Control21

That'd be awesome to have another active shoot-style promotion. Even it means I might have more competition for certain talent than I expected!

Card Announcement: UWF Newborn – “Fighting Network Sapporo” August 8th, 1988 Nakajima Sports Center Sapporo, Japan Masakatsu Funaki vs Yoji Anjo Minoru Suzuki vs Shigeo Miyato Tatsuo Nakano vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara Akira Maeda vs Ryuma Go Nobuhiko Takada vs Kazuo Yamazaki

I'm in

This is fine with me. RINGS was a bit different from the other promotions people will probably select, so it might be best that I set my own roster while allowing others to benefit from the draft.

Just a friendly note, Gary Albright is on the free agent list but is with PCW now. Norman Smiley is also on the free agent list but is with UWF. Those are the two names that I am aware of but there might be others. Just wanted to be sure there wouldn't be any confusion.

I'm fine with any of those options.

I'm fine with that. Do we plan on starting with set historical rosters or is there going to be a draft? How will rookies be handled? Will there be a draft for that like in Dawn of War? I know in DoW the consensus is that only North American promotions participate in rookie drafts, which is fine. Although if more than one Japanese promotion is in the game at the start (controlled by a user), we may have to figure out how exactly that will work for this game.

1996 would be perfect! I can jump right into RINGS when it is starting to reach its peak years with Kohsaka, Tamura, Volk Han, and Yamamoto. As for the rules, the initial ideas sound good. I may have my own ideas if I think of any, but I don't have anything to add at this point.

Good stuff! Good to see the Von Erichs get some shine. Tito Santana vs Greg Valentine is a great way to close the show. Can't wait to see what's next.

I think Ken "Wayne" Shamrock should be kept on my roster and taken out of the draft based on the fact that he's always been a shoot-style guy. He had a brief run in AJPW in 1989, bounced around a bit in the US as "Vince Torelli," and then tried out for UWF Newborn in 1990 which led to an extended run with UWF, PWFG, and then Pancrase. That's seven years of working shoot-style or UWF-adjacent promotions until he joins WWF in 1997 for a few years before going back to Japan to work for PRIDE and such. Eight years of working in Japan. Clearly, he's always been a guy closer to shoot-style than traditional pro-wrestling.

I like the 1995 concept as well, but anything in the 90s would be interesting if you ask me.

I would definitely be interested if one ever starts.

My apologies, I didn't mean to cause a scene or get emotions up. I just love shoot-style and shoot-style adjacent wrestlers so I'm naturally eager to work with those types of wrestlers my first time doing this...and I'm trying to be realistic with how I roll out the wrestlers already on my roster and pace myself, so I don't burn myself out. I probably shouldn't have said anything.

I'll be honest...it's slightly frustrating to be stonewalled a bit because I want to add a type of wrestler to my roster to fill a certain role. You have 60+ guys on your roster Rain, don't you think it would be the polite/fair thing to do to let one of the new guys take advantage of the roster turnover as well to get a guy they want? Just seems like my requests are being handwaved. I get this is an established group with a certain hierarchy and group dynamics naturally come into play...but come on.

I see Gary Albright is on the free agent list now. Can I go ahead and claim him?

I don't mind doing that, but I just figured I would make my desire for someone like Vader known and take advantage of the current turnover with some of the rosters and maybe get him on a more permanent basis. I just want people to know that I'm not asking for random wrestlers for no reason. Vader worked UWFi in real life (a descendant of UWF) and was mainly working in Japan in the late 1980s, so things match up to some degree. Shoot-style promotions often used "monster gaijins" to go against their native roster just like any other Japanese promotion.

Vader was working NJPW a lot in 1988. I don't think it would be that much of a stretch for Vader to work UWF (especially since UWF was able to bring in guys like Backlund in 1988).

Are you running both WCW and WWF now? Just curious because if the WCW roster is going to open up then maybe I can get Vader to start his UWFi run a few years earlier than in real life. I really want one of those "monster gaijins" in the vein of Gary Albright or Vader on my roster. Just putting that out there...

UWF Heartbeat - Osaka Dream Bout (12/22/1988) Tatsuo Nakano vs Yoji Anjo As with the last few shows, this opening match was mostly a physical grappling battle that basically put to the test the stamina of both wrestlers and probably was a proving ground for both of them while educating the crowd. They seem to be applying a lot more advanced shoot-style concepts steadily through these matches. Nothing special, although Anjo and Nakano both keep looking better. ***3/4 Shigeo Miyato vs Kazuo Yamazaki Not a match that will blow you away, but Yamazaki does look really good here and Shigeo Miyato also keeps improving. Yamazaki controls most of the match but Miyato does shine here and there. By this point, it is clear Yamazaki is the #3 guy in the promotion. He makes it clear here by more or less easily winning the match without much trouble. ***3/4 Akira Maeda vs Norman Smiley A bit of a dominant win for Maeda. Norman Smiley doesn't get much of a chance to show his stuff, which is a shame. Felt like a squash match at times but Maeda was clearly the main guy and probably the most popular wrestler in Japan in 1988. Maeda basically keeps Smiley from gaining any advantage on the canvas and bosses him around with his strikes. Not much to write home about. ***1/4 Bob Backlund vs Nobuhiko Takada This was a spectacle. Backlund is recruited to UWF as a "scientific wrestler" (he makes this clear in the pre-match interview) and as always, is up for a good fight with Takada. Backlund didn't fully adjust to the UWF style but who gives a damn, he's incredibly entertaining and makes things work even if he does some pro-style stuff. Takada has experience in that department too so the match definitely shines in its best moments, but drags in some parts that prevent this from being a full-on classic. Backlund does come across as a legit threat to Takada and gives off Karl Gotch-esque vibes at times with his wrestling abilities. He has decent counterwork on the canvas here as well, keeping things moving when needed. His suplexes and throws come across as big and the crowd eats them up. The ending is a bit odd as there are "screwjob" elements to it, but Backlund is clearly doing his antics to keep the finish "up in the air." It is unclear to me if Backlund was working for a different finish and the referee stepped in to make sure Takada won cleanly, or if the finish was meant to be an "I didn't tap! " sort of thing. While the 80s was a great decade of wrestling, we rarely got to see great experimental art pieces such as this. A fun and eclectic mix of both worlds (pro-style and shoot-style). ****1/2

As predicted, Bam Bam had no problem with Benoit...great win by Muta over Tiger Mask II, that sounds like it was a great match. I guess we'll have to wait longer for Spivey and Flair to deliver in the ring, but it should be a worthwhile wait. Rockers vs Twin Towers was a fantastic main event with The Rockers really carrying their momentum forward.

Great stuff. I loved the interactions between Frazier and Dundee. Can't wait to see how things play out in the next episode

He's not that bad. I think the new gimmick helps him a lot. I get mid-90s Bret Hart vibes from his current run. The fans seem to love him. I thought his match with Kaito was great.

I don't understand why this bothers people so much. Isn't the concept of the "hometown commentator" shitting on the rival promotion a thing that goes back to the beginnings of televised wrestling? It's not for everyone I guess but it builds heat with both viewers and rival fans.

Great recap. Nice way to get caught up with everything. Can't wait to see what's next.