Warner2BruceTD
2011 Poster Of The Year
Let's talk about the state of wrestling in 2012. I will do one promotion at a time. I'll fill you in on what's going on, i'll tell you where I think they are going, what they do right, what they do wrong, and why you should or shouldn't pay attention.
We will start with All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Established
1972
Style
Traditional puro, with a smattering of American style storylines
Current Stars
Keiji Muto (The Great Muta)
SUWAMA
Taiyo Kea
KENSO (Kenzo Suzuki)
Manabu Soya
Takumi Soya
Kaz Hayashi
Legends
Giant Baba
Jumbo Tsuruta
Abdullah The Butcher
The Funks
Akira Taue
Toshiaki Kawada
Mitsuhara Misawa
Kenta Kobashi
Current Champions
Current Triple Crown Champion Jun Akiyama, with Taiyo Kea
Triple Crown - Jun Akiyama (NOAH)
Unified World Tag Team - Dark Ozz & Dark Cuervo (AAA)
World Junior Heavyweight - Kenny Omega (DDT)
All Asia Tag Team - Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi (Big Japan)
As you can see, All Japan is doing a gimmick where outsiders hold all of the titles. Jun Akiyama, who started his career in All Japan (more on that later) and was in many people's eyes 'the chosen one' as the next great superstar, recently won the Triple Crown from top AJPW star SUWAMA.
Affiliated With
AAA - This is where All Japan sends young wrestlers for excursion, and the two groups also exchange veteran talent as well.
Big Japan - Not an official alliance, but a long inter promotional feud is ongoing
Current Direction
All Japan, after years of having a thin roster and realistically operating at the indie level, is experiencing a revival of sorts, thanks to a slew of quality outdsiders beefing up the roster and doing solid work.
All Japan, along with New Japan, was once the major league Japanese organization, and at one point was easily the place to find the best ring work in the entire world. Founded by Giant Baba in 1972, Baba adhered to strict booking principles that included no screwjobs, virtually all clean finishes, hard hitting realistic action (known as "King's Road" style) and a class system that emphasized wins and losses and ultimately made it very easy to elevate new stars as a result (for example, a young star would typically struggle to beat the veteran superstars, but when they finally did, the fans would see them at the level of the established star). Baba was also an isolationist, preferring to shun outsiders and never doing business with other Japanese groups.
Baba died in 1999, leaving top star Mitsuhara Misawa as president. Misawa did not get along with Baba's widow, and in May of 2000, resigned his position and led a mass exodus of talent (24 out of the 26 wrestlers on the roster) out of All Japan, all of which followed him to his new promotion, Pro Wrestling NOAH. Only Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi stayed loyal to Mrs. Baba and stayed behind.
All Japan struggled for next two years, with virtually no native roster and no TV deal (NTV, which had aired AJPW for decades, dropped the promotion in favor of Misawa's NOAH, which had all of the star power).
Keiji Muto shocked the world in 2002, by leaving New Japan and taking over control of All Japan, by assuming the president role and also taking over the Baba family stock in the company (85%). This was the start of the "Pro Wrestling Love" era, which despite keeping in some Baba traditions (such as the yearly Carnival Tournament), was a far cry from the King's Road style that largely left with Misawa and resumed in NOAH.
Muto welcomed co-promotion and the use of outsiders, pushed juniors, embraced American style heel/babyface storylines and stables, and completely changed the feel of the company. Business struggled, as most of the old fan base left and switched loyalties to NOAH, where the style of wrestling they liked and the stars they were fans of worked.
Last year, Muto resigned his position of president due to the backstage beating and subsequent coma of wrestler Super Hate. While not involved in the beating, Muto, as company head, voluntarily took the fall. He remains on the roster as an active wrestler.
These days, All Japan provides one of the better in ring products in Japan, due to the fine work of outsiders like DDT's Kenny Omega, NOAH's Jun Akiyama, and perhaps the best tag team in the world, Big Japan's Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi, the current All Asia Tag Team Champions. The All Asia titles have always been the secondary title belts in All Japan, but in large part to the fine work of this amazing outsider team, those belts have had more focus lately than the Unified Tag Team Titles (held by AAA's Ozz & Cuervo).
The "outsider" gimmick of all outsiders holding the titles, with the native wrestlers chasing, has been excellently executed and a lot of fun. Throw in the latest storyline, with New Japan's Yuji Nagata legit injuring Masakatsu Funaki in an interpromotional match at New Japan WrestleKingdom, and All Japan continues to heat up. Funaki is out for six months with a broken orbital bone, and Nagata has been working All Japan shows as a cocky heel while Funaki's allies seek revenge. It's great, compelling stuff, easy to understand booking, and the Nagata/Funaki match is going to have off the charts heat when it finally happens.
Kenny Omega has really upped his game as of late, with fantastic junior heavyweight title matches against the likes of Kaz Hayashi and Hiroshi Yamato.
In terms of business, All Japan is now neck and neck with NOAH for the #3/#4 position in the Japan hierarchy, with both having been surpassed by Dragon Gate in recent years, with New Japan still the leader of the pack by a relatively wide margin.
Where They Are Headed
All Japan is finally on the uptick after a decade of treading water. I look forward to big All Japan matches these days just as much as the other big Japan groups, and this was certainly not the case a year ago.
Television Shows/How To Watch
Weekly TV Show - All Japan B-Banquet
Two hour TV show showing the latest big matches and recapping the major angles. Probably the second best TV show in the world right now, behind Dragon Gate Infinity. Usually runs about 2 hours (1:45 w/o commercials) and can be found for download via a quick google search. Same goes for full house shows, which also air in Japan and can be found rather easily if you look hard enough.
