Post by HMARK Center on Sept 20, 2019 23:18:10 GMT -5
Judging by how the past few months have gone, I have to think they kind of have an international plan in mind going forward: they've got it in them to pull off a big sized venue once a year in some foreign markets (e.g. a 10,000 or so seater in the US/Canada is doable, Copper Box showed there's hunger in the UK for them, etc.), but they've really figured out how much the fans want an "authentic NJPW experience", so there's been less booking to the local area aside from putting some local talent in highly featured spots (Sabre in the UK, Eagles in AU), and they've also seemingly figured out at least on the North American side what types of venues they can expect to sell out without too much promotion being needed. The Super J Cup mini-tour, the swing through Australia, and the upcoming shows in NYC/Philly/MA have all sold great, likely led to lots of merch sales, and have engendered a positive image of the company in the US, all while producing easy content for platforms like AXS, and for now that seems like the way to go.
But yeah, people are right to point out that costs were undoubtedly higher with that many foreign tours going on, and with bigger venues being booked domestically. It's a good sign overall, though; if your parent company is investing more in you while fully anticipating lower profits, it shows they have a great deal of faith in your growth potential. With the company getting to 100k subs with NJPW World, getting two Dome shows in January, etc., the early returns seems to be that the added investments are paying off, but let's see how all those things go in the next few months.
There’s a lot of big ifs about New Japan at the moment. Domestically they’re doing well and the double Dome show will be a really good test of heir current limits in that market. In the US though, that’s more of a question mark.
Like clockwork . Nah, I know you must feel frustrated as the product isn’t reflecting what you want from New Japan. But, I hope you know people annoyed at those who don’t like it aren’t personal against you, or any of the group of dissatisfied fans. It’s just the whole barrage of negativity is wearying, especially when you’re feeling positive. It’s like when a friend shows me Big Japan and I wasn’t into it and it just blew the wind out of their sails,Yeah, the rubbing-it-in comments about Gedo and Okada weren't even about people who dislike them. Just the ones who were doomsaying that they were going to LITERALLY DESTROY THE COMPANY because they never pulled the trigger on Naito instead.
Right - nobody is under any compulsion to cheer Okada or throw roses at Gedo's feet from a creative standpoint, but it's hard to argue with results when it comes to what's best overall for the promotion's health. Not saying this applies to anybody here in particular, think it's more across the rest of the wrestling-discussing internet world, but I think some people view booking decisions through the lens of the American experience, where poor booking contributing heavily to killing WCW, the only large alternative to WWE between 2001 and 2019, and has nearly killed TNA over and over again, to the point that Impact is just now somewhat recovering. Hell, poor booking drove WWE from a ratings and cultural powerhouse circa 2000-2001 to a product that's been consistently losing fan interest for nearly 20 years, and over the past year has seen some of its sharpest declines. A lot of those poor decisions have been things that fans could point to and say, with full justification, "I could've told you how to avoid this, and I don't even work in wrestling!", and have involved wrestlers or characters or angles that most vocal fans have never loved to begin with (almost all of Russo's WCW run, the refusal of TNA to let Joe or AJ run with the ball until it was too late, Triple H's reign of terror/Cena's initial world title push, etc.).
In this case, though, there's no denying that Okada sells tickets, and that people are showing up for what Gedo's peddling. Like, I think tons of 1980s NWA, AWA, etc. fans were entirely justified in not enjoying the type of wrestling that WWF was popularizing during Hulk Hogan's run on top; however, arguing that it didn't make sense to end most PPVs from 1985-1989, at least, with Hogan standing tall and flexing for the crowd is a losing proposition, since the best someone could offer against doing that is a hypothetical that maybe someone else could have done better. Same could be said of the NWA reverting back to Flair as champion as often as they did; whatever one might think of Flair (most will call him one of the greatest, others might find him repetitive), the guy was money at the box office.
It doesn't all mean that making money means someone is automatically the best; that ignores the art in wrestling and the highly subjective nature of any performance medium. But a promotion has to make money to keep producing its art, whatever its quality, and clearly Okada as ace and Gedo as booker is making NJPW a lot of money to keep putting on bigger and more complex shows.
But yeah, people are right to point out that costs were undoubtedly higher with that many foreign tours going on, and with bigger venues being booked domestically. It's a good sign overall, though; if your parent company is investing more in you while fully anticipating lower profits, it shows they have a great deal of faith in your growth potential. With the company getting to 100k subs with NJPW World, getting two Dome shows in January, etc., the early returns seems to be that the added investments are paying off, but let's see how all those things go in the next few months.
Sept 20, 2019 13:36:04 GMT -5 @flaminghalo said:
Exactly. It’s a positive, but how much of that has been spent on the usual running costs, plus the expense of greater foreign travel? I think the tell tale sign will be their plans for foreign travel next year. The domestic ticket market is still growing at a nice steady pace. Will they do the big US shows again after the disappointment of Dallas? And while the Copper box show was a big success at the ticket office, did that translate to ippv buys (which is outside their normal structure)? Plus how much did the production issues impact on returning customers? There’s a lot of big ifs about New Japan at the moment. Domestically they’re doing well and the double Dome show will be a really good test of heir current limits in that market. In the US though, that’s more of a question mark.
Like clockwork . Nah, I know you must feel frustrated as the product isn’t reflecting what you want from New Japan. But, I hope you know people annoyed at those who don’t like it aren’t personal against you, or any of the group of dissatisfied fans. It’s just the whole barrage of negativity is wearying, especially when you’re feeling positive. It’s like when a friend shows me Big Japan and I wasn’t into it and it just blew the wind out of their sails,
Right - nobody is under any compulsion to cheer Okada or throw roses at Gedo's feet from a creative standpoint, but it's hard to argue with results when it comes to what's best overall for the promotion's health. Not saying this applies to anybody here in particular, think it's more across the rest of the wrestling-discussing internet world, but I think some people view booking decisions through the lens of the American experience, where poor booking contributing heavily to killing WCW, the only large alternative to WWE between 2001 and 2019, and has nearly killed TNA over and over again, to the point that Impact is just now somewhat recovering. Hell, poor booking drove WWE from a ratings and cultural powerhouse circa 2000-2001 to a product that's been consistently losing fan interest for nearly 20 years, and over the past year has seen some of its sharpest declines. A lot of those poor decisions have been things that fans could point to and say, with full justification, "I could've told you how to avoid this, and I don't even work in wrestling!", and have involved wrestlers or characters or angles that most vocal fans have never loved to begin with (almost all of Russo's WCW run, the refusal of TNA to let Joe or AJ run with the ball until it was too late, Triple H's reign of terror/Cena's initial world title push, etc.).
In this case, though, there's no denying that Okada sells tickets, and that people are showing up for what Gedo's peddling. Like, I think tons of 1980s NWA, AWA, etc. fans were entirely justified in not enjoying the type of wrestling that WWF was popularizing during Hulk Hogan's run on top; however, arguing that it didn't make sense to end most PPVs from 1985-1989, at least, with Hogan standing tall and flexing for the crowd is a losing proposition, since the best someone could offer against doing that is a hypothetical that maybe someone else could have done better. Same could be said of the NWA reverting back to Flair as champion as often as they did; whatever one might think of Flair (most will call him one of the greatest, others might find him repetitive), the guy was money at the box office.
It doesn't all mean that making money means someone is automatically the best; that ignores the art in wrestling and the highly subjective nature of any performance medium. But a promotion has to make money to keep producing its art, whatever its quality, and clearly Okada as ace and Gedo as booker is making NJPW a lot of money to keep putting on bigger and more complex shows.