Section 1- Results
Dragon Gate: Yokosuka’s speedy first title defense against BB Hulk on Sunday went off without a hitch. His next opponent was determined in a match between Brave Gate division regulars Doi and Dragon Kid, which Kid won by DQ. This was partially set up by Kid pinning Susumu in a tag last week. Muscle Outlaw’z won their Sunday and Wednesday tags against CIMA’s teams, but have lost on almost every house show and are severely lacking in crowd heat. Hulk is joining up with Blood Generation, and PoS Hearts is on the way out. MO’s added a heel ref to their stable.
New Japan: El Samurai & Taguchi managed a second junior tag title defense, but needed over half an hour to beat Jado & Gedo.
Section 2- News
All Japan: Hiroshi Hase will be retiring on a special show in his home prefecture on 7/23.
Dragon Gate: Yokosuka vs Dragon Kid is scheduled to take place at the annual big show in Kobe World Hall. The match has some history, with Kid and his springboard ‘rana having been a bane to the champ in the past. At the same time it feels like such a mismatch based on the last year’s results, and it also seems quite minor for the biggest stage the company uses. To compensate a Tenryu/Magnum vs Minoru Suzuki/Mochizuki tag has been signed. Magnitude is back from his shoulder injury. Shingo Takagi has left for a tour of the US. A crew of US indy wrestlers will be coming over for a small tour in July, with a special US theme. They do this AFTER disbanding the Florida Brothers?!
New Japan: Fujinami has confirmed that he’ll be staying with the company. A four man tournament seems in the works to determine Lesnar’s next challenger, with Nagata, Tanahashi, Bernard, Nakanishi and Tenzan (especially the first three) all vying for spots.
NOAH: The May/June tour will be small, and thus no title defense for Akiyama until the July Budokan show. Ex-PRIDE star Sakuraba has expressed interest in taking on Momota in a NOAH ring, which makes me think he was kidding.
Zero-One: Kusama, recently the president of New Japan who shook things up in an attempt to balance the books, has replaced longtime Zero-One boss Nakamura. Unlike when Kusama tried to ‘shrink’ New Japan with fewer big matches and fewer costly outsiders, here he plans on trying to grow things. Kusama is opposed to the feud with New Japan and has said that nobody on the roster is safe. Kusama’s connections with HUSTLE, which in turn has always been tied to Zero-One, make this move less than shocking. Perhaps Zero-One will turn things around and be worth covering week-to-week again.
Section 3- Mike Quackenbush, part 1
A veritable institution on the indy scene. One of the premiere wrestling trainers in the country. One of the best announcers in the business. A man whose training gym-slash-promotion Chikara has gained a small but loyal following. A man who stays in shape entirely in the ring, because he loves pro wrestling enough to do it that vigorously on a regular basis… oh heck I could toss platitudes at Mike all day. Between that, Mike’s avowed love of puro and the use of Japanese wrestlers in Chikara, he’s someone I figured could provide a lot of insight on how actual wrestlers view the Japanese scene and style. What I got was a deluge of explanation and analysis!
For some background, here’s a column Mike wrote a couple years back about puro. Some of my questions stem from it and it’s not long, so go read!
I’ve added a few comments in brackets. Part two comes next week. The first batch of questions revolve around wrestling style, and the latter will move around Chikara and his dealings with the Japanese.
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Q: You’ve stated that Liger was a big reason why you became a wrestler in the first place, and that Tiger Mask Sayama was also a major influence. More indy wrestlers seem to emulate the more hard-hits-and-head-drops style of Japanese wrestling instead. What is it that attracts you to the junior-heavyweight style more than heavyweight style?
A: I’m not exactly a big Texan hoss or a meat-fisted slugger. I’m a smaller guy. The grace and the artistry of guys like Liger and Sayama attracted me where the “work” of people like the Ultimate Warrior or Hulk Hogan left me cold. So I felt a natural bias toward the juniors based on my own size, and the style that I enjoyed watching.
