Puro fans, UNITE!

[The_Misson]

The participants for this years G1 Climax were announced the other day.
Competing in Block A:
Hiroshi Takahashi
Togo Makabe
Hirooki Goto
Satoshi Kojima
Kazuchika Okada
Tomohiro Ishii
Lance Archer
Davey Boy Smith Jr
Prince Devitt
Katsuyori Shibata

Block B
Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Yuji Nagata
Tetsuya Naito
Shinsuke Nakamura
Toru Yano
Yujiro Takahashi
Minoru Suzuki
Shelton Benjamin
Karl Anderson
Kota Ibushi

Also, today Kazuchika Okada challenged Kota Ibushi to a match DDT's Ryogoku show on August 18th. Ibushi accepted.

Really excited for this years G1 climax. Block A is stacked with talented wrestlers. Also, looking forward to Okada vs Ibushi.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

I am really interested to see how far Davey Boy, Devitt and Goto will go in the Block A. Block B sounds good to me too, but I'm just really looking forward for a Shelton Benjamin vs. Karl Anderson and/or vs. Nakamura - thanks for my fanboyism towards The Gold Standard!

 

[The_Misson]

So, Mutoh is starting a new promotion. It will be called Wrestle-1. Their first show will be September 8. So far 14 wrestlers are signed to the roster. They are Mutoh, Masakatsu Funaki, Kaz Hayashi, Shuji Kondo, KAI, Ryota Hama, Masayuki Kono, Yasufumi Nakanoueno, Hiroshi Yamato, Minorou Tanaka, Andy Wu, Daiki Inaba, Brian Ishizaka and Seiki Yoshioka. They will also probably bring in wrestlers from outside promotions for their shows as well.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Y'know I was thinking of trying to get into Japanese wrestling properly and someone has suggested to me the best event as the Super J Cup 1994 would this be a good start into puroresu?

 

[Remix]

You can't really go wrong with Super Juniors. At worst they do crazy shit that's fun to watch. They're the wrestling equivalent of a summer blockbuster. Who cares that there's no plot, the action is stupid and fun to watch. At best... Guerrerro and Benoit have a match in that tournament.

 

[The_Misson]

Yes, watch Super J cup 1994. It is an absolute blast. It has two amazing matches towards the end. Also, make sure to watch the entire event in order as well. It just makes it a lot more fun that way.

 

[Remix]

I'm just going to leave this here.

 

[The_Misson]

So, all NJPW just announced all 9 of the G1 Climax shows will be on UStream. You can get all 9 of them for $150.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

I was really disappointed with Devitt vs. Okada, I expected more than a 19 minute bout...

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Well guys I finished Super J Cup 94 and WOW, I was totally blown away by this show. Despite it being "no frills" a tournament with all singles matches with no stipulations or any of the shenanigans I'm so used to seeing in American wrestling, I was thoroughly entertained!

Guerrerro and Benoit have a match in that tournament.

...is it bad that I didn't know Black Tiger was Eddie originally? I was thinking "this guy's awesome" when he was going all that mat work and then when he faced Benoit I thought back to your post and finally made the connection but anyway I really enjoyed him under this persona. Benoit under the name "Wild Pegasus" what a great name, almost wish he would have kept it.

Yes, watch Super J cup 1994. It is an absolute blast. It has two amazing matches towards the end.

Yeah tell me about it. The last two matches are just brilliant. The Great Sasuke was the standout performer for me! A superb combination of tecchnical work with the high flying moves. Him vs Liger, that finish was just great, despite being a botch they actually turned it into something which was probably even better and you could tell the crowd loved it too! And the final match was even better!

Speaking of the crowd, Japanese crowds definitely are different. Not in a bad way. I like how they start off silent and then slowly "build" rising and rising with each near fall...

Is there a reason why Benoit and Sasuke got byes in the tournament? I'm sure they probably explained it but my Japanese isn't great, I can read both kanas and some kanji but that's about it. And of course it also means I didn't know any of the history or storylines...if there is even any storylines? I mean on the show I watched there didn't seem to be any heels.

