The Unofficial Japanese Wrestling FAQ

[STEVIE~!]

Not really sure why I'm posting this. I think the majority of people that check out this forum are mainly here just to see what's up with Brock Lesnar. There's an entire landscape of interesting and diverse styles of pro-wrestling found in Japan. It's not hard at all to get into Japanese Pro-Wrestling, despite what you may think. So, I dub this thread the UNOFFICIAL JAPANESE PRO-WRESTLING FAQ~!

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PART ONE - THE PLAYERS
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Here is a brief summary of the main groups in Japan right now.

NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING
- Arguably the #1 pro-wrestling organization in Japan, and for many years, the #1 organization in the world. New Japan stresses a more legitimate style of wrestling, focusing more on strikes, suplexes and submissions. The group was popularized by its founder, Antonio Inoki, who competed in "shoot" matches against credible fighters from a wide variety of fighting disciplines.

Arguably his most famous "shoot" was against Muhammed Ali. The match aired live in Japan, and on closed circuit television in the United States. Ali's corner pulled a Royce Gracie before the fight, and demanded that grappling and joint locks be banned from the match, leading to one of the most anticipated matches in Japanese history ending in a boring 15-round draw. Most of the match was Inoki on his back, kicking Ali repeatedly in the legs, causing severe swelling. (So much that Ali had to be helped out of the ring and to the back.) Despite most American fans finding the match slow and dull, the Japanese fans considered the draw a victory for Inoki, making him the #1 sports star in Japan. (Many compare Inoki to Hulk Hogan in terms of status. but in reality, Inoki in Japan was about ten times bigger than Hogan in the United States.)

New Japan was a hotbed for professional wrestling until the late 90's, where the PRIDE Fighting organization debuted, using pro-wrestler Nobuhiko Takada as their figure-head. Takada was destroyed in his MMA debut against Rickson Gracie, exposing Takada (Who for most of his career competed in worked shoots, beating most of his opponents.)

As MMA became popular, pro-wrestling's popularity fell. Inoki (Who was merely a 50% stockholder in the company, not the president) felt that New Japan needed to embrace MMA to try and maintain it's status. New Japan formed a relationship with PRIDE, using many of their fighters in pro-wrestling matches. (Mostly killing the Japanese wrestlers in short, boring worked shoots.).

On the other hand, Inoki felt that pro-wrestlers needed to compete in legit MMA bouts. This led to wrestlers such as Yuji Nagata (Who was moving up the chain as the company's next big star) and Kendo KaShin (Who was their #1 Jr. Heavyweight at the time.) Ishizawa (KaShin) lost his MMA debut against Ryan Gracie at PRIDE 10 in 2000. (Although he won a rematch a year later, leading to a big push in New Japan.) Nagata was obliterated by then obscurely known Croatian Kickboxer Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic in 21 seconds.

Despite the embarrassing defeat, New Japan pushed Nagata as their top star, with him becoming the IWGP Heavyweight champion a few months later with a win over Tadao Yasuda. (A horrible mid-card worker at the time, who was given the belt for... what else? Winning an MMA match.) Nagata was pushed strong, breaking Shinya Hashimoto's defense record of the IWGP Heavyweight title. (Which still stands today.)

The downturn of the business continued for several years. New Japan suffered a lot during this period as internal politics and bad booking left a bad taste in fans mouths. In 2006, New Japan announced that their 1/04/06 Tokyo Dome show would be their last for the immediate future. The company had made a staple of running the 60,000 seat Baseball stadium every year for nearly 15 years. To show how far the company has fallen, consider this: At its peak, New Japan was running three or more Dome shows a year, drawing sell outs or near sell outs for every show. In the last couple of years, attendance dropped for each Dome show nearly 40-50%.

However, even in its current condition, the company is still considered to be the top organization in Japan. It's a constant battle between New Japan and NOAH. (NOAH draws more consistent for their big shows, but New Japan draws more consistent for their house/tour shows.)

PRO-WRESTLING NOAH
- NOAH was formed in 2000, following a dispute between All Japan President Mitsuharu Misawa, and Owner Makoto Baba. (Widow of Giant Baba.) Misawa took all but two native (Japanese) wrestlers and left the company, forming Pro-Wrestling NOAH. The exodus nearly crippled All Japan in the process. Many consider NOAH to be the succession of All Japan's "Oudou" (King's Road, or Royal Road). A style that was originated in the 80's by the likes of Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu.

