Grand Japan Pro. A TEW game diary

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Disclaimer: Seeing as I'm an avid TEW player. I figured I'd put a spin on this with my current game. I'm currently three months deep so I'll post the results of my big shows/tour enders for the first two months first before getting in to "real time". I won't post every show I run since I run a few per month in game. But every big show and title match will be posted at least.

Grand Japan Pro Wrestling (GJPW)
The Japanese home of the National Wrestling Alliance

Backstory: After falling out with the powers that be in All Japan regarding his position on the card upon his return from injury. The prideful Kohei Suwama leaves the company in which he made his name, to set up a new promotion. Grand Japan Pro Wrestling. After securing financial backing and a starting capital ($500,000), as well as setting up a dojo and company headquarters in the city of Hiroshima located in the Chugoku region of Japan. Suwama sets out to put his new company on the map, bringing an old school feel to the new era.

Spoiler: Roster

Noteable roster members:

Ryuji Ito - The undisputed top dog in Big Japan Pro, a notorious Deathmatch worker and known for being able to take copious amounts of abuse. Ito signed up with GJPW to prove that he was more than just a deatmatch worker. And achieved this by becoming the first ever GJPW Grand Champion in June of 2016.

Suwama - A notable amateur wrestler in his school days. Suwama was quickly scouted by All Japan and made into one of the cornerstones of the promotion. Now striking out on his own not only as a wrestler, but as a promoter. The master of the last ride is out to heal not only his injured body, but his pride as well (injured at the start of the company, scheduled for in ring debut in October 2016 in game).

Shuji Ishikawa - The big dog. Ishikawa is probably the best freelancer currently in the game. Carving out a path of destruction in both DDT, Big Japan and All Japan. A massive monster of a man, Ishikawa is out to prove that GJPW is just another yard ruled by the big dog.

Rob Conway - In July of 2016. GJPW joined the National Wrestling Alliance, becoming the official home of the NWA in Japan. Mr. American Muscle, Rob Conway subsequently came aboard in late August to represent the NWA on GJPW shows. Conway is brash, rude and arrogant, but sadly backs it up. Showcasing his great strength and power in the ring time and time again.

Spoiler: Champions

GJPW Grand Champion = Suwama
GJPW World Tag Team =Glory (Suwama & Kitamiya)
GJPW Cruiserweight Champion = KUDO
GJPW Open World League 2017 = Suwama

Spoiler: Notable events

June 2016:
Company is founded.
Shuji Ishikawa and Ryuji Ito both present themselves as the top star of the promotion. They immediately start fighting over it and a match is set for the 2016 Diamond Series final to crown a GJPW Grand Champion. Ito comes out the winner.

Masashi Takeda Beats Kudo in a number 1 contenders match on the same show.

During the tour, Isamu Oshita injures both Ryuji Ito (bruised eye socket) and Yoshiasu Shimisu (kidney laceration). Oshita leaves the promotion at the end of the tour.

GJPW signs a broadcasting deal with youtube.

July 2016:

Ryuji Ito defends the GJPW Grand championship against Masashi Takeda at the Grand Summer Series Final.

Kudo comes forward to challenge Ito afterwards.

GJPW joins the NWA, and Garuda, Elijah Burke and Akito join the promotion.
Hideyoshi Kamitani suffers a herniated disc, taking him out of action for a month.

Garuda wins the NWA international junior heavyweight title (Alliance title)

August 2016: GJPW is off tour.
Seiki Yoshioka breaks his leg working a Wrestle-1 show, taking him out of action for 5 months.
Kankuro Yoshino and Kouki Iwasaki join the company.

September:
Daiki Inaba and Yasufumi Nakanoue win the NWA international lightweight tag team titles (Alliance title) at the start of the tour.

Rob Conway joins the company.

Let's see how this game goes.​

 

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June 2016

Important shows from June of 2016

The debut show:

The debut show that starts this whole game off. It sets up the match to crown the first ever GJPW Grand champion between Ishikawa and Ito as well as introduce us to the original roster.

The GJPW Diamond Series 2016 Final:

Ito overcomes Ishikawa to become the first ever GJPW Grand Champion. But a new challenger approaches in the form of "Crazy Boi" Masashi Takeda.​

 

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July 2016 Grand Summer Series

Ito manages to send Takeda packing, solidifying his reign on top of GJPW. DDT Pro's Kudo rises to the occasion and calls out for a shot at the belt.

