Maikeru
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Posts posted by Maikeru
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There's a huge amount of USWA and CWA stuff from '86 to '92 on Amazon Prime, free for members. I heard most of the Memphis footage from this period is split in ownership between Lawler, Cornette and Jerry Jarrett so we're unlikely to see it on the Network anytime soon.
Quite a few indie documentaries and some events as well, haven't watched any of it so can't comment.
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For those interested, I've got a thread going over on Meltzer's board about how according multiple Japanese media sources, NJPW hit 80% of their highest ever annual revenue last year and are very likely to reach 90%+ of it for the August 2016 - July 2017 financial year:
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3 hours ago, garynysmon said:
I didn't realise until watching that Spike is actually lower down the EPG than Challenge. I still think that Sunday night is a slightly better timeslot, despite the tradition of Friday night wrestling on UK screens.
It has a larger viewership than Challenge though (http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/weekly-viewing-summary/).
This is somewhat of a step up for the company in that sense.
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13 minutes ago, Undefeated Steak said:
No idea what the circulation of PS was at the end but you could still pick it up in a lot of newsagents around the country. 1000 subscribers at £2 each month would still be £500 a week for writing a fanzine about how much Roman Reigns sucks.
Fin gives detailed circulation figures by year in the Powerslam Years book; it was around 8,000 by the end give or take (peak was around 20,000 in 2006/7). And it cost him £17,000 for shelf space alone in the last year.
I agree he probably could get that many subscribers at that price and make more money than he did with the magazine.
I really recommend the book; a fascinating read - I'm sure even his critics will be impressed with him banging out an entire issue in between 10 appointments for skin cancer treatment over the course of a month!
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Haven't followed New Japan since August, but I gather these are the main matches for WK. If anyone has the rest of the card, please add to:
(IWGP Jr. Title): KUSHIDA v Hiromu Takahashi
(IWGP I.C Title): Tetsuya Naito v Hiroshi Tanahashi
(IWGP Title): Kenny Omega v Kazuchika Okada
Full card in Japanese here:
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Gorilla Monsoon and Alfred Hayes too.
Very true; also added Andre and Joey Marella.
Apart from the 20 above who were at WM7 you can add at least another 60 former WWWF/WWF/WWE performers that have passed since '91.
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I've been a fan 25 years now and WM7 was the first PPV I watched, afaik. That was the start of all the magic for me; 1991-1992 were the highlight of my childhood.
Nearly a third of the performers from that show have now passed. ;-( Not sure I can think of any other form of entertainment/sport where child fans have had to experience so much loss as the years of their early adulthood went by. The super heroic, immortal-seeming nature of these guys to a 7 year old kid making it all the more heart-breaking.
Lest we forget:
Andre 'the Giant' Roussimoff, 1946 - 1993
Kerry 'Texas Tornado' Adkisson, 1960 - 1993
Adolfo 'Dino Bravo' Bresciano, 1949 - 1993
Joey Marella, 1963 - 1994
Robert 'Gorilla Monsoon' Marella, 1937 - 1999
Davey Boy 'British Bulldog' Smith, 1962 - 2002
Curt 'Mr. Perfect' Hennig, 1958 - 2003
Elizabeth 'Miss Elizabeth' Hulette, 1960 - 2003
Michael 'Road Warrior Hawk' Hegstrand, 1957 - 2003
Raymond 'Hercules' Fernandez, 1956 - 2004
Ray 'Big Boss Man' Traylor Jr., 1963 - 2004
'Lord' Alfred Hayes, 1928 - 2005
John 'Earthquake' Tenta Jr., 1963 - 2006
Sherri 'Sherri Martel' Schrull, 1958 - 2007
Brian 'Demolition Crush' Adams, 1964 - 2007
Randy 'Macho Man' Poffo, 1952 - 2011
William 'Paul Bearer' Moody, 1954 - 2013
Jim 'Ultimate Warrior' Hellwig, 1959 - 2014
Roderick 'Roddy Piper' Toombs, 1954 - 2015
Harry 'Mr. Fuji' Fujiwara, 1934 - 2016
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I've been trying to follow the Attitude Era chronologically starting with the Raw in December 1997 with Vince's 'we've been insulting your intelligence promo' and am up to late May 1998. Ironically I was a fan from 1991 to mid 1997, then from mid 2002 again so missed the era completely.
