ohtani's jacket

The point is to appeal to the average reader, not guys who already know the stories and get a kick out of reading them in print. The fact that the biggest fans of the book are guys who already knew the stories and like the way Matt tells them is a pretty clear indicator of where he may have gone wrong. I don't know what Matt's intentions were exactly, but the bigger challenge was winning over the skeptics or convincing dyed in the wool fans of pro-wrestling's problems. It's not a matter of whether it was entertaining or not (which it was, quite frankly), it's a matter of whether it was as good a piece of journalism as it could have been. Embelishing or exaggerating stories isn't particularly helpful in regards to the truth. It only leads to further exaggeration or embelishment. The journalist's job is to cut through all the lies with a scalpel, not print enough stories until some of it sticks.

The tone isn't an issue. That's implicit in the writing style. In writing "with all the zeal of a back alley surgeon," there was a lot of exaggeration for effect. In fairness to Matt, a lot of people have exaggerated the claims that the book makes, but still I think he should've been more careful.

I don't think it's possible to really view wrestling in this way anymore. More and more my respect goes to those who have successfully negotiated their way through a pro-wrestling career.

The problems with the book have a lot to do with Matt's preconceived notions about the business and the role it played. I don't think he fully explored the topic. Instead he span a narrative around what he believed to be true, using material when it suited him & omitting stuff when it didn't fit. Hence it hasn't been that persuasive with people who don't share the same position.

What did Dave say about the book?

Villano III vs Negro Casas (IWRG 11-1-07) Another decent sort of a match. Villano III is in his late 50s and kinda creaks around the ring, but he still looks like he could break a guy in half if he wanted to. Casas has always been good at hiding his age, partly out of vanity (one would assume.) Here he's wrestling a guy who's at least ten years older than him, so he doesn't have to hide it so much, but he kinda wrestles what's in front of him, which I thought was decent of him. The match is probably too slow to get a watch out of most people, and some might question what Villano III is doing looking for bookings anymore, but there's a couple of times (like when they throw in a headbutt) where you can kinda appreciate how many wars these guys have been through. Would've liked it to have been more explosive, or perhaps more mat based, but I guess it's difficult to rev up the engine on this type of circuit.

Kahos/El Engendro vs. El Celestial/El Coloso, 10/3/92, UWA Fun match. The matwork was pretty simple, and perhaps a bit slow, but I dug the selling points. Engendro gives a great burlesque performance. The trick to that, of course, is being an asskicker after the comedy spots, which Engendro most certainly is. There's about five or six genuine laughs, which is pretty good for an undercard match. Engendro lords over proceedings, working the refs, crowd and his opponents, but he exits the match in spectacular fashion... Wiped out by a tope, never to be seen from again. Nice way to bow out.

El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas, 5/17/91, Tijuana (handheld) Not a great match compared to the matches Santo had against Brazo de Oro and Espanto Jr, or the stuff Casas was doing with El Dandy a year later, but it had the usual awesome atmosphere, with local kids climbing all over the ring and plenty of activity in the audience. One kid in particular leads a pretty rousing ovation at the end, while the other kids bang on the apron. Once again, the handheld gives you a feel for what a real lucha experience is like. A lot of people struggle with the logic behind lucha, but there's a flow to it & crowds understand this. Ostensibly, lucha matwork doesn't mean much since holds don't build to submissions in a logical manner as perhaps they do in other styles, but holds and counters are important. There's an ebb and flow to them & you can see from the tape that the crowd knows that countering a counter is a key part of the mental game. Countering a counter won't lead to a submission (usually). but at the next break, that wrestler is one up in the mental stakes. And those small battles for one-upmanship usually shape the way a fall is decided. So, you can see the crowd pop for those moments. A guy in the front row is pretty into it. I love a crowd who "know the score", since they have a bit of a say in momentum, and while this wasn't a great match, I would've been happy to be there.

