SAYONARA SMASH

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It has been close to a fortnight, since I viewed the final SMASH.  It was a great show.  I really enjoyed it…. But at the time it didn’t hit me…that it was over.  I was stunned when I heard the announcement on February 10th that Tajiri was breaking up SMASH. At first I didn’t believe it, but then I saw the press conference and I knew it was true.  It was announced shortly before SMASH.25 which was to be their biggest show. Still for me it was a long way off.  I was still very excited about seeing the previous show (WE ARE SMASH) where the main event was Kana vs Tomoka Nakagawa.  It had happned on January 19^th and it wouldn’t air on TV for a month.  So for me at least I still had SMASH to look forward to.

SMASH was my favorite wrestling promotion.  One of the many things I loved about SMASH was Tajiri booked the women as well as he booked the men.  Unlike the WWE and TNA, the Joshi (women’s wrestling matches for those you not in the know) often got multiple matches on the card.  Quite often they were the main event. Many of those matches were as long as men’s matches and were given the same build up.  The thing is while I like women’s wrestling, I also like men’s wrestling.  Usually if I want to see a great women’s match I would have to watch a woman’s promotion… it was great to be able to watch a promotion that had both.

I actually 1rst discovered SMASH almost by accident.  I was trolling for torrents and a stumbled upon a Download for SMASH.4  I knew it was Tajiri’s new promotion and I was excited to see Tajiri.  I am a huge Tajiri fan and I was excited to see a new Tajiri match.  AKIRA (whom I knew from new Japan) had a match on the card.  So did Isami Kodaka.  He competes in crazy deathmatches…so you know that his match was going to be good. And the main event of the show was Kana vs Syuri!  I was already a fan of Kana so this was a win/win for me.  Several matches featuring guys I like, and a main event match with my favorite Joshi.  And although I didn’t know it at the time, I would also discover 2 other Joshi that would become my favorite---Lin Bairon and Syuri! I had to download it.  It was the best wrestling I saw that month.  

--> Still, as I live in America… it was difficult to get… but I was hooked.  I already wanted to see SMASH.5   I found out where and when it aired on TV and I discovered website that posted shows recorded from that station and I also discovered places that rented Japanese TV shows on DVD-Rs. And SMASH seemed to get better with every show.  Many of my other favorites like Sabu, Ultimo Dragon, Makoto, Tomoka Nakagawa, Serena Deeb, Finley and SuperCrazy joined SMASH.  And I became a big fan of StarBuck, Hajime Ohara, and Michael Kovac. By the time SMASH.10 happened I had worked out a system where I was confident I would not miss any SMASH.  I started scanning the website.  I would like to say reading the website…but I fairly illiterate when it comes reading Japanese and often times google translate gives you gibberish at worst and at best you get Engrish…but I followed the website anyways.  I watched the press conferences on youtube.  I even read the results a (tried not to spoil myself but I often couldn’t wait) and went to the SAMURAITV website to find out when it would air on TV.

I discovered SMASH at a time when my frustration with the WWE and TNA were at there highest.  I often felt at that time (and unfortunately I still do today) that watching RAW is a chore.  But there was a time when I was so excited about the WWE that I couldn’t wait for the next episode of RAW to air.  While WWE nor TNA didn’t excite me in that way---SMASH did.  I literally was so caught up in the storyline I couldn’t wait to see the next SMASH. And when you consider that my Japanese is only so-so it speaks volumes of how well the show was put together.

I knew SMASH was over when I talked to Kana at SHIMMER...but it didn't seem over to me as I had yet to see the show. I watched it on 3/21 and enjoyed it...but it is today when I am hit with the realization that SMASH is done :( How will I get my monthly fix of Kana, Tajiri, Makoto, Lin Bairon, Hajime Ohara, Jessica Love, StarBuck, Syuri, AKIRA, and Ultimo Dragon :(  At least Tomoka Nakagawa and Mio Shiria are heavily featured in OZ academy. (Which like SMASH is another show I have grown confident I can catch each episode of.)

The final SMASH match was AKIRA and Tajiri vs Starbuck and Ohara.  After the match was over, Tajiri announced his intention of starting a new promotion. I am anxiously awaiting more information on this.  I hope that I will enjoy this new Promotion as much as I enjoyed SMASH. I hope that Tajiri brings in all my favorites into this promotion I hope I am able to find video of it as easily I did for SMASH.  Time will tell. So, goodbye SMASH.  I will miss you.  WE ARE SMASH FOREVER!