Kevin Wilson Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I more just wonder with the sad affairs in All Japan (even the Triple Crown match drew less than 1K), how are they affording wrestlers like Akiyama and Shiozaki? It seems like they would cut costs but signing them couldn't have been cheap. So either their TV "deals" are worth more than I am imagining (I am imagining they aren't worth anything), wrestlers do indeed wrestle for some ramen, or promotions are just losing tons of money every week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mco543 Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I thought I read a long time ago in the older days that New Japan stars like Chono, Mutoh, Hashimoto, etc were making significantly more than their All Japan counterparts Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, etc but that could be bullshit and I'm conflating stories. I wouldn't imagine that guys who work for places like Osaka Pro or Okinawa Pro (or whatever it was called) make enough to live off wrestling alone. I wouldn't be surprised if an undercard guy on those shows literally did get paid in noodles but maybe the sponsors or "sponsors" if you will pick up the tab on talent. It seems like some of the Joshi wrestlers have actual businesses and wrestling is like a hobby. I recall that Kana has a bunch of other businesses and irons in the fire and Ayumi Kurihara retired to run a restaurant or something. I've always wondered what a guy would get paid for a death match in Big Japan like Ryuji Ito or Jun Kasai. I can't imagine it'd be substantial but then again I also don't understand why they'd do that shit if it wasn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 A good amount of Japanese heavies have been bulked-up juniors. People seem to forget that guys like Misawa, Kawada and Fujinami were bulked up juniors that went up to play with the heavies. This isn't exactly a new thing in Japan. The guys you mentioned were Jr.'s with heavyweight frames. They also didn't wrestle like flashy Jr.'s. I've always wondered what a guy would get paid for a death match in Big Japan like Ryuji Ito or Jun Kasai. I can't imagine it'd be substantial but then again I also don't understand why they'd do that shit if it wasn't. Considering they've worked in US indies like CZW and IWA-MS, I doubt they make $100 if that even. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rzombie1988 Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Most of the wrestlers own bars to make more money. Of course, with the property values in Tokyo I wonder how they even get the cash to do that. The DDT crew works at the DDT bar for extra cash. MASADA talked once about making $300 per BJW match and how he was sleeping on the dojo floor. I could buy that the NJPW guys made more than the AJPW guys in the 90's. The NJPW guys had shows more often in bigger arena's, especially near the end of the 90's when they had multiple dome's per year. They also seem to have been better represented in commercials and ads, probably since they had a better time slot than AJPW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rzombie1988 Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I more just wonder with the sad affairs in All Japan (even the Triple Crown match drew less than 1K), how are they affording wrestlers like Akiyama and Shiozaki? It seems like they would cut costs but signing them couldn't have been cheap. So either their TV "deals" are worth more than I am imagining (I am imagining they aren't worth anything), wrestlers do indeed wrestle for some ramen, or promotions are just losing tons of money every week. I would guess that AJPW got a lot of money from the split and was using that plus the TV contracts to pay their crew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan4L Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Did anyone have any Dragongate recommendations, and where is the best place to watch Dragongate matches for the cheapest price? Www.openthedragongate.com It's all there man. September of 2013 is a great starting point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan4L Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Legend Pro just did Ishii vs Okabayashi at Korakuen. ...and it might not have been taped... Their last Korakuen was taped for Samurai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimLivingston Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Kawada didn't have a "heavyweight frame." He went to Canada and magically came back with about 30-40 lbs. more muscle. That's like saying Dynamite, DBJ or Benoit had a heavyweight frame. Misawa only weighed about 225 during his AJPW reign, but was taller so he looked leaner. Fujinami was indeed broad shouldered, but if he weighed any more than 225 during his peak, that's a lie. Those guys didn't wrestle like flashy juniors because back in their days, there was hardly anybody who did. Misawa wasn't expected to be as flashy as Sayama. Worked for him alright. The Musketeers were making way more money because they were drawing the biggest houses on a consistent basis in the history of professional wrestling, whereas AJPW would run the Budokan at their peak and only made a run at the Tokyo Dome because they felt they had to so that they could keep up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAHU Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 "Most of the wrestlers own bars to make more money. Of course, with the property values in Tokyo I wonder how they even get the cash to