fujiwara armbar investigates: Big Japan Pro-Wrestling (BJW)

An occasional series in which, in a bid to further my spotty knowledge of Japanese wrestling promotions, I watch a recent event and assess whether or not I'd watch regularly given the time, money and ability to access.

Promotion: Big Japan Pro-Wrestling (BJW)
Event watched: BJW 28/4/14 (TV)

What did I know about the promotion going in?: Not a great deal. I knew that BJW had a reputation for keen adherence to the seemingly-passe deathmatch style, the kind of beyond-hardcore matches that require a lot of weaponry and props such as barbed-wire, fluorescent light strips and thumb tacks and very little in the way of what somebody like Les Thatcher would call 'real wrestling'.

I was also aware that there is a strand of BJW aside from such activities that opted for a more serious style of heavyweight wrestling. I was aware of a couple of their main performers, particularly Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi, both of whom I've seen on other shows and enjoyed.

Apart from this, I couldn't tell you much about the promotion, its relative fortunes, any storylines, any form of history and I can't tell whether I'm going to enjoy this or have a kneejerk reaction to the deathmatch style. 

What is the history of the promotion?: I've learned all of this in the last 5 minutes. Formed in 1995 by two ex-AJPW workers Shinya Kojika and Kendo Nagasaki during the big deathmatch boom that people seem to know about because of Mick Foley's autobiography and subsequently think that all Japanese wrestling is like this.

The promotion stole a march on deathmatch rivals IWA and FMW by gaining a feud with NJPW that would expose many of their workers at the annual 4.1 Tokyo Dome show in 1997. Outlasting their major rivals, BJW has continued onward and established relationships with CZW and Chikara in the US, as well as Germany's WXW.

REAL AS FUCK (sigh)

What did you think?: A lot of things, usually all at once. I'll try and explain this as clearly as I can without being too sensationalist and go match by match.

The opening encounter pitted the travelling team of Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei, two monk-jesters complete with tonsure, against Atsushi Maruyama and former WWE employee MEN'S Teioh. Designated as the fun opener, the Brahmen utilised the most underestimated weapon of all: water. They spit water at their opponents and in the face of audience members, who seem plenty happy to be part of the show. Even when one of the Brahmen takes a tumble down 12 rows of Korakuen seats and whacks a couple of audience members with his flailing limbs, nobody seems peturbed.

The wrestling, when it does happen, isn't any great shakes. Clearly 'cheating' by NJPW standards is quite alright so it doesn't make sense when one team have two men in the ring at all times and yet the other maintains the pretence of a fair encounter by waiting patiently in his assigned corner. Teioh and Maruyama win after Kei whacks Shu with a road sign by accident.

MEN'S Teioh: remember him this way

Hideyoshi Kamitani squares off against Manabu Soya, who is decked out in Bruiser Brody style furry boots much like Daniel Bryan had at Wrestlemania XXX. I was going to say it was a decent wrestling match but in fact it was pretty saggy and dull and steadfastly refused to hit second gear. Soya, a veteran at 29 and major star for Wrestle-1, beat Kamitani (22) easily. They shake hands afterward. Always a nice touch.

Large improvements were made in the next bout, with ZERO1's Kohei Sato teaming with Shuji Ishikawa against Madoka and Shinobu. The story here was very simple, but no less compelling for it: Sato and Ishikawa are practically twice the size of their opponents and initially can't respect the idea that Madoka and Shinobu deserve to be the same ring. The lighter guys have come looking for a win, not just the pity of respect.

The heavyweights have to increasingly come to terms that their opponents deserve the full arsenal of stiff kicks, diving stomps and strong lariats or they'll just keep pecking at their heels. There's a great spot where the lighter team take turns at trying to chop Sato down with lariats off the ropes, succeeding after approximately a dozen. Sato and Ishikawa win, but not after having something to think about. A decent match.

"The worst, Jerry. The worst."

Pictured above is Mad Man Pondo. Pondo is a full-time deathmatch performer who broke into the business around 1996 boom in these ultraviolent extravaganzas, fighting such kindred spirits as Ian Rotten, Texas Hangman Psycho and 2 Tuff Tony. MMP has absolutely zero in the technical ability column: during this match someone attempts a leg takedown and he looks genuinely less at home undertaking this simple action than he does when his opponents smoosh him under three layers of barbed wire board. Though a game masochist and a willing sadist, he is an unspeakably rotten wrestler.

And like it or not, he is a wrestler, even though he's as far away from somebody like Hiroshi Tanahashi as it is possible to be. Pondo teams with the tag team B Faultless Junkys (sic) in a six man barbed wire board death match against the tag team of Heisei Gokudo Combi and company president The Great Kojika. Kojika is 72 years old, though he doesn't look a day over 67.

