gordi

JWA Press Release: JWA Factions Draft, June 1, 1985 Captains: Giant Baba, Tatsumi Fujinami, Antonio Inoki, and Riki Choshu The JWA factions are intended to be loose affiliations. Members of a particular faction can and occasionally will fight members of the same faction. Members of a particular faction can and occasionally will team with members of a different faction. In general, however, Members of a given faction will usually team up together, and fight against members of other factions. In the televised portion of the JWA Factions Draft, only the first three rounds were shown. Each captain chose a singles wrestler for their faction in the first two rounds, and a tag team in the third round. The results were as follows: Giant Baba chose JWA Champion Tenryu, Jumbo Tsuruta, and The Tiger Masks (Sayama and Misawa). Tatsumi Fujinami chose Kengo Kimura, Shiro Koshinaka, and The Young Lions (Shinya Hashimoto and Keiji Mutoh). Antonio Inoki chose Seiji Sakaguchi, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, and Mighty Animals (Mighty Inoue and Animal Hamaguchi). Riki Choshu chose Akira Maeda, Umanosuke Ueda, and The South Pacific Islanders (Anoaro Atisanoe and Siva Afi). In general, the alignment and fan appeal of each group will hopefully work out as follows: Team Giant Baba are good guys leaning slightly tweener. They will tend to have a lot of big names and hold major belts. Their appeal will be to fans of AJPW, to fans of hard-hitting action, and to “front-runners” who like to support the winning team. Fujinami’s Family are pure good guys. They will generally be the loveable underdog group. We hope they will appeal to fans of NJPW, people who like classic pro wrestling, and people who like to root for the underdog. The Inoki Federation are tweeners. They will hopefully appeal to fans of Inoki and anyone who likes shoot style wrestling and martial arts. Choshu’s Army are straight up bad guys. That rebellious image holds appeal for certain young men, and office workers who are dissatisfied with their bosses. Thus, our hope is that each group will be able to draw fans and sell merch, regardless of alignment. The remaining composition of each faction will be decided by negotiation between individual wrestlers and team captains. The unwritten expectation is that each group will have at least a couple of guys who can work Shoot Style, and around five guys who can work in the Middleweight Division. The final composition of all four factions will be published shortly in the Asahi Shinbun newspaper. Respectfully, JWA President and Founder, Shohei Baba JWA Vice President, Motoko Baba JWA Managing Director, Hisashi Shinma JWA Booker, gordi

Now THAT is a great TV Main Event. Love the surprise return of Captain Redneck.

I like your thinking there. You have some good veteran wrestlers on your roster, and it's smart to let the young boys learn by working with them.

