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TNA Wrestling's Big Return to Japan

TNA's Bound For Glory may draw just fine this year. It's a 2000 seat building and they might just fill it. I'm not saying you should consider this match as much of an indicator as to how that show will turn out, but it is worth taking a look. The crowd was announced as 650, which it may be... in a world where Dino Bravo holds the bench press record.





Eddie Edwards & Tigre Uno (replacing Davey Richards) vs. Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo

Comments

  1. 650 was the combined weight of all those in attendance.

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  2. I'm from San Francisco. The t-shirts here are Asian Sizes! You may in fact be correct.

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  3. Catch phrases that never got over no matter how hard down our throats they're pushed welcomes allegedly into the fold

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  4. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarSeptember 3, 2014 at 6:28 AM

    To set up a match with Hakushi?

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  5. They JUST MIGHT sell 2000 tickets to their Wrestlemania equivalent. Are jokes even necessary here or is that funny enough?

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  6. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarSeptember 3, 2014 at 6:34 AM

    Did Doom already have the awesome entrance music, or did that only come when they brought on Teddy Long as their manager after they lost the masks? I loved that entrance music.

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  7. Yeah his initial more comically-heelish persona was fun but somewhere by 1996 (if not by the end of 1995) he'd already turned into just another carny :(


    Still remember his commercials for the lifesize cut-outs though.

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  8. Ah, the State Patrol. Classic rasslin' combo - I wish they were just a few years younger because I'd have had them feud with Harlem Heat. I'll just bet that feud would have had legs in a Southern promotion.

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  9. They originally used Bob Seger's Strut, which worked for Woman but less so for the big scary team.

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  10. Ugh those matches were ass - you could tell they were at the end of long tapings in like Wisconsin There were two different ones that surfaced on Coliseum tapes. One from late 1992 and one from like January of 1993. They're both horrible, and I think have the same ending: Ramon takes a chokeslam and then leaves the ring and takes a countout loss.

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  11. There's a few legit good tapes like Monday Night Raw Prime Cuts, Wrestlefest '91, and even Smack Em Whack Em has the Bret-Flair world title match and the HBK-Bret ladder match.


    Most of those tapes were awful but I used to have such a fondness for them that I could watch them all day. Probably still could.

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  12. So TNA will spend thousands to fly its wrestlers, production team, equipment, and all six sides of its ring for a 2000 person show (IF they sell that many tickets). How could that possibly make money when tickets are $38-$67 USD?

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  13. I remember how towards the end of the year in 1995, Russo made "predictions" for 1996 in the WWF Magazine. I'm not quite sure if he was booking yet, but basically a lot of what he said seemed like he was at least somewhat in the know by then. Some of the stuff he hinted at actually came to pass (though I forget what), but one of them was Ramon turning heel and winning the world title. Another involved Owen and Bret getting back together with Bret turning heel (no joke) though he would've been a year early with that one.


    I wish I could find the issue so I'd have something more reliable than my memory but I swear I'm not making any of this up.

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  14. I'm not even trying to bag on TNA, but I just sat through this show and couldn't help but notice the attendance. That goes for Muta's W-1 fed, as well. Maybe more so. I'm sure all questions you may have probably answer themselves. But hey, good match, minus the miscommunication.

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  15. Rick Martel & Mr. Perfect vs King Haku & Jumbo Tauruta. From the 1990 AJPW show.

    One of my personal favorite Tokyo Dome matches ever. So many guys in there that are perfect in playing their part. A real clinic in tag formula. One of those matches I can just watch over and over again. It's a joy to watch how smooth Hennig and Martel work together. Just great stuff. Seek it out if you've never seen it.

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  16. They misused Undertaker from early '92 until Mankind's arrival in '96

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  17. Yes because comparing a Wrestle-1 HOUSE SHOW to one of TNA's biggest shows of the year is the same thing. Wrestle-1 has drawn 5,000 for some of their shows. They don't sell more than 600 or so for house shows because they don't release that many tickets to the shows.


    For someone who claims to be a "Puro" lover, you sure don't know much about it.

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  18. They can fit near 3,000 in the Korakuen Hall. That's on par with the rest of their Bound For Glory shows. There won't be any comp. tickets for this show most likely. I think this is more about getting TNA bigger in the Japanese market and building its partnership with Wrestle-1 than it is about making money.

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  19. What an awkward ass backwards way to find an excuse to post another purl match. Ok we GET IT, you love Japanese wrestling and are much more hip and cool because of it, but go jerk off to it in private, Meltzer

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  20. Looks like my comment was deleted. That's unfortunate that people can't take valid criticism, yet discussions about rape and jerking off to hacked pictures is a-OK.

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  21. So the whole point of this thread was to make WWF1987 watch puro?

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  22. Undertaker: He Buries them Alive!

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  23. Is BFG in Japan this year? Or are they planning for 2015?

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  24. Also, isn't Muta's Wrestle-1 promotion a giant joke and just a place for Muta to appear

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  25. Exactly! When the #2 wrestling promotion in North America comes to town all eyes will be on TNA. The crowd is hungry for western wrestling. Bullet Club has been building them up to be more accustomed to an American style and I imagine they will flock in droves to the TNA show.

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  26. Who in the blue hell are you?