The company had a lot of buzz stemming from the exodus. The debut show saw upper-mid carder Jun Akiyama turn on his mentor, Kenta Kobashi, establishing Akiyama as the company's rising young heel star. The next day, Akiyama defeated Kobashi in an emotional match that saw Kobashi choked out with Akiyama's new Front Neck Lock submission. (Which was a MAJOR surprise, as All Japan was known for rarely seeing a big match end in a submission.)

NOAH slowly grew from there, and didn't run their first Budokan Hall (a 17,000 seat Sumo hall that All Japan had always ran) until mid 2001. The company didn't fully take off until 2003, where Kenta Kobashi made his big return after being sidelined with a career threatening knee injury. Kobashi's return climaxed on 3/01/03, where he faced GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa for the first time in NOAH. (Their rivalry in All Japan is considered legendary, and a favorite among tape traders.) The match wasn't anywhere near their past classics, but the novelty of Kobashi vs. Misawa was enough to make the match magical. Kobashi became the champion after a 30 minute match, using the Burning Hammer to beat Misawa. Kobashi would go on to hold the title for nearly two years, making 13 defenses. (Which to my knowledge, is the most for any active title in Japan.)

Prior to 2005, NOAH relied heavily on the old guard established in All Japan of Misawa, Kobashi, Taue and Akiyama. When 2005 approached, things slowly begun to change, as Takeshi Rikio ended Kobashi's legendary reign as GHC Heavyweight Champion. At the same time, Takeshi Morishima and Mohammed Yone became the GHC Tag Team champions. This, along with KENTA being the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion, and Jr. Tag Team Champion with Naomichi Marufuji gave the new generation a complete monopoly of the NOAH titles.

In terms of status, many consider NOAH to be the top organization in Japan due to their superb workrate and booking. For the past two years, NOAH has ran two Tokyo Dome shows, both considered 2004 and 2005's Show of the Year world-wide. NOAH's top matches are ALWAYS highly ranked among respected wrestling journalists. The downside to NOAH is that there are areas in Japan where they do not draw well. In addition, many modern fans don't like the lack of emphasis on storylines as NOAH's tour shows mostly involved six man tags with wrestlers showing little to no alignment. In other words, they seem randomly decided.

[STEVIE~!]

ALL JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING
- 1990's All Japan may be the most popular type of wrestling when it comes to Internet tape traders. Many of the ***** classics between Misawa, Kobashi and Kawada have been floating around the Internet for years.

All Japan was for the most part, always behind New Japan as the top organization in Japan. Old school fans tended to favor All Japan more, for its superb workrate and popular characters. Modern fans on the other hand often chose New Japan, due to Antonio Inoki being an iconic figure in Japan. All Japan's top stars early on were Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta, Ashura Hara and Genichiro Tenryu. However, Tenryu (And I believe Hara) left the company early on to form SWS (Super World Sports), which was a hot organization at first, and even had a working relationship with the WWF. But the group soon fizzled. Tenryu was blackballed from All Japan, as Baba himself vowed to never allow Tenryu back in All Japan. (Which is ironic, as after the AJPW/NOAH split, Baba's widow brought Tenryu back to the organization and pushed him as their top star.)

Despite being the #2 organization, All Japan was very popular, and did well for themselves. However, after the death of Giant Baba, top star Mitsuharu Misawa became the President/Booker for the group. A despite with Baba's widow, Makoto Baba led to Misawa leaving the company, taking 31 Japanese wrestlers with him, leading All Japan with Toshiaki Kawada, Masanobu Fuchi and a rotating roster of gaijin workers. New Japan President Seiji Sakaguchi surprised many by sympathizing with All Japan, and said that New Japan would lend its support to their long time rival. This led to a surprising revival of All Japan, as for the first time, All Japan stars competed against New Japan stars.

New Japan star Keiji Muto (Who had recently undergone a new skin-head makeover, and was one of Japan's hottest stars) made history by capturing All Japan's Triple Crown over Genichiro Tenryu. However, the bigger names came a few months later, as Muto, along with Satoshi Kojima, Kendo KaShin and several New Japan office employees announced that they would leave New Japan to join All Japan. Later, Makoto Baba would name Muto the President of All Japan, and would later sell him the company outright, puzzling fans world wide.

