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three months, three pro wrestling matches

i actually went to four matches but let's ignore that.

DDT Pro Wrestling: Road to PETER PAN 2024 TOUR in SHINJUKU

date: july 10 2024
location: shinjuku FACE, tokyo
price: 5000 yen

i'm not going to write about my trip to japan at this point, so let's let's just talk about the pro wrestling! i went to a DDT show as recommended by some people on reddit who said it was the most american-like japanese puroresu promotion (other japanese promos tend to be more serious and less gimmicky).

the match was in shinjuku FACE, which was right on the inner edge of kabukicho. in yakuza, it's right above club sega/theater square. you take an outdoor elevator up to the show and present your ticket to the staff. at the same time, you're required to pay an additional 500 (?) yen, but get to choose a drink from the bar once you're inside.

the ring is in the center of the room, with seats on all four sides. the seats are pre-allocated. i was seated on the north end, which was the 'back' side of the show. however, this didn't affect my enjoyment of the show.

like mentioned before, DDT is the most american-like puroresu promo, and it's very much focused on humor— being so tightly scripted that every minute has something to laugh at. even if you don't understand japanese, it's still easy to tell what the jokes are and find them really funny. lots of physical humor (teabagging? dance battles?) and even some interaction with the audience (at one point, a wrestler picked a dude out of the audience and kissed him on the lips). the wrestlers also cut heaps of lengthy promos— the show even started with some kinda sit-down announcement section where some wrestlers took turns talking for a couple of minutes.

it's too bad i couldn't understand the verbal humor, because it sounds like it would've been hilarious! all i caught was that one wrestler (keigo nakamura) was celebrating his birthday with a full bday fit and that at some point there was a feud over a bunch of wrestlers wanting to be the best protegee of another.

the stage also had no iron fence, which meant that the wrestlers would often jump out of the ring to fight, crashing into the audience so everyone would have to scramble away or climbing up to the backside and fighting right behind me. that was a great touch for people who got the 'worse' seats.

but the biggest shock for me was the fan culture. in an audience of around 100-200 people, about 90% of the attendees were girls!!!

i get it, because i've always said that the appeal of pro wrestling is basically the same as idols, especially when you watch it live. but i would've never guessed that it was this popular with girls when pro wrestling in new zealand is mostly guys going as friends or families watching together. interestingly, the audience for this DDT show also had no children— whether that's due to the time/location, the price, or the more 'adult' humor (not really), i don't know.

the audience was also really quiet and polite compared to what i see in new zealand wrestling. no chanting or booing or stomping their feet. it was pretty much silent except for clapping when something cool happened or girls occasionally calling out the name of their favorite wrestler to support them.

i think it's just the culture in itself, but IIRC there also weren't many obvious face vs heel matches, and even in new zealand, that means there's less taunting and booing from fans.

overall, the experience was 100% worth it! it was definitely much pricier than any pro wrestling show i had been to before, but the price was truly justified by how funny it was. honestly, it might have even been too tightly packed for a lot of people, but i'm just here to be entertained so it was an amazing time! definitely my favorite experience in japan outside of the sideM concert and sylvanian families cafe.

Impact Pro Wrestling: Fans Bring the Weapons

date: september 21 2024
location: mt albert war memorial hall, auckland
price: $20~ NZD

i went to the winter warfare match when i got back to auckland in july and that was super fun. they announced the first all-female fans bring the weapons event, and while i was really hyped, i was also a bit worried because i had attended the previous fans brings the weapons and it seemed pretty dangerous compared to what the wrestlers usually do.

as usual, the production quality was fantastic! there were around 100+ people in the audience. unfortunately, i didn't keep track of what went on and kinda forgot despite it being a week ago, but here were my highlights:

so excited for the halloween-themed event! i think i'm going to buy jayrilla's shirt next time... maybe i'll even make a support sign!

Hughes Academy: Live Pro Wrestling

date: september 27 2024
location: new lynn RSA, auckland
price: $10 NZD

i found out there were like four more pro wrestling promotions in new zealand and i got pretty pissed on friday so i decided to go to hughes academy's show after work. it basically features wrestlers from the academy as well as a couple of freelancers who appear in IPW as well.

i rarely go to west auckland, so i was surprised at how walkable the new lynn area was. the RSA was right across the road from lynnmall, which was great since the academy itself didn't sell any drinks or food and the RSA bar wouldn't let me buy a bag of chips without ID despite being a 23 year old adult man with a full-time job.

the hall was a good bit smaller than what i was used to with IPW's shows, but there were much more people than i expected— the youtube videos showed a crowd of only about 12 people but there were definitely at least 50 (by the end, the 8 year old girl managing concessions wasn't checking who was entering so there were definitely a bunch of non-paying seniors from the RSA sports bar next door).

however, the smaller show was still just as hype! these were my highlights:

i'm just not sure about the tone of the meta. it felt like the host was treating pro wrestling as entertainment, and while pro wrestling is entertainment, i prefer if 'people' within kayfabe treat pro wrestling as a real sport. it definitely felt much more targeted towards kids and beginners than IPW, but i'm not sure why that would be when 1) you could buy and drink alcohol unlike at IPW 2) there's no way you'd even know hughes academy was a thing unless you were already interested in pro wrestling.1

hughes academy is doing another show on sunday night, but i've got to stop fucking around so i'm on total moratorium on watching live pro wrestling until the next IPW show in november. it's too bad cuz i really wanted to see NJPW tamashii's event tonight. 2 but i don't want to burn myself out!

  1. the only thing this event had in presence outside of pro wrestling scene was that it was in the RSA building but that only attracts old people, not kids.↩

  2. speaking of, i thought that fale dojo was basically entirely unassociated with the rest of the new zealand pro wrestling scene, but there were advert flyers for tonight's collaboration match with a local boxing group at hudges academy.↩

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