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  27. I get the "got to spend money to make money" idea, but I'm surprised that TNA isn't doing a series of shows in Japan (2 or 3 at least) in order to offset the costs.

    3000 might be on par with their other Bound for Glory shows, but TNA never had to spend thousands to fly across the world to do the show. Doing 3000 in a U.S. based arena like in previous years can easily cover costs, doing it in Japan is much more expensive.

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  28. From what I've read, that seems accurate.

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  29. Kind of like you on this blog

    ...allegedly.

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  30. By this point they were using their awesome jazzy entrance song. They were just wearing the masks to troll people too.

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  31. I still remember buying these first few IYHs as a kid. Loved them. I'm so glad I was 12 at the time and was able to enjoy them, because if I was a few years older, sheesh...

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  32. Yup, I remember at least one Razor-UT matchup as well, but not the circumstances. I know they didn't have any real program to speak of, but they fought.

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  33. Repost the comment

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  34. That would have been a Russo specialty if there ever was one.

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  35. Man they need to get these on the network asap. Also lol at Robin Green slapping poor Norman for sucking at art. She really went to the dark side after screwing over Rick Steiner

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  36. Nice to see a period prior before the infamous heel turn and then sadly the infamous injury-legit that then happened. I don't think they had planned to turn Luger face here -- but after the injury it kind of just happened.

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  37. If I recall correctly, most of the old WCW shows with NJPW drew fairly well. Even when TNA was a part of the Wrestle Kingdom PPVs, the crowds were hot for the Gajin wrestlers.

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  38. I'm sure Wrestle-1 is splitting the bill with TNA. I'd even wager that Wrestle-1 is paying most of it to bring TNA overseas for their biggest show.

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  39. One thing I do enjoy about some older tapings are the commercials still being included, just a fun nostalgia thing.
    You mention the number of tag titles for the Express, Im not so surprised by it only being 4, with the frequent changes of the 90's and early 2000's Im conditioned to think that is a low figure for as long as they were together. Them, the Midnights, and the Road Warriors all seem like they should have had many more reigns.

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  40. he's Guest. I see comments from him everywhere, never an avatar though . . . hm, must not be big on pictures. Anyway he was basically abeyance before Abeyance was Abeyance

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  41. If they thought of themselves as a promotion on that level there would be nothing wrong with that... but they insist on trying to be like WWE so it makes it look really stupid.

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  42. Can they telegraph this heel turn any more? Which is probably why it was so great when it happened, everyone knew it was coming it was just a matter of when. When they pulled the trigger, oh my god that crowd was Molten!!


    Sting's knee injury derailed everything. By the time we got to the GAB. the feud had gotten so ridiculous that it didn't have the same impact any more. Had Sting not hurt his knee, he goes to Wrestle War takes the belt from Ric and we get a rematch or two and then he moves into the ready made feud with Lex before they send Sid after him to try and take the belt back, Maybe throw Barry Whindhan and Stan Hansen in the mix, finally culminating with Flair/Sting at Starrcade, where Flair can take the belt back to basically start the whole thing over again or Sting can move to 91 with the belt and feud with the returning Nikita Kioloff. THAT Run would have been awesome and


    What we got instead was Lex Luger Moron (let me not win the world title and run from the ring to help Sting, who didnt do his "Best friend" any favors being out their with a target on his back), Robocop, JYD, and Paul Orndorff, and he black scorpion. Sadly. probably gotten Robocop anyway.

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  43. Who said they're going to fly? They're going to box everyone up and ship them in a container. Didn't you see the second season of the Wire?

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  44. They better ship them now then! TNA can only afford fourth-class mail, which is delivered by rowboat.

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  45. Hmmm...I don't think Bullet Club has been getting anyone accustomed to a more American style. All the Bullet Club guys wrestle a very NJPW style. The only difference is the occasional interference. And the Bullet Club guys all have nuclear heat. When a heel wrestles them, the heal gets huge pops.


    I'm not trying to invalidate your point, I just think Bullet Club is a bad example. I think the TNA guys can be successful in front of a Japanese audience, but I think they should be prepared to work a more Japanese style, whether high flying or strong style.

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  46. What a well thought out interesting response. Thanks for that!

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  47. All that's missing is the retracted basketball hoop and the slightly crooked "2003 5-A DISTRICT VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONS" banner on the wall.

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  48. I'm sure they'll gussie it up for the PPV.

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  49. My Where The Big Boys Play Podcast fandom requires me to mention that I didn't know her name was a pun until Parv mentioned it.
    Now, was this the angle where they tried to get away with making Norman look like he was bloody by smearing red paint on him?

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  50. Actually, Genesis was carried by good Sega arcade adaptions till Sonic, so it was all good...

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  51. In Sturgis at Road Wild!

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  52. I don't understand why TNA hasn't run Bound for Glory in a moderate size college arena in the northeast (3000-5000 seats) rather than places like Japan, Phoenix and San Antonio of late. Seems like they could at least draw hardcore wrestling fans if you were in Philly, NYC or DC for the show.

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  53. I wasn't crazy about Sega arcade stuff with the exception of Zaxxon, Altered Beast and Golden Axe. I owned a Master System and had a love-hate relationship with it and their apprehension over using third-party titles.

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  54. and I can hardly think of any angles like this. usually this only works the other way around (crowd waits for that face turn. example: Virgil freeing himself from DiBiase).

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