lostinube

I think I'm posting in this thread at the wrong time... Anyway, went to see Sendai Girls in the afternoon and Stardom in the evening at Hakata Star Lane. Spoilered for size. I've seen Sakura Hirota three times wrestling for three different groups. Busy busy. Hey Shuri, are you sure you want to throw that look at Aja Kong? Can't say I didn't warn you. At the Stardom show I was too low to take any photos plus they were facing the other way most of the time during intros. I guess I could have taken copious photos of their behinds but they already have magazines for that sort of thing. Did get one shot of Io Shirai though. A few more here (Note - I am a bad photographer)

This one? http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11dmgv_06-akiyama-shiozaki-c-vs-akebono-hama-ajpw-06-23-13_sport

Steamboat /Slater (or as the announcer says Ricky and Dicky) vs. Abdullah/Kamata http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGZxwjGWZBQ Wait...how does one go from tagging with Harley Race.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oklzfth0I0 To Tim Horner two weeks later? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSYN0kzCjKo

Speaking of the Young Bucks, good lord people...give your thighs a break. Not every single kick has to have a snappy sound to it. You're wrestling. You're not in a Z-level kung-fu movie with a foley artist on speed. Actually, not acting like you're in a kung-fu movie covers a whole lot of things.

August 13th to 15th was O-Bon which most people (though not all) get off for holidays. Lots of people working in Tokyo are from other prefectures so they use this opportunity to go back home. For background. Naturally, other people from other areas may go to Tokyo for vacation. But I highly doubt people on vacation are going to a BJW show.

I was slightly confused by the "hero" thing. I've decided that KENTA's name is either a tribute to Juzo Itami who made Tanpopo meaning KENTA just really loves gentle Japanese satire or he's a fan of Hanzo Itami from the Sword of Justice movies who (according to Wikipedia): "ritualistically flagellates his huge penis so as to make it stronger; this exercise is always followed up by Hanzo's practicing sexual intercourse with a bale of rice."

It really stands out now but I always liked the story of a young Paul Heyman meeting the old guard of heel WWF managers. This photo (I think it was his photo but it was published in one of the mags when he was in WCW) is great. I always like the photos in the magazines and basically the photos were what dictated the stories sometimes. If they had the right photo they could make whatever BS up and that photos made them believable (to me anyway).

My family had subscriptions to a bunch of magazines because we would read them and then my mother would take them to her high school (she was a librarian) after we were done. Time, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, some other sport magazine I can't remember now, and some other stuff that I didn't read that much. My lone contribution to the pile was my one (or maybe two) year subscription to Pro Wrestling Illustrated. I think there are still issues in the house somewhere.

I think this is from Parade of Champions 84 but with Japanese commentary.

Men's Final is set! Marin Cilic versus Kei Nishikori. First time since 2003 that none of the big three will be involved in a Grand Slam final. Nishikori is the first man from Asia to ever reach a Grand Slam Final.

UNIQLO is going to be soooo happy with a semi-final of Nishikori vs Djokovic. It'll probably be the biggest match in modern Japanese tennis history (it's been 96 years since a Japanese player has reached the US Open semis) and yet in Japan the only way we can see the match is on cable.

Went to a Dragon Gate show this past weekend. It was fun because the only reason I ever knew Hakata Star Lanes had wrestling shows was because I'd see Dragon Gate on local TV. I was slightly disturbed though by the trend of guys slapping their thighs when they were doing drop kicks. Seemed excessive. I know people have done it before but it was happening enough to make me hope it doesn't get any worse. Also, I wonder if they know that having Mochizuki slap Yosuke Santa Maria a bunch comes off as sort of dickish?

I think there are voting times but they're not written anywhere on the site. Also, Hartman beat Farley by just over 500 votes which seems way too close. Glad he ended up beating Murphy.

2nd Round of voting is open now. Does Grantland always do their brackets by time periods? That's irritating. Looking forward to seeing if the revised book has anything different from the Ferell years. When I read the 1st edition everyone was falling all over themselves to praise Lorne. I don't think we'll ever see a "true" history until Michaels is dead - maybe not even then. My Final Four is Murphy, Hartman, Ferrell, Hader.

18,000 is the official number. Which is actually not a horrible number when you compare it to how they bombed at Yokohama Arena. And in the end the typhoon didn't come and affect anything in the area. Aside from all the people sitting in the bleachers getting rained on.

That seems to be what everyone's been thinking since he beat Okada in Yokohama. Saw this in the Observer: "Tickets for the finals on 8/10 at the 33,000-seat Seibu Dome in Tokorazawa, which is about an hour North of Tokyo, are not expected to sell out, but nobody ever expected that in the first place. A crowd of more than 18,000 would be considered a major success. This is the first G-1 finals not at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, where the show in its early years and in recent years would sell out the 11,066 seats well in advance. For the finals, the $199, $150 and $88 tickets are sold out. But the other ticket categories, which are $102, and the back of the second deck and entire third deck from $73 down to $34 are still available." Typhoon #11 is coming this weekend . If it goes it's projected path it will hit Kyushu tomorrow and cross Honshu over the weekend. Saitama looks like it's at the very edge of the typhoon but one never knows.

The little splotch he leaves on the white part of the mat when they're outside and Styles trips Naito up is my favorite part of the match.

I put these in the Joshi thread but I may as well put them here. Note: I am a bad photographer. Bottom photo is Mayumi Ozaki and Dynamite Kansai.

At the merchandise tables, whoever was out there was nice and signing stuff. Interestingly, it was mostly whoever was working heel that was at the main table - Ozaki, Mio Shirai, Yumi Ohka, Aja. Possibly because Carlos and a some of the others didn't make the trip. Manami Toyota probably had the most people going up to her. Ozaki had her head wrapped up in towel with blood on her face which wasn't quite as off-putting as Isami Kodaka coming out to sell stuff almost right after a light bulb match with blood all over his body.

Just the usual meet and greet while buying merchandise. I bought a signed fan from Aja Kong and some signed glossies but even though I went to the 2nd show at Star Lane that night (a Big Japan show with Tatsumi Fujinami) I had to be somewhere between shows. Fun experience though. In the main event, Ozaki and Kansai went brawling through almost all sides of the crowd before their match even started.

The 34:00 mark on probably has more selling from Mil than about half the matches here put together. I remember seeing this and trying to figure out what exactly the Destroyer was trying to do by untying Mil's trunks. Chavo Sr. and Ricky Steamboat coming out to YMO made my day.

Went to my first ever Joshi show, Oz Academy at Hakata Star Lane this past weekend. It was nice to see some famous names like Aja Kong, Manami Toyota, Dynamite Kansai and Mayumi Ozaki.

Great. Japan has given Colombia a chance to sub out their goalie. Not that it matters.

Legit or not, these are the photos of Taichi and the girl going round the net, plus some screenshots of his LINE messages.

Maybe he really really wants to go to North Korea.