The Big Audio Nightmare is back to talk about everything happening in the world of Japanese professional wrestling over a crazy first week of the year.
This week’s topics include:
A full review of Wrestle Kingdom 17
We try to put the greatness of Ospreay vs. Omega into words
Thoughts on KAIRI vs. Tam Nakano
What worked (and what didn’t) about the Mercedes Mone debut
An eventful New Year Dash, including Omega and Okada teaming
NJPW vs. NOAH Wrestle Kingdom 17 card rundown
Much more!
Listen below of wherever you get your your favorite podcasts!
The following is a free show. Click below to listen.
Mike Sempervive and I are back to talk all the news from a memorable week across the Japanese wrestling landscape on this 75-minute edition of the Big Audio Nightmare.
Topics include:
Satoshi Kojima winning the GHC Title at CyberFight Festival
THE SLAP and its ramifications on DDT, NOAH, Tetsuya Endo, and Katsuhiko Nakajima
Our initial thoughts on this year’s G1 Climax 32 lineup
A review of NJPW Dominion and how Jay White’s title win impacts the AEW Forbidden Door PPV
Hear all this and much more on the original alternate: The Adam and Mike Big Audio Nightmare!
In this week’s solo voyage of the Big Audio Nightmare, I take you through the latest wrestling news in Japan including the cancellation of AJPW’s Champion Carnival and the mass cancellations taking place across the landscape.
I also look at the incredibly polarizing empty arena GHC Title match between Go Shiozaki and Kazuyuki Fujita, a great show in BJW’s Strong Climb tournament at Korakuen Hall, and the empty arena show schedule for this week and beyond.
Editor’s Note: This is a free edition of the podcast. Please share!
On a packed edition of the Pacific Rim Pro Wrestling podcast, Fumi Saito and I talk about the late Owen Hart’s time in New Japan Pro Wrestling in the late 80s and early 90s, his friendship with Hiroshi Hase, winning the Junior Heavyweight title and some of his money-saving practices while on tour.
Hart tragically died twenty years ago this past Thursday.
Additionally, Fumi gives his analysis of a Japanese newspaper story about the size of the Japanese wrestling market, Nick Jackson makes some very pointed comments about NJPW, the politics that prevent a pro wrestling Hall of Fame in Japan, and which is Japan’s most prestigious wrestling venue: Nippon Budokan, Korakuen or Tokyo Dome.
For those new to the show, Fumi is Japan’s leading author, historian, and journalist. For years, we have looked at the top stories in Japan and across the world. Subscribers can listen to all of our recent shows in the archives. I also co-host the Portland Wrestlecast for the site, a podcast dedicated to the era of Portland, Oregon, wrestling.
30 years ago on April 24, 1989, the first-ever pro wrestling card was held at Tokyo Dome. On that historic card, we got the debut of Jushin “Thunder” Liger.
On this episode of Pacific Rim, Fumi Saito and I look back at that show and talk about Liger’s career. With the theme of Japan vs. USA vs. Russia, the sold-out crowd witnessed stars like Antonio Inoki, Bam Bam Bigelow, Shinya Hashimoto, Victor Zangiev and Salman Hashimikov. Fumi talks about the build up, the big matches and the reaction to the outcomes. In addition, we talk about Liger’s career, his longevity, and his influence.
Plus, we answer your #AskFumi questions on the Super J Cup, the downfall of All Japan Women, Ultimo Dragon, and Dragon Gate, and the best NJPW dojo classes of all time. We also cover this year’s Best of the Super Juniors, Kobashi at Starrcast, and more.
Recorded before the Sunday night house cleaning, Adam Summers is back driving solo and giving his final thoughts on New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 13, Chris Jericho Funk, some non-NJ goodness featuring Kento Miyahara (seen above) vs. KAI, Kiyomiya vs. KENOH, and Shiozaki vs. Takeshita, and much more.
It’s the show that knows there’s everything happening in Japan (okay, and Florida); It’s the Adam & Mike BIG AUDIO NIGHTMARE!
In 2018, the wrestling world lost legendary wrestler Masa Saito, better known to wrestling fans as Mr. Saito.
