The other battle on The Sumida: All Japan, New Japan, Weekly Pro and the evolution of merchandising and home entertainment from 1972 to 2000.
30TH NOVEMBER 2024
I had originally intended this article to document the evolution of the All Japan (Baba/Four Pillars era) video games, but I inadvertently fell down a rabbit hole of the evolution of not just the All Japan video games, but the history of puro merchandising and home entertainment in Japan, which revealed a battle between New Japan and All Japan at the merchandising tables, which peaked the end of the year during the early eighties. Sadly, I cannot go and see what was on those merchandise tables set up around the country over forty years ago, (and I have no access currently to any fan club newsletters), so therefore I can only go by what was in Weekly Pro, which is a good, if basic, guide, which is what this article is intended to be. I went through every article available from the first mention of Giant Baba in 1972 to All Japan's split following his death, and the walk out to Noah in 2000, which signaled the end of the Four Pillars era. Merchandise trends (which rose and fell with both technology and society) were influenced by both American wrestling and Luche Libre, and this said, the wrestling figures as we know them today, didn't become the way they are now until the relatively late date of of about 1996.
Technology was something that promotions embraced when it came to format; spoken word vinyl, theme music CDs, the latest video game console released, VHS when the market took off, but not really laserdiscs in the late 90s, PC games (other than the odd CD Rom) and to highlight the differences between the more flashy New Japan with their endless, and their somewhat manic releases of all sorts of merchandise, compared to the more staid All Japan, who only released special things on special formats for special anniversaries and were sometimes behind the their competitor, for example New Japan where advertising plush dolls in 1989, All Japan did not until 1996 (and there was never ever such a thing as a Giant Baba Bob Bag).
This is also a story of Weekly Pro and their different relationships with the two promotions and the way those promotions approached both merchandising and advertising, their relationship with their readers, and the changes in society from the 1950s when Puro was born out of the rubble of bombed out Tokyo and was dominated by former sumo wrestlers, to the 1970s before the advent of home media, to the 1980s when society changed and pop culture grew, and then to the bubble era of the 1990s. So during the intermission, grab your wallet, leave your seat, listen for the bell so you know when the show starts again (or the guy with the megaphone coming into the hall to tell you when to return), and lets roll back the years to 1983, when it all began. It is up to you whether you want to step into The Nippon Budokan or The Tokyo Dome.
All Japan in the 1970s
The 1980s: notes from a long decade
The first professional wrestling game advertised was "Tag Team Pro Wrestling", which was released for 5,400 yen. The game was released on the Famicon originally (Weekly Pro advertised that you could play it in bars), and then went on the NES in 1986. It wasn't affiliated with any promotion, and featured two male wrestlers, who in Japan were named the very familiar sounding "Sunny and Terry", while in the US, they were where given the very action movie names (or perhaps more Boner comedy) of "Jocko 
and Spike". The first home computer (so to speak) was pictured with Tiger Mask I (Sayama), however, this wasn't a PC like model, it was used for accounting, but from the way the article was laid out, it was obvious that this was a semi advert. But home computers were on the way, as Giant Baba embarked on the first stages of his advertising career. Early that year he had filmed an advert for the 16 bit computer, the M68. Baba had been intrigued by the challenge, as this was a new one for him. The advertising manager said that as the M68 was a large machine, it complimented Baba, as this was a 16-bit, and Baba of course, was the champion of the "16 Mon Kick*" (his finisher). Sadly, I haven't been able to find a video of the advert, but the computer itself was PC like with a keyboard, mouse, box monitor and power unit. No wrestling games where ever released on it. Weekly Pro did a parody of it.
The first wrestling media for home release was a VHS released in 1983, and fittingly (for the lineage of the two leaders of the industry), about Rikidozan. Released by DAIEI VIDEO, it was titled "Immortal Hero Returns". In the space of a few months, other companies released Rikidozan videos, and he was the subject of probably the earliest books on pro wrestling, in particular "Rikidozan's era 1926-1938". All Japan were quick to jump on this new bandwagon and by the end of the year, they had released two VHS of their "Best Match Series". They were directly appealing to the international market (although neither video was in English, or were probably available outside of Japan), as they had Stan Hansen and Terry Funk on the covers. Funk got his own VHS in September, and that year both he and Stan Hansen were modelling clothes, Funk with "FARAH Texas Jeans" and Hansen with "PARCO". They didn't stop there either, they dove into this new market releasing replica belts (they appeared to be the first to do this), photobooks ("GOODBYE TERRY FUNK" and one on Stan Hansen, which came out that September), and they even released cassette/LP called "TEXAS BRONCO TERRY FUNK", and "THE GIANT BABA STORY". Weekly Pro parodied this, with a 
cartoon of Baba releasing an album with side A called "Haha! I'm Laughing" and side B called "Uhhh, he, he, he!" Either this was a parody of wrestlers thinking they could sing, or else the lack of content as they knew fans would buy it regardless. New Japan were not going to sit back and watch. Their videos (which were released in September) had Inoki on the cover, Tiger Mask had his own photobook upon his retirement that fall, and by the winter, both companies had geared up for Christmas (which by the 80s was a growing tradition in Japan). The Great Kabuki had a photobook come out in November (by 1986, photobooks were advertised with full page color spreads, but at this point they were black and white blurbs at the bottom of pages), but nothing All Japan did that year could compete with the ace New Japan pulled out in December, by producing the first wrestling calendar, and a passport sized diary, which doubled as both a notebook and an almanac of New Japan up to that point. At the end of 1985, All Japan released their own calendar (and it was less expensive than New Japan's).