Negro Navarro/El Signo/Black Power vs. Silver King/El Texano/El Gran Hamada - 10/17/92, UWA This wasn't as awesome as it sounds, but it did make me lament that AAA became popular & UWA died out. (There's perfectly good reasons why that happened, but I'll take vets working a style I like. Even if it's non-drawing Misioneros w/ a bum partner.) Black Power's a third stringer, but the rest of these guys could work. There's something reassuring about that in this day and age. The physicality surprised me a bit. Hard, fast exchanges. Committed bumps. It was Misioneros vs. their ex-partner, so there was some talk. Mostly it was guys who knew they were pros, finding ways to work as a trio -- a skill that's really waned these days. El Satanico & MS-1 & Pirata Morgan vs Atlantis & El Faraon & Brazo de Plata, 6.29.92 CMLL I loved this... You see, El Faraon was a 44 year-old, 19 year vet, who knew he was a 44 year old, 19 year vet. He was about a week away from a hair match with MS-1 & he worked the match like a vet would. And everybody was tuned to that. They kept it real tight with a tremendous amount of restraint. Atlantis could've torn the house down with Satanico, instead they worked tests of strength. Porky was super-charismatic, but ditched the shtick and looked like he belonged in Faraon's corner. Pirata didn't bump huge, instead he did this great selling where the impact of Porky's gut looked like it took the stuffing out of him, just like Faraon's lariat or elbow might. The effectiveness of narrow offence became a type of reoccuring theme. And MS-1 didn't bump for Faraon like he would for a young guy. He didn't mind looking old at all. I often talk about how there's so many ways to work a trios, but a large part of that is guys knowing their roles & why they're out there. Like the following match: Negro Casas & La Fiera & Bestia Salvaje vs El Dandy & Ringo Mendoza & Ultimo Dragon, 7.12.92 CMLL There's no mistaking who this trios is about. Trios are often used to build-up single matches, but this was especially well done. Dandy & Casas were the two best guys in CMLL at the time and evenly matched. Dandy was the Middleweight champion, but Casas had never played second fiddle to anyone. Bestia and La Fiera were the perfect stooges for Casas to bring to his corner. La Fiera was such class that he didn't take his trainer off the entire match. But they were really there to take care of the mugs on Dandy's team. Casas and Dandy were squarely focused on each other. There was no skirting or avoiding each other. On the mat, it was impossible to separate the better man. And when they couldn't settle anything, the jawing began. And when that wasn't enough, they started slapping each other. They pulled each other's hair and scuffled into the front row. Back in the ring, Dandy wanted less fouling... Casas wound up taking a shot to the jaw; didn't appreciate it, and made no bones about it. He didn't low blow Dandy as much as he punted him. From there on out, Dandy was pissed and Casas couldn't give a fuck. Mendoza and Ultimo pitch in where they can since Dandy and Casas can't always be the legal men, but try telling those two they're not the legal men. Even from the apron they're seething. Casas exploding at the crowd is some of the best acting/selling I've seen. Ever.

So, I read Chapter Four: This is New Japan. It is like Soldier. I don't doubt the validity of what Matt wrote, but you have to take into the story he wanted to tell and how he presented the information. Read the full Maxx Payne interview, which Matt quoted from in the chapter, and you'll get a fair idea of what I'm talking about. Having said that, I thought he gave a pretty fair portrayal of the mentality behind the training. Some of the points he dwelled on were stupid and I'm surprised he wrote about them given he lived in Japan for a while, and I didn't like the way he summed up post-War Japan and the relationship between Japan and Korea in such an overly simplistic way, nor anything he wrote about Japan or Japanese people to be honest, but again, it was pretty obvious the slant he was taking on that. Nevertheless, I do think the chapter illustrates how open to abuse the senpai/kohai relationship is. Personally, I didn't find the stories sadistic or violent, I came away with an impression of how moronic wrestlers can be. Not that the mentality is limited to wrestling mind you. It reminded me in part of Kamp Staaldraad. I suspect Matt is right that this kind of training wasn't healthy for a person like Benoit and it doesn't seem like he learnt particularly good lessons from it (not the lessons you're supposed to learn, anyway), but how much a part it played in shaping Benoit is a little unclear given how many people pass through it OK. Though I guess those people aren't lifers like Benoit was.

