gordi

*slow clap*

*holds up four fingers*

I lived in the Czech Republic for 7 years in the 90s. Literally none of my Czech friends and associates had ever been to a live wrestling show. It was possible to watch the WWF on TV if you had a satellite. I think it was on a German station. I was delighted to hear that there is pro wrestling there now. Looking forward to reading about it.

I absolutely agree with your general thesis. It depends on the match, the promotion, the wrestlers, the fans... What is perfectly acceptable in one particular set of circumstances can certainly be excessive in another set of circumstances, and vice versa. It's yet another compelling argument in favour of judging wrestlers and matches on their own merits, and against blindly applying a set of predetermined standards across the board. Sometimes a pile driver is just way too much. Sometimes two Death Valley drivers in a row are exactly what is needed.

Now I'm all, like, actually wondering what's gonna happen in the Vader match.

So, you weren't joking. Yikes.

Windham is a good choice. So effective in so many roles.

Good Lord. SUWA! Kuuga, Kaientai, Aja Kong, L.C.O., Dump Matsumoto, Bull Nakano, Heisei Ishingun, Ishingun Gundan, Abdullah the Butcher, Big Boss MA-G-MA, Devil Masami, Minoru Suzuki, Jado and Gedo, Toru Yano, G.B.H., Shin Kokusai Gundan, Blood Generation, Bullet Club, RO&D, CHAOS, Fred Blassie... Really... NONE of them have ever been "proper heels?" I guess if indies don't count, or Joshi, or classic puroresu, or current puroresu... I guess if you just count peak AJPW and ignore Fuchi... No... that statement is just indefensible. Hopefully you were joking.

The one guy I think should be carved into almost everyone's mountainside is Terry Funk. Can work as a good guy or bad guy, can dominate or work from underneath, can work a classical technical style or a distinctly non-classical very violent style, can cut a great promo, can be "the guy" can work singles or tags at the very highest level, makes everyone else look great... ...Lyger and Eddie come close in the "can do it all" department. and he's nowhere near as well known, but Asian Coger/Kuuga can work as a top face or heel, is great in tags or singles, can get sympathy or cn just beat people down, can work garbage, high-flying, brawling, technical, comedy...

No problem with that... but no way I can accept the classy, traditional former NWA Champion Terry Funk putting panty hose on his head and calling himself Chainsaw Cha... ... ... Wait. What? Really? Yikes.

Dudes, I am not quite sure how to express this, but I really think I have somehow become part of the Michinoku Pro Wrestling booking committee. Wally still refers to it as an "English Lesson" but recently we have been getting together almost daily in his office with Jado, Gedo, and occasionally other wrestlers (so far Sasuke, TAKA, Koshinaka, and Black Buffalo have all participated) and we always and only talk about upcoming Michinoku Pro shows and events, in a mixture of Japanese and English. I mean, I know life in Japan is full of surprises, but... Yesterday, we were talking about what things might potentially look like a year or two down the line. Right now, The Great Sasuke and El Samurai are obviously the top two guys. It would be surprising if that were to change any time soon, as long as Sasuke doesn't actually crack his skull or anything. Thing is, though, while Sasuke is enjoying working as a rudo, he's still the most beloved guy on the roster by a long shot. And, while Samurai is a pretty good fit as the company ace right now, he might be even better working as a dominant bad guy than he is as a scrappy, come-from-behind good guy. I could easily see either or both of those guys turning some time in the next couple of years. In terms of the rest of the upper card, TAKA and Togo seem like they could be the future of the company if we build them and they grow over the next couple of years. Like Sasuke and Samurai, both can work technico or rudo, but based purely on physical size Togo works well as a bully and I could see TAKA playing a great under-dog role. Ohatani clearly has a future as a top heel, maybe sooner than anyone had expected. In my opinion, Delfin and Naniwa are both best suited to dong what they do as as upper-card good guys. Neither their look nor their shtick would be suited to working heel. It would be nice if they could be a little more giving in the ring, and that is something that we all figure we need to work on in the coming year. (And man, is it crazy to type "we" in this kind of context). Koshinaka, Kobayashi, and Dos Caras are all well-positioned as upper-card veterans, All three are willing to work anywhere on the card, against anyone, and I'm pretty sure that if we asked Kobayashi to put, let's say, Orihara over clean in the middle of the ring he wouldn't even blink. Hopefully some of that will rub off on Delfin and Naniwa eventually. Kobayashi needs to be protected in tag matches because of his health issues, but other than that these guys can all still go and if we can keep them around they should be able to provide the glue for us for at least a couple more years. In terms of the younger guys, both Tajiri and Mochizuki definitely stand out because of their hard-hitting style. Black Buffalo has a real mastery of the basics and the little things and looks like he could be a top hand eventually. Kyoko has apparently had no trouble getting over as a woman tough and fierce enough match up with the boys. Both she and Dos Caras are having trouble getting boos... but it's hard to think how the match-ups might work if we turned both of them face. The big question at the meeting was why I'd gone with Ohtani over Kyoko in Akita. Was it because she's a woman? In the heat of the moment, I had not quite realized how crazy it was that the boys turned to me for the answer then. However, my thinking had been pretty clear: If Sasuke was hurt, most likely Samurai was going over. If Kyoko didn't get a shot in Akita after beating Kosh clean, then she'd have to be the obvious choice to face Samurai in his first title defense at the Second Anniversary Show at the Appi Ski Resort Convention Hall on October 10th. I figured that, at this point in their careers, Kyoko was a bigger name and a more intriguing match-up. Everybody seemed to accept my reasoning. Kyoko Inoue was going to be the first challenger for the Tohuku Region Welterweight Belt. I had one more idea, for a couple of special guests we could maybe bring in. Wally loved the idea. Eventually, we settled on this card: Main Event: El Samurai vs. Kyoko Inoue TRWWC First Defense. With * Special Guests * Super Delfin, Shiro Koshinaka, and Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Dos Caras, Jado, and Gedo * Break * Gran Naniwa, Kaz Hayashi, Sho Funaki, Terry Boy, and Masato Yakushiji vs. The Great Sasuke, TAKA Michinoku, Dick Togo, Shinjiro Ohtani, and Lance Storm Norman Smiley, Kato Kung Lee, and Miracle Man vs. Black Buffalo, Masao Orihara, and Biff Wellington Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Masaaki Mochizuki Everyone is pretty happy with that card. It's going to be broadcast on "Champs Forum" on tape delay. We are all hoping that the ten-man tag will be a great showcase for what Michinoku Pro can do. I pushed a little bit to get Lance included in that one, because I think he deserves a chance to shine. The meeting over, I went to check my email. I had one message. It was from Yoko, asking if I had time for drinks and karaoke.

