Tag: k1

May 22, 2006 Observer Newsletter: WWE & ECW, Bob Sapp

Posted on July 17, 2023 by Dave Meltzer

The gearing up for starting a third brand under the WWE banner, using the ECW name, has been the major behind the scenes news in the company, to the point that any and all booking ideas for both Raw and Smackdown past the early part of June are being labeled as tentative.

A lot of changes, almost all considered positive by those close to the situation, have taken place regarding roster and scheduling. While the TV situation hasn’t changed, in that they will still be taping every Tuesday night prior to Smackdown in the Velocity spot, many other favorable decisions have been made.

While there is still no official TV deal in place, it is now considered close to a lock there will be a TV deal in the U.S. and it won’t be simply an internet property domestically. Ironically, one of the reasons Shane McMahon pushed the idea on his father is because he wanted the idea of an internet exclusive brand, but now Vince sees the potential of this and knows it can’t achieve it without television. The feeling is that if it was just an internet property, Vince would lose his current enthusiasm for it very quickly.

Subscribers can read this issue here.

January 9, 2006 Observer Newsletter: Pride & K1 New Year’s Eve shows, Superstar Billy Graham DVD recap

Posted on February 19, 2023 by Bryan Rose

The New Year’s Eve tradition in Japan this year produced a lot of controversy, a few surprises and head-to-head battles which appear to have shown substance for once beating style among the masses.

Pride, on the strength of its Naoya Ogawa vs. Hidehiko Yoshida battle of 1992 judo medalists match, reversed the results of the past two years by beating K-1 in the head-to-head battle. Two weeks ago, that would have been expected, but with the addition of Masato, K-1 had one strong ratings draw after another on its schedule. Making the win even more surprising is that the Ogawa vs. Yoshida main event, on television, ended at 11 p.m., some 46 minutes before the scheduled finish of the show. Both shows, to allow for editing and counter programming, actually were taped a few hours before airing.

Because of the time management issue, Pride on the Fuji Network ended up showing a second airing of the Takanori Gomi vs. Hayato Sakurai and Ogawa vs. Yoshida fights head-to-head with K-1’s main event, Kid Yamamoto vs. Genki Sudo on TBS. Even weirder, is they had not yet aired Alexander Emelianenko vs. Pawel Nastula (a good fight, but anti-climactic after the main event) nor Dan Henderson vs. Murilo Bustamante welterweight title match (which was edited down to one minute of a 20:00 fight), nor round two of Wanderlei Silva vs. Ricardo Arona (a grudge match and one of the biggest matches of the night). Even though it appeared there was less interest (and that was undeniable in North America as it regarded the two shows) going in, the combined head-to-head rating, and total audience watching both shows was slightly up. There was an aggregate 31.8% of the Japanese homes watching the two shows head to head on 12/31 between 9 and 11 p.m, up from 30.9% last year.

Subscribers can read this issue here.

January 12, 2004 Observer Newsletter: Massive rating for K1 New Year’s show

Posted on December 31, 2020 by F4W Staff

“Unbelievable” was the word used by K-1 promoter Sadaharu Tanigawa when word got out that the peak rating for the Bob Sapp vs. Akebono match on 12/31 was a 43.0, and that the short match beat out the Red & White music festival.

It was only a four minute period when the K-1 show main event (which did a 42.5 overall for the match from 11 p.m. to 11:03 p.m.) beat what has been a Japanese tradition on New Year’s Eve, in its 54th year as one of the highest rated shows every year (which did a 35.2 rating head-to-head). It was a major headline throughout the Japanese media on 1/5 when Video Research reported the breakdown of the numbers in the most competitive television night in the history of this industry.

The Sapp vs. Akebono match, which drew nearly 54 million viewers, broke the record set in the 2002 K-1 Grand Prix of a 33.4 peak rating for the Ernesto Hoost vs. Jerome LeBanner championship match.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

January 7, 2004 Observer Newsletter: Trio of New Years shows in Japan, more

Posted on December 22, 2020 by F4W Staff

The scrambling in the days leading up to the shows was incredible, but ultimately, when the dust cleared, the feeling was it was overkill, and all three promotions and networks spent a ton to divide up an audience already small because of the traditional NHK musical show. It was a ton of publicity, but because of the expenses, did at least some companies, if not all, more harm than good in the long run.

