Purodyssey: A Tokyo Wrestling Diary by John Lister

Author:John Lister [Lister, John]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2018-03-20T16:00:00+00:00

Wednesday 3rd January

Had I wanted, I could have done another double at Korakuen Hall with the second half of an All Japan double-header and then whatever counts as a ‘normal’ DDT show. Instead I spent the day at Shin-Kiba 1st ring, a venue accessible by two trains and one subway route, in every case being figuratively and literally at the end of the line.

Shin-Kiba translates as “new lumberyard”, which is appropriate given it’s a largely industrial area. It’s part of a series of man-made islands on reclaimed land bordering Tokyo Bay, and Shin-Kiba itself is mainly made up of warehouses and light industry designed for easy boat access. Skin-Kiba 1st RING is only three minutes’ walk from the station and was a custom conversion to a wrestling arena in what is in effect a metal barn. It’s very barebones (with the ticket desk and merchandise tables outside in a forecourt) but well-designed for wrestling with an intimate feel. There’s a stage at one end, a couple of rows of seats on either side, and then at the other end a set of banked seating, albeit with solid benches rather than actual seats.

The lunchtime show was from an independent group called FREEDOMS and to be honest it all felt a little low rent -- which to be fair was literally the reason they run there. (The grimy atmosphere was also literal: every time the referee slapped the mat, dust came flying up.) Even without speaking Japanese, it was clear from the tone of a speech at the beginning that the wrestlers were trying to put across that they didn’t have the resources of the major companies, but would make up for it with added effort or heart. (My notes for this section simply read “Indy as fuck.”) Unfortunately ,that didn’t pan out.

From the very first match it was clear the quality was significantly below that of anyone who’d run at Korakuen Hall. It wasn’t so much that people were messing up moves or incompetent, but rather that there was a marked lack of intensity. Drew Galloway once recounted the story of the Undertaker telling him there was a difference between playing pro wrestler and being a pro wrestler, and I don’t think I really understood that until I saw the difference between the tiers of promotions in Japan in such a concentrated manner.

I was left feeling very ‘meh’ by the first half, with a fellow named GENTARO standing out for the wrong reasons by being in black trunks and boots with a short haircut while failing to perform ‘shoot style moves’ smoothly. I christened him Shitbata and wish I’d had someone to share the joke with.

The theoretical highlight of the first half was a six-man tag that immediately broke down into an arena brawl, which was no doubt very exciting if you’d never seen such a thing in person before. (And hey, it was probably no worse than the eight-man tag match I raved about from the first time I went to an ECW show that didn’t hold up on tape, but that was 22 years ago.

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