It's been fairly entertaining but I haven't found the PPVs particularly great except for WM 14; the Austin McMahon stuff on Raw has been great but you still gotta wade through a lot of prelim stuff which can drag.
I know this was only the very start of the boom so hoping things pick up a bit soon.
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None of the links work for me apart from the last two, is anyone else having the same problem?
Great post though Lister, especially the one with the old school WWF house shows - would love to see events from some of the bigger arenas they did.
You have to take off the semi colons at the end of each link.
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Can you sign up and then cancel straight away like netflix, or will that mean you can't then watch it for the rest of the month that you've paid for? Thinking of signing up for one month only from tomorrow till the end of the G1, but don't want to get charged another month if I forget to cancel.
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Only a few years ago WWE management looked down their noses at indie/TNA talent and rarely signed them up. Now they're signing them by the dozens. What's changed, and why were they so arrogant about it in the first place?
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Three free-to-view videos on NJPW World as a mini-documentary series of Will Ospreay's first trip to work there. All in English.
http://njpwworld.com/p/o_original_0008_76
Brilliant find.
Lol, a lot of the Japanese subtitled translations are wrong. Maybe they couldn't fully grasp his Essex accent.
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If anyone needs a ticket for Sunday let me know; 20 quid face value, can be emailed instantly.
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Why do so many wrestling fans (especially indie fans who attend shows) appear to also like metal, tattoos/piercings and comics? I don't see the connection.
Sometimes feel out of place at shows without a beard, leather jacket or a love for the aforementioned hobbies.
Not saying there's anything wrong with it btw, just curious as to why so many.
Something something alternative...
No, but seriously, wrestling is a subculture just like those things you've mentioned, I guess. I mean it's a bit of a generalisation you've made there, but it does align with other subcultures as well.
How's it a generalisation? I didn't say all wrestling fans; I said many.
So by sub-culture do you mean a niche interest? That may be so but I still don't see how it relates to those other subcultures/niche interests.
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Why do so many wrestling fans (especially indie fans who attend shows) appear to also like metal, tattoos/piercings and comics? I don't see the connection.
Sometimes feel out of place at shows without a beard, leather jacket or a love for the aforementioned hobbies.
Not saying there's anything wrong with it btw, just curious as to why so many.
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In regards to WWF Prime Time Wrestling airing in the UK, can anyone recall:
1) From which year/month it began airing over here?
2) Which day of the week and which timeslot?
3) Did we get the full two hour broadcast here or was it compressed to just an hour?
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Shinsuke Nakamura's attitude at the Meet & Greet was really bad. He and Ishii charged £10 for photos despite being told not to by RPW staff (at least they said when told that they would go and speak to them about it). It was awful because they were doing the same thing during the show's interval anyway, rendering the £15 fans paid (along with the extra time they spent queuing) for the Meet & Greet pretty much meaningless.
The worst part was his attitude when I even tried speaking to him (in his own language no less) without buying anything - he was charging £10 for a couple of tiny stickers and a photo. He continued signing a bulk of posters (which they were probably going to try to sell later) without even looking at me, just about replying to me under his breath. I've actually never felt so insulated by a wrestler in my life. It was like I'd followed him to his hotel or something (as opposed to being a paid fan at an aptly named 'Meet & Greet' event).
It's true that in Japan Meet & Greets tend to be much more formal and less interactive, with photos and signatures typically requiring you to purchase something. However, they don't have the £15 admission fee! But I think Nakamura needs to learn that when in Rome.............
The sour taste from this incident almost completely ruined the show for me. This is about the third time RPW have failed to take a stand on this issue and it's quite infuriating. There were questions about this on Facebook in the days leading up to show that went unanswered. I have emailed a complaint and am awaiting a response.
