G1 CLIMAX 25 PREVIEW

One year ago the beginning of the greatest wrestling thing that has happened in my experience of watching this sometimes baffling pseudo-sport began: the tournament to top all tournaments, 111 beautiful golden memories culminating in a pulsating, trouser-rendering final that left me giddy and bereft of three weeks of my life but also strangely elated beyond any place art or sport had taken me before.

2014 winner Kazuchika Okada

All of this madness was simply for the right for one guy to go to Wrestle Kingdom 9 with a gaudy briefcase containing a contract stating his legitimacy as title challenger, which he promptly lost, bursting into tears having shinned up the biggest mountain in sight and finding, after several exasperating months, that it was a mere foothill.

DDT God Bless DDT

Dramatic Dream Team (DDT)
God Bless DDT
30th November 2014
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

As we slope toward the end of 2014 we can begin to reflect on the kind of year that individual promotions have had in terms of business, art, the flow of talent, the health of talent and prospect for the future (amongst other criteria, I suppose). DDT, who often resist comparison to traditional promotions in a lot of respects, can't escape this particular microscope.

Business seems pretty healthy in DDT. Their Sumo Hall show did well and they're having a gallant crack at selling the Saitama Super Arena out in February when New Japan are out of town with a headline match of Kota Ibushi vs. whoever the KO-D Champion is, presumably HARASHIMA. They're not catching NJPW any time soon and their junior guys are still working in restaurants to pay the bills, but morale appears to be pretty much up.

NOAH Global League Day 12

Pro-Wrestling NOAH
Global League: Day Twelve
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
8th November 2014 

The absolute selfish bastards in the Pro-Wrestling NOAH organisation opted to have their annual round-robin tournament more-or-less right in the middle of my annual break. Ever since landing back in the country I've been struggling to play catch-up and get the lowdown on the subplots and lead exchanges in the tournament, or even just to catch a general sensation of which wrestlers are impressing and which are just padding through the tour. 

(Back row l-r): Hero, Sekimoto, Taniguchi, Saito, Cabana Kojima (Middle row l-r): Yone, Haste, Tanaka, Nicholls, Storm, Nakajima (Front row l-r): Nagata, Marufuji, Morishima, Sugiura

Let's therefore assume that I'm coming at this show with fresh eyes, that I haven't seen any of the tournament (I have, but just odd matches here and there) and all I know about the permutations moving forward are what are explained during the broadcast in Japanese.

AJ Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki reappraised

This entry is a little bit different than my standard 'review of an event' fare. The August 1st 2014 match between Minoru Suzuki and AJ Styles as part of the annual G1 Climax tournament has been living inside my head for a few months now and I think that it's time to write it all down. 

There's a few paragraphs before I start to talk about the match itself. Feel free to jump them, though I think it's discursive self-critique at its very best! 

NJPW Road to Power Struggle: Day One

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Road to Power Struggle: Day One

25th October 2014, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

Once again featuring translations by Yottsume! Be sure to check out his website as it's pretty much the only way you can get the proper New Japan merch with the Lion Mark.  

Don't worry, it's the 2010 design. No one needs to be fired.

It didn't take much or many changes for the complexion of NJPW to alter as we hurtle toward 2015. Kenny Omega signs. Katsuyori Shibata signs full-time. Kota Ibushi extends his deal and goes heavyweight. Jushin Liger indicates the winding down phase of his career. And new alliances are formalised to help Seikigun (New Japan Army) fight back against the menace of the three major factions: CHAOS, Suzuki-gun and Bullet Club.

DDT Special 2014

Dramatic Dream Team (DDT)
DDT Special 2014
26th October 2014, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

Today DDT says goodbye to Kenny Omega.

Let's jump straight in.

Matches of note vol. 1

FUJIWARA ARMBAR'S MATCHES OF NOTE VOL. 1

I can't review everything I watch. I can't even watch all of everything that gets put out there. I am but a man. However, Fujiwara Armbar Enterprises is all about spreading the word about the sport* we love. This is a new feature that will recap any interesting matches going on in various Japanese promotions with a general focus on recent activity, though I can't promise not to jump back in time now and again.

These aren't reviews as such, just little spoiler-free guides to maybe help you navigate through some chaff. This round-up covers everything from mid-September to early-October, with a couple just outside.
 

DDT Dramatic General Election 2014

Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) 
Dramatic General Election 2014: Final Voting Day Last Hope Special
28th September 2014, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

A lot has happened in DDT since I last took a look into them and the lack of reporting on this blog at least is possibly my fault. You see, I had every intention of reviewing the big Sumo Hall show (Ryōgoku Peter Pan ~ Maybe Summer Will Change My Life), not least because it featured a couple of New Japan regulars. I'd prepared (stolen) some images and done some research on characters and factions. For example:

credit: Dramatic DDT

NJPW Road to Destruction: Day 8

New Japan Pro Wrestling
Road to Destruction: Day Eight
15th September 2014, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

Before we get into the meat of this review it would be remiss of this site to not mention this: between the televised show from the Korakuen on the 5th, NJPW have televised two events from the Destruction tour. Neither show had any particular bearing on storyline but are at least worthy of a recap.

NJPW Road to Destruction: Day 1

New Japan Pro Wrestling
Road to Destruction: Day One
5th September 2014, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

As a fan of the game known interchangeably as 'football' and 'soccer' I must say that I value the end of season break. Just last year my particular team of choice had something of a rollercoaster ride of a year, resulting in a glum day in North-West London in the realisation that further success had been curtailed for that season. One six hour coach ride of complete gloom later I was home and I began to wind down.

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.

G1 CLIMAX 24: Day 7

G1 CLIMAX 24: DAY SEVEN
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
1st August 2014 

Everybody loves Korakuen Hall, right?

Gym-ski now an then one the coolest places on earth to Rassle Korakuen Hall Tokyo Japan @njpw1972 #G124
— Lance Hoyt/Archer (@LanceHoyt) August 1, 2014

On the site of Tokyo Dome Hall complex is arguably the spiritual home of Japanese wrestling, an approximately 2000 capacity cuboid on the fifth floor of an otherwise unremarkable-looking building. Smaller promotions build to shows at Korakuen to blow off their biggest angles and larger promotions at their most highly-scrutinised time of year still incorporate Korakuen in their schedules because, it seems, that there really isn't another place like it that just seems so perfectly constructed for ring-based sports and pseudo-sports (like boxing).