Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,404 
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Sept 27, 2022 18:12:58 GMT -5
As a kid I remember seeing the Apter mags mention NJPW and AJPW. And wishing I could see these wrestlers and matches I read about.
But this was mid 80s. Then when I was 12 learned a buddy's uncle lived in Japan. 2 times a year this Uncle would come back to the states. So I gave the uncle 3 blank vhs tapes and asked him to record any puro that aired on tv for me.
So I first saw Puro in 86 or 87.
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XIII
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Posts: 18,533
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Post by XIII on Sept 27, 2022 19:15:20 GMT -5
Probably the WCW/NJPW joint super show if that counts. Then I got into tape trading a while later and the first AJPW match I saw was Kobashi/Misawa(not sure which date) but it was 45 or so minutes long and one of the main things about it that I remember was Misawa hitting a release Tiger Suplex from the entrance ramp to the floor. Kenta Kobashi immediately became my favorite wrestler and I used to create him in every WWF video game. ORANGE CRUSH!
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Post by GodzillaIsMyMonster on Sept 27, 2022 20:35:20 GMT -5
I'm not sure. I've watched a ton in the last few years.
I wonder, did WWF or WCW ever try to get Kobashi or Misawa?
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El Pollo Guerrera
Grimlock
His name has chicken in it, and he is good at makin' .gifs, so that's cool.
Status: Runner
Posts: 14,726
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Post by El Pollo Guerrera on Sept 27, 2022 20:38:39 GMT -5
Read about Japanese wrestling for years, but the first actual wrestling is saw was a couple of tapes I ordered from RFVideo.
(I know, I know, I was younger and dumber)
It was two tapes, one was "IWA King of the Deathmatch 1995", the other was a "Best of the 90s" compilation. It had Misawa/Dr. Death, Onita's retirement cage match against Hayabusa, a great M-Pro six man match, RVD beating Bam Bam Bigelow for the TV title in ECW, and a bunch more.
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Mozenrath
FANatic
Foppery and Whim
Speedy Speed Boy
Posts: 121,080
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Post by Mozenrath on Sept 27, 2022 20:48:19 GMT -5
Not counting guys like Ultimo Dragon in WCW, it was probably like 2001-2002. I mostly got interested in it due to things like Foley saying he stole the double arm DDT from Kenta Kobashi in one of his books, or seeing the extra moves in No Mercy and other wrestling games. Made me wonder what the f*** the Orange Crush was. I do also distinctly remember reading tons of hype on Manami Toyota and looking her up, and seeing, wait, shit, she really WAS that good.
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Post by Jaws the Shark on Sept 28, 2022 3:58:30 GMT -5
I'm not sure. I've watched a ton in the last few years. I wonder, did WWF or WCW ever try to get Kobashi or Misawa? The WWF was reportedly interested in Kobashi in the late nineties, but it's not really clear whether that would've been a long-term thing or a loan deal with AJPW or what since it was around the time they were working with Michinoku Pro.
I was sort of conscious of wrestling in Japan because of the imported wrestlers, but my first genuine exposure to it was in Power Slam magazine in the late nineties. I actually remember which issue it was, it was Owen Hart tribute issue which had a big write-up of his stint in NJPW, but also of the Giant Baba memorial show, and that made me curious. But at that age I wasn't old enough to be into tape trading, and it was still the early days of the internet, so I didn't really get to see it properly until the early 2000s and file sharing was a big thing.
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Fundertaker
El Dandy
Hideo Kojima should direct every ending ever!
Posts: 8,927
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Post by Fundertaker on Sept 28, 2022 4:25:41 GMT -5
When Brock went to NJPW. And when he left it actually became my favorite pro-wrestling promotion!
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Sept 28, 2022 5:12:13 GMT -5
Mostly whatever was available of AJPW in the early 2000s online, trying to find out what Vader was up to overseas. Then I got deeper into it through various YouTube channels.
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Post by ARI WOW WOW on Sept 28, 2022 5:13:55 GMT -5
GFW presents NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome. I was hooked AF till 2019
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2022 5:24:29 GMT -5
Watching NOAH on The Wrestling Channel in 2005. Prior to that I was vaguely aware of who Jushin Liger was, but that was it. NOAH turned me into a massive Kobashi fan. When NOAH's product declined in 2007, and then Misawa's death, I stopped watching puro altogether. Tried getting into New Japan in 2014 but bounced off after a Tomohiro Ishii vs Bad Luck Fale match didn't do it for me, before getting into it proper in 2016/7.
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Bo Rida
Fry's dog Seymour
Pulled one over on everyone.
Got away with it, this time.
