(JG Note: Every few weeks Jess Stutzman will be checking in with his "Rings Around the World Report." This is the place to find news and info on action from all across the globe. If you're an Indy promotion and have information on your promotion that you'd like to see included in an upcoming report, you can write to Indy@WorldWrestlingInsanity.com)

By "The Royal Dutch of Dukes" Jess Stutzman

Hi everyone, I'm Jess Stutzman, and welcome to the inaugural edition of "Rings Around The World", WWI's monthly look at the latest happenings in puroresu, lucha libre, and North American indies. Now, you may be asking yourself, who the hell is this guy and what qualifies him to be this site's international and indy wrestling guy? Well, it's simple: I was the first guy to ask James, and luckily he was on one of his ether binges and said yes, so here I am. I wrote Thunder, ECW on TNN and Sunday Night Heat recaps eons ago for a handful of now defunct sites, but I've never written a column before. To be perfectly honest, there's a lot of guys who are currently writing about these subjects who are much more knowledgeable and better connected than I am, but I pledge to you, the loyal readers of World Wrestling Insanity, that I will endeavor to be the most entertaining and educational puro, lucha and indies guy on the net. If I fail in this endeavor, I promise to commit hari-kari on camera and have the video uploaded to the Matches forum.

Speaking of the matches forum, that's another thing I'm going to try and use to separate myself from the rest of the pack of wrestling writers: In future columns, I will link to matches I've uploaded as sort of visual aids for whatever topic I'm on about at the time, whether it be Brock Lesnar winning the IWGP title and how it could save New Japan, New Japan's new working relationship with TNA and what it means for both promotions, Kenta Kobashi's tour of the US and the possibility of a working relationship between NOAH and ROH, or just a column on how boss I find Katsuyori Shibata or Genichiro Tenryu to be. Ultimately, I hope that this column will be a learning experience both for the reader and for me as well, and will be the most interactive column on wrestling the internet has ever seen. In future columns, I'll incorporate reader emails, posts from the Matches forum and (fingers crossed) interviews with indy stars in an order to go beyond what traditional wrestling journalism has been in the past.

Now that we've dispensed with the exposition, onto the topic of this month's column: the glory that is All Japan Pro Wrestling. When I first got into puro back in the late 90s, All Japan was king of the mountain, as the 90s had seen the rise of Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Taue and Akiyama, all of whom spent that decade putting on five star matches the way you and I put on socks. However, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and in 2000, Misawa, Kobashi, Taue, and damn near everyone in All Japan but Kawada left to start Pro Wrestling NOAH. At the time, no one thought All Japan would survive, but today, for my money at least, they're the most entertaining promotion in Japan. This ain't Baba's All Japan, and NOAH might have the more consistent workrate, but nothing coming out of Japan is nearly as fun as All Japan is. If you're not convinced yet, think about this: Keiji Mutoh's booking has made me not only care about Bull Buchanan, Jamal, and Johnny Stamboli, but actually find them to be really cool and fun to watch, Jamal in particular. Mutoh has managed to do what WWE creative, for all it's clueless sitcom and soap opera writers, could not: I care about the other guy from Three Minute Warning to the point that I want him to beat Kojima for the Triple Crown Championship. Now that's good booking, folks. And hey, if you're still not convinced, drop by the Matches forum over the next few days to see the playground of RO&D, the Voodoo Murderers and Kensuke Office that is All Japan Pro Wrestling circa 2005. Join us next month for a much more coherent, focused column, and most importantly, stay tuned to the Matches forum for free matches from around the world.

Sayonara, suckers!

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