Hm. Quick question..

[Travis]

Az.. er, well.. I suppose this goes for any of you that have had extended stays in Japan.

Wondering if you've ever watched any puroresu on television or attended an event? If you have (seen it/been to an event) what did you think?

[novacane]

Yea, ive seen puroresu on tv. I don't know too much about puroresu so I can't comment on how good/bad it is, but I do enjoy watching two japanese puroresuraas beating the sh*t out of each other.

[Pretentious]

Granted I've never been to Japan but I have been able to see a number of puro matches (mainly involving the bigger guys like Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and Jun Akiyama). I've really liked what little I've seen, though the longer matches (40+ minutes) can get a tad boring for a bit.

Same deal goes with joshi. I liked the small amount I'm seen, and I do like the fact the matches seem to be on the shorter side compared to puro.

And nothing beats a Japanese announcer going nuts whenever somebody hits a big move. It puts Joey Styles' "Oh my GOD!" to shame.

[akitaka]

Hah...I've heard the FMW totally owned any wresting fed here in the states. Like barb wire and fire better. I could be wrong, though; I saw a few tapes on women's wrestling and a lot of them look way meaner than the punks you see over here. Aja Kong? Scary stuff.

[Daishikaze]

I hugely into Joshi Puroresu, in fact I supplied Pretentious with quite a few of the Joshi matches he has seen.

There are some scary women over there, Aja Kong, Yumiko Hotta, Kumiko Maekawa (when she is in a bitchy mood and feels like stiffing the hell out of someone like her mentor, Yumiko Hotta)

But there were (and are) alot of lovely ladies in the business over there. And they could be just as tough as the scary ones when the situation called for it.

[Pretentious]

I'm wondering, does Ayako Hamada wrestle as good as she looks? I know Samoa Joe, atleast, is a big fan of her's (actually, I think they're pretty good friends).

[Daishikaze]

Ayako can be pretty damn awesome with the right opponents. She is generally pretty good, but like most women in Joshi at the moment, she's been sorta slacking off. In her native Mexico however, she is still working pretty hard, but then again she hold 4 major women's titles in Mexico so she has to keep up to snuff.

[Davey]

I find it matters on the wrestlers involved, and what date it's from.

I find anything All Japan from the '90s rocks big style. Although you get the same guys in NOAH nowadays and they can sometimes be pretty lazy, but I'm guessing they're just old men. Although from last month's big show, Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada and Kensuke Sasaki vs. Kenta Kobashi were excellent matches. Oh yeah, it also had GenIchiro Tenryu beating up Yoshinari Ogawa, which is always fun. You do get good matches, but yeah, '90s stuff is the way to go.

New Japan, other than the junior heavies, I'm not too big on it. I find it's like... kinda boring. Seems like WWF but a bit harder hitting. Although almost anything with Lyger in it will be awesome.

I can't comment on the current state of All Japan or any indy stuff, as I only get NJ and NOAH and TV here.

[Pretentious]

Dave...MO!

[akitaka]

I have Muhammed Ali vs. Antonio Inoki somewhere on my HD...it was a crappy fight though. Inoki was being a dork and staying on the ground, where Ali couldn't knock him. It ended in a tie.

[Daishikaze]

I have Muhammed Ali vs. Antonio Inoki somewhere on my HD...it was a crappy fight though. Inoki was being a dork and staying on the ground, where Ali couldn't knock him. It ended in a tie.

That was because of a stipulation that Ali's manager put into the contract, Stating that Inoki could not use any grappling moves, and he couldn't use any moves like bodyslams or suplexes. They basically left him no choice but to dropkick Ali's knee over and over again.

These stips were put into place because other Boxer Vs. Wrestler matches of the time all went to the Wrestler, Because once the wrestler gets a hold on the boxer it was all over. They knew Ali would have no choice but the tap out once Inoki slapped on a hold, there be no way out for the champ.

A boring fight, but it wasn't Inoki's fault.

[Davey]

Well, boxer vs. wrestler is stupid. 2 totally different things.

ps s^ sven :p

[valentine]

Well, boxer vs. wrestler is stupid. 2 totally different things.

ps s^ sven :p

That's kind of the point.

[akitaka]

If Inoki managed to get that close I'd expect to see some mean close-range hooks to the head. If they were THAT scared then I'd wonder what the point was. But I take back the dork comment; he was almost fighting under boxing rules. Any examples of the fights where boxers got submitted, though? I'd like to look for those.

[Daishikaze]

Perhaps in the UWF or UWFi, there may have been matches were the boxer tapped out. I have a match from early FMW, where Leon Spinks took on A russion Judoka/wrestler named Gregory Berichev, and Berichev took alot of cuffs on the noggin before he caught Spinks and made him tap with a Jujigatame (Cross-armbreaker).

Thats the only one I have ever seen, but I haven't seen even close to all the Shoots and wrestling matches in the world.

The Reason Ali's manager was affraid of Ali losing to Inoki was there was alot of Mafia money riding on Ali to win. It could have meant trouble for them and the Champ if he lost like Chuck Wepner did to Inoki(I don't know how that match went down, so I can give specifics).

[Davey]

Yeah, I dunno who'd bet against Inoki, though... To me, that seems pretty stupid, considering he'd beat a lot of people, and a boxer vs. a wrestler of that skill in an actual martial arts would've been over in the first minute. Most likely by Juji, or a knockout by a suplex.

I dunno about Inoki's record in real fights, but was he not actually undefeated for a long time? I remember reading that somewhere.

Oh, just a note. Is it just me, or was Inoki horrible in worked matches? Almost all matches I've seen on Classic NJ on TWC, it's basically been Inoki trying for a Juji for like 10 minutes, getting beat up for a minute or 2, hitting an Enzuigiri then getting either a Juji or a Manjigatame for the tap. I know he's a legendary legit tough guy, but in a worked match, you want some good action. :/