WORLD JAPAN: The Worst Ever Japanese Wrestling Promotion?

[@kokotheclown2588]

Kim out here dropping bangers

[@BigmanDogs]

It really is interesting how much more chaotic the Japanese wrestling scene has been. In terms of companies rising, falling and being replaced.

[@JuliusC1973]

The same thing is true in The United States, Canada and Mexico a lot of Professional Wrestling Promotions cone into existence last a little while and then go out of existence.

[@BigmanDogs]

@@JuliusC1973 not really.

[@JuliusC1973]

@@BigmanDogs You have no idea then. Try searching for some of those Professional Wrestling Promotions from the last 60 years and see how many have closed up and goie out of business.

[@johnstamos5948]

@@JuliusC1973what are we looking up?

[@BigmanDogs]

​​@@JuliusC1973 I'm talking about the same time period of relatively close size to the big promotions in the region goof

[@blitzerblazinoah6838]

Choshu should have been prosecuted for larceny on account of using WJ's funds to pay for his daughter's foreign university tuition.

[@jiovanysoltero923]

Bret Favre learned from Choshu

[@jiovanysoltero923]

Cmon this is relevant and a good joke. FUCK!

[@brianmfpaul115]

World Japan will be remembered as another wrestling promotion feature in the game King of Coliseum II.

[@WalkingCowboy]

I was curious about that company appearing in the game so went to this video and.... Jeezus xD

[@blitzerblazinoah6838]

Fighting World of Japan, the venture that soured Kensuke Sasaki's friendship with mentor Riki Choshu. WJ killed Vader and Dr. Death's careers as a credible wrestlers, almost killed Sasaki's career even though he was the company ace and WMG Heavyweight Champion. WJ was murdered on it's first night by Kenta Kobashi's GHC victory over Mitsuharu Misawa. Kobashi did to WJ in one main event what it took the nWo five years to do to WCW.

[@albalog2449]

Dr. Death wrestled in WJ thankfully for only 1 PPV. At that time in the summer of 2003, he was gradually starting to get sick from throat cancer (not detected until March 2004) and had grey hair (greyed in late 2002). I know Doc was desperate for work after AJPW got sold and he was showing age at this point, but losing to Kensuke Sasaki the way he did? I was not happy. Personally I think Doc should've stayed in AJPW after the sale, and stick around to fight Satoshi Kojima and Jamal (Umaga) and tag-team with Earthquake. If he didn't have throat cancer and dyed his hair black more often, I think he'd retire by the early 2010s similar to Fit Finlay's career at the time (wrestling full-time until your early 50s).

[@battinghat]

I agree honestly, I wish he did stay in AJPW even after the sale Seeing him & Vader in WJ was very sad to watch indeed

[@Kaltagstar96]

The thing that baffles me (one of the many things about World Japan that baffles me) is that Sasaki and Choshu were obviously extremely close and that's certainly not a bad thing. But surely Sasaki knew of Choshu's talents of spending money on shit that didn't matter, so what made Kensuke think "Yeah, I trust this guy to run a profitable and successful indy promotion".

[@blitzerblazinoah6838]

@@Kaltagstar96 Choshu didn't have the same say on money issues in NJ as he would in WJ, so it was easier for him to pass the buck onto others (especially during good times). Choshu was also having to create a new infrastructure in a very short time for WJ whereas NJ's was already in place.

[@Kaltagstar96]

@@blitzerblazinoah6838 I mean, between all the frivolous spending, the tragic death of Ochai and how Choshu and World Japan handled it and Choshu convincing Sasaki to dump an insane amount of his own money into a company that was falling apart, with mates like Choshu, who needs enemies? Although I wonder if Sasaki set up his Kensuke Office brand to show that he was better at running a company than Choshu was?

[@seantaft3853]

19:42 Hase NEVER gets his due as an in-ring competitor because of the aforementioned political career; this, in spite of him still doing spot appearances and not completely broken down in spite of Hase being SIXTY TWO YEARS OLD. Perhaps a retrospective on Hase may be due, not just because he gets overlooked but because he has a fascinating career and life.

[@Kaltagstar96]

Genuine Question: Is there a reason why some competitors like Hase and Minoru Suzuki that can wrestle in their 50s without losing a step and then you have people like Mutoh or Undertaker and it's the exact opposite? In Hase's case, I'm guessing that it's because he's not wrestling as much due to his political commitments?

