ohtani's jacket

Tanahashi vs. Okada 2/12/12 * This was the first match in their series. The only version I could find had dubbed over English commentary. Kids, don't dub over matches with your own commentary. It's not cool. * I didn't like this much. It was the same ideas as the 6/6 match put together in a much more disjointed fashion. To their credit, they wrestled a superior version of the same match in June, but it's kind of lame that they re-worked so many of the same spots. I was especially disappointed that Tanahashi did the dragon screw in the ropes. I hope he doesn't do that spot in every match. * The opening exchanges were the first time I've thought his work was bad. It was like he took the energy from his shitty posing and infused it into his early spots. His headlock work was weak and he did this moonsault spot into a pose that was completely shallow. But the real problem with this match was that there wasn't the same sustained attacks as in the June match, nor the same amount of selling or drama, and the transitions between each control segment were weak compared to the rematch. * When the most exciting thing in a match is a guy losing a tooth, you've kind of lost me. Three stars would be generous for this one.

The mandatory retirement age ended in 1993.

I don't think he's a bad wrestler at all. In fact, I agree with what you've written here. This guy is very much a Shinjiro Ohtani level worker. That's not an insult. But that's also what causes a disconnect for me. How can you make an argument, with a straight face, that being a good 1990's style NJPW wrestler makes you among the best to have ever done it? I don't know. It was my first time to watch the guy, so I don't have much to say about him yet only that I was expecting a male Manami Toyota and instead got son of generic New Japan wrestler. There are modern day CMLL workers who I simply won't watch because they're so far removed from what I think is good lucha and I can see people having that reaction to Tanahashi if they were really big 90s Japanese wrestling fans, but I don't think this guy is as bad as those CMLL workers.

The Tanahashi argument is interesting to me, so I've decided to watch some of his matches. The only time I've really seen him is on promos that used to air on satellite TV when I had it. He's on magazine covers a fair bit and my wife likes him and has a Tanahashi key holder. An ex-colleague of hers used to give her his old wrestling magazines because she liked reading Tanahashi's column, so his face used to be lying around my apartment a bit, and I'm familiar with the story about his TV presenter girlfriend stabbing him in the back. I'm very much a lapsed Japanese wrestling fan and the longer I stay in Japan it seems the less interested in it I become, but I've started to watch a bit more of late and I'm trying to go into this with an open mind. Obviously, I'm aware of the upswing in interest in New Japan of late, but my only real thought on that is that it's cool that fans are enjoying some form of the modern product. So here goes, in bullet form: Tanahashi vs. Okada, 6/6/12 * The NJPW entrance set-up looks a bit cheap in a smaller venue. Why bother? * Crowd looked pretty decent sized by modern Japanese standards * Tanahashi's posing is pretty bad. What's with that air guitar gesture he does? Don't like the hair either. Okada has a better look and is cooler. He's got that yanki look down. He's like one of the Kameda brothers. * Onto the match, well I couldn't find a single thing Tanahashi did poorly. I was expecting his offence to look poor, but everything he did looked fine. I thought his strikes would be poor, but they weren't. I thought he wouldn't sell well, but he did. He has a nice looking plancha and I liked his dragon screw while Okada was in the ropes. His offence was no worse than Muto's or Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels or any number of 90s wrestlers I can think of. * The match was paced extremely well and never boring despite going reasonably long. Again I expected Tanahashi's psychology would be poor, but it was no different from what you usually get from Japanese wrestling. Nothing about the match would have looked out of place on a 90s New Japan card. Tanahashi sold his neck consistently and went back to Okada's leg a few times. Can't see the Toyota comparison in this one or the go-go style. I don't think this was even spotty by Japanese wrestling standards. * The crowd was really hot by the end. It may not have been a big crowd, but it was a big match by any standard. The nearfalls were exciting and worked well. Bear in mind that I never watch this stuff so it's not overkill for me, but I don't really see how fans of modern WWE can claim that there were any more counters to finishing moves and so on than your average John Cena match. That's not a knock on Cena, because I like Cena. Maybe it gets worse as the series progresses, I don't know. * Okada looked the less experienced of the two, but I kind of like the exaggerated movement he puts into dropkicks and his moves from the top and I thought his facial expressions during the stretch run were pretty cool. * I don't know about comparing this to 90s All Japan or anything, but I thought it was pretty great and at least a four star match by 90s New Japan standards. It struck me as a typically New Japan style match and like I said wouldn't look out of place on a 90s New Japan card whatsover. It wasn't any different to me than something like Liger vs. Ohtani. * I can see why fans who are into this are into it so much. If I was a young guy and wanted a workrate alternative to WWE booking the way I did in 1999 I would be into this. I don't really care about the hyperbole from Meltzer or anyone else, it was a good wrestling match. It didn't have a lot of the stuff I like in wrestling, but I was expecting it to be the worst indie type shit I'd ever seen and it wasn't. Not by a long shot. The experiment will continue tomorrow night.

