Why do YOU love Puroresu...

[Guest Downhome]

I'm going to assume that most of you guys who are in this forum to even read this love Puroresu. I just want to know WHY you love it, and how that love began. This isn't something that many other fans in the US are into, and that is for many reasons. Everything from the fact that this stuff isn't available just anywhere, it's so different from what we have here, to the fact that some people just don't know that it's out there in the first place to discover. I feel we are in a very special minority of American (or where ever you are) Pro. Wrestling fans, we love the sport so much that we do not simply allow borders to limit our learning more about it. If you are like me, you watch Pro. Wrestling however you can get it, from WWE, to Lucha, to Indys, to Puroresu, to anything in a damn wrestling ring. I love it all, and I'll watch any of it. Now, with that short rant off my chest...

 

...I first discovered Puroresu, like most of you, on the net. I was told about the other stuff that is out there besides the WWF and WCW. Shortly after that, I learned of the legendary video game Fire Pro. Wrestling for the Playstation. I thought damn, it has hundreds of wrestlers in it, and MANY that I watch on TV even week, along with the many that I don't know who they are. After that I learded of the game VPW2 for the N64, and I bought both games.

 

In short, after seeing all of the moves (after I edited the look and names of everyone to what it should be by using a list I found on the net), specifically in VPW2 I began to wonder if there could REALLY be guys who pull off some of that stuff. I saw things like the Burning Hammer, Ganso Bomb, Tiger Driver '91, Dragonrana, Powerbomb/DVD Combo, and countless other things I'd never seen before. I had to see what the games were molded after, thus my search began. I luckily found a HUGE lot on Ebay, with a lot of tapes and 60 + hours of Puroresu. In this lot there was Super J Cup '94, many AJPW shows like Action Series and Power Series '99, and many Dome shows, and the hidden gem at the time, a Best Of tape, of Misawa Vs. Kawada (the tape is made BEFORE the Ganso Bomb spot, thus I didn't have that in this lot, and just for the record I STILL have never seen that match).

 

I was blown away, as this was stuff I'd never seen before. A far cry from Sports Entertainment, I feel in love with Puroresu from the very begining. I love the concept of coming out and shaking hands, the stremmers being tosseds, the profesional entrances and introductions, making it appear to be a TRUE sport. The fan reaction, in which they clap not just becaus so-an-so is in the ring, but out of appreciation of what they are witnessing inside that squared circle. I love the fact that the guys can beat the living hell out of each other, and still get up at the end of the match, and shake hands out of appriciation of one another. In a way, it IS like a real sport even though it's Pro. Wrestling. It isn't just show and tell, it is a display of atheleticsm at it's best, and it is presented in that way and the fans take to it as that. This isn't to say that US wrestling isn't great, it is, it's just different. We take ours more so the full blown entertainment route...

 

...and Puroresu for the most part presents it as a true competion of the best of the best. Yeah, there are more and more "entertainment" feds poping up in Japan, but it's all the same. Even with the new entertainment aspect of the new feds, from the ones I've seen, they STILL present it professionally as a SPORT.

 

From all of this, I dived into the Tiger Mask I Vs. The Dynamite Kid series. I have an eight hour tape of the best of Tiger Mask I, and also a seperate eight hour tape of the best of Dynamite, and between those two tapes I have many of the matches they had against each other. I feel in love with both of them, their styles, and their series together. Their work is simply amazing, and the fact that this happened in the early/mid '80s make it that much MORE amazing. This led to me inserting both Tiger Mask I and Dynamite into my top five favorite wrestlers, of all time.

 

So there you have it, this is how I got into Puroresu, and why I got hooked. I love it all, that's about all I know to say. It's a presentation of the sport, a different take on it from what I was used to. Hell, if you ask me this is how the sport should be showcased here in America. Oh yes, one more thing...

 

...I LOVE the Japanese annouceing. Even though I don't understand most of what they say, I love how they get so into the match at hand. At times, I feel as though I understand them totally, when I actually do not. I find their annoucing at times MUCH better than what I see on the shows here in English, and that is not saying much at all for the shows here, lol. How can you NOT love "Tigahhhhhhhhhhh Drivahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" or "Explodahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"?

 

So come on guys, let's discuss all of this. Make comments about what I've said if you wish, and do what I just did. Share with us all right now just why you love Puroresu, and how that love began!

 

Sincerely,

...Downhome...

