Beech27 Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Ashino may be smaller than All Japan’s hoss armada, but he’d fit right in among NOAH’s (nominal) heavies. He’s also cool as hell: Dapper 1950’s business man haircut, cauliflower ears, random Metallica font on his trunks, comes out to Fuel, suplexes everyone all the time. Of course it could be argued that All Japan needs juniors pretty badly, and also that W-1 won’t close until Mutoh retires, so it’s all probably moot. But I like him. He’s like a sawed off CAW I’d have made in 2000. -I enjoyed that NOAH main a lot, especially Nakajima’s reckless head punting, but the attendance was pretty dreary. Of course, NOAH can’t expect a great crowd on a Friday night with no singles matches. Only New Japan really gets sellouts by default. -Has anyone done the math on when KENTA can show back up? -Kawada/Sasaki might have my favorite “oh shit it’s on now” entrances and crowd reactions. I know this isn’t current at all, but I just watched the match for the nth time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 While I'm sure the other 4 guys, Zeus, Shuji, Suwama, Joe still have a place at the top, the new era eventually will be Kento, Nomura, Yuma, Jake as the new four kings or 4 aces. Jun's ready to slowly start with this project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 What Yuma Aoyagi matches should I check out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 He wrestled your boy Taichi in 2017. Worth a look. His recent tag team with Nomura resulted in a good match against Omori and Black Menso-re in January of this year. Probably a couple WSTL matches worth checking out, like vs Kengo and KAI. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 The Reiwa era begins. May the first in Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 (edited) Potential game-changer: Edited April 1, 2019 by Control 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNLister Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 (edited) For anyone thinking of going to Tokyo for wrestling, I've made a free and updated version of the travel tips section of my book Purodyssey: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lKQ..._An0SCy6o/view Edited April 1, 2019 by JNLister 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 Finally got around to watching Violent Giants/Strong BJ and boy that was a whole lotta clubberin'. I felt like Chop Top in Texas Chainsaw 2 when he slapped L.G.'s unconscious body and yelled "LOOKIT THAT BEEF!" A couple things: 1. It was good seeing Nikkan Lee again, didn't know she was reffing in AJ 2. Dunno who the announcer was but him marking out was a bonus, along with the super hot Korakuen crowd 3. So many agonized facial expressions 4. It must suck on so many different levels to be double-stomped by Shuji Ishikawa 5. Suwama still has the best hair in all the islands of Japan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostinube Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 (edited) Some photos of the last DDT (and last show period) at Hakata Star Lane. Not embedding since there is a Danshoku Dino photo in there. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=227616 It was the first time going to a DDT show for me. Fun if sort of longish show (for a Star Lane show). The comedy match segment went on for a long time. I think it's the first time a lot of people are going to see Batten Bura Bura, a comedy worker for Kyushu Pro who is sort of their go to guy for doing interaction with celebs and whatnot. The three way tag was announced at the beginning of the show as a falls count anywhere and they went into the entrance area as a treat for fans. The main was good but since Takeshita and Sasaki are headlining the NY card it didn't seem like Ikemen had a chance. Oh yeah, Bull James was there and no one really cared. https://twitter.com/lostinube/status/1113008017853767680 Edited April 2, 2019 by lostinube 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 15 hours ago, D.Z said: Really like how the name inserts look like bow ties. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 I thought Hakata was closing down? Or is that some other famous venue I'm thinking of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostinube Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 Hakata Star Lane closed down from 4/1. The 3/31 shows were the last ones. There was a Big Japan show in the morning, a Tokyo Joshi Pro show in the afternoon and the DDT show finished things up. From the posters I've seen, I guess bigger groups will start using Acros Fukuoka as the go-to place for smaller shows. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 He been tweeting AJP pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 That building looks awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaeBlazer Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 I guess this basically confirms the theory that he left New Japan because of his lack of a push. He obviously loves working in Japan but he was never going to go anywhere in New Japan especially considering how far he dropped down the card after the scandal. I’m assuming he thinks that he could be a main event guy in All Japan with the big focus on hosses and such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archibald Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 I don't know, his strong man gimmick might not work that well considering that AJPW has more big guys. Like, what he is going to do exactly against Ishikawa? On the other hand, moving outside of stongman gimmick might be good for him overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 I know people dislike Elgin’s video game-like wrestling style, butnfill me in on the personal dislike. He just a jerk or an actual creep? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beech27 Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 (edited) Seems like both, by reputation. He bragged in a shoot (search for Elgin and Steen) about what, if we’re being too generous, might be called coercive sex acts; and then there was the whole potential coverup/intimidation controversy around a student of his allegedly sexually assaulting a women. Less seriously, the texts that are part of that show him talking badly about Jeff Cobb, his tag partner at the time, and generally he depicts himself as a pretty big deal in and expert on Japanese wrestling. Generally this corroborates the years of stories that he’s just really, really arrogant and bitter when someone else might get his push. Having said all that, there are enough in-ring reasons for me not to enjoy him. But having said that, All Japan could use another foreigner people have heard of. Maybe NOAH too, since all their main eventers are like 90 kilos. Although he's always said to be a very expensive booking, and neither company seems to pay much for outside talent. Edited April 3, 2019 by Beech27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 This happened. Quote Name of the event: TCW Wally Yamaguchi Memorial Box Office Date: 13.03.2019 Promotion: Wrestling In Japan - Freelance Shows Type: Event Location: Tokyo, Japan Arena: Shin-Kiba 1st RING Attendance: 274 Dark Match Dan Severn defeats Survival Tobita by referee's decision (6:02) Hardcore Match Chesca, Ina Hazuki, Koharu Hinata, LINDA, Tokiko Kirihara & Yuiga defeat HASEGAWA, Naoshi Sano, Shigeo Kato, Survival Tobita, The Yotchan, Tiger Kihara & Tomonori Chiba (11:15) Six Man Tag Team Match Hiroshi Yamato, Nagase Kancho & Naoya Fukushi defeat Jason Zagordo, Kenichiro Arai & Leatherface (7:52) NKPWA Heavyweight Title Match Yoon Kang Chul (c) defeats Kim Duk by DQ (8:21) Six Man Tag Team Match Chikara, Kazushi Miyamoto & Tomohiko Hashimoto defeat Bryan Idol, Joe Legend & Tom LaRuffa (15:15) Singles Match Dan Severn defeats Alexander Otsuka (0:58) [Runde 3] Singles Match Minoru Tanaka defeats James Mason (16:26) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E. Dynamite Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 The thing people leave out in the Elgin discussion is that he has huge heat from his days with RoH. I think he was working with an expired visa while RoH World Champion, and getting the belt off him was a decision that was made very last-minute. He didn't approve his loses as RoH World Champion with the company (losing to PWG rookie Trevor Lee in the '14 BOLA) and was openly discussing leaving wrestling for baseball in interviews. The other common thread is that everybody in the locker rooms thinks Elgin is a dick. Apparently it's the vibe he's given off his entire career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonzombie Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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