JWA Revival Second Chapter: Tokyo, Budokan, May 29th Funaki, Yamazaki, Hamada and Yamada vs Mighty Animals, The Cobra, and Kuniaki Kobayashi Funaki and Yamazaki brought the stiff kicks, Yamazaki and Hamada the high flying, Inoue and Hamaguchi brought their classic style, and The Cobra and Kobayashi threw in some stooging and heeling. In the end, Animal Hamaguchi pinned Yamazaki after an Airplane Spin into a Samoan Drop. Sting, Yatsu, Hara, and Teranishi vs Bad News, Muraco, Bigelow, and Hickerson Despite all of the big names in this match, the highlight was Hickerson and Teranishi going at it on the mat. They pulled off some really lovely chain wrestling, and the crowd showed their appreciation. Blade Runner Sting and Bam Bam Bigelow continued to ramp up their rivalry with some impressive power wrestling, and in the end it was Muraco and Bad News pinning Hara after a Spike Piledriver. JWA Middleweight Champion Black Tiger vs Masa Fuchi Baba suggested to me that perhaps the reason the crowd wasn’t reacting o Black Tiger’s title defenses the way that I’d hoped was that I was putting them too high on the card. So, we tried putting this one a bit lower down and it seemed to work. Certainly, it helped that Fuchi is a really good opponent for Rocco. They just beat the crap out of each other. Black Tiger retained after an Eye Poke, a Neckbreaker, and a Diving Knee Drop. Sakaguchi, Takada, and Sano vs Fujinami, Hashimoto, and Mutoh There was a five-minute stretch in the middle of this match where Takada and Hashimoto just threw crazy stiff kicks at each other. It was beautiful. Mutoh sold a bunch for Sakaguchi but managed to make the hot tag to Fujinami. Sano sold a lot for Fujinami, and his hot tag got cut off, and then a Dragon Suplex ended things at the fifteen minute mark. The Tiger Masks vs vs Los Guerreros del Universo A fast and entertaining bout, with the visiting heels using every trick in the book to try and steal a win, Misawa bumping around like a maniac, and Sayama hitting a gorgeous Turning Moonsault on Babe Face for the crowd-pleasing win. Kengo Kimura and Shiro Koshinaka vs Anoaro Atisanoe and Siva Afi A “bonus match” that we decided to toss onto the card when Kimura insisted that his shoulder was fine and he was ready to go. This one was short and intense, with Koshinaka selling a ton and getting some butt-based offense in, Atisanoe getting a near-fall off of a Samoan Drop, and Afi missing a Big Diving Splash before eating a Kimura Piledriver and getting pinned. *** BREAK *** Jerry Lawler and Jumbo Tsuruta vs The North-South Connection This was worked at a blistering pace, and there were a lot of hot tags and double teams and cut-offs and hope spots… but at the same time they kept it really simple: Punches, chops, elbows, knees, elbow drops, knee drops… and they’d build and build, to, like, a drop-kick or a body slam. It was amazing, almost like they were deliberately making a point about how you don’t need to do a lot of crazy stunts to build a compelling, dramatic pro wrestling match. With about five minutes remaining in the thirty-minute match, Adonis and Lawler went brawling into the crowd, leaving Murdoch and Tsuruta alone in the ring. Murdoch once again tried to surprise Jumbo with the Flying Head Scissors, but this time Jumbo caught Murdoch, powered him up into the air, and brought Captain Redneck crashing to the mat with a devastating Powerbomb to earn the victory. Murdoch offered his hand to Tsuruta, and after a short hesitation they showed their mutual respect. Lawler joined them in the ring and all three men shook hands while the crowd cheered. Adonis refused to participate, choosing instead to express contempt and disgust as he turned his back and walked away. Inoki and Fujiwara vs Choshu and Maeda This is probably the biggest risk I’m ever going to take as a booker: We’re trying to turn Antonio Inoki into a sympathetic babyface. The man is an iconic star in Japanese wrestling, and he earned that position by relentlessly promoting himself as a legitimately dominant martial artist. But, he’s been on top for so long that it’s grown more than a little stale. Inoki’s