[Guest PlatypusFool]

My story begins, like many, with the love for US pro wrestling existing in me for as long as I can remember. After leaving the WWF alone for some years I came back into the fold around three years ago, and with the help of the internet I became knowledgable about it and became a 'smark'. It wasn't long before I heard about ECW and me and a mate ('saturnmark4life' in fact) wanted to see what it was like. He purchased Guilty As Charged 2000 and we both watched it and were blown away. Even with the attitude era of the WWF well under way by this point, ECW was still a breath of fresh air and we were hooked on that company. I soon bought Barely Legal 97, and it was from the Michinoku Pro match on that tape that my love for puro was born. It was mind blowing. Super fast, super stiff and overall a GREAT match, and I wanted more.

 

But I had no idea how to get it, and it didn't even occur to me to look. So, for a year or so I did nothing, until I stumbled on thesmarks message board. Driven by curiosity I started reading the foreign folder and it wasn't long before I posed the question every newbie must ask... what tape shall I get first and where shall I get it from?

 

I was directed to a particular tape dealer, the almost monopolistic (in the UK) operation run by strongstyletapes.com with orders to purchase the two Super J Cups. I also started visiting rollinggermans.com for reviews. However, there was a slight snag in my puroresu enjoyment - Having only seen the Michinoku Pro tag match from Barely Legal, I was given no reason to not believe that all puroresu wasn't as fast-paced. I thought (and rollinggermans.com's reviews didn't help this belief as he doesn't talk about the opening matwork in the reviews) that all puroresu was the same. Needless to say, when the J Cups arrived I was a little taken back. I was confused and dissapointed. I liked what I saw though, and watched the J Cup's many, many times, each time enjoying it more.

 

This was when the love started for me, with Lyger and Sasuke telling an awesome story in the semi-finals of the 94 Cup, with Shinjiro Ohtani beating the snot out of Mochizuki in the first round of the 95 Cup and with every second of Lyger based action from both tapes. From there I learnt more, and finally understood that every federation in Japan was different, something I had no concept of previously. I've been though most of the federations now, owning a few tapes from all of them, and will continue to buy more until I have it all.

 

The reasons I love puro number so many it will be difficult to identify and name them all, but I think the main one is the diversity. I enjoy everything, from the ludicrous indie gimmicks to the straight forward nature of the traditionalists, it all entertains me. But, without the diversity that seperates all of puroresu from one another, it would just be dull. I also enjoy the focus on the wrestling. Since what I have always loved most about wrestling is the narrative, the story telling, I love watching how wrestlers craft narrative into their fights. When it works, it is awesome to behold, and it works more in puro than in any US federation.

 

I don't think I have any more to tell you guys, that's about the whole picture.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Basically, I got into it about the same way. When being immersed so much in wrestling and then hearing about legendary matches in Japan, I decided to explore the endevor, and went to a full match site called Planet Wrestling, which featured several matches from practically every promotion durring the '90. This helped me develope a good sense of the various styles of puroresu, as there was everything from Kobashi/Williams, to Samurai/Kanemoto, to Pogo/Onita. After that I got the first two J-Cups, and dug those quite a bit. I wasn't too amazed at first, but the last two matches really hooked me, and I've since come to enjoy it pretty much from top to bottom. I ordered some M Pro shows, got the J*Crown, and a few Junior comps with a wide variety of matches. Among those were TM/Dynamite, Liger/Samurai from BOTSJ '92 (still one of my personal favorites) and several other matches featuring Liger, Ultimo, Sasuke, Ohtani, Kanemoto, Benoit, Eddy, Malenko, and others. I've since seen some Joshi and I'm trying to get as much of that as I can at this point.

[Guest Downhome]

Just for the record, I have only seen 1-3 Joshi matches, and I HATE those hardcore/trash federations. There is just something about a "spider net" that I can't get into, it's too "out there" for my taste I suppose you can say. Now let me ask you guys this...

 

...have you ever seen Hogan work in Japan? It is actually pretty good, especially his work with Muta.

[Guest BionicRedneck]

i just love wrestling. I started with the US stuff and just gradually moved on to Puro. My first tape was, of course, the Super J Cup 1994

 

 

"I LOVE the Japanese annouceing"

 

I hate it the announcing sometimes. I mean people complain at JR for shouting "BAH GAWD!" etc. but its better than LLLLAAAAAARRRRRIIIIIIOOOTTTTTTTTOOOOOAAAAAA!!!! and CCCCUUUNNTTTTTTTTAAAAAA TTHRRRRREEEEEEEE!!!!!!

