gordi

That's pretty sad, because that's what pro-wrestling was about. Watch who gets over and push the hell out of them. Rusev could be a hot act. Braun should be the Monster Champ. Honestly, this all is a product of the monopoly. With WCW kicking their tale, there's no way WWE spends three Mania main events in a row on Reigns "becoming the Ace". This is my biggest thing when it comes to Reigns. I don't love the guy, but I think he's a great wrestler and has improved as a promo by leaps and bounds. But so rarely does any wrestling promotion go with the hot hand or stray from the plan. There's no telling what they could have done with Braun if they made him the guy. I don't wanna come across as a guy who only complains about WWE. I mean, I am pretty excited for WrestleMania this year... ... but ... I am somehow 100 percent confident that, if they had decided to make Braun the guy they would have done it in such a way that at least half of us would hate Braun now. You know, book him as a Superman instead of a monster, or try to make him into the next Austin-style guy who is succeeding despite being held down (while forcing him down our throats) or have him find an old ventriloquist dummy that gives him advice...

That is just a completely insane match-up. That they managed to make anything at all out of this is pretty amazing. No matter how much wrestling you watch and read about, there's always something new that you'd never expect. I love it.

Seeing a guys lips move and knowing he is calling a spot happens all the time in wrestling and nothing you can do about that with cameras around. But could you hear it on the tv ? It's a big reason why so many wrestlers used to have long hair. It helped disguise/hide their moving lips when they were communicating in the ring. Part of the reason it seems so much worse now than it used to is that WWE keeps making guys get haircuts. Sounds silly, but it's true.

I think this deserves it own thread, pinned at the top of the board. I get just a cynical about pro wrestling as anyone else, but a trip to a local Indy show is always the best way to help me get over myself. Particularly if there are kids there, marking out, and the wrestlers interact with the fans... Everybody on this board (and elsewhere) who is currently stuck in an "everything stinks" phase needs to get out and have an experience like this. We all need to be reminded, from time to time, that wrestling is great and that we love it.

Yep. The intro of the Adorable One totally stole the show. Having the transformation be the result of trauma from a big loss, and having him come in as a baby face are both good decisions. That overshadowed both the Nasties leaving and (presumably) the Bees coming in. HUGE win for young Candido! I wonder what was really on the paper that Creatchman signed. (Edit: spaldoni beat me to it)

This whole thing is super exciting. I like the idea of two battles royal with winners facing off, instead of a tournament.

Take a closer look, LowBlow. I think you might have missed the joke there. ...or maybe I'm missing your joke

JWA Press Release April 5th, 1986 From now until early May, many of JWA’s top veteran stars will be busy filming the upcoming Rikidozan biographical mini-series for Asahi Television. To promote the mini-series (as well as to promote the JWA) stars such as Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta, JWA Champion Tenryu, JWA Japanese Champion Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Umanosuke Ueda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Tiger Mask, Dos Caras, Shiro Koshinaka and others will also be appearing on Asahi Broadcasting chat shows, game shows, and variety programs, and even making cameo appearances on Asahi TV dramas. Also, they will be filming commercial video advertisements for our major sponsors, such as Glico, IcoPro, Crown Royal Whiskey, CoCo Ichiban, Gyoza no Ohsho, Yoshinoya Gyudon, Nintendo, and so on… In the meantime, JWA will be presenting a Middleweight Tag Team Championship Tournament on April 14th and 24th. The winner of the Tournament will be crowned JWA Middleweight Tag Team Champions. The first-round match-ups for the tournament are as follows: Footloose (Kawada & Fuyuki) vs Shootstylists (Takada & Funaki) The Invaders (Invader #2 and #3, from WWC) vs Tiger Hunters (Black Tiger & Kuniaki Kobayashi) Shining Wizards (Mutoh & Chono) vs Mighty Animals (Inoue & Hamaguchi) Top Guns (Misawa & Hase) vs Los Nómadas (Fishman & Hamada) Concurrently, JWA will be running the International Young Lions Showcase. Several of the very best young wrestlers from around the world will be travelling to Japan to display their skills for our fans. Additionally, several of the top independent professional wrestlers from around Japan will be joining the JWA for the remainder of the month to face these International Young Lions on the 14th and 24th and earn a decent payoff for once. Match-ups for April 14th will be: Sting (WWF) vs Mike Shaw Leon White & Ron Simmons (AWA) vs Kensuke Sasaki & Shinichi Nakano Brian Pillman, Scorpio (AWA), & Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit from Lutte) vs Yoshinari Ogawa, Akira Nogami, & Shunji Kosugi Youngbloods (Wellington & Blackman from the AWA) vs Yoji Anjoh & Osamu Kido Chris Candido (Lutte/Wild West) & Owen Hart (WWC) vs Yoshihiro Asai (from the JWA dojo) & “Thunder” Yamada Hot Property (Travis & Savoldi from MACW), & Spike Huber (MACW/Wild West) vs Triple H (Rocky Hata, Hirokazu Hata, & Mach Hayato) Respectfully, JWA President and Founder, Shohei Baba JWA Vice President, Motoko Baba JWA Managing Director, Hisashi Shinma JWA Booker, gordi Please direct any comments, questions, and/or corrections to gordi at PWO

