Hard agree. Actwres Time was okay when we had the occasional Kouki appearance and the crowd would mark out, but the currently gutted Actwres Girls just kill the crowd's hype before the show even gets started.
They were really good in the 80s and 90s. I have the XWT classic download of of select matches going back to the 50s. One of these days I'll start watching it.
I stopped caring about AJPW when it became clear they were never gonna push my homie Zeus and now that he's not even in the company anymore I have no reason to watch.
Osaka Pro shows are mostly TV tapings for local stations. They have small crowds that usually skew heavily to parents and small children. So they rely really heavily on local sponsors and a lot of their shows are comedy based with a heavy emphasis on exaggerated characters like Kuishinbo Kamen, Ebbesan, and Kikutaro and morality plays where the bad guys cheat in moronly stupid ways and the good guy puts on an overly exaggerated show of using their own methods to beat them.
Osaka Pro also does more main stream stuff and some of their workers are actually incredibly talented, but a chunk of what they do is aimed directly at young children.
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
is there a way to watch osaka pro or just their youtube channel
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
Their youtube is the way to go. There used to be a dude that would stream the live broadcasts from Osaka but he disappeared a couple of years ago.
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
Their youtube is the way to go. There used to be a dude that would stream the live broadcasts from Osaka but he disappeared a couple of years ago.
I'll have to check it out. I really liked Osaka Pro during the JOKER era. Good mix of veterans and younger guys (most of who ended up doing well in NOAH). You could usually count on some combination of guys like Buffalo, Billyken Kid, Harada and such to deliver good matches. I remember liking Orochi a lot at the time too.
Yuma Anzai is ridiculously good for as green as he is. A shoot wrestling prodigy that was unironically built to be a mega star. As long as his seniors can help him steer clear from a lot of the pitfalls that can derail a young wrestler's career there is nothing but a bright future ahead of him.
RISING Hayato is a crazy lil nibba loaded with speed and charisma. He runs the ropes like a bullet. The Burberry drip draws all the Japanese equivalent of scene girls to the shows.
Jun Saito is a great heel with a commanding presence, size, and presentation that feels like something out of the Showa era. Completely jannetties his lil bro.
Kento Miyahara is still ridiculously over with the AJPW audience and knows how to play them like a fiddle and get over even when he is doing the job.
Champion Carnival has been great fun this year, and I am really enjoying Cyrus The Destroyer's return this year. His Vader tribute act is really good because he not only looks like Vader, but has the strength, size, and skills to actually put it off. He could be a little stiffer and just lay his shit in, but it is what it is.
The only downside to AJPW right now is their reliance on freelancers which leaves the roster feeling thin. At any moment they could have some of their guys poached which would hurt their ability to fill out the mid and under card.
>Jun Saito is a great heel with a commanding presence, size, and presentation that feels like something out of the Showa era. Completely jannetties his lil bro.
I find Rei Saito to be much more charismatic and interesting to be honest
Rei looks like he gets lost in the sauce during matches and gasses out. Also Jun's feud with Nakajima and his time on commentary last show really got him over with me as a character. Like something out of a mid 90s JRPG or an 80s manga. Jun is just a ridiculously over the top villain that respects strength above all else and has no problem with praising people who beat him while mercilessly taunting those he goes over.
The only time I cared about AJPW was when Muto was there and the other Musketeers wrestled for them occasionally. I keep hearing about how good it is now, but I’m not sure if it’s true or just smarks being contrarians like always.
That isn't saying much to be honest.
NJPW is absolutely dire right now with the AEW deal destroying their roster and looking like chumps.
Noah shit the bed breaking up Kongo and pushing Jake Lee's dimeless faction. The only bright spots were Wagner III's title run and the two promising lucha he brought in.
Dragongate is a zombie promotion that was gutted when the only dimes they had jumped ship to GLEAT
DDT keeps looking like they will get a clue, but then regress. They sell well so they are successful in their niche, but it's just not my thing.
AJPW has been on a slow upward trajectory as they gradually regain the trust of the audience and win back fans. At this moment it is their game to lose. If they can hold on to their young talent, continue putting them over, and gradually expand the roster with fresh young talent they can possibly return to a fraction of their former glory.
