gordi

La Parka is a great pick! I wanna see him, Sabu, Hayabusa, and Ikeda all in the same ring at some point.

For me it's absolutely Osaka Pro Wrestling from roughly 2009-2014, when I was a regular attendee of their shows and their drinking parties and other events. It was such an amazing atmosphere. There were people I met there who were among my first friends in Japan, and my best drinking buddies, and eventually pretty much my second family. Not just some of my best wrestling memories... some of the very best times of my entire life.

I'm frankly surprised Finlay lasted this long. I considered taking him myself (as you said, great base...) but I decided Storm, Smiley, and maybe one or two other gaijin would make better and more realistic fits for what I have in mind. But to see hm just sitting there, round after round, it was always tempting. Finlay vs Regal in UWFi is something I'd pay to see.

Norman Smiley to M-Pro!

Yeah, it's weird... In almost any other situation it would infuriate me to hear someone equate Canada with America or Cnadians with Americans... but in this case it seems totally reasonable.

I'd be a little surprised if anyone else really wants the guys I'm after, too... But there is so much creative thinking going on in how people are building their rosters... It's hard to guess what anyone's gonna do next.

I'd be happy if you went to 6 now, with a Gentleman's Agreement that the big promotions will leave the lowest-level gaijin alone, then jump to seven for the big promotions only rounds. I dunno, though, maybe someone really has their eye on the same D-level guys I do... But even in that case we can hopefully arrange talent exchanges down the road... I have an idea for two semi-comedy trios teams, one with three gaijin and one with two luchadores and Dick Togo... But if I can't set those up right away it's not the end of the world. I can book a year of shows with the roster I have now and maybe 4 more juniors... So... I'm absolutely not gonna get all butt-hurt if you jump to seven right away. (Maybe just a little, if the guys I have my eye on all get snagged in the next couple of rounds).

I never thought about that! A Canadian, an Englishman, and a German! Even though I'm Canadian myself, I wasn't mentally counting Bret as a foreigner on your roster.

That screws me over a little, since part of my draft strategy was waiting until my later picks to grab the leftover C and D level gaijin, knowing that the bigger promotions would focus on higher-level gaijin first and knowing there would be some leftovers once everyone had their five. If you guys can just grab up the C and D level guys now, it's a little unfair to me. I'll be running very low on options soon, since I'm aiming for an all-juniors roster.

No kidding! I'm glad I decided to jump in. Enjoying it even more than I thought I would.

If I understand correctly, the 5-people-from-another-country limit only applies to the draft. I don't think it's meant to be a hard cap. If I'm not mistaken, that would mean that you can safely draft one of the Russian guys - or, say, a former arm-wrestler - and still be able to rotate other gaijin in during the year as you like.

Thanks. High praise indeed, coming from the UWFi booker. I can imagine UWFi, FMW, and M-Pro putting on a joint show at some point once things get rolling. It should burn the house down. There were a few M-Pro matches in the mid to late 90s where they worked with BattleArts or FMW guys, and those are some of my favourite M-Pro multi-man tags. Mixing some "kick the crap out of each other" in with the "fly around the ring" works out pretty well.

elliot, I am afraid that too much praise is going to go to your head... but I am really glad that you are considering things like jealousies and bitterness. I think your biggest problem, as booker, will be getting these guys to lay down for each other (your fans, of course, expect clean finishes).and keeping the shooters from going into business for themselves. I'm also glad you're not planning on running too many shows, as the human body just isn't meant to engage in Shoot Style more than a couple of times a month. Looks like you are taking all of that into consideration. Nice work!

Michinoku Pro ran a ton of house shows in the mid-to-late 90s. They were constantly touring the small cities of the North East. In winter, they all but shut down, running until mid-December, then maybe a couple of shows - if that - in Jan and Feb. This makes sense, as Tohoku can get really cold in Jan and Feb. The Anniversary Show on or about Oct 10 is the biggest show every year. In November, they run the Futaritabi Tag League over a roughly two-week period. My plan is to keep a running diary from the POV of a gaijin wrestling super-nerd living in Morioka, in Iwate prefecture. Morioka, home of M-Pro is sister cities with Victoria, BC, Canada. I'm from Vancouver... so, close enough. The write-ups will not be dissimilar to the many Osaka Pro stories I told on SSS, DVDVR, Puroresu TV, and so on a couple of years back. No detailed play by play, but lots of general impressions and even some stories about stuff going on outside of the ring. My imaginary compatriot won't be able to attend every show, but he'll try to hit at least a couple most months. I may switch to a different "voice" for bigger shows, or shows outside of the Tohoku region.