However, even All Japan's sudden revival couldn't stop the downturn of the business. MMA was rising, and pro-wrestling was falling. Eventually, All Japan was severely in debt. Giant Baba's All Japan was all but dead and buried. In fact, even after his death, Baba was still a big part of All Japan, as Anniversary shows were held every year for Baba, in addition to a towering portrait of Baba painted onto the entrance curtain. Within the next couple of years, Muto was eradicate that create HIS All Japan.

Under Muto's control, All Japan became vastly different. Muto pushed himself as the top star for nearly a year, even after dropping the titles to Toshiaki Kawada. Muto made many crucially bad mistakes as president, including paying Bill Goldberg a large sum of money to work two shows, beating Kojima and Taiyo Kea (Two highly pushed upper mid carders) in under five minutes each.

Muto also became obsessed with creating an "WWF of Japan", saying that Japanese Wrestling needed to become like the WWF. With assistance from K-1, Muto promoted a "Sports Entertainment" themed show called "WRESTLE-1" from the Yokohama Arena. The show featured grand productions values, and horrible matches. The show (And it's follow up) is considered by many to be one of the worst shows in wrestling history. The main event pitted The Great Muta (Muto...) against Bob Sapp, a fighter who had become something of a national celebrity in Japan for his eccentric personality and charisma. Sapp beat Muta in six minutes with a Diving Headbutt of all things. The show was an abysmal failure on all fronts, and cost Muto a lot of money... Which of course, didn't stop him from running a second WRESTLE-1 show from the Tokyo Dome. The show featured a strong candidate for worst match of all time, as Sapp faced legendary K-1 Kickboxer Ernesto Hoost. (Who was not a trained pro-wrestler.) The build up to the show was several skits between Sapp and Hoost's trainers that is pretty much the definition of bad acting. The show draw a terrible crowd, and ended the concept for good.

After returning from injury in 2003, Kawada was given the ball as Triple Crown champion, holding it for nearly two years. breaking Misawa's defense record. Unfortunately, the reign seemed to be a "thank you and farewell" to Kawada, who shortly after dropping the titles to Satoshi Kojima, announced that he was no longer a contracted wrestler. He continued to work for the next couple of months as a freelancer, but has no completely distanced himself from All Japan, working primarily for HUSTLE.

In recent years, Muto has had to rebuild All Japan from the ground up. Satoshi Kojima has been pushed as the unbeatable young star since becoming the Triple Crown Champion last year. Muto has also built the company around many young gaijin wrestlers, mostly including WWE cast offs. Muto was able to make a legitimate Japanese star out of Jamal, who many could compare to a less talented Vader. Other WWE cast offs such as Johnny Stamboli, Chuck Palumbo and A-Train (As Giant Bernard) have been booked in recent years. Palumbo continues to be booked, while Stamboli hasn't been used in many months. A-Train was being booked as the #1 gaijin in the company.

With a dwindling roster, All Japan has had a few bright spots in terms of rookie prospects. In 2004, Kohei Suwama, who was a big amateur star, made his wrestling debut. He has been given a big push since, and has adapted to the pro-wrestling style quickly. Suwama was recently turned heel, and is now apart of the heel VOODOO MURDERS unit, currently feuding with Satoshi Kojima. "Brute" Issei Sugiura, a 6'5" amateur prodigy also recently debuted, with more rookies sent to debut in the coming year.

In terms of status, All Japan is but a glorified independent group at the moment. They have scaled back on shows drastically, and normally only run shows for one week a month. They have no run a show from the Nippon Budokan for several years. They attempted to make the 11,000 seat Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan (Sumo Arena) as their home base, but even there they could not draw. They have no settled on the 6,000 seat Yoyogi National Gymnasium as their big show home base.

ZERO1-MAX
- Originally known as "ZERO-ONE: FIGHTING ATHLETE". The company was originally a break-away group from New Japan, led by their top star Shinya Hashimoto. The premise of the group was to break away from New Japan, run shows and then return to New Japan for an "interpromotional" war with New Japan in hopes of recreating the legendary New Japan vs. UWF feud that was the inspiration for the nWo in WCW. However, somewhere along the way, ZERO-ONE became its own organization, and took New Japan stars Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhiko Takaiwa with them.

