{"id":85414,"date":"2021-03-27T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2021-03-27T16:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=85414"},"modified":"2021-03-15T12:22:31","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T16:22:31","slug":"chocopro-one-year-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/03\/27\/chocopro-one-year-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on ChocoPro, One Year Later"},"content":{"rendered":"

In early 2020, the world at large was rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many industries were heavily impacted by the virus, professional wrestling among them. Large companies, WWE<\/strong> and AEW<\/strong> included, were able to persevere. Meanwhile, smaller organizations were forced to halt events or shut down entirely. Simply put, the wrestling world needed to adapt to the new normal. As for Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling<\/strong>, the small Japanese promotion headed by Emi Sakura<\/strong>, the pandemic led to one of the most inventive initiatives in wrestling during the digital age: ChocoPro<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Gatoh<\/p>\n

The Charm of Gatoh Move<\/h2>\n

Prior to the pandemic, Gatoh Move had developed a solid fan following. These were men and women that saw the unique product Sakura and crew were putting out compared to the rest. For most events, a brown mat took the place of a wrestling ring. The vast majority of shows were held in the intimate venue of Ichigaya Chocolate Square, which made squeezing one-hundred people in the venue a task, to say the least. Despite this, its charm couldn’t be denied.<\/p>\n

Eric Howard, the host of the podcast known as The Joshi Pod<\/a>, detailed what made Gatoh Move stand out to him. \u201cGatoh Move invited everybody who attended shows at Ichigaya Chocolate Square into their world,\u201d said Howard. \u201cDidn\u2019t matter if you were Japanese or a foreigner. They wanted you to be part of it. You experience it once and you are in.\u201d On multiple occasions, Howard credited Gatoh Move for the creation of The Joshi Pod. His desire was to tell the world about the little promotion that could.<\/p>\n

Due to the aforementioned lack of ring in Ichigaya Chocolate Square, wrestling matches were that much more unique. Case and point, if a wrestler were to perform a high-flying maneuver, they couldn’t rely on a traditional ring post. Instead, they would open one of the windows of the venue, standing atop the windowsill before diving. This is just one of the ways that Ichigaya, and Gatoh Move by extension, put on unique yet exciting matches.<\/p>\n

\"ChocoPro<\/p>\n

The Wrestling World Following the Pandemic<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fast forward to early 2020, following COVID-19’s pandemic designation, and it was clear that wrestling organizations were in jeopardy. As alluded to earlier, smaller organizations were at considerably higher risk. As for Gatoh Move, several events that were planned had to be postponed. Sakura and crew had other plans, however. With the power of YouTube, live streaming, and the internet itself, a new initiative from the purple-and-yellow promotion took shape.<\/p>\n

On March 28, 2020, Gatoh Move held its first-ever episode of ChocoPro. Among the action on the episode in question was a chaotic battle between Baliyan Akki<\/strong> and the legendary Minoru Suzuki<\/strong>. To say that Suzuki’s sense of danger and viciousness clashed with the lighthearted Gatoh Move would be an understatement. Nonetheless, it made for an exciting match-up, creating the template that ChocoPro episodes would follow and refine.<\/p>\n