The 8th Match: History of Pro-Wrestling for beginners. (NJPW 2000s)
Buenas noches!
Hi, I’m Choro. (^^)!
I have been very busy and kept putting this off…( ；∀；)
I should reconsider how to proceed this blog and themes to write.
NJPW’s history is close to an end.
We call 2000s as “dark age” – the time between rapid decline of 90s’ popularity to the day of current boom.
In late 90s, there were lots of matches held all over in Japan because of great popularity of The Three Musketeers, Jushin Thunder Liger and other junior heavy weight wrestlers.
Promising young wrestlers in this period were the ones we call third generations. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima are the representatives of the generation. Shinjiro Otani, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Koji Kanemoto, Osamu Nishimura and Tokimitsu Ishizawa were also very talented wrestlers and played outstandingly. In spite of the presence of those great wrestlers, why NJPW went into a decline..
The reasons I thought of are as per below.
①1.4, Shinya Hashimoto who were a symbol of strength knocked out by Naoya Ogawa.
②Unreasonable intervening by Antonio Inoki to change scenario forcibly.
③Boom of mixed martial arts made fans to think what the fighting really means.
④Above of 3 reasons caused seceding of popular wrestlers.
There are lots of books and articles on internet write about this decline. Change of people’s perspective due to the flow of the time left Showa’s pro-wrestling in the history. ( ﾟДﾟ)
For your information, pro-wrestling NOAH led the pro-wrestling world during that period. KENTA, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and Taiji Ishimori who are active in NJPW now belonged to NOAH before.
Do you know why the third generations are so popular now? We who has been a fan of pro-wrestling for a long time know that they had struggled to survive in the pro-wrestling world during the period and showed us their loyalties to NJPW. (>_<)
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura and Togi Makabe who are the current stars have fought with the them and create current new pro-wrestling.
This is all the history of NJPW. I roughly explain it but hope you understand its outline. (^_-)-☆
Let’s call it a day!
SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
The 7th Match: History of Pro-Wrestling for beginners. (NJPW Late80s to‘90s)
Buenas noches!
Hi, I’m Choro. (^^)!
I was too busy to update this blog… sorry (>_<)
I had been to Tokyo dome on both 1.4 and 1.5 and watched matches live.
Naito! Congratulations for your winning and thank you for giving us wonderful happiness!!
I am eagerly waiting for your chorus of “de Japon” as we couldn’t this time. But…Tranquilo, I wait you in no rush. (≧▽≦)
Today’s topic is about NJPW history of Late80s to ‘90s (we call this period early Heisei era)
People who recently have started to watch NJPW may have heard that commentators say, “Golden age” or “Old enthusiastic period”.
This early Heisei era is the time what they are talking about. (#^.^#)
What’s great are…
① Wrestlers at that time were “Amazing”
② Number of audience and their fever are overwhelmed.
About ①, followed by Inoki, Fujinami and Choshu I talked in the previous article, other 3 superstars came back to Japan from oversea expedition and one masked wrestler who later became a legend debuted.
Keiji Muto, Masahiro Chono and Shinya Hashimoto who we call them “The Three Musketeers” came back to Japan during 1989-1990. The masked wrestler is Jushin Thunder Liger who retired a few days ago.
Talented pro-wrester Keiji Muto were strong enough to be admired from Tanahashi, Naito and SANADA.
Talking about Cool, Chono Masahiro was there. His nickname was “Black Charisma”. He brought nWo, a pro-wrestling stable of WCW in America, into Japan and produced its extremely cool merchandising products. His ability was certified that he won G1 5times.
Shinya Hashimoto was a symbol of strength. He represented IWGP heavy weight and was famous for vertical drop DDT and great destructive power kick.
Jushin Thunder Liger proactively interacted with other promoters as a main junior heavy weight wrestler and produced junior heavy weight tournament.
There were other famous heavy wrestlers such as Hiroshi Hase, Kensuke Sasaki, Shiro Koshinaka and Junior heavy wrestlers, Koji Kanemoto and Shinjiro Otani. Tenzan, Nagata, Nakanishi and Kojima who are active wrestlers so-called 3rd generations were young lions at the time.