Anyway, consider me now a Japanese wrestling fan! I'm eager to watch many more and would love recommendations for other shows! I've heard about the Wrestle Kingdoms... the idea of Japanese talent from different rosters all coming together with addition of other promotions like TNA sounds AWESOME. But someone told me they're like 6 hours long, that's just insane

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

Anyway, consider me now a Japanese wrestling fan! I'm eager to watch many more and would love recommendations for other shows! I've heard about the Wrestle Kingdoms... the idea of Japanese talent from different rosters all coming together with addition of other promotions like TNA sounds AWESOME. But someone told me they're like 6 hours long, that's just insane

I think you should find some puro websites in english and start following at a slow pace, follow the guys you like, follow the storylines you think are kinda cool and old-school, because if you start watching it religiously, you'll end up tired of it rather quickly. I highly recommend you to watch Shibata vs. Goto from NJPW Dominion - it's a recent match, from past month or so and it was brutal. Hell watch full Dominion PPV, it was a great show overall.

[YOUTUBE]EiLz2HDJ0mY[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Harthan]

Is there a reason why Benoit and Sasuke got byes in the tournament? I'm sure they probably explained it but my Japanese isn't great, I can read both kanas and some kanji but that's about it. And of course it also means I didn't know any of the history or storylines...if there is even any storylines? I mean on the show I watched there didn't seem to be any heels.

There are storylines in Japanese wrestling but it's sort of difficult to get into them if you can't speak the language. I swing by some of the more hardcore puro forums and they generally seem to have a good idea of what's going on. In general, they're rarely ever very complicated - the main three stories that get run in the big Japanese promotions are face vs heel or face vs face "big match" for titles/respect/both; or stable wars; or tournaments. Some of the smaller promotions will run crazier storylines or just have crazier characters in general.

Generally, Japanese fans are not like American fans at all, like you noticed. It can be tough to tell who the heels are because even the "bad guys" don't get disrespected too much, but you'll be able to tell after a while who the faces and heels are. At least, in the bigger promotions. In the smaller promotions they are sometimes more clear about it. Dragon Gate is interesting because if you ever need to check you can just check on what is happening in DGUSA since they'll follow the same storylines there usually.

Pretty much all the Wrestle Kingdom shows are awesome, but yeah, they can be a long haul. Sometimes taking them in in two parts is good.

 

[The_Misson]

Pretty much anything from the past 2 years of New Japan has been good. G1 Climax shows are a great way to get to know all the New Japan Heavyweight talent. Same thing with Best of Super Juniors but with Jr. Heavyweight wrestlers. Wrestle Kingdom is the New Japan equivalent of WrestleMania. Super J Cup 1995 is a lot of fun as well. Not as good as 1994, but still good. A lot of people swear by 90's All Japan stuff saying its some of the greatest wrestling out there. Stay away from 2000-2006 New Japan though unless you like fake MMA. However, NOAH around that time is absolute pure gold. If you really love cruiserweight stuff check out Dragon Gate. If you like comedy with some fun wrestling check out DDT. If you want some specific matches I'd be happy to suggest some.

 

[The_Misson]

So Mutoh announced at a press conference that his new promotion W-1 has been asked by a famous overseas promotion to be allys.

 

[Harthan]

So Mutoh announced at a press conference that his new promotion W-1 has been asked by a famous overseas promotion to be allys.

So "famous" overseas promotions probably includes:

WWE
TNA
ROH
CMLL
AAA

I don't keep up with puro as much as I used to, but are CMLL and NJPW still working together? If so, that would probably rule them out. TNA is bleeding money right now and doesn't seem likely to start important talent. The WWE has shown zero interest in any serious cooperation with a Japanese promotion in ages. I don't really know much about AAA but perhaps they're interested in matching CMLL's relationship with NJPW. Alternatively, maybe ROH wants something more formal like they used to have with NOAH, and since NOAH hasn't been very good to them in a while...maybe?

I would wager on ROH or AAA. If it's not one of those five than Mutoh has probably overestimated the word "famous".

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

WWE would be smart to open up a developmental school or partner up with someone in Japan. Just imagine Wade Barrett with a year training in puroresu? Also, I think it was Sapolsky or Russo who suggested it in those "Special Booker" series. It would be a helluva way to improve talent and at the same time, give them a new "territory" where they can work different crowds. I really don't know how bad it would be if WWE tried it...