still got a lot of fans, but… our hope is that we can revitalize his character by, for the first time in his career, having him play a little bit of an underdog role. It took quite a bit of convincing to get Inoki to agree to this, and in fact I think he came very close to quitting and trying to start up his own promotion… but in the end he finally agreed to give it a try. So, Choshu and Maeda came to the ring accompanied by several members of Choshu’s Army: Phil Hickerson, Bam Bam Bigelow, Anoaro Atisanoe, Siva Afi, and Yoji Anjo. They alternated between distracting the referee so that Choshu and Maeda could get cheap shots in, and interfering with Inoki and Fujiwara whenever the referee tried to get the in-ring situation under control. Eventually Seiji Sakaguchi and Masakatsu Funaki came out to ringside to even the odds a little, but that just led to more chaos. As Red Shoes Unno was scrambling to try and restore order, both Hickerson and Bigelow waffled Inoki with nasty chair shots. They tossed Inoki back into the ring, and Atisanoe and Afi held Fujiwara back as Maeda hit a High Roundhouse Kick to Inoki’s head, Choshu crushed him with a Riki Lariat, and Unno was left with no choice but to count the one… two… three. Choshu and his army strutted triumphantly to the back as Sakaguchi, Funaki, and Fujiwara helped Inoki to his feet. The crowd started chanting “I-no-ki! I-No-Ki! I-NO-KI!” and the chant grew louder and louder as the face team limped up the hanamichi. When he made his way backstage, Inoki briefly made eye contact with me, and nodded. JWA Champion Tenryu vs Abdullah the Butcher Abdullah came to the ring accompanied by Umanosuke Ueda and Tatsutoshi Goto. The champ came out alone. The Butcher was simply savage in this match, going after Tenryu’s throat and eyes and stabbing his forehead repeatedly with a fork every time Ueda and Goto managed to distract the referee. Five minutes into the match, Tenryu was already bleeding like a stuck pig. At the ten minute mark, the challenger tossed the champ outside and distracted the ref by showing him the bloody taped-up fork. While Kyohei Wada tried to take the fork away from The Butcher, Ueda and Goto put the boots to Tenryu on the outside. The enraged and bloodied champion fought back valiantly against the two blonde heels and eventually made his way back into the ring where he went after Abdullah with a series of punches and chops. In an astonishing feat of power, Tenryu got the Madman from the Sudan up in the air and slammed him to the mat. Tenryu then grabbed the fork out of Wada’s hand and went for a little bit of “turnabout is fair play” by stabbing The Butcher in his face, neck, and shoulder. Ueda and Goto charged into the ring to save Abdullah, but Tenryu went right after them with the fork as well, bloodying both men. Referee Wada tried in vain to get the fork back from Tenryu, and was forced to call for the Disqualification when Tenryu tossed him across the ring in order to inflict more punishment on the bad guys. The champ lost the match but kept his belt, and got revenge by chasing all three heels back to the dressing room, screaming and waving the bloody fork in the air.. JWA Tag Team Champions The Giants vs Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody So, how do you follow up Lawler and Jumbo teaming for the first time ever, Inoki doing the job, and Tenryu bleeding all over the ring? In this case, by cranking up the star power, stiffness, and intensity to eleven and holding nothing back. Hansen went at Baba, Baba went at Brody, Brody went at Andre, Andre went at Hansen… About 20 minutes in, Andre and Brody took each other out on the floor, and Baba and Hansen hit the ropes and came at each other like two charging bulls. Hansen hit his Lariat and Baba simultaneously hit his Running Neck Breaker. Both men went down, hard. With the last iota of his remaining energy, Giant Baba rolled over so his right shoulder and arm covered Stan Hansen’s chest. Joe Higuchi made the count: One… two… Hansen tried to kick out but Higuchi’s hand hit the canvas a third time moments before Hansen got his shoulder off the canvas.

