Kikuchi

Rhino Umaga

Samoan Machine

2 monstrous tag teams in Bison & Brute and Samoan Destruction Inc. bulk out the ranks of this primarily Gaijin stable. Raymond Diaz acts as leader with the returning Buddy Garner as a co-captain. A Bullet-Club style stable, Diaz has been a bad-ass in Japan for almost 20 years now and now he has the back-up and muscle to maintain it.

This is my first time in Japan with the C-Verse and my first time with PGHW. Briefly dabbled with UPJ in the Thunderverse, never run touring before.

So any veterans of the Japanese scene out there who can offer tips on how to make this all work, I gladly welcome them.

Teh_Showtime · November 19, 2018

What’s the situation that lead to you getting the WLW guys?

Sco xY2Jx · November 19, 2018

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Teh_Showtime" data-cite="Teh_Showtime" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41355" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>What’s the situation that lead to you getting the WLW guys?</div></blockquote> Before the game started, I picked a couple of the top guys in the world (primarily power 100 guys) like Cornell, Kobe, Kawashima, Bruce, Golden etc. and used a RNG (scale of like 1-500) to alter their contract to the number of days assigned by the RNG. Also took out things like loyalty. Gives an element of unpredictability about the game world and immediately shakes things up with potential big moves. Normally wouldn't do it but think a changing game world would help me stay invested early on and stick it out. Heading into March with the PGHW Elite series tournament coming up, I'm gonna treat it as a straight knockout tournament. I've created a G1 Climax that'll run in the summer which will follow the same format as NJPW's version. The draw for the PGHW Elite Series came up as follows. <img alt="6sLglOY.png" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/6sLglOY.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Still not sure who's gonna come out on top in the whole event but should be fun to book. Also, I suck at screenshots so, apologies for the whole WordPad document rather than just the draw.

Bigpapa42 · January 11, 2019

Been in a total save bounce mode for a bit. TCW. SWF. SWF 2005. TCW 2005. Burning Hammer. BCG. But PGHW is one company I've never really spent any time with. Perhaps its time to change that and give them a bit of a run out. 90s All Japan and 00s Noah are my puro jam, so the connection alone does intrigue me some.

The possible financial concerns after the tsunami worries me a bit. I've seen the AI crash and burn PGHW within a year or so of it. And I'm not the most careful with finances at the best of times, so....

Would probably do similar to Jon and want to add a junior heavyweight division. Not super juniors but hard-hitting juniors with just a bit of flying. Can add a second tournament, more titles, etc.

olde_gregge · February 22, 2019

Currently up to September 1999 in my CV97 save file, using Danger Kumasaka as the booker for PGHW. Long post incoming.

Basic Summary:

Currently the 3rd best company in the world behind SWF, who have jumped to International status, and HGC who are still lingering at Cult. Burning Hammer are in 4th right behind me at National level (they dropped to Cult for a 11 months). I’m still stuck at Cult and holding there until I can get one more region up to the necessary importance level. I’ve made about two million dollars since the start of the save, mostly because Japan started to hit a decline in the economy in the first year and I’m funding two development companies on top of my own bloated roster.

In terms of stories, I’ve about reached the point where my old hands are all retiring or hitting time decline and the younger guys are headlining the shows with their top performances. Stable warfare is still in its budding stages and hasn’t really taken center stage quite yet in my storylines. So far they’re mostly used for filling out my multi-man tag matches and building up some younger guys I’ve paired off with the top guys.

Roster:

Main Event: Buddy Garner [Historical Japan Ch], Eisaku Hoshino, Eisaku Kunomasu, Kimitada Yanagaita [ALPHA], Koryusai Kitoaji, Mamoru Nagahama [ALPHA], Mito Miwa [Glory Crown Ch], Nobuatsu Tatsuko [ALPHA], Philip Roberts, Shuji Inukai [reVolution], Yoshimi Mushashibo [reVolution]

Overview: Got the iconic PGHW guys sitting at the top of the card with a few unexpected standouts. I changed the Historical Japan to Floating (modeled after NJPW’s IC title) and dropped that on Inukai before passing it to Garner who has been a real phenom since he debuted. The Eisakus, Inukai/Yoshi and Yanagita/Nagahama have put on stellar performances in my tag division and Mito has been killing it as the current Glory Crown champion. Tatsuko is a former GC holder and current leader of the ALPHA stable and Philip Roberts has proven to be the best signing I’ve picked up thus far out of America. SWF didn’t want him and he’s proven a very reliable name to put alongside Miwa in multi-man action. Kitoaji just went onto time decline, but before that he was a major hand both as a two-time GC holder and a tag team champion alongside his former teammate in BHOTWG, Shimi Komatsuzuki (who I let go in ’98 after he started doing double duty in Tier 1). Dread is also a usual main eventer but he’s nursing a minor injury so he’s not pulling a push at the moment.

Upper Midcard: Brandon James [Glory Tag Crown Ch, J-ALPS], Dan Stone Jr [iSHI], Harumi Okazawaya [reVolution], Hirokumi Saito, Hiroyasu Gakusha [international Tag Ch], Jeremy Stone [iSHI], Koki Ishibashi [iSHI], Rogue, Noriyori Sanda [international Tag Ch], Sotatsu Sarumara

Overview: My Upper Mid Card is dominated by foreign signings and young talent. I bought out NOTBPW because I wanted their Canadian popularity and the Stone siblings; both have really been a bonus from day one. Koki proved his worth back on the first tour and floated around on my roster until this logical spot alongside Jeremy and Dan Stone Jr opened up and he’s even competed for the Glory Crown once in a low-key fantastic match. James is teaming with Dread in my hoss group and rocking as one half of my tag champion, a spot originally reserved for Chuchi Sanda before he went and got hooked on pain killers. Gakusha and Sanda team as 2Ronin and is arguably one of my best teams running given their natural chemistry, and Rebel Cell has proven to be a very reliable tag team as well. Saito is working in a very solid team with Fukusaburu Inao and Rogue is chugging along as a fill-in name in my multi-mans. Not glamorous but necessary.

Midcard: ALPHA Koiso [ALPHA], Bryan Holmes [Touring], Duane Stone [iSHI], Fukusaburu Inao, Griffin, Hito Ichihara, Joel Kovach, Richard Coleman, Sofu Ozawa, Steve Flash, Stig Svensson/Captain Hero, Thunderbolt Newman, Tiger Fuyuki [international Ch], Tornado Nagai

Overview: My middle of the pack names. I bought out the starting European company, so I’ve got a quite a few Euro guys on my roster. By the time their contracts roll around, only Svensson, Newman, and Griffin (who is a NBT) will make the cut. PRIDE Koiso pulled a good chemistry with Yanagita so he got paired up with ALPHA. Flash and Svensson also have chemistry and they’ll be International Tag champions sooner rather than later. When I bumped the Historical Japan to Floating, I introduce the International title as my new midcard singles with Tiger as the inaugural champion because he has been reliable since I signed him in early ’97. Of this list, Sofu Ozawa has been the only disappointment and he won’t be lasting much longer.

Lower Midcard: Alexander Robinson [Touring], Dallas McWade, Dean McWade, Otto Hammerschmidt, Scheming Behemoth, Tommy Cornell, Wolfgang Klose

Overview: Stole Tommy from SWF because he’s Tommy freaking Cornell. I expect him to have a healthy rise to the top of Japan in the next few years. The McWades are okay but nothing special. Klose and Otto are a solid tag team, but I’ll be sending them back to Europe when their contracts are up, along with Behemoth.

Opener and Enhancement: Biff The Bruiser [Touring], Clark Alexander [Touring], Gesshin Nishihara [Touring], Max Langstrom [Touring], Shane Nelson [Touring], Inky the Squid Boy [Touring], Jason Smash [Regen, Touring], Ryoma Muruyama

Overview: Just the recent crop of tourers who I test tag teams against and job out. I’ll sign basically anyone who is willing to work in Japan and I love guys who want to come after not starting with Japan as an area (like Max and Clark, for example). Ryoma is the only person who will still be with the company a year from now.

Injured and Absent: Chuichi Sanda [J-Alps], Craig Prince [iSHI] Dread [Glory Tag Crown, J-ALPS], Lee Rivera [Touring], Raymond Diaz

Overview: Dread is injured for a month, Prince and Diaz are on vacation while they’re dealing with nagging injuries, and Sanda is in rehab. Rivera is hurt and gone at the end of the month

Other Notable Employees: Dan Stone [Road Agent], Jackson Andrews [Road Agent], Emma Chase [Manager], Akahito Miwa [Manager, J-ALPS]

Overview: Dan is also the booker for one of my development companies. Andrews has 100 Psych, which is nice, and Emma Chase is already fluent so I get to utilize her talents with some characters who don’t speak the best.

Current Direction:

I’m on the road to Night of COURAGE, which is PGHW’s Wrestle Kingdom in my save, with a stop in Canada at the end of the month for one of the three shows I run there every year. Just head lined my last show with Miwa versus Dread and I’m following it up with Miwa/Kitoaji to headline Courage. Miwa is currently running through former champions who he had failed to beat before he was Glory Champion. Given Kitoaji hitting Time Decline, I’m figuring this to be his last hurrah (unless Jimbo tells me to keep his Popularity up for the third time in my owner goals). I’m expecting some big clashes for Garner, Dread/Brandon, and Gakusha/SANDA to formulate by then as well.