Something like that infamous Luger vs Bruiser Brody cage match, maybe?

Bigelow vs Cactus on your under-card is like Kawada vs Hashimoto on my under-card. Just imagine what will be a few years down the line!

It helps a lot that everyone is sending over guys that fit right in with how I like to book things. Yep. In the 1980s in Japan, having big gaijin hosses come over to fight is pro wrestling booking 101. I'll always have room for guys like that. The Road Warriors were every bit as over in Japan as they were in America in the mid-80s. Having them come over and fight Tenryu & Hara, Jumbo & Yatsu, and/or Choshu and Rusher Kimura would be a mark-out situation for me.. Yeah, it seems that the ringside fans often got dressed up for the matches in the 80s and 90s. I notice a lot of men in neckties in the crowd when I'm watching old footage from Japan. I have no idea what people back then believed, unfortunately. What I can say based on what I've seen is that the Japanese crowds in the 80s sure seemed to be very attentive, tuned in to the details and finer points, and very into the psychology and story-telling going on in the ring. My first live show in Japan was was the final show of NOAH’s Winter Navigation tour on December 4th, 2005, in Yokohama. Being part of one of those great Japanese crowds was really a dream come true for me. Didn't see many neckties, but the crowd was really tuned in to the action all night long. I think Yatsu asked Jumbo Tsuruta what his name is, and when Jumbo started to answer, Yatsu cut him off and yelled "It doesn't matter what your name is!" then asked the crowd if they could smell what he was cooking. I could be wrong about that, though. I'll post another match in this thread in a few days, when I find a good one.

Keith Hart over King Tonga feels like an upset to me. "Maniac" Matt Borne vs Butcher Vachon sounds like an awesome brawl. It seems odd to make Satanico vs MS-1 the shortest match on the card. I'm curious what happened there. What a Main Event! Let Martel show off his brawling ability for a change. I would have loved to see that one.

Nice to see Blackwell win with the splash on the outside this time after watching him go splat on the floor in Bloomington. I have no trouble believing that Black Irish vs The British Bullies was ferocious.I'll bet Piper vs Nord was totally entertaining, and you gave the fans in Detroit a very good Main Event.

I like the idea of starting with a video montage of all the highlights, because there have been a lot of highlights recently and that's a good way to keep track of everything that's been going on. Devastation Inc. continue on their collision course with the Road Warriors! Plus Midnight Express vs The Fabs. And the Rock n Roll Express vs The Nightmares. That is an amazing line-up of tag team action comig up in the UWF. Texas Tornadoes waiting in the wings, as well. Dr.D vs Luger is another one I'm looking forward to. Exotic Adrian Street vs Rip Oliver is the perfect twosome for a Hair vs Hair Match.

