Mike Reviews Japan — page 4

Hello You!

Let’s pick things up with A Block again

You can read Rick’s review of the first night of B Block by clicking right HERE

Hello You!

Please make sure to check out Rick’s excellent G1 Climax preview for the skinny on what’s taking place in the tournament this year.

I would have had this up earlier, but I had a nice trip to Clitheroe in the afternoon, so apologies for the delay.

I’ll be taking on A Block this year whilst Rick takes on B Block, so look out for his reviews when they go up also.

Great to be tagging with someone this year as it should hopefully make the workload easier to bare and I think it will be interesting to get two perspectives on things.

I haven’t got a clue who will win G1 this year, but I’ll go with Kota Ibushi as they were making him look like the star in the team with Tanahashi on the Summer Struggle Tour, which suggested a passing of the guard, and Ibushi Vs Naito at Wrestle Kingdom would be pretty rad.

So, without further ado, let’s start off Night One of A Block and watch some chuffing wrestling!

Hello You!

This week I’ve decided to look at a company from Japan that I haven’t done a review for before in the form of HUSTLE. For those not au fait, HUSTLE was a company ran by Dream Stage Entertainment and was a Japanese attempt at recreating a more WWE like product for the Japanese market. Rather than being Pro Wrestling, HUSTLE decided to market itself as “Fighting Opera” and it featured a lot of silly storylines and characters that the more serious promotions like Pro Wrestling NOAH or New Japan wouldn’t have included on their shows.

At first HUSTLE ran some pretty big venues and shelled out for some big name foreign wrestlers like Goldberg, Mick Foley, The Outsiders and Dusty Rhodes. However, the ticket sales were disappointing and they eventually decided to downsize a bit and run these smaller “HUSTLE House” events, where they featured fewer big names and filled the roster out with people from Shinya Hashimoto’s Zero-1 promotion. This was the first show of that type.

The big storyline centres around Nobuhiko Takada’s “Monster Army” heel group taking on the HUSTLE guys led by the likes of Hashimoto, Toshiaki Kawada and Naoya Ogawa. For some reason they decided to change Takada from being a serious shoot style worker in UWFi to a wacky general who spends the majority of his time dressed as M-Bison and taking part in odd backstage vignettes.

HUSTLE did eventually manage to cultivate somewhat of a fan base and this show apparently drew 2,200 people to Korakuen Hall, so as weird as this all was there was definitely an audience for it who dug seeing a strange WWE styled group, just not a big enough one to justify all the wild spending.

If you fancy watching this yourself then you can do so on YouTube by clicking HERE!

Let’s see how HUSTLE handles their first show in the smaller venue as we watch some chuffing wrestling!

Hello You!

I’ve got a bit of involuntary free time on my hands at the moment, so I decided to cheer myself up by watching some Japanese Junior Heavyweight action from the 90’s. This is show is actually available for full up on YouTube, probably because WAR has now gone out of business and whoever owns the video library isn’t especially arsed about these sort of things. I won’t embed it here in case I get Scott or the Blog in bother, but if you just search “Super J Cup 1995” on YouTube then it should be pretty easy to find.

The J Cup brought together Junior Heavyweights from all over the world to compete in a single elimination tournament to win a snazzy gold jacket. It reminds me a bit of The Masters in golf in that regard actually. One cool thing about it is that it brought together wrestlers from different promotions, meaning that there are plenty of inter-promotional bouts on this one.

Junior Heavyweight wrestling was very much the “gateway drug” that got me in to Japanese wrestling in the first place, and I still have a lot of nostalgia for the J Cup tournaments of 94, 95 and 2000.

Anyway, less chatter from me, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

Hello You!

Back for more New Japan, as we complete the Double Gold Dash to crown a dual Champion in the main event. It’s like WrestleMania VI but with more screaming Japanese fans losing their minds. What’s not to like?

Anyway, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

Hello You!

Here we are, back again with some more New Japan action as they start the first night of their Tokyo Dome double shot with Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night One.

