Let me start off by saying that I have never seen a japanese pro wrestling tape, but I am a lifelong wrestling fan. I've been watching american wrestling my entire life, and it's gotten to the point where I don't want to tune in to the WWE anymore.
I follow puroresu in the newsboards and such, so I know who's who, and what's going on in the puroresu world, and it sounds so much better then what McMahon is cranking out.
Well let me get to the point. What puroresu tape do you recommend? If it helps, I've read about All Japan in the early 90's, and that sounds like one of the best times in wrestling. If you could help me out here, I'd appreciate it.
Great to hear from someone else who's sick of McMahon's crap!
well well... depending on what you prefer, there's tons of tapes and tape dealers right now...
If you like cruiserweights / junior heavyweights, you can buy the last BOSJ tourney (Best of Super Juniors) and see the stars in New Japan at the moment...
If you like classic wrestling you'll enjoy puroresu... Depending on the promotion, you can watch the G1 climax 2002 from New Japon, or the 07/17/02 show from All Japan Kojima vs Tenryu was one of the best match this year...
Thanks Luds. I heard about the Kojima/Tenryu match. Kojima saying he was going to use the Western Lariat to defeat Tenryu, and teasing it all through the match until he finally hits it, and it still isn't enough. Sounds like a great match.
Welcome Zenith2002. Here is a few shows from this year that I like. Noah 2-17 has a good Misawa/Kobashi vs. Nagata/ Akiyama tag match and a strong undercard. Luds is right about the All Japan 7-17 show even Kronic had a good match but the main event was nearly perfect. I also like the 2-24 All Japan show it had a main event of Kawada vs. Muta also 2 pretty good Kojima vs. Tenryu and Kea vs. Nagai matches. All Japan Women also had a good PPV the same day if you like to try that. It's a strong show top to bottom. If you buy just one tape make it the 7-17 All Japan show because Kojima and Tenryu have a great match better then anything the WWE has put on.
I'm curious: how do the 8/30 and 8/31 shows stack up to the shows you just mentioned?
Proud enough for you to call me arrogant
Greedy enough to be labeled a thief
Angry enough for me to go and hurt a man
Cruel enough for me to feel no grief...
Sorry I don't have those shows yet. Maybe somebody else here has bought them. Generally I will wait a until I read a review before I buy a mens tape and I've not run across one for those two shows. Really the only tape this year I've ordered without a recommendation is the AJ Bathing Ape show. I wanted to make up my own mind about it. I watch the top ten matches of the year list at www.ichibanpuroresu.com/ and read the reviews to make my selections. For the ladies I buy pretty much at random because I'm less concerned with good matches. I tend to follow the personalities more.
8/30 and 8/31 are good shows... Many fans said that the Kea vs Mutoh match from 8/30 was a dissapointment, I disagree... It was fine. Goldberg squashing Kea and Kojima... THose were dissapointments...
8/30 had Hase vs Tenryu, Hayashi vs Yang... and Kronik vs Barton & Steele which was not as good as I hoped...
8/31 had the 5 on 5 Tenryu / Williams / Arashi / Kitahara / Orihara vs Mutoh / Hase / Shinzaki / Hines / Hayashi, Kojima vs Araya, and the Toryumon guys...
Before you rush head long into All Japan, I sugest you try out some New Japan junior classics; that's what most people start on, and they can get you used to puroresu easily. Best bets are:
NJPW Super J-Cup '94: Awesome tape not just for the two classics (Lyger vs. Sasuke and Benoit vs. Sasuke) but for a definition of the junior style; required viewing, really.
NJPW Best of Super Junior 1994: A realkly good tournament, from top to bottom, one of the best; clipped to bits though, which is a shame.
NJPW Best of Super Juniors 1997: An awesome final, and lots of other pretty **** good stuff on there too; one of my favourite tournaments.
NJPW J*CROWN 1996: An awesome Shinjiro Otani/Ultimo Dragon match, pure class, and a historic tournament.
A Michinoku Pro comp is also a good idea, as those matches rock, but aren't too heavy on matwork, psychology etc; good to get uou into puroresu.
Originally posted by Hijo de Carlos "Bathing Ape"????!!!!!
It is also called "Bape Star Pro Wrestling". Some guy made a deal with Muta to co-produce a wrestling show. They held it at Zepp Tokyo on 6-9 and aired it on tv 6-23. I think a Bathing Ape is the name of a hair place or some sort of shop anyway the event itself was designed just to sell these Bathing Ape t-shirts with a wrestling event as kind of a secondary attraction so they drew an audience of people who a large part of had not been to wrestling before. They also got this camouflage ring and a dj added some lights and put on a strange little show different from AJ's normal show anyway. Muta did commentary and the uppercard took the night off except for Kojima. Highspots used to sell it before AJ enforced their copyright. As a wrestling show it is average at best but as an example of a risky marketing concept it rules. The guy was talking to Arsion last month so he must have turned a profit.
Note to kkeller: I have the 8/30 & 8/31 matches, but I don't have any of the tapes you mentioned. I bought them for the same reason you bought that "Bathing Ape" show: I wanted to make up my own mind about the Goldberg matches. I just wanted to see if these shows compared to the other All Japan shows.
Note to Zenith2002: I'd suggest finding a compilation tape with as many different promotions on it as possible, like a "Best of the Year" tape. Then decide for yourself what promotions have the style that you want to see more of. Different people have different tastes, and if I like a certain promotion, it doesn't mean that you will like the same. Sample a little bit of everything, then decide on one or two to follow...
... or if you're like me, you'll end up liking all of it, going crazy trying to figure out what to order next, and going broke trying to pay for it...
"No man if free who has to work for a living" - Illya Kuryakin (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.)
Proud enough for you to call me arrogant
Greedy enough to be labeled a thief
Angry enough for me to go and hurt a man
Cruel enough for me to feel no grief...
zenith2002 if your new then el gringo's prob right in saying you should start with juniors stuff. Other than what he said the following are good.
1994 NJPW super juniors tag league - Very fast paced stuff and easy to get into
Michinoku pro heartbreak 1996 - Prob the best Mpro tape iv seen with lots of good highlfying work.
Sky driving J - First 3rd of the card isnt that good but the rest is great.
other than juniors stuff id recommend the following stuff
A comp of kobashi verus misawa matches from the mid to late 90's - Good way to get into all japan as theres lots of action compaired to most all japan stuff which can be hard to get into at first.
AJW dreamslam 1 - dreamslam 2(if cash is tight id get the 2nd tape of both shows as they have the best matches) - Exellent womens wrestling probabley the 2 best wrestliing cards of all time. I found joshi stuff pretty easy to get into (less you expecting them to strip eachother and wrestle in mud WWE style) lots of action and a bit more depth that juniors stuff.
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