gordi

That's a neat idea. Who does everyone think will be the Final Four? Hint: There will be 2 NJPW teams and 2 "outsider" teams. Thank you! I think you will be pretty happy with how your teams look in this round. Sawyer definitely has a real-life rep for being a hell-raiser. I'm glad you got a kick out of that.

FIP = Face In Peril

New Japan Pro Wrestling is proud to announce the second-round match-ups for our International Festival of Tag Team Wrestling. The second round will be held from February 11th through 17th, at various arenas throughout the Kyushu region of Japan. All second round match-ups will be contested in best two out of three fashion. The Quarter-Finals will take place on the 18th through 22nd, in Northern Japan. The Semi-finals and Finals will be held on the 25th and 27th in Tokyo. The winner of the Tournament will be crowned the first-ever IWGP Tag Team Champions. The Hart Foundation (WWF) vs Shiro Koshinaka and Kantaro Hoshino (NJPW) Aichi Blondes (NJPW) vs The Sheepherders (Lutte Int.) Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura (NJPW) vs The Bruise Brothers (USWA) The Rock n Roll Express (Memphis) vs The Killer Bees (WWF) The Cobras (NJPW) vs The Windhams (MACW) The Freebirds (USWA) vs Double Daves (NJPW) Anoaro Atisanoe and Siva Afi (NJPW) vs The Islanders (WWF) The Can-Am Express (AWA) vs Canek and Dos Caras (NJPW) If you have any questions or comments about the Tag Festival, please contact NJPW Head Booker “Gordi” by telephone, by fax, by pm, or by replying to this thread.

Thanks!

Please remove Junji Hirata (Sonny Two Rivers) from the list of free agents. He has been on my permanent roster from the beginning, as Strong Machine #1. If you want, you can move Jack Snuka and Marty Jones onto the last of free agents who can travel.

Man, oh man... how much 2000 WCW did you guys (I want to say "you poor bastards") have to watch in putting this project together? You would think that this should feel huge: Hogan pins Luger clean, Flair comes in to sneak-attack Hogan, Sting makes the save. How does that sequence end up feeling empty? The bloom was really off the rose by this point, wasn't it? I sure hope you poor bastards turned up a hidden/forgotten WCW gem or two to make up for having to sit through empty nostalgia like this. I am glad I got to see it, though. It was... educational.

The commentary team talks about the situation with Hogan and Luger, then makes very lame jokes about Mean Gene and the Nitro Girls, then about half way in they call one hold but immediately switch to making lame jokes about 3-Count. Finally, with a minute left in the match they start calling the action. They never mention that Sierra is The Cuban Assassin or give us any info about this match at all other than the one brief mention of what is going on in the middle of the match, and then that blessed minute at the end. No wonder this company went down the toilet. Always nice to see Regal in action, though.

A "Special Delivery" from SD Jones! NIce!

