ohtani's jacket

Ultimately it would have amounted to nothing. Hulk Hogan couldn't sustain the business past a certain point. Magnum wasn't going to do shit. Wrestling has a finite lifespan the same as everything else.

There's a handheld of a Piper/Savage match from December '86. They also worked that pre-Wrestlemania III Savage/Adonis/Race vs. Steamboat/Piper/Junkyard Dog elimination match and they had a couple of matches against each other in WCW.

The biggest markets are the ones he has attendance for plus Osaka, Nagoya and probably Hiroshima and Shizuoka too. All the best main event match-ups appear to be on those cards. Saga is pretty good but not a huge city. Doesn't look like there's anything to help Patera's case.

Had a look for '84 results. Could only find two matches that aired on TV then got interrupted by a fairly decent earthquake.

Here's the entire 10/21 Yokohama card if it's any use to you: Giant Baba/Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera Great Kojika/Motoshi Okuma vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Rocky Hata Akihisa Takachiho vs. Wahoo McDaniel Rocky Tamayo vs. The Destroyer Jay Youngblood vs. Samson Kutsuwada Mitsuo Momota vs. Mitsu Hirai Munenori Higo vs. Mr. Hayashi Masanobu Fuchi vs. Masao Ito

Yokohama, Osaka and Nagayo are the three biggest cities outside of Tokyo (which technically isn't a city but a metropolis.) Geographically, I think some of the other cities are worth considering because of how Japan works regionally, but it's your call. Remember, Japan is really only a collection of small islands and All Japan toured up and down the country as opposed to however many states US promotions covered. I don't think the 10,000 metric makes much sense for countries like Japan that didn't have indoor venues that size and I don't agree with Dave's argument about using open spaces like in Mexico. A lot of these country results were in markets or high schools. In the bigger cities or more well drawing areas, Baba seemed to rent out some decent capacity buildings, especially the sumo and boxing venues which wouldn't have been cheap. That seems like the metric to me.

And the last part of the tour: 10/27/77: Ken Patera def. Samson Kutsuwada (Sakata, 4000) 10/28/77: Bobo Brazil/Jumbo Tsuruta/Samson Kutsuwada def. Giant Baba/Ken Patera/Rocky Tamayo (Tajima, Fukushima, 3000) 10/29/77: Ken Patera def. The Destroyer (Kuroiso, 2800) 10/30/77: Ken Patera def. Genichiro Tenryu (Fujinomiya, 1600) 10/31/77: Giant Baba/Kim Duk def. Ken Patera/Rocky Hata (Nagano Municipal Gymnasium, 4000) 11/1/77: Ken Patera def. Great Kojika (Iiyama, 3000) 11/2/77: Ken Patera def. Samson Kutsuwada (Tsunan, Niigata, 2000) 11/3/77: Ken Patera DCO The Destroyer (Korakuen Hall, 2800) 11/4/77: Ken Patera def. Rocky Hata (Suwa, 4000) Notes: -- Patera was further down the card on the back end of the tour. Only one mainevent on 10/28 and semi mains on 10/30, 10/31 and 11/4. -- The Sakata show in Yamagata was main evented by Wahoo/Youngblood vs. Tsutura/Hata. The Nagano show was main evented by The Destroyer vs. Bobo Brazil, and the Suwa show was main evented by Baba/Duk vs. Brazil/Tsuruta. -- The Korakuen Hall show was apparently main evented by an Animal Hamaguchi/Goro Tsurumi vs. Great Kojika/Motoshi Okuma All Asian Tag Team Championship match, which I thought was cool.