After this current tour ends this month, I’ll be testing out some luchadors in the company for the first time. I don’t expect any one to stick, but at the very least I’ll introduce these guys to the Japanese market and maybe they’ll get booked by other companies for future tours. I’m all about trying to facilitate a healthy market for anyone who isn’t a headcase. Jack DeColt will get a call-up from development (his brothers are currently doing really well in HGC) and I hope to sign Tom Gilmore as well. He slipped through my fingers last tour cycle, but I’m hoping I can sway him easy enough. I’ve also got the Peak Brothers and the New Wave on the development back burner if I need to bolster the bottom half of my tag team division.

My other goal is to hopefully buy out MOSC in the next few months so I can finally get the PPV contract in Australia. Want to start expanding myself into that market. Right now I only have TV deals in Japan and Canada and I want to broaden my reach, no matter how slow it takes. PGHW is steady right now cranking out content that’s consistently better than Burning Hammer, who have taken a rough turn since Sakurako Kagawa has become CEO (But that’s a story for another thread)

CobheadJake · February 22, 2019

Really enjoyed reading that post, it seems like a save I'd like to read more about after some time has gone by! Wondering if you'll have a gaijin world champion at some point.

olde_gregge · February 23, 2019

Really enjoyed reading that post, it seems like a save I'd like to read more about after some time has gone by! Wondering if you'll have a gaijin world champion at some point.

Well Dread has already held the Glory Crown once, but given his storied history in Japan I've never really looked at him as a gaijin. In terms of my current foreigners, its hard to say who might get the nod. Part of the reason I changed the Historical Japan to floating is because I wanted to give guys a run with a very prestigious belt who I haven't slotted into the Glory Crown scene. I have too many top guys to pick from, plus I'm not prone to frequent title changes if I can help it.

With that said, Philip Roberts is really, really good right now. He even challenged Miwa for the Glory Crown earlier in '99 and they produced my best match of the save, so he is a very viable option right now. I also want to give Dan Stone Jr the career in Japan that he won't get to have given that NOTBPW folded, so he might very well hoist the world championship before its all said and done.

olde_gregge · March 2, 2019

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="olde_gregge" data-cite="olde_gregge" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41355" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Currently up to September 1999 in my CV97 save file, using Danger Kumasaka as the booker for PGHW. Long post incoming. Basic Summary: Currently the 3rd best company in the world behind SWF, who have jumped to International status, and HGC who are still lingering at Cult. Burning Hammer are in 4th right behind me at National level (they dropped to Cult for a 11 months). I’m still stuck at Cult and holding there until I can get one more region up to the necessary importance level. I’ve made about two million dollars since the start of the save, mostly because Japan started to hit a decline in the economy in the first year and I’m funding two development companies on top of my own bloated roster. In terms of stories, I’ve about reached the point where my old hands are all retiring or hitting time decline and the younger guys are headlining the shows with their top performances. Stable warfare is still in its budding stages and hasn’t really taken center stage quite yet in my storylines. So far they’re mostly used for filling out my multi-man tag matches and building up some younger guys I’ve paired off with the top guys. Roster: Main Event: Buddy Garner [Historical Japan Ch], Eisaku Hoshino, Eisaku Kunomasu, Kimitada Yanagaita [ALPHA], Koryusai Kitoaji, Mamoru Nagahama [ALPHA], Mito Miwa [Glory Crown Ch], Nobuatsu Tatsuko [ALPHA], Philip Roberts, Shuji Inukai [reVolution], Yoshimi Mushashibo [reVolution] Overview: Got the iconic PGHW guys sitting at the top of the card with a few unexpected standouts. I changed the Historical Japan to Floating (modeled after NJPW’s IC title) and dropped that on Inukai before passing it to Garner who has been a real phenom since he debuted. The Eisakus, Inukai/Yoshi and Yanagita/Nagahama have put on stellar performances in my tag division and Mito has been killing it as the current Glory Crown champion. Tatsuko is a former GC holder and current leader of the ALPHA stable and Philip Roberts has proven to be the best signing I’ve picked up thus far out of America. SWF didn’t want him and he’s proven a very reliable name to put alongside Miwa in multi-man action. Kitoaji just went onto time decline, but before that he was a major hand both as a two-time GC holder and a tag team champion alongside his former teammate in BHOTWG, Shimi Komatsuzuki (who I let go in ’98 after he started doing double duty in Tier 1). Dread is also a usual main eventer but he’s nursing a minor injury so he’s not pulling a push at the moment. Upper Midcard: Brandon James [Glory Tag Crown Ch, J-ALPS], Dan Stone Jr [iSHI], Harumi Okazawaya [reVolution], Hirokumi Saito, Hiroyasu Gakusha [international Tag Ch], Jeremy Stone [iSHI], Koki Ishibashi [iSHI], Rogue, Noriyori Sanda [international Tag Ch], Sotatsu Sarumara Overview: My Upper Mid Card is dominated by foreign signings and young talent. I bought out NOTBPW because I wanted their Canadian popularity and the Stone siblings; both have really been a bonus from day one. Koki proved his worth back on the first tour and floated around on my roster until this logical spot alongside Jeremy and Dan Stone Jr opened up and he’s even competed for the Glory Crown once in a low-key fantastic match. James is teaming with Dread in my hoss group and rocking as one half of my tag champion, a spot originally reserved for Chuchi Sanda before he went and got hooked on pain killers. Gakusha and Sanda team as 2Ronin and is arguably one of my best teams running given their natural chemistry, and Rebel Cell has proven to be a very reliable tag team as well. Saito is working in a very solid team with Fukusaburu Inao and Rogue is chugging along as a fill-in name in my multi-mans. Not glamorous but necessary. Midcard: ALPHA Koiso [ALPHA], Bryan Holmes [Touring], Duane Stone [iSHI], Fukusaburu Inao, Griffin, Hito Ichihara, Joel Kovach, Richard Coleman, Sofu Ozawa, Steve Flash, Stig Svensson/Captain Hero, Thunderbolt Newman, Tiger Fuyuki [international Ch], Tornado Nagai Overview: My middle of the pack names. I bought out the starting European company, so I’ve got a quite a few Euro guys on my roster. By the time their contracts roll around, only Svensson, Newman, and Griffin (who is a NBT) will make the cut. PRIDE Koiso pulled a good chemistry with Yanagita so he got paired up with ALPHA. Flash and Svensson also have chemistry and they’ll be International Tag champions sooner rather than later. When I bumped the Historical Japan to Floating, I introduce the International title as my new midcard singles with Tiger as the inaugural champion because he has been reliable since I signed him in early ’97. Of this list, Sofu Ozawa has been the only disappointment and he won’t be lasting much longer. Lower Midcard: Alexander Robinson [Touring], Dallas McWade, Dean McWade, Otto Hammerschmidt, Scheming Behemoth, Tommy Cornell, Wolfgang Klose Overview: Stole Tommy from SWF because he’s Tommy freaking Cornell. I expect him to have a healthy rise to the top of Japan in the next few years. The McWades are okay but nothing special. Klose and Otto are a solid tag team, but I’ll be sending them back to Europe when their contracts are up, along with Behemoth. Opener and Enhancement: Biff The Bruiser [Touring], Clark Alexander [Touring], Gesshin Nishihara [Touring], Max Langstrom [Touring], Shane Nelson [Touring], Inky the Squid Boy [Touring], Jason Smash [Regen, Touring], Ryoma Muruyama Overview: Just the recent crop of tourers who I test tag teams against and job out. I’ll sign basically anyone who is willing to work in Japan and I love guys who want to come after not starting with Japan as an area (like Max and Clark, for example). Ryoma is the only person who will still be with the company a year from now. Injured and Absent: Chuichi Sanda [J-Alps], Craig Prince [iSHI] Dread [Glory Tag Crown, J-ALPS], Lee Rivera [Touring], Raymond Diaz Overview: Dread is injured for a month, Prince and Diaz are on vacation while they’re dealing with nagging injuries, and Sanda is in rehab. Rivera is hurt and gone at the end of the month Other Notable Employees: Dan Stone [Road Agent], Jackson Andrews [Road Agent], Emma Chase [Manager], Akahito Miwa [Manager, J-ALPS] Overview: Dan is also the booker for one of my development companies. Andrews has 100 Psych, which is nice, and Emma Chase is already fluent so I get to utilize her talents with some characters who don’t speak the best. Current Direction: I’m on the road to Night of COURAGE, which is PGHW’s Wrestle Kingdom in my save, with a stop in Canada at the end of the month for one of the three shows I run there every year. Just head lined my last show with Miwa versus Dread and I’m following it up with Miwa/Kitoaji to headline Courage. Miwa is currently running through former champions who he had failed to beat before he was Glory Champion. Given Kitoaji hitting Time Decline, I’m figuring this to be his last hurrah (unless Jimbo tells me to keep his Popularity up for the third time in my owner goals). I’m expecting some big clashes for Garner, Dread/Brandon, and Gakusha/SANDA to formulate by then as well. After this current tour ends this month, I’ll be testing out some luchadors in the company for the first time. I don’t expect any one to stick, but at the very least I’ll introduce these guys to the Japanese market and maybe they’ll get booked by other companies for future tours. I’m all about trying to facilitate a healthy market for anyone who isn’t a headcase. Jack DeColt will get a call-up from development (his brothers are currently doing really well in HGC) and I hope to sign Tom Gilmore as well. He slipped through my fingers last tour cycle, but I’m hoping I can sway him easy enough. I’ve also got the Peak Brothers and the New Wave on the development back burner if I need to bolster the bottom half of my tag team division. My other goal is to hopefully buy out MOSC in the next few months so I can finally get the PPV contract in Australia. Want to start expanding myself into that market. Right now I only have TV deals in Japan and Canada and I want to broaden my reach, no matter how slow it takes. PGHW is steady right now cranking out content that’s consistently better than Burning Hammer, who have taken a rough turn since Sakurako Kagawa has become CEO (But that’s a story for another thread)</div></blockquote> Figured I'd cover the end of 1999 despite only three months having past. After that, I'll probably stick to updates every six months so I'm not spamming the thread. Night of COURAGE was a roaring success, drawing the best rating for any show I had put on up to this point in the save. The Main Event, Mito Miwa © vs Koryusai Kitoaji for the Glory Crown Championship, also rated as my best match in the save as well. Always nice to see. Dread/Big Cat Brandon © defended the Glory Tag Crown against Yoshimi/Inukai in the semi-main and also drew an A rating. The A* rating is still elusive as of yet. Buddy Garner retained the Historical Japan against Dan Stone Jr while Tommy Cornell and Steve Flash/Stig Svensson were crowned International and International Tag respectively in matches that really show that we have the most impressive midcard in the world. After Courage, we dive straight into the block matches for the Elite Tag Series, culminating at Night of WRESTLING in December. Two six team blocks battle it out over the next three and a half weeks, producing 6 A rated matches over its course and no match scored below a B- rating. Standouts in the tourney included the Eisakus, Yoshimi, and Noriyori Sanda and the best match came at Kitoaji's 25th Anniversary Show the last weekend in November between Kitoaji & Buddy Garner versus Team Dynasty. The Semi-Finals ended up with Dread/Brandon vs The Eisakus and Team Dynasty vs Miwa/Philip Roberts. This all led up to the Eisakus and Team Dynasty in a rematch from the Elite Series final in '98. Unlike last year, Kunomasu and Hoshino are able to pull out the victory and win the trophies for the first time. This proved to be another A rated show, but it was our weakest A Rating of the year. The year concluded with Night of WAR (the rebranded December PPV from NOTBPW) held in Canada and the Road to Night of BEGINNING in January. WAR was a solid B rated show despite the absence of Jeremy Stone (injured for six months at WRESTLING) and the injury of Kimitada Yanagita from a botched move by Buddy Garner in their Historical Japan title match. Tommy Cornell and Steve Flash also squared off a very solid match, given their current status in the company, showing their genuine potential to be mega stars in the company. BEGINNING is kind of an transition show for me before the month break and then the Elite Series Tournament. Not disappointed, though, because I get to give some younger guys a chance to Main Event. In this case, Miwa will be defending against Noriyori Sanda. So far all of Miwa's defenses have been A Rated (the best of any championship reign thus far) and I'm curious if Sanda can help keep that streak alive. Dread/Brandon and The Eisakus will get a rematch with the title on the line, in which Kuno and Hoshino will win. They've already held it once, but I suspended Hoshino a month or two into the reign for his backstage behavior and stripped them. He's been on better behavior since then, and the Eisakus are one of my best tag teams, so I'm hopeful for a much longer reign this time. Finally, in terms of my undercard and development, The Peak Brothers and Jack DeColt received promotions. Doug and Peak have already settled into a dependable position brawling with various teams up and down the card, with ample room to develop. DeColt, on the other hand, is rather underwhelming with my current product and is likely to be shipped back to North America when his contract runs out. I was hopeful he'd do well, but it seems he's destined for Sports Entertainment instead.