>Dragongate is a zombie promotion that was gutted when the only dimes they had jumped ship to GLEAT
GLEATS attendance numbers since March >265 >228 >342 >343 >163 >223
The guys who left DG have been replaced and are now stuck in this dead Dragongate wannabe promotion
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
aint these typical numbers for non-njpw shows
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
Sort of. I'd say that promotions like NJPW, Dragongate & Stardom gets away with it due to the sheer number of shows they hold per month, making them essentially house shows. If you hold as few shows as GLEAT does (2-3 shows a month) this is borderline BJW tier drawing power. The fact that you have to got back to December 2023 to find a GLEAT show that breaks 600 fans is dire.
this is grim
even BJW does better numbers than this surely
BJW is between 100-250 fans per show
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
I haven't updated this for last month yet, but before this, this is what average attendance looked like for 2024 as of march.
didnt expect AJPW to be 2nd tbh
that says a lot about promotions like DG and Stardom, not to mention NOAH
what happened in march that DG did so poorly?
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
I don't think anything really happened to Dragongate. They hold a lot of small shows. They tour parts of Japan that no other Japanese promotions are willing to go to and thus gain a dedicated fanbase of people who's only fans of Dragongate and not fans of wrestling in general (which are reasons as to why Dragongate performs poorly in fan pools despite being #2-3 company in the country).
Their Prime Zone Plus shows are held at their own dojo where there's room for about 70 people max.
March looked something like this for DG >Gate of Nostalgia - 1028 >Champion Gate - 1102 >Truth Gate - 264 >Rey De Parejas Day 1 - 1324 >Rey De Parejas Day 2 - 368 >Rey De Parejas Day 3 - 1362 >Rey De Parejas Day 4 - 256 >Rey De Parejas Day 5 - 598 >Rey De Parejas Day 6 - 318 >Rey De Parejas Day 7 - 259 >Masaaki Mochizuki Produce Buyuden Rei - 279 >Rey De Parejas Day 8 - 249 >Rey De Parejas Day 9 - Unreported >Prime Zone Plus - 66 >Rey De Parejas Day 10 - 532 >Rey De Parejas Day 11 - 605
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
That is from March. The last show of the March Dream Power Series is where Nakajima lost the belt.
April started cold with a Rising Hayato self-produce show and then was hit or miss depending on the Champion Carnival lineups for each night >AJPW New Age Chronicle-Z4 - 345 >AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 1 - 1,157 >AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 2 - 481 >AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 3 - 758 >AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 4 - 527 >AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 5 - 867 >AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 6 - 850 (ca) >AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 7 - 852
Averaging out at 696
Taking away the Hayato show it is 785
May is averaging out higher despite the only B Block night dipping. >AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Tag 8 - 1,470 >AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Tag 9 - 793 >AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Tag 10 - 1,276
Sanjo city in Nigita prefecture doesn't draw a strong crowd. Most shows in Sanjo city draw sub 500 people and the single largest gate for any promotion in the 2020s was AJPW All Japan Pro Wrestling 50th Anniversary In Sanjo ~ The Soul Of A Champion which drew a hair over 1K.
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
>May is averaging out higher despite the only B Block night dipping.
Yuma Anzai is a draw
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
Well yeah, the B Block was squared up with Anzai and Jun Saito having a neck and neck race for the top of their block. Anzai beat Jun on night 1. Night 8 Jun faced his brother Rei in the main event which was going to decide whether or not he would get the two points he needed to advance.
A block has been locked up since night 7 since Kento went romper stomper over his entire block. The only match Kento lost was to the guy who is currently in last place for A Block, Ren Ayabe. Ren only scored two wins in his block. Kento on night 1 and Ikemen Jiro on night 10
So we are looking at probably Jun winning the Champion Carnival and then immediately pivoting to work a program with Anzai for the strap.
Something people often miss in these discussions is that total ticket sales are only representative of raw revenue. It does not actually tell you if a company is profiting from these shows. Like for example Stardom had some nightmares at Korakuen earlier this year and the Yokohama show was down around like 50%, but they are still number 3 thanks in part to having big pockets to run as many shows as they want. Same goes for NOAH being cyberfights money sink to try and compete with NJ in the long term. Dragon Gate and AJPW are privately owned so they are way more concerned with getting as close to sell out as possible for every venue they run to maximize profits.