One kind of cool thing about the Highlights home video package that I didn’t mention when I was writing about side one of the LaserDisk is that each match takes place in a different venue. When watching clips from three matches in a row between the same two teams, having a different background provides an extra degree of individuality to each of the matches. This was really brought home when producing side two of the disc as the final night of round one was held in the brand new Kyoto KBS Hall, which has a gorgeous stained-glass window on the side opposite the hard camera. That added a nice extra detail to the third matches in the following series: The Grapplers (MACW) vs Double Daves (NJPW) I loved this match-up. The boys worked at really fast pace, using tons of classic chain wrestling. Morgan and Taylor worked clean. That, and being familiar to the NJPW fans, helped keep the crowds solidly behind them. The masked Grapplers worked in some subtle heel details, like pulling hair to get out of holds and using double teams behind the ref’s back. Taylor took the first match with his Float-over Butterfly Suplex. The Grapplers took the second match with a Double Bucksnort Blaster Choke Slam on Morgan. Best Bout 4: Once again they started out with quick tags and fast-paced chain wrestling. The Double Daves managed to trap #2 in their corner and they went to work on his arm, including a nice high spot where Taylor held him in a modified wristlock while David Morgan leapfrogged over his partner and landed on the masked man’s arm. Eventually, Morgan caught #2 in an abdominal stretch, but he was too close to the heel corner. When the ref was not looking, #1 pulled Morgan’s hair to help break the hold. Once they had Morgan isolated, Denton and Anthony went to work on the British veteran’s leg. #1 almost made Morgan tap with a Grapevine Hold, but the veteran managed to make it to the ropes. He scrambled to his corner and tagged in Taylor. Grappler #1 tagged in Grappler #2. Taylor almost immediately caught him in a Chicken Wing and then worked it into a Cross Face Chicken Wing. #1 tried to interfere but Morgan took him out with a Head-butt to the Gut. Grappler #1 had no choice but to submit. Buzz Sawyer and "Doctor D" David Schultz (AWA) vs Aichi Blondes (NJPW) We had hoped to push Schultz and Sawyer to at least the second round of the tournament, but to be frank those guys just couldn’t keep themselves out of trouble on the road. To appease the local authorities, we had to agree to send them back to America on the night of the 10th. While they were here, they matched up with Ueda and Goto to provide our fans with a clinic on out-of-control brawling. The Japanese team managed to eke out a win in their home prefecture of Aichi when Ueda tossed his partner back into the ring just in time to beat the 20 count. In Kobe, both teams were counted out as they went brawling around the arena. Best Bout 5: I guess with this being their last night in Japan, the boys decided to have a little fun with this match. All four men went straight at each other before the bell even rang. The brawl immediately spilled out to the ringside area where they took turns smashing each other into the guardrail. They then made their way back into the ring and went after each other’s eyes with rakes, pokes, rope burns, and boot scrapes. With all four men stumbling around half-blinded, the ref was able to restore some semblance of order and we were left with Goto and the Mad Dog in the ring, struggling over a Suplex. Goto won that battle, but as soon as he stood up, Sawyer sprang to his knees and stared biting him on the leg. Of course, that led to another melee which spilled back outside. As the referee’s count neared 20, all four men raced back into the ring, where they proceeded to bite one another on the forehead. Soon, all four were bleeding. When the ref tried once again to restore order, all four brawlers turned on the official, tossing him from the ring. They then brawled out of the ring, up the aisle, and into the back. That beautiful stained glass window made a pretty strange contrast to the carnage. The Super Destroyers (CCW) vs The Can-Am Express (AWA) Classic US-Style tag team wrestling here, with two big, masked, bad guys going against two handsome, athletic babyfaces in Tom Zenk and Phil Lafon. In all three matches, Zenk bumped around like crazy for the big heels before making the hot tag to Lafon. In the first match, The Super Destroyers managed to cut Lafon off, beat him down, and finish him with a Double Superplex. The Can-Ams won bouts #2 and #3with picture-perfect Double Drop Kicks. The Cobras (NJPW) vs The Youngbloods (WWF) Another heel vs face match-up, with this one worked in more of a fast-paced and flashy style. In contrast to the American heel teams, The Cobras didn’t use a lot of overt heel tactics but instead just kept up a constant pressure on The Youngbloods. The American team used blood to get sympathy, and they got busted open in each of their three matches. Shunji pinned Mark after a Missile Dropkick in the first match and George pinned Jay after a Tombstone in the second. It was decided that they should wrestle the third match anyway, and it turned out to be a pretty good one. Best Bout 6: As usual, The Cobras started out fast and kept the