The referee uses a razor… What was the “last line” that was not drawn in the blockbuster hit “Queen of Evil”?

Recreating realistic wrestling scenes

Netflix’s (hereafter “Netflix”) original drama series “Queen of Villainy,” which was distributed worldwide single-handedly on September 19, achieved V3 in Japan’s “Netflix Weekly Top 10 (Series)” and has not lost its popularity since.

The film is planned, written, and produced by Osamu Suzuki (52), who announced his retirement from broadcasting and screenwriting as of March of this year, and is directed by Kazuya Shiraishi (49), a film director known for “Weakness” (’13), “Blood of the Lone Wolf” series, and “Eleven Bandits,” which will be released on November 1, 2012. Kazuya Shiraishi, 49, served as the director. The film depicts the unknown life of Dump Matsumoto, 63, who belonged to “All Japan Women’s Professional Wrestling (Zenjo)” in the 1980s and led the women’s professional wrestling boom as the “most fearsome heel.

The role of Dump was played by comedian Yuriyan Retriever (33), while Erika Karada (27) and Ayame Goriki (32) played Chikusa Nagayo (59) and Lioness Asuka (61) of the popular tag team Crash Gals, who fought a fierce battle with Dump. The actors also played the roles of Chikusa Nagayo, 59, and Asuka Lioness, 61. In addition, the actors underwent professional wrestling training at the dojo of Marvelous, the organization presided over by Nagayo, who served as the film’s professional wrestling supervisor, for about two years leading up to the filming period, and underwent wrestler-like physical modifications, which contributed to the popularity of the realistic recreation of professional wrestling scenes.

Osamu Suzuki and director Shiraishi were of the generation that watched All Women in real time, so we carefully selected a cast of wrestlers whose atmosphere and body shape were similar to theirs. The role would not have been possible without Netflix, which allowed them to create their roles from managing their nutrition and training.

The realism of the work was so great that the wrestlers who appeared in the series, including Dump, Nagayo, Jagger Yokota (63), and Bull Nakano (56), praised not only the work but also all of the actors who played their roles.

The series depicts not only the glamorous front stage, but also the backstage of professional wrestling. The best example of this is the word “book,” in which the outcome of a match is decided from the beginning as a “script.

In the film, there is a scene in which Mr. Jagger, the singles champion who was said to be the “strongest of all the women” at the time, is displeased with Crush, who was being promoted by the company, and he asks the executives, “Let me fight Crush without the book.

But Jagger said on his YouTube page, “I’m surprised, I’m surprised. I’ve never heard that in 50 years in this world,” he said, denying that he had ever heard the word “book. This may be a statement of pride for Mr. Jagger, who has declared that he will be active in the industry for the rest of his life. To begin with, Mr. Jaggar has never lost to juniors such as Crash and Dump, so he denied the content of the play, “I’ve never been beaten (by a junior)! He denied the contents of the play.

How did the “bloodbath” happen?

One of the highlights of the series was the “Loser’s Haircut Death Match” held on August 28, 1985, at Osaka-jo Hall, which is still talked about today.

In the actual match, Dump used all the force of his deadly weapon attack and drove Nagayo to the brink of bloodshed, winning by KO, but the scene was so brutal and bloody that protests poured in from Kansai Television (Kantele), a Fuji Television affiliate that broadcast the event. Kantele had to abruptly end the broadcast of the match. Although the scene was realistically recreated in “Queen of Evil,” one pro-wrestling insider pointed out that the fact that the production team did not cross the “final line” may have contributed to the success of the show.

One person involved in professional wrestling pointed out, “In fact, as long as the fights are normal, there is never so much bloodshed. But why was there so much bloodshed? Mr. Takahashi (83), who served as a referee and matchmaker for New Japan Pro-Wrestling during the heyday of the late Antonio Inoki, revealed the other side of the story in his book, “The Magic of Bloodshed: The Strongest Performance of All Wrestling is a Show.

The book was the result of various disputes when he quit New Japan, but its contents were so shocking. He revealed that he called bloodshed “juice,” and went into detail about the process of bloodshed, saying that normally, “blood would not flow that cleanly,” and that “the juice that comes out of a wrestler’s forehead is released by the referee by cutting it open with a razor blade.

As for the “book,” it was a necessary element of the story to depict the wrestlers’ conflicts and relationships, but the bloodshed was considered to be an unnecessary element. If they had pursued “realism” to that extent, viewers might not have been able to get as emotionally involved in the match scenes. I think one of the reasons for the success of the show is that the production team did not go that far with the “bloodshed is real.

The struggle between “realism” and “direction” is what creates emotion in both drama and wrestling.

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