Yeah, AJPW penny pinches hard on a lot of things so it honestly surprised me that they invested in having someone develop a whole ass new new streaming site for them this year.
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
I find it interesting that Ayabe's only two wins came at korakuen hall
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
He won both times he wrestled for Zero1 at Korakuen this year too. The only loss he has wracked up at Korakuen this year in JTO when Gladio went over him for the TJO Openweight title
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
>Stardom 604.9 (31 shows) >TJPW 504.8 (15 shows)
Pretty much what I've always said. The gap in per show attendance between them isn't really all that big, just that Stardom runs way more shows.
Something people often miss in these discussions is that total ticket sales are only representative of raw revenue. It does not actually tell you if a company is profiting from these shows. Like for example Stardom had some nightmares at Korakuen earlier this year and the Yokohama show was down around like 50%, but they are still number 3 thanks in part to having big pockets to run as many shows as they want. Same goes for NOAH being cyberfights money sink to try and compete with NJ in the long term. Dragon Gate and AJPW are privately owned so they are way more concerned with getting as close to sell out as possible for every venue they run to maximize profits.
CyberAgent has never been anywhere the type of "throw infinite money around" owner that Bushiroad/Kidani is.
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
I agree when it comes to DDT and TJPW being run modestly.
4 weeks ago
Machine Jerk
oof poor bjw
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
this is grim
even BJW does better numbers than this surely
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
Low attendance numbers don't even bother me I just wish a lot of these Japanese companies stopped running brightly lit high school gyms. Just take a page from old US and EU small indies and just turn the lights way down in the place, that way you can have a show with decent atmosphere even with a small crowd, but seeing these brightly lit arenas just take me out of the show completely.
Over-exaggerating the shit out of the roster issues with NJPW, yeah the main event scene has been poached and is the main point of concern and you have standard issues of multi-mans with dads in them but they have a million times more depth to their roster than any other Japanese promotion with the junior division in particular in good shape (you can argue booking issues and that's fine, were talking depth here). Also of particular note is they aren't having issues of aging talent, they're more focused on trying to get the young guys in better positions.
4 weeks ago
Anonymous
I don't think NJPWs issue is aging talent. I think the issue is that once NJPW finally puts their young guys in the main event, they're already 5-6 years post their young boy status.
They units remain forever, L.I.J have been there for almost 10 years now. Bullet Club even longer, and instead of creating something new and exciting they just make subgroups of it because they cannot let it die naturally.
Very NWO and NWO Wolfpac, NWO Hollywood, NWO Elite, NWO B-Team & NWO 2000 vibes.
No, they don't even have English translations for navigating their streaming site any more. They did update their streaming site recently so it isn't running on late 00s tech, they have chat for the live shows, and as I discovered last show the community manager in charge of the live stream chat speaks fluent English and really encourages English speakers to comment during the streams.
Ehh I don't know if Kevin Kelly would fit the presentation nor have the skills necessary to the position. If they would get an English commentator the most important trait necessary for the position would be fluency in Japanese and the ability to translate quickly and convey the proper tone and characterization of the workers. Guys like Hayato, Miyahara, and Jun Saito cut very distinct promos that get their character across in a clean manner. Without someone that could accurately convey their mic work they are respectively some guy that sits in the middle of the ring mopping, a very excitable uncle, and some big dude with a deep voice. Chris Brooke's Japanese skills are reaching the point where he might be able to do it, but his stock has been rising really fast lately and he is too busy with his own work that he can't even fill that position with Cyberfight any more.
decided to give them a try this year (watched the Nakajima vs. Anzai show and watching the Champions Carnival). I love the wrestlers and their characters (definetly better than NOAH) but the Champions Carnival has honestly been pretty mid, there weren’t any real GREAT matches. Their gaijins are also pretty shit and the worst part of the league.