Never mind the wrestling... I wanna see the after-show parties!

It's time for M-Pro to add some young blood. With our 11th-round pick, we select Masaaki Mochizuki, out of Koji Kitao's Bukō Dōjō.

I wonder how DiBiase, Rude, and Perfect felt watching Kanyon go off the board before them

I can honestly say that every single promotion has at least a couple of crazy Fire Pro/Booking Revolution type matches that I would absolutely go out of my way to see. I don't think WWF or ECWA have their Roster Pages up at the moment, but if memory serves they could offer up matches like Ahmed Johnson vs. Yokozuna and Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Sid... Or Dan Severn vs. Al Snow (a very intriguing match-up, given their history). WCW can give us '95 vintage Bret vs. Pillman and Davey Boy vs. Sting... All Japan can pit Eddie vs. Misawa or give us Kawada vs Tenryu... In 1995! New Japan could match Hogan with Kensuke or Scorp with Hamada... ECW could have Dustin brawl with Sandman or Owen put on a clinic with Malenko FMW could have Hayabusa and Sabu or Funk and Bossman trying to kill one another UWFi has endless match-ups on tap. How about Saku vs. Volk Han? USWA: Ron Simmons vs, Terry Gordy. Barry Windham vs. Jerry Lawler. Good Lord! SMW: How about Ricky Morton or HHH challenging Brad Armstrong for the title?! M-Pro: El Samurai, Delfin, and Naniwa vs Ohtani, Jado, and Gedo, anyone? OVW can serve up Tito Santana vs. Marty Janetty or Kevin Sullivan vs Taz! Not sure what's going on with Rev Pro just yet... But Ian Rotten and The Headhunters in violent Indy sleaze? YIkes! Seriously, from where I sit everyone is doing a good job of drafting, and a lot of you guys are doing a great job. Even if none of the matches I listed above eve get booked, the possibilities are almost endless. I'm looking forward to reading these write-ups.

I think best to put him in as a rookie. Make that more exciting. I also could not find Terry Boy/Men's Teioh or Command Bolshoi on the list, and I think they'd make interesting 'rookies" as well, unless you have other plans for them. (or unless I missed something)

This means I'm gonna agree with you twice in one day... but yeah, it totally is. Look At Bret Hart, It's pretty obvious who his archenemy is... but you could make a more-than-reasonable case for Austin as his nemesis... but for someone like me who was most into following Bret from his Stampede days up until the Hart Foundation became champs The Dynamite Kid is at least as good a choice.

Bret served a similar role in my life. I hit a peak period of my pro wrestling fandom in the mid-80s, when I was dating a young woman whose parents had immigrated from England. She, of course, loved the British Bulldogs. I (being a native of Western Canada) loved the Hart Foundation. Her brothers were into the NWA. The young woman and I dated for seven years, and we watched a lot of pro wrestling together. At one point, we moved to a smaller town so I could finish my degree. At that point, we didn't have cable and so it was hard to keep up with pro wrestling, and so my fandom waned. I missed Bret's IC Title run, and like you I was very surprised to find out that my old favourite had become one of the top guys in the company. In my case it was catching WM 13 - by complete fluke - while I was living in the Czech Republic. That Submission Match! Bret, the local guy! Stunning Steve, but now (like me) he had a shaved head and goatee! I was hooked again, but I could only follow wrestling on the slow dial-up internet until I returned to Canada early in the new century. Pretty interesting that we have that history with Bret in common!

Still remaining in round 8: 8 WWF 9 UWFi 10 RevPro 11 FMW 12 NJPW 13 OVW

With the 7th pick of the 8th round of the 2106 1995 Draft, Michinoku Pro welcomes Sho Funaki back into the fold.

I might argue that Misawa's Nemesis was Jumbo. Ice Train's Nemesis: Scott Norton Ice Train's Archenemy: Diamond Dallas Paige Bastion Booger's Nemesis: Bam Bam Bigelow Bastion Booger's Archenemy: Luna Vachon Fred Ottman's Nemesis: John Tenta Fred Ottman's Archenemy: That piece of lumber propping up the set of "A Flair for the Gold."