Picking up from where we left off before, having just got back from the Maebashi show, we had a couple of days of not much. A bit of training, but mostly we had to be out of the way whilst meetings etc were ongoing, so myself, Greg and the Thai contingent took to amusing ourselves. Eating. Hanging around Akihabara (I love Akihabara). Drinking any of the variety of beers, hi-balls and cocktails available in cans from the local store. I can recommend the following: Asahi, Sapporo, Green Label, Souyoubi No Neko, Chu-Hi and Strong Zero.
All the down time was in the lead up to the Korakuen Hall show. I was determined to start this day off right, so a chest,back and shoulder workout went down a treat here. Then it was off to Suidobashi for a lunchtime start. Ring job, set up, and all the other stuff that happens before shows. My opponent today was ‘Peruwan’. I’d only ever seen him perform once before, and that was on my first trip here in 2013. I think his gimmick is something like Dhalsim from the street fighter video games. His style was described as ‘yoga style’. By this point in the trip, my confidence in using Japanese was virtually zero, and Peruwan spoke next to no English, so putting this match together was an experience. We managed to stick something together thanks to one of the refs helping us by acting as an interpreter. The match itself was ok, although I haven’t yet been able to watch it back. Received feedback from a few of the guys on the event, good and bad, which was always useful. Advice is always good, and there were many experienced guys on the show, so this advice was super useful. I watched the remainder of the event from the side of the hall. Highlights included a fantastic match between Masa Takanashi and Madoka, and an awesome tag match between Emi Sakura & Kotori vs Tsukasa Fujimoto & Yuka. No ring pack down, straight back to Ichigaya, to settle down, and have another clutch of beers.
The next day was free so I hung around Shibuya for a few hours and checked out a Basara show in Shinjuku. This show was excellent, but was unfortunately the only show I got to watch during my stay.
The next day was a half off day as we had a group bbq (more on this in p3), after that it was back to get ready for a long trip to Osaka.
This trip to Osaka was much more fun than the last time I went. I hadn’t just got off a plane this time probably helped. Osaka was also the last stop of the tour for Thai team ‘Bad Company’ and Greg, as they would fly to Hong Kong for a show afterwards. Anyhow, my match was against Thai rookie ‘Paksa’. This was also my 15th defence of the Pro Wrestling4U G6 championship, so I wanted a good match. We did alright I think, but us being 2 New faces to the Osaka audience probably counted against us. Didn’t quite get the reactions I’d hoped for at points in the match. Still, a learning experience, even after getting a deadleg from the first kick of the match. Ha!
Bus ride back was smooth, felt like it went fast, probaly helped by a good few hours sleep. Also, Japanese service station food is fantastic. Like, really fantastic. Also, the service station coffee vending machines serve the best coffee, this side of a barista.
p
Next day was my last match, it was another ichigaya event. 6 person tag match. Myself teaming with Riho and Hikaru Shida vs Kotori, Masa Takanashi and EK Baki. This was great fun, I really enjoyed putting together a creative match between the various members of the match. Of note, I used to be a huge fan of Shida when I first started out, and managed to keep a decent relationship with her since I first met her in 2011, so it was pretty cool to have a good chat with her on a strictly professional level.
After the show we all had a bloody good piss up that went on to 6 the next morning, which was when 2 more Thai guys left us. Paksa, and Gatoh Move Thailand manager, pr, Booker, everything else – Pumi. Pumi is something of the unsung hero of Gatoh Move, and someone who has helped my career as much as people like Stixx, Emi Sakura and Masa Takanashi. I don’t think people are greatful enough towards him at times. He opened up a lot of doors for me in my career so far, for which I’m very greatful .
Seems like a good point to finish up part 2 of the blog. The last part comes on Wednesday.
Sometimes, its really difficult to know where to start when I sit to write these things. Normally, I’ll do blogs that are pretty much ‘bite-sized’, but today I’ve given myself the task of attempting to capture a 16 day experience, that was full of memories, and life altering moments. Never one to do things by halves am I..?
So this show was a 3 hour bus ride, to Maebashi, in Gunma prefecture. Hometown of Gatoh Move wrestler ‘Kotori’. Fun show again here, and the Sailor Moon costumes first outing, immediately gained some attention. The interval saw a number of kids come and speak to me over at the merch tables, which was pretty ace. The match on this show was a tag match, in which I teamed with Thai ‘Super rookie’ Paksa, against my Korakuen opponent last year Choun Shiryu and Kubo of the BASARA promotion. Shiryu is super smooth, I think last year I didn’t fully appreciate quite how good he is. Also, in the brief intereractions during the match, Kubo is an excellent wrestler who I’d quite like to lock up with again.
The heat is beyond ridiculous. I mean even August didn’t feel this bad. I’m not complaining though, even if I do feel like I need a shower every half an hour.
Reading the title guess what I did this week… rhetorical, of course I bought some Sailor Moon socks!
I originally sat down to write this blog on Thursday, scrapped what id written, and promptly lost any enthusiasm to write.
Another weekend down, and just one more match before I bugger off back to japan again in just over a weeks time.
Juken Pro Wrestler 