Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Discussion regarding the entirety of the franchise in a general (meta) sense, including such aspects as: production, trends, merchandise, fan culture, and more.

Moderators: General Help, Kanzenshuu Staff

User avatar
Milton
Patreon Supporter
Posts: 198
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 2:42 pm
Location: Connecticut
Contact:

Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by Milton » Mon May 23, 2011 2:38 am

I was curious to know if Toriyama-sensei had said in any interviews whether he enjoyed or disliked professional wrestling. For some reason, I seem to recall reading years ago that he absolutely hated the stuff; I just wanted to see if there was any truth to this or if it was just another random internet thing.

Besides this, I was also interested in learning if anyone that worked close with Toriyama (editors, animators, associates, etc.) was either into the sport or if they were involved with manga/anime that were about it (i.e., Kinnikuman).

User avatar
Jayy
Newbie
Posts: 19
Joined: Sun May 15, 2011 12:20 am

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by Jayy » Mon May 23, 2011 4:50 am

There was an interview during one of the Weekly Shonen Jumps magazines which featured one of the final chapters of the series in it. All we know is that he didn't watch wrestling or use that as inspiration towards his project, "I find it silly" is what he stated i think about it.
Dragonball Fan Since 91'
鳥山 明

User avatar
jjgp1112
Born 'n Bred Here
Posts: 7478
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:15 pm
Location: Crooklyn

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by jjgp1112 » Mon May 23, 2011 10:29 am

Mr. Satan's wrestling-like personality was just a coincidence. Which is crazy, considering how similar he is to both Hogan's on-screen personality, and his sleazy off-screen personality that has caused him to be probably the most hated man in the wrestling business.
Yamcha: Do you remember the spell to release him - do you know all the words?
Bulma: Of course! I'm not gonna pull a Frieza and screw it up!
Master Roshi: Bulma, I think Frieza failed because he wore too many clothes!
Cold World (Fanfic)
"It ain't never too late to stop bein' a bitch." - Chad Lamont Butler

User avatar
Milton
Patreon Supporter
Posts: 198
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 2:42 pm
Location: Connecticut
Contact:

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by Milton » Mon May 23, 2011 3:45 pm

^ And this is EXACTLY why I wanted to know if there was any influence. On top of that, I nearly died after hearing that his first name was Mark; I mean, yes, the pun is the rearrangement of akuma, but the coincidence is amazing. Thanks for the answers, guys.

User avatar
Ryu-Ken Bakuhatsu
Beyond Newbie
Posts: 121
Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 1:40 pm

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by Ryu-Ken Bakuhatsu » Mon May 23, 2011 4:00 pm

I've been meaning to post this for a while but I've been waiting for the perfect place and here it is!

I'm convinced that Piroshiki is a parody of Big Van Vader. Take a look at these two images:

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2 ... /Vader.jpg

Compared to:

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs31/f/2008/ ... munity.jpg

It's pretty blatant where the inspiration for the design of Piroshiki came from. Especially considering that Vader was a big name in Japan, from 1987-1992.

Also, I once noticed in an episode of the original Dragon Ball that there was a man stood in the background, during one of the episodes centred around the qualifying rounds of the Tenkaichi Budokai, and his face looked very much like a much like a younger Hulk Hogan-from around the time he wrestled in the Japan in the early 80s and had a lot more hair on the top of his head.

So I would say that the anime staff, at least, have drawn influences from Professional-Wrestling.

User avatar
Eddie
Advanced Regular
Posts: 1059
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2009 4:02 am
Location: Nowhere. Quite possibly the middle of it.

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by Eddie » Mon May 23, 2011 5:18 pm

I have no idea if Toriyama was actually a fan of pro wrestling, but it was certainly a pretty big influence with some of his stories. Arale's a big fan of wrestling, and that came up in her Dragon Ball appearance.

User avatar
TripleRach
Moderator
Posts: 2656
Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2004 5:08 pm
Location: Ohio, USA
Contact:

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by TripleRach » Mon May 23, 2011 5:40 pm

Ryu-Ken Bakuhatsu wrote:It's pretty blatant where the inspiration for the design of Piroshiki came from. Especially considering that Vader was a big name in Japan, from 1987-1992.
Yeah, there's no way that could be a coincidence. I've always felt like the other two were based on Shawn Michaels and Miss Elizabeth, but I don't think it's quite as unquestionable as Piroshiki/Vader.
-Rachel

User avatar
the_abberration
Regular
Posts: 630
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2006 2:22 pm
Location: Stuck On Earth

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by the_abberration » Mon May 23, 2011 6:09 pm

Milton wrote:^ And this is EXACTLY why I wanted to know if there was any influence. On top of that, I nearly died after hearing that his first name was Mark; I mean, yes, the pun is the rearrangement of akuma, but the coincidence is amazing. Thanks for the answers, guys.
I've heard that Mr. Toriyama was a avid fan of American comics. If this is true, there were ads for a martial artist named Count Dante. I've often felt that he may have drawn inspiration for the Mr. Satan character from him.

Image

Image

Image
1 Corinthians 13: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Except the anime. Never the anime.

