gordi

Thanks! I think about it as like a Bruce Lee approach to booking: Examine what everyone else is doing and steal what works for you Part 2 – The guys we want to push: The seven bad guys facing off against the Seven Machines in the Main Event of the end-of-tour show are: The Fabulous Freebirds, The Cobras (George and Shunji Takano), Umanosuke Ueda, and Anoaro Atisanoe. So obviously we are hoping to get all of those guys over as main-event-worthy by the end of the month. Atisanoe is, like The Barbarian, pretty easy to get over as a monster heel because of his look. Where Sione Havea Vailahi is muscular and intimidating, Atisanoe is thick but very solid. Both are very athletic for their size. It’s mostly just a matter of bringing Atisanoe along at the right pace, having him build up some wins, and having him look good and strong even in losing. Putting the Takano Brothers under hoods and having them work together fills the need for an upper mid-card bad guy tag team on the main roster. The Cobra is already over as a junior hwt. heel champion, and his brother is unusually tall for a Japanese man and a pretty solid worker to boot. Ueda has a great look and natural charisma. With a decent sustained push, he could probably draw pretty well in a main event against Ionki or Fujinami. Building up those four guys, as well as Kendo Nagasaki, Mr. Pogo (who is raising havoc in the USWA this month), and Black Tiger will give us a solid core group of main roster heels. That will serve to: - Make us less reliant on foreign talent to face Inoki and co. and Fujinami and co. and the Machines on our big cards. - Allow us to use more foreign faces as well. Also, except for maybe Nagasaki and Pogo, any of those guys could also turn face down the road and be even more over with the crowd. As I said above, we’ll also be pushing The Machines pretty hard on TV this month, building to Osaka. We want to get their combination of Power and Teamwork across as something special. Part 3 – Subtle longer-term booking: With the Tag Fest coming up in February and the Young Lions Cup in March… now is the time to start sowing those seeds. We want to use every opportunity to set up teams for February and get the fans more interested in Hashimoto, Mutoh, Chono, Yamada, Funaki, and co.

Part 1 - The Guests: A lot of our fans are just maniacs for New Japan’s product. There is a core group that we count on to come out every time we are in - or even near - their area. There are a lot of fans, though, who only come out when something special is on offer. On this tour, I think our main draw for them is the large and diverse group of foreign stars who will be touring with us. We can easily use our TV to alert those less hard-core fans to their presence, and to build our guests up as monsters, villains, heroes, or whatever else we want them to be. Hogan and Andre are obviously the biggest draws. Hogan won’t be flying in until the 23rd, so here’s the perfect reason (and opportunity) to use video packages.: A few clips of him from his previous visits to Japan, and a few highlights from the footage that WWF promoter LowBlowPodcast sent us, and we are likely to be much closer to selling out Kobe, Nagoya, and Osaka. With Andre the key is not to give too much away. We are gonna put him in a couple of comedy-type matches on free TV, but ask the fans to pay to see him in a more serious match. So week one, he can work as Giant Machine in a tag against, say, Arakawa and a partner. Week two, a handicap match against Yamada and Hoshino where the little guys earn his respect... and in week 3 the Cobras can jump Yamada, with Andre making the save, and our Special Tag Match for Nagoya is all set up. Speaking of Machines, putting Eadie and Darsow into that gimmick gets them over almost effortlessly. We’re building to an unprecedented Seven Machines Gauntlet Match in Osaka on the 26th, so all of the Machines are gonna be made to look strong on TV every week leading up to that. If we position JYD as Hogan and Andre’s friend, he should get over by osmosis. Even without that, it should be very easy to get his humour and charisma across with a couple of semi-squash matches against our lower-card heels. As easy as it’s likely going to be to get JYD and the gaijin Machines over, it’s probably going to be that much of a challenge to get the Freebirds the hate they deserve. Hayes and Garvin are both charming and charismatic, and they will not be able to use their mic skills to turn the crowds against them here in Japan. We’ll have to show them cheating to win on TV to try and get that point across, and we’ll have to hope that it isn’t overkill that we are trying to build Ueda and Nagasaki up as cheating bastards at the same time. I guess the obvious solution is to have them all work together from the start. It won’t be so hard to get Haku, The Barbarian, and Siva Afi over as powerful, near-unstoppable foreign monsters. Not to put too fine a point on it, but one look at them should do the trick. All they need to do is scowl to put some serious fear into whoever is facing them. And, in most cases, all they need to do is put on brightly-coloured clothes and smile to get over as baby-faces. We had been trying to book Haku, Barabarian, and Tonga, but the Tonga Kid jumped to Mid Atlantic. We were lucky to be able to sign Siva Afi as a free agent at the last minute to take his place. That’s one hell of a list of outside guests. It should help us to draw huge crowds if we use them right. I have to say, I’m really grateful to all the North American promoters who helped us put this tour together.

