I was thinking about the big shows for 2002 as I'm trying to do a year in review type watching and got a little stumped at the big shows for international promotions. WWE has Mania, TNA has Bound for Glory, AAA Triplemania and CMLL/Anniversary show I'm assuming. But what about places like Noah? Toryumon? BJPW? DDT? Those were a few I was thinking of for 2002 alone but this could cover any year and any promotion.

I'd love to know what the big night was for each and every territory in the 70's if there was one.

It was FA Cup finals day for Joint Promotions, I believe. And I assume in San Francisco it was the November Battle Royal.

I'd love to know what the big night was for each and every territory in the 70's if there was one.

 

I would say most promotions didn't have one. Maybe for JCP, it was the Thanksgiving tag tournaments. The WWWF didn't have one.

I'd love to know what the big night was for each and every territory in the 70's if there was one.

Christmas/Thanksgiving is a good place to look. Stampede Wrestling had Stampede week in the Summer. Los Angeles had their annual battle royal.

DDT has their annual Peter Pan show in Sumo Hall. Dragon Gate has Kobe World Festival every July. Big Japan ran Sumo Hall for the first time last year and hopefully they continue to do so for their big show.

I know NJ has Wrestle Kingdom but what about AJ? Would that be the Carnival?

This might seem like a bizarre choice on the surface but I'd actually argue the Real World Tag League final became that night, in a way, for AJPW. It came right at the end of the year's touring for them (at least it did in the 90's, but I think so as well going further back), and I feel it actually got played up a lot more than the Champion Carnival. All Japan was also a very tag-focussed company on TV (both regular and 6-man tags that at least slightly eased the load on guys physically) and the tag titles for a long time probably meant more there than in any other major company. When you also start looking at the teams that won over the years... it's a goddamn hall of fame in itself.

 

For a long time it was a great way to cap off the year. They don't really have a true Wreslemania kind of night, but I'd say for me that comes closest.

 

January 4th is clearly that night for New Japan and is the second biggest annual event in the business from my perspective.

That makes total sense to me. So before WK could you say the J Cup and BOSJ were that show for New Japan?

This has been mentioned in the past, but apparently J-Cup is a much bigger deal to hardcore fans like us than it ever really was in business terms.

Even before "Wrestle Kingdom" there was the 1/4 Tokyo Dome tradition which I believe dates back to '92. Before that, there were big Dome shows for a few years, but not necessarily at a certain point on the calendar. What about before the Dome era? Would it be their Tag Tourney? Perhaps the singles tourney they had for a bit?

So in 02 for example, the 1/4 show would be a bigger deal than the BOSJ? Would they even be close?

Pretty sure the 1/4 Dome show was always the "big show" for NJPW, even before the WK branding, and when there were multiple Dome shows in a year.

I would agree that 1/4 has been *THE* big show for New Japan, and probably has been since 1993.

 

All Japan, I would say would be the June "Super Power Series" Budokan show. As for the last few years, I would guess the finals of the Champion Carnival or Tag League.

 

In the territories, I would say most likely Christmas night.

So in 02 for example, the 1/4 show would be a bigger deal than the BOSJ? Would they even be close?

 

not even close

 

witness the total lack of heat for juniors on tokyo dome shows. american fans used to think that was just the JP fans being their polite selves but nope, turns out the juniors were basically the WCW cruiserweights!

So in 02 for example, the 1/4 show would be a bigger deal than the BOSJ? Would they even be close?

Juniors haven't been relevant since Tiger Mask.

Yeah, juniors are the undercard guys. You put a top junior against a middling heavy and the heavy has a big advantage.

So if I were to track down the big shows from foreign promotions in 02 what would I get? I already have Triplemania, CMLL Anniversary, NJ Dome Show, Toryumon 7/7, and have all of the Noah shows.