Here's a silly question...

[Guest The Metal Maniac]

So, a buddy sent me a video file of a few spots from a bunch of Joshi matches, which was actually the first I've ever seen of Joshi.

 

In addition to some amazingly brutal spots, I also noticed that there were, in a few matches, males. (Unless my video quality is WAY off...)

 

So, do they have male vs. female matches often in Japan, or are they rare, gimmick matches, like here? Do the guys have to sell for the women as much as they would another guy? Do chicks oversell the guys?

 

I'm just curious, because I know women wrestlers are a lot more respected in Japan, and I can easily see them being put on a level playing field...

[Guest Coffin Surfer]

I'm not to sure about the indie stuff, but from what I've seen of AJW , I haven't seen any intergender matches. It is possible you could have mistaken Kandori or Dynamte Kansai as man.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

It is, in the vague sense, but there have been one or two intergender matches in joshi promotions. In the issue of Ladies Gong I picked up from a thrift store in Manchester there are pictures of Super Delphin and someone else teaming with a woman, against Sasuke, Tiger Mask and another woman who wore a Tiger Mask to the ring, but removed it for the match. Probly just a one off, but there could have been more.

[Guest The Metal Maniac]

If it helps, I think the ring says "ARISON" or something like that (Hard to tell, really) and I think it's a tag match.

 

Like I said, it's a clip video, so it's hard to tell exactly what's going on...I'm pretty sure it is a guy though, because it sure as hell doesn't look like a chick to me, and he's topless.

[Guest wolverine]

It's probably the Minoru Tanaka/Yumi Fukawa vs. Alex Otsuka/Mariko Yoshida mixed tag match that took place in 2000 then. This tourney was only a special type deal, and wasn't something that happened on a regular basis.

[Guest Black Tiger]

Aja Kong did some work in Toryumon a couple years back I hear. Plus Jonie Lauer and her infamous role in New Japan in the fall of 2002.

[Guest wolverine]

Joanie Laurer is a gimmick, not a wrestler - so she doesn't count.

[Guest The Mighty Damaramu]

Yeah what's with the collective boner for her over there anyways? I mean I'm sure most Joshi wrestlers could kick her ass 6 ways from Sunday. Why do the fans see her as so special? Joanie Laurer......the only woman wrestler to be hated across two continents by Smarks.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Didn't Kandori do the same "women fighting men" gimick at one point?

[Guest wolverine]

Yes, I heard Kandori wrestled Tenryu in 2000.

[Guest XdojimeX]

"Yes, I heard Kandori wrestled Tenryu in 2000."

 

Christ, did you see this match? I remember seeing the post-match photos and that was plenty for me.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

"Yeah what's with the collective boner for her over there anyways? I mean I'm sure most Joshi wrestlers could kick her ass 6 ways from Sunday. Why do the fans see her as so special?"

 

1. She's American

2. She wrestled for WWE

 

End of story.

[Guest wolverine]

"Christ, did you see this match? I remember seeing the post-match photos and that was plenty for me."

 

Absolutely not. Can't even begin to imagine what kind of disaster that was.

[Guest XdojimeX]

"Absolutely not. Can't even begin to imagine what kind of disaster that was."

 

It looked like a total mess. Kandori's face was a wreck. Im talking post Manilla Joe Frazier level. Looked like Tenryu potatoed the ever luvin shit out of her. Crazy.

[Guest deadbeater]

Some gimmick--Joanie was elected woman wrestler of the year in the land of joshi.

 

Face it guys. We here want wrestlers to perform like male puro, or like Joshi if they're women. Meanwhile in Japan the stars we reject, with the smash mouth style they deploy, are over huge there. Hogan, Hansen and now Laurer are prime examples.

[Guest wolverine]

By who? Tokyo Sports elected Momoe Nakanishi as female wrestler of the year.

[Guest XdojimeX]

"Hogan, Hansen and now Laurer are prime examples."

 

Um. Since when is Hansen pariah of the American dork contigent? Since when is Laurer selling out shows? Hogan's smash mouth style?

 

"Whaaaa?"- John Stewart

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Hogan's about as smash mouth as soggy Cocoa Pebbles.

[Guest Coffin Surfer]

Stan fucking Hansen has no business being thrown in the same category as Hogan and Laurer. And Hogan doesn't even really belong in the same category as Laurer.

[Guest Tim Cooke]

Stan Hanson > 99% of the American Wrestlers.

 

Tim

[Guest Goodear]

Can we insert Mike Barton, Mike Rotunda, and Kronik instead?

[Guest XdojimeX]

Throw in the Harris Bros. while your at it, for their collective smash-mouthedness has found new life in the land they call Nihon.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Yep. Silly us, we reject the Giant Silva's of wrestling here while they go on to become huge stars in Japan. How fruitless all of our complaints were.

 

In regards to the "Gimick" Kandori did with Tenryu, sounds very similar to Joanie's match with Chono at the Dome. Is there a misogynistic market In Japan obsessed with beating up women who attempt to be equal with men? Must be the same market as the racists enjoying Sapp's "Big, Mean, Black Guy Who'll Eat Anything" gimick.