When I first started writing about the developing Chinese pro-wrestling scene, it felt like a far-off dream that I would be able to attend, live and in person, an event held by one of the companies I had learned about in my research. Thankfully, however, this past October I finally had an opportunity to attend a wrestling show in an emerging market in Asia! When we decided that we would visit Taiwan for our vacation, I made it a priority to find out, and attend if at all possible, a show while I was on the island.
I become aware of Taiwanese pro-wrestling while covering the developing mainland Chinese pro wrestling scene, and later had the opportunity to briefly collaborate and strike up a rapport with some of Taiwan’s hottest young talent when I found myself roped into working with OWE to promote their shows in Toronto, which you can watch for free on TrillerTV! (I just learned that they’ve been set to free while double checking details for this blog and, damn, go watch them here and here, for days 1 and 2 respectively.).
Several talented Taiwanese wrestlers passed through OWE, but the one most relevant here, in this story, is Gaia Hox. It’s through his generosity with his time that I learned more about the Taiwanese scene. Namely, I learned about the promotion he called home: PUZZLE.
When I had my vacation scheduled and the dates settled, I reached out to both of Taiwan’s currently active promotions. Regrettably, NTW’s offering for the month of October would be after my vacation. PUZZLE, however, would have what they called a “Bar Show” shortly before I’d leave Taipei.
One thing that immediately struck me about reaching out to both promotions, as well as the venue I would attend PUZZLE’s show at, is how easy and friendly the interactions I had with all parties were. Revolver’s staff were super awesome and helpful in ensuring a ticket to the show was reserved for me when I was unable to get there before the day of.
Revolver is a cool venue. Straight up cool energy on the ground floor bar playing a mix of metal and hard rock jams, classic and fresh. Upstairs on the second floor is a small performance venue with a built-in stage. When I arrived and secured my ticket it was still before PUZZLE’s scheduled start time and the previous show, a chaotic hardcore punk act, was still playing to a small, sizeable for the space, very amped up young crowd. The place reminds me of a more compact version of the venerable Montréal underground venue/bar, Foufounes Electriques.
The tight confines of the venue felt full, even with the probably smallest crowd I have personally been a part of at a pro-wrestling show. As this was a “bar wrestling” show it did not feature a traditional wrestling ring. In fact, had they attempted to set up a ring there’d hardly have been a point in selling tickets, as the audience would have had to have been in the ring.
Instead, they laid some mats on the floors and had modified rules, such as “rope breaks” happening if the wrestler in a submission hold can actively crawl to and touch one of the walls. Which would necessitate the crowd moving out of the way. Nevertheless, everyone quickly bought in on the rules and the setting. It was intimate and in your face, just an arm’s reach away – and in a couple of wrestler’s cases, a near-by line of chops from the audience away. One does love an interactive show.
Obviously the mic work was all in Mandarin and this is where Taiwan’s very earned reputation for being friendly started showing its head at this show. Without me initiating any conversations, several members of the audience took it upon them, at various points throughout the show, to engage me in conversation. Invariably it would start with them filling me in on what was going on with the show during promos and announcements but would branch off the subject of wrestling to a number of destinations.
Early on, as the show was setting up, I struck up a bit of a rapport with KJ Wu who would be the announcer of the show, and he informed me, would be performing on the mats as well. From our conversation I learned that these bar shows had started because he had previously worked for the bar and had been the one to approach the venue about the idea when he got involved with PUZZLE.
The card for Bar Wrestling that night was short, but very engaging. Three matches, with three very different but cohesive vibes. The first match pitted Dirty Cat, a comedic masked wrestler with a cat theme, mannerisms and toys that speaks exclusively in meowing sounds, versus a performer whose name I didn’t quite catch and I don’t feel confident in my knowledge of the scene to comfortably identify, but may be MARI HANA. Dirty Cat played the comedy element well, while his opponent played the straight man. At one point Dirty Cat became caught in a hold and walked around the room for the crowd to chop his chest. I partook with relish.