ZERO-ONE was a unique product at first, blending New Japan's strong style with young Jr. Heavyweights, with a hint of MMA. The debut show on 3/02/2001 was interesting for many reasons. The show opened with Naomichi Marufuji of NOAH facing Naohiro Hoshikawa in an incredible match. The main event was a big draw in many ways, as it involved ZERO-ONE, NOAH and New Japan. In addition, it was the first meeting between Mitsuharu Misawa and Shinya Hashimoto.

ZERO-ONE continued on strongly, with Hashimoto pushing himself as the top star of the company, rarely doing any jobs. Judo star and rival Naoya Ogawa also affiliated himself with the group, forming the OH-Gun team with Hashimoto. (The big deal about this was years prior, Ogawa was brought into New Japan by Antonio Inoki to basically replace Hashimoto, leading to a violent feud between the two.) Like Hashimoto, Ogawa was pushed strongly as well, and never did jobs.

As the year passed by, ZERO-ONE became to shape itself. It became touring like any other organization, and had an established roster, mostly made up of independent wrestlers. Aside from Hashimoto and Ogawa, Otani was pushed strongly, along with former FMW star Masato Tanaka. Together, the two formed a great team called, "EMBLEM". The two monopolized the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team titles on two occasions. However, both men were never positioned above Hashimoto and Ogawa, and never became established draws because of it.

While Hashimoto did position himself as the top star of the company, he also took most of the burden. He competed for several years with a severely injured shoulder, against the advisement of doctors. He would wrestle every show, and try to rehab the shoulder during his off time. Despite him coming closer and closer to having his shoulder fall off his body, Hashimoto continued to push himself strongly, beating everyone in the company decisively, while never doing any jobs.

Then finally, Hashimoto abruptly left the organization. Rumors were that he had grown in debt, and needed money. Pushing himself as the unbeatable ace, while not establishing any other stars, ZERO-ONE was no longer the monster power house they were just years prior. Hashimoto worked with DSE's HUSTLE group for many months, being positioned as the top star behind Naoya Ogawa. After finally taking a break from wrestling to have surgery on his shoulder, Hashimoto teased a return to New Japan... However, before he could publicly announce his intentions, Hashimoto passed away. Many fans worldwide mourned the death of Hashimoto, who was arguably New Japan's biggest star behind Riki Choshu and Antonio Inoki.

Despite the loss of Hashimoto, ZERO-ONE continued on with Shinjiro Otani as the company's president. For reasons I'm unsure of, Otani announced that the company would change its name to ZERO1-MAX. ZERO1-MAX was a vastly different product than the one Hashimoto booked. The company combined a fast paced fusion of New Japan's Strong Style with American wrestling, as Steve Corino became heavily involved with the company. Otani was finally pushed as the top star, largely feuding with Corino. However, when the company began using the AWA World Heavyweight title (Claimed to be the ACTUAL AWA Heavyweight title held by Gagne), Otani went with former NOAH star Takao Omori as champion, and was pushed strongly as the company's ace. Omori would lose the title eventually to Steve Corino in the United States. Otani would finally give himself the nod as champion in January of this year, as he became the AWA World Heavyweight Champion. Nick Bockwinkle himself awarded the title to Otani.

[STEVIE~!]

DRAGON GATE PRO-WRESTLING
- DRAGON GATE is an organization that started out as Ultimo Dragon's Toryumon Japan. The promotion showcased the talents of Ultimo's students (Who at the time mostly spent their time in Michinoku Pro.) The early stages of the group revolved around the Toryumon Sekigun (Home Army, led by Magnum TOKYO) vs. Crazy MAX (The top heel group in Toryumon, led by CIMA.) Eventually, Crazy MAX was usurped as the rudo kings, as Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki (No relation) and Yasushi Kanda formed M2K.

M2K was a different sort of heel group from Crazy MAX. M2K wore flashy jackets called Yokosuka Jumpers, entered to heavy music from Thee Machine Gun Elephant, while riding Kick Boards (Razor Scooters). The focus of the group was now on an exciting three-way feud between the Sekigun, Crazy MAX and M2K, with the focus primarily being on C-MAX and M2K. After that, Sekigun feuded with M2K, while C-MAX spent more time terrorizing Michinoku Pro-Wrestling.

Over the years, Toryumon Japan became one of the hottest groups among North American Internet fans. They combined American wrestling gimmicks and storylines with insane lucharesu style of wrestling. The group was divided into several "units", or stables. At the same time these was going on, Ultimo Dragon's second group of students had debuted in Mexico, wrestling a very different style than the students in Japan. The class would be known as T2P (Toryumon 2000 Project).