Kingster · March 6, 2019

So, given that PGHW turns 20 in July 2016, I was wondering if you guys do anything special in July for the anniversary, maybe a special anniversary show or some other kind of celebration?

Sco xY2Jx · March 7, 2019

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Kingster" data-cite="Kingster" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41355" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>So, given that PGHW turns 20 in July 2016, I was wondering if you guys do anything special in July for the anniversary, maybe a special anniversary show or some other kind of celebration?</div></blockquote> I used that to hold the first G1 Climax of PGHW (same as NJPW). Month long series of outstanding matches topped off with crowning the first ever tournament winner. Now building to the Night Of Honour (August) where Magnum Kobe (G1 winner) will face Kozue Kawashima for the Glory Crown title.

Kingster · March 8, 2019

Yeah, the Elite Series is my G1-style tournament, although the 2016 edition was a mini-version of that with two blocks of four wrestlers.

So, that's out of the question for an anniversary special.

Thinking about doing maybe an elimination tournament, or a big legends match where I bring back some retired wrestlers who can still go, like Miwa, Inukai or Tatsuko. Not sure how feasible that is, though.

I've still got some time left to find a brilliant idea, so still looking for more suggestions.

Sco xY2Jx · March 8, 2019

Aye, well I'm using the Elite Series as like a NJ Cup style tournament thus my G1 is custom made for July.

But, perhaps a couple of shows celebrating the history of the company with veterans back for one off matches and such. Could be a good call.