On a special edition of the Pacific Rim Pro Wrestling podcast on F4W, co-host Fumi Saito (no relation) and I remember the man he calls his godfather in the business.
Fumi talks about what Mr. Saito taught him, his career in San Francisco, Florida, the WWF and the AWA, the Midwest incident at McDonald’s with Ken Patera, Saito’s arrest, what it was like visiting Mr. Saito in prison, the AWA title win over Larry Zbyskzo, and the famous jungle match with Antonio Inoki.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Saito was so popular that he even had a drink named after him in bars in Minnesota, so listen to the show to learn the recipe!
The original alternate returns with streams of both consciousness and unconsciousness alike. Topics include, but aren’t limited to: the continuing change of the sports viewers platform, are you buying a 205 Live house show?, Impact… by Anthem, double main event Wrestle Kingdom “controversy,” Joe Doering, Open the Meh Gate, and more. It’s a show, as always, so check it out!
Streaming services are all the rage in pro wrestling. We have the WWE Network, of course, along with smaller services like Stardom World or New Japan World. Now, DDT and its network of promotions have launched their own streaming service called DDT Universe.
Launching last night, there’s already tons of content up on the site, featuring movies dedicated to the Ironman Championship, a prestigious belt featuring former champions such as a ladder, steel chair, and Vince McMahon’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star, as well as an entire section dedicated to street fighting. Here’s what you need to know:
Wait. So what exactly is DDT?
Dramatic Dream Team is an indie promotion in Japan. They’re more comedy based than other promotions, and feature some truly out there matches that no company anywhere has really tried to emulate, aside from maybe HUSTLE.
In the past, they’ve had weird stipulation matches like a No Cry match (where whoever cries first is the loser) and have even had entire cards take place in camping grounds. In other words, it’s closer to the wackiest moments of Monday Night Raw rather than a New Japan or All Japan show.
Did I mention this promotion is the home of Yoshihiko, the blow up doll? Here it is taking on Kota Ibushi.
How much does it cost?
900 yen, or 7.91 dollars per month as of this writing.
Is DDT the only promotion on the streaming service?
No, you’ll also get content from smaller indie promotions like DNA, BASARA, Tokyo Women’s Pro (all which are child companies of DDT), Ganbare Pro and UNION.
Will they be doing shows live?
Yes! You can check out their schedule here, including start times and dates. They’ll update their schedule at the end of each month. Since they currently have their schedule listed through the end of March, the next update will probably be in April. They have their first show next week, with a ton of live streaming events scheduled for February and March.
How do I sign up?
Check out the link here. Be sure to switch the language of the site to English. You’ll also see “Account Services” on the sidebar, where you can login or register. You can register under “New Name Registration,” where you put in your information and go from there.
I thought this cost money. Why am I getting content for free by just registering?
The first month of DDT Universe will be free. The service will start charging after the month trial is up. When it does, you can use a credit card or Paypal to pay for the site, or do nothing if you’re not into the service.
Anything else I should know?
You can check out the tag section here that has tags for a bunch of wrestlers. Keep in mind that a lot of the content so far seems to be from the last couple of years, so not everything from DDT or its other promotions is on here.
And that’ll do it for DDT Universe! I’ve played around with it thus far and really enjoy what they have up there. Video quality is great and the site is easy enough to figure out without too much hassle. The logo buttons on the right side of the screen could be bigger (they lead to content from each promotion) but otherwise it’s a very well organized collection of videos.
With live streaming starting next Sunday, it’s another great destination for live Japanese wrestling if you’re looking for another streaming service to explore.
Harley Saito, who was one of the top name woman wrestlers of the 90s, passed away today in a Tokyo hospital while undergoing surgery to remove uterine fibroids.
Saito had just turned 48 three days ago.
Born Sayori Saito, she took the name Harley after Harley Race.
Saito started her career as a teenager in 1986 with the JWP promotion, the rival to the dominant All Japan women’s group. She was part of the original group that left JWP in 1992 to form LLPW, where she was one of the top stars, with two different one-year runs as LLPW world champion.
She also competed on the 1992 LPWA PPV in Rochester, MN, the Super Ladies Showdown, winning an eight-woman tournament for the LPWA Japanese women’s championship.