The second match had Princess Pistachio face off against Axe Wang, often tag partner of Gai Hox. It started with a prolonged promo battle that, if I understood my fellow attendees’ explanation properly, was fundamentally a dad joke battle. This eventually devolved into a fun scrap between the two bright prospects. I have seen Axe Wang perform in a ring in the fairly small sample of PUZZLE’s YouTube catalogue that I have watched and was hoping to see him in person. Princess Pistachio really caught me off guard with how easily her charisma crossed the language barrier. This was, by far, the best technical performance of the night as their match, once it stopped being about jokes, relied the least on comedy and hijinks.
The third, and final, match of the night was the PUZZLE Bar Wrestling version of the Royal Rumble. The same fundamental idea as the Rumble you’ll all be familiar with, but scaled down for the venue and roster. Four (or was it five?) wrestlers, staggered entrances, pinfall and submission eliminations till one man remains. This match featured Porco, who has worked for my friend Sunny Zhai’s new promotion in Thailand, BUTCH, War Bear, and KJ Wu coming from the announcer’s perch on the stage to enter the match. As this match featured quite the diverse size disparities between performers, a lot of physical comedy existed between the performers emphasising these discrepancies. It took most of the men in the match working together to eliminate the monstrous BUTCH.
All of the matches were fun and the tone and vibe of the show was friendly, silly and inviting. Given the limitations of working on mats in a cramped room with the audience mere feet away, and what I have seen of several of these performers in filmed matches in rings, it was clear that PUZZLE has developed a talented, capable, and adaptable roster. Nevertheless, the “Bar Show” format did not allow for many of these performers to truly shine and show off.
After the show on my way out I was approached by “BUTCH,” out of his mask and recognizable as the monstrous “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”-like character by his build alone. Inevitably as more wrestlers filtered out of the changing room on the third floor and down to the ground level bar they joined in too. We traded stories of our interest and involvement in pro wrestling and before I headed back for the thirty minute walk to my hotel at 3am I had the chance to speak with BUTCH, Porco, Axe Wang, and KJ Wu.
I was given a crash course in the history of Pro-Wrestling in Taiwan, which essentially amounts to a series of groups starting up and then splitting up and their talent starting new groups that eventually did the same. Until we wind up with the current status quo of NTW and PUZZLE being the two outfits operating on the island. I have not done close to enough research yet to attempt to draft an article on the history of Taiwanese pro-wrestling the way I did for the Chinese scene. I did, however, deepen my connections with talent in the region and something of the like may be possible in the not too distant future.
As I have been tangentially following Taiwanese pro-wrestling, as many of the groups in China have had performers from these two companies roll through their territories at one time or another, I was aware that several of the people I was speaking to had worked variably with both active Taiwanese promotions. So I felt I had to ask, a bit cheekily, what they felt the difference was between the promotions and, whether or not there was any bad blood, black listing etc. that happened in the local scene.
The answers I received amounted to, fundamentally, there being differences in perspectives amongst the talent working for the promotions, and differences in booking philosophy and in-ring psychology ideology. It was explained to me that, to those who had worked for both groups, that PUZZLE felt more like a family or group of friends working together to tell stories than NTW. To them, NTW felt more like an attempt to recreate the big move and false finish style of wrestling that the WWE offers up, and operate more as a business. Many of those whom I ahd the opportunity to speak with see wrestling as a hobby, more than a potential career path.
Every indie scene needs its weekend warriors, and in a territory that has not yet established itself as a fully financially viable business, these hobbyists are laying the foundation for the future. Meanwhile, those whose talents and dreams have exceeded what the local scene can offer, such as Gaia Hox and Rekka, travel abroad to work in Japan’s well established puroresu.
After my two weeks spent mostly in Taipei I know I will be back in Taiwan at some point in the foreseeable future. It’s a good thing too, as everyone i spoke with invariably expressed that it was too bad I was leaving before the next PUZZLE show where they would be breaking in their new Dojo space for the first time. I really look forward to seeing the engaging PUZZLE talent perform in a ring, hopefully seeing an NTW show as well, and to learning more about the history and personalities that make the tight knit and growing Taiwanese pro-wrestling feel so laden with potential and possibility.