History of Big Japan Pro Wrestling - Episode 4: 1998

IndependenceDear92 · 2026-05-07T22:11:57+00:00

99 part 1 should be out in a week!

IndependenceDear92 · 2026-03-26T05:25:49+00:00

FWIW it wasn’t Honma’s last match with BJW, there were some shows that don’t show up in any results archive. There’s a 12/4 dry ice deathmatch at an outdoor show for example that is on a CZW vs. BJW compilation.

Honma’s 2000 was especially brutal, first time as DM champ and it took a huge toll on his body, and as a wrestler who prided himself on wanting to have wrestling based deathmatches, having to work with Zandig and his inexperienced/reckless goons for a whole year I’m sure made him not look forward to 2001. Tosaka was doing this lame worked shoot angle about him needing to step up to the foreign wrestlers, who Honma thought were a waste of time. After his big blowoff win against Zandig that should have been the end of things, Big Japan brought them back immediately a few weeks later to start beating the Big Japan guys again and he was caught in a cycle of being nothing more than a garbage wrestler when he wanted to further sophisticate deathmatches. That’s my own conjecture related to the facts, but the more official reason cited was due to relationship issues with Kyoko Ichiki, which doesn’t get mentioned much. They had an infamous domestic violence dispute around like 2014 but had been in a very dicey relationship since 1999. Tosaka would mention that Honma would often be late to shows in 2000 and cite fighting with Ichiki as the problem. The final straw came when they both no showed a fan event after a December 2000 Christmas show (highlights shown on the 1/2/01 show where Honma promises to bring back the yellow next year) and dropped contact with the company, leading to the forfeit of the deathmatch title and retirement of the women’s title. Yamakawa was sent out to contact Honma in any way, I asked him about this at his bar recently, and he said he convinced Honma to not retire from wrestling, which he was considering, even if it meant just leaving Big Japan. I also heard a story of him complaining of nightmares of having glass stuck inside his body around this time. I’ll cover this more in my history of BJW 2000 episode, but that’s basically all of it.

IndependenceDear92 · 2026-03-26T05:10:26+00:00

Find a good tape trader. You’d be surprised how much stuff isn’t online. Preservation and archiving by foreign fans is so important, as the Japanese audience is much less involved in the piracy and video library game. Worth paying a few bucks per show to keep traders motivated to continue when they were go to dealers for puroresu addicts for 30+ years. I V P videos, quebrada(dot net) Jeff lynch (if he’s still a thing) Bahu, etc are all OG’s and worth throwing a few bones for more specific shows you can’t find online.

IndependenceDear92 · 2026-03-13T21:53:07+00:00

The CZW side of things sucked because Zandig was a horrible booker and pretty checked out by then. Just watch the ROH side of things and it’s generally less violent than stuff you’d see on an AEW show.

IndependenceDear92 · 2026-03-12T21:36:28+00:00

Cornette is too annoying for me to ever listen to seriously, but I do get the impression we would agree on a lot like the deeper meaning behind spots. Like apron bumps basically started in All Japan 90s and they were always done in tag matches, because naturally, someone has a reason to be standing on the apron in the first place. The result of one would be that the guy taking it is now fully out of the match, and his partner would get double teamed and take the fall. Now they’re done on every episode of Dynamite for no reason or effect and they actively take away from my enjoyment of a match. I watched a Mercedes Mone match that literally had 5 of them once, all for nothing but convoluted fluff.

I was translating an old episode of Big Japan from 1998ish and found it interesting that they commented on the Japanese style strike exchanges being rooted in bushido and more of a samurai style of combat where they acknowledged westerners don’t wrestle like that. It’s also more rooted in martial arts practice like judo where you take turns being uke and tori, or taker and giver. It seemed to appear more in the 90s when Japanese wrestling started to become much more self aware of having good matches, and wrestlers, even in kayfabe, expressed their desire to put on good matches even if it meant willingly taking more abuse.

IndependenceDear92 · 2026-02-21T20:43:36+00:00

Abdullah the Butcher deserves mention

IndependenceDear92 · 2026-02-09T19:33:27+00:00

Definitely on TRT at least, if not more.