The NWA also makes itself into a presence in GJPW, allowing GJPW to host the match to crown a new junior heavyweight champion. Garuda exits the victor.​

 

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September 2016:

Two shows of note this month. Namely the tour starter and ender.

GJPW Progression Series: Day 1

First out is the start of the first ever Progression Series. Which featured an NWA International Lightweight Tag titles match, with the team of DaiFumi (Daiki Inaba And Yasufumi Nakanoue) emerging victorious, claiming the vacant belts. The team of MMA Combi (Minowa and Takeda) stepped up as the first set of challengers.
Shuji Ishikawa also challenged Elijah Burke to a singles match for later this month.

In the main event champion and challenger clashed. And the emotions spilled over into the post match happenings.

Sadly. Not everything went smoothly this month. Elijah Burke suffered a coronary ligament sprain before the big show, an injury that you can work through. But GJPW officials opted to have him rest to not risk further injury.
Kudo and Ito's feud also spread backstage. As real life tension was born between both men over Kudo almost injuring Ito in a match. Kudo himself ended up suffering from a Class 1 Fractured Larynx only days before the final of the tour, taking him out of action for 3 months. And young rookie Takumi Tsukamoto stepped up to fill his place, earning a opportunity a rookie wrestler rarely gets.

GJPW Progression series Final:

On the final night of the tour we saw DaiFumi fend off MMA Combi as well as Garuda defeat Akito to retain their respective NWA titles. Garuda will not rest for long tho, as Konosuke Takeshita entered himself into title contention by calling out the champion. We also saw a potential tag team born between rookie Giant Hohki and Yoshiyasu Shimizu, as both men showed excellent chemistry teaming together.

Rob Conway subbed for Elijah Burke, taking on and defeating Shuji Ishikawa in a match that is sure to have title match implications in the future.

The GJPW President and owner, Suwama came out and addressed the crowd. Announcing that he would make his return to competition after a long time on the shelf with a injury during the upcoming October tour. Suwama was then laid out by Elijah Burke. A singles match between the two seems inevitable.

In the main event youngster Tsukamoto stepped up against the big man on campus, Ryuji Ito. Tsukamoto would not be threatened by the veteran and threw everything he had at the champion. But it was not enough and Ito put the rookie away decisively.

 

[Roadster]

Very interesting, and it has a unique premise. I will be keeping tags on this, and maybe I will get back into TEW 2016, myself.

 

[DylanTM]

I approve.

 

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October 2016, Evolution Series

Another roller coaster month for the young GJPW. Ikuhisa Minowa came forward as the next challenger for the Grand Championship at the start of the tour. A challenge which Ryuji Ito readily accepted.

The tensions between Suwama and Elijah Burke continued to grow during this month. With Suwama eating the pinfall in his return match to Rob Conway following direct interference from Burke. Burke then spent most of the tour attacking and taunting Suwama, until eventually a singles match was made between them. Suwama was not alone tho as he was joined by Shuji Ishikawa in combating the evil foreigners during this tour.

Sadly tragedy struck as well. As rookie Giant Hohki was injured during a tag match, teaming with his partner Shimizu to take on the duo of Daifumi. The injury, which is described as a compound Scapular fracture happened when he took a suplex from Yasufumi wrong, and following complications at the surgical table. Hohki will miss six months of competition. Yasufumi has come under a bit of heat for this, but the hope is that it will blow over soon enough. Shimizu has also laid down a challenge for the NWA International Lightweight Tag belts with a mystery partner. And the match is set for later this month.

On the bright side, recently fired Naoya Nomura has followed his mentor Suwama over from All Japan to Grand Japan after his contract with AJPW expired. And he is looking to slot into the roster going forward.

All these happenings culminate at the 2016 Evolution Series final!

600 people, the biggest crowd in GJPW history at this time watched this show live.

Notable results is that we have new NWA lightweight tag champions! As Shimizu and his makeshift partner Kamitani upset the champions at the second defense.

Tensions seem to be brewing between Masashi Takeda and Ryuichi Kawakami, who refused to shake Takeda's hand after losing to him in singles action.

Kazuki Hashimoto and Takumi Tsukamoto have come together to form the B-Degenerate tag team, and have made it clear that they see gold in their future.