 

[The_Misson]

Yeah, CMLL still works with NJPW so I assume its not them. WWE is like a 0.001% possibility. TNA is more likely then WWE, but I still doubt its them. I agree with Harthan and say its either ROH or AAA.

 

[The_Misson]

W-1's first show is already nearly sold out. Also, according to Tokyo Sports Bob Sapp has signed with W-1.

 

[Remy LaCroix]

Is there a YT or DM uploader who posts All Japan shows? Do they even have shows? I want to follow two promotions not named New Japan to add to my list of wrestling I watch.

So Mutoh announced at a press conference that his new promotion W-1 has been asked by a famous overseas promotion to be allys.

I don't really know much about AAA but perhaps they're interested in matching CMLL's relationship with NJPW.

Perfect question to send to the MLW mailbag.

 

[The_Misson]

All Japan does do shows. However. they just lost a ton of people do to their new President being 100% crazy. That's why Mutoh left and is forming a new promotion with around 10 wrestlers that left AJPW. You can find All Japan stuff on YouTube. Puroresumatches and Puroresumatches2 have a lot of stuff.

 

[Perfected123]

Yeahhhhh now is not the best time to get into All Japan lol. By the way Dave talks about them it seems like the promotion will be defunct in the near future. I doubt it. So much history there would be a travesty.

I hope Muta's promotion works with TNA, to be honest. That would be something that pleases a fan like me and am sure would get some of the die hards back interested in the product. But, by god, do not make it an invasion angle.

Recently finished New Japan's Kizuna Road and, oh my, I was so impressed by La Sombra. I don't watch much Lucha and I didn't see the first Nakamura vs La Sombra match in CMLL for the IC Title, but that guy is not your average Lucha. Very muscular and well built with the athleticism to back it up, I hope New Japan book him more often. G1 coming up, should be amazing, anyone got 150 Dollars they can borrow me?

 

[The_Misson]

I absolutely love La Sombra and mark out everytime he comes to Japan. He's easily my favorite Luchador who comes to Japan. He's also really young being 23 years old.

On the All Japan side some of the stuff Mutoh has said about the new president has cracked me up. My two favorites are that the president wanted to make AJPW more of an MMA style promotion and Mutoh had to explain how that would kill AJPW. Then the president said he wanted to bring in The Rock and Mutoh had to explain that they don't have enough money to bring in The Rock and even if they did the odds of him coming to Japan were very very slim.

 

[Perfected123]

Yep that place is a shambles... La Sombra 23? Wow. I also watched Dragon Gate Dead or Alive last night and have been a mark for Rich Swann for a while, so I randomly wiki him after the show and he's 22! Couldn't believe it.

As far as the show goes? Probably the best pure wrestling show of the year, and one of the best overall shows of the year, with the exception of Wrestle Kingdom of course. Literally, the last 3/4 matches were probably 4 stars or higher. Match of the night was the Open The Twin Gate match, Uhaa and BxB are scary MF'ers. Well, the whole Mad Blankey stable are just badasses. Tozawa is so underrated and I wish ROH would book him. And, once more, another great effort from Yoshino & Dragon Kid. I will watch Kobe World Festival soon, can't wait I hear the Twin Gate match in that is also great.

 

[Harthan]

So, if you've got 150 dollars to spare, you can get the entirety of the G1 Climax on iPPV, which is pretty cool. It is nine shows, which is just a hair over 15 bucks per show, so not unreasonable at all. I might get the finals, but I will probably stick to the more traditional means for the rest of the tournament when I get around to it.

 

[Perfected123]

I might get the finals, but I will probably stick to the more traditional means for the rest of the tournament when I get around to it.

That was my thinking, I would be astonished if anyone actually bought the G1 in its entirety. Here is the link to the entire tournament if anyone needs it http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2013/07/08/g1-climax-23/

As far as 'Day 1' goes, the match I am looking forward to the most is probably Shibata vs Davey Boy. That should be a stiff contest. My two favourites to win the entire thing are Shibata or Suzuki, both thoroughly deserve it in my opinion.