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Joshi Puroresu Discussion Thread


NikkySan

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I guess I don't worry too much about that, its not that simple. I think a lot of smaller promotions are on a tight budget and recording/editing etc. would cost extra money, its not a guaranteed method to make profit, even most US indies don't have youtube subs. Plus they'd have to hire at least one extra person to manage it/make it in English. As long as they are available in Japan I'll find a way to watch it. Word on the street was the reason Stardom changed their service off Youtube after just a few months is they weren't getting the subs/money to justify the cost, and if Stardom can't then REINA certainly can't.

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The Stardom employee who talks on facebook said the biggest reason they left youtube was due to trouble with the paid subscription model's availability to other countries. Basically it was too limiting.

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I know that was the PR reason, he said it on Twitter too, but I don't really buy it. I mean I am sure that was a factor but there are other things to consider. First of all, they knew that when they signed up with youtube as it wasn't a new policy, and they went with it anyway. Also, they increased the price by 50%, which is a pretty big increase and if any other online subscription did that there would be tons of complaining (not saying it isn't worth $7.50, but it is still a big one time jump). And finally, the shift will lose them US customers so they must feel being global + price increase will lead to more profits. I say that because now they can't take Paypal and Youtube is very easy to use/people are comfortable with it. They also could have stayed on Youtube if they wanted to so they didn't lose any US customers if they had a big fan base, but their numbers likely weren't what they were hoping. Plus they annoyed people like me by yanking all the content immediately, thus not giving people their full month's worth depending on when they signed up.

All that is to say, I don't think the youtube try went as they were hoping as four months is really quick to do a complete change in model. I hope it works out for them as I am all for easy access to Joshi, but it isn't a good sign if the largest promotion with the most revenue clearly had some issues with youtube.

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I wouldn't really call Stardom the largest promotion. Not sure they have the most revenue either, but I haven't paid much attention to other joshi promotions' numbers.

I don't disagree that the reasons given were suspect, but I'm not sure how much using youtube would have realistically cost them. Do companies pay for the space or does youtube just take a cut of the profits? While I agree they took the page down too fast I can also understanding not wanting to keep the youtube page up its cheaper than the increased price for the new site.

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I'm not really sure any other Joshi promotion could even make the claim, Stardom is the only Joshi promotion with a monthly Samurai TV slot (I know that isn't saying much but no other promotion has a regular airing), run Korakuen once a month or so at a solid 800 to 1K which is more than any other Joshi promotion, have weekly events, do Japanese tours (ie aren't just in Tokyo), have the most exclusive contracted wrestlers, have events in other countries, are really the only Joshi promotion that gets featured on the cover of Weekly Pro.... I wouldn't even consider it close. I have no idea which promotion I'd say is #2 since there are so many factors, but #1 is pretty clear as far as I can tell.

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Stardom does much more to promote themselves than any other group so they seem bigger than they actually are. OZ Academy runs all over Japan a draws well but doesn't run as many big shows. Ice Ribbon has been better in the last year, their Korakuen shows draw similar to Stardom's plus they just drew 1,500 for their anniversary show. Sendai Girls just drew 2,200 for basically a one match show. The gap isn't that big.

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17 minutes ago, donsem43 said:

Stardom does much more to promote themselves than any other group so they seem bigger than they actually are. OZ Academy runs all over Japan a draws well but doesn't run as many big shows. Ice Ribbon has been better in the last year, their Korakuen shows draw similar to Stardom's plus they just drew 1,500 for their anniversary show. Sendai Girls just drew 2,200 for basically a one match show. The gap isn't that big.

Other promotions may be even in an area or two, but combining all the factors is what I was looking at. No other promotion runs as often with consistently high attendances which I think is the best way to measure it, along with availability which I think are the two areas that Stardom has a significant leg-up. OZ has claimed over 500 just once all year so I don't think they can hold a candle to Stardom in terms of fans in attendance (although they do a fair number of sellouts so they book arenas smartly, no doubt helping profits). I love Sendai Girls' but they tend to have three or four big events a year and chill the rest of it (plus, the 'one match' on the last show had Stardom's biggest star in it). I would personally have Ice Ribbon at #2 since they run a lot of shows and can get a good attendance for their big shows. Oddly WAVE is probably my favorite promotion at the moment to watch since they have some of my personal favorite wrestlers but I could never make that argument for them since their attendances tend to be rather low for some reason.