olde_gregge · March 13, 2019

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="olde_gregge" data-cite="olde_gregge" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41355" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Figured I'd cover the end of 1999 despite only three months having past. After that, I'll probably stick to updates every six months so I'm not spamming the thread. Night of COURAGE was a roaring success, drawing the best rating for any show I had put on up to this point in the save. The Main Event, Mito Miwa © vs Koryusai Kitoaji for the Glory Crown Championship, also rated as my best match in the save as well. Always nice to see. Dread/Big Cat Brandon © defended the Glory Tag Crown against Yoshimi/Inukai in the semi-main and also drew an A rating. The A* rating is still elusive as of yet. Buddy Garner retained the Historical Japan against Dan Stone Jr while Tommy Cornell and Steve Flash/Stig Svensson were crowned International and International Tag respectively in matches that really show that we have the most impressive midcard in the world. After Courage, we dive straight into the block matches for the Elite Tag Series, culminating at Night of WRESTLING in December. Two six team blocks battle it out over the next three and a half weeks, producing 6 A rated matches over its course and no match scored below a B- rating. Standouts in the tourney included the Eisakus, Yoshimi, and Noriyori Sanda and the best match came at Kitoaji's 25th Anniversary Show the last weekend in November between Kitoaji & Buddy Garner versus Team Dynasty. The Semi-Finals ended up with Dread/Brandon vs The Eisakus and Team Dynasty vs Miwa/Philip Roberts. This all led up to the Eisakus and Team Dynasty in a rematch from the Elite Series final in '98. Unlike last year, Kunomasu and Hoshino are able to pull out the victory and win the trophies for the first time. This proved to be another A rated show, but it was our weakest A Rating of the year. The year concluded with Night of WAR (the rebranded December PPV from NOTBPW) held in Canada and the Road to Night of BEGINNING in January. WAR was a solid B rated show despite the absence of Jeremy Stone (injured for six months at WRESTLING) and the injury of Kimitada Yanagita from a botched move by Buddy Garner in their Historical Japan title match. Tommy Cornell and Steve Flash also squared off a very solid match, given their current status in the company, showing their genuine potential to be mega stars in the company. BEGINNING is kind of an transition show for me before the month break and then the Elite Series Tournament. Not disappointed, though, because I get to give some younger guys a chance to Main Event. In this case, Miwa will be defending against Noriyori Sanda. So far all of Miwa's defenses have been A Rated (the best of any championship reign thus far) and I'm curious if Sanda can help keep that streak alive. Dread/Brandon and The Eisakus will get a rematch with the title on the line, in which Kuno and Hoshino will win. They've already held it once, but I suspended Hoshino a month or two into the reign for his backstage behavior and stripped them. He's been on better behavior since then, and the Eisakus are one of my best tag teams, so I'm hopeful for a much longer reign this time. Finally, in terms of my undercard and development, The Peak Brothers and Jack DeColt received promotions. Doug and Peak have already settled into a dependable position brawling with various teams up and down the card, with ample room to develop. DeColt, on the other hand, is rather underwhelming with my current product and is likely to be shipped back to North America when his contract runs out. I was hopeful he'd do well, but it seems he's destined for Sports Entertainment instead.</div></blockquote> Up to the start of July 2000 in my CV97 Game. The Basics The Biggest News in these six months is we hit National! . . . for all about a month. Still, I was able to sign a PPV deal with Emperor’s Choice that was still something I could utilize for the whole year, so I’m currently making over a million dollars every month I’m actively touring, which is about twice as much as before the PPV. I run two major shows a month, so I’m hopeful for increased funds and popularity by the end of the year. Sadly, with the rising economy BHOTWG has bumped back to National and I currently can’t compete against them on a National Stage until I build up a few more my high SQ stars (and/or poach some from Burning Hammer) so I imagine I’ll sit steady at Cult until the end of the year. My owner goals have cycled through and it seems of all the gaijin I’ve imported in over the years, Jimbo has taken a particular interest in Steve Flash and Tommy Cornell and want me to increase their popularity by the middle of next year. Tommy has been killing it as my International Champion at the moment and I’ve got a fun storyline in the works that should bump him up into the upper levels easily enough by ’01. Flash and Svensson are heading my secondary tag division until Flash autopushes to Upper Mid; by then, he should meet the owner requirement and I’ll just maintain him until its fulfilled. Sadly, Jimbo put his second ban on hiring luchadors after two tours, so only a few unemployed souls got a chance to job out and gain some popularity in the process to hopefully get better bookings down the road. I also suffered my first casualties to the brutal PGHW product. Jeremy Stone and Kimitada both sustained injuries around the same time that put them on the shelf for 4-6 months and set parts of their body into the orange. Stone still looks solid after his return but Yanagita’s performances have noticeably suffered since he got back. He and Mamoru Nagahama are one of my premiere tag teams, but I’m gonna take this chance to give Naga a singles push for a bit and let Yana team with Yasnobu Koiso given that they excellent chemistry together. Koiso definitely needs a real direction because he’s been floundering a bit amidst the stellar performances from other midcarders, and I really need him to get to the top of the card so I can exploit his A+ SQ and Sex Appeal. The Tour Highlights Night of BEGINNING, my January PPV, is kind of a hold-over period between my Tag League and the Elite Series Tournament, so the card was a mix of experimentation and stage setting for the future. Mito Miwa defended the Glory Crown against Noriyori Sanda, which was the first singles title match the young hand had had thus far. Sadly, they had poor chemistry, which you hate to see with two names who will be your stars in the years to come. Even then they pulled a B+ rating, the first defense from Miwa below an A rating. The co-main event marked the start of The Eisakus’ second Glory Tag Crown after they beat Dread and Big Cat Brandon. If all goes well, Hoshino and Kunomasu will be holding the belts come next December because I don’t have singles plans for them as of yet. The Elite Series saw a final between Nobuatsu Tatsuko versus Yoshimi Mushashibo, with Tatsuko winning the Series for the first time. The other six members of the eight-man field were Nagahama, Yanagita, Buddy Garner, Philip Roberts, Koki Ishibashi, and Shuji Inukai. Hoshino and Kunomasu defended against Rebel Cell and Miwa squared off against Sanda’s partner Hiroyasu Gakusha in an arguably better match. Night of FORTITUDE in April was aptly named given that Miwa and Tatsuko clashed in a 60-minute Iron Man Match. They had singles matches and a 2 out of 3 falls match prior to this, so this was the natural progression of their rivalry. Miwa ultimately prevailed and its likely that he very well might be champion come next April at this rate. He consistently has the best defenses, with his only shortcoming being his Psychology being capped at around 80, which hurts the flow of his matches sometimes. About this time, I also brought in Kazu Yoshizawa to work some Once in a Lifetime Matches with Dread, Koryusai Kitoaji and Hito Ichihara. Only the match with Kitoaji was any good sadly; that’s the difficulty with Time Decline. Fans at May’s Night of GLORY saw a major title change as Dan Stone Jr defeated Buddy Garner for the Historical Japan Title in the Submission match. Garner had beat Stone once before, but up to that point he had been the only man who Buddy couldn’t submit. Hence the match stipulation. There’s also strife in Stone’s faction, ISHI, as Tommy Cornell is boasting to the fans about his own performances as International Champion. Seeds were planted around this time that won’t be reaped for a few months. Elsewhere on the card, Miwa successfully defends against Yoshimi and Flash/Svensson defeat Eye of the Tiger (Tiger Fuyuki and Tornado Nagai). The June tour closes with a dual-anniversary show of Flash and Svensson, who challenge the Glory Crown Tag Champions the Eisakus to a match. Really great match and a testament to how far this world has developed from the start to now, three and a half years later. I finally was able to poach a few Burning Hammer names in this period. Masutaro Kataoka is slated to be a very solid midcarder with PGHW and Suezo Hojo could very well make it to the top of the card before his contract is up. Both were floundering in the company given their bloated roster and I feel like I can do more with them. I hadn’t been fighting Burning Hammer much for talent until this year; after trying to steal several of my own talent from me, I felt fair was fair. Future Direction My big storyline I’m working towards is Tommy Cornell getting kicked out of ISHI and losing his International Title to Craig Prince, who is also lights out good for being only a midcarder. He’ll run the gauntlet over the next few months beating all of his former teammates before squaring off against Stone Jr at Night of COURAGE in November. I’m really excited for this one. Miwa and The Eisakus are so good these days that, barring injury, I forsee them staying champion in the next six months. I’ll using the Elite Tag Series to elevate a new team to face Hoshino and Kunomasu next January and continue to test combinations of matches with Miwa in his future defenses. Already got Miwa versus Sotatsu Sarumara slated for July and I imagine a few new names will be getting some first-time chances at the Glory Crown. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the next six.

Sco xY2Jx · July 26, 2019

So, it's been an 'on again, off again' affair with this save but I've made it to November and have reached the PGHW Elite Tag Series. I'm treating this like a G1 style tournament for Tag Teams rather than a straight knockout deal (Although, as stated previously, my PGHW Elite Series is a straight knockout as I've created a G1 Climax for July)

Anyway, Alliances and teams were made, blocks were announced and here are the blocks and a few spotlights on certain teams in the competition.

Block A:

Muruyama & Ugaki (Ryoma Muruyama & Masaru Ugaki)

Big Thunder (Commander Kawagishi & Shimpei Hirose)

Rei Surira (Haranobu Kobayashi & SUKI)

Elemental Angel (American Elemental & Emerald Angel)

Okamoto & Tsuchie (Razan Okamoto & Orange Tsuchie)

Samoan Destruction Inc. (Rhino Umaga & Samoan Machine)

KitoGuchi (Chojiro Kitoaji & Bussho Makiguchi)

Kawashima & Koiso (Kozue Kawashima & PRIDE Koiso)

Flash Ardiente (Mr Lucha III & Ángel De Mexico)

Blood Brothers (Aaron Andrews & Joshua Taylor)

Block B:

The Legacy (Matthew Keith & Gregory Gauge)

The Ring Generals (Dean Waldorf & Marv Statler)

Yaju Butai (Bison Yano & Brute Kikuchi)

Mushashibo & Torii (Yoshimi Mushashibo & Bunrakuken Torii)

Funakoshi & Kunomasu (Funakoshi & Eisaku Kunomasu)

Gakusha & Kuroki (Hiroyasu Gakusha & Kiminobu Kuroki)

Kurata & Kobe (Masa Kurata & Magnum Kobe)

Hanran Domei (Kaz & Eien Miyamoto)

Hard Bastards (Raymond Diaz & Buddy Garner)

BB & JJ (Bulldozer Brandon & Jack Jericho/Avatar)

Spotlight Teams of A Block;

Kawashima & Koiso; You can't discuss the PGHW Elite Series and not mention the 2nd most successful team in the tournament's history. 4-time winners previously and the leaders of the Chaos Club stable, you could easily make a case for them becoming 5-time winners. Plus, with Kawashima as the reigning PGHW Glory Crown champion, would you really bet against them?

Muruyama & Ugaki; The duo are widely, and rightfully, regarded as one of the best, most consistent teams in PGHW history. Winners of the elite series in 2008 and in 2015, the reigning champions would normally be a safe bet but the partnership has hit a rocky patch of late. Ugaki had an outstanding G1 campaign and was regarded by many as the MVP of the tournament with some star-making performances, while Muruyama hasn't done much of late. A lacklustre G1 showing and taking the pinfall when the duo dropped the Tag titles to The Legacy, it seems that Ugaki has outgrown his partner and this could be a last hurrah!

Elemental Angel; Important pieces of the Magnum Kobe led Thy Kingdom Come stable, American Elemental & Emerald Angel have shone brightly together in their few tag bouts prior to this with a chemistry rarely seen. Emerald Angel recently lost the PGHW International title in August after a 7 month run with the belt and will be looking to bounce back in style.

Blood Brothers; Leaving TCW in March & April, respectively, Andrews & Taylor have made an impact on PGHW since their arrival. Members of the Blood Brothers stable along with other exceptional American talents, the Gaijins have a real opportunity to upset the status quo in PGHW. Taylor's first big break in wrestling came with PGHW before leaving in 09'. 7 years later, he's returned and at Night Of Honour won the PGHW Glory Rumble to guarantee himself a shot at Kawashima's Glory Crown Title this year. The former TCW boys could have a good shot.

Spotlight Teams of B Block;

The Legacy; Reigning Glory Tag Crown champions at 5 months, Keith & Gauge have ability and appeal for days and have had an exceptional debut year in the company. The company's tag champions are always gonna be in with a shout, so could the brother's be the first foreign duo to win the tournament in 13 years?

Funakoshi & Kunomasu; The reigning International Champion, Funakoshi, and leader of The Crown Jewel stable, Kunomasu, are a makeshift team who threw themselves together for the competition but in their brief warm-up bouts, they look like a formidable force. Funakoshi has made himself a force to be reckoned with since his debut and Kunomasu is turning back the clock with several MOTY contenders under his belt. Despite, however, 13 years in the company, Kunomasu has only tasted championship glory twice. A brief run with the Historical Japan title 18 years ago and winning the 2011 Elite Series. I wouldn't bet against them.

(OOC, this team is, in my mind, what you'd get if Ishii & Suzuki teamed up)

Kuroshi & Gakusha; Both Kuroshi & Gakusha currently compete in GCG and are competing here on an invitation. Teaming on and off for 13 years, Gakusha was recently a 5-time CGC World Champion and Kuroshi is constantly improving even at 37 years old. Despite not being PGHW regulars, these guys could do very well in a tough block.