Try this one on for size. It's generally considered to be one of the best tag matches of all time. All four guys are on my roster, and it's perfect example of what I hope the JWA 1986 Main Event Style comes across as. If you (and/or the rest of the guys, and/or anyone else) watches and comments on it, I can post more matches. Choshu and Yastsu come out first. Choshu (JWA's top heel) is the one with the white boots, taped-up ribs, and extreme mullet, Yatsu with the knee-length tights, mustache and chin-beard. Jumbo and Tenryu come out next. Tenryu (JWA champion) is the one with the perm and the yellow boots. Jumbo Tsuruta is my pick for Best Wrestler Ever and he has a big pad on his right elbow. Bonus with this version: Japanese TV ads! Read more about it here: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/34330-jumbo-tsuruta-genichiro-tenryu-vs-riki-choshu-yoshiaki-yatsu-ajpw-012886/

The finish to Rod Price vs The Missing Link got a laugh out of me. Candido vs Huber sounds like an exciting match. Long Riders vs Nasties should be intense.

Thanks, who. That's pretty much exactly what I was thinking. I mean, you can't have Baba, Jumbo, Andre, Hogan, Brody and Hansen in the same match and not make it the Main Event... but I felt like making it too much of an epic wouldn't be realistic considering Hansen, Andre and Hogan all worked long and brutal matches before flying over here with only a couple of days to recover and adjust to the time difference...plus with Andre's body starting to turn on him around this time... So, yeah, what you said: Give the crowd some scientific wrestling, some high-flying, some stiffness, and some big hoss battles early on, Choshu vs Fujinami in the Semi-Main, and let the big reveal and the major star power carry the Main. I'm pleased you picked up on that. Also: I got to give the JWA fans in Osaka just a little taste of Hansen vs Andre, which makes me happy.

That would be my favourite WWF bait and switch ever, which is really saying something.

Thanks, Rain! I definitely wanted to make the most of having those two living legends pop over to Japan right after WrestleMania.

