(Japanese Wrestling) DDT, Go Shiozaki and MOTY!

[TheAUKid]

Hey, this might be a bit of a ramble, forgive me!

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a big Japanese wrestling fan. I was wondering if anyone else out there watched it or knew much about it? I’ve heard the odd name mentioned like ‘Great Muta’ but nothing concrete.

It’s something I like to talk about ‘cept I don’t know too many people who watch it or know anything about it. Now, I’m no expert. I know a few names and a few facts but that’s about it, being that it’s hard to follow from another country and that it’s been around for way longer than I’ve been watching it. Oh and there’s A LOT of it TO watch.

Well, if anyone has an interest in Japanese wrestling, watches it or would like to watch it but doesn’t know where to start – read on!

Pro Wrestling NOAH is probably my main promotion but I watch whatever I can. GAEA was pretty cool when it was going, AJPW, NJPW and Zero-1 are all awesome! Dragon Gate’s pretty cool. I also watch some HUSTLE and recently I’ve been watching a lot of DDT!

Everybody should watch DDT! It’s the funniest promotion I’ve ever seen and probably the most creative. It’s probably comparable to HUSTLE and CHIKARA, although I’ve never really watched any CHIKARA, I hear that’s a pretty funny promotion.

DDT features a 24/7 hardcore title that’s had over 700 champions since it was created in 2000. O.o Some of the champions include a dog, a taxi driver and a ladder. LOL I’ve also seen an iron man no-no-DQ match where the referee was incredibly strict and DQed for pulling hair and so on...

MUSCLE Sakai’s your loveable wimp and then there’s Dino, the raging homosexual and his signature move the ‘Cock Bottom’.

If comedy’s not your thing, DDT also features some of the best wrestling in Japan! I’m in love with HARASHIMA, KUDO and Kota Ibushi who can all throw one hell of a kick. There’s MIKAMI and a few others too... I’m still learning, okay? >.< Anyway, look them up if you get a chance.



And now for a match! www.youtube.com/watch?v=mapddmTnWko

There’s part one, you should be able to find the rest yourself. If you’re a wrestling fan of any kind, I urge you to watch this match! This is my current MOTY and the best match I’ve seen in quite a while.

The dream team (for me anyway) of KENTA and Go Shiozaki v. Kensuke Office (Kensuke Sasaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima)

It’s Jr. and heavyweight v. Jr. and heavyweight! KENTA’s GHC Jr. Champ and Go Shiozaki’s GHC Heavyweight Champ! So you’re probably thinking they’re the favourites but they’re probably not. I haven’t seen KENTA and Shiozaki team before so for all I know, this could be their first match teaming together! I know Sasaki and Nakajima have been teaming for years. That kind of thing makes a difference in Japanese wrestling!

Also, while Shiozaki might be GHC Champ, he’s also playing the underdog. A win against Sasaki would be BIG for him right now. And Nakajima and KENTA have traded victories before.

Actually, this match is the main reason I’m writing this! I give it ****1/2 out of 5. And note that it’s a particularly emotional match (as stated in the description) due to the then recent passing of Mitsuharu Misawa.

Now, if anything, watch this match for Go Shiozaki. He could be the best pro wrestler in the world right now! That’s only my opinion of course but I can’t think of anyone else who could be. Oh, I probably would’ve said Bryan Danielson at one point but that’s a maybe.

I think Shiozaki can do it all! I’ve been watching him ‘grow’ since 2005 or maybe even 2004. He showed a lot of potential back then and there was talk then that he’d be a Champion one day. He looks great, he’s strong, quick, agile and creative. He chops as hard, if not harder than Kenta Kobashi and that’s saying something! I’ve only seen hardway blood from chops three times. Once was from Kobashi a long time ago and twice from Shiozaki in recent weeks. He’s one hell of a kicker too. He’s got a great superkick and an awesome pimp slap. He’s incredibly stiff and intense. He really looks like he wants to kill people. O.o

Uh, what else can I say... I don't recall ever seeing a bad Shiozaki match.

Well, he’s quickly becoming my favourite wrestler. He’s been rising up the top 100 or whatever since I first saw him. Actually, he's always been pretty close to the top but now he’s in his prime, he’s incredible!

The end!

['The Cyclone' JK]

is Japanese wrestling on SBS or something? they get everything from overseas TV.

[TheAUKid]

LOL I don’t think so. I’ve never noticed it on there... but hey, I don’t watch much TV. Get a TV guide and take a look!

I watch it all online, so I can understand why some people can’t be real bothered. If you don’t know anything about it, it’s hard to know where to start. BUT it’s worth the effort in my opinion. The wrestling itself is way better than WWE. It makes people like HBK and Jericho look bad.

So anyway, here’s your starting point!

It can get annoying when you can’t watch a whole show y’know. And like once in a while, you’re looking up a future card and find out who won a match that happened yesterday but again, it’s all worth it. I think there are some DVDs out there too.

Well, if anyone wants to get into it, I know who and what to watch. And I have a bunch of great links, other than YouTube! There’s a lot on YouTube, that’s the good thing!

Did you watch the match JK?

['The Cyclone' JK]

nah havn't got around to it, doubling up with this and a history assignment on the leader of North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh.

[TheAUKid]

That's what they teach in school over here? We did all European and British history in the UK and some stuff about the Egyptians and the Romans!

Anyway, Go Shiozaki's far more important than some random homework!

[T-Robosaurus Rex]

It does NOT make HBK look bad, and I shall not enter into this argument again.