Garuda defeated Takeshita to retain his NWA international Junior belt. Who's next for the masked champion?

Treason! At long last the singles match between Suwama and Burke was to take place. But Treachery was afoot! Shuji Ishikawa, who had sided with Suwama for this entire tour, fighting against Burke and Conway. Turned on Suwama! Siding with the Americans and costing Suwama the match, which the board of directors had named a number 1 contenders match. Ishikawa has given Burke a shot at the champion! This new alliance of Burke, Ishikawa and Conway has unveiled itself as going by the name of the "God Brothers". Luckily Suwama got help as NOAH's Mitsuhiro Kitamiya came running from the crowd and chased off the three aggressors. Kitamiya then made it clear that he has come to GJPW to compete, and that the God Brothers have made it onto his list of targets.

In the main event: Ryuji Ito made it three for three as he sent Minowa packing after a long and grueling match. Ito has solidified himself as the top dog in GJPW by this point. But looming around the corner is the new number 1 contender Elijah Burke.....​

 

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2016 Grand Madness Tour

It's time for the final tour of the calender year, the Grand Madness tour. Before we get into the shows itself we sadly have to start with some sad news. Whilst working a BJW show, Shuji Ishikawa suffered a severe back injury (a lower lumbar spinal cord rupture). This is a very severe injury and Shuji will miss little over a year of time in the ring. The GJPW offices wishes Shuji a speedy recovery. Rob Conway announced that Jax Dane would be flown in to fill Shuji's spot in the God Brothers faction until he is fit to return.

On a brighter note GJPW also welcomed a new rookie. 19 year old Akahito Kataoka. Kataoka is a product of the Animal Hamaguchi gym and has joined GJPW to gain experience as a wrestler. We look forward to seeing what this rookie has to offer.

Now let's get into the action!

First out is the fifth day of the grand Madness tour, main evented by a NWA International Lightweigh tag titles match. In the main event we saw the team of Minowa and Takeda (MMA Combi) win the belts from Kamitani and Shimizu, halting the champions reign at the very first stop.

Also on this tour we saw Suwama, Kitamiya and Nomura formalize a unit of their own to take the fight to the God Brothers. This new unit is known as Glory.

After this show it was announced that GJPW would debut its own set of tag team titles, independent of the NWA. and the new champions would be crowned at the end of the tour. A match was formalized between MMA Combi and DaiFumi at the same press conference were it was made official that Elijah Burke and Ryuji Ito were to square off for the Grand Championship on the same show.

GJPW capped off the tour and the year by holding its biggest show ever. 973 people filled the Fuchu Gymnasium and over 57 thousand people watched online as GJPW brought the year to a close.

Early on in the show Kazuki Hashimoto won a number 1 contenders match for a shot at the NWA international junior heavyweight title. GJPW are working on formalizing a date for the match early in 2017.

Glory (Suwama & Kitamiya) saw victory in tag team action over American Muscle ( Conway & Dane). Speculations are high that this puts them in position to be the first challengers for the GJPW tag team titles in 2017.

Speaking of, MMA Combi defeated DaiFumi to sieze the gold and become the first ever GJPW World Tag Team Champions, their second set of belts within the span of a month. Following the match and the exit of the dual crown champions, Daiki Inaba snapped and laid out Yasufumi Nakanoue. Seemingly putting an end to their partnership.

In the main event we saw a big upset. As Elijah Burke defeated Ryuji Ito to become the second ever Grand Champion! Despite the presence of both Dane and Conway at ringside the match was surprisingly fair fought, with minimal interference. Ito put in the fight of his life, but the wily American came out the winner. And with no clear challenger in sight. The future for the GJPW Grand title seems to be around Burke's waist as 2017 begins.

Sadly, we must end the year on a sad note. After the opening match of the Grand Madness final, Akito was rushed to the hospital after collapsing backstage. After a multitude of tests, it became clear that Akito has attracted stomach cancer. Akito will have to go through surgery followed by chemo and physio therapy and will miss over a year of competition. GJPW wishes to offer Akito all the support possible in his gigantic endeavor. And will host a benefit show for Akito early in 2017 as a show of solidarity.​

 

[Leo C]

Ah, starting companies from scratch on TEW is the best thing ever. I have one right now but it's US based. Good luck on the game stoppy. I'm sure you'll book some good puro.