The second group was treated as its own organization. The wrestlers used a style known as "Llave", which was an over-the-top version of Lucha Libre that incorporates fast rope work with wacky submission holds. The ace of the group was Milano Collection AT, a Fashion Model from Milan, Italy. (He's Japanese...) Milano was the banner boy for the style, as most of his offense consisted of tangling his opponents in awkward submissions and beating them in two straight falls. (Most T2P matches were fought under the traditional Lucha Libre 2/3 falls). When T2P debuted in Japan, they brought the traditional Six Sided ring with them. (And I bet you thought TNA invented that.) It was a given that eventually, T2P would go to war with Toryumon Japan.

The first matches involving Japan vs. T2P was mostly revolving around Milano's Italian Collection and Ryo Saito of Toryumon Japan. (Ryo was pushed as a low-mid carder at the time, using a Bicyclers gimmick.) Milano humiliated Ryo at every turn, beating him in two straight falls in every match they had in that period. Milano was virtually unbeatable, and soon became an antagonist of CIMA and Crazy MAX. Also around this time, M2K leader Masaaki Mochizuki had underwent a face turn, and was kicked out of M2K. M2K (Now made up of Susumu Mochizuki, Genki Horiguchi and Darkness Dragon) began scouting Sekigun leader Magnum TOKYO as their new leader. They were turned down several times. Genki Horiguchi finally paid for dance lessons for M2K, in hopes of impression Magnum. Finally, Magnum accepted and became a heel. He ironically traded places with Masaaki, who became the new Sekigun leader.

The Japan vs. T2P war finally climaxed on 9/08/2002 for the company's biggest show to date from Ariake Colosseum. (Which seats 12,000. However, they drew 8,000, which was considered to be a sell out due to the show featuring both the four-sided ring and six sided ring, taking up a lot of space.) It was the first time that Japan went head-to-head with T2P, with the biggest match being Crazy MAX defending the UWA Trios titles against the Italian Collection. Again, the Italian Collection showed their domination, with Milano submitting Toryumon's #1 star, CIMA with the AT Lock. The show also featured the emotional return of Ultimo Dragon after his retirement at the hands of a botched arm surgery in WCW. Dragon competed in an exhibition against Masaaki Mochizuki, losing quickly by referee stoppage, after Masaaki began attacking Ultimo's arm with kicks. The big question of the show was whether Ultimo would make a full return or not. After the match, Ultimo was presented with his ring gear by his students, and was encouraged to return. Ultimo said he would consider it, and make a decision before the night was over. The main event was the climax of a feud that had been building for the last two years, as Dragon Kid faced Darkness Dragon in a 2/3 falls Mask vs. Mask match. In the end, Kid was able to pull off the big win with his Dragonrana to unmask his long time rival, revealing himself as Makoto Saito. The show turned out to be a turning point in several ways, as it led to the end of M2K. Darkness Dragon aligned with Kid, becoming a babyface for the first time. Yasushi Kanda also soon announced his retirement from wrestling due to a neck injury. (He had remained active in storylines as M2K's heel referee.) And as expected, Ultimo Dragon returned to the ring, wearing the garments handed to him earlier, and announced his return to pro-wrestling.

The Japan vs. T2P war continued shortly after that, but it was finally ended when CIMA dealt Milano Collection AT his first loss in a singles match, causing T2P to be disbanded. The majority of the T2P roster was merged into Toryumon Japan, creating one solidified group. Around the same time, Darkness Dragon (Who still competed under the name, but remained unmasked.) petitioned to Dragon Kid to form a new unit called "DoFIXER". Ryo Saito was also asked to join. When Kid agreed, Darkness turned on him, revealing that the former M2K was the new DoFIXER. Darkness soon became K-ness, allowing him to wear a mask once again.

As the news went by, the group remained mostly the same. Masaaki attempted to revive M2K, using Dragon Kid, Kenichiro Arai, Second Doi and Raimu Mishima as members. However, fans had little interest for a babyface M2K, and the unit was ended as quickly as it was created. Masaaki grew agitated with his performance, and turned heel again, forming Aagan Iisou with former Italian Collection members Shuji Kondo and 'brother' YASSHI, Shogo Takagi, along with Touru Owashi and Takuya Sugawara. Ironically, Masaaki would again be kicked out of the group he created, leading to another face turn, and soon the second revival of M2K. (Called Final M2K, with Susumu Yokosuka, K-ness, Kenichiro Arai and Second Doi.)