Kurata & Kobe; Magnum Kobe is lining himself up to be the future ace of the company and leads the Thy Kingdom Come stable. An enigmatic force of Charisma and brutal strikes, he's had an outstanding year. Runner-up to Kawashima in the Elite Series, winning the G1 vs Kawashima in the final and a loss in a World Title bout to Kawashima, Kobe is now firmly ingrained in the company in an epic rivalry with the current 'Ace'. His partner is young, reeks of Star Quality and is an outstanding worker to boot. Few would bet against this tantalising duo winning the block and the whole thing.

Hard Bastards; The name is well earned. The team with the oldest combined age in the competition is also a team that demands respect and if it's not given, will slap the piss out of you to earn it. Diaz is a 3-time former winner of the Elite Tag Series, Garner is a 1-time Glory Crown Champion. Both guys have only ever wrestled for PGHW. Despite their combined age of 84 years old, the veterans will be a tough beat for anyone and could easilt bully their way to Glory.

Sco xY2Jx · July 29, 2019

If you read this in the 'What's Going On In Your Game' thread then no need to read here as I posted in both places...

PGHW Elite Tag Series

Tournament Story;

The PGHW Elite Tag Series 2016 is in the books and it was an outstanding month of competition from the best wrestlers in the world. There were records broken, MOTY contenders and first-time winners of the competition. So let us recap the 19 nights in all their glory.

Starting with Block A and Samoan Destruction. The fiercesome duo had a decent debut year up until the start of the tournament. But decent turned to dominant as soon as the competition opened. Winning the first 2 matches, spectators thought they'd struggle on night 5 vs Kawashima & Koiso. Boy were we wrong. What followed was the single most surprisingly, monstrous display we've witnessed in PGHW as the 4-time winners were ragdolled around the ring. 13 gruelling minutes later and Samoan Machine pinned PRIDE Koiso and the 2000 fans in the sold-out Kyoto Arena were stunned. And that was only the opening bout of the night. The monstrous duo went 6-0 but fatigue seemed to play a pivotal role as they lost their last 3 matches and finished 6-3. A noble effort that could've been enough had 3 other teams not also finished with the same record.

Muruyama & Ugaki, the holders, came into the tournament with tension simmering between them. Ugaki, over the summer, seems to have finally cemented himself as a main event star with an outstanding effort in the inaugural G1 Climax and seemed to be outgrowing his tag partner of 12 years. This trend continued as the duo went 5-4 but all 4 losses were as a result of Muruyama eating the pinfall, further cementing Ugaki's belief that he had outgrown his partner... more on that later.

Kawashima and Koiso bounced back from their manhandling by Samoan Destruction to win their next 4 and lead the block with a record of 6-1. Night 15 changed that, however. They came up against the determined duo of Aaron Andrews & Joshua Taylor, going by the name Blood Brothers, after the stable name involving The Legacy and others. 24 minutes of fiercely fought action ended when Andrews got the roll-up on Kawashima to put themselves on 5-3 going into the final night. On night 17, all Kawashima & Koiso had to do was avoid defeat and they were through. They came up against their fellow Chaos Club members of Razan Okamoto & Orange Tsuchie. Okamoto had endeared himself to the PGHW fans with his fighting courage and spirit and an impressive 7 month long (and counting) reign with the Historical Japan title. Many thought that this match would be half-assed and Kawashima & Koiso would sail through to the final. Boy, how wrong were we?!

Okamoto had a point to prove and wouldn't bow down to the leaders of Chaos Club. Both teams fought valiantly with violent chops and submission attempts throughout. Kawashima went for his finish but Okamoto wriggled free, bounced off the ropes and almost took the Glory Crown Champions head off with a thunderous clothesline that sealed the 1, 2, 3. The 4 men shook hands afterwards but you could see how pleased with himself Okamoto was and how irked Kawashima was. With them sitting at 6-3, they were now waiting on the outcome of the Blood Brothers vs KitoGuchi match.

Andrews & Taylor won the match, finishing with a 6-3 record alongside Kawashima & Koiso, Samoan Destruction & Elemental Angel but, as AA & JT had beaten each of the other 3 teams they won the block and moved to the final.

Block A

Blood Brothers 6-3 (12)*

Samoan Destruction 6-3 (12)

Kawashima & Koiso 6-3 (12)

Elemental Angel 6-3 (12)

Muruyama & Ugaki 5-4 (10)

KitoGuchi 4-5 (8)

Big Thunder 4-5 (8)

Rei Surira 3-6 (6)

Okamoto & Tsuchie 3-6 (6)

Flash Ardiente 2-7 (4)

Block B was filled with controversy, chaos and championship pedigree as it was fiercely fought but 2 teams shined high above the rest. But first, the rest...

Buddy Garner & Raymond Diaz, appropriately naming themselves as Hard Bastards, looked to set a theme for the rest of the tournament on opening night as they defeated the PGHW Glory Tag Champions in Matthew Keith & Gregory Gauge (The Legacy). So, not only giving themselves a likely future shot at the champions but also a strong footing in the block. Things didn't continue in that fashion for the veterans as they finished with a 4-5 record but they did also defeat the future ace in Magnum Kobe and his partner Masa Kurata so the twosome can hold their heads high despite the negative record.

Funakoshi & Eisaku Kunomasu were many people's outsider picks to win the whole thing and the team looked excellent in the early stages sitting at 4-1 record after night 10. However, the duo lost 4 of their next 5 and finished 5-4 and out of contention.

Yoshimi Mushashibo & Bunrakuken Torii proved an inspired combination with Mushashibo's psychology and Torii's athleticism as they went 6-3 but never made it out of the block.

The biggest controversy came after Night 10 of the tournament.Hanran Domei, the team of Kaz & Eien Miyamoto were 1-4 having just won their first match that night but rumours swilled in the aftermath that Miyamoto had been suspended by PGHW for testing positive for steroids. As a result, all 4 of the duo's remaining matches were forfeited which gave free wins to four other teams and a lot of disappointment amongst the fans. However, the block rolled on and, as said before, 2 teams shined brightly in the end;

The Legacy, Matthew Keith & Gregory Gauge, and the team of Hiroyasu Gakusha & Kiminobu Kuroki who were invited by PGHW officials to represent BCG and boy did they! Going into Night 14 of the competition both teams had records of 5-1. The match was, and arguably could still be, the best bout of the competition as both teams gave it their absolute all to out do the other and pick up the crucial win that could win them the block but after 30 minutes of balls-to-the-wall action, the bell rang and the bout ended in a draw as fans rose to their feet and gave all 4 warriors a truly well earned standing ovation. As great as that was though, it didn't change anything regarding the block; Both teams were still deadlocked. And that way they remained up until the final night of Block B.

Both teams held a 6-1-1 record. The Legacy were facing off against The Ring Generals and Gakusha & Kiminobu were facing off against, Keith & Gauge's stablemates, Bulldozer Brandon & Jack Jericho. In what was a shock result, in many people's opinions, Bulldozer Brandon stepped up to prove that he could be a 'hoss' when required and defeated the BCG duo after 19 minutes of action. All that was required now was for the Glory Crown Tag Champs to defeat Waldorf & Statler to win the Block and it took 29minutes and 43 seconds of the 30minute time limit but win they did and we were faced with a history making final.

2 teams, both from the same group, both non-Japanese facing off in the Elite Tag Series final. To say that PGHW are evolving with the times is an understatement. So... onto the final.

Block B

The Legacy 7-1-1 (15)

Kuroki & Gakusha 6-2-1 (13)

Mushashibo & Torii 6-3 (12)

Kurata & Kobe 6-3 (12)

Funakoshi & Kunomasu 5-4 (10)

Hard Bastards 4-5 (8)

BB & JJ 4-5 (8)

The Ring Generals 2-7 (4)

Yaju Butai 3-6 (6)

Hanran Domei 1-8(2)

The final night of the tournament was an event in and of itself. Multi-man tag matches made up most of the card. Razan Okamoto, pinned by Bussho Makiguchi during the Block matches, successfully defended his Historical Japan title vs Makiguchi in a solid bout. A 3v3 bout involving members of The Crown Jewel vs Seigigun looked to be the last match where we'd see Ugaki & Muruyama team up together. After the loss, the 2 men stood in the ring, shook hands and then Ugaki left the ring and walked away symbolising that after 12 years, the duo really did seem to be finished.

Moving on to the final, it was an epic 26 minute bout that may have resulted in the match of the tournament as the four Gaijin's put on a blistering bout that set off at a rocket pace and never slowed down until the ref rang the bell and raised Keith & Gauge's hands in victory as they were crowned Glory Tag Series winners for 2016. All 4 competitors embraced and congratulated each other showing the stable's dominance when Masaru Ugaki emerged from the back, entered the ring and swiftly started putting the boots to Taylor & Andrews. Shocking enough as that was, worse was to come as The Legacy threw the trophy to the floor and joined Ugaki in laying into the duo known as Blood Brothers. Drawing blood from the skull of Joshua Taylor, the fans looked on in horror as all 3 men raised their hands together and Keith grabbed the mic.

"This right here is what greatness looks like. You think you can join our group, adopt our stable name as your own and act like we should be OK with that? We are The Legacy. We are the greatest tag team in professional wrestling today and with Ugaki-san by our side, the best singles wrestler in the world today, we will go on to be greater than anyone here in this arena would ever dream possible because that's what we do! This right here is New Pride Glory! Now, kids, get this trash out of my ring".