Regarding ②; there were 4 big matches in a year at Tokyo dome at the most and there were also matches at least once in Osaka, Fukuoka and Nagoya. Venues of all matches were full.
The most impressive match was the one held at Tokyo dome on Oct 9th,1995.
Almost of all pro-wrestling fans say this match was the most legendary match and number of audiences was over 67,000, even standing seat were full. ( *´艸｀) Rocky often says that he is proud of being in the Tokyo dome on the day. (^_-)-☆
In the 2 days Tokyo dome match on the other day, there were only 70,000 audiences in total. You know that how much people loved pro-wrestling at the time.
Now, A question came to mind.
Why hasn’t the prosperity gone on until now?
Next article will be about 2000s when pro-wrestling was in the doldrums and current NJPW. ( *´艸｀)
Let’s call it a day!
SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
The 6th Match: History of Pro-Wrestling for beginners. (NJPW ‘70s – ‘80s)
Buenas noches!
Hi, I’m Choro. (^^)!
There are only 2 weeks left this year.
We will have Tokyo Olympic in 2020 but New year is more important for us! Lots of big matches are held during New year season and NJPW is not the only promotion doing this but other promotions also. We can say New year is the most exciting season for pro-wrestling fans!
I am going to explain you Japan’s pro-wrestling history.
Today’s lesson is about ‘70s- ‘80s. (we call this time “Showa era”)
In my previous article, I told you that pro-wrestling is fighting sports but also a drama. It is certainly exciting to see matches itself but, if you know the reason why this match was arranged, you will definitely enjoy it more.
NJPW was established in 1972 and is the oldest promotion.
The founder is Antonio Inoki who broke away from Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance. He is famous for a phrase, “1, 2, 3, daah!”
In the beginning, he struggled to organize it and was in danger of bankruptcy several times. However, he arranged matches with champions of other fighting sports such as boxing and Judo based on his belief, “Pro-wrestling is the strongest sports”
Within these several matches, one of Muhammad Ali’s, legendary champion of boxing heavy weight, was not forgettable one.
During late 70’s to early 80’s, 3 new stars were born. Inoki and those 3 made NJPW grew up big.
The first star is Tastumi Fujinami. He established a genre of Junior heavy weight in pro-wrestling. He was a highly skilled wrestler and created some of techniques you might have heard - Dragon Suplex, Dragon screw and so on.
Before his appearance, main images of wrestler were big and scary. He changed those images in good way by his good-looking and buff bodies with less fat. As he earned lots of woman fans, we sometimes liken him to the first idol wrestler.
The second star is Riki Choshu. He was an elite wrestler and recruited by NJPW as an Olympic athlete of armature wrestling. He later fought against Tastumi Fujinami as a revolutionary fighter, Inoki for generational change and participated in other promotion’s match. Scorpion Deathlock was his technique, and his Lariat was better than anyone.
He made great impacts on pro-wrestling. Until his appearance, matches were mainly arranged with Japanese wrestlers vs. international wrestlers but he changed it and Japanese wrestlers’ matches are now common. He also created a stable and even developed two Platoons. He broke seniority rules, one aspects of Japanese culture and stood on top of the pro-wrestling. He proved that age was just a number and importance is real ability and popularity. This grabbed the interests of business-man who had been struggling with the seniority rules.
The third star is Tiger Mask. Current Tiger Mask is 4th generation. The first generation was very athletic and the most popular wrestler in the history. His popularity was more than Inoki, Fujinami and Choshu.
Now, junior heavy weight wrestlers such as Will Ospreay and Hiromu Takahashi perform like super humans, but Tiger Mask had been doing just as good as them or more in 40years ago.
I roughly summarized Showa era pro-wrestling and there are more I would like to talk but I’m done for the day.
Next article will be late 80’s to 90’s.
Let’s call it a day!
SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
The 5th Match: About the Most Popular Stable in Pro-Wrestling, L・I・J②
Buenas noches!
Hi, I’m Choro. (^^)!
World tag league is finally over.
The winner was FinJuice! (Juice Robinson & David Finlay)
There are two sides to this tag league, for and against however, I personally enjoyed it and it made me more excited about the 2days game in Tokyo dome. (#^^#)
Now, let’s resume from where we were last time.
As I previously told you, attractions of LIJ (in Choro’s point of view) are below 3 points. Please let me explain each one of them.
