The Reality of Wrestling: The Tokyo Dome
By Phil Clark & David Ditch
A little under two weeks ago, the WWE went on their third yearly tour of Japan. They had two shows (Feb. 4 & 5) at the Yokohama Arena. Both shows were just over half full and, in terms of match time and position on the card, was a little bit of fresh air and a little of the same old thing. Last year’s two shows at the Saitama Super Arena had about the same total attendance for the two days, but was worse due to the Super Arena having twice the capacity of Yokohama. So what does all this mean to a WWE fan? It means that the E has decided once again to try and build a relationship with Japan; they had a working relationship with Tenryu & SWS for just about a year back in the early 90’s. Of course, the goal of all of this was for Vince to finally be able to book an all-WWE show at the Tokyo Dome. However, the poor attendances at three major venues in Japan (Yokohama Arena, Saitama Super Arena, and Budokan Hall) point to that dream being just a dream.
D.D. Says: The Dome is almost impossible to run successfully
On WWE: They will never run the dome without co-promoting with a Japanese fed and running dream matches. They’ve done half-full houses at smaller venues like Yokohama Arena (which only seats 16,000) and nothing short of Wrestlemania would make the Japanese care about WWE any more than they do currently. The allure WWE had when it first came has diminished so they can no longer just get by on having less talk and more Chris Benoit. The meeting with Simon Inoki could perhaps signal some co-promotion between the companies for big shows, as Vince and Tenryu once joined forces to run dome shows, but Vince has been very anti-crossover since buying WCW so that’s less likely.
On New Japan: The company fell into decline with the loss of talents like Hashimoto, Mutoh and Sasaki, and has also been hampered by Inoki’s interference in booking plans. The product at dome shows often had nothing whatsoever to do with lead-in tours so there was no momentum to build from. With a smaller roster after years of defections, fewer proven draws in that roster and new stars not being on the same tier as the old ones, they don’t have what it takes to justify running a venue larger than Sumo Hall. Amazingly enough they did just fine running three dome shows in 2002, and drew over 100,000 combined to the three in 2003, but didn’t sell enough tickets to the three dome events last year to fill it once.
On NOAH: They will probably never repeat what they did last year in getting a sellout, as it was a dream card. Sasaki in NOAH is no longer a huge deal, and Kawada might not return, so that leaves them with the talent roster being used for Budokan Hall. Unless Akiyama or Morishima really starts to catch on, NOAH will be very lucky to sell much more than half the tickets needed to fill the dome in the future. Their show in 2004 could be considered a success but that also needed help in the form of Liger, Mutoh, Taiyo Kea and an IWGP tag title match; it’s doubtful that they can get as much help again. I expect them to run a dome show this July, and perhaps they’ll be helped by the absence of a New Japan show in May, but if it doesn’t do well they might stick to the Budokan. Which would mean no domes for the forseeable future.
On the Japanese wrestling scene: The retirement of Inoki and the death of Baba were perhaps harbingers of bad times to come, but that isn’t the only thing that harmed the puroresu industry. The growth of shootfighting, the dilution of talent among too many promotions, and several head-scratching booking decisions have all combined to reduce fan interest. Promotions have relied on dream matches between feds and also with shootfighters, so not only are those dream matches spent but also much of the allure of dream matches as a concept. While it’s still possible to assemble a card of wrestling matches capable of a sellout, it would now take an enormous amount of political handiwork to make it happen.
P.C. Says: It’s possible for a federation to run a successful Dome, but not by themselves
While the Japanese wrestling industry, as well as pretty much the industry period, has fallen into a major slump, there is still a way to promote a successful Tokyo Dome show. The only consistently successful way is to have talent from other promotions participate. Not only does this add some variety to the card, but it also allows fans from these other promotions to join in the festivities of a big show. This has proven to be the formula with which New Japan ruled The Dome throughout the 90’s.
