All Japan sold

[Defrost]

http://keepingthespiritalive.tumblr.com/post/44020885224/all-japan-news-all-japan-pro-wrestling-will-be


[All Japan News] All Japan Pro-Wrestling will be undergoing a change going forward from today as it has been announced that they will be undergoing a change of ownership. Nobuo Shiraishi [40] of Speed Partners has acquired 100% of the All Japan’s shares and will be owner and President of All Japan as of a corporate restructuring that will take place as of November 1, 2013.
Shiraishi also announced that Akira Misaka [42] (pictured bottom right) has been appointed as Vice-President under him.

Not much has been stated in state of the sale of the promotion, but
Shiraishi stated that the goal is for All Japan to reclaim a themselves as a premiere promotion in Japan. The new own wishes to see All Japan be able to host their own show at the Tokyo Dome within 3 years.
Shiraishi declared a revolution and looks forward to the growth and strengthening of All Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Hopefully this new guy has a clue

[Vice]

:O

[Cewsh]

Oh shit!

[DDT]

GWAH?!

Hopefully this does for them what being sold did for New Japan.

[Defrost]

From Zach "Ahhhhhhhh the sky is falling" Arnold


A company called Speed Partners has taken over All Japan. The company was in debt for 1 billion yen reportedly. The talk is that it was a pre-planned bankruptcy where the secured creditors (Speed Partners) got ownership and the unsecured creditors... well...

Speed Partners boss wants to buy out other properties, including MMA items. He's already claiming he wants to run the Tokyo Dome in two years and wants creative control over the futures and styles of fights wrestlers have.

[Cewsh]

Uh oh.

[Defrost]

Specifically he said he's taking All Japan back to the isolationist policy of the Baba days, not working with other promotions at all, wants Shuji Kondo to go heavyweight because he is not going to make "meaningless" matches which if you are a Jr in that company can't be a good thing to hear, and if KENSO doesn't change his style his will be fired.

[Cewsh]

Oh for fuck's sake. All Japan does 3 things right and he just torpedoed all of them. Beautiful.

[Pipkin]

I'm not very knowledgeable on Japanese wrestling, but this strikes me as fairly huge news.

[Cewsh]

It's like if TNA got bought by an independant shareholder and he said they were going to run the Superdome in 3 years, but only if AJ Styles only wrestled heavyweight matches, and Joseph Park changed his gimmick back to Abyss.

[Ringo]

ok but


and if KENSO doesn't change his style his will be fired.

:hyper:

I love this man.

[Defrost]

The company and the specific head of the company is some real Gordon Gekko shit by the way

Also an intersting side note with All Japan going isolationist it would stand to reason that New Japan will do whatever it can to prop NOAH up

[Cewsh]

I hope we all enjoyed that All Together stuff. Never seeing that again. :(

[DDT]

Setting talent by the way-side, does All Japan even HAVE the roster depth to sustain an isolationist policy?

[Cewsh]

I would expect some raids on smaller promotions.

[DDT]

I imagine they will try and swipe Daisuke Sekimoto, given how he actually has a fairly decent following, is young, capable of having good matches, and has worked for them before.

Of course, he seems to be extremely loyal to Big Japan, and given how they let him work wherever else he wants so long as he shows up for Big Japan dates, I imagine they would have to offer him a sweet deal before he signs with All Japan, or ALL JAPAN :rolleyes: exclusively. I can't really think of any other heavyweight signings. Yuji Hino, maybe?

That just seems to be the problem here; everyone I can think of who has a following and would help All Japan is either already with the company or a property of some other promotion they seem to be fairly loyal to.

[Defrost]

via purolove via irving who used to run the All Japan offshoot of puroresufan



Thanks to Irving for supplying the following statement:

As everyone knows by now, All Japan has officially announced that the promotion has been purchased by Japanese investment firm, Speed Partners. This comes after almost 10 year’s worth of speculation as to All Japan’s financial situation due to very questionable choices made early in the Muto Regime, choices that haunted the promotion right up until last November when SP purchased the company for a reported 200 million yen.

In order to understand the meaning of this transfer of power, one must know the history behind the reasoning of All Japan being sold off to a company most would think know little about professional wrestling. In 2002, New Japan legend Keiji Muto transferred to AJPW out of protest to the company’s increasing focus on the MMA world. At this time, the company was viewed as having been saved as not only did Muto join, he brought along top young star Satoshi Kojima, top junior Kendo Kashin, former WCW cruiserweight Kaz Hayashi, and a few key members of New Japan’s booking team. By September of 2002, Motoko Baba, widow to All Japan founder Giant Baba, transferred her stocks to Keiji Muto, and the Muto-era was off to a bang. However, record house attendances and new blood weren’t enough to keep things smooth sailing for long as poor booking choices such as Kojima and Taiyo Kea not getting victories over Genichiro Tenryu, the failed W1 project with MMA promotion K1/FEG, and of course the Goldberg/Kronic fiascos ruined any momentum All Japan had quickly built for itself (lets not forget about spending money on the rights to use Metallica music at their shows..).