Unofficial youtube channel - KingsRoadJapan http://www.youtube.com/user/KingsRoadJapan?feature=g-all-bul
We will start with All Japan Pro Wrestling.
All Japan Pro Wrestling
Established
1972
Style
Traditional puro, with a smattering of American style storylines
Current Stars
Keiji Muto (The Great Muta)
SUWAMA
Taiyo Kea
KENSO (Kenzo Suzuki)
Manabu Soya
Takumi Soya
Kaz Hayashi
Legends
Giant Baba
Jumbo Tsuruta
Abdullah The Butcher
The Funks
Akira Taue
Toshiaki Kawada
Mitsuhara Misawa
Kenta Kobashi
Current Champions
Current Triple Crown Champion Jun Akiyama, with Taiyo Kea
Triple Crown - Jun Akiyama (NOAH)
Unified World Tag Team - Dark Ozz & Dark Cuervo (AAA)
World Junior Heavyweight - Kenny Omega (DDT)
All Asia Tag Team - Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi (Big Japan)
As you can see, All Japan is doing a gimmick where outsiders hold all of the titles. Jun Akiyama, who started his career in All Japan (more on that later) and was in many people's eyes 'the chosen one' as the next great superstar, recently won the Triple Crown from top AJPW star SUWAMA.
Affiliated With
AAA - This is where All Japan sends young wrestlers for excursion, and the two groups also exchange veteran talent as well.
Big Japan - Not an official alliance, but a long inter promotional feud is ongoing
Current Direction
All Japan, after years of having a thin roster and realistically operating at the indie level, is experiencing a revival of sorts, thanks to a slew of quality outdsiders beefing up the roster and doing solid work.
All Japan, along with New Japan, was once the major league Japanese organization, and at one point was easily the place to find the best ring work in the entire world. Founded by Giant Baba in 1972, Baba adhered to strict booking principles that included no screwjobs, virtually all clean finishes, hard hitting realistic action (known as "King's Road" style) and a class system that emphasized wins and losses and ultimately made it very easy to elevate new stars as a result (for example, a young star would typically struggle to beat the veteran superstars, but when they finally did, the fans would see them at the level of the established star). Baba was also an isolationist, preferring to shun outsiders and never doing business with other Japanese groups.
Baba died in 1999, leaving top star Mitsuhara Misawa as president. Misawa did not get along with Baba's widow, and in May of 2000, resigned his position and led a mass exodus of talent (24 out of the 26 wrestlers on the roster) out of All Japan, all of which followed him to his new promotion, Pro Wrestling NOAH. Only Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi stayed loyal to Mrs. Baba and stayed behind.
All Japan struggled for next two years, with virtually no native roster and no TV deal (NTV, which had aired AJPW for decades, dropped the promotion in favor of Misawa's NOAH, which had all of the star power).
Keiji Muto shocked the world in 2002, by leaving New Japan and taking over control of All Japan, by assuming the president role and also taking over the Baba family stock in the company (85%). This was the start of the "Pro Wrestling Love" era, which despite keeping in some Baba traditions (such as the yearly Carnival Tournament), was a far cry from the King's Road style that largely left with Misawa and resumed in NOAH.
Muto welcomed co-promotion and the use of outsiders, pushed juniors, embraced American style heel/babyface storylines and stables, and completely changed the feel of the company. Business struggled, as most of the old fan base left and switched loyalties to NOAH, where the style of wrestling they liked and the stars they were fans of worked.
Last year, Muto resigned his position of president due to the backstage beating and subsequent coma of wrestler Super Hate. While not involved in the beating, Muto, as company head, voluntarily took the fall. He remains on the roster as an active wrestler.
These days, All Japan provides one of the better in ring products in Japan, due to the fine work of outsiders like DDT's Kenny Omega, NOAH's Jun Akiyama, and perhaps the best tag team in the world, Big Japan's Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi, the current All Asia Tag Team Champions. The All Asia titles have always been the secondary title belts in All Japan, but in large part to the fine work of this amazing outsider team, those belts have had more focus lately than the Unified Tag Team Titles (held by AAA's Ozz & Cuervo).
The "outsider" gimmick of all outsiders holding the titles, with the native wrestlers chasing, has been excellently executed and a lot of fun. Throw in the latest storyline, with New Japan's Yuji Nagata legit injuring Masakatsu Funaki in an interpromotional match at New Japan WrestleKingdom, and All Japan continues to heat up. Funaki is out for six months with a broken orbital bone, and Nagata has been working All Japan shows as a cocky heel while Funaki's allies seek revenge. It's great, compelling stuff, easy to understand booking, and the Nagata/Funaki match is going to have off the charts heat when it finally happens.
Kenny Omega has really upped his game as of late, with fantastic junior heavyweight title matches against the likes of Kaz Hayashi and Hiroshi Yamato.
In terms of business, All Japan is now neck and neck with NOAH for the #3/#4 position in the Japan hierarchy, with both having been surpassed by Dragon Gate in recent years, with New Japan still the leader of the pack by a relatively wide margin.
Where They Are Headed
All Japan is finally on the uptick after a decade of treading water. I look forward to big All Japan matches these days just as much as the other big Japan groups, and this was certainly not the case a year ago.
Television Shows/How To Watch
Weekly TV Show - All Japan B-Banquet
Two hour TV show showing the latest big matches and recapping the major angles. Probably the second best TV show in the world right now, behind Dragon Gate Infinity. Usually runs about 2 hours (1:45 w/o commercials) and can be found for download via a quick google search. Same goes for full house shows, which also air in Japan and can be found rather easily if you look hard enough.
Unofficial youtube channel - KingsRoadJapan http://www.youtube.com/user/KingsRoadJapan?feature=g-all-bul