[@seantaft3853]

@Kaltagstar96 I know Hase is because he's been a part-timer since the mid 90's when politics became his full-time job. I'm also guessing a lot of it has to do with the style and the miles on the road people have. Also, some people can do it longer just by pure luck and genetics.

[@shiningwizard690]

@@Kaltagstar96With Taker, it’s probably a mix of his physique, age and him going harder past his physical prime. Mutoh was doing moonsaults for decades and landing hard on his knees so it’s not too shocking his knees are completely shot. Suzuki has always worked a more grounded style so he doesn’t have as much mileage as other guys his age

[@hiddenleafguy4576]

​@@Kaltagstar96Part of it is physique and how they abuse their body, but part of it also luck. In Taker's case, he had several near-career ending injuries early on, he had back problems in 94, broke his ankle in 98, tore both his groin and his pec in 99. All that just caught up to him more and more as the years went on.

[@PontFlair]

​@@shiningwizard690that Mutsault was awesome but no joke on his knees. I guess that's why they're called "high-risk maneuvers". Great pic btw R.I.P. Hayabusa

[@blitzerblazinoah6838]

Two points to note; Vader was later fired by WJ for destroying the table that you saw in the video because it was expensive (Choshu was even wasting money unnecessarily on them). 2. Not surprisingly, WJ was also used to launder money for the Yakuza.

[@kidwaryodproduction]

Easily imagine if Herb Abrams UWF (If he still alive) collaborated with WJ. Would be a dream event 😆

[@blitzerblazinoah6838]

@@kidwaryodproduction I doubt even Choshu would have been that crazy/desperate.

[@JackgarPrime]

What the hell was that table made out of that you'd fire VADER over destroying it?

[@blitzerblazinoah6838]

@@JackgarPrime Considering how much money Choshu was spending, that table might even have been bought on credit.

[@kidwaryodproduction]

@@blitzerblazinoah6838 Sounds like this table was later discovered that it was ancient table that Oda Nobunaga use during Sengoku Era. 😅

[@Kaltagstar96]

You know, discussing Choshu being a freelancer and doing whatever dates he wanted seemed to, in hindsight, be a much better option than starting his own promotion. I wonder if, as World Japan crumbled around him, Choshu was like "In retrospective, probably should've just gone to All Japan to feud with Tenryu and Mutoh?"

[@gouravchakraborty9801]

7:46 Who pronounces Fukuoka like that? Why you pronounce it like a F-Bomb?

[@kidwaryodproduction]

Sounds like some Japanese Punk Band 😆

[@GanonDun]

So that's what he was saying! It also should be poo-roh not pyu-row for the 'puro' of 'puroresu'.

[@jordannufcfan]

16:28 Seeing a 15 year old Nakajima is really really wired. This boy is going to go on to be one of my absolute favourite heel wrestlers.

[@homedeezyfasheezy5662]

The story of his relationship to Kensuke Sasaki is interesting to say the least. From the limited information in English out there it almost sounded like Nakajima was from a economically challenged household and Sasaki essentially adopted him. Nakajima then would be a young boy under Sasaki having tasks besides wrestling training like picking up Sasaki’s kids from school and other non wrestling chores. I can also remember during the G1 that Nakajima was in Steve Corino was on commentary and during his matches would crack jokes that referenced the unorthodox relationship between Nakajima and Sasaki.

[@loboneiner1034]

I remember seeing them in King of Colosseum II and not knowing who this promotion was.

[@mr1000Cent]

Man, I always wondered why World Japan was featured in King of Colosseum II for the PS2. After watching this video, it even makes less sense. At least on the plus side, that game had a management mode, where in theory, you could make the company last more than a single year, LOL.

[@rayvenkman2087]

Maybe it was all an elaborate marketing promotion for the game...

[@mr1000Cent]

@Ray Venkman yeah, I'm pretty sure Spike was expecting WJ to be way better than it actually was.

[@WalkingCowboy]

Probably it was because Riki Choshu's legend status

[@KozyKool2287]

@ 0:42 look at Young Ishii

[@thecatwrangler9448]

Kim please make another handful of these… you’re so wise we need you to teach us

[@dukedude7460]

I think it’s funny to compare Choshu and his inability to keep a promotion afloat compared to his frequent rival and contemporary Genichiro Tenryu. Choshu tried unsuccessfully to get his own promotion, JWA, off the ground in the 80’s to no success. Compare that to Tenryu’s star power being able to get the shortly defunct SWS sole big gates when it started, and being able to keep his WAR promotion alive for several years.

