A simple puro question

[JoeDirt 0]

Of all the Japanese promotions -- NOAH, AJ, NJ, ZERO-ONE, DDT, etc...which are the major feds? Which are the smaller ones? Which are the "WWE's" of Japan and which are the TNA's, ROH's, etc? Which do the best business? Which are struggling?

 

Thanks!

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

All Japan and New Japan have always been the major promotions. NOAH is the only other federation to every get to their level. Zero-One is kind of on the rise but their still small time compared to the current three. New Japan is most like the WWF.

 

New Japan is currently struggling. They don't have a terribly huge draw at the top of the card and Inoki kills off the momentum anyone gains by throwing them into shoot fights. Oh yeah, Inoki has a very unhealthy love for shoot fighters. It's worse than McMahon's Hoss love. The federation is currently in transition as the old big three (Keiji Mutoh, Shinya Hashimoto and Masahiro Chono) are basically out the door. No one has really shown any promise as far as drawing goes.

 

All Japan is in even worse shape. Giant Baba's death meant the end for this company. It sparked the exodus of Misawa and co. to NOAH. Currently AJPW is a lot like WCW when it was going downhill. A lot of older stars that main evented for NJPW and few homegrown stars. Mutoh is the current president and is considered to be responsible for these problems.

 

NOAH is in ok shape but things are going to be a mess in a few years. Basically the only credible main events are Misawa, Kobashi and Akiyama. The problem with this is Misawa and Kobashi are on the last leg of their careers and there's really no one to give the belt to outside of them.

[JoeDirt 0]

Thanks, great summary.

 

So all the other ones, HUSTLE, Toryumon, DDT, Zero-One, they're more comparable to the indy feds of the U.S?

 

Who is New Japan trying out as their top draws right now? Who are the major champions in all these promotions?

[Mecha Mummy 0]

New Japan is heavily pushing the new 3 Musketeers (Shinsuke Nakamura, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Katsuyori Shibata) and Hiroyoshi Tenzan at the moment. Their major champion is Kazuyuki Fujita.

 

NOAH hasn't particularly made any progress whe nit comes to pushing new people, as their top guys are Kenta Kobashi, Mutsuharu Misawa, Jun Akiyama, and to lesser extents Akira Taue, Yoshinari Ogawa, and Yoshihiro Takayama when he's working NOAH. Kobashi's their champ and has been for a while now.

 

Keiji Mutoh, as All Japan booker, hasn't exactly done his best to put new poeple into the top spots. Their top guys are Mutoh himself, Toshiaki Kawada, Satoshi Kojima and oddly enough Jamal (yes, THAT Jamal). They're often using outsiders, though, such as Kensuke Sasaki, Osamu Nishimura, Katsushi Takemura, and Genichiro Tenryu. Kawada is the current Triple Crown champion.

 

Meanwhile, Toryumon no longer exists, or not as it did a couple motnhs ago. The vast majority of the roster and the president Takashi Okamura separated from Ultimo Dragon and the Mexico training school and started their own promotion known as Dragon Gate (bizarre that they'd clearly namedrop the buy they're ditching in their promotion name). Their current top guys are CIMA, Magnum TOKYO, Shuji Kondo, Masaaki Mochizuki, and Milano Collection AT. CIMA is DG's main champion and ace right now.

 

Someone else do the rest, that's all I've got.

[Guest krazykat72]

Zero1 could be in big trouble given the fact that Shinya Hashimoto (one of the original Three Musketeers with Muta and Chono) is currently out at least a year or so with a career threatening shoulder injury.

Hustle's an interesting case as the show's are big money losers, but they've attracted big talent (Foley, Goldberg, the Outsiders) and thier biggest star is Naoya Ogawa who is a bigger mainstream star in Japan than just about any other wrestler. They don't run enough to really be classified, but think of them as a money losing vanity project by DreamStage Entertainment (Pride's parent corporation)

 

-Paul Jacobi-