The biggest victim, although it was likely of his own doing, was Antonio Inoki. Unfortunately, Inoki has had 35 years as a national celebrity and almost that long as a cultural icon. Even when he does wrong, which is frequently, or looks to be down and out for good, he’s the proverbial cat, who not only lives, but becomes bigger with every resurrection. In his case, and some would argue it’s partially of his own doing, he’s managed to jump off being associated with a struggling pro wrestling business into a thriving new business.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

January 6, 2003 Observer Newsletter: K1 promoter indicted, Raw ratings, more

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Dave Meltzer

The entire foundation of sports entertainment in Japan was thrown for a loop when the most powerful man in the Japanese industry, K-1 promoter Kazuyoshi Ishii, 49, was indicted on tax evasion charges on 12/26. He and two other high ranked officials of the company, also indicted in the scandal, resigned the next day.

Besides being president of K-1, Ishii was involved in joint promotions this past year with both Pride and All Japan Pro Wrestling. The arrest came just weeks after the most successful show in the company’s history, and in a year where Ishii’s promotional wizardry peaked with the creation of the Bob Sapp phenomenon.

Indicted along with Ishii were Takeshi Sato, 43, the President of Inter Media Corporation, a company under the K-1 umbrella handling its advertising, and Sanshi Terakubo, 67, who handled the accounting for the parent company.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

December 16, 2002 Observer Newsletter: Life and career of Mr. Wrestling Tim Woods, more

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Dave Meltzer

Although the time he spent as a full-time wrestler in Georgia was relatively short, the legend of Mr. Wrestling, Tim Woods, his greatest successes and most famous matches and feuds were in that state.

It was one of those booking ideas that worked to perfection. Leo Garibaldi was the booker in Georgia in 1967 and wanted to build the territory around the gimmick of Mr. Wrestling, who had achieved some notoriety when he turned into a drawing card for promoter Joe Dusek’s Nebraska promotion.

Dusek came up with the concept of Mr. Wrestling in 1965, with the white trunks, white boots and all white mask, as the technical wrestling marvel. Dusek a few years earlier had huge success with another former college wrestler, Big Bill Miller, putting him under the mask as the black-clad Dr. X in 1959 and making him his local world champion.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

September 9, 2002 Observer Newsletter: PRIDE/K1 Shockwave reviewed, new WWE title introduced

Posted on September 9, 2019 by Dave Meltzer

Following up on the angle where Brock Lesnar went exclusively to Smackdown, Raw opened on 9/2 in Milwaukee with Eric Bischoff announcing HHH as the new Raw world champion and giving him the old WCW heavyweight title belt.

There are a lot of different ways of looking at this in theory. You can say with two champions, there are twice as many potential title defenses and you can have the world champion at every house show. On the other hand, the title itself was just rebuilt enough to where it finally appeared to have drawn at SummerSlam and a new top star was created. Now, that title is diluted. You may call it two world titles, but it in reality becomes two IC titles instead of one world title. The argument is that this finally establishes the Raw/Smackdown split. But what made the title special is that it meant something being the one thing above the split.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

Dec 21, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Wrestling With Shadows set to air, Rock Bottom PPV review, plus tons more

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Dave Meltzer

More than one year after the actual event took place, it appears that the U.S. air date of the “Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows” hopefully, Vince McMahon willing since half his booking ideas seem to come from attempts to gain some sort of personal retribution, will finally put closure to what without question will go down as the most famous ending of a match in North American history.

Bret Hart is among the leading candidates to be the pro wrestler of this decade. He’s one of the best in-ring performers of this generation. Vince McMahon, is the most successful wrestling promoter ever, and from a historical standpoint is probably the most important one of all-time, although some would argue the latter point. Yet for all of Hart’s great matches and all of McMahon’s business accomplishments, the defining moment in both men’s professional lives and possibly even what both will over the long haul most be remembered for, at least personally, is chronicled in this movie.

The documentary, which aired last month in Canada, and airs from 9-11 p.m. on the A&E Network on 12/20, has gotten unanimously positive reviews from every media source in North America that has reviewed it, which is amazing given the subject of the movie is pro wrestling. Certainly that is a first for any movie on pro wrestling, or even with a theme revolving around pro wrestling. The version of the movie on television will be the “Child Friendly” videotape version, with some language edits from the original version.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.