I met Nakamura after Wrestle Kingdom outside the TD and he was great. He was posing with fans and talking to everyone.
Yes, and he was friendly at last year's RPW as well. I didn't say he wasn't ever friendly; I just said he wasn't this time (presumably because I didn't pay the £10). And it came across very rudely.
Just because he was nice to you, me and other fans on other occasions doesn't make what I'm telling you about this incident any less true or less valid.
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Andy the promoter is terrible with those kind of things. I doubt you'll get a reply at all. It seems like once he has your money he doesn't care.
What happened in your case?
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Shinsuke Nakamura's attitude at the Meet & Greet was really bad. He and Ishii charged £10 for photos despite being told not to by RPW staff (at least they said when told that they would go and speak to them about it). It was awful because they were doing the same thing during the show's interval anyway, rendering the £15 fans paid (along with the extra time they spent queuing) for the Meet & Greet pretty much meaningless.
The worst part was his attitude when I even tried speaking to him (in his own language no less) without buying anything - he was charging £10 for a couple of tiny stickers and a photo. He continued signing a bulk of posters (which they were probably going to try to sell later) without even looking at me, just about replying to me under his breath. I've actually never felt so insulated by a wrestler in my life. It was like I'd followed him to his hotel or something (as opposed to being a paid fan at an aptly named 'Meet & Greet' event).
It's true that in Japan Meet & Greets tend to be much more formal and less interactive, with photos and signatures typically requiring you to purchase something. However, they don't have the £15 admission fee! But I think Nakamura needs to learn that when in Rome.............
The sour taste from this incident almost completely ruined the show for me. This is about the third time RPW have failed to take a stand on this issue and it's quite infuriating. There were questions about this on Facebook in the days leading up to show that went unanswered. I have emailed a complaint and am awaiting a response.
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By the way, thanks to everyone who purchased a print copy of Issue 119, as it's now sold out. I'm very grateful!
Yeah I just renewed my subscription last week and tried to start it with 119, only to be told it was sold out. Nice to get 120 in the post today though; didn't think it would be out that quick.
Just another suggestion - there was no warning/notification given when my last subscription ran out. It's hard to keep track of this, especially with the 14 issues deal and I'm sure there are other subscribers who forget as well. A renewal reminder card or something enclosed with the last issue of each sub would likely be appreciated. ^^
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You can find out anything like the old questions asked in PS online now in seconds. I did enjoy them in my pre net days though.
The style of it changed considerably in the post net years. It was more opinion-oriented, and had long answers covering issues comprehensively for which the info tends to be quite scattered on the net. Or stuff that was very hard to find info on, at least in English (such has historical happenings in Japan and Mexico etc).
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Brian why not start a Q&A section in FSM? I always thought this was the one thing PS had which you didn't and I always enjoyed it.
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They said to only post our photos after the show has been broadcast in October. :-)
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It was a brilliant show - not sure why it wasn't better attended given that it was free?? I'd say around 400 - 500 tops. Revolution Pro can draw nearly double those numbers paid in that building on a regular basis. I wonder if they deliberately didn't advertise it well as they didn't want the results to be talked about too much before it airs?
NJPW World
in UK Fan Forum
Posted
I feel the impression has been given in some recent WONs that despite NJPW's revival under Bushiroad, that it's still nowhere close to what it was before the beginning of its decline in the early 2000s. However, the fact is that the company themselves have gone on the record (in their book 'The Secret of New Japan Pro Wrestling's Revival' - published in Japanese only by Kadokawa in Nov. 2015) to say that their highest grossing year in history was 1996, when they pulled in just shy of 4 billion yen. In 2015 they grossed 3.2 billion yen. What about inflation, you might ask? Fact is there hasn't been any in Japan for about the last quarter century; you're literally looking at about a 1.5% inflationary increase from 1996 to now.