Something people often miss in these discussions is that total ticket sales are only representative of raw revenue. It does not actually tell you if a company is profiting from these shows. Like for example Stardom had some nightmares at Korakuen earlier this year and the Yokohama show was down around like 50%, but they are still number 3 thanks in part to having big pockets to run as many shows as they want. Same goes for NOAH being cyberfights money sink to try and compete with NJ in the long term. Dragon Gate and AJPW are privately owned so they are way more concerned with getting as close to sell out as possible for every venue they run to maximize profits.
I really don't think CyberAgent care about NOAH competing with NJPW. The president of the company even said he wanted them to focus on selling merch rather than tickets
Even if they aren't looking to compete directly them saying something like don't worry about ticket sales is pretty indicative in it of itself to the idea they are more concerned with "growth" than short term profits which could be a good thing.
If they were concerned with growth they'd invest money in marketing them like Bushiroad did with its promotions. As it stands it seems that their money goes almost entirely towards production
I thought they were just partnered with them for broadcasting stuff. Any articles about the ownership cause wikipedia, cagematch, ect... seem to indicate it isn't owned by Gaora.
Yeah, Dragongate is a privately owned Ltd. The current CEO is Okamura's former number 2 Toru Kido
https://www.nikkei.com/compass/company/pggH5vtWiJ6kmCMJq7Jck3
Dragongate's broadcast rights are owned by Gaora.
>Aigle Blanc
He is a French Jr. the pretty much only wants to work in Europe if he can help it. Hell he was only in AJPW for like a month last summer. I am surprised you remember him,
I watch a bit of GLEAT since it's free on youtube but doesn't AJPW have more or less the same level of production and attendance while charging their own service? Pirate sites don't seem to care about streaming their stuff either. Doesn't lend itself to getting watched. I actually find GLEAT somewhat endearing but watching AJPW takes too much effort.
NOAH put their belt back on Kaito so I'm probably done pretending to care about all japoo for now
enjoy your mediocre midcard
Oh the irony lmao
ajpw midcard is fun and fast paced
noah midcard is slow and boring af
I like Nakajima. When is he returning?
I like their selection in joshi, but the act time needs to go
Hard agree. Actwres Time was okay when we had the occasional Kouki appearance and the crowd would mark out, but the currently gutted Actwres Girls just kill the crowd's hype before the show even gets started.
Anzai is based, Saito Bros are based, Kento is based, Aoyogi is based, Hayato is based.
They were really good in the 80s and 90s. I have the XWT classic download of of select matches going back to the 50s. One of these days I'll start watching it.
I stopped caring about AJPW when it became clear they were never gonna push my homie Zeus and now that he's not even in the company anymore I have no reason to watch.
Where is Zeus now?
He went back to Osaka Pro. He's president of the company now.
Osaka Pro
?t=864
bro wtf is this mat
Very many sponsors prease understando
Osaka Pro shows are mostly TV tapings for local stations. They have small crowds that usually skew heavily to parents and small children. So they rely really heavily on local sponsors and a lot of their shows are comedy based with a heavy emphasis on exaggerated characters like Kuishinbo Kamen, Ebbesan, and Kikutaro and morality plays where the bad guys cheat in moronly stupid ways and the good guy puts on an overly exaggerated show of using their own methods to beat them.
Osaka Pro also does more main stream stuff and some of their workers are actually incredibly talented, but a chunk of what they do is aimed directly at young children.
is there a way to watch osaka pro or just their youtube channel
Their youtube is the way to go. There used to be a dude that would stream the live broadcasts from Osaka but he disappeared a couple of years ago.
I'll have to check it out. I really liked Osaka Pro during the JOKER era. Good mix of veterans and younger guys (most of who ended up doing well in NOAH). You could usually count on some combination of guys like Buffalo, Billyken Kid, Harada and such to deliver good matches. I remember liking Orochi a lot at the time too.
Yuma Anzai is ridiculously good for as green as he is. A shoot wrestling prodigy that was unironically built to be a mega star. As long as his seniors can help him steer clear from a lot of the pitfalls that can derail a young wrestler's career there is nothing but a bright future ahead of him.
RISING Hayato is a crazy lil nibba loaded with speed and charisma. He runs the ropes like a bullet. The Burberry drip draws all the Japanese equivalent of scene girls to the shows.
