PDA

View Full Version : National Wrestling Alliance



Hero!
November 30th, 2014, 10:57 PM
2017 gritty reboot:

Episode 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDTPuiIGlUE

Episode 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5XpNxu17Eg

Episode 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwnhA2pT5aY

nice docu-series going on to kick off Corgan's NWA revival.

G-Fresh
November 30th, 2014, 11:10 PM
Dat b coo.

Tainted Eclipse
November 30th, 2014, 11:18 PM
damn bruce if you're gonna make an official message board spring for a vb not some proboards bullshit

Hero!
November 30th, 2014, 11:26 PM
Hey man, Bruce is trying. He's pretty active on Twitter too.

Mills
December 1st, 2014, 3:45 PM
Why knock Rob? I always thought he could be better then he was portrayed on TV

The Law
December 1st, 2014, 5:07 PM
I'm a total mark for the NWA. Too much history there not to find it at least kind of cool to see the NWA World Heavyweight Championship defended. If Global is going to put on shows, they might as well use the NWA Championship as their man title (as long as the NWA is cool with playing ball and not interfering too much, which has been a problem before).

It says something about the NWA Title that WWE feels compelled to pretend they own it.

JRSlim21
December 1st, 2014, 11:11 PM
Who was behind NWA separating from TNA? As in, who was in charge of getting the ball rolling on that?

OD50
December 2nd, 2014, 12:40 PM
Wasn't the NWA unhappy with TNA not telling them when the title would change hands and such? Can't remember details.

/On a similar note, what happened with NWA/Championship Wrestling from Hollywood? did they split? are they still around? I think they had a nice little show going on.

Nash Diesel
December 2nd, 2014, 12:44 PM
I just thought it was like what other promotions under the NWA banner did in the past. They wanted to seperate themselves from the NWA and be their own brand.

And of couse they have a champion with the last name "Storm" Fuckin lame.

Hero!
December 2nd, 2014, 12:45 PM
Pretty much. They'd (exclusively) loaned the belts to TNA to get some exposure for the NWA brand after a decade of being hidden and TNA just booked the titles however they wanted (as they also did with the IWGP titles later!) and the NWA wanted more control over how their titles were booked.

after that the NWA were a bunch of penises to the promotions who would bear their name, micromanaging the way their belts were used (look up the issues with Colt/Pearce/NWA Hollywood). Bruce Tharpe is approaching the NWA more as a franchising business and wants promotions to do their own thing, but it has to be up to NWA production and safety standards. The major NWA titles (world, tag, jr) have been getting a lot of exposure from NJPW the past couple of years, which is really the best way to get these titles some exposure.

Hero!
December 2nd, 2014, 12:47 PM
I just thought it was like what other promotions under the NWA banner did in the past. They wanted to seperate themselves from the NWA and be their own brand.

And of couse they have a champion with the last name "Storm" Fuckin lame.

Dude, if an indy show doesn't have a guy name "jason", "storm", or "blade" on the card then it isn't a real indy show.

Hero!
December 5th, 2014, 2:19 PM
Bruce Tharpe has started writing for Canoe, detailing his experiences in Japan with NJPW. First entry is here:

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/GuestColumn/2014/11/30/22104521.html?utm_source=addThis&utm_medium=addthis_button_twitter&utm_campaign=CANOE+--+SLAM!+Sports+-+Wrestling+-+Guest+Column+%3A+Tales+from+the+NWA+President%3A+ Our+first+trip+to+Japan#.VIHz1-JNhFU.twitter