Average attendance per show does look to be around half of what they were doing in the late 90s, but the majority of that was down to the number of Dome shows ran annually during that period bringing up the overall stats. Not sure it's a fair comparison anyway as there are so many other ways for fans to follow the product now besides attending live shows - back then it was World Pro Wrestling in the small hours of Saturday night on TV Asahi and that was it.
The rest of the puroresu industry is certainly a shadow of what it was revenue-wise during that period, but with Bushiroad tripling New Japan's revenue in a mere 3 years I don't actually think it's a great exaggeration to describe it as a new Golden Age that they've brought about for that company. Not pre-1987 Friday night prime time TV levels, but not that far off the 90s.
As an aside to this, in spite of some reports to the contrary (not in WON), even at the WWF's darkest period of 1996 when it grossed a mere $81.86 million, that was still roughly double what NJPW did in the same year (which as mentioned above, was actually New Japan's highest grossing year ever). It may have been bigger than WWWF in the 70s and early 80s - Dave the other week estimated the 1982 revenue when VKM took over to be nearly $10 million (or $25 million in today's money) but without any publicly available data on NJPW finances from that period we'll likely never know for sure.
If it's true and they've opened up other revenue streams and raised ticket prices and run a smarter business, then that's great! I'd love to hear that they're really so close to the glory days. Also there's that whole issue of those guys who used to be at ringside wearing sunglasses and who knows how that played with the books.
I was skeptical myself at first but unless the company is about the 1996 figure being the highest in history to multiple respected news outlets, I guess it must be true:
Source 1 (January 5th 2017, from Nikkan Sports - the most respected sports newspaper in Japan, circulation of 2 million):
http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/news/1761037.html
海外進出の背景には、１２年から右肩上がりの経営状況の良さがある。昨年７月期の売上高は３２億円、今年７月には創設４５周年で最高の４０億円超えも確実視される。
"Behind the company's move to expand overseas, is their favorable financial situation that has improved significantly since 2012. Last year's annual revenue (measured in July) was 3.2 billion yen. It looks to be a cert that in July of this year (2017), they will surpass 4 billion yen, the highest amount grossed in the company's 45 year history."
Source 2 (May 9th 2017 - two days ago, complete with charts):
http://proresu-today.com/archives/22506
対して新日本プロレスの2016年度の売上高は、およそ32億円（※3）となっており、相撲協会の1/3、WWEの1/25の規模です。
当時点では両者と大きく差が開いておりますが、下記の図の通り、ブシロードさんが買収してから、まさにV字回復、急成長を遂げてきており、私は今年度（2016年8月〜2017年7月）、1997年に記録した過去最高の売上高を更新する38〜40億円程度まで伸びると予測しています。
ちなみに国内のプロレス市場規模は124億円（※4）程度となっておりますが、団体、興行会社に加え、周辺ビジネスを展開している会社も含めて、総計の売上高と想定されます。
"In comparison, NJPW's 2016 revenue was around 3.2 billion yen - a third of the Sumo industry and 1/25 of WWE.
At present their is a huge gap between the two (WWE and NJPW), however as the chart below illustrates, since the Bushiroad takeover business has taken a complete upturn and recorded rapid growth; I would envisage the company reaching the 1997 figure of around the 3.8 to 4 billion yen mark for this year (August 2016 - July 2017), which was the highest amount recorded in company history.
Incidentally, the entire domestic puroresu market in Japan has a revenue of around 12.4 billion yen, however this includes all wrestling promotions as well as peripheral businesses."
Source 3 (Interview by Nikkei with Kidani last year - world's largest financial newspaper with 3 million daily circulation):
実際、新日本プロレスの業績は好調です。今期決算（16年7月期）では売上高32億円、経常利益は約4億1000万円です。ちなみに子会社にする前の売上高は約10億円でした。
"New Japan's business is very healthy at present. Our most recent annual revenue (in July 2016) was recorded at 3.2 billion yen, with an operating profit of 410,000 million yen. Incidentally, before we took over as the parent company, NJPW's revenue was about 1 billion yen a year."