As 1983 ended and 1984 began, it was almost as if 1983 had exhausted 1984 before it even began, but amongst Terry Funk releasing an album called "THE GREAT TEXAN", Baba advertising Space Shuttle Beer, and All Japan releasing their first theme song collection called "MAIN EVENT", a new influence was entering the market: the evolution of wrestling action figures. Wrestling figures had been around for decades. An article from Weekly Pro in 1955, recalls how the author went into a toystore and saw wrestling action figures which were bound together by a kind of taut rope, which made them spring back when manipulated. Back then, these were in the form of Kokeshi dolls, which are wooden and limbless and were far more suited to children's play, than the delicate Geisha and Samurai dolls, which stood on doll altars, in glass paneled cupboards or were displayed during festivals. No one would have 
intended the dolls that were made for girls to be made in the image of wrestlers, as wrestling was considered to be a domain for young boys, grown men and at a push, adult women (the boys mothers), not little girls. In December 1983, Akira Maeda showed Weekly Pro his collection of fan made dolls which fans had made out of cloth for him (and of him). Thanks to American influence entering the market, wrestler like figures known as MuscleFighter10 were produced. However, these were generic and not based on anyone in particular, and were more collectable and for display, rather than toys for children. By 1985, WWF figures were featured in Weekly Pro, you could buy diorama of wrestlers in the ring (again generic as were the American figures released in 1986), and then Riki Choshu released a figurine. All Japan released one of their own on Stan Hansen (he apparently already had a figure), but again, these were not toys for kids, more collectibles for adults.
1985 was in many ways the calm before the storm, All Japan released video boxsets and in October, they moved to prime time TV. 1986 could be called the year when Naomichi Marufuji's comment of "New Japan having better production values" than All Japan, came true, but in another way. While he was referring to production values at their shows (compared to the more spartan All Japan), he could also have been talking about what fans could spend their hard earned money on from that year onwards. Not only could fans invite friends round to watch videos, they could wear New Japan socks, slippers, belts, and even digital watches while they did it. They could have wall clocks (and by 1989 they produced a calendar clock with the right side being a calendar, and the left a digital clock), keyrings and even coin purses. Fans could play with New Japan LEGO, while New Japan plushes (Riki Choshu & Tiger Mask) sat on their bed. Adult fans could towel off with New Japan towels, make calls from gym with New Japan phonecards (or All Japan if that was their taste), and (thanks to Lucha Libre), pack their their clothes into gym bags, and store their glasses in New Japan glasses cases. Technology was progressing, with Weekly Pro running an article on what could be considered the dawn of what would become digital pictures. Another person who took advantage of the mid eighties boom, was Dump Matsumoto. Dump was the first joshi to have a plush doll, and in July she released a game which came out on the SEGA Arcade. Sadly, when the game went to America, the women wrestlers were changed to men.
Where was All Japan in all of this?
Well, its hard to say exactly what they were doing, as in the early months of the year, Baba had a massive falling out with Weekly Pro, as he didn't like their coverage, and forbade them from attending events. This wasn't resolved until August, when Weekly Pro sent in a reporter that wasn't known to the promotion, and Baba realized that he wasn't going to be able to keep them out.
In the closing years of the long decade, Lucha Libre began to gain a foothold, entering the Japanese VHS market, and their action figures gained popularity, but again, these were musclemen in masks, and were not based on anyone in particular. More disturbing was the fact that you could also buy serrated bladed knives and handcuffs in the Lucha merchandise section...
New Japan continued to blaze a trail, by giving away hand fans free at venues, and Weekly Pro gave away special pillows that Genichiro Tenryu used. By 1988, WWF figures were being advertised, and a mere five years after the first Rikidozan home video was released, his personal secretary wrote a book about him, claiming that Rikidozan's true nature was being misrepresented, and he "felt a deep sadness that he was being forgotten". Rikidozan was not going to be forgotten, however as his image would be used to advertise computer games, which he appeared in as a playable character, and an elaborate lighter was released to commemorate him. So, as the eighties finally finished, and the nineties began, old trends were beginning to disappear as youth society, technology and trends changed, for example, spoken word vinyl went completely out of fashion, photobooks remained (but took more of a backseat), and promotions concentrated more on CD and cassette releases of theme music.
