Japanese wrestling on DVD?

[Aquinas]

I was just wondering the easiest way to get a hold of Japanese wrestling on DVD. Is there an online store or anywhere that any of you would recommend. For years now, I've wanted to check some of the highlights out, and never knew where to look.

YouTube seems to have a fair amount of stuff, which is cool. But are there "Best of" volumes or stuff like that that you guys would recommend?

[JamieOD]

The Ring Of Honor store sells some of the recent Pro Wrestling NOAH shows but that's all I know.

[Pete]

Jeff Lynch and his phonebook-sized catalog is your hookup for all things puroresu. For somewhat easier navigation, you might try slambamjam.com.

As for what to buy, well, that depends on what you like...

If you like juniors, there's probably not a better starting point than the 1994 Super J-Cup--fantastic one-night tournament with two all-time classic juniors matches for one of the semifinals and the final. On top of that, there's the various Top of the Super Junior round-robin tournaments from New Japan, each of which has its own commercial tape.

1993 All-Japan is one of the very best years for any promotion ever--the illness of Jumbo Tsuruta leading to the rise of AJPW's "Four Corners" (Misawa, Taue, Kobashi, and Kawada) as the dominant figures of the best run of in-ring work in wrestling history. But unlike later years, in 1993 the promotion had a tremendous undercard as well with guys like Furnas & Kroffat and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi at their peaks. On top of *that*, Doc and Hansen still had a lot left in the tank as the top gaijin.

I'm not nearly as high on puroresu since 2000, when AJPW went through its mass exodus and summarily went into the toilet, while New Japan d**ked around what should have been its next generation of top stars because of Inoki's shootfighting obsession, and NOAH went from the unparalleled psychology & storytelling of the All-Japan style into a "Who can survive getting dropped on their head the most?" top-this routine. All that aside, NOAH has clearly been the strongest promotion in the country from a quality (and business) standpoint since then.

And then there's the loads of All-Japan and New Japan Classics out there, and I haven't even gotten into the worked-shoot promotions like UWFi. And then of course there's the women, which someone else will have to fill you in on. As far as top matches, you can go through these lists for a start:

Deathvalleydriver.com's Best AJPW Matches of the '90s.

Best NJPW Matches of the '90s

Bottom line: decide what you like and then ask about specific stuff. Deathvalleydriver and smarkschoice.com have a sizable puroresu discussion community.

[LWPD]

aquinas said:

I was just wondering the easiest way to get a hold of Japanese wrestling on DVD. Is there an online store or anywhere that any of you would recommend. For years now, I've wanted to check some of the highlights out, and never knew where to look.

YouTube seems to have a fair amount of stuff, which is cool. But are there "Best of" volumes or stuff like that that you guys would recommend?

I'd vouch for Jeff Lynch as well...especially if you want to create custom material (select matches, hard to find footage, etc.)...just beware that it could get expensive very quickly...especially if you're just starting out and have a large 'wish list'. A very good source for more general footage (such as Real World Tag League Annuals, Super J Cup, etc) that comes in good quality at decent pricing would be:

highspots.com/index.asp

My best piece of advice would be to begin at the beginning and strive for context. The Japanese pro wres footage market covers a ton of ground in terms of selection and availability and it can all appear overwhelming at first. Unlike the US...much of the 70's onward was recorded and exists in pristine condition. Footage from the 'father promotion' JWA is sparse but has been seen in drips and drabs. Both New Japan and All Japan have very deep existing libraries from even their most formative years. The IWA not so much. Then into the mid to late 80's footage from various promotions are abundant.

You may get value out of using the site below as a general outline of the more 'significant' twists and turns in the history of puroresu...and as a guide to possible viewing interests:

www.puroresu.com/history/

LWPD (if you go to the Good Pro Wres Streaming Links I've already covered a great deal of matches from Japan which are widely considered historically significant/critically acclaimed...that may be a useful tool in discovering what promotions/eras/wrestlers are most interesting to you and worth seeking out more footage from)

[bmurderh8s]

highspots.com is a great place for wrestling DVDs. I would check there first.

[Mark 138]

Try new.ivpvideos2.com/

I have mostly gotten stuff from Mexico from him, since I'm pretty heavily into lucha libre lately, but it's mostly Japanese stuff on the site. The price can't be beat and the turnaround time and customer service are excellent. Quality is good as well.

[pikemojo]

IVP is the best as far as price, selection and quality but slambamjam.com is also very good. I think slambamjam actually has better selection but is a little more expensive.

[JamieOD]

I just found a site called www.purodvdsource.com

They seem to have a very large stock of Japanese wrestling and it looks cheap. DVDs look to be around $4-$6 for the TV shows and $8-$10 for the live shows. P&P is $4 for orders under $20 and $5 for orders above. I haven't ordered anything yet so I don't know how good the site is. I might try it out once I get money and after I get my Chikara fix.

[hofclemens]

IVPvideos.com I have had many great experiences with. I would highly recommend them. Plus his discs look nice because he has a thermal burner.

[Knapik]

torrent sites have TV shows you can download too.