Section 1- Results
Dragon Gate: Two title changes at the Korakuen show on the 13th. Yamato retained over Mochizuki, but Yokosuka & K-ness won the tag titles and CIMA/Gamma/Horiguchi won the trios belts. Tigers Mask retained the lightweight title over Shisa.
IGF: Takayama didn’t face Josh Barnett, claiming an injury. However, he wrestled two days before and won’t miss the upcoming NOAH tour. Meltzer speculates it’s because he couldn’t lose after winning the tournament, and IGF wouldn’t want Barnett to lose.
New Japan: Kanemoto & Samurai won the junior tag titles in an upset, beating Devitt & Taguchi in the finals. Marufuji retained over Tiger Mask. They sold out JCB Hall for an all-juniors show, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they start using the venue for events that are really too big for Korakuen, though that might not be until next year.
Section 2- News
All Japan: Looks like I was wrong about Kondo getting a shot at Hayashi. He lost in the tag at the start of the tour, and Hayashi will defend against Minoru Fujita on the 30th. They’ve booked Osaka Prefectural Gym for July 4th, so that should be Suzuki’s first title defense.
Dragon Gate: Yamato’s next title defense won’t be until Kobe World Hall in July, as expected. Hulk & Tanizaki will make a (probably futile) tag title challenge on the 30th. Yamato, Shingo & Kagetora will get a trios shot on June 10th. Also on the 30th is a Hulk vs Cyber Kong match that I have a feeling will be important.
New Japan: Card is set for the next big show, June 19th at Osaka Prefectural Gym. Main event is Makabe defending against Rikio. Underneath is a series of rematches. There will be another tag title 3-way, this time in elimination form; Goto vs Tanaka; and Tanahashi vs Yano hair vs hair. Ishimori was the last name announced for the Super Juniors tournament. Based on the Super Juniors schedule, I’m guessing these matches on the next-to-last day will determine the semifinalists: Ishimori vs Hayato, Kanemoto vs Taguchi, Ibushi vs Richards and Tiger Mask vs Devitt. Nakamura is out with a shoulder injury
NOAH: Kawada isn’t on their next tour, though Yoshie is. It looks like Akiyama’s “win or retire†statement was a hollow threat, since he’s on the tour as well.
Section 2a- Meltzer News
All Japan: They did just 2000 paid at Aichi Prefectural Gym (capacity over 8000) for Hama vs Suzuki, which should put an end to any possible Hama push in the future.
Dragon Gate: They drew 7000 at Aichi for Yamato vs Shingo. I can’t stress enough how well they’re doing. For instance, last year All Japan didn’t even do half that for Takayama vs Suzuki.
HUSTLE: The relaunch drew only 500 at Korakuen, which doesn’t shock me because the “Full budget†original didn’t reliably sell out and probably gave many tickets away.
NOAH: They drew 8000 for the Budokan show.
Other: Yoshiaki Yatsu, who hasn’t done anything of note since leaving All Japan almost 20 years ago, will be retiring. Meltzer notes that even while wrestling in All Japan full-time, in 1987 he won Japan’s amateur championship. He was getting ready to go to the Olympics for a second time (the first being in 1976), but the Olympic committee said that he couldn’t because he was a professional. Just think about that for a minute: they were applying a rule that was meant for the likes of Michael Jordan.
Section 3- Z’Xavier Shillsaw
Randy Orton: anti-hero. Me, I can’t get over how a guy with his looks could cover himself in tattoos.
Section 4- Media Corner
2010
Nakamura vs Makabe, IWGP title, New Japan May 3rd.
I don’t like this as much as last year’s G-1 final, but the second half is darn good and the finish is a creative bit of nastiness. Looks like Nakamura picked up his shoulder injury here, and they actually use it to make the match better. As much as anything you want this because of the STAGGERINGLY good video quality.
I Love The ‘90s: New Japan & UWF in early 1990
Takada vs Yamazaki, UWF February 9th 1990.