And with that, the threesome put the boots to AA & Taylor again as the Young Lions help them out as a chorus of boos, 13,000 strong, rain down in the Tokushima Baseball Stadium to close out a truly outstanding month of wrestling and provide a moment in time that we won't soon forget.

Top 10 Matches;

1) The Legacy def. Andrews & Taylor - Finals Night (96/A*)

2) Muruyama & Ugaki def. KitoGuchi - Block A, Night 13 (96/A*)

3) The Legacy draw. Gakusha & Kuroki - Block B, Night 14 (96/A*)

4) Kawashima & Koiso def. Elemental Angel - Block A, Night 9 (96/A*)

5) Andrews & Taylor def. KitoGuchi - Block A, Night 17 (96/A*)

6) Funakoshi & Kunomasu def. Gakusha & Kuroki - Block B, Night 10 (95/A*)

7) Kobe & Kurata def. Mushashibo & Torii - Block B, NIght 10 (95/A*)

8) Kawashima & Koiso def. Muruyama & Ugaki - Block A, Night 3 (95/A*)

9) Elemental Angel def. Big Thunder - Block A, Night 5 (95/A*)

10) Gakusha & Kuroki def. Mushashibo & Torii - Block B, Night 2 (95/A*)

Sco xY2Jx · August 17, 2019

Ladies and gentlemen, Happy New Year and best wishes for 2017, thank you for joining us as we bring you a special preview of PGHW's first-ever Wrestle Kingdom event! As we're led to believe, this is to replace Night of Honour as the eventual be-all, end-all of PGHW events and the 'season finale', if you will. You last met us as we recapped the 2016 PGHW Elite Tag Series that was a night we won't soon forget. This night, will surely follow suit and top it all. Now, of course, there will be other matches on the card, but these are the ones you're definitely not going to want to miss. The best of the best!

Anyway, let's break it down.

PGHW Wrestle Kingdom Preview

<img alt="8tnuDHN.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/8tnuDHN.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="cKAPI8X.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/cKAPI8X.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="lvryH3g.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/lvryH3g.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="qQgVjGH.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/qQgVjGH.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="kNOyxq3.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/kNOyxq3.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="OqoMK6J.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/OqoMK6J.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="b3NThhW.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/b3NThhW.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Thy Kingdom Come (Haranobu Kobayashi, Suki & Masa Kurata) © vs Seigigun (Bunrakuken Torii, Commander Kawagishi & Shimpei Hirose) (PGHW Six-Man Tag Title)

Haranobu Kobayashi, SUKI & Masa Kurata have held the Six-man tag titles for 5 months now and have been a formidable force during their reign. They come up against a tremendous trio of talent in Bunrakuken Torii, Commander Kawagishi & Shimpei Hirose. This match is nothing more or less than 6 of the most exceptional wrestlers in the business today fighting for gold and if you think this match won't be excellent, then you're very wrong.

<img alt="hIDfts6.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/hIDfts6.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="qQgVjGH.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/qQgVjGH.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="0eDFhmt.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/0eDFhmt.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Razan Okamoto © vs Eisaku Kunomasu (PGHW Historical Japan Title)

Okamoto has, in only one year, arguably made himself the most popular guy in the company and he's only 26 years old. Eisaku Kunomasu is one of the most respected men in the company and, even at the age of 46, is still one of the elite competitors and doesn't seem like he wants to slow down.

These two met once before in the G1 Climax Blocks where Okamoto defeated Kunomasu, but via interference from a Chaos Club stablemate. As such, it wasn't a perfectly clean victory and Kunomasu feels that it doesn't hold up. He's requested a rematch, Okamoto obliged and now two different generations meet at the first ever Wrestle Kingdom event in what may well be a Match of The Year contender. Kunomasu last held the Historical Japan title (his only PGHW title victory) almost 20 years ago. When he was the same age as Okamoto is now. Can he turn back the clock and win it again?

<img alt="pnZZRjG.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/pnZZRjG.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="poYRZfL.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/poYRZfL.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="qQgVjGH.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/qQgVjGH.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="KXTtiQE.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/KXTtiQE.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="dBbTOsz.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/dBbTOsz.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

<img alt="qQgVjGH.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/qQgVjGH.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="0liwOIS.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/0liwOIS.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="01YyZGe.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/01YyZGe.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Hiroyasu Gakusha & Kiminobu Kuroki vs Elemental Angel vs KitoGuchi (#1 Contender's to Glory Crown Tag)

3 of the elite tag teams in the business right now all meet in a battle to crown the next #1 contenders for the Glory Crown Tag Titles.

Hiroyasu Gakusha & Kiminobu Kuroki were the surprise package of the Elite Tag Series. Only losing on the final night prevented the GCG stars from reaching the final. Every match they competed in was excellent and what we have are 2 elite talents with the ability to alter the PGHW landscape all over again. Having made sporadic appearances since the Elite Tag Series they haven't seemed to have formed any alliances with specific stables but you can be sure that if they win this and challenge for the Tag Titles, they'll have their pick of the bunch.

American Elemental & Emerald Angel have set the tag division alight with their abundance of flash and aerial attacks to put all opponents on their asses. They gave a strong account of themselves in the Elite Tag Series but ultimately came up short, losing in the block stages to...

Chojiro Kitoaji and Bussho Makiguchi. This pairing has been around for almost a decade and still aren't even in their 30's yet. The two put on excellent bouts every time they step into the ring and, no doubt, are destined to win the tag titles again but against such elite talent, will this be their night to become 3-time champions?

<img alt="dCG2wHj.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/dCG2wHj.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="qQgVjGH.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/qQgVjGH.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="xHNxBRM.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/xHNxBRM.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Funakoshi © vs PRIDE Koiso (PGHW International Title)

Funakoshi has, in less than a year, become one of the elite competitors in PGHW. Holding the title for 5 months, as of writing, the tank-like athlete still works shows in BCG so is regularly putting on MOTY candidates in two different companies and making it look like a walk in the park.

PRIDE Koiso comes into this match with a lot to prove. Of late, it seems he's been starting to show signs of decline in the ring but, at 39, he's determined to show he still has what it takes. For a competitor of his pedigree, over the course of his career, he has had surprisingly few title reigns. Let's not underestimate the value of 11 championship victories, but 6 of those were alongside Kozue Kawashima which has led many to believe that Koiso has only had the career he has had because of his association with the Glory Crown champion. On, what could become the new biggest stage in PGHW, can PRIDE Koiso win only the 3rd singles title of his career?

<img alt="OEMunvd.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/OEMunvd.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="dl59jlZ.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/dl59jlZ.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="qQgVjGH.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/qQgVjGH.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="PmWipt8.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/PmWipt8.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="HvZ2VRJ.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/HvZ2VRJ.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

The Legacy (Matthew Keith & Gregory Gauge) © vs Blood Brothers (Aaron Andrews & Joshua Taylor) (PGHW Glory Crown Tag)

These two teams last met in a MOTY candidate bout in the final of the PGHW Elite Tag Series. Keith & Gauge reigned supreme in that over their then stablemates but it's the aftermath of the match that is most memorable. Masaru Ugaki appeared, joined forces with The Legacy, put the boots to Andrews & Taylor and formed their own new powerhouse stable to once again change the landscape of PGHW.

Blood was spilt, literally, the last time these 4 men met in the ring and it would be a foolish man to bet against it happening again. Especially with the prospect of gold and revenge on the cards.

<img alt="9LfH7mu.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/9LfH7mu.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="qQgVjGH.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/qQgVjGH.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="3rZYXMA.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/3rZYXMA.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Masaru Ugaki vs Yoshimi Mushashibo (Protége vs Mentor. Betrayal vs Honour)

Ugaki split from his long-term partner in Ryoma Murayama in an amicable fashion 6 weeks ago. The audience applauded and showed their appreciation for the duo and have cheered Ugaki like a hero for a long time now. Later that night that all changed when Ugaki joined forces with The Legacy, beat down the Blood Brothers and seemingly abandoned the Mushashibo led Seigigun stable.

There has never been an answer given as to why this happened. It just did. At Night of RESPECT, Mushashibo approached Ugaki in the ring. He stated his disapproval of Ugaki's actions and the betrayal he felt at his protége seemingly abandoning him and his stablemates. Ugaki responded by claiming he's outgrown Mushashibo, doesn't need him anymore and will prove it. Thus, the match was made. Mushashibo, arguably the GOAT, vs Ugaki, the potential future ace and hottest talent in the company at the moment. This has serious potential to be an absolutely incredible match.

<img alt="dOPMRjv.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/dOPMRjv.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="qQgVjGH.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/qQgVjGH.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="8qXq5hB.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/8qXq5hB.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Kozue Kawashima vs Magnum Kobe (PGHW Glory Crown)

The leader of the Chaos Club vs the leader of Thy Kingdom Come. Champion vs Challenger. These 2 men have already met 3 times in the past calendar year and every match has been a legitimate MOTY contender. This one may top them all.

The first meeting came in the final of the PGHW Elite Series where Kawashima won the tournament for 2nd time in his career and earned himself a title match vs Mushashibo (in which he won the title). The second meeting was in the final of the inaugural G1 Climax where, after both men won their respective blocks, Kobe took the victory and won the first-ever iteration of the month-long tournament. The third bout came one month later at Night of HONOUR where Kobe was given the opportunity to challenge for the Glory Crown title but came up short.