 

"...have you ever seen Hogan work in Japan? It is actually pretty good, especially his work with Muta"

 

Really?! i'll have to watch those again, coz first time I saw them i thought they sucked.

[Guest Downhome]

Really?! i'll have to watch those again, coz first time I saw them i thought they sucked.

There is one specific one, 1992 or 1993 and it is pretty good. It actually has Hogan going to the mat with Muta. Keep in mind we're talking about Hogan here, so, ya know. Still, it is shocking to see him do this kind of stuff when we are used to seeing him do the exact same thing over and over again.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Just for the record, I have only seen 1-3 Joshi matches, and I HATE those hardcore/trash federations. There is just something about a "spider net" that I can't get into, it's too "out there" for my taste I suppose you can say. Now let me ask you guys this...

 

...have you ever seen Hogan work in Japan? It is actually pretty good, especially his work with Muta.

Actually, I've only seen one. It was the Arison Sky Tourny '99 finals, with Ayoko Hamada and AKINO taking on a team which I forget the names of. Anyway, it was totally balls out and I really got into it, so I I'm trying to look for the best stuff now.

 

And the hardcore promotions can be pretty out there. I expressed a little interest in the Big Japan style of match, but after seeing I bit of it I've decided it's not my cup of tea. As for the FMW/IWA/*Wing type of stuff, I'm deffinately not cut out for it, so I'll just leave it be.

 

And I've only see one Hogan match from Japan, that being Vs. Stan Hansen from All Japan/WWF wrestling summit. Great perfomance by the Hulkster there. I've never really like Muta, so I stayed away from that match.

[Guest wolverine]

"Actually, I've only seen one. It was the Arison Sky Tourny '99 finals, with Ayoko Hamada and AKINO taking on a team which I forget the names of. Anyway, it was totally balls out and I really got into it, so I I'm trying to look for the best stuff now."

 

Speaking of Arsion, I saw the Yoshida-AKINO 1/17/99 match yesterday and was completely blown away. Completely out of this world matwork, with crisp highspots mixed in. Probably the second best match from 1999 behind Aja-Satomura. Yoshida back then was a complete marvel in the ring. Since I'm really interested in this shootish style now, I should get my hands on some of the high-end RINGS stuff from 97-98, which I've yet to see.

[Guest XdojimeX]

"I should get my hands on some of the high-end RINGS stuff from 97-98, which I've yet to see."

 

I was pretty late on the RINGS bandwagon myself (which was rather sparse to begin with.) As a fairly big fan of UWF-i and Takada especially I found RINGS to be pretty hit and miss, but the few hits I've come across we're KO's. If it involves Han, Tamura, or Kohsaka you're usually in for a treat. Tamura/Kohsaka 6/98 pretty much peaked the style in my book and never looked back. An all-time classic.

 

But Han is my favorite worker of the three, and anybody who's seen him knows why. The Houdini of shoot-style about sums this guy up. As unique and talented as any worker in any style I've seen.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

I met a girl a couple years ago named J-Cup 94 and since then she's introduced me to her very pretty friends, AJPW, FMW, M-Pro and Toryumon. I have a good relationship with all of them.

[Guest Black Tiger]

The reason I love puro so much is that WWE turned into a joke, 15 minute interviews, 10 minute backstage skits, then 2 minute matches. Puro gave me something I wanted, no skits or in ring interviews, just 10-20 minute matches.

 

I got into Puro after several years of following the happenings in PWI and seeing guys like Lyger, Chono, Hase, Sasaki, etc on WCW shows.

 

My first puro tape was the J* Crown Tournament.

[Guest Downhome]

(As I type this, I am watching a Vader Vs. Tauwe match.)

 

I once saw someone, I believe it was Mr. Pogo, light his actual arm on fire just to clotheline someone with it. Since then, I never watch those sh*t feds, as that is all they are to me.

[Guest BigTim2002]

OK. Muta is the reason...not Mutoh now, who kinda rocks, but Mutoh THEN, who rocks ALL THE BELLS IN THE WORLD...