Maybe Today, maybe Tonight, Tonight...

Nice! Look forward to those three taking on the world together.

"Lost in Cleveland" is such a great mid-90s reference. The more I get into this project, the more I enjoy the small details like that.

Eminence Front? It's a put-on, it's a put-on, it's put on Crush by Steve Austin!

To say I am looking forward to that would be quite an understatement.

Thanks, SirEdger. My character is slowly but surely becoming the booker man.

G1 CLIMAX Special Finals: Riki Choshu beat Road Warrior Hawk! I'm imagining a real battle of the Lariat-ohhhhs

Are we gonna get a "Power Bomb from the ring through a table on the outside" spot in the finals?

Thanks, and I agree that it's cool how a lot of the promotions are written up in different styles. I get a little kick every time someone posts a new "chapter" to their story.

You do a great job writing in different "voices." Particularly with Heenan and Flair. I can practically hear them talking.

On a personal note, thanks very much to everyone who has taken time to give feedback. I am really enjoying writing this, and it's genuinely gratifying to know that people are also enjoying reading it. Much appreciated.

Wally found me during the break and told me that, since the guys would be going on to the next town I could get a ride back to Morioka with the concession stand girls. That sounded good to me. The blonde restaurant girl from the Morioka outdoor show after-party had made the trip up to Akita as well. She saw that I'd been standing, so she invited me to come sit with her. In fact, she put me in her chair and sat on my lap. She stayed there for the rest of the show, pulling cans of beer out of a huge shopping bag and handing them to me one after another. I enjoyed the rest of the show with one hand wrapped around a cool beer and the other pressed against her warm firm stomach. I was about as happy as it's possible to be. Kuniyaki Kobayashi, Norman Smiley, and Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Lance Storm, Masaaki Mochizuki, and Dos Caras Lance and Smiley started this one out with classic chain wrestling, then tagged in Tajiri and Mochizuki, who just kicked each other as hard as possible, then Kobayashi and Caras put on an old-school mat work clinic. Lance and Norman came back in for some rope-running, then more kicking from the young Japanese guys... but this time Mochi really caught Tajiri with a good one, then tagged Caras, who finished Tajiri off with a sitout power bomb. Tournament Finals: Shinjiro Ohtani vs. El Samurai, winner to be declared the first-ever Tohoku Region Welterweight Champion I don't think I can categorically say that this was the best match I've ever seen live. I've seen some pretty great matches. Still, this was... top twenty-five, at least. Maybe the best live atmosphere I have ever been a part of. The crowd was so intense from bell to bell. It felt like when Misawa made his entrance at the Budokan, but somehow sustained for 17 minutes. Ohtani, TAKA, Togo, and Inoue were ringside screaming for Ohtani. Delfin, Naniwa, Koshinaka, and Kobayashi were in El Samurai's corner. Nobody interfered, though, and once again they kept the action inside the ring... until the sixteen-minute mark, when Samurai hit a huge plancha to the rudos on the outside, charged back in and took Ohtani down with a Frankensteiner, then nailed a gorgeous bridging German to take the win and the belt. The Great Sasuke made his way to the ring, under his own power, and presented the new belt to the new champion. Delfin and Naniwa raised El Samurai up on their shoulders and paraded him around the ring. There was a fairly lengthy, very formal ceremony but I missed the end of it because I really had to go to the toilet. Too much beer. When I came out of the can, the concession stand girls were waiting for me, but Blonde Restaurant Girl (real name: Yoko) swept over and grabbed me and dragged me out to her car, which is bright yellow, covered in 小室ファミリー stickers, and crammed full of stuffed animals. She continued to sip beer while she was driving, she smoked, and she blasted Techno J-pop the whole way back. All of those are huge red flags but if I'm going to be honest I have to admit that I was already under her spell and pretty much everything she did just served to turn me on further. We made six or seven stops on the way back, and at every stop she picked some small thing out and I bought it for her. I also paid for gas. She took me right to my apartment. I don't remember her asking for directions or anything. "Bye-bye kissu, kudasai!" She was somehow sweet and demanding simultaneously. She tasted like stale tobacco and fresh beer. I really didn't mind.

