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New Japan piece at Paste Magazine


Scott,

Hi. Paste Magazine ran a piece about New Japan today. Your readers might dig it.


Hey, wait a minute, I'm not gonna get a picture of Minoru Suzuki showing his ass like Kim Kardashian here, am I?  I mean, sure I'm curious and a little turned on by the thought, but some warning first would be nice.  

Wait, did I think that or type it?  

Comments

  1. Is this actually complete unlike Scott's version :/

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  2. If Minoru Suzuki were to ever be put in some Hall of Fame, I nominate Scott Keith to induct him. Because deep down, they really love each other.

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  3. Yep. 36 SNME and 5 Main Events.

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  4. Man...if that whole PAPER magazine cover thing would have happened during the Attitude Era, you can bet that WWF would have parodied the SHIT out of it with Rikishi.

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  5. I like current New Japan as much as the next guy, but calling this the golden age of Japanese wrestling is ridiculous hyperbole. In the 80s and 90s, New Japan, All Japan, and All Japan Women were all doing monster business while regularly putting on matches as good as or better than current New Japan's best.

    Also, there's nothing realistic about New Japan's matches. Tanahashi's a great worker, but the High Fly Flow is just as fake as the AA. In fact, the opposite is closer to being true. Antonio Inoki's obsession with realism nearly put New Japan out of business the previous decade. Its current resurgence has coincided with a return to traditional pro-style wrestling.

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  6. New Japan feels like a group that learned from the small, influential indy groups in Japan (FMW and the like) and left behind Antonio Gagne's vision of a "sport" style. It's fake anyway, so let's all enjoy the crazy characters. Japan has out-Vinced Vince.

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  7. I'm fine with a bit of hyperbole, it is a hype piece after all. Anything to get eyes on it. And this is certainly the most exposure puroresu's had outside Japan for a very long time.

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  8. Between how good they are at selling and how the product is presented, it feels more realistic than American wrestling. Realism is relative when you're talking about a sport where the Irish whip and vertical suplex have been taken for granted for decades.

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  9. The first Fox SNME was pretty good.

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  10. I always thought that about Takayama Keiji.

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  11. A lot of the NJPW guys have influences of the american and mexican style. Tanahashi himself said once that he's not a huge fan of Inoki's strong style, he's a child of the WWF/NWA since he idolizes HBK.

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  12. He's lucky to be in that pro wrestling environment. WWE is run by a guy who likes things his way and his way only, so lots of sports entertainers. I think a promotion should have some sports entertainers (Nakamura would kill in WWE), but not exclusively. WWE and lucha share that uniformity.

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  13. Tanahashi is like an HBK with better selling and reversals. So, yeah, I could totally see him saying that.

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  14. I wasn't wild on it but it was nice to have something happen after a lot of unimportant episodes.

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  15. The High Fly Flow is ridiculous, but Tanahashi can tell a better story in the ring than anyone else currently alive...including retired wrestlers.

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  16. Here's the deal the bookers Jado & Gedo(yes, those two that Scott used to hate) are also big fan of the american style, the whole Bullet Club is like a NWO. Tanahashi only got his big push when these two got reigns, Inoki and Choshu's obsession with realism almost killed the company. Tanahashi has a big number of japanese wrestlers that hate, because he "betrayed" the strong style.

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  17. *cof cof* Daniel Bryan, Zayn!

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  18. Wrestling results in japan go out on papers like others sports do. They really create this realistic atmosphere.

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  19. Onita faced the same attitudes. Who sold out the Tokyo Dome?

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  20. Completely shitty, yes

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  21. Crazy that Choshu would be so anti-realism, given his stated public distaste for shootstyle and his constant shitting on the UWFI guys during that feud.

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  22. I think the counter here is, NJPW right now has not only the workrate and the box-office, but the attention on the product as something more than Wacky Japanese Stuff. Part of that is the cache of having JR and Striker call WK9 -- now it's easier for the "typical" American fan to buy into the company without having to navigate a language barrier before getting to the LARIATOOOOO and BOMA YEEEE.

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  23. As a long-time SK reader, I nominate him to induct Gedo -- or to roast him, whichever he prefers.

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  24. Dude...I've watched D-Bry live from when he was the American Dragon in ROH and lots of Zayn and nothing came close to seeing Tanahashi live. He's just a workrate machine and sold his ass of for freaking Micheal Bennet. I mean, Bennet was practically just standing there, the way Bennet does, and Tanahashi was just bumping all over the place for the match and made Bennet look semi-competent. It was the most amazing one man performance I've ever seen. Tanahashi's comeback was even exciting!


    Bennet seems like a great guy with a lot of heart, but he's just not a very good wrestler.

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  25. SNME was so bad ass I would get so excited & so pumped. Because like it says, even though its all we were used to, all we ever got was squash matches. I mean, WWF Wrestling Challenge would provide main events of the Islanders vs Killer Bees & I'd be ecstatic.
    SNME provided some serious sweetness. The atmosphere was big time intense. The production & layout was smooth. I lucked out the 1st time I saw SNME & got hooked when I saw Hogan & Andre take down Stuff & Bundy. The HOT CROWD sucked u in permanently.

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  26. I had forgotten how much I liked it. There really are some fun shows and great matches in there.

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  27. Watching the old SNME on the network, a couple of things jump out. For all we complain about RAW matches being interrupted by commercials, every SNME had its big matches broken up by commercials, usually to kick out the manager. When you watch the shows in rapid succession, it's quite idiotic how contrived it all seems.


    More importantly, these shows are nowhere near as memorable as I had thought. The show hit its stride in 1987, but after WM5 things start to run out of gas quickly. Some excellent tag matches through to 1990, but that's about it.

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  28. What I liked about them is the length. Taking out the commercials, each episode is about an hour and five minutes. That's so much easier to sit through than the ridiculous lengths we sit through today. Even the bad episodes are at least over fast enough that you don't get that bored.

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  29. Thomas, I personally love the hard hitting Warrior/Andre match. I always found it passable. Warrior vs. Super Ninja is total drek, however.

    I'm also shocked nobody ever mentions Jesse's last words on SNME in response to McMahon saying see you all next time. Jesse: I don't think so.

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  30. The Warrior vs. Andre match was way too sloppy for me.


    Nice catch on Jesse. Then again I don't know how many people kept watching when Vince promised "more" of the show and it was about 90 seconds.

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  31. SNME was IYH before there was a IYH.

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  32. What I liked about SNME

    -- It launched the face turn for two diabolical heels. It also launched the heel turn of one of the faces that had been a heel.

    -- Hogan destroying HTM and kicking out of his finisher

    -- savage vs bret

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  33. Bloopers

    During the Andre/Savage - Uh McMahon, how could Savage know about the snake under the ring. -- Well Jesse, I assume that conversation with Jake was when he told the Macho Man.

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  34. I still thought Savage carried Honkey to two *** matches on SNME and TME respectfully.

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