DSE's problems and New Japan's "entertainment" brand woes

A lot has happened since my last article about Hustle. DSE has gotten itself into a real mess and lost its TV deal with Fuji TV, and subsequently Hustle Aid did not air on the network, missing its big chance. The show itself was in danger of not happening, but they went ahead with it, and in more good news for fans of Hustle, they have managed to keep their PPV deal. Should DSE's links with the Yakuza be proven at all though, SKY PerfecTV! will completely withdraw support, and Hustle (as well as PRIDE) would face the prospect of death. In the meantime, most Hustle wrestlers are likely to receive paycuts.

I kind of overstated Hustle's popularity in my last article, and fell into the same trap as many. On paper, their attendances are excellent, but there have been some revelations recently. Its said that of Hustle's total attendances, as few as 30% of tickets are paid for, and that DSE, DSE's sponsors, and DSE's other acquaintances distribute lots of invite tickets (much like New Japan has been for its recent Tokyo Dome shows). That isn't to say Hustle is unpopular, but rather that it is more of a Bob Sapp-in-pro wrestling phenomenon, gaining massive public interest, but not selling as many tickets as the name power on shows probably should. Their Korakuen Hall shows probably do a better real number percentage than their shows at large buildings. Hustle Aid only used the small config of Saitama Super Arena, claiming around 14,000 fans, doing about 8~10,000 legitimately, and selling around 3~5,000 tickets. With DSE's problems, they knew walk-up sales would be damaged, so gave out a lot of invites.

With the scandal surrounding DSE such a threat, Hustle knew it had to present something big. The show satisfied most core fans, although journalist Tarzan Yamamoto has done a 180 and turned against the group he promoted as the next sensation not long ago, saying the show was boring. Hustle ran an angle leading up to the show about a big egg that was to hatch, revealing a surprise. And they did deliver on that surprise, by bringing out Nobuhiko Takada, long retired as a pro wrestler, in a new costume. He knocked out TAJIRI and the signs are there of a Takada return, which should raise a lot of interest. But this was not Hustle's original plan. If you read SSS a few months ago, I reported on Simon Inoki's talks with DSE boss Sakakibara about a possible tie-up. DSE kind of harassed New Japan after this for the services of Antonio Inoki, saying New Japan owed them something in return for Naoya Ogawa being dispatched to the 11/13/04 Osaka Dome show, then Toshiaki Kawada being dispatched to the 2005 G1 Climax.

New Japan's counterargument was basically that DSE had not asked for anything in return for those wrestlers, other than lots of money. In the end, the sides agreed on a barter that kind of wiped the old slate clean. New Japan would send Antonio Inoki to hatch out of the "Tama Ago" egg, and Hiroshi Tanahashi to help his old school friend, Razor Ramon HG, against some monster heels from America. In return, DSE would send Toshiaki Kawada and TAJIRI to appear in New Japan, with Kawada possibly entering his second G1 in a row. This deal fell through, for reasons unknown to me, but probably related to DSE's scandal. Out of the egg came Takada and All Japan agreed to help out in the HG department, sending Satoshi Kojima as his tag partner. Whether New Japan and DSE work together again is anyone's guess.

New Japan's own "entertainment" brand, WRESTLE LAND, is in danger of completely failing. The first show went over quite well for the most part, but the Tanahashi vs. Tiger Mask main event was something of a disaster. It wasn't the match quality, but rather that neither man did anything all that unique beside change their costumes. Tiger Mask was injured and also claimed his costume made it hard for him to move, which may not have been a lie, as he was noticeably slower in the match than usual. The idea of WRESTLE LAND and LOCK UP is to show two extremes of pro wrestling, so for WL, the entertainment group, it should probably be over-the-top and really goofy, like the Jado/Gedo/Hokkaido (Ishikari) backstage skit was. Historically, debut shows can make or break a promotion. The lasting impression from a debut show tends to come from the main event more than anything else. How many people remember the undercard for Inoki vs. Gotch on New Japan's debut show? Or what was underneath Kobashi & Akiyama vs. Misawa & Taue on NOAH's first show? Then you have a new league like King's Road, that ran a mediocre match between Miyamoto and Tenryu, and never got off the ground. In this case, WL had a satisfactory undercard, but a main event that soured the whole show. With the second WL show about a week and half away, as few as 100 tickets have been sold (the debut one did a 550 full house). This doesn't mean definite disaster for WL2, as New Japan is known as a "walk-up" promotion more than an "advanced ticket sales" one, especially in Tokyo. But it isn't a good sign, and it also means WL producer, Hideyuki Watanabe, who is held in such high regard by many, is in danger of losing his support from Yuke's and New Japan. It will be important that this second show goes over better as a whole, or else the third show at Tokyo Differ Ariake could be the last.

Can Hustle control Japanese pro wrestling?

A recent sensation in Japan has been the growth of Hustle, DSE's organization that began 2 1/2 years ago. Hustle began much like FEG's WRESTLE-1, a gathering of big names thrown into random matches. As we have seen time and time again, you can have countless big names on a show, but if the fans are not given a theme or concept to follow, they will not show up. Early Hustle shows drew embarrassing numbers, the second chapter managing a mere 3,000 fans at the 16,000 seat Yokohama Arena, many of those invited too. They would use expensive talent, such as Kevin Nash and Scott Hall (brought in as fodder for OH Gun, Naoya Ogawa and Shinya Hashimoto), with little reward, much like New Japan has been doing with Brock Lesnar. At around the time of their fifth show, another flop at the Yokohama Arena, they began to create original characters and slowly developed a theme for the promotion. Attendances were still poor for a long time, the dream match of Naoya Ogawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada doing just 5,000 at Sumo Hall early in 2005 for example, but they were starting to show directivity. And because DSE was making so much money from PRIDE, they could afford this large loss of money and keep Hustle going. It was the introduction of non-wrestling celebrities that began to spike their attendances, as a female model named Yinling the Erotic Terrorist had a big effect and was allowed to pin Ogawa in a move that had pro wrestling purists throwing up.

