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gordi

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We're going to Okinawa! We'll be running three shows in five days at those little baseball stadiums that the Japanese teams use for Spring Training. Gonna get a little sun, try some Okinawan food, and in particular Wally and I are going to be on a hunt for Kusu. I'm not a big fan of Awamori, which is Okinawa's local special distilled liquor. It's a little harsh and astringent for my tastes... but the rumour is that if you can find real kusu - awamori that has been carefully aged for many years inside of clay pots - it is as smooth and mellow as a properly aged scotch.

 

A guy from Panasonic named Hiroshi is coming with us, to manage and oversee the recording equipment we'll use. There might be some unusual lighting issues running baseball stadiums and it'll be a big part of Hiroshi's job to work with the Director Of Photography in addressing that.

 

As always, this is confidential... but: We want to use Mochizuki and Saikyo Yaiin (Nakanishi and Nagata) in number one contender's matches in Osaka and we figure it might work better if we have them win a match on TV to earn that spot rather than just elevating them for no reason. So: They'll each be working three "earn-a-spot-in-a-number-one-contenders-bout" matches in Okinawa and on TV next week we'll run whichever one looks best on tape.

 

We'll fill out the TV with a random multi-man tag match, hype for Hulkster vs. Choshu (Axe Bomber vs. Riki Lariat), hype for Sammy vs. Liger (pretty much sells itself), and hype for the upcoming Super J Cup. The Great Sasuke, Koji Kanemoto, Jushin Liger, TAKA Michinoku, Shinjiro Ohtani, El Samurai, Super Delfin, & Dick Togo are all going to participate in the tournament being run by All Japan. Expect lots of highlight videos over the next two weeks. We also finally got footage from WCW's Halloween Havoc show... and it's worth the wait! The finish to Liger vs. Flair is just crazy. Hopefully we'll get footage from WCW WW3 soon, as well. Yuji Nagata, Scorpio, Tajiri, Keiji Mutoh, Liger, Kensuke Sasaki, Lance Storm and Kaz Hayashi are all on that card.

 

So my actual workload will be fairly light, giving me at least a little time to enjoy Okinawa with Yuka and look for Kusu with Wally.

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Some of the best restaurants in Japan are little hole-in-the-wall places with seating for around a dozen people and an owner who is also the cook. They tend to specialize in one or two things which they do extremely well. This guy makes the most amazing chicken wings. No grease at all, just taste and crunch. Delfin has lots of friends in Okinawa, and it was them who recommended this place to Wally. We ordered some kusu, of course, and got served from the small clay pots the master keeps on the counter and t was... OK. I asked if he had any of the really aged stuff, and the master apologetically explained that true 20 year old plus kusu is really rare, and that the stuff we were drinking was a blend of various awamori that had only been aging for three to four years. We decided to stick around and keep eating wings anyway. The master mysteriously disappeared for almost twenty minutes after serving up our third heaping plate of his special tebasaki. We called for him, to no avail.

 

When he finally reappeared, he put little cups on the table in front of Wally and I. There was a small amount of golden liquid in each cup. He joined us, we toasted (they say "Karii!" in Okinawa), and we drank. It was so smooth going down, and when it hit my stomach it created a little patch of warmth that slowly spread through my whole body. It was absolutely one of the finest liquors I had ever tasted. "Twenty years old, " the master told us. "Real kusu," Wally concurred. That was on the house. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to try it.

 

The second day of taping went spectacularly well. I think that Hiroshi from Panasonic is kind of a genius. In addition to his wizardry with televisual technology, he is the first-chair cello in a major amateur symphony orchestra. He has a portable practice cello which he works out on whenever he has a spare moment. I correctly identified the piece once, when he was playing the prelude of Bach's Cello Suite No. 6. He was delighted by that, and we talked and talked about classical music at the breakfast buffet the next day. The hotel has an omelette station, which I took full advantage of.

 

We got some nice footage of Mochizuki vs. Naniwa and Saikyo Yaiin vs. The Mad Dogs (Goto and Ohara) to set up the card in Osaka, and a fun match between Fujinami, Hase & Koshinaka and Sasaki, Kojima, & Tenzan to fill out the TV time.