She regularly worked with and against Shinobu Kandori, the current Japanese politician who is facing Gabi Garcia on the Rizin show later this month. On April 2nd, 1995, she was part of the 13-promotion show put on by Weekly Pro Wrestling before 50,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome, in what was billed as a UFC rules fight, where she lost to Kandori quickly via ground and pound.
She originally retired in 2010, but returned and had her final match at a retirement show on December 29th, 2012.
Considering the lineage and prestige that the name carries, the 2016 iteration of The Super J Cup has to be considered disappointing.
The two day event, which began on July 20th at Korakuen Hall and ended this past weekend at Ariake Collosseum, boasted a field which had potential to produce some classic matches. However, that never really materialized.
The biggest issue with Sunday’s show was that they overshot their target with the building they ran. New Japan learned that an all juniors show is just not ready to draw at that level yet and as a result, capacity was only half full. This made for a very dull atmosphere, a stark contrast to the G1 Climax finals one week earlier.
The other issue was the fact that Taichi was pushed to the semifinal, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru to the finals. This was not the Taichi that tore the house down against Daisuke Harada and Taiji Ishimori in NOAH last year, but rather the one that comes handcuffed to all kinds of shenanigans which kill his matches. Kanemaru, since returning to NOAH, is one of the most uninspiring wrestlers in the world but as GHC Junior Champion, he provided a noteworthy scalp for IWGP Junior Champ and tournament winner, KUSHIDA.
The highlight of the show was The Young Bucks going up against old rivals The Motor City Machine Guns in a fantastic bout which overcame the echoes of the half empty arena and actually managed to get some big reactions.
Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley looked as good as ever, and showed they could still be an asset to any company in the world. The big story after the match was that the Bucks challenged for the heavyweight version of the tag titles, currently held by the Briscoes. This is somewhat of a landmark occurrence for New Japan which keeps the two weight classes very separate. That match goes down on September 22nd at Destruction in Hiroshima.
The lines of weight classes are being blurred elsewhere on the tour as reDRagon mix it up against heavyweights throughout, and Bobby Fish gets a NEVER title shot against Katsuyori Shibata. That is an openweight belt, but they haven’t had too many juniors challenge for it to this point. There are also rumours that reDRagon will be in the heavyweight tag league in December.
NJPW had two shows with titles on the line this past weekend. On Saturday, they were in Nagoya and headlined with a Satoshi Kojima challenge against NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata. After a successful defense, Shibata was challenged by Kojima’s partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan. It looks like the story will be Shibata having to go through “The Third Generation” one by one. The other man who fits that bill is Yuji Nagata and that could end up being a title match in May or June.
Sunday in Amagasaki, Tomohiro Ishii retained his ROH Television championship against the man who gave him a run for his money in the New Japan Cup – EVIL. After 21 minutes, Ishii hit the vertical fall brainbuster for the win. The NEVER 6 Man titles were also on the line as The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks) took on Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin & Juice Robinson. The Elite retained following a One Winged Angel by Omega on Juice.
NOAH
NOAH had a big show at Korakuen Hall and the results were rather questionable as they continue to have Suzuki-gun run through the NOAH babyfaces in an almost nWo-esque fashion. Whilst Takashi Sugiura retaining against Katsuhiko Nakajima was not a suprise, the tag title match result of Killer Elite Squad defeating Go Shiozaki & Maybach Taniguchi was rather head scratching.
KES has held the belts for over a year now and the babyface team needed this win, particularly with Shiozaki the man who needs to be belt as the man to conquer Sugiura. The one set of titles that did change hands were the junior tag titles as Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge dropped their straps to Kenou and Hajime Ohara.
Today, DDT and Dragon Gate took the stage with big shows in Sumo Hall and Wakayama respectively. At its 19th anniversary show before a sold-out 7000 fans, DDT had its K-OD title up for grabs in a big match between Isami Kodaka and multi-time former champion HARASHIMA. Whilst the Open The Dream Gate featured a main event of Shingo Takagi defending against Ryo Jimmy Saito in front of 1500.
Get your DDT results here and your Dragon Gate results here.