"Look. I'm not allowed to hold you, but I'm sworn to protect you"-Sergeant Hatred

The Lineup: Danger Mouse

User avatar
Milton
Patreon Supporter
Posts: 198
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 2:42 pm
Location: Connecticut
Contact:

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by Milton » Tue May 24, 2011 12:29 am

Ryu-Ken:
Wow, I had completely forgotten about Vader's mask thing! You're absolutely right about it being pretty blatant, though that illustration almost makes him seem like a Mega Man boss.

As for Count Dante, that's just...wow...never heard of him before, but that's a pretty close likeness.

User avatar
Ryu-Ken Bakuhatsu
Beyond Newbie
Posts: 121
Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 1:40 pm

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by Ryu-Ken Bakuhatsu » Tue May 24, 2011 9:25 am

I've just remembered another character, it's "Anton The Great" from Dragon Ball Episode 085. He has a match in the preliminaries of the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai against Kuririn, and Yamcha flat out says that the guy is a Pro-Wrestler. Given the size of Anton and his wild curly hair, I'm sure he is based upon a young Andre The Giant. Anton The Great - Andre The Giant - they're too similar to be a coincidence.
TripleRach wrote:I've always felt like the other two were based on Shawn Michaels and Miss Elizabeth, but I don't think it's quite as unquestionable as Piroshiki/Vader.
I definitely agree with the Miss Elizabeth - Pizza comparison but I'm a little sceptical about Shawn Michaels and Carnoi, since Michaels wasn't really a high profile guy in 1993. However there are some strong similarities- Carnoi wore red & white, as did Michaels during his early singles run and both are portayed as a ladies man- though I would say Michaels was a lot more arrogant than Caroni. I guess Caroni could be seen as a Babyface* version of the early HeartBreak Kid gimmick, since the fans watching on TV root for him.

*For non-wrestling fans reading this post: "Babyface" is the term used to describe a wrestler who is portrayed as a good guy.

Milton wrote: As for Count Dante, that's just...wow...never heard of him before, but that's a pretty close likeness.
Oh yeah there is a great likeness between the two but I'd say that this guy takes home the trophy, or World Title if you will, for looking the most like Mr. Satan-

http://spe.fotolog.com/photo/14/57/75/b ... 0871_f.jpg

(Sorry, I have no idea how to embed images ha!)

User avatar
Milton
Patreon Supporter
Posts: 198
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 2:42 pm
Location: Connecticut
Contact:

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by Milton » Tue May 24, 2011 2:31 pm

Well, Michaels did have a title match against Bret Hart at Survivor Series 92...perhaps that was enough for the animators to think, "Eh, let's use his likeness."

And yes, that guy hands-down wins the Mr. Satan look-alike contest. Always will no matter what.

User avatar
Milton
Patreon Supporter
Posts: 198
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 2:42 pm
Location: Connecticut
Contact:

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by Milton » Tue May 24, 2011 2:41 pm

Oh, speaking of Bret Hart...

When his autobiography came out, I remember reading a section with him discussing being in Japan and watching TV in the evening. I forget the exact date, but after doing some digging around (and by digging around, I mean checking the Kanzentai episode guide), I was able to determine that he caught a glimpse of one of the "fake Namek" episodes of DBZ.

User avatar
jjgp1112
Born 'n Bred Here
Posts: 7478
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:15 pm
Location: Crooklyn

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by jjgp1112 » Tue May 24, 2011 2:58 pm

Yeah, Caroni's appearance was very similar to HBK's, as well as Jeff Jarrett's at the time (before he shaved his head at Summerslam 1998)
Yamcha: Do you remember the spell to release him - do you know all the words?
Bulma: Of course! I'm not gonna pull a Frieza and screw it up!
Master Roshi: Bulma, I think Frieza failed because he wore too many clothes!
Cold World (Fanfic)
"It ain't never too late to stop bein' a bitch." - Chad Lamont Butler

Codarik
Advanced Regular
Posts: 1029
Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2010 2:20 am
Location: Snake Way

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by Codarik » Tue May 24, 2011 3:00 pm

I posted this in another thread but since this is also related...

Image

Image

User avatar
jjgp1112
Born 'n Bred Here
Posts: 7478
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:15 pm
Location: Crooklyn

Re: Dragon Ball and Pro-Wrestling

Post by jjgp1112 » Tue May 24, 2011 3:51 pm

Codarik wrote:I posted this in another thread but since this is also related...

*snip*
Meh, I'd chalk that up to coincidence. The Boston Crab has been a wrestling hold for years and the original version of The Walls Of Jericho had Y2J driving his knee into his opponent's back. He said he changed it to a Boston Crab because the wrestlers in WWF were bigger than the guys in WCW and it'd be harder for them to help him turn them over.
Yamcha: Do you remember the spell to release him - do you know all the words?
Bulma: Of course! I'm not gonna pull a Frieza and screw it up!
Master Roshi: Bulma, I think Frieza failed because he wore too many clothes!
Cold World (Fanfic)
"It ain't never too late to stop bein' a bitch." - Chad Lamont Butler

Post Reply