 

We can't release this until after we run the TV show, but the card for Osaka looks like this:

 

Asahi Pro Wrestling in Osaka Asahi Arena

 

Main Event: Liger vs. El Samurai for the welterweight title

 

Hogan vs. Choshu for the IWGP Title

 

The Space Mutineers (Trojan, Fistrock, and Kingsnake) vs. Lyin' Guys (Togo, Jado, and Gedo) for the Trios Title

 

Dragon Hearts (Hase and Fujinami) vs. Evers and Scaggs (Lance and Scorp) for the Tag Titles

 

*** Break ***

 

Number One Contenders Matches:

 

Mutoh vs. Chono

Ohtani vs. Mochizuki

Sasuke Delfin, and Naniwa vs. TAKA, Hamada, and Yakushiji

Big the Great Bulls (Hawk and Norton) vs. Saikyo Yaijin (Nakanishi and Nagata)

Undercard:

Koshinaka, Dos Caras, and Kato Kung Lee vs. Kensuke, Tenzan, and Kojima

Super Strong Machine, Smiley, and Tajiri vs. The Mad Dogs and Black Buffalo

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Finding it cool that Liger vs Samurai is main eventing that show, despite that HUGE Hogan/Choshu for the IWGP Heavyweight title. Makes the welterweight title even more legit.

 

We had a write-in vote to determine which would be the Main Event, and *literally* 100 percent of the votes we received were for Liger vs. El Samurai.

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Asahi Pro Wrestling in Osaka Asahi Arena

 

hogcho.jpg

 

What the corporate suits originally wanted was for Choshu to turn face, to increase his usefulness as a soft drink spokes-model. . Our argument was that a huge part of Choshu's appeal is his anti-authoritarian persona, which resonates with a significant portion of our audience - particularly working men. They had a meeting about it, which I wasn't invited to, and apparently at the meeting Choshu managed to offend someone in power badly enough that we were more or less ordered to get the belt off of him as punishment.

 

There was some discussion about making the IWGP title match a four-way and putting the strap on Chono or Mutoh, but we decided not to go in that direction.

 

Super Strong Machine, Smiley, and Tajiri vs. The Mad Dogs and Black Buffalo

 

A nice heated little brawl to start things off with. The rivalry between Super Strong Machine and his ex-partner is likely going to be a lower-card staple for us well into 1996.

 

Los Still-Pretty-Good-icos (Koshinaka, Dos Caras, and Kato Kung Lee) vs. Kensuke, Tenzan, and Kojima

 

Started out as a showcase for TenKoji's cocky characters, as they beat up on Kung Lee and mocked their veteran opponents. Then Dos Karas and Kosh got a chance to shine as they got revenge on the young boys. Finally, the spotlight shifted to Kensuke as he just overpowered everyone and killed Kato Kung Lee with a Lariat and tapped him out with a Strangle Hold.

 

Big the Great Bulls (Hawk and Norton) vs. Saikyo Yaijin (Nakanishi and Nagata) #1 Contenders match

 

I like the format of running four title matches and four contenders matches at every big show, but we are probably going to shift away from it for the January Dome show, to keep from beating the concept into the ground. That being said: We wanted to use the format to give some of the young guys a chance to step up a little, so Hawk and Norton gave Nak and Nagata a ton before killing them with the modified Doomsday Device. Nakanishi's Iron Claw on Hawk got a pretty huge pop out of the Osaka crowd, which was nice.

 

nakhaw.jpg

 

Sasuke, Delfin, and Naniwa vs. TAKA, Hamada, and Yakushiji #1 Contenders match

 

Hopefully this will make some MOTYC lists. Obviously, I am a Michinoku Pro mark and this match was a classic example of why. Liger is, individually, better in the ring than any of these guys, and Ohtani probably is, as well... but in some ways these M-Pro multi-man tags are the best that Asahi Pro has to offer our audience. The timing and chemistry that they have when everything is clicking is just on another level from anything else in Pro Wrestling right now. I I'm pretty sure the lads were consciously trying to steal the show away from the main event. In my opinion, they succeeded.

 

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Ohtani vs. Mochizuki

 

I think that Ohtani took the trios match and the crowd reaction to it as a personal challenge. He and Mochizuki just beat the living hell out of each other, going all-out to get a response out of the audience. Despite the fact that they are both rudos, Ohtani managed to get the crowd behind Mochizuki, and had them thinking that the underdog might just have a chance to pull of the upset. Then, he pulled the rug out. Might be another (stealth, low-end) MOTYC. Certainly, Mochizuki has earned a chance to move up the card a bit with his performance here.

