PUNQ

Here is my take on Wajima after, in retrospect, seeing his entire career: The man was a oddball in wrestling history, yet during the less than 3 years he wrestled he was a DIRECT INFLUENCE in the change in what would become the AJPW style that made the promotion so great in the 1990s. Though uncredited and probable a reluctant part of it. When he debuted in in 1986, it became clear he wasn't going to adjust very good to his new sport, but he was a big mainstream name, wages to boot, so he was going to be used high on the card regardless of how awkward he was. What happened was that he was put with Jumbo Tsuruta against Tenryu and partners to get some mileage out of the investment and the more sluggish style came out of that. AJPW in the 80s had for the most part fairly short matches in combination by the more gentleman-like NWA/Funk way (more Dory than Terry) unless it was against foreign brawlers. The stiff hitting style grew out of frustration and the crowd reacted to it. Wajima either refused or more likely didn't know how to sell, so Tenryu in irritation would just stiff the guy again and again, match after match, for longer and longer matches. All Wajima could be used for was a punching bag. And out of that the All Japan style changed. For in all honest, after Choshu left in early '87, and as great as he was, Jumbo was showing signs of resting on his laurels again, as he had been the year(s) before Choshu had entered the promotion. But thanks to Tenryu having been so influenced by the Choshu-style he slapped him back into shape. Or more correctly slapped Wajima so hard Jumbo couldn't sit still and handle it gentlemanly. Jumbo would be the one getting revenge for his pal Wajima, stiffing the guys back. And thus Jumbo found his inner grumpy guy. So there you have it. Wajima the influencer. RIP Wajima.

Well, I agree to some degree with Elgin's criticism of him not showing enough fire. That was exactly my impression after the 8th day of the World Tag League. To quote myself " I’m liking the Elgin & Cobb team, but they lack ruthless aggression.", Cobb on his first tour of New Japan is coming across too much like he's playing a heavyweight strong man than actually being one. It might work on the indys, but won't cut it in the big leagues. Unless he faces the Best Friends though, who are specialists at play-wrestling, which resulted in the rather awesome November 30th match-up.

Yeah, I was not a fan of Don Arakawa's comedy gig. He was like one of the original comedy guys before comedy took over puroresu. But those matches and THOSE CRAZY PILEDRIVERS during his feud with The Cobra are LEGENDARY! He stepped up to the challenge when New Japan needed it, after losing so much of it's roster, and actually created a memorable junior heavyweight feud out of the ruins.

Olympic wrestler Frank Andersson when the Scandinavian channel TV3 transfered from WWF programming to WCW in 1994. Apparently they paid WCW 3-times Andersson's wages for the rights. In return us Scandinavians got a Andersson squash match nearly each week along with some exclusive interviews with Andersson doing the interviewing. He often appeared in the studio in Sweden talking backstage stuff (should be noted that the Swedish commentators didn't do keyfabe).

Unfortunately I don't have planned to dive pre-2017 at the moment (unless it's back to the real classics era), but if I do, the rise of Miyahara would be high on the list. I liked him during his rookie years when he was a skinny kid. He had the talent back then, but I was worried his career couldn't take off for the lack of beef. Now all bulked up, he's carrying himself real nice as the current generation ace and following results it's made me happy that he made it! Looks like I can't hold off NJPW any longer and will look into their 2017 catalog (once I'm finished with my puro diversion getting cheered up by the crumbling lucha libre world of AAA). Fuck, NJPW is getting massive hype at the moment with match ratings that only All Japan Women in their prime rivals. While I expect a lot of this is just the in-the-momentum buzz, I can see from the clips I've seen that NJPW has shaped up since I last saw them in 2010. I'm unsure how I'll take the indy invasion, because I was never much of a fan of the US indy scene, but if it gets the New Japan wrestlers working harder, then I'll be all for it. Going to be interesting, since even in their darkest times, they were one of my favorite promotions.

Ah, sounds peaceful, but no. Got married, had kids and watched a couple of movies. Things changed quite a bit for a few years, but with all the available wrestling online these days, the wrestling bug slowly got me again. Not sure yet what I'll follow, that's what I'm currently finding out, checking the promotions that I know to see where they're at in 2017. Will get to NJPW eventually. Not sure what to do about Big Japan. So many shows, but mainly the Strong BJ stuff interesting. Watched one Dragon Gate show... not seeing their shows for 6 years I can still call the spots, so hardly anything has changed there. Identical matches, identical stables. Might do their biggest shows. DDT... no. They were a direct source for me falling out of love with wrestling before so I'm staying away. Ibushi defending the title against a blow-up dull with the 5* formula was not as cool as it sounded. Joshi.... that's a landscape that's changed a lot last I saw. Not sure where or how deep I'll dig this time around. Then there is lucha, WWE and all that ambitious international indy stuff. But I have a feeling I might focus mostly on old school wrestling once I familiar myself on todays wrestling. NOAH, I feel for them. You can see them trying. It's simply not working. Someone need to school them on how to connect with the audience instead of just letting them stiff each other randomly for 30 minutes.