[@pronkb000]

But the '80s JWA wasn't meant to be a real standalone promotion, was it? It was always sort of a dummy promotion to align with AJPW for...reasons.

[@ryanporzl1990]

It was JPW I think. JWA was Rikidozan's promotion.

[@SSVCloud]

I watched this entire trilogy in one go, and I loved it. I really hope you do a video like this on the IGF at some point.

[@sppspharmdude]

Thank you, i love how your videos border on crazy ideas, missed opportunities, and triumphs. This sounds very random but id love to see you cover the vicky lyons and daffney match, their backstories, and why wrestling at its core is truly about believing in anything (foley cites this match proudly).

[@PontFlair]

*9:54* Why was Inoki R.I.P. slapping Chono like that?

[@xRakumenx]

For booking a terrible match

[@eeeeewewew]

When i see this channel uploads i drop everything to watch it. The dr death was amazing and i don't know anything about world Japan so i am excited for this.

[@Brando-Lee3725]

While I never followed ZERO - 1 , Well I tried best I could back then . I did order several tapes and really liked most of it . I would like to see the history of that promotion . I know a little , but you go in to great detail on your vids and I sincerely thank you for that ! I love your work , keep it up please !!!

[@Darkworldinc1313]

Love you videos. For many years you have been the best to watch for wrestling from Japan.

[@PhoenixNoKiseki]

8:05 Speaking of Shooters, I legit thought when I first heard about Bullet Club back in the day. That their name came from the fact they were all shooters. I’m super serial.

[@ahmed-mazino7110]

All the videos you have released are pure gold. I thank you as many stars as there are in the sky❤😊

[@yasin_GD]

NWA TNA wasn't just old men

[@PETEYTHECLOWN]

"Tag match at the Fuck You oka Done "😂

[@battinghat]

I've been waiting for this episode for a very long time and It's finally here! Thank you so much! WJ was an absolute disaster from start to finish, it was truly somehow even worse than Inokiism (which was also going on at the time) It's insane how bad WJ failed (as a product) despite Choshu being the booker during almost the entirety of NJPW's most successful ever period

[@Kaltagstar96]

God, you know things are shit when Inokiism is considered the better option!

[@battinghat]

Yeah at least Inokiism didn't result in the literal death of a trainee

[@Kaltagstar96]

@@battinghat Didn't someone kill a trainee during the Inokiism period? It might have been Sasaki who did it? Unless I'm misremembering it.

[@PontFlair]

​​​@@Kaltagstar96I think you're right *25:08* I also thought there was an incident in between 94-96 in NJPW. R.I.P. to these men

[@PontFlair]

​@@Kaltagstar96you said it. From what I saw, Inoki R.I.P. could've put NJPW out of business

[@sofiaciel7599]

oh i've been waiting for this lmao i'm only vaguely familiar with WJ, but i know it was LEGENDARILY bad. in an era when NWA:TNA and WWE dominated the WON year-end subscriber awards for worst promotion, worst match, etc., WJ popped in for its one and only year of existence to go, "Hold my Asahi Super Dry"

[@albalog2449]

All I know about WJ is that my all-time favorite wrestler Dr. Death Steve Williams got jobbed-out to Kensuke Sasaki, who I never liked as a kid because of the Gompei incident and his JBL-style bully behavior. It got me PO'ed back in the summer of 2003. Thankfully, Doc was in WJ for only one show. I think Doc saw that bad creative and walked-out.

[@blitzerblazinoah6838]

To be fair to Sasaki, he was at least a better wrestler than JBL.

[@heddysteve7078]

Would love to see a late 80’s or early 90’s NJPW Video. Here or Patreon!

[@NickLenz26]

Can you do one of these on Wrestle-1 The Great Muta's Promation?

[@foxbrown9478]

You are the second person to talk about this promotion. The first being puro power.😄 (both your videos are good by the way.)

[@devonschwartz6456]

Great videos. All of these ones about the history of all the different Japanese superstars is making my playing of Fire Pro Wrestling returns on PS2 so much more interesting.