Jun Saito is a great heel with a commanding presence, size, and presentation that feels like something out of the Showa era. Completely jannetties his lil bro.
Kento Miyahara is still ridiculously over with the AJPW audience and knows how to play them like a fiddle and get over even when he is doing the job.
Champion Carnival has been great fun this year, and I am really enjoying Cyrus The Destroyer's return this year. His Vader tribute act is really good because he not only looks like Vader, but has the strength, size, and skills to actually put it off. He could be a little stiffer and just lay his shit in, but it is what it is.
The only downside to AJPW right now is their reliance on freelancers which leaves the roster feeling thin. At any moment they could have some of their guys poached which would hurt their ability to fill out the mid and under card.
>Jun Saito is a great heel with a commanding presence, size, and presentation that feels like something out of the Showa era. Completely jannetties his lil bro.
I find Rei Saito to be much more charismatic and interesting to be honest
Rei looks like he gets lost in the sauce during matches and gasses out. Also Jun's feud with Nakajima and his time on commentary last show really got him over with me as a character. Like something out of a mid 90s JRPG or an 80s manga. Jun is just a ridiculously over the top villain that respects strength above all else and has no problem with praising people who beat him while mercilessly taunting those he goes over.
>Kento Miyahara is still ridiculously over with the AJPW audience
all 1,000 of them
Kento is still based. I like Rising Hayato even though he looks and acts like a zesty maxxed Jeff Hardy.
90s and early 2000s AJPW themes are kino power metal experiences.
it's not really ALL japan if there are other japanese promotions is it? checkmate
The only time I cared about AJPW was when Muto was there and the other Musketeers wrestled for them occasionally. I keep hearing about how good it is now, but I’m not sure if it’s true or just smarks being contrarians like always.
AJPW now is better than every puro fed in Japan
That isn't saying much to be honest.
NJPW is absolutely dire right now with the AEW deal destroying their roster and looking like chumps.
Noah shit the bed breaking up Kongo and pushing Jake Lee's dimeless faction. The only bright spots were Wagner III's title run and the two promising lucha he brought in.
Dragongate is a zombie promotion that was gutted when the only dimes they had jumped ship to GLEAT
DDT keeps looking like they will get a clue, but then regress. They sell well so they are successful in their niche, but it's just not my thing.
AJPW has been on a slow upward trajectory as they gradually regain the trust of the audience and win back fans. At this moment it is their game to lose. If they can hold on to their young talent, continue putting them over, and gradually expand the roster with fresh young talent they can possibly return to a fraction of their former glory.
>Dragongate is a zombie promotion that was gutted when the only dimes they had jumped ship to GLEAT
GLEATS attendance numbers since March
>265
>228
>342
>343
>163
>223
The guys who left DG have been replaced and are now stuck in this dead Dragongate wannabe promotion
aint these typical numbers for non-njpw shows
Sort of. I'd say that promotions like NJPW, Dragongate & Stardom gets away with it due to the sheer number of shows they hold per month, making them essentially house shows. If you hold as few shows as GLEAT does (2-3 shows a month) this is borderline BJW tier drawing power. The fact that you have to got back to December 2023 to find a GLEAT show that breaks 600 fans is dire.
BJW is between 100-250 fans per show
I haven't updated this for last month yet, but before this, this is what average attendance looked like for 2024 as of march.
>NJPW: 2,214 (40 shows)
>NOAH: 695.7 (27 shows)
>AJPW: 931.1 (14 shows)
>Dragon Gate: 558.3 (41 shows)
>DDT: 492 (23 shows)
>Stardom 604.9 (31 shows)
>TJPW 504.8 (15 shows)
>BJW 171.8 (36 shows)
>TJPW outdraws DDT
damn
didnt expect AJPW to be 2nd tbh
that says a lot about promotions like DG and Stardom, not to mention NOAH
what happened in march that DG did so poorly?
I don't think anything really happened to Dragongate. They hold a lot of small shows. They tour parts of Japan that no other Japanese promotions are willing to go to and thus gain a dedicated fanbase of people who's only fans of Dragongate and not fans of wrestling in general (which are reasons as to why Dragongate performs poorly in fan pools despite being #2-3 company in the country).
