Section 1- Results
All Japan: Hayashi & Kai won the junior tag league, beating Minoru Tanaka & Kanemoto in the finals (Kai over Minoru).
Big Japan: Sekimoto & Okabayashi retained the All Asia tag titles twice. Ito retained over Takashi Sasaki. Attendance at Yokohama Bunka Gym was 1300, which is less than half of what they usually do. It isn’t necessarily a money-loser since the venue is about as expensive as Korakuen, but it’s a very bad sign for business.
Dragon Gate: Blood Warriors retained the trios belts twice. The other three titles were all successfully defended at the big Aichi show.
New Japan: They had the best showing in Fukuoka for some time. The three titles up for grabs were all defended successfully. Nagata beat Tanaka, and Makabe beat Kojima. Minoru Suzuki appeared and took over Kojima’s cobbled-together stable.
NOAH: More round-robin results from the tag league: Morishima & Yoshie over Akiyama & Saito; Akiyama & Saito over Takayama & Sano and Hero & Claudio; Takayama & Sano over Morishima & Yoshie. Akiyama & Saito won the tournament, and there wasn’t a final.
Section 2- News
Dragon Gate: Tamaoka was fired because he was arrested on a drug charge. They’ve brought in ‘Red Shoes Unno’ of New Japan to help.
New Japan: Tanahashi defends against Haas on the 14th. Looks like Goto is the next ‘real’ challenger. The G-1 schedule was announced, and it’s the biggest ever with ten shows. Only one Sumo Hall show, and they’re using Yoyogi Gym twice. Yoyogi, which is in Tokyo, seats around 5000. I’m surprised it doesn’t get used more.
NOAH: Set for Sunday are Kotaro defending against Marvin and Takayama & Sano defending against Akiyama & Saito.
Section 3- THE INVINCIBLE SHILLER
Section 4- 2011 Media Corner
Yoshino vs Fujii, Dream Gate title, Dragon Gate 1/18/11.
Don Fujii is not a flippy prettyboy. He WILL deliver chokeslams and he WILL get Korakuen Hall red-hot. FUJII~
Dick Togo vs Antonio Honda, DDT title, DDT 1/30/11.
This was supposed to happen in December, but Togo got hurt. Honda won a match to become interim champion. The video package sets up that this is the biggest match of Honda’s career, and they give an appropriate amount of effort. Togo is off-the-charts great and it’s an absolute shame he’s retiring, but I suppose it’s better to leave at the top than at the bottom like most. It’s a huge file but I think the VQ is worth it.
Dick Togo vs HARASHIMA, DDT title, DDT 2/27/11.
More of the same: neat spots and counters, and an effective finish.
Section 5- To Grab, Perchance To Bag
Notes from 2005 shoot interview with Steve Corino
-$1.2 million was missing from the Zero-One bank account, and the company was 4 days from going under when they reorganized in 2004. Lots of people invested: Ohtani, Nakamura and his father, the ring announcer, etc. Corino says that Hashimoto was facing a lawsuit over the money, and that his girlfriend (Kodo Fuyuki’s widow) was somehow involved.
-When Zero-One was in trouble, Choshu decided to rejoin New Japan. One night while Corino and Spanky were walking on the street, a very drunk Choshu picked them up and took them to a bar. Choshu offered to take them with him to New Japan, especially because he thought Corino could do more as a serious wrestler. They turned him down, deciding to be loyal. Then, Nakamura said he was trying to go to New Japan and Corino was shocked. (Of course, Nakamura ended up helping Zero-One stay afloat so Corino was able to keep doing tours).
-He got in a legal/financial scrape because of an ex-girlfriend and had to put $13,000 in an escrow account. Nakamura gave him the money for it, and Steve was able to repay him when he (Steve) was cleared a year later.
-Choshu and Kawada don’t call any spots, they just expect you to know in advance what’s coming next. (Which in Choshu’s case is easy, and Steve had no problem with it). One time, he was told that the finish would be whatever and whenever Choshu wanted.
-On working in Japan: A heel needs to stay on top of a babyface because they’ll start coming back if you give them too much time/space. Most of the match isn’t called or planned, especially the opening minutes. The goal is to make sure it looks competitive rather than cooperative.
-Hashimoto and Takaiwa soured on Low Ki, but Nakamura liked him enough to introduce him to NOAH.