 

Mutoh vs. Chono

 

Smartly, they worked this one more as a character piece rather than trying to outdo the previous matches in terms of work-rate. Chono is becoming more and more effective as a heel, and they really played that up here with him bending the rules at every opportunity. The Shining Wizard/Shining Yakuza kick battle had the crowd going crazy. I love Osaka crowds.

 

Chono vs. Hogan for the IWGP belt is an interesting match-up, but there might be a big twist coming up on January 4th...

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Dragon Hearts (Hase and Fujinami) vs. Evers and Scaggs (Lance and Scorp) for the Tag Titles

 

While still not at the level of the best tag matches happening in All Japan right now, this was about as good a heavyweight tag as I think Asahi Pro is capable of offering.. Hase worked his ass off, going crazy on the mat with Lance and selling Scorp's high-risk offense like death. Fujinami seems suited to a slightly more limited role, breaking up pinfalls and waiting for the hot tag. That seminar with Fuke really seems to have paid dividends, as the mat work just seemed more compelling than usual in this one. Scorp's Flipping Leg Drop near-fall got one of the bigger pops of the night.

 

scofuj.jpg

 

Dragon Hearts vs. Big the Great Bulls should be a different kind of match, hopefully it will be almost as good as this one.

 

The Space Mutineers (Trojan, Fistrock, and Kingsnake) vs. Lyin' Guys (Togo, Jado, and Gedo) for the Trios Title

 

Ten minutes of comedy that then shifted violently as Gedo and Jado lost their tempers and took Terry Boy Trojan out with chair-shots before dragging him outside. Then we had a gorgeous long sequence where Togo flew all around the ring as Kingsnake Kaz and Fistrock Funaki made quick tag after quick tag trying to keep up with him. Finally, a bloodied but still standing Trojan made his way back to ringside and distracted Togo long enough for Kingsnake to put him out with a Back-to-Belly Piledriver.

 

Overall, the match wasn't quite at the level of Ohtani vs. Mochi or the trios contenders match, but that Togo sequence might have been the best thing on the card. Trojan, Fistrock, and Kingsnake vs. Sasuke, Delfin, and Naniwa should be amazing. Too bad we are wasting it on a Tokyo Dome crowd!

 

Hogan vs. Choshu for the IWGP Title

 

Choshu attacked Hogan before the bell and absolutely beat him down for several minutes. The momentum shifted when they took it outside the ring, as Hogan lifted Choshu onto his shoulder and rammed him into the ringpost. This was repeated four times, with Hogan playing to the crowd near each corner. After that: Big Boot, Legdrop... One...Two...NOOOOO! Axe Bomber, Legdrop... one...two...THREEEEE! Shin Champion!!

 

The post-match posedown and belt-awarding ceremony took longer than the match itself.

 

Main Event: Liger vs. El Samurai for the welterweight title

 

I am biased, of course, but it really felt like we had two low-end and one high-end MOTYC on this card. Sasuke, Delfin, and Naniwa vs. TAKA, Hamada, and Yakushiji was the best and most exciting of the three, Ohtani vs. Mochizuki the hardest-hitting, and this one was the epic story based on intelligent limb work. Liger and El Samurai went after each other's left arms right off the opening bell, and attacking and selling those arms played into each step of the match, which built and built for almost 25 minutes. Unable to hit the Brainbuster or Liger Bomb with only one arm, the challenger put El Samurai down with a Rolling Koppu Kick and finished him off with a Shooting Star Press.

 

Before the belt-awarding ceremony could begin, Ohtani and Mochizuki rushed the ring to attack Liger. El Samurai did the run-in for the save... and we are probably looking at a four-way match for the January Dome show.

 

lygoht.jpg

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Great show! How was the crowd reaction for the welters going out last? I hope a kind of positive shock.

 

Well, the TV spots and all of the advertising after the votes came in had Liger vs. Sammy as the Main Event, so hopefully most of the crowd were not surprised. A handful of people left the arena after Hogan vs. Choshu, but for all I know they had a train to catch or something... The match itself got a great reaction, that Osaka crowd was hot all night.

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This is gonna sound a little crazy, but...

 

dsc_1326.jpg

 

A robot cat from the future has just shown up in my apartment. Apparently, having Inoki leave New Japan in 1995 and having Asahi TV and Asahi Beverages merge leads to a series of horrible tragedies in the future. I have to go back in time to 1985 and try to save things.

 

Sorry, it's been great fun, but this is goodbye for now!

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