Q: Have your opinions changed over the years?
A: There are certainly a lot of heavyweights that I admire. I became an All Japan junkie in the mid to late 90’s, and Misawa, Kawada and the rest of the old Baba crew are some of the sport’s very finest. My opinion on the Ultimate Warrior remains largely unchanged, though.
Q: What other Japanese wrestlers have influenced you the most, and how?
A: I religiously watched everything put out by Michinoku Pro from about 1995 to 1998, so the entire crew that was active during that time (Sasuke, Tiger IV, Delfin, Naniwa, Hamada, Yakushiji, Hoshikawa, the Kaientai DX stable) have influenced me in one way or another. My love of the multiple man tag, especially 6-mans, comes from being a Michinoku-head for many years. I also have tremendous admiration for the work ethic of Manami Toyota.
[Manami Toyota’s ability to do non-stop high-impact wrestling is all the more amazing because she does it without making you stop and think about how rarely she has to stop for breath]
Q: What are some of your favorite matches?
A: My single favorite match of all time is the 10-man tag from “These Days” on 10/10/1996 at Sumo Hall where Delfin/Naniwa/Hamada/Tiger IV/Yakushiji took on Togo/Shiryu/Teioh/Funaki/Taka for about 35 glorious minutes. I know that match move for move, spot for spot. I could recite it for you right now. I love the last match in the Naoki Sano vs. Jushin Liger feud, which is probably from late 1990 if memory serves me right. There’s a couple Tiger Mask I vs. Dynamite Kid matches which I, like everyone else that’s ever seen them, justifiably love.
[The ten-man and the Sano vs Liger feud are unequivocal must-see matches for fans of the junior-heavyweight/cruiserweight style]
Q: What are your thoughts about how the Japanese style has changed since you first saw Liger vs Pillman?
A: The Japanese in-ring style evolves very quickly, whereas a lot of their business and booking practices evolve incredibly slow. It’s an odd dichotomy. I rather miss the 90’s style. If Hustle is the wave of the future, God help us.
[Hustle isn’t for everyone, but it can still be quite fun. It certainly isn’t much for straight wrestling though.]
Q: Have those changes effected how you view the style?
A: Certainly. I am not quite as engaged by puroresu as I was years ago. It has lost a lot of its luster in my eyes.
Q: In what ways do you see Japanese wrestling effecting today’s indy scene?
A: The indy scene is rife with imitators. I have been guilty of this myself. I spent a few years trying to be a Liger or Sasuke clone. In the age of tape trading, the influence from the promotions in Japan is more prevalent than ever. Look how many moves, ideas and sequences you see ripped from every NOAH card on virtually every American indy show.
[More on Mike as an announcer: he’s very intelligent, has a firm stranglehold on the English language as evidenced by his use of the word ‘rife’ above, he has a good voice and a professional demeanor. If only he didn’t have his hands so full between wrestling, training and booking.]
Q: Do you see an increase in the level of stiffness resulting from it, or are things about where they were? What are your thoughts on ‘working stiff’; is is a problem or is it blown out of proportion?
A: There are some morons that think “strong style” is a euphemism for “being stiff.” Thankfully, these clowns will soon be in wheelchairs, and those of us that know what we’re doing can get back to work.
Q: As head trainer at Chikara Wrestle Factory, you’ve produced a rather diverse bunch of wrestlers, some of which don’t seem to have any Japanese influence at all. After teaching the basics, do you tend to let students develop their own style?
A: We present our students with a wide array of styles. How much of any one style they appropriate for their own use is dependent on the individual. One trend I have noticed over the years is that many of us really enjoy Mexican lucha libre because it is so very different from what we see elsewhere on the American independents. The same could be said of British Lancashire style.
[Chikara really does stand out from other indies. It combines a very free-flowing lucha style with a lighthearted feel to the overall product.]
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More next week. In the meantime go buy some DVDs.