I can only hope that my ideas about how to book New Japan in 1985 with this roster are realistic and workable. I’m pretty sure that, in this culture at this time, a steady hierarchy is absolutely a key element. I am in no hurry to change that. I think it works well and it is very useful. I am interested in moving some of the pieces around within that hierarchy, though. In terms of TV, the formula so far has generally been to present a handful of matches straight up every week, clipped or in full, with a minimum of bells and whistles. Basically, a straightforward sports-type presentation. There is a hard-core fan base that absolutely loves that. However, after watching what USWA, AWA, WWF, MACW, Lutte Internationale, Memphis, and other promotions do with their TV, it’s easy to imagine how we could do more with ours. Those promoters are masters of the art of building a feud. They use their TV to build up anticipation for the matches on their big cards. I want us to do something similar. In a lot of cases, those other promoters use interview segments to build up their feuds… I don’t know if NJPW can do that to the same extent. Not all of our best wresters are great talkers, and I’m not sure it’s something our fan base is really ready for. What I think we can do is use matches, match clips, and video packages to try and get our fans more invested in the big payoffs at the major shows. Build to the big matches the way the North American promoters do. Inoki and Shinma are still not so sure about using video packages, but I think I have got them on board w/r/t the basic idea of always building toward something. We watched some of the road to Starrcade shows that Lutte and Mid Atlantic ran, and it was obvious how much that build added to the enjoyment and excitement of the matches during the big event. So, here’s our basic plan for TV this month:

Is Sarge gonna get a chance at revenge for that beat down? I hope it eventually leads to a Sarge vs Snuka cage match!

NJPW would like to bring Siva Afi over for a couple of tours. (At least through the end of February, maybe longer if nobody else wants to use him).

My issue with that match is that it's pretty much the least of the Hashimoto-Choshu matches. It's either that one or their Z-1 match. Both are good but disappointing for the insane standards of their all time rivalry. It's funny, going through the Hashimoto-Choshu matches that one seemed kinda formulaic, it was kinda depressing seeing the same spots they've done before done not as good, it seemed like the magic was gone, then they had that badass brawl in 2001 that was up there with all of their great stuff. I think that saying "the magic was gone" is wildly overstating things, but I do agree that this is not the best Choshu vs. Hash match of all time. It is, however, still my favourite epic NJPW Dome match and a great example of the kind of big epic battle that I enjoy. It's a matter of personal taste, of course, but in my book a lesser Choshu vs. Hash match is still more enjoyable and more suited to what I want from a big card main event than, say, the best-ever Tanahashi vs. Okada match or even the best-ever Shinsuke vs. Ibushi match. I like "everything is a real struggle" and I like "doing more with less" and I really like "taking your time with the basics and letting the crowd come to you" and I think this match is great in all of those categories. I'm kind of surprised I'm the only one who has picked it, to be honest.

Nice to see Bad News in the Main Event in Calgary!

Choshu vs. Hashimoto from 1997 is my idea of how a big Tokyo Dome Main Event should be wrestled. In a way, it's the philosophical opposite of this year's epic Main Event, in that not so much happens but every single thing that happens is a real struggle and has meaning. If we're not limiting ourselves to NJPW Tokyo Dome matches, then Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai from Big Egg Wrestling Universe is a serious contender for my top spot.

Yep. Me, too, apparently. "Unpretentious" is a great way to sum up a big part of what I love about it.