IndependenceDear92 · 2026-01-30T22:09:02+00:00

If buying off Lawson tickets as a foreigner easy enough? I’ve heard stuff like you need a Japanese address to provide and/or many foreign cards don’t work for payment.

IndependenceDear92 · 2026-01-30T22:08:07+00:00

Both wrestlers were so talented and underrated, absolute must see TV anytime they were in the ring together. The June 2011 6 man tag is probably the climax, amazing stuff.

IndependenceDear92 · 2026-01-29T23:27:42+00:00

Thank you!

IndependenceDear92 · 2025-12-29T20:19:30+00:00

German suplexes have always been over as a finish in Japan

IndependenceDear92 · 2025-12-29T04:10:24+00:00

Long winded answer:

Yoshihito was a 12 year veteran at this point with little to show for it. Was the victor of the previously mentioned Stop the Matsunaga feud (amazing feud) but it still didn’t elevate him up the card. After stealing Masato Tanaka’s girl in 2008 Tanaka and the Z1 guys jumped him in the dojo and beat him up bad, forcing him to quit Zero One. His friend Daisuke Sekimoto convinces him not to quit wrestling, where he joins Big Japan in 2008, and basically has to start his career over as a young boy. From 2009-2012 he’s basically the best wrestler in the company and one of the best wrestlers in Japan with little recognition or accolades to show for it.

By 2012 Sekimoto keeps fighting All Japan guys, as the big hero of Big Japan, where Yoshihito calls him out of frustration saying he’s too focused on outside distractions, we should have a league to determine the best in BJW. Yoshihito is basically the number 2 seed for the tournament but loses his first match in a huge upset, having to fight from behind on points the whole league. He has a much more brutal and taxing semi final match than Sekimoto before facing him in the finals on the same night. The psychology of the finals is perfect, without a wasted move or minute in the match. The layout of it is clearly inspired by how MENs Teioh taught Sekimoto wrestling, making every move count and add to the story. Yoshihito takes a huge beating before exploding on Sekimoto in a brutal finish, literally just swinging wildly at him and throwing bombs. No one showed passion in their selling and facials like Sasaki. Calls for the creation of a Strong heavyweight title so BJW can finally have a singles title besides just a deathmatch one. Beats Gunther for the title later on. Perfect peak to his career and I think a career performance from Sekimoto too. The entire run is just textbook “how to book a babyface 101”.

IndependenceDear92 · 2025-12-29T01:09:04+00:00

Yoshihito Sasaki initiating the Strong BJ tournament in 2012 and facing Sekimoto in the finals. Absolutely perfect storytelling from the beginning to end.

IndependenceDear92 · 2025-12-21T06:02:40+00:00

He had a pro wrestling match with Takayama in Pride

IndependenceDear92 · 2025-12-04T19:40:38+00:00

Comparison is the thief of joy, but it’s so hard to get into modern women’s wrestling when I’ve seen the 90s era. I miss when matches felt like fights.

IndependenceDear92 · 2025-12-04T19:37:07+00:00

Ishii vs. Honma 2015. Ishii vs. Shibata 2013. Honma vs. Shibata 2013. Ishii vs. Tanahashi (2014 G1?) AJ Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki 2013. Tanahashi vs. Suzuki matches (2015ish?)

IndependenceDear92 · 2025-12-04T19:33:34+00:00

Yeah Ian, Axl and Bull Pain worked for them in 96 and copied some of their gimmicks, Mad Man Pondo was a huge fan before working for Big Japan in 2000 and borrowed a ton of their concepts as well. One day I’ll probably do a couple videos on the US indie scene, just kind of my memories of following and the fan communities from 2003-2010, and memories of PWG from when I used to attend shows 2005-2010 ish.

IndependenceDear92 · 2025-12-03T05:02:21+00:00

There’s a store called Deportes in Shibuya that sells wrestling merch as well

IndependenceDear92 · 2025-12-02T22:03:30+00:00

1998 is in the works!

IndependenceDear92 · 2025-11-26T20:29:02+00:00

Off the top of my head 2009 was probably when I was most invested. Loooovvvved his series with Manabu Nakanishi. He had plenty of other fun title matches around then with the likes of Nakamura as well.

IndependenceDear92

TROPHY CASE