I found an interview with Maxx Payne where he talks about dojo life -- http://www.pinfalls.com/maxx.html

Espanto Jr. vs. El Hijo Del Santo (UWA World Welterweight Title Match), 5/14/92 This was such a beautiful Lucha Libre match & made a fool of me thinking Santo wasn't one of the great Lucha mat workers. If more of his UWA work was available, I think we'd get a bigger picture of how good Santo really was. Again, the single camera at ringside gives this a raw documentary feel, only it's not a glimpse of Santo working Durango. Sure he looks every bit the superhero during the introductions, with the belt around his waist & a glorious red cape, & his matwork in the first fall comes across as the height of old-school lucha greatness, but it's really about the other guy. It's kinda hard to pick it, but Espanto Jr. was a 36 year-old wrestler with 21 years experience and this was his night. The great thing about his challenge is how it swings. He actually manages to shake off Santo's matwork in the first fall, sending him to the outside, but back in the ring he gets faked out and takes a high back bump (a spot Espanto liked to do.) It's over after that. So in the second fall, when he shakes Santo off again, this time he stays on him. There's no room for Santo to breath, with the Lucha equivalent of body blows. He gets kneed, elbowed hurled into the turnbuckle... All of which he sells like the K metal from Krypton, but he's OK with it. Espanto pushes his luck in the third fall, however. Santo collapses into the bottom turnbuckle & Espanto can't help himself. Man, you do not piss El Hijo del Santo off. He springs out of the corner & starts hitting the nastiest looking stuff. It's his usual stuff, but you rarely see it this nasty. From there on out it becomes a survival game for Espanto. He'd lost to Santo a bunch of times before; his hair, his mask. And again it looked like he'd blown his opportunities, but the bleaker it became, the more he took on this sort of underdog quality. Santo even kicked the bottom rope. Until finally they reached that level of Lucha where they're just going for it, and it wouldn't matter who won, the crowd would throw coins anyway. But this was Espanto's night. He throws himself back into the ring after Santo's plancha, he kicks out of everything & he finally catches him out. Maybe not the most important title win in wrestling history, and it didn't last very many days, but a special night for a guy who spent a long time plying this trade (and very nearly died in the process.) If you're the least bit interested in Lucha Libre, the El Espanto Jr.: Un Guerrero Nunca Muere DVD is essential. Hell, if you like wrestling it's essential. Santo & Espanto had many other matches and this might not be their best, but it's a hometown boy done good and everyone likes that story.

The allmovie site is excellent too. It would be cool to have a database like that for wrestling, but albums, singles & movies are a lot more manageable.

El Engendro vs. Negro Navarro (NWG Intercontinental Title), 2/15/03 Negro Navarro's one of the only guys I enjoy in wrestling anymore, so if there's any dirt on him I don't want to hear it. I just want to enjoy seeing him do what he does for a living, even if it's in front of a tiny crowd in some gym in Guadalajara. The match is a throwback to when wrestling was about holds. They work their way in and out of holds, trying to catch each other out. There's not a lot of "fight", so to speak, just nous. It's one of those bouts where it's a mini victory to get a guy in a position he doesn't wanna be in, and they only sell when it makes sense from a grappling point of view. I wouldn't call it a great match, but I enjoyed it all the same. Towards the end, Engendro starts pulling out some fantastic looking stuff (a pretty clear indicator he's jobbing), but that cue to take it home was the only part that jumped out. Which isn't to say it's monotonous, it's just good stuff. That's all.