Hughes didn't have this Universal deal you're talking about when he shot Sixteen Candles. Sixteen Candles was shot in the summer of '83 while Mr. Mom and National Lampoon were being released. Ned Tanen gave Hughes his chance at directing when he stepped down from Universal pictures to start up his own production company, Channel Productions. Warner Bros passed on the Sixteen Candles script because Hughes had demanded to direct it himself, despite having never directed a film or even been on a film set (according to Hughes.) Other studios passed on it, but Tanen picked it up. Universal agreed to produce both Sixteen Candles and Breakfast Club, but Tanen wanted Hughes to make Sixteen Candles first because he thought it was an easier project for a first time director. The Breakfast Club was shot before Sixteen Candles was released. I don't know the exact timing on Hughes getting his Universal deal but it was sometime after Candles was shot, Mr. Mom and National Lampoon were released and TBC went into production. I believe it was actually a three year deal not a three picture one and that Hughes was supposed to establish a comedy wing for Universal, but there was a change in power and they hated TBC because it wasn't Animal House meets Porky's. There's that legendary story of the execs presenting their re-cut trailer for how they were going to market TBC and Tanen throwing the mother of all boardroom fits. Ultimately, I believe Hughes got out of his Universal contract to follow Tanen to Paramount as Tanen was very much his protector. The reason I didn't mention anything about you running through the Brat Pack's history is that my basic point was that in the eyes of the public they didn't gain notoriety until '85. The name "Brat Pack" wasn't coined until June of '85 by that New York Magazine writer. That article is often credited with the paparazzi interest in St. Elmo's Fire's premiere and certainly didn't hurt its box office. If the worst time to release a film is January then the second worst time to release a film is February. No studio releases a film in February that they care about. Okay, but is it a surprise to you that it made more money than The Breakfast Club? That was my point. I don't think people in the industry would compare a film like Sixteen Candles to a blockbuster. They'd compare it to Risky Business. Sure, Rambo had a clever marketing strategy playing on the 10th anniversary of the United States' withdrawal from Vietnam and created a media barrage where even Regan was commenting on the film. It was the same kind of play on American patriotism as Hogan. It was also a comparatively weak year for summer releases. But you don't open in that many cinemas unless you have big expectations. Sure, and going back to the original, original point, Hogan was a bigger star than Molly.

You should sell this as a book.

What's the best Tanahashi/Okada match? I've never seen a Tanahashi match in my life.

The Savage/Tito feud is the bridge between Tito/Valentine and Savage/Steamboat. Santana and Martel were pretty awful interviews. Are you sure Steamboat was the worst of the three?

There's no evidence to suggest that Hughes wasn't tossed from Mr. Mom. Hughes was consistent about that from his earliest interviews and it's been corroborated by others. It's also consistent with the creative control he demanded from Universal. That deal wasn't on the table when Hughes wrote and pitched Breakfast Club, which happened a good year before Mr. Mom or National Lampoon were released. Hughes had no track record as a director at that stage. According to him that was the reason he chose to film TBC as his directorial debut since it was a low budget, single location shoot, but A&M didn't think much of the idea and Universal execs even less when it was finally made. They buried it with a February release, but it was a sleeper hit. The details may be off, but the general timeline on Hughes turning writer-director makes sense and I'm not seeing any McMahon-level fabrications. Regardless of how it panned out, it's a different kettle of fish from Rambo or Back to the Future. I know Zemeckis and Gale had a hard time getting Back to the Future made and there was a big risk of it bombing, but Fox was a star with Family Ties and the word of mouth it garnered was tremendous. Rambo II opened in over 2000 theaters, which was the first time in US cinema history. It got a huge push.

Also, what's a NJPW iPPV cost in Japan? Is it (the equilivant of) $45-$55? Hardly anyone has satellite or cable in Japan, whereas practically everyone has the internet. These are the prices for watching a show on the internet -- https://www.njpw.co.jp/news/detail.php?nid=10500 And this is the price for watching the same show on PPV -- http://www.skyperfectv.co.jp/genre/sports/list07/s02.html

Axel Dieter vs. Pat Roach (Hannover 1981) I really want to like this match as it's 30 minutes of Pat Roach, whose matches we have are almost always joined in progress, but it just doesn't go anywhere. This is second or third time I've tried watching it and I still can't find a hook to get me into it. Dieter stymies the match early on with boring holds, Roach roughs him up a bit and Dieter makes a comeback, but none of it is uninspired. In theory, this should be as good as Dieter vs. Moose Morowski, but it doesn't play out that way. Axel Dieter vs. Mile Zrno (Hannover 1981) This was a good match. It was quintessentially European, which made it easy for me to understand. The work wasn't that slick early on, but everything from the second round onward was solid and Dieter mixed in a lot of cool shit. Bull Power vs. Axel Dieter (8/30/86) It's a shame this is clipped as Vader brutalised the old man. Worth watching if you've got a spare couple of minutes.

There's a decent Santana vs. Buzz Sawyer match from Georgia. It's kind of structured a bit weirdly as Santana beats the crap out of Sawyer for most of the bout, but it's an example of good Tito.

The problem with 1989 is that the whole No holds Barred Hogan vs. Zeus feud sucked and then they got Beefcake involved. It's too bad the Earthquake thing couldn't have happened a summer early. I think I would have gone with Boss Man instead of Zeus.