Thanks! Eivion. Nice to see some of the old guard still active! I've also dug into NOAH, which was a more frustrating experience. They had a few good matches, but they are trapped in their old stagnant formula and stumbling bad trying to freshen up their act. Such a shame. They have real quality wrestlers, but there is something missing in transmission between what happens in the ring and what reaches the audience which is why they can barely fill 1/4th of the Korakuen Hall. Here are the ones I rated 3* and over: 1. January 21, 2017 - Go Shiozaki & Maybach Taniguchi (c) -vs- Masa Kitamiya & Kenou - (GHC Tag Title) [*** 1/4] 2. April 14, 2017 - Takashi Sugiura & Kenou (c) -vs- Naomichi Marufuji & Maybach Taniguchi - (GHC Tag Title) [*** 1/4] 3. March 12, 2017 - Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) -vs- Go Shiozaki - (GHC Title) [***] 4. January 7, 2017 - Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) -vs- Takashi Sugiura - (GHC Title) [***] 5. January 7, 2017 - Hajime Ohara -vs- Taiji Ishimori - (GHC Junior Title Decision Match) [***] 6. June 4, 2017 - Naomichi Marufuji & Maybach Taniguchi (c) -vs- Cody Hall & Randy Reign - (GHC Tag Title) [***] Zero-1 has always been a mixed bag, but their January 1, 2017 show was good, and is definitely worth a look. Contains 3 of their best matches pre-Fire Festival.

Sorry for being gossipy, but did we ever find out who Natsumi "Apache"'s father was? I just remember Mary Apache out of nowhere had to cancel her dates with ARSION and it was announced she was pregnant. Was it someone in the business or outsider? Regardless, it's cool that she's coming in following in the family footsteps. Hope she'll be taken well care of by Ogawa and the rest of the people at Stardom.

I've been quietly catching up with some wrestling again, and I started with what AJPW has had to offer 2017 so far. I hadn't seen All Japan in action since 2010, and I know they've been through to turbulent years, but I very glad Akiyama has preserved Muto's "puro love" feel of their shows. The promotion is a lot of fun at the moment! Miyahara is having a great year, and they are doing some quality booking with their own talent. They are getting behind their young lads Yuma Aoyagi, Jake Lee and Naoya Nomura, which means so am I. I have big hopes for Aoyagi in particular. Zeus & The Bodyguard are a real bulldog team! The use of Bodyguard the first few months was amazing! He came across as a legit star. Only half-way through the year and they've already surpassed 2010 by a mile, IMO. Haven't been catching up with New Japan yet, so I can't compare, but AJPW is a promotion to follow! 1. May 21, 2017 - Kento Miyahara (c) -vs- Shuji Ishikawa - (Triple Crown Title) [*** 3/4]2. February 17, 2017 - Zeus & The Bodyguard (c) -vs- Kento Miyahara & Jake Lee - (AJPW Tag Title) [*** 1/2]3. April 16, 2017 - Kento Miyahara -vs- Jake Lee - (Champion Carnival 2017 - Block A) [*** 1/2]4. February 26, 2017 - Kento Miyahara (c) -vs- The Bodyguard - (Triple Crown Title) [*** 1/4] 5. April 23, 2017 - Kento Miyahara -vs- KAI - (Champion Carnival 2017 - Block A) [*** 1/4] 6. April 16, 2017 - KAI -vs- Zeus - (Champion Carnival 2017 - Block A) [*** 1/4] 7. April 30, 2017 - Kento Miyahara & Daisuke Sekimoto & Kengo Mashimo -vs- Zeus & Ryouji Sai & KAI [*** 1/4] 8. April 16, 2017 - Suwama -vs- Shuji Ishikawa - (Champion Carnival 2017 - Block B) [*** 1/4] 9. June 11, 2017 - Suwama -vs- Kento Miyahara [*** 1/4] 10. Janaury 3, 2017 - Zeus & The Bodyguard (c) -vs- Takao Omori & Manabu Soya - (AJPW Tag Title) [***] 11. June 11, 2017 - Shuji Ishikawa (c) -vs- Jake Lee - (Triple Crown Title) [***] 12. April 30, 2017 - Shuji Ishikawa -vs- Joe Doering - (Champion Carnival 2017 - Final) [***] 13. May 21, 2017 - Zeus & The Bodyguard (c) -vs- Kengo Mashimo & KAI - (AJPW Tag Title) [***] 14. February 17, 2017 - Keisuke Ishii -vs- Minoru Tanaka - (Jr. Battle of Glory - Block A) [***]