The arrival of Razor Ramon HG (Hard Gay) at "Hustlemania" in November, 2005, marked the beginning of the successful, profitable Hustle. HG is a huge celebrity in Japan, eccentric and very popular, and showed a surprising ability to fit into the pro wrestling ring, despite no formal training (he and his old friend, Hiroshi Tanahashi, used to do mock-up matches at university). Since then, Hustle has been drawing good crowds (although many of their claimed attendances are heavily exaggerated) almost everywhere it goes in Japan. Only New Japan has been able to run so many 5,000+ seaters across the country in recent history, but now Hustle can. It doesn't hurt to have DSE's super-powerful local promoters behind you, but the product does have genuine popularity and has found its own fanbase, much like WWE did in Japan.

Hustle has many detractors, and personally I can't stand it. The quality of wrestling is below small independent groups and it basically exposes pro wrestling as being fake in a country where many fans are still clinging to the illusion that it is a fighting sport. I find DDT and Osaka Pro to be more fulfilling entertainment groups, as they can make me laugh, but also deliver some great matches in the ring. Monster army leader, Nobuhiko Takada, sold one of the event scripts to a weekly magazine early in Hustle's existence to prove it was predetermined, outraging many fans, and raising suspicions that Hustle was DSE's attempt to damage the credibility of pro wrestling as a fighting sport and eliminate it as a threat to PRIDE. However, this isn't about how much I or anyone else doesn't like Hustle, but what they are accomplishing.

The main point I wanted to raise in this article is one that will frighten a lot of people, and that is the realistic possibility that Hustle could become the leader of the Japanese pro wrestling community in future. Of course, some would not even call it pro wrestling and there are those in Japan that label it "fighting opera", but it uses pro wrestlers like Ogawa and Kawada, and appears under pro wrestling headlines, so technically it is a pro wrestling group. New Japan, as the long-standing leader, has always pushed hard into the mainstream to hold its position. It made pro wrestling socially cool in the 1990s, when the #2 promotion, Giant Baba's All Japan, was happy to put on excellent shows and hold an extremely large audience of diehard pro wrestling fans. However, while Baba's All Japan was selling out Tokyo Nippon Budokan all the time, New Japan was selling out the Tokyo Dome and various other Domes each year, because it had pushed hard into the mainstream and become better known. Today, New Japan remains in a battered state compared to its heyday, while NOAH is a less popular All Japan, with limited territorial power, but enjoying great popularity in Tokyo. New Japan continues to push into the mainstream, and they often dominate pro wrestling headlines, but nowadays often with scandals or negative stories, such as the current Tatsumi Fujinami debacle, where his erratic, see-saw attitude is again putting negative attention on the company when they should be focusing on other things.

So while New Japan is trying desperately to keep itself known in the mainstream, much of the attention on them is not good. And here is where the Hustle threat comes in. By using big name celebrities, Hustle has become (positively) known socially in an era where pro wrestling is uncool to every day people. Therefore, the possibility of Hustle becoming the leading company in Japan pro wrestling exists. They are popular, they draw good crowds, they have a unique direction, and they have DSE's money that allows them to use very expensive pro wrestling and non-pro wrestling names. Just look at TAJIRI, back from a successful stint in America. New Japan, All Japan, and other groups tried to get him, but DSE's money probably made the difference. Toshiaki Kawada, one of the greatest "pure" wrestlers of all time, is in Hustle's possession and is rarely in serious matches anymore. Kenzo Suzuki was also the object of a bidding war, and Hustle got him. And in a recent development, Hustle has landed a timeslot that New Japan and NOAH can only dream of (afternoon) on the national Fuji TV network for its upcoming "Hustle Aid" super-show, which will expose it to more casual fans than New Japan and NOAH can possibly get to at the moment. If Hustle keeps growing while New Japan and NOAH don't, the face of pro wrestling in Japan could change.

Fear not, those who resent this possibility! Hustle is still a long way off taking over. Hustle does not run a tour schedule like New Japan and NOAH, and were it to run 130+ shows per year like those companies, the novelty could easily wear off and numbers might drop significantly. There is also the question of whether Hustle is a fad. As I mentioned, Hustle relies on celebrities for its success. Ogawa is a big star, but when he led Hustle before the celebs arrived, the numbers were terrible. How long will HG, their biggest star, decide to pursue pro wrestling? If he leaves, will they be able to find someone of similar status to replace him? And even if HG stays, we all know how fad-crazy Japan is, and it is almost certain that sooner or later, HG will no longer be as popular as he is now. Just look at Bob Sapp, one of the biggest celebrities in Japan a few years ago, now a laughing stock and almost a nobody. So while Hustle's popularity can't be denied, nothing is certain. If Hustle does manage to expand and maintain its popularity, then it truly could become the leader of the pro wrestling industry in Japan. New Japan, NOAH, and the other traditional groups need to be wary of this.

Running away with the winnings...

NOAH recently learnt the lesson of dabbling in the fight scene. I'm not talking about Takashi Sugiura's brutal loss to Pancrase's Ryuta Noji, but rather the company's dealings with FEG (K-1). NOAH tied up with FEG last year and began cooperating with their WRESTLE-1 franchise. This only lasted one show, because W-1 died and couldn't even complete the tournament it had running. NOAH boss Nakada bartered with K-1 boss Tanigawa over the services of the always unreliable Bob Sapp, who New Japan had problems with a couple of years ago. Although Sapp meant half as much as he did a few years ago, he could be used effectively for NOAH's image strategy. NOAH sent Jun Akiyama as a sacrificial lamb and as collateral managed to get an agreement of Sapp losing to Kenta Kobashi the following year. Akiyama was beaten decisively by Sapp in a short match, but NOAH had a plan to not only redeem Akiyama's lost worth, but strengthen the image of their biggest star at the same time.