It is a very different style of wrestling and to make comparisons with US Wrestling is like comparing Snowboarding and Skiing, they are two very different disciplines.

Let me expand on that a little, from my relative knowledge of Japanese Wrestling it is treated more like a 'proper' sport than it is in the US. I can't speak about some of the promotions you mentioned as I haven't seen them, but honestly a dog as hardcore champion seems to belittle everything I respected about Japanese wrestling, but having not seen it in context I shall reserve judgement. So, as american wrestling is much more an 'entertainment' exercise, it's very difficult to honestly apraise one against the other. So whilst you may be able to reel off many, many Japanese wrestlers who are technically superior to HBK (for instance), HBK has a better sense of psychology and general 'entertaining', because that's what the sport is in the country he competes in.

I have no doubt if HBK had been trained and competed in Japan he would be a WHOLE different article. And the same can be said for some of the top Japanese guys, they would probably be entirely different had they trained and competed in the states (and not been treated as awful stereotypes). So yeah, hope that makes sense.

In fact I think we'd see a hell of a match if HBK and one of the best japanese stars you'd get one hell of a match that covered all of the bases possible. If only the WWE were more open to doing stuff like that...ah well.

But I agree it's all worth a look, especially if you haven't already, because it is fresh and something completely different to what most wrestling fans are used to. Certainly I enjoy it here and there (and lets be fair, I rarely watch any wrestling nowadays anyway, so ehre and there is as good as it gets), but if I'm too stoned I generally start imagining I can understand the commentary, and that is a bad, bad trip...

But yeah, it's not for everybody, but if ya like to see shows that generally are more geared to stiff working and technical expertise then Japanese wrestling will generally always suffice. You don't get a lot of sloppy backyarders from what I remember, and throwing yourself off the highest platform is unlikely to make you a star. Which can only be good thing...

['The Cyclone' JK]

Aug 17, 2009 9:15:58 GMT -5 TheAUKid said:

That's what they teach in school over here? We did all European and British history in the UK and some stuff about the Egyptians and the Romans!

Anyway, Go Shiozaki's far more important than some random homework!

I'd normally agree with ya, but this counts to half this years marks

[TheAUKid]

Damn, man! Good luck!

As for Rob’s post, IMO it does. Maybe it’s not HBK, maybe it’s the WWE style in general? Puro and maybe the odd American indy match is basically all I’ve been watching for a while now. I download the odd WWE/TNA match if I think there’s anything worth watching and some of it’s like watching paint dry! It’s all been generally slow, predictable and soft. This is more so WWE than TNA. I haven’t really found or heard of anything worth watching from there in a while. LOL

Anyway, case in point... I have a friend who grew up watching WWE or whatever. Now he only really watches what I watch. So I’ve pretty much introduced him to puro. Then we watched the entire Jericho/HBK series and it was boring, man! He agrees. Now I know he’s only one person and one opinion but he’s a big Jericho fan. Anyway, that’s the best example I have. For some reason I ended up downloading a lot of HBK. So we’ve been watching a lot of HBK and Angle which has been slightly better. So I jokingly placed the blame on Jericho. LOL I don’t know, that’s all I was comparing it to, really. Don’t take it to heart.

As for the rest of your post... I think you can compare them, you can compare anything. LOL Not that I really want to.

Japanese wrestling is really varied. Some of it’s treated like a sport although I think WWE’s had a big impact on the product over there. HUSTLE and DDT have certainly been affected by WWE’s entertainment style. NJPW had a ‘sports entertainment’ brand at one point and even Pro Wrestling NOAH has the odd comedy or gimmick match. Dragon Gate certainly can’t be viewed at as a ‘real sport’, and that’s a completely different animal.

LOL Anyway, a dog is bad but a ladder is okay? Rice won the title once as well. LOL So, it’s a comedy promotion! I said as much up there. It’s not to be taken seriously. It’s entertaining and fun to watch, that’s all.

Hm... I also don’t think I meant anyone is technically superior to HBK although I probably would argue that point, not that I want to. I find it way more exciting, that’s all... for a number of different reasons. That’s really only my opinion and preference. I mean, what are you looking for in pro wrestling? I’m looking for a good story, and/or hard hitting action. I want it to look real, damn it! I don’t like interference and all of that trash. I want it to look like a contest. I want something unpredictable too! Saying that, there’s a place for the opposite or something completely different and like I say, I do enjoy some completely ridiculous pro wrestling, to the point where you almost can’t call it ‘pro wrestling’. LOL

I don’t know if HBK and a Jap wrestler would produce a good match, not because he’s HBK but because he’s an all American wrestler, although his style might come into it. I mean, that’s my experience. A lot of American v. Japanese matches I’ve seen have been really bad! I think it’s like, the two different styles are almost incompatible or something. On the other hand, I’ve seen a lot of good matches between America and Japan too, especially when the American in question has Japanese experience or vice versa.

And, as Rob said ‘It’s not for everyone.’ I’ll say something different, I think there’s something for everyone! Unless you’re racist or something. LOL Even then, Lesnar v. Angle happened in Japan, Hansen v. Hogan happened in Japan, so if you mute the commentary, you’re all good. LOL

Like I said before, you have the comedy and entertainment in HUSTLE and DDT, you have the hardcore and death match in FMW and Big Japan, you have the quick paced, hard hitting lucharesu in Dragon Gate, you have shoot style in BattleArts, King’s Road in AJPW/NOAH and Strong Style in NJPW! I don’t know how prominent those two styles are any more but that’s what you’ll see if you want to watch older wrestling.

Anyway, that’s all for now. My back is killing me.