To say that people are jazzed for this show would be an understatement, as Twitter was awash with pictures and videos of people excitedly making their way into the Egg Dome. Oh yes, people are up for this one lads and ladies!

So without further ado, let’s cut my prattling and watch some chuffing wrestling!

Hello You!

Seeing as we’re just under a week away from Wrestle Kingdom 14, I thought I’d do a recap of one of the earlier New Japan Tokyo Dome spectaculars from 1996, as I happen to own the DVD for it.

I honestly can’t recall when I bought this or even where I got it from, but I think some of the matches from this are on New Japan World if you want to check them out. It looks like a rip of the official Japanese release, so that probably means they’ll dub out a lot of the entrance themes with wacky in house music. Hey, New Japan didn’t become the biggest wrestling company in the world in the mid 90’s by spending loads of dosh you know!

The 1996 event was built around guys from the UWFi group coming in to face New Japan guys, as well as one of the big matches on the countdown to Antonio Inoki’s retirement as he took on Vader. Vader was, I think, a WWF guy at this stage, or at the very least was on his way to the WWF in time for the Royal Rumble, so this was one of those occasions where Vince McMahon decided to be accommodating for whatever reason and let him work the Dome show.

I’ll look to have reviews for both nights of 2020’s Tokyo Dome event, hopefully quite soon after they happen as both shows fall on weekends this year and it’ll be in the morning time over here in the UK, so I should have enough time to watch them baring some kind of issue.

Anyway, less wittering from me, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

Hello You!

New Japan had one of its traditional big events of the year today with some very interesting matches on the docket, so I decided to review it seeing as I was going to watch it anyway.

The one I’m most looking forward to is Minoru Suzuki taking on Jushin Liger, but there’s also a match scheduled between Kazuchika Okada and SANADA that should be great because the two of them tend to always have great matches together.

So without further ado, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

Hello You!

The J Cup finally got uploaded to New Japan World last week. Seeing as I’ve got a day off today I’ll get Night One done. Not sure when the others will be up, so watch this space.

For those not acquainted, this is a big 16 man single elimination tournament to decide who gets to win a cool golden jacket. They’ve been doing this tournament on and off since 1994 and it’s usually provided some classic matches in past iterations, so hopefully this year’s tournament does similar!

Anyway, less chatter, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

Hello You!

As of checking today the 2019 J Cup isn’t up on New Japan World yet, but the Royal Quest show from last week in London is, so that’s what we’ll look at today. I’ve actually managed to avoid all spoilers for it, so this will be a complete surprise to me. I’m fully expecting J Cup spoilers though, mainly because this show happened after that tournament concluded, but I’ll refrain from writing them here in case you are also holding out to find out what happened (Kind of weird from New Japan actually, you’d think that they’d upload the shows in order because watching this show kind of ruins the J Cup?) If everyone else could please kindly refrain from J Cup spoilers in the comments then that would be nice as well, just in case we have some readers here who are waiting to watch it and don’t want it spoiled. Cheers!

The big match on top of course will be Kazuchika Okada Vs Everyone’s Favourite Angry Old Man Minoru Suzuki, in a match which I am mightily excited for!

So let’s quit my jibber jabbering and watch some chuffing wrestling!

Hello You!

Welcome back to the second part of this retrospective where we look back at Kenta Kobashi’s epic reign as the GHC Heavyweight Champion from Pro Wrestling NOAH in the early-mid 00’s.

Last time out we saw Kobashi defeat Mitsuharu Misawa to win the GHC Title in a classic match before defending it in a barn burner against fellow BURNING stablemate Tamon Honda. We closed out last time with Kobash having a decent but not thrilling bout with Masahiro Chono on a New Japan Pro Wrestling event at the Tokyo Dome.

This time we’ll see Kobashi go back to defending the belt against people from his home promotion, but don’t be too surprised if those pesky invaders from New Japan show themselves once again…

Part 1

Hello You!