3 excellent bouts by 2 excellent competitors. This will likely be their final meeting for the foreseeable future (although, you never know) and it's sure to be a can't miss affair as the main event of possibly the biggest night of the year!

Hashasheen · October 16, 2019

Does anyone have interesting rules or stips for the Historical Japan title? I keep wanting to enforce sumo rules on it, but PGHW isn't really about that kind of life.

olde_gregge · October 31, 2019

Up to the start of July 2000 in my CV97 Game.

The Basics
The Biggest News in these six months is we hit National! . . . for all about a month. Still, I was able to sign a PPV deal with Emperor’s Choice that was still something I could utilize for the whole year, so I’m currently making over a million dollars every month I’m actively touring, which is about twice as much as before the PPV. I run two major shows a month, so I’m hopeful for increased funds and popularity by the end of the year. Sadly, with the rising economy BHOTWG has bumped back to National and I currently can’t compete against them on a National Stage until I build up a few more my high SQ stars (and/or poach some from Burning Hammer) so I imagine I’ll sit steady at Cult until the end of the year.

My owner goals have cycled through and it seems of all the gaijin I’ve imported in over the years, Jimbo has taken a particular interest in Steve Flash and Tommy Cornell and want me to increase their popularity by the middle of next year. Tommy has been killing it as my International Champion at the moment and I’ve got a fun storyline in the works that should bump him up into the upper levels easily enough by ’01. Flash and Svensson are heading my secondary tag division until Flash autopushes to Upper Mid; by then, he should meet the owner requirement and I’ll just maintain him until its fulfilled. Sadly, Jimbo put his second ban on hiring luchadors after two tours, so only a few unemployed souls got a chance to job out and gain some popularity in the process to hopefully get better bookings down the road.

I also suffered my first casualties to the brutal PGHW product. Jeremy Stone and Kimitada both sustained injuries around the same time that put them on the shelf for 4-6 months and set parts of their body into the orange. Stone still looks solid after his return but Yanagita’s performances have noticeably suffered since he got back. He and Mamoru Nagahama are one of my premiere tag teams, but I’m gonna take this chance to give Naga a singles push for a bit and let Yana team with Yasnobu Koiso given that they excellent chemistry together. Koiso definitely needs a real direction because he’s been floundering a bit amidst the stellar performances from other midcarders, and I really need him to get to the top of the card so I can exploit his A+ SQ and Sex Appeal.

The Tour Highlights
Night of BEGINNING, my January PPV, is kind of a hold-over period between my Tag League and the Elite Series Tournament, so the card was a mix of experimentation and stage setting for the future. Mito Miwa defended the Glory Crown against Noriyori Sanda, which was the first singles title match the young hand had had thus far. Sadly, they had poor chemistry, which you hate to see with two names who will be your stars in the years to come. Even then they pulled a B+ rating, the first defense from Miwa below an A rating. The co-main event marked the start of The Eisakus’ second Glory Tag Crown after they beat Dread and Big Cat Brandon. If all goes well, Hoshino and Kunomasu will be holding the belts come next December because I don’t have singles plans for them as of yet.

The Elite Series saw a final between Nobuatsu Tatsuko versus Yoshimi Mushashibo, with Tatsuko winning the Series for the first time. The other six members of the eight-man field were Nagahama, Yanagita, Buddy Garner, Philip Roberts, Koki Ishibashi, and Shuji Inukai. Hoshino and Kunomasu defended against Rebel Cell and Miwa squared off against Sanda’s partner Hiroyasu Gakusha in an arguably better match.

Night of FORTITUDE in April was aptly named given that Miwa and Tatsuko clashed in a 60-minute Iron Man Match. They had singles matches and a 2 out of 3 falls match prior to this, so this was the natural progression of their rivalry. Miwa ultimately prevailed and its likely that he very well might be champion come next April at this rate. He consistently has the best defenses, with his only shortcoming being his Psychology being capped at around 80, which hurts the flow of his matches sometimes. About this time, I also brought in Kazu Yoshizawa to work some Once in a Lifetime Matches with Dread, Koryusai Kitoaji and Hito Ichihara. Only the match with Kitoaji was any good sadly; that’s the difficulty with Time Decline.

Fans at May’s Night of GLORY saw a major title change as Dan Stone Jr defeated Buddy Garner for the Historical Japan Title in the Submission match. Garner had beat Stone once before, but up to that point he had been the only man who Buddy couldn’t submit. Hence the match stipulation. There’s also strife in Stone’s faction, ISHI, as Tommy Cornell is boasting to the fans about his own performances as International Champion. Seeds were planted around this time that won’t be reaped for a few months. Elsewhere on the card, Miwa successfully defends against Yoshimi and Flash/Svensson defeat Eye of the Tiger (Tiger Fuyuki and Tornado Nagai). The June tour closes with a dual-anniversary show of Flash and Svensson, who challenge the Glory Crown Tag Champions the Eisakus to a match. Really great match and a testament to how far this world has developed from the start to now, three and a half years later.

I finally was able to poach a few Burning Hammer names in this period. Masutaro Kataoka is slated to be a very solid midcarder with PGHW and Suezo Hojo could very well make it to the top of the card before his contract is up. Both were floundering in the company given their bloated roster and I feel like I can do more with them. I hadn’t been fighting Burning Hammer much for talent until this year; after trying to steal several of my own talent from me, I felt fair was fair.

Future Direction
My big storyline I’m working towards is Tommy Cornell getting kicked out of ISHI and losing his International Title to Craig Prince, who is also lights out good for being only a midcarder. He’ll run the gauntlet over the next few months beating all of his former teammates before squaring off against Stone Jr at Night of COURAGE in November. I’m really excited for this one.

Miwa and The Eisakus are so good these days that, barring injury, I forsee them staying champion in the next six months. I’ll using the Elite Tag Series to elevate a new team to face Hoshino and Kunomasu next January and continue to test combinations of matches with Miwa in his future defenses. Already got Miwa versus Sotatsu Sarumara slated for July and I imagine a few new names will be getting some first-time chances at the Glory Crown.

Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the next six.

July 2001 in my CV97 PGHW Save

Champions after PGHW Night of COURAGE, November 2000

PGHW Glory Crown: Mito Miwa

PGHW Glory Tag Crown: Eisaku Hoshino & Eisaku Kunomasu

PGHW Historical Japan: Tommy Cornell

PGHW International: Tornado Nagai

PGHW International Tag: Steve Flash & Stig Svensson

COURAGE is the season finale, so I figured it best to touch on it first before I tackle what happens after that. As per my last update, I had a few storylines going onto this show that I was working with, and all of them went out without a hitch. Early on that night, after failing to defeat the dominating duo of Flash and Svensson, ALPHA Koiso and Kimitada Yanagita were kicked out of Nobuatsu Tatsuko’s ALPHA stable, despite being the leader’s protégé and Mamoru Nagahama’s long time partner respectively. Koiso vowed vengeance on his mentor, but he knew it would be a long time until he would be strong enough to enact it, and I weaved that a lot into his character moving forward. Meanwhile, in a similar vein, Tommy Cornell proved successful in getting his own revenge against Historical Japan champion and ISHI-stable leader Dan Stone Jr, capping on their long-running storyline that was sparked when Cornell was kicked out of the group for outshining the Stones in their matches. Finally, in the Main Event, friend battled friend as Philip Roberts tried to end Mito Miwa’s nineteen-month reign as Glory Crown Champion. Roberts came very close once already to unseating the Ace, but he failed for the second time in front of an electric crowd. After that night, many believed it was inevitable that Miwa would eclipse the two-year mark come April 2001.

The new season started with the Elite Tag Series with two blocks of six pairings. The Eisakus, who won the series the year before and had held the Glory Crown for nearly a year by this point, were the heavy favorites. After four weeks of hard fought contests that resulted in ten A-rated matches and zero below a B-, the four semi-finalists were Kunomasu & Hoshino, ALPHA (Tatsuko & Nagahama), The Stone Siblings (Dan Stone Jr & Jeremy Stone), and 2Ronin (Noriyori Sanda & Hiroyasu Gakusha). ALPHA would ultimately defeat The Eisakus in the finals, securing a title match in January that they would also win, ending Kunomasu and Hoshino’s historic reign after a one year. The Eisakus would not go unrecognized, though, as they would be named the Tag Team of the Year for 2000. The full awards were as follows:

End of Year Awards, 2000

Wrestler: The Big Easy

Tag Team: Eisaku Hoshino and Eisaku Kunomasu

Young Wrestler: Tommy Cornell

Veteran Wrestler: Yoshifusa Maeda (3)

Female Wrestler: Thunder Hike (2)

Independent Wrestler: Cheatin’ Mike Barstow

Company: PGHW

Most Improved Company: PCW (HCG’s development company)

Match: Team Perfection d. The Big Easy & Sam Keith (A+)

Card: PGHW Night of COURAGE

Manager: Jive Soul Bro (2)

Announcer: Mitch Naess (2)

Colour Commentator: Ioan Glyndwr

Referee: Sadonobu Koruba (3)

PGHW netted six awards for 2000 (Tag, Young, Female, Company, Card, and Referee) with every intention of winning even more in 2001.

January’s event, Night of BEGINNING, was on paper a standard show for the company, marked by the aforementioned Glory Tag Crown title change, the reunion of the Urban Samurai (Raymond Diaz and Lee Wright), and an excellent defense by Mito Miwa against Koki Ishibashi, who years before had broken down the barrier when it came to lightweights competing with heavyweights. After the match, Miwa was calling for a microphone when a theme began to play over the PA system, and a man stepped through the curtains that had never been seen in PGHW before.

