Straight Up John Watanabe

I am thankful to God and to wrestling fans that, to this day, I am still well-known (via videotapes, DVDs and television screens) around the nation and in parts of the world as the on-camera host & play-by-play announcer for Tokyopop's English language presentation of the influential hardcore wrestling promotion in Japan known as FMW (Frontier Martial-arts Wrestling), which influenced ECW and other promotions that have presented a hardcore-style of wrestling. A big high five to The Fight Network in Canada, who showed these FMW Wrestling episodes for several years. A big part of FMW was the wrestler named Eiji Ezaki, aka "The Flying Assassin", "the bird that never dies", Hayabusa! Along with calling the amazing high-flying moves of Hayabusa on several FMW Wrestling episodes distributed by Tokyopop, it was a pleasure for me to talk with Hayabusa, when he came to Los Angeles on a few occasions. Eiji/Hayabusa was a nice, laid-back guy with a gentle voice (yes, h...

Studying Biblical/End Times prophecy is fascinating, about events already recorded in God's unchanging Word/the Holy Bible that will really take place in the future, leading up to the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and per Yeshua/Jesus Himself, from a Spiritual lens, we are seeing the birth pangs of these events taking place (Matthew 24). To understand End Times prophecy, ask the Spirit of God to give you understanding (Luke 11:13). Some of the future events in this world are symbolized within a Bible passage regarding the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, in Revelation 6. Football historians know about the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame, a group of football players led by coach Knute Rockne. And among old school pro wrestling fans, there was a notorious stable known as The Four Horsemen, which consisted of "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and a revolving door of other well-known wrestlers who competed in the NWA and WCW (including Tully Blanchard and ...

Many tourists and even locals have favorite memories of Hollywood here in Southern California. There's the Chinese Theatre (formerly Sid Grauman's, now the TCL), the Musso & Frank Grill (the oldest restaurant in Hollywood, which opened in 1919), and of course, the world famous "HOLLYWOOD" sign within the Hollywood Hills. My favorite memory of Hollywood was working in front of the camera for some of those in-studio segments on Tokyopop's FMW (Frontier Martial-arts Wrestling) videos, shot at the CNN Building on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. We had a good crew on hand for these in-studio segments, including director Robin Hirsch, Tokyopop production coordinator Daisuke Kinouchi, and Tokyopop brand manager Joel Baral. The photo above features me & my FMW Wrestling color commentator Dan "The Mouth" Lovranski from Live Audio Wrestling, doing a taping at the CNN Building in Hollywood. To this day, some wrestling fans around the country and even around ...

Among my experiences in the world of professional wrestling, I have fond memories working as the on-camera host & play-by-play announcer for the Urban Wrestling Alliance, which was syndicated on UPN TV stations around the country (particularly in major markets where urban/hip hop music & culture are popular).  It was quite an experience working for the UWA, doing television tapings in front of audiences, in-studio interviews and post-production work at various studios and arenas. For some of our UWA TV episodes, what a joy it was especially when I got to call the action at ringside at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles. When I grew up in Illinois, the two major wrestling promotions I grew up watching (on TV and at local venues) were run by Verne Gagne and Dick The Bruiser, but I also watched another TV wrestling program on one of the old UHF channels, listed in our local TV guide every week as "Lucha Libre", but which was actually the Los Angeles-bas...

Some who have followed my professional wrestling announcing career have wondered, "Whatever happened to Straight Up John Watanabe?" Well, for more than a decade now, I have been happily working full-time on-air in Christian broadcasting, at KWVE (K-WAVE) 107.9 and its sister radio station KSDW (88.9 & 96.9) in Southern California. Both Christian radio stations are owned by and on the campus of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, founded by the late, great Pastor Chuck Smith (by the way, Kelsey Grammer plays Chuck Smith in the major motion picture "Jesus Revolution", coming soon to a theater near you). I have committed my life to serving Jesus as my Savior and Lord, who shed His blood on the cross to wash away my sins and then rose from the dead (Romans 5:9--"Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God's wrath through him"), but I still have respect for those who have bled in wrestling rings while entertaining fans in various ...