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Purotopia General Discussion: 2017!


Kevin Wilson

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On 25.4.2017 at 4:59 AM, Evil Otto said:

I think the most obvious difference between current All Japan and New Japan is the overall pace of the matches.  All Japan matches tend to be slower and more methodical, and in a sense, more traditional.  Perhaps due to budget concerns, there aren't all the extra bells and whistles that New Japan can employ to get fans hyped up for the matches, i.e. slick video packages and such, so All Japan has to rely on the in-ring performances to keep the fans' interest.  You'll see more struggling, trying to gain leverage, wearing the opponent down, that sort of thing.  It may look to the casual observer that it's second-rate and plodding at times, and in some ways that observation isn't wrong.  Honestly, the premier athletes tend to go to New Japan, but there are plenty of great wrestlers in the other promotions in Japan (in fact, there are tons).  That all being said, All Japan, again out of necessity, clearly has utilized an open-door policy for the last few years, so you'll see lots of random wrestlers show up, far more than New Japan.  It's fun to see who will walk through the door next.  Sometimes they can be total bush-league, but more often than not, there's something really intriguing about the random guys they give chances to.  Anyway, everyone is working hard and it's clear they are collectively trying to keep the promotion moving forward, so I tend to watch it with that in mind, rather than be overly concerned with something being "next-level" or whatever, which is what I watch New Japan for.  

As far as whether it will ever get back to the glory days, it won't.  The comparison is so far removed at this point, getting close to 20 years now, that it's irrelevant.  I think if people just let that go, they can enjoy for what it is right now, a promotion which does the best with what it has.  

   

Thanks for the answer, sounds like puro I could enjoy.

The "glory days" comment was meant to refer to big crowds and such. It would be cool too see All Japan doing good gates / draw big is what I meant. Big and lively crowds is what I miss most from the 80ies and 90ies tbh.

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In case anyone missed it, Tim went to Korea and Japan couple weeks ago and took in some wrestling. We talked about it on the pod, including him eating in Kawada's restaurant and Tim getting his picture taken with him. 

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Has Onita already announced what his retirement match will be? I saw that he called out Suwama in some form on the FMW show today... If he's thinking about going out in an actual match rather than some hardcore six man then I could think of plenty worse guys than Suwama who could do a decently credible singles match with Onita at his current age.  

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I'm going to just keep posting about minor AJPW quibbles.  

So maybe I'm just old fashioned and grumpy,  but I think Joe Dooring should have won the Carny today.  And I think Zeus should have won last year.  I get you want to keep the outsiders happy to keep them around but having the home team guys lose two years in a row seems a little self-effacing (especially since Zeus and Joe could both have totally used the win). 

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Yeah, two outsiders for two years running does seem a bit odd, agreed.  Although they could always turn that itself into an angle, which would then make it fine for me.  Not sure if they will, of course.  Honestly, while I get where you're coming from, I don't think Zeus was quite ready for that spot last time around, but I'm admittedly not so high on Zeus as others are.  I am, however, a big fan of Joe, and would love to see him back near the top of the card, but I wonder if they're playing it safe a bit with him in this instance, testing the waters so to speak, given that he just recently came back from, no way to sugarcoat it, brain surgery.  I'm extremely impressed with how quickly he got back into the swing of things, to be honest.  

I think in some ways they are simply awarding damn good workers here, Sekimoto and Ishikawa, and I have no problem with that.  Now with the seed planted in my head after his victory, I think Ishikawa, of all people, could be someone who could dethrone Miyahara.  Even without a belt (at least in All Japan), he has the aura of a champion.  He's also semi-regular in All Japan at this point, and he completely delivers in every match I've ever seen him in.  Miyahara vs. Ishikawa has the potential to be one hell of a match.  

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Whatculture's top 10 Kazuchika Okada's matches:

http://whatculture.com/wwe/kazuchika-okadas-10-best-wrestling-matches

Mine:

1. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Wrestle Kingdom 10 *****

2. vs. Kenny Omega, Wrestle Kingdom 11 *****

3. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, King of Pro-Wrestling 2013 *****

4. vs. Tetsuya Naito, 40th Anniversary Show 2012 *****

5. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Invasion Attack 2013 *****

6. vs. Katsuyori Shibata, Sakura Genesis 2017 *****

7. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Dominion 2012 *****

8. vs. Tomohiro Ishii, G1 Climax 26, Day 13 *****

9. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, G1 Climax 26, Day 18

10. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Wrestle Kingdom 9

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@Evil Otto

Good points all around,  and I was actually thinking ishikawa might be the guy to finally defeat Miyahara,  and then eventually drop it to Zeus... Which in a sense would actually bring the "storyline"  full circle.  Joe I can see not putting the strap back on anytime soon but finally winning the Carny would have been a great moral victory for the promotion and fans. I'm imagining the match itself,  in a good way,  resembling the Taue vs Doc Carny final from 1996. 