pressure on. After several minutes of fast-paced action, Jay was trapped in the Tree of Woe as Shunji Takano kicked him repeatedly. George Takano knocked Mark Youngblood off of the ring apron then did a dive from the ring to the outside that ended with both men tumbling over the barricade. Shunji released Jay Youngblood from the Tree of Woe, whipped him into the far corner, and charged in to finish him off. At the last moment, though, Jay slipped out of the way as Takano crashed full speed into the turnbuckles. Seizing the moment, Jay Strongbow scrambled to the top corner and came off with a Flying Tomahawk Chop for the victory. The Samoans (Lutte Int.) vs The Sheepherders (Lutte Int.) Unsurprisingly, these teams also ended up brawling out of control most of the time. In fact, it seemed like they had a little private competition going on with Aichi Blondes and Dr. D & The Mad Dog to see who could put on the most violent match every night. Afa and Sika took the first bout after nailing Butch with ten consecutive Double Head-Butts. The Sheepherders pinned Afa in the Second match after softening up his mid-section with the Battering Ram then nailing a big Double Gutbuster. Best Bout 7: I think that after seeing how Dr. D and Mad Dog took their match way over the top and went ridiculous with it, these guys decided to keep things more compact and intense in their final match. The action mainly stayed in the ring and they mostly just hit each other, really hard, again and again. Rather than going with the FIP –> hot tag formula, they mixed it up a little by sticking to: Guy gets double-teamed –> partner runs in for the save. It’s a small change but sometimes the little things make all the difference. Eventually the Samoans started to wear down their smaller opponents and then Luke and Butch were forced to rely on guile to regain the advantage. In the end, Afa and Sika went for one Double Head-Butt too many, Butch ducked out, The Samoans knocked each other loopy, and the Sheepherders advanced to the second round. The Bolsheviks (Memphis) vs The Killer Bees (WWF) This was a classic good guys vs bad guys, speed vs power match-up. These guys have wrestled hundreds of matches like this in their careers and while there was nothing particularly special about their matches in Japan, all three were very well-worked examples of this style. The Bees worked from underneath most of the time, succumbing to a Volkoff Bearhug in the first match, but coming back to win the next two with their Double Jumping Hip Attack finisher. ​The Assassins (USWA) vs The Freebirds (USWA) Rather than yet another out of control brawl, this match-up was worked in a character/story/subterfuge and guile manner. The basic idea is that The Assassins were loading up their masks and The Freebirds were trying to get them disqualified for it. So, in the first round the ‘Birds went after The Assassins’ masks, tearing at them to try and expose the metal plates underneath. However, in their enthusiasm to get their opponents disqualified they ended up going too far and in an ironic twist it was Garvin and Hayes who took the DQ loss in match #1. The irony continued in match #2, as Assassin #1 managed to load up his mask… but accidentally blasted his partner with it, leading to a roll-up pin and tying the series at one screw-up loss per team. Best Bout 8: The Assassins came out hot and went after The Freebirds with a vengeance, dominating the opening minutes of the match. Garvin turned the tide by making a sneaky tag to Hayes and leading Assassin #2 on a goose chase, so that Hayes was able to jump him as he was chasing Garvin back into the ring. Once again, the ‘Birds went after their opponent’s mask, managing to tear it partway open. Assassin #2 fought back to his own corner and Assassin #1 was able to turn the tide in his team's favour. This time, they trapped Garvin in the corner and worked him over. The Gorgeous One was blasted with Head-Butts by the masked men, busting him open and laying him out. However, what appeared to be a metal plate seemed to fall out of Assassin #2’s mask as this was going on. The referee saw that, and called for the bell, disqualifying the masked team and awarding the series to The Freebirds. A bloodied Garvin slowly got to his feet, where he saw his partner dancing on the turnbuckle in celebration. With a disgusted look on his face, Jimmy Garvin left the ring and stormed to the back, alone. Los Destructores (CMLL) vs Shiro Koshinaka and Kantaro Hoshino (NJPW) Los Destructores are Tony Arce and Vulcano, working in matching black, silver, and white outfits with identical masks. This was worked in an entertaining semi-comedy style, with Koshinaka using all kinds of hip attacks, Hoshino using speed and quickness to avoid Los Destructores attacks, and the CMLL wrestlers using their similar appearances to bamboozle the referee and their opponents, making quick switches without tagging. Their matches were a nice change of pace and among the fan favourite bouts every night. Rather than chose a single match for the Best Bout series, we finished off the home video with an extended highlight reel of comedic moments, athletic high spots, and creative double-team manoeuvres from the series. Koshinaka and Hoshino took two bouts out of three to advance in the tournament.

