Section 1- Results
All Japan: Hayashi retained over Kikuchi, reaching 15 title defenses which is a record for the belt. It might be a modern record for all titles as well. Akebono & Kea retained the tag titles against Kenzo Suzuki & Dupree.
Dragon Gate: Yokosuka & Kness retained over Doi & Yoshino. At the end of the match Tanisaki ran in, laid out Yokosuka and Yoshino, and put Yokosuka on top for the pin. Tanisaki then joined Deep Drunkers.
NOAH: Takayama & Sano beat Smith & Saito (replacing Walker) to win the tag titles. This is Sano’s first title win after being in NOAH for almost its entire history.
Zero-One: Sekimoto has won and retained the company’s title. It’s been a good year for him!
Section 2- News
All Japan: Two title defenses set for 10/24. Suwama defends against Masa Funaki, and Hayashi defends against… Mutoh, who will have to drop at least 6kg to get under the weight limit. Worth noting: Hayashi pinned Mutoh in last year’s Champions Carnival. Suwama has disbanded the young stars stable, and got in trouble for throwing a microphone into the crowd when he was booed for doing so.
Dragon Gate: Kness & Yokosuka defend against CIMA & Gamma on the 3rd. Warriors defend the trios titles against Kamikaze on the 13th. Also on that card is a World-1 vs Deep Drunkers 6-man with the losing stable disbanding.
IGF: Their show on Saturday includes John Barnett vs Tim Sylvia, and the Double Bobs tandem of Sapp & Lashley up against the even less likely duo of Tamon Honda & Kendo Kashin.
NOAH: Takayama & Sano defend against Sasaki & Nakajima on Sunday. Kotaro Suzuki has made a babyface turn and left the Disobey stable. Shiozaki is looking to debut a new finisher against Sugiura, inspired by training sessions with Tamon Honda (who trained Sugiura ten years ago).
Section 2a- Meltzer News
New Japan: Davey Richards had planned to leave wrestling this year after getting married. He since got divorced, and NJ has decided to make him a long-term regular. They only drew 680 people for Makabe & Tanahashi vs Kojima & Masato Tanaka at Differ Ariake, which is yet another sub-1000 attendance for a reasonably big main event there. Why oh why do promotions keep using the venue?! That exact matchup drew 2200 in Hiroshima later in the tour.
NOAH: Akiyama hurt his shoulder in the title match with Sugiura. Morishima is out with a torn knee ligament. Saito is out with a back injury.
Section 3- A bird in the shill is worth a hand in the bush
Section 4- Media Corner
2010
Necro Butcher & Miyamoto vs Shuji Ishikawa & Hoshino, Big Japan June 27th.
Necro does a crazy crazy stunt, and that neatly sets up the rest of the match. Necro is rarely in Big Japan for some reason but by the end he’s way more over than the three regulars he’s in with. Necro rules.
Yoshihito Sasaki vs Takashi Sasaki, Big Japan June 27th.
Similar to KENTA vs Aoki from August in that it’s two guys pounding each other in front of a mediocre crowd. It doesn’t go too long and thus the intensity is sustained. They hated on each other in tags in both March and May, so there is some backstory to the hate-fest that is Sasaki vs Sasaki!
Tanahashi vs Naito, G-1 Climax, New Japan August 8th.
I’m not that big on recent Tanahashi, and I’d never enjoyed a Naito match before, but I can’t deny the goodness here. Interesting matwork, followed by dueling limb focus that is reasonably well sold, building to a big-time finishing stretch. Naito came in as a midcarder who the crowd expected to lose in by-the-numbers fashion; instead he hangs with Tanahashi and comes out looking great.
I Love the ‘90s Part 8: Rise of Misawa
Super Power Series 1990 was one of the biggest tours in the history of All Japan. In less than a month’s time:
-Misawa unmasked and established himself as the hottest star in the country
-Triple Crown changed hands twice
-The long-term ‘Jumbo Army vs New Generation Army (Misawa)’ feud was established
-The company began a string of sellouts at Tokyo Nippon Budokan, lasting until 1996. Keep in mind that the building was nearly impossible to sell out as of 1988, a time when wrestling had lots of nationally-known stars and prime-time TV slots.
And all this immediately following Tenryu leaving the company, which should have left Baba flat-footed and stumbling for at least some period of time. In fact, Baba had Misawa unmask on the first show after Tenryu left!
I’ve previously covered several matches from this tour, between the Misawa set, the Kobashi set, and the Steve Williams set. They are:
-Tiger Mask (Misawa) & Kawada vs Yatsu & Fuyuki, May 14th
-Jumbo Tsuruta, Kabuki & Fuchi vs Misawa, Taue & Kobashi, May 26th
-Hansen vs Williams, June 5th
-Williams vs Kobashi, June 8th
-Jumbo vs Misawa, June 8th
Kawada & Shinichi Nakano vs Fuyuki & Kikuchi, All Japan May 26th 1990.