I thought I’d try something a bit different and actually cover some classic Pro Wrestling NOAH for a change. In the early to mid-00’s, NOAH was probably the most consistently great wrestling company in the world. It had a great Junior Heavyweight division anchored by the likes of KENTA, Naomichi Marufuji, Ricky Marvin and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, talented youngsters coming through the ranks such as Takeshi Morishima, Takeshi Rkioh, Mohamed Yone and Go Shiozaki, dependable veterans in the mid-card who could be relied upon such as Tamon Honda, Takuma Sano, Daisuke Ikeda and Akitoshi Saito, and most importantly a really good main event scene featuring the likes of Mitsuharu Misawa, Jun Akiyama, Yoshihiro Takayama and Minoru Suzuki.

However, the biggest star of them all was the man who held the GHC (The equivalent to New Japan’s IWGP) Heavyweight Title for two years from 2003 to 2005, having great matches with basically everyone along the way. That man was none other than Kenta Kobashi, the inventor of The Burning Hammer, an all-round elite level worker and a guaranteed first ballot Hall of Famer. Not only was Kobashi superb in the ring, but he was also a hit at the box office and NOAH enjoyed a lot of success during his reign.

The zenith of Kobashi’s reign was likely headlining NOAH’s first ever Tokyo Dome show in 2004, but he also enjoyed a spate of sell outs at Budokan Hall and defended the belt in a number of classic bouts, dragging top level matches out of basically everyone he faced ala Ric Flair during his Title reigns during the 80’s.

Personally I’d say Kenta Kobashi is probably my favourite wrestler of all-time. Whether it was coming up with inventive suplexes, flying through the air with a moonsault or just destroying his opponent with hard knife edge chops, Kobashi could seemingly have an epic and enjoyable match with practically anyone and he almost always elevated the people he wrestled. Losing to Kenta Kobashi in an epic bout would almost always raise the defeated opponents stock, not lower it.

What I like most about Kobashi though is his selling, his facial expressions specifically. Kobashi’s facials are possibly some of the greatest of all-time, as he could convey a mixture of pain, desperation, anger and defiance like almost no one else. It’s one of the reasons why I think Kota Ibushi is so good as well actually, as he can do similar with his own expert facial expressions.

So with intro’s out of the way, I suppose I best explain what this is going to be all about. During the late 00’s G+ in Japan put together a compilation of all of the matches from Kobashi’s GHC Heavyweight Title reign. I eventually picked this up on DVD, but some kind uploaders on YouTube have uploaded the whole thing for public consumption. I won’t post the link here in case I accidentally drop them in hot water, but a quick search should be able to bring it up rather easily.

Obviously the full video is close to 9 hours long, so I won’t be doing it all in one sitting. Basically, whenever I get the time I’ll upload 2 or 3 matches when the opportunity arises. I’m not expecting this to be a particularly regular thing due to all the other commitments I have, but it will be a nice side project that I can bust out now and then when I can.

So, with the longest intro in Blog history completed, why don’t we watch some chuffing wrestling?

Hello You!

So here we are, after eighteen nights of action and however many stars, we’re here for the Final of G1 Climax 29. Who will leave the Nippon Budokan with the fabled G1 Trophy and a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Champ at Wrestle Kingdom on the 4^th of January 2020? Will it be the devious Jay White? Will it be the Golden Star Kota Ibushi? Will White’s unscrupulous manager Gedo ultimately decide the fate of the Trophy? Will Ibushi be able to overcome the numbers game to win his first G1? Will the Title shot even be on 04/01/2020 or will it be on the 5^th instead because they’re running the Tokyo Dome on consecutive nights next year? Will the G1 Final attain a 5 Star rating? Lemon Curry?

The suspense is killing me; let’s watch the ruddy show right chuffing now!!!

Hello You!