As FEG agreed upon, Sapp was lined up to face Kobashi in 2006 and lose for the first time to a Japanese pro wrestler (in a worked match, as we all know what happened in the Fujita vs. Sapp 2004 shoot). NOAH planned to run this at their 4/23 Budokan show, tied in with the concept of Akiyama, who is now the GHC Heavyweight Champion, facing one of the undercard jobbers. Since Kobashi vs. Sapp would ensure a sell out, or near enough, NOAH could run Akiyama vs. Masao Inoue (the winner of the tournament) with no problems. But in dealing with FEG, nothing is ever certain. Days before NOAH was scheduled to announce this huge match, it was cancelled. Why? Well, I don't know the exact reason, but there are only two possibilities. One, FEG simply decided to play dirty, because they had gotten what they wanted out of NOAH, and unless Misawa, Kobashi, or Akiyama decided to give MMA a shot, the company had nothing left to offer K-1 boss, Sadaharu Tanigawa. The public reason ties in with the recent Sapp disgrace, where he boycotted a K-1 show just minutes before he was scheduled to fight Ernesto Hoost in Holland. Tanigawa said Sapp had also refused the NOAH match (possibly via DSE influence, as PRIDE has been trying to lure him away in retaliation for FEG's theft of Kazushi Sakuraba), shifting all blame on to him, but it is quite possible that the timing of Sapp's disgrace was convenient for FEG, allowing them to place all the dirt on him, when they had a hand in it. NOAH replaced Kobashi vs. Sapp with Kobashi vs. Marufuji, which turned out to be a huge hit, although the booking of it perhaps revealed its abrupt nature, as Marufuji had beaten Akira Taue to put him in line for a title shot, but the (forced and unavoidable) loss to Kobashi suddenly shelved that plan. Nakada used a cover story of the show, which drew way below their usual Budokan standard, being an "experimental performance", when in fact it was supposed to be anything but.

NOAH's green mat must give them the luck of the Irish, as they narrowly avoided New Japan's mistake. New Japan had Sapp vs. Tanahashi announced in advance for a big Osaka show in June, 2004. Luckily for them, the man who ended Sapp Time, Fujita, was able to step in quite seamlessly, and the resulting match turned out to be a big success like Kobashi vs. Marufuji. NOAH, though, managed to get word of FEG and/or Sapp's betrayal right before they were to announce the match. It is no secret that most of NOAH's profit comes from its Tokyo Nippon Budokan shows, as they don't run many large scale events outside of Tokyo, and had they announced Kobashi vs. Sapp and not delivered, it could have damaged their Tokyo business like New Japan's has been from similar mistakes. NOAH has built up great trust through its honest and stellar performances at Budokan, and this betrayal of fans, had the match been announced, could have hurt that trust.

Despite avoiding that, NOAH has a some problems to deal with. As most followers of Japanese pro wrestling know, NOAH is the most "rank" conscious promotion in the country, and its fanbase is conditioned to follow that. Rarely, will you see anyone pin Kobashi or Misawa, and rarely will an undercarder pin even someone like Takeshi Rikio. In most other promotions, there is "rank", but it isn't followed as strictly, and there is more the feeling that anyone can beat anyone. So for NOAH, with this system in place, the disappearance of Kobashi vs. Sapp brought up a problem. NOAH sacrificed Akiyama to Sapp with a good plan in mind. Akiyama won the GHC Heavyweight Title very shortly after that loss to Sapp, which was questionable booking on the surface, but Nakada and Misawa aren't stupid. They planned all along to have their superstar, Kenta Kobashi, beat Sapp, then go on to lose to Akiyama in a title match this July at Budokan. That way, Akiyama's loss to Sapp could be undone, as Akiyama would be defeating the superman who took down Sapp. However, NOAH is faced with a dilemma now of whether to have Akiyama defeat Kobashi and hope that people just forget Akiyama's crushing loss to Sapp in time. Because for such a rank conscious promotion and fanbase, a victory over Kobashi for Akiyama may set up a problematic "Sapp > Akiyama >or= Kobashi" line, and with Sapp's worth now at an all-time low, this probably would trouble NOAH, where these sort of victories and defeats, and who is ranked highest, mean a lot more than in other groups.

This is not the first time NOAH has been screwed over by FEG, which makes it more puzzling to me why Nakada recently named FEG as one of their ally groups. When Akebono appeared on their January Budokan show, it was supposed to be the first of many appearances for him in the promotion. After all, why would they let Akebono, fresh off another shameful 12/31 loss, defeat Kobashi even indirectly? Because, of course, Nakada and Misawa had a plan. A plan so concrete in fact they revealed it to the newspapers. Akebono was scheduled to run through top junior names like Marufuji and/or KENTA, beat a couple of midcard heavyweights like ex-sumo Izumida, then go on to face and no doubt lose to one of NOAH's top stars (possibly Kobashi, as they paired those two in Akebono's first NOAH appearance). After the January Budokan win though, which was NOAH's contribution to rehabilitating Akebono after 12/31 (which New Japan completed, before he went back and lost again), FEG decided that Akebono would work for New Japan, who gave them the promise of a big Akebono push from the start, and an eventual Lesnar vs. Akebono singles match (that sounded much bigger on paper than it turned out to be). Once again, NOAH was screwed over by FEG. Yet relations persist, and why? It is unlike NOAH, who won't deal with New Japan and BIG MOUTH LOUD over broken agreements, to continue working with such a shady company. Does NOAH management have a plan? It will be difficult to get Sapp now, as he is seriously in FEG's doghouse and is doing everything to escape the company. Perhaps Akebono could appear in future, but his worth just isn't what it used to be. All I can think of is gaining access to a couple of competant gaijin wrestlers like The Predator, who NOAH could perhaps push high enough to create a modern day version of Jumbo (Kobashi or Misawa) vs. Brody (Predator) match, like All Japan/WRESTLE-1 did last year with Suwama vs. Predator. Other than that, it appears to me that NOAH has been screwed over massively by K-1, who dangled their two biggest pro wrestling-related stars like carrots, got what they wanted from NOAH, then ran away with the winnings.