What’s sad about this feud is the way it should have been one of the most memorable shoot-style matchups and rivalries but never was. They were in the same promotion for over a decade between New Japan and the UWF iterations, yet only had a handful of singles bouts and most of those were forgettable. This outing shows some of the promise, with their typically sharp execution and a minimum of downtime. Over the coming years Yamazaki became primarily a jobber-to-the-headliners, going 0-4 against Takada in UWFi. That led to Yamazaki jumping ship in 1996, something I’ll cover with gusto once we get there.
Jumbo & Yatsu vs Kengo Kimura & Osamu Kido, New Japan February 10th 1990.
This was one of three interpromotional bouts on the second-ever Tokyo Dome event. New Japan gave a hefty sum (and the only clean finish) to All Japan in exchange for the matches most responsible for drawing fans. Vader vs Hansen is the most famous of these, in part because the native vs native bouts were never aired or released officially. These are off the raw feed, and as a result are somewhat ‘rough’. You don’t need digital grading to notice the overwhelming and non-stop crowd heat. Kimura and Kido are over-the-hill midcarders and get a huge response for any offense, especially the somewhat short Kido doing anything with Jumbo. This one doesn’t have spectacular highspots or stiffness, but it does a good job of setting the stage for a match that does.
Choshu & George Takano vs Tenryu & Tiger Mask (Misawa), New Japan February 10th 1990.
According to Meltzer’s obituary of Misawa, this match was the main attraction on the show. That strikes me as odd since there were two years of Choshu vs Tenryu in All Japan during the ‘80s, and Tiger Mask Misawa wasn’t a superstar, but I can’t complain about the reception for this. Tenryu, as he is wont to do, delivers the hate and chops. Takano brings the ‘A’ game previously seen in the July ’89 tag title match. Choshu wasn’t as limited as he would become and at this point a high-energy heavyweight tag was second nature to him. For Misawa, I’m tempted to say that this was a star-making match, in that he was coming off a lackluster 1988 through 1989, and this was by far the biggest match of his career. A few months later his unmasking was a big enough deal to give All Japan’s sales a huge boost, so perhaps being in this high-profile battle demonstrated that he had arrived. Ignore the finish, which is an unfortunate hold-over from the ‘80s.
Liger vs Owen Hart, New Japan February 24th 1990.
Perhaps you’ve heard of this Owen Hart character. Owen was a much better fit for Japan than Bret had been, Bret having left a minimal impression in New Japan during the early ‘80s. Owen was tearing it up in 1988 thanks to his still-amazing athletic ability. Owen in there against peak-condition Liger is a no-lose situation.
Section 5- Stick your head in a grab bag and get yourself a tan
Oh, the volume of online wrestling content that relies on Dave Meltzer. Thankfully I was able to find ONE thing that doesn’t stem from the top pro wrestling newsletter.
Masahiko Kimura
Kimura, a judo master who originated the ‘Kimura’ armbar, was one of Japan’s first major professional wrestlers. He was on the wrong end of one of wrestling’s great double-crosses.
“In November 1951, I founded Kokusai Pro Wrestling Association. After I came back from US doing pro wrestling matches, I did pro wrestling shows throughout Japan. In those days, Rikidozan also started a new organization called Japan Pro Wrestling Association. So, mass media started to talk about Kimura vs Rikidozan match. I met with Rikidozan and asked his opinion. He said, “That is a good idea. We will be able to build a fortune. Let’s do it!” The 1st bout was going to be a draw. The winner of the 2nd will be determined by the winner of a paper-scissors-stone. After the 2nd match, we will repeat this process. We came to an agreement on this condition. As for the content of the match, Rikidozan will let me throw him, and I will let him strike me with a chop. We then rehearsed karate chop and throws. However, once the bout started, Rikidozan became taken by greed for big money and fame. He lost his mind and became a mad man. When I saw him raise his hand, I opened my arms to invite the chop. He delivered the chop, not to my chest, but to my neck with full force. I fell to the mat. He then kicked me. Neck arteries are so vulnerable that it did not need to be Rikidozan to cause a knock down. A junior high school kid could inflict a knock down this way. I could not forgive his treachery. That night, I received a phone call informing me that several ten yakuza are on their way to Tokyo to kill Rikidozan. ”
Here’s the match in question. It’s unclear if Rikidozan was attacked or not on that night, but he did eventually die due to complications from a stab wound he suffered at the hands of a yakuza member. Kimura lost some of his judo stature due to pro wrestling, but he needed the money to pay for medical care of his wife, who had tuberculosis.