The 1990s: The era of The Four Pillars and The Three Muskeeters
The first video game released in this era, was not an All Japan (or a New Japan release), but it did herald the proper start. A game simply called "Pro Wrestling" came out on the Gameboy on September 14th. According to Weekly Pro, this was the first wrestling Gameboy game, which they described as "Eight wrestlers that look just like real wrestlers". You could play singles matches, four on four elimination matches, and hook up with your friends on the connecting cable. Cutie Suzuki released what was probably the first commercial home wrestling game in December, with "Ringside Angel", which came out on the MegaDrive. As well as hailing it as "The First Authentic Wrestling Game", Weekly Pro gave it a full page color ad, something they had never done previously (Dump Matsumoto's game back in the 80s had a small blurb with two color pictures). With the rise of The Four Pillars, All Japan entered the market somewhat later than New Japan, in releasing hats, bath towels, t-shirts and badges (something New Japan had been doing for a while), and only in 1992 did they start producing VHS en masse. New Japan once again one upped them by giving away ash trays, producing a jigsaw puzzle in March 1991, with an exaggerated picture of Inoki on it, which they titled "King of Sports".
If 1983 had been the year of the great merchandise boom, then 1993 started the era of the wrestling video games. Sure, as we know there had been games before, but these mainly featured generic figures. Weekly Pro were concerned about this (see article "I know the moves, but I don't know the names of the wrestlers: children of the Famicon generation"), thinking that it would reduce attendances at wrestling shows even more, but this didn't turn out to be the case. WWF had long been bringing out video games, so now it was finally Puro's turn on a bigger scale than before, and from 1993 until 2000, All Japan released ten games on six different consoles.
The advert featured Baba prominently, which was a change from earlier years when Hansen and Gordy had been used for advertising. Weekly Pro ran one full page color advert, but never reviewed it.
2. December 1993: "All Japan Pro Wrestling - The World's Strongest Tag Team" - Super Famicom
While Weekly Pro hadn't bothered with more than an advert for a the first release, they gave a little more information on this one, noting that you could perform combo attacks, and have "more realistic matches". Once again, Baba was featured prominently
3. July 1994: "All Japan Pro Wrestling Jet" - Gameboy
Stan Hansen was on the cover, this is surprising as Motoko Baba, who controlled the images, wanted Baba to be at the core.
4. April 1995: "All Japan Pro Wrestling 2" - Super Famicom
By this time, All Japan video game adverts were still being run for one issue, while New Japan received significantly more attention for their releases. New Japan had Keiji Mutoh play and review their most recent releases, and even Kazushi Sakuraba (who in 1996 was not a wrestler), played and reviewed Nobuhiko Takada's game). Despite both Baba (who once had his Gameboy confiscated by Mrs Baba, as he was paying more attention to it than his dinner) and Misawa's love of computer games, no article of All Japan wrestlers playing and reviewing their computer games, was ever released in Weekly Pro.
5. October 1997: "ALL JAPAN FEATURING VIRTUA" - Sega Saturn
Unlike the other releases, Weekly Pro reviewed this game. By this time, if there wasn't a wrestling game to review, they reviewed other fighting games.
6. April 1999: "All Japan Pro Wrestling - Soul of a Champion" - Playstation
7. June 1999: "Giant Gram" - SEGA Dreamcast
This game received more adverts than any other game (as did the release in August 2000)
8. June 1999: "Mini Pro Wrestling" - Dreamcast VMU
This was released on a red handheld console which was All Japan branded, and contained two games. One was a card game, and the other was based on a TV program. This was released limited edition, and cost 2,980 yen.
In between games, technology continued to advance, but oddly enough, neither New Japan or All Japan took much advantage of it (according to Weekly Pro) at least. In February 1996, LaserDiscs appeared, and while New Japan were not the first to take advantage, they only ever made one advertised home media release, but like All Japan, they stuck with VHS. All Japan released one of their rare CD-ROMS that year to commemorate Giant Baba's 33rd anniversary in wrestling. If anything, they seemed to have a policy of bringing out special things for anniversaries, so in 1997 while they were modestly bringing out disposable cameras with Baba on it to celebrate twenty-five years of "GIANT SERIES", New Japan were releasing lighters and even bop bags.
By August 2000, Mitsuharu Misawa had led the walkout to Noah, which was the end of The Four Pillars Era, maybe it had finished with Baba's death in January 1999, as he himself had predicted that with his death, All Japan as it was under him would end. For a man who had seen Puro change so much since his debut, a commemorative figure, modern style and in his image, was released. It may be significant that it wasn't until Baba's death that advertising stepped up for the All Japan video games, as it was the forward looking Mitsuharu Misawa in control now, if only for a few difficult months.
Notes
16 Mon Kick: Baba's shoe size
1989: The year when the phrase "Kings Road" was coined. This was a media invention, and Baba never referred to the style as this, and Misawa is on record saying that he didn't really like it much!
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