Joshi Puroresu Discussion Thread

[Brian Fowler 13,364]

I think a relationship with NJPW could be cool. Like putting a match on the Dome and maybe stuff like Dominion and the G-1 finals shows to showcase Stardom.

But actually having a NJPW women's division just guts the Joshi promotions without giving nearly as much time to the workers.

[SorceressKnight 1,163]

2 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

I think a relationship with NJPW could be cool. Like putting a match on the Dome and maybe stuff like Dominion and the G-1 finals shows to showcase Stardom.

But actually having a NJPW women's division just guts the Joshi promotions without giving nearly as much time to the workers.

That would definitely work, and ideally NJPW would work with a joshi promotion and give them featured matches would help.

However, it'd be countered by the "uh..NJPW would absolutely demand whatever joshi promotion works with them take on Pieter and Miho Abe, and probably push them" thing.

[alstein 503]

I could see MIho being somewhat decent- she seems to get the concept.  Probably would be Kelly Kelly bad in ring though.

 

[Archibald 491]

I doubt that Miho and Pieter would be interested. Sure, Miho looks like she gets it, but if she wanted then I think she would have had featured matches on those TakaTaichi shows.

As for "it would help" arguments, they don't have enough time to feature all their regular talent on those big Dominion/Dome cards as it is so I'm sceptical about it. I said in WK thread that Cody/Juice is going to be worst match on the card and I'm 100% sure that you could replace it with great Joshi match, but... it is still important match for Juice. And last thing I want is more bad booking for a guy who is doing great work and shows up on most shows. It is not zero sum game, but at the same time you can't promote "everyone" and I'd prefer if they promoted guys that wrestle for them on regular basis instead of few Joshi wrestlers that might never appear again solely because it is "right thing to do in current year".

[Oyaji 7,440]

You know what would be way neater than women receiving token matches on NJPW cards a few times a year? Them winning back the school girl audience at least partially so the crowds at their shows don't look like the same at what I imagine a 1970s dirty movie theatre audience would look like. I figure it's nigh impossible without the exposure Fuji TV gave them back in the day but it makes my skin crawl/depresses me looking out at the audience when I watch Joshi shows. Why did young girls stop watching women's wrestling in Japan in the mid 90s? Did none of the awesome in-ring talents capture their attention and hearts like the Crush Gals did? Has there been a book written in/translated to English about the history of Joshi puroresu? Would be a great topic obv. 

[Eivion 2,640]

I doubt they will ever get those school girl audiences back with the ever changing culture.

[Beech27 2,609]

I think the easier target might be the supposed 40% female audience New Japan draws. Well, "easier" is relative. I don't actually know how to do this.

[Godfrey 1,602]

They need another Dump Matsumoto for the teens to rally against.

[D.Z 5,836]

They could do offer matches. AJPW did them for awhile.

Women in Japan rather watch pretty boys and musclemen in the ring these days over their own gender.

[Oyaji 7,440]

Then why isn't Yuji Hino a bigger star? 

[D.Z 5,836]

Not Ikemen enough.

[Eivion 2,640]

7 hours ago, D.Z said:

Women in Japan rather watch pretty boys and musclemen in the ring these days over their own gender.

Isn't this one of the big reasons Dragons gate became such a success?

[Trocar Slush Weasel 1,656]

11 hours ago, Eivion said:

I doubt they will ever get those school girl audiences back with the ever changing culture.

You need a population of school girls to draw from to get a school girl audience. Seriously, it is similar to female idol groups. They have a decent section of young female fans (admittedly less so for joshi puroresu) but between the cost of live events and the reticence of attending shows with that large a section of adult males, you don't see them. If the companies wanted to target them and have them come out they could, but they are probably worried about losing adult male dollars.

[D.Z 5,836]

14 hours ago, Eivion said:

Isn't this one of the big reasons Dragons gate became such a success?

Yes. It's what Japanese  women want to see in wrestling these days. 

[alstein 503]

On 12/26/2018 at 3:16 PM, Beech27 said:

I think the easier target might be the supposed 40% female audience New Japan draws. Well, "easier" is relative. I don't actually know how to do this.

 

I wonder how much of that 40% is fujoshi.  I'm betting many of them secretly ship Naito x Hiromu.

 

[Happ Hazzard 386]

What is the meaning of the promotion name SEAdLINNNG?

[D.Z 5,836]

11 hours ago, alstein said:

 

I wonder how much of that 40% is fujoshi.  I'm betting many of them secretly ship Naito x Hiromu.

 

A lot.

 

Anyway Hana Kimura 

[Trocar Slush Weasel 1,656]

WAVE had their last show today, until their re-opening next April.  Ohata had her retirement match against MIzunami (who beat Asuka for the belt 2 weeks ago) and ended up winning the Regina di Wave title in the match. The title was then vacated. Hirota/Miyazaki won the tag titles from Ohka/Momono. For some reason, Nanae came in and beat Asuka. Yoshiko drew with Yamashita. Nozaki beat Iroha.

[Beech27 2,609]

Did anyone see Stardom continuing on this trajectory after losing Kairi and Io? I certainly didn’t. 

[Eivion 2,640]

17 hours ago, Beech27 said:

Did anyone see Stardom continuing on this trajectory after losing Kairi and Io? I certainly didn’t. 

Somewhat. The roster has been slowly building in size and talent for the last two years even before Kairi left. This year many of them made pretty good jumps in improvement. You had talented members who left early having returned, and the stories have generally been better even if they run a bit quick. Really though the number has more to do with Stardom being able to run more shows. Attendance for big shows hasn't really increased on the average, but the regular shows remain good and are run more often.

[Archibald 491]

When you have many great/good wrestlers then it is not that hard to replace your top stars. Personally I often like these periods since there is lots of uncertainty and you are not sure who is going to end up on top.

[Trocar Slush Weasel 1,656]

7 hours ago, Beech27 said:

Did anyone see Stardom continuing on this trajectory after losing Kairi and Io? I certainly didn’t. 

Because I love fuckin around with Excel, I decided to download all the Stardom attendance figures and check it out. Unfortunately, my automated system didn't work properly and I'm missing about 60 shows worth of data.  One thing I did notice is that Stardom has increased the number of shows they run every year. Also, outside of a show they ran at Sumo Hall, their top attended event was this year at Korakuen Hall for Io Shirai's last appearance. (Kairi Hojo's last appearance was at a Shin-Kiba show)

NOTE: There is no telling if Wrestledata's numbers are correct. Or even whatever is reported by Stardom, for that matter.

[Trocar Slush Weasel 1,656]

This looks 100% legit. (What up, Takako?)

 

[J.H. 1,633]

I think the biggest improvement in Joshi this year is Hazuki's thick lustrous hair, that and her developing heel promos have been fun

James

[Eivion 2,640]

5 hours ago, J.H. said:

I think the biggest improvement in Joshi thisyear is Hauki's thick lustrous hair, that and her developing heel promos have been fun

Who?