Post by Zach Arnold on Jun 21, 2011 9:15:13 GMT -5
www.nikkansports.com/battle/news/f-bt-tp0-20110621-793597.html
An era has truly ended for the promotion. Related to what happened with the Super Hate (Nobukazu Hirai) fiasco, as Wada was the one who (according to Tokyo Sports) allegedly stopped the beating?
pphradio.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=puroresu&action=display&thread=2092 - background information on Super Hate (Nobukazu Hirai) incident
His contract with All Japan expired. It marks the end of a nearly 40-year career with the promotion when he joined Giant Baba's staff in 1974 to be an understudy to famous referee Joe Higuchi. He made his debut in 1974 and worked over 10,000 matches.
When Mutoh took over All Japan, Wada's relationship with the company changed. He had reportedly been working on a per-match basis.
Historically speaking, Wada will go down as perhaps the second most famous referee of all time in Japanese pro-wrestling. Joe Higuchi is the most famous and Wada took over as the ace referee when the class of Jumbo Tsuruta & Gen'ichiro Tenryu picked up steam in the late '80s. once Misawa, Kawada (w/ Fuyuki as the Footloose tag unit), Kobashi, and Taue started rising, Wada became the main workhorse official. The only other official to rival Wada's exposure on Japanese television in the '90s was Masao "Tiger" Hattori.
Wada's professionalism, stamina, reliability, and demeanor are nothing short of legendary as an official. While his departure from All Japan is more symbolic than substantive, the truth is that it is a huge image blow for the company. Even during the peak years of All Japan, Wada got big pops -- those rivaling the main event wrestlers. Watching him referee a match for All Japan was like being invited to his house, to his turf. A true sense of loyalty developed and that credibility will never truly vanish.
I have so many great memories of his efforts in various high-profile matches. Intriguingly, I thought he did his best work after the NOAH split from the company when All Japan was on life support and got a life line from New Japan in the interpromotional series. My favorite 'junk food' guilty match during that program involved Masa Fuchi vs. Masahiro Chono in September 2000 at Nippon Budokan. Wada played his role as the straight guy so well and the psychology was amazing.
kakutolog.cocolog-nifty.com/kakuto/2011/06/post-2396.html
According to a blurb in Tokyo Sports, Wada allegedly wanted to clean house after the Hirai incident. The paper claims he faced enormous political pressure and, rather than reportedly get into a major war with the powers-that-be, he exited the company without much fan fare after their June 19th event in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan.
The fact that he didn't leave without a ceremony or tribute is what has a lot of people's curiosity on high alert.
An era has truly ended for the promotion. Related to what happened with the Super Hate (Nobukazu Hirai) fiasco, as Wada was the one who (according to Tokyo Sports) allegedly stopped the beating?
pphradio.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=puroresu&action=display&thread=2092 - background information on Super Hate (Nobukazu Hirai) incident
His contract with All Japan expired. It marks the end of a nearly 40-year career with the promotion when he joined Giant Baba's staff in 1974 to be an understudy to famous referee Joe Higuchi. He made his debut in 1974 and worked over 10,000 matches.
When Mutoh took over All Japan, Wada's relationship with the company changed. He had reportedly been working on a per-match basis.
Historically speaking, Wada will go down as perhaps the second most famous referee of all time in Japanese pro-wrestling. Joe Higuchi is the most famous and Wada took over as the ace referee when the class of Jumbo Tsuruta & Gen'ichiro Tenryu picked up steam in the late '80s. once Misawa, Kawada (w/ Fuyuki as the Footloose tag unit), Kobashi, and Taue started rising, Wada became the main workhorse official. The only other official to rival Wada's exposure on Japanese television in the '90s was Masao "Tiger" Hattori.
Wada's professionalism, stamina, reliability, and demeanor are nothing short of legendary as an official. While his departure from All Japan is more symbolic than substantive, the truth is that it is a huge image blow for the company. Even during the peak years of All Japan, Wada got big pops -- those rivaling the main event wrestlers. Watching him referee a match for All Japan was like being invited to his house, to his turf. A true sense of loyalty developed and that credibility will never truly vanish.
I have so many great memories of his efforts in various high-profile matches. Intriguingly, I thought he did his best work after the NOAH split from the company when All Japan was on life support and got a life line from New Japan in the interpromotional series. My favorite 'junk food' guilty match during that program involved Masa Fuchi vs. Masahiro Chono in September 2000 at Nippon Budokan. Wada played his role as the straight guy so well and the psychology was amazing.
kakutolog.cocolog-nifty.com/kakuto/2011/06/post-2396.html
According to a blurb in Tokyo Sports, Wada allegedly wanted to clean house after the Hirai incident. The paper claims he faced enormous political pressure and, rather than reportedly get into a major war with the powers-that-be, he exited the company without much fan fare after their June 19th event in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan.
The fact that he didn't leave without a ceremony or tribute is what has a lot of people's curiosity on high alert.