Perhaps I'm reading it wrong, but Dave considers MMA an offshoot of pro-wrestling, therefore he lumps it under the pro-wrestling banner. It depends how much you read into the name "pro-wrestling", as Dave seems to look at it as a type of promoting and not a term for worked matches. Whenever I've read the WON or listened to WO Live, he's always talking about the way MMA is presented and booked, crowd reaction, that type of thing. Either that or he just really wants to write about UFC. One point I disagree about is the perception of MMA in Japan. It's lumped together with pro-wrestling as "fighting" or "combative sports", but people don't call MMA puroresu. And many of the fans it attracted weren't wrestling fans, particularly the large female fanbase. Does anybody know if Dave covered K-1 in '96/97?

I can kinda see where Dave is coming from in that it was covered by the Japanese press like it was pro-wrestling & run by the same people, so it makes sense to report it from a business standpoint, but the fact Dave really likes MMA doesn't hurt. Whether that's enough to classify it as some kind of subgenre of pro-wrestling, I'm not sure, but there was a hell of a lot of crossover. It would've been strange for Dave not to report on PANCRASE or PRIDE.

The point is whether you're surprised that mob hits ACTUALLY HAPPEN.

The fact of the matter is that wrestling glorifies its own undercurrent, hence why so many wrestlers are marks for themselves. Wrestling doesn't portray an opposite reality as much as you'd like to think it does. And your idea that you can enjoy things in a fictional context and find them horrifying in real life is weak. If something is horrific in real life, chances are it's portrayed that way in fiction. What would you say to a guy who came out of The Accused and said, "Great movie! Damn that was a good rape scene"? You seem to find a lot of stuff horrifying. Makes me wonder if you function OK. Pity there's no parallel in wrestling between a guy being beaten to death in real life & a guy being beaten to death in the ring, but when wrestling starts running those stories I'm sure you'll be the first to enjoy it in a fictional context.

If you look at the number of 80s stars who've died, there's only two I can think of -- Jackie Sato (cancer) and Jumbo Tsuruta (died in surgery after hep B complications). Nobody's been able to explain this. The usual arguments are better training, less travel, lighter schedule... But a regimented, disciplined lifestyle may have something to do with it. Not saying that they don't go out drinking with yakuza, sleep around or take recreational drugs. Or that they don't use steriods or wrestle hurt. But the lifestyle isn't the same. They're in the gym the next morning, not only body building but doing the same exercises they learnt in training. They go jogging for miles. To me, the old AJW system was the best. The girls were kept out of harm's way as much as possible & there were mandatory retirements after 8 or 10 years. Personally, I think 8-10 years is long enough for a pro-wrestling career. Mandatory retirements gave the girls a chance to do something after wrestling, the majority getting married and starting families. That system fell apart, but Japanese wrestlers still train well, look after their bodies & eat well. And often they know when to call it quits. Kazuo Yamazaki has a book in Japan about stretching. Most of it which look like yoga poses. How many US wrestlers train like that? Benoit may have done all of the above, but if you checked his system with the system of the average Japanese wrestler, I'd wager that Benoit's body was filled with 10 times the amount of shit. Perhaps more. I don't consider it torture, because I don't think the majority of people who go through it consider it torture. It's not like I'd be in the dojo shouting, "Punch him again! Put him in a body bag, Keiichi!", it's just that the mentality doesn't surprise me. Not in the least. The mentality in Japan is that wrestling is about, "Who is the strongest?" and "What does it mean to be strong?" They train hard because they think pro-wrestlers should be legitimately tough. They consider themselves to be legitimately tough. In that case, they're often quite deluded, but the mentality is that it's important to be strong -- mentally and physically. As far as the stories go, they go from sounding like jock or frat stories to things that don't quite fit with Japanese manner. But they're plausible. As far as the punching goes, we don't know how hard Liger hit people, whether it hurt, the situation (did he want the guy to get back up and hit him?), how the trainee felt, how the other trainees felt. Random punch and a random story. Anyway, our argument is taking away from the book, which is about Benoit and not Liger. The issue of blame and responsibility is always difficult in cases like this, and it's easy to backtrack and find points where people should've stepped in. Benoit was crazy all along is one theory, but doesn't explain a lot, like why Nancy married him and had a kid with him. And before anyone jumps on that & thinks I'm blaming Nancy, think of something more clever.