The honeymoon is over...

Relations between Japan's two majors, New Japan and NOAH, have hit an all-time low. When Simon Inoki declared a freeze to working relations with NOAH after taking over last year, the two companies quietly went about their own business. But recently, NOAH's behind-the-scenes man, Ryu Nakada, abruptly brought up the situation again, saying NOAH would not work with New Japan from now on. Nakada said they would not trade talent with New Japan anymore, but instead would work with FEG (K-1), ZERO1-MAX, Tenryu, and the Kensuke Office. Tokyo Sports described it as an attempt to "circle" New Japan and form an anti-New Japan alliance. For if New Japan was to collapse, NOAH would become the sole major and by default, the industry leader, unless perhaps Yuke's managed to transfer New Japan's wrestlers, promoters, and fans to a new brand.

The timing was very suspicious, and many feel it was an attempt by Nakada to damage New Japan's image by kicking them while they are down, so to speak. He said New Japan had promised to send NOAH one more wrestler for a big show, but that Simon had wiped the slate clean when he took over. If New Japan had made a promise, then most likely they should have gone through with it, but why has Nakada waited all this time to bring up the subject? It is clearly a political move, and has raised a lot of talk. It is quite possible that one of the reasons for this timing is to try and strain relations between New Japan and Yuke's, as by refusing to work with New Japan, they also refuse to work with Yuke's, meaning we may not see NOAH wrestlers in future Yuke's titles. Also, by publically labelling them untrustworthy, they may want to damage New Japan's working agreements with groups like ZERO1-MAX, a relationship that so far has resulted in some terrific matches and rivalries.

Two companies Nakada excluded from his "group" were Muto's All Japan and Uei's BIG MOUTH LOUD. Both companies are run by former New Japan employees, and if NOAH is going to get aggressive and make an attempt to hurt New Japan's image, now might be the time for New Japan to mend fences with Muto and Uei, and form their own alliance. All Japan is $2,000,000 in debt, which is less in the red than New Japan, but All Japan doesn't have a company like Yuke's pumping money in every month. A strong alliance between the promotions or even bigger, a merger, could be huge and healthy for the industry. A merger would quickly heal many of New Japan's wounds, as Muto and Kojima would help fill serious voids (Muto would be that missing babyface legend and Kojima would help activate the third generation with Nagata, Nakanishi, and Tenzan), while young talents like Suwama and Brute Issei would gain acceptance in New Japan, due to their size and prolific amaresu backgrounds. Since All Japan has very few affiliated wrestlers and uses freelancers to fill up cards, it probably wouldn't lead to a bloated roster either, as those freelancers could go their own way (or be used on New Japan's new brands). Of course, this is all hypothetical, but it would certainly be interesting.

New Japan has not publically responded to Nakada's comments yet. Simon is in America, while Sugehayashi (vice-president) and Taniguchi (Yuke's president) may not want to get into a debate through the press, as newspapers like Tokyo Sports tend to exaggerate what is really happening. However, Naofumi Yamamoto spoke out against NOAH in Tokyo Sports and took a snipe at Nakada. Yamamoto also brought up the timing of these comments, implying it was a dirty attempt to damage New Japan's image. What he was most angry about was Nakada freely naming ZERO1-MAX as an ally, when New Japan is also working closely with the group (as they are also working with FEG, providing Katsuhiko Nagata for K-1 HERO's events and using Akebono when possible). Yamamoto told Nakada to stop playing his tricks, and spoke about his rivalry with Ryouji Sai and how no sneaky tactics by NOAH management will stop this hot feud from continuing.

The honeymoon is over and the two majors are on dreadful terms again. Although this could be cleared up, it seems that relations have been severed indefinitely. Personally, I think this could be good for the business, as I think the industry is more interesting when the top two have animosity, rather than when they are holding hands. The question is how far this will go - will New Japan use its influence in certain regions to damage NOAH's business? Will NOAH (or New Japan for that matter) attempt to lure away talent from the opposition with big promises? Is this a big angle designed to start a "real" interpromotional war between the promotions? If anything else happens, I'll post more updates.

Comments on Fujinami and Honma

It has been a while since my last entry, because I haven't really had much to comment on at length. To remind people this blog still exists, I'm going to post some comments on a few things...

It appears that Tatsumi Fujinami will stay with New Japan, but he has yet to confirm it (they are waiting for the current tour to end, so they can keep the attention on the ring). To me, this comes as no surprise, as Fujinami has hinted at leaving before and never gone through with it. He does have a genuine love for New Japan, but this particular hint of secession was his most serious yet, with him trying to get Simon Inoki and Choshu out of power. Some say he was fishing for the vacated chairman position, last held by Antonio Inoki, and never intended to leave from the start. Simon and Choshu are very close and Simon has looked up to Choshu since he was a boy. They often argue on things, but are a team, and it was Simon who brought Choshu back to New Japan and has supported Choshu when the heat has been on him. Fujinami and Choshu have been rivals for a long time, but managed to work together for many years both in the ring and out of it. For the company's sake, I hope they can co-exist now, as they need as many of these important figures on the same page as possible. Fujinami had a point on Choshu though, questioning why Choshu's word was given more importance than his own, when Fujinami has stayed loyal to New Japan for his entire career, while Choshu has walked out on the company twice (third time lucky for New Japan?). Fujinami has things to offer the company, and I quite stupidly said in my last entry that losing Fujinami would be no loss to business. In fact, it turns out that Fujinami is very influential with some of New Japan's top promoters, and were he to leave, those promoters could go with him. The last thing New Japan needs now is key promoters disappearing, when there are already business struggles. Fujinami denied ever calling for Choshu and Simon's resignation while enjoying dinner with Seiji Sakaguchi and Hisashi Shinma in late April, and those two encouraged Fujinami to stay with New Japan. I'm a little surprised Shinma did that, as he has often been critical of New Japan and especially Inoki (that reunion didn't last long...). There were signs that Fujinami had people waiting for his resignation, and then plans would have gone into effect for a new promotion to form, involving Hidekazu Tanaka and some of the wrestlers who left in January. But once again, the Macho Dragon looks to have backed out of a big move, and who can blame him, with his salary said to be somewhere in the $250,000 region?