Posts: 23,541
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Post by Bo Rida on Sept 28, 2022 5:52:09 GMT -5
Watching NOAH on The Wrestling Channel in 2005. Prior to that I was vaguely aware of who Jushin Liger was, but that was it. NOAH turned me into a massive Kobashi fan. When NOAH's product declined in 2007, and then Misawa's death, I stopped watching puro altogether. Tried getting into New Japan in 2014 but bounced off after a Tomohiro Ishii vs Bad Luck Fale match didn't do it for me, before getting into it proper in 2016/7. Yeah that's basically what I saw first, I miss TWC. Although I have a hazy and possibly false memory of a friend having a few tapes I saw in 2000ish, mostly deathmatches. I've watched a few WKs and G1s but Njpw has never fully grabbed me. I regularly watch whatever interests me in DDT and noah these days. Although it's clearly better now I do kind of miss when Japanese wrestling was almost mythological, just glimpses of those that came to the west and the tales wrestlers told. Although there's still plenty of promotions I only know by reputation. |
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Post by YAKMAN is ICHIBAN on Sept 28, 2022 10:10:22 GMT -5
AJPW gifs on Kazaa, then bought some FMW Tokypop DVDs at Media Play
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Wieners=$$$
Hank Scorpio
Gif Master Extraordinaire
Smokin' Bones
Posts: 6,041
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Post by Wieners=$$$ on Sept 28, 2022 10:59:17 GMT -5
Around 2005 after I watched Joe v. Kobashi in ROH. Went down a YouTube rabbit-hole of NOAH and old AJPW/NJPW videos, and have been watching sporadically ever since.
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Post by EZ: Brainy Bae on Sept 28, 2022 11:30:32 GMT -5
I knew it was a thing early since there were Puro tapes at the video store. Their tapes were colorful but I couldn't make out the cards and didn't know any of the cover wrestlers.
Pretty sure the first matches I saw were on Veoh/Dailymotion around 2005/6. Hogan/Hansen, some Vader matches and whatever I could find of Liger.
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Post by Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby on Sept 28, 2022 11:37:17 GMT -5
The WWE Chris Benoit "Hard Knocks" DVD, with Jushin Liger and Great Sasuke matches.
I got into ROH partly due to the Danielson/Liger match as a result, then when Joe vs. Kobashi happened I looked up a ton of classic NOAH and AJPW. Found a little AJW and NJPW from there.
I had the magnificent fortune that the first match I found when hunting for more Kobashi was the June 9, 1995 Misawa & Kobashi vs. Taue & Kawada match, which stood as my favorite match until 2020.
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Magnus the Magnificent
King Koopa
didn't want one.
I could write a book about what you don't know!
Posts: 12,469
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Post by Magnus the Magnificent on Sept 28, 2022 12:34:41 GMT -5
Early 90s
I *think* it was Eurosport that showed I've forgotten which Japanese promotion, but I remember being an instant fan of Jushin Liger and the Hellraisers (Hawk and Kensuke Sasaki).
Am I misremembering that Jushin Liger got his masked ripped off against an Irish wrestler? Might have been Finlay, but I really don't know.
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Post by rainandlava on Sept 28, 2022 15:01:49 GMT -5
I guess sometime in the mid-2000s, but I don't remember what promotion it was. My dad's friend had several tapes and after watching it, I was hooked, but after that, never got a chance to see much of puro (or Joshi as well) until a decade later in the early-mid 2010s.
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Post by Jaws the Shark on Sept 28, 2022 15:54:51 GMT -5
Early 90s I *think* it was Eurosport that showed I've forgotten which Japanese promotion, but I remember being an instant fan of Jushin Liger and the Hellraisers (Hawk and Kensuke Sasaki). Am I misremembering that Jushin Liger got his masked ripped off against an Irish wrestler? Might have been Finlay, but I really don't know. Eurosport used to show NJPW, and I think possibly some UWFi as well. It still sort of boggles my mind that UWFi was on TV and even I think had some PPVs in the west. There's an incredible ad for one featuring Gary Albright and I think Greg Valentine that I can't find right now.
All the French stuff Eurosport used to broadcast is nuts too, with Orig Williams doing awful, awful commentary. I remember seeing one match where he completely blew Colonel Brody's gimmick during the entrances by describing him as "billed from South Africa, but hails from North Yorkshire". I'm pretty disappointed that I missed it all and only know of it through combing YouTube.
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Bo Rida
Fry's dog Seymour
Pulled one over on everyone.
Got away with it, this time.
Posts: 23,541
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Post by Bo Rida on Sept 28, 2022 16:04:11 GMT -5
Wtf? Had no idea Eurosport showed NJPW.
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Post by Jaws the Shark on Sept 28, 2022 16:40:11 GMT -5
Wtf? Had no idea Eurosport showed NJPW. Weirdly it did throughout the nineties and early noughties, but typically of Eurosport it wasn't with any kind of regularity, I don't think, just when there was half an hour to fill in a schedule. I think it was mostly cut up episodes of World Pro Wrestling with English and/or German commentary dubbed on, and at one time they changed all the wrestler's names for...some reason.
My research tells me that UWFi/Bushido showed up on Sky Sports for a bit too, and on either Bravo or L!VE TV (or both), and someone reckons it was on Channel 5 for a bit, although the company went bust before C5 launched so I'm not sure about that.
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