Your Schindler's List example doesn't work. The holocaust is something most people find horrifying (i.e. actually horrific, compared to exercises or punches to the face.) The movie portrays it as horrific. If you come out of that movie thinking the holocaust is entertaining you're a fucking idiot. The yakuza killing someone is considered shocking in Japan, but in movies they're glorified. A real punch in wrestling is horrifying, but a worked punch is awesome. Pro-wrestling glorifies violence and teaches us any dispute should be settled with violence. The idea that real disputes aren't settled with violence or that there is never any real violence in wrestling is preposterous. You don't have to condone it, but feigning horror is weak. Far be it for me to tell you what is or isn't horrifying, but: Wrestler kills his wife and child = horrifying Wrestler gets punched in the face = not much

Yeah, because you can't enjoy a fictional representation of something without condoning it in real life. At the risk of invoking Godwin's Law, I'm a Jew with two grandfathers who served in World War II (happy Memorial Day, folks), and I think "Schindler's List" is a great movie. I guess that means I'm a hypocrite for not being totally chillax with the Holocaust. Seriously, OJ, aren't you just a little bit capable of recognizing the difference between fantasy and reality, or are you legitimately insane? Because right now, I am inclined to think you should be seeking out mental help immediately. Yakuza kills someone in a movie = cool. Yakuza kills someone in real life = horrifying. Wrestler pretends to punch someone = cool. Wrestler punches someone for real = horrifying. You tell me who's being naive. It's only supposed to happen in the movies/worked match? It's not about condoning it, it's about being shocked or horrified.

Do you really think a 19 year-old Akira Hokuto would've been able to hold her neck in place without going through such training? Simply because she made good times on a bleep test in recruiting (or whatever drills she did)? I don't want to glamourise what happened, but most 19 year old Japanese girls would be in serious, serious trouble if it happened to them. It's an extreme example, but a situation that could've been really, really bad if Hokuto had been under trained & under prepared. I dunno if Hokuto was punched in the face, but I'd wager that she got hit & I'd wager that she would've ran away if it was too much. Whatever "guts" Hokuto had, I'm inclined to believe they came from endurance more than anything a raw, 15-year old rookie possessed. It's not that I think dojo training is the "right way", I'd have serious reservations if it was my daughter or son. But there are risks and I wouldn't want anyone going out there who isn't tough enough. You can say it's a work until you're blue in the face, but it's not that safe. Do I think Japanese wrestlers go too far in their "only the strong survive" mentality? Yes, Gompei should've never died. Do I think punching somebody in the face will save a life? No, probably not. But, just as I think it would be suicide to send someone into a boxing match who's never taken a punch, I think it's crazy to send someone into a ring who's never been roughed up. Perhaps my idea of roughing someone up is different from what actually occurs. Japanese wrestlers do every kind of drill over and over again, and they can't leave the dojo until they've finished every last one. The number of exercises they do may sound excessive, but they train that way in every sport. It's not Jushin Liger is sitting in an armchair, sipping tea & reading The Art of War. He could probably do the same amount of exercises in god knows how much time. Think about those jumping squat things they like to do so much (with your hands on your head.) It's insane the number of those they can do. I might have thought so before coming to Japan, but I don't know if repression is what I'd call it. I agree there's a lot of perfectly legal shit which shouldn't be perfectly legal. I don't know the reason for that, and I can't understand their censorship laws considering the content that's being depicted, but sex is everywhere in Japan, out in the open. It's enough to make you feel prudish or conservative. If they weren't getting any, I could understand, but that's really not the case. There's a lot of pressure on Japanese people. That much I can vouch for. But most people are normal. Last year, when the Sumo trainee died, people were shocked by what happened. But they quickly forgot about it & continued on with their lives, similar to people who browsed over the Benoit story in a paper. Most Japanese people don't care about sumo or wrestling, so I doubt they know what goes on in a dojo or how it differs from overseas. How much Japanese wrestling fans know, I'm not sure. I suspect it's not much. It says they're not as tough as they think they are. I don't think we have the same definition of horrifying... Even if it is horrifying to most people, I think you need to look at the root cause. Did the wrestling business make Chigusa think this is acceptable behaviour? Because I'd argue that Chigusa is the way she is because of her father. Who knows, dojos are off limits to the public. Considering pro-wrestling dojos are on the bottom rung, there may be more shit that carries on. Pro-wrestling isn't exactly the chosen career path for athletically gifted young people. Within the pro-wrestling dojos, there may be a difference between how the New Japan dojo was/is run and the All Japan ones. It depends on who's being trained. Kiyoshi Tamura runs a gym for regular folks & trains them in a regular way. I want to say there's a class system, but Sumo sounds far worse than pro-wrestling despite a better perception. Ok, I'm sorry. No, I'm wondering why people who expose themselves to fake violence can be shocked by real violence. The point is when they pretend to hit each other it's fine, but if someone gets hit for real it's horrifying. By that logic everything that happens in Japanese pornography should be OK, because they're only pretending to do it. That's twisting things a lot, but let's not pretend that Dick Murdoch wasn't a redneck and only played one on TV. Or that he would never hit anyone for real. Or that wrestlers are actors doing something totally unnatural for them. It's a work, but people are always arguing that wrestlers forget that. I think fans cling to it a bit too much. If wrestling were truly a work & so easy to separate from reality, they'd be far more normal people and far less wrecks. I really don't think you can argue that the Japan dojos don't work. You can argue with their methods, but the results are pretty clear. I haven't been to a show the whole time I've been here & only rent videos/DVDs because it's better than buying them. I've tried to tell people how dead wrestling is in Japan, but it upsets people. I don't even like puroresu that much to be honest. Maybe. I'd argue that Japanese wrestling does many things better than American pro-wrestling in regards to wrestlers' health. Do you really think the majority of the Japanese population enjoy that sort of pornography? Do the majority even know it exists? I don't think it's wise to judge a country or its people on their pornography industry. For one thing, 20% or more of the population are over 65. More than half the population are women. I'm not defending it just because it's Japan. The only thing that bothers me about the Japan aspect is if people start saying it happens because the Japanese are sadistic fucks or repressed perverts, since that's not how I know Japanese people to be. I defended it because I don't consider it to be torture.