We were apprehensive on that first trip to Japan. Even though we had met with New Japan Pro Wrestling officials in Dallas and New York City to discuss details of the first NWA World Heavyweight Title defense in New Japan Pro Wrestling in many years, the feeling of apprehension was still there. We were very new at the helm of the National Wrestling Alliance and holding the position of President still seemed a bit strange. Would there be a double-cross for the belt? An in-ring shoot? We had to be ready for anything. Especially in a foreign country.
"Godzilla" Jax Dane accompanied "Ironman" Rob Conway and myself on that first trip to Japan, but he served a very real purpose for us in addition to working ringside. At 6-foot-6, and 320 pounds of chiseled muscle, Jax Dane was our secret weapon in case anything went wrong.
Since we all took separate flights, but arrived around the same time, we met up in the arrival lounge. We arrived on April 5, 2013, and were met at Narita Airport by New Japan Pro Wrestling officials who immediately whisked us off to the Tokyo Dome Hotel, where we were to stay for the next few days. Upon arrival we were all given a written agenda that explained to us the schedule of events -- where were expected to be and at what time.
The hotel is about an hour and a half from the airport and is situated next door to the famed Tokyo Dome Arena. On the other side of the Tokyo Dome Hotel is Korakuen Hall where most of the Japanese wrestling promotions shoot TV. When we got to the hotel we saw a few familiar faces, but mostly we had new acquaintances to make.
After a quick dinner, we all knocked out about midnight because of the long and grueling plane ride. How surprising to find out that I woke up four hours later, at about 4:00 a.m., wide awake and with nothing to do. My first experience with jet lag! (Actually my second -- but that story will come later.) You've never experienced Japan until you find yourself wide awake in the middle of the night with jet lag -- with nothing to do -- and there are only about three or four channels on the television, all in Japanese!







The breakfast buffet at the Tokyo Dome Hotel is amazing. Japanese-style and American-style breakfasts -- and all you can eat! Trust me, the wrestlers do a lot of damage at the Tokyo Dome breakfast buffet and it is at this amazing location that I have met up with many of our counterparts appearing in Japan -- the legendary Stan Hansen, Bob Sapp, the Gracie brothers, Jeff Jarrett.
On April 6, 2013, the second night of the tour, we did television at Korakuen Hall. This was the night where we met all of the Japanese wrestlers. Yes we were a bit apprehensive walking into a new dressing room -- in a foreign country on the opposite side of the world, where they spoke a different language -- and this was NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING! But we were made to feel comfortable and at ease immediately and shook hands with everyone, introducing ourselves.
Watching the matches on the monitor in the dressing room, this was my first time seeing the New Japan wrestling product live and in person, and at once I was mesmerized. I knew that this was the wrestling style of the future! A wrestling style that fit very well with the traditional NWA-style of wrestling. And a wrestling style that would take the United States -- and the world by storm.
Up to this time, the Japanese public had seen videotaped interviews that we had sent from the United States, but this was the first time that we had appeared live in a Japanese wrestling ring. I must admit that when we parted the curtain and entered that ring with the New Japan logo it was a surreal experience. Here we were in Tokyo, Japan -- on television, with New Japan Pro Wrestling -- about to participate in one of the biggest matches of our lives.
We spoke to the crowd and told them why we were confident that the NWA would defeat all challengers that New Japan put against us. That is the first time that we heard boos from the generally mild-mannered Japanese wrestling fans -- and realized that we had hit on something. I did not plan on becoming a heel character / in-ring manager for New Japan Pro Wrestling; the fans created that with their reaction to us.



http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/GuestColumn/2014/11/30/tharpe_dane_conway.jpg


Rob Conway with his muscle, Jax Dane, and his manager, Bruce Tharpe.


We challenged anyone to face the NWA World Heavyweight Champion "Ironman" Rob Conway -- and the challenge was accepted by Satoshi Kojima. The match was scheduled for the next night at Ryogokan Arena in Tokyo, known commonly as the Sumo Hall the historic arena where the big sumo tournaments are held. We took the New Japan bus to the arena and when we arrived there were literally thousands of fans waiting outside the arena. The event had long been sold out with more than 10,000 fans in attendance live -- and there were many more waiting outside hoping to get a ticket or catch a glimpse of their favorite wrestler as he made his way into the arena.
What immediately struck me was the television setup -- it was amazing! The lighting, the entrances, the special effects ... The merchandise setup was another amazing observation. The Japanese are so organized. The same guy who drove the New Japan bus with the gaijin (foreign) wrestlers handled the merchandise. Another guy who drove the bus with the Japanese wrestlers also refereed. The head referee, Tiger Hattori, also is the liaison between the gaijin wrestlers and the New Japan office.



http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/GuestColumn/2014/11/30/tharpe_bus.jpg


Get on the bus, Bruce!