After being kicked out of the second M2K, Raimu Mishima formed a jobber team with Takamichi Iwasa. The two wanted to create their own unit, but was refused by Toryumon Japan President Takeshi Okumura. They were finally given a Trial Series of 15 matches. If they won at least one match, they could form their unit... Of course, they lost all 15 matches. Defeated and embarrassed, they were exiled to Florida to train. They returned months later, as "Michael Iwasa" and "Daniel Mishima", calling themselves "Florida Brothers". They became Toryumon Japan's top comedy act, replacing Stalker Ichikawa. Their matches involve tricking the referee into believing that their opponents cheated somehow, giving them easy wins. It's hard to explain in words, but you have to see a Florida Brothers match to understand it.

In 2004, Toryumon Japan became DRAGON GATE, after some sort of dispute between Ultimo Dragon and the office. Ultimo Dragon left the group, taking the Toryumon Japan name with him. What followed was a string of events that many thought would cause the company to collapse. SUWA, a widely popular wrestler and Crazy MAX member left the company abruptly, and even bashed the company in many press interviews, calling them "Ikeman Pro-Wrestling". (Ikeman is a word to describe young, attractive wrestlers.) Another Crazy MAX member, TARU, left the company at the end of the year as well, leaving Crazy MAX with only two official members, CIMA and Don Fujii. The unfortunate decision was made to end Crazy MAX, the longest lasting stable in Japan.

In addition to TARU and SUWA, the entire unit of Aagan Iisou were inexplicably fired in January of 2005. President Okumura addressed the situation at the first major show of the year, saying that they were fired for conduct unfitting of a pro-wrestler, and left it at that. DG's roster was sorely depleted, leading to them bringing in new rookies, such as Shingo Takagi and BxB Hulk, who have both been given large pushes since debuting. Tozawa and Katsuo followed, who are both currently being treated more like New Japan Young Lions.

However, there was one final departure at hand, as Milano Collection AT also left the company. However, on the way out, Milano put over emerging top star, Ryo Saito in a classic match. The match would be the beginning of Ryo Saito's revival, leading to him winning the KING OF GATE tournament in December of last year, and becoming the OPEN THE DREAM GATE Champion on 2/24/2006, establishing himself as the #1 star in DRAGON GATE.

With all of the roster shake ups, along with the loss of Aagan Iisou and Crazy MAX, there was a large void needed for a top heel stable. Many questioned the motives of CIMA and Don Fujii, who no longer were apart of a unit. In the mean time, CIMA and Fujii formed a brief comedy unit with Super Shisa and Stalker Ichikawa (Called Waku Waku Fuji Land.) However, at the first Korakuen show of 2005, CIMA announced that they would be forming a group called Blood Generation. The marquee of the group was to have "clean faces" and healthy bodies. Stalker wasn't allowed due to... well, being Stalker. Shisa was asked to remove his mask, but he refused. So he was dismissed as well. Later that night saw Second Doi turn on Masaaki Mochizuki to join Blood Generation, making Blood the new heel stable in DRAGON GATE.

In terms of status, DRAGON GATE is well beyond simply being an indy. The group has an established product line of clothes, DVD's and jewelery. (Although they had recently closed their store in Tokyo.) In addition, they draw respectable numbers, even outdrawing New Japan at Korakuen Hall. In addition, the group has recently begun a working relationship with Ring of Honor, which saw the debut of CIMA and Shingo Takagi last year, along with the debut of DoFIXER and Blood Generation next month. Jack Evans has also become somewhat of a regular in Japan, as CIMA appears to be a huge fan of his.

HUSTLE
- Never heard of HUSTLE? You poor mishapen soul... HUSTLE is run by the Dream Stage Entertainment, the guys behind the PRIDE Fighting organization. Many compare HUSTLE to the WWE. But really, HUSTLE has its own crazy genre. HUSTLE is what the Japanese call, the "Fighting Opera". The focus of the group revolves around one simple storyline: The babyface HUSTLE Army vs. the evil Takada Monster Army.