Rubbish. They learn to take contact. The only atheletes who learn how to bump play non-contact sports, like soccer or basketball. Athletes practice in a safer and more controlled environment than "professional" wrestling, but I still say if you can't take a punch you shouldn't wrestle. Just like you shouldn't play rugby if you can't take a tackle or ice hockey if you can't handle body checking. Wrestling requires physicality. Learning to take a bump is not going to help you if you get smacked in the face from an errant knee. Jushin Liger punching people in the face is probably some test or form of discipline, but who'd go into a Japanese ring without sparring? So, what the NJPW dojo does brain scans to find trainees with a neurological disposition towards pain tolerance? Dojo training should hurt and hurt like a mother. First of all, I'm from New Zealand. Second of all, "repressed nature of their country"? For a guy who harps on about racism any chance he gets, you don't mind throwing out the stereotypes. Americans wouldn't put up with this kind of training, I assume, but then I wouldn't use US pro-wrestling as a defence against fucking anything. Like hell it does. I know you've worked up this big image that it's like a POW camp, but wide-eyed hopefuls don't get a look in the door, let alone conned for money. Jesus Christ, GAEA Girls is not horrifying. Considering I looked long and hard for the date on this, for the book, I don't need it broken to me that someone dying in wrestling training or sumo training = not good. The point is some dojos are well run, others are not. Some have blood on their hands, most don't. The idea that the whole dojo system is fucked up because of one small, rather insignificant dojo is like lumping everybody in with Stu Hart & his Dungeon. Rubbish, calling it "banana rape" makes a mockery of it. It's a serious accusation and should be treated as one. OK, I WILL TRY TO DO THAT. THANKS FOR GETTING IT THROUGH MY JAPANIZED BRAIN. Do you understand your desire to see someone get punched, worked or otherwise? I see, it's all work. No-one's actually violent and aggressive by nature. Pro-wrestling lures normal people & normally trained everything ought to be honky dory. Wrestling fans can sleep peacefully, knowing they just saw a great brawl & nobody ever hit anybody in real life & it's great that worked violence is just a work. Honestly, this thread is like people digging yakuza films and then being horrified by real yakuza. Well, the people drawing tentacle rape work like slaves, so I guess that connects somehow. Dojo life is pretty simple. Complain about it & you get punished. The means of punishment is the issue here. I don't condone sodomy or being beaten half to death. Nor do I condone breaking a guy because he's rebellious, won't listen or thinks he's tough. But basic dojo life -- sleeping little, eating shit food, exercising until you've mentally and physically exhausted (or throwing up), doing menial jobs and being treated like shit, being roughed up, verbally abused -- these things are OK. It sounds like basic military training & in a sense it's the same. It takes however many months to pass & once you pass you're never treated like that again. I couldn't do it, just like I couldn't train for the military. Doesn't mean other people can't do it, or that they don't appreciate the trainer who they may have hated for months on end. I didn't come to Japan to be near puroresu or any crap like that. I helped with the book as much as I could (which wasn't much.) Still, I won't abide by people who've been clamouring to get some dirt on Japan getting all giddy. If you can discuss the matter without throwing out ridiculous stereotypes about 125 million people or without fuelling your pet peeve over people who like Japanese pro-wrestling, I can accept any and all contrary view points. I always liked Matt, but considering the flack he took back in the day (some deserved, some undeserved), I find it ironic that he's so great now he's written the most important wrestling book ever.

