Osaka Pro-Wrestling, 5/22/13
“Osaka Happy Weekday”
Nasci Hall Umeda
27 Fans
1. Yun Gang Chul (8:53 Nerichagi) Naoki Setoguchi
2. Quiet Storm (4:52 Fisherman’s Buster) Katsumi Oribe
3. Black Buffalo [W] & Tigers Mask (17:55 Lariat) Kanjyuro Matsuyama & Kuishinbo Kamen [L]

A few days late, but here’s a report from Sebastien on this past Sunday’s IMP Hall show and the birth of Bad Stream.

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It starts on a sad note though because neither Gordi nor Kae were there. I was expecting Gordi to be revealed as the “mastermind” behind the new heel group (or the “Oyabun” as Mihara called Storm) but unfortunately, it didn’thappen!  But of course Kenji was here, and there was also Ranmaru promoting her show: she told me “I love you” and then introduced me as her “sex-friend from France” to another joshi wrestler. In and out of the ring, Ranmaru never takes a break from entertaining the fans!

The first match was nothing special. Nothing horrible either and Setoguchi was entertaining.  I forgot to mention before that Setoguchi has a new look now, with black tights, a goatee and he enters the ring with a red towel around his neck, Inoki style.  He looks good, the fans love him, so I expect some good things from his teaming with Tigers at the Festival.

Second match was much better than I expected.  It may have been the best match of the show actually, in part thanks to the girls who really hit hard on each others but also on the male wrestlers.  I always find mixed tags kind of awkward when men are fighting women, but not here.  Highlights of the match include Buffalo head-butting Kana and 5 (or 6?) german suplexes in a row from Nakajima on Kana.  After the match, Spider accepted to join Tako and even kneeled before the takoyaki king.

The comedy match was hilarious.  Aja was awesome: she joined in all the comedy spots while remaining frightening.  Yoshino was so funny, his face twisted by fear everytime he had to break a move from Aja.  I really wasn’t expecting Aja Kong to be so funny (haven’t seen her stuff in Hustle).

The tag team title match was slow paced as expected.  Lots of double team moves from the smaller guys everytime they had a chance, like a great looking double-Kinniku Buster.  The heel turn was OK I think.  The new gaijin looked competent while hitting various power moves on Bodyguard and Zeus.  Mihara shocked the crowd when he delivered a chairshot to Zeus and then spoke to the crowd with a big voice he rarely used up to now.  Does this mean no more Yohnel Sanders?  Too bad.  Quiet Storm is the boss of the new unit.  I hope it will work.  I haven’t seen enough of Storm to judge if it’s a smart move or not, but Kenji and I were booing him loudly as our way to welcome him to the job.  Also, hearing Kenji shout “you suck” about a hundred times was the best thing of the day!

The main event was good.  Not great, but very solid with lots of reversals and big moves.  Tigers was more over with the crowd than Billy.  I thought it lacked the emotion and the brutality from last week’s match between Billy and Buffalo though.

Tigers then said that a lot happened and many people left, but Osaka Pro was still THE place for quality wrestling and that would not change because he and Billy were still there.

And then the rudos came back and trashed the party to end the show.

Nobody knew who the new gaijin was.  This may be his first appearance in Japan.

I really really hope that Bad Stream will be booked strong and will get the fans interested.  As Tigers said, the wrestling is still excellent in Osaka Pro, but without a good story and interesting characters, many casual fans won’t care about the ring work.

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Starting next month, there could be a promotional war in Osaka.

Kuuga announced on his blog that he’ll be starting up his own performances at the Dotonbori Arena, formerly known as the Move On Arena.  The venue will be open for business in regards to ticket sales on May 29th.

The first show will be on June 15, which doesn’t run directly against Osaka Pro since Osaka Pro is off that day.  However, the other shows on June 16, 23, and 30 at 1 PM take place exactly when Osaka Pro will be running.

Besides Kuuga, other notable former Osaka Pro wrestlers who are scheduled to participate are Masamune, HUB, Shoichi Uchida, and Nanjou Hayato (Miracleman).  MIYAWAKI and Shadow Phoenix, two more who’ve got Osaka Pro ties, are also listed.  The rest of the participants include wrestlers from Dove Pro and other independent organizations.

It’ll be interesting to see if the same guys who’ll be on Kuuga’s shows will be interacting with Osaka Pro in the future.  In fact, Kuuga’s scheduled for Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru’s next produced show on June 16….at Nasci Hall Umeda, which’ll have Osaka Pro talent on it.

In the one day break between weekday shows, here’s some news…

-If you haven’t noticed, Andy and I have been tinkering a bit with the website.  The main color and logo have changed, along with each part of the website having a name (i.e. osakahurricane.com/schedule) instead of a number.  Also, “Roster” has been trimmed up with a handful of wrestlers moved to “Alumni” and a Bad Stream section just added due to what occured this past Sunday.

-For those wondering about Yun Gang Chul, his last Osaka Pro date for now will be Thursday due to his work visa expiring.  You may recall that he left around this time last year as well.  No word when or if he’ll be returning.

-Joshi wrestlers Kana and Ayumi Kurihara will be on Saturday’s show, no doubt to promote their “KanaAyu” show at Nasci Hall Umeda on 6/15.

Tag Festival 2013 starts up on Sunday and as reported from the IMP show, TakoSpider and Quiet Storm & Mikey Broderick are the last 2 teams.

On a related note, Takoyakida blogged that fans are to expect a new costume for the TakoSpider reunion.

-Finally, Kazuaki Mihara posted a blog about his rudo turn and explained what Bad Stream means.  It basically means “villainy tide.”  This is the second time a rudo group has been “bad” as there was Bad Force from late 2006 until May 2008 when Super Delfin stated up Okinawa Pro.

Osaka Pro-Wrestling, 5/20/13
“Osaka Happy Weekday”
Nasci Hall Umeda
35 Fans
1. Black Buffalo (10:08 Lariat) Katsumi Oribe
2. Kazuaki Mihara (6:36 Senton) Taiyo Yoneda
3. 3WAY Match: Yun Gang Chul (10:25 Nerichagi) Kanjyuro Matsuyama [L], Naoki Setoguchi