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With Fujinami's position still suspended until he decides for certain, New Japan's upper management now looks like this.

President: Simon Kelly Inoki
Vice-President: Naoki Sugehayashi
Director: Tatsuo Kawamura (K-Dash Group)
Director: Haruki Kitazawa (TV Asahi)
Director: Yasutaka Honji (Yuke's)
Director: Tatsumi Fujinami (under suspension)
Advisor: Seiji Sakaguchi

The only major change was the departure of Hideaki Yamanaka, whose resignation was formally accepted. He leaves after many years with the company and said his energy and passion for the job had gone. In reality, Yamanaka put his cards with the Inoki Office and became something of a pawn of their's, so when they came crumbling down, so did Yamanaka's position. He was quickly demoted and more or less pushed out of the company. At his height, Yamanaka was part of the strongest backstage gathering ever in Japanese pro wrestling, also featuring the likes of Fumihiko Uei, Hideyuki Watanabe, and Yoshiyuki Nakamura, who together helped make New Japan more money than they knew what to do with. Another officer by the name of Ono also left, and he had only been with the company briefly. Quite possibly, he was recruited to handle the Bangladesh tour, which was nixed by Yuke's.

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Tomoaki Honma quit All Japan all of a sudden recently. Honma is one of the better small heavyweight wrestlers in Japan, but has struggled for a real break in the big leagues because of his "dirty" background in Death Match wrestling. Honma was popular in All Japan, but hit a glass ceiling that was barely above rookie level. However, he was happy with this position for a long time, and didn't lose motivation. Like Satoshi Kojima, Honma was one of the wrestlers who adored Hideyuki Watanabe, All Japan's excellent booker in 2005. Honma's departure is quite possibly the work of Watanabe, who it is said could destroy All Japan with his influence if he made the effort, as most of the roster would follow him. Quite possibly even Kojima, who is as close to Watanabe as he is to Muto, and in recent months has been thinking over whether to stay loyal to Muto or join Watanabe back in New Japan this year. Honma mentioned New Japan as the place he would really like to wrestle, and under normal circumstances he would most likely not be given the time of day, unless he got in as part of the Apache Army or something. But if Watanabe is involved, then he may have a chance, as Watanabe is highly regarded by Yuke's. Watanabe is helping produce the new "WRESTLE LAND" brand, which focuses on gimmicks, factions, and the "entertainment" side of pro wrestling, and could possibly be a destination for Honma coupled with other freelance appearances. Watanabe took All Japan down this route with success, and his first act has been to revive the Makai Club for WRESTLE LAND, and that will be replenished with new members. Could Honma be one of those?

Watanabe's departure late last year was just a part of a chain reaction in All Japan that has almost destroyed the company behind the scenes. Kenji Aoki left in September and formed the disasterous King's Road group, that has already downsized to C grade indy. Hideki Takahashi, the sales manager, and Sachiko Baba (Giant Baba's niece) left in November. Then Watanabe left after disagreements with Muto, the worst blow of the lot for All Japan. This means that the three main execs who jumped with Muto, Kojima, and Kashin, those being Watanabe, Aoki, and Takahashi, have quit All Japan. Watanabe's replacement left after about a month, unable to handle the job, and Muto has his wife Hisae doing work behind the scenes. Hisae Muto may have been one of the reasons for several of these departures, as she has gotten comparisons to Motoko Baba, and Kashin has also poked fun at her several times. All Japan has also faced the risk of bankruptcy again, and there are still major problems behind the scenes right now, with an accounts-due problem, building rent embezzlement problem, several last minute cancellations of booked facilities, and certain problems with booking foreigners.

New Japan's power structure

For this article, I will look at some aspects of the power structure in New Japan, beginning with none other than Riki Choshu. President Simon Inoki held talks with Choshu as far back as last September, trying to get him back in New Japan. New Japan was sorely lacking a "site foreman", someone to lead the team during tours. Not only did Choshu agree to come back after lengthy negotiations, but he was also given full booking power, or in other words, he had returned to the role he occupied for years until quitting the company following Antonio Inoki's return to power in the early 2000s. Choshu began booking again late in 2005, and immediately you could see signs of his influence, with "UWF system" wrestlers like Kakihara and Naruse quickly becoming stepping stones for "trueborn" youngsters like Yamamoto, Nagao, and Yujiro. Prejudices aside, things seemed to be going well under the new Choshu regime in late 2005, with some very good lineups and a sense of completeness to the late 2005 Kobe, Osaka, and Nagoya shows that hadn't been there previously in the year on non-G1 big shows. Then came the problems, as it was revealed that many wrestlers simply did not like Choshu or this new system, which led to a massive exodus of talent in January. Not only wrestlers, but also officials, such as Hidekazu Tanaka and Hideaki Yamanaka, although those are two names that many argue New Japan is better off without. Luckily for New Japan, no prime wrestlers left the company, with the biggest hits being the departure of popular undercard characters like Nishimura, Yoshie, Hiro, and Goto (who has since returned as a near full-time freelancer), who have the sort of individuality that adds texture to any product. Choshu was not solely responsible for all of these departures by any means, but the concept of his reinstatement to New Japan was a factor, as he had twice before "betrayed" the company, and yet been reinstated once again. And not forgetting perhaps the biggest factor, massive salary reduction to lower the pay scale of New Japan, which many wrestlers turned their noses up at.