I have NEVER been a guy who thinks that too many movez = bad wrestling. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Nothing wrong with excitement, in my book. I have NEVER been a guy who insists that limb work must lead to something. Ric Flair working the arm on the way to a figure four finish is just fine with me. Throwing a huge spot in the middle of the match instead of saving it for the finish doesn't bother me at all. In classic 5-act plays the climax often came in Act 3. I don't follow modern NJPW closely, but I follow it enough to know that there is history between Shibata and Goto, and between Naito and Tanahashi. You'd think that Wrestle Kingdom 11 would have been right up my alley. I recently started writing up stories for NJPW in 1985 on the Armchair Booking thread. As part of my "research" for that, I have been watching handfuls of mid-80s NJPW matches. Early 1985 wasn't exactly NJPW's hottest period. Choshu was gone, and the UWF invasion hadn't started yet. I want to understand how guys like Sakaguchi and Kimura worked, I want to get a sense of how Hoshino and Arakawa entertained the crowds. I want to see how Andre and Hogan worked with those guys. I want to see how young mask-less Liger (Yamada) worked. I wanna see Mutoh Chono and Hash at the beginning of their runs. I want some Nogami, some Kosugi, some Marc Rocco as Black Cat. I'm not seeking out the all-time great 1980s NJPW matches. I'm looking for mid-card stuff, typical stuff... ...and matches like Andre and St. Clair vs. Hoshino and Sakaguchi, or Don Arakawa vs. The Cobra... you've got guys who are maybe past their physical prime, you've got crappy 1980s finishes, you've got maybe one or two big spots in the whole match, you've got a whole lot of very basic basics and a whole lot of character work... ...and I'm absolutely fascinated, just drawn in from bell to bell and in rapt attention every second of the way. I'm utterly entertained. It's just a pure joy to watch that stuff. Then we have NJPW in 2017. Figured I should watch that too maybe find some ideas I could steal and apply to my 1985 fantasy booking. Wrestle Kingdom 11: Guys are in their absolute physical prime, everyone looks just great, the production values are amazing, the crowd is hot, everyone is taking real risks, there are both long term and short term stores being told, the execution is generally very crisp, there's stiffness, there's selling, there's high flying and there are so many big moves. Just big move after big move after big move after big move after big move after big move after... ... and it's a chore to sit through. Part of it is that I am just getting old. Part of it is that I had a higher personal investment in the '85 stuff because of the Armchair Booking project. But... ...I mean. I like big moves. I always have. But 5 plus hours of pretty much non stop big moves just feels like way too much, even to me. It's exhausting. I don't know if the overkill was the whole problem, but WK 11 just didn't do it for me. I was bored. I did not care. I really, honestly, no fooling enjoyed the 1985 mid-card stuff so much more than this. I wasn't expecting that, at all.

I'm saving my comments for your TV write-up.

I'm getting a real nostalgia kick just from reading the names of those classic jobbers.

Is this the next step for Martel?

The Briscos, Terry Taylor, and Bock will be great additions to your line-up.

