All Japan - The House Baba built

[Stopspot]

Fucking awesome. Very happy to see All Japan grow, they're the one company I really root for and I hope they keep growing and growing.

Stoppy, is mort gonna air this on PSP on the 24th or not? It's not on their schedule.

I can ask.

Another fun news note is that there are new sponsors on the backdrop they have for interviews now as well.
BS11, who carry the AJPW11 show (an interview and recap show for those not in the know. Basically a marketing tool) have joined the other broadcasters on the backdrop. As well as a construction company named Shiga Kenki Co and a company named teamAED who I have yet to find any legit info on.

New investors/sponsors are always welcome.

 

[Leo C]

I can ask.

Please do.

 

[Stopspot]

Please do.

It ain't being streamed due to the guy running the stream being unable to stream on that day. So it will go direct up to the drive instead

 

[Stopspot]

Add another big show to the All Japan Calender.

AJPW announced yesterday that they will be running the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium on October 21 during their anniversary tour. Already announced to take place is that Jun Akiyama and Takao Omori will have matches celebrating their 25 year anniversaries in wrestling.

This is a legitimate 5000 seater venue if they open up the balcony seats, if not a respectable 2500-3000 depending on setup.

Personal note: It is great to see All Japan running more bigger shows this year and continuing to grow. If the Royal Road tournament takes place in September like it usually does it would not be that wild a guess to say that the winner of the tournament gets a title shot at this show.

 

[Leo C]

I hope they do one hell of a number on this.

 

[Leo C]

Everyone should watch Day 1 of the Champion Carnival. One of the best shows of the year so far in all of wrestling (that I've watched, at least). Pretty sure it's the best AJPW show of the year until now.

 

[Stopspot]

I haven't watched it yet. But my twitter timeline is just gushing over it.

Kento and Sekimoto went to a 30 minute draw today. And Naoya Nomura scored his first win of the tour, putting away Omori in a shocking 48 seconds

 

[Stopspot]

Your 2017 Champion Carnival winner is the biggest dog, Shuji Ishikawa.

He will challenge for the triple crown at the 5/21 Korakuen show.

Here's the full card for the show:
Yohei Nakajima Koji Iwamoto & Yusuke Okada vs. Osamu Nishimura, Yutaka Yoshie & Atsushi Maruyama
Jumbo Tsuruta Memorial Match: Masanobu Fuchi & The Great Kabuki vs. Takao Omori & Masao Inoue
Zeus & The Bodyguard vs. Kengo Mashimo & KAI
Suwama, Joe Doering & Atsushi Aoki vs. Jake Lee, Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi

GAORA TV Championship Match: [15th Champion] Jun Akiyama vs. [Challenger] Mitsuya Nagai
~ 1st title defense.

World Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: [43rd Champion] Hikaru Sato vs. [Challenger] Black Tiger VII
~ 1st title defense.

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship Match: [55th Champion] Kento Miyahara vs. [Challenger] Shuji Ishikawa
~ 9th title defense.

I'm expecting a good house for this one.

Jake Lee and Naoya Nomura are challenging for the world tag belts on 5/12 after pinning Zeus and Bodyguard respectively during the carnival. Thus why there is no tag title match at Korakuen. This will be Nomura's first ever challenge for the tag belts.

 

[Leo C]

@Stopspot my main man, is Mort gonna air the CC finals on sunday?

 

[Stopspot]

1438 fans for All Japan today in Moriguchi, main evented by Big Guns defending the tag belts against Lee/Nomura.
Hashimoto/Kamitani are the next challengers as well. No date set yet.

Ryoji Sai and Suwama have been taken off the next two shows (minimum) with injuries. Sai tried ducking a lariat and Suwama ended up whalloping him straight in the head, busting him open and most likely concussing him as well. And not only that, Suwama struck him so hard he injured his own hand.

They'll be analyzed by doctors tomorrow and then we'll know how much time they'll miss.

The next set of title matches to take place will be on 5/21 in Korakuen hall where Jun Akiyama defends the TV belt against Mitsuya Nagai, Hikaru Sato defends the junior belt against Black Tiger 7 and Kento Miyahara defends the triple crown against Shuji Ishikawa.

 

[Stopspot]

My buddy Evan over on Twitter has been compiling and comparing attendance figures for most of the bigger Japanese companies for a while now (his numbers were even cited by Meltzer in a recent observer issue). And the All Japan numbers are looking good.
So far this year there has been a increase of 58.7% compared to 2016. And in April alone they had a increase of 78% compared to last years Champion Carnival.

 

[RedDwarfTechy]

My buddy Evan over on Twitter has been compiling and comparing attendance figures for most of the bigger Japanese companies for a while now (his numbers were even cited by Meltzer in a recent observer issue). And the All Japan numbers are looking good.
So far this year there has been a increase of 58.7% compared to 2016. And in April alone they had a increase of 78% compared to last years Champion Carnival.

Noah is in deep trouble if they keep that trend but wow good for All Japan! I've watched more and more after 4/16 show you recommended and i definitely recommend people to check it out on the drive. It's got some talented guys on there.

Guessing Dragon Gate is too small time to make that list? Curious to see how they are doing.

 

[Stopspot]

Noah is in deep trouble if they keep that trend but wow good for All Japan! I've watched more and more after 4/16 show you recommended and i definitely recommend people to check it out on the drive. It's got some talented guys on there.

Guessing Dragon Gate is too small time to make that list? Curious to see how they are doing.

Dragon Gate are the second biggest company in Japan right now. The problem is they tend to paper their numbers even more than most companies (all companies give away a couple of free tickets per show, particularly for bigger shows, but Dragon Gate are exceptional at hyped up attendances). Which is sad considering they legi are doing great business and you can clearly see most shows are sold out. But they say stuff like "1600 in Osaka Edion 2", which is a 1200 seater at max. So It is harder to calculate on them.

 

[Stopspot]

So AJPW held another stacked card in Korakuen on Sunday infront of a almost sold out building. The main event was Ishikawa challenging Kento for the Triple Crown. The result?

Spoiler

The big dawg is the biggest dawg in the yard. Kento falls just short of tying Kawada's record for most defences in a single reign.

Ishikawa is set to make his first defense for the belt at the June 11 Korakuen show, defending against Kento's tag partner and rising star Jake Lee, in what is Lee's first ever shot at the belt.

In other title match news KAI and Kengo Mashimo managed to tople the Big Guns for the AJPW world tag titles. Big Guns were gunning for a third consercutive defense in a single month, but after defending the belts against Daichi Hashimoto and Hideyoshi Kamitani yesterday the team of Kengo and KAI became too much. No new challengers have yet to be declared.

Jun Akiyama defeated the Dark Nightmare faction leader Mitsuya Nagai to retain his TV title as well, and will next defend against Superheavyweight Yutaka Yoshie on the june tour. Hikaru Sato also defended the junior belt against Black Tiger 7, and will now defend against Yohei Nakajima some time in June.

 

[Stopspot]

Tajiri makes his return to wrestling in Japan after his short (basically non existent) WWE stint working for All Japan at the June 11 Korakuen show in a six man tag.
Based on the interview he seems to be sticking around and using All Japan as his homebase even if just on a pay per appearance basis. Big positive I'd say. He brings a little name value but he also brings years of experience that he can pass on to the younger talent.