So this time I drove out to Akita with Biff, Lance, and Smiley Norman, in a fairly new Honda Civic. Biff drove, Lance rode shotgun, and Norman and I sat in the back. The big joke was that we couldn't let the fans see Smiley riding with two rudos, so every now and then Biff would yell "Kayfabe!" and Norman would have to duck down or cover his head or something. Biff was driving so he mostly chose the music: AC/DC and Metallica. We got to talking about entrance themes, and decided to kill time by making a list of the top 5 worst possible entrance theme songs. Our final list was: 5: You’re Having My Baby by Paul Anka 4: This Guy's In Love by Herb Alpert 3: MacArthur Park by Richard Harris 2: Muscrat Love by Captain & Tennille 1: Please Mister Please (Don't Play B-17) by Olivia Newton John By the time we arrived in Akita, My face actually hurt from laughing too much. Kyoko Inoue vs. Shiro Koshinaka - Tournament Alternate match This was a fast, violent match. Kyoko charged straight at Kosh as soon as the bell sounded, catching him off guard and pounding him down. Kosh made a comeback with hip attack after hip attack, but Kyoko kept kicking out, yelling, and going back on offense. After about 7 minutes of back and forth, she caught him in a torture rack and then dropped him straight down with a sick Burning Hammer for the finish. So, if either of the next two matches proved to be inconclusive, Kyoko Inoue would be in the main event fighting for the right to be crowned the first-ever Tohoku Region Welterweight Champion. El Samurai vs. Super Delfin - Tournament round 1 match They wrestled this one in a pure face vs. face style, with clean breaks, handshakes, and dueling cheers from the crowd. They started out with mat work, exchanging and reversing hold after hold, then went into high-flying mode where Delfin took a clear advantage, hitting a suicide dive to the outside and a top-corner diving elbow drop for a close near-fall. After nailing El Samurai with a tornado DDT, Delfin played to the crowd... but in so doing he lost focus on Samurai, who popped up and caught Delfin in a Kido Clutch for the victory. The Great Sasuke vs. Shinjiro Ohtani - Tournament round 1 match Lance and Biff came out and stood with me at the back of the hall to watch this match. On the way up, Lance had opined that a heel vs. heel match is the hardest thing to get over with a crowd, because they have no-one to cheer for. On the other hand, as much as Sasuke clearly enjoys playing rudo, and as good as he is at doing so, M-Pro crowds still obviously love the guy to death. In Akita, they expressed that love by boo-ing everything Sasuke did with great enthusiasm and volume. This apparently drove Ohtani to go crazier and crazier in trying to win some boos of his own. Feet-on-the-ropes, handful-of-tights, behind-the-ref's-back classic pro wrestling shenanigans ensued. Lance and Biff were both openly marking out, which is not something I had expected to see. Then: As Ohtani tried to regain his bearings outside the ring, Sasuke went for a flying side kick from inside... and landed head-first on the floor with a sickening thump. Lance and Biff sprinted over to ringside, while I made a bee-line for the dressing room. I grabbed TAKA, Togo, Gado, and Jedo and hauled them out to see. Sasuke seemed to be having real trouble getting to his feet. Ohtani seemed to be legitimately freaked out. The referee was counting to twenty, very very slowly. TAKA spoke to Gedo in Japanese, He turned to me. "Sasuke is really hurt. Should we put Inoue or Ohtani in the finals?" The ref was still counting. I had no time to think. "Ohtani." TAKA and Togo sprinted over to where Ohtani was standing, and yelled at him to get back in the ring. He protested. The grabbed him and hurled him from the floor, between the ropes, back into the ring, just as the ref reached 19. Ohtani gestured furiously at everyone and refused to let the ref raise his hand. TAKA Michinoku, Dick Togo, Jado and Gedo vs. Gran Naniwa, Sho Funaki, Shiryu, and Yakushiji Presumably, this had been booked to be a fast-paced, high-risk match but, gauging the mood of the crowd, they changed things up and kept the action in the ring. Toward the end of the match, Sasuke made his way to ringside, with his arm around Ohtani, and the crowd went absolutely mental. Yakushiji got distracted by the commotion and was rolled up for the pin, leading to the unexpected sight of a bunch of rudos standing triumphant in the ring as the crowd, on their feet, chanted for Sasuke.

That is such a great quote. Imagine how much better the world would be if everyone understood that and practiced it. Sadly, much of the world seems to be hurtling in the opposite direction.