Well, the reviews are in and, thank God, they are mostly positive. One reviewer said that the show was “so well organized from top to bottom” and another called it a “beautiful first show.” Generally the papers and magazines are talking about it like the beginning of a new era… so maybe now I can stop worrying about it and just get to work. We’ll be heading out on the road in less than a week. I’m travelling with the boys this time, and Shinma is staying behind in Tokyo to oversee TV production and advertising. We had a long (and, I think, productive) meeting where we hashed out a rough formula to follow for house shows on the tour, as well as key points to emphasize on TV to build toward the three big shows at the end of the month. The booking formula hews pretty closely to the hierarchy I laid out for Mr. Inoki when I was working to get this job: The Super-Protected: Natives: Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami. Guests for this tour: Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan – Basically never do the job, though they can be on a losing team as long as their partner takes the fall or taps out. If they do lose, it’s only to another super-protected guy, or some kind of schmoz, and it has to be a very big deal. They are always booked to look strong. Almost exclusively work the Main or Semi-Main Event match. The Protected: Natives: Seiji Sakaguchi, Kengo Kimura, and Strong Machine #1. Gaijin Regulars; Canek and Dos Caras – Can lose clean to one another and to the top guys, but only very rarely do the job otherwise. If anyone “under” them in the hierarchy goes over, it should be a very big deal and lead to a sustained push. Can sometimes be called on to do the job in a tag match when teaming with one of the top guys. Always booked to look strong, even in defeat. The “Use Them Well” guys: Natives: Kendo Nagasaki and Umanosuke Ueda. Gaijin Regulars (and "Gaijin" Regulars): The Cobras, Anoaro Atisanoe, and Black Tiger. Guests for this tour: Strong Machine #4, Big Machine, Junkyard Dog, Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin, The Barbarian and Haku – Guys who are getting a bit of a push, good-guy visitors we want to get over with our crowd, or heel visitors we want to build up before they lose to our top guys in a big match. They can (and in most cases eventually will) lose to the protected and super-protected guys, but otherwise they will get some wins over lower-card guys, and be booked to look strong and to get their gimmick and personality over. The Kikuchis: Natives: Shiro Koshinaka and Kantaro Hoshino. Regular Gaijin: Fishman. Guests for this tour: Buddy Roberts - “Third man” in Main Event and upper-card trios matches. Work face (or heel) in peril, do the job when needed. When working against mid-carders, young boys, or juniors, they generally get the win. Need to stay strong enough to be believable in Main Event tags while drawing sympathy and doing their share of jobs to the top guys. Not the easiest job in the world. The Puzzle Pieces: Natives: Strong Machine #2, Strong Machine #3, Don Arakawa, and Shunji Kosugi. Gaijin Regulars: Dave Taylor, David Morgan, Black Cat, Enrique Vera – Solid, versatile workers. Can be slotted in almost anywhere on the card. Win some, lose some, play the Kikuchi role from time to time, can be counted on to make other wrestlers look good… Generally among the most valuable but least appreciated guys on the card. The Future Stars: Hashimoto, Chono, Mutoh, Yamada, and Funaki – Still young, still learning and growing, still need to earn their spots… but clearly have the potential to lead the way into the 90s. Will mostly work the lower card, will win a little more often than they lose, will occasionally be given a shot at playing the Kikuchi role further up the card. The Young Boys: Tatsutoshi Goto, Naoki Sano, Akira Nogami: Could still prove that they belong in the future stars category. For now, will lose more often than they win and will be fixtures of the lower card. The Enhancement Talent: Kim Duk, Kim Su-Hong, Hirokazu Hata – Solid hands who are here to make everyone else look good. That basic template makes booking house shows fairly easy. TV is another matter. Thanks to Doriya-Mon, I have been able to watch The Brawl to End it All, Starrcade, and some USWA and AWA TV in the last week or so. It's been awesome, and it has convinced me to push for a change in our TV format. I'll get into that later.

Patera vs. Orndorff should be a good power vs. power match-up.