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On 4/28/2017 at 9:09 AM, Belgian_Waffle said:

Has Onita already announced what his retirement match will be?

You know exactly what his retirement match should be

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And yeah, Suwama could pull something good out of that too probably. Also, FMW show? What iteration of the promotion is this now?

Now I'm imagining the ring exploding right when Suwama gives Onita the Last Ride

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4 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Now I'm imagining the ring exploding right when Suwama gives Onita the Last Ride

Right as the timer ticks down to zero, he drops him. BOOM. Chaos. Then, the smoke clears. There's a pin. The end. BOOK IT.

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While we're having fun with hypothetical dream retirement matches,  how does everybody see Masanobu Fuchi going out?  I posted about this once a few years ago but I'd love to see a 30 minute broadway with Akiyama and Nagata taking on Suwama and Fuchi...an homage to the classic Nagata/Iizuka vs Kawada/Fuchi 30 min showdown, and it would be three top guys who can still go 30 mins and could cover any of Fuchi's age-related weaknesses (not that he has any,  of course...). 

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I don't see Fuchi as the type to do a big Retirement Match, I see him more like Great Kabuki (I realize he did have a retirement match, but I mean I real one) in that he will just wrestle less and less until he physically can't do it anymore. Maybe a ceremony. But I can't see if he ever gets to the point he wants to retire that he'd be able to have much of a match, not that I'd personally mind it, some wrestlers are just lifers.

I wish that more wrestlers had retirement matches, still annoyed that Kawada and Chono didn't, but I guess not everyone wants one. At least I know for a fact that Mutoh will have one since he absolutely loves the big match atmosphere, hopefully he doesn't retire so late that he can't do his usual stuff.

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I was always bummed about no retirement match for Kawada but I still feel like Chono might surprise us all one day and do like a special exhibition retirement match of some kind. Guy just always seemed like a lifer,  it was surprising how quietly he bowed out.  Although I'm also an idealist who thinks Maeda will come back in working shape for a few more matches (FYI he was celebrating with Fujinami at a recent Dradition show...). 

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On 5/2/2017 at 2:28 AM, The Natural said:

Whatculture's top 10 Kazuchika Okada's matches:

http://whatculture.com/wwe/kazuchika-okadas-10-best-wrestling-matches

Mine:

1. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Wrestle Kingdom 10 *****

2. vs. Kenny Omega, Wrestle Kingdom 11 *****

3. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, King of Pro-Wrestling 2013 *****

4. vs. Tetsuya Naito, 40th Anniversary Show 2012 *****

5. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Invasion Attack 2013 *****

6. vs. Katsuyori Shibata, Sakura Genesis 2017 *****

7. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Dominion 2012 *****

8. vs. Tomohiro Ishii, G1 Climax 26, Day 13 *****

9. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, G1 Climax 26, Day 18

10. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Wrestle Kingdom 9

I gotta be honest, my list would look a lot different than yours.  By WK10, I was sick to death of Okada vs Tanahashi (mostly due to Tanahashi's move-spamming).  I think I reached that point by WK9, actually.  So I don't get placing that ahead of the Omega match.  Actually, I think the Invasion Attack 2013 match is the best of the Okada/Tanahashi series.

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On 07 May 2017 at 2:52 AM, mattdangerously said:

I gotta be honest, my list would look a lot different than yours.  By WK10, I was sick to death of Okada vs Tanahashi (mostly due to Tanahashi's move-spamming).  I think I reached that point by WK9, actually.  So I don't get placing that ahead of the Omega match.  Actually, I think the Invasion Attack 2013 match is the best of the Okada/Tanahashi series.

Fair enough. At one point I had Okada-Omega ahead of Okada/Tanahashi WK 10 but switched them back to what you see now. I can see the argument for that and Okada vs. Tanahashi from Invasion Attack 2013 as the best of the series. My least favourite is the Wrestle Kingdom 7 match, that's the most disappointing one.

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2 hours ago, Belgian_Waffle said:

Any idea who this "Dinosaur Takuma"  character is in AJPW?  I'm hoping it's Takuma Sano with a dinosaur gimmick but I'm probably not that lucky. 

Haven't seen his name in AJPW, but Dinosaur Takuma is a new kid out of Kaientai Dojo.  Looks like he just started wrestling for K-Dojo last year.  

http://puroresuspirit.net/kaientai-dojo/dinosaur-takuma/

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On 5/10/2017 at 11:41 AM, clintthecrippler said:

Damn, this Dinosaur Takuma discussion is reopening old wounds from 20 years ago when I was disappointed to learn than Manaukea Mossman was not in fact a wrestler doing a "Moss Man" gimmick.

I just saw Karate Mummy on a women's show and had forgotten about him. I read the name and with the katakana thought it was Karate Mommy and envisioned a housewife karate gimmick.

 

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They don't need any additional titles but if they're serious about touring next year and setting up another dojo in Cali, I guess it could work as something only for the States.

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