JWA in Osaka - April 4th, 1986 Misawa & Hase vs Yamada & Hoshino This was worked almost as a shoot-style match, emphasizing Hoshino’s boxing background (he was a pro) and Yamada and Hase’s amateur wrestling backgrounds (Hase was an Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler and Yamada fought in the Japanese national high-school championships against… Toshiaki Kawada). Misawa was also an accomplished amateur wrestler (he placed fifth in the junior division at the 1980 freestyle wrestling World Championships) but he mostly stuck with stiff strikes in this one. In fact, it was a Running Elbow Smash that put Yamada down for the count. Dos Caras, El Canek, & Fishman vs Fujiwara, Takada, & Funaki You might reasonably expect that this match would also be worked semi-shoot-style, but in fact Funaki, Takada, Dos Caras and Fishman flew around the ring using athletic and exciting moves to fire up the crowd. El Canek threw in some impressive power offense, and even Fujiwara went a little bit out of his comfort zone, delivering a Swinging Neckbreaker and a Superplex before finishing Fishman off with the famous Fujiwara Armbar. Black Tiger, Kobayashi, & Kensuke vs Tiger Mask, Hashimoto, & Mutoh Black Tiger almost put Mutoh away early in this one, after a brutal beat-down. Then, Hashimoto and Kensuke hit each other really hard for a few intense minutes. Then Tiger Mask fought valiantly against both Kuniaki Kobayashi and Black Tiger, who used quick tags and questionable tactics to keep the advantage. Finally, young Mutoh got the hot tag and took some measure of revenge on Black Tiger with a Leaping Clothesline, a Snap Suplex and a DDT before tagging Tiger Mask who finished things off with a Tiger Suplex. Tenryu & Hara vs Danger Zone Hickerson & Shaw were fresh off of having injured Tenryu & Hara’s young stable-mate Samson Fuyuki, so the Japanese team came out fired up and angry. The big Americans took a hellacious beating, but fought back with desperation eye pokes and chokes and so on. Nothing was going to stop Tenryu and Hara on this day, however. When Hickerson & Shaw went outside and grabbed some folding chairs, Tenryu simply flew out of the ring with an insane Suicide Dive, taking Danger Zone out completely. Hara followed Tenryu outside, grabbed one of the chairs, and went to town swinging it at the downed heels. The match officially ended without a victor, in a DDQ… but Tenryu and Hara pretty clearly came out on top. ***BREAK*** JWA Trios Champions The Machines vs Bam Bam Bigelow, OMG, & Bossman Traylor The American team weighed in at close to 1200 pounds (530 kilos). The total combined weight of The Machines, however, was 800 pounds (365 kilos). If, based on the American team’s 400-pound weight advantage, you extrapolated that The Machines spent the whole match fighting from underneath… you were correct. The Americans earned close near-falls with a Bossman Slam, a Second-Rope Elbow Drop, and a Running Senton, respectively. Eventually, OMG went for another Elbow Drop but Sumo Machine moved, hit Gang with a huge Shoulder Block as he was staggering to his feet, and tagged in Very Tall Machine who finished things off with a Missile Dropkick as Super Strong Machine fought off Traylor and Bigelow’s attempts to interfere. JWA Tag Team Champions Power Rush vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura We gave the fans what they wanted in this one: a full dose of that classic Fujinami vs Choshu action. The two Kimuras were mainly there to break up pinfalls and submission attempts, to do a bit of bumping and selling (in Kengo’s case) and to rile up the crowd with old-school heeling tactics (in Rusher’s case). Choshu and Fujinami went hard on the mat, threw nasty strikes, dropped some bombs, and even tried stealing each other’s finishers (Fujinami with the Scorpion attempt and Choshu going for the Figure Four). There was almost a double count out after Fujinami threw Choshu into the barricade before getting Clotheslined into the ring post, but both men made it back into the ring just in time. Fujinami was busted open, however, and eventually he had to tag Kengo Kimura back in. Fatigue from the blood loss (which Fujinami sold beautifully) prevented him from making the save after his partner ate a Double Lariat Attack. Giant Baba, “X”, “X”, & “X” vs The Blonde Heels, Bruiser Brody, & “X” The Blonde Heels entered the ring first. Then, as “The Immigrant Song” played, Brody charged through the crowd accompanied by Stan Hansen. Giant Baba made his way down the entrance ramp, stopping half way. Brody and Hansen stepped toward him menacingly, but pulled back when Jumbo Tsuruta came out to stand beside his mentor. Then, they started advancing again… Now, I have to ask you to imagine something: Think of a typical polite and respectful 1980s Japanese crowd, and imagine that crowd completely losing their collective mind with joy and excitement… because that is what happened when “Real American” started playing and Jumbo and Baba were joined by Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant! All eight men brawled on the entrance ramp, down to the floor, into the crowd, and finally back into the ring where order was eventually restored. After that beginning, the match itself was something of an anti-climax. Hogan and Andre were still a little tired and beat up after their huge matches at WrestleMania, so Jumbo and Baba carried most of the load for their team. Late in the match Andre and Hansen got into it a little as a reprise of the excellent ‘Mania brawl, and Andre did the bit where he got tied up in the ring ropes and took some punishment. That led to more Bonzo Gonzo action with Baba and Jumbo taking Ueda, Brody, and Hansen out to the floor, which in turn led to Andre destroying Goto with a Big Boot in the middle of the ring. Hogan got tagged in and popped the crowd with the Axe Bomber, Leg Drop, one, two…THREE!

As always, I appreciate the nod in Japan's direction. I love the team of Steamboat & Garvin. Hope we'll see more of them. I also love Leo Burke as the vet willing to put the young lads over. Great role for him at this stage. Lot of good matches on these cards, with Cactus vs Sawyer, Z-Man vs Chavo, and of course Steamer vs Bock looking like real stand-outs. Nice to see big Leon learning and growing. I think that guy has a future in this biz.

That was a nice surprise. And, the Atlanta, Georgia crowd was really good and hot all night. But... Keep in mind that Anoa'i played college football for Georgia Tech, which is located in...Atlanta, Georgia. He was a three-year starter and a team captain. It was a "home town hero" pop. I'm not saying this newfound little extra bit of crowd love for Reigns won't continue in New Orleans, and I'm not saying Roman doesn't deserve it...but I sure wouldn't bet money on the crowd being behind him at WrestleMania.

Yarp. So cool. So awesome. Hats off to everyone involved in this.

SInclair Broadcast Group owns ROH? Damn... Those guys are close to pure evil. It's not just that I don't agree with their politics. It's a free country. People have the right to support Trump if that's what they want to do. But Sinclair Group are buying up local TV stations and forcing them to broadcast propaganda. That is a step beyond. I can't imagine a boycott will have any effect at all, but if I was watching current ROH this would get me to seriously consider stopping.

That's a good point. I'd have to imagine that there are very few people (like, fewer than two) who would fit either of those descriptions.