Several of the IWE guys in the 1960s and 70s had sumo backgrounds: Toyonobori, Rusher Kimura, Takashi “Onomi” Ishikawa, Umanosuke Ueda... and maybe a couple more. I'm not too sure if they used a lot of sumo moves, though. Rikidozan's chop is based on an open-handed sumo strike.

I have to assume that if Fujinami left, Kengo Kimura would be gone as well. Without them around, would you be able to convince Koshinaka to make the jump in late '85? Maybe not. So, you've got Inoki on top, and kind of stale in that position. Without Choshu or Fujinami, there is really no immediately apparent challenger. At Inoki's side, you have the 6'5" judo champion Seiji Sakaguchi and the 5'7" ball of awesome Kantaro Hoshino. You could *maybe* run an "Orndorff turns on Hogan" type of angle with Sakaguchi to create a native challenger for Inoki's dominance. If NJPW still controlled the Machines gimmick, you could put a Machines mask on a couple of tall lower-card nobodies to try and get them over (which is a thing that NJPW actually did in 1985). Assuming you could make that work, they could have a run as challengers to the Inoki/Sakaguchi/Hoshino trio, then make a "face turn" and fight all available native and foreign heels on the upper mid card. If it doesn't work, you're really screwed. Speaking of native heels, that could be a relatively strong point of this roster: You've got Umanosuke Ueda in the big blonde brawler role (he'd be a top-5 guy on this roster), Tatsutoshi Goto as a younger poor-man's version of Ueda... You could bring in Mr. Pogo and Kendo Nagasaki as The Ninja Express, you could pair up Kim Duk and Kim Soo Hong as a kind of JTTS Korean duo. The Cobra and his 6'7" brother Shunji Takano could probably handle being pushed to the upper mid card. Don Arakawa and his comedy Rikidozan gimmick is still entertaining, but he's got a mid-card ceiling. Shunji Kosugi and Hirokazu Hata are very useful in a Jr. Heavyweight undercard/JTTS role, but don't offer much upside beyond making others look good. Mexican imports Black Cat and, say, Enrique Vera could help fill out your lower card Junior matches. You've got a ton of compelling, talented recent dojo graduates: Hashimoto, Mutoh, Chono, Yamada (Liger), Masa Funaki, Naoki Sano, Akira Nogami... if you can make it to the 90s you'll be in good shape. Other than Sakaguchi and maybe Ueda, it's hard to see who else could serve as even a semi-viable challenger for Inoki on top. You'd be *absolutely* reliant on bringing in outside challengers. You'd need to book Andre for as many dates as possible, try to get Hogan over a bunch of times... throw money at Brody and Abdullah... and maybe Dick Murdoch, Bad News Allen, Bob Backlund, John Nord, Dos Caras... basically any foreigner with any kind of name value. Without a big name gaijin or two, it would be hard to draw even 3000 fans outside of Tokyo with that roster. I think Fujinami would have done great things in the UWF and maybe his presence could help stabilize things there and keep runaway egos from destroying the promotion. With Choshu in AJPW and Fujinami in the UWF and Inoki stale on top in NJPW with few viable challengers... it's not hard to imagine New Japan heading into 1986 as the #3 promotion in Japan.

Love the classic heel finishes: Loaded boot, Eye Poke, Poison Mist!

Nice job using your TV main event to set up two matches on the super-card.

I really like how Bockwinkel totally disrupts that match by simply standing at ringside.

This is already feeling like it's going to be a great addition to the project. Chicky vs Colon is the perfect feud to build around as you are starting out.

I'm pretty sure Kerry Von Erich had already had the motorcycle accident and lost his foot by '87. Obviously that's not going to stop the WWF from bringing him in... but I think it puts a limit on his push. I like Hawkeye's suggestion. A face King Kong Bundy! The guy did have cross-over appeal. He could have done just fine working a modified Hogan formula: Take tons of punishment... banana peel spot in the corner... Avalanche, Big Splash, Pin. Crowd goes crazy. Bundymania running wild.

Lots of interesting upsets on those cards. Anything can happen in Lutte Internationale!

Great card! Like everyone else, I love that Sammartino Screwjob finish.

Yep. Love how you guys work together. Also love how you keep building up the heels so the crowd is just dying to see the babyfaces get revenge.

Not to change the topic, but: June 7th through 21st: Festival of Champions. We invite any champion from any federation to come and defend their belts in Japan. (Their guys will either go over our undercard guys cleanly, or lose by DQ or CO to upper-card guys, or if anyone is willing: Lose the belt(s) early in the tour, but get the belt back at the big show in Yokohama on the 21st). We want as many foreign/outside champs as possible for the big show on the 21st. Special Guest Participant: Andre the Giant Confirmed for June 21st: Abdullah the Butcher and Mil Mascaras This month has been crazy busy for me (Had visitors from Canada, so it was a very good kind of busy) but I never got around to sending out PMs asking for participation for the Festival of Champions. Any and every champ from any and every fed is welcome to join in. Please PM me and suggest which champ(s) you'd like to send, what date(s) are good for you, and whether you'd prefer they go over our undercard guys cleanly, lose or draw by DQ or CO vs upper-card guys, or lose the belt(s) early in the tour, but get the belt(s) back at the big show in Yokohama on the 21st (or some other show if the 21st is no good for you). The plan is for the three bigger shows to be on June 7th, 14th, and 21st, but I can move that around (or even add an extra show) if need be. You can also request or suggest specific opponents you'd like to see them matched up with.