① Each member has distinctive and strong characteristics.
Not only their cool appearances, their strong fight style and originality are also very attractive. Evil represents King of Darkness, Takagi brings an image of Dragon…
Upon tag match, their also can show us special cooperative technique in very fast movement.
It is very hard to explain this in sentence so please see their games through internet or live…sorry (>_<)
② Their entrance/ oral performance and merchandising products are cool!
It is often said that the most exciting scene is entrance performance. When thinking about “good wrestlers” people say in this 70years of pro-wrestling history, all of them performed really cool entrance scene and used cool theme songs.
Don’t you think that LIJ’s entrance scene are cool enough to excite us?
Especially, Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi are outstanding. A loud cheer erupted from everywhere as soon as their theme song start.
About oral performance, LIJ is the only one stable in NJPW which all members can wrap the game up through the microphone. Each of them have their signature phrases and can bring fan’s satisfactions up to maximum level.
The most famous one is Tetsuya Naito’s that he shouts “de Japon” with fans.
As to merchandising products…
If you have been to merchandising shop in venue, you might already know that there are always long lines in front of this stable’s section. Also, it is not exaggerating to say that half of people in the venue wear LIJ products. Their design is not weird even if you wear it in your daily life, it is even cool!
③ Each of them is strong! but cannot win at the most important match...I can't help cheering for them.
I personally think that all the members deserve to play at main match. All have real abilities and very popular however, they are not awarded titles so often…
Testuya Naito indeed won twice G1 Climax, one of biggest tournaments held in summer, however, he was awarded IWGP heavy weight title, the best and honorable title of NJPW only once. This is not fair considering his situation.
It is bad when it comes to EVEL and SANADA. They are awarded tag match title but never won big single matches such as IWGP heavy weight, G1 and New Japan cup.