Obviously none of us have the actual financials for any promotions but since Stardom has had the most fans in attendance at their events this year if you add them up and has the most national/global exposure between having a subscription channel, TV deal, and having events in different countries, I feel comfortable with my opinion :) And that is coming from someone not overly amused with Stardom at the moment, I am totally burned out on them and will be taking a break for awhile to watch WAVE and whatever else pops up.

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On 7/8/2016 at 11:23 AM, Kevin Wilson said:

I know that was the PR reason, he said it on Twitter too, but I don't really buy it. I mean I am sure that was a factor but there are other things to consider. First of all, they knew that when they signed up with youtube as it wasn't a new policy, and they went with it anyway. Also, they increased the price by 50%, which is a pretty big increase and if any other online subscription did that there would be tons of complaining (not saying it isn't worth $7.50, but it is still a big one time jump). And finally, the shift will lose them US customers so they must feel being global + price increase will lead to more profits. I say that because now they can't take Paypal and Youtube is very easy to use/people are comfortable with it. They also could have stayed on Youtube if they wanted to so they didn't lose any US customers if they had a big fan base, but their numbers likely weren't what they were hoping. Plus they annoyed people like me by yanking all the content immediately, thus not giving people their full month's worth depending on when they signed up.

All that is to say, I don't think the youtube try went as they were hoping as four months is really quick to do a complete change in model. I hope it works out for them as I am all for easy access to Joshi, but it isn't a good sign if the largest promotion with the most revenue clearly had some issues with youtube.

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Like I said I hope it works out, I am always in favor of legal ways to support promotions which is not easy to do these days. But it is unusual for a promotion to completely change the model so soon after launching which would be a red flag in most situations that something didn't go according to plan, I just hope it didn't block out too many US fans that wanted to support Stardom as not everyone has a credit card that can be used (ie not a pre-paid card). I haven't tested mine yet but my CC works most the time buying stuff from Japan so I'm not worried about it on my end.

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To me, Youtube always seemed like a compromise of a necessary evil.  The way that Google has been running Youtube over the last couple of years has really left a bad taste in people's mouths.  But the advantage you have with Youtube is a (theoretically) large user base and the lack of a need to host your own content.  I'm just going to assume that the cost of running your own site is less than whatever Youtube was taking off the top.

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One problem (ha) with easily accessible Joshi is now I am about five events behind just from the last three weeks, plus I am tying to watch at least a few classic shows a week so I can catch up a bit on everything I missed out on. Plan on watching Sendai Girls' tonight. If you don't sure how/where to watch the Joshi just send me a DM.

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Went to a small Stardom show in Hiroshima. It was their first time running there. The was an FMW show later but I couldn't stick around for that.

Nothing much of note with only five matches and none of them going over twenty minutes. Rookies got beaten up, there was an interesting gaijin v. gaijin match and a good time was had by all. They killed time by having both "The Rookies" (Watanabe, Mimura and Jungle Kyona) do their song and Thunder Rock do their song.

Kris Wolf hams it up:

Spoiler

Stardom18July20160035.jpg

Io sings:

Spoiler

Stardom18July20160027.jpg

Viper has Io in trouble.

Spoiler

Stardom18July20160076.jpg

Thunder Rock about to fly:

Spoiler

Stardom18July20160077.jpg

I will never love a wrestler like he loves Kairi:

Spoiler

Stardom18July20160069.jpg

 

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On July 19, 2016 at 11:51 AM, lostinube said:

It is not great but it is what it is.

It's not like those Crush Gal singles were great works of art either.

I know the mini concerts go back years and years but do the Joshi audiences really come to these shows for more than just the wrestling like them singing?

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TygtDOkTyw

CCTV sat down with Aja Kong to talk to her about growing up in Japan being mixed race in English and her career.

Here's the description from the video.

This episode of Assignment Asia brings you three stories about identity. First, the story of a musical duo of brothers whose parents come from very different backgrounds – the result of which is reflected in the diversity of their music. Then we meet a professional Japanese female wrestler known by many as ‘Aja Kong’. She tells us her story about growing up as a mixed-race child in Japan and transforming herself into a powerful role model.

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FYI, for anyone that is looking to watch Joshi, Real Hero now uploads everything that isn't WAVE and Stardom (since they have sub services). You can find it here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5rK95X3mRiiSDNvTnQ0aUhWODg. They have uploaded six or so full shows just since Friday, I am a bit overloaded at the moment.

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