 

His matches with Chono were legendary. It was like I was watching matches better than anything I'd ever seen. Then I saw Pillman/Lyger from a house show that was shown on WCW Saturday Night. Wow...I couldn't believe it...it was amazing...I couldn't believe it. I was hooked. I only knew of the NJ guys, not ANYBODY from AJ...Kawada, Misawa, Taue, Kobashi, Jun, all those guys I knew nothing of...so since I saw it for SUCH a great deal...I bought the best of Japan 2001...and I'm hooked. Now I look for the classics. I'm downloading matches left and right, and I'm happy to announce that I watched the greatest spotfest ever, 10-10-96...my review is up in this very folder, and I'm going to put out another review with the rematch on it.

 

And I LOVE THE ANNOUCNERS! If JR had as much heart as these guys...whoa.

[Guest Dangerous A]

Let's trace when DA got into puro.

 

It all started a couple of months after WWF bought out WCW. With no competition to watch, all I was left with was WWF and that was when they started to go downhill. One day around May 2001 I was trying to click on a Scott Keith rant on the old smarks site. I accidentally clicked on Rolling Germans tape review for 6/9/95 match between Misawa/Kobashi vs Taue/Kawada. At first I almost just clicked back, but something told me to give this a shot. I read the match review and instantly sparked my interests in puro. I searched the net for other sites and discovered that there was a small community of puroheads. Since then I have spent hundreds of dollars aquiring puro.(a habit I really need to curb) Puro became my alternative to sports entertainment.

 

 

Why do I love puro? The purity of it. I don't understand a lick of japanese and I must rely on the workers to relay the story to me. With the internet as a supplement, my thirst for puro knowledge gets quenched daily. It is the antithesis of the WWE. (at least NJ and AJ are) While I will never forsake the WWE, it is nice to know that our friends in the far east have provided an alternative that doesn't suck. Usually. There is some bad puro too.(FMW and Big Japan come to mind) But for the most part puro will be a part of my life til the very end.

[Guest BionicRedneck]

OK. Muta is the reason...not Mutoh now, who kinda rocks, but Mutoh THEN, who rocks ALL THE BELLS IN THE WORLD...

Couldn't agree more. Everybody gives Muto shit nowadays for laziness, selling etc.(which i think people go over the top about) but what they fail to mention is how much he fuckin ruled, before he hurt his knees.

[Guest ArkhamGlobe]

How did I get into puro? It actually goes back to when I first became a wrestling fan in the early mid '90s. One channel showed WWF Superstars, and the PPV's before they switched over to WCW in 1994, another channel then started showing WWF Superstars. Then one night I was channel surfing, and lo and behold, on EuroSport there was a wrestling show I hadn't seen before. The promotion they were showing was New Japan Pro Wrestling. I wasn't too impressed at first (during the first show I watched) as the matches were for instance the Nasty Boys vs the Hellraisers, but then came this match between Jushin Liger and Ultimo Dragon (I know Liger was in it, and I'm pretty sure about Dragon, though I could be mistaken) and I was just blown away and I promptly became a huge mark for Jushin Liger. Then I kept watching week after week, and I became more impressed every week (I liked the junior heavyweight stuff the best, though I seem to remember being a fan of Masahiro Chono), and watching this also made me a fan of Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko.

 

As to why I love puroresu now, it's very simple. I am a wrestling fan, I don't give a rats ass about sports entertainment. (Good) Puro for me provides me with what I want out of wrestling: great in-ring storytelling. The emotional ride I was taken on when I first watched the 97-01-20 match between Misawa and Kobashi (and without practically knowing anything about the backstory to the match) is almost unparalelled for me, and it was that match (and the finals to the '94 J Cup) that above all else reminded me why I loved puro back and watched it every week on EuroSport in 1994 or 1995 (can't remember the exact year).

[Guest BigTim2002]

Here's a question for all you guys...are you shifted towards Juniors or Strong Style? Personally...I love Strong. Not to say I don't lie seeing Magnum TOKYO hit a SSP once in a while...

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Here's a question for all you guys...are you shifted towards Juniors or Strong Style? Personally...I love Strong. Not to say I don't lie seeing Magnum TOKYO hit a SSP once in a while...

While I'm deffinately partial to the Juniors right now, what do you mean by Strong Style? I know this has been discussed before, but that is often a very mis-used term, so it would be nice if you could elaborate.

 

Yeah, NJ Juniors and '96 M Pro are my puro of choice right now.