NJPW in Tokyo, Ryōgoku Kokugikan, January 4th, 1985 Live report as it happens. I’ve got nowhere to post this, so I guess I’m just doing it for my own benefit. Maybe Doriya-mon can help me get it out to the other bookers and so on… Anyway, I have to give Inoki and Shinma credit. They got us into the brand new Ryōgoku Kokugikan, and they got Konishiki and Chiyonofuji and several other big names from the world of sumo involved in the promotion of the show, just as they said they would. The place is packed, the atmosphere is electric, and I’ve been given every reasonable opportunity to succeed. It’s all up to the boys now. The show is already a success financially, and I’m sure New Japan will rake in more cash at the merch tables… so all that remains to be seen is if the card I’ve booked will be a critical success, and a hit with the fans, as well. There’s definitely some risk involved in running a show this big without a lot of outside participation, but I’m… cautiously optimistic. Don Arakawa vs. Hirokazu Hata Arakawa’s thing is that he looks a lot like puroresu pioneer Rikidozan. He comes to the ring dressed in the instantly recognizable long black tights and black boots that Rikidozan used to wear, and immediately drops down into the sumo splits. Hata is a solid hand with a fine grasp of the basics, but not much more. They battle for a wristlock, back and forth, for a few minutes, and then Arakawa gains the advantage with a basic slam. After that, he runs through a few of Rikidozan’s signature spots and mannerisms, and ends it with a Backslide. It’s an inoffensive and mildly entertaining opening match, which is all we were asking for. Keiichi Yamada, Masakatsu Funaki, and Akira Nogami vs. Black Tiger, Black Cat, and Naoki Sano There are a lot of things that are weird about jumping ten years back in time to book New Japan. Probably the hardest thing for me, personally, is coming to terms with the fact that guys like Liger (AKA Yamada), Mutoh, and Chono are just young boys in 1985, rather than the huge stars that they were for Asahi Pro “back” in 1995. There’s a very real chance that, knowing what I do about their future, I could screw everything up by pushing them too far too quickly and not allowing their careers and their skills to develop naturally. So, we give them 12 minutes here. Enough time for Yamada and Black Cat to dazzle the fans with some speed and technique, for Funaki and Sano to demonstrate just how much can be done with little stiffness and realism, and for Black Tiger Rocco to beat up on Akira and finish things with a Piledriver. Hashimoto, Chono, and Mutoh vs. Tatsutoshi Goto, Shunji Kosugi, and Enrique Vera A very similar situation here, with another 12 minutes for everyone to get just a little shine. Hash and Goto get all violent and angry, Chono and Kosugi slow it down with some holds and counters, and then Mutoh and Vera bring it back up with some flash and swagger, ending when Mutoh takes Vera out at the knees with a low Dropkick and then quickly slaps on the Figure Four. Anoaro Atisanoe and Shunji Takano vs. Kim Su-Hung and Kim Duk One of the main reasons that we were able to get Konishiki involved with promoting our debut in the new sumo hall is that this show is when we are starting Atisanoe’s push as a home-grown monster heel. Konishiki was born Saleva'a Fuauli Atisano'e, and Anoaro is the sumo star’s older brother. Takano - who also has a well-known brother – stands a legit 6’7” and Atisanoe weighs in at a legit 330 lbs. so they make a pretty fearsome team, dwarfing the big Korean veterans. The Double Kims bump and sell like true pros, and Atsanoe in particular is made to look like a real killer, finishing things off with a Samoan Drop well before the ten minute mark. WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra (champion) vs. Shiro Koshinaka Although the Cobra is billed as being from Uganda, he is actually Shunji Takano’s older (and smaller) brother, George. He and Kosh have good ring chemistry, and the match goes back and forth for ten minutes before the Samurai seizes control with a Bulldog. As Koshinaka is setting The Cobra up for a big Hip Attack, a tall (legit 6’7”) masked man rushes the ring and starts beating the challenger down. Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura charge the ring to save their frequent tag partner, and The Cobras roll out of the ring and escape through the crowd. ** Break ** So far I’d have to say it’s been a solid show, and we’ve achieved our goals of setting up a couple of young heels as potential future challengers and giving our young lions some shine. I think it’s safe to say, though, that the success or failure of the show (and my future with this company) is almost completely dependent on the last three matches. Either we’ve got enough talent on this roster to put on a big show in a big hall without any expensive outside guests, or we don’t. We are about to find out. Semi-Main Event: The Machines vs. The Ninja Express and Umanosuke Ueda The mentality of New Japan in 1985 is that big matches still follow the old Rikidozan formula of Japanese Good Guys fighting Foreign Bad Guys. I don’t feel any great need to completely change that right away. It’s still a reasonably effective formula. Thanks to Doriya-mon, I’ve been able to set up an