Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Stardom Fuji TV special

Here's the video for a TV special about Stardom that aired on Fuji TV on Sunday. There are elements of documentary in this show. But to me, it seems more like the first in a series of shows for Fuji. There is even a storyline setup at the end of the show. So it looks like the first of a series of specials. If so, that's a big deal in Japan because combat sports has mostly been absent from Japanese network TV. The TV landscape is much different in Japan than here. In Japan, most combat sports airs either on Samurai TV or Gaora. Cable doesn't have enough reach in Japan for anyone appearing on either of those networks to get decent exposure. So with Rizin and now Stardom appearing on Fuji TV, that could open the door for other networks to air pro wrestling or MMA. I doubt combat sports will ever reach the level they were at in the 90s. But it's been barren for the last 15 years. So something is better than nothing. On this show, they concentrate on wrestlers you are probably already familiar with; Io Shirai, Kairi Hojo and Mayu Iwatani. There are documentary elements to this and also behind the scenes footage including the fact that the wrestlers construct the ring for every show. Io and Kairi may look glamorous but they have to put in the grunt work too. The show ends with two matches that were taped in the studio for this show. The first is a tag team match featuring Io and Kairi. The second features masked wrestler Lightning Girl. Both matches are heavily edited but it is impossible to hide how green Lightning Girl is. It makes me wonder if this is her first match. Though I don't think it's the same girl, she reminds me of the model Saki Arai who works for DDT. Lightning Girl is very thin. Obviously Stardom is trying to build her up as a superhero. But the least they could do is find someone who looks like an athlete and can wrestle. After Lightning Girl wins her match, Io Shirai attacks her in the dressing room. That's how it ends. That's why I think there is more to come. They can't just end it like that. On a related subject, last week Stardom announced on their Facebook they are launching a paid Youtube channel for $5 a month. Of course the problem is like all the joshi companies, the main event is usually worth watching and the rest of the show is blah. This is mostly because of the inexperience of most of the wrestlers. Stardom still depends on freelancers and gaijin wrestlers to fill out the cards. None of this is mentioned on this special. So I'm not interested in Stardom's Youtube channel. I don't watch most of the matches now. I understand fans want to like these girls. But most of them are greenhorns and I don't want to watch greenhorns. We'll see what comes from this Fuji TV special and enjoy the video.
Stardom Fuji TV Special (2/28/16) by NoCode1

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