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AJW 30TH ANNIVERSARY HALL
OF FAME Commercial Tapes 11/29/98 Kanagawa Yokohama Arena (7,750/5,000) |
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This show will go down in history, as the model of major interpromotional show gone awry. Coming out of this show there was really nothing positive anyone could say about the future of AJW. I don't feel like I watched a 30th Anniversary celebration, I feel like I attended the burial of the former super power of women's wrestling. There was so much wrong with this show that it's hard to know where to start, but it really comes down to the fact that the Matsunagas no longer have a clue. The Matsunagas biggest mistake was putting this show in Yokohama Arena. They don't have a match within their promotion that can sell 5,000 tickets in any arena in Japan, so the idea that they should book an arena that can hold a little over 17,000 was simply a very bad one. Either the Matsunagas failed to recognize that they no longer wield any power over the other leagues or they were so desperate for a big gate that they were willing to pimp their league in exchange for the almighty dollar. Once they booked an arena that was way out of their league, any rival league with half a brain could see that it was finally AJW that had their back against the wall. AJW needed the help of these leagues or their show was sure to flop majorly at the box office, and with AJW still deep in the red, the promotion simply couldn't afford another major flop. When AJW was the top dog, the rival leagues needed to participate in their major shows for the exposure. These leagues couldn't draw big crowds on their own, so the best chance of opening people's eyes to their wrestlers was for them to make a good showing on the major AJW show, as that was the show with the most prestige, most media coverage, best wrestling, and biggest crowds. In 1998, AJW really had nothing to offer anyone other than TV exposure on the Fuji Television, which they were already giving away anyway. What basically appears to have happened was the other leagues said if you want our wrestlers on your show then you have to let us win the matches. If you don't let us win then we'll just stay home and watch your show fail. Well, I'm sure they didn't say it that way, but one way or another AJW was left with three choices 1) flop on their own 2) sell their soul to the other leagues in hopes of drawing a house or 3) cancel the show. The Matsunagas chose number 2. Whether the Matsunagas comprehend the magnitude of this blunder is uncertain. What is clear is that LLPW swooped down like a vulture salivating at the site of a fresh carcass to ensure they were the promotion that reaped most of the benefits. GAEA was like a journalist who got scooped initially, but scored an exclusive on the follow up. Thus, they wound up gaining even more than LLPW because our last memory of this show was one of GAEA supremicy. If this show would have drawn 15,000, AJW would have brought in money that they desperately needed, but all the fans would have witnessed AJW's last stand. What remained of the myth of AJW would have vanished before everyones eyes, and the promotion would have been dead because they'd no longer have any credibility with their fans. This example is basically a summary of NJ vs. UWF-I 10/9/95 Tokyo Dome. UWF-I was saved for the moment because the NJ Dome show was the most successful in the history of Japan, but they couldn't draw anyone after that because they had been exposed as not being what they purported to be. This show was even worse because it showed that there weren't many people left that believed in or cared about AJW enough to attend. AJW was not only exposed to their few remaining fans, but they almost certainly lost a lot of money in the process because the house was only around 25% full. It was like most people forgot AJW was still alive, or just didn't care. It's obvious that women's wrestling attendance is way down across the board, but the booking of this show was a failure on every level. As has often been the case, AJW relied on Manami Toyota to draw the crowd. It was a good move...two or more years ago. The problem with Toyota's drawing power, is the same problem with Aja's drawing power, and the same problem with Bull's drawing power. When these women had the WWWA World Singles Title, they ran over everyone and they put asses in the seats. Once they dropped the belt, AJW forgot how to book them and they just got lost in the shuffle. They had no issues and didn't get many major wins, so their aura and drawing power wained then withered away. There was no reason Toyota & Aja couldn't have been kept really strong when they didn't have the title, that is except the Matsunagas are stuck in their ways and they have this thing about brushing aside the "old" women when they decide their time on top is up. Can someone think of a good reason for Aja not getting a run with the WWWA title after 1995 or Toyota after 1996? I simply cannot. Can someone think of a good reason why these women that beat everyone there was to beat stopped getting major wins? I simply cannot. If the Matsunagas wanted Toyota on top of this show, they needed to have her take the title from Kandori on 8/23. Period. Speaking of Kandori, was there as worse possible way to use her on this show than to have her in a tag match that had no drawing power? What booker in their right mind would have their top champion in a useless midcard tag match on the biggest show of the year? By all means, Kandori needed to be defending the title on this show. She may be the best drawing woman there is, but if you don't use her in a match that has drawing potential then she's not going to draw. It's that simple. If you aren't going to use her in a title match then you have to get the title off of her because the title is part of the draw. I mean, this is not the NWA looking for anyone with a little name value and credibility to hold their title just so a few people still know they are alive. The whole point of an outsider holding your top title is it creates new world title matches that have more drawing power than having your same old matches except this time with the title on the line. If Kandori was going to beat Takako, then it should have been in a title match. That match would be a new match and, while I doubt many people would give Takako a chance of winning, it at least has more drawing power than the tag match they ran. It doesn't have drawing power on Yokohama Arena level, or even Yokohama Bunka level, but it would have made a decent semifinal. The obvious match was to go back to Toyota because they "owed" her a title shot for winning the JGP, their first match was about the only hot AJW ticket of the year, and people would know it would be a trade wins deal. Normally, that works against you, but people knowing Toyota was going to win the title might have worked in AJW's favor since she is still very popular. Even if it didn't, the worst case scenario is people come out of the show with more respect for your top star, having avenged her loss over the one wrestler tough enough to beat Gundarenko (in a poorly worked match). Kandori is up 2-0 on Hotta, so that's the other