New Japan Wrestling

Brief

We were approached by the organisers of the New Japan Wrestling to provide the sound and lighting for their upcoming Strong Style Evolved UK events. Having provided similar equipment for the Ring of Honor UK wrestling tours, the team at New Japan Wrestling knew that they were in safe hands.

The 2 events were to take place on consecutive days at Milton Keynes Ice Arena and the Altrincham Arena. Our team would need to install, run and de-rig the event on the same day to allow the equipment to be transported overnight to the second venue.

After having spoken with the client to understand the needs of these specific shows we were able to provide them with an itemised list of equipment that we proposed to supply for them.

 

Equipment Used

With the shows being at 2 different venues we had to ensure that the kit could where possible be utilised at both venues. The main difference between the 2 was that there were no rigging points at the Altrincham venue and so we had to use MPT’s on 6m legs as opposed to flying in the truss at this venue.

For the audio, having plotted the venue into L’Acoustics soundvision software we opted to utilise 12 of the L-Acoustics KARA line array speakers with 6x SB18’s providing the low end re-enforcement. 12XT’s were used as fills, all of the speakers were powered by LA8 amplifiers.

Four channels of Sennheiser EW300 G3 radio mics were used by the compares with all audio inputs being processed by a Yamaha QL1 digital desk.

The lighting element was to a certain extent split into 2 categories, ring lighting and atmospheric lighting. To ensure that the wrestlers were well lit for their performance we flew 72x 1kw Par 64 IWB’s. There is no substitute for the quality and intensity of light provided by a large quantity of PAR64s, which are well suited to live sport.

These generic lighting fixtures provide both the heat and light temperature that the performers require. Due to the power involved in running these we also utilised an Avolites ART2000 dimmer.

For the atmospheric lighting we primarily used 24 of the super bright Elation Platinum Beam 5R Extremes. These beam fixtures are fantastic at cutting through the venue and providing sharp beams of light. Elation Sixbars were also secured to the top of the ring for added effect. The truss was toned using Elation Opti Pars to complete the look.

Four of our Sparkulars were positioned on the stage and fired as the wrestlers made their appearance into the arena.

All of the lighting was controlled with an Avolites Quartz lighting desk.

For the rigging, as well as the MPT’s, Premier provided 65m of H30V truss from which the lighting fixtures were supported.

 

Stats

Total Equipment Value – £274,146

Total Weight – 7,611 kg

Transport – 1x 44T Artic

Premier Team

• 1x Production Manager
• 1x Senior Sound Engineer
• 1x Senior Lighting Engineer
• 2x General Technicians
• 16x Local Crew