Just curious: What has happened between March 20th and now that you are no longer content with "(your) usual small roster"? I'm not in any way opposed to sending talent your way or making guys available in a supplemental draft. I'm quite happy to help out how I can... but I do wonder why your attitude about the roster has apparently changed. It's not about numbers really more just a bit of quality to get excited about booking, I'd struggle to have 35-40 odd wrestlers and make them mean something. That makes sense. More guys will become available with the Fresh Faces drafts and so on... but I could see wanting to get some more going sooner rather than later. It's not much, but: I'm always up for a talent exchange. That Akira for Hickerson swap seems to be working well for both guys. Feel free to pm me any time if there's anyone on my roster you wanna use.

Just curious: What has happened between March 20th and now that you are no longer content with "(your) usual small roster"? I'm not in any way opposed to sending talent your way or making guys available in a supplemental draft. I'm quite happy to help out how I can... but I do wonder why your attitude about the roster has apparently changed.

The Machines vs Adams and Hernandez is a great match-up. You have built both teams up so well leading into it.

Oh! Ken Wayne's father is a *different* Buddy Wayne than the one I worked with in Vancouver. Rocket City Rumble should be a barn-burner.

The NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament is gonna be hawt!

Nice use of "face in peril" I like Parsons using his quickness to counter Kimura's power and aggression

For Japan, Kensuke Sasaki and Hiroshi Hase both made their debuts in 1986.

JWA Revival Second Chapter: Tokyo, Budokan, May 29th Funaki, Yamazaki, Hamada and Yamada vs Mighty Animals, The Cobra, and Kuniaki Kobayashi Sting, Yatsu, Hara, and Teranishi vs Bad News, Muraco, Bigelow, and Hickerson JWA Middleweight Champion Black Tiger vs Masa Fuchi Sakaguchi, Takada, and Sano vs Fujinami, Hashimoto, and Mutoh The Tiger Masks vs vs Los Guerreros del Universo *** BREAK *** Jerry Lawler and Jumbo Tsuruta vs The North-South Connection Inoki and Fujiwara vs Choshu and Maeda JWA Champion Tenryu vs Abdullah the Butcher JWA Tag Team Champions The Giants vs Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody

JWA Revival Second Chapter: Sapporo, Nakajima Center, May 24th Funaki and Yamazaki vs Hamada and Yamada vs Los Guerreros del Universo vs Mighty Animals This match was a showcase for the versatility of our middleweight division, with Funaki and Yamazaki bringing the stiff and realistic shoot style action, Hamada and Yamada providing high-flying and technical wrestling, Black Terry and Babe Face bringing the face-punching and Lucha mat work, and Hamaguchi and Inoue adding some smooth 70s-style spice to that brew. Mighty Animals got the close win, to keep their heat up after losing the belts last week. Sting and Hashimoto vs Bigelow and Atisanoe This was a showcase for our most powerful young heavyweights. All of these guys have potential to be real stars in the future. In the present, all four can both deal out and take huge amounts of punishment, which made for a hugely entertaining match. The action went back and forth and all four men got close near-falls, but in the end it was Sting who got the victory with a Flying Clothesline on Atisanoe. The Tiger Masks vs Fujinami and Mutoh Two of the biggest Japanese stars of the present (Fujinami and Tiger Mask Sayama) teaming with two of the biggest potential stars of the future (Mutoh and Misawa). Sayama vs Fujinami was the match-up the crowd was dying to see, so we first ran through Misawa vs Mutoh, Mutoh vs Sayama, and Fujinami vs Misawa before giving the people what they wanted. The two big stars fought to a stand-still, showed some mutual respect… and then we went back through Misawa vs Mutoh, Mutoh vs Sayama, and Fujinami vs Misawa.. and that’s where things ended, with Fujinami nailing the younger Tiger Mask with a Dragon Suplex. The North-South Connection vs Yatsu and Hara Fast-paced, hard-hitting violence. Hara almost got the pin after a Superplex on Murdoch, and Yatsu almost forced Adonis to submit to his Jailhouse Lock, but in the end it was Murdoch who triumphed, after nailing Hara with a top rope Calf Branding. Inoki, Maeda, Fujinami, and Sakaguchi vs Choshu, Ueda, Muraco, and Allen Sakaguchi worked face in peril for a lot of this match, giving all of the bad guys a chance to get their stuff in… and then just when it seemed like the momentum had shifted there was a huge malfunction at the junction spot where Inoki was holding Bad News Allen’s arms and Maeda was winding up for a Roundhouse Kick, but Allen ducked and Maeda ended up booting Inoki in the head. Allen then made a quick tag out to Muraco, who crushed the badly distracted Maeda with a big Hawaiian Hammer to give the heels a shocking upset victory. Inoki and Maeda got into a huge argument after the match, and had to be restrained by Fujinami and Sakaguchi. Maeda then demanded that Fujinami team with him to face Inoki and Sakaguchi… but Fujinami was all like “You’re not the boss of me!” and instead offered to team with Inoki. Riki Choshu then shocked the crowd by offering to team with Maeda to face Inoki and Fujinami in Tokyo on the 29th. ***BREAK*** Jumbo Tsuruta vs Bruiser Brody An intense and hard-hitting match, fought at full speed from the opening bell. Jumbo dominated the early action, but Brody took control when things spilled outside. The first two times that happened, Jumbo managed to get back in the ring before the referee’s count reached 20… but when the action spilled outside a third time Brody’s partner Stan Hansen got involved while Joe Higuchi was distracted. The Lariat proved to be the difference-maker, leading to a count-out victory for Brody. The two big Texans continued to rough Tsuruta up after the match, which led to The Giants coming down to make the save… and that led to an epic stare-down, and a title challenge for the big tour-ending show in Tokyo on the 29th. JWA Middleweight Champion Black Tiger vs Fuchi vs Kobayashi vs The Cobra What made this different from a typical middleweight bout was that all four of the men taking part don’t mind bending the rules and getting a little rough in the ring. So, while there was still plenty of athleticism on display, this match was more about sneaky tactics and violence than it was about high flying and intricate mat work. There were a lot of near falls and referee Verne Siebert had his hands full trying to keep track of the action. In the end, Fuchi rolled up Kobayashi with a handful of tights while at the same moment Black Tiger got a pin on The Cobra with his feet on the ropes. Verne counted 1, 2, 3… and to break the tie it was decided that the Middleweight Title will be contested in a one-on-one match between Fuchi and Black Tiger in Tokyo. JWA Tag Team Champions The Giants vs Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras The famous brothers from San Luis Potosí earned this title shot by beating Kengo Kimura and Shiro Koshinaka on the tour-opening show. This match was a crowd-pleasing display of scientific wrestling, allowing Andre and Baba to show what they can do on the mat. A series of Flying Cross Chops led to some near falls for the masked men around the fifteen-minute mark, but after that The Giants were in control until Baba put Dos Caras away with a Running Neckbreaker. JWA Champion Tenryu vs Stan Hansen This match was the perfect opportunity for Tenryu to work a kind of JWA variation of the Hulk Hogan formula match. Our champ took a terrible beating from “The Lariat” and at several points it looked like we were going to have a new champion. After about 25 minutes of eating high-end offence, however, Tenryu got fired up and made a huge comeback. He even threw in a Big Boot/Legdrop combo as a kind of homage to Hogan… but of course that wasn’t enough to put Stan Hansen away. In the end it took a Scoop Brainbuster, a Rope Hung DDT, and a Folding Powerbomb to put Hansen down for the count. In a show of true class, the big Texan raised Tenryu’s hand in victory… and then clocked him in the head with his cowbell, leaving the champ bloodied but victorious.

I appreciate everyone's feedback, as always. Nice to here from Bottomlessjack2, in particular. I love the layout on that crazymax NWA project, and I think it's cool that you took the time to leave some feedback here.