Tadiyuki Kikkawa

The former Burning World Champion challenged Miwa for the Glory Crown, claiming that there was no one else from within this company that could beat him; it would take the might an outsider. Thus, the Main Event for Night of PRIDE was set.

A second storyline was building at the same time that, while overshadowed by Miwa/Kikkawa, was still significant to the company’s landscape. Team Dynasty (Inukai and Mushashibo) had announced after the Elite Tag Series that 2001 would be devoted to the pursuit of singles success for the pair. They would both compete in the Elite Series, along with Philip Roberts, Craig Prince, Eisaku Kunomasu, Buddy Garner, Dan Stone Jr and Suezo Hojo. Inukai would prevail this night, beating Mushashibo in the first round, Stone Jr in the second, and Kunomasu in the Finals to win the Elite Series for the first time, earning himself a Glory Crown opportunity against the winner of Miwa/Kikkawa. Then, in a match that would leave 33,000 fans in utter shock by the end, Kikkawa defeated Mito Miwa for the Glory Crown, ending his twenty-three month and 15 defense reign.

Much of the next four months revolved around the story of Kikkawa’s arrival and his introduction of the Burning Way to the company, much to the dislike of the old guard. After defeating Inukai in April’s Night of FORTITUDE event, Kikkawa fielded off challenges from Koryusai Kitoaji and Dread, two of the founding members of the PGHW roster that are on the downturn of their career. Kikkawa belittled the two Puroresu legends in the process, earning him no friends in the locker rooms; in fact, Nobuatsu Tatsuko, who is by no means a proponent on respecting the company, has stepped over to defend it, and perhaps even earn himself a second Glory Crown reign in the process.

Meanwile, Yoshimi found singles success where his tag team partner could not when he defeated Tommy Cornell at May’s Night of GLORY for the Historical Japan Championship, his second reign with the belt and the first since men like Diaz, Philip Roberts, and Buddy Garner brought the title out of the midcard and up to one notch below the Glory Crown. Since then, its obvious there’s a little tension between Team Dynasty, and many speculate that the pair will clash over the belt before Yoshimi’s reign is over.

ALPHA dropped the Glory Crown Championship to The Stone Siblings in April after the ISHI leaders earned the opportunity by winning the Ed Henson Memorial Tag Team Cup (still honored by PGHW after their buyout of NOTBPW). Dan Stone Jr suffered a Compound Cranial Fracture a month later, forcing them to vacate the title. Since then, a story has brewing that looks to highlight the sheer competitiveness and excellence. Urban Samurai (Diaz and Wright) won the vacant titles in July to begin their second reign, but with tag teams like 2Ronin, Flash & Svensson, and Ishibashi & Angry Gilmore nipping at their heels, its expected to be a lot of flip-flopping in the coming months.

Champions after Night of MEMORY, July 2001

Glory Crown: Tadiyuki Kikkawa

Glory Tag Crown: Urban Samurai [Lee Wright & Raymond Diaz] (2)

Historical Japan: Yoshimi Mushashibo (2)

International: Richard Coleman

International Tag: The McWade Brothers [Dallas & Dean]

Future Direction

The Road to COURAGE is usually in full-swing by this point and I’ve already got my three main title storylines mapped out. Barring injury, I’m hoping for Miwa/Kikkawa II, Mushashibo/Inukai, and then a four-way tag team match with the teams mentioned earlier in which I’ll crown 2Ronin, who were kind of the first “new” team created since the game started that has really risen up the card. Sanda especially is a forced to be reckoned with when it comes to ratings.

I’ve always been blown away by how talented my roster is, top to bottom. I put so much emphasis on my upper card, but I can’t help but mention that even my midcard title matches pull B ratings pretty consistently. Most of midcard at this point has pulled a stint with my development company already and producing far beyond what they would do otherwise. Still, it’s a wild thought to have men like Angry Gilmore, Rogue, and James Brandon chilling in my midcard, knowing how much they achieve at a national stage in the base game canon. I’m also finally getting to the point where my dojo graduates are making it to the main roster, which is cool. One standout in particular, a regen, has already gotten into the 80s after two years in the business. I’m really excited to see just how crazy rich in talent I can get as I get deeper and deeper into the years.

Despite all the successes, I’ve still had a few setbacks. Stone Jr’s injury put him out for a year, and I’m afraid he won’t come back the same competitor after the injury. Meanwhile, and this is entirely my fault, I mismanaged Tommy Cornell’s morale to the point that he asked for his release shortly after losing to Yoshimi, so now I have to wait and hope that BHOWTG or SWF doesn’t swoop in and sign him before I can lock him down again. My biggest long-term worry, similar to canon, is the wear and tear of my roster’s bodies. Most of my main eventers are into the yellow for their bodies, and its only going to get worse as the years continue on. I’m hoping I’ll get to the point where I can give guys like Miwa or Tatsuko a 3-6 month vacation without missing their drawing power, but for now I need all men on deck.

Sco xY2Jx · November 2, 2019

PGHW G1 Climax 2017

As we head into July, and the PGHW stars return from a month-long break, with it we come to the second iteration of the G1 Climax. So, with it on the horizon, let's announce the star-studded blocks and break down what is sure to be another incredible month of competion.

A BLOCK

<img alt="8qXq5hB.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/8qXq5hB.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />Magnum Kobe <img alt="xHNxBRM.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/xHNxBRM.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> PRIDE Koiso <img alt="AqtxPc8.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/AqtxPc8.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Samoan Machine <img alt="p0NMm25.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/p0NMm25.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Bulldozer Brandon <img alt="pnZZRjG.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/pnZZRjG.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Hiroyasu Gakusha <img alt="9LfH7mu.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/9LfH7mu.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Masaru Ugaki <img alt="PmWipt8.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/PmWipt8.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Aaron Andrews <img alt="hIDfts6.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/hIDfts6.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Razan Okamoto <img alt="dCG2wHj.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/dCG2wHj.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Funakoshi <img alt="9GcyTns.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/9GcyTns.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Tsuneyo Yanagimoto

A Block Preview:

Magnum Kobe is the obvious favourite. The current PGHW Glory Crown Champion and the reigning G1 Climax winner, he's the top guy in the company. PRIDE Koiso always has a chance but seems to be losing a step and slowing down in the ring. The decline is hitting him hard but don't rule him out. Gakusha is a phenomenal talent who has put on excellent matches but hasn't truly shone yet. This could be his chance. Masaru Ugaki is currently the hottest talent in the company and he may be the best pure athlete in the business. A loss to Mushashibo at WrestleKingdom and a loss in the final of the Elite Series won't deter him. He's due a big win.

Aaron Andrews is also the top Gaijin in the company and, as one half of the current PGHW Glory Crown Tag Champs, is no stranger to victory. Funakoshi is the current International champion and is a phenomenal talent. It truly is a stacked block with the potential for upsets aswell.

B Block

<img alt="3rZYXMA.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/3rZYXMA.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Yoshimi Mushashibo <img alt="dOPMRjv.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/dOPMRjv.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Kozue Kawashima <img alt="dBbTOsz.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/dBbTOsz.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Emerald Angel <img alt="y3AS9rp.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/y3AS9rp.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Tommy Gilmore <img alt="HvZ2VRJ.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/HvZ2VRJ.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Joshua Taylor <img alt="yOsJ05m.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/yOsJ05m.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Raymond Diaz <img alt="OEMunvd.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/OEMunvd.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Matthew Keith <img alt="0eDFhmt.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/0eDFhmt.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Eisaku Kunomasu <img alt="0liwOIS.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/0liwOIS.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Bussho Makiguchi <img alt="xt5u6ci.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/xt5u6ci.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Takayuki 2000

B Block Preview:

Another stacked block with a few stand out competitors. Mushashibo finished 3rd in his block last year as Magnum Kobe topped it but he bounced back with a brilliant victory over Ugaki at WrestleKingdom. He recently lost in the last 8 of the Elite Series to Aaron Andrews so this is his chance to prove that he's still the true ace of the company.

Kawashima lost the Glory Crown title to Kobe at WrestleKingdom and hasn't been the same since. Losing the final of the G1 Climax to Kobe last year, he'll be sure to make amends and get back to challenge for the title again. Emerald Angel had an excellent G1 last year and is always a threat. As is Matthew Keith despite being a tag-team specialist. Eisaku Kunomasu, reigning Historical champion and Elite Series winner, could beat them all despite being 47 years old. Spectacular in one-off bouts, some question whether he has the stamina to compete in another G1 despite a strong showing last year.

The most exciting element of the block though definitely looks to be Tommy Gilmore. The former Angry Gilmore in SWF, Tommy has come to PGHW with a renewed sense of fire and passion! His only singles action so far is a victory over Hiroyasu Gakusha and a DQ loss to Masaru Ugaki, both coming in the Elite Series. A man as fired up and unpredictable as Gilmore is sure to make this a must-see tournament!

Sco xY2Jx · November 8, 2019

A few weeks out from the G1 and Takayuki 2000 breaks his leg at another companies show. The same day Kashiro Ino's contract with BHOTWG is up.

We won the bidding war and now he's replacing Takayuki 2000 in the B Block of G1.

Time to start G1, baby!

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