Wasn't it supposed to be Beefcake who beat HTM? I guess they wanted someone to get the rub from defeating the longest running intercontinental champion of all time.

Rikidozan's son-in-law was the Minister of Sports and had close ties to Kim Jong-il and his brother-in-law. He got the bum's rush from junior, though. Inoki usually visits on the pretense of watching a sports event or attending some other ceremony while claiming he wants to open Japanese and North Korean talks or some such BS.

Inoki is in North Korea at the moment, which the Diet aren't too happy about, but it reminded me of this story about Inoki wanting a meeting with the Taliban: http://dawn.com/news/1048661/inoki-ready-t...ks-with-taliban

Togo seems like a cool dude. It's always refreshing how "Japanese" Japanese wrestlers are. Gordi will get what I mean, but aside from the odd exception they're just like regular folks. Togo reacted exactly the way you'd expect a Japanese person to react to all of your questions and especially the compliments you paid him. It's kind of tough to get Japanese folks to do any critical thinking or talk about themselves too much which is maybe why he didn't answer some of the finer points of your interview, but he seems cool.

After watching as much Mid-Atlantic Valentine as I could find, I wondered if I was wrong to like Valentine more than so many other American workers, then I watched the Strongbow stuff and had one of those if lovin' you is wrong I don't wanna be right epiphanies. Man, I dig those 70s-to-mid 80s Madison Square Garden crowds. When did the MSG vibe change? Is it post-SNME where it's not the same sort of wrestling crowd? Gorilla was FAT in 1979. Holy shit.

I don't know if it's true, but HTM claims they never really trusted him again after he refused to lose to Savage. After he put Warrior over, he slid pretty far down the card and he's always bitching that he's not a road agent and shit like that. Does he get any sort of legend kickback?

The magazines are printing the average household rating not the audience share. And it's for the Kanto region. There are no national ratings.

Thus reminds me of when Jesse Ventura sold out at Wrestlemania VI and admit that Hulkamania will live forever. Speaking of cultural icons, I knew this guy who heckled Rick Derringer once by requesting Real American at one of his shows. Turns out Derringer has had a change of heart about performing his iconic song. Here's Real American better than ever, jeez:

I dunno how I feel about that. These days when something happens in popular entertainment you have real time commentary in the form of twitter and instant reaction on the internet. I have no doubt that kids today are more interested in taking selfies and connecting through social media than watching the 1001 greatest films ever made, but there's still shit they're heavily into. Right now One Direction are big in Japan and I'd argue that there's never been a better time for young Japanese fans to really get into an overseas foreign artist because of the internet. Beside which, the number of people who are interested in exploring pop culture from the past has always been small compared to those interested in the here and now. We're in the minority on that account. It wouldn't surprise me, though, if there was at least one old thing that most of your students had discovered somehow whether it's through their parents or the internet. I do get the gist of your argument. When I was a kid there were only two channels before a third one was added and you'd all watch the same stuff after school and on weekends and rent the same videos and games from the video store. There is far greater choice these days. But I also feel that things like memes are modern pop culture and that popular culture has simply moved on. No matter how much I chew it over some kid not knowing MacGyver, Bill Cosby or The Muppet Show isn't indicative of some decline in popular culture. I had an English teacher in high school who used to boast that of course he understood all the popular culture references in The Simpsons that we didn't so evidently he felt we didn't know much about pop culture in the late 90s. What's more, you need to give these kids a chance. When I was 20, I hadn't begun watching classic or foreign cinema yet and was still listening to grunge music. They still have a lot of experience to be gained. When I was 20, all I would have known of Bogie or Cagney would be parodies like Daffy Duck so don't be too hard on them. The kids are all right. They just like shitty One Direction.

They have their own pop culture. I haven't watched a TV series religiously since the Sopranos, in fact I haven't even owned a TV for the past few years. People my own age ask me whether I watch numerous types of shows but I don't watch new movies let alone TV. I grew up in the 80s, but I'm also a product of the internet. I watch 1950s movies, read 70s comics books, watch old wrestling and listen to everything from 50s jazz to 70s funk, all of which I discovered through the internet. I have no grasp on modern popular culture. I'm basically stuck in the past, but if I were lecturing I don't think I'd make jokes about ALF. I don't see any reason why these kids should be overly familiar with the pop culture from my generation when I'm not overly familiar with the pop culture from theirs. One day these kids are going to be surprised that someone younger doesn't know a meme that was big in their youth, etc. I think you're downplaying the generational divide. My younger sister's generation remember 00s shows more fondly than I do. For me they were rubbish compared to the 80s and 90s stuff that I grew up on. If pop culture were this ubiquitous thing that we all experienced at the same time we'd never lose touch with it, but it's obvious that it's something we're most closely attached to in our youth. And I don't see how you can be disgusted about people not knowing Bill Murray. Bill Murray is a brilliant actor but he's only iconic in the minds of cinephiles. He's not Bogie or Cagney or Jimmy Dean.

I can see how someone could see that.