I would say the major shows on tour were the cities where they ran 4000 seaters. So far that's: 10/3/77: Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera def. Giant Baba/The Destroyer (National Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, 4100) 10/5/77: Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera def. Jumbo Tsuruta/Rocky Hata (Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, 7500) 10/19/77: The Destroyer DCO Ken Patera (Tottori Municipal Gymnasium, 4000) 10/21/77: Giant Baba/Jumbo Tsuruta def. Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera (Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium, 4000) 10/24/77: Giant Baba def. Ken Patera (Iwate Prefectural Gymnasium, 4000) Nagoya, Osaka and Yokohama are all major cities in Japan and the usage of sumo venues in Nagoya and Osaka is telling. The Nagoya show was headlined by a Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Wahoo McDaniel United National Heavyweight title match and the Osaka show was headlined by Baba vs. Ohki. Tottori is a bit of a surprise, but All Japan may have been popular in that part of the country. It was headlined by Brazil vs. Baba. Patera was fourth on the card behind Wahoo/Youngblood vs. Tenryu/Hata and Jumbo/Tamayo. Morioka is the capital of Iwate prefecture but not a huge city by Japanese standards. I suspect it may have been another part of the country where All Japan drew well.

Here's the next lot: 10/15/77: Ken Patera def. Great Kojika (Ehime, 3300) 10/16/77: Ken Patera def. Rocky Hata (Ehime, 2800) 10/18/77: Ken Patera def. Genichiro Tenryu (Yonago, 2000) 10/19/77: The Destroyer DCO Ken Patera (Tottori Municipal Gymnasium, 4000) 10/21/77: Giant Baba/Jumbo Tsuruta def. Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera (Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium, 4000) 10/22/77: The Destroyer DCO Ken Patera (Kawamata Town, Fukushima, 2000) 10/23/77: Ken Patera def. Rocky Hata (Nagai, Yamagata, 2800) 10/24/77: Giant Baba def. Ken Patera (Iwate Prefectural Gymnasium, 4000) 10/25/77: Ken Patera def. The Destroyer (Hanamaki, 2400) 10/26/77: Giant Baba/Jumbo Tsuruta def. Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera (Akita, 2000) Notes: -- Patera mainevented the 10/21, 10/24 and 10/26 shows. He semi mained the other shows aside from 10/19, 10/23 and 10/25.

I'll do a few at a time. All Japan 1977 Giant Series 10/1/77: Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera def. Giant Baba/Genichiro Tenryu (Koga Gymnasium, 3000) 10/2/77: Ken Patera def. Rocky Hata (Korakuen Hall, 2400) 10/3/77: Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera def. Giant Baba/The Destroyer (National Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, 4100) 10/5/77: Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera def. Jumbo Tsuruta/Rocky Hata (Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, 7500) 10/6/77: Ken Patera def. Samson Kutsuwada (Tsuyama Gymnasium, 2000) 10/7/77: Ken Patera def. Great Kojika (Shiga, 2000) 10/9/77: Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera def. Giant Baba/Rocky Hata (Fruit and Vegetable market, Yanagawa, 2000) 10/10/77: Ken Patera def. Rocky Hata (Kashii, Fukuoka, 2300) 10/11/77: Giant Baba/Jumbo Tsuruta drew Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera (Omura, 2300) 10/12/77: The Destroyer def. Ken Patera (Karatsu, 2000) Notes: -- Patera mainevented the 10/9 and 10/11 shows. He was in the semi main on every other show except for 10/6 and 10/7. -- Other gaijin on tour were Bobo Brazil, Wahoo McDaniel, Jay Youngblood, Rocky Tamayo, Kintaro Ohki and Kim Duk. Also on tour from the IWF were Animal Hamaguchi and Goro Tsurumi.

Okay, I found the results for the entire Giant Series with match times, results and attendance. Do you need them translated?

Here are some of the other matches Patera had on tour in '77: 10/1/77: Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera vs. Giant Baba/Tenryu (Furukawa, Miyagi?) 10/3/77: Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera vs. Giant Baba/The Destroyer (Nagoya) 10/5/77: Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Rocky Hata (Osaka) 10/9/77: Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera vs. Giant Baba/Rocky Hata (Yanagawa. Fukuoka) 10/11/77: Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera vs. Giant Baba/Jumbo Tsuruta (Omura, Nagasaki) 10/26/77: Bobo Brazil/Ken Patera vs. Giant Baba/Jumbo Tsuruta (Akita) 11/4/77: Ken Patera vs. Rocky Hata (Suwa)

1993 was a bad year for Dustin. They pulled the plug on the Windham feud far too early.