Yes, teams that lost twice are eliminated (and free to go back home). That would include ​The Caribbean Connection and The Fort Bragg Brotherhood. Thanks! It was fun to write that up.

I love the class and respect with which the Briscos are being treated. It's kind of moving.

Whoa! Bravo working for Vince in The Forum? Insane! What will happen next?

Yep.

lol. Reportedly, Sony only stopped making tapes for those machines in late 2015. Despite all of my whining about how hard it was to edit everything down, I'm pretty happy with how the Highlights home video turned out. One of our goals with this Festival was to show the rich variety of the art of Tag Team Wrestling. I think we manage to partially achieve that in the first round. We had a few chaotic brawls, some blood, some technical match-ups, some story-driven and character-driven work, some fast-paced action, a bunch of matches worked in the classic Southern Tag style, and a bunch worked outside of that style. The Guerreros (CCW) vs Canek and Dos Caras (NJPW) As I said, this was one of the very best match-ups of the first round. They meshed pretty well, working a fast-paced technical style with a lot of give and take on both sides. The Guerreros took the fist match with consecutive Moonsaults on El Canek, but the Lucha Libre Legends came roaring back in their next two match-ups. A Dos Caras Clutch kept Mando down for three in the second match, and then a kneeling Argentine Backbreaker from Canek forced Chavo Sr. to tap out in their final bout. We managed to squeeze a bit of the show of respect after the final match onto the home video, as well as some sweet Lucha-style mat work, some Suplex near-falls, and some snappy arm drag exchanges. Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura (NJPW) vs The Strongbows (CCW) The similarity of their gimmick to that of The Youngbloods was not the only issue we had with The Strongbows. To be frank, Jules and Jay worked pretty lazily in their first two matches. Jules sold a little, tagged out; Jay did his war dance and threw some chops. In the first match Jay got cut off and eventually Jules submitted to the Dragon Sleeper. In the second match, he didn't get cut off and managed to sink an Indian Death Lock on Kimura for the win. I wasn't there, but Verne said that both matches were kind of disappointing. Maybe they have grown too reliant on their gimmick, which simply isn't over with the crowds in Japan. Maybe they are down because of the uncertain situation back home in CCW. Whatever the reason, Fujinami read them the riot act before their final match and they worked it in a completely different style, going to the mat and working the legs building up to the Death Lock but this time Kimura made it to the ropes and his hot tag (to Fujinami) really got the crowd going. After a little more back and forth, Kimura got the win with a No-hands Triangle Scorpion on Jules. That last match could have made the Best Bouts tape, under different circumstances. ​The Caribbean Connection (Lutte Int.) vs The Hart Foundation (WWF) Its pretty hard to predict whats going to get over with a crowd. The Strongbows couldnt manage to pop the crowd with their gimmick, but Carlos Colon was able to get them completely on his side with nothing more than a couple of cartwheel taunts and an appeal for some applause. It probably helped that there had been a newspaper profile on The Caribbean Connection winning a match with The Spoiler and The Missing Link to get the coveted opportunity to come and wrestle in Japan. Probably also helped that The Hart Foundation did a great job of portraying cocky bad guys. The Connection made fairly quick work of the Harts in their first match, with Chicky Starr nailing Bret with a Piledriver then tagging in Colon, who finished things with a Figure Four in the middle of the ring. In the second match, Starr got Hart in Piledriver position again, but this time Neidhart ran in and leveled Starr with a huge Shoulder Block to break it up. Hart pinned Starr with a handful of tights as Neidhart prevented Colon from making the save. After the match, Starr had some angry words for Colon. Best Bout 1: Early in the third and final match, Neidhart knocked Carlos Colon off of the ring apron with a clubbing forearm shot, so that when Chicky Starr went to make the tag, his partner wasn't there. This led to Starr getting trapped in the