* I will explain meaning of each title and its position later.
We believe they will win lots of titles in near future.
Let’s call it a day!
SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
第8試合：初心者の為のプロレスの歴史（平成中期（00年代）の新日本プロレス編）
ブエナスノーチェス！ロッキーです(^^♪
やっぱり忙しさにかまけて書けないもんですな・・( ；∀；)
ちょっと書き方やテーマを再考します・・。
さて新日本プロレスの歴史編もラストに近づきました。
90年代の人気が嘘のように一気にファンが減り、今のブームに至るまでの谷の時期。
いわゆる暗黒時代についてです。
90年代後半、闘魂三銃士やライガーを始めとするジュニアヘビー級選手の活躍で東京ドーム以外のドーム大会も頻繁に行われていました。
そしてこの頃に若手の有望株で伸び盛りだった世代が「第3世代」と言われる選手たちです。
最近のファンの方々は天山広吉、永田裕志、中西学、小島聡ら4人を指す言葉と思われるかもしれませんが他にも素晴らしい選手たちが数多くいました。
大谷晋二郎、高岩竜人、金本浩二、西村修、石澤常光・・他にもこの年代の選手たちは非常に有望で魅力的世代でした。
にもかかわらず、なぜ衰退したのか・・。
理由は一つではなく、色々と悪い流れが噛み合って衰退へと向かいました。
私が思うそのいくつかの代表的な理由は以下の通りです。
①99年1.4で新日本の強さの象徴だった橋本真也が小川直也にKOされる事件が発生
②オーナーのアントニオ猪木によるファンを無視した現場介入、シナリオ変更等の「裏切り」
③総合格闘技ブームによる従来のプロレスファンの幻想が破壊
④上記の理由が重なった結果、人気レスラーたちの大量離脱
というものです。
それぞれは様々な書籍が出ていますし、ネットにも記事がありますのでそちらをご覧いただきたいのですが、時代の流れや価値観の変化に昭和から続いたプロレスはもう通用しなくなっていたのだと思います。
ファンは減り、会場もガラガラ・・。新日本プロレスは一度、地に堕ちました。
ちょっと今からすると信じられないですよね( ﾟДﾟ)
（ちなみにそんな時期にプロレス界を引っ張っていたのは「プロレスリングNOAH」
彼らはNOAH出身の選手たちです。）
新しいファンの皆さんは「第3世代」がなぜあんなに人気なのかと不思議に思うかもしれません。
でも昔から見ている私のようなファンはそんな暗黒時代に歯を食いしばって、なんとか踏ん張ってプロレスを見せてくれていたのが「第3世代」な訳です(>_<)
そして、そんな暗黒時代に次の時代を作り今の人気を生み出すスターたちが若手として第3世代と闘いながら新しいプロレスを作っていったのです。
それが棚橋弘至、中邑真輔、真壁刀義たち今のプロレス界でスターとして活躍している選手たちでした。
これで新しいファンの方々にも概ね新日本の歴史とか流れを説明出来たかなと思いますので、次回以降は更新頻度の改善も含めて色々と試していきたいと思います(^_-)-☆
では今日はこの辺で。。皆様、アディオス！
第7試合：初心者の為のプロレスの歴史（平成初期（90年代）の新日本プロレス編）
ブエナスノーチェス！ロッキーです(^^♪
約1か月、家の事情や仕事の都合で忙しく、サボってしまいました・・
ごめんなさい(>_<)
今日から最低週1回を守って書いていきます！
さて、1.4と1.5のダブルドーム、生観戦してきました！
内藤哲也、おめでとう＆ありがとう！！！
そして今回は出来なかった大合唱、トランキーロで楽しみにしとくよ(≧▽≦)！
さて、今回は昭和末期から平成初期（90年代）の新日本プロレスについて
最近見始めた方はたまにテレビや新日本プロレスワールドで「黄金時代」とか「昔の熱狂的な時代」とかってフレーズが実況や解説から出てきますよね？
それがこの90年代なのです(#^.^#)
何が凄いかって、理由は簡単に言うと2つ！
①在籍選手が桁違いに凄いメンバーだった！
②観客動員数と熱気が凄かった！
からなんです
①については前回話した4名のうちタイガーマスク以外の猪木、藤波、長州がベテランとして絶大な人気を誇りつつ、その後のプロレス界に燦然と輝く3人のスーパースターと後に伝説となる1人のマスクマン、その他にも数多くのスター選手が居たからです
そのスーパースター3人とは、89年～90年頃に海外遠征から帰国した
伝説のマスクマンとは先日引退した獣神サンダーライガーです
武藤敬司は今の最先端に居る棚橋や内藤やSANADA、そして海外のレスラーたちが憧れる強さと華を兼ね備えた天才レスラー
蝶野正洋は年末のガキ使でもおなじみですが、黒のカリスマの異名そのままにNWOを日本に持ち込む等抜群にカッコいい入場やグッズをプロデュース、そして夏のG1を計5回優勝した実力の持ち主
橋本真也は新日本プロレスの強さの象徴として破壊力抜群のキック、そして説得力抜群の決め技垂直落下式DDTという必殺技でIWGPヘビー級の象徴でした
獣神サンダーライガーはジュニアヘビー級の中心として他団体とも積極的に交流し、ジュニアヘビー級だけの大会をプロデュースするなどまさにジュニアのレジェンドでした