[@dnickx]

As a side note on the X-1 show...Nakajimas oponent, Jason Leigh wasn't even a fighter. He went to the show as a cornerman and was asked on the same day of the show if he wanted to fight against Nakajima. Eventhough he wasn't interested on fighting he was convinced to fight...all this was said by him on the Underground years ago

[@dragonclawtv]

Really awesome channel so cool to finally learn more about Japan I used to watch NJ and dragon gate but always wanted to know more

[@uainjansun]

Kim justice theres an update but a friend of mine found a final World Japan show that came time after the promotion folded (only the match card) and it's really rare

[@Brando-Lee3725]

If you decided to go see World of Japan instead of NOAH with that EPIC Misawa vs. Kobashi match that day you must've been drinking way too much Saki and Kirin Ichiban !!! I would kill to see that live !!! Ive watched that match 50 times ! A long with all their matches .

[@seantaft3853]

Yokohama vs. Tokyo. Two different cities. I could see the logic in thinking it could work. It's even less of an issue than, say, New Japan deciding to run an all-Juniors show against THE Misawa/Kawada match, BOTH in Tokyo. Also, in 2003, there were still people who thought Kobashi was done and couldn't go at the top level. Hindsight showed otherwise, but you need to go back to 2003 talks to see that doubt on Kobashi.

[@purowave]

Just want to say I love your work and it’s such a big way to get deeper into Puro 👍

[@DeInevitable]

brilliant series Kim!

[@frommarswithmalice9174]

Outstanding work your really coming into your own and its a pleasure to watch/hear having watched your material for quite some time. Bravo

[@Villanovafan32]

Absolutely love this series and every video you've dropped so far. I'm hoping we get iwa japan or w*ng for the next one! And if we could get a video on some of the death matches from over there I would be over the moon

[@CloudTasteNetwork]

Kim is the bomb when it comes to puro videos. Love em.

[@ProLarrikin]

Would love to see a video on Kensuke Office/Diamond Ring.

[@lucag.lisickza425]

kim can you please activate the eng closed caption

[@orodruun]

These videos are great. Thank you for putting in all the work. Loving it.

[@PontFlair]

*14:16* Chono and Yuji Nagata disliked Kensuke Sasaki?

[@lucasgarcia7219]

I absolutely love your wrestling documentaries,awesome job👍

[@Imhim247]

Hustle was way over World Japan. I mean from the production value wise. I mean a DQ in a deathmatch? That the most weirdest result in pro wrestling history. Japan wrestling business seem to be in a better place now then before. I love hearing Japan wrestling promotion from the past. Thank you!

[@blitzerblazinoah6838]

Hello Kim, any chance of a three-part mini-series on Hiroshi Hase, Kensuke Sasaki and Akira Hokuto? Whatever heat between Hase and Sasaki over the NJPW trainee's death seemed to have cooled enough for the two of them to re-team together against Keiji Muto and Mitsuharu Misawa at Muto's 20th anniversary show in 2004. Also Hase may have had links to the Yakuza as he advised Muto to seek "private investment" for AJPW in the early 2000s. Speaking of early 2000s AJPW, the company was so strapped for cash, that wrestlers were paid with complementary show tickets to sell to the public. Can you imagine Toshiaki Kawada having to moonlight as a ticket tout just to get cash? Footballer Jeff Astle got into trouble for doing the same with 300 FA Cup final tickets in 1970. On the subject of Kawada, rumour has it one of the reasons he stayed at AJPW in 2000 was because he was heavily in financial debt to the Babas. Giant Baba underpaid his native workers and most were forced to take out loans from him.

[@TheFriendlyWeirdo]

Damn, I’ve never even heard of this one 😮

[@xShineyxDiverx]

I love, love, love these Japanese history videos. Keep them up, bud.

[@creepofreek4853]

Thanks for all this great wrestling information

[@geraldwalden8816]

Masa Saito invented the Sasori-gatame or Scorpion hold in english.

[@geraldwalden8816]

also love your stuff. i appreciate you.

[@MaNiCgAbE]

Amazing channel!

[@LuisHGarcia]

Very cool watch. Thank you for making this. Question: Anyone know what the music track that plays during the WJ MMA show section?

[@jimmytheghost8317]

UWF Main Theme: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJnddImKns2nmas 🙂

[@blitzerblazinoah6838]

​@@jimmytheghost8317 Awesome theme. Even the SNES remake from Saiko Takada Nobuhiko is good.

[@LuisHGarcia]

​@@blitzerblazinoah6838 Huh? I can't see the previous comment responding to my initial comment that must have mentioned the name of that track, so I still don't know. Can you help?

[@blitzerblazinoah6838]

@@LuisHGarcia Was saying that even the SNES version of the UWF theme in Saikyo Takada Nobuhiko was good.