If you don’t know who Shinichi Nakano is, don’t worry. While the story would normally be former partners Kawada and Fuyuki going at it, in this case it’s Kawada murdalizing Kikuchi, which sets the tone for Kikuchi as one of the all-time great whipping boys.
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Terry Gordy, Triple Crown, All Japan June 5th 1990.
Gordy and Williams formed their famous Miracle Violence Connection tandem earlier in the year. At the May 14th event they beat the team of Baba & Jumbo, which cemented that Gordy (as MVC leader) was ready to take on the champ. This match stands out to me as a native vs gaijin match where they’re almost mirror images of each other. Almost the same gear, almost the same moveset, almost the same build. It’s whoever figures out something *different* to do that comes out on top.
Terry Gordy vs Stan Hansen, All Japan June 8th 1990.
So as not to spoil Jumbo vs Gordy for any of you who don’t know the result, I’ll say that the winner defended the title on this show a mere three days later. Both men survive big moves from the other, and it’s a race to see who can finish the job first.
Kawada vs Kobashi, All Japan June 30th 1990.
This one comes after the Super Power tour. In theory these two were new stablemates who should have a polite contest. In reality they go at it with a lot of intensity and by the end they look like the superstars they would go on to become. It’s important to emphasize that at this point Kobashi was a youngster who lost 90% of his matches, and Kawada was a midcarder who had yet to have a breakout singles match. That they were given plenty of time to work with is a testament to Baba’s intelligence; since they were important to booking plans as Misawa’s Army, they needed as many chances as possible to show the fans their qualities.
Section 5- Puroresu Primer Part One
For the most part, what I wrote in my initial columns holds up. To start with I’ll point to them and, where necessary, explain how things have changed since 2004.
With this series of articles I would like to encourage any and all newbies to ask questions, be it in the comment section or by email.
Issue 1. I bring up the touring system, the way wrestlers develop into headliners, Japanese wrestling fans, the general way shows are laid out, and the promotions.
What’s changed? For starters, WWE. They’ve gotten less gimmicky over the years and there’s much more in-ring action on TV than there used to be. That actually takes away some of the reason for wanting to go out of the way and watch Japanese wrestling. In the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, when puroresu fandom was rapidly spreading online, US TV matches were much more likely to be short affairs with low-end action. Clean finishes between relevant wrestlers was nearly unheard of. Fans who wanted a product that was something other than a 2 hour commercial for a pay-per-view were drawn to the straightforward shows produced in Japan. Since the quality of wrestling has improved in WWE and gone down in Japan, many long-time puro followers now prefer WWE. However, between the vast number of great matches from Japan’s past, plus the assortment of quality matches every year is enough (in my opinion) to make Japan still worth following.
In terms of promotions, New Japan has moved away from Inoki-ism and MMA but is mostly the same; All Japan has shed most remaining vestiges of Baba-ism; Zero-One has become an also-ran; and NOAH has become a shell of its former self. Meanwhile, Dragon Gate has managed to shoot into the top three thanks to having a fan base that’s independent of the wrestling scene as a whole.
Issue 2. I discuss match introductions, geography, and relevant venues. Most venues I referenced aren’t worth mentioning anymore because either they don’t get used or they were never used for televised events. The likes of Yokohama Arena, Osaka Castle Hall, Nagoya Rainbow Hall and Yoyogi Gym are now out of the picture. I do think venues matter more than they do for WWE, because of the clear difference in crowd response from one to another. Korakuen Hall in Tokyo is filled with hardcore fans who usually get into the action, while places at the northeast and southwest portions of Japan have quiet crowds, and crowds in the Ariake section of Tokyo are simply frustrating.
Issue 3. I discuss media coverage, kayfabe, and unique ringside sights. The media scene has changed in the last six years, with less mainstream coverage of pro wrestling and fewer wrestling-only publications. That said, there is still mainstream coverage of pro wrestling in sports sections.
Issue 4. I discuss hardcore wrestling and the importance of Americans in Japan. At that point I hadn’t really been exposed to the current light tube heavy Big Japan style, but the rest of it is accurate to this day. As far as ‘gaijins’ go, they’ve become just about irrelevant now that top talent is horded by WWE and TNA, meaning that high-end Americans don’t get a chance to spend lots of time in Japan and make their mark. Prince Albert and Bison Smith aren’t proper replacements for Vader and Stan Hansen, sadly.
In my next installment I’ll look back at history and give a handy list of websites.
Picture Of The Week: Hayashi vs Kikuchi collage.