The 1/4/06 Tokyo Dome show would spell curtains for Choshu's short reign with full booking powers. It was by no means a bad show and was in fact quite enjoyable match-wise, but the booking of it was more than a little dodgy. Many wrestlers Choshu was indebted to from his failed World Japan promotion and follow-up indy, Riki Pro, were inexplicably given spots on the card. For example, the semi final saw Chono & Tenzan defend their IWGP Tag Team Title against Koshinaka & Omori, two of WJ's key figures. Both men have talent, but as you can understand, the mere concept of such a minor team walking into a Tokyo Dome semi final out of nowhere appalled many fans, officials, and wrestlers, and combined with other such favours, was seen as a major abuse of power by Choshu. Not only that, but New Japan wrestlers had to lie down for many of these outsiders for no apparent reason except Choshu doing favours for old friends. The only success to come out of the 1/4 show that hadn't existed before was the CTU vs. Apache Army feud, that has become one of the best interpromotional rivalries in recent years. After 1/4, Choshu was stripped of his full powers and became part of a team with several other figures like Chono. Still, looking at tours since 1/4, it is clear that he is still the main influence over the regular shows in territories. For example, there are still no real factions (one of Choshu's recent dislikes, and something that is costing New Japan a fortune in merchandise if CTU's good sales are anything to go by) besides CTU, which he tried to forcibly split up with Team JAPAN and Black New Japan late in 2005, but thankfully was unable to. And yet, why can't Choshu just make the product like it was in the 1990s, when New Japan was making almost more money than it could handle? After all, he has enough power now to do what he did then? The answer may come as a shock to many, and is simply because Choshu was not the genius behind New Japan's 1990s success, this is a myth. He was a factor, one of many pieces in the New Japan puzzle. He was the booker, but like so many leaders in history, relied heavily on surrounding influences.

In the 1990s, President Sakaguchi, Hiroshi Hase, and Katsuji Nagashima were parts of New Japan's power structure, Sakaguchi being leader of the company, Hase being Choshu's right hand man, and Nagashima being the top business executive. Then there were some exceptional young talents backstage, such as Hideyuki Watanabe and Yoshiyuki Nakamura (now the boss of ZERO1-MAX), who were some of the men who figured how to reach young fans and were largely responsible for massive sales each year. Sadly, those two men, along with some other capable hands, have left the company in the last six years, though Watanabe is now back in some form, yet to be clarified (other than an involvement in the new "WRESTLE LAND" brand). While Sakaguchi came up with ideas like the G1 Climax and Nagashima was invaluable as a major executive, it was Hiroshi Hase who was one of the hidden geniuses behind New Japan's boom period in the 1990s. Many of Choshu's great ideas were fed to him by Hase, and when Hase left New Japan, Shiro Koshinaka stepped into his role, and the product became a little less exciting, year by year, as the 1990s came to a close. In 2000, New Japan changed a lot, with Muto going to WCW for a year, and Hashimoto missing most of the time due to the fiasco with Ogawa. Choshu's favourite pupil, Kensuke Sasaki, was therefore finally out of the shadows of the more popular Hashimoto and Muto, and able to lead as top babyface, with two more of Choshu's favourites, Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata, also moving up the ladder into stronger positions. On the other side, Choshu's final success of his first reign as site foreman was the heel team of TenKoji, Tenzan & Kojima, one of New Japan's greatest and best drawing teams, who could have *** matches with almost any team by using an exciting formula, and made tag wrestling important again. The product wasn't the same anymore though, and New Japan was more than ever starting to rely on brand power more than superstars like the 3 Musketeers. Then came Hideyuki Watanabe's promotion, giving him some matchmaking power. Watanabe, as mentioned, had been involved mainly in marketting and was one of New Japan's most gifted employees, coming up with ideas that would make the company millions.

Watanabe's skill had quick effect, as he was the main man in opening talks with the depleted All Japan about an interpromotional feud. All Japan was essentially a one man promotion at the time, and New Japan put that man, Toshiaki Kawada, over the unstoppable ace, Kensuke Sasaki, in the first big match of the series in front of a legitimately sold out Tokyo Dome crowd. 2001 came and New Japan was an enlivened product again, thanks to modern touches added by Watanabe and the return of a rejuvenated Keiji Muto. But trouble was brewing, with Antonio Inoki returning and making a push for power, which he was able to get first in part, then fully when Kiyoshi Sagawa died in early 2002 and Inoki inherited his stock, making him majority owner. Many of Choshu and Watanabe's ideas were refused by Inoki, and as 2001 progressed, the product took on a new "fighting" theme that would become the route for several years after, attempting to integrate New Japan with the MMA scene, which was finally becoming more popular than pro wrestling after years of existing as a lingering threat. The tour product, led by the same men as usual, was the best it had been in years, with both the heavyweight and junior divisions looking good, but the major Dome shows were becoming disaster zones. In 2002, both Choshu and Watanabe left, heading in different directions. Once Kensuke followed at the start of 2003, Choshu would begin his disasterous World Japan, while Watanabe would follow Keiji Muto to take over All Japan, where he single-handedly would save the promotion after they lost too much money and nearly went bankrupt, using some excellent booking techniques to bring them out of a ditch. In New Japan, one of Inoki's favourites, Fumihiko Uei, moved into power, while Chono was also given his slice of the cake, but all major shows would become property of the Inoki Office, who had to "OK" every idea and often pitched their own. Since then, there have been many changes backstage with little effect, but in 2005 it was revealed that the Inoki Office, which using Antonio Inoki's stock controlled New Japan, was having financial problems. Inoki himself also needed gold for his projects like "permanent electricity", and the money he was sucking out of New Japan each month to fund those projects was apparently not enough, as he sold his stock to Yuke's in November. Yuke's have since managed to dissolve the Inoki Office, the major cause of New Japan's problems in recent years, and just recently bought all rights to Antonio Inoki's image, meaning they now control his public appearances and merchandise with his face on it or his endorsement.

