Puroresu Pulse, issue 69

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Puroresu Pulse, issue 69
Return of the Quack; A fan’s night in Korakuen

Section 1- News

All Japan: Two title matches take place on the next tour, both on the 6/10 show in some place I’ve never heard of. Sasaki & Nakajima defend the All Asia belts against the bulky duo of Yoshie & Brute Issei, while Kojima defends the Triple Crown against Suwama. Also of note on the tour is the show that could double as LA Lakers porn, “Feelin’ Come Kobe”. Shows for the next tour were also announced, and 7/3 at Ota Ward Gym (same place as Kojima vs Muta) will likely be the site for Kojima vs Kea.

Dragon Gate: A bizarre trios title match has been signed for 5/27. The feuding champs (CIMA/Yoshino/Magnitude) will face Doi, Tanisaki & Gamma, meaning 5 of the 6 guys in the match are Muscle Outlaw’z. Man that apostrophe followed by the z just adds so much depth to the stable. Shingo Takagi will work some ROH dates during his US tour, and I expect him to impress more than he did last year.

New Japan: Some initial G-1 plans were announced, and they’re doing a smaller two-block twelve-man tournament over six shows this year. Part of the reason might be that the traditional double-shot at Osaka Prefectural Gym can’t happen due to the venue being booked up. Last two nights in Sumo Hall as usual. In other news, there is some shocklingly credible reports that Nakamura will wrestle some matches in WWE after he impressed Johnny Ace and Dean Malenko. Problem is that WWE doesn’t know how to put over moves like the cross-armbreaker, so I don’t know how well he’d do. Part of it has to do with the muscle mass he’s been adding at Lesnar’s gym. In news that’s somewhat amusing and someone scary, both New Japan fans and Antonio Inoki are rooting for Manabu Nakanishi to become the ace. Sometimes the fans don’t really know best.

NOAH: The May/June tour is pretty darn tiny. On 6/3 there will be a juniors battle royal to determine KENTA’s next challenger, with the title match happening the next day. Also on 6/4 is Morishima & Yone vs Kobashi & Honda, which will probably be announced as a tag title match when the Morishima/Yone tour of Europe ends. Ishimori has been added to the regular-irregulars roster, much in the same vein as SUWA and Low Ki.

Section 2- Dragon Gate fan report

PuroPulse reader Steve sent me a note that he’d been to the Dragon Gate show last Wednesday in Korakuen, and kindly agreed to do a report on it. So here it is. My comments in brackets.

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David asked if I could do a quick write-up about attending the May 10th, 2006 Dragon Gate show at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. I’m relatively new to the Japanese wrestling scene, so if I’m way off on any facts, I apologize in advance.

With so many wrestling promotions in Japan, I was hoping to catch more than one show during my week in Tokyo. Unfortunately, only Dragon Gate had a show that week, but fortunately I had a hell of a time. As far as the crowd goes, I’m pretty sure I was the only gaijin in the building other than Jack Evans and MPT who were wrestling. What surprised me more were the amount of women in the crowd. The audience seemed to be about 40% female. I’m not sure whether it’s because they really dig the wrestling or because there are lot of pretty boys in Dragon Gate, but it’s sweet to see large groups of girls going to wrestling shows on their own.

The opener was Ryo Saito/Dragon Kid vs. BxB Hulk and Jack Evans. Solid cruiserweight match, and Saito was hugely over. He won with a Dragon Suplex on Evans. Afterwards, The Muscle Outlaws (who remind me of Kaientai DX or the nWo) ran out and attacked everyone, but CIMA saved. CIMA tried to recruit Hulk and Evans, but Hulk wasn’t really into it, turned CIMA down, and walked away. I don’t speak any Japanese, but the storyline seemed reasonably easy to follow.

Second match was Genki Horiguchi vs. MPT vs. Keni’chiro Arai in a Triple Threat. It was a quick power match, but pretty solid. This was followed by Anthony W. Mori/Super Shisa vs. Akira Tozawa/Taka Iwasa. Tozawa was harassing Mori for being totally metro, but it was a comedy match full of poses and screaming, of which the significance went over my head. The crowd was popping like crazy for everything, and the ending was pretty funny, although I’m sure I’d have dug it more if I knew some Japanese, or even had some backstory on Tozawa’s character. Then Minoru Suzuki came out and squashed Stalker Ichikawa, who looked like a gay devil. Stalker must have recovered quickly, because he was handing out free bottles of water after the show finished. Thanks, Stalker.

[Tozawa is doing some weird gimmick based on an anime about a school or something, and is gathering a stable. This is going to be the comedy item that replaces Florida Brothers from what I can tell.]

Match of the night was Susumu Yokosuka (Enter The Dragon Gate Champion) vs. Shingo Takagi. Shingo was like the anti-Chris Masters. All muscles and posing, but Shingo can work his ass off. They beat the crap out of each other for about 20 minutes. Susumu retained, but appeared to have promised a rematch. The crowd was really into Shingo, and screamed his name all through the match.

[Match was non-title. And Shingo can indeed go.]

The main event was CIMA/Magnum TOKYO/Masaaki Mochizuki/Don Fujii vs. Four of the Muscle Outlaws. Magnum TOKYO’s entrance is great. He looks too tough to be dancing around while four showgirls spin pink umbrellas around. Pretty fun brawl, and they began by wrestling into the crowd like an ECW match. Finish had the ref turning heel and joining the Outlaws, resulting in Outlaw Gamma pinning CIMA. Huge beatdown commenced, and then BxB Hulk came out for the reluctant save to end the show.