 

And to whoever referenced the "Lighting his arm on fire and clothslining a guy" that was Shadow WX.

[Guest NoSelfWorth]

I love Puroresu because it is the sport side of wrestling, with none of this SE crap. Pure wrestling at it's best.

[Guest Nezbyte]

`Garbage` wrestling. Im a huge blood mark. I love Mr Pogo matches for the sheer insanity.

 

From there, i moved to the junior style only occasionaly dabbling in the heavier guys.

[Guest Grenouille]

In the beginning living up north I was a true and blue WWF through and through(wow unintentional rhyming ). On occasion I'd watch WCW shows which would sometime feature men like the Great Muta, Masa Chono and Liger. It always seemed as if their matches kicked ass. Nothing would come of it though with it being the early 90's and not having the internet. The only Puro related things would come from WCW and PWI which would write about classics that happened overseas.

 

With the inception of the internet everything and anything is discussed. With wrestling being a fav of mine over time I smartened up about various things about the WWF and other U.S. feds. In message boards there always seemed to be someone pimping Puro as the superior end all compared to what is given here. At first I thought the Puro elitists were complete assholes because nothing could be better than what McMahon rammed down our throats weekly .

 

Eventually I picked up Fire Pro G and loved it, not for the American guys in there, but for the Japanese. At this point my interest was building. I bought VPW2 later on and again loved and thought now is the time to buy some videos. Well, I ordered myself some of the All Japan videos that everyone always blew their load over. After sitting through my first tape with the Misawa-Kawada 1/99 match, my impression on Puro was that I HATED it. I did not understand it a damn bit. I guess starting with AJ heavies wasn't the greatest idea either.

 

After rewatching the three videos again especially the 6/9/95 tag match a complete turn happened and I started liking it. Today, two years later and about 200 videos later Puro has surpassed the WWF in my mind, although I still watch, but don't expect Puro caliber matches from most of the talent.

Well that's my story.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

platypusfool made me watch it.

[Guest Black Tiger]

The only style I find that I don't like is the AJPW Jr style, I love King's Road, Strong Style, NJPW Jr, The M Pro Lucha Style.

 

I don't mind certain aspects of garbage wrestling like using chairs, tables, kendo sticks etc because it can be fun to watch, but when it turns into fire, scorpians, piranahs etc. That's the shit I can't stand, its not wrestling, its just stupid ass violence. I love Hayabusa, and Masato Tanaka. The 5/5/96 Electic Barbed wire match between Megumi Kudo and Combat Toyota is the best women's match I've ever seen (but that has nothing to do with the wire and everything to do with psychology and match flow)

[Guest goodhelmet]

i became interested in puro only after i had discovered the IWC. Disillusioned with wcw and not impressed with the wwe, I started surfing wrestling websites and found out about all of these great matches i have never experienced (i just saw 6/9/95 AJ tag match about 2 weeks ago for the first time). because the fed wasn't satisfying the wrestling itch, i invested in a couple of comps and then took off from there. jcup 95, assorted all japan shows, g1 climax 92. after this initial intro, i was quite happy with the wwe from 2000-2001, my puro purchasing has recently increased as I seek to find an alternative to the shoddy wwe product.

 

why do i love puro? because regardless of the language barriers or the particular names in the ring, the best ones can pull me into a match and get me excited. mind you, this is without knowing the history. after researching the history of the match, it usually makes it even more exciting.

 

sidenote- also downhome, if you're looking for a joshi comp, i can take care of it when i get back from vacation. maybe we can set up a trade or something.

[Guest thefrenchargel]

The first puro tape i ever saw was the town bike, 94 Super J, after that I saw Misawa/Kawada 94 and thought it sucked, however I absolutely love it now. Got into it to see my favorite American wrestlers wrestle in a different environment. Benoit/Sasuke from the 94SJ is probably in my top 5 favorite matches. After that I got hooked on Dynamite Kid/Tiger Mask. The NJ and MPro Jrs are what I'm into the most, NJ heavies don't interest me at all, and AJPW for the most part is pretty hit or miss for me, as everything I've seen has involved Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Jumbo, Akiyama, or Kane. I dig Foley's deathmatch stuff for the most part, but lame deathmatches are the worst. If it's a deathmatch, and there isn't copius amounts of weapons and blood involved, well, it doesn't have that same charm. I REALLY need to see some of this stuff with scorpions and piranhas and shit..that sounds ill.