Yuke's will hold a shareholder's meeting at the end of April that will be very important for New Japan's future. There is much speculation on who will get promoted and demoted. Will young Simon Inoki keep his position as president, or will Yuke's favourite, vice-president Naoki Sugehayashi, earn a promotion? There are those who see Sugehayashi as a more suitable president and who resent Simon because of his adopted name, although he has been doing his best since taking over and for his own sake is hopefully trying to separate himself from his father-in-law's influence. How will Hideyuki Watanabe factor into the reshuffled New Japan, if at all? Is he back only to help "WRESTLE LAND" or do they have more in mind for him? Teruo Kawana's name has also come up, another talented figure who has been involved in the PR department since the 1990s and has been tipped for a major promotion. And what of the old guard? Tatsumi Fujinami is very close to resigning and leaving the company for the first time ever, but you can never be sure with him, as he has threatened to walk several times before and has either lost support from potential sponsors or not had the nerve to go through with it. A blow to Fujinami's possible plans would be two other old timers who have left positions of powers in the past year or so, Seiji Sakaguchi and Kengo Kimura, pledging their support to New Japan from the outside. Fujinami, were he to leave, would most likely work with Hidekazu Tanaka and organize some form of Muga event involving Nishimura and others who left in January. Fujinami would be no loss to New Japan's business side, as he has proven inadequate when in positions of power (the company plummetted when he was given Sakaguchi's presidency and unlike Big Sak, did not have the backbone to resist Inoki), but another "trueborn" legend leaving would again hurt the company image. Don't expect Riki Choshu to get the axe just yet either, despite his demotion. Yuke's still has much faith in Choshu, and person's concerned told Naigai Times that they want Choshu to remain as "site foreman" after his first contract expires later this year. Even if Choshu's modern booking can be questioned, the man knows how to organize the tour party and motivate wrestlers (just look at Naofumi Yamamoto, who has broken out since Choshu's arrival). It will be certainly interesting to see what goes on later this month and how it effects New Japan's future. But one thing is for sure, New Japan can only go upwards with the Inoki Office out of the picture, especially since Yuke's is unlikely to accept any of the incompetance that has haunted the backstage scene in recent years.

History could have changed on 11/13/04

One of the latest crazes in Japan has been exposure books that reveal the inner workings of the Japanese pro wrestling business. Unfortunately for New Japan, they tend to be the skapegoat for many of these releases, because there have been so many problems in the past, particularly since the new millenium hit (but even in the glory years, there were many scandals). The latest of these books is "PRIDE ~ K-1 ~ Shin Nihon Taboo Taizen" by Tadashi Tanaka, who is Dave Meltzer's main Japanese source for the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. As the title would suggest, Tanaka goes into some of the taboo subjects surrounding those three groups, such as the suicide of former PRIDE boss Naoto Morishita, which many suspect was much more than a depressed man taking his own life. Tanaka has discovered some interesting stuff on PRIDE, K-1, and New Japan, the "big three" promotions in the Japanese media. I haven't read the book, but came across one of the more interesting stories, and if I discover anymore, I'll comment on those too.

Tanaka's book has some information about the highly controversial 11/13/04 Osaka Dome show. As I've said at SSS many times, most of New Japan's biggest mistakes in previous years have taken place in Tokyo, which is telling when you look at recent major show business there. There is an exception to every cause though, and the Osaka Dome show also managed to piss off many fans, although if you wipe the matchmaking chaos out of your mind, it was actually a very good show in the ring (luckily, it didn't hurt New Japan's business at the smaller Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, because they put on a smoking hot show there the following month with Nagata vs. Chono, Tenzan vs. Kojima, and Tanahashi & Nakamura vs. Sasaki & Suzuki). One of the most amusing or sad, depending on how you look at it, details about this show came from Masakazu Kusama's book, where he talked about how he and Inoki were watching it on a screen and Inoki had no idea who Takashi Iizuka was. Iizuka debuted in 1986, while Inoki was still in control of New Japan, so this gives you an idea of how much attention he had been paying to the product. The main controversy surrounding this show was the intrusion by then-majority owner, Inoki, who changed the announced card very late. The original lineup was headed by three title matches. Toshiaki Kawada was scheduled to defend his Triple Crown against Hiroyoshi Tenzan, who had recently won the G1 Climax for a second time. Then, Kensuke Sasaki was scheduled to defend the IWGP Heavyweight Title against his rival from many years ago, Minoru Suzuki. And finally, to show the next generation on a big stage, Hiroshi Tanahashi was scheduled to defend the newly recognized IWGP U-30 Openweight Title against Shinsuke Nakamura in the main event, above the two matches that fought over very prestigious titles.

Tickets didn't sell as they expected, which wasn't a big surprise to some of us. Kawada has never been a major draw outside of the old All Japan system and the New Japan vs. All Japan feud of 2000~2001, and Tenzan's singles push that began in 2003 had been as see-saw as two kids at a play park, meaning he hadn't been established properly and was getting the "choker" label that would haunt his late 2003~early 2005 singles push. Kensuke Sasaki has drawn in certain, well planned situations, but a match against minor draw Minoru Suzuki was probably Sumo Hall class at best. Tanahashi vs. Nakamura was intended to draw in both the diehard New Japan fan and curious pro wrestling fan interested in these two future stars. Nakamura had proven to be one of the better major show draws for someone of his age after a good crowd for his match with Takayama at the Tokyo Dome on 1/4/04, but the match with Tanahashi was never going to fill a building of this size. Inoki enlisted the services of three favourites, Kazuyuki Fujita, Naoya Ogawa, and Kendo Kashin. In a matter of days, the card changed drastically, with two of the three title matches cancelled, only Kensuke vs. Suzuki (which would turn out to be a cold match, much worse than the two cancelled ones would have been), and those two matches turned into tags implementing Inoki's new recruits. Now, Tenzan & Tanahashi would face Kawada & Ogawa, while Nakanishi & Nakamura would battle Fujita & Kashin in the main event. Both matches had their appeal, but appeared to be a major betrayal of trust, as Tanahashi vs. Nakamura had been voted for by the fans as part of a new experiment.