Pondo attacks people with a drill and some kind of circular blade on the end of a staff. People get launched into barbed wire boards. It's a numbing experience, rather than a visceral one. What makes it worse are these occasional pretences to be having a wrestling match that just so happens to have weaponry around. It's like bringing champagne and roses to an orgy (I'd imagine).

After a continued trainwreck marred by uneven selling and ridiculous action, Kojika wins. A presentation celebrating the company president occurs, which stirs up a lot of belly laughs from the nicely-full hall. Kojika takes the mic and talks with easy and unsparing charisma. It's a disarming touch after a dismal affair and leaves me hopeful that this particular match was more the case of a legend having a vanity hurrah rather than the real deal.

The Great Kojika

After the break, the excellent Daisuke Sekimoto and the fabulous Kazuki Hashimoto take on BJW Strong World Heavyweight Champion Shinya Ishikawa and Ryuichi Kawakami in a teaser for Sekimoto and Ishikawa's title match the following week. Easily the best match on the card (spoiler!), Sekimoto's style meshes well with Ishikawa and Kawakami; unsurprising see as the former trained both of his opponents at the BJW dojo.

Fortunately there's no evidence of the master/pupil dynamic as the champion's speed and wiliness are an even match for the challenger's freakish power and stature. Hashimoto takes over in the second half of the match, unleashing brutal kicks and a particularly impressive running boot to a seated opponent that clips the face rather than dangerously smashing it. However, our champion shows his mettle and forces Hashimoto to tap with an octopus stretch after 12 thrilling minutes, putting the show on an even keel once again.

The main event pits the BJW Tag Team Champions Yankee Two Kenju (Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto) against Masaya Takahashi and Ryuiji Ito. From what I can ascertain, whilst singles competition is strictly delineated between "Strong" and "Death", the Tag Team competition transcends such demarcations and is contested and defended trans-style.

On this occasion, foreshadowing the contest the members of Yankee Two Kenju will have against one another next week for the singles Death Match title, we are treated to a Light Tubes and Iron Cage match. The Iron Cage is the size of a phone box and is criss-crossed with light tubes like a game of Kerplunk.

Very much like a deathmatch prop

Once again we begin with the pretence of a wrasslin' contest, but before long Takahashi is taking a world of abuse, bleeding inside two minutes from light tube shots to the head and back. Everybody bleeds during this match; Kodaka gets whipped into the iron cage and takes approximately 50 light tubes out with him. Whilst visually compelling, the moribund and psychology-free action quickly becomes depressing rather than fulfilling in the way that a satisfyingly good match does.

Aggravatingly, the members of YTK are clearly talented wrestlers in the traditional sense and could go far without this kind of goop bogging their careers down. Once all conceivable weaponry is utilised, Miyamoto finishes the match with an photo-perfect moonsault from the top of the Iron Cage, ending this glum affair.

What did you think?: In simple terms, I didn't like it. The problem with ZERO1 was that whilst it had good workers, it didn't stand out. The problem with BJW is that it stands out but doesn't have good workers.

And yes I know that ZERO1 and BJW share a pool of talent. Aside from a pair of tag matches, one featuring Kohei Sato and the Sekimoto/Hashimoto vs Ishikawa/Kawakami encounter (all of whom were on the ZERO1 show that I reviewed), the entire thing didn't particularly make me want to become an ardent BJW fan.

BJW is Sekimoto's home and because of the way Japanese wrestling operates in terms of business and the way in which loyalties are structured, it's unlikely that I'll see Sekimoto and friends much unless I tune in regularly. Which I won't, because those death matches have a taint similar to hot chili sauce: whatever it touches, it affects. And that's a shame, but probably only for me.

I wrote the recap of the matches yesterday and wanted to give a little extra space to try and coherently reflect what I saw. There was a side-rant boiling inside me about wrestling and its potentially liberating qualities and what it should be and what this kind of promotion says about us and the perceptions it inflicts upon not only the business but on its fans as well.

"Y U NO LIKE ME FUJIWARA?" (credit: ProWres Blog)

Sleep has ground this argument out of me and I'm left with relatively calm platitudes. That is to say: this stuff is not for me. The appeal of real violence and real blood inserted into wrestling is one that I understand. I like strong-style (whatever that is) and stiffness as part of a varied diet and I think that blood can enhance a match if used sparingly.

There was always an attendant worry in the 90s with the twin rise in extreme pornography in the mainstream and added violence in wrestling that it was somehow both symptomatic of our sick and broken society and also that it potentially had no real end; that it would just get more and more degrading and dehumanising and weird. Thankfully that doesn't seem to have occurred. BJW is an outlier that nonetheless must be considered in the wider data set for the nuance it can add to the conversation and also as an example of a place we should probably not collectively aim for.

NEXT: Pro-Wrestling NOAH