If only they let people volunteer. If they're the broadcast tapes they'd probably be clipped right?

Patera wrestled at the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium not the Yokohama Prefecture Gym. Yokohama is a city not a prefecture. Tokyo University Hall was Nihon University Auditorium, a different university altogether. It was originally a sumo venue that was requisitioned by the Japanese military during the war and turned into a weapons factory. It was then appropriated by the Occupation forces and turned into an entertainment venue before being sold to Nihon University in 1958. The University rented it for public use up until 1977. It has since been torn down. Capacity was 10,000.

Who cares about standing? Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I watched every match from that Rude/Dustin feud and aside from the May '93 one the rest were unbearable and I don't think Rude was shot either because he had decent matches afterwards like the Bossman debut.

Dustin's feuds with Rude and Austin were awful. His feud with Bunkhouse Bunk is one of the best feuds in WCW history.

Watched one of Flik's choices: John Naylor vs. Zoltan Boscik (8/15/74) This was really good for two guys who always annoy the shit out of me. Probably the first time Boscik has looked like the European mat wizard he's meant to be. His work wasn't completely smooth, nor completely original for that matter, but it was tricked out in the way only lovers of World of Sport will ever truly appreciate and I probably would've added this to my list if Naylor hadn't won so easily against the run of play.

This was all right, but it wasn't as good as Hogan's brawling sprints against Orndorff and Race. I don't think he did anything special to get over, either. He got a pop because he was Hulk Hogan. Match was better than the usual WWF fare at the time, but I didn't like how symmetrical it was in terms of the length of time Hogan spent working Hansen over and Hansen's reply, and the finish wasn't very dramatic. It was interesting how close it resembled the modern WWF style with its over reliance on going to the outside, something which plagued Japanese wrestling horrendously as the decade wore on. Hogan's takedowns were probably the most fun part of the match. You've gotta protect yourself in Japan, brutha.

I wonder if there's film of Masambula and the other workers that didn't show up on TWC much.

Nice to know it exists; nicer still if a copy actually makes it into circulation.

There are many unsavory things about Takada but lack of charisma isn't one of them.

Watching the matches in the context of the shows gives you more of an idea how UWF was booked. Maeda was the top dog in 1990. The rest of the workers traded wins under the pretense that it was real competition though Fujiwara was protected as was Takada to a lesser extent. When Funaki returns from injury he gets a big push and ends up challenging Maeda by year's end.

Marty Jones doesn't belong anywhere near the Hall but that still sucks.

The majority refers to the majority of people reading and writing about this type of wrestling now, most of whom weren't WON subscribers in the 80s, weren't influenced by the backstory you've provided, hadn't seen a large chunk of the footage the Death Valley Driver provided and for the most part had little exposure to prime Fujinami and Choshu due to a gap in pimping from 1987 to 2009. Nobody's saying that Fujinami and Choshu were never pimped or that there was never any positive consensus about them as workers. Nobody is saying that the post-2009 consensus is entirely new, simply that they were out of vogue and then "rediscovered" or re-evaluated, so to speak. I cannot believe that anyone would honestly say in the ten year period from 1999 to 2009 that Riki Choshu was a highly regarded worker among internet users. If we consider the Smarkschoice poll, Fujinami was #58 and Choshu was #100. Of the 50 odd people who voted, Choshu only received 13 votes. I think it's possible that both Fujinami and Choshu would receive a bump from the Death Valley Driver sets if a poll was to be taken tomorrow. How is Dylan saying Fujinami had a better match with Dynamite Kid than Tiger Mask proof that the rest of us thought highly of Fujinami? All it tells us is that Dylan thought highly of his juniors work. I don't know that Dylan had seen even half the Fujinami stuff that was on the Death Valley Driver set, but he can tell us for himself whether his own opinion of Fujinami was reappraised. Of the 80s Fujinami matches that I would consider widely seen prior to the set, that match did fairly well but there were a number of new discoveries [for people who were not WON subscribers in the 1980s] that did better.