efficient communication network with pretty much all of the major promoters around the world. I think New Japan might just be about to enter a new golden age of Gaijin participation. That being said, I really want to keep my options open, and to expand the possibilities for how a show can be booked here in 1985. So, I want to be able to use the gaijin on our regular roster in upper-card roles, and I want to establish more than a few native Japanese wrestlers as serious Bad Guys. Pogo’s got his Fireballs, Nagasaki has got his Mist, Ueda has bleach-blonde hair and a cocky attitude. Given the right push, I think that they could eventually draw almost as well as a big-name gaijin up against Inoki or Fujinami in the Main Event. They certainly do their best to show their worth in this match, heeling it up like crazy against the Machines, who fight back with teamwork and power moves. Eventually Strong Machines nos. 2 and 3 are laid out and Strong Machine no. 1 is being held with his arms pinned back by Ueda, as Nagasaki and Pogo prepare to hit him with a Mist/Fireball combo. At the last possible moment, #1 ducks out of the way and Ueda gets destroyed in a classic “malfunction at the junction” spot. Semi-Main Event: Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura vs. Dave Taylor and David Morgan I’m gonna be honest here: I booked this one for my own personal benefit. I really enjoy watching catch-as-catch-can style wrestling. Taylor is a third-generation catch stylist. Fujinami was trained in part by Karl Gotch. Watching them go in the ring is something that I can purely enjoy. The Double David’s role on our roster in 1985 is mainly going to be working with our young lions to give them a solid background in catch and European styles. All of those guys are gonna eat a Float-over Butterfly Suplex sooner or later. Tonight is my chance to see Fujinami take one, and it is a real mark-out moment for me at least. I think Fujinami locking in the Dragon Sleeper on Morgan is more of a mark-out moment for the majority of the crowd, though. Main Event: Inoki, Sakaguchi, and Hoshino vs. The Lucha Libre Legends (2 out of 3 falls match) This building, this crowd, and this show all deserve an epic main event. Canek, Dos Caras, and Fishman have a chance to get themselves over as worthy of being in there with New Japan’s best. They work a straight-up technical style, with no cheating. The outsiders-vs.-natives, style-vs.-style, and living legends angles are enough to give the match the frisson it needs without having to add a good guys vs. bad guys dynamic on top of it all. After a long back-and-forth, Canek catches Hoshino with a Gorilla Press into a Kneeling Argentine Backbreaker to take the primera caida. Sakaguchi evens things up quickly in the segunda caida, catching Fishman in a Backbreaker Rack then locking in the Cobra Twist. Up until now, Dos Caras vs. Inoki have been teasing the crowd by avoiding their first lock up. Early in the tercera Canek and Fishman take Sakaguchi and Hoshino out with big dives, leaving no alternative but for Inoki and Caras to finally go at it. The action itself is maybe a little on the sloppy side… but the anticipation they had built up in the crowd leads to some pretty molten heat regardless. Dos Caras almost has Ionki pinned twice, but in the end it comes down to a battle over the Octopus Hold. With Strong Machine #1, Fujinami, and then Inoki all going over clean, we send the Tokyo crowd home happy enough. We’ll be back here on the 25th and 27th of February for the semi-finals and finals of our Tag Festival. If we manage to draw well for those shows, I think my position with the company will be secure. In the meantime we have a ton of big names coming in and it’s up to me to use them right and put on the best shows possible. Wish me luck.

Merci!

Arigatou!

Thank you.

Cheers!

Thanks for being so flexible with that. It will help me a lot to be able to work that out in advance.

Thanks a lot. As always, if anyone else needs Andre on one of those dates, I'm open to negotiations and discussion at any time.

Thanks. I'll do that. Just so everyone knows, I'm always open to discussion if my dates conflict with anyone else's plans.

No, thank you. I have already booked all of my January shows. I am trying to book months ahead. I'm basically booked up through May already, thanks to everyone being so co-operative. It would be very helpful if I could know ahead of time when I can get the freelancers, since having them would have a chain reaction type of affect on which other gaijin I'd be booking down the line. For example, if I know I can't have Hansen to fight for the title on September 27th, then I might need to start negotiations with you to see if I can have Valentine or Martel for that date. But, if I have to wait until the end of August to do that, it's likely going to be too late, as you'll already have made plans for your biggest names on those dates. Big-name Gaijin fighting for the titles or in the Main Event is such a huge part of booking in Japan in the 1980s, so it's best of I can start from there when planning my cards. It's my understanding that Freelancer booking in Japan were always pre-set for the entire year in the past. Hopefully, something can be arranged to make it easier for us in the coming year.