Throughout 2003 through 2008, the promotion experienced hellacious growing pains which saw overhauls in fight producers (bookers), talent, and numerous scandals (some of which I have never disclosed) rock the promotion. All this in spite of dramatically changing the way the promotion was booked, and having successful stints, such as recapturing national television (“Pro-Wres LOVE” from 2004 to 2005), and the incredible 2005 year (the year of package pro-wrestling and “gaijin heaven”). It just seemed the promotion couldn’t catch a break. The mighty blow being served after waning popularity caused them to withdraw from Nippon Budokan, the holy place for All Japan.

Muto kept things afloat over the years through numerous sponsorships. Some partnerships were heavily scrutinized, like the deal made with a soft-porn company, while others worked in their favor akin to their relationship with Sanrio. The Sanrio deal would eventually turn from less of a sponsorship after initially funding All Japan’s Sumo Hall events from 2006 to 2007 into more of a merchandising deal, allowing them to use the Hello Kitty brand to spawn creative merchandising and branding concepts, but it was apparent that without real money, All Japan was doomed.

Now, for all Muto did wrong, he did do right as well, securing Kohei Suwama, who is now the ace of the promotion, and focusing on building a healthy dojo that was churned out almost 20 recruits since 2002. Taking the booking and making it meet the wrestling, which for a while was lacking, and making the product one of the most interesting groups in all of Japan. All this while groups such as the Kensuke Office, Voodoo Murders, F4, GURENTAI, and RO&D flourished and kept the group alive when the money was dead.

Fast forward to 2011. Everything that happens is for a reason, and when Jun Akiyama made claims that he wanted to challenge for the TC, won, and immensely enjoyed his stint in the group, the wheels were set in motion. Rumors of Akiyama wanting to transfer to All Japan ran amuck on the Japanese boards, but everyone wondered where the group would get the money, and quickly dismissed any notion of it actually happening. Deals aren’t made overnight, and in November of 2012, news broke that Jun Akiyama and 4 more of NOAH’s main wrestlers wished to leave the promotion and head for All Japan. Again, money was discussed amongst fans, little did we know that the deal was already done.

On 2/25/2013, All Japan held a press conference to announce that it had been sold to Speed Partners with a wealth of details being announced. One, that the deal was sealed in November of 2012 (the same month Burning turned down contracts from NOAH). Enter Nobuo Shiraishi, president of SP, and now president of All-Japan Systems, the new governing body for All-Japan. Shiraishi has already made headlines with his optimistic, yet stern approach to revamping All-Japan. Already threatening anyone who didn’t pull their weight on the card to be removed (directly aimed towards KENSO), and requesting Shuji Kondo be made a permanent heavyweight. He has also stated that he planned on evaluating every freelance wrestler participating in All Japan, and would remove them too if they did not add to the promotion. Couple all of this with promising to make All Japan an island unto itself as of this April, and aiming towards running the Tokyo Dome and knocking New Japan off of it’s #1 status within a year. He has also made revelations of a Dome tour in three years, and that the group has been in serious negotiations with national tv networks TBS, and yes, NTV.

Shiraishi while radical has been also reasonable, stating that any staff member already on good terms with the company would be kept on, so it doesn’t seem that any personnel will be thrown out in favor of those who don’t know what they’re doing (ala WCW). This means that Muto and Masayuki Uchida will stay around has leaders of the actual wrestling, but it looks like Shiraishi will have final say over what is produced.

It is an exciting time for All Japan fans, and after covering the group since 2004, I somewhat can breathe a sigh of relief that this group will have the chance to prove what a lot of us have already known for years. That they too can be on top!

[Cewsh]

Actually, put in that perspective, this sounds pretty great.

[JRSlim21]

Sounds like Vince McMahon and Vince Russo. Let's hope they have a fraction of that success.

[Cewsh]

I'm actually getting a lot of Eric Bischoff off of this guy. Very aggressive, very corporate, very into changing things with huge expectations.

[Cewsh]

So this is a bad translation of a Japanese news story, but it's clear enough to see that me comparing him to Eric Bischoff was more dead on than I thought.


