Everyone has a gateway promotion and mine were Big Japan Pro-Wrestling, Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, and Toryumon Japan (for joshi puroresu it was as a Manami Toyota compilation and ARSION tournaments) in 2000. We’re going to explore the only existing promotion of the three: Big Japan Pro-Wrestling and its stars throughout the different periods and its stars.
Early BJPW 1995-1998
Big Japan Pro-Wrestling started in wake of failed garbage promotions IWA Japan and W*ING (Wrestling International New Generations) and an FMW that was transitioning to new, younger stars Hayabusa, Megumi Kudo, Masato Tanaka, Mike Awesome, and W*ING Kanemura. It would feature deathmatches in its first two matches, but things really picked up in 1996 as “Mr. Danger” Mitsuhiro Matsunaga would join the promotion.
This three year period was also very important for the development for rookies Yuichi Taniguchi, Yosuke Kobayashi, Satoru Shiga, and Seiji Yamakawa. The last three would become deathmatch stars in two periods of Big Japan. Yamakawa could be seen as a future ace and thrust into deathmatch action fairly early in 1996 and Shiga in 1998 as Shadow WX, but they wouldn’t take the torch as deathmatch main eventers until 1999.
During this period of Big Japan, barbed wire deathmatches were the order of the day. They served as the “base” for main event matches with something extra thrown in when Matsunaga or Mr. Pogo were involved. Cacti, a scaffold, a piranha tank, fire, chain sickles, drills, a scorpion tank, and the W*ING bat (barbed wire bat) were just a few goodies featured when these two were in the main event.
The company’s main event was supported by former FMW and W*ING transients at the time and none would actually stay with company for any significant amount of time outside of Matsunaga.
Main eventers of this period:
Mitsuhiro Matsunaga
One of the main stars in the company, “Mr. Danger” entered wrestling in 1989 at 23 with background in karate. He was a part of his master Masashi Aoyagi’s group when he came in to fight company ace and founder Atsushi Onita (the group included Akitoshi Saito and Jerry Flynn).
He was a constant threat in FMW and W*ING and regularly involved in a variety of barbed wire matches and street fights. While a highlight reel of hardcore, he is known for the visual of being pinned in a piranha tank and fish swarming at the taste of blood—as well as having head set ablaze by Mr. Pogo.
Since he came from a strike-oriented discipline, his transition as a brawler was pretty smooth (Jerry Flynn of WCW did the same and was actually in FMW and a part of Aoyagi’s group). He usually finished matches with either a Thunder Fire Powerbomb, a Scorpion Hold (Scorpion Deathlock), or a W*ING Scorpion Hold (a Scorpion Deathlock with a barbed wire bat wedged in). He would use fire when convenient.
Shoji Nakamaki
A sports journalist turned wrestler, he originally debuted with FMW in 1992 at 36, but washed out of the promotion when he wasn’t making progress. He is probably best known as Cactus Jack’s semi-finals opponent in the King of the Deathmatches 1995 in a barbed wire board and bed of nails deathmatch. He was never a particularly good wrestler, but showed a lot of heart in deathmatches. He finishes matches with whatever works, but often a Thunder Fire Powerbomb, a Lariat, or a DDT.
Kendo Nagasaki
Kazuo Sakarada debuted at 23 and had a sumo background prior to entering a pre-New Japan/All Japan scene in 1971. He became Nagasaki in the 1980s and used a gimmick that was basically the same as The Great Kabuki, a gimmick that was also proto-Great Muta. He co-founded BJPW with The Great Kojika and served as a wrestler, trainer, and booker.
By the mid-1990s, Nagasaki was a solid brawler who was regularly in the main event deathmatches. Outside of training Stampede’s wrestlers, he is also known for the shopping center deathmatch in Big Japan where he faced rookies and the piranha deathmatch vs. Matsunaga. While known for the Poison Mist and Claw Hold, by this point in his career he was finishing matches with a Piledriver.
Mr. Pogo
picA second generation wrestler, he came from an amateur wrestling background and debuted in 1972 with New Japan. He would leave in 1973 being fed up with strictness of the promotion and spent the majority of his early career in North America—like Nagasaki—using a pretty generic, stereotypical gimmick. He would actually return to New Japan with Nagasaki as well.
He started doing the hardcore circuit in 1990 with FMW then W*ING then back to FMW before joining BJPW 1997. He would become the Deathmatch champion in 1998 in a tournament final against Matsunaga. He is pretty terrible overall and didn’t sell most of the time. He just destroyed shit. He is known for using sickles and drills in matches and has used fire. He tends to finish bouts with a Piledriver.
ESSENTIAL MATCHES
-Grocery Store Deathmatch: Kendo Nagasaki vs. Yosuke Kobayashi vs. Seiji Yamakawa vs. Yuichi Taniguchi vs. Bruiser Okamoto (1/7/95)-8000 Volt Shock Deathmatch: Mitsuhiro Matsunaga & Tarzan Goto vs. Shoji Nakamaki and Seiji Yamakawa (4/1/97)
-BJPW vs. W*ING – W*ING Crisis BJPW Big Born Deathmatch – Electrified Space Heaters, Dry Ice Coffin, Barbed Wire Danger Net, W*ING Bat, Scorpions, Nail Bat, Barbed Wire Boards and Light Tube Boards: The Great Pogo, Shadow WX, Shadow Winger and Shadow VII vs. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, Shoji Nakamaki, Masked GK, and Jason the Terrible (5/1/98)
-BJPW Deathmatch Title/KODM Finals - No-Rope Barbed Wire, Glass and Fire Coffin Cremation Death Match: Mitsuhiro Matsunaga vs. Mr. Pogo (7/26/98)
Tags:
Wrestling