Again, just like the previous night a Korakuen Hall, all of the matches were amazing. The style is so fast-paced, hard-hitting and realistic that invariably someone always gets hurt legitimately on a New Japan pay-per-view event. The stakes to outperform your peers are just that high. That's where the REAL competitiveness exists in professional wrestling -- to have a better match and impress the fans more than anyone else on the card. While watching this event on the monitor in the dressing room, I saw Yuji Nagata dislocate Sakuraba's elbow in the middle of the match as he worked a stiff armbar and Sakuraba was trying to escape. It looked ugly. But injuries such as these are part of wrestling. The entire dressing room let out a collective groan of anguish as we saw this unfold before us on television -- and the Japanese trainers and doctors sprinted to the ring.
They reset Sakuraba's elbow and snapped it back into place right in the ring. That's right. You can see it for yourself on YouTube. The match paused briefly. The doctors and trainers rolled in the ring, reset Sakuraba's elbow, and taped an ice pack to it. Then Sakuraba and the trainers rolled out of the ring and the match continued and Nagata went into the finish with Sakuraba's partner (it was a tag match). Sakuraba-san has to be one of the toughest men I have ever met in my entire life.
The music hit announcing the NWA World Title and I made my way to the ring. Surprisingly, I was met by a chorus of boos. Apparently the Japanese fans didn't want to see the American NWA champion defeat their hometown challenger. Basic wrestling psychology worked.
Conway and Kojima had a very good match in which the NWA title was successfully defended. New Japan seemed to be genuinely pleased with the match and the crowd reaction. We were invited back for another tour.



http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/GuestColumn/2014/11/30/tharpe_conway250.jpg


Bruce Tharpe and the NWA World chamion Rob Conway head out for dinner.


It is now November 2014 and collectively Rob Conway and I have been back to Japan close to 20 times either together or separately. And one of those tours was to Taiwan. The relationship between the NWA and New Japan Pro Wrestling has proven to be a fruitful one. New Japan has booked NWA talent into Japan -- and New Japan talent have come to the United States to participate in NWA events in Houston, San Antonio, Nashville and Las Vegas. The NWA President character in Japan has developed into a heel that wears flashy jackets and sunglasses to match. I openly insult the Japanese on television in their native language, talk about the NWA wrestlers' superiority over the Japanese and challenge any Japanese wrestler to prove otherwise.
Despite the on-screen persona, I have come to love Japan. After so many long flights it doesn't bother me anymore. I am used to the jet lag. And I have immersed myself in the Japanese culture and eaten a lot of foods I would never have eaten in the U.S., like live shrimp, raw horse meat, and a lot of raw fish! I have come to really love working and traveling in Japan -- and can't wait for our next trip!

NEXT STORY -- My first blizzard in Japan -- and meeting Jushin Liger!

Hero!
July 28th, 2015, 10:44 AM
http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2015/0727/598772/nwa-wrestling-gets-cable-television-deal-with-axs-tv/

NWA will be joining NJPW on AXS! I guess wrestling is big on that network.


National Wrestling Alliance President Bruce Tharpe announced on Twitter that NWA wrestling will be debuting on AXS TV starting in September.
AXS is currently home to New Japan Pro Wrestling, which has been met with huge success on the station. AXS TV was also a former home of Ring of Honor, when they were labeled "HDNet."

Cewsh
July 28th, 2015, 10:53 AM
Good for them! I'll be checking that out.

Rancid_Planet
July 28th, 2015, 10:59 AM
That's interesting.

Bad Collin
July 28th, 2015, 11:35 AM
I think it's one match from a NJPW show on the New Japan AXS show. Conway v Tenzan I think?

Hero!
June 8th, 2016, 9:02 AM
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CkZH1aYW0AEE7s3.jpg:large

INTERESTING

Hero!
November 2nd, 2017, 9:30 AM
Episode 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDTPuiIGlUE

Episode 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5XpNxu17Eg

Episode 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwnhA2pT5aY

nice docu-series going on to kick off Corgan's NWA revival.

First post updated now that BRT is out and WPC is in.