(ALL JAPAN/NOAH) Bright, fun and intense, the All Japan Dome event on January 28th has been announced. "Royal Road New Century 2001" - Giant Baba 3rd Anniversary Memorial.
(Issue No. 999)
All Japan Pro Wrestling has officially decided to hold a memorial event for Giant Baba on January 28th of next year at the Tokyo Dome. The event will be titled "Royal Road New Century 2001."
All Japan Pro-Wrestling's "branch*" Noah has announced that Vader will be competing in its inaugural series. New trouble has surfaced between the two promotions over a foreign wrestler's contract.
All Japan's new catchphrase is, "Bright, Fun, Intense and New", but what does this mean?
The biggest topic in the world of professional wrestling over the past week was undoubtedly the news that All Japan Pro Wrestling (President Motoko Baba) had officially decided to hold an event at the Tokyo Dome on January 28th. On September 30th, All Japan held a party to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Giant Baba's debut at a hotel in Tokyo. President Motoko took to the stage to give a speech at the party and announced the decision to hold the Tokyo Dome event.
This will be All Japan's third event at the Tokyo Dome, and their first in two years. The event is called "Royal Road New Century 2001," and will be the culmination of "Royal Road Pro Wrestling," marking the third anniversary of Baba's death in January of next year, as well as the 40th anniversary of his debut (President Motoko), which the deceased was looking forward to.
The party was attended by President Motoko, along with wrestlers such as Toshiaki Kawada, Genichiro Tenryu, Masanobu Fuchi, Araya Nobutaka and Shigeo Okumura, as well as approximately 100 other people. The three life-size figures of Baba displayed at the chairman's entrance* and on the stage were particularly striking.
President Motoko's speech began with the comment, "I thought it would be strange to hold a party like this for the deceased." The Tokyo Dome event held on May 2nd last year was titled "Giant Baba Retirement Memorial Event," and the theme of the Tokyo Dome event in January next year will be the third anniversary of Baba's death and the 40th anniversary of his debut. Even if Baba is not there, it seems that the clock of All Japan still revolves around Giant Baba. However, objectively speaking, there are some doubts as to whether the current All Japan can produce an event of the Tokyo Dome scale, with a card lineup that can attract 50,000 people, using only its current roster.
The January 28th "Royal Road New Century 2000" Tokyo Dome event is more naturally seen as a major climax in the All Japan vs. New Japan rivalry, following on from New Japan's October 9th Tokyo Dome event, All Japan's October 21st Nagoya event, and October 28th Budokan event.
Pro Wrestling Noah (President: Mitsuharu Misawa), an offshoot of All Japan Pro Wrestling, held a press conference at its headquarters in Ariake, Tokyo, on September 29th to announce the three foreign wrestlers who will be participating in its inaugural series, "NAVIGATION," which will kick off at Differ Ariake on October 7th. The three wrestlers announced by President Mitsuharu Misawa himself, Vader, Scorpio, and Richard Slinger, are all "regular foreign wrestlers" who once competed in All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Vader first came to Japan in December 1987 and worked as a contracted wrestler for New Japan before making a surprise transfer to UWF International in 1993. After the promotion dissolved, he was a big name who officially participated in All Japan from "World's Strongest Tag" two years ago. He injured his left elbow in a match against Misawa in Matsumoto in April 7th of this year, and retired midway through the series, returning to Japan immediately. While he was rehabilitating at his home in Denver, Colorado, in June, Misawa announced the formation of a new promotion, Noah, and rumors of a transfer began to circulate.
Scorpio has just participated in every date of All Japan's "Summer Action Series", and his name is also firmly on the list of foreign wrestlers participating in the "2000 Giant Series", which is being held at the same time as Noah's inaugural series.
All Japan Pro Wrestling President Motoko has asserted the validity of the multi-year contract with Vader, claiming that it was Baba's final job, signing this at the Budokan on December 5th 1998. She is prepared to take legal action, claiming that it is a "double contract." Regarding Scorpio, he testified that "when I paid him at the Budokan in the final match of the previous series, he promised to come again (to All Japan) next time." Meanwhile, President Misawa revealed that he held "meetings in Hawaii" with Vader and Scorpio on September 9th and 11th to make final confirmations regarding the Noah transfer. At this point, Vader himself has not made any official comments regarding the contract issue.
The fact that President Misawa chose Hawaii, a place once beloved by Baba, as the location for contract negotiations with foreign wrestlers seems to symbolize the deep-rooted nature of the split between the "main" All Japan Pro Wrestling and the "branch" Noah Pro Wrestling.
The announcement that Vader, Scorpio, and former All Japan exchange student Richard Slinger will be competing in the inaugural series is the first in a "mass migration" of foreign wrestlers from All Japan to Noah. Our investigation has revealed that in addition to these three wrestlers, there are several other groups of regular wrestlers hoping to transfer from All Japan to Noah.
Noah plans to officially sign contracts with the three foreign wrestlers, led by Vader, when they arrive in Japan just before the start of the October series, but President Misawa stated, "We have obtained their consent, but we have no intention of causing any problems, such as poaching them." "I don't blame them if they cancel at the last minute," he said, referring to the delicate nature of contract issues with foreign wrestlers. As the executive producer of the new promotion Noah, President Misawa's methodology gives the strong impression of being a direct copy of that of his mentor, Baba.
While the All Japan "brand" itself remains under President Motoko and the remaining group, most of the software (wrestlers, cards) for the major All Japan, All Japan has been transferred to Noah. This is an important point. The type of wrestling that President Misawa is trying to create in the Noah ring can be seen as an improved and developed version of All Japan's "Four Heavenly Kings era." Therefore, the form of wrestling itself will not deviate too much from the All Japan style. Concepts such as "orthodox," "long-established," and "tradition" remained in the All Japan ring, and as a result, the slogan of the 1990s onwards, "bright, fun, and intense," was carried over to new rings by Misawa, Kobashi Kenta, Taue Akira, Akiyama Jun and others. This is the truth behind the split.
All Japan's new catchphrase, which appears on the promotional poster for the January 28th Tokyo Dome event, is "Bright. Fun. Intense. New." This is proof that All Japan is currently being reborn as a "new promotion."
Misawa, who has just begun to row Noah's Ark, seems to have been given a difficult assignment by Tenryu, who has returned to the "main family."
Notes
Branch: one of the earliest mentions of Noah being this. Noah would mention it when it suited them, and disregarded it when it didn't. Either way, the two promotions would have a difficult relationship for the next twenty or so years.
Chairman's entrance: Basically, Baba had pride of place. This would be as if he literally just walked into the room. Usually this relates to board meetings, or office layouts when the boss enters last of all.
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