Summer 1988 Wrestling Observer notes, via. Loss of ProWrestlingOnly
All Japan:
-Brody’s death was a huge deal in Japan, with his name and pictures showing up for weeks and weeks afterward. The Brody memorial show drew 14,200 fans at Nippon Budokan. It was the biggest gate in All Japan history, and the highest paid attendance since 1978. This was the sixth largest live gate in pro wrestling history (at the time) due to high-priced tickets. The show the next night in Osaka with a rematch of the tag title main event only drew 3900, or less than a third as many at they did in Tokyo (and not at inflated ticket prices most likely). All Japan, and subsequently NOAH, has always been weak in Osaka. New Japan drew 5600 a week later with a weaker main event tag. In fact, so far as I know, All Japan and NOAH have never used a venue in Osaka bigger than the 6500 seat Prefectural Gym, despite Osaka having a much bigger population than New York City.
-Joe Malenko was offered a UWF match, but Baba offered him and brother Dean more money to turn it down. Dave says Joe Malenko was tailor made to the UWF, but “Baba will be around foreverâ€. Joe would eventually work with several shoot-style promotions in the ‘90s, but he was a success in All Japan as well.
New Japan:
-After the hour long Fujinami vs Inoki match, Inoki stopped touring to let Fujinami have the spotlight. However he was secretly hoping for Fujinami to fall flat so that he would be able to remain the top star and not have the same pressure to pass the torch.
Meltzer notes from his biography of Don Frye
-Frye got his pro wrestling training from Curt Hennig.
-He was inspired to try MMA after watching Dan Severn at UFC 5, and was able to break into the sport thanks to Dan. After becoming a breakout star he was given a contract by New Japan, who had lost a bidding war over Ken Shamrock.
-New Japan gave him a big push right away, which included winning a tournament to be Inoki’s last opponent. Inoki won, but Frye had wrestled earlier on the show. Frye broke Inoki’s ribs, forcing the match to go short.
-He was involved in the big match for the biggest dome shows in Tokyo (vs Inoki), Osaka (Frye/Shamrock vs Mutoh/Takada) and Sapporo (vs Kaz Fujita). That success plus his MMA success made him an obvious choice for PRIDE.
-His 2002 fight with Takayama was so brutal that it caused Frye to announce his retirement, but because of the response to it he was in such demand that he got an offer from K-1 he couldn’t turn down. Meanwhile, the fight elevated Takayama tremendously. The fight also got Frye into Japan’s pop culture, including movie roles.
-He suffered arm, ankle and neck injuries from MMA, wrestling and a car accident, without taking significant time off. That hurt his ability to train, leading to his decline as a fighter. His last big wrestling match was against Kawada in 2003.
Meltzer notes from his biography of Tony “Ludwig Borga†Halme
-Got discovered by New Japan while in Japan as a bodyguard for the band Cheap Trick. He’d done some small-time wrestling in the US, which New Japan was able to ignore when they decided to push him as a dangerous boxer. He got a series of wins in 1990 and 1991 before finally putting over Hashimoto.
-NJ initially booked Vader to job twice on the same tour to Halme, so Halme could rebound from his loss to Hashimoto. After some bad blood in the first match Vader refused to lose again. NJ backed down, especially after he’d also put over Norton, realizing that they didn’t want to reduce his stature as top gaijin. Vader won the rematch.
-The boxing gimmick was dropped after that loss to Vader, but they still pushed him despite mediocre matches and crowd response. He got wins in regular matches against Vader, Bigelow, and Scott Norton, who was also cultivated by NJ but was much more over. Halme’s push ended with him putting over Chono in the ’92 G-1 Climax.