heel team's corner and beaten down pretty badly. When he finally managed to escape his predicament, Colon was back on the apron. Starr tagged him in by slapping his partner in the face. This time, it was Colon who got trapped and beaten down and when he escaped and went for the tag, Starr turned his back. That betrayal left a broken Colon to take a nasty looking Hart Attack and eat the pin. The Rock n Roll Express (Memphis) vs The Fort Bragg Brotherhood (USWA) In this match-up both teams worked clean, but the Rock n Rollers fast-paced offense and play-to-the crowd style endeared them more to the Japanese crowds than the Brotherhood's Stars and Stripes Soldier gimmick did. Morton and Gibson took the first and the third matches with a clean Double Drop Kick finish after Morton had bumped all over the ring for Kirchner and Kernodle. The second match, however, broke a little from their usual formula. Best Bout 2: Pvt. Kernodle came out on fire in this one, using his size and power to overwhelm first Morton and then Gibson. Kirchner continued to pour on the pressure with a series of Bodyslams and Clotheslines. After five straight minutes of non-stop punishment the Express were finally able to get some offense in after Kernodle mistimed a charge into the corner. Using quick tags and teamwork, Morton and Gibson maintained the advantage for about four minutes until Cpl. Kirchner caught Morton on the top turnbuckle and slammed him into the middle of the ring. He followed up with an Airborne Slam and a quick tag to Kernodle, who finished Morton off with a Swinging Neckbreaker. Double Kims (NJPW) vs The Bruise Brothers (USWA) This was the only match-up where the teams only met twice, mainly because Kim Duk badly twisted his ankle in the second bout. Their first match finished in a DCOR as both teams brawled out of the ring and into the crowd after about five minutes of back-and-forth slugfest action. Best Bout 3: This time, Porkchop Cash and Kim Duk brawled out of the ring immediately, barely making it back in time to beat the count, where they tagged in Dream Machine and Kim Su Hong, respectively, who then also brawled out of the ring. I guess this bout could be described as "Hard hitting comedy brawling." The general themes included distracting the ref so your partner can choke a guy and barely beating the 20 count back into the ring. After Kim Duk (legit) hurt his ankle going over the guard rail, the Bruise Brothers just went after Kim Su Hong with a vengeance. After taking a long series of knees and elbows, Kim was worn down enough that Cash was able to finish him off with a Big Head-butt. Strong Machines #2 and #3 (NJPW) vs The Islanders (WWF) This was a straight-up battle of power against power. These guys just threw bomb after bomb and beat each other all around the ring, to the delight of the crowd. The Machines took the first bout with a Brainbuster from #3, but the Islanders came back to take both of the next bouts with a Savate Kick followed by a Double Diving Head-butt. The highlights video featured tons of Slams, Clotheslines, Backbreakers, and Chops. Junkyard Dog and Don Arakawa (NJPW) vs Anoaro Atisanoe and Siva Afi (NJPW) This was worked as kind of a Southern Style heel vs face brawl, with Arakawa in the role of face in peril and JYD eagerly awaiting the hot tag. The good guys took the first match when JYD caught Afi with a Power Slam. In their second meeting, things seemed to be heading in the same direction but Atisanoe managed to re-take the advantage and eventually hit Arakawa with a Samoan Drop for the pin. In the third match, JYD thrilled the crowd by getting the 300-pound Atisanoe in position for a Shoulder Breaker, but Afi came flying off the top rope and kicked his partner in the back, causing Dog to fall over with Atisanoe on top of him... and that was how it ended. Black Cat and Enrique Vera (NJPW) vs The Windhams (MACW) Another technical match-up, spiced up by Cat and Vera bending the rules a little and the young Texans playing to the crowd. The Windhams took the first bout with a Double Bulldog on Vera. Black Cat caught Kendall in a Gory Special to take match #2. The final match went back and forth at a furious pace for almost 15 minutes before Windham nailed Vera with a Superplex and floated over into a pin. And that's the end of side one of the LaserDisc. Hopefully we'll get side two finished tomorrow.