So take the knives away from them. Don't let them near a stove. We don't want trainees getting hurt. If you don't want to get roughed up, don't enter a dojo. Don't try and be a wrestler. If the recruiting numbers are anything to go by, Japanese young people are doing just that. Even in Sumo where the money's better. Eh, fans who wanna see bladejobs and worked punches, stiffness and ass kicking brawlers, getting upset at real violence. What a crock. If you wanna watch something where nobody ever gets hurt, nothing bad ever happens and people's lives are never wrecked, I suggest taking up another hobby. Something without an underbelly. It's pretty clear that there's no safe way to do professional wrestling. And what exactly is the connection between dojo training & wrestler welfare, anyway?

If I want to play rugby & do light training drills, what'll happen the first time I get tackled? You can only build a threshold towards pain by experiencing pain, making your body stronger & toughening your mind. Why do you think they train the way they do in Japan? Because they're sadistic fucks? Perhaps some post-WW II baggage? Maybe it's because they're yazkua-affliated, so they follow the same intitiation rituals? How far can we distort the fact that they train hard. I don't know why Jushin Liger punches people. My first question is whether it's random. It could be because they're not doing the exercise right, or they broke a rule, or he wants to see how they react, or he thinks they're not tough enough or it's the same shock you get from being accidently struck in the face during a match. Or maybe he's a sadistic fuck. Whatever the case, I don't think being punched in the face is a big deal in a profession where a loose or mistimed strike can do the same thing. If I get hit in the face during a match, at least I know what it feels like. Excuse me if I don't find it horrifying or particularly immoral. I think there's an interesting debate to be had over the consequences of such training, but before that happens people need to stop treating it as a freakshow. How is it described in the book? I was thinking more along the lines of when Chigusa steps into the ring with the trainee in GAEA GIRLS. Sasaki killed a guy & should have gone to jail. One death in 50 something years? Perhaps there were more. Yeah, I have a better idea. I'll accept it as a fact and go around telling everyone that institutionalised banana rape is real. If it happened, then it's fucked up. No doubt. There's a pretty good chance that it did happen. It wouldn't surprise me either way. Sorry for not being gungho in believing it. The worst thing you can do is make a mockery of it.