Tanaka's book suggests that all wasn't as it seemed though. Tanaka claims that the card change was an angle from the start, and that they always planned to move Tanahashi vs. Nakamura to the 1/4 Tokyo Dome show. However, the originally planned card change, according to Tanaka, wouldn't have been nearly as sour. According to him, they planned to run Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Naoya Ogawa in the main event, which would have been very big. Then the talk started that Nakamura was going shoot on Ogawa, a man loathed by many New Japan fans (he was booed rabidly at the Osaka Dome, and several thousand fans left in protest of his appearance). Nakamura had apparently told the young lions to be on standby, because he was going to take business into his own hands. Ogawa got word of this and called for a card change, which led to him being put in the "safe" tag match opposite Tenzan & Tanahashi, two guys with no shooting background. Naturally, the New Japan side was not happy about this, and Ogawa accepted half of his original salary for the show to avoid the Nakamura match. Had Nakamura vs. Ogawa gone ahead and Nakamura taken Ogawa to school, pro wrestling history could have changed, much like when Maeda shootkicked Choshu in the 1980s. Ogawa was terrified of what could have happened, apparently having no faith in his own shooting ability to counter what Nakamura would do, and so the situation was avoided. Why would a wrestler want to shoot on someone else? For a fan of modern American pro wrestling, this concept could be hard to understand and takes some knowledge of Japanese pro wrestling and particularly New Japan's culture and history. Nakamura's main aim is to revive New Japan back to its old heights, restore the fantasy of pro wrestling being able to compete, if not exceed, other forms of combat. Naoya Ogawa is one of the biggest war criminals to ever step foot in New Japan's ring.

Ogawa's feud with Hashimoto started well enough, with wins traded, but as Ogawa's ego increased, so did the madness of this rivalry. After suffering much humiliation, Hashimoto was scheduled to win the final match with Ogawa at the Tokyo Dome in April, 2000. Ogawa managed to force a booking change, which led to him winning and to Hashimoto's eventual exit from New Japan. Imagine he had never done this, Hashimoto would have never left New Japan and many of the problems would not have existed. They would not have lacked that legend babyface on top that they have so sorely missed since Hashimoto and Muto left. It got worse after that. Ogawa & Murakami faced Choshu & Nakanishi the following year at the Fukuoka Dome. The TV rating was peaking at an incredible 21.1% during this match, but the match was a disaster and the worst of the year in New Japan. Ogawa and Murakami refused to cooperate and it all broke down. They didn't start shooting exactly, but the match simply had no structure and no merit. Eventually, Nakanishi submitted Murakami with a chickenwing armlock, but the damage was done. New Japan hasn't touched the Fukuoka Dome since. Once again, the following January, Ogawa was invited back by his senpai and faced Kensuke Sasaki in a big singles match. I don't have confirmed details on what went on here, but there are those that say again, Ogawa was scheduled to lose and forced a booking change. The result was a no contest and ended up with Ogawa running for his life from the ring, with a furious Kensuke and Nakanishi behind him. This was one of the turning points for New Japan's Tokyo Dome business, as it was a major betrayal of trust and left fans fuming. Ogawa's next Tokyo Dome appearance was in May, but passed without problems, as by then Hashimoto had become a calming influence over Ogawa and they had formed OH Gun. Since then, Ogawa has become more professional (as has Murakami, who ironically enough is known for being a really nice guy backstage now). And so, you can probably see why someone like Nakamura, whose life is New Japan Pro-Wrestling, had these ideas in mind. Revenge for what Ogawa had done to New Japan and also the chance to create a legend for himself. Would wrestling history have changed if this had happened?

Oh, but it doesn't end there. One of the most appalling revelations involving the 11/13/04 Osaka Dome has come out. Kendo Kashin worked the show and did his best, but what did he learn after it? That Inoki had taken 70% of his performance fee and added it to his own treasury. For those who don't believe in karma, well, Inoki now finds himself with financial problems and his image sold to a New Japan Pro-Wrestling no longer owned by him. From owner to owned...

And finally, do you see that photo above of Inoki kicking Nakamura? This was after Nakamura lost the main event of the Osaka Dome show. Was Inoki taking out his frustrations on Nakamura? Nakamura took it like a humble young man, but barely. According to Mr. Tanaka, Nakamura came very close to hitting Inoki and Inoki knew it, getting the jitters. Relations between the two men have changed since then, with Nakamura separating himself from Inoki. I have said it all along and stand by it: Shinsuke Nakamura holds the key to New Japan's future, and if he can transform himself into what he needs to be while in America and after he returns to Japan, I feel he will change the industry in time for the better.

Strong Style Blog

Welcome to my new blog. I am Stuart, webmaster of Strong Style Spirit at puroresufan.com. A problem I have found lately is that I've been writing more about the business/inside part of New Japan than ever before on my site, when before I had always tried to keep the emphasis on the wrestling and storylines. In truth, I am quite sure that most visitors to the puroresufan.com network couldn't care less about the "other" side of Japanese pro wrestling, so this blog will cater more to the minority kind of fan, who takes interest in what is happening behind the scenes and things like that. I've created this blog to ramble a little about things I find out through various places. Even though this blog is hosted at Livedoor Japan, if you want to comment, just click "comments" at the bottom of each article, then enter your name and email in the form.

A lot goes on in New Japan and this is the place I'll focus on commentary, rather than straight-up news and results. Of course, I will focus on New Japan primarily, but may touch on other subjects if I feel inclined to. Although I love New Japan and make no illusions about being not biased towards it, I'm not above offering critical comments, as no business is perfect. I hope this blog can offer some entertaining reading and perhaps provide you some information that you wouldn't find anywhere else.