Their Prime Zone Plus shows are held at their own dojo where there's room for about 70 people max.
March looked something like this for DG
>Gate of Nostalgia - 1028
>Champion Gate - 1102
>Truth Gate - 264
>Rey De Parejas Day 1 - 1324
>Rey De Parejas Day 2 - 368
>Rey De Parejas Day 3 - 1362
>Rey De Parejas Day 4 - 256
>Rey De Parejas Day 5 - 598
>Rey De Parejas Day 6 - 318
>Rey De Parejas Day 7 - 259
>Masaaki Mochizuki Produce Buyuden Rei - 279
>Rey De Parejas Day 8 - 249
>Rey De Parejas Day 9 - Unreported
>Prime Zone Plus - 66
>Rey De Parejas Day 10 - 532
>Rey De Parejas Day 11 - 605
That is from March. The last show of the March Dream Power Series is where Nakajima lost the belt.
April started cold with a Rising Hayato self-produce show and then was hit or miss depending on the Champion Carnival lineups for each night
>AJPW New Age Chronicle-Z4 - 345
>AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 1 - 1,157
>AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 2 - 481
>AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 3 - 758
>AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 4 - 527
>AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 5 - 867
>AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 6 - 850 (ca)
>AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Day 7 - 852
Averaging out at 696
Taking away the Hayato show it is 785
May is averaging out higher despite the only B Block night dipping.
>AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Tag 8 - 1,470
>AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Tag 9 - 793
>AJPW Champion Carnival 2024 Tag 10 - 1,276
Sanjo city in Nigita prefecture doesn't draw a strong crowd. Most shows in Sanjo city draw sub 500 people and the single largest gate for any promotion in the 2020s was AJPW All Japan Pro Wrestling 50th Anniversary In Sanjo ~ The Soul Of A Champion which drew a hair over 1K.
>May is averaging out higher despite the only B Block night dipping.
Yuma Anzai is a draw
Well yeah, the B Block was squared up with Anzai and Jun Saito having a neck and neck race for the top of their block. Anzai beat Jun on night 1. Night 8 Jun faced his brother Rei in the main event which was going to decide whether or not he would get the two points he needed to advance.
A block has been locked up since night 7 since Kento went romper stomper over his entire block. The only match Kento lost was to the guy who is currently in last place for A Block, Ren Ayabe. Ren only scored two wins in his block. Kento on night 1 and Ikemen Jiro on night 10
So we are looking at probably Jun winning the Champion Carnival and then immediately pivoting to work a program with Anzai for the strap.
Yeah, AJPW penny pinches hard on a lot of things so it honestly surprised me that they invested in having someone develop a whole ass new new streaming site for them this year.
I find it interesting that Ayabe's only two wins came at korakuen hall
He won both times he wrestled for Zero1 at Korakuen this year too. The only loss he has wracked up at Korakuen this year in JTO when Gladio went over him for the TJO Openweight title
>Stardom 604.9 (31 shows)
>TJPW 504.8 (15 shows)
Pretty much what I've always said. The gap in per show attendance between them isn't really all that big, just that Stardom runs way more shows.
CyberAgent has never been anywhere the type of "throw infinite money around" owner that Bushiroad/Kidani is.
I agree when it comes to DDT and TJPW being run modestly.
oof poor bjw
this is grim
even BJW does better numbers than this surely
Low attendance numbers don't even bother me I just wish a lot of these Japanese companies stopped running brightly lit high school gyms. Just take a page from old US and EU small indies and just turn the lights way down in the place, that way you can have a show with decent atmosphere even with a small crowd, but seeing these brightly lit arenas just take me out of the show completely.
Over-exaggerating the shit out of the roster issues with NJPW, yeah the main event scene has been poached and is the main point of concern and you have standard issues of multi-mans with dads in them but they have a million times more depth to their roster than any other Japanese promotion with the junior division in particular in good shape (you can argue booking issues and that's fine, were talking depth here). Also of particular note is they aren't having issues of aging talent, they're more focused on trying to get the young guys in better positions.
I don't think NJPWs issue is aging talent. I think the issue is that once NJPW finally puts their young guys in the main event, they're already 5-6 years post their young boy status.