その他にもヘビー級には馳浩、佐々木健介、越中詩郎など、ジュニアには金本浩二や大谷晋二郎、そして今も第3世代として活躍している天山や永田、中西、小島達がヤングライオンとして居たんです
凄いと思いません(>_<)？？
そして②はそんなレスラーたちが豊富に居るわけですから東京ドーム大会も多い時は年に4回、その他に大阪、福岡、名古屋の各ドームでも年に1回ずつ興行があり、すべて満員という時代でした
中でも95年10月9日の東京ドーム大会は今も伝説と化していますが観客動員数は6万7千人で座席はもちろんドーム内の立ち見も人で溢れかえっていました・・( *´艸｀)
私も生でその場にいた一人としてプロレス史上最高の興行だったと思います
平成初期、90年代はまさにプロレスが最も華やかで最も多くの人々が生でプロレスを観た輝かしい時代でした(^_-)-☆
・・・さて、初心者の皆さん
不思議だと思いませんか？
こんなに凄かった新日本プロレスがなぜ沈んでしまったのか・・
先日のドーム2daysは2日間で7万人でしたから、当時はそれをほぼ1日で、しかも全国のドームを満員にしていたのにもかかわらず・・
次回は我々長年のファンたちにとって最も辛かった、そして復活した今の新日本プロレスに至る重要な時期である2000年代について書きます( *´艸｀)
では今日はこの辺で。。皆様、アディオス！
第6試合：初心者の為のプロレスの歴史（昭和の新日本プロレス編）
ブエナスノーチェス！ロッキーです(≧▽≦)
2019年もあと2週間と少し。
2020年は東京オリンピックもありますが、プロレスファンにとってはまず正月！
新日本プロレスの東京ドーム大会２daysは勿論の事、他の団体も各地で正月から熱戦を繰り広げるべく多くの興行があるんです( *´艸｀)
プロレスファンにとってお正月は1年で1番盛り上がる時期といっても過言ではありません！！
今回から数回に分けて初心者の方向けに、わかりやすく日本のプロレスの歴史を説明していきたいと思います。
今回は昭和編をご案内します。
少し簡潔にまとめて話すので中級者以上の方はツッコミを入れたくなるでしょうがそこは温かい目で読んでください(>_<)(笑)
以前にお話ししましたがプロレスは格闘技でありドラマです。
一話完結の要素もあるので一つの試合でも感動できますが、やはりそこに至る歴史の流れを知っていればより楽しみが増すのは間違いありません。
そもそも新日本プロレスは1972年に設立した、いま日本で最も歴史あるプロレス団体です。
創設者はアントニオ猪木。そう、あの「１，２，３、ダー！！」の人です。
彼が日本プロレスから紆余曲折を経て独立して作った団体が新日本プロレス。
最初は中々人気も出ず、倒産の危機も何度もあったらしいですがプロレスこそ最強！という考えのもとに異種格闘技戦というボクシングや柔道のチャンピオン達との戦いを行いました。
中でもボクシングヘビー級の伝説のチャンピオン、モハメド・アリとの戦いは世界中で話題になるほどの試合でした。
その後、1970年代後半から80年代初期に新しいスターが3人生まれます。
猪木とこの3人によって新日本プロレスは最初のブームとなります。
一人目は藤波辰爾。日本のプロレス界にジュニアヘビー級というジャンルを確立した伝説のレスラーです(^^♪
ドラゴンスープレックス、ドラゴンスクリューなど今のプロレスでも欠かせない技を生んだ最高のテクニックを持ったレスラーです。
彼が出てくるまでは体が大きくて、怖い印象の人がレスラーのイメージでしたが、甘いマスクや無駄な脂肪が無いマッチョな身体で女性ファンをプロレスに引き込んだ元祖アイドルレスラーですね☆
二人目は長州力。アマレスのオリンピック選手として新日本プロレスに破格のエリートとして入った最初のスカウト選手で、後に革命戦士として藤波との名勝負数え唄と呼ばれる激戦、猪木との世代闘争、他団体への参戦を行いました。
スコーピオンデスロックは彼が元祖ですし、日本人で一番のラリアット使いは彼だと私は思います。
彼が出てきてからのプロレス界は大きく変化しました。
それまでは日本人対外国人が当たり前だったのに日本人対決を主流にしたり、ユニットを作ったり、タッグマッチでツープラトン攻撃を編み出したり、何より年功序列でしか上に上がれないという日本の縦社会のルールを壊して実力と人気があればトップに立てるという日本全体での習慣を壊した事で当時のサラリーマンが自分と重ね合わせて熱狂的なファンとなり絶大な人気を誇りました☆
三人目はタイガーマスク。今、新日本プロレスにいるのは4代目ですが初代は80年代に登場しとてつもない身体能力と飛び技で猪木、藤波、長州を超える人気で日本全国をプロレスブームにした日本の歴史上で最も人気があったプロレスラーと言えるでしょう。
今はウィル・オスプレイや高橋ヒロムなど素晴らしいジュニアヘビー級のレスラーたちが超人的な試合をしていますが、タイガーマスクは今から40年前にそれと同じかそれ以上の試合をしていたんです☆
あー、長くなっちゃったな・・（笑）
昭和のプロレスについてはいったんここまでにします！
UWFとか書き始めたら止まらなくなっちゃう(>_<)
次回は昭和の終わりから平成にかけてを書きますね。
今日はこの辺で。。皆様、アディオス！
