Japan Trip Report Part 2-Tokyo
By Paul T.
*My bad for the lateness, I forgot
about this shit due to that thing called war, etc.
Feb. 23, 2003
Wake up in my Osaka hotel room and realize I woke up too late
to make the intended bus to the local airport for my 10AM flight,
so I decided to take my time and catch the next one. I semi-sweated
on the bus but figured I'd make it if I rushed from the counter
to the gate. I quickly buy breakfast of bento box and canned hot
tea, and rush to the plane only to hear an announcement from the
stewardess: "We apologize for the delay but there are still
four customers we are waiting for to board the plane." Bitch
was trying to tell me that my ass ran up here from the counter,
but we're holding up the plane for four lazy motherfuckers. Oh
well, at least the service on the plane was phenomenal. I planned
to get some extra sleep on this flight but clear skies and low
cruising altitude allowed me to check out the landscape. I'd done
the Osaka-Tokyo trip countless times but I always took the Bullet
train. Pretty cool view, got to see Mt. Fuji upclose. The flight
arrives Tokyo Airport at 10:52AM, which was two minutes late so
the airline didn't just apologize, they begged for forgiveness.
"This is All Nippon Airways. We truly ask for your kind understanding
and forgiveness for the flight being late." Also when exiting
the plane, the stewardesses apologized to each customer for being
a whole 2 minutes late. United Airlines wouldn't give a flying
fuck if they were 8 hours late from LAX to SFO and lost your luggage
in the process.
Today was all about the AJPW Budokan
show, but I had also planned to meet an individual who helped
me out. Catch the amazing train system from the airport and easily
get to the hotel in time. Go with this guy to a Denny's. It's
insane how even the Denny's in Japan has great food and service.
Walk from Denny's to Budokan. To
get inside, I was supposed to call SD on the cell phone. Of course,
I call and the shit is "no longer in service". Punk
bitch, I Fedexed that phone to him and he didn't even buy a prepaid
card to connect it. What to do? Well I won't go into exactly how,
but somehow I got in no problem, lol. I went to the press area
where one of Japan's top photographers said, "WTF are you
doing here? Did you come to pick up Skinny White Cracka?"
so I answered, "Yes." Meanwhile, I guess SD and a certain
"coolest wrestler ever" were worried I couldn't get
in so they went to the entrance looking for me, oops. Found them
and when I told them how I got in, they laughed. I didn't want
to bother them much before the show so I just hung out with the
photographer, discussed the US Indy scene, lucha libre and waited
for the show. He also talked about how bad business is getting
in Japan and that there will probably be less and less opportunities
for foreigners here. The magazines are doing bad too because now
you can get all the info on the internet or off newspapers. Still
though, it's just crazy how much press there is in Japan for wrestling,
like a real sporting event. I've seen it many times before but
it still amazes me because I compare it to US indy shows. All
of them were in the pressroom with their super high quality cameras
and shit getting all ready for the big show. Lots of other Japanese
wrestling personalities in presence as well.
The show starts and the seats are
like 70% full out of I think like 15,000 capacity. I thought this
would be it but by the third match I'd say it was minimum 90%.
Super Dragon's match was second. Now, it's going to be difficult
to express my excitement for this match in words but let's just
say I was in awe the whole time. Anyways, he came out first with
people yelling his name here and there, and there were these two
Japanese chicks I'll call "Dragon girls" they were going
nuts for him. They were sitting front row. SD enters the ring
flipping over the top rope. Then comes Extreme Blade, he comes
in dancing and grooving while SD just shakes his head in disapproval.
I don't remember all the moves because I was just tripping off
of SD wrestling in front of all these people. Flashbacks of ghetto
ass "toy ring" with duct tape turnbuckle in the warehouse.
SD started off strong with a tope con hilo by the post to the
outside over the railing. I thought he already killed himself.
Right in front of the Dragon girls who were all, "Doragon!
Doragon ganbette!" WTF ahahaha. I would have name-dropped
Dragon on them for my own prosperity but they weren't that hot
so I left it alone, haha. They did some good mat wrestling and
Dragon got a series of cool offense in like his weird-entry submissions
and this one springboard 180 huracanrana or some shit. At this
point, I was in full-mark mode legit cheering for SD and trying
to take pics at the same time. Again, I look at the super high
rafters and all the people for a second and thought, "Man,
I cannot believe this fucker is wrestling here." I even yelled
at SD to "Fuck him up" to which SD quickly responded
by running into a pole (sorry had to do it). Actually people made
a big deal but it was more like he grazed it but fast. Few people
even noticed. He was real slow getting up and the ref looked worried
but he seemed to have no problem continuing. They did some more
spots on the ramp. Then I noticed SD was bleeding real bad, blood
straight pouring out of his mask. Fuck. But he was suckin it up
like nothing happened. SD hit a lot more offense setting up for
his Phoenix. Phoenix was clean but he missed, Extreme hit his
finisher for the pin. All the youngboys went in there to help
him up, SD just shoved them all away and walked on his own strength
to the back. Good WCW cruiser style match where people gave SD
a lot of that, "Ohhhhh" which in Japanese is "whoa
cool shit" for his original offense. I found the AJPW crowd
to be a bit weird though; like in other matches they popped harder
for much simpler things. During break I go backstage and I heard
a journalist running saying, "SD done fucked himself up".