HUSTLE started out fairly simple enough. Naoya Ogawa was positioned as the top star. During the press conference to hype HUSTLE 1, Ogawa argued constantly with DSE representative Nobuhiko Takada, who seemingly had a grudge against Ogawa and his tag team partner, Shinya Hashimoto. Takada searched high and low for the perfect opponent for Ogawa. The man turned out to be none other than Bill Goldberg.

HUSTLE 1 was panned by most fans, much like WRESTLE 1, which shared a similar concept. Although HUSTLE 1 was far less rediculious than the more recent HUSTLE shows. In the main event between Ogawa and Goldberg, Ogawa was destroyed fairly quickly, due to shady officiating by referee Yuji Shimada. From there, HUSTLE exploded into an insane character/gimmick filled group. Nobuhiko Takada positioned himself as the ultimate heel, appearing in an outfit inspired by M. Bison of Street Fighter, and referred to himself simply as "Generalissimo Takada". Ogawa also adapted to the crazy style of HUSTLE, now wearing the title of "Captain HUSTLE", along with a flashy leotard. Even Shinya Hashimoto, one of Japan's most revered pro-wrestling personalities got into it, and began sporting an Elvis Presley inspired jumpsuit along with an afro.

Early on, HUSTLE used many top-name stars to fill out their big shows. (Which were run bi-monthly from mid-sized arenas such as the Yokohama Arena, and Nagoya Rainbow Hall.) Since Takada's mission was to destroy pro-wrestling, the HUSTLE Army was fairly stacked with some of the most well known pro-wrestlers in Japan in Naoya Ogawa, Shinya Hashimoto, Riki Choshu and Toshiaki Kawada. HUSTLE spared no expense early on, even bringing in well known foreign stars, including Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Dusty Rhodes and Mick Foley.

With Hashimoto out long term with a shoulder injury, and Choshu's attitude, Kawada was pushed strongly behind Ogawa, and the two naturally teased disension. After Ogawa dropped a fall to softcore pornstar/singer/George Bush hater, Yinling the Erotic Terrorist, Kawada attacked Ogawa for letting the HUSTLE Army down, building to one of HUSTLE's biggest events yet at HUSTLE 8.

The match between Ogawa and Kawada was interesting in many ways. It was the first time the main event of HUSTLE was HUSTLE Army vs. HUSTLE Army, instead of HUSTLE vs. Takada Monster Army. The title of "Captain HUSTLE" was also on the line. In addition, the match had a weird modification to it, as it allowed the home viewers and audience to vote on who they felt won the match, despite of the actual result... Yeah, it didn't make much sense to anyone else either. In what was a surprisingly decent match, Ogawa ended up pinning Kawada with the STO Bomber... However, the crowd and home audience, for some reason, felt that Kawada won, and because he won both votes, he was elected as the winner of the match. Despite winning technically, Kawada refused the title of Captain HUSTLE, and said he would cooperate with Ogawa.

DSE tried very hard to push HUSTLE early on, running periodic shows from mid-sized arenas. However, the shows rarely sold out, and actually angered the hardcore wrestling fans, as Takada broke taboo by publically acknowledging that Pro-Wrestling is a work, and even went as far as to send local newspapers the script for HUSTLE 2. As pain went on, HUSTLE downscaled in some ways, by running smaller venues such as Korakuen Hall (Which they almost ALWAYS sell out these days due to a cult-like following they have.) However, in some ways they upscaled, as they increased their schedule and now run shows more often.

The core of HUSTLE has remained unchanged. It is still a battle between Good and Evil. However, with time the battle lines have shifted, with people leaving one team to join the other. The most surprising twist came as Toshiaki Kawada turned on Naoya Ogawa late last year to join the Takada Monster Army, where he is now pushed as the #1 heel in the group. Due to their strong relationship with ZERO1-MAX, many ZERO1-MAX stars are frequently used on HUSTLE shows, including Shinjiro Otani, who has filled Kawada's void as the #2 behind Ogawa.

[STEVIE~!]

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PART TWO - THE OTHER GUYS
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I'll fill this in sometime later. This is basically going to be about the more obscure indies, such as Michinoku Pro, Osaka Pro, etc.

