Guest HBK16 Report post Posted March 6, 2002 I have a few questions on hardcore Japan. Some old, some new. Here they are? What was W*ING and what happened to them? IWA? What are other hardcore federations that fell apart? Who is the most hardcore wrestler as of now? Also one more. I was just wondering why BJPW doesn't do all that crazy ass shit they used to do before. You know what I mean. Are they allowed to do that or are they censored or limited? Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Stuart Report post Posted March 7, 2002 >> What was W*ING and what happened to them? IWA? << W*ING was a breakaway group from FMW, led by Micky Ibaragi and Victor Quinones. Their niche was alternative Death Matches to FMW, revolving a lot around experimenting with new ideas, such as fire. They were a creative group and although not good, got a cult following because of the "W*ING Spirit", which actually still lives on. They went bankrupt due to mismanagement and several restart groups have failed. Their entire talent roster almost, led by Quinones, went to IWA Japan, backed by multi-millionaire, Mr. Asano. Kanemura went, but quickly jumped to FMW. FMW had also "stolen" Matsunaga and Pogo from W*ING, which had made Onita a big enemy in Quinones. IWA was similar to W*ING, although more refined, with guys like Silver King and Texano really good on the undercard, along with promising upstarts, Yoshihiro Tajiri and Takashi Okano (The Winger). It did well for itself, drawing good crowds to Korakuen... until Kawasaki. The (in)famous King of the Death Match Tournament was actually the thing that killed that form of IWA, as it was a profit loss. IWA had started building around popular foreigners, Terry Funk and Cactus Jack, along with cult heroes, Shoji Nakamaki and Hiroshi Ono, but when Tarzan Goto arrived from FMW, they really ruined the storyline structure and started building around him. The company kind of died at the end of 1995, if not officially, and had restarts about twice after. It runs low scale now, but still draws good #'s for a company without TV, and seems to be slowly growing again. >> What are other hardcore federations that fell apart? << W*ING Restart in 1995 died before it began almost. They built around Jason The Terrible fighting evil monsters each month, a disaster waiting to happen. There have been some tiny indy groups, some which still exist, such as Onita Pro/Project X and Mr. Pogo's WWS (World W*ING Spirit). Of course, FMW died, but it was long past it's hardcore direction by then. >> Who is the most hardcore wrestler as of now? << Right now? There are a lot of crazy guys on the U.S. scene, like Nick Mondo. I'd say Jun Kasai is the craziest though. He doesn't care about himself at all and will take any bump. My favourite current Death Match wrestler is Shadow WX, who improved tons in 2001. With Yamakawa back though, he'll more than likely be the best, with Honma not doing them much anymore. >> Also one more. I was just wondering why BJPW doesn't do all that crazy ass shit they used to do before. You know what I mean. Are they allowed to do that or are they censored or limited? << They've still done Death Matches this year, just not as many big ones. Yamakawa and Kasai just had a crazy Land Mines Russian Roulette Death Match on 3/3, which points to the big concepts returning. They have to do them it seems, because after Zandig's pillaging of the company, they only have one big draw (Yamakawa) and need to (re)build others. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest HBK16 Report post Posted March 7, 2002 Thanks man that helps a lot. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