Now, it doesn’t all have to do with who’s on the show; if it did, then there’d never be a slump in this industry. To produce a card that will draw a big crowd, you have to have matches that people care about. Dream Matches fit into this equation as the Kawada/Misawa final match and Kobashi/Sasaki Dream Matches helped NOAH sell-out The Dome last year. The Hulk Hogan/Stan Hansen and Hogan/Genichiro Tenryu Dream Matches played a big part in drawing big crowds to the E’s last Dome shows back in 1990 & 1991. However, Dream Matches are almost a dead commodity as there aren’t any more real Dream Matches due to such things as bad booking of people, lack of fan support, and the fact that everybody has faced everybody. An example from Japan: an IWGP Title Match between Yuji Nagata and Hiroyoshi Tenzan would’ve been the talk of the wrestling world in Japan back in 2003; today: not a chance in hell this match would sell-out even the Sumo Hall by itself. In Japan, the only REAL Dream Matches remaining involve a man most refer to as Dangerous K.
Utilizing the young talent is a good way to help the attendance for a Dome show as well. Look back at New Japan’s Tokyo Dome cards from the 90’s where they were drawing 50,000 or more a show. In the undercard you’ll see guys like Shinjiro Ohtani, Jushin Liger, Koji Kanemoto, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Hiroshi Hase; guys that weren’t on the higher tier of the promotion, but were over enough where their matches would help bring people to the shows they were on. In other words: undercards help determine whether a card is going to draw big or small. The majority of wrestling fans (especially in Japan) will only go to a card if they believe they are going to get their money’s worth; making a card look good on paper is what brings fans to the show, making the show good is what brings them back (I call it “Hype & Deliever”). Even in the days of Inoki & Baba, the argument could be made that the rest of the card mattered as well.
I’m going to head back to my outsiders argument for a moment. This would help a Tokyo Dome card simply because all of this participation does make the card seem important; it gives fans the “there’s people from all these places, this must be a big deal” mindset. Believe me, it’s worked for years and continues to work; NOAH’s first Dome show had participants from New Japan and All Japan including a title match with one of New Japan’s (tag-team) titles on the line. It only drew 37,000 paid, but was a qualitative success by a good deal of the wrestling community. One last thing to think about in terms of the appeal of outside promotions to The Dome: the Tokyo Dome is the only arena in the world where people from WWE, WCW, NWA, RoH, ECW, New Japan, All Japan, Zero-One, FMW, DDT, Michinoku Pro, BattleArts, U.F.O., UWFi, PRIDE, K-1, AJW, Big Japan, Pancrase, PWFG, and NOAH have wrestled in at least once. Interesting huh?
So, can WWE put on a successful Tokyo Dome show? The odds aren’t in their favor. The appeal that the E has in Japan has all but vanished since they’ve been to three major arenas already. The only way that the E would have any shot at running a successful Tokyo Dome show would be to go the route of the UWFi/NJPW Oct. 1995 Dome show and do WWE Vs. Japan matches. I believe that’s the only way to go.
The Reality is…the Tokyo Dome market is all but dead to anyone minus the Tokyo Giants baseball team. All Japan stopped running Dome shows after their third attempt in 2000, New Japan has eliminated all future Dome bookings minus their Jan. 4 show (and even that may not be happening any more), and how NOAH’s July show goes this year will determine whether or not they go back. For the E to attempt to run a Dome show after failing in attempts at smaller venues will likely result in an attendance reminiscent of New Japan’s 2005 earnings at The Dome. Vince, think this through (for real this time).
This week’s “FUCK YOU!” goes to:
VINCE MCMAHON
Well Vinny Mac has outdone himself this time. This last week, I found out that it was good ‘ol Vince that was the creator of the Tim White suicide angle and using Eddie Guerrero in the Orton/Mysterio feud. Not only that, but Eddie’s wife, Vickie, and his two daughters will be at ringside for the Orton/Mysterio match at No Way Out this weekend. While I look past the Tim White angle as more standard WWE stupidity in Vince Russo’s image, but having Eddie’s widow and children come out and watch Mysterio lose (my pick, wink, wink) is pretty bad even for Vince. I’m hoping that check is pretty big.