From Sports 3/1 Tokyo
is only a comment with a friend Mr. Shiraishi "for 20 years, and will not be for never drank even once instead of a friend, talked like that around. Nippon (snip) to each other., we "Let me work hard in seclusion even wrestling, because there are only place Yuji Nagata and Kosuke邑真while we expected wrestler decent that now Uchidaseru strength more

Shiraishi say "I did not say me and Kidani is friend. I have not drink together. I expect NJPW to be more stronger. Good wrestler in NJPW is only Nakamura and Nagata I think. "

[JRSlim21]

He's made an enemy in Cewsh for not even a mention of Tanahashi.

[Cewsh]

Yep, fuck that guy. ALL JAPAN SUX

[Defrost]

So apparently this says the President of All Japan either quit or was fired

http://www.all-japan.co.jp/news/detail.php?id=1938

[Slare]

THE WHOLE COUNTRY?

sorry

[Ringo]

He said he fired him on Twitter and tried to fire Mutoh but he refused...

posted it in the Carnival thread.

[Defrost]

Shirashi threw a fit and appointed himself president

[Defrost]

Rumors abound that Muto has been let out of his contract and Sumo Hall at the end of the month is his last show

[Cewsh]

Ridiculous.

Is he more likely to start his own promotion, or to just freelance with New Japan?

[Defrost]

Muto is out. Big rumor is he starts his own deal. No idea with who.

[Defrost]

So Muto did give his resignation, but is now trying to buy back All Japan

[Defrost]

Have you guys seen the Muto interview Enuhito posted on his blog? Muto says one of Shiraishi's grand ideas was to try and sign The Rock.

[Cewsh]

:lol:

[JRSlim21]

Go big or go home... I guess?

[Defrost]

update is that Muto plans to start something. He asked SUWAMA to come with him and he said no and is staying. Taiyo Kea is also coming back to All Japan. Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo are going with Muto.

[Defrost]

Masa Funaki, Kaz Hayashi, Shuji Kondo, KAI, Seiya Sanada, Minoru Tanaka, Hiroshi Yamato, Masayuki Kono and Ryota Hama are leaving with Muto

[Defrost]

http://keepingthespiritalive.tumblr.com/post/54288736806/all-japan-update-all-japan-pro-wrestling-has

[All Japan Update] All Japan Pro-Wrestling has officially announced their active roster as of July 1, 2013.

Taiyo Kea, Joe Doering, Suwama, Takao Omori, Manabu Soya, KENSO, Akira Raijin (aka SUSHI), Seiya Sanada (currently in Canada), Akebono (Freelance), Masanobu Fuchi, and Andy Wu (currently in Mexico) will be remaining in the promotion, as of this time.

They are joined by “Burning" which consists of Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Go Shiozaki, Jun Akiyama, Kotaro Suzuki, and Atsushi Aoki.

~ On a side note: Sanada and Andy could still be up in the air with their status in the company. Neither are currently in Japan, and nothing has been stated in regards to their personal decisions on resigning from the promotion.
——————————————————————————————

This makes it official that Masakatsu Funaki, Masayuki Kono, Yasufumi Nakanoueno, KAI, Ryota Hama, Shuji Kondo, Minoru Tanaka, Kaz Hayashi, and Hiroshi Yamato have left the promotion.
These nine wrestlers are now freelance from All Japan Pro-Wrestling and it is heavily speculated that they will be joining Keiji Mutoh following his resigning from All Japan at the end of May.

purolove.com

Regarding the title matches: There was no mention of the Pacific Wrestling Federation and since Kobashi didn't want the job, there was no PWF chairman. The texts before the title matches was read by an GAORA representative.

[Defrost]

Shiraishi wrestled today

http://i.imgur.com/21iNT2Z.jpg

You might have guessed it from looking behind Chono in that picture but it was not exactly a packed house

http://i.imgur.com/JN9XPm4.jpg

[Defrost]

When you can't give it away you know the end is near

From the Observer


All Japan ran a 9/27 show at Differ Ariake, a 1,500 seat arena, with admission free. The idea was to get new fans to sample the product as a good will gesture and make them into paying spectators. That marketing can work in theory, but often doesn’t. It didn’t here, as even with a three-match card that featured most of the company’s best wrestlers, they only drew 300 fans.

Having seen pictures of the show I am surprised it made it to 300 fans

[Cewsh]

Ouuuuuuuuuch.

How has Wrestle-1 done so far, comparatively?

[Defrost]

They sold out all their shows. But those were the first shows for the promotion in those markets. New stuff tends to at least get a look.

[Hero!]

Any pictures of the new triple crown belt?

[Defrost]

http://i.imgur.com/kxSlpOW.jpg

[Hero!]

Jesus Christ, is that thing from the 70s?