They units remain forever, L.I.J have been there for almost 10 years now. Bullet Club even longer, and instead of creating something new and exciting they just make subgroups of it because they cannot let it die naturally.
Very NWO and NWO Wolfpac, NWO Hollywood, NWO Elite, NWO B-Team & NWO 2000 vibes.
Japan is in a dark age everyone with superstar talent is 35 plus.
I like it, but AJPW will always be my fed. I'll stick with it no matter what, so I'm biased.
Do they have English commentary? I'm not full weeb yet and can't listen to Japanese commentary without subtitles
No, they don't even have English translations for navigating their streaming site any more. They did update their streaming site recently so it isn't running on late 00s tech, they have chat for the live shows, and as I discovered last show the community manager in charge of the live stream chat speaks fluent English and really encourages English speakers to comment during the streams.
Maybe they could get Kevin Kelly in? He's looking for a job
Ehh I don't know if Kevin Kelly would fit the presentation nor have the skills necessary to the position. If they would get an English commentator the most important trait necessary for the position would be fluency in Japanese and the ability to translate quickly and convey the proper tone and characterization of the workers. Guys like Hayato, Miyahara, and Jun Saito cut very distinct promos that get their character across in a clean manner. Without someone that could accurately convey their mic work they are respectively some guy that sits in the middle of the ring mopping, a very excitable uncle, and some big dude with a deep voice. Chris Brooke's Japanese skills are reaching the point where he might be able to do it, but his stock has been rising really fast lately and he is too busy with his own work that he can't even fill that position with Cyberfight any more.
decided to give them a try this year (watched the Nakajima vs. Anzai show and watching the Champions Carnival). I love the wrestlers and their characters (definetly better than NOAH) but the Champions Carnival has honestly been pretty mid, there weren’t any real GREAT matches. Their gaijins are also pretty shit and the worst part of the league.
Today I learned that ajpw has the most delusional fans in wrestling
Something people often miss in these discussions is that total ticket sales are only representative of raw revenue. It does not actually tell you if a company is profiting from these shows. Like for example Stardom had some nightmares at Korakuen earlier this year and the Yokohama show was down around like 50%, but they are still number 3 thanks in part to having big pockets to run as many shows as they want. Same goes for NOAH being cyberfights money sink to try and compete with NJ in the long term. Dragon Gate and AJPW are privately owned so they are way more concerned with getting as close to sell out as possible for every venue they run to maximize profits.
I really don't think CyberAgent care about NOAH competing with NJPW. The president of the company even said he wanted them to focus on selling merch rather than tickets
Even if they aren't looking to compete directly them saying something like don't worry about ticket sales is pretty indicative in it of itself to the idea they are more concerned with "growth" than short term profits which could be a good thing.
If they were concerned with growth they'd invest money in marketing them like Bushiroad did with its promotions. As it stands it seems that their money goes almost entirely towards production
Dragongate is owned by Gaora TV
I thought they were just partnered with them for broadcasting stuff. Any articles about the ownership cause wikipedia, cagematch, ect... seem to indicate it isn't owned by Gaora.
Yeah, Dragongate is a privately owned Ltd. The current CEO is Okamura's former number 2 Toru Kido
https://www.nikkei.com/compass/company/pggH5vtWiJ6kmCMJq7Jck3
Dragongate's broadcast rights are owned by Gaora.
They should bring back that Aigle Blanc wrestler back. And that Andy Wu guy too. It would add more depth to their Junior Division.
>Aigle Blanc
He is a French Jr. the pretty much only wants to work in Europe if he can help it. Hell he was only in AJPW for like a month last summer. I am surprised you remember him,
I watch a bit of GLEAT since it's free on youtube but doesn't AJPW have more or less the same level of production and attendance while charging their own service? Pirate sites don't seem to care about streaming their stuff either. Doesn't lend itself to getting watched. I actually find GLEAT somewhat endearing but watching AJPW takes too much effort.
Some of the legit best wrestling theme songs out there are from AJPW. Kawada, Holy Demon Army, all of Akiyamas themes. Kino
It's even deader than NOAH, which seems impossible. Such a shame. Baba rolling in his grave.