-Matt Ghaffari was making $5000 a week and bragged about it, which didn’t help his reputation.
-Corino says that Inoki was behind Mutoh’s jump to All Japan.
-On Japanese-style stiffness: Ohtani does a ‘big punch’ spot and wanted to make sure Corino sold it. Corino asked Masato Tanaka about it, and Tanaka of all people said it was dangerous. Sure enough, Ohtani landed a hard punch just below the ear that had Corino wobbling. Also, on his first couple tours Corino was eating some elbows where the wrestlers were driving through rather than stopping when the blow made contact; they lightened up eventually. He said that Kohei Sato did a running elbow where the point of the elbow made contact, and kept doing it until Hashimoto took one and made him stop. Takaiwa would always stiff wrestlers he hadn’t worked with before. Young wrestlers would get in trouble for selling a loose shot. Ohtani’s finger-biting spot hurts so much you can’t do a fakey “ow ow ow” reaction.
-Corino spent months learning Japanese style in the Zero-One dojo, because he figured that was where he could earn a living.
Notes from Wrestling Observer interview with Road Warrior Animal
-They did vignettes for a US wrestling show airing in Japan for a year before their first tour, so when they finally arrived it was a huge deal.
-They had a match at Tokyo Dome vs Hogan & Tenryu for SWS (which was working with WWF). Lanza, the booking agent, wanted Hogan & Tenryu to win with the Doomsday Device. Hawk & Animal refused, and Tenryu quickly said he was willing to take a countout loss. Animal said in the interview that in hindsight they’d have been willing to lose, but not to their own move.
-The Hellraisers team (Hawk & Sasaki) was done because Hawk was facing a drug suspension, and New Japan wanted a way to get Sasaki over.
-He knew and trained with Scott Norton before Norton became a wrestler. Meltzer noted that they came out of Minnesota, but were never recruited by the AWA, unlike Norton and others.
-They were part-owners of Zubaz and wanted to sell but didn’t and ended up failing to cash in when the fad was hot.
Meltzer notes from his biography of Tadao Yasuda
-He started as a sumo, and was inconsistent, varying between world-class and bad. By the time he left he was enough of a star that his joining New Japan was a big deal.
-He was similarly inconsistent as a wrestler, and never broke out in the ’90s.
-In 2001 he headlined a major New Years Eve MMA show, beating Jerome LeBanner. (Meltzer doesn’t say this but it’s suspected that the fight was a work). Yasuda at the time had gambling debts, and Inoki had a storyline where Yasuda reconsiled with his family by winning the fight. Inoki then used the win as a springboard for giving Yasuda a brief IWGP title win. (The win was so poorly received that the fans turned on Yasuda, and in one of the better-booked angles Japan has done in the last decade, Yasuda turned heel and suddenly was a charisma machine, somewhat like Alberto Del Rio).
-The gambling addition resurfaced and ruined the rest of his career.
Meltzer notes from his biography of King Curtis Iaukea
-He went to Japan in late 1960, and was so effective that he was quickly given a push, including some clean pins on Rikidozan. A singles match against Rikidozan in which Curtis bled heavily was memorable enough to establish him as a star there until his retirement in 1979.
-After JWA closed, he worked for IWE and All Japan. Baba was one of his favorite promoters, and he also had friendships with other All Japan figures like Destroyer, Lord Blears and the Funks.
-He put Taiyo Kea in contact with All Japan, leading to Kea joining the dojo and debuting there.
Notes from shoot interview with James “Guido” Maritado
-While he was still learning the ropes, UWFi was looking to fill its roster and sought out Americans to train in shoot-style. When asked if he was interested in doing it, he agreed, despite not being familiar with the concept. He did have an amateur wrestling background, and it was paid training as opposed to him paying to get trained, so that helped.
-The training was very brutal, including two months of getting stretched without being taught much. He said he wanted to quit, and they decided to teach him submissions. Much of the training was from Billy Robinson.
-He trained in UWFi’s gym in Nashville for a few years before UWFi brought him to Japan.
-The finishes were pre-determined, but the action was generally a shoot (in order to keep it realistic). He notes that if you didn’t defend yourself properly, the opponent was liable to rip you apart.
-He wasn’t as good at shooting as the Japanese, be it in sparring or matches.
(As near as I can tell, he was trained for years but only ended up doing a couple shows over six months.)