do that. The DDT crew works at the DDT bar for extra cash." Just Daichi Kakimoto and FUMA work the DDT bar. The night I went DDT just had a show close by at the Shinjuku FACE so HARASHIMA and Antonio Honda came by but other than possiblity of the group HARASHIMA showed up with being sponsors they weren't actually working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harbinger Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Big Japan has/had a moving company. I know alot of the Noah wrestler work in the office. When the AJPW/W1 split happened all of their salaries leaked. Most were making 60k or more per year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I believe there's a photo of Abdullah Kobayashi on one of the BJW trucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supremebve Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Wait, those BJW dudes only get paid $300 per match? I don't get the whole do crazy, potentially crippling, body destroying things for very little money part of life. I've been broke, but I've never been that broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Territorial Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Japanese wrestlers don't get paid in money/yen, just ramen, stale popcorn and a small coke. Well, if you believe the rumors, workers for at least a few feds get paid in notbeingkilledbyyakuza instead of yen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harbinger Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Nah, you have to run in atleast a 2500 seat arena before the yakuza even waste their time with extorting you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAHU Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Wait, those BJW dudes only get paid $300 per match? I don't get the whole do crazy, potentially crippling, body destroying things for very little money part of life. I've been broke, but I've never been that broke. They make more. Young Boys make around 200 per match so MASADA was either lying or getting fucked over. Kobayashi and I believe Sekimoto are the only ones that work for the trucking company. It's not something all the wrestlers in the promotion work for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harbinger Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Wack. When I moved to Japan for awhile I was gonna hire the whole BJW crew to move my shit & bump in my new livingroom :-(. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Everyone in puroresu, male and female, are involved in BAHU's porn/construction company. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Attila The Hut Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 The Musketeers were making way more money because they were drawing the biggest houses on a consistent basis in the history of professional wrestling, whereas AJPW would run the Budokan at their peak and only made a run at the Tokyo Dome because they felt they had to so that they could keep up. This is from Ditch's page on All Japan and the Tokyo Dome: "Despite how popular All Japan was in the early-mid '90s, with Budokan shows selling out well in advance for years in a row, Giant Baba refused to do Dome shows because he didn't ever want to have one show be so big that it made Budokan cards seem small. When he finally consented in '98 they drew 48,000 despite being well past the peak of popularity." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordi the former AEW fan Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 CIMA got married today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harbinger Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 To BxB Hulk? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Wait, I thought he was already married. Perhaps he got divorced or I'm remembering the wrong person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimLivingston Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 The Musketeers were making way more money because they were drawing the biggest houses on a consistent basis in the history of professional wrestling, whereas AJPW would run the Budokan at their peak and only made a run at the Tokyo Dome because they felt they had to so that they could keep up. This is from Ditch's page on All Japan and the Tokyo Dome: "Despite how popular All Japan was in the early-mid '90s, with Budokan shows selling out well in advance for years in a row, Giant Baba refused to do Dome shows because he didn't ever want to have one show be so big that it made Budokan cards seem small. When he finally consented in '98 they drew 48,000 despite being well past the peak of popularity." As soon as I finished typing my response, I realized that there's a good chance that all those Budokan shows would add up. It was too little, too late when they finally went to the Dome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 After checking, CIMA got married in 2009, so I'm not sure what Gordi's referencing. Unless I'm missing some inside joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultimoDANK Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 So I'm like a year or more behind on watching Dragon Gate. Quite a few new names in results over that time. Who are the stand outs? Anybody suck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordi the former AEW fan Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 I guess he just changed his Facebook status yesterday, then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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