(NOAH/ALL JAPAN SPLIT) Yoshida Nanase's Weekly TV Commentary: Check out all professional wrestling broadcasts & programs featuring wrestlers.
Weekly Pro
"All Japan broadcast" cancellation explanation on the last broadcast..."Coliseum" is born, but Misawa can't feel at ease
As you may know, the All Japan Pro Wrestling broadcast ended on June 21st. This was a major decision made by Nippon Television, which has been broadcasting All Japan Pro Wrestling since the promotion's launch, in its 28th year. If we follow the surface of the events, first, on June 12th, the day before the board meeting, Tokyo Sports reported the fact that Misawa had been dismissed as president, the next day, the morning edition ran the news on the front page. As a result, the rift with All Japan, which had been a smoldering rumor, was finally exposed to the light of day.
From here, the action was surprisingly swift.
At the board meeting on the following day, the 13th*, six members, (led by Misawa), Kobashi, Taue, The Momota brothers* and Mr Ohyagi*, resigned as directors. On the 14th, a letter from All Japan, revealed the intention of Kawada and Fuchi to remain, and all wrestlers except these two (minus Hase*, plus old boy Mighty Inoue*), formed a new promotion on the 16th at Differ Ariake, where it was decided that a press conference would be held. Regarding the press conference that was held on the 16th, it was already mentioned in a morning paper that was published on the 13th. Then, at the end of the All Japan broadcast which was broadcast late at night on the 14th, the narration at the end read "Next week's broadcast will be intense friction in the professional wrestling world!!! We will be broadcasting the June 16th emergency press conference of Mitsuharu Misawa, a person in the spotlight." As predicted, the Nippon Television cameras were rolling at the press conference on the 16th, and Misawa was heard live that night on a broadcast of "SPORTS MAX*" On the 19th, Kawada held a solitary press conference as a representative of the All Japan territory, and to break the deadlock he suggested an interaction with New Japan. It is an ironic paradox that it is not Misawa, who is supposed to be pro this, but All Japan who have taken the policy of opening the doors. However, Kawada was an envoy in ending the seclusion*, when he participated alone in the UWF Inter's Jingu Stadium show. In order to protect the reputation and fighting spirit of All Japan, he must be determined to march into towering new territory.
Nippon Television, which had been waiting for the official press conferences from both parties, responded quickly. Now that the split had become a reality, they had no choice but to cancel the program. The fact that a traditional program that had been running for 28 years was decided to be canceled just two days before its broadcast is probably due to an unusually long incubation period, which is unprecedented even in the world of television. Although it was somewhat predictable, the inconvenience to over 25 local network stations and their sponsors will be enormous. The end mark of All Japan's broadcast began at 1:45 a.m. on June 21st, with the flower laying ceremony for Jumbo Tsuruta*. After the press conference with the total twenty-five members of Misawa's group was over, the press conference of Kawada and Fuchi, with starkly contrasting scenes, was aired. While it may be tempting to view this as an equal measure, Nippon Television is simply fulfilling its minimum obligation in the end, and it is not worthy of evaluation. A sincere response would have been to clarify the reason for the termination, but NHK has only given a narration which said, "After careful consideration following the press conferences of both parties, we have decided to proceed with today's broadcast." This leaves everything to the subjectivity of the audience, and many people ended up watching the final episode of the show without knowing why. Indeed, as Momota commented, it is true that Misawa's group has the weight in numbers*, but if you were to put both sides on the scale, it is Kawada alone who said "My mission is to protect All Japan", who would have the same weight as all of the twenty-five members of the Misawa faction. After two matches, including the World Tag Team Finals, were shown, an even more important announcement awaited. It was announced that a new pro-wrestling and martial arts information program, "Coliseum", would start next week at the same time. I wonder if Nippon Television's response to this series of events was well received? There are quite a few reports that suggest that they have already decided to broadcast Misawa's new promotion. In fact, in the closing article of last weeks issue of this magazine, it was written than "Nippon TV appears to have selected a new promotion". However, the reality is that Misawa will not be able to reach his goal of securing a regular spot until he overcomes the many hurdles. The reality is that the pro wrestling team, which was tasked with planning a new program within a limited amount of time, was able to squeeze out plans for a regular late-night variety show and hold on to the same time slot. Had the new pro-wrestling project "Coliseum" not gone through, the Misawa faction would have been forced to promote themselves on terrestrial television, which would have been a rocky road with no turning back.
Of course, Misawa must be well aware of this.
How can he increase the negative value of the software? His intelligence and skills are finally being tested.
Notes
13th: 13th June. An eerie coincidence.
Momota brothers: Yoshihiro & Mitsuo Momota, the sons of Rikidozan. Sadly, Yoshihiro passed away in November 2000, a few months after walking out of All Japan.
Mr Ohyagi: Kenichi Ohyagi. Accountant, and with links to Nippon Television. Information on him is scarce, but he may have had something to do with representing stakeholder interests.
Hase: Hiroshi Hase.
Mighty Inoue: Former professional wrestler turned referee, who worked for Noah from 2000 until 2010, leaving after Misawa's death.
SPORTS MAX: Late night sports news program that ran on NHK from September 1997 to September 2005.
Seclusion: Kenta Kobashi remembered a time when you weren't allowed to mix with anyone from a rival promotion, if you did, it was basically career suicide. Kawada's participation ended this.
Jumbo Tsuruta: Noah's uncle. Tsuruta, known as "The Eternal Ace", retired from wrestling in 1999 to become a college professor. Before he left for America, he told Misawa he had his support. Misawa said that when Tsuruta passed away he was stunned, with the news not sinking in for days. As Tsuruta passed away from liver issues (his body rejected the transplant), Misawa (and Noah) supported a Japanese transplant charity in his memory.
Weight of numbers: Original line was "logic of numbers", which is a political term.
Picture credit: Weekly Pro
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