Then SD came out with his mask on but obviously fat taping under
it, so I showed my sincere concern by laughing at him. Well, on
the bright side, when people ask where he got that scar he can
say Nippon Budokan and not a Boys and Girls Club somewhere.
Some other highlights. 01 vs AJPW
tag match. First the 01 team of Otani/Tanaka/Sai/Ogasawara (Mr.
Miyagi Karate guy) entered first. Then the AJPW team with only
Kojima/Arashi/Araya and they face off 3 on 4 with mad heat already
but….where's Kashin? I was sitting in the press area and
he runs past me into the ring to bust a sneak attack behind the
01 guys, and when the crowd saw him they went insane. Ridiculous
heat for Kashin. Kashin's gimmick is this "Problem-causing"
guy who doesn't get along with anyone and talks shit about everyone,
it rules. I especially love his comments for the media because
he "semi-shoots" on people like he don't give a fuck.
What makes it great is he is so articulate (he legit went to Waseda
University which is like the Princeton of Japan), so few can bust
a good enough comeback. So he goes in and Pearl Harbors the 01
Crew and grabs Mr. Miyagi's student and chokes the fuck out of
him with some belt. See, Kashin had picked on this student on
01 shows before so the fans went nuts and laughed. Well I don't
remember the movesets but the Mr. Miyagi guy, I honestly do not
understand why he gets so much heat but the end result is he does
and that's all that matters, so 01 did something right. Another
thing was when Kojima went up for his "Icchauzo" elbow
thing off the top, I swear the whole place went ballistic like
they were waiting for it all day. If you're a Kojima fan you must
experience this live.
Now the main event of Muta vs Hashimoto
for the Triple Crown. Again, insane heat for both guys. At the
start of each guys' music the place went nuts. The match itself
was a typical Muta match where he stalls and acts all crazy and
shit and his opponent gets fucked up, then in the end his opponent
comes back for the win but it seems the first time in a while
that Muta was doing his "check under the ring and find nothing",
"walk around aimlessly zombie-style" stalling antics
which I've always been a huge mark for. Anybody who can get fans
to react to something so simple is a master. Hashimoto bled buckets
here, and he was great too. Some cool unexpected spots like Hashimoto
hitting the Shining Wizard, for which the crowd went crazy again.
Hashimoto unexpectedly ended up winning. I could go into it, and
maybe if you see it on video it's no 5 star match but the heat
was amazing and I'd pay to be there live to see it again.
After the show, I wait in the press
area for SD to come out. He was considered youngboy so I knew
it'd be a long wait. I got to go by the lockerroom with the rest
of the press and see the interviews. It was kinda cool to see
SD doing regular youngboy duties and shit. I thanked certain people
and we bailed. Even though he was all fucked up from his war with
the pole and we were exhausted, I forced him into his first Tokyo
subway ride to Roppongi for some American food. Of course I'd
much rather have had some ramen but I figured SD would have wanted
something American so what better than TGIF. At TGIF the waitress
was this hyper JPN chick, she had all these badges on her, a big
ass teddy bear hanging off her back, and combat boots. On the
way out, another waitress straight fell on the stairs in front
of me, again I showed my concern by laughing but asked if she
was ok. Sunday nights, well every night in Tokyo, there are plenty
of places going off but I was exhausted from lack of sleep, SD
had blood leaking from out of his bandage so it wasn't a partying
night. We headed to none other than a 24 hour internet café
by my hotel. *BTW-If you want the Tokyo nightlife lowdown info
just email me and I'll forward you to some good info sites. If
you don't know your way around though, I suggest just go to Roppongi
and walk around you'll find something. Sorry but the only time
I go to Roppongi is when I'm with a tourist cracka, lol.
So we get to the internet café,
and find Taro online. You know we're retarded when we are sitting
10 feet from eachother and AOL'ing with Taro. But hey I was on
like total 5 hours sleep in 2 nights and on my 6 th cup of coffee
just trying to stay coherent. Funniest shit was SD IM's me saying
"Hey check out that dudes pants next to you, they're hot!".
I look over and this JPN dude has these crazy ass checkered tight
disco pants. Ridiculous. This was followed by more laughter at
the expense of people around us. It may sound mean but trust me,
when Japanese people come here they laugh at you too so it's all
good.
Well part 2 wasn't as funny as part
1, probably because I had so little time in Tokyo this time, but
I hope some of you decide to go check out Japan anyways. If you're
a wrestling fan you should go at least once. If you need details
email me and I'll try and help you out. Also you can check out
some pics I took here: http://www.geocities.com/gurentai2003/photopage1.html
Paul T
gurentai_pt@hotmail.com