 

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January 2017: New Year Carnival

Happy new year from GJPW offices! January was an eventful month with multiple events and other news to report about. Right after Christmas, a press conference was held, announcing the upcoming title matches for the January tour, known as the New Year Carnival.

Garuda will defend the NWA International Junior Title at the special support show to Akito in Fuchu, who is rehabbing from cancer as we speak.
Suwama and Kitamiya (Glory) will challenge Masashi Takeda and Ikuhisa Minowa (MMA Combi) on the seventh day of the tour for the GJPW World Tag Team belts in Takahashi.
Takeda will then challenge new Grand Champion Elijah Burke, at the final show of the tour in Hiroshima. Takeda has the possibility of ending the month as a triplechampion.

Masayuki Kono, most recently known for his work in Wrestle-1, announced that he would be joining Grand Japan towards the end of the month, when his contract with W-1 expires. He will sign with GJPW on a pay per appearance basis and will be allowed to work other promotions on the side.

Kudo will make his in ring return on the third show of the tour. He has made it known that even if Ito no longer holds the belt, he still wants a singles match with Ito. Feeling that they have unsettled business.

GJPW will be hosting its first ever singles tournament, the Open World League in February. This tournament will be open to wrestlers of all weight classes, and the goal will be to crown a new champion. Elijah Burke or Masashi Takeda will not take part depending on the results of their title match.

Carnival Day 2, Akito Aid:

Garuda retains the NWA International Junior belt.
Akito came out after the main event and thanked the fans for their support, and promised to defeat his cancer and come back stronger than ever.

Carnival Day 7:

MMA Combi retained the tag titles against the heavyweight team of Kitamiya and Suwama. Takeda now moves into his singles match for the Grand Championship.

Takeda also announced that at the end of the February tour, he will step back from competing temporarily, to head into a training camp for his next MMA fight.

Masayuki Kono made his debut in an interview segment. Challenging Rob Conway for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Title.

GJPW New Year Carnival 2017:

Following their falling out at Grand Madness, Inaba and Nakanoue have been trading shots and sneak attacks all month, until Nakanoue challenged Inaba to a match. The GJPW committee made it a tag match, teaming the two against each other with two other up and comers in Kamitani and Kawakami. The match saw Inaba emerge the victor.

Rob Conway defeated Masayuki Kono for the NWA World Heavyweight belt, in large thanks to Jax Dane. This does not look like the last we will see of these two locking up if the post match interactions are to be believed.

Sadly, Kudo could not beat the deathmatch dragon, Ito proving to be just too good for the recently returned Kudo. Respect was shown between the two post match. Is the hatchet buried?

The main event saw Elijah Burke retain the Grand Championship against MMA Combi's Takeda. Burke remains atop of the mountain.

GJPW now head into February, and the first ever Open World League. Elijah Burke will not compete in the league, as he is the defending champion. Surprisingly Ryuji Ito will not either. When asked about this the former champion has been quoted as saying that the "shouldn't have to compete in a stupid tournament to get a chance to regain my belt. I'm Mr. GJPW, God damnit!". The GJPW board have yet to come to a decision about Mr. Ito as of this writing.

The full bracket for the Open World League will be released at a later date.​

 

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1st ever Open World League Brackets​

The month of February is upon us, and Grand Japan will hold its first ever Open World League. The OWL will be a single elimination, singles tournament with the eventual winner receiving a Grand Championship title shot. The tournament will be open to wrestlers of all weight classes. So juniors will be put against heavyweights in this tournament.

Since the tournament is to crown a new number 1 contender, reigning Grand Champion Elijah Burke will not participate in the tournament itself, but he will work the tour. Former champion Ryuji Ito has, as previously reported. Declined to partake in the tournament at all, voicing claims that he should get a rematch for the belt instead. The GJPW governing board have yet to come to a decision on a title match, but has accepted Mr. Ito's choice to not partake in the league.

The 1st round brackets are:
Seiki Yoshioka vs Akahito Kataoka
Yasufumi Nakanoue vs Hideyoshi Kamitani

Mitsuhiro Kitamiaya vs Takumi Tsukamoto
Masayuki Kono vs Kazuki Hashimoto

Daiki Inaba vs Naoya Nomura
Masashi Takeda vs Ryuichi Kawakami

Ikuhisa Minowa vs Garuda
Suwama vs Rob Conway

As you can see, there will be some heavy match-ups in round 1, with the current NWA International Junior champion, Garuda. Taking on the reigning NWA lightweight tag team and GJPW World Tag team champion, Minowa for example.

