NOAH Yakuza controversy

[Warner2BruceTD]

Pro Wrestling NOAH just announced that General Manager Ryu Nakata and Counselor Haruka Eigen had ties to the Yakuza from 2003 to 2010, working with them to sell tickets to the company's live events.

All of the major Japanese media covered the story, which will give the promotion a bad public image. Virtually every promotion in sports and entertainment in Japan has Yakuza tie-ins, but it's probably best analogized like the steroid issue in sports in the U.S. It's commonplace in every major sport, deep down everyone knows it, but if it comes out that somebody used it publicly, it's a black mark against them. Pride went down largely because of these revelations.

Exactly how this will fall out is unknown, but expect fall out very quickly.

NOAH was, at least among Japanese sports fans, the most popular promotion in the country for much of the last decade, but fell on hard times in recent years once losing its network television outlet. A financially-strapped NTV, due to the recession, canceled pro wrestling, one of the longest lasting shows in the history of television in any country, dating back more than 50 years. The death of president Mitsuharu Misawa was another gigantic blow. Without strong television, the company was unable to create new stars who could sell tickets like Misawa and the frequently injured and physically destroyed Kenta Kobashi.

Well, this could be bad (seeRIDE).

However, the good news for NOAH, is that being so low profile these days may work in their favor here, if the public decides to shoulder shrug this and not give a fuck.

Lots of speculation that if NOAH throws in the towel, a lot of the talent will just migrate to Kensuke's Diamond Ring promotion, which will then go from part time to full time. So basically, just a massive exodus and the same crew working under a new banner (if that sounds familiar, it's because that's exactly how NOAH formed to begin with when Misawa led the mass exodus out of All Japan).

NOAH, truly, can just not catch a fucking break. First they lose TV, then Saito literally kills Misawa with a backdrop, then Marufuji & KENTA take turns being out for 6 months at a time, then the fucking Bravado's come over, now this.

 

[BigBiss]

many promotions they show up at your door and inform you that you will be buying tickets ... great promoting

 

[BigBiss]

or so I'v heard ...

 

[Bigpapa42]

Well that's shitty news. It has seemed like NOAH has been heading down a slide since Misawa died. This has to be a big step forward the end. Every Endless Journey ends.

 

[BigBiss]

a major shake up would not be all that bad right now

 

[KINGOFOOTBALL]

I understand a genuine sport where the outcome is gambled on like MMA being tied to Organized crime is bad....but why pro wrestling ? Why care long as the products good.

 

[Bigpapa42]

I understand a genuine sport where the outcome is gambled on like MMA being tied to Organized crime is bad....but why pro wrestling ? Why care long as the products good.

Perception matters hugely in Japan. It actually looks like a pretty similar situation to Pride. So far as I am aware, the Yakuza links with Pride were not really about affecting the outcomes of the fights (there are enough suggestions that they worked fights going way back to the very start), but simply rather indicative corruption within the organization. That left it disgraced and it wasn't just fans that were turned off, but businesses they worked with and that was more damaging.

The perception of organized crime in North American seems to be a different than elsewhere. There is a degree of romanticization, so you can't really think of this of an American business having ties to the Mafia. Rather, perhaps more similar if they had ties to Mexican drug cartels.

 

[BigBiss]

I understand a genuine sport where the outcome is gambled on like MMA being tied to Organized crime is bad....but why pro wrestling ? Why care long as the products good.

They dont make there money off Bets they skim off the top of the Gate

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

I understand a genuine sport where the outcome is gambled on like MMA being tied to Organized crime is bad....but why pro wrestling ? Why care long as the products good.

bigpapa nailed it.

The Japanese culture is well aware that the Yakuza has a hand in everything, but once a company is outed, they are disgraced and it is nearly impossible to do business with sponsors, tv networks, etc.

This is why PRIDE died. When the Yakuza stuff surfaced, they were kicked off their network, lost all of their sponsors, and were unable to get anybody esle to back them once they had the Yakuza stench attached.

What actually happened, was Fedor took a New Year's Eve booking from Antonio Inoki's group in stead of working the PRIDE show, and the PRIDE Yakuza backers flipped a shit and threatened everybody. It not only killed PRIDE, it killed MMA as whole.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

And what is the Yakuza going to do, as bad as they are, when Fedor is backed by the Russian mob.

Kind of a "yer beat" deal for PRIDE.

 

[Bigpapa42]

The more I think about it, the more I will be surprised if NOAH actually survives this. As much as I like Noah - at least "prime" Noah - the idea of them folidng up and simply puttiing all the talent under Kensuk's banner intrigues me. Though I still really don't like the "Diamond Ring" name.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

The more I think about it, the more I will be surprised if NOAH actually survives this. As much as I like Noah - at least "prime" Noah - the idea of them folidng up and simply puttiing all the talent under Kensuk's banner intrigues me. Though I still really don't like the "Diamond Ring" name.

When I was putting together the KENTA profile earlier, it made me sad to see NOAH filling up the Tokyo Dome just a few years ago.

In hindsight, Maru and KENTA should have been given decisive wins over Misawa and Kobashi when they had the chance. Go wasn't ready yet, and Morishima will never have enough charisma.

Misawa & Kobashi had all of those great matches with each other, but they wouldn't have been the mega stars they were without the big wins over the guys that came before them.

 

[Bigpapa42]

When I was putting together the KENTA profile earlier, it made me sad to see NOAH filling up the Tokyo Dome just a few years ago.

In hindsight, Maru and KENTA should have been given decisive wins over Misawa and Kobashi when they had the chance. Go wasn't ready yet, and Morishima will never have enough charisma.

Misawa & Kobashi had all of those great matches with each other, but they wouldn't have been the mega stars they were without the big wins over the guys that came before them.

I've always wondered about that failure by Noah. I know the situation was complicated somewhat with Kobashi's health by '06 or so. But still, Kobashi and Misawa had to realize that passing the torch went beyond giving it over to one or two guys.