option, especially since AJW ranks her ahead of Toyota and a Hotta win coming on the heels of Kandori beating Gundarenko means more than a Toyota win coming off the said match because Hotta is AJW's "shooter." I can see why AJW would want to keep Kandori as champ, but she's not worth it unless she's either successfully defending the title or dropping it on your biggest shows. To a Japanese league (since titles aren't something you throw in a garbage can or a river there), no one would be worth it for that matter. Instead of having their own top title defended in the main event, they let Chigusa make her first successful defense of GAEA's top title. This was a really bad move because it shows your own belt is no longer the top belt. Consider how stupid it is to have a show that celebrates AJW history not feature the richest prize in company history. It's like AJW wanted to have the Pro Bowl be the highlight of it's year instead of the Super Bowl. To an upstart promotion, it wouldn't be a big deal if the world title wasn't defended because their belt isn't the top belt and has little history. All AJW had at this point was their history, and this was yet another admission that their standing has really plummetted. If Toyota would have won the title from Chigusa, then it would have been okay to have this match headline, but having your own wrestler not be able to take the fairly new groups title in the main event of your biggest show of the year is a major no no. It can only work if you are a lesser promotion (which AJW may have been in actuality, but it's kind of like if WWF were to crumble and ECW were to grow to the point they surpassed WWF and WCW. Certainly this is unlikely, but the point is that WWF is the name that's synonymous with US wrestling, so it would take a long long time for the general public to realize ECW was the league now). Usually it only works if you are a lesser promotion and it's a big deal that a champion from a larger organization is appearing in the area, but with everyone running in the same cities, these fans can see Chigusa several times a year without attending an AJW show. What really made Toyota's loss to Chigusa a killer had nothing to do with the title. The idea of the match was that it was the top stars from two different eras finally meeting. AJW agreed to let a woman they put out to pasture more about 10 years before this show took place come in and beat the most successful wrestler that's left in the promotion, a woman they'd like you to believe is still in her prime. Now, you can argue it was a mistake to retire the likes of Chigusa, Lioness, Jaguar, etc, and I'd be the first to agree with you. You can also argue that AJW would be a lot better off if they saw the value in Chigusa, Jaguar, Lioness, & Bison when they came out of retirement and treated them better because maybe they would still be in AJW if they did. You can't change the past though. Chigusa's goal isn't to help AJW out, so there's no need for them to help increase her ego and current standing. As far as it being worth it for AJW to draw the gate, the mistake was putting a lot more stock in Chigusa's drawing power than Chigusa herself does. The idea that GAEA could have drawn a lot better than they did at the time if they tried just didn't hold water. Chigusa may be a lot of things, but her promotion had been around since 1995 and to my knowledge they had only had a paid attendance over 3000 once in their history, so currently a great draw she was not. This all changed when Lioness turned up in GAEA, but aside from those two matches that drew more because of who the wrestlers involved once were, they still don't draw that much. Anyway, while I expected Chigusa vs. Toyota to draw better than it did, you can't even consider justifying this main event unless Chigusa was going to put Toyota over on an equally large show sometime in the very near future. Instead of putting Chigusa in the main event, I would have had in her the former WWWA title holders match instead of Hotta. Hotta should have went over Kandori anyway and Toyota could have split a series with Jaguar (Kyoko probably would have takent her place in the former title holders match if they could have paid her some of what they owed her). I realize that would mean there were no AJW wrestlers in the match, but this would make it more like a legends reunion. The goal for AJW is to use this match to draw, but secondarily, anything they can do to show their wrestlers are the current stars and the women on top in the other promotions are a level below them because of their age is a good thing for the perception of their own wrestlers. On the other hand, it's not a good thing for the business overall, but the other promotions weren't exactly out to do things good for the business as a whole either. Chigusa may not have agreed to be in the match with Lioness because she had plans for their feud to be renewed in GAEA, but it also wasn't essential to have Chigusa wrestle on this show. I mean, she didn't help AJW out by giving them a win over a lesser GAEA wrestler in exchange, so why help increase her standing and validate her title? It wasn't bad enough that Toyota lost the main event, but whatever
they had gained from all these months of pushing the ZAPs as the top
heels was pissed away when they were totally dominated by Eagle &
Shit. I don't care that the ZAPs were badly outnumbered, you simply
don't take the heel group you want to be considered the top heels and
let them be obliterated by one of the groups they need to surpass. The way AJW allowed themselves to be bullied by LLPW was ridiculous. LLPW is Kandori. No one else in that league is worth anything at the gate. If they were, then LLPW would run a lot more than 1 or 2 shows per month. The few LLPW wrestlers who can work are ones that LLPW doesn't really care about, Harley and Carol. You probably could have got good matches out of them, and beat them. Eagle & Yasha just aren't worth dealing with. The don't draw and they cannot wrestle. All they do is ruin the show. Maekawa is one of the women AJW needed to get over on this show, so what do they do? They let LLPW take her title too. I'm glad Maekawa got the title back from Yasha, but if they were going to split matches, why didn't they have Yasha take the title around October and then lose it back to Maekawa on this show? Always have your wrestlers gain the title back on the big show and lose it on the small show if possible, especially when they are like Maekawa and are still struggling for exceptance as a star. If the matches would have turned out better than expected or even as good as expected, some people would have been happy. Unfortunately, it wasn't even a good show wrestling wise. The highlight of the night wrestling was the match Kansai got injured in. This match wasn't close to the level I expected, and Kansai has hardly had any good matches since returning from this injury (although that is not necessarily due to the injury), so it cannot be seen as a highlight. I could go on about what a debacle this show was, but it had no redeeming factors and I've run out of patience. "I guess they should have called this show Nightmare Slam," wrote James. |
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