-He knocked Scott Norton out after an argument, though the sense is that it was a sucker punch. New Japan decided that in order to not alienate Norton or other wrestlers who disliked Halme’s attitude, Halme would be de-pushed. He left the company in June ’93 and went to WWF.
-Halme eventually attained some of the boxing credentials he was given in kayfabe, becoming the Finnish boxing champ in 1997 and again in 2000.
Meltzer notes from 1991
New Japan:
-‘Starrcade at Tokyo Dome’ wasn’t as big a deal as UWF’s ’89 dome or the 2/10/90 dome, but it was still a big success and by far the biggest show backed by WCW. Meltzer figured it was a bad idea to put it on US PPV even at a discount rate of $10, since US vs Japan only appeals to hardcore fans, and because the Flair/Fujinami angle needed as many viewers as possible due to Fujinami’s lack of profile in the US. Luger avoided wrestling Choshu because of his contract not requiring him to do shows in Japan. Odd attitude to have, but then the world is probably better for not having had a Choshu vs Luger match. WCW got paid around $500k for its part, plus it would get PPV/tape revenues in the US).
-April’s Super Juniors final show at Sumo Hall was done as a benefit for JWA star Toyonobori, who had joined up with Inoki in the ’60s to try and form a new promotion. That failed and pretty much ended Toyonobori’s run as a star, though Inoki was able to recover from it.
-A book on Ali revealed a lot about Ali vs Inoki. The match was supposed to go like so: Ali busts Inoki open with punches, ref considers stopping it but Inoki refuses, Ali asks the ref to stop it because he doesn’t want to hurt Inoki, Inoki hits the enzuigiri in the confusion for the pin. Ali changed his mind and they did the dull shoot. Rose-colored glasses about the fight today gloss over what was a very negative reaction in Japan, leading to a business decline for both NJ and AJ after the Ali fight. Ali was promised $6 mil but only got $2.2, leading to lawsuits.
-Debacle at New Japan’s 9/23/01 Yokohama show. Fujinami vs Muta had a gimmicky finish, almost causing a riot. Inoki came out and demanded that Fujinami and Muta get back, but it wasn’t planned so nothing happened. Then Choshu came out (which was the original plan) and called out the Musketeers (Mutoh/Chono/Hashimoto), but Inoki stole the spotlight by saying he’d also go after them… which also wasn’t in the plans.
-They had the 2nd biggest opening day ticket sales to date on 10/10/91, for the upcoming Tokyo Dome show. UWF had #1 for its ’89 dome show, with 40,000 told and $2 million in revenue, but they deliberately waited until just a few weeks before to open up sales, because they wanted to set an unbreakable record. New Japan was selling tickets almost three months ahead of time.
-Dave mentions the frankensteiner off the top from the 10/18/91 Liger vs Benoit match as the first time he’d heard of it. I’m guessing it happened in Mexico first.
FMW:
-They did 33,000 paid in Kawasaki for Onita vs Goto a few hours after NJ drew 18,000 just 12 miles away. To put it in perspective, Hogan & Tenryu vs The Road Warriors did 20,000 paid for SWS in the Tokyo Dome. And Tokyo has many more people nearby. FMW’s show was to that point the biggest indy show ever.
-“Atsushi Onita has become a television star on the Nippon network with a Sunday 8 p.m. slot. He does the first 10 minutes of a 30 minute comedy/variety show doing a “Dear Abby” type segment where he does pro wrestling style interviews as responses and gets all worked up and cries at the lovelorn problems and gets intensely and crazily mad and people who have problems they should be mad about.” And it got big ratings. Fantastic.
-When Dick the Bruiser died, he was the go-between for Onita and several US boxers (including Leon Spinks) who were scheduled to go to FMW. This put Onita in a panic because he had no idea how to get in touch with them.
Next Time: Unless something else comes up, I’ll do a long-overdue look at a wrestling legend