Man, I have been sweating bullets trying to put these commercial videos together. The two-hour time limit has been a real ball-buster. Weve got 32 teams competing in the first round, so in the highlights video we have less than four minutes per team (or around 6-7 minutes per match-up, including time for the intro and commentary and credits) to show what they can do. And, since each match-up is contested as best two out of three, that means we can show about 2-3 minutes of each match. There is so much more Id like to pack on there the Japanese have an expression, Shikata ga nai, or as they say in Osaka: Sho ga nai. It basically means, It cant be helped or There nothing we can do or Thats just the way it is Yuka and I have been saying Sho ga nai to each other again and again as we ruthlessly cut these 8-12 minute tag matches down into tiny chunks that will fit on a laserdisc or Betamax tape. The guys on the editing team have all picked up on it, and its become a big in-joke to use Osaka slang in the production centre. With the New Japan Pro Wrestling Tag Festival First Round Best Bouts volume, the time limit means that we have had to choose just 8 or 9 fights from out of 47 total matches (and thats only counting tournament matches, not including the Inoki & co. 6-man matches or anything else on the cards). Obviously, there were more than 8 good matches in the first round of this tournament. What we have decided to do is focus on the best matches of the foreign teams that were eliminated in the first round. Those teams will be headed home tomorrow, so this is their only chance to have a full match make tape. Even then, there were 12 non-NJPW teams eliminated in the first round, so not all of them will make the final cut. That sucks, but... sho ga nai. One particular situation with a couple of the US promotions has made that decision much easier, however: It looks like both CCW and Memphis are in imminent danger of collapse. I personally havent heard anything from their bookers since mid-December in Stennicks case and late December in the case of ltrain. So, with apologies to those fine gentlemen and to their teams, The Guerreros, The Strongbows, The Super Destroyers, and the Bolsheviks They are only gonna make the highlight videos. The worst thing about that is that The Guerreros vs. The Lucha Libre Legends was absolutely one of the best match-ups that we had in the first round. Its killing me that we cant put one of their matches on the Best Bouts tape. The silver lining is that the Strongbows work a very similar gimmick to the Youngbloods, not just in terms of the native head-dress and tomahawk chops, but also in that the brother not named Jay plays face in peril until the hot tag is made, whereupon Jay goes on the warpath and starts chopping the bad guys down. So its maybe just as well we didnt have to put a full match from each team on the commercial release. Live, we got around it by booking them on alternating nights. Anyway, there are just two more shows to go. We are putting the finishing touches on the Best Bouts release already, since all of the featured teams are booked to lose tonight or tomorrow anyway. Hopefully it will be ready for sale by the last night of the first round. The Highlights release is almost good to go already, with just 15 two-minute gaps waiting to be filled. As soon as its ready, well be putting that out there too.

88 minute main event! Wow!

I think we are setting up a win-win situation here. Best case scenario is Larry and Steve come back and someone good steps up to take over AJPW. "Worst" case scenario is now maybe: Lawler as a freelancer, a draft, tons of new free agents, and a super-promotion in Japan. Nice work, LowBlow (and everyone else)!

I really like the idea of adding Lawler to the freelancers list, permanently. He's a "special" talent, like Hansen or Brody. A guy who could go anywhere and make an event feel bigger just by his presence. Not many guys who can fit that role, might be best to take advantage if he becomes available to be used that way. It also gives this project's "universe" a nice twist that is different from what really happened in the mid 1980s.

Lawler would be an amazing freelancer. I could see him as a guest attraction with any of the US/Canada rosters. Think of the never-seen dream matches if he became an international gun-for-hire in the Bruiser Brody mode! Morton and Gibson are over here in Japan until the 27th. I think it's safe to say they will be coming out of the Tag Festival hot. They are great potential freelancers as well. All you need is a bad guy tag team to play them off of. I can imagine them adding some spice to a card for any promotion in this project.

