fujiwara armbar investigates: All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW)

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: All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW, sometimes AJP)

Event watched: Summer Action Series Day 8, 27th July 2014, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo.

What did I know about the promotion going in?: A lot. Too much. The extracurricular problems of AJPW in 2014 ensures they're as much a walking soap opera as TNA are in the US.  Much of what I write here will cover the official history too.

fujiwara armbar investigates: Japanese Women Pro-Wrestling Project (JWP)

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: Japanese Women Pro-Wrestling Project (JWP)

Event: Tsubasa Kuragaki 15th Anniversary ~ WINGS!, Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, 14th October 2013.

What did I know about the promotion going in?: Practically nothing. Whether through deliberate mass self-denial or the lack of quality information and media out there, joshi puroresu in 2014 is not the phenomenon of the late 1980s and early 1990s when legends such as Manami Toyota, Kyoko Inoue, Aja Kong and Bull Nakano routinely tore down houses and enthralled critics into the admission that women's wrestling was much more exciting and visceral than that colossal boob Hulk Hogan and his worn-out routine. 

fujiwara armbar investigates: Wrestle-1 (W-1)

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: Wrestle-1 (W-1)
Event watched: Wrestle-1 Tour "Cherry Blossom", Tokyo Dome City Hall, 4th April 2014.

What did I know about the promotion going in?: Not a significant amount. Head honcho of the promotion is the great Keiji Mutoh aka The Great Muta and many of the workers are taken from the AJPW exodus v2.0, with a sprinkling of talent from W-1's recent annexation of TAJIRI's WNC promotion and a variety of foreigners on excursion from other feds, most notably TNA.

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'.