[@LuisHGarcia]

@@blitzerblazinoah6838 Ah okay. Just didn't know where exactly it was from and couldn't see Jimmy Theghost's comment at the time. Thanks for helping out! Just found a rip of it. And ya, it is a great theme.

[@thekurgan1580]

At one point I thought u said f u over dome 😅

[@david6099]

Great stuff

[@blitzerblazinoah6838]

I'm surprised it wasn't Kensuke Sasaki who killed that trainee in the WJ dojo.

[@Harakengard]

Yeah me too : when i heard a student died in a promotion Sasaki was in, i thought "Oh no... AGAIN?!"

[@derekshropshire2513]

Koji is my favorite. This was a crazy time in wrestling that most Americans have no clue about. Some of the best of the best were involved in this time. Sad I enjoy the videos from this period than anything going on now.

[@utopiakorea9021]

Rikki Choshu, Tiger Toguchi(Tiger Chung Lee), Akira Maeda, Kantaro Hoshino, Koji Kanemoto are Korean originally.

[@donchimpson4934]

Damn, I did not expect to see baby Nakajima on the debut WJ show.

[@MadKingFan69]

Thanks for the vidz

[@williambotner2317]

Great job

[@blitzerblazinoah6838]

WJ = Heroes of Wrestling (Heroes of Puroresu?)

[@albalog2449]

Pretty much. "Heroes of Puroresu" was the exact same impression I had back in 2003 when I pirate it online. It was so bad, I deleted it lol.

[@kaz5150619]

Couldnt find the Hustle vid

[@kaz5150619]

Maybe 1 on Wrestle 1 promotion that i retroactivley like lol

[@NLaBar]

8:55 kurasawa wasn’t fucking around here!

[@Harakengard]

I was kinda upset when you said Suzuki was bad... But then i realized i was thinking of KOTARO Suzuki 🤦

[@uainjansun]

Kenzo* Kotaro is good

[@tafua_a]

How much work did the Shane Twins get in the early 2000's?! Seriously, TNA, WXO, WWE and now World Japan? Are twins that much of a commodity in pro wrestling?

[@KoruProductions]

Is the full show anywhere online?

[@patrickjohnson1649]

Damn, This is some Dark Side of the Ring Stuff Here.

[@williambotner2317]

London Kentucky loves you guys

[@JuanGomez-ke5py]

I'm surprised it is not in the bad at the horrible page on TV tropes

[@StoneThatTheBuilderRefusedKK]

Worst than Kitao Dojo ?

[@foxbrown9478]

Globle forces wrestling says hold my beer.😅😅

[@williambotner2317]

Jumbo and ten ru Are my 1 and 2. Early Japan. U are fantastic glad more wrestling. Didn’t have English Games. Either way Keep it up u got this

[@jayfabe620]

I had hoped back in the day, because there were some Florida indy guys getting a shot to wrestle overseas. Oh well.

[@williamhowe1]

I only know world Japan as that obscure promotion in the game king of coliseum.

[@PhoenixNoKiseki]

Ishii WITH HAIR!!

[@GodLovesYou828]

Your tripping, kenzo s. had tons of potential. If booked right with the right gimmick he could of been a superstar

[@josejose-je6xu]

No it is not

[@CUniverse]

Then what is?

[@PontFlair]

Was Tatsumi Fujinami a stooge?

[@田代智樹-r8v]

ありがとうございました。

[@kaz5150619]

Lol shady business hiding in plain sight

[@lilhomiemouse1997]

Did anyone ever go to this show? Heck if anybody had birched from this show I feel sorry for you.

[@JustJulyo]

I guess we should be grateful in America where there are much more options for independent pro wrestling companies

[@SirPumpkinSlice]

Vader/Don Frye was good.

[@CodyFancyPants]

I want to know everything about japanese wrestling ever

[@marcusbrothers5221]

hey Kim. Buddy Rogers invented the scorpion deathlock. Why do you keep spreading misinformation? Some of your viewers think you are knowledgeable in this area. get it together

[@OverKill515]

Catastrofuck. Love it.

[@marcusbrothers5221]

Johnny Saint yes. Marty Jones yes. Dynamite...of course. WHAT ELSE? Sabre? Pac? The gymnastic douche that dances with Kenny Omega....please

[@billywitchdocter]

Why couldn't all the small companies form one big company?

[@williambotner2317]

Great job