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PART THREE - LINKS OF INTEREST
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Here's some links to check out.

www.puroresufan.com - For New Japan info and news. Stuart, the web master, is about the biggest New Japan fan around, so you have to take his opinion with a grain of salt.

www.dragongate.puroresufan.com - The best source for DRAGON GATE/Toryumon Japan information.

www.noah.puroresufan.com - NOAH results... Not much in the way of news unless it's big. The title histories and results are also rarely updated as well, unfortunately.

www.puroresufan.com/ddt - News and results for DDT, a truly bizarre Japanese indy. This is pretty much what a Japanese WWF would look like.

www.zerooneusa.com - Official American site for ZERO1-MAX. Great for news and results.

www.puroresupower.com - A site ran by Zach Arnold... Many hate him, many like him. I'm indifferent. He talks more about the business side of things

www.ajpw.puroresufan.com - An All Japan site ran by a friend of mine. Very well done.

www.puroresu.com - Not much in the way of news and results, but an EXCELLENT resource for historical and title information.

==========================
PART FOUR - WHERE TO WATCH
==========================

Believe it or not, there are places where you can download and watch Japanese wrestling.

www.youtube.com - YouTube is a viral video site, where anyone can pretty much upload anything they want. There is plenty of Japanese wrestling on here. Just type something in and see what you find. Most people these days are uploading recent matches on here as well.

www.deathvalleydriver.com - There is a matches folder on the forum. However, I believe you have to be a regular contributor to the forums to gain access to it.

==========================
PART FIVE - WHERE TO BUY
==========================

Aren't satisfied watching a grainy video in front of your computer? Well, there are many tape sellers out there.

www.highspots.com - Most people know about Highspots. For a while, they were one of the best for tapes, but with the explosion of DVD burners and such, they have been surpassed. Most tapes are still about ten bucks, but they're far from the cheapest. They do have speedy delivery though.

www.purodvdsource.com - Most people use this place. It's just one guy with a DVD burner, I believe. I've never purchased from him personally. DVD's are pretty cheap at about five bucks.

www.ivpvideos.com - Haven't bought from this place either. But they are by far the cheapest I've seen, with one-disc shows going for $2.99.

www.purodvd.com - I've purchased from this place a few times. They're pretty reliable as far as service goes. The prices are pretty steep, unfortunately at 11 bucks for one-disc shows, and 17 bucks for two-disc shows.

[TheOtherTravis]

This is very cool and I, for one, greatly appreciate you doing it. I've been curious about the world of Japanese wrestling for around ten years, and will definitely be looking into those websites to order some DVDs. The only exposure that I've had so far has been an FMW DVD that I found at Media Play, and of course the limited exposure that I've gotten from WWF(E) and WCW (and now TNA). Thanks again. ;D

Peace.

~Trav

[Big Bri]

I thank you as well. I could check into this stuff on a rainy day or something. That must have took a long time to write!

[STEVIE~!]

Thanks for the polite words. I appreciate it.

And actually, it took me about 30-40 minutes to write, and that's not really counting breaks.

[LWPD]

Not really sure why I'm posting this. I think the majority of people that check out this forum are mainly here just to see what's up with Brock Lesnar. There's an entire landscape of interesting and diverse styles of pro-wrestling found in Japan. It's not hard at all to get into Japanese Pro-Wrestling, despite what you may think. So, I dub this thread the UNOFFICIAL JAPANESE PRO-WRESTLING FAQ~!

I'm glad you did post this. An excellent contribution. I'd only add that footage also exists from the puro 'father' promotions of JWA and IWE.

Like Watching Paint Dry (who would recommend tracking down both JWA Dory Funk Jr. vs. Antonio Inoki 'Broadways' from 12/2/69 & 8/2/70...poor VQ is all I've ever seen of this though)

[GalactiKing]

Thanks for the FAQ. Very informative.

[gamemaster]

All really good stuff. Ive tried for about a year on and off to no avail and wondered if you knew where I cpuld order Hustle tapes. I tried there website and I know IVP doesnt sell them. Could you point me in the write direction for quirky Japanese action.

[pikemojo]

I just wanted to add a site where you can buy alot of wrestling footage that IVP does not carry. it is www.slambamjam.com It used to go by wrestlingfanatic.com I think but he changed the name. The prices are $5 per disc no matter what. He has some really nice stuff on there too. He bought Mike Tenay's Japanese wrestling collection and has put that on the site. He has full season's of New Japan and All Japan starting in 1990 I believe. I can't say enough good things about this guy.

And thanks for all your hard work putting this together. It is a big help for those of us who don't constantly keep up with Japanese wrestling or got into it later than some.