All in all, I really enjoyed the show. There were three great matches (the opener, the title match, and the main event), and I was really impressed with the crowd. Everyone in the crowd intently followed the matches, and then really exploded during highspots and finishing sequences. The Muscle Outlaw faction seemed like a bit of a rehash, but at least they are stealing from the best. I’m just glad I could follow most of what was going on. It sucked that I couldn’t stick around long enough to see another show.

Finally, while wandering around Japan I came across about a dozen separate shops that specialize exclusively in pro wrestling. Tapes, action figures, magazines, masks, replica belts…you name it. Tons of WWE stuff, too. Japan is a great place to be a wrestling fan. It’s also a great place to be A-Train. If you want some A-Train merchandise, then go to Tokyo. He’s all over the place.

[I stupidly forgot to look for these shops during my trip last year.]

Thanks to David for helping me fill in the wrestler’s names after the fact.

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And thanks to you, Steve. I should point out that show reports are welcome if any of you happen to be in Japan for some pro-wres.

Section 3- Mike Quackenbush, part 2

I should point out that not only was Mike voluminous in his reply, he was also prompt and courteous, informing me that he wouldn’t be able to reply the day after my email because he had to go wrestle. He sent it on Monday, the first day he could.

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Q: Have you had a chance to take on any Japanese wrestlers in the ring? What were your experiences?

A: I took on Minoru Fujita when he toured the States back around 2001. I’ve wrestled a bunch of Toryumon guys. Milano Collection AT being most notable, as well as Koichiro Arai (now Shinjitsu Nohashi), Chuichiro Arai (now Amigo Suzuki), Kanjyouru Matsuyama and maybe another one or two that slip my mind right now. Our styles are very similar since they, and I, all have trained with Skayde. So that provides a nice common ground. I also wrestled KUDO from DDT in a tag team match, and he was a real pleasure to work with.

Q: Have you had the opportunity to wrestle in Japan?

A: No, I have not. I would like to believe the opportunity will present itself.

Q: How is it that so many Japanese wrestlers made their way into the Tag World Grand Prix tournaments?

A: Sometimes we just get lucky, it seems. Other times, we have middle-men request representatives for us, or we individually invite participants. There’s a different story to practically every team you’ve seen in the tournaments over the years.

Q: Are your Japanese relationships mostly based around bringing wrestlers into the states, or is it more about using ones who are in the US for an extended stay such as Milano Collection AT?

A: A little of both. This past year, we had two fine wrestlers from the Kaientai Dojo here specifically for the Tag World. Milano and KUDO happened to be here in the States. KUDO sent word to DDT to send him a partner, and we got MIKAMI that way, which was really just dumb luck. They could have sent anyone. It’s always a crapshoot. When we got permission from Ultimo Dragon to use Koichiro and Chuichiro Arai, the next thing we hear is that they can only appear as Nohashi and Suzuki. To that end, we aren’t always entirely in control, because at the end of the day, these other promotions are much bigger than we are.

Q: There are a number of smaller, lesser-known promotions in Japan such as DDT and K-Dojo. Which of those wrestlers do you think US fans should be more aware of?

A: We work hard to find the independent guys over there that are worthy of attention, and spotlight them at CHIKARA. MIYAWAKI is a great example of that. I was really pleased that we had an Osaka Pro team in the 2005 Tag World.

Q: Which Chikara students do you think will see the most success in the future?

A: That’s so hard to say. We have such an eclectic bunch of guys, and in their own way, each of them is something unique and irreplaceable. If I think any one person currently on our roster will end up on national TV any time soon, I would say that’s probably Claudio Castagnoli. His time is at hand.

[Claudio has everything it takes except fluent English. And he’s learning that.]

Q: The aspect of having lots of colorful masked wrestlers in Chikara seems more similar to the Japanese lucha-influenced promotions. Do you see Chikara as being in the same vein as MPro and Osaka Pro, or is that more of a straight lucha influence?

A: If I could style the promotion after another, I would try my best to duplicate Michinoku Pro from the glory period that I watched so religiously. That was always my favorite stuff to watch, and I would like to produce something in the same vein, as that is the most rewarding experience.

Q: For those who haven’t seen you in action, which matches would you recommend?

A: I just had back surgery in January, so my singles matches are even fewer and farther between now than they have been since CHIKARA began. Check out CHIKARA’s “Negative Balance” from 8/13/05, which is probably the best singles I’ve had in the last year. I also had one with Chris Sabin at CZW back in November which I think was very solid, if I do say so myself.

Q: Which CHIKARA shows would you recommend for newcomers to the promotion?

A: The Tag World Grand Prix 2006 is a good jumping on point. Even if you can’t afford Nights 1 and 2, Night 3 is a fine place to start, and you’d only be 2 months behind (we’ve had only 3 events since then.)

[TWGP is a 32-team three-night tournament featuring a wide array of wrestlers. Indy stars, Japanese imports, women, Chikara regulars, deathmatch workers in animal outfits, a dragon, etc. Recommended.]

Q: Anything else you’d like to say to the readers?

A: CHIKARA isn’t for everyone. I think of it as an experiment. We are always testing the boundaries of what can and cannot be done in the wrestling genre. We aren’t your run-of-the-mill indy company. So if that’s your cup of tea…well, we’d appreciate your support either way, I suppose. Even if you think everything we do and say is a barrel of crap.

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As I said last week, get some Chikara in your life.

Next Week (unless something comes up): The great Destroyer love-in.