You lucky so and so’s get a two for one this time out as I was in London yesterday to watch Everton play out a bleh 0-0 with Crystal Palace, of which the only “highlight” was Morgan Schneiderlin getting sent off like an absolute plum. Oh well, a point Away on the first day of the season isn’t too bad I suppose.

Anyway, enough of that, we’ve got a lot to the get through so let’s waste no more time!

Hello You!

Back again with some action from the B Block!

I hope all my fellow English Soccer Fans enjoyed the close to the transfer window. Everton’s pursuit of Wilfried Zaha ended up becoming a bit of a farce, but Alex Iwobi is certainly an interesting signing and I’m hoping he’ll hit the ground running for The Toffees. I must admit to being slightly relieved that the Marcos Rojo deal didn’t go through. He’s played something like 14 games in the previous 2 seasons I believe and has had not only injury issues but also strikes me as a red card waiting to happen. On loan I could have handled it, but for 25 Million Man United were having a giraffe and Marcel Brands did well to walk away. It also gives an opportunity to Mason Holgate as well, and I genuinely think this could be a break out season for him, so it isn’t all doom and gloom.

I’m afraid Saturday’s G1 show won’t be up until at least Sunday because I’m heading down to Selhurst Park for the first game of the season. I might try and have both Saturday and Sunday’s shows up on Sunday night, but I make no promises. Everton tend to open the season quite a lot with 2-2 draws, so I’m looking forward to being 1-2 up with 10 minutes to go only for Palace to bundle in the equaliser and for both Home and Away supporters to trudge home wondering whether it was a good result or not. Ah, football eh?

Anyway, enough wittering on my part, let’s get to some chuffing wrestling!

Hello You!

We’re back with some more A Block Action, the Block that has been making all the other Blocks jealous!

Last time out in the A Block Kazuchika Okada and SANADA had a fantastic bout that I went all in with a ***** rating for the first time in this year’s G1 Climax tournament. Tonight Okada takes on SANADA’s regular tag team partner in the form of EVIL. Will he be able to get another ****+ match this time out?

Let’s settle in and find out shall we?

Hello You!

Back again with some action from the B Block!

Night Thirteen produced a match that I personally gave the full ***** to in the form of Kazuchika Okada Vs SANADA. Not everyone agreed of course, and that’s absolutely fine. This is all subjective at the end of the day, but it tickled me just right and I decided to go for the full allocation of stars as consequence.

Hopefully we have some more great matches and I can dish out some more stars, wouldn’t that be nice eh?

Hello You!

We’re back with some more A Block Action, a Block which has been described as, and I quote, “Lovely Stuff”. Not my words everyone, but the words of Shakin’ Stevens!

Here we are with Night Thirteen, and I wonder who will have an unlucky Round 7 in the A Block? Kazuchika Okada currently sits atop the Block with a perfect record and looks as untouchable as Newcastle United did during the Christmas of 1995. However, that eventually all ended going a bit wrong for The Magpies, so Okada being top right now doesn’t guarantee he still will be when all is said and done.

I’m excited to see what happens next, so why don’t we watch some wrestling and find out eh?

Hello You!

Back again with some B Block action

Currently Jon Moxley is way out in front in the Block and has managed to nullify all of the wrestlers he has faced in one way or another. It’s actually had a “Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe” feel to it in all honesty, where Dean Ambrose was the acceptable comedy version of Jonathon Good whilst Jon Moxley is what he’s capable of when he’s allowed to go all out. However, tonight he’s facing Toru Yano, a man who has a few upsets to his name during his G1 career, so maybe this will be the first time Mox tastes defeat in G1?

Let’s read on and find out shall we?

Hello You!

We’re back with some more A Block Action!

This year’s G1 has featured some fantastic wrestling thus far but hasn’t produced a 5 Star Classic by my watch yet. I’d love it if we could get one before the tournament comes to a close, but in general I’d say the standard of this year’s G1 has been excellent and every night has had at least 1 or 2 matches that  I would consider “need to see”, with some nights even having more than that!

But anyway, less of me spinning some yarns, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling eh?