Would your need for gaijin be the same with such a loaded roster?? I like the jwa idea but right now no one is jumping up so well see how the next two months go. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'd certainly have to assume that with a loaded roster there would be a greatly reduced need for gaijin visitors. Hopefully Andre and Hogan would still come over once or twice a year as special attractions and, say, Steamboat or Owen Hart or Carlos Colon would come across for a tour once in a while just for the joy of booking them... and it would still be nice to be able to use guys like Hansen and Abdullah as special attractions ... and if someone wanted to send guys over because they don't have plans for them or whatever I'll always be down for that... ...but ultimately I don't imagine that a reborn JWA would be reliant on outside wrestlers to main event big shows the way current '85 New Japan is. It would be for fun, rather than out of necessity.

Osaka Pro often used to do a great comedy bit on their house shows, kind of lampshading the question of "how do you keep three guys involved at all times." Generally, they would have the other two guys just flat-out ignore Kuishinbou Kamen, leaving the poor guy frustrated and bored to the point where he'd have to get really creative to find someway to occupy his time while the other two guys battled around the ring. Always cracked me up.

Yeah, I am sincere in hoping someone comes along to pick up All Japan... but it's easy to get excited thinking about what could be done with a combined 40-man 1985 Japanese roster. Nothing but dream matches up and down the card!

If not... do you think, for example, someone like Bam Bam Bigelow might be a reasonable fit as a guy who could have just moved to Japan in the mid-80s?

I think the best thing for this project would be to have someone pick up AJPW... ...but... IF nobody steps up by April, maybe it's a sad but reasonable assumption that nobody is going to step up? In that case, would we be willing to consider letting me build up a super-dream "JWA Reborn" roster, not unlike the insane roster Grimmas has now? It would be *ridiculous* but at least we wouldn't have Jumbo, Tenryu, Choshu, Fujiwara, etc just sitting there collecting dust.

So it looks like I'll be staying in Tokyo for at least the first two weeks of the Tag Festival. It's killing me to miss out, but I've been tasked with helping to produce the LaserDisk and Betamax releases of the first two rounds of the tournament. There are 32 teams, so sixteen match-ups, so (at best two of three) there could be as many as 48 total tag team matches in the first round. At two hours playing time, it's going to involve a lot of editing to fit all those matches into one package. Even in round 2, with a max of 24 matches to work with, we'll only be able to show about 5 minutes of each match - not counting introductions, commentary, and so on... The plan is to have dual releases for each round: One with highlights of every match and a second release called "Best Bouts" with full matches. My main job will be selecting which matches make the Best Bouts releases. We also need to crank out the TV shows to hype the tournament, and get video out to all of the North American promotions that have sent talent over to participate in the Festival. So, it's going to be a busy couple of weeks. things will get less hectic for the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals. 2-hour versions of each show will air on Asahi TV on tape delay, and also be released as-is on LaserDisk and Betamax. We may put out additional Best Bouts packages, depending on demand. The boys from overseas are all here now, and it's a pretty chaotic scene. I can already see that it' gonna take some real diplomacy to keep a couple of these guys out of jail this week (*cough* Corporal Kirchner and Buzz Sawyer *cough*) and also to keep Porkchop Cash from kicking Michael Hayes' teeth in. It's too bad Andre isn't still here, to play policeman. Hopefully everyone understands where the lines are, and that crossing them will make it harder to get a big fat Japanese payday in the future. Inoki, Sakaguchi, and Strong Machine #1 are all on the tour despite not being in the tournament. They'll generally be keeping the peace on the road, and also doing a trios match against a random team of foreign talent as the main event for the shows in most towns. I'm looking forward to seeing Inoki, Sakaguchi and Strong Machine #1 vs. Ricky Morton, Jim Brunzell, and Tom Zenk, or vs. Carlos Colon, Nikolai Volkoff, And "Dr. D" David Schultz. wish I could be there to see all of it live. Hope we can fit some of those matches onto tape for the fans, but it's going to be tight. My old friend and pro wrestling senpai "Vicious" Verne Siebert has come over from All Star Wrestling in Vancouver to help keep things organised. He'll be my eyes and ears on the road while I'm stuck in the editing booth. Doriya-mon has provided us with wireless communication devices to stay in touch. I'm looking forward to hearing Verne's road stories, and hoping that not too many of them involve apologizing to the local police.