Seiki Yoshioka, who has been out for 4 months with a broken leg, makes his return to in ring competition in the tournament, and he faces off with rookie Kataoka in the first round. Will Yoshioka's edge in experience give him the win? Or will Kataoka capitalize on the time Seiki has spent out injured?

More information will be released as the tournament progresses.

 

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Open World League 2017 results report​

The first ever Open World League has come and gone. The winner has been crowned and a new challenger has appeared for the Grand Championship. GJPW are proud to give you the results report as seen below.

Round 1​

Seiki Yoshioka beat Akahito Kataoka
Ryuichi Kawakami beat Masashi Takeda
Mitsuhiro Kitamiya beat Takumi Tsukamoto
Masayuki Kono beat Kazuki Hashimoto
Ikuhisa Minowa beat Garuda
Yasufumi Nakanoue beat Hideyoshi Kamitani
Suwama beat Rob Conway
Daiki Inaba beat Naoya Nomura

Yoshioka's experience proved to be too much for the rookie Kataoka, and Seiki marked his return from injury with advancing to the second round. Another notable result is Kawakami beating Takeda. Takeda is a tag team champion and this could possibly mean a title opportunity for Kawakami in the future. In a clash of heavyweights Suwama bested the reigning NWA world champion Rob Conway, eliminating him from the tournament.

Round 2​

Kono beat Kitamiya
Inaba beat Kawakami
Suwama beat Yoshioka
Nakanoue beat Minowa

Yoshioka might have made it out of the first round, but got no further than that. Suwama proved too big a hinder and sent the junior packing. Nakanoue scored a pinfall win over Minowa, and neither of the GJPW tag team champions are left in the running. With both Nakanoue and Kawakami holding pinfall wins over the champions it looks like the tag team scene won't be short on challengers going forward. Following being eliminated Minowa laid down the challenge for Garuda's NWA international junior title, siting him eliminating Garuda from the tournament as reason for a title shot. Garuda has accepted the challenge.

Round 3​

Suwama beat Inaba
Kono beat Nakanoue

Suwama and Kono move on to the final in Hagi.
Another notable news bit is the status of Elijah Burke and Ryuji Ito. The current and former champion have been trading potshots and sneak attacks at each other throughout the tour. Interrupting matches, beatdowns with chairs, the works. The GJPW committee has decided that the two will take part in a special grudge six man match at the final show. And if Ito wins, he will get an immediate shot at the title. If he loses however, he will no longer be allowed to challenge for the belt as long as Elijah holds it.

Open World League Finals​

Garuda defeated Minowa to retain the NWA International junior belt.
In the team Burke vs team Ito grudge match Burke came out the winner once more, directly pinning Ito. Ito is hereby forbidden from challenging for the Grand Championship as long as Burke still holds it. Ito stormed out of the building shortly after the match ended, refusing to talk to both staff and press.

In the finals, Suwama managed to beat Masayuki Kono to win the first ever Open World League. Suwama now has a title match against Elijah Burke and wasn't slow to call out the champion. Their match will take place in March during the Gold Dust Series.

Until next time.

 

[Roadster]

This has inspired me to make my own TEW BTB. :

 

[Stopspot]

Grand Japan and Akahito Kataoka part ways​

The GJPW office called a press conference earlier today announcing that Akahito Kataoka handed in his letter of resignation a few days before the last show of the Open World League tour. Kataoka, who joined the promotion in November of 2016. Has had a hard time getting along with other wrestlers backstage, especially after injuring Kouki Iwasaki in a dark match during the New Year's Carnival tour. Kataoka never apologized for causing the injury, which rubbed multiple veterans in the locker room the wrong way. And sadly a compromise was never able to be reached. Kataoka did not fair well in the chilly locker room environment and after getting into another fight with Takumi Tsukamoto backstage, and the roster siding with Tsukamoto over the issue. Both the office and Kataoka realized that a breaking point had been reached and Kataoka handed in his resignation willingly.

We wish Akahito the best